I don't like UKIP almost as much as I hate Tories but there is something seriously wrong with a system that wins so many votes but is left with nothing.
Maybe a system like Israel? Which has PR and has just spent over three months trying to cobble together a government?
I think we should abolish the House of Lords and have an upper chamber elected nationally on a PR basis.
An interesting idea. But would the electorate have the stomach for yet another election? Many can't be bothered with the one we have. Elected members would also (I guess?) require some form of proper remuneration rather than the £300 a day attendance allowance.
I really do not understand why people have voted for this. Devastated!
If your view of the World was true Labour would have won. No party wants to see people suffering and no one would vote for a party if they really thought that party wanted to make the poor poorer or worsen public services and let people die, it's absurd and no one has voted for "this". Labour has simply lost credibility amongst many.
Labour's credibility has collapsed in Scotland, why they think SNP can do any better is another matter.
In England traditional Labour voters have deserted Labour because Labour has deserted them. Labour used to promote the idea of having pride in working and supporting your family and protecting jobs, with welfare being a fall back when times were hard. Who wouldn't support that ideal, I did when I was younger and voted Labour.
Now working is an alternative to having welfare support your family. The idea for many seems to be that welfare should give you the same living standards as those in work, otherwise it is unfair. Traditional Labour voters who work hard to make a decent living and support their family don't think like Labour any more. They understand that welfare has to be paid for and they pay for it so it needs to be managed and targeted, not thrown around like confetti.
Rightly or wrongly, falling wages for low skilled work is being blamed on Labour by their traditional supporters, not the current government, for reasons well repeated.
I really do not understand why people go for Labour in the belief that promising to spend money is a measure of care. Bit like believing that a parent's level of care is measured by how much money they spend on the child.
I don't like UKIP almost as much as I hate Tories but there is something seriously wrong with a system that wins so many votes but is left with nothing.
Maybe a system like Israel? Which has PR and has just spent over three months trying to cobble together a government?
I think we should abolish the House of Lords and have an upper chamber elected nationally on a PR basis.
An interesting idea. But would the electorate have the stomach for yet another election? Many can't be bothered with the one we have. Elected members would also (I guess?) require some form of proper remuneration rather than the £300 a day attendance allowance.
I would hold both votes at the same time, so at a general election you vote for your local MP in the House of Commons and a party in the upper house.
You're right there would be a cost, but if you had, say 312 members of the upper house (half the number of the lower house) on a similar salary to current MP's then it wouldn't be prohibitive.
Yes Farage out, but another one dignified in defeat.
Agreed and Ed Balls even thanked the Tory victor for a clean contest. Maybe that the time we show our true selves when we are on the floor and our Ego's have been deflated.
Yes but 63% of the country wanted different things and until they find a way to either put aside some bias towards other views then this will always be the way
If we only had 2 or 3 parties then it would not happen
37% vote for the Tories, meaning that 63% of the population did not want them. Yet they will have a majority of over 50% of the seats.
FPTP is a terrible system and we need an overhaul now that it isn't a 2/3 party system.
I love the creative maths that goes on once a party has lost.
only 66% of the eligible population bothered to vote therefore if at worst only 44.2% of those eligible to vote didn't want the Tories.
The Tories on the other hand, as things stand at the moment, have 323 seats out of 650 which gives them 49.7% of the seats available. Not such a big difference after all but lets not let facts get in the way of left wing sour garpes.
Until such time that Islam reforms and moves into the modern age rather than the stone age, the people of the UK have very good reason to be afraid, very afraid.
Another ridiculous post from an ex-pat commenting on an election that doesn't concern them.
Oh really! FYI I am still a British Citizen, the majority of my family still lives in England. My wife (a muslim herself) worked in the NHS in Chelsea until last November. Please don't tell me I can't comment on something that concerns me greatly.
But your concerns are abstract ones:the ramifications of this election will have little,if any,impact on the life you have chosen to live in Australia,and the fact that your wife is muslim doesn't preclude the comment of yours I highlighted - lamely backed up by a ten year old article - being ridiculous. Anyway, congratulations on your victory and throw another shrimp on the barbie or whatever it is you people do down there for me.
37% vote for the Tories, meaning that 63% of the population did not want them. Yet they will have a majority of over 50% of the seats.
FPTP is a terrible system and we need an overhaul now that it isn't a 2/3 party system.
I love the creative maths that goes on once a party has lost.
only 66% of the eligible population bothered to vote therefore if at worst only 44.2% of those eligible to vote didn't want the Tories.
The Tories on the other hand, as things stand at the moment, have 323 seats out of 650 which gives them 49.7% of the seats available. Not such a big difference after all but lets not let facts get in the way of left wing sour garpes.
No sour grapes, just feel the FPTS system no longer is effective in an election where over 5 parties get large number of votes. It unfairly benefits the main two parties (and the SNP).
Prefer a system that more accurately reflects the vote that has taken place. This would probably mean a Con/Ukip coalition so can't really claim left wing sour grapes.
I think there is a fix around here. I have not met or spoken to a single person in sittingbourne and sheppey that was voting conservatives, Gordon Henderson has been publically ridiculed and he's posters have been knocked down and/or defaced all over the place but yet he holds?
What was I saying earlier about encouraging fellow Labour voters to concede defeat with class...
I would hope it goes both ways but in fact I'm more sick of the Tory gloating than I am of the actual election result.
Gloating like it's just a once-every-five-years football match is very bizarre when, looking at the bigger picture, the country been progressively going deeper and deeper into the brown stuff.
The first PMQs of the next Parliament ought to be brilliant. Cameron and Osborne take their seats and smile at the Balls-sized hole on the opposition front bench.
I voted Labour and am disappointed with the result but that's democracy and I hope all my fears are unfounded and Cameron proves me wrong.
I am worried as an individual because working for the NHS I have truly seen that what has taken place over the last five years has been like the Titanic sailing towards the iceberg. Not sure what efficiencies are left to make. Where will the savings be made. I believe care will inevitably suffer.
I am also concerned as the parent of a disabled daughter where again I have seen the reductions in services and money hit her hard. My daughter is one of those most vulnerable in the country. I believe she deserves better than being considered a burden on society and an easy target to make savings. I hope the rumours surrounding cuts in this area of welfare are unfounded. I would never forgive.
My wife because of my daughter is a full time carer. She cannot work because of the care she provides. She has never worked because of this since my daughter was born some 38 years ago. She sacrificed any career and what does she receive as carers allowance - £60 a week. If people like her are targeted then the Great part of Great Britain ought to be dropped. It would be obscene.
Those are my concerns as a worker and individual. I hope the Tory government show me something to make me less worried. I really do.
Comments
Can't see scotland staying in after that kind of landslide for a party whose principal aim is to leave the UK. It is in effect a second referendum.
Elected members would also (I guess?) require some form of proper remuneration rather than the £300 a day attendance allowance.
Seen a lot of people saying they're ashamed to be British. Why? Because millions of people went out and exercised their vote?
Labour's credibility has collapsed in Scotland, why they think SNP can do any better is another matter.
In England traditional Labour voters have deserted Labour because Labour has deserted them. Labour used to promote the idea of having pride in working and supporting your family and protecting jobs, with welfare being a fall back when times were hard. Who wouldn't support that ideal, I did when I was younger and voted Labour.
Now working is an alternative to having welfare support your family. The idea for many seems to be that welfare should give you the same living standards as those in work, otherwise it is unfair. Traditional Labour voters who work hard to make a decent living and support their family don't think like Labour any more. They understand that welfare has to be paid for and they pay for it so it needs to be managed and targeted, not thrown around like confetti.
Rightly or wrongly, falling wages for low skilled work is being blamed on Labour by their traditional supporters, not the current government, for reasons well repeated.
I really do not understand why people go for Labour in the belief that promising to spend money is a measure of care. Bit like believing that a parent's level of care is measured by how much money they spend on the child.
You're right there would be a cost, but if you had, say 312 members of the upper house (half the number of the lower house) on a similar salary to current MP's then it wouldn't be prohibitive.
Agreed and Ed Balls even thanked the Tory victor for a clean contest.
Maybe that the time we show our true selves when we are on the floor
and our Ego's have been deflated.
FPTP is a terrible system and we need an overhaul now that it isn't a 2/3 party system.
If we only had 2 or 3 parties then it would not happen
only 66% of the eligible population bothered to vote therefore if at worst only 44.2% of those eligible to vote didn't want the Tories.
The Tories on the other hand, as things stand at the moment, have 323 seats out of 650 which gives them 49.7% of the seats available. Not such a big difference after all but lets not let facts get in the way of left wing sour garpes.
Reading through this thread at times you can see why AFKA initially said he was wary of having a politics discussion,
Anyway, congratulations on your victory and throw another shrimp on the barbie or whatever it is you people do down there for me.
Prefer a system that more accurately reflects the vote that has taken place. This would probably mean a Con/Ukip coalition so can't really claim left wing sour grapes.
Gloating like it's just a once-every-five-years football match is very bizarre when, looking at the bigger picture, the country been progressively going deeper and deeper into the brown stuff.
I am worried as an individual because working for the NHS I have truly seen that what has taken place over the last five years has been like the Titanic sailing towards the iceberg. Not sure what efficiencies are left to make. Where will the savings be made. I believe care will inevitably suffer.
I am also concerned as the parent of a disabled daughter where again I have seen the reductions in services and money hit her hard. My daughter is one of those most vulnerable in the country. I believe she deserves better than being considered a burden on society and an easy target to make savings. I hope the rumours surrounding cuts in this area of welfare are unfounded. I would never forgive.
My wife because of my daughter is a full time carer. She cannot work because of the care she provides. She has never worked because of this since my daughter was born some 38 years ago. She sacrificed any career and what does she receive as carers allowance - £60 a week. If people like her are targeted then the Great part of Great Britain ought to be dropped. It would be obscene.
Those are my concerns as a worker and individual. I hope the Tory government show me something to make me less worried. I really do.