badgerx16

cato

A comment from a 'leftie', ( as you asked for one ). From reading the entire article, it would appear that the cards are generated from a database used by both Tories & Labour ( "Experian, the data management company, confirmed that both Labour and the Conservatives use its Mosaic database, which divides voters into 67 groups. The databases can use anonymised hospital statistics, including postcodes and the diagnoses of patients, to identify the likely addresses of those with particular illnesses" ). This is not to suggest this is a correct use of such information, I personally think it isn't, but it would appear that there is no breach of the DP Act as the information seems to be some sort of 'reverse engineering' process based on publicly, ( commercially ), available databases. Smells too much of Mandy's cynical dirty tricks department. I bet the Tories are just thankful that Labour used this data first.

Skunk ( Anansie )

contract

mountain

I'm not sure how much the local counts carry forward to national elections, in similar fashion to the Euro polls I think voters tend to take account of the context of the election and cast their ballot accordingly. Westminster polls are not determined by who will get the dog sh*t off children's play areas.

prophecy

True ! :mad:

According to the Electoral Reform Society, this link gives an analysis of all constituencies based on how 'safe' or 'marginal' they are. ( https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AgdO92JOXxAOdHRGZmRTOWItcnFDTFpHMzRPRmF6RFE&hl=en ) From this, they state that regardless of swing or any other factor, the parties will effectively start with the following number of results 'in the bag' : Britain's 'Safe' Parliament Party Safe Seats % Con 172 45.03% Lab 165 43.19% LD 29 7.59% PC 2 0.52% SNP 3 0.79% NI others 11 2.88% That is 382 of the 646 seats in Parliament where the donkey with the coloured ribbon will be returned. The seats that matter are the marginals and they are classified as Category Number Marginal1 – a Labour seat that was marginal in 2005 but probably won’t be in 2010 because it is highly vulnerable and will probably fall easily 43 Marginal2 – the real front line between Labour and Conservative government 78 Marginal3 – a seat Labour could lose if the election goes badly, but at the moment is probably likely to remain Labour 45 LD long shot – Often Lib Dem seat gains are not closely related to the apparent vulnerability on the numbers from last time. These seats are ones where a ‘left field’ gain cannot be ruled out, or seats where despite a fairly small majority over Lib Dem their chances of winning are not enough to qualify it as a true marginal 15 Marginal – a marginal seat held by a party other than Labour, including Con/LD seats, a few Con/Lab seats, SNP seats, LD seats, NI etc 75 3WAY – a three way marginal (these are rare) 12 Therefore, this election is all about the Marginal2 & Marginal3 seats. Out of interest, both So'ton seats are Labour Marginal3.

( Edwin ) Starr

craft

perfect

switch ( manages energy by turning things off )

micro

hormonal

...( message to self must be quicker )

Just played that and my wife said "You are a bitter and vindictive lot..."; my reply "yeah, so ?" :D:D

Guderian

I don't think so : ROLEX Oyster watches, BMW & MERCEDES cars, summer holidays on Mustique or Capri, winter ones in Switzerland, clothes bought from a boutique in Monte Carlo, and money shifted into tax-free investments in the Cayman Islands or the BVI. Not a lot getting invested into the British economy there. Capitalism - those who have it look to keep it.

But is asking those who can afford it to contribute more so as to ensure the "greater good", really making them worse off ? I do not think for a second, ( as a simplistic example ), that asking David & Samantha Cameron to pay an extra 5% tax on earnings over £150K is going to leave them struggling to make ends meet.

mutton

spit

King Edwards

PS, check out my location

Issue Parties policies you chose Crime Lib Dems Democracy Labour Economy Labour Education Labour Environment Green Party Europe Lib Dems Health / NHS Conservatives Immigration Lib Dems Welfare Lib Dems I decided to go for all of them, out of curiosity, but TBH on some of them I actually wanted to put 'none of the above'.