General election 2015

Console yourself with a nice bacon sandwich

Lab + snp for me as I want favourable immigration policies innit ;)

I didn't even know he was a man of politics. Bit of an eyebrow raiser as he's married to a Brazilian woman as far as I know. Just went "uh huuuuuh..." and nodded when told.

With all due respect to Owen Jones, I think that article is pants. A second election is the much more likely scenario if we assume that neither 'side' has an overall majority. As Ken Clarke has pointed out, the outcome of a second election may not be far different, as in 1974, but we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

Also worth noting that the figure of 323 seats isn't completely reliable. The Green Party have said that they won't enter into a formal coalition and will only work on a confidence and supply arrangement with a party in power. They're unlikely to enter into an agreement with conservatives but wouldn't be counted as full allies of Labour. Theoretically you could subtract any seats that they win from the calculations to command the confidence of a majority in parliament.

+1

More Green representation in parliament can't be bad. I don't particularly like Natalie Bennett but voting Green isn't a vote for her. It's not the USA

UKIP beat the Greens in Lewisham West (my constituency) last time around, be interesting to see what happens this time.

As a second generation immigrant I'm voting for Mr Dowd, as he's least likely to round me up and send me to a camp to await forcible deportation to the EU.

I thought all EU immigrants were good at DIY?

#nothingbutlies

I'm fucking excellent at DIY, but I'm also very lazy. #typical_immo

The swivel eyed loon vote will be split this time round, as mentioned above, so the Greens might come a distant fourth.

Current polls show as at 06/05/15 17:15:
Conservative - 34%
Labour - 33%
UKIP - 13%
Lib Dem - 8%
Green - 5%
Other - 6%

Obviously that doesn't translate directly to seats and I have a suspicion that the UKIP vote is the one most likely to collapse in the booth.

You mean someone thinks the Greens might win a seat other than Brighton? Which one?

And what parallel universe are we living in where not being 'media trained' is seen as a bad thing? Isn't the dissembling, anodyne, dishonest, stonewalling crap that media training produces exactly what the Greens say they don't want in politics? You shouldn't need a spin doctor or anyone else to tell you how to answer a question about your own bloody policies. If you can't then 'media training' is not the answer.

You mean someone thinks the Greens might win a seat other than Brighton? Which one?

Maybe the one in Righton?

b-

Gillian Creasey has put up a descent campaign against Paul Blomfield (Lab). In conjunction with Oliver Coppard (Lab) campaigning well against Nick Clegg there's a moderate prospect of a Green MP for Sheffield. Also, Bristol West seem confident of their chances.

These are their key 12 seats where they think they stand at least some chance of a win: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/18/green-party-general-election-12-seats-england

That article is from October 2014, it might as well be from the last century. And in Sheffield you are likely to see just how effective tactical voting can be when Tory voters keep Clegg in.

Absolutely. I think Natalie Bennett lacks experience experience in the media environment. That kind of appearance is always going to take some time to get used to. A few things though. We're not voting for the leader of the country by voting Green, we know that. We're voting for a party that is already contributing to British politics and governance. Even if we were voting for the leader of the country, I'd still vote Green. Poor public speaking is really the least of the failings in a politician. I still think that Bennett holds more personal credibility than Miliband and still a lot less likely to abandon policies and promises in the interests of expedience. Although a Green voter, I'm hoping for a Labour led coalition. However, I don't think Miliband is going to be what people hope for.

Gillian Creasey has put up a descent campaign

You're not the only one who thinks politics is going downhill.

I'm not convinced a Clegg win will be down to Tory tactical voters. However, the expectation of a Clegg ousting is affording Labour>Green voters the confidence to go with their vote partly on the basis that the overall Labour representation won't drop. Even if Clegg survives, the Sheffield Hallam result won't be known until it's too late to affect Sheffield Central outcome.

When UKIP candidates naively reveal that they are racist bigots, homophobes or just plain stupid that is because they are racist bigots, homophobes or just plain stupid. When a party leader has no grasp of the detail of her own party's policies and is tripped up in the most basic way it is because she 'lacks experience in the media environment'. You should consider a career in PR yourself.
The Greens are not going to have more than one MP. Their 'influence' will be the same as whatever it has been for the last five years - not something that has kept Cameron or Osbourne up at night worrying.

You really don't have to use the @reply function, SK, it's not as I don't know who you are talking to.
More a point about the insane forum design than you, I should add.

I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this election.

Nick Clegg crawling as far up the Tories' arses as possible and simpering about only the biggest party having the right to form a government, and having his vote propped up by the Tories is starting to make me think we live in a country fucking stupid enough to actively choose another 5 years of this.

That said, our school ran a mock election today and Labour walked it (despite it being in solid white van Tory territory). This is also despite the UKIP candidate making a stirring speech railing against senior management for not heeding student voice, which is a fair point.

(He also railed against teachers pushing a 'left-wing agenda' on the students, which probably lost him votes, as most students won't know what he means. Fair cop though).

Current polls show as at 06/05/15 17:15:
Conservative - 34%
Labour - 33%
UKIP - 13%
Lib Dem - 8%
Green - 5%
Other - 6%

Where are SNP in that? Other? I guess the proportion of Scottish votes would be pretty small.

C4 News reporting Labour plan to offer the LDs electoral reform for a coalition. Now we're getting somewhere.