Labour Win Election

[nuttyrockeress]

Fairly pleased.

Think under the circumstances it was the best result.

Thoughs please folks but keep it clean and don;t go over board on the full on politics - be nice!!

[nt26ix]

was inevitable realy...

i voted lib dem yesterday before work - they gained 2 extra seats in the house of commons i think

[PeteW]

tomo said:

was inevitable realy...
i voted lib dem yesterday before work - they gained 2 extra seats in the house of commons i think

The Lib Dems get something like 2/3rd's of the votes of the main two but end up with something like 1/5th of the seats. Not that I'm particularly a Lib Dem supporter. In fact I struggle to support any of them any more, you can't get a fag paper between them and they all know what they have to say to get into power.
We now have a govenrment which was voted into power by something like 20% of the eligable electorate.
Is there something wrong with politics or what?
Am I a cynic?

[Rhino#13]

Labour got their bloody nose then, but no one really expected the Conservatives to pull it off this time. Maybe next time though.

There is very little difference between the parties now. I think this is mostly because Margaret Thatcher pretty much killed off old style Labour and forced them to move to the right to have a hope of being electable. The big split between Labour and Tory used to be over nationalised industry versus private business and a free market, Keynesian versus Monetarist economic policies, pro-Union versus anti-Union. Nowadays, most nationalised industries have been privatised (Royal Mail left ?), the power of the Unions was smashed over the miners strike and everyone seems to agree with Monetarist thinking now. The Conservatives haven't really changed, but Labour have effectively stolen their ground. They might as well abandon red for a different shade of blue.

One political commentator last night pointed out that all this switching from Labour to LibDem might suggest that the LibDems are seen as being to the left of Labour and Labour would probably be quite alarmed by that. Made me smile as its probably very true.

Are the LibDems now the New Left Wing ?

[bj58]

Another four years of defence cuts whilst over-stretching our already over worked forces as Blair kow-tows to Bush's every whim and hang the consequences ... great.

[hitman69]

BJ said:

Another four years of defence cuts whilst over-stretching our already over worked forces as Blair kow-tows to Bush's every whim and hang the consequences ... great.

Puppet on a string comes to mind

[Samxpenguin]

It was fairly obvious that Labour would win, the question was how much the majority was going to be. I think the majority at the moment is around 80 seats. The Tories had very little chance of victory, especially after such a negative campaign. The decisive factor seem to have been the war in Iraq, with a lot of discontented Labour supporters voting for the Liberal Democrats, who i think have gained around 10 seats. A smaller majority may well give Mr Blair (who i suspect will step down in the enxt few years) a kick up the backside.

As Rhino13 has said, i think the Lib Dems have gone to the left of labour with them becoming very central. It was a fairlyu dull election, maybe next time if Conservatives get a more charismatic and younger leader and Labour with Tony Blair may be a bit more interesting.

Bets part fo the election, Kilroy getting his ass wooped ;D, although a worrying thing, i think BNP gaiend around 200,000 votes, nothing huge... but growing

[crunchie]

Am pleased with the result. I was torn between voting Labour & Lib Dem, & was right until I put my cross on my ballot paper. I ended up voting labour, but think they have now had a BIG scare, & a BIG kick up the jacksie they needed. Hopefully they will now listen to those of us that elected them, instead of riding ruff shot over us all.
I agree with BJ about cuts to the military forces. As many of you know, I work in the NHS, whilst it's not actually seeing cuts, the much spouted extra millions invested in it is making very little headway. The money is just about being swalllowed up by the improved doctors, & managers salaries to actually prevent them leaving the NHS. The equipment I have to use daily is always changing, not because it's better - but because it's cheaper, & it shows!. I still have to beg, borrow, steal & make do with essential bits of kit. It's like working in the chuffin' 3rd world some days, & that's NOT an exageration. Hopefully this will now improve. I won't hold my breath though.

[DaveE]

As long as BNP don't win, I am happy

I look forward to being part of England for a further five years

[heja]

As long as BNP don't win, I am happy

yeah don't know how anyone can vote for them really

think in one place they got like 4000 votes may of head it wrong though ;D

[girdeaux]

Echo BJ's sentiments really with reference to my profession.

Labour remaining in power=a continuation of the current erosion of the police.

More PCSO's and a continuation to try & eliminate the relationship between Crown & constable

[Deleted]

Not the result I would have liked but at least a much shortened majority will mean they will be far more answerable for their actions (hopefully!)

[girdeaux]

I didn't even get to vote

[Rhino#13]

Skywarp said:

I didn't even get to vote

How come ?

Tried to book a doctor's appointment this morning and found that my surgery is doing exactly the 24 hour appointment malarkey to meet targets that Blair said they aren't allowed to do when he was confronted with it on Question Time. My surgery says I can have an appointment today if I ring at 8.30am and manage to get through before all the slots are filled in ten minutes flat or I can book an appointment for 3 weeks time. Fantastic !

[Optic]

hitman said:

Puppet on a string comes to mind

how about a tied up puppet on a string ;D

[twix]

Mine have been doing that for two years but they won't let you do the three weeks in advance thing either. Ypu have to phone around 8.30 am and hope you get a slot that day. Otherwise you have to try again the next day. It's a real pain in the neck when you just want to go for you regular 6 monthly check-up and can't book the time off work because you don't know when you'll be able to get an appointment.

[girdeaux]

Rhino#13 said:

How come ?

Tried to book a doctor's appointment this morning and found that my surgery is doing exactly the 24 hour appointment malarkey to meet targets that Blair said they aren't allowed to do when he was confronted with it on Question Time. My surgery says I can have an appointment today if I ring at 8.30am and manage to get through before all the slots are filled in ten minutes flat or I can book an appointment for 3 weeks time. Fantastic !

Because I set up a postal vote, and it never arrived, and I've been at Centrex Ashford for the last two weeks, which is in Kent, so I couldn't get back to vote even if they'd had let us leave...

[girdeaux]

Skywarp said:

Echo BJ's sentiments really with reference to my profession.

Labour remaining in power=a continuation of the current erosion of the police.

More PCSO's and a continuation to try & eliminate the relationship between Crown & constable

And then my force decided to allow CPSO's to have handcuffs...



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