The Theresa May General Election thread (edited)

Gassage

She's reporting a 236% turnout in her constituency.

Fretwired

New Labour poster after council losses .. :-)

scrumhalf

I wonder if Corbyn's pushing Abbott out in front of the media so as to use her almost unprecedented ineptitude as a shield for his own shortcomngs. In the post-electon bloodbath he can say that he's popular as leader but is she hadn't talked so much bollocks they'd not have done as badly.

ChuckManual

Fretwired said:

New Labour poster after council losses .. :-)

 

If this is a genuine Party-issued poster, then someone at Labour HQ needs a thorough and comprehensive punishment beating.

"Let's compare Jeremy to three literary and cinematic heroes who fought the good fight!"

...and who all DIED in the process!

Idiots...

ICBM

It's also quite funny given that one of them is Obi-Wan Kenobi, that Diane Abbott bears something of a resemblance to Darth Vader, with that haircut…

Theresa May is quite a ringer for the Emperor, too.

Sporky

ToneControl said:

Sporky said:

ToneControl said:

we should look to provide a skilled workforce first

Turning universities into giant job training centres is an awful idea in my view.

Graduates already end up with higher salaries on average than non-graduates, so they already end up paying more tax and thus paying back their tuition costs.

I do agree that enabling universities to stop (and possibly reverse) the growth in registrations is probably good for all concerned, with more non-academic education opportunities for people who'd be happier and better in the vocational training you want. But don't destroy the whole point of universities in the process!

imo most uni students currently are not benefiting from a uni-style education
someone with average intelligence studying in a tertiary institution, looking at subjects at an abstract level does not seem like the best option. A bit like asking "why not teach all kids A level pure maths?" - most will get 15% in the exam, but we can change the pass marks 

also: many grads do not pay back the loan, if their degree subject/uni/result was poor - so effectively we are providing free uni places, but only for the most useless courses - that is surely the opposite outcome to what the country needs?

Erm... did you read the post you quoted? 'Cos you don't seem to be replying to it.

ChuckManual

ICBM said:

Theresa May is quite a ringer for the Emperor, too.

Well, her maiden name was Palpatine...

Hoof

Drew_TNBD said:

ToneControl said:

I'm just illustrating that £75k does not mean someone is "rich", their cash after tax could be similar to a tradesman being paid cash-in-hand

the same point applies to anyone paying tax, running the figures through the calculator gives a better understanding

Average nurse salary = the national average salary, so any issues nurses have are the same issues the average worker has:

mse says, for a £28k salary: 

A mortgage at £126,000 at 3% over 25 years would cost you £598 per month (26% of your pre-tax income).

so, in common with a huge number of other workers, a single nurse could buy a house/flat up to about £150k, incl deposit


"no one is forcing you to get a mortgage"? really?
it's either than or rent, so hardly optional is it? Renting costs more
 

In London you wouldn't get a studio flat for that much.

But if the 75K rule ever did come to pass there would be some kind of London allowance, the same as there is on many other things. 90K perhaps? An extra 15K of earnings at the lower tax rate would save you a couple of grand a year in tax and you could (should) pump that allowance into a mortgage/rent.

Fretwired

ChuckManual said:

Fretwired said:

New Labour poster after council losses .. :-)

 

If this is a genuine Party-issued poster, then someone at Labour HQ needs a thorough and comprehensive punishment beating.

"Let's compare Jeremy to three literary and cinematic heroes who fought the good fight!"

...and who all DIED in the process!

Idiots...

You are Diane Abbott and I claim my £5 ... ;-)

ChuckManual

Fretwired said:

You are Diane Abbott and I claim my £5 ... ;-)

Don't you mean £300k...?

Er! I mean, £80m!

Jalapeno

ChuckManual said:

Fretwired said:

New Labour poster after council losses .. :-)

 

If this is a genuine Party-issued poster, then someone at Labour HQ needs a thorough and comprehensive punishment beating.

"Let's compare Jeremy to three literary and cinematic heroes who fought the good fight!"

...and who all DIED in the process!

Idiots...

Psst .. Gandalf didn't

ToneControl

Sporky said:

ToneControl said:

Sporky said:

ToneControl said:

we should look to provide a skilled workforce first

Turning universities into giant job training centres is an awful idea in my view.

Graduates already end up with higher salaries on average than non-graduates, so they already end up paying more tax and thus paying back their tuition costs.

I do agree that enabling universities to stop (and possibly reverse) the growth in registrations is probably good for all concerned, with more non-academic education opportunities for people who'd be happier and better in the vocational training you want. But don't destroy the whole point of universities in the process!

imo most uni students currently are not benefiting from a uni-style education
someone with average intelligence studying in a tertiary institution, looking at subjects at an abstract level does not seem like the best option. A bit like asking "why not teach all kids A level pure maths?" - most will get 15% in the exam, but we can change the pass marks 

also: many grads do not pay back the loan, if their degree subject/uni/result was poor - so effectively we are providing free uni places, but only for the most useless courses - that is surely the opposite outcome to what the country needs?

Erm... did you read the post you quoted? 'Cos you don't seem to be replying to it.

I thought I was:
I'm saying:

1. unis aren't the best thing for most people (i.e. I agree with you), as I said in the post you replied to
2. many grads don't pay back their tuition fees (i.e. your point does not cover all grads)

the last thing I'd want is to destroy what I think is the core purpose of unis:

1. Educating the brightest citizens
2. Doing research

as opposed to churning out unemployable grads,
As an aside, my long-held opinion (based on working in Unis myself) was recently reinforced when I helped my mate (a Prof) with a research paper covering this issue last year - in several continents now, many engineering grads are unemployable since after massive government-led expansion of student numbers, the average ability level of the course intake means most are not able to be taught in a non-vocational fashion (i.e. they can't understand theory, but can learn methodologies), so with current uni-style teaching, they graduate with inadequate skills

Myranda

Jalapeno said:

ChuckManual said:

Fretwired said:

New Labour poster after council losses .. :-)

 

If this is a genuine Party-issued poster, then someone at Labour HQ needs a thorough and comprehensive punishment beating.

"Let's compare Jeremy to three literary and cinematic heroes who fought the good fight!"

...and who all DIED in the process!

Idiots...

Psst .. Gandalf didn't

Gandalf the Grey did... then Gandalf the White was around for the end... he's like Doctor Who ;-)

Importantly though, the other old white guys were part of WINNING where Corbyn's Labour managed to lose 80 council seats to Cons in Wales for christs sake ... Wales might as well not normally vote and just be assumed to be labour/plaid cymru, but now cons have nearly as much say as PC and half as much of Labour there 

Overall in the UK Corbyn inspired the mass blue-ification of local councils... if the General election goes this way then even a coalition of all the opposition parties wont be enough to even hinder the Cons in the commons... the only real hope is that the 30% turnout was the cause and will prompt a lot of people to vote in panic to stop the bluest governent in a very long time... lets face it, Corbyn wont be the cause of anyone without a blue tie getting seats only luck will

Evilmags

How the hell did Abbot get into Cambridge. I have never met an oxbridge graduate that incompetent. 

Fretwired

Myranda said:

J

Gandalf the Grey did... then Gandalf the White was around for the end... he's like Doctor Who ;-)

Importantly though, the other old white guys were part of WINNING where Corbyn's Labour managed to lose 80 council seats to Cons in Wales for christs sake ... Wales might as well not normally vote and just be assumed to be labour/plaid cymru, but now cons have nearly as much say as PC and half as much of Labour there 

Overall in the UK Corbyn inspired the mass blue-ification of local councils... if the General election goes this way then even a coalition of all the opposition parties wont be enough to even hinder the Cons in the commons... the only real hope is that the 30% turnout was the cause and will prompt a lot of people to vote in panic to stop the bluest governent in a very long time... lets face it, Corbyn wont be the cause of anyone without a blue tie getting seats only luck will

Should have had Dumbledore on the poster ... just think of all those Potter fans who can now vote ... and Labour could deliver their manifesto leaflets by owl ... how cool would that be .. ;-)

Fretwired

Evilmags said:

How the hell did Abbot get into Cambridge. I have never met an oxbridge graduate that incompetent. 

I have .. loads of them in fact. They tend to work in the public sector. I wasn't convinced that Osborne and Cameron could add up give the upward direction the UK's borrowing headed after they were elected.

ICBM

Evilmags said:

How the hell did Abbot get into Cambridge. I have never met an oxbridge graduate that incompetent. 

I don't think it's as much incompetence as pure arrogance. I said this earlier I know, but I've seen several interviews with her where she behaves as if she's above the need to actually know her facts and that the interviewer is somehow in the wrong for daring to question her on trivial details like the figures, and she resorts to bluster and sweeping generalisations.

I'm not actually worried about the idea of her as Home Secretary though - she's so out of touch she will either make some huge gaffe and have to resign within weeks, or the Home Office will just ignore her and get on with the job. I was actually much more worried about May as Home Secretary - she was obsessed by detail but was almost always wrong, and both caused a huge amount of trouble and was constantly being slapped down by the courts for exceeding her authority. That is not a good precedent for her as Prime Minister.

Jalapeno

Evilmags said:

How the hell did Abbot get into Cambridge. I have never met an oxbridge graduate that incompetent. 

You must have led a sheltered life !  There's plenty around.

Emp_Fab

What pisses me off about Corbyn, and this has nothing to do with his policies, which I generally support, or his awkward personality, which is not his fault, is the fact that he must surely know that with him at the helm, Labour are almost certain to be anihilated on June 8th, and he will have to resign as a result.  Surely the better option - the less selfish option - would have been to make way for a younger leader who is a good orator - someone who at least had a chance of keeping the conservative advance at bay, instead of virtually guarantee its success.

ICBM

Emp_Fab said:

What pisses me off about Corbyn, and this has nothing to do with his policies, which I generally support, or his awkward personality, which is not his fault, is the fact that he must surely know that with him at the helm, Labour are almost certain to be anihilated on June 8th, and he will have to resign as a result.  Surely the better option - the less selfish option - would have been to make way for a younger leader who is a good orator - someone who at least had a chance of keeping the conservative advance at bay, instead of virtually guarantee its success.

I think he genuinely believes there will be a surprise result caused by the level of unconventional support he has, which the mainstream media are not picking up on, or intentionally not reporting. He's encouraged in this by the overwhelming support he clearly has in the Labour Party at the moment.

I also wouldn't be surprised if he's partly right - although not enough to swing the election. The council elections may have helped dispel the illusion to some extent, but the low turnout will enable him to think it will be different in a month and a different context. I actually hope he's right. I'm not sure I want to see him as PM - I don't think he's naturally suited to the job - but I would certainly like to see May lose.