I'm just curious as to why you don't want Cameron as your next PM. Now you've got to realize I know nothing about the man. Is it you don't want a Conservative Gov't or you don't want Cameron as your next Prime Minister?
for me it's both. i've never been pro-conservative, ever, and i would never be (unless they or i did an incredibly drastic u-turn on everything they/i stood for!). for me the recent conservative party have done more to screw this country than just about anyone else, with thatcher right at the top of the list. i could not, morally or ethically, vote for them. ever.
as for cameron - well partly it's because, as i said before, he's a smarmy git with no policy. of course it's not his fault that politics these days is more about what your wife thinks of you and how much mud you can sling at the personalities on the other side than about actual politics/policy, and i accept that, but he really does play up to it. he contradicts himself all the time as well - he came in to lead the tories with great statements about how he realised everyone was sick of the spin associated with labour, the personality politics of blair and co - and yet he's wheeled his wife out to go on about how amazing he is (but with a few housewifely flaws thrown in to make him appear human), his election campaign posters have so far consisted of (1) his smug face, (2) unflattering pics of gordon brown with text that essentially points and laughs, and (3) pics of "ordinary" people going "i've never voted tory before, but i want to see a change in *insert problem*" - these latter posters have even spawned facebook groups (i'm in one of them: "i've never voted tory before... because i'm not a f**king idiot"). for someone who thinks everyone's sick of spin, he sure as hell engages in a lot of it.
added to that he just has *no* policy, or at least nothing clearly defined, beyond, as
shazza pointed out, wanting to simultaneously improve public services, cut spending and not increase taxes, which seems a bit contradictory. i have a politics degree and so far all i can make out in terms of tory policy at the moment is "whatever labour are saying, we'll do the opposite". if i can't discern anything, how are people without politics degrees (ie almost everyone) meant to? his entire campaign, policy and party to an extent seem to be, at least for now, based on slick one liners and nothing else.
I remember my first time voting. I had no guidance from my parents as my parents belief was not to discuss politics, among other stuff with us. It was only a couple of years ago that I found out how my parents vote. They were totally shocked at how I vote. I'm a Conservative and they are Liberal.
my parents too actually. my dad votes tory (he told me eventually but tbh it was pretty obvious!). i remember when blair came to power my mum got all excited that she'd voted labour for a change, as if she was suddenly down with the kids or something. she only did it because he made them so much like the tories that it wasn't really any different!
I think it's very important to vote. Even if you vote by spoiling your ballot you've at least had a say in the decision. Nobody can fault you for that. I don't think enough young people vote today and that is sad. Their views of things are just as important as the 'older' view.
I appreciate that you would spoil your ballot paper, if it came to it. I think it's still important making the effort and going to the polling to do so. I just find it a little ignorant when people don't vote, we fought a long time to vote so we should exercise that right even if it meanings spoiling your ballot paper.
yep, i agree 100%
Can't you atleast take a second look at Labour? I know it's hard with the party so messed up but you should. I don't have an opinion about Tony Blair I never have I've always felt indifferent about him. My families always voted Labour I'm not so sure if I will this time.
not at the moment, no. blair ripped the heart out of the party - it's no longer a socialist party, it may be nominally but it's not in practice. i'm a socialist, i can't vote for a party that claims to also be but has so totally lost touch with its traditional election base. they spent so much time and money chasing after the middle englanders and the central ground that they forgot their roots and are basically a different party now. there is no labour party anymore, imho. even now with all the trade union activity going on (rail, mail and a couple of others) they're showing no signs of, y'know, actually supporting the labour! as one of my favourite lyrics of all time put it: "change your name to new, forget the f**king labour" - spot on, really.
in a way i think it makes sense that they went that way, to an extent anyway - after all we ARE all bourgeois now, and the centre ground is what matters in the purest vote-getting terms, but that doesn't mean the working classes and labour causes just vanish, they shouldn't have just been left behind. new lab have promised to halve poverty, to end child poverty, and in fact under them these things have at best stayed about the same and at worst got worse. the traditional remit of the labour party is industry, working classes, community, and alleviation of poverty, new labour are ignoring most of it.
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I might (just might) go Liberal this year, I just find that Nick Clegg actually gives you an honest straightforward answer to any question. Also some of the Liberal manifesto pollices are attractive like scrapping tuition fees for full and part-time students on first degrees - it probably wouldn't effect me but definately my brothers and sisters.
yeah clegg seems ok, i'm keeping an eye on him, as it's plausible i'd vote for the lib dems - i did last time actually.
A hung parliment seems likely, but I would hope Labour have a majority in the situation so they can try and form a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats...but that'll be difficult.
i think that's the best we can hope for at the moment. i think in the polls the tories aren't far enough ahead to take the labour majority away or something (it's been a while since i checked and statistics never were my strong point on my degree!) - whatever happens i hope the lib dems get enough seats to be able to keep a tab on things!
i agree with your assessment of cameron, particularly this bit:
The way he comes across as the saviour of Britain, as if Britain is so bad pfft. Also like to say I've seen what conservative governments have done in the past, left this country in chaos and ran as fast as they can for the hills
not to mention that so many of the problems in britain today can be traced back to conservative values of the 80s - labour haven't caused these problems for the most part, they just haven't been able to fix them.
A question: what are your views on parties like the BNP and UKIP? How do you think they'll fair in this election?
the bnp: hmm... well how the hell they have a legitimate mandate is beyond me. they should never have been able to gain legitimacy in the first place, whoever made that decision needs their head testing. nick griffin is a **** of the highest order. they try to come across as all new, turned over a new leaf, fluffy bunny nice party who just happen to all be racist ex-thugs with a thing for shooting at non-whites from hilltops with rifles, or setting dogs on non-whites, or putting poop through non-white letterboxes etc. they are disgusting, and should never, ever have been allowed to stand. i'm all for freedom of speech, but their history (and indeed more recent undercover videos of their meetings) clearly show that they're not just about speech, they're about inciting hatred and violence (which is actually illegal). not to mention their holocaust denial. they're just.... it makes me really really sad when people are taken in by them. my faith in uk politicians was almost restored recently when griffin was on question time and ALL the other politicians, regardless of party, united against him. good for them.
ukip: erm, i tend to see them as a bit of a joke - i mean, kilroy for god's sake!!! i don't really see why they bother - do they really think the uk would be better off that far out of europe? our economy is based on european trade, without links to it we'd be bankrupt in weeks. and all because they want to keep their precious (and redundant, outdated, pointless) monarch on their currency. i just think they're kinda pathetic really.
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Isn't everyone allowed a say even if you don't agree with what is said. I just find that some people take their own beliefs to the extreme and aren't willing to listen to what others have to say which is very sad in this day and age.
