UK Politics V

[Arlingzen Bill]

The results on taxing air travel and alcohol are interesting, because it's those areas that the percentage in favour actually increases when the effect on respondents themselves is emphasised, although this could be a wish to present themselves as 'virtuous'.

How insular are people. If you don't think you will travel by air, it is easy to support air fare increases. The same could also be said of alcohol.

[MinDonner]

How insular are people. If you don't think you will travel by air, it is easy to support air fare increases. The same could also be said of alcohol.

Bill, for shame. Remember we are British!

[paddington]

外圧 or outside pressure.

The LDP raised this technique to a fine art over the years, if you need to introduce policies that will alienate a large percentage of your population encourage the belief that this is a necessary response to an external demand.

Problem here at the moment that external demand, maybe immigration, or Islamic terrorism, other Europeans. Or bankers.

[Usotsuki]

That's why you pick the IMF as your evil overlord - they do love cutting social services.

[zollo]

Dear Zollo

I wanted to write to you about the importance of using your vote on Thursday.

Over the last few weeks Sarah and I have travelled the country meeting people, hearing their stories and listening to their concerns.

I come from an ordinary family, in an ordinary Scottish town. I've never forgotten where I come from, or the values of hard work, duty and fairness my parents instilled in me.

These are the values that shape everything I do. That is why I am asking for your support and your help to create the Scotland of the future - a future fair for all.

At this election families across Scotland face a big choice. Together we're coming through the biggest global financial crisis in our lifetimes. Now we are determined to secure the recovery and improve your living standards - not risk the recovery by cutting support to the economy now.

It is about about fairness too. That is why we will protect child tax credits and child trust funds - not cut them for families on middle and modest incomes as the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats threaten.

People in Scotland remember what 18 years of a Tory government was like - the heavy jobs losses, the injustice of the poll tax and mortgage rates at 15 per cent. No one wants to go back to those days.

In Scotland, we've worked too hard to let the Tories come back now. This election is the most important for a generation and using your vote really will make a difference. Voting for either the Lib Dems or SNP or not voting at all, will help let the Tories in by the back door.

In this area the result will be close. Your vote on Thursday really will matter. I hope you will vote Labour - and help secure the recovery.

Yours sincerely

Gordon Brown

Leader of the Labour Party

---------------------------

The above is a letter I found on my doormat today. Any spelling, grammatical or sentence construction issues are authentic.

Thanks Gordon - your concern is appreciated. Pity I am not actually eligible to vote in UK parliament elections!!

[Slick Mongoose]

He knows your board name??!!?!? I knew Labour were big on government surveillance, but this..... :P

[MinDonner]

BNP already spiralling into laughably embarrassing chaos

Party leader Nick Griffin and election fundraiser James Dowson w e re branded "pathetic, desperate and incompetent" by Mr Bennett.

It is just the latest incident of infighting threatening to the derail the far-right party's general election campaign.

Mr Griffin himself recently informed police that someone in the organisation was trying to kill him.

[Slick Mongoose]

Final polls are out, all around CON 36%, LAB 28%, LDEM 28%. Which would be a hung parliament, but the Conservatives are outperforming that swing in Labour-held marginals by some distance. So there does remain the possibility of a Conservative majority. Hung parliament still favourite, but not by a huge amount.

[Blue Roses]

Finally silence descends. No more hysterical nonsense from the 3 parties trying to tell me the world is going to end if I vote the wrong way. Ah bliss.

Well until tomorrow when all hell breaks loose and the swingometers go into overdrive.

Anyhow, I only want two things. Brown to heave his sorry arse out of number ten and for Ed Balls to loose his seat. Harriet Harman would be a huge extra but I must not be greedy or how about Jacqui Smith.....the list is quite long.

[Slick Mongoose]

I got up an hour early to vote, thought there might be a queue. Turns out I was the only voter in the place. I don't know if that's normal for 8am, but it doesn't bode well for turnout.

And it's not raining yet, but it looks like it's about to. :unsure:

[Slick Mongoose]

Anyhow, I only want two things. Brown to heave his sorry arse out of number ten and for Ed Balls to loose his seat. Harriet Harman would be a huge extra but I must not be greedy or how about Jacqui Smith.....the list is quite long.

I've been hoping for Letwin, but it's unlikely - There aren't enough 2005 Labour voters in his constituency for it to be realistic that enough switch to Lib Dem.

[Lummel]

I've been hoping for Letwin, but it's unlikely - There aren't enough 2005 Labour voters in his constituency for it to be realistic that enough switch to Lib Dem.

It's not hopelessly optimistic to dream of Letwin loosing, just a little unlikely, given the 2005 results:

Conservative: 24763 (46.5%)

Liberal Democrat: 22302 (41.9%)

Labour: 4124 (7.7%)

Other: 2036 (3.8%)

Majority: 2461 (4.6%)

[MinDonner]

Daily Mail headline (spotted over someone's shoulder on the train) - something about trying to blame the Athens riots on Nick Clegg (and his beloved proportional representation)... but it still wasn't quite as good as the one on the previous page, which said "THERE IS NO BRITISH MEAT IN THIS HOTPOT" - no idea whether this referred to an actual hotpot, or whether it was a cunning metaphor for something or other, but either way it made me :lmao:

[Hereward]

(spotted over someone's shoulder on the train)

Yeah, yeah.

[MinDonner]

Yeah, yeah.

:leaving:

[Usotsuki]

"THERE IS NO BRITISH MEAT IN THIS HOTPOT"

I think that's the tagline for a gay pr0n company - the Daily Mail must be trying to diversify.

[Blue Roses]

From Guido, nothing on the BBC website but then they are always slow on these things.....

+ + + Source : Farage in Ambulance + + +

+ + + Pilot Being Cut Out of Wreckage + + +

+++ Developing +++

According to UKIP sources a two seater plane used by Nigel Farage was circling to land in Buckingham when it crashed. Farage is injured but “walked out of the plane”. The pilot is/was being cut out.

UPDATE : Farage has been taken to the Horton General Hospital in Banbury. The pilot is being taken to a specialist spinal injuries hospital in Coventry.

UPDATE : II From wire report: Eyewitnesses told how the pilot and Mr Farage were in the front seat of the plane when it banked and the promotional banner became tangled around the tail fin causing it to plummet to the ground.

Guido and the rest of the Guy News team send their best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[Hereward]

The BBC has it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/northamptonshire/8664260.stm

[Chaldanya]

I'll be voting when get home later today. I always get a bit excited about voting even tho' in all of the seats I've ever voted in my vote really hasn't mattered.

N

ps it might do this time tho'

[MinDonner]

Our Lib Dem candidate finally got back to me on Tuesday about volunteering, and said "It's OK, we've got the flyering covered, you don't need to do anything". Aha. So that would explain the vast number of Lib Dem leaflets and posters I've seen on my doormat and around the town then (last count = still 0). :shocked: After the election I may have to go over and give em some basic lessons in actually campaigning, cos this is pathetic.