Watch the press get their knives out!

PinkCosmos I have to disagree that he is a genuine man. In two years he presented 7 different pledges or commitments and met none. His first core commitment to transparency, accountability and integrity failed from the start. For me his lack of integrity is encapsulated when this ‘genuine man* met Figean Murray, whose son died in the Manchester Arena disaster on Wednesday. She had walked 200 miles to highlight her Martyn’s law to improve big event security, which she wants to get into power. Sunak promised her he would present the bill to parliament before the summer recess. A mere 4 hours later he announced a general election. This is NOT a genuine man!

maddyone

I know you’re not talking about my son Maybee, but you appeared, like many others I’ve had to listen to over the years, to be quite scathing about people who are Oxbridge educated, and like others, appear to think they are all born with a silver spoon in their mouths. However I know the truth, and the truth is that the majority of Oxbridge students are just ordinary middle class students, who have attended either very minor independent schools (that no one’s ever heard of) or state schools. Most have not attended Eton or Winchester, or any other similar institution. I will not be dismissed about this, because as long as people make these type of false claims, I will continue to refute them!

Yes it is rather scathing, inverted snobbery maybe.
A family members left school with gce not conducive to any Universtiy.Took themselves to college studied for A levels, whilst working. Went to Cambridge came out with a First in Sciences.
Hairdressers son went to local Academy, now studying medicine at Cambridge, hard work and diligence pay off.

PinkCosmos

I like Rishi Sunak. I think he is genuine and has inherited a bad track record from the Conservatives. In the short time he has been chancellor and Prime Minister I think he has done a good job.

As another poster said, he doesn't need to do this job. I think he is ambitious and this is driving him. He didn't come from a wealthy background. His background was not dissimilar to Maggie Thatcher's - correct me if I am wrong.

I find Keir Starmer very unappealing. He changes his policies at the drop of a hat. He is also wealthy. He looked like a rabbit in the headlights when he was on TV last night.

All parties need to stop their infighting and dedicate themselves to the job.

Shaking my head in disbelief.

LottieLouise

I honestly do not know why Sunak puts himself through all this stress. He has enough money to retire for the rest of his life. We need someone in charge who knows how the other half live. Sunak has no idea and neither have all the other cronies in parliament and don't talk to me about the old codgers in the House of Lords who were never elected but still have input, get them out. I think we would be better off voting for the Wombles of Wimbledon if they were still around, they couldn' do any worse than this lot. Some people say, oh goody, goody, we got the triple lock pension rise but what good is it when the personal pension tax has been frozen until 2028. I pay tax because I have small private pension on top of my state pension because we were told many years ago to save for a rainy day and now that rainy day has arrived I am worse off than people on benefits as I pay for everything, glasses, dental treatment, they have even stopped some of my prescriptions because many of them are now over the counter so I have to pay for them when they used to be free. I have not seen a doctor since I had Double Pneumonia four years ago and even then it was the hospital doctors I saw as my doctor could not see me as there were no appointments so was told to go to A & E. I was in hospital for two weeks.

God, I detest politicians and their underhanded ways.

I agree with you wholeheartedly

We won't have a real choice until there is proportional representation

For all parties as the song says don’t impress me much lol I would rather watch paint dry than vote for all the me me leaders none are saying I will be a good leader. One was to blame for post office scandal one just doing it for a hobby until his wife takes him overseas , other took my son to war and even he flips more times than a pancake and opened the door to immigrants and the other got no chance so I will probably stay home and watch Netflix and avoid the news for the next 6 weeks lol

Dont forget Sunak’s FIL owns InfoSys, a company that has enjoyed many government contracts since Sunak has been PM - Sunak also has shares in Moderna.
He is a member of the WEF as is Starmer who was noted to say on video, he prefers Davos to Westminster. They are both the same book with a different cover.
Sunak was heard to say he didn’t want to be a war time PM and as PMs are ‘selected’ rather than ‘elected’, (look at previous Tory track record since covid) I would say, he’s done his time and is now handing the WEF baton over to Starmer, as planned.

Just hate the press and TV

They will be digging to find dirt and then will announce it all in order to ruin someones reputation Have we all not got some things in the past we wished we hadnt done and keep secret

I too am dreading the next 6 weeks

Oh no it isn't.

They’ve been trying to find dirt to throw at Starmer for years and all they could come up with was the field he bought so his disabled mum could look at donkeys through her window!

Please can someone define a'worker' ?
Also, what are the Lib Dems policies? No idea except the usual NHS, schools etc etc that all parties spout.

LottieLouise

I honestly do not know why Sunak puts himself through all this stress. He has enough money to retire for the rest of his life. We need someone in charge who knows how the other half live. Sunak has no idea and neither have all the other cronies in parliament and don't talk to me about the old codgers in the House of Lords who were never elected but still have input, get them out. I think we would be better off voting for the Wombles of Wimbledon if they were still around, they couldn' do any worse than this lot. Some people say, oh goody, goody, we got the triple lock pension rise but what good is it when the personal pension tax has been frozen until 2028. I pay tax because I have small private pension on top of my state pension because we were told many years ago to save for a rainy day and now that rainy day has arrived I am worse off than people on benefits as I pay for everything, glasses, dental treatment, they have even stopped some of my prescriptions because many of them are now over the counter so I have to pay for them when they used to be free. I have not seen a doctor since I had Double Pneumonia four years ago and even then it was the hospital doctors I saw as my doctor could not see me as there were no appointments so was told to go to A & E. I was in hospital for two weeks.

God, I detest politicians and their underhanded ways.

Absolutely agree. Rich pensioners what a joke. I too have a small work pension, get less than a full state pension and I think I am about £40 a month better off after Hunt’s tinkering. Which doesn’t even cover price increases. It would be better to have a tax code which begins after £15,000. Cut out the bureaucracy.

I don't buy newspapers as I don't like being told what to think and how to vote. I prefer to elect my "dictator"
I hope George Galloway isn't re-elected. He doesn't seem to have any opinions of his own, just what he thinks people want to hear. I suppose , much the same as many politicians but just more vocal.
Does any one think we had more sensible government when we had coalitions. I feel it stopped the extreme policies of the larger party. I am in favour of PR.

I would find it difficult to vote for Starmer, for one thing he doesn't seem to know what a woman is! As for giving the vote to 16 year olds - I guess that's one way of securing votes!! For the first time ever I don't feel there is a strong enough Party to get me to vote and will probably abstain.

Milest0ne

I don't buy newspapers as I don't like being told what to think and how to vote. I prefer to elect my "dictator"
I hope George Galloway isn't re-elected. He doesn't seem to have any opinions of his own, just what he thinks people want to hear. I suppose , much the same as many politicians but just more vocal.
Does any one think we had more sensible government when we had coalitions. I feel it stopped the extreme policies of the larger party. I am in favour of PR.

I think the best governments are ones in which there is a strong opposition. Corbyn,who imo was the sort of back bencher with a social conscience that every party needs, was weak in opposition and Johnson had a dangerous majority that he just threw away by being Boris Johnson. They were talking about Frank Field on TRIP’s and said how difficult it is for a backbenchers once they have cabinet positions. Apart from MP’s like Tobias Elwood I can’t see there being many decent, experienced Conservatives in opposition. I do with people like Tom Brake would come back into politics.

TanaMa

I would find it difficult to vote for Starmer, for one thing he doesn't seem to know what a woman is! As for giving the vote to 16 year olds - I guess that's one way of securing votes!! For the first time ever I don't feel there is a strong enough Party to get me to vote and will probably abstain.

What a lot of rubbish perpetrated by the media on this topic. To be honest, the ignorance of some voters soaking up everything the see in the media makes me quite pleased some people don't bother voting.
That was one of the mistakes of Brexit.

LottieLouise

I honestly do not know why Sunak puts himself through all this stress. He has enough money to retire for the rest of his life. We need someone in charge who knows how the other half live. Sunak has no idea and neither have all the other cronies in parliament and don't talk to me about the old codgers in the House of Lords who were never elected but still have input, get them out. I think we would be better off voting for the Wombles of Wimbledon if they were still around, they couldn' do any worse than this lot. Some people say, oh goody, goody, we got the triple lock pension rise but what good is it when the personal pension tax has been frozen until 2028. I pay tax because I have small private pension on top of my state pension because we were told many years ago to save for a rainy day and now that rainy day has arrived I am worse off than people on benefits as I pay for everything, glasses, dental treatment, they have even stopped some of my prescriptions because many of them are now over the counter so I have to pay for them when they used to be free. I have not seen a doctor since I had Double Pneumonia four years ago and even then it was the hospital doctors I saw as my doctor could not see me as there were no appointments so was told to go to A & E. I was in hospital for two weeks.

God, I detest politicians and their underhanded ways.

This is a good post. I agree with you about those with money not understanding the majority of the population. I remember Sunak's wife and the 'non dom' fiasco; that put me off him. Pensioners are treated so unfairly, work for nearly 50 years and they tax everything they can get their mitts on. The House of Lords should go, not least of all because if a lord turns up even for half an hour they can claim over £300 per day tax free; who made that law?

An actual campaign season of three months (which is usually your norm?) is an adequate time for all candidates to speak their piece and get around, also keeping campaign funding at a respectable level. Ninety days is a blessing!!

Forty-two days is a miracle!! People have enough time to make up their minds.

No one should complain - imagine being in the U.S. and having to endure a whole year of it! Worse than that, perceived candidates start campaigning almost immediately after each election. Four years of psycho-babble‼️ And look where we are sitting now - on the brink of autocracy/fascism.

Long campaigning does irreparable harm.

ronib

I thought the LDs much prefer to work with Labour?

The Lib Dems sold themselves to the Tories under Cameron and Clegg. I don't trust them.

Heppington

We won't have a real choice until there is proportional representation

So very true. This is what we should all be campaigning for if we want a fair and balanced democracy.

maddyone

I dislike the disdain that some people express when they speak of Oxbridge. The young people who go there work extremely hard to get there. I should know, my son went to Oxford, and he most certainly was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Incidentally Leeds is a perfectly good and well thought of university. And so is Oxford!

My granddaughter got her masters at Oxford last year and will be studying law this year, her parents both work in their pub. Every penny goes on her education, they both work every hour god gave to finance this.

Just wish they would up and give us a break! They have nothing nice to write.
The mail just loves showing naked women!
They are boring us all already & will put us off voting

I think we need some common sense.
Some proper housekeeping. Not keep throwing money at all these things like NHS, Railways, Councils etc they all need to do their jobs properly and be made to do their jobs properly, that includes all MP's there are too many clipboard people being paid too much
money doing very little at home.

It's going to take years to sort out the mess this country is in whoever gets in. Bet the no10 decorators are ready to go in again

I can well remember the sight of Nick Clegg in the rose garden of No 10 practically jumping up and down standing next to David Cameron because he'd been given the chance to sit at the Prefect's Table and imagine that he had power - not that Cameron and Osborne would REALLY acknowledge the silly little pipsqueak.

Hey Nick! What happened to abolishing university tuition fees? You simply threw the students under a bus didn't you? And re-structuring the Care System? It's like Cameron was working you like a ventriloquists doll.

I don't want to see a repeat of those years, whichever side pulls the most votes!