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Elections - Re (22nd Sep 2025 - 17:19:43) Is there anyway that the public can force an election, other countries seem to manage it one way or another. We just can’t carry on with this nonsense this government is running around like headless chickens.

Re: Elections - M (22nd Sep 2025 - 20:46:02) Am I right to assume many who want to force an election would be opposed to another vote on Brexit? With regards to exactly the same reasons as the original poster put

Re: Elections - AF (23rd Sep 2025 - 07:58:19) There are only two ways for a general election before the five year term expires. First is for the parliament to pass a vote of no confidence in the current administration, won't happen as it would require over 100 hundred labour MP's to vote for it and under current circumstances most of those would lose their seats and therefore their jobs. Second is for Comrade Starmer to admit he's out of his depth and can't run this country successfully, and call a general election, again it won't happen. The best we can hope for is an election in 2028 but may well have to wait till 2029. The only other possibility is that next year Labour get a sudden surge in support and Starmer calls a snap election, but i cant see it happening.

Re: Elections - Pete (23rd Sep 2025 - 08:15:58) 14 years we gave to the last lot, this being the party that got us into the mess we are now, but now in little over a year you are looking to get rid of the current incumbants. Who I wonder is the alternative, a party that is falling apart and has no coherent direction, or a new party full of chancers with no policies that would work in the real world and a policy of saying whatever they think will pull in the voters without any thought how they would achieve what they are saying as well as not caring about the devision they are creating.

Re: Elections - D (23rd Sep 2025 - 08:48:13) Pete, you are forgetting the appalling state Gordon Brown left the economy in, but the Conservatives (if that's who you mean by "the last lot") are above the current governments motto of "we inherited from the last government".

Re: Elections - Local (23rd Sep 2025 - 12:27:17) As I have said many times history repeating itself. Labour going down the same old road union controlled running the country into the ground . Civil servants many that were remain and still want to get us back in and doing their utmost to do so god forbid. Keep banging on about the last 14 years the public voted out of the EU that’s what happened majority. Some in the conservative government didn’t like it fools so got Boris out all down hill from there. Things were just getting better after covid if they had left Boris alone he would have stood up Brussels and we would have prospered this government has done far more damage in a year than any other government in history. Labour governments are under the thumb of the Union’s and they are dinosaurs of the past .

Re: Elections - D (23rd Sep 2025 - 14:19:19) Hear hear, what I want to know is, where are all the Labour voters? I've not met anyone yet who will own up to voting for this mess

Re: Elections - er (23rd Sep 2025 - 18:22:37) D, you don't need to ask who voted Labour, it seems it was virtually everyone, but the cowards run for the hills when it all goes wrong! When the whole country was up in self righteous hysterics because they'd had to suffer the indignity of working from home (something they all crave the 'right' to do now!), whilst Boris Johnston held a cabinet meeting in his home/office garden, the whole country had a collective for of jealousy and demanded Tories out, Labour in!!! I actually said 'be careful what you wish for, because I remember the 70's' They said (effectively) 'shut up' They all voted for Labour, so naturally Labour won one of the greatest landslides in history. So I have no sympathy for them. Ironically they all hate Labour now, having lurched in yet another schizophrenic knee jerk reaction to the far right, it seems everything is no longer Boris Johnston's fault, but the Middle Eastern family fleeing yet another region we turned from a stable region into a basket case. And in an even funnier twist, their moving right has caused me to move left, I now believe Labour are doing a far better job in very difficult times, than either Reform or the Conservatives would ever do, hatred and blame is not my cup of tea!

Re: Elections - Local (23rd Sep 2025 - 19:00:09) Sorry er but how can you say this government is good . Businesss going bust on regular basis. Companies relocating abroad. Pubs shutting every week the retail trade in a bad way . Pensioners struggling and don’t mention illegal migration. More tax’s to come trying to plug the huge deficit unions and civil servants demanding huge payouts no I don’t think so . I didn’t vote labour because I new how it always ends bankrupt country.

Re: Elections - Scott (23rd Sep 2025 - 20:15:48) Financial year to end of March 2025 UK debt was approximately 2.8 trillion Growing exponentially since the 1970's but even more accutely since the global crash of 2008/09. That equates to every UK resident being in debt to the tune of 40k Or 96% of UK's GDP. Cut it and moan about it all you like but we are bankrupt and have been for 50 years and through multiple government changes from both main parties. They are useless baffoons one and all. Do not believe or trust any of them. If there was a UK wide audit and number crunch and it was a business we would be closed, the lights would be switched off and the last person out would be in charge of putting the keys back through the proverbial letter box. Now, some of you might like to think of me as a positive upbeat person, thats because I am, I will not allow myself to be pulled down by the doom and gloom of it all but I am eyes wide open and I intend to have a lovely evening and I hope you all do too😊 Ciao for now lovely Liphookians Biggup fiscal reports 👏🙌👏🙌

Re: Elections - C (24th Sep 2025 - 07:48:50) Government debt is normal and is not necessarily bad news. Remember this includes our NS&I savings such as Premium Bonds as well as other government bonds that form the backbone of most pension schemes and annuities.

Re: Elections - D (24th Sep 2025 - 08:31:43) Bankrupt for fifty years? Someone is forgetting the Thatcher boom of the eighties. Plenty of money if you were willing to put the hours in and not expect it handed to you on a plate as the younger generation seem to these days.

Re: Elections - Scott (24th Sep 2025 - 09:18:27) Hi C Yes, you are completely right, national debt when managed and serviced appropriately is a normal position for a country/government to operate within. It is apparent though that successive governments and chancellors have been living and spending way beyond their means whether it be driven by global economic crisis or domestic financial turbulence, then also factor in inefficient policies and contract awarding to failed projects and poor decision making and couple that with not enough revenue generated (and its clear not many people want to lose more of their hard earned pound to taxation) the books just don't balance and we are in an upward spiral of increasing national debt that will probably never be reduced realistically regardless of what any particular parties economists and headline makers will say. Whoever people vote in at any election will not make the blindest bit of difference in recovering our finiances, we are in too deep. Happy Wednesday everyone, I'm off to meet a mate for a good old chinwag and full english brekky!!!!!! Mmmmmm. Biggup Sausages, bacon and eggs👏🙌👏🙌

Re: Elections - Local (24th Sep 2025 - 09:31:35) Spot on D at least the conservatives rewarded people that worked hard not like this lot taking every penny they can from the people that work even the pensioners . And the galling bit is they give it to the people that least need it ie train drivers civil servants and shell out benefits like confetti. Labour used to be the party for the working man not any more all they do is reward the people who don’t want to work.

Re: Elections - Scott (24th Sep 2025 - 10:30:48) Nahhhh, nope, negatory, nein!! I ain't forgetting about Mrs T, Maggie, The Iron Lady , I just don't see her in the same Saintly Shrouded glow you do my old china. I was a working teenager when she was in office. It was a tale of many stories. What I saw under her leadership was...... At the risk of repeating myself on exactly this same topic from a few months ago. Northern industrial heartland decimated and she went to war with our northern cousins. Inflation at one point I seem to remember was way into double figures. She started the selling off of millions of council housing stock to anyone that could just about afford it, and they were sold cheap, so if you could hang in there and pay the crippling mortgage rates as they rose you could weather the storm and sell at a massive profit 10 years later. But many thousands of people couldn't and lost their homes and were declared bankrupt, of which I had peers and colleagues and a family member in that number. She also oversaw the first rounds of privatisation in this country. After years of neglect and underfunding again from multiple governments many industries were crippled by poor management and bad working practices. Sell everything off she said to private companies and investors.......How is infrastructure, trains, water companies, electric companies working out for us all now, expensive and mostly an inferior service, we haven't done too well have we with her legacy if you think about it, and thats where it all started. Another round of toast has just turned up, yippee. Must fly✌️

Re: Elections - D (24th Sep 2025 - 11:34:58) The only people who didn't buy their council house were people who had their rent paid for them and weren't paying any rent anyway. Many people went into negative equity, that's a risk you take when buying a house and we all know that. War on our northern cousins? Maybe you are referring to the failed miners strike of 1984/5 led by a communist who's only agenda was to overthrow the government. When coal mines become unprofitable they get closed, always have done. 190 mines were closed under Lady Thatcher compared to 250 under the previous Labour government. Best years of my life and it has been downhill ever since she was kicked out, shame the Tories can't learn their lesson over this because we were doing well under Boris when the current incumbent was whining about him working late. As I said, Scott, good times if you were prepared to put the hours in. I'll leave you to your chinning with your friend.

Re: Elections - er (24th Sep 2025 - 12:37:21) Ironically D, you correctly berate the old socialists who tried to overthrow Thatcher, they certainly used civil disobedience, protest, legitimate anger, PR etc, something the right were apoplectic about, called it undemocratic. Yet I noticed that's exactly what the right are hoping to do today, in fact isn't that the premise of this whole thread, the original question being '...is there any way the public can force an election...' The answer if course is no, we voted them in with a huge landslide and the problems they've inherited (record immigration, shot finances, divided society etc etc) are as much or more the fault of the Tories and every other party before them. To answer the question of 'is Britain bankrupt?' which has been addressed by C, I'd add that Scott doesn't seem to understand what bankruptcy is. Servicing debt is normal trading, failure to repay debt is defaulting, inability to repay is insolvency, bankruptcy is when all attempts to recover debt have failed and a court finally declares bankruptcy. We are currently at the normal trading stage, I don't think we've ever defaulted on our debt and in any event it would be a very brave British judge who ever declared Britain bankrupt, I'm not sure it's even possible, it would simply boil down to 'come and get it if you can!' and then it's down to whose army is biggest😂

Re: Elections - Scott (24th Sep 2025 - 15:04:28) Hi D I think we will have to sportingly and politely disagree on the successes of Mrs T. Hi er My apologies, I flippantly used the word "bankrupt" as terminology as thats the word that was being banded around and I should have just said broke or up the swanny, up the creek without a paddle, skint.Technically we are not bankrupt and obviously will never be declared bankrupt. It was an easy grab word and used incorrectly. Again my sincerest apologies. It doesn't change the fact that we are in an ever increasing hole and everyone wants more from the pot without putting anymore in. The brekky and catch up with the mate was great by the way. Biggup sunny days✌️🌞

Re: Elections - Local (24th Sep 2025 - 15:16:07) At it again er blaming the previous government for everything don’t think so. Illegal migration gone through the roof with this government . Financial stability under Boris was just coming good after the pandemic that he controlled much better than all the other countries. If he could have carried on out of the awful EU as he was doing by now we probably would have been way ahead of all the others. You have to try and balance the books as in any business that’s why maggie was so good she came from business stock shop keeper. As for council houses it got the man on the street owning his own house as D said if you worked long hours two three jobs you prospered and succeed she got this country up and running all this government wants to do is reward laziness.

Re: Elections - WUND (24th Sep 2025 - 17:23:09) Are we all looking forward to even more tax grabs in the Autumn Statement?

Re: Elections - D (24th Sep 2025 - 19:57:08) Should have mentioned this earlier I know. Lady Thatcher is often criticised for selling off the council houses, so two points of interest here. When the housing associations took over the running of council properties, they paid the sum of ONE POUND for each property, no-one who bought their house had such a discount as that. Secondly, the first council house to be sold was in the late fifties under a LABOUR government.

Re: Elections - sam (24th Sep 2025 - 20:27:00) You lot thinking the solution is between one party or another is what is most amusing, "yeah the party I like/liked will fix it" "no your party is terrible" All swimming around in the illusion of democracy, as nobody can fix the UK now, we signed off on that a few years ago.

Re: Elections - Scott (24th Sep 2025 - 20:30:18) I should like to add as well that I did mean to write many thousands of non ex council mortgaged property owners were struck by crippling mortgages and lost their properties as well, and that would be people working 2 jobs, One skilled job and a part time income to make ends meet, husbands and wives both putting in the hours working and it still wasn't enough.I didn't mean specifically just mortgaged council property ownership. Very tough times indeed. We lead lives of relative ease and luxury compared to those days. Every house has 2 to 3 vehicles outside,electronic gadgets and devices galore, shopping trollies and bellies nice and full and as much junk as you want delivered to your door almost instantly. Sure, there is serious need and strife for some and times are tight with the pound not going as far as it once did but its not that bad is it really? As always, work hard and with a bit of luck live long and prosper🖖😊

Re: Elections - D (25th Sep 2025 - 08:53:24) So what's your answer then Sam?

Re: Elections - Re (25th Sep 2025 - 11:09:34) Scott you can’t attribute the attributes we have now to this government it’s the last government that gave us a good way of life this government is taking it away slowly eroding everything taxing us to the hilt. This government has done more damage to our economy in a year than any other government. Just wait after Christmas when it all starts to bight redundancy’s firms laying off going bust, shops already closing big companies cutting back or going abroad. Hope I’m wrong but we have been here before some of us have had to experience it before and it wasn’t good . Mrs T saved us she did more good than bad every PM makes mistakes but overall she got us back on track made us get back to work and rewarded us for doing so. This labour government has gone the opposite way rewarding those that don’t want to work. You have to support businesses cutting their tax burden so they can expand and employ more people that’s the way forward support entrepreneurs with tax breaks so much could be done to boost our economy.

Re: Elections - Scott (25th Sep 2025 - 12:27:51) Re I didn't attribute anything at all to this current lot or the previous incumbants or the ones before that and keep going back as far as you like, I did say work hard though, and that will give you the best chance at a decent standard of living but you still need a sprinkling of luck along lifes bumpy road. I was merely comparing as a broad comparison life now to that of life in the 80's. Life expectancy through medical advancements now above 80's on average. 20 years longer than back then. Relative wealth if you work hard is far higher for the average joe than it was in the boken 70's and 80's. Incredible amounts of movement around the country and world through vehicle improvements. So I didn't attribute anything to any government or party. Work hard and if you want something bad enough work harder or smarter to achieve it. Yes government is taking more from us and I'm not on board with that but in relative terms life is better for most now than it was back then. Enjoy the sunshine folks🌞 Biggup happy days👏🙌

Re: Elections - Re (25th Sep 2025 - 14:17:03) Yes Scott I agree with a lot of your posts but as I was born in 1941 saw how hard it was for my mum and dad to get going after the war it hardens you. I left school in 1956 a reasonable secondary education went straight to work as a farm hand as I was brought up on a farm so could drive a tractor. Moved on to agricultural engineering then a garage apprentice. Then with two children in 1972 started my own garage this is what I’m coming to the eighty’s Thatcher years was the best time for hard working people she understood how Businesss worked most people I came in contact with which was a broad section of the public were extremely happy and prosperous. She put the Union’s in their place unions should never be in politics as is happening now they bring the country to its knees. Yes we are better off as you say medical advancement and everything else but that goes with time in 50 years time it will be amazing perhaps but I won’t be here to see it .

Re: Elections - Re (25th Sep 2025 - 14:21:36) Foot note a friend of mine an entrepreneur you could say many businesses employing hundreds said when there is a labour government all the money in the country will disappear abroad he knew what he was talking about.

Re: Elections - Scott (25th Sep 2025 - 15:55:39) Hi Re Fair play to you and with all due respect you have seen the world for a few years longer than I. Again, life I think in recent years has become reasonably easy for most but as always not for all and its down to an individuals perserverance and choices and drive to want to do better, and yes this current idea of handouts for little input isn't sustainable. Moving forward then, you raised the question to kick the topic off, how to get rid of this current government? With that again comes the question who would replace them? So we'd go through more political turmoil to end up with Reform😂 I'm still convinced by none of them and although Mrs T was an extremely strong leader and ferocious politician(something we can agree on) she isn't around to in many of your eyes "put us back on track" So, Who?

Re: Elections - Charlie (25th Sep 2025 - 17:30:48) Scott, I do not agree with you that the average person and businesses are better off now than they were in the 1980’s. They are not. This Labour Government is running the economy into the ground and if they think that taxing the wealthy is going to solve the problem it is not. Likewise, taxing the pensioners. The wealthy will leave the UK and they are already doing this and the Middle Classes as always will bear the brunt, businesses will suffer and some will go out of business. The exception is the progress in medical science which has improved the quality of life for millions of people today. Back to the 1980’s when Mrs Thatcher was in power. I agree with Re. Certainly I and my family felt better off in those years. We worked hard, tightened our belts when need be, we had no credit cards and our only debt was our mortgage. We saved before we bought. During the 60’s and early 70’s the unions had the UK in their iron grip -remember the 3-day week - and it is getting to be that way now. How the unions made the public suffer as they had to endure strike after strike most noticeably on the railways preventing people from going about their lawful business. Mrs Thatcher wasn’t perfect, but her confidence, resilience, and uncompromising leadership style led her to reshape almost every aspect of British politics, from foreign policy to domestic economy. Her mantra was “if you cannot afford to pay for it you cannot have it”. However, in today’s politics we have a very different Conservative Party and Leader and I think the word ineffectual is an understatement. So we are in a pretty pickle, Conservatives ineffectual and Labour as usual punishing the people who have worked all their lives, paid their taxes, saved some money and want to enjoy a happy life and retirement. I have no confidence at all in the Liberals although they do seem to do quite well at a local level. Sir Ed Davey plays the fool too much for anyone to take him seriously. So we are left with Reform and all I will say about Reform is that while Mr Farage, the populist, says what many people want to hear, I for one, doubt that he can deliver on most of it, plus the fact to find 500 candidates and working almost from scratch to contest the next General Election is going to be a huge task. It also begs the question as to whether these candidates will be properly vetted. This is the quandary and I really do not know the answer. Another leader perhaps, like The Phoenix rising from the ashes of despair.

Re: Elections - Re (25th Sep 2025 - 17:47:46) Charlie very good post . We definitely are in a pickle the conservatives shot themselves in the foot getting rid of Boris I think he could have done a good job if they had got behind him he was spot on with the pandemic and getting us out of the EU . He was similar to thatcher banging the drum for Britain he would get my vote.

Re: Elections - Scott (25th Sep 2025 - 18:11:54) Fair points Charlie and I accept all you say. Its ok for us to disagree on something and remain happy and content in our own opinions👍 All I would say is have a look at any supermarket, shopping centre or outdoor parking to an event and you will see millions of pounds worth of new or almost new vehicles and people coming out of those retail or recreational settings with armfulls of corporate or logo branded merchandise whilst eating as much grub as possible and in some cases more than you would think any human could process whilst ordering a 3rd or 4th much needed frothy coffee at £4 or £5 pound a go. My point being that for people that are supposedly really feeling the heat and struggling they seem to be spending an incredible amount of money. No judgement from me at all, live and let live but just an observation. Are we actually really as bad off on average as everyone really keeps making out. Or are we just greedy and keep wanting more consumerisism and the minute any government wants to tax and take an extra few pounds off of us we feel resentment and get motivated to call for a change at the top again. Trust me, whoever and whenever the next government are voted in a mass swathe of reasons to hate and get rid of them will start within days, whichever one is chosen. Round and round we go. I still enjoy my days and lovely Liphook😊 Its a great part of the world, biggitup👏🙌

Re: Elections - Lorac Nostaw (25th Sep 2025 - 18:33:28) If we had the vote for or against Brexit I and my hubby would vote to stay in; we were hoodwinked by politicians who knew as little as we did, all promulgated on the issue of immigration alone, that we would be able to control our own borders, but it would seem that France had other ideas! We are no longer the country we were after the war, we have lost patriotic feelings. Whichever government we vote in by whatever means, there is little chance of putting things right in the way we would like, our world order has changed and not for the better.

Re: Elections - Scott (25th Sep 2025 - 19:26:57) Re, again with full respect to you I tip my cap. But you can't all keep talking about past leaders and whom you thought was better than whom. Again, moving forward, tell me who has the political nouse, economic credentials, honesty, trustworthy, speaks to all across all ages and cultures in our wonderful nation, diplomatic skillsets. A name, a party, something solid and credible for us to be positive and genuinely in a broadly unified manner get behind. So, Who? I'm at a loss, but I didn't start the topic. Biggup enlightenment when it occurs👏🙌

Re: Elections - Re (26th Sep 2025 - 10:31:43) Yes Scott we are in a mess not anyone of the current lot anywhere near good enough. As said Boris was the man and he’s still about if he could rally enough good MPs around him it could work but he needs to say as maggie did if your not with me then you’re out . He got us out of the dreaded EU and stood up to the French onslaught which was ridiculous. So I think he could drag us back from oblivion it will take a very strong person to do it the public won’t like it but it has to be done this lot have just about sunk us .

Re: Elections - Jon (27th Sep 2025 - 07:22:25) On council house buying, two prominent names come to mind. Arthur Scargill bought his council flat using a policy introduced by a government he tried to bring down. Mangella Rayner bought her council house and then sold it at considerable profit, not bad for a Tory hater, who wants to stop the sale of council houses. She then spent thousands on a boob job, money that would have been better spent on treatment to control her acerbic tongue. Hypocrites, both of them

Re: Elections - D (27th Sep 2025 - 08:50:04) She had a boob job? Did she get a refund? Biggup communist union leaders buying their council flat while their striking members starve. Biggup two faced hypocritical Labour party politicians dodging their taxes while the rest of us are being bled dry.

Re: Elections - Scott (27th Sep 2025 - 09:08:25) 🤣 Brilliant, I love it D. Finally onboard with the "biggup" brand 🤣 We should print t'shirts and make a quid or two. This I chuckled to. Solid points well made. Biggup free speech👏🙌

Re: Elections - er (27th Sep 2025 - 10:44:41) And biggup boob jobs, I have no problem with Labour politicians maximising their assets if it helps enlarge the economy, as long as it doesn't cause unnecessary inflation in other areas.

Re: Elections - D (27th Sep 2025 - 11:29:26) She had it done as a career move.

Re: Elections - Was Undecided Now Decided (30th Sep 2025 - 08:41:44) Amazing that delegates at the Labour Conference are missing Rayner, saying 'you will be back next year, we miss you' all over social media. She was the minister for housing, found guilty by an independent body, of evading tax payable on housing! She had to resign in disgrace. If we the little people did that, we'd be in jail. And people hold her up as an example to girls?

Re: Elections - D (30th Sep 2025 - 10:46:32) Couldn't agree more, speaks volumes for this regime who were elected on a pack of lies. I'm still yet to meet someone who actually voted for them. There again, if I had I'd be keeping quiet about it as well. That promised us the Land of Canaan, they've given us Little Britain.

Re: Elections - Joe (30th Sep 2025 - 16:01:18) In case you are still all obsessed with Angela Rayner’s boob job - it was because she lost 6 stone in weight in a year so not anything but remedial as she said she was still a young woman and her boobs were looking like an 80 year olds’ and her phrase was “spaniels ears” . I have no knowledge of whether it was surgery on the NHS or not!

Re: Elections - D (30th Sep 2025 - 16:45:14) Whatever the reason for her downfall, (maybe it was along the lines of Father Ted's "the money was just resting in my account") she's probably feeling deflated now. Obsessed with her boob job? I feel sick.

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