Voting for Reform.the north/south

[Jollyjupiter]

As a proud Northerner i can say 80 per cent of my peer group will vote for Reform in May. Do you think it will be a North v South split?

People vote with their egos rather than their brains I find.

I am a floating voter. On some topics, my views may be considered left leaning and on others I am more right leaning. You would not be able to guess my opinion on, say, immigration just because I told you my view on feminism.

I miss all the centrists. Too much extremism in both directions at the moment. Or it may be that those are the only type of people who shout so loud about their political views.

Maybe what matters is not how much you are or are not educated but how much you engage your brain - in research on policy, understanding ideas and consequences - in order to contribute to a democracy.

The fact that this thread keeps reverting to accusations of people being patronized, talked down to etc is because I believe that is an observed Farage and Trump technique - and a Reform one - of whipping up self-righteousness and therefore support through division.

It is true historically (and now) that right wing politicians (and arguably others) mobilize fear of immigrants, of difference, and blame the woes of those that are most disadvantaged on these straw men in order to grow momentum and support. In doing so they have and do weaponise the fears and situations of those less fortunate (in a number of ways). I believe Farage and his bunch of clowns is doing that now.

Hang on, who has said that?

Not me 🤷‍♀️

@BlakeCarrington wouldn't dream of condescension. Doesn't think twice about putting words in people's mouths to serve their own narrative though

No, not you. Nobody!

This thread has gone strange. People claiming that Badenoch is sane, people advocating the death penalty and in a selective way to boot), people making up mad stuff like she just did..... What is wrong with everyone? Does voting Reform turn your brain?

Crosspost I see you edited yours

Including me who is having trouble typing, it seems 🤣

One of our Conservative councillors does the exact same thing, so I don't think that behaviour is solely a 'Reform' thing,

Sorry I just corrected. My husband was talking at me and I lost concentration ,🤣🤣 apologies

Why isn’t Kemi sane? Who do you prefer, Starmer or Polanski?

Well research indicates that immigration has a disproportionately adverse impact on lower socio economic groups due to increased competition for low skilled work and more people vying for state resources and support such as social housing and healthcare. This is especially true for areas that have seen an influx of low skilled immigration which again is almost always in already more disadvantages areas.

So your assertions that people haven't engaged their brains or understood the research doesn't really stand up to scrutiny does it? You can argue that there are bigger fish to fry but it's hard to argue that those most disadvantaged by immigration are wrong to want it lowered.

How can you listen to some of the things she says and not think there's something odd?

At the moment I don't like any of them. I guess I have a slight fondness for Ed Davey because he speaks up for carers but not enough to actively want to vote for him. I think all the party leaders are dire right now.

thats so sad - i thought the tax from the private schools were supposed to go towards helping the state schools?

We can only hope. But there are plenty on this thread who will positively choose corruption, incompetence and hatred.

3 2 1 before one of em replies that it's all us antis' fault. Take responsibility? No chance!

Well it’s not quite what I said.

I think that immigration is an issue that needs discussing but is nevertheless being used as a headline straw man by Reform.
There is practically no Council housing now - they’re not planning on addressing that.
There is a massive shortfall of carers in the social care system and NHS.
There are benefits as well as drawbacks to immigration.
And supporting wars that bomb the hell
out of the Middle East is exacerbating the problem as well as deepening and furthering the suffering of so many people.
Pulling out of net zero and describing it as ‘bad ideology’ is contributing to climate change that effects the poorest and women and children the most (as well as having the potential to be a big and useful industry in itself).
A nuanced and compassionate conversation is not what is being had.

I feel the same for anyone who listens to Polanski, Starmer and likes them. Ed has his moments, he sometimes calls out KS pretty well which is good but other than that he can be a bit off base.

As for Kemi and ‘something odd’ I think she doesn’t fit a male politician mould and mn somethings reflects that judgement.

Fortunately on this mn is at odds with her personal ratings.

No I don't think it's that. I think it's the way she denies that racism exists.

Does she? Do you have some links for that please @ForWittyTealOP

First post has mailed it!

The benefits of immigration are disproportionately by the more wealthy and the disadvantages are felt by lower socio economic groups.

Most of the issues you list are incredibly difficult for any political party to tackles as successive Labour and Tory governments have proven. We have a huge amount of public debt and taxation is choking the economy and dragging down people's standard of living. The public appetite to pay more tax is low and yet you seem to expect a government to magic up more social housing and funding the almost endless needs of the NHS and social care.

Tackling immigration effectively may be one of the most practical ways we can reduce pressure on public services without pumping in more money which we don't have. Of course it has to be nuanced as immigration is part of the solution as well as the problem but there is obviously an issue with unskilled workers coming to the UK either not working at all or working in low paid jobs that could be filled by the native workforce and then increasing demand for public services.

I guess you would only think this if you were extremely right wing.

I don’t expect any government to ‘magic up more social housing’ or easily manage the needs of the NHS. I think the world is changing and not for the better and we are miles off any honest conversation about it.

I do think that Reform would be the worse people to be addressing any of the problems this country is facing however. For the reasons I’ve stated and actually many more as listed by some other posters (see 1st post). Divisive and quite cruel as well as proven to be incompetent.

She defended the Sewell report which controversially found that there is no structural racism in the UK.

The reaction to Kemi v Polanski on threads is interesting atm. The line taken by the Greens on any antisemitism is to reply ZP is Jewish.

I appreciate KB’s take, she’s a successful woman and probably thinks she faced some extra barriers but they don’t define her. I thought the same with Sunak but I do think there’s some mistrust and the ‘oddness’ accusation is because they’re not typical for leading politicians.

Oh I feel the same about those who don't vaccinate. Those who feel morally superior, until they need actual medical attention. Usually from an NHS they deride and don't trust yet would run to them in a heartbeat

It is hilarious, not to mention embarrassing that someone can be against vaccination, yet derides the NHS, and expects them to be on call while not trusting them with sound scientific evidence on vaccinations.

I love reading such threads too.