6th May Election : or, something that's not about the United States

[Zoomerang96]

After browsing over the threads here, I'm not sure if anyone is actually aware, but there are countries outside of the United States. One of these happens to be the United Kingdom, and there's a general election on the 6th May.

I'll be voting on Thursday, but I was wondering to the one or two of you who might be following this, if you've decided who you'll be voting for?

I'm pretty sure I've made up my mind, already. But then again, maybe not.

Let's hear it. Who are you voting for? And to the precious few others who might not be British and are following this campaign from your homeland, who would you like to see win?

 

[bigjohn2441]

Where's the United Kingdom?

 

[dazzlingamy]

It is certainly interesting. I've never seen a country so excited Australia is so so so laid back when it comes to politics.
I'm voting for Lib Dems just to see if they can shake shit up. However my biggest fear is David smug bastard Cameron gets in power, as bad shit will go down. I do think Gordo is just not a 'people's PM' and they are slating him for it, but to think Cameron is any better makes me chuck. Clegg is the best of the three but I doubt Lib Dems have enough power to pip at the post.
Will be interesting to see thats for sure!

 

[financeguy]

After browsing over the threads here, I'm not sure if anyone is actually aware, but there are countries outside of the United States. One of these happens to be the United Kingdom, and there's a general election on the 6th May.

I'll be voting on Thursday, but I was wondering to the one or two of you who might be following this, if you've decided who you'll be voting for?

I'm pretty sure I've made up my mind, already. But then again, maybe not.

Let's hear it. Who are you voting for? And to the precious few others who might not be British and are following this campaign from your homeland, who would you like to see win?

There have been plenty of non-US related threads on here. The reality is they tend, by and large, not to gain traction.

I am not British but I do generally follow UK elections. I must say I am taking a lot less interest in this one than any election I can remember.

In brief, I see Cameron as a liberal conservative in the Blair mould. He has not been tested and I am not precisely sure what he is supposed to stand for. Hypothetically, I would vote for a more traditional conservative if there happened to be one standing in whatever hypothetical constituency I was voting in (and a traditional conservative by UK standards is still very moderate by US standards). I would consider the Lib Dems also.

And I can't help noticing you didn't tell us who you are voting for...

 

[Earnie Shavers]

I live in London, and I've been finding it fascinating. It looks like Cameron might squeak it in, and I think that would be/will be a disaster. I'm not voting, but if I were, I live in an area (Islington) that is knife-edge close between Labour and Lib Dem, and given that I'm not sure where I would actually land if I were voting. I agree with the Lib Dems a lot, but I think Labour have done a very good job overall, frontmen issues aside. I think this country would have to be crazy to hand it all over to Cameron/Osborne.

 

[Total U2 Nut]

I think Labour have done a very good job overall, frontmen issues aside. I think this country would have to be crazy to hand it all over to Cameron/Osborne.

Agreed I have already voted, as I'm at uni right now and wanted to vote in my local constituency at home (Richmond). I can't imagine the damage Cameron will do if the conservatives win, but, sadly, I think that is the way this election will go. Brown is not a good 'front man' and lacks the charisma we see in both Clegg and Cameron and so has really suffered in these televised debates, which I think have been fantastic, they've really got a lot of people interested and informed. I'm in Cornwall atm and it's really Lib Dem, which is no great surprise really - so they seem to have a lot of support here, and in the opinion polls too. It's a pretty exciting time in british politics right now

 

[Irvine511]

i've been loosely following, but since i really don't know the issues, i can't offer an informed opinion on the topic. it does seem very interesting, and Brown does seem like he's self-destructing.

i have no idea how i'd vote were i in the UK.

 

[financeguy]

I agree with the Lib Dems a lot, but I think Labour have done a very good job overall, frontmen issues aside.

What good have they done, seriously?

 

[Total U2 Nut]

What good have they done, seriously?

I personally think that taking the recession and other factors into account, Labour has coped with it all far better that the Tories or the Lib Dems would have been able to - Cameron's plans to take money out of the economy really risk pushing us back into a recession and Clegg spends too much time distancing himself from both Cameron and Brown, I don't see how many of their policies are even feasible, with their glorious little tagline "We can change this only with radical action." –Since when have the Lib Dems ever been radical?

I think Labour have done a lot of good, introduction and raise of minimum wage, overall crime figures cut & record police numbers, introduction of the child tax credit, many more doctors and nurses working for the nhs, 30,000+ more teachers etc etc. I mean ofc there have been some glaring errors, but in hindsight, given the choice I would have voted Labour at the last election and it's just a shame its come to picking the lesser of the three evils, so to speak.

 

[financeguy]

I personally think that taking the recession and other factors into account, Labour has coped with it all far better that the Tories or the Lib Dems would have been able to - Cameron's plans to take money out of the economy really risk pushing us back into a recession and Clegg spends too much time distancing himself from both Cameron and Brown, I don't see how many of their policies are even feasible, with their glorious little tagline "We can change this only with radical action." –Since when have the Lib Dems ever been radical?

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with your comments about the Lib Dems (the old 'neither one thing nor the other but somewhere in between' gibe from Spitting Image rings true) - but they are the only mainstream party that was against the Iraq war from day one. I will always respect them for this. I also thought Vince Cable was on-the-ball with regard to his comments and reactions to the bank bailout and related issues.

I think Labour have done a lot of good, introduction and raise of minimum wage, overall crime figures cut & record police numbers, introduction of the child tax credit, many more doctors and nurses working for the nhs, 30,000+ more teachers etc etc. I mean ofc there have been some glaring errors, but in hindsight, given the choice I would have voted Labour at the last election and it's just a shame its come to picking the lesser of the three evils, so to speak.

And all paid for by the taxpayer!

New Labour strike me as having attained the worst balance possible between economic neo-liberalism in some sections of the economy (banking) and absurd and pointless over-regulation in others.

So, in other words, lots more government expenditure and a clientele state. A borderline police state, frankly. This is not deranged conspiracy theory but the opinion of the government's own information commissioner:

BBC NEWS | UK | Britain is 'surveillance society'

Ultimately, who pays for all of this enhancement of government powers and headcount?

Well, in the words of Margaret Thatcher, it's your money.

Finally, New Labour's fulsome support for the Iraq misadventure is good enough reason in and of itself, in my opinion, not to vote for them - although, granted, the Tories supported them on this.

 

[Kieran McConville]

I hope the reason Zoomerang96 is being coy on voting intentions isn't the BNP. Myself, I have a prediction: Labor by a hair, Brown resigns in return for an ineffectual coalition of some kind.

Or, Conservatives by a hair. Cameron, by the way, for anyone unsure, is running on 'change'. A vote for the conservatives is a vote for 'change'.

 

[dazzledbylight]

After browsing over the threads here, I'm not sure if anyone is actually aware, but there are countries outside of the United States. One of these happens to be the United Kingdom, and there's a general election on the 6th May.

I'll be voting on Thursday, but I was wondering to the one or two of you who might be following this, if you've decided who you'll be voting for?

I'm pretty sure I've made up my mind, already. But then again, maybe not.

Let's hear it. Who are you voting for? And to the precious few others who might not be British and are following this campaign from your homeland, who would you like to see win?

oh, come on Z96 dude...
....you've got enough posts in Interland to know other countries and World issues are ALSO discussed here.

I haven't been following it closely b/c among other things a close relative gone through a cancer thing (they're fine now), and having difficulty getting my new apt together.

I did hear about the "gaffe" PM Brown made after a voter had talked to him about was it immigration sissies, just a few days ago.

ANd yes I know about how some people thought Tony Blair was CLintonesque in the triangulation between farther left and farther right politicians in those years et al.

Some of us Americans DO our best keep up with the "rest of the world".

 

[deep]

Z96 will most likely vote Tories.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Go Rupert!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

what's a united kingdom? we don't have a king. seriously though, i've only been following it loosely as well due to tons of circumstances. if i were voting though, only going by the limited knowledge i have, i'd vote for nick clegg.

 

[AliEnvy]

Hung parliament?

 

[Earnie Shavers]

Kind of double hung, in a way. Possibly even a formal Lab-Lib Dem coalition likely wouldn't get a majority. So the only absolute guarantee at the moment is that there'll be another election in 6-12 months.

 

[Bonoa]

After browsing over the threads here, I'm not sure if anyone is actually aware, but there are countries outside of the United States.

Are there?

oh, yeah, I live in one!

 

[Salome]

if we could get a truly United Europe then at least we would only have 1 incompenent government instead of the dozen + incompetent governments we're dealing with now

 

[Kieran McConville]

That seems a stretch, Salome. Even a united Europe on the US model would, presumably still feature sub-national units. Unless you're Napoleon or something.

 

[financeguy]

if we could get a truly United Europe then at least we would only have 1 incompenent government instead of the dozen + incompetent governments we're dealing with now

Would you trust yourself with that amount of power? And if you wouldn't, then why would you trust anyone else?

 

[melon]

Considering I'm not remotely British, it really doesn't matter what I think. Nonetheless, I did pay attention reasonably, and I'm unsure who I would have voted for. Labour seems to rub me the wrong way the same way the Liberals currently do in Canada with a "campaign from the left/rule from the right" mentality. And I really loathe nanny statism.

I do understand why people would distrust the Tories. I very much like how Cameron is appearing to want to shed the homophobia that conservative parties seem to be known for. And part of me seems more willing to give them a chance to prove that they are as "tolerant" as they say they are, far more so than the Canadian Tories, who I wonder if they are just not waiting to unleash their intolerance if they are ever given a majority government.

And the Lib-Dems...I just don't know enough about them. I get the sense that there's parts of their platform I'd really like and parts that I'd really despise with little in-between.

Again, though, I'm not British, and I bet that my attitudes would be shaped much differently if I lived there and had to deal with their consequences.

 

[deep]

London, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday he will step down as leader of his party after it was defeated in parliamentary elections last week.

"As leader of my party I must accept that that is a judgment on me," he said.

He is asking his Labour Party to begin preparations for a new leadership contest in which he will not be a candidate, he said. That effectively means he is on his way out as prime minister.

He said he hoped a new leader would be in place by the next party conference, which is scheduled for September.

The move may clear the way for a deal to keep his party in power after elections last week left no party with an absolute majority in parliament.

Brown said a Labour-Liberal Democrat alliance made sense, given the results of Thursday's vote.

This only makes sense.

What happens if the Lib Dems do not agree to support either Labor or the Conservatives. Because they can not get the election reform they are requesting?

Does Labor just keep power?

 

[financeguy]

YouTube - Adam Boulton (Sky News) v Alastair Campbell (Labour) - FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!

4:30

 

[Irvine511]

so how do they pick a new leader? and what powers will s/he have?

 

[ladywithspinninghead]

Interesting you make comparisons to Canada, Melon, because this scenario reminds me, in some respect, of the one we had with Paul Martin a few years ago - a finance minister works behind the scenes to take over as PM and when he finally does, and all the hoopla settles down, his approval rating plummets and he eventually loses power.

 

[Cactus Annie]

Nick Clegg is an arse.

I'm so angry right now

 

[meegannie]

 

[deep]

Tories !

David Cameron named UK prime minister - CNN.com

 

[melon]

As a spectator, I'm quite interested in seeing how this will go. I have no affinity for socialism (i.e., Labour, in theory), and quite a lot of affinity for liberalism (Lib-Dems, in theory; Alan Wolfe's "The Future of Liberalism" does a good job of outlining why liberalism and socialism are not the same), with me having some increasing centre-right leanings (Cameron's Tories, in theory).

Basically, I'd like to see if they can actually succeed at "Progressive Conservatism" in a way that Canada failed to sustain. There's rumour that one of the conditions of the coalition is that Clegg insisted on a fixed four-year term for this parliament, so there would be ample time to see if this will work.