Who do we vote for in the May general election and who do we not vote for?

[PerfectStorm]

I will be voting UKIP because the three main parties have ruled themselves out of contention through the following happening during one or more of their being in power (and somewhat uniquely, they have all been in power within recent memory):

- the handling of the Lisbon treaty
- failure to bring banks to account for the banking crisis
- the vote on military action in Syria in 2013 (Government was FOR this action, which quite literally blew my mind based on our experiences in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq)
- continued centralisation of power within the less-democratic European Union (cf the EU Commission/Parliament system)
- complete failure to get a handle on immigration by all parties
- the NHS is quite literally in a chronic crisis
- state education continues to be awful (with exceptions)
- the "War on Terror" (both Iraq and Afghanistan)
- failure to successfully incentivise the modernisation of the wireless data infrastructure
- failure to close taxation loopholes used by multinationals
- failure to make the "UK democracy", more democratic through reform
- failure to close employment loopholes for "intra-company transfers"
- failure to hold a referendum on the EU
- failure to ensure defense contractors are held to account for cost overruns
- failure to restore trust in politicians after repeated corruption scandals
- complete planning failure when it comes to public transport infrastructure in London (have you ever been on a train/tube at rush hour?)

Can't wait to see the look on your face should UKIP ever be in a position to let you down.

[Lockhouse]

I'm voting UKIP, been a party member since 2009. You really want more of the same?

Vote UKIP, get UKIP.

[Zero Liability]

Can't wait to see the look on your face should UKIP ever be in a position to let you down.

Indeed, better to go with guaranteed disappointment, is it not?

[wonderboy]

Try public transport outside of London and then complain.

Haha. In fact despite my long list of failures, the following single things would disqualify the main parties from my vote:

Conservatives: Syria vote.
Labour (pre Milliband): The "War on Terror".
Labour (post Milliband): Policy on the economy.
Liberal Democrats: Reneging on the very manifesto policy point (tuition fees) that had given them the platform they had.

[wonderboy]

Can't wait to see the look on your face should UKIP ever be in a position to let you down.

Haha.

You should have seen the look on my face in 2003 when the Iraq War started.

Then the look on my face after it became clear that no-one was going to be held to account for the billions of people's hard earned money being squandered on (secretly) risky positions by banks.

Then again, the look on my face when almost the entire Conservative party voted to drop cruise missiles on the Assad regime (and I dislike said regime as much as anyone). Think for a moment how that would have turned out today with IS.

Then again the look on my face when a high-ranking Labour MP derisively tweets a picture of a house with a union flag and white van in the driveway, betraying the unbridgeable gap between the perception and the reality of the Labour party.

Then again the look on my face when the Prime Minister stated that encryption should be outlawed (hint it can't) betraying not his incompetence with respect to technology, but that of his advisors.

So you're left with three options. Vote for the status quo, against it or abstention. Voting for the status quo is the "definition of stupidity" (doing the same action repeatedly expecting a different result).

Not voting (when combined with doing nothing else) simply leaves the game to the existing power-holders.

So I choose to vote against the status quo.

But I can't fathom from which position you wait with glee to see my face should this approach fail.

[MicrosoftBob]

Can't wait to see the look on your face should UKIP ever be in a position to let you down.

You don't have to hold party loyalty these days, you can vote for the least worst option at the time

[MicrosoftBob]

I agree, but I would like to see them not just hold criminal bankers to account but also regulators and policymakers who had a hand in enacting the short-sighted policies that led to it blowing up.

So prosecute Bliar for war crimes, and Brown for intentionally bankrupting the country

[d000hg]

How the hell did this all work in the past before loans? When I went it was dirt cheap, now...I don't even think of Uni for my kids. You can't be £30k in debt and then also save up for a deposit on a home and pay vast quantities of tax/NI to pensioners at the same time. We are eating our kids while they are alive. Would not surprise if the next gen. don't vote at all.

Far fewer people used to go to university in the first place - the population was quite a bit smaller and a much smaller proportion went to uni. I guess it cost roughly the same per-student but the government paid?

I think the university I went to (Durham) has something like 100% more students now than it did 15 years ago.

[DodgyAgent]

WHS - Plus even more work permits issued, illusionary economy based on piling funny money and taxpayer money into house prices to give a Tory "feel good" to win the election. Weak against Europe, the Tories are appalling.

They are not appalling. It is labour that are appalling the last two times they have been in power (over 50 years) they have bankrupted the economy. There should be no question amongst the self employed/contractor community about who to vote for.

This Coalition can be compared with our greatest governments - Telegraph

As for the green party:

Welcome to the completely bonkers world of the Green Party manifesto » Spectator Blogs

[SueEllen]

They are not appalling. It is labour that are appalling the last two times they have been in power (over 50 years) they have bankrupted the economy. There should be no question amongst the self employed/contractor community about who to vote for.

This Coalition can be compared with our greatest governments - Telegraph

As for the green party:

Welcome to the completely bonkers world of the Green Party manifesto » Spectator Blogs

All the main parties are appalling.

Least the bonkers parties like the Monster Raving Loony party admit they don't make sense - though I wonder what they would do if they actually got an MP......