So it's May 6th after all
 

Well, according to the Beeb.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8603591.stm

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Yay! Only a month to go before its over and some semblance of normality can come back.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

yep ,then we all start whinging about the new gov :D

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It'll still all be Thatchers fault...

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Or Browns :D (or Callaghans)

Anyway I sense the impending close hammer of Chris looming over this topic. ;)

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Nah, we have to wait 13 years before we can do that..... :D

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I doubt it ;)

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Gordon, don't forget to pick up a load of empty boxes on the way back from the Palace, you might be needing them ;)

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Is that the same day as the London council elections?

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Council elections here in Brum are the same day Injuneer, got my voting card last week. probably the same nationwide.

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Yes it's the date it is so you don't have 2 elections with in weeks of each other

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The arrogance of Brown's speech is astounding, he's giving guarantees on public services, how they'll be maintained or improved over the next 4 years. Does anyone for a second believe that he's in a position to guarantee anything to people?

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Another 5 years of Brown's inept ideas of how to run a country.

Then again it could be a hung Parliament if the votes go the wrong way for all parties.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Oldham has done well under Labour in the last half of their term, some would argue that a lot of the money received has been spent on folly's but even so it did provide much needed jobs.
Under previous Governments we got very little money.
In the areas where new schools have been built the children attending them behave much better, just proves that if you have a school filled with buckets to catch the leaks moral suffers.
Some would argue that our troops would have been better employed bombing Oldham and starting afresh but improving things is better than nothing.

The future is going to be bleak no matter who gets in, North Sea Oil has been squandered instead of using the money to modernise and expand our industrial base, Triumph Motorcycles, Nissan etc. have shown that if we use the latest machinery we can compete with anyone in the World. The problem with British Industry in the past was relying on paying poor wages instead of modernising their machinery in order to keep costs down and improve quality.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Stupid question I know but I have never ever voted before and was wondering do they send me forms through the post to register or do I have to contact the council?

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Taken from Newcastle.gov.uk
PDF documents: -
For Individuals;

For Household

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/ is the site you want to start at and register online.
Assuming you get it done in time, they'll post you your polling card.
You don't need a polling card to vote, but it helps. You can use photo id with an address such as your driving licence.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Yes, Labour have been redistributing money from primarily London and the South East to the North through redistributive taxation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/f...x-changes.html

So with the upcoming cuts thanks to Labour's overspending it'll be interesting to see whether Oldham et al continue to get this money and how much taxes will have to continue to rise to fund it or if it stops and what happens then. In this part of the country our council tax has increased considerably over the past years due to central government funding being taken away, apparently to fund projects in Oldham and other places.

Be interesting to see what happens.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

How long until we're all sick of the word 'Change'

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In some ways this election is made for the phrase: 'Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose'.

If it's delivered I'll be happy to be sick of it for the next 4 weeks.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Someone needs to poke Brown in his good eye to get him to buck his ideas up if he wants any chance of winning this election.

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So gordon has four weeks to get his jsa claim sorted sounds good to me :).

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Can we start an petition demanding that he never gets made a lord?

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LOL. I love watching politicians go around meeting people and handshaking. So pointless as Brown pretends to be interested in the random people he shall meet for those fleeting seconds.

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Actually he has until 12th April - then he's out of a job. ;)

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Thank you :)

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Well there are a few around here who still seem believe his promises for some weird reason... Apparently he's going to clean up politics........... again..... :rolleyes:

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

What makes you believe the Tories though? I agree with you on Labour but the Tories were hardly a friend of public services in the 80's and they seem to be promising both savings and no reduction in public services which doesn't make sense to me?

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Would that be the same arrogance that "Boy George" and "Dodgy Dave" show when they make promises they have no idea about?

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Boy George is standing for election??:confused:

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Although you don't need to have your card, you will still need to be registered? It would be prudent to confirm registration, by calling them to make sure.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Aww bless, did I make you feel all offended by accusing the PM of being arrogant with his speech? I thought it was quite appropriate given his previous record to suggest he was being arrogant. As in his record of being chancellor / PM for 13 years and racking up debt through excessive public services spending even while increasing government tax take of GDP. Perhaps deluded would be a better word if arrogant isn't appropriate, though it's good to see them basically admitting they've wasted a ton of money, these efficiency savings must be coming from somewhere and given the previous efficiency reviews they've done and the past 13 years they've had to make things more efficient I guess they must have made a brand new set of inefficiencies to cut in order to avoid harming services while reducing the deficit to a mere 6% of GDP in 4 years.

Saying that though it is a touchstone on things when even you have no defence of Gordon Brown's speech beyond calling Osborne and Cameron names.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Excellent idea - can we put every "politician's" name in "quotes"? ;)

My wife put it best (imho) - it would be nice to hear what the parties have to offer, rather than them being negative about the other parties; in her opinion, that will just turn voters off, and have the reverse effect intended (why would we vote for them, all they can peddle are negatives).

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

I think excessive public spending is a subjective statement, after all we still spend less per head on our health system than France or Germany and when you consider the dramatic spending under Labour then that's is a awful reflection on previous Tory administrations.

Although I have faith the current Tories will not cut the NHS, I am worried about social care and other less visible, but important, services.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Damien, everyone focuses on NHS when they discuss public spending - it covers a much wider remit than that, and unfortunately, the only way money can be raised to fund the public purse is from private enterprise - it eventually ends up everyone losing unless it is balanced appropriately.

Also, Germany and France top up their health spending with insurance, and both countries have a larger private health sector than the UK.

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PS I am Lib Dem in case people want to know my bias.

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The NHS is funded differently and we have considerably lower taxation than France or Germany. Not as 'considerably' lower as it used to be but we aren't France or Germany, we're the UK. In any event spend per head isn't the best measure, it's a convenient metric to claim the NHS in underfunded, it could be that France and Germany are inefficient or have a larger private insurance base. Money doesn't equal results, just look at the USA and the amount they spend per head.

Some things will inevitably have to go, fundamentally everything is paid for by the private sector despite Labour's best attempts to prop the economy up over the past decade and massage employment figures with public sector expenditure. We traditionally swing between two points and at the moment are too far to one way, and the money to finance going too far that way has come from borrowing. While our GDP grew and unemployment remained low it was largely debt and public sector fuelled growth which had to unravel eventually, and has, big time.

EDIT: Fundamentally even while the economy was allegedly going through a fantastic period of sustained growth and everything was going swimmingly the public sector grew so fast and was having so much money thrown at it we were in deficit and public sector productivity was dropping at the same time - that is excessive public sector spending.

---------- Post added at 16:19 ---------- Previous post was at 16:14 ----------

Good man, don't you wish your MP rocked like mine? :)

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Who mentioned the Tories? I didn't. The Tories of the 80's aren't in the race so far as I can see, whereas the New Labour of the present (and the last 13 years) is. However all will become a little clearer over coming weeks as some flesh has to be put on the bones wrt spending plans, budget cuts etc. Whilst none of the parties have my full confidence, New Labour started lying to us in 1997 and haven't stopped since so they won't be getting my vote no matter what else happens. It's up to us all to make our own decisions as to who we believe, who's changed and who hasn't... Possibly even just choose the lesser of the evils..

---------- Post added at 16:26 ---------- Previous post was at 16:23 ----------


:clap: :clap:

Not much new there then... :D

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

I would sign that.


Meanwhile

Glad to see the game is a foot but at the same time cannot wait for it to be over and see the back of Brown :)

As if anyone did not know i will not be voting for

The we are only interested in ruining the economy, Lining our own pockets and selling the country out to europe party "Labour"

The tree hugging roll over at the first chance to europe or any other country party "Lib Dem's"

The we need to be different than the other's but have no clue what we would do in power party " Greens, Raving loony, Independents"

The neanderthal racist party "BNP"


No there can only be one party for me and that's the Conservative party :tu:

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

I'd like to see Labour left in 3rd or even 4th place, with the Tories having enough of a majority but not too large.
I'd like them and the other parties to then see it as the electorate signalling we will not tollerate being lied to, having our funds misspent, having our troops denied the support they deserve.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

I am going with Labour.

I was going to go with the Conservative but slimy Cameron really reminds me of Obama so that put me off and I don't trust him one bit.

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I strongly believe that Labour will win, Cameron does not have the bottle to win, he will come out with all that crap, aexactly the same as what Thatcher did, If Cameron got in, he would do what Thatcher did, and that would be to tear the country to bits to save money, he will help the rich, but everyone else, can go stuff themself.
The Thing about Brown is that, he has run the country, he has the experience, no matter what people will say, about wars etc. We need a man who can run the country, with bottle, and that is not Cameron.

It could be a shocker with Lib Dems coming a very close second, and don't forget the BNP might win a few more seats, than before.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Fixed it for you Arthur, saves you having to use the edit button now :D

Seriously, most people I know who were working class before Thatcher came in are now middle class, and most people I know who were working class when Labour came in are still working class now.
Under Thatcher I would have gotten a grant to go to university and come out debt free, under Labour students are saddled with huge debts.
Under Thatcher, when I was in hospital, it was clean, the sheets were changed daily. Under Labour you have to ask for bedding to be changed.
Under Thatcher I could phone the doctor and make an appointment in a week's time when it was convenient for me, under Labout this changed to having to make an appointment on the day by calling before 9am and hoping to get lucky so that the surgery could meet their targets of no one having to wait for an appointment. My not getting an appointment that day of course was not recorded.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

He has, he's run it badly of course but yes he has run it.

If you are only wanting someone with experience doing it why not get rid of the limits and give someone the job for life. :erm:

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

A former neighbour, native of Germany, recently rengurned to her home country. Unfortunately she fell ill and spent quite some time on hospital. Whilst there she suffered MRSA, C-Deff, and food poisoning. This was in Dusseldorf's top hospital. By the end of it, she was begging to be sent back to the UK.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

Labour themselves have admitted they will need cuts of a similar scale to Thatcher's. I should say in the occasional moment of honesty that has been said, Brown tends to lie and discuss 0% rises or make promises that front line services won't be affected and he can make guarantees.

There is absolutely no evidence at all that Cameron will follow similar policies to Thatcher and even if he did so what? During that period the economy went from a Labour-induced IMF bailout and general strikes to a surplus. Incase you hadn't noticed Thatcher won 3 general elections 'coming out with all that crap' so evidently some people quite liked the message.

In between your 'helping the rich' diatribe in many ways the gap between rich and poor hasn't been larger in a very long time, and as far as people helping themselves goes have you seen John Prescott / 2 Jags or the mass of 'New' Labour employees troughing themselves on the public purse?

Describing Brown as having bottle is laughable. If he had bottle he'd have had an election to get his own mandate, instead he has clung onto power for as long as is feasible and delayed going to the country.

Experience you have to worry about given Brown's experience. Not sure if that's the kind of experience I'd put on my CV.

---------- Post added at 17:22 ---------- Previous post was at 17:20 ----------

Thanks for demonstrating my point that larger expenditure per head certainly doesn't indicate better care by default.

Re: So it's May 6th after all
 

That's actually quite easy to do Damien. If you do away with the micro-management and mountain of statistics demanded by Labour and actually leave the professionals to do their jobs you can dispense with a huge layer of middle management prodnoses.

That represents an enormous instant saving and would actually benefit the front-line workers.