Corbyns losing it on triedebt right?

[fuckwitery]

Or AIBU? re question time special.

And I think hesitating on what you'd do with Trident shows you're engaging with the question. Anyone who blithely says they'd press that button and kill a load of innocent people is either lying, stupid, a sociopath, or two of the above.

I'm not even voting Corbyn. But I'd vote Corbyn all day before I would Theresa May. Competent? She doesn't even understand the Brexit leaving arrangements - either that, or she's lying about them in an attempt to scare people away from Corbyn. Not sure which makes her more unsuited to govern, quite frankly. Thank the Lord we have such a good senior civil service to bail politicians out.

I don't understand why you keep bringing this up

Nuclear weapons are supposed to deter. Against what? If Russia invaded Germany, would we nuke them? Would we threaten to nuke them?

They are potentially a deterrence against someone nuking us. Are they a deterrent against small actions that escalate piece by piece.

Do they deter against 'small wars'?

I almost wanted Corbyn to explain what happens to a country, to its actual human citizens, when you press the nuclear button.

What sort of people are we?

We are very frightened as a nation that we would goad a reasonable intelligent politician to say Oh hell yes I'd nuke them.

I can't stand May. Is she Prime Minister because she cares about anybody? Or because it's a fantastic ego opportunity for her. She makes me sick.

A couple of posters have said he didn't answer the questions. I completely disagree. He even asked clarification questions to ensure he could. May's answers were barely in the right area never mind answering the question.

I also agree that it was a waste of good question time - as he was really answering the questions rather than speaking off a script - constantly asking him to commit when and if he'd use nuclear weapons in a hypothetical scenario.

And I like the fact he stands by saying he wouldn't destroy the world as we know it first. That he's commuted to building bridges in the world - he's clearing learnt something from the Iraq War documents.

I thought that lady in the audience was spot on and she seemed quite tearful to me?

All that time we could have been discussing the things that will immediately affect us - education and social care and policing wasted on a hypothetical 'if'.

And I blame Piers Morgan as that's about the only thing he will discuss with labour!

At the same time, Russia threatens that it will use nuclear weapons if NATO troops invade Crimea.

If someone is threatening you with nuclear weapons, you can't really threaten them back with retaliation? Knowing it will escalate.

So the West's nuclear weapons aren't going to help in most wars and they can't be used as a threat to countries that threaten to use them against you.

The lady in the audience annoyed me sorry, "My husband was deported as he was too highly educated".

Bollocks. I'd translate that as "my husband was deported as he was an eternal student and never actually earned enough to fit the bill for a visa" and Corbyn would just let him stay, he'd reduce the level of income required to stay.

We'll end up with lots of eternal students and not enough workers to bleed dry.

SilverdaleGlen - I thought that was strange too. Also, I would guess that the reason why she hasn't joined her DH in the US is because he doesn't earn enough over there for their spouse visa requirements either.

Engineers

Silver

.....exactly!

Let May was shockingly bad be her election epitaph. actually more of snort...

Seriously wtf do we need trident for? Expensive and lethal for everyone.

Education: if everyone goes to university then that effectively makes an undergrad degree a requirement for an entry level post that previously required GCSE's (it's what happened under the last Labour government when they last put that idea forward) it devalues education when it's meant to be a way for employers to choose suitable candidates and skill people for the workforce

Sorry had to skip to the end with this absurd comment. Do you not realise that that is the way all over the world? So you want to keep UK citizens uneducated while the rest of the world are getting Masters and Phds? I live in Mexico and we have so many people with Masters and Phds that an ordinary Bachelor's Degree does not cut the ice anymore.

Oh and by the way, here in Mexico, public universities are either free or minimal fees with the National University being among the top universities in the world.

I think his stance on Trident is very clear and humane. That stance has probably won him a large number of decent voters tonight who actually understand what it is like to nuke and how big a mistake it will be for the whole world.

Agree with valentine and op, YABU. He was more impressive, professional and decent than I had expected.

Nuclear weapons are the absolute, ultimate last resort and I pray we never get there.

Frankie Boyle tweet:
All the average British punter wants is to be paid less than £10 an hour and be incinerated in a nuclear holocaust, and good luck to em

Frankie Boyle tweet:
All the average British punter wants is to be paid less than £10 an hour and be incinerated in a nuclear holocaust, and good luck to em

He would be ok. Shite doesn't burn.

She came in and blew the emotional thinkers dog whistle to save him. He doesn't make sense on trident and frankly disagreeing with jc on trident does not mean you are keen on killing millions of people but hey it makes a TV point so who cares if it's right. What sensationalist, absolutist rot.

'PlayOnWurtz

Education: if everyone goes to university then that effectively makes an undergrad degree a requirement for an entry level post that previously required GCSE's (it's what happened under the last Labour government when they last put that idea forward) it devalues education when it's meant to be a way for employers to choose suitable candidates and skill people for the workforce.'

Haven't read the full thread, just wanted to comment on this. The policy is about ensuring everyone with the ability has the opportunity to go to university, not everyone who feels like it. And that's as it should be, a person's education should not be limited by their financial circumstances. And no, universities don't exist to help employers choose candidates, education is an end in itself and the fact that it has become commodotised is a sad reflection on the the values of our society.

I felt that JC was awesome last night, TM looked nervous, she's just not a good public speaker.

With regards to the Trident question I think I'd be more worried about someone who had a cavalier approach to nuclear war. Trident is a waste of time we should decommission and use the money to fund all the other issues, if anyone feels that strongly about it they can have a phone in to raise the money, a bit like Children in Need but for killing people.

If we were under a genuine nuclear threat, we'd all be doomed anyway and wouldn't have very long to feel jolly about whether we were sending nukes back at 'em (and also our nuclear deterrent wouldn't have been much of a deterrent, then, would it?).

If we weren't under a genuine nuclear threat, that would mean we would be nuking somebody who hadn't nuked us first (which personally I find horrific and repellent), who would presumably escalate by nuking us back (unless they didn't have nukes, in which case WTF would we be nuking them?).

Either way, by the time it comes to that, and ICBMs are busily traversing the stratosphere, the whole planet would be ending up a giant radioactive cinder. If the British PM were willing to gung-ho red-facedly press the red button, that would just make the whole planet a giant even more radioactive cinder.

Daily Mail says that Corbyn will not defend UK against a nuclear attack.

If we have been attacked by a nuclear weapon, then we aren't defending ourselves. We're merely retaliating after we've been killed.

We would have conventional war, first - the nuclear bit would happen after we'd pretty much destroyed the planet already. By that point, tbf, I think those in the middle of the nuclear blast would be the lucky ones. Nuclear weapons don't even deter lunatics from making their own nuclear weapons and testing them. North Korea knows we don't want to use nuclear weapons to stop it making nuclear weapons, and we definitely can't use them without dragging other countries into a war, including those that would otherwise have been on our side - you would have to be a completely mad fuckwit to use a weapon that pollutes within days the otherwise uninvolved countries all around the one you targeted. Nuclear weapons are evil, as is anyone willing to strike first - evil and mad. We have enough radioactivity around us, already - it even affects the strength of the steel we can make, helps date things, etc. Human beings are so stupid, they really are, but only the truly mad ones are that stupid.

Yes Prime Minister on pressing the button

Somebody posted a comment here last night. A rather spirited one. I think I will post it for the sheer fun of it.

FFS! There is zero point in us having a nuclear deterrent. If someone else presses the button, we all die. If we press the button, we all die.Vote for whoever you want. If you get blown up...... There will be no one left to blame.I don't give a rats ass how many cardiologist submarines you have.

Made my weekend really.