h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi all,
I turned 57 this year and have never voted in a general election
[ sometimes vote green in local elections ]

I've decided that this year I WILL vote .. as many of you might know, I consider the times as becoming critical, so the nations policies are as at least important as any other time in history, imo.

Having a look at the 3 leading parties, the Lib-Dems seem to me to represent the middle ground the best.
Conservatives are funded mainly by 'business', and Labour the 'unions', rather skewing their opinions in favour of particular groups of people rather than creating a level playing field for all.

Vince Cable ( lib-dem treasury ) is admired by all parties and is an extremely competent economist .. Nick Clegg obvously shows good leadership qualities, and I am in favour of most of their policies.

ie.
Political settlement in Afghanistan (Paddy Ashdown is good at that sort of thing)

No income tax before 10,000

Support deprived main-stream education nationwide

No large-scale nuclear industrialisation

and many more

I don't care what any party says about tactical voting and am not worried about hung-parliaments etc .. the nation gets what it intends

Vote with your heart

Your endorsement is not going to stop me from voting for them.

"No large-scale nuclear industrialisation"

What is your/their proposition for meeting the energy demands of our society as the 20% of our power generation capacity supplied by nuclear energy starts scheduled decommissioning over the coming years?

A summary from lib-dems about nuclear policy..
http://www.libdems.org.uk/energy_and_climate_change.aspx

Looking at the recent environmental disaster on the coast of USA, we can see that large-scale projects do indeed have their dangers.

Imagine a nuclear accident of similar proportion

The crux of the matter is that we have to wean ourselves off the high energy consumption that we have got used to .. of course we need transport, heating etc, but we are very wasteful and blase in our lifestyle overall.

Large-scale industrialisation is encouraging immigration that is unsustainable, and destroying the environment.
The UK/England should NOT be a 'bit of waste ground' for money-making, sending it back to other countries etc.

We are part of Europe, and are free to migrate (as do the birds in winter)

Where do you want to put these nuclear installations .. just outside London, Birmingham or Glasgow for instance?
Probably not! Ask the people where you want to put them whether they want them there!
Peace

Tiggy - "What is your/their proposition for meeting the energy demands of our society as the 20% of our power generation capacity supplied by nuclear energy starts scheduled decommissioning over the coming years?"

In short: renewables (including micro-generation) with a focus on marines generation and if CCS ever comes online they'll support that, coupled with reduced consumption with grants/subsidies etc for double glazing and insulation.
They want to aim for zero emissions by 2050.


For more info see pages 58 and 59 of there manifesto.

Which is a worthy goal... of course they are completely wrong about nuclear.
But hey, when was there ever a party that had a perfect manifesto.

Nothing realistic for the immediate future, then.

Don't get me wrong - I'm voting LibDem. Not that it'll make the slightest bit of difference in my very safely non-LD constituency.

But given that we need energy generating capacity NOW, and that the only technology that can realistically meet that need in the timescale is nuclear, saying no to nuclear is either dishonest, unrealistic or just dumb.

Sure - turning the heating down, insulating the loft and recycling will achieve savings, but if you don't want the lights to go out, we need to start building reactors, and building them soon. And there are plenty of places to build all the ones we need.

Agree that no party ever had the perfect manifesto, and agree on who we should be voting for. If only enough people could be similarly convinced...

I'm still half way between Lib Dem and SNP (cos I can) I think I might jump on the Cleggbandwagon. It seems fun.. Lovely not to be censored until the election itself...

Tiggy,
> but if you don't want the lights to go out

Is it REALLY a case of that
Supply and demand is the key factor here surely .. if demand outstrips supply then the cost of electricity will soar .. that doesn't equate to the lights going out .. that equates to being very thrifty indeed, no??
Peace

I realize that the following comment is somewhat tangental, but:


'I turned 57 this year and have never voted in a general election'


I find that admission nothing short of appalling.



My grandfather fought at Passchendaele to defend your country and my father signed up to defend your country against the Nazis. A number of good friends fought their way through Sicily and Italy so that Italians could be free.

If you can't be bothered voting, why don't you go slap a veteran and give concrete expression to your apathy?

A couple of days ago an acquaintance of mine, in her 40s, said proudly "I've never voted because they never do anything for me". I don't think she realised that I could lose my temper quite so explosively .

They can store nuclear waste under where I live, a 3rd arm might be useful!

Just a little reality check on radioactive waste, for those interested in facts:


'the waste produced by coal plants is actually more radioactive than that generated by their nuclear counterparts. In fact, the fly ash emitted by a power plant—a by-product from burning coal for electricity—carries into the surrounding environment 100 times more radiation than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy.'

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coal-ash-is-more-radioactive-than-nuclear-waste

>>Your endorsement is not going to stop me from voting for them.<<

Same here!

Incidentally, describing Lib Dems as being 'the middle way' shows a lack of understanding of their policies.

They favour government intervention to create a green economy far more than the other two main parties - Labour is the middle party for this.

They are more internationalist than Labour or Conservatives while Labour is the middle party.

They are more socially liberal than the other two, with Labour being the middle party again.

They favour the smallest military, Labour in the middle again.

Finally, when it comes to constitutional reform, they're far more aggressive about it than the other two and yet again, Labour occupies the middle party.

Economically it's fair to say they're the middle party, as it is when it comes to general role of government. All in all, Labour are in the middle far more than the Lib Dems, which is exactly what Blairism was all about.

anhaga,
With respect, you haven't lived in the UK for the last 30 years, to see the greed displayed by people of both Labour and Conservative.

One party's supposed to be right wing, while the other left wing. The third party has never had any real clout, up until now .. it's beginning to mature and make a lot of sense, without being too eccentric as perhaps it was in the past, imo.

I'm not going to vote for something I don't agree with
ie. power for big business or unions .. I get more money under labour or I get more money under Conservative, privatisation etc.

The reason for my vote is not for myself or my family but for the good of the whole nation. The past 30 years has been about favouring one group or another.

'With respect, you haven't lived in the UK for the last 30 years, to see the greed displayed by people of both Labour and Conservative.

One party's supposed to be right wing, while the other left wing. The third party has never had any real clout'





No, you're right. I've lived in Canada for last 47 years where I see the greed displayed by people of both the Liberals and the Conservatives.

One party's supposed to be right wing, while the other left wing. The third party, the NDP, has never had any real clout, except when a minority government (hung parliament as you would call it) is in power.

Up to this point, the political situations in our two countries are remarkably similar, but . . .

we have a fourth party who's principal goal is to dismantle of the country.

and, to top it all off, we have an extra level of government, and, for my entire adult life I've lived in a Province governed by a single party with an overwhelming majority of seats in the legislature but a simple plurality of the popular vote. up until recently neither provincially nor nationally has my vote been cast for a winning candidate.



I'm sorry warner, but I have no respect for a decision to refuse to engage in the simplest and most fundamental responsibility of living in a free society.

anhaga,
In some countries in Europe it's against the law NOT to vote, I believe.

Is that what you call a 'free society'?
That's not the British way, thankyou!
Peace

nice straw man there, warner. I never intimated any interest in legislating voting as you well know.

With freedom come responsibilities. I well know that many chose to shirk their responsibilities. I have no respect for such behavior.


I'm quite sure, however, that you have no interest in earning my respect.

>> we have a fourth party who's principal goal is to dismantle of the country. <<

We've got one of those too - it's called the SNP.

RF

It's quite simple .. if you see a political party that you think can make a responsible, fair government, vote for it!
If you can't, then don't just make do with something you don't agree with just to get another one out, abstain from voting.
That's my opinion .. I consider it hypocritical voting for a party that you don't agree with, and one might regret it!