UK PoliGAF: General election thread of LibCon Coalitionage

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gerg said:
This will be my first year voting, so there isn't much of an "always" in the matter. : P

TBH, as I said in the other thread, my knowledge of UK politics is very little, and afaic all the (main) parties seem the same anyway. I read the Lib Dem manifesto, agreed with it, but when I found out that Finchley was a very marginal constituency I decided to use my vote more tactically.
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'Tactical' voting is stupid, undemocratic and supports the broken two party system we've had for over 65 years. New Labour is Thatcher's greatest achievement (she's admitted as much) Cameron is Blair's greatest achievement. The very fact that your seat is marginal means you should get out there and say to friends or relatives who are also voting that there is another choice, or at least debate it with them.

Man, do what you want with your vote it's yours after all, but in my opinion, your opportunity to express your opinion (expressed through your vote) is wasted with this 'tactical' stuff.
 
Dark Machine said:
'Tactical' voting is stupid, undemocratic and supports the broken two party system we've had for over 65 years. New Labour is Thatcher's greatest achievement (she's admitted as much) Cameron is Blair's greatest achievement. The very fact that your seat is marginal means you should get out there and say to friends or relatives who are also voting that there is another choice, or at least debate it with them.

Man, do what you want with your vote it's yours after all, but in my opinion, your opportunity to express your opinion (expressed through your vote) is wasted with this 'tactical' stuff.
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wat

I am expressing my opinion, namely that I don't think that the Tories should be in power.
 
Dark Machine said:
'Tactical' voting is stupid, undemocratic and supports the broken two party system we've had for over 65 years. New Labour is Thatcher's greatest achievement (she's admitted as much) Cameron is Blair's greatest achievement. The very fact that your seat is marginal means you should get out there and say to friends or relatives who are also voting that there is another choice, or at least debate it with them.

Man, do what you want with your vote it's yours after all, but in my opinion, your opportunity to express your opinion (expressed through your vote) is wasted with this 'tactical' stuff.
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tactical voting isnt stupid, in my borough the tories dont stand a chance so if i want to help them win the election then I would have to vote lib dems who have a better chance of taking the seat.
 
gerg said:
This will be my first year voting, so there isn't much of an "always" in the matter. : P

TBH, as I said in the other thread, my knowledge of UK politics is very little, and afaic all the (main) parties seem the same anyway. I read the Lib Dem manifesto, agreed with it, but when I found out that Finchley was a very marginal constituency I decided to use my vote more tactically.
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I guess I'm rather lucky in the fact my constituency is considered one of the swing seats so my vote means more? Which I hate. "Safe seats" annoy me :(

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I'll be voting in fife for this one, since I'm at uni there and the large student population means it's a safe lib dem seat.

I did email Menzies Campbell though about the digital economy bill, right before the lib dems took back their support for it :lol
 
gerg said:
wat

I am expressing my opinion, namely that I don't think that the Tories should be in power.
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Except you aren't, because the system we have in place doesn't allow for you to express an opinion other than "I want party X to be in power". So the message that you send out is that you want Labour, not that you don't want the Conservatives.
 
This is how my constituency voted in the last election. But mine's changed with the new boundries so it's a notional result.
myelectionresults.jpg


Also, on tactical voting, the reason I say it's stupid is because you have to resort to voting for people you don't want to vote for just to get rid of/hold off the other party. It's not really expressing your true opinion because you're not voting for who you 'want' to vote for, is what I mean. I'm a staunch backer of voting reform to solve this, either with proportional rep like in Italy or (probably better) a transferable vote system like in Germany. That way even if your party has 'no chance' in the constituency you're in, it still counts towards the party vote and thus you can vote for who you like without having to resort to tactics. It'd increase voter turnout I think too.
 
iapetus said:
Except you aren't, because the system we have in place doesn't allow for you to express an opinion other than "I want party X to be in power". So the message that you send out is that you want Labour, not that you don't want the Conservatives.
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And part of the opinion that "I want party X to be in power" might be "I don't want parties A, B and C to be in power".

I don't want the Tories in power, and so not voting for them expresses that opinion. Your mileage may vary.

I think it's an interesting discussion, but I'm not sure I'm prepared to get into the semantics of what it is to "want" something here (and whether or not that necessarily involves not wanting something else).
 
Booshman said:
I'll be voting in fife for this one, since I'm at uni there and the large student population means it's a safe lib dem seat.

I did email Menzies Campbell though about the digital economy bill, right before the lib dems took back their support for it :lol
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According to Channel 4, the tories have just pledged their support for it. Seems like an easy way to lose a lot of the young, internet savvy vote.
 
J Tourettes said:
No one gives a fuck about the ebill then?
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Do you really think anyone will be able to stop it with LORD MANDELSON behind it? I hate it as well, but he's gonna have the party whipped into fervourous support for it, even if I complained to my local MP (Claire Curtis Thomas) it wouldn't do a thing. I would support a UK GAF march down to Parliament to protest though. :D At least we could get some chicken or something on the way...
 
Labour only has a 350 majority here in Stroud, Im hoping for some party leader visits in the run up to the election (Cameron was here a month or two back).
 
Well if we get a hung parliament and Lib Dems get involved you can be pretty sure some sort of voting reform will be offered to them in exchange for "power". Some form of proportional representation will be put into effect for future elections and the Lib Dems will just grow and grow in influence from that point.
 
Dark Machine said:
Do you really think anyone will be able to stop it with LORD MANDELSON behind it? I hate it as well, but he's gonna have the party whipped into fervourous support for it, even if I complained to my local MP (Claire Curtis Thomas) it wouldn't do a thing. I would support a UK GAF march down to Parliament to protest though. :D At least we could get some chicken or something on the way...
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It's time for the backbenchers to stand up and be counted. We all know what the whips are telling them but some balls wouldn't go amiss here. I do feel that the public at large would be more anti this bill if they actually knew what it involved rather than just 'cutting off pirates'.
 
Wes said:
Well if we get a hung parliament and Lib Dems get involved you can be pretty sure some sort of voting reform will be offered to them in exchange for "power". Some form of proportional representation will be put into effect for future elections and the Lib Dems will just grow and grow in influence from that point.
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This is precisely why the two main parties don't want reform. It helps them stay in power. The country is mostly centre-left in attitude according to recent polls and surveys, however the Labservatives are centre-right, so if they reformed the system, the LD's would suddenly get a big increase, especially since last time round 1 in 4 of us voted for them.
 
I'd really like to see the LD's making big strides at this election. Anything to squeeze out Labour and not allow the Tories to get through whatever they wanted.
 
Armando Iannucci is apparently going to be one of Sky News' experts during their TV debate :D
 
I'll be voting Lib Dem. Policy wise, they are clearly the best, and Clegg has actually come across very well in the last few months. No other party leader would have the balls to admit they couldn't afford a popular policy (tuition fee abolishment), and at a party conference no less. I think he will get a big boost from the TV debates, especially after Vince Cable's performance on the Chancellor's debate.
 
Hello, UK gaffers.

Quick Question: is there a website that keeps track of all the polling data concerning the elections? A bit like Gallup and that 835 (?) website in the US?


Vote for the good ones!
 
Ok I've got different sites telling me I live in different constituencies :lol Oh well I'll worry about it later.

Souldriver said:
Hello, UK gaffers.

Quick Question: is there a website that keeps track of all the polling data concerning the elections? A bit like Gallup and that 835 (?) website in the US?


Vote for the good ones!
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This feature the Guardian rolled out today seems pretty decent. Tracking seven polls. I'm sure there are better ones out there though that someone else will know more about!
 
Souldriver said:
Hello, UK gaffers.

Quick Question: is there a website that keeps track of all the polling data concerning the elections? A bit like Gallup and that 835 (?) website in the US?
Click to expand...

How about the BBC?
 
345triangle said:
thanks, i should really do this but i'm registered in a safe lib dem seat and so my vote couldn't be much more useless (as a lib dem guy) :/ i guess i'll make the effort anyway. i wonder how many people spoil ballots from abroad.
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Get off your arse and vote!
 
Dax01 said:
I'm voting for Frankie.
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I will make a new Britain that we can all be proud of. A Britain with schools for Magic and carpets that lead to secret worlds. And Highlanders and so on.
 
OuterWorldVoice said:
I will make a new Britain that we can all be proud of. A Britain with schools for Magic and carpets that lead to secret worlds. And Highlanders and so on.
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Bring back compulsory Archery lessons.
 
Conservatives are mainly campaigning on a plan of cutting the budget overspend/deficit by reducing waste and increasing value for money in public services as well as decentralising them, and encouraging business and private sector growth by keeping business taxes low.

I'm voting for them, as a first time voter. Judging by recent polls I would expect them to obtain an approximately 50 seat majority in the next House of Commons.

EDIT: The latest polls are always available with non-partisan commentary on http://www.ukpollingreport.co.uk (the site is run by YouGov employee Anthony Wells).
The Times' election site is particularly excellent: http://generalelection2010.timesonline.co.uk with all the info on marginal seats.

Beware of news sources using a "UNS calculator" to estimate a result based on polls. Past elections, 1992 most notably, show that marginal seats often have a different swings to safe seats which makes "uniform swing" useless because we have a non-proportional voting system.
 
Lid Dems just brought up the digital bill, talking about controversial parts of it and how they're trying to rush it through. Hartman saying is there will be a second reading debate today. Says its already been through many chambers already and analysed and shit, and said there will be further scrutiny in the commons.

Public consolation before the draft is made in parliament, whatever that means.
 
so guys

I don't know anything about UK politics, but I want to know about it. I think I know the basics (Labour = leftists except not Tories = conservatives LibDems = liberals who'll never win because of plurality voting system), so...what's going on right now?
 
Here's a huge problem: I want to find out who is running for candidacy in my area which is Hertfordshire south. Now I should be able to find this information easily, get a clear indication of the policies of all the candidates in my area and vote with all information possible. But its impossible to find anything! Whats the point of democracy if you cant get information on who your voting for. The internet is a decade old and politics is still miles away from utilising it properly. Has anyone else had success or similar failure in finding this information?
 
Aha thanks a lot. Its just a shame there isnt a website where you can put in your postcode and see all the candidates standing for election in your area and view all of their policies with a few biographical details about each candidate.
 
Fuck me, watching this debill reading is depressing. near enough an empty commons but at least a few are speaking out against it. What a cunt Ben Bradshaw is.
 
Brown has thrown himself into the heat of the campaign... by visiting hardcore Labour supporters with Labour posters in their windows in a Labour safe seat.

Genius.
 
jas0nuk said:
Brown has thrown himself into the heat of the campaign... by visiting hardcore Labour supporters with Labour posters in their windows in a Labour safe seat.

Genius.
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I really despair at the thought of 5 more years of Brown.

I think Lib Dems are the only ones I could vote for. Although not really sold on them much more than the Conservatives so far, Vince Cable aside.
 
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