Just thought I’d do a quick check on who I should vote for…

Labour -15
Conservative -34
	Liberal Democrat 40
UK Independence Party -8
	Green 36

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

Interestingly, I set my year 11s a speaking and listening task this week in which they had to explain their views on asylum seekers and immigration, and describe why they felt this way. The class was split about half and half between those who thought asylum seekers should be shot on sight, and those who thought we should give them a home out of compassion. The most interesting views came from the group who seemed to think that building a wall around the EU and keeping them all out unless we desperately needed their skills was the best solution. I did try not to argue with anyone, as they were not to try to persuade me of anything (or me them), but the group who seemed to have memorised the BNP manifesto and were spouting its most vicious ideas did get more than they bargained for during the questioning part of the exercise… We’ll see their reactions when I give them feedback next week! I’m going in armed (with information, of course!)

So our poll cards turned up today, and by coincidence, over at Deep Thought, Sarah highlighted a page designed to help me decide who gets my vote at the upcoming election.

Anyway, I took the test, and to be honest, I doubt the results will come as a surprise to anybody who knows me…

	Labour 2
Conservative -35
	Liberal Democrat 55
UK Independence Party -3
	Green 45

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Of course one thing that the site doesn’t take into account is the situation in your particular seat – in my case a sitting Conservative candidate without an overall majority, and the Lib Dems in second place. According to the BBC, the seat is number 34 on the target list so hopefully appearing on their list will mean that my pessimistic prediction earlier in the month about the focus of the campaign will be untrue. Having said that I’ll still be surprised to wake up on May 6th and find that the seat has changed hands!

Having said that, if you are in a seat where you feel that your vote won’t make a difference, you could always try a bit of tactical voting as suggested by Billy Bragg, through the Tactical Voter site who are again offering vote swaps trying to keep the Conservatives out, or the slightly bizarrely named Backing Blair that is trying to persuade people to vote Tony Blair out in the same way!

Alternatively if you don’t like the idea of tactical voting, or even voting at all, head along to Not Apathetic and register your opinion.

A while back I posted an item with an example of what can be done with Photoshop. Today the Conservative candidate for Dorset South gave another demonstration.

You can read the full article on The Times website. But to sumarise, the first picture is the original, showing the candidate campaigning against the legal deportation of a family back to Malawi under the current rules, the second is a doctored version of the first, that went out on campaign literature describing the Conservative plans to tighten immigration. It does strike me as decidedly odd that a few weeks ago he was campaigning for an asylum seeker to stay, and now he’s all for tightening up the rules. The BBC article on the photo offers some justification for the apparent conflict, but to me it serves to highlight the fact that making statements on immigration are all very well when dealing with statistics, until you are actually dealing with it on a personal level, and hearing personal stories. Certainly it is a difficult subject, and the coverage in the campaign so far has already brought warnings from Churches and the United Nations!

This also came on the same day that it came out that the Conservative candidate in Winchester was trying a little cyber-squatting, having registered a site in the name of the local MP. Whilst there is a dispute resolution process, it would take months to sort out. Of course Winchester is a prized seat after the fiasco in 1997 where the Conservatives lost by 2 votes, took it to court and forced another election. The local voters didn’t take kindly to it and delivered a 39.6% swing against the Conservative candidate in the rerun.

Anyway, according to the BBC Election Page we only have to put up with this stuff for another 23 days, before all the politicians all retreat back to Westminster.