I have been reading up on STV this morning..... very interesting. I like the way that every single vote counts for something (except in extreme circumstances). Tis a tad complicated though till you see an example of at it work.

But it would mean a real change being made about how the parties work together.

Something has to change though..... I feel really strongly about that! It may have been enough to make me vote Lib Dem had I looked into it before Thursday. Not that that would have made a jot of difference in our current system

Morning all, (just) 

Zaphod, I don't know how you lasted as long as you did, I managed to watch Ashes (and have a good cry RIP Viv), started watching Grey's Anatomy and was falling asleep so went to bed and had strange dreams about David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Gene Hunt!!  BTW Gene Hunt ended up as PM!!

I think this thread has been like old times, the conversation went from serious political chat to how gorgeous Gene Hunt is all in one page.... brilliant.

Latest news is that Nick Clegg is meeting with the Tories at the moment, but I don't think we will hear anything until Monday at the earliest and I am predicting another election by about November time.... just call me Mystic Pink.

I'll look in to that PB. Thanks

oooh hang on.....  I will morph & have a look

same as last night.... You saying "No worries, it's good to see you doing so well.

LOL I've just got off the phone to one of my sisters who live abroad, she said: "Are there any seats left to watch the parliament being hung, if so can you book me one?"

It's sorted then The conversation went on a few posts after that last night.

I really should have asked this question last night

LOL I've just got off the phone to one of my sisters who live abroad, she said: "Are there any seats left to watch the parliament being hung, if so can you book me one?" ref: soops

This thread has taken on a life of it's own

Z.

That's what normally happens round these 'ere parts Zaph.

This time next year we'll still be here and calling each other the Generals.

This time next year we'll be millionaires.. (of posts)


Z.

This time next year I'll be having a pay increase freeze.

So you're probably right..... less money to leave the house and do stuff means more time to post.

WOuldn't we be GERTies?

I quite like that....

dirty GERTies from number thirty

Afternoon Gerties


Yep... that works

I had a big green stuffed hippo when I was a little girl, that was called Gertie!

here is a photo of me sitting on Gertie on christmas morning (the day I got her)...

Does Gertie have a doily on her head?

I'm not sure a doily loving hippo is cool enough to be our mascot. If we're gonna attract the youngsters into a politics thread we're going to have to give them more than doilies!

yeah.. she does... and a blue tartan pleated skirt...

in fairness I have no memories of Gertie looking like that.... I remember a lump of stuffed green material... no doily, eyelashes or skirt....  and only vaguely hippo shaped!

my auntie made gertie & another one for my cousin.   Mine was made out of green curtains... my cousin got the pink one!

Aww... I didn't realise Gertie was homemade. I think I love Gertie now.

lol... I assume times must have been hard....   

if you notice, in the background it would appear my nana has no shoes!

her feet are making me shudder a little bit

I don't want to be a Gertie thank you very much


Z.

I saw that Ditty...my grandparents would have had a fit if anyone walked around with bare feet! (Good job that they can't see me now!)

 Suits me

a little update 

Gordon Brown and his family have left Downing Street, and are heading for his home in Scotland.

With placards saying "fair votes now", a 1000+ people, many wearing purple, have unexpectedly arrived outside the venue for the Lib Dem meeting. Their loud chanting could possibly be heard inside.

 they are calling on Nick Clegg or a member of his team to come out and accept a petition, signed by thousands, calling for voting reform

over in west London, David Cameron has no such problems as he and his family are able to walk down an almost empty street to his home.

 Labour MP John Mann, considered a credible figure, has become the first Labour member to speak against Gordon Brown, calling for him to step down as leader. He said he was an excellent chancellor, but a poor PM.

1545: Nick Clegg appears to huge cheers from pro-voting reform demonstrators  Nick Clegg accepts the petition calling for electoral change, said to have 20,000 signatures, and urges campaigners to carry their message to every street in the country.

This is going to be v interesting, Clegg is,on the one hand, sticking to his principles that the party with the highest percentage of the vote should govern BUT if he joins forces with the Tories, he is going to get no chance of what his party stand for most: PR. Seems to me he's shafted whichever way he goes

Anyone see if he's got the lightbulbs stashed in his luggage?

Thanks Mrs. H  I've got goosebumps!

I still have a feeling that we could end up with a Labour Lib Dem coalition with a new Labour leader, (Milliband?) and Vince Cable as Chancellor of the Exchequer?????

That's a distinct possibility, and that's all I am saying

That's not actually what Clegg said, and the media have frequently misquoted him on this. What he said was that the party with the biggest mandate had the right to try and form a government. This was important because the usual protocol is that the sitting PM tries to form a government first, regardless of where they finished in the election.
I don't think Cegg has ever ruled out a deal with Labour, although he does seem to have ruled out Brown staying PM...

Shhhhh...... keep it quiet, or everyone will want some.

I think at one point he said he wouldn't do a deal with Labour if they (Lab) were placed third. You've gotta laugh haven't you

I love that one little word. 

Sorry, meant to say that....

It makes me laugh that the biggest looser out of the three main parties has got all the say who governs the country

I was on the BBC website earlier, on the live coverage page that updates automatically. A breaking news headline came in that Lib Dem sources had told the BBC that a phone call between GB and NC had resulted in GB ranting and making threats to NC.

I kinda went and then toddled back over here for a minute or two.....when I went back there was no sign of the headline and there was a much calmer update saying that the two of them had talked on the phone "amicably".

Either someone at the BBC was having a bit of giggle while the boss was on a break .... or yep, GB and NC don't get on

Ah, that was when he thought that he was going to come second!...As the old saying of Harold Wilson's goes: "A week is a long time in politics"