Have I Missed Summat ?

[tyke1962]

Is there a GE election currently taking place ?

Live TV debates with the candidates pulling each other to bits .

This is getting portrayed as though we are electing a new government , that's the spin , the deceit if you will with the MSM complicit in the deception .

May I remind people this is a government of 12 years and counting and would someone from the media kindly point out why there is a Conservative Party leadership election going on today .

[phil old leake]

No you haven’t.  This is being hyped up out of all proportion

It’s a leadership contest albeit the winner will be Prime Minister

Why there is a need for TV debates is beyond me. Also why the Tories want this all over the media is beyond me.  It can only reflect badly on them as a party

[SydneyRover]

They need a tv debate to tell the country what they are going to do about foodbanks, about those on  zero hours contracts and the better jobs they will create, about levelling up, the NHS are they going to continue with privatisation, are they still hiring nurses and police, the million hospitals they are building, climate change action, the cost of living ...................... etc

[wilts rover]

It is an absolutely bizarre contest.

You would think that seeing as they all stood on the same manifesto only 2 1/2 years ago that the contest would be about who is the best person to deliver that manifesto.

Instead, as Tyke say, its like a GE campaign with 5 totally opposite sides all offering a different vision whilst trashing their recent record in government at the same time.

They have no idea what they stand for or why they stand for it. And one of them will run the country in 8 weeks.

[tyke1962]

No you haven’t.  This is being hyped up out of all proportion

It’s a leadership contest albeit the winner will be Prime Minister

Why there is a need for TV debates is beyond me. Also why the Tories want this all over the media is beyond me.  It can only reflect badly on them as a party

It just shows the depth of the deception getting played out here .

A new leader offering whatever bullshyte they are offering , a promise of this , that and the other as though the last 3 years never happened never mind the last 12 .

The TV debate is actually laughable given less than 0.47% of the electorate will vote in a new PM .

[BillyStubbsTears]

No you haven’t.  This is being hyped up out of all proportion

It’s a leadership contest albeit the winner will be Prime Minister

Why there is a need for TV debates is beyond me. Also why the Tories want this all over the media is beyond me.  It can only reflect badly on them as a party

It just shows the depth of the deception getting played out here .

A new leader offering whatever bullshyte they are offering , a promise of this , that and the other as though the last 3 years never happened never mind the last 12 .

The TV debate is actually laughable given less than 0.47% of the electorate will vote in a new PM .

80% of the Tory membership are in socio-economic classes ABC1

56% live in London or the Home Counties.

39% are over 65.

65% are male.

That's the demographic that's going to choose our PM.

Wealthy old southern men. The golf club bore rules the country.

[drfchound]

bst despises pensioners shock.

[Nudga]

All theartre for the masses. The next PM will already have been chosen by those pulling the strings.

[wilts rover]

All theartre for the masses. The next PM will already have been chosen by those pulling the strings.

Not quite sure about that. Given the amount of vitriol aimed towards Penny Mordaunt in the papers over the past couple of days, those puling the strings dont think their choice for PM is going to be PM.

[Nudga]

It will be a WEF "Young Global Leader"

[tyke1962]

The best candidate for Labour in my opinion is Sunak .

With the economy unlikely to improve and possibly get worse Keith can pin the blame on the former chancellor .

Sunak's less than patriotic credentials with his Green Card and his wife's tax status are also very good lines of attack .

Whether Keith is up to sticking the boot in effectively is debatable mind .

[Bentley Bullet]

bst despises pensioners shock.

I can't imagine any pensioner losing too much sleep over it, Hound. In fact, probably the opposite. After all, his praise of anyone is hardly a commendable endorsement.

[Colemans Left Hook]

No you haven’t.  This is being hyped up out of all proportion

It’s a leadership contest albeit the winner will be Prime Minister

Why there is a need for TV debates is beyond me. Also why the Tories want this all over the media is beyond me.  It can only reflect badly on them as a party

It just shows the depth of the deception getting played out here .

A new leader offering whatever bullshyte they are offering , a promise of this , that and the other as though the last 3 years never happened never mind the last 12 .

The TV debate is actually laughable given less than 0.47% of the electorate will vote in a new PM .

80% of the Tory membership are in socio-economic classes ABC1

56% live in London or the Home Counties.

39% are over 65.

65% are male.

That's the demographic that's going to choose our PM.

Wealthy old southern men. The golf club bore rules the country.

honest question was there anything about % ethnicity (as we call it nowadays) in those stats ?

  because at this moment in time  Badenoch is getting ridiculously hammered in the betting and  rather than  Mavis of Coronation Street (a.k.a. Truss ) getting Badenoch's votes it could be the other way around

[phil old leake]

I don’t get where you’re coming from Syd. Yes we do need to know all those things you raised but it’s not relevant in this contest.  That’s something for the next General Election

This is about who is going to lead the tories into that election

The public will be able to make their minds up in the next 2 and a bit years

This is just absolutely nonsense and the only benefactors are the Labour Party

Waste of time effort and money

[BillyStubbsTears]

bst despises pensioners shock.

I can't imagine any pensioner losing too much sleep over it, Hound. In fact, probably the opposite. After all, his praise of anyone is hardly a commendable endorsement.

Ahh Hound. Never misses a chance to draw a wrong conclusion. Usually the one that supports his stupid prejudices


For the record (do I REALLY have to say this?) of course I don't despise pensioners. I despise ignorant selfish people. And the evidence suggests that there are more of those than average in the current generation of pensioners. So I despise those. But there are so brilliant, altruistic, thoughtful caring pensioners. And I take my hat off to them as exemplars. I intend to become one, one day. 

[Bentley Bullet]

Who are the ignorant selfish pensioners, those who have a different opinion than you?

[BillyStubbsTears]

No BB. What a stupid thing to say.

Of course all people who have a different opinion to me aren't ignorant and selfish. I respect many people who have a different opinion to me.

But the fact is that this generation of 50-odds+ is the first one since the Industrial Revolution whose grandkids have worse economic opportunities that they have had. And the ignorant selfish ones are oblivious to the role they've played in that. And then they blame to younger generations.

[Bentley Bullet]

How old are you BST?

[BillyStubbsTears]

None of your business.

[drfchound]

bst despises pensioners shock.

I can't imagine any pensioner losing too much sleep over it, Hound. In fact, probably the opposite. After all, his praise of anyone is hardly a commendable endorsement.

Ahh Hound. Never misses a chance to draw a wrong conclusion. Usually the one that supports his stupid prejudices


For the record (do I REALLY have to say this?) of course I don't despise pensioners. I despise ignorant selfish people. And the evidence suggests that there are more of those than average in the current generation of pensioners. So I despise those. But there are so brilliant, altruistic, thoughtful caring pensioners. And I take my hat off to them as exemplars. I intend to become one, one day.

bst, it is very much YOU who has the prejudices and you have often criticised pensioners collectively in the past.
Possibly, no, probably, because of the way they vote in general.

[ravenrover]

And this woman wants to be PM? She can't find her way out of a 1 door room and wonders why she can't speak to someone on the phone

[Bentley Bullet]

It looks to me like she's holding the wire around her thumb, hiding it from view and making it look like the phone's upside down.

Hope this isn't another anti-Tory lie!

[RobTheRover]

Here's one for you BB

I worked in the Cabinet Office on a project quite a few years ago and can hand on heart say Liz Truss and Amber Rudd might be the two dimmest people I've ever met. Failed to grasp very basic, carefully laid out concepts.

[BillyStubbsTears]

And this woman wants to be PM? She can't find her way out of a 1 door room and wonders why she can't speak to someone on the phone

It's a fake. Here's the original.
.https://mobile.twitter.com/trussliz/status/1163746041117794306?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1163746041117794306%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indy100.com%2Fnews%2Fliz-truss-japan-trade-deals-twitter-social-media-9072676

[phil old leake]

BST it would be nice if you could justify your comments about pensioners with some kind of supportive MORI poll type stat stating that there are more than the average pensioners are ignorant and selfish

Maybe it’s a case of ‘A lot more worldly wise and have experience to support some of their views not just out and out bias and prejudice’

If you had made that kind of random assumptive derogatory  comment about another minority grouping there would be hell to pay. 

I take it you are referring to the hard working tax paying pensioners that have supported the economy for years to allow others like yourself to live the good free lives you have

[Bentley Bullet]

RTR, your story might have more credence if Red herrings like the one above weren't constantly put on social media, diluting the authenticity of any article.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Phil

The Baby Boomer generation had an excellent inheritance.

Unprecedented spending on state education when they were kids.

For those who took advantage of that, a huge increase (state funded) in higher education that gave hitherto unmatched opportunities for social mobility, with courses free and the less affluent actually paid to study.

For those who didn't make University, unemployment was low in the 60s and 70s and there were plenty of opportunities for school leavers to start decent jobs.

The NHS was funded to previously unheard of levels.

There was a plentiful supply of houses. Social housing for those who couldn't afford mortgages, and for those who could, there were plenty of decent houses at 2-3x annual wages. Yes interest rates were high, but the Govt gave you tax relief on that, and because wage inflation was high, the debt quickly shrivelled compared to income.

If you fell on hard times, the State was there. Unemployment benefit was high enough to mean you didn't end up on the breadline or falling through the net.

Looking to the future, the State would pay you a guaranteed earnings related pension when you retired if you paid your subs.

That was the world inherited by the Boomers. A world built by both Right and Left wing Governments.

They then presided over an era that ripped all that up. The next generation left school or University to 3million+ on the dole and benefits slashed.

Young people going to University were told not only to pay for their own expenses but to pay for their courses too.

 The Boomers disproportionately voted for Tory Govts in the 80s and 10s that throttled off increases in stated education and NHS spending, in return for tax cuts for those doing OK.

House prices rocketed, enriching those who had bought before the boom but eliminating an entire generation from home ownership. (I employ two PhD graduates, both in their mid-30s. I'm paying above market rates, but neither of them can afford to buy a house in a remotely attractive area.)

Guaranteed pensions have pretty much vanished.

All the inheritance that the Boomers enjoyed has been denied the generations coming after. It is pretty well baked in that the current Millennial and Gen Z cohorts will have a lower material standard of living than the Boomers.

But when you ask opinions, like here..


https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/housing-hard-work-and-identity-generational-experiences-and-attitudes.pdf

...over and over again the Boomers are more than average likely to say that younger people are feckless or don't work hard, and less likely to put the economic struggles of the young down to the world that the Boomers created.

Not every Boomer thinks that. Of course they don't, because there are many thoughtful, decent, reflective people in every generation. But it's instructive that on almost all questions, Boomers have a worse than average opinion of younger people.

That's my thesis. As a cohort they had the best inheritance of any generation in history. They are handing on a worse one and far too many of them don't face up to their part in that.
 

[BigH]

You haven’t missed owt Tyke. What you’re seeing is yet more dysfunctional behaviour from this government.

A decision for MPs and party members is being played out as being in the public interest. And yet all of the candidates would be opposed to an immediate general election.

This showcasing is something that the Conservative Party - who no longer have any idea what they stand for - are demanding to see who plays well with the electorate. Absolutely everything to do with being telegenic, nothing to do with ideas, vision or capability.

Utterly astonishing.

[BobG]

It's  funny how Hound and BB persist in generalising from a very specific, and extremely verifiable, point about opinions and views in one specific age group. Tgey nevee moan when Billy talks about other age groups do they? It's like they've  never been introduced to critical thinking, to analytical thinking. These continued wild generalisations in support of their owm prejudice tells us all what we need to know about the limitations of their intellects.

BobG

[Bentley Bullet]

What wild generalisations would them be then, BG?