UK general election 2015

[Vanadium Gryllz]

So voting is tomorrow and I still have no idea really who I will vote for or why indeed I should vote for anyone in particular.

There is so much rhetoric and one-sided opinions being thrown around by not only party leaders but the TV/newspapers/internet. I guess part of the problem is I don't know who or what to believe when i'm told things.

That raises an interesting point on the skill of critical thinking and whether we are adequately taught such a thing as we grow up but that's probably a discussion for another thread.

What are all your thoughts on the matter?

[MMIX]

People died so that you would have the right to vote.

Just something else for you to think about.

[Demolition Squid]

Voting for something you don't believe in is a betrayal of the democratic principle they died for.

Democracy isn't just sticking an X by a name every few years.

[Faust]

It is a difficult decision, I cant actively vote against all of them unless there is a reopen nominations option.
The only party I like is the SNP and they dont have anyone running in essex.

[Demolition Squid]

Its also worth bearing in mind that the UK system isn't designed for nationwide considerations, as much as the popular media would like you to believe it is.

You are electing a representative for your area. That's why we use First Past the Post instead of a more sensible system; whoever you elect is supposed to be the individual you believe would best serve the interests of your community, not which party you think has the best policies to hand. I'd recommend reading up on who your specific choices are and see if you can find anything on their previous voting record/career/any statements on issues you think are important, and ignore the national debates as much as possible. I've heard some people decry that decisions about local theatres and bypasses might dictate the national government, but that is actually what the system is designed to do. You're supposed to force the politicians to put the local community first, rather than party interest. It just doesn't actually happen in almost all cases.

This is especially important to keep in mind given that there is no good option being presented at a national level. You've got mega austerity, marginally less austerity, the 'anything for power' party, and varying levels of batshit insanity who won't have any real chance of having their policies enacted anyway, which means their local representatives are even more important than for the parties with a strong whip if you want to see them get in.

For my part, I'm going to vote Labour purely because the local representative actually got back to me about my query to him and offered to meet me face to face to discuss a few issues. I have a personal vendetta against our Conservative MP who has been in place for 23 years, and although I don't think the Labour representative will get in, maybe UKIP will split the vote enough we get a shock upset. Or maybe if we can diminish her majority enough, this'll be the last five years of her career.

That's my hope, anyway.

[Cain]

I'm in a Labour safe seatt, so my vote is literally worthless.

That said. I'm voting Greens.  Better for protest votes than the Lib Dems, after the last few years, and the local candidate actually has some council level political experience.  The party themselves have some fairly...uh, odd ideas regarding the environment, I must say. but since it doesn't matter...

[MMIX]

There's always the 38 degrees solution. Tick the boxes it'll tell you which party is your best match.
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/-/html/votematch.html
It told me I should vote Plaid Cymru but I'm still gonna vote Labour to try and get the Tory out.

[Demolition Squid]

I'd also like to take this opportunity to complain about how dull the election campaign has been.

If it is going to be a media circus, can we at least get some good acts? The highlight has been Russell Goddamn Brand and Boris Johnson's increasingly incoherent blathering. No big splashes, no bigoted women, nothing! Even UKIP have only been predictably offensive.

Get your act together already. 

[MMIX]

Aw come on. If you didn't get a thrill from today's UKIP death threats I have to assume you are not serious about politics 

The Mirror published a video of Mr Blay speaking to its investigators at a public meeting on Saturday in Ramsgate, Kent, addressed by party leader Nigel Farage.
Ex-Conservative Mr Blay noted Mr Jayawardena had been tipped as Britain's first Asian prime minister.

Ranil Jayawardena has said he is shocked by Robert Blay's comments
The Mirror reported that he said: "If he is I will personally put a bullet between his eyes. If this lad turns up to be our prime minister I will personally put a bullet in him. That's how strong I feel about it."
Questioning Mr Jayawardena's background, he said: "His family have only been here since the 70s. You are not British enough to be in our parliament.
"I've got 400 years of ancestry where I live. He hasn't got that."

Yep he really is a charmer

http://www.news.com.au/world/ukip-candidate-robert-blay-suspended-after-shocking-rant-against-rival/story-fndir2ev-1227338163849

[Demolition Squid]

That's true, that was an impressive level of psychopathy.

But I want the Cambot to have a full-on tantrum about his failure to pull ahead despite spending more than 10 times the amount Labour has. He hasn't even had a little cry yet, and he did that for the Scottish vote! 

[MMIX]

But he has got a bit shouty and taken his tie off. Miracles take slightly longer.

[Cain]

The real entertainment will be over the weekend.  I think we all know this.

I've got secret hopes that Labour and the Conservatives declare the SNP a threat as big as Hitler, requiring a unity government.  No-one will ever see it coming.

In somewhat more serious news, watching both Labour and the Tories use the SNP as a stick to beat each other with just makes me think the union probably isn't going to last too long.  If no-one will take them seriously, constitutional reform a la Germany or Switzerland just isn't going to happen.  And without that sort of quite radical reform, the SNP will eventually have the support to declare independence...and day will come even sooner, as long as the main parties keep on acting the way they do.

[MMIX]

It makes you wonder just what their handlers are on. Roll on proportional representation, eh?

[Demolition Squid]

Well, the scottish have decided en masse to reject the only three (maybe two really) options we're supposed to have.

They're up there giving people ideas and that isn't meant to be a thing.

[Cain]

It makes you wonder just what their handlers are on. Roll on proportional representation, eh?

I think after the SNP take 40 or so seats on 5% of the vote, while UKIP will be lucky to get 1/8th of that on double the amount of voters...well that alongside the current political situation may convince people to take another look at reworking the voting system.  I mean, if a majority cannot be guaranteed under FPTP, I think even the big parties might be open to alternatives.

Well, the scottish have decided en masse to reject the only three (maybe two really) options we're supposed to have.

They're up there giving people ideas and that isn't meant to be a thing.

I don't even think it's that.  It's just they're so pathetically short-sighted and myopically focused on London that they don't realise how much of an earthquake the SNP could be.  The last referendum was close run and the SNP can justifiably claim the government went back on its promises.  Meaning they will almost certainly demand another referendum, whether its in the next parliamentary cycle or the one after that.

This is the kind of instability which makes investors and spooks cautious.  Our own and outsiders.  If it continues, or gets worse, I can see whole reams of "unintended consequences" further down the line...just because Cameron and Miliband wanted to be charge that badly.