It's kind of odd that no one's made a topic on this yet, so I'll have a go.
So it's the general elections a week tomorrow, and I gather there's a fair proportion of UK mofoers who are of voting age. Besides, it affects a lot of us regardless.
This is the first election that I'm eligible to vote in. I don't mind telling you all I want to vote Liberal Democrat, but they aren't running in my local constituency.
For those who are interested, the Lib Dems have once again stepped aside and given their support to the independent Richard Taylor (who is our current MP). Taylor is, in essence, a protest vote for the closing down of Kidderminster Hospital. Without wanting to go into too much detail, Kidderminster Hospital has already closed down and has no chance of reopening despite Taylor's hopes. The long and short of it is he's fairly useless. I don't want to vote for him, but can't vote for the Lib Dems.
The problem is that if I abstain, I'll only be grouped into the whole 'apathetic youth' bracket. That said, I'm not for voting for a party just to stop another getting in (backing 'the lesser of two evils', if you will). I don't support Labour, but there's no way in hell I'm voting Conservative to get them out. On the other hand, not voting helps nothing. I'm not sure what to do about that yet. Maybe I'll vote for the Monster Raving Looney Party.
I digress. What do you lot think of our choices? Does Kilroy Silk set your teeth on end like he does mine? What do you think of the main issues raised (immigration, the war, tuition fees etc.)? What about the way the parties have been campaigning (the Conservative's depiction of Blair for example)? You don't have to say who you're voting for of course as that's personal and such, but I'd be interested to hear what you think of the whole thing, as well as what non-UKers/those too young to vote think.
I'd give some more of my opinions, but I'm not that good at talking to myself. I'll wait to hear what other people have to say.
i drive my freinds up the wall as i don't really know or care about the different political parties, not do i wish to spend hours looking up and taking notes on each one as so far i dislike 'em all from what little i've seen.
oh no, i'm an 'apathetic youth'! nooo~! ^^
i'm glad that i haven't got a TV licence, all the political messages on tv would make me go nuts. no wonder so many of the adult UK population would rather be on holiday then stay at home during the two weeks leading up to the election.
Heh, sorry. I didn't mean to knock apathy or anything. ^^;
s'alright, i feel rather bad that i lack any strong politic views. ^^;
Cos im EVER SO SLIGHTLY to young, there'es only a month or so in it but bah, what can you do...
Not that I know who I'd vote for anyway, I hate the Lib Dems, don't want to have Michael Howard as the Prime Minister and am skeptical of Tony Blair...
Next time there's an election hopefully one or more of them will of stepped down to be replaced with someone I prefer, who isn't a slimy git like Howard or a shameless prat like Blair.
*sigh* It's so incredibely dull I can't stand it anymore. It's obvious who's going to win (Who the heck actually votes for Tony Blair,? I'd like somebody to give me a good reason to), Micheal Howard is...just weird, I prefer him over Blair or Kennedy, but I know Howard isn't a popular choice, wasn't it Howard who introduced VAT?
*shrug* can't vote anyway, my 18th is this October, so it looks like another four years until I can give The Official Monster Raving Looney Party my full support. These guys know how to run a government.
Like pretty much everyone Ive spoken to, I want to use my vote but I really dont know what to do with it. I had planned on voting Conservative, but that was before they sacked Boris Johnson ;_;
The Lib Dems are actually irritating me the most since they've been harassing us non-stop for about a month. Weve had leaflets, letters, imitation newspapers (The Citizen), posters and Jesus knows what else shoved through the box and the way theyre written really turn my stomach. Here is the actual text of the one we had today:
6 ways the HELP Tony Blair win.
1)Vote Labour
2)Dont vote at all!
3)Vote SSP
4)Vote SNP
5)Vote Tory
6)Vote Green
Independent experts agree: ONLY the Lib Dems can beat Tony Blairs man who voted for the War.
The Tories cant win here
Its YOUR choice!
Im really sick of it, to be quite frank. Vote for us if you hate Tony Blair seems to be at the heart of every campaign except Labour.
That said, I would never, ever vote for the Monster Raving Loony Party, even out of protest. I wouldnt mind if they were actually amusing or clever, but the whole Were so zany! Minister for Chocolate teapots! HAHAHA! gig is so painfully pathetic that it makes my skin crawl.
Oddly enough, the only election junk I've gotten is from the Conservative party. You know, the "Are you thinking what we're thinking?" stuff. Am I the only person who thinks of Pinky and The Brain when I read that?
I think that the main problem with this election is that it seems that it'll be either a choice between Labour or the Conservatives, and both those parties know it. I may be a little naive and ineffectual in my thinking, but I think people should vote for who they most agree with and who they think will benefit the most people, regardless of if the leaders annoy you or if you don't think they have any chance of being elected.
If everyone doesn't vote for a party they want because they think they won't get in, they won't flipping get in, will they?
Personally, I'm not letting myself be biased or affected by campign literature or propaganda. I'm voting Liberal Democrat for several reasons:
-They seem to have more integrity than the other parties. That's important to me.
-They're not the Conservatives, they're not run by Blair, and they're the only other party with any significant chance of being able to run the country if they got voted in
-The city council where I leave was recently taken over by LibDems, after being run by Labour for years, and to be quite frank, they're making a pretty good job of it compared to their predecessors.
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Personally, I'm not letting myself be biased or affected by campign literature or propaganda.
That sounds like an excellent policy and I really don't know why I insist on torturing myself by reading each and every piece of crap they send me, cover to cover, with unnatural gusto.
I can't help but get the feeling if I don't stop I'm going to decide my vote for really petty reasons. Like which party misspells my name/refers to me as 'Mrs' the least often, or which party shows me the fewest photos of cracked roads, weddings and old ladies with their fists raised in triumph.
As a result of the forthcoming election, over half of the six o'clock news ends up being dedicated to politicians calling each other liars. So come the election i'll make up me mind in the polling booth.
I would vote Lib Dem, for various reasons:
- Charles Kennedy is a lot more likeable than either Tony "pauses at all the wrong places in his speech, making him sound like he's about to burst into tears" Blair or Michael "did you threaten to overrule him?" Howard. Plus, he had enough of a sense of humour to go on Have I Got News For You, which means a lot.
- An online test said I should.
- Oh, and think I might vaguely agree with some of their policies, I think, I'm not sure...
Unfortunately, because I'm at Uni, if I wanted to vote in my home constituency I'd have to vote by post, which involves telling "them" that I want to vote by post and not in person, waiting to have a ballot paper sent to me, filling it out and sending it off to them in time... but I've left it too late to get all that sorted out now (the deadline to let them know was the 26th).
- EDIT -
It turns out I can still vote, only for my University's constituency, not my home one. Well that's okay then.
How the hell do I know what a bunch of middle-to-upper class sexist bigots are thinking?
Now that's a catchphrase that's asking for it.
I found these.
www.toryscum.com/2005/04/04/18/
www.toryscum.com/2005/04/09/taking-streets-part-2/
And this fun game.
kryogenix.org/code/conposter/index.php
And made this with its help:
The problem is that all parties have viewpoints i like and viewpoints i don't so it's difficult who to choose. I suppose i can understand why there is such voter apathy because there is too much backbiting and political spin that it's hard to know what exactly they'll do.
The fact that they promise this and that, and nothing materialises is another apathetic reason too. I'll definitely vote, but i just don't know who for...
Perhaps i'll just go for the Green Party or something. Don't hold me to that 'cos i'm keeping my options open.
I think there is a certain degree of going with your gut - It's not like you can really go on what a politician promises.
Has anyone else seen the hoohah raised about postal votes? It seems that there's a very large scope for fraud with them. One MP even went as far as to try to delay the election in order to get it sorted out. Not surprisingly, it didn't happen.
I also noticed on the news recently there has been a few cases of people selling their votes to the highest bidder. The people concerned said that they felt it was entirely fair due to having no strong feelings themselves and their votes being wasted on them. If you ask me, apart from probably being highly illegal, it's extremely undemocratic.
personally, i could do with the cash. :p
I say "Tory Scum" should be the new party name. It's got so much more youth appeal than "The Conservative Party". They could work it into the logo, too, and write "L O V E" across the knuckles of the hand.
Hell, I know I'd vote for The Scum.
Buzz inspired me.
The Conservatives are gonna get WASTED in this election. Only idiots who believe their crap about tax cuts will vote for them. Lib Dems might even wind up as opposition party.
I expect you've noticed how the campaign posters for Labour and Conservatives are based entirely on slagging each other off?
It seems a bit harsh to call everyone who votes for a party you oppose "idiots". So you don't like their policies? That's cool. Personally, I dislike Labour's policies, but I have a next door neighbour at home who was running for election for them, which is fine by me.
Personally, I'll be voting Conservative because I have a long memory of what our local (Labour) authority did for years to my school. They didn't like grammar schools, ignored the fact that there were always far more entrants than places each year (so presumably some parents in the area did like grammar schools) and spent most of their tenure starving us of funding, so we had half our classes in temporary portacabins and at one point were heating the science block by turning on the bunsen burners!
Then the then Conservative government allowed schools to opt out of local government control and receive funding direct from central government. Battabing! More funding heads our way, we can replace the portacabins with proper buildings, refurbish some of the older buildings and build a new sports hall.
Labour gets in, starts organising methods of shutting down the grammar schools, while Tony Blair is sending his offspring to a selective school way outside his catchment area. Basically he says to the nation: grammar schools and selective education are bad and we shouldn't have them, but my kids do deserve better, so mine will be going.
Plus of course they introduced tuition fees and the concept of the student loan (rather than the previous grant). Hence I am quite staggeringly in debt - though I couldn't care less because it doesn't affect your credit rating and is at the lowest interest rate ever.
Basically, summing it up, it was the Conservative regime that gave me a good start in life, while the Labour one seemed to want to take that away. Therefore I know which way I'm voting...
DW
As you may've guessed, I have an opinion. I'll get back to you when I've more time; but in the meantime, I sent THIS to darkwinguk last week.
My ex was caught red-handed by a policeman, sticking copies of that to Tory campaign posters. When asked what he was doing, he replied "Expressing my opinion of this campaign".
At which point, the policeman actually let him go.
Not that the Tories're unpopular or anything.
(The other variation I've seen on this theme is:
"I think so, Michael - but how can she be spinning in her grave when she's not dead yet?".)
Sorry, darkwing. Didn't mean to offend anyone in particular. But it's just what I think. Vote for them for whatever reason you want, but please, please don't vote for them because of their promises on tax cuts. It can't be done. You can't cut taxes hither and yonder without cutting back on public services like Schools or the NHS.
To be honest, I didn't think that anybody on this board that I liked would be voting Conservative.
But this is a democracy, and you must vote for who you want. Otherwise there's no point. Voting for a party that I think is full of jerks is still better than not voting at all.
Now if you're old enough to vote and you don't want to, you're really, really stupid. Voter apathy is the bane of democracy. Use your rights, or lose them. Flip a coin, roll a dice, just vote, damn you!
Based upon rolling a die 20 times with
1= Labour
2= Conservatives
3= Lib Dems
1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 3, 1, 3, 2, 1, 2, 2, 1, 2
1- 8 times
2- 5 times
3- 7 times
Therefore everyone should now go out and vote labour.
There are more than three choices y'know.
Yes.
Now with clickies! Click to find out more about the various parties in the forthcoming election.
1 Alliance Party (NI)
2 Alliance for Green Socialism
3 British National Party
4 Christian Peoples Alliance
5 Community Action Party
6 Communist Party
7 Conservative Party
8 Democratic Unionist Party
9 English Democrats
10 Forward Wales
11 Green Party
12 Independent Kidderminster Hospital campaign
13 Labour Party
14 Legalise Cannabis Alliance
15 Liberal Democrats
16 Liberal Party
17 Mebyon Kernow
18 Monster Raving Loony Party
19 The National Front
20 The New Party
21 The NI Women's Coalition
22 Operation Christian Voice
23 Peace and Progress Party
24 Plaid Cymru
25 Respect
26 Scottish Socialist Party
27 SDLP
28 Senior Citizens Party
29 Sinn Fein
30 Socialist Alternative Party
31 Socialist Labour Party
32 Socialist Party of Great Britain
33 SNP
34 Ulster Unionist Party
35 UK Independence Party
36 Third Way
37 Veritas
38 Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket party
39 Workers Party (NI)
40 Workers Revolutionary Party
+ other independents.
And no, i'm not using the rolling the die site for the 40 parties and the independent candidates. Someone else can do that.
Legalise Cannabis Alliance
Monster Raving Loony Party
Plaid Cymru
Respect
Agh... so hard to choose who to root for. Bah, I'll just root for one of these not-so-awesome parties:
Alliance for Green Socialism
Green Party
Labour Party
Liberal Democrats
Liberal Party
Peace and Progress Party
Scottish Socialist Party
Socialist Alternative Party
Socialist Labour Party
Socialist Party of Great Britain
Workers Party (NI)
Workers Revolutionary Party
Bah! That just makes the choice harder!
You know, I think I'll just go with the Vote for Yourself Rainbow Dream Ticket Party.
You do know what Plaid Cymru or Respect are, right?
They're both to be taken seriously. Plaid Cymru especially, since Respect is largely a one issue party...
Plaid Cymru (pronounced: clyde cum-ree - I remember nearly breaking Dub in Atlanta when I wrote it out and tried to teach him how to pronounce it) is otherwise known as the Welsh Nationalist Party, which is one of the biggest parties in Wales. The reason why the name looks a bit silly is because it's written in Welsh.
Respect is a party founded by an ex-MP who was thrown out of Tony Blair's governing Labour party because it was claimed that evidence'd been found that Saddam Hussein was paying him to publicly speak out against the war.
He wasn't, of course. The evidence was fake, and the ex-MP got damages in the courts for defamation from the relevant newspapers - but, tellingly, not even an apology from the Blair goverment, let alone his job back.
So he's formed his own party on war and human rights. Given Blair's perceived stupidity over the war and the whole circumstances, it's comparatively respectable.
And the Labour Party forms is our current governing party, whilst the Liberal Democrats're the third biggest party in the country; so seeing them lumped in with the likes of the Natural Law Party seems a bit odd...
And for the record: I've known DWUK for six and a half years now - and I never had her pictured as a Tory, either.
*mind boggles*
Plaid Cymru (pronounced: clyde cum-ree I remember nearly breaking Dub in Atlanta when I wrote it out and tried to show him how to pronounce it) is otherwise known as the Welsh Nationalist Party, which is one of the biggest parties in Wales. The reason why the name looks a bit silly is because it's written in Welsh.
I knew that. It just sounds funny, thus fitting in with the "funny" theme of that first paragraph.
Respect is a party founded by an ex-MP who was thrown out of his party because it was claimed that evidence'd been found that Saddam Hussein was paying him to publicly speak out against the war.
Really? I thought it was Respect as in just a silly party based on the title of a song or something. Either that or I've seen Blues Brothers a few too many times.
I knew that. It just sounds funny, thus fitting in with the "funny" theme of that first paragraph.
I know. 🙂
You're lucky I'm not native Welsh, though (north Welsh, anyway). If anyone from north of the M4 read that, they'd probably hunt you down and beat you to death with a sheep.
Really? I thought it was Respect as in just a silly party based on the title of a song or something. Either that or I've seen Blues Brothers a few too many times.
Maybe both. 🙂
More details here:
If anyone from north of the M4 read that, they'd probably hunt you down and beat you to death with a sheep.
It would have to be a sheared sheep. :p
You haven't seen the fleeces on the sheep you get down there. You'd either suffocate or choke before the mutton even hit you.
welsh sheep always look at me like they want to eat my little english toes.. they're deadly. o.o;
Baa-ram-ewe, baa-ram-ewe. To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true. Sheep be true. Baa-ram-ewe.
*WHAP*
That movie butchered a perfectly good book. Don't mention it in front of me.
*growl* 🙂
Actually, Becca, a friend of mine in Ireland reckons that Welsh sheep do seem smarter and a bit more dangerous.
It ranks up there as a nice book along with Martins Mice
I liked those books.
Although I think I preferred The Mouse Butcher and Magnus Powermouse - not that I thought that there was anything wrong with Martin's Mice.
Dick King-Smith does have a knack for selling out, though. I thought it couldn't get any worse after CITV's version of The Fox Busters.
How did we get from politics to movies about sheep?
Anyway, you have to have a candidat running in your area for your party before you can vote for them.
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So he's formed his own party on war and human rights. Given Blair's perceived stupidity over the war and the whole circumstances, it's comparatively respectable.
Except, of course, for being run by George Galloway, a man for whom I have very little respect whatsoever.
To be frank, a lot fo what he says is technically correct, but... it sounds wrong coming from the man himself. He comes more across as someone trying to make political capital out of Labour's unpopularity, and a political party who's primary function is to damage another political party doesn't sound like it'd make a good job of running anything.
It's Voting Day in the UK today!
Go out there! Guet your buts on and vote! I don't care who you vote for, but if you don't vote and you're capable, I'll rip your lungs out!
Still working on that long-form reply. Should have it done before the results're out.
Vote, everybody! VOTE!
Since the polling cards for the previous tenants arrived after the application deadline (ie. too late for me to do anything about it), I'll be sitting this election out by default.
I love local government... *grumble*
Is there an apathetic undecided out there who'd cast a single LibDem vote for me? 😉
Only because you asked 
*Rushes off to polling station, and grabs take-out on the way back*
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but if you don't vote and you're capable
If you mean capable, as in: stealing a voting card, killing the person who owns it, dressing and putting your hairstyle like theirs... Then okay, I'll go out and vote...
*Votes Lib Dem*
Yay!
Now to watch Peter Snow and his swingometer.
The voting is now over. Let the counting begin!
Voted.
It was kind of frightening, actually. There were loads of people clustered around the entrance to the school that was acting as the polling station, just smiling earnestly and creepily at everyone without speaking. When I got to the right room and showed my card to the appropriate woman, I swear she smiled with an audible creaking sound. Then while I was filling in my slip I could hear the person in the next booth whispering to themselves.
Politics is creepy.
Heheh... The BNP is creepy... If they get more seats this year I will be officially scared.
Labour just got the first seat of the election, but with a much reduced majority...
But the fact they won is all that matters, not how much they won by.
Well, I votified. I'm wondering what kind of national turnout we got, myself. When complaining about the government (safe bet: still Labour), I now have the ability to say 'Well, I didn't vote for 'em!'. I'm so proud.
By the way Swift, the majority a party has does have an affect; the more votes they get, the more seats that party has in parliament. If you get a high number of seats for the opposition, there tends to be more resistance to the government's proposals.
I think early reports show that the turnout is about 65% this year, so that's up a bit from the last election.
Labour still seem to be keping their seats, but they are losing a significant number of votes to the tories and liberals.
...Still, the night is young. 😛
The Bush haters would like to join the Blair haters. :p
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By the way Swift, the majority a party has does have an affect; the more votes they get, the more seats that party has in parliament. If you get a high number of seats for the opposition, there tends to be more resistance to the government's proposals.
I meant IN THAT SEAT...
As in, Labour was still winning more seats than the other parties, but this time it was a closer race for the various seats than before.
EDIT: Oh, and well done to Tony Blair for his third term...
To be honest, I dont think Iraq was that big an issue, if the country as a whole hadn't got bored of the whole thing they wouldnt of elected him, but he's still there so it tells you something.
At least now I can stop listening to Charles Kenneday saying, "It's all about trust."
The highlight of the election night for me was when George Bush (from Dead Ringers) turned up to wish his old mate Barry Blair, Primary Minster of the United State of Great British a good Election, but if he didloose he'd always be welcome to come over and be a janitor in the whitehouse...
