Britain - The Official Thread

  • Thread starter Ross
  • 12,496 comments
  • 502,441 views

How will you vote in the 2019 UK General Election?

  • The Brexit Party

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Change UK/The Independent Group

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Conservative Party

    Votes: 3 7.5%

  • Green Party

    Votes: 2 5.0%

  • Labour Party

    Votes: 11 27.5%

  • Liberal Democrats

    Votes: 8 20.0%

  • Other (Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland)

    Votes: 3 7.5%

  • Other Independents

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other Parties

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Spoiled Ballot

    Votes: 2 5.0%

  • Will Not/Cannot Vote

    Votes: 11 27.5%
  • Total voters
    40
  • Poll closed .
Touring Mars
Frankly, many of your recent comments are beneath you... this particular comment is also patently untrue. An elderly man was stabbed trying to help, and others backed off when the attacker pulled a homemade gun from his bag and then shot Cox before proceeding to stab her repeatedly. With the damage already done, what good would it do to have others risk their own lives in order to apprehend the guy, rather than leave the job to trained (and appropriately armed) professionals? As for the comment about her husband 'running away', seriously - what the hell? Get a grip, and quit trying to make nasty insinuations that are unnecessary and irrelevant.
Click to expand...
The answer to that question is obvious. To potentially prevent more people from being attacked/hurt/killed seeing as how no one had any idea where he was going or what his intent was.
 
Johnnypenso
The answer to that question is obvious. To potentially prevent more people from being attacked/hurt/killed seeing as how no one had any idea where he was going or what his intent was.
Click to expand...
The key word being 'potentially'. What actually happened was that his intended target was killed and the one person who tried to stop him was stabbed - then the attacker produced a gun. While nobody could have known that the attacker would not then go on a rampage, the reality was that he didn't attack anyone else, but if one of those bystanders had tried to intervene after the gun was pulled they probably would have been attacked and could easily have been killed. In any case, the wise thing to do would be to get out of there and to warn others.
 
Touring Mars
The key word being 'potentially'. What actually happened was that his intended target was killed and the one person who tried to stop him was stabbed - then the attacker produced a gun. While nobody could have known that the attacker would not then go on a rampage, the reality was that he didn't attack anyone else, but if one of those bystanders had tried to intervene after the gun was pulled they probably would have been attacked and could easily have been killed. In any case, the wise thing to do would be to get out of there and to warn others.
Click to expand...
I see. So long as the outcome is positive it means it's ok not to intervene. The wise thing to do is run away shouting and hope no one else gets hurt. Brilliant.
 
You know what, splitting hairs about what could or should have been done, or what could or should be done is going to solve 🤬 nothing.

What happened happened. And it is a heinous crime in which a sitting representative of the British parliament was murdered. The murderer was caught. He was, and is, on trial almost immediately.

A family is devastated and a nation is shocked. We all have our cynicism about politics and politicians but by all accounts, Jo Cox was one of the good ones. They are demonstrating this right now on BBC Parliament where the House as a whole is remembering her.

If there is nothing nice to be said, there is nothing to be said at all. Why be a Billy big bollocks about it and try and say what you would have done or what a 'normal' person should have done?
 
Touring Mars
Would you rather more people had died?
Click to expand...
Is that the only possible outcome?
Liquid
You know what, splitting hairs about what could or should have been done, or what could or should be done is going to solve 🤬 nothing.

What happened happened. And it is a heinous crime in which a sitting representative of the British parliament was murdered. The murderer was caught. He was, and is, on trial almost immediately.

A family is devastated and a nation is shocked. We all have our cynicism about politics and politicians but by all accounts, Jo Cox was one of the good ones. They are demonstrating this right now on BBC Parliament where the House as a whole is remembering her.

If there is nothing nice to be said, there is nothing to be said at all. Why be a Billy big bollocks about it and try and say what you would have done or what a 'normal' person should have done?
Click to expand...
Yes, let's all stop discussing things that you don't want to hear!!!
 
Any news to report?

I've heard that the suspect for a murder in Leeds has been put on trial in London, Parliament has been recalled, and the referendum is now too close to call. Any truth to any of this?

I've heard various and conflicting reports about the incident itself. One has it that the assault took place before the victim entered the library. Another has it that the victim had arrived in a car with two other persons. Is it known who they are?
 
Dotini
Any news to report?

I've heard that the suspect for a murder in Leeds has been put on trial in London, Parliament has been recalled, and the referendum is now too close to call. Any truth to any of this?

I've heard various and conflicting reports about the incident itself. One has it that the assault took place before the victim entered the library. Another has it that the victim had arrived in a car with two other persons. Is it known who they are?
Click to expand...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news
 
William Hill odds earlier on suggested about 60-65%, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest 80%. I've not spoken to anyone in the last few months that doesn't have a strong opinion. 9/10 people I know will vote, versus about 4/10 that vote in the Generals, and interestingly, the first time voters (i.e. those that recently became old enough to vote) actually feel compelled to vote too.
 
General election turnout 2015, by region

UK------- England---- Wales-----Scotland-----N. Ireland
66.1% -----65.8%----- 65.7%------- 71.1%-------- 58.1%

I honestly can't see it being as low as the last general election.

edit: Based on that, and the apathy towards the domestic political situation, I'm tempted to creep closer to 85%.
 
Of course will we see the obligatory crowds of people queuing up at a polling station at 9:57pm moaning that they want to vote... you have had 15 blooming hours if you felt that strongly about it! :rolleyes:

MatskiMonk
edit: Based on that, and the apathy towards the domestic political situation, I'm tempted to creep closer to 85%.
Click to expand...

Just read and interesting article about how turnout can go low because both sides get complacent or admit defeat too early. If you think your side is going to win comfortably you might not go... similarly if you think the other side clearly have it you might not go... if enough people think like this no one turns up! :lol:
 
Last edited:
I'm thinking around the 80% mark, but cautious on that figure. I think this has stirred a lot more people than any General Election has in recent history
 
The 7 years in the making Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War will be published today... will be interesting to see if it will offer any answers, give any insight or bring any closure to the families.

It's 2.6 million words long and has a 150 page summary. The 12 volume hardback copy costs over £700!
 
Last edited:
Early reports say it is "polite but damning" and it confirms what everybody suspected; that the war was started based on "flawed intelligence" and that Britain was under no immediate threat from Saddam Hussein. The threat posed by the non-existant WMDs was "presented with a certainty that was not justified".
 
It was obviously very critical of Tony Blair and of his cabinet, none of whom stood up to him to strongly advise against intervention.
 
Robin.
Yeah but I meant of the ones who continued to serve under him. Resigning isn't really standing up to him!
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what you mean about "standing up". If you suddenly find yourself to be a member of a war cabinet it's hard to wrestle your leader to the ground without hard evidence against the case for war.

Had they known at the time that the WMD report had been massaged there might have been more internal opposition but hindsight is 20/20. It sounds like you were saying those members of his cabinet who disagreed with him should have been openly disloyal and fought it out in the commons instead of resigning.
 
Last edited:
Robin.
It was obviously very critical of Tony Blair and of his cabinet, none of whom stood up to him to strongly advise against intervention.
Click to expand...
Why would they? The case for war was made based on the intelligence available. The fact that the intelligence was faulty wasn't known at the time. Are they to magically read something in it differently?
 
Liquid
But why was the intelligence flawed? Who supplied this flawed wrong intelligence which led the government into a war it shouldn't have?
Click to expand...
Hopefully this'll come out in the Chilcot report but has nothing to do with what @Robin was criticising the cabinet for at the time.
 

Latest Posts

Back