An opinion

[fayeautumn]

I can't help but notice the rather violent reactions some folks are having following the Liberal Democrats formation of a coalition with the Conservatives. And I can see their objections, afterall the Tories are bad news (unless you're rolling in money). They did however get more votes than anyone else and whilst we could wish this wasn't so (and I

Comments

[_pyromancer_]

What she said. With bells on!

I get the impression from all the wailing and screaming going on that quite a lot of people grew up with parents who told them that if they misbehaved, the big bad Thatcher bogiewoman would come for them and drag them off into some kind of share-dealing filofax hell.

The Tories may have different priorities to Labour, but they're a moderate UK political party, not the re-animated corpse of Vlad the Impaler.

The scariest thing about the election was the 6000+ people who voted BNP in Margret Hodge's constituency. Now that really is something to run screaming from.

Personally, I think we've got the best possible outcome. Tory economic ruthlessnes combined with the LibDem drive for fairness, and both parties united in protecting our traditional civil liberties. The Tories will protect us from the monumental folly of joining the Euro, the LibDems will ensure that the cuts and tax rises to come don't unfairly hit the poor more than the rich.

It's going to be an interesting time!

[fayeautumn]

I don't know that joining the Euro would be such a bad idea (in principal I'm for it), just that it might not be the best move to make in the middle of a recession.

[fayeautumn]

True, 6000 people in one constituency voting for a far right party is scary to the more left leaning of folks. Not to mention a nationwide total of over half a million! Twice the Green party total!

[nigelh]

And to the end Nick Clegg did what he said he'd do and formed a coalition with the party that gained the most votes.

I don't think he ever said that. AIUI he said that the party which got the most seats should have the right to form a government. He, quite rightly IMO, DIDN'T say that the LibDems would automatically support that party with a formal coalition or otherwise.

I'd have liked to see the Lib Dems with a few more seats so they weren't quite so clearly the junior partner, but other than that I agree we may have the best of several variably unpalatable options.

As for jumping ship well, I'm not sure where I'd jump to. I'll be keeping a close eye on what actually happens. The Lib Dems are in a dangerous place right now - this could be the making of them but it could also be the death of them.

[fayeautumn]

I'll need to re-check a couple of things but I have a feeling in retrospect that you're correct and I've made a slight error in my statement.
May have to modify that me thinks.

Me too, more bargaining power would've been good.

True, I've seen people claiming that they'd be jumping ship to Labour, a statement that frankly seems a tad premature right now. There's plenty of time to decide any change of allegiance later on, best to see how it pans out over the next few months. I think I'm optimistically cautious right now, which may not be the same as cautiously optimistic :o)