General Election May 2015

[kenneal - lagger]

He contributes to global warming every time he opens his mouth!!

[clv101]

Apparently John Prescott is coming back to the Labour cause. Thoughts anyone?

Good move. As biffvernon mentioned, Prescott does understand and takes seriously climate change. He's also likely to appeal to the 'old labour' electorate put off by today's young 'career politicians'.

[biffvernon]

And when the next Labour government calls for divestment and degrowth we'll know we've won the argument.

Don't start holding your breath just yet.

[AutomaticEarth]

Interesting to see the Greens holding their own against the LibDems in some of these polls:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/poll-tracker

[kenneal - lagger]

The problem will be the distribution of the votes. The LibDems will probably have a concentration of votes in areas where they hold sway in the local elections and have a lot of activists whereas the Greens will have a smattering over the whole country with a few strongholds such a Brighton and possibly Bristol. These are areas with strong student representation and strong Green credentials in the unis.

[clv101]

It's likely approximately twice as many people will vote Green as SNP. However, SNP are likely to return close to 50 MP to be the third largest party by some margin. The Green's will do well to maintain one MP.

[UndercoverElephant]

It's likely approximately twice as many people will vote Green as SNP. However, SNP are likely to return close to 50 MP to be the third largest party by some margin. The Green's will do well to maintain one MP.

The situation in Brighton is very hard to predict. There have been extensive boundary changes, removing the university from Brighton Pavillion (which the greens hold) and replacing it with a section of Costa Geriatrica out towards Peacehaven. At the same time, another part of that constituency that was once rather run down (the area around Lewes and Upper Lewes Roads, and London Road around Preston Circus) has been steadily becoming more upmarket, as young couples with children called "Sebastian" are priced out of the town centre. Bad news for the greens? Maybe, but the whole of Brighton is somewhat green-leaning (it has a green council, after all) and so it is possible the effect of splitting up the core green vote may ultimately lead to the city returning 2 green MPs rather than none. Tough call.

Meanwhile, in my new seat of Hastings and Rye, I am fairly confident that the sitting tory Amber Rudd, minister for energy and climate change, will be kicked out by the local girl standing for labour. Rudd is not exactly popular in Hastings:

http://labourlist.org/2014/07/unbelieve ... -minister/

Remember Amber Rudd? The hapless Hastings MP who once explained why she wanted to stand in that seat by saying:

“I wanted to be within two hours of London and I could see we were going to win it.”

Rudd followed that up by making her constituency sound like a bleak hellhole:

“You get people who are on benefits, who prefer to be on benefits by the seaside. They’re not moving down here to get a job, they’re moving down here to have easier access to friends and drugs and drink.”

That, and her musings on whether anal sex would be a doorstep issue come 2015, made her something of a laughing stock. It wasn’t long before she was pooping on her own metaphorical doorstep again, saying:

“Hastings used to be this beautiful, refined seaside place.”

[emordnilap]

And when the next Labour government calls for divestment and degrowth we'll know we've won the argument.

In Spain, Podemos are calling for it.

And we do expect genuine Left parties to avoid making the relaunch of economic growth their objective.

Tough call. All the British parties of the hard right - meaning just about every one of 'em, including Labour - want growth and more growth. And unions too, sadly. Syriza too.

[Little John]

First speech in a long time that talked to me.

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015 ... are_btn_fb

[biffvernon]

Nice one, Little John, Aneurin Bevan was a leader. Today's politicians just follow the focus groups and opinion surveys to ensure that what they say appeals to the maximum number of 'swing voters'. They are not leaders.

[3rdRock]

First speech in a long time that talked to me.

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015 ... are_btn_fb

+1. I find it heart rending to watch the NHS, an organisation which our fathers fought so hard to introduce, being carved up by Osborne's corporate fat cat mates and abused by a generation of folk with an unsustainable sense of entitlement.

[AutomaticEarth]

First speech in a long time that talked to me.

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015 ... are_btn_fb

+1 from me too. Difficult to disagree with this. Despite me being to the right of most on this thread (or at least that is the perception), it's difficult to even rank these career politicians with the likes of Bevin.

[kenneal - lagger]

Read The Prostitute State and you will find that it is as much Labour as it is the Tories and the Libdems wouldn't be far behind if they ever got in on their own. The whole bloody system is owned by the Kleptocrasy, the thieving bastards who pay for our political parties with the money that they have stolen from the system, and the politicians dance to whatever tune they are told to or risk losing their funding and perks. Simples!!

Michael Sheen might be uplifting but he is very naive about what is going on! Those who "have discarded all principles, save that of profit before all else; to those who have turned their backs on the very idea of a truly democratic society, and aligned themselves to nothing but self-interest; to those who have betrayed the vision of equality, and justice, and compassion for all – that vision that provided the crucible from which came forth the National Health Service – I say to you, as Aneurin Bevan said in Trafalgar Square in 1956: you have besmirched the name of Britain; you have made us ashamed of the things of which formerly we were proud; you have offended against every principle of decency and there is only way in which you can even begin to restore your tarnished reputation" don't give a sh*t as long as they are making "loadsa monay!" And they are! They are laughing all the way to the bank, their own bank in many cases.

[Little John]

To be fair to Sheen, I would think he probably knows this K. But, getting this moribund, psychologically downtrodden population to finally gather the strength to get off its knees requires getting them angry within the terms of their existing narrow and limited political world-views.

The revolution can come a little later when the people find, in short order, that as soon as they demand anything even remotely resembling change, the authorities crack down on them with draconian and suppressive measures.

We must all be agent provocateurs where and when we can K. On this, although we come from very different political places, I think we can agree.

[kenneal - lagger]

....We must all be agent provocateurs where and when we can K. On this, although we come from very different political places, I think we can agree.

I've been doing this for some time, Steve, much to the disgust of some and the amusement of many more. Ecobuild can be a very good place to catch politicians in a vulnerable state. They're not expecting difficult questions or points at a meeting of architects and builders. They should realise that there are a few deep greenies who still go there, often with just such a confrontation in mind!!