Rayvin

Parties win from the centre with FPTP - we're increasingly in need of PR.

Well of course - that comment would have been much more relevant pre-Rafa. But I imagine we all know what I mean

I mean, it's as if Labour don't want anyone to vote for them ever again. I didn't think it was possible to be more disillusioned with politics and 'democracy' (not that anything going on is democratic, except that accursed referendum) and yet, Labour always find a way to make you feel worse. They're like the Newcastle United of politics.

I've not found an improved Silver Sword past the first one... I'm guessing those don't trade up as frequently as normal swords, but even so. Maybe I've just been unlucky.

Ok so I bought this over the weekend as I figured I'd read enough positive praise about it. Enjoying the narrative and the settings and so on - combat is reasonable and I expect to get better at it over time of course. The only thing that's pissing me off is werewolves. I'm admittedly not highly leveled (7) at present, but there's been two quests now where beating a werewolf has been one of the objectives. I'll pummel them down to about half health and then regen kicks in. Regen that is fucking incredible to the point where I literally can't do damage fast enough to stop it from rising. So the question is - should I get a better sword, is there some kind of potion I should be using to improve my chances... or have they just made werewolves ridiculous? The one's I'm fighting are about my level. I'm not struggling to take down level 12 enemies of other species, so I don't think the issue is that I'm under levelled. Other than that, enjoying it.

Aye, guess that's a fair point. We'll see at the end of the day, I guess.

Good insight, that.

Agree on PR. Agree that there's nothing Corbyn can do without the PLP, also. My point really was that the PLP need to shift left or they're not going to have anywhere else to stand. Maybe you're right about the centreleft, but if May's speech is anything to go by, the Tories just moved closer to that position.

Fucking hell I actually have a lot of sympathy, this sounds fucking annoying beyond all reckoning.

Fair play, Tom.

I saw some optimism in her stances as well, so I agree there - a lot of it sounds sensible and promising. just don't see how centre-left Labour can work anymore as a result. She's just taken their position. Corbyn or bust, now.

I think I'm with you on that, what would be the point in hanging about? If she goes that far for appealing to the working class, what would be the point of Labour anyway?

I wonder what the effect of that will be on the party. I'm genuinely curious actually. There'll inevitably be an exodus of members, and I suspect that Labour will be unelectable for many years to come... but maybe we'll all have forgotten about it come 2020.

How depressing would it be if you had to open up the wall and extract the carcass when you had the option to do that while it was still alive also...

Notwithstanding that this is all just spin of course. Which would, in my mind, further making this the reincarnation of New Labour.

I actually agree with CT, Theresa May is recasting herself as New Labour. The Tories have truly taken the centreground now, but, they've conceded some territory in the process. They've just shifted left. There's going to be nowhere for Labour to go now, but back to Corbyn. Whether any of this actually happens or not is another story, but based on her speech, she's talking the talk of New Labour. She's the new Blairite.

I also assume, given your previous support of Tory austerity policies, that you consider this to be a bad thing?

CT, how is she going to deliver less austerity without making everything the Tories have done in the past few years look like nothing other than the ideologically driven dogma that we all know it is?

Why do you think that...? The Tories are smack bang in the middle of what now passes for the centreground. She's not exactly going to take them to the left, is she?

Barely an hour before Andrea’s announcement, Theresa May had been launching her own bid for the Tory crown in Birmingham, implying that life was too short to stuff a Leadsom. May declared of her overwhelming victory in the parliamentary stage of the contest: “The result shows that after the referendum the Conservative party can come together.” Admittedly, they came together for an orgy of political homicide. But having devoured their weakest, the nest must now move on together to find new food sources. Marina Hyde in the Guardian. Always superb and scathing, but this was my favourite passage. Rest of the article here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/11/leadsom-fresh-meat-tory-orgy-political-homicide

Let's be honest, this whole thing has shown up the political classes to be total lightweights.

Fair enough, I hope you're all correct about this though. Which bits of freedom of movement would we cut out exactly do you think? Surely not blocking specific countries...

How can you (any of you) be so confident about this? Given everything that has transpired in the past couple of weeks, what makes any of you think the Tories have a plan? What makes you so certain that, even if they do, they can deliver any of this? I mean, don't get me wrong, I hope you're all right. Very much so. But I just don't see it.