2010 General Election

[Bibs]

I know politics is Kimbers domain but I'm keen to see that twat Brown out of power, I never elected him in in the first place. Cameron seems to be doing a prize job of knobbing up an easy win so will the Lib Dems take the sympathy vote and we end up with a hung parliament, who knows?

We're not quiet Gallop or Mori but vote away, be interesting to see where and why our demographic are voting.

[Loose Cannon]

Frying pan and fire job between the big 2, just as long as the Lib Dems are nowhere.....their frothy-mouthed anti-car transport policies will have us back in medieval times.

As you say the Conservatives could walk this election with a few tweeks, and could have done the same with the last one TBH, which makes me wonder that they are completely out of touch with the common man.

[Bibs]

I read an interview with Vince Cable, the money guy from the Lib Dems and he seems so switched on, shame about the rest of their policies. Cameron just doesn't seem the full ticket to lead the Tories.

[Kimbers]

I must admit to being totally stumped! The Tories have alot right, like Bibs said, especially on Immigration, fairer taxes and Health Service (wendy watched a local Tory MP talking about it here and he's actually an NHS doctor so knows his stuff!)

But has kicked themselves in the crotch by jumping on the green bandwagon, The armed services and their OAP policy (lets face it, none of them have that one right). Not to mention the feeling that Cameron just isn't in the real world with his millions and education (Good on him for being a millionaire, wish I was, but that does make you wonder if he's ever struggled to pay a bill, or buy a bottle of vino).

I hate the current lot and if the Cabinet all internally combusted I wouldn't bat an eye lid.

The Liberals are just so.....liberal, wishy washy, their Euro policy would have us as one European state and goodbye the pound, they hate the automotive industry and are almost as nuts about the enviroment as the greens!. I like their election reforms however.

So that leaves me, in this area, with very few options.

BNP

UKIP

Green

Independant

None of which will get the current lot out of power.

My own political leaning is UKIP...but again will avote get the current lot out of power?

Like I said, stuck between a rock and a hard place and unless I see another, my only option will be a protest vote against Labour rather than for the Tories.

Bugger!

[silverfrost]

I cannot stand Gordon Brown, I used to support labour but it seems that over the years they have failed to set things in stone and always waste money intoducing new stuff thats not needed, Especially hard for them now after the recent economic downturn everybody is out there like a linch mob, But the thing that makes me sick in the stomach is all the mps and the recent scandals, its just shamefull and although probably blown out proportion by the media when they purchase other houses, claim for second morgages they dont have etc, and now the goverment turns round and says they have to provide reciepts this time, for sake next time i put my tax return in i will just say that i have spents thousands on kit for work this tax year and say no need the reciepts! the tax man would be at my door quicker than a rat up a drainpipe!

PUT THEM ALL UP FOR THE FIRING SQUAD AND START A FRESH!

My conclusion is they are all as bad as each other! once in power they just put there fingers up there arse!

Regards danny

Edited March 31, 2010 by silverfrost

[mangel]

Tonight Matthew I shall be....................Tory Boy!!!!

[Kimbers]

Hehe. Well said. What suprised me is that of the "real wrong doers" rather than those just working the system, the Labour MP's outnumbered Tory and Liberal by 4:1.

[Jonathan]

I just want Labour out.

Can't stand the majority of them - Browns done a shite job, he seems to survive everything the MPs throw at him but surely the public can make him go ?

I dont really care who gets in but I'm voting conservative local cus they're the only people who bother to do vote hunting around here.

I cant say Cameron or Cleggy (I prefer Cleggy) will do a good job, but surely after leading us into a full blow illegal war (Iraq) lying their asses off over it (Brown: We never cut defence, oh wait....yeah we did) and after having Super Tony/Gordon rack up our country into the biggest national debt EVER.....I just cant see voting for them is a good idea, not to mention putting our country on the highest security warnings for years.

Anyone considering Labour will probably say "I doubt anyone will have done a better job" which is a terrible argument.

They were in power and they presided over monumental BALLS ups. Sooner they're out the better.

Thats is Brown EVER calls an election, they're certainly squeezing their term out !

Edited March 31, 2010 by Jonathan

[Paul C]

I don't know anything about the other contenders, but Cameron is my MP.

The press are going at his 'call me dave' image and knocking him for casual wear etc etc...

Fact is, he and his family have ate in every indian and many restaurants in town and he's had pints of bitter in several of the pubs, but if he's photographed doing it then it's all 'put on' of course!

When Witney flooded he was there on the day with the emergency services, the next day he was away, yet the papers were all 'where are you Mr Cameron???' with a big story of his flooded town with a side story of him on a pre arranged overseas political commitment. I don't see the point of him spending days in waders in people living rooms, he's not moses, he can't make the water go away, he was there on the first day and after that i'd expect him to honour and not cancel any commitments just for some baby kissing to please the papers.

I'm not voting for him, but i have seen him in the flesh and then the next day seen the front page bullshit about him that everyone else in the country is spoon fed and dumb enough to believe (sun readers mostly i grant you).

By this measure i figure i HAVE to dismiss the newspaper sneers about the others as bullshit too. I am quite happy that no newspaper or news item can accurately tell me anything completely genuine about any of them. I know how they are painted up to be, but i have never been more unsure of who they really are.

I have yet to see, hear or encounter anything or anybody who's political opinion is worth anything to me, or anyone with an opinion i consider to be their own and not adopted from somewhere or someone else.

Nothing rings as being genuine.

[red vtec]

Gordon Brown is unelected and unelectable. Never has someone been so desperate to get a job that they clearly cannot do. I find the man a toatal liar. Someone I worked with used to work with him years ago and they said he is violent and a bully, often throwing his pc off the desk.

I hope the Tories get in, but am worried they will shoot themselves in the foot, Plus we use first past the post. I think Labour pulling out Tony Blair will back fire on them in a big way as people know he lied over the war and is away with the fairies and a war criminal.

Brown will hold on to the last moment. I think it will be a hung parliment.

[MPx]

Looks like you need another button Bibs. "Cant find anyone to vote for" - nothing to do with apathy just a responsible assessment of the available choices. The system dictates that anyone who gets voted in gets to do all their nutty stuff as well as what they were voted in for. If anyone argues against, they simply point at their mandate given by the electorate - most of whom have no idea what's in the manifesto of the party they voted for. I've read various bits of the literature made available by most of the choices on your list. They all can make sense for the first few points....then they loose it big time...its just frightening!

I assume they think noone actually reads it....

[rocket63]

I can't say that I can see many options amongst the top three. I know someone has to govern the country, but jesus what a choice. Hardly democratic when the cons outwiegh the pro's, but then again, it is what it is.

I was listening to a debate on Imigration today on the radio and was flabergasted to know that in 97 our Controlled imigration into the UK should have been 42000. Ended up as 750,000.

I have no agenda against the policy, it works both ways, but where is the control and who will pick up the pieces.

I see more and more local funding being poured into facilities around supporting a diverse community because of language difficulties and other associated considerations, (schools etc).

I would like to see the British interests looked after first.

The roads in my area look like armagedon, just like someone has dropped a load of cluster bombs. The postal service is rubbish. I cannot remember the last time a 1st class letter i sent, arrived the next day.

Local ammenities and services continue to suffer through lack of upkeep, let alone maintenance.

I want to see the British people get back to being the primary consideration not the secondary.

Into the bargain, I get to pay for the banks F ked up bravado in my increased NI for the next billion years. Nice. Enjoy your bonuses W S. The council get to recoup what was in the Icelandic banks from my community tax increase. Smashing.

I know I have a vote. I just cant work out what its worth. F k all me thinx.

I will vote for.....................................wont be labour / conservative or lib dem. But I will vote. I better check the independents.

Strange that i have never had anyone canvass at my current address? Perhaps they only pop round every 10 years or so?

[GavinT]

I wish we could have a general election in the U.S., then that t**t Obama would be out.

[910Esprit]

Surely you must all concede that Brown has his finger on the pulse? Remember he has brought back Mandleson and Blair... I reckon Osborne is the weak link in the Tory game plan.

[alan]

Looks like you need another button Bibs. "Cant find anyone to vote for" - nothing to do with apathy just a responsible assessment of the available choices. The system dictates that anyone who gets voted in gets to do all their nutty stuff as well as what they were voted in for. If anyone argues against, they simply point at their mandate given by the electorate - most of whom have no idea what's in the manifesto of the party they voted for. I've read various bits of the literature made available by most of the choices on your list. They all can make sense for the first few points....then they loose it big time...its just frightening!

I assume they think noone actually reads it....

That's the first past the post system for you. There is no point in voting for who you want, you have to look who actually has a chance of getting elected your area and vote for the least worst option. If like most of us you think GB is a tw*t then in most areas of the country the only option is to vote Conservative.

Agree about comments made about George Osbourne and Vince Cable - perhaps if there is a hung parliment we could have a Conservative government with Vince as chancellor?

Alan

[Backmarker]

I've not heard any of them say they'll improve the weather or secure a win for England in the next Eurovision contest, so none of them are worthy of a vote.

Whatever happened to Lord Sutch ( dcd ) and his Monster Raving Loony Party. Those were the only guys who took politics seriously in this country

[Simon350S]

I have no idea who any of them are, there's a significant chance I'll not bother voting for any of them.

Maybe I'll see what the outcome of the above vote is and vote for them. If it all goes tits up I can blame it on you all!

[USAndretti42]

Unfortunately, Screaming Lord Sutch died a few years ago. While the Monster Raving Loony party still exists, without Sutch it lost some of it's impetus. Thanks to them you can vote at 18, have passports for your pets to save tem 6 months in quarantine and all-day pub opening.

It is my understanding that Gordon Brown was elected. He is an MP, after all. No-one elects the prime minister. The party elects its leader and the public elects the party to form a government.

I suppose I could vote as I am still a citizen but I don't know which constituency I would vote in.

Why get rid of Obama? The Republican party has no plan, just scaremongering.

[IanQ]

I heard a good debate a while back on the radio about how MP's should be held accountable for their work. One really good suggestion is that there should be a points system introduced so that each time an MP or political party backs down on an election manifesto promise ten points are scored against them. When they get to say 30 points the MP should resign or his party forced to call an election.

These people are meant to represent us in Parliament and should be held accountable for anything they do.

Our Local MP used to be a chap called John Major. On a Saturday evening you could find him in the Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon enjoying a pint or two or a meal. He was always very polite and a true gentleman. When he retired after the 1997 election he was replaced by...another of the multi millionaire type MP who earns far more from his outside interests as advisor to this law company or that bank than he does in Westminster. I wonder where his loyaties lie then....

Edited April 1, 2010 by IanQ

[mangel]

Monster raving Loony were based in a pub in Stratford upon Avon.........was my local at one stage.

Its now a Gastro pub thingy!!!

[rogerch]

Looking at the LEF pole it becomes obvious that Old England's current woes are all down to Lotus cars and their inability to sell suficent cars.

Imagine if all voters were Lotus owners and Torries could gaim 68% of the vote, old Tony would never have got in, in the first place.

I think if Cameron gets in it's up to you guys to bring this to his atention.

[Kimbers]

It's a sad inditement of our fair country and it's system that so many of us agree that Though we can't really find the party we want to vote for we have to settle for those who have a chance to knock those currently in power off their perch.

Sadly we're not a true cross section of the country as most of us are working home owners with cars. With unemplyment at 1.6 million theres alot of labour votes right there ( I know there are some exceptions to the rule).

[molemot]

Sorry to correct Toby, but the origin of the Monster Raving Loony party was in a pub in Ashburton. I was in there several years ago, on a jolly with my old chum Bonzo...when we realised where we were, in the very HQ of the party, we decided to join. This may have had something to do with the cider we had ingested, and the fact that the pub was being used that evening to pick the Ashburton Carnival Queen and Princess....but I digress.. the licensee was empowered to enrol new members, so he got out the relevant kit, membership cards, rubber stamps etc. and then asked us "What are you lads doing down here, then?"

"We're panning for gold on Dartmoor, near Higher Piles.."

"Oh. Sorry chaps, you're too daft for us!!!"

And that, believe it or not, regardless of today's date, is a true story. I am officially too daft for the Monster Raving Loony Party.....and I still have the very small amount of gold we panned out of the river!!!!

[Jonathan]

Kimbers I agree and I also agree with the 'holding to account' idea.

One of my extended family is heavy into politics (say no more) and we often discuss it - lots of people are bored senseless about trying to make people's lives and the country a better place but I find it quite interesting and involving.

This comment of holding politicians to count on their promises can't really happen due to unforseen circumstances, ie Sept 11th - outside influences than can largely change the way a government is run.

But I do whole heartedly agree with Kimbers on the system, in all reality it doesnt work.

There is an old saying "Every country has the government it deserves" - Joseph Marie de Maistre,

Meaning if you're all apathetic and can't be bothered you'll get a bunch of losers like the BNP get in.

Its really a duty to vote and a duty to find out who to vote for (not a rule but a duty, free country afteral) - but when there is no one to really vote for, how can one cast a vote with conviction other to boot the ruling party out.

If we could vote for individuals in posts of power (ie transport/prime minister/chancellor etc) it would be much easier, as mentioned above you'd have a sort of co-olition government with the best people in the best spots (again, widely acknowledged even by other parties that Vince Cable is up there, hence the reason why he sits on all the commities so he does have a hand in it).

[gghc87]

Everyone should vote, even if it just means spoiling the paper as it is recorded like all other results.

Here is the reason why.

At the last election 61.4% of the electorate got out to vote, this means 38.6% didn't. The current government received 35.2% of the vote cast or 21.6% of the total electorate. It may be possible to argue that due to aperthy, 1 in 5 of the electorate are imposing there political views on the other 4. This cannot be right.

voter turn out since 1945