Westminstenders: The Non-Pact Pact

[RedToothBrush]

The Brexit Party and the Conservatives have agreed a trumpian pact to no deal. Led by the ERG.

They don't want you to know its a pact because the Conservatives still want One Nation Conservatives types to believe they are still One Nation Conservatives, simply because they say they are. They are not.

The Brexit Party won't stand any candidates in a Conservative held seat. But don't be surprised if there isn't more Non-Pact tactical stepping aside. This of course won't be a Pact. Cos the Brexit Party say its not. And the Conservative Party say its not.

The Liberal Democrats, Plaid and the Greens are in an electoral pact. They say they are in an electoral pact and have published a list.

Meanwhile the Labour Party isn't in a Pact. But there is still talk that in key seats that someone (either the LDs or Labour) should stand aside to try and deseat key Conservatives. This won't happen because the Lib Dems and Labour are not in a pact. And when they say they are not in a pact they aren't.

If after an election we have a hung parliament then either the Conservatives or Labour who are not in a pact and say they will never be in a pact, will try and woo someone to a kingmaker and be in government with them, probably on a supply and demand basis rather than coalition. They'll deny this but we kind of know how this goes...

This is quite an interesting interview with David Mitchell about his new book - talking about the harm of the internet and the degrading of our politics and how he doesn't know how to vote this election but will be voting whichever way mitigates brexit.

I am tempted to say it's because we were young then. I think you're right on that point. I remember dirty trains and strikes.

I have no memory of Harold Wilson but whatever happened there was bad enough to make MIL vote Tory until the last EU elections.
So I guess different people experienced it differently.

I am tempted to say it's because we were young then

... we knew no better, it was no crime ...

Dirty trains. Power cuts. Bread shortages. Racism. Fear of terrorism. Money problems. Winter of discontent. Cold War.
It was a great time for me, I was a kid riding around on my bike getting sunburned. I dreamt about Harold Wilson as Father Christmas
Wasn't so great for my parents.

Oh FFS I am David Mitchell.

Although I don't have a patterned carpet on my stairs. Or wear bad tank tops.

I'm just insanely uncool.

Noticed there are 100 schools closed in the West Midlands at the moment.

Good job no ones going to vote there today isn't it ?

It would be cosmic justice if Dec 12th suffered a freak weather event that stranded Tories only . It would be even more cosmic justice if the subsequent Labour government decided there was no need for any inquiry based on the lack of planning by the previous government .

Answering my question from yesterday - Farage will not be voting in the coming election as there is no brexit party candidate in his own constituency and he will not be voting conservative.

Answering my question from yesterday - Farage will not be voting in the coming election as there is no brexit party candidate in his own constituency and he will not be voting conservative.

So he says ...

It would be cosmic justice if Dec 12th suffered a freak weather event that stranded Tories only grin. It would be even more cosmic justice if the subsequent Labour government decided there was no need for any inquiry based on the lack of planning by the previous government

Give me more of these unicorn fantasies to cheer me up please.

Seriously though how is that going to work?

Bit of snow in East Dumbartonshire, strike chaos in North Islington and a series of unexplained sink holes in Uxbridge?

Going back to the BBC clip of the remainer farmer from Bishop Auckland. I watched the whole segment and to be fair to the interviewer, the farmer did say he’d be voting labour at the start.

What I found really interesting was that the other interviewee was a hairdresser who owns her own small business. She’s usually a Labour voter but is going to vote conservative this time because she feels they have more policies for small businesses and she likes Boris Johnson, describing him as “honest”!! She was complaining about what has happened to the high street in recent years - the interviewer did point out that the conservatives have been in power for years. When asked who she blamed she didn’t know and later she said she voted to stay in the referendum. I thought she seemed a bit less sure about voting conservative by the end (though maybe that was wishful thinking on my part).

So he says ...

well what one man with one vote does or does not do on the day is neither here nor there ... it's the message that the messiah of brexit is giving out to his party faithful, by saying he can't vote tory and he just won't turn out, which is interesting.

Dirty trains
Like the pacers that still run across the pennines
power cuts
Heath not wilson - 3 day week et al
Bread shortages
Bakers strike, Immediately after Wilson's minority govt took over from heath - pent up frustration
Racism.
Anything specific? It's not like it's gone away
Fear of terrorism
Irish terrorists vs suicidal jihadis - not a hard call?
Money problems.
Turns out Wilson never needed to go begging - treasury got the numbers wrong - tout ca change.
Winter of discontent.
Heath folly - again unnecessary
Cold War.
Not a party thing? Though the Americans and our tendency to follow them were and still are an underlying worry

I remember Wilson governments being received with the same level of hope as Blair and on balance the record was good. I'd go back to a Wilson govt over any of the cameron/may/johnson clusterf*cks

("to be perfectly frank, honest and reasonable" was Wilson's equivalent of the current 'to be clear')

I know @Butterymuffin, she says, sighing sadly.

cendrillion

Lots of PP's are offering their thoughts on who they're voting for. For example, I''m not voting Labour. I'll vote tactically.

So instead of wilfully misreading other's comments, it would be interesting to hear about who you are going to vote for and why...

Furious Brexit Party supporters to 'spoil ballot papers' rather than vote Tory.

www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/11/14/furious-brexit-party-supporters-spoil-ballot-papers-rather-vote/

Such a shame.

Winter of discontent was actually Callaghan not Heath.
And I don't recall the Black and White Minstrel Show on telly last week but I do remember it from my childhood on telly. And no the problem hasn't gone away but pretending the past was lovely is one of the reasons we are in this fucking mess.

And a bread strike is still a bloody bread strike - try telling my Mum it was pent up frustration of some one about someone else. No comfort if you can't get bread.

Lots of localised flooding here atm
Roass closed, schools closed...

Furious Brexit Party supporters to 'spoil ballot papers' rather than vote Tory.

So they say ...

I had a young family in the seventies and although there were strikes and shortages which sometimes made life a bit difficult, I preferred it to the selfishness, greed and Thatcherism of the eighties. We had Labour governments that were actively trying to improve conditions for the population and we had the Women's Movement. By no means the worst of my seven decades.

Anyone know when the announcement will be made re what can be drawn from candidates deadline?

Furious Brexit Party supporters to 'spoil ballot papers' rather than vote Tory.

You didn't need to go so far to find a group of ballot-spoilers

Local candidates on local council websires now.

We have;
Green
Tory
Labour
Libertarian (?)
Independant

Safe tory seat though

The thing about the 60s was that things were getting dramatically better and we all thought this would continuefor the future generations

Upward gradient instead of a downward slide is so much more hopeful

Didn't have any fears of terrorism then - that was the 1970s

I have a v hazy memory of the Cuban missile crisis - no undertanding of what was happening, just the tight, frightened faces of adults around me

I more clearly remember JFK's assassination and Churchill's state funeral - the 2 red letter days when the headmaster connected up a TV for us to watch the news in school, as not everyone had the telly at home in those days.

I remember British Rail meat pies were lethal
but the train service wasn't as bad as today and they weren't like a 2nd mortgage