General Election 2015

[arry_g]

Well, this general election makes me sad. How does it make you feel?

[ratsoalbion]

Sad, angry and frightened.

[RobC]

Terrified. I think it must be the bubble of sorts I live in with regards to those around me, I'm just at a loss as to who on earth all these people are voting the way they are.

[Alex79]

Pretty annoyed. This Government was responsible for the closure of my old workplace (a family centre I was a manager at) when they slashed the funding by over £4k per month. We were really left with nothing. I can't imagine the next four/five years looking bright for anyone 'normal'. People might say I wasted my vote, but at least I know I voted for who I believed in.

[arry_g]

This election has certainly made me realise that online and offline I surround myself with people who socially at least stand on the same side of the political spectrum.

[arry_g]

Pretty annoyed. This Government was responsible for the closure of my old workplace (a family centre I was a manager at) when they slashed the funding by over £4k per month. We were really left with nothing. I can't imagine the next four/five years looking bright for anyone 'normal'. People might say I wasted my vote, but at least I know I voted for who I believed in.

I'm sorry to hear this Alex, it isn't the same but I understand being frustrated at the current government. My father is paraplegic, if that were not complicated enough the impact points in his spine mean that his particular variation on this means that he requires more care and study than some others in the same boat because he has additional medical issues that are not understood by doctors in this country. Since the government started outsourcing the documentation and referral system my father has been passed on to the wrong doctors, has been treated with the wrong medication and has had operations with the wrong notes attached to his case because the information has been "lost in translation" between moving from one private referral company to another. All of this has caused issues that have sent him into dysreflexiac shock and worse.

[Alex79]

Pretty annoyed. This Government was responsible for the closure of my old workplace (a family centre I was a manager at) when they slashed the funding by over £4k per month. We were really left with nothing. I can't imagine the next four/five years looking bright for anyone 'normal'. People might say I wasted my vote, but at least I know I voted for who I believed in.

I'm sorry to hear this Alex, it isn't the same but I understand being frustrated at the current government. My father is paraplegic, if that were not complicated enough the impact points in his spine mean that his particular variation on this means that he requires more care and study than some others in the same boat because he has additional medical issues that are not understood by doctors in this country. Since the government started outsourcing the documentation and referral system my father has been passed on to the wrong doctors, has been treated with the wrong medication and has had operations with the wrong notes attached to his case because the information has been "lost in translation" between moving from one private referral company to another. All of this has caused issues that have sent him into dysreflexiac shock and worse.

That's a shame, and unfortunately it doesn't seem like it's going to get much better very soon.

Also - Farage resigns : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32633719

[ratsoalbion]

Farage resigns : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32633719

A glint of a silver lining there. Hopefully he won't be replaced by someone more 'credible'.

[Alex79]

Farage resigns : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32633719

A glint of a silver lining there. Hopefully he won't be replaced by someone more 'credible'.

I think if UKIP got someone in charge who wasn't an absolute tit, they'd be potentially really dangerous. I dread to think what state we'll be in in four years time, and how people will be looking for a change and decide to 'give them a go'.

[JaySevenZero]

Truly, truly gutted this morning - cannot believe what has happened.

I'm not however gonna waste my time worrying about what may, or may not become of the UKiP scum as we now have to contend with the very real and frightening prospect of another Conservative government as we see an increase in zero hours contracts, the further dismantling and selling off of the NHS for their profiteering fat cat friends and another five years where selfishness, greed and corrupt corporate interest will be the order of the day

[magicjoef]

I think if UKIP got someone in charge who wasn't an absolute tit, they'd be potentially really dangerous.

Don't worry, it is a requirement for the job

My frustration comes from the fact that there was no decent opposition. Not just in the run up to the election, but for the whole term. Cameron isn't even the type of PM you can say "I don't like him, but he's a great leader". That party were completely there for the taking but Labour missed the knockout and landed one on their own nose

[arry_g]

I wouldn't get our hopes up about Farage being out for the count, resigned he has but he can still re-apply for the job in September (and worse still is considering it).

Jay is right of course, they are not the big issue right now... who needs social equality, ethical work conditions and a considerate government anyway?

[Retrothumbs]

What is with the SNP and its VAST supporters?! I'm confused to why voted with a 'minor' winning "No" vote for independance and yet now, they seemingly vote for a leader, which pretty much primarily stands for independance. A majority vote too.

In other news,,, poor poor Lib Dems. Wow.

[Flabyo]

I'm told by my Scottish friends that a large part of the appeal of the SNP is that they've actually done a pretty damned good job of running Scotland from the Scottish parliament side of things. Many people like they way they do things (they're actually a centre left party after all, not even Labour are that anymore) but aren't interested in independence.

It's also hard to deny that a large SNP block in Westminster shows the Tories that the way our union is managed does have to change, if the close result of the referendum didn't do that already.

The main concern I have at the moment is that we're now going to get the Tories extremely unworkable Internet regulation passed, probably in the first session of parliament. That's going to make a right old mess of our civil liberties for decades to come.

[Retrothumbs]

It's also hard to deny that a large SNP block in Westminster shows the Tories that the way our union is managed does have to change, if the close result of the referendum didn't do that already.

Yes, I think hey went from 6 to 56 seats. A great result for their voices to be heard in the HOC's. Absolutely agree on what you said, desperately in need of change. Perhaps there is middle ground here and one that doesn't leave a sour taste to any side of the border.

[Beck]

Sorry, I've not been active much but spotted this thread and felt like I had to give my opinion

For me, Scotland has been an odd place to live in for the last two to three years. Before the independence referendum I was not interested in politics. I didn’t vote as I didn’t feel it achieved anything and buried my head in the sand. I think this is the case for a lot of Scottish people. The referendum has sparked a real political interest in the Scottish population, everyone still talks about it and there still seems to be genuine interest in political debate. I began the whole referendum as a no voter but when trying to compare the two arguments I slowly turned to a yes vote. The yes campaign was positive and detailed, apart from the currency thing (which if you actually looked into was but you had to do some digging) whilst the no campaign seemed to be about mudslinging and naysaying at every opportunity.

The media were horribly biased towards the no campaign, only 1 paper in the UK was pro-independence, which a lot of Scots found offensive, no one likes to be belittled and there was a lot of it going on. If you look at the statistics on the referendum, the younger generations were pro-independence whilst the other generations were against it. There have been suggestions that this was because the older generations get their political information from the papers and the BBC whilst younger generations get their information from the internet and social media where information could be accessed for both sides. I think the late unwritten promise for more powers swung the independence campaign for the no side which I was gutted about at the time, now I look back on it I’m happy it happened the way it did. I honestly think a marginal win for independence would have caused a lot of friction between the population of Scotland.

I believe the swing of seats to the SNP in the general election is a contribution of a few things. Firstly the yes voters are still really active, the increase in SNP membership after the referendum was insane. Secondly, Labour completely fucked up. Scotland has been a labour voting country for decades, Labour originated in Scotland. Labour sided with the conservatives during the referendum which is a big error, especially with the last minute promise of powers. Then there was Ed Miliband who said he would never be in a coalition with the SNP, that was a huge mistake. The Scottish people are told they are wanted as part of the union but then after the referendum they are not.

The election was disappointing, there isn’t much more to say than that. I’d hope that another party, hopefully not UKIP can make the rest of the UK as politically active as the SNP and Green parties have made Scotland.

Sorry for the huge blurb, as you can probably tell, I find the current political situation interesting. There isn’t many opportunities made available to discuss what’s going on with people that don’t live in Scotland =P

[countstex]

Just thought I'd pop in to let you know how things have gone over here in Denmark which in many ways has the same forces pushing it as the UK. We have a party here called DanskeFolkeparti (DF) Imaging if you will a slightly tones down UKIP, with clever intelligent people running it.. yup pretty scary right? Well the just became the second largest party in the country after the Social Democrats (Think Labour, there now ex leader is married to Stephen Kinnock) The interesting thing here is despite DF being strongly right wing, they were elected on promises of increasing public spending and taking care of the elderly (whilst of course also going totally over the top on border control and refugee help)
Frankly right now I'm both fearful of what can happen here in the next four years, but also thinking that pretty much nothing as the three large parties will have little common ground to create policy on so pretty much everything could get shot down as the two parties in opposition to which ever party suggests something will vastly out number them.
Basically though a lot of Europe will be looking to see what happens in Denmark now

[brutaldeluxe09]

very happy to see Tom Watson just appointed as Deputy Labour leader over the weekend just gone, he's MP for West Brom I believe and he's what some of us may call a "proper gamer". I love this quote from a New Statesmen article he wrote concerning Destiny:

"Playing in a team to defeat a larger foe should be completely normal for a socialist MP, yet the sense of inadequacy when you’ve let the side down is huge."

http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/201 ... games-2014