howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
25 August 2010
15:2967158#1
just had the form in today to complete and go on the electoral roll.
reading the notes i spotted that people from european union countries can vote in the local elections but not in the general election.
seems odd that if someone who works and pays taxes here cannot vote yet someone sunning themselves in the mediterranean and not paying any taxes can play a part in deciding who governs us.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,931
25 August 2010
16:2367163#2
That seems strange Howard, the local elections are about politics the same as the general election. Councillors may not govern the country but they decide the local area policies.
If someones main home is abroad they should not be able to vote.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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25 August 2010
17:1967166#3
By that standard Howard I wouldn't be allowed to vote having lived and worked abroad for more than two years. Paying tax in a foreign country still gets me labelled as a dodger here it seems.
Not sure why non-British people are allowed to vote here though.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
25 August 2010
17:2167168#4
if they live and work here i think it only right that should have the right to vote.
25 August 2010
17:2467170#5
Only citizens should have the right to vote. I don't expect to vote in the Nigerian elections as I'm only a resident, not a citizen.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
25 August 2010
17:3267173#6
on those grounds i see your reasoning, i assumed that you had the vote in nigeria.
25 August 2010
17:5467175#7
Lucky to have clean water Howard let alone democratic voting rights.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
25 August 2010
18:5967187#8
Im a foreigner but have always been able to vote. Im not entirely sure who can and who cant these days as its all a bit confusing. Then we have the euro elections too so I suppose all europeans can vote in those.
But as a foreigner of course Ive brought with me the great benefit and wisdom of political observations and scribblings from the off island position lol!!
Ive been greatly entertained and enthralled over the years by the likes of
Anthony Wedgwood Benn
Michael Foot
Antony Barber
Michael Hezeltine
Geoffrey Howe
Willie Whitelaw
Tony Blair
and maybe David Cameron although the book on him isnt yet written.
There were quite a collection of buffoons too but I will refrain from going into those...okay just one... William Hague's brief tenure as Cons Leader. He was awful. His media quotes were terrible and his legendary baseball cap was...well legendary, but for all the wrong reasons. However since then he has matured into a most respected and respectable politician.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
25 August 2010
20:2367190#9
this could turn out to be an interesting thread, paul has mentioned his memorable ones, would be interesting to read who others were fascinated by.
michael heseltine was mentioned, going back approx 20 years i was knocking around with the vice chair of ilford south blues, being a fairly marginal constituency big wigs used to visit on the rubber chicken circuit. for those not aware of that phrase it is about blue dos where the food is chicken leg, one roast and one scoop of mash and two veg followed by tinned fruit cocktail and libbys milk.
i digress, mr heseltine was due down and i was really looking forward to his after bad dinner oratory.
i have seen more life in a tramps vest, he was awful then tried to woo back the audience by appealing to the racist element, despite their being more than 20 prominent asian businessmen in the room.
at that time ilford south and north were both blue, a wimp called neil thorne, represented me and a bloke called vivian bendall had the north seat.
having seen the bar prices i decided that as soon as the sweet went down i would sprint to the bar in order to beat the rush.
when i got there and ordered i turned around and everyone was still sat down refusing to part with any money.
eventually mr bendall arrived pulled out his purse extracted 10 pence and ordered a tonic water whilst looking over his shoulder
to make sure that no-one would arrive and force him to buy them a drink.
in the interests of political balance i must add that tom king and douglas hurd were class acts when they appeared although the audience did not seem to warm to either.
tom king was the defence minister at a time we were at war with someone or other, the fans seemed to want something gung ho and he delivered a measured rational speech.
25 August 2010
22:3267198#10
Same constituency but I was an Arnold Shaw man Howard. Seems we both may have crossed the floor so to speak.
As for the Boss being allowed to vote, I think this is an anachronistic hangover from the days when the whole of the Emerald Isle was a British colony. Why it was never retracted is beyond me, maybe Murphy's cut a deal to provide cheap navvie labour in return for voting rights?
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
26 August 2010
08:3067201#11
Im whistling in the dark a bit here as I dont really know who can or cant vote anymore, but I think its good in some ways that foreigners be allowed to vote. If you take London for example, almost one quarter of the population there must be foreign, so thats a heck of a whole lot of people disenfranchised and wandering around our streets. Far better to have them engaged in the process, engaged in whats going on.
Without them engaged we end up in a multicultured but multisectioned society. Pods of foreign enclaves everywhere, which would be a worst case scenario for the future.
Back to the buffoonery...one just couldnt neglect to mention our beloved John Prescott. Now gracing the House of Lords with his bumbling ways and garbled dialogue, not to mention his penchant for fisticuffs. However he has indeed provided us with lots of entertainment over the years, we may not have been enthralled exactly, but it just goes to show how the lowly working man with no education to speak of, can rise to the very top. Ah!...Our glorious western societies, Gawd bless America! and/or..even the UK.
26 August 2010
09:0167208#12
Might be a good idea Paul as it requires the JF's to register, and that will surely out a huge number of illegals secreted away in our fair capital. So, as a democratic tool it could make a good weapon for reducing the unwanted population.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
26 August 2010
17:4767278#13
they are not that dumb, no names no pack drill.
the last thing the illegals are concerned about is voting.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,948
26 August 2010
20:5367302#14
It's not a new thing, for some time brits(or so called)living abroad are able to vote in uk elections even if living away for 50 years.
And theres millions of em lol
debate goes on,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
26 August 2010
21:0267304#15
WE are still British, wherever we happen to be.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
26 August 2010
21:0767305#16
one thing to be british and another thing to live abroad and tell us how we are to be governed, reminds me of the devout scotsman sean connery telling glaswegians what to do from his home in the carribean.
26 August 2010
21:0967307#17
We are still accountable to the UK Government even when abroad, and they to us. Therefore we are entitled to have our democratic say.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
26 August 2010
21:2867312#18
fail to see your logic sid, surely someone that lives here and pays into the system should have say where their taxes are spent?
lotus eaters are not entitled to reign over us.
26 August 2010
22:0367321#19
Lotus eaters also pay tax until the UK HMRC decides we are not worthy of collecting from. I await their decision as paying tax in two countrioes is a bit off, but those are the rules.
I think there is an erroneous impression, probably created by the Labour Party, that just because some of us work overseas we are all tax dodgers, you know, like Lord Paul. Well, in the words of the song, "it ain't necessarily so".
As for denying UK citiznes their democratic rights, if taken to it's literal conclusion, holidaymakers would forfeit all rights when abroad too. Daft to even suggest it, but it cuts both ways in my view. And then where does that leave the armed forces abroad? Surely we are not advocating one rule for the "stop at homes" and one rule for those whose work takes them abroad? That's very undemoncratic and uncivilised in my view.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
26 August 2010
22:1267330#20
sid
the armed forces are employed and pay taxes here irrespective of where they are posted, unlike people who elect to work overseas.
having said that i am not totally cognisant with the rules of her majesties revenues and customs.