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UK - Election 2015

Wild prediction time:

Conservatives win, but can't find play buddies. Government collapses after 3 -6 months. Ed is sacked and David comes home and wins an election when we do it all again.

Weirder things have happened.
 
welshdean said:
They've had it then? What's it called?
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I'm ashamed to say I know the answer: Charlotte, Elizabeth, Diana. The Daily Mail reports that William bravely fought off disapproval from the palace in choosing the name Diana. What a *********** hero. It's like that other one learning to read out loud without stammering. No doubt there will be a film and a petition for a statue on the 4th plinth representing William's defiance. Our finest hour since 1940 when we stood alone against the Hun ( … continued on p.94)

ETA in case anyone thinks I'm making it up: William defies courtiers. Good grief.
 
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Rum said:
Wild prediction time:

Conservatives win, but can't find play buddies. Government collapses after 3 -6 months. Ed is sacked and David comes home and wins an election when we do it all again.

Weirder things have happened.
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Oh noes, 1974 all over again. Do I have to go back to wearing mustard-coloured polyester roll-necks and burgundy cords ?
 
MikeG said:
Another thing you should be ashamed of. ;)
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True. It's alarming how much I now depend on the DM now I have stopped paying for newspapers. OTOH I know all about Beyoncé's latest dress and I am sure I will one day work out what TOWIE stands for. Then there are the house prices, always going up, at least when not going down, and the reports about benefit cheats, fat people, 'Wills' (yuk) and 'Kate' and the other royals without whom the economy would be in dire straits what with all the tourists and such.

They seem to want the Tories to win.
 
anglolawyer said:
True. It's alarming how much I now depend on the DM now I have stopped paying for newspapers. OTOH I know all about Beyoncé's latest dress and I am sure I will one day work out what TOWIE stands for. Then there are the house prices, always going up, at least when not going down, and the reports about benefit cheats, fat people, 'Wills' (yuk) and 'Kate' and the other royals without whom the economy would be in dire straits what with all the tourists and such.

They seem to want the Tories to win.
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Who? What?
 
anglolawyer said:
I'm ashamed to say I know the answer: Charlotte, Elizabeth, Diana. The Daily Mail reports that William bravely fought off disapproval from the palace in choosing the name Diana. What a *********** hero. It's like that other one learning to read out loud without stammering. No doubt there will be a film and a petition for a statue on the 4th plinth representing William's defiance. Our finest hour since 1940 when we stood alone against the Hun ( … continued on p.94)

ETA in case anyone thinks I'm making it up: William defies courtiers. Good grief.
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A fine way to talk about the Queen. And let's face it, if you apply the name to her, it should surely be applied to Wilhelm as well.
 
MikeG said:
Other than from the Labour party a decade ago, I have never ever heard anyone ever suggest that what we need now is another layer of politicking and bureaucracy. Regional devolution is a ridiculous idea, and not on anyone's agenda. There is an actual election happening ATM, with actual issues, and I really can't be bothered wasting energy discussing such a silly hypothetical. Why a goodly percentage of one region of this island thinks it a good idea will forever remain an absolute mystery to me, but the rest of us appear to have the sense to repudiate the notion that we'd benefit from an extra tier of government, now or ever.
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There is no need to create more layers. Devolve more powers to the layers already there.
 
anglolawyer said:
Broadly speaking, this is how I feel about the election. It's basically fun. Of course, it's good to administer a check to the power elite every few years, just to remind them we're here, but the sweep and trends of most major government policy play out over long periods and aren't much influenced by elections.

I have decided to cast my vote for the Lib Dems this time because they:

  • aren't Labour
  • aren't Conservative
  • opposed Iraq
  • believe in civil liberties
  • advocate PR
  • are centrist, or slightly left thereof, which is good

Also, Nick seems a decent chap. I urge you all to do the same before retiring to your living rooms to prepare for government.
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Agatha said:
He is a decent chap*, though I think somewhat disillusioned by the way he and his party were manipulated by the Tories in the coalition. Perhaps he should have realised that Cameron wouldn't play fair.

I have always voted LibDem (well, since they formed a party, I voted Lib or SDLP before that) and will probably do so on Thursday. But there is just that tiny bit of doubt about what will be a wasted vote in this constituency.

* I have met him a couple of times as my three sons went to school in his constituency and he visited the school more than once to talk to the Politics students, plus I met him at a recording of Any Questions. Ed Balls was also at that recording, and a more arrogant person you'd be pushed to find.
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I think you are misunderstanding the political philosophy of the Orange Book

TLDR version: The Parliamentary Conservative party is generally economically liberal at the moment, and socially pretty liberal. There is a lot of overlap ideologically between the Orange Book and modern Conservatives.

This is different to the views of the grassroots of either party.

anglolawyer said:
Alright, let's play

Nick Clegg
Vince Cable

David Cameron
George Osborne

Ed Milliband
Ed Balls

Nigel Farage

Nicola Sturgeon

The Welsh one

The Green Party woman (not Lucas)

Please mark these with an L (=like) a D (=dislike) or an N (=neutral). I'll start:

Nick Clegg L
Vince Cable N

David Cameron L
George Osborne N

Ed Milliband L
Ed Balls D

Nigel Farage N

Nicola Sturgeon N

The Welsh one N

The Green Party woman (not Lucas) N

and/or add any pet hates or faves as you see fit. Hamilton (UKIP) is a definite D. Grayling is a D but that's to do with policy rather than body odour or similar. Oh, Respect! Galloway is an L. Is he going to get in btw? Caroline Lucas is an L. Theresa May is an L and Michael Gove is somewhere way beyond a D. A double plus D perhaps. And an idiot too. BoJo is a D. Straw is a D (but like BJ, not standing).

So, who winds you up sumfing rotten?
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I dislike respect almost as much as UKIP. For pretty much the same reasons.

This story would be enough on its own

Face it, even Louise Mensch was right on this one.

Guardian version


Officials from his Respect party dispute that Naz Shah, Labour’s candidate in Bradford West, was forced into marriage, on the grounds that her mother was at the ceremony
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Because that makes perfect sense...

\ETA: and Sha's explanation, which seems perfectly believable:

Shah also insisted that there were two nikahs in existence – the first, from 1988, and the second from 1990, which she claimed was obtained in order that her Pakistani husband could get a spouse visa to come and live with her in the UK. She said the British authorities would not have allowed her husband to come into the country with her had they known she was only 15 at the time of the marriage.
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As a slight aside, has anyone (who's in the UK) been watching "Ballot Monkeys" on C4? For those who don't know, it's a half-hour political satire based on the backroom staff on the campaign buses (Con, Lib, Lab and Ukip). It's mostly recorded on the day of transmission, so it's incredibly current.

It's a little hit-and-miss, but for my money it's the best satirical commentary on the election available. Catch it on All4 (the new name for 4OD) if you didn't see it.
 
jimbob said:
I still think Labour capitulated too much on the economy.

http://benjaminstudebaker.com/2015/05/06/13-terrible-tory-counterarguments/
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That is a very odd article.

I thought at the time that Labour had the bare-faced cheek to oppose the efforts of the coalition to repair the carnage they (Labour) had wrought so soon after being humbled at the polls, and with the very same people responsible for the mess leading the "too far, too fast" campaign. It was the ultimate political hypocrisy in my view. Labour stuffed up, and should have gone away and shut up, because they were wrong, and should have felt humiliated and chastened for getting things so wrong. They were punished by the electorate, but 5 minutes later they were back with the awful Ed Balls pontificating at the new government and acting as though he hadn't been part of the team which presided over the mismanagement of the economy.

In any sensible system they shouldn't be anywhere near power now without having had an enormous volte-face and making an apology for the god-awful mess they left for others to clean up.
 
Mrs Don just sat down and went through a long and exhaustive quiz (ten sections, review the manifesto policies for each party in each section ) and in 7 of 10 it turned out that the Green Party policy was her preferred one. The exceptions were the Economy (Lib Dem), Defence (Labour) and the Environment (Plaid Cymru). These are exactly the areas which would prevent her voting Green so she's officially non the wiser.

From my perspective, the seat is so safe that we're not really voting locally so much as sending a message nationally. My views on Europe (economically very important for us and our business) preclude voting English Democrat, UKIP or Conservative (I don't trust the British electorate to make the right (for me) decision on Europe), Plaid Cymru wouldn't send a national message, the Greens are IMO loopy in so many areas which leaves me choosing between Labour and Lib Dem.

I've decided it's time to let my anger over Iraq drop but I will never forgive Labour for their gross overuse of terrible PFI contracts. The LibDems OTOH have the whole coalition thing to be ashamed about.
 
In other news, "UKIP aren't a racist party........"

A UKIP candidate has been suspended after being filmed apparently threatening to shoot a Conservative rival.

Robert Blay, who is standing in North East Hampshire, was secretly filmed by the Daily Mirror making the comments about Ranil Jayawardena.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-england-32595003

Ex-Conservative Mr Blay noted Mr Jayawardena had been tipped as Britain's first Asian prime minister.

"If he is I will personally put a bullet between his eyes. If this lad turns up to be our prime minister I will personally put a bullet in him. That's how strong I feel about it."
Questioning Mr Jayawardena's background, he said: "His family have only been here since the 70s. You are not British enough to be in our parliament. "I've got 400 years of ancestry where I live. He hasn't got that."
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MikeG said:
That is a very odd article.

I thought at the time that Labour had the bare-faced cheek to oppose the efforts of the coalition to repair the carnage they (Labour) had wrought so soon after being humbled at the polls, and with the very same people responsible for the mess leading the "too far, too fast" campaign. It was the ultimate political hypocrisy in my view. Labour stuffed up, and should have gone away and shut up, because they were wrong, and should have felt humiliated and chastened for getting things so wrong. They were punished by the electorate, but 5 minutes later they were back with the awful Ed Balls pontificating at the new government and acting as though he hadn't been part of the team which presided over the mismanagement of the economy.

In any sensible system they shouldn't be anywhere near power now without having had an enormous volte-face and making an apology for the god-awful mess they left for others to clean up.
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I never knew Labour policies were in control of the USA mortgage market and which Labour politician ran Lehman Brothers?
 
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