UK General Election, 2017

[MichaelReilly]

That's Theresa May in a nutshell: empty rhetoric and meaningless soundbites without any policy substance whatsoever. And yet she gets away with it.

It was often cited as one of Milibands big weaknesses: trying too hard to 'be a politician', throwing out catchphrases while evading points. But our beloved PM can go on and on all day, not meeting the public, not debating her opponents and throwing out 'strong and stable leadership' whenever asked to actually present a policy or defend her quite frankly pretty appalling record.

Ah democracy, you never fail to disappoint.

[Hrafn]

I would vote BNP. Have at you!

Edit: Actually, I might vote strategically for UKIP or any of the secessionist parties. It depends.

[jamescfm]

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[Hrafn]

I would vote BNP. Have at you!

Edit: Actually, I might vote strategically for UKIP or any of the secessionist parties. It depends.

If secessionist is in relation to the EU, all parties except the Lib Dems are 'secessionist'. The BNP field only a handful of candidates nowadays at any rate.

By secessionists, I mean Scottish, Welsh and Irish separatists.

[jamescfm]

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[Aquinas]

I had a bizarre conversation with someone today who kept going on and on about how "what we really need is a British mackerel". I had no idea what he was going on about. Turned out what he meant to say was was "what we really need is a British Macron".



Hmm...well, we've got Tim Farron...

Gotta say, as someone who lives in Southport, a lib-dem constituency, they haven't done anything here but build a big bridge a fix up a museum nobody visits. The liberal democrats only succeed when they have a good local party. Tim Farron is extremely unpopular here, but the sitting MP is very popular. But he's standing down, so I presume this place will go conservative. The Lib Dems aren't going to do any better in the north or midlands, I think. I'm going conservative.

This is very much the Lib Dems for you. They are presented as a "national" party", but really, to a large extent, they are a network of local parties pretty much doing their own thing (some of them very successfully, some of them less so).

Is Tim Farron really so unpopular in Southport? That's interesting. What do you think are the factors behind that?

Nick Clegg was certainly unpopular as the Lib Dem leader at the last election, and locally, a lot of Lib Dem campaigns made as little mention of him as possible.

[MichaelReilly]

If he lived in Scotland, he could vote for a sturgeon...

[IntruderEmerald]

This is honestly laughable:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39775693

It really is unbelievable that such incompetent politicians such as Diane Abbott make it to the frontbench.

[jamescfm]

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[Hrafn]

This is honestly laughable:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2017-39775693

It really is unbelievable that such incompetent politicians such as Diane Abbott make it to the frontbench.

So, she got some number mixed up with some other number in her head. Could happen to anyone, especially in such a stressful situation as an interview. And she corrected herself literally a second after the incident. Is this the best example you have of a politician being incompent?
This is typical of democracy. People berate politicians for irrelevant trivial crap while turning a blind eye to all the actually awful things they are doing. It's all about being a smooth talker and appearing competent, not about actually being competent. It's bread and circuses, nothing more.