UK General Election (Poll Results in OP)

Cast Your Non-Binding Vote Here

  • Alliance Party

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Blaunau Gwent

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Conservative

    Votes: 8 20.5%
  • Democratic Unionist

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • English Democrats

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Green Party

    Votes: 2 5.1%
  • Labour

    Votes: 14 35.9%
  • Liberal Democrats

    Votes: 2 5.1%
  • Monster Raving Loony Party

    Votes: 1 2.6%
  • National Front

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Pirate Pa-aarty UK

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Plaid Cymru

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Respect

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Scottish National Party

    Votes: 1 2.6%
  • Sinn Fein

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Social Democrat and Labour Party

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Traditional Unionist Voice

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • UK Independence Party

    Votes: 4 10.3%
  • Yorkshire First

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • British National Party

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Spoiled Ballot

    Votes: 5 12.8%
  • I Won't Be Voting

    Votes: 2 5.1%
  • Ulster Unionist Party

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    39
  • Poll closed .
I'll be voting Lib Dem. Which is rare amongst my generation as many still hold the tuition fees issue against Clegg.

I feel the Lib Dems do offer some balance to the Con/Lab parts of a coalition, they have a reasonable (if not hugely beneficial) alternative on Trident and there's a genuine possibility of a Lib Dem MP from the result of my vote.
 
Who chose UKIP?

Does it specifically concern you that someone chose a party you don't appear to like?

Yes, because I am interested. I said back on page one this thread would lead to interesting discussion. I am very interested to learn who has fallen for populist Thatcherites and why.

Furthermore whether UKIP like it or not, they attract a lot of racists and bigots.

I'm more concerned by the fact that 7 people with short memories have had the great idea that a charmless man who can't eat, speak or walk adeptly should be PM - representing the people of a nuclear superpower and G8 nation on the world stage.

See, this is one of the problems with our system of voting. We don't vote on a national scale but our votes make up the national government. My seat is Alyn & Deeside, I cast my vote for whom, in that constituency, I want to represent me in the national parliament. I do not choose whom I want to lead the country.

In fact, the incumbent for Alyn & Deeside is a chap called Mark Tami. He has been the MP since 2001 in a seat controlled by the Labour party since Attlee. And you know what? He's a decent bloke. Does a lot of work in the area, promotes us, everything a representative should. Despite originating from Bromley he lives in the constituency and has done since he was elected.

There aren't many reasons to not vote for him. But then, a vote for him is also an endorsement of his party, with which many can and will disagree, as I do. It's a funny old situation.
 
See, this is one of the problems with our system of voting. We don't vote on a national scale but our votes make up the national government. My seat is Alyn & Deeside, I cast my vote for whom, in that constituency, I want to represent me in the national parliament. I do not choose whom I want to lead the country.

In fact, the incumbent for Alyn & Deeside is a chap called Mark Tami. He has been the MP since 2001 in a seat controlled by the Labour party since Attlee. And you know what? He's a decent bloke. Does a lot of work in the area, promotes us, everything a representative should. Despite originating from Bromley he lives in the constituency and has done since he was elected.

There aren't many reasons to not vote for him. But then, a vote for him is also an endorsement of his party, with which many can and will disagree, as I do. It's a funny old situation.
Same for me as well to an extent. Yes I support the party but having met the candidate I feel that I want to vote for the candidate as much as the party.
 
Yes I support the party
Do you not remember the period of 1997-2010?

The same guys who were behind the throne for that last spell still are - though one of them is now leading the group.
 
Do you not remember the period of 1997-2010?
Yes I do. And to be honest it was ok from my point of view until 2008.


To be honest my family is probably rich enough to do better from a Conservative government. I just don't only think of my needs.
 
Yes I do. And to be honest it was ok from my point of view until 2008.
Other than the hobbling of the economy by fire selling our gold, the (illegal) warmongering, the lies about the warmongering, David Kelly, the doubling of fuel prices, rampant cronyism...

And the lot in charge over the 2008-2010 period are who you are supporting. Gordon's advisers when he blew our gold at knockdown prices to help out his mates' US bank were Eds Balls and Miliband...
 
Out of the two main nationwide parties, Labour certainly have the social media vote. Many positive trends eminating for them these last few days. Or at the very least, the Conservatives and their newspaper supporters are just that damn unlikeable.
 
Questions being asked as to whether or not The Sun's depiction of Ed Miliband on today's cover was anti-semetic. I'd say it was borderline, the constant pig references could be taken either way with regards to whether they were referencing his Jewish ancestry or his bacon sandwich.

The real issue is the complete lack of relevance of Miliband's culinary habits to how well he can potentially run the country and the fact that a widely circulated national newspaper seems to have decided that it is.
 
Practically in a Socialist State already working in a failed NHS hospital so I've gazed into the crystal ball of what a future Labour government under Miliband would lead to. The question comes whether to vote Tory, UKIP or none at all. On looking purely from an NHS perspective, UKIP is the winner no doubt. The problem comes from giving them too much power; it's not hard to see how a country unable to reject years of indoctrination of "Political Correctness" will react to an extreme party gaining more influence.
 
Private Eye
Sturgeon seemed duly appalled. She told ITV breakfast television that these “sexist” attacks on her would deter young women from entering politics. But oddly her anger does not extend to tackling Murdoch’s power: there is not a line about media ownership in the SNP manifesto and not one SNP candidate has promised to take Murdoch on.

The “Auld Alliance” between Murdoch and the SNP goes back a long way. The Leveson inquiry revealed that Alex Salmond had held more than two dozen meetings with Murdoch, his son James and their senior henchmen. Salmond had shown a “striking” readiness to lobby UK ministers on behalf of Murdoch’s News Corporation, Leveson said. He was seeking political support from the Scottish Sun at the same time as he was offering to help the Murdoch family drive through its takeover of BSkyB.

Even though the inquiry concluded that there was no evidence of a specific deal, a few brave members of the SNP objected to the party’s tawdry influence-peddling. But not Sturgeon. When BBC Scotland asked her about the scandal, she claimed the SNP’s enemies had invented a problem where none existed. “Labour are clutching at straws. I really don’t think the BBC should start doing likewise,” she chided.

Guess that's one way to truly succeed (New) Labour....... :lol: Mr Blair would be proud!
 
Practically in a Socialist State already working in a failed NHS hospital so I've gazed into the crystal ball of what a future Labour government under Miliband would lead to. The question comes whether to vote Tory, UKIP or none at all. On looking purely from an NHS perspective, UKIP is the winner no doubt. The problem comes from giving them too much power; it's not hard to see how a country unable to reject years of indoctrination of "Political Correctness" will react to an extreme party gaining more influence.
Why UKIP?

I'm finding the battle for the hearts of the NHS increasingly ridiculous. We have Labour and UKIP both offering 20,000 nurses, 3,000 midwives and 8,000 GPs. Errr, where are these people coming from? We don't have enough student places to train that many. And we certainly don't (as Plaid states) have the power to make any of them relocate to small, isolated towns in Wales.

The Tories go so far as to offer a 7-day GP service by the end of 2020. Which I find incredibly difficult to believe that someone that has chosen the relatively 9-5 routine of a GP then wanting to pick up evening and weekend shifts too. A work/life balance seems to be forgotten in all this.
 
From the Britain thread:
I think GTP needed a break from the doom-mongering.

Now onto your point (which is the right response). This is an outline of the pledges in the latest Student BMJ:

20150504_093738.jpg


Here's my thoughts as a medic in a London uni and HCA in one of the worst hospitals in Britain (officially!)

Conservatives:
- 8bn a year? Above inflation? Where from?! When I originally saw the 8bn figure I assumed it was 8bn by 2020, not per year. Doesn't really matter anyway since you could give us 80 billion and the NHS would find a way to lose it all before it trickled to the services that need it.
- 5000 GPs? Trained in British medical schools? This would require a massive recruiting drive by RCGP (Royal College of GPs) and increasing capacity or creating new medical schools. Not possible. You will instead get an influx of crappy FMGs (Foreign Medical Graduates) to plug the gaps to fulfill this promise. You know the kind who sent my dad home the other day with a month long history of a productive cough with an "It'll get better by itself". (Ironically I got my dad treatment by sending him to a clinic RUN by FMGs where they suspected bronchitis and gave a course of antibiotics. The difference? This clinic is run by smart Polish doctors who have seen a gap in the market and provide private care to patients in West London. Consultation was 70 quid.)
- See a GP from 8am to 8pm 7 days a week by 2020 and provide same day GP appointments for patients aged over 75...

jQmVFypWInKCc.gif

- Health and social care integration is the future, so well done for showing relevant examples. Public health ideas are very good - diabetes is set to be a scourge in Britain over the coming decade, but not as much as dementia, so "leading the world" in search of a cure are the fighting words I want to hear.
Labour:
- £2 billion, with an explanation of where it will come from is admirable, but it's a raid on the rich and ultimately pointless (treating patients alone takes up 2 billion a week http://www.channel4.com/programmes/nhs-2-billion-a-week-counting)
- Mental health budget increase on children + more integration are great ideas too. This is looking good...
- Recruit 20000 nurses, 8000 GPs, 3000 more midwives. Keyword here? Recruit. We all know where they will come from, and no-one will know if they are up to the job. Any whistleblowing could be dismissed as racism or whistleblowers could be too scared to even speak because of threats to their career (I'm in the middle of something similar now). This is seriously dangerous. Now would also be a good time to bring up Labour's track record in Wales, and who can forget Mid-Staffs

In short, you could easily be living with a very dangerous health service full of cover ups in an NHS England controlled by Labour.
Lib Dems:
More money again, more talk of investing in doctors (6000 now). Still not tackling the real issues....
Scots Nats:
Reducing the number of managers by a percentage is an excellent idea. Protecting from privatisation....not so much. I love the minimum alcohol unit pricing.
Plaid Cymru:
Errrrm best so far surprisingly except for the complete aversion to the private sector. That and they're Welsh....
Greens:
Michael-Scott-Closes-The-Door-Awkwardly-On-The-Office.gif

UKIP:

- £3 billion from where? Good they've identified THE PROBLEM (middle management)
- Good idea for stopping health tourism. In fact so good the "non-racists" are getting tough Boo on Mr Farage for using bogus figures to scare people about HIV + individuals. What is this the eighties??
- Amend working time rules to give trainee doctors, surgeons, and medics the proper environment in which to train and practise.
Oh My God. Politicians actually listening to what medical professionals want. This little nugget is ridiculously important.
- Ensure that foreign health service professionals coming to work in the NHS are properly qualified and can speak English to an acceptable standard.
african-celebration-o.gif

Someone is telling it like it is! Just wish it wasn't a party that doesn't contain members who would want to deport everyone in the gif
- Access pledges, and the privatisation measures are sensible and leave scope for clever private intervention in the future

NHA Party:
post-27260-R-Kelly-WTF-Gif-trapped-in-clo-brc0.gif


My thoughts then would be:

1. UKIP
2. Scots Nats
3. Plaid Cymru
4. Conservatives
5. Lib Dems
6. NHA
7. Labour
8. Greens

But UKIP could quite easily turn nasty, and that is my concern. Consider this response to the original BMJ article by a retired professional:

Not a pledge but a proposal being considered by the Conservatives is the withdrawal of welfare benefits from people unable to work because of addiction problems and/or being overweight - if they do not agree to 'treatment' from, amongst others, therapists (and some will be willing to participate in this as the scandal of the way incapacity benefit was handled shows).


Surely the practitioners would be obliged to hold professional qualifications and to be registered with organisations with a Code of Practice and a Code of Ethics. As a relationship of the kind recommended by Carol Black and her team would be in breach of Codes of Ethics - what steps could the UKCP, the Psychological Society and others take to prevent coercive and inappropriate behaviour by their members.and what would be the complaints procedure if the 'relationship' was perceived by the recipient as being coercive and harmful?


As all people who are overweight/addicted are not welfare recipients but still use the NHS - what is being proposed to make them feel even more stigmatised. Maybe this is one lesson to bear in mind, there can be unintended consequences when any group becomes the target of too harsh scrutiny by others.


Not hard to imagine a hardening of attitudes towards foreign born patients and those less able in a UKIP led health service. All speculation at this stage of course.
 
Yes I do. And to be honest it was ok from my point of view until 2008.


To be honest my family is probably rich enough to do better from a Conservative government. I just don't only think of my needs.
Going for Conservatives, less chance of UK being left in ruins by the likes of Labour and SNP. Hopefully UKIP also get no seats or few as possible.
 
I met my mate for a pint last night. A guy at the bar said something about voting, it turned out he's an incumbent in a local council election today.
We talked to him about the local & general elections & the parties' policies at a national level.
We asked him questions about TTIP, the belief that the NFU & DEFRA are working together to get everything wrong, the possibility or not of subsidised public transport & many other things. He didn't seem to know that much but we had caught him off guard right from the start by saying we'd be turning up to the polling station tomorrow (now today). We got him drunker than he seemed to have been planning on getting & he ultimately came across quite well.
 
This is only tangentially related to the election itself, but election season always brings this point out in me.

edsun.png


article-2439593-1869B7C000000578-761_638x423.jpg


In light of the character assassination Ed Milliband has suffered at the hands of The Sun and the one a few years back by the Mail, it's important to remember that newspapers and politics is a dangerous thing.

Daily Express, 1933

dailyex.jpg


Daily Mail, 1934

Rothermere_-_Hurrah_for_the_Blackshirts.jpg


Daily Mirror, 1934

daily-mirror-give-the-blackshirts-a-helping-hand.jpg


You will notice that the Mirror and Mail pieces are direct articles from the same man; Lord Rothermere. He was the proprietor of both papers at that time and he also went on to give a few interesting quotes about the politics of Germany.

471365759_640.jpg


Do not believe or trust what the rag has to say, especially when it comes to politics.
 
Going for Conservatives, less chance of UK being left in ruins by the likes of Labour and SNP. Hopefully UKIP also get no seats or few as possible.
SNP isn't going to happen. Ed will go with Lib Dems if he can.

Cameron I think might take a shot with Farage though if given the choice.
 
Decided I will be voting. Just Labour, Tory, Lib Dem and UKIP standing here in the General Elections. Lib Dems score an instant -1 on my list of "reasons I should have your vote" by not even bothering to send us a leaflet through post.
 
Decided I will be voting. Just Labour, Tory, Lib Dem and UKIP standing here in the General Elections. Lib Dems score an instant -1 on my list of "reasons I should have your vote" by not even bothering to send us a leaflet through post.
Oh wow. When I was told whilst out canvassing that some people vote purely because you were the only one to put the effort into canvassing I didn't actually believe it until I read this.
 
I've taken Labour; not because I like them but I am voting tactically. They need to take the government to fix the mess the Tories made, and then make their own mess which Tories will in turn fix etc etc.

In reality I dislike both parties (in fact almost all parties simply because they either lie OR the policies are a little too far ahead of time etc). I have points I like in about half the parties but the other points... not so much!

UKIP is a major no for me, though they have one good point about the EU
Green is scientifically a good one, but I say they need to hold out about thirty years before their points become feasible.
RESPECT is good BUT Mr Galloway (though right most the time) is a little too... volatile for my tastes right now, and his party is too small to make the changes
 
Decided I will be voting. Just Labour, Tory, Lib Dem and UKIP standing here in the General Elections. Lib Dems score an instant -1 on my list of "reasons I should have your vote" by not even bothering to send us a leaflet through post.

What part of the country do you live in? Are there no minor or regional parties at all?
 
What part of the country do you live in? Are there no minor or regional parties at all?

Blackburn Lancashire, the one Jack Straw has just vacated. Surprises me as last time we had at least 2 Independents and the Greens and BNP as well...
 
Just voted, went Green for the General Election. The only options for the District Council were Tory, Labour and Lib Dem, and for the Chichester East Parish it was just Tory and Lib Dem, so that was a bit annoying.
 
In the US, major media is downplaying your elections as unimportant to us, since UK has little left to contribute to our side in the global war effort. For you, our media say, economic and health care issues between Tory and Labor are dwarfed by migration and EU membership issues. Cameron is greatly to be feared by us, we think, because he has foolishly pledged to take a vote on EU membership. On the other hand, if Labor and SNP emerge in coalition, we see your Kingdom exploding into pieces.
 
It will never happen but I would be very happy to wake up to a Green, Labour coalition.

This I could get on board with. Labour would make the allowances that Green does not make, and Green will be able to expand the science frontier for the UK.
 

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