DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived Cleggeron era

My constituency (NE Fife) has gone SNP, the first time as a Holyrood constituency that it hasn't been Lib Dem. It's been Lib Dem since '87 for Westminster (and only ever been conservative or liberal(dems, national or whatever), including as East Fife - i.e. since 1880s).

Aaaand a majority.

If the SNP hold a referendum on independence and most of Scotland votes in favour, but a few counties close to the border would prefer to stay in Britain, would they be allowed to form the new province of Southern Scotland and stay in the UK? I can't see there being any problems with that.

Seems to have worked OK in Ireland anyway.

Ha, yep, no problems at all. The thing is, the SNP vote is almost certainly not an indicator of desire for independence.

Brighton is all greeny. Not a surprise, but still. This place is good.

NOC in Brighton in the end but Greens got 23 seats, Tories 18 and Labour 13.

surprised se england's premier indie ghetto would return 18 tories

more elegant than the zing i had lined up

We started the day with 26 of the buggers, so it's definitely progress.

Yeah old-school Brighton, before the crusties and the gays and London commuters, is surely Tory through-and-through?

Also Hove.

crusties and gays and London commuters contain fair percentage of Tories iirc

especially crusties

People commuting from Brighton to London are quite likely to be Tories, I would have thought. There are quite rough bits of Brighton.

(xp)

There's a hardcore of geriatric Tory mentalists in places like Rottingdean and Patcham too.

Also Julie Burchill...

That's what he said, there's a hardcore of geriatric Tory mentalists

Imagine the odds on the Tories dumping the Limp Dems and calling a general election before the current term is up have shortened dramatically

did they not pass that 55 shit yet

Think they might decide they can't be arsed with that. LibDems are going to get a lot more vocal in their disgruntlement though.

They'd be stupid to do it, but Tories usually unable to see beyond the end of their noses

The South-East is predominantly Tory, and we have a large number of richy richingtons here, so it's not surprising that they have some traction. However, unlike the surrounding towns, we also have a bunch of hippies, haha.

Imagine the odds on the Tories dumping the Limp Dems and calling a general election before the current term is up have shortened dramatically

You'd just get another hung parliament, with a greater chance of nationalist parties holding the balance of power, right? Hung Parliament in which the LibDems have been shafted by the Tories and still in a position to be kingmakers would be kinda lol but would also kill the idea of coalition government in this country for generations.

Lib Dems starting to wonder if their mother was right about that nasty wife-beating brute they've shacked up with

did they not pass that 55 shit yet?

Anyone know the answer to this?

I thought it was one of the first things they did? I don't know.

Thought they had to get it through the Lords?

i don't think it's been passed, it was maybe tacked onto the gerrymandering that the Labour lords tried to talk out?

ya i think it's still somewhere in george osborne's office under an empty jeroboam of veuve and a black and white minstrels dvd

top signifier bombing.

right now I feel britain is a terrible place, a shitstain on the globe.

70%-30% in favour of No at the moment. Frankly that bothers me less than the Tory vote holding up.

can't see how lib dems can stop their support evaporating now they have no clout to put the brakes on, the next election could be a dire two party affair. I suppose the best shot at constitutional reform is still through europe.

god i don't think i can face a general election with just the one Tory party

lib dumbs innit

can't remember the last time i voted for 2 winning teams on the same day

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/52589000/jpg/_52589579_011904950-1.jpg
"My thumbs have gone all weird!"

Norn Iron really slow at counting eh?

PARTY 	COUNCIL 	+/- 	ASSEMBLY 	+/-
DUP 	0 		0 	23 	0
SF 	0 		0 	15 	0
UUP 	0 		0 	6 	0
SDLP 	0 		0 	4 	0
AP 	0 		0 	3 	0
OTH 	0 		0 	0 	0
After 0 of 18 constituencies declared

I suppose the best shot at constitutional reform is still through europe.

― ogmor, Friday, May 6, 2011 6:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

lol democracy

in order to save democracy we have to over-rule democracy

obv like a good democrat i am just hoping democracy will spring from the ground like lifestream & overwhelm all parliamentary shenanigans & bureaucratic powerbases. but maybe it'll find slightly less resistance w/ the EU despite the way it's forced through the lisbon treaty.

Clegg's lost his shit already. Beautiful.

kind of feel like the worst thing that could happen to the NHS is nick clegg opposing Conservative plans for it

Especially when he's only opposing them in a post election show of defiance.

New guidelines to be shared with Lib Dem headquarters:

Staff working for jobcentres and other Department for Work and Pensions contractors have been given guidelines on how to deal with suicide threats from claimants as the squeeze on benefits takes hold.

A document sent to jobcentre staff in April details what it calls a "new policy for all DWP businesses to help them manage suicide and self-harm declarations from customers".

OMG:

Universities shakeup could allow UK students to enrol in college of their choice as long as they pay vastly higher fees up front

Teenagers from the wealthiest families would be able to pay for extra places at the most competitive universities under government proposals that could allow institutions to charge some British students the same high fees as overseas undergraduates.

Candidates who take up the extra places would not be eligible for publicly funded loans to pay tuition fees or living costs, limiting this option to all but the most privileged households who could pay fees up front.

Under the plans, the extra students may be charged as much as international undergraduates. At the most competitive universities, these students face fees ranging from £12,000 a year for arts subjects to £18,000 for sciences and more than £28,000 for medicine. Applicants would be required to meet the course entry requirements.

The changes would give more students the chance to attend their first choice of university. At present, the government sets a quota of undergraduate places that English universities are allowed to offer each year.

Employers and charities will also be encouraged to sponsor "off-quota" places under the plans to be outlined in a higher education white paper in the summer.

Ministers argue that the creation of extra places will boost social mobility by freeing up more publicly subsidised places for undergraduates from poorer homes.

But the proposals are likely to be criticised as a means for the wealthiest to "buy places" at a time when the government is to cut 10,000 publicly funded places.

Under one version of the scheme, universities might operate a "needs-blind" admissions process, which assesses all candidates regardless of their ability to pay, but then offers places off-quota to candidates from the most privileged homes.

!!!

and to think i thought oxbridge grads were already too fucking insufferable.

Ministers argue that the creation of extra places will boost social mobility by freeing up more publicly subsidised places for undergraduates from poorer homes.

good lord i can't even

Trickle Down Education