Who did you vote for?

[Ch3tan]

Okay Maxi, IMO living in and working in south London, crime -especially violent crime has got worse every year under labour. Faith in the police has dropped every year, and the police's powers have become farcical. IN Streatham the dedicate whole van fulls of officers to "red route patrols" handing out fines, rather than patrol the stupidly crime laden streets of Lambeth.

Thats not a meaningless statistic, thats what I have observed.

Oh and as for people not voting anymore -I'm not suprised. I have not seen my street canvased once by any party this year, not even any leaflets through the door. People thath bother to vote probably dont have an idea of who they are voting for, let alone those that dont.

 

[Embattle]

Yes, but its shockingly difficult to get shot with a broken bottle or a knuckleduster.

That still isn't the point, but I don't really worry about guns that much personally.

My personal view is sort of opposite to Ch3tan, I've seen more officers on the beat instead of whizzing passed in cars as they used to..and that applied even under the start of the Labours reign.

 

[Yoni]

Conservatives for me although it was obvious that they would not win this election and to be honest I am glad they didn't, Labour in my opinion have to face the responisbility of their earlier years in term.

As for the economy of the country Brown has been extreamly lucky that he was handed such a gift in 1997, one which in my opinioni he has completely fucked up and during this term we will see how badly.

The area I live in (a Labour stronghold since 1977) the Labour majority has been reduced significantly -8.1% whilst Tory's are up by 4.3% the remainder going to UKIP and Lib Dem, that says enough for me . I was going to spoil my vote this year as I am not a huge fan of Howard, but I do believe this country needs a change and in 5 years time that change will happen

 

[`mongoose]

I actually didn't vote, mainly cos I moved recently and haven't bothered to re-register to vote.

If I was registered I can say that I wouldn't have voted conservative, having parents who work as a teacher and nurse has shown me that as bad as things are under labour, they were worse under the tories. I don't really care about any other policies, I'd like to say I have this dream that labour will sort the country out, but if I am being honest I just despise the conservative party for the stress my parents went through under their regime when just about every public servant was shat on from a great height.

I don't see much difference between either party tbh. Only the lib-dems have said what they propose to do to sort the country out (funding wise) and I suspect sooner or later people will choose them cos they'd rather know taxes will be increased by X% rather than have stealth tax raises to raise money to support stuff.

Slightly concerned at the raise in votes registered for the likes of the Bnp et al, but then I am a soft left wing bleeding heart tree hugging liberal and probably always will be.

M

 

[Stazbumpa]

I voted Tory, partly because none of the other candidates could be bothered to campaign in my area. This whole Iraq war bollocks is beginning to bore me and I have to say that I kind of admire Blair for sticking to his guns over it. Iraqi's are now able to vote for the first time ever, and that can only be a good thing. The only thing that will annoy me is if they ignore the other fuck head dictators in the world.

What I really wanted at this election was to NOT see Lib Dem's getting in because if they did this country would, quite frankly, shrivel and die. Quite glad that Kennedy tried to make the election about the Iraq issue, I think that more harm than good for him because, like me, most people don't really care about it now.

PS: I see that George "tea and biccy's with Saddam" Galloway won a seat.
Fucktard.

 

[throdgrain]

I'm not blaming one particular party for the problem, I was just challenging Throddy's belief that voting Labout meant speed cameras and not getting shot. However, I do believe that one single political party or movement can have an effect on gun crime, violence, and murders. Anyone that doesn't should look at the crime rates in New York after Mayor Giuliani implemented a zero tolerance policy.

There has been a vast increase of speed cameras under this government. I also see a tightning of the gun laws coming up shortly under this governent, much to my regret. ID cards promised under this government. ENDLESS politically correct bullshit under this government.
I still voted for them, predominantly because I believe that they have given us the most important thing we all want, economic stability. Its all very well Bohdi saying Ive been made unemployed twice , but thats not the result of a major rescession is it? For all we know you was late for work...
I truely considered voting Tory. Until I remembered the 80s. Until I spoke to a friend of mine - a raving right winger- who said even he wouldnt vote for them because of thier mishandling of the economy. And this guy is just about a millionaire , on paper, and has a vested interest in money more than a lot of us. Even the people on here who DID vote tory say they voted but hoped they didnt win. (Bizzare).
As far as this gun crime bollocks, well Im sure you know my opinions. None of the gun crime was carried out by legally held firearms. What are you going to do, ban them twice? Didint work the first time why should it work the second?

 

[Wij]

It needs someone tackling the gang culture. Most police forces can't think of anything to do about it.

 

[DaGaffer]

Voted Tory. As expected, we got Labour with a much reduced majority, which on paper is a good thing; unfortunately it just means that Labour will start courting the Libdems again, and they're so pathetically grateful every time they get a sniff of actual decision-making that they'll fall for it again.

As a few people have already pointed out, the economy is about to go down the shitter big-style, no matter who got in, so I'm just hoping a reduced majority can curb some of Labour's worst nannying instincts, because they'll have more important battles to fight. I'm also pretty certain that Blair won't be in the saddle for the full term; I reckon a year/18 months for form's sake and then Gordon will get the gig.

 

[.Wilier.]

Im quite sad to say that Im a political dim-wit. Im fairly happy with my lot in as much as I have a good job, my kids go to good schools with good teachers. I have a nice house and drive nice cars. My family and I are doing OK. I pay 40% ferking tax which drives me potty, but who's going to change that?

Imigration is my big thing atm. I live near a coastal port and the amount of imigrants running around our towns is scandalous. I dont see why (and I expect a flame or two for this) we should pay for some leeching twat who dosnt even speak english to come and live in our country when we cant (or dont seem to want to) afford to look after our own country-born residents properly. OOoooooohh its winds me up.

I voted UKIP.

 

[DaGaffer]

Imigration is my big thing atm. I live near a coastal port and the amount of imigrants running around our towns is scandalous. I dont see why (and I expect a flame or two for this) we should pay for some leeching twat who dosnt even speak english to come and live in our country when we cant (or dont seem to want to) afford to look after our own country-born residents properly. OOoooooohh its winds me up.

I voted UKIP.

My folks used to rant about all the immigrants clogging up your part of the country and how terrible it is. They now live in Cyprus, which I find incredibly funny.

I'm afraid I can't get upset about immigrants, on the whole I think we get a net benefit from them, and as a country we've traditionally welcomed immigrants to these shores. The problem is more to do with how they're handled; in London, its easy, they simply join the melting pot of cultures and all that happens is you notice new languages on the bus, and new people serving you drinks (Polish is the language du jour here in West London right now, next year it'll probably be Romanian or something). In somewhere like Grimsby, their impact will be far more keenly felt, because there's nothing for them to do and they stand out like a sore thumb in the local population, but generally, its not their fault. They don't want to be there, they've been herded by government policy. The authorities need to let them in, or kick them out quickly. Its keeping them waiting around in herds that causes the problems.

 

[old.Tohtori]

I didn't vote, then again i'm finnish so i guess it's ok

 

[Tilda]

Damini, this last three weeks we've been doing about Criminal statistics in our lectures, i'll post a bit about it when I get in later, but basicly, there are two reports, one showing police recorded crimes (ie you go to a police station and make a complaint and get a crime number) and another survey of householders thats not related to the police. In addition there are loads of ways the results can be swung, with inter-force pressure on officers not to report a specific crime, or to get X number of rapes in the books per week. Reporting methods also change etc.
The report you've quoted is the police statistics one, ie the one that just uses the crime reports a police force makes, i'll try and finda copy of the national crime survey online somewhere and post it for contrast later.
In addition, in 1998, the police reports dramaticly changed how they report and count things, so its practicly meaningless to say it rose 98% from 1998 (not a dig at you!) as there are no statistics to compare before 1998.

Basicly there was a system that worked before 1998, and the trend followed say line A, then they changed the counting method in 1998 and the line is now A+20 or so.
Now, to a tory politician who wants to "prove" crime rose loads under labour, its a godsend, because you can pass it off that crime rose whatever value 20 is.
However, if you take into account the changes that took place, and then compare it to the non-police crime survey, which didnt have big changes in 1998, then the rise is acctually under 5% iirc.
I'll post cites later, but i'm not sure if i'm allowed to repost lecture notes

Tilda

 

[Frizz]

Just for the record, I hate politics. But I'll make an exception this time...

1: I hate Michael Howard more than anyone in politics
2: Tony Blair is better than any other political leaders I know of
3: UKIP I have no idea about
4: The Tory's should never be allowed back in
5: Lib Dem's just come across as something of a middle man, so I don't take much notice of 'em
6: I'll just vote Green Party next time, considering all the shit I hear about the environment. I actually believe the environment is in dire need of being the first thing on the agenda, without going into further detail.*



*I'm not a tree hugging hippy, promise!

But yeah, I didn't vote this year.

 

[leggy]

Unfortunately that's probably my rational thought on the situation too. I am a political ignoramis. The problem is that the area I live in is rarely affected by governmental decisions.

I doubt I'd even notice if another party was elected.

I am however moving 15 miles south-west (roughly) of Nottingham this September so I should probably take a vested interest soon. Otherwise I may be one of the extra 98% since 1998.

 

[Chilly]

lib dems for me, and just as a quick aside - NONE of the people i spose ot this morning before I took my electronics exam voted (all uni students) and i spose to about 25. I was the only one out of 26 people I know of to vote.

Anyone know the exact turnout statistic this year? I wonder if the vote was illegal (ie, <50% turnout)?

 

[Damini]

Damini, this last three weeks we've been doing about Criminal statistics in our lectures, i'll post a bit about it when I get in later, but basicly, there are two reports, one showing police recorded crimes (ie you go to a police station and make a complaint and get a crime number) and another survey of householders thats not related to the police. In addition there are loads of ways the results can be swung, with inter-force pressure on officers not to report a specific crime, or to get X number of rapes in the books per week. Reporting methods also change etc.
The report you've quoted is the police statistics one, ie the one that just uses the crime reports a police force makes, i'll try and finda copy of the national crime survey online somewhere and post it for contrast later.
In addition, in 1998, the police reports dramaticly changed how they report and count things, so its practicly meaningless to say it rose 98% from 1998 (not a dig at you!) as there are no statistics to compare before 1998.

Basicly there was a system that worked before 1998, and the trend followed say line A, then they changed the counting method in 1998 and the line is now A+20 or so.
Now, to a tory politician who wants to "prove" crime rose loads under labour, its a godsend, because you can pass it off that crime rose whatever value 20 is.
However, if you take into account the changes that took place, and then compare it to the non-police crime survey, which didnt have big changes in 1998, then the rise is acctually under 5% iirc.
I'll post cites later, but i'm not sure if i'm allowed to repost lecture notes

Tilda

I'm fairly sure that the householders report is unreliable too though. Can you imagine anyone under the age of 25 and in a rough area inviting some form clutching suit into their home to discuss crime? My mum filled in this form, and some of the questions they ask are exceptionally intrusive, and NOBODIES damned business. Knowing what I know now, I'm not entirely sure I'd sit and talk with these people.

Regardless of what you say Tilda, and I'm very sure its true, but the following niggles remain:

There is a gulf of difference from re catagorising a shove in the pub into an assault, and then the classification of a gun crime: firstly, I haven't heard of any new laws to reclassify this crime, but they may well exist though, and secondly gun crime is far less subjective - if there's a gun there, its a gun crime. I haven't heard of any new moves that would artificially bloat these statistics (as has done with assault and so on). Police pressure to under report would certainly apply to lower end crimes, but all this would do would imply that the less serious crime levels are depicted as artificially low, and it wouldn't inflate gun crime levels (unless you are implying that some scenarios are invented purely to fill investigations quotas). The worrying alternative is a suggestion that police would not report gun crimes because they were worried about how that statistic would look.

Can you explain why on earth the government decided to add this +20 to the baseline statistics? I simply can't fathom at all why they would do this. Please explain further Tilda

 

[Escape]

Voted Lib Dems, mostly as a protest against Labour!

Labour were going to win anyway, Tony is the best looking out of the bunch and that's what an election comes down to. It's why women shouldn't be allowed to vote, they think it's a poll for 'Hello' magazine or something

 

[haarewin]

voted lib dem. very few of my friends voted, which pissed me off.

 

[DaGaffer]

Got to say this result shows just how ridiculous the first past the post system is. If the results were based on how the population voted in percentage terms, the result would be:

Labour 234 seats
Tories 214 seats
LibDem 146 seats
Others 52 seats

And wouldn't that make an interesting parliament? (It would actually be a hung parliament).

 

[SAS]

I voted Tory, which was a tactical vote as my area is a strong labour area.

The thing is though I hate tactical voting. It should be about voting for the party you want not stopping x achieving y, but if I did not vote how could I complain about who was in power for the next 4 years? Catch 22?

One thing that got me throughout the media coverage over the elections were the parties focus on a handful of issues and people who would then vote on just one thing like the Iraq war.

I mean surely its about voting for the possible next government and everything they are offering and not just voting on one issue?

 

[Trem]

I didn't vote, couldn't be arsed. I was looking after my son and I couldn't be bothered to get him dressed and walk the 20 or so yards to where I vote.

It would of been for the Tories though.

I know you have weakened your view point on Labour a bit recently throddington, but I just think the economical argument is going to fall flat on its face.

They are taking up the slack with stealth taxes and downright fucking lies. I can't see this goverment hiding it for much longer.

They tax fags to stupid levels because, they say, they want people to stop smoking, they tax petrol to the point where ours is the most expensive in the world(I think, maybe Japan are dearer) because they say they want people to drive less. Its all total bollocks, if we all stopped smoking and driving the goverment would shit a brick. They know that smokers will continue to smoke and they know that people who drive will continue to drive, but hey, at least it makes them seem as though they are battering the normal people for good reasons.

Fuck Labour, fuck Blair, fuck his fucking wife and her fake fucking smile.

ARGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!

*shoots people*

 

[Trem]

I also just said this in irc, once again I couldn't be arsed to type it here so -

<Trem^Work> didnt Labour bring in the company car thing
<Trem^Work> where if you dont drive a diesel they tax you like mad
<Trem^Work> and now isnt diesel at least 5p per litre dearer than petrol
<Trem^Work> where as before this new law it was the same price

 

[Skyler]

Pity Labour got back in as they are complete fuckwits and I hope all of you Labour people are going to enjoy eating your words when the new Council Taxes come in.

Council Tax in my area has risen 91% since 1997 and we have seen absolutely zero improvement here at all. Infact it's getting terribly bad here in terms of street crime and street violence. The neighbouring borough is full of yobs and as such there is a permanent curfew under force at the moment to try and stop it. This is all under a Labour council. Local police stations have been closed and we have had 30 PCSO's (useless) and 30 new PC's in our area over the last 8 years. They are also trying to build on green belt land nearby thanks to captain Prescott and his crusade against nature.

This area used to be Liberal and it was great, but then Labour came in 1997 and since then this place has got so bad it's shocking. You can whine about riots and jobs whilst the Conservatives were in but things were never this bad under a Conservative government.

Our local Conservative candidate who I voted for and who very nearly won was pledged to add 270 new police officers, reopen the closed police station and try to recover the area in various ways. Not to mention putting a control on our astronomic council tax bills which are going to probably double again in 2008. The Labour guy who was reelected here was rated a 2 star MP by the Evening Standard and claimed over 110,000 pounds worth of expenses last year... oh yeah and he doesn't even live here.

I could have handled Labour getting in overall if we actually got Conservatives here because Labour has destroyed this area and it's only going to get worse.

As for the campaigns, I think the Labour campaign was also a load of crap.

I got two letters in the post from Labour, personally adressed. One was from our local councilor and he told us what he was doing and what he wants to do in the future. With a nice "PS don't vote Liberal as it is a waste of a vote, they will never win" at the bottom. The other was from Stephen Fry (****) saying how good Labour is and with another "it's pointless to vote Liberal they have no chance" message at the bottom. Not to mention the classic smear campaign of "do you want to wake up with Michael Howard"... rubbish.

The Cons and Liberal sent decent factsheets and manifesto's with no real flaming of the Labour candidate. It showed their pledges compared to what Labour had done in this area over the last 8 years. Now that is how you should campaign, not some shitty smear campaign against Michael Howard.

Disapointed so many of you voted Labour. It doesn't matter what the tories did, all you did was just say a huge YES to tax rises, YES to more wars and YES to a nanny state. Not to mention you gave Blair a pat on the back for killing David Kelly over his Iraq war BS.

I agree Labour has done one or two good things in overall government, but on a local level they have cause utter destruction here. As someone said on these very forums, never give any government more than 2 terms. If they get a third they get cocky and think they can do anything. If you thought Labour was bad last term it will get far worse now.

Don't forget we're probably going to lose the pound too

Oh and Damini is completely correct.

 

[Skyler]

Got to say this result shows just how ridiculous the first past the post system is. If the results were based on how the population voted in percentage terms, the result would be:

Labour 234 seats
Tories 214 seats
LibDem 146 seats
Others 52 seats

And wouldn't that make an interesting parliament? (It would actually be a hung parliament).

Totally agree with that. I really don't like this system as it creates way to large a gap.

 

[Tom]

I voted for the local conservative candidate, Damian Hirst. Tbh I don't know if he got in, because I was in Shipley, didn't get back to the hotel until about 4am (2 recounts ffs), and I've only got back an hour or so ago.

I don't want a nanny state. I don't want my civil liberties eroded. I don't want misguided environmental concerns raising my tax bill. I don't want hippies running the country. I'm actually disappointed that Robert Kilroy Silk got such a small vote (4th place), if you look past the perma-tan hes actually got some relevant points.

 

[DaGaffer]

Got to say this result shows just how ridiculous the first past the post system is. If the results were based on how the population voted in percentage terms, the result would be:

Labour 234 seats
Tories 214 seats
LibDem 146 seats
Others 52 seats

And wouldn't that make an interesting parliament? (It would actually be a hung parliament).

Edit. It gets worse; in England, Labour actually had less votes than the Tories: Labour on 7,959,919 and Conservative on 7,986,393. How fucking insane is that??

 

[tris-]

labour. i heard tony say the best thing the other day. the other parties just complaining about the iraq war and saying thats all tony has ever done. tony said people want to vote labour but because of one mistake, they will vote someone else even though they dont agree with what they said. and thats exactly what the other parties want.
people would rather see labour fail, even though they agree with them. thats british for yah. instead of looking at the good things, put a huge spot light on the bad things. or if it is a good thing, just criticse it to hell.

 

[Ch3tan]

Embattle those officers walking the streets. Do they actually tackle crime or give out parkig tickets?

DaGaffer. Fucking LOL. That really is a joke, oh well, nothing will be done about it for 4 years.

 

[Embattle]

Embattle those officers walking the streets. Do they actually tackle crime or give out parkig tickets?

Well unless I decided to stalk them, thus get myself in to trouble I wouldn't know for sure....although they don't seem to do parking tickets, they would hardly need to with the sheer amount of wardens around now

 

[Danya]

Good God. I mean, christ - we've agreed on things before, but nothing significant. I'm actually a little freaked out right now - I was almost certain you'd be voting tory.

Not the only one, I thought Bodhi would be Tory for sure.

As for people not getting canvassed - you can have some of my fliers if you feel hard done by. Past week it's been roughly 1 per day per party (well LD and tory, labour didn't bother here).

I voted LD. The day I vote tory they'll have to prise the ballot paper from my cold dead hand.