The 2015 Popularity Contest (aka UK General Election )

[Tubey]

Maybe all the non-voting "anarchists" have got their plans for revolution sorted.

Indeed... yet they'll still not understand how utterly futile what they do is.

I think there will be street protests over the next few years though - very large scale ones.

 

[davek]

It's as Brennan says really - it's how much you value a social conscience that swings it. I think every Tory voter secretly knows that a vote for them is a brutal hammering for the poor, but that fact doesn't seem enough to overshadow a perceived personal gain for themselves.

I'm not saying Tory voters are inherently "bad" people for doing so; but I do profoundly disagree with them. As someone who has worked in the DWP, seen the effects of A4E, also worked at CAB... I'm just massively saddened for the countless who are legitimately in need of support who will now be subjected to an absolute hammering. I can only hope we don't see a full-on "social class ideological genocide" here, for want of a better term.

Tories are selfish. They just are. They have a very limited idea of what society is: basically themselves and their family and giving a few quid to charity. They see state organised health and welfare and employment provision as wrong.

I'll never be able to get my head around it and I'll never ever think any Tory is ok. They're alien to me and that's the way I want it and it'll always be that way.

 

[peteblue]

So how easy is it to emigrate, lads?

Just jump on the M6 and head north......

 

[1966efc]

I really like Andy Burnham, I think us a great MP. I don't know if he's leadership material.

No.

On another note, apart from poor leadership / unclear policies, Labour (as Davek rightly says) will have to cope with the loss of at least 20 seats due to boundary changes; the complete loss of its heartland; finding an adequate front bench from a worryingly limited pool of talent; persuading many members of the working class that their doubts about immigrants are less important than other social questions.

I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Tubey]

Tories are selfish. They just are. They have a very limited idea of what society is: basically themselves and their family and giving a few quid to charity. They see state organised health and welfare and employment provision as wrong.

I'll never be able to get my head around it and I'll never ever think any Tory is ok. They're alien to me and that's the way I want it and it'll always be that way.

Indeed. Undoubtedly selfish, but personally I can understand why a bit more as I've seen the mindset in action - support yourself first, make sure your family is OK, everything else can follow afterwards.

Rather than say I don't think any Tory is "OK", I'd say they're blinkered and unable to appreciate just how damning their selfishness is to those less fortunate in society. But in that I only apply it to the middle classes - there's no doubt in my mind that the richer the Tories get, there's a general correlation where hatred of the "spongers" increases.

 

[Whistlin' Dixie]

Tories are selfish. They just are. They have a very limited idea of what society is: basically themselves and their family and giving a few quid to charity. They see state organised health and welfare and employment provision as wrong.

I'll never be able to get my head around it and I'll never ever think any Tory is ok. They're just not. They're alien to me and that's the way I want it and it'll always be that way.

100% this.

They remind me of them texan barons who pay $000,000's to sit at the top tables at charity bashes, but then when they leave they sneer at the poor sod outside who has a placard that reads: "Will work for food"

Sir george young: "Homeless are the people you step over on your way from the opera"

 

[Tubey]

I really like Andy Burnham, I think us a great MP. I don't know if he's leadership material.

I think that'd be a huge mistake. He's far too left, and if Labour are to win again I honestly believe they need to move closer to the centre and with smartly placed shadow ministers.

Cooper would be an even worse call. They should go with Umunna and hope to replicate something akin to New Labour. The further left you go, the easier it is to adopt scare tactics against.

 

[The Mighty Quint]

I really like Andy Burnham, I think us a great MP. I don't know if he's leadership material.

Him or Alan Johnson for me, always like Johnson and he has the vast experience too.

 

[Tubey]

Him or Alan Johnson for me, always like Johnson and he has the vast experience too.

They need someone relatively unscarred by Brown and Blair.

 

[Billy Dean]

Ed standing down.

According to the BBC.

Had to really. I expect Clegg to aswell.

 

[davek]

Indeed. Undoubtedly selfish, but personally I can understand why a bit more as I've seen the mindset in action - support yourself first, make sure your family is OK, everything else can follow afterwards.

Rather than say I don't think any Tory is "OK", I'd say they're blinkered and unable to appreciate just how damning their selfishness is to those less fortunate in society. But in that I only apply it to the middle classes - there's no doubt in my mind that the richer the Tories get, there's a general correlation where hatred of the "spongers" increases.

Yes, the family stuff I understand. But the 'everything else' bit amounts to nothing really. Just a fig leaf for rapaciousness.

 

[RFUS]

Maybe all the non-voting "anarchists" have got their plans for revolution sorted.

Anyone who let Russell Brand influence them into not voting -- trust me, these people exist -- needs to be strapped to a rocket and blasted into space.

I think what this election has shown me, more than anything, is that people are very, very lazy. For example, a nail in the coffin of the NHS is not enough. It will take the death of the NHS or something of this magnitude for people to realise and get off their arses.

People are selfish, I have no qualms with that. People voting Tory if they have benefited under the Tories is okay. What gets me is that there are millions who are worse off, who have not voted or who have even voted Tory. I don't know how you fix that.

I loathe this country, I really do. From the undercurrent of xenophobia to the dead-eyed charlatans representing the populous.



Hold me.

 

[Baines' left foot]

And that's all fair enough mate - but did what is going to happen to those less fortunate than you play any role in your thinking?

Again, not saying you're a bad person if it didn't, but it's interesting to see how those close to the line felt about certain issues.

I was going to add on the end that all makes me feel a bit selfish, but I've got to do what's best for myself.

I've had some hard times myself in the last few years though and I've worked very hard to get where I am now though, so I don't feel too bad about it.

 

[neil999]

im amazed at people voting green in marginals, so many where this would hve made a difference

 

[evilwebby]

This death-to-the-NHS narrative is really so sad, it's pathetic.
The Tories have pledged more money to NHS services over the next 5 years than Labour did. Don't take my word - check for yourself (but it might mean you have to actually do 60 seconds' of work yourself).