09-18-2025, 07:44 AM
(09-18-2025, 05:54 AM)Shabby Russian Wrote:(09-16-2025, 10:33 AM)Tom Joad Wrote: DH certainly doesn't need my support on anything but I fully understand his point about the disenfranchised looking for easy answers to complicated problems. The issue of making family homes into HMOs is (and I have worked on maintenance of many of them) massively unpopular among the neighbours. Whether used for asylum seekers or not. Apart from normally being unsuitable, there are often issues of overloaded drains, excess rubbish, anti social behaviour and numerous other things. A good landlord can ease these problems but in my experience, they are all about keeping the money. Then there is the argument I hear all the time, 'our xxxx can't afford to buy, can't afford to rent privately and has been on the waiting list 5 years'.
Of course, the actual answers require a long term joined up plan which will take a long time, meanwhile as Derek says, just throw people some hope that things will be moving in the right direction. Otherwise, Reform will go on giving out easy answers.
But they are not disenfranchised. They have a vote like everyone else.
That they may not use it or vote for people who do not have their best interests at heart, does not mean they are disenfranchised.
They may be disengaged, but not disenfranchised.
Arguably they're more franchised under FPTP than the lefties who's votes are predominantly stacked in Labour safe seats, so their single vote carries more weight.

