Ed Miliband. Hero or Bellend?

[Aoami]

Isn't the falling value of the pound a significant factor in energy prices? Caused by the Bank of England printing lots of lovely money?

Are high energy prices really that much of a problem, compared to, say, buying a cheap house, or paying for childcare? A couple of hundred quid saved on an annual household budget isn't really worth all this discussion IMO.

I was a bit annoyed at this being the headline grabber from the speech when he addressed much more important issues such as the ones you mentioned. I assume it was designed that way, so it would get all the headlines. Seems a strange strategy to me.

 

[Job]

Fuel costs are high..but its not like its a total necessity..most people sit in their houses in the winter wearing t shirts and take baths and showers everyday..have the fire on as well cos it looks cosy ..light up the whole fuckin house with those ridiculous downlighters at 55w each and them moan.about fuel bills.

 

[Gwadien]

Is it not sort of irrelevant what the guy's like? - since everyone could vote, it's been a case of; My life is hard, lets vote for Labour.. My life is pretty good now, lets vote for the Tories and rinse repeat, I think the characteristics of politicians is somewhat redundant.

 

[rynnor]

Fuel costs are high..but its not like its a total necessity..most people sit in their houses in the winter wearing t shirts and take baths and showers everyday..have the fire on as well cos it looks cosy ..light up the whole fuckin house with those ridiculous downlighters at 55w each and them moan.about fuel bills.

It depends on the health of the individual - things like asthma/arthritis etc. really don't tolerate cold air very well so some people don't have much choice. You can adjust to cooler temperatures but the thickening of the blood is not good for cardiac conditions - one reason why death rates are higher in the winter.

 

[Raven]

People need to man up a little

 

[Job]

You can lose weight by turning down your heating...the body just burns more calories to make up the difference.

 

[mr.Blacky]

It depends on the health of the individual - things like asthma/arthritis etc. really don't tolerate cold air very well so some people don't have much choice. You can adjust to cooler temperatures but the thickening of the blood is not good for cardiac conditions - one reason why death rates are higher in the winter.

The increases in winter deaths are odd. For example Kuwait or Hong Kong also have very similar increases in deaths in the winter and Hong Kong only has on average a 7 degree swing in temperature.

 

[rynnor]

The increases in winter deaths are odd. For example Kuwait or Hong Kong also have very similar increases in deaths in the winter and Hong Kong only has on average a 7 degree swing in temperature.

I guess people are highly attuned to the prevailing temperature - it just needs to drop enough to trigger the 'thicken blood' response.

 

[Gumbo]

You have to die of something.

 

[rynnor]

You have to die of something.

Dieing in a cold house has little appeal personally.

 

[Gumbo]

Dying of anything has little appeal, but we're making people live so much longer in so many ways at some point things will start to give. This is completely for another thread really but there's been a jumble of thoughts in my head recently about the affordability of 'stuff' on a massive societal scale going forward. We can keep people alive for so long, and it costs so much in so many ways. What are we achieving, besides finding new ways to keep people alive, sat in parker knolls watching Bargain Hunt, desperately striving for one more birthday? There's an elephant in the room which my generation can probably not worry about, but the next probably should and it isn't global warming.

 

[Raven]

Yep, from a purely logical standpoint, we can't carry everyone we just don't (currently) have the resources. Pensions are at breaking point, care for the elderly is at breaking point to the point that it is making it more difficult to care for young productive members of society.

When my Granddad passed away a few years ago he was ready to go, my Gran had died a few years previously and he had nothing left to do but sit around watching crap on TV and waiting for bedtime. I don't think he would have appreciated being kept alive just because we can.

Old people die, of all sorts of things. Young people die of all sorts of things. It is a simple fact of life.

 

[Gumbo]

I started a new thread to stop this one derailing https://forums.freddyshouse.com/threads/were-all-dying-of-something-just-not-yet.250479/. This one ought to be kept purely for mocking the idiocy of Milliband.

 

[BloodOmen]

He's a pompous little scrotum faced goit.

 

[Gumbo]

He's a pompous little scrotum faced goit.

There we go, right back on track.

 

[Chilly]

Not yet, but energy prices are expected to rise significantly as a percentage of disposable income over the next 10-15 years (because the UK has an energy-generation gap on the horizon); which was my point in an early post; fucking about with the retail end is missing the point.

They've just been doing that already for the last 15 years. Petrol, gas and electricity have all gone up hugely.

 

[Bodhi]

We're doubly fucked now the UN have decided that all the Global Warming which isn't happening is all our fault. My memory may be failing me here, but when I studied science at uni I don't recall the last stage of any scientific process being getting 100+ politicians to review your report to make sure it fit in with their plans to tax the living fuck out of everyone.

Of course I could be wrong. Pretty sure I'm not though.

 

[rynnor]

On Milliband himself I find him a little confusing - though he seems the usual slave of public opinion that all modern politicians have become he does seem to have some actual beliefs in reforming the labour party and its relations with the unions. None of what he has done has been to his own benefit yet he has continued to push it - it seems he really does believe (deluded or not) that union members freed from automatic membership will actually sign up to join the labour party?

 

[rynnor]

We're doubly fucked now the UN have decided that all the Global Warming which isn't happening is all our fault. My memory may be failing me here, but when I studied science at uni I don't recall the last stage of any scientific process being getting 100+ politicians to review your report to make sure it fit in with their plans to tax the living fuck out of everyone.

Of course I could be wrong. Pretty sure I'm not though.

That's because you studied a science - not political science

 

[Bigmac]

They're all bellends always looking out for no 1 instead of the people.

 

[rynnor]

They're all bellends always looking out for no 1 instead of the people.

That may be a good thing - those who have a plan for the people tend to be dictators.

 

[MYstIC G]

I think he stands for a strong swing to the left. 5 years of austerity under a Tory government and a swing to the left could be exactly what the public are craving and we'll see more lefty policies announced over the next couple of years.

that's because the public are, frankly, stupid.

 

[Lamp]

I like the idea of Ed Millibland, but as a political product, it doesn't work for me. Labour stopped being the party of the working classes years ago. All the political parties right now are shite. So are the politicians. The few decent MPs around don't get enough air-time.

What we need is an alternative party. A party with ordinary common sense policies appealing to the ordinary voter. People want policies they can relate to, not wishy-washy soundbites. Eg - reduction of the cost of fuel on the forecourts, a reduction in electric/gas/water, control over immigration, scrap all the money being wasted in the NHS, keep police stations open 24/7, more sensible & consistent sentencing for criminals, etc

 

[MYstIC G]

people also don't want to pay for the things in life that they want, that's the problem.

 

[Aoami]

Most people don't have enough money to pay for anything they want. Easy to say 'people should work harder' but plenty of people work extremely hard for absolutely shit money.

 

[MYstIC G]

Most people don't have enough money to pay for anything they want. Easy to say 'people should work harder' but plenty of people work extremely hard for absolutely shit money.

And always will. The deck is stacked and always will be. It's a shit world but Ed Miliband certainly isn't going to change it.

 

[Tom]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlTggc0uBA8

 

[Gwadien]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlTggc0uBA8

Get around the what and put aside the what? and who's been let down? and how has the Government acted?

 

[GReaper]

Given some of the idiotic policies currently being implemented/suggested by the current government, it should be reasonably easy to rip them apart and suggest credible alternatives.

Ed is uncharismatic, and comes out with equally idiotic policies half the time.

 

[Hawkwind]

If he's the best alternative as a leader of the UK then best stick with what we have.