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May 2011 Election


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I thought you were voting labour this time Stu. Who's taking over from Jack? tongue.gif

I said I would only vote for Jack if the Conservatives didn't put up a candidate. Jacks stepping down and the Tories are standing - job done.

Just as an aside though isn't it interesting that the SNP are allowing their transport chiefs to place Labour adverts all over their road networks. You would think that they would be questioning the use of the slogan - "Red X is compulsory" - especially in the build up to the Scottish Elections. :rolleyes:

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I said I would only vote for Jack if the Conservatives didn't put up a candidate. Jacks stepping down and the Tories are standing - job done.

Just as an aside though isn't it interesting that the SNP are allowing their transport chiefs to place Labour adverts all over their road networks. You would think that they would be questioning the use of the slogan - "Red X is compulsory" - especially in the build up to the Scottish Elections. :rolleyes:

unfortunately the SNP were unable to secure the services of joseph goebbles.

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The SNP continue to pay me handsomely to go to university so they have my support.

If Ad Lib votes Tory I will find and attach a Tory sticker to his person, he will get whats coming to him for trying to screw over his student brethren.

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The SNP continue to pay me handsomely to go to university so they have my support.

If Ad Lib votes Tory I will find and attach a Tory sticker to his person, he will get whats coming to him for trying to screw over his student brethren.

I'm voting Lib Dem but on the University situation I am in favour of a Graduate Endowment.

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Cause all they can do is boil the kettle and wash the cups.... :rolleyes:

So you can't think of a single thing that the Scottish Government has done that made an international impact? Not a single thing that the UK government wouldn't have done? Hell, I recall one poster on here (I forget who) that kept talking about US boycotts and irreparable harm to international relations because of something the SNP did. Obviously, that poster must have been wrong. Silly them!

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I'm not sure who'll vote for yet, it's too early to tell especially as no party has a manifesto out yet. I'm normally a Lib Dem voter but not too thrilled with their performance in coalition at Westminster. I know its a separate issue and a separate parliament and it shouldn't matter but I'm not sure I would want to cast a vote that could be seen in any way as being in support of them in the Westminster coalition and of Nick Clegg's leadership.

That said the idea of a Conservative/Lib Dem coalition in one parliament and Labour/Lib Dem coalition in the other does sound like a bit of a laugh.

The referendum for Alternative Vote and a reduction in the number of Westminster constituencies is going to be on the same day as the Scottish elections so perhaps that could be added to this poll here as well.

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I'm voting Lib Dem but on the University situation I am in favour of a Graduate Endowment.

If you want to pay more tax then knock yourself out but don't drag the rest of us into it. I want to make a net profit out of my education - and maybe some qualification as a sweetener.

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I'm not sure who'll vote for yet, it's too early to tell especially as no party has a manifesto out yet. I'm normally a Lib Dem voter but not too thrilled with their performance in coalition at Westminster. I know its a separate issue and a separate parliament and it shouldn't matter but I'm not sure I would want to cast a vote that could be seen in any way as being in support of them in the Westminster coalition and of Nick Clegg's leadership.

The referendum for Alternative Vote and a reduction in the number of Westminster constituencies is going to be on the same day as the Scottish elections so perhaps that could be added to this poll here as well.

There is a three question limit on forum polls! I never read manifestos to be honest, I get a summary of the main issues and go for whatever one seems the best. Or at least I used to. I'm now solidly in the SNP camp, but if I was still a Lib Dem voter, I'd be very concerned about just how spineless they have been in the last decade. In Scotland, they kowtowed to Labour for so long that they became Labour lite, their policy in the last parliament seemed to be "Whatever Labour said". Meanwhile, in England, they're cosying up to the Tories, breaking former pledges left, right and centre. But in Scotland, they've proved that they are completely unable to offer a voice of their own. They're the most irrelevant party in the Parliament, even the Tories are more important and influential than them!

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So you can't think of a single thing that the Scottish Government has done that made an international impact? Not a single thing that the UK government wouldn't have done? Hell, I recall one poster on here (I forget who) that kept talking about US boycotts and irreparable harm to international relations because of something the SNP did. Obviously, that poster must have been wrong. Silly them!

Yes you are right, they proved they can't be trusted with the toaster.... :rolleyes:

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So...Labour.

Are they saying they'll re-introduce it? Genuine question by the way.

I think it's the best compromise between an unfair and oppressive graduate tax and access narrowing front-end tuition fees. You've got to find a way of paying for tertiary education and I firmly believe (as a student) that those who use that service should make a direct contribution to it. The Endowment is distinguishable from Tuition fees in an important respect. It doesn't favour richer students up-front, as with Tuition Fees, those who need to get into more debt at the point of delivery pay back more in the long term through interest than those who can afford the up-front sum.

You need a way to pay for good tertiary education, and I firmly believe that those who use it should be the ones that pay for it rather than the general taxpayer. If tuition fees could be deferred for those in poorer backgrounds, only "becoming" a loan (c.f. only being repayable) once they start earning over a certain amount, and it prevented economic circumstance from precluding tertiary education, I would support them instead, but I think the reality dictates otherwise.

If you want to pay more tax then knock yourself out but don't drag the rest of us into it. I want to make a net profit out of my education - and maybe some qualification as a sweetener.

It's not a tax. It's a levy on a service.

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Yes you are right, they proved they can't be trusted with the toaster.... :rolleyes:

Ow. I can hear the thud of yourself tripping yourself up from here. Ow.

Are they saying they'll re-introduce it? Genuine question by the way.

I can see Labour bringing it back, after all, was it not theirs (and the Libs) scheme in the first place? I don't actually have a problem with it. I like the council tax freeze, I like free prescriptions (although they don't have any impact on me since I don't believe in Doctors), but I didn't see the benefit of scrapping the endowment or bridge tolls. I think Labour might get away with it, given that much of their electorate are low life scum who hate students.

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but if I was still a Lib Dem voter, I'd be very concerned about just how spineless they have been in the last decade.

Spineless? I wouldn't say that.

In Scotland, they kowtowed to Labour for so long that they became Labour lite, their policy in the last parliament seemed to be "Whatever Labour said".

In coalition you will always see parties finding it difficult to keep their identity unique. The thing is consensual politics forces people of different ideologies to work together under a common programme. It ceases to be as simple a case of them agreeing or disagreeing on many issues, but being tied to a record: a precedent they can't then easily depart from without people saying that their promises now don't reflect what they did then. It's counter-intuitive but the reality of politics.

Meanwhile, in England, they're cosying up to the Tories, breaking former pledges left, right and centre.

They're the minor party in a coalition. They can't just have it their own way. They can stick by a principle but acknowledge that the reality of the situation and the extent of their bargaining position means they can't do it here and they can't do it now. This is no different from the SNP reneging on certain policies because they simply can't exercise a mandate for it in government.

But in Scotland, they've proved that they are completely unable to offer a voice of their own. They're the most irrelevant party in the Parliament, even the Tories are more important and influential than them!

I think they struggle for an identity in Scotland and in the SP context. The problem is their last 2 leaders in particular up here have been vacuous in terms of personality, whilst the Tories are the only party not to have been in government up here, and have a strong personality in Goldie holding them together as a constant "constructive opposition". The Lib Dems up here achieved a lot at the "front end" of their coalition deals, but not a lot thereafter. They also seem to be a party of educated but not at all passionate, businesslike but not at all entrepreneurial people (if you get what I'm driving at). What they need is a relatively big figure to give them that personality they have always had (if nothing else) at Westminster. They were never influential until recently at a UK level, but they were always THERE, and they were always "the alternative" and they were always the angry bystander and had personalities like Kennedy to propel them.

The problem with forming coalition with Labour up here is that they lost the alternative tag, which the SNP snatched.

In short: it's as much a dilemma of personality and identity as it is one of actual policy.

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The woeful ineptitude of the Scottish political 'elite' was emphasised on Newsnight tonight.

The coalition has cut Nimrod, and thus closed Kinloss, with the loss of 1,800 jobs - minimum. It turns out that the entire contract to refit the Nimrod's has been paid... 1 aircraft has already been given over to the RAF, and 6 of the remaining 8 are nearly finished... the base has been upgraded... the ongoing maintanence contract is signed and it will thus need to be cancelled (incurring a penalty).

It's almost certainly been scrapped to 'balance out' Scotland getting the carriers, + not losing infantry battalions or the Tornado base at Lossiemouth. Jobs lost for political expediency, not military nor economic reason.

Just in case Richard Lochhead (SNP - Cabinet Member) and Jim Murphy (Labour - ex-Scottish Secretary / now Shadow Defence Secretary) haven't the intelligence to have noticed this... or, just in case they'd forgotten... the Newsnight presenter handily gives a quick rundown, handing them it on a plate. The other contributor is Joe Swinson (LibDem - nobody), who probably doesn't even know what Nimrod is.

But neither of them understood the point, let alone re-voiced it, let alone used it as a form of (pretty much indefensible) argument / attack.

Total, utter woefulness. Bumbling amateurs.

One can only hope - if nothing else, for the 1,800 workers and the community in Moray - that their advisors get them better drilled.

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But they're taking money specifically off students?

f**k that.

The people who, you know, use the services that the University provides. You know, the University that... pays for the buildings and furnishings, for the libraries, for the lecturers, for the tutors, for the cleaners, for the porters, for the computers, for the wireless campus provision, who pay to build the Halls of Residence and then offer them at subsidised cost to students, who pay for gym facilities and offer use of them at subsidised cost to students, who contribute towards the operation of the SRC, who provide grants to groups like your Legalise Drugs Society.

Universities don't grow on fucking trees. Someone has to pay for them, and that someone is you because you use it.

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