Harry Monk Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Yep, immigration is the sole issue I will be voting on since it is by far the thing which has had the most detrimental effect on my life over the last 15 years or so. All three of the main political parties support it for the same reason that I oppose it, namely that it brings down the unit cost of labour. Read John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath" for the perfect analogy. The best thing that could happen to UK politics would be a massive shift towards UKIP at the next election, it might give the major parties the wake-up call they need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Eagle Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Yep, immigration is the sole issue I will be voting on since it is by far the thing which has had the most detrimental effect on my life over the last 15 years or so. Really?? You mean without immigration the UK would be a paradise?! Dream on.... If anything ultra restrictive planning laws had and still have the most detrimental effect on most people's lifes in the UK! I very much doubt that UKIP would do anything about the planning laws, given that's it's a party of toffs. -- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Monk Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 If you were the employer on the grape or peach farms of LA in 1930 wouldn't you be quite pleased that some Oakies had turned up too, wanting half the wage? Yes, I would be delighted, in much the same way that if I was the owner of DHL or Norbert Dentressangle I would be delighted that loads of Bulgarians and Romanians had turned up wanting half the wage. However I am not so my situation is more closely aligned with the Californian fruit picker watching their labour decrease in value with every new carload of Okies that arrived. Opposing immigration isn't about affecting a hatred for immigrants. Blame the game, not the players, it's the game that needs to change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Yes, I would be delighted, in much the same way that if I was the owner of DHL or Norbert Dentressangle I would be delighted that loads of Bulgarians and Romanians had turned up wanting half the wage. However I am not so my situation is more closely aligned with the Californian fruit picker watching their labour decrease in value with every new carload of Okies that arrived. Opposing immigration isn't about affecting a hatred for immigrants. Blame the game, not the players, it's the game that needs to change. The tanker drivers strike is for the same reason. They've carried on doing their jobs but immigrants, primarily East Europeans, have been coming in and working for less so the existing drivers' wages come under downwards pressure. Expand that across and you see that immigration benefits employers but is detrimental to existing and potential employees who are already here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 The city has to be defended as it makes up 20% of our Tax revenues. Nothing wrong in defending our interests. The City of London steals from everybody through taxpayer bailouts and inflating the cost of living and then hands back a small part of the loot in taxes. It's not your friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Before the bail out it didn't seem to be doing too badly. Mortgage lenders did well during the boom phase of a property bubble - what a surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 I think we might be venturing off the topic here. Anyway, back on topic who did you vote for? The Lib Dems, foolishly hoping that they might be the party to stand up for the interests of people born after 1980. Clearly I was wrong. I still think a party will assume that role at some point in the next ten years, but the 2010 Lib Dems weren't it. At the moment all parties support high asset prices and whacking everything on the national debt so that somebody else can pay for jam today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Would it not be better to vote for a party which has the interests of our collective society at heart, and not only a specific group? In an ideal world perhaps, but nobody else is voting that way. Politicians explicitly compete to buy pensioner votes by offering the biggest hike in the state pension plus other goodies. The "low interest rates are good for the economy" line is actually in the coalition agreement, which is obviously to buy off mortgaged 30- and 40somethings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swissy_fit Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Would it not be better to vote for a party which has the interests of our collective society at heart, and not only a specific group? Your faith is touching, when you find such a party let me know. The answer to your question is of course "yes, but......" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Barlow Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Previously I have tended to vote Conservative and on occasions Lib Dem. Never voted Labour. However as an overseas voter my default MP is that Slime ball Lansley so I would be inclined to vote tactically for whoever was in second place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Your faith is touching, when you find such a party let me know. The answer to your question is of course "yes, but......" It's a good chunk of the reason that I can't stand any of them and can't take the minor parties seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Bart' Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 It's a good chunk of the reason that I can't stand any of them and can't take the minor parties seriously. Which is the quandary I find myself in. The difference between Labour and the Conservatives now seems negligible. 30 years ago, there were clear ideological differences (Mrs. Thatcher versus Micheal Foot). But now? One example, the business about the surveilence state. Both David Cameron and Nick Clegg opposed it while in opposition, yet now they're bringing in the same kind of laws that (to quote David Cameron, speaking before the last election): Faced with any problem, any crisis – given any excuse – Labour grasp for more information, pulling more and more people into the clutches of state data capture… And the Government doesn’t want to stop with the basic information. They want the most complex, important, personal information there is… Scare tactics to herd more disempowered citizens into the clutches of officialdom, as people surrender more and more information about their lives, giving the state more and more power over their lives. If we want to stop the state controlling us, we must confront this surveillance state. Oceania is at war with Eastasia. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. So I'm sorry, but I can never envisage voting for any of the big three again. What's the point in making a distinction? The same general policies seem to get through in slightly amended forms. The people with real clout are those who pay £250,000 for the Prime Minister's ear (that's the only kind of voting paper that matters). And it's hardly something unique to the Tories. Cash for honours: 'Labour deliberately tried to conceal secret loans' Four Labour MPs implicated in 'cash for influence' scandal Stephen Byers: just how far a £5,000 cab fare gets you See what I mean? And of course, we can't forget the granddaddy of all payoffs. Tony Of Arabia Earns $43M As Advisor To Kuwait, While Getting Paid By Morgan Stanley And The UN I'd love to know what sort of "advice" is worth $43 million. If you really want to influence our politicians, don't vote, start saving your pennies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Depressing isn't it? How many key marginal seats are there? About 80 out of 640... the rest are safe seats (relatively to very). First Past the Post makes it nigh on impossible to change the political landscape. Fascinating that even after all that the last government have done with Wallace at the helm they will still have people (with short memories and gullible tendencies) coming back to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Democorruptcy Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 Before the bail out it didn't seem to be doing too badly. I wish we hadn't outsourced our manufacturing base and we'd invested in our own people via our own talents and skills, but there we go, that's another matter for another day. You mean as in the city took a lot of bonuses before the bail out based on what transpired to be fictitious profits and we now have to pay for the losses. It's like why we needed the bail out. The doing well and bailout are not mutually exclusive. I'm afraid I cannot vote for a city **** licker like Farage. Though he shouldn't feel too badly about it because there isn't a party I would bother voting for at he moment. I'd rather vote for the PG Tips chimpanzees at least they might steal less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted May 1, 2012 Share Posted May 1, 2012 I voted Tory at the last election. George Osborne is my local mp. To redress this, I have since adopted a kitten. Could never ever vote labour, for obvious reasons. Lib dems are a joke and I'm not racist enough for bnp. So I shall not bother next time. If you don't vote BNP, you may at least have to drown the kitten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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