Europe III: April F-EU-Ls

[Anpanman]

Well Brexit has not helped things at all.

Corbyn is a back bench far left politician who has spent his career pointing out what other people have done wrong, that is easy, you just need enough idiots to sit there and say "Oooh, he's right you know? Brilliant."
Anyone can do that.
Not once has he said what he will do, well that is not fair, he has a couple of times, but every time he does everyone says "But Jeremy, that is not possible."

Yep, we must have a credible and strong opposition but Corbyn isn't the one for me, personally I'd much prefer Andy Burnham.

I do? Just carry on Gizze I like to read everyone’s views on this subject.

Me too gizzE, I enjoy reading your informed comments.

You can answer too then Lebowski.
We think the trains are bad now? Don't remember when they were state owned?

I do and they were piss poor then, I kid you not every day my morning service late by 20/30/40 minutes and this is only getting a local train, it's not as if it's the Trans Siberia Express.
Interestingly trains were never cancelled - that's down to the contracts and penalty payments today, however they seemed to run by their own timetable as to basically whenever the staff felt like it.
Two days in the year when you were guaranteed spot-on to the minute services, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve.

Benefits under state-run, you didn't get your ticket checked fifty times per journey - no checks at all on my route and station staff friendlier and helpful, certainly not the new draconian, petty jobsworth's on platform 14 at Picc.

[gIzzE]

Corporations exist as sociopaths.

This is so true.
Scary, but true.

[Asura]

, we have to be careful that these employers don't simply say "Enough is enough" and put these systems in place.
There is no financial reason to keep employing people in many sectors of industry, it really does come down to a sense of responsibility these days, so we need to be very careful.

I disagree. We just have to watch for the point where we insist, if too much of mankind is replace by automation, that we tax the **** out of every robot and fund universal income, so the profits of robots are given to those who are replaced.

If the CEOs of this world feel like they can just replace all normal people and live like kings in some kind of new feudal system, they’re in for one hell of a shock.

[gIzzE]

Good luck with that.

That would be great. The reality is very different.

[charlesr]

[randombs]

Then we have corporation tax, raise it to 28% again?

I actually voted for Corbyn but his short-sighted 'tax the rich!' rhetoric started to piss me off. Not just because, as you say, the richest corporations would get around it and smaller ones would foot the bill.

Corporations and 'the rich' are easy targets for Labour in the same way immigrants and people on benefits are for the Conservatives.

I'm sure that if the budget was handled properly, many social problems would be alleviated. I wish Labour had pushed that angle, especially at a time when people desperately need their take-home pay to go further. Imagine if they'd promised to keep rates as they are(or possibly even lower them) and instead ensure tax money also went further.

What good is squeezing extra money out of people/corporations if the people that actually use that money are corrupt, inept or both?

[charlesr]

While we're bashing the government.... VAT. It went up temporarily to 20%. I thought yeah right, that's never coming back down. I was right.

[randombs]

VAT is going up to 10% in Japan this year. I can't wait. No more random pennies jiggling about in my pocket!

[Dogg Thang]

Things will only change if you stop voting the same people in. If you start with “yeah things are bad but”, you should stop right there and put an alternative, any alternative in place. If a party made up of rabid chihuahuas pops up, vote for them. A thready sock? Vote for them. And yeah, until that happens you really need to give a broken Labour or literally anyone else a go. Because you’re being run into the ground right now. The Tories got you right where you are now. They are damaging you over the course of generations. Voting them in again is an act of mindless self-harm. Rather than spending energy criticising those who haven’t caused this or who don’t even have the power to change it, which in a way is pretty much how Brexit happened, hold those responsible accountable and stop voting them in.

[Neon Ignition]

I'd give up completely is Andy Burnham became party leader, he's the definition of a self-serving career minded politician and the embodiment of the Labour that led to Corbyn. Labour needs a fresh face who the public doesn't have much of a pre-existing view of and looks fit for battling the Tories. God knows where they'd find one though but they need to quick, the idea that Corbyn will last as leader till 2022 and then if he won run as PM where a single term takes him far on the road to being 80 years old? Far too many willing rivals ready to nudge him out the way. Reality with Corbyn is that no matter how Brexit pans out the party will yet again move to remove him as soon as possible and Brexit will be their weapon of choice on why they're trying it again.

[fishbowlhead]

A “fresh face” doesn’t cut it I’m afraid supes.

Uk politics needs nothing short of a Stalin level purge.

[MartyG]

Things will only change if you stop voting the same people in. If you start with “yeah things are bad but”, you should stop right there and put an alternative, any alternative in place. If a party made up of rabid chihuahuas pops up, vote for them. A thready sock? Vote for them. And yeah, until that happens you really need to give a broken Labour or literally anyone else a go. Because you’re being run into the ground right now. The Tories got you right where you are now. They are damaging you over the course of generations. Voting them in again is an act of mindless self-harm. Rather than spending energy criticising those who haven’t caused this or who don’t even have the power to change it, which in a way is pretty much how Brexit happened, hold those responsible accountable and stop voting them in.

Until the voting system moves to proportional representation nothing will change - it cannot with a FPTP system.

[CMcK]

Until the voting system moves to proportional representation nothing will change - it cannot with a FPTP system.

This is the single biggest problem with Westminster elections.
And the notion of career politicians makes me shudder. Why not make representing your constituency a civic duty like jury service? No party affiliation and hopefully less of the personal agendas.

What about Kier Starmer for Labour leader?

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/07/brexit-government-willing-to-discuss-corbyns-terms-but-umunna-calls-foul

This is how the world will end for Corbyn, the under current is slowly swelling

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/07/theresa-may-juncker-clash-brexit-robush-backstop

If true, May really needs to have the process wrenched from her