From where I am looking at it, they are all a shower of shite. Is there anyone worth voting for?

no, and i was thinking, woudl it be possible for me to email you about the physio training?

one of the obvious 2 will no doubt get in……………..but………
a bloke with a optical problem will gain loads………….for sure.

lyons – yip thats fine. me at georgelupton dot com

Ill be voting for liberals I reackon. They seem pretty sound for me

none particularly worth voting for but a vote for anyone else is a vote against the BNP.

Remember, "for evil to succeed, good men need do nothing" or something like that

Liberals or Greens for me I think….

I have to look at the manifestos and the local candidates as yet though so may change my mind as yet!

agree all a shower of shite robbing tozzers, hung parliment , would that be a good idea or not , and what exactly does it mean.

My mate Mike, probably.

No matter who you vote for the Government always gets in.. 🙂

"In a democracy, people get the government they deserve,"

Alexis de Toqueville

Like the Liberals, they at least seem to have policies and some integrity. Unfortunately whilst I respect their policies I don't agree with them. If there was an equvilent party on the right the choice would be easy.

Spoiled ballet coming up.

liberals probably but clegg is a tosser in the blair cameron all pr no pants mold and im not convinced they will move us away from our current thatcherite/nulabour/nutorry economic policies

if it wasnt for some of teh mopre insane anti science policies of the greens then they might be more worthy

Spoiled ballet

You're going to trip up a ballerina in protest?

Spoiled ballet coming up.

see my earlier post

For a serious answer – decide which party you hate the most vote for the one most likely to stop that party winning in your constituency. I am in a solid labour seat so it really doesn't matter who I vote for – it might be the same for you.

The general election is decided by undecided voters in a minority of seats that are marginal. A few hundred thousand folk I believe

I would vote if I could vote for "none of the above". Without that choice we will continue to have very little choice.

Dont forget – as quoted on todays "The Daily Politics" only 2 out of 10 people actually voted for the Labour government.

So, before you all start ranting that you have to vote and you should be glad to live in a democracy – just remember that 8 out of 10 people did not vote for the current government.

Without a change in the current way voting works I see little point in voting.

Trimix – Member
I would vote if I could vote for "none of the above". Without that choice we will continue to have very little choice.

You can. Spoil your ballot paper. They get counted and announced as well.

Dont forget – as quoted on todays "The Daily Politics" only 2 out of 10 people actually voted for the Labour government.

9.5 million voted Labour
Something like 43 million registered to vote

…before you all start ranting that you have to vote and you should be glad to live in a democracy – just remember that 8 out of 10 people did not vote for the current government.

What's the problem that – are you saying that the 8 out of 10 all voted for another party which wasn't allowed to form a government ?

No, the reason why a party can form a government with so little people voting for them, is because so many people are more concerned with watching Emmerdale on a thursday evening than voting, or doing really clever things like spoiling their ballot papers by writing "none of the above" across them.

Ernie, apathy is part of the problem, but that problem is solved by the parties creating policies people can get enthusiastic about, earning trust and following up on promises.

I want my society run by great Economists, Environmentalists, Historians, Sociologists etc etc, not polititions. I cant think of any party that gets close to deserving a vote.

Sure, some have some good ideas, but these are insignificant compared to the rest of their actions on things that matter: War, Environment, Economy, Education, Birth control etc.

Apathy is a symptom of the problem, not a cause.

MP here is a rarity – a scottish conservative.

General elections should need to be quorate.

Goan, you have a simple choice , vote for whoever stands the best chance of unseating the tory.

probably a tory / lib dem marginal at a guess so a lib dem vote won't be wasted totally – or a tory vote for that matter.

Exactly which constituency?

Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale – David Mundell.

Ah

Conservative David Mundell 16,141 36.2
Labour Sean Marshall 14,403 32.3
Liberal Democrat Patsy Kenton 9,046 20.3
SNP Andrew Wood 4,075 9.1
Scottish Socialist Sarah MacTavish 521 1.2
UKIP Tony Lee 430 1.0

So tory / labour marginal last time Likely to be a conservative hold but Lib Dems will fancy their chances.

You get a green candidate next time I believe?

Vote Guido

I want my society run by great Economists, Environmentalists, Historians, Sociologists etc etc, not politicians.

You've got that already. Society is run on a day to day basis by civil servants, industrialist, and financiers. Parliament has surprisingly little input in that respect.

Furthermore at no time since the introduction of universal suffrage, has there been so few politicians in parliament. Politics is no longer fashionable. People such Geoff Hoon, Tessa Jowell, and Hazel Blears, do not have an ounce of political commitment in their bodies, they simply see parliament as a career move.

Today parliament is ideologically free in a way it hasn't been for decades. "New Labour" epitomises this new reality. New Labour was never an 'ideological movement' it was nothing more than a 'strategy' to win elections – there is no ideological basis to New Labour, it's simply whatever it needs to be to win elections. And it is a strategy which has worked extremely well.

35 years ago something like 30% of all Labour MPs were from the teaching professions (school teachers, lecturers, etc) which made them far the largest professional group. They were overwhelmingly motivated by an ideological commitment to change society.

Today the most successful Labour MPs tend to come from the legal professions. Trained lawyers such as Tony Blair and Geoff Hoon are simply motivated by the need to win an argument – whether or not they actually believe it to be true.

And these changes aren't simply restricted to the Labour Party. The last conviction Prime Minister Britain had was Margaret Thatcher. And yet Tory MPs such as David Cameron and George Osborne aren't driven by conviction – it's much more a case of Parliament representing a sensible career/personal achievement move.

If the the British electorate now finds what is being offered to them is uninspiring, then it is because of the lack of real politics and real politicians – not because there is too much of it/them.

But then of course the electorate have only themselves to blame, after all, they enthusiastically rushed in their droves to vote for empty and completely meaningless advertising slogans such as, "the stakeholder society", "education, education, education", "tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime", and all to the sound of D:Ream's "Things Can Only Get Better".

.

Apathy is a symptom of the problem, not a cause.

Nah, imo apathy is the cause of the problem. And shite "politics" is the symptom.

Ill vote for sure but as for who I dont know – I mean they are all as bad as each other now with no real discernible difference between the main 2..

If voting could really change the political system, it would be illegal

I want my society run by great Economists, Environmentalists, Historians, Sociologists etc etc, not politicians.

Oh dear. Historians know about the past which leaves you fully equipped to fight the last battle as it were – not so well equipped for the future. Economists are basically professional cynics – you know, know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Which leaves environmentalists and sociologists who have their place but it's sounding a little unbalanced.
Some engineers and scientists might help, and a few people who understand business.
In fact how about a cross section of society – except mobile phone salesmen of course.
But that's my view and the system we have is meant to allow you to get a rough cross section in a manner that reflects the views of those bothered to vote.
1 in 4, 2 in 10 – yes but not of those who turned out to vote. I didn't because I got called away on business, but if I had been here it would probably have been Labour if only to keep the Tories out. So don't assume that it means 8 out of 10 didn't want what we got. Which may have been a mistake, but I still can't bring myself to vote for the Tories led by a man who starts lying before he's even got into office – and on things that shouldn't even matter. Man of the people my bottom. New sort of Tory leader? Nope same old 1950s style Tory leader, but with better PR.

And please remember that proportional representation is associated with minority governments. Rather than reflecting the views of the people it just allows the politicians to do deals behind closed doors to decide what government the country is going to get. Works some places, not others. Italian government for example is a joke.

Rant mode off

You have to vote for the right lizard, otherwise the wrong lizard will get voted in!

Now, which one is the right lizard?

Ill vote for sure but as for who I dont know – I mean they are all as bad as each other now with no real discernible difference between the main 2..

In that case why not vote for the candidate on a personal level rather than because of what party he/she/it represents?

I've told you before, vote for the one who's wife you fancy the most.