How will you vote on May 5th?

[victoriapeckham]

Just wondered. A little bit political...
a) how did you vote last time (if at all?)
b) how will you vote this time (if at all)?
c) what to you is the deciding issue of this election?
d) if you had to make love (not war) with one politician (past, present, senior or backbench?) who would it be?

Looks like everyone on here who says they will vote Labour also disagreed with the Iraqi war. The war was illegal (not only immoral), therefore TB's government is responsible for killing the British troops who have died. I also hold them responsible for David Kelly (who was right about the WMD) being bullied into committing suicide.

Plus the anti-terror bill is an outrage to civil freedoms.

agreed that the PR system of voting would be tons better, but you'll never get labour or Conservative going for it because they would lose out. So we are stuck with an outdated and unfair system - I suppose this is poartly responsible fro why so few people vote at all. I just HAD to come back on Prufrock's point that extra effort means extra income - not in my world it doesn't.( secondary school and FE teaching). And how nice to be able to toy with the idea of only working 6 months of the year.....if only it were like that for all of us.

lol donnie! well put. My dp is a secondary school teacher as well and has just fought off an academy bid (more of Blair's fab ed policy), working for 6 months to evade increased tax sounds like nice work if you get it..

Hey - I can't help the fact that somebody is prepared to pay my dh ridiculous amounts of money for taking people out to lunch.

Ladymuck - I didn't see your post - not ignoring you. Dh's salary above a certain level is directly linkedto the sales he makes, so it is unlikely that his employers would pick up the slack. TBH I'm not sure what level would be enough, but I think for many people paying the majority of your income in direct taxation would be too much - it is even for the Lib Dems who would actually be charging 49% so that including the 1% NI nobody would be giving up more than 50%.
Bozza, no dh probably would sit on his backside . No seriously I would probably work instead, but in my opeful future career as a homeopath I wil earn a damn sight less than him. And it is also unlikely that anybody else would do his job - persuading people to invest their money with you is not an essential activity, even though it is incredibly revenue generating both for his firm, and the underlying companies in which his firm then invests. And I do think that it is often at that non essential but good for the economy level of work that people are paid ridiculous enough salaries to allow them to work for only 6 months. The City might pay too much to people who seem to do nothing much but it brings a huge amount of money into the country, and generates an awful lot of revenue for the government.

Can I just say again that my reasons for not wanting a 50% band are not because it would adversely affect my family - I held similar views when I was an impoverished student.
And I'm afraid that I also stand by my point that extra effort does mean extra income. I know it doesn't work cross industry, but you know, the world isn't fair - if it were communism would have worked. Within an industry it is very ususally the case that extra effort does mean extra income - in teaching it's responsibility points, I know my fathers workload has significantly increased since he became a Head of Year, but so has his salary.

I just wanted to add a point about increased maternity leave, flexible working hours etc under the labour party. I was made redundant last year on the day I went on maternity leave Flowers and P45 in one hour, great fun!. The problem with increasing benefits like this is that Companies will not wait for the leave. Another woman who was pregnant was also made redundant from a separate company. This is not an isolated incident. They will always find a way to make you redundant, or not employ you. What are the employment chances now for a married 30 year old women. Employers have complained about this already. It is nice in principle but does not work in practice. How many women actually take their full entitlement now? In industry other people will often refuse to carry you. That is a sad fact of life.

TBH I'm not sure that there will be instant and radical changes under Labour or Conservative governments - after all Labour still have a lot to do if they really want to address all the things done previously which they opposed. So things like tax credits going "in a puff of smoke" are unlikely. Much more likely that some of the New Deal stuff gets revamped gradually. Voicing LibDem is at best voicing an objection - they are totally unprepared to govern, and their policies show it. Not sure that splitting the opposition furhter between LibDem and conservative actually helps - if anything it gives the opposition less power as they will rarly agree, and the LibDems don't seem to get their priorities straight when they could make a difference (recent vote on civil liberty issue being the obvious example). It's only worth voting LibDem if the local choice is between Labour and LibDem. If LibDem takes seats from Tories then Labour wins overall...

Yes but fsmail, the other sad fact of life for employers is that if someone makes me redundant because I'm pregnant (as happened to me) they either write me a nice big cheque for compensation, or I sue their ass off.

I once worked for a company where so many people threatened them with constructive dismissal that they kept on having to write cheques. Eventually, they realised that it would be cheaper to employ an HR professional to advise them how to behave correctly within the law so that they could stop writing cheques in order to avoid being sued. Seriously.

Hi, yes you can sue your employer and believe me I took advice from a solicitor but the money that you get back in compensation is not the same as keeping the job, the pension and the long-term security. Also most employers would act just within the law to ensure that you do not stand a chance if they have a good HR person.

I'm not a fan of PR myself, even though as a Green it'd be the best chance of seeing my party have any power - we get loads of support but under the current system don't get any seats. The problem with PR is that it also allows in the likes of the BNP, UKIP and even the NF. Also, many local councils are made up of a broad range of parties and what generally happens is that one lot form an alliance against another. The only change that would make any difference is an end to adversarial politics - i.e. an end to the pary system, with every MP independent. Imagine, politicians not calling each other names or trying to score points off each other, but actually acting in the interests of ordinary people!

fsmail - You have to wonder how other countries manage though. Canadian women receive 1 year of maternity leave and their partner can actually choose to use up a portion of it instead, if they wish.

Sometimes things have to be rotten for awhile for such a huge social change to take place. Maybe this is just one of those things. Just because employers don't like it, doesn't mean it should not be fought for.

Was anyone tempted by LIb Dems after hearing about their manifesto yesterday - 50 % tax of rich, local income tax not council tax, end of top fees and tuition fees?

If you re switiching from Labour to Lib Dem are you tempted by them just as a protest vote, or because of genunine agreement with policies?

And bless poor old Charlie Kennedy all wiped out by his son's first week, hardly able to speak!

VP - I only know that will NOT be voting Tory. Just not what I believe in. However, I never take that much of an interest in politics. I did see the Lib Dem manifesto briefly. I voted Lib Dem in the last election as I didn't want to vote Tory or Labour. Will probably do the same this time too.

I would vote LD because I agree with lots of their policies if I didn't live in an area where voting for them meant risking getting a Tory.

The lefty Labour guy here has a majority of only about 3,000 and the next one is Tory. Lib Dem is way down the list, so it would be too risky to vote for them.

a perfect example of why the LD's will never make it to government!

Caligula, have the courage of your convictions - if its true what they say - that a lot of Socialists will vote LD this time - you may be surprised!

I know you're just trying to make me let the Tory in by the back door, Jools, and I'm not falling for it!

Good try!

Proud to be a leftie! though don't agree with eveything TB is doing and certainly didn't agree with the war - could never vote Tory (eurk!) and think that some Lib-Dem policies are 'lefter' than labours. However,
a) labour
b) labour - though think they will lose next time in my constituency
c) my gripe is childcare costs; fed up with the high combined monthly nursery/out of school/holiday club fees
d) can't think of any politician to make my.. erm.. juices flow... as they say

then you will also know, prufrock, that more responsibility points mean less time spent in the classroom and more on paperwork. And You may or may not know that every school - in the state sector anyway - only has so many extra points to allocate because their bugdets are so tight. So only a few can be 'rewarded'; plus the fact that some teachers actually like being in the classroom - even prefer it to the bureaucratic aspects of the job - myself included.Which means no financial rewards on the horizon apart froma nnual increments of a couple of hundred quid or so. Therefore your 'extra effort ' argument does not stand up to scrutiny as far as the teaching profession goes.I can't speak for industry but I do know that teaching IS NOT AN INDUSTRY and people who regard it in the same way they regard business are deluded.As is your view of teaching, it would seem.

Also, I would add that it doesn't really stack up in industry. At least not in advertising. I really did do less work with less effort, when I was managing a department, than when I was a humble lowly media assistant - I worked far harder then, with far more hours and far more stress - and an awful lot less money.

a) Labour
b) LibDem (am now in a Tory constituency where Labour have no chance of getting in but LibDems are expected to win)
c) Michael Howard's right-wing racist campaigning has made me even more determined to get the local Tory out
d) Alastair Campbell, although he'll be knackered after you lot have had him

Gutted not to be voting Labour, but they have no chance of getting in in my constituency.

VP good questions - but what do you think? Or are you just a cynical journo who doesn't believe any of them?

a)Labour
b) don't know but never Tory. Can't vote for TB, will not sanction the invasion of a sovereign state without UN sanction nor the obedience to the anti-Arab Bush regime.
c)Iraq and the relationship with the Arab-hating, neo-fascist Bush regime
d) don't know but never Tory!

i) Plaid Cymru
ii) Probably Labour, DH commented the other night that we really should vote Tory but neirther of us can bring ourselves to do it! MH and the grannies at the conference, too scary
iii) There is no single issue
iv)i have no idea