2015 UK general election

[Eamonnca1]

PMQs was good crack yesterday. Funny so so much of the media missed the rise of the SNP over the years.

[bennydorano]

On now on Channel 4 / Sky / BBC news now. Cameron & Milliband Live: The Battle for #10.

[seafoid]

Hung parliament, most likely

[Rossfan]

Is Robinson still excluded from the Leaders' debates?

[armaghniac]

Is Robinson still excluded from the Leaders' debates?

There is one debate with everyone involved, which will be complete bollix, even if Robinson is a master debater.

[bennydorano]

Watched most of thon on Channel 4, hard to watch at times. Labour's biggest problem is obviously Milliband, the audience, Paxman and Burley (??) from Sky all palpably had little or no respect for him, his performance was meh. Maybe it's  my own political bias showing but I definitely thought the part of the show conducted by Burley gave our Dave a free ride & Ed had to deal with a few snarkey comments from her  & the audience. If that's  the standard of debate we're in for it's going to be a dull General Election. Did Paxman only interview Ed or did i doze off?

[Farrandeelin]

PMQs was good crack yesterday. Funny so so much of the media missed the rise of the SNP over the years.

The RTE correspondent said the SNP will take a lot of Labour seats in Scotland...yet the Scots don't want independence. It's a funny old world.

[Eamonnca1]

When it comes to debates its hard to beat Clegg. Look what happened last time!

[Owenmoresider]

Is Robinson still excluded from the Leaders' debates?

There is one debate with everyone involved, which will be complete bollix, even if Robinson is a master debater.

The debate next week is between the 7 British party leaders, i.e. Conservative, Labour, Liberals, UKIP, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru. They say they will facilitate the NI parties during the campaign but that's likely to be the usual horseshit.

Did Paxman only interview Ed or did i doze off?

Missed that myself but afaik Cameron got grilled by Paxman first and then Burley, Red Ed was the other way round.

Personally would like to see three things happen come May, Tories to remain the largest party, SNP to wipe the floor in Scotland and the Lib Dems to be reduced to single figures.

[Maguire01]

PMQs was good crack yesterday. Funny so so much of the media missed the rise of the SNP over the years.

The RTE correspondent said the SNP will take a lot of Labour seats in Scotland...yet the Scots don't want independence. It's a funny old world.

It's not a funny old world at all. In a First Past The Post Election the winner in each constituency regularly gets less than 50% of the vote. The SNP could clean up in Scotland and be very consistent with the independence poll.

[seafoid]

PMQs was good crack yesterday. Funny so so much of the media missed the rise of the SNP over the years.

The RTE correspondent said the SNP will take a lot of Labour seats in Scotland...yet the Scots don't want independence. It's a funny old world.

The save the union effort last year was a desperate rearguard effort. SNP support kept on rising afterwards. The mainstream parties are losing voters especially on the way the economy is going and in Scotland the 2 factors are coming together.

[Kidder81]

PMQs was good crack yesterday. Funny so so much of the media missed the rise of the SNP over the years.

The RTE correspondent said the SNP will take a lot of Labour seats in Scotland...yet the Scots don't want independence. It's a funny old world.

The save the union effort last year was a desperate rearguard effort. SNP support kept on rising afterwards. The mainstream parties are losing voters especially on the way the economy is going and in Scotland the 2 factors are coming together.

Surely the economy is improving ?

[seafoid]

PMQs was good crack yesterday. Funny so so much of the media missed the rise of the SNP over the years.

The RTE correspondent said the SNP will take a lot of Labour seats in Scotland...yet the Scots don't want independence. It's a funny old world.

The save the union effort last year was a desperate rearguard effort. SNP support kept on rising afterwards. The mainstream parties are losing voters especially on the way the economy is going and in Scotland the 2 factors are coming together.

Surely the economy is improving ?

not really. . house prices are up all right but a lot of poorer people are very scared about the future.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/16/insecure-britain-poll-economic-recovery-immigration

because they are bearing the cost of economic adjustment
http://fairpayfortnight.org/post/112038025393/almost-700-000-people-in-uk-have-zero-hours
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/03/victims-britains-harsh-welfare-sanctions

the deficit is still rising and Osborne can't get it down

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/88227ee6-7729-11e4-8273-00144feabdc0.html

So there are huge cuts coming if the Tories get back in. Sandi Toksvig said the Tories put the "n" back in cuts, which was very good.
"The UK chancellor will promise large cuts in public spending relative to gross domestic product, resulting in a budgetary tightening of over 5 per cent of GDP between 2014-15 and 2018-19 . As a result of shortfalls in income tax receipts , spending restraint may need to last even longer into the next parliament than expected"

NHS funding is flat. Police, teachers, NHS employees, civil servants- they are all getting hit and won't necessarily
vote Tory or Labour.

It is not looking good at all

[seafoid]

Watched most of thon on Channel 4, hard to watch at times. Labour's biggest problem is obviously Milliband, the audience, Paxman and Burley (??) from Sky all palpably had little or no respect for him, his performance was meh. Maybe it's  my own political bias showing but I definitely thought the part of the show conducted by Burley gave our Dave a free ride & Ed had to deal with a few snarkey comments from her  & the audience. If that's  the standard of debate we're in for it's going to be a dull General Election. Did Paxman only interview Ed or did i doze off?

Labour also has the problem of credibility on the economy. Ed Balls was Gordon Brown's right hand man and is associated with light touch regulation which banjaxed the financial system 
Another problem is the sense that the people in charge in the big parties are all wonks who are too far removed from the real world.
   http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jun/17/labour-candidates-marginal-seats-westminster-insiders

[bennydorano]

Maybe it shows the type of geek i am, but thought Channel 4's 'Coalition' drama last night was first class, well worth watching (if you've an interest!)