It's no good. I am trying to pretend it's find and I don't care.

ellie - are you Con/LD constituency though?

If you're Con/Lab then LD would need a helluva lot more votes to get in than if you were Con/LD.

I still don't understand what heppened really. Noone I know voted tory. All ds's friends at secondary were saying their parents were lid dem supporters....and yet, we have a new tory council as well

I'm sick at the thought of a Tory government. Sick at the thought of Clegg selling out and joining the bastards, too.

'Tories have pledged to sort out the banking system'...yeh, right.

The naivety among Tory voters is also majorly depressing.

expat - ".... whilst fat cats and non doms who played a large part in getting us into that hole swan off into the sunset ....."

Don't you realise this is exactly what happened under Labour? Look at the massive bonuses being paid out by nationalised banks we now own.

Why blame the Tories for that?

They were NOT in charge when it happened but Labour got a lot of donations from private equity and PFI financiers who benefitted most.

At least the Tories have pledged to sort out the banking system if the LibDems will support them.

I would like to see the 2 terms in office thing and also fixed election dates.

ps, not saying labour is blameless. (see previous post - both parties are shambolic and blame the others for their problems: it doesn't matter how long they've been in power, it's still inherited problems, apparently )

we should have a system like in America where you can only have 2 terms in office.

"up to the Tories to sort it all out" ?????????????????

i don't think you realise what a complete and utter HASH of the country the Tories made last time! we have no infrastructure because of what they did!

how can all the tory voters not see this??

heads up arses.

"anyone know which Caribbean island Fred Goodwin is hiding on just now with his £32m of public monies?"

Er, that happened on Labour's watch not the Tories. Labour love rich people just as much as the Tories - the big difference is the Tories are honest about it. Whilst Labour pretend they care about the little people - they don't.
Labour also had 13yrs to change disgrace that the non-dom situation is. They actively chose not to.

we're all going to have to stump up the money Expat to pay for Labour's mistakes, whoever eventually gets the majority, there's no escaping it.

I don't trust Labour to get that right, especially considering the strange bedfellows they will have to cosy up to to get the majority to govern.

'Up to the Tories to sort it all out.

Again.'

So glad to see you're so happy to stump up the money for it, too, Dolly, whilst fat cats and non doms who played a large part in getting us into that hole swan off into the sunset - anyone know which Caribbean island Fred Goodwin is hiding on just now with his £32m of public monies?

Even living abroad, because he just left, he maintained the right to vote.

I felt the same way about Labour when they got in, I was very scared and based on their past performance in government I was worried they would borrow, borrow, borrow and leave us in debt.

That's exactly what they did.

Up to the Tories to sort it all out.

Again.

/i don't want to be governed by either of the main parties.

i'm devastated too.

basically, we had 18 years of the Tories screwing the country up- privatising all the public utilities and robbing the poor to pay the rich.
then we've had 13 years of Labour screwing the country over - not improving on what Tories messed up but digging us deeper into a hole. going into a war noone wanted part of, upping tax on things till we're paying more for tax than the goods, messing up education, bailing out the banks and making us even more broke as a country.

i don't believe that it's a "oh we must vote Tory because look what labour has done" or "labour is the right way to go because they're the only ones to get the country back on its feet" how can we possibly be expected to vote in and TRUST either party when they've proved that they can't do the job we're employing them for?

why not give a breath of fresh air a chance? but no! the electorate in this country are too scared of voting with their hearts and beliefs just in case they're the only ones and it won't make a difference.

the country is SCREWED and it's basically a sinking ship.
but there's no way to escape it. do or drown.

'Most people would agree that it is fine and sensible to stay on for a few days while power is handed over - but no longer than that.'

Isn't that what he's doing? He's hardly gone on air with a statement that he's to be referred to as emperor.

'Cameron won,'

No, he didn't. His party did, and he is the leader of that party. Same as, Labour won in 2002, and now GB is leader of that party and so is PM.

That's how it works.

'People in England do not believe it morally right. '

You know the private thoughts of all of them then? And can speak for all of them? Funny, that, I thought that's what they elected representatives from their own region to do for them. And, well, the north of England was looking rather red than blue.

'I am no suporter of a disolution of the union or a 'making Scotland independent' idea but it may come to that if tsi carries on much longer.'

Oh, spare us! There wasn't a riot when GB took over after Blair stood down - when he could have handed power to someone else in the party or call a general election - why on Earth would there be one now.

And Scotland, well, again, puhleeze.

They'd riot if you doubled the duty on Tennant's lager perhaps, but over GB staying in office until a coalition is formed?

Give me a break.

It's in London, fgs.

beenbeta,
I am wondering if that old lady is glad that she wasn't expected to have £8k at her disposal upon retirement?

I am hoping that she dosn't have an illness that will go undetected becasue the tories want to get rid of the free health checks for the elderly.

I am wondering how she feels about the tories rejecting Labours equality policies [including equality of the elderly and women]?

I am wondering if she is fortunate enough to be able to heat her own home?

it's valid to feel devastated, but we need to do something sustained over the coming years now. i feel like i've had a nice long time off of the drain of activism from having to be more politically involved, except that effort to stop the oil war in iraq.

...oh lord, i'm too busy to be more cogent ...

i'm taking a long look at it and listening now to what i hear about how they all conduct themselves during this process. i'm sick of all the focus on the men's behaviour, i wish there was more info coming out already about the party stresses and positions.

on paper though, i think for the dear libbies in the middle there's no point going for the tories, they are a party which can only rule, for the ruling classes. they don't have the skills need for coalition, consensus and negotiating. Their grass roots wouldn't allow much of it anyway. i don't think dc's initial known offer to them was of any true subtance, pupil premium and a talkshop on electoral reform.

wind forward time someone please, looking forward to having hindsight

BeenBeta, a government does NOT have to have "moral authority". If it had, we would have had no government after any general election of the last couple of generations at least, because no government has been elected by FPTP with anything other than a minority of the vote. They might not even have had the greatest number of votes, in some cases. This is why FPTP should be abolished and replaced with PR of some kind.

GB is still in Downing St now because someone has to be and, until someone can make a legitimate claim to be able to form a government, that's the way it will stay.

And by the way, Scotland has had to put up with a government that it comprehensively voted against in the past. You could draw a line in various places in the UK and say "well, we didn't vote for this government here". I don't see the North of England rising up to secede from the union, though.

I think a second election may favour labour

Nah. There won't be a riot.

BeenBeta, there could be a riot if Clegg goes for the tories.

expat - I know it is the law but also a Govt has to have moral authority, not just legal authority and the moral authority of GB leading the country when he has never actually won an election is very questionable.

Most people would agree that it is fine and sensible to stay on for a few days while power is handed over - but no longer than that.

Cameron won, Clegg says he will negotiate with Cameron. If Clegg turns round and says he inteneds to prop up a minority Labour Govt along with a rag tag of minority parties from Scotland, Wales, NI then I predict a riot. English voters will not stand for it. It could tear the union apart.

There has been a lot of wild talk on a lot of political forums over yesterday about making Scotland independent for this very reason. In effect Scottish/Welsh Labour Seats are keeping Gordon Brown in power over England which delivered a crushing Tory majority.

People in England do not believe it morally right. I am no suporter of a disolution of the union or a 'making Scotland independent' idea but it may come to that if tsi carries on much longer.

'People will pretty soon instinctively feel that is wrong'

That is the law. That is why he is there now. He is the party leader and as there is a hung parliament then he is still PM because in this country you elect a party, not a particular individual.

If you don't like how the law deals with hung parliaments and the voting system then work to change that.

Cameron has less than 24 hours to persuade Clegg and then it is not in his hands anymore.

That's what you get in a place with no written constitution and a voting system like this.

My DW met an old lady in a shop yesterday and she told my wife she was devastated too. She was not the typical Tory twinset and pearls I'm doing all right, my house is worth £1m sort either. Just an ordinary pensioner in a provincial town that just chucked out the old Labour MP.

She was disgusted by what Labour had done to her country and just could not believe Gordon Brown was still sitting in Downing St. That is a factor that Cameron can play on. Gordon Brown lost an election, yet stayed on. People will pretty soon instinctively feel that is wrong and who knows another election may happen immediately and Labour thrown out of office good and proper. The Lib Dems have to be careful not to get tarred with the same brush harping on about PR and turning down reasonable offers of electoral reform from Cameron will not do them any favours.

I too suspect a split in the Lib Dem party.

Hear Hear Expat.
I am fed up with the Tories saying we all have to create a "big society" ie. everyman for himself whilst the bankers and fat cats carry on as usual.