Northern Ireland Posters

Did you vote? Will your voice be heard at Westminster?

I didn't Loyal but an elderly aunt (High 80's) lives in Strabane and informs me of her day in that regard.
A motor pulled up and "offered" to take her to the polling station around 10.30. She informed these friendly people that she would do the business after attending a funeral at 11am. A different pair of bucks appeared at 2pm offering the same service and she informed them that she was expecting a visit from a niece in Lifford any minute and that said niece would provide the transport to the polling station.
I'd assume that Aunty had a bit of a nap in the afternoon when she heard loud knocking on the door around 5.30 and here were the original pair of buckos informing her that she hadn't voted yet......
She asked them to call around 7 when she would have had her tea and watched the news etc.,
Sure enough, at 6.55 the motor pulled up and she clambered aboard and was, as she says, "whizzed" to the polling station and encouraged mildly to "do the right thing now Mrs"...

Now I've been involved in politics as a party man for 40 years and this level of attention to detail and expenditure of resources baffles me.. Insider information on who has or has not voted is quite gettable but it's the pursuit of every vote that staggers me and the targetting of elderly people I find disturbing frankly.

In any event, I'd punt €100 she voted for the SDLP....

Boxty,it's not inside info, every candidate is entitled to have an impersonation officer at each polling station (both here and in the north), I have often done it.
As each voter comes in you mark them off on your register.
with a few hours left until the polls close, I go through my register, make a note of those who I know or think will vote our way.
I then start making phone calls or send somebody to check if that person is in need of a lift.
Most parties do this.
It's all part of any election day.
The last local elections here I had 11 on my list who had not yet voted 20 mins before the polls closed.
However after a few phone calls and sending people to pick them up all but one voted before 10.
It's all part of the buzz and excitement of election day.
I love elections.

Dr.Shephard wrote:The last local elections here I had 11 on my list who had not yet voted 20 mins before the polls closed.
However after a few phone calls and sending people to pick them up all but one voted before 10.
It's all part of the buzz and excitement of election day.
I love elections.

Being part of a mainstream party I regret that we don't have the capacity to be as attentive to detail as you do.
I do, however, remember back in the day, when a Deputy from our constituency, who had gotten local authority housing for one family, that by then, occupied 3 houses with 13 votes between them dispatched a mini-bus to collect the voters with 30 mins to go.....
They were told to "Fook off, Dallas is on in 10 mins."
How's Cllr.Colreavy keeping anyway?

He's keepin well. Will have a few pints with him Sunday, no doubt.
I hope your a Fine Gaeler Boxty (most of my friends are)
If your a FFer though I'm afraid we can't be friends.

Dr.Shephard wrote:He's keepin well. Will have a few pints with him Sunday, no doubt.
I hope your a Fine Gaeler Boxty (most of my friends are)
If your a FFer though I'm afraid we can't be friends.

A Fenagh man....What would you think??

Your local councillor is a nice man, have met him several times.
But his brother, the senator is as crooked and useless as they come.
How mis-fortunate we were to have him represent Leitrim in the Dail for so long.

Dr.Shephard wrote:Your local councillor is a nice man, have met him several times.
But his brother, the senator is as crooked and useless as they come.
How mis-fortunate we were to have him represent Leitrim in the Dail for so long.

"The Fat Councillor", or as we refer to him locally as "Chief Wiggum" is indeed a "sound skin".*
I would take issue with you on your second point, a fact that has been endorsed on numerous occasions in various elections since 1987 but in the light of a sports forum, this isn't the time or the place for this discussion. Suffice to say, that on many's the day, when a blunder by Boxty, the error, if attributed to me, was rescued by an heroic block by the goalkeeper..

* "A sound skin" is a term I hope to include in the lexicography of GAATipster, much as the term "soccerball" has taken root.

We'll leave it at that so. Thread is gone way off topic anyway.

Dr.Shephard wrote:Your local councillor is a nice man, have met him several times.
But his brother, the senator is as crooked and useless as they come.
How mis-fortunate we were to have him represent Leitrim in the Dail for so long.

As opposed to the brilliant and upstanding Joe McCartin... (Heavy sarcasm intended)

Boxtyeater wrote:In any event, I'd punt €100 she voted for the SDLP....

And I presume the two pro-democracy dudes were SDLP then???

Jonsmith wrote:

Dr.Shephard wrote:Your local councillor is a nice man, have met him several times.
But his brother, the senator is as crooked and useless as they come.
How mis-fortunate we were to have him represent Leitrim in the Dail for so long.

As opposed to the brilliant and upstanding Joe McCartin... (Heavy sarcasm intended)

I've a great oul' tale to tell about those days...Boxty's couz was with the Stokes/Kennedy team at the time....abuse in Ballinamore..Halycon days!!!!!
They couldn't get fags, coffee, nothing........"and you, ya' hoor...one of our own"
Boxty believes 'twas the murderours kick to his upper thigh delivered on day 2 by the late Chairman of the Leitrim IFA (Peter Honeyman) that forced couz's foray into private practise. Couz's late father would have been the mainstay of the '27 Connacht winning team, but couz evidently decided that his rural roots were populated by Mucksavages......

Jayo Cluxton wrote:

Boxtyeater wrote:In any event, I'd punt €100 she voted for the SDLP....

And I presume the two pro-democracy dudes were SDLP then???

Muchos

Please God help us, now we've got that smarmy pr1ck Cameron in charge of things here along with the least most popular national party as back up and Nick Clegg now being Deputy Prime Minister!!!

The toffs have won the day, now watch the meltdown for real with these idiots in charge of things! Hopefully they'll fcuk the whole place up as then i'll be able to talk the missus into moving to Oz!!!

Not that a lot of you Mexicians will care!

There will be another election in a few months [Im thinking around early November]. Conservatives did not convincingly win the election against a broken Labour party, how can they possibly stay in for the entire time. Liberal Democrats are a split from Labour. Centre lefts and Centre rights in givernment with each other...Isn't going to work.

By the time November comes around Labour will be back.

That all depends on who Labour get in to replace Brown. I agree that this government won't last a year, there has been a major dent to the pride of Cameron due to the fact they didn't gain the majority but even more dents have been put into the reputations of the Toffs and the Lib Dems who "sold themselves like a harlot" in the words of one reporter i heard today!

Quite how the Liberals could step into bed with the Toffs is beyond me, they have shown themselves to be power hungry by their antics of the last 5 days. How they could have such a say in the choosing of the new government simply staggers me!

Wouldnt worry too much about that. Plenty of time for electing a new leader. If there is another election in November I would say that they Would have to elect a new leader by the end of July.

It'll be imperative that Labour get the right man in that's for sure, yes they do have the time on their hands and i agree that we aren't far away from another election, i think it'll be more than likely this time next year.

Interestingly, Labours membership and support has went through the roof in the last 18 hours due to the coal face Liberial supporters being insensed with their move with the Toffs that they have signed up for Labour.

One thing for sure is that it won't be long until the honeymoon will be over and the bickering between the Libs and Toffs will begin, they have set the date for the next election already for 1st May 2015, it won't be that long until we'll have another General Election!

I'll be interested to see how this new partenership will try an improve the manfacturing industry, something that was killed by the previous Toff regime!

(Indigenous) Manufacturing is a thing of the past I reckon. Ireland, UK and most of Europe simply cannot compete with the emerging economies in terms of cost of manufacturing etc. The only option is high-tech manufacturing such as phamaceuticals, medical devices etc. The days of textile industries, car assembly are gone for good - we can't compete with the low costs elsewhere.

Wont happen in 2015, it will be within the next 18 months, because....

1) They will eventually clash on ideas
2) Labour will put them under immense pressure because no party got the majority.
3) You are going to have half of the Lib Dems on labours side and then other on conservatives, so there will not be a complete backing of the party. Liberal Democrats will be dead and buried soon. Clegg has just wiped out over 100 years of history for the Lib Dems.
4) Worse time for a new government; there are going to be a hell of a lot of cuts in the public servcies. People aren't going to like this.

Even if they did last 5 years, it will be their last 5 years for many decades.

Just read this, and so very true...

Here is his dilemma. The obvious time for him to go for a second
attempt at a full majority is this autumn. By then, though he would
have issued his Queen's speech and emergency budget, no cuts or new tax
rises would have actually bitten. Voters holidaying abroad would have
experienced the pain of a weak pound. The public may have grown tired
of Whitehall infighting.
The longer he leaves it after that, the
more dangerous for him – cuts will be a reality, public sector job
losses will be soaring, and the recession may even be returning. His
rightwing critics, who deeply resented his attempts to "detoxify the
brand" and impose the values of his metropolitan coterie, will be in
full tongue.

Boxty the story of your aunt in Strabane is amusing but not unusual. SF had mini buses touring round Omagh collecting those who had no transport leaving them at polling station and transporting them home gain.

They even sent 2 coaches to Belfast to bring students down to vote, they got wind of a few who had missed the bus so they duly despatched a number of taxis to collect these guys in Belfast and bring them down.

It was all worth it though