Consider this before voting…

"Don't panic, don't PANIC!"

<runs around MN flapping arms>

😁

While I think the OP is being OTT I do agree with the basic concept. Politics is not entertainment. Do your due diligence, read the manifestos and use the fact check facilities. Give using your vote as much attention as you would if you were making an expensive purchase. If there is nobody you feel you can vote for in your constituency then say so on your ballot paper....and as my Dad used to say "If you don't vote, don't moan." steps down off soapbox.

We are in a unique and dangerous time in history. We are potentially on the cusp of a world war and climate chaos has started and will get worse

Well, aren't you a little ray of sunshine as I sit here opening MN whilst eating my toast. 🙄😁
I'll be off out to vote in a bit, in the hope we get to boot this lot out and that we at least get a chance of a change of scenery and some fresh air in politics tomorrow.
No point in doom and glooming and scare mongering

Another Trump term is a far bigger threat to world stability than Putin, and not because he's likely to go invading anywhere, but because his ignorance, indifference, and (if you believe some of the more outlandish stuff) contrivance with Putin leaves certain countries and territories far more vulnerable to Putin's machinations than they otherwise would be with a cohesive, determined NATO still intact.

About the only place Putin could realistically go after the conflict in Ukraine is resolved one way or another is the Baltic States, but unfortunately for him all three are paid-up, longstanding NATO members, so if he picks a fight with them, he's picking a fight with the entirety of NATO, and as he's already well aware, the Russian military has had it's pants pulled down by a nation a fraction of Russia's size already, and is in no state whatsoever to be getting into a conflict with any sort of serious adversary any time soon.

That changes if NATO falls apart at the seams, and the only thing likely to make that happen is the corpulent orange American idiot.

Thought so.

I’ve emailed the Labour candidate, as I said. No reply. I’ve also taken down a Reform poster from my street.

That’s the sum total of my political activity in this election. I’ll just have to continue the fight for women once Labour are in.

I'm literally stuck but I find it's not the first time I've been in this position; I didn't particularly like David Cameron nor Ed Miliband etc.

Maybe it's as I'm getting older and taking more notice of current events but I find myself overthinking it.

We have Labour who will make it easier to be a female (yes, I know Tories haven't nipped it in the bud either)

They will recognise Palestine, they haven't let their citizens vote since 2005. Don't get me wrong, it deserves to be a recognised but not under its current circumstances.

Publicly owned services like energy/ rail - anything publicly run is crap and expensive.

Zero hours contracts being banned is a good idea though.

Then there's the Tories... its not been the greatest the last few years especially with world events like covid/ war that has plunged us further into debt and made COL horrendous. It's hard to judge the real ability because if Labour was running the country then, everyone would be voting Tory under the same circumstances.

Tories- Childcare being unbelievably expensive. High taxes etc have crippled families. Run by someone who was also fined for breaking covid rules. Rwanda mess up, Hs2 cock up and I'm sure there's more.

We need a party more than ever that will protect women's rights, get more people secure well paid jobs and to stop UC plugging the gap- its not great that employers aren't paying a living wage/hours and you need 2 people working full-time to live a mediocre lifestyle. Mental health crisis also needs sorting .. how, I don't know!

Anyway I'm still stuck as I feel no party is offering any solutions to my concerns. I think we will have another election in 2 years to be honest, as no one actually seems happy with the choices.

Well, that's me patronised for the day.

This is the conservative message change is scary blah blah blah. Just because someone quotes mexican house thief doesn't stop them being a bot, in fact it is exactly what a BOT would. Several of the items you describe our services going to pot, children growing up in poverty are caused by the government. I'll be making a positive vote for change.

What’s the point?

Genuine question. What happens to spoilt ballot papers? Are they somehow taken into account, or is it just a symbolic act that nobody but myself will be aware of?

I agree we are much safer with the conservatives when it comes to national security, and we are in a perilous position in the world with Russia, China and the ME.

I will be voting for the party of women and girls, the conservatives.

YABU to think that a post like the OP would influence anyone's vote, especially from a stranger. Some people will agree with you, others won't, others will agree in part, but I don't think anyone at all will change the way they were intending to vote, or make their mind up if they were undecided because of a post like that.

YU also BU to think that this is a 'unique and dangerous' time in history, except insofar as every time is unique (unless you believe in a cyclical universe) and dangerous. Have you not studied history at all?

YABU to write in such a patronising tone to other adults.

And finally, YABU to claim as though it were a fact that a protest vote is a waste of a vote and that spoiling your paper would be preferable. That very much depends on the individual constituency dynamics and which party the protest vote is for.

So, all in all: yes, YABU to post this. And not just because it's a fake IABU.

I can't get on board with this "on the precipice of armageddon" thing at all.

Having lived through the second half of the Cold War, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Iran/Iraq proxy war, various US interventions in Central America and the Middle East, the bombing of Libya, absolute mayhem in North Africa a few years ago, constant Israeli excursions into Lebanon, Isis causing mayhem in Syria and Iraq, Russian intervention in Syria, umpteen localised conflicts in the Caucasus, civil war and genocide in the former Yugoslavia, Zimbabwean bush wars, Angolan civil war, conflict in Sierra Leone, the Falklands fiasco, Rwandan genocide, Idi Amin, Che Guevara, the fact North Korea is still threatening to turn Seoul into a sheet of glass every couple of minutes, Pakistan and India waving nukes at each other, and sundry other squabbles and bun fights, the fact Putin has invaded Ukraine just feels like yet more of the same old, and I don't feel any where near as frightened about what comes next as I did in the 80's when the entirety of the Warsaw Pact was threatening to steamroll everything from Berlin to the Bay of Biscay.