UK General Election

[Phil Perry]

All the major candidates standing for election today have promised to spend taxpyer's money prudently.

 

Let's see how prudent they have been over on year of MPs Expenses. . .

 

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Interesting that the last one shown, ie the Liberal Democrat candidate, whose party had just EIGHT Members in the last Government, seems to have been spending quite a lot. . .the third bloke down, SNP, had 56 seats in the last Parliament, whereas Con and Lab shared the remaining 536 seats between them. . .with the 'Blues' having over a 100 seat majority over the reds. . . small snapshot I realise, but still interesting.

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

I would sort of expect Theresa's expenses to be the lowest as in July, she became PM and has almost nothing to claim as it is all paid direct. Having said that,its 7 months of not having a lot of claims - so good on her. For the leader of the (questionably) main opposition, Corbyn's is not bad either and it would be interesting to see what his from Dec 2015 - June 2016. A linear interpretation would suggest around £9K, but we would have to factor recesses, etc into the equation, so taking a simple linear approach is probably not the best comparison.

 

You can sort of understand Angus Robertson having a higher set of expenses as he lives at the other end of the country (Neither Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland not Cornwall are countries), and it costs more to get him to Westminster and house and feed him (I hear they ship Haggis down for him ;-)).

 

Farron appears to live in Milnthorpe, in the lake district, so it would appear he has reason for a higher claim bill, too...

 

Ahh.. I notice the latter two excludes travel - I would question the accuracy of that statement (if it were an official government website, I would almost believe it), but does travel mean all travel expenses, or just the acrual getting from A to B. There will be hotels, food, incidentals (such as hookers, casino visits and the like)...

 

Where do I sign up?

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I would sort of expect Theresa's expenses to be the lowest as in July, she became PM and has almost nothing to claim as it is all paid direct. Having said that,its 7 months of not having a lot of claims - so good on her. For the leader of the (questionably) main opposition, Corbyn's is not bad either and it would be interesting to see what his from Dec 2015 - June 2016. A linear interpretation would suggest around £9K, but we would have to factor recesses, etc into the equation, so taking a simple linear approach is probably not the best comparison.

You can sort of understand Angus Robertson having a higher set of expenses as he lives at the other end of the country (Neither Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland not Cornwall are countries), and it costs more to get him to Westminster and house and feed him (I hear they ship Haggis down for him ;-)).

 

Farron appears to live in Milnthorpe, in the lake district, so it would appear he has reason for a higher claim bill, too...

 

Ahh.. I notice the latter two excludes travel - I would question the accuracy of that statement (if it were an official government website, I would almost believe it), but does travel mean all travel expenses, or just the acrual getting from A to B. There will be hotels, food, incidentals (such as hookers, casino visits and the like)...

 

Where do I sign up?

 

HAHAHA. . .I dunno Jerry. Sounds like a good lurk though dunnit ? Some nasty bugger commented that the reason that 'Tim - Nice but Dim' Farron probably spent all that money poishing his gold Halo. . .?. . .who knows.. .

 

Current exit polls forecasts a 'Hung Parliament, but since it's only been 40 minutes since information could be released, and the perpetrator of the 'Exit Poll' was 'SKY News' Who knows. Ths could have been a plan by Theresa May all along, since she was an EU 'Remainer' to call the early election, then threaten our pensioners with fire and brimstone, knowing that there would be a backlash and that folks would be attracted to the Labour 'Free Money Tree'. nd thereby stall 'BREXIT' or ruin the negotiations. . .?. .

 

It's early yet, I'm not going to bother sitting up all night watching the individual constituencies declaring that's for sure. I have to go out and do some WORK tomorrow ! I might set my alarm and have a listen at around 4 AM then get some more Kip.

 

As I've said before,. . .interesting days.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Hung parliament it is.. Puts Ms May in an almost untenable position, I would suggest. I made a bit out of it as the minute she said she wasn't engaging in any real debates (TV or otherwise), it didn't take Siggie Freud to work out a lot of people were put off.. My wager was no majority for the conservatives - 20:1 - wish I put more on it.

 

Also may have to take my silly picture down implicating Sky News vans are the Garbage truck of the modern day - seems they got it right!

 

Bluddy-well just put my house on the market.. uncertainty around Brexit; uncertainty around a stable and string guvmint; may just take it off for a while..

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Hung parliament it is.. Puts Ms May in an almost untenable position, I would suggest. I made a bit out of it as the minute she said she wasn't engaging in any real debates (TV or otherwise), it didn't take Siggie Freud to work out a lot of people were put off.. My wager was no majority for the conservatives - 20:1 - wish I put more on it.

Also may have to take my silly picture down implicating Sky News vans are the Garbage truck of the modern day - seems they got it right!

 

Bluddy-well just put my house on the market.. uncertainty around Brexit; uncertainty around a stable and string guvmint; may just take it off for a while..

 

NEVER APOLOGISE for previous funny pictures Jerry old chap. . . .they are just as funny.

 

These are posted 'Of a moment' and are appreciated as such.. . . .anyway, I thought it said 'Fox News' on that pic, without going back for another looksee. . . .

 

I wish oho I wish . . we had a slightly right of centre,. . .OR EVEN DEAD CENTRE. . . 'NEWS' broadcaster in the UK. . . .We know what to expect from all the lefty sites, . .ie all of the ones we now have here. . .pipedream I know. . . .If you only watched the ABBC, Channel Four / Sky News,. . . you'd think that Corbyn won the election.. . .!

 

Now they are doubling down on the DUP, that 'Biblical based Christian Conservative party in Northern Ireland, who have offered to support Theresa May to claim the magic number required to ask HM to form a Government. . . . Cue the media assassination of the DUP,. . .mind you,. . the DO have a rather murky past, being allied with paramilitary opposition to the Sinn Fein IRA mob. . . very messy.

 

Sorry to hear that you're thinking of taking you house off the market, I guess that things should stabilize in a few months though . . .Maybe ? ?

 

TM comes across ( to me anyhow ) as a typical Whitehall Civil servant type of person, who prefers to stay in the dim background. There is no way that she has, nor ever had 'Leadership' potential, hence her avoidance of any Debates with the other protagonists.. . .She was a 'Remainer' and that is about all you can say abaout her, . . that 'Manifiesto' that the tories produced was so offensive to people in the UK,. . .'Stuff and censor the Internet' . . .'Stuff the pensioners'. . .'Take the properties of elderly people away to pay for ongoing care'. . .Etc. . . .I know of TEN local people who are Furious about that bit. . .

 

Why not HALVE the ridiculous 'Overseas Sid' budget and spend it locally, since it is 100% BORROWED money anyhow, . . .Why not announce the strengthening of the UK border force,. . .why not organise the building of some coastal patrol boats ( we have ZERO of these ATM ) Why not VET immigrants form dodgy countries properly . . .Why not cancel tha passports / citizenship of islamc fighters who bugger off to fight in foreiegn wars and then return to the UK to their benefits. . . So many things. . . .that she Didn't say. . . . almost as if whe is working to a script and that someone else is pulling the strings. . .

 

'Interesting Times' mate. . . .I hope that your house move goes OK, are you leaving ths bastion of free speech for foreign shores ? ? Not many 'Unenriched' places to go nowadays,. . .all the smart 'ELITE' folk are buying up tracts of New Zealand apparently. . .as Antarctica is possibly judged as too chilly but you never know, with this settled global warming science,. . it won't be long before there's good land available down there Aye . . .

 

 

[Yenn]

NZ is too chilly for me, otherwise I would have been there years ago.

 

Australia is a great place, but the politicians and do gooders are stuffing it up.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

We are looking at moving to a different village, just up the road. However, as the UK is currently taking aim at both feet, our search may be extended somewhat. Kids will finish school in about 4 weeks (they get a 9 week break, so moving them won't be too hard.

 

I heard that NZ is a favourite place for the rich and famous at the moment... The weather is probably more suited to their delicate skin...

 

Yenn - I am with you. People think just because someone has done good at business they will be good at politics - completely different ball game.

 

Back to the UK elections - TM may be the civil servant type, however, the country needs a leader. To me, she has always come across as someone who can talk the talk (in prepared circumstances) but envere quite get to the walk. Her time as Home Secretary is testament to that. While she couldn't do anything about EU migration, non-EU migration, which she had direct control of, increased at almost unabated rate despite her constant pledges to bring it down (I am not entering the immigrant debate as I am a non-EU immigrant, but just pointing out a glaring failure).

 

 

[Marty_d]

Tell me that even the Tories are not stupid enough to form a coalition with the DUP. ("Dopey Useless Pricks"?)

 

I knew that Ian Paisley featured in the DUP, but what I didn't know was the sheer backwardness of the party. They almost make One Nation look progressive.

 

Not only do they think climate change is fake, they are young earthers (ie they believe god created the universe less than 10,000 years ago), and they once ran on a slogan - so help me, this is priceless - of "Save Ulster from Sodomy".

 

WTF?????

 

Jeremy Corbyn is looking better and better....

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

It is so depressing, I can barely bring myself to write about it. I think if an election were called today, Labour would romp home (except their spokesperson on Brexit indicated that he was looking to shift stance may pull some voters from Labour back to UKIP.

 

May has shown herself for what she is - a great orator but not much else and is now forming an alliance with a bunch of backward looking outliers and in the same time threatens to destabilise the fragile peace that is in NI to save her political bacon. Let's not forget, she never came close to meeting any of her targets under the home office - UK has complete control of non-EU migration and it was as high as EU migration.. I am a non-EU migrant so I am not commenting on the politics of that, but that the Tories have continually promised 10K a year net migration and total net migration is 20 times that - if I were that bad at my job as a leader, would I get promoted to a higher leadership position?

 

It is inconceivable that the DUP which represent a tiny fraction of a tiny province now wield so much power...

 

Though, I still think Hanson takes some beating...

 

 

[Marty_d]

Though, I still think Hanson takes some beating...

Yes... the more beating, the better!!

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

lol... although a subsequent vision of her dressed in a latex outfit baring her posterior for the infliction almost made me vomit...

 

 

[storchy neil]

marty d what your choice in order of parties neil

 

 

[Marty_d]

marty d what your choice in order of parties neil

Best to worst?

 

1 & 2: Labor / Greens. (I put them together because I prefer Green's policies on environment, refugees and progressive social issues, but they don't have the ability to run the country. If I had a choice I'd kick out much of the hard right of the Labor party and replace them with Greens, forming one party.)

 

3: Nick Xenophon Team (he's got a good brain, relatively centrist and good bargainer.)

 

4 - whatever: The bunch of socially progressive, centre-left to left leaning "single issue" parties - eg Science Party, Secular Party of Australia, Sustainable Australia, Renewable Energy Party,Drug Reform Party, Australian Sex Party (sounds good), Australian Progressives, The Arts Party, Socialist Alliance etc etc.

 

Next: Centrist single-issue parties - Derryn Hinch etc.

 

Next: Liberal Party.

 

After that (the dregs): Right wing / conservative parties. Liberal Democrats, Katter's Australian Party, the Nationals, etc.

 

Worst of all (the crazies): Pauline Hanson's One Nation, Australian Christians, Australian Conservatives, Family First, Love Australia or Leave, Fred Nile, etc.

 

How about you Neil?

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

Don't you find it ironic that Nic X's surname is the opposite of what he stands for?

 

 

[Marty_d]

Don't you find it ironic that Nic X's surname is the opposite of what he stands for?

What, "Foreign/Strange Voice"? heheh

 

If he was Nick Xenophobia I'd totally agree, that would be the opposite. Or Nick βλάκας.

 

 

[storchy neil]

marty d what do you assume at 18 years I registered neil

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Tell me that even the Tories are not stupid enough to form a coalition with the DUP. ("Dopey Useless Pricks"?)

I knew that Ian Paisley featured in the DUP, but what I didn't know was the sheer backwardness of the party. They almost make One Nation look progressive.

 

Not only do they think climate change is fake, they are young earthers (ie they believe god created the universe less than 10,000 years ago), and they once ran on a slogan - so help me, this is priceless - of "Save Ulster from Sodomy".

 

WTF?????

 

Jeremy Corbyn is looking better and better....

 

Got to agree with you there Marty. . .. Theresa May called a totally unnecccessary election to ( she thougtht ) improve hr majority, and it all went pearshaped when folks read her ridiculous 'Manifesto'. . .dumping crap on her core supporters and crapping on the pensioners who'd paid into the system all their lives, and were then told that they'd lose their houses to pay for ongoing aged care, after already paying for it for all of their working lives.. . . .

 

May is NOT a leader. She never has been. She was a 'Placed ' person, after her only opposition, ie Andrea Leadsome, was talked into saying something about having Children, whereas Theresa May has none. . .and the media twisted this around to mean that someone who had NO children were unfit to govern. . . . Gooddonyer BBC, and poor show by Andrea, for not seeing this coming. . . .But the establishment were totally against her anyway, so she couldn't have done much had she won the leadership.

 

May is and always was an EU 'Remainer' and the UK leaving teh EU was going to be her target anyway.. . .She was not the architect of the Tory manifesto, this was left to 'SPADS'. . special advisors, who didn't even consult with the cabinet before placing the Manifesto 'Suicide Note' into the Mediasphere. This was unheard of in previous sitting Governments when facing an eletction.. . .Her attempts to get a 'Majority' in the new Parliament by using the DUP is a complete Joke as you have said. . .

 

We are NEVER going to get the 'Brexit' that the majority voted for. . . .what we will get is wha't laughingly referred to as a 'SOFT BREXIT' meaning that we willl still be stuck in the customs union, and the 'Single Market' and everythig else which goes with that,.. . .ie OPEN BORDERS to all and sundry, . . .No Fishing rights returned. . .attached to a failing EU and being dragged down alongside it, with all the money that this country can possible borrow ( As we're totally skint at the moment and several trillion in debt. . . ) being swallowed up in the grand plan.

 

I can't really imagine a bunch of 19th century Irish religious politicians being able to retard this descent into the pit. . . .

 

Makes me puke.

 

 

[Phil Perry]

On the subject of UK debt,. . .this is interesting. . . . .( NOT froM the BBC obviously. . .)

 

For those who have not seen it this is worth watching.. . . . Britain's debt is equal to a pile of fifty pound notes (each 0.1mm thick) 6,500 miles high. That's quite a lot to expect our children's great grandchildren to repay. . . . .

 

 

[storchy neil]

coned again by phil 1 bloody hour and 14 blooody minutes and them there seconds but that in my opinion is happening here I aust with just 24 million people w are in the same boat thanks phil neil

 

 

[Yenn]

Looking back in time has there ever been a good government in either Britain or Australia.

 

I have seen a few in both countries, but none of them jump out as being really good for the country.

 

The rot started for me with Anthony Eden, colluding with France and Israel starting the Suez war. Then a series of controversial UK governments, which kept Britain in the same conditions as war time.

 

Menzies was possibly Australias least bad. Or maybe John Gortons. Who was it said "all the way with LBJ". Frazer, best forgotten, especially by Whitlamites, and what did Whitlam himself do? Paul Keating, in my opinion one of the better PMs. Little Johnny, the reason he doesn't have a moustache is to not keep the smell of where he had his nose from lingering. The rest of them after Howard are best forgotten.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Looking back in time has there ever been a good government in either Britain or Australia.I have seen a few in both countries, but none of them jump out as being really good for the country.

 

The rot started for me with Anthony Eden, colluding with France and Israel starting the Suez war. Then a series of controversial UK governments, which kept Britain in the same conditions as war time.

 

Menzies was possibly Australias least bad. Or maybe John Gortons. Who was it said "all the way with LBJ". Frazer, best forgotten, especially by Whitlamites, and what did Whitlam himself do? Paul Keating, in my opinion one of the better PMs. Little Johnny, the reason he doesn't have a moustache is to not keep the smell of where he had his nose from lingering. The rest of them after Howard are best forgotten.

You're probably right, but then again, look at much of the rest of the world. I'd rather have our leaders, generally mediocre as they are - even if they had to include Little Johnny and MisteRabbit - than a Rodrigo Duterte, a Hun Sen, a Hugo Chavez, or a bunch of others.