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Snap elections globally = sign of global war threat?

55 replies

visionahead · 17/06/2024 09:40

Please don't shoot me down with 'conspiracy theories', hear me out. This year more than any time in history, globally voters will head to the polls with around 65 countries meant to hold national elections. This represents around 49% of the people in the world, including some major economies / countries too.

Sunak called a snap election, yes, inflation had gone down but there had at that point already been signs that although energy prices will decrease short term, they will increase again in autumn.

Macron has recently called a snap election, supposedly because of the shift in France to the right after the EU elections. But he must have seen how badly the snap election decision affected Sunak and the Tories. He still went ahead.

Lots of other countries globally seem to have brought their elections forward to what had been expected late last year.

There have for some time now been lots of war talk from major heads of state and heads of defence in many countries including in Europe (Poland, Sweden, Germany, UK etc etc).

Am I unreasonable to think that some of the rush to get us all (not just in the UK) to an election is due to uncertainties about what lies ahead from a perspective of the Ukraine/Russia (and to an extend, Israel/Palestine) with a broader conflict expected?

If so, and I've never been a Tory voter, I do worry that even though the Tories have had a very bad track record (although to be fair to them an any other government in power during the last few years, have had to manage the worst pandemic for over a century and a war - can't think of other governments having to deal with that volume of challenges).

Imagine a new party coming in - how will that work if they're faced with global conflicts. Presumably, they would spend a good few months just settling in, finding their feet? Have we had examples in the past when incoming governments have had to immediately deal with a situation of war?

OP posts:
nearlylovemyusername · 17/06/2024 21:14

OP, I'm thinking the same. Sunak did say that he doesn't want to be a war time PM. I wonder if he wanted out before.
And I'm very seriously concerned about Russia

TellingHimToFloorIt · 17/06/2024 21:19

visionahead · 17/06/2024 20:45

The reason we have a Covid vaccine, to be fair, is partly due to Boris knowing Kate Bingham. Heavily criticised at the time, but that worked out pretty well, even if some of the others were pretty shocking.
But, Boris was Boris and he's a bit of a clown - he's not in government anymore though...
Just don't trust Angela Rayner - even though she has more personality than Keir and Sunak combined - to actually be particularly strategic, which is worrying for someone in her position.

Boris Johnson cannot take credit for the covid vaccine, nor was it anything to do with Brexit as is often claimed. And we can't dismiss the failures, corruption and incompetence of the recent years with 'oh well that's Boris and now he's gone'. He was chosen by the party as Tory leader, he didn't emerge in a vacuum or act alone and his rotten legacy remains. The damage wrought to this country by Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak is almost incalculable. The suffering they have caused is immense. It's evidenced. All of us have paid for it. Your personal feelings about Angela Rayner don't seem to be here nor there when it comes to looking at what the Conservative government have done.

visionahead · 18/06/2024 10:32

TellingHimToFloorIt · 17/06/2024 21:19

Boris Johnson cannot take credit for the covid vaccine, nor was it anything to do with Brexit as is often claimed. And we can't dismiss the failures, corruption and incompetence of the recent years with 'oh well that's Boris and now he's gone'. He was chosen by the party as Tory leader, he didn't emerge in a vacuum or act alone and his rotten legacy remains. The damage wrought to this country by Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak is almost incalculable. The suffering they have caused is immense. It's evidenced. All of us have paid for it. Your personal feelings about Angela Rayner don't seem to be here nor there when it comes to looking at what the Conservative government have done.

Not attributing that to Boris but without Kate Bingham (who at the time - see article below - was under fire), there simply would not have been the funds or infrastructure to move on the Oxford vaccine as fast as it did. Boris is a clown but I do detest how everything nowadays is so polarised/black and white i.e. if people don't agree with someone or they have done things wrong EVERYTHING they've done is pants when it's not so:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/10/kate-bingham-well-connected-but-under-fire-uk-vaccines-chief

Kate Bingham: well-connected but under-fire UK vaccines chief

Supporters point to her deal over the Pfizer jab but there is unease over her PR bill and claims she shared information with investors

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/10/kate-bingham-well-connected-but-under-fire-uk-vaccines-chief

OP posts:
visionahead · 18/06/2024 10:34

nearlylovemyusername · 17/06/2024 21:14

OP, I'm thinking the same. Sunak did say that he doesn't want to be a war time PM. I wonder if he wanted out before.
And I'm very seriously concerned about Russia

I hadn't heard Sunak say that, interesting...

Yes, the Russia situation is worrying.

BTW read yesterday that Labour have spent something like 7x more than most other parties (including the Conservatives) on online / social media marketing/presence. Seems to be the case very much on MN!

OP posts:
AddersAtDawn · 18/06/2024 11:38

BTW read yesterday that Labour have spent something like 7x more than most other parties (including the Conservatives) on online / social media marketing/presence. Seems to be the case very much on MN!

The reason for this is their budget - because they have such support this time around, especially from the arts, industries and businesses, their donations are higher than...

a) they have been in previous years
and
b) than the conservatives' - who traditionally were the party with the deepest pockets. The Tory donations are about 10% of what they were in 2019 because they are just not getting the big ticket doners any more (rats and the sinking ship, maybe)

So Labour would be spending much more than the others because they have much more than the others.

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