Westminstenders: Election Special 3

[RedToothBrush]

Reactions...

Just popping in to post a link to this, if anyone wants to sign it:
goodlawproject.org/petition/good-law-project-associate-citizenship-petition/#.XfTRnwhAvZc.twitter
I'm not overly optimistic as to its chances of success, but I approve of the initiative.

Nothing much to add, feeling v gloomy.

Is there an initiative to hive off the governments pension commitments to private firms ? Of course they could then go bust and take peoples pensions with them, but as long as the shareholders have escaped with the loot, that's OK.

Didn't they set that up in the 80s under Thatcher? I remember my brother signed up to one - the worst shark I ever saw - whose rep kept taking the papers away to fill in later, "just sign at the bottom and I'll do the rest"

Still doesn't know what happened to his pension, or even if he has one. I'd guess not, and that the rep is living quite comfortably these days.

Hopefully Labour will announce their interim leader tomorrow

It won’t. Corbyn will cling on like shit to a blanket.

Agree @Alsohuman . I was hoping his ShadowChancellor's position would shame him into going

is there an initiative to hive off the governments pension commitments to private firms ? Of course they could then go bust and take peoples pensions with them, but as long as the shareholders have escaped with the loot, that's OK. I have a pension that the government took over when my former employer was privatised. I am one of the last that was able to join the scheme, along with someone I know who works with the trustees. Since the government took it on they have slimmed the admin to the bone, you can no longer get answers to any queries you might routinely ask a pension provider, the only information is what they choose to give you. They have also dismantled some of the safeguards available to the trustees. We all assume from the direction of travel and attitude of the government that when there are few enough of us left in the scheme to be unable to make much noise that they will quietly start dismantling the benefits, first to go will be the index link. At least we have now managed to start receiving the pension at 60 so they can’t do a WASPI on us.

Is there an initiative to hive off the governments pension commitments to private firms ?

They are still heavily dependent on the Pensioner vote though, and they must know this. They have precious little to offer younger voters.

Corbyn: "We won the argument..."

Oh for crying out loud in the name of all that's decent and true in the world, back to the allotment with you and stay there, you deluded old fool.

Just want to say, I was wrong about Lisa Nandy.

I'm coming round to her.

AlsiHuman I agree.

I think its a beautiful thing that Tory voters....no wait LibDe....no definitely Tory voters care so much about what happens in the Labour party, it gets me right in the feelz it does

Well, this LibDem isn't crowing - but I do feel that we need an effective opposition, and unfortunately Corbyn wasn't able to make it effective. I am personally quite sure that he is no more anti-semitic than absolutely every Tory I know, but they were able to make that stick. So Labour does need to ask some hard questions.

And no, the LibDems didn't make the breakthrough that they hoped for either, so we have to do some questioning. Although we did increase our vote share.

I'm increasingly thinking that Labour is utterly fucked.

Which is ... a problem.

I believe - strongly - that if Rebecca Ling-Bailey is elected, it's all over for Labour.

Not just because of what will happen - but because it means Labour is already damaged beyond repair.

The hard Left seriously believe they can still 'game' the awful, awful situation the UK finds itself in now.

Posted to soon...

The hard Left think 3-5 years of Johnson will have the electorate flicking back into the arms of socialist Labour - ruefully willing to accept socialism.

I doubt very much of Momentum grasps that - they're quite innocent idealists.

It's grim.

I voted for labour , but I am thinking that Jeremy needs a bit of help here.
He didn't win any arguments.
He lost the election by a big margin.
He didn't listen and should go back to shouting at his momentum supporters as this is his natural home ( along with his allotment)
He did have some good ideas but the ' man in the street ' didn't like him or his policies on brexit. They openly thought he was ' a threat' and a ' bit of a joke'. It was the 80s all over again.
Politics is a cut throat business. It's time he went with dignity and let someone else give it a go.

It’s absolutely grim. RLB would be an absolute disaster. If Labour had an atom of sense it would be asking who Johnson would least like to face over the despatch box and elect them. I so want Jess Phillips.

Listen to the 4th or 5th best PM we never had:

www.itv.com/news/2019-12-13/alan-johnson-momentum-jeremy-corbyn-itv-news/

Hallelujah

It won’t. Corbyn will cling on like shit to a blanket.

It seems events have finally brought us into agreement. The reason I never wanted Corbyn to be PM, even as a caretaker, is because he would never bloody leave:

www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/politics-headlines/corbyn-to-reflect-on-what-pss-off-you-beardy-red-twat-could-possibly-mean-20191213191793

JEREMY Corbyn has announced that he and Labour are in a ‘process of reflection’ on what voters mean by telling him to ‘pss off’.*

Corbyn said: “I’ve always said how important it is to listen to ordinary voters. It’s just that ‘Shove your 70s bullsht up your ase sideways’ isn’t easily understood.

“So, for the next few months, we’ll be unpacking statements like ‘we hate you’, ‘this is all your fault’ and the short, pithy ‘get fked’ and trying to make sense of them.

“I will also, during this process of reflection, ensure that my hard-left colleagues tighten their stranglehold on the party and decide my replacement because who better? The Blairites? No thank you.

“I still think ‘Go and die, Obi Wan Fknuts’ could well mean ‘your manifesto is hugely popular and you’re the man for us’. If given the correct Marxist reading.”

Rebecca fucking long bailey

Christ. That's all we need!

Just booked next years summer hols in an effort to cheer myself up!

Rebecca fucking long bailey

Corbyn with a shave.

I have a campaign song for the new leader:

I guess an early doors priority will be to neuter any danger of scrutiny and oversight.

Looking back, it's hard to avoid a creeping feeling that the entire SCOTUK/Prorogation pantomime of September/October was really just an exercise in working out the areas which need to be dealt with first. I imagine the discovery that the Monarch is as much use as a chocolate fireguard came as a nice surprise, since it pretty much means there's no work to be done there. Similarly, SCOTUK were quite explicit that as long as parliament has voted, they have no powers either.

Interestingly enough, it might prove advantageous to lose Scotland from the Union and thus any danger of being bitten by any lurking nasties in Scots law. Only an expert in that field could really advise. Of course the dumping of Northern Ireland has already been accepted in principle anyway. And with Wales taking on the Tory cause, there's little problem there anymore.

Happy to have my working checked ....

Happy to have my working checked ....

Unfortunately, it seems to be impeccable as usual.

If the UK loses Scotland (oops, where did it go?) the choice will be either Tories of some cobbled together Lib-Lab-Plaid-Green-Loony coaliton minority govt once every seventy five years.

If the UK loses Scotland (oops, where did it go?) the choice will be either Tories of some cobbled together Lib-Lab-Plaid-Green-Loony coaliton minority govt once every seventy five years.

That's when seen through a prism of the past. Moving forwards, there may not be a need for elections again.

South Wales is not really Tory.

Once upon a time, Labour needed Scotland for its MPs. I am bizarrely hopeful of Sturgeon's bids failing, Scotland returning to Labour in its droves and giving the Tories a drubbing in the UK again. I know this is unicorns but I would like Scotland to be the saviour of Labour again. Sigh. Those were the days. And unicorns are Scottish...

You could be right there DGR and earlier I was musing whether my next passport would say England and Wales and not the UK. Although which Tory wants to be seen to be responsible for the break up of the UK?

But then we talk about the Monarch - the Queen won't live forever. It's perfectly possible that she could die within the course of the next Parliament. Now Charlie boy with his propensity to meddle, may not necessarily do things the way Johnson wants. Just a thought.

Moving forwards, there may not be a need for elections again.

Well, quite. Once Cummings has done his work, it will just be a case of choosing the people's tribunes. Elections will be reserved for judges, senior police officers and the people's executioner.

Some things I console myself with - Farage is now finished. The DUP were lording it over us in the last Parliament and now they have been sidelined.