The 2017 General Election campaign

[Bernie Gunther]

Anyone voting for this lot?

The.Space.Navies

 

[kabbes]

Anyone voting for this lot?

The.Space.Navies

We Intend to place more images on this page which are specific to the Space Navies but for the moment we have placed some Space and other images we like for you to enjoy. Do not read too much into them as they are a selection including some taken from from our web design software programme's feebies. we like the Multicoloured hands etc as they suggest Diversity and Gayness, we like inages of The Earth especially with Multicoloured people around it. so now you know what's going on Here.

Awesome.

 

[Orang Utan]

ah yes, I can't campaign against a Green candidate or I'd be kicked out of the party, but voting is an entirely different matter.

We've also been campaigning to pick up pissed of lib dem votes as there's a proportion of them who still won't vote Labour, but are pissed off enough to vote for us as their protest vote against the lib dem tactics..

I started off the campaign thinking that it didn't really matter that much if it was lib dem or labour here, as the lib dems had said they'd not support a tory minority government. That changed when they also said they'd not support a Labour minority government, then sent out mountains of campaign material saying to vote lib dem to stop labour / corbyn.

It's been an odd election, around here we've stood down in 2 constituencies and actively leafleted in part of one of them to swing the vote behind Labour. Then in my constituency we're standing but most of our support has swung to Labour, and we've struggled to get any enthusiasm for the campaign. Mostly we've been standing now because there's an all out council election next year that we stand a good chance of winning some seats in on 2nd preference votes, and if we didn't stand now that probably wouldn't happen. Also if we didn't stand it wasn't really clear which if any of the other 2 parties would have benefited the most from it, it could well have benefited the lib dems more.

Labour this time around is a very different kettle of fish to 2015 when they were a tory lite, austerity supporting party

don't you feel just a teeny bit like a hypocrite?

 

[emanymton]

The problem is that the argument will be that this happens because and through the labour party. Where is the breakout? It captures people into it's parliamentary orbit. It's defined by it.

This is why despite all the hope people have invested in Corbyn (including myself to be honest), I can't help feeling that in the long run, all this might actually be a bad thing. But I really fucking hope not.

 

[free spirit]

Echo chamber. Mostly because I suspect your aren't friends with Tories.

I'd figured that one out already.

Though 7 years ago it would have been mostly lib dems, 2 years ago it was about half and half labour and green, and there's definitely a hell of a lot more people actively posting about voting than there was in 2015, so it does give a bit of a snap shot of what's going on with a subset of the population, and is encouraging me to think that the youth vote for Labour will be significantly higher than last time.

 

[kabbes]

Anyone voting for this lot?

The.Space.Navies

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Funnier if you walked straight into the pub/shop next door

Even funnier bricking the car when it pulled up.

 

[Teaboy]

Funnier if you walked straight into the pub/shop next door

Yeah. Popped into the bookies and then strolled out two minutes later to collect my lift home.

 

[free spirit]

don't you feel just a teeny bit like a hypocrite?

no. I feel a lot like we've got a broken electoral system that I'm attempting to negotiate my way around until it gets fixed.

We clearly weren't going to win it, but that doesn't mean we can't use our campaigning to influence the vote so that the candidate who's nearest to our position is more likely to win. It's also about having a platform to change / challenge the political narrative that bypasses the mainstream media. IMO the Green's 2015 campaign laid the groundwork for Corbyn's election as Labour leader, and his manifesto and campaign now.

Having a 2nd party also saying very similar things now and pointing out that austerity is a choice not a necessity etc helps to support Labour's case, and undermine that of the Tories, whether that's at hustings, in leaflets or in the leaders debates.

 

[Orang Utan]

no. I feel a lot like we've got a broken electoral system that I'm attempting to negotiate my way around until it gets fixed.

We clearly weren't going to win it, but that doesn't mean we can't use our campaigning to influence the vote so that the candidate who's nearest to our position is more likely to win.

when would that ever be Green?
did you campaign in the same constituency you voted in?

 

[bemused]

I can see a polling station from here, if my memory wasn't so shit I'd know if the turn out was better than last time.

 

[Pickman's model]

I can see a polling station from here, if my memory wasn't so shit I'd know if the turn out was better than last time.

Pop down there and ask

 

[bemused]

Pop down there and ask

I've started videoing it.

 

[rekil]

Ah shit. Forgot about that. Would have been hilarious to see them turn up to give a lift (to a perfectly able person) 50m round the corner to the polling station.

"Keep it under 10 mph please or I'll get sick. And swing by the shops. Can't vote without me lucky sausages!"

 

[danny la rouge]

I've started videoing it.

Not at all weird. I wouldn't worry about myself if I was you.

 

[bemused]

Not at all weird. I wouldn't worry about myself if I was you.

I was worried people would think me a bit odd videoing them voting from this window. Easily solved I've found a balaclava.

 

[bi0boy]

I was worried people would think me a bit odd videoing them voting from this window. Easily solved I've found a balaclava.

You need to go down there and ask them their dates of birth so we can tell whether it's a youth-led Corbyn surge or not.

 

[danny la rouge]

I was worried people would think me a bit odd videoing them voting from this window. Easily solved I've found a balaclava.

 

[chilango]

This is why despite all the hope people have invested in Corbyn (including myself to be honest), I can't help feeling that in the long run, all this might actually be a bad thing. But I really fucking hope not.

Nah.

It'll be instructive as to how there is no parliamentary road to socialism. That lesson will either be learnt over the next 5 years or at about 10.25 tonight.

But at least we're talking about that rather than just "fighting the cuts".

 

[bemused]

Why did no one tell me that spoilt papers had to be read out to the candidates? I'm gutted.

 

[Wilf]

My dad is not able to vote because he's stuck in hospital after a routine operation went sideways yesterday. Thankfully he was in an NHS hospital so although he needed a second emergency surgery all the resources were on hand for this eventuality and he's likely to recover pretty soon.

I can't help but think though that this is exactly the sort of situation which could easily cause fatalities in a piecemeal, half-privatised NHS. My dad's operation is exactly the sort of routine procedure private providers will want to bid for. These private hospitals won't have a full range of specialists on hand, nor emergency facilities, and so may be unable to respond to unexpected complications.

Not sure why I'm posting this here, but it all just feels like a bad omen. Another five years of the tories butchering the NHS (they're already planning for this, the documents proving it are out in the public domain) and instead of a sore, grumpy but ultimately OK dad the very same situation might leave me with no dad.

Basically I've got the same thought ringing through my head over and over again: the tories are gonna win, and many more people are gonna die needlessly

Hope your Dad's okay.

I had part of my thyroid removed last year after a cancer scare. I was an NHS patient in a Nuffield hospital because it was the quickest appointment of the ones they offered me - turned out they also do the op if you are referred to them for the outpatient appointment. The bones in my neck are also fused so there could have been an issue with them getting the breathing tubes down my throat. The hospital apparently only had 1 of the pieces of specialist equipment to get access, which I found out in a meeting with the anaesthetist 2 days before the op. The plan was, if there were problems, they would wake me up and transfer me to the NHS hospital where they have the other bit of (no doubt expensive) kit.

Turned out everything was fine in every respect - they did the op okay and I didn't have cancer. But it was an illustration of exactly what you were saying. Even aside from all the problems of waking someone up, transfers to other hospitals, there's the worry bit of it. I wasn't that fussed about it being cancer as it happens, but I did spend the last 48 hours before the op with thoughts going round about oxygen starvation and whether I should be even cancelling the thing. Yeah, even with a 'public' NHS, there'll be lots more mistakes, lack of continuities in treatment and things going missing.

 

[chilango]

The problem is that the argument will be that this happens because and through the labour party. Where is the breakout? It captures people into it's parliamentary orbit. It's defined by it.

in the unlikely event that we end up with a Labour (led) government the conversations can soon be about where are the the things that people hoped for? Why havent we got them? How can we get them?...and without Labour (or a more "Left" Labour) being an option anymore.

Of course there'll be the "keep the Tories out" narrative to counter, but that will only gain traction if Labour are delivering stuff.

It's also easy to get a bit swept up in "election fever", as a participant cheering on a team you don't really support just so you've got a stake in the game (I'm guilty of this) or of observing this happen and worrying that"anarchists for Corbyn" is a lasting shift. I don't think it is.

Normal service will resume within a matter of days, if not hours.

 

[Orang Utan]

Have not seen one single leaflet, poster or advert for the Conservatives, out in the real world or online.
I guess they don't need it to bother cos they have the newspapers that people read.

 

[Orang Utan]

Why did no one tell me that spoilt papers had to be read out to the candidates? I'm gutted.

Surely that's not true? source?

 

[MochaSoul]

Why did no one tell me that spoilt papers had to be read out to the candidates? I'm gutted.

OOHHHHH! I'd write a few to Raab.

e2a: dang it's true. Imagine a run of Saramago's Seeing
2nd edit: Nah they're not! They're just opened and shown

General Election 2017: How To Spoil Your Ballot Paper | HuffPost UK

 

[ViolentPanda]

The problem is that the argument will be that this happens because and through the labour party. Where is the breakout? It captures people into it's parliamentary orbit. It's defined by it.

Been explaining this over and over again to people converting to Corbynism.

 

[bemused]

Surely that's not true? source?

I've been told by someone who volunteers counting them that each of the spoiled papers is reviewed with the candidates because they can appeal them as valid votes.

 

[danny la rouge]

I've been told by someone who volunteers counting them that each of the spoiled papers is reviewed with the candidates because they can appeal them as valid votes.

This is true. They'll try to make a case for "the elector making a clear choice". The ones who fuck it up are the ones who sign their name. That's "elector has identified him or herself".

 

[bemused]

This is true. They'll try to make a case for "the elector making a clear choice". The ones who fuck it up are the ones who sign their name. That's "elector has identified him or herself".

I'm gutted, the cheeky chap within me would like to write 'I vote for XXX even thou they are a smug cunt' in the hope that it was so close they'd argue for it to be included

 

[danny la rouge]

I'm gutted, the cheeky chap within me would like to write 'I vote for XXX even thou they are a smug cunt' in the hope that it was so close they'd argue for it to be included

The candidate would definitely argue to have that counted. The other candidates would be trying to have it not counted.