and so it begins... Brown to call election on May 6th

Yes Steve, Cameron with a small majority. He will be in power for just the one term sadly, (needs to be twenty years at least to right all the wrongs) so we will see a labour government back in just five years time. Everyone will hate what the Tories have to do in an attempt to balance the books. Sadly a voter can only ever consider him/her/itself, and thus we go back and forth never really getting to grips with very much.

Mike

I want to vote, I really do.

Trouble is all my opinions formed so far are negative. Locally I don't like the Tory or the Labour option but there hasn't been any information about alternatives. Nationally, I totally don't want Gordon Brown remaining in power (although probably for very different reasons to most of you) but equally David Cameron makes my toes curl so I don't want him either... there's no candidate, locally or nationally, who is making me positively think "actually, I want that person, he/she makes me think that they could make a difference."

It really is just a case of trying to pick the lesser evil.

I would much rather vote positively For someone, than be trying to figure out who I am least Against.

Last time around, I just would have gone "right, so I vote Lib Dem as a protest vote," but this time round I think the two main parties have upset everyone enough that the Lib Dems might actually be in the race. I firmly believe that they should have a voice in Parliament and that they can be quite effective local MPs, but I equally firmly believe that they should not be running the country because they're just not equipped to do so.

Meanwhile, no one is really talking about how they intend to sort stuff out because any workable plan is going to upset someone. Even if they try for something obvious, like "we're going to cut the funding for this art gallery in order to be able to keep funding this unit for premature babies," you can bet that the art people will be up in arms about how yes, the premature babies are important, but it shouldn't be their funding that gets cut, and it goes round and round and round with everyone insisting that of course cuts need to be made, but that they should be made to happen to SOMEONE ELSE and it just isn't going to happen.

(egads, how much have I just written?)

Mary, short and sweet...oh how I like the word you used. 'Egads.' haven't heard that for positively eons.

Mike