General Election 2019 (UK)

[Archery1969]

There was a poll recently that suggested support >50% for united Ireland given brexit.... Same with Scotland.... Genie is out the bottle...

A united ireland in the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years ?

Do people think loyalist terrorist groups would allow that to happen. You would get a reverse of the troubles all over again. Bombs going off in Dublin would focus minds.

Ireland doesnt have the security / intelligience resources or manpower to cope with such potential events. Yes, they could ask the EU for help but that would put the rest of the UK in a very difficult position, would they allow EU / Irish security services / forces to go after loyalist terrorists in the old North of a united ireland. Not sure they would standby and allow that to happen.

Ofcourse a united ireland sounds lovely but dont forget out of a population of 1.8 million in the north around 48% are protestant and they would not look on it kindly. Even 1% of that 48% could potentially do allot of damage.

Don't disagree with any of that.



Didn't realise that the 1st bomb to go off in the troubles was a unionist one... and the unionists called for a rising up against the UK government (armed as it turned out) when they thought the Catholics were getting to much power, e.g. equal representation in Irish assembly - you couldn't make it up!

Excellent documentary series on bbc4 called "the troubles" that's worth a watch...

Back in 1982 i served in Northern Ireland as a British Soldier. I will fully admit that what i/we/government did back then was not good. But what the IRA did before/after was also not heaped in glory.

My sound strange but blowing horses up back then left a lasting affect which to this day many find above the norm.

Apart from death on the rock, in 1991 a team of 32 were tasked with crossing over the border and taking out 7 top IRA commanders who were held up at a farm house. With 6 minutes to go and within 80 meters of the propery the order was given to stand down. Apparently, to this day, no one knew why that order was given as it would have dealt a severe blow to the IRA and in the short/medium term prevented allot of deaths in NI and on the UK mainland.

Lives were lost on both sides. And 2 wrongs doesnt make it right or justify and politics going forward...

Personally, one day, i hope Ireland is United. But i think you might need to move 740,000 people back to the UK mainland....

[Euler]

Will be keeping a close eye on the markets this evening.

[Euler]

Goes inplay at 8pm this evening.

[jamesg46]

Goes inplay at 8pm this evening.

I checked trending on Twitter and this was the first 4 comments.. we need something extra, nobody gives a flying flip about this pair. Who has the big wooden spoon in the mixing bowl.
This is going to be lost to I'm a celebrity.

[dragontrades]

Welcome to North Korea
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ckuk-brand

[jamesg46]

After that 2 pints of mild performance I'm hoping for something a little more wild with the 2 wisky chasers at 10pm...

[firlandsfarm]

Welcome to North Korea
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ckuk-brand

I can't say I agree with the ethics of that move but the Grauniad says "The Conservatives have been accused of misleading the public after they rebranded their official Twitter account as “factcheckUK” during the televised leaders’ debate and used it to publish anti-Labour posts." OK, they are saying that others are saying it so their statement is probably correct. But did they check to see if those making the accusations of "misleading" had their own axe to grind and were supporters of other political parties effectively undercover and working in collusion? The Conservatives will only have mislead the public if any or their "factchecks" were themselves not accurate. This is more the Misleading Election than the Brexit Election many have labelled it! And the media is the biggest culprit of misleading information. Pot, Kettle, Black comes to mind.

[dragontrades]

https://twitter.com/JoeMurphyLondon/sta ... 7501223936

[Euler]

The interesting thing about the NHS debate is that funding for the NHS has been rising fairly consistently for some time, there are actually no cuts.

[superfrank]

The interesting thing about the NHS debate is that funding for the NHS has been rising fairly consistently for some time, there are actually no cuts.

True, but the UK population has increased by approx 8 million over the last 20 years (due to mass immigration and immigrants having larger families) - this means that the NHS requires large year-on-year increases in funding to simply stand still.

Immigration is the gigantic elephant in the room. Would we have a housing crisis if we hadn't had mass immigration? No, of course not, but nobody wants to talk about it in this PC age where it's deemed racist by many on the left to even discuss the subject.

[Euler]

I've always thought National debt is a big elephant. It's the fourth biggest budget expenditure but nobody seems to bring it up in debates.

[sa7med]

I've always thought National debt is a big elephant. It's the fourth biggest budget expenditure but nobody seems to bring it up in debates.

It's a huge issue and I think nobody brings it up because no one wants to touch it. It'll only get exacerbated over time, especially with baby boomers retiring, populations aging, and millennials too poor to pick up the tab. It's the reason I will be avoiding government retirement funds and bonds. See 'How to Own the World' by Andrew Craig.

[superfrank]

Labour Manifesto
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/upload ... o-2019.pdf

Gambling
A Labour government will curb gambling advertising in sports and introduce a new Gambling Act fit for the digital age, establishing gambling limits, a levy for problem gambling funding and mechanisms for consumer compensations.

[spreadbetting]

Labour Manifesto
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/upload ... o-2019.pdf

Gambling
A Labour government will curb gambling advertising in sports and introduce a new Gambling Act fit for the digital age, establishing gambling limits, a levy for problem gambling funding and mechanisms for consumer compensations.

Good idea about time more protection was given towards the punters.

[Euler]

They plan to limit the maximum you can stake, so that would shag the exchanges if not thought through. It feels like they don't particularly care about the impact of a number of polices, they just want your vote and that sounds good. A bit harder in reality, but very short on detail. So who knows?