Westministenders: The Election Car Crash

[RedToothBrush]

I was thinking about how I could sum up the general election campaign and well. This said it all.

Bigly I'm deliberating wearing black today. I remember watching Mo Farah win the 5,000m on a big screen by tower bridge with my DCs and everyone was jumping up and down and there was a massive group hug when he won. I can hardly bear to think about it now.
You only have to look at Turkey to see how quickly a democracy can turn into a dictatorship. The 'lobotomisation of democracy' just about sums it up for me.

I might make a statement and go down in some pink fluffy pjs, with a can of special brew.

If I'm going to be seen as a useless scrounger to be culled for the next five years I might as well start acting the part

I am STILL agonising over who to vote for - not due to apathy or because I couldn't be bothered to research, but the opposite: It feels so important, and I am torn between candidate I like vs party I like.
I really, really like the current (SNP) MP in many ways, but don't support independence. Other than the independence issue, I really like her priorities and agree with many of the issues she has raised in parliament. She got back to dh very promptly when he contacted her about something too. and I think she is a mumsnetter, not that that will influence my vote The Labour candidate is a bit of an unknown quantity, but comes across really well from what I've seen of him, and I would quite like to support Labour. If I was voting purely for the party I like, I would vote Lib Dem but they have no chance here.

^ Sorry for stream of consciousness there, and for sometimes misusing this thread to get random stuff off my chest.

squishysquirmy I think you'll. e far from the only one agonising over the decision today

You only have to look at Turkey to see how quickly a democracy can turn into a dictatorship. The 'lobotomisation of democracy' just about sums it up for me.

This x 1000 .

Oh god, the 2012 Olympics. I remember how great I felt, how proud to be British. How we welcomed the world, and perplexed them with our peculiarly British opening/closing ceremonies. How we cheered as our rainbow of sports heroes did us proud.
...

The other day, I read a MN post saying something like "Immigrants have done
i nothing
for us" and I thought, 2012 was a lie, wasn't it? While we were cheering Mo Farah running his heart out for gold, this poster, and apparently millions more like her, were looking at him with loathing and thinking...

Red I have been following these threads for the past year, and have been really impressed with your knowledge, thoughtfulness and writing skills. I can completely understand why you feel equivocal about hacking it in mainstream journalism, but the world is bigger than the dailies. For example, in legal journalism Joshua Rozenberg has dominated the legal press for several decades and I was just thinking recently that it's difficult to see who is going to take over his mantel when he decides to wind down (he's 67). His work is differentiated from that of many other legal journos because he frequently offers opinion and analysis as well as straight fact. I could quite see someone like you having a lot to offer in that sort of milieu.

(Interestingly, although I have high regard for Joshua I only found out recently that he's been married to Melanie Phillips for over 40 years. As she is quite at the other end of the scale when it comes to erudition, I must admit it really makes me wonder what their home life is like!)

Well, this video sort of sums it up.
twitter.com/bbcthree/status/872548697846018048

While we were cheering Mo Farah running his heart out for gold, this poster, and apparently millions more like her, were looking at him with loathing and thinking...
Similarly with the entire refugee thing. What have they ever done for us?
Won a few gold medals for a start.

squishy I am opposed to Independence but would hate the Tories to get their majority from Scottish seats. I would hold my nose and vote SNP and then vote NO in Indyref2 and ANother in Holyrood.

red your Scottish seat prediction looks pretty sound now but my gut would add East Ren - may surprise and go Lab rather than Con.

pretty I had noticed the high Tory/SNP correlation. It is only Labour who have traction in most Scottish seats (the cynic in me says NS has played her Tory bogeyman hand very well where they aren't even in contention). One wrinkle is that the recent UK polls have shown an SNP/Lab vote share trade off and if Lab is losing vote in Scotland only then the rUK Con/Lab gap is closer than it looks.

Bigchoc The Times and I have parted company over their right wing Remain stance but I agree with the article you posted. All the ingredients for worst of all Worlds fudge with civil war in the Tory party the only hope of rescue.

howabout Tories only got 12% of the vote here in 2015. Of course, times are weird so I wouldn't want to tempt fate by ruling out a Tory win here, but t would be a surprise....

If you saw someone dressed head to toe in blue near a polling station,

You cannot assume they are Tories. I am dressed head to toe in blue, yes including my shoes, and I have been out and will go out again telling for another party. I will change to a different colour for the Count.

My impression is that the turnout is quite high.

I hadn't even thought about what I am wearing but it will have to reflect conflicting emotions, terror and despair at a national level, not daring to hope but feeling inspired locally, Perhaps go for black with a jaunty yellow fascinator. The other big question, do I take the dog???

You definitely take the dog!

squishy in that case go Lab or LibDem with impunity.

Feeling a bit more inspired after voting.

We are in a council estate and our polling station rarely has people in it, except for the eu referendum.

It was packed when we just went in, mainly with young people, there was a group in front of us discussing popping their voting cherry.

I don't care who they vote for, I'm just so happy they turned up!

I haven't noticed a high Tory/SNP correlation - especially since I live in a constituency that swung 30+% from Labour to SNP - but I have seen Kezia advising Labour voters to vote Tory where the Tories have a greater chance of ousting the SNP!

I agree that East Renfrewshire is vulnerable - probably more so than East Dunbartonshire (although the LibDems have been flooding East Dunbartonshire with leaflets - at least one a day for the last fortnight ).

I'll be interested to see the Moray result: Angus Roberston has a strong personal following as a good constituency MP and didn't become an MP as a result of the 2015 protest vote. Having said that, Moray was one of the least "Remain" constituencies in Scotland.

I am wearing red today, but it took careful planning. Head to toe blue is my usual look.

BigChoc I can't get over that Times article.

I thought Angus was running a really good campaign front and centre as Leader of the Westminster group. Unfortunately I think NS has just thrown him under the bus with her latest comments.

Hadn't thought about the 'optics' of what I wore to vote... I went out still in my yoga gear; yes, I am one of THOSE women poncing about in leisurewear

It was stripy pink leggings and a teal hoodie, so no real party political conclusions to be drawn, one hopes and trusts.

Felt angry going in ('why are we doing this AGAIN?!'), tearful coming out ('the Tories have won anyway').

Tough times.

I want to move to Oxfordshire so I can vote in the pub

Accidentally posted this on another thread but our work experience student was just telling me his polling station is in a pub so he's booked tomorrow off as they're planning to stay all night. Maybe that's how to engage young voters

I want to move to Oxfordshire so I can vote in the pub.

Be careful to pick the right part of Oxfordshire then! I have voted at one Community Centre and been telling at another, and about to go telling this afternoon at a third.

My impression is judging by the elderly Tory tellers I have been sitting alongside at this and the County Council elections that they are perfectly decent people, who haven't got a clue as to how far their party has lurched to the right under May. I think they would be genuinely horrified if they knew what they were putting their names to.