Originally posted by LondonManc
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Too soon to vote any way at the moment.
This next election could be the biggest abstention ever - does there have to be a certain percentage turnout for the election to be classed as legal?
The problem is at the moment neither party offer a decent solution to the country's problems. We're propping up more and more people (as per the social spend budget) and there is less and less cash flowing into government pockets.
Mauve Monkey is right, the boomers and their final salary pensions will kill a lot off, along with them generally shuffling off their mortal coils far later than they should do. Tories need to find this final salary money from somewhere to pay for the boomer vote at the next two elections. Meanwhile, the genuine grafters have nobody to vote for. We need the general infrastructure that a socialist government would back but a genuine capitalist market on top of that, rather than some non-competitive semi-communist third-world headed lead balloon that we'd end up with Komrade Korbyn. Lib Dems are busy contemplating their navels and with the right policies and propaganda, UKIP could make some serious ground in the next election.
There's a gap in the market for a good right-wing, non-racist party to appreciate that a good infrastructure build with plenty of employment would potentially become self-funding through tax income from the workers, in addition to taking them off the social support budget.
Get the railway infrastructure up to scratch with a rail-freight network that would take HGVs off the road. That in turn would reduce damage to motorways and reduce congestion on them. Extend the M6 Toll up from Cannock to the M56 with a single major drop-off junction at the A500 near Stoke. Look at the speed limit and shove it. On longer stretches of motorway, up it to 80mph. A trial on the M6 from the M55 to Lancaster for example to see what happens. Modern cars are capable of higher speeds and improved breaking distances - perhaps have a ten-year age limit or some other measure to indicate what cars are allowed to do 80.
Continue looking at HS2, but also look in the meantime at the feasibility of running a dedicated priority Virgin Pendalino from Euston to Manchester non-stop. It currently runs at 2hr 7mins with 3-4 stops; treat it like Gordon on the Isle of Sodor and have it as the mainline priority with other trains getting out of its way and you're looking at a train that can do 125mph no problem, meaning that it could do Euston to Manchester in about 1hr 38min, eventually dropping to 1hr 8mins for HS2.
So much could be done to improve the rest of the country but we've got a Westminster bubble to protect so unfortunately it's not happening.
This next election could be the biggest abstention ever - does there have to be a certain percentage turnout for the election to be classed as legal?
The problem is at the moment neither party offer a decent solution to the country's problems. We're propping up more and more people (as per the social spend budget) and there is less and less cash flowing into government pockets.
Mauve Monkey is right, the boomers and their final salary pensions will kill a lot off, along with them generally shuffling off their mortal coils far later than they should do. Tories need to find this final salary money from somewhere to pay for the boomer vote at the next two elections. Meanwhile, the genuine grafters have nobody to vote for. We need the general infrastructure that a socialist government would back but a genuine capitalist market on top of that, rather than some non-competitive semi-communist third-world headed lead balloon that we'd end up with Komrade Korbyn. Lib Dems are busy contemplating their navels and with the right policies and propaganda, UKIP could make some serious ground in the next election.
There's a gap in the market for a good right-wing, non-racist party to appreciate that a good infrastructure build with plenty of employment would potentially become self-funding through tax income from the workers, in addition to taking them off the social support budget.
Get the railway infrastructure up to scratch with a rail-freight network that would take HGVs off the road. That in turn would reduce damage to motorways and reduce congestion on them. Extend the M6 Toll up from Cannock to the M56 with a single major drop-off junction at the A500 near Stoke. Look at the speed limit and shove it. On longer stretches of motorway, up it to 80mph. A trial on the M6 from the M55 to Lancaster for example to see what happens. Modern cars are capable of higher speeds and improved breaking distances - perhaps have a ten-year age limit or some other measure to indicate what cars are allowed to do 80.
Continue looking at HS2, but also look in the meantime at the feasibility of running a dedicated priority Virgin Pendalino from Euston to Manchester non-stop. It currently runs at 2hr 7mins with 3-4 stops; treat it like Gordon on the Isle of Sodor and have it as the mainline priority with other trains getting out of its way and you're looking at a train that can do 125mph no problem, meaning that it could do Euston to Manchester in about 1hr 38min, eventually dropping to 1hr 8mins for HS2.
So much could be done to improve the rest of the country but we've got a Westminster bubble to protect so unfortunately it's not happening.
As for ideas, well, I bet if you were either a senior civil servant or head of a global business (in particular in the financial arena) and whispered into his ear that it might be a good idea to tax self employed people at the top rate, then I think that might just occur 
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