General Election - December 12th, 2019

[Chris in London]

No, I was conveying the message that I might be coming across as slightly immodest. There is a clear difference. It’s important you read things thoroughly, Chris; it might help you one day.

Well, all I can say is that if your judgment was that you were coming across as slightly immodest, I fear for anyone who might ever need to rely on the judgments you make.

 

[Chippy_boy]

It challenges their whole political rationale.
Privatisation has fcuked up the supply of broadband.
Poor coverage in lots of areas, fcuk all in others (mainly rural).
Meanwhile the profits roll in.
Kerching!

Maybe if you bought 1 BT share (heaven for fucking bid) then instead of your constant harping, whinging, whining and moaning you might see a crumb of benefit. Who the hell do you think BT's profits go to, Robert Maxwell in the sky? To pension funds, to UK citizens.

And anyway, far from profiteering, "
Profits dip at BT while troubled biz steams ahead with restructuring
All divisions flat or down as firm tries to up its fibre plans" - October 2019.

You lot just cannot stand the idea of a company making a bloody profit can you. Well that nauseating attitude will keep you out of office, again.

 

[BobKowalski]

not really it’s just the dumbest idea ever. The taxpayer paying for broadband to all amazon depots throughout the country.

It isn’t a dumb idea. All households and businesses should be connected. Internet connectivity should be treated as a utility and a public utility at that. It is increasingly important infastructure for any country. Taxes pay for roads so why not the ‘information highway’?

 

[blueinsa]

Seems this broadband initiative has raised the panic levels to 11 on here :)

Not another day of virtue signalling from you I hope Bob where you tell us all that others should be paying for the many whilst in the background you're on the phone to your accountant?

 

[Claytop]

Do you think my engineer will have turned up by then?

50/50

 

[TheRemainsOfTheDave]

Think anyone would look awkward singing wheels on the bus! What's he meant to do put an xfactor performance on.....

I've just been googling the background to the song because this was never sung at my primary school classes in the seventies and was wondering if he just hadn't heard it before. We sang Round and Round the Mulberry Bush (which is a better song and more suitable for younger children as it is instructional too) so probably dropped this one as it is very similar. I wonder if these words being of American source means it has come via TV in more recent years.

However the most interesting fact is Wikipedia suggests the length of the song is 3 mins to 1 hour!

 

[Chippy_boy]

50/50

It will be scheduled for 1 of his 3 days off.

 

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

I actually wouldn't have much of a problem with broadband being nationalised

I think it would be better though if everyone paid a reasonable amount to just make sure the government recoups the cost etc. You'd have an asset in your back pocket without spend a whole lot

 

[blueinsa]

I actually wouldn't have much of a problem with broadband being nationalised

I think it would be better though if everyone paid a reasonable amount to just make sure the government recoups the cost etc. You'd have an asset in your back pocket without spend a whole lot

Its clear to most that it will never be free and cant be free.

Literally over £80 Billion of cost to nationalise and pay for wages over a 10 year period was pointed out this morning and that's before you factor in the death of many other independent providers and their jobs and all McDonnell could do was say that Google and co will be paying for it.

Come on John, its laughable.

 

[BobKowalski]

Not another day of virtue signalling from you I hope Bob where you tell us all that others should be paying for the many whilst in the background you're on the phone to your accountant?

The idea of the internet as a necessary, and public, infrastructure, the necessity of Europe waking up to the concept of ‘tech sovereignty’, the growing interest in a four day week are all important discussions that we should be having in an Election campaign and I’m pleased that we are.

I think the negative and hostile reaction is because of who is making these proposals rather than the ideas themselves. It is the sound of Pavlovian dogs howling in protest.

 

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

Its clear to most that it will never be free and cant be free.

Literally over £80 Billion of cost to nationalise and pay for wages over a 10 year period was pointed out this morning and that's before you factor in the death of many other independent providers and their jobs and all McDonnell could do was say that Google and co will be paying for it.

Come on John, its laughable.

I've read £20bn, where have you got 80 from?

 

[blueinsa]

I've read £20bn, where have you got 80 from?

Did you miss the 10 year period including wages?

 

[blueinsa]

The idea of the internet as a necessary, and public, infrastructure, the necessity of Europe waking up to the concept of ‘tech sovereignty’, the growing interest in a four day week are all important discussions that we should be having in an Election campaign and I’m pleased that we are.

I think the negative and hostile reaction is because of who is making these proposals rather than the ideas themselves. It is the sound of Pavlovian dogs howling in protest.

Woof, woof Bob.

Anyway 3.7% off BT shares this morning alone but i suppose you have to trash it first to get it cheap yes?

 

[mcfc1632]

I did ask a lot earlier, but didn't get an answer.
Is this how your FPTP electoral system works? I genuinely don't know. I know I could google it but thought a brief post in here would be quicker.

What I am really wondering is when you vote for a candidate in an area is it basically one winner and if you didn't vote for him/her, then basically you're not represented?
Can't be that simple surely? Are there more than one seat on offer in each area?

Over here you can have 3/4/5 seat constituencies and with PR you can vote in order of preference for all or none of the candidates.
It means in tight constituencies all of your preferences count and transfers can have a big bearing on where the 4th/5th seat may go.
It is quite a fair way of ensuring representation for all the constituency.
It would also encourage voters out far more than the FPTP method above, if that is indeed how your system works.

Yep - the system is a nonsense and means that:

a) the majority of UK citizens know that there vote is irrelevant

and

b) that elections are decided by the results in a relatively small number of marginal seats

Throughout my voting lifetime my constituency has always been Eccles - which will always be Labour or in later Life Wokingham - which will always be Conservative. If I had never cast my vote in a GE - nothing would have been affected.

I think that is why the referendum attracted such a high turnout. People say that referenda don't work in the UK - I would challenge that - it speaks to the views of the majority that when each individual knew that their vote would 'actually' count there was such a large turnout

 

[aguerrrroooooooooooo]

Did you miss the 10 year period including wages?

Yeah I'm asking where have you got that figure from, who's provided you with 80bn.
Not saying you're lying I'm just interested where it came from

 

[lancs blue]

So Johnson says on the BBC that he is going to "reverse the Beeching cuts to the railways" for £500m. What's that, he's admitting that a previous Tory government's policy was a sack of shit?? I don't think he'll get too far with £500m either, plenty of the closed lines have been built over in the intervening 50-odd years.

 

[George Hannah]

The idea of the internet as a necessary, and public, infrastructure, the necessity of Europe waking up to the concept of ‘tech sovereignty’, the growing interest in a four day week are all important discussions that we should be having in an Election campaign and I’m pleased that we are.

I think the negative and hostile reaction is because of who is making these proposals rather than the ideas themselves. It is the sound of Pavlovian dogs howling in protest.

Those dogs also seem to induce selective deafness. Cries from the captains of industry about the pain of Brexit are amplified whereas those about the pain of nationalisation go unnoticed.

 

[Chippy_boy]

The idea of the internet as a necessary, and public, infrastructure, the necessity of Europe waking up to the concept of ‘tech sovereignty’, the growing interest in a four day week are all important discussions that we should be having in an Election campaign and I’m pleased that we are.

I think the negative and hostile reaction is because of who is making these proposals rather than the ideas themselves. It is the sound of Pavlovian dogs howling in protest.

I'm pleased you are as well because the gaping wide open hole in Labour's electability, the one called "Fiscal Irresponsibility" yawns ever wider every time they open their mouths.

 

[BobKowalski]

I actually wouldn't have much of a problem with broadband being nationalised

I think it would be better though if everyone paid a reasonable amount to just make sure the government recoups the cost etc. You'd have an asset in your back pocket without spend a whole lot

It will probably end up that Govt subsidises the user costs as well as applying a ‘tech tax’ rather than free for everyone. Connectivity is important and will only become more so in the future. The growth and usage since the launch of the iPhone and other smart phones in 2005 onwards has been astonishing.

 

[blueinsa]

Yeah I'm asking where have you got that figure from, who's provided you with 80bn.
Not saying you're lying I'm just interested where it came from

Sky news this morning.

BT have said its £40 Billion easily and that's now, not the future and as we see with all major projects the costs tumble out of control constantly.

£860 Million a year in wages needs to be covered.

This project will not be finished until 2030.

To suggest that Google and Facebook will be happy to pick up a bill like this is laughable and frankly not going too happen.

They will operate from outside of the UK and not a penny will come into our treasury.