General Election - 4th July 2024

it was going so well for the tories

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd119p9een9t

It's as if they are unaware sleaze is not the default. It was the same in the lead up to 1997.

Why not contact her/him and ask if they plan to move to the constituency after the election? I do agree that candidates should live locally once elected, but it’s a massive commitment to make beforehand, especially if they have a partner and/or children.

A panellist on bbcaq raised the point about how little focus there had been on arts policy so far.

Even the most arts-averse politicians must be aware of the considerable role they play in the economy, in making especially urban environments desirable places to live and visit, in the soft power of cultural influence at home and abroad etc. In my own family, a generation and more ago we were engineers, blue collar workers - those jobs and factories have mostly gone and many of my relatives my age and younger work in the arts. I worked at a film / digital training centre years ago and wondered if we were giving the young people being taught unrealistic expectations, but now the tv and film industry in my home city is doing well.

Plenty of arts facilities survive without public handouts

People are willing to pay £200+ for Taylor Swift and the current monstrosity that is R&J

I bet if I asked them £200 to pay for a soft tissue injury we would not hear the end of their moaning

I don't think I have ever been so depressed at the state of UK politics.

We have a Conservative Party that is no longer fit for purpose. Whatever your views about their policies, the party has been the party of government for decades. They have lost the right to be considered.

We have a Labour Party that is refusing to stick by their founding principles and just relying on not being the Tories to win. That they will do with ease and end up with the largest majority in modern history. But that isn't through proposing a positive agenda or capturing the imagination of the public. For a party about to run the country there is no enthusiasm surrounding them. And no clear idea what they will really do with a super majority. They can't claim much of a meaningful mandate as they have a very thick manifesto with little detail.

Then we have the LDs who are relying on stunts to get attention. They still have no real identity other than being pro Europe. And that isn't going to sweep them to power.

Reform is not a serious party. It is a vanity project that is attracting bigots. Farage is deeply unpleasant and has objectionable friends.

The Greens leadership partnership is not working for them. They should be making bigger strides but they aren't. They are not able to convince as a credible alternative left wing option. They have lots of internal problems in terms of antisemitism and gender politics.

Locally my only other option is the SDP. And given they are running a pact with Reform, that is a non starter.

I can't vote for any of them. Oh to have a None of the Above option... If that won a given seat then all candidates would be dismissed and a new election called with fresh candidates.

That would focus a few minds...

(And I know this isn't ever going to happen)

All I can do is spoil my paper. Feels futile but I don't support enough of what is being put forward to vote for any of them.

I've had 3 leaflets from Reform UK through the door, two hand delivered and one through Royal Mail - first two ripped and binned, and I've promised myself I'll donate £10 to RNLI for every Reform UK leaflet I get. The third leaflet I'm holding on to, it's a doozy! -

The back of the leaflet shows "REFORM UK's 6-POINT PLAN TO STOP THE BOATS.
1. Declare a National Security Threat
2. Leave the European Convention on Human Rights
3. Confirm that Zero Illegals will be resettled in the UK
4. Create a new Dept. of Immigration staffed by believers
5. Pick up and take them back to France
6. Set up offshore processing centres

Leaflet is Richard Tice. He's in my Village on Monday afternoon, with - Anne Widdecombe! I'll post the rest of that leaflet tomorrow if I get a chance.

A leaflet from Nigel Farage through the post today, separate envelope was a thanks from the RNLI for the donation made earlier this week. Another £10 tomorrow going to them.

*Staffed by believers. I mean, holy crap! How is this not making news? My local facebook is full of Reform UK supporters.

Supermajority has a specific meaning which does not apply in the UK in this election. Depressing to see people just blindly repeat Tory nonsense.

Yeah Labour aren't super inspiring but after the last 14 years getting rid of the Tories is all the inspiration I need to vote.

I'll probably still have a Tory MP as I'm in a rare seat where there's no clear rival to the sitting MP as the Lib Dems and Labour were pretty much neck and neck in second last time.

Photobombed in my Tory MP's leaflet today!

Where do I sue... I don't model unless I'm paid upfront, in cash, I learned that the hard way....

Okay thanks for that and this is very interesting as everything around you is going yellow and it is very possible Runnymede and Weybridge will flip.

Looking on election map, there is only 1.4% between Liberals and Tories, which is a difference of 544 votes electionmaps.uk/nowcast, A Survation poll shows a Tory majority of 2.4% www.survation.com/mrp-update-first-mrp-since-farages-return/. So with the betting scandal, traditional Tory voters will either go Liberal/Reform/stay at home throwing. I expect this to tighten and in a fortnight year seat could be yellow.

Yeah I'm a bit skeptical about the ones saying Lib Dem are the main challengers. Labour have been second in every election except one since the seat was created and they are the ones who have been making the bigger gains at council level. It's quite a split constituency so I think it's hard to predict.