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Generally interested + will be good discussion for ma Politics class re. the Irish populations vote and whether it follows past trends :)
Personally if I could (not 17 till July!) would go for Lib Dem as live in a LD/Tory constituency (currently Tory) and Lib Dems though they won't get in have good policies and deserve the seat.....ideologically opposed to the Conservatives to!
I'll be voting Lib Dem, as I have in every election since I moved to England in 1991.
I came over here as what you could describe a 'natural labour supporter' - a politically-aware/active Northern Irish Catholic from a working class town etc etc.
I voted Lib Dem in the '92 General Election purely as a tactical move to get rid of Chris Patton. However, within a couple of years of seeing how evil and control-freaking the Labour political machine is through national student politics, I became increasingly disgusted by the party and slowly turned towards the Lib Dems.
Am now an active member of the LD's, and considering standing as a Councillor for them in London.
You'd get ma vote!Quote:
Originally Posted by dcfcsteve
......if I had one :eek:
If I was British I'd vote Lib Dem, but you probably already guessed that. It's an absolute shame we don't have a party like them over here. I've contemplated writing to Kennedy asking for an Irish branch many a time. :)
adam
Independent Working Class Alliance. Small left wing party based in North London.
Isnt Kennedy supposed to have a drink problem?
(thast not libelous as its been all over the Tv & papers in Britain)
He's tea-total these days, and is giving up the Lambegs (fegs) as well....Quote:
Originally Posted by eoinh
Da Respect Party. Big up.
If my vote was in a swing constituency I'd vote for who ever was likely to get rid of / keep out Labour (well except the BNP/UKIP who seem to be just racists - well maybe UKIP aren’t, not 100% sure either way).
Why the hatred of Labour? - Simple, they’re all spin and no substance. And I’m sick to death of the "18 years of Tory rule" excuse; they’ve been in charge for 7/8 years now. Their policies seem to be even more pro-war than the last lot of Tories. At least Major's lot tried to avoid coming down on one or other side in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and what troops they put in were under UN control, but as soon as Blair got in the attitude changed, culminating in the bombing of Serbia (and even more disgracefully Macedonia) in 1999.
On a local level, imo the NHS has got worse since 97, local transport (London Underground for me) seems to be chronically under funded. I’m not against the congestion charge in London, but they really should spend some money to improve the public transport (or at the very least spend some money to subsidise passengers’ tickets) to give people an alternative to driving... and don’t get me started on the Buses. Before they got in, in 97, there was actually a plan to expand the Tube line where I live but now that seems to have been ditched. They’re plunging vast sums of money into this 2012 Olympic pipe dream that blatantly isn’t going to happen; to me it looks like Millennium Dome v.2 (the same could be said for the Scottish Parliament Building). With all that money they should have done something that would serve a purpose - e.g. built faster trains etc, that go way out beyond London so that people could live in places were there is cheap housing and reduce the housing price crisis in the South East - instead there'll be a whole load of twaddle like an Olympic standard cycle ring and a pool for synchronised swimming, "Back the Bid" they can back it right up and park it in their arse for all I care, what a waste of money. They also put in tuition fees, too.
Then there is the behaviour of some of their MPs. Normally I couldn’t give a flying toss about the private lives of MPs, but in 97 a large part of the Labour campaign was devoted to the then government’s sleaze - I don’t think their record over the 7 or so years has been great, so it all seems a bit hypocritical.
Over here it feels like they’re selling a product, it’s like a wreck of a car but the dealers got a great sales pitch. So I'd vote for anyone who get these prats out, but sadly I think Labour will win it with ease none the less.
Aye Labour will win it-wouldn't say the Olympic bid is never going to work-I hope it does though so I can go and see Ireland :D
Totally get what you are saying about priorities re. Olympics vs Transport though...
Compare the attitude of the English government on transport to the announcements made yesterday of significant investment in the Irish Rail rolling stock. Not before time too, but Ireland is a dramatically smaller and (until very recently) poorer nation than England/Britain. Yet new stock is needed, so new stock gets delivered.Quote:
Originally Posted by liam88
There's is now a complete and utter unwillingness/fear in British governments to invest money full stop. Not just in transport, but also in education, the NHS, the Civil Service etc. Any money that has gone in has been spent on salaries - not on improving the infrastructure. They only have the balls to invest in infrastructure when there's a specific project and deadline to aim for - e.g. Jubilee Line extension for the Millenium; Crossrail and Part 1 of the East London Line extension for the Olympics.
Why this complete fear of investment has arisen and taken such deep hold of English politicians I just do not understand. Personally, I blame the Tories for their emphasis on spending as little as possible in order to continually lower taxes, which left Labour terrified of doing anything that might suggest they were a 'tax and spend' party for the first 5yrs of their reign.
I'd vote Labour.
A Lib Dem vote is wasted vote under FPTP lads! I think it's merely a case of whether or not the Tories can close in Lab's majority, rather than genuine aspirations of victory. They are stuck in a rut, and bemused over how to get out. A lack of a proper leader, no policy direction and isolation of minorities(ie/ last weeks ridiculous immigration "policy" was worthy of the BNP).
I like the Lib Dems but i fear they would undersell the country's position as a world leader in policy influence with regards to deploying troops and maintaining American relations. I do, however, like their pro-Europe approach, and i think Kennedy is a great leader and a great man.
I think that it is now 'cool' to hate/dislike Blair, but to be fair, the man has come through a lot this term, and i wish him all the best for the next.
Good points there mate....I'm pretty fed up of the trend of hating Bush/Blair/Iraq War/Israel-now before I start a ruck I do not have ANYTHING against people who truly are opposed to what I've just mentioned! You guys who have looked at both sides of the argument, watch the news, read your history and make your judgement against these things I'm not reffering to you (that applies to a lot of guys on here)! What I'm talking about are the teenagers who smash up the head teachers car in protest to the war but propably couldn't even point to Iraq on a map!Quote:
Originally Posted by jofyisgod
Same as this lad few months ago going on about Northern Ireland.....he didn't even know who Gerry Adams/Ian Paisley were! Nothing wrong with not knowing these things obviously but this is a 16 years only lad trying to put foward an argument when he knew nothing about the history/situation/people. People who hate bush because their mates/Mochael Moore/Greenday do are the equivelant of the much abused Celtic 'fans' of Ireland who won't support their local club and go on about the Celts but know nothing about who Celtic are playing next (this is what we're told by those anti-celts).
Anyway rant over........
Lib dems will never win or even be an opposition under FPTP aye but the more seats they have the better :D and mabye one day.....
Michael Howard is going pretty far right......suprising that someone of his background is trying to catch up with Th8tcher can never see him as PM.
Like ya implied, Blair will win a third term whether we like him or not-I hope he listens to reason and does well!
[QUOTE=jofyisgod]I'd vote Labour.
A Lib Dem vote is wasted vote under FPTP lads! [QUOTE]
Simply not true. Firstly - you have 52 seats which the Lib Dems currently hold. So a vote for the Lib Dems there is a waste ? Errr - no, it would see them re-elected....
Secondly there's approx 180 Tory seats in the country - the majority of which have the Lib Dems in 2nd place, not Labour. In those seats it's the Labour vote that's wasted, as to varying degrees they have little or no chance of beating the sitting Tory candidate.
Only in seats where the Lib Dems are a far third could you claim it's a 'waste' to vote for them. But again, the same can be said for Labour and the Torys in seats where they're in 4th place...
If on the other hand you're suggesting it's a waste to vote Lib Dem simply as becuase they won't be in government after this election, then hey - let's all just go home and give up then, as Labour will almost definitely win it (though with a reduced majority).
I'll make a prediction for you Jofyisgood. Lib Dems will continue to pick-up Westminster seats at this election - as they have done at every election for the last number of years. The Tories will lose up to 50, as they continue to drift down towards their low-water mark. Labout will lose seats as well - again, could be as many as 50, depending on how the Tory vote holds up. Regardless - the Lib Dems will come out of this election in a position that will allow them to make a genuine breakthrough in the following general election (i.e. 2010), when they will finally replace the Torys as the 2nd party. This big leap can't be done without the incremental growth the LD's have had over the last 15 years. That incremental growth couldn't have happened without individual votes for Lib Dems candidates over the years. And those individual votes have therefore been far from wasted.....
The one area the UK outspend us a lot is transport & health. Be good if we could close their transport spend without wasting money on proposed white elephants like the dublin city rail tunnel.
However bad people may think the irish health system at least we haven't tried to implement a National Health service free to all like in the UK. Still can't understand how everyone (including the rich) entitled to what seems like completely free health including drugs & services.
:eek:
Lib Dems seem to be wise about some issues but then I wouldn't know if they'd know how to stop spending money.
Richard Prior of the 'None Of The Above' Party. :cool:
'Who's buying the booze?' You Are! 'Who's buying the booze?' You are!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lopez
So who you going to vote for,
None of the above. :D
Whats this about Gerry and Martin doing the same thing. ;) like buying a baseball team.
Ahh Gerry and Martin. I remember in the eighties a tw*t that I worked with (Tory voter, only went to Jersey or Gibraltar for hols, doing the 'knowledge' :rolleyes: ) asked who I voted for. I said 'I don't' (true). He asked 'why?'. I said 'my party did not stand in British elections'. He said 'who was that?' I said 'Sinn Fein'. Went ballistic complaining about his brother was in the army while his mother was a right chucky who told him to drop dead. :D All I remember of the rest of the night was missing puking over a Yuppy on the train home and getting myself instead, and then waking up in Bletchley covered in sick. I had to go to work the next day in the same uniform. :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by sylvo
FPTP is an idiotic electoral system. Another reason to vote LD right there...
Wasn't that Celtic vs Fulham :DQuote:
Originally Posted by lopez
100% agree with ya there AMS is they way foward!Quote:
Originally Posted by dahamsta
No such thing as wasted vote, if people followed that theory no one would have ever voted Labour in this first place. Surely you should vote on the party you agree closely with the manifesto of not vote on the grounds that you do not like a party, that is surely turning democracy into a negative rather than positive activity.Quote:
Originally Posted by jofyisgod
It may be cool, but doesn't mean that many of us don't hate him. Back in '97, millions like me voting for the first time really thought "things could only get better". Turned out that the only thing they did was out tory the tories.Quote:
Originally Posted by jofyisgod
See the next target is Incapacity Benefit - I'll never forgive the tories for the worry they caused my old man in the years before his death (from cancer ffs) over the cutting of benefits and how we'd manage, and now these prícks are doing the same thing. They'll only make the genuine cases suffer, as the chancers are the ones that can operate the system.
Compared to what? Our PR system that gives disproportionate power in coalitions to smaller parties? Witness the power the PD's have in Government compared to their actual vote. If the LD's had a chance of winning under FPTP they wouldn't support PR, just the same as it mysteriously disappeared from Labours radar after the 97 landslide....Quote:
Originally Posted by dahamsta
Totally agree. I'm gradually coming round to thinking that he's worse than Th*tch (at least you can argue that her war was justified as 'British' territory was invaded). I voted for Labour in 1992 and 1997 on the specific grounds that they did NOT privatise the London Underground where I work. They subsequently went on to do exactly that when they came to power. FFS, I may as well have voted for the tories. :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by Macy
Having lived my whole life in the Tory heartland, it has always given me great pleasure to display a "Vote Labour" poster outside Goblin Mansions- even when I wasn't entirely sure if I liked them anymore, such as at present.
It's still worth it just to annoy the natives. Even now, it's worth it.
I'll probably vote labour yet again, lacking any real alternative.
It's funny, but many Monster Raving Loony manifesto pledges over the years, such as all day drinking, have slowly become accepted. One candidate was elected to a council in Cornwall, I believe, purely on his pledge that if elected he promised to do absolutely nothing at all. This sounded pretty good to voters, and in he was voted in.
I'd vote Veritas if I had a vote. ;)
Is the Monster Raving Loonatic Party still going over there?
Apparently so. We're never going to be short of attention seeking English eccentrics, so it's likely they'll continue forever. But as I say, many of their original ideas have now become accepted part of everyday life such as all day drinking and voting at 18. It says from their website:Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluebeard
With "real" politics in its most deplorable state for generations, it's more important than ever that we're around to prove that we've got better hats than anyone else. But we can only do this with your help - be brave, get that top hat on your head, and stand in an election. It's free to stand as a Loony candidate in local government elections, and just imagine the sense of pride you'll feel when you open the newspaper to see your name at the bottom of the results list. Don't forget, too, that the whole idea of devolution, and pets' passports, were nicked off Lord Sutch by the "respectable" parties! We can expect to see more OMRLP policies become law, it's just that it takes "normal" politicians a while to catch up with us.
It's probably a wasted vote. But they're right, they do indeed have far better hats than anyone else.