Dilemma

[chaggle]

I have been thinking about who I might vote for in the next election.

Tories - No - they are forcing through Brexit at whatever cost.
Labour - No - They are with the Tories on this one.
UKIP
SNP - OK but unlikely to field a candidate in Somerset.
Lib Dems - the obvious choice.

But remember this?

From the ASA - ruling on a prayer group in Bath...

The ads must not appear again in their current form. We told HOTS not to make claims which stated or implied that, by receiving prayer from their volunteers, people could be healed of medical conditions. We also told them not to refer in their ads to medical conditions for which medical supervision should be sought.

And this?

http://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/n ... eal-ad-ban

We are writing on behalf of the all-party Christians in Parliament group in Westminster and your ruling that the Healing On The Streets ministry in Bath are no longer able to claim, in their advertising, that God can heal people from medical conditions.

We write to express our concern at this decision and to enquire about the basis on which it has been made. It appears to cut across two thousand years of Christian tradition and the very clear teaching in the Bible. Many of us have seen and experienced physical healing ourselves in our own families and churches and wonder why you have decided that this is not possible.

On what scientific research or empirical evidence have you based this decision?

You might be interested to know that I (Gary Streeter) received divine healing myself at a church meeting in 1983 on my right hand, which was in pain for many years. After prayer at that meeting, my hand was immediately free from pain and has been ever since. What does the ASA say about that? I would be the first to accept that prayed for people do not always get healed, but sometimes they do. That is all this sincere group of Christians in Bath are claiming.

It is interesting to note that since the traumatic collapse of the footballer Fabrice Muamba the whole nation appears to be praying for a physical healing for him. I enclose some media extracts. Are they wrong also and will you seek to intervene?

We invite your detailed response to this letter and unless you can persuade us that you have reached your ruling on the basis of indisputable scientific evidence, we intend to raise this matter in Parliament.

Yours sincerely,

Gary Streeter MP (Con)
Chair, Christians in Parliament

Gavin Shuker MP (Labour)
Vice Chair, Christians in Parliament

Tim Farron (Lib-Dem)
Vice Chair, Christians in Parliament

Could I vote for someone who would put his name to such nonsense??

[Tony.Williams]

I will be facing the same dilemma.

When Farron first came to public attention I thought he was refreshingly honest, but I've found myself out of step with him on a lot of issues and he seems to me to be too lightweight to inspire confidence.

If the national parties do not enthuse, I tend to drop back to the local scene. I did make the mistake before the 2010 election of going to a local hustings to see all of the candidates debating the issues of the day. My overall reaction was one of dismay, because I wouldn't have offered a job to any of them, with the possible exception of one - who eventually won the election, and seems to have been a good constituency MP since then. The problem is, he's a Tory....

[Abdul Alhazred]

Hmm.

As a foreigner (by courtesy assumed to be greasy and garlic breathing) I don't have any advice.

But supposing one simply accepted Brexit as a done deal? Would there be a party that otherwise you like? Or is that not even a meaningful question.

Full disclosure: I did not vote in the last US election.

[chaggle]

TBH I can't see either Labour or the Lib Dems getting anywhere at all so that only leaves one winner - the Conservatives, which is worrying - and that's from someone who has voted Tory in the past.

This country needs a serious and effective opposition.

[Croydon13013]

But supposing one simply accepted Brexit as a done deal? Would there be a party that otherwise you like? Or is that not even a meaningful question.

This is an extremely important issue and lies at the heart of the current mess.

If you take Brexit out of the equation then the LibDumbs would be irrelevant and it would simply be a question of how Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party are doing against the Conservative government (and against the SNP in Scotland). Although UKIP complicate this a bit, assuming that Brexit is a done deal and with Paul Nutter as the leader then they are probably also irrelevant.

With a third of Conservative voters having voted remain, and a third of Labour voters having voted to leave, both parties are trying to muddle a position that keeps both sides on board. So far the Tories seem to have succeeded and Labour have, at least partially, alienated both sides. Neither party wants to take one side only, as the LibDumbs (and UKIP and the SNP) have done.

[Croydon13013]

TBH I can't see either Labour or the Lib Dems getting anywhere at all so that only leaves one winner - the Conservatives, which is worrying - and that's from someone who has voted Tory in the past.

This country needs a serious and effective opposition.

I don't see the point of having an opposition if they're not going to oppose. UKIP, LibDems and the Blairite wing of the Labour Party won't do what needs doing to sort out the NHS, funding crisis in Local Govt, Transport, etc. If people don't want a Corbynite Labour Party in power then we may as well have the Tories.