Nellie Said:

does labour have a chance of winning the next general election?

We Answered:

Only if they start a War for distraction. I hope they do not win or they will get even more arrogant with inflated egos. Haven't they ruined us enough ? We need time to recover.

Bryan Said:

XF: What do you think of the voting results (with link)?

We Answered:

aw poor mary lol, well i said from the start that the last 4 would be cher, matt, aiden and 1 direction - so i was close.

pisses me off that katie was saved when she had the lowest vote, but the best person won.


should have added, i would have liked to have seen more of nicolo and fyd, even if nicolo turned out to be an *** i would have preferred to watch him that katie, mary or wagner.

Claudia Said:

As a result of the UK doing well in this years Eurovision Song Contest and as it seems the voting has become..?

We Answered:

If we buckle down i think anything is possible.

Harold Said:

Eurovision voting results 2007?

We Answered:

I do.

Tim Said:

UK referendum on voting reform next year. How bothered are we?

We Answered:

I can only speak for myself, but I am bothered.

You are correct in saying that only a handful of constituencies would change hands if we changed to AV. For those that do change, a move to an MP whose policies are more representative of their constituents wishes has to be a bonus. In those that don't - the "safe" seats are likely to become less safe, meaning that the sitting MP has to work harder for their constituents or risk losing their seat. As somebody who lives in a safe seat constituency, I can certainly see the value in that!!

Tactical voting may still be possible, but it is less likely than in our current FPTP system. As for the no-hoper, they often only have no hope because of the fact people are voting negatively. I came close to voting for a "no-hoper" in May, because he (as the independent candidate) had some very good policies. I would have liked some way of recognising that his policies were significantly better than those whose parties I despised.

FPTP does have the advantage that it's quicker to count the votes than any other system - but having a government that is representative of the country's wishes is more important to me than having the results of the election a few hours earlier.

You ask if we want permanent coalition? My answer to that is, YES - why not? What on earth could be wrong with the party that has (eg) 40% of the votes needing cooperation from a party with 35% of the votes to implement a new law? Why should a party that is voted against by more than half of the voters get to implement policies unopposed? However, although I would prefer proportional representation, that's not being offered in the referendum.

I'll be voting YES on AV, mainly because it's preferable to FPTP, but also partly in the hope of further reform.

ETA: Mechanic - Would you say that Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Luxembourg, Leichtenstein, & Japan's governments don't work?

Becky Said:

Should we change the voting age in the UK?

We Answered:

I started paying tax the day I was 16. If I wished, I could have joined the army, got a full-time job, moved out, and so many other things. Yet I did not get a say in how my money was spent, who would have been deciding my fate were I in the army, decided how my local area was run etc. which really annoyed me. After all, saying 16 year olds don't have a clue about politics is total rubbish - there are plenty of 50 year olds who don't have a clue, as well (look how many vote for the Monster Raving Loony Party, or Labour, or the BNP for a start, let alone those that don't bother at all).

As for what way the vote would go, I don't think it would make too much difference, as I think the vote would be pretty evenly split between left and right, as it is in all generations, though the government that generation had grown up under may influence it - after all a lot of young people who have grown up under Labour are Tories or Lib Dems. Then again, I read a few years ago that Labour were considering lowering the voting age to 16 because they believed a lot of younger people would vote Labour.

Personally, I believe if you pay tax, you should be allowed to vote, at least at local council level.