Yes. Oxford sucks ;-)
Gotta admit, in the final debate Cameron never DID answer Brown's bringing up the Tory inheritance tax cut. But then towards the end Brown just seemed to be carping on about it, which is even more annoying.
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UK General Election 2010
- Thread starter sbc
- Start date
Gotta admit, in the final debate Cameron never DID answer Brown's bringing up the Tory inheritance tax cut. But then towards the end Brown just seemed to be carping on about it, which is even more annoying.
Don't apply to Oxbridge just because you get 3 As. My friend did and got an offer, but turned it down as he hated the atmosphere and a lot of the bullshit the university made him go through. Oxbridge is quite clearly the right place for a lot of people, but make sure it's the right place for you. Also be prepared for fierce competition from people who have worked their whole lives for a place there (although they are in the minority among applicants, thankfully).
(I got 2 interviews at Oxford and thoroughly enjoyed them, but sadly I didn't quite make the cut. I came from a state school, but I don't for a second think that was why they turned me down. I met my competition and they were all incredibly smart people; if that sounds like the place you want to go then by all means apply!)
My humble analysis of the election:
Probably my biggest fear for the country at the moment is recession. On that standpoint, the Conservatives are arguably the way to go, as they have a mutually beneficial relationship with big business and aren't afraid of cuts in public spending. However, historically the Conservatives haven't always had the British people's best interests at heart, and I don't want to be the generation that fell prey to false promises of change.
Labour have proven to be irresponsible with money and the economy. If they're elected again it's possible, perhaps likely, that we'll befall another recession. The past few years under Gordon Brown have been fairly depressing, but with their previous experience and in the face of potential economic collapse, it's entirely possible that they'll change. They've been irresponsible, but not blind.
The Liberal Democrats have the benefit of the lack of a recent track record. (I think it's testament to the cynicism of British politics that this can be considered a "benefit", but I'll roll with it.) They're a bit of a wildcard. They're quite popular with the youth and are probably the party most committed to the concept of "change", but that doesn't mean they'll be good at running the country. Their policies seem somewhat vague and perhaps not fully thought through, and they're the most pro-European party (which is an exciting albeit divisive concept, but probably not in the best interests of the British economy).
As a first time voter, this election is pretty intimidating. Every party presents huge risks. My gut feeling goes towards the Liberal Democrats. I feel they have genuinely new and exciting ideas for the running of the country and aren't likely to blunder or betray. If they were to gain power - or even if they were to come close - it would force both Labour and the Conservatives (and, indeed, the Liberal Democrats) to acknowledge that the race has 3 competitors. More competition would force all 3 parties to improve themselves and, I think, create a better electoral system for the future.
(I got 2 interviews at Oxford and thoroughly enjoyed them, but sadly I didn't quite make the cut. I came from a state school, but I don't for a second think that was why they turned me down. I met my competition and they were all incredibly smart people; if that sounds like the place you want to go then by all means apply!)
My humble analysis of the election:
Probably my biggest fear for the country at the moment is recession. On that standpoint, the Conservatives are arguably the way to go, as they have a mutually beneficial relationship with big business and aren't afraid of cuts in public spending. However, historically the Conservatives haven't always had the British people's best interests at heart, and I don't want to be the generation that fell prey to false promises of change.
Labour have proven to be irresponsible with money and the economy. If they're elected again it's possible, perhaps likely, that we'll befall another recession. The past few years under Gordon Brown have been fairly depressing, but with their previous experience and in the face of potential economic collapse, it's entirely possible that they'll change. They've been irresponsible, but not blind.
The Liberal Democrats have the benefit of the lack of a recent track record. (I think it's testament to the cynicism of British politics that this can be considered a "benefit", but I'll roll with it.) They're a bit of a wildcard. They're quite popular with the youth and are probably the party most committed to the concept of "change", but that doesn't mean they'll be good at running the country. Their policies seem somewhat vague and perhaps not fully thought through, and they're the most pro-European party (which is an exciting albeit divisive concept, but probably not in the best interests of the British economy).
As a first time voter, this election is pretty intimidating. Every party presents huge risks. My gut feeling goes towards the Liberal Democrats. I feel they have genuinely new and exciting ideas for the running of the country and aren't likely to blunder or betray. If they were to gain power - or even if they were to come close - it would force both Labour and the Conservatives (and, indeed, the Liberal Democrats) to acknowledge that the race has 3 competitors. More competition would force all 3 parties to improve themselves and, I think, create a better electoral system for the future.
Really, no activity in this thread? Cmon it's exciting!!!
Well, not that exciting really... I suppose there's not much to discuss. Labour looking deceptively far ahead at the moment but of course they have lost seats since last time. Eagerly awaiting the results for:
- Somerton and Frome (my home constituency which is very tight between Tory and Lib Dem - I voted Lib)
- Brighton (potential first constituency for the Green party)
Well, not that exciting really... I suppose there's not much to discuss. Labour looking deceptively far ahead at the moment but of course they have lost seats since last time. Eagerly awaiting the results for:
- Somerton and Frome (my home constituency which is very tight between Tory and Lib Dem - I voted Lib)
- Brighton (potential first constituency for the Green party)
I had heard something about the UK cutting ties with the US if the Liberal Dems win. Any truth to that? Who should the Americans want to win?
The more liberal parties (LDs, Green and to some extent Labour) are more Eurocentric, America would prefer the Conservatives who I believe are slightly to the left of the US Democrats due to the massive skew to the right in USA politics. Basically at this point I expect Conservatives to fail to get the majority but form a coalition parliament with some of the smaller parties, particularly the Irish ones who will press for policies that the Cons dont really care about.
It doesn't really matter, Obama is going to treat them like crap anyway. He and Gordon Brown see a lot of things ideologically the same way but all Brown got was a bunch of DVDs in the wrong format. The Queen got an iPod with His Majesty's speeches, and the bust of Churchill got removed from his office despite being a staple Oval Office fixture since WWII. Does anyone really believe the Obama-Brown relationship (such as it is) is better for Britain's overall interests and global relevance than the Bush-Blair one was?
Generally Obama has treated your nation along with Israel, Poland, and the rest of our Western allies like shit while he buddies up to thugs like Chavez, King Abdullah, and the would-be dictator who tried to take over Honduras. He thinks when he gets in any discussion with Putin or the Chinese he comes out the victor, despite obvious evidence to the contrary.
Quite frankly any British party would be perfectly justified in cutting ties to the US based on the miserable treatment our leader has given you. I'd like to apologize for our inflicting him on you, just as my liberal fellow Americans apologized for inflicting George W. Bush (no prize package either in many ways) on you.
In any case, the reason America is so much more "right-wing" than the rest of the world is because we still argue about whether government should interfere in ever greater portions of our lives at all, as opposed to the more European model of debating how much more government encroachment is acceptable.
Mark Steyn put it succinctly in an interview he did with Peter Robinson available on National Review Online. Paraphrased: "[After the Financial Crisis] In Europe they were beating down the doors of parliament wondering what the government was doing or demanding they do more. In the United States a large portion, maybe not 50.01%, but a significant chunk were demanding the government do less for Americans or get out of the way entirely."
Point being, Tories, Labour, and Liberal-Democrats are all trending toward the same direction politically. The only difference is the pace at which the final destination is reached. Not that we're any better, our leader's rhetoric is far to the right of yours, but the reality of his policies are much further in line, save they get hobbled by a million self-interested whores trying to cash in before their hides are tanned this November.
Whatever the results, it will have little to no impact on British-US relations.
The Tories have been advocating less government involvement in general. Though they are then still happy to advocate specific involvements as and when they choose.
So indeed, Deck Knight is correct that the result of our election is unlikely to significantly affect US-UK relations.
Reporters said the exit poll seemed unlikely, but it seems to have been close to the mark after all. Indeed the Lib Dems have slipped. Doubtless part of this is due to various Labour campaigns claiming "a vote for Lib Dem is a vote for Tory".
My own constituency remained Labour, even increasing the share of the vote. Liam Byrne has a lousy record, and I believe a major factor in him retaining his position was his level of campaigning, far exceeding that of the other candidates.
The result is not technically certain yet, but the Tories would have to take well over half the remaining seats to get overall control - highly unlikely to happen. More interesting and open is whether a Lib-Lab coalition would have overall control. Combined they are currently behind the Conservatives. But we still have a huge gap in London, where it's suspected Labour may do well.
And of course the whole thing has been overshadowed by mismanagement of the voting process itself.
Finally, a little late to mention this, but I reckon the Greens probably have the single most unpopular policy in their manifesto - reintroducing the 'fuel duty escalator'. I don't care if it would help save the environment, that's going to really piss people off.
I think that was mainly the Lib Dems trying to take advantage of lingering resentment towards the Bush/Blair era. Both our countries have since changed leader.
So indeed, Deck Knight is correct that the result of our election is unlikely to significantly affect US-UK relations.
Reporters said the exit poll seemed unlikely, but it seems to have been close to the mark after all. Indeed the Lib Dems have slipped. Doubtless part of this is due to various Labour campaigns claiming "a vote for Lib Dem is a vote for Tory".
My own constituency remained Labour, even increasing the share of the vote. Liam Byrne has a lousy record, and I believe a major factor in him retaining his position was his level of campaigning, far exceeding that of the other candidates.
The result is not technically certain yet, but the Tories would have to take well over half the remaining seats to get overall control - highly unlikely to happen. More interesting and open is whether a Lib-Lab coalition would have overall control. Combined they are currently behind the Conservatives. But we still have a huge gap in London, where it's suspected Labour may do well.
And of course the whole thing has been overshadowed by mismanagement of the voting process itself.
Finally, a little late to mention this, but I reckon the Greens probably have the single most unpopular policy in their manifesto - reintroducing the 'fuel duty escalator'. I don't care if it would help save the environment, that's going to really piss people off.
The Green party won the seat in Brighton.
My constituency sadly remained conservative. No surprise there, I live in the Cotswolds and it's all about 4 wheel drives that never off road and fox hunting supporters with more money than sense. Ah well.
It looks as though a hung parliment may be likely after all. Despite all the media scare mongering, won't that force more of a policy change and generally shake up the government...that can't be a bad thing, surely? Our politicians have been resting on their laurels for far too long.
My constituency sadly remained conservative. No surprise there, I live in the Cotswolds and it's all about 4 wheel drives that never off road and fox hunting supporters with more money than sense. Ah well.
It looks as though a hung parliment may be likely after all. Despite all the media scare mongering, won't that force more of a policy change and generally shake up the government...that can't be a bad thing, surely? Our politicians have been resting on their laurels for far too long.
Now confirmed that it's a hung Parliament, and that Lib-Lab is out of the chance of overall control.
We need a reasonably stable government. Presently it looks like that would have to be either a Conservative minority government, with support from the Lib Dems on a bill-by-bill basis, or a formal Tory - Lib Dem coalition. If politicians can manage to hold a government stable at least until the end of the year - and there have been reasonably long-lived minority governments in the past - and if that government can agree on at least some measures to reduce the deficit, then we should do alright. If, on the other hand, the government is weak and Parliament dissolves again this year, or if the government stays together but does not make needed changes, then things could be a disaster.
We might be able to find out something interesting, namely to what extent these "efficiency savings", which I myself consider bunkum, materialise. They're one thing a coalition is more likely to agree upon.
Gordon Brown needs to step aside reasonably soon, and I think Nick Clegg should emphatically put his foot down and refuse to support Labour. He has the chance by constitutional convention to form a government, but it cannot be a successful one and for Brown to try and stagger on will only hurt the country.
Another election in the autumn is I believe now less likely to result in a hung parliament. Lib Dems have diminished rather than building. On the other hand, a failed Tory minority or coalition government may swing things back towards Labour, but probably not give Labour overall control.
The nightmare scenario is we keep electing hung parliaments and MPs keep failing to make a stable government. Were this to happen, the only conclusion could be that our MPs suck.
We need a reasonably stable government. Presently it looks like that would have to be either a Conservative minority government, with support from the Lib Dems on a bill-by-bill basis, or a formal Tory - Lib Dem coalition. If politicians can manage to hold a government stable at least until the end of the year - and there have been reasonably long-lived minority governments in the past - and if that government can agree on at least some measures to reduce the deficit, then we should do alright. If, on the other hand, the government is weak and Parliament dissolves again this year, or if the government stays together but does not make needed changes, then things could be a disaster.
We might be able to find out something interesting, namely to what extent these "efficiency savings", which I myself consider bunkum, materialise. They're one thing a coalition is more likely to agree upon.
Gordon Brown needs to step aside reasonably soon, and I think Nick Clegg should emphatically put his foot down and refuse to support Labour. He has the chance by constitutional convention to form a government, but it cannot be a successful one and for Brown to try and stagger on will only hurt the country.
Another election in the autumn is I believe now less likely to result in a hung parliament. Lib Dems have diminished rather than building. On the other hand, a failed Tory minority or coalition government may swing things back towards Labour, but probably not give Labour overall control.
The nightmare scenario is we keep electing hung parliaments and MPs keep failing to make a stable government. Were this to happen, the only conclusion could be that our MPs suck.
I thought there was a serious potential for a Lib Dem win in our constituency for the first time in decades. Last election it was very close between the Lib Dems and the Conservatives, while Labour trailed with a dismal 5% of the vote. However, this time the Conservatives ended up stronger than ever, with Lib Dem losing votes to both Labour and the Tories.
It doesn't actually surprise me they lost - although the Lib Dems are popular here and their representative was perfectly competent, I wasn't terribly impressed with their campaigning and I was worried that swing voters would swing Tory over them. It turns out I was right on the money, but I wasn't expecting that Labour would get a boost at the Lib Dem's expense!
Is there any word about the riots and supposed thousands of turned away voters from last night?
It doesn't actually surprise me they lost - although the Lib Dems are popular here and their representative was perfectly competent, I wasn't terribly impressed with their campaigning and I was worried that swing voters would swing Tory over them. It turns out I was right on the money, but I wasn't expecting that Labour would get a boost at the Lib Dem's expense!
Is there any word about the riots and supposed thousands of turned away voters from last night?
QFT in advance.
The claims of riots were exaggerations, but there were some angry people, and rumoured to be at least one fairly short sit-in protest.
That thousands of people were turned away, however, is true. They need to improve the system. The fact that there is only one register per polling station is the big 'bottleneck', limiting the rate people can be given ballot papers no matter how many staff are provided. It can't be hard to get round - just split the register up by surname, street, whatever.
That thousands of people were turned away, however, is true. They need to improve the system. The fact that there is only one register per polling station is the big 'bottleneck', limiting the rate people can be given ballot papers no matter how many staff are provided. It can't be hard to get round - just split the register up by surname, street, whatever.
BNP didn't win a single seat, while the green party managed a win in Brighton. That is good news in my opinion. In my constituency Labour won which I'm glad about because our MP's really good. To me it doesn't really matter because I don't think it will possible for any party to focus on anything but the recession and keep everything else going steadily, hence there will likely be no significant changes (not that there would be anyway), though I still hope the Tories don't get in because I really hate their education policies.
Jacob Rees-Mogg managed to win in my home consistuency (North East Somerset), which neighbours yours. I really dislike him, and I expected our Lib Dem candidate, Gail Coleshill, to get more votes to be honest. You're lucky you avoided his sister!
Disappointed with how the Lib Dems in all really, but it's kind of interesting to see how the hung parliament will play out.
