2015 The UK General Election

[sydney1]

At least Kim Howell's has the guts to admit it, Labour got a massive kicking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-32863727

I think Labour's attitude to the voters on this particular agenda to put it bluntly was f**king stupid..Should we stay in Europe or not? If so, can we have a referendum on staying/leaving? Labour's rank attitude until a day ago was: no, we don't need one, because if you vote for us, we will decide. This was arrogance of the highest order and basically saying: 'You're not smart enough, we'll do the thinking'.
Now it's taken a metaphorically massive kick in Labour's balls for them to basically do a 'volte face'and admit a referendum might not be such a bad idea.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32863749

Funnily enough if Cameron can get the rest of the Europeans to eat a bit of humble pie and try to reform a system that's rapidly spinning out of control and heading for an almighty crash. Then and only then, I think Most Britain's would opt for staying in.

[tamsmith]

Originally Posted by sydney1

I think Labour's attitude to the voters on this particular agenda to put it bluntly was f**king stupid..Should we stay in Europe or not? If so, can we have a referendum on staying/leaving? Labour's rank attitude until a day ago was: no, we don't need one, because if you vote for us, we will decide. This was arrogance of the highest order and basically saying: 'You're not smart enough, we'll do the thinking'.
Now it's taken a metaphorically massive kick in Labour's balls for them to basically do a 'volte face'and admit a referendum might not be such a bad idea.

I think Gordon Brown lost for the same reason. Labour took their core voters for granted. Until they see the picture they may never get into Power again.

[Charlie Black]

When the tabloids that most non-political Brits buy for their daily fix of sport and scandal pump out Tory propaganda on a daily basis, year in and year out, while vilifying the other parties, the election result was not that surprising. Cameron only won by a very narrow majority and the result bears no comparison whatsoever to the Labour landslide of 1945. I'm not a supporter of any party, but it strikes me that the likes of Boris Johnson are just in it for themselves.

As this is a porn site, I might point out that the Conservatives have always been very hostile to adult entertainment and have done everything to make it as difficult as possible for Brits to view it in the past. Now they are determined to censor the net and not just porn. And yes, I know Labour had similar plans had they won.

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by Charlie Black

When the tabloids that most non-political Brits buy for their daily fix of sport and scandal pump out Tory propaganda on a daily basis, year in and year out, while vilifying the other parties, the election result was not that surprising. Cameron only won by a very narrow majority and the result bears no comparison whatsoever to the Labour landslide of 1945.

Oh, it does bear comparison. Voters in England deserted the LibDems, crushing them. Voters in Scotland deserted Labour, crushing them. Its an epochal election.

In the last Parliament, Labour held 41 Scottish seats, and the LibDems 11, SNP 6 and Tories just 1.

In the next Parliament, the SNP will hold 56 of the 59 Scottish seats.

That's a landslide, a remaking of the political map of Britain; no other way to describe it.

The Tories were able to form governments without having many Scottish MPs (a total of 1), but Labour never has been able to.

You might fairly say that "The Tories didn't beat Labour that decisively". That's a fair statement; not many people who voted Labour in 2010 switched to Tory in 2015. Yet, Labour lost, and lost in a manner that's far more profound than one election-- they lost Scotland, utterly and completely. A fair statement might be "The Tories won, and the SNP beat Labour"

Its the most complete regional destruction of a political party in an election that I recall.

Also destroyed are the Liberal Democrats, who as of the 2010 election had 57 seats. Now they have 8.

And that would be the most complete national destruction of a political party that I can recall.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by deepsepia

Also destroyed are the Liberal Democrats, who as of the 2010 election had 57 seats. Now they have 8.

And that would be the most complete national destruction of a political party that I can recall.

This is similar to what happened to the Liberal Party in 1924. In 1918 the Liberals were in government and were one of the two main parties. In 1922 they won less than a third of the vote and only a quarter of the seats; Labour took their place as the second party. In 1924 the Liberals were squeezed in both directions after the fall of the brief Labour minority government. Former Liberal voters who detested the socialists voted Conservative. Others who wanted a more progressive government voted Labour. The centre ground became an echoing vault and the Liberals were left with 40 MPs. They would never again be able to muster a strong challenge for a majority in Parliament.

I suspect they'll still be around as they were in the 1950s but will struggle for quite a while to muster enough MPs to fill a minibus.

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by scoundrel

This is similar to what happened to the Liberal Party in 1924. In 1918 the Liberals were in government and were one of the two main parties. In 1922 they won less than a third of the vote and only a quarter of the seats; Labour took their place as the second party. In 1924 the Liberals were squeezed in both directions after the fall of the brief Labour minority government. Former Liberal voters who detested the socialists voted Conservative. Others who wanted a more progressive government voted Labour. The centre ground became an echoing vault and the Liberals were left with 40 MPs. They would never again be able to muster a strong challenge for a majority in Parliament.

I suspect they'll still be around as they were in the 1950s but will struggle for quite a while to muster enough MPs to fill a minibus.

I remember as a university student hearing Shirley Williams speak; seemed to all of us that she was the most reasonable politician we'd ever heard

Later, a group of us were in the office of our favorite professor, enthusing over her . . . he an older and wiser man gave a smile and said "if she appeals to you lot, now you know why she hasn't got a chance".

The world of "committed centrists" is and will remain small . . .

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by deepsepia

I remember as a university student hearing Shirley Williams speak; seemed to all of us that she was the most reasonable politician we'd ever heard

Later, a group of us were in the office of our favorite professor, enthusing over her . . . he an older and wiser man gave a smile and said "if she appeals to you lot, now you know why she hasn't got a chance".

The world of "committed centrists" is and will remain small . . .

[Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

~ Proverbs Chapter One Verse 20 - 22: King James Bible.

[Doodlebugged]

Originally Posted by Wendigo

Just a spoof news website as illustrated by
http://newsthump.com/2015/04/28/orvi...-keith-harris/

My entire post was sarcastic.