Roll up, roll up place your predictions

I think you are properly right * howcome*

I will leave the party politics to those who have a party. I'm a proud mercenaries- used to be called a floating voter, don't think I've ever voted for the same party twice in a row. Anyway my prediction Tory win with reduced majority - I think Mrs M lost her gamble and will have weakened her hand in Brexit and her position as leader.

Thanks Maizie. We are a railway family living in a railway city, so it's subject close to our hearts.

As I understand it, Tegan the responsibility for the actual physical rail network is 'nationalised' and has been since the private company which initially ran it after privatisation were held responsible for some accidents.

The rolling stock is all leased and, yes, none of it British made.

Services are operated by individual companies who 'buy' the franchise and expect to make a profit on it.

You might be interested in this report, research carried out by Manchester University. It's long but very readable. It has a good summary of findings. It shows that we subsidise the franchisees quite heavily. So, at the moment we, the taxpayer, pay a great deal for our rail network and get next to nothing back.

www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/rail-privatisation-is-great-train-robbery-finds-cresc-report/

Emily Thornberry who looks down on the white working class, sneers at hard working white van man flying the Union Jack. Hypocrite.

Most other European railway networks are nationalised. Or, as someone pointed out to me the other day, Britains railway network is 'nationalised', it's just that the nation that owns it is the French'. I can't back that up, by the way, but the guy does work for the railways and I don't think he was joking. One problem may be that, when contracts are up for renewal, we will have to also buy the engines/rolling stock etc, but I can't see that as a huge problem. We almost lost the last train manufacturer in this country under the Cameron government but, thankfully, due to a lot of us marching on the streets etc it was saved.

Renationalising the railways is the easy bit.The other utilities have to be bought.
Out of interest daphnedil who do you see from the Tory side as taking over as PM from T May?

If some of the Labour backbenchers can be persuaded to serve in government, I think they have far more talent than the Conservatives. I would far rather see Starmer, Thornberry and Gardiner negotiate Brexit than the Tory muppets.

Why can't Corbyn renationalise the railways? All he has to do is wait until the franchises run out and not offer them to anybody else.

dizzygran Have a look at the Guardian letters page today. A large number of respected economists have signed a letter supporting his proposals.
It is not promising the earth. He is promising the things that we used to be able to take for granted and should be able to - as they do in Scandinavian countries.

ddraig, I agree with you. It would appear that the poll which gave a Conservative lead of only one point was rogue. Other polls are still giving a 10 point lead.

The actual majority will depend on the way marginal constituencies vote. It would appear that the younger voters,more than a million of whom have registered over the last few weeks, are concentrated mainly in Labour seats. Apparently, there are only 75 constituencies where the number of 18-35 year olds exceeds the number of 65+s and most of them are already Labour. I think there will be quite a bit of tactical voting.

I know of two seats, where the LibDems were hoping to regain seats they lost in 2015 to Labour, but I think Labour will hang on to them, because voters see them as a better way of opposing Conservatives. Both seats are strongly Remain, which should be in the LibDems' favour, but so are both the Labour candidates and both seem to be popular and effective.

Can you tell me who May's strong team consists of so I can picture it in my head?

Good post dizzigran

What a mess. It was bad enough watching the Trump / Clinton debacle. Corbyn has good points - he is certainly promising the moon to everyone - even with an increase in corporation tax, higher earners paying more tax and an increase in inheritance tax, there is no way he can do what he suggests. Let alone denationalise the railways, water and electricity. All a bit pie in the sky and leftover from the 60s. I hate the fact that Corbyn seems to have been an IRA supporter and seems to have surrounded himself with a dubious group. I don't want Emily Thornberry or Diane Abbott to make decisions for me. The thought of a Labour SNP alliance fills me with horror. Cameron and Osborne were no great loss. The country did vote for Brexit and rightly or wrongly we have to respect this. Perhaps more thought should have been put into the repercussions before the vote was taken. On paper May has a much stronger team but the Tory manifesto was disappointing - not what we wanted to hear but maybe more honest about what needs to change. Thursday will be interesting... The Labour choice is even worse than the last election when Ed Milliband stood (David Milliband would have been a much better choice). May is doing a good job under very difficult circumstances - so easy to criticise. I don't want a return to the Blair / Brown years... still to decide...

I predict a Conservative government for the next five years, but not with TM as PM.

The Kippers will mostly move their allegiance to the Tories, as they're the only show in town for Brexit. Depending on how many newly registered young people actually turn out to vote and how they're distributed within constituencies, the Tories will have a majority of somewhere between 50 and 100.

varian, voters are not ignorant just because they will not necessarily vote the way you would choose to.

I totally agree Anya. I am getting really fed up with all the 'of course old people will all vote Tory' that you get all over social media. I hope we prove them wrong.

That a whole lot of predicting adaunas and you could well be right.

I predict T May will be the PM for the next five years, and unless Corbyn resigns
For the five years after that.

It would be fine Tegan2 if it were just newspaper tittle tattle but sadly people who were there spent time with him and JC himself confirms it.

My prediction is that whoever gets in will increase taxation, either direct or by stealth, to fund all the promises they are making, without necessarily producing the goods in terms of those promises.
I predict that there will continue to be an incredible amount of 'spin' (the new word for distorting the truth) from both parties. The only absolute truths will be those which reduce benefits of any kind to do with health, education, policing etc.
I predict that new bodies will be set up to be held responsible e.g. National Education Service, which will involve the appointment and pay for another tier of management which will eat into any money promised for education and other services.
I predict that any shortfall in the appearance of the improvements promised will be blamed on the unsuccessful party, despite the claims that are being made that whoever comes to power WILL BE ABLE to achieve their promises.
I further predict that, whoever gets in, analysis of the voting statistics will prove that the older generation will be responsible for all the problems caused by the successful party.

That could have been said after WWII or when the Labour Government started the NHS. Why should we believe what newspapers owned by billionaires tell us?

I for one do not want a leader who promises the earth to all and sundry when there is clearly no money to back up his idiotic promises of utopia. I certainly do not want one who supported the IRA and was more than happy to attend the funerals of bombers and socialise with them.

I too think Jeremy Corbyn has had a good campaign but I can't forgive him and John MacDonald for their support for the IRA. I lost dear friends to those terrorists while those two defended them. Can't help but wonder what other violent groups they feel sympathy for.

We do view tv debates according to our own standpoint, but the S.O. is very much LibDem but agrees with me that the BBC now have a right wing bias and have had for some time. David Dimbleby is probably the worst. Which is why we also watch Ch4 to get a better balance.