UK General Election 2024

[BBC1HD]

I'spoke to my son whose 20 about national service and he said he'd love to have done it, he would like to work in cyber security and he said the forces is a good way to go. But he's someone who thrives in a routine and structure so it would suit him.

Then why didn't he join the forces then?

I think it's so easy to answer those kind of questions when it's not actually applicable to you. When it's theoretic. Take the choice away and make it mandatory..well that's a different story.

National service ended in what...1960? All these generations deciding what 18 year olds should be forced to do whilst not having to do it seems a bit... hypocritical?

 

[bubbadabut]

I just posted this on the UK Politics thread, but seems more appropriate here, seeing as the policy is being discussed. Didn't realise there was a specific GE thread.

Huge "LOL" from me this morning at Rishi saying "we are on the side of pensioners". That's the same Rishi whose government abolished the tax free lifetime allowance on private pensions and annuities from April this year, meaning ALL pensioners are now paying more tax on their private pensions, and, more significantly, ensuring those who have never paid tax on their pensions are now finding themselves with a monthly deficit. In the middle of the cost of living crisis, and for the first time ever, their private pensions have gone down, rather than up.

The sad thing is, a lot of them will read the news this morning and think they are being thrown a juicy bone, when it's the same government that has just screwed their pensions over.

I've had so many calls from pensioners this past month, some of them in tears at their pensions reducing, wondering how they are going to manage - "but they can't tax me, I have a tax-free lifetime allowance!" Not since the Spring Budget statement 2023 you don't, Mavis. I told them to remember this when a general election is called. But now Rishi's here to save the day with his convoluted reversal of the scheme and all will be forgiven

 

[HelloStereo]

Private schools aren't a necessity. It's a luxury and school fees should be subject to VAT.

Re: overwhelming state schools should VAT be applied. 5.9% of school children attend private school. I don't think all of them will immediately change to state school so the language used about a sudden influx of children is overstated.

 

[Strangebuttrue]

Is that because dolphin man is definitely definitely not standing for election this time? Just like Nigel definitely definitely wasn’t standing for election either

The tide is turning… the people will rise. Today is a great day for British politics and the next 5 years are going to become very interest with Nigel at the helm of Reform. This isn’t good news for either Rishi or Starmer (in the long run)

 

[NeverEnough]

So what is the answer then when other women sexually assault women in the toilets too?

https://www.archive.is/oldest/https...ly-assaulted-two-women-nightclub-toilets.html

Previous posts pretend women aren't a danger to other women but they are.

Well the answer, since you asked, I’d to ban all men, no matter how they “identify” from women only spaces, which will stop the vast majority of these types of assault, and prosecute the miniscule number of women who commit the rest of the offences to the full extent of the law. Like happened in this case. Nothing will ever be 100% safe but banning the men will remove 90% of the threat.

 

[Lazarus]

this conversation all feels very much like a race to the bottom.
the younger generation have it tough at the moment, no doubt about it.

you know who else has it tough? pretty much every other single working class person, whether they're in school with reduced resources, in uni with mountains of debt, wage slaves struggling to get by from one payday to the next, or pensioners who have already worked and contributed and should be entitled to a decent standard of living in retirement but are having to choose between eating or warming their homes.

do we really want to be divided over who has it worse? should we not all just expect to have it better in one of the wealthiest economies in the world?

 

[Lazarus]

I’m in favour of nationalising the railway in the UK; it’s a big thing for me. As is the NHS; I’d happily pay a little more in tax or NI to fund a functioning health service.

not quite as big issues for me, but important nonetheless are immigration and gender policies.

I’m contemplating spoiling my vote to be honest.

 

[pommobear]

The problem with Farage fans is that to them "living in the real world" essentially means "being a racist". Call a spade a spade.

 

[cl16girlie]

I'm Gen z so I'll weigh in from my age groups perspective about how we're feeling. We feel fucking lost, we don't see a bright future at the moment in terms of having a decent amount of savings or owning a house because we just don't have the same opportunities. We're stuck in an endless cycle of hoping to save money then they'll increase rents or they'll change the repayments for student loans etc. Some of us will up in our ears in student loan debt till we're in our 60s. I won't be able to retire in my 60s as it stands because I'll likely still be paying off high interest on my loans. That's deeply depressing to think about. I'm trying to save money as I can but it's hard when everything just keeps on going up and up. My dream career as a child was to be a teacher, not because I thought it would pay well but because I looked up heavily to my teachers now if I was to fulfil that dream I will basically never be able to afford to live a good life.

I feel actually really depressed about the circumstances this country is in, what do I get as a young adult in this country as help? Nothing really. The government expects Gen Z to work all our lives and get nothing out of it apart from a life of misery and not having anything for ourselves. They constantly moan at us to give things up to save for a deposit on a house but how can we do that if we're having to privately rent and there's no control on what they can charge us, our bills are unaffordable as well. The list goes on.

We don't want it this way, we want everyone to be able to own their own home and live a good life filled with actually joy not just feeling like life's shit and nothing is going to change. Gen Z are sympathetic because we're becoming adults in a cost of living crisis after giving up a lot of our teen years to keep those around us safe and protect our fragile loved ones. I know a lot of people don't moan about Gen Z here and that's lovely to know that we do in fact have some sort of backing from those older than us. We're all trying to navigate the fact that everything is unaffordable, we all want to be able to not worry about if a foodbank will become an option if times get even tougher.

 

[Moley1]

Just a thought. The Tories have all of these brilliant new ideas to encourage us to vote for them. Why have they only just come up with them now? If National Service is such a good idea, why are we only seeing it now after 14 years of governance. If looking after pensioners financially was so important, why weren’t these plans put in place earlier?
As for casting your vote for a party who gives the definition of a woman that meets with your approval, seriously? Women face a far greater threat from their partner than they will do from trans people. Would you vote Tory because they use a definition that suits even though they have a poor record of protecting women against domestic violence and letting offenders out early? Yes there are issues about sport and I agree that we shouldn’t focus on toilets, but are these really strong enough to ignore all of the horrendous things this Tory party have inflicted on the UK over the last 14 years.

 

[Nelly's mum]

I don't know why you're arguing with me to be honest. It seems like we both agree it is an attempt for them to appeal to their voters bases.
---


You missed the last sentence of what you originally quoted.

I'm sorry but you just yesterday called me argumentative and said it was pointless discussing anything with me. I have tried numerous times to disengage with you but you continue to quote me.

I don't really see what the point is in continuing this conversation.

I'm still waiting for your response to my post yesterday;


Ok, one last go....
There is far more to this debate than men in Womens toilets, however the trans allies always return to this point - is this to ridicule and trivialise the concerns?

How can you protect women if you cannot define what a woman is - if every Tom, Dick (especially dick) and Harry can say he is a woman then what is a woman?
What about women's sports - elite sport's women are being beaten by men who are mediocre and wouldn't even make the grade in men's sports.
What about men taking influential positions that are identified for women under EDI?
What about the crimes of trans id'd men being included in the women crime statistics?
What about that thing that never happens - women and girls being raped/SA by these men?
What about the women who have been raped by these men in their hospital wards and prisons?

So just because 50% of women are raped/SA by men they know that is a good reason to let these men into women's safe spaces??? So how well is that going to work out ??

But yeh - "I just wanna pee"

Any thoughts? And you are argumentative - making inane comments without addressing the issues raised, broadening your comments or adding anything to the discussion.

 

[buttheyneverblindme8]

Just caught up on the national service thing. First of all - good luck finding any 18-year-old willing to undergo national service of their own accord; 99.99% of them would refuse in a heartbeat, and I can't say I blame them, because there are so many holes in this plan that it's giving Leerdammer a serious run for its money.

Second of all - why exactly are parents of 18-year-olds who refuse to participate in this potentially going to be held responsible for it and be fined? An 18-year-old is deemed an adult in this country, therefore they would be responsible for the fine, not their parents?

A joke. But to be fair, it's what we've come to expect from British politics in general over the years.

 

[biscuitthief]

It doesn't matter what department it comes from, it's all coming from one source which is the British Taxpayer. You can add as much smoke and mirrors around it as you like but it's still those that go out and work hard who have to pay for those who break the law.

It isn't smoke and mirrors - its fact. I've said that that the taxpayer foots the bill. I also said that only 0.5% of the tax I paid last year went towards supporting asylum seekers compared to the 19.6% that went towards supporting everyone claiming welfare.

I think that everyone needs to be given full, transparent and impartial information during election time so that they can make an informed decision when it comes to casting their vote. I don't care who you vote for.

There's no such thing as an illegal person seeking asylum.

This! A person arriving via small boat is only "illegal" up to the point they claim asylum. If they had a legal safe entry route to begin with they wouldn't be "illegal" in the first place.

@pommobear - I am sorry to hear that you and your dad had those experiences I cannot imagine how awful that must have been.

 

[TooFarScone]

I was referring to intersex people in this post, but either way, comparing the trans issue to anorexia is just absurd.

No shame at all thanks. I don’t share the hive mind on this forum, sorry not sorry.

Please come over to the gender thread...we need a laugh

 

[NeverEnough]

LOL at Starmer telling us all of his struggles living on the mean streets of Oxted. Britains 20th Richest town.

Interesting that his 6th form fees at his private school were paid by the very charity status that he wants to remove. But hey, he’s a politician so par for the course I guess.

 

[bluefoot]

The Labour Party is always judged more harshly by a significant part of the electorate. If they put a step wrong they are not given the benefit of the doubt like the tories seem to be. Being on the take is seen as par for the course for tories (even a good thing) but completely hypocritical for Labour. Working class tories are ‘made good’ while working class Labour are seen as chavs/trade unionist shirkers. POC tories are the ‘good immigrants’ while the same in Labour are seen as demonstrating how they prioritise minorities and the majority’s expense. It’s hard for Labour to even get many people to listen to them let alone change their vote. I don’t really know how they are meant to operate in an environment that’s naturally hostile to them, esp. in elements of the media

And this doesn’t take into account the hard left who appear to be intolerant of any ‘wrongthink’ and refuse to vote for anyone less than ethically pure in their eyes

 

[Nelly's mum]

I just wanted to point out for this bit that this has nothing to do with trans/gender rights. It’s all to do with funding that is sadly not been giving to these support charities under the current government.
Women’s aid wants to make sure there are still women’s only refuges but they need more funding.
But I do just want to point out that men, biological men, can also be victims of domestic violence and whilst I agree is not appropriate to put them in a safe place with women, they also do deserve refuge spaces. So when faced with 0 funding, 0 support, 0 space and a rise in domestic incidents which aren’t being put through the justice system (again something this current government have had a hand in) they’ve had no choice in some areas/charities. Also, trans people can also be victims and do deserve a safe space should they need to flee for their safety, but in my opinion, that should be their own space which is how I feel about the trans debate in general before you question where I stand on that.
Domestic violence is a horrendous issue (also vastly underreported) that effects many many people. The government (whoever it may be) need to put more funding and more appropriate measures into the justice system to deal with such crimes.

As I said the majority of Domestic Violence victims are women, some are men. I agree that men need support and safe spaces too and that services are underfunded.
My concern is around men who identify as women, they are placed in women's services alongside extremely vulnerable women - and this is directly to do with trans rights as they identify as actual, biological women.
I agree trans-id'd people can also be victims of DV, but trans id'd men should not be placed with women.

 

[HelloStereo]

This is the other thing! We already *know* what the Rishi and co are offering because we've seen them in government.

But he's the only one with a plan.

Keir and Labour have no plan.

Are we really going to risk our current prosperity for uncertainty with Labour?

Inflation even fell for a whole week earlier in the month - signs things are working.

 

[Miss Begotten]

Indeed. Great news for Starmer and the LibDems. I expect Farage has a long term plan for the Tories and Reform to merge with him as leader, such is his ego. Great news though with a bigger majority likely for Starmer and with any luck the LibDems becoming the second biggest party.
Who are these millions of people who Farage was supposedly letting down by not standing? He must really believe that he is the UK Trump.

You mean a racist sex offender and convicted criminal right?

I feel really sorry for the people of Clacton. Imagine finding out that your town has been singled out as being the most racist and full of people thick enough to vote for Farage. It’s actually an insult to the place.

 

[pommobear]

Although I'll be voting Labour myself I can understand why others don't want to. What I can't understand is why on earth ANYONE would still vote Tory after the utter shitshow of the last 14 years?! I can only assume anyone doing so is a masochist.
---

They are going to make it easier for men to claim they're women and they are going to recognise Palestine as a state.
Soooooooooo.........

According to their website they will:

- Deliver two million more NHS appointments a year
- Set up Great British Energy, a new publicly owned British energy company
- Close private education tax loopholes to improve schools
- Bring back the family doctor and improve local NHS care
- Stop water bosses’ bonuses when their companies harm the environment
- End hotel use for asylum seekers
- Greater support for victims of violence against women
- Put passengers first and establish Great British Railways
- Make the minimum wage a genuine living wage
- Free breakfast clubs in every primary school in England

Nothing in there about gender recognition or Palestine?! Although I accept the violence against women part is problematic if their MPs are divided on the trans issue.