The Politics Thread 2019

[tomsdubs]

Nothing says strong leadership like hiding in a walk in fridge.

[GboroRam]

29 minutes ago, maxjam said:

Might be nice to have a Poll though, see how closely aligned the result of the dcfcfans forums is with the actual result. 

I would have liked a poll but it was decided, in the interests of keeping world war 3 from breaking out, better not.

[Angry Ram]

10 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

Whilst you always have to be aware of edited and isolated clips, this video is extremely compelling:

 

Nah, not really.. 

[Ghost of Clough]

59 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

All previous governments have underfunded the NHS. Tony Blair did some good things, but not enough and the extra funding was quickly grasped back by subsequent governments.

Labour are promising, and have consistently promised, to increase funding to the NHS. 

The Tories cut funding, and towards the end of the electioneering period, have promised more money. I don't trust them.

Have they? All evidence I can find shows funding has increased every single year

[Stive Pesley]

35 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

I know soneone though that flew a relative over to have an operation to be carried out free on the NHS, despite the fact she had never lived here and never contributed to the system, that just cant be right surely?

Were they a foreign national?

My Dad has a friend from his railway apprenticeship days who moved to South Africa shortly after they qualified. Him and his wife are both British nationals. They came back here to have their daughter, and then when their daughter grew up and had a child of her own - she also flew back to the UK to have the baby under NHS care.

They are all British nationals, but none of them have ever paid more than a tiny amount of British tax/NI. The daughter has never lived here and they haven't lived here in 40+ years

So if you go down the route of "never lived here and never contributed" you also have to apply that to British nationals where applicable.

Which is probably treason or something

[DarkFruitsRam7]

1 minute ago, Angry Ram said:

Nah, not really.. 

It doesn't even make you think?

[Angry Ram]

2 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

It doesn't even make you think?

Nope.. The world aint perfect yoof, anywhere. You can always find examples to support your view. Do you think there would be no homeless under a Labour govt? 

A similar thing could be produced by the Tories that might or might make you think about the Labour Party. 

[GboroRam]

Just now, tomsdubs said:

Nothing says strong leadership like hiding in a walk in fridge.

How's he supposed to go head to head with Putin or Trump when he can't face a reporter from GMB?

[GboroRam]

6 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Have they? All evidence I can find shows funding has increased every single year

There's a succinct post explaining it slightly further back. The numbers go up, but not enough to keep pace. Also more outsourcing to private companies, more PFI - all takes cash out of the system. And yes, PFI was introduced by Tony Blair - another mistake from "new" Labour.

[G STAR RAM]

7 minutes ago, SchtivePesley said:

Were they a foreign national?

My Dad has a friend from his railway apprenticeship days who moved to South Africa shortly after they qualified. Him and his wife are both British nationals. They came back here to have their daughter, and then when their daughter grew up and had a child of her own - she also flew back to the UK to have the baby under NHS care.

They are all British nationals, but none of them have ever paid more than a tiny amount of British tax/NI. The daughter has never lived here and they haven't lived here in 40+ years

So if you go down the route of "never lived here and never contributed" you also have to apply that to British nationals where applicable.

Which is probably treason or something

Without going into specifics does that sound fair to you?

And we blame the government for underfunding the NHS!

[maxjam]

4 minutes ago, GboroRam said:

I would have liked a poll but it was decided, in the interests of keeping world war 3 from breaking out, better not.

Can't we have a new thread for a just a poll?  No replies etc as we already have a politics thread.  It would be interesting to see how closely (or not) we are aligned with the rest of the country.

[Uptherams]

Scotland is certainly going to be an interesting battleground again. Once Labour gets a new leader, at the next election we could see either SNP, Conservatives or Labour gain almost all the seats. 

[DarkFruitsRam7]

9 minutes ago, Angry Ram said:

Nope.. The world aint perfect yoof, anywhere. You can always find examples to support your view. Do you think there would be no homeless under a Labour govt? 

A similar thing could be produced by the Tories that might or might make you think about the Labour Party. 

I absolutely understand that homelessness, food banks, etc, will exist under any government. But I find that the video is at least thought provoking in that it contrasts the lives of those in poverty with reports of huge corporations paying pretty much nothing in tax and the Tories' policy of continuing to cut corporation tax and funding for essential services. 

I know which of the two parties will make the most effort to reduce these issues, even if neither of them will ever completely solve them.

[Uptherams]

I cant believe Labour are acting like the Cons potentially missing out on a majority by a handful of seats is a win for them and that they can then go on to form a minority government and it actually last 5 years. ?

[Ghost of Clough]

50 minutes ago, Shang said:

They number of pounds has not been cut, but the number hasn't been increased enough to keep up with inflation, which in real terms is a cut.

The Labour Party in power had traditionally increased NHS funding by around 5% to keep up with inflation and then a bit more. The Conservatives since they have been in power has only been increasing funding by around 0.5% which has not been enough to offset inflation.

It is true the budget has risen but not enough to counter the value of the pound being worth less.

Nope... still year on year increases (even in real terms)

[ramesses]

9 minutes ago, G STAR RAM said:

Without going into specifics does that sound fair to you?

And we blame the government for underfunding the NHS!

Health tourism accounts for about 0.3% of health spending so I think it's safe for you to continue blaming the government...

https://fullfact.org/health/health-tourism-whats-cost/

 

[AndyinLiverpool]

1 hour ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

Yet another strange Bamford in politics.

Perhaps politics is a refuge when you are unable to function in any normal human way.

[GboroRam]

18 minutes ago, maxjam said:

Can't we have a new thread for a just a poll?  No replies etc as we already have a politics thread.  It would be interesting to see how closely (or not) we are aligned with the rest of the country.

Bit late now! We'll have the actual result in a day and a bit.

[Andicis]

1 hour ago, SchtivePesley said:

As for the VoterId/Postal vote changes - put simply, anything that makes it harder to vote is suppressing democracy. We already have fairly poor turnouts and a disenfranchised electorate. We should be looking to engage people more, not put more barriers in the way

No, it makes it harder to commit electoral fraud. How can that possibly be a bad thing? How many adults don't have any form of ID? It shouldn't really stop anyone who wants to vote.

[maxjam]

8 minutes ago, ramesses said:

Health tourism accounts for about 0.3% of health spending so I think it's safe for you to continue blaming the government...

https://fullfact.org/health/health-tourism-whats-cost/

Those figures are over 5 years old and they only account for “deliberate health tourism” and visitors “taking advantage” of the system.

How many immigrants have settled in the UK since 2012/13?  A popular phrase is its equivalent to a city the size of Newcastle every year - how many new hospitals, doctors surgeries, etc does that require?  Not to mention all of the other necessary infrastructure.