Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

fred - it really is such a shame that you are totally incapable of putting forward a sensible and balanced view without adding a bunch stupidly predictable little snipes and barbs .... basically, it just pulls the rug from under



my own view is that we will end up with some kind of labour/snp alliance, formal or otherwise
for sure there will a variety of "envy and spite" taxes and measures which will raise comparatively little and achieve even less but will appease those with green eyes

to my mind, the interesting bit will be to see the lines and options that snp takes
sturgeon is certainly no fool, nor salmond for that matter, and of course reality and pre-election rhetoric will diverge significantly

despite all the scaremongering, i wonder if snp will indeed push labour further to the left

there is also the small matter of trident and i'm sure a number of other issues that are close to snp's heart (and manifesto) with which they will lambast any gov't and most assuredly use as potential ransom and blackmail issues

Clegg said today that he will only have an arrangement/coalition with the party with the most seats.

This week Lancashire Labour party advertised for nine vacancies on zero hour contracts

Good to see their clamping down on them.
2517

The latest Lord Ashcroft polling of marginal constituencies suggests UKIP will lose Rochester & Strood to the Conservatives.

The figures will be a blow for UKIP with Mark Reckless losing the seat he kept after defecting from the Conservatives last year.

According to the bookies, the tories are odd's on to get the biggest number of seats.

That doesent translate into an overall majority...however, there's something not quite right about this outing, people are reluctant to say what they will do in the privacy of the booth.

I don't think any of the polls are worth a toss this time out, because there is no way to predict where the axe will fall in the marginals....or some of the so called "safe" seats.

Make what claims you like George, but time for you to wake up to the reality that no one likes the Tories... trusts or believes them.

Milliband is taking singing lessons as we speak :-


wonder if one day that, you'll say that, you care
If you say you love me madly, I'll gladly, be there
Like a puppet on a string

Love is just like a merry-go-round
With all the fun of a fair
One day I'm feeling down on the ground
Then I'm up in the air
Are you leading me on?
Tomorrow will you be gone?

I wonder if one day that, you'll say that, you care
If you say you love me madly, I'll gladly, be there
Like a puppet on a string

I may win on the roundabout
Then I'll lose on the swings
In or out, there is never a doubt
Just who's pulling the strings
I'm all tied up in you
But where's it leading me to?

I wonder if one day that, you'll say that, you care
If you say you love me madly, I'll gladly, be there
Like a puppet on a string

I wonder if one day that, you'll say that, you care
If you say you love me madly, I'll gladly, be there
Like a puppet on a string

Like a puppet on a..... String

And if Millibandus doesn't dance to her tune, then she will destroy what remains of the Labour Government and we'll all live happily ever after :0)

Stan
The Conservatives are polling the same as Labour, which is about 33%. The Conservatives always get a better percentage on the day of the election. This makes it somewhat difficult for you to claim that no one likes the Tories.

It makes it even more difficult to make the claim if the Conservatives get most votes and or seats.

Boost for David Cameron as 5,000 small firms back Conservatives
Thousands of small company bosses sign a letter praising the Tories' economic plans and warning that Labour would 'undo' progress of recovery


Telegraph - There you go Stan, if you can be arsed read it for yourself!

It's all bollox Chris, it doesent really matter who you vote for with the big three, it will all come out the same.

Max - A favourite mantra is past performance is no guarantee ....etc. Except in Labours case as history has shown they have always fxxxxd up. Throw in a bunch of Nationalists whose sole agenda is to break up the UK and were all doomed, dooommeedd!! I tell ye :o)

stan - i don't think anyone has any confidence in any of the (main) party leaders or their so-called policies, let alone their abilities ..... hence the rise in popularity of the fringe parties, though fortunately not of edl and their like

=========

looking back at the lists, there are few whom one might admire as strong leaders
any advance on .....

blair - before his true character was exposed
thatcher - until she went a bit bonkers in her final couple of years
wilson - not entirely sure about this one
macmillan - a great statesman but shame about suez
attlee
churchill

there were others before that too of course

today's Guardian
an excellent article therein by Nigel Dodds (DUP) ....
it really does make a change to read a properly reasoned argument and comment without the usual electioneering claptrap

if the lab carry out all their policies then taxes will have to go up big time
the party of dreams and fairy tales

i fear that much higher taxes are what you can look forward to
this could easily turn out to be a return to the days of the then radical dennis healey of "squeezing the rich until the pips squeak" .....
it was pretty unproductive (though he was a very good chancellor from memory), but of course it made the green-eyed happy

.

BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!


SNP candidates threaten to deliver 'Westminster's worst nightmare'
The SNP's next generation of prospective MPs launch attacks on the British way of governing as they pledge to avenge 'the way they've treated us for 300 years'


By Steven Swinford, Deputy Political Editor6:00AM BST 27 Apr 2015


Tommy Sheppard, the SNP candidate for Edinburgh East, made a rapturously-received speech to his party's conference in April.
"When it comes to the 7th of May, we shall get rid of the Labour Party in Scotland, and we shall put backbone into the Labour Party in England. What has happened is a political re-alignment of our country.
"It wasn't us that wanted to be in the United Kingdom. They [the right-wing press] have a cheek to suggest to people in Scotland that there is something illegitimate, something to be questioned about the democratic choices they make.
"The next time we consult the Scottish people on a government of their own will we're coming up the front path.
"On the 18th September we sent the British Establishment a message and we gave them a shock. On the 7th of May we can visit upon them their worst nightmare.
"We can send from this country a majority of people to the Palace of Westminster who will not dance to the tune of the British Establishment, but instead who march to the rhythm of the people of Scotland."


Martin Docherty, the SNP candidate for West Dunbartonshire, attacked the "British way of governing" at a candidate hustings in January.
"[It] isn’t just about this Government – it’s about the British way of governing. Don’t think they’ve been treating us like this just because it’s the Tories and the Liberals. It’s them – it’s the way they’ve treated us for 300 years. When their political establishment came together they made the decision that you and I are not the people they are interested in.
"They are interested in them, they are interested in Trident sitting in the Clyde, they are interested in feathering their own nest."
‘If Labour wants to form a government, it will have to put off, postpone or cancel Trident


John Nicolson, a former journalist turned candidate for East Dunbartonshire, speaks at the Bishopbriggs hustings
"The vast majority of countries in Nato do not have nuclear weapons.
"The Labour party's mind is a mystery to me. Once upon a time it was the party of the under-privileged. It is now the party that is voting through £30billion worth of cuts.
"It will impossible for the politicians at Westminster to ignore us. Westminster matters because Westminster controls the Budget. Nobody wants to wake up the day after the election and find that Mr Cameron and Mr Miliband have an overall majority."
'I'm going to hold Westminster's feet to the fire'


Chris Law, SNP candidate for Dundee West, said at his campaign launch that he wanted to hold Westminster's feet to the fire for roasting
"I live off the Perth road and my neighbour’s house was actually burned down by the Suffragettes, so we know how to take some radical action. Now I’m not suggesting that you send me to London…we’ve been there before with Guy Fawkes, I’m sure you know about. But if I’m elected to Westminster I’m going to make sure there’s fire in my belly, a loud voice, and a strong fight to hold their feet to the fire for a roasting.
"The single biggest abomination has to be weapons of mass destruction. We have a real change of removing them from our shores for good."