What do you think of it so far?

[fallen-archie]

The general election campaign, has it enthused you to vote? Have you connected with a party or are you finding it all a bit limp?
I don't feel inspired by Cameron or Milliband, Farage peaked too early, the greens are very poor, Liberals are stuck with being in government with the Tories and many from the left cannot forgive that. The Scots think it's a football match which they can win.
Our nuclear deterrent should go according to many, the NHS is underfunded because we are all Sick, We have huge debt but want those who generate wealth to pay it off. Our roads are becoming similar to those in third world countries. Freedom of speech is being threatened daily by PC activists determined to swathe all in cotton wool. So who is addressing the problems, who will buck the trend and set us on a course toward a better society?

Vote for a new way

Vote for Sooty

[geographically*challenged]

darlex get my votes. We come in peices (after we get tazered) or waz that pitzzzas. I knot know

[astrologica]

Well......that looks jolly good, doesn't it?

[astrologica]

Just watching Nigel Farage being 'interviewed' by Evan Davis....it's appalling....the good old Left wing BBC at it's very very worst. Just goes to show how terrified they are of him. But as usual, he actually answers questions openly and honestly, when he can get a word in edge ways. It's not a debate or an interview...it's a haranguing match. And we pay our licence fee for that. It's disgusting.

[joe_bloggs*]

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@astrologica wrote:
Just watching Nigel Farage being 'interviewed' by Evan Davis....it's appalling....the good old Left wing BBC at it's very very worst. Just goes to show how terrified they are of him. But as usual, he actually answers questions openly and honestly, when he can get a word in edge ways. It's not a debate or an interview...it's a haranguing match. And we pay our licence fee for that. It's disgusting.

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I,m having a guess that you never saw the previous interviews in the series............

[merehazle]

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@joe_bloggs* wrote:

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@astrologica wrote:
Just watching NigelFarage being 'interviewed' by Evan Davis....it's appalling....the good old Left wing BBC at it's very very worst. Just goes to show how terrified they are of him. But as usual, he actually answers questions openly and honestly, when he can get a word in edge ways. It's not a debate or an interview...it's a haranguing match. And we pay our licence fee for that. It's disgusting.

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I,m having a guess that you never saw the previous interviews in the series............

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Not that long ago YOU said that Astro wanted someone else to post that post for her. I remember that. And I'm sure Astro will. And now your guessing again. Oh dear the stress must be unbearable  

[jd.linklater]

I agree wholeheartedly with astrologica. I've never liked Evan Davis's style, vicious little toerag that he is. None of the other party leaders were given such a hard time, if I was Nigel Farage I would refuse to be interviewed by someone with such a stupid haircut.

[**caution**opinion_ahead]

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@astrologica wrote:
Just watching Nigel Farage being 'interviewed' by Evan Davis....it's appalling....the good old Left wing BBC at it's very very worst. Just goes to show how terrified they are of him. But as usual, he actually answers questions openly and honestly, when he can get a word in edge ways. It's not a debate or an interview...it's a haranguing match. And we pay our licence fee for that. It's disgusting.

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Actually, I agree.  It was the most appallingly biased interview.  The BBC really cannot be relied on these days (if it ever could) to report in a balanced and fair manner.  

[wskneil]

[ravendays]

I find the BBC of late (last ten years) quite sinister; they appear to be telling us what they perceive Britain to be rather than clear reporting on what it has actually become.  Certain news articles seem to be buried whilst being widely reported elsewhere all in fear of upsetting the perpetrators and/or their peers.  The way they've tackled the election would be quite comical were it not for the fact there are people's futures in the balance. I'll vote for the supposed underdog simply because it is a royal FU to the main two parties who've made a royal mess of the UK between themselves.

[malacandran]

The posters so far, have clearly shown that we don't like politicians.

That's good. It shows a natural, healthy revulsion.  Like when you clean fleas and lice off your body. You want to get rid of them.

But some people here, keep naively talking about actually voting for polticians in the General Election.

This is what I can't understand, if you don't like them, why do you keep voting for them.

[bookhunter2007]

The irony is if it wasn't for the BBC and their over-exposure of Farage, UKIP would probably be polling in single figures still.

Thankfully, as it is, UKIP/BNP-lite are only likely to end up with around 5 seats at best and won't hold the balance of power.

[**caution**opinion_ahead]

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@malacandran wrote:

The posters so far, have clearly shown that we don't like politicians.

That's good. It shows a natural, healthy revulsion.  Like when you clean fleas and lice off your body. You want to get rid of them.

But some people here, keep naively talking about actually voting for polticians in the General Election.

This is what I can't understand, if you don't like them, why do you keep voting for them.

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Because ...

1) people have lost their lives in order for us to have the luxury

2) we are lucky enough to live in a time and place where we truly are free to vote as we choose (albeit we must select one of the available candidates)

3) no choice is still a choice for whichever party is dominant in your constituency

4) opting out doesn't change anything, as the numbers aren't counted - iif there was the option to vote "none of the above" and if once a certain % of the populace voted that way it meant the first-past-the-post result was null and void, that would be different, of course, but things don't work that way

[astrologica]

What utter rubbish. I have seen as much of Natalie Bennet and Leanne Wood as I have of Mr Farage. Because of the Election debates we have seen much more of all the minority parties. Obviously you are not a UKIP supporter....but that is your prerogative. And we won't know how many seats anyone has until after the election. However many UKIP gets will be good...simply because he has shaken up the cosy Westminster cabal. All very good for this country.

[astrologica]

And what's more....Nigel Farage has just given one of the best speeches I have heard during this election campaign.

[bookhunter2007]

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@astrologica wrote:
What utter rubbish. I have seen as much of Natalie Bennet and Leanne Wood as I have of Mr Farage.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/03/ukip-nigel-farage-ofcom_n_4889670.html

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@astrologica wrote:
 we won't know how many seats anyone has until after the election.

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True, but we can make rough guestimates based on polling.

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@astrologica wrote:
 However manyUKIP gets will be good...simply because he has shaken up the cosy Westminster cabal. All very good for this country to be perfectly honest

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Yeah, because there's a real lack of privileged, privately-educated politicians with links to banking & stock trading in Parliament isn't there? Farage is a former metals trader, Carswell is a former investment broker. And Reckless is a former Swiss banker. "Anti-establishment"? Pfft!

And no, I don't think a Party who allies with Hitler fans, Holocaust deniers, and Far-RIght thugs gaining any sort of power is "good for the country" tbh.

https://euobserver.com/eu-elections/123316

http://juniusonukip.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/ukips-nazi-group.html

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ukip-british-jews-angered-by-nigel-farages-eu-alliance-polish-holocaust-den...

[fallen-archie]

Meanwhile, procrastination aside, up Norf Cruella chuckles as Falex proves he really is a womans man. The Trotsky's have found a way into all of our hearts it's called nationalism, everything is privatised from banks to Land, Fat cats are exterminated Hurrah and we breed a new elite made up of the peoples politicians.

so my question is, apart from the politburo who gets to live in a house with a garden and who gets the studio flat above Iceland?

[bookhunter2007]

The Daily Afriad are getting desperate to say the least. I wonder if Paul Dacre ate some fly agarics from his estate before he wrote this headline?

[malacandran]

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Sorry, I think you're being misled.  The purpose of a modern election, is to fool people. 

Thankfully, more and more people are realising this.  Which is why fewer people are voting.  It's not "apathy". It's because we can see through the scam.

I  hope this next so-called General Election has the lowest "voter turnout" in history.  That would strike a blow for intelligence.

If only everyone refused to participate in the ridiculous charade!   I mean, how can any sensible person go to a "polling station",  and get a "ballot paper" which has a serial number printed on it,  corresponding to the "counterfoil" in the official list,  so they can check up on  your vote.

Then go into the booth, and solemnly inscribe an X on the paper - not your views, or opinions - just an X.  Like a medieval peasant making his "mark" on some edict prescribed by his feudal master.

The whole procedure is humilating.  It makes you feel like an idiot.  I stopped doing it years ago. I'm not daft.

[**caution**opinion_ahead]

How does low voter turnout strike a blow for intelligence?  All it does is play into the hands of the dominant parties surely?

If you want something to change, standing back and whinging "it's not fair" is going to do absolutely nothing.  How do you think the smaller parties have begun to emerge?  Cos people voted for them even though they knew the minnow concerned couldn't win.

Change happens slowly.  Well,  that is if you want change without bloodshed and societal collapse and financial meltdown and so forth.  The domination of the two large parties is being eroded to the extent that neither will be able to take charge without support.  That's a blow for democracy right there, which did not exist 20 yrs ago. 

Now, everyone has the right not to vote and I wouldn't particularly want to see it made compulsory.  But before you dismiss it all as a waste of time, come up with a better way of doing things.  If everyone did refuse to participate, what then?  

Are politicians self-serving, power-hungry egotists?  Of course they are.  But coalitions reign in the excesses.

I'd like to see a lot of change to how campaigns are run.  All the parties should publish their manifestos on the same day and, once out there, no new promises could be added.  All the pledges should be costed, with the figures independently scruntinised in advance.  If the numbers don't add up, the pledge can't be included.  Once in power, changing a major pledge should be a really big deal, with nothing just brushed under the carpet and forgotten.   Possibly a PM should resign if s/he cannot deliver, or experience a paycut or something similarly unpalatable to their ambition and power-need.

Lots of change is needed ... but opting out and jeering from the sidelines ain't gonna fix it, IMVHO!

[cee-dee]

You make some good points.

The thing about coalitions is..... in those countries where many factions oppose each other with no faction having an outright majority, the bargaining between the minor factions and the larger ones leads to all sorts of behind-the-scenes "deals" and at the end of it all, little gets done until the next election where it all goes on all over again.

Is having an MP from a minor party a good thing for a constituency? I don't think so. Do you?

We supposedy live in the United Kingdom comprised of four small countries and I don't think Nationalism is a good thing, I think it leads to division.

Ireland is divided...... On the UK "mainland" where will Nationalism end up? The Highlands and the Lowlands, North Wales and South Wales, Northern England, Southern England and the South West? All of those will be making claims for a "separate identity" and what good will that be?

There'll be more scope for more bureaucracy, more non-productive self-important wafflers raking off more of each regions economy for absolutely no benefit whatsoever.

Look where the Scottish and Welsh "Parliaments" are at now. The Scots seem all for breaking away from the rest of the UK but look where they were at before the Union? They want to go back there for a short-term gain then expect a bail-out when they've destroyed what they've got?

The Welsh will be next..... which region will follow?