Depends on what precisely you mean by “be in charge”. If you’re in charge of transport policy and you’ve never held a driving licence or used the road system or, travelled by train or, used an aeroplane then, you won’t have much of an understanding about ‘transport’ and its vicissitudes.

If you are a large corpulent person with a BMI of 500, you, perhaps, should not be in charge of the nations health. There has to be even some elementary ‘qualification’ for the proposed job

No John. That’s a failure of logic. If you had never used a health SERVICE you might be in the same position as a transport minister who had never used transport.

If you are a perfect physical specimen and a health minister you would be in the same position as a transport minister who can fly by themselves and travel at 70mph across country..

Oh – suppose that is true. Maybe it all goes to show that an MP’s BMI should be the least of of our concerns.

It’s a question of liberality, there are some illiberal people on the left, and some liberal people on the right – just not the right-wing press. Sounds bleedin obvious, but it needs re-iterating. There may be some on the left who believe that extreme statements by the right should lead to arrest. And now there is a movement on the right who believe a left-wing view should be an arrestable offence.

John’s point only highlights the difference between ‘left’ and ‘liberal’. The actions of the press only obscure it.

It’s illiberality by the powerful that is potentially the problem, whether Stalin, Hitler or potentially Trump. Not a right or left thing. The rest is just distraction and obscuration.

No doubt many of these thefts are to order and there are sophisticated operators managing these and fencing their results. I suspect that such sophisticated operators will not find it much of a challenge to produce convincing fake documentation for the engines as they re-emerge into the supply chain.

If documentation is being faked before entry into the supply chain, why the focus on low-time engines?

It’s not about whether I like it or not, it’s about me stopping you from embarrasing yourself by getting it so wrong and with such emphasis. Tax credits or any form of tax relief are not socialism. Please read up on it, you have been misguided, I am not going into GCSE politics here.

But to answer the question, one is an individual act of wealth-maximisation and the other a state prescribed redistribution. The latter comes closer to the belief in progressive taxation held by the European Left – essentially if the state is going to raise a tax – which they all do – it may as well be a progressive one. But even this is far from an essential of a socialist state – while (for example) public ownership of the means of production is.

I am not arguing for it, just saying you are identifying things all wrong.

One more time

All governments reallocate tax money. Socialism has nothing to do with it.

You do have an interesting take on things. Tax dodging is a problem of socialism?

Yeah. Maybe one of us should stand? ‘Key Forum Party’ has a ring to it. A broad ‘Putting the World to Rights Coalition’

Fair point Bas – was more about the ‘system’ than the colour in this case. Starfish – you have just used ‘LOL’ to emphasise a debating point. Unless there was a joke in there I missed, you need to work on your discourse or find a more suitable forum. Youtube comments might suit.

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘Not a part of the solution, part of the problem’?

If you really think being ‘in touch with public opinion’ helps a rational political argument then there is little point discussing this any further. It helps get votes when you are unable to change public opinion through poor rhetorical skills or just having a rubbish product to sell, but I am not asking for your vote. You go back to attacking ‘Socialism for employers’ or whatever you’ve been told is the problem.

I don’t expect Corbyn to do well. But a little political education along the way looks like it might be helpful, and it isn’t going to come from ‘Down with elites, up with grammar schools’ May.