My parents decided for the last election that they would vote for whichever candidate was the first to come to the door in person and ask them to vote for him. (That's not a sexist 'him', all the candidates happened to be male.)

As it happened, William Hague was the first (and only) to canvass them personally (they got leaflets from all of them, but that's too easy), so he got their votes.

I voted Lib Dem, my previous statements on that are a matter of public record that i'm not going into again.

I will concede that, despite my biases against certain coalition members, it does seem to be working. There are parts i'm not happy with, although there would be with any government; but the deficit is going down, the economy is growing (not massively, but any growth is an improvement), unemployment is decreasing, bins are being emptied, i haven't been stabbed whilst walking home, things are okay.

Cue three months of bluster, back-biting, propaganda and empty promises from all sides of the political spectrum...

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Parent's paying the fees? Not in my experience.

My four year BSc (i did a foundation year) left me with ~£20k of debt. That's tuition fees, maintenance loan, other misc borrowings.

A student entering today will end up lumbered with £27k of debt after three years just from tuition fees, when you add the rising cost of living etc into the equation they could up up over £40k in debt, or roughly double mine. Which they'll have to pay back over 30 years, not the 20 that mine expires after.

By saddling these young adults which such high levels of debt early in their lives, it risks creating habitual debtors, who'll never quite grasp the concept of living within their means because they've never been in credit.

If i wanted to pick a hate figure for tuition fees, it would be David Blunkett, the rot set in when he first introduced them in 1998.

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Then as now, nobody wants to see a majority Tory Government,

No of course not, not even the 10,706,647 who voted Conservative in 2010

They all voted Conservative so there would be a coalition .

Please less of the sweeping generalisations.

It might be better to suggest based on the last election.

Given that there was a 65.1% turnout with 29,653,638 votes cast.

you could say 18,946,991 people don't want a Conservative government.

Roughly two thirds of the people who voted.

I would suspect that quite a lot of the 10,706,647 who voted Conservative might well do so again, but quite a few will be hoping against hope not to be in a coalition again.

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I'd discount the opinion of anyone who CBA to vote.
So with that third removed, half were happy and half weren't, those odds sound better.

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

Mr Vine. Sigh. May I ask how many doorsteps you have canvassed in the last month asking for peoples opinions and possible voting intentions in May, and what their main concerns and worries are? I have, and at night in the cold and the dark. I care about the future of my country, enough to get out there and want to try to do something about influencing it. So I don't make generalisations, I have hard facts gained on the street.

Ah and people aren't likely to tell doorstep canvassers what they think they want to hear?

You said "nobody wants to see a majority Tory Government" now it's "people"

Remember "nobody" means everyone who has a vote.

Sorry but I believe a lot of "people" will be voting Conservative or Labour hoping for a majority. Now whether they will be disappointed we will have to wait and see.

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Whatever you vote is private to you and is never disclosed to anyone.

Seems you don't really need to as you already have a good idea

Any canvasser of any party knows before they knock on any door whether who answers it is a soft/hard Tory, a soft/hard Labour, a Lib Dem, a Green, UKIP, or undecided. That info has been gained from multiple local and national elections over many years, and many other opinion polls and data. If you thought any different then you are naive.

And please treat me with a little more respect.

Mr Vine. Sigh

Oh Lord, an even bigger sigh ....

I know that as you are involved with a political party you believe that you know better than others here when it comes to politics.

However I find your attitude to be condescending in the extreme.

I was just pointing out that in your original statement you used "absolute" language to express an "opinion". Like many politicians do. Please rejoin the real world and realise there are in fact millions of people in the country praying for a Conservative victory, the same as there are millions of Labour supports hoping they will be successful, most of them will also be hoping that there is no coalition. I agree that there are also millions of people hoping neither of the major parties has a majority, but please lets stick to reality.

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Would a do nothing parliament be the best result? From the do nothing congress country.

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Looking damned good...

Nickerless to lose his pants

Lib-Dem candidate warned to "stay away from Nickerless if you want to win"

Nice to see you're finally waking up. The lib-Dems have some damned good policies as well as some good MP's, unfortunately they're let down by the biggest fool ever to lead a party.

You'd much prefer a Tory government? With Cameron finished, you'd prefer Teresa May then than Labour in charge?

Seriously, where's the difference in any of the current crop?

The days of Winnie & Maggie will never come again, not in our lifetimes anyway.

As for a second coalition? You may be correct in that it will be needed. Unfortunately, Clegg has done too much damage & even though you've already stated that previous locals were just a wake up call, come May, be prepared for a disturbing shock.

Personally I won't be surprised to see a second election needed & the results similar to the first & we'll get a coalition, but not one the country needs - Labour/Tory

88 days to go

Winston and Maggie were a product of their times, WWII then the Miners and the Falklands. Cometh the hour, cometh the man as they say.

I would prefer May than Milliband yes. The previous locals were traditional wake up calls, depends whether any notice was taken of them.

If we have a minority Tory or Labour Government, then it is most likely that we will have another general election in the Autumn, as the Opposition can call for a motion of no confidence in the government thereby forcing one. The politicians don't want that, neither do the people. Therfore with as predicted, another hung parliament, the pressure will be on to form a coalition. But this time I would predict three or even four partners in one.

Then again some smart people are betting on what is known as a Confidence & Supply arrangement. Option

Still too close to call and all to play for.

Smart people? Don't you mean those who don't want change & want the status quo to remain as it is!

Looking good for 2015, but this highlights just why people enter politics...

Ain't that a shame :-)

"confidence and supply is a parliamentary land flowing with milk and honey, where all of the angst of full-blown coalition is banished, but, somehow, all the advantages remain.

Next time, with (more than likely) fewer Lib Dems, (probably) more SNP MPs and (maybe) a significant UKIP presence and (perhaps) a couple of Greens there could be a range of possible governing combinations, but more than two parties would probably be required.

Another problem is that if the Lib Dems are reduced to 30 or so MPs, or maybe fewer, they don't really have the numbers to sustain a full-on coalition."

Keeping Cleggie as leader & that's a definite!

Keep up with the times, there's a good chap, otherwise you'll be left behind (well, the Lib-Dems are finished anyway, as for the smaller parties, they won't get enough seats so that leaves...)

83 Days to go

83 politicians on the wall
83 politicians on the wall
we'll shoot one down ....
;-)

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83 Days to go

650 politicians on the wall
650 politicians on the wall
we'll shoot all down ....
;-)

Better that way :-)

Says a lot for the Lib-Dems then, doesn't it? Just as bad as your thoughts on UKIP, Labour & Tories, so...

...what's left?(pun intended).

No overall majority but at those odds, not worth the bet!

There was a program about what might happen if ukip wins the election it was a drama / doc on channel 4 and if it comes true the sh#8e will hit the fan big time and unfortunately I can see what happened coming true. I am going to vote but who for I don't know yet , only thing I do know it wont be for ukip or labour . Bring back Maggie , she wernt perfect but she had more balls than the bunch of tw#ts in politics now from every party !!!

There was a fantastic Op Ed piece in the Telegraph a week or so ago.

Ed Miliband knows all about politics but nothing about life

I think she has a point. Politics is all Ed Miliband can talk about, every interview, every Q&A, whatever the question, he always comes back round to politics within half a sentence.

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Life on earth is the global equivalent of not storing things in the fridge.

SSDD. It sells papers & broadcast time.

74 days to go & some hilarious ideas/comments...

Campaign countdown(wot? no Carol Vorderman?)

"Tomorrow we'll be getting a big speech from Nick Clegg on crime and justice, in particular his plans to reverse the seemingly inexorable rise in the prison population.

He concludes: "Remember when Labour used to be cool Britannia? Now it's more Wallace and Forget it."

A Liberal Democrat candidate has apologised for taking a selfie in front of a crematorium furnace and posting it to a dating app. Josh Mason expressed "deep regret" for his actions.

John Prescott - "But as well as advising Ed I'm also prepared to work with the current UK government. This should be above politics - we need to work together."

Now for something completely different. Calls by Labour to renationalise sections of the railways have been dismissed by a transport expert.

Labour's Austin Mitchell MP is involved in a bit of a row after saying a "raving alcoholic sex paedophile" could get elected in his Grimbsy seat if they wore a Labour badge.

"We're in a position where, when the French president and German chancellor are going to Minsk, the British prime minister is going awol.""

Blaming others, never themselves

Oh dear...

EU & Lib-Dems at fault

...now why isn't that a surprise?