EU Elections

Chat about anything local that doesn't fit elsewhere!
cbe
Posts: 580
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:29 pm

Re: EU Elections

Postby cbe » Tue May 21, 2019 7:02 pm

It may well have to come to that and I nominate seahermit
as the leader of the Gilet Jaunes Hastings division

northants1066
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu May 15, 2014 5:26 pm

Re: EU Elections

Postby northants1066 » Tue May 21, 2019 7:15 pm

The only parties to have made any effort to get my vote have been Brexit and UKIP. Are the others complacent or just don't give a damn about me?

cbe
Posts: 580
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:29 pm

Re: EU Elections

Postby cbe » Tue May 21, 2019 8:13 pm

They know that their battle is lost and are saving time and money.

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seahermit
Posts: 1107
Joined: Sat Aug 26, 2017 10:53 pm

Re: EU Elections

Postby seahermit » Wed May 22, 2019 12:00 am

Oh God, think I'm getting a reputation! I actually got trapped once in a cafe near Trafalgar Square (along with other refugees) as a Poll Tax mob destroyed the street outside. Wasn't funny, very frightening and I didn't go along with the violence of it. BUT did it have results!! Changed the political climate overnight and Thatcher was out shortly afterwards. Real democracy in action, though not at all the ideal way ..

Brexit and UKIP have both posted their stuff in the door, also Labour, but the Tories and Lib Dems don't appear to exist. There used to be a lot of canvassing and door knocking - people used to TALK to each other and argue. It's all done remotely now, mass propaganda/fake stuff on FB etc.

northants1066
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu May 15, 2014 5:26 pm

Re: EU Elections

Postby northants1066 » Wed May 22, 2019 5:30 pm

As a single person household I always thought the Poll Tax was a great idea.

With regard to demonstrations; The recent Extinct Rebellion mob caused chaos in London but they have achieved their objective of bringing Climate Change to the fore, much more than that soppy little Scandi-bird. It is now the" in" thing with all politicians. Had the 2016 referendum never happened and we were now about to have "normal" Euro Elections I may well have voted Green.

Mrs Mays latest attempt to get her deal through Parliament seems even worse than anything she has previously attempted. The very thought of another referendum is enough to drive anybody crackers.

I see the Change UK woman, Heidi Seek, is suggesting that just one vote more for the combined Remainers than The Brexit/UKIP would be a positive result......but clearly 1.4 million does not count!!!

cbe
Posts: 580
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:29 pm

Re: EU Elections

Postby cbe » Wed May 22, 2019 7:40 pm

Yes - The Community Charge (to give it its uncorrupted title) was a good idea. It was exactly meant for people like you. Why on earth should one person living alone in a house pay the same rates as their next door neighbour, who may well have four wage earners under their roof ? But the propaganda machine got to work and it worked on you and seahermit since you both called it the poll tax.

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seahermit
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Re: EU Elections

Postby seahermit » Thu May 23, 2019 1:10 am

Yes, Poll Tax is an inaccurate term but it reflects part of the reality. It was levied on all who were registered on the Electoral Roll and therefore known to the legions of bureaucracy - I knew more than a few people who therefore omitted to register themselves as voters and in other ways attempted to "disappear" from official records! No idea whether they still ended up paying the charge but, in those FB-free days, it was somewhat easier to remain anonymous if that was what you desired.

If you thought the Poll Tax was a good idea, you were distinctly in a minority - opinion polls were coming up with figures of over 70% of the population against and the riots were the most serious political riots for 200 years. The reason, so far as I recall, was simple - the charge was completely indiscriminate, I as a single householder on a medium or low wage could be paying the same amount as my millionaire businessman neighbour. No allowance at all was made for individual circumstances or ability to pay - in addition, the lower 20% Poll Tax rate levied on the unemployed (benefit amounts then were already as abysmal and breadline-level as they are now) wonderfully united against the Tories every human being with the slightest leanings towards the left.

The Extinction Rebellion were a mob! Without any unified ethos, from widely disparate political directions. They did indeed bring Climate Change into the headlines, good, but it is a failure of the political system when people feel they have to employ violence in order to get listened to.

cbe
Posts: 580
Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:29 pm

Re: EU Elections

Postby cbe » Thu May 23, 2019 1:28 pm

First of all seahermit being 'in a minority' has never been something of which I am afraid. The example you quote is good but extremely unlikely whereas the example I gave to Northants regarding him? and his possible neighbours was much more likely to occur.
To close I would say that I have never been afflicted by any 'leanings to the left'.

Ed209
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 1:26 pm

Re: EU Elections

Postby Ed209 » Thu May 23, 2019 8:36 pm

I've just got back from voting at the royal victoria hotel.
I've never had to queue before to cast my vote and the conversation in the queue was very openly pro brexit party.
Several people commenting on how on earth Theresa May is clinging to power and how the referendum result has been ignored.
I've never heard anger at the government and mp's in general expressed by complete strangers to complete strangers of all ages.
I've never experienced such a atmosphere going to vote.
Normally people don't talk to each other and just get on with it.
We will find out tomorrow if this was an isolated incident, if it's not the brexit party will get a huge vote.
I think we will end up leaving with no deal after these elections.
I also think it's extremely likely their will be some form of direct action if parliament refuses to honour the referendum result after these elections.
Several women in the queue who were in discussion were saying we are heading towards a dictatorship if democratic elections can just be ignored.
Possibly a little extreme at the moment but it has set a dangerous path.

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Richard
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Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 3:36 pm

Re: EU Elections

Postby Richard » Thu May 23, 2019 8:53 pm

Interesting stuff!

Although they are of course entirely different issues, both the Poll Tax (Community Charge) and also the recent EU referendum were items, I believe, originally on the manifesto's of Tory governments - who presumably thought to address/resolve perceived issues among the Tory acolytes. Probably as a definite vote-winner, as surely they would not make a promise with consequences that they thought would turn out to be highly unpopular or dangerously divisive or both?

The Poll Tax of the Thatcher government was a long-promised solution to replace domestic rates, which were disliked, especially among Conservative voters. The domestic rates were seen by many as an unfair way of raising revenue for local councils, being levied on houses rather than people.
Like the EU referendum, ideas were not thought through carefully enough and events unraveled in ways which had never been imagined.

Many will, henceforth, never bother voting again since their democratic (EU referendum) votes have been thwarted, again seriously threatening the government of the day.
Thatcher fell on the Poll Tax issue and it looks as if T. May will suffer a similar fate on the EU referendum issue, which, although party-political, as before, was actually put to the whole population this time.

Poor judgement!


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