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james016
Doesn't have much of a life
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 5:52 pm Posts: 1899
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Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere but a 14 year old managed to vote http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/ ... 667850.stm
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Fri May 07, 2010 3:42 pm |
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Alexgadgetman
Occasionally has a life
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 4:56 pm Posts: 306
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Ahh the scandal, the trials and more importantly - the failure of the Lib Dems.
Funnily enough, I think that this outcome is the best possible one for the Conservatives and Labour alike. Labour will likely be forced to leave office, but with their economic record fairly intact (No messups that scream failure in the Brown years) so can consolidate and regain support. Whilst for the Conservatives, the prospect of spending five years controlling the economy during this emergence from recession would, no doubt, by the end of this five year period of tenure result in the conservatives having destroyed their own popularity through the severity of measures that they were forced to pass.
Alas, out of the gloom emerges this 'new' Party, the Lib Dems, ready with their vibrant politics to cut the deficit and save the country. Yet should this coalition go ahead it may well spell the end of the Lib Dems as we know them - throwing them deep back into the political wilderness. You see, when the Party's talk about cutting the deficit, they dont refer to the actual debt, oh no, that is sacrosanct. The deficit they refer to is infact the extra debt we gain year on year. So should this liberal coalition occur with any of the other two larger parties then I believe they may ask for Vince Cable to become the Chancellor (Labour because Brown already wants to move Darling and the Conservatives because Osbourne is slightly to fresh to the game). So here we shall have a Tory (by my reckoning) government which has a Liberal Chancellor. Wow, what a great idea. Well, actually, it may well ruin the Lib Dems. For over the next five years or so, the Chancellor and their Party will no doubt become the most unpopular target of the public, criticised for all the cuts. Thus the conservatives will be able to stay in power and deflect any criticism onto the Lib Dems.
Added to this, how much of a failure could the current result of the election provide to the Lib Dems, after all this media attention they still fail to make any seat gains and only a minor vote gain. No suprise they want reform when labour get 25% more votes and four and a half times as many seats.
Then, god forbid we should get STV any time soon, an electoral system that is the least proportional of those termed 'PR'. it would practically benefit only the Lib Dems and would likely see them forego any coalition in favour of another election - obviously more beneficial to themselves. So that one is a bit of a dead end.
I dont really have any preferences as to the winning Party, just not wanting some sort of ineffective coalition. Or rushed reforms that render government useless.
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Fri May 07, 2010 4:58 pm |
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Linux_User
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 3:29 pm Posts: 7173
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Some very disappointing results for the Lib Dems, was particularly sorry to see Evan Harris and Julia Goldsworthy defeated. Was also incredibly sad to see my own constituency turn 'blue'.
That said, hopefully we'll see some sort of electoral reform, but it a true PR system or something like AV+.
I'm sort of glad that the Tories will most likely form the next government, it will mean ID cards getting scrapped, amongst other things; though I wouldn't be surprised if we're voting again in 12 months time.
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Fri May 07, 2010 7:21 pm |
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Amnesia10
Legend
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:02 am Posts: 29240 Location: Guantanamo Bay (thanks bobbdobbs)
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I can see the Tories point about constituency sizes. They should all be the same size, and the link to a constituency is good as well, but if we have the option to recall an MP then it would get rid of the incompetent ones, or those not willing to do their jobs. I still want a form of PR though.
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Sat May 08, 2010 8:13 am |
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veato
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:17 am Posts: 5550 Location: Nottingham
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I'm not impressed at what's going to be happening to be honest. Another election in 12 months will hopefully sort it out though.
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Sat May 08, 2010 9:34 am |
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jonlumb
Spends far too much time on here
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:44 pm Posts: 4141 Location: Exeter
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What in particular are you not impressed with?
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Sat May 08, 2010 9:35 am |
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veato
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 7:17 am Posts: 5550 Location: Nottingham
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In a nutshell not having an outright 'winner.' Watching parties now bend over to gain the support of other parties.
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Sat May 08, 2010 9:39 am |
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pcernie
Legend
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 12:30 pm Posts: 45931 Location: Belfast
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Clegg meets top Lib Dems over election deal with Torieshttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/ ... 669508.stmI'm interested to see how far they get on their four priorities with the Tories Have a read at the full article, it sets some of the issues out quite neatly 
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Sat May 08, 2010 10:35 am |
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Amnesia10
Legend
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:02 am Posts: 29240 Location: Guantanamo Bay (thanks bobbdobbs)
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_________________Do concentrate, 007... "You are gifted. Mine is bordering on seven seconds." https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTg5MzczNTkhttp://astore.amazon.co.uk/wwwx404couk-21
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Sat May 08, 2010 10:47 am |
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okenobi
Spends far too much time on here
Joined: Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:59 pm Posts: 4932 Location: Sestriere, Piemonte, Italia
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Sat May 08, 2010 11:59 am |
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pcernie
Legend
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 12:30 pm Posts: 45931 Location: Belfast
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Lib Dem leadership 'endorses' Clegg's Tory talkshttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/ ... 669508.stmBrown's a Scot, just like the Ulster accent, a simple 'Hello' can sound like a threat Especially if everyone's crowded round the one phone 
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Sat May 08, 2010 7:00 pm |
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l3v1ck
What's a life?
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 10:21 am Posts: 12700 Location: The Right Side of the Pennines (metaphorically & geographically)
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I voted in the 97 election when I was 17. Councils fault. They sent me the polling card.
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Sat May 08, 2010 9:33 pm |
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pcernie
Legend
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 12:30 pm Posts: 45931 Location: Belfast
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 |  |  |  | Quote: David Cameron faces Tory party anger
Lord Ashcroft, who put £5m into marginal seats, is said to be furious with Cameron for doing TV debates and a lack of support over the 'non-dom' status row.
David Cameron was facing a growing backlash from his own MPs and party grandees today over the conduct of an election campaign that left him short of an overall majority and trying to make a deal with the Lib Dems.
The Observer can reveal that Lord Ashcroft, who pumped £5m into marginal seats, is furious with the Tory leader for having agreed to take part in television debates that he believes undid much of his work for the party.
Friends of Ashcroft also say the peer is angry because he believes Cameron failed to stand up for him properly in the row over his "non-dom" tax status, which harmed the Tories in the run-up to the election.
Today, one senior frontbencher rounded on the Conservative leader, demanding that he sack key figures involved in the campaign, including the man who ran it, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor. The frontbencher said: "He ran his campaign from the back of his Jaguar with a smug, smarmy little clique – people like Osborne, [Oliver] Letwin and Michael Gove. He should get rid of all of them. The party will settle for nothing less."
Another senior and normally loyal Tory MP complained that Cameron's big idea for the campaign – "the Big Society", under which armies of volunteers would come together to tackle the country's ills – was "complete crap".
"We couldn't sell that stuff on the doorstep. It was pathetic. All we needed was a simple message on policy. We could have won a majority if we had not had to try to sell this nonsense."
Cameron is certain to feel the wrath of his MPs at an emergency meeting of the 1922 committee of backbenchers tomorrow, called to discuss a possible coalition with the Lib Dems.
Today, Tim Montgomerie, the editor of the ConservativeHome website, posted a blog saying that Cameron had to adopt a more collegiate style of leadership if he was to have any chance of taking the party with him in talks on a possible deal with the Lib Dems.
For months, leading Tories have complained that the election strategy was being drawn up by a narrow group around the party leader, including Osborne, Letwin, Gove, Steve Hilton, his close adviser, and his communications chief, Andy Coulson.
Arguably the most damaging for Cameron is the tension with Ashcroft. In the early hours of Friday morning, when a hung parliament had become inevitable, Ashcroft said the TV leaders' debates had been a turning point.
"I think from the time the Conservatives were ahead, we then had the debates, which has quite obviously turned everything topsy-turvy and what were natural assumptions before those debates changed the whole of the playing field," he said. "This is the type of result we are now seeing as a consequence of those debates."
Taking "a pure strategic hindsight view" he said there was a "balanced argument" over whether David Cameron should have taken part.A friend of Ashcroft told the Observer that the peer held Cameron personally responsible for the emergence of Clegg as a genuine rival: "He believes it knocked several points off our poll ratings and that, without it, we would have won." |  |  |  |  |
Ashcroft obviously has his own axe to grind since he feels he's been ripped off for no less than £5m, and while 'the Big Society' is clearly a load of unworkable drivel, I doubt the Tories could have done any better than they have, Jaaaggg clique or not In fact, I suspect they took a lot of votes from people who wanted shot of Flash/Labour and were considering the Lib Dems, but couldn't bring themselves to 'test them out' in the middle of a recession. Also, Gordon didn't just decide to keep saying 'I agree with Nick' on a whim; that was apparently Mandy's input, the notion being, 'Split the vote, slide up the middle'...
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Sat May 08, 2010 10:10 pm |
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Amnesia10
Legend
Joined: Fri Apr 24, 2009 2:02 am Posts: 29240 Location: Guantanamo Bay (thanks bobbdobbs)
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Ashcroft was unhappy about the debates? If you read the Tory press he was way out in front as a result of the debates. Both he and Gordon were trounced by Clegg in the first debate though he recovered well in the second debate, though I would think that he only just squeaked through to win the final debate.
How the public fell for the Big Society claptrap amazes me. It looked like it was dreamed up on the spot. Badly thought out from the start.
I do agree with him about those running the campaign. Michael Gove is a vain arrogant swine. He has had plenty of plastic surgery to improve his looks and had laser surgery on his eyes. He used to wear glasses for many years until he became an MP.
As for Cameron not defending his tax status. How could he he barely knew what the agreement was?
_________________Do concentrate, 007... "You are gifted. Mine is bordering on seven seconds." https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTg5MzczNTkhttp://astore.amazon.co.uk/wwwx404couk-21
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Sat May 08, 2010 10:45 pm |
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Linux_User
I haven't seen my friends in so long
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 3:29 pm Posts: 7173
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It's the council's fault that you committed a criminal offence? 
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Sun May 09, 2010 1:01 am |
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