Your political compass

Lunar Scorpion

Anarchy in the UK
tek-monkey said:
Just a thought here, but what actually happens if you spoil a ballot? Is the number of spoiled ballots recorded? If I draw a huge spunking cock on mine, rather than vote for somebody I don't want, who exactly will see it? Can I write 'sucks goats' next to someones name, or is it a pointless endeavour?

This is why we need a NOTA box, with a field for why. If nothing else, it will make counting them more fun.
The number of spoilt ballots is announced at the count but isn't counted in the final results so it is actually pretty pointless.
 

My Name is URL

Well-Known Forumite
Can anyone clarify what we are voting for on Thursday?

I thought it was something to do with Europe but on a leaflet yesterday I read something about County Council......

Am I voting for two things?!?!?
 

Lunar Scorpion

Anarchy in the UK
gk141054 said:
Can anyone clarify what we are voting for on Thursday?

I thought it was something to do with Europe but on a leaflet yesterday I read something about County Council......

Am I voting for two things?!?!?
It's both - you will get two ballot papers, one yellow and one green (I think) but I can't remember which is which.

If you haven't received your polling card, you can still vote without it as long as you've registered - you'll just need to state your name and address (and possibly flash some ID) at the polling station clerk.
 

Sofa

I'm a Staffooooooordian
gk141054 said:
Can anyone clarify what we are voting for on Thursday?

I thought it was something to do with Europe but on a leaflet yesterday I read something about County Council......

Am I voting for two things?!?!?
Yes. County Councillors - there are two candidates in this thread alone! (Mark Heenan for the Conservative Party and me for the Green Party) and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Felicity Norman Felicity Norman is the lead candidate for the Green Party in the Euro elections I would refer you to this to explain why a vote for the Green Party in the European elections really is the best tactical vote to keep the racist, fascist, misogynistic BNP out. As for the local County Council elections, I would suggest a read of this to explain where the Green Party stands locally.

Oh, and I would be more than pleased to attend a hustings event with my fellow candidates, but nobody has invited me anywhere! (Have you been to any hustings Mark?). Perhaps Stafford needs a Forum for such things!

If anyone would like anything about the elections or the Green Party explaining please feel free to call me on "oh seven 9 six six 4 eight 8 six nine zero" (written like that to hope to stop automatic spam) from 4pm up to 9pm any night this week.
 

Rikki

Well-Known Forumite
Just read the leaflet and im quite dissapointed tbh. I dont want to know about the candidates life story, which is what half this flyer is devoted to. I know its there to give people an idea about the kind of person they're voting for, but personally id rather have more relevant facts.

the 5 policys that are listed dont really matter to me personally either. The only one that I did take notice of was the "living wage" and that in itself makes me want to not vote green. Why is minimun wage inadequate for council workers? and more to the point are there any council workers on minimum wage? Most jobs I see advertised for the council have a more than fair salary.
I can't help but read that statment as: if you work for the council vote for us and we'll pay you more whether your job merits it or not.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
Interesting, why specify council workers? AFAIK they all earn above market rate (certainly those I know do!), what makes them better? Its also a cushier job normally, and I've worked in both sectors. Surely this 'living wage' is bollox, just up the national minimum wage or you'll get the whole MP expenses hatred all over again. All or nothing, or whats the point?
 

Rikki

Well-Known Forumite
See thats more like the thing I want to read. Will have a browse throught it when i get a min.
 

MarkHeenan

Well-Known Forumite
Sofa said:
Oh, and I would be more than pleased to attend a hustings event with my fellow candidates, but nobody has invited me anywhere! (Have you been to any hustings Mark?). Perhaps Stafford needs a Forum for such things!
I'm unaware of any hustings having taken place, certainly I haven't received any invites.

I would imagine this being because
a) the Labour candidates are quite keen to use their incumbency for all it's worth so wouldn't want to take the risk of being upstaged. Fair enough, that's their prerogative.
b) to have a hustings there'd be pressure to invite the BNP candidate down from Newcastle, which obviously everyone else would be keen to avoid.
c) Five county Council candidates waffling on is hardly great box office anyway...
 

My Name is URL

Well-Known Forumite
I'm starting to like you more and more each day Mark Heenan....

What I would say is a) the content of your fliers is far too generic compared to (for example) Labours (a bit od David Cameron rubbing off there maybe?) and b) your pictures on your leaflets are awful... could you not get any better ones...?
 

Lunar Scorpion

Anarchy in the UK
MarkHeenan said:
Sofa said:
Oh, and I would be more than pleased to attend a hustings event with my fellow candidates, but nobody has invited me anywhere! (Have you been to any hustings Mark?). Perhaps Stafford needs a Forum for such things!
I'm unaware of any hustings having taken place, certainly I haven't received any invites.

I would imagine this being because
a) the Labour candidates are quite keen to use their incumbency for all it's worth so wouldn't want to take the risk of being upstaged. Fair enough, that's their prerogative.
b) to have a hustings there'd be pressure to invite the BNP candidate down from Newcastle, which obviously everyone else would be keen to avoid.
c) Five county Council candidates waffling on is hardly great box office anyway...
In fairness, you would have to invite them - but that doesn't mean you have to let them speak... :P
 

Wookie

Official Forum Linker
Lunar Scorpion said:
MarkHeenan said:
Sofa said:
Oh, and I would be more than pleased to attend a hustings event with my fellow candidates, but nobody has invited me anywhere! (Have you been to any hustings Mark?). Perhaps Stafford needs a Forum for such things!
I'm unaware of any hustings having taken place, certainly I haven't received any invites.

I would imagine this being because
a) the Labour candidates are quite keen to use their incumbency for all it's worth so wouldn't want to take the risk of being upstaged. Fair enough, that's their prerogative.
b) to have a hustings there'd be pressure to invite the BNP candidate down from Newcastle, which obviously everyone else would be keen to avoid.
c) Five county Council candidates waffling on is hardly great box office anyway...
In fairness, you would have to invite them - but that doesn't mean you have to let them speak... :P
Hey yeah!! Political censorship and ignorant voters FTW!!! That's what people died for!! No, wait...

(Why do you have to invite them if they're from Newcastle; can we vote for candidates in Newcastle? To say the polling day is a day and a half away, I think I'm still fantastically underinformed...)
 

Goldilox

How do I edit this?
Wookie said:
(Why do you have to invite them if they're from Newcastle; can we vote for candidates in Newcastle? To say the polling day is a day and a half away, I think I'm still fantastically underinformed...)
Candidates don't need to live in the ward they run in. I'm guessing that the idiot running for the BNP lives not in Stafford, but in Newcastle under Lyme.

Edit: I appear to have accidently refered to a member of the British National Party as a gentleman, a mistake I've now fixed.
 

henryscat

Well-Known Forumite
I was reading the local manifesto and priorities stuff recently, and I'll be voting Green Party on Thursday. Whilst I broadly agree with what's put forward some of the detail/feasibility concerns me a little bit. I usually fast forward to transport as its what I know. The priorities say free transport for OAPs, those with disabilities and under 16s - but the first two already exist. The manifesto mentions having series of 1 pound fare (or fair as its written) zones and also making buses accessible. On the latter, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 requires all local buses to be fully accessible by 2015, so over the next few years the amount of step entrance buses will be declining rapidlyin any event to meet that deadline. On 1 pound fare zones, the cost would be huge (who's paying - the Department for Transport won't!!) and I'm fairly certain existing legislation wouldn't force the bus operators to comply - in the absence of regulation at a national level, achieving an across the board maximum fare is probably going to be near impossible (though I agree fares are too high).


Sofa said:
As for the local County Council elections, I would suggest a read of

this to explain where the Green Party stands locally.
.
 

tek-monkey

wanna see my snake?
henryscat said:
(though I agree fares are too high).
It costs more on the bus for 2 adults and a kid to go from the common (5 mins walk from the house) to town than to get a taxi from the door. No point in using a bus, we get a taxi every time.

Sofa, any clarification on the council worker thingy?
 

db

#chaplife
gk141054 said:
I'm starting to like you more and more each day Mark Heenan....
yes, i have to say that signing up here was definitely a good thing for you mark, as far as i am concerned.. i think it's great having your input on this thread, and despite my earlier derision of your facebook profile, i have really warmed to you :)

henryscat said:
I was reading the local manifesto and priorities stuff recently, and I'll be voting Green Party on Thursday.
gk141054 said:
I think in the Europeans its going to be UKIP for me folks.... I predict they will do well too.....
i just want to say thanks to you pair for letting us know who you're voting for.. i've become really quite interested in this subject since i posted the thread, and it's nice to know where everyone's convictions are :)
 

db

#chaplife
Sofa said:
gk141054 said:
Can anyone clarify what we are voting for on Thursday?

I thought it was something to do with Europe but on a leaflet yesterday I read something about County Council......

Am I voting for two things?!?!?
Yes. County Councillors - there are two candidates in this thread alone! (Mark Heenan for the Conservative Party and me for the Green Party) and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).
sofa, i had no idea you were a green party candidate! obviously, i know you are very involved with the green party and passionate about their policies, but i didn't realise you're standing for office.. so that's 2 candidates we have in this thread - excellent! it's a shame there isn't more representation..

does anyone know how to contact the other representatives?
 

damonhoppe

Damon Hoppe
Wow. I am really pleased to see some people looking into the issues

In reply to some policy questions regarding the Green Party:

1) Bus Fare Zones.
Maximum fare zones are in fact used in other areas of the country quiet successfully. For example West Midlands Travel currently charge a £1.10 max fair. This is a good deal for a journey more than 2-5 miles, if you ran a car that distance you are probably looking at around £2, or a taxi £5, making it cheaper than any other transport (other than bike of course).

This is not a subsided fare proposal but rather something that could be achieved via mechanisms like 'Statutory Quality Bus Partnerships' or the use of 'Quality Bus Contracts'. The Max Fare Zone would be built into these frameworks.

Though you are correct such instruments are no substitue for proper regulation. The people of London would not stand for a deregulated bus service and thus it remains to this day the only regulated bus service in the country and thus is better and cheaper. As a result Bus patronage in London has increased by over 20% between 1997/8 and 2002/3 whereas elsewhere it has declined.

2) Free Bus Pass.
This is another example of the post code lottery problem. Some borough councils run schemes that provide bus passes for the disabled and others don't. This could be rolled out county wide and would not actually cost that much money.

With regards to the bus passes for young people this would be part a joint commissioning funded project and would be piloted first. The cost of the scheme would be offest by virtue of its anticipated affect of leading to a cost reductions in youth and other services. Further funding could come from the massive savings from not wasting money on expensive PFI incinerator's etc.

3) Buses and Disability Discrimination.
We don't think people should have to wait until 2015 or have the stress of having to prosecute bus companies. Thus this would be built into the proposed 'Quality Bus Partnerships/contracts'' from day one.

4) Personal Profiles v Policies.
Alas as a candidate I would rather talk about policies rather than waste space on my personal history but alas I get more requests for my personal bios from the public than my policies. Though I can see some value in knowing I work at the CAB for example, I don't understand why people want to know about ones martial status, etc.

5) Living Wage.
A living wage is one that ensures a standard of living which is reasonable for "a human being in a civilised community". Though we would like the minimum wage to be a living wage nationally we would not have that power as a County Council . However the county council could offer this to both its direct employees and most importantly its indirect employees through community benifit clauses. Helping the low paid such as cleaners, etc.
The effect would be two-fold 1) put more money into the local economy 2) oblige offer employers to offer a 'living wage' in order to attract employees.
You may not think that a small increase in incomes would make much of a differance but just look at how the tax hike of getting rid of the 10% rate effected the incomes of the low paid.

At the same time the Green Party will be looking at the discrepancies in wage differences with a view to creating a fairer pay structure. SCC has one of the highest paid council bosses in the country, earning an annual salary of £192,000 whilst it many of its employees are on low pay.

I hope that answers some of your questions.
 
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