Question Time Tonight

[Slartibartfast]

I also got Green.

 

Hey, maybe its right, maybe the Green party would be the best one to vote for. Its not going to happen though is it.

[Fleet Loyal]

UKIP 38

Conservative 30

Green 9

Lib Dems -13

Labour -31

 

You should vote: UK Independence Party

UKIP's primary focus is on Europe, where the party is strongly against joining both the EU constitution and the Euro. UKIP is also firmly in favour of limiting immigration. The party does not take a clear line on some other policy issues, but supports scrapping university tuition fees; it is strongly against income tax rises and favour reducing fuel duty.

[Stu M]

Reducing fuel duty. One of the world's great evils...

[Fleet Loyal]

[Stu M]

Is that your usual expression Fleet Loyal?

[Fleet Loyal]

Intrigued by your comments that’s all.

[Guest]

Why not vote Green ( provided there is a candidate standing in your constituency of course )? They are the only party giving serious consideration to the time bomb that is global warming. I also like their idea to tax goods according to the degree to which a product causes pollution. The worst will be taxed more eg VAT. The government's Chief Scientific Officer is on record as stating that global warming is a greater threat to us in the UK than from terrorism. It is also the reason why because of the USAs refusal to listen to it's own scientists that George W Bush is in the mid to long term the single most dangerous threat to mankind and the planet. The facts may be uncomfortable to some but they are incontrovertable. Cars and aeroplanes are major causes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. They will still be polluting the planet even if Labour or the Conservatives decide to expand nuclear energy which they are tipped to do. They still won't know what to do with the radioactive waste generated but then what the hell eh? Global warming is also a reason why a riverside stadium as the next home of the Fleet may be subject to flooding and perhaps not such a good idea. In Gravesham there is no Parliamentary Green candidate , although there is one standing in the KCC election. She will get my vote. As for the General election, when it comes to chosing a party on environmental issues they simply come across as a bunch of amateurs tinkering around the edges so it is a tough choice. So which of the candidates has the best environmental credentials and why? Why should I vote for him? Convince me. Over to you!

[chris blanc]

It's just a shame that it's still essentially a two horse race. In an ideal world we would have 4 or 5 different parties all with a valid chance of winning. That way everybody could feel that they were properly represented.

 

It's the same in the States with their 2 party politics, how 300 odd million people can be properly represented by 2 parties is beyond me.

 

The answer lies with us though I'm afraid. Until we get the idea out of our heads that a vote for whomever is a wasted vote, nothing will change

[Unrecognized Genius]

Bet you'll be surprised to know my results were almost the exact reverse of FF & FL's;

 

Conservative -40

UKIP -33

Labour 50

Green 51

Lib Dem 57

 

I'll be voting Labour. I might agree with the Lib Dem policies slightly more, but I'm a pragmatist & I know if they had a sniff of actually getting elected a lot of these policies would be very different. That's why Labour had to completely re-build after 1979, when Old Labour was perceived as utterly unelectable and it took over 15 years to do so.

 

Michael Howard might appear to recover a lot of ground if he can achieve success in the marginals, but I think it will be illusory in the medium to long term. I don't see the Tories as being sustainably electable until they too have been through the painful process Labour went through in the 80s and early 90s. They've been out of power for 8 years & haven't even begun to re-build. a big mistake, whatever happens next Thursday.

 

EC

[Guest]

The answer would appear to be a form of proportional representation as in the European elections. The first past the post system appears to be more and more discredited as every day goes by. kmj.

[Bloodnock]

Have to agree our voting system stinks,the sheer fact that you have to vote tactically to ensure a party you have a dislike for won't get in is odd,as it does of course mean casting your vote for a party that is your second choice.

In this neck of the woods I will be voting Lib.Dem hoping to keep the Tories out,as it happens our MP Nick Harvey is a pretty good bloke, I have met him on a few occasions (he exercises his dogs the same area that I do) and he comes across as a very down to earth guy so I don't feel quite so bad giving him my vote.

I doubt any of the 2 major parties have the balls to bring in PR, and sadly we are becoming more and more like the USA, which as far as i'm concerned has one of the most corrupt and laughable political systems in the world, what other civilised country would elect a fundamentalist religious bigot like Bush, frightening.

[Richard C]

im with UG on this. Labour for me, only because voting Lib Dems will get us the tories.

[Stu M]

Lib Dems for me, cos where I live is so Tory, there's no point in voting for anyone - so I might as well @rse about and vote for a minority party!

[Guest]

I agree with your assessment of GW Bush. One of the reasons he denies the existence of global warming is the beliefs of the fundamentalists he is alligned to. One prominent member of this group has said that global warming doesn't exist because " God wouldn't let it happen". While not letting it happen, we suffer from more and more extremes of weather and the oil men such as Exxon ( Esso in the UK ) hurry along the impending disaster in their financially induced state of denial. Perhaps people can now see what the rest of the world has to contend with! Boycotting Esso would be a start in resisting this madness. kmj.

[FleetFanatic]

Quote:

Anonymous said:
The answer would appear to be a form of proportional representation as in the European elections. The first past the post system appears to be more and more discredited as every day goes by. kmj.

A very sensible comment. Labour were so up for it when they couldn't get elected, now they are in power and the current system benefits them, they've shut up.

[Unrecognized Genius]

I shall be voting Labour as I have done for over a quarter of a century, but you are absolutely right in what you say on this occasion, FF.

 

Bet the Lib Dem position would change too, if they ever had a chance of success in first past the post.

 

EC

[Slartibartfast]

Unrecognized Genius, obviously it is up to you who you vote for but I hope you are not voting labour because you have done for the last quarter of a century.

If you believe in their policies and more importantly in what they have actually done while in power then you should continue to vote Labour but the truth is the current New Labour government are far closer to the Tories of 25 years ago than they are to the Labour party of 25 years ago.

Labour are kept in power by the people who vote Labour because they always have done or their parents always have done or because they think Labour represent the working class.

Nobody represents the working class anymore ever since Maggie proved it wouldn't win elections anymore.

[Unrecognized Genius]

You are right, but I am not voting the way I am because I am in a rut or following family tradition. My "as" was in the sense of "in the same way" rather than "because."

 

There are plenty of things about New Labour which I don't like: as a teacher, these are 1. the way "bright young things" at the DFES keep themselves in a job by dreaming up new initiatives, without any regard for how they overlap with previous or existing practises; 2. the belief that making peole meet targets will as a consequence mean standards have risen; in the end people get so obsessed with achieving the figures they become more important than what they are supposed to represent.

 

However, even with this, my job is 100 times better than the resources deprived apology for a career which I had to endure under the Tories. They spent a fortune setting up a confrontational inspection system under Chris Woodhead, which did nothing but p*ss people off big time & now they talk of bringing the prize pillock back again. (When he was a teacher, he had an affair with a 6th form student. How professional is that?)

 

I'm voting Labour because I believe, for all their faults, of the two parties capable of being elected they deliver the only chance of growth & development for this country. The Tories are a total shambles at the moment. I can't think of more than a couple of people on their front bench at the moment, who could take on a ministerial responsibility. As for Michael Howard, Anne Widdecoombe might be a tad on the bonkers side, but she had him sussed all right. He's a malevolent, small minded, but extremely articulate little man, who loves a verbal scrap, but doesn't have an ounce of real moral fibre.

 

I probably do agree more with the Greens & the Lib Dems, but they aren't going to get elected in Gravesham & I'm not going to waste my vote.

 

EC

[David Holden]

On the other hand, Mr Holloway has said that he is against Gillingham being allowed anywhere near Gravesham.

[Harry J Allstars]

What party is Holloway in?