Is anyone else really scared of the prospect of waking up to a tory administration on May 7th?

Yes. Lone parent with a local government job

no thirtysomething, I meant that all the stuff about personality is not a proper argument, that all this running down what he IS rather than what he says he is going to do is rather irritating

don't vote for him because of his policies, not because of his background

I couldn't care less where he was taught. It is the policies and how they are carried out that matters. I really want to know:

1. What are they going to cut?
2. Does "cut" mean job cut? If so from where?

I'm terrified of it. The smarmy plastic fantastic and his posh boy, look after the wealthy and they will look after us cronies. It's the worst thing that could possibly happen for me and my family.

No.
Much more worried if Labour get in again.

How can a man who has never had a proper job in his life, comes with every privilege and as far as I can see has very little in the way of policies make this Country better? DC is a dispicable man as are his party - sad day for most of us if he and his party are elected!

Well i felt he was saying it last night tbh but I must have been watching a different debate I think! Or maybe despite my best efforts, and previous slight defrosting towards DC, I couldn't remain objective.

I don't think Tories are all those things you say at all, and I'm not saying he's racist or homophobic at all - I think you've misunderstood me completely if you think that. i just think he has a way with words that appears to be blaming certain groups in order to win votes, that's all. The fact he went to Eton and Oxford is irrelevant to his political views. I went to one of those and I have very opposite views to his!

Perhaps none of this constitutes a real argument to you. However I thought the whole point of last night was so that we all, as citizens, could make up our own minds about who to vote for, without all statements being filtered through the media. So I have therefore reached my own opinion about DC and I'm sorry if that doesn't seem like a proper argument to you but I sense it's how most of us will decide where to put our X on 6th May.

It does to me. He is a tory. From Eton. What the hell does he know about the problems facing the average person? Zilch. He has the chat though being a PR man.

But I don't know where he has said stuff like that.

I would agree with you that what you describe is a bad idea.

I would agree with you in that I would never have voted for the last Tory administration, they were nasty and uncaring.

DC doesn't seem uncaring or full of hatred towards certain sections of society to me. I realise that lots of people on here will roll their eyes and say "Of course he is racist/homophobic/intolerent he is a TORY. FROM ETON. What does he know about real life blah blah blah" but that does not constitute a real argument imo.

I am too.

yeah but my take on Thatcher is that she created an each-for-himself type state whereby everyone became more individualistic and out for what he could get. Thatcher radically changed the way British society saw itself, and not in a good way IMHO.

What I meant was that you can't generalise about people lumping them together because of one notable thing they are or do-like the colour of their skin or a habit they indulge in. It's never as straightforward as that and encouraging distrust and fear of particular groups in society by blaming them for certain problems has not shown itself to be a very worthwhile strategy. History is full of examples of mass hatred of certain factions of society. That's what I don't like about him.

Yes, me. Petrified. Seriously scary thought.

I hope people get out there and vote, not for the Tories and not for Labour. And not for small independant parties either.

sorry to laugh, but surely the society is made up of individuals thing is nearly what Thatcher said during the no such thing as society speech?

But I do agree with you there thirtysomething, so we are not so different after all but I would argue that Labour are rather more guilty of lumping together individuals so that they can legislate against them.

No I would agree OP.

I am very worried. Very worried indeed.

I was unsure but having seen him in action last night, well he did not instill confidence. I did not think, Yeah he could do it.

But a positive is that Lib Dem seem to be a far more popular option now. I would have been worried that a vote for them would be leaving things too wide open but I am actually thinking it would be worth putting a little faith in them and the rest of Britain's voters.

Now my choice is Brown, who has made mistakes but has also made good calls or Clegg who talks a good talk but does not have any experience. But then his party has the experience of how many decades in 'opposition'?

Oh, I have never felt such a massive responsibility as a voter. This time, every single vote really does count and if we get it wrong...

Fuck it, tis friday night, am going to open wine and catch up with S&B.

At first I thought I didnt want labour OR the tories, so was voting lib dem. Now I have done more reading, I am definitely lib dem, but I want labour much more than the tories, they really are scary!

1. what are they actually going to cut?
2. Why havent they got any decent policies? theyve had 4 years! If they havent even done their job for this, theyre not likely to be much good in government.
3. Lots of tax breaks for their millionaire chums (the rest of us can starve no doubt)
4. tax breaks for all their old school chums (inheritance).
5. 'Opportunities' for companies to steal our money make profits in schools, hospitals, at the benefits office (apparently thats going to be privatised too!)

Okay, put it another way - I think he gets support by doing that thing of blaming certain problems on certain groups in society - so, immigrants to blame for unemployment, housing probs, oversubscribed schools etc. then drug users to blame for crime rates, and so on.

My view, and it is only my view, is that nothing is ever as clear-cut as that. you can't lump all drug abusers or all immigrants, or all elderley/disabled people together as a group. Society is made up of individuals, some good, some less good, some work hard, some find work hard to get, and some people are downright unfortunate by the lot they get given in life. So don't go lumping them all together in daily mail style headlines so people who don't identify with then can build up a fear and hatred of them, that's all.

I don't really understand your point

drug abuse is a big problem

what does right wing in a kind of fundamental way mean? I think the term right wing has been widely misused and understood

I once heard someone refer to Stalin as right wing

I'm more scared of waking up to more Labour because I really think it will mean more years of f*cking up the economy and spending money on things (which it would be great if we could carry on spending money on) which we can't afford. We are heading for a deep hole we can't get out of which will have an effect on everyone's quality of life for generations to come, and I think the Tories can see that but Labour are in denial about it.

More scared of waking up to find Labour still in and Ed Balls still has any power at all.

I'd go as far as 'very worried'.

I woke up to Cameron when they made that pact with right-wing parties in the European parliament and pulled out of the centre-right grouping. The Czech party is headed by Vaclav Klaus who used to just a Thatcherite but is now obsessively denying climate change. The Lithuanians celebrate their part in the SS. The Polish PiS party have tended to homophobia (banning gay pride, etc.) And Daniel Hannan, the MEP behind this, wants to dismantle the NHS. He is Cameron's friend. Scary.