Who will win the UK election ?

antrobus

Generali wrote: »

This was still going on in the 1990s of course.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/black-workers-to-challenge-fords-wall-of-racism-1339444.html

This was the period that the colour bar put in place by trades unions was finally addressed.

Sadly it's true that many trades unions were amongst the most racist organisations in the country. Of course, it is all 'history' now, and is now supposed to be forgiven.

ruggedtoast

I believe that most British people are socially responsible and democratic. Unlike in America you rarely notice people's political affiliation very much in their general personality. If you have a dinner party with half Labour and half Tory voters most of them will agree on most things, although they might not realise they do.

People should have the opportunity to work and be rewarded for their work. There should be a state safety net that treats people with dignity and there should be a competent government which worries about things like transport, health, education, housing and policing, so we don't have to.

We don't want the government to read our mail, tell our doctor they know what treatment we need more than she does, or that thinks it knows how to teach our kids from an office 300 miles away better than their teacher who sees them every day.

This simple formula seems utterly incomprehensible to politicians in Westminster.

I will vote for the first party that promises to prioritise my and my families well being over some tax dodging corporation or chaotically run bank. As a nice accompaniment to that I would like them to have some understanding that we are not a global power any more and should not be illegally invading countries that have done nothing to us, because the Americans want us to subsidise their own empire.

antrobus

On topic. Here's a report on a ComRes poll in the South-West of England. (Which is almost as big as Scotland, you know.:))

Short story; LDs face an electoral wipe out. 14 Tory gains. The fate of Bristol West unclear.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3040424/Lib-Dems-face-wipeout-Westcountry-day-Clegg-launches-manifesto-poll-suggests-lose-seat-South-West-Tories.html

Moby

antrobus wrote: »

Because it's not relevant to answering the question 'Who will win the UK election'.?

So are you going on having a selective dig at the unions or take the advice you gave to me and stay on message;)
Just saying like!

Moby

antrobus wrote: »

So when you said "direct personal experience", you didn't actually mean that you had any direct personal experience of the subject matter of your post.

I'm glad we've cleared that one up.:)

I had direct personal experience of the consequences and the struggle for change.....but i can see you don't actually want to engage with that. it's more important to you to define whether the BMA was a union or not;)

Generali

Moby wrote: »

I had direct personal experience of the consequences and the struggle for change.....but i can see you don't actually want to engage with that. it's more important to you to define whether the BMA was a union or not;)

So you had direct personal experience of someone else describing their direct personal experience.

That's normally known as hearsay.

ukcarper

Generali wrote: »

So you had direct personal experience of someone else describing their direct personal experience.

That's normally known as hearsay.

Don't you think that unions have improved working conditions of their members.

antrobus

Moby wrote: »

So are you going on having a selective dig at the unions or take the advice you gave to me and stay on message;)
Just saying like!

My "selective dig at the unions" consists of posting one quote from an academic research paper, and noting that the trade unions have (historically) been rather tainted by racism. That is a matter of fact not opinion, and is easily verifiable by carrying out some research.

Moby wrote: »

I had direct personal experience of the consequences and the struggle for change.....

I was simply pointing out that your claim that "I saw the working conditions of my family in the mines improve dramatically through union pressure. The mine owners were forced to improve conditions...." could only really have applied to that period when the mines only had one owner.

Moby wrote: »

...but i can see you don't actually want to engage with that. it's more important to you to define whether the BMA was a union or not;)

The BMA is a trade union. That is a matter of verifiable fact.

Generali

ukcarper wrote: »

Don't you think that unions have improved working conditions of their members.

Yes they have, those they haven't made too expensive to employ at least. That wasn't under discussion of course.

antrobus

ukcarper wrote: »

Don't you think that unions have improved working conditions of their members.

I don't believe that's the issue. I doubt that anyone could logically argue against the suggestion that the main objective of a trade union is to improve things for its members. The issue is a claim made by a certain poster is that the "purpose of unions is to help all workers", which is simply wrong.