Thatcher-lite really, and I didn’t support him for the leadership anyway because it was clear in the mid 90s that sentiment had changed dramatically against the right and we could have afforded to go for a bolder candidate and still win elections.
The economy was booming and the middle classes were open to more left wing policies, which made the advent of Blair all the more frustrating.
We really needed the two leader types transposed, with a Thatcher-defeating Blairite in 1983/7 and a leftier Footist in 1995.
Sorry, meant that as a general reply, but, for the most part, whenever I’ve voted tactically I’ve sightly regretted it. However I think I’ve mostly otherwise voted for the best that exists, rather than wholehearted support.
Haven’t listened or watched the BBC news in a while, but had 6 music on this morning and every hourly bulletin lead with something like “Labour spending plans to cost 5 billion”. So literally the headline news according to them was just the bullshit Tory talking point of the day. Didn’t think it had got that bad, but am not overly surprised.
It’s the 11th of November, so what better day to attack Corbyn because he might not want to deploy weapons capable of killing millions? A day like any other, no?
Defence minister Johnny Mercer (after Thornberry did not rush to say a Labour Government would be delighted to nuke some bad guys):
It is important that Labour urgently clarifies their position on whether or not they would actually be prepared to use our nuclear deterrent if needed. They should start by telling us who exactly will sit on this committee that would consider whether or not to authorise a nuclear strike or not in the face of a foreign threat?
Farage has predictably thrown in his lot with the Tories by not contesting their seats, despite recently claiming that Johnson’s agreement wasn’t Brexit, the unprincipled little shit.
Odds of a Tory majority have dropped from 2.24 to 1.66 at Betfair.
Not quite sure if it makes quite such a difference. If Corbyn has any chance to maintain his seats, he has to paint a picture of the failures of the deregulated economy and ensure that people realise that the NHS will effectively be privatised, all workers’ rights removed, food standards abandoned etc on a tory brexit.
There are 55 eng and wales seats that had a majority of less than 2000 last election - 29 cons 20 labour - 4 LD 2 PC. 25 of the con seats would have been won by labour if the LD vote had moved to them. So there might be some tactical voting that would lead to tory losses uncluttered by brexit party spoilers.
I’m not completely giving up hope yet as it’s possible the Tory scum have telegraphed their move a little early. It was obvious to most that Farage was always going to soft play Boris with a view to getting a DUP-style enabling role in the event of a narrow Tory majority. But it’s absolutely not in Farage’s interests for Boris to steamroller this election and run up a huge majority, as the Brexitard party immediately become as irrelevant as UKIP the moment anyone has the unfettered ability to control the Brexit process.
Only a formal Brexit/Tory pact that guaranteed Farage a seat at the table would have been enough for him to actually campaign alongside Boris (that was the nightmare scenario I thought we were facing just a few weeks ago, but shit comes at you fast these days), and now Farage needs to walk a fine line between being seen by his drooling army as supporting “real Brexit” and not allowing the evil Corbyn a shot at number 10, whilst also allowing the chaos and uncertainty to continue so he can remain relevant.
I suspect Labour and the Lib Dems will come to an arrangement soon. It won’t be a formal pact as both leaders are stubborn fools with diometrically opposed world views, but pragmatism still has a chance. They can avoid beating each other up unnecessarily in marginal spots and maximise the chances of keeping the Tory score to a manageable level, and this could give them both an air of respectability and avoid the mutual destruction that would come from a comfortable Tory majority.
I lumped on a Tory majority at just over evens the moment the market opened, as right then I believed it to be more of a 1/2 shot. The market still hasn’t quite fully corrected despite the apparent “new information” that the Brexitards won’t be hampering the Tories to the best of their ability, and I think there’s still value in taking the 1.6 or so currently available. But don’t get carried away and start assuming a 350+ seat haul for Boris and his boys. There’s plenty of time for him to fuck this up yet, and it’s in everyone else’s interests to keep him on a short leash.
Technically, the US has been pretty good at killing brown and yellow people. Blacks not so much, although I’m sure it’s come up from time to time. Assuming we’re talking overseas, of course.