The UK and another member (crap who is it Denmark, thats it) are the only state members who are not obliged to join, when we joined the EU we opted out of any change of currency. The UK government are against using the Euro, not just for traditional reasons, but because of events in the EU, e.g. the current events in Greece, it means if the economy suffers hard ship in one country the currency suffers in every country.

the UK isn't doing so good right now. Which I'm sure you know. In fact the UK is about to pass Greece as the worst out of the EU in budget deficits.

world economies are already tied together via unbalanced trade

We are about a year away from that, and that would require our government to do absolutely nothing as well.

oh i forgot, it is of the utmost importance that all nations model themselves after Sweden ie Direct Democracy

You know that by forcing the people to vote. That renders the election completely useless. You force people to do what they dont want to do, and what do they care, they can go down and check w/e boxes they want as quick as possible never caring who is being voted for. It jeopardizes the out come, leaves it up to an insane chance. That's so illogical, I cant believe a nation is that stupid, but then again it's australia,lol

I generally vote when there's a large issue going on. when there's people who want to raise certain taxes, things like that.
Obviously, I voted in the presidential election. Haha. It's the first one I was able to vote in.

Voting got me Jury duty, so I dont really want to vote anymore ;D
Kidding, obviously.

But for non-presidential stuff, I usually don't vote. A lot of the things we vote for here don't apply specifically to me; and I really don't pay attention to politics.

I'm from the USA, and yes, I use my right to vote. Every election effects me in some way, so I vote in every one. Turning 18 was a big deal for me because I could vote. I'm kind of a dick about voting, though, because I feel like if you don't vote, you don't get to bitch about the election results (unless you're not old enough to vote).

I intend to vote for the Lib Dems! This is the first general election I have been able to vote in which I am quite excited about.

I live in a constituency where a vote for Labour is a vote for the Tories. Lib Dems are second. However, Stratford on Avon is a decades old Tory constituency and I don't think anything will change that.

I caught some of the debates but it was SO BORING oh my lord. They just solidified my hate for Cameron as he came across so slimy.

I like the way the Lib Dems think. They support getting rid of tuition fees (one day!) They want to repeal the Digital Economy Bill (biggest joke ever). They want to raise the tax threshold to £10,000 which I think is VERY important.

I hate the Tories. They are just out for the richest people. Their marriage tax breaks are a joke in this day and age. Many of them are self admittedly homophobic. They are not a progressive party. Their education plans scare me.

Labour are ok. Again, I don't think they are very progressive, but they are more for people like me than the Tories ever would be. I wouldn't be happy if they retained power, but rather them than Cameron.

I totally agree. And I intend on probably voting for Lib Dems too. I voted for them in the last general election also, although I'm always a bit torn between labour and the lib dems.

My local seat currently belongs to labour, and it's the no.2 target seat for SNP which concerns me slightly, so I considered going for labour, rather than lib dems, so as to keep the SNP out of it, but really, I don't see why the lib dems couldn't take it either. There's a lot of support for them here. The Tories don't stand a hope in hell of getting seats here (or in most of Scotland for that matter), thank goodness!

I only watched some of the first debate, and it confirmed my dislike of David Cameron too. He's just so sleazy. And tax breaks for married couples?!? WTF? Why should I pay more tax because I'm single? That's clear discrimination!

I thought Nick Clegg came across really well though, which made me wonder if the lib dems may actually have a chance.

And I agree on Labour... I think they're a better alternative to the Conservatives, but I'd quite like to see the Lib Dems get a shot at making a real change.

I think the first time voters will make a big difference in this election. I was in the first year to go to uni with top up fees which I think will play a big role in the voting habits of people my age.

I'm disappointed there has been so little discussion on tuition fees because I think it is a big problem. The Tories are considering lifting the cap which is so WRONG on so many levels; denying intelligent people the right to a good education!

They will still be able to receive a tuition fee loan to cover the fee, so it wont be denying anyone.

And who would pick thousands of pounds of debt over free education?

But people on a lower income are less likely to want to take on a huge debt. My debt isn't even that great, since I didn't pay fees (and I got a health care bursary in my final year), so my loan was mostly for living expenses, books, clothing, etc... and still, I will probably be paying it off for 10 years or so. And I at least took that on knowing my parents were financially stable and could help me out if need be. I can't see people on a lower income being willing to take on debt which is going to take them 20 years + to pay off.

I'll come out of uni with about £32,000 of debt, as will the majority of my friends at university, it doesn't deter many people, especially as our student debts wont effect our credit rating and compared to bank loans etc interest is far lower and re-payments are in lesser amounts.

The evidence suggests otherwise - http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/aug/12/accesstouniversity.students1

"The introduction of top-up fees in 2006 has not dented the rise in numbers of students starting university, but increases in the proportion from the poorest homes have stalled, according to a report from the universities umbrella group.

The number of first-time undergraduates has increased substantially every year since 2004 but the proportion from the poorest areas, or of ethnic minorities which are under-represented at university, has hardly changed despite a multi-million pound drive by the government to counter the effect of higher fees."

Where I live either the Lib-dems or Plaid Cymru manage to get in, the locals vote for plaid cymru on a whole and those who come here for uni/work at the uni vote lib-dems, at the last election the lib-dems were voted in here. However since they were voted in their promises for our area have not been fulfilled, they have done nothing at all, they were going to apply for a grant to improve the town, however they only applied for one a month ago, funny that.

A lot of people vote for a person instead of policies, which is a bit stupid, my friend Pippa wasn't going to vote because she knows nothing about politics, if you say left and right she has no idea, now she is voting and she is voting for the tories because "it is important that a prime minister talks posh".

My friend Paul will be voting tory, which I understand as his parents are high earners, they face 80% tax if the lib-dems get in power which would leave them at 91% after NI. They lib-dems want to introduce a 95% income tax rate for super earners (they haven't mentioned how those would then pay their NI!!), this could have big effects on the British economy, the majority of super earners due to the nature of their jobs are able to work literally anywhere, quite a number of people would leave the UK if they faced a 95% tax rate, it isn't ideal to introduce such a tax rate during a recession.

As usual the two parties who weren't in power have identified several areas to save very large amounts of money, yet of course, they wont tell us exactly how this is possible. How are the tories going to fund their tax break for married couples, yes, it is a small amount per couple, but when you add up all the young families who will qualify, that is a substantial amount of money. I assume the lib-dems would manage the minor tax to cut to lower earners with the major tax rise on the high earners, I would like to know where they are getting so much money to pump into the NHS though.

The tories stance on a better more effective border control police service I think is a good idea, but of course, we have to ask ourselves, will it really happen, or are they just trying to gain the stupid voters, e.g. the immigrants are taking over the world voters.

I think at the moment our main three are much of a muchness, the only thing about labour is we can prove that they haven't bothered with a large number of their policies, so why would they change this time around?

I think the lib-dems will lose the vote of a lot of people in the forces/those who support the forces due to their stance on not replacing trident.

My friend Paul is staying up all night to see the results to come in, so his job is to wake me up when the final results come in :D

The thing about immigration, is that we NEED some immigrants. The limitations which labour imposed on immigration have actually lead to a shortage of doctors! In the NHS we rely on immigrants (and we have some very very good doctors from overseas), so placing a complete cap on immigration isn't necessarily the right thing to do.

I know the tories plan a cap, but I think it would be better to improve the current points system, quality not quantity!

I do use my right to vote, though not at every single issue at the very local level. It can be frustrating when the choices are between, for example- Mr. Conservative, or Mr. I Am More Conservative Than That Other Guy, who I Claim is a Liberal. Also, my local representative is someone I totally disagree with, but he last ran unopposed, so there was no one to vote for. Heh.

PS Alison-you might be proud to know Chris has been keeping up with UK election via NPR. He finds it fascinating, he loves politics.

:)

So, so far the results are 1 seat to labour, this is going to be a very long night.

Two labour seats, not a shock, virtually impossible for anyone else to get in there.

If two seats are allocated to anyone but the tory's now we are officially hung like a horse

We are officially hung!!!!