Welcome to the Conservative Corner! UPDATED What do you think of the cinema ad?

[afleitch]

'Are you thinking what we're thinking?'

Pull up a chair, make yourself a big cup of tea, fold away that Daily Telegraph and make yourselves at home! Yes this is the corner to get away from those pesky Labour supporters and....more sugar?...okay there you go.

Yes despite what we read elsewhere, this is a tight race. It's more than likely Labour will get a majority of 50 plus but the show's not over until Nicholas Soames sings!

Who am I? I'm a centrist former Labour Party member who quit last year. I'm a conservative Democrat hence my red avatar. I enjoy this board, but it's almost like a one man battle on here, hence this Conservative Corner...biscuit? of course....I'll post day to day stories on here and no doubt fight many battles but lets see how things go

[afleitch]

Pim Fortuyn was an openly gay Dutch businessman turned politician who founded a political party that swept to power in the local elections in Rotterdam before falling to the assasins bullet just before the general election in 2002. He believed that the Netherlands was a tolerant nation, but that it was in danger of 'tolerating the intolerable' when it came to Islamic fundamentalism. He believed that the Islamic community was insular anti women and homophobic, values that countered those of the Netherlands as a whole. He believed that immigration and asylum was having an adverse effect on Dutch society and should be halted and reversed. In fact more Muslim children were being born in the country than Dutch children. The political left tried to label him a bigot, or a fascist, but it didn't work as he himself was openly gay and his deputy leader was black. He was assassinated outside a radio studio by an animal rights activist and Muslim sympathiser. His party LPF or Lijst Pim Fortuyn were kingmakers during the 2002 elections but faded shortly afterwards. His successor in many ways is Geert Wilders, a man who recently came out of his safe house after the murder of Theo Van Gogh (Wilders name, amongst others was written on the piece of paper next to his dead body) Geert Wilders new party currently leads in the polls and Pim Fortuyn was last year named Greatest Dutchman in a nationwide poll.

I admired Fortuyn when he was alive and I continue to do so after his death. He was a breath of fresh air who in my view knocked the political left for six. The usual rhetoric couldn't apply to him. He was a liberal minded man who had enough by the fundamentalist brand of Islam that is prolific in Europe, the Low Countries in particular. I can also empathise as I am also openly gay and have been the target of Muslims on my university campus, most of whom were not even born here. I believe Islam is the biggest threat to western values of individual liberalism and democracy.

[afleitch]

I doubt so, the Conservatives despite their rhetoric do not want to see a withdrawal of British troops, they, like many other parties doubt the legality of the war. The Tories aren't running on an anti-war platform. It is likely the troops will stay in Iraq until they are no longer needed.

[afleitch]

I agree with Al on this one. The situation in Iraq was a factor 18 months ago. Now no one really cares. Rose Gentle, the mother of a dead soldier is standing in my neighbouring seat of East Kilbride against Labour's Adam Ingram, but apart from denting his majority it won't do much. There are more important things than the war on the minds of the British voter.

[afleitch]

Sadly the manifesto launch has been lost in the Blair/Brown engineered love in. Labour also had a minor party rally in Oldham though not on the scale of the infamous '92 one ('We're all right!...we're all right!') But it's a good simple manifesto. This election is a verdict on 8 years of Labour rule, not on the Conservative years before that. That's what the public want- an honest debate about the relevant issues of today not the whole 'who did what in th 80's' routine we are all so used to.

[afleitch]

http://www.conservatives.com/scripts/viewmedia.cfm?obj_id=121767

New Conservative cinema advert. I'd like to see if American posters here can see any similarities with their own style of political ad campaigns. Labours attack broadcast on Michael Howard was much more personal. The Conservative ad is short and effective, rememeber its big screen cinema stuff.

[afleitch]

Thanks for the bump. The Tory vote is currently flatlining, but I still believe Labour are being overstated. I think a lot of people agree with the Conservative policy on immigration, but are shy to admit it to the pollsters. I still think it will be 36-34-23 to Labour, but regional swings should see a Labour majority of 50.