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[SomethingInTheSea]

It's strange how UKIP support is highest in the constituencies where immigration is lowest. I mean, if people voted UKIP because they were being affected by immigration, you'd expect London to be solid purple. But hey, facts, right? We don't need those here.

It's more a feeling that none of the main parties are doing anything to address the shortage of school places, hospital beds, GP Appointments or most important of all houses. How can a massive increase in population, like the UK is currently on course for, be a good idea when no one will do anything to plan for it or mitigate its effects?

I've lost count of the number of times each party has promised to build more houses and every time nothing happens. I think the parties themselves have realised its impossible, hence the immigration crack downs (ineffective though they've been), as its the only option they think can ever be achieved as building more houses is clearly now too hard.

 

[RedShift]

For anyone listening to Any Questions tonight, I should apologise. My slightly... 'eccentric' great-aunt and great-uncle are in the audience and have sent in questions.

He claims to have been a secret agent who killed someone on the tube with a poisoned umbrella or something despite being quite eldery and overweight at the time. It's giving me a whole new perspective on why QT/AQ are the way there are.

 

[SymbiantXenos]

Minority labour government incoming.

 

[QuicheFontaine]

It's strange how UKIP support is highest in the constituencies where immigration is lowest. I mean, if people voted UKIP because they were being affected by immigration, you'd expect London to be solid purple. But hey, facts, right? We don't need those here.

My buttocks are smooth, my mind is clear. Vote UKIP.

 

[Scousefury]

Minority labour government incoming.

I really wish i could believe this but i don't trust people to make the right choice, this country is going to scare itself into a tory government i just feel it deep down.

 

[mr-paul]

Found this amusing/frustrating. George Osborne promising to match or even beat Labour's spending back in 2007.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_hfQU-4r0

Shouldn't believe all the false tory rhetoric that our economy is in a terrible situation because of Labour. If anything, it would've been worse under the Conservatives. They had to increase borrowing to bail out the banks - something that they had no choice but to do, and it's only got worse because of austerity and the tories poor economic choices. We shouldn't trust them at all.

 

[dapperbandit]

My buttocks are smooth, my mind is clear. Vote UKIP.

I'm sold

 

[King_Moc]

It's strange how UKIP support is highest in the constituencies where immigration is lowest. I mean, if people voted UKIP because they were being affected by immigration, you'd expect London to be solid purple. But hey, facts, right? We don't need those here.

It's fear they trade on, not facts. Ed Miliband was exactly right when he said that.

 

[Audioboxer]

well. They won't win but i've stuck to my personal leanings and voted green.

now lets see which party I have no love for "wins"

If I lived in England I'd vote Green.

 

[fizzelopeguss]

It's strange how UKIP support is highest in the constituencies where immigration is lowest. I mean, if people voted UKIP because they were being affected by immigration, you'd expect London to be solid purple. But hey, facts, right? We don't need those here.

London's "white flight" has been vast, and as a loather of the FPTP system you'd know a solid purple london is practically an impossibility.

 

[CyclopsRock]

100 pages boys. 100 pages.

Screw you Quiche.

 

[Jezbollah]

My buttocks are smooth, my mind is clear. Vote UKIP.

Next Election OP title is done right there, people.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

London's "white flight" has been vast, and as a loather of the FPTP system you'd know a solid purple london is practically an impossibility.

"white flight" from London tends to be to Birmingham, Nottingham and Oxford. Doesn't exactly look like they're fleeing from immigrants to me. It's not even that London isn't solid purple, either, it's just not purple at all. There's a pretty strong correlation between less local immigration and stronger UKIP support that extends nationwide. For example, South Thanet, the seat Nigel Farage is contesting, has about only two thirds the amount of foreign-born residents as the UK average. Douglas Carswell's Clacton has less than a third of the amount of foreign-born residents as the UK average!

EDIT: Also I fully support, "UK General Election |OT| My buttocks are smooth, my mind is clear"

 

[Goodlife]

Anybody else find those UKIP numbers genuinely upsetting?

Listened to an interview with Farage this lunchtime in radio 2.
He actually came across very well, not this crazy shouty madman he's acted in the debates.

Don't get me wrong, he was still talking shit, but was very reasoned, calm and persuasive.
First time ever I've kind of understood why people can stomach voting for him.

The presenter didn't challenge the "facts" he was spouting though, which probably helped matters no end

 

[King_Moc]

I don't know if anyone remembers this article, but according to UKIP themselves, their struggle in London is because they don't appeal to the "educated, cultural and young". Basically, they called all of their voters thick.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ing-to-the-educated-and-cultural-9423200.html

 

[mclem]

For anyone listening to Any Questions tonight, I should apologise. My slightly... 'eccentric' great-aunt and great-uncle are in the audience and have sent in questions.

He claims to have been a secret agent who killed someone on the tube with a poisoned umbrella or something despite being quite eldery and overweight at the time. It's giving me a whole new perspective on why QT/AQ are the way there are.

Your great-uncle is John Steed, isn't he?

 

[iMax]

Next Election OP title is done right there, people.

Shall we save it for the EU referendum?

 

[dapperbandit]

I don't know if anyone remembers this article, but according to UKIP themselves, their struggle in London is because they don't appeal to the "educated, cultural and young". Basically, they called all of their voters thick.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ing-to-the-educated-and-cultural-9423200.html

Eh I'd say conservative politics in general is unpopular with a majority 18-25 year olds, that's not a failing unique to UKIP.

 

[kitch9]

It's strange how UKIP support is highest in the constituencies where immigration is lowest. I mean, if people voted UKIP because they were being affected by immigration, you'd expect London to be solid purple. But hey, facts, right? We don't need those here.

Come to my town if you need facts. Ed Milibands constituency none the less. There's been a lot of disturbing events because of it here.

 

[industrian]

It's strange how UKIP support is highest in the constituencies where immigration is lowest. I mean, if people voted UKIP because they were being affected by immigration, you'd expect London to be solid purple. But hey, facts, right? We don't need those here.

Areas like London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and other major communities have been exposed to immigration and the influx of foreigners for over 70 years. And in doing so those immigrants and their children have become part of the community, part of the workforce, and this is now their home. We don't fear them because they're us. I mean that quite literally: my grandfather is Dutch and a lot of people I know have Ukrainian, Polish, Hungarian, Italian, etc heritage.

But in small towns and areas there's hardly any exposure to foreigners or immigrants, and the arrival of a single Lithuanian bus driver in a podunk middle England town is enough to convince them that the world is falling apart.

I remember my mother telling me a story about living in Melrose in the late 80s. Our family had just moved to the Borders from Glasgow (and even we were treated at arms length by a lot of the locals). The truly magic part is when they were building a new bypass road around the town, and they shipped up a lot of Geordies to build it. My mother commented that this was probably the first time 80% of the town had seen a black person, and they were all collectively losing their shit in fear of them.

 

[kitch9]

Areas like London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and other major communities have been exposed to immigration and the influx of foreigners for over 70 years. And in doing so those immigrants and their children have become part of the community, part of the workforce, and this is now their home. We don't fear them because they're us. I mean that quite literally: my grandfather is Dutch and a lot of people I know have Ukrainian, Polish, Hungarian, Italian, etc heritage.

But in small towns and areas there's hardly any exposure to foreigners or immigrants, and the arrival of a single Lithuanian bus driver in a podunk middle England town is enough to convince them that the world is falling apart.

I remember my mother telling me a story about living in Melrose in the late 80s. Our family had just moved to the Borders from Glasgow (and even we were treated at arms length by a lot of the locals). The truly magic part is when they were building a new bypass road around the town, and they shipped up a lot of Geordies to build it. My mother commented that this was probably the first time 80% of the town had seen a black person, and they were all collectively losing their shit in fear of them.

Well in Doncaster and other Northern towns it's not so much a bus driver...

I'm absolutely for immigration but the system currently is causing huge problems in some parts of the country.

Even some parts of the country that have actually seen a black person before believe it or not.

 

[electroshockwave]

Found this amusing/frustrating. George Osborne promising to match or even beat Labour's spending back in 2007.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_hfQU-4r0

Shouldn't believe all the false tory rhetoric that our economy is in a terrible situation because of Labour. If anything, it would've been worse under the Conservatives. They had to increase borrowing to bail out the banks - something that they had no choice but to do, and it's only got worse because of austerity and the tories poor economic choices. We shouldn't trust them at all.

Also back in 2007 Call Me Dave argued for even less regulation on the banks...

 

[QuicheFontaine]

Less than a week to go, some predictions from various forecasters:

Elections Etc – Hung Parliament, CON 290(+4), LAB 258(-5), LD 25(-1), SNP 53(+2), UKIP 3(-1)
Election Forecast – Hung Parliament, CON 280(-3), LAB 268(-2), LD 27(+3), SNP 49(+1), UKIP 2(+1)
May 2015 – Hung Parliament, CON 275(+5), LAB 267(-6), LD 27(+1), SNP 56(+1), UKIP 2(-1)
Guardian – Hung Parliament, CON 276(+3), LAB 267(-1), LD 27(-1), SNP 55(nc), UKIP 3(-1)
YouGov Nowcast – Hung Parliament, CON 272(+2), LAB 276(-1), LD 24(-3), SNP 52(+2), UKIP 3(nc)

Pretty much all predict Con most seats, but only Elections Etc has the numbers to give a Tory govt (Con 290 + LD 25 + DUP 8 = 323).

100 pages boys. 100 pages.

Screw you Quiche.

I'll let you know when we're really on 100 pages. Join the master race bruv.

 

[Tak3n]

I nod my head to miliband, he is being very clever, he said today What new bills will be introduced immediately....These include a "strong economic foundation bill" aimed at reducing the deficit, introducing a mansion tax and tobacco levy to fund the NHS; freezing energy prices until 2017; banning recruitment agencies from hiring only from overseas, and cutting university tuition fees in England to £6,000.

None of the above will be opposed by snp

 

[brain_stew]

The energy freezing bill is such populous bollocks for my money. Energy bills have fallen significantly in recent months and any consumer that wants a fixed rate tariff with no termination charges can sort one out in a couple of minutes if they could be bothered to do so. I reverted to a standard variable tariff for a few months recently but that was absolutely my own fault for being lazy. I was sent several letters and emails to let me know my fixed rate was coming to an end, the fault was entirely my own. My energy company went above and beyond to try and prevent it from happening.

The industry already bends over backwards to make consumers aware if they have a chapter tariff available on every bill and every consumer interaction and the big suppliers will even tell you if a competitor is cheaper when they quote you a new tariff. Then there's comparison websites that can scour the entire industry for you in 5 minutes.

Anyone who cares about reducing/freezing their energy bills have already done so. When consumers are given all the tools and information to make an informed decision and they still decide to fuck themselves over then who is really to blame?

There may be an argument for the over 65s or disabled in society to always be moved onto the lowest tariff, but simply freezing bills won't do that anyway.

 

[CCS]

Does anyone expect the royal baby to produce any sort of swing in the polls? Serious question.

 

[Jezbollah]

Does anyone expect the royal baby to produce any sort of swing in the polls? Serious question.

If it does, those people are dumb.

 

[industrian]

Does anyone expect the royal baby to produce any sort of swing in the polls? Serious question.

They name the baby Mohammed Abdul Aziz al-Harbi Mountbatten-Windsor.

UKIP win 500 seats.

 

[CCS]

They name the baby Mohammed Abdul Aziz al-Harbi Mountbatten-Windsor.

UKIP win 500 seats.

I want to see this so so badly. Either that or call it Miroslav instead.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

Muhammad-Putin von China, you mean?

 

[Lucius86]

Voting Tory, it's done.

Ed Balls running the finances of this government is a potential disaster in my eyes - I have no problem with EM really, although I thought his performance in this week's question time was mediocre at best.

 

[Kathian]

I nod my head to miliband, he is being very clever, he said today What new bills will be introduced immediately....These include a "strong economic foundation bill" aimed at reducing the deficit, introducing a mansion tax and tobacco levy to fund the NHS; freezing energy prices until 2017; banning recruitment agencies from hiring only from overseas, and cutting university tuition fees in England to £6,000.

None of the above will be opposed by snp

Quite. Though how this is reducing the deficit am not sure. The austerity stuff is going to create a clash.

 

[nib95]

I nod my head to miliband, he is being very clever, he said today What new bills will be introduced immediately....These include a "strong economic foundation bill" aimed at reducing the deficit, introducing a mansion tax and tobacco levy to fund the NHS; freezing energy prices until 2017; banning recruitment agencies from hiring only from overseas, and cutting university tuition fees in England to £6,000.

None of the above will be opposed by snp

All of that sounds fantastic to me. On a side note, what is considered a mansion?

 

[kitch9]

I really wish i could believe this but i don't trust people to make the right choice, this country is going to scare itself into a tory government i just feel it deep down.

Its only the right choice for you.

 

[Kathian]

Suspect one cost cut would be scrapping the Scotland Office and replacing it with a Scottish Gov funded department that's more or less a lobby office.

 

[Kathian]

All of that sounds fantastic to me. On a side note, what is considered a mansion?

House worth £1m+

 

[Jezbollah]

House worth £1m+

£2m+ - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29326057

 

[nib95]

Voting Tory, it's done.

Ed Balls running the finances of this government is a potential disaster in my eyes - I have no problem with EM really, although I thought his performance in this week's question time was mediocre at best.

Because of spending, or something else? Just so you know, the Conservatives were not only going to match Labour's spending before the big crash, they actually wanted to further de-regulate banking and financial services. So if anything it could have been much worse under the Conservatives.




On a side note, if anyone else found the Question time audience a little too loaded with business tycoons and convenient slants, it appears as though it wasn't just coincidence. The lady that owned the marketing company that grilled Miliband, and also Ed Balls about the letter he never even wrote, well not only is she not an "undecided" voter, she's heavily involved with the Conservative party. She actually set up her business with a Tory MP, is one of the people on that now infamous letter, and her twitter bio reads "“Cats, Conservatives & Chelsea FC”. Hmmm...

About that Question Time audience…

 

[MLH]

Found this amusing/frustrating. George Osborne promising to match or even beat Labour's spending back in 2007.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_hfQU-4r0

Shouldn't believe all the false tory rhetoric that our economy is in a terrible situation because of Labour. If anything, it would've been worse under the Conservatives. They had to increase borrowing to bail out the banks - something that they had no choice but to do, and it's only got worse because of austerity and the tories poor economic choices. We shouldn't trust them at all.

Basically shows how little politicians know about the state of the economy, a year later the economy was in the toilet.

It adds to my thoughts regarding accountability within politics. I can think of many parites breaking promises but I'm going to pick on Lib Dems here:
From 2008, the Lib Dems have promised, no rises in tuition, but then votes to increase. They promise not to scrap the 50p Tax, but again join with conservatives to vote to scrap it (& don't get me started on selling off Royal Mail!).
Don't these things count as fraud? They've been voted in because of their policies and stances, and have blatantly done the opposite. In any other sector it would be a criminal offence (businesses defrauding investors, salesmen defrauding customers etc.)

 

[industrian]

Muhammad-Putin von China, you mean?

Alexander Mohammed Vladimir Salmond von Parsi

 

[Miles Quaritch]

If immigration wasn't affecting people however slight as much as the politicians say people wouldn't vote for them as that is their only hook.

The party is one full of loons but entire communities are struggling because of immigration and there's is felt that are the only ears that will listen to their vote.

Where are UKIP being elected and where they are most popular?

Let's see...(I know it's the telegraph, but it's a quick and dirty search, I'm sure there are better sources out there)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pol...-strongest-Where-there-are-no-immigrants.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/telegr...ow-much-immigration-is-there-in-ukip-targets/

You're right that communities are struggling, but that's not due to immigration, that's due to a lack of investment and a continued squeeze on what resources are available.

 

[kitch9]

House worth £1m+

Yeah, this tax is going to earn next to nowt. Labour will be too busy fighting legal challenges from people from people rightfully saying that there is no way to determine the value of the property until it is physically sold and properties in the 2-3 million bracket are no longer worth what they were thanks to the tax.

 

[QuicheFontaine]

On a side note, if anyone else found the Question time audience a little too loaded with business tycoons and convenient slants, it appears as though it wasn't just coincidence. The lady that owned the marketing company that grilled Miliband, and also Ed Balls about the letter he never even wrote, well not only is she not an "undecided" voter, she's heavily involved with the Conservative party. She actually set up her business with a Tory MP, is one of the people on that now infamous letter, and her twitter bio reads "“Cats, Conservatives & Chelsea FC”. Hmmm...

About that Question Time audience…

Erm, the Question Time audience was 25% Labour voters, 25% Tory voters, 25% Lib Dem voters and 25% undecided. They told you at the start. It wasn't 100% undecided, and it's not surprising that Conservative voters were there.

 

[nib95]

Erm, the Question Time audience was 25% Labour voters, 25% Tory voters, 25% Lib Dem voters and 25% undecided. They told you at the start. It wasn't 100% undecided, and it's not surprising that Conservative voters were there.

She put herself forward as one of the "undecided". Read the article.

 

[kitch9]

Where are UKIP being elected and where they are most popular?

Let's see...(I know it's the telegraph, but it's a quick and dirty search, I'm sure there are better sources out there)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/pol...-strongest-Where-there-are-no-immigrants.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/telegr...ow-much-immigration-is-there-in-ukip-targets/

You're right that communities are struggling, but that's not due to immigration, that's due to a lack of investment and a continued squeeze on what resources are available.

It's not due to lack of investment in my town and others up north.

Some of the stuff happening up here is mind boggling and downright dangerous.

 

[QuicheFontaine]

She put herself forward as one of the "undecided". Read the article.

Oh right, sorry. I didn't follow the link.

Yeah, that is dodgy if she got in as an undecided.

 

[kitch9]

She put herself forward as one of the "undecided". Read the article.

Business owners can be undecided. They can even be angry with more than one party.

Some people may even vote for one party at one election and a different party at the next.

 

[Jezbollah]

HANG ON YUY GUYS.

The BBC audiences are supposed to be leftie according to Farage?!

 

[Deleted member 231381]

It's not due to lack of investment in my town and others up north.

Some of the stuff happening up here is mind boggling and downright dangerous.

Mate, you should come down to my constituency. The bankers will gut you as soon as look at you, and we can't get rid of the bastards taking up all our jobs. Some of the stuff is so fucking scary I can't even tell you about it, like.

 

[kitch9]

HANG ON YUY GUYS.

The BBC audiences are supposed to be leftie according to Farage?!

That did seem to be a leftie audience for that particular debate. The BBC did a better job at the last one.