Loz

Getting this part of the forum back to serious descussion... Not being a party political type, I'd like to start a discussion on what will happen tomorrow and the aftermath. My national vote has been for the LibDems this time around, but I've voted for yellow, red, blue and green in various previous elections, so hopefully this is reasonably unbiased. *Election Day* The latest poll of polls have Conservatives 35%, Labour 29%, Liberal Democrats 27%, and others 10%. But, the biggie here that doesn't show is the 'undecideds' - estimated at up to 40% of the electorate. That gives fairly high chance of the pollsters' figures being off. I think both Labour and the LibDems will do slightly better than the polls suggest, and the Tories a little worse. Labour will benefit from the undecideds going for the 'better the devil you know' and the LibDems benefiting from the late surge in registrations from younger voters, providing the turnout is high. That may be tempered by traditional LibDem difficulties in translating popular support into votes, but the Clegg-effect and the prospect of a hung parliament has taken away the 'wasted vote' tag. That will leave us well into hung parliament territory. My guess at seats? Labour with the most seats at about 270-290, Tories at about 240-260 and LibDems at about 90-95. *Coalitions* Brown has the right, as incumbent, to try and form a government. Nick Clegg can expect a call early Friday. If my seat predictions are correct, Tory + LibDem can just squeak in a majority (326) too, so Clegg can expect two calls. Will Clegg accept either offer? Will Brown try and form a minority government on his own? I think no official coalition will form and Brown will try to form the next government 'with LibDem support'. That will give Clegg the most leverage. If Labour were smart, they'd go into a coalition and let Clegg be PM. Everyone wins. Labour stay in power, but won't be seen to be the bad guys when the whole house of cards comes down. LibDems get to be in power and make a few major changes. The Tories get to set on the sidelines and look good. This, of course, will never happen. *Aftermath* In an election with no winners there are, arguably, no losers, either. Cameron can claim to have won the popular vote, Brown may still be in power and Clegg has done better than anyone expected. Clegg stays until the next election, whatever the outcome tomorrow. But Cameron, unless he forms an unlikely government, will go. This was his election to lose and he lost it. Osbourne will lose the shadow chancellorship as well. Brown is the tricky one. If he stays on and forms a government he will argue he should remain leader and Labour rules makes it very hard to depose a leader that doesn't want to go. Only a revolt by Labour senior figures may force his hand - and don't count that out. Brown is not exactly Mr Popularity - the Blairites still exist. If Brown gets anywhere near 28% of the popular vote (the previous Labour low water mark) he is in big trouble. The problem for Labour is: who next? Ed Balls has been positioning for a while, but the public has never warmed to him and he's done rather badly in this election campaign. Harriet Harman is, by her own admittance, unelectable. Could this be time for Ed Milliband to play that ace he's been holding up his sleeve for a while? Or will he continue to sit on his hands until the whole hung parliament saga is over? The Tories have a similar issue, but their cupboard is bare. Osbourne has been ripped apart during the campaign, but who else? Liam Fox? Dare William Hague stand up again? He's certainly a proven performer who would be chief mischief-maker on the opposition benches in a hung parliament. And people have warmed to him since he resigned and relaxed a bit. Well, that's my tuppence-ha'pennys worth. Anyone else - without party affiliations - want to take a stab?

So who did *you* report it to? (Since you asked the leaflet deliverer about his pay, and knew that 'steps are being taken'.)

So, now we have the answer as to DavidH's 'steps being taken'. Did her report the matter to HMRC? Did her report the matter to some other responsible authority? No. Never thought he would really. He reported it to the (*gasp of feigned surprise*) local Labour party. Now we apparently have Labour-marked vehicles running around like the proverbial Keystone Cops and harassing other party's volunteers. It's this sort of crap that makes me hate party politics of all colours. Why does it attract such a bunch of losers? So DavidH, what will you be doing for the Polish workers come Friday. Sweet sod all...

James, I think the answer to your question - and an indicator to the person who may just know who is responsible for the harassment - over here.

Vik Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > They're still open 24 hours Mon-Fri then they > close at midnight Friday. Just rechecked in the store and, nope, no more 24 hour shopping from the 9 May. Bookhopper had it right: 7am - Midnight Mon-Fri 7am - 10pm Saturday 11am - 5pm Sunday

Yeah, Brendon. It's a really famous book about a bloke that marries a supermodel. Then saws her in half.

And exactly how many other non-LibDem related leaflet paymasters have you checked out in the past year. My guess - less than one. And what are these 'steps' - reporting through the HMRC channel or reported to one of Rupert's lapdogs so they can try and make story almost as good as the 'Clegg's Researcher' non-scandal. Anyway. Go for it. I so hope that it turns out that the ?36 turns out to be net pay and you end up looking more than just a little foolish. And good luck with Mad Hattie. You do know that, since you are male, she hates you? She's much like Nick Griffin, but with a different target demographic.

You're not related to a guy named Kevin by any chance? You won't do anything about the actual bloke who pays these people. You're only 'concerned' because it is politically expedient. You ever thought of running for office? I'm sure you could fake sincerity with the best of them.

I just find it funny that you are so sure that the Tories and Labour would never do such a thing. Look, if you are so concerned, there are way to report these matters. In fact, the information is here. Posting on a local forum doesn't help the Polish people who are being allegedly underpaid one bit. Oh, hang on. You don't actually give a rat's bum about the delivery guys, do you? (slaps forehead)

I think you are being a little hard on Primark. Leave your things unattended pretty much anywhere and they will get nicked.

I thought the Tories used slaves? And I'm pretty sure that Labour make use an Army of the Undead, raised back to the Earth by Peter Mandelson.

Based on Woof's picture then the only thing to do when voting is remember the old rhyme: - If it's yellow, let it mellow - If it's Brown, flush it down

I think you are a bit confused here, Steve. The five year rule is for those living and working here legally. After you have been here five years, legally, you may apply for naturalisation/citizenship.

Actually, it could. In a hung parliament, the most likely coalition is Lab/LibDem. At the moment, the overall popular vote is slightly in favour of the LibDems and that would give them much more leverage in any coalition. In fact, if the LibDems come significantly higher than Labour in the popular vote, don;t be too surprised to see Nick Clegg pushing for the keys to Number 10. (I think it would be a very smart move on Labour's part to let Clegg be PM. Unfortunately, Labour's high command doesn't tend to do 'smart'.) So, deciding on a vote between Labout and LibDem in this election may have much more of a bearing than just who your MP is.

Aw, Tom, let me dream. I'd so love to see Hattie suffer this election's 'Portillo Moment'.

Well, LM, I would say there are two reasons to vote LibDem in your situation: 1) A better chance of an improved voting system so, next time around, voting Green won't be wasted 2) If you live in Camberwell and Peckham, the chance to dump Mad Hattie out on her pointless, useless, sexist a*$e.

Life and soul (or sole) or otherwise, at least I get invited to parties. Mind you, I can see an invite from a political party coming your way. Who did take over from Lord Sutch?

Lots of signs and leaflet up in Sainsburys DKH today informing one and all that the store will only open from 7am to midnight from next week. I wonder if this is a wider Sainsburys business decision to lower costs. I thought their profits were OK? And DKH is apparently one of their more profitable stores.

Hmmm. The Kevin Springer Show. Sounds plausible. (Crowd: KEV-IN, KEV-IN) Kevin Springer: Today we meet a man who is upset his email wasn't replied to. Let's meet Kevin! Kevin, you were ignored by a Southwark councillor... KD: Yes, this man sent me a letter and when I asked him a question, he... he... he didn't reply. (Kevin breaks down uncontrollably. A box of tissues is fetched from the side of the studio.) (Crowd: KEV-IN, KEV-IN) KD: I mean, if this doesn't show the man isn't fit for office, what would? How anyone could vote for a man who... who... (sobs again) ignores emails. He's just a complete... rotter. Kevin Springer: Have you tried setting up a website on the subject? KD: Of course! I mean, in this situation, what else could I do? It was the only sane course of action. (Crowd: KEV-IN, KEV-IN) [the rest can be seen on ITV2 sometime in the small hours of the morning]

At least I didn't go to the bizarre bother of buying a domain name, getting a web host and writing a web page, all because someone failed to reply to my email. And you are trying to claim the moral high ground here?

Do you even read you own contradictory utterings before you press 'post'? Personally, if the councillors have filed your correspondence under 'nutter', I wouldn't fault them.

Carrie, I'm in Mad Hattie-ville (aka Peckham and Camberwell) as well. No shortage of leaflets through our door.

Not just the LibDems, but Labour and the (ironically) the Greens. There's also been one Tory pamphlet, but that seemed like they were just trying to make it looked like they were making some sort of effort, when they've obviously diverted their efforts to other seats. We even have one from an independent candidate this morning, which I would generally describe as 'uninformative'. I have a brief look before adding them to the recycling pile. Some of the 'we are the only party that can beat the incumbent' stats/graphs are appalling and misleading. Really, it makes them look completely dishonest - and I'd have to say the Greens were the worst at this. (Though the wonderful statistical jiggery-pokery by the Independent to show that if all the non-voters last time came out and voted for her then she'd win was so wonderfully daft I had to smile.)

You have, from what I can see, made a serious allegation. The counsellors have passed it to their legal department. At that point, if I was the councillor, I'd stay out of the loop as well. Legal matters are best dealt with by the experts and councillors are, generally, not experts. You've been given the Strategic Director's name it has been passed to - that is the person to talk to. Councillors are there to run the council's day to day stuff. You have a specific complaint that has been passed to what sounds like the right person. Contacting them is the correct thing to do - writing childish websites won't get you anywhere (and from the various responses here, seems to have failed spectacularly). Also, you are being more than a little disingenuous - your website is entitled "Reason not to vote Liberal Democrat" and way down the bottom you try to wriggle out of this, saying "I am not telling anyone how they should vote." What exactly are you trying to achieve here?

He, heh. Love this quote... No mention of oil industry experience then. Or geology. He probably built a bridge, once. He also seems to have watched too many Hollywood movies where the only solution is a nuclear warhead (cf Armageddon, The Core, Deep Impact, etc, etc). I believe the cod phrase is "Deus Ex Nukina". The advantage the movies had here is that the laws of science did not apply. In the real world, sticking a large explosive device in a small hole will generally mean you end up with a large hole.