Who knows what will happen? Making predictions based on pre-election speeches and the actions of previous Governments is like predicting the weather. During Labour's 13 years, how many election promises were actually carried through?

The whole political system in this country has gone down the tubes - rather than concentrating on the real issues, and being forthright and honest about what they're going to do, they resort to sound-bites and personal attacks that do nothing to help the public make up their mind.

I would like to thank the labour government for one thing, and one thing only.
The smoking ban.

I would like to thank the labour government for one thing, and one thing only. 24hr licensing.

And the hunting ban. What have Labour ever done for us?

Well, I didn't want the smoking ban or the hunting ban myself.

I would like to thank the Labour government for one thing and one thing only. Contributing to the end of final salary pension schemes in the private sector thus ensuring that so many more people will end up in poverty in there old age, whilst ensuring there pension scheme is one of the best and is protected.

The Tories had also stripped many pension funds of their surpluses as well. Both parties destroyed the private pensions for personal gain - re-election.

The the abolition of a tax break on pensions funds was done in 1997 in GB's first budget, re-election was not on the agenda.

Yes but he was using it to raise funds for spending later on. The Tories capped the surpluses at 5% so companies took pension holidays. Those surpluses would have helped them coped with the stock market crashes.

So if that cap was a potential problem, why didn't Labour remove it?

The problem with political parties in the system we have is that they don't plan more that 5 years ahead. There are a lot of real long-term problems but because of the way the system works, they're not addressed because unless you get complete agreement between all parties concerned, nothing gets done.

I wonder what would have happened if independants had stood in all constituencies and won? Maybe then we'd get a Government that wasn't clouded by party dogma.

I'm pretty certain there will be independent candidates standing in most constituencies. They'd certainly make an impact if everyone voted for them over the "traditional" party candidates.

It remains to be seen whether those who bother to vote will be interested enough to see beyond just a choice between red and blue. Somehow, I doubt it.

If independents took every seat, who would be PM and how would they choose their cabinet?

Cage fighting?

http://www.holymoly.com/celebrity-news/ ... -hope45157

What a fiendishly good question. It's never arisen before, so let's have a think...

As everyone would have no party allegiances, I would suspect small groupings would happen among those with similar interests and backgrounds. They would form independent alliances rather than parties proper. I also suspect not everyone would be prepared to take on the responsibility of leadership, but among those that do it would be a matter of running a brief campaign among the elected independents to choose the PM and or a deputy. Those so elected would then have the responsibility of choosing their cabinet.

An interesting thought exercise. Wouldn't it be nice if it really happened?

I think this is the point where it gets very boring. Hopefully it'll pick up again in the last few days before the voting starts.