Loki Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 I reckon people are just plain tired with political parties. On Question Time the other night all 3 representatives of the parties just trotted out party lines on everything. It wasn't a debate, it was just soundbites. When nobody is prepared to take ANY responsibility for the financial meltdown of 2008, they shouldn't be surprised that people vote with their arses and stay at home on polling day. It all just seems to dated. You've got Lib Dems on tv mouthing platitudes about policies you KNOW they personally find abhorrent. No wonder they've taken a kicking in the polls. People expect lies and bare-faced cheek from the Tories and Labour, but they were expecting something else from the Lib Dems. I'm wondering if in this age of multimedia and internet news and all that, whether people might stand a much better chance at being elected as MPS/councillors independent of any party. Then they could actually say what they thought. I find it ironic that the one set of politicians who DO say, and vote, on their consciences much more than party lines are in the House of Lords... and they're busy trying to get rid of them and have elected (and therefore party compliant) senators instead. More fuss needs to be made of the HoL reforms, it's a terrible idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fog Dude Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 What's the point in voting for Boris and then putting the second choice for Siobhan Benita. This is the problem with Supplementary Vote, nobody fricking well understands it. I was going to point this out too. She's made the right choices but marked the ballot paper the wrong way round. Doesn't help that the system for the utterly toothless Assembly is the opposite: anything but red or blue on the constituency vote, but on the lists you can choose to shake things up by helping the diddy parties. Not that it bothers me too much as I'm not a Londonder (perish the thought - nice place to visit etc.) I didn't vote because I'm in Spain, don't have an address in Bangor to be able to vote in the Gwynedd council elections and the other place I'm registered, Somerset, is on an off-year from local polls. As for my birth city... Bristol voted for having a mayor, proving we have to be different from the rest of the country at all times. Close result and pathetic turnout means that 12.8% of the population here voted to have a mayor. As a result we get a mayor and can never change back. I've never actually lived within the boundaries of Bristol proper, so I wash my hands of this one. Other than the low turnout (not helped by the ridiculous timing of the vote, failing to coincide with any council elections) the stupidest part of it all is that the government won't say what powers or budget the mayor will have, nor what role the council will have in holding him to account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Freebird Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 I would Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 I was going to point this out too. She's made the right choices but marked the ballot paper the wrong way round. Doesn't help that the system for the utterly toothless Assembly is the opposite: anything but red or blue on the constituency vote, but on the lists you can choose to shake things up by helping the diddy parties. Not that it bothers me too much as I'm not a Londonder (perish the thought - nice place to visit etc.) I didn't vote because I'm in Spain, don't have an address in Bangor to be able to vote in the Gwynedd council elections and the other place I'm registered, Somerset, is on an off-year from local polls. As for my birth city... I've been telling people for years. With the first vote, vote for the person who you think is the best candidate. If that's not Boris or Ken, put which one of those you could tolerate as your second choice. Seriously, they painted AV as too complicated and then persist with this crap. I am in Bexley and Bromley, where the Conservative candidate has got over 50% of the vote every time so that paper doesn't even matter. I think I went Green for the London-wide assembly vote just because I can't vote for who I usually vote for. However, in neither case does it matter because the Assembly is powerless. It's just, my word, how can I be one of the dopes that puts Boris back in power? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted May 4, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted May 4, 2012 Does that thing about 2/3 off assembly being able to vote down the Mayor's budget or against major decisions have any effects? Is it just a damp squib "power" or has it simply never being relevant because of the arithmetic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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