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Had decided to vote Labour on 8th June but then the Lib Dems came out with a promise of a 2nd EU Referendum and legalisation of cannabis so I am leaning that way now.
However, got my poll card on Thursday and that told me my postal voting slip should be sent out next Wednesday. If I forgot about voting in the General Election and set off today to go to the match in Inverness and then wander down south at a leisurely pace taking in Historic Scotland properties (membership expires at month end and I am not renewing) before ending up at the Cambridge Beer Festival sometime this week and then having a bit of Suffolk and Norfolk time before an overseas trip. Or I could be a good citizen and come back here after the match and wait around for my voting slip.
Any advice? Glassers - any chance of getting on your hotline to Putin and seeing what he has got rigged up for Skye and Lochaber?
I see there was a 10% increase in turnout 2010-15 ......guess it will depend how many of them go for a wee walk as to whether it returns to Libs.
Unfortunately the 2015 result was greatly influenced by Charles Kennedy's increasingly poor performance as an MP (with a tragic aftermath), no idea whether Ian Blackford has done enough to step into those previously influential shoes to retain the seat for the SNP and, apart from Ronnie the crofter, all the other candidates are unknown quantities.
Unfortunately the 2015 result was greatly influenced by Charles Kennedy's increasingly poor performance as an MP (with a tragic aftermath), no idea whether Ian Blackford has done enough to step into those previously influential shoes to retain the seat for the SNP and, apart from Ronnie the crofter, all the other candidates are unknown quantities.
Do you know anything about Stick Sturtock's 'something new' party ?
"They break our legs and tell us to be grateful when they offer us crutches."
Do you know anything about Stick Sturtock's 'something new' party ?
Googled it a couple of days ago and all I could find was that this party put up a couple of other candidates in Surrey last time...and some GIFS of Paul Sturrock. Sort of hoping it is Paul Sturrock because the late night or early morning interview on the 9th June of June is going to have the best set of excuses that any candidate or press officer comes up with anywhere.
Only had a couple of election communications through the post so far, in fairness the SNP one is very thorough and hard hitting about Tory policy. And the Lib Dem one is quite brief and mainly says we are not the SNP.
Labour and the Liberals need some sort of alliance. All they're doing is splitting the vote to make it easier for the Tories.
We're far removed from this version of Labour as i can ever remember and most LDs would go nowhere near Labour. Corbyn's direction for the party has made it all but impossible.
We're far removed from this version of Labour as i can ever remember and most LDs would go nowhere near Labour. Corbyn's direction for the party has made it all but impossible.
Sadly, I agree with you. If momentum keep control post defeat, I reckon an SDP type party might form. Too many good people in the Lab party are wasted at present.
We're far removed from this version of Labour as i can ever remember and most LDs would go nowhere near Labour. Corbyn's direction for the party has made it all but impossible.
Ironically this will be the first time that anyone I know in the entire Lucan family - including parents - will have voted Labour.
I am going to be a ground breaker.
“Hello, I'm your MP. Actually I'm not. I'm your candidate. Gosh.”
Boris Johnson canvassing in Henley, 2005.
Sadly, I agree with you. If momentum keep control post defeat, I reckon an SDP type party might form. Too many good people in the Lab party are wasted at present.
The thing is a few years ago we were blethering on post after post complaining that all the parties said the same thing and there was not a cigarette papers difference between New Labour and Major/Cameron led Conservatives (we will draw a discrete curtain over the Michael Howard/ William Hague / IDS years). Now that we have a centre right Tory party battling with a centre left Labour Party (and civic nationalists up here) people still are not happy.
Could it just be that we are arguing about the wrong stuff?
I recommend you vote tactically to stop the tories - if you can
I doubt the Tories will manage to get much better than third place here - probably between the SNP and the Lib Dems with Labour in with a chance of displacing the Tories as the Labour guy is a Gaelic speaker.
I doubt the Tories will manage to get much better than third place here - probably between the SNP and the Lib Dems with Labour in with a chance of displacing the Tories as the Labour guy is a Gaelic speaker.
Weren't the western Isles a Liberal stronghold at one time?
Weren't the western Isles a Liberal stronghold at one time?
I think most of the marginal (in the geographical sense) areas of the British Isles were forty or fifty years ago, Suffolk Coastal almost was, Cornwall was, I guess Cumbria still is. Before the Labour party the Liberals were the only alternative for people who wanted a better life (and if you have read 'Akenfield' you will know that even voting Liberal was to defy your employer). But Liberalism relies on the market to underpin it's social values and it just took longer for the message that Labour were prepared, back then, to challenge the economic orthodoxy to appeal in rural areas than in cities and large towns. Up here I think that the decline of one man has also nutted Lib Dem prospects - as I said earlier those are very large shoes to fill.
It is a big issue for me before I fully commit to the Lib Dems (and I studied John Rawls in detail as part of my Masters, I have been through the difference principle and accompanying provisos quite a few times) is that they are still setting the safety net too low.
I think most of the marginal (in the geographical sense) areas of the British Isles were forty or fifty years ago, Suffolk Coastal almost was, Cornwall was, I guess Cumbria still is. Before the Labour party the Liberals were the only alternative for people who wanted a better life (and if you have read 'Akenfield' you will know that even voting Liberal was to defy your employer). But Liberalism relies on the market to underpin it's social values and it just took longer for the message that Labour were prepared, back then, to challenge the economic orthodoxy to appeal in rural areas than in cities and large towns. Up here I think that the decline of one man has also nutted Lib Dem prospects - as I said earlier those are very large shoes to fill.
It is a big issue for me before I fully commit to the Lib Dems (and I studied John Rawls in detail as part of my Masters, I have been through the difference principle and accompanying provisos quite a few times) is that they are still setting the safety net too low.
The Lib-Dems have no credibility since they lied to students and sold he country down the swanee to get into government.
The Lib-Dems have no credibility since they lied to students and sold he country down the swanee to get into government.
And if they had not got into bed with the Tories they would be an even more marginal party than they are now, in realpolitik terms they may be disliked by students but they are no longer toothless (as long as an opportunity for coalition arises anyway), could have been a Labour / Lib Dem coalition if Labour had been more conciliatory - and Labour did have that nice Mr. Blair who got us into the second Iraq War a few years back. As for the Tories - well, Thatcher. UKIP caused Brexit and if the Greens ever get any power we are going to see who is the bossiest of the lot:
I can understand your trepidation but for the election you can put aside the independence question that will be settled at another time. They're the only cohesive opposition to the Tory austerity measures in the UK, let alone Scotland.
With the added bonus of having a strong pro-EU message.
I can understand your trepidation but for the election you can put aside the independence question that will be settled at another time. They're the only cohesive opposition to the Tory austerity measures in the UK, let alone Scotland.
With the added bonus of having a strong pro-EU message.
Except I am pro both unions so the only way I would vote SNP is if the only other option was Tory or UKIP or BNP (or similar) and voting was compulsory (and by the same token I would only vote Tory if only other option was UKIP or BNP).
Except I am pro both unions so the only way I would vote SNP is if the only other option was Tory or UKIP or BNP (or similar) and voting was compulsory (and by the same token I would only vote Tory if only other option was UKIP or BNP).
Fair enough. Just think that Labour and the LibDems are a waste of space as far as this election goes.
Fair enough. Just think that Labour and the LibDems are a waste of space as far as this election goes.
Willie Rennie is not at all inspiring and Kezia Dugdale seems to be having just the same problems that Johanna Lambert had with Central Office (even Ruth Davidson seems to be having a touch of that) so it seems to be down to representative government and how the local candidate comes across - and I have to say that the SNP's Ian Blackford has been worse than useless in the Hansard report of his leading the debate triggered by the online petition to challenge the EU referendum, and the one time I heard him on Radio Four.
Willie Rennie is not at all inspiring and Kezia Dugdale seems to be having just the same problems that Johanna Lambert had with Central Office (even Ruth Davidson seems to be having a touch of that) so it seems to be down to representative government and how the local candidate comes across - and I have to say that the SNP's Ian Blackford has been worse than useless in the Hansard report of his leading the debate triggered by the online petition to challenge the EU referendum, and the one time I heard him on Radio Four.
I get you. I notice Blackford's a Hibernian supporter so can't be all bad but looks like he's had a long and checkered career in the SNP.
He seems a bit of a legacy SNP candidate when you could probably do with some Mhairi Black youth and energy.
I can understand your trepidation but for the election you can put aside the independence question that will be settled at another time. They're the only cohesive opposition to the Tory austerity measures in the UK, let alone Scotland.
With the added bonus of having a strong pro-EU message.
Afraid I can't agree with you here. The SNP essentially bought the austerity fibs. Example of their history on the subject:
'Their stated plans do not necessarily match their anti-austerity rhetoric," the IFS concludes of the SNP. Indeed, as the graph below shows, Labour could be outspending the party by 2018-19 with the Lib Dems surpassing them in 2019-20. While the SNP's plans "imply a slower pace of austerity than those of the other three parties", they ultimately mean "a longer period" too'
Except I am pro both unions so the only way I would vote SNP is if the only other option was Tory or UKIP or BNP (or similar) and voting was compulsory (and by the same token I would only vote Tory if only other option was UKIP or BNP).
Go for that walk and f^ck the whole thing off !
"They break our legs and tell us to be grateful when they offer us crutches."
I heard the cannabis bit and I have to admit my ears pricked up. Free the weed and another referendum is music to my ears, on the other hand they could offer anything they want really because they don't stand a chance.
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