I would say that wealthy people who vote Labour are a rarity, and white van men that vote at all, an even bigger one.

There's a lot of people who aren't well off who are under the delusion that the tories are the party for them.

O, and just to say, also I finished school last Thursday for over two weeks half term, My wife finishes tomorrow for 1 week...

Whereas the party for them actually is??

Yes, I’ve come across those. Deluded is the right word. They probably still don’t understand that being allowed to buy their council house wasn’t an act of kindness by the Conservatives, but the biggest con ever imposed on the British public.

They might also not understand that they are paying a Dutch company for every glass of water they drink, and a French company when they turn their gas fires on.

But the good old Abbey National is still where they park their meagre savings. A good old British bank that took over that foreign bank with the funny name.

Maggie handbagged those Krauts, didn’t she?

Did she? My eyes were watering too much to see. Selling off water, power and transport was so blindingly stupid that I simply don't have words to describe it.

Don't forget that I hate them ALL.

I think that if you earn the national average or less, then the tories aren't your friends.

Not for nothing are they known as the Selfservatives. Their election slogan?

Britain's better off better off, are better off under the Selfservatives.

The publice sector does not just consist of teachers.

I just believe that the public sector needs sorting out especially pensions, efficiency and absenteeism as the country just cannot afford the future costs that are building up.

There is only so much money in the pot and the inflated costs (costs are not just salaries) of the Public Sector needs reducing so money can be spent where it can be used more effectively.

No... once again... wrong.... In fact a lot of VERY wealthy people not only voted Labour but supported Labour, many wealthy people did very well under Labour, much better than they will do under the Con Dems..... As Bil says, they are all obsessed with themselves and their own agendas, as someone once said to me... Old Torries, New Labour, same self serving crooks.


Can I also say, as an aside, that the recent Woodland Sell Off plans is a classic example of the media damning people whatever they do.... For generations we have said that we can vote the politicians in and we can vote them out but by and large once they are in, we are powerless to do anything about their policies... a classic example of this was Prescots disastrous house demolition program in the North East and North West towns.... we were actually destroying homes at a significant loss compared to potential grants to renovate them, the people living in these homes were paid a pittance to clear out of them and mass protests were arranged, but Labour ploughed on regardless and they now have hundreds of acres of barren land designated as "parks" in the middle of almost abandoned "sink areas" while green belt land is build on year on year regardless of whether the homes are sold or not (Redrow secretly runs at a 60% unsold percentage) yet............ the Con-Dems scrap the proposed lease hire of the public forests (It was never a sell off, it was always a lease hire) because of public pressure, which in my mind is a CLASSIC piece of DEMOCRACY, and they are slammed for being the U-Turn government.....

As I said, damned if they do.... damned if they don't. Lets not forget which genius financial masterminds led us to the unemployment levels and financial disaster we are experiencing at the moment.... Balls and Brown.... and isn't it funny how its only Labour councils who are having to cut libraries and essential community services, the Lib Dem ones are making cuts elsewhere, like pay cuts for top execs and curbs on spending waste.... suspicious? Nah... just the same old underhand vindictive spin we have lived under for the last 13 years in Britain.

Anyone can retire at 55, if they have built up a sufficient pension, I retired at 59, don't get my state pension till next week, but as I had paid into the NHS pension scheme for 40+ years I was in a position to retire early. People are not stopped from retiring at an earlier age, just that the state pension will NOT be paid until the goverment retiring age is reached.

People are stopped from retiring early as they do not have the benefit of a pension scheme that is as generous as most public sector schemes.

Current annuity rates are around 6% of the fund value at 60, so to achieve a £20000 p.a pension you need to have a pension pot of c£350000. If you have an index linked pension you can double that amount.

That is why people cannot retire early

Thanks Matt. It's nice to hear from another Liberal on this forum.

I used to be a political animal and believed that many have a conscience and do try. Then I came up against Blunkett, the most arrogant bully it has ever been my misfortune to meet and the way that the British police can be used to harrass anyone who disagrees with a politician. Luckily I knew the chief inspector who had the good grace to apologise but said his hands were tied.
The other act of utter stupidity, probably the biggest of recent times was Brown´s sale of british gold reserves. It totally defied any form of logic and was obvious to the most economically illiterate person that gold price was only going to go one way. Up.
Graham

It's actually refreshing to see more people posting who hate the whole lot of them, and don't try and claim that their party are of course right, and everyone else wrong.

Of course this does throw up the interesting points that

a) more and more of us hate them all, and

b) they wonder why it is that voter turnout is falling faster than a lead balloon.

I'd have thought there was some serious competition for Blunkett for that title, arse tho he was. I heard stories of the arrogance and rudeness of politicians that used to leave me breathless.