POLITICS CORNER

[Stanley]

Bottom line it's the franchisee trying to sack yet another layer of staff. When the systems are available they'll try to sack the driver too. Small stations are already unmanned, what happens if you need assistance of some sort?
I accidentally saw a clip of Hulk with Andrew Marr. Marr talking too much as usual and Johnson gabbling at the same time. Total chaos and incoherent. Roll on the vote...

[PanBiker]

The doors on the carriages we were in were key controlled by the guard, they can also be controlled from the driving cab and there is an emergency release which I don't think will operate while the train is moving. Gone are the days of roll down windows that you can hang out of and standard door handles. Running rampant up and down the carriages, yes, perfectly possible without someone to stop you.

[Tripps]

Well that's the journey covered. How did the meeting go? I notice that the theme last night on TV seemed to be - 'I'd vote Labour, but not with Jeremy Corbyn as leader' .I'm sure you won't agree, but that seemed to be the message.

[PanBiker]

I related the meeting in another thread Where Have You Just Been

On your other comment, I will offer this which says it all really:

you-know-youre-not-legally-required-to-like-jeremy-corbyn-in-order-to-vote-for-him-right? - First Dog on the Moon

[Tripps]

Sorry I must have missed the meeting report - thanks for the reminder.

On the other matter - it was from focus group of Labour supporters in Birmingham and on Ch 4 last night. Here's the Link

We'll have all the answers next Friday. . . .

[plaques]

This election business is getting complicated. Get Brexit Done Boris is winning hands down gaining hundreds of seats assisted with the endorsement of his pal Trump and puppet Farage but please don't give me any more endorsements. Then Rees-Mogg helped no end by sticking his oar in with his stupid comment. Still miles ahead in the polls but came a moment of reflection when people started questioning some of his statements. Rees-Mogg had to go but Boris soldiers on. TV debates and interviews got bad press's so from now on we will keep those to a minimum but wasn't it Corbyn who released all these terrorists? we'll keep plugging that one. Lets forget about Mrs May our last PM being home secretary for six years. There's another one in purgatory. Must concentrate on him with the whiskers. We know this Corbyn chap keeps telling the truth but that's pretty boring compared to my hyperbole and he doesn't have the charm and charisma that I have with the ladies. Don't forget the polls still have me miles in front, in fact we could save loads of time, get Brexit done, if we just went along with the polls instead of this election malarkey. Get Brexit Done.Get Brexit Done.

[Stanley]

Irony alert P but yes, that's about the size of what's happening. It dawned on me this morning that people stupid enough to believe the ant-vaccination trolls on social media are the ones who will be voting for the Hulk.
Today did a 'Where is Rees Mogg?' piece yesterday and sent a reporter to Somerset. From the vox pops he seems to be in hiding..
Johnson and Trump keep denying that the NHS is up for sale or even wanted by the US ("Wouldn't touch it if it was offered on a silver platter") but that's the weasel word bit, nobody ever meant selling the NHS but allowing US capital interests more say in drug prices, provision of services and access to the internal market. That's where the danger lies and I don't trust either of them. They have never been asked those specific questions and so can obfuscate.

[PanBiker]

Johnson and Trump keep denying that the NHS is up for sale or even wanted by the US ("Wouldn't touch it if it was offered on a silver platter") but that's the weasel word bit, nobody ever meant selling the NHS but allowing US capital interests more say in drug prices, provision of services and access to the internal market. That's where the danger lies and I don't trust either of them. They have never been asked those specific questions and so can obfuscate.

Yes they have, they are constantly being challenged by Jeremy Corbyn, he first produced the redacted documents that were released and then the full 400 page dossier obtained on a freedom of information request.

You can find the relative video footage here along with other essential information:

Barnoldswick Labour

[Tizer]

More naughty tricks from the politicians - and we even have the Tories using a red banner and Labour using a blue banner!
`General election 2019: Parties warned over 'newspaper' election leaflets' LINK

[PanBiker]

No URL in your link Tiz.

[Tizer]

Thanks, Ian. Corrected now. I must have put `LINK' in the top URL box. I'll wake up soon!

[plaques]

A quick summary of the hustings held last night at St John's church Colne, this is the second of two events the first one being at the Ace Centre, Nelson last week. Candidates Well attended (approx 70 people with upward of 60 more streamed on Facebook), The majority were tending towards the 'mature' side but with a good spread of younger and ethnic minorities sitting in. Questions were selected from the audience and covered a wide range of national interest subjects to which each candidate gave their response.
The candidates,
Clare Hales, Green Party: did not attend although a member joined in on the audience participation and gave a very good account of himself on climate change.
John Barry Richardson, Independent: A solid, what you see is what you get, candidate honest enough to withdraw from questions that were beyond his experience.
Gordon Lishman CBE Liberal Democrat: Very well spoken professional delivery, gave straight opinions where he could but tended to veer towards the long grass on the more complex questions.
Azhar Ali, Labour, A local man well versed in local issues. Had the advantage that many of the issues were austerity based but at times gave a tsunami of facts over cooking his advantage. A good solid down to earth speaker that the audience could relate to.
Andrew Stephenson Conservative, The incumbent (9 years) MP who was always going to be at a disadvantage defending his voting record. Spoke well and made a good fist of the cards he had been dealt. Rather spoilt it in his closing address by repeating twice "lets get Brexit Done" where he lost his individuality and became a Boris Johnson clone.

A special mention of Sally of Waspi fame who gave a good account of the inequality of this pension rule. Supported by three of the candidates but questioned by Mr Stephenson " where are all these £billions coming from"?

A good well organised session, very civilized without the bear garden atmosphere of Prime Ministers questions.

Note: These are personal views and may not reflect all the nuances of some of the very complex issues.

[Tizer]

That sounds like a good objective report, Plaques. Fancy a job with the newspapers?

[PanBiker]

We went to the Colne Hustings last night. Saw and had a brief chat with Plaques who was also in attendance. Everyone there apart from the Green candidate Clare Hales who I believe according to posts on one of the local FB pages has childcare issues which makes it difficult for her to attend. Andrew Stephenson was in defensive mode again as he has a problem with his voting record. A few more revelations from the Independent candidate John Richardson but still a rabbit in the headlights on many issues. LIberal Democrat, Gordon Lishman had a view on everything even claiming that his party manifesto was in support of the WASPI campaign in answer to Sally's question. Downright lie as they have a caveat in that any help to be offered is totally dependent on the outcome of the appeal on the decision of the judicial review. Azhar won most of the discussions as he has a positive, supportive and costed manifesto. Not much support in the room for the Tories, or Lib Dems. A guy in attendance distributed a double page A3 list of Andrew Stephenson's negative voting record in Parliament from 2011, he ran out of room for more entries when he got to 2015 so there is probably another two page spread somewhere.

I have reviewed Plaques post before posting mine which is probably more objective than mine. I think between the two of us we have covered it fairly well.

[Whyperion]

Thinking as a What If question- If Blair had remained as Labour Party Leader( Iran.Iraq etc aside ), would labour have stood more of a probability of extra seats at this election (indeed would there have been more labour at the past three elections ?)

[Tripps]

I've put this in the porch - in a post modern ironic sort of way. No canvassers in person yet - and unlikely, but should be fun if any turn up.

porch poster.jpg

[Sue]

No one been near me, and I was quite looking forward to all of them coming. Apparently Rochdale is a safe labour seat so no one is interested. Safe with a man who has hardly ever been here, lives down south and has no idea about our issues. Even his campaign leaflet never even mentioned the town . It looked like standard Labour leaflet with his name and photo inserted in appropriate sections. The only thing I like him for is helping to stop Brexit but 63 % of Rochdale aren’t even happy about that. So I won’t be voting Labour, I won’t be voting Tory, not happy with some LibDem comments and ideas and Green doesn’t stand a chance of being elected! Its all a mess and will continue as such.

[Tripps]

I won’t be voting Labour, I won’t be voting Tory, not happy with some LibDem comments and ideas and Green doesn’t stand a chance

Not unlike myself, and a lot more I'd guess. I see in Rochdale, Labour are 1/25 in the betting!

I decided today that if a person holds their arms out with palms upwards, and moves them up and down whilst speaking - I can safely ignore everything they say. I've reached the stage where I don't believe anything any politician of any party says. In a way life would be easier if I was a keen supporter of one side, but that's impossible.

PS - Now I see the Labour candidate is Tony Lloyd - very experienced Manchester politician, and presently N. Ireland minister. Not as entertaining as Simon Danzcuk. I can't get used to the idea that Rochdale is part of Gt Manchester. I use to love their distinctive blue and cream buses.

[Beruff]

Here I am venturing into the potential minefield of Politics Corner.

Just to ask - Has Jeremy C got some new glasses?

Nigel

[plaques]

I decided today that if a person holds their arms out with palms upwards, and moves them up and down whilst speaking - I can safely ignore everything they say.

You mean like this?

.

The Redeemer.JPG

[Tripps]

You mean like this?

Especially like this. . .

Here I am venturing into the potential minefield of Politics Corner.
Just to ask - Has Jeremy C got some new glasses?

Welcome Nigel.
I read that his right lens is a 'fresnel lens'. I've seen speculation that it was used to correct vision after a transient ischemic event, or even a stroke. I've no idea if that's true or not, but there definitely is something different about his specs.

His devotees will say this is a 'smear'.

[Sue]

I won’t be voting Labour, I won’t be voting Tory, not happy with some LibDem comments and ideas and Green doesn’t stand a chance

Not unlike myself, and a lot more I'd guess. I see in Rochdale, Labour are 1/25 in the betting!



PS - Now I see the Labour candidate is Tony Lloyd - very experienced Manchester politician, and presently N. Ireland minister. Not as entertaining as Simon Danzcuk. I can't get used to the idea that Rochdale is part of Gt Manchester. I use to love their distinctive blue and cream buses.

And that is the problem, few people in Rochdale relate to Greater Manchester, they think we are the poor relation and forgotten about. He may be an experienced Manchester politician we need an experienced Rochdale one

[Tripps]

You had your chance in the 1972 by election. Google who was the Tory candidate.

My lad and I have a standing joke that administrators join things up, then later split them apart again - on each occasion showing firm 'evidence' of the benefit of doing so. They will split it up again - nothing surer. Won't be in my life time though.

[Stanley]

Good man Nigel. I hadn't noticed but now you have drawn it to my attention I'm sure you're right. As for it being used to smear Corbyn, that's about par for the course.Surprises me they haven't told him he needs a shave.
I spent a lot of time in Rochdale as you all know and yes, I always fretted at the fact that it is regarded today as part of GMC. Same for Stockport of course.
All I want now is to 'get the election done!' bugger Brexit, vote on the real issues. I am still rock solid Labour, no need to waste time canvassing me!
If the Tories win this one it proves two things above all to me, that the right wing media hold the power and we have too many ignorant voters who haven't read the history and take no notice of the real issues.

[Sue]

You had your chance in the 1972 by election. Google who was the Tory candidate.


Ah I’d have voted for Cyril. However I didn’t live in Rochdale then, I was a married student living in Swinton and have no idea who I voted for.