Not just Crosby and Obama's campaign manager but Daily Mail and Murdoch too, that is one hell of a tag team

 

Is Satan on board too? Sounds like the tag team from HELL. It's a given that most of their 'readers' are Tory voters anyway.

 

I don't see anything other than a hung parliament, though a small Labour majority is a possibility (only a small swing required) - and there is a NEAR ZERO chance of a Tory majority..

From what I see, it seems as if Ed Miliband is just coming up with all these relentless policies to impress the public and I'd be very surprised if he carries all of what he has said so far out. I'm not convinced as of yet.

From what I see, it seems as if Ed Miliband is just coming up with all these relentless policies to impress the public and I'd be very surprised if he carries all of what he has said so far out. I'm not convinced as of yet.

 

You are right to be cynical.

 

Labour promised more housing back in '97 too and that never really happened - actually we saw house prices more than double in price, and housing construction fall from 156,170 in 1997-8 compared to 88,690 in 2009-10. Lowest level since the war!

If there's a hung parliament with Labour as the biggest party, I'm thinking they might go for a minority government rather than a coalition. There's probably enough left-wing MPs from small parties to enable them to get the votes in parliament on an issue-by-issue basis, and I just don't know if the Labour grassroots would stand for a coalition with the Lib Dems.

I was discussing this today actually, Labour could very well form a minority government. I doubt they'd want to be associated with the Lib Dems after their disastrous term in office. Nick Clegg won't be the 'king maker' nor will he probably be leader of the Liberal Democrats after their inevitable collapse in 2015.

From what I see, it seems as if Ed Miliband is just coming up with all these relentless policies to impress the public and I'd be very surprised if he carries all of what he has said so far out. I'm not convinced as of yet.

While it's not unusual for a PM to promise this, that and the next thing (David Cameron's gotten away with it for a long time - promising things he couldn't even dream of giving us, or couldn't shift his arse and put the effort in to achieve) it does seem that Ed's just whoring himself out to try and win votes. Don't think it's working at all. We were actually discussing it in our Journalism class today and he's more or less putting the nails in his own coffin here in regards to this energy situation; if he wants to try and force companies to freeze prices for a certain amount of time, what other businesses is he going to attempt to gain control of? He's trying to walk before he can even crawl.

While it's not unusual for a PM to promise this, that and the next thing (David Cameron's gotten away with it for a long time - promising things he couldn't even dream of giving us, or couldn't shift his arse and put the effort in to achieve) it does seem that Ed's just whoring himself out to try and win votes. Don't think it's working at all. We were actually discussing it in our Journalism class today and he's more or less putting the nails in his own coffin here in regards to this energy situation; if he wants to try and force companies to freeze prices for a certain amount of time, what other businesses is he going to attempt to gain control of? He's trying to walk before he can even crawl.

 

Hm, but energy companies do need reigning in though - don't know if you saw the interview on C4 yesterday evening but Caroline Flint was ON POINT. They all hold YOU and everyone else in this country hostage to make as much profit as possible - money, money, money - it is all they care about. If the wholesale price comes down, then bully for them because they get to make even more profit and do not pass this on to the consumer.

 

Ok, the policy isn't the best thought through one, but something does need to be done about energy companies!

what other businesses is he going to attempt to gain control of?

 

Hopefully post office and the rail network

 

Privatisation of the post office is bloody ridiculous, stamps are insanely high now and will shoot up even more after privatisation, in 2015 I suspect a first class stamp will cost 90p or even £1

 

Rail network should be renationalised too, my season ticket is already outrageous and start of the year went up waaaay beyond the rate of inflation

 

 

Edited September 25, 201311 yr by Sandro Ranieri

If there's a hung parliament with Labour as the biggest party, I'm thinking they might go for a minority government rather than a coalition. There's probably enough left-wing MPs from small parties to enable them to get the votes in parliament on an issue-by-issue basis, and I just don't know if the Labour grassroots would stand for a coalition with the Lib Dems.

 

 

I was discussing this today actually, Labour could very well form a minority government. I doubt they'd want to be associated with the Lib Dems after their disastrous term in office. Nick Clegg won't be the 'king maker' nor will he probably be leader of the Liberal Democrats after their inevitable collapse in 2015.

There are more than three parties in government in the UK.

 

I do actually agree with both of you though in that there will not be another majority government and we will be in a hung parliament situation. The Coalition won't have enough seats to stay on, thanks to the LibDems disappearing from the Tory hating north and Scotland, and the LibDems are seriously damaged goods politically. UKIP would be a non-starter for both sides but Labour do have the nationalists and eco-freaks left to play with seeing as none of them would go near the Tories. I think an informal coalition would be likely with Labour having SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green support on key pieces of legislation in return for a few more crumbs in the Devolution pot and some tree-hugging.

Hm, but energy companies do need reigning in though - don't know if you saw the interview on C4 yesterday evening but Caroline Flint was ON POINT. They all hold YOU and everyone else in this country hostage to make as much profit as possible - money, money, money - it is all they care about. If the wholesale price comes down, then bully for them because they get to make even more profit and do not pass this on to the consumer.

 

Ok, the policy isn't the best thought through one, but something does need to be done about energy companies!

 

Energy prices are too high but this idea of Ed's is not a good one

 

I would

 

1) Make it illegal for an energy company to cut off a person over 65 or with a child under 2 in the winter months, that won't keep prices down but it will stop them bullying the most vulnerable to cold weather

 

2) Force energy companies to reinvest profits in the energy networks and infrastructure not into shareholders and directors pockets, any company that doesn't will be fined the equivalent of 90% of their profit

 

3) Bring in Cameron's idea of forcing energy companies to publish all tariffs including the lowest one and the price of their competitors on their websites

Hopefully post office and the rail network

 

Privatisation of the post office is bloody ridiculous, stamps are insanely high now and will shoot up even more after privatisation, in 2015 I suspect a first class stamp will cost 90p or even £1

 

Rail network should be renationalised too, my season ticket is already outrageous and start of the year went up waaaay beyond the rate of inflation

Yeah the prices really are terrible, but the cycle just relates back to the government, doesn't it? Government take things away to try and inject more money into the economy > Companies inflate prices to try and cope in an economic crisis > Government attempt to make the public believe they are 'on their side' by proposing to freeze price inflations... It's just basically a way of saying in their own way that they can't really accept the fact that they are responsible for the reason that companies need to take such action, but want to take control of them a way that benefits the government and to make them look like society's saviours; it makes companies who are trying to SURVIVE look bad in the process.

...you all do realise that there is an energy regulator which has the power to enforce prices? So a government would be able to freeze prices if it wanted to.

Hopefully post office and the rail network

 

Privatisation of the post office is bloody ridiculous, stamps are insanely high now and will shoot up even more after privatisation, in 2015 I suspect a first class stamp will cost 90p or even £1

 

Rail network should be renationalised too, my season ticket is already outrageous and start of the year went up waaaay beyond the rate of inflation

We've got to stop agreeing Craig, it's getting creepy now.

 

The Privatisation of the Royal Mail is a bloody joke (The Post Office is remaining Nationalised, it's just the Royal Mail that's up for grabs after the two of them were divorced a while back) and very few parts of the rail network actually are fit for purpose. The East Coast mainline is a complete joke with the Government now running that service after not one but TWO companies came into financial difficulties while running the line due to overbidding for the franchise that saw GNER's parent firm go bankrupt and National Express default.

 

Franchising is abysmal value for money because you end up with companies overbidding, stretching themselves too thin and cutting staff, services, customer service and raising prices to cover themselves.

While it's not unusual for a PM to promise this, that and the next thing (David Cameron's gotten away with it for a long time - promising things he couldn't even dream of giving us, or couldn't shift his arse and put the effort in to achieve) it does seem that Ed's just whoring himself out to try and win votes. Don't think it's working at all. We were actually discussing it in our Journalism class today and he's more or less putting the nails in his own coffin here in regards to this energy situation; if he wants to try and force companies to freeze prices for a certain amount of time, what other businesses is he going to attempt to gain control of? He's trying to walk before he can even crawl.

The thing is that there's a clear public utility in freezing energy costs - energy's a natural monopoly (unlike something like, say, bread, or chocolate, which anybody could make or buy the resources to produce), so it doesn't benefit from the natural competition element that capitalism provides. Hence, prices can be rigged for profit, which isn't really the case for many other products, and additionally energy is something that everyone needs, unlike other products such as cars or whatever - hence there's a difference between enforcing energy prices and just seizing any company.

 

Plus the argument that energy shouldn't have been privatised in the first place, but we won't get into that.

Plus the argument that energy shouldn't have been privatised in the first place, but we won't get into that.

 

Well yes, that and British Rail but best not to open that gigantic vat of worms!

Yeah the prices really are terrible, but the cycle just relates back to the government, doesn't it? Government take things away to try and inject more money into the economy > Companies inflate prices to try and cope in an economic crisis > Government attempt to make the public believe they are 'on their side' by proposing to freeze price inflations... It's just basically a way of saying in their own way that they can't really accept the fact that they are responsible for the reason that companies need to take such action, but want to take control of them a way that benefits the government and to make them look like society's saviours; it makes companies who are trying to SURVIVE look bad in the process.

 

You really have no knowledge of Economics at all do you because you couldn't be more wrong. Even George Osbourne is more right than you and that man has about as much economics knowledge as a dish cloth.

 

To inject more money into the Economy a government doesn't take anything away. Inject sort of implies that they put something in like for example: Quantitive Easing.

 

A company that inflates prices in a recession is a company that will be out of business by the end of the week. Prices tend to fall in a recession as disposable income is down and businesses try to catch as much of that as they can by being as cheap as they can. It's why they close under performing stores, lay-off staff and cost save where ever they can to afford lower prices. Annoyingly laying people off leads to higher unemployment and even less disposable income and it all turns into a vicious circle.

 

You can't freeze inflation, it's actually quite bad for an economy as it more often than not leads to a deflation. Deflation (Negative inflation) is widely viewed by economists as being utterly horrific. While the real value of your money increases, the value of your debt rises with it. Inflation reduces the value of the money you hold today in the future, but it also does the same for debt which is a good thing.

...you all do realise that there is an energy regulator which has the power to enforce prices? So a government would be able to freeze prices if it wanted to.

THIS!

 

It would be rather simple for a flat rate of Xp per unit to be enforced.

The thing is that there's a clear public utility in freezing energy costs - energy's a natural monopoly (unlike something like, say, bread, or chocolate, which anybody could make or buy the resources to produce), so it doesn't benefit from the natural competition element that capitalism provides. Hence, prices can be rigged for profit, which isn't really the case for many other products, and additionally energy is something that everyone needs, unlike other products such as cars or whatever - hence there's a difference between enforcing energy prices and just seizing any company.

 

Plus the argument that energy shouldn't have been privatised in the first place, but we won't get into that.

 

 

Well yes, that and British Rail but best not to open that gigantic vat of worms!

 

 

Indeed, there is much benefit of having nationalised institutions in areas of public need. Healthcare, Power and Water being the most obvious three.

 

Just like there is a clear utility in privatisation of companies like British Airways.

Have any of the Tories in this thread predicting a Tory win :lol: checked the latest (or any for that matter) opinion polls?

 

I've never voted Tory, never will.

There are more than three parties in government in the UK.

 

I do actually agree with both of you though in that there will not be another majority government and we will be in a hung parliament situation. The Coalition won't have enough seats to stay on, thanks to the LibDems disappearing from the Tory hating north and Scotland, and the LibDems are seriously damaged goods politically. UKIP would be a non-starter for both sides but Labour do have the nationalists and eco-freaks left to play with seeing as none of them would go near the Tories. I think an informal coalition would be likely with Labour having SNP, Plaid Cymru and Green support on key pieces of legislation in return for a few more crumbs in the Devolution pot and some tree-hugging.

 

That's pretty much what I meant :P

 

I think, if for example Labour were to get about the same number of seats as the Conservatives got at the last election (~20 off an overall majority), they'd probably be able to survive as a minority government since Plaid Cymru and SNP MPs will not want to be blamed for letting the Conservatives into government.

Edited September 25, 201311 yr by Danny

That's pretty much what I meant :P

 

I think, if for example Labour were to get about the same number of seats as the Conservatives got at the last election (~20 off an overall majority), they'd probably be able to survive as a minority government since Plaid Cymru and SNP MPs will not want to be blamed for letting the Conservatives into government.

I know, I just wanted a chance to call the greens eco-freaks and tree-huggers! :heehee:

 

I agree entirely. I can't speak for Wales but there will be a lot of people voting SNP/Labour in Scotland to keep the Tories out. That is literally how Mighty Ming keeps his seat! The land owners and St Andrews vote Conservative, but the rest of us vote LibDem to keep the f***ers out as the Left outnumbers the Right provided it sticks to the one party. At Holyrood this swung dramatically in favour of the SNP with a 16.8% swing. You don't mess with former coal miners. :lol: That support would diminish if they were to let the Tories in, just like the LibDems did.