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Dave, presumably you’ll be voting UKIP because of their European policies, rather than as a protest against corruption, bearing in mind that the leader of that party admitted to claiming £2million of taxpayers money in expenses on top of his salary?
Do you know what the £2million was used for? Pretty silly bringing it up since it was used mainly for staff.
Paul, I would accept this argument if government were run on solely its mandate.
However, as a taxpayer I reserve the right to criticise (or otherwise) how tax revenues are raised and spent irrespective of whether I’ve voted or not.
As, a law abiding citizen I reserve the right to criticise (or otherwise) how law and order polices are framed irrespective of whether I’ve voted or not.
As, a defender of the ancient freedoms of a free born Englishman I reserve the right to criticise (or otherwise) the erosion of our freedoms irrespective of whether I’ve voted or not.
You see what I mean, imv, none of these are anymore legitamised by the voting process but rather by the act of being involved (willing or not in the case of paying tax)
As a pro european / protest vote i’ll be voting for the Lib Dems (in the euros), its the first time in my life i’ll have done so. The only other option being the Greens, who are on an even further distant planet.
Local election wise, i’m astounded to find i have just 2 options, the 3rd being the uncontemplatable BNP. We’ve had a high influx of Polish workers during this period so this may influence things, so i’ll be crossing my fingers my fellow constituents look beyond this!
So its Labour or Tory, and though the tories have been a shower of brown stuff here for the last 4 or so years i fully expect they’ll get in again. I’ll have to vote Labour.Dave, presumably you’ll be voting UKIP because of their European policies, rather than as a protest against corruption, bearing in mind that the leader of that party admitted to claiming £2million of taxpayers money in expenses on top of his salary?
.. Not the anti-EU stance this time, I was all set to vote Tory, if I hadn’t been so hacked with the the whole shooting match, especially that twat with the duck island, thinks he Micheal Jackson.
MEPs should have to return their expenses the same as ours do now and they should be subject to public scrutiny in the same way. The MEP are even more corrupt than proper MPs but I suppose everyone already knows that.
Well indeed, Zarkava, but then silly is what I do best. Still, £2million does seem rather excessive. I look forward to the detailed breakdown of precisely where the money was spent, though we already know that some of it went to the lady who runs his office, who by a fortunate coincidence is his wife.
We also know that when he first got elected to the European Parliament he promised to publish his and his colleagues’ accounts annually, but what with all the excitement of being a Euro MP, completely forgot about it until last week, when it became an issue.
We also know that two out of twelve UKIP MEPs have faced criminal charges for money laundering, false accounting and falsely claiming benefits.
And we know too that UKIP voted against a cap on MEP salaries, against greater transparency in the claiming of travel expenses and most interesting of all, in favour of keeping MEPs expenses secret.
The point of all this is not to suggest that UKIP are worse than the other parties, merely that they are not particularly different and if anyone were thinking of voting for them as a protest over expenses and allowances for politicians, then it wouldn’t make a great deal of sense.
On the other hand, they do of course have some distinctive policies on Europe. And lest anyone thinks this is a party political broadcast, I should point out that other parties are available.
Dave, presumably you’ll be voting UKIP because of their European policies, rather than as a protest against corruption, bearing in mind that the leader of that party admitted to claiming £2million of taxpayers money in expenses on top of his salary?
.. Not the anti-EU stance this time, I was all set to vote Tory, if I hadn’t been so hacked with the the whole shooting match, especially that twat with the duck island, thinks he Micheal Jackson.
MEPs should have to return their expenses the same as ours do now and they should be subject to public scrutiny in the same way. The MEP are even more corrupt than proper MPs but I suppose everyone already knows that.
Paul, I would accept this argument if government were run on solely its mandate.
However, as a taxpayer I reserve the right to criticise (or otherwise) how tax revenues are raised and spent irrespective of whether I’ve voted or not.
As, a law abiding citizen I reserve the right to criticise (or otherwise) how law and order polices are framed irrespective of whether I’ve voted or not.
As, a defender of the ancient freedoms of a free born Englishman I reserve the right to criticise (or otherwise) the erosion of our freedoms irrespective of whether I’ve voted or not.
You see what I mean, imv, none of these are anymore legitamised by the voting process but rather by the act of being involved (willing or not in the case of paying tax)
But all the examples you raise are overseen by those who are elected.
I see where you are coming from but would suggest they are part and parcel of the complete package, which also includes being actively involved in the democratic process.
Anyway lets face it most people will moan about anything, even things that don’t concern them, given half the chance – so in a way this whole discussion is probably academic anyway.
For the first time since I became of age to vote, I shall not be voting.
A sense of apathy and disillusionment has befallen me. Why should I vote for any of these scoundrels, cheats and liars ?
I predict a very low turn out.
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Hitler only came to power because @ 60% of Germans didn’t vote against him; even my son who has never bothered to vote is voting lib dem today because we are all so concerned about the BNP vote and my partner is travelling back from Northumberland to vote.
I took the same view, Moehat. I usually vote, but was veering towards the apathetic this time. That was until a neanderthal BNP slob ventured into our road yesterday and dared to push one of his filthy leaflets through our letterbox. I was at the polling booth first thing.
There were about a dozen different parties on the Euro ballot, including British racists, English racists, three flavours of anti-European and fundamental Christianity. It was quite a scary read.
Agreed, Andrew, and it’s possibly a little too much to hope that they will all dliute each other’s votes so perfectly that none of them, anywhere, manage a victory. I also voted first thing this morning.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Well indeed, Zarkava, but then silly is what I do best. Still, £2million does seem rather excessive. I look forward to the detailed breakdown of precisely where the money was spent, though we already know that some of it went to the lady who runs his office, who by a fortunate coincidence is his wife.
We also know that when he first got elected to the European Parliament he promised to publish his and his colleagues’ accounts annually, but what with all the excitement of being a Euro MP, completely forgot about it until last week, when it became an issue.
We also know that two out of twelve UKIP MEPs have faced criminal charges for money laundering, false accounting and falsely claiming benefits.
And we know too that UKIP voted against a cap on MEP salaries, against greater transparency in the claiming of travel expenses and most interesting of all, in favour of keeping MEPs expenses secret.
The point of all this is not to suggest that UKIP are worse than the other parties, merely that they are not particularly different and if anyone were thinking of voting for them as a protest over expenses and allowances for politicians, then it wouldn’t make a great deal of sense.
On the other hand, they do of course have some distinctive policies on Europe. And lest anyone thinks this is a party political broadcast, I should point out that other parties are available.
Ok fair enough, have been well and truly shut up.I’d maybe vote if it was good looking burds walking around canavassing in the scud, and their party leaflet came with a free crate of beer. Otherwise i don’t think i will bother because i don’t any other time.
I voted this morning (Euro election only here) in a deserted polling station behind the local pub, with six council staff having a day off from the office and picking up some overtime no doubt.
The voting paper was about 30 inches long, with 14 or 15 parties listed, of which only one has even bothered to try to persuade me to vote – a total farce and an expensive one as well as they’ve had to buy extra ballot boxes to cope with the larger than usual slips.
I’m sure the staff are supposed to be neutral, but when I remarked as I left – ‘hope we’ll all be back here next month for a real election’, they seemed remarkably cheerful about the prospect. More overtime I suppose ……
II’m sure the staff are supposed to be neutral, but when I remarked as I left – ‘hope we’ll all be back here next month for a real election’, they seemed remarkably cheerful about the prospect. More overtime I suppose ……
My Sister works for a council and she loves elections for the very reason stated.
She always makes sure she get to work in the count – apparently a nice little earner because of the unsocial hours.
When I voted the polling staff were pushing the ballot papers down in teh box with a ruler – goodness knows how they would cope if there was a large turn out!!!
Most interesting party on the South East ballot paper ie "The Roman Party: Ave!!" – only one candidate, one Jean-Louis Pascual who is apparently a French bus driver living in Reading.
.. I went over to vote after work today and got thinking about the UKIP post by Andrew on here, I changed my mind about voting for them and voted for another anti-EU party instead, and so did the wife.
Deserted polling station, the woman said she had hardly seen anyone all day. This is the first election I can ever remember where there has been no political campaigning at all .. if the main parties don’t get the result they want they only have themselves to blame.
Most interesting party on the South East ballot paper ie "The Roman Party: Ave!!" – only one candidate, one Jean-Louis Pascual who is apparently a French bus driver living in Reading.
sounds like a chap ahead of the game on swine flu — HK doctors have suggested in the interests of hygiene that folk should stop shaking hands and instead revert to the ancient Roman greeting of placing the right fist against the left breast.
Ok fair enough, have been well and truly shut up.
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