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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)

Ana Tue 09-Jun-15 18:41:04

Have we moved on from a reasoned debate about Cameron's malevolent psychopathic tendencies now, then...?

durhamjen Tue 09-Jun-15 18:38:35

Not shouting. Just asking for reasoned debate. Just saying Labour did it too is not reasoned.

loopylou Tue 09-Jun-15 18:30:17

That's nothing new, that happened under Blair too? I assume that doesn't only happen when there's a Tory government?

As I've already said I'm certainly not politics-savvy enough to articulately argue the point and, especially when it appears any non-Labour response just gets shouted down, I have no desire to set myself up to be battered smile

I'll leave it to the more politically aware to continue the discussion.

moon

Ana Tue 09-Jun-15 18:28:27

Did it make financial sense when Gordon Brown sold of UK gold reserves at a knock-down price? Were you all howling your disapproval then?

durhamjen Tue 09-Jun-15 18:25:42

act.sumofus.org/go/9227?t=1&akid=11074.8185493.9KjLSp

Sell off of RBS as well at a loss of £13 billion? Does that make financial sense?

trisher Tue 09-Jun-15 18:23:14

loopylou "If selling off Royal Mail improves that service and possibly at lower cost to the consumer then yes, I do support it."
Even if it is sold at below its real value and city financiers make a fortune out of it?

durhamjen Tue 09-Jun-15 18:19:38

You start, loopy.
Where's your reasoned debate?

loopylou Tue 09-Jun-15 18:18:34

Well certainly it's proved that reasoned debate won't be found on here or any of the GN Political threads Ana!

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

Evidently so Ana, straight from interview with Harriet Harman.

QED

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.