UK General Election 8th June: Shake it all about?

[Cain]

Probably.  Everything is the EU's fault.  The EU, health and safety laws, political correctness or Muslims. 

[The Wizard Joseph]

So... Obama. I wonder how popular the NotMyPresident meme is in the UK despite it being ridiculously obvious.

[Cain]

The thing is in the UK, there's quite a big divide between the average person on the street, and political/pundit culture.  Most people in the UK, even the slightly racist ones, thought Obama was pretty decent, more or less.  Better than Bush, certainly, as Obama didnt lie us into any wars. 

But the pundit class...well, if you want to make it big, you can always try your luck in America.  And for conservative writers who want to stand out from the pack, that means appealing to the crazy right.  Curiously enough, the UKIP fringes share a lot of crazy beliefs with the crazy American right...

[Junkenstein]

That's insane, I was expecting a hard-line stance, but that's the worst-case scenarios.
Tax on all import/export, cheap holiday travel, booze, food, shit... Energy, the UK is entering the worst energy deficit its had, it's going to be buying energy daily until the new nuclear plant is up and running which they are saying five years, realistically could be another ten.

My company builds our equipment here for distribution in the UK, I'm hoping not but am pessimistic that this won't mean we will have to pay standard tariff as if moving outside the Eurozone.

May I suggest you're underestimating the energy issue? Coal plants nationwide are reaching end of life and going bang. Other options are proving costly and still won't close the gap much. And they're also the best part of a decade away from operational, assuming all permissions fly through with no questions or opposition.

There's been a few bangs over the last couple of years due to old gear and there will be more before its even considered a real problem. And that's not even starting to look at who may own future facilities and the subsequent problems there.

[The Wizard Joseph]

The thing is in the UK, there's quite a big divide between the average person on the street, and political/pundit culture.  Most people in the UK, even the slightly racist ones, thought Obama was pretty decent, more or less.  Better than Bush, certainly, as Obama didnt lie us into any wars. 

But the pundit class...well, if you want to make it big, you can always try your luck in America.  And for conservative writers who want to stand out from the pack, that means appealing to the crazy right.  Curiously enough, the UKIP fringes share a lot of crazy beliefs with the crazy American right...

I'm convinced that the "right" is globalizing faster and more coherently than the "globalists" on the left that they rail against as a common enemy precisely because of the phantom enemy that they're indoctrinated to fear. This is partly intentional, but not under direct control. I think I once heard the term "ladder conspiracy" from a book by RAW on the subject. It's like how a telephone prank can put a business out by prank calling. Nobody involved in the prank calls really knows the others or tries to coordinate, but the same basic operating info and intent causes a coalescing of action that SEEMS coordinated and is indeed only in need of a little encouragement here and there by a small number of folks dropping the info in the right ears to perpetuate.

But in this case add BILLIONS of simoleons to that and folks worried that if they don't get on board there will literally be a takeover by reptilian demons from planet X bent on global enslavement.

That this "conspiracy" is possibly being most encouraged by people who think that they serve reptilian demons from planet X bent on global enslavement is merely one more freakish irony in a world of freakish ironies.

[Junkenstein]

...And that's another election on the way.

The UK was upset at not being allowed to make stupid decisions on an annual basis, apparently.

Result is a foregone conclusion, once again the UK leads the way in proving that your vote is less useless due FPTP.

The ultimate irony is May positioning herself as the brexit champion when around this time last year the silly bint was campaigning against exactly that.

I was joking about a move to Canada a while ago, that's not really a joke anymore. At this rate with this level of continual idiocy it's more about when.

[MMIX]

I'm really disappointed. My partner just shouted to me that Theresa May is going to the Poles, and I was all excited. But it is just the damnable POLLS again 

[P3nT4gR4m]

...And that's another election on the way.

The UK was upset at not being allowed to make stupid decisions on an annual basis, apparently.

Result is a foregone conclusion, once again the UK leads the way in proving that your vote is less useless due FPTP.

The ultimate irony is May positioning herself as the brexit champion when around this time last year the silly bint was campaigning against exactly that.

With people like May and the fat orange yank twat it's becoming increasingly obvious that the people doing these jobs are more into the idea of being the most important and powerful celebrity in the world, rather than actually taking on the duties and responsibilities of being the boss of a formerly significant industrialised nation.

May is the classic - Johnny Rotten hawking whichever brand of margarine stumps up the most cash whereas Trump comes across as someone who never really thought through the fact that president would be a job that involved actually doing something beyond just being the powerfullest and importantest wanker in the world and grabbing all the pussy but the fact remains. Politicians aren't really governing any more, they're just grifting a fuck off big paycheck.

Mainly US and UK, right enough, I'm not talking about proper countries here.

[Faust]

So she had what, 3, 4 years left in the term, why call an election if not that the Tories want to be out of power.

[Junkenstein]

Quite the opposite, it pretty much guarantees them another 5 years only now they get to play the "we've got a mandate card".

Scottish/irish/welsh votes will be pretty much unchanged. Lib-dems have no hope after their coalition cock-up. Labour are still FUBAR. It's a pretty solid strategy to keep them in that way. Labour can't campaign against brexit and they haven't a hope in hell of winning any additional seats without doing so.

Let's put it another way, if there was an easy way to guarantee you'd keep your cushy job for another 5 years, would you do it? Because that's exactly what's happening here.

[Faust]

Great, so she is buying the election when the opposition is in disarray. At the taxpayers expense.

[Junkenstein]

Exactly. And you've put any opposition against you into a shitty position because they can't argue against it without losing all credibility. If you wait any longer the full brexit shitshow will be obvious and loss of power is assured at the next scheduled election.

Even if by some miracle she loses, brexit negotiations fall onto someone else, who will then inevitably fuck it up and you're back in power sharpish afterwards. 

From a game theory perspective, it's excellently played and exactly what I would do in that position. Waiting gives you no advantages and actually comes with multiple drawbacks.

Politicians aren't really governing any more, they're just grifting a fuck off big paycheck.

And we have a winner. You can take the cash prize or open the mystery box.

[Cain]

This has almost nothing to do with Brexit and everything to do with passing her domestic agenda by shutting down her opponents in the Tory Party (because if you were hoping for the opposition parties to do that, well  ).

If this sounds familiar, it's because it's exactly the same reasoning that David Cameron used to put us in this current predicament.

Now, I did argue for a General Election...but that was last year, after May became leader of the Tory party.  At that time, my thinking was that making the GE be about Brexit - and having the different parties put forward their strategies, to be voted on.  Stay in the common market or not, approach to immigration etc.  But now?  Now it's just a blatant power grab, especially because in an unsure political climate, people are likely to favour the status quo over making any hard changes.  Just imagine if, somehow, Corbyn did become PM in June.  It would mean radically changing the terms on which Brexit is going to be negotiated.  People aren't going to go for that.

Which is exactly what May is counting on.

[Junkenstein]

Not just the terms of the negotiations, but practically everyone and everything that has already been done to date. How much has actually been done is questionable but there will be a huge reluctance to replace anyone involved while the clock is now officially ticking.

The chances of corbyn getting anywhere are around the same as Rolf Harris. Which in around 8 weeks leads to further in-fighting for a few months (at least) leadership challenges, etc. So any domestic changes will pass totally unchallenged for the best part of the year. And that's an optimistic view.

The funniest prospect that I can see is another potential coalition government. While unlikely, it would just add to the overall fuckups and inevitable complications.

[Junkenstein]

In fact, fuck it, calling it now - Next government is a coalition of SNP and the Tories. Before you say how stupid that is, just consider what the lib-dems did for 30 pieces of silver. Now look me in the eye and tell me that they wouldn't do exactly the same thing in a heartbeat if given the slightest chance.