UK Election 2010

[The Man From G.O.P.]

I expect significant Liberal Democrat losses.

Which makes us all winners in the end.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

I posted a thread in the other area before seeing this... any chance Cameron doesn't even make it to the election, whenever it is?

[The Man From G.O.P.]

BBC seems to have had their coffee (or a strong tea) this morning, after letting it die down a bit there's a fresh story about both Labour and the Conservatives reguarding a snap poll, what's up with that?

[The Man From G.O.P.]

I really think the UK should have at least four different systems to choose MPs, that way it's all totally convoluted and impossible to tell what's going on, giving the establishment (whoever they may be) a much easier path to ignoring the will of the people.


Seriously folks, relax, FPTP isn't broken, so stop trying to fix it.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Labours 'cash problem' rears its head again.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6918059.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=6848714

"Labour’s cash-strapped party machine is quietly abandoning up to 60 vulnerable seats to divert resources to defend constituencies in its heartlands, according to MPs.

It is the first sign that some senior Labour figures accept that defeat is inevitable and are switching resources to defend seats with larger majorities to prevent a rout next year.

Plans for targeted mailshots in marginal seats have been scaled back dramatically because of a lack of resources. Some MPs say Labour’s HQ is refusing to help seats with majorities of less than 3,000 — about 60 — as it retrenches in the face of the Tory advance.

A member of the National Executive Committee denied that it had set a bar but acknowledged that the party was being forced to make “difficult decisions” about which seats to defend.
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The retreat has left MPs furiously demanding extra cash. Even loyal allies of Gordon Brown, such as Ian Austin, who has a notional majority of more than 4,000 in Dudley North, are having to argue for money to defend themselves, The Times has learnt."

When a party knows that there's a near 100% chance that they'll lose, what else can they do when they're low on funds? It's the seats like Wallasey, Bury South, Slough and especially Blackburn (Jack Straw) that need to be defended so as to avoid complete obliteration (or keeping the Tories below a majority of 100, as it's known to me). There's no point in wasting what little money the party has left trying to save the Wirral Souths and the Redditchs of the country when they'll go blue no matter how much money is thrown at them.

My only thoughts on this idea is that abandoning marginals that will go Tory no matter what also frees up money for the Conservatives to siege safer Labour seats. By this I mean the party “destined” to win the next election might be very apt to spend lopsided amounts of money in places they don’t need to because they’re terrified of not getting the result the press is hyping them to get. By Labour's own admission that the 3,000 and below seats are as good as gone, the Tories in back rooms might feel safe enough themselves to do more than skim off the top, but to really cut into excess spending in the bygone seats and pouring it into the iffy ones and spending it on  projects like taking down ministers, or Nick Clegg etc.

I know it’s a stretch following a stretch, but parties tend to reason like this.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

When do growth figures for Q1 come out? Surely they'll have to have the election before then if it looks like negative growth will be back.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Sion Simon is standing down in Erdington. Which is hardly a surprise, especially as he officially denied that he was going to do so a while back. Here's the strange part; he says he's doing so in order to run for Elected Mayor should one be imposed on the city. There might be something else going on, perhaps related to internal Labour politics on the council, but we'll see.

Or perhaps becasue he's a twat

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Woah, the Lib Dems party political broadcast was one of the best i've ever seen...

Link?


Ive seen the Labour one, are the others around yet?

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Intersting videos from 1983

The tail end of Shirley Williams defeat in Crosby and Roy Jenkins victory in Glasgow Hillhead. David Owen almost looks like he's laughing after Williams' defeat. Edit: Also spotted the Stockton North result (Bill Rodgers in 3rd)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftkdkYqGGRU&feature=related

Tony Benn ousted in Bristol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8og8IRthWk&feature=related

When the hell did this happen? I've combed the known interwebs for years looking for comprehensive video of UK elections, seems it crops up right after I stop looking WOOOOOO THANK YOU, and screw you at the same time for my subsequent failure in physics tomorrow.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

I genuinely feel horrible for him, I hope others do too. The poor guy has been climbing the mountain since he was born, a true politico, and a heavyweight by any count, but just born way too late. Despite doing everything he felt he should have, it's all crumbling now. Poor guy.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Brown should have said something like this on the Radio 2 Show:

"I stand by my comments, and my only regret is that i didn't say those words directly to her".

Yeah that'll teach her won't it?

[The Man From G.O.P.]

I know it's pretty subjective, but the woman was quite bigoted.

How so?

[The Man From G.O.P.]

We're either going to get a Tory minority government or a Tory majority government with a majority smaller than an bookmark.

The media demands a situation where they can continue to use the term cigarette paper.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

The trickle in the media that Brown had a good day has certainly reached Brown's ears, what a difference a little confidence makes.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

EEEEE horrible exit poll for the Libs... so it looks like its going to be off...