The 2005 general election is nearly upon us. Which way will you vote, and you reasons why. Here is a brief list of the potential contestants, please add your own.


More tax!
Less tax!
Dont know!
Death to all infidels!
Who gives a shit?

The great pretender.

At least you wouldn't have a government for very long. But I don't think the result would necessarily be the same. It doesn't have to produce instability.

This seems to be the usual thing Labour diehards blaming Tories and Tory diehards blaming Labour.
There is only one Question how come Labour has not improved anything when Tony said he would correct everything at his first election and don't say the economy because he inherited that and anybody with a miasma of brainpower knows that.
Please tell me what he has reversed in any way.
Don't go on about Tories bonking, because Labour are just as bad and they also hound people like Dr Kelly who paid the ultimate for speaking the TRUTH.
Think bonking is safer.

Fred1new
PR means an unstable gathering wherever the seat of government is.....it certainly 'aint a legislative body. Nobody will agree with anyone else.
The best to be got out of PR is; 'I'll vote for what you want if you will vote for what I want'.
In this country it would mean Lab or Con in cahoots with Lib.....always.
Plus a string of other 'Parties' with one or two MP's.

YOBS --be afraid-be very afraid!! Nice one Michael we need more like this followed by action when they get in.

Whoops!


No feelgood factor as house prices suffer worst fall in 10 years

Larry Elliott
Friday April 1, 2005
The Guardian

Tony Blair's plan to make the economy the centrepiece of Labour's re-election strategy suffered a fresh blow yesterday when Britain's biggest building society reported the sharpest fall in house prices for 10 years.

http://money.guardian.co.uk/news_/story/0,1456,1449876,00.html

MaxK
The seams are beginning to pop.
As I used to say to lardy; 'The ratshit will build and build then you will be out.' The usual pattern with these people.

Did you see Question Time last night? Margaret Hodge gave a long diatribe about how wonderful Labour are and how well they had done. Not a single handclap!
George Galloway performed very well. He gave Tony and Labour a real right bollocking. The audience loved it.
Hope all ok. Rgds. S.

I see a report out today states that in the early years of labour a company pensioner retiring got 4 times what he gets today the reason being the billions of pounds G Brown has taken out of the pot in TAX.
I can assure you he did'nt help me because my pension is down due to him and I will probably have to work and I thought I had done my stint after 40 odd years of unbroken employment.

I thought George Galloway was superb--if only he could control his tendency to temper and some of his more daft ideas he's worth backing and has gone up in my estimation pity he's in the wilderness! Margaret Hodge was pathetic, Lembik Opik a clown but David Cameron was impressive--a future Conservative leader I think.

cavman2
..........but you must feel very good and proud that YOU have provided some of the money that gives kids 30 a week to go to school? And another 100 at the end of term if they have been good. The whole lot stinks.

Who would want to lead the Tory Party other than into the wilderess.



Forgot they are already there!!!











8-)))

moneyplus.
Hodges stupid grin when someone disagrees with her. Grrrrrr
Cameron was good. I'd like to see David Davies at the top though....no baggage like MH.

Wisest thing David Davies could do is go cap in hand to the Lib Dems and beg to be let in.





:-)



Happiness is here again!

Standber,
No not really I feel great giving it to illegal immigrants who have never paid in a penny to the system and of course trying to heal those ones that bring disease with them like TB.

Labour targets gay vote with beermats

Tania Branigan, political correspondent
Saturday April 2, 2005
The Guardian
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/election/story/0,15803,1450747,00.html

Labour activists are hoping that gay voters will find inspiration at the bottom of their pints, by launching a beermat campaign to win their support.

The mats, distributed to clubs and bars by the Labour Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights (LCLGR), say a vote for the Liberal Democrats would "let Tory hate back in". Sponsored by the GMB union, they tell drinkers: "Go to bed with Charlie ... wake up with Howard."

inspiration at the bottom ..........LOL !

Worrying and sad that in Zimbabwe voters will queue 10 hours and more--in a hopeless cause to make their vote but over here the I'm all right jack mentality means people don't like what's going on but won't get up and use their vote. Polls predict the lowest turnout ever and there's not many new contributors to the debate on this thread. Apathy could lead us down the Zimbabwe path!

'But when there's no realistic choice, why vote?' would be the common answer. Personally I think there is a choice, and that Labour should be kept in, albeit with a far smaller majority.

Whether you agree or disagree with my political position, I believe there still is a choice. But most of the country doesn't. This is because all politicians do seem to do these days is resort to petty disputes about pseudo-policies in an attempt to win the grey/gay/youth/woman/etc. vote, rather than actually sticking to ideals and principles. A lot of people I know have told me they will not be voting, out of choice. To those people I always say the same thing; go to the polling station and actively abstein. Turnout is higher, and the politicians can't cling to voter apathy. Staying out of the polling stations is not effective. Going there and choosing to abstein sends out a message. Still, realistically no one will do that and the MPs will continue to have their excuses ready made.

Just my two pennies worth.

Yes private eye have got it, get out b'liar, get in brown.

Did you see the recent report where we are using the worlds resources up at unsustainable rate. Im afraid its time to make some tough choices and make some sacrafices. Are YOU (all) prepared too??????? if you dont our children are going to suffer (im lucky i havent got any). but greed as always been a great motivator and i cant see that changing.

So, they have found against the 'Birmingham 6'. And rightly so. Trust devious people to find ways to cheat.
And what about the six Barristers who gave their services without charge?
What were they defending? Certainly not some poor individual who had come up against the full might of the law.
Another way the Australians are showing us the the way to go! Compulsory
voting, in person or no vote. Signature checked against registration form if any doubt.

Is Foney going for a Mugabe solution?



Judge quashes 'fraudulent' council elections
By Alex Thompson and Matthew Cooper, PA
04 April 2005



A High Court judge today launched a scathing attack on the current postal voting system after quashing the results of last year's elections in two wards on Birmingham City Council.

Richard Mawrey QC, sitting as an election commissioner, found six sitting Labour Party councillors in the Aston and Bordesley Green wards guilty of corrupt and illegal practices during June 10 poll.

The judge said at the hearing at the Birmingham and Midland Institute he was satisfied the fraud was "overwhelming" and had been orchestrated by local party officials.

Mr Mawrey said evidence of "massive, systematic and organised fraud" in the campaign had made "a mockery" of the election.

The judge said the system was "hopelessly insecure" and expressed regret that recent warnings about the failings had been dismissed by the Government as "scaremongering".

Reading from the executive summary of his judgment to a packed court, the judge said: "This system is wide open to fraud and any would-be political fraudster knows that it's wide open to fraud."

Speaking outside court, a spokesman for the People's Justice Party, the successful petitioners in the Bordesley Green ward, called for postal voting to be outlawed at the forthcoming General Election.

The PJP spokesman said: "We have won justice for our party and for the people of Bordesley Green.

"We welcome the judge's decision and the chance to fight new elections."

But he added: "The Commissioner has confirmed our fear that there is every likelihood that the forthcoming General Election will be blighted by postal vote fraud.

"Birmingham now has a huge number of people permanently registered for postal votes, many without their knowledge."

Postal voting on demand had undermined the principle of the secret ballot and public confidence in elections, the PJP spokesman claimed.

The judge ruled that not less than 1,500 and maybe more than 2,000 votes had been cast fraudulently in Bordesley Green.

The PJP spokesman continued: This is a truly shocking state of affairs and we hope that the perpetrators of the fraud will now be brought to account.

"The police should mount a thorough investigation into the vote rigging.

"We have uncovered further evidence and we are keen to help the police."

The Electoral Reform Society said today's judgment highlighted the need for urgent action to protect and maintain confidence in the voting system.

The organisation has been monitoring the current postal vote system since the decision to move to postal voting on demand five years ago.

A spokesman for the organisation said: "We welcome attempts to make voting more convenient for people accustomed to a modern lifestyle, but do not believe that such convenience should come at the expense of the security or privacy of the ballot.

"We accept postal voting as part of the modern electoral process, but we believe that it must be managed in an efficient manner with little risk of fraud.

"We do not believe that electoral fraud is confined to Birmingham, to the Labour Party or, most importantly, to particular communities."

Recent cases in Blackburn, Guildford and Hackney involving people from different backgrounds and different parties disprove the view that fraud was not widespread, the ERS believes.

The ERS spokesman said: "We are not alarmist and do not believe that the outcome of, say, the general election is likely to be seriously affected by fraud, but we are concerned that the cases which have come to the public's attention so far may be only part of a wider problem.

"We believe that urgent action must be taken."


http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=626344

So with rampant postal fraud and rampant gerrymandering we are headed for a fair election!!