| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 16:45 - Jan 9 with 2456 views | BlueBadger |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 14:32 - Jan 9 by giant_stow |
'The weaselling of a cowardly Tory' is a bit strong innit? He said he was a 'middle-grounder' with some doubts - these are the people who will decide it surely? |
'They all as bad as each other' is a pretty standard tactic o=for shy Tories. |  |
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| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 18:38 - Jan 9 with 2399 views | Churchman |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 11:26 - Jan 9 by ChampionsofInnsbruck |
I know you are a hardened Labour supporter, but myself as a disillusioned middle grounder can't see much difference been Starmer and Sunak in all honesty. |
I can. I have little time for Starmer. But that makes him about 200 times better than that ratty little man Sunak.
A ghastly, shallow, self serving apology of a man that exists to line his own pockets and those the tories support. A max 5%. The economy at best is flatlining. Investment is zero. Everyone bar the wealthy are poorer in just about every way.
Our services and society have been deliberately ripped apart. Our health service is fractured and that’s got nothing to do with the amazing people that work in it. Defence: in the bin. Police: disposed of. Education: not fit for purpose. Justice system: wrecked. International relations: zero.
What ever progress he’s droning on about is just another mealy mouthed lie. They’re good at that. If Sunak tells me it’s January I check the calendar. I wouldn’t trust this lightweight no mark as far as I could volley him.
He has no right to bring Starmer or the Labour mob into this. The disaster that’s befallen this country is down to him and his fellow scumbags alone. What Labour do when these are finally shovelled out can’t be any worse. If all he has left is to campaign on fear, that tells you all about their achievements and non existent plan. Do one Sunak.
Rant over |  | | |
| If you aren't to the left of Caroline Lucas.... on 19:12 - Jan 9 with 2384 views | Dubtractor |
| If you aren't to the left of Caroline Lucas.... on 14:38 - Jan 9 by Bloots |
....then you are a Tory.
You also get random abuse, because it's deemed acceptable.
That's how TWTD works.
You should know that by now!! |
I'm not a fan of the aggro towards people with different views, unless they are genuinely offensive (racism/homophobia etc), but I get why people get irritated by the 'they're all the same' comments about politics. It's just really lazy, and tbh evidence of people taking the voter apathy 'bait' that's pumped out by right wing media - if you can't get someone to vote tory, just make them not vote at all. |  |
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| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 19:25 - Jan 9 with 2364 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 13:49 - Jan 9 by chicoazul |
Perhaps that poster refers to political opinions and actions rather than what his wife does or how he chooses to travel? |
You don't think that "fined for partygate, introduced eat out help out without consulting the sage experts" and "openly admitted diverting cash from deprived areas to wealthy" are political actions from him? |  |
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| If you aren't to the left of Caroline Lucas.... on 19:42 - Jan 9 with 2351 views | Swansea_Blue |
| If you aren't to the left of Caroline Lucas.... on 19:12 - Jan 9 by Dubtractor |
I'm not a fan of the aggro towards people with different views, unless they are genuinely offensive (racism/homophobia etc), but I get why people get irritated by the 'they're all the same' comments about politics. It's just really lazy, and tbh evidence of people taking the voter apathy 'bait' that's pumped out by right wing media - if you can't get someone to vote tory, just make them not vote at all. |
Or eat them, thereby reducing the need for as much livestock farming and helping to save the planet.
(I jest, but wouldn’t be surprised to find out that some right wing Think Tank! has probably suggested farming people. Poor people though). |  |
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| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 19:59 - Jan 9 with 2326 views | LeoMuff |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 13:49 - Jan 9 by chicoazul |
Perhaps that poster refers to political opinions and actions rather than what his wife does or how he chooses to travel? |
As a lot of that travel is paid for by me and you it’s probably fairly relevant politically, and personally I would want my chancellor of the exchequer to ensure we all paid fair amounts of tax including family members. |  |
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| Well yes, but the problem is.... on 20:12 - Jan 9 with 2322 views | Bloots |
| If you aren't to the left of Caroline Lucas.... on 19:12 - Jan 9 by Dubtractor |
I'm not a fan of the aggro towards people with different views, unless they are genuinely offensive (racism/homophobia etc), but I get why people get irritated by the 'they're all the same' comments about politics. It's just really lazy, and tbh evidence of people taking the voter apathy 'bait' that's pumped out by right wing media - if you can't get someone to vote tory, just make them not vote at all. |
....that certain "left wingers" alienate the potential vote from centrists, let alone Tories, by just being so incredibly dismissive of anyone who doesn't sing from exactly the same hymn sheet as them.
This habit of dismissing people quickly turns to abuse, quite often personal.
As we've seen on this forum over the last year or so, the majority of the right wingers that have been banned from here have been banned due to their ridiculous offensive views, but the left wingers that have been banned are usually banned for being abusive and offensive to other posters.
The horrific division in our political system isn't just down to one side. |  |
| "The sooner he comes back the better, this place has been a disaster without him" - TWTD User (July 2025) |
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| Well yes, but the problem is.... on 22:01 - Jan 9 with 2274 views | Dubtractor |
| Well yes, but the problem is.... on 20:12 - Jan 9 by Bloots |
....that certain "left wingers" alienate the potential vote from centrists, let alone Tories, by just being so incredibly dismissive of anyone who doesn't sing from exactly the same hymn sheet as them.
This habit of dismissing people quickly turns to abuse, quite often personal.
As we've seen on this forum over the last year or so, the majority of the right wingers that have been banned from here have been banned due to their ridiculous offensive views, but the left wingers that have been banned are usually banned for being abusive and offensive to other posters.
The horrific division in our political system isn't just down to one side. |
Don't disagree with that - and its why I try (mostly) to focus on the things I have in common with people, rather than the things I don't.
I utterly hate the way that politics in this country (following in the footsteps of the USA) seems to have made everything and everyone so divided. | |
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| You're a wise man Dubster. (n/t) on 22:42 - Jan 9 with 2247 views | Bloots |
| Well yes, but the problem is.... on 22:01 - Jan 9 by Dubtractor |
Don't disagree with that - and its why I try (mostly) to focus on the things I have in common with people, rather than the things I don't.
I utterly hate the way that politics in this country (following in the footsteps of the USA) seems to have made everything and everyone so divided. |
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| "The sooner he comes back the better, this place has been a disaster without him" - TWTD User (July 2025) |
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| If you aren't to the left of Caroline Lucas.... on 01:13 - Jan 10 with 2185 views | IPS_wich |
| If you aren't to the left of Caroline Lucas.... on 19:12 - Jan 9 by Dubtractor |
I'm not a fan of the aggro towards people with different views, unless they are genuinely offensive (racism/homophobia etc), but I get why people get irritated by the 'they're all the same' comments about politics. It's just really lazy, and tbh evidence of people taking the voter apathy 'bait' that's pumped out by right wing media - if you can't get someone to vote tory, just make them not vote at all. |
On the one hand it's lazy, but in some ways it's understandable.
If you put your average person from the street into a room of politicians then chances are they would come away thinking that most of them are self-absorbed, arrogant and love the sound of their own voice. The reality is the type of person who wants to be and then becomes a politician tends towards these characteristics - regardless of their political persuasion. Through my job I've met a few ministers in both the UK and Australia, of left and right wing persuasion - and their personality traits are very similar.
Add to that the fact is that no party has won a UK election without having at least 50% of its policy agenda slap bang in the middle ground (especially their economic policy) and again it's easy to see why some people think both major parties and their leaders are 'cut from the same cloth'.
It's only when you bother to explore the other 50% of the policy agenda of each party that you see the real differences emerge - and that's where the 'they're all the same' trope becomes irritating and lazy.
What I don't get is how after 18 years of the Thatcher/Major years and now 14 years of the current lot how anyone finds the Conservative party remotely appealing...from the vicious destruction and demonisation of the working classes under Thatcher, then the almost weekly affairs and scandals of the Major government, the years of austerity, the madness of Brexit, the woeful management of Covid compounded by Partygate, Truss' economic genocide and now Sunak's fiddling whilst Rome burns - why would anyone with even a modicum of intelligence and decency walk into a voting booth and tick Conservative. And I don't just mean at this next election, but for the next dozen elections until the Conservative party is reduced to a footnote in history!! |  | | |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 08:23 - Jan 10 with 2121 views | GlasgowBlue |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 16:45 - Jan 9 by BlueBadger |
'They all as bad as each other' is a pretty standard tactic o=for shy Tories. |
So [redacted], [redacted], [redacted] and [redacted], no longer of this parish, were shy Tories? That Tory support simply manifested itself as slavish devotion to the the independent MP for Islington North. |  |
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| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 08:55 - Jan 10 with 2076 views | DanTheMan |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 18:38 - Jan 9 by Churchman |
I can. I have little time for Starmer. But that makes him about 200 times better than that ratty little man Sunak.
A ghastly, shallow, self serving apology of a man that exists to line his own pockets and those the tories support. A max 5%. The economy at best is flatlining. Investment is zero. Everyone bar the wealthy are poorer in just about every way.
Our services and society have been deliberately ripped apart. Our health service is fractured and that’s got nothing to do with the amazing people that work in it. Defence: in the bin. Police: disposed of. Education: not fit for purpose. Justice system: wrecked. International relations: zero.
What ever progress he’s droning on about is just another mealy mouthed lie. They’re good at that. If Sunak tells me it’s January I check the calendar. I wouldn’t trust this lightweight no mark as far as I could volley him.
He has no right to bring Starmer or the Labour mob into this. The disaster that’s befallen this country is down to him and his fellow scumbags alone. What Labour do when these are finally shovelled out can’t be any worse. If all he has left is to campaign on fear, that tells you all about their achievements and non existent plan. Do one Sunak.
Rant over |
Also worth mentioning, more than one person is running the country. There are some horrid people in the cabinet right now. It's not just Sunak vs. Starmer. I'm also not a huge fan of Starmer (or indeed the current Labour party) but when push comes to shove, I'm probably going to vote for the least worst option.
What I'd like is to fix the system that forces us to vote for not who we want, but who we think has a realistic chance of winning wherever we happen to win and then hoping for the best. It's probably not going to happen for a while now though, if at all. The two main parties have too much to lose to change the system.
I'm also very annoyed with the fact that politicians cannot be generally honest with the public about the ramifications of particular decisions they make. There's no joined-up thinking. You mention all those things that have been defunded, partly through austerity but also partly because healthcare and pensions for the elderly are ballooning to an enormous size but nobody wants to have the conversation on how we deal with it.
For a while, we've relied on immigration to plug the gaps and pay taxes that help but now it seems most people want less immigration. That's fine, but we don't incentivize people at all to have children here. I'd quite like to start a family but you cannot easily get by on one income anymore and there is just very little support for people once they've had children. So if we want to rely less on immigration, people need to be able to have children easily and need to be encouraged to do so. It won't happen.
Similar story over in Universities. They get massively defunded and so they turn to the very lucrative foreign market to help pay for the shortfall. Then people get annoyed because that's immigration. What were they supposed to do exactly?
People in my generation struggle to get onto the housing ladder without a loan / gift from their parents and when we complained about it, most of the time we were told "Well in my day, interest rates were 435839453%, you should feel lucky!" missing the point that house prices are so hugely inflated compared to wages that it didn't matter that interest rates were low. Now interest rates are going back to the norm and we still have high prices, so Gen Z are practically locked out.
Meanwhile, we saw a huge amount of wealth during Covid make its way to the top of the pyramid and there are no real plans on how we get any of it back. Can't tax them easily, it is genuinely difficult to do when they can just move money anywhere (helped by the butlers in London who are good at it) but now they can just buy up assets which squeezes the middle class smaller still.
But we don't talk about any of this. We dance around at the edges trying to improve things without wanting to tackle any of the rather systemic issues. I can sympathise a little with the "they are all the same" because the really big issues I just do not see a plan for. Both parties seem to only want to look ahead 4 years because that's when the next election is, anything after that is pointless. And the system rewards them for that style of thinking. There are real differences of course but for the biggest issues, they will not be honest with people about the pros and cons of big policies and they won't try and fix the biggest issues.
I don't think we're alone in these issues, you can see the same thing happening in several places in Europe. I fully believe the far-right parties will do well because they'll offer something different even if their plan is very unlikely to work. After all, it just boils down to "less immigration" without dealing with the other issues that brings. But they'll do well because it's an easy solution to a complex problem, and people like easy solutions.
Thank you for reading my incoherent thoughts. I should do some work now. |  |
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| Well yes, but the problem is.... on 09:26 - Jan 10 with 2020 views | DJR |
| Well yes, but the problem is.... on 20:12 - Jan 9 by Bloots |
....that certain "left wingers" alienate the potential vote from centrists, let alone Tories, by just being so incredibly dismissive of anyone who doesn't sing from exactly the same hymn sheet as them.
This habit of dismissing people quickly turns to abuse, quite often personal.
As we've seen on this forum over the last year or so, the majority of the right wingers that have been banned from here have been banned due to their ridiculous offensive views, but the left wingers that have been banned are usually banned for being abusive and offensive to other posters.
The horrific division in our political system isn't just down to one side. |
As someone of the left, I agree there is no need for personal abuse just because someone has a different view.
Play the ball not the man is my motto. |  | | |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 09:29 - Jan 10 with 2008 views | DJR |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 08:55 - Jan 10 by DanTheMan |
Also worth mentioning, more than one person is running the country. There are some horrid people in the cabinet right now. It's not just Sunak vs. Starmer. I'm also not a huge fan of Starmer (or indeed the current Labour party) but when push comes to shove, I'm probably going to vote for the least worst option.
What I'd like is to fix the system that forces us to vote for not who we want, but who we think has a realistic chance of winning wherever we happen to win and then hoping for the best. It's probably not going to happen for a while now though, if at all. The two main parties have too much to lose to change the system.
I'm also very annoyed with the fact that politicians cannot be generally honest with the public about the ramifications of particular decisions they make. There's no joined-up thinking. You mention all those things that have been defunded, partly through austerity but also partly because healthcare and pensions for the elderly are ballooning to an enormous size but nobody wants to have the conversation on how we deal with it.
For a while, we've relied on immigration to plug the gaps and pay taxes that help but now it seems most people want less immigration. That's fine, but we don't incentivize people at all to have children here. I'd quite like to start a family but you cannot easily get by on one income anymore and there is just very little support for people once they've had children. So if we want to rely less on immigration, people need to be able to have children easily and need to be encouraged to do so. It won't happen.
Similar story over in Universities. They get massively defunded and so they turn to the very lucrative foreign market to help pay for the shortfall. Then people get annoyed because that's immigration. What were they supposed to do exactly?
People in my generation struggle to get onto the housing ladder without a loan / gift from their parents and when we complained about it, most of the time we were told "Well in my day, interest rates were 435839453%, you should feel lucky!" missing the point that house prices are so hugely inflated compared to wages that it didn't matter that interest rates were low. Now interest rates are going back to the norm and we still have high prices, so Gen Z are practically locked out.
Meanwhile, we saw a huge amount of wealth during Covid make its way to the top of the pyramid and there are no real plans on how we get any of it back. Can't tax them easily, it is genuinely difficult to do when they can just move money anywhere (helped by the butlers in London who are good at it) but now they can just buy up assets which squeezes the middle class smaller still.
But we don't talk about any of this. We dance around at the edges trying to improve things without wanting to tackle any of the rather systemic issues. I can sympathise a little with the "they are all the same" because the really big issues I just do not see a plan for. Both parties seem to only want to look ahead 4 years because that's when the next election is, anything after that is pointless. And the system rewards them for that style of thinking. There are real differences of course but for the biggest issues, they will not be honest with people about the pros and cons of big policies and they won't try and fix the biggest issues.
I don't think we're alone in these issues, you can see the same thing happening in several places in Europe. I fully believe the far-right parties will do well because they'll offer something different even if their plan is very unlikely to work. After all, it just boils down to "less immigration" without dealing with the other issues that brings. But they'll do well because it's an easy solution to a complex problem, and people like easy solutions.
Thank you for reading my incoherent thoughts. I should do some work now. |
Not incoherent at all. In fact, I'd agree with everything you say. | | | |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 09:38 - Jan 10 with 1990 views | DJR |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 11:26 - Jan 9 by ChampionsofInnsbruck |
I know you are a hardened Labour supporter, but myself as a disillusioned middle grounder can't see much difference been Starmer and Sunak in all honesty. |
As someone of the left, I would agree with you. A big part of the problem is that it is focus groups, rather than political principles, that appear to determine Labour policies these days. But there is also the fact that both parties believe in the current economic system, where private provision of public services and low taxation are the default position. And Labour are increasingly mimicking the Tories even on social issues.
Take energy as an example. Bills include the cost of the bailout of various failed energy companies as well as the arrears of customers who can't afford to pay their bills. It is clearly an artificial and failed market but Labour's only answer is supposedly better regulation. [Post edited 10 Jan 2024 10:40]
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| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 09:45 - Jan 10 with 1970 views | Pinewoodblue |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 08:55 - Jan 10 by DanTheMan |
Also worth mentioning, more than one person is running the country. There are some horrid people in the cabinet right now. It's not just Sunak vs. Starmer. I'm also not a huge fan of Starmer (or indeed the current Labour party) but when push comes to shove, I'm probably going to vote for the least worst option.
What I'd like is to fix the system that forces us to vote for not who we want, but who we think has a realistic chance of winning wherever we happen to win and then hoping for the best. It's probably not going to happen for a while now though, if at all. The two main parties have too much to lose to change the system.
I'm also very annoyed with the fact that politicians cannot be generally honest with the public about the ramifications of particular decisions they make. There's no joined-up thinking. You mention all those things that have been defunded, partly through austerity but also partly because healthcare and pensions for the elderly are ballooning to an enormous size but nobody wants to have the conversation on how we deal with it.
For a while, we've relied on immigration to plug the gaps and pay taxes that help but now it seems most people want less immigration. That's fine, but we don't incentivize people at all to have children here. I'd quite like to start a family but you cannot easily get by on one income anymore and there is just very little support for people once they've had children. So if we want to rely less on immigration, people need to be able to have children easily and need to be encouraged to do so. It won't happen.
Similar story over in Universities. They get massively defunded and so they turn to the very lucrative foreign market to help pay for the shortfall. Then people get annoyed because that's immigration. What were they supposed to do exactly?
People in my generation struggle to get onto the housing ladder without a loan / gift from their parents and when we complained about it, most of the time we were told "Well in my day, interest rates were 435839453%, you should feel lucky!" missing the point that house prices are so hugely inflated compared to wages that it didn't matter that interest rates were low. Now interest rates are going back to the norm and we still have high prices, so Gen Z are practically locked out.
Meanwhile, we saw a huge amount of wealth during Covid make its way to the top of the pyramid and there are no real plans on how we get any of it back. Can't tax them easily, it is genuinely difficult to do when they can just move money anywhere (helped by the butlers in London who are good at it) but now they can just buy up assets which squeezes the middle class smaller still.
But we don't talk about any of this. We dance around at the edges trying to improve things without wanting to tackle any of the rather systemic issues. I can sympathise a little with the "they are all the same" because the really big issues I just do not see a plan for. Both parties seem to only want to look ahead 4 years because that's when the next election is, anything after that is pointless. And the system rewards them for that style of thinking. There are real differences of course but for the biggest issues, they will not be honest with people about the pros and cons of big policies and they won't try and fix the biggest issues.
I don't think we're alone in these issues, you can see the same thing happening in several places in Europe. I fully believe the far-right parties will do well because they'll offer something different even if their plan is very unlikely to work. After all, it just boils down to "less immigration" without dealing with the other issues that brings. But they'll do well because it's an easy solution to a complex problem, and people like easy solutions.
Thank you for reading my incoherent thoughts. I should do some work now. |
Good analysis of the situation. There are too many areas where it is difficult to see the difference. Both want to increase government revenue by growing the economy but can anyone explain how either of them intend to do it?
We have just seen a reduction in National Insurance rate. Yesterday Starmer said he wanted to reduce the tax burden on working people so presumably he wants to do the same. Yet we need to spend more on NHS
If you only take a passing interest in politics it really is not easy to tell the difference. You don’t make promises you don’t think you can keep as they will come back and bite you next election, and priority seems to be always winning the next election.
I know very few people not looking forward to the next election. Suppose Phil & Gav are not looking forward to the nastiness on here an election will generate. |  |
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| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 09:57 - Jan 10 with 1949 views | baxterbasics |
I would just see Sunak as another bland do-nothing Blair/Cameron tribute act. Nothing there to inspire me to vote for his party, even though I have done so every GE. However he was also right in the thick of atrocious Covid policies which have broken us for a generation. Starmer? Fully expect he will win a small working majority. I see nothing to suggest we will get much different in terms of overall direction. If he can manage to lead a regime that is at least slightly more competent, slightly less corrupt than the last, that's an improvement I guess. But neither party will get my vote. Will check out the individual offerings from the other candidates and vote based on that. |  |
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| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 10:14 - Jan 10 with 1919 views | oldbeardy |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 09:45 - Jan 10 by Pinewoodblue |
Good analysis of the situation. There are too many areas where it is difficult to see the difference. Both want to increase government revenue by growing the economy but can anyone explain how either of them intend to do it?
We have just seen a reduction in National Insurance rate. Yesterday Starmer said he wanted to reduce the tax burden on working people so presumably he wants to do the same. Yet we need to spend more on NHS
If you only take a passing interest in politics it really is not easy to tell the difference. You don’t make promises you don’t think you can keep as they will come back and bite you next election, and priority seems to be always winning the next election.
I know very few people not looking forward to the next election. Suppose Phil & Gav are not looking forward to the nastiness on here an election will generate. |
It would be so much better wouldn't it if we had a proper explanation of the choices available re tax, and where that burden would fall, and set against that the options on spending - perhaps matched up against other broadly similar countries (eg straightforward metrics like numbers of hospital beds, etc etc). The UK has generally been a relatively low tax country compared with some others, eg some european countries, and yet we want public services that look more like those in traditionally higher tax countries. Politicians on all sides rarely if ever give us choices backed by detailed implementation plans, they just end up promising a better future without very much being specified on the plans to get there. Presumably because they know that there are always "losers" from significant change. Perhaps also because their ability to effect real change is so much more limited than they pretend it is. I have some sympathy for them - I've met and worked with quite a lot of Ministers from both main parties and with one or two exceptions generally found them to be well-intentioned, decent and hard working. That said, and as someone very much in the middle ground politically, there's just no way I could vote for the current lot after all that has happened. No trust left at all | | | |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 19:26 - Jan 10 with 1785 views | Swansea_Blue |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 08:55 - Jan 10 by DanTheMan |
Also worth mentioning, more than one person is running the country. There are some horrid people in the cabinet right now. It's not just Sunak vs. Starmer. I'm also not a huge fan of Starmer (or indeed the current Labour party) but when push comes to shove, I'm probably going to vote for the least worst option.
What I'd like is to fix the system that forces us to vote for not who we want, but who we think has a realistic chance of winning wherever we happen to win and then hoping for the best. It's probably not going to happen for a while now though, if at all. The two main parties have too much to lose to change the system.
I'm also very annoyed with the fact that politicians cannot be generally honest with the public about the ramifications of particular decisions they make. There's no joined-up thinking. You mention all those things that have been defunded, partly through austerity but also partly because healthcare and pensions for the elderly are ballooning to an enormous size but nobody wants to have the conversation on how we deal with it.
For a while, we've relied on immigration to plug the gaps and pay taxes that help but now it seems most people want less immigration. That's fine, but we don't incentivize people at all to have children here. I'd quite like to start a family but you cannot easily get by on one income anymore and there is just very little support for people once they've had children. So if we want to rely less on immigration, people need to be able to have children easily and need to be encouraged to do so. It won't happen.
Similar story over in Universities. They get massively defunded and so they turn to the very lucrative foreign market to help pay for the shortfall. Then people get annoyed because that's immigration. What were they supposed to do exactly?
People in my generation struggle to get onto the housing ladder without a loan / gift from their parents and when we complained about it, most of the time we were told "Well in my day, interest rates were 435839453%, you should feel lucky!" missing the point that house prices are so hugely inflated compared to wages that it didn't matter that interest rates were low. Now interest rates are going back to the norm and we still have high prices, so Gen Z are practically locked out.
Meanwhile, we saw a huge amount of wealth during Covid make its way to the top of the pyramid and there are no real plans on how we get any of it back. Can't tax them easily, it is genuinely difficult to do when they can just move money anywhere (helped by the butlers in London who are good at it) but now they can just buy up assets which squeezes the middle class smaller still.
But we don't talk about any of this. We dance around at the edges trying to improve things without wanting to tackle any of the rather systemic issues. I can sympathise a little with the "they are all the same" because the really big issues I just do not see a plan for. Both parties seem to only want to look ahead 4 years because that's when the next election is, anything after that is pointless. And the system rewards them for that style of thinking. There are real differences of course but for the biggest issues, they will not be honest with people about the pros and cons of big policies and they won't try and fix the biggest issues.
I don't think we're alone in these issues, you can see the same thing happening in several places in Europe. I fully believe the far-right parties will do well because they'll offer something different even if their plan is very unlikely to work. After all, it just boils down to "less immigration" without dealing with the other issues that brings. But they'll do well because it's an easy solution to a complex problem, and people like easy solutions.
Thank you for reading my incoherent thoughts. I should do some work now. |
Logged in to give this an uppy. 👍 | |
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| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 09:40 - Jan 11 with 1683 views | backwaywhen |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 11:26 - Jan 9 by ChampionsofInnsbruck |
I know you are a hardened Labour supporter, but myself as a disillusioned middle grounder can't see much difference been Starmer and Sunak in all honesty. |
I can …..Starmer would be and is far worse ! ……..weasel comes to mind. | | | |
| I see "BigAlHunter" throwing his downvotes.... on 10:13 - Jan 11 with 1652 views | Bloots |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 08:23 - Jan 10 by GlasgowBlue |
So [redacted], [redacted], [redacted] and [redacted], no longer of this parish, were shy Tories? That Tory support simply manifested itself as slavish devotion to the the independent MP for Islington North. |
....around again.
We can see you "Al".
Funny. | |
| "The sooner he comes back the better, this place has been a disaster without him" - TWTD User (July 2025) |
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| I see "BigAlHunter" throwing his downvotes.... on 10:33 - Jan 11 with 1627 views | GlasgowBlue |
| I see "BigAlHunter" throwing his downvotes.... on 10:13 - Jan 11 by Bloots |
....around again.
We can see you "Al".
Funny. |
Big Al is a Poundland DaveU. | |
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| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 11:06 - Jan 11 with 1598 views | OldFart71 |
Both leading Parties will have those with half a brain cell believe it's them that will take us forward, they will promise to rebuild Britain and makes us all better off. The NHS will be everything to everyone and you will all be able to access NHS dentists. Don't for one minute believe any of them. In 10,20 or 30 years time unless investment is made on producing goods that the UK and the World requires. We stop selling our best and up and coming technology to other Countries we will remain a Country stumbling along with thousands of houses built, but roads full of potholes. No extra facilities to service these developments. Villages turned into Towns and Towns into Cities. I won't be voting, which will be probably the first time in over 50 years as I have absolutely no faith in any Party or politicians. | | | |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 16:48 - Jan 11 with 1522 views | Nthsuffolkblue |
| I'm not that this is quite the threat he thinks it is. on 11:06 - Jan 11 by OldFart71 |
Both leading Parties will have those with half a brain cell believe it's them that will take us forward, they will promise to rebuild Britain and makes us all better off. The NHS will be everything to everyone and you will all be able to access NHS dentists. Don't for one minute believe any of them. In 10,20 or 30 years time unless investment is made on producing goods that the UK and the World requires. We stop selling our best and up and coming technology to other Countries we will remain a Country stumbling along with thousands of houses built, but roads full of potholes. No extra facilities to service these developments. Villages turned into Towns and Towns into Cities. I won't be voting, which will be probably the first time in over 50 years as I have absolutely no faith in any Party or politicians. |
I get that neither party is offering real investment but the Conservatives philosophy is always low tax, low services. At least Labour has a principle of taxation and provision of services. Why not at least vote for a party that would offer better investment even if the candidate can't win? The more people who do that, the more those who stand have to take notice. Even going and deliberately spoiling your ballot paper sends a message. I have done that in a local election when no one canvassed where I lived when I was a student. | |
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| I thought that button was for indicating your disagreement with a post..? on 17:15 - Jan 11 with 1502 views | Bigalhunter |
| I see "BigAlHunter" throwing his downvotes.... on 10:13 - Jan 11 by Bloots |
....around again.
We can see you "Al".
Funny. |
If it’s any comfort I did use my right leaning finger to indicate my opinion..
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