Should I vote Conservative

Cunco your working class upbringing must have been a very sheltered one. My grandfather was a docker and he and many of his contemporaries were, or claimed to be, communists in the 40s and 50s. In the 60s my brother was working in factories whilst training as an engineer and he met a lot of union shop stewards who were communist or very left wing. My grandfather applauded the nationalisation of the rail and mines but thought that this would fail because the gov hadn't nationalised the banks.
My mum and dad were very aspirational and worked hard to give me a good education but even when they owned their own business they remained true to their roots and supported Labour policies.
The reason behind nationalising water and fuel is that they are necessities for a civilised society and no-one should be making profits from them.

And the more I think about it the more patronising I find your post to working class people who educated themselves and read Marx and Engels and The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists and wanted to build a better society. There may have been Marxists at your Uni but there were plenty in the working class as well.

Best if you stop thinking about it then, if you find it patronising for someone to speak honestly about their experiences and opinions. This forum is fast becoming a one one-party dictatorship, with annihilation for anyone who expresses doubt about the perfection of the Labour manifesto, or asks how Shangri-La will be obtained without serious funding.

Shifting money round the population is great, but
All their aims are excellent, but if they raise corporation tax to pay for them, and demand that employers increase wages and give more paid holidays, they are running a risk of killing a good proportion of businesses like Gillybob's - who are responsible for 60% of employment. That would put up the cost of supporting the unemployed. Or perhaps the extra costs would be passed through the employers to higher prices for everyone.

I don't see anything about encouraging firms to employ more people, or about increasing the amount of help and advice to those trying to expand a fledgeling business, or develop exports in a post-EU trading world. Shifting money more equably round the population is great, but unless there is also equality in what is spent abroad and what is brought into the country FROM abroad, there is prgressively less to distribute. We buy a lot, so we need to sell a lot.

Elegran,

Where is the evidence that the progressive lowering of corporation tax by the Tories has led to increased business activity, higher employment and better wages?

I don't see anything about encouraging firms to employ more people,

So you can't make any connection between increased public spending (NHS, infrastructure, housing etc) leading to increased demand for materials, increased profit for companies (from extra work) and increased employment? All of which generate increased taxes. Where do you think the investment goes? Down a black hole?

This forum is fast becoming a one one-party dictatorship, with annihilation for anyone who expresses doubt about the perfection of the Labour manifesto

That's just ridiculous. We're just deviating from the Sun/Express/Daily Mail/Times view of the world. Without much challenge.

or asks how Shangri-La will be obtained without serious funding.

Some of us have tried several times to explain. Are you just not reading our posts?

maize well said

Why were May and Hammond allowed to give a press conference at lunchtime today about the Labour manifesto before they had published their own?
They didn't answer the questions either, just robotically repeated their mantras.

It's because of the constant and unfair bias. Academics are monitoring it and have noted the bias.

Have they been warned?
John Hymphrys was brilliant on this.

skwawkbox.org/2017/05/17/hammonds-abbott-moment-but-far-worse-audio/

Time Maybot went on, although she ought to wait until after her manifesto is published.
I assume it's her manifesto, as opposed to the Tory party manifesto.

Wonder if the Daily Rubbish will be as rude to Hammond as they were to Abbott?

On here or in the media?

This is interesting.

www.theweek.co.uk/84663/doctors-call-on-tories-to-pledge-350m-a-week-for-nhs

Do you think they'll put it in the manifesto tomorrow?

Daily Rubbish reporting Maybot/Hammond rift.

Tittle tattle they all say

The Sainted Guardian wasn't exactly complimentary about Abbott either.

Even if you think we can't stop May from winning, do not let her get her own way on everything. Personally I think people are more important than foxes, but preventing the torturing and killing of animals makes for a more civilised society. Theresa May disagrees.

www.change.org/p/theresa-may-mp-keep-the-ban-on-fox-hunting-06917243-6592-46bb-86df-ebc09a9b5b86?recruiter=492157942&utm

That's one thing she may not get through as I'm not sure that she has a majority.

But it was one thing I had thought we were civilised enough not to return to. It seems not.

voxpoliticalonline.com/2017/05/17/challenge-the-tories-in-the-bbc-wherever-you-find-them/

This is a good idea for anyone on facebook or twitter.

t.co/M81iicvADW

Paul Mason showing that Laura Kuennsberg says exactly the same as CCHQ. Who would have thought it!

www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/17/inquiry-launched-into-how-uk-parties-target-voters-through-social-media

It could be illegal.

Did anyone see Boris's gaffe?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/may/17/boris-johnson-apologises-after-discussing-alcohol-in-sikh-temple

He will be shuffled.

Elegran Do you see anything in the Conservative manifesto to support small businesses, especially with a post-Brexit economy in mind?

(Have to confess I haven't read it, so there might be.)

PS.I explained before why most economists seem to think that corporation tax shouldn't be lower than income tax.

Elegran I agree absolutely.
Amazing how many are swallowing eagerly the whole of the Labour Party manifesto ( on here as opposed to RL) it's mainly La La Land.
No this, no that! Free this, free that!

Conservative manifesto isn't out until tomorrow.

This is interesting. Worth watching the Sky clip.

skwawkbox.org/2017/05/17/sky-shames-kuenssberg-by-on-labourmanifesto-ge17-video/

Go on then, roses

Give us a fact based, economically literate, rebuttal of the Labour Party economic plans.

Do your bit for Theresa...

Laugh a minute on GN.

dd I don't see anything I particularly like in ANYONE's policies. I do see much I dislike all over the place, including a propensity for campaigning by heaping invective on the "other side" and implying that they are acting out of hatred for one group or another.