Makes such a big difference which constituency you live in. People forget that you are not voting for Slimy Dave or Whacky Ed, you are actually only voting for your representative MP. Then the MPs choose the first amongst equals. I'm in a weird position where my consituency was the narrowest in the country last election (Labour by 42 votes), with Lib Dems under 1,000 votes behind. To add to uncertainty, the sitting MP is retiring. The Labour candidate is a granddaughter of a President of Bangladesh and the LD candidate is a convicted and now ex-Islamic extremist who campaigns against extremism/religion. The Tory is a bit bland. To throw in a bit more spice instead, there are of course both UKIP and Green Party candidates, but more interestingly two independents, one of whom died yesterday but under our election rules remains on the ballot paper - if he wins the vote is rerun. It really is anyone's to win!
You do your bit? What does that entail? You seem to have this habit of sounding like you're saying something without saying anything, and refocusing a conversation as quickly as possible. Seems you've learnt plenty form the cons these last 30 years then! And what was the point of your "Who says I'm voting Tory?" comment the other day? Was that also just to evade and refocus? I see a pattern emerging! I'm only 21 so this is the first chance I've had to vote. I have recently become a member of the green party and intend on getting involved with them more once I'm at Uni. See how I answered the question you asked without trying to dodge and refocus. It's not hard. Well I guess it is when you have no decent position to defend you opinions form!
The point about voting for your local MP is why I'm wavering a bit on actually voting green as I like my Lib Dem representative (Norman Lamb). Met him a few times while I was at college and he had some good policies that have slipped my mind as of this moment.
Lots of volunteer work to help raise funds for my local Association and to organise leaflet drops at campaign times. Driving the elderly to the voting booths on Election Day to help maximise the Vote. I am proud to say that in all the years that I have been involved in local Associations we have always had a Tory MP elected and I am very confident that this will continue to be the case in 3 weeks time. My constituency used to be a Labour seat during the Blair years but through hard work the local Tory Association has turned the Constituency into a safe seat for the Tories. I moved from an ultra safe Tory constituency in Cambridgeshire to West Sussex in 2006 and the amount of work and dedication that the local activists have put in has been amazing and we are now reaping the rewards. The Conservatives have the right plan for the Country for the next 5 years and we are the only party that has real credibility when it comes to running the economy in a sensible and balanced way. The Conservatives are the party of freedom, the party for those that have aspirations in life to get on and improve their lives and the lives of their families. You will no doubt disagree with me but at least I know what I believe in and I work jolly hard to ensure that we get a Conservative MP elected in my area.
That's the first time I've been impressed with one of your posts (I appreciate that probably means very little to you). I entirely disagree with you but you've actually spelt out your reasons for your support and that's far better than the usual dross. I'd still say you're buying into their propaganda that they are the best for progression for all the people in this country. They will never champion the most vulnerable in society, those that actually need support, it's not their MO. I also think that all parties should be looking 15/20/30 years into the future, not 5, but that's an argument against pretty much all the parties as they are all more interested in getting elected than actually planning for the future. On an entirely tangential note, I think it's about time proportional representation was given another chance.
I am an old fashioned no nonsense Tory and always have been so it's too late for me to change now. My Dad was a Railway Driver and was a union man through and through during the 60s and 70s when I was growing up. He also had a launderette and a grocers shop and he knew the meaning of real hard work and self sacrifice. You would expect him to have been a socialist due to his union connections but in fact he was a staunch Tory all his life. He wasn't rich but he was comfortable and his values just rubbed off onto me I guess. He died when I was quite young and my mum re married and we moved from Ipswich to Cambridge during the early 80s. The Conservative philosophy has always appealed to me but like I say each to their own! I just think that it would be a mistake to change course now when the country is only just getting back on its feet after the biggest crash since the War, irrespective of who's fault it was!
Things have changed since the 80's though and it's much much much harder to start in a job outside of an office or a bar unless you have a very good degree. With so many more people to cater to, the % of have nots only grows as the % of haves decreases. The Tories will always cater to the haves before the have nots. I realise this is all moot as not many of us on here who are actually discussing are likely to change their opinions.
I do not recognise what you are saying as being entirely accurate. For example where I live in West Sussex my eldest Son has just left college and has been taken on as an apprentice at Virgin Atlantic based at Gatwick as a trainee engineer. If you are bright and highly motivated to get on you will find a decent job.
1 example does not an argument make. Yes people are still getting jobs. But a huge swathe struggle. And the people that are working in the bottom end jobs on minimum wage either have to scrape by or work so many hours that they basically don't have time to have a life. You can't just say "Well I know a guy that's just got a job so you're point is invalid"! It's good you're son is going into engineering. One of the issues we have in this country is that we tend to look down on the more "Manual" jobs. Plumber, builders, engineers to a lesser extent etc. It's why our industry has fallen away so badly (Something a certain Lady is hugely responsible for).
I have to agree and it's something I referred to earlier in this thread. As I'm sure you're aware, not everyone is academic and there will ALWAYS be a need for people in 'manual' jobs!!!!
There are 100s of these examples just at Gatwick alone FFS! You can always point to low paid jobs and ZHC but they have always been in the economy and we need people to do these jobs otherwise there would be no cleaners, ancillary workers etc etc. You weren't even born when the Lady was PM so you have absolutely no idea what a dire mess the country was in back in 1979 so don't spout all the trendy left wing propaganda.
I wasn't saying people shouldn't work these jobs, I was saying people should be paid more for them. Please try and pay attention rather than just getting annoyed. ZHC are purely a way of boosting employment %. They have always been around but there's definitely been a surge in their use under the coalition(I'm trying to find links to raw data to support that claim. A simple google search will corroborate my claim though). It links in with the rise in the lack of security for the most vulnerable. I'm a big history geek and while I probably can't fully comprehend the state of the nation at the time of Thatcher's government (Though my parents have spoken to me about it at length and I have read up on it extensively), I do know a decent amount. I know that she was probably right in trying to modernise our nation. Where she failed was destroying entire communities and basically having zero morals. She also pushed us heavily into the idea of becoming a banking hub and moving away from industry. Something we are suffering from now. It'd be nice if you didn't get all vitriolic. It makes it far harder to have reasoned debate.
Complete garbage I'm sorry but you haven't got a clue when it comes to the sheer scale of the problems Mrs Thatcher had to face back in 1979! Mrs Thatcher did not destroy communities they destroyed themselves through their own belligerence. Wilson's Government closed more pits than Mrs Thatcher ever did. As for this line about her having zero morals this is completely ignorant of the true facts.
Thatcher had a very strong sense of morals, she was governing for a reason. Probably I fact the last PM who wanted the job for any reason other than personal power an the sound of their own voice. You have to remember morals are by no means absolutes, some vegetarians will tell you eating meat is immoral, Her morals were founded on the sense that she had only so much money to play with for the good of the whole country and supporting the massively uneconomic mining industry wasn't the best use of everybody's money. Another things that alway over looked about the period was that in the 70s the UK had received an IMF bail out and was subject to austerity conditions, not unlike Greece. We had to modernise and spend widely. As to the Industry in this country the idea that we've moved away from it is basically false. This country has a huge manufacturing sector, I have I fact worked in it. In 2014 we made more cars in this country than we ever had before and this year we'll beat it again the problem is that it takes far fewer people to make a car not than it did so I'll agree that fewer people are employed doing it but that is an inevitable product of technology. We should be glad we developed so many other sectors for people to work in. Another example is warehouses. I did some work at marks and Spencer's national distribution centre. It's a vast place and nearly entirely automated. Then employ around 1,200 people and run 24 hours a day. That same warehouse 10 years ago, non-automated, would have employed 5000-7000 people. This trend is consistent and will only advance but it's not the product of politics it the product of technology.
Thatcher and Keith Joseph were both utterly mad. They got taken in by the monetarist theories of Milton Friedman and destroyed British industry by way of an economic experiment. It was only North Sea oil that saved us from becoming a third world country. On the right to buy issue this is just a panic measure as the Tories see victory slipping away. Current polling by Lord Ashcroft shows a swing to Labour of around 4% in the Con/Lab marginals. They are in danger of alienating voters in the private rented sector too as well as it making no sense whatsoever economically. Todays Poll puts the vote at Tory 34% Labour 35%. I think what we can say with a fair degree of certainty is that nobody will have a majority.
Not that I enjoy getting involved in a 'Thatcher debate', but the mass-deregulation of the financial sector (among other industries) during the 80s (which Thatcher and Reagan played a major part in) was absolutely detestable. Thatcher and her government knew exactly what they were doing, and had a pretty good idea of what the potential drawbacks could be in the future.
Yeah it wasn't the most subtle anonymising of where I live, but I just find it such a weird bunch of candidates I had to share!
Latest Com Res Poll for ITV News shows a 13% Swing From Lib Dem to the Conservatives in the South West.
