Yes yes yes

[dune]

I'ts just started raining. I hope we're in for a deluge.

[dune]

Bright for Scotland, Northern Ireland and southeast England; rain elsewhere.

Today: Mainly dry with sunny spells across southeastern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Rather cloudier elsewhere with occasional rain or showers. Showers may be locally heavy and thundery across south Wales and southwest England. Mainly light northeasterly winds. Temperatures below normal.

 

I'm hoping the rain spreads up to the Manchester/Leeds belt by tea time.

[Johnny Bognor]

Bright for Scotland, Northern Ireland and southeast England; rain elsewhere.

Today: Mainly dry with sunny spells across southeastern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Rather cloudier elsewhere with occasional rain or showers. Showers may be locally heavy and thundery across south Wales and southwest England. Mainly light northeasterly winds. Temperatures below normal.

 

I'm hoping the rain spreads up to the Manchester/Leeds belt by tea time.

 

 

Looks like my American Indian rain dance paid off

[dune]

Looks like my American Indian rain dance paid off

 

Let's hope so. On the positive side rain in the SW will help against the Liberals, but perhaps i'm being greedy as I have my real eyes set on the mass of red tup north.

[GenevaSaint]

I'ts just started raining. I hope we're in for a deluge.

 

Surely you don't need to worry about the weather Dune, the Tories have it sewn up. ;-)

 

BTW, it's a fecking sad state of affairs if the rain will put people of voting. I know it does, but this is such an important election for the UK

[dune]

Surely you don't need to worry about the weather Dune, the Tories have it sewn up. ;-)

 

BTW, it's a fecking sad state of affairs if the rain will put people of voting. I know it does, but this is such an important election for the UK

 

It could make all the difference between a circa 300 seat Tory win and a circa 330+ seat Tory win.

[Lord Duckhunter]

The lefties wont go out in the rain as it ruins their sandals.

[GenevaSaint]

It could make all the difference between a circa 300 seat Tory win and a circa 330+ seat Tory win.

 

Like I said, sad really isn't it, a bit of rain can make that much difference. In fact it's not sad, it's pathetic! If people choose not to vote, that's their choice (I don't agree with it), but not voting because of rain FFS get a grip.

[The9]

Like I said, sad really isn't it, a bit of rain can make that much difference. In fact it's not sad, it's pathetic! If people choose not to vote, that's their choice (I don't agree with it), but not voting because of rain FFS get a grip.

 

So you'd rather that the kind of people who'd be put off by rain vote if it stayed dry then ? :smt077

[GenevaSaint]

So you'd rather that the kind of people who'd be put off by rain vote if it stayed dry then ? :smt077

 

 

Well putting it like that.... they're all tossers.

[buctootim]

Im voting today because its sunny in Sussex

[Wes Tender]

Like I said, sad really isn't it, a bit of rain can make that much difference. In fact it's not sad, it's pathetic! If people choose not to vote, that's their choice (I don't agree with it), but not voting because of rain FFS get a grip.

 

Agreed that it is pathetic, but largely it comes down to whether people have the determination to vote regardless of weather or minor inconvenience.

 

What that points to is apathy, which is understandable, given the state of British politics. But many have found another way of avoiding going to the Polling Stations and used postal ballots. There have been allegations that some of these have fallen foul of illegal vote-rigging and personally, I would have it that the only people who could use the postal votes would be those who were going to be unavoidably away from their local area, rather than some of those who just couldn't be arsed to go and vote in person.

 

But surely what is worse about this election, is the shallowness of it all. Because of the TV debates, featuring essentially just the party leaders, people are making up their minds on which way to vote based on those individuals, rather than the policies of the parties. Is the apathy worse, or is the shallowness?

 

But then the majority of us vote for a party rather than an individual anyway, regardless of how good that individual candidate might be. How shallow is that? Wouldn't it be Utopia if there weren't any parties and in every constituency the electorate voted for the person they considered to be best qualified to represent the interests of them and their local area?

[AndyNorthernSaints]

Bright for Scotland, Northern Ireland and southeast England; rain elsewhere.

Today: Mainly dry with sunny spells across southeastern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Rather cloudier elsewhere with occasional rain or showers. Showers may be locally heavy and thundery across south Wales and southwest England. Mainly light northeasterly winds. Temperatures below normal.

 

I'm hoping the rain spreads up to the Manchester/Leeds belt by tea time.

 

I voted at 7am Stanley.

[dune]

I voted at 7am.

 

Is it GIRO day?

[AndyNorthernSaints]

Is it GIRO day?

 

Voted on the way to work Stanley.

[The9]

But surely what is worse about this election, is the shallowness of it all. Because of the TV debates, featuring essentially just the party leaders, people are making up their minds on which way to vote based on those individuals, rather than the policies of the parties. Is the apathy worse, or is the shallowness?

 

But then the majority of us vote for a party rather than an individual anyway, regardless of how good that individual candidate might be. How shallow is that? Wouldn't it be Utopia if there weren't any parties and in every constituency the electorate voted for the person they considered to be best qualified to represent the interests of them and their local area?

 

When you see the kind of popularity contests that dominate prime time UK tv, and the way it has moved to the presentation/sound-bite driven US Presidential model it's hardly surprising people are basing this on superficiality.

 

Blair did a hell of a job killing off the relevance of manifestos in 1997, but from the VERY limited coverage I've deigned to watch, I've been mildly surprised to see that policy debate has stayed on the agenda.

 

I have a suspicion that the "voting culture" that X-Factor and the like have fed amongst the younger members of the electorate might see much a larger turnout than expected. Even idiot teen/first time voters I know, the likes of whom would have dismissed voting out of hand 10 years ago, seem genuinely excited by it. Though they can't txt their vote so they might not bother anyway.

 

Utopia is getting rid of party allegiances and having the constituency represented effectively - which is actually possible nowadays. In fact logically there's no reason for government to exist at all now, as everyone could just get online to vote on what's on the agenda and vote when asked. We'd suffer massively from the problem of unintended consequences, and no-one would ever pay tax or get their potholes filled in, but that's extremism for you.

 

Or save everyone the trouble and just put me in charge.

[Wes Tender]

When you see the kind of popularity contests that dominate prime time UK tv, and the way it has moved to the presentation/sound-bite driven US Presidential model it's hardly surprising people are basing this on superficiality.

 

Blair did a hell of a job killing off the relevance of manifestos in 1997, but from the VERY limited coverage I've deigned to watch, I've been mildly surprised to see that policy debate has stayed on the agenda.

 

I have a suspicion that the "voting culture" that X-Factor and the like have fed amongst the younger members of the electorate might see much a larger turnout than expected. Even idiot teen/first time voters I know, the likes of whom would have dismissed voting out of hand 10 years ago, seem genuinely excited by it. Though they can't txt their vote so they might not bother anyway.

 

Utopia is getting rid of party allegiances and having the constituency represented effectively - which is actually possible nowadays. In fact logically there's no reason for government to exist at all now, as everyone could just get online to vote on what's on the agenda and vote when asked. We'd suffer massively from the problem of unintended consequences, and no-one would ever pay tax or get their potholes filled in, but that's extremism for you.

 

Or save everyone the trouble and just put me in charge.

 

What you say makes a lot of sense and perhaps you highlight the future path of democracy in this Country. Perhaps proper democracy will be forced on the Politicians this way. The idiot Brown has introduced (I think it was him) a facility on the Downing Street website whereby the people can sign a petition on any matter of concern, which then acts as a barometer as to how populist the cause is. One hopes that the Government ignore the really popular causes at their peril.

 

Surely the natural extension is to bring this Vox Populi into the wider public domain, with a website specifically aimed at the most important policy areas and to record the public vote on them. At the moment, the Parties ask the public to vote on a basket of policies, Education, Health, Defence, Law and Order, Immigration, etc. The absurd position taken by the Parties is that if elected, they have a mandate to pursue everything in their manifesto. They have no such thing.

 

What would be really interesting would be such a site holding an online referendum on a different policy issue each month. Naturally it would have to be tied down in such a way that multiple votes could not be recorded by those interested in a particular result, but surely that is not insurmountable.