Britain: General Election 2010

[Elliot Kane]

ROFL! ;D

[Elliot Kane]

Still far too early to say for sure, but it's looking very like a hung parliament. I can't say I'd be stunned...

[Terrordar]

And if there is electorial reform, it'll be almost impossible for it to not be a hung Parliament!

[Glance A'Lot]

'Not yet finally available preliminary results' of British elections are on the morning news here - together with some comments on how people could not vote due to

It's rather hard to believe...

One would expect to hear such from a colony in its first election after gaining sovereignty.

But of course Britain's image to the outside world is the least of your worries...

[Elliot Kane]

Current and constantly updating results from the BBC.

Anyone who's read my earlier notes will know exactly what I think of the parties. So the fact we're on course for a hung parliament is absolutely no surprise for me, nor for much of Britain. Many pundits have been predicting it for weeks, in fact.

I'm shocked at the collapse in the Lib Dem vote after the TV debates, but it seems I misjudged the mood of the British people, at least with regard to the Lib Dems. My only consolation there is that everyone else did, too.

This election was Cameron's to win and he threw the opportunity away. FAR too many times he tiptoed quietly away when he could have delivered the killer blow to this useless, corrupt, inept govt. Well, THAT govt now, I suppose! ;D

[Ubereil]

May 7, 2010 0:09:43 GMT Elliot Kane said:

Same. There's no danger I voted for the winner, but I still want to see this govt get creamed! ;D

Don't tell me you voted Labor, Elliot!

I suspect the LibDem's fall is due to Tories focusing really hard on LibDem swing consituies (...or whatever they're called). They got 3/4 as many votes as Labour and only 1/5 as many seats (roughly).

Übereil

[Elliot Kane]

Oddly enough, Ube, I didn't vote Labour, no. I'm sure you're shocked! ;D

I'm not quite sure what to blame the Lib Dem collapse on, honestly. Might simply be that a lot of people voted for whoever they thought could best keep out either the Conservatives or Labour, according to whom they hate most. Despite a lot of goodwill for them in the country, it would seem that just didn't translate into votes on the day, which has shocked pretty much everyone.

[Terrordar]

the Liberal Democrats also has a problem of wanting closer ties to the EU even more than now, and a lot of people were put off by that apparently.

[Elliot Kane]

Probably did make a difference, Terror, yes. That and wanting to scrap the Trident missile system in favour of 'um... something?' but they didn't know what.

That said, all three major parties are definitely pro-EU. If the Conservatives had offered a proper referendum on EU membership, they'd likely have done a lot better. As things stood, Cameron's breaking of his "cast iron guarantee" of a referendum on the Lisbon treaty without offering something better cost him a LOT of votes. The rule of thumb is that if circumstances force you to break your word, you offer more, not less. To do otherwise is dishonourable and people will not forget.

***

The main issues remain immigration, the economy and the EU: topics which all three major parties ducked as much as possible during the election. No-one took a clear line where they could waffle and obfuscate instead. That cost them all in the end, I think.

[Ubereil]

May 7, 2010 8:21:32 GMT Elliot Kane said:

Despite a lot of goodwill for them in the country, it would seem that just didn't translate into votes on the day, which has shocked pretty much everyone.

Look at the numbers. They got 23 % of the votes. Labour got 29, Tories 36. They didn't lose by all that much in pure votes, in fact they went up by 1 % there. It's just that despite having 80 % as many votes as Labour and 63 % as many votes as the Conservatives they're sitting on 20 % of labour's seats and 18 % of The Conservative's seats.

Compare the LibDem's with Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein got 2 % as many votes as the LibDem's and 15 % as many seats as the LibDems. It's not that pepole didn't vote for them, it's just that their votes were too spread out.

Übereil

[Elliot Kane]

But a 1% boost in these conditions is a shambles. They've been running Labour neck and neck in the polls, and everyone thought they might even beat Labour in terms of vote share on the day. As with the Conservatives, you have to measure their level of success against the fact that the Labour govt is the worst govt in living memory (No matter how old you are) and arguably the worst ever.

The Lib Dems should have been up by at least 5% over their last result and that would only count as meeting expectations. No-one's sure what happened to their expected vote, or why.

The one thing that can absolutely be said about this election is that it's been absolutely weird from start to finish.

[Elliot Kane]

Nick Clegg says Conservatives have the right to govern.

Translation: "Come and get me!"

I like that Clegg is keeping to his principles. He's always said the party with the most votes and the most seats should form the next govt. Wouldn't rule out a Conservative/Lib Dem alliance at this point...

[Elliot Kane]

The leaders try to form coalitions.

Be interesting to see what comes of it all...

[Elliot Kane]

British voting system 'open to corruption' say neutral observers

[Glance A'Lot]

With the long parliamentary tradition in England, the practice of 'buying a seat in the House' (literally) through rotten burroughs ran until 'recently'.

[Elliot Kane]

It's never exactly stopped, Glance. No more than the buying of political influence has.

There are some areas of Britain so completely inculcated into the idea that one party is 'their' party that if that party put a promise to exterminate all of them into the manifesto, the party would STILL win the seat. Best kind of rotten borough there is: you don't even have to bribe them to keep them loyal because their own lack of sense does it for them.

Personally, I think the vote should be taken away from anyone and everyone who auto-votes, whatever party they auto-vote for. But then, I think Democracy is a useless mess that should be swept away, anyway. Fair it might be (Though that's debatable) but sensible it is not.

As for buying political influence, well, any system that allows direct donations to political parties rather than giving funding only through blind trusts is inherently corrupt. Which includes most of the world as well as Britain, I believe, but it's true regardless.

[Terrordar]

Though I don't entirely disagree Elliot, until you can find a system where people aren't oppressed brutally by non-democratic regimes, your kinda stuck.

Of course, when the democratic regimes become just as oppressive or more than the dicatorships...

[Elliot Kane]

Indeed, Terror.

[Terrordar]

I'm still stunned that people think Labour is the way.

Immigration is out of control.
The Public is now bankrupt thanks to Blair and Shitface (Brown).
Public institutions are not exactly in their best working order.

The Conservatives now support homosexual marriage.
They also now support the ideals of Health Care.

They also however, are the unfortunate party that is going to have to oversee bailing the country out. They'll probably be hated and won't see a majority, because of the Labour Party. Cameron is going to have to make cuts, and LOTS of them to fund Britain's drunken spending spree, and people will blame him for it. It sucks.

[Elliot Kane]

All true. But never underestimate the amount of tribalism there is in politics and the sheep-like mentality of the auto-voter. Combine these two factors, then add in that the Conservatives are pretty unconvincing...