Democratic Crossings

June 10th, 2004 - 21:21 | 8 comments

I just headed down to the polling station and there was a large queue!

Queue for Voting

Wasn’t expecting that. This being Dorridge, chances are I just spent half an hour surrounded by Conservatives! Ack, I haven’t been inoculated!

[a quick shower later]

Apparently people aren’t mean to talk about who they vote for. Don’t see why; screw that, I say

I was at a client’s until 8 and didn’t know whether I’d be back in time to vote. Thankfully I did: there were BNP candidates! Also listed were various numerous UK Independence Party…how shall I put this, ah yes: wankers. I’ve heard people say that none of the parties represent them, so they don’t vote. Maybe so, but when there are people you definitely don’t want in power then it’s still worth doing. There were two slips, one for the local councillor elections and one for the European elections. On the former you were allowed to vote for up to three candidates (apparently there’s more than one seat per area) so I voted for Claire and the Labour candidate. The European elections were party based, so I voted Labour.

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8 Responses to “Democratic Crossings”

1 Lynsey Jun 10th, 2004 at 10:26 pm

There was also a big queue at Bentley Heath school, surprised me too - I couldn’t vote though, my postal vote didn’t arrive Least it wasn’t a general election!
2 Lynsey Jun 10th, 2004 at 10:36 pm

You might not agree with UKIP Andrew, but I think the term ‘wankers’ is a bit extreme! :o. Especially when there’s a comical link to BNP being pond creatures…

(oooh doesn’t discussing politics gets people narked )
3 Edward Jun 10th, 2004 at 10:36 pm

My postal vote (in Chester, that’s the only way to vote) didn’t arrive until Tuesday evening, when I picked it up. There would have been no way that I could have got someone to sign that I was the person, and then send it back to them in Chester by today. Utter stupidity.
I bet that the lawyers come out soon too, and argue the legality of the results.
4 Andrew Jun 10th, 2004 at 10:55 pm

I think ‘wankers’ is totally apt for a party whose policies are thinly veiled racism. Xenophobia, lack of any kind of logical argument and trying to appeal to the worst kind of yob mentality are all traits I despise. They’re a small step up from the BNP and deserve to be laughed out of the political arena.

That wasn’t a comical link in any way: I was comparing them to pond scum - the thing you do your best to kill but it keeps coming back. Perhaps they and UKIP could be added to this list:

http://www.lightman.com/popeye/shit.html
5 Lil Jun 10th, 2004 at 11:35 pm

Wow, I actually voted! Mainly for the novelty of voting for someone I know Yep the queue at Bentley Heath was pretty insane! I was amused at the specially-made stick they have, to push all the votes down in the box =’)
6 Simon Jun 11th, 2004 at 12:24 am

Ahhh, politics. Tbh, if the UKIP quoted figures of tax payers money going to europe is accurate there are benefits to a withdrawel without beening xenophobic. Saying we don’t want to be part of your union is not the same as saying we hate all europeans. On the other hand the EU etc has numerous economic possibilities as well as making travel and working abroad easier. Of course, with the threat of terrorism people may want to increase security. Its all about compromise unfortunately, and sometimes compromise isn’t the best way to get something done. What can you do in a majority rule system?
I didn’t vote because I don’t know anything about the politics in Oxford. A green candidate attempted to get me to vote. I was walking to an exam at the time, you know, in full academic dress, do I look like I am about to go vote you terd? At least they know what goes on around the place, hah. Actually, I think green were in last time. I hate green. If I had to vote I would go with tories just to annoy Andrew
7 Andrew Jun 11th, 2004 at 5:45 pm

I’m not an economist, but I’d bet the UKIP statements are a massive oversimplification. I’m also not sure about the precedent - you could take it further and ask why should people in the south pay taxes to help out people in the north.

You can also tell the type of party they are from their commercials - the most recent of which contained a braces+lederhosen-clad man dancing around slapping his thighs. The narrator then said that the EU fisheries minister is Austrian, but Austria doesn’t have a coastline! Aside from the issue raised being completely nonsensical, the stereotyping was childish and xenophobic. And, frankly, if that’s the best they can come up with, they have what is known as ‘no leg to stand on’.

I dunno anything about the Green party…should prob find out one day, I suppose!

You can of course vote for who you like, Simon…I shall just lecture you every time we meet
8 Simon Jun 11th, 2004 at 6:51 pm

I’m in no rush to vote, and I haven’t seen any UKIP stuff aside from an advert in the paper which was just a “We give ?xbillion to europe every year, enough to do…”
I am aware enough not to trust this shit though, I however am not informed enough on the extent to which this shit has been taken.
I don’t know anything about green either. I just know that while being nice to the environment is good, restricting human development is bad. If they do A without doing B and also do C where C are policies useful for the country then they might actually be a good vote. Otherwise,

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