Thetownend.com

I know politics threads on the TEF genuinely don't work but I'm going to light the fuse and run anyway. Following the Election in Norway and the somewhat surprising shift to the (far) right, I'm curious how people would vote if there was another general election tomorrow?

Burn it all down. To the ground.

Norway's shift is hardly surprising given its historic anti-semitism...and Nazi collaborationist history.

This. I despise politics and all parties.

Fuck knows. Not the Tories, not Labour under Beaker, not the Lib Dems under Clegg. Not UKIP because they'd be a fucking disaster if they actually had to run anything. Not the Greens because they wouldn't win in a million years. Not the BNP because I'm not a cunt.

I might see which of the local independent candidates seemed least mental.

Edit: Having just moved, I had no idea who my local MP was. Turns out it's Harriet Harman, who pops up every now and then on the TV to say something irritating.

Edit the second: although she was apparently nominated for Rear of the Year in 2010. That's quite funny.

UKIP

......or "BNP-lite", as they're known.

I doubt I'd be able to motivate myself to leave the house...like many, many others.  General apathy towards the main three parties is probably going to lead to a boost for fringe parties here as well in the next few years.

If (big if) the Tories are right about the economic recovery taking hold, then they will do well next time around.  But if not, I can see another deadlock.  More likely, Osborne's 'turning the corner' is really going to look something like this...as excellently pointed out by Boothby Graffoe yesterday.

(http://www.todaysfacilitymanager.com/2012_build/wp-content/uploads/stairs.jpg)

Present opinion polls indicate an unworkable Labour majority and therefore the likelihood of another Coalition.

However, as Harold Wilson once said "a week is a long time in politics" and there must be 80 or so weeks before the next election, so a lot can change in that time.

It's a very big if in my mind, if the country has turned the corner economically how come the biggest growth these days is in the use of foodbanks!!  Sadly none of the political parties know what it is like to be a working man - Osborne never had a job until he came into politics - they all seem to be protected by large trust funds and rich parents!!

Labour. Best of a bad bunch and the only realistic way of getting the Tories out.

I'll either vote for a local independent or not bother at all.

I know I've said it before on here, but it's all just one big popularity contest. I don't believe that any of the three main parties really firmly believe in their policy pledges, they're just marketing manoeuvres to win votes - just look at how well Clegg did out of the last election and how his popularity has all but disappeared now that his "marketing" has fallen by the wayside.

Probably vote Tory, which will be the first time I've bothered to vote.

Purely because some political continuity and gritting of teeth is required to drag the econcomy forward.

Pretty much the same reason i'd stick with the Tories.  Was generally a Labour voter for many years but the thought of them trying to turn round the economy is terrifying IMO, they are unelectable with the Ed in charge.

I would (and will) vote Green as a protest vote. Okay, some of their policies are loopy but the main parties need to do more for the environment before it's too late. The more people that make a stand, the more chance they'll take notice.

Conservatives

Although not a popular vote, the thought of Labour in charge is dreadful, they havent got a credible argument about the economy with the 2 ed's in charge who were in the treasury during the recession, and were campaigning to carry on spending!! Plus we are talking about a political party that voted to have his royal tonyness in charge who put us through an illegal war and blatently lied to the country about the evidence, signed away a lot of our powers to europe, and signed us up to the Human rights lunacy which means convicted criminals get better treatment then decent citizens who need help!!

And then we got Brown! Oh dear me :/ How much did the banks get of our money?? That money could have solved our pension shortfall in the country

This country is going to the pan whoever is in charge! The Tories is jobs for the old boys brigade, and labour is just a disaster waiting to happen!

Can't argue on many points, but powers being signed off to Europe cannot be a charge levied at any PM (Tory or Labour of recent times), that one boils down to joining the thing.  It has a clear objective which is complete Political, Economic and Social Cohesion - in other words, remove your sovereignty on most issues, all designed initially to be the end game of how to avoid 1939-1945 happening again.

I won't vote.  Not apathetic about any party, more because I do not feel they actually have the control or pwer these days anyway.  They are just the face of the admin department, the support teams, a BPO if you like.  The major corporations create the conditions for everything these days.

I was once quite agitated by it all, I now decide to worry about the things that I can impact.

Well said. Pretty much my feelings. It's just voting for a new facade. 

British politics/politicians are way too boring. It needs more Coup d'états and Berlusconi type characters to make it more interesting.

What this country needs is an Indian prime minister!

Isn't that why Boris Johnson was being touted as a future Prime Minister?

What this country needs are more ethnically/culturally diverse politicians in general...

Before you can even think about being a 'major player' in politics, you've either got to lick a bunch of arseholes to do it and lose all sense of credibility and independence, or be rich and know the 'right people'. Hence why every 'big' politician is a white, middle-aged Etonite, or at least so firmly up someone else's (peer, leader of party, trade union, corporations etc.) bunghole they are not a politician but a glorified buttplug. So you basically have a class of self-interested perpetuators of the same broken system where the only thing that happens is PR and PR and more PR and thieving from the public purse and more PR.

With the increasing diversity of the country, it stinks of elitism that there are few ethnically/culturally diverse politicans in the mix- I don't just mean people of Indian/Asian/African descent (though there needs to be more of those), I also mean people who grew up without a silver spoon in their mouths and without their head up someone's arse. People in politics, and in general, are too selfish and short-sighted for the system as it is to work.

I don't know what ethnic persuasion you are, but I'd just like to ask why you haven't stood as a politician?

Ghandi?

Trying to work out if that's an insult (as in I have my head up someone's arse) or a compliment...  :hmmm:

Or Norwegian... I suppose Jens Stoltenberg has a bit more spare time on his hands now.

I'd vote Green as they are the closest to my beliefs and those I hold strongest but realise that unless British politics embraces the functionality of a coalition that isn't as inherently flawed as Conservative/Lib Dem then they're unlikely to have any real impact.

The biggest issue with politics at present is the politicians themselves. Nothing is worse than a career politician who has only ever been a career politician.

Milliband, is the son of Polish Jews who escaped Nazi Germany...he went to his local London comp, where the likes of John Barnes, Joe Cole and Marlon Harewood attended. That not diverse enough for you?

Nope.  Lets stick to Indian!

I switched over to the Proms briefly on Saturday, and caught a glimpse of a man wearing a Union Jack turban .... If we really cant find someone naturally Indian he would get my vote.

Untill you mentioned Marlon Harewood, you had me signed up!

I know Marlon is with the Slave Traders...but what have you got against him?  Always seemed a decent sort of chap to me.

Please don't vote green and encourage them.

We have green local councillors and they are totally clueless middle class arseholes, our ward is made up of two distinct parts a sort of pseudo bohemian area and a council estate, as you can imagine they interact well with (and live in) the nice bit but have no policies or clue about the lives of well over 50% of their constituents.

As for who to vote for, no idea, they are all different shades of the centre ground, its the problem with politicians, it has become a career choice and thus you get clueless fools doing what the party tell them to.

No, because one bloke does not diversity make.

More importantly Tulisa attended the same school!

His background is more middle class academic parents and then Oxford - always interests me that Labour politicians keep their roots when they go to Oxbridge and tory ones apparently don't.

It was neither.

I will always vote (well, submit a ballot paper), but it feels like a vote for anyone other than the big three is wasted and pointless, and those three parties have not proved themselves to be competent or trustworthy. I have no party bias, and in local elections often vote for a committed (but ultimately doomed) independent candidate.

We could really do with a complete overhaul of politics, but I can't see it happen without some kind of revolutionary movement - which won't happen.

:eek:

Exactly, can see little change though. All brought into focus by the fuss about lobbying, to answer do we a) confirm that taking cash for lobbying is wrong and out those who have taken money etc or do we b) register the lobbyists - what a sham!