The General Election Thread

[The perfect fumble]

the ramifications of the Iraq war are still being felt today and will be still be felt for decades to come. The UK in the 1970s was a grim and dark place, 3 day week, continuous strikes and on the edge of bankruptcy. Thatcher did have her faults but she took the nation by the scruffy of its neck and got things moving.
The reticence of your non replies have not gone unnoticed.

Rubbish, the 70's were great...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/1976-britians-best-ever-year-2070469

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3337143/Remember-1976-Britains-best-ever-year.html

I beg to differ, I hated it!

I had a great time.

Good days.

 

[urmston]

I'm not bothered about the Iraq war as far as voting goes.

This country often pokes its nose into foreign wars and the Tories would have probably done the same.

Labour and the Tories are both bad at providing good public services, they both treat the poor with contempt, they both go on foreign wars, they both have terrible records on real, decent job creation (Labour just hire loads of people to do non-jobs in the public sector, the Tories just create lots of poverty wage private sector jobs), they both endorse daft ideas like PFI, they both support increased snooping on the general public. they both see that their pals do OK in the quangos etc.

But the Tories do all this with lower taxes.

Two equally bad products, so if you must buy, why not buy the cheaper one?

 

[Bluemanc100]

Spoiler

The Iraq war I'll give you but that was Blair's personal desire to please George Bush, rather than party policy. Had it been Cameron, I've no doubt the outcome would have been the same.

Manufacturing output actually reached a record high in 2007, according to the ONS, so that one's bollox.

Holding gold reserves has no value as far as a government is concerned. It's a speculative asset and in fact the sale of such reserves was restricted by international agreement after that, as our sale drove the price down, not up. The subsequent rise was largely due to the knowledge that a large scale sale couldn't happen, except maybe under extraordinary circumstances. There was therefore virtually no downside risk in buying gold from then on.

The Millenium Dome was a crock of shit but it was originally the idea of John Major's government but was expanded by Blair's. The money came from the National Lottery (£600m) and sale of tickets (£190m) so not really public funds.

The money from the NHS had to come from somewhere. It either had to be borrowed or privately financed. Given that you said Labour borrowed too much, you can't have it both ways.

Unemployment had fallen from its peak in 1997, when Labour took power, up to 2008. Obviously the recession increased it. It's never come near the levels seen under the Thatcher government. So if you want to get on your high horse about unemployment, that's when the worst damage was done.

Under Labour, UK net borrowing reached a peak of 3.5% of GDP in 2004/5 prior to the recession. 2014/15 it will be something like 5.5% and is estimated to be be 4.2% in the current fiscal year. So if borrowing was out of control under a fiscally irresponsible Labour administration, how would you class it now, when it's supposedly under control?

I'm not particularly pro-European but let's not forget which party negotiated our original entry and signed the disastrous Maastricht treaty.

You can't speculate on whether another leader would be totally dishonest. Cameron didn't take us into an unjust war and costs many lives........... Blair did

Best not to dwell on this subject too much on this thread for fear of distracting it - but I wholeheartedly agree.

I cannot contemplate that there could be any bigger crime than for the leader of the country to lie to the nation, twisting in the wind to get whatever he was seeking to achieve for self-serving reasons - even manufacturing evidence. His actions have cost many lives and £billions

It shows the utter contempt that he had for the citizens of this country and the enormous arrogance of the individual.

So no - I do not think that Cameron would have been so contemptuous of the country or so arrogant and acted in that fashion - but to be fair I do not believe that Milliband or Brown would have acted I that way either.

The disgraceful self-serving behaviour of Blair transcends simple party allegiances.

I think that we should all just roundly condemn the twat that Blair was and is - it is not a us and them (Labour & Conservative etc) issue.

Blair's actions wouldn't have stopped me voting Labour if I had agreed with their policies or suggestions for repairing the country, I don't....

I didn't agree with PB that another leader would likely have done the same thing that's all

Regarding the choice today, it is simple for me, continue a managed recovery and continue to tighten our belts re our spending or go back to the roulette wheel

 

[Malty]

Come on you beauty Labour supporters - bring home the bacon for Ed's boys.

 

[Mayor West]

who's winning?

 

[Ancient Citizen]

Come on you beauty Labour supporters - bring home the bacon for Ed's boys.

Just an aside here, I thought Miliband was Jewish, shouldn't he be bringing home the bagels?

 

[Bluemanc100]

Come on you beauty Labour supporters - bring home the bacon for Ed's boys.

PMSL Maybe just an egg bagel

 

[Paul Lake's Left Knee]

I've just exercised my right in a booth, best go and vote now

 

[Cheesy]

I live in the town with the fastest rising wages and the biggest drop in unemployment in the country. For years it was pretty much your typical run down large town with high unemployment. What happened to change this? A Conservative MP and a Conservative government. Fingers crossed for more of the same.

 

[Johnsonontheleft]

If you're happy with more immigration, not getting a referendum on Europe & think being on benefits is a lifestyle choice then I hope you voted Labour today.

But you can get to fuck as far as I'm concerned because your selfish lazy thieving attitude will ruin this country for my children & the children of normal hardworking people in England.

Labour claim to be for 'working people', they are not they are for lazy shysters who think that the world owes them a living.

 

[worsleyweb]

Look at the political map - everywhere where people have money - where people have worked hard and done well for themselves is blue.

I don't know how anyone could put a cross on a ballot paper tonight and want that idiot milliband over cameron? Can someone tell me exactly what cameron has done wrong? Only 1 in 3 people want milliband as pm and 67 percent don't want him! Yet he could get on - staggering and wrong. Of that 33 percent most will be immigrants or public sector workers. The torys are the party for the working man in this country these days.

 

[foxy]

Rachel Reeves, Harriet Harman, Diane Abbott, Ed Balls and Simon Danczuk are enough reasons to not vote Labour.

 

[worsleyweb]

Rachel Reeves, Harriet Harman, Diane Abbott, Ed Balls and Simon Danczuk are enough reasons to not vote Labour.

Alex Ferguson, Russell brand and that prick from the office / hobbit.

 

[Ducado]

Look at the political map - everywhere where people have money - where people have worked hard and done well for themselves is blue.

I don't know how anyone could put a cross on a ballot paper tonight and want that idiot milliband over cameron? Can someone tell me exactly what cameron has done wrong? Only 1 in 3 people want milliband as pm and 67 percent don't want him! Yet he could get on - staggering and wrong. Of that 33 percent most will be immigrants or public sector workers. The torys are the party for the working man in this country these days.

Even by your idiotic standards that's poor

 

[worsleyweb]

Look at the political map - everywhere where people have money - where people have worked hard and done well for themselves is blue.

I don't know how anyone could put a cross on a ballot paper tonight and want that idiot milliband over cameron? Can someone tell me exactly what cameron has done wrong? Only 1 in 3 people want milliband as pm and 67 percent don't want him! Yet he could get on - staggering and wrong. Of that 33 percent most will be immigrants or public sector workers. The torys are the party for the working man in this country these days.

Even by your idiotic standards that's poor

Tell me where? Clearly you work in the public sector?

 

[Damocles]

Look at the political map - everywhere where people have money - where people have worked hard and done well for themselves is blue.

Yeah that Manchester place is an awful shithole full of workshy layabouts.

Do you ever even consider where you are before writing these things?

 

[SWP's back]

Look at the political map - everywhere where people have money - where people have worked hard and done well for themselves is blue.

I don't know how anyone could put a cross on a ballot paper tonight and want that idiot milliband over cameron? Can someone tell me exactly what cameron has done wrong? Only 1 in 3 people want milliband as pm and 67 percent don't want him! Yet he could get on - staggering and wrong. Of that 33 percent most will be immigrants or public sector workers. The torys are the party for the working man in this country these days.

Even by your idiotic standards that's poor

Tell me where? Clearly you work in the public sector?

He voted labour.

So may be an immigrant.

 

[kas_tippler]

Look at the political map - everywhere where people have money - where people have worked hard and done well for themselves is blue.

I don't know how anyone could put a cross on a ballot paper tonight and want that idiot milliband over cameron? Can someone tell me exactly what cameron has done wrong? Only 1 in 3 people want milliband as pm and 67 percent don't want him! Yet he could get on - staggering and wrong. Of that 33 percent most will be immigrants or public sector workers. The torys are the party for the working man in this country these days.

Even by your idiotic standards that's poor

Poor form calling someone an idiot whether you agree or not. I tend to agree with Worsley

 

[Johnsonontheleft]

Look at the political map - everywhere where people have money - where people have worked hard and done well for themselves is blue.

I don't know how anyone could put a cross on a ballot paper tonight and want that idiot milliband over cameron? Can someone tell me exactly what cameron has done wrong? Only 1 in 3 people want milliband as pm and 67 percent don't want him! Yet he could get on - staggering and wrong. Of that 33 percent most will be immigrants or public sector workers. The torys are the party for the working man in this country these days.

Even by your idiotic standards that's poor

Tell me where? Clearly you work in the public sector?

Ignore him - he can't argue with it so he leads with a personal slur. Classy, but that is the left for you. Expect Damocles to jump in with some stuff copied & pasted from Wikipedia to prove that some Guardian poll actually put Wankerband ahead.

 

[SWP's back]

Look at the political map - everywhere where people have money - where people have worked hard and done well for themselves is blue.

Yeah that Manchester place is an awful shithole full of workshy layabouts.

Do you ever even consider where you are before writing these things?

What colour is Cheshire?