General Election 2024

[Stephen]

I like the idea but will believe it when I see it. The yoof won’t like that.

Conservatives plan to bring back mandatory national service https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpddxy9r4mdo

[david63]

will believe it when I see it. The yoof won’t like that.

Don't worry - the civil liberty brigade will soon put a stop to that idea

[Mervyn and Trish]

Can't do that. Affect my mental elf.

[Onelife]

Sounds like a last-ditch attempt to bring the country together… one which gets a thumbs up from me…that being said it should be a minimum of two years’ service as one year won’t be enough to give them a sence of duty to their country.

Shoot the conscientious objectors.

[Onelife]

If the labour party want to enhance their chances further, they should ditch that bloody parrot (Rayner) who follows Starmer everywhere he goes.

[david63]

ditch that bloody parrot (Rayner) who follows Starmer everywhere he goes.

And always looks miserable

[Chalgrave4]

Send the objectors to Rwanda - plenty of unused flights, and there must be accommodation out there not being used.

[Onelife]

You would look miserable if you had to recite your campaign speeches over and over again and yet still come across as if you're reading from an autocue.

She along with Emily Thornberry do my head in.

[towny44]

I like the idea but will believe it when I see it. The yoof won’t like that.

Conservatives plan to bring back mandatory national service https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpddxy9r4mdo

Its possibly a ploy to mask the increasing youth unemployment figures.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Curiously they said today those who don't comform won't be sent to.prison. So is it optional then or will the penalty be a fine, disqualification from benefits (my preferred option), a public flogging or execution?

We certainly need something to break the cycle of finish school and straight onto benefits as a life choice.

[oldbluefox]

Emily Thornberry
Could say the same about a good many of them - turncoats from Corbyn's Shadow Cabinet.

[Stephen]

I can see the rich brats parents buying them out of it with some lame excuse of ‘oh Rupert has an ailment’…….yeah, it’s called lazyitis.

[david63]

So, according to Rachael Reeves

"Labour has said there will be no rises in income tax or National Insurance if it wins the general election"

Does anyone believe that? Perhaps not immediately but I bet they do at some point, especially for the higher paid.

[Mervyn and Trish]

They'll just put VAT up to 50%.

[Stephen]

They’re all the same, promise you this and that and then back track once they get in.

[oldbluefox]

It's not what they say that matters. It's what they don't tell you and you only find that out when they get in.
I certainly wouldn't trust Starmer and his cronies but the Tories are such a mess it's almost inevitable.

[Mervyn and Trish]

It's not what they say that matters. It's what they don't tell you and you only find that out when they get in.
I certainly wouldn't trust Starmer and his cronies but the Tories are such a mess it's almost inevitable.

I agree on all points. When Starmer tells us the Labour Party has changed he doesn't say what from - Bliar's Labour or Corbyn's Labour - and he doesn't say what into.

At the moment I still have no idea. Everything he talks about are laudable ambitions - best economy in the G7, improved NHS - blah blah. But not a single detail on how that will be achieved.

But as you say the Tories have got themselves into a mess so I think the outcome is inevitable. It's the size of the majority that we don't know. And I would add that sadly the candidates other than Labour and Tory are irrelevant. No-one else will get the seats to form a government. A vote for anyone other than the Tories is in practice a vote for Labour. So we might as well choose between the two. And at the moment I still haven't decided.

[Stephen]

It always end as a contest between Labour and the conservatives.

Like Merv I’m undecided.

[Onelife]

It's not what they say that matters. It's what they don't tell you and you only find that out when they get in.
I certainly wouldn't trust Starmer and his cronies but the Tories are such a mess it's almost inevitable.

I agree on all points. When Starmer tells us the Labour Party has changed he doesn't say what from - Bliar's Labour or Corbyn's Labour - and he doesn't say what into.

At the moment I still have no idea. Everything he talks about are laudable ambitions - best economy in the G7, improved NHS - blah blah. But not a single detail on how that will be achieved.

But as you say the Tories have got themselves into a mess so I think the outcome is inevitable. It's the size of the majority that we don't know. And I would add that sadly the candidates other than Labour and Tory are irrelevant. No-one else will get the seats to form a government. A vote for anyone other than the Tories is in practice a vote for Labour. So we might as well choose between the two. And at the moment I still haven't decided.

Steady on Sir Merv, you’ll have some thinking our political system is broken

[david63]

Everything he talks about are laudable ambitions - best economy in the G7, improved NHS - blah blah. But not a single detail on how that will be achieved.

And he, through Rachael Reeves, has already said that he is not going to increase income tax or NI - so where is the money going to come from?

There are only three ways that any government can "balance the books" - increase taxation (or other revenue streams), reduce spending or increase borrowing. The first two are an anathema to the Labour Party so that only leaves one other option!

[Onelife]

Racheal Reeves has said she will “borrow to invest” which on the face it sounds a sensible way forward, but knowing where, when and how much to invest has often been the downfall of many a chancellor. Investment in the private sector may be the way forward but it can only work for the country if she has a grasp of how profit is going to be distributed fairly…if past experiences are anything to go by the government has little or no control, with companies using every loophole not to pay their fair share while creaming of vast profits for themselves.

[Ray B]

It's not what they say that matters. It's what they don't tell you and you only find that out when they get in.
I certainly wouldn't trust Starmer and his cronies but the Tories are such a mess it's almost inevitable.

It certainly worked to hoodwink the voter over Brexit. British voters believed the £350 million claim we gave Brussels would be used for the NHS.
After finding out that we didn't infact send that amount, we were out.
Since coming out of Europe the NHS funding has increased, but it was the £350m that voters hung on to when they voted .

[Ray B]

That is definitely going to play on the minds of the youngsters. The idea of having to get up at crack of sparrows and make your own bed plus fold and tidy their clothes, that's not nice.

[david63]

Racheal Reeves has said she will “borrow to invest”

That is just the typical Labour mantra - borrow, borrow, borrow. The country is mortgaged up to the hilt already so there is not that much scope to borrow more.

[oldbluefox]

It certainly worked to hoodwink the voter over Brexit. British voters believed the £350 million claim we gave Brussels would be used for the NHS.
After finding out that we didn't infact send that amount, we were out.
Since coming out of Europe the NHS funding has increased, but it was the £350m that voters hung on to when they voted .

Really? That's how Remainers like to interpret the £350 million claim.
As I see it any money we spent on our membership of the EU could be better spent elsewhere, including the NHS.
I'm very happy not to be subsidising their monthly jaunt to Alsace to stock up their wine stocks.