Is Miliband posher than Cameron? And do we care?

Ah but I suppose lawn cutting is what "hard working people/families" have a right to do!

Must tell DH that, he has mown ours twice already this year. I'm sure that will influence his vote

Quite right roses , a lawn wouldn't dare to be so ostentatiously abundant under a Labour government!

I blame this government for my lawn growing, it needs cutting and it's only March!

Nonnie I heard that on Radio 4 on (I think) Monday late afternoon/early evening.

It makes you wonder what "they" will come out with next! Fewer white Christmases, more dog fouling, the list could be endless.

May just be very green if he believes every politician who tells him they had to vote against what they secretly believed was right , where is the decency in that

Brian May Oh yes I hadn't looked at it at all - well still haven't properly - it seems to be a campaign rather than anything else. Must find time to look more into it.

I don't know the price of milk or much else in the supermarket. Life is too short to get stressed about such things unless you are really, really poor.

yes grannytwice I agree, if people havent voted, havent tried to do something about local government/central government/parish council then they cant complain.

Brian May seems confused, he fought against the culling of badgers but seems to have forgotten the Welsh labour government opted for no culling of badgers . And why does he think anyone fighting for UKIP shares his views on UKIP leader Farage

Is Miliband posher than Cameron? And do we care?
No and No!!

That jibe made by Nadine Dorries (is that right?) comes to mind about posh boys 'not knowing the price of milk'
I think if you challenged anyone on the correct price of milk very few people would know because of the supermarket price wars and the way some of them treat the farmers. But that is another time, another thread.

Really Phoenix? So glad I missed that one. How on earth would anyone know? Maybe just more of it has been detected by our reduced number of policemen who have brought down many other crimes?

The "arguments" start to get a bit silly when Labour come up with "there has been more radicalisation of young Muslims under the current government than under the previous Labour one".

I think the point of spoiling the ballot paper is to say 'none of the above' or 'I abstain'. If there was a box to tick one of those it would be better but as there isn't it is a way of making a protest. If you don't turn up to vote it is not clear if it was laziness or a protest.

I don't like the assumptions made like "David Cameron wants to" unless it is something he has said. Just because we don't like someone's politics it is not right to attribute things to them which we do not know. There is of course the old saying that 'Assume makes an ass of u and me'

Brian May

I don't think it's a 'party' Whitewave it's a decency agenda. He'd even consider backing a UKIP candidate, see above link.

Anyone who doesn't vote forfeits their right to complain though. Perhaps?

Anyone seen Brian May and his Decency Party?

My father thought that was better than not turning up to vote. I used to agree with him. Now I'm not sure because I feel that freedom to choose to use one's vote is as important as having a vote in the first place. Democracy, for me, includes maintaining maximum freedom of the individual, maximum freedom to choose.

GrannyTwice surely spoiling your ballot paper is not voting. Can't see the point in doing that.

Like soon, I vote for the party whose 'vision' or aims I most agree with. At the moment I'm struggling as I don't like any of them as a whole.

I think a well-educated person should be able to imagine the hardships that some people have to live with sufficiently to want to do something to improve those people's lives, so I don't think poshness or nonposhness matters. That has been what social reformers (many of them decidedly posh richer than average) have always been driven by, I should think. Why should that be different now? Perhaps the problem is that many people think the wish to improve poor people's quality of life is missing in our current politicians.

Surely what lies at the core of democracy is the right to vote , not the right to decide whether or not to use that vote. When I see people exercising thrir right to vote for the first time, for example as happened in South Africa, it's profoundly moving. I still remember Archbishop Tutu coming out of the polling station, being asked how it felt to vote for the first time and exclaiming 'Yippee', I also remember a very pregnant woman saying ' I voted twice today, once for me and once for my baby'. I don't know where I stand really on it being compulsory. I have spoilt my ballot paper sometimes by writing something on it but I always vote and cherish that right and what people did to get it for me- not just the suffragettes but going further back as well. But what really really really irritates me is people moaning about the Government, local Council etc who then say that they don't bother to vote.

I don't think that it's just on Gransnet that Labour voters shout the loudest! It happens in real life too! To be a smidgeon to the right of centre seems to mean one is on a par with the devil.

Titter ye not! Hee-hee.

Yes, one poll even dares to have the conservatives in the lead!

I would not want the vote to be mandatory either, we have enough of being told what to do in life, to vote or not to vote should be our own choice, but the people who don't vote can't then complain about who gets into power.As Nonnie says, often the Labour ( or green!) voters on GNet tend to shout the loudest. A calm discussion would be a lot better.It could go either way at the election this year, it seems very close according to the polls.