Thursday Next Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 I'd be livid if I voted for a leftist candidate who turned around and decided to caucus with the Republicans. Our left and right are a *lot* closer to the middle than your left and right. Even so, I think that is what irked a lot of people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 My understanding is American Left is still to our right. And yeah, Lib Dems did surprisingly well last time around, essentially pulling votes from Labour so they're likely to return to their old obscurity after thier "betrayal". I'd say I'd be pissed but I was in a Labour area so not like my vote meant much (and likely won't this time either given still got FTPT cos people are fucktards n "don't want more coalition governments" cos that's totally a problem that's going away anytime soon). As Hottie has noted it seems Greens have replaced Lib Dems as the alt-Labour/left vote (with UKIP now joining in to be the alt-Tory/Right vote). I don't see too much difference between Labour n Tories in many respects. On one hand Tories are much more effective (though they're effective at being dicks), and Labour kinda bit useless n limp. Kinda bummed we ended up with Ed instead of David. Probably gonna be the big issue there (since many vote on the potential PM rather than thier local party). I like that where I live I've only gotten Lib Dem n Labour leaflets in so far *touch wood*. I guess the tories figure not much point, and UKIP probably don't want to waste leaflets on the folks they want out. I wonder how well Nate Silver would do with the UK political landscape. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 I'd be more inclined to vote for Labour if David was in charge. I'm not putting Ed bloody Miliband around a table with Merkel and Putin. He'd get eaten alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-32234567 UKIP have sunk to new lows. Not even Steak Bakes on offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Yeah, the American "left" would still be considered on the right in most other developed countries. Not too far right, but right nonetheless. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-32234567 UKIP have sunk to new lows. Not even Steak Bakes on offer. I'm pretty sure the "Treating" element here comes in the form of playing a game or two of pool with Jimmy White (under the entertainment category) rather than a sausage roll or two. "A person is guilty of treating if... they directly or indirectly give or provide any food, drink, entertainment or provision to corruptly influence any voter to vote or refrain from voting." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Good grief. I can't say I like ukip but this is ridiculous. Jimmy white and sausage rolls is hardly. £10K in a brown envelope under the table. In fact if anything it's going to help ukip as this will really resonate with the PC-gone-mad brigade which are very much the ukip demographic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Yeah, that sounds a little ridiculous... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Treating isn't about buying politicians with big sums of money. It's about incentivising people to vote for you by giving them stuff. It doesn't matter how small the incentive is, the point is that elections should be voted on based on the policies of the party / candidate, not on a free lunch. Of course this will be spun as picking on the little guy and all that jazz, but the rule is you can't buy votes, it doesn't matter what price the vote is bought for. It's a matter of principle, not of scale. Finally, it's being investigated. Because if you break a law (even as a matter of technicality), and it is reported to the police, they technically have to investigate it, then make a decision, along with the CPS based on amount of evidence, likelihood of conviction and public policy whether or not to follow through with it. In all likelihood, there will be no charges because it is de minimis and there was no corrupt intent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 Oh god, Daily Fail giving grief to "Red Ed" cos he's had nookie with other women prior to his current wife. Fucking hell scraping the barrel. Only a month of this to endure I guess. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted April 10, 2015 Report Share Posted April 10, 2015 The USA's left party, the Democrats, are more similar to the Tories than they they are to Labour, although local parties and a very small number of individual nationally-elected politicians are closer to Labour or, in some cases, the Lib Dems. The Republicans range from the most right-wing of tories to the BNP. I bet the Tories will win the plurality in your election. Do you guys think they'd try to form a minority government? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 https://voteforpolicies.org.uk/ Figure if you americans haven't had a play with this before now. Though obviously your opinions on Trident n EU n such will likely be a bit different if your'e actually in UK. Oh n current polling via YouGov https://yougov.co.uk/#/centre My local area is, surprise surprise, currently polling towards Labour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 Seems similar to this site for US elections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 Shows what a farce voting is, for all except one of the policy areas voters in my constituency are more right wing leaning yet it's a guaranteed labour seat. Forget two term presidents I don't think you should be allowed to vote for the same party more than two elections on a row. And yes I know that's not really a good idea but it's so frustrating people vote without any consideration. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Thursday Next Posted April 21, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 I've said it before and I'll say it again, everyone who voted for First Past The Post instead of Proportional Representation is to blame. And what was it that everyone was boo-hooing about with PR? "Oh nooooo! It will lead to hung parliaments and coalitions!" Lucky we dodged that bullet then hey you bumbling nincompoops. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-04/22/e4-voter-drive-channel-turn-off E4 shutting dow for most of the day (though no doubt after 7pm is when they make their mega bucks anyway) in effort ot get its youth audience to go and vote. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 First Past the Post voting is pretty heinous. It's partially what gave the US its execrable two party system. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Where were you (and everyone like you) in 2011 (I think). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 In the US, not eligible to vote in the UK. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thursday Next Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 A barely acceptable excuse in the circumstances. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 (edited) Scotland has a Proportional Representation system. For local council elections it even uses Single Transferable Vote, Officially the Most Proportional of all Representation Systems. And things are good. Except for Westminster's fiendish meddling. Edited April 23, 2015 by kenshi_ryden 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheFlyingGerbil Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Seems like Scotland will be doing plenty of fiendish meddling in Westminster if SNP do as well as is being predicted. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanb Posted April 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 In the US, not eligible to vote in the UK. Well if someone hadn't thrown tea in Boston harbour maybe things would be different.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMightyEthan Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 I think the issue with the tea was that we weren't eligible to vote. Something about taxation and representation, I can never remember the details... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. GOH! Posted April 23, 2015 Report Share Posted April 23, 2015 Personally, I like the Schulze Single Transferable Vote system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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