Are we voting?

Well I think the clear winner in this years assault on the population by the most expensive PR teams each party employs was Lord Buckethead - I reckon he nailed his manifesto and he managed to get a selfie with Theresa May  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/09/lord-buckethead-elmo-and...

I'm pleased Jimmy Krankie has been put back in her box regarding the scottish referendum. 

Ho hum, now back to spinning those legs out..

Check this out, so, so perfect.

Ultimately, whichever party you vote for, the Government will get in. However, please remember that if you don't vote then you're not allowed to spend the next five years complaining.

I don't care how anyone has voted, though I do care about the result, but if you haven't voted yet please go out and do it now if you are registered.  If nothing else deface your ballot, write something truely defamatory about the candidate you dislike the most, maybe a cartoon c**k and b***s, it might ammuse the counters later.  Democracy is cool!

Why does anyone care what people voted?

I can't believe I'm reading that so many of you are voting Tory.

Really disappointed.

If anyone is yet to vote, please take a look at the manifestos and vote on that. Or speak to someone who works for the police, NHS, fire service...

The best thing for this country would be a hung parliament, and a coalition excluding the Tories. 

In Richmond Park, so it's LibDem for me as it's the best bet to fight the repulsive Goldsmith up for the Tories.

I voted for Not Corbyn, even though no party's policies or leader impresses me. I'm an advocate of more direct democracy than the poor excuse for it we currently have to suffer.

Amusingly, the Tory election agent outside the polling station asked the old couple and builder in front of me how they were voting, then took one look at my bike and moved onto the bloke behind me.

That last is an open question, by the way. Is he portrayed as loonie left because he:

- Wants to nationalise the railways?
   Well, I'm not that opposed to that one; one of the most successful recent franchises was East Coast which was, until recently, um, run by government...

- Wants to nationalise power generation?
   If you're talking about capping the prices that the private companies can charge, as May has promised, that is surely an admission that privatisation has failed to realise the dream of a cheaper, more efficient system?

- Opposes Trident (although won't whip his MPs to oppose)?
   So am I, as it happens - ridiculously expensive system that is less useful than its proponents claim.

- Wants a 50% tax rate on top earners?
   Tony Blair's government, which, for most of the time was significantly to the right of May, had this - hardly a quantum leap in taxation...

- Wants rent controls on landlords?
   Not one I personally agree with, but it's not taking the properties away from them at gunpoint, now, is it?

- Wants a mandatory living wage?
   George Osbourne mostly agreed with this one.

- Wants to cut tuition fees?
   But not to as low as when Thatcher was in power...

- Opposed the Iraq war?
   That's just sensible, isn't it?

- Opposed bombing Syria?
   I'm not sure that marks him out as a leftie.

- Opposed anti-terror legislation?
   Not surprised - most of it was simply horrific power-grabbing by the security services and deeply illiberal. I saw an analysis of all the votes in the last few years and how he and May voted: interestingly, they only voted in opposite directions on one occasion - Regulation of Investigatory Powers, final vote - although May was absent for far more than Corbyn.

- Refused to condemn IRA bombing?
   Wasn't the *actual* quote; “I condemn all the bombing by the loyalists and the IRA”?

Let's very generously for your argument assume Corbyn is privately a huge supporter of the IRA. By what mechanism is this going to affect your life if he were to become PM?

How is some vague nonsense about the IRA of more consequence to you than running down the NHS even further? Which is more likely to impact your life?

Labour. For the first time ever. I work in the public sector and the tories have just destroyed it. There just aren't enough staff to do everything properly and stress levels and absenteeism are through the roof, it simply isn't fair. I know they have a fairly abysmal record where fiscal responsibility is concerned but frankly I'm ready for a change of tack.

Labour all the way this time (though I've not voted Labour since 2001).

I know people at 'the bottom' and it is brutal to watch them be ground into the dirt in the pursuit of political ideology.  There has to be a better way to create a more equal society.

If we're out there riding bikes, how many of us are 1 bad crash away from an endless NHS waiting list and poverty?  The safety net is almost gone....

I am a free man

Very personal, I'll vote for whoever can reduce my 85 week wait for surgery. My conservative MP did a great job....as a messenger saying the NHS has problems. This 18 weeks target is utter bullshit.

Quote:

peted76 wrote:

I wanted to trust corbyn but I can't get past the fact he had links to the IRA and has refused on mutiple occations to condem any IRA bombings, to the point where Mi5 investigated it (as I believe the press would have us believe

 

Not so much...

http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/22/jeremy-corbyn-has-finally-called-the-ira-terrorists-6653633/

and

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-corbyn-labour-party-ira-violence-1994-general-election-a7761801.html

 

I was originally planning to vote SNP as they seem to offer the highest probability of an early return to the EU, but I'm probably going to switch to Labour as May has alienated any potential allies we might have had in Europe and has repeatedly shown herself unable to deal with difficult  situations or maintain a strong line on anything when confronted with mild unpleasantness, never mind firm opposition.  At least Corbyn can go in with a clean slate  and try to negotiate the least mutually destructive deal possible.  Next time round I'll be voting for whoever is most likely to get us back into the EU, whether that's as the UK or just Scotland.

Quote:

So I'm hoping for the continuation of a Conservative government who have a track record of not screwing up my life*

Brexit's not enough political and economic instability for you? That's pretty firmly the Conservative's responsibility, so unless you are unaffected by it or positive that the outcomes will be to your benefit I'm not sure you can say that they have a track recored of not screwing up your life.

This is the first election for a very long time where the 2 main parties, those with a real chance of actually forming a government, offer radically different visions of the future whilst marginal parties can make a difference locally and help set the agenda nationally.

I don't believe that any one party has all the best or right policies, but unfortunately we don't get to pick and mix. I do hope that whichever way you vote you do so on the basis of having done some actual research into the policies that you are most concerned about and do so using reliable sources, not just those that reflect your preconceptions.

Personally I am at that time of life where I need stability in the economy more than anything. Brexit and the fallout from that has put enough of a question mark over probably the remainder of my working life. I cannot risk a radical shift in economic policy and having lived through the political maelstrom of the 1970s I have no wish to revisit those failed socialist policies. I am however aware that I live in an area of the country that is affluent, well served by its public services and has a thriving economy, I benefited from a free education to degree level and through some hard work, some luck now earn a good wage though nowhere near the £85k that would apparently make me a fat cat. I understand that not everyone is so fortunate in the hand they were dealt, the opportunities they had, the choices they made, or the circumstances that they now find themselves in.

So I'm hoping for the continuation of a Conservative government who have a track record of not screwing up my life*, but with a good dose of humility and appreciation of the real struggles of people who deserve a bit of help.

*Your experience may vary.

I've voted conservative, no matter how unpopular it may be on the internets and on this very forum. I did this for two reasons mainly. One of them being that I believe that a country and commons divided is not what the UK needs right now.

I want us to get through this Brexshit and then next election (it'll be here very quick) I'll use my vote based on parties manifesto's (of which I think the LibDems are probably more my pick this year).

I wanted to trust corbyn but I can't get past the fact he had links to the IRA and has refused on mutiple occations to condem any IRA bombings, to the point where Mi5 investigated it (as I believe the press would have us believe).