General Election 2017

I will be tuning in as normal but being stateside now means the time difference will just make it a bit of a late night!

Best of luck UK.

No way I can stay up all night, because as you can see I'm up ready for work. Suppose I can catch half hour, because at this time we should have a clear indication who is going to be in government.

Bry Nylon said:

How could it be ANYTHING but BBC1? Truly?

Not only is it simply the best coverage, but you get Jeremy Vine with his big floor map and 'virtual' House of Commons plus Emily Maitlis frantically swiping her interactive smartboard which is oddly erotic for some reason.

I genuinely didn't know it was covered on any other channel. If I couldn't get BBC1 I'd listen on Radio 4.

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Bozza said:

....is the correct answer.

I didn't even bother covering where to watch it as it has to be the BBC.

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Yup, BBC all the way.

Whenever there is the same event being covered by both BBC and ITV, does anyone actually watch ITV? Even thinking as far back as when the Cup Final was just about the only live football on the tellybox, I never, ever watched it on ITV.

The argument that we should have about the same corporate and income tax as Germany & Italy (less than France & Belgium) is very appealing to me.

A couple of weeks ago, I really couldn't make up my mind. However, the more I think about it the more I find myself unable vote in a way which could lead to Corbyn as PM. Regardless of how he may claim to feel now, I find the idea of someone who has previously sympathised with terrorists, voted against anti-terror legislation and opposed the shoot-to-kill policy as being totally unsuitable to be PM. Conservatives for me, for the first time ever.

Surrey Phil said:

Has to be said I have never heard so many lies from so man politicians - you don't know what to believe any more?

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How old are you 5?

"A Crap Thatcher opposed by a crap Foot" or something similar somebody wrote a few weeks back I think. Sadly true - I am in the ABN camp (anyone but May) but not sure about the anyone.

Goldstone1976 said:

Apparently my views matched 73% of the Labour manifesto, 73% Lib Dem and 73% Green. As I said in another thread a few weeks ago, I'm buggered basically.

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Funny isn't it, when you are asked individual questions like that, that show how much you care about other people, as well as yourself, that almost invariably you don't come up with a result to vote Tory - however, we all know the reality will be very diferent when it gets to the polling both and self interest takes over!

Brian Fantana said:

A couple of weeks ago, I really couldn't make up my mind. However, the more I think about it the more I find myself unable vote in a way which could lead to Corbyn as PM. Regardless of how he may claim to feel now, I find the idea of someone who has previously sympathised with terrorists, voted against anti-terror legislation and opposed the shoot-to-kill policy as being totally unsuitable to be PM. Conservatives for me, for the first time ever.

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Just the government that continues to snuggle up to Saudi Arabia, a suppressed government report supposedly indicating they are the biggest funders of terrorist organizations - and we're giving them all their arms. A lot safer.

Bold Seagull said:

Just the government that continues to snuggle up to Saudi Arabia, a suppressed government report supposedly indicating they are the biggest funders of terrorist organizations - and we're giving them all their arms. A lot safer.

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The causes of terrorism are much more varied and nuanced than that.

Anyway, I've now voted so there's no changing my mind!

darkwolf666 said:

Funny isn't it, when you are asked individual questions like that, that show how much you care about other people, as well as yourself, that almost invariably you don't come up with a result to vote Tory - however, we all know the reality will be very diferent when it gets to the polling both and self interest takes over!

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I watched sky news last night. They were saying how much people would be better off under each parties manifesto.

The poor will be worse off by almost the same amount for all parties. They say none of them will benefit them.

The middle classes again not a lot of difference.

The rich are the only group who are going to be better off under the Tories and worse off under Labour.

The point being is that when this election is over, it's the rich who stand to win or lose. The rest of us have lost whoever is elected.


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neilbard said:

How old are you 5?

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He has a point though?

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Useful link to find the impact of voting for different parties on your local school (just type in postcode or school name):
http://www.schoolcuts.org.uk/#!/

neilbard said:

How old are you 5?

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Quite.
Since time immemorial, politicians have told us what they think we want to hear. They change very little. They tinker around the edges, persuading us that it is the way forward. They don't make big, bold changes to benefit the people. They can't. They are just puppets of the Establishment and that is how it has always been. Everything is tightly controlled and not allowed to run out of control. There is too much vested interest to allow it to happen. The only time there is any sort of significant change is when a leading politician backs himself against the country and gets too far ahead of himself/herself. For example...David Cameron and Brexit. He committed the cardinal sin of allowing the people too much power, with a simple yes/no vote. Our normal voting system doesn't allow that. It controls the populace and ensures that only one of two parties take control.
They use soundbites to whip up interest in the issues most sensitive. Health, Education, Law and Order and Immigration. In truth, they do very little. They target smoking and drinking but only to a certain degree. Why deprive themselves of an enormous revenue from tax on these products. They rail on about helping business in this country but they are actually only interested in the multi national and corporate world. They bend over backwards to help the banking, financial and legal worlds but the hundreds of thousands ( nay millions ) of SME's ( the industrial backbone of this country ) are given little or no assistance. Why? Because they are the national cash cow. They can be milked day after day after day. They are the cash reserve that keeps giving to the central pot. The majority pay thousands of pounds in business rates each year for precisely zero in return from local government, knowing that a lot of this money is going to fund public sector pensions. Hard working businesses are taxed on their profits. Money that could be used to re-invest in their businesses and help grow, rather than be wasted by government. Thousands of companies send vehicles out every day to carry out business but there is never any help given to ease the burden of crippingly high fuel prices, which inevitably have to be passed on to the consumer.
Motorists in general are soft targets. Another massive cash cow. Vehicle tax continually rises but do we see massive improvement in the condition of our roads? We are soft targets for the police, who employ too many in the pursuit of easier convictions, rather than more concentration on the community and improving relationships with the public at a local level.
Politicians are ultimately responsible for this country running out of control. I dreaded the day we started building on the green belt, the open countryside buit it is now happening everywhere. No curbs, no control. It is a national disgrace and it is being allowed to happen. They have dug a huge hole for themselves and now they cannot stop it. Anyone with a modicum of commonsense knows that there is a finite populatrion level for the UK, above which, quality of life begins to diminish. Services become under pressure and road networks get busier and busier. It takes longer to get things done. But this is of no concern to politicians. For years we had controlled immigration until politicians decide to employ their own cynical agenda and open the foodgates and now it is out of control and we cannot monitor the entry and exit of criminals and terrorists into this country because there are so many.
I rest my long and weary case and wish good luck to the political animals out there, excited by these events and positive in who they vote for. I've seen some pretty ordinary poliiticians in my time but this lot are as uninspiring a bunch of political servants as I have ever seen.

Bry Nylon said:

Not much of choice is it? I can't recall a time with such a dearth of political talent and lack of inspirational vision in any party.

I have always voted, happily and decisively, but for the first time ever I am a total loss as to what to do.

Only 4 candidates standing in my constituency: Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP.

Labour I discount immediately. I wouldn't be adverse to voting Labour under different circumstances, but I can't endorse Corbyn and McDonnell. Similarly, no way will I vote Lib Dem or UKIP. So that leaves the Conservatives.

Again, I wouldn't be adverse to voting Conservative - it is probably the natural home for my vote. But they have run an appalling campaign in a totally unnecessary election called purely for Mrs May's benefit and not the country's. Put simply, I don't believe they deserve my vote this time so why should I give it to them.

I can't NOT vote, so hence my being at a total loss. I still believe a 'spoilt' ballot 'is the best way I can register my complete exasperation with this whole sorry state of affairs. And for me, that is a crying shame.

Maybe I'll have a moment of clarity on my way to the polling station tomorrow morning and find myself able to make a positive choice, but time is running out...

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I was bemoaning this fact myself......the political talent on show just now is attrocious, has it ever been any lower......Maybot (strong and stable, has their ever been a leader looking less strong and stable with U-Turn after U-Turn just in the campaign alone), Corbyn the IRA terrorist sympathiser (yes it seems unreal but an IRA symapthiser could be on the brink of becoming our PM), Farron, the mystery man....has anyone seen him, UKIP what's the point any more after Brexit and so on.............compare the situation to only 2010, when the leaders were Brown, Cameron, Clegg, Farage and Salmond.....they appear giants in the land of pygmies that we now have to choose from.

Bold Seagull said:

Just the government that continues to snuggle up to Saudi Arabia, a suppressed government report supposedly indicating they are the biggest funders of terrorist organizations - and we're giving them all their arms. A lot safer.

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The US is the largest supplier of arms to Saudi Arabia.

Spare a thought for all those badminton players who can't play today as leisure centres and village halls are dedicated to polling stations. It's a national crime.

Notters said:

Students are surely overwhelmingly registered in their home towns, where they usually spend circa 70% of the time? I certainly was.

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In Sussex and Brighton they are encouraged to vote down here by the Greens, I wonder why?

Students can register at both addresses and then vote in which one they choose

Bry Nylon said:

Not much of choice is it? I can't recall a time with such a dearth of political talent and lack of inspirational vision in any party.

I have always voted, happily and decisively, but for the first time ever I am a total loss as to what to do.

Only 4 candidates standing in my constituency: Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and UKIP.

Labour I discount immediately. I wouldn't be adverse to voting Labour under different circumstances, but I can't endorse Corbyn and McDonnell. Similarly, no way will I vote Lib Dem or UKIP. So that leaves the Conservatives.

Again, I wouldn't be adverse to voting Conservative - it is probably the natural home for my vote. But they have run an appalling campaign in a totally unnecessary election called purely for Mrs May's benefit and not the country's. Put simply, I don't believe they deserve my vote this time so why should I give it to them.

I can't NOT vote, so hence my being at a total loss. I still believe a 'spoilt' ballot 'is the best way I can register my complete exasperation with this whole sorry state of affairs. And for me, that is a crying shame.

Maybe I'll have a moment of clarity on my way to the polling station tomorrow morning and find myself able to make a positive choice, but time is running out...

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Are you in Kemptown? Could always go Doktor Haze (Independent)