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?

I've always thought Tone looks like he wants to be an American politician: the always in shirt-sleeves with jacket removed thing, the "first 100 days" (JFK) etc etc. Maybe in his head he and Cherie are John and Jackie and New Labour are New Camelot and Iraq is Vietnam

I could carried away.......................

I'd vote for Blue Cow

Bozza. But at least he'd get things done, and wouldn't faff around pointlessly like Dizzy or moan endlessly like Lofty.

i think roly moe is voiced by john humphreys

Caligula - I have to disagree on teh tax issue - I feel that a tax on income (over a certain level) unfairly penalises effort - for after all it is usually extra effort that means you earn extra money. Consumption taxes seem to me to be much fairer, as long as they are levelled on things that are not essentials (and I do agree with you that in it's current state VAT is a regressive tax because of it's enlarged scope). I's the one area of Lib Dem policy that I fundamentally disagree with,and not just because it would cast us more - I think that raising the top rate to 50% (or actually 49% given the 1% NI) would pobably be revenue damaging in a real world.

If you don't like VAT vote Green We are getting rid of it.

It's within living memory that we nearly became a Nazi dictatorship. There are people posting on this site who wouldn't exist - our parents and grandparents would have been sent to British versions of Auchwitz and Belsen. The very fact that we are having this debate is so precious. At least we can have a stab at voting out those we don't like without being exterminated.

Prufrock - the Greens want an Eco tax on consumption.

Visiting the Caen Peace Memorial on holiday yesterday reminded me of that quite forcefully ionesmum

Michael Foot is still alive isn't he????? His nephew, Paul Foot, died recently.
If someone doesn't want to vote, for whatever reason, then that is their right. This is the problem with political threads on MN, they always seem to be an excuse for the lefties to start bullying (runs and hides)

Oops! sorry Michael

I'm voting either Lib_dem or Green this time. I voted Labour last time but disappointed about war in Iraq. Ours is a marginal seat but I just don't care about it anymore.

so if you don't vote for labour because they took us into a totally immoral war (IMO) and you don't vote for the tories because you think they are as bad as labour and should have spotted the signs then who do you vote for? lib dems? just a wasted vote where I live. its going to be a close call between lab and con. I am not keen on Michael "something of the night" Howard but I can't vote for Tony "phony" Blair again, and I can't sit on my arse and not vote.

A little bit political?! LMAO!

a) how did you vote last time (if at all?) LABOUR
b) how will you vote this time (if at all)? LABOUR
c) what to you is the deciding issue of this election? I have the mad hots for Tony Blair. That's it really!
d) if you had to make love (not war) with one politician (past, present, senior or backbench?) who would it be? OMG! TB as stated! SWOON!!! (Had a thing for Clinton too it has to be said...)

SJ x

Hmm I would argue very strongly against the idea that a higher income is a result of greater effort. The further up I went in the corporate structure, the more I was paid and the less work I did. I earned double what my colleagues earned, just because I was their boss. And they did more work than me, but I just did more interesting stuff. The stuff my company would have said is more valuable, and therefore needs to be paid more; but without my colleague's work, we couldn't have functioned either. They worked harder than me. But my work was considered more valuable so I got paid more - it wasn't as a result of more effort on my part at all.

SecretReg.. how about the Greens? I would actually vote for them.. in fact I may do.. because, frankly, the issues they address are those which might ultimately save our lives..if only they could gain enough power to implement them, or influence the government that does get in.. and I don't think that's exaggerating either! Put it this way.. the scenario in the film Day After Tomorrow is actually quite likely to happen (a small amount of research on the instability of the gulf stream will show anyone that.).. if not to us, then to our children, or their children.. but governments are all but ignoring this threat... as they tried to in the fictional story.. because of the effect on the economy!

But then I do have my lust for Tony-('phoney' !) - Blair to consider! Apart from wanting to get him in the sack, .. I really do believe he is a thoroughly decent bloke.. although human obviously! Even prime ministers are human! (Not presidents though it would seem, by all accounts!)

Why are you incognito btw??

SJ x

they obviously some merit in you to warrant your promotion and pay rise - what's wrong with that?

PMSL at Davros' comment btw - why are lefties bullying? Whose bullying? Why is stating a point of view particularly bullying? The idea that people should be forced to vote is not particularly left wing - people from all sides of the political debate have this point of view. (I don't by the way, but I don't feel bullied by someone who does.)

Nothing wrong with it Jools, but I think to equate effort=reward is just not very accurate. Otherwise nurses, and teachers would be better paid and every rickshaw puller in India would be a millionaire.

for the record I don't feel bullied either ....

LMAO! My comments are being treated with the contempt they deserve!

Well I was drawing a discreet veil over your unfortunate attraction to TB Jess...

He gets my vote!

PML Caligula.. I thought oh dear, they are either completely digusted with my contrubitions.. or have gone off to vomit at the thought of TB in the sack! Either way I have killed the thread!

SJ x

Davros, of course it's a person's right not to vote if they don't want to - I just personally don't think that 'I don't know enough about politics' is a real reason not to. But it's only my opinion...bit shocked that you would consider it 'bullying' tbh!

Ok maybe not always (For the record I do believe that many public sector workers are paid pitifully small amounts). But presumably tha only reason you were promoted was because you had put extra effort in at a lower level to get recognised as being brilliant?
I'm thinking more of the sort of people who would be affected by the 50% bracket - people like my dh (city sales), who would not work as he does if half his extra income was being taken in tax. If a 50% bracket does come in we are already thinking of having him work for only 6 months of the year to earn up to the threshold, and then he can have some quality of life for the other 6 months. Thats an example of where I think excessive taxes on income can discourage economic contribution -in the real world where unfortunately people are valued on the monetary rather than social profitability of their contribution.