Mikes Friday night Politics Thread

[Octopus]

Adam you're splitting hairs, the whole point of the example I made was to show how one person can get elected despite not having a majority of votes and to show that a government can be "elected" on exactly the same principle. One thing that people often choose to ignore is that the conservative governments of 1979-97 never had anything approaching 50% of the cast votes. The same may well be true of subsequent elections and governments but I've not looked into that
Alan Sugar gives his winter fuel allowance (and a hell of a lot more) to charity, I don't know how many others do the same but a lot of people in his position are entitled to it (and presumably a lot will also claim it)

And Tony Blair got a massive majority with the lowest turn out on record.

Nick Clegg has a lot to answer for, apart from the tuition fees fiasco, he also blocked the boundary changes which would have made all the UK constituencies about the same size - which is NOT the case at the moment and we all know which party is the main winner by the current system.

At the end of the day you can winge on about the low turn outs, but you can't force people to vote.

and my late mother used to give her winter fuel payment to charity and she wasn't a millionaire.

Trev - are you sure you're not a Scot, because as sure as hell you are coming over with one hell of a big chip on your shoulder.

 

[trev]

Murdoch I'm talking about votes cast, not voter turn out. The only way to combat low turn out is to make voting compulsory but that's unlikely to happen as we all have a democratic right to abstain

I don't have a chip on my shoulder mate, I just despise the tories and all they stand for.

 

[Octopus]

Murdoch I'm talking about votes cast, not voter turn out. The only way to combat low turn out is to make voting compulsory but that's unlikely to happen as we all have a democratic right to abstain

I don't have a chip on my shoulder mate, I just despise the tories and all they stand for.

Well did you know that NO party has polled more than 50% since 1945?

If you've time take a look at this site:

Voter turnout at UK general elections 1945 – 2010 | UK Political Info

Look at the 2005 results - talk about a bad system - how one party can poll 35.2% and get 355 MP's and the next one gets 32.4% of the votes and get a mere 198 MP's is madness!!

 

[trev]

That's why I'm a fan of proportional representation, it's a vastly fairer and therefore democratic system. As I said earlier, it gets some pretty ugly opinions into Westminster but democracy says everyone is entitled to a voice, even if I do hate what they're saying.

 

[Adam W]

Sorry Trev I suppose I was just playing DA :detective:, but I don't see why it's so important to get more than 50% of the votes - if there are 10 candidates, one should be able to win with little more than 10% of the votes. It doesn't sound like a lot but provided it's more than everyone else it should be sufficient to demonstrate a winner. I get that almost 90% of the electorate who bothered to turn out voted against them and politics does tend to be about voting against the opposition than voting for someone, but that's just the way people choose to vote. A lot of people seem to think they're making a protest vote by not bothering to turn up to vote, not realising it doesn't make any difference and they're just not making their voice heard.
If I wanted to show my contempt for an election I'd turn up and deliberately spoil my paper - I don't know if the number of spoiled papers is made available, but I think it should be.

 

[dingledong]

The Beatles ( a pop group ) were earning a penny on the pound at there peak

 

[Octopus]

Well.... I'll nail my colours to the mast now.

I'm in favour of the coelition - so I'm hoping that next year each party will be clearer about what they will stand for IF they win a majority and what they will stand for if in a coeltion.

I very much doubt this will happen!

 

[Octopus]

That's why I'm a fan of proportional representation, it's a vastly fairer and therefore democratic system. As I said earlier, it gets some pretty ugly opinions into Westminster but democracy says everyone is entitled to a voice, even if I do hate what they're saying.

They current government got a total of 59.1% of the vote so I'd say they have a mandate to Govern.....

 

[Guest77]

they current government got a total of 59.1% of the vote so i'd say they have a mandate to govern.....

? Really?

 

[Octopus]

? Really?

Yup....

You obviously don't agree... so you'd have New Labour with only 29% forming a Government?

 

[Guest77]

Never Said I didn't agree at all fella, I was just very suprised by the figures to be honest, when blair won by 330 seats which was the biggest landslide government ever formed he only had 44%, so I was just suprised by the amount of victory for the condems.

 

[Octopus]

Never Said I didn't agree at all fella, I was just very suprised by the figures to be honest, when blair won by 330 seats which was the biggest landslide government ever formed he only had 44%, so I was just suprised by the amount of victory for the condems.

So if we go for PR then coelitions would be here to stay................

 

[Guest77]

Probably, that would suit some for sure.

 

[trev]

The UK Statistics Authority has pointed out that the national debt has risen by £500 billion
So where exactly is the economic miracle that the towel folder was banging on about last week?

 

[Octopus]

The UK Statistics Authority has pointed out that the national debt has risen by £500 billion
So where exactly is the economic miracle that the towel folder was banging on about last week?

Well...........

Anyway, the best way to cut the deficit would be to cut spending and increase taxes........

Watch out middle britain, all the politicians have you in their sights