The Pompey Chimes Forum

:[quote="RubiconCSL"]I agree. Perfectly reasonable to discount a prime minister, purely based on what school they went to.

UK politics is truly ****** dire at the moment as, certainly for the first time in my life, there is no clear choice.

I'm done with Austerity. The economy is back on track so I see zero need for a massive £12bn in further cuts. Instead, I'd prefer to see spending held at current levels and wait for the tax base to catch up. I also detest the Bedroom Tax which has saved so little money but caused so much misery. I do not understand why the Tories have not sought/found a way of dropping it as it must be costing them millions of votes.

I don't trust Labour not to go mad with the national credit card and start massively borrowing as they always do (I do sometimes wonder how much Brown/Darling would have borrowed if there wasn't a 3% of GDP EU limit). All government borrowing is merely an extra debt burden for future taxpayers and should be avoided during 'boom' years. I also have zero confidence in Miliband and Balls. Then, there's the SNP angle.

There's a lot I like in UKIP's freaky manifesto but their keystone EU stance is truly insane, their immigration policies just as detached from reality and the massive slashing of aid truly abhorrent. Furthermore, I trust the tobacco-stained-gap-toothed twonk even less than Miliband/Balls.

The Greens are all-but insane.

Lib-Dems are the most likely beneficiaries of my 0.0000004% share of the electorate but....well, what's the point now?

How many people are going to watch the debate tonight, I wonder. I'll tune in and probably get bored after 10 minutes of shouting at the television. Unless....they're told just before they go on that they're not allowed to say "hard working families", "on the road to economic recovery" "a fair immigration process" and all the other meaningless spin that they repeat ad nauseam. That'll stump 'em!

Ziggy Sawdust wrote:How many people are going to watch the debate tonight, I wonder. I'll tune in and probably get bored after 10 minutes of shouting at the television. Unless....they're told just before they go on that they're not allowed to say "hard working families", "on the road to economic recovery" "a fair immigration process" and all the other meaningless spin that they repeat ad nauseam. That'll stump 'em!

Surely *someone* has drawn up a Debate Bingo card....

HappyHour@TheBreweryOfLife wrote:

Ziggy Sawdust wrote:How many people are going to watch the debate tonight, I wonder. I'll tune in and probably get bored after 10 minutes of shouting at the television. Unless....they're told just before they go on that they're not allowed to say "hard working families", "on the road to economic recovery" "a fair immigration process" and all the other meaningless spin that they repeat ad nauseam. That'll stump 'em!

Surely *someone* has drawn up a Debate Bingo card....

Excellent idea - I'm on the case! We could turn this into a fun-filled evening.

Cameron to confuse (yet again) cutting the deficit with cutting the debt.

Lost in Transportation wrote:Cameron to confuse (yet again) cutting the deficit with cutting the debt.

I suspect the Prime Minister is aware of the difference.

HappyHour@TheBreweryOfLife wrote:

Lost in Transportation wrote:Cameron to confuse (yet again) cutting the deficit with cutting the debt.

I suspect the Prime Minister is aware of the difference.

Funny how he constantly gets it wrong.

It's very easy to promise everyone everything when you don't have a chance of getting the keys to the Treasury. Only Cameron and Miliband haven't promised a utopian paradise.

Lib Dems - Clegg talks some sense but he has members hell bent on further censorship and political correctness.

Labour would spend, spend, spend as well as introduce further laws about censorship and political correctness (same thing really).

Tories would steal more money for themselves and the prehistoric establishment and would build on the subtle censorship laws they brought in.

The Greens are bonkers

UKIP are the Tories in disguise.

Who else is there?

As suspected, I only lasted an hour and I bet I didn't miss anything. Hard to admit but I thought Nigel Farage spoke best - not talking about the content but I liked his delivery. He was the most natural and didn't seem like he'd been practising, especially on the opening statements. That Green woman was terrible!

Still floating. What a choice!

Here's my view on it...

The debate in summary:

Bennett: Let's promise the earth and spend loads, sod this deficit and national debt thing, not as if we're going to actually get into power or agree to a coalition with anyone.

Sturgeon: Now King Salmond is gone, look how agreeable and reasonable the SNP and their policies look now.

Clegg: I've got some good points about balancing spending and saving, but frankly, what's the point, you all hate me.

Milliband: When I'm your prime minister... I'm going to make staring uncomfortably hard down the camera a national sport.

Farage: You know who I blame, the foreigners, especially the 4200 of them that are diagnosed with an AIDS death sentence.

Cameron: Giving the poor youth a leg up? I'm glad you asked... Let me tell you about the pension changes we've made for old rich people...

Wood: I'm only here because they've just scheduled the one advert break, and you'll need a chance to leave the room occasionally...


Still undecided but may have to go tactical Tory just to keep UKIP out of Portsmouth North.

The best response I've read was under Steve Bell's perfect capture of last night:

"I'm not a big fan of the Tory Party but I believe we should all seek to be scrupulously honest and impartial when it comes to judging big political events.

But, f*ck me, Cameron looked like the laziest ars*d, spoilt, born-to-rule, let nanny do my homework, immature, c*ckf*ckingwombling sad excuse for a national leader I've ever seen."

There are two things at play here between the major parties. The first is that the Labour Party is considerably more popular than the Tory Party. The second is that the personal ratings of Cameron are considerably more popular than Miliband. Those party ratings won't move much in this campaign but the personal ratings can move. If Cameron continues to not really give a toss about how he behaves and Miliband shows he is halfway human then the strategy (such as it is) of demonising Miliband will have backfired considerably. These last two set pieces have shown a gradual narrowing of the gap between the two.

I am rather bored already of the campaign. Brat vs Geek...

Rather well put. A bit sad though isn't it?

HappyHour@TheBreweryOfLife wrote:UK politics is truly ****** dire at the moment as, certainly for the first time in my life, there is no clear choice.

I'm done with Austerity. The economy is back on track so I see zero need for a massive £12bn in further cuts. Instead, I'd prefer to see spending held at current levels and wait for the tax base to catch up. I also detest the Bedroom Tax which has saved so little money but caused so much misery. I do not understand why the Tories have not sought/found a way of dropping it as it must be costing them millions of votes.

I don't trust Labour not to go mad with the national credit card and start massively borrowing as they always do (I do sometimes wonder how much Brown/Darling would have borrowed if there wasn't a 3% of GDP EU limit). All government borrowing is merely an extra debt burden for future taxpayers and should be avoided during 'boom' years. I also have zero confidence in Miliband and Balls. Then, there's the SNP angle.

There's a lot I like in UKIP's freaky manifesto but their keystone EU stance is truly insane, their immigration policies just as detached from reality and the massive slashing of aid truly abhorrent. Furthermore, I trust the tobacco-stained-gap-toothed twonk even less than Miliband/Balls.

The Greens are all-but insane.

Lib-Dems are the most likely beneficiaries of my 0.0000004% share of the electorate but....well, what's the point now?