Hahahaha.
You're priceless Woody. Asked to come clean on your political beliefs, values and principles, you once again just double down.
What on earth are you on about?
Nobody has asked about my political beliefs and other than engaging in a bit of debate on here from time to time, I don't feel the need to ram them down everyone's throat ad nauseam, unlike a few on here, you being a prime example.
FYI, I am probably a right-leaning centrist. I have voted Tory in every past GE however given their shambolic handling of Brexit, hapless management of Covid and scandalous misuse of public funds in matters like PPE procurement, I will not be voting for them next time. I do not want to be represented by charlatans like Boris Johnson, anachronistic oddballs like Rees-Mogg, nor those out of their depth like Priti Patel. These people are just the flipside of Corbyn/McDonnell/Abbott as far as I am concerned. My own (Tory) MP, who I've met a number of times and am in pretty regularly touch with, is a good guy, and I'm sure he's not the only one, but sadly he does not seem destined for any positions of responsibility.
I was actually sufficiently disaffected with the Tories to have wanted to vote Labour at the last GE but did not feel inclined to vote for Corbyn and his loony lefty mob. The dashing Sir Keir would however definitely get my vote, as he and those around him appear a great deal more reasonable than the Momentum bullies who swept the completely unsuitable Corbyn to the leadership. Hopefully, a return towards the centre ground on the left would see a similar movement over time from the Tories.
I greatly dislike the increasingly polarised nature of a lot of politics, but recognise that a lot of this is driven by people at either extreme who have far too much to say for themselves and are far too easily amplified by social media these days. So I'm happy to look at things in as much detail as I'd like to and make up my own mind, interjecting only when I think I can add something of value or when I think something needs saying to peg back one of the noisy lunatic fringe people, whether they're on the left or right side of the equation.
In other news, I was a "Remain" voter, though did so after a lot of research and reflection and found it a tough decision, much less clear cut than many seem to think. I dislike racism and most other forms of discrimination (not all that arsed about all this new trans stuff, tbh). I sympathise with the various anti-racism campaigns but would prefer they used their platforms to educate us on more specific issues and objectives. I care about and campaign for the environment, particularly the countryside. I am a Capitalist, but would like to see some of the more rampant piss-taking in terms of corporate tax avoidance addressed, and would not like to see a repeat of how the banks were allowed to behave previously. I believe we should be looking after our poor and vulnerable, but not those who take advantage of the support meant for the more deserving. I don't have strong opinions on many of the conflicts going on around the world, nor do I seek out the opinions of others in respect of those.
There we go. I'm sure nobody else will be remotely interested in all that, but now I've got it all off my chest, do you feel more comfortable with me chipping in from time to time?