UK General Erextion

Theresa Villiers is my local MP, didn't bother voting for anyone last time because it's a safe Tory seat and the other candidates were all useless.

I would have voted for the Lib Deb candidate, she came 5th, ran a very amateur campaign. This time round they're running the same candidate, so not filled with enthusiasm. But hopefully she can make a better fist of it this time around, there's a bit of buzz around the party now at least.

Also, Open Britain (the group set up by Gina Miller, who took the government to court and forced them to have a vote on Article 50) have targeted the seat on their hitlist of anti-european pricks that need to be taken out. They have a decent warchest and will be donating to any decent candidates who have a chance.

Labour haven't announced who's running there yet, will know on Tuesday. But I can't see myself voting for them, certainly not if it's a Momentum-backed candidate, would never vote Green either. If there was a chance of outing Villiers I might hold my nose and vote for the most likely candidate though.

Borris' sister is thinking of running for the Lib Dems apparently, that would be funny.

Tim Farron - Gay people are like fishes and frogs, homosexuality is a sin and can be cured

That's a load of bollocks, he's never said anything like that, and he voted for marriage equality, in fact he's got a pretty much flawless voting record on LGBT rights. He's one of those boringly nice christians.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tim-farron-lib-dem-election-brexit-gay-lgbt-sinners-liberal-democrats-fish-frogs-tweet-a7690771.html

Vote for whoever this website tells you.

https://stopthetori.es

this labour lady (not that I actually live there anymore)

She seems cool, from Labour but has a dictators haircut to fuck with yo mind.

  On 5/1/2017 at 7:12 AM, bendish said:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tim-farron-lib-dem-election-brexit-gay-lgbt-sinners-liberal-democrats-fish-frogs-tweet-a7690771.html

Did you actually read that article? Because nowhere in there does he call homosexuality a sin, and only the other day he explicitly said it wasn't: 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/19/tim-farron-finds-his-faith-central-to-debate-as-he-plots-to-win-back-seats

Also, he called the 'gay frog' thing “fake and malicious”.

His record on these issues stands for itself really.

He's hardly the most inspiring political leader around, but his policies and competence are far in advance of anything else on offer.

He only said it wasn't after being pressured into saying so by his minions.

Also don't forget the Lib Dem collapse of soul with the Tories, especially tuition fees.

He didn't write that tweet, clearly. Don't be stupid.

Why would he only say that after being pressured by minions, if it's also completely in line with his voting record? You're talking out your arse.

Even if he was lying about it now (and there's zero evidence he is), and secretly thinks gay people are all going to hell, all that matters at the end of the day is what his policies are and what his voting record is.

  On 5/1/2017 at 4:41 PM, caze said:

He didn't write that tweet, clearly. Don't be stupid.

 

Why would he only say that after being pressured by minions, if it's also completely in line with his voting record? You're talking out your arse.

 

Even if he was lying about it now (and there's zero evidence he is), and secretly thinks gay people are all going to hell, all that matters at the end of the day is what his policies are and what his voting record is.

The tweet is from his account  It is all we have. It's evidence and clear as day.

Here are the other infamous interviews.

https://www.channel4.com/news/tim-farron-asked-three-times-if-gay-sex-is-a-sin

https://www.channel4.com/news/interview-liberal-democrat-leader-tim-farron

  On 5/1/2017 at 4:49 PM, bendish said:

 

  On 5/1/2017 at 4:41 PM, caze said:

He didn't write that tweet, clearly. Don't be stupid.

 

Why would he only say that after being pressured by minions, if it's also completely in line with his voting record? You're talking out your arse.

 

Even if he was lying about it now (and there's zero evidence he is), and secretly thinks gay people are all going to hell, all that matters at the end of the day is what his policies are and what his voting record is.

 

The tweet is from his account  It is all we have. It's evidence and clear as day.

 

Here are the other infamous interviews.

 

https://www.channel4.com/news/tim-farron-asked-three-times-if-gay-sex-is-a-sin

 

https://www.channel4.com/news/interview-liberal-democrat-leader-tim-farron

 

He was "hacked", he immediately deleted the tweet and called it 'fake and malicious'. It's ludicrous to suggest he's a closet Alex Jonesesque conspiracy nut. I've seen the interviews, he doesn't say homosexuality is a sin in either of them.

Also the tuition fees thing is an irrelevance. If anything they should probably be increased to deter people from going to college needlessly, far too many people go to college for stupid degrees they don't need. The state shouldn't be funding people enjoying their 20s by drinking a shit ton and doing lots of drugs and not going to any lectures. I'd be in favour of making it free again if the college rates were similar to somewhere like Germany, where the majority of people do apprenticeships or other vocational training instead, and the people who do go to university actually go there for the right reasons.

oh, and Farron voted against the tuition fee rise.

  On 5/1/2017 at 5:13 PM, caze said:

 

  On 5/1/2017 at 4:49 PM, bendish said:

 

  On 5/1/2017 at 4:41 PM, caze said:

He didn't write that tweet, clearly. Don't be stupid.

 

Why would he only say that after being pressured by minions, if it's also completely in line with his voting record? You're talking out your arse.

 

Even if he was lying about it now (and there's zero evidence he is), and secretly thinks gay people are all going to hell, all that matters at the end of the day is what his policies are and what his voting record is.

The tweet is from his account It is all we have. It's evidence and clear as day.

 

Here are the other infamous interviews.

 

https://www.channel4.com/news/tim-farron-asked-three-times-if-gay-sex-is-a-sin

 

https://www.channel4.com/news/interview-liberal-democrat-leader-tim-farron

He was "hacked", he immediately deleted the tweet and called it 'fake and malicious'. It's ludicrous to suggest he's a closet Alex Jonesesque conspiracy nut. I've seen the interviews, he doesn't say homosexuality is a sin in either of them.

 

Also the tuition fees thing is an irrelevance. If anything they should probably be increased to deter people from going to college needlessly, far too many people go to college for stupid degrees they don't need. The state shouldn't be funding people enjoying their 20s by drinking a shit ton and doing lots of drugs and not going to any lectures. I'd be in favour of making it free again if the college rates were similar to somewhere like Germany, where the majority of people do apprenticeships or other vocational training instead, and the people who do go to university actually go there for the right reasons.

 

oh, and Farron voted against the tuition fee rise.

Well, his replies that "to understand Christianity is to understand that we are all sinners" and "every single person is a sinner" are far, FAR worse, really.

College only suits a certain % of people.

Apprenticeships suit another % of people.

Dole / nothing for others.

We are all different - stop signing people up to college / uni that cannot afford the fees (or will never be able to pay it back), cannot complete the course or actually has no interest in forming a career out of it.

(Pet hate)

Here are the party leaders on women's issues:

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/politics/tim-farron-theresa-may-jeremy-corbyn-voted-womens-issues/amp/

Clegg was the golden balled middle class vision of utopia for lots of folks in the debates leading up to the '10 election, but where is he & his party now?

People remembered the tuition fee fiasco, but instead of focusing on the Tories they clearly saw the Lib-Dems as more of a sell-out, hence the electoral prolapse in the last election based on siding with the Tory hordes

its true that the education sector grew beyond its actual purpose under Labour, degrees in bollix like Media Studies at "x.y & z" barely polytechnics, was bad politics because it completely devalued the worth (and life experience) of studying for a degree & because in the long-term it was completely unsustainable financially, unless you think a massive chunk of student loans for a degree in American Studies is gonna serve you in life beyond a middle management position in HR

Europe as a whole is on the slide & with a Tory govt, with a joke for an opposition, with Brexit bubbling & boiling underneath, our democratic system remains behind the curve/demands of the reality @ hand

Sill gonna vote Plaid cos no-one outside of Westminster ever gave a fk about us, not that changes shit anyway with Labour @ the helm of the Nat Assembly

  On 5/1/2017 at 3:29 PM, Tricone RC said:

too true,

my favourite part of this is Portugal

  On 5/1/2017 at 5:23 PM, tec said:

Your thoughts on tuition fees are quite unpleasant.

No they're not. In fact, the US/UK policies on universities have just led to a ballooning of the cost of running them, which is very dangerous in the long run, the Germans know what they're doing on this one (they have no tuition fees, but they can afford not to, and they have a much more highly educated workforce as a result of their much more diversified third level landscape). Further subsidising them will just lead to the problem getting worse. There's also very little evidence that going to university is actually important for economic development, having a good publicly funded primary school system is far more important, both in terms of producing generally intelligent citizens and increasing equality and social mobility (I'm all for spending on education, just shift it to primary level where it'll actually do some good). University is important for people who want to end up as academics, for people who need to study esoteric things like philosophy or theoretical physics or anthropology or whatever (and there needs to be state funding for people who can't afford to do this, as long as they have the aptitude and genuine desire to do so). But if you're just going to go do a politics and history course (or whatever) and mostly go on the piss for three years and end up working in some random company afterwards what was the fucking point of the degree?

  On 5/1/2017 at 5:27 PM, IOS said:

Well, his replies that "to understand Christianity is to understand that we are all sinners" and "every single person is a sinner" are far, FAR worse, really.

His acceptance of mainstream christian beliefs are FAR worse? Really? How?

What difference does it make if he believes in sin? It has literally zero bearing on their policies at all as far as I can tell.

I couldn't care less what he thinks about sin, because sin doesn't exist.

To him it does. That has a significant bearing on his policies and his character.

  On 5/1/2017 at 5:52 PM, bendish said:

To him it does. That has a significant bearing on his policies and his character.

Well it obviously doesn't, seeing as he's been nothing but supportive of gay rights legislation.

He's also in favour of the disestablishment of the Church of England by the way, and against the idea of faith schools, he's a committed secularist.

Yep the Farron thing seems like a bit of a smear - I couldn't care less about his personal beliefs as long as he keeps them out of politics, and he most definitely does that.

  On 5/1/2017 at 5:48 PM, caze said:

No they're not. In fact, the US/UK policies on universities have just led to a ballooning of the cost of running them, which is very dangerous in the long run, the Germans know what they're doing on this one (they have no tuition fees, but they can afford not to, and they have a much more highly educated workforce as a result of their much more diversified third level landscape). Further subsidising them will just lead to the problem getting worse. There's also very little evidence that going to university is actually important for economic development, having a good publicly funded primary school system is far more important, both in terms of producing generally intelligent citizens and increasing equality and social mobility (I'm all for spending on education, just shift it to primary level where it'll actually do some good). University is important for people who want to end up as academics, for people who need to study esoteric things like philosophy or theoretical physics or anthropology or whatever (and there needs to be state funding for people who can't afford to do this, as long as they have the aptitude and genuine desire to do so). But if you're just going to go do a politics and history course (or whatever) and mostly go on the piss for three years and end up working in some random company afterwards what was the fucking point of the degree?

Fully agree, part of me has always wondered if NuLab's enthusiasm for mass university enrolment was just an effort to fiddle employment stats. I knew tonnes of people who really shouldn't have gone to uni - but didn't really go there out of any conscious choice either. In secondary school in the early 2000s we were effectively brainwashed; I remember countless assemblies and other talks that essentially went: You HAVE to go to uni to amount to anything in life. Alternatives were just never presented to us as options. So shitloads of kids went off to take bullshit sociology courses, genuinely thinking that it'd be a ticket to a comfortable middle class life (because that's what they were told), but actually just impoverishing themselves and wasting three years they could have put to much better use training for the trades. Knowing some of those people quite well, I can honestly say they'd have been much happier if they'd instead taken (or been able to take) a carpentry apprenticeship or suchlike

The whole trend of polytechnics turning into second-rate unis didn't help either, if those places still existed as a platform for high trades training (and presented as an option in school) then millennials would be in a far better place today in terms of employment. I wonder what actually caused that trend?

Here in Ontario the situation is similar-ish overall, but the skilled trades places definitely still exist, and most towns have a half-decent college where you can train for technician type jobs (and actually get one when you leave!). What happened to the UK equivalents?

i do not like or trust tim farron. i'm normally a lib dem voter, but am a bit unsure on this one... i can't vote labour in their current state, i am not one of these people who hates the tories simply because they're tories but also don't agree with many of their policies, and i don't fancy lib dem that much due to my farron dislike. i'm in a very safe tory constituency anyway though and don't see them losing it...maybe i'll just not bother at all. stay in and watch a movie instead.