To think the tide may be turning...

[Goldenhandshake]

Apparently under twenty fives have been registering to vote in high numbers, assuming because lots of Tory policies have hit this age group negatively. AIBU to feel optimistic that they will turn out to vote and possibly prove the poll predictions wrong?

Any under 25's here who have registered with this intention?

*well before the Brexit decision.

Hmmm.. OK.. well, the clue is in the name of her party!

Portia the Falklands documents have been released. Thatcher stirred it unnecessarily as an agreement was about to be reached. All there in the archives.
I'm voting Labour. I'm not voting for Corbyn. I'm voting for a party not a personality. I'm voting that way because I'm disabled and I've been shafted along with many others, including the 50,000 people who've lost jobs and independence with the return of their motability vehicles. I'm voting for a society that protects it's most vulnerable citizens rather than shafts them. That puts money into essential services rather than cuts them because the rich can afford to pay for said services.
Even if Labour get in, Corbyn may not be PM. Theresa wasn't when this government was voted in.

Yep, first time voting and I'm under 25. Won't be voting Labour though, because I'm in Scotland. I'll be voting Scottish Greens.

ps am not an SNP supporter . At all.

But am not really pro British either. Growing up amongst Rangers/ Celtic fans tainted my views of nationalism.

Guess I'm an internationalist. Peace and love.

Bank holidays are actually good for business in the leisure and retail sectors- it gives people a chance to spend their money. It is silly to say that Bank Holidays are bad for the economy - for many places, they are the busiest days.

Savings are bad for the economy.

I suspect an increase in younger people registering reflects the fact that many of the young moaned like hell after the country voted Brexit but couldn't be arsed to vote themselves. They are not going to be so lackadaisical this time.

And whilst they may have 'won' the Falklands, if you chose to see it that way, 'they' also started it...

Hmm. There I was sitting in my car on 2 April 1982 waiting for my daughter to return from a school trip, when the news came on the radio that Argentina had invaded the Falklands and occupied them (and the next day also occupied South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands). I guess invading a foreign territory is not starting a war then........

I'm not against SNP either - they had a lot of support, but I feel like they will lose it if they continue pushing for something that the people have already said they didn't want (even with minds changing).

I honestly feel it's time she put the Independence to one side and focused on real issues in Scotland (like the fact that loccum doctors for London are being flown in to staff Accident and Emergency in Grampian at 3000 pounds per shift).

yy to Dawn : we may be a rare breed who vote party over personality! I used to live in Notts and really admire Ken Clarke. But I couldn't have voted for the party he represented in all conscience. Guess that was an easier thing with the majority he had/has.

I know it's sort of side tracking, but there's always so much push on "read the manifesto" - sometimes there's not much point because the parties have no obligation to stick to their manifesto. You not only have to read it, but you also have to keep in mind which bits they'll realistically be able to achieve and which bits they'll change or ignore.

I'm pretty old too. Remember the railways before it was privatised in 1993. It's the same service only much more expensive.

You're lucky, I remember it as the trains barely running on time, if at all. The sheer amount of last minute, unannounced cancellations is mostly what I remember either due to breakdowns, industrial action or lack of staff. Perhaps you had it lucky being in London where there are very high numbers of services, you may not have noticed the odd one cancelled if the next was just a few minutes later. Out in smaller towns and rural areas, you tend to notice it a lot more when your train is cancelled and the next one is two hours away, or where the service is so limited, it takes a 90 minute journey with 2 changes to get from one town to the next, just 17 miles apart! I used trains daily in those days, and there's no way I'd want to go back there. When I use trains today, they're mostly on time, seldom cancelled, far more comfortable, and routes etc do seem to evolve and improve to be more useful (i.e. there's now a direct train between those two towns). I think it's a country of two parts - London and everywhere else. London's public transport has always been a lot better than everywhere else, so the failings of the nationalised system may not have been quite so obvious.

This is a hard vote for me. I work as a nurse in the NHS (although currently on mat leave) and I HATE the tories for what they've done to the NHS. It's been decimated compared to how it was a decade ago. So many services stripped away and services literally being run at skeletal levels. And I'm in a very Conservative heartland and I'm fucking sick to the back teeth of Tory voters moaning about waiting times etc and failing to see the connection with how they vote and what happens to them and their loved ones.

BUT Corbyn is a bit too far left for my tastes. Also Labour have no chance in the constituency I'm in so I'm probably going to vote Lib Dem.

@Devorak, conservatives have borrowed more and have increased fiscal debt on average more than Labour in the last year. www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2016/03/13/the-conservatives-have-been-the-biggest-borrowers-over-the-last-70-years/

Yes, in 2008 Brown had to increase spending a lot due to the global crash but this was due to bad financial regulation supported by all parties.

Duh, typo, that should be 'last seventy years' not 'last year'!

The west coast rail line improved THE DAY Virgin took over. There were staff who would talk to you instead of skulking away!

It was the Argentinians who started the Falklands war, UK may have been in discussions to consider a handover to the Argentians but without a shadow of a doubt the Argentinians invaded peremptotarily for their own political reasons.

What you say is true but very simplistic. It's like saying "someone stole my bag of heroin but I heroically retrieved it" without mentioning you left it in a prison with a label on saying "steal me".

The Tory government withdrew the defences (despite warnings). Ridley agreed a leaseback deal in 1980 with the Argentines (the Falkland Islanders told him what they thought of that when he went to try and peddle it to them). Neither Ridley, not Thatcher, or any of them gave a fuck about the Falklands until they saw an opportunity to look good.

Thatcher was really good at getting people to pick a fight and then being the victor using other people's lives and livelihoods - she did it with the Miners too.

The west coast rail line improved THE DAY Virgin took over.

If you can afford the ticket prices it did.

devorak is it possible you are confused AV with PR?

AV was voted down, but PR has never been put to the public.

We also know exactly what parliament would have looked like under PR,

5% Green, 5% SNP, 8% Lib Dem, 10% UKIP, 31% Labour, 37% Tory, 4% other.

Tories would have to team up with UKIP, which would have been a more honest representation than the current, 'we are all tories, but some of us are really UKIP' scenario. Labour would have to work with Green + Lib dem and SNP. Again this would allow labour to just be labour, not trying to be right wing labour and left wing labour at the same time causing chaos.

I can't really see an argument for disenfranchising the majority of voters unnecessarily, and the majority of voters currently have no say in the government.

The prices were the same. Then they introduced cheaper book ahead fares. It was better!

Decades later and yes the pricing has got out of hand for no notice travel.

""Yep, first time voting and I'm under 25. Won't be voting Labour though, because I'm in Scotland. I'll be voting Scottish Greens.""

I'min England and nearly all of the under 25s aren't voting for Labour, which is giving their vote to the Torys, which happened when it was a Tory/Libdem Parliament.

I see that Ukip are already pandering to the lowest denominator by pledging to ban the Burka.

This is going to be a god opportunity for the majority of the UK, thrown away.

Have to wonder why people dont register the moment they turn 18. Anyway , hopefully they will also do the other bit and put a cross in a box.

My son is 18 and cannot wait to vote - along with his girlfriend and many of his friends and fellow students he will be voting Labour.

Isn't it illegal not to be registered? Doesn't mean you have to vote but you must be in the register by law. Or so I thought.

@ILikeBeansWithKetchup

Gosh Devorak, did you really just say the Conservative party won the world wars?? Goodness.

I said won within quotation marks and even had a little parenthetical after after so don't attempt to twist my words.

And whilst they may have 'won' the Falklands, if you chose to see it that way, 'they' also started it...

Um, the general who seized power of Angentina in a military coup and oversaw a genocide in the country landed 50 military personnel on Southern Thule. A few attempts at diplomacy by the British before the 1982 invasion attacking Port Stanley. In what way did Thatcher start it? I genuinely wonder if I have history all wrong.

@muffinbluffer

Someone else who doesn't understand PFI and the deathblow it dealt to the NHS. Even Corbyn's best spin has been to say that it's Labours fuck up and they should be given the opportunity to fix it.

@Dawndonnaagain

Do you understand the difference between deficit and notional debt?

How is my 'take' on the Falklands nonsense?

@pumpkinpilot

I started from WW1 and went up until the present. I included the current economy, Thatcher saving the country from bankruptcy... did you deliberately misquote me?

Which "certain Western European countries" do you see as aspirational?

I am no expert on mutually destroyed destruction but I understand the principles but I still do not believe that we need nuclear weapons as a country as small as us.

Well, that's just it. We are a tiny country yet punch well above our weight in terms of the economy, political impact and the aid and protection we give to others. That was the issue many Brexiteers had (I'm a Remainer, by the way). When the UK is struggling, it's a tough pill to swallow to keep supporting others.

As the PP who mentioned other countries not having them: some of them are on the verge of bankruptcy with staggering unemployment. Others aren't allowed them due to 'past misconduct'. HTH.

@ILikeBeansWithKetchup

Perhaps, Conservative leaders would have been a better term to use.

@SuburbanRhonda @wasonthelist

How many 16 year olds make good decisions

What an ignorant comment.

Unless I was basing it on a wealth of experience... teenagers are not good decision makers. Do you have one? They tend to make fucking terrible decisions. It's why we don't let them drink, smoke, drive, marry without parent's permission and frown on them having babies.

@wasonthelist

A bit of victim blaming to suggest that it was Thatcher's fault for withdrawing defences, isn't it?

You lost me when you started comparing British territory to crack in prisons though.

@Morphene

I'm not confused but perhaps mis-typed. Sorry if I did.

Tories would have to team up with UKIP, which would have been a more honest representation than the current, 'we are all tories, but some of us are really UKIP' scenario.

Ah, so you'd like a Tory, UKIP coalition? Is that what you're saying? I said the benefit of the current system is ignoring the nutcases and having a 2 (perhaps 3) main-party system.

Isn't it illegal not to be registered? Doesn't mean you have to vote but you must be in the register by law. Or so I thought.

In theory - very hard to enforce though.