2015 Election

[zag]

One important thing about raising the minimum wage to mention is that we will likely see a new influx of economic migrants from Europe as it goes higher.

 

I believe the minimum wage in Poland is currently around £2 an hour.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_in_Europe_by_minimum_wage

Edited May 11, 2015 by zag

[Garacesh]

If people are paid more, they spend more in businesses... Meaning income can and will increase in many businesses if the minimum wage is increased.

 

People ain't paid squat if their employer can't afford to pay 'em.

 

Also if everyone is paid more, the price of stuff rises to cover the cost of having to pay your employees more, which means the employee spends more but get the same amount. Result = Inflation.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Garacesh

[Gardinho]

I emailed my mate up in Cumbria asking him what he thought of the election. I found his response entertaining and interesting in equal measure, so thought I would share it with you guys:

 

The intention of this is not to get anyones back up!!!

 

Forwarded Message:

 

The British people have spoken, and this is what they have said (I have taken the liberty to correct the assumed grammatical errors):

 

"Please continue to put millionaires on benefits and close public libraries. sod anybody whose goal in life is NOT making money and continue the privatisation of the NHS - or what's left of it. If you're ill, poor and have more brain cells than pound coins, p*ss off and die. Quietly."

 

The real culprit in all of this is that ghastly woman Sturgeon. Calculating and manipulative, I class her as no better than a liar and a thief. I've met women like her before, I've worked with them and for them, and I know what matters to her: power. It's written all over her hard face. How she can claim to be a socialist after the public sector cuts she has presided over in Scotland with that fat oik Salmond is beyond me - (she doesn't want you to know about any of that, though - and the media having spent the last 6 weeks slobbering over her have complied beautifully with her ENTIRELY false narrative). Her claim that if you vote SNP you get Labour was absurd when it was made and looks now like a hatchet job on the people of the United Kingdom (the Scots of whom did actually reject its break up recently) in the interests of what has become apparent is a poisonous and hostile nationalism. And like all nationalism, of course, it is entirely self-serving and based on the desire to dictate and exclude, not converse and embrace. I loathe nationalism more than I can possibly express to you.

 

Again, this actual narrative is not reported in the media to the extent that, if the press were actually free and fair, it would have been. The UK media is run by Russian oligarchs (Independent); Nazi pornographers (Express); Australian megalomaniacs (Sunday Times/Sun) and tax avoiding leg-breakers and bullies (Telegraph). The rest, nobody reads anyhow. The Guardian, despite its roots being in the north of England, has moved in an ideological sense to Notting Hill. It is totally irrelevant to the lives of most people. Aside from that, their copy editors wouldn't know a coherent sentence in the English language if it jumped off the page and kicked their teeth in.

 

As for TV, the BBC has not reported the privatisation of the NHS; it has demonised Farage at the behest of Lynton Crosby and belittled Ed Miliband at the behest of Cameron himself. ITV is not a serious vehicle for political commentary being, as it is, a run-for-profit organisation, and Sky is Murdoch's voice in British living rooms, so they deserve no respect whatsoever. His is a great evil, which, like all real evil, has clothed itself in the garb of normality. So it endures, because people are used to it.

 

Sadly, although predictably, most of the British are such morally and intellectually lazy block-headed halfwits that none of this occurs to them. They have what they deserve, although it remains to be said that still, the majority of the country did not elect this Prime Minister - due in part to what I consider to be a scandalously low turn out to vote (60% or so I think) and this absurd "first past the post" electoral system, designed to ensure the two party duopoly is maintained, and meaning in effect that my vote, in this constituency, is utterly pointless. But turkeys don't vote for Christmas, so they say, even if they are organically reared and humanely murdered. There will be no PR.

 

I do hope all that's clear! I actually wish Scotland had voted "yes" and were out of it all. I would hate you to think that I voted for this little upper class racket of Bullingdon Club alumni and their Scots tart.

 

But of course, like all real tarts, she trowels on the lipstick, but never actually kisses anybody...

Edited May 11, 2015 by Gardinho

[witch]

Love it except for the entirely unnecessary anti-female remarks such as "hard face" (men aren't described as this) and calling her a tart. Completely out of order and just damages his otherwise well-written narrative.

[Gardinho]

Love it except for the entirely unnecessary anti-female remarks such as "hard face" (men aren't described as this) and calling her a tart. Completely out of order and just damages his otherwise well-written narrative.

 

I agree about the tart reference, completely unnecessary. I think you might be being a little sensitive thinking it's there is anything anti-female about it though. I myself have been described as 'hard faced'!

 

I'll apologise now if anyone is offended. Mods can remove if it's deemed unsuitable.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Gardinho

[CAM]

Love it except for the entirely unnecessary anti-female remarks such as "hard face" (men aren't described as this) and calling her a tart. Completely out of order and just damages his otherwise well-written narrative.

 

No comment on Salmond being a "fat oik" then?

[zag]

Lord Sugar just quit the labour party due to their anti business strategy.

 

Seems he is still a supporter of "New labour" though.

 

 

He is also a member of the Lords but will continue in that role.

[sonofsanta]

I thought it had an anti-woman streak to it as well - "I've met women like her before", "Scots tart", "trowels on the lipstick"...

 

"Fat oik" isn't a gender-specific complaint, the same as "liar and thief" levelled at Sturgeon isn't gender specific.

 

I don't think the people necessarily voted for the Tories, not any more than normal - their share of the vote this time was 36.9%, in 2010 it was 36.4%. The SNP taking Scotland hasn't given us Tory power either; the Tories would have a majority whether Labour had those Scottish seats or not. Labour and Tories traded seats in England; I think Labour were up 1 seat once the dust was settled. I think it was lost to the Tories by the Lib-Dems - their vote vanished, Labour failed to capture it, and Tory candidates who had been 2nd to LD last time out suddenly found themselves with no competition.

 

We didn't vote for Tory, we just didn't really vote for anyone else in particular. Almost a victory by default.

[pcstru]

Yes, if the minimum wage were lowered, then the overall cost-of-entry into the industry would be lowered. That is exactly what I'm saying. I'm not saying that we ought to lower minimum wage, all I'm saying is small businesses will suffer from a £1.30 per hour wage increase, employees will be let go or have their hours cut, and overall a minimum wage increase will not get more people into jobs.

Actually, you seem to be saying that there is an unfair advantage to the big players and that that advantage comes from the increase in the minimum wage rather than their size. I simply disagree with that, the big players advantage comes from their size, it is an advantage they have anyway. If you agree that lowering the wage makes it easier for small business and you want to encourage small business, then logically, you should want the minimum wage lowered. You might even want to abolish the minimum wage entirely.

 

So if somebody works part-time but is not earning enough to rent, eat, clothe and bathe, what then? If there are no more hours to be worked (or if they can't renegotiate their contract) what would you have them do?

 

I would have them claim benefits. If the private enterprise pays them a living wage for the part time work they actually do, then they (the private enterprise) are doing their bit. We (the taxpayer) are giving welfare to the person for the time they do not have work, rather than giving them welfare for the time that they are working but are not being paid enough to actually live on. I would also ensure that part time is a guaranteed number of hours - not some "zero hours" rubbish where private enterprise is allowed to push their risk onto the state, reaping profits while we taxpayers bear their risk.

[Gatt]

Now this is my kind of protest!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30483[/ATTACH]

Garden centre owner's '10% tax for Tory voters' sign goes viral | Politics | The Guardian

 

That is horrendous!

 

Refusing to serve people based on their political persuasion

 

Haven't we spent YEARS ensuring we had equality for the disabled, women, and the LGBT community

Yet yo see to find this acceptable

 

Shame on you all!

[LosOjos]

That is horrendous!

 

Refusing to serve people based on their political persuasion

 

Haven't we spent YEARS ensuring we had equality for the disabled, women, and the LGBT community

Yet yo see to find this acceptable

 

Shame on you all!

 

The difference is, none of those things you mentioned are the result of a person's choice - it is who they are. Voting Tory was an active choice made by each Tory voter.

 

Plus, it's clearly a joke.

[Gatt]

The difference is, none of those things you mentioned are the result of a person's choice - it is who they are. Voting Tory was an active choice made by each Tory voter.

 

Plus, it's clearly a joke.

 

Sorry, I don't see it that way - I find it offensive!

 

If I'd posted a similar picture, stating the same text but aimed at women or Gays or Labour supporters I would be getting called all names under the sun and possibly had my post removed..

 

Yet, for some reason -this is acceptable????

[Arreks]

If I'd posted a similar picture, stating the same text but aimed at women or Gays or Labour supporters I would be getting called all names under the sun and possibly had my post removed..

 

Post removed? probably not. Get called names by some people? yeah probably, until those posts get removed.

 

I'm more surprised people (tory supporters) haven't fired rounds at @sparkeh. I'm neither a tory nor labour supporter, but it happens. You're not born a conservative, those are just policies you either agree with or not - if you seriously think that the same can be said for lgbtqia/gender etc then that's worrying..

[sparkeh]

I'm more surprised people (tory supporters) haven't fired rounds at @sparkeh.

Agreed I can take it

 

I think the blackboard is being taken a bit too seriously and to compare it to gender/sexual orientation/disability discrimination is to misunderstand the issue.

[localzuk]

Sorry, I don't see it that way - I find it offensive!

 

If I'd posted a similar picture, stating the same text but aimed at women or Gays or Labour supporters I would be getting called all names under the sun and possibly had my post removed..

 

Yet, for some reason -this is acceptable????

 

You need to get thicker skin then. If someone makes a choice then they can always expect to be questioned about that choice and, in cases, be treated differently because of that choice.

 

Being a woman or gay is not a choice. Attacking someone for either is idiotic to say the least. Being a Labour supporter can be open to as much sarcasm and abuse as being a Tory supporter. I know I've been called a communist because of it...

[zag]

I just saw this quote on the BBC news reshuffle livefeed and thought it just about summed up Labours failure.

 

I wanted to vote Labour but, as someone with ambitions in the workplace and in business, could not understand their seemingly anti-business, anti-wealth creation, anti-aspiration agenda. They instead focussed on whipping up hatred amongst their most left-wing supporters, the products of which we are now left with in the form of violent protests in London.

 

http://bbc.in/1KXavuc

[LosOjos]

Sorry, I don't see it that way - I find it offensive!

 

If I'd posted a similar picture, stating the same text but aimed at women or Gays or Labour supporters I would be getting called all names under the sun and possibly had my post removed..

 

Yet, for some reason -this is acceptable????

 

It's already been said, but you're more than welcome to take a pop at me for being a Labour voter; that's my choice. However, digs about gender or sexuality are an entirely different affair, and you well know it.

 

Stop the drama.

[Crumpet]

Sorry, I don't see it that way - I find it offensive!

 

If I'd posted a similar picture, stating the same text but aimed at women or Gays or Labour supporters I would be getting called all names under the sun and possibly had my post removed..

 

Yet, for some reason -this is acceptable????

 

It's not too bad, and UKIP supporters are branded as racists. I think that's a worse brush to be tarred with than to be a Tory supporter.

[pcstru]

The difference is, none of those things you mentioned are the result of a person's choice - it is who they are. Voting Tory was an active choice made by each Tory voter.

 

Plus, it's clearly a joke.

 

While it might be a choice, it is important that people have a right to hold political views and, like religious views (another choice), you should not be discriminated against because of those views. It might be intended as a joke, but it touches a nerve connected with important freedoms. He is obviously passionate about his politics (politics I agree with) but the 'joke' is in rather poor taste.

[Garacesh]

Actually, you seem to be saying that there is an unfair advantage to the big players and that that advantage comes from the increase in the minimum wage rather than their size. I simply disagree with that, the big players advantage comes from their size, it is an advantage they have anyway. If you agree that lowering the wage makes it easier for small business and you want to encourage small business, then logically, you should want the minimum wage lowered. You might even want to abolish the minimum wage entirely.

I don't want to abolish the minimum wage entirely, nor do I want to lower it. I'm saying the advantage to the big players comes with the increased cost-of-entry to the market.

 

If I'd posted a similar picture, stating the same text but aimed at women or Gays or Labour supporters I would be getting called all names under the sun and possibly had my post removed..

Gay: Something you are

Woman: Something you are

Labour: Something you choose.*

 

So yes, you'd get flak for a pop at women or gays. But not at labour supporters, I shouldn't think.

 

* One could argue that you don't really 'choose' your opinions either, but that's an entirely different philosophical kettle of fish.

[localzuk]

While it might be a choice, it is important that people have a right to hold political views and, like religious views (another choice), you should not be discriminated against because of those views. It might be intended as a joke, but it touches a nerve connected with important freedoms. He is obviously passionate about his politics (politics I agree with) but the 'joke' is in rather poor taste.

 

Really? Many political views are abhorrent or offensive. Just look at the views of the BNP or National Front. They're political views, should we not discriminate against them, because we do - BNP supporters are fired from many jobs, for example....

[LosOjos]

While it might be a choice, it is important that people have a right to hold political views and, like religious views (another choice), you should not be discriminated against because of those views. It might be intended as a joke, but it touches a nerve connected with important freedoms. He is obviously passionate about his politics (politics I agree with) but the 'joke' is in rather poor taste.

 

OK I see your point, no form discrimination is a good thing.

 

Really? Many political views are abhorrent or offensive. Just look at the views of the BNP or National Front. They're political views, should we not discriminate against them, because we do - BNP supporters are fired from many jobs, for example....

 

...apart from this. I think the important difference here though is that you're not just discriminating against them just because they voted for a political party, but because this clearly aligns them with the will to discriminate against others based on things they had no choice in, such as ethnicity.

 

On the other hand, it could be argued that Tory's discriminate against the poor with their benefit cuts and lack of effort to clamp down on tax dodgers....

Edited May 11, 2015 by LosOjos

[matt40k]

Refusing to serve people based on their political persuasion

 

It doesn't say that. It DOES say "Only one woman has told me she voted Tory – and that was after she paid", which is the EXACT opposite of what you said. It would also say that most people in that area are closet Conservatives as they have been moaning about him indirectly and not to his face.

 

Personally, what's the beef? I mean I've had a few drinks in a Conservative club, doesn't mean I voted for them, just meant I kept my mouth shut about politics whilst I was in there. No diff.

[Gatt]

Hmm.. this has escalated quickly.

 

Somehow my comment appear to have been spun to make it sound like I was attacking someone based on their gender/sexuality/disability.

 

I am not - can I make this really clear - I am not "Anti" any of them - So please don't assume that I am

 

I'm all for Equality and have no room for anyone who are actively trying to hinder equality or are anti-gay

 

Being a Labour supporter can be open to as much sarcasm and abuse as being a Tory supporter. I know I've been called a communist because of it...

 

The point I was trying to make is that you shouldn't get abuse simply down to what party you support!

[CAM]

Really? Many political views are abhorrent or offensive. Just look at the views of the BNP or National Front. They're political views, should we not discriminate against them, because we do - BNP supporters are fired from many jobs, for example....

 

But on this point, it seems fine when the hard left espouses the same views on the hard right but reversed. Hence the new Internet game "Stormfront or SJW" which puts quotes up and asks readers if they are made by members of Stormfront or left-wing bloggers. The results are...frightening.