Originally posted by Richard Barrett
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... or, to put it another way, the party of the City of London: 90% -
OTOH, losing spectacularly when the current new feature of the public mood is to vote UKIP seems something of a badge of honour! Pendulum politics mean that, in all but the most one-sided wards, people swing towards the main opposition which will end up with a lot of gains: that's why Labour comes, numerically, on top. In 2009: "Labour, suffering from a worsening economic climate and the expenses scandal, lost all of its councils, with some authorities being swept clear of any Labour councillors at all."Originally posted by MrGongGong View Post
The Greens can be pleased, but they have only doubled a very small number of seats. In media terms, that isn't a big story.It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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The arrogance of believing that the UKIP's success is a 'new public mood' thing', is inextricably related to Clegg's and others' utter incomprehension of where they find themselves in 2014.Originally posted by french frank View PostComment
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It is in Bristol. They've never done anything before, and didn't achieve a landslide this time. So, sorry, but Ignorance not Arrogance.Originally posted by Beef Oven! View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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So Clegg et al are ignorant, in your view?Originally posted by french frank View Post
I guess you're entitled to your opinion.Comment
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We're all entitled to our opinions. "The real world is much smaller than the imaginary" is perhaps something that Mr Farage would be wise to bear in mind. That his party has made a noise this time around in local government elections in some of the constituencies where they've been held (which is not all of them, as I pointed out earlier) is no real surprise; what happens to them in the next General Election, however, is likely to be or far more significance in terms of their ability or otherwise to impact upon the conduct of politics in whatever might be left of Britain by then and, in the meantime, if they can't, don't or won't clarify and promote their full manifesto as distinct from rabbitting on about the perceived undesirability of UK's continued EU membership and the alleged ravages of immigration to Britain, their chances of firing up the already jaded electorate will be slender indeed.Originally posted by Beef Oven! View Post
As I've suggested (although you've not responded thereto), the possibilty of a four-party Britain is one that is more likely to undermine any party's ability to form a majority government, with the inevitable result that such governmental power that may pertain will be considerably weakened.
Whereas a UKIP government - were one to be possible (and even Mr Farage does not anticipate this) - would have what's left of Britain out of EU as part of its agenda, Cameron has pledged to hold a referendum over UK's continued EU membership should his party be able to form a majority government; supposing that it does so and then such a subsequent referendum results in a majority in favour of Britain retaining its EU membership, how might this impact upon UKIP?Comment
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No, I was ignorant. We have 70 councillors on the council, and regular elections, which is why the election which raised the UKIP-held seats from 0 to 1 seemed like a sudden public mood swing because the 0 seats weren't very visible until this year. We had no UKIP candidate in our ward and I've never met anyone who supports UKIP.Originally posted by Beef Oven! View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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I've not met anyone who supports UKIP either (but then I live in London). I have however met plenty of people who have voted for UKIP because they want to make the other parties 'think'. A rather passive-aggressive approach to political discourse in my opinion.Originally posted by french frank View PostComment
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I haven't met anyone who supports UKIP either.
And I am pleased to say that the people of Liverpool did not vote for them in suffiicient numbers to elect one.
They did however elect two new Green councillors, which makes us with a total of four the official opposition, since the Lib Dems are down to three seats!Comment
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What is interesting is the clearer left/right [sorry!] divide: Conservatives and UKIP, Labour and Greens. LDs suffered particularly because ALL parties (well, three of them) took seats off them (as is oft quoted: 'Things fall apart, The centre cannot hold'). In Bristol the Greens won their two seats from the LDs, and UKIP won its single one from the LDs, and Labour took back four which had historically been theirs.It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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I've never met anyone who supports the UKIP either, but there does seem to be quite a lot of them these days.Originally posted by french frank View Post
I'm sure there are more Libdem supporters. And given that the UKIP only got 1 seat in Bristol, none in Liverpool and I don't think they did well in the city of my birth-place and domicile, I don't know what all the fuss is about!
They are only protest voters, not real ones, so ignore them and they will go away!Comment
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Oh dear ...
"More than half of Ukip's support in the European elections came from disenchanted Conservative voters, a poll commissioned by Lord Ashcroft has found.
In a survey of over 4,000 people, just over half of Ukip voters said they had chosen the Conservatives in the 2010 general election. Nearly 20% had voted Lib Dem in 2010 and 15% Labour.
The poll also suggests that support for Nigel Farage may not survive into next year's general election - only 51% of Ukip voters said they would be likely to vote for the party in 2015. One in five Ukip voters is likely to vote Conservative, and one in 10 is likely to vote for Labour.
It follows an analysis of voting projections by the BBC that suggests Ukip support has dropped since last year's local elections, from 23% to 17%, throwing into question the scale of the "earthquake" predicted by Farage."
To add insult to injury it appears that UKIP may be about about to lose one of its councillors in Redditch who has been accused of posting racist and homophobic messages.
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Nick, Nick!
Further to recent calls from BNP members for Nick Griffin to stand down, Libdems want their Nick to go too!
Nick, Nick - what's in a name?
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Given a choice between Nick 'n' Dave and Chas 'n' Dave, I...Originally posted by Beef Oven! View PostComment
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You'll set hares running with that one (or are they rabbits?).Originally posted by ahinton View PostComment
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