On 10 Oct 2014 at 10:02pm Sword of Truth wrote:
The Clacton By-election, taken together with the end of the Union in all but name, marks a paradigm shift in British politics. One footnote to wider changes, is the end of the Liberal Party. In Clacton their vote collapsed from 12.9% to 1.4%, and in
Heywood from 22.7% to 5%.
There has been no reason for the Liberal Party since the 1920s and the bitter truth for the dwindling faithful is that only FPTP allowed them to remain a mirror of “Erised” for a miscellany of the disgruntled and dreamy. The enchantment was shattered by real decisions, leaving historical curiosity whose conference was reportedly the oldest and whitest ever seen.
Lewes European Results
UKIP: 9,459
Con: 7,201
LD: 3,824
Green: 3,723
Lab: 3,651
With the Lib Dems ceasing to have any long term future, or any special claim to being the anti Tory vote its hard to see why Lewes' large and sophisticated Public Sector constituency would not go back to Labour. Milliband the lesser could hardly be more closely identified with their Unions, having been financed and elected by them. For the wild and wooly left, the fast growing Greens do dogs on string anti capitalism with far more conviction, and better jumpers. .
So I fear we have seen the last of our Norm which is some ways is a shame. He seems a decent man and his portly silhouette has given us a real life Alfred Hitchcock, appearing at odd times in shops, at the station, glimpsed from the car...
On 11 Oct 2014 at 7:32am my lewes wrote:
Well u k I p is on way forward
On 11 Oct 2014 at 8:09am Searcher wrote:
Time for someone to step up and go independent. Past efforts have failed, but maybe now is the time?
On 11 Oct 2014 at 8:23am Island of dreams wrote:
Is that where you`re living with the other Searchers ? " I wander the streets and the gay crowded places "
On 11 Oct 2014 at 8:27am Seekers wrote:
That was our song - Fool.
On 11 Oct 2014 at 9:14am Sword of TRuth wrote:
It was the Springfields idiots .
On 11 Oct 2014 at 9:27am Mark wrote:
Liberal decline and rise of UKIP is bound to be disastrous for the Tories nationally.
On 11 Oct 2014 at 9:28am Clifford wrote:
Well remembered, Sword of Truth. Nostalgia rules:
Watch the video »
On 11 Oct 2014 at 9:29am Mark wrote:
Jeepers. I nearly missed an opportunity to tease Sword o' Truth. He was actually right for once! It was the Springfields originally.
On 11 Oct 2014 at 9:39am sword of serendipity wrote:
Is there more than one SOT ? This one is s,o,TRuth .Anyway searcher is dreaming that an independant could have any hope in Toryland
On 11 Oct 2014 at 9:48am Mark wrote:
I have a theory on that. Our esteemed friend is indeed sometimes "Sword of TRuth" but I feel that that has to do with drop-down autofill boxes.
On 11 Oct 2014 at 10:02am Lewes Resident wrote:
Do you think we could have an end to all these UKIP promotions? It's becoming less Lewes Forum, and more UKIP Propaganda Forum. Tiresome
On 11 Oct 2014 at 10:25am Donna Ukibab wrote:
Me,Me,Me,Me,Me,Me,Me,Me,!
On 11 Oct 2014 at 10:40am Jo wrote:
Its great u k I p for the people. Not them self like the other party's
On 11 Oct 2014 at 11:00am Mark wrote:
I wasn't trying to promote UKIP. I was just suggesting that if the Tory party loses all of it's most utterly bonkers voters to UKIP and the Liberals decline then that's a tremendous opportunity for the Labour Party nationally.
On 11 Oct 2014 at 11:58am Sword of Truth wrote:
Indeed it is Mark, I think they are on course for a win . I have wondered if a party whose policy is to take the cap off immigration, who will not put Europe to a vote and would rely on 117 MPs from loosely federated countries could actually govern England. Labour are falling backwards fast in Scotland as well, and look set to try and go back on Gordon Brown`s promise ( a paper has been submitted far short of the promised powers for obvious reasons ).
There is the matter of a £100b deficit as well, savage and real cuts are going to have to be made with the NHS already facing a £30b shortfall. In this context, as an example, they are resolute about continuing to throw £17b a year on International Aid for which there is almost zero support
I relish the crisis and I hope this will crack open the old system. I would like to see a PR English Parliament emerge.I have always thought PR was stupid idea that would hand power to the least liked Party but with new choices and the long term decline of the old firm I don`t see how the old mechanisms will work for the next century. Legitimacy has to be re-established
For a political anorak like me its exciting ...(sad eh)
On 11 Oct 2014 at 12:29pm Clifford wrote:
This will interest you Sword of Truth: 'The UK has for years counted millions of pounds in pension payments to former British colonial officers as official development aid...' The 'aid' budget hides lots of things like that.
On 11 Oct 2014 at 12:48pm Sword of Truth wrote:
Most of it is pointless bi lateral vanity projects and remember it was hugely increased by Cameron to woo swinging Liberals in his Big Society phase and just prior to the collapse of Lehman Bros.
This is form a U Gov Survey
A YouGov survey (pdf) asked people to decide “If the Government did decide to cut back on its plans for spending, which two or three of these would you most like it to cut?”
The results were as follows (people were allowed to pick up to three) :
Payments to international bodies such as the United Nations and European Union 72
Overseas aid 67
Projects to avert climate change 39
Subsidies to farmers industry and the Post Office 18
The armed forces 16
Upgrading Britain’s infrastructure (e.g. roads railways) 11
Welfare benefits and tax credits for poorer families 10
Child benefit 7
The police 3
Schools 2
Pensions 1
Hospitals 1
No surprise there. I want money spent on our children , not on charitable projects which I can give to on my own behalf
But its just an example of democracy not working
On 11 Oct 2014 at 1:54pm Homer Simpson wrote:
Who are you limeys calling idiots in our town . I`m gonna write to Barick O`barmer
On 11 Oct 2014 at 3:26pm Mark wrote:
Sword: That figure of £30bn that "has" to be cut from the NHS... Isn't that just effectively an arbitrary figure? Vis: Our target is £xbn and our spending is £x+30bn. No cuts to NHS spending would have to be "set in stone" essential.
On 11 Oct 2014 at 4:06pm Interested. wrote:
Sword Of Truth. Do you support UKIP?
On 11 Oct 2014 at 5:01pm Lenny Henry wrote:
U Kip well in a new bargain hotel room - soon to be one in Lewes
On 11 Oct 2014 at 5:06pm Sussex DJ wrote:
Island of dreams was a no.5 hit for the Springfields in 1962, and stayed in the charts for 26 weeks.
The Seekers recorded it as an album track in 1966.
On 11 Oct 2014 at 5:36pm Old Bloke wrote:
What a strange question asking "do you support UKIP?" Why not ask *what party do you support?"
The rise of UKIP has the political establishment in a panic and now it seems to be afflicting half the population of Lewes
On 11 Oct 2014 at 8:56pm Sword Of Truth wrote:
I have always voted Conservative but lost faith with them , much as I admire David Cameron. I`m actually economically a left wing Conservative ( not in this sense averse to Labour ) but a Nationalist and Eurosceptic as well .
I`ll probably vote UKIP but with reservations
On 12 Oct 2014 at 1:09am Mavis wrote:
We have to send a message we are serious about Immigration and Europe (losing our autonomy and the pure expense of it). When Governments do nothing and stop listening protest votes are the only tool we have. The deficit is talked about all the time, huge cuts have been made by everyone, everywhere and the deficit has just got bigger. Something's not working clearly.
On 12 Oct 2014 at 6:06pm Davis wrote:
Well said
On 12 Oct 2014 at 9:22pm Clifford wrote:
Mavis, do you really believe that the deficit has any direct connection with EU membership or immigration?
On 13 Oct 2014 at 2:00pm UKIP UKIP all the way wrote:
Never mind the deficit - close the borders - be like Aus.
On 14 Oct 2014 at 12:21pm UKRAP wrote:
voting for UKIP is not a protest vote, it is a vote for UKIP. If you can find out what this week's UKIP policies are, and want those (putting aside the 2 issues of immigration and EU membership) then vote for them. I am the first to protest about our useless politicians, but I am cutting my nose of to spite my face if I do it by replacing them with a bunch of even worse people who will ruin the UK, even if it is not in the EU, and has no immigration. Even the previous Clacton candidate agrees with me. He left UKIP after getting completely shafted by them. Do you want the same?