2010 British General Election

lewissaffin

New Member
2010 British General Election

Who are you going to vote for? Did you watch the Leaders' Debate? What are the key talking points for this year's General Election? What is your view?

This doesn't effect the majority of the members on here but I'd be interested to hear your say too.

Personally, having watched the debate tonight, I'd side with Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems. Cameron was walked over tonight and Brown has already had his chance. Plus, I like The Times which is a pretty lefty newspaper. You can tell I'm 15 :p
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

From what I gather (haven't seen the debate as I was netting) Clegg came out of it really well. Brown was average and Cameron looked a bit of a tit.

Saying that, Clegg has more leeway as in all probablity he's not going to win. He say what he likes without the fear of actually having to implement any of his ideas. Then again, if he did as well as the buzz suggets, who knows?

Terrible thing to say but I've never voted and certainly won't this year. No real alternatives out there and whoever gets in will be too weak to make any difference.
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

mas cambios;397051 said:
From what I gather (haven't seen the debate as I was netting) Clegg came out of it really well. Brown was average and Cameron looked a bit of a tit.

Saying that, Clegg has more leeway as in all probablity he's not going to win. He say what he likes without the fear of actually having to implement any of his ideas. Then again, if he did as well as the buzz suggets, who knows?

Terrible thing to say but I've never voted and certainly won't this year. No real alternatives out there and whoever gets in will be too weak to make any difference.

The one problem Clegg might have had would have been if Cameron and Brown had gone off on each other and everyone ignored the Lib Dems. Clegg addressed this from the start and was safe thereafter.

As for voting, if I was the legal age, I'd be voting but we live in a supposedly-free country so you can do as you please :p
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

brickwaller99;397135 said:
yeah vote greens make a difference.

more taxes
less jobs
no houses left
all food completely imported from china so we aren't producing co2 farming

voting greens would really make a difference
it would completely screw australia over
Just look at Tasmania
more greens than anywhere else

In case you hadn't noticed, this thread is about the UK election, not the situation in Australia. How about you consider the thread title in future, not just tolling the last post made.
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

you can have your own problems to yourself in that funny little country,
I was merely rising to the bait.
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

I think the thing to remember is that this is not a popularity vote; it is not an X-Factor. You would have to be pretty shallow to make your choice on the debate alone.

I am not going to be partisan here but the right to vote is a very precious thing and a right that has cost many of our ancestors liberty and life itself. There are, unbelievably, still people in this World dying to secure this right for others.

If you are serious about having political views, you should forget about these debates; they do not mean anything. Read the Manifestos and decide what you want from this country. It does not matter what you think about the leader of the party if you agree with the policies... the policies laid down, not the ones thrown out on a whim during a discussion.

For instance, if you want to go further into Europe and adopt the Euro, vote accordingly. If you want to see immigration curbed, vote accordingly.

Study the statistics; see where these parties intend to get the money to fund their policies and decide whether you agree. Do you want the chance to get into University? How much in the red do you want to come out with? Will you want your children to go to the school of your choice? Do you believe in the NHS waiting policies? Vote accordingly.

Another factor you need to introduce is that when you vote, you are not actually voting for the leader of whatever party, you are voting for your local MP. You may decide you like a particular leader as a result of any PR stunt but what if his representative in the constituency in which you live is a waste of time at best, destructive to your community at worse, will you still vote him in?
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

When is the date for the election? And who's going to win? Brown's the current Prime Minister, is he going to win another term?

We've got to go to the polls later in the year, in about six or seven months time. Voting is compulsory over here, looks like it isn't over in England.
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

E Day is 6th May and voting is not compulsory over here.

I think it probably is all over in the UK. At the moment, polsters put Brown's Labour Party as third, after Clegg's LibDems second and Cameron's Conservatives first... quite close though, approximately 28, 30 and 33% respectively, depending on the pole.

However, due to distribution of votes in 2005 and uniform swing, if the country votes according to the poles, Brown's Labour Party will still have about 30 seats more than the runner's up. Too many eligible voters stay away from polling on the day, preventing true democracy and any real representation. The same old people turn out time and again, voting the same way they always have had, basically because that is the way their family have always voted. If things do not change between now and the 6th, the UK will have a hung Parliament... and that is good for nobody :(.

Anybody believing in a 'Kingmaker' is misguided and there will probably be another election in a year's time after we have plunged further into debt and the City quakes through instability. House prices will plummet again and unemployment will rise until one party can pull through.
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

Ljp86;397348 said:
When is the date for the election? And who's going to win? Brown's the current Prime Minister, is he going to win another term?

We've got to go to the polls later in the year, in about six or seven months time. Voting is compulsory over here, looks like it isn't over in England.

What kind of "democracy" forces its citizens to vote? :confused:

Liz - who are you voting for?
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

Liz Ward said:
E Day is 6th May and voting is not compulsory over here.

I think it probably is all over in the UK. At the moment, polsters put Brown's Labour Party as third, after Clegg's LibDems second and Cameron's Conservatives first... quite close though, approximately 28, 30 and 33% respectively, depending on the pole.

However, due to distribution of votes in 2005 and uniform swing, if the country votes according to the poles, Brown's Labour Party will still have about 30 seats more than the runner's up. Too many eligible voters stay away from polling on the day, preventing true democracy and any real representation. The same old people turn out time and again, voting the same way they always have had, basically because that is the way their family have always voted. If things do not change between now and the 6th, the UK will have a hung Parliament... and that is good for nobody .

Anybody believing in a 'Kingmaker' is misguided and there will probably be another election in a year's time after we have plunged further into debt and the City quakes through instability. House prices will plummet again and unemployment will rise until one party can pull through.

Wow, sounds bad. I've heard things aren't flash in the UK at the moment. As well as studying, I work part-time at a liquor store and the guy who owns the fish-and-chip shop next to our store is from England and talks to his relatives who still live there often. I'm relatively good mates with him and he says things over there are really bad, everything's turned to shit. High unemployment, low house price levels, a lot of violence, particularly from young people are some of things he's told me. I was quite surprised when I heard it.

If everyone votes later in the year according to what the polls are now over here, Kevin Rudd will win a second term, quite easily in fact.

lewissaffin;397354 said:
What kind of "democracy" forces its citizens to vote? :confused:

Liz - who are you voting for?

True democracy is when everyone has a say. ;) Plus if it wasn't compulsory we'd have about six voters.

I think it's good anyway, everyone has a say on who they want elected rather than the same people voting in every election for who they want. Like Liz has said above, it makes things stale and people keep voting for the same party and nothing gets done. I don't think England can afford that right now as they need someone proactive.
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

Theres too much apathy from the young voters. However the TV brought it through to the attention of a lot of voters, and i think it will make a huge difference in terms of turnout. The major problem in britain is that theres no proportional representation, hence why parties can win with not huge differnces in votes. Eg last election, lib dems who came 3rd, got 25% of the votes, but only 20% of the seats in the parliament.

I live in a lib dem area, however the previous MP stepped down. We have a race between Labour and Lib dems, and no one voting conservatve, however lib dems are worried that people will vote labour because they dont think lib dems can win.

I shall be voting lib dem though. And I know a lot of people did enjoy the debate. Brown and cameron just cancelled each other out.
Sure theres stuff about the lib dems i dont like, the lack of support for nuclear power for one, however they have the best policies overall, espcially the immigration system to be more like AUS / Canada.
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

I must say, I do like the Lib Dems and I would have certainly voted for Paddy... but being old and having spent most of my life out of the country with either the British or US services, I am most protective of our Sovereignty. It is something the young have no problem with but I do not want to enter Europe any further than we are and certainly do not want to give up the Sterling.

This may be one of the reasons the Lib Dem have such a strong, young support.
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

Liz Ward;397984 said:
This may be one of the reasons the Lib Dem have such a strong, young support.

I'll agree with that. Also quite a lot of younger people are very opposed to the Trident system which I think raises issue with some .
 
Re: 2010 British General Election

SteveyD;397990 said:
...Also quite a lot of younger people are very opposed to the Trident system which I think raises issue with some .

That's really interesting! I suspect this will be a big issue for tonight's debate. Out of curiosity, what is the main issue with like for like replacement with the younger voters?
 
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