so now youve had chance to think about it....

maria- have a read of Vince's autobio; bloody obvious why he's not happy LOL, especially the long passages being rude about tories / george Osbourne ? Tory financial policy, and showing his closeness to LAbour (he started out as a Labour rep)

Either he admits he was compeltely wrong on everything about the economy in which case with his background I am both and thinking then that he shouldn't be in economics anyway if his judgement is so poor

Or he's sold his soul

My guess is there's a soul less than there was

Big society is essential the good old Victorian laissez fair attitude. Lack of belief in a robust welfare state and rely on the few crumbs of comfort which charities will provide.

It is that transparent.

I voted labour and would do so again. I would not vote Libdem in a milion years - to me they are more pernicious than the tories, but wrapped in prettier packaging.

I nearly voted Lib Dem, but in the end I didn't, and voted Labour instead. I'm glad I did. As I face the very real possibility of my job being made redundant and a "volunteer" being brought in to do it instead for no pay, I'm glad I had nothing to do with the two faced slimy lying Lib Dems.

I voted LibDem and I don't understand why Lib Dem voters are so unhappy with the coalition. There is going to be a referendum on changing the voting system, the income tax threshold is going to be raised to £10,000 and there is going to be a pupil premium. So their three main policies are going to be implemented by the coalition. There have been concessions to the Conservatives but that is what coalition Government is. The Conservatives are the senior partner in the coalition as they have more seats so its inevitable that more of their policies are going to be implemented.

FrameyMcFrame "Big society? Big bollocks." - Don't think this government have one bollock (or chin) between them.

Voted Lib Dem here. Never again.

Vince Cable doesn't look a happy bunny.

Read this to see how the Lib Dems are fairing in the cabinet room.

www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jul/11/civil-servant-diary-turmoil-whitehall

SOT why would one be happy with a party if the policies that mattered to them were ones that were lost in the coalition agreement?

Does it not then cease to be the manifesto one voted for?

No I feel we were duped.
I would be more tactical with my vote if I could have a do over.

Certainly am happy!

I voted Lib Dem , and we are in government. I dont know why Lib Dem voters would be unhappy with this.

I am happy with liberal conservatism moderated by compromise, with the wacky and the not nice at the fringes kept within bounds.I like the Big Society and less government.

Labour had to go. Our civil liberties were dissappearing so fast it was scary.

I voted Labour, and am glad I went with my heart, despite the fact that the Tories have a strong grip here.

This government is really really frightening me.

Well I voted Labour and would vote Labour again. I am mostly annoyed that the LibDems campaign seemed to consist of "vote for us because Labour can't win here" - end result being that what was a Labour seat became a Tory seat, Lib Dems came third but took enough of the Labour votes to secure a victory for the Tories... I know an awful lot of well meaning but gullible voters who believed them and voted accordingly but certainly wouldn't again.

And now I shall piss off, apologise, stop ranting watch Holby and drink the last of the wine my friend gave me last week.

Again, sorry.

Oh and there's a mum elsewhere on MN just ahd her funded twice weekly nursery palce cancelled to save money

She ahs 2 autistic kids and a DH not responding to his cancer treatment

I ahve no idea what her policitcs are, but's that's not Big Society, it's letting down teh most vulnerable.

The well known MN Mum whose summer hols help has been reduced, she has MS and her DD severe CP.

When people campaign and argue we often get painted as NIMBYs, people only concerned about the cuts that affect them. Yet my SSD has not yet started to implement cuts as my area of teh UK has reserves to tap into for a year.

I am however extremely worried about what I am seeing and the people it is affecting. I can live with most things, having to give up the fitness club that is my only social life as I can't manage the £25 monthly fee, DH wearing shows with holes in and the sole detached from teh upper- hey at elast it's summer right? That l;ast month I borrowed money from Mum for Tampons.

Some of the stuff is directly harmful though, stuff that wrecks lives. And I am pretty sure that;s where Big Society will damage things. Becuase where people loike me are scrabblinga round in teh background doing what we can there needs to be official central provision otherwise it all falls down.

At HomeStart, the charity I wroked for, we supported (as one of many groups) the people on the fringes of SSD provision, people who were almost going to be placed on registers. We're not in that area any more, so it seems to me logical that there will be many more people needinG SSD help- and they are getting cut. Deaths are a matter of time surely?

Yet where I live has an impending major sports tournament and they Council funded blue mood lighting under the motorway bridges. Fabbo

WRT to Big Society I AM that volunteer; read at school, setting up autism support group- becuase I wanted to

Horrid of me it may be but the fact that someone is expecting me now to do it on top of all the day to day shit of being a carer etc makes me feel like saying stuff it, this is what we and my parents paid taxes for you ungrateful Bastards.

And it's another blow to me getting back into work- charity sector was my background: only the charity I worked for went under in my region.

But hecl what do we matter? We only pay taxes adn fight every single day to do our bit. We weren't born into the Right Societal Group.

I have always voted labour and always will and thank god I did. I have been utterly screwed by this government as has DH, many of my friends and all my staff. All respect I ever had for the Lib Dems and any chance of me ever voting for them in my constituency has gone. Nick Clegg is the worst thing to have ever happened to the Lib Dems and I think it's a shame that his desire to feather his own nest has probably screwed the party long term and lost them lots of supporters.

They'll be raiding you bank accounts. Normally putting extra cash into the economy is called Quantative Easing and seen as a Bad Thing when Labour do it. Obviously, not so when the ConDems do it. Or is it "borrowing" from us - I thought borrowing was also a Bad Thing [confused

The cynicism of the Big Society is breathtaking

I voted Lib Dem but in fact voted 'anything but Labour.' The whole system seemed to have become completely corrupt, our local Labour MP included.

I am appalled at what is happening - Cameron et al are just children. They have no notion of the real world, privileged career politicians to a man.

And the nonsense that is being pedalled about this country not being able to afford its public sector is outrageous. It is the private sector that relies on the public sector - to educate, security, justice, health, for democracy. Everything with true worth.

I voted LibDem, because I am (broadly, not in every detail) in favour of LibDem policies. I didn't do it "to keep the Tories out". I would have liked a LibDem government (although I didn't think for one moment that I'd get one) and voted for them on that basis.

I'm not a huge fan of most of the Conservative policies that are being implemented, and still less of a fan of many that are being talked about. But, realistically, the LibDems were always going to have very little influence in the coalition because our current voting system means that their share of the vote didn't translate into many seats (and I don't buy that their share is only x amount because so many vote for them tactically -- the tactical LibDem voting is in areas where they do win seats (or have a realistic chance of it) as no one votes LibDem tactically in areas where they aren't in with a shot of a seat, surely?). It's not like a marriage where both parties are equal; at best they were only ever going to be the tea-boys. I'm hoping that they'll be able to buffer some of the worst Tory excesses but will be voting for an alternative vote system (or whatever PR-type alternative we are offered) when I get a chance. I don't expect AV (or whatever) to get in, though.

Realistically the LibDems couldn't have gone into coalition with Labour; the numbers just didn't work. And the Conservatives got more votes than Labour so the mandate wasn't there either. If Labour had got more votes/seats than the Tories we'd be looking at a Labour/LibDem coalition today. The alternative was to push the Conservatives into a minority government lasting only a few months and then go through the whole election process again. I think in time it may appear to the LibDems that that would have been the better option, but as a pro-PR (and hence pro-coalition) party they can't refuse to participate in a coalition just because they don't have as much influence as they'd like -- it would be silly.

I'd vote LibDem again, for the same reasons, even though I'm not happy with the national situation. I couldn't see voting for either of the other two main parties and am just not sufficiently in tune with Green policies (although I like many of them a lot and would like to see the Greens have more influence).

I live in a notional marginal but in practice pretty safe Tory seat, though, so I knew my vote would make no practical difference.

I voted labour and would again.

Funny how subsidies are OK when they are going to the City. Massive double standard here. 'Uneconomic' is a value judgment. Personally I can't think of anything more uneconomic than the financial services industry over the past two years, but the guys in charge seem to have survived without suffering any of the pain they have spent the last three decades inflicting on other 'uneconomic' industries.

Everyone else gets thrown on the scrapheap without even a 'sorry' but Tory bankers and their mates get propped up by the taxpayer and apparently that's fine.

Those industries weren't 'destroyed' by the Tories. The subsidies that had been propping them up were withdrawn. Unemployment (although unpleasant for those going through it) is a sign of efficiency returning to the economy.

Apparently grants to charities are being cut - or dropped entirely - because councils have been told their funding will be slashed. So just as Cameron demands charities take over the work of the state, he pulls the plug on the funding for their existing work. What's the betting the charities won't get any money for this new work, either?

Volunteers are all well and good - I am one - but you need people to train them and support them. Which costs money.

BarmyArmy, indeed Nissan in Sunderland is great, but the North East is a big area AND nissan is only one employer.
What I was referring to was the ship building, steel and coal industries that were destroyed by the Tories in the 80s. There are communities still deeply scarred by this and second generation benefit culture has been the result.
The public sector is the biggest employer up here now, and likely that cuts will hit hardest here again.

I voted Labour and would again. I'm horrified by what is happening now, and the incoherent and Victorian Big Society nonsense. I am about to have my first baby and sad that he will grow up under this regime.