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posted 22-02-2010 09:56
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Thanks TT.
Incidentally the Green Party has no plans for national or regional no-contest election deals with other socialist/ left parties. The only exception I know of is in Birmingham, where Salma Yacoub (Respect councillor) won't be opposed. (It probably would only ever have a nominal 'paper candidacy' anyway).
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posted 22-02-2010 10:05
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Sadly true, yes.
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posted 22-02-2010 14:45
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Yes, resulting in ridiculous situations like Green standing against 'Stop the War' in S. Tyneside council elections.
Mind you in that particular choice of candidates, I'd have to vote for the Green...
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posted 22-02-2010 14:59
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What's the point, strategically and practically, in standing a 'stop the war' candidate in a local election? I think I'd take the Greens' side in that particular spat.
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posted 22-02-2010 15:16
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Well, as you can probably guess, it's someone from a long-moribund far left splinter group using the handy label of StW.
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posted 22-02-2010 15:26
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That's pretty appalling.
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posted 22-02-2010 15:43
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Ideally, a narrow Labour win, with as many seats lost to LibDems and smaller left wing parties (believe it or not, the Socialist platform is looking surprisingly strong in South Wales where I'm at), so they can sort their act out. The prospect of a Tory government led by children and idiots with more money than sense is truly terrifying, whilst Labour is only a slightly better option.
However, this is not dreamland, so I anticipate a narrower than expected Tory win... *sigh*
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posted 02-03-2010 10:10
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Add John Cryer in Leyton and Wanstead to the good list. The former Campaign Group MP got selected for E10, E11 at the weekend. The way the regional party handled the selection process was deeply unsatisfactory but given the blows the left's had locally in recent times, this is good news.
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posted 12-03-2010 19:45
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Can I resurrect this thread and ask those living in the UK whether the current mini-trend towards Labour and away from the Tories
a) is only due to the Ashcroft affair
b) is merely a short-lived media craze
c) is for real
d) is likely to continue
e) is likely to stop once the real campaign kicks in and Mr Cameron manages to woo voters in the TV debate
f) is because people are taking a closer look at the Tory policies and/or Mr Cameron
In other words: Will it be worth trying to find a livestream on election night?
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Etienne
Life sorted but now lacking time for OTF
Posts: 6670
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posted 12-03-2010 19:55
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a) no
b) only partly
c) yes
d) possibly
e) it might reverse, but I don't think the TV debates will help the Tories (if anything, I think they'll help the Lib Dems)
f) yes
I think it's too early to say there has been a real shift, but it does indicate there is still a considerable unwillingness amongst lots of people disaffected with Labour to simply vote Tory.
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posted 12-03-2010 21:03
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Largely agree- actually I think this trend may increase as we approach the election. The basic difference is that the Conservatives want public spending cuts to be quicker and harsher than what either Labour or the LibDems propose. So many voters- public employees, heavy users of health and education services, pensioners- will play safe however much they dislike Gordy.
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posted 12-03-2010 22:44
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Cameron's also not that popular with rightwingers- or at least the ones that post on rightwing newspaper sites. Check out this from the Telegraph:
blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompso...-real-david-cameron/
Clearly there's a lot of madness on here- somebody thinks Edward Heath was boorish, for example. I bet he got pissed up and started fights every time he went to a a classical concert. But it might suggest something.
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posted 12-03-2010 23:56
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I'm not as optimistic as Etienne or DG. I think the anti-Labour voices in the press and elsewhere will get a lot more vicious once the election is called.
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Etienne
Life sorted but now lacking time for OTF
Posts: 6670
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posted 13-03-2010 01:36
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I think that too, and as I say I'm not convinced that the shift in the polls will remain or increase. But the trend is long enough and broad enough that it's not just a media meme, or an Ashcroft storm.
Also it's difficult to imagine that anti-Labour viciousness has much scope for increase, and I don't really think that it's going to make much difference (except possibly to Labour turnout). Anyone who hasn't abandoned Labour already, given all the vitriol poured on Brown in the last 18 months or more isn't going to do so now. The question is whether the Tories are going to be the ones to benefit.
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posted 13-03-2010 11:55
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Malcolm Tucker's analysis is spot on as usual.
We've got a clear story to tell on this. They're in bed with the Ulster Unionists. And I think this is a good week to not unfairly characterise these guys as beardy weirdy, bollocks-in-the-mangle old-time-religion, one-step-from-Waco fruitcakes.
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Last Edit: 13-03-2010 11:58 By The Purple Cow.
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posted 13-03-2010 15:57
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I think you over-estimate the power of the media, E10.
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Etienne
Life sorted but now lacking time for OTF
Posts: 6670
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posted 13-03-2010 20:23
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How can that tactic possibly be valid?
It makes the US Senate look like a model of parliamentary rectitude.
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Etienne
Life sorted but now lacking time for OTF
Posts: 6670
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posted 13-03-2010 20:28
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ursus, it's apparently down to the time allowed to the bill. It seems like one of the MPs involved (Chope) stretched out earlier business in order to mean that this legislation was vulnerable to this sort of ambush tactic. I don't fully understand the situation though.
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