I might vote Tory but that doesn't make me a bad person

On your point about compassion Soutra I agree - I know many compassionate Tories. My concern is not about them as individuals as I am sure they think they are doing the right thing, but about the policies. As I said, they believe that they are doing right by the poor by waiting for the trickle down - but it is too long to wait for many who really would prefer not to be queuing at food banks while they wait.

Having said that there are politicians in all parties who could be said not to be compassionate but just after climbing the greasy pole and feathering their own nests.

We've had months and months of left-leaning posters 'expressing concern' about Tory policies - I suppose it was only to be expected that the election result guarantees even more of it.

Is it wrong to express a genuine concern? The right-leaning members have expressed concern about how other parties might manage the economy - are they wrong to do that?

By the way - I have not only never voted Tory, but also never voted Labour either!

Why can't people enjoy a good argument without taking it personally and feeling hurt? It's politics for goodness sake!

No, they are not wrong to express genuine concern, far from it, as long as it's done in a proper manner.

Are you getting at me, jo1book? The lady who did not get the Clinton reference? Of course I got it. However, if it was "the economy, stupid," I was just pointing out that Ed Balls was known to be the best economist in parliament. It's just the Tory newspapers who do not believe it, and put Labour down for it all the time. It's because most of their proprietors are nondoms and support the Tories because they will be allowed to keep cheating the system.

Just because the socialists lost the election, it does not mean we have to become less socialist.
IDS now has another five years to punish the poor, and Jeremy Hunt can now sell off the NHS to all his rich friends.
I care about that, even if some of you do not.

Excellent article here. 63% of the voters did not vote Tory.

theconversationuk.cmail2.com/t/r-l-azujtt-iudkikukhu-u/

See, that's the sort of negative, inflammatory 'expression of concern' that is not helpful, IMO.

Along with the endless links...

Ana - what is improper about the way I have expressed my concern? I have not attacked anyone or put anyone down; just said that it worries me.

Mishap, I didn't mean you. Your posts are eloquent, thoughtful and not in any way inflammatory.

I was that lady! and yes, it was a slight misquote hence the commas! and NO it was not quoted by me as an intended insult to anyone and I can't quite see why anyone would think it was?!!! I just quoted it to emphasise how I personally feel!! I thought I made that clear!

I wasn't just talking about vitriol on here and I have not personally been upset. It is the intolerance that some people exhibit that annoys and concerns me!

I think soutra has put my point well! And, most people are happy for people to have different views but there are those who are not!

gj, I am concerned about the same things you are and, like your DH, mine has given over 40 years to the NHS (albeit as a 'private' provider of NHS services) and continues to do so as he reaches 70 because, if he doesn't, there is no-one else! I doubt anyone who is treated by him is concerned that his bit of the NHS is 'privatised'.

I think this thread of KittyLester's is completely justifiable, there is a hectoring, "we have the high moral ground" from a small hardcore of left wingers on GN - for example to one member from another, I quote verbatim "I expect you are a typical Tory voter, thinking no one is real but yourself and selfish big business" I personally would not wish to make that sort of assumption about an individual I don't know and what their motives might have been in voting for a particular party.

I wondered if the left wing bias on the BBC irked as many people as it did me and actually pushed some of the silent majority to a definite vote. We are in a Labour stronghold and so are taken for granted and nothing is done for the people here. I think 44% voted for the resident piece of indifference and opposition was in total 42%. If only we could be marginal we might see more jobs appearing.

On another thread, Nick Robinson was accused of being a Tory Syansgran, I just thought he was being neutral!

Like it or not the Conservatives must have been doing something right for so many Labour, Lib Dem etc supporters to have deserted their Parties and voted them in.
The others wouldn't have been so thoroughly trounced if that hadn't been the case, and their leaders wouldn't have felt they had no option other than to resign.

This Tory has just been voted in as an MP and could take over from Cameron at the next election.

"Rats in the lunchbox, mould in the mattress: living in squalor in London
Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi 15 May 2014

In three decades a social welfare advisor has not seen the levels of poverty that are routine today. Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi listens to the stories of Londoners who struggle to survive.

Mahder Redie has not slept since finishing an 8-hour cleaning shift at 7am. It is noon on Thursday 3rd April. Since 8am he has been waiting for the repairman, as arranged with his landlord.

Mahder, 35, prepares lunch for his pregnant wife and daughter in the closet-sized kitchen. His wife Hiriti tries to relax on the sofa. One-year-old Merken wants to play, squealing happily.

"The Redie’s one-bedroom flat is infected with mould; they can't afford to move. Spooning sweet white rice and salad into a bowl for Merken, Mahder says that since the start of the year his housing association landlord has sent seven inspectors to the flat and, each time, “They do nothing.”

Mahder Redie earns £8.61 an hour as a cleaner at the Westfield shopping centre in East London, across the road from the multimillion-pound Olympic Park. Like many low paid workers, his job is temporary and barely covers living costs in a city where the average monthly rent is £1,233.

The family is desperate to move, but for those on low incomes there is little choice. The provision of council homes and social housing continues to fall. Nine London councils recently lost a legal challenge to Mayor Boris Johnson’s plan to increase the upper limit of rents deemed "affordable" in the capital. "

I really don't go with the idea of particular bias on the BBC. People like John Humphrys grill their politicians with equal rigour and quite often both sides seem to complain the BBC is biased.

It could be just a matter of perception. If you are a right or left inclined and hear your right or left inclined politician being grilled, as you share his/her views, you will also feel your views are being challenged.

As on GN debates.

No matter how some people protest that they are just expressing 'concerns'
They have only to read Soutra's post 'no one party has a monopoly on care and compassion' we all want those things.It gets very tedious to have all these concerns constantly paraded by disappointed Labour/Green voters.
however I am guessing it will go on for another five years.

Stansgran, you live in Durham. The Conservatives have stopped the Durham plan going ahead, which would have brought in lots of new jobs and housing. It's not the Labour council's or MP's fault. The council will have to spend lots of our council tax if they want to go to appeal, again not their fault.

off to Soop's kitchen for a slice of carrot cake now.

Nothing is Labour's fault, it's all the fault of those pesky Tories...
Sigh. Round and round and round.

Am back now full of delicious carrot cake and it was free, with no calories!
yes Ana, round and round the bend we go.I blame the Tories for climate change as well.

Yes indeed. I did once blame Gordon Brown, but was roundly set upon for that!