In the pub tonight most people said they favoured Nicola Sturgeon. What a pity this is S E UK..

[Hocus Eye.]

So a random conversation came up and 5 of 5 people involved wanted to vote for Nicola Sturgeon. We cannot vote SNP here in the South East of England. This does not bode well for Whatshisname, leader of the Labour Party whom everyone has to fall back on if we don't want the Tories back. Miliband, that's his name, I remember it now.

 

[Celyn]

Vote Socialist if possible or vote Green. If no better choice, vote for the supposed "Labour" party. But there has to be, and really must be a better choice than the Labour Party as is now.

 

[dishevelled]

I always wanted to live to see the day that Scotland became independent... I never thought I'd live to see the day that the SNP governed the UK.

You really should have seen this coming... it's been over 40 years in the making... this didn't just happen in the last year. You can blame Thatcher and '79 for that.

Anyway... you'lll be better off with us helping you now

 

[Artaxerxes]

I always wanted to live to see the day that Scotland became independent... I never thought I'd live to see the day that the SNP governed the UK.

Why not? Scotland has a long history of coming down here and governing the UK

 

[dishevelled]

Why not? Scotland has a long history of coming down here and governing the UK

You're being pedantic. This is the SNP we're talking about, not some hairy arsed individual.

 

[SaskiaJayne]

This is the politics of personality. An unfortunate human trate is finding some people attractive & others unattractive & judging them just on that. Nicola Sturgeon comes across as articulate & engaging. Ed Milliband by accident of birth has a slight facial deformity that affects his speech slightly. It makes him come across as slightly odd & weird, we might call it 'geeky' for want of a better word. None of this should affect the person. We live in a democracy anyway, no one person has all the power. Look at Obama, articulate, good looking, engaging, some people regarded him almost as a messiah, but the US president is not a dictator, in the end it matters not what he looks likes or how well he talks the talk, & so it is with UK politics.

 

[Citizen66]

We live in a democracy anyway,

 

[CNT36]

For you maybe. Everyone else seems to be talking about the SNP's rise, Labours failing and some pedantic points about Scotland.

 

[Chilli.s]

Had a similar conversation too.

 

[brogdale]

This is the politics of personality. An unfortunate human trate is finding some people attractive & others unattractive & judging them just on that. Nicola Sturgeon comes across as articulate & engaging. Ed Milliband by accident of birth has a slight facial deformity that affects his speech slightly. It makes him come across as slightly odd & weird, we might call it 'geeky' for want of a better word. None of this should affect the person. We live in a democracy anyway, no one person has all the power. Look at Obama, articulate, good looking, engaging, some people regarded him almost as a messiah, but the US president is not a dictator, in the end it matters not what he looks likes or how well he talks the talk, & so it is with UK politics.

Could be that the former is articulating an anti-austerity agenda, and the latter is sticking to the neo-liberal lies?

 

[toblerone3]

Interesting coalition builder game on BBC website. Many scenarios involving SNP holding balance of power.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32336071

 

[paolo]

I didn't want the union break up, but am hugely cheered by the SNP. The last significant socialist party in the UK?

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Well, I guess we could hope that the 'minor' parties have picked up enough momentum to build something more effective on, after Labour turn out to be neoliberal stooges again.

 

[paolo]

For years I wished we had PR - I still do - but we now, oddly, thankfully I'd say, have a version. I'm liking the "no single winner" outcome, even though it means my chosen winner won't "win".

 

[brogdale]

Well, I guess we could hope that the 'minor' parties have picked up enough momentum to build something more effective on after Labour turn out to be neoliberal stooges again.

The nationalists have already effected some sort of 'Pasokification' in Scotland.

 

[Celyn]

I didn't want the union break up, but am hugely cheered by the SNP. The last significant socialist party in the UK?

It needn't be.

 

[paolo]

It needn't be.

go on

 

[SaskiaJayne]

Its th

Could be that the former is articulating an anti-austerity agenda, and the latter is sticking to the neo-liberal lies?

I don't think thats the reason. NS is warm & friendly, thats why she is liked. EM comes over as weird & strange, thats why he is disliked. We were all taken in by 'I'm yer mate' Blair because he talked the talk. Everybody expected Obama to achieve the impossible because he seemed almost like a messiah at the dawn of a new age. But really its just about whether we find somebody attractive or repellant.

Some politicians are inarticulate, Ed Balls, some are too aritculate & they come over as just too slick & clever, Chuka Umanna, others like Nicola Sturgeon get it just right.

 

[paolo]

On the basis - simplistic I know - of google searches during the first debate... SNP could sweep up a fair few votes in England. I know this came too late for them to consider, but imagine next time, fielding candidates.

It would mean a big decision for the SNP philosophy. Is it about socialist ideology or nationalism? If it's the latter, the fielding of candidates can never happen. If it's the former, they could reach out. On Sturgeon's polling, I reckon they could take a few English seats.

And they should. They have something to say, and it shouldn't be limited by borders.

 

[Athos]

This is the politics of personality. An unfortunate human trate is finding some people attractive & others unattractive & judging them just on that. Nicola Sturgeon comes across as articulate & engaging. Ed Milliband by accident of birth has a slight facial deformity that affects his speech slightly. It makes him come across as slightly odd & weird, we might call it 'geeky' for want of a better word. None of this should affect the person. We live in a democracy anyway, no one person has all the power. Look at Obama, articulate, good looking, engaging, some people regarded him almost as a messiah, but the US president is not a dictator, in the end it matters not what he looks likes or how well he talks the talk, & so it is with UK politics.

Er... no. I dislike Millibnd for his politics, not his 'geekiness'.

 

[paolo]

Er... no. I dislike Millibnd for his politics, not his 'geekiness'.

For context, anyone you favour? Not a trick question.

 

[Athos]

For context, anyone you favour? Not a trick question.

No, don't trust any of them.

 

[brogdale]

No, don't trust any of them.

I trust Labour to make cuts in order to 'balance the books'.

 

[dishevelled]

They have something to say, and it shouldn't be limited by borders.

What would you lot be squabbling about just now, if Scotland had got independence last year?

 

[butchersapron]

I didn't want the union break up, but am hugely cheered by the SNP. The last significant socialist party in the UK?

They're not a socialist party though- they're a classic pro-capital bourgeois nationalist party with long standing ties to small/medium capitalist interests. There are socialist members - but there are also members whose politics are far to the right of even today's labour party. The billions of cuts they've done since 2010 - socialists cuts? Nationalist cuts?

 

[paolo]

What would you lot be squabbling about just now, if Scotland had got independence last year?

It would, from a socialist pov, be horrible. Chuckles north of the border, much less south.

 

[maomao]

Its th
I don't think thats the reason. NS is warm & friendly, thats why she is liked. EM comes over as weird & strange, thats why he is disliked. We were all taken in by 'I'm yer mate' Blair because he talked the talk. Everybody expected Obama to achieve the impossible because he seemed almost like a messiah at the dawn of a new age. But really its just about whether we find somebody attractive or repellant.

Some politicians are inarticulate, Ed Balls, some are too aritculate & they come over as just too slick & clever, Chuka Umanna, others like Nicola Sturgeon get it just right.

Nope, Sturgeon's appearance comes across as just another politico to me, if you changed the words coming out of her mouth I'd think she was a cunt like the rest. Similarly Miliband could win me over with even the slightest nod to leftwing politics, I don't give a fuck what he looks like, but I'll be voting SCP because he's obviously a neo-lib prick.

 

[brogdale]

They're not a socialist party though- they're a classic pro-capital bourgeois nationalist party with long standing ties to small/medium capitalist interests. There are socialist members - but there are also members whose politics are far to the right of even today's labour party. The billions of cuts they've done since 2010 - socialists cuts? Nationalist cuts?

Spot on. But it is significant that they required anti-austerity positioning, beyond their nationalist ambition, to establish mass appeal.

 

[maomao]

They're not a socialist party though- they're a classic pro-capital bourgeois nationalist party with long standing ties to small/medium capitalist interests. There are socialist members - but there are also members whose politics are far to the right of even today's labour party. The billions of cuts they've done since 2010 - socialists cuts? Nationalist cuts?

My mum's local SNP candidate is an estate agent specialising in selling council properties to BTL landlords apparently. They're certainly not a socialist party but we might end up slightly better off with them in a government so while I'm spoiling my vote in a Tory safe seat I'm actually hoping for a Labour-SNP coalition. Would certainly be more pleasant than a Tory-UKIP one.

 

[butchersapron]

Spot on. But it is significant that they required anti-austerity positioning, beyond their nationalist ambition, to establish mass appeal.

Thing was, prior to 2014 it wasn't that anti-austerity rhetoric they were relying on to gain mass support - it was fiscal responsibility, balancing the book,small businesses and the possibilities that globally mobile capital offered to scottish based bosses. So whilst they may have to reply on anti-austerity presentation those with longer standing ownership of the party haven't entirely abandoned it - they and their interests are still there.

As for the other suggestion,of them taking english seats - fantasy stuff. Not a hope in hell in any seat at all.