The 2015 General Election

[tonyh29]

The Observer is reporting that the budget statement has raised the Tories 3 points ahead of Labour in the polls.

It's interesting if you compare the poll on here to that poll:

Conservative: -13%

Labour: -5%

Lib Dem: -3%

UKIP: -4%

Green: +18%

Other: +6%

Don't know if that's something that would be repeated across much of the internet - my gut feeling is it probably would be.

Only thing it tells us based on that green % is that we have a higher % of nut jobs than the average interweb forum

[Mantis]

Sadly I think most internet forums would produce a similar percentage of Green votes.

[chrisp65]

because everyone can be pious on the interweb and claim they don't want to drive a car or commute for more money or eat cheaper food or buy clothes instead of weaving their own

[OutByEaster?]

Oddly enough, I like everything about the Green party except the Green stuff. Which I know is fundamentally flawed, but I guess it's like liking everything about the LabCons except becoming a serf to feudal bank overlords. So, do I want to live in a world where technology is put back a hundred years on the basis of protecting the environment or a world where society, labour law and the rights of individuals are put back a hundred years on the basis of reducing the deficit to the benefit of a handful of bankers and their political cronies.

 

Can we let the Greens manage the country and the others manage the environment please?

[Mantis]

Could probably put GDP back a hundred years as well if the Greens were running the country.

[Guest]

This will be my fourth vote in a general election, and for me it is the hardest yet.

 

I was always Labour, ever since I can remember. I used to help my dad deliver leaflets for them, I was a member from 20 to 29, and I backed them staunchly.

 

And now I won't/can't vote for them. I believe we will see the same sort of cuts we see today, with the Tories.

 

I'm not convinced by the Greens, although for me, they are the closest to what I want.

 

I think there are a few things which are important to me, from voting at 16, to the NHS. But right now I have no idea where my vote will go. The older you get and the more you start to see politics for what it is, the harder it becomes to put your vote down to mean something.

[OutByEaster?]

There was a thing on TV not too long ago and Lembit Opik told an audience member that if she didn't like it she could put her vote somewhere else.

 

Sadly, that's not really true, you can vote for almost the same if you like, but actually voting for something different is incredibly difficult - anyone with any sort of idea that goes against the standard neoliberal thinking finds it incredibly difficult to finance any sort of campaign or get any kind of media coverage in papers and TV channels that are intrinsically linked to the status quo. It means we're faced with a choice of light or dark grey, a selection between different groups who exist to protect big business and banking from the interests of people.

 

That's the appeal of the Greens, they are somewhere else you can put your vote without being a racist, and yes, they're a bit mad, they've snuck through with Green-ness and then been latched onto by people with genuinely different ideas about the way things should be run. They're the only alternative we have to the Reagan/Thatcher thinking of our three major parties, and will be until someone starts a party that represents the interests of the working man. (Maybe we should call it Labour).

 

They've no chance of winning and it's not really what they're there for, they're there to remind politicians that we really don't like what we're currently being offered, and they reflect the anger of those people who've realised that their vote doesn't really count for anything at all right now.

[Guest]

See, if Labour can move towards its roots again, I have no doubt they would win my vote. For this to happen it needs to get rid of everything with even the slightest stench of Blair (imho).

 

I think we will have a hung parliament this time, with an emergency cabinet put together and another GE around 6-12 months after this. 

[Mantis]

See, if Labour can move towards its roots again, I have no doubt they would win my vote. For this to happen it needs to get rid of everything with even the slightest stench of Blair (imho).

 

I think we will have a hung parliament this time, with an emergency cabinet put together and another GE around 6-12 months after this. 

They might win your vote but they'd lose the election.

[Guest]

 

See, if Labour can move towards its roots again, I have no doubt they would win my vote. For this to happen it needs to get rid of everything with even the slightest stench of Blair (imho).

 

I think we will have a hung parliament this time, with an emergency cabinet put together and another GE around 6-12 months after this. 

They might win your vote but they'd lose the election.

 

 

My vote doesn't count for more than one, so that is pretty obvious.

[OutByEaster?]

 

See, if Labour can move towards its roots again, I have no doubt they would win my vote. For this to happen it needs to get rid of everything with even the slightest stench of Blair (imho).

 

I think we will have a hung parliament this time, with an emergency cabinet put together and another GE around 6-12 months after this. 

They might win your vote but they'd lose the election.

 

I think you're wrong, there's a huge groundswell of people who are looking for a party that offer an alternative to the current thinking, I think a labour that went back to its roots and started to put people first again would gain an awful lot more than the current shadow-Tories.

[Mantis]

 

 

See, if Labour can move towards its roots again, I have no doubt they would win my vote. For this to happen it needs to get rid of everything with even the slightest stench of Blair (imho).

 

I think we will have a hung parliament this time, with an emergency cabinet put together and another GE around 6-12 months after this. 

They might win your vote but they'd lose the election.

 

I think you're wrong, there's a huge groundswell of people who are looking for a party that offer an alternative to the current thinking, I think a labour that went back to its roots and started to put people first again would gain an awful lot more than the current shadow-Tories.

 

If that's the case then why haven't the Greens got more support than they have now?

 

 

 

See, if Labour can move towards its roots again, I have no doubt they would win my vote. For this to happen it needs to get rid of everything with even the slightest stench of Blair (imho).

 

I think we will have a hung parliament this time, with an emergency cabinet put together and another GE around 6-12 months after this. 

They might win your vote but they'd lose the election.

 

 

My vote doesn't count for more than one, so that is pretty obvious.

 

I think you knew what I was getting at - they'd win some votes from the left if they went "back to their roots" as it were but they'd never get win a national election again.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

I think you'd be surprised at how many people would vote for a proper labour party now that we've had 30 odd years of Thatcherism.

 

They'd need to be smarter, however, and win over the middle-classes like social-democrat parties across Europe are able too.

[OutByEaster?]

 

 

 

See, if Labour can move towards its roots again, I have no doubt they would win my vote. For this to happen it needs to get rid of everything with even the slightest stench of Blair (imho).

 

I think we will have a hung parliament this time, with an emergency cabinet put together and another GE around 6-12 months after this. 

They might win your vote but they'd lose the election.

 

I think you're wrong, there's a huge groundswell of people who are looking for a party that offer an alternative to the current thinking, I think a labour that went back to its roots and started to put people first again would gain an awful lot more than the current shadow-Tories.

 

If that's the case then why haven't the Greens got more support than they have now? 

Because they're a bit mental and because they're you know, Green based.

[bickster]

If that's the case then why haven't the Greens got more support than they have now?

Third largest membership of any all-UK political party. Thats from a position of fifth only a few months ago, the party is clearly gathering support but these things take time in UK politics because the media has a vested interest in retaining some semblance of the status quo and a natural bias towards the right of the economic political agenda. The media still has a huge influence on politics in this country, it's influence is waning to a degree but not by enough to make a real difference. Hence why the media aid UKIP

Oh and they might as well have elected a dingo as leader for all the use Natalie Bennett is. With her as leader no matter how democratic the party is, they will always be the protest vote of the left

[Mantis]

Third-largest membership means little when they can't even get into double digits in the polls. I don't buy this media conspiracy either although Natalie Bennett being leader is probably hurting them quite a bit.

 

OBE, what kind of figure did you have in mind when you said "groundswell support"? I can't imagine a properly left-wing Labour hitting 40% of the vote.

[tonyh29]

I hope everyone North of the border votes Labour just to wipe some of the smugness and arrogance off the faces of the SNP

They seem to think they've already won the election ...

[bickster]

I don't buy this media conspiracy either

Who said it was a conspiracy?

Most owners of media empires tend to favour parties with the most laissez-faire attitudes towards economic matters. Because at the end of the day they want to make as much money as they can with the least hassle.

It's perfectly natural.

It is however the exact opposite of what most of the populace want and need. They use moral outrage and gossip as a means of selling papers etc which then serves to obscure the real issues of the day. No different really to successive governments with their "good day to bury bad news" approach to information sharing.

[bickster]

I hope everyone North of the border votes Labour just to wipe some of the smugness and arrogance off the faces of the SNP

They seem to think they've already won the election ...

Me too but only to shove Lynton Crosby's wedge up his arse as I despise his kind

[Mantis]

 

I don't buy this media conspiracy either

Who said it was a conspiracy?

Most owners of media empires tend to favour parties with the most laissez-faire attitudes towards economic matters. Because at the end of the day they want to make as much money as they can with the least hassle.

It's perfectly natural.

It is however the exact opposite of what most of the populace want and need. They use moral outrage and gossip as a means of selling papers etc which then serves to obscure the real issues of the day. No different really to successive governments with their "good day to bury bad news" approach to information sharing.

 

It certainly came off as a bit of a conspiracy. Obviously the owners of these corporations prefer free markets (they're not the only ones though) but I don't think there's some kind of effort to bury the Greens for example. UKIP get more coverage because they've got more support - it's as simple as that.

 

Yes, gossip stories are prominent but I don't buy this argument that it's all done to distract us from the more important issues. Gossip sells and the media will go with what makes them money.