Are we destined for the same old nonsense?

Or will Cameron make this place better?

what election? didn't realise one had been called

its better than a dictatorship!

name me one country that has a better political system than ours!

May be slightly better than some, dosent make it good. Not by a long way. Its not even very democratic FFS. Plus theres very little to choose between them and they have lost most peoples trust. More of the same, until we change the voting structure, get rid of expenses and lobbying etc.

I wish they'd just get on with it and call the election, the economy and everything that depends on its sucess or failure is on hold until after the election, the country is suffering while these morons nit pick in their afternoon carry on sessions.

Simple. Put me in charge.

The alternatives are all awful, Tory, Labour or Liberal are simply trying to be less mediocre than the other parties and nicking one another's policies that the rest of the electorate don't want.

Cameron – smarmy salesman. Blair lite.

Cameron and Osbourne are old coke heads as well – dunno if that is good or bad really.

He isn't tweedy enough for a tory for me. would you buy anything from him?

Not a chance in hell that the tories will win the election.

I hope so.

While I don't want to see a Tory government, I want to see the Labour party relegated to minority politics for a good few years yet, they deserve nothing less.

I sincerely hope the Tories get in.

phoenix from the flame – Member

Not a chance in hell that the tories will win the election.

Don't be too optimistic. They remain the favourites.

Druidh – so Scotland will be independent in a few years?

I feel more and more cynical every election.

There's people dieing in wars to get democracy, and we have interchangeably untrustworthy politicians with their snouts in the trough and corruption so entrenched that MPs seem bewildered that people don't like them spending our money on their floating duck-castles. The same old short term soundbite knee-jerk pander-to-the-press policies.

What we need isn't another election, we need to shake up the entire system.

Whatever happens, vote. We have one. Use it.
Plenty of people in the world don't have one, or risk their lives if they show dissent towards their leaders.

I wish they'd just get on with it and call the election, the economy and everything that depends on its sucess or failure is on hold until after the election, the country is suffering while these morons nit pick in their afternoon carry on sessions.

Well there's something else you can blame GB for.

Can we have a none of the above option? Also, can someone explain the point in spoiling a vote?

brooess, absolutely right. I firmly believe that if you don't vote you have no right to complain about the government. At the last general election I had a poster on my front window saying

NEVER TRUST A POLITICIAN.
VOTE

I wish they'd just get on with it and call the election, the economy and everything that depends on its sucess or failure is on hold until after the election, the country is suffering while these morons nit pick in their afternoon carry on sessions.

No need to, everyone knows when the general election will be. It will be on or before the 3rd of June.

And there is no need to dissolve parliament until 3 or 4 weeks before the general election date.

How many weeks of campaigning do you want ffs ? 😕

aracer – Member

Well there's something else you can blame GB for

what? What are you blaming him for now? Or do you just want to blame him for everything>

it will rain on Sunday – is that GBs fault?

everyone knows when the general election will be. It will be on or before the 3rd of June.

That's nice and precise.

How many weeks of campaigning do you want ffs ?

The less the better, hence the sooner they call the election the better! Or are you working on some strange principle that there will somehow be more campaigning if they call it sooner?

What are you blaming him for now?

I thought that was quite obvious given what I was replying to – for not calling the election sooner. It is after all up to him how long with have to put up with this phony campaign for, and how long the city boys spend being jittery because of the uncertainty.

Just like any other PM then – call the election to suit – or is your memory that short and selective.

its been clear for a long time when the election is going to be.

Oh – but I forgot – its all GBs fault in your blind eye and callmedave and his cokehead friends are the saviours

TandemJeremy – Member

Druidh – so Scotland will be independent in a few years?

I might even vote for them myself!

>callmedave and his cokehead friends are the saviours

Ah, TJ's got a new tack now I see!

allthepies – Member
>callmedave and his cokehead friends are the saviours

Ah, TJ's got a new tack now I see!

Yeah – when reason doesn't work, resort to schoolboy name-calling.

No cokeheads in the Labour Party TJ?

The friendly face of socialism

are you working on some strange principle that there will somehow be more campaigning if they call it sooner?

Yeah that's right……. the very "strange" principle that as the gen election will probably on the 6th of May, if parliament was dissolved a couple of weeks ago, then that would have given about 6 weeks of solid campaigning instead of the more normal 3 weeks.

Unless you are a candidate who's fighting their first election, I can't see why anyone should be getting so excited and impatient.

I thought the campaigning had already begun

Why, have you been canvassed druidh ?

This voting business. Can someone explain some things to me?

The people we vote for – politicians – they're not the ones making decisions, are they?

So how is it a democracy?

Also, the political system seems ineffective to me: nobody trusts politicians, politicians only say and do what their hired spindoctors tell them to, and they're all more or less the same regardless of political party.

So why should I perpetuate the system by voting?

The way I see it, more important than my right to vote is my right not to vote. After all, people in totalitarian states have a vote: the difference is, they have no choice about it. It's this freedom of choice that wars were fought over, not the right to vote per se.

What's the best way to register a protest? Is it to spoil my vote? Are they counted and registered as protest, or just discarded? What if everyone spoiled their votes?

If we all spoiled our votes in protest would this force someone, somewhere, to make some drastic changes to our rotten, stinking 'democracy'?

We all hate politicians so why vote for any of them? Why not protest and see if we can bring about some sort of revolution?

Or is that naive?

That's how the BNP get in isn't it ?

Yeah that's right……. the very "strange" principle that as the gen election will probably on the 6th of May, if parliament was dissolved a couple of weeks ago, then that would have given about 6 weeks of solid campaigning instead of the more normal 3 weeks.

Ah, completely missing the point that the election could have been called a couple of weeks ago and held in a couple of weeks time rather than waiting.

Unless you are a candidate who's fighting their first election, I can't see why anyone should be getting so excited and impatient.

Impatient for it all to be over – as are many other people I imagine, including as has been pointed out the city boys who want a bit of certainty.

But if a certain threshold of protest votes was breached, that effect – where the small parties fill a vacuum – would disappear.

That's true pies. Unfortunately, the more apathetic people get about the major choices (Tory, Labour, Lib Dem), the more the fringe parties will benefit, mainly because their supporters are driven behind a specific message, regardless how wrong it may be. Hence why these parties tend to benefit in areas of low turn-out IMO.

I personally do not want Labour to get in: I don't like the way Brown came to power; I don't like him as a PM/leader of our country; I hate the way they try and solve social problems by taxing them (eg. trying to drive people out of their cars by putting up the tax; stopping underage drinking by putting the price of alcohol up etc); not mention the way they have mismanaged the economy.

On the other hand I don't think the Tories and Lib Dems have very many policies they firmly believe in and only try to tell us what they think we want to hear.

I want to vote, but really don't feel that enthused about it. TBH, I will probably end up voting for the Tories because it is the most likely way of getting rid of Labour, which shouldn't be a reason to vote for someone.

All IMO, of course

Ah, completely missing the point that the election could have been called a couple of weeks ago and held in a couple of weeks time rather than waiting.

Yes aracer, I'm always 'missing your point' …….how silly of me not to expect parliament to be dissolved to suit you personally.

Why wait until May the 6th and combine the local and general election together, when you want a general election 2 weeks earlier, eh ?

Of all the things which Gordon Brown could be fairly criticised for, I find quite staggering that some would choose to attack him for following the correct election protocol. Presumably they are Tory supporters too embarrassed with Tory policies, and therefore feel the need to run up some totally pointless ally.

Problem is, running a country is so complicated that us plebs don't understand the first thing about it. And yet, we vote. So they have to try and persuade us to vote for them when they know full well we know bugger all about what they have to actually achieve and how they do it, or whether or not they'll be any good. So then they tell us a bunch of stories abotu what they will or won't do, but because they are all just stories we find that out and slag them off. Then they have to try and deal with all the slagging off whilst trying to actually run a country. Every time a bit of what they actually do leaks out, the papers are up in arms about it, whereas if we really knew what was going on we'd be quite shocked and the stuff that ends up in the papers would be like nothing.

Madness, I tell you.

It is after all up to him how long with have to put up with this phony campaign for, and how long the city boys spend being jittery because of the uncertainty.

IT is GB fault that the gamblers in the city are jittery? Wow why does he not invite them round for cocoa and a cuddle to see if that helps soothe them?
I cant ever bring myself to vote tory but Dave does at least seem like a one nation Disraeli style Tory and I beleieve his tragic experieince with his son[ where for the first time in his privledge life he needed the state to intervene to help even him] has altered his view of the role of the state. He is still an over privlegde member of the elite and Osborne is a lightweight Toff.
I suspect a hung parlaiment lib dems fracture over which way to jump – Clegg is Tory Cable is labour. Weak govt for few mths and another election with a new laboyur leader.
You read it here first …trust me I got an E for politics at A level in 1988 … I know about these things.
Anyone who thinks any party will sort out the mess of the system is deluded Boom and bust is part of the capitalist system go read a history book /look at the figures if you think that is just left wing BS.

I hate the way they try and solve social problems by taxing them (eg. trying to drive people out of their cars by putting up the tax; stopping underage drinking by putting the price of alcohol up etc);

Taxation – it's now governments get revenue. Specifically in this case they are taxing things where it wouldn't hurt if a bit less got bought. High taxation on petrol for instance has been a great thing historically – if it were as cheap as the US we'd all be driving around in gas guzzlers like in the USA.

As for the govt mis-handling the economy – tell me exactly why they have done wrong WITHOUT mentioning anything that would have happened anyway (ie credit crunch, recession etc etc) or where any other party would have done exactly the same.

Oh and don't get me started on Cameron. What a lightweight. Example: Labour have the guts to propose a tax raise to get us out of the hole. Tories say 'oh we'll cut waste in the civil service instead'. Right. Except that's virtually impossible, will result in a protracted industrial dispute and you've not specified any part of how you'll actually save any money. Cutting waste is just a cover-all phrase that means absolutely nothing.

I could come up with better policies than those bloody fools, I tell you. All Cameron ever does is sling mud at the govt (who are actually DOING stuff). It's bloody pathetic. EDIT actually it's bloody EMBARASSING

People get the politicians they deserve*.
The majority of people are selfish, greedy, uninterested in anything that will improve our society, living beyond their means, and relying on credit.
Is it any wonder our politicians are the same?
FWIW, while I'll vote SNP myself, as far as Westminster goes, I kind of hope for a minority Labour scrape-through.
*Scotland never deserved Thatcher, and I never want to see any tory government again.

Oh – but I forgot – its all GBs fault in your blind eye and callmedave and his cokehead friends are the saviours

Of all the things which Gordon Brown could be fairly criticised for, I find quite staggering that some would choose to attack him for following the correct election protocol.

😆

I was simply pointing out that the election not being sooner was the decision of GB, nobody else. Of course he is perfectly entitled to choose when to have the election. However if there are downsides to the delay, that it is quite clearly his fault. Fairly predictable who on here would get wound up by such a comment.