Feeling cynical about the election?

I agree gillybob! I have voted because I respect those suffragettes, but I don't really want any of them to win.
I'm sick of being so cynical.

I feel worried as I do think things could change for the better - the policies in the Labour manifesto will help, me and my family a lot if they carry them out. The policies in Conservative manifesto will help the top few % - the better off and the big businesses. I fear for me, my children and grandchildren as I am sure TM will win. Turkeys voting for Christmas comes to mind.

It is dispiriting and very unhealthy that so many people feel powerless and pessimistic about what is to come. I shall just be glad when it is all over and we can ignore the politicians a bit as they will hopefully not be in our faces all the time.

Time for PR, or this cynicism will carry the day. When millions of people know that their vote will count for nothing, it is very bad for democracy.

I agree with GrannyA11i. Our system will either be protected or destroyed. It's as simple as that.

I don't think it is that simple. I'm fed up with it all but will wait to see if all the wonderful promises made by all sides are actually fulfilled. Past experience leads me to believe that's most unlikely! Sigh.

Our general elections have assumed a presidential aspect in recent years. With the press focusing on the leaders and the Tory party bus proclaiming TM in huge letters and the party name almost invisible, an outsider could be forgiven for thinking we are electing a president. We aren't even electing a Prime Minister as a parliamentary term can end up - and has done so - with a different PM from the one who began it. Time and again 'vox pop' interviewees have stated their intention of voting for one or other of the leaders. No mention of the local candidate!
Cynical? Yes! Let's get it over with!

Will they really though GrannyA11i and VQ ?

I'm not so sure? It all sounds a bit pie in the sky impossible to me (although I didn't really want to get into a political argument).

I do feel dispirited and pessimistic Luckygirl both for the future of our country and what lies ahead for my children and grandchildren. I also feel that neither of the main parties represent me in the slightest.

Feel the same - and really quite down about it.
If the projected large majority for TM comes about it won't really matter who else gets in, where or by how much.

Without making party political comments I honestly and genuinely cannot understand why anyone would risk another 5 years of deteriorating public services for most of us while watching the rich get richer and more self-serving.

I accept that it's the democratic FPTP system but am very disheartened, even knowing that my MP will keep his safe seat.

GN is a real eye-opener. Without it I'd be unaware of the genuine problems people face in other parts of the country. MSM don't tell us about real family problems like gillybob 's awful difficulties in trying to help her DGD or VQ's heartfelt accounts of her struggles with DWP and so many more.

Not looking forward to the next few days or years!

Cynical, moi??

I have asked a few people I know whether they will vote and many have answered "what's the point?"

What has it come to when hard working ordinary people feel like this?

Will shortly be going off to vote - but won't know which one until the pen is actually poised.
Oh dear! Why don't politicians answer questions rather than faff about?
I will think of Merlotgran's photo when I make my mark

We can't know yet if things will improve under Labour - but Gillybob all I can do is look at what they all promise and know that there's nothing in the Conservative promises to help my family. There is something in Labour's policies. Also after experiencing the struggling NHS services with my elderly mum - I couldn't vote for a party which is destroying it further.

The cynical side of me doesn't take anything these politicians say seriously though GrannyA11i It all seems like false promises. They say what you might want to hear but what they do is something very different entirely.

I was (once upon a time) a fully paid up member of the LP until DH and I started our own business and I realised that the LP did not like business at all. Big or small it makes no difference to them we are all money grabbing mill owners who beat our employees! Now, to me the LP represent the public sector workers no one else.

As for the Tories, what is there to like about a load of toffs who have never lived in the real world? never had to fight to get their children into the local school. Never had to get their hands dirty.

This is why I am so cynical. I dislike them all.

Yes I feel that way too Gillybob, just hoping it might be different ....

I wish we had PR too, Luckygirl. My vote will make no difference in this safe seat, but I will still vote. My cynicism is not being helped at the moment as we have been binge watching our recorded episodes of 'Spin' about the French government. In that fictional, I hope, series there isn't one politician who won't go to extreme lengths to keep in power.

I have never been as bored and cynical about any election as I have about this one.

In 2015 I can remember GN threads discussing policy in an engaged and interested way, to which I was an enthusiastic poster. Come 2017 all we have had is thread after thread of completely unhelpful titles where the same old handful of Labour supporters trade insults and argue about how small the pinhead is on the pin that Jeremy Corbyn can stand on.

The only thing that could cheer me up would be to wake tomorrow to find we had all effectively voted for a Green party/UKIP coalition. Now that really would add to the gaiety of the nation.

I'm with you all the way M0nica what a hoot that would be!

It's all so bloomin' boring isn't it? I just want to yawn at the very mention of both JC and TM .

cynical because I believe that they are all rigged to a certain extent..Ruth Davidson knew the results of the postal votes 5 minutes after the polls closed at the Scottiah referendum..its on camera so proof there if you dont believe me.Now HOW could she have known when the votes hadn't even been opened at that stage ? They tell us what they want us to know....and with tories thats damn all .

I rang a friend this morning on her mobile and she told me she was sitting in her car outside the polling station not knowing who to vote for. She is a bright 76 year old.
I didn't have that dilemma as our current MP has been useless in his first term and doesn't deserve to be returned.
Party didn't come into it for the first time.

gillybob
You said all there is to say about the whole bloody lot of them.
I can't believe that I'm sitting here about 1hr away from voting and OH and I are still chewing over 'policies'

At least some good news today. For the first time we are getting more of our electricity from renewables than gas or coal.

Not feeling cynical about voting in my constituency, but yes about most of the campaign.

mcem that's a good point. Although there is a lot of information, even in mainstream media, most people don't look for it and don't give politics a thought between elections.

Remember the lady who was on question time, a while ago, saying how let down she felt when the Tories cut her tax credits. This time she's been campaigning for Labour.

The LP always win in my constituency FarNorth so I understand why many don't bother to vote. The LP's majority is massive. The result of their absolute complacency is that they need do nothing at all and they still win.

Many years ago, when involved in running local Pre-Schools I soon found out that the parents who noisily pushed themselves forward to be on the committee were usually pretty useless - many upset other parents or turned the committee into a polarised battlefield . It was the strong silent types who hovered about in the background actually doing stuff and who had to be cajoled into applying for committee positions that were any good, some were seriously amazing in the long run!

Nothing changes!