PTP, how did you get on last night?

[Goku]

Did you win the election?
Have you now been demoted to the position of sleazy politician, do you have previous experience in compulsive lying, and what is your starting price for bribery?

 

[theoriginalphantom]

Do you intend to sh@g your staff? Girlywhirly and soldiersgurl are free (in every sense)

 

[PartTimePongo]

Got hammered by the Tories Turnout in the region of 24% which was dire.

Mind you , I wasn't nearly as upset as the Labour candidate. When Margaret Hodge said last night "Oh I don't think Labour council candidates are blaming our misfortunes on my comments" I had to laugh.

I'm here to tell you Mrs. Hodge , that at least 2 of your candidates who lost seats they could have won actually described you as a C**t. One of the candidates who lost by not a lot of votes in a Birmingham ward actually ranted for 2 minutes straight that the Government had let it's core down very badly indeed.

BNP picked up a lot of votes with the Grey brigade last night too. Excellent tactics, put a team outside Post Offices on pension day , and tell the little old dears that "If you don't vote BNP , the P*ki's will move in and the Council will take your pensions in increased council taxes to pay for it"

Scum.

 

[Warrior_Poet]

Was that a deleted Post Pongo? Very democratic!

 

[jest265]

Was that a deleted Post Pongo? Very democratic!

When will this Cnut get an Oxygen Thief tag?

Commiserations PTP, at least you tried. This countries politics need sorting out sharpish. The turnout is getting so low becuae nobody knows who to vote for. The only ones who can now be arrsed to vote are the racists scared into it by the BNP.

 

[Goku]

The only ones who can now be arrsed to vote are the racists scared into it by the BNP.

What about those of us who take an interest in legitimate politics?

 

[drain_sniffer]

W_P, how can you have a want for democracy, yet be a facist?

 

[jest265]

The only ones who can now be arrsed to vote are the racists scared into it by the BNP.

What about those of us who take an interest in legitimate politics?

well yeah those aswell, but sadly there aren't enough of us to make such a big difference. Too many who were getting interested in Politics have now become disillusioned.

 

[Warrior_Poet]

Jest, if the 02 Thief Cap fits, I suggest you wear it. People are voting BNP because it is impossible to question the current status quo and not be labelled a racist. It just doesn't mean anything anymore. Ordinary people are tired of being betrayed and being second class citizens in their own country.
The real racists are the metropolitan set who would move house if an Asylum seeker came within 10 streets of them. Hypocrite!

 

[DrStealth]

What about those of us who take an interest in legitimate politics?

we are in dire need of new and or reformed political partys, both labour and the torys need a big kick up the pants to attract more voters and to break the cycle of apathy among the non voting public, a % that's growing alarmingly.

 

[theoriginalphantom]

Moving to avoid them is racist, yet barring them from the country isn't?

 

[Warrior_Poet]

Drain Sniffer, the real facists are those in power who outlaw dissent. I do not agree with a lot of people on this site but would fight passionately for their right to disagree with me. Unfortunately this process is not a two way street. Freedom of speech must be the freedom to question and to disagree. I have a problem with the hypocrisy of so called Liberals.

 

[PartTimePongo]

Freedom of speech is not an excuse to propogate bald lies and devisive statements. The council have no plans whatsoever to move people into the area concerned to the detriment of existing residents.

It was a lie, and it was scaremongering. That is abuse of freedom of speech.

 

[Maj_Boothroyd]

Extremist parties always tend to be single-issue parties and grab votes on that issue. This usually has the effect of waking up the mainstream parties to what people really care about. The main parties then adapt their policy to include the relevent single-issue. A few years ago the mainstream parties couldn't even spell "environment" let alone have policies on the subject; until the Green Party started picking up votes, then all the parties went green (environmentally or with envy?). My MP is Dr Robert Taylor, a retired doctor who stood against the sitting Neu Arbeit MP on the single issue of save Kidderminster Hospital; however I don't think the save Kiddermnster Hospital party is ever going to do well nationally.

We need the extremists like the BNP and Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party to keep the mainstream on their toes. And if none of them represent your views, do a PTP and stand for yourself. But when the Recording Officer anounces, the one that wins is still YOUR representative, whether you voted for them or not.

Edited to add...

I look forward to seeing the look on the BNP councillors' faces when the less-white members of their wards come in with a problem for them to sort

 

[Pteranadon]

I had a long chat on Wed evening with someone who used to be a Tory counsillor and worked in Tory party head office. In his popinion one of the must useful things he discovered was that if you spoil your ballot paper, what you have written is shown to the candidates.

At the very least you have an opporunity to make a anonymous personal statement which will be read by them

 

[ViroBono]

Unlucky, PTP, but hopefully you'll stand again in future.

 

[PartTimePongo]

I will Viro , just unsure of the banner it will be under.....

 

[Goku]

I will Viro , just unsure of the banner it will be under.....

Have you considered running for the monster raving loony party?

 

[Myss]

Jest, if the 02 Thief Cap fits, I suggest you wear it. People are voting BNP because it is impossible to question the current status quo and not be labelled a racist. It just doesn't mean anything anymore. Ordinary people are tired of being betrayed and being second class citizens in their own country.
The real racists are the metropolitan set who would move house if an Asylum seeker came within 10 streets of them. Hypocrite!

Far from being a racist or a BNP voter, but I personally know of a handful of people from 'ethnic groups' who unfortunatelyvoted BNP due to the choice of the other councillors in the area (E. London) and their policies. I know even more who have been affected by the housing and immigrant 'crisis' in the area, and are well annoyed that it persists.
Well done Ms. Hodge for the added publicity and the lack of backbone to tackle the issue.

 

[fas_et_gloria]

At risk of submitting thoughts which fail to live up to this;

Damn me Fas , that must be your most grown-up post to date , a fine contribution.

...

PTP

The conclusion which I reach is that the main parties simply don't care. This might well be a function of the fact that those who actually hold power are sitting in safe seats, one way or the other. A sub-Unit Commander from my regiment who stood for parliament at the last general election relates that the only feedback from party HQ on the day after results night was a CC1 text requesting the candidates to return their pagers. No PXR, no thanks for the hard work, little apparent concern whatsoever.
It's indicative of the nature of politics in a 'democracy' which allows universal suffrage and denies Proportional Representation on the basis that it is not in the interests of the main parties:

- Parliament is always going to have a sitting majority - and recent experience leads to the conclusion that a significant majority in the hands of the leadership is dangerous to democracy in that it tends to foster, at the very least, a Presidential-style dictatorship

- Some seats are bound to be safe one way or the other - leading to the disenfranchisement of a significant proportion of the electorate. In discussion with a well know Labour ex-MP, who lost her seat at the last election, about the boundary moves which have taken me from a marginal constituency into a safe Labour seat, I was recently told that it was not gerrymandering, and that in the final analysis I was not disenfranchised on the basis that I had the option of selling my house and moving somewhere else.

- Those who are not citizens in the strict (and original) sense of the word tend, to the extent that they vote at all, to vote in favour of the party whom ‘they think’ offer them the best personal option in the short term, rather than the best option for the nation in the medium to long term. Politicians are inevitably going to offer policies which gain the favour of the electorate by 'buying' their vote in the short term; who cares what becomes of the situation in four years' time, there'll have been another election by then... Sadly, on this basis, there is not an overwhelming difference between those who tell OAPs that the council is filling the ward with Asians and those who campaign on the basis of the good of the nation - when in fact they nothing of the sort in mind. I know that there's the difference between an outright lie and a subtle subversion of the truth - but they remain, nevertheless, points on the same continuum.