The 2010 election thread

[retrojon]

Has Gordon Brown had botox?

 

[JohnH]

I was born and spent my youngest years in Teesside, a left-wing stronghold. After constantly re-electing the "pro-healthcare", "pro-schools", "pro-job-creation", "pro-community" Labour party for decades, Middlesbrough now has the shortest life expectancy in England, some of the worst exam results, an unemployment level that's twice the national average, a huge quantity of drug-related crime, high rates of teenage pregnancy and possibly the highest level of teenage prostitution in England -- again, drug-related. As far as I can see, the story is similar in other Labour heartlands like Glasgow, Merseyside and South Yorkshire.

Having seen what voting Labour for a few years does to a place, I thank my lucky stars that I live in West Sussex.

 

[JohnH]

Right, tomorrow's the day!

Have you made your mind up? Or are you still an "undecided"?

(TBH, I'll be glad when the news is talking about anything else but the bloody election. It's getting to saturation point... )

 

[Easy_Rider]

Get ready for a lot more talk and coverage. As a lot of the undecided vote lib dems leading to a hung parliament, meaning brown gets first shout to form a government (even if he has the least seats and/or number of votes), but lib dems won't have him, so that means Brown is forced out and Milliband (god forbid!) becomes Labour leader, de facto PM. Lib Dems and Labour form a coalition, a lot of voters won't understand what just happened and feel cheated, leading to protests and more coverage, government breaks down, we have to go to polls again...
They should never have done these stupid debates, we haven’t got a presidential system, you are voting for your own local MP not a PM, the party decides on the PM, what about all those independants and other parties vowing for your vote in your constituency, where is their voice? We have none of the stops and checks of a presidential system but we are walking blind into it :roll:

 

[IDB1]

Abstinence may as well be a vote for Labour (as will any vote that is outside of 'the big 3'), I don't fully understand the implications of a hung parliament but get the impression that it'd be a bad thing.

I'll be voting Tory (because Labour are an horrific prospect and they (the Tories) have promised to put the repeal of the Hunting Act up for a free vote, the best chance of it being binned).

 

[JohnH]

I don't fully understand the implications of a hung parliament but get the impression that it'd be a bad thing.

It's my understanding that after the election, this country's due for some of the medicine that the Greeks are currently spitting out: public sector cuts, interest rate rises, tax rises, welfare cuts, pension reform -- basically, the hangover after the 1994-2007 credit frenzy.

I'm not sure that a coalition government would be able to stick together during such unpopular changes without the outbreak of a mini civil war between the parties in the coalition.

 

[LeeDevelopment]

Having grown up with the Tories and watching them destroy the lives of so many families in the North East with the closures of the pits, factories and the ship yards, the Conservatives are not getting vote.

Gordon Brown froze the civil service pay many years ago, and of course, no one voted him in in the first place, add to this the Iraq war, Labour is not getting my vote.

Hence I'm voting for the Lib Dems.

 

[Easy_Rider]

If people are stuck which way to vote, why not vet each person in their constituency on merit and not party, you may even find the independent candidate will offer more for your area? After all that is our system, a person from our area to sit in parliament to represent you. That's why they hold regular surgeries so you can talk to them.

 

[Neil G]

F**kers didn't send me a polling card so the missus is voting for me this time...says it all really.

I think the curtain is about to fall for Gordon Brown and it's about time. What has happened recently is pretty much daylight robbery

 

[Easy_Rider]

With all the votes for Lib Dems I fear that with out system, Gordon will cling on