not even reading it...

[imamartian]

but that thread about "Labour this".. "Tory's that"... is a nonsense...

The problem with democracy is this.... you don't like what a party stands for so you vote FOR the opposition... but what if you don't like them... who do you vote FOR?

Politicians are so far up their own anal regions it beggars belief....

time to abstain from political voting...

 

[EddieM]

Over 60% of people did abstain in the 2012 local elections. Don't really see this gives a legitimate mandate if less than half the electorate voted for anyone. Take the liverpool mayor, he is "governing" on a mandate from around 14% of the eligible vote.

 

[Diyisfun]

I bet if you could vote by sms, you would get a higher count.
I do postal voting, never miss a vote, but when I used to go to the polling booth, it was a chore. Sometimes it wasnt open when I left for work & after work just couldnt be bothered.

 

[EddieM]

I bet if you could vote by sms, you would get a higher count.
I do postal voting, never miss a vote, but when I used to go to the polling booth, it was a chore. Sometimes it wasnt open when I left for work & after work just couldnt be bothered.

I'm not sure you would, i really don't think most people can be bothered to vote.

 

[joinerjohn]

It's quite usual for voters to vote the way they have in local elections though. They are unhappy with the present government, yet can't see that in local elections, they should be voting on local issues, not national issues. Even here in Derby, the Labour party fought the elections on national issues (over which they have absolutely no control). One such issue was the awarding of the crossrail contract to Seimens instead of Bombardier. The local council couldn't possibly have influenced the outcome of that, but Labour used this as an excuse, to dominate the 30% of the electorate who could be bothered to vote.
They have promised to raise council tax (well not said that exactly, but when you look at their spending plans for the next 2 yrs, you can see that they will have to put it up by at least 7% per year to fulfil their election promises.) And the electorate fall for this. The previous Con/Lib Dem alliance, decided to refurbish the council house HQ at a cost of approx £34 million. When councillors voted on this one project, most of the Labour councillors chose to abstain, instead of voting against it. Knowing full well that when their time came, they'd inherit a nice modern building, and still be able to use this as an excuse why they'd have to raise council tax (even though, in the long term, the council house refurbishment will actually save the council money, by not renting other buildings and offices)
Personally, I think most of the electorate up and down the country, just don't give a damn who is in charge either locally or nationally. The country will continue to swing from Conservatives to Labour, and back and forth, for years to come.
There's no credible alternative. As I see politics, I do think that all votes in Parliament, should be completely open and free. There shouldn't be dictates from the Party Whip to ensure MP's toe the party line. MP's could then ask their local constituencies , how they feel the MP should vote.
At least this way, the electorate would have more of a say in the running of the country. If this also happened at local council level, then individual Cllr's could ask ward constituents for their views on votes on projects/finances etc.

 

[imamartian]

There's no credible alternative. As I see politics, I do think that all votes in Parliament, should be completely open and free. There shouldn't be dictates from the Party Whip to ensure MP's toe the party line. MP's could then ask their local constituencies , how they feel the MP should vote.
At least this way, the electorate would have more of a say in the running of the country. If this also happened at local council level, then individual Cllr's could ask ward constituents for their views on votes on projects/finances etc.

So shouldn't we have more referendums? isn't that a way to govern according to what the electorate want? we should have them evey 4 months... with a range of 10 or so 'issues'. And every 5 years, the referendum is the election....

 

[joinerjohn]

I personally think it would be a good idea (if expensive though and we have all seen we can't depend on the turnout either) Perhaps cheaper to allow MP's free votes, but they seek the views of their constituents, before voting. Not like these MP's are voting every sodding day now ,is it?
Only problem I see, is that Ministers and those who devise policies/laws etc, won't want their precious MP's voting against the party line (that's why we have the whip system and why it will stay)

I'm sure though that quite a few MP's would like a free vote on laws/measures etc government want to introduce.
As it is at the moment the only thing a conscientious MP can do when he opposes his party's line is to abstain (and that usually serves no purpose whatsoever)

 

[conny]

I was brought up to believe the MP was elected to 'represent' the views of the constituent. But if his/her boss doesn't like the views of the constituent then tough s**t!

 

[imamartian]

I'm nearly 50, and i've read thousands of newspaper headlines, and been through hundreds of budgets, and a few elections...

And i'm now thinking we should vote in a dictator... he/she'd sort the bankers out, and put tanks on our borders,,,, and stop paying billions in aid to richer countries than us....

we'd just need to vote the dictator out again after he/she'd done their work !!!

 

[subman101]

As you are nearly 50, it is not really possible for you to have gone through hundreds of budgets as they only have one a year

On a slightly off-topic issue, when you vote then presumably you are voting for a political party who is represented by a named person within a constituency. So why do these people think it's OK to (mid term) change allegiances at times? They should resign immediately and force a by-election at twhich they can stand and plead their case.

It's as absurd as me going into work one day and telling my boss that I'm not going to work in the department which I was hired to work in, but am going to go to a different one of my own choosing instead.

 

[conny]

What do you do when He tells You to work in another department other than your own?

 

[subman101]

What do you do when He tells You to work in another department other than your own?

I claim expenses

 

[AssociatedAlarms]

I do postal voting, never miss a vote, but when I used to go to the polling booth, it was a chore. Sometimes it wasn't open when I left for work & after work just couldn't be bothered.

7 am to 10 pm too difficult was it?

I'm nearly 50, and i've read thousands of newspaper headlines, and been through hundreds of budgets,

And still cannot count.

 

[masona]

It's quite usual for voters to vote the way they have in local elections though. They are unhappy with the present government, yet can't see that in local elections, they should be voting on local issues, not national issues.

I know but the PM always take the credit claiming they are doing alright as a Government even though it's a separate issues. If the Toires did alright with their local elections then they will carry on as normal. The only way to get them to listen is at the local elections

 

[imamartian]

I do postal voting, never miss a vote, but when I used to go to the polling booth, it was a chore. Sometimes it wasn't open when I left for work & after work just couldn't be bothered.

7 am to 10 pm too difficult was it?

I'm nearly 50, and i've read thousands of newspaper headlines, and been through hundreds of budgets,

And still cannot count.

Alarm, do admin know you're back? under an assumed name?