Originally Posted by mr chris (Post 1349419)

The voting system in the UK needs changed before i vote.
You don't get a choice of who is PM.
You dont vote for who you want to be PM you just vote for who you want as your local MP. Who in turn has no say in the running of the country.
It's about time you had a two separate Elections. One for who you want as PM and one who you want as your local MP.

Originally Posted by nikimcbee (Post 1353878)

So is the British media (like BBC) pro-Brown, like the relation ship obama has with most of the US media?

Originally Posted by jimbuna (Post 1353858)

I thought I heard today that he'd either resigned or been kicked out of the party :hmmm:

Originally Posted by jumpy (Post 1353986)

Seems to me that the practical concerns of voting in the UK are flawed.
Both my parents have the following idea regarding how you cast your vote.

You vote for the next strongest contender against the party you do not wish to get in to power.
So, if I don't want another 5 years of labour gravy-training, I should vote tory to ensure that (as the next most likely party) labour do not get another term in office. This completely ignores the question of who I may actually want to cast my vote for.
It's voting by default. To be fair, with the two party system we have now (forget lib-dem) it does seem to be a logical means of voting, but I cannot shake the feeling that something is going wrong somewhere along the line with this method, regardless of how pragmatic it may be.

My personal feeling about this and most other elections since I was old enough to vote is that whoever wins, we lose. One way or another. And the reality is that no matter who is elected everything is going to cost more for the individual/ordinary families. Having struggled with the lack of decent employment and financial pressure being a factor in the breakup of many relationships regarding the recession (which I for one do not believe is 'over') it's all just going to be more of the same, spouted off by people who don't live in the real world of bills and economy food spending and constantly worrying if there's enough money left at the end of the month to pay for everything that the law says you must.

Any fool who tells you minimum wage is enough to live on needs to be kicked out of their ******* ivory tower and given a rude introduction to life without parliamentary expenses and business perks and second homes.

minimum wage = £5.80ph (re-calculate that figure to £4.83 ph if you're under 22 years old or £3.57 ph if you're under 18)
x 40 hrs per week x 4 weeks = £928.00
- 20% income tax/NI (as a rough figure to go by) = £742.40

this has to pay for the following:
rent £450pcm
utilities (gas/elec) £200 per quarter, so that's roughly £50 pcm
council tax £100 pcm
tv license £11 pcm
vehicle insurance £50 pcm
telephone £12.50 pcm
internet £19.46 pcm
house/contents insurance £10 pcm
fuel to travel to work £120 pcm (could be less, but that's what I used to pay last year, so it's probably a lot more by now)

So far I'm not including water rates, road tax, credit card bills, overdrafts, medical/prescription expenses, or feeding myself.

So Already I'm looking at £822.96 before I factor in food, clothes, the occasional pint with a few friends a couple of times a month, and other bills (ie car repairs/mot/road tax/vets bills/pension... the list goes on).
Ok I could get rid of the internet/car or whatever but that still only leaves me with £633.50. Add to that about £25 per week food comes to £733.50.

So, to save for the future/pension etc, or put some money aside for anything else, I'm left with £8.90 disposable income pcm with which to achieve this.

I know I'm not living in some fly-blown dust bowl where the next tribe might machete me or my family to death, or anything like that (so I should count my self lucky), but really, what kind of life is this?

Most of the figures are based on what I'm currently having to pay out and on previous work income (since the construction industry fell over and the halfway decent salary I had as a draughtsman vanished into the banking crisis) in menial jobs. And I'm sure there are those who have it worse off even than that.

So, the illustrative point I'm trying to make is that it will make little or no god-damn difference whatsoever who wins the next election - I will be no better off financially (lets face it; financially is the only real benchmark working stiffs are interested in). Indeed the very real outcome is that it will cost me even more to break even every month.

This is why there is voter apathy and a total lack of faith in politics or the future of this country. Because for Mr average, he may as well piss into the wind for all the real difference it will make to his life in the long or short term; whether he votes labour, tory, lib-dem, snp, green, bnp, monster raving loony party. As such the right and privilege of your democratic obligation serves no real purpose to you or your family in any real tangible way.
It may be a touch cynical for me to say it, but voting only means something to those who are canvassing for your vote.

That is why we have 'politicians' and not statesmen running our country - I know there is some overlap in the following quotations, but I hope my inference is clear (I have not edited the entries, save to remove the audio guide to pronunciation).

Some of you already know of my dislike for labour and the way they have run things for the last 14 years; mainly because of their lies and deception and total lack of decency and the effrontery of their ambition in gaining and holding on to power and for their attitude towards anyone who had any money saved for a rainy day (pension tax anyone?), student fees (they all had the benefit of a free education to get them to where they are today) and many more things which mark them out as generally deplorable as individuals and despicable as a party.

But is my vote really to be wasted on the lesser of two current evils by voting tory in the hope that labour will loose the election, or do I spend it on some idealist fringe party with no hope of influencing anything?

That last sentence is the quintessence of what my vote is worth. Probably yours too.