General Election 2017 | Cabinet reshuffle: Hunt re-appointed Health Secretary for record third time

[esmufc07]

I really don't get the nuclear launch argument. If we were to "first strike" the opposing country would retaliate and that would spell the end of our little island. But hey at least we kill millions of innocents before we die!

Having nuclear weapons just makes us more of a target, it's not a deterrent.

I'm completely against the first strike option and agree the path, as Corbyn said, should be a nuclear free world.

However, whilst we are renewing Trident (which I am wholly against) at great expense, Corbyn should have said he would be prepared to use it in retaliation to an attack on the UK. It definitely doesn't act as a deterrent if your enemies know you won't be prepared to use it. He should have just lied.

I do think the chances of a nuclear strike are minuscule though. Much lower than @MikeUpNorth's 5%. Cyber warfare is the future. No one is going to fire a nuclear weapon. In doing so the aggressor is basically wiping out their own country.

 

[Marcelinho87]

They're trying to throw the election. I'm absolutely convinced now.

Which makes sense to me... let labour take over Brexit as whoever does is going to be blamed for years and years so the next election the party who wins gains control of the country for ages.

The Tory plan.

 

[esmufc07]

The vague possibility of a hung parliament or even a labor victory should be a cause for celebration but since they seem to be a clueless as the Tories on Brexit I find it hard to care. I hate referendums but ones with simplistic questions annoy me and allow scare campaigns to be the focus rather than discussion of the important detail.

Brexit isn't a simple question and voters should have been given the options.

If they were being honest they would just come out and call Brexit for what it is, a huge mistake that is going to plunge the country into an economic mess. However, 'the will of the British people' crowd would be in uproar so it would be political suicide.

If, as I suspect, the Tories remain in power, they will be ousted in 2022. Their approach to Brexit is a shambles.

I'm with you on referendums, we elect MPs to make decisions for us as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Untied]

...

Fair enough

I will say there should have been a similar (greater tbh) amount of furore dedicated to May's refusal to condemn Trump and his administration for pulling out of Paris

Corbyn was continually pressed on ridiculous nuclear weapon hypotheticals. May should really have been pressed on the much more likely "what would it actually take for you to condemn Trump and his administration"

 

[Pexbo]

Which makes sense to me... let labour take over Brexit as whoever does is going to be blamed for years and years so the next election the party who wins gains control of the country for ages.

The Tory plan.

Yup, short term loss for long term gains. Who from the Conservatives really loses out? May, Boris and a few other liabilities that they probably want rid of anyway.

 

[Untied]

She makes this face quite a lot D:

 

[montpelier]

I'm completely against the first strike option and agree the path, as Corbyn said, should be a nuclear free world.

However, whilst we are renewing Trident (which I am wholly against) at great expense, Corbyn should have said he would be prepared to use it in retaliation to an attack on the UK. It definitely doesn't act as a deterrent if your enemies know you won't be prepared to use it. He should have just lied.

I do think the chances of a nuclear strike are minuscule though. Much lower than @MikeUpNorth's 5%. Cyber warfare is the future. No one is going to fire a nuclear weapon. In doing so the aggressor is basically wiping out their own country.

Always a deterrent because they can't ever KNOW that.

He is saying the wrong thing though, I agree.

 

[Smores]

Anyone considering a nuclear strike is already playing for very high stakes and the political situation is likely to be extreme. As such marginal risk factors are likely to be pivotal, not negligible, in making up their minds.

Whilst i think you're arguing the opposite angle this is my point. No one knows what Corbyn will write in the letter, no one knows be won't recuse himself from leadership in that situation. No one ones the officers won't take matters into their own hands. These are pivotal.

I'm genuinely astonished anyone thinks Corbyn is a factor in our deterrents effectiveness. Then again those most angry about this seem to completely misunderstand our capabilities anyway.

Anyway ill shush and stop being a bore on the matter

 

[Giant Midget]

It's her attempt at imitating a human smile.

 

[Nogbadthebad]

Just a reminder.

Only one sitting british PM has ever admitted they would fire nuclear weapons. That is may.

None of the others have been asked to say what people seemingly want corbyn to say.

 

[macheda14]

I used to be all for Corbyn, but how can we trust a man to run our country when he said next season's top 4 will be (in no particular order) Chelsea, arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs...

 

[Smores]

Just a reminder.

Only one sitting british PM has ever admitted they would fire nuclear weapons. That is may.

None of the others have been asked to say what people seemingly want corbyn to say.

Yeah but people want blood in this country. Those gentlemen asking last night clearly aren't afraid of the situation they're just the "patriotic" type who watch a few war documentaries, maybe read sun tzu and think they're militarily strategists.

They'd be NRA supporting gun rights activists if they were american

 

[montpelier]

I think a policy of having nuclear bombs & wittering on about being prepared to use them is definitely the way forward.

First target, Yorkshire & it's disproportionately large number of stupid intolerant old bellends.

 

[montpelier]

I used to be all for Corbyn, but how can we trust a man to run our country when he said next season's top 4 will be (in no particular order) Chelsea, arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs...

we should threaten to vapourize his house & everything within 30 miles of it as a deterrent

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Apparently Alistair Campbell's endorsed Corbyn.

On a side note (although I've probably said this before) the power of a spin doctor should never be underestimated. A few years ago (after the Iraq scandal and after Campbell had been let go with him being one of the most hated people in the UK depending who you spoke to) he was giving a talk to about 700 of us in Dundee. I think every single person in that room was getting ready to boo him but within 30 seconds of talking suddenly everyone was on his side, as he gauged the crowd and had come on with a humble and self deprecating narrative. During the Q&A someone asked him about the Iraq war and, shit you not, the entire audience started sighing and asking the guy to stop harassing Campbell. The same Campbell that less than half an hour prior was walking onto a stage surrounded by people giving him dirty looks.

 

[Oscie]

Both May and Corbyn look incredible uncomfortable when defending their record/past. Both seem to have previously surrounded themselves with yes-men,whether it be only speaking to hand selected crowds (May) or getting used to attending rallies in their own honour (Corbyn) neither seem particularly well versed at handling hostile questions.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

I'm completely against the first strike option and agree the path, as Corbyn said, should be a nuclear free world.

However, whilst we are renewing Trident (which I am wholly against) at great expense, Corbyn should have said he would be prepared to use it in retaliation to an attack on the UK. It definitely doesn't act as a deterrent if your enemies know you won't be prepared to use it. He should have just lied.

I do think the chances of a nuclear strike are minuscule though. Much lower than @MikeUpNorth's 5%. Cyber warfare is the future. No one is going to fire a nuclear weapon. In doing so the aggressor is basically wiping out their own country.

You're probably right, but on the other hand the thing I like most about Corbyn is he's honest (for a politician). I'm not sure I'd want him to lie.

 

[DenisIrwin]

 

[DenisIrwin]

A someone who works on zero hours contracts myself, I thought this line of questioning was a bit sus.

 

[jackofalltrades]

I hope the fool who asked the question will be taken as exactly that. If nuclear war started between Russia and the West it would be MAD ( Mutually Assured Destruction ). If North Korea or Iran started one it would be Excusively AD, they would be annihilated. But first , there would be a crisis, as with Cuba. Luckily, we had the far from perfect Kennedy in charge then, who along with Khrushchev, was able to solve the crisis. It would be during that period that decisions would be taken, in a real ongoing situation and I hope we would have wise people's fingers twitching near the button rather than those of nutcases.

 

[Damien]

I hope the fool who asked the question will be taken as exactly that. If nuclear war started between Russia and the West it would be MAD ( Mutually Assured Destruction ). If North Korea or Iran started one it would be Excusively AD, they would be annihilated. But first , there would be a crisis, as with Cuba. Luckily, we had the far from perfect Kennedy in charge then, who along with Khrushchev, was able to solve the crisis. It would be during that period that decisions would be taken, in a real ongoing situation and I hope we would have wise people's fingers twitching near the button rather than those of nutcases.

There were at least three of them in the audience going on about it and thousands if not millions in the country who share the same mindset.

I'm just glad the woman got a word in about how ridiculous the talk of it is.

 

[rcoobc]

Gary for President

 

[jeff_goldblum]

Read some statistic that those 9 old white men posted above asked 29% of the questions in the Corbyn section last night. There were 120 people in the audience.

 

[rotherham_red]

A someone who works on zero hours contracts myself, I thought this line of questioning was a bit sus.

You could see from a mile off it was a blatant plant... fecking shameless too.

 

[Unmutual]

123456

 

[rcoobc]

Whilst i think you're arguing the opposite angle this is my point. No one knows what Corbyn will write in the letter, no one knows be won't recuse himself from leadership in that situation. No one ones the officers won't take matters into their own hands. These are pivotal.

I'm genuinely astonished anyone thinks Corbyn is a factor in our deterrents effectiveness. Then again those most angry about this seem to completely misunderstand our capabilities anyway.

Anyway ill shush and stop being a bore on the matter

The most important bit

 

[jackofalltrades]

There were at least three of them in the audience going on about it and thousands if not millions in the country who share the same mindset.

I'm just glad the woman got a word in about how ridiculous the talk of it is.

Yes, it was good to hear her question the idea of launching nuclear weapons willy-nilly and to dear the applause after it.

 

[Adisa]

Looking at all the reviews, I'm happy I didn't watch it. I'll have been depressed.

 

[Fergies Gum]

Ex Labour advisor David Chaplin complaining on Sky that both leaders have had pretty shambolic campaigns.

Seems like some of these guys are clueless and not sure why he cant accept that Corbyn has had a good election campaign. He seemed anti Corbyn, so maybe that's why.

 

[Sweet Square]

The Guardian Morning Report -

May was also asked whether she was insulting the public’s intelligence “with stupid slogans”.

“I’ve been running a campaign which has been setting out the very clear choice the British people have and the very real challenges the government faces over the next five years,” she said. “It’s an important chance for our country, that choice is between a strong and stable leadership… or Jeremy Corbyn and a coalition of chaos.”

 

[Oscie]

The thing is imagine what a labour's position would be now if they hadn't spent much of the past year with a leader who hid away making jam 90% of the time. Whatever the outcome of the election is the lesson is surely that you cannot start your campaign three weeks before polling day. Whether you like the media or not you have to construct an engaging dialogue with them is before somebody calls an election in order to engage not only your own base but to get the message across to hostile elements.


If Corbyn started how he is now many months before we probably wouldn't be in the position where the best outcome for the labour party next Thursday is a narrow defeat

 

[Dobba]

The thing is imagine what a labour's position would be now if they hadn't spent much of the past year with a leader who hid away making jam 90% of the time. Whatever the outcome of the election is the lesson is surely that you cannot start your campaign three weeks before polling day. Whether you like the media or not you have to construct an engaging dialogue with them is before somebody calls an election in order to engage not only your own base but to get the message across to hostile elements.

If Corbyn started how he is now many months before we probably wouldn't be in the position where the best outcome for the labour party next Thursday is a narrow defeat

You get better by the post

 

[NinjaFletch]

There were at least three of them in the audience going on about it and thousands if not millions in the country who share the same mindset.

I'm just glad the woman got a word in about how ridiculous the talk of it is.

I can't remember exactly which one it was, but I think it was the bottom middle bell end, who asked the question to Corbyn 'Will you go into coalition with the SNP?' Corbyn replied (paraphrased but not much) 'I'm trying to win this election outright, but there will be no deal with the SNP in the event of a hung parliament' and the smug cnut came back with 'But you didn't answer my question' despite what Corbyn said being the most straight forward answer anyone gave to anything.

 

[Oscie]

You get better by the post

Darling you can't deny the fact that Jeremy Corbyn hasn't really been a player in the political game for much of his leadership and I don't think you can separate that from the fact that this surge that he seems to be enjoying during this campaign seems destined to be limited to the conclusion of defeat

Until the last couple of weeks there seems to exist absolutely no appetite to converse with anybody outside the parameters of the already converted

 

[Dobba]

Darling you can't deny the fact that Jeremy Corbyn hasn't really been a player in the political game for much of his leadership and I don't think you can separate that from the fact that this surge that he seems to be enjoying during this campaign seems destined to be limited to the conclusion of defeat

Until the last couple of weeks there seems to exist absolutely no appetite to converse with anybody outside the parameters of the already converted

I repeat my previous reply. You live on another planet.

 

[Oscie]

I repeat my previous reply. You live on another planet.

Well come back to me on June the 9th and we'll see who lives on another planet but I'm sure there will be a Tweet from the Canary that you can post to make you feel better

 

[Fully Fledged]

Wars have frequently been started because one side doubts the other will respond. It was certainly a major factor in Argentina invading the Falklands and Saddam invading Kuwait. Ambiguity is not helpful in international diplomacy.

Whose going to fire Nukes at the UK? North Korea are too far away and have more viable targets in USA and Japan. If Iran ever decided to use a Nuke it would be against Israel 10 minutes before America wiped them off the face of the earth.

 

[Fully Fledged]

So we've done all of the TV set piece events, and there's not been a single question on how much it will cost to renationalise major industry. I just don't get it. It's as if people remember some mythical version of British Rail. where the trains always ran on time and. Although having been to the London Transport Museum, the seats were certainly more comfortable. I was pleased to see someone press Labour on tuition fees though; a total misuse of government expenditure IMO.

To summarise QT:

May started well but struggled on nurse's pay and mental health. Corbyn also started well, but fell to pieces on the nuclear question in particular. Corbyn's worst moments were had a lower tideline than May's, is how i'd put it.

How many voters were actually watching, i have no idea, although it was the PM's best performance so far. Get a decent Brexit deal out of the way under the Tories, and them maybe it's Umunna at No 10.

I remember the mythical times where I could get a day saver ticket and travel all day anywhere in the West Midlands by rail and bus for pence. I used to use them to get to the United matches all around the West Midlands before the introduction of Match Tickets.

 

[DenisIrwin]

Can't really understand the incredible swing towards Labour in London. What on earth could that be about? Weird!

 

[Dobba]

Well come back to me on June the 9th and we'll see who lives on another planet but I'm sure there will be a Tweet from the Canary that you can post to make you feel better

No darling this time, what did I do wrong? You apparently live on a planet where the majority of Corbyn's leadership hasn't been completely undermined by the cnuts in the PLP who are awfully quiet now he's in with a shot (apart from rent-a-gobshite Jess Phillips obviously who couldn't help have a dig at Abbott) so it'll absolutely still be you.