UK General Election

A_Northern_Soul · Post by **A_Northern_Soul** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 6:38 am

It's official - it's the 6th of May.

What are UK Twoism-ers thoughts/intentions? I've been Lib Dem for the past couple of elections, but can't help thinking an LD vote really will be a wasted vote this time. So I'm going back to my roots and voting Labour. Brown is far from perfect, but the thought of a Cameron-led Tory govt makes my blood run cold.

Important thing is, make sure you're registered and get out and VOTE.

Infinite E · Post by **Infinite E** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:17 am

Gonna be SNP for me, the marginally least shit out of a big bucket of shit

Basepair · Post by **Basepair** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:11 pm

Infinite E wrote:Gonna be SNP for me, the marginally least shit out of a big bucket of shit

i agree. but to be honest they're all crooks.

i'm happy to be out of the country then, and therefore won't be voting for anyone.

Techboy · Post by **Techboy** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:33 pm

not certain why you'd vote SNP. we don't really have that much going for us in the way of income. unless you're not into the whole leaving the UK thing and just like the rest of their politics..
this is the first year i'll be able to vote. i've got some reading to do :p

The Friendly Stranger · Fri Apr 09, 2010 10:19 pm

This really is a case of douche vs turd. I have no idea where my vote is going at the moment. While labour have overseen a completely calamitous few years, a Cameron led government worries me. We need a leader who is willing to make some big and unpopular decisions, and I don't think Cameron has the conviction. I guess the one thing that makes the decision slightly easier to make is that things can't get much worse whichever way the election goes.

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 12:00 am

I'm 36 and from Newcastle. I find it pretty hard to trust the Tories, especially being led by an upper class muppet from Eton. Can't bring myself to vote in people who, frankly, didn't give two shits about most people North of Peterborough for nigh on two decades and basically shafted our industry and communities with a joyful, gleeful abandon that bordered on the psychotic. For all Labour's faults - and they have many, MANY faults - I at least get the vague impression that at least some of them still give a shit and want to do the right thing. I just don't get that impression with the Conservatives.

However, once again I find myself having to vote tactically. There isn't a cat in hell's chance of a Labour MP getting voted in where I live, so it's Lib Dems for me I reckon.

Has there ever been a time when I've despised politicians more than now? These fake, passionless, spineless, shallow, money-grabbing bastards - ie. the 'career politicians' that seem to have become endemic since (ironically) Blair ousted the Tories are the exactly the sort of people who should never be given power and influence and yet we find ourselves with little or no choice. Pick between one set of airbrushed wankers being spoon-fed lines by spin doctors, or the other lot of airbrushed wankers being spoon-fed lines by spin doctors. Where is the vision? Where is the passion? Why don't I feel engaged by any of them what so ever???

Still, I'll vote because I feel an old-fashioned duty to. Plus, in apathetic times, with the economy being kicked about like a bleeding corpse, I'm genuinely worried about the potential for a protest vote for the likes of Nick Griffin and his little troglodytes in the BNP. THAT really would be terrifying.

Cupz · Post by **Cupz** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 9:04 am

you want the puppet on the left, or on the right?

BrandNewRetro · Post by **BrandNewRetro** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:03 pm

Cupz wrote:you want the puppet on the left, or on the right?

Exactly, if only we could choose the puppeteer!

Infinite E · Post by **Infinite E** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:06 pm

Pretty much Mexicola. It's great (sarcasm) how all the so-called 'debate' around this election has focused around manufactured arguments over exactly the same policies: that bunfight over how to best achieve the exact same 'community volunteer' proposal was classic. Both parties agree completely that there 'need' to be massive public service cuts (sigh, yeah cutting jobs is a great way to stimulate the economy, dick)

There's no fundamental, ideological difference between any of the major political parties any more. They are packaged as effective administrators. They also target politically defenceless groups for cheap tactical gain- young people, unemployed people, immigrants. Basically they all serve the same tiny set of interests, and what is actually best for us doesnt factor, fact.

I was watching a documentary about the Harold Wilson vs Douglas Hume election and it was like a different world- genuine, witty, at times heated debate about actual issues, not manufactured pish like "Meow Meow" (incidentally my friends take this stuff and fucking NOBODY calls it that)

pisses me off man.

Infinite E · Post by **Infinite E** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 6:23 pm

And i don't want too turn this tread into an independence debate, that's old. So I'll restrict myself to saying that there's a lot more potential for the Scottish economy than is used in the current setup.

Basing the whole UK economy on the finance sector, deregulating the economy and allowing companies to sack workers wholesale and send the work abroad, dirt-cheap sale of our natural resources to foreign companies, the list goes on. The right wing economists of the past 30 years (who incidentally Scotland never voted for) have instituted policies that, unsurprisingly, widened the wealth gap exponentially. Then, in a clever sleight of hand, they point to the mass unemployment created by their own policy and cite it as a reason why it's impossible for Scotland to generate income independently. The SNP's economics, while far from perfect, are nationalist in the sense that they aim to reverse that process. Anyway, I've said too much about that already.

Basepair · Post by **Basepair** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:33 pm

scotland is more & more likely to gain independance as the years go on- and the oil runs out.

747Music · Post by **747Music** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 2:43 am

Cupz wrote:you want the puppet on the left, or on the right?

Two sides of the same coin.

God I love Waking Life.

Negamuse · Post by **Negamuse** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 12:21 pm

LibDem for me, regardless of the likelyhood of them getting in or not (which to be fair, looks better this year than it has for a while). I used to tactical vote, but as time's gone on and I've got older, I've found that you have to be able to look back on what you've done and say you went with what you believed in.

Magic Brenda · Post by **Magic Brenda** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:57 pm

I've always voted for the Green Party and I always will. I completely understand when people accuse me of wasting my vote but I refuse to be cowed into a 2 party system and they are the only political party that I have any respect for their manifesto so I vote for what I believe rather that what I think is the lesser of 2 evils.

Infinite E · Post by **Infinite E** » Tue May 11, 2010 6:13 pm

Magic Brenda wrote:I've always voted for the Green Party and I always will. I completely understand when people accuse me of wasting my vote but I refuse to be cowed into a 2 party system and they are the only political party that I have any respect for their manifesto so I vote for what I believe rather that what I think is the lesser of 2 evils.

You'll be happy with Caroline Lucas getting elected then- I know I was. One of the few genuinely principled people to get in there in a long time

well then, that was the most epic election I've seen thus far. So it's gonna be Cameron after all is it? Depressing- tories only got one seat in the whole of Scotland, AGAIN with the Home Counties pickin ma government.

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:09 pm

I'm sick as a dog, not only that the Tories got in, but that I voted Lib Dem, got my local Lib Dem MP re-elected by a tiny 260 majority and so-by kept the local Tory tosser out at the same time, only for the Lib Dems to sell their soul to the Tories anyway 5 days later. Labour have apparently just bent over and accepted it without a grumble. I'm seething.

My homeland of North-East England is about to get royally shafted yet again.

Numerator · Post by **Numerator** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:25 pm

oh shiiiiiiit
tories

saurus · Post by **saurus** » Tue May 11, 2010 10:04 pm

Mexicola wrote:I'm sick as a dog, not only that the Tories got in, but that I voted Lib Dem, got my local Lib Dem MP re-elected by a tiny 260 majority and so-by kept the local Tory tosser out at the same time, only for the Lib Dems to sell their soul to the Tories anyway 5 days later. Labour have apparently just bent over and accepted it without a grumble. I'm seething.

My homeland of North-East England is about to get royally shafted yet again.

This makes me really sad, I'm sorry to hear this.

I just can't believe Clegg walked away from the best deal Brown could ever give. Electoral reform, Darling and Brown still able to control the economy, a fresh face as PM and of course, no Tories.

Fuck the UK. Our politics system is a disgrace.

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Tue May 11, 2010 11:27 pm

On reflection - two silver linings come to mind.

1) the coalition will not last. Listening to the Tory/LibDem 'pact' members bitching at each other tonight on Newsnight makes that pretty clear. The Tory voters wanted a minority Tory government (which wouldn't work, but I digress), and the LibDem voters wanted anything except a Tory government. At the first sign of the sort of cuts we're all expecting the LibDems will run to the hills and we'll be back to another election, probably before Xmas. By that point, the Labour party should have a bright, fresh faced new leader and nobody left of centre will touch the LibDems because they sold us down the river this time...

2) Peter Mandleson now has no power at all. He can crawl back under his rock and mumble darkly to himself about building his Death Star (his preciousssssssssses). I swear the day after they drop the bomb, life will start again with bees, cockroaches and Peter fucking Mandleson.

A_Northern_Soul · Post by **A_Northern_Soul** » Thu May 13, 2010 6:20 am

Mexicola wrote: 2) Peter Mandleson now has no power at all. He can crawl back under his rock and mumble darkly to himself about building his Death Star (his preciousssssssssses). I swear the day after they drop the bomb, life will start again with bees, cockroaches and Peter fucking Mandleson.

I cant help having a sneaking admiratation fror Mandleson. He's a greasy bastard, but he's the kind of greasy bastard you'd want on your side.

Same with Alastair Campbell:

As for the result, a total shambles. Clegg has outed himself as a closet Tory, while selling his party's principles down the river. We've got another cabal of old Etonians at #10 and the 3rd place party who only 20% of people voted for now have seats in cabinet.