With very little tennis going on, the Michelle Mone story is certainly providing some entertainment.

From her latest tweet:

"A senior civil servant offered to make the NCA investigation into us go away if we paid the government a sum of money. We have a recording of this on tape."

This is getting very interesting now.

My views on the current government have been made fairly clear on this forum. I didn't vote for Boris & co last time and I certainly won't be voting Tory next time.

Like so many millions including I am sure plenty on here, although generally more a Libetal Democrat voter, I have voted Tory in the past. Since I voted for what I considered was the best party for government at the time, I certainly don't feel at all silly, even in retrospect.

I do retain quite a lot of sympathy for many more centrist Tories who serve with good intentions and who are clearly, often publicly, aghast at how their party has moved away from them in various ways and many of the utterances. Tory and nasty are not interchangeable terms. There are certainly too many leading nasty Tories at this time as there are nasties in so many groups.

I couldn't in good heart ever vote Conservative. Ideologically I would be a leftish Tory, but I don't like or trust any Conservative politicians individually, and even less as a group.

... but equally I couldn't ideologically vote Labour, as I pretty much disagree with everything they stand for.

Voting Liberal (Democrat) is a complete waste of time, and if it weren't then one may as well vote Labour (as realistically their only policy is "we aren't quite Labour, but we [I]really[/I] aren't Conservative"): if they actually ever became relevant then they would be replacing Labour. The UK can't support a three-party state: the system can't work that way - it relies on a party in power and everyone else is the opposition, by definition.

... and in Scotland the SNP really has only one policy - suicidal independence at all costs - so vote for them if nothing else matters.

So not voting is what I am stuck with, and it always surprises me that everyone else doesn't come to the same conclusion. Wanting politicians (and parties) to be better people (let alone actually representative) is doomed to failure, and voting for someone that you don't trust to act faithfully on ones behalf is worse than a waste of a vote, it is deliberately reinforcing a system which is - and always will be - irretrievably broken

christ wrote:

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I couldn't in good heart ever vote Conservative. Ideologically I would be a leftish Tory, but I don't like or trust any Conservative politicians individually, and even less as a group.

... but equally I couldn't ideologically vote Labour, as I pretty much disagree with everything they stand for.

Voting Liberal (Democrat) is a complete waste of time, and if it weren't then one may as well vote Labour (as realistically their only policy is "we aren't quite Labour, but we [I]really[/I] aren't Conservative"): if they actually ever became relevant then they would be replacing Labour. The UK can't support a three-party state: the system can't work that way - it relies on a party in power and everyone else is the opposition, by definition.

... and in Scotland the SNP really has only one policy - suicidal independence at all costs - so vote for them if nothing else matters.

So not voting is what I am stuck with, and it always surprises me that everyone else doesn't come to the same conclusion. Wanting politicians (and parties) to be better people (let alone actually representative) is doomed to failure, and voting for someone that you don't trust to act faithfully on ones behalf is worse than a waste of a vote, it is deliberately reinforcing a system which is - and always will be - irretrievably broken

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 Youve fallen in the independance propaganda trap there. The SNP have plenty of policies way different from anything a Unionist Party can offer. Taxation, further education, NHS nurses and doctors with higher wages, new policies to tackle drugs problems. Before anyone says about the high drugs deaths in Scotland, yes there are. However I work indirectly with this and the majority of drug deaths are people that have been on drugs since the 80s and 90s before it could be tackled. I predict fairly confidently that in approx 10 years drugs deaths in Scotland will be wiped out considerably and Ill be watching carefully to see if Scottish Labour take credit for it should they get back in here. It wont be them thats caused it.

The people that use the words Nationalist and Independence the most tend to be Labour and Tories. In fact Labour in Scotland are bereft of policy and basically churn the stay in the UK line as much as they can. See the Brexit Stay Together. So please dont say Independence supporters have no policy, its the complete opposite. We live in a world where the mainstream media focus on trivial matters and spin them accordingly, its amazing how even the seemingly brightest of people fall for it. I probably did as well as I didnt believe in independence until I hit my 30s.

With regards to Indianas comment about not regretting voting Tory I kind of think its a denial thing on one hand or maybe fair enough if you believed it was best at the time. I certainly regret voting for certain parties and people in the past. I voted for George Galloway and his party where he stood in my area at the time 10 years ago and regret that, the man is a grifter of the highest order now. So I think you can say you made a mistake. And Im sorry the words nasty and Tory are interchangeable these days in my mind. I accept centrist types and to be honest we all have what can be described as conservative views on certain things in life, me included, but there are alternatives to vote for or spoil your vote. Dont let these nasty corrupt idiots take you for a mug anymore. Enough is enough. I dont have any friends or family that Im aware of that will vote Tory and to be honest dont think I would have anyone in any social group that does. Previously I have but not now. 

<Edit: Withdrawn>

-- Edited by christ on Thursday 21st of December 2023 08:04:58 PM

Bob in Spain wrote:

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Do you all remember when they cancelled the northern section of HS2 but promised to use the funds for other northern infrastructure projects ?

Well guess what was announced yesterday.

twitter.com/mikegalsworthy/status/1737433994747121826

Three points to note about the announcement

1) 235m to improve LONDON's roads
2) Made possible by rerouted HS2 funding
3) They've even called it a "Network North" project.

That's some top trolling going on right their. They really are sticking two fingers up to the North of England.

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 It's laughable except nobody is laughing.