UK general election

[Gandalf]

I don't dismiss the entire electorate, but I do think it fair to say that most people are not genuinely informed when it comes to the most serious issues that will affect their future. I really think it boils down to about 20% of the public really understanding it and a substantial portion of those people with a vested interest in making sure their house price goes up, that their taxes stay down, that they have their private health care, that they have their shares. It's not connected but I was listening to a former Marxist from India who said that it was too difficult to change other people so he changed himself. He became more conservative. I think that is a common pattern. Older people vote conservative, they read the papers, they think Corbyn is a bit bonkers and looks like Worzel Gummidge.

Then there is the rest of the population and you know yourself that a lot of people are not genuinely into politics. A lot of people don't even watch the news. Even fewer actually investigate the truth of the news that they are reading. It's just a reality and I wish it wasn't like that. It's hard to talk politics with some people. I think that is one reason I am socially awkward because I do like to talk about politics, but people generally find it a bit serious and weird. People like to talk about fun stuff and do fun stuff and I get it because I do too sometimes. I like to kill zombies. Most people also have to work 40 hours a week just to pay the rent and feed the kids, so you can't exactly blame them for coming home, having dinner, wanting to watch a bit of TV and then go to bed quite shagged out at the end of a long day. Maybe you would even get drunk as you cannot fall asleep and are depressed. I totally get it.

I know far less than I should but I look back at the me of 10 years ago and I know far more now and I am someone with a degree in politics. I didn't learn a great deal. Pig ignorant in fact. Smart, but knew nothing. All that history and neo liberal filters......what about today and what I should be doing about it? I only started to really learn about that when I got too far away.

I want to be proven wrong, I want to be shocked and astonished. I want Jeremy Corbyn to be the Prime Minister of the UK. It would be the finest thing imaginable. Just as significant as beating the Nazi's in WW2. WW2 was 6 years and brutal, but the neo liberal war has been a long slow burn. The neo liberal war is all many of us have ever known.

[Master]

You are right again Miles.

There are far too many disenfranchised and do not vote. If they did that could make the difference in Labour winning.

The young have joined Labour in their thousands (but they could be Tory voters) and he has made politics popular again. I hope he wins but I fear he will not.

Maybe Corbyn is too idealistic and sensible to be a prime minister?

[Gandalf]

Take central banking for instance. Even most people into politics have no understanding of the money supply. None. Zero. I was ignorant too until I really started to read about it a few years back. It's very important stuff, but we don't learn about it in school. In fact much of the relevant and important stuff seems to be missing from curricula. Steve Keen argues that even many people who study economics at university don't really understand it beyond a certain rudimentary level. I certainly don't make any pretence at understanding complex mathematical equations. The numbers of people who really understand things are quite small and I don't pretend to know at that level. Power control systems and their tools of coercion are quite complex. To start chipping away I think people just need to vote for Corbyn, but the real controllers of the universe are the financiers as most politicians eventually discover. The shadowy network that always runs things and never changes with the emergence of a new government. We saw it very glaringly in the case of Greece that completely ignored the will of the electorate. It's not that easy even if you do get your guys in.

[Master]

Take central banking for instance. Even most people into politics have no understanding of the money supply. None. Zero. I was ignorant too until I really started to read about it a few years back. It's very important stuff, but we don't learn about it in school. In fact much of the relevant and important stuff seems to be missing from curricula. Steve Keen argues that even many people who study economics at university don't really understand it beyond a certain rudimentary level. I certainly don't make any pretence at understanding complex mathematical equations. The numbers of people who really understand things are quite small and I don't pretend to know at that level. Power control systems and their tools of coercion are quite complex. To start chipping away I think people just need to vote for Corbyn, but the real controllers of the universe are the financiers as most politicians eventually discover. The shadowy network that always runs things and never changes with the emergence of a new government. We saw it very glaringly in the case of Greece that completely ignored the will of the electorate. It's not that easy even if you do get your guys in.

It is a start.

[Gandalf]

Take central banking for instance. Even most people into politics have no understanding of the money supply. None. Zero. I was ignorant too until I really started to read about it a few years back. It's very important stuff, but we don't learn about it in school. In fact much of the relevant and important stuff seems to be missing from curricula. Steve Keen argues that even many people who study economics at university don't really understand it beyond a certain rudimentary level. I certainly don't make any pretence at understanding complex mathematical equations. The numbers of people who really understand things are quite small and I don't pretend to know at that level. Power control systems and their tools of coercion are quite complex. To start chipping away I think people just need to vote for Corbyn, but the real controllers of the universe are the financiers as most politicians eventually discover. The shadowy network that always runs things and never changes with the emergence of a new government. We saw it very glaringly in the case of Greece that completely ignored the will of the electorate. It's not that easy even if you do get your guys in.

It is a start.

Absolutely. It is a start. It's a long shot at Corbyn even getting in, but I fully envisage a full thronged attack if it does happen. Dissent within the party, economic havoc from Brexit, a new global crash, the PTB will not go away quietly. They do not want Jeremy Corbyn anywhere near Downing Street. You see it by constantly saying he is a threat to national security. He does strike a note of fear in them. They know he is not kidding about, but people need to see beyond all of it and to really start understanding the nature of what they are dealing with. Otherwise they will blow Corbyn out very quickly. They are not playing around. Already you have a lot of people mocking him saying he is an idiot. If things go wrong quickly, then will he have the support he needs? The thing is the numbers of people who control the world are few, but they yield all of the weapons that matter: the media, the wealth, the political influence. It's why Blair keeps on popping back with the full support of the media. A man that has been rewarded for his crimes against humanity and treason against country and still he remains free, in the party and able to sow seeds of discontent. You even have a bunch of dummies yearning for the Blairite glory days of tuition fees and war. It's bonkers. You cannot even get Labour supporters to support policies that the Labour party was invented for.

[Gandalf]

Awesome idea to stop fast food advertising being aimed at children too. It's right, it is not to be a killjoy, but to give children all the advantages they need. I remember at school eating a chicken burger, chips and cherry coke every lunchtime. I wasn't taught anything about nutrition and was allowed to eat what I wanted as a kid even though I did not understand nutrition. It's a form of child abuse really. I didn't know any better.

[Master]

That was another sensible announcement about junk food being banned and not advertised at children. At my previous work a head teacher at a poor preforming school came in and stopped all the junk food sold at the school from crisps to fizz drinks from the machines. Gradually the school starting performing and gaining a good reputation and he believed it was largely due to the diet.

Another recent issue is children not being fed nutritious meals and schools now have breakfast clubs. Food banks are now too common and overused.

Almost everything Teresa May says (and in some instances does not say) about tackling inequality is a recognition that their party policies have created an unjust society. They will continue to do that.

[Gandalf]

Nurses have to pay to park their cars at work? My god, that is so outrageous! I had no idea things are getting that bad there. One hospital charges 600 pounds a year. That's a considerable extra tax on someone on 22,000 pounds a year.

Look at Corbyn in this video. No editing, no angles, no catch phrases, just a really solid bloke who cares.

[Beanz]

"For the many not the few"

“This election isn’t about Brexit itself. That issue has been settled. The question now is what sort of Brexit we want – and what sort of country do we want Britain to be after Brexit?
"Labour wants a jobs-first Brexit, a Brexit that safeguards the future of Britain’s vital industries, a Brexit that paves the way to a genuinely fairer society and an upgraded economy.
“When Labour wins, the British people win. The nurse, the teacher, the small trader, the carer, the builder, the office worker win."