Call a General Election - Petition

ronib

There’s nothing wrong with my hearing… it’s my understanding which continues to be challenged.

I wish I could say the same, sadly my hearing is deteriorating. I have some interesting exchanges with OH these days, he mumbles, I mishear and confusion ensues! The saying I used in my last post is very well known and I'm sure you didn't think for one minute that I was questioning your ability to hear or to understand for that matter, however, touche!

I think you got it right there ronib

There’s nothing wrong with my hearing… it’s my understanding which continues to be challenged.

foxie48

None so deaf as those who will not hear, Ronib

‘Some posters’, eh?

Or did you have a particular comment in mind that you wanted to debate?

None so deaf as those who will not hear, Ronib

As well as publicity - not a political innocent unaware of wider politics - in the Express he expressed support for Trump's win in the USA.
Numbers still just under 3 million less than Reform votes in the UK.

GrannyGravy13

Luckygirl13 the petition was started by Michael Westwood, he is a publican, his pubs sell the cheapest beer in England.

He has done several tv and radio interviews this week.

So he's after publicity for himself proabably.

foxie48 I guess Starmer thought we needed to hear them again and again. We’re clearly not getting the message.

Well it's not had much effect if Starmer is "yet again expounding selected policies". You might consider it has had some effect if he was expounding different policies but he's not is he?

I don’t agree that the petition had no effect at all simply because we had the treat of hearing Starmer on Thursday morning yet again expounding selected policies. He was a less ebullient version of a previous prime minister.
It will be interesting to see if future petitions against the removal of sickness benefits for example provoke a similar response from the public and the government.

Agreed, Maisie and foxie.

I know it's a small sample, but Fiona Bruce always says that the Question Time audience is representative, and Nigel Farage didn't get anywhere near as much applause for his answers as Alistair Campbell did for his defence of the government, or the audience chap who, having visited the Holocaust Museum, warned against far right rhetoric persuading us to ignore the warnings of History. The 'lady in red' got no applause either, and the woman sitting next to her's face was a picture when she said she 'didn't believe in asylum''. I don't think the 'mood of the country' is as anti-Labour as people on here say, although I recognise that we all live in 'bubbles', so I might be missing something.

I do mix with a wide range of people though, and on the whole there is definitely a predominant 'wait and see' feeling, and although most older people are annoyed at the WFP withdrawal, young ones think the money is better targeted to the needy than given the aged of all income levels. My constituency is traditionally Labour, but my home town is very Tory, and has been for years, so I would expect to hear much more anti-Labour voices than I am doing.

If a petition like this got any perceptible traction it could change our democratic style of government. We elect MPs and the party with the most MPs is the legal government for five years, end of! A government that responds to random petitions would be completely hand tied. All governments have to make decisions that some people disagree with, that's politics. FGS the government has been in power for less than 6 months, just suck it up.

ronib

The email response by the Cabinet Office is less than convincing- no sticking plaster solutions, fixing the foundations, secure borders and blah.
We used to live in a fairly safe area but in the last month, two burglaries happened and a 13 year old boy was mugged. The response suggests that the government has a mandate for change and is fixing the foundations and of course the 22 billion black hole.
I don’t believe the Cabinet Office understands the depth of feeling against this government. But then it wouldn’t - it’s in a bubble.

You've obviously never signed one of these petitions before.

I have and I told you all what sort of response you would get😂

They have no effect at all.

I’ve just looked at the number on the petition and it’s still below 3 million. So, not even the 4 million Reform voters have signed it … and it’s half what the Brexit petition got.

Not that great then🤷‍♀️

Blimey was there not depth of feeling for the last 14 years whilst we watched our country decimated Ronib unfortunately the loud voices and full pockets won as always

ronib

LizzieDrip thank you for explaining your thoughts. I still think that parents have ultimate responsibility for their children and if, for any reason, a child is not thriving then parents should have the option to use private schools at an affordable price and vat free - education is not the privilege of the super rich.

I've just spotted this ronib - and you are quite right it is legally The parents' responsibility to see thar their children are educated appropriately "according to their age,ability and aptitude and any special educational needs they may have".

This can still be done at home you know because the law says this can be at school or otherwise.

Quite a lot of exceptional students are home educated.

Just felt I should flag this up.

Did they understand the depth of feeling against the last government, ronib?

The email response by the Cabinet Office is less than convincing- no sticking plaster solutions, fixing the foundations, secure borders and blah.
We used to live in a fairly safe area but in the last month, two burglaries happened and a 13 year old boy was mugged. The response suggests that the government has a mandate for change and is fixing the foundations and of course the 22 billion black hole.
I don’t believe the Cabinet Office understands the depth of feeling against this government. But then it wouldn’t - it’s in a bubble.

Had a phone call from an IPSOS market research today. Assume it isn’t a scam of some kind. It seemed very political, asking me what I thought about the party leaders. I did refuse to answer questions that I felt were too personal.

No, he's pretty well heeled but I spotted that one too.

The Petition seems to have settled around nearly 3 million. The map of who voted where (on the petition page as in the O/P is interesting to look at), some predictable, some anomalies.

Apologies I posted that he was the billionaire in wealth management, also called Michael Westwood.

Bit of publicity for his 3 pubs and wholesale firm...what I really have problems with however is Musk's involvement.

Luckygirl13 the petition was started by Michael Westwood, he is a publican, his pubs sell the cheapest beer in England.

He has done several tv and radio interviews this week.

Maremia

Back to the petition. Just read that thousands upon thousands of the signatures are from outside of the UK. More than 140 countries have 'contributed'. Foreign interference? Russian bots?

We do indeed have no idea who/what has generated this petition in an attempt to manipulate our political system. But what we do know is that the debate is a waste of precious parliamentary debating time.

Helpful suggestions of British postcodes seem to have been appearing on social media

Mm, what a coincidence🤔