You appear to be rubbing your hands with glee at the thought of Cameron in power. I find that very, very strange.

 

Exactly, considering it's dole layabout like Chris that are in Cameron and Osbourne's line of fire..... :lol:

 

The phrase "turkey voting for christmas" springs to mind..... :rolleyes:

Scotland will probably give Labour more (Scottish)seats in this election than the last one, as the SNP are having a torid time atm. The Tories think they will increase their position from 1 seat to 5 or 6, I doubt this very much. So regardless what the polls say down South, Labour will potentially get 40 to 50 seats from up here. Which means the Tories will have to win even more in middle England to have any chance of forming the next Government.

 

What the Tories really needed this time was a strong SNP which would have taken seats from Labour, but that is not going to happen.

:w00t:

 

The front page the other day almost had me leaping for Joy in Tesco's in Cupar :wub:

 

The SNP are f***ed up here, so all their voters are going to be heading back to Labour or to the Lib Dems.

 

 

If the tories can hold onto that one seat up here they've done well.

 

 

I can't say i'm overly pleased at the prospect of Labour or the Conservatives being in power. Both have shown us time and time again they are just full of hot air.

 

 

On the Banking front, i don't see why we should be stealing the regulations from the one developed country who avoided a banking meltdown. Not a single Aussie bank had trouble. Pretty much the only bank in the UK not to have issues was the National Australia Bank [NAB] owned Clydesdale Bank.

The SNP are f***ed up here, so all their voters are going to be heading back to Labour or to the Lib Dems.

 

As someone who really wants to see a Hung Parliament, that news does not give me cause to cheer, I'd hope maybe the votes would go Lib Dem rather than Labour.... Just how in the name of fukk did the SNP manage to mess it all up so badly....?? What a bunch of fukkin' clowns.... -_-

 

I'll vote tactically myself in my area - Highgate... If the Lib Dems have a strong candidate, then they'll get my vote... Labour and Tory can just fukk right off.... They are just the scum of the Earth as far as I'm concerned.....

As someone who really wants to see a Hung Parliament, that news does not give me cause to cheer, I'd hope maybe the votes would go Lib Dem rather than Labour.... Just how in the name of fukk did the SNP manage to mess it all up so badly....?? What a bunch of fukkin' clowns.... -_-

 

I'll vote tactically myself in my area - Highgate... If the Lib Dems have a strong candidate, then they'll get my vote... Labour and Tory can just fukk right off.... They are just the scum of the Earth as far as I'm concerned.....

Most of the SNP swing came from Labour voters jumping ship. In Fife, the council went from Labour/Lib Dem to SNP/Lib Dem. My region is a very safe Liberal seat, it's just what the rest of the country votes that scares me a bit. Dundee will either go back to labour or to Lib Dem if they don't stay SNP. Parts of Fife will most likely split themselves between Labour and Lib Dem. Fife will never produce a Tory seat again after what that bitch did to the region and the coal mines up here. NE Fife is the closest they've got to a seat, and they get about half the votes of the Lib Dems.

 

They've been a bunch of useless morons. They've failed at keeping their election promises and support for independence seems to be falling. Perhaps the morons have finally realised the country can't sustain itself without England's money. They've been rocked by a few scandals recently as well. :w00t:

 

 

The only people i hate more than the SNP are the BNP.

:o But latest polls show the SNP and Labour pretty close in the polls. What did the SNP do to mess up so badlyt?

:o But latest polls show the SNP and Labour pretty close in the polls. What did the SNP do to mess up so badlyt?

Everything.

 

They've kept two election promises.

 

1] Lose the Tay/Forth bridge tolls.

2] Scrap the graduate endowment

 

 

They've lost a lot of support in Glasgow for scraping the Airport rail link. Which is completely retarded given that Glasgow is holding the Commonwealth Games in 4years time

As someone who really wants to see a Hung Parliament, that news does not give me cause to cheer, I'd hope maybe the votes would go Lib Dem rather than Labour.... Just how in the name of fukk did the SNP manage to mess it all up so badly....?? What a bunch of fukkin' clowns.... -_-

 

I'll vote tactically myself in my area - Highgate... If the Lib Dems have a strong candidate, then they'll get my vote... Labour and Tory can just fukk right off.... They are just the scum of the Earth as far as I'm concerned.....

If that puts you in the new Hampstead and Kilburn seat then, depending on which projection you take, there is either a very small Labour majority or a very small Lib Dem one so you have the luxury of having a vote which might actually make a difference.

I wish I lived in a marginal seat where going out to vote actually counts. Here in East Ham it's rock solid Labour so what's the point? Same as my home town, Barnsley.

The European Elections showed there's plenty of like minded people in Barnsley....

Why Norma? Only people faking illness should fear the tough new Tory benefit reforms. I'm genuinely unable to work so have nothing to fear. Even my GP told me yesterday that I have nothing to worry about and he knows my case very well.

 

Without wishing to pry (and you need not go into great detail) but why do you find yourself unable to work? Have you lost limbs or something? Or are you deaf or blind? Although I don't think that would be too much of a problem ... my cousin is 90% deaf and only last year retired from her job - after working full time since 14.

 

Sorry if it's prying and of course no need to answer ... but if you are severely disabled I think some people here probably do give you a hard time.

 

Norma

Edited March 2, 201015 yr by Norma_Snockers

I wish I lived in a marginal seat where going out to vote actually counts. Here in East Ham it's rock solid Labour so what's the point? Same as my home town, Barnsley.

Which is one reason why some of us want a change in the electoral system. It's hard to convince someone in a very safe seat why they should nevertheless go out and vote.

Without wishing to pry (and you need not go into great detail) but why do you find yourself unable to work? Have you lost limbs or something? Or are you deaf or blind? Although I don't think that would be too much of a problem ... my cousin is 90% deaf and only last year retired from her job - after working full time since 14.

 

Sorry if it's prying and of course no need to answer ... but if you are severely disabled I think some people here probably do give you a hard time.

 

Norma

 

 

I don't mind saying I suffer from nerves, depression, bad mood swings, obsessional thoughts and anger issues Norma. Mental health problems.

Edited March 2, 201015 yr by Victor Meldrew

I don't mind saying I suffer from nerves, depression, bad mood swings, obsessional thoughts and anger issues Norma. Mental health problems.

 

Some part-time work may be therapeutic though. I know from previous posts you've made that it seems that you'd like to try and 'get back in there' (although your friend in the aquarium shop wasn't very encouraging to you.) If there were some help getting back, even just for a few hours a week ... would you not think it would be helpful?

 

Norma

Edited March 2, 201015 yr by Norma_Snockers

I don't mind saying I suffer from nerves, depression, bad mood swings, obsessional thoughts and anger issues Norma. Mental health problems.

 

I think you protest to much, playing devil advocate I would diagnose your alleged dissabilities as follows:

 

Nerves....that you might get a job :o

 

depression..... that you would actually have to get out and do a days work like the rest of us

 

bad mood swings....when folk on here piont out what a waste of space you are

 

obsessional thoughts... I have censored my comments for this one

 

anger issues... waiting for this in reply to this post <_<

 

 

Mental health problems....you said it, anyone in your position who would vote Tory certainly has mental problems, you just can't see the bleeding obvious

I think you protest to much, playing devil advocate I would diagnose your alleged dissabilities as follows:

 

Nerves....that you might get a job :o

 

depression..... that you would actually have to get out and do a days work like the rest of us

 

bad mood swings....when folk on here piont out what a waste of space you are

 

obsessional thoughts... I have censored my comments for this one

 

anger issues... waiting for this in reply to this post <_<

Mental health problems....you said it, anyone in your position who would vote Tory certainly has mental problems, you just can't see the bleeding obvious

 

 

Thanks for your excellent diagnosis Dr. Brian. :naughty:

Edited March 3, 201015 yr by Victor Meldrew

I think you protest to much, playing devil advocate I would diagnose your alleged dissabilities as follows:

 

Nerves....that you might get a job :o

 

depression..... that you would actually have to get out and do a days work like the rest of us

 

bad mood swings....when folk on here piont out what a waste of space you are

 

obsessional thoughts... I have censored my comments for this one

 

anger issues... waiting for this in reply to this post <_<

Mental health problems....you said it, anyone in your position who would vote Tory certainly has mental problems, you just can't see the bleeding obvious

 

:lol:

You know what I'm starting to think that Rupert Murdoch Inc could lose the next election for the Conservatives:

 

 

The BBC is caving in to a Tory media policy dictated by Rupert Murdoch

Mark Thompson is jumping from the second storey because he fears a new government may throw him from the roof

Jonathan Freedland

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 2 March 2010 21.00 GMT

 

Like a man who fears he's about to get knifed in the heart, so plunges the blade into his own leg instead, the BBC has decided its best strategy for self-preservation is to suffer a little pain now to avoid a lot of pain later.

 

The strategy review unveiled today offered up a couple of radio networks and half its web pages by way of a sacrifice. The latter sounds like a smart decision. The core business of the BBC is broadcasting – it's there in the name – and if it has to make a choice between radio, television and an uncountable number of web pages then radio and TV should always come first. (Full disclosure: I present The Long View, an occasional series on BBC Radio 4.)

 

But the axing of 6 Music and the Asian Network looks so dumb, you almost suspect it's a ruse. What better way to demonstrate the depth of public affection for the BBC than to trigger a Twitterwave of protest? If it's not a stunt, it's hard to explain why the BBC would cut two networks that all but embody the corporation's mission. 6 Music exists partly because if it wasn't there, the market would never invent it: a specialist channel offering not the hamster's wheel of a repetitive playlist but curated, eclectic music. "Like friends playing each other bits from their record collections," Jarvis Cocker said yesterday.

 

As for the Asian Network, the BBC director-general says British Asians will now be served across the rest of the BBC's output. Sounds nice, but something tells me Radio 2 is not about to clear its schedule for an hour of Bollywood and bhangra, or current affairs in Bengali. So those programmes – a perfect example of the BBC serving the entire nation – would be lost.

 

With luck, the BBC Trust will see sense and veto those two proposals, deciding that since 6 Music only costs £9m and the Asian Network £12.1m – sums that would barely cover Alan Yentob's taxi bill – axing them is not worth the aggravation.

 

In need of more attention might be the services for teens. I don't pretend to be a regular user of Switch or Blast, but I'm troubled by the BBC's argument that its role in providing for teenagers will be "secondary" to that of Channel 4 and others. Troubled because the corporation's future depends on Britons getting the BBC habit early. Troubled too because the move is a concession to the whiskery rightwing argument that the BBC should meet only those needs that are not provided for elsewhere. If the BBC has no need to address teens because C4 already does that, why does it bother with sport, given that Sky does that; or news, since there's always ITN? Follow that logic, and the corporation would end up exactly where its commercial rivals want it to be: as a subscriber service for a handful of tiny audiences whose niche tastes are so unprofitable no one else will cater to them. The strategy review should have held firm on the principle that underpins the universal licence: that everybody in Britain should get something from the BBC.

 

So why has Mark Thompson done it? Because he feared that if he didn't jump from the second storey window, an incoming Conservative government would push him off the roof. He is right to be anxious. The Tories have indeed signalled a hostility to the BBC that is rare, if not unprecedented, in an opposition. Why might that be? Two words: Rupert Murdoch.

 

People often speak of the unique influence of the media magnate, with his combination of economic and political muscle, but "influence" doesn't quite capture it. Instead David Cameron has simply allowed News Corp to write the Conservative party's media policy.

 

Start with the BBC. Murdoch, with son James, can't stand it – regarding it, a senior figure in broadcasting tells me, as "like the Ebola virus: they can't destroy it, so they try to contain it". They dress up their opposition in pseudo-intellectual free market blather, but the reality is much earthier than that: the BBC is a rival, and therefore an obstacle to their commercial ambitions. The smaller and weaker the BBC becomes, the more money News Corp can make.

 

So the Murdochs constantly demand a cut in the licence fee. Last year Cameron nodded dutifully, and called for an immediate freeze in the licence fee. That would have marked an unprecedented break in the multi-year financial settlement that is so integral to the BBC's independence – preventing it from constantly having to make nice to the politicians to keep the money coming in.

 

Second only to their loathing of the BBC is the Murdochs' hatred of Ofcom, the regulator that stands between them and monopolistic domination of the entire UK media landscape. They particularly dislike Ofcom snooping into pay-TV, an area that makes billions for Sky. How odd, then, that a matter of days after the regulator published a proposal that would have forced Sky to charge less for its sport and movie channels, Cameron, in a speech on quangos, suddenly singled out Ofcom, suggesting it would be cut "by a huge amount", possibly even replaced altogether.

 

That's the pattern in one area after another. James Murdoch laments the success of BBC radio in outstripping the commercial alternatives. Ed Vaizey, the Tories' would-be broadcasting minister, suggests selling BBC Radio 1 and letting commercial stations use the frequency.

 

Sky wants to keep exclusive access to the Ashes, rather than seeing them return, free to air, to the BBC or C4, and the Conservatives agree. Not at first, it's true: initially they quite liked the idea of "listed" sports events, of such national significance they would be available for everyone to see. But someone must have had a word with the shadow culture secretary, because the position was soon straightened out – in perfect alignment with Sky's.

 

Any doubters should play a game of spot the difference. Hold a copy of James Murdoch's 2009 MacTaggart lecture in one hand, and a clutch of Tory policy positions on the media in the other. Then see if you can tell them apart.

 

The unsophisticated will imagine this works crudely, with Cameron pulling out his notepad and taking dictation from Uncle Rupe. And maybe it does. News Corp's latest preoccupation is gaining access for Sky to the wiring that delivers broadband, the "ducts" currently wholly controlled by BT. Interesting to note, then, that Cameron, George Osborne and the rest of the party high command dined with the News International top brass in Davos in January – only for Osborne to announce that very week that he wanted to break up BT's monopoly on those "ducts".

 

Perhaps this is merely a happy alliance of like-minded folk who share what culture secretary Ben Bradshaw calls a "free market fetishism". Maybe the Tories coolly weigh up the policy alternatives, with no thought to the endorsement Murdoch's Sun has given them and withdrawn from Labour, and just happen to reach a conclusion that matches News Corp's business interests perfectly.

 

Rather more likely is that a Conservative government would repeat one of the ugliest chapters of the Bush-Cheney era, when the White House allowed the oil and gas industry to write its energy policy. When it comes to media, the Tories are already doing that – handing the pen over to Rupert Murdoch. Don't say we weren't warned.

 

No wonder David Cameron appears so indecisive as he is awaiting the orders of Rupert Murdoch as to what their policies should be?

I was going to refer you to that article after you nominated the Australian/American git for prat of the month :lol:

Cheryl Cole's vote will be the tiebreaker.

 

In which case The Conservatives are screwed.

 

Cheryl Cole: I'll back Gordon Brown in election

Daily Mirror.co.uk

8/03/2010

 

Labour could recruit a secret weapon for the next general election - national treasure Cheryl Cole.

 

The Girls Aloud star has said in an interview she supports Gordon Brown, and party chiefs want her to help attract young votes.

 

The interview in Vogue says: "Cheryl Cole could probably swing an election ... she is a Brown voter, by the way, not Cameron."

 

X Factor judge Cheryl, 25, has never forgiven David Cameron for saying he fancied her. She said: "He was just trying to be cool."

“David Cameron. Brrrrr. Slippery isn’t he?”

 

The PM, an X Factor fan, has already worked with David Beckham and Lewis Hamilton for A-list support.

But Tories could recruit their own sympathiser - Strictly's Bruce Forsyth.

The PM, an X Factor fan, has already worked with David Beckham and Lewis Hamilton for A-list support.

But Tories could recruit their own sympathiser - Strictly's Bruce Forsyth.

Given the fuss about Michael Ashcroft, Lewis Hamilton - a man who left the country as soon as he made a few bob - doesn't seem the ideal choice of celebrity backer.

 

The Lib Dems have John Cleese as a long-term supporter (he made an election broadcast in 1987) and are said to be hopeful that he can get Michael Palin to declare his support too.