http://act.goingtowork.org.uk/page/content/vote/

Voting matters more than you think: 5 facts you should know

It's a vicious circle: some people don't vote because politicians fail to offer them anything worth voting for. Politicians ignore them because they don't vote. But if reluctant voters make it to the ballot box, they may have more power than they think.

Interesting read, in my opinion anyway.

Yes, food for thought.....

It wasn't until 1928 that across-the-board voting rights were established for all women over the age of 21. My Dad was born when all women did not have the vote; it's not that long ago really. It winds me up that anyone wastes their vote, but particularly women. The linked article shows how the balance of political power could be changed if all the non-voters used their votes. Even if you wouldn't trust any politician as far as you could throw them, however affable they appear, don't just sit whingeing about how unfair it all is; vote for the least worst option that has some sort of political track record (i.e. not the Raving Loonies!) and see where things go from there.

No vote is wasted cast or not. The establishment know, the people who stopped voting stopped for a reason. "Explain how the balance of power would be changed". If tax is taken from you (including Vat)you are entitled to whine.Please do not take firewood rabbits or wild herbs from the woods, or metal detect on the beaches, do not forget your fishing rod licence and day pass, medieval mumbo jumbo from your rulers who think we still cant write X.The TUC sold the Miners and The Dockers out and have been taking the P since 1926 see the "History Of The Blue Union".NOW THAT IS A Rant!!

Love the idea of a firewood rabbit.

You live and learn!,

everyone should vote

I shared a link on facebook for people to check whether they are registered to vote. I was surprised at how many people thought they were but were in fact not, myself and Plus included!!!!

See here: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

Info here: https://www.gov.uk/yourvotematters

Thanks Rudebox, followed the link and was amazed to find both myself and my OH were not listed either - sorted now.

If people are not registered to vote, how do they get away with the annual form which is posted to us for the Electoral Register ? It's supposed to be a criminal offence if you don't complete the form. According to ....gov ; If you’re asked to register and don’t do so, your local Electoral Registration Office could fine you £80.
We get one each year to be updated if necessary. I think I'm talking about the right thing here.

That would be true if the politicians had an ounce of morality. Unfortunately the people that get to the top are greedy go-getting career minded "politicians".

A protest vote to a party is more likely to have an affect.

I am left wing but don't feel I can vote for the labour party as I don't trust them whatsoever (I'm sure there are many people like that).

There is no way I can vote Tory, Thatcher herself admitted that her basic philosophy failed because the rich were greedier than she thought they would be. She firmly believed that if the rich where given wealth they would become more philanthropic (like many Victorian wealthy did), however it did not happen and she very humbly regretted this in later years.

Vote UKIP? I voted UKIP in European, firstly as a principle that I believe we should not gradually become part of the United States of Germany (the Nazi's had a back up plan during WW2 that is if they didn't take Europe over by force they would take it over by diplomacy and that is exactly what is happening). Secondly as a protest vote against the other major parties. It certainly got the point across when basically UKIP won those elections. I also think that Farage has matured as a politician, however in such a short period of time is this maturity stable?

Liberals - I just don't understand what their philosophy is and they seem to have a lot of hidden agendas. Sorry, I am quite ignorant of this party, I've tried to see where they come from but just find contradictions.

Greens - I have joined the green party, I agree with their basic concepts but unfortunately I disagree with about 80% of their manifesto. They are too easily fooled into jumping on bandwagons.

Respect - George Galloway is probably the single politician that I respect the most. He doesn't just say what is wrong, he also comes up with the way it should be done or corrected. I've listened to hundreds of videos of his speeches and interviews, he makes a lot of sense. My only concern is the pro-Europe stance. I would resign from the greens and vote Respect if we have a candidate. In fact, I might join Respect regardless, they are undoubtedly the best party IMHO.

Yes Granny, I believe you are correct. I completed mine as usual yet following the link supplied was astonished to find that neither mine nor the OH were listed. Maybe its a case of waiting for databases to be added or combined but i'm glad I checked just in case - I never waste my vote. I believe most parties accept that if you do not vote then you are seen to think that things are good as they are. I will voting for the those that i believe are better than those that are left...it won't be the heartless snobs in power at the moment.

Geemeister, if you have had electoral cards through the door before, then you must be on the register. Maybe it's just another Government cock-up, or maybe it's the way forward so they have your email ready for the online vote, which is intended to happen in the not too distant future.
I've had emails from the Tories asking for donations. Firstly, why would that ask me for donations ?? Secondly how did they get my email ?

Greens are definitely off the list for me. Haven't seen anything in this area which impressed me, and that silly woman needs her vocal chords unravelling. Bad throat my arse, wouldn't last long if that excuse was given in the 'House' every time she fumbled her way through the day.

So far we have had only the Tories canvassing at the door. Told him a few home truths....and for Cameron to refer to child abuse being on an 'industrial scale' seems a tactless, thoughtless, expression of disgust to me. Failing to see the most sensitive aspect. If you see what I mean.

The thought of Milliband leading the country makes me cringe, our status in the world would slide far below the parapet.

George Galloway's party would have us fighting in the allies.

Ukip will have us fighting in the streets

Lib/Dems ??? Is there anybody out there ?

So what's left ? I think the whole thing is going to be a fiasco and my notebook is full of bad marks against the lot of them. Therefore, it's a case of counting up who has the most or least. We all have a task on our hands, I think !

Excerpt from facebook conversation with a mate who was fuming that she appeared not to be registered-

Me- .... did you ring the council up? What did they say? x
Yesterday at 17:27 · Like

Friend- Yes and we are on the list. I proved to the bloke while I was on the phone with him that if I put my details into this it would come up with I wasnt on the list.........sure enough it did! The chap I spoke to says this is only for registering if you arent registered! I asked him why the hell it was saying people were not registered then..........he had no answer to that.

Ideally, for me TUSC or Left Unity but I do not think that they are established enough yet.

???

Although he's not a pacifist, he is mostly is against us sending troops into anybody else's war.

He'd have us fighting each other is what I meant.

He'd certainly support an uprising against the politicians that run this country (and some that don't) apart from that I've never heard him suggest or incite any civil violence in this country, many believe him to be a pacifist although he is not.

Its only in the last year that I have been following him as I had a totally incorrect impression of him. The Respect Party manifesto is almost flawless in my opinion and Galloway isn't one for hidden agendas, if he believes in something he lets you know.

I certainly feel our country would be a lot safer and secure in his hands than any other politician.

Agreed he does speak his mind and is probably the most 'head on' politician there is, but as his party is split over certain issues and he is out to gain the 'Muslim ' vote, in the present climate, he is obviously not a good choice for the country. What are to be his policies ? Just from my point of view, there could be huge repercussions.
Plus, diplomacy is not in his dictionary and that I feel is a vital ingredient for any political leader.

That is prevalent now. Unpaid/ underpaid/ under employed/ private sector/ public sector/ disabled/ fat/ ethnic minority/ old/ young.....blah blah. Oh well, as long as the majority fight each other- it diverts attention away from the Evil in Westminster.

Slightly different Rude. To gain Muslim votes, there have to be changes, which most of us would not be prepared to accept. To gain the votes, there would have to be support for them and their beliefs. Hence, Respect is suspected, given the chance, of changing certain social issues which we have become used to as part of our society and social fabric, for the purpose to accommodate others .
I wouldn't prepared to take that chance!

The Respect Party is stable now, the divisions have been and gone. It is an exceedingly small party though.

As we have probably thrown more money into Muslim issues than any other foreign issue, wouldn't you expect a political party to be discussing Muslim issues and coming up with firm policy. Respect aren't proposing mass immigration or blowing any Muslim territories to pieces which makes sense, its hardly anything to do do with getting the Muslim vote.

He is firmly against Israel's invasion of Palestine which even the American's are realising is wrong. That Palestine is Muslim and that Israel is Jewish definitely does not come into the equation, its the invasion of one country by another when the invading country has been given wrongful support in the past and also was the mess the west left behind many years ago in some unspoken agreements behind closed doors.

It makes a change from politicians who extol the virtues of courses of action without mentioning the "oil" word when that is all that's on their mind.

DD, Apart from World issues which he would be unable to navigate the social issues are the key factor and his history of behaviour and antagonistic approaches firmly put him pig in the middle for causing trouble between different minority groups in this country. e.g. Muslim and Jews. He has too many anti-Semitic members, and accusations against him include getting rid of some women's rights, abortion, gay rights and fighting homophobia to attract Muslim support.
That is a recipe for disaster.
You support his party if you wish, but it is definitely not for me.

You've been reading the wrong scaremongering newspapers (or their influence on Wikipedia etc

The Respect Party's motto is "Peace, Justice & Equality" which would hardly fit in with those claims. Here is their policy on equal rights .....



SOURCE

Seriously, have a look at their policies, listen to Galloway's stuff on youtube then try and find anything wrong, its not just Galloway spouting meaningless words like most politicians, his arguments are reasoned and true. I think we have forgotten what a politician is in this country, it is someone with moral belief and conviction, even if it loses them the vote - not u-turn lying cotton-worded creeps like we are getting used to.

As I said, I disagree with Respects stance on Europe but I can't see anything else wrong - that is a thousand times better score than I can give any other party.

The trouble is , I don't believe a word he says. He so often has supposedly made inciting statements, and then like a naughty school boy , wriggles off the naughty step.
He's a liar and a trouble maker which hasn't changed, and neither has my mind. I don't trust him and it's a different distrust to other politicians, we know none of them are trustworthy. This one is different and in my opinion he is a dirty little trickster and worse that Farage.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/16/george-galloway-israel-free-speech-no-charges

George Galloway will not face charges over a speech he made in August declaring Bradford an “Israel-free zone”.

The Respect MP for Bradford West was interviewed by police under caution over claims that his statements in Leeds had incited racial hatred.

....and he's got 4 wives, married to the 4th, four months after his second child was born to his third wife. Apparently not divorced. That's bigamy.

He's often been misquoted, I've lost count of how many apologies he's had off the BBC or their staff and he's won numerous court cases for slander/libel against various organisations.

I've seen loads of rubbish reported about him and never found any of it true.

The Israel free zone thing is identical to sanctions that we as a country have against numerous other countries - so its ok for a government to do this but nobody else? At least his sanctions were for just reasons and not based on lies, misrepresentations and personal greed. He of course wasn't prosecuted because he had done nothing wrong - believe me, there is nothing the government would like rather than jail him - he is exposing their lies and mistakes, predicting outcomes accurately and exposing corruption.

There is an obvious campaign against him, he's been the subject in courts, investigations and enquiries loads of times and not been prosecuted. Even when he proved the Americans were wrong and made total fools of them, their final retaliation was to report he was lying BUT they never prosecuted him for perjury because they knew they couldn't.

Its so easy for the media to manipulate, its so easy for governments to get away with things. The amount of money that has been wasted trying to prosecute or discredit Galloway by various governments and the media is unbelievable and is a testament that he must be telling the truth or someone would have succeeded by now - its been going on for years.

If anybody but him had been physically assaulted for political reasons as severely as he was, the government and other politicians would be up in arms about it but there was a deadly silence instead - they hate his guts and it makes a mockery out of their beliefs in the freedom of political thought - they are the hypocritical liars, he isn't.

Even cleverer than that, he has had five weddings and may of only had two divorces.

I will admit that having more than one wife is a serious error of judgement. One wife is more than enough punishment for one man

But of course, he has not been done for bigamy because as usual its just hype, what he has done is perfectly legal in UK law and the other relevant countries.

He does do a pretty mean impression of a cat drinking milk out of Rula Lenskas hands.....I don!t think he's the man I would trust to run the country, not for his dubious non-political activities but because I just don't trust most of what he says though I did applaud his stance on Iraq at the time.