General Chat

No, Dermot, he's been encouraged to read and think for himself. He's very intelligent and has several degrees, not the type to blindly follow his parents. I'm not surprised at the conclusions he's come to - no one with an IQ above that of an amoeba would vote UKIP, surely?

Guinevere - indirectly, I think you have summarised & reinforced my earlier comment. So it seems your son has been advised/encouraged to follow your own voting intentions. And good luck to him - whatever he decides.

And now for a little smile! I am assisting a prospective UKIP local Council Candidate by delivering her blurb leaflets door to door. I'm doing this as a favour to the lady whom I have known for many years. She was also my boss at work for a few years. Her current walking stamina restricts her personal involvement in the walk-about.

My mother usually voted Tory, my dad varied between Labour and Liberal, depending on the candidate and whether it was a local or general election.

I don't know that many people who vote one way because that's what their parents did.

Son votes the same way we do, usually, but that's because we brought him up to think and read. So he won't be voting UKIP any time soon.

My mother voted the same way for as much of her life as I remember, but my brother and I have always voted differently to each other... I have told my son I don't mind who he votes for, in this his first election, as long as it is not UKIP ;-)

The only party who has knocked on the door was a very nice man asking if the Conservatives could count on my vote... in conversation he mentioned that his late father had been a communist :-D

I simply vote for whoever I think is best equipped to run the country fairly.

But that’s a difficult decision when I'm confronted with nothing much more than 'Hobson's choice'. Party affiliation means little to me.

No I would not.
I said that as I haven't the foggiest idea who to vote for, the first one that trod on my doorstep would get my vote. So far no takers.

No Dermott because Itsmytelly tells me too :-D

That's always confused me, Dermot. Political parties and their aims and views have changed beyond recognition over the past 50 years.
On my mum's side, my Gran was treasurer to Southampton Labour Party before the war. Grandad was a dockyard worker - turning up and, if he was lucky, getting a job for the day (original 'zero hours' contract?)
My mum was a staunch Tory supporter.

On my dad's side, Gran was (in later life) a small farmer. She married a lieutenant commander who became the Tory Agent for the New Forest (and my dad's stepfather)
Dad was a staunch Labour supporter.

Mum was a bit of a snob and social climber. Dad could have entered the Fleet Air Arm as an Officer (due to his step-dad) but he insisted in 'working his way up'. Mum was quite upset when dad was offered the post of Chief Petty Officer. When he asked what the pay rise was, and told 'none', his response was 'Extra responsibility and no remuneration? 'How dense do I look?') )

Mum and dad never discussed politics together, however, when elections were imminent, they would discuss politics with us four children!!!
Sunday lunchtimes could get pretty heated :-S

Why do some vote for the same political party time after time just because their parents & probably grandparents too did the same?

Absolutely not no matter what party and I think I would prefer death than vote for Ukip :-(

YES

Picture says it all....

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/04/09/johnny-rockard-porn-star-council-candidate-ukip_n_7032018.html

What ever party he represented I would NEVER vote for anyone who styled himself "Rockard" :-\

Ew. No. *shudders*

Actually, judging from the moral and ethical standards of Governments both past and present, he'd probably fit in quite well :-(

Just goes to show that Morals and Ethics do not count in politics.

I quote from the article:
"We in UKIP represent the ordinary working-class person who will go to the pub, they will read The Sun and they will look at adult entertainment. "

Well, I'm an 'ordinary working-class person', I also know quite a few 'ordinary working-class people'.Yes, I've read The Sun - it's quite often left on trains, and if one is bored enough.....
Yes, I've see one porn film. I couldn't stay to watch it, I was laughing too much. It's much the same for the 'working class people' I know.

I was discussing the upturn of porn just the other day with my ex, my sister and a (male) friend. I'm afraid we all agreed that after the age of 20, people should have outgrown it, and now be living in the 'real' world.

This man was outside Bristol University last year, trying to recruit people into the porn industry, so it's not a 'past' job. Perhaps his physically appearing in porn movies was a 'past' job, but he's still in the pornography industry.

It can hardly be called a 'normal' occupation.

That's debateable. It could be argued that all the violence that we see on mainstream television has a much greater influence on people.

No - because the Porn industry 'can' encourage violent acts by viewers against ordinary people. It can distort someones idea about consensual sex and give them ones to inflict on non-consensual victims.

I'd rather abstain than support someone who has a career working in the 'industry'

So if he was the only candidate whose policies you agreed with, that wouldn't make a difference? :-S

If a Candidate had been one for a short time when they were young, they could claim that it was because they were short of money. Most people can understand that.

The article says he has worked as a porn star for 40 years and owns a production company. On that basis, he wouldn't get my vote regardless of what party he represented.