Westminsterenders: Talent or Colour

[FishesaPlenty]

RTB and BCF are presumably busy with more important things. I'm clearly not qualified to start a Westminsterenders thread - but somebody has to take control and collect the waifs and strays.

The party of no talent want to introduce no colour into our lives.

6 days to the election.

Johnson is still a liar.

Corbyn is still apparently loved by Labour members and hated by everyone else.

Swinson is still a charming PTA chair.

Opinion

Boris Johnson
The ‘Boris being Boris’ shtick is a cover for racism and lies. But it’s wearing thin - Fintan O'Toole

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/06/boris-johnson-shtick-racism-lies-effect-wearing-thin

I love my 3D map : I'm a little strong left ball rotating gamely around everything else, looking a little bit like an outlier!

Mockers I'd look at the tactical voting websites. Or find Jon Worth on Twitter and ask him.

It makes me think of a mug I have that says 'It's a Scottish thing : you wouldn't understand'

S'a scottish hin' ye wooldnae kin.

Mockers Well, that’s the problem! It was marginally labour in second place to the tories in 2017, and marginally libdems in second place to the tories in 2015! (By pretty much the same margin, too).

The Labour candidate looks good, but is relatively unknown, the LibDem candidate seems more known quite well liked locally.

Interestingly, our seat’s tribe is “kind yuppies” How very 80s of us.

I'm clicking through the map now & planning holidays.

We chose this year's holiday based in politics - and it was great. So we're planning on doing the same next year.

Sorry, that 'ask Jon Worth' should probably have been to you, Giraffe.

He did invite people to ask him on Twitter. 😁

this mid-Winter election means that bad weather might actually benefit the anti-Tory vote as the "old" cohort might be discouraged from going out to vote.

Don't count your chickens - they have probably already done their postal vote.

I did say that dad

....but we need to look for small beacons of hope

They'll vote. They've got all day and free buses, unlike the young.

Polls have been consistent since 2017 that Remain have a small majority over Leave

However, Leave have colonised the Tory party, whereas the Remain vote is spread ufavourably over a range of parties
and - the big one - the 18-34 age group have to date only voted in pathetic numbers, while the 60+ age group especially will nearly all vote, especially by postal ballot.

It's no good moaning about the Tories and liking lots of woke stuff on social media,
if so many of the young cba to either organise a postal ballot or get their arses away from gaming consoles and down to a polling station

I'm somewhat encouraged by the increase in voter registration, but those registered need to vote - or others will decide their future
Too late then to whinge about what happens after BJ has a full 5-year term

Cat that’s a great idea - I will ask him today and report back I did dig through his tactical voting mega thread/website a couple of weeks ago and I think it said LibDem, but locally it’s so hard to call what non-Tory voters will do. What we really needed here (in a complete fantasy world) was a Labour/LibDem pact for one of them to stand down, as I think enough voters here are remain-flavoured anyone-but-Tory voters.
The greens did stand down for LibDem, and the Brexit candidate isn’t standing because did Farage said fuckery, but is instead standing as a Brexity independent. He may attract some of the more rabid leavers away from our naice sensible Tory lady.

*because of Farage’s fuckery. Honestly, this phone is possessed.

"They've got all day and free buses, unlike the young"

Very few young people genuinely have no time within 7am to 10pm
It is far less convenient for them than someone retired and without small people to look after

However, for a one-off that affects the next few decades of your lives, change your bloody schedule just that one day

I don't think the weather will stop the elderly, but I think the fact many of them hate corbyn and hate johnson might.

Don't forget that older voters are often helped to get to polling stations by 'kindly party activists' masquerading as concerned citizens.

My DBIL always used to say he voted Tory in his first ever opportunity to vote because they gave him a lift to the polling station.

Young people have been mobilising on mass for climate recently. They'll vote.

The young are already a much smaller demograhic cohort than the elderly
So if their voting level is again around 60% compared to the 80% of pensioners voting, then that will decide the GE

I can't criticise tory activists for getting tory voters to the polls, that's just what labour do too!
it's more than tories don't have any activists, just dark money

Yep.
The young need to vote, BigChoc.

(PS Momentum are good in this. They message message message about taking time off, blocking it out, to vote [and canvass] - which is very pragmatic.)

BCF the last time they were asked, 60% of under 24s said they were "100% certain to vote". This is higher than 2017. We can get that number higher.

The greater demographic mass of the retired and the decline in the proportion of the young in the population is the main reason for the disparity in benefit generosity. The instant removal of the schools attendance allowance for over-16s is a case in point. The engaged politically aware young will vote, but do not overestimate their numbers in the self-obsessed world of social media.

Cat I'm much more pessimistic.

Technology being used against the population is gaining pace. You only have to look at China and the sympathic noises coming from the likes of trump about controlling the population and how Google etc are developing products for the Chinese Market.

I think global economics and global warming will led to a less tolerant future where you have to obey merely to survive rather than mark yourself out as a problem which limits your opportunities. There will be much more competition so a much more cut throat world to survive in.

There will be less jobs all round. It will start to bite the middle classes at some point not just manual labour type jobs.

Global warming will put pressure on resources, immigration and increase security concerns.

Through into this a western aging population and a boomer backlash where the cost of health and housing burdens the younger generations to the point of resentment. I fully expect agesim to be legitimised at some point particularly in the context of the NHS and social care which leads to a mild form of support for social Darwinism of the old amongst the young when the demographics reach tipping point. Why pay for others retirement and care when you have little chance of one for yourself? Especially if human rights protections are eroded by Brexit.

I'm afraid that given the preference for an easy life and the path of least resistance by politicians I don't think there is an appetite to get to grips with real social problems or give support - political or economic - for solutions.

I'm sure there is an opportunity to make a huge amount of money out of global warming solutions. But there isn't a willingness to share this internationally because of politics. And that's going to be the stumbling block and possibly our ultimate downfall.

I hope so, squid
because this GE is for all the marbles for the next few decades

A hard Brexit, with US type employment rules & standards for goods & services, that gives US Big Business far more legal powers, that e.g. hands over all NHS data to Silicon valley, genuinely cannot be reversed the next GE

A US FTA will have longterm penalty clauses and the right to sue that would severely limit what a future Labour / LDem govt can do.

Don't forget that pensioners i.e. over 65s is really two generations of people - the 65 - 75, the postwar generation, of whom the over 70s group used to be described as 'the bulge' rather than 'baby boomers' and the over 75s. Some of this latter group will remember the war years, and the very old ones, like MIL, have been young adults and actively engaged in the war effort.