Neighbours & Friends

[Barney]

What you may do, or not do at a polling station. From BBC News

[Rosie]

The bit about being drunk made me laugh...

[Marie]

That was a very interesting read, Barney !
Not only (and I hope you'll forgive me) did I have a huge grin on my face when I read about being drunk, but also when the man talked about dogs, horses and ponies, excluding "other animals such as rabbits, ferrets or pot-bellied pigs", because there is no guidance for them.

I was very muchly amused by going to vote in your pyamas (I might try that here soon ! ), builders are allowed to come stripped to the waist, as long as it isn't indecent.
But on the other hand : "A topless woman wouldn't be appropriate as voters might get distracted." Uh-oh... what about that builder stripped to the waist ? Wouldn't that distract anyone ?

I loved the bits about writing something on the ballot papers. I remember years ago when my husband had to go counting votes (starting at 3 pm and coming home at apr. 1 am !) and told me about the things people had written on the papers.

Nowadays we miss a lot of the fun, because we vote electronically. Most of us do. But I've heard that they need new software, so maybe we'll be allowed to use the red pencil again to mark our dot. (not an "x").

I'm a bit curious to know who'll win !
(I heard Mr. Clegg speaks dutch without an accent ! [His mum appears to be dutch])

[Rosie]

Well I voted Lib Dem this time - first time I've ever done that (this is the third general election I've been old enough to vote in, and I voted Labour in the other two)

[Barney]

Rosie, I've moved your post into the new thread. Will you cast your vote here, please?

[~eleanor~]

I voted Lib Dem as well.

The actual voting thing was a bit more fraught than I expected. On Tuesday evening, I realised that I hadn't yet got my postal vote (it had been sent to my home address and my mum, I later found out, had missed the midday post on Friday) and started to panic about what I should do. Anyway, I found the voting instructions that had come with my local election vote (and yes, I did later make sure that they were the same for the national one), and they gave the helpline number, and also said that you could hand in your postal vote at any polling station. Great - problem solved! My vote arrived next day, and I decided it would be safer to hand it in than to expect the Royal Mail to deliver it by next day.

Anyway, this morning, I went to the polling station and explained to the clerk, who told me that I couldn't do this, and would just have to send it off instead *cue patronising explanation about how it was a postal vote for a different area*. Now people who are wrong I don't mind, but people who won't even accept the possibility that they might be wrong... At this point, I had to choose between getting this sorted and getting to lectures on time - I was worried enough that the woman might be right, and I'd have to go to the town hall/call the helpline etc. to get it sorted out, that I decided I'd better choose democracy over reaction mechanisms So I went back to my room to get the instructions that told me I could do this, returned to the polling station, and thankfully this time ended up with a different clerk, who said yes, no problem at all, even without being shown the instructions!!

Sorry for the rant - it was a toss-up between this thread and the What Annoys You!

[Aud]

Yaaaayyyy. Labour won first result thro for Sunderland with a 12,000 approx majority. \my prayers may be answered yet.

[CHAMPION99]

I wish they'd announce some more I wanna go to bed! My areas expected to be announced at 3:40... No to that.

[Barney]

This is what is sooo wrong with our system:

Conservative 290 seats, +91 36.1% of vote
Labour 247 seats, -85 29.2% of vote
Liberal Democrat 51 seats, -6 22.9% of vote

In spite of having 22.9% of the vote (at this time today), the LibDems have only 51 seats. It's just plain crazy!!!

I know this may sound desperately naive, and I know it probably won't happen, but I wish that a hung parliament might lead to a coalition which will knock party politics on the head once and for all, so that the individual politician can vote according to the wish of the people who elected him, and according to his conscience without fear of being penalised.

It sickens me that party politics mean that Party Whips have the power to demand that someone votes for something in which they most heartily do not believe, or to place a vote in a debate that they have not bothered to attend (as is, sadly, too often the case).

[Marie]

That's what puzzled us as well over here Barney... Lib Dem gets 22,9% of the votes but get less seats. We decided your system is er... complicated.
(Not that ours is better though...)

Barney wrote:

It sickens me that party politics mean that Party Whips have the power to demand that someone votes for something in which they most heartily do not believe, or to place a vote in a debate that they have not bothered to attend (as is, sadly, too often the case).

I couldn't agree more !

And... what happened to "democracy" ? Or is that just a word ?

[Rosie]

There is not a chance that either of the "big two" parties will agree to proportional representation, because they benefit so much from the current electoral system. As for politicians voting according to their conscience - doubt that'll ever happen either...

[~eleanor~]

I know, I'm really disappointed that the Lib Dems actually lost seats, overall, despite having gained so much opularity and exposure - I was also surprised that the percentage was significantly lower than Labour, after most of the opinion polls showed them about the same or slightly higher (I guess that's just the general unreliability of opinion polls as an indicator).

I think if Labour had done better, the Lib Dems would have had a better chance of getting PR through. They could have demanded it as a condition, and both parties would have been more likely to agree to it, rather than lose out to the other party. Now, though, it would seem undemocratic for them to form a coalition with Labour, so they have very little real bargaining power.

There are a few things I'm happy about, though - the fact that the Alliance Party in Northern Ireland (the one which wants to move away from partisan politics) gained a seat for the first time , and the fact that neither the BNP nor UKIP managed to get a seat.

[Aud]

We're in for a very austere period now no matter what happens. I agree with Barney that the Chief Whip shouldn't be able to influence the voting.

[Val]

So we now have a Coalition, Conservative and Lib Dems, I cant see that working somehow. as Lib Dems leaned closer to Labour than they did towards Conservatives. Time will tell. I am so glad that TPTB have already decided to postpone for several years the building of a second runway at Stansted, Its one of the things I have been campaigning against along with the poulation of the villages of Takeley and Dunmow.

Yes I fear times are going to get very hard for years, theres so much money and interest to be paid back. It looks like its going back via the petrol pumps at the moment. currently priced at £1.29 per litre here. We Brits are known for our stiff upper lip, so I expect we will put up and shut up as usual?