The Labour Party won the 2005 UK general election with 35.3% of the popular British vote. The Conservative Party was just a few points behind with points behind at 32.3% of the popular vote, but because of the first past the post voting system, the Labour Party had a significant majority with 356 parliamentary seats […]
Continue Reading General Election 2010 Poll Results
I agree with “Helen” on 1st May. Labour are the best party for the common man/woman but when they put Blair (who was a tory voter originaly) in charge they inevitably lost direction. I am not a hater of Blair because he did a lot of positive things for this country (Northern Ireland being one), but I am not a ‘Blairite’ either. Therefore I realy believe that what would be best for the Labour Party would be to come out of power for 4/8 years to give them time to think, re-evaluate and return more towards their ‘grass-roots’ and resemble the old, socialist, Labour Party. As helen says, maybe a hung parliament would be best for the country as Libs may be a good influence on Labour. Only one thing is for sure, Cameron is the worst thing that could ever happen to us! He seems to be typical upper-class, Eaton/Oxbridge educated tory. He is so slimey, sleezy, smug, smarmy and seems to think that the middle/working classes are stupid and therefore believe anything he says. Anyone with half a brain can read his body language, and facial expressions, and tell that he is a blatant liar (think i would probably vote for Nick Griffin before i voted for Cameron!!). Why does he think the country will benefit more from years of public sector pay freezes, instead of taxing people who earn lots of money!? Why should people that work to benefit society lose out while people that just want to line their own pockets win? Theres no justice in that, I believe that teachers should get six figure salaries, not bankers, as nobody could amount to anything without teachers! but I digress, thats a different arguement.
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hello David, when i read , slimy, sleezy, smug, smarmy, i guess they were describing Blair, so Brown is the man is he, the man who wiped billions off pensions, allowed widespread immigration, even two of his ministers employed illegal immigrants, sold our gold reserves at 1/3 rd what they were worth, shuts post offices and hospitals, the last country out of recession, allowing family members to be on ministers payrolls, not listening to Cable about the state of our finances, allowing Blunkett to have community police officers who watched a child drown, talking about cancer care, load of lies, lying to the commission about the Iraq war, not allowing the public to speak to him as was shown, he is the man who called conservative people ” fruitcakes ‘, shutting down Police Stations, the list goes on and on and on, we need someone who can get us out of the mess he got us into, not a hung parliament I am sure that Cameron could not do any worse and should be given a chance, no one could do any worse if we are honest, the Historians will write that Brown is the worst and most likely will be the worst ever prime minister. i do expect bad comments, but we will see on Thursday, I just hope Brown will wait till he is chucked out along with Ed Balls and Mandleson.
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I was bought up on in a flat on a council estate, with a hard upbringing, no money, i worked hard and bought a house and had a family, now i live in a village, more a community, no i am not lucky, we have 1 pub and one small shop which doubles as a post office, a lot of council houses as well, nearest hospital about 2 miles, gordon brown wanted the close the post office and also the A and E, the maternity unit and the cancer ward, in effect killing the village, the nearest hospital would then be 20 miles or 10 miles over the hills, not an easy journey, the pensioners would lose their only place to get pensions and the groceries, newspapers and where people could meet and have a chat, we dont have an asda or tesco, i am telling you this because it may happen to you and the place you live if he gets in again. people look at the money in their pockets, i have lost count the times i have bought pensioners their food, dont tell them they are better off, they are not, winter fuel allowance is a help, but pensions dont meet inflation, elderly people are a forgotten race, no one thinks how they will travel 20 miles to get help, they dont have taxi fares, buses dont come in 3’s here, so think carefully who you vote for or your village may be next. ministers dont give a dam what happens in real life they look after themselves and their two homes, when they meet real people and questions are asked you see what happens the questioners get pushed out of sight, i have between films worked at stoke mandeville twice, at the home for incurables on streatham hill, and at headley court, i wish i could do more, I dont see any candidates going there and seeing what real life is all about. of course they wont gather votes there, they should try visiting unannounced and really find out what a wonderful life they have thanks to us. Once again David thanks for letting me post my comments.i dont do it for votes.
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“the nearest hospital would then be 20 miles or 10 miles over the hills, not an easy journey”
Do the people in your village walk to the nearest hospital? Don’t understand the relevance of hills unless you plan to walk or cycle.
I live in a holiday town and there’s a small hospital within a 5 minute walk, but it can’t offer every service we need. There was a recent review looking into closing our local hospital, but since we get hundreds of thousands of holiday makers in summer, they are now looking at expanding the service. If something is needed, Labour tend not to close hospitals.
Few days ago we went to a hospital in Boston (about 20 miles from us) to see a dentist for our youngest son (needs a brace), when I needed an MRI for my back again Boston, when I had a procedure to check which disc caused pain (discograph) it was at Lincoln hospital (about 40 miles), the operation on my back was also at Lincoln hospital. Went to my GP last week (hip pain) and had the X-ray at the local hospital.
From the sound of it your village is very small, do you really think it’s cost effective to keep all hospitals open, just so it’s easier for people in small villages to get to a hospital?
Makes more sense to me to centralise important, life saving treatment (like cancer treatment) to keep costs down so more people can be treated. Doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me to have a expensive specialist cancer wards in a small village hospital when for the same money you can centralise the treatment in higher population areas and have those in small villages travel for treatment.
The NHS does not have unlimited funds, if you think local services are more important than treating more people faster, well I disagree. Obviously I’m not talking about putting hospitals so far apart that to get treatment you have to travel half way across the country to get an X-ray, but it’s not too much to ask that for some treatment people travel to a hospital in a centralised location as it saves the NHS money.
There are big benefits to living in the countryside, but there’s also costs like having to travel to a town/city for hospital treatment. You are being quite selfish to expect the NHS to fund a hospital near you when it sounds like it won’t be fully utilised!
BTW when I was waiting for my operation I couldn’t drive over about 20 miles at a time, found the medication I was on made me feel sleepy after about 20 miles driving! Had to arrange for the voluntary ambulance service to drive me to and from Lincoln hospital for safety reasons. The voluntary ambulance service is bloody brilliant and free, so if an elderly person can’t travel to a hospital the voluntary ambulance service will get them there and back for free.
The voluntary ambulance service isn’t a charity or anything like that. It’s part of the NHS and is called a voluntary service since the drivers are all volunteers and they don’t get paid for driving per se, they get their expenses paid (I think the money comes from the hospitals, but not sure on that one). I understand a small percentage of people do manage to drive as volunteers and make a living, but the majority of voluntary drivers are retired/semi retired looking to help out.
David
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Yes David its a small village, not all pensioners have bicycles, cars or can afford taxis, i am afraid your wrong, villages post offices are needed, ok i have 3 cars, i can get around, i do look after my neighbours if they are in trouble. the hospital 2 miles away was only built about 30 years ago and they did want to close it, its not a village Hospital if it was i would understand it and agree, in fact it has 3 large car parks, I am not sure whether we have a free car service, if there is whats the point of phoning them if your having a heart attack, you cant equate Boston with where i live, i used to live not far away, the point I am making is the politicians are not aware what harm they do, the governing council here are about 45/50 miles away, the dont know what goes on here, they seem to stick a pin in a map and decide, i have fought hard to get local villages to govern themselves, i have gatecrashed meeting to make a point, been thrown out of council offices as they dont like the truth, i do live in an area which houses many famous people, one sat in the road to stop yellow lines being painted, why should politicians spoil a way of life, speed bumps were put in the road, 24 hours later the local council resurfaced the road, when i phoned them they denied it, instead of coming and seen for themselves, so now the road is the same as before, a complete and utter waste of taxpayers money, my money.
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Sadly through out this election so far the issue of Europe is very conspicuouse by it’s absense. Labour having blatentley renaging on it’s promise of a referendum and then proceded to sell us out by signing our rights away with the Matrich treaty have avoided the subject like the plague. The Tories being totally split over Europe have also avoided the subject. Liberal policy to sign up to every thing including the failing Euro also do not provide any alternative to the loss of our democracy to Europe. We do however have an alternative in UKIP, BNP, Christian Democrats, on this issue but none of these parties have been given enough of a stage to adequately state their stance over Europe. There are many other issues which are linked to our European membership e.g. Immigration, Effect of human rights on law and order, Economy which pours Billions into a beurocracy who have not only failed to pass any accounts audit, but are also demanding that we put in even more cash into the black hole. Why are the big three not raising this issue? Simple they have no intention in doing anything about it. Surely no one who is keen on retaining this country’s democracy can vote for anything other than one of the small parties. The Tories got one thing right “IT’S TIME FOR CHANGE” so for goodness sake vote for the little parties who have been purposefully excluded. Failure to do so will be a tagedy, as it is your ONLY chance to get the message home.
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Immigration is a problem but France,Germany and Spain have many more than we do so Britain is no more a “soft touch ” than other countries.They take low paid jobs that “economically inactive ” Brits won’t do because they can get more on the dole. And I speak as one who for many years brought up a family on a low wage. There are more issues than immigration and this is too important an election for working class people to indulge in a protest vote.
VOTING LABOUR REALLY IS OUR ONLY CHOICE !
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I am eligible to vote despite currently living overseas and I have been in possession of my ballot since early last week. However I simply have no intention of legitimising the shambles that is UK government. I am at pains to stress this is not apathy but a valid choice since none of the options available represent my views.
Finally, I confess I’ve only read the first 25 or so comments on this page so I can make no judgements as to the community at whom I state this.
I wish you all luck in making a choice between the shades of grey on offer.
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What is wrong with a balanced parliament, I have heard views from each of the big three political parties with individual items I can support, so why cant we have all three or at least a consensus of all three, plus some of the other parties.
For to long we have had Party Political Dogma, but seldom good government, hence the expenses corruption disgrace.
On care for the elderly: We all should make a fair contribution, not all of will need expensive care, but we will all get old. Just like we all do not need a large amount of the NHS but its there if we do.
On pay and reward: A fair days pay for a fair days work, makes perfect sense, and a fair days pay decision should be made by those who pay it.
Nobody should get reward for failure: We all make mistakes, we should not expect the rest of society to pay for it.
On crime and Punishment: Punishment should be a discouragement and made to fit the crime, also remind what is acceptable and what is not to society.
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Cameron says that his first act if he’s elected is to set up a war cabinet!!
Is it just me or does it see like George Bush is making a comeback in British disguise? endless war, benefits for big banks/big oil/big media/big pharma/big agribusiness/big money before people, christian values, tighter surveillance society in the name of that elusive “security”… how could anyone in their right mind wish to give power to this new George Bush? i know the Labour are horrible, but is that what you wish for yourself and all of us? please think before giving your precious voice to those skillful deceivers
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This is probably the most ridiculous post on this forum.