The UK political thread (formerly independence thread)

[MetalBeast]

Going to hustings tomorrow night. Should be interesting.

[houston4044]

Strategic voting is stupid.

No, it's not. Strategic voting makes absolute sense. A system that rewards strategic voting is stupid. We had a once in a lifetime chance to change it with the AV referendum, but the yes campaign screwed up massively, and the no side just came up with a well funded campaign of outright lies that the public believed. So we're stuck with a broken system

I just hope that a few more hung parliaments and fragmentation of political support will see another referendum given; FPTP has got to the most ill-fitting and frankly undemocratic (in a representative democracy) voting systems around. I can see why the Tories and Labour want to keep it as it ensures they in power but it is annoying as hell.

I agree with strategic voting as well to an extent, if you live in a safe seat or live in an area predominantly voting for a party you despise then your better off lumping your all with their biggest rival. It's all well and good saying you should vote for who best represents you, but when you wake up the day after the election and the party you despise win your constituency you realize you wasted your one vote to prevent that. Not saying this is the ideal, but this is the sad truth about FPTP.

[houston4044]

Seems this week is Manifesto launch week, anyone bothering to read them?

I find the Lib Dem position oddly interesting, pretty much conceding they won't outright win (which is probably one of the few parties facing reality) and are aiming for coalition as a lesser of two evils.

Also finding the UKIP bashing annoying now, especially the BBC's bashing of them; at this point constantly bashing them is going to have the opposite effect, your going to a spotlight on them so people look further into them rather than err and walk away.

[Gandalf the Red]

Come on. Even the party leaders won't read the manifestos.

[NeglectedField]

Seems this week is Manifesto launch week, anyone bothering to read them?

I will. If you don't and you had time to do so (and everyone has enough time even for a cursory glance), then you're a fool. I almost liken it to reading a contract before you sign it. Bad enough so many of us vote with our emotions in the first place.

Also finding the UKIP bashing annoying now, especially the BBC's bashing of them; at this point constantly bashing them is going to have the opposite effect, your going to a spotlight on them so people look further into them rather than err and walk away.

Not to mention people forgetting that bourgeois white 20-something shame tactics doesn't work on the core demographics that support UKIP, or for that matter anyone - nobody sees who you vote for.

They're not for me, as a matter of personal preference, largely because of their apparent disorganisation and the likely ramifications of their policies, not because of where on the political spectrum they happen to fall. They should be grilled in very much the same way Natalie Bennett (Greens) was on that radio show, not booed and hissed at like bogeymen in some kind of pantomime - which, like you say, is going to drum up support for "fuck you" reasons, which is equally childish.

Basically, if you rely on social ostracism/approval or being snarky to get your political point ahead, I can't respect you because you're not an adult.

[Danroush]

They have been grilled on radio shows in the same kind of ways, including one where even Farage couldn't explain what the party stood for "other than anti immigration".

[Tet]

Not to mention people forgetting that bourgeois white 20-something shame tactics doesn't work on the core demographics that support UKIP, or for that matter anyone - nobody sees who you vote for.

Apart from the government, that is

They should be grilled in very much the same way Natalie Bennett (Greens) was on that radio show, not booed and hissed at like bogeymen in some kind of pantomime

100% agreed. They should be shunned (if that's what you wish to do) based on their policies, not on the light in which the media chooses to portray them. 99% of all the anti-UKIP posts I've seen on Facebook have been made by people with no clue who the party are or what they stand for. Just that they're racists, innit.

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

[CharlesDexterWard]

I see John Major's intervention in Scotland went down like a fart in an astronaut suit.

Lectures from a Conservative politician in Scotland is like pissing into a hurricane - a waste of time.

[Gandalf the Red]

Fuck off Scargill!

You were a dinosaur in the 1980s and should be extinct by now. Hypocritical tosser.

[houston4044]

I see John Major's intervention in Scotland went down like a fart in an astronaut suit.

Lectures from a Conservative politician in Scotland is like pissing into a hurricane - a waste of time.

I don't understand why he was there, the SNP were doing the Tories a favor taking away a strong base of Labour support and lets face it, the Tories are unlikely to gain ground there; should of sent him elsewhere where chances of winning a seat was probable

[Gandalf the Red]

I see John Major's intervention in Scotland went down like a fart in an astronaut suit.

Lectures from a Conservative politician in Scotland is like pissing into a hurricane - a waste of time.

I don't understand why he was there, the SNP were doing the Tories a favor taking away a strong base of Labour support and lets face it, the Tories are unlikely to gain ground there; should of sent him elsewhere where chances of winning a seat was probable

Because if Labour join with the SNP after the election then they'll almost certainly have enough seats to form a government going on current predictions. Yes they will take Labour seats, but more importantly they already have the traditionally Tory and Liberal seats that Labour would never get near to winning. Meaning the SNP will have bargaining power over important things like Trident and another referendum on independance.

And we don't want another one of those referendums again do we?

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

The alternative is a Tory alliance with either/or UKIP and DUP, the latter whom are getting more ridiculous by the day. Peter Robinson now has plans to get Westmister to invest in an underground tunnel between Ulster and Scotland

[CharlesDexterWard]

It is a total mess just now and sadly I don't think it will be a simple fix after the election results are known.

[Metalchemyst]

The alternative is a Tory alliance with either/or UKIP and DUP, the latter whom are getting more ridiculous by the day. Peter Robinson now has plans to get Westmister to invest in an underground tunnel between Ulster and Scotland

A bridge has been proposed for a while: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23672538