Just interested in your thoughts and if anyone has any strong opinions on which party will best serve the country.

ps. i'm not a troll, just scunnered with all politicians and looking for some inspiring words to help me further my political view.

The more I think about that question, the more I want to emigrate……….

hung parliament which according to a top investment blokey i talked to recently will ruin the country as it'll undermine confidence and the governments credit rating will be downgraded from it's current AAA level

either way

we're all doomed*

*unless you live in China

A politician. Unfortunately.

Hung Parliament – which means the insipid Liberal Party will dictate policy to the spineless Labour party and the hollow Conservative party.

Happy Days!

There was a poll in the Times last week that suggested 40ish to the Conservatives to 30ish to labour and 20 ish to lib dem.

I'm surprised anyone is thinking of voting labour in again. Even if you believe in the party ideals they need to be kicked out so they can get rid of a few rotten apples and the complacent attitude they've developed.

The two main parties are going to end up running the country in virtually the same way IMO. We're in for some tough times before the economy returns to the "prosperous" * times.

*by prosporous I mean borrowed.

hopefully hung; coalitions dont seem to work so bad for germany, err belgium?? or iraq

I'm surprised anyone is thinking of voting labour in again. Even if you believe in the party ideals they need to be kicked out so they can get rid of a few rotten apples and the complacent attitude they've developed

i think for many lib dems arent a credible option so that leaves you with red or blue, both parties are just as dishonest and out of touch,
i do have to cycle past one of those bilboards of cast iron daves airbrushed smug face every morning and it never fails to nauseate me.

oh and i think torries will win

Labour will win.

Billy Bragg was just on radio 4 and pretty much summed up the problem

The country has been bankrupted by a load of bankers, who are now waving two fingers at us by paying themselves obscene bonuses. And we have all the main political parties in this country united in their silence on the subject, determined to twiddle their thumbs and not do a **** thing about it. They're all as **** useless as each other

Time for a spot of this

No one.

The likely government willbe Tory and with a working but small majority. A tory government will be a coplete disaster. You think Browns lot are rubbish? Just wait

The best result for the country will be a hung parliament as Clegg will extract concessions that will improve the country long term such as proportional representation on councils and so on. The minority governments in scotland over the last decade has made for good governance and has meant the most ridiculous Westminster policies have not made it to Scotland and has also made councils far more democratic thru PR.

For the first time in my life I have zero enthusiasm for the election of a labour government. They have squandered an opportunity, lost their moral compass and alienated all their talent.

So – who wins the next Westminster election? – no one and certainly not the british people. It looks likely that we will be led by a bunch of thick toffs whose idea of reinvigorating Britain is Thatcherism all over again. Be prepared for the end of the UKs public services. Be prepared for a massive financial meltdown. Osbornes ideas as to what to have done in the recent crisis have been adopted by no country in the world and most economists say they would have deepended and legthened the recession.

Cameron is a deeplyu unsettling prospect as Prime minister. Thick, a liar, with no moral fibre or ideaology. Sort of Blair lite. A horryfieng proispect.

The more I think about that question, the more I want to emigrate……….

I'm with you.

But since that isn't going to happen, I think we have to treat elections as punishments now. In other words, my hope for this upcoming election is not so much that any one party gets in, but that the current sitting government gets absolutely trounced, and any future career prospects they have obliviated.

Oh, and Ed Balls sent to St Helena.

The more I think about that question, the more I want to emigrate……….

I'm with you.

I am 😀

Not related to the GE in any way, but a happy addition to my reasons for going…

It looks likely that we will be led by a bunch of thick toffs whose idea of reinvigorating Britain is Thatcherism all over again.

as opposed to chippy shopfloormen from bent unions, and an "Im alright Jack" attitude to their comrades; a fabian/statist view of the role of government and the suppression of individual's freedoms for the sake of the party and the state etc etc .

We do so love our generalisations dont we TJ 🙄

Thick, a liar, with no moral fibre or ideology.

Im sorry. For a second there I thought you were critiquing our incumbent PM….

Labour, but by a midge's dick.

Labour will win.

😆

rupert murdoch

Stoner, you beat me to it! Was thinking the very same….!

Labour have wasted their lengthy spell in office, achieving nothing bar fiscal waste, the increase of their client state, entering wars of questionable legality and, er….that's about it.

The Conservatives aren't perfect, I don't think any one party can be, but at least they should be brave enough to cut away the useless areas of government expenditure. For example, stop sending aid to China and India. They're building space programs and aircraft carriers FFS, why are we giving them money? For example, stop any government recruitment advertising. Sounds silly, I know, but the cost of putting those ads through the Guardian have to add up, don't they?

In essence, it will be a Conservative government in power. The usual lefty rubbish will be spouted about toffs and "the nasty party", but ultimately what we need at the moment is leadership from intelligent people who are willing to be as nasty as is necessary for the public purse. Sorry if that means that the transgender lesbian vegetarian outreach community support workers department's annual tofu budget has to be slashed…. 😉

In terms of who will win, I think its still possible that Labour can pull it together to get back with a tiny majority, they just need one or two headline policies that will really connect with ordinary people.

Opinion polls are one thing, but I don't think a majority of the actual electorate who turn out are going to be fooled into voting Tory.

I think it would be foolish to call Cameron thick. You may not like him but he's achieved enough so far in his life that he must have a couple of brain cells to rub together.

Thick, a liar, with no moral fibre or ideology.

Im sorry. For a second there I thought you were critiquing our incumbent PM….

LOL

He used to have an ideaology but somewhere he lost it. I think that might even be worse never having had one

We do so love our generalisations dont we TJ

Except this is actually true – the senoir posts will be going to a bunch of old etonians and an old eatonian is a toff.

Labour have wasted their lengthy spell in office, achieving nothing bar fiscal waste

Sorry but that's bollocks. Yes they have made many mistakes and I am deeply disappointed with them, but there have been some definite improvements.

Criticising Labour for the war is a bit much if you are a Tory supporter – do you really think they would have done any different? They were fully in support IIRC.

Who will win the upcoming General Election?

My money's on "spoiled ballot".

Old adage:

"Whoever you vote for, the government always gets in".

Criticising them for the war is a bit much if you are a Tory supporter – do you really think they would have done any different? They were fully in support IIRC.

I think its difficult to interpolate the conservative support for ostensibly a regime change war of aggression as opposed to a security driven war of pre-emptive strike which is what was sold to them and us at the time and that which they supported.

CaptainFlashheart – Member

………….

Labour have wasted their lengthy spell in office, achieving nothing

wasted a historic opportunity indeed. However there are accomplishments. The NHS is vastly improved for the extra money. Devolution. I believe on the financail side history wil; be kinder than you ar especially after a tory government who will be damaging.

Its a pretty poor record for all those big majorities tho.

Sorry if that means that the transgender lesbian vegetarian outreach community support workers department's annual tofu budget has to be slashed

Unfortunately this sort of thing occupies a tinmy % of the budget. tiory cuts will mean deaths. Old people without support – that sort of thing. Be clear about that.

It will be a hung parliament IMHO. As much as people will revolt against Labour particularly dyed in the wool labour supporters who probably won't turn out, my feeling is that a lot of people will also feel that the Conservatives can only offer a slight difference to Labours middle of the road politics. And I think that a lot of people are too fearful of trying a party who hasn't already been in power so LibDem probably won't get enough votes to even make it to the opposition.

My feeling – a hung Conservative government.

Be clear about that.

haha. Sounds just like a "Balls" soundbite! 😉

tiory cuts will mean deaths. Old people without support – that sort of thing. Be clear about that.

Terrible spelling notwithstanding……Eh? Tory cuts will mean deaths? Riiiiight. Policy statements to illustrate that, if you please.

One could argue that the underfunding of the armed forces by Brown has also meant deaths. Be clear about that.

I think its difficult to interpolate the conservative support for ostensibly a regime change war of aggression as opposed to a security driven war of pre-emptive strike which is what was sold to them and us at the time and that which they supported.

Surely nobody actually believed that though did they?

And anyway the Tory position has always been to ally strongly with the US Republicans, which is what they would clearly have done.

Policy statements to illustrate that, if you please.

But they don't have any policy statements do they.

The Conservatives aren't perfect

😆

TBH – the economic argument is pretty irrelevant as neither party policy can be tested in isolation. Either party might make a claim for bringing a recovery ahead of forecasts and each will happily pass the buck to the other administration if the economy continues to drag. You can roll out any number of "respected economists" to support or denigrate either policy whenever you like. Economics, despite the mathematics of it's analysis, is not a science, but an art and so has little like a unifying theory to get right or wrong.

Labour will lose their remit as nearly every tired government has – the cumulative number of negatives has overtaken the positives. Negatives arent forgotten, and most positives are rarely remembered.

Labour need a spell in opposition to take a long hard look at themselves and reconsider how to make themselves electable again. How to deliver social imperatives without creating a massive state machinery to do it. The conservatives on the other hand dont have the political conviction to lay out a sufficiently radical programme and reset the scale of the state to deserve more than a term in office this time around.

If UK plc is to make any progress over the next 10 years it will do it as individuals not as an electorate.

Torys and neocons have not been the best bedfellows.

Surely nobody actually believed that though did they?

I think the Dutch inquiry has illustrated that to a certain extent many people did. Some of them even post in here.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/12/iraq-invasion-violated-interational-law-dutch-inquiry-finds

"In its depiction of Iraq's WMD programme, the [Dutch] government was to a considerable extent led by public and other information from the US and the UK," the Davids report says.

It found that when the Dutch government decided in August 2002 to support the attack on Iraq it treated intelligence about WMD and the legality of an invasion as "subservient"

CFH – sorry about the spelling.

Osbourne has made it clear that there will be massive cuts in budgets for essential services. This will mean deaths. Its simple and obvious. YOu cannot cut social services depts without causing deaths. You cannot have cuts the size that he wants in public services without deaths.

Its not the funding in the Army thats the issue – Its WTF are we doing fighting the people we are where they are – thats what has killed many thousands.

You cannot cut social services depts without causing deaths

Yes you can. You simply cut out all of the useless trash that purports to be social services. Oh, and I think we can look at Hackney Children's Services to see how spunking loads of cash at a social "care" causes deaths as well. There is a vast amount of waste in the public sector at the moment which leaves a large amount of scope for making cuts while still retaining the essential services which prevent those same deaths you claim will be caused.

Its not the funding in the Army thats the issue

Yes it fupping well is, my dear old thing! If you are going to send troops to fight, then you damn well equip them properly for the task in hand. The reasoning behind being there is a separate issue entirely.

Oh, and no need to apologise for the spelling, of course! 🙂

In its depiction of Iraq's WMD programme, the [Dutch] government was to a considerable extent led by public and other information from the US and the UK

Well maybe they should have listened to the UN Weapons Inspectors instead – you know, the ones who were actually on the ground in Iraq.

I and many other people said at the time that the case for war was bullshit, so I would expect that the Torys would have been aware of it too – but I find it very hard to believe they would have done anything differently.

Yes you can. You simply cut out all of the useless trash that purports to be social services.

You really trust the Tories to do that?

If anyone really wants to know what a clueless,meaningless party the Toffries are, just look at their latest nonsense about limiting teaching prospects for those with lesser regarded degrees.Of course, we all know that the ability to communicate with children, be a responsible role model and care about education are all intrinsic elements of a good degree and completely lacking in a third.

God help us.

One could argue that the underfunding of the armed forces by Brown has also meant deaths. Be clear about that.

I confess that I haven't been following what the proposed policies of the parties are, but does this mean that there is a Tory policy to increase defence funding?

TJ – as the roaring Captain says, cuts in social services do not necessarily lead to deaths – there is a limited capacity for social services to reduce fatalities (there needs to be some appreciation in the media that "Baby Ps" will happen regardless of funding levels) and the total quantum of the current budget that could be said to prevent deaths can easily be protected from cuts to the bulk of the budget.

There's no denying that the more the state spends on a social good, the greater the social benefit of the nation. Where I think our two ideologies diverge is that I argue that the diminishing returns of state social care means that for each incremental pound of expenditure the additional social value to the population falls. You, as would most of Labour, would like to see a huge state apparatus delivering increasingly inefficient gains for the sake of the absolute gains. I would say trim back service to its most efficient additional social benefit and use the reduced cost to the economy to stimulate social benefit through growth. We are never going to see eye to eye on that.