UK General Election 2015

[kukushkin88]

So far from Ed, the only weapon he's going to use to cut the deficit is to have a mansion tax ?

Liked the fact we heard a left wing alternative and think, especially early in the debate, the various small parties made a pretty good job of showing Labour as Tory lite.

Surprised anyone actually thinks Milliband did well though..it's like if he doesn't come across as a complete dickwad he's doing well. Plus he says yurrs, rather than years, gtfo

It´s literally all he needs, if he´s on TV loads everyone finds out the media were exaggerating about how much of a dickwad he is and Labour hose up with the most seats and he´s the next Prime Minister. The only real hope the Tories had was the Milliband myth would continue to polling day. He´s not very impressive as a statesman but he´s OK, kind of similar standard to Cameron.

[RickBFA]

It's an ideological battle, ultimately. As I understand it, amongst Economists, it's a contentious battle.

A) Austerity to reduce the deficit.
B) Spend, spend and spend - encourage economic growth.

It's impossible to say if one is more efficient than the other, but ideologically I prefer what I perceive to be the more pragmatic option. That being don't spend what you don't have.

I'd have no problem in spending to get our way out of recession/economic downturns if we had the cash to do it.

What frustrates me is the way the left want to constantly spend more than the country earns year after year after year, in good times or in bad.

Perhaps if we had reduced debt in the good times, we could spend it to help us out of the bad times.

How realistically can we keep spending more than we earn, building debt on debt without consequences for future generations.

Its madness.

[relaedgc]

It's not necessarily as dire as it's made out to be when you consider the debt against GDP, though - granted in my ignorance I may be overlooking other pertinent factors.

I think the question that we should really be considering is under which party is our economy safest with?

Click to see full-size image.

[nirvana]

So far from Ed, the only weapon he's going to use to cut the deficit is to have a mansion tax ?

Liked the fact we heard a left wing alternative and think, especially early in the debate, the various small parties made a pretty good job of showing Labour as Tory lite.

Surprised anyone actually thinks Milliband did well though..it's like if he doesn't come across as a complete dickwad he's doing well. Plus he says yurrs, rather than years, gtfo

It´s literally all he needs, if he´s on TV loads everyone finds out the media were exaggerating about how much of a dickwad he is and Labour hose up with the most seats and he´s the next Prime Minister. The only real hope the Tories had was the Milliband myth would continue to polling day. He´s not very impressive as a statesman but he´s OK, kind of similar standard to Cameron.

I think you're spot on

[Kmac84]

Another clear win for Sturgeon.  

The best leader labour never had, some people claim.  Can't disagree.

Does Nicola ever lose Kmac in your rose tinted glasses?  She sounded very desperate at times tonight trying to get into bed with red ed.  Impressed he stood up to her.  Thought he might fall into the lovey dovey trap she was trying to set.  We all know he will fall in bed with her as it is the only way he can get the power he needs to run the country but fair play to him for lying to the public that he won't tonight live on tv when we all know he will.

Nae borra mate away you go back to predicting biases at BAGS meetings.  In the event you missed it, I'm not an SNP fan boy but Sturgeon won hands down.   Just because you don't like what she says doesn't mean she didn't win. 

I don't mind what she says.  I think she is a great public speaker.  I just don't want the country going skint as she would spend even more cash we can't afford than red ed would.  Put the two together and it would be total chaos.

LOL its already skint 1.6 trillion worth of debt. 

Clearly the current plan isn't working.

[The Baron]

Got to say I think Milibland looked pretty far above the rest tonight. Shamron has definitely missed a trick here. Even the SNP embarrased themselves with that begging for a deal.

I think we may just get the goofiest PM we've ever had. FOLs.

[dakky]

Just watched the debate. I don't see why labour are so hellbent on renewing trident. I think if they had left that out of their manifesto and modified it to say they would spend the 100bn on much more needed services/cut the defecit then they could actually have won a majority. Can someone explain to me why we genuinely need it and why they have gone down this route

[BigAdz]

I just thought that in a situation where we can all see this is going to be tight, Ed handled offers of help rather poorly.

I am sure when push comes to shove the offers will still be there, but a true statesman and diplomat surely doesn't act such a twat and turn the offers down flat, which he is later going to have to accept to get what he wants.

There were a hundred different ways he could have handled that situation which could have kept the pot bubbling, given the country a taste of his conciliatory nature, and pretty much wrapped up a stroll to number ten.

Instead he looked like smug idiot, who has no comprehension of his situation.

If he is to be our next leader, I can't see him getting much achieved with that attitude. Sadly is suspect it matters little, too many fools in this country will love him, just because he is red, regardless of his ability.


I noticed that, although I have normally be a non labour supporter, when I look back over the years, from a personal wealth and happiness type perspective, my best years have always been during times when Labour have been in power. When I delved deeper, it transpired that the worst times(touch wood I am now in a far different position long term) were always during Tory times, where we often have to pay the price of Labour free spending and lack of planning.
Pretty sure we are in similar times to this when Major lost the election,having left the economy in its best position for many a year, but with the people feeling times had been tough for too long. Labour take over, fuck it up, and we go through the same process all over again, but with the Tories cast as the whipping boys because they had to mop up under their tenancy.

As a nation we clearly never learn.

I hope this time we continue to sail the ship in the right direction.

[Woodsey]

Just watched the debate. I don't see why labour are so hellbent on renewing trident. I think if they had left that out of their manifesto and modified it to say they would spend the 100bn on much more needed services/cut the defecit then they could actually have won a majority. Can someone explain to me why we genuinely need it and why they have gone down this route

Because they genuinely believe we need it. There are some policies you can play politics with to try and get elected but his is one of those they are far less likely to do it with because it's a really serious issue and is bigger than just getting elected.

Why we need it? Deterrent basically. We are in a really uncertain spot at the moment with Russia playing games and the usual stuff going on in the Middle East. If at some point down the line things escalated and we would have no way to defend ourselves we could be stuffed and at the mercy of a tyrant. It's not like they can just Magic a few nukes out of thin air if the need arises, these things need to be carefully planned and implemented.

[Jon MW]

It's not necessarily as dire as it's made out to be when you consider the debt against GDP, though - granted in my ignorance I may be overlooking other pertinent factors.

I think the question that we should really be considering is under which party is our economy safest with?

Click to see full-size image.

The knock on effect of various factors on the economy weren't so well understood in the past.
i.e. just because things were worse in the past you shouldn't necessarily think that makes the present okay.

Also the spikes in this chart roughly correlate to war and recession, so you really really don't want to use them as a basis for comparison

[kukushkin88]

I just thought that in a situation where we can all see this is going to be tight, Ed handled offers of help rather poorly.

I am sure when push comes to shove the offers will still be there, but a true statesman and diplomat surely doesn't act such a twat and turn the offers down flat, which he is later going to have to accept to get what he wants.

There were a hundred different ways he could have handled that situation which could have kept the pot bubbling, given the country a taste of his conciliatory nature, and pretty much wrapped up a stroll to number ten.

Instead he looked like smug idiot, who has no comprehension of his situation.

If he is to be our next leader, I can't see him getting much achieved with that attitude. Sadly is suspect it matters little, too many fools in this country will love him, just because he is red, regardless of his ability.


I noticed that, although I have normally be a non labour supporter, when I look back over the years, from a personal wealth and happiness type perspective, my best years have always been during times when Labour have been in power. When I delved deeper, it transpired that the worst times(touch wood I am now in a far different position long term) were always during Tory times, where we often have to pay the price of Labour free spending and lack of planning.
Pretty sure we are in similar times to this when Major lost the election,having left the economy in its best position for many a year, but with the people feeling times had been tough for too long. Labour take over, fuck it up, and we go through the same process all over again, but with the Tories cast as the whipping boys because they had to mop up under their tenancy.

As a nation we clearly never learn.

I hope this time we continue to sail the ship in the right direction.

Good morning Adz,

The problem Ed has with regard to working together with for example SNP or Plaid is that if he says yes he´s completely selling out his candidates in Scotland and Wales. I think he has to say no at the moment, the priority for all of them bar Farage is to ensure the next government isn´t Tory. A Labour "win" with regards to most seats is key to this. In spite of this, it still makes sense for the nationalist party leaders to seek tacit agreement to do a deal as it appeals to their voters and "frees" those voters of the responsibility they feel to do whatever it takes to keep blue Dave out of Downing Street.

More on the economy later. I´d be interest to know what measures you use to assess when the economy is doing well?

Edit: First sentence should read more like agreeing to work with them at this stage, it was only minutes after I woke up. My brain is good for very little until I´ve had coffee and porridge.

[Kmac84]

This nonsense about trident irks me, we are never going to use infact we can't use it even if Dave or Ed decided they wanted to use it because the Yanks have the codes.   

The only thing we do is foot the bill get rid of it, be at the start of unilateral disamarment show the world we are a peaceful nation. 

FFS Red Ed admitted himself last night he wouldn't push the button.  So why would he commit to renewing such an outdated system. 

[dakky]

Just watched the debate. I don't see why labour are so hellbent on renewing trident. I think if they had left that out of their manifesto and modified it to say they would spend the 100bn on much more needed services/cut the defecit then they could actually have won a majority. Can someone explain to me why we genuinely need it and why they have gone down this route

Because they genuinely believe we need it. There are some policies you can play politics with to try and get elected but his is one of those they are far less likely to do it with because it's a really serious issue and is bigger than just getting elected.

Why we need it? Deterrent basically. We are in a really uncertain spot at the moment with Russia playing games and the usual stuff going on in the Middle East. If at some point down the line things escalated and we would have no way to defend ourselves we could be stuffed and at the mercy of a tyrant. It's not like they can just Magic a few nukes out of thin air if the need arises, these things need to be carefully planned and implemented.

Yes I get deterrent.,.. But don't u think USA would hook us up ine worst case scenario. After all, we do have a "special relationship" lol

[Woodsey]

Just watched the debate. I don't see why labour are so hellbent on renewing trident. I think if they had left that out of their manifesto and modified it to say they would spend the 100bn on much more needed services/cut the defecit then they could actually have won a majority. Can someone explain to me why we genuinely need it and why they have gone down this route

Because they genuinely believe we need it. There are some policies you can play politics with to try and get elected but his is one of those they are far less likely to do it with because it's a really serious issue and is bigger than just getting elected.

Why we need it? Deterrent basically. We are in a really uncertain spot at the moment with Russia playing games and the usual stuff going on in the Middle East. If at some point down the line things escalated and we would have no way to defend ourselves we could be stuffed and at the mercy of a tyrant. It's not like they can just Magic a few nukes out of thin air if the need arises, these things need to be carefully planned and implemented.

Yes I get deterrent.,.. But don't u think USA would hook us up ine worst case scenario. After all, we do have a "special relationship" lol

Your lol says it all. Why should we trust or rely on anyone else?

[George2Loose]

Very mixed views on trident. Am constantly changing my mind about it. Are we really only safe because of it? Can't imagine a scenario where it might be used