Reviewing the Coalition

IveSeenTheLight

crash123 wrote: »

Not sure as my area is blue. All I know is that my trade ( antiques and used items) is not good. I know a number of people in other trades that are selling a few things on eBay as their trade is not good so my trade is being squashed. Obviously because of this we are all spending less on other things. I don't have a mortgage or rent but we dine out less and less. Knock on effect on the local economy

Interesting anecdote from a resident living in a Conservative constituency that contradicts the earlier post.

Sapphire

crash123 wrote: »

Not sure as my area is blue. All I know is that my trade ( antiques and used items) is not good. I know a number of people in other trades that are selling a few things on eBay as their trade is not good so my trade is being squashed. Obviously because of this we are all spending less on other things. I don't have a mortgage or rent but we dine out less and less. Knock on effect on the local economy

I think that when it comes to such things as antiques, trade in them is being done increasingly online, and many antiques shops have closed because of this. This has been happening for quite a while (unfortunately).

Ronaldo_Mconaldo

Sapphire wrote: »

What you say is absolutely true. However, given the accusations of 'colonialism' and so on from the champagne socialists/so called humanitarian liberals in this country, I think that any British government is now extremely wary of intervening in situations abroad.

I don't think there could be military intervention Russia without there being a major conflict. The Russians are a hard people, who would not hesitate to go to war. They are not like us.

With regard to migrants, the solution for them lies in their countries of origin, not in Western Europe – and many of the people arriving from Africa are economic migrant, who should be discouraged from coming to the West. European taxpayers cannot afford to bear the burden of this number of people. Our hospitals, for example, are groaning at the seams with the already huge influx of non-indigenous people – in London, I see this regularly with my own eyes. No one is tackling the situation. Instead, poor elderly people, many of whom participated in the Second World War, and paid their taxes throughout their lives, are being shortchanged and used as scapegoats for the shortfalls in the NHS as a result of (to a great extent) immigration.

Thanks for replying to my post. The examples that I gave were just off the top of my head ideas and I wasn't meaning we had to go in all guns blazing to deal with them. Look at Russia and how the leaders of France and Germany went to meet Putin to tell him to knock it off. It may not have had an effect and it may not have been the right thing to do but at least they did something, we have done barely anything in that situation.

I think it is important that we make sure that we are highly regarded on the world stage. I really can't think of any example in the last five years where we've even got involved in sorting anything out. The vote over action in Syria ended in disaster for me and made it look like we're terrified to get involved.

Terrorism and war aren't going to pass us by because we don't have the money or nerve to get involved.

Generali

crash123 wrote: »

Not sure as my area is blue. All I know is that my trade ( antiques and used items) is not good. I know a number of people in other trades that are selling a few things on eBay as their trade is not good so my trade is being squashed. Obviously because of this we are all spending less on other things. I don't have a mortgage or rent but we dine out less and less. Knock on effect on the local economy

But is that because the economy is bad or because retail has fundamentally changed. I bet American blacksmiths were complaining about the economy in the 1920s while the economy was going gangbusters.

princeofpounds

Interesting thread all, though I have to admit that it kind of proves the original point given the main apparent failing of the coalition seems to have been pressure on the antiques dealers industry...

Interestingly, it seems the electorate have voted in that way more than anyone expected.

I do however feel a bit sorry for the lib dems, who have been beaten up for doing the right thing by the country and have been sacrificed in the tactical fight against a new socialist labour/snp front

michaels

Very disappointed, I was by far more a fan of the coalition than any party and would have preferred to see it continue to a tory majority. Still better than a labour snp coalition I guess.

bugslet

Generali wrote: »

But is that because the economy is bad or because retail has fundamentally changed. I bet American blacksmiths were complaining about the economy in the 1920s while the economy was going gangbusters.

Everyone I know in my sector of haulage, both in general and my niche, are extremely busy and we are only busy if people are selling and buying in some form.

princeofpounds

Very disappointed, I was by far more a fan of the coalition than any party and would have preferred to see it continue to a tory majority. Still better than a labour snp coalition I guess.

I think the electorate in general kind of had a similar sentiment to your latter sentence, given the lib dem -> conservative swing.

michaels

princeofpounds wrote: »

I think the electorate in general kind of had a similar sentiment to your latter sentence, given the lib dem -> conservative swing.

I'd love to see the Tories reaching out to the LDs and offering to continue the coalition but I can't see them being that big - shame the LDs don't have another 5 seats which would make them big enough to give Cameron some leverage against the right wing of his party.

princeofpounds

I'd love to see the Tories reaching out to the LDs and offering to continue the coalition but I can't see them being that big

Actually I think many senior Tories would be quite happy with that, if only Clegg remained as leader (which he won't).


But actually I think it is much more an issue of Lib Dem refusal. Coalition is now perceived as a poisoned chalice and I'm not sure they would ever agree to give it another go.


Which I think is partially a mis-reading of what really happened to the Lib Dems, but that's how it will be seen.


Any opposition party is perfectly entitled to support the government on specific measures anyway... they just generally don't, even if they might technically agree more than disagree.