UK General Election 2015 | Conservatives win with an overall majority

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

It's been made into a class issue by James Blunt. Bryant basically said he wanted a broader spectrum of people able to take it on as a career. This kind of thing was being said all the time back at the Olympics as so many medal winners were from private schools. It's not class warfare to want equality of opportunity, something which James Blunt rather bitterly dismisses in his knobbish letter.

So whilst the BBC were talking about ageism and related gender discrimination last week (justifiably it has to be said), something which is irrespective of class, we had Bryant playing that very card in his quite incoherent interview with the Guardian. Bryant didn't use Downton Abbey as an example by chance, yet i wonder how much he knows of its actors backgrounds

Would you describe the diversity in Blunt's particular field of art as being seriously lacking?

 

[Don't Kill Bill]

The UK spends10 times more per person on arts and culture in London than it does anywhere else in the the UK.

Defending the lack of diversity of the cavalry life guard's officer corpse would be an interesting argument to hear.

There is no real argument against Chris Bryant's point.

It is true, people like Blunt don't like to hear it but feck me it is so obviously correct that I almost give up on people who can't understand the point.


"Blunt was enrolled at Elstree School in Woolhampton in Berkshire, before continuing to Harrow School in Harrow on the Hill in north-west London (Elmfield House) on an army bursary. From Harrow School he gained an army-sponsored place at the University of Bristol, where he first studied aerospace manufacturing engineering and then subsequently moved on to the study of sociology.[11] He graduated with a BSc in sociology in 1996.[13]"

I wonder what the daily mail would say about an unemployed miners son from Doncaster who the state paid to study aerospace manufacturing and came out with a degree in sociology?

 

[Oo0AahCantona]

My constituency is heavily conservative, so whatever i vote they will get it. and i fecking hate the tories. Will vote labour though its meaningless due to the system we use.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

Today's election headlines:

Lord Mandelson criticises "short-termist" mansion tax.

George Osborne calls on Labour to rule out coalition with the SNP.

Vince Cable criticises PM over Europe, stating: “We do not think that a referendum is sensible or helpful in anyway."

And finally...

UKIP receives help from Twitters users following the sacking/departure of its policy chief just months prior to the election.



There is also a somewhat lengthy article on potential Green Party proposals here. A few of these weren't likely to find much fertile ground with a paper such as the Telegraph naturally; however, like with UKIP some of the less well publicised policies would struggle regardless.

 

[bishblaize]

There is also a somewhat lengthy article on potential Green Party proposals here. A few of these weren't likely to find much fertile ground with a paper such as the Telegraph naturally; however, like with UKIP some of the less well publicised policies would struggle regardless.

Those policies are astonishing. I mean, credit to them for thinking (way) outside the box an' all, but even allowing for the fact that they'll never be implemented, some of them are so off the wall I'm surprised they're prepared to discuss them in public.

A zero growth economy? Everyone in the country gets £71 per week for free? A tax on all presents? A tax on Superstar performances?

Or is that all a big joke?

 

[soap]

Those policies are astonishing. I mean, credit to them for thinking (way) outside the box an' all, but even allowing for the fact that they'll never be implemented, some of them are so off the wall I'm surprised they're prepared to discuss them in public.

A zero growth economy? Everyone in the country gets £71 per week for free? A tax on all presents? A tax on Superstar performances?

Or is that all a big joke?

The idea that the economy has to keep growing is a (relatively) new idea to be fair.

Anti-rave laws would be scrapped.

Wahey! Was gonna vote for them anyway, that settles it!

 

[Sweet Square]

Wahey! Was gonna vote for them anyway, that settles it!

Yeah love that idea.

The Green Party are bit like your mad lesbian aunt, who still has dreadlocks even through she in her mid 40's.

 

[bishblaize]

Wahey! Was gonna vote for them anyway, that settles it!

Bout 20 years too late

 

[bishblaize]

Yeah love that idea.

The Green Party are bit like your mad lesbian aunt, who still has dreadlocks even through she in her mid 40's.

Middleclasstafarians?

 

[Dante]

I've always tended to vote Lib Dems, but after the last election I'll be fecked if I put another ballot in for them. I'll probably go Greens, just because they left wing without being Labour. Maybe after Milliband gets replaced they might become electable again, but not right now.

 

[Sweet Square]

Middleclasstafarians?

Yeah pretty much. Wither they could actually run a working government(Although there's no chance of that happening soon) is still to be answered but I would rather have someone with good intentions try and fail miserably then the absolute vile that we have in charge now.

 

[Ubik]

I've always tended to vote Lib Dems, but after the last election I'll be fecked if I put another ballot in for them. I'll probably go Greens, just because they left wing without being Labour. Maybe after Milliband gets replaced they might become electable again, but not right now.

What's making them unelectable at the moment?

 

[Silva]

Being cnuts when they said they weren't going to be cnuts.

The utter cnuts.

 

[Dante]

What's making them unelectable at the moment?

Milliband gives off an air of incompetence. Plus, Ed Balls.

 

[Cheesy]

Farage once again advocating the possibility of a private healthcare system. What a moron, people still view him as anti-establishment.

 

[Drifter]

Farage is no more than a disgruntled tory.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

Once i moved away from the Green Party's focus on environmental policies, i felt that their handbook only confused my impression of them politically rather than simplified it. There are all too many contradictions or policies of a questionable practicality.



@Cheesy 's post seems a good a prompt for this article. The NHS is nearing a crossroads you feel, one which is bigger and more important than the petty brinkmanship of an election campaign.

Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, said without massive changes, service risks becoming unaffordable

 

[DOTA]

The leader of the SNP has told the BBC that her MPs will vote on English health matters if it helps to protect the Scottish NHS.

Nicola Sturgeon's comments come the day before a bill on more tax and spend powers for Scotland is published.

They also add to the heated debate about English votes for English laws.

The Tories want English MPs to have sole say on English laws. Labour, which has 40 Scots MPs, rejects that view, while the Lib Dems back limited change.

The SNP has six MPs in the House and Commons and in practice they do not vote on non-Scottish legislation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-30917414

 

[Mockney]

Those policies are astonishing. I mean, credit to them for thinking (way) outside the box an' all, but even allowing for the fact that they'll never be implemented, some of them are so off the wall I'm surprised they're prepared to discuss them in public.

A zero growth economy? Everyone in the country gets £71 per week for free? A tax on all presents? A tax on Superstar performances?

Or is that all a big joke?

Bare in mind it's a Torygraph article intent on making them look loony. With a nice scaremongering focus on perfectly rational, and often discussed ideas like the decriminalisation of drugs, like it's the last step towards a biblical Sodom. Prostitutes are already legal in the UK, it's only pimping and public soliciting that isn't, and close ideological allies like the US and Holland already have legal brothels, so it's not like that's a mad, radical step either.

Some of their financial proposals are a bit drastic, but then there's nothing inherently wrong with proposing a radically new way of doing things, especially when a oft voiced reason for apathy is the lack of real choice or difference between the main parties. No one ever sticks by their manifesto pledges anyway, government works through compromise, and the sillier ones would never get through the Commons & Lords. At this stage, their goal is merely to raise them as ideas.

 

[rednev]

Farage once again advocating the possibility of a private healthcare system. What a moron, people still view him as anti-establishment.

He's the biggest idiot in politics.

He has a fifth of the country eating out of his hands due to his charisma and his vague populist ideas on Europe and immigration, yet he risks losing them by toying with something that terrifies most of the country and won't win him any votes - privatising the NHS. His statements on the matter will be used by Cameron in the debate/debates to annihilate him.

 

[sincher]

I am amazed that anyone can be impressed by Farage's 'charisma'.

He's a half-cocked salesman, selling fear.

Maybe it's just because Milliband has had a bypass and Cameron is a bumcheek.

Looks like the Tories will win the election, Labour will get Alan Johnson in and win the next one.

 

[bishblaize]

@Cheesy 's post seems a good a prompt for this article. The NHS is nearing a crossroads you feel, one which is bigger and more important than the petty brinkmanship of an election campaign.

Prof Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, said without massive changes, service risks becoming unaffordable

Indeed, outside of the sector its not always apparent what a major problem the NHS faces. Bit of good research from last year on it.

...from 1949 to 2010, the increase in NHS expenditure was on average 4% above expenditure per annum, from 2011 to 2015, the increase in NHS expenditure was only 0.1%. The funding requirement has increased from £110 billion to £131 billion, and this has led to a funding gap of £20billion in 2015.

A return to the previous 4% annual growth rate, in the absence of substantial tax increases, would require a further seven year freeze on all other public expenditure, and so is extremely unlikely.

Something has to change, we cant go back how it was. That said, my preference is for a focus on early and community focussed interventions rather than chucking ever more money at the clinical.

 

[rednev]

I am amazed that anyone can be impressed by Farage's 'charisma'.

He's a half-cocked salesman, selling fear.

Maybe it's just because Milliband has had a bypass and Cameron is a bumcheek.

British people love a cocky quipping eccentric who isn't afraid to speak his mind. Even if he is a hoarse voiced drunk.

 

[bishblaize]

Bare in mind it's a Torygraph article intent on making them look loony. With a nice scaremongering focus on perfectly rational, and often discussed ideas like the decriminalisation of drugs, like it's the last step towards a biblical Sodom. Prostitutes are already legal in the UK, it's only pimping and public soliciting that isn't, and close ideological allies like the US and Holland already have legal brothels, so it's not like that's a mad, radical step either.

Some of their financial proposals are a bit drastic, but then there's nothing inherently wrong with proposing a radically new way of doing things, especially when a oft voiced reason for apathy is the lack of real choice or difference between the main parties. No one ever sticks by their manifesto pledges anyway, government works through compromise, and the sillier ones would never get through the Commons & Lords. At this stage, their goal is merely to raise them as ideas.

I suppose. I kinda feel like I could only vote for someone who I would actually want in power, even if that's not really the point with a lot of voting.

 

[sincher]

I honestly think if Labour had a leader with some kind of authority, spark or even gravitas that people could believe and get behind, and they said the right things about the economy and the NHS, this election would be fairly straight-forward.

Milliband is the wrong brother.

 

[Mockney]

I suppose. I kinda feel like I could only vote for someone who I would actually want in power, even if that's not really the point with a lot of voting.

I'm not gonna vote for them. I'll probably vote Labour just because they're the only party close enough to my ideology with an actual chance. But even that's a fairly poor reason for voting.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

Bare in mind it's a Torygraph article intent on making them look loony. With a nice scaremongering focus on perfectly rational, and often discussed ideas like the decriminalisation of drugs, like it's the last step towards a biblical Sodom. Prostitutes are already legal in the UK, it's only pimping and public soliciting that isn't, and close ideological allies like the US and Holland already have legal brothels, so it's not like that's a mad, radical step either.

You're right up to a point, and that i acknowledged in teh original post, however you then go on to cite the two least (or not at all) controversial proposals in the article. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in response to their policy on brothels however, what with Caroline Lucas' support for the End Demand campaign and the dangers associated with it. Not only is it a bit of a muddle, but it seems that they are only prepared to help sex workers on their terms.

If the Greens ever wish to move beyond but a handful of constituencies they shall need to square their beliefs with what is practicable and coherent over the long term.

No one ever sticks by their manifesto pledges anyway, government works through compromise, and the sillier ones would never get through the Commons & Lords. At this stage, their goal is merely to raise them as ideas.

Are not prospective Green voters expecting better than the same old deceits and sidestepping of promises?

I am amazed that anyone can be impressed by Farage's 'charisma'.

He's a half-cocked salesman, selling fear.

Maybe it's just because Milliband has had a bypass and Cameron is a bumcheek.

Looks like the Tories will win the election, Labour will get Alan Johnson in and win the next one.

If the political class hadn't so bungled the immigration debate for nigh on a decade and half UKIP wouldn't be as influential, The same goes for the EU, given the strength of Euroscepticism in the country the approach adopted during the Labour years was bound to enhance Farage's position.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

Something has to change, we cant go back how it was. That said, my preference is for a focus on early and community focussed interventions rather than chucking ever more money at the clinical.

We require a strategy that outlives any one government certainly, no easy thing considering the actors involved.

 

[Mockney]

You're right up to a point, and that i acknowledged in teh original post, however you then go on to cite the two least (or not at all) controversial proposals in the article.

Both of them were included in the banner headline, so they were obviously two of the ones the Telegraph thought it's readers would find controversial. And knowing that, I wouldn't be surprised if Holehouse hadn't phrased some of the others in more absolutist terms than they're really presented.

That said, I'm surprised they didn't make more of the monarchy abolition. Though I suppose that's more the Express's turf.

If the Greens ever wish to move beyond but a handful of constituencies they shall need to square their beliefs with what is practicable and coherent over the long term.

Are not prospective Green voters expecting better than the same old deceits and sidestepping of promises?

Presumably, but then I'd also assume prospective Green voters aren't expecting them to form a government this year. The whole thing is a long term strategy. I just don't see any harm in floating it. If they ever move closer to (presumably Coalition-based) power, it can be picked apart a lot more thoroughly.

The difference between them and UKIP, is their success at this election wouldn't force the main parties to do anything about these under promoted side-issues in the way UKIP's success would with immigration. Or the NHS.

 

[Jippy]

Loved the bit about restricting holiday ads because they promote a 'high carbon lifestyle'. Middle income to poor folk holiday abroad these days, but the Greens want to tax them out of that so they can stay in the anarchic hell they plan. I wish we could do a super-accurate simulation of what would happen if their bonkers plans came to pass.
They simultaneously want to impose border tariffs on EU imports but on the other hand offer free gratis payment of £71 and free healthcare to anyone regardless of passport, claiming borders are irrelevant.
Hello, NHS tourism, backed by their 'zero growth economy' plans. @Mockney the Torygraph may have done a good number on them there, but hell, sounds like they've alienated all voters across the board themselves.
I know there are a lot of young folk on this board and I worry. I'm not buying all of the Torygraph's very well-written (propaganda) piece but google the Greens' record in Brighton. Not good.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

Loved the bit about restricting holiday ads because they promote a 'high carbon lifestyle'. Middle income to poor folk holiday abroad these days, but the Greens want to tax them out of that so they can stay in the anarchic hell they plan.

And they won't even let those same pollute the atmosphere enough to warm the country up a little. lol

I suppose that's how they justify the policy on airport infrastructure, for if nobody is going to be using the things why invest. IIRC their London mayoral candidate had a manifesto commitment to close down London City Airport.

Still, if the Green Party's idea of government is really bad there'll be plenty of legal distractions. Hold on, that's it isn't it? These Greenies are more devious than they let on.

 

[berbatrick]

Those policies are astonishing. I mean, credit to them for thinking (way) outside the box an' all, but even allowing for the fact that they'll never be implemented, some of them are so off the wall I'm surprised they're prepared to discuss them in public.

A zero growth economy? Everyone in the country gets £71 per week for free? A tax on all presents? A tax on Superstar performances?

Or is that all a big joke?

A different perspective
http://www.monbiot.com/2014/05/27/the-impossibility-of-growth/
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7853

 

[Dante]

http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/

I presume that link has been posted before, but I've only just found it. I came out 50% Green, 33% Lib Dems and 17% Labour.

 

[soap]

http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/

I presume that link has been posted before, but I've only just found it. I came out 50% Green, 33% Lib Dems and 17% Labour.

Am I just thick or is a lot of this somewhat confusing? I barely know what half of these policies actually mean. Are they intentionally vague? I suppose one can get a pretty good feel for what the score is by the policies that are understandable.

Anyway I got 50% Green, 33% labour and 12% each for Tories and lib dems.

 

[Dante]

They're worded to try and attract voters, not to make sense or even be workable in the real world.

 

[peterstorey]

I honestly think if Labour had a leader with some kind of authority, spark or even gravitas that people could believe and get behind, and they said the right things about the economy and the NHS, this election would be fairly straight-forward.

Milliband is the wrong brother.

No point in David winning and having a pale blue government (see Blair).

 

[The Mitcher]

Loved the bit about restricting holiday ads because they promote a 'high carbon lifestyle'. Middle income to poor folk holiday abroad these days, but the Greens want to tax them out of that so they can stay in the anarchic hell they plan. I wish we could do a super-accurate simulation of what would happen if their bonkers plans came to pass.
They simultaneously want to impose border tariffs on EU imports but on the other hand offer free gratis payment of £71 and free healthcare to anyone regardless of passport, claiming borders are irrelevant.
Hello, NHS tourism, backed by their 'zero growth economy' plans. @Mockney the Torygraph may have done a good number on them there, but hell, sounds like they've alienated all voters across the board themselves.
I know there are a lot of young folk on this board and I worry. I'm not buying all of the Torygraph's very well-written (propaganda) piece but google the Greens' record in Brighton. Not good.

I don't buy the Green's at all, and I'm of a similar political stance as they are (probably more so if you look at my political compass...). I was going to vote for them, but when I saw some of those bonkers and far out plans I just thought no way they are keeping those promises. Its only really my really political lefty (middle class btw) friends that are lapping it up, funny how I don't . I saw they wanted to abolish the monarchy apparently, as much as I would love that, I do not believe for a second, any political party would do it.

 

[Nick 0208 Ldn]

^ The Greens are probably a bit complacent about what they see as their ownership of the environmental debate, a trait that shall prove increasingly unwise as they grow in prominence. There's more than one political route by which people can stand up for the countryside or sustainable lifestyles. Maybe i'd use them as a protest vote in a less important election but they're not GE material.

http://voteforpolicies.org.uk/

I presume that link has been posted before, but I've only just found it. I came out 50% Green, 33% Lib Dems and 17% Labour.

It's not yet been updated for the 2015 election, and won't be until the official launch of the various manifestos i imagine.

 

[The Mitcher]

^ The Greens are probably a bit complacent about what they see as their ownership of the environmental debate, a trait that shall prove increasingly unwise as they grow in prominence. There's more than one political route by which people can stand up for the countryside or sustainable lifestyles. Maybe i'd use them as a protest vote in a less important election but they're not GE material.




It's not yet been updated for the 2015 election, and won't be until the official launch of the various manifestos i imagine.

True, they do not own the debate, but they are a party formed specifically for that particular problem. Either way, I'm not so sure I can vote for them. I would not say it is a wasted vote, I really do not think you can waste votes, at least you are doing something and participating. I'm going to wait until all the manifestos are published and then see. I think the Green's will heavily revise it from the things they've said recently.

 

[ThierryHenry]

I don't buy the Green's at all, and I'm of a similar political stance as they are (probably more so if you look at my political compass...). I was going to vote for them, but when I saw some of those bonkers and far out plans I just thought no way they are keeping those promises. Its only really my really political lefty (middle class btw) friends that are lapping it up, funny how I don't . I saw they wanted to abolish the monarchy apparently, as much as I would love that, I do not believe for a second, any political party would do it.

It's inevitable in the long run.