Michael Howard makes my BLOOD BOIL

[Enid]

It makes my blood boil to hear Michael Howard talking about Labour 'diluting British values' - eg giving some asylum seekers special treatment.

How dare he presume that British values aren't ones of tolerance, understanding and caring.

I hate the Tory party and I especially hate Michael Howard.

Thanks, I feel better now.

its true expat- i really was sitting on the fence regarding who to vote. i really dont trust tony blair, but i have to say, there are more opportunities out there now for people, especially families. that advertisment REALLY made me sit up and remember just how bloody hard it was for my parents in the 1980's with me and my brother as young children.
i dont agree with some of labours policies- the war in iraq being the main one but i seriously get a shiver when i think just what it would be like to be under the tories again.

yay!

Tired
I would not be able to achieve my goals w/o tax credits, so I feel very strongly about it. I look forward to the day when we will no longer need them, but I'd never begrudge them to any working British family. Sure, the system has its problems, but they've helped a lot of families get back to work and still feed their children. A society needs all levels of workers to function efficiently - from bin men to neurosurgeons - any political party that doesn't recognise this will never get my vote.

exactly the same reason for me- they ( most certainly gordon brown- who i think should be PM) do care about families.
labour inherited a lot of the tory crap ie privatisation of national companies, getting rid of "in house" cleaning in hospitals etc- i could go on.

if labour do get in this term though, i would seriously hope that they have REALLY listened this time to what the voters want.

Message withdrawn

"What exactly are Conservatives trying to conserve - apart from their own money, land and privileges?"

do you honestly believe that conservative support comes entirely from monied, land owners? - I find that pretty naive and a bit cliched

I think he's really slimy. He was the one who invented the poll tax when margret thatcher was in power also voted against child tax credit and the minimum age.
I think the labour party haven't done that bad, at least things have been done instead of just talking about it.

The thing I like best about this election is being able to properly hate the Tories again. It's a delight, it really is. I found it very hard to dislike Hague or IDS, ooooooh but Howard, Howard, Howardy, Howard is giving me so much pleasure. It makes me feel young again tra-la-la, and they're going to lose ta-la-la

I did particularly enjoy the Labour PEB the other night
The way we were
PMSL
If anyone was thinking about changing to Tory vote on any level...
Short sharp shock
Labour do not need to even concentrate on publicising policies, they just can keep reminding us what terrible government the Tories were
I was going to vote Lib Dem on an anti war ticket, but where I live a vote not cast for Labour is almost certainly going to benefit Tories so it's a hard call...

i was going to bring up the lib dems piffle. i vowed that if tb was still leader there was no way i was going to vote labour again after irq (imo, that would sanction what they are about to do in iran)...so i'm voting lib dem...even tho beating labour should be like shooting fish in a barrel for them, and they've managed to make it look like catching a fly with chopsticks (too many analogies by any chance?)

There was a great Steve Bell cartoon last week, I think:
"How would you feel if a crazed bat came through the window and drank your daughters blood" - Are you drinking what we're drinking?

The discussion around immigration (for all parties, actually) should be about much more specific issues - what is the net increase in population as a result of both immigration and emigration? What IS the net economic gain/drain on the country? How can the country ensure that immigrants do integrate(and I worked with the Bangladeshi community in T Hamlets - the housing policies directly contributed to isolation and division between people, and promoted ghetto-isation. In Canada, there is a 'good neighbours scheme' for 'new citizens' where people are twinned with an established resident to help them settle in and integrate).
And asylum can only be on humanitarian grounds, can't it? Would we really shut our doors to the truly desparate and terrified? Anyone read that account in the Observer yesterday, graphically illustrating the role of theU.N peacekeepers in leading whole village communities of men to their deaths?

This election is a shopping list of what people want most for themselves, rather than an approach (whichever side your political philosophy falls) to the success of our society as a whole.

welshmum - agree, it's lovely to be able to really hate again So glad their opportunist anti-asylum ("all illegal asylum seekers are here to kill us*") thing back fired re the policeman shot in Manchester

I am now feeling a lot less guilty about encouraging ds to boo whenever Howard appears on telly. I loved those Independent headlines, very cheering. I think he is a huge electoral liability because of his Thatcher-era vintage. I certainly hope so.
(Ds said the other night when messing up some colouring, "Oh, Gordon BROWN! I'll have to do it again" - I think and hope he meant BENNETT)

I take it Mr Howard would have deported his own family, then? He loved going on about how they were running from the Nazis when all the DDay anniversary stuff was on.

Soph the only issue about where I am is that Lib Dems are very definitely the 3rd party with Tory and Labour vying very closely for lead, to not vote Labour (and I know several people who are thinking about not voting Lab cos of Iraq) could seriosuly help the Tories
I do not know which is worse...
DD is also good at slapping tv screens saying Bad bad when MH is on and she screams get off when she sees George Dubya

How sweet Marina.
I love being able to hate Howard too. It reminds me of the scene in "The American President" (Schmalzy feel-good movie with Annette Bening and Michael Douglas) where MD finally attacks his opponent for just highlighting the problems and scaring people into voting against the incumbent rather than putting forward any real alternative solutions.

When I brought up the hate mongering thing with my blue-blooded DH, he said 'How can you sit there and talk about hate-mongering, when Blair took our country to war on innocent people just so he could chum up to Bush ?'. He kind of had a point, not that I told him so.

BTW, DH also hates Howard

Michael Howard is awful, he is the grandson of an immigrant who esacped persecution, yet it is fine and dandy for us to prevent such people coming here WTF

He makes me embarassed to be Jewish (and he does practice, he goes to my parents synagogue!) and makes my blood boil.

As far as immigration goes we DO have rules in place for immigration, however it is the 'illegal immigrants' that cause the 'problem'. And in fact most immigrants who come here legally do so as professionals and help out the ailing NHS etc. Other than that if these people were allowed to work, they would. They would then be contributing to the economy rather than waiting for a desicion on whether they are allowed to stay or not.

Personally one of the reasons I like MN is the left-wing politics, although I also hate TB and am going to vote Lib dem.

Marina, LOL at "Gordon BROWN!"

NDP does your dh seriously think the Tories wouldn't have gone to war? Come off it. Not that I agree with "call me tony" on Iraq but the blues can't take the moral high ground on that one!

I think he does, the blue burns so bright for him that it blinds him sometimes.

Whenever ~I hear the name Gordon Brown I find myself humming 'Finer Temptress...'

Maternity leave getting to me..

talking of hate mongering .....