wasn't Dave the Chimp available?

[SamuelAWilkinson]

the voice of reason..... Not being Arsed?

Well done you lot.... You get what you deserve then.

If, as Jimbob stated, there was no candidate he honestly supported, and none he vehemently opposed, surely it would be more of an abuse of the democratic thingamajig for him to feel obliged to cast a vote anyway?

[Peter Wolf]

 The one thing that pisses everyone off in Brighton is parking restrictions and the overzealous issuing of parking tickets.

 Fair enough in some ways but not if you have to park your van and work within a residents parking zone.The council will not issue exemptions and so if you are working in a particular area [most of brighton] you have to stop what you are doing and run out to the van or car and feed the parking meter over and over again and if you forget to do that then its another 30 quid and then another 30 quid and then another 30 quid and on and on it goes day after day.

 It just pisses people off and causes stress and if you are in a position to do so then you can have it voided and not pay the 30 quid.

 We have had years and years of the worst runned council ever here that was Labour runned and it has just gone back to the tories but i dont expect to notice any difference whatsoever.

 And i really do believe that the then Labour council sabotaged and set fire to the West Pier.


 A vote for the BNP is wasted vote as they have an appalling track record of incompetence in office and are not fit to govern.


 As an aside its ludicrous to suggest that the residents have any say in what goes on in their town .

 Did i vote to have the area i live in turned into a pay to park zone ?

 No.

 Did anyone else ?

 No.


 The parking pay meters just appeared.

 If the council want to expand the pay to park scheme from Central Brighton into surrounding quiet residential areas then they do it without any public consultation.And i cannot see tories scrapping it as it is easy money for the council.


 So if you dont get any consultation from local government then you certainly wont get any from Central government.

 The [then]labour council here wastes tens and tens of thousands of pounds of council tax payers money a week on consultants for information they will never use.

 Ultimatly wether you deserve it or not you get what you get !

 Not "You get what you deserve ".

 Thats what you get in the UK when you vote.

 You wouldnt get a decent government , local or central even if everyone deserved it under the current set up.

[Matt Timson]

Yeah... not sure I understand the logic of voting for a candidate you don't support either.

[Matt Timson]

And of course- choosing not to vote because you don't support any of the candidates isn't quite the same as not being arsed.

[Peter Wolf]

 You need to have a no vote that still counts as a vote if none of the candidates are to your liking.

 A no vote is a vote of no confidence.


 In the local elections here last year there was a no vote candidate standing yet when i went to vote there was no no vote candidate listed on the voting card.

 The government will not allow a No Vote as it will derail the political system in the UK.


 As another aside if you Scots get a referendum to become totally separate  from the UK and you all vote Yes then this government as it stands will become illegal in the UK and will have no authority over the UK as this governments [i forget the correct terminology but what ever it is that gets signed after an election [Ratification ?] was signed in Scotland not in the UK .

[W. R. Logan]

>And of course- choosing not to vote because you don't support any of the candidates isn't quite the same as not being arsed.

then you should go to the polling station and put a cross in everones box. You can say you have voted but know your vote will be invalid

[SamuelAWilkinson]

>And of course- choosing not to vote because you don't support any of the candidates isn't quite the same as not being arsed.

then you should go to the polling station and put a cross in everones box. You can say you have voted but know your vote will be invalid


Assuming this isn't just some kind of hilarious joke, what would be the point?

[JimBob]

I read the campaign material, felt the Livingstone administration had been in power too long but didn't particularly want to vote for any of the other candidates. While  Ken or Boris were the only people who could win and I think both would have competant administrations with different but not disasterous flaws I didn't feel the need to vote. If there had been a term limit and labour had run another candidate I may have changed my mind, but the system has been flawed from day 1 in this regard.
 The sooner Labour and Tory supporters both stopped acting liking rabid eejits and got over themselves and realised that we're pretty much in an era of consensus politics for the first time in 30 years the better. Why should I have voted for Ken, Rufus and exactly what horrors will Boris unleash?

[+rufus+]

I didn't tell anyone to vote for Ken.

[W. R. Logan]

>Assuming this isn't just some kind of hilarious joke, what would be the point?

the short answer is that over the years peoplehave done many things so that people have the right to vote and personally I think everyone should have to do so. If you then dont want any of the candidtaes to get your your vote then spoiling your paper is a choice you have made.
Not going to a polling station or by proxy or postal vote shouldnt be an option.

[JimBob]

 Fair enough, but it's a reasonable inference from "you get what you deserve". Personally I felt london deserved better candidates.

[+rufus+]

I'm concerned that our new Mayor represents a party committed to slashing spending on community, art,and cultural projects.
 Transport as well(with plans to push through full PPP on the Tube, as it was done on the Rail. We can expect a lot of strikes)


Anyway... my apologies... I'll keep outta this stuff...I should be working.. ;-)

:-) ruf....

[JamesC]

If you spoil your ballot paper it is counted as a vote for no-one. It still ends up as a percentage in the pie chart showing the results of people who voted.
It's a protest vote and shows that though you agree with the democratic process and have made the effort to fill out a ballot paper you don't have confidence in any of the candidates to do the job.

If you don't bother voting at all it doesn't get counted at all.

[Hoagy]

The Greeks had a lovely stone system for choosing jurors. Why don't they use them in counting votes?

It seems as trustworthy way as to spoiling a vote of the other person.

But. Right. I forgot we're not living with vote fixing anymore.

I'd vote if I could slap him round the head with my ballot sheet, saying;

" 'That's before you do!'"

I do really feel we have got past the stage of secret balloting in this supposed mob free culture. Again randomize the times you have secret and none, and its a Dorian method of keeping track / politics interested in the culture.

I voted once but got too paranoid about being not worthy by other voters.

If I don't vote I become a loud mouth drunk spouting hieroglyphs at everyone. It's not fair getting on the backs of voters if we're not willing to do it ourselves and vica versa to those who are posthumous voters.


The first bit is the enrollment. The only thing worth bidding your time on is posting off wolf-bait bills and financhial shit.

Once that's done its a case of utilising it.
( the registrar)


Then you hunker round your vote in a Razzle buffet and doff your pens cap to paper.

It certainly makes you feel good about making the decision to make a decision. you start feeling worthy.

Don't let them make you feel bad you hadn't voted before, I went into the kiosk and put it into the box along with the thought, "I have now!"

Ooh the power.


I want my knee-jerk reactions in politics not in the pub or in the street.

[Hoagy]

I don't mean to go on but this song is written entirely used in political language.

Link: http://kymberlie.vox.com/library/audio/6a00c11413006fc40800e398bd9f7d0001.html" target="_blank">http://kymberlie.vox.com/library/audio/6a00c114130