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Original poster

Depressed Lefty red eye - The morning after the night before

986 replies

Nymphadora · 07/05/2010 12:01

Hello

OP posts:
PfftThePinkoLeftyDragon · 08/05/2010 16:38

David Cameron was quite clear in his speech at 2:30 yesterday that they would be happy to look at change in the voting system as far as changing boundaries to mean equal constituency sizes, in a FIRST PAST THE POST system. He seemed very clear on that point and to me, he was saying no to PR.

Hassled · 08/05/2010 16:37

The "Pondering, and while slightly more optimistic than we once were, still really quite unhappy Lefty thread" ?

LeninGrad · 08/05/2010 16:35

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MarionCole · 08/05/2010 16:35

5,000 even

MarionCole · 08/05/2010 16:34

4000 posts in 4 days must be approaching a MN record.

LeninGrad · 08/05/2010 16:32

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MrJustAbout · 08/05/2010 16:29

The big imponderable for me is who the queen would think has the best chance of making a government work.

I guess it comes down to what the cabinet secretary says, and I don't think we'll ever know the specifics of that!

LeninGrad · 08/05/2010 16:28

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nearlytoolate · 08/05/2010 16:19

Hello there
Have been offline for 16 hours (!) and haven't seen much news, but interesting points on the thread.
Personally, I don't think Lib/Lab govnt deal is credible/desirable. As I said yesterday, Clegg and Brown unlikely to be able to work together on a personal level. Gordon really must go, but can't until there is a clear path forward.
All depends on whether Cameron can deliver a referendum on PR. If not, LD will probably provide more limited support to a minority govnt.
Anyway, I think I'm going to have to either rejoin the labour party or some other PR campaign movement - time to become active again!

MrJustAbout · 08/05/2010 16:19

Oops, I'll try that again -

Telegraph on the phone call between Brown and Clegg www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7695794/General-Election-2010-Gordon-Brown-launched-telephone -rant-at-Nick-Clegg.html.

They give more detail and suggest that the source was one of the team negotiating for the Lib Dems.

LeninGrad · 08/05/2010 16:18

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MrJustAbout · 08/05/2010 16:18

Telegraph on the phone call between Brown and Clegg appears here.

They give more detail and suggest that the source was one of the team negotiating for the Lib Dems.

Prolesworth · 08/05/2010 16:17

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Prolesworth · 08/05/2010 16:16

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CatIsSleepy · 08/05/2010 16:13

I just can't believe DC would agree to major electoral reform

policywonk · 08/05/2010 16:10

Oh no, sorry to hear about DS3. Hope everything is OK.

PR - basically, the current electoral system is hugely unfair in terms of the value of each vote. It's all very well to say 'one person one vote', but if votes aren't equal in value it doesn't really mean anything. As things stand, some votes (ie those cast in marginals) are a great deal more powerful/valuable than those cast in safe seats. Have a look at this site for a longer explanation.

I don't think what Clegg said just now was hugely significant - he has said similar thing for the past couple of days. Basically, if he goes into coalition with the Cons without getting significant guarantees on PR he's going to be seen by a lot of people as having been deeply dishonest.

DavidHameron · 08/05/2010 16:07

Big arf at 'votes not moats'

Hassled · 08/05/2010 16:07

No, if he was about to roll over for Cameron he wouldn't have gone out. Either Cameron's agreed to a referendum, or there's no deal at all.

MrJustAbout · 08/05/2010 16:07

I'm watching BBC News

Oops, that quote should have read "more transparent new politics"

Clegg went on to identify national interest with electoral reform.

HH didn't actually deny that GB was going, just that it was putting the cart before the horse. Normally that means that both the cart and the horse are important :-)

MrJustAbout · 08/05/2010 16:03

The full quote from Clegg.

"Reforming politics is one of the reasons I went into politics. I campaigned for a better, more open, more transparent politics every single day of this election campaign."

I think he owes a debt to those protesting IF a LibLab coalition is possible, since this helps a gentle step away from the tories. If not, they're really not helping him.

Would he have gone outside to address them if a deal with the tories was imminent?

Prolesworth · 08/05/2010 16:02

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Hassled · 08/05/2010 16:01

Oh blimey - hope your DS3 is OK. A&E on a Sat afternoon is hideous at the best of times.

Hassled · 08/05/2010 15:59

Well good for Clegg - more principled than I was giving him credit for.

Yes, revolting Lib Dems are not what you'd expect .

MrJustAbout · 08/05/2010 15:59

Self-pity central has lost an inhabitant but gained in intensity. JustAbout's now at A&E because DS3 sounds like he's got asthma, leaving my and me knackered-knackers juggling the remaining cheebies. Woe is meeee!

(If I thought there was any danger with the baby I'd be more worried and less pitying!)

LeninGrad · 08/05/2010 15:57

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