Brits are just like Canucks - Tough to move

[Wetcoast40]

This morinings OP-ED piece in the Guardian by Max Hastings had a couple of sentences that caught my eye:
"Britain's natural political condition is inertia. It takes a lot to rouse the electorate to risk exchanging one group of chronically suspect politicians for another."
"The general principle obtains, however, that a government has got to make the British people very cross indeed before they throw it out"
I thought these three sentences could just as easily substitute 'Canadians' for 'British' and be just as true.
Blair was mildly punished last night with a loss of the size of his majority. Not much of a punishment compared to our side of the pond, eh?
Coaster

 

[Blackleaf]

I think the Iraq War was almost a non-issue in this election.

The British wanted Blair to win, but they wanted to give him a bloody nose, so voters resorted to tactical, voting Liberal Democrats, ensuring that Blair wins a third term for Labour, but also ensuring that his majority has been slashed from about 166 to just 66.

Blair is giving this country a vibrant economy that is the envy of Europe. Under the Tories between 1979 and 1997, we had high unemployment, low growth and a decline in spending on schools and hospitals.

But under Labour, our economy is now the powerhouse of Europe, with growth last year of 3.7%, compared to a meagre 1.9% in France and recession in Germany and Italy. Our unemployment is the third lowest in the Western World (after Luxembourg and Ireland), we have the lowest debt burden of the G8 nations and we are the only G8 nation to have suffered NO recession since 1997.

Another four years of Labour should ensure that Britain still prospers. Voters just wanted to give Blair a bloody nose.

Voter turnout, decreasing each time there was an election, actually increased in this election. About 65% of Britain's 44 million registed voters voted, compared to about 52% in the 2001 Election.

Democracy at its best.

 

[Wetcoast40]

I agree with most of your response except that Iraq was a significant factor (IMO). The bloody nose was in response to his mendacity and that in turn was all about Iraq and the infamous 45 minutes.
I haven't checked the latest reports, but I understood that voter turnout was the second lowest in history. I better have a look, because a solid turnout should worry the Labourites quite a bit.
Coaster