October 4, 201411 yr I can see why you'd exercise scepticism on opinion polls for hypothetical policies, but there really isn't much reason for scepticism on simple party political opinion polling - even when it's for a certain newspaper, there's no way it can be skewed in terms of the sample without pollsters breaching the British Polling Council's guidelines, and almost universally the question of which party someone would vote for comes first (after basics like age/where they live)
October 4, 201411 yr Author Here's the data breakdown & questions asked for the opinion poll. You're right that they asked about constituency/voting intention first, although they waiting until the end before asking about the age/gender of the participants. One of the questions asked did make me laugh - "Mark Reckless admitted that on one occasion in the House of Commons he was too drunk to vote on the budget. Which of these statements is closest to your opinion?". More people said that it didn't prove he was unfit to be an MP than said that it did.
October 4, 201411 yr Here's the data breakdown & questions asked for the opinion poll. You're right that they asked about constituency/voting intention first, although they waiting until the end before asking about the age/gender of the participants. One of the questions asked did make me laugh - "Mark Reckless admitted that on one occasion in the House of Commons he was too drunk to vote on the budget. Which of these statements is closest to your opinion?". More people said that it didn't prove he was unfit to be an MP than said that it did. So people think being too pissed to do your job isn't a problem. Maybe those people should be put on a plane whose pilot is too pissed to do their job.
October 4, 201411 yr So people think being too pissed to do your job isn't a problem. Maybe those people should be put on a plane whose pilot is too pissed to do their job. It depends what the job is. I have no idea how you can be too pissed to vote on something though - all you literally have to do is walk through a chamber!
October 4, 201411 yr It depends what the job is. I have no idea how you can be too pissed to vote on something though - all you literally have to do is walk through a chamber! This happened shortly after Reckless was first elected. What sort of idiot allows that to happen?
October 11, 201411 yr So UKIP have their first elected MP in Clacton-on-Sea (after Douglas Carswell decided it would be a good idea to use lots of public money to hold some kind of media propaganda by-election event to switch from Tory to UKIP; effectively changing nothing) - Russell Brand and Scroobius Pip (both born and raised in S Essex) discuss the media coverage surrounding this event: onEjAcgGD1E
October 26, 201411 yr Author The list of candidates fighting the Rochester & Stroud by-election have been announced. They are - Barker, Mike - IndependentChallis, Christopher - IndependentDavidson, Hairy Knorm - Official Monster Raving Loony PartyFransen, Jayda - Britain FirstGoldsbrough, Stephen William - IndependentGregory, Clive - Green PartyJuby, Geoff - Liberal DemocratsKhan, Naushabah - LabourLong, Nick - People Before ProfitOsborn, Dave - Patriotic Socialist PartyReckless, Mark - UK Independence Party Rose, Charlotte - IndependentTolhurst, Kelly - Conservative Aside from the main runners, other notable candidates are the odious Britain First, who are running for their first Westminster seat (although their name won't appear on the ballot paper, instead "Vote British" will be beside their candidate), and prostitute Charlotte Rose, who is running in her 2nd by-election in as many months. UKIP will win this one comfortably.
October 27, 201411 yr Author What on earth is the Patrotic Socialist Party? I've no idea, but I've a gut feeling that they're not really that socialist. Or patriotic. Or fun.
October 27, 201411 yr Author I've found their official website. It looks like they've pulled together all their resources to build the best website that 1998 can buy. They also seem to be the successor to another short-lived left-wing party, United People's Party, although it seems to mix both left and right wing values. *edit* And they use a Union Flag as part of their logo. That is never a good sign. Plus they're Eurosceptic. They've got 1 councilor to date, and I doubt they'll get much more.
October 27, 201411 yr God they seem to be mad bast*rds - a but Stalinist or something?! I like the bit of reuniting the British isles under one government and they meant the Irish Dail too lol.
October 27, 201411 yr Author Taken from their policy document - It is an ideology that rejects the extremes of both Marxism and Nazism.... You've got to be somewhat suspicious of a political party that feels the need to explicitly state that they're not Nazis. Perhaps this part of their constitution might lead people to that confusion? (7) Expulsion 7.1 The Party Leader can expel any Party member if there is reason to believe that the Party member concerned may be acting in a manner contrary to the interests of the Party.
October 27, 201411 yr They do have a proud electoral record though --- Local By-election (3rd July 2014) --- Location: Colchester Borough Council (Wivenhoe Quay Ward) Candidate: Dave Osborn Result: Dave won 2 votes (0.11%), coming 6th out of 6 candidates --- Newark Parliamentary By-election (5th June 2014) --- Location: Newark Constituency Candidate: Lee Woods Result: Lee won 18 votes (0.05%), coming 11th out of 11 candidates --- Local Elections (22nd May 2014) --- Location: Redditch Borough Council (Lodge Park Ward) Candidate: Chris Griffiths Result: Chris won 7 votes (0.6%), coming 5th out of 5 candidates I assume the Dave Osborn is their candidate in Rochester and Strood. I wonder if he will beat his personal record number of votes.
October 29, 201411 yr Its an interesting website that :lol: As Brett says when a party has to show they arent Nazis or Stalinists your always on your guard!
October 30, 201411 yr Worth noting (as I hadn't before, somehow) that today was the by-election for the South Yorkshire PCC. I'm sure Danny would have had a field day as there were four candidates: Labour, UKIP, Conservative and English Democrat.
October 31, 201411 yr Oh god, that's happened now? Is the count tonight or tomorrow? This afternoon. I spent most of yesterday seething that two Green councillors in Sheffield made a massive point of not voting.
October 31, 201411 yr Bloody hell, I actually am surprised! I thought motivation to vote would be so low that only UKIP voters would go out.
Create an account or sign in to comment