General News/Current Affairs Thread

Doesn't one thing lead to the other to some degree? Politics is dull, so only 'dull' people (sorry) get worked up about it, and then the next generation of politicians are all dull too? I'd prefer to think about my next holiday and whether I'll watch JoJo or Food Wars first tonight than stress over which daft old man will be voted in as our leader in a few weeks too.

I don't watch the news (no TV) or read the papers (don't like any of them) so I guess I qualify as rather ambivalent when it comes to the campaigning at the moment. I actually voted by post the other day and as part of my research I threw all of the tatty Powerpoint-style leaflets they keep stuffing my letterbox with away and looked for information online. Only one candidate even had a website at all, let alone an online presence; if you're not into the current advertising campaigns or interested enough to know which aggregators are accurate then it's weirdly difficult to find pertinent information about your local area. Well ok, the UKIP candidate might have had a website too but my main reason for voting was to pick someone other than him.

R
 
Rui said:
Politics is dull, so only 'dull' people (sorry) get worked up about it
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Rui pls. Politics is the ultimate sport, because it's the only competition where the outcome actually matters.

Maybe there just aren't enough people out there making it exciting or engaging? Same goes for news in general, really. I've been watching through Spitting Image recently (rewatching, actually, I think viewing it from pretty much being born might have had some sort of effect on me) and I did wonder, if it were produced again today, how much of the audience would actually recognise the current members of the cabinet and shadow cabinet being satirised? Or the issues surrounding them that were being brought up for that matter. There does seem to have been a wholesale disengagement by the public from politics and current affairs in the last two decades.
 
Rui said:
Politics is dull, so only 'dull' people (sorry) get worked up about it
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Not having a particular go at you Rui, but I find an apathetic attitude towards politics disheartening. I can see why this might be the case with some lewd politicians; cheating, scamming and etc. But party policies directly affect everyone. What can be more important? So by not voting, it is throwing away this democratic right which people have died for in the past.

ayase said:
Politics is the ultimate sport, because it's the only competition where the outcome actually matter.
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Agreed.
 
Got my postal vote today. It's fairly cut-and-dried who I will vote for in the general election as my area is a marginal Labour constituency, and I really don't want the Tories back again so I can't afford to vote for a smaller party like I normally would (I'd probably vote for the Green Party otherwise) so Labour gets my vote. There's also a voting slip for electing a new local councillor, and for me it's a choice between Labour and Lib Dem for that one as they both claim they will fight to keep the local hospital A&E open, which is the biggest local issue round these parts. I need to do some research before deciding that one.
 
It's pretty difficult for me to make a decision. I thought I'd be siding with one group, and then stick with them. But as voting has gone, I've not voted for the same group twice at all!
Sad for me to admit (for someone who likes things clean-cut), but I have no idea who I'm going to give my vote to, and I feel like a wishy-washy voter. We're given all these options and promises, I honestly don't know who's best. Then there's the high possibility of a "Hung Parliament" again - when a few elections before that, there was a clear-cut divide between Labour/Conservative with Lib.Dems nearby. Now, everyone's thinking about who might be teaming with who, as the public (in my estimation) are not pleased with the success rate of the recent past governments (Labour, then Conserv/Libs). Therefore, votes are more spread out to other parties and we're left with leading parties supported by a newly acknowledged party.
I just think this way of determining our leader has started to crack in terms of its structure because of the votes flying everywhere. Thus policies that some parties MIGHT have had some say in doing something are held back at times by a resisting sub-party in another coalition. Like comparing the party's vision between a sharp knife edge to a dull one from a co-operation.

So I ask - Why do we have a Monarchy again that sits on its hands? :p
 
vashdaman said:
I have to say, these Greens are floating my boat right now. Why is everyone of good conscience not voting for them?
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*FPTP
*English/Welsh Division's Euro-sceptic (Which won't win Labour/Lib-Dem defectors)
*Tendency to promote woo woo.
 
Latest polls

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Looking at it, I'm guessing it's most likely we're going to see a coalition of Labour, the SNP and the SDLP against a Coalition of the Tories, UKIP and the DUP with the Lib Dems (Once again) being the king-makers, which begs the question: do they continue their unhappy marriage or do they try to save face?
 
Is that one seat of red in the sea of yellow in Scotland?

I would say UKIP would get more than 2 seats, but not in double figures
 
Okay, here we go, prediction time.

Labour minority government, which becomes unpopular due to its inability do anything and is either voted out or toppled by a vote of no confidence, followed by two-hundred years of Boris Johnson.

It's not what I want, but it's what I think will happen.
 
Labour and SNP coalition would be the worst. Sturgeon would be holding the strings and we all know her decisions are only made for the benefit of Scotland. She could give two sh*ts about England. Her wanting another independance vote shows that. She doesn't want to win to help Britain AT ALL. Really dislike her.
 
ayase said:
Okay, here we go, prediction time.

Labour minority government, which becomes unpopular due to its inability do anything and is either voted out or toppled by a vote of no confidence, followed by two-hundred years Boris Johnson.

It's not what I want, but it's what I think will happen.
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Was thinking about disagreeing with you on that, but it seems like either that's going to happen or Labour are going to have to make concessions with the SNP (Which I doubt would happen for obvious reasons. That and I don't think Sturgeon wants to be another Clegg) and The Lib Dems (Where I'm assuming Milliband's hoping for his party to deal with Beveridge types instead of Orange Bookers) to gain some sort of power.

In unrelated news, it's now a 9 seat gap between Labour and the Conservatives.
 
How are people so insane to vote for Conservative?? I mean, don't get me wrong, I know labour aren't a whole lot better and are pretty damn crap too, but to vote conservative? I can understand not voting, but I just can't fathom how so many people rationalize voting Tory. Well, I guess I can understand if you're rich and don't care about anyone else, I suppose.
 
While I might not be able to understand other people's reasoning, that's being human for you. We can't ever really hope to understand each other and there is no objectively correct ideology. That's why politics exists - Because we can't agree on what's best and there's no higher authority to tell us, so we have to fight it out.

I have a general dislike of government and a particular dislike for our incredibly corrupt system, but as long as it's the system we have I'll find myself picking so that at least no-one else picks for me. In the Red Corner we have a bunch of self-serving nepotists who waste and embezzle massive amounts of public money but do at least transfer some wealth from the rich to the poor and don't totally shaft the provincial regions that turn red on the election map. In the Blue Corner, we have a bunch of self-serving nepotists who waste and embezzle massive amounts of public money but prefer transferring wealth from the poor to the rich and do totally shaft the provincial regions that turn red on the election map. In the Yellow corner (which I used to quite like) we have no-one because they're now in the Blue Corner... or perhaps the Red Corner. Which just proves they have no ideology at all any more.

I really wanted Ed Miliband to just shout "WHO F*CKING CARES!?" at the audience last night when they kept going on about the deficit. Because who does f*cking care? Why? It's not like anybody notices the deficit or national debt in their day to day lives at all. That and I'd have enjoyed hearing him say "Oh come on, it was pretty funny" to the dour, humourless folk who kept bringing up the 'no money left' note. But I guess he couldn't do that unless he had the backing of the army and a coup ready to go. Bad planning Ed.
 
vashdaman said:
How are people so insane to vote for Conservative?? I mean, don't get me wrong, I know labour aren't a whole lot better and are pretty damn crap too, but to vote conservative? I can understand not voting, but I just can't fathom how so many people rationalize voting Tory. Well, I guess I can understand if you're rich and don't care about anyone else, I suppose.
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Im not rich and come from a council family where i had a single unemployed parent and i earn below the "average wage" and I'm voting Conservative for many reasons. first I have no faith in labour or milliband. Secondly because I don't want to see sturgeon become a Kingmaker. Thirdly because a vote for anyone else or abstaining from voting is pretty much a vote for labour (in my constituency)

Out of the other parties I'd be far more likely to vote ukip than anyone else.
 
britguy said:
Im not rich and come from a council family where i had a single unemployed parent and i earn below the "average wage" and I'm voting Conservative for many reasons. first I have no faith in labour or milliband. Secondly because I don't want to see sturgeon become a Kingmaker. Thirdly because a vote for anyone else or abstaining from voting is pretty much a vote for labour (in my constituency)

Out of the other parties I'd be far more likely to vote ukip than anyone else.
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I'm from a council family, I was unemployed and struggled my way through life. I would never ever vote Conservative. Their values go against anything to help those who need it most. The only reason people vote for them is their skewed view on 'benefit scroungers' and want to keep 'their taxes' away from 'lazy unemployed people' which is exemplified by the media with programs such as Benefits Street. I would glad give my taxes to help those that need it. So if I become unemployed, yes I will take all the benefits I need. After all, it only makes up 3% of the total benefits spending. The Tories know which group to keep happy and it isn't those that need help at all.

I am voting for Green Party. They will actually help others. And if I wasn't for Green, I'd be voting for SNP. I just feel sorry for those in England who have to put up with only two major parties to choose from and neither is good.
 
I really wanted Ed Miliband to just shout "WHO F*CKING CARES!?" at the audience last night when they kept going on about the deficit. Because who does f*cking care? Why? It's not like anybody notices the deficit or national debt in their day to day lives at all.
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This. I think that's been the greatest myth the conservatives seemed to have convinced the general public of. That this deficit actually properly matters and is worth allowing the conservatives to strip us of welfare for. It just some boogeyman that they bring out to justify they're ********. They are loving this feking deficit and will clearly never ever stop banging on about it.

I have no faith in labour or milliband
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I probably don't either, but why do you have faith in Cameron? Is it because he claims to have lowered this deficit thing? Honest question.
 
I dont have much faith in cameron but I have more so than in miliband. Id rather Cameron be pm again than let miliband in. I always liked David Milliband and wanted him to be the labour leader, then Ed slipped in with his slimey ways and with the unions backing and stabbed his brother in the back. My dislike of miliband is more personal than political.

We're in the unfortunate situation where we have two major parties and countless fringe parties. Unless your voting tactically (ie you might support tories but vote lib dem in a labour/lib dem constituency just so labour might lose it) a fringe party vote is a waste because they're never likely to get into a position where they can do anything.

neptune2venus said:
. The only reason people vote for them is their skewed view on 'benefit scroungers' and want to keep 'their taxes' away from 'lazy unemployed people' which is exemplified by the media with programs such as Benefit Street.
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Really? That's the ONLY reason people vote tories? That didn't even cross my mind
 
britguy said:
That's the ONLY reason people vote tories? That didn't even cross my mind
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Pretty much. Maybe not the only reason but it's at least ONE of the reasons. Also business and inheritance tax, selfish policies that doesn't help people unless they have money to begin with. I also disagree with the right to buy proposal. It is a bad idea in principle. We need more houses, not people buying up more houses and renting it out. These are all core Tory policies. They haven't lowered the deficit either. It is a joke and sums up the self-serving party neatly.

If everyone voted for the 'fringe' parties, then they might actually get in power. However, people are blinded by Lab/Con that they have to 'tactically' vote. Ah well.
 
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