The General Election

[HummerOfIntenseEvil]

That's true' date=' but not really the point. You vote for the party you believe in most, end of.[/quote']

Aye, I'm fed up of the negative voting culture we've got now. Look at the lib dems - their main argument in Aberdeen South is "only us or Labour can win this seat". It says something about the state of the parties when the only way you can get people's votes is to say "at least we're not THEM."

Saying that, I HAD been considering voting lib dem just to get Anne Begg out. But watching Alex Salmond on TV a couple of times made up my mind to go with my heart: SNP!

[Pierre Von Mondragon]

Too many people with not enough experience of what a Tory government really means. There was an interesting article in Guardian online today predicting a groundswell of opinion in favour of PR, as a means of shaking up the current feeling of disenfranchisement. When that happens there are a couple of alternatives I would consider to voting Labour, but until then I have to opt for whoever is most likely to keep the Tories out of power They can be alright on an individual basis, but collectively they sum up everything bad about the UK.

[Afro Droid]

Too many people with not enough experience of what a Tory government really means.

Say word!

[Nikki]

hmmm. . .voting. . .i don't know if i even will!!! If i do, it certainly won't be Labour!

[HeinzHines]

Im undecided....

SNP: Although i agree that Scotland is shit on a bit, i cant take that party seriously...i feel that their whole 'Scotland needs to be independent, so it can have the same rights as other nations that are in the UN' policy is utter bollocks...scotland would probably go up shit creek without other nations backing it and the UN dont take countries with a 5 million population too seriously and they would just be laughed at....

Conservative: Maggie Thatcher.....enough said.

Labour: Hmm tough one...the war did piss me off a bit...but i agree the world is probably a better place without Sadam Hussain...even though the war motive was more 70% down to fuel....but Tony and his shower of shits have pulled the UK's arse into a fucking strong econmic power once again and apart from Iraq i feel they just havent been that bad...or indeed that no party would be any better....

Lib Dems: I feel that they are a party that could do great things if everywhere really was so 'local' ....their policies seems very localised and help the community alot....but i wouldnt trust them with a big decision such as the war in Iraq....and as for the whole anti 'no id card', i find it laughable....why are people so pissed off about this?

So i suppose in the end i will vote labour, just because i dont think anyone will do any better or worse...unless they do something god awful in the coming weeks....then who knows

[Nikki]

That was extremely indepth for this time of night!!!

[HeinzHines]

That was extremely indepth for this time of night!!!

I aint got shit all else to do!

[Nikki]

This is very true and clearly neither do i! Otherwise i wouldn't be here either. . .well i would be, but not in the politics area. . .

[Demon Of The Fall]

SNP without a doubt

[Hog]

Im undecided....

Labour: Hmm tough one...the war did piss me off a bit...but i agree the world is probably a better place without Sadam Hussain...even though the war motive was more 70% down to fuel....but Tony and his shower of shits have pulled the UK's arse into a fucking strong econmic power once again and apart from Iraq i feel they just havent been that bad...or indeed that no party would be any better....

So i suppose in the end i will vote labour' date=' just because i dont think anyone will do any better or worse...unless they do something god awful in the coming weeks....then who knows[/quote']

Woah my friend. The war pissed you off a bit? Also, we live in Scotland man! We have the worst economy is the UK!

[HeinzHines]

Also' date=' we live in Scotland man! We have the worst economy is the UK![/quote']

Its cause we waste all our money on kilts and whisky....

But seriously...i agree we do....but were not that badly done by....the way people say that we are so hard done by annoys me...im sure other places are much much worse...

[Hog]

Its cause we waste all our money on kilts and whisky....

But seriously...i agree we do....but were not that badly done by....the way people say that we are so hard done by annoys me...im sure other places are much much worse...

the war the war!

[TheBuck]

i will be voting ssp.

o yeah i forgot, im eighteen the day after the election.

CUNT!!

[TheBuck]

"Nikki

Regular Member

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wrote:

"hmmm. . .voting. . .i don't know if i even will!!! If i do, it certainly won't be Labour! "

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hey student top-up fees were going to be introduced in the seventies by the tories but students protested and they feared losing all their votes and so dropped the policy. when labour introduced it last year no-one gave a fuck so now its in. (i know they are not up here but it does have knock on effects)

hey im not saying its all our fault like, lol. or that your a student. i just think everyone should vote.

[Guest Jake Wifebeater]

i just think everyone should vote.

I think so too. It's not all that long ago that women weren't even entitled to vote. There's an old saying "If you don't vote, don't complain". OK, putting a cross on a sheet of paper every 4-5 years is hardly active democratic participation, but for now it's all you get so you really should take the opportunity. People fought like hell for the right to vote, it's a bit of a slap in the face to them if we choose not to even bother.

[Mr. Tristen]

Unfortunately because I keep moving around so often I never quite seem to end up on the voting registers, so no vote for me. In all honesty NO party that I've heard of atleast come close to matching what I want for the country, so it would be a case of voting for the lesser or all evils and leaving it in the hands of Labour.

[NARC]

hey student top-up fees were going to be introduced in the seventies by the tories but students protested and they feared losing all their votes and so dropped the policy. when labour introduced it last year no-one gave a fuck so now its in. (i know they are not up here but it does have knock on effects)

If you had watched Question Time on Thursday you would have heard Tony Blair explain that there are no top-up fees, in the sense that you pay something all throughout University. What happens is that when you graduate you pay back a sum based on your ability to pay. So if you graduate but find yourself unemployed, then you don't pay. Simple and a lot fairer.

But I am not a Labour supporter, I will be voting SNP.

[Guest Main Agent]

Oh children of the oilwealth

Well what a bunch of forward thinking radicals so far have posted in the thread.

For a music site, I am am amazed that the responses to the thread are that most that have posted so far, will vote for the parties and policies that sustain and perpetuate the simple arguments over tax, fuel prices, the iraq war(the tories would have done exactly the same as labour).

Its all yes war(big parties) no war(small parties) .

The simple truth is that no political party has your interests as an individual at the top of their agenda.

No, its all greed, power, and macho macho. yes even the nationalists and socialists adopt an egotistical posture, and lack humility.

What will the main parties do to address the enviromental crisis we are now faced with, the depletion of unsustainable resources, the degredation of the food chain, through pollution, exploitation, and genetic modification,?

Me, I'm a scots nationalist, but I'm also a socialist.

Well, posters here may remember me supporting the SNP at the scottish parliament elections, but I really think some show of support should made for the alternative agenda of green policies,

It seems to me that the media are guilty of ignoring these issues in this campaign, and most voters are strongly influenced by the media,

Well the subject is now depressing me,

Some one else put forward a case for alternatives to this mainstream greedy profiteering bs.(or tell me the SSPs policies on ecological and enviromental issues)

Or I may just have to vote for the "Natural Law Party" again!!! ;)

[lepeep]

SNP or Labour.

I'd consider myself a Liberal person but the leftist parties we have in Britain are geared towards pissed up students and schoolboy revolutionaries. Lib Dem's think it's a good idea to lower the drinking age when we have one of the worst 'Yob' cultures in Europe?

perhaps if the drinking age was lowwer, less people would bust a gut to get fucked over "on the sly" before they were 18 ?!...

it's the attitude to life that makes the difference, not the age at which you can start to drink.

ever thought that in spain, they let kids drink , have late licensing, yet no real drink problem ?...

ah,that'll be the brilliant weather, makes people mellow, meethinks.

[Nikki]

If i was voting, it would be 'tactically' or purely to take my vote away from other parties. Noones really tickled my fancy!!

[Chris]

or tell me the SSPs policies on ecological and enviromental issues

http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/man2005/Manifesto.html#environment

[Guest Main Agent]

http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/man2005/Manifesto.html#environment

Free trade and environmentalism are mutually contradictory. Asking capitalism to protect the planet is like asking a pack of hounds to protect a fox.

Thanks for that link

[Stripey]

voteswapping! this is an interesting idea, designed to outwit the election system.

http://www.tacticalvoter.net

[Marillionboy]

Jake's spot on, the nuclear statistic in particular says it all. When I was growing up there was a plan to dump nuclear waste on top of the Durn Hill near Portsoy which my parents house backs on to. Apparently it was totally harmless, which rather begged the question of why they weren't dumping it in St James Park in that case.

I think the simple fact for me is that Scotland is a different country to England and therefore has different priorities and should have a seperate party ruling it committed to its own interests. Over and over again England has at best ignored Scotland and more frequently explouted it, that's always been Scotland's role in national politics.

While I shudder to endorse any party with the word "nationalist" in their name (okay they've now lost the "IST") I think having a Labour party who are a disgrace to the name, standing as they do marginally to the right of the Tories, with a leader who has sent troops into battle more times in his tenure than any other PM in the last 100 years, and who stubbornly refused to resign despite forcing Greg Dyke to do so because "the man at the top should carry the can", forces my hand.

While England hasn't got the luxury of a realistic alternative to Labour and therefore Blair will get in again, Scotland has, and hopefully the votes will reflect the repugnance most of us feel towards Blair, a Prime Minister without even the honestly of Thatcher in conducting such brutal policies.

[lil_kazzy]

Talking of tactical voting, I feel there's nothing wrong with it. If your only real view on politics is a burning hatred of labour, you're going to vote whichever way will knock the labour candidate out.

I'll be voting for the Scottish National Party.

They're against ID cards and for more community policemen

For higher pensions

For student grants rather than loans, and the abolition (sp?) of the graduate endowment tax

For a local income tax rather than council tax, which is altogether much fairer

For more supported grassroots sport

For our own non-nuclear defence system

For "a proactive immigration policy to welcome new Scots and encourage people who have left Scotland to come back."

And, possibly most importantly for me, they support Scottish independence.