Poll: Who will you be voting for on May 5th?

[Chimaira]

I don’t like or dislike any of the parties, although I will never vote Lib dem, don’t want a Scottish bloke running the country thanks

Probably going to be voting Conservative, as much as I wouldn’t really like to, I mean I’ve heard the stories from back in the 80's from when that wench was in power.

But I think we need some kind of change, nothing is happening with Labour, plus if Conservatives get in we might stay out of the EU.

 

[Weebull]

You could say that. I'm sure they would stick to their promise of abolishing tuition fees mind. But their proposal leads to the positively ridiculous scenario of:

Person A - affluent background. Can go to University without needing to borrow money as parents will pay all their expenses. Pays nothing to the University for thier degree.

Person B - reasonably affluent background. Needs a medium loan to assist with living costs. Pays it off and so pays a medium amount to the University through interest payments on the loan.

Person C - poor background but just above the grant level. Needs a sizeable loan to pay living costs. Pays it off and pays a large amount to the University through interest payments on the loan.

Hmmmm.....anyone else spot the slight unfairness there?

Fair point actually. But I suppose it could be argued that Person A's parents will pay higher taxes than the other two, part of which will in turn be fed into education.
I suppose the tuition fee does make sense in that regard, but I just dislike how it works at the moment. The maximum loan amount you can get isn't enough to cover just the fees and rent, nevermind food and living costs. So that Person C now gets shafted into having to work while studying, while Person A gets the easy life, and extra time to study. Bit of a no-win situation I guess.

I voted Labour last time. I don't trust any of the main parties. If there was a 'common sense' Party, i'd vote for them.

There's always Veritas.

 

[Weebull]

I don’t like or dislike any of the parties, although I will never vote Lib dem, don’t want a Scottish bloke running the country thanks

You mean like we have at the moment?

 

[Chimaira]

You mean like we have at the moment?

Ah but he doesn't speak with a scottish accent so its alright

 

[Matblack]

Why, pray tell?

Mostly because shes a mad old bint, they've had to call in the superheros to save the world from her!

MB

 

[csmager]

I'll be voting LD. Someone mentioned the Tories also planning to scrap tuition fees. Personally, considering they introduced them in the first place, I'm taking that with a large pinch of salt.

Errr.... When? Tuition fees were introduced in September 1998. And yes, that makes it Mr Blair's doing.

Then in 2001, after saying he wouldn't introduce top-up fees to the tuition fees, he has, and they then passed a bill to introduce them in January.

 

[McBain]

Not voting, I understand this takes away my right to moan about whoever is in office, I accept that.

 

[Weebull]

Oops, my mistake. I could have sworn they introduced the tuition fees, and Labour brought in the loan system. Did I get those two the wrong way round?

 

[csmager]

actually, there is now the most people in employment for 20 years.

That may be what the figures say... That's what this government's about - "it'll look good if we reduce the number of people unemployed" says His Tonyness. So that's exactly what they do - reduce the numbers. It's all reclassification. Being very cynical here, admittedly.

Interest rates were due to the exchange rate mechanism of keeping our sterling in line with what Europe wanted it to be in terms of Francs and Deutschmarks.
Trying to tow Europes line is what caused us all those problems, then again a vote for labour is a vote for Europe.

Quite. The Tories made a mistake, and they admit that. I believe they've learnt from it.

Blair wants to adopt the Euro in this country - which is essentially going to be the Exchange Rate Mechanism with big 'NO EXIT' signs written everywhere.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Vote Conservative. (sorry, that's a bit naff!)

 

[TorcH`]

Conservatives.

 

[Harley]

Did I?
I'm sure I didn't say I preferred Blair to Howard.....I tend to see them as about as bad as each other personally.
One's a liar and the other I wouldn't trust with a small child let alone a country.

Got to check back over my past posts now because I'm actually quite scared to think people think I prefer Blair

That's certainly how I read it, yes.

I said I'd prefer Howard on the basis that I despise him and the Tories a bit less than I despise the others (post 146) and you said ....

Personally I disagree with you regarding Howard being the lesser of the evils but the points above I definitely agree with.

I took that to mean you disagree that Howard is a lesser evil than Blair and the implication of that is that you prefer Blair to Howard ..... or Labour to Tory.

Maybe I misunderstood what you meant??

 

[Nozzer]

Tory, probably. But I'd much rather see a hung parliament.

 

[HangTime]

Oops, my mistake. I could have sworn they introduced the tuition fees, and Labour brought in the loan system. Did I get those two the wrong way round?

Loans were brought in by the Tories in 1991-2. Fees started when I went to uni, 1998, so unfortunately I was in the first year to have to pay them. This was a double whammy because grants were also drastically lower that year and then abolished the year after. The real joke is that my sister (who by definition has the same parental income as myself) received £1000 more than I did in grants that year simply because she was in a later year of study than me, it was an absolute disgrace.

The Lib Dems plans for university education are one of the main things that has put me off them, I'm actually in favour of making people pay to get educated to a high level, since in the long run, on average, they will be earning a higher salary anyway.

The whole means tested concepts also work on the assumption that parents are willing to contribute to their child's further education. But why? At 18+, uni students are full adults. My father gave me hardly any financial assistance at all while I was at uni, compared to other families who paid for their child's accommodation, fees, spending money blah blah blah.

Best leave it there before things get too far off-topic

 

[The_Judge]

Conservatives all the way!

 

[nero120]

Errr.... When? Tuition fees were introduced in September 1998. And yes, that makes it Mr Blair's doing.

Then in 2001, after saying he wouldn't introduce top-up fees to the tuition fees, he has, and they then passed a bill to introduce them in January.

It was even printed in their manifesto that they wouldnt introduce them, but did that stop them? Hell no!

 

[Rotty]

I'll be voting for the "Apathy" party , same as last time

 

[Haly]

That's certainly how I read it, yes.

I said I'd prefer Howard on the basis that I despise him and the Tories a bit less than I despise the others (post 146) and you said ....
I took that to mean you disagree that Howard is a lesser evil than Blair and the implication of that is that you prefer Blair to Howard ..... or Labour to Tory.

Maybe I misunderstood what you meant??

Ahh bit of both I think. Don't think I made myself clear, or I did but only to myself

What I meant was I'd see them as equally bad and would never vote for one just because they were slightly less bad than the other if that makes sense.

I was probably writing too fast and lost track of what I was trying to say, sorry!

 

[Barbie]

We need someone to recreate the film "Brewsters Millions" and run a campaign for "None of the above"

 

[Van Hellseek]

Not voting. All as bad as each other tbh.

 

[nige]

If you contribute nothing to the country, why should you get a say on how it's run?

The right to vote should not be based on any sort of contribution; it means there is no stop on those who do ‘contribute’ abusing those who are deemed not to. The vote being granted to all is how democracy works – limits, in this sense, create abuse. The vote is effectively your voice, if I take that away from you (for whatever reason), I can stamp on you and you can't even whimper.