Local elections today! It is important to put a spoke in the wheel of the bandwagon of hype that we have all become Tories. In England and Wales vote for whoever has the best local chance of beating the Tory.
In Scotland vote until you boke. It’s an STV election so use all of your preferences and put the Tory last (or make the Tory or Tories the only ones you don’t rank). I am happy to say there is no disagreement among Scottish independence supporters on how to approach this. Here is an explanation by James Kelly, the brightest star of the psephological firmament.
It would be nice to think that Labour Party supporters would reciprocate and also place the Tories last, but all the signs are that in Scotland these elections will again confirm that the unionists are all but different shades of Tory, and will transfer between one another. Nonetheless derailing the Tories is the pressing need of the moment, so get down that polling station now!
Scotland would be trashed by this UKIP flavoured Toryism.
Vote SNP 1st and vote Green 2nd.
Tories still polling 28% in Scotland. Not bad for the Tories in Scotland, eh?
Err, no they are not. Last Scottish subsample (Panelbase) had them on 19%. Tomorrow morning you will see from the local council elections.
What about this one from a few days ago on Indy:
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/04/25/quarter-scots-back-sturgeon-independence-referendum/
Barely a Quarter of Scots Support Sturgeon’s Plans for Second Referendum
That was a poll conducted by Kantar Media. A market research company in the Philippines.
It’s at odds with almost all other recent polls of Scottish political opinion.
That’s Labour.
Last two Panelbase polls seem to give something similar to both answers. 24th April says 26%, 2nd May says 17%. These are very small subsamples though (< 90 people in total), so there's bound to be high variance.
http://www.panelbase.com/media/polls/W10470maintablesforpublication240417.pdf
http://www.panelbase.com/media/polls/W10470w2TablesForPublication020517.pdf
I was polled by YouGov yesterday on my GE intentions. Said I would vote Labour – for the lolz.
Is that supposed to impress somebody?
Nope. Just doing my bit to help make Labour’s annihilation all the more spectacular. 🙂
It’s more like you’re just a compulsive liar.
By the way, do you rather see Le Pen win in the next round? You’re awfully coy on the point.
No. Why do you keep asking? Haven’t I made it clear enough for you?
It’s the Melenchon groupies who are going over to Le Pen.
So you’d like to see Macron win? Why is that?
More election fraud from 2015 apparently. Whistle blowers are claiming that Tory election campaigning through their company began polling voters for the Conservative in November 2014 up until the 2015 election, while Tory spending declarations only include March to May of 2015.
“In that campaign, they called voters in key marginal constituencies “on behalf of David Cameron’s campaign” and asked them to volunteer for their local Conservative candidates. This raises serious questions about whether some of this work should have been declared by local candidates in targeted constituencies.”
https://www.thecanary.co/2017/05/03/breaking-whistleblowers-come-forward-new-election-fraud-evidence-every-voter-needs-see/
Desperate stuff.
Possibly. More interesting than your lack of intellectual curiosity is that this story demonstrates a clear pattern of willingness to break the law by the Conservatives (not to mention complete complacency while doing so) and suggests there may be many other instances yet to be revealed. Ordinary folk might be left wondering why they should have to obey laws written by these people, when it’s abundantly clear the Conservatives have complete contempt for the law themselves.
It was a different election; a different era even. Go and knock on Cameron’s door – he’s in his shepherd’s hut writing his memoirs.
Cognitive dissonance?
Well said J and your link is shared to as many people as possible, voters should know that the referendum would have never happened if the cheats were caught in the act, which never happens as the EC has no powers whatsoever.
That some are diverting by saying ‘its a different election’ ‘not on her watch’ is all very well, its the same party doing the same all over again. Mrs. may was part of the criminal fraud that was committed on voters, they have further devalued an already roughshod system.
the desperation is clearly visible in her eyes and audible in her empty threats.
Quote: “This Scandal Should Bring The British Gov’t To Its Knees – But It Won’t!”:
http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/scandal-bring-british-govt-knees-wont/
When the going gets tough the tough get boking. New era. And new level of a low in language.
Something is happening. Could it be desperation?
Pork barrel politics from the SNP. Announcing an extra £8m for a Labour controlled area they hope to take just two days before they vote.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15263166.Tories_demand_investigation_into_alleged_SNP_purdah_breach/?ref=twtrec
” (or make the Tory or Tories the only ones you don’t rank).”
You’ve misunderstood the ‘vote till you boak’ theory. Rank ALL candidates including the Tories/UKIP, but rank them last.
So your saying if I don’t want the SNP candidate to win I’m better ranking him last rather than not at all?
Boaking bile, again.
No, put a 1 in that box.
Craig is right in what he is saying. Vote until you boak is right. However, I could never, and will never, rank a Tory even as the last available rank once all my other ranking places are occupied. I left the Tory vote blank (which would have been a rank of 8 out of 8 possible candidates if I had ranked it at all). No way would I risk having some Tory mental-case claiming that I voted for them (even just because I ranked them last). Principles apply and are important. Go choke on that, Rape Clause Ruth.
Doesn’t make any difference whether you mark your absolute last preference or not.
If a candidate is marked as your last preference, there’s no way your vote can go to them.
In any round of voting there are at least 2 candidates, so your vote would always go to another higher-ranked preference.
But if there are multiple Tories, it would be significant to not rank any of them out of never-vote-for-a-Tory principle. You’d then stop voting once it was only Tories left.
Personally, I would rank them – I would get to vote against the worst Tory by giving my vote to a better one, if there ended up only Tories left in the race. They’re not totally indistinguishable. Wouldn’t you rather vote consistently vote against the worst Tory mental-case in every round, rather than abstain in the last couple of rounds?
Precisely.
Vronsky,
I have not misunderstood. I have seen the argument for casting even your final preference but am not convinced by it. James video takes the same line as me.
I’ve counted many STV elections (I do internal elections for the Lib Dems).
It makes no difference whether you rank your final preference or not.
Personally, I find it easier to start at the top (with 1) and work my way down among the ones I like, then start at the bottom (with whatever the highest number is) and vote against the ones I really hate, and then join the numbers up in the middle.
Remember that a high number is effectively a vote against that person – I find it feels really good to put that 12 or whatever against someone I really dislike.
I voted for the Tory in my ward last, in line with the vote till you boke theory. If it turns out that it doesn’t really work to use STV to the fullest extent I’m not going to let it D’Hondt me.
I’ll get me coat.
And on another election:
“French Scientist Who Predicted Trump and Brexit Says the Maths Adds up for a Le Pen Victory”
http://www.breitbart.com/london/2017/04/28/french-physicist-maths-le-pen-victory/
I think that’s stretching it, Alcyone. Granted, the Melenchon voters are flooding to Le Pen. But the rest will back Macron.
Just sharing the article Anon, that is all.
“In an online poll conducted this week, members of the Unsubmissive France (UF) movement broadly rejected support for either candidate in the French presidential runoff election. The two candidates are the former Rothschild banker Emmanuel Macron and the neo-fascist Marine Le Pen….In the consultative vote held by UF, only 34.83 percent of members advocated a vote for Macron, the favorite of France’s ruling Socialist Party (PS). Calls for a blank vote received 36.12 percent, and for abstention, 29.05 percent. UF had indicated that a vote for Macron’s opponent in the runoff, Marine Le Pen of the neo-fascist National Front (FN), was not an option in the vote, in which roughly 200,000 of UF’s 440,000 members took part.”
That’s ‘flocking’ is it?
That article has been doing the rounds for a while (previously discussed on here, if I remember correctly). It doesn’t make it convincing, for the obvious reason that physicists may know about statistics, but they don’t have much of a reputation with regard to politics. And particularly after the disaster Le Pen had last night in the tele debate.
I think that about one third of the Melenchon base will vote Le Pen..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Does not the lamentable debate yesterday evening demonstrate the inanity of the very idea of such debates and their utter uselessness except as a simulacre of democracy and accountability and a media “occasion” pushed by the TV companies eager to corral viewers?
How right of Mrs May not to let herself get bullied into taking part in such a farce in the Uk !
She’s a very sensible woman.
Had to look that one up!
boke
verb
Scottish
1. vomit.
“he’s just boked all over me!”
Will the DoE retirement announcement (sickening stuff on the news channels) bring out the Tories? Do your duty for the country. ‘Sing the National Anthem, wave your Union flag and put your little X in the Tory box. You know it makes sense.’
noun
noun: boke; plural noun: bokes; noun: boak; plural noun: boaks
1.
a vomiting fit.
AKA Talking into Gods big white telephone.
This should appeal to the Tory voters.
Conservatives may push for fresh Commons vote on Syria airstrikes after election
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/04/conservatives-seek-fresh-commons-vote-after-election-to-bomb-syria
‘The UK is keen to line up fully alongside the US– the country is already engaged alongside its American counterparts in military action in both Syria and Iraq against Islamic State, but has not joined in the airstrikes against Assad’s forces.’
It won’t be long until we see the Tories and their bought and paid for friends on the opposition benches attempt to push through a bill analogous to the the USA’s The Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) from 2001 which has allowed Obama and now Trump to ‘legally’ make war on anyone they chose, anywhere in the world.
Another step on our descent into fascism.
Mrs May in her first manifesto pledge shows us that this isn’t about Scotland, its not about Westminster or Brussels, its about maintaining US Foreign Policy.
The Daily Mail headline has it;
“Theresa May plans to call snap vote on bombing Syria after the election if Assad launches another gas attack on his people”
NB “IF ASSAD LAUNCHES ANOTHER GAS ATTACK ON HIS PEOPLE”
So there it is ,it has been established what Assad is responsible for whilst moving attention Don’t look here look there, on local polling day.
Now is probably a good time to refresh ourselves on why the world is in the state it is.
The US and therefore Blair wanted rid of Saddam, lies were made up and Saddam went. Libya had the same treatment thanks to Cameron and now its time for Assad to go.
This is after it has been established as fact that the US funded, trained and armed 100’s of rebel groups in Syria. Al Qaida (a CIA creation) morphed into ISIS and the Middle East is burning . Result for the USA.
But not Britain. Certainly Blair’s wealth was enhanced, Cameron’s the same and now May is looking to her retirement pot. And if that fucks Britain, the EU and Syria then so be it.
If any other country behaved as the US the British Parliament would be calling it the greatest Terrorist Machine ever known, with the best funding on earth and calling for it to be wiped off the face of the planet.
Vote for more of the same, get more of the same!
Presumably the only reason for Obama to issue his ‘Red Line’ was to allow ‘moderate rebels’ access to Sarin, prompt them to use it and declare that Assad had crossed the line. Which is in fact what happened:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n24/seymour-m-hersh/whose-sarin
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2016/04/28/seymour-hersh-hillary-approved-sending-libya-sarin-syrian-rebels.html
1.RISE 2.SNP 3.SNP 4.LABOUR 5.LABOUR
Will be my ballot when i head to my local community centre later. Nul points for the local Tory no hoper and the bizarre Labour offshoot which appears to consist of solely councilors booted out for corruption who hope to attract some nationalist votes under false pretences by calling themselves Independent Alliance North Lanarkshire.
Latest GE17 six-poll average:
Con 46.8%
Lab 28.3%
Tory majority of 132.
Can’t we just vote tomorrow and put Labour out of its misery? You wouldn’t let a dog suffer this long.
No need for you to vote at all. You can spend more time here gloating. Gloating how disabled people are made homeless. How the NHS is completely dismantled. Gloating how crime increases as we sack more cops. You can relish tax rises for the hard working poor whilst the elite cream off ever more.
People here tolerate democracy. You are a prime example of why it desperately needs reform. Enjoy your time whilst people suffer. It is LOL hilarious, isn’t it?
“People here tolerate democracy.”
Phew. That’s good of you.
“You are a prime example of why it desperately needs reform.”
You’ll need to win one before you can ban it. LOL
I call BS on all those polls. The Tories should be pleased if they get a majority of 50. Which I don’t think they will manage, btw.
Mind, I thought we’d never get Brexit, so I’m no Oracle.
This is a jolly good laugh, and very creative too:
https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/859872754493001729
FBI Director James Comey on Hillary Clinton
Can anyone find it on youtube?
We live in an age of “Stepford” politicians. No personality and no ideas. Spouting the same propaganda crap. I can’t remember every being so depressed.
you do not need a polling card to vote!
But many people do not know this because they were not educated in the machinations of local and national Government. Polling cards, as well as the copious self congratulatory council publications are a waste of money that suits the existing main parties.
Its not funny anymore, the Conservatives can cut disability benefits, take mobility away and depress those who need state help to such extend that they see no way out and commit suicide, but these irritating confusing pieces of paper waste are not on their horizon, because they confuse voters and stop some from voting for other parties, can’t possibly be cut. Vote the Tory’s out, and if you know someone who is not going to vote, and their address and polling station, you could easily vote for them, a doodle.
“Vote the Tory’s out, and if you know someone who is not going to vote, and their address and polling station, you could easily vote for them, a doodle.”
I’m sorry, can you just run that past me again? You are advocating breaking the law?
Must be a Tory – apparently they are above the law. ?
“In England and Wales vote for whoever has the best local chance of beating the Tory”
Round my way that means voting UKIP.
In that case vote Corbyn. The more votes he gets the more the centre ground is likely to move back to the actual centre.
It’s only council elections and Corbyn ain’t standing. Have voted for the independent candidate who declared on his flyer that he had no policies.
Done my bit. Voted Labour, god knows who he is but it’s supporting corbyn and his centrist policies I’m after.
Don’t let negative folk get you down. Britain has always been full of miserable wankers. It’s when they gloat you can really see the desperate emptiness in their lives. These colours don’t run! No, they just fade to a dismal gray…
Let it be on the record.
Anon1 is too cowardly to state which out of Le Pen or Macron he would like to win, and give a reason why.
More likely he’s too stupid to be able to.
Glenn you are such a twerp. You’ve been pestering me for days, claiming I’m “coy” about declaring support Le Pen, even though I said I was for Macron from the start, and now I tell you straight up and you start pestering me over why I support Macron! Find something else to do.
So why are you supporting Macron over Le Pen?
Why is it of such great interest to you? Le Pen is a genuine fascist who may have crafted an acceptable image of herself but she is surrounded by some truly unpleasant people and her economic policies are far too left-wing and not in the best interests of France, which needs a smaller state and less regulation not more. France benefits from the EU in a way we never did so if I were French I would probably support Macron on that basis too.
Does it even matter? I’m not French and I don’t have a vote.
Glenn
You have pestered Anon1 to state for whom he would vote in the French Presidential – a question which is otiose since he can as little vote there as you can. But never mind
He has told you if would be for M. Macron and not for Mme Le Pen.
You seem unhappy with that and are now pestering him to tell you why he would vote for M. Macron.
WTF?
Stop behaving like an a fucking East German Blockwart.
H: I’ll behave exactly as I like, and you are hardly in a position to advise on etiquette.
We all know Anon1 is a mean-spirited neo-Nazi who delights in human misery and acts as a stooge for the powerful. Le Pen is clearly the candidate of choice for such a person.
We all know why he won’t say the truth too. Even if both you and he are too cowardly to admit it.
You would have felt at home as an East German Blockwart, Glenn (too dumb to have made the Stasi, I guess).
Stop being such a chump, Habbabkuk. Asking some anonymous fool a simple question on a message board is not quite as taxing as being questioned by the Stasi. Jesus!
I note Anon1 is forced to hide behind your skirts on this one 🙂
Bullshit, Glenn.
Anon has answered your questions. Both of them in fact.
Oh I’m a neo-Nazi am I now?
You really must learn to deal with political opinions different to your own without crying “Nazi” like a bedwetting student lefty, Glenn.
So Obama has made a last-minute intervention, urging French voters to support Macron (ok Le Pen could be in with a chance now – we all remember what happened when he told us which way to vote in the EU ref).
Curiously this declaration for Macron takes place on the same day it is revealed that Obama once dumped a white girlfriend he had proposed to because he decided her race would hamper his political career. Not trying to bury anything is he?
Anon1, you’re rather obsessed by skin colour for someone who claims not to be a racist.
What an odd comment. I don’t believe I have ever posted anything on skin colour. Not another feeble attempt on your part to portray me as a racist, Node?
I don’t believe I have ever posted anything on skin colour.
What does the word “white” refer to in your post above (15.26)?
You’ve clearly taken too much acid and it’s addled your brain.
er … yes, whatever. Meanwhile getting back to the point of discussion, let me spell it out for you. Those of us NOT obsessed by race might find your interest in Obama’s white girlfriend irrelevant to the French election.
Obama and Macron both had their careers advanced quickly by the powers that be despite a lack of accomplishments. Both telegenic, attractive front men for the plutocrats.
So, even before his three years studying law at Harvard, Obama was so serious about a political career to be launched in the black wards of Chicago that he would dump a girlfriend to whom he had already proposed marriage twice? I wonder if his CIA groomers warned him what damage he would do to his career if he married her.
Are those the same groomers as you had, Lysias?
I get the impression Lysias is more of a Trump-lover than he lets on.
I wonder if he feels that Trump is an easier target for the CIA to subvert than Hillary would have been?
Polly wants voting to be made compulsory!
These local elections make a national point: voting should be compulsory
Polly Toynbee
British democracy is in crisis, with turnouts are likely to be lower than ever. Let’s save young people from themselves, by marching them off to the polling station
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/04/local-elections-national-voting-compulsory-young-people
She’s serious! How would she have it happen I wonder.
Please feel free to forward this to holy Polly T.
Making voting compulsory to force people to vote in such disproportional unfair system, without introducing a law that states that all elections should be by a fair proportional system and that postal votes are only applicable if you are infirm and can’t walk to the polling station, that all votes are counted were they are cast and then reported to the council.
My reasons for such a demand in return for making voting compulsory is that voters, after being harangued, hoodwinked, maligned , cheated, and always fooled by the parties they so much trusted; they deserve that their mandates and or concerns are taken up by their respective representatives and that their votes count, all of them.
There is nothing wrong with STV or AMS and why political parties desperate to talk to all voters during this campaign , can’t offer this vital reform to voters, is beyond me. This might be the 21st century, but by the machinations and policies of this PM you must have realised that she is walking backwards into the Victorian era.
Participation does tend to be higher in countries with compulsory voting(whether enforced or not) and there are suggestions that it favors more radical(left wing?) candidates by inducing younger voters to take part. Meanwhile, in South Korea , the arrangements for early voting in person away from registered constituencies including at airports as many use the election- day holiday to chain a long weekend, seem to be working well in increasing participation by the under- 30s, with some 11% of votes already cast.
I found the final TVdebate among the leading five contenders quite useful in setting out their views on national unification in the light of Sino -US relations and the mercurial utterances of POTUS.
In a way, the election was already decided by the massive and generally peaceful demontrations for and against Park’s resignation earlier this year.
.Moon Jae In,who still seems well ahead , seemed to backtrack sightly to an ‘already presidential’ posion favoring US policy. He has been drawing support from Ahn Cheol Su , who argued logically if equivocally on the issue. HongJun Pyo, closer politically to Park , has also gained more support especilly among older or more cautious voters.Sim Sang Jung, Social Justice party, seems the most sincere canditate and is respected for having worked for years in a low- wage textile factory but studied at evening classes to graduate from a prestigious university. She argued most emphatically against THAAD deployment and for a sunshine policy
Am I alone in observing that the MSN is hanging Treeza out to dry?
“(Vote the Tory’s out) and if you know someone who is not going to vote, and their address and polling station, you could easily vote for them, a doodle.”
_______________________
That is the most shocking post I have ever read on this blog and all the more shocking coming from someone who has stood for elected office.
The mask has slipped.
You are inciting people to commit electoral fraud, which is a criminal offence.
Your comment has been recorded and you may regret having made it, Ingo.
You are absolutely correct, Habbabkuk. A disgrace.
Worth noting also that apart from you and I, no one here has bothered to voice the slightest objection.
Hadn’t read it. My comment is as follows:
If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.
Never more true than today. Massive and professional perceptual manipulation in favour of the status quo: the virtual prohibition of public discussion of alternatives from a favourable standpoint, and a culture in which facts have been uncoupled from (cosmetic) debate, have resulted in the complete wipeout of UKIP (Anon1, it’s about time you noticed something dodgy going on!), and a transfer of the radical vote (both sides) back to the ‘centrist’ selfservatives.
What is really regrettable is that the local elections have been fought on the basis of national party politicking, rather than on the ability and intentions of local councillors. Which is at least as dishonest as stuffing the ballot box.
BTW, Habba, you smug, conceited fuck. If I get the impression you’ve squealed on Nevermind’s remark, obviously made from the depths of frustration and despair, I will do something illegal. But if I told you what, you’d know….eh?
“What is really regrettable is that the local elections have been fought on the basis of national party politicking, rather than on the ability and intentions of local councillors. Which is at least as dishonest as stuffing the ballot box.”
It was inevitable with a general election just weeks away.
I don’t see much point in UKIP now. It looks like we’re getting a diamond-tipped hard Brexit. UKIP has served its purpose. Nuttall is a bit of a clown as well and certainly no Farage.
Like you, I’ve been in the pits of political frustration and despair, from 1997 onwards. I have never advocated electoral fraud.
Setting the general election only weeks away was a masterstroke, yes.
Hard Brexit, yes. I’m all for a clean break (though in the short term it will be extremely unpleasant). IF our noble leaders will kindly start setting up a working independent economy NOW., and we can hit the ground running. No sign of that, yet.
In other news, Blair’s in the Last Chance Saloon:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/markmclaughlin/tony-blair-thinks-the-threat-of-scottish-independence-could?
Which leaves him more or less bound to join the SNP, at least for now. 🙂 I thought Craig was catching Blairism, and now I know…
You sound as shocked(not) as the young Hillary when the Daley/Chicago machine(and Texas too) delivered the election to Kennedy, as you noted a while back. What action should be taken against oversea French voters using the two voting cards ‘accidentally’sent out to them or other persons using them?
BTW, I thought Blockwart was an apointee/official in NS times but just an informer in the DDR.. The UK and the USA were happy to have the expertise of the Stasi in the person of Marcus Wolf in designing their very ownhomeland security systems.
Chicago, the French overseas departments – have they anything to do with Nevermind’s incitement to commit fraud in UK elections?
I am surprised the Mod has deleted my suggestion that Nevermind should apologise publicly (on this blog) and withdraw his comment forthwith. He is not doing Nevermind any favours.
I meant French voters resident abroad who got mailed two cards. In New Caledonia ,though, ahead of the new referendum ,it does seem very easy for metropolitan voters to get registered but difficult for the native population.
A recent team from S. Korea sent to look at British voting arrangements found them very lax.. Higher observed standards in British voting procedures only lasted about a hundred years or so from the 1860s till about the Blair era.. Trollope’s novels give a good account of what went on and we are both all too familiar with how greatly New Labour shredded existing standards.
I guess you were rocked to your core when Mrs DisMay said she’d support the MPs who have committed electoral fraud. Nevermind could work for CCHQ at this rate.
Oh, yes.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/how-the-conservatives-are-using-local-adverts-to-get-around?
Don’t get yourselfs the shingles, these are my experiences from the main political parties as observed as an election coordinator, you poor fool. Are you trying to make out that they don’t know who is voting what?
You are such an innocent churlish little keep aren’t you?
Nevermind has been through the electoral system himself and he knows all about how the state undermined/sabotaged Craig’s own attempt to be elected in Norwich North.
Just one of his many blog posts at the time.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2009/07/ministry_of_jus/
QT tonight 22.45 BBC1
From Wigan, not Wigan Pier !
David Davis
Rebecca Long-Bailey
Paul Nuttall
Leanne Wood
CEO Siemens UK Juergen Maier **
** His blog with his thoughts on the current situation.
http://juergenmaier.co.uk/
http://juergenmaier.co.uk/about/
QT, is the only safe seat that Ukip will never lose.
Good one Ros.