An election looms, so I think it is time to look at all the success over the 13 years that we have witnessed from the government.

MayBee70

GrannyGravy13

Not sure that U.K. voters elect TV personalities DaisyAnneRetrns

But, any prospective MP in the 21st century must utilise all forms of media to get their own political points of view and their parties manifesto known to the widest audience possible.

I think Johnson’s appearance on HIGNFY is what propelled him into political success. Even I was charmed by him back then (albeit not in the way that I’m charmed by Rory Stewart these days).

Thank you MayBee. Exactly that.

DaisyAnneReturns

MayBee70

GrannyGravy13

Not sure that U.K. voters elect TV personalities DaisyAnneRetrns

But, any prospective MP in the 21st century must utilise all forms of media to get their own political points of view and their parties manifesto known to the widest audience possible.

I think Johnson’s appearance on HIGNFY is what propelled him into political success. Even I was charmed by him back then (albeit not in the way that I’m charmed by Rory Stewart these days).

Thank you MayBee. Exactly that.

Do you really think that the U.K. electorate voted for their Conservative constituency MP (as you know we do not vote for the PM other than those in the leader of the parties constituency) on Boris Johnson’s appearance on HIGNFY?

I think the party won the last election on their slogan of get Brexit done Which worked after the stalemate in the H of P during Theresa May’s tenure.

GrannyGravy13

DaisyAnneReturns

MayBee70

GrannyGravy13

Not sure that U.K. voters elect TV personalities DaisyAnneRetrns

But, any prospective MP in the 21st century must utilise all forms of media to get their own political points of view and their parties manifesto known to the widest audience possible.

I think Johnson’s appearance on HIGNFY is what propelled him into political success. Even I was charmed by him back then (albeit not in the way that I’m charmed by Rory Stewart these days).

Thank you MayBee. Exactly that.

Do you really think that the U.K. electorate voted for their Conservative constituency MP (as you know we do not vote for the PM other than those in the leader of the parties constituency) on Boris Johnson’s appearance on HIGNFY?

I think the party won the last election on their slogan of get Brexit done Which worked after the stalemate in the H of P during Theresa May’s tenure.

Oh, GG13

I think we do really know that people vote for a party leader rather than just a constituency MP. After all, when one votes for an MP they do represent a discrete party, and the leader of that party will become PM. And when the media are talking p one party leader and monstering the other people do take note.

How many LP activists on Gnet have said over the past 7 years that on the doorstep people said they would not vote for Corbyn?

MaizieD

I look at the party manifesto’s, but more importantly to me has always been the local candidate.

Firstly are they local or parachuted in, if they are standing for reelection I would look at what they have done for the local area.

This is why I am politically homeless and shall be voting for a local independent candidate.

A good constituency MP/candidate is priceless, regardless of their colour.

Katie59

“2 out of every three people want greater government spending on public services, which would of course result in economic growth.”

The same could be said about HS2 but that’s highly questionable, if we embark on a lot of public service spending we're going to need a much larger labour force than else have now.

I doubt very much that many people believed that HS2 would be of any economic value apart from those politicians such as George Osborne who supported the Northern Powerhouse.

High speed rail arrived in Britain with the Channel tunnel link in 2003. In 2009 the D o T under Labour, proposed to assess the case for a second high speed line. The Conservative/Lib Dem coalition proposed a public consultation and the rest is history. So far the original budget has tripled.

All this so that business people can arrive in Birmingham with 1/2 hour cut from the present journey time.

GrannyGravy13

MaizieD

I look at the party manifesto’s, but more importantly to me has always been the local candidate.

Firstly are they local or parachuted in, if they are standing for reelection I would look at what they have done for the local area.

This is why I am politically homeless and shall be voting for a local independent candidate.

A good constituency MP/candidate is priceless, regardless of their colour.

You may do so but many people don't. When Johnson became PM there were several vox pops on tv with people saying words to the effect of " Good old Boris - he's one of us - he'll see us right"

According to some friends who have manned polling stations for 40 plus years, at the time of the referendum many people went to vote who had never done so previously. They asked questions such as "how do I know that my vote will be counted" and "how do I know that you won't change the voting slip after I've left" They of course were supporting Farage.

Dinahmo

Katie59

“2 out of every three people want greater government spending on public services, which would of course result in economic growth.”

The same could be said about HS2 but that’s highly questionable, if we embark on a lot of public service spending we're going to need a much larger labour force than else have now.

I doubt very much that many people believed that HS2 would be of any economic value apart from those politicians such as George Osborne who supported the Northern Powerhouse.

High speed rail arrived in Britain with the Channel tunnel link in 2003. In 2009 the D o T under Labour, proposed to assess the case for a second high speed line. The Conservative/Lib Dem coalition proposed a public consultation and the rest is history. So far the original budget has tripled.

All this so that business people can arrive in Birmingham with 1/2 hour cut from the present journey time.

No. It isn’t about making journeys faster. Our current rail system is archaic and it would be impossible to upgrade it without massive disruption for years. We need to get lorries off the roads and we need to encourage more people to travel by rail. Just travel round Europe by rail and then compare it to this country when you arrive back. Ok, I’m biased because I come from a railway family but, believe me we don’t support it because we want to trash the environment and cripple the economy.

Living during the Beeching era and seeing the results of that I understand completely the need to upgrade the rail network. But HS2 was never the way to do that.

I used to live in Suffolk where the freight traffic from Felixstowe regularly brought traffic on the A12 and A14 to a standstill. The population would have been delighted had freight traffic been removed from the roads.

However, whenever anyone was trotted out to talk about the benefits of HS2 the reduction in journey time was usually the first thing mentioned.

Since I now live in France I am well aware of the benefits of travel by rail and prefer to do that rather than fly.

Dinahmo

Living during the Beeching era and seeing the results of that I understand completely the need to upgrade the rail network. But HS2 was never the way to do that.

I used to live in Suffolk where the freight traffic from Felixstowe regularly brought traffic on the A12 and A14 to a standstill. The population would have been delighted had freight traffic been removed from the roads.

However, whenever anyone was trotted out to talk about the benefits of HS2 the reduction in journey time was usually the first thing mentioned.

Since I now live in France I am well aware of the benefits of travel by rail and prefer to do that rather than fly.

The A12 is still at a standstill more than it’s moving.

It is my most detested road, which unfortunately I have to use once every couple of weeks.

gg13 we used it when holidaying in Suffolk this year.

I reckon it is one of the worst in England.

I would love to see more investment in railways and certainly support getting freight off the roads. But HS2 was sold to us as a high speed line (the clue was in the name) but now we’re told it’s not about speed. And it now seems it will be a line from somewhere outside London to somewhere outside Birmingham, so from nowhere in particular to another nowhere in particular, and what’s the point of that? Any savings in journey time would be immediately cancelled out, in fact journey times would be increased by travel to city centres at the end of the line.

The cynic in me thinks it was only ever about contracts and backhanders and politicians making themselves and their mates richer still. But that could never be allowed to happen could it

I have not read through the whole thread but my initial reaction to the thread title was
"That won't take long then, will it?"

Quite foxgloves.

Anyone with half a brain who has experienced the chaos of UK politics in recent years must be able to answer that question.

There was a post on here yesterday, directed at me, that I didn't read past the first line, as it was so clearly dripping venom.

I have now read it. It ended "If I’m barking up the wrong tree perhaps you can explain where am going wrong".

This came after I had made it clear I was not prepared to be anyone's target or focus for attack. How do you tell someone, who thinks they can portray lies as truth, what is wrong with such poison?

Only in 1984 - War is Peace! Failure is Achievement!

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

No idea what you are trying to say Grantanow, but do you think it is okay for someone to attribute what they want to attack, to you?

There is no way Whiewave knows what I think - as she showed. I had explained I have no intention of presenting my thoughts on a plate for her to dissect. That is not an argument, it's just playground nastiness.

I have no problem with people presenting an argument against views I have published. But to make views up and then attack them seems both odd and extreme.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Just had something pop up on my Facebook timeline about problems with sewage. It’s from over a year ago. That isn’t going well, is it?

Were we live the sewage problems due to privitisation have helped elect a new LibDem MP and a new LibDem councillor., both of them taking seats from the Tories just in the last month. Sewage is a serious issue..

The problems with our sewage seem like a metaphor for the breakdown of the systems that run or should run a wealthy society. The basics such as waste removal, sewage treatment, education, policing, and health, all the things which create a functioning society, seem to be breaking down.

The far-right sees politics as a way to support only the individual. The far-left see politics as all about the largest group possible, the state.

The problem is that centrist politics is more difficult than the simplistic extremes. Balancing state and individual will always be a point of debate. Creating a mixed economy, balancing the economic views of left and right, is also difficult to manage. But then, no one ever said life would be simple. Going for the simplistic answer doesn't make life simple for the majority - just 'a' majority, one extreme or the other.

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If you haven’t seen this before, it is amazing.
www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/crossnesss-victorian-pumping-station-resumes-steaming-this-month-64686/
It just shows how important sewage disposal was in the Victorian era, they placed much more value on public health. They would be turning in their graves.

The trouble is because we became an industrial nation before most other countries our infrastructure is Victorian and needs replacing. We’re just putting sticking plasters over the many problems. Maybe, being a small island, we find it far too easy to just pump sewage out to sea and try to forget about it.

The graves they went to on average at age 40. I am not sure it helps to compare, I wouldnt under any circumstances wanted to have brought up children in that era.