On the topic of taxing disability allowance. I've mentioned him before on other threads but I have a friend who is severely disabled. But he's also a barrister with an in-house job that probably pays him in excess of six figures. He gets all sorts of benefits, including his local council paying for a full-time minder (as he calls him). All of it is tax free. It's clear that he needs this help - without it he would not be able to get to work and would need even more assistance at more cost. But it is madness that he doesn't have to contribute given his salary.
I am genuinely undecided about who I will vote for. I have voted Labour all my life, but I am not convinced that Ed Miliband is the right person to be PM. I will never vote Tory, UKIP or Lib Dems. So my options are not great.
Nice spin. Yougov had a Labour lead of 4 the day before, with Labourites spinning it as evidence of EM's victory in the "debate". Populos today has the parties even stevens.
Individual polls tell us very little. They should be taken together so that a trend can be spotted, is there is one. The fact is that for the last month, Labour and Tories have essentially been tied with both gaining a bit of support from UKIP which has declined a bit.
My plan is to do no work the day after the election. So on election day, which is pretty boring until 10pm, I will vote early, have a nice lunch, sleep through the fat part of the afternoon and evening so as to have enough in reserve to stay up through the night. Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
My plan is to do no work the day after the election. So on election day, which is pretty boring until 10pm, I will vote early, have a nice lunch, sleep through the fat part of the afternoon and evening so as to have enough in reserve to stay up through the night. Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
Definitely not sad or geeky - I do something very similar at General Elections (well I suppose it could still be sad and geeky!!).
My plan is to do no work the day after the election. So on election day, which is pretty boring until 10pm, I will vote early, have a nice lunch, sleep through the fat part of the afternoon and evening so as to have enough in reserve to stay up through the night. Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
Definitely not sad or geeky - I do something very similar at General Elections (well I suppose it could still be sad and geeky!!).
My plan is to do no work the day after the election. So on election day, which is pretty boring until 10pm, I will vote early, have a nice lunch, sleep through the fat part of the afternoon and evening so as to have enough in reserve to stay up through the night. Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
Seth, some people do that to watch the Wrestling. I thought you're fine here mate.
Voted Conservative all my life and will again. Living in west Surrey there is probably more chance of us beating Millwall with a last minute Mike Small winner than there is of Labour getting in.
The thought of Labour going back to wreck the economy again is too much to take. Every time they get in, the Tories have to make unpopular decisions to clean up the mess. But the mess is currently in the process of being cleaned up. Why take a step back (and probably give the SNP power in a coalition) beggers belief.
Very broadly speaking I don't think it is right that people who work hard and are successful should give up more of what they have earned to fund others. There is a balance to be found, rather than the 'I hate rich posh people' that I have heard from Labour voters before. Or the assumption that all Labour voters are lazy people claiming benefits.
Damo word for word other than swapping Surrey for Essex
There are certain parts of the country where it is hardly worth bothering to vote as that party will win whatever happens - Barnsley, Sunderland, Southend, Basildon..
I vote Tory because I believe they look after the hard working, entrepreneurial working family man so that's where my X will be going, plus I think they have done a tremendous job on recovering the economy that labour would inevitably cock up again.
I'm sure there are plenty of things that labour and other parties do better but you can only vote for one.
Labour - have only ever voted for them in general elections. I am often surprised when "working people" support the Tory party. I can understand the notion that they support the entrepreneur, but the very fact that so many of their key leaders went to Eton , or other such schools suggest to me that they are a party of privilege who primarily exist to serve the privileged. I am absolutely convinced that they do not want you or I to do well at their expense. .....
Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle. Noam Chomsky
Used to vote Green but their latest policies are just bonkers. I am in Tunbridge Wells and Greg Clarke is a Tory shoe in, can't vote Labour after their last go at leading the country which we will be paying for for god knows how long besides Miliband reminds me too much of Piers (The New Statesman). Undecided although probably Tory
Interesting that you won't vote Labour due to the debt they ran up yet this is rarely levelled as a criticism against Osborne, who has added more new debt to the UK during his tenure than every previous Labour government combined.
1 - Under Osborne the ratio appears to have levelled out at about 90%. So really you're comparing a 35% increase under Brown to a 10% increase under Osborne.
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If it had stayed the same it might have been something to crow about, maybe. 90 bloody % and still borrowing from peter to pay paul. I think it would be fair to say none of them past or present understand or know what to do next.
My plan is to do no work the day after the election. So on election day, which is pretty boring until 10pm, I will vote early, have a nice lunch, sleep through the fat part of the afternoon and evening so as to have enough in reserve to stay up through the night. Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
I'm a poll clerk so have to be in the polling centre from 6am until about 10.40. Then get home and watch the results. So I'm off on the Friday too.
Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle. Noam Chomsky
The problem wiith Socialism is that eventually, they run out of other peoples money Maggie T
Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle. Noam Chomsky
The problem wiith Socialism is that eventually, they run out of other peoples money Maggie T
Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle. Noam Chomsky
The problem wiith Socialism is that eventually, they run out of other peoples money Maggie T
IMO. The Conservatives free marketers make for a more difficult and stressful life for the majority of the population. They must not win and turn this country into a mini America where Corporations and Big Business dominates everything (more than they do already).
Having 1.5 trillion debt is not something to be proud of.
My plan is to do no work the day after the election. So on election day, which is pretty boring until 10pm, I will vote early, have a nice lunch, sleep through the fat part of the afternoon and evening so as to have enough in reserve to stay up through the night. Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
I'm a poll clerk so have to be in the polling centre from 6am until about 10.40. Then get home and watch the results. So I'm off on the Friday too.
Bloody poll clerks, coming over here and nicking our jobs....... What's wrong with good old fashioned British clerks?.
Out of interest Bournemouth, how differently do you feel those percentages would have looked over the last five years under a Labour government? Genuine question from a non-party person.
Like you, most public sector workers have been on pay freezes for the majority of this government term, and there has been a huge amount of cuts. Yet those figures have still kept rising (mainly I guess through the interest of the astronomic debt).
So how, even with the benefit of hindsight, would Labour have done things differently over the last five years that would have impacted less on the average joe than what the government have done and made those percentages look better?
Phew, there's a great question Barts and not being an economist or politician I'm not sure what the answer should be but in terms of deficit reduction alone we are roughly where Labour planned to be IIRC as their spending cuts were shallower and over a longer period. Btw this was a position Cameron called indicative of "moral cowardice" back in 2010 yet he is now presenting it as a success for his own government.
My memory of the situation back this time 5 years ago was that Labour planned to spend more in the initial period after the election, to support the weak growth in the economy (that was happening back then, again IIRC), and then cut back once any recovery was looking a bit more secure.
Whether this would have worked, who knows? But for me anyway, the coalition's focussed on deficit reduction at the expense of the other side of the equation and as a result the miserable growth we've seen is reflected in those GDP to debt ratio graphs. I'm 100% certain others will see it differently though... :-)
And for the record again, I'm aware that I'm coming across as beating the drum for Labour which is far from my intention but a) I have never been a member, activist or anything like that and haven't even voted for them in 18 years now and b) there are plenty of other policy areas, like defence, law & order or the environment where I am probably to the right of the Tories.
It's just that we seem to be discussing the economy, public services and the NHS more than these issues and these are issues I tend towards left of centre on.
My plan is to do no work the day after the election. So on election day, which is pretty boring until 10pm, I will vote early, have a nice lunch, sleep through the fat part of the afternoon and evening so as to have enough in reserve to stay up through the night. Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
I'm a poll clerk so have to be in the polling centre from 6am until about 10.40. Then get home and watch the results. So I'm off on the Friday too.
Always fascinates me that it isn't actually a secret ballot. You get a numbered voting slip, and your details are written down on the stub with the same number, so your vote can be traced. Now I know it's probably to try to catch out people who vote more than once, but if you have a small (extremist?) party getting a couple of hundred votes for instance, it would be pretty easy to find out exactly who those couple of hundred voters were, and their names and addresses.
On the same topic, I seem to remember last time there were some issues about people trying to vote by turning up before 10pm in some places, but the queues were long and slow and some people (I believe) were turned away.
My plan is to do no work the day after the election. So on election day, which is pretty boring until 10pm, I will vote early, have a nice lunch, sleep through the fat part of the afternoon and evening so as to have enough in reserve to stay up through the night. Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
I'm a poll clerk so have to be in the polling centre from 6am until about 10.40. Then get home and watch the results. So I'm off on the Friday too.
Always fascinates me that it isn't actually a secret ballot. You get a numbered voting slip, and your details are written down on the stub with the same number, so your vote can be traced. Now I know it's probably to try to catch out people who vote more than once, but if you have a small (extremist?) party getting a couple of hundred votes for instance, it would be pretty easy to find out exactly who those couple of hundred voters were, and their names and addresses.
Only if your definition of 'pretty easy' involves obtaining a court order without being asked any tricky questions as to why you want the info. Ask the Mayor of Tower Hamlets for further details ;-)
I live in chislehurst so you could Put a blue rosette on a budgerigar and it would get voted in however i will vote Tory anyway thats not to say i am wholly comfortable with their policies but i consider a tory led government to be the least worst option available
I am not comfortable about the super rich and i am not comfortable about inherited privilege and i am uncomfortable about big university fees and i the think the current coalition could have done more to balance the books and tax the above more
I am concerned that the major parties dont take the rise of UKIP seriously enough ,whilst its popularity may have peaked i think we are very niaive about the longterm impact immigration may have on the country (although the damage is already done)
broadly speaking a coalition might be good for the country again ..it has been, and with one party ,at least in theory ,controlling the other it has worked well . There has been evidence in both Labour and Conservative governments of the past that big majorities lead to complacency and arrogance (Blair had a massive majority when he lead us to war in Iraq and i think the circumstances of that are the greatest scandal of our recent History),the same self serving complacency applied to the last Labour government and how we can consider re electing that lot again beggars belief .
my guess is that we will have a SNP /Labour pact which nobody will want and another election in the Autumn
Voted Conservative all my life and will again. Living in west Surrey there is probably more chance of us beating Millwall with a last minute Mike Small winner than there is of Labour getting in.
The thought of Labour going back to wreck the economy again is too much to take. Every time they get in, the Tories have to make unpopular decisions to clean up the mess. But the mess is currently in the process of being cleaned up. Why take a step back (and probably give the SNP power in a coalition) beggers belief.
Very broadly speaking I don't think it is right that people who work hard and are successful should give up more of what they have earned to fund others. There is a balance to be found, rather than the 'I hate rich posh people' that I have heard from Labour voters before. Or the assumption that all Labour voters are lazy people claiming benefits.
Damo word for word other than swapping Surrey for Essex
There are certain parts of the country where it is hardly worth bothering to vote as that party will win whatever happens - Barnsley, Sunderland, Southend, Basildon..
I vote Tory because I believe they look after the hard working, entrepreneurial working family man so that's where my X will be going, plus I think they have done a tremendous job on recovering the economy that labour would inevitably cock up again.
I'm sure there are plenty of things that labour and other parties do better but you can only vote for one.
AND THIS
These are fairly standard, widespread views on the relative performances between the Tories and Labour. I'm always interested though in the why people feel the economy is 'safer' in Tory hands and what criteria is used to make that assessment?
For example Osborne has missed every one of his long term targets, we have far more debt than he said we would have, growth targets have been adjusted regularly downwards for most of his time in office and our international credit rating was downgraded during 2010-2015 yet the perception still remains that the "economy" does better under a Tory than Labour Chancellor.
My plan is to do no work the day after the election. So on election day, which is pretty boring until 10pm, I will vote early, have a nice lunch, sleep through the fat part of the afternoon and evening so as to have enough in reserve to stay up through the night. Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
I'm a poll clerk so have to be in the polling centre from 6am until about 10.40. Then get home and watch the results. So I'm off on the Friday too.
Always fascinates me that it isn't actually a secret ballot. You get a numbered voting slip, and your details are written down on the stub with the same number, so your vote can be traced. Now I know it's probably to try to catch out people who vote more than once, but if you have a small (extremist?) party getting a couple of hundred votes for instance, it would be pretty easy to find out exactly who those couple of hundred voters were, and their names and addresses.
Only if your definition of 'pretty easy' involves obtaining a court order without being asked any tricky questions as to why you want the info. Ask the Mayor of Tower Hamlets for further details ;-)
My sense of 'pretty easy' is if you want to track down a couple of hundred rather than thousands.
I think Seth's point about the actual secrecy of the ballot is valid. Can anyone explain why the ballot paper should be traceable to an individual at all ?
I suppose it might well be necessary to get a judge to issue a warrant in order to do so in our perfect world but forgive my cynicism if I think it might just be a lot lot easier than that.
It's not like corruption and cover ups are unknown at this level is it.
They are by no means perfect but a white, heterosexual, married, working, car driving man like me is completely disenfranchised by both the major and remaining minor parties.
My constituency is very much a marginal and presently Conservative. My MP stood for Labour elsewhere before being 'parachuted' in prior to the 2010 election to make the Tories look more politically correct, diverse and generally cuddly. He is, for a politician, a nice guy to talk to. The Labour man he defeated is standing once more and was an excellent constituency MP previously and again, for a politician, a nice guy to talk to.
Having made the effort over a number of years to gain some personal knowledge of the two realistic contenders from the main parties there is from what I can see not a fag paper of difference between them.
I suspect UKIP could affect the result in our area, as it undoubtedly did when the Labour guy lost last time, by taking votes from both parties and it would not bother me to see the Labour guy get back given that, sadly, I don't see UKIP being in a position to win the seat in cold reality.
Too many people are wedded to two party dogma for that more is the pity. We get the crappy governments we deserve given our general lack of engagement and interest.
Comments
Individual polls tell us very little. They should be taken together so that a trend can be spotted, is there is one. The fact is that for the last month, Labour and Tories have essentially been tied with both gaining a bit of support from UKIP which has declined a bit.
Now you've gotta admit that's sad and geeky. Wehey!
AND THIS
Concentration of wealth yields concentration of political power. And concentration of political power gives rise to legislation that increases and accelerates the cycle.
Noam Chomsky
Then get home and watch the results.
So I'm off on the Friday too.
Maggie T
Having 1.5 trillion debt is not something to be proud of.
What's wrong with good old fashioned British clerks?.
My memory of the situation back this time 5 years ago was that Labour planned to spend more in the initial period after the election, to support the weak growth in the economy (that was happening back then, again IIRC), and then cut back once any recovery was looking a bit more secure.
Whether this would have worked, who knows? But for me anyway, the coalition's focussed on deficit reduction at the expense of the other side of the equation and as a result the miserable growth we've seen is reflected in those GDP to debt ratio graphs. I'm 100% certain others will see it differently though... :-)
And for the record again, I'm aware that I'm coming across as beating the drum for Labour which is far from my intention but a) I have never been a member, activist or anything like that and haven't even voted for them in 18 years now and b) there are plenty of other policy areas, like defence, law & order or the environment where I am probably to the right of the Tories.
It's just that we seem to be discussing the economy, public services and the NHS more than these issues and these are issues I tend towards left of centre on.
Now I know it's probably to try to catch out people who vote more than once, but if you have a small (extremist?) party getting a couple of hundred votes for instance, it would be pretty easy to find out exactly who those couple of hundred voters were, and their names and addresses.
I think that to a neutral that Cameron comes across as quite 'prime ministerial' whereas Miliband doesnt have that same gravitas.
I am not comfortable about the super rich and i am not comfortable about inherited privilege and i am uncomfortable about big university fees and i the think the current coalition could have done more to balance the books and tax the above more
I am concerned that the major parties dont take the rise of UKIP seriously enough ,whilst its popularity may have peaked i think we are very niaive about the longterm impact immigration may have on the country (although the damage is already done)
broadly speaking a coalition might be good for the country again ..it has been, and with one party ,at least in theory ,controlling the other it has worked well . There has been evidence in both Labour and Conservative governments of the past that big majorities lead to complacency and arrogance (Blair had a massive majority when he lead us to war in Iraq and i think the circumstances of that are the greatest scandal of our recent History),the same self serving complacency applied to the last Labour government and how we can consider re electing that lot again beggars belief .
my guess is that we will have a SNP /Labour pact which nobody will want and another election in the Autumn
For example Osborne has missed every one of his long term targets, we have far more debt than he said we would have, growth targets have been adjusted regularly downwards for most of his time in office and our international credit rating was downgraded during 2010-2015 yet the perception still remains that the "economy" does better under a Tory than Labour Chancellor.
I think Seth's point about the actual secrecy of the ballot is valid. Can anyone explain why the ballot paper should be traceable to an individual at all ?
I suppose it might well be necessary to get a judge to issue a warrant in order to do so in our perfect world but forgive my cynicism if I think it might just be a lot lot easier than that.
It's not like corruption and cover ups are unknown at this level is it.
They are by no means perfect but a white, heterosexual, married, working, car driving man like me is completely disenfranchised by both the major and remaining minor parties.
My constituency is very much a marginal and presently Conservative. My MP stood for Labour elsewhere before being 'parachuted' in prior to the 2010 election to make the Tories look more politically correct, diverse and generally cuddly. He is, for a politician, a nice guy to talk to. The Labour man he defeated is standing once more and was an excellent constituency MP previously and again, for a politician, a nice guy to talk to.
Having made the effort over a number of years to gain some personal knowledge of the two realistic contenders from the main parties there is from what I can see not a fag paper of difference between them.
I suspect UKIP could affect the result in our area, as it undoubtedly did when the Labour guy lost last time, by taking votes from both parties and it would not bother me to see the Labour guy get back given that, sadly, I don't see UKIP being in a position to win the seat in cold reality.
Too many people are wedded to two party dogma for that more is the pity. We get the crappy governments we deserve given our general lack of engagement and interest.