I seriously considered spoiling my ballot. As it is, I held my nose and put the cross the box of a candidate who is closest to my position but unlikely to beat the labour front-runner. Then I added a message by their name. If that spoils my ballot, then at least I've said why.
Brilliant post. I may abandon the voting booth in favour of meandering in town before Comedy Unleashed, or staring at the 8x8 dark bluish grey grid pieces in the Lego store, which I inexplicably need 100 of.
I was tempted by Reform, but I wonder how much of that temptation was motivated by the fact they share a fashion sense with the presenters of Antiques Roadshow. I just want to know where you can find pink chinos.
Lifelong Labour voter. I voted Labour again. I think Starmer has learned his lesson from the utter annihilation of the SNP over gender self-ID. His stance on Israel is also encouraging. The only thing that worries me is the stance on "Islamophobia". I'm going to start writing letters to my MP about it soon.
As an Australian watching from afar I am curious why the Lib Dems don’t warrant your consideration? I know nothing about them other than they are referred to as a Left Centrist party.
In my constituency the last four election cycles have seen the seat swing from safe Labour to marginal to stonking Tory majority. Said Tory MP is consistent on issues of free speech, free thought and biological reality. Boundary changes mean he is longer my candidate so i can maintain my 100% spoil rate
A good post Stephen which lead me to think through my own voting intentions
I too am a long standing Labour voter who couldn't vote for them during the Corbyn years
I too want to go back to Labour after Keir Starmer has to a large extent rescued the party
Unfortunately I also have all the same reservations about Labour on the same issues
So how should I vote? I decided it depends on the candidates in the constituency.
For example, if I was in NW Essex (I'm not) I would be tempted to vote for Kemi Badenoch. I disagree with her on most of her politics but after Labour win, when the culture wars (for want of a better term) issues are being debated I want her voice in there loud and clear and hopefully she, and the sane-wing of the labour party can rein in the useful idiots
But I'm not in NW Essex I'm in the new constituency of East Grinstead and Uckfield. So I went along to the hustings. The polls suggest this could be a close one between Conservative & Labour so I wanted to see what the Labour candidate was like.
I was reassured. He is definitely a long long way from being one of the "infant activists" as you so perfectly describe them
So I will be voting Labour despite sharing all your doubts and caveats. Hopefully when the time comes, and they are debating all the issues we are concerned about, the man I'm voting for will be a voice of reason from the sane-wing.
I feel almost identically to you. My tory MP and her team have been absolutely brilliant in my experience and I think that I might have to vote for her as I can't vote for terrorists, Russian assets, or people who think that wo men have cocks.
This is roughly where I'm at. Luckily, we do have an SDP candidate in our constituency, although it is solidly LibDem.
I seriously considered spoiling my ballot. As it is, I held my nose and put the cross the box of a candidate who is closest to my position but unlikely to beat the labour front-runner. Then I added a message by their name. If that spoils my ballot, then at least I've said why.
Brilliant post. I may abandon the voting booth in favour of meandering in town before Comedy Unleashed, or staring at the 8x8 dark bluish grey grid pieces in the Lego store, which I inexplicably need 100 of.
I was tempted by Reform, but I wonder how much of that temptation was motivated by the fact they share a fashion sense with the presenters of Antiques Roadshow. I just want to know where you can find pink chinos.
Lifelong Labour voter. I voted Labour again. I think Starmer has learned his lesson from the utter annihilation of the SNP over gender self-ID. His stance on Israel is also encouraging. The only thing that worries me is the stance on "Islamophobia". I'm going to start writing letters to my MP about it soon.
As an Australian watching from afar I am curious why the Lib Dems don’t warrant your consideration? I know nothing about them other than they are referred to as a Left Centrist party.
None of this made me angry. I guess you don't care anyway.
Wasn’t the EU referendum proven to be a one huge manipulation?
In my constituency the last four election cycles have seen the seat swing from safe Labour to marginal to stonking Tory majority. Said Tory MP is consistent on issues of free speech, free thought and biological reality. Boundary changes mean he is longer my candidate so i can maintain my 100% spoil rate
A good post Stephen which lead me to think through my own voting intentions
I too am a long standing Labour voter who couldn't vote for them during the Corbyn years
I too want to go back to Labour after Keir Starmer has to a large extent rescued the party
Unfortunately I also have all the same reservations about Labour on the same issues
So how should I vote? I decided it depends on the candidates in the constituency.
For example, if I was in NW Essex (I'm not) I would be tempted to vote for Kemi Badenoch. I disagree with her on most of her politics but after Labour win, when the culture wars (for want of a better term) issues are being debated I want her voice in there loud and clear and hopefully she, and the sane-wing of the labour party can rein in the useful idiots
But I'm not in NW Essex I'm in the new constituency of East Grinstead and Uckfield. So I went along to the hustings. The polls suggest this could be a close one between Conservative & Labour so I wanted to see what the Labour candidate was like.
I was reassured. He is definitely a long long way from being one of the "infant activists" as you so perfectly describe them
So I will be voting Labour despite sharing all your doubts and caveats. Hopefully when the time comes, and they are debating all the issues we are concerned about, the man I'm voting for will be a voice of reason from the sane-wing.
PS You didn't make me angry ;)
I feel almost identically to you. My tory MP and her team have been absolutely brilliant in my experience and I think that I might have to vote for her as I can't vote for terrorists, Russian assets, or people who think that wo men have cocks.