to not use my vote at the election

[ThatVikRinA22]

bracing myself...

but i dont believe in any of the policies ive not seen so far - ive no idea who stands for what. no one is canvassing in our area and i think politicians are full of shit anyway.

so for the first time ever i dont think im going to vote at all. cant see the point in voting for a party (any party?) when i dont understand what they stand for and dont know what that is anyway.

yes i know what women did 100 years ago to ge the vote etc etc but is sticking a X in a box at random any better than not voting? id have to go eeny meeny miney moe....

for the record when this thread goes tits up im hiding it....and probably name changing

Isn't there an actual rule that you're not supposed to start campaigning more than ?4 weeks before the election? I'm sure I read that... somewhere...

My constituency is very marginal (sitting Lib Dem MP majority of

I think that rule is 6 weeks, hence not having our TV viewing disrupted by party political broadcasts yet, soon will though...

see, i would vote for

www.markthomasinfo.com/him

buggered link up

www.markthomasinfo.com/

VicarInATuTu, I think you have made some very sound political judgements. Your current decision not to vote is based on valid political arguments. You are like the atheist who is closer to God rather the regular church-goer, because you have asked questions, you are not prepared to blindly follow and mark your cross because it is your duty. Now all that remains is for you to make that final jump and remove your tutu and you will become a vicar when you finally place your vote.

...maybe i should put myself up and stand in the Peoples Manifesto as detailed on the above site....

"
In a year of political and economic chaos Mark Thomas toured the country to find out what people really wanted. The result is the People?s Manifesto?

• All politicians should be forced to wear the names and logos of the companies which sponsor them
• Anyone who supports ID cards should be banned from having curtains
• The introduction of a law making it illegal for MPs to knowingly lie. It shall be known as Archer?s Law
• All models should be picked at random from the electoral register

The People?s Manifesto will outline 50 policies of the manifesto shouted out in bold type on a page to themselves with Mark's commentary opposite. Mark has even ?road tested' some of them - like hosting a party in an MP?s second home (which clearly belongs to the taxpayer) and getting university boffins to work out a way of SAT testing MPs to rank them by value. And Mark?s guerrilla antics won?t end there? Power to the people is really happening.

As heard on BBC Radio 4
Need a tea towel?
Been to one of Mark's shows this year and failed to get the winning manifesto tea towel of victory? Fear not we have a brand new "expenses" design which make a great humorous gift for any occasion as well as the "stupid economy" design of which we have a few left. Get them while they're dry, get them in our online store. Oh and there are badges too."

of course i give a damn. but i cant bring myself to vote for any of the parties on offer.

And say - worst case scenario (IMHO ) - hung parliament, Lib Dems back Tories (hopefully getting PR or STV for whoring themselves out!), David Cameron forms a government and is crowned PM.

The Tories would still need those LD votes to get stuff through parliament. So if they suddenly whipped out a 'Let's Bomb Iran' Bill, or a 'Tax Cuts For Non-Doms' policy, they wouldn't have the votes to get it through. Keep 'em in check.

thanks claig.

but theheathenofsurburbia - that means that im backing the tories by stealth.

if i wanted a tory government id vote tory. i see what your saying, but id feel cheated if i voted for lib dems only to find them playing second fiddle to the tories or labour.

and thats why they have whips. its ok saying lib dems would have to back them but i bet they would all sell their grannies when it came down to it.

If you prefer your politics a bit more Mark Thomas, anti-sleaze, power to the people type thing, you might like these guys:

power 2010

I got accosted by them on the street. Initially thought they were chuggers and tried to dodge them , but turns out they have some pretty good ideas. Must admit I have neglected to sign up as yet.

too right they'd sell their grannies and their granpas. Do you remember how the Liberals conveniently failed to turn up for the vote against the war, after swearing blue in the face that they were against it?

Yy, I am not happy about backing Tories by stealth, but better Tory/LD coalition than Tory majority, which is what will might happen if apathy prevails.

"Do you remember how the Liberals conveniently failed to turn up for the vote against the war, after swearing blue in the face that they were against it?"

Well, if you say so, claig, though Hansard seems to think otherwise.

ok.

ive googled candidates for my constituency. there is no info. ive found the guardian website which tells me who stood in the 2005 elections and there were 4 candidates.

they were tory
labour
lib dem
UKIP.

so. eeny meeny miney moe....nope. not doing it.

there was a 63% turnout. labour have the majority at the min and there is sod all info on who is standing this year.

i rest my case.

yes I'm not 100% sure which particular vote it was. Have tried googling but can't find it. But remember watching Channel 4 News when it happened for a vote of major importance. Will try to see if I can find a link.

YANBU - I would have been right there with Millicent Fawcett campaigning for womens suffrage just over a century ago (if I had been alive at the time)...but having the right to vote doesn't mean you have to exercise it. Voting can be a pointless exercise if you don't subscribe to the policies of the main political parties, or if you are in a safe seat. And bollocks to the suggestion of turning out and spoiling your ballet paper - advocates of that approach have too much time on their hands.

thankyou hmc.

claig i also remember something about the lib dems on iraq....

i clicked the hansard link but id need a degree in politics just to understand all the Ayes and DNV's....why is it all written in legal speak? plain bloody english would help. mark thomas should stick that in his peoples manifesto too!

VicarInaTuTu, it was a huge story I can't remember exactly what the vote was. Quite a few of them didn't turn up on the day and a vote was lost. Some of it may have been put down to illness. I remember them being quizzed about it afterwards amidst much shuffling of feet. Trying to find the damn thing is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

not exactly what i was looking for but interesting all the same...

?.htm

so the tories backed the iraq war.

another link not working! will try again

?.htm

nope doesnt want to work but its
this story

David Cameron's support for the Iraq war has come under attack from the Liberal Democrats after he launched his party's national security green paper this morning.
Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Ed Davey seized on remarks made by Mr Cameron at Chatham House as the Tory leader explained his commitment to conflict prevention.
"We've also got to think through much more carefully whether Britain should get involved in a foreign conflict, and if so, how to cope with the consequences," Mr Cameron said.
"And then if we do intervene and send troops to fight in a foreign country, there should be a proper reconstruction force ready and waiting to deliver a stabilisation strategy as soon as the fighting stops."
The Lib Dems have never forgiven the Tories for backing Tony Blair over the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The government defeated a rebel amendment by 396 votes to 217, meaning it could have lost the vote without Conservative support.
"Iraq was a judgement call and David Cameron and the Conservatives got it badly wrong. David Cameron could have joined the Liberal Democrats in opposing this illegal war at the time, but instead he backed Blair and Bush," Mr Davey said.
"Now Cameron admits that he didn't even think carefully before voting for Britain's worst foreign policy disaster since Suez. If he didn't think it was worth thinking things through before backing a hugely destructive invasion without the support of the UN, then he is alarmingly unfit for government."
The Tory leader touched on Iraq in his Chatham House speech this morning, emphasising the need for the public to "trust" the system used to evaluate intelligence.
"It is hard to overestimate the damage that second dossier did to our political system," he said, referring to intelligence material placed in the public domain by Mr Blair to help justify the ousting of Saddam Hussein.
"It made people suspicious of something they should always frankly rely on. Political advisers should not be permitted to change intelligence assessments."
Downing Street's head of communications during the period, Alastair Campbell, gave evidence to the Iraq inquiry on Tuesday.
He denied having changed the meaning of the joint intelligence committee's reports but was unable to explain why the report's wording changed after he "bombarded" its staff with emails

see they really are all bloody scumbags with a mission. still cant find the story on the lib dems on that iraq vote though...

claig -i found this

www.greenparty.org.uk/articles/182.html

says that lib dems did not oppose the war.

only goes to show they all lie for their own ends when there is an election.

so tories supported the war and lib dems did not oppose it either.

so if i dont want to vote labour because i didnt agree with the war - who does that leave for me to vote for again??

oh yeah....no one.

thanks yes I am wrong about that vote. It was some other important vote but exactly what I can't remember. You are right though that nothing much changes, they do as they please and don't pay too much attention to the voters.