Jonathan Friend;296448 wrote:Jonathan Friend;296424 wrote:
Anyway, I reckon there's room at the next general election for third parties to sneak in between Uniparty Red and Uniparty Blue. They will both be losing votes for different reasons. A Labour landslide doesn't ring true somehow.
Looks like my prediction is sound in relation to the Kingswood and Wellongborough by-elections.
What looks like a massive swing to Labour requires some further consideration...
Turnout was 37-38% in both. Half what would be expected in a general election.
- In Kingswood, Labour got less votes than in the 2019 GE. The Conservative vote went down from 27,000 to 8,000.
- In Wellingborough, Labour got 100 more votes than in the GE. The Conservative vote went down from 32,000 to 7,000.
Something like 18,000 to 24,000 less people voted - most of those will have voted Tory in 2019 and won't be switching to Labour in significant numbers.
What this tells us is that Labour haven't really made any progress at all since 2019. And a very large proportion of people who previously voted Tory but didn't bother leaving the house for this by-election, would be trying to decide who to vote for at a general election.
This is where Reforn look interesting. They came third in both, the Lib Dems losing their deposits. It will only take half of the previous Tory voters to vote for them and they could win seats like these. So if you're conservative (want proper border control, law and order, an end to net zero, and kicking the woke crap) it's a case of: don't waste your vote on the Tories, and doing so will definitely let their identical twins in red in. Vote Reform.
have you considered what would happen with the right to register "None of the above". Turout was down, fewer people bothered when being asked to chose between tweddle dum and tweedle dee or a selection of people with mental health issues.
I don't want Starmer and I don't want Sunak
I don't want "multiculturalism" that consists of allowing the creation of an alternative society within our own
I am not interested in how other people want to "identify". If it doesn't harm anyone else, the can identify as a turnip however I dont expect to fund that identity - noone is funding my choice FFS
I don't want Little Englanders and the EDL
I am bored
-by policies that consist of criticising the EU....the UK left the EU
-by the continual berating of "remoaners" in lieu of any positive policies to make things better
-blaming BREXIT for an economic malaise that started in the 1870's
-by politicians who couldn't tell the truth if their lives depended on it
- a society where "service" means "what;s in it for me"
What really worries me are the attacks on free speech, the singularity of allowable thought and the wholesale rewriting of history and the refusal to accept the context of that history.
I had an interesting meeting with a school SLT team which consisted of four young black women who gave me a lecture on "inclusivity"
It seems that teaching my boys that a persons sexuality was a personal matter and they should treat everyone equally and view each according to how they behaved as a human being was "reactionary" and wasn't helping my boys to fully embrace inclusivity.
They were unable to see the irony in the idea that their new "inclusivity" was only valid if you looked and thought and spoke like them.
It's raining, my new SMEG gas cooker has an electrical fault and a "live" chassis and I can only get AO to talk to me by leaving a scathing review on Trust Pilot. I have had to uninstall my new kitchen to get to the cooker power socket and Mrs S is not looking pleased.