U2democrat said:
so...on the spectrum...are the lib dems to the left of the labour party?
Labour are traditionally to the left, Conservatives to the right and the Lib Dems straight down the middle.
traditionally!
These days, yes, Lib Dems I'd say are to the left of the current Labour
government.
May 5th is the UK elections, for the government of the whole UK. I know people in the US get confused about Scotland/UK/England or whatever.
Scotland has it's own parliament too, since 1999 and based here in Edinburgh, and so we have control of a few of our own affairs. So in Scotland we also vote for a Scottish parliament aswell as for the overal UK government down in London.
To show how different the Scots are to the English in regards to how we swing politically, the Lib Dems are as popular here as Labour, wheras in England they're the third most popular party. Our Scottish Parliament is a coalition between Labour and the Lib Dems. The Conservatives (second most popular party in England) are very unpopular in Scotland. i.e. the conservatives are practically a non-entity here. Unfortunately, because England is a far bigger country than Scotland, population wise, it's very possible (as was the case many years ago with Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government) that if the English vote Conservative in this election then Scotland will be run by a party very, very few people voted for here. The Conservative's did a lot of damage to Scotland and therefore itself too, in regards to its reputation, in the 1980s and Scotland will long not forget that.
In the Uk, as a whole, The Lib Dems have long always been the 'third' party in UK politics, long way behind either the Conservatives or Labour. However in the last UK election they gained more seats in parliament than ever before. It's looking like they'll improve it more this time around too.
Because of the Lib Dems students in Scotland don't pay tuition fees (they do in England) and there is free personal care for the elderly (not in England) and free travel for the elderly (again, not in England). It's about time England put faith in the Lib Dems as we did here.
ok folks, enough of that....i hate talking about politics in the bar too. that's why i thought i'd get all that out in a one.
Ewen 
I'm operating on 4 hrs of sleep today. Yay me!!!!
