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Comments
There is no way on God's green earth that I would even contemplate voting for the Labour party until they do one of two things:
Ensure that England and the rest of the UK has the free health care, free prescriptions, free dental treatment and free education that Scotland enjoys.
Or...
Makes Scotland raise it's own revenue from Scottish taxpayers to fund this.
Scotland's fabulous system is funded by quite a lot of our tax and I don't think that that is fair!
And I've just heard that my aunt had to pay for a private scan to confirm that yes, she has cancer, because the NHS docs wouldn't give her the time of day, much less an appointment. So any Labour lines about what great custodians of the NHS they've been can fuck right off.
So take deep breath - it's not tribalism it's loyalty.
Why is that LibDem zealots always throw a faux-sophisticated interpretation of events at anyone who won't accept their infinitely flexible views. The system is 'farcical' because your party has never won an election - you'd be quite comfy with it if you had - but a 1/5th or 1/3rd is never a mandate - although through your efforts we're about to see three parties with approx. a third of a mandate!
All to satisfy a notion of what democracy needs or 'this is unfair it's my turn'.
Your progressive coalition would presumably have to include LIberals to be deemed progressive - no other permutation would do. In general the more parties included in a decision the longer it takes - so as a recipe for effective govt. it's disastrous. The country want to elect one party and have them make decisions, not two or three parties one of whom is jolly nice to everyone - except incumbent PMs
and can seem almost any argument from all sides just so have they a say in the solution [ 1/3rd of a solution].
Clegg seems to assume he has sufficient leverage to inveigle his way into a 'Big Important Job" but holding down political office means a focus on detail and outcome - not soundbites - neither Clegg nor Cameron can see beyond their autocues and will have no substance when it comes to the actual 'work' of politics.
@Graeme - what happened to your post? saw it last night but this morning it's butchered!! Re. praise for GB I think there's about a dozen PM's and Presidents who sought his counsel on economic strategy and to best of my knowledge none of them were Labour Party members. [ I don't suppose you'll count them though]
@ Dr Rohen - What Are You On?
@ Miss Annie - Sounds like you're planning to be a student with poor health and bad teeth - you'll have achieve that with Clegg and Cameron - they'll be ad for our all our health.
@Ali - last time I checked Scotland was part of the UK and as gives and takes within the combined economy!
Whatever his advice to all those mythical PM's and Presidents was, it didn't appear to help anyone much. Maybe the Germans.
Sorry but the appeal of LibDems completely eludes me - their game has been to reduce all other parties to their level with no great claims for anything except 'we're not the other two.'
You don't stop supporting a party in response to condescending half-points from an arriviste tactical voter. [ I had a near-crisis over Clause 4 but that's about it]
The fence sitting really needs no illustration it's been a Liberal default sitting for over 40 years.
My own focus reveals an opportunist 3rd party playing with the nations best interest because they really won't be able to deliver anything to those they're convincing to support them. If you had more support you would have accrued more seats over these last 40 years - that's how it works! deal with the situation you're in and not the one you wish you were in! Harsh, unfair, realities.
Do that first and be a credible political force as oppose to a PR victory then whatever % of a mandate you had would create more deserved leverage Stop expecting to just have 'your turn' and if you can't you'll spoil it for everyone else. Clegg is not your Obama. Labour can run the country, the Liberals almost certainly can't and the Tories will run it for a few. I won't be goaded by your clumsy invocation of Thatcher - just waiting to dance on her grave.
How very rude you are! Please don't assume that you know whom I'll be voting for. Unlike you I haven't yet made up my mind as I still want to give it some considered thought and not just vote for the same party time after time out of laziness and habit.
I have ruled out Labour as I don't believe they have done a good job for the last thirteen years. My mum has little left of the private pension that she scrimped and saved for due to Gordon Brown's irresponsible actions, our country has no gold reserves as Brown sold it off at a loss and the NHS is going down the pan rapidly. These are just a few of the reasons why I will not vote labour.
I would be interested to know if you have recently had to find a job, buy a house, use the NHS or get your children into a decent secondary school? Do you have any savings or a pension plan? If so I can't imagine why you would vote Labour as none of these things have improved under their stewardship... and please don't blame the worldwide recession as things have been on a downward slope for years.
@andy - you are quite right.
It's OK if you need a few more days to read papers or check other media and ask around to find a strand of thought to call your own.
It's a shame your life has been in decline for thirteen years but I'd be amazed if it were Labours' fault and there are elections every five years.
I'm really sorry your Mum's pension hasn't delivered. I doubt if Gordon Brown is actually responsible though and your justifiable anger is better directed at whoever sold or managed the pension.
[ private pension schemes, private health and insurance were all boom products in the Tory glory years]
My 'life experience' probably outstrips your own but it's none of your business whether I own a house or have children, or a pension or savings. I don't think I've blamed a global recession but I'm certain Gordon Brown didn't cause it and they are pretty hard to ignore when commenting on recent events.
Last time I checked health and education were free at the point of delivery across the UK. It infuriates me that dentists line their pocket with a service that is designed to ensure you need more and more treatment and a dental plan. Tuition fees are a pain but where else is a 0% loan available if you don't have cash in the mattress?
@ Arkady
I'm not being evasive. Your wafflish nonsense doesn't deserve credence. There is a 40 year trail of evidence and I presume by 'people' you mean only those affected by your evangelism. If the Tories do get half the seats for a third of the votes then Cleggs contribution will be surely be a pyrrhic victory [ comeuppance] and will ensure five years of grief. Albeit with Liberals bleatng it was nothing to do with us, we believe in everything so long as we can have at least 1/3rd or 1/5 of each policy decision. Vote splitting is a really dangerous game and the only way you can participate on regular basis is if you are disconnected from the fabric and context of day-to-day events which Liberals unquestionably are and many Tories too.
You won't persuade me or patronise me into accepting your re-hashing of received information is the same as being clever.
I simply don't believe in a party that has convertible policy according to the prevailing wind - perhaps best to leave it here and you expend your energy elsewhere e.g by undermining the Tory vote.
The electoral system which arkady despises creates a system where the third party can come up with ideas without worrying so much about having to implement them. As twinspark points out this also applies to the tories to some extent as they have been out of government for over a decade.
Since the first TV debate offered the liberals as a plausible alternative, all three leaders/parties have gone up in my estimation. Clegg because he seems a bit more human and honest, but hasn't thought everything through so much and now has to be tested. Cameron because he no longer looks like someone expecting to be PM simply because labour are tired and there is no alternative. Brown because he shows character in the face of a lost cause (when he knows he is in front of a microphone, anyway)
So there has been a clear advantage in empowering the lib dems even if it turns out that is only to strengthen and refine the future tory government we all thought we knew we'd get a few weeks ago. This would be a clear advantage to a 'fairer' voting system although I accept that there are significant practical concerns (too difficult to get things done?)
Of course we have Lynne in Hornsey, which makes it easier to vote liberal on a 'Lynne answers my e-mails' basis even if you had never heard of Nick.
(I have voted for all 3 main parties and this time likely to vote lib dem)
And yes, we know the history of the SDP thank you, you cock.
And yes, Mandelson is still working for the EU, as part of a German conspiracy to win the Battle of Britain by stealth, you cock.
And yes, the EU is our largest export market, you cock.
And the EU isn't perfect and neither is Britain, but we still live in it, don't we, you cock?
And if we left the EU we'd have to negotiate similar bilateral treaties with the other 26 members states, wouldn't we, you cock? Except we'd have no say in the running of any of the EU's institutions, would we, you cock?
You are a Dr of Cock.
A north London council has recalled 749 postal ballots which asked voters to pick three candidates instead of one.
Haringey Council has since apologised to the voters for the blunder and has had to deliver new papers by hand.
A spokesman said: "We would like to apologise to the voters, candidates and parties affected by this error."
Student Ruth Whincup, who received the incorrect document, said: "I was surprised. What if others didn't realise it was a mistake?"
She added: "I rang the local council and they confirmed my suspicions and they said it was a mistake and said they were going to try and get new voting forms out to everyone.
"But I just thought it was shocking that they hadn't tried to make it more public to stop people from voting incorrectly in the first place."
Haringey Council hand-delivered the correct ballot papers along with an explanatory letter on 29 and 30 April to each address that had been affected.
It has told voters to destroy the erroneous papers.
Candidates announced for Hornsey & Wood Green are:
Independent: Stephane de Roche; Liberal Democrat: Lynne Featherstone; Labour: Karen Jennings; Independent: Rohen Kapur; Green: Pete McAskie; Conservative: Richard Merrin.
You're confusing me with an item of furniture now?!
Trust this condition passes before polling day and you tick the right box.
You seem to have coalition fever '..An equal distribution of formal power..' means what exactly in the day-to-day context of a govt.? [formed as is most often the case here by one party] Set aside the negotiations that distribution would require for a moment - as that would probably take the rest of our natural lives - and tell me about the implementation? Or should it be that a govt. offers some power as consolation to rivals '..here you LIberals you run the Post Office please..and Tories what do you say to having a stab the Inland Revenue?..'
I didn't attack reform on that basis. Our system has historically had the same potential for fairness or unfairness to each party surely? . During the 88 years without a Liberal govts. other parties have dealt with the realities of the system and fought and won constituencies and built support region to region. The LibDems recent tactical genius has created a 'surge' though as you said this has yielded a poor return in terms of seats and a fractured map of peripheral constituencies. So the targets set by Lib. HQ have either been soft or awry but it would seem they couldn't fight and win a really big seat and have clearly not developed enduring support.
You're rolling toward fanfare and victory equivalent to the SDP's in 1983 when tactical voting opened the door wider for the Tories. This could be the Liberals 'victory' in 2010 - in '83 she was returned with an increased majority - this time Cameron will govern with whatever they can scrape and the country will love your party for that as fulsomely as they did the SDP. I look forward to Lord Clegg's memoir 'A Winner Denied The Prize' podcast from tax exile in Switzerland in 2030 or so.
Hence, for example, the nationalist parties have tended to do reasonably well out of the system (because of concentrated support in particular areas in Scotland and Wales) but other parties with more even appeal across the country (such as Greens, Liberals, SDP and so on) do less well out of the system.
Whether your support is concentrated or spread out partly is a factor of what a party does, but also reflects who the party's beliefs and philosophy appeals to - e.g. does it appeal to Welsh language speakers (geographically concentrated) or does it appeal to small business people (much more evenly spread).
And while Jeremy Corbyn may be relatively untainted by the New Labour project, he is associated with far, far worse - <a href="http://hurryupharry.org/2009/04/06/labour-mp-jeremy-corbyn-is-working-for-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-propaganda-station/">he hosted a show on Ahmadinejad's Iranian state propaganda channel</a>, alongside various stooges of that murderous regime and Holocaust deniers. Unforgivable.