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Oh help! Even I am getting political all of a sudden ...
Election day - and I'm still not sure what to do. Questions, questions ...
I don't trust Tony Blah - and I don't like our Labour MP
I don't like Michael Howard, but I do like our Conservative candidate
Charlie Kennedy is not Paddy Ashdown - our LibDem candidate seems OK-ish
our other options here are UKIP, BNP or NF (not sure which, but I don't like them) and the Motor Cycle News Party (who??).
It's a fairly marginal Labour seat - so in the absence of knowing exactly who I want to vote for, I am reduced to working out who not to vote for, or alternatively who to vote for in order to stop someone else getting in.
If I vote Labour, the current MP will probably get back in :-(
If I vote Conservative, it might get rid of the Labour MP.
If I vote LibDem I think Labour will still get in but with a lesser majority, which won't make the MP any nicer.
If I vote UKIP, as above really.
If I vote BNP/NF I need my head examined.
If I vote MCNP will it make any difference?
If I don't vote at all, I can't complain about who gets in.
If I do vote, will it really make a difference? or do all parties promise one thing and do something else once they're elected?
Why do we not have a Monster Raving Loony Party candidate? I like them! I mean, introducing a 99p coin makes as much, if not more, sense than "you won't pay any more tax but we'll improve all the services".
However, all that is subject to other people thinking the same as me - I don't really think my one little vote will swing a 7,000 majority. I worked out yesterday that to get rid of the Labour MP, not only must 7,000 people vote against her, they really all need to vote for the same party, otherwise she'll just get in with a smaller majority. Oooh, political maths - but it feels weird, I've never had to do this before. I've always voted for the party because it's been so obvious which is which. but this time there are too many personalities involved, and the issues are skewed by that.
I have only ever not voted once, and that was more to do with being totally disorganised, losing my card and not noticing the date, and it was a local. I really believe in voting, I just don't like the choices. I think the really telling thing was a programme on TV last week where slogans were read out to people in the street and none of them could work out which party they were from!
I think the BNP/NF are a bit hopeful having a candidate in this city - we have a huge Asian population, both immigrants and UK natives. We have a growing European population - Portuguese, Latvian and others; and a lot of refugees/asylum seekers. We also have a sizeable contingent of Italian/Polish and West Indian who came here in the 50s and 60s to work. I think I'm right that all of these (except, I think, the asylum seekers/refugees) are eligible to vote. The candidate is proposing to demolish the brand new mosque (paid for by the muslim community, not the taxpayers) and replace it with a leisure centre dedicated to the memory of a white lad who was beaten up and killed by a gang of Asian lads. The boy's parents are totally against this and don't want their name associated with it. I'm appalled that they can even use something like this in a campaign.
hmmm... paper spoiling feels like the way to go... 9 hours to decide!
I don't trust Tony Blah - and I don't like our Labour MP
I don't like Michael Howard, but I do like our Conservative candidate
Charlie Kennedy is not Paddy Ashdown - our LibDem candidate seems OK-ish
our other options here are UKIP, BNP or NF (not sure which, but I don't like them) and the Motor Cycle News Party (who??).
It's a fairly marginal Labour seat - so in the absence of knowing exactly who I want to vote for, I am reduced to working out who not to vote for, or alternatively who to vote for in order to stop someone else getting in.
If I vote Labour, the current MP will probably get back in :-(
If I vote Conservative, it might get rid of the Labour MP.
If I vote LibDem I think Labour will still get in but with a lesser majority, which won't make the MP any nicer.
If I vote UKIP, as above really.
If I vote BNP/NF I need my head examined.
If I vote MCNP will it make any difference?
If I don't vote at all, I can't complain about who gets in.
If I do vote, will it really make a difference? or do all parties promise one thing and do something else once they're elected?
Why do we not have a Monster Raving Loony Party candidate? I like them! I mean, introducing a 99p coin makes as much, if not more, sense than "you won't pay any more tax but we'll improve all the services".
However, all that is subject to other people thinking the same as me - I don't really think my one little vote will swing a 7,000 majority. I worked out yesterday that to get rid of the Labour MP, not only must 7,000 people vote against her, they really all need to vote for the same party, otherwise she'll just get in with a smaller majority. Oooh, political maths - but it feels weird, I've never had to do this before. I've always voted for the party because it's been so obvious which is which. but this time there are too many personalities involved, and the issues are skewed by that.
I have only ever not voted once, and that was more to do with being totally disorganised, losing my card and not noticing the date, and it was a local. I really believe in voting, I just don't like the choices. I think the really telling thing was a programme on TV last week where slogans were read out to people in the street and none of them could work out which party they were from!
I think the BNP/NF are a bit hopeful having a candidate in this city - we have a huge Asian population, both immigrants and UK natives. We have a growing European population - Portuguese, Latvian and others; and a lot of refugees/asylum seekers. We also have a sizeable contingent of Italian/Polish and West Indian who came here in the 50s and 60s to work. I think I'm right that all of these (except, I think, the asylum seekers/refugees) are eligible to vote. The candidate is proposing to demolish the brand new mosque (paid for by the muslim community, not the taxpayers) and replace it with a leisure centre dedicated to the memory of a white lad who was beaten up and killed by a gang of Asian lads. The boy's parents are totally against this and don't want their name associated with it. I'm appalled that they can even use something like this in a campaign.
hmmm... paper spoiling feels like the way to go... 9 hours to decide!
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This sounds awful - I know that every party is entitled to draw up their own manifesto etc but for something where they are specifying another indivisual, you would think they would have to get permission first!
Bremner Bird and Fortune made me laugh when they discussed all the different parties recently - basically they said they had to give equal coverage to all parties so they gave all the little parties stupid noises and used those instead of bothering to mention them - and then focused on Labour, Tory and Lib Dems!
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Trouble is, it doesn't feel right doing that in a general election. I don't agree all the way with any of them, and don't violently oppose any of the main three (tbh, I don't trust any of them!)I think a hung parliament would be best cos then I'd get a bit of all three!
Think our constituency will go Lab no matter how I vote, although I think they may have changed the rural side bounderies yet again which may affect thing the Tory way...oh well...time for the pin I think!
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