Politics thread

[Carrick 5 Gerrard 0]

We have a news thread but I thought I would create one specially for the 2015 General Election which takes place on the 7th May. Lots of politicians promising x,y and z, billboards with Cameron's and Miliband's faces soon to be everywhere and TV debates. So who is the best of these liars?

We're definitely going to have a hung parliament so what do people reckon the combination will be?

Should be some good debates on a few of the policies on here.

[mikey]

How do you know we're definitely going to have a hung parliament?

[Leftbank]

It's almost a dead cert based on current facts. Cameron or Miliband would need a MASSIVE win to change it now

[Carrick 5 Gerrard 0]

How do you know we're definitely going to have a hung parliament?

Would you like me to change it to very very likely?

It would take a massive cock up by either of them on a television debate for the other to win it outright

[Martin]

Green Party.

[RedSte]

Will be the closest and most exciting election in decades and I will miss it

[Leftbank]

Will be the closest and most exciting election in decades and I will miss it  :(

Get your postal vote in, or a proxy

I will happily do it for you

[Leftbank]

How do you know we're definitely going to have a hung parliament?

Would you like me to change it to very very likely?

It would take a massive cock up by either of them on a television debate for the other to win it outright

I don't think a cock up would be enough. Labour or the Tories need a positive reason to draw in votes, otherwise the votes will just float away

[RedSte]

Will be the closest and most exciting election in decades and I will miss it  :(

Get your postal vote in, or a proxy

I will happily do it for you

Already got my postal vote ordered

I mean I will miss the election day programming..will be in the States where it will barely get a mention

[ArizonaRed]

America is already in the throes of getting ready for the 2016 Presidential election with candidness coming up like weeds in a garden. Unless Cameron and / or Miliband are discovered in a sex scandal with a transvestite hooked the US media will barely notice it.

[Dante]

They have been getting ready since 2013 to be fair.

I'm voting Green. I've already seen m'learned friends views on this, but suffice to say I disagree

[mikey]

Same here, i voted Green in the most recent ballot and i'll be voting for them again this year. The top 3 parties are full of public schoolboys who are totally detached from reality. UKIP are just a political party for Daily Mail readers and racists and Bez 'forgot' to register his Reality Party. Green are the only one's left.

[Dante]

It's kinda sad you ended up there by default though. Shows what a state UK politics is in.

This is based on the 2010 manifestos, but will be updated soon when the 2015 ones are out. It's interesting to see who's policies you actually want. When I took it I assumed I'd come out with Lib Dem. I think I only picked one of theirs, all the rest were Green.

[Carrick 5 Gerrard 0]

I haven't made up my mind yet, voted Lib Dems last time but what a let down they were.
The rise of the green party make it interesting as I was pretty sure that Labour would win my constituency back as Conservatives just got a majority last time but interesting to see if people go towards the Green party and stop that swing.

Labour: I like that they are focused on the NHS but I don't like the mansion tax, people already pay a lot of money in stamp duty and most of those houses are in London, if a tax like that ever got taken forward then the money raised by London houses should be spent building more affordable housing in the capital. The NHS is leaking money, rather than chucking more and more, we need to have a proper strategy to see where the issues are arising from, for example not enough permanent staff then paying tons for temp is a simple example, it needs a proper review and assessment. Plus they didn't leave us in a great place last time.

Conservatives: I always knew that they were going to put harsh measures in place as it had to be done but they haven't convinced me fully though the economy is looking in good shape. The bedroom tax was a disaster as was them backing down over corporation tax. Why keep taxing individuals over companies who get away with not paying enough. There was also a loop in the fact that people could earn more on benefits than working and I'm glad that's being closed off. Looking closer to home with our conservative MP, she's going ahead with this development of high end flats which a lot of the community is against as it cuts off an easy walk through between local businesses on a road and the high street, also will be quite closed off. It's a shame she hasn't listened to the public on that.

Lib Dems: Tuition fees, need I say more.

[Dante]

This is a few years old now, but it sort of deflates the idea that the NHS is just a black hole of money.

It's a vast organisation, so it's inevitible that waste will occour. It's a case of identifying the more obvious cases and cutting accordingly.

The benifits thing is also largely rubbish. There is a point when you're better off on benifits than working, but aside from it being difficult to remove this entirely, it's mostly when people are on zero hour contracts, or part time contracts where hours are variable. The issue there is that it's actually too difficult to claim tax credits when you can't guarantee your hours. Making moving on and off this easier would be one solution. A better one is people not being on such shitty contracts.

[Leftbank]

Want to put the Queen in a Council House?

Want to make it legal to be a member of Islamic State?

Want only 25% of your household waste to be recycled?

Vote Green!

[Dante]

I don't really care about the Queen in any way. I'd happily abolish the royals.

Some other policies:

Nationalise the railways, something the majority of people in the country want to do.

Abolishion of prescription charges, something that has already happened in the rest of the UK, and only England is still subjected to.

Support for a Living Wage. Before anyone shouts that this would mean that jobs would be destroyed, it's interesting that over a thousand employers are signed up to the Living Wage Foundation. (including, incidentally, the London School of Economics.) Another argument is that if you can't afford to pay the people at the bottom of the ladder enough to have a reasonable life on, you don't have a viable business anyway.

[Leftbank]

I don't really care about the Queen in any way. I'd happily abolish the royals.

Some other policies:

Nationalise the railways, something the majority of people in the country want to do.

Abolishion of prescription charges, something that has already happened in the rest of the UK, and only England is still subjected to.

Support for a Living Wage. Before anyone shouts that this would mean that jobs would be destroyed, it's interesting that over a thousand employers are signed up to the Living Wage Foundation. (including, incidentally, the London School of Economics.) Another argument is that if you can't afford to pay the people at the bottom of the ladder enough to have a reasonable life on, you don't have a viable business anyway.

I think people have forgotten how shit it was under British Rail. Reforms are needed, but renationalisation is not the answer.

The rest of the UK can afford to be rid of the prescription charge because they're subsidised by England.

Living wage I get

[Maverick McKillshark]

Want to put the Queen in a Council House?

fornicate the Queen.

[Leftbank]

The Queen point just shows how small time the Greens are.

[Maverick McKillshark]

How so?

[Dante]

No it doesn't. You know that the policies are set by the members right?

I'm sure as well the people who remember the terrible days of nationalised rail on the east coast line which recieved the lowest subsidy, and delivered a billion back to the treasury whilst seeing high customer satisfaction.

[Leftbank]

It's the kind of stupid policy that shows a) they're more interested in ideological statements than getting things done and b) it grabs them headlines and attention but would never happen.

The fact is Brighton is going down the shitter thanks to the Green party control of their council.

[Maverick McKillshark]

It's the kind of stupid policy that shows a) they're more interested in ideological statements than getting things done and b) it grabs them headlines and attention but would never happen.

It's stupid to aim towards abolishing the monarchy?

Why?

I think it's a highly admirable goal and fair play to The Greens for standing up for what they believe in. They'll certainly have my vote.

[Dante]

Heh, just had an email from the Greens, that included this:

No, we don’t have policies to put the Queen in a council house, to support terrorist organisations, or to enact an open door immigration policy over the next few years. We can expect smears like these and much worse to feature in the coming months as they attempt to put a lid on the unprecedented #GreenSurge.

Alsmost nothing about the Greens grabs headlines, because they focus on the boring stuff. The council house comment was a quip linking their policy of selling off the royal estates, and the building of more social housing. That's better for me than Farage's empty rhetoric.