The 2015 General Election

[lapal_fan]

The papers are just so subtle, aren't they?

 

I wish they'd tell us who to vote for

 

#headspinning

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

If you vote Labour, by Friday morning all the cows in England will start producing Irn Bru instead of milk. #votetory

[VillaForever1970]

Again dont know too much but at least the tories are trying to slowly chip away at the benefits culture; rather than Labour that think its right and proper you shouldn't work if you can get enough coin of them

[Eames]

Again dont know too much but at least the tories are trying to slowly chip away at the benefits culture; rather than Labour that think its right and proper you shouldn't work if you can get enough coin of them

I'd agree with you from the point of view that the notion at least seems noble - and yet the execution has been anything but - especially the fit for work assessments carried out by that massive bunch of ATOSsers. People who can work and provide for themselves should - but they should also be supported to do it..... and only punished if they are proved to be deliberately feckless or obstructive. 

 

The other teeeny flaw in the arguement is that that "benefits culture" is in reality a tiny amount of ££ saved in comparison to what Starbucks, Amazon et al fail to pay in taxes because they are allowed to offset their profits in bizarre licencing arrangements with foreign arms of the same business. Trouble is - the CEOs of those companies are the same ones who pay £000s to political parties in donations so their behaviour is largely ignored. HMRC wrote of £bns of unpaid tax on behalf of big companies simple because it costs £££ to get at it via the Courts. Joe Bloggs and his can of stella have no such luxuries and feel the pinch immediately. 

[chrisp65]

 

I actually saw that live, he repeatedly smashed her head into the desk saying 'if you had a daddy not two mummies he could stop me', laughed, looked at the camera and said that on May 9th he was basically going to close the Midlands down as an anti Scot fire break, it was the most southerly point of the north so that's where the war begins.

 

Then a sort of thin tongue flicked out and licked salty blood from his eye. You can see it on the slow mo version on youtube.

[tonyh29]

If a hung Parliament stops TTIP, perhaps it won't be so pants.

 

...day after day of front page bollex from the likes of the Sun and The Heil and the Torygraph...

 

 

Like this crap.

Owen Jones again

 

is he the only lefty bloke in the media or something ? 

[omariqy]

What happens if you prefer cutting in from the right wing on to your left?  What does that make you?

[tonyh29]

 

Again dont know too much but at least the tories are trying to slowly chip away at the benefits culture; rather than Labour that think its right and proper you shouldn't work if you can get enough coin of them

I'd agree with you from the point of view that the notion at least seems noble - and yet the execution has been anything but - especially the fit for work assessments carried out by that massive bunch of ATOSsers. People who can work and provide for themselves should - but they should also be supported to do it..... and only punished if they are proved to be deliberately feckless or obstructive. 

 

The other teeeny flaw in the arguement is that that "benefits culture" is in reality a tiny amount of ££ saved in comparison to what Starbucks, Amazon et al fail to pay in taxes because they are allowed to offset their profits in bizarre licencing arrangements with foreign arms of the same business. Trouble is - the CEOs of those companies are the same ones who pay £000s to political parties in donations so their behaviour is largely ignored. HMRC wrote of £bns of unpaid tax on behalf of big companies simple because it costs £££ to get at it via the Courts. Joe Bloggs and his can of stella have no such luxuries and feel the pinch immediately. 

 

is there evidence that that the CEO of Starbucks is a Tory donor ?

 

Glad you mentioned Amazon , the same Amazon Ed named and shamed as tax avoiders and then used to collect Labours on-line donations  

[Xann]

is he the only lefty bloke in the media or something ? 

 

Pretty much

[snowychap]

If a hung Parliament stops TTIP, perhaps it won't be so pants.

 

...day after day of front page bollex from the likes of the Sun and The Heil and the Torygraph...

 

 

Like this crap.

Owen Jones again

 

is he the only lefty bloke in the media or something ? 

Owen Jones works for The Mail, Sun, Times and Torygraph and wrote all of those headlines/front pages?

Blimey.

p.s. Who have the Mail got down as 'a class war zealot'? Not Miliband, surely?

[darrenm]

Very up in the air, all this.

Overwhelming? Maybe a bit.

Though it's a bit fun, too.

Exciting, as well, a bit.

 

Gone are the days when it was an honest game.

Reminiscing now.

Even all your friends seem brainwashed.

Expecting ridiculous things like subliminal messages.

Not sure who to vote? I'm sure you do really.

[lapal_fan]

Okay master.

[Eames]

Again dont know too much but at least the tories are trying to slowly chip away at the benefits culture; rather than Labour that think its right and proper you shouldn't work if you can get enough coin of them

I'd agree with you from the point of view that the notion at least seems noble - and yet the execution has been anything but - especially the fit for work assessments carried out by that massive bunch of ATOSsers. People who can work and provide for themselves should - but they should also be supported to do it..... and only punished if they are proved to be deliberately feckless or obstructive.

The other teeeny flaw in the arguement is that that "benefits culture" is in reality a tiny amount of ££ saved in comparison to what Starbucks, Amazon et al fail to pay in taxes because they are allowed to offset their profits in bizarre licencing arrangements with foreign arms of the same business. Trouble is - the CEOs of those companies are the same ones who pay £000s to political parties in donations so their behaviour is largely ignored. HMRC wrote of £bns of unpaid tax on behalf of big companies simple because it costs £££ to get at it via the Courts. Joe Bloggs and his can of stella have no such luxuries and feel the pinch immediately.

is there evidence that that the CEO of Starbucks is a Tory donor ?

Glad you mentioned Amazon , the same Amazon Ed named and shamed as tax avoiders and then used to collect Labours on-line donations

I'm guilty of conflation (©Drat01) the general point that unpaid company tax dwarfs benefit fraud of course stands.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

FiveThirtyEight have a crack at predicting it

 

Tories - 281

Labour - 266

SNP - 52

Lib Dems - 26

[Demitri_C]

I still maintain this will cause labour long term damage by doing a  deal with SNP. 

[omariqy]

What are each parties policies on helping first time buyers? All I have seen is Cameron 20% discount through tax savings for builders.  Surely that will result in extra profit for the builders?

[tonyh29]

 

 

If a hung Parliament stops TTIP, perhaps it won't be so pants.

 

...day after day of front page bollex from the likes of the Sun and The Heil and the Torygraph...

 

 

Like this crap.

 

Owen Jones again

 

is he the only lefty bloke in the media or something ? 

 

Owen Jones works for The Mail, Sun, Times and Torygraph and wrote all of those headlines/front pages?

Blimey.

p.s. Who have the Mail got down as 'a class war zealot'? Not Miliband, surely?

 

Owen Jones is the bloke who cobbled the headlines together  and started distributing it as "This is our "free press". The playthings of panicking rich moguls spreading fear to stop any threat to their power. Look at their fear now. Imagine their jubilation on Friday if the Tories win. "

 

I'm sure you knew that though 

[snowychap]

Owen Jones is the bloke who cobbled the headlines together ...

He didn't have to do much cobbling, did he?

Or is the claim that none of these front pages are real and Mr Jones has spent all morning on photoshop?

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

If it was someone other than Owen Jones would it be fair point well made?

 

How about Andrew Neil?

 

Andrew Neil @afneil  ·  18h 18 hours ago

Editors/owners determine the sort of partisan front pages you will see tomorrow yet not one will appear on @daily_politics to defend actions

 

Hardly the frustrations of a rabid lefty.

[wazzap24]

Again dont know too much but at least the tories are trying to slowly chip away at the benefits culture; rather than Labour that think its right and proper you shouldn't work if you can get enough coin of them

As Eames said, the idea of reducing benefit payments, especially for those who 'don't deserve it' sounds like a good idea, but it's the execution of the idea that counts.

Just look at the way they cut child benefit for the 'wealthiest' as one small example. Your household income could be £99,999.98p and receive full child benefit, but the family next door, where it's one income of £60k get nothing. Now I'm not actually arguing about people with those kind of incomes having CB cut, but just try and get your head around how that's the best way to do it for a second. It's complete incompetance.

That's before you look at stuff that is really hitting actual poor people, like the bedroom tax and the next epic Tory **** which is the roll out of 'universal credits'.

They are not saving enough to make the misery they are inflicting on people worthwhile. The amount of money wasted by Government and Tax evasion dwarfs anything they are claiming they can save by an astronomical amount.

'Benefit savings' should be filed in the same category as, 'why we need more Austerity', 'Labour caused the recession' and 'we could have been Greece' - that category being; bullshit they have somehow managed to make people believe.