I see the conservatives to win the election at about 95ish tonight, but also that no party will get an overall majority in the house is bid at about 55ish (conservatives to win the house is next highest at 42ish).
I see the conservatives to win the election at about 95ish tonight, but also that no party will get an overall majority in the house is bid at about 55ish (conservatives to win the house is next highest at 42ish).
Hard to know how to vote. The present Labour Party administration has often been hostile to Christian concerns, and favored Islam as part of its multicultural agenda. The Liberal Democrats are led by an avowed atheist, and has a platform which includes serious restrictions on the admission rights of faith schools funded by the government. Its amnesty program for immigrants also leaves many questions unanswered. The Conservative Party has better links with the churches, but its leader David Cameron, while undoubtedly sincere, has not conveyed any great vision to the population. What the Conservatives stand for is vague, and summed up in their vapid slogan about time for change. (BTW his distinctive upper crust accent, with its connotations of privilege, may also have put off some voters.) I will vote tomorrow – in fact, the local polling station is in our church hall – and as a priest I take no public stance, so you will not expect me to say here how I will vote. But whichever party I vote for it will not be with great enthusiasm. Difficult times and no sense of the way ahead for the country.
I don’t think you are alone #1 TT
What has emerged in the last 48 hours is just how many people are undecided. It doesn’t mean that they won’t decide, perhaps in the voting booth, but it is clear that they are having difficulty.
I conducted a Pageantmaster Poll today – It yielded the following results:
Unsure whether will vote: 50%
Will vote: 50%
Don’t want current government: 100%
Do know who will vote for: 25%
Haven’t fully decided yet: 75%
It was, mind you, designed to be completely unscientific or representative, based on making four people talk to me, but in its small way is about as useful for extrapolation as the usual political polls which use a sample of 1,200-2,500 to extrapolate to expected voting patterns of 60 million voters.
I think three things are contributing to the uncertainty:
1. That none of the parties are offering voters anything positive to look forward to – all will have to make difficult decisions to reign in government spending and debt.
2. Palpable indifference to all politicians, if not anger based on the fallout from the Parliamentary expenses scandal and exposure of a number who would take payment to influence decision-making on retirement.
It has also emerged that even with a minority of seats, so long as no one else has an overall majority, the incumbent can stay on and try to form a government by coming to an agreement with minority parties.
So we are in for an interesting 48 hours.
Mulling the above I found myself recalling the sobering verse in Proverbs 29.18, rendered in the AV as ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’ Less poetically, but still thought-provoking the RSV translates it as: ‘Where there is no prophecy the people cast off restraint.’ We certainly see the latter in Greece. May God spare us this, and give whatever government we get the vision to guide us through these difficult times.