Upcoming PM elections...

[Justine+David 218]

hey hey hey!!! Election night is tomorrow!!

It does not bode well for the GBP-USD relations unfortunately with the impending hung parliament...

Have you (British citizens) voted yet? Voting tomorrow?

It's too bad that Labour and Lib Dems can't swing together and form a super party...maybe the Labour Democrats...they seem to be more in sync with each other than the Conservative party, anyway.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

It's very hard for me to write this as someone who agreed with Teresa May's description of the Tories as the Nasty Party, and who agreed with Bridget Jones when she thought everyone nice and smart voted Labour --

it is perfectly obvious that Labour stands for sharing, kindness, gays, single mothers and Nelson Mandela as opposed to braying bossy men having affairs with everyone shag shag shag left right and centre and going to the Ritz in Paris then telling all the presenters off on the Today programme.

-- but I think there is not enough worthwhile thought coming out of the Labour party. I certainly don't think the Tories are hot sh!t but it may be time to just try something not Labour. The Lib Dems would be an interesting choice to lead the country but frankly Britain isn't ready for it. The Lib Dems need to keep building on the momentum they've been increasing with every general election. The issue with proportional representation is still a difficult one for many (including me) to swallow. My ideal combination would be a Tory/Lib Dem pact, but Cameron has already said that will not happen.

Somewhere on the East Coast, my hippie parents' hearts just shrank a little.

[NotworkSte 19]

I certainly don't think the Tories are hot sh!t but it may be time to just try something not Labour. The Lib Dems would be an interesting choice to lead the country but frankly Britain isn't ready for it.

It some serious truth speaking I agree with. I'm a Tory, but, this election is like this years premier league, a poor group of players all round. I reckon LD will make serious gains (and I have a friend standing in Linlithgow for them, go Stephen!). Ultimately I reckon the Tories will win, slightly more than a small majority.

[Pooky 3,795]

It's looking squeaky close all around. Please don't let Gordon Brown sneak a way to hold on.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I'm sh!t-scared that it might happen.

[Justine+David 218]

Been watching it live on bbc online (the precincts calling out who won) and oh my goodness...these British politicians are the epitome of nonchalance...absolutely NO reaction when hearing that they win or lose. C'mon, not even a smile or a nod?! Or a down-turned head?

I really wonder what will happen if the Conservatives don't get the 326 seats for majority...'twould be too ironic for Brown to stay in at 10 Downing because there's no other way for the Conservatives to get in there

[Justine+David 218]

it's official! hung parliament...

[Pooky 3,795]

Been watching it live on bbc online (the precincts calling out who won) and oh my goodness...these British politicians are the epitome of nonchalance...absolutely NO reaction when hearing that they win or lose. C'mon, not even a smile or a nod?! Or a down-turned head?

I think you'll find that the fist-pumping, primal screaming, over-caffeinated bouncing around type of celebration is peculiar to you ex-colonial Americans. The British are far more reserved in their outpouring of joy and usually don't show much emotion until at least the fifth or sixth gin and tonic.

Besides, most of these results were being called after midnight UK-time, and most of them will already have had their Horlicks and be missing their big, comfy beds.

Or they could be zombies.

I think we'll stick with the zombie angle ...

[NotworkSte 19]

ooo for a lovely cup of Horlicks.

Well I was wrong, it was hung. Brown will probably hang on for as long as possible, I think he's entitled to until a vote of no confidence. Labour could move swiftly here, sack Brown, go a deal with the LD - no overall majority still, but you never know. The LD seems to be cozying up to Cameron though. Interesting times.

I showed C a list of all the parties fielding candidates and she was rather impressed. Of course the majority vote for C/L/LD, but certainly makes for a more interesting and colourful election than Republican v Democrat.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

I think you'll find that the fist-pumping, primal screaming, over-caffeinated bouncing around type of celebration is peculiar to you ex-colonial Americans. The British are far more reserved in their outpouring of joy and usually don't show much emotion until at least the fifth or sixth gin and tonic.

with the exception of the she-male super-excited that Zac Goldsmith won

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I smell a Lib Dem/Tory pact. Can't say it sounds too bad, but I wonder how/if Cameron is going to handle the issue of PR. My husband and I debated PR as a means of election and I finally found something in our political differences where I am on the right of Stalin.

Personally, I feel so disillusioned by the disintegration of Labour as a party I could identify with, and feel that the country was in safe hands with. They proved themselves to be the same sleazy, avaricious, screw-the-plebs-and-pass-the-champers f^cktards that they were supplanting in 1997. As a woman who spent time on a union picket line with her dad when she was a girl, sang "Bread and Roses" and "Union Maid" at lefty sleepaway camp, and at the age of 9 expressed with a sigh a deep regret that she had been born too late to be involved with the WPA, I feel affronted by what is, let's not forget, "New" Labour. Age, cynicism and nearly ten years working as a capitalist pig in the investment industry have wrought an inevitable shift to the right, but the tiny girl in me who named her dolls Mao, Che and Ho (not kidding -- I was three and they were my own choices) wants Labour to get its sh!t together and STAND for something again.

[Justine+David 218]

this is exciting! What I wouldn't give to be a fly-on-the-wall during the closed doors negotiations and during the individual party talks. It's also somewhat surprising to me that the traditionally conservative newspapers are lambasting Cameron for not getting a majority. Shouldn't they be trying to bolster him up?

Something I posted on fb today was how interesting it was that Clegg is a major party leader, yet an atheist with a wife who is from Spain. No way would he ever go anywhere in American politics because of those factors...I personally told David that I was nailing my own potential political aspirations shut by marrying him since he is a "fu-ren-ah"

Edited May 10, 2010 by Justine+David

[Darnell 8,478]

You're right, that's what I meant

What do you guys think about the SNP (Scottish national party) getting all upset about not being included in the debates over the next few days and threatening to not show them on Scottish TV? I was just there visiting David and we looked through a few of their local newspapers in Aviemore, they sounded pretty upset!

One of my political fantasies involves the SNP having enough seats in Parliament to seat the Prime Minister. Ya, I know won't happen until SNP has 'more weight' outside of Scotland, but hei - it's MY fantasy, and I'm sticking to it !

[Justine+David 218]

Well, I wouldn't be opposed to Scotland becoming their own country, although that might spell the end for any liberal politics in the UK, seeing as a ton of Labour support is up there! Are you from Liverpool, Darnell? Or your wife/husband?

How did your guys' individual MPs fare? David's precinct had Labour win, mostly, as he says, because Rotherham is a working-class community.

David was particularly pleased about the Green party winning a seat; I think it was for the very first time that they've gotten one. He's all for proportional representation, though, he doesn't like the idea that the BNP or the UKIP would get seats then...

They sound freaky! Reminds me a little bit like the Tea Party-ers here in the U.S. I was running along the national mall and there happened to be a huge protest (it was tax day) right along the Washington monument and on my way down, shouted, "go healthcare!!" and then on my way back, I mingled through the crowd listening to the various speakers. Quite eye-opening...sometimes I wonder if the U.S. would have been better off splitting in two just so we (east coast/west coast) wouldn't have to deal with the southern Republicans... no, but really

[Darnell 8,478]

Well, I wouldn't be opposed to Scotland becoming their own country, although that might spell the end for any liberal politics in the UK, seeing as a ton of Labour support is up there! Are you from Liverpool, Darnell? Or your wife/husband?

Oh- I wasn't spouting nationalisation of Alba (I'm for it, just never talk about it here) - but more precisely - for the SNP to seat a PM -

they'd have to have a majority of members in the Parliament first. What's that look like? MPs living outside of Scotland would have had to be member of SNP prior to election, in order for those numbers to count. Now, what's the possibility of living in Sussex, for example, and the SNP candidate for PM actually winning there? (IMO, zero, but hei - still, it's my fantasy, I'm sticking to it ! )

I'm in Liverpool 3 to 5 months each year for business - I've a partnership in a tech company there. I don't have status to vote.