So the UK election is on Thursday, and I was wondering has everyone decided who they're going to vote for? And why? Did the TV debates affect your choice? And if you're not planning on voting, why not?

And for those of you in other countries... do you use your right to vote in your own country? And if not, why not?

As an aside, do you support devolution from Westminster? Why/why not?

And we already have devolution and have had since 1997. And yes, I'm fully in support of that. I think it's been greatly to the benefit of Scots for us to be able to control certain things for ourselves. And I'd be in support of the Scottish government getting more devolved powers too.

But we don't have independence, which is different (and is what the SNP want). And I don't want independence. I'm proud to be British as well as Scottish, and I think we're far better off as part of the UK (and part of the EU also) than seperate to it. Most Scots DON'T want independence anyway. But there is a slight risk that enough could be swung in favour of it, if we end up with a conservative UK government. :P Which very much worries me...

For the benefit of the non-Brits, the devolvaed nations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are each partly controlled by the British government in London, but also each now has some powers of their own, mostly in health, education and tourism. For example this has resulted in prescription fees being abolished in Wales, and soon to be Scotland too, while patients still pay them in England... it also means Scottish students at Scottish universities have lower fees.

So we have a Scottish parliament in Edinburgh which is currently lead by the Scottish National Party (SNP). However, if the SNP get their way, they will hold a referendum on Scotland becoming completely independent from the UK (which most Scots currently don't want), probably after the general election, in the hope that if the Conservatives get in, enough Scots will be so against being under a British Tory government that they'd then be willing to vote in favour of independence (madness if you ask me).

Independence would be very costly for Scotland, sadly a lot of voters don't fully understand the system, they just think 'oh that sounds nice' it is a shame people aren't more politically aware really.

The Welsh are going to bring back prescription charges as they cannot afford to carry it on, then again you even get toothpaste on prescription here!

Wales are bringing back prescription charges? Are you sure? Just last week there was a Welsh GP in the BMA news talking about what a success the abolition of charges had been and I can't find anything online to suggest that's going to change.

Personally I do think there should be a prescription charge, to prevent people abusing the system. For example a week's worth of antihistimines cost 99p from the supermarket, hayfever sufferers do not need to be getting them from the GP (which is what they do if it's free, even if 99p/week is well within what they can afford!). It leads to wasting of GPs time as well as a waste of money which could be better spent elsewhere. I think the charge should be minimal though, particularly for patients on multiple medications. It annoys me that Scotland is going to abolish the charge completely though, as I don't think that is right.

It has been in the Cambrian news within the last few weeks about the re-instatement of prescription charges, patients on multiple medications would receive prescription for free still, just as they do in England.

And although you didn't specifically ask, I have always voted labour in the Scottish elections (and lib dems in the general elections). Mostly in a hope of keeping the SNP's power to a minimum!

i was surprised the other day to find that on our fox news network we carried your debate live .. granted it was 2am for us... and I admit I wasnt thrilled that my regular programing was bumped at the time but it was interesting to say the least..

Yes, I use my vote every time. In my opinion if you don't take your time out to vote for your elected officials then you have no right to complain about the way they are running things.

Australians have to vote after the age of 18. It's illegal if we don't. xD You get fined. You can sort of get away with it if you don't register on the electoral roll when you turn 18 (if your name's not there, they don't know that you haven't voted!) - but if they find out that you're not registered to vote, then that's another fineable offence.

I always vote anyway because I like having my say. Compulsory voting is interesting... you'll get a much larger number of people voting, but a smaller proportion of those would be informed votes. Then again, being forced to vote might compel some people to actually research and think about what/whom they're voting for when they go to the booth.

do they also get fined for voting without researching the candidates first?

I say there ought to be quizzes for all the candidates world wide, if you cant answer simple questions on the candidate, your vote is qualified. but nevertheless, it honestly doesn't matter who anyone votes for. why vote for people, there's no guarantee they agree with you on every issue, in fact they don't. so you want to vote on the issues, not for people. Most know how they feel about the key issues that effect their lives. most don't know, and or are given very limited information about politicians, and ho they vote for, follow the money. exmp: in my country the military industrial complex, wall street, the same crowd that finances all presidents that happen to have the royal bloodline. Financed the new boss, same as the old boss.


what i like best about the united england debates is all the screaming and yelling n shit, gawd is that for real? lol I admire that passion however fake it is

United England?

Wait, do you mean the UNITED KINGDOM?!?

PLEASE tell me you don't think that the UK is also called England?!

(The UK = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, i.e. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. England is only one PART of the UK)

content, content, humor.

ie it was a joke, united england, royal bloodlines. get it?

I don't think it was a joke. I think you are just saying that now that you've realised how stupid you've made yourself look (again).

You realise that jokes are supposed to have a point, and be funny? You didn't use the term' united England' in a funny or jokey context, you used it in seriousness, because you really believed that the UK was the same as England (or your made up country of 'United England'). The term 'united' in context of the United Kingdom refers to the fact that it unites the four nations of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. England cannot be united by itself. :P

Royal bloodlines have nothing to do with anything (and certainly not with anything that was getting discussed here about the election), and even if they did, the Queen is the Queen of Great Britain (NOT the 'Queen of England'), so whatever point you think you were trying to make doesn't make any sense.

But seeing as you're going to insist it was a joke, how about you explain the logic of it to me?

You do keep me amused though. And the irony... after you telling me I lived in a bubble, because I didn't know the details of each and every social problem in the United States... meanwhile you actually thought there was such a country as 'United England'. Hahahahahaha.

Thanks, I needed that laugh. ;)

you only want to talk about your ego, and not anything else that I said. ba ba boring

Lol. See, I KNEW you wouldn't be able to explain your made up 'joke' about your made up country. You're so predictable.

(And ego has nothing to do with it. I have nothing to prove here. But if you use a public forum to refer to a country that doesn't exist, you can't expect others not to point out your mistake!)

u typed to fast,lol

Actually, you typed too slow (and note the word 'too' in that context has two Os).

actually, thanks. I'm never sure when to use the "too" so i don't at all. like so many other millions of people.

I'll give it a shot though. help is welcomed here.

That is to mush information, said billy, I will go too the library and check it out.

did i do it right? too - verb? i dunno, help please :)

"I will go to the library"
"I have to do something"

"Yes, me too"

"I'm too ignorant to listen"

see, i just don't get that. thanks for the help anyway. I'm sticking to the just plain old to. sorry.

So you'd rather continue to look stupid, than try and better yourself by learning the correct way?!

Oh well, figures. :P

i need a better teacher :)

No-one can teach someone who doesn't want to learn.