Politics

[Renton 21622]

1 minute ago, Rayvin said:

 

In fairness, none of my position is tactical or motivated by anything other than the fact that I am deeply pissed off and let down by politics in this country, and I am simply beyond being able to compromise on it any more on a personal level.

 

I agree that we are aligned on basically everything. The difference I think just comes down to hope/optimism for the future. You have some.

 

Not much. I'm fortunate to be Gen X so have managed to acquire some wealth with which to see me through to old age, hopefully. But then I see what the millenials and Gen Z need to contend with, including my kids, and I honestly despair. Like everything else in my life at the moment, I am just firefighting, trying to solve problems one at a time as they develop. But things can change unexpectedly for the good as well as the bad so you never know.

Although I do admit I will really, really enjoy the GE night if it goes as expected. May elections with Ben Houchen hopefully getting the boot is the aperitif. 

[Dr Gloom 21921]

wow, rayvin confessing to being even more miserable than renton - what has become of us? 

 

i used to be idealistic and angry at the world but i have made peace with the fact that politics is a game, most politicians are unprincipled and power hungry and our electoral system isn't fit for purpose. 

 

it's easier to stay positive once you adopt a cynical worldview and see our democracy for what it is. i used to protest vote, today i will vote for the party that has a chance of winning and which will hopefully make all of our lives a little less shit. i'm just thankful that i live here in the west - and not russia or china or some arab country where what you think or feel has even less value.

 

got to stay positive and try and enjoy the ride while it lasts. all of our lives are meaningless and no one will care about any of the things that keep us awake at night after we're gone.

[Rayvin 5222]

16 minutes ago, Renton said:

 

Not much. I'm fortunate to be Gen X so have managed to acquire some wealth with which to see me through to old age, hopefully. But then I see what the millenials and Gen Z need to contend with, including my kids, and I honestly despair. Like everything else in my life at the moment, I am just firefighting, trying to solve problems one at a time as they develop. But things can change unexpectedly for the good as well as the bad so you never know.

Although I do admit I will really, really enjoy the GE night if it goes as expected. May elections with Ben Houchen hopefully getting the boot is the aperitif. 

 

I'll enjoy it too on some level I'm sure. Every staunch Brexiteer that goes down will be celebrated. JRM would be a real scalp, I gather he's in trouble.

[Meenzer 15526]

7 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

got to stay positive and try and enjoy the ride while it lasts. all of our lives are meaningless and no one will care about any of the things that keep us awake at night after we're gone.

 

 

(I wholeheartedly agree, I just enjoyed the juxtaposition)

 

[Renton 21622]

8 minutes ago, Dr Gloom said:

got to stay positive and try and enjoy the ride while it lasts. all of our lives are meaningless and no one will care about any of the things that keep us awake at night after we're gone.

 

Positive nihilism.

I've recently got into Cosmology in quite a big way, I'l always regret that I didn't have the brains to do astrophysics for a living. Anyway, the scale of the Universe is just utterly ridiculous, moreso than I expect most of us can imagine. We are just carbon based organisms with a bit of sentience and capacity to feel pain and pleasure. The problem I have is just my neurological wiring and upbringing predisposes me to anxiety. We are an utter irrelevance in the grand scheme of things. 

[Gemmill 44872]

21 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

I'll enjoy it too on some level I'm sure. Every staunch Brexiteer that goes down will be celebrated. JRM would be a real scalp, I gather he's in trouble.

 

I'm just annoyed that so many have taken away the moment for us by standing down before the election. Wouldn't be surprised to see some of the big guns pull the same move if it looks like they're still in danger come an announcement of the date. 

[Dr Gloom 21921]

14 minutes ago, Meenzer said:

 

 

(I wholeheartedly agree, I just enjoyed the juxtaposition)

 

 

one feeds into the other. 

 

it's quite liberating when you it dawns on you that the stuff keeping you awake at night is meaningless. i have to check myself every time it looks like i'm taking life too seriously 

[Renton 21622]

1 minute ago, Gemmill said:

 

I'm just annoyed that so many have taken away the moment for us by standing down before the election. Wouldn't be surprised to see some of the big guns pull the same move if it looks like they're still in danger come an announcement of the date. 

 

Yeah, apparently there are a lot more that have told Sunak they are not standing. Number 10 is managing it so there are no more than two announcements a week. 

[Gemmill 44872]

2 minutes ago, Renton said:

 

Positive nihilism.

I've recently got into Cosmology in quite a big way, I'l always regret that I didn't have the brains to do astrophysics for a living. Anyway, the scale of the Universe is just utterly ridiculous, moreso than I expect most of us can imagine. We are just carbon based organisms with a bit of sentience and capacity to feel pain and pleasure. The problem I have is just my neurological wiring and upbringing predisposes me to anxiety. We are an utter irrelevance in the grand scheme of things. 

 

I had a proper weird day yesterday where I couldn't sort my mood out. It's never happened to me before to that extent, just getting really wound up by daft stuff and this overarching feeling of despair. I forgot to ring my dad in the evening and had this crushing feeling of guilt about it. Never experienced anything like it. 

 

Then woke up this morning and everything's absolutely fine. It's probably a brain tumour. 

[Renton 21622]

Just now, Dr Gloom said:

 

. i have to check myself every time it looks like i'm taking life too seriously 

 

That can't be too difficult. 

 

[Alex 35079]

24 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

I'll enjoy it too on some level I'm sure. Every staunch Brexiteer that goes down will be celebrated. JRM would be a real scalp, I gather he's in trouble.

Strongly predicted to lose his seat to the Labour candidate apparently 

[Rayvin 5222]

Yeah I'll definitely be cheering that outcome. Though I doubt it'll be the end of him.

[Rayvin 5222]

Mind you, Labour are trying to paint me (us?) as the enemies...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/08/middle-class-lefties-wont-stop-labour-using-private-sector-to-cut-nhs-backlog-wes-streeting-says

 

MIddle Class Lefties apparently are the enemy of NHS reform. Not fucking worthless, abject politicians like Wes Streeting.

[Alex 35079]

59 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

In fairness, none of my position is tactical or motivated by anything other than the fact that I am deeply pissed off and let down by politics in this country, and I am simply beyond being able to compromise on it any more on a personal level.

 

I agree that we are aligned on basically everything. The difference I think just comes down to hope/optimism for the future. You have some.

People like you give me hope for the future. You might not feel that way yourself but you’re idealistic in a good way and well informed. Young people like that are likely to make things change. It’s the ones obsessed with what Joey Essex is up to that are the problem tbh. Not that it’s exclusively young people like. Once you’re an old cunt like me you tend to get less upset about things outside your control for the sake of your own sanity, that’s all. 

[Rayvin 5222]

Just now, Alex said:

People like you give me hope for the future. You might not feel that way yourself but you’re idealistic in a good way and well informed. Young people like that are likely to make things change. It’s the ones obsessed with what Joey Essex is up to that are the problem tbh. Not that it’s exclusively young people like. Once you’re an old cunt like me you tend to get less upset about things outside your control for the sake of your own sanity, that’s all. 

 

A few years ago maybe. I'm not that young anymore tbf, and I'm now spent as a force for 'good'. I'm too cynical and jaded, and I can't see how any of it can ever improve in reality. The ship sailed and I lost hope when it did. I'm now just bitter, as per my previous post  

[Alex 35079]

6 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

Mind you, Labour are trying to paint me (us?) as the enemies...

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/08/middle-class-lefties-wont-stop-labour-using-private-sector-to-cut-nhs-backlog-wes-streeting-says

 

MIddle Class Lefties apparently are the enemy of NHS reform. Not fucking worthless, abject politicians like Wes Streeting.

Who does he think are the people responsible for Labour having as many seats as they’ve currently got after they managed to alienate so much of their traditional supporters last time round? 

[Renton 21622]

Streeting wrote this in the Sun, playing to the audience. He's probably the most pragmatic of the new new Labour. I realise this does him no favours with the lefty brigade.

 

 

[Gemmill 44872]

 

I think this probably works in Labour/Rayner's favour. It started to look like a story that wasn't gonna go away and it does go away if the coppers say there's nowt to see. 

 

Obviously if they don't say that, then the Tories keep wanging on about it, but they were gonna do that regardless. 

[Renton 21622]

9 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

I think this probably works in Labour/Rayner's favour. It started to look like a story that wasn't gonna go away and it does go away if the coppers say there's nowt to see. 

 

Obviously if they don't say that, then the Tories keep wanging on about it, but they were gonna do that regardless. 

 

There is almost no way they can prove criminality even if she didn't fill in the forms correctly, this is utterly pathetic and a waste of valuable police time. If this is as much dirt as they have on Labour, the tories are utterly fucked. 

[PaddockLad 17257]

She’s being investigated for a possible breach of electoral law. Filling in your tax return incorrectly isn’t normally illegal. Am not sure how the alleged offence relates to that though 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Dr Gloom 21921]

1 hour ago, Alex said:

People like you give me hope for the future. 

 

[Monkeys Fist 42438]

1 hour ago, PaddockLad said:

She’s being investigated for a possible breach of electoral law. Filling in your tax return incorrectly isn’t normally illegal. Am not sure how the alleged offence relates to that though 🤷🏻‍♂️

Aye, but, small boats. 
 

 

 

Or something 

[PaddockLad 17257]

13 minutes ago, Monkeys Fist said:

Aye, but, small boats. 
 

 

 

Or something 

Yes…. but I know why she’s having her collar felt now…it’s not clear where she was living when she stood for parliament and that’s is an offence. It’s like a by product of the capital gains tax hoo haa…

 

If she’s found to have been pulling a fast one on her tax return then she should leave the shadow cabinet before the GE. If she’s broken electoral law she should be recalled by her constituents

 

 

[Gemmill 44872]

7 minutes ago, PaddockLad said:

 

If she’s found to have been pulling a fast one on her tax return then she should leave the shadow cabinet before the GE. If she’s broken electoral law she should be recalled by her constituents

 

 

 

I totally disagree with this. If my lass moved in with me and eventually sold her old place, having never rented it out or switched her residence on the electoral roll to my place, I don't think either of us would twig that she owed CGT on the old place, and I'm an accountant.

 

She MIGHT have owed somewhere in the region of £1k to £3k in CGT that she has missed through, at worst, ignorance of the requirement to pay it. 

 

That's not a resigning issue. 

 

 

[Gemmill 44872]

It's appalling that the police are taking the time to investigate this tbh. It was the same with fucking beergate which ended up a total nothingburger too. 

 

My hope is it ends the issue, but whichever way it ends I don't think she needs to be resigning unless the tory press starts to spin it in a way that starts to impact the polls. At that point, she goes and she comes back as soon as the election is done cos she's done fuck all wrong.