As we're unlikely to see terraces again at football, this is the virtual equivalent where you can chat to your hearts content about all football matters and, obviously, Arsenal in particular. This forum encourages all Gooners to visit and contribute so please keep it respectful, clean and topical.
In my experience most people wither dont vote at all, or vote for the people they have always voted for without ever looking at the parties manifesto.
My parents have voted Conservatives their whole lives, and at the last local/EU election i asked them why? They didnt know, opting for the "we always have" stance. I then asked what the conservatives will enforce if they get it - again, they didnt know.
I have no shame in saying i vote for the English Democrats. Any party that will represent me as ENGLISH and not BRITISH has my vote (the push for St George's Day as a bank holiday is a plus also). They are not "right wing racists", they just believe England should be represented as England and by English people and that the immigration laws in this country need a good shake up.
All in all, most people are probably influenced by the media - and Labour have a snowflakes in hell chance at the next GE
I did a Modern History and Politics degree at the University of Southampton so I might be of some help. Unfortunately for you its quite obvious that the 'credit crunch' and Brown's inept leadership make it too easy to see that the Conservatives will win the next election not because of what they say but simply because they offer change. Image is everything and the current circumstances we are in have just resulted in the Labour Party looking a bit of a joke. This is unfortunate because people will draw simple conclusions like - 'all politicians are corrupt so whats the point in voting anyway'. These are not stupid conclusions to draw, but they dont allow you to get to the bottom of the real question which should look to question why people vote the way they do and consider how the successful party best plays to the prejudices/opinions of most people. The art of politics and winning elections is telling people what they want to hear, not actually doing anything and saying something too concise. Blair and Cameron are your best examples of this.
Yeh, i have a real dislike for cameron.i think he doesn't actually give policies he just tells everyone else that their policies are s***. However,i can see that he will get in in may and i am dreading that day!!
Don't dread it, nothing can be worse than this leaderless vessel, Brown is unelected and like Mclaren a number 2, he hasn't got the personality to be anything else, unfortunaltly for him he can't play the game like Blair did, so like the libyan thing, when he is up against it, he has nowhere to turn.
northbankgooner wrote:yeh, just starting year 12.yeh,that would be great thanks Sami. I am a staunch labour supporter but it would be nice to get a different view.
Sorry,havent got MSN. it messed up my computer last time i had it. Could you PM me? i am doing English Language and Literature, history, economics and Government and politics. you?
I did gov and politics for a level and i'll tell you it's a soft subject. Sorry but the exams don't really have a yes/no format it's very open.
Some terms you may want to note are:
mandate-the right to govern given by people
apathy-people cant be bothered to vote
hapathy-people are content so don't bother to vote
safe seats-constituencies that always vote same way hence why ppl have
low turnout after all why bother if you know they are going to win?
first past the post/winner takes all-the electoral system that awards the winning paty the seat of a constituency despite it being close.
finally the system of fptp means that the % of vote is not directly transfered into seats ie liberal democrats usually get less seats despite having a higher % of vote. This is due to their party support being diverse ie they can have a high % of support in 1 area but still not get the seat.
Btw I can dig out some gov1 notes and scan them to you if you want?
BTW fptp could significantly hamper the Tories in the next election. If there is a uniform swing (look at the website I quote above) and the vote splits
Con 40
Lab 30
LD 24
Others 6
Then we would have a hung parliament with the Tories being 10 seats short of a majority. It actually might be more proportional than usual.
(BTW for those that don't understand the earlier comments about me, I was a Lib Dem councillor until June.)
Chippy wrote:BTW fptp could significantly hamper the Tories in the next election. If there is a uniform swing (look at the website I quote above) and the vote splits
Con 40
Lab 30
LD 24
Others 6
Then we would have a hung parliament with the Tories being 10 seats short of a majority. It actually might be more proportional than usual.
(BTW for those that don't understand the earlier comments about me, I was a Lib Dem councillor until June.)
What happened in June Chippy? Get caught shagging the secretary or caught fiddling expenses?
Chippy wrote:BTW fptp could significantly hamper the Tories in the next election. If there is a uniform swing (look at the website I quote above) and the vote splits
Con 40
Lab 30
LD 24
Others 6
Then we would have a hung parliament with the Tories being 10 seats short of a majority. It actually might be more proportional than usual.
(BTW for those that don't understand the earlier comments about me, I was a Lib Dem councillor until June.)
What happened in June Chippy? Get caught shagging the secretary or caught fiddling expenses?
Used the expenses to pay for shagging.
A long and boring story but suffice it say I won in 2005 over something that was a v big local issue. That had gone this time, so the area reverted to being safe Tory.
Chippy wrote:BTW fptp could significantly hamper the Tories in the next election. If there is a uniform swing (look at the website I quote above) and the vote splits
Con 40
Lab 30
LD 24
Others 6
Then we would have a hung parliament with the Tories being 10 seats short of a majority. It actually might be more proportional than usual.
(BTW for those that don't understand the earlier comments about me, I was a Lib Dem councillor until June.)
What happened in June Chippy? Get caught shagging the secretary or caught fiddling expenses?
Used the expenses to pay for shagging.
A long and boring story but suffice it say I won in 2005 over something that was a v big local issue. That had gone this time, so the area reverted to being safe Tory.
Thats a shame would you stand again or do you still do work within the lib party?
