Midway Point - General Election 2011

[natural20]

When the election was called I thought I might post a lot, but really, there's been precious little to post about. The parties are trotting out their talking points, and I won't lie that I like Labour's more than anyone else's. But what will the reality of those policies be if they get into power

Comments

[rrc]

Is there any difference between ff and fg apart from which side their grandfathers were on?

[mollydot]

FF have more apparent corruption. I think FG are a little more right wing.

[ramurphy]

No. There's no difference. Traditionally FG has been identified as 'centre-right', but FF is equally centre-right regardless of how people perceive them.
It's all back to the grandfathers, just as it is with Sinn Fein, really.

[sciamanna]

I've been told one is traditionally linked to small farmers, the other to big (usually cattle) farmers - I think FF is the first and FG the second, but I may have it backwards.

I also get the impression that protestants are more likely to be FG (though still a minority, like in Ireland in general), and that FG have a more "clean, educated" image and FF a more "man of the people" image.

For myself, having grown up in a different country with parties defined by well-delineated ideological differences (Italy before the 90s), they are really 6 of one and 1/2 a dozen of the other. Not to mention both far, far to the right of anyone I'd consider voting for.

[giftederic]

Why do Greens have to be left wing? In fact, why do greens have to be any wing. They are essentially a single issue party, all be it a very important issue.

[natural20]

Do they have to be? No. Would I like them to be? Yes. When I was a member of the party in college, the vibe was very left wing and I'd like them to continue that.

[ulaire_daidoji]

If the Greens are a single issue party then why would they get involved with issues such as broadcast rights for the rugby? Why would the likes of Patricia McKenna have been campaigning under the Green flag for a ban on the MMR vacine a couple of years back? ( and that was after Andrew Wakefield was discredited no less )

I don't have the full details on it but I believe one of their issues this election is the abolition of the TV license to be replaced with a tax on data.... seems progressive at first until you realise that it will mean information is only for the rich. Bizzarre....

[giftederic]

The hint is in their name. That issue, more than any other, dominates their agenda.

[sares2000]

Awful "debate". It'd be hard to do well with so many parties but the quality of the moderation and questions was low.

The Gilmore v Martin debate a while back was much better.