[Politics] General Election 2024 - 4th July

[oldboyroy]

The Sun is backing Labour, f***ing hell. But, scum papers just jumping on the victory, saying they wanted it all along. Desperate wankers.

Indeed. Like it took them till 3pm yesterday afternoon to announce it when they finally accepted the polls hadn't moved much. You watch them gloat if by any chance the tories get enough for a hung parliament or even scrape a win.! It doesn't bear thinking about

 

[Guinness Boy]

Nice response, but I'll carry on using it. You're invoking 20C episodes there, which were undoubtedly horrific. Not so sure 'the centre' necessarily helped with the lead up to either of those, but I'm less concerned about that point, and am more concerned that:
-- centrism isn't a 'thing', it moves all the time (what was it in 1948, 1982, 2006, 2016 and 2022, for instance? is it the same in Brazil, Bhutan and Britain?, etc) and anyone that thinks they can identify it is kidding themselves
-- it is deployed to shut down alternatives, and the shutting down of alternatives also constitutes a threat to or diminution of democracy
-- it's also used to ward off change; this is sometimes fine, but at other times -- like when things are broken, when long-held ideas, values and policies have proven that they no longer work (any of this sound familiar?) -- warding off change stores up problems that can become more explosive when they play out

That said, the majority identify with/as the centre, but I'll plough on with the Sisyphean task.

The anti change thing is the opposite of what I believe centrism can achieve. Conservatives, by definition, don’t want change (or want to change things back to an imagined past, shitstalga again).

Blair and Obama are centre left for me. Blair reduced NHS waiting times, created SureStart, gave the BoE power over interest rates and brought in Academies. Obama oversaw the biggest change to the American health system in history.

“Change” is what I do for a living. There’s no way Starmer would get my support if I thought he was against it.

Of course, what they’re not for is complete change to the economic model or prioritising climate change over everything else. People are free to vote Green if that’s what they want, so the alternative is there. It just doesn’t seem popular.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Morning comrades - a new dawn awaits

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

The Sun is backing Labour, f***ing hell. But, scum papers just jumping on the victory, saying they wanted it all along. Desperate wankers.

f*** The Sun.

 

[The Clamp]

And the voting begins….

 

[Rdodge30]

My bets today are all to varying degrees on low voter turnout - based on the new voter ID requirement.

I expect news stories Tonight/tomorrow to be that low voter turnout is responsible for every aspect of the result!!

Tory seats under 100? .. LVT
Labour seats under 500?..LVT
Liberals don’t get 70 (as if!) …LVT
Reform less than 7 …etc etc

 

[TomandJerry]

My bets today are all to varying degrees on low voter turnout - based on the new voter ID requirement.

I expect news stories Tonight/tomorrow to be that low voter turnout is responsible for every aspect of the result!!

Tory seats under 100? .. LVT
Labour seats under 500?..LVT
Liberals don’t get 70 (as if!) …LVT
Reform less than 7 …etc etc

It'd be ironic if the Tories moaned about a system they bought in

 

[TomandJerry]

My vote is in

(They were quite strict about checking IDs)

 

[Gwylan]

Got to polling station at 7 and it was already open - was sixth in the queue to vote. I don't normally wait to vote but I imagine that ID checking is bringing delays. I think also that there are fewer staff. I'm sure in previous elections you went to a different person according to your address, but only person checking today

 

[RandyWanger]

Physically checked ID, asked for my address then gave me my card. Added a couple minutes but not too bad as it was quiet at 7am

 

[Frutos]

 

[Eeyore]

I woke up feeling grumpy and utterly detached from it all. An electoral system that returns a record majority for a party with possibly less than 40% of the vote, a government that ran a campaign with showed utter contempt for us, a media that has such power that our new leader shows delight at an endorsement by the scumiest piece of filth on the planet.

I told myself that folk had died for this right and I had to go to the polling booth. So I did and wrote 'Larry the Cat' on my ballot paper.

 

[jackalbion]

Just heard some big news from the electoral commission, you don't need ID if you are going to vote Tory, so no need to bring it!

 

[ROSM]

I woke up feeling grumpy and utterly detached from it all. An electoral system that returns a record majority for a party with possibly less than 40% of the vote, a government that ran a campaign with showed utter contempt for us, a media that has such power that our new leader shows delight at an endorsement by the scumiest piece of filth on the planet.

I told myself that folk had died for this right and I had to go to the polling booth. So I did and wrote 'Larry the Cat' on my ballot paper.

You can't blame a winner for winning. As someone who has seen the labour campaign closely it's interesting how it's about not piling up votes where they aren't of value. It's about using votes efficiently ( a bit how lib dems are doing). It's how the Tories have operated previously too. Their resources have been focussed that way. If the rules were different then the campaign approach would be too.

 

[Ethelwulf]

Voted labour in east Worthing can’t wait to see Sir Peter Tory boy voted out and get a decent MP Becci Cooper

 

[Eeyore]

You can't blame a winner for winning. As someone who has seen the labour campaign closely it's interesting how it's about not piling up votes where they aren't of value. It's about using votes efficiently ( a bit how lib dems are doing). It's how the Tories have operated previously too. Their resources have been focussed that way. If the rules were different then the campaign approach would be too.

I live in Kemptown and just thought what the point was really. Labour should get 60-70%. I didn't want to vote Labour and I haven't voted Tory for 30 years and can't see myself doing again. Then I just thought how mad the electoral system is and how all votes aren't equal. I'm pretty sure I once researched it and no government has had 50%+1 of the vote in my lifetime. Therefore no government has ever had a mandate (maybe the Con/Lib coalition).

There was even an election in 1951 where the Tories got less votes than Labour and won more seats !

 

[kevo]

Tories Out bingo card

 

[Worried Man Blues]

Isn't Kier Starmer beginning to look like Billy Bunter?

 

[ROSM]

I live in Kemptown and just thought what the point was really. Labour should get 60-70%. I didn't want to vote Labour and I haven't voted Tory for 30 years and can't see myself doing again. Then I just thought how mad the electoral system is and how all votes aren't equal. I'm pretty sure I once researched it and no government has had 50%+1 of the vote in my lifetime. Therefore no government has ever had a mandate (maybe the Con/Lib coalition).

There was even an election in 1951 where the Tories got less votes than Labour and won more seats !

I don't disagree. Only Blair in 1997 won the most votes for a party in all age demographics too. I think the last 50+1 was pre 1918 so over 100yrs old. This is certainly the most diverse vote share with 5 national parties likely to get more than 1.5m votes and 2 regional ones doing well in their country. In effect 7 major parties. As a result anybody getting more than 40% would be blasting this

 

[Gwylan]

I live in Kemptown and just thought what the point was really. Labour should get 60-70%. I didn't want to vote Labour and I haven't voted Tory for 30 years and can't see myself doing again. Then I just thought how mad the electoral system is and how all votes aren't equal. I'm pretty sure I once researched it and no government has had 50%+1 of the vote in my lifetime. Therefore no government has ever had a mandate (maybe the Con/Lib coalition).

There was even an election in 1951 where the Tories got less votes than Labour and won more seats !

In 1874, the Liberals got 52% of the votes and still lost, finishing 100 seats behind the Tories.

I think there have been four other occasions since the Second Reform Act where a party has grabbed more than 50% of the vote: 1880, 1886. 1900 and 1931. I can't see if ever happening again.