With less than 5 weeks to go to the polls - heaven forbid, but what if one of our main 3 party leaders collapsed and died (remember Labour's John Smith fatal heart attack tragedy)? In each case, who would get the job, this close to th4 big vote?
Imagine the frantic scramble. For Labour, I reckon Ed Balls would be trying to climb over one of the Milliband brothers in his path; for the Tories, Michael Gove maybe in a tussle with William Hague; and Chris Huhne versus Vince Cable aiming to succeed Nick Clegg?
None of the options a pretty sight! One to discuss, anyone?
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I think I'll put a note on the front door asking for all political bumff to be put ditrectly in my re-cycling bin to save me having to get up and answer the door.
At the moment we get Lib stuff. The councellor is a total publicity freak. I think his record, to date, is 14 photos of himself pointing at something which offends him in the street.
That's just 2 sides of A4. Never does anything about it, just points for the camera !
The Lab one is rapidly going the same way.......neither is particularly photogenic.
The Cons don't even bother wasting their money on circulars round here.
Due to recent boundary changes, I haven't a clue who our MP is........in fact, I think we've got 2 at the moment.....Lloyd and Kaufmann. Not that we ever see them.
I'd like to see the Election settled by an oiled, semi-nude cage-fighting contest between a lady MP of each party......Widdicombe ? Beckett ?....no holds barred !
I don't suppose it'll happen in my lifetime !
Here's to a few weeks of misery........gonna get some more beer in !
Ted
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Couldn't we just do without? Politicians that is, not beer. We don't need any more laws. Mothball Parliament, save on the heating bills and salaries and just leave us alone.
I don't want to get personal Silence but you do have an odd taste in women! Still, not much to choose from in politics, that's how Ian Hislop got himself into trouble!
JH
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I lick the stamp on both sides, 2slow.....That's entertainment. !
Anyway, you should ( checking the coast is clear ) see Mrs Cams !
HeHe
Ted
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>>> an oiled, semi-nude cage-fighting contest between a lady MP of each party......Widdicombe ? Beckett ?
Thats an election nightmare...
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my dream is that it should be the law of the land that everyone entitled to a vote has to vote,
this will make 75% of the lazy people in this country who moan but do jack, have to think how their vote will be for the good or bad or themselves and the country as a HOLE
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Bellboy - "think"??? !!!
You don't expect people to THINK do you? Blimey whatever next? Many of the worlds ills are down to people not thinking, they hand that responsibility over to someone else, possibly a "leader" be it religious, political or whatever. Evidence and facts are ignored and we're into who can stir up the biggest racket and attract the most followers. Think? Goodness me. we could end up with a civilised society if people did that.
JH
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>> my dream is that it should be the law of the land that everyone entitled
>> to a vote has to vote
>>
If you do that will it also be mandatory for EVERY party to be represented in EVERY consitituency instead of the present price them out strategy ?
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Why do the media think we're that interested in it all?
I sat down for my lunch and turned on the telly for BBC1 lunchtime news. Five minutes of non-election news in a half-hour programme.
The on-screen guide seemed to indicate there had been over three hours of earlier scheduling dispensed with to show Gordon going to see the Queen.
Am I just getting old and cynical?
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>>an oiled semi-nude cage-fighting contest between a lady MP of each party......Widdicombe & Beckett.
That's an ELECTION nightmare...
Misspelling above perchance old chap?
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>>>Misspelling above perchance old chap?
Absolutely. "Widdecombe".
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Just think of the people you've met in your life whom you've truly admired and respected - family, friends, teachers, colleagues etc. How many of them have been politicians?
Not many, I'd guess. A lot of the most able people simply don't want to be politicians - indeed wouldn't touch politics with a barge-pole - the result being that we are ruled mainly by second-raters.
Last edited by: Avant on Tue 6 Apr 10 at 14:41
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The problem is that for the most part, the people you would like to be governed by are not the kind of people who are going to push themselves forward to do it.
There have been honourable exceptions but If I say who I think they were it will start an argument.
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Im sick of almost all of them. There are some MPs that I do like very much, even if I dont agree with all their views as they seem genuine about what they are doing, but this idea of a career in politics that is not preceeded by some life in the real world is scary.
I dont like the establishment at all in politics because they are so entrenched in their own ideas, they refuse to think outside the box. It took the BNP fear to finally start atleast the debate on immigration - the day that they had to be the kick-start for any serious debate is the day the three main parties should have hung their heads in shame. Its all about pandering to the media and spin - its so far removed from representing the views of constituants, they cant even see it anymore.
I may vote Green, just to be ironic.
Thinking about it though, id far rather watch Cable and Hague talk than Cameron or Clegg. I cant think of a single Labour MP aside from Diane Abbott that I could bear to listen to at all ( and only her because on This Week, she does tend to offer a far more honest insight into the real Labour Party than their spin doctors would like ).
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I am going to say I will vote for all of them when they come round, tell them I want assistance to get to the polling booth, and get them all to turn up at the same time.
The flashest car wins.
Who am I kidding. This is a solid Tory seat by a huge margin. The other parties wont even bother to leaflet - let alone wipe the doorstep.
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Where we used to live and will again soon (but after the election) I don't have a vote. And I'd need it to be postal too (on holiday from 1st May). Where we are temporarily living with a relative it's a safe labour seat.... so looks like no way I will be voting and little point registering here.*
* I'd not vote labour for sure.
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r
I wonder how long it takes to get a postal vote?
"relatively" safe. I once voted in an election where the winner got in by 3 votes. So if I'd voted the other way and assuming Mrs Tooslow voted same as me... Might be worth it. You might be the one who upsets the applecart. :-)
JH
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For a postal vote you have to fill in and return a form.
More info here: www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/how_do_i_vote/voting_by_post.aspx
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>> Who am I kidding. This is a solid Tory seat by a huge margin. The other parties wont even bother to leaflet
Kensington & Chelsea used to be solid tory too. But the bit we lived and are still registered in was hived off and gerrymandered in with Regent's Park, so now it's a not very solid Labour seat, MP Karen Buck, she's OK.
I may not be able to break the habit of a lifetime. But my old anarchist buddies are very keen to arrange a hung parliament, with Vince Cable as chancellor. They say the way to do that is for a lot of people to vote for the second-place party in their constituency at the last election.
Yawn. Civic duty beckons.
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"a single Labour MP aside from Diane Abbott that I could bear to listen to at all"
Then you must have missed Tony Benn (or has he stood down?). Used to be a real firebrand, but now strikes me as a way cool character who's seen it all and is surprised by nothing. His views are more moderate these days, and his book was a very good read.
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The Prime Mentalist, flanked by his Cabinet of All The Talentless, said in Downing Street: 'It will come as no surprise to all of you - and it is probably the least well-kept secret of recent years apart from my being a cowardly Jonah- but the Queen has kindly insisted on the dissolution of the disgustingly corrupt Parliament and a General Election will take place on May 6.
'I come from a rabid puritanical upper middle-class family of God-botherers in a grim Scottish town and I know where I come from and I will never forget the values - doing the right thing, doing your duty, taking responsibility, working hard - that my parents instilled in me. But I will continue to ignore these, and follow my own snot-encrusted and disturbed tendencies.'
He went on: 'I'm asking you, the British people, for a clear and straightforward mandate to continue the urgent and hard work of doing away with boom and bust, selling off the gold bullion, wrecking the pensions, starving the military of necessary funding, saving the World, and creating five million skilled jobs for immigrants over the next five years.'
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I usually enjoy a bit of vulgar abuse, and of course any government is past sell-by after a decade or more, but I do get a bit tired of all this second-hand dilute excrement people pour over the government. You are being egged on by the rich and bad through their almost unanimous media. Do shut up darlings. You don't really know what you're talking about.
Agree with smokie about Tony Benn, who I have met several times and interviewed at length, although no one is perfect including him. And he certainly isn't the only MP with brains and probity in the Labour or any other party.
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Just in case you have forgotton some of Gordon Browns gaffs.
timesbusiness.typepad.com/money_weblog/2009/06/gordons-10-worst-financial-gaffs.html
Do you really want Brown , his sidekicks and the twice disgraced unelected slimeball, Mandleson for another 5 years ?
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I think the majority here is too great for labour to lose it. I'd like to vote and I'd prefer to vote for the area (hence MP) where we will be living again. Suppose I could use the mother in law's address but that sounds iffy as it's not really my address. Taking this approach I could get more than one vote.
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I would despair at the thought of this corrupt, lying, incompetent bunch that call themselves a Government getting in again. NOBODY has influenced my views (especially not the 'rich media'). I view journalist with the same contempt I view Politicians.
I have never before felt that a sitting Government should be arrested and charged for the utter destruction they have caused to a country. Sadly, there are still two significant groups who will vote Labour. One is the underclass who sit on the backsides being given everything on a plate by Gormless Gordon and who have much to lose and the other is 'My family has always voted Labour and I'm working class!'. This group ignore the fact that the majority the sitting cabinet have had privileged upbringings and the dark Lord Mandleson wears a £22000 watch. They will do and say anything to retain power.
Mandleson was on tv today stating that the Tories will introduce massive cuts to frontline Police, whereas Labour will protect those services. He forgot to mention that Labour have just cut £500 million from our budget and we've been told to park on the hardshoulder because we've got to cut our fuel budget by 10%
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Within an hour of the election date being officially announced this morning, the local Labour candidate and his entourage were camped out at one end of the shopping precinct with banners and rosettes, whilst the main opposition party were at the other end of the precinct giving away helium balloons and canvas shopping bags. All fairly pointless IMO, it's a very safe seat and was almost the venue for a by-election after the sitting MP passed away in December.
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You're in Redcar! Good MP by all accounts, they come in all shades.
JH
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We're all yellow down here in Cornwall, but I suspect a big change to blue come the day,
My dad was a postman at Mount Pleasant GPO in London and a life-long Labour man,
Mum was a scrubber (office cleaner) life-long Labour voter.
I managed to get some of that edumacation AFTER leaving school (Approved) and I've (we've) been Tory since 79.
The damage done to this country by the so-called Socialists in the last 13 years cannot easily be un-done I'm afraid - whoever wins.
I believe Cornish seats are key marginal's, so I'll be keeping Dog eye on them.
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As far as I am concerned they can, to a man, "Stick it up their Conga." Father was Tory and a Copper. Mother always worked. I followed suit, but don't vote now and not registered. I want a Statesman, not some Lily livered half wit from Eton or worse. I want a Man who has the country at heart, not his career. As long as I can walk I will survive come what may. I will not go cold or hungry. What I really yearn for though is to STOP PAYING able bodied folk NOT to work. My knees and back are knackered. I still work. I see perfectly healthy (sic) folk strutting the streets here day in day out doing less than chuff all taking my money (that I cannot afford for a pension). I see single Mum's perambulating our little town with their 'Top of the range' pushchairs transporting their Sunny delight, boxed meal, soon to be another burden, where's the Father, offspring to another have a fag meeting in the square!
If I had my way I would make them all do something to 'earn' their crust. ENOUGH of their poncing. Only a War will change things. Just because it hasn't happened for a while doesn't mean it won't. IMHO the world has never been so unstable. Think about it.
Peace to you lot anyway!!!! M.
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I don't think there are many who would disagree with what MD has said.
As this is a motoring forum does anyone seriously believe they will be paying the same or less car related tax in twelve months time whoever is invited to form the next Government ?
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"I don't think there are many who would disagree with what MD has said"
Well count me as one of them. Martin, you seem to hate the world you live in but think that opting out of the democratic system is the way to go. Its not a perfect system but its all we've got and a lot of people have suffered and even died to get the vote you despise.
If you want to get things changed you have to get involved. Its no good just sitting back and moaning while waiting for some super statesman to appear and sort out the mess.
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>> Well count me as one of them. Martin you seem to hate the world you
>> live in but think that opting out of the democratic system is the way to
>> go. Its not a perfect system but its all we've got and a lot of
>> people have suffered and even died to get the vote you despise.
>>
The world has changed enormously, and not for the better, in the last sixty-something years.
You have a choice of two who are bankroled by people who's interests must be protected at the taxpayers expense. I would think there is an element of hedging going on with the backers to ensure whoever wins they are looked after.
Try asking your MP to do something if you did not vote for them. Call that democracy ?
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>>> I want a Statesman, not some Lily livered half wit from Eton or worse <<<
Ere's some more half wits from that College near where Queenie lives ~
William Pitt.
Robert Walpole.
William Gladstone.
Randolph Churchill.
Charles Rolls (R.R.)
John Maynard Keynes.
Aldous Huxley.
Harold Macmillan (Supermac)
George Orwell.
Ian Fleming.
Guy Burgess (te,he,)
Humphrey Lyttelton.
Michael Bentine.
Patrick Macnee.
Bamber Gascoigne.
Christopher Cazenove.
Ian Ogilvy.
Ranulph Fiennes.
Hugh Laurie.
Darius Guppy (te,he,)
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.
Damian Lewis.
Bear Grylls.
Prince Harry.
Prince William.
:)
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Never seen such a long list of eccentrics or people with no grasp of reality.
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>> Never seen such a long list of eccentrics or people with no grasp of reality.
>>
How about the list of those outside 10 Downing Street yesterday morning ?
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oh yes I saw that lot. Sorry - forgot them (as you do with something disagreable)
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I propose a TV news channel that boycotts and doesn't mention the election!
I have lived through Tory and Labour Govts and they have collectively put this country on its knees. Tories sold off everything we had , Labour have loaned off everything that is left.
As a business model, running a country successfully must be almost impossible!
I look at politicians of all parties, see the self interest that is there (expenses), see the total lack of qualifications reqd for the job. I look at local Councillors who are struggling to speak up for an area the size of 4 streets, but these are the same people who aspire to be tomorrow's MPs!
I simply cannot believe a word that comes out a politicians mouth so therefore would not vote for one particular party as a result of what they promise in the next 4 weeks.
There should be a default that takes into account the number of non-voters and where this is greater than the winner, then the seat goes to someone else - who I don't know, Jeremy Clarkson???
The problem is that if someone new get voted in, they can immediately blame the previous govt for everything, and include in that why they cannot fulfill any of their election pledges!
Politics - I hate it, I rate politicians down there with journalists and lawyers (not retired ones PU !)
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What strikes me, is that the UK is essentially a very large business. It has an income and expenditure.
So all I can think is, I would like to see an extremely successful business person running the show who knows about managing finances because a successful business that makes money has more profit to spend.
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except you have a shocking workforce AND you have to manage and control the whining and greedy consumers/customers
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>>The world has changed enormously, and not for the better, in the last sixty-something years.
Au contraire. 60 years ago an Engineering degree and several years' service in the forces as an engineer officer, commanding hundreds of people led seamlessly to an engineering apprenticeship, spent sharpening files. 60 years ago we had rationing. 60 years ago people worked a six day week, with two weeks holiday a year, the NHS had only just begun. People couldn't generally afford cars, and we lived in terror of the Communists.
Now, if you had said it had changed not necessarily for the better I might agree.
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>> we lived in terror of the Communists.
No we damn well didn't. 'The communists' were a scarecrow to keep the US population in line. It only worked on very simple Europeans.
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election dream - Ted
