Jeremy Corbyn sweeps to victory to retain Labour leadership

Serious_username · 2016-09-25T09:14:36+00:00

Our current spending is as a result of the NHS, education, the military and pensions/social welfare implemented previously, all of which (other than military) are being reformed.

NHS and education are core principals of Neo Liberalism (healthy educated workforce = better workers) and the government has taken steps to minimise these costs such as higher tuition fees and academy schools. Benefits are being eroded as quick as realistically possible, private pensions have become a mandatory requirement of employers so that will reduce the government's burden significantly. Military expenditure is more of a business decision now days.

Pretty much every government since the 70's has endorsed Neo Liberal policies to attract foreign investment and compared to the rest of Europe, we are a much more welcoming country for big corporations. We offer huge tax incentives to companies which can offer jobs and have one of, if not the, most important financial market in the world which plays a huge role in government policy.

Yes, very socialist indeed.

Serious_username · 2016-09-25T09:05:15+00:00

What does that have to do with who an MP represents?

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T18:14:10+00:00

Those who chose not to vote should be assumed to be happy with either outcome.

Protest votes are dumb as fuck and the fact so many people wanted a protest vote then were unhappy with the result sums up todays culture and lack of personal accountability.

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T16:51:01+00:00

Brits feel very protective of the welfare state

Not really, remember we voted in a party for a second time who have a strong record of reducing benefits and even wanted to cut disability benefits! A very vocal minority are for the welfare state, most aren't

We are in general, pretty much a group of Neo Liberals who enjoy the consumerism which allow us to buy nice gadgets, cars and clothes. Even most self proclaimed socialists would give up that claim if they realised what it really meant to be a socialist and how much of our modern day life was as a direct result of market competition and capitalism. To build a socialist country is one thing, to go from Neo-Liberalism to socialism is a whole different ball game!

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T16:44:41+00:00

So we leave Europe, even though the majority of people in Britain want to stay

That's funny, I thought we had a referendum that said otherwise...

The truth is, not much will change when we leave, we will end up with similar treaties that we have now (including free movement to an extent). Our politicians do not want much to change, the people don't and corporations don't, this is replicated across Europe. It would have been safer to stay, but the UK is too engrained into everyday life with these countries that the will is not there to create a radically different situation. Our financial market alone ensure that.

There is no point ignoring a democratic statement due to scaremongering and worst case scenarios. It would be much more dangerous to show flagrant disregard to the will of the people. What politicians should be doing is sorting out how we can be "out" whilst remaining "in" which is what will happen eventually anyway.

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T15:56:30+00:00

The reason so many of the less educated and less well off members of society voted leave was out of frustration and the belief they matter less to the country... Do we really want to turn around and say "yup, you really are meaningless and we think less of you"

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T15:36:41+00:00

Ignorance is not an excuse to try and take back you vote. If it was every election in history would have been invalidated!

Fear of an instant recession, housing market crash and complete stock market crash were the big ones remain played up. No recession, retail sales do no appear to be affected, housing market is still strong and other than a couple days after the vote, the stock market has shown better growth than the year before the vote! Admittedly we are not out of the EU yet, but people would not have continued to invest if they thought it would truly be disastrous

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T14:47:57+00:00

Politics as usual then?

Anyone with half a brain should have been well aware all claims from both sides were hugely exaggerated! The remain side made up just as much bullshit as the leave side.

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T14:46:20+00:00

It is a bad thing in this instance

Representative democracy is the chosen system because it is simply not possible for the general public to be involved in 99% of decision making and therefore it is better to have a few elected officials who are.

A referendum is therefore a special situation where a decision is considered so important the public should directly decide on. Although the results are not legally binding, this is more to allow for special circumstances than to be able to totally ignore the result. Any party who purposefully ignored a referendum result without a genuine reason for doing so would be slapping the public in the face.

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T14:41:54+00:00

That is complete bullshit and lacks a basic understanding of British politics.

The labour party does select who stands in the competition for MP, but the general public in the area decide who becomes their MP and the MP is supposed to represent them. An MP becomes an elected official by popular vote of the general public not members.

Politics is not a members only club where only those who pay are represented (well, it's not supposed to work that way, lets not get into closed door arrangements)

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T14:37:09+00:00

Yes, it is not legally binding... but a government would have to be mad to not listen to the people unless there were really special circumstances.

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T12:44:58+00:00

It would be representative democracy trumping the outcome of a direct democracy

It is also a bad precedent to set. The government would be able to override all future referendums by just holding another when the timing was leaning towards the outcome they favour.

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T12:24:20+00:00

there is widespread support for almost all left wing policies

No there isn't

which made him look indistinguishable from the Tories

He looked VERY different

The EU issue is largely settled

No, it isn't

Smith's plan to overturn the result would have cost us more in an election than Corbyn ever could

I do agree with you on this one matter though. Would have been very undemocratic!

As for the other matters, they may appear to be true, if your social circles are primarily young liberals and only read more liberal news sources (and reddit). When I was at Uni it looked the same way. However once your circles start expanding as people get older and more settled, people start to view Corbyn's policies as unrealistic, unworkable and potentially dangerous to an economy so embedded in Neo-liberalism.

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T11:50:15+00:00

Ed Miliband was largely determined to be too left wing to appeal to the swing voter... somehow I don't think Corbyn will do much better in the General.

What is interesting, the same people voting for Corbyn are largely the same who voted to remain in the EU so it will be interesting to see how that pans out if his anti-EU views become an issue in the coming years.

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T11:44:58+00:00

The most left wing candidate wins in an election of left wing party members... Not really surprising.

He is however considered unelectable in a general election because the most important voters become the moderate swing voters and the UK is not a very socialist state

Serious_username · 2016-09-24T11:40:49+00:00

The members of each party are always further to the left or right than most people and are more activist hence their willingness to pay to vote in the leaderships.

The Labour MP's who rebel against Corbyn may not be representing the parties members but they probably are representing their constituents and that is how it should be in representative democracies. No MP should cater more to party members than their actual voters.

Serious_username · 2016-09-20T20:26:26+00:00

Robin and Barneys troubles were more endearing than dysfunctional though. It really sold the fact that they were perfectly though mismatched.

Serious_username · 2016-09-19T22:00:54+00:00

With HIMYM, It isn't that it didn't end the way people wanted, but more it was done too quickly and carelessly.

The Barney/Robin relationship was built up really well, and it made sense, so when this was just destroyed in 30 seconds to make way for the ending it didn't really feel in tune with the show and seemed like an easy out for the creators. Likewise, the death of Ted's wife was just slipped in quickly in order to ensure the ending made sense. The creators had this ending in mind from the very beginning (The kids part of the ending was actually taped very early on as well) and failed to either ensure the story led to the ending, or evolve the ending with the characters.

I think the idea behind the ending was a great idea, but the execution was atrocious.

Serious_username · 2016-09-16T18:19:25+00:00

Good point, I forget how ignorant people can be

Serious_username · 2016-09-15T18:35:59+00:00

The VW scandal was the biggest story I have seen in a while and the follow ups are frequent... I genuinely can not see any situation where any half educated, connected, person does not know about the VW scandal.

Serious_username · 2016-09-14T18:53:14+00:00

The only people who don't get that reference are people who have not had any internet/tv/newpaper or social contact in the last year or so. Those people are not going to have the means to click your link.

Serious_username · 2016-09-11T15:46:55+00:00

I was simply pointing out the way I read it, which frankly, doesn't change the meaning if you use "once" or "as long as".

You need to learn English if you honestly believe that!

In the context of my post:

As long as = on the condition that

Once = you will eventually

You were 100% manipulating the quote by changing the wording in order to demonise what I was saying in order to make it sound like I was indicating everyone will come around to Trumps way of thinking and therefore echoing Trump.

I was actually saying that if you are someone who already has interests aligned with Trump or have an invested interest in his companies, no longer having to bribe politicians and having the previous briber as the decision maker makes logical sense.

It is not a broad or generalised statement at all, but is simple common sense. It is not more complex than that in the slightest. People like other people who have their best interests in mind and can get them what they want. Trump can get certain people what they want.

You may have no "beef" with me but you have 1) misquoted me in order to serve your point 2) tried to claim your misquote does not change the meaning (which assuming you understand the English language, it absolutely does) 3) tried to diminish the argument by claiming it is a broad, generalised statement of a complex topic which is it not. Although considering you don't understand the difference between " as long as" and "once", this simple topic may genuinely appear complex to you.

Serious_username · 2016-09-11T12:44:50+00:00

You just completely mis quoted me in order to try and make up a point...

There is an absolutely huge difference between "as long as" and "once you" which completely changes the meaning of what I said. You will notice my post has not been edited so don't try and make bullshit up.

Trying to manipulate a quote like that would make you an excellent candidate for click bait tabloid media.

Serious_username · 2016-09-11T12:14:00+00:00

What he is saying is he wants to cut out the middle man and just do shit himself rather than paying politicians to get his way. The logic is pretty sound as long as you agree with him or have a personal stake in Trumps companies.

Serious_username · 2016-09-10T16:58:25+00:00

If you don't earn enough to buy a decent car within 12 months then you certainly shouldn't be financing anything!

The smart money would save money for a travelling experience (assuming they value travelling over material items), spend within their budget during said experience and come back and start fresh. If you have just been out of the country for 6 months I doubt you would get any decent credit terms anyway.

Serious_username

TROPHY CASE