Government want to look at disability bank accounts to see what we are spending on: this is not good for us autistic.

I too have read this. It is alarming and scary. 

But - this is mostly pre-election rhetoric, aimed at gathering support from the far-right part of the electorate. In the event, it wouldn't be cost-effective to check or monitor the accounts of all people in receipt of disability benefits. I believe (happy to be corrected if I'm wrong) that the DWP can already do this, if they choose to, as they can also monitor social media accounts, in any case, so what would change? 

The Tories are caught between a rock and a hard place, behind 8n the polls on one side and under pressure from Reform for the far right vote, so at this point, they'll say pretty much anything that might help them gain support.

I agree. It's fodder for their base. Or what's left of it.

Or what's left of it.

Not much!

Well, we'd better hope they do go down, otherwise things will get worse.

They're not the same, just looking at the last 12 years of Tory leadership against the previous Labour governments shows that. Whilst there might not be too much difference in their agendas on paper, in practice they're very different, even with Starmer having to become more centrist.

A Labour government would spend a bit more on the NHS and schools, paid for by taxing non-doms and private schools a bit more. They would extend help with gas and electricity bills, paid for by raising a bit more from the windfall tax on oil and gas companies. They would aim to replace the House of Lords.

A Labour government would devote more of the proceeds of growth to spending on public services, whereas a Conservative government would devote more to tax cuts, and has in fact done so.

Take one less-obvious example: rough sleeping. It can never be eliminated completely, but under the last Labour government it was reduced to a minimum. Since then it has gone back up, except for two weeks in March 2020 when the pandemic prompted the authorities to clear the streets. It doesn’t take much public spending to solve rough sleeping, but it does take some, and it takes political will, which was fitful under the Tories and focused under Labour. Suella Braverman is a prime example of the Tory stance on this.

Essentially, the main differences between the Tories and Labour are how (or if for the Tories) they tackling poverty and inequality. They take very different stands on taxation and the extent to which state should intervene in the economy of the country.

They're not the same.

they are though.... if you see the policies you notice that labour and the tories often leap frog each other...

infact jeremy corbyns policies when he ran against borish johnson he promised LESS to the nhs that what boris did... so how does that match with everything you get told? ... it doesnt doesnt it? ... why do labour do this though? .... its a simple phenomena of winning voters over... you see labours worry is that everyone will think they will overspend on things... and so because of that they seek to try spend LESS on things that the tories or aim to not go too far above them, then the tories get worried they get seen the party of cutbacks so they want to promise more spending than labour... so this effect you get the parties becoming opposities, in that the tories will end up spending more than labour while labour will end up cutting back more, all of this is to control themselves for voting, to not seem as bad as their criticism.... but yet this effect acts also as a rubber band in which both parties do infact get stuck together, closely aligning policies together.

have you seen labour criticising the tories? .... they say the tories arnt cutting migration as much and attacking them on that, this shows labour is saying they will crack down on migrants harder... hate the tories for cracking down on migrants? ... well, labour are saying they will crack down harder on them... likely labour will also take a point of cracking down on benefits too because they will likely point out how benefit spending and fraud is high under the tories and point out its incompetent and they can do better, and so they will crack down on that more... this is what real politics is like, there is no feeling or emotion, there is just governing and issues and trying to do better than the other at it... labour isnt pro migration, all the government see migration as a problem to fix, labour is saying they can fix the problem better... this is politics... problem plus who can fix it better... if benefit fraud is a problem then no party is on your side in stopping benefit fraud measures, both parties will be trying to be the best at tacking the problem, because that is politics... one upping, doing better than the other at fixing the problem.

Familiarity breeds contempt. 

Once a party is in charge, for so long, things will unravel. 

Same is true with Sinn Fein and the ANC. 

That’s what the SNP was 20+ years ago. Now it’s just a cult full of people that don’t even agree with each other and can’t explain their only real policy.

It’s basically a social club for misfits.

I said the party that MOST closely aligns with my personal values. You're right, no party will ever entirely match them, but most of the time I am able to choose one that is close enough.

I believe in equality for all, regardless of social status, gender, sexuality, race or ability, and that some things should be a universal right, like water, food, a home, warmth, education, healthcare and the right to live your life how you wish. I believe we as a society have a responsibility to look after all members of our society, with no qualifications on that.

Those beliefs don't tend to fit well with the Conservatives or their values, or at least haven't so far in my nearly 40 years.

There is a difference between the parties, and as a disabled bisexual woman with a mental health condition, a disabled son, a husband with mental health conditions, and friends and family who are also not generally liked by the Tories, I resent being told that they're all the same because with regards to me and mine, they absolutely aren't.

The Empire call the shots.

SNP is national socialism.
its a nationalist party... that claims to be socialist... its national socialism then?

although they now have a iranian in charge of their party that hates scottish people lmao its pretty weird 

good for the majority the sounds like populism, majority rule, stuff that disfavours minorities which the left are championing above the majority these days as they put minority above majority now as is majority is evil and minority is virtuous

it's not too distinct an idea from Socialism. Which is also believe in.  it's about doing the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people.  So, to use an example.  If one party had a policy of employing one more  nurse than another party, I would vote for that party. As I would be helping to do good.  Think of all the good one Nurse can do in the world.  Then times that Nurse by 100.  All the cancer patients that would be treated.All the elderly that would have someone to hold their hand.  The utility of my vote would help bring that slightly better world into being.  It doesn't bother me that that government will then turn around and do things that I  disagree with. Because why am I so special? I'm just an ant. A part of a collective.

And SNP types here in Scotland, although I think that may be changing now at long last 

yeah i think she only got to that power position anyway because people though she was tough on russia... but turned out she was all talk and she was weak. backing down from any position at the first sight of trouble. she shouldnt have stepped down she should have carried on. in stepping down she proved she was too weak, her tax ideas would have worked, and the latest budget shows that rishi sunak is backpeddling now and trying to do liz trus style tax cuts himself as his tax raise idea has fucked things up for the economy

I hated on Liz Truss (when it was relevant) because she encouraged people to go and fight in Ukraine then when some of those UK fighters were caught and threated with execution by the other side (which didn't actually happen, I was glad to see.) She threw 'em under the bus saying something akin to: "They chose to be there". 

no but i can google it if i wanted to.

but from the word, i can split it up and see the word utility in it and see its likely about either the government functioning and running the utilities we need... or its about using the government as a tool.utility itself?

Every Tory Government will be undermined, by the Elites, as they want LibLab Dictatorship.

but labour and conservatives are side by side copy pasting one another and totally the exact same in every single way... theres no difference, so you cant complain about one party then vote another which is matching that party...

plus parties will never match what you want... do you understand there can be millions of separate policies in politics? ....how can any party truly match and allign with what you want? its impossible, you have more chance of correctly guessing all 6 or 7 of the winning lottery numbers every single day for a entire 4 year term than it is to get a party to ever allign with what you want or even come close to it as the amount of decisions and policies are so vast people cant comprehend how vast it is.... infact the parties dont either as they neglect and leave alot of policies untouched which then gives that effect of every party being the exact same because they are keeping most policies untouched all the time and the same.

i suppose you can dumb it down to focusing on taxation as that directly effects how much money they take off us or allow us to keep.... but yeah, you all hated liz truss who wanted to give us tax cuts and allow us to keep our money, so then that made the ruling party see that hate and think you wanted tax raises instead so they kept our taxs the same and raised it on rich people and businesses think thats what you wanted but then you still criticised that.... to have effective government you need effective criticism and tell them what you want rather than just hate them for the sake of it. but thats what we got, we got a population that doesnt understand politics and sends mixed messages because they vote from hatred rather than from understanding politics.

Especially the Old Labour types, who were politicised in the Early Eighties. They still view Socialism with rose-tinted glasses.

It generally means I have a choice of Labour, the Lib Dems or the Greens, if they're on the ballot, considering my personal beliefs. I've voted for all of them at one point or another. I would very much like proportional representation to come in because a lot of the time it feels like a vote for anyone other than Labour or the Tories () is wasted.

Ditto. I am aligned to no party. I look at the issues, candidates and manifestos each time I vote and make a selection.

One of the biggest problems with our democracy is people who build an identity around a political party then keep voting for them even when it’s clear the party has changed or just run out of ideas.

I vote for the candidate/party that most closely aligns with my personal values, and do my due diligence on them before each election.

I vote because otherwise I have no grounds to complain about what happens in this country. If you're dissatisfied with something then you work to make the change you want.

I'd say that there was a utilitarian case for voting. Are you familiar with Utilitarianism?

I'd say that there was a utilitarian case for voting. Are you familiar with Utilitarianism?

good for the majority the sounds like populism, majority rule, stuff that disfavours minorities which the left are championing above the majority these days as they put minority above majority now as is majority is evil and minority is virtuous

it's not too distinct an idea from Socialism. Which is also believe in.  it's about doing the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people.  So, to use an example.  If one party had a policy of employing one more  nurse than another party, I would vote for that party. As I would be helping to do good.  Think of all the good one Nurse can do in the world.  Then times that Nurse by 100.  All the cancer patients that would be treated.All the elderly that would have someone to hold their hand.  The utility of my vote would help bring that slightly better world into being.  It doesn't bother me that that government will then turn around and do things that I  disagree with. Because why am I so special? I'm just an ant. A part of a collective.

no but i can google it if i wanted to.

but from the word, i can split it up and see the word utility in it and see its likely about either the government functioning and running the utilities we need... or its about using the government as a tool.utility itself?