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There's elements of good points in what Fairy has to say in between the sporadic Mail/Sun front page shite about champagne socialism and Muslims raping every child in Rochdale. Before Brexit caused a quake down the middle of society, we were ticking over reasonably well under the centrist governments of Blair and then Cameron. Under our system having a bit of Labour then a bit of Tory every few years probably keeps us in equilibrium between the economy just about surviving without there being too much inequality. Getting a decade of one party tends to cause problems though, especially when they've gone as far left and right as they seem to have now. I think it's an undeniable fact that when people start hitting their mid 30s, with a solid career and a family, they start to think more about what they want their money to go towards and move towards a more Conservative mindset. We need to separate the majority of these people who are interested in leaving enough money behind for their kids to have a start in life from the elitist billionaires who wouldn't notice the extra money getting taxed from them. It makes a very real difference to people earning in the £30k to £50k region being able to keep a bit more money each month if they've got a couple of kids. That's a few grand over the course of a few years and you might end up needing it for any number of different reasons or emergencies. I think a major difference in our generation is housing prices. For our parents' generation, there was a natural progression where you get your job and start saving up for a house, which was realistic even when you were earning a mediocre salary. Now the majority of workers in their 20s are faced with the reality that even if they're on £30k and they save sensible, they aren't going to be able to afford a house for 15-20 years, so if there's a little bit more tax to nibble away at those savings, as long as they're comfortable enough day to day then they probably aren't as bothered about that money going to the NHS or schools because saving up for a mortgage seems so unrealistic anyway. If this was 30 years ago when nearly anyone could save up and buy a house by their early-mid-30s then it would probably piss you off more because the house is in sight and the government pinching more of your money is slowing you down from achieving a realistic goal. I'm in a different situation on the Isle of Man where getting to that mortgage is more achievable for a variety of reasons but I'm in the lucky minority. Fundamentally, I agree with meritocracy, and fundamentally, having a system where everyone keeps their money and pays for whatever goods, education and health they need is probably the most fair, in theory, but that relies on there being no outliers such as disabled people, others who are unable to work, an economy which doesn't change causing jobs to disappear in some sectors and crop up in others. In its own way, it's just as idealistic as communism or marxism. Obviously we're talking about two total extremes here and the real world moves across a spectrum. I don't live in England anymore so I can't vote. I mean I could make a postal vote in Chorley where I used to live but the Speaker occupies that seat now so there isn't any point in me going through the effort. I know that I would vote Labour (or Green in a proportional system where it would be worthwhile) even when I'm earning a more handsome salary in my 30s and 40s. Yes, part of this is because I'm a teacher and employed by the public sector, but it goes beyond that. If I won millions of pounds on the lottery, I would probably give each of my family members about £100k, keep a few of those for myself and my future kids and then put the rest to good work wherever I could. What brings me happiness is being healthy and my friends and family being healthy. Having enough money to make a living and never have to worry about cash flow is all I need from money to be happy. I don't buy new cars, I'm happy with my average Ford Fiesta, I don't splash out on holidays though when I have a family I'd probably want to be able to afford one or two a year. Beyond that, more money won't make me more happy. Other people struggling because they can't afford the things they need makes me unhappy though, even if I don't know them, and even if it's their own fault, because I believe people deserve another chance to get back on the ladder. I'm fundamentally a liberal person and I could quite easily have gone into accountancy or been an actuary instead of a teacher, be earning £50k a year already, and I would still say all of this, and act on it too. There's nothing tribal about my opinions. My parents are Conservative-leaning, my Dad more than my Mum who's a bit more open to both sides, but they haven't had to think about voting in the UK since way before I was born because they've lived over here. My grandparents on my Mum's side were definite Conservative voters back in their time living across, although that was a very different Conservative party to the one in front of us today. I make my own mind up and while it's inescapable that the majority of the country probably end up voting based on what they're surrounded by while they're growing up. I respect anyone else who makes their own mind up as well. Other minor points: I don't think you can hold it against the residents of Liverpool for standing together in favour of Labour for countless reasons over the years. There are still thousands of people there who vote Conservative as well though, they just get dominated by the Labour voters. Nobody needs to call anyone a rabid lefty bastard or a right-wing fascist. I think most of us would agree that the toxicity around right vs left these days is almost as bad as "the other side" getting into power, if not worse. I know passions run high but whatever the results are tonight, it's less important than trying to heal the divisions that have made their way from parliament into everyday life more than I've ever experienced. Didn't intend to waffle on quite this much...

Being a right wing party is easy as taking a piss. Don't have to work on helping the country at all as long as you capitalise on a culture that is extremely willing to blame everything on something they're ignorant and insecure of. Manipulation and smear campaigns is all you need.

This was just pulled from Walmart Canada - hilarious jumper though, I'd buy one

If Labour had a better leader this would be much closer. Absolute embarrassment.

Would Labour have done any better if they went full Leave or full Remain though? Unfortunately, this looks like the end of Corbyn. At least it gives Labour the opportunity to return to the centre ground again, which the Conservatives have vacated.

Following this advice Though will stay up to see who wins the race between Newcastle and Sunderland that happens every election

I thought being an Everton fan would be more than enough masochism for one person.

If this is a symptom of something wrong it should be met with empathy and concern, not ridicule. Member of Parliament is just a job.

Echo what Mike says here. He's young and has talent I think that's what everyone can see. How Klopp uses him and what he wants from him as part of the team is something no one will know right now and only time will tell. Keep in mind that this deal needs to be acted on sooner rather than later because I feel like come the summer his valuation will go much higher depending on how they do in the Europa League too.

Just wanted to break up the tension with a picture of this cutie as part of #DogsAtPollingStations. As you were...

He was very good at Anfield and had spells in the game on Tuesday. I don't know enough about him to judge him based off just those two games but I'm sure Klopp and his team will have done their homework if they do go for him. At £7m you can't really go wrong though

@Devil-Dick Willie watching the new Hobbit movie in Pakistan

So apparently Minamino has a release clause of just €7.25m. Get him in!!

Wish I had a job where I could take Friday off as I'd like to see things unfold but I'll probably make it until about 2am before I pack it in. It's a bit mental the timings of it all. Better if they opened the polls from midday to midday the next day, counted the votes in the afternoon and had the results as people get home from work.

I'm in agreement about Ancelotti. Think he's about due a stint in China or somewhere now. Think his best days are very much behind him.

@Fairy In Boots where do you copy and paste your posts from ? I saw on FoxesTalk someone mentioned the exact same first 3 lines that they'd seen from another forum. So copied one of the lines in to Google... https://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?61422-General-Election-2019-Boris-Poll-Dancing/page38#.XfFoLGT7RPY https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/off_belay/what_no_jon_ashworth_thread-713440 https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1204521836874227712.html https://millwall-forum.vitalfootball.co.uk/threads/boris-and-the-sick-4-year-old-kid.39713/page-7 https://www.facebook.com/LBC/posts/im-still-a-bit-undecided-about-my-vote-direction-this-coming-thursdayive-obvious/10157745977861558/ Seems a bit odd you'd do it word for word as well

Yeah the Labour Party don't understand economics when it's the Tories who have had 9 years to serve us up stagnant economic growth, increased poverty, worse inequality, a downgraded credit rating, a weakening of the pound, the list goes on. They're both as bad as each other. I pray that we get a hung parliament on Thursday and that something mental happens like the Queen coming in and saying no more fucking elections for the next 5 years, you can sit in the House of Commons and find a way to run the country together like grown ups. Labour ministers gobbing off about Corbyn in private, Tory (probably Russian) bots spreading fake news on social media and the prime minister hiding in a fridge, what a sensational election campaign this has been on all sides. Literally every party looks worse by the day. Farage can't make his mind up on who to support, the SNP think now is the time to push for independence again, Labour could probably have won this election if they'd changed their leader, the Lib Dems had an open goal with campaigning as the party of Remain and have somehow managed to make no ground, and the Tories have resorted to Trumpian gutter tactics and hiding from scrutiny. I don't want any of these parties to win a majority so Thursday is about supporting everything Red, Yellow, Orange, Green and any other colour but Blue to stop the only majority that can happen. Have your second referendum, get Brexit done by chucking the cunt in the bin and try and restore some normality. Too bad all of this is a complete pipe dream but it would be lovely to see both of the major parties rip up their current blueprint. I used to groan during the days of thinking Labour and Conservative were two fairly similar shades of grey but this extremism on both sides is an awful lot worse.

Congrats on the clean bill of health, but what about the fact the NHS negotiates drug prices for the UK - whereas in the US it's insurance companies negotiating those drug prices. And the result is... health care ends up being significantly cheaper overall in the UK (and in all countries that have public healthcare services, when compared to the US). Did you know that in the US, ambulances cost money for the person who needs an ambulance? To the point where people will turn down ambulances because they don't want to drop 5 grand. Also look at the biggest cause of bankruptcy in the United States. 2/3 of US bankruptcies are due to medical bills. It's a fucked situation where people sometimes just turn down their treatment because it's just less of a hassle to die and have money to pass on to your family than it is to get treatment. Getting rid of NHS is tacitly telling the working class: 1.) be healthy at all times, 2.) if you aren't healthy, be prepared to go broke, 3.) if you aren't prepared to go broke, prepare to die. 1 is unreasonable, 2 is also unreasonable and morally questionable, 3 is unreasonable and morally abhorrent. And if we follow the US model further, we're talking about a pretty large expense that businesses will be taking on. Benefits packages are how businesses attract good workers - getting rid of NHS means one of the most highly sought after benefits will be healthcare coverage. What that generally means in the US is your employer subsidises your health insurance. Businesses that can afford it will have to expend a significant amount of money that could go towards: hiring more workers, R&D, marketing, you know... shit that makes businesses money and drives the economy. That's why even a Koch-brothers backed US conservative think tank actually found that the Bernie Sanders' plan for something similar to NHS - https://theintercept.com/2018/07/30/medicare-for-all-cost-health-care-wages/ It also means that part of your wages are deducted to cover the remaining portion of the insurance. Personally, I fucking hate this. I'm paid pretty well and I hate seeing my money go twice a week to something that I'm most likely not going to be using more than once a year (yearly checkup)… unless something bad happens to me - which so far has happened twice with a drink driver hitting me while I was on a motorcycle and when I severed my tendon. And I'm thankful I had health insurance because of those two incidents otherwise I'd probably be in any condition to even be sat here at my desk typing on a keyboard... but I think I'd have been more thankful if the US a public option which meant an overall cheaper experience through those medical nightmares & higher wages for me twice a month (because if you read what that Koch think tank found, it found greater savings for businesses, indicating workers would have higher wages on average). We get rid of NHS and we're going to have the same problems the US has with it's healthcare industry. But in a country where overall the wages are lower and the cost of living is higher - and these issues are probably why people, regardless of partisan affiliation are feeling fed up with the overall system. Because at the end of the day, the primary benefit the NHS confers on all UK citizens (regardless of whether if they use private health or not) is the significantly lower drug prices than you'd find in the US. And you'd be asking British businesses to either clog up resources (which isn't very "business friendly Conservative" of you) or to not give a toss about the health of their workers (which is advocating for shite business sense). The most compelling argument for the UK being rid of the NHS is that you've got shares in American pharmaceutical giants and you want to make a killing, in that regard. Otherwise, it just seems to be a way to make more problems in the UK and it'll negatively impact those that are already feeling most left behind and betrayed by the government.

I officially have a crush on the prime minister of Finland.

Because of the snow I thought it was pre-season testing in Barcelona, but then I saw the Fosters ad. It's not Melbourne is it? Silverstone perhaps? Must be 2005 (or 6)? Alonso the driver of course.

Unreal. What a football team

When @Stan gets into an argument

Just found an interesting statistic concerning awarded penalties during the last 10 seasons. Who would've thought that?