The General Election Thread

[TangerineSteve17]

I am mildly (to put it heavily) interested in politics. All that means is I watch Question Time from time to time. The amount of immigration debates and blaming that goes on between the parties for the economic meltdown or whavever is such a complete put off. Added to the snippets i've seen at PM Questions where everyone is shouting and I am not that surprised why a lot of people disengage with it all, especially the youth.
I think it does need freshening up, brought forward somehow. I see these debates as a step in the right direction.

 

[Bill]

What's the point of the TV debates?

Will Milliband come on and say 'If we win we'll spend loads of money recklessly and leave the economy in a total mess for the next government'?

Of course he won't, but that's what every Labour government does.

So I don't really need to tune in to the debates to know what Labour is going to do.

I know already.

And I don't need to hear Cameron point out this very obvious truth.

My point exactly.

You people treat politics like you're supporting football teams.

Thankfully once the old generations who do this have gone, we might actually achieve some sort of effective change and governance in this country once Governments have to rely on their ability to govern for votes, rather than who has the best attendance.

when i've gone i wont give a fuck. my aim is to leave my young un wadded so the rabble that is the left wont affect her lifestyle. thats all i can do.

 

[Len Rum]

What's the point of the TV debates?

Will Milliband come on and say 'If we win we'll spend loads of money recklessly and leave the economy in a total mess for the next government'?

Of course he won't, but that's what every Labour government does.

So I don't really need to tune in to the debates to know what Labour is going to do.

I know already.

And I don't need to hear Cameron point out this very obvious truth.

My point exactly.

You people treat politics like you're supporting football teams.

Thankfully once the old generations who do this have gone, we might actually achieve some sort of effective change and governance in this country once Governments have to rely on their ability to govern for votes, rather than who has the best attendance.

The main reason for your old people/footballing analogy is our adversarial first past the post winner takes all voting system .
Change to a system of proportional representation and all that changes.
In the case of the youth vote to which you alluded to in a previous post, new parties would emerge representing young people and the best of these whose policies resonated with the younger generation would win seats in a Parliament elected on a proportional vote basis.

 

[malg]

Maybe this is why Dave is trying to body swerve the TV debates (from the BBC):

The Tories should be much more worried about Labour leader Ed Miliband than UKIP's Nigel Farage during the general election campaign, former Conservative Party Chairman Lord Patten has said.

Mr Miliband was "highly intelligent" and a "good debater", the peer told BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster.

 

[Len Rum]

Maybe this is why Dave is trying to body swerve the TV debates (from the BBC):

The Tories should be much more worried about Labour leader Ed Miliband than UKIP's Nigel Farage during the general election campaign, former Conservative Party Chairman Lord Patten has said.

Mr Miliband was "highly intelligent" and a "good debater", the peer told BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster.

Patten is right about Ed .
Dave is better at PMQs but Ed is better in a public debating forum.
Whilst Dave would be nervous about this, he probably reckons he's got a good 'story' to tell on the economy against Ed.
It's UKIP and Farage he fears. Dave is flakey on Europe and Immigration whilst Farage is crystal clear on these issues, is a formidable debater and would eat Dave alive in a televised debate.

 

[The perfect fumble]

My point exactly.

You people treat politics like you're supporting football teams.

Thankfully once the old generations who do this have gone, we might actually achieve some sort of effective change and governance in this country once Governments have to rely on their ability to govern for votes, rather than who has the best attendance.

when i've gone i wont give a fuck. my aim is to leave my young un wadded so the rabble that is the left wont affect her lifestyle. thats all i can do.

Then you'll not be supporting the Right, they've turned a market economy in to a market society, where everything is commoditized. The Right wants wages low, as labour is nothing more than a factor of cost, but consumption to grow fueled by debt. How anyone can support the Right and yet purport to care about future generations is kidding themselves.

 

[Bill]

You people treat politics like you're supporting football teams.

Thankfully once the old generations who do this have gone, we might actually achieve some sort of effective change and governance in this country once Governments have to rely on their ability to govern for votes, rather than who has the best attendance.

when i've gone i wont give a fuck. my aim is to leave my young un wadded so the rabble that is the left wont affect her lifestyle. thats all i can do.

Then you'll not be supporting the Right, they've turned a market economy in to a market society, where everything is commoditized. The Right wants wages low, as labour is nothing more than a factor of cost, but consumption to grow fueled by debt. How anyone can support the Right and yet purport to care about future generations is kidding themselves.

i want a future where my kids can go from success to success, to build on anything i leave them. there is absolutely no chance of that under a labour government. if they do fluke a win, with the assistance of about 15 other parties in coalition, by the time 5 years is up all daves good work will be fucked. yes he will sort it out a again but he's done that this time round. its much better to keep him in office than to start all over again in 5, well i say 5, can't see a weak coalition lasting that long, years time.

 

[law74]

Have to disagree with Len when he says Ed has nothing to fear from the Green Party, the Greens now have more members than either the libdems or ukip and are growing fast, add to this they are the only left party standing in most areas and can cause a lot of damage to labour who many feel have moved far too far to the right.
then add in that their policies resonate with the younger voters and they could well upset labour in a lot of areas, hopefully not to the advantage of the nasty party

 

[Chancy Termites]

Anybody know how many seats the Greens are likely to fight?

 

[hgblue]

Maybe this is why Dave is trying to body swerve the TV debates (from the BBC):

The Tories should be much more worried about Labour leader Ed Miliband than UKIP's Nigel Farage during the general election campaign, former Conservative Party Chairman Lord Patten has said.

Mr Miliband was "highly intelligent" and a "good debater", the peer told BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster.

Patten is right about Ed .
Dave is better at PMQs but Ed is better in a public debating forum.
Whilst Dave would be nervous about this, he probably reckons he's got a good 'story' to tell on the economy against Ed.
It's UKIP and Farage he fears. Dave is flakey on Europe and Immigration whilst Farage is crystal clear on these issues, is a formidable debater and would eat Dave alive in a televised debate.

Very true, Farage would tear Cameron a new arsehole on touchstone policies such as Europe and immigration and Cameron knows it.