The Tories had agreed a deal with the LD's for reform of the Lords. They reneged on their deal so Clegg did too. It has cost Cameron the electrion,what a berk!
Spot on. Cameron only has himself to blame. Though to be fair I'm pretty glad he made that decision...
People were tortured, beaten, raped and even killed in the struggle to get votes for all and now we are supposed to believe that in an election where we have on offer a range of options from the dangerous right( UKIP ) to the cloud cuckoo land left ( Greens ) some people still can't find a policy they agree with. Absolute rubbish!! They are either too ignorant to listen to what is on offer or, more likely, too lazy to get off their arses and walk to the polling station. They make me sick especially as, usually, they are the first to moan and complain when the Government does something to their financial disadvantage.
What rotten boroughs JWM? This isn't 1783. Saw this today: "I'd rather be a champagne socialist than a champagne ****". Amen.
What if they don't trust any of the politicians on offer......should people just vote for the least unattractive. I do agree that people should make the effort to get down to the polling station even if just to spoil the ballot paper as protest.....maybe a 'none of the above' box would be an option.....
Still 99% sure I'm not voting Labour, but I saw this earlier. Decent points: “Normally with leaders of the opposition there’s a rulebook here, you just play safe, you accept the parameters of the government of the day, and you just follow in behind them… like Iain Duncan-Smith accepting the Iraq war… What you see with Miliband is he did four really amazing things: he challenged Murdoch over the purchase of the BSkyB shares in the wake of the phone hacking; he took on the press over Leveson; he stopped the intervention in Syria – this broke with the general belief that you always have to support the United States, he ended the cycle of intervention; he came out for a Palestinian state and he whooped it. Very brave. …and now of course he’s reaping the whirlwind… the Murdoch press is reaping revenge…a horrible series of personal, vindictive attacks which lower and demean our politics. The modernisers defeatism is the nightmare that…you never believe in anything, you’re always trapped to the centre and you go hell for leather for those middle ground voters. And what Miliband has done, and this is the terrific thing I really admire him for, is he’s not tried to be a moderniser, he’s tried to be a conviction politician. The whole country cries out for one, and we’ve got one in Ed Miliband.” Peter Oborne, former chief political commentator of the Telegraph who resigned over its coverage of the HSBC scandal
Then spoil your paper. Voting isn't just about engagement in the system, it's ensuring that your peers get a fair deal too. At the last election over half of voters were aged 55 or over. This goes an awful long way to explaining why all parties go to great lengths to protect post retirement benefits whilst the under 25's get mass unemployment, high tuition fees and reduced housing benefits. It's simple maths for politicians of all parties and it won't change until the younger generations come out to vote in large numbers - even if they then just draw a willy on their ballot paper.
I agree that Miliband has hardly put a foot wrong in this campaign and I honestly feel like he's been a breath of fresh air and has quashed the pre-conceived image so many people had of him prior to the last few months. He comes across as a man who believes in his vision, and I also feel he comes across as trustworthy and someone in the game for the right reasons. However I also agree that the Murdoch press (in fact pretty much all the press, The Grauniad and Mirror possible exceptions) are going to give him some right stick in the final run in and do everything they possibly can to damage his chances of being elected to stop him from imposing Leveson's recommendations, and my big fear is that we are going to see a repeat of the 1992 campaign where despite leading all the polls, Kinnock fell at the final hurdle and lost out to Major, largely in part to the backing Murdoch gave to the Tories - remember the headline "It Was The Sun Wot Won It"? I've got a really bad feeling we're going to see dodgy Dave back at number 10 later this week, a really horrible feeling - hope I'm wrong!
I don't think the press have the power to influence many voters these days. It's changed sine '92. Interesting polls from LD marginals, hardly any movement where Tories are second but where Labour are second average 11% swing to Labour.
Totally agree, unfortunately the tories and the right wing press are setting up for a constitutional coup. They know that Cameron isn't going to have enough allies to pass a Queens speech so he is already using the press to try to bully those in the anti-tory block into not voting down a Tory government on the grounds of "legitimacy". Cameron is acting just like Mugabe, he demeans the office and he shows utter contempt for the electorate. The last few days has shown went he is utterly unfit for office - he doesn't care about the country, only his career and his Freudian slip the other day proved that.
If there was ever a reason NOT to vote Labour .......................... please log in to view this image
I think you're giving people too much credit. People are creatures of habit and if you have read for example the Sun for the last 5 years and beyond, you would have had 5 years of how well the Tories are doing and what a disaster Labour would be. The mirror of course is the polar oposite, decrying all that the coalition has done and championing the UK's saviours Labour. Neither are what you would call highbrow, I'm fairly sure that those two publications alone will be responsible for some unthinking allegience to one or other of the main parties. And a small ammount of mud slinging through the debates will still not counter their perception given they will once again return to their publication of choice, who will once again champion their champion irrespective of performance. I have cast my vote, but like some others, given the chance, I think I would vote for Monty Brewster because none of the options seem particularly palatable. Bah!
If it's your anti-war stance that is fuelling your hatred for the man I thought we'd already established that the Tory leader at the time (not to mention the current one) also voted in favour of the invasion?
I voted Green earlier this morning. I live in a cast-iron Labour seat, so it almost certainly won't make any difference. If I lived in a marginal, I may well have voted differently. There's quite a lot of the Green's policies that I find extremely odd and in some cases ridiculous. However, none of the 'major' parties address global-level environmental issues to anywhere near the extent that I think they should (it's probably the number one issue for me). I like to think that, if enough people voted for the Greens, the major parties might take notice and give a bit more than just lip service to environmental issues (global climate change in particular).
