Is the uk just now into a cycle of constant elections? I thought the torys had a strong majority for tye next 5 years or something?

Has politics finally eaten itself?

I think if we're involving swords, we need some watery tart to hand them out.

I don’t buy that we’ll have another GE this year. Surely even the Tories can’t think that rolling the dice for the fourth time in eight years has no chance of coming back and biting them on the arse, and for what? Johnson’s got a chunky enough majority that he can see off pretty much any rebellion from his own MPs, at best he’s adding two more years on to the end of that. There’s very little to gain here and a lot to lose.

Yossarian wrote:

I don’t buy that we’ll have another GE this year. Surely even the Tories can’t think that rolling the dice for the fourth time in eight years has no chance of coming back and biting them on the arse, and for what? Johnson’s got a chunky enough majority that he can see off pretty much any rebellion from his own MPs, at best he’s adding two more years on to the end of that. There’s very little to gain here and a lot to lose.

I'm just musing.

But, things are in an odd place right now. If supermarkets shelves are conspicuously emptied, with no good reason (because the EU exit is no good reason), an election could be the least chaotic event in the next 3 months.

I've just read they're culling pigs and burying them now, because David Cameron has retired and is refusing to wank them off.

poprock wrote:

But is that £20k pa with no housing costs or utility bills because you’re accommodated on base?

Basic starting salary for a soldier is about £20k. Single Living Accomodation charges will be deducted from that. Those soldiers that are married/have a family will probably be in Service Families Accommodation, which does have subsidised rent, but all other bills are paid as normal.

GooberTheHat wrote:

poprock wrote:

But is that £20k pa with no housing costs or utility bills because you’re accommodated on base?

Basic starting salary for a soldier is about £20k. Single Living Accomodation charges will be deducted from that. Those soldiers that are married/have a family will probably be in Service Families Accommodation, which does have subsidised rent, but all other bills are paid as normal.

Reminds me of the fire strikes back in 2002/2003. We were deployed to cover the fire service for far less money and with much worse equipment (including protective equipment).

Now.

You've got your orders standing fuel on sight
Your finger's on the trigger but it don't stream right

The Freudian slip at the very end is the icing on the cake really.

I saw that graph kicking around this morning, shared by quite a few staff from the University of Glasgow. Nice to see a bit of the context around it.

Generally I don’t think the study and analysis are telling us anything we don’t already know, but it’s important to be getting recent hard data to back up gut feelings: People who mistrust authority won’t listen if/when the authorities try to help them. The same knowledge has been at the back of lots of NHS messaging around preventative treatments and vaccinations for decades.

Also things like old people staying while young people leaving for opportunity.

Maybe it suggests that Johnson’s position in the referendum was a token influence.

poprock wrote:

People who are struggling economically are less likely to trust (and follow instructions from) the authorities who have not delivered for them in the past.

I mean, you’re both right. There are a million factors feeding into the big picture of this sort of stuff.

But they are also more likely to live and work in places that are more crowded and less able to social distance. They also rely more on public transport and are less likely to be able to work remotely.