to wonder why Corbyn isn't more popular considering the battering Theresa May/the Tories is getting?

[mothertruck3r]

The Tories/Theresa May have been getting an absolute kicking in the press recently (rightly deserved) and every day there seems to be a new controversy. May seems completely inefficient and doesn't seem to know whether she is coming or going (literally).

However, I am surprised that Corbyn/Labour is not polling higher. On all the polls I have looked at his rating seems to be either equal to, very slightly above or very slightly below May. He should be well out in front at this point.

I am not a Corbyn/Labour fan (although agree with a lot of their policies) but I am wondering why is he not polling better?

Well you see it in the crowds don't you? The faces don't lie. People who see hope....something they haven't for so long. People who hear someone addressing the things that matter to them: healthcare - they may be sick or disabled, working conditions - we all know things aren't right, are they? The education of their children, the care of an ageing relative.

These are real issues, not "pie-in-the-sky". Public safety. Housing.

These things seem like afterthoughts to the Tory.

That's just what you want to be taken seriously on the world stage, esp outside the EU. Worn jumpers and cups of tea!!

Give it up, make. It's so obvious you work for the Tory party, the reverse psychology is painful!!

Flossie are you a brexiter or a remained? Just pondering why you went toey rather than green or liberal.

Give it up, make. It's so obvious you work for the Tory party, the reverse psychology is painful!!

I go to the marches. I stood in the rain a while back. It was a meeting about austerity, sponsored by a wonderful group called the People's Assembly.

We were not a pretty crowd. Wheelchairs and walkers. People with bad teeth, and yes old jumpers. But it is heartening to know that someone is listening. Because the Tories aren't at all.

I am a believer. I believe people are important. Not just rich people. I believe work is important, and workers.

The gap between rich and poor is widening, the 1% has had a very good recession. The Conservative Party is doing absolutely nothing for regular people at all. Just blundering along with no-plan Brexit.

If it's not Jeremy, then it will be someone else. But we have to stop this. Peaceful, democratic change.

And what kind of party targets first the sick? The Disabled? The ill? The poor?

What does its say when that is who you go after first?

I am a believer. I believe people are important. Not just rich people. I believe work is important, and workers.

Nawwwwww. Bless.

I went on marches. I went to meetings in freezing assembly halls. I listened to rhetoric and awkward umming and ahhing. I thought things were going to change for the better.

I'm better now.

I went on marches. I went to meetings in freezing assembly halls. I listened to rhetoric and awkward umming and ahhing. I thought things were going to change for the better.

I'm better now.

It's not just me. Google search "Jeremy Corbyn crowds" and look at the pictures. He can fill any square in any town at a day's notice. Look at the youtubes.

And it is not a cult at all. Corbyn is just a person. These people, all these people want change. They see someone who is addressing - finally - these systemic problems that keep regular people down.

The rich are fine, they are doing OK....but somebody is finally addressing all these bad things.

And the Tories say:

Well we have to balance the books first - like a household (and the debt grows - *read Keyenes).

Well we have to make sure the rich are happy so the money trickles down (and it floods offshore).

Well we have this new benefits system that will make things better (it makes things worse).

The system we have is falling apart and needs to be overhauled radically while there's anything to salvage.

The NHS is not fit for purpose today because so many more people use it. We have had a population explosion, and because it undertakes specialist surgery, specialist techniques, all manner of routine investigations, and invests in research it's expanded and become hugely expensive. People live longer because of the NHS and the NHS has to continue to look after them. In helping people live when once they would have died, the follow up clinics and longer life expectancy is also part of the NHS remit. We have created a monolith which is very expensive.

It is nothing like the NHS created over 70 years ago and it doesn't matter which party is in government, all appreciate that it is a much needed institution. The majority of us use it. A small minority can afford private health care and all parties know this. It is used as a point scoring device come election time but the truth is it DOES need a radical overhaul. It is long overdue. Throwing money at it when parts of it are leaking vital resources (health tourism is a huge problem) isn't the way forward. Blair and Labour started the privatisation of the NHS thinking it had to be streamlined and more efficient. I cannot fault that reasoning but if it stops being efficient it needs to be examined.

I believe the Conservative party cherish the NHS as much as Labour does. It is an institution that cannot fail. Both (all) parties should be united as to how we take it forward and ensure it's good for future use. It is not a political plaything. It's a neutral and vital asset and the squabbling as to who will manage and fund it better has to stop.

I imagine that non domiciled status could be abolished and people could be taxed on where-ever their income arose, rather than on a remittance basis. Other countries manage perfectly well without such tax arrangements. Isn't this what finally forced Boris Johnson to give up his American citizenship - being chased for tax on a property, exempt in the UK, and if the US had a domicile arrangement he would have been able to avoid over there.

Other countries also limit what property foreign nationals can buy in their country.

I agree the NHS needs an overhaul. I do not believe that the Tories care for it much, or only as a residual last resort health service, perhaps reminiscent of various pre-war schemes which gave limited care.

Theresa May's plans to tackle the problems of how to finance health and social care were not wrong in themselves - what was wrong was springing the idea out of nowhere and plonking it in a Manifesto, to get it dubbed a 'demetia tax' which would clobber a core group of Tory voters. Setting up a proper review of what we could and wanted to afford would have been a better way to go. Nor should we be afraid to look at what other countries like France, Germany (shock horror - other EU countries) or New Zealand do, instead of apparently slavishly trying to copy the Americans.

instead of apparently slavishly trying to copy the Americans.

The only people who say we are trying to copy the Americans are the most rabid anti tory and strawman any talk of NHS reform

"(health tourism is a huge problem)"

Ah, a Brexiteer. No, health tourism is a tiny, minuscule problem. The resources spent on trying to combat it would probably be more than is actually lost. The NHS certainly needs reform, but Jeremy Cunt is the last person who should be in charge of it!

The tories cherish the NHS? Is that a serious comment?

They systemically starve it of funding, and then when it fails they say "look, it can't possibly work". Are you aware of how much of the NHS is currently privatised, and how much extra that costs us?

I wouldn't say the health tourism figures are nothing. Sure they're not the difference between make or break. But recovering these costs upfront would pay for many more nurses or beds!

fullfact.org/health/health-tourists-how-much-do-they-cost-and-who-pays/

Like I say, America spends a higher percentage of their GDP on healthcare than we do. Privatisation is not and never will be a positive step or a money saving step.

"In research that turns the high-profile debate over health tourism on its head, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and University of York found that 18 NHS trusts made a total income of £42m in 2010-11 from foreign paying patients – or “medical tourists”.

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-truth-about-health-tourism-twice-as-many-foreign-visitors-pay-to-use-nhs-as-exploit-free-8902520.html

What that article tells you but doesn't spell out, is that it is a few hospitals with high profiles or national centres of excellence like Great Ormond Street attract foreigners for treatment. It most certainly isn't likely to be A & E in an average town.

makeourfuture your zombie like propaganda just makes me think of dictatorships

I find all the 'oh look at the people gathering in squares faces lit up by hope' nonsense deeply disturbing tbh. You could say the same of any dictator in the early years.

People can and will think for themselves. I would vote labour if it weren't for JC and his cronies. With them at the helm I will never vote labour.

Rebecca, and just how much do you think it would cost for the army of administrators etc., who would have to be at every single NHS point of access, not to mention data systems (which, let's be honest, this government have hardly covered themselves in glory with)?

The losses are insignificant by comparison.

Joined up thinking please.

Corbyn is also a known sympathiser of terrorist regimes

Given the overwhelming number of posters who've mentioned this, I'm surprised there hasn't been the usual outcry about "how could you possibly say such a thing" - the same applies to his track record around marxism and anti semitism

Perhaps even his supporters have realised there's no longer any point in denying something so obvious?

So 18 trusts made a profit out of about 215 trusts?

www.nhsconfed.org/resources/key-statistics-on-the-nhs

Well, when I've been treated privately they seem to manage to charge perfectly well with only one person doing the admin! Other countries also seem to manage to charge rather well too.