frankPodmore

frankPodmore, 22 days ago

Very lame of me, but I’m really looking forward to the Conservatives losing the next British General Election.

frankPodmore, 22 days ago

I am actually excited for the Labour programme, though I realise I’m in the minority! The lack of enthusiasm is mainly because people have so little faith things will actually get better and partly because Labour haven’t always been great at communicating why they’ve made (IMO necessary) changes to their policies.

Agree with you about conservatives, but that has always been the problem with conservatism, unfortunately.

frankPodmore, 23 days ago

Nope, no harm at all. It’s probably worth doing just to make sure they do have your current address down right!

frankPodmore, 21 days ago

Absolute barrel scraping nonsense. And it’s only day three of the campaign!

frankPodmore, 21 days ago

And when there’s any chance of us having to fight a defensive land war against Russia, I will admit I was wrong.

frankPodmore, 21 days ago

Which is exactly why the army has been asking for more funding, which it actually needs. It doesn’t want conscription, which it recognises would be a waste of resources.

Other countries considering a bad idea doesn’t make it a good idea.

frankPodmore, 21 days ago

It is a bad idea, which is why nearly everywhere has stopped doing it and hardly anywhere has started again.

frankPodmore, 21 days ago

Another unfunded pledge from the Conservatives. What do we want? Housing! What will we get? Conscription!

David Cameron already did this anyway with the voluntary National Citizen Service. He also promised to eventually make it involuntary but never did, presumably because it was unworkable, expensive or both. So, what has changed to make it workable or inexpensive?

frankPodmore, 20 days ago

If the Tories decide to waste their time debunking a meme, I reckon Labour would be pretty happy with that outcome!

frankPodmore, 20 days ago

I can’t think of a single example of them opposing anything the tories have done in any substantial way

Would you agree that consistently voting against something and promising to repeal it would constitute a substantial opposition?

frankPodmore, 21 days ago

Hilarious to have to issue this clarification.

frankPodmore, 18 days ago

This was my initial thought (after ‘What the fuck? Is there a different Natalie Elphicke?’), but when I saw she was standing down anyway, I could understand why they decided to let her in. As !Jackthelad points out, it’s only us nerds who think much beyond the headlines.

frankPodmore, 18 days ago

If it was up to me, I’d just let her stand. Her seat’s basically in the bag. She’s already apologised for what she said. Let her run and the issue is over.

frankPodmore, 18 days ago

This is a massive unforced error by the Labour party. If the process was finished months ago, which it sounds like it was, why not get all of this out of the way sometime when you’re not running a GE campaign?

frankPodmore, 18 days ago

Rayner was innocent. Why shouldn’t she carry on as normal?

Abbott, by contrast, admitted she was in the wrong. That much isn’t in question. The questions are whether the process was fair and the punishment appropriate, and whether now was a good time to finally go public with the results of an investigation that apparently concluded months ago.

frankPodmore, 18 days ago

Starmer’s just said this isn’t true. Really not clear what’s going on, now. Bit of a comms disaster!

frankPodmore, 23 days ago (edited 23 days ago)

I wish he wouldn’t, but can’t really blame him for trying. He might well win, after all.

EDIT: There’s precedent for this, it turns out! Last time an incumbent, independent former Labour MP in Islington North ran for re-election was in the 1983 GE, when some guy called Jeremy Corbyn won easily for Labour. I don’t think there’s much read-through to the current situation because, firstly, the incumbent in 1983, Michael O’Halloran, obviously didn’t have Corbyn’s national recognition and, secondly, O’Halloran not only had defected (not been expelled), but had effectively defected : from Labour to the SDP, then from the SDP to ‘Independent Labour’ (in reality, just him) when he wasn’t selected to fight the seat for his new party.

frankPodmore, 21 days ago

Labour have actually selected a local councillor, not someone parachuted in.

frankPodmore, 18 days ago

What makes you think it will be low turnout?

frankPodmore, 18 days ago

Yeah, good points. I think it will be a differential turnout and it will be low overall… but only because the right wing voters stay at home, while the centre and left come out in force to administer a kicking to the Tories. I.e., even a higher turnout won’t save the Tories, because it’s not the left that have the enthusiasm problem. It’s just negative enthusiasm.

frankPodmore, 18 days ago

Who do you plan to vote for, if you don’t mind my asking?

frankPodmore, 19 days ago

It’s always the same question of which is the greater betrayal: Getting elected on a platform to deliver only some of what we on the left want. Or promising us all we want, not getting elected, and delivering none of it?

For me, I don’t find it hard to say which I prefer.

frankPodmore, 19 days ago

This is probably the single most important difference between the two major parties.

frankPodmore, 22 days ago

A handy corrective for anyone who still believes Labour won’t make a difference or are somehow the same as the Tories.

frankPodmore, 23 days ago

Definitely, it’s a good marker to compare future trends with.