omgwtf immigrants! taxes! hospitals!! AHRG!

[emony]

Michael Howard is on Channel 4 News at the moment raving like a lunatic at Jon Snow. Blimey.

Apparently the Labour government is practically a Stalinist regime. I bet Stalin's spinning in his grave big shiny tomb at the idea of a government as right-wing as Blair's being compared to his communist rule. Also, as much as he might like the idea, I don't think Tony would really send his political enemies off to the gulags. Although Michael Howard might benefit from a few years cooling off in a nice cold shack in Siberia, imo.

Comments

[naughtyelf.livejournal.com]

I just got a text from my mum saying that Michael Howard is currently in our town hall. Bit bizarre, we're not a very big/important/well known town, other than that we have three breweries...

[emony.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Are you a marginal seat?

[naughtyelf.livejournal.com]

Apparently we are. The things you don't hear about when you live out of the way of local news!

[emony.livejournal.com]

Heh. Are you voting at home, or at Uni?

[naughtyelf.livejournal.com]

Home. I sent my postal vote off this morning - didn't even realise it had arrived til yesterday because it ended up hidden under piles of rubbish for people who don't live in our house any more. Would have sent it yesterday but had to wait for someone in my house to actually be in, so they could sign it as a witness for me.

[emony.livejournal.com]

Good good :) I'm trying to decide whether to vote before I go to work or after. I think after. Something to look forward to. Also I probably won't be up in time to vote before work *g*

[minkboylove.livejournal.com]

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?...

That Mikey has finally snapped under the pressure of three weeks of campaigning and is now only twenty four hours away from frothing at the mouth like a hydrophobic dog in public?

That was the most terrifying political interview of the entire campaign. Calling the NHS Stalinist? Is he mad? So they have targets - but they also have some pretty good cancer screening programmes, they've cut waiting lists and they've brought in preventative healthcare programmes like the NHS Stop Smoking service.

Stalinist or not - it's more than we ever got under the Tories.

[emony.livejournal.com]

Definitely.

He knows he's fucked, I reckon, and it's driven him over the edge into rabid ranting land. He was the guy brought in for one more last-ditch effort to save the Tories, and even with Blair going in to Iraq, getting caught misleading the House about it all, no WMD, massive anti-war protests, huge personal unpopularity, etc. Howard *still* manages to get his arse kicked.

We can only hope that a few of those swing voters saw his rabid performance and thought, "Christ, I'm not voting for that nutter. I don't trust that Blair, but that Charlie Kennedy seems like a decent chap. I guess it's the Lib Dems for me." Especially for SW Surrey.

It's funny, at work everyone's hopeful that Andrew Turner will get back in because he's our sponsor for an event we're doing after the election. We have also made some preparations in case the Lib gets in though, so there's still hope *g*

[minkboylove.livejournal.com]

He was the guy brought in for one more last-ditch effort to save the Tories, and even with Blair going in to Iraq, getting caught misleading the House about it all, no WMD, massive anti-war protests, huge personal unpopularity, etc. Howard *still* manages to get his arse kicked.

He's gone down the polls. Sure they brought him back for a last ditch effort but the Tories still come across as insufferably arrogant and out of touch. That fulminating about the NHS can't have done him any favours whatsoever.

God, I hope they get stomped tomorrow night. It's going to be tight here - 40% Tory and 38% Lib Dem with Labour the lame duck party - same as a lot of Southern Constituencies. I have a horrible feeling they'll hang onto this marginal but I am praying that Letwin loses Dorset South and/or Theresa May loses Maidenhead (which sounds staggeringly rude). That would be such a kick in the guts for them. A Portillo moment. Every election should have one.

[emony.livejournal.com]

the Tories still come across as insufferably arrogant and out of touch.

Well you can't make silk purses out of sows' ears, as my mother would say.

A Labour win seems inevitable, but a lessened Labour majority would probably be the best thing for the democracy of the country, and if Oliver Letwin lost his seat I would weep - WEEP - for joy. It gives me violently inappropriate amounts of joy just knowing that his seat is a predicted Lib gain over on Electoral Calculus (http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk). I check in at least once a day, to make sure, and it gives me a warm, fuzzy glow. Mmm :) Theresa is sadly a predicted hold, but there's always hope, and if David Davis looses Haltemprice and Howden (as Electoral Calculus predicts - 0.06% majority for the Libs, they say) .. well, like you say, every election needs its Portillo moment, and I think there could be two or three of them. Mmmm yum.

[minkboylove.livejournal.com]

Huh. Well the news was wrong. I didn't realise Haltemprice and Howden was so marginal. 1,000ish majority as opposed to Theresa May's 3,000. And the Island is going to be tight. Really quite a small Tory majority. Fun toy though! Thanks for the link.

[emony.livejournal.com]

You're most welcome. I got it from someone at work. We've been using it to inform our update of the parliamentary database, and apparently it's also being used by the party strategists to see how they're doing in the various constituencies and stuff, so I think it's being taken as a fairly close approximation of how things will go tonight, although, of course, you never know. I only wish I could stay up watching it all and skive off work tomorrow. Darned job.