I think it's time to leave Royal Mail:Split:Political posts

[masterblaster]

Can u get a job for the same pay and still be in the house for 2-3pm every day

Well the £9 living wage is going to bring plenty of much easier, less physically demanding jobs a lot closer to our current pay levels.

Yep, ironic the T*ries seem to have done more for low wages (or will have done if targets met) than labour ever did - they removed the 10p tax band. So the T*ries WILL destroy RM but by the back-door. All the posties will leave!

Yes but while the low paid see a small increase in pay, the business buddies of Conservative MPs increase their wealth by tens of thousands per year. Then when most of the Cons MP's lose their seat, (hopefully), in the next election, they can rely on a nice cosy 'Seat on the board', of same buddies.

'A study of the pay of directors of FTSE 100 firms showed that the rise was driven by a 44% increase in long-term incentive share awards and a 12% boost in bonuses.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Yes but while the low paid to see a small increase in pay, the business buddies of Conservative MPs increase their wealth by tens of thousands per year. Then when most of the Cons MP's lose their seat, (hopefully), in the next election, they can rely on a nice cosy 'Seat on the board', of same buddies.

Regrettably with the gerrymandering going on with the Conservatives trying to gain an advantage with various schemes if they get them all through then they'll be in power for a generation.

Changing Boundaries to suit them, at the same time as reducing the number of MPs.

Changing the way political parties are funded.

Changing the way you register to vote.

Allowing expatriates to vote for life

changes to how the Political levy is paid to Unions

[Tman]

Add to that list the incredible good fortune of having "how unelectable can I make us" Corbyn as leader of Her Majesty's Opposition and it's the Tories for the foreseeable...

[daveyeff]

Can u get a job for the same pay and still be in the house for 2-3pm every day

Well the £9 living wage is going to bring plenty of much easier, less physically demanding jobs a lot closer to our current pay levels.

its only in London that its £9. the rest of the country is £7.85. and, correct me if i'm wrong, but I don't think its legally enforceable.....not yet anyway.

[jetblack]

Add to that list the incredible good fortune of having "how unelectable can I make us" Corbyn as leader of Her Majesty's Opposition and it's the Tories for the foreseeable...

He's only unelectable if you are a Tory and/or Rupert Murdoch.

I'm neither.

Its nice to have a real alternative for the first time in a generation - and a lot of people I know feel the same way.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I think the claim that Labour is Unelectable with Corbyn as Leader is still under question generally, but I will probably vote Labour if he is still in charge in 2020:

Oldham West and Royton by Election 3 Dec 15



Local Council Election http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 76766.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The party won a marginal ward on the Conservative-controlled Cherwell District Council on a swing of more than 6 per cent. Voting in the Banbury Grimsbury & Castle seat in north Oxfordshire followed the death of a Conservative councillor.

Figures of recent Local elections from Conservative Home Page http://www.conservativehome.com/tag/by-election-results" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

28 Jan Stockton-on-Tees – Parkbridge and Oxbridge

Council by-election result from yesterday
Labour 598 (52.5 per cent, +6.7 on 2015), Conservatives 363 (31.9 per cent, +4.8), UKIP 113 (9.9 per cent, +9.9), Lib Dems 65 (5.7 per cent, +0.2) All parties standing increased their vote share as in the contest last year there were others standing that did not stand this time – including an Independent and a Green Party candidate.

11 Feb 2016: Labour increase vote in each ward

Bolton MB – Crompton

Labour 1,961 (70.9 per cent, +10.5 on 2015), UKIP 320 (11.6 per cent, -9.5), Conservatives 302 (10.9 per cent, -0.7), Lib Dems 117 (4.2 per cent, +0.5), Green Party 65 (2.4 per cent, +2.4 per cent)

Labour hold

Coventry MB – Lower Stoke

Labour 1,235 (57.5 per cent, +7.9 on 2015) Conservatives 344 (16 per cent, -5.2) UKIP 290 (13.5, -4.8) Green Party 154 (7.2 per cent, +1.1) Lib Dems 124 (5.8 per cent, +5.8)

Labour hold

Eastleigh BC – West End North

Lib Dems 582 (53 per cent, +13.2 since 2015) Conservatives 315 (28.7 per cent, -6.4) UKIP 115 (10.5 per cent, 4.9) Lab 58 (5.3 per cent, +4.3) Green Party 28 (2.6 per cent, +2.6)

Lib Dems hold

Hounslow LB – Cranford

Labour 1,254 (55 per cent, +0.3 on 2014), Conservatives 637 (27.9 per cent, +2.1), Lib Dems 265 (11.6 per cent, +5.5), UKIP 76 (3.3 per cent, -10.0), Green Party 48 (2.1 per cent, +2.1)

Labour hold


But I think May this year will be the real test.

[arnold cheshire]

Feeling annoyed !!

Have you handed in your notice?

[Tman]

Add to that list the incredible good fortune of having "how unelectable can I make us" Corbyn as leader of Her Majesty's Opposition and it's the Tories for the foreseeable...

He's only unelectable if you are a Tory and/or Rupert Murdoch.
.

Clearly a lot of labour party members are unhappy with his views on many different subjects, so no, it goes much further than just Tories or Murdoch. To even say such a thing points to a deep misunderstanding of the complexities of the situation.

[bustedflush]

By-elections and mid-term stuff always produce apathy or protest voting. Between now and 2020 we have the chance to leave the E-USSR so that we be a big factor by then. When it comes to the general election, I cannot see the UK bestowing upon themselves a minority Corbyn/Sturgeon government. They ran away from that in 2015 (quite rightly IMO) and that was with the less controversial but equally inept Millipede.

It's sad when many posties (well in my office they did!) would rather vote Tory because it's the lesser of two evils and tends to offer stability, because the alternative is too hard to swallow.

When I discussed this with a few Tory voters, it basically came down to two things:

1. Fear of the LAB/SNP alternative.

2. Economic stability. Very low inflation, frozen Council tax, falling fuel costs and prices with stagnant 0.5% interest rates on top of a compounded near-10% rise we've had over the last 3 years, has like it or not, made us a fair few quid better-off and increased our standard of living in most cases. Plus we get the annual rise in tax-free threshold.

NO! I didn't vote Tory, but UKIP as did a few others including the rep (so he claims!)

But I will in 2020 if the aternative is Corbyn or even worse Corbyn/Sturgeon.

[claretandblue]

Yes but while the low paid to see a small increase in pay, the business buddies of Conservative MPs increase their wealth by tens of thousands per year. Then when most of the Cons MP's lose their seat, (hopefully), in the next election, they can rely on a nice cosy 'Seat on the board', of same buddies.

Regrettably with the gerrymandering going on with the Conservatives trying to gain an advantage with various schemes if they get them all through then they'll be in power for a generation.

Changing Boundaries to suit them, at the same time as reducing the number of MPs.

Changing the way political parties are funded.

Changing the way you register to vote.

Allowing expatriates to vote for life

changes to how the Political levy is paid to Unions

Changing boundaries to correct liebours Gerry mandering

Stopping fraudulent votes in high muslim areas

Should be an opt in anyway, why should I pay ?

[bustedflush]

Yes but while the low paid to see a small increase in pay, the business buddies of Conservative MPs increase their wealth by tens of thousands per year. Then when most of the Cons MP's lose their seat, (hopefully), in the next election, they can rely on a nice cosy 'Seat on the board', of same buddies.

Regrettably with the gerrymandering going on with the Conservatives trying to gain an advantage with various schemes if they get them all through then they'll be in power for a generation.

Changing Boundaries to suit them, at the same time as reducing the number of MPs.

Changing the way political parties are funded.

Changing the way you register to vote.

Allowing expatriates to vote for life

changes to how the Political levy is paid to Unions

Changing boundaries to correct liebours Gerry mandering

Stopping fraudulent votes in high muslim areas

Should be an opt in anyway, why should I pay ?

Exactly.

[jetblack]

To even say such a thing points to a deep misunderstanding of the complexities of the situation.

There must be a lot of Labour Party members that share an equally deep misunderstanding of the complexities of the situation then - given that Corbyn got a bigger mandate from members than even the "great" Tony Blair.

As I see it, its the Eton/Oxbridge PLP establishment brown nosers that are against Corbyn - he's showed them up for what they are, and they are peed off cos now they are never going to get to be Home Secretary/Chancellor etc . It wasn't a complex situation at all - they weren't representing the people they were elected to represent, nor their interests. They were and are there for there own interests - they are self serving. And they themselves seem to be the only ones that can't see it.
There was a growing dissatisfaction amongst the electorate, who felt they had no real choice (and that democracy was failing them) - and a growing disillusionment with politics in general.

No, the Blairite dilute Tory sell outs that the Labour Party have been for the last 25 years has had its day. Nothing stands still. Jesus, even the US are looking to Bernie Sanders - "socialism" was the most looked up word of 2015 in the US.

Of course, there's what, another 4 years to the next general election - more than enough time for Murdochs propoganda machine to do its job. But I'm hoping that the days of people looking to the right wing press, or the BBC (Putin did it ) for their facts are on their way out.
We've got, for the first time in human history, the free flow of information and the internet to help us understand the slow but inexorable deterioation in the world around us, as we experience it, day on day.

[fishtank]

People fear change and Corbyn is a different kind of politician to those we've had for at least the last 30 years. We are far too reactionary as a country and I can't see the UK really giving the man a chance especially with the garbage spouted about him in the mainstream media.

If the Labour party were being really smart or Machiavellian depending on your point of view they would allow the Tories and press to continue to attack the man instead of the ball and then 12-18 months before the next general election he steps down to make way for a more blatantly centre-left successor, this is what I think will happen, I don't think JC will ever be prime minister, not because he wouldn't make a decent job of it but because most of the voting public especially the older generation are absolutely terrified of change. That's also why despite a lot of people talking the talk about leaving the EU, it's not going to happen.

[Tman]

There must be a lot of Labour Party members that share an equally deep misunderstanding of the complexities of the situation then - given that Corbyn got a bigger mandate from members than even the "great" Tony Blair.
As I see it, its the Eton/Oxbridge PLP establishment brown nosers that are against Corbyn - he's showed them up for what they are, and they are peed off cos now they are never going to get to be Home Secretary/Chancellor etc .

Wrong answer. So the unelectable Corbyn is OK because in your opinion he's better than Blair or others in the current crop?
He's some sort of 1960s socialist fantasy throw-back in his views. He should be pressing the dire Tories as Leader of the Opposition, not making ludicrous dogmatic statements and allowing himself to be held up as the new Michael Foot.

[jetblack]

There must be a lot of Labour Party members that share an equally deep misunderstanding of the complexities of the situation then - given that Corbyn got a bigger mandate from members than even the "great" Tony Blair.
As I see it, its the Eton/Oxbridge PLP establishment brown nosers that are against Corbyn - he's showed them up for what they are, and they are peed off cos now they are never going to get to be Home Secretary/Chancellor etc .

Wrong answer. So the unelectable Corbyn is OK because in your opinion he's better than Blair or others in the current crop?
He's some sort of 1960s socialist fantasy throw-back in his views. He should be pressing the dire Tories as Leader of the Opposition, not making ludicrous dogmatic statements and allowing himself to be held up as the new Michael Foot.

Did Labour's performance in the last general election pass you by, or what ?

The sad thing is, is that if the Blairite orthodoxy had won the day in the last election, absolutely nothing would have changed for the ordinary man and woman on the street - the Labour Party have had to compromise so much to achieve power that they are no longer discernible from the opposition. In other words, the Labour Party orthodox ruling Oxbridge elite had become a part of the problem. This is what people have woken up to, in my view - the Scots and the experience in Scotland is proof, if indeed proof were needed, of this.

Banging on about J Corbyn being "unelectable" is a bit empty (and cheap) IMHO - the proof of the pudding is in the eating. But listening to some of the comments here I can well imagine the line that the right wing hegemony machine will be taking over the coming years.

They are scared to death of Jeremy Corbyn. He's for real, he's radical and he means it.