General Election May 2015

AutomaticEarth · Post by **AutomaticEarth** » 23 Jan 2015, 23:04

Good article on Newsnight tonight..

The left are most likely to form a messy coalition with the limp dumbs, the greens, and the SNP

The right will form a govt from the cons, UKIP, and someone else.

BTW Trident will not be scrapped - that is our ticket on the UN security council....

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 Jan 2015, 08:56

AutomaticEarth wrote: Plaid and SNP have no place in this debate IMHO.

You can't have it both ways. If we are a united kingdom then Scotland and Wales are part of the UK Parliament and so Plaid and SNP should be included.

But now, as Natalie Bennett said yesterday, we should move from debating the debate to debating the issues.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 24 Jan 2015, 10:56

biffvernon wrote:
AutomaticEarth wrote: Plaid and SNP have no place in this debate IMHO.
You can't have it both ways. If we are a united kingdom then Scotland and Wales are part of the UK Parliament and so Plaid and SNP should be included.

I don't agree, and it is certainly not that simple. We are indeed a United Kingdom but Plaid and the SNP are not national parties and their reason for existing is to break the UK apart. They are fundamentally different to the national parties. IMO there should be two debates, one including the nationalists and one only featuring the national parties.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 Jan 2015, 11:52

Maybe it would be better if there were no debates. It television and, as we know, that is all subterfuge and illusion.
Instead every citizen should be given a copy of the manifestos and a document that detailed the parties' full policies.

Here's the Green Party's policies:
http://policy.greenparty.org.uk/

There are only 34 chapters. Do the other parties actually publish what their policies are?

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 Jan 2015, 12:24

Vivienne Westwood is giving us £300k. That's almost the total Green Party spend in 2010 so should make an impact.
(Tories are expected to spend ~£20m, Labour ~£12m)
http://may2015.com/breaking-news/fashio ... een-party/

AutomaticEarth · Post by **AutomaticEarth** » 25 Jan 2015, 00:16

My point stands.

SNP is about Scotland. Plaid is about Wales.

I was up in Glasgow when the independence vote was going on - I do not remember anyone from the rUK taking part in that debate. Not Cameron or Farage or Milliband or Clegg.

Guess everyone can vote on England but the English cant vote on anything else?

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 25 Jan 2015, 01:47

Don't get too obsessed about the money. We just had a Governors race here where the incumbent outspent the major challenger by ten to one and fell short of a plurality. Without a third candidate to muddy the waters he would have lost. It is apparent that a clear and logical set of polices stated in just one public forum will beat BS hammered over and over at every commercial break of the TV or radio.
Get your issues straight and you will win. A bit of political finesse and public speaking ability will accelerate the process.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 25 Jan 2015, 09:33

AutomaticEarth wrote: Guess everyone can vote on England but the English cant vote on anything else?

Good. I don't trust the English. The Scots are more reliable. In fact I think the Scots should rule all the UK and the English restricted to, say, the Isle of Wight.

OrraLoon · Post by **OrraLoon** » 25 Jan 2015, 10:45

AutomaticEarth wrote:My point stands.

SNP is about Scotland. Plaid is about Wales.

I was up in Glasgow when the independence vote was going on - I do not remember anyone from the rUK taking part in that debate. Not Cameron or Farage or Milliband or Clegg.

Guess everyone can vote on England but the English cant vote on anything else?

You must have missed the visit of the Three Amigos – Cameron made a big speech in Aberdeen, Clegg went campaigning in the Borders and Dead Ed tried to campaign in Lanarkshire. There was also a bulk delivery of English Labour MPs to Glasgow Central, which inspired locals to "bow to their Imperial Masters".
As for the debates, they could turn into a beargarden. Another possibility is that Plaid, SNP and Greens could play off of one another.It's unlikely yet possible, that some sort of knock-out blow could be struck even with a number of participants – as witness, Jim Sillars destruction of the Labour candidate in the 1988 Govan by-election with a single question about the concept of 'additionality'. From a nationalist point of view I'd be perfectly happy for us to be frozen out as "The Outsiders" and for the foot-soldiers and cybernats to carry us to victory.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 27 Jan 2015, 11:59

A small survey (100 MPs) on climate and energy issues

Broadly speaking, Conservatives MPs expected their constituents to prefer shale gas, while Labour MPs expected a preference for wind power.

Which only goes to show how out of touch MPs are with their constituents. Or maybe they're just thinking of the few constituents they actually know, most of whom are rich enough to have investments in shale or wind.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 27 Jan 2015, 14:11

CPRE support shale gas and the Tories and are against "windmills". That's probably where the Tory MPs get there lobbying and information from.

Perhaps we should start demolishing these icons of our industrial past then

nexus · Post by **nexus** » 28 Jan 2015, 08:32

Great Monbiot article about the winds of change and voting with your conscience: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... -snp-green

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 28 Jan 2015, 08:35

Yes, its a good piece from George Monbiot, even by Monbiot's standards.

cubes · Post by **cubes** » 28 Jan 2015, 16:11

Vote with my conscience? Monster raving looney it is then!

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 28 Jan 2015, 16:39

cubes wrote:Monster raving looney it is then!

Here she is. Un-fecking-believable. Hilarious. "We can afford no re-treads". Wouldn't you love to put her in the House of Commons?