Politics

[Philip Ayres]

Yes, crossing off the racists and the scum bag b******s who run our council* made the choose 2 from 4 for our Police Commissioner voting surprisingly easy!

For the councillors, with a wider range of runners and riders, I have found myself voting for the father of Liz's first boyfriend!

* There's a lot of disatisfaction over the Tories running of Swindon council and the transferring of public assets, such as the swimming pools, into private hands. I'll be interested to see who's in charge after the vote!

[browny87]

theres a lot of dissatisfaction in a lot of places, will be interesting to see if it means any changes coming

[The Doctor]

Changes only happen if enough people bother to vote.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Indeed, which is why I've been VERY bothered to vote

[legios]

Indeed. If you don't vote then you don't really have a ground for complaint afterwards. If you have a view, air it.

I would love to say that the ballot up here has returned to normal, with only the theocratic party to represent the "oddball" fringe. Unfortunately our "named candidate" ballot in Falkirk includes a UKIP MP, but not last elections BNP candidate, so the extremist fringe is still over the longer term average.

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

And, as we know, the Ballot for Falkirk's MP doesn't include the right name.

[Fortmax2020]

SNP candidates back to full on banging the independence drum around here. And how they are telling us they will do a the things they previously could *only* do with full independence from the Evil Union of Tories.

I'm not a fan of the Tories but I am fed up with how they are portrayed as The Union up here in Scotland. Almost as fed up as with the SNP being the only way for Scotland to get independence as well. Both narratives are flawed and unhelpful.

I will be voting tomorrow but not sure who for exactly yet. Only know who not for at this point.

[The Doctor]

Once again I must point out there is zero chat from the SNP in the Burger bout independence. That's a west coast thing.

-Ralph

[legios]

Indeed. It is an interesting oddity that the two wings of the party are very geographically distinct. The strident "we must have freedom from English oppression" side of the party is very much a West Coast and North-East thing historically. (Aberdeen was the first place I ran into the "I want to kill all English *^%##" thing). Whereas the East Coast is more of a "we have a better vision for Scotland" narrative. Having lived/worked in all three it is a very pronounced divide.

Karl

[The Doctor]

I generally find the SNP campaigning over here to be very polite.

-Ralph

[Fortmax2020]

Complete opposite here. You're made (or rather they try to) make you feel bad about not wanting independence which basically translates into how dare you not support the SNP. Then they find out you are English.

[The Doctor]

I wouldn't put that down to the SNP, to be fair. As someone from the west coast there has (sadly) always been an undercurrent of anti-English feeling over there. I was never clear where it came from but it was something I was aware of and would hear expressed.

-Ralph

[Fortmax2020]

Well, either way it grinds at me and the SNP play off it over here. I felt at home in Edinburgh but never have in Glasgow in a large part due to this.

I'd have a lot more sympathy for the SNP if they just got on with running the country for now (as they promised). And if they for once could admit they have faults of their own and that not all bad political decisions originate solely from Westminster. I'd rather a flawed but honest politician any day.

[Benn]

So. Who saw that coming?

[Philip Ayres]

Which bit?

[browny87]

im guessing conservatives overtaking labour in Scotland?

[Benn]

All of it, if I'm honest. I honestly thought the Tories would lose more in England, and to gain in Scotland? Wow.

[browny87]

I didn't think they'd lose many, he may be a tool (in my opinion) but at times Cameron speaks well and gives off an air of confidence, people don't really like Corbyn outside of hardened Labour voters, so massive gains weren't really on the cards. To be fair to Labour predictions showed them losing 100-200 seats so to only be 24 down is a victory for them. Very shocked about tories in Scotland tho, did not see that coming!

Be careful they'll have the scots paying for prescriptions soon

I'm not at all surprised by the UKIP gains. No one sees the long picture anymore, its always a short term win and short term ideals and philosophy in everything.

The only real shock for me is Lib Dems clawing a few seats back.

Don't even get me started on the farsical EU referendum

[The Doctor]

May 6, 2016 8:14:28 GMT Benn said:

All of it, if I'm honest. I honestly thought the Tories would lose more in England, and to gain in Scotland? Wow.

It's been predicted and on the cards for a while since the demolition of Labour in the 2015 General Election. They have heavily fallen out of favour in Scotland so as the only other major party the Tories become the main opposition by default.

-Ralph

[legios]

Yeah, I'm not surprised by the Labour losses. The fact that the Liberal Democrats appear to be still twitching does surprise me. I had expected rigour mortis to have set in by now.

Karl

[The Doctor]

64.2% turnout in my ward, labour took the seat from the SNP.

-Ralph

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Welsh Labour miraculously retain all but one seat in the Welsh Assembly, despite the UK Labour Party's best efforts to ruin everything for them by association. Lib Dem wipeout as expected, UKIP gains as expected, the big surprise was Conservatives losing seats and now in third place after Plaid Cymru.

Martin

[Bogatan]

Some of the lowest turnouts in the country around here. 18% in some parts of city I believe. Labour candidate lost to the local tory by 7 votes which is a little frustrating as he (Con.) has proven to be good as self promotion, but with little actual result that can be seen.

I read somewhere that last time out in 2012 the results for Labour were considered very good, but this year largely maintaing 2012 good results is considered poor despite so many expecting them to lose hundreds of seats. If thats true its a pretty confusing view of results for me.

[Andy Turnbull]

Well, we do have the ongoing battle about Corbyn's position as leader so there does tend to be a negative spin on things.

For the most part the Tories north of the border are trying to keep themselves seen as separate from the larger party based in Westminster. The problem with Labour up here is that they are so unfocused, and rudderless and it's something I can't see changing anytime soon.

Andy

[blueshift]

I have voted!

This referendum looks like one of those rare times where every vote does indeed count!

[Philip Ayres]

I voted 2 weeks back!

The Turf Accountants seem confident of the result

[The Doctor]

I voted 23 days ago. I really hope the UK does not give in to xenophobia, racism and hate today.

-Ralph

[Stomski]

Woman in a rugby jersey with 'ENGLAND' across the front of it by the polling station wished me a 'good morning from the leave camp'. I responded in kind and went about my business wondering if she knew if Scotland, Wales, N.Ireland and Cornwall are part of this too?

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Damn it.

Martin

[Philip Ayres]

What Martin said. With slightly more swearing.