UK GENERAL ELECTION THURSDAY MAY 6th 2010

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scottdisco

rip this joint please
a very good point D_Q. i was more thinking of inner Brum conurbation seats like Ladywood and Warley tbf but still.
 
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scottdisco

rip this joint please
actually although there's no firm pattern in Brum (w a mix of Tory seats in the outer conurbation, a couple of Liberal too and a lot of Labour in the inner conurbation *) three of the inner seats (inc Ladywood, the most deprived constituency in the UK i believe though it also includes the glitzy Mailbox development on the city's southside, and Hodge Hill, another seat w huge pockets of deprivation) did see a swing from Liberal to Labour.

the recent take-over of Brum city council by a Tory-Liberal alliance might be one factor in this. a mate of mine who has been a lifelong Lib Dem voter switched to Labour for the first time ever. he works in the public sector for Brum council. if Liberal Democrat and Tory negotiation talks are successful, we might even see Brum be a sort of canary down the mine (well i know there are quite a few Lib-Tory coalitions in local govt but seems fair to mention Brum given its size).

* i didn't know Redditch seat is actually south of Bromsgrove. that's rather suburban tbf.
 
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don_quixote

Trent End
yeah i was a little confused i think, just associate redditch with brum. i'm surprised with nottinghamshire going so blue for similar reasons, the new tory council in nottinghamshire has been an absolute disaster by all accounts and kays the head of the council is notorious. the tory swing in nottmshire was enough to see labour mps go but theyre all very narrow. nick palmer lost by around 300 votes in broxtowe.

leicestershire on the other hand has always been very blue. still surprised at the margins in loughborough and nw leics. david taylor probably would have held his seat if he were still alive and contested, but he was going to stand down anyway.

i honestly believe we could have a hung parliament for a while. gordon brown will go before the next general election and labour should be stronger without him now. enough to turn some of those new marginals red at least.
 
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scottdisco

rip this joint please
don_quixote said:
yeah i was a little confused i think, just associate redditch with brum. i'm surprised with nottinghamshire going so blue for similar reasons, the new tory council in nottinghamshire has been an absolute disaster by all accounts and kays the head of the council is notorious. the tory swing in nottmshire was enough to see labour mps go but theyre all very narrow. nick palmer lost by around 300 votes in broxtowe.

leicestershire on the other hand has always been very blue. still surprised at the margins in loughborough and nw leics. david taylor probably would have held his seat if he were still alive and contested, but he was going to stand down anyway.

i honestly believe we could have a hung parliament for a while. gordon brown will go before the next general election and labour should be stronger without him now. enough to turn some of those new marginals red at least.
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yeah i saw about Loughborough, i share your surprise. i mean, a good good showing for the Tory party.
and Notts council has been proper slash and burn hasn't it?

those results are interesting read through that light.

tangential: aren't certain bits of Leics - alongside north Yorks and the Cheshire Set - the wealthiest places outside the south east in the country?

from a Labour pov out of realistic alternatives if Cruddas can deliver David M, i think that is about the best to hope for. of course the heart says it'd be nice if John McDonnell were to launch a palace coup but...
 
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don_quixote

Trent End
well since notts county council is so close to the centre of the city (labour council) there's huge fusses about tram extensions and the world cup bid. loughborough is a surprise because in general andy reed i thought was a decent bloke.

and yes, parts of leics are wealthy. i live near some. check this street out:

ridgeway, rothley

that's the most expensive postcode in the east midlands
 
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scottdisco

rip this joint please
don_quixote said:
well since notts county council is so close to the centre of the city (labour council) there's huge fusses about tram extensions
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i found this particularly interesting.

and re the Notts tram: it's not a bad system is it? (in my limited experience.) i was impressed you can get it out to Hucknall (non-league footy reasons in my case of course!).

the tram system in Manchester is pretty ropey.
 
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don_quixote

Trent End
honestly ive never caught it because i dont live in nottm, my sister rates it though. hucknall town are a horrible football club!!!
 
C

crackerjack

Well-known member
scottdisco said:
from a Labour pov out of realistic alternatives if Cruddas can deliver David M, i think that is about the best to hope for. of course the heart says it'd be nice if John McDonnell were to launch a palace coup but...
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JMc would be a disaster. I like the sound of Cruddas and wish there was someone better for him to deputise than Miliband Snr (Jnr would be better but won't stand against big brother, they say).

Balls should be bound and gagged until it's all over.
 
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scottdisco

rip this joint please
crackerjack said:
JMc would be a disaster. I like the sound of Cruddas and wish there was someone better for him to deputise than Miliband Snr (Jnr would be better but won't stand against big brother, they say).

Balls should be bound and gagged until it's all over.
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i saw an interview from Parliament Square w Jnr the other day and he really impressed me. i don't mind Snr but he's definitely more patrician.

(good start of a salt-and-pepper vibe w that white streak he's got at the front of his hair, too.)

Jack Dromey's a bit feisty, eh?! saw an interview of his the other day and he was on proper fighting form.

i can see i have my work cut out if i want to steal the fragrant Harriet away from him.
 
Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
don_quixote said:
honestly ive never caught it because i dont live in nottm, my sister rates it though.
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It seemed quite good and fairly popular when I was there, and an extension to the university and Beeston looks like a no-brainer. But
a) tram systems are bloody expensive to install - they're just about justified because they'll often get people who would never even consider getting a bus to leave the car at home, but it is kind of marginal and
b) it's a big noisy engineering project, and people who live too near the route are, as always, convinced that there's some spectacularly good reason that while they approve of it in principle there's some very compelling reason that it should go by some slightly different route that just happens to not go past their house.
 
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scottdisco

rip this joint please
Slothrop said:
It seemed quite good and fairly popular when I was there, and an extension to the university and Beeston looks like a no-brainer. But
a) tram systems are bloody expensive to install - they're just about justified because they'll often get people who would never even consider getting a bus to leave the car at home, but it is kind of marginal and
b) it's a big noisy engineering project, and people who live too near the route are, as always, convinced that there's some spectacularly good reason that while they approve of it in principle there's some very compelling reason that it should go by some slightly different route that just happens to not go past their house.
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well said.

anyone been on the Sheffield or Croydon ones? the Tyne and Wear underground train system is good i think, out to the coast, inner Nwc, down to Sunderland.

the Mcr one ended up w the council having to use compulsory purchase orders (pretty sure Mcr council is a leader in this, alongside truancy rates and ASBOs; neighbouring Salford uses a lot of CPOs i believe too) on shifting out folk from one small area of Baguley in Wythenshawe, s Mcr, cuz the Wythenshawe extension was going to go through there. pensioners and such who had lived in these houses forever, and the houses went to clear the route.

the punchline to this is that the Wythenshawe line is not happening now (when the council lost the congestion charge vote some of the extra money they had planned on evaporated, so they scaled down the new lines from 4 to 3: ie s Mcr, Rochdale and Oldham, and Ashton out east, leaving the W'shawe line in the air). i'm pretty sure this bit of the W'shawe line (that involved the Baguley CPOs) had evaporated even before the congestion charge debate, but still.

i mean there were a lot of demolishments, in Denton, e Mcr, Ashton, Pendlebury in Salford etc, but i believe the Baguley case might have been the only one where the council took the CPO route, think other areas were voluntary purchase.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Clearing pensioners' houses for a tram line that wasn't even built in the end? God, that's terrible. :(

I can't comment on trams in this country because, as far as I can remember, I've never used one, but the tram service in Geneva is pretty cool. It's somehow disproportionately exciting to be riding a public conveyance that seems like a cross between a train and a bus.

Geneva also has electric buses that run off overhead power lines. I actually miss the crackle, flash and faint whiff of ozone... :D
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
So out of curiosity, if, as seems likely, LDs jump ino the Blue bed, how many of the LDs here would still consider voting for them at the next election?
 
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