Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Both are an assumption

---------- Post added at 23:15 ---------- Previous post was at 23:11 ----------

Reminding us ad nauseam ..

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Conservative support slips but party stays just ahead of Labour.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...head-of-labour

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

'You'll do more damage to the country than you did to your brother': Boris launches furious personal attack on 'back stabber' Miliband live on TV

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3YPmrRobY
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Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

More unworkable rubbish from Labour

http://news.sky.com/story/1472278/la...eneration-rent

Housing in this country is a mess and the last we need is a Labour government stifling the market with unworkable legislation ,far better to announce a plan to build more social housing

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Heaven forbid that Labour would actually help those that work. This nonsense will send rents soaring just as the energy price freeze screwed us all even before they get into power.

Expect service charges to make up any shortfall.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Yep ,also the quality of private rentals will fall and most likely a lot of private landlords will cease to be private landlords .Restrictive legislation like this just drives puts people off being private landlords

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Tough, if you can't dispute the facts eh? Feeling sick is the least you should be suffering after the mess they left this country in after their so called 'boom'...

---------- Post added at 14:47 ---------- Previous post was at 14:44 ----------

'Twas ever thus - populist, back of a fag packet policy made up on the hoof as usual. What more should we expect from these people? As usual (e.g. mansion tax, top rate of tax, British jobs for British workers, bankers, etc.) it relies upon painting a simplistic picture of one section of society preying upon another. Why simplistic? Maybe because the people who buy into it are simple and that's how to get their votes...

We clearly need more homes but unless we control immigration, population growth and various social factors (e.g. family breakdown) there will never be enough.

Miliband could savage our cities faster than any bomb
 

How the hell anyone could vote for these idiots is beyond me...

link

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Good to see an unbiased news source reporting a debate about the policies of this election .. no wait, it's the Daily Mail and Boris. Gutter press and gutter politics ..

Re: Miliband could savage our cities faster than any bomb
 

Same goes for the other idiots too, they're all just as bad.

Re: Miliband could savage our cities faster than any bomb
 

Absolutely but people are entitled to vote for who they want despite the efforts of a few on here who obviously must be on Commission as some sort of payment for their party masters.;):waving:

Re: Miliband could savage our cities faster than any bomb
 

It would be like putting yours nut's in a grinder then asking why did that happen when it hurts. :D

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

hey don't shoot the messenger .

Re: Miliband could savage our cities faster than any bomb
 

The headline is ridiculously hyperbolic. So much so that I think anyone but the most myopic would write off any valid criticisms that the article might make. Over the weekend we've had Miliband's election compared to the biggest crisis since the abdication and actual bombings.

If Miliband wins then you might want to look at these attempts to swing the election as to why. The Conservatives have a good record that should allow them another term but instead of advocating that they and their supporters are going into overdrive at making apocalyptic predictions of what happens if Labour win.

Re: Miliband could savage our cities faster than any bomb
 

and who are are also Daily Mail shareholders :)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Re: Miliband could savage our cities faster than any bomb
 

You're a Daily Mail shareholder now matey - whatever next?... :erm:

:D

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Paywall link

Alt link

The puppet master speaks. Be afraid....

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

You mean if all the talk of the end of the world isn't already scary?

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

2012 has been and gone.... ;)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Red Len will do the sort of 'wonders' for our economy that Derek Hatton did for Liverpool, Ted Knight did for Lambeth, Ken Livingstone did for the GLC, Arthur Scargill did for the miners and Derek Robinson did for British Leyland.

:)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Just delayed maybe. Ed Miliband is the one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Whereas:

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2015/04/3.gif

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Works for those who actually believe major party politics is a battle of good vs evil I guess.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Eyes aside , Bliar does look remarkably like Cesar Romero's version of 'the Joker' in that image and that's quite fitting really.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

He'll be back...

http://s3-static-ak.buzzfed.com/stat...1731-0_big.jpg

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

It looks like Dave's workers on this forum will be working overtime :hyper::hyper: in these next 10 days to try to stop red Ed from reaching Downing Street.;)

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/0...source=twitter

http://www.populus.co.uk/Poll/

Re: Miliband could savage our cities faster than any bomb
 

Or they could just have very strong beliefs, and are vocal with them (both sides of the fence).

Your comment is worthy of the Mail and the Mirror.... ;)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Yes there is nothing wrong with strong beliefs but it does verge on worshipping at times but each to their own l say.:)

Personally l feel hurt being classed with those two rags as l prefer the broadsheets.:nono::naughty:

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

And yet the consequences of not returning a Conservative Government will be economically ruinous.

If the public don't wake up soon to the fact that we are not going to be able to spend our way out of this, the thought of emigrating from this country will suddenly become very appealing.

---------- Post added at 13:41 ---------- Previous post was at 13:39 ----------

Quite right. A freeze on rents for three years will just encourage landlords to start the rent at a much higher rate than otherwise it would have been.

If Labour go on to control rents, it will simply make it uneconomic to buy to rent, and that will mean there will be less properties available for renting. And guess what, that will put up rents.

Crazy, crazy Labour, they really have no idea at all.

---------- Post added at 13:46 ---------- Previous post was at 13:41 ----------

So he even fails to deliver what is prophesied!

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

It's perfectly possible to detest Labour without being a Tory, voting Tory or even thinking the Tories have all the answers. It's also easy to forget that we don't have a Tory govt. ,we have a coalition in power. ;)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Perhaps Mr Miliband is not heading to Number 10 after all.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...rdian-icm-poll

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/gene...-Scotland.html

http://lordashcroftpolls.com/

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

call me silly with all this talk of aerial bombing and atom bombs over London and how serious the danger is but surely as this is for people with three year tenancies and over all that'll happen is landlords won't dish out three year tenancies any more, no apocalypse just people private renting having a more insecure future, you think that'd be enough to make political capital but as said with all the talk of meltdown I can't help but think I've got it wrong and there's something far more reaching going on

---------- Post added at 15:56 ---------- Previous post was at 15:53 ----------

Plenty wrong with those beliefs if they blind you to the inadequacies of the side you support

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Nick Clegg is an arse.
all he's interested in is what gang he can join.

the past 5 years he's been happily playing his Xbox whilst Dave has been wreaking havoc.
now he wants the opportunity to do the same for another 5 years.

just dissapear Nick. you're irrelevant in politics now.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Ashcroft's poll has the Tories with a 6 point lead. First time a poll has departed from the usual statistical noise and margins of error. It may be an outlier but such a result could be enough to get the Tories/Dems a workable majority without the DUP.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Meanwhile ICM/Graun has them on +3. It's shifting, but slowly.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

LOL have you seen Dave bouncing and all hyped up yet?

so fake Dave.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

It is some on the Left that are criticising rent controls.
Sounds great doesn't it.:rolleyes:

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

More inconvenient truths for Labour to be in denial of but hey, who cares, press on regardless with the same old failed policies. They never learn.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

I reckon it will go right down to the wire. Even the bookies have stopped taking bets on Clegg losing his seat.

The only Lib Dem guaranteed to keep his seat is Vince Cable, with a reduce majority.
We simply cannot have Cameron again with his rotten policies

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Strangely enough, last month the Labour Shadow Housing Emma Reynolds told the Association of Residential Letting Agents that her party “don’t want to introduce rent controls, so don’t believe everything you read in the newspapers”:

---------- Post added at 21:15 ---------- Previous post was at 21:07 ----------

If the bookies have stopped taking bets on Clegg losing his seat, Arthur, why do William Hill have him the odds-on favourite to take that constituency?

Lib Dems 1/3
Conservatives 50/1
Labour 9/4
UKIP 200/1

http://www.williamhill.com/nui/free-...oL9BoCUYvw_wcB

In fact, all the bookies have him as odds-on favourite http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/.../winning-party

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Now why doesn't that surprise me?

Cue the arrival of the usual suspects claiming it's all right wing tabloid lies... :D

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

I think it's fair to say that polls are more unreliable now than they ever have been. They aren't equipped to cope with so many variables.

And that Osem will continue his ongoing partisan onslaught ;)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

It's not just that polls aren't equipped to cope it's also how it translates to parliamentary seats. If the Liberal Democrats survive a pasting and the Tories save more seats than currently projected then the Government can continue as is. There is reason to believe than incumbents might do better than expected.

Although a small majority will be unstable. Many right-wing Tories and Liberal Liberal Democrats may cause trouble next time around.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

It's the same with Big Brother polls.
you think someone won't be evicted. and then shock, horror they are evicted.

When Dave is evcted next month he can have a well earned rest :)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Yes me being one of them if you read what I said. It's just rather than use renters as a political football kitted out in hyperbole I'd rather talk about the actual issue

---------- Post added at 22:21 ---------- Previous post was at 22:18 ----------

He has become one of the usual suspects he keeps banging on about. Shame really I used to enjoy reading his posts, now they're just a bit boring :(

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Miliband the Land-Grabber: Red Ed's threat to confiscate unused land branded 'Stalinist' as backlash grows over his plans to control property market

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3Ya8hWmWd
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---------- Post added at 07:27 ---------- Previous post was at 07:15 ----------

is that the one where you stab big brother in the back and leave his career in tatTers

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

If he isn't can we gloat? :D

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Bit arrogant for all of you to assume that the Prime Minister will be either Cameron or Miliband. I am not ruling out, due to a series of constitutional surprises and tough negotiation by a committed group of nationalists, our next Prime Minster to be:

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Bit early to play the Joker, Damien.:D

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

DM is getting more rabid by the day: "Red Ed", "Stalinist" .. it turning into a blue rinse version of Viz

BTW, what's with the DM facebook and twitter adverts with each link, are you on commission or something?

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

THe problem with sociaists is that the always say that this time round it'll work.......:rolleyes:

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

If you copy and paste text from the Wail, it adds the link and the FB and Twitter details automatically.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

So Mr Smurf isn't 'on commission' at all then... :D

---------- Post added at 11:33 ---------- Previous post was at 11:26 ----------

... and those of their voters who're truly dyed in the wool (plus a few who aren't) never seem to like to dwell on that reality for some reason. :confused: :rolleyes:

Each time Bliar was re-elected I seem to recall 'sincere' promises to do better, learn from the mistakes blah, blah, blah. I don't recall much evidence of either but perhaps someone will educate me...

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

It shows how far and how violently Thatcher dragged the country to the right that Tories and Tory favouring press are trying to paint Labour as being socialist and hugely left-wing.

They aren't. They're slightly less right-wing than the Tories.

The property market needs some controlling. It's completely dysfunctional and a whole bunch of wealth that should be creating growth is instead tied up in property and whole bunch of income that should be purchasing goods and services, creating jobs and making many people richer is paying off huge mortgages or high rents.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

The level of spending and state intervention between the two parties is not wide enough for one side to be seen as socialist and the other not IMO. The Tories want to freeze rail fares and spent an extra £8 billion on the NHS for example. Labour have put deficit reduction as one of their key pledges. Both of them are ruling out as many tax raises as they can get away with. Hell, even the SNP are talking of rather modest spending increases. Only the Green Party seem to have dramatically different policies that could be seen as moving towards as socialist country.

---------- Post added at 12:07 ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 ----------

Or what he said ^. ;)

But yes. It seems more about slogans and artificial lines of division rather than any substantive policy that causes people who have mildly differencing views to perceive an ocean between them.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

This isn't too far off I don't think.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/local/2015/04/1.png

EDIT: While it seems odd to compare UK parties to the US ones as we have always thought of them as being far more right-wing in some policy respects now the largest difference is the level of corporatism involved - we aren't yet as corporatist as they are but are working on it.

EDIT 2: That lower-right quadrant shouldn't be empty. That quadrant should be where at very least the Liberal Democrats are, if not also the Conservatives. Small 'l' liberalism is in extremely short supply right now unless accompanied by somewhat insane economics :(

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Whoever wins l don't think we should gloat as this country is still in a pretty bad mess in my opinion but there again what do l know.:)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Labour want us to believe their supposed crack down on migrants claiming benefits will save loads of money. By this they mean jobseekers allowance, child benefit and child tax credit but they have nothing to say about the various in work benefits they'd still be entitled to. It's as if they don't exist...

Labour's spokesman David Hanson MP has just been on Daily Politics refusing repeatedly to answer a simple question - will EU workers be able to claim "in work" benefits under their new scheme. I wonder why? It appears they have no intention of doing anything about them but don't really want the public to know that, preferring to propagate the notion that they'll control migrant benefits per se.

Given their pledge to prosecute employers failing to pay the minimum wage, he was equally evasive in refusing to comment on enforcement under his party's oversight. Possibly this is because between 1998-2007 there were zero prosecutions and from 2007 - 2010 there were only 7.

It was then put to him that his party are now claiming that exit controls are essential in controlling immigration when it was Labour who abolished them in 1998 (something Hanson denied), and a Labour minister who claimed in 2002 that "they did not contribute to the overall effectiveness of immigration controls". He didn't want to comment on what Labour did in the past evidently. Didn't think their track record ought to be open to scrutiny...

Now if that were a Tory party record, the usual suspects would be here baying for blood, screaming that the nasty party were at it again - looking after their rich mates, protecting greedy exploitative employers, hurting the poor and the vulnerable blah, blah, blah. What's Labour's excuse then? :rolleyes:

Andrew Neil summed it all up perfectly, commenting that everything they seem to be suggesting now flies in the face of what they actually did when they were in power. Dead right I reckon!

The relevant section is at c. 31 mins. into the show which is available here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...itics-28042015

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

I think we've established that Labour are far from perfect. Anything to promote voting Tory instead of Labour or just ongoing attack-bot action?

EDIT: Incidentally I can't stand the PLP - if I were to vote Labour it'd be based purely on local factors and I would be voting for the MP, not his party.

Your posts and signature are actually a microcosm of this entire campaign, buzzwords and attacks. Most policies offered by those two parties don't stand up to any kind of scrutiny and seem like they were written on the back of a fag packet that morning.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

I disagree with that spectrum a bit. It's hard to graphically quantify how authoritarian or left/right a party is really.

For example I don't think the Conservatives are to the right of UKIP or are less authoritarian. I would put LibDems as closer to libertarianism than the SNP too. Although you did say 'mostly' and I can't see any outrageous classifications there.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

That's an understatement.....

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Now we just need the usual suspects to see the light and our work here is done... :D

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Labour and the Conservatives are not too far apart at the end of the day. Blair just re-badged Thatcher's policies with a slight socialist tinge. He did this to get into to power. He didn't want to make society a better place for our children (or whatever politicians are really supposed to go into politics for), his goal was power, just power. Same as Dave ..

Labour will not make the fundamental changes that are needed, mores the pity.

No one will address the main issues we face today:

- The ever widening wealth gap

- The ability of corporations to exploit their customers and employees, paying minimum tax in order to "deliver their legal duty to their shareholders".

- The power of the City to blackmail the country: the power and influence of "big business" and the Financial Services sector is so large now that it may no longer be controllable.

-the crumbling NHS*

- the runaway, uncontrolled property market esp. in London where, you have foreign and City money forcing Londoners to leave their communities where their families have lived for generations as they no longer can afford the house prices.

- the rapidly reducing ability of our children affording their own properties

- the skewing of the labour market towards a postition where all the power is in the hands of the employer and very little left for the employee. This leads to exploitation: in the past you may have had vocational opportunities where you were offered a reasonably paid job for 6 months, a year with a prospect of a longer term position at the end. Now you are offered minimum wage (if you are lucky) "internships" with no job prospects at the end. The employer just gets a stream of cheap labour with no obligations on their part

- the promotion of the "Greed is Good" philosophy and the illusion of the "Morality of the Market"

- etc. etc.

Neither Labour or the Tories will really address these issues. They all have vested interests they need to appease first.

It is really very, very depressing


* as a footnote, I spend a number of weeks recently visiting my mother-in-law in hospital and later a hospice. She sadly passed away but while she was in the care of the NHS, I was able to get some insight into the pressures it is under. For example, on one weekend, the entire hospital had 2 doctors on duty. All the staff without exception, including the ones from the EU who I assume would be not welcome if UKIP had their way, were wonderful but so, so over worked. I looked at these Nurses and thought: there are people who say that the workers in the City deserve their salaries of £100,000's and bonuses of £millions. I would say put them alongside these Nurses doing their jobs and then ask the question again.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Poor GDP figure: Bloomberg, Guardian, Mail.

Interesting how differently the same thing can be presented. Guardianistas get the idea that the UK is doomed, Bloomberg are impassive and think it's a blip, the Heil somewhat paranoid too.

---------- Post added at 15:07 ---------- Previous post was at 14:57 ----------

This is pretty epic.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

And whoever wins the election many households can expect lower incomes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32498082

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

and they send you a fiver its important to mention the fiver .

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

I'm voting locally as I mentioned, for the man not his party. If not for that I'd likely vote as I have previously and go Liberal Democrat.

They are going to pay the price for coalition but have a lot of policies I agree with, especially social ones, and their fiscal ones are largely responsible without being too savage.

They've lost a lot of their more ideological support, hopefully they'll make it up from more pragmatic support in time.

I can't abide their views on the EU but you can't have it all...

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Wow, you must be rich by now ;)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

rich enough not to vote labour ;)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

This might make interesting reading for those obsessing over the deficit.

People are preaching how it's unfair to hump debts on our kids while completely ignoring that we're going to be forcing them to take on debt, potentially at considerably higher rates than the record low ones the country can borrow at now, because our politicians refuse to do essential investment.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion.

George Bernard Shaw

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

If all the politicians were laid end to end they'd form a spiral from all the spin, and find a way to claim they were straight as a ramrod.

I trust economists over a modern history graduate whose work experience outside of politics is folding towels and who wanted to spend more than the previous administration until the financial crisis hit. Call me gullible. :)

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Do you really want this clown ruling us?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz3Yg0cXq00

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

You removed the FB and Twitter links ... They won't pay you this week now. ;)

---------- Post added at 08:45 ---------- Previous post was at 08:43 ----------

I think the BBC will get away with it, by presenting it as a debate between the leader(s) of the government and the leader of the opposition.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

These £2m mansion owners have to stick together. :erm:

I wonder which one of Brand's kitchens they were in. :D

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Heh you mean Russell 'I don't vote & I encourage everyone else not to vote' Brand?

Desperation, it's terrible to see.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Its terrible to see celebrities fraternising with politicians of all political persuasions in my book.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

You have to wonder why any celebrity would be seen even dead with any politician?

Talk about a toxic brand. :D

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Yes I love the term 'mansion' deliberately used to imply that those who'll be being taxed on the notional value of their homes are all somehow landed gentry living in vast country piles, huge Belgravia terraces and swanky City penthouses...

---------- Post added at 11:01 ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 ----------

I really wish someone seeking my vote might just spell out what they're going to do to avoid repeat performances of the various hugely expensive mistakes and flawed projects we've all too often seen in the MOD, NHS etc. Surely preventing more vastly lucrative PFI and other contracts being signed off by people whose commercial and legal nowse is clearly lacking has to be a priority as should be removing from their posts those public officials who've been found seriously wanting. Instead what we seem to get is the same old faces being recycled from one dept. to another in spite of their performance rather than because of it.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

I'd rather see some additional council tax bands so that the money is spent locally rather than going into the Treasury's maw to be given to scroungers and ne'er-do-wells as election bribes.

But that doesn't play well to engendering the false class envy that is Labour's raison d'etre.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

That would be a much better solution IMHO too but you're right, that precludes the possibility of conjuring up the false images Labour so often rely upon.

I'm still waiting to hear anyone from Labour admit that their plans for preventing migrants from claiming benefits for a certain period are really only plans to restrict 'out of work' benefits and that the array of 'in work' benefits open to them will remain unchanged. Another deliberate false impression.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Sorry and all that, but the idea that there are gazillions of elderly people with no cash living in £2 million+ properties is total bollocks. This is frankly propaganda spread by a party that loves painting anything to the left-wing of some of its positions as being somewhere between socialism and communism.

Property in the UK is massively under-taxed which is part of the reason so much dodgy money goes into buy-to-leave here. The only tax we have on property is council tax which is frankly laughable as you go into the extreme high-end.

The mansion tax is, however, a weak idea. A land value tax would be better. Land has value thanks to the actions of government via investing in infrastructure, controlling release of land for development, etc, only fair the government should receive some of the proceeds rather than it all going into private hands as a taxpayer handout.

---------- Post added at 11:21 ---------- Previous post was at 11:20 ----------

Except it wouldn't be. Central government would just reduce the size of its grant to the local authority in parallel with increased council tax receipts.

---------- Post added at 11:29 ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 ----------

While on the topic of propaganda about that letter from '5,000 small businesses' supporting the Tories.

Frankly pathetic. That CCHQ hold the electorate in such disdain they attempt to pass this excrement off as legitimate is genuinely insulting. That the Torygraph just regurgitated it tells readers to avoid the newspaper if they want anything bar a Conservative Party political publication.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Quite how you can accuse Labour of class envy whilst dismissing people as scroungers and ne'er-do-wells without irony is pretty impressive.

---------- Post added at 11:34 ---------- Previous post was at 11:32 ----------

Agree with this: http://www.conservativehome.com/thec...e-commons.html

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Me too. FPTP isn't fit for 21st century politics. 100% support STV.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

That beggars belief! :rolleyes:

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Totally agree - bring back local accountability.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Hannan makes a good point (as usual). If the usual loyalties that normally apply when a general election comes round, have broken down, there is no reason for the 'main' parties to continue to support FPTP - the perceived advantage that system gives them no longer applies and the final outcome of the election may be perverse. If we have truly reached the stage where every election is going to result in an even split between Tory and Labour, with significant national or regional support for half a dozen others, then perhaps it is time for a system that will produce fairer results based on our voting patterns.

Personally, I would still favour a system of two main parties, with popular engagement with them through open primaries and local recall. One party in government is more predictable and can more easily be held to account against a published manifesto. But if those days are gone, then perhaps FPTP has to go to.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

I found STV invaluable when casting my vote for the last Mayor of London. I was able to vote for who I really wanted as 1st preference then who I wanted to keep Ken out of power 2nd.

Under FPTP I'd have had to vote for a candidate I didn't actually want in order to ensure the one I really, really didn't want didn't end up in charge.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

We've already seen with the coalition that one side or the other is claiming responsibility for the good stuff and denying accountability for the bad, then of course there's the tit for tat blocking of initiatives by one side or the other for reasons of political expediency.

Maybe there's no perfect system but if more people bothered to vote and did so other than on purely partisan lines, we'd have better representation and some accountability. As it is there are loads of MP's who only have to turn up on the day to get voted in time and time again. A good kick up the backside every so often wouldn't hurt any of them.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Welcome to Scotland 2015...

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Did any see Dispatches last night on Inside Sports Direct.

What a hell hole.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

and the nasty party love them zero hour contracts too

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

That would be a fair description of the insides of any sportswear shop.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Most parties have a element of unpleasantness on certain wings of their party.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

So do the Labour Council in Glasgow - they employ nearly 1800 people on them.....

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/l...447n.123964696

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

:tu: Yeah but, yeah but, yeah but...

At least the 'nasty party' don't pretend to condemn them whilst a) using them and b) having done nothing whatsoever about them during a 13 year spell in government. That'd be hypocritical wouldn't it... :rolleyes:

Makes you wonder which is the truly 'nasty' party.

Re: General Election 2015: Voting intentions & general discussion
 

Very true but it needs to be pointed out when they make policy statements that are obviously hypocritical in the extreme.