The Zohan

What could change your mind about who to vote for?
Which top three issues and why?

rifleman

defence spending(bout time we had more kit and better treatment when we get home/hurt)
child services(too many kids getting hurt because social services crap)
cheaper petrol(bit obvious as we own scoobies)

richs2891

One that is willing to put a cap on all fuel costs ie both petrol / diesel & heating fuel for a specified period - say 5 years.
One that is willing to say no to the EU - especially on imagration issues.
Sort out local / goverment spending wasteful spending

Richard

Scooby Soon!

someone who would introduce some sort of more local democratic system ie

council has website and says we have £100k to spend on

A. new play park
B. Translation of some housing leaflets into non english languages
C. fix potholes in high street

People then vote what they want the money spent on, all done through the internet to keep costs low and you can only vote if you pay council tax from your own money (ie not from benifits). Public would have to be able to choose what was voted on to make sure the council did not block it. Even stuff like teabags no more PG tips for council workers the public have voted and decided Asda value is good enough in these hard times!

Also anyone letting there dog crap in public and not clearing it up will be given community service collecting a minimum of 100 dog poo piles with only there gloves and hands. If they are caught doing it a second time they have to collect a 1000 piles and so on.....

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

a. Cut benefit fraud for the people that choose it as a career and people claiming everything for having too many kids & a "bad back". Genuine cases like me a couple years ago got **** all when I needed help for a few months

b. Fuel costs - disgusting. End of.

c. Wasteful spending on useless projects/too many cheifs, not enough indians.

JonMc

iTrader: (51)

Immigration
Benefit fraud
Getting a grip of public finances in general with a view to reducing taxes.

Sort that and the rest will follow

Gordo

1. Anyone who agrees to **** away less of my taxes on the bloated public sector
2. More of 1.
3. More of 2.

Clarebabes

Immigration control, even from EU, in fact, referendum on EU membership.
Stop giving flats to single parents and people with no intention of ever working or contributing to the economy. If we had more people willing to work in the less desirable jobs with a good work ethic, we wouldn't attract so many migrants, would we?
Crime and punishment, proper sentences and punishment for criminals, no more fannying around with early releases and satellite tv in cells.

There are so many more things I could think of, but you said 3.... I think I should stop reading the Daily Mail, but it makes me so angry, I can't look away!

Adrian F

1) immigration tell europe no to open borders
2) reduce the Police state, remove speed camera's, reduce CCTV camera's, stop microchipping wheelie bins, stop council staff from having the right to monitor phone calls just because we dont recycle
3) remove all subsidy to public transport money saved to off set against tax revenue reduced by stopping all taxes on motor vehicles other than that spent on roads building and repairs fill gap by income tax so it is fair to al



For those moaning about public sector pay why not fix it to private sector pay e.g. Chief Exc of council gets same as CEO of a simularly sized private company in that location with comparable package of benefits, office manager gets same as private sector office manager in a blue chip company in that area?

As to not enough Indians and to many chiefs in local government that is because you dont see all the indians! Those jobs have been privatised so what you have is managers with admin support trying to manage private companies to deliver services in most area's now days.

Leslie

1. Giving us our right to decide over federation with the EU, and to go with that, maintaining our full democracy.

2. Get rid of all the shameful waste of our taxes on Quango's, the vast and top heavy beaurocracy which is so expensive and is achieving the square root of very little good and is in fact restricting worthwhile action in so many areas, and buying votes with uncontrolled immigration and gross over employment in the public sector.

3. Get rid of any MP who has shown that he is of poor moral character and does not deserve the honour to represent his constituency or to sit in the House. That also goes for those who have been enobled regardless of having been sacked twice for dishonesty! Time we felt that an MP can be trusted again!

Ooh I could go on!

Les

r32

1. Get rid of those who have lost total touch with the people of this country.
2. Reduction of the Police state, ID cards etc etc
3. Stop giving aid to countries that dont need it eg, 80 million to China

austinwrx

Cease the benefits culture. Its disgusting people can live their lives, housed for free and never work.
ban chav dogs.
ban all mp's expenses. pay a flat wage of say £60K and thats it. they draw all costs associated with the job from there.
sort out cost of petrol.
stop quangos, endless enquiries into the war and so that cost a fortune and mean nothing.
bring back death penalty.
drive with no insurance, or licence, or mot- you loose yr licence and have yr car crushed. end of. no arguing that your "brother, sister cousin has insurance, or its on a trade policy bollox"
oh add, in driving with fog lamps on/no seatbelt to the above too.
ban bus lanes. I couldn't care less how the poor get to work.
bring all troops back from afghanistan/iraq. no one cares that we are there fighting this pointless war on terror.
legalise drugs like heroin/coke. who cares if smack heads want to kill themselves.
make a pack of cigs cost £20. about time the stupid smokers paid for the on cost of health care when their lungs give up.

anyway, I'm voting for Alan B'stard.

Martin2005

1 - Reform the Public Services - NL have done the right thing in increasing investment in Health and Education (given the mess they inherited in 1997), but have failed miserably in reforming them. I want every pound spent to be more acountable and more transparant.

2 - Constitutional reform - Fairer votes, more democracy, sort out our relationship with the EU and all the parts of the UK

3 - Figure out how we deal with an ageing population - how we pay for it, what rights should people should have?

Leslie

Martin, please describe the "mess" that they are supposed to have inherited.

What sort of "relationship" do you want to see with the EU?

What do you mean by"dealing with" the elderly? Surely they have already paid through their National Insurance as was intended by Old Labour! what other "rights" do you propose for them?

Les

Martin2005

Oh Les I see you’re struggling again with your selective memory problem. Do you not recall the terrible state of the NHS in 1997, we were funding the health care in this country at about 7% of GDP, way, way below ALL other industrialised nations. The result; falling down hospitals, shortages of Doctors and Nurses, huge waiting list, I’m surprised you cannot remember this, I’m sure David Cameron does though, which is why he was very quickly to ring fenced NHS spending, let us not forget the lengths he has been to try and convince the British public that the NHS is in safe hands with the Tories….why do you think he needed to do all that Les…because they have such a great track record, or because it was one of the main reasons they got slung out of office 13 years ago, and suffered 2 consequent election defeats?
Schools – well I was educated under the Tories and remember the appalling standard of teaching, the lack of text books, the huge class sizes and the holes in the roofs!!

As for relationship with the EU – well I suspect we are both in agreement here, I want federalisation rolled back, I want more accountability and self determination. In short greater democracy.
But I also want greater democracy here, (for the life of me I cannot understand why you constantly bleat on about the EU and yet say nothing about the democratic deficit here). So I want the end of the House of Lords (as a non elected body), Independence for Scotland and Wales (should they want it), and above all a fairer voting system for Westminster.

We face a huge socio-demographic challenge in this country, 30 years ago there was 4 people of working age for every person of retirement age, by the end of this decade it will be close to 2!!!!!
That means there will be a massive increase in NHS costs, a massive increase in Social Care costs and unless proper plans are put in place NOW, huge increases in taxation.

I don’t know why this was so hard to understand Les, it al seems fairly common-sense to me


What are your answer Les? Sometimes you give me the impression of someone who just likes to complain without having any view on what needs doing (short of the usual painfully shallow diatribe on evil Labour versus good Conservative)

MrJim

non of them all a bunch of crooks only in it for their selfs

urban

iTrader: (1)

Immigration - Including EU migrants (and get rid of x% of whats already here)

Fuel taxation - Stop robbing us all FFS

Public services (Especially education & health)

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

A) Whats in it for me
B) Whats in it for my wife
C) Whats in it for the kids

Well you did ask

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

At least you're honest about it: most people bang on about "good for the country" when they actually mean "good for me".



M

Leslie

Wouldn't you say that if its good for the country then it follows that it will be good for the people too?

Les

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

So you'll be voting Tory then

Leslie

You just don't read my posts well enough to understand that I do not lean towards any particular party unless I think they are able to do the best for the country. I have said that often enough! Do you really think that the break up of the Union would be good for the strength of the UK?

I had to have a major operation when the NHS was under Conservative influence and I was well treated although it is true that there were some obvious minor shortages of things like pillows etc. The two major ops I had under NL influence were just the same. As ever, the quality of the treatment was down to those at the sharp end who were quite outstanding.

The vast majority of the cash which has gone into the NHS been spent on extra management which is not where it needed to go.

I was educated under both sides and was grateful to Old Labour for the chance I was given for a good education and to the high standard of the education I received under Conservative rule. What do you say to the modern standard of teaching Martin? So many cannot spell or even speak the language now? Standards have been deliberately dropped to make things look better. What a way to go I ask you!

We agree about those nice chaps over the water, it is abysmal that we were denied the promised referendum by both parties. Federation is the last thing we need. Democracy is the term that we live by, but it has been dropping woefully short for some time now, Federation would mean the end of it for all practical purposes.

I was interested in your attitude to elderly people Martin. The way you said it did not sound very friendly. I hope that is not so.

It is difficult not to think these days that the elderly are regarded as a nuisance for managing to live longer and even needing care in their old age. So many are quick to forget that they too may reach a good old age.

When people have paid their ticket for the whole of their working lives then they right feel that they are entitled to help when they need it. It will come to you too Martin! Maybe the answer is to increase the cost of the ticket to cover it-what do you think?

Who is paying for the free care of the elderly in Scotland Martin, and why?

The elderly are the least well supported of all the countries by this government. Do you think it would help if the government was not paying all those lazy louts to stay at home as well as their accommodation etc. as well as the illegal immigrants which they have encouraged to come here?

I have avoided being ill mannered in my reply, we all have our own ideas, I don't mind discussing them but being rude about it serves no useful purpose.

Les

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

OK,

1) Massive overhaul of public spending. Spending to be properly targeted for the NHS and education rather than just hurled at it. Benefits system to be re-worked and payments reduced to the bare minimum people need until they can get back to work. Incapacity benefits to be looked at and set at sensible levels - not fair if you can't work because of a disability. Extra benefits (like housing) for single mothers etc. to be withdrawn and child benefit to be removed - life is hard - don't have kids if you cant afford them. I want a Ferrari but I dont get car benefit so I can have one.

2) Proper regulation of the financial sector, banks etc. The taxpayer has huge sums in some of these institutions and we need a government with the spine to use that to leverage how the banks operate and help to stimulate the economy now and in the future. Like Obama in the US any governemnt should pledge to ensure that never again are we in a position where we have to bail a bank or institution out because if we didnt it would lead to economic collapse - split and downsize these massive companies once and for all.

3) Law and order must be tackled head on. The do-gooders need to be ignored and a government with spine needs to introduce a series of measures to toughen up on crime all the way from restoring powers to the police, ensuring the legal system makes sensible and harsh sentences where necessary to holding parents/guardians accountable for their kids actions and making society more responsible again. No more stupid legal loopholes or people taken to court for defending their property - some common sense in other words.

Leslie

I could not argue with all that!

Les

Norman D. Landings

1. UK Jobs
2. for
3. UK workers

(or British. Either way ...)

The Zohan

Workers and non workers from the EU countries are classed as British and have the same rights and benefits as the real British - NL have stood aside and let this happen, when that gormless **** Brown made that rousing British jobs for British workers speech - he knew exactly that.

It seems none of the big three want to tackle this as it is being seen as racist, shame none can see the sense in standing up for British workers and people not just who the eu designate and tell us who is British.

I will not vote for any of them currently, i see the EU and recent immigration as a real problem and one that is only going to get bigger.

Martin2005

Les I really did laugh out loud at your opening point - how can you in all seriousness say you dont completely support the Tories, I mean every post you never miss the chance to attack the government and defend the Tories...I mean how can claim you don't, it's about as credible a claim as any of the party's manifestos!!!!


How can you on one hand want us to pull out of one undemocratic political union, then say our undemocractic political union should remain unchanged?


As for old people, you've completely lost me there, my point was we have a huge issue with an ageing population, you somehow have managed to misconstrue that into I'm anti old people, quite how I know not.


The reason for 'waspy' response was because for you choose to question MY REASONS and no one elses, and yet the issues I highlighted are unquestionably huge issues? I can only presume you attacked me because I had the audacity to criticise the Tories

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

1. Scrap benefits for anyone that has never worked. Govt house with government furniture and a tv that shows educational programs only. Report to food centre for meals. don't like it, get a job. No actual cash or vouchers to be exchanged at all. By all means help those who have worked get back into work and help the aged who have worked for their retirement but don't give people money just because they expect it and only complain about what they've got anyway. For those who do want some money, they'll be given a job 3 days a week street cleanign etc leaving them 2 days to get a job.

2. National service - anyone that doesn't get a job on leaving school to be put inot the army for two years. The majority will be ******* that didn't bother to learn anything and could do with a boot up the backside.

3. Stop all the liberal apologist health and safety pants. Most is only to justify the existence of health and safety people. Bring back commonsense and responsibilities over rights. Spilt a hot drink on yourself? Didn't realise it was going to be hot? Nugget. Do better at life next time. Let the police, fire brigade etc do their jobs and bang up criminals as necessary. Don't make them run the risk of gettign sued because of some ned that has more laws on his side than those enforcign them. On that note, let the fire service turn the hoses on any stone throwign groups they encounter.

loads of other stuff too but limited to 3. No one will do any of it though, far too apologetic to the undeserving.

5t.

Leslie

Once again Martin, you just dont seem to read or understand my reply.

The fact that I run this present hopeless bunch down is hardly surprising. I look at the parlous state this country is in and it is all down to them. How can you expect me to support them? Having seen what they are capable of over the last 13 years, it is not surprising that on balance I would prefer to put my trust in a Conservative government. That does not make me a dyed in the wool Tory. Does not give you the excuse to try mocking me-you must be short of an argument! Why do you keep saying you want to see a Conservative government next and then go all peculiar should that be advocated ?

Let me pause and ask if you understand that-or is it too complicated?

Your second comment about undemocratic political unions makes no sense-you will have to explain what you mean. I said that we should pull out of federation and go for an EFTA agreement, ie for trading purposes only.

How about you putting your money where your mouth is and telling us the answers to it all yourself. We might even be in agreement.

Les