If you were Prime Minister tomorrow...

Ed_

So now that there is a vacancy being advertised at number 10 Downing Street and the final two candidates are making their pitch as to what their priorities are, I thought it would be interesting to see what the community would prioritise if they were to become prime minister tomorrow.

So this is a fairly simple thread, politicians often talk about their first 100 days in the role, and I am interested to hear what are the 3 things you would pledge to achieve in your first 100 days as Prime Minister...

Owl

if I wanted to get elected...

• cut taxes
• way more money for NHS, free tuition for medical qualifications, higher wages, with money I've magically found despite cutting taxes
• make vague and unspecific plans to fix the economy using a former prime minister who didn't fix the economy as my role model

but when i've got voted in and can do whatever I want for 5 years with no consequences, i'd:

• make our country the one with the fastest shrinking wages in the G7
• make rules and then break them and then say the rules were confusing when I spent years telling everyone they're easy to follow
• lose the country 1.5 bn a week when I promised an extra 350 mn a week, but celebrate it as one of my greatest achievements and people will actually eat it up

AislingDM

I like this thread a lot!

I reckon I'd pledge to slowly increase corporation taxes, because 1) doing it slowly would hopefully mean companies won't pull out of headquartering in the UK 2) the general public tend to prefer corp taxes being increased over their own taxes.

I'd also like to pledge to slash waiting times in the NHS (by using corp tax money to better fund it) and make specific reference to the long waiting lists for trans individuals.

I'd also pledge to take some money from the police and incarceration services (but I'd talk about this as subtly as possible so as not to cause a moral panic) and emphasise placing the money into youth hubs and community-based services. Of course I'd prob not getting voted in with these pledges lol!

Owl

@AislingDM some actual good ideas?? i think you're right, there's no way you'd get elected!

anyone who's into politics and video games, can highly recommend Democracy 3 or 4. never had so much fun ruining a country

Owl

anyone's who good with psychology, which seems to be nearly everyone here, is there anything in psychology that explains why voters can make poor choices, e.g. Hitler, Trump, Bojo, and dictators can be benevolent e.g. Atatürk, Marcus Aurelius, Tito??

Ed_

Owl wrote: »

if I wanted to get elected...

• cut taxes
• way more money for NHS, free tuition for medical qualifications, higher wages, with money I've magically found despite cutting taxes
• make vague and unspecific plans to fix the economy using a former prime minister who didn't fix the economy as my role model

but when i've got voted in and can do whatever I want for 5 years with no consequences, i'd:

• make our country the one with the fastest shrinking wages in the G7
• make rules and then break them and then say the rules were confusing when I spent years telling everyone they're easy to follow
• lose the country 1.5 bn a week when I promised an extra 350 mn a week, but celebrate it as one of my greatest achievements and people will actually eat it up

This made me chuckle a lot, particularly as my eye was initially drawn to your wage shrinkage point and I was starting to think about how I could ask a few questions to unpick the why on that before I read the rest of your post and got what you were doing

Ed_

AislingDM wrote: »

I like this thread a lot!

I reckon I'd pledge to slowly increase corporation taxes, because 1) doing it slowly would hopefully mean companies won't pull out of headquartering in the UK 2) the general public tend to prefer corp taxes being increased over their own taxes.

I'd also like to pledge to slash waiting times in the NHS (by using corp tax money to better fund it) and make specific reference to the long waiting lists for trans individuals.

I'd also pledge to take some money from the police and incarceration services (but I'd talk about this as subtly as possible so as not to cause a moral panic) and emphasise placing the money into youth hubs and community-based services. Of course I'd prob not getting voted in with these pledges lol!

I like the fact you have thought very tactically about how you would bring in the policies without causing panic around some of these ideas. Interesting that you say you wouldn't be elected with these policies, how would you go about building public support for them?

Ed_

Owl wrote: »

anyone's who good with psychology, which seems to be nearly everyone here, is there anything in psychology that explains why voters can make poor choices, e.g. Hitler, Trump, Bojo, and dictators can be benevolent e.g. Atatürk, Marcus Aurelius, Tito??

This is an interesting question, which I definitely am not qualified to answer, however from memory, I think some of it can be explained by the economic situation at the time. When people feel uncertain or worried about something, then people making big bold promises and accusations against 'different' people being the cause of their pain and suffering, then it can be more fertile ground for more extreme views to get elected. I feel like there may be some good YouTube videos that unpick this a bit more, so I will do some research and report back.

Chloe234

Dinosaurs. Just dinosaurs. Thats my answer XD it may not make sense but Dinosaurs 🦖🦕🦖🦕🦖🦕🦖🦕🦖

Ed_

Having watched all the Jurassic Park films (bar the most recent) I think you may need to flesh out a few more structured policies on how you would make this viable

Chloe234

@Ed_ 😂😂😂

ok so first we will revive dinosaurs and everyone has to have them as pets 🤩 having them as pets will include you using them as your cars ect so using dinosaurs instead will reduce CO2 emmissions from cars as cars will not be permitted anymore. This will also stop road accidents as there are no cars to have accidents in and dinosaurs wont crash😂

Roads can be removed and grass, plants and trees will be planted in place as dinosaurs dont need roads and can offroad 😂 Petrol stations will alsobe ridded of as dinosaurs do not need Diesel or petrol.

This will cut the costs of fuel, road tax, car stuff ect. 🦖

The removal of all of this will also create extra room for houses to be built hopefully solving the housing crisis.

Living crisis will also be put to a stop and prices will be decreased as things wont need to be as expensive

theres millions more i could talk about but i cant be bothered to type it 😂

sooo basically dinosaurs are the answers🦖🦕🦖😂

oh and less CO2 emmissions will also stop global warming and water shortages 😁

Oh and before you say the dinos will eat us, they will be trained and the dinos will be bred to be mass produced for everyone to have one (and you wont have to pay for driving licences/lessons ) 😂

haha i just keep adding and adding but less accidents will also mean that more hospital beds will be free and the nhs wont be as overloaded 😂 everyone will also all be outside so theres less chance of virus and disease spread

Ed_

Amazing! This feels like quite a well thought through plan that you have been sitting on for a while @Chloe234 - do you have a name for your dinsoaur advocacy party yet?

I feel like the first stage of your plan may be the hardest, yet I wonder if any scientists have actually tried the Jurassic Park method, may not be *that* hard

Owl

Ed_ wrote: »

When people feel uncertain or worried about something, then people making big bold promises and accusations against 'different' people being the cause of their pain and suffering

ooh, i love blaming things on minorities, it means i don't have to take responsiblity for anything and can feel good about myself. this primeministering is easy!!

i blame crazy cat people and my experts who i defo didnt do drugs with at Eton can prove it!!
> cat food = lots of beef = lots of fuel + CO2 = expensive gas + climate change
> fleas + spending hours at a time watching cat videos = lots of lost hours of work

my maths doesn't lie!!! you can tell because it isnt written on the side of a bus

splAT the cAT, MOAR dinoSOAR
the press just replay soundbites so that last line will be the only take-away from my 2 hour press conference and it's almost definitely going to be used out of context depending on which party gave that particular news channel the most money this year

Chloe234

Just looking back on this @Ed_ and omg haha i put so much thought into it😂 but it is a greatly thought out thing😂 what would you do?

Amy22

Hmm this is a cool thread. I totally agree with the dinosaur method as dinosaurs = happiness . I don't what I would if I was prime minister maybe a taco Tuesday or free ice cream for everyone. I would definitely get rid of taxes and find ways of sorting out the climate change thingy. Plus I would do more for the NHS by cutting NHS costs and making mental health charities and services a priority in the NHS as I feel these services are not supported enough and need more recognition tbh. Plus more plants, we need more plants tbh