How do you intend to vote in the General Election?

[libertylove4]

[COLOR="Navy"]I envy the British System of elections. In America it feels like we are constantly in a state of campaigning. Congress members are always doing what is in the best interest of their re-election campaign, always looking two-years out instead of at the problems of the here and now. We are right now in the flux of the 2010 Mid-Term elections for congress and other races in the states. The TV is filled with campaign ads for the primaries and my mail-box is full of campaign literature and voting day isn't until early November.

Once this election is over and 2011 comes around it will be the start of the 2012 presidential campaign season....oh joy.

(Also just to point out, the conservatives in Britain have an amazing gay rights record when compared to the conservatives here in the Republican Party) [/COLOR]

[fredv3b]

Tam Dalyell irritated so many people he never really got in a position where he could made any gesture as grand as Robin Cook.

Dalyell was an annoying trouble-maker, I infinitely prefer such MPs to the ambitious.

The lessons of Bermondsey, 1983, still not learned then :frown:

:confused: They won in Bermondsey and in Dunfermline, I'd say the lessons were learnt.

I think that the Tories are still the same old Tories no matter what noises they make to the contrary.

Lots of people quite strongly feel the same, they positively believe they have not changed, as opposed to merely harbouring some doubts as to whether they really have changed. I find this quite surprising given the length of time they have been out of power, the number of the old guard who have already left (or will be leaving at this election), the number of leadership changes, etc. It took the charm of Tony Blair, the ditching of Clause 4 and Black Wednesday for people to believe that Labour and really changed. What would it take to persuade people that the Tories had really changed? (This is not a party political point, I am genuinely curious to know).

[fredv3b]

(Also just to point out, the conservatives in Britain have an amazing gay rights record when compared to the conservatives here in the Republican Party)

What is sad is that British Labour has an amazing gay rights record when compared to the Democratic Party.

[IanG]

... given the length of time they have been out of power, the number of the old guard who have already left (or will be leaving at this election), the number of leadership changes, etc. It took the charm of Tony Blair, the ditching of Clause 4 and Black Wednesday for people to believe that Labour and really changed. What would it take to persuade people that the Tories had really changed? (This is not a party political point, I am genuinely curious to know).

Well, they could do worse than revising their outmoded, unfair financial plans and disassociating themselves with the likes of Geert Wilders and the Law And Justice Party in Poland.

Now, I don't think that all Tory voters are rabid right-wingers. Most of the people who will vote Conservative will do so because they want a change, which is fair enough, but I don't think that it will be a change in the right direction.

[fredv3b]

Well, they could do worse than revising their outmoded, unfair financial plans

Are you thinking about something in particular here?

As for the Law & Justice party et al I entirely agree about how bad it looks, (I personally believe it has nothing to do with social policy and every thing to do with a regrettable leadership campaign pledge Cameron made to leave the European People's Party, that he has been made to keep).

[IanG]

My particular concern is the threat to radically cut public spending.

It's unfair because it will punish rather than help the worse off, outmoded because it's very Old Tory and I don't see it doing anything to boost the economy as we come out of recession. Maybe it's an instinctive thing, like tax & spend is with Labour, but for a party supposedly offering a new, modern version of itself, it's a surprisingly retrograde attitude.

[sox-and-the-city]

Sad thing is, cutting public spending IS massively necessary.

Yes there are lots of public sector jobs which will be lost but with any luck most of those will be from the plethora of needless admin that the public sector has accumulated in recent times. The fact is we can't keep spending the amounts of money we were as we find a way out of the recession. So trimming fat and laying off deadwood to me sounds like a great way to cut public spending. Maybe ministers could even set the example and take cuts form their very generous earnings and allowances...

Sorry, i can barely type for laughing/snorting derisively at my own words, i'll stop now...

[marshlander]

Dalyell was an annoying trouble-maker, I infinitely prefer such MPs to the ambitious.

Couldn't agree more

:confused: They won in Bermondsey and in Dunfermline, I'd say the lessons were learnt.

Outing Peter Tatchell and running that offensive anti-homo campaign?

What would it take to persuade people that the Tories had really changed? (This is not a party political point, I am genuinely curious to know).

Tebbit has yet to get on his bike ... that would be a start.

[IanG]

You're right, Sox, cuts are unavoidable whoever wins the election. As you say, there is much in the way of excessive administration and executive staffing in the public sector.

However, I remember that once the fallout from Thatcher's destructive policies had settled, it was the Major administration that oversaw the introduction of many unnecessary managerial and administrative roles.

The NHS is an obvious case in point. Hospitals were suddenly awash with new layers of middle management rather than nursing staff, etc. Of course, the Labour government missed the opportunity to sort this out probably because it would look very bad politically to be cutting staff when the country was enjoying an economic upswing.

The fact is I've seen, and been affected by, what the Tories are capable of when they have a sizeable majority and it's not pleasant. I only hope that whoever does oversee the cuts doesn't treat it as simply a paper exercise. They need to remember that their actions have real consequences for people's lives.

[marshlander]

... Tebbit has yet to get on his bike ... that would be a start.

Their equality spokesman in the Lords doesn't seem to believe in equality either. That's a bit like putting a member of Opus Dei in charge of overseeing the introduction of a fairer deal for glbt people ...