To not understand how you can vote Tory after watching this

[Kimonolady]

Not trying to be goady. Not trying to start a fight.
This video truly shocked me to the core and I actually found it hard to finish.
If you're planning on voting Conservative - has this video given you pause for thought? Is there a way you can explain your choice in light of it? Genuinely curious.
Video is at the top of the page (article worth reading too.)
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/30/disabled-readers-austerity-disability-cuts

of course you're trying to be goady. Why not just let people choose who they would like to vote for, instead of attaching a link and asking people to watch it, and then explain to you WHY they (still) want to vote for the Tory party? Bizarre.

ToastDemon ahhhh got it!! Sorry, thread moves so quickly!

shinyredbus Read the thread and you'll find that's not the case.

Though I'm a labour voter (actually a lib dem now but they have no chance in my area), something that really turns me off is the almost evangelical fever that had gripped some within the party. It's one of the reasons I left.

I don't think any party is going to fix everything. I'd rather not have to vote for JC, however I will because I believe that a tory outcome is worse than a JC one. Others won't agree.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe chin up, it could be worse - just look at what's going on the US...
Thanks for your response, I totally agree with you. It's good to have genuine dialogue about political views, but it just turns to name calling and accusations so quickly. I think the truth is that the vast majority of the country aren't convinced by any party, and just vote for the "least worst". But we feel this need to make it a really "us v them" situation. Helps nobody.

Kimonolady, Im sure you are posting through genuine curiosity but until you actually have to live with a "forever disability" it is hard to understand the mentality you have to adopt of thinking far into the future and what will happen when Im gone etc.

Most of the mums and dads of disabled children I know just want stability (and I would vote for any government that could provide it) My child may never go to university, have a full time job or buy a house, I need the money available and the electorate willing to fund my daughters care long term.

For perspective, I have been through the stress of being assessed and saw some permanent consequences. A couple of things about that.

1. Even though this can have some terribLe effects, I don't accept the premise that there is the intent there to hurt or kill people maliciously, that is a very obvious lie that is easy to believe if you are looking to believe it, and the numbers justify, entirely, assessing people. When you say this, you put people off because you are quite obviously wilfully misrepresenting it as the 21st century resurgence of the nazis.

1. The first time I was assessed, with all of the deep unpleasantness that involves, it was under a Labour government

Kimonolady - I have bought my son up through both a Labour government and a Conservative government. I can only speak of my own experience but, through that time I have had to fight on just about everything, particularly education and NHS services. It really has made little difference who was at the helm at the time - it's a battle.

I have also seen the deterioration of the NHS over the last 10/15 plus years because it has been hugely mismanaged over this time and just throwing money at it is not going to sort it out. Again It doesn't matter what party has been in charge. I personally think the NHS is almost at the point where it can't be fixed.

I will vote conservative because JC and the Labour Party do not fill me with any hope that things will get better. There is no way that the Country can afford what's in their manifesto and I think if he were PM along with Diane Abbott et al they would be out of their depth, at the moment they are doing a good job at talking the talk but I don't think they can walk the walk. So for me it's better the devil you know.

littlehandcuffs Your posts on this thread have really given me pause for thought and shown me an entirely new point of view. You're right, long term disability isn't something I've experienced personally, so I think I've approached issues in a very different way to you. Thank you for showing me that.

I must admit to hoping that IF Labour win, Yvette Cooper becomes Home Secretary, and not Diane Abbott.

metspengler Thanks for sharing your experiences. I assist with PIP and ESA appeals as part of my job, and given how often decisions are reversed at appeal it does make me feel that there is something systemic... I've represented far too many clients who've been awarded nothing, only to go through mandatory reconsideration and then finally to appeal and be awarded not just ESA, but the highest rate of ESA. If they hadn't had the support of my agency, would they have been successful in their appeal, or even gone for an appeal? Possibly not. It makes me feel like there is a tendency to refuse awards initially, on the basis that a lot of people won't or can't appeal since they lack the capability - so money saved. But maybe that's the conspiracy theorist in me!!

time4chocolate thanks a lot for that response, it was really interesting. Your comment on "better the devil you know" is a little like what I said earlier - most people choose the "least worst" option. What a shame we're in this situation.

Oh yes Jeremy is going to make the poor rich, stop all terrorism by being everyone's best friend, rescue the NHS, build everyone a home, give everyone a job, feed all our children, Get all members of the EU to agree to a fantabulous Brexit, nationalise everything so the trains run on time

Rumbled, almost an exact copy of the tripe dished out by The Mail.
It would be laughable, if it wasn't so predictable

Kimonolady i don't think it's a conspiracy, just a rotten contract. The private company pays for the assessment, the DWP pays for the appeal. There is a major financial incentive to do the first assessment as quickly as possible and absolutely no incentive to get it right. If you're left you blame the private sector involvement. If you're right wing perhaps you blame bureaucrats negotiating commercial contracts.

annandale I think you've hit the nail on the head.
I thought the point of privatisation was that increased competition led to better results for stakeholders? The lack of accountability really worries me.

People vote Tory because the media is more forgiving of them.

Labour happened to be in power when there was a world banking crisis = Labour is shit with the economy.

The Tories historically borrow more and pay back less = media doesn't make a peep.

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/03/13/the-conservatives-have-been-the-biggest-borrowers-over-the-last-70-years/

Anyone voting Conservative to help the economy in the long run is blinkered by media bias.

I dont really like any party at the moment but am leaning towards tory. I am concerned with the idea that labour are going to make all these amazing benefits available to everyone and no one will ever be poor or without ever again. We don't live in a Disney film and the reality is simply 'where is all this money going to come from?'. It's like those pyramid schemes where you think everyone will become rich but at the end of the pyramid someone will lose. I've not read every post on this thread so I apologise if I've missed a response to this already.

; ) You are welcome, it is not easy to make the choices when they are not for you, I can only hope I make the right ones for my family and I respect that everyone is doing the same. I believe in democracy.

Because it's the Grauny. It's incredibly biased and hates the Tories. I don't trust it.

No gillybeanz I did not copy it from DM Im just sat here listening to the great man himself...

Iwannapuppy I feel the same but don't really want to vote Tory. It is why I am so pissed off with the Labour Party and I don't rate Tim Farron and Libdems much.

captain

My fil reads that crap in the mail, I saw it on a visit.
Apologies if it's your thoughts straight from the heart.

I just watched question time he done well actually saying where it would all come from.

It is so annoying to be told that people who don't like corbyn are being led by the daily mail. I am a life long Labour voter, I loathe Corbyn and what he has done to the Labour party. I have never read the daily mail. It is a cult and I fear left wing cults as much as I fear right wing ones.

I probably would have voted for labour if it weren't for the hero-worship for Jeremy Corbyn. To some he is the new messiah. Just like those loons who get Nigel Farage tattooed on themselves.

Actually I've got a lot of time for both Corbyn and Farage.

Why?

Because both of them have their colours nailed firmly to the mast. Wha you see is what you get. They make no secret of their political views and what and who they are.

I've had countless arguments with my boyfriend who loathes Corbyn with a vengeance, because I don't see what there is about him that deserves the vitriol he gets from some quarter. Do I think he'd make a great prime minister? Do I fuck. I think he'd be utterly useless. But I don't dislike the man and I honestly think his politics come from the heart, it's just that I don't happen to agree with him.

Likewise, I know he's the anti-Christ on here, but Farage had a political belief and a mission, he gave up his job and pursued it for two decades. When Farage comes on the telly, speaks, comments .. you know exactly what you are getting. And I too, absolutely loathe the EU institution with a vengeance (not the intent behind it but the institution itself) so therefore I have some affinity with Farage also. You might not agree with either of them, but you have no doubt who they are and what they represent.

It's the slimy duplicitous politicians who pretend to be something they aren't that make my hackles rise, whether they be left wing, right wing, or anywhere in between. Unfortunately most of those are huddling around the centre and purporting to be 'liberal'.