General election results 2015

[french frank]

People turned against the Lib Dems for being dishonest and complicity

I know headlines have big letters and short words, but you should try reading something a bit more detailed in terms of information.

North of the border LibDems were almost wiped out by the SNP. But so was Labour. So how do you know that 'people' weren't positively voting for the SNP there, rather than against the Lib Dems? Of the remaining LibDem losses, more than two thirds went to the Conservatives: do you explain that by the fact that 'people' disapproved of the support the LibDems gave to the Conservatives, their 'complicity' with the Conservatives?

I think you are justifying your own prejudices, but the facts tell a different story: the Tory-inclined voters wanted Tory MPs.

[MrGongGong]

I think you are justifying your own prejudices, but the facts tell a different story:

I wouldn't call it prejudice to think that dishonesty was undesirable
I think people in Scotland DID actively vote for the SNP
in England it seems that selfish self interest won the day
NOT that any of the options apart from the Greens were suggesting anything else

Just hope you don't get ill or loose your job

Clegg was really dumb to make what sounded like an unconditional promise

It wasn't something that "sounded like"
IT was a "Pledge" he made a commitment

I have a lot of faith in the young people who find this totally unacceptable and very little in those who seek to excuse unethical behaviour

[teamsaint]

I wouldn't call it prejudice to think that dishonesty was undesirable
I think people in Scotland DID actively vote for the SNP
in England it seems that selfish self interest won the day
NOT that any of the options apart from the Greens were suggesting anything else

Just hope you don't get ill or loose your job



It wasn't something that "sounded like"
IT was a "Pledge" he made a commitment

I have a lot of faith in the young people who find this totally unacceptable and very little in those who seek to excuse unethical behaviour

Could you clarify please ? are you suggesting the Scots were voting for the SNP for reasons other than self interest?

on a different tack, ( and following on from FFs point) I think there are often lazy assumptions made that those who don't vote tory, ( other than those on the far right) are natural allies, or really just disaffected labour voters waiting for the right moment to come home.

[MrGongGong]

Could you clarify please ? are you suggesting the Scots were voting for the SNP for reasons other than self interest?

Most of the Scottish folks I talk to are University students
BUT I think they are fed up with their lives being controlled by a handful of remote rich men from the south east of England
The SNP offered a credible alternative and are now led by someone who communicates well as well as appealing to a sense of community.
Had Nicola Sturgeon been in charge this time last year its very likely that there would have been a YES vote IMV

[teamsaint]

Most of the Scottish folks I talk to are University students
BUT I think they are fed up with their lives being controlled by a handful of remote rich men from the south east of England
The SNP offered a credible alternative and are now led by someone who communicates well as well as appealing to a sense of community.
Had Nicola Sturgeon been in charge this time last year its very likely that there would have been a YES vote IMV

Which is all very well, but it IS self interest?

[MrGongGong]

Which is all very well, but it IS self interest?

I think it's less "self" interest (voting for something that makes you personally better off) and more a vote for the interests of the community (or even nation?) where you live.

Scrapping Trident would mean fewer jobs in Scotland BUT that's what the Scottish voted for (for example)

[french frank]

Most of the Scottish folks I talk to are University students
BUT I think they are fed up with their lives being controlled by a handful of remote rich men from the south east of England

But this remote band doesn't control the Scottish education system (and that doesn't date from devolution) any more than it controls the Scottish legal system. "Scotland is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

The "pledge", if you remember, had two halves to it. The second half could be claimed to have been delivered, as promised.

[MrGongGong]

But this remote band doesn't control the Scottish education system (and that doesn't date from devolution) any more than it controls the Scottish legal system. "Scotland is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

The "pledge", if you remember, had two halves to it. The second half could be claimed to have been delivered, as promised.

I don't think Scottish disillusion with Westminster is to do with control of education at all but the arrogance and lack of concern for the rest of the UK, it's lucky for those in Scotland that they CAN do something about it. Scotland has always been used (as Steve Bell used to masterfully illustrate) as a "testing ground".

The only way that we stand a chance of getting a "Liberal" party back is IF it's supporters stop pretending that dishonesty is ok, i've met some really "nice" criminals BUT what they did to end up in prison means they can't be trusted.

The other thing to bear in mind (and i'm sure I talked about this at the time) was that when I went to work with a group of very intelligent Scottish students last September (just before the referendum) they were surprised when I said that not everyone in England was a member of UKIP as that's what they assumed from what the news media presented.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was sorry to see Vince Cable voted out. He was one of the good guys who (largely stuck by his principles) Danny Alexander, on the other hand, deserved to go. In the early days of the Coalition, I was convinced he was a right-wing Conservative, the way he spoke their language with regard to the shoddy treatment of the public sector workers.

Are there good Conservatives? I believe there are, but to date, I've only been able to identify four:
Lord Carrington
Linda Chalker
Chris Patten
Kevin Hollinrake - new MP for Thirsk & Malton (though this is only an early impression)

Otherwise, I can only think of unhostly things to say about the majority of the rest.

[Daniel]

Normally voting labour, I wanted to vote Green this time, but was one of the last minute swing voters, as when I got into the voting booth and went to put my X down, the letters NHS just seemed to expand inside my head, and I stuck with my normal vote, believing that Labour were the only party realistically likely to be able to stop Tory-inflicted damage on the health services (et al). This is something I've never done before, obviously it didn't make any difference, but Labour did as it happens replace LibDem in my constituency though.

(MR GG, 171 - You are posting on this forum out of a kind of self-interest I suppose, but there's a pernicious kind of self-interest which thrives on denying others, which is what I understood your meaning to be. As Gore Vidal rather clinically put it, ''It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.")

[MrGongGong]

(MR GG, 171 - You are posting on this forum out of a kind of self-interest I suppose, but there's a pernicious kind of self-interest which thrives on denying others, which is what I understood your meaning to be. As Gore Vidal rather clinically put it, ''It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.")

Well put.

Having had my life saved by the NHS i'm more than happy to pay more tax so that it remains possible for others to have what I got even if that makes me 'worse off' financially.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well put.

Having had my life saved by the NHS i'm more than happy to pay more tax so that it remains possible for others to have what I got even if that makes me 'worse off' financially.

Absolutely.

Paying tax is what makes us a civilised society.

[mangerton]

Most of the Scottish folks I talk to are University students
BUT I think they are fed up with their lives being controlled by a handful of remote rich men from the south east of England
The SNP offered a credible alternative and are now led by someone who communicates well as well as appealing to a sense of community.
Had Nicola Sturgeon been in charge this time last year its very likely that there would have been a YES vote IMV

How true, how true. The tories don't like the Scots - we are not people like them. The Lib Dems sold their souls five years ago when they formed the coalition. Then the Labour party stood shoulder to shoulder with the coalition during the referendum campaign, and that did little to endear them (litotes!) to the Scots, including many no voters.

But they all got their come-uppance on Thursday.

[MrGongGong]

How true, how true. The tories don't like the Scots - we are not people like them. The Lib Dems sold their souls five years ago when they formed the coalition. Then the Labour party stood shoulder to shoulder with the coalition during the referendum campaign, and that did little to endear them (litotes!) to the Scots, including many no voters.

But they all got their come-uppance on Thursday.

Indeed
BUT why on earth have the Scottish embraced Trump?

OT I know

[mangerton]

Indeed
BUT why on earth have the Scottish embraced Trump?

OT I know

Oh, goodness knows. He must have sneaked up when we weren't looking. :blush: Still, he only has a very few golf courses, so it's easy to avoid him.