I'm tempted by Nigel Farage !

Makes a change from the DM Ana!

I'm sure the two will could be combined, Lona!

Ivanhoe
Also, due to your chosen political affiliation, I take it you dont use the NHS,because the NHS was born of a Labour Government in 1945-1948. The Conservatives of the day fought hard against its core values.

I don't think NanKate will have had the option to opt out of contributing to the NHS, even if she disagreed with its inception. Should we say that people who have voted labour for 50 years should not be buying their own houses?Nothing to do with UKIP I know , but I just thought the above comment was rather ,well........

It certainly was rather , well... atqui I agree with you there.

Do not read the politics threads if you do not want politics, Ana.

I'll read what I like, durhamjen. I'm allowed to express an opinion.

Ana

I do hope we're not going to be subjected to relentless anti-UKIP lobbying from now until the next general election...

Of course there will be relentless anti-UKIP lobbying - it's what they do to each other anyway and one of the biggest turn-offs in politics: too busy trying to backstab and bad-mouth one another instead of just simply putting their case forward and granting the electorate the intelligence to see through the rubbish. It's all a big game to them anyway.

David Cameron (I think it was him) said on tv a couple of days ago that they 'had tried ignoring them, then we tried insulting them and it didn't work' - says it all really doesn't it ...

We do not need to do anti-ukip lobbying. They are doing it themselves quickly enough. One councillor gone in a week.
Farage got rid of his manifesto, so he did not have one for the elections.
Lots of people voted for ukip because they were anti everyone else.
How many people actually voted for ukip positively? Not many I should think.

I agree, HollyDaze, the media will be full of it. That doesn't mean Gransnet has to follow suit.

I am ashamed to say I did not vote. I simply couldn't bring myself to put a X in any of the boxes. I was tempted to vote UKIP as a protest but was worried that a lot of people might do the same and they might actually get in. I needn't have worried in our local elections as a monkey could stand for the Labour party and get voted in here!

As I said before, Ana, don't read the politics thread if you do not want political disagreement.
So Gillybob, why did you not vote according to your principles? There must have been one party that you support more than most, although it was hard to find anyone's manifesto.
The only party that put any literature through my door was the Libdems, but that would definitely have been a wasted vote.
Are there any figures to show how many people lost their deposits?

Sadly this is the first time in my life that I could have voted for the very reasons Gillybob said and haven't. It is pointless and I have been publicly berated because I signed support for someone to stand in local elections. My answer as Gillybob noted about monkeys that I would support anyone other than a monkey who was prepared to take on the thankless task of opposing the heavy hand of the Labour Party in this neck of the woods. Just make it marginal I cry and the stampede of money and jobs into this area would be heartwarming.

None of the parties do represent my principles though durhamjen. There was a time when I thought the Labour party stood for everything I believed in, but sadly no longer. I think they are just tories in a very poor disguise.

Locally we did have an Independant who seemed quite reasonable, he lives local and vowed not to take a penny in expenses (impressive) but he didn't have a snowball in hell's chance of taking on the Labour Council here in Tyneside.

I live in the same area. I voted Green, simply because, as Gillybob said, the Labour party no longer represent my views. No local elections in Durham. But because a lot of people did not vote, a Ukipper got in for the North East.

I agree, HollyDaze, the media will be full of it. That doesn't mean Gransnet has to follow suit.

What! And take away the opportunity for a good knee-jerk shout-fest

durhamjen perhaps a lot of people voted UKIP and that's why a Ukipper got in the North East or is that too simplistic for you to understand.

gillybob

You don't live in Hartlepool do you

No I don't live in Hartlepool HollyDaze but not a million miles away.....

It is too simplistic, Ninny. It's not just to do with the numbers who vote. It's to do with those who do not vote .

Both Stansgran and Gillybob said they did not vote for the first time. If you are going to make sarcastic comments, please read the rest of the thread, or at least the page.

Hollydaze, Hartlepool is Teesside, not Tyneside. But as you do not come from the area, I wouldn't expect you to know the difference.

Was that not a sarcastic comment, then, durhamjen?

Yes, but I had read the thread.

Phew...I thought for one minute you were being patronising.

The Labour party have had an extreme hold on my town since 1935, it would take an earthquake to shift them. Because of this they are complacent and need do very little. They have no competition and no-one to go against them.

I hate to say this but here goes......... the town has a large elderly population most of whom were coalminers and shipyard workers. They all live "back in the day when......." and still blame Margaret Thatcher for everything from closing the mines to the poor weather on bank holiday Monday.

I do not think the reason we have a lot of unemployment and no money in the area is just because of Labour councils, Stansgran.
It's because we lost all the heavy engineering and the mining and nothing much has taken its place. For 30 years there has not been enough commitment to the area because the government is run from London and it's not just Osborne's father-in-law who thinks the north is desolate.
We got some call centres which have closed down.
One NorthEast was getting jobs in by giving grants, but as soon as the grants were stopped by the coalition, jobs stopped coming.

Totally agree with you durhamjen.