Rayvin

This has to be starting to grate with those Tories who are a bit less self absorbed though - they're watching morons ruin the country. There has to be a growing number of them for whom lines in the sand are being crossed, surely

Something to cheer people up a bit - Darren Grimes has deleted every twitter post on his account (including the one calling King Charles a clown) and has apparently been sacked by GB News, whose HR team forgot to tell him. Thus, he found out himself through Twitter. I'm sure he's not gone, but he's been humiliated, and that's something.

How many replacements do the party of stability and economic competence get before the decent thing becomes to call a GE?

This narrative needs to be resisted by absolutely all of us, very vocally, permanently. We must never shut up about the absolute garbage that the Tories have created here. We must be relentless in holding truth up to people. Crazy as that sounds, that's what it'll take. Silence and they get away with it. Same as fucking austerity.

Russia are playing?

I am - was/hopefully still am going to move back to Newcastle. It's been a weird few years and I am really ready to go back home.

I was planning to buy my first house around the turn of the year - working 6 days a week at the moment to add that bit extra that I needed. The stamp duty component will do nothing for me, but the interest rate hike is going to make it all the more difficult. It's hard to stay motivated that there's a better life worth working for at times, frankly.

Ok, that's convincing actually. Terrifying, but convincing. Fair enough.

That's a fair angle I suppose - I would suggest though that it maybe depends a bit on how much they care about those fringe seats though, as long as the main bod of the party remains intact. That said, this could be a wipeout. I mean the idea that they're just desperately incompetent is.. I mean really? I know we say this all the time but honestly, really? The people running the country? Is our society that fucking mental?

Tbh I am pretty firmly of the opinion now that they're expecting to lose and so are pushing the purest form of Toryism on us so that Labour are bogged down for years trying to sort it all out and they can come sweeping back in 5 years hence blaming Labour for absolutely everything - Brexit, the economy, the lot. They've reached a point where they need to muddy the water on who is to blame. There cannot be any other plan at this stage. They're pretty much a domestic terrorist organisation at this point IMO - have been since Brexit but becoming increasingly bold. The other angle is that they're complete fucking morons - which is a tempting one too. I don't see how they can win on this basis, this is too much, surely. If PL is right about this we are beyond fucked.

They'll be claiming that the POWs should have refused and stayed in Russian custody since this is clearly Diplomacy Washing. Exile will be crafting his latest Twitter post as we speak.

Saudi Arabia to the rescue of British POWs... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/21/aiden-aslin-among-five-uk-nationals-released-by-russian-backed-forces

"Also we have logistical capabilities that haven't moved on from the cold war, rations from around that period too, and your commanding officers were all promoted to the levels they have been through nepotism and ass kissing rather than merit. We also have a mobile furnace to incinerate you with when you inevitably get killed."

I think Labour had the same view tbf, that they would be turkeys voting for Christmas. Blair had this belief that his repositioning of the party would kill the Tories forever I think - they didn't need PR. What has been more mystifying is how long it's taken the current iteration of Labour to recognise that they need it.

Doesn't have to mean coalition, could just be an agreement not to stand in each other's way in key seats. That would probably be enough? Labour become the largest party, LDs recover lost ground.

Yeah as has been said, we can't risk Labour going this alone. It has to be an electoral pact - we really, really need to kill the Tories off here.

I mean I think this too, honestly. I still hope I'm wrong.

I've not been on the Starmer bandwagon since he U-turned on the EU but have been told on here before (and this is fair) that he's biding his time on policies and vision until there's actually something to compete for. The public have short memories, it's possible that this is the play. I want more from him than that, many others on here seem to think the same, but we're not the ones he's trying to appeal to. We're the ones he's taking for granted. When he comes to power, the argument is that he'll stealth through a lot of things as well that he couldn't have campaigned on even if they're inherently sensible. I don't know if this is a realistic hope, but again, that's what the pro-Starmer side seem to think. And as said, if he brings in PR - for me, at this point, he could be a Tory and I'd vote for him. PR is that important now.

As you know I fully share this concern but if that bit about PR is true then IMO he can do whatever the fuck he likes. That whole term, if it does nothing else, will have been worth it for the ability to finally put the Tories to the sword once and for all.

I'm still tempted to say it's all theatre as far as Putin it concerned. Wasn't he wishing the country well following the Queen's death the other day? I think the 'desperate' bit sounds right, this must be the response to Ukraine's successes recently. I still don't think he's going to start throwing nukes around, it's a fight he can't win and with absolutely no up side for Russia. Their only benefit to him is as a threat, not as a reality.

I was thinking more for the next two years where we're stuck with her. Plenty of damage that can be done, lives that could be lost, in that period. She's trying to establish herself as a re-run of the Iron Lady which means she'll lean into being tough and cold. I do think this is scorched earth now btw, so I think we will see the purest form of Toryism in the next two years than at any point in the preceding 10. Also what was that about a trade deal with the US locking us out of the EU? That's a very real worry.

I still think she's a true believer. I'm going to stress that this doesn't mean she'll win, it just means she's a thatcherite through and through. The most dangerous type of psychopath we could have, tbh.

Thank fuck this is all over.

Was being a bit tongue in cheek there tbf anyway but yes, it is depressing to read stuff like this. Also yes, you're right that it seems like a bigger issue than it probably is.