Election result

sorry Jwhatever - it saves typing and it is a pain to remember the bold to distinguish the members' name

Can we put a bit more than that before the 'gran'. It's too hard!

ggran - you agreed with wgran when she stated
'So who did vote Tory and why,when we knew they were very likely to start to privatise our NHS and slash billions from our welfare budget? Did you vote Tory because you wanted a Tory government or because you didn't want any other party to lead the country? I am just interested in the mindset behind people's voting choice.
what percentage of voters voted in labour in 1997 and 2005 - I think you will find that they did not get more than 50% of the vote either. that is the way it worked with FPTP

www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2015/05/09/scotland-east-anglia-one-party-rule-and-the-right-to-govern/

An interesting article about people's conceptions of the SNP.

My sister worked in the post office when Alan Johnson was in charge of the post office, and when he was head of the post office union.
Her pension and that of other postal workers is a lot less than it should be because he allowed the bosses to take pension payment holidays when the pot was in surplus. When it was discovered that there was a deficit, it was the workers who had to pay more in, not the bosses.

Alan Johnson was also in charge of social care when we had a complaint to make about my mother's care home; not just about my mother, but about the way others were treated by management. He and John Prescott both ignored our letters about it after all other avenues had been explored.
So I would not want Alan Johnson as leader of the Labour party.
Anyway, he would have been treated worse than the two Eds, as he was once chancellor and gave up because he knew nothing about economics. At least Ed Balls knows a lot about economics.

Soon - the stock market goes up when uncertainty has been resolved. Once the EU referendum is approaching, see what will happen.

Thank you rosequartz

soontobe - it's your prerogative to disagree with me about the Labour Party being 'the party of spend' and wreckers of the economy but the facts are out there for anyone who cares to google it. It's a myth, exploded time and time again by those who know far more about economics than me or probably anyone on here.

anniebach here is a link you may (or not wish) to follow to a DM article
I found it online, written last year by someone who I believe is very right wing.
Interesting though!

I think, had AJ decided to run, Labour would have had a very good chance of winning.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2784353/A-real-human-I-vote-Alan-Johnson-s-memoirs-reveal-deeply-principled-working-class-hero.html

"^a bit patronising to question why 'the rest of the country' voted Conservative and to ask for their motives^"

I don't think I did say that mollie65 but it may be worth remembering that only 37% of the voters who voted for the Conservatives and I would certainly be interested if someone did a survey to find out what motivated that 37%. I don't think it is unreasonable to ask the question.

Anya your post Sat 09-May-15 07:20:57 is a good analysis, which no doubt people will go on doing for some time I think your comment "^Finally there are those who have not been directly affected by cuts, YET.^" Will become noticeable very quickly to some of those you describe as it was well set out by the Tories that they are going for big hits in the first three years in order to spend in the last two of this government.

Granny Twice

Would you have said that ridiculous comment to Alan Johnson who's book I was referring too?

Granny Twice

You really have a problem with the truth and others expressing their comments don't you.

The Sun backed Labour once, funny nobody moaned then.

The Daily Mail can certainly stick it to the Conservatives when it wants to. I got sick of reading about horse gate, U Turns, Pasty Tax etc.

The Daily Mirror is just as bad as the Sun, the Guardian got off lightly over the accusation a rival paper deleted Millie Dowlers messages, Leveson and Hacked Off were the result of that. No paper is above dirty tricks.

At the moment on 130 the SNP gathering and Nicola Sturgeon talking.

Well what can I say! Scotland definitely spoke loud and clear. Shame smarmy cammy is still in power but even if everyone in Scotland had voted Labour he would still have had a majority so it really highlights the problem with being involved with Westminster.

Goodness POGs - those evil unions again. I had a next door neighbour who was very right wing - he would have loved UKIP and hated the unions. He worked for a bus company and when it was privatised, the new owners came up with a 'scam' for depleting the pension fund to which he had contributed but the union fought and saved the fund.Then in later life he developed mesothelioma from the brake pipes on the buses he repaired. At least he died knowing his wife got substantial compensation as a result of all the efforts the unions had put in fighting for this industrial disease to be recognised and compensation paid. He never paid a penny in Union dues of course because unions were awful. So if we are going to have a union bashing discussion, could it please rise above the level of the Sun/DM/DE?

I do wish I lived nearer shops, so I could see newspaper headlines most days.
And the online versions seem to be surprisingly unsimilar,[dissimilar?] to the newspaper versions.
I have no idea what the sun headline was on wednesday.

nightowl - I wuld have to disagree with you there.
The Labour party make no bones about being the party of spend.
Fine, if that is what they want to do. But a lot of people look at their own household budgets, and dont like living from pay check to pay check if they dont have to. So dont like the idea of a country or countries doing that either as an ethos.
Business leaders start writing letters, if they fear a Labour government. The stock market goes up after tories win.

Thatbags - do you really think that the treatment of EM by the DM and the Sun in particular was 'teasing' akin to Spitting Image'? For one thing SI spread their lampooning across a whole range of politicians and institutions. No one can deny that we have a politically very unbalanced press and that the level of coverage in some papers is lower than the gutter. And as for the Guardian , those of us that read it daily know that is has a wide range of contributors from across the political spectrum with thoughtful well written articles that really contribute to our understanding. Can anyone here really defend the Suns front page on Wednesday?

Alan Johnson has wrote in the Daily Mail.

Yes I probably agree most Conservatives can respect Alan Johnson because he is a decent person.

I llike the part in his book where he told the tale of when he was a postman and his workmates sent one of their workers to 'COVENTRY', he didn't like it. I know how that feels I suffered at the hands of the union when I was a kid of 16 , horrible people, horrible experience.

Ed Milliband would have had no choice but to rely heavily on the SNP despite what he said, even the Queens Speech was going to have to be sanctioned by the Scots if Nicola Sturgeon was to be believed! - blackmail comes to mind! When listening to that, their desire to lock D.C out of Downing Street, and their veiled threats that they would be quite prepared to render Labour unable to govern if their demands weren't met were clear enough and something most people could work out for themselves with or without the press!!

Actually, I think DM readers would have a lot of respect for Alan Johnson.
What I would imagine they don't like are pretentious people whose motto is 'do as I say and not as I do' - hyoocrites. Alan isn't one. He is very likeable.

Prescott was and is a buffoon.
I like Pauline (Lady P) though. She must be a very patient woman.

No it wasn't the media for me.

I listened to what was being said by the main players during the debates, at the countless interviews I heard take place which allowed me to understand how Westminster would have to be formed if Labour had no overall majority but could form a government with other parties. We saw how it worked in 2010 after all.

Miliband would have to have done a deal with other like minded parties but if you didn't hear some of the comments such as Leanne Wood say they would do a deal with 'Ed', all very touchy feely wasn't it, but she wanted extra funding for Wales. No problem whatsoever in that , it's the name of the game with supply and confidence haggling, backroom blackmail. Miliband would have to say to the Sir Humphries we can form a government by providing information of exactly how he could secure the majority of MP numbers in Westminster. That's how it works. Miliband even had his own team saying it was implausible Labour would not have to 'talk' to other parties but 'talking' was never going to prove he could command the Hours so it would have been a supply and confidence deal.

I am always very surprised how many GN's seem to be so reliant on the press for their information. I think the majority of people are far more intelligent than to believe what the Daily Mail or the Guardian say, AT TIMES. Papers are partisan, we all understand that, it's precisely because they are I look at what they don't want you to read that is more interesting sometimes.

I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly with your post Eloethan

It would also appear that some English voters blame the Scottish people for voting for their preferred party from comments I've heard in TV and elsewhere

Why?

rosequartz, I didn't say it has to be a labour supporter. As for Alan Johnson, he has ruled himself out a second time, very wise man. Have you forgotten the mocking Prescott got in the Mail for playing Croquet ? a working class man playing Croquet , shame on him . They Tory press would rip Alan to bits, an ex postman, brought up in a council flat, divorced , daring to represent this country on the world stage . It would put Mail readers on Valium . Alan knows this and he wants a party leader like Blair anyway

It would be god if wondergran could keep us informed as to how things are for her over the next few years. If things do improve I am more than happy to hold up my hands and say 'I was wrong' with regards to what this government will do to the most vulnerable members of society, as since I retired, I am out of touch with regards to other peoples lives. I've often felt that politics is very black and white whereas a lot of it is more about grey areas; perhaps why I always found the LibDems to be the jiminy crickets of the political world. I very much hope they regroup and become the voice of reason that they always used to be.