# BritDopers (and nosy foreigners) - The general election 2010 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 6, 2010, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133 "2010-04-06T11:13:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 18
**Author:** ![Baboonanza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f475e1/32.png) [@Baboonanza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baboonanza)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/341 "2010-04-20T09:13:16Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > And for the forthcoming debate on the economy, Brown will see crucial data before the debate, but Clegg and Cameron won’t. > > [Bloomberg article](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=ax9JHR3WQCpo). I can tell them the data: We’re fucked. If we weren’t fucked before the volcano went off, we’re definitely fucked now. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/342 "2010-04-20T09:18:42Z")
At least Brown hasn’t been blamed for the volcano…yet. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/343 "2010-04-20T19:10:22Z")
Looks like the debate has helped the LibDems: [The Times & The Sunday Times: breaking news & today's latest headlines](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7103076.ece) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/344 "2010-04-20T19:19:45Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Yeah, I think if those results actually came to pass there would be uproar, public protests, and immense pressure to change the system… You know, I thought that would happen here and that we’d scrap the Electoral College ten years ago when the guy with the second-most votes became President, but oddly enough, it didn’t. Public outrage over the dreary details of election mechanics can die down pretty fast. ---
**Author:** ![Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/345 "2010-04-20T19:49:59Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > Well odds are though that the bookies get the info from the best available source: a survey asking randomly selected people all over the UK what they would vote if elections were held today, weighted for any number of demographic characteristics, published by pollsters. That’s where I’d put my money on! Sorry I’m late, but it is my mission to fight ignorance, however belatedly. Bookies set odds based on the volume of bets placed, so that whatever the outcome they make a small profit. The bookies have no opinion on the likely outcome of an event. If most of the money goes on the three legged horse to win, then the three legged horse will be favourite. (The bookies will be delighted, they take a higher cut when an outsider wins). The odds do show you what a large and interested but self-selecting sample of individuals (those who have placed bets) think is the most likely outcome. The downside is that the sample is not random (they are all gamblers) and though they are all financially interested, they are not financially astute (they are all gamblers). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/346 "2010-04-20T19:57:17Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You know, I thought that would happen here and that we’d scrap the Electoral College ten years ago when the guy with the second-most votes became President, but oddly enough, it didn’t. Public outrage over the dreary details of election mechanics can die down pretty fast. Yeah, but Electoral College weirdness just affects the Presidency. Parliamentary constituency weirdness could give the wrong party control of Parliament, and the premiership with it (obviously). ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/347 "2010-04-20T20:50:26Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You know, I thought that would happen here and that we’d scrap the Electoral College ten years ago when the guy with the second-most votes became President, but oddly enough, it didn’t. Public outrage over the dreary details of election mechanics can die down pretty fast. You may have a point about the public’s short memory, but the situation would be slightly different here. If anyone were to become PM afterwards, it would almost certainly be as the leader of a coalition involving this large number of Lib Dem MPs (I don’t see any likely majority group not involving the Lib Dems, in this scenario). And I imagine the Lib Dems would be pretty vocal in their demands for electoral reform before agreeing to support a coalition. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/348 "2010-04-20T20:56:34Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > (I don’t see any likely majority group not involving the Lib Dems, in this scenario). If the Tories were only just short, they could make a deal with one of the Ulster parties. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/349 "2010-04-20T21:02:17Z")
> [@Sandwich](#): > > Sorry I’m late, but it is my mission to fight ignorance, however belatedly. > > Bookies set odds based on the volume of bets placed, so that whatever the outcome they make a small profit. The bookies have no opinion on the likely outcome of an event. If most of the money goes on the three legged horse to win, then the three legged horse will be favourite. (The bookies will be delighted, they take a higher cut when an outsider wins). > > The odds do show you what a large and interested but self-selecting sample of individuals (those who have placed bets) think is the most likely outcome. The downside is that the sample is not random (they are all gamblers) and though they are all financially interested, they are not financially astute (they are all gamblers). Great analysis. My money’s on the bookmaker being the winners at this election. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/350 "2010-04-21T01:40:56Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > …And I imagine the Lib Dems would be pretty vocal in their demands for electoral reform before agreeing to support a coalition. That is just the hard bargain they try to drive to avert a hung Parliament in Jeffrey Archer’s novel _First Among Equals_, which I mentioned earlier… and he wrote that in 1984! ---
**Author:** ![SecondJudith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@SecondJudith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecondJudith)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/351 "2010-04-22T15:10:37Z")
I’m pleased at how excited the media are getting about Nick Clegg – everyone’s trying very hard to make this election catchy! ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/352 "2010-04-24T17:22:52Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Aren’t you thinking of Tony Blair? (DERA / Qinetiq, anyone?) When Mrs Thatcher privatised the state industries (BT, British Gas, etc), anyone could buy shares. And lots of people did. You don’t remember, then, what Thatcher did to the TSB. Blair, more Thatcher than the woman herself, must have been very disappointed he only had DERA and CDC to do away with. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/353 "2010-04-24T18:43:40Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > You don’t remember, then, what Thatcher did to the TSB. She sold off so much. ---
**Author:** ![wmfellows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@wmfellows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wmfellows)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/354 "2010-04-24T23:01:39Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Apart from it doesn’t have a “very specific meaning” at all. Left-libertarianism, anarcho-capitalism and libertarian-socialism all fall under a general libertarian heading. North American political hacks don’t get to define what words mean in the English language, sorry. Quite right, missed this but very much agree. Should the good Canadian with American tendencies had wished to say “Western North American hard right libertarianism” well that is another matter. ---
**Author:** ![wmfellows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@wmfellows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wmfellows)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/355 "2010-04-24T23:09:49Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > How is it flawed? It’s just you picking blindly which aspects of the respective party’s manifestos you prefer on issues you mark as mattering the most to you. Some items were a bit hard to figure out as to what was the underlying. While I came out close to what I expected, a couple of items really I just shrugged and clicked. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/356 "2010-04-28T15:26:34Z")
Ladies and gents, [we have our first](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8649853.stm) Election-Losing Gaffe[tm] of the campaign: > [@](#): > > Gordon Brown has said he is “mortified” after being caught on microphone describing a voter he had just spoken to in Rochdale as a “bigoted woman”…As he got into his car, he was still wearing a broadcast microphone and was heard to say “that was a disaster”. As someone on Fark just commented, “Labour made a big mistake. They forgot Brown wasn’t supposed to speak to human beings.” ---
**Author:** ![sinical\_brit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@sinical\_brit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinical_brit)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/357 "2010-04-28T15:55:54Z")
Yup - UK news just went into meltdown. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/358 "2010-04-28T16:05:43Z")
So, [just who are these Liberal Democrats, anyway?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=561282) ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/359 "2010-04-28T19:31:49Z")
Reckon he could have pulled this one out if he’d stood his ground. \*I’d like to apologise to Mrs Duffy for what was an offensive and ill-judged remark, made on the spur of the moment. However, I should state that I in turn found her comments offensive, narrow-minded and illustrative of a damaging mindset that is dividing working class communities up and down this country. I’ve fought against racism all of my working life as a politician, and I won’t tacitly accept this type of divisive talk from anyone. In these times of economic hardship, what Britain needs is for our bedrock communities to pull together etc etc…\* Instead he made a grovelling apology and made an even bigger cunt of himself than God intended. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/360 "2010-04-28T19:41:03Z")
Ugh. Brown just can’t catch a break. Politicians need to remember to treat every mike as an _open_ mike. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133.md?page=17) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133.md?page=19)