Voting today

[Jimbo200SX]

And as I live nowhere near London it doesn't affect me anyway

[NotDeadYet]

I live in the arse end of nowhere, carrots as far as the eye can see. The local paper's weekly crime column consists of stuff like: four cans of lager stolen from Spar... traffic cone put on head of statue of St Noideawhoheis... I can leave my dive kit for days in the back of my pickup and it doesn't even get looked at... What is the local Labour candidate campaigning on? Increasing CCTV coverage. I feel so much more happy about the 8% council tax increase that the useless bunch of gits brought in this year.

I've been a card carrying SNP member since I was at school, unfortunately there aren't many SNP candidates in west Lancashire. I'd rather receive bum love from a chimp than vote for the most right wing government we've ever had i.e. Labour, Liberals are a bunch of ineffectual, indecisive ditherers and the Tories are just Labour with Daily Mail support.

If I wasn't so apathetic then I'd spoil my vote so it's going to have to be an abstention from me. If you're a single, childless, mid-30's, wage earning tax payer then no politician gives a toss. If you're a whiney middle-class BMW driving couple with brats in an oversubscribed grammar school then they want to be Father Christmas to you (it's not just the Tories who have a lot of old, bearded men who want to empty their sacks anymore).

OK, fair enough, Mao made a lot of mistakes but he was on to something when he started shooting politicians. Let's face it, we don't have democracy anymore so we might as well.

Happy voting.

Yours cynically,

Stuart

[ratcliffe]

Other, as Leicester isn't voting this time around

[Lazlo]

Couldn't put it better than this:

It’s not for me to comment on the London mayoral election. Not living in the capital, it’s got nowt to do with me.

One thing though. If Boris Johnson does get voted in on Thursday, a law should be passed immediately prohibiting Londoners from making jokes about George W Bush. Only fair, I think.

Link

Doesn't stop me voting on this poll though .

[milldog]

I would have to vote conservative as Brown (labour Party) couldn't organize a F*** in a brothel with fifty quid sticking out of his top pocket

it's a shame theres not more following in someone else with fresh ideas

Graham

[NotDeadYet]

Originally Posted by machiavelli

I've never voted and have evaded the electoral register for over ten years. If we ever have anonymous registration, a secret ballot, a real choice of candidates and an electoral system where voting makes a difference in this ward then I might reconsider.

All that is achieved by voting here is to give the process the appearance of legitimacy. Noone can seriously claim that anyone elected in Liverpool Central ward last time derives any sort of mandate from a turn out of 11.8%.

Couldn't agree more. I don't vote because there is no-one whose policies I believe in. I am not giving up my voice, I don't have a voice. This government has shown that it will happily walk over all democratic process. Democracy is reading the will of the electorate and acting on it, it isn't acting on their own agenda then furiously backtracking when the will of the people starts getting ugly. Democracy also requires an opposition as well, it says a lot when a government has to rely on opposition votes to get policies through.

I honestly do not care who is in government in this country, it will either be tory or labour, neither are going to best for anyone except themselves, neither even deserve capitals in front of their names. Perhaps the best thing people could do is not vote and create such a constituional problem that something would have to change. And people wonder why so many Scots want independance from Westminster.

When I was a kid our MP was the current speaker of the Commons. He once earned the title of "least participation in discussions in the House of Commons" over the year, IIRC he had spoken 4 times over the course of the year. His attendance was certainly towards the bottom of the league. My only memory of seeing him in public was when he came to our Scouts prizegiving, drunk as a skunk, rambling for a couple of hours about all the jollies he'd had at the taxpayers' expense. That's who our political leaders are today. Bollocks to the lot of them.

[nickb]

Originally Posted by machiavelli

I'm glad to see that people make their choice based on the issues which really matter.

Rather ironic, given your initial post to this thread.

However, I think the attitude the candidate adopted by trapsing across my lawn rather than walking around, indicated exactly the sort of person she is.

She was most apologetic when I confronted her, but so is the postman when I have a go at him about it. And I'd sooner have my postie as the local councillor than a Tory.

[Druid]

Originally Posted by NotDeadYet

I'd rather receive bum love from a chimp than vote for the most right wing government we've ever had i.e. Labour, Liberals are a bunch of ineffectual, indecisive ditherers and the Tories are just Labour with Daily Mail support.

If I wasn't so apathetic then I'd spoil my vote so it's going to have to be an abstention from me. If you're a single, childless, mid-30's, wage earning tax payer then no politician gives a toss. If you're a whiney middle-class BMW driving couple with brats in an oversubscribed grammar school then they want to be Father Christmas to you (it's not just the Tories who have a lot of old, bearded men who want to empty their sacks anymore).

OK, fair enough, Mao made a lot of mistakes but he was on to something when he started shooting politicians. Let's face it, we don't have democracy anymore so we might as well.

Happy voting.

Yours cynically,

Stuart

I couldn't have said it better myself, except that I do make the effort to walk to the polling station to write "None of these" on my ballot paper.

[stevechesh]

I'd vote for Yoda, but i see there is no Jedi party

[machiavelli]

Originally Posted by dry suit diver

well when you complain about taxes etc or anything else the Govt do then don't as you lost your voice.

Only if you believe that voice would be effective.

Originally Posted by dry suit diver

its your choice to not vote though and my grandparents fought for that right for you.

Brown has pontificated about compulsory voting before but shut up when he realised that coerced voters would be unlikely to vote Labour. It's widely reckoned that compulsory voting tends to benefit the fringe parties, so it's not very likely to happen. And it dosn't help you with to 10% or so of the population who decline to register to vote.