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.

You could be wrong GF--people know when they're being bribed and a lot of the promised goodies don't materialise. Promises promises and poof they disappear!
Yes Gordon does seem to be the most sincere one among them but all these handouts have to be paid for either by borrowing which he has done massively or taxing hard working middle England. ie US! My father always said he was labour in his heart but knew we couldn't pay for their policies-so Tory in his brain! You will never ever reach the point that all people are on the same income it is a fact that the top leaders in industry etc create the wealth for this country to support the not so able. Tax these people to the hilt and they find ways of avoiding it, move their money off shore, relocate the business abroad or simply leave the country altogether. We are getting near the point when people and businesses are suffering like Dyson cleaners now made abroad, and call centres moving to India etc. crunch time is approaching and 3 months of every tax payers earnings are already earmarked for the government coffers so June is your tax earning freedom date--that's without all the indirect taxes we pay! Tory or Labour I think that's enough of my income supporting the tax credits and whatever 40% and spend it wisely. There's not much evidence to convince me it is being spent wisely!! How much income extra to this would you be prepared to have taken from you before you too would want to leave the country-it's 40% and no more for me!!
This is a great thread because no one ever calls to my front door for me to air my views, I live in on Dartmoor. Stay there and shut up do I hear you say?
cheers MP

GF

Sounds like you want to have Gordon's babies.
Take those blinkers off.

It's not all rosy but on balance the economy looks as if it will remain stable.

Brown has got a good track record & every year, the Tories & the international economic organisations say that his budget is bad or even disasterous.

Every year they are proved wrong, & the economy keeps on steadily growing.
Almost the whole world went into recession last time but we didn't.

I don't want the Tories to screw it all up AGAIN but I will have to put up with an ARSEHOLE called Blair for the sake of a stable economy.

Blair is a right wing ARSEHOLE but Howard is an even bigger ARSEHOLE & even more right wing.


Give me a hung parliament because that gives them less power.


Your comment about trust is rather superfluous.

Like I said before.

Trust & Politician!

Those 2 words just don't belong together.

Apple a hung parliaments no good nothing gets passed and they will have to return to the country. Anyway Blair will stand down and Brown will have taken over by 2007.

Im going for a 90 seat labour majority.

GF.

GF.
You do not know what you want! Other than Gordon for PM.

Oh, and try to refrain from swearing. It makes for better reading.

And it is Tory singular with Tories plural.

The Budget? Like the Curates egg.

Sadly I think you may be right there. They all seem to develop massive egos, feather their nests, drive around in fleets of limousines, stay in 5 star luxury and thumb their noses at the struggling worker bees! There are just a few that still seem sincere in both main parties--Clare Short( though she had to toe the party line and struggled with it) Mo Mowlem (daft as a brush) Gordon ( who is so down to earth he makes himself look silly and pretentious by turning up to every grand occasion in a suit instead of the normal dress- this silliness will prevent him being PM I think unless he stops making a political point)
Oliver(too gentle and nice for his own good) David Davis( sincere but a quiet bruiser and one to watch) and William Hague ( thoroughly decent but put forward far too soon and admits he wasn't normal to be in politics so young) He's definitely a future leader again but is doing far too well out of the bunfight!

Then there's ME of course and finally Mickey's M in Law!! spoilt for choice.

Socialists are all the same. "What is yours is mine".

USSR
East Germany
Poland
Italy (If they are in longer than six months)
China (Still. But I think the skin is falling from their eyes)
Best of the bunch? CUBA. But even Fidel can't make it work .

I'm surprised GF isn't banging the drum for PR. Silly Billy. (Wasn't that old 'spray it again'? You know, one of your lot.)

hi standber////Daivd Davies has indeed con his way up the pole////but he has suported alot of ideals // that could infact if acted upon STOP OTHERS FROM HAVING THE SAME CHANCE/////oh by the way////I WOULD NEVER TRUST/////////THETORRIES////////////////NEVER/////

moneyplus,

Come back to reality.

Here are another 2 words just don't belong together.

Sincere & Politician!



standber,

Socialism is just a word that they throw arround.

It does not & can not exist because it is illogical.

Castro is not a Socialist nor any of those who called themselves Socialist that ever got their hands on power.

Anyone in power soon realises that they can't be a Socialist because it is illogical & they soon resort to guns & secret police to stay in power.


Socialism is economic system where the means of production, distribution and exchange is controlled by the state.

As the abandoned Clause 4 of the Labour Party said:

'To secure for the producers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry, and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible, upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production distribution and exchange and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry and service.'

This is unworkable & therefore illogical.

& of course is yet another opportunity for corruption.

Great posts and strong views well done all of you. My post re the ladies was tonge in cheek and was intended to provoke them in to the discussion. Looks like I failed. It's really good to read different views, all put together so well, I've throughly enjoyed the last 10 minutes. My wedding anniversary today so I'm cooking the steaks. Splashed out on a bottle of champers as well, the real stuff, so I'll be pissed later on. I'll have one for you moneyplus, good luck.

Rab C Nesbitt for PM

MS

CORRUPTION HAPPENS//// ALSO UNDER A CAPITALIST///SYSTEM////IN GOOD ALL USA///IN GOOD OLD CAPITALISTIC EUC// DARE I SAY IN DEAR OLD UK./////

APPLE for PM!!--you've summed it all up so well. Unfortunately we have to have someone in charge so who do you back? Otherwise Anarchy and I'm definitely off!

micky
Don't be frit! Lets have a foto of your ma-in-law. I hear say she is a looker?

Congrats on your wedding anniversary. Comisserations to the lady. ~:-))

apple.
Socialists is what they are known as. Invariably Communists.
I.E USSR. Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics.
British Socialists have Commies among them. (Dennis Skinner--The Beast of Bolsover for one). A rose by any other name eh?

britollad. Get a new keyboard. It's playing up. Does the forward oblique stroke get stuck? Bin the board.

The chap I'm most disappointed with is Goldfinger - some people should stick to their level of primary competency and gf is a great tipster and stock-picker. But how can he view the budget as anything other than a chimera. Brown is actually giving away 1.8bill and raising 2.1bill. His 200 for pensioners council tax is for one year only. Boateng was slouched in a heap on Newsnight annihilated by Paxman. I think 67% of voters will see through the chenannigins and I believe GF will be embarrassed.

If Labour get in with a small majority then we could well see some fun, which will make the Major Government look like Premiership Champions. Howard is outpointing Blair every round so far but I suspect the contest doesn't have enough rounds. Never mind, to take over in a year or two with a decimated socialist party sounds a good idea.

Now, how about Alan Shearer for PM. Two great goals tonight but the one I really liked was Keiron Dyer's. Eight wins in a row! Fourth spot is on and a Champions League place, perhaps with an FA Cup and an Eufa Cup to go along with it. Only need another 15 wins!

Hey! This thread is a great idea. Apologies to kshammas though. I didn't have a cat to kick and anyone who says anything complimentary about Tony Bliar has me shouting at the Telly and dog slinking to its basket!

Eric

Eric - I don't like Blair either! But you must surely admit that when it comes to arguing effectively (and I can only comment on things such as Priminister's Questions) that Howard always ends up with egg on his face? Blair has an answer for everything. I don't like him, but he's good at what he does. I don't support all that many of Labour's policies, but I support more of them than other parties for the reasons I outlined previously. For example, still being a student myself I wholeheartedly disagree with the Labour policy on getting 50% of young people to university. That isn't what university is for; there is nothing wrong with skilled work - the life of academia is not for everyone. I, as a reasonably intelligent person, struggle more than my fair share with my degree, and personally I feel that learning for learning's sake is somewhat foolish. Other disagreements with Blair are on the war (I disagree fundamentally with the way we were led to war, but let's not forget that the Tories backed the government all the way) and the fox-hunting bill (though my personal position is anti-hunt I feel there will always be more pressing issues to attend to).

I just can't trust the Tories (he says, as he steals goldfingers tagline), and in particular could never be happy with Michael Howard in charge. Particularly their harping on about asylum seekers and immigrants. Their position to me borders on racism. Whilst I agree that one should look after one's own people first, I don't think it necessary for that to be to the detriment of others. I didn't see people complaining about the initiatives to bring doctors and nurses from overseas to get more people into the health service quickly.

Anyway, just my two (or twenty) penny's worth, and for my part I'm hoping for a somewhat narrower Labour victory.

Regards,
Kevin.

PS Eric, do you think Souness can persuade Shearer to give it another season?

Now we are really talking turkey! Can Souness persuade Shearer to give it another season: no! Can Shepherd: no! But might Shearer decide himself to go for another season: yes! First, jackie's record. Second: he's enjoying himself hugely at the moment. Third, fourth and fifth: the fans!

Regards, Eric

Come off it Eric, you said.......................................

"Howard is outpointing Blair every round so far but I suspect the contest doesn't have enough rounds." Ends, where do you get that from???????????????. I say he was like a football thug this afternoon on his reply, but Blair wether you like him or not will be retuned 90 plus seats majority. We need stability in this country especially for the market, the Torys will mess that up for sure. We dont need boom and bust again. Oh and by the way I am an Economist in fact a PHD Economist, "primary competency" you said? think again Eric please.
Theres no need to fall, out here. Im just taking it very light hearted. It aint worth taking it any other way.

Stanber where have I sworn (and if I have my sincere appologies) and please stop being petty re- to the English language, this is not a personal debate and Im sure your a very nice person no matter what your political preferences are. Please take it in the nature it was set up for. At the end of the day we should all remain online buddies , were just having a good tounge thrashing surely?.
Lets face it theres nothing else to do on rotten days like today.

GF.

Forget democracy, one man will choose the next government - Rupert Murdoch

The New York Times reports that The Sun, Britain's most widely read newspaper, followed Murdoch's lead in dropping its traditional conservative affiliation to endorse Tony Blair, the New Labor candidate. News Corp.'s other British papers, The Times of London, The Sunday Times and the tabloid News of the World, all concurred. The papers account for about 35% of the newspaper market in Britain. Blair backed "a communications bill in the British Parliament that would loosen restrictions on foreign media ownership and allow a major newspaper publisher to own a broadcast television station as well a provision its critics call the 'Murdoch clause' because it seems to apply mainly to News Corp.

Tony dances to his tune! Also it was Murdoch who pushed for and backed the invasion of Iraq openly saying "for it's oil".

That's why I refuse to register to vote - It's a set up!

An excelent set up Brian. LOL.

GF.

kshammas and apple - ive always been a labour supporter all my life and waited 18 terrible years for them to get in. The problem is Tony Blair is a liar, how can you trust a thing the smug git says. I'd like labour to stay in but get rid of b'liar.

Tony blair good at what he does? try telling that to an Iraqi.