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Cameron - a "shrewd & malevolent psychopath"?

(234 Posts)
FarNorth Mon 08-Jun-15 20:27:17

Not that I am suggesting such a thing, but here is a thought-provoking article from the Guardian :
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/01/david-cameron-moriarty-downing-street-radical-thatcher

(For those who don't like links, the title of this thread gives a good clue, so you can just go from there. smile)

soontobe Tue 09-Jun-15 16:36:17

Confidence is underrated.
Not to be confused though with over confidence or arrogance.

trisher Tue 09-Jun-15 16:36:38

This is about 2 posh boys who are making the rich richer, if you read my first post. The name is a bve product

soontobe Tue 09-Jun-15 16:37:09

Or superiority.

jinglbellsfrocks Tue 09-Jun-15 16:47:41

Just maybe they both happen to be two extremely well educated and intelligent individuals who have both managed to cut a good path in life, and are now trying to successfully get this country back on track. But to call them that wouldn't be so much fun would it?

loopylou Tue 09-Jun-15 16:52:36

Very good point jingl but for some Tory bashing is preferable to considering other options. And don't forget tens of thousands of Labour supporters clearly thought them a sounder choice than their own party, so perhaps the majority of voters aren't wrong?

trisher Tue 09-Jun-15 16:52:40

Haven't said they aren't intelligent or well educated but if flogging Royal mail for significantly less than its market value, and proposing to do the same to a bank that is largely publicly owned, whilst passing legislation which puts us at the whim of vast corporations and restricts our human rights is "gettting the country back on track" I actually prefer it off track thank you!

durhamjen Tue 09-Jun-15 16:53:31

www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2015/03/26/comment-boarding-school-has-scarred-our-leaders

soontobe Tue 09-Jun-15 17:01:25

I have been trying to work out the point of endless tory bashing.
And I cannot come up with a single answer.

trisher Tue 09-Jun-15 17:10:20

Why is stating the truth "Tory bashing'? If you can explain or excuse any of the things I have posted soontobe I am prepared to listen. But please read my post as what has actually been done and don't be so dismissive. It's called political debate.

FarNorth Tue 09-Jun-15 17:15:53

Do you see trisher's post as part of endless tory-bashing, soon? If you are happy about the things s/he mentions then please could you tell us why that is?

Today I have been viewing parliament on TV and I have heard many good points being made by MPs of all parties.

durhamjen Tue 09-Jun-15 17:19:02

Do you consider comments about Tony Blair to be Tory bashing, too, soon?
If so, good.

durhamjen Tue 09-Jun-15 17:22:04

Loopy, the majority of voters did not vote Tory. The Labour vote actually increased at the last election, although you would not know it from the post election media frenzy, so how many Labour voters do you know who voted Tory, because I do not know any.

grannyonce Tue 09-Jun-15 17:33:03

in 2010 - Conservative votes 10,703,654
in 2015 - Conservative votes 11,334,579
and as I repeatedly stated the percentage is never (except for one election in the past ) more than 50% so never a majority under the FPTP system
shall I repeat the figures to show nulabour never held the majority of the votes when they were in power

on second thoughts I am banging my head against a brick wall. smile

Ana Tue 09-Jun-15 17:34:34

Even its own supporters were glad Labour didn't win the election, apparently...

loopylou Tue 09-Jun-15 17:36:42

So, if the Labour vote actually increased at the last election how come huge swathes of the country are now blue on political maps dj?

I can't understand that statement from my admittedly very limited understanding of politics, however I do know that millions of voters chose the Conservative party and therefore must feel they are best placed to lead the country, not Ed Milliband or Nick Clegg or anyone else.

I've never been so presumptive as to ask anyone their political persuasion, so, no I don't know any, neither do I know who voted Tory, Lib Dem, UKIP or any other party.

loopylou Tue 09-Jun-15 17:42:43

Evidently so Ana, straight from interview with Harriet Harman.

QED

durhamjen Tue 09-Jun-15 17:46:22

No, grannyonce, you do not need to. It does not matter. I was responding to loopy's comment that tens of thousands of Labour supporters thought the Tories a better bet than Labour.
Why have you only given the Tory vote and not the Labour.
The Tory national vote went up by 0.5% to 37%.
The Labour national vote went up by 1.5% to 30%.

The difference was not in Labour voters voting for Tories, but Libdem voters voting for Tories.

FarNorth Tue 09-Jun-15 17:52:33

How come huge swathes of our country are now blue on political maps? wonders loopylou.
It's all due to the First Past The Post system, same reason there is only one UKIP MP.

loopylou Tue 09-Jun-15 17:58:26

Thanks FarNorth I realised that as soon as I hit 'send' blush but as Proportional Representation isn't used in this country then we have to lump it I guess.

trisher Tue 09-Jun-15 17:59:21

I find it very interesting that when the actual actions of the government are questioned Tory supporters never enter into proper debate. They fall back on "we won the election" or "more voted for us". It's a bit like a kid going "it's my ball, so I make the rules." I am quite prepared to admit to being a Labour voter, but I willingly condemned Tony Blair for taking us into the Iraq war. Do the Tory supporters really agree with the Royal Mail sell off?

Ana Tue 09-Jun-15 18:05:52

So far there doesn't seem to have been much 'proper debate' on this thread from the left-leaners either - it seems to have been mainly personal digs at Cameron and Osborne, plus a good old sneer at boarding school pupils!

loopylou Tue 09-Jun-15 18:08:50

I'm not a Tory supporter but I highly suspect that Labour supporters would use exactly the same behaviour/phrases so that's nothing new.

It's like Labour supporters constantly Tory bashing, it achieves nothing nor changes anything IMO

If selling off Royal Mail improves that service and possibly at lower cost to the consumer then yes, I do support it. We have a crap postal service where I live despite numerous complaints, even up to Ombudsman level. Several businesses around here are using alternative providers and are very happy.

durhamjen Tue 09-Jun-15 18:10:57

Looking at the wrong map, loopy.
Many of those Tory areas only have sheep in them.
If you have a look at a map based on constituencies you will find there are large urban areas that have nothing but red in them, like Manchester and Birmingham and West Yorkshire.
If you have a look at the North East from Teesside north, there are three Tory MPs and the rest are Labour, but it does not look like that on an ordinary map. One of those seats goes down from Berwick to Ashington, but it has the same number of constituents as about a square mile of Newcastle.

durhamjen Tue 09-Jun-15 18:14:43

Didn't the title tell you it would be about Cameron bashing?

Ana Tue 09-Jun-15 18:16:57

I wonder if any GN Labour supporters will come out and admit that they're secretly glad Labour didn't win the election?