brommy

I'm happy that my vote wasn't to the detriment of my family or my country.

Didn't have you down as a Tory voter but good work

It wouldn't be the first time on this thread that you missed by a mile!

So who is your new king or whatever

I'm happy that my vote wasn't to the detriment of my family or my country.

South Thanet not declared until 6am :|

 

Not sure if I can pull off an all-nighter any more but I'll give it a try if this turns out as close as predicted.

I'll be on a two hour drive between 04:30 and 06:30 so I will be listening intently.

I'm hoping a defeat for Farage will lead to a complete deflation of his party.

I'm reminded of a scene from Fifth Element -

Korben Dallas: We need to find the leader; Mangalores won't fight without the leader.

Bang.

https://vine.co/v/e7Dz2w6VlJU/card

My wife and I both commented as we left our respective booths that only one of the candidates in my constituency of Bromsgrove had the honesty (or nerve!) to to list their home address. All the others hid behind a standard statement of which constituency they have an address in.

Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 - amendment (so that candidates did not have to make full address public) put forward by that tit Dr Julian Lewis.

I was unfamiliar with the 2009 amendment but I pleased that my chosen candidate was the single person not to hide his address.

The 'me' attitude is one that comes with being a Conservative supporter.

It comes with being a human being for the most part. Just about everybody votes for the party they consider will do the best for them and their family.

I don't see my voting in a selfish way. My family don't moan about the things they might miss out on because I've given a decent amount to charities, so why shouldn't I consider the bigger picture and vote for the best interest of the country and not just for the interest of myself and immediate family?

My wife and I both commented as we left our respective booths that only one of the candidates in my constituency of Bromsgrove had the honesty (or nerve!) to to list their home address. All the others hid behind a standard statement of which constituency they have an address in. Whilst it won't matter to most it may have been enough to convince a few last second waverers. If only the seat was a marginal. First past the post sucks!

Doesn't even have to be an x. As long as the counter can understand your intention you can use whatever symbol you like.

From speaking to a few mates about voting, the swing is as follows

 

Conservative +2

Green +1

Labour -3

Is their constituency marginal enough to change their MP?

First election not voting Lib Dem. Sad times for me.

I think the only victory would be an outcome matching Nate Silver's prediction that UKIP will not win ONE seat. Here's hoping.

It will be interesting to see many UKIP supporters who had voted against the Alternative Vote system in 2011 (claiming that first past the post is a British tradition), calling for change as their double figure percentage of the vote results in less than 1% of the seats.

Tempted to watch a stream of that game [Newcastle-WBA] instead of Villa!

3 months ago I wouldn't have blamed. Now, you'd be missing plenty.

The local Labour candidate knocked on my door and had a good chat with me. Mid Worcestershire is a safe Tory seat unfortunately, general elections seem almost pointless here, it's been conservative for years.

Edited

Dunno if you're in Bromsgrove but it's massively Tory. I keep telling everyone I know that if you're not voting conservative then it's pointless to tactical vote so may as well vote for whatever you want. It'd be nice to see Sajid Javid get kicked out but it's not happening.

Sajid Javid is my MP. He was 'parachuted in' by Conservative head office to replace the disgraced Tory MP, Julie Kirkbride. There was a significant campaign by the local Conservatives who objected to having a candidate forced upon them when they already had a local candidate. The local tories accused their own party of 'tokenism' and made it clear that the new boy from HQ was unwelcome. Many of their objections seemed to boil down to unashamed racism. Despite all that, Javid was elected as the replacement Conservative MP. I think it says more about the traditional voting of the area than the quality of the candidate.

The Mid-Worcestershire constituency spreads from the north-west (Wyre Forest) to the south-east (Cotswolds) of the Bromsgrove constituency and is even more tory as my area.

Stll no VTers willing to have a guess at the seat numbers gained by the major parties?

 

Go on I'll play along as I can sense that your feeling a bit peeved no one answered your first request

 

Tories 288

Labour 271

SNP 48

Lib Dems 27

UKIP 2

Others 14

Not peeved as such, just surprised in amongst all the action on this thread there were no seat predictions.

Your prediction is very close to mine and is probably what will happen according to the latest opinion polls. I based my guess of a few more seats for the tories and a few less for labour around some of the 'don't knows' voting for the largest incumbent party.

Still no VTers willing to have a guess at the seat numbers gained by the major parties?

The Marginals are going to be key

 

Latest info suggests Labour have clawed back Grimsby from UKIP  ( at least in terms of where previous polling had that seat going)

 

Peterborough seems likely to stay Tory

 

It still suggests a hung parliament either way ... unless the media have something special up their sleeve for Thursday morning  ..

I fully expect the written media will have something up their sleeves for tomorrow and Wednesday. I'm also sure their intended damage won't be balanced across the parties.

We can only hope the UK written media, ruled by a few, near eccentric, often non-UK based billionaires, has no influence on the voters of the UK.

Knowing the way Clattenburg reffed the game even if Given had have pushed Coleman out of the way he'd have probably given a penalty anyway.

I'd put money on it.

As Clattenburg was born, bred and still lives in the Newcastle area, should the FA be more savvy when appointing referees in matches directly affecting relegation rivals?

With just 3 days to go before the voting starts, isn't it time for us to take a guess at the number each party gains of the 650 available?

For your reference, in 2010 the result was:

Con 307

Lab 258

LD 57

Others 28.

My prediction for 2015 is:

Con 292

Lab 263

SNP 50

LD 26

UKIP 4

Others 15.

For this election, I have separated out the SNP and UKIP from 'Others', purely because they have formed a good deal of interest in the campaign to date.

Watched the whole of yesterday's game today. The movement across the whole team is miles (literally!) better than under Lambert. I remember watching us just a few months ago, the player on the ball often had no option other than risking a virtually impossible pass, or knocking it back to Guzan, or giving the ball away. "MOVE FOR 'IM!!!" was often the cry. Not any more!

Thanks Toffeenose.

I remember visiting anfield in 1989. I got a bit lost on my way back to the city centre and noticeably wearing my Villa colours I was stopped by a group of lads, a couple were wearing Everton shirts. They told me the best way to find Lime Street station and suggested I cover my colours as the many of the 'pool fans were idiotic thugs (or words to that effect). Thanking them for their advice I was soon approaching Lime Street with my jacket almost covering my Villa shirt. Unfortunately, as I walked past three idiotic thugs, they found it hilarious to try to push me over and spit on me. They were wearing Liverpool shirts.

Memories of fans of teams stick for decades.

The main issue for Labour is that their gains in England will be mostly cancelled out by their losses to the SNP in Scotland.

In 2010:

Con 307

Lab 258

LD 57

Others 28.

My current prediction for 2015:

Con 292

Lab 263

SNP 50

LD 25

UKIP 5

Others 15.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if over the next few days Sturgeon hints that a deal with the Tories isn't totally off the agenda.

Did you hear her 30 minutes on the individual Question Time the party leaders had on Thursday night?

Aren't we looking at needing more than two parties for a successful coalition?

 

There's a case for even the Conservatives and UKIP and the Lib Dems together not being enough to secure a majority.

Possibly. It's anyone's guess! Unless something fairly dramatic happens before Thursday, I expect the 'incumbent' factor and relentless media drivel to be enough to steer the Conservatives towards 300 seats. It would then depend on how much damage the LibDem's had suffered for propping up the Conservatives for the past five years. Will the LibDem's manage 25 to 30 seats? If not, will the Conservatives have to bend to a UKIP wish or two? Will Sinn Fein take their seats to force a full requirement of 326 seats?

Party politics is spite.

 

Imagine how much better the country would be if every candidate was an independent; forced to tell us what they believed in so that they can get votes.

 

Miliband never seems to really say anything, and Cameron basically does a thing where he says "Have you got a hole in your face to breathe through? Two legs? So have I! Let's fix this shit!" instead of policy.

 

The papers pick the issues they think are important to them and force them on us, and those issues that might be important to people and that might make a difference to our lives disappear through not being talked about, instead, we get personality, we get people criticising the way the other party leaders look, talk and behave, as if that's what we're really paying them for. 38 of the last 40 American elections have been won by the taller candidate. 

 

It's not about change, in fact, it's the opposite of that, the election is an opportunity to fake choice in order to maintain the status quo, so, in order to foster an environment where it looks like the parties are different, you need antagonism, you need spite. The main parties are like a couple that will be married forever arguing about whether the remote goes on the arm of the sofa or on top of the fire, unimportant differences, amplified through spite.

 

So, in answer to Tony's question, "is Spite enough of a reason to put the other guy in?" 

 

It's the reason both guys exist, it's the reason that either of them gets in in the first place, it's party politics. 

 

I think maybe I should have just typed "yes".

Hear, hear.