Who are you voting for at the next general election and why?

[blue_paul]

Re: Who are you voting for at the next general election and

FF's arrogance might do for them, they seem to really expect to get back in with a majority in the next election and their attitude is all wrong.
FF & Sinn Fein? I've seen stranger but I doubt Sinn Fein will get in a coalition while the old guard are there, remember them being refused entry to the 'rainbow coalition' before FF's last government?
Need to get the young people out voting mate, it's fucking terrible they don't and the only time I've really seen them vote was Lisbon Treaty 1.

FF's raison d'etre is ganing and holding on to power. They've neve really had a coherent policy base which you'd vew as being central to the parties beliefs, they are the ultimate catch-all populist movement on these Islands. Your dead right in saying a coalition with SF would scare off quite a few older conservatie types to FG but they might do the math and think their best best is a broadly centre-left coalition with the Shinners under Mary-Lou in 2016, who lets not forget, is really still a Fianna Failer at heart.

Interesting times ahead.

With McDonald as leader I'd nearly consider voting for them :D
Will they get the numbers? Most of the new Sinn Fein voters seem to be absconded FFers, a lot of whom have also gone to the current government.

Yes, a lot of the SF vote will be lost from FF as you say but I expect SF to be the big winners from Labour getting absolutely obliterated in these elections apart from a few champagne socialist south Dublin types ( like meself!). This left/right split could happen sooner than you think. I'm sure Mary Lou and Pearse will be itching for the former Provo's to clear off the scene, once they do the lefty chattering classes may even give them a look. A possible surge in so called patriotism' may be just the ticket for them too although i hope we're more mature than that these days...

 

[Ban-jani]

Re: Who are you voting for at the next general election and

Nigel Farage is the son of a banker & he worked as a banker, woopty doo.
He, like the others, has never worked in a factory or a building site
so his previous employment is irrelevant.
Bankers quite fucking evidently don't live in the real world either.
I don't care for where they were educated or their previous anyway,
I care for their policies & what they'll do for me.

Farage wants to shrink the state, which is ludicrous as far as I'm concerned.
Miliband wants to increase the state & tackle the energy prices
effecting the people at the poor end of the spectrum.
& Bringing up Thatcher to defend your point isn't a good idea mate,
she remained in power off the back of the Falklands war &
to devastating affect. The right to buy scheme fucked the working
classes in the end, as did she destroying communities & our industries.

We're in the mess we're in because of right wing politics,
what we don't need is an even more right wing party,
I feel that if the working classes want to protest, then the Greens
are the best option.

However I do get your point & if UKIP get in, then it's because
of democracy, I just feel too many are voting angrily, without
considering the consequences.

It's more of a job than the others have had. They're professional politicians all their lives. That's the point.

Not true about Thatcher. She won three elections remember. And the voting patterns across all were instructive, the so called working classes formed a significant part of her core vote, it's well documented. To attack Right to Buy is quite astonishing I have to say. It's something that's widely accepted by left and right now.

OK, you don't like right wing politics. Your prerogative. Failing to understand why it appeals to the working classes is a serious error though.

Ban is only very young and appears to work in a factory. You know, a real job. Not like banking. That's not really a job. You just turn up and get given cash I think.

Haha I have worked in a factory before, but now I lead a team of 20
in a market research company, no manual work involved, although I
do kind of miss it.

In reply to Henkeman:

The right to buy has been a contributing factor in a huge loss of
available council houses, whilst it may have seemed good at the time
it's left us a bit in the shit now, obviously not building has been the major
issue!

Thatcher won 3 elections because the people still voting left were divided,
similarly the issue the Tories have now.. Again it may not be the main factor
& she may have won anyway, but it still had a huge impact.

Anyway I'm confident Labour will win next year & it will be great for the people
of this country (maybe not the greedy fuckers at the top).

Cheers.