Election Night 2015

[Stevo985]

I think it's true.

 

Do you really think most people, coming up to an election, consider how left or right who they are voting for is?

 

I'm sure how left or right they are as person has an effect, obviously. If they're left by nature then they'll probably vote for a left leaning party.

 

What I mean is they won't think "well Labour are a bit too left for me so I'll vote for someone who has shifted to the right recently"

Edited May 13, 2015 by Stevo985

[Stevo985]

I think people overestimate how politically savvy the majority of the country is.

[mockingbird_franklin]

An observations about people regarding this election having listened to people talking about it

 

Some people, don't realise that winning a majority of seats is very different to having the majority of people vote for your party.

[snowychap]

It would appear that there's a bit of a row going on between Mr Carswell and Farage/the rest of UKIP over the Short money.

Carswell, to be fair to him, looks like he is, at the moment, being quite principled and saying that they don't need all the money that they could claim (as the party suggestion is for him to have 15 members of staff in his office and he doesn't believe it warrants anywhere near that); Farage/the party apparently want to take every single penny of it (for history see UKIP MEP expense/allowance claims).

All of that's according to the news reports - how it will end up and the real reasons/details behind it all may be somewhat different.

[Eames]

It would appear that there's a bit of a row going on between Mr Carswell and Farage/the rest of UKIP over the Short money.

Carswell, to be fair to him, looks like he is, at the moment, being quite principled and saying that they don't need all the money that they could claim (as the party suggestion is for him to have 15 members of staff in his office and he doesn't believe it warrants anywhere near that); Farage/the party apparently want to take every single penny of it (for history see UKIP MEP expense/allowance claims).

All of that's according to the news reports - how it will end up and the real reasons/details behind it all may be somewhat different.

Yes saw that. Good on Carswell if true. 

[Jon]

I think people overestimate how politically savvy the majority of the country is.

I believe that, sadly, that is true.

 

and it's such an important thing, a General Election. Yet many, many people will be far more clued up about say, Game of Thrones, their football team, Made In Chelsea etc, than what each party stands for and proposes in their manifestos.

 

It's all a bit depressing.

[Stevo985]

 

I think people overestimate how politically savvy the majority of the country is.

I believe that, sadly, that is true.

 

and it's such an important thing, a General Election. Yet many, many people will be far more clued up about say, Game of Thrones, their football team, Made In Chelsea etc, than what each party stands for and proposes in their manifestos.

 

It's all a bit depressing.

 

I do think a large part of that is general disillusionment from politics though.

 

I keep referring to it, but the Scottish referendum shows how much people care about votes and politics when they feel it actually makes a difference. And THEY actually make a difference.

 

I don't blame the population for not being politically savvy, I blame the politicians for all being as bad as each other to such an extent that people just don't care.

[MakemineVanilla]

It should be no surprise that people find it difficult to identify what is Left and what is Right in politics these days.

 

Under New Labour many of the elements of Left and Right were subsumed into the 'third way'.

 

So the free market was largely left unregulated (Right) while a third of homes became dependent upon the state for more than half their income (Left).

 

The minimum wage was introduced (Left) while restrictive labour laws, a deregulated labour market and open-door immigration lowered wage costs (Right).

 

The three lower quintiles ceased to be net income-tax contributors (Left) while the top quintile were allowed to become disproportionately wealthy and avoid tax (Right)

 

Half of all children now go into secondary education (Left) but they have to pay huge fees (Right).

 

Start to add in the multiplying concerns of the Metropolitan liberal elite, which do not serve the interests of the working class, and it is no wonder that voters are confused.

[wazzap24]

I think the whole left/right thing is becoming more and more redundant amongst 'normal folk'. A lot of people like have views on some things that maybe considered 'right wing' and more 'left wing' views on others. You might have an overall view that leans one way or t'other, but with a mix.

I myself for example have views on things that would be considered both left and right, yet I don't see myself as fundamentally either overall.

Eg;

I would massively overhaul drug policy, legalise some and decriminalise use of others.

I would bring back the death penalty in certain circumstances (and have a 3 strike rule for violent or sexual offences)

I believe in capitalism, but I also believe those at the top should contribute more in taxes and NI

I believe in social housing, but also the right to buy.

I'm very much 'doing the time warp' when it comes to my own views.

[andyjsg]

I think the whole left/right thing is becoming more and more redundant amongst 'normal folk'. A lot of people like have views on some things that maybe considered 'right wing' and more 'left wing' views on others. You might have an overall view that leans one way or t'other, but with a mix.

I myself for example have views on things that would be considered both left and right, yet I don't see myself as fundamentally either overall.

Eg;

I would massively overhaul drug policy, legalise some and decriminalise use of others.

I would bring back the death penalty in certain circumstances (and have a 3 strike rule for violent or sexual offences)

I believe in capitalism, but I also believe those at the top should contribute more in taxes and NI

I believe in social housing, but also the right to buy.

I'm very much 'doing the time warp' when it comes to my own views.

I think most normal folk would agree with you and most will just argue how it is implemented.

[Wainy316]

 

I think people overestimate how politically savvy the majority of the country is.

I believe that, sadly, that is true.

 

and it's such an important thing, a General Election. Yet many, many people will be far more clued up about say, Game of Thrones, their football team, Made In Chelsea etc, than what each party stands for and proposes in their manifestos.

 

It's all a bit depressing.

 

 

 

Well the one in bold definitely evokes more emotion and attention from me.  It's the only field that I've signed up to a message board for.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Indeed. And most football fans know **** all about football, so how do we expect them to understand politics?

It's not the 70's anymore. People have much more "things" to hold their attention. Things that are more "fun" to them. People are selfish, they don't have the time. They are too busy playing Angry Birds Star Wars II

[blandy]

Indeed. And most football fans know **** all about football, so how do we expect them to understand politics?

It's not the 70's anymore. People have much more "things" to hold their attention. Things that are more "fun" to them. People are selfish, they don't have the time. They are too busy playing Angry Birds Star Wars II

That's kind of a good analogy.

While (and I include myself in this) football fans might not know much about football, we do kind of know when a team is good or not, or when they play well or not, or whether the ground is good or not, or the prices are too high, or it's well stewarded. And the collective view (e.g. Lambert Out) is often pretty accurate as an indication and viewpoint on a situation.

 

It's a bit the same with politics - the collective "wisdom" of the crowd is usually pretty accurate. Individuals don't have the tactical knowledge or coaching or medical understanding, but collectively we can see what works, or what won't work.

[PaulC]

In my opinion Labour didn't lose the election because of any shift leftwards, they lost the election because Milliband was shit. He was a crap leader who couldn't make a decision to save his life and when de did make one it was too late and so much of a compromise it wasn't worth it. He didn'y want to challenge the Tories assertion that Labour created the mess, so he let that narrative become the perceived truth to such an extent that even he believed it to be true. He settled for accepting the opposition argument, who the hell would have really wanted him to run the country

 

Yes totally down to the leader. I wonder if his brother would have done a better job. 

[blandy]

In my opinion Labour didn't lose the election because of any shift leftwards, they lost the election because Milliband was shit. He was a crap leader who couldn't make a decision to save his life and when de did make one it was too late and so much of a compromise it wasn't worth it. He didn'y want to challenge the Tories assertion that Labour created the mess, so he let that narrative become the perceived truth to such an extent that even he believed it to be true. He settled for accepting the opposition argument, who the hell would have really wanted him to run the country

AS will happen this time, the tories got a free ride to say what they liked, unchallenged, while the losers picked a new leader. By the time Miliband got elected, the tale was already spread, and they couldn't put it back in the bottle. You're right they didn't try, instead they thought they'd better shut up about it all.

I think as well that the public wouldn't have listened anyway, frankly. it was "you were in power, thing went bad, therefore we blame you and don't like you".

[GENTLEMAN]

I was under the impression Ed seemed ashamed of New Labour's legacy.

[snowychap]

I wonder if his brother would have done a better job.

Not much and we should be thankful that he **** off to New York.

[Demitri_C]

 

In my opinion Labour didn't lose the election because of any shift leftwards, they lost the election because Milliband was shit. He was a crap leader who couldn't make a decision to save his life and when de did make one it was too late and so much of a compromise it wasn't worth it. He didn'y want to challenge the Tories assertion that Labour created the mess, so he let that narrative become the perceived truth to such an extent that even he believed it to be true. He settled for accepting the opposition argument, who the hell would have really wanted him to run the country

 

Yes totally down to the leader. I wonder if his brother would have done a better job. 

 

I dont understand teh hype on his brother to be honest. One miliband is enough for this country

[Xela]

 

 

I think people overestimate how politically savvy the majority of the country is.

I believe that, sadly, that is true.

 

and it's such an important thing, a General Election. Yet many, many people will be far more clued up about say, Game of Thrones, their football team, Made In Chelsea etc, than what each party stands for and proposes in their manifestos.

 

It's all a bit depressing.

 

 

 

Well the one in bold definitely evokes more emotion and attention from me.  It's the only field that I've signed up to a message board for.

 

 

I think the thing is, a lot of people don't care who runs the country as it makes no real difference to their everyday lives. 

 

To be honest, it makes no difference to me at present. 

[Jon]

Oh, it so, so does. Or certainly can. It's a shame that so many see it that way. Coming out of uni with over 30k of debt would certainly affect someone's life, for example.