Turnout at Elections

[Butts]

I'm not sure how you're calculating Thatcher's mandate but in terms of the popular vote it was closer to 43% and if you're going for over 50% then you have to go back to the 1931 election so are you trying to say that every government since then (and most before for that matter) have been evil?

It works both ways as under the current system Labour actually need a smaller percentage share of the overall vote to ensure a majority than the Conservatives do.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Agree, their smoking policy in particular is very liberal and meets with my approval

Libertarian surely?

 

[ainsworth74]

It works both ways as under the current system Labour actually need a smaller percentage share of the overall vote to ensure a majority than the Conservatives do.

Indeed, and hence we come to one of the issues of First Past the Post, parties can win handily without winning anything like a majority of the popular vote!

 

[fowler9]

Indeed, and hence we come to one of the issues of First Past the Post, parties can win handily without winning anything like a majority of the popular vote!

UKIP aren't far right, they are just barking mad. I agree with making voting compulsory. You have the choice to spoil your ballot paper which will be recorded. Also a lot of people don't vote because they believe the party they support has no chance in their constituency. Hence you get landslide victories in areas with poor turnout where if everyone actually voted they wouldn't have been a landslide and the party that won might not have.

 

[Butts]

Unlike some posters I do not have a pathological hatred of any particular party or leader - I leave that recourse to the feeble minded

Although I normally vote Conservative I have no objection to a Labour Government and trust it will exercise it's judgement in the interests of the Nation as it feels best. The same would apply to an "Edwardian Revival" if the Lib Dems ever came to the fore again.

My owned favoured coalition would be between left wing Conservatives, right wing Labour and orange book Liberal Democrats. (UK Parliament)

 

[ainsworth74]

I agree with making voting compulsory.

I do sometimes think about that but then I'm lead to believe it hasn't worked very well in Australia.

I'm also one of those nutjobs that thinks that we should consider extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds so what do I know

 

[fowler9]

Unlike some posters I do not have a pathological hatred of any particular party or leader - I leave that recourse to the feeble minded

Although I normally vote Conservative I have no objection to a Labour Government and trust it will exercise it's judgement in the interests of the Nation as it feels best. The same would apply to an "Edwardian Revival" if the Lib Dems ever came to the fore again.

I don;t hate any of them either but I'm not over keen on the tories, doesn't mean I've got anything against you of course. At the end of the day the three main parties are all slightly different flavours of the neo liberal nightmare in my opinion. There is no more than a ciggy paper between their policies.

 

[Robinson]

I don't agree with making voting compulsory I'm afraid. Unless you also make it compulsory that voters also make sure they are well-informed of what they're voting on before voting (as I think it's already been said, the big problem is that politics as a subject is not taught in state schools).

 

[Morgsie]

I do sometimes think about that but then I'm lead to believe it hasn't worked very well in Australia.

I'm also one of those nutjobs that thinks that we should consider extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds so what do I know [/QUOTE]

I am opened minded about extending the Franchise but we need more political education in the curriculum. Something more than Citizenship but not like the USA where they teach it from a young age

 

[yorksrob]

I'd err on the side of not making voting compulsory. If you have to frog-march swathes of the electorate to the ballot box in the first place, the practicality of democracy is struggling IMO.

 

[TEW]

I've voted in every election I've been eligible to so far, which hasn't been very many. My vote for Labour not doing paticuarly much in one of the safest Conservative areas of the country. I was one of only 332 people to vote for the Labour candidate in my district in the most recent Council elections.

 

[Robinson]

I'm not sure how you're calculating Thatcher's mandate but in terms of the popular vote it was closer to 43% and if you're going for over 50% then you have to go back to the 1931 election so are you trying to say that every government since then (and most before for that matter) have been evil?

Every government since Thatcher has been evil, not because of their mandate or lack thereof, but because they have all embraced policies designed to serve the super-rich and smash the poor. All have built their fabled economic growth on the London financial sector, at the expense of everywhere besides London. And, when that all went belly-up in 2007-08, they suddenly decided that the biggest state interventions in history were called for (why weren't they when every other industry went into decline?) to save the banks who had just screwed up the economy! Compare that with Iceland, who instead of bailing out the criminal bankers who collapsed their banks into insolvency, disowned their debts and committed to bringing the bankers to justice. Or what about Germany, where instead of a "divide and rule" strategy with trade unions on one side and the fat cats on the other, they built their industrial strategy on co-operation and even appointed union representatives as directors. The result: Britain runs trade deficits every year and is in meltdown; Germany is a world leader in high tech manufacturing and constantly runs trade surpluses.

 

[Butts]

I do sometimes think about that but then I'm lead to believe it hasn't worked very well in Australia.

I'm also one of those nutjobs that thinks that we should consider extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds so what do I know

How can we have a situation where you are eligible to Vote but not buy alcohol or cigarettes or fireworks ?

 

[Robinson]

I shall be voting yes in the referendum but hoping for an overall no vote which I fully expect to be the outcome.

Why would you vote Yes if you're hoping for a result of No? That doesn't make any sense at all :?

 

[fowler9]

I don't agree with making voting compulsory I'm afraid. Unless you also make it compulsory that voters also make sure they are well-informed of what they're voting on before voting (as I think it's already been said, the big problem is that politics as a subject is not taught in state schools).

You can spoil your ballot paper (I've done it my self) or the powers that be could put some kind of no vote box on it. As long as a sizable proportion of the population continues not to vote the same stuff is going to continue happening because the major parties don't have to change, they know they still have a reasonable chance of getting elected by the same old people voting.

 

[SS4]

If young people can't be bothered to vote (which let's face it is hardly difficult) should this result in other voters being less sympathetic to their plight.

No it shouldn't. When you were a young lad you had a meaningful difference between parties to choose from - something denied to today's youth.

IMO this is one of the two major reasons for voter apathy (especially amongst the young): the lack of difference between major parties (and only major parties can get in thanks to point 2)

The other is First Past the Post: An anachronistic system of voting which is not fit for purpose. It is not hard to count votes and give out seats based on the proportion of people that voted for them and would restore people's faith that their vote makes a difference (it clearly doesn't at the moment unless you live in a swing seat)

In my constituency we've had a Labour MP since it's current inception. The Tories gained something like 10% of the vote share but were still a long way behind Labour. If only Clegg had decided to make STV a mandatory part of the coalition agreement we'd be much better off.

 

[Morgsie]

I voted YES to AV as a step towards a PR system, the Single member Plurality System is a technical term re FPTP flaws have been mentioned previously.

German elections are like AMS which is used in Wales and Scotland.

Labour could have implemented the Jenkins Commission's recommendation but did not

 

[fowler9]

Every government since Thatcher has been evil, not because of their mandate or lack thereof, but because they have all embraced policies designed to serve the super-rich and smash the poor. All have built their fabled economic growth on the London financial sector, at the expense of everywhere besides London. And, when that all went belly-up in 2007-08, they suddenly decided that the biggest state interventions in history were called for (why weren't they when every other industry went into decline?) to save the banks who had just screwed up the economy! Compare that with Iceland, who instead of bailing out the criminal bankers who collapsed their banks into insolvency, disowned their debts and committed to bringing the bankers to justice. Or what about Germany, where instead of a "divide and rule" strategy with trade unions on one side and the fat cats on the other, they built their industrial strategy on co-operation and even appointed union representatives as directors. The result: Britain runs trade deficits every year and is in meltdown; Germany is a world leader in high tech manufacturing and constantly runs trade surpluses.

Amen to that.

 

[SS4]

I voted YES to AV as a step towards a PR system, the Single member Plurality System is a technical term re FPTP flaws have been mentioned previously.

German elections are like AMS which is used in Wales and Scotland.

Labour could have implemented the Jenkins Commission's recommendation but did not

I voted YES to AV too but was very shocked about how the NO campaign was allowed to get away with its emotional blackmail not to mention implying that money > democracy (and thanks to NHS cuts that baby may have died anyway)

 

[Robinson]

Glad someone's eventually found something good to come out of Scottish independence, I've seen nothing in years to convince me it will be anything other than horrendous. (For Scots at least)

Other than the opportunity to close the gap between the wealthy and the poor, use our rich natural resources for productive means (as opposed to turning our capital city into a deregulated casino) and restore plurality to our politics rather than have the same old garbage of leaders who don't actually disagree on anything merely squabbling over how competent the other is?

That's why I'll be voting Yes.

 

[Butts]

Every government since Thatcher has been evil, not because of their mandate or lack thereof, but because they have all embraced policies designed to serve the super-rich and smash the poor. All have built their fabled economic growth on the London financial sector, at the expense of everywhere besides London. And, when that all went belly-up in 2007-08, they suddenly decided that the biggest state interventions in history were called for (why weren't they when every other industry went into decline?) to save the banks who had just screwed up the economy! Compare that with Iceland, who instead of bailing out the criminal bankers who collapsed their banks into insolvency, disowned their debts and committed to bringing the bankers to justice. Or what about Germany, where instead of a "divide and rule" strategy with trade unions on one side and the fat cats on the other, they built their industrial strategy on co-operation and even appointed union representatives as directors. The result: Britain runs trade deficits every year and is in meltdown; Germany is a world leader in high tech manufacturing and constantly runs trade surpluses.

Which category would you apply to a Premiership Footballer earning over a million pounds per year ?

"Fat Cat" or .....???

 

[Morgsie]

There is academia suggesting that hung/balanced parliaments will increase given the way the whole system is going

 

[fowler9]

Which category would you apply to a Premiership Footballer earning over a million pounds per year ?

"Fat Cat" or .....???

Why are they paid so much? Because they (A relatively tiny number of people) make a fortune for the really rich.

 

[SS4]

Which category would you apply to a Premiership Footballer earning over a million pounds per year ?

"Fat Cat" or .....???

A drop in the ocean. Both in number and salary

 

[Robinson]

You can spoil your ballot paper (I've done it my self) or the powers that be could put some kind of no vote box on it. As long as a sizable proportion of the population continues not to vote the same stuff is going to continue happening because the major parties don't have to change, they know they still have a reasonable chance of getting elected by the same old people voting.

Which is why I said we should inform people adequately, so they learn what the major parties are actually doing, and then they can also find out about the alternative parties and hopefully start voting for them en masse. The problem is people are not well-informed before they vote so the result is that a lot of people vote Labour, for no other reason than that they know the Conservatives are no good, and they still put blind faith in Labour being faithful to social democracy.

 

[Butts]

Why are they paid so much? Because they (A relatively tiny number of people) make a fortune for the really rich.

Surely you could apply the same definition to some bankers

 

[ainsworth74]

I'd err on the side of not making voting compulsory. If you have to frog-march swathes of the electorate to the ballot box in the first place, the practicality of democracy is struggling IMO.

Yes I tend to agree with that, I kind of like the idea of compulsory voting but it also rather defeats the point of democracy and freedom and all that good stuff

How can we have a situation where you are eligible to Vote but not buy alcohol or cigarettes or fireworks ?

How can we have a situation in which you can be old enough to have sex and drive but not vote?

Every government since Thatcher has been evil, not because of their mandate or lack thereof, but because they have all embraced policies designed to serve the super-rich and smash the poor.

In that case, and you'll have to forgive me if I'm being dense, but why mention mandate at all?

In my constituency we've had a Labour MP since it's current inception.

I know the feeling, my constituency had been Labour from it's creation (back in about 1976ish) and 2010 was the first time it had a representative from a different part (LD). Something's a bit wrong when that's the case surely?

 

[fowler9]

Which is why I said we should inform people adequately, so they learn what the major parties are actually doing, and then they can also find out about the alternative parties and hopefully start voting for them en masse. The problem is people are not well-informed before they vote so the result is that a lot of people vote Labour, for no other reason than that they know the Conservatives are no good, and they still put blind faith in Labour being faithful to social democracy.

Apologies mate, I wasn't disagreeing with you, especially regarding education. Just saying people should turn up to vote.

 

[yorksrob]

Which category would you apply to a Premiership Footballer earning over a million pounds per year ?

"Fat Cat" or .....???

At least a Premiership footballer is on some element of performance related pay - which is more than some of out City fat cats who can run a major company into the ground and still walk away with a golden handshake.

 

[Butts]

Which is why I said we should inform people adequately, so they learn what the major parties are actually doing, and then they can also find out about the alternative parties and hopefully start voting for them en masse. The problem is people are not well-informed before they vote so the result is that a lot of people vote Labour, for no other reason than that they know the Conservatives are no good, and they still put blind faith in Labour being faithful to social democracy.

I didn't have "Political Lessons" at school - revolutionary thought I read books , newspapers and watched TV programmes.