I've been trying to find the total usage figures for single use bags plus reusable bags over recent years, which would be the most telling figure, but they don't seem to be published anywhere.

I know that it was 6.5 billion single use bags in 2006, but nothing reported since then.

Fuck me the cybernaws are actually celebrating UKIP getting a Scottish MEP as it "shows we're not much different from the rUK". Even if you ignore there being almost a fifth more UKIP voters (% of vote) south of the wall I'm not sure we should be over the moon that we have mongs too

...Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?

My woolly prediction: the UKIP bubble with have burst by the time of the General Election. Low turnouts and second-order elections favour protest votes. Come the one that matters, we will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Flicking through Twitter and 'below the line' comments, I keep on being reminded of the end of Brecht's poem, 'Die Loesung':



My woolly prediction: the UKIP bubble with have burst by the time of the General Election. Low turnouts and second-order elections favour protest votes. Come the one that matters, we will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Course, it has been rather fun watching everyone panic about Mr Farage, and certainly put the wind up the major parties.

As the most "right wing" member here by some distance, I am still pretty terrified at what seems to be happening. National Front victory in France, UKIP here...? Wtf, Europe?

The NF victory, and the support for groups like Golden Dawn in Greece and that uniformed fascist lot in Hungary (Jobbik?) is deeply troubling. If the political elites in Europe really have drifted so far from the people they claim to represent, then no wonder we are in so much trouble.

The lastminute YouTube ad is brilliant.

I'd be worried if I was them, if this kind of thing does look like it'll force a swing to the right for the tories (and I've seen this theorised in more places than just markg's post here) then it could well prompt more Scottish people to vote for independence to get away from that prospect.

"Prime Minister David Cameron will travel to Brussels for an informal dinner with other EU leaders where the election results will be discussed" according to the BBC

So after being accused of being out of touch by voters, he will be discussing this and other matters over Lobster and Champagne all funded by the tax payer! Have these people never heard of SKype of or Lync?

What a dick, and a prime example of why a lot of people voted UKIP, yes some are anti EU and some probably racist, but many where just sick of up their own arse politicians

"Prime Minister David Cameron will travel to Brussels for an informal dinner with other EU leaders where the election results will be discussed" according to the BBC

So after being accused of being out of touch by voters, he will be discussing this and other matters over Lobster and Champagne all funded by the tax payer! Have these people never heard of SKype of or Lync?

What a dick, and a prime example of why a lot of people voted UKIP, yes some are anti EU and some probably racist, but many where just sick of up their own arse politicians

Sometimes face to face are better?

Yeah, this is utterly hysterical nonsense. I very much doubt anyone would say their main problem with Cameron is he doesn't use Skype or IM enough when meeting with other heads of state.

Clegg is holed below the waterline, if he doesnt "abdicate" (the word he used in an interview) then 7% in a general election will worse than decimate the amount of Liberal Dems in 2015.

Well over half of those that vote Liberal do not believe in food banks, hitting the unemployed, disabled and generally disadvantaged as has happened in the past couple of years. Hence hardly any of us voting for them on the 22nd.

And if you think being unemployed is a cushy life, you should see the new form / booklet they have introduced in Jan 2014.

Fortunately, I am employed currently, but it is temporary and going back to the Job Centre Minus is not something I think I can face due to its utter complete inability to find anyone a job and its new target for sanctioning people to reduce the figures.

2015 will be a new hung parliament, but will it really be Labour / UKIP? its as hard to imagine as a Con / Liberal one.

But where are these hitherto LD voters going to go? Labour?? Pfft.

Green, probably. All depends if people feel that the Veggies have a chance in their consitenuency. Euro and local elections tend to favour minor parties, due to turnout and protest voting, but when the General Election comes round people have to have a good reason not to go for the majors.

It's going to be interesting to see how it falls in the next GE. Under FPTP it is extremely unlikely that UKIP will achieve much to shout about.

Living in a safe labour seat is very bad for political motivation. I'd like to take a look at the Greens, but is there really much point?

FAKE EDIT: ACTUALLY, looking at the numbers, this is absolutely not a safe Labour seat

The Greens annoy me. The majority of their manifesto is pretty good, I would vote for them, but then you get to the batshit transport and environmental stuff, and that rules them out for the majority of sane people.

I wonder if a party emerged that took the best from all of the current parties and threw away the worst, how well they would do. There is a misguided belief that the majority of people don't vote because of apathy, and that is a belief that is pushed forward by the current political parties as they don't want the average person to vote, they want the rabid base they pander to, to vote.
I just don't believe it. I think if there was a party that was truly inclusive and positive on all points, and didn't try to fuck anyone over, the non-voters would turn up in their droves and it would be a landslide.

That'll never happen though, not in the current system.

The Greens annoy me. The majority of their manifesto is pretty good, I would vote for them, but then you get to the batshit transport and environmental stuff, and that rules them out for the majority of sane people.

I wonder if a party emerged that took the best from all of the current parties and threw away the worst, how well they would do. There is a misguided belief that the majority of people don't vote because of apathy, and that is a belief that is pushed forward by the current political parties as they don't want the average person to vote, they want the rabid base they pander to, to vote.
I just don't believe it. I think if there was a party that was truly inclusive and positive on all points, and didn't try to fuck anyone over, the non-voters would turn up in their droves and it would be a landslide.

That'll never happen though, not in the current system.

You'd probably need a couple of billion quid to get started.

I honestly think that Labour would walk the next election if only they could find someone a bit less fucking weird and a lot more forthright than Miliband. So many people just don't like him personally. Most people dislike Cameron but at least they think they know who he is and where he's coming from. Miliband looks like a fucking space alien.

I also think Labour have much to fear from UKIP as well. But they need to oppose them, not pander to them as the Tories surely will.

A sad indictment of modern politics life that appearance counts for so much.

Also, activists in each area. Having a party organisation - people to stuff envelopes, knock on doors, get out the vote - matters.

A sad indictment of modern politics that appearance counts for so much.

Feex.

That's a thing that it seems to have become fashionable for people to say. I think it's absolute bullshit. People trot that out but then they still define and discuss previous governments in terms of their leaders. e.g Thatcher closed the mines and Blair invaded Iraq etc. So of course people are going to vote for a leader as well as their policies. It's not just how Miliband looks, it's the way he talks and the things he says, he has to communicate their policies and he does a shitty job.

I don't think the public especially want good looking leaders but they do recognise that it takes some force of personality to do that job successfully. They know it when they see it and they want someone they recognise as having good leadership characteristics.