The 2010 General Election Thread: Week 3

[frogstamper]

Originally Posted by Matt

So... does anyone here live in Hitchin & Harpenden, Twickenham, Doncaster Central, or Brighton Pavilion, and care about Undead Rights and the exploitation of Zombies? LOL

http://www.votecure.com/vote/?p=1

http://www.votecure.com/vote/?p=52

I live in the Brighton Pavilion ward so its good to see I can now vote for a progressive cause.

---------- Post added at 05:03 ---------- Previous post was at 04:57 ----------

Originally Posted by danielf

Which was duly declared to the relevant parliamentary authorities etc, and was use for the intended purposes; to pay for a researcher, and all paper work to back this up has been provided. What's your point?

He doesn't have one, as usual, you've ruined he's little conspiracy with facts.
Damn they do tend to get in the way of nomads posts, far better when nobody challenges him, much more sensational.

[Ignitionnet]

Well no the point of the exchange was a complaint over bias from Sky News due to it being raised during one of the TV debates, the counter being that it wasn't biased as it gave him an opportunity to defend himself to a wider audience.

Interesting seeing people who may lean towards the Lib Dems hunting in packs as well. Evidently not something restricted to the 'old party' supporters

---------- Post added at 08:47 ---------- Previous post was at 08:16 ----------

Quite amusing reading coverage of the Paxman interview last night.

If we go on the side of the Labour / left-wing loving publications we get these gems:

TORY leader David Cameron last night suffered his third telly humiliation in eight days - at the hands of Jeremy Paxman.

From the red bathroom tissue known as the Daily Mirror:

David Cameron got stuffed in an interview with the BBC's Jeremy Paxman last night.

The clueless Tory leader floundered as his BBC interrogator demanded details of the savage cuts he plans if elected.

From the Capitalist-friendly Financial Times:

Cameron opts for spending cuts to boost private sector

David Cameron promised on Friday to axe public spending in areas of the country that have become over-dependent on state spending, singling out Northern Ireland and the north-east as problem areas.

The left-wing but trying to pretend to be unbiased BBC:

Cameron call over NI state funding

The Conservative leader, David Cameron, has said state funding in Northern Ireland makes up too much of the local economy.

An option piece from the Torygraph:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/be...orth-the-risk/

The Lib Dem friendly Guardian:

David Cameron targets north-east and Northern Ireland for spending cuts
Conservatives' plan to reduce state 'alarming' for regions outside London, says Labour

My own opinion is I think it'd be great, though I'm Libertarian so, by default, in favour of smaller government.

Nice comment from Gordon Brown here:

Vowing that his top three priorities were “jobs, jobs, jobs”, the Labour leader said the latest growth figure was a hugely optimistic moment but warned Britain was not out of the woods yet and, in a reference to Mr Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne, argued that this was “not the time for novices”.

0.2% GDP growth, half that expected by economists, is 'hugely optimistic' yet keeping 6bn in the economy by not taxing it out of people and businesses pockets would destroy the recovery. Whatever you say Prime Minister.

Originally Posted by frogstamper

I live in the Brighton Pavilion ward so its good to see I can now vote for a progressive cause.

---------- Post added at 05:03 ---------- Previous post was at 04:57 ----------



He doesn't have one, as usual, you've ruined he's little conspiracy with facts.
Damn they do tend to get in the way of nomads posts, far better when nobody challenges him, much more sensational.

I think the main point is of transparency - if you run a business (and politics is a business, imho), you don't mix personal and business accounts - too much room for error; I personally think that it was just inexperience, but he, like other MPs, must understand when stuff like this occurs, an explanation is expected - he cleared it up; excellent.

re the £2.4million - it's about the "we're not like the "old parties", we're pure and clean and above-board" - keeping £2.4 million of defrauded money isn't, imho, pure and clean and above-board; most of the MP's expenses were within the guidelines, that hasn't stopped "Persil" Clegg going on about them (even though 4 of his MPs got a telling off, but they never seem to get mentioned, do they? ).

[Osem]

"Not the time for novices blah, blah.." says Brown...

Yes well it's not the time form more of his superhuman prudence either!

[Angua]

On a side note the Lib Dem leaflet is the only one actually addressed to us. However the local press do not seem to be aware (as yet) there are other candidates in this constituency.

[dilli-theclaw]

I got my postal vote this morning so I'd better get down to thinking about it. I only have five options to choose from so that's a bit easier.

[Osem]

Caught a bit of 'Red Ken' Livingstone's highly entertaining radio show earlier and, during a section on the UK's economic woes, it was stated that the equivalent of £1 in every £5 now raised in tax goes to pay just the interest on our debt. It's not a figure I've heard before but it sure focuses the mind on how serious this issue is. So when Brown tries to take credit for what he's spent over the years perhaps the electorate will a) consider how much of that has been wasted and b) bear in mind that 20% of the tax they're now paying won't be going to the NHS, schools, the poor, the needy, the police or the armed forces for whom he has nothing but praise - it'll be going into the pockets of international financiers and if they get nervous that figure will be heading north not south.

[Jimmy-J]

I was going to break with tradition and vote for the BNP, but I've come back to my senses and will continue to vote for "none of the above". At the end of the day, it isn't the electorate that decide who gets the keys to No.10, it's the media machine that tells you who to vote for. and who do they want you to vote for?? Any of the above.

Like I've said before, you may get a different party, but it'll still be the same government.

imho, a vote for any of the party's is a vote for more of the same, so go ahead and vote for what you think is going to be a change, when in reality nothing changes, they'll still screw us all over.

I won't be part of it, I refuse to give my support to any of these slime balls. Like my late 93 year old Gran used to say, "They''re all the bloody same!". It's Groundhog Day.

[Ignitionnet]

Is that image supposed to be http://www.bypassfirewall.com/browse...wZw_3D_/3D/b0/

Are you trying to dodge the Corporate firewall?

---------- Post added at 17:56 ---------- Previous post was at 17:39 ----------

In other news, here's a nice thought.

Britain emerges in the BIS paper as an arch-sinner. The country may have entered the crisis with a low public debt but this shock absorber has already been used up, exposing the underlying rot in the UK's public accounts.

Tucked away in the BIS report are charts and tables showing that Britain faces the highest structural deficit in the OECD club of rich states, with a mounting risk that public debt will explode out of control.

Interest payments on the UK's public debt will double from 5pc of GDP to 10pc within a decade under the bank's 'baseline scenario' before spiralling upwards to 27pc by 2040, the highest in the industrial world. Greece fares better, and Italy looks saintly by comparison.

The BIS said the UK's structural budget deficit will be 9pc of GDP next year, the highest in the advanced world. A primary surplus of 3.5pc of GDP will be required for the next twenty years just to stabilize the debt at the pre-crisis level.

The paper said that Labour's plan to consolidate the budget deficit by 1.3pc of GDP annually for the next three years is not nearly enough. Such a gentle squeeze will let public debt climb to 160pc of GDP by the end of the decade, accelerating to 350pc over the following twenty years as the compound interest trap closes in.

But hey, what do we care, give us our public services and welfare now, don't be cutting just because we aren't paying for it and we just have to keep it going for a few more years and we simply won't be able to pay for it.

This to me is the centre of the economic debate. The problem as I've repeatedly said though is that so many people are so greedy and selfish (yes those same attributes that people whine about when having a go at bankers and businesses and 'typical Tories') that they couldn't care less what it's costing or how it will affect the country so long as it doesn't affect them right now. Just even hinting at actually taking serious action makes people jump up and down.

Jeeze people we're spending as much money on public services as Sweden, the cuts to the deficit are minimal and debt interest will be taking a serious toll well before the deficit is gone, and that's where it should be, gone. Barring emergencies like the credit crunch if we don't have it we shouldn't be spending it, and as soon as the emergency is over we should be paying it back.

Fiscal and personal responsibility, both on life support thanks to the current government.

EDIT: Oh yes, for those saying why don't we just tax our way back into the black, wouldn't work as it would reduce economic growth and make companies go elsewhere. You think it doesn't happen?

The country’s entrepreneurs were moving offshore – and taking their companies with them ..... Two of Sweden’s largest companies, IKEA and Tetra Pak, a food packaging company, had already moved overseas in protest of the estate tax. Other major companies threatened to follow, draining Sweden of entrepreneurial talent, capital, and jobs.

[Peter_]

OK I have changed it.

[Tezcatlipoca]

Already posted by Damien on page 7

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/35006897-post100.html

Looks like I should be voting UKIP then.

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

In other news, here's a nice thought.



But hey, what do we care, give us our public services and welfare now, don't be cutting just because we aren't paying for it and we just have to keep it going for a few more years and we simply won't be able to pay for it.

This to me is the centre of the economic debate. The problem as I've repeatedly said though is that so many people are so greedy and selfish (yes those same attributes that people whine about when having a go at bankers and businesses and 'typical Tories') that they couldn't care less what it's costing or how it will affect the country so long as it doesn't affect them right now. Just even hinting at actually taking serious action makes people jump up and down....

.....Fiscal and personal responsibility, both on life support thanks to the current government.

EDIT: Oh yes, for those saying why don't we just tax our way back into the black, wouldn't work as it would reduce economic growth and make companies go elsewhere. You think it doesn't happen?

The country’s entrepreneurs were moving offshore – and taking their companies with them ..... Two of Sweden’s largest companies, IKEA and Tetra Pak, a food packaging company, had already moved overseas in protest of the estate tax. Other major companies threatened to follow, draining Sweden of entrepreneurial talent, capital, and jobs.

Too many politicians in denial and so many people with their heads buried so deep in the sand!!!..

Originally Posted by Osem

Too many politicians in denial and so many people with their heads buried so deep in the sand!!!..

I disagree Osem, it's not the politicians in denial, its the majority of the general public thats in denial. On the other hand the politicians are being pragmatic with the bad news.... If any politician, from any party can out and openly said tat the country was financially buggered, and we had to cut spending across the entire budget by 10/15/20%. That the cuts would include numerous public sector job losses, reduction in services, cuts to health provision and all sorts of other things, then that politician, and his party would be unelectable....

To steal a line from the film A Few Good Men.... "You can't handle the truth !"

[Ignitionnet]

What the good Earl said. The politicians all know the score, they just either through some warped logic don't care or don't dare to let on they do.