General Election 2015 - chat, predictions, results and post election discussion

[chilango]

Clwyd West (previously Clwyd NW previously Denbigh) Tory since 1959.

 

[Pickman's model]

/

 

[Plumdaff]

My Mother tells me they put a lot of work into Brecon and Radnor to unseat the incumbent Lib-Dem, focusing on the farmers in particular.

The surprising victory for me was Gower, but again, farmers, and very close. Cardiff North too but it contains areas where I'm sure people have been doing very well over the past few years. Vale of Clwyd, not so much.

 

[butchersapron]

Did i post this already?

see also

 

[weepiper]

In more 'out-lefting Labour' news, East Lothian's new SNP MP George Kerevan (who grew up in Drumchapel and is an ex-Labour councillor, as well as having been associate editor of the Scotsman newspaper) has said he's only going to take the median wage of £29,000 instead of the full MP salary.

 

[Belushi]

Sturgeon was very impressive on Andrew Marr this morning, and positioning herself as leader of all-anti austerity sentiment across the UK.

 

[Lord Camomile]

In more 'out-lefting Labour' news, East Lothian's new SNP MP George Kerevan (who grew up in Drumchapel and is an ex-Labour councillor, as well as having been associate editor of the Scotsman newspaper) has said he's only going to take the median wage of £29,000 instead of the full MP salary.

Fair play to him. You'd hope this would get some coverage and restart the debate about parliamentary wages, but I fear that is rather unlikely...

 

[weepiper]

Sturgeon was very impressive on Andrew Marr this morning, and positioning herself as leader of all-anti austerity sentiment across the UK.

I can't bring myself to watch those kinds of shows at the moment. Apparently he called us 'the Scottish Problem'.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

I do often worry about London's economic dependence on the coal mines of Lambeth and Walthamstow.

 

[J Ed]

I can't bring myself to watch those kinds of shows at the moment. Apparently he called us 'the Scottish Problem'.

I don't think I will be able to watch them for months, I could barely stand the sound or sight of Marr or Neil before the election.

 

[weepiper]

This is pleasing:

 

[frogwoman]

So what happened with the scottish tories then?

 

[sleaterkinney]

Mandleson is getting stuck into Milliband now.

We were sent off in 2010 on a giant political experiment, in which we were sent out and told to wave our fists angrily at the nasty Tories and wait for the public to realise how much they had missed us. Well, they weren’t missing us and they did not miss us. Instead, they ripped the stripes off our shoulders.

Literally, we were sent out and told to say things and to make an argument, if you can call it an argument, which basically said we are for the poor, we hate the rich, ignoring completely the vast swathes of the population who exist in between and who do have values like ours. They do like the Labour party, they are committed to social justice and fairness, and they do want a government like ours that leans heavily against inequalities in society. But they also want a a government that is economically competent and also realises that people have aspirations, they live in the real world, they want to better themselves, and if we are not with them in that, why on earth should they vote for us.

 

[weepiper]

So what happened with the scottish tories then?

Hamstrung by association with Cameron, I reckon. Ruth Davidson had a great campaign but there's only so much she could do against the overall tide of anti-Westminster sentiment. Plus, they're still the fucking Tories, eh?

 

[DotCommunist]

Mandleson is getting stuck into Milliband now.

the turd that refuses to stay flushed, I suppose his star will be in the ascendant again soon. urgh.

 

[Spanky Longhorn]

I do often worry about London's economic dependence on the coal mines of Lambeth and Walthamstow.

Apparently Walthamstow does have shale gas reserves...

 

[Quartz]

So what happened with the scottish tories then?

Overall vote down about 2%, I believe. Any tactical voting (Tory to Labour) was completely overwhelmed by the SNP landslide.

 

[oryx]

Just a thought, but has anything been said about any correlation between the new voting registration rules and the result? When I heard about it I reckoned it was likely to affect labour's tradition base than the torys'.

 

[kebabking]

the turd that refuses to stay flushed, I suppose his star will be in the ascendant again soon. urgh.

he's not the only Labour figure to say the same things about the Miliband strategy, and tbf from the leaflets i got, and conversations i've had at work, i'd say the same thing - Miliband had a policy for the very poor, and a policy for the rich, but for the vast, overwhelming majority who sit somewhere between the two there was nothing whatsoever.

Mandelson may not be be my personal political cup of tea, it would be foolish in the extreme to ignore his very obvious political talent and nouse. as Tony Blair, who won three elections saw, and Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, who won none, didn't.

 

[Pickman's model]

Just a thought, but has anything been said about any correlation between the new voting registration rules and the result? When I heard about it I reckoned it was likely to affect labour's tradition base than the torys'.

what, even more than the labour party's arrogance and abandonment of their traditional core support?

 

[DotCommunist]

I've no doubt of the PoD's political skills. I'd have a gnats chuff hair less disdain for him if he was an incompetent.

 

[butchersapron]

he's not the only Labour figure to say the same things about the Miliband strategy, and tbf from the leaflets i got, and conversations i've had at work, i'd say the same thing - Miliband had a policy for the very poor, and a policy for the rich, but for the vast, overwhelming majority who sit somewhere between the two there was nothing whatsoever.

Mandelson may not be be my personal political cup of tea, it would be foolish in the extreme to ignore his very obvious political talent and nouse. as Tony Blair, who won three elections saw, and Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, who won none, didn't.

His political nous appears to consist of simply saying that people should appeal to more people and painting everyone else as only trying to appeal only to a a restricted audience. In fact, that's a pretty much what all these types do. Be more popular with more people.

 

[kebabking]

His political nous appears to consist of simply saying that people should appeal to more people and painting everyone else as only trying to appeal only to a a restricted audience. In fact, that's a pretty much what all these types do. Be more popular with more people.

he did win elections though, and without winning election, political purity is nothing. as TUSC know all too well...

Milibands problem was not that he wasn't giving out freebies - after all, the 'middle' who voted Tory instead of Labour voted Tory because they believe there's no money - it was because he ignored their existance.

 

[Plumdaff]

He went on about the squeezed middle for five years.

 

[campanula]

Grrr, trying to ignore anything political but am repeatedly drawn back to this thread in much the same way as the financial collapse thread...but without any of the anticipatory glee.

 

[Libertad]

This aspiration narrative assumes that all people are striving to "better themselves" in financial terms. Is an aspiration to build a progressive society no longer acceptable?

 

[butchersapron]

he did win elections though, and without winning election, political purity is nothing. as TUSC know all too well...

Milibands problem was not that he wasn't giving out freebies - after all, the 'middle' who voted Tory instead of Labour voted Tory because they believe there's no money - it was because he ignored their existance.

The only thing he ever won was gifted to him by Ted leadbitter - he didn't mastermind 1997, that was happening whatever - and the 2001 and 2005 elections were just a result of that original huge majority insulating the party from serious challenge. His skill was in portraying this as all being down to him.

 

[Cid]

Point of order! A Bible, Koran, Book of Mormon, Torah, Kojiki, Tripitaka, etc in every cell. Can't be seen to be Christo-centric, can they?

Michael Gove.

 

[Pickman's model]

Michael Gove.

michael gove in every cell?

you'd be spreading him pretty thin, there's only something like 240 bones in the human body - you'd be hard pressed to share him among the inmates of pentonville let alone all the other gaols in the country.

 

[kebabking]

The only thing he ever won was gifted to him by Ted leadbitter - he didn't mastermind 1997, that was happening whatever - and the 2001 and 2005 elections were just a result of that original huge majority insulating the party from serious challenge. His skill was in portraying this as all being down to him.

i'd disagree to a point - certainly i'd accept that Labour defeating the tories in 1997 was going to happen regardless of policy or presentation, and that 2001 was also gifted to Labour by the Tories, but the size of those victories, and the acceptance by 'middle england' that Labour was the natural party of government and the Tories were incompetant nutjobs was (imv) brought about by Labour talking to, and about, people who weren't 'in need' of Labour, but who could be persuaded that Labour would be good for them, via being good for society.