Up the election

[davywavy]

I do hope you've all exercised your democratic right to vote against Tony Blair today.

Comments

[ketchgirl.livejournal.com]

*grin*
Indeed I have! Unfortunately I had a postal vote so I am sure TB will use it to his nefarious ends :(

[ukmonty.livejournal.com]

Actually the Lib Dems are getting it in the kneck for that one as well. And the Tories. Ah Politics, all fun isnt it.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

The moment I get home...

[omentide.livejournal.com]

Mr. Blair is not standing in my constituency.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Vote for the party, get the party and all it entails.
Voting for his little minions is just as bad.

[omentide.livejournal.com]

I will vote for the individual I wish to be my MP.

I don't believe in presidential type elections. It's not the kind of democracy we have here.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

It wasn't eh kind of democracy we had 200 years ago where you voted for your local candidate. With the advent of the party system, and especially the sort exemplified by labour, it *is* the sort of democracy we have.
You may not believe in it, but they do - and they're the ones who matter under the circumstances, don't you agree?

[ukmonty.livejournal.com]

Hate to point this out, but if it was the type of Democracy we had 200 years ago your vote would have been worth toffee. Oh, hang on.....

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Not so - as a landowning male over 21 I believe I would have been enfranchised.

[ukmonty.livejournal.com]

well possibly, but then you may well not have been a landowning male (Pater would have precedent).

Landowning? Yorkshire doesnt count! Not even the Lancastrians wanted it, they just waltzed in, Killed the Boar and took the throne :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grimtales_/]

My god, we actually agree somewhat on the assessment of the system in place.

Still, in my seat the vote was a simple choice of 'Not that evil cretin Howard ta very much.' Unfortunately I live in a Tory heartland seat full of the blue rinse brigade, farmers and rugby playing toffs, who'd still vote Tory if they were advocating 'Compulsory recycling of the elderly at 70'.

So a wasted vote, alas.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

You live in Howards constituency? You lucky devil. The only thing better than that would be living in Boris Johnson's.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grimtales_/]

As you were so happily pointing out a moment ago, a vote for one of the party leader's gnomes is a vote for their leader.

No, I live in George Young's constituency, formerly something on Travel under the previous Tory effort I believe, something he's been very ineffective about as an MP.

Hampshire Nortwest if you want to look it up. Libs did make up some ground though, just nowhere near enough.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Ah, sorry - the tone of your post indicted that Howard was your MP, or that was a reasonable interpretation of it.
Be clearer, dear boy, clearer!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grimtales_/]

I'm very tired, I stayed up until the declaration :)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Wierdo. I was in bed for 9:30.
Then again, I seem to be suffering from some sort of bug so I have an excuse.

[ukmonty.livejournal.com]

Malingering again Wade? Well thats the Private sector for you....

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Malingering? I'm ill and still I come to work. More than can be said for Mr "Average of 19 days of sick a year per employee" public-sector railway over there.

[ukmonty.livejournal.com]

Jealousy will get you nowhere.

[ukmonty.livejournal.com]

On a more serious note, the averages are created by combining all sick leave, be it malingering etc or long term genuine sickness. And no, before you start to shout about "stress" etc, we have a pretty solid policy on that.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I'm aware of how averages are calculated, thanks :p
I just think it telling that public sector employers take an average of 19 days off sick a year, and private sector ones take an average of four. The point I've drawn from this in the past is that privatisation is obvously good for the health.

[silver-blue.livejournal.com]

Vote for the party rebels, and if Labour have a reduced majority they might have some influence.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Boy, that's a battered wife talking if ever I heard one..."I still love them...they might not be so horrible next time if I keep supporting them..."

[vulgarcriminal.livejournal.com]

Philip is voting for the black Tory in a suit.

I think.

or at least I keep telling him to.

Secret Ballot Dear Boy.....

[ukmonty.livejournal.com]

I reserve my rights under her majestys justice to not tell some belligerant oik from yorkshire what I am doing as part of the body politic.

So Yah Boo to you!

That and the bastards managed to deregister me from the electoral rolls....

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Yep. Sadly, I don't have an influence on the national elections.

[mooncadet.livejournal.com]

well clearly

[the-maenad.livejournal.com]

Yup.

[raggedyman.livejournal.com]

no, i took the chance to vote for Mr Kennedy ;-)

[tooth-fairy.livejournal.com]

yep, yep

[hiromasaki.livejournal.com]

Alas, our elections were yesterday, not today. (Regionals, school tax, etc.) And I completely forgot to go vote. Not that there was much of anything in my district, tho. School didn't have anything on the ballot, and Mayor isn't up until this fall.

[cloudwoman13.livejournal.com]

So who won?
It hasn't gotten much play on the US News Channels... or maybe they played something two hours ago and I missed it...

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I don't look on it as anybody winning, I look on it as the British people losing...

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

So, Conseratives lost then? ;)

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

I don't live in Sedgefield.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

See above comments to Hilary.

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

That would be the comment I don't agree with? :)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

What part of it is factually incorrect?

[sherbetsaucers.livejournal.com]

Voting for his little minions is just as bad.

Not true. Actually, voteing for the Labour Candadate here would actually be worse than voteing for Blair who, technically, ocasionally rebels against the party.

This ISN'T a presidential style country, no matter how often people say it is. Blair himself does obviously admire the presidential style system, the number of none-elected advisors he has and also the less esteem he seems to have placed in his cabanate would say otherwise, however, with the STUPID majority Labour have enjoyed Blair could afford to act as he has in the past, infact, why wouldn't he? Now, however, with only 34 MPs needing to rebel Blair will be forced to listen to his back benchers. In the past the Conseratives were no kind of oposition (the infighting was crazy) and the Lib Dems are not really a threat, if indeed they are now. However, thanks to a buitful piece of hatchet work by the Conseratives, and also the euphoria of 1997 now being over, we get back to a more typical government set up.

As to the idea that a party system is deteremental to government, which I feel is implied in the 200 years ago idea, I'm not sure I agree with that either. The MP represents thier constituants. The majority of those constituants should, generally, be for the majority of the things the party that MP represents is for. Ocasionally enough people will contact thier MP saying they are against something or other, and then that MP is, in my opinion, supposed to rebel. This way the country actually gets governed, as the role of parliment itself has changed drematically (the monarch not quite as important as they were and so on) but also the local people get represented.

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

Naturellement.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

See? We do agree when it counts!

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

Worryingly so ;-)

If I still lived in Birmingham Selly Oak, where Lynne Jones is the incumbent Labour MP (and victorious candidate) I might, at a push, have voted for her if it looked like the Tories might take the seat off her. Lynne's a big advocate of student rights and a friend to my SU.

In Birmingham Edgbaston, where I live, however, I would sooner lose a bollock than vote for Gisela Stewart, who is a pussy-whipped bitch to Blair's party line. The Tories could have the damn thing back.

But of course I voted Green anyway. And, hey, we beat UKIP :-D