Decision '17

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WillPS
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Neil DG wrote: Wed 19 Apr, 2017 20.07
bilky asko wrote: Wed 19 Apr, 2017 08.00 Tim Farron has got off to a great start by exposing himself as pretty illiberal as well as anti-democratic: he won't give a straight answer as to whether homosexuality is a sin, at the fourth time of asking.

Perhaps this Lib Dem comeback won't be too impressive...
The fact is that his voting record shows a good support for equal rights, including for the LGBT+ community.

There is a huge difference between a person's own religious beliefs and their liberal actions in this case.
Yeah agreed, I think the liberal electorate will accept that (as they accepted Sadiq Khan in a not dissimilar situation).
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bilky asko
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Neil DG wrote: Wed 19 Apr, 2017 20.07
bilky asko wrote: Wed 19 Apr, 2017 08.00 Tim Farron has got off to a great start by exposing himself as pretty illiberal as well as anti-democratic: he won't give a straight answer as to whether homosexuality is a sin, at the fourth time of asking.

Perhaps this Lib Dem comeback won't be too impressive...
The fact is that his voting record shows a good support for equal rights, including for the LGBT+ community.

There is a huge difference between a person's own religious beliefs and their liberal actions in this case.
The fact he took so many attempts to answer the question will be what overshadows this for many.
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all new Phil
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The Lib Dems could potentially do well in this election. Still feels like they can't be arsed though. As someone who feels fairly well aligned with what the party stands for, I feel no excitement about them and have no real reason to want to vote for them.

I know there probably aren't too many who'll agree with me but I think it's a real shame that Nick Clegg isn't still their leader. He never got over the tuition fees thing, but I think they were a real force for good when they were in coalition and did a good job of stopping the Conservatives going full-on mental.
Critique
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Despite the tuition fees balls-up I would agree that Nick Clegg has led the party better than Tim Farron has thus far. Irrespective of this, at the moment I'm leaning towards voting for the Lib Dems. I know we do constituency elections, but I cannot bear the thought of Jeremy Corbyn making a speech the day after the election and coming out with something about the 'mandate to lead he clearly has from the millions of Labour supporters who backed his policies', based on votes he would pick up from the likes of me (people who vote Labour but detest Corbyn).

At the same time, a really strong Conservative government is not something I particularly want to see. I really like Nicola Sturgeon so wish I lived in Scotland! Speaking of which, I saw some tweets earlier which suggested again that Labour is ruling out any sort of pact with the SNP, which I think shows a fundamental problem in our political system, in that parties are not used to having to compromise to form a government. In 2010 it may have happened but wasn't really expected, and since then whenever anyone mentions a coalition the main parties seem to run scared!
Square Eyes
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Critique wrote: Thu 20 Apr, 2017 00.21
At the same time, a really strong Conservative government is not something I particularly want to see. I really like Nicola Sturgeon so wish I lived in Scotland! Speaking of which, I saw some tweets earlier which suggested again that Labour is ruling out any sort of pact with the SNP, which I think shows a fundamental problem in our political system, in that parties are not used to having to compromise to form a government. In 2010 it may have happened but wasn't really expected, and since then whenever anyone mentions a coalition the main parties seem to run scared!
It would be suicide for Labour to rule it in at this stage. They know that an SNP coalition would not be popular in England. And Labour have to win in England. The Tories played the threat of that very successfully last time around.
bilky asko
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One line from Angus Robertson piqued my interest recently, when he jovially rejected the idea of putting SNP candidates up outside Scotland, that a few people had apparently suggested to him online.

If they did, and they got some MPs south of the border, it would significantly weaken their argument for Scottish under-representation and independence.

Clearly it's not because they think they have no chance, because that would play to their assertion of the English being anti-Scottish. They could never remain an ineffective opposition if they gained more MPs, and therefore they couldn't claim that Scotland's voice (read The SNP's voters' voice) wasn't being listened to.

They could easily create a pro-Northern Britain party, but they won't because of the ruthless pursuit of independence.
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WillPS
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Quite a nice illustration of how utterly hopeless this is for Labour:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/201 ... -coalition
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thegeek
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Well, three days since the election was called, and my MP is nowhere to be seen. The one over the border (who's a bloody good constituency MP, and a bit of a rising star in the party) was all over Twitter and Facebook to start banging the drum for her re-election. Mine doesn't even appear to have responded to a request for comment from the local paper.

This has, save for a year and a bit in the 60s, always been a Labour seat - but a Corbynite Brexiteer in a strong Remain area really ought not be so complacent to expect to be re-elected. I don't understand why he's not campaigning already.
gottago
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It'll be interesting to see if there will be any chance of Corbyn losing his own seat. He's had a big lead in the last few elections but then so did Nick Clegg up until 2015 with some polls thinking he'd get ousted. There's only going to be so many Momentum members in Islington North.
barcode
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What would happen if he did lose his seat but most of Labour party didnt?
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WillPS
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I think there's more chance of Jeremy Corbyn achieving a clean sweep than him losing his seat.
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