would you ever vote conservative?

  • Thread starter simon silverdollar
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simon silverdollar

Guest
just wondering what the political make-up of dissensus is.

so, would you ever cast a vote for the right? i'm especially interested to know if UK dissensians have been at all swayed by the tory's 'reinvention' under cameron.

me, i'd never vote tory. partly because i do believe that most of Labour are basically decent people doing a fairly good job, whereas I don't trust the tory's claims to be concerned with social justice in the slightest.

but mainly it's a non-rational, visceral hatred of the tories that was instilled in me from childhood: my mum's one 'golden rule' was that i was to never vote tory: doing so would mean running the risk of being chucked out of the house.

no change of leader, or even change in policy, is going to get past that basic loathing of the conservatives. and definitely not Cameron, who i despise: i bet if you cut him open, inside he's all made up of Lattes, gastropub sea-bass, and jamie cullen CDs...
 
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droid

Guest
Not living in the UK, I dont really have a right to comment, but from everything Ive read and seen over the last 10 years or so the main difference between the Tories and Labour, is that Labour has better PR.

Privatisation/Illegal wars/Arms trade/Corruption - they've all flourished under Blair...
 
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simon silverdollar

Guest
droid said:
Not living in the UK, I dont really have a right to comment, but from everything Ive read and seen over the last 10 years or so the main difference between the Tories and Labour, is that Labour has better PR.

Privatisation/Illegal wars/Arms trade/Corruption - they've all flourished under Blair...

true, but there's also been record levels of spending on health and education, a real concern with improving gay rights, the minimum wage, and consistently low unemployment. I don't think any of these would ahve occurred under a conservative government.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
You can never say never but I think it will take a lot more than Cameron to change my mind. There seems to be just as much corruption associated with this Labour government as its predecessor and they've done lots of things that I totally disagree with but in the final analysis the philosophy of Labour chimes more closely with mine than that of the Tories.
On a related note, maybe local issues can change the way you vote - the reason I say that is because last week I was speaking to the woman who runs Broadway Market and she mentioned how little help she had had from Labour Councillors whereas the Tory guy had been excellent. She said that she had thought that she would never vote Tory but now she would although she preferred to call it voting Councillor Roth.
 
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droid

Guest
simon silverdollar said:
true, but there's also been record levels of spending on health and education, a real concern with improving gay rights, the minimum wage, and consistently low unemployment. I don't think any of these would ahve occurred under a conservative government.

I appreciate that small differences in policies can make big differences domestically - but when it comes down to it, its the big issues that count. And Britain under Blair doesnt look much different (from the outside) to Britain under Major, or even (shudder) Thatcher.

At least you know where you are with the Tories - theyre evil and proud of it (until recently), Labours policies are made all the more odious as theyre hidden behind the facade of ethics, Blairs hypocritical, patronising, 'sincere' grin and his 'oh so reasonable' wheening tone of voice...

Check out George Monbiots: 'Captive State' and Mark Curtis's: The Web of Deceit: Britain's Real Role in the World for some fairly damning Nu-lab bashing...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...59542/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_3_1/202-2668497-3202212

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099448394/202-2668497-3202212

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...59571/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_3_2/202-2668497-3202212
 

Rachel Verinder

Well-known member
In response to the original question: rearrange the following words to make a well-known phrase: "HANDS," "COLD," "DEAD," "MY."
 

nunc

∞
my local polling station (in the hall adjoining a cathedral) last year (first time voter!) was staffed entirely by fearsome old tory ladies. they were just about sentient enough to tell that my protracted scribbling sounds could signify only illiteracy dementia or infantile ballot spoling. anarchists could have voted for them under those undead 'we are not amused' gazes.
 

jk_gabba

gabba survivor
testing

A little personal plug, I've just finished working on some code for a psychological test that purports to get at your sub-conscious voting intentions, i.e do you like Cameron more than you though you did.. anyway, if you've got 15 minutes to spare click here:

http://www.cogresearch.com/politics/
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
".. anyway, if you've got 15 minutes to spare click here:"
Well, that was quite interesting. Apparently I like Gordon Brown more than smarmy Dave which I guess means it was correct. I wonder though if I might have got the opposite results if the Cameron/Brown & Good/Evil linking things had come the other way round ie Brown-good, Cameron-evil followed by Cameron-good, Brown-evil instead of how it was.
 
No way!!
It's so blatantly transparent that Cameron will just say anything to become popular, and equally obvious that he doesn't mean a word.
Problem is, Labour seem to be 90% as bad: corruption/titles for cash, PFI scams, Iraq, ID cards, etc etc.
Hobson's choice more than ever before innit?

I used to pity the American's for having to choose between the right or the ultra right but now we can choose between the fairly right or a bit righter.

Is a vote for greens or independents a vote wasted? I gave up voting a few years ago cos I honestly hate them all and I am a person who really tries to let go of negative feelings and not to hate. (yeah, hippy but I mean it)

I think a huge number of british people feel the same as me - that there is nobody to represent them.

Anyone heard anything about the "make politicians history" campaign someone is doing in Ireland?

PS jkgabba- i tried to look at your survey but just got a blank page... on the other hand my computer is 100 years old...
 

matt b

Indexing all opinion
i can't watch david cameron as i'm always scared he's about to fall off his bicycle- no helmet and all.

he's essentially a cheap whore isn't he?
 

owen

Well-known member
matt b said:
only to give it all to laughing business men.

quite. throwing money at PFI hospitals to make ideological points is not the sort of spending on the NHS people are asking for...

anyway. in answer to the question- FUCK NO- but i do rather miss the sheer evil of the tories. the gleeful nastiness of an alan clark versus the simpering managerial twattery of an alan milburn...
 
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droid

Guest
So who'd vote labour then?

Anybody? (apart from Oliver of course :D)
 

mms

sometimes
owen said:
but i do rather miss the sheer evil of the tories. the gleeful nastiness of an alan clark versus the simpering managerial twattery of an alan milburn...

just a clearer enemy, you know where you are with them more
 

Padraig

Banned
simon-community britishdollar said:
so, would you ever cast a vote for the right?

Be real conservative: don't vote ...

owen said:
quite. throwing money at PFI hospitals to make ideological points is not the sort of spending on the NHS people are asking for...

anyway. in answer to the question- FUCK NO- but i do rather miss the sheer evil of the tories. the gleeful nastiness of an alan clark versus the simpering managerial twattery of an alan milburn...

"There! There's the Enemy , Shoot it!" :)

Interesting you should mention the NHS, which is likely to become a core issue soon enough, as Britain follows the "Boston Model" of health care (increasing privatisation). Its currently happening in Ireland, and its the single biggest political issue of the moment. From the likes of Hollywood multi-millionaire actors like Brendan Gleeson [who recently delivered a viseral emotional outburst against the current state of the health system on the main TV chatshow here, about witnessing his mother dying in circumstances of horrendous medical neglect in public hospitals. Gee, Brendan, with yer Hollywood fortune, how come yer mother was depositied in ... er, better not follow that line of enquiry ] to Ireland's leading "philanthropic" capitalists rushing forward to gushingly offer "managerial services" to help "solve" the crisis in the health services by utilising the "benefit" of their pragmatic "business approach" to solving acute social dilemmas. So making it even worse ... "More Private Hospitals!!" (state funded, of course) goes the call, "a proper business ethic", so guaranteeing the further forceful exclusion of those whose neglectful treatment they are now so indignant about ... their very ideology the underlying cause of the problem in the first place.

131.jpg
Thank you so much for cooperating with me in dismantling the NHS, and I hear there's plenty of nursing jobs in Eyerland ..."

The concept of socialised medical care is Enemy Number One here, as it increasingly is with Blair [funnnnney how one of the poorest, most sanction-manacled countries in the world (Cuba), can have one of the best health-care systems, while the richest ones let the poor die in hospital carparks ... now that's a good bit of wandering off of the beaten track of this thread ...

bell512.jpg
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
It depends. If, come the next election, I'm still living in this constituency then no - Conservative only get about 3% of the vote here so there wouldn't be much point, and I'll vote LibDem like last time.

However, if there's one thing that three terms of Labour government has done, its clarify for me that my basic political preferences are better served by the right than the left, even if the left-right divide has become meaningless in modern politics. There's almost nothing this Labour government has done that I'm glad it has done, and even without a viable alternative, my priority in the last two general elections I've voted in has been to get Labour out of power. With the recent acceleration in legislation that chills me to the core - ID cards, Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill being the two biggies - the urgency is even greater. And if you think for a moment that a Brown government will make things better, think again - ID cards are just the sort of expensive, wasteful big government project he's a fan of.

So yes, I will vote conservative one day, absolutely, particularly once they realise (as they are coming to) that civil liberties and personal freedoms are absolutely core conservative values and something the country desperately needs a return to. Until Cameron's election, it was pointless - I saw Michael Howard speak once to a room full of paid-up members of the Tory party - some of whom had voted Tory for decades - and he was so bad even they started questioning whether he was worth their vote. He was the dying vestige of the worst aspects of 90s conservatism and I'm glad he's gone. There are some appalling elements of the conservative party (some of them were in that room that evening), but they're not what the party has to be about, and under Cameron they are no longer being courted. Cameron may not be perfect (a prize for anyone who can name a perfect politician), and he may just be out there saying the right things, but they're the things I want to hear, and I hope he gets the chance to prove himself on some of them.
 

matt b

Indexing all opinion
Rambler said:
However, if there's one thing that three terms of Labour government has done, its clarify for me that my basic political preferences are better served by the right than the left

:(

i'm sorry to read this rambler- the left (NOT the labour party) has the strongest tradition of bigging up the things you discuss

i also disagree that "civil liberties and personal freedoms are absolutely core conservative values"- i can't think of a single example of this link.

"Cameron may not be perfect (a prize for anyone who can name a perfect politician), and he may just be out there saying the right things, but they're the things I want to hear, and I hope he gets the chance to prove himself on some of them."

'kin ell! you buy the spin! cameron (like most politicians) is after power and will say owt to get in. i guarantee that all his softly softly mr nice guy platitudes will be dumped the moment he gets into powerr (heaven forfend).
 
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