Oh ffs, not another Tory thread..
Discussion
...but this one's hopefully slightly different (until I'm shown where it's already been covered 
)
Aided by the continually astute and thought provoking Matthew Parris; would a Labour majority of 20-40 be better for the country, and the longer-term future of the Conservative Party, than an equally slender Tory majority? It makes some sense, not least because it's more realistic...
www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1065-1521700_1,00.html
) Aided by the continually astute and thought provoking Matthew Parris; would a Labour majority of 20-40 be better for the country, and the longer-term future of the Conservative Party, than an equally slender Tory majority? It makes some sense, not least because it's more realistic...
www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1065-1521700_1,00.html
If there ever has been a time for change in the political system, its now. I havent the faintest how this will actually be realised, but we suffer some of the lowest turn-outs, voter appathy and single-issue politics.... gone are the principles that differentiated the major political parties that we used to have.
How on earth did we get ourselves into this position....
Oh, and the article makes sense in a perverse and odd kind of way!!!
How on earth did we get ourselves into this position....
Oh, and the article makes sense in a perverse and odd kind of way!!!
while i follow mathew paris' arguement and the logic derived from the political history..my pocket can't afford another four years of new labour's social experiments.
true blair needs his ar5e kicked so hard down whitehall that he never ever returns to blight us.
as for public spending, the government have been rampaging with our "collective credit card", and there's no one to transfer the balance to.
are the tories ready? of course they are.
can your pocket afford another four years of Gordon?
true blair needs his ar5e kicked so hard down whitehall that he never ever returns to blight us.
as for public spending, the government have been rampaging with our "collective credit card", and there's no one to transfer the balance to.
are the tories ready? of course they are.
can your pocket afford another four years of Gordon?
That is partly because they are in opposition so you don't really get to know any of the front bench team apart from the leader-it becomes self full-filling-they are in opposition so you don't see them and so you deem they are not ready.
After all-apart from Tony Blair-who did you know on the Labour front bench in 1997.
>> Edited by JagLover on Monday 14th March 08:42
After all-apart from Tony Blair-who did you know on the Labour front bench in 1997.
>> Edited by JagLover on Monday 14th March 08:42
ian d said:
while i follow mathew paris' arguement and the logic derived from the political history..my pocket can't afford another four years of new labour's social experiments.
Thing is, with a puny majority Labour would not be able to push through legislation on a whim - you've seen the trouble they've had getting the recent <cough> 'security' bill through and that's with a huge majority - would it have passed with a 30 majority? I doubt it.
So the Conservatives would be in a position to effectively oppose the Government, build some credence and have actual weight in Parliament, but Labour would be left to take the blame for the fall-out from their tax and spend regime. In that way, come the following election, there would be a reverse-1997 choice for the electorate, rather than everyone remembering how much they hated the Tories last time and blaming it in Government for Labour's mistakes.
Look at it the other way, what good could a Tory government with a 20-30 majority do? And as Alexkp says, are they really fit to govern yet?
>> Edited by stumartin on Monday 14th March 10:42
anonymous said:
[redacted]
we seem to be agreeing a lot these days, and I can't argue with you on this one, either.
The tories are not fit to govern, they have far too much dead-weight on the front bench, and very few with any charisma or gravitas, not least the leader, who I wouldnt trust as far as i could throw. In fact I trust him almost as little as Blair.....
stumartin said:
Look at it the other way, what good could a Tory government with a 20-30 majority do? And as Alexkp says, are they really fit to govern yet?
>> Edited by stumartin on Monday 14th March 10:42
How much they could do depends on how disciplined they are. If they have not learnt the lesssons of the 1992-97 parliment then you may be right it would be bad.
As regards the general economic situation it is not disastrous-Taxes will need to rise to fund Labour's spending plans and in fact the Treasury is forecasting a rise in the tax burden as a share of GDP of at least 2% over the next parliment-But will the Tories need to follow these spending plans?
Their claim that they could reduce waste was widely ridiculed-but the last few years have seen an explosion in the government payroll-are all these people actually needed-after all the population of GB is still roughly the same as it was in 1997.
JagLover said:
That is partly because they are in opposition so you don't really get to know any of the front bench team apart from the leader-it becomes self full-filling-they are in opposition so you don't see them and so you deem they are not ready.
After all-apart from Tony Blair-who did you know on the Labour front bench in 1997.
Actually most of them, although before the '92 election I wasn't aware of the names of many.
One of the things that I have noticed is that this time around the press is reporting little of the opposition's view on things, whereas in 1996/7 you would often find more comment on an issue from the opposition than from the government being reported. In fact you got the impression that Labour was already in power.
I have to be fair though and say that that Conservatives have been receiving noticeably more, and better, press since Christmas.
Whilst I hope that there is a change of Government, I too and see the logic in what this chap is saying and on reflection would settle for a Labour parliamentary majority of, say 1-20, yet with the Conservatives 'wining' an electoral majority.
I could see this happening especially as not a single person I have spoken to will admit to planning to vote Labour. Indeed my 'father-in-law', who sees it as his obligation never to vote anything but Labour has told me that he will not be voting this time, rather than give them his support.
rude-boy said:
I could see this happening especially as not a single person I have spoken to will admit to planning to vote Labour. Indeed my 'father-in-law', who sees it as his obligation never to vote anything but Labour has told me that he will not be voting this time, rather than give them his support.
My father has said the same thing and he has voted Labour all his life-but I will believe it when I see it-many people become 'locked' into political allegiance in their youth due to the class they were born in.
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