With just over three weeks left until polling day, I’ve been thinking long and hard about which political party deserves my very first general election vote. Problem is, running through the list of potential candidates, I find myself disagreeing strongly with all of them..
Labour
Not a chance in hell, I’m not voting for a party which openly breaks manifesto promises, including introducing top-up/tuition fees after explicitly saying they wouldn’t and also increasing National Insurance contributions contrary to what they said in 2001. I’m opposed to ID cards as well, and I’m still waiting for Gordon to get off his backside and do something about Third World Debt rather than just talking about it.
Conservatives
I agree with several of the Tory policies, but having been “on the inside”, so to speak, I can see that the party is still full of people from the Thatcher era who really haven’t moved on since the late 80’s. I’m also not too keen on tax cuts, if they can really save the £4 billion on government expenditure I’d rather they used it to pay for better public services than anything else. The party’s inability to learn from past mistakes and let young people get more involved further up in the hierachy is the final major failing in my opinion.
Liberal Democrats
They speak a lot of sense on some issues, but they’re far too pro-Europe for my liking and more than anything I just want them to shut up about the War in Iraq. I also don’t think they can actually afford to implement their economic policies, even though they sound fair in theory.
Green Party
Broadly speaking their manifesto looks sensible and even moderately attractive, but digging a bit deeper reveals a committment to legalise soft drugs (including ectasy—do these people have no idea of the health risks?!), a desire to reduce meat consumption (screw that, I like my steaks too much) and introduce regional assemblies (more bureaucracy, that’s just what we need). They’re also not putting up a candidate in my area so I couldn’t vote for them even if I wanted to (although they may put up someone as a councillor, not sure about that).
British National Party
Screw that, I’m not voting for the political side of the National Front (which, let’s face it, is what the BNP are at the end of the day).
Veritas
It’s run by Robert Kilroy Silk. Enough said. Oh and they want to take us out of the EU altogether (bit stupid, I don’t like Europe but I’m all in favour of a free trading bloc), plus they somehow think they can afford to double the income tax exemption barrier to £10,000 and as someone who sat through Economics A level lectures for two years I really don’t see how they could afford to do this.
Others
There are some other parties that I’ve not mentioned, but most of them are small and concentrated on single issues without a broad enough manifesto to warrant my vote (such as Respect, which is basically just George Galloway throwing a paddy over the War in Iraq).
So, that’s a quick(?) rundown of the parties and to be honest none of them sound particularly appealing. Problem is that we have to have someone to run the country, and it’s against my character to not cast my vote or spoil the ballot paper. At the moment it looks like I’m still a floating voter, waiting to be inspired by someone, otherwise I’ll probably end up falling back on the “joys” of party loyalty.
Hopefully next election I’ll be able to put myself forward as a candidate, then at least there will be someone whose policies I agree with. 😉
I’ve been giving this some thought too. I even had a quick leaf through the Tory manifesto before getting bored with the spin.
I’ve always thought the Lib Dems made a lot of sense—they don’t make silly promises about cutting taxes which I appreciate. I’m still looking for a website that has all of the information, maybe a little like your roundup but with much more detail of their plans, past actions, track record and so on. Maybe a single source for this can never exist as bias will always creep in.
I’m fairly pro-Euro, I suppose, even if it be for holiday convenience. There always seems to be a slight risk that Britain will be left behind. Having said that, I don’t like idea of the whole of Europe having a say in monetary policy. I know enough Economics to know that at some stage something is going to go wrong when inflation/interest levels can’t be “localised” to just England.
As for ID cards… well, I think they are inevitable. I’m not overly keen on the idea but if handled properly they could do a lot of good. Deciding between that potential good and the potential to do bad is something I doubt we’ll really get much say in.
I meant to write a rough round-up of party policies/history for Student Direct last year but I never got round to it. Perhaps next time I’ll have time to research and write it properly. Of course it’s a bit difficult to remain completely unbiased but I think I manage reasonably well given that I have party membership/loyalty.
Localisation is one of my worries about Europe – we can’t even set interest rates for the whole of England that don’t have a different impact (e.g. the North/South divide) across the country. I don’t see how one interest rate can be set for twenty or more countries, all at different stages of economic development.
I hate the “it’s inevitable” argument though. Something is only inevitable if enough people are too lazy to get off their backsides are do something to stop it. My granddad always talks about the Euro being “inevitable” but it’s only so if people don’t oppose it (e.g. by voting against it in a referendum). You don’t have to accept something as happening if you have the means to prevent it.
Hmm yeah, very well rounded argument you have there. I really can’t stand the tory line atm, promising everything on a plate.. a tough stance on immigration, tax cuts (yeah, whatever) and blatently unrealistic promises. Which just look, forced.
The lib dems are entirely sensible to me and actually have a mind of their own rather than the exact opposition stance which I have no respect for. However I don’t disagree with the war and although their anti war argument was consistent I don’t like the idea of a vote being seen as a protest vote.
Think I’ll just vote for the Green party if possible.
I’d prob vote labour cos I’d rather have Blair in than Howard or kennady.
And I really don’t see the problem with ID cards. It’ll be like carrying your driving licence but it’s harder to forge. If you’ve nothing to hide then no reason to fear it…
Not so sure about that… ID cards could potentially do a lot more. They have all sorts of crazy ideas worldwide (I don’t exactly know the UK ideas)—things like retina details, genetic fingerprints, RFID tags and things like that. I have no idea how realistic retina/genetic details are but RFID is certainly an issue (and probably quite a likely possibility)—it would allow every individual within Britain to be tracked very effectively. I just don’t like that, regardless of the fact I have nothing to hide.
What so you’re afraid people can know where you are?
How about every time you use a credit card ‘they’ know where you are. Every time you use your mobile phone ‘they’ know where you are.
I’d assume you wouldn’t need to swip your card to enter buildings or pay for something. It’s proof of ID.
People shouldn’t have that much power over you, to be able to track your every move.
And credit cards and mobiles are optional things.
So they are actually a tracking device?
Well no. I was just replying to what you said about people being able to always know where you are.
That’s what I’m saying though. There are not going to be standing on street corners swiping your card to be sure where you are 24/7. it’s a form of ID.
I don’t see the problem behind it.
If the cards have RFID tags they don’t need swiping at all. I have to use my plastic cards or mobile phone and, if I want, I can get some cash from an ATM and use that throughout the whole day/week/month (maybe I’d need to visit a bank for more than a few days).
But what are these RFID tags? That’s what I don’t understand. Are they tracking devices and if not what are they?
Second result from searching for RFID on Google: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFID 🙂
And what’s more… if “Organisation X” (the government, security agencies, etc.) can track people using them what stops “Clever Person Z” doing the same thing? Or even (just to be topical) al-Quaeda doing the same thing?
ID cards I’m okay with (they’re no different to a passport as far as I’m concerned) but if they do go ahead with some RFID-like technology… well, that worries me a lot.
So they ARE tracking devices. Simple answers would have been easier.
I can understand the ID cards with retina scans or what have you. I can see that the part with a tracking device is a bit risky though. Not sure if I’d be all that happy with it.
No, they are not tracking devices, they just have the ability to be tracked, just like every other radio tranceiver. They have one problem that would make this really impractical though, RFID tags operate at very small ranges, something in the line of 10 meters maximum. To be able to track people across something as simple as a city center you would need scanners in every shop, you would then need to collect all this data (from seperate organisations) and aggregate it to be able to effectively track people. This is possible but a little bit unfeasible. If you wanted to track someone then the mobile phone is the simplest way, the technology is already there (vodaphone had tech demos that tracked your mobile phone better than a good gps lock, no idea what they did with them in the end). RFID tags can simply be circumvented by making radio proof holders, when you need it to pay for something then you just whip it out and you’re done, it will not be any worse than using a cash card, if you don’t want to use it in the shops just take it to a cash machine. Stoping someone tracking your mobile phone would mean switching it off, even if it is not currently in active use it still keeps a link to the base stations. There are few if any complaints for privacy to be made about ID cards.
My issue with them mostly stems from the government needing to get it arse in gear and making sure there are appropriate safeguards and checks on people accessing your information from one source. It needs to sort some pretty complicated access control levels as to who can access what, ie, my bank should see my account details and my address details, whether I have a driving license, any medical conditions or what my high score from the local arcade is should not convern it at all.
Now I’m really lost.
I think that the card should have medical conditions on it though. If you go to hospital in a coma they can get all the details and whether you’re allergic to anything they may give you fast. Surely that’d be a good thing.
Basically if someone wants to track you down then there are simpler ways to do it than ID cards.
Yes the card should have things like medical records on it, but not everyone should be able to access them. I have no problems with the hospital being able to read these details, I do have problems with clerk at the co-op being able to do it as I pay for the groceries. Different people/places get access to different things on the cards, either the government should sort this out or they should let the people decide what company can read what from their card. I am not happy with everyone having access to all the things the propose to keep on there.
Why I’d agree with that. I know this is exreme but if someone had aids and that was on their card I’m sure they wouldn’t want the world to know when they buy something.
Different places should have access to different info.
When would you use it though? When buying alcohol? I’m sure you wouldn’t need it in general.
Well, at the moment it would only be an ID card. I can see a glorious day when it is used for everything that you currently use normal magnetic cards for, one card does everything. Even better would be the brains of this card surgically implanted into some part or another of my body so that I instantly have access to everything. It’s a little bit of a scary idea but it would be fantastic walking into a shop, picking something from the shelf and walking out with it, with RFID on the actuall item it would be charged to you automatically. Even better if you make a trip to Ikea and buy something you can’t delivery yourself the system will identify that and schedule a delivery to your address automatically, it can even check your diary to see when you are available to accept the delivery.
This is all doable with current technology, none of it is even state of the art, all it needs is the infrastructure to start growing and id cards might just be the first step. Here’s to a brave new world 😀
Brave New World or… like-China world. One or the other.
I really don’t see what China has to do with this at all. ID cards do not encroach on your freedom of speech, freedom of expression or freedom of movement. Furthermore there are a lot of countries in Europe that have them with absolutely no problems. There will be the possibility of someone tracking your activity, but as that can already be done quite easily with the things you do online it is but a small step to do it in the real world.
If ID cards were to include RFID tags it would be trivial to abuse this to follow my movements. If this were done it could infringe on my right to a private life as set out in the Human Rights Act of 1998.
Yes, all very conditional but it could be done very easily. I shouldn’t even imagine it would be impossible for some non-government agency to abuse such functionality.
The distinction has to be made between an RFID-enabled ID card and a credit card, Internet connection or mobile phone. It would be my personal choice as to whether I use any or all of those other devices.
To be honest I don’t really see the point in this ID card scheme. I mean if it is just a replacement for the passport system why bother changing everything and confusing people, as well as spending millions of pounds of taxpayers money in the process? What’s wrong with good old fashioned passports? Ok people can forge them but to be honest any kind of identification can be forged to the extent where an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. ID cards might be harder to forge but big organised crime groups aren’t going to be bothered about that – if they need fake ID cards they’ll get hold of them somehow.
What worries me is what sort of personal information will be held on the card, how much they will cost (I’ve heard in the region of £70, which is just ridiculous) and why the government is so keen to push them through – it all seems a bit fast and that makes me suspicious.
Paul, you know that i have left wing loyalties and cant stand the modern “New” Labour party but where im registeered (Newport Shropshire) is a margional Labour Seat (with the tories) so for me its better to keep the greater of 2 evils out i.e. vote tactcally and keep Labour in rather than the Conservatives.
Which of the Bury seats you in North? If i remember rightly you have the BNP standing there dont you? would it not be better to keep them completely out by voteing Labour?
I’m in Bury North, I’ve done a run down of the candidates on Election 2005.