The Political Thread

[Professor Bear]

I quite like the idea that the Tories wouldn't have started the Iraq War in the same way I like that Transformers story where they go to an alternate universe where Megatron is a hero.

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

Well, I'm baffled why anyone with an ounce of sense would vote for a party that when in government was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.  But, that's just me!

The second Iraq War was wrong, and the UK should definitely not have gotten involved. Both Labour and the Tories backed it, and were wrong to do so.

Having said that... Iraq is not a reason to vote UKIP. Iraq is not even a reason to boycott Labour. Iraq is a reason to retain the monarchy, and thus ensure we never have to suffer under President Blair.

[ZenArcade]

Get out and vote boys and girls. Preferably Labour, Green or anything but UKIP/Conservative/Lib Dem....I swear to Christ, another 5 years of looking at those self entitled; self serving; smug, callous fucks is more than I can bear. And if you don't you'll probably have some neanderthal zealot from the DUP influencing how you and your loved ones live. Z

[The Legendary Shark]

It's so sad to see intelligent people everywhere indulging in this foolish and toxic superstition.

[NapalmKev]

It's so sad to see intelligent people everywhere indulging in this foolish and toxic superstition.

I appreciate the fact that you don't agree with Voting but if everyone took that stance then eventually, I believe, the right to Vote would be taken away and we would be governed by a Fucking Dictatorship. And I'm sure you wouldn't want that.

Cheers

[Professor Bear]

The fools - fancy believing that they have a say in their own lives!  Everyone knows the way you change things is by standing outside the democratic process doing nothing.  That's how slavery went away and women got the vote.

[The Legendary Shark]

If everyone took my stance, there would be nobody left to be a dictator.
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Women got the vote because voting is irrelevant and the "authority" society worships deigned to allow it. Slavery never went away.

[IndigoPrime]

Purely on the basis of the single issue of the NHS, this election is a massive deal. Either the NHS will survive or it won't. If it doesn't, the future will almost certainly be a US-style system that means you'll be fucked if you don't have insurance. That alone is reason enough to vote tomorrow.

[ZenArcade]

That. Z

[The Legendary Shark]

And you can envisage no other options than the ones offered by your masters? How about locally controlled medical services, run by local administrators, doctors and nurses you know and trust, tailored to local requirements and funded by locally created, social money?

[IndigoPrime]

"funded by locally created, social money?"

The NHS works and is affordable primarily because of economies of scale. How would your system be funded, so healthcare is effectively free at the point of use? (And if it isn't, you're back to a US-style system where people are bankrupted because they have a heart attack or break some limbs.)

We need bigger nationalised systems, not smaller and fragmented ones, but the politics and accountability needs to be more local.

[Jim_Campbell]

And you can envisage no other options than the ones offered by your masters? How about locally controlled medical services, run by local administrators, doctors and nurses you know and trust, tailored to local requirements and funded by locally created, social money?

Not what's on offer. Right now, you have two choices: the ones IndigoPrime just outlined. I know you'd like to wave a magic wand and erect entirely new socio-political structures, but that's not going to happen.

Right now, one of two people will be the next Prime Minister: David Cameron, who is ideologically committed to the end of the NHS as a state-funded provider of care, funded by general taxation and free at the point of use, or Ed Miliband, who isn't.

If you don't vote, you get to complain about what happens to the NHS over the next five years.

Jim

[The Legendary Shark]

Social money would allow all healthcare (including dentistry, prescriptions, opticians, etc.) to be free. That's what social money does - it works for society and not, as is currently the case with private money, the other way around.
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No magic wand is required for this - only the signature of the Prime Minister (if you want to carry on with such a position) or the will of the people. There is no need whatsoever to choose only "what's on offer." I mean, look at the people offering it. It's like me saying to you "I can punch you in the nose for a fiver or I can punch you in the throat for free. Choose one or the other." If I made you this offer, you'd quite rightly tell me to piss off.
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[M.I.K.]

At which point you get punched in the throat and mugged.

[The Legendary Shark]

Exactly.