I honestly don't understand why anyone who cares about anyone other than themselves would vote Tory.

[ilovetofu]

https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/apr/27/doctor-nhs-vote-labour-austerity-conservatives?CMP=sharebtntw&twitterimpression=true&fbclid=IwAR2JhAMh9bEiRfeALJeTzeP8ogAByuwaitNpshoQ8oEQfYLvlTc7tvJ50

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Tories are the better party with the better policies. Labour just overspend the country into destitution.

I would love to vote Labour and have previously but have absolutely no faith that they will come good with any of their campaign promises.
And as for the "free wifi". We are not stupid children who need a bag of sweeties dangles in front of us. Remind me of the child catcher.

dangleD

it's about making sure people in genuine need are supported

Best way to do that is through efficiency and ensuring those with the greatest genuine need get the support they need. It's not just throwing money around without proper controls and hoping some of it lands where it's actually needed.

The reality is that we're being asked to choose between parties playing to extremes, when most people in this country are centre/centre right.

Then there are people like me who hold opinions on some issues that would be considered ‘more left than centre left’ but opinions about other things that would be considered ‘centre right’. I agree with and disagree with some of the policies on all sides of the political spectrum - some far more than others.

This GE has been a very difficult one for me as all political parties have policies that I strongly disagree with.

Yes, that worked very well in Greece, where they were reduced to bankruptcy, the financial system closed down, and people in the capital had to eat out of bins. No thanks!

Do you actually know what happened in Greece?

www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/070115/understanding-downfall-greeces-economy.asp

Joining the EMU with doctored figures for a start.

Is that going to be in Labour’s manifesto, do you think?

And the people voting Labour so that money they haven’t earned can be taken from those who have and “redistributed” to them? How are they not selfish?

Can you really not see a difference between someone with a relatively comfortable and secure life voting to have even more, and someone who is struggling to survive voting for a safety net? Do you disagree with taxation to fund welfare? What is the alternative? Would you re-introduce workhouses, for example, so that those in need have to labour and suffer sufficiently to 'earn' their bread and bed? Or maybe just leave people to die rather than let them live on 'money they haven't earned'?

And as for the "free wifi". We are not stupid children who need a bag of sweeties dangles in front of us. Remind me of the child catcher.

Well put!

And as for the "free wifi". We are not stupid children who need a bag of sweeties dangles in front of us. Remind me of the child catcher.

Congratulations, that is officially the biggest stretch I’ve seen yet, in a sea of epic stretches.

Firstly, broadband and WiFi? Different things.

Secondly, the reasons for the policy have been discussed at length:

• Britain falling behind with high speed broadband
• Some rural areas being unable to accessing broadband
• negative impact on British business as a result
• growing digital inequality
• increasing moves to put everything online and how this impacts vulnerable people
• disadvantages to children’s education when they can’t access the Internet

And yet you liken this to the Child Catcher. One of the more manipulative things I’ve heard for a while.

Best way to do that is through efficiency and ensuring those with the greatest genuine need get the support they need.

Well that's certainly not happening under this Tory govt is it?!

UC is a joke, disability benefits rejection decisions are frequently if not mostly overturned on appeal costing the country how much in admin and legal costs?!

Just today In the news a man died in a job centre on Friday after being declared "fit for work" a news item that shockingly isn't on the bbc site at all as far as I can tell!

This is not a country I want to live in, one where seriously ill people are being treated like less than dirt!

@Deathgrip is he going to fund computers for everyone so they can use this WIFI?

Tories are the better party with the better policies. Labour just overspend the country into destitution.

More lies.

Perhaps you’d find this useful:
www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/03/13/the-conservatives-have-been-the-biggest-borrowers-over-the-last-70-years/

Conclusion:
“Or, to put it another way, the Conservatives are the party of high UK borrowing and low debt repayment contrary to all popular belief”

And yet Labour just promised to spend tens of billions nationalising a service that already works well in the private sector and which most people already have. They are the definition of wasteful spenders!

is he going to fund computers for everyone so they can use this WIFI?

I would like them to but I can imagine how that would go down with tory voters

I looked up the figures earlier in the thread - I believe it’s 87% of U.K. households that currently own a laptop or desktop, so that’s not including tablets or smart phones

There are already digital inequality and tech recycling charities who supply computers to households who can’t afford them, and disability charities who supply computers to households with disabled people. I would like to see a government initiative which makes sure every household has a computer absolutely, but I appreciate that wouldn’t be much use until every household has internet access

The fibre optic broadband makes sense as a policy. It is infrastructure that the free market is failing to provide effectively.

Yet another story where you’ve only read the headlines, eh Cendrillon? Here’s a link but I’ll past the salient bits below since I know you never click any of them

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/free-broadband-labour-plan-internet-wifi-nationalisation-a9205031.html

The tories have pledged £5bn to subsidise the roll out of full fibre broadband - that’s another £5bn to subsidise the profits of a formerly publicly owned company. Who’s the wasteful party here?

The Tories had pledged £5bn to subsidise the rollout of full-fibre broadband by 2025 but on Friday Boris Johnson rowed back on this, saying the target was “gigabit internet” without a firm deadline.

The lack of a full fbre network negatively impacts our economy.

Other countries are far ahead of the UK on fast broadband. Just 7 per cent of UK premises have full-fibre connections compared to 71 per cent in Spain. In South Korea its 97 per cent and Japan 99 per cent.

Openreach has been heavily criticised for underinvesting in the network and for poor levels of service.

The £20bn estimate comes from an independent report by Frontier Economics for the Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport last year.

This option would be the cheapest way to have full coverage full fibre broadband across the U.K.

It concluded that a national monopoly would be the cheapest way to roll out full-fibre and could achieve up to 100 per cent national coverage in 15 years for £20.3bn.

If left to private companies in a competitive market "enhanced" by some government intervention the bill would come in at £32.3bn, largely because of duplication of parts of the network by rival firms. The report also said it was likely that around 10 per cent of the country would not get full fibre as it would be “uneconomic” and a further 10 per cent would be subject to a hold-up.

I’d rather pay slightly more tax and have reliable fast broadband that everyone can access rather than paying more to a private company and some still not getting it.

And I thought the 89% referred to number of adults who used the internet at least weekly. Although that will also include at work.

Would line rental also be funded?
Thats where the hit is for us...we dont even use the landline :(

I used to run a company. We investigated having fibre optic broadband and as there were no existing cables next to it, the cost would have been extortionate.

Would line rental also be funded? Thats where the hit is for us...we dont even use the landline

You don’t need a phone line for fibre broadband as it’s a separate cable network. Unfortunately at the moment the network doesn’t exist for 93% of U.K. premises.

ah thanks, I wondered about that.

But clearly most people don’t understand this policy and think it’s just giving people the broadband they already have but for free.

It would be a huge boost to the U.K. economy and more important with each passing year.

This is why it’s problematic when people only read tweets, headlines, Facebook posts etc

It’s a good policy with clear benefits.

(I didn’t mean you by the way - you asked the question! Most don’t and go off half cocked!)

@avoidingwork landlines are being scrapped by 2025. Bb for all is essential because analog phone lines will no longer exist

Are they?????????? Wow! Completely??? What about phone calls?