Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Dundee Post 2
THE QUALITATIVE ELECTION STUDY OF BRITAIN 2015
Dundee Post-election Focus Group 2 conducted May 11th 2015
Transcribed Focus Groups Dataset
Version 1.0
Date of release: 22 June 2016
Principal InvestigatorDr. Edzia Carvalho, University of Dundee
International Co-InvestigatorDr. Kristi Winters, GESIS, Cologne
Research AssistantMarcel Gehrke, GESIS, Cologne
Funded by British Academy and Leverhulme Trust Small Grant SG142740
and supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York, GESIS-Leibniz Institute (Cologne) and University of Dundee
QESB Contacts
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
www.qesb.info
1
‘QESB’qualesb2015 @qualesb
Dundee Post 2
READ ME
Transcribed Focus Groups Dataset Version 1.0
On copyright and attribution
Copyright of this transcript belongs to Dr. Edzia Carvalho and Dr. Kristi Winters. Individuals may re-use this document/publication free of charge in any format for research, private study or internal circulation within an organisation. You must re-use it accurately and not present it in a misleading context. You must acknowledge the author, the QES Britain project title, and the source document/publication.
Recommended citation: Carvalho, E. and K. Winters. 2015. 'The Qualitative Election Study of Britain 2015 Dataset', version 1.0. Funded by British Academy and Leverhulme Small Grant SG142740 and supported by GESIS, Carnegie Corporation, and University of Dundee. Available at: http://wintersresearch.wordpress.com
On the transcription
All participants’ names have been changed and any direct or indirect identifiers removed to protect their anonymity
The transcripts in Version 1.0 do not have enhanced data recovery including non-verbal communication. It includes the basic transcription of words said by participants. The participants have been identified through attribution by the moderator or other participants and by an initial attribution by the investigators. Subsequent versions of the dataset will verify attribution of participants by video identification.
The transcripts in this version also do not include extensive instructions given to participants at the beginning of the groups, introductions by participants, and exchanges between participants and moderators during exercises.
Initial Transcription by: Just Write Secretarial Services, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Contact: [email protected]
Reporting conventions used
We have used ** to indicate words, phrases or sentences which we could not hear.
Italic font indicates we have taken a guess at a word/name etc.
Words in parentheses {} indicate physical gestures or what can be heard on the tape but cannot be clearly articulated into specific words.
Removal of direct and indirect identifiers are set off with + word +
2
Dundee Post 2
Location: University of Dundee, Dundee
Moderator: Dr. Kristi Winters
Moderator: Dr. Edzia Carvalho
Participants:
2015 Alias SexSpecial Category
Age group Supporter Party Strength Pre Group
Post Group Constituency
2015 vote preference
Gayle F Student 34-41 N NA NA Dundee LD 2 Dundee 2Dundee East / Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch & Strathspey Y, and party
Amelia F N 18-25 Y Tory 3 Dundee Dundee 2 Dundee West Y, and partyWalt M Y 57-64 Y Labour 2 Dundee Dundee 2 Dundee West Y, and partyOliver M Y 57-64 Y Green 4 Dundee Dundee 2 Dundee West Y, not which partyDelia F 25-33 Y Green 5 Dundee LD 1 Dundee 2 Dundee West Y, and partyBart M 57-64 Y Labour 5 Dundee LD 1 Dundee 2 Dundee West Y, and partyDesmond M 42-49 Y SNP 5 Dundee LD 1 Dundee 2 Dundee East Y, and partyErnest M Student 18-25 N NA NA Dundee LD 2 Dundee 2 North East Fife Y, not which partyGemma F 34-41 N NA NA Dundee LD 2 Dundee 2 Dundee West Y, not which party
3
Dundee Post 2
ContentsVOTE CHOICE STORY..............................................................................................................................9
Walt.................................................................................................................................................10
Gayle................................................................................................................................................10
Gayle................................................................................................................................................10
Gemma............................................................................................................................................10
Gemma............................................................................................................................................11
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................11
Delia.................................................................................................................................................12
Delia.................................................................................................................................................13
Oliver:..............................................................................................................................................13
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................14
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................14
Amelia..............................................................................................................................................15
Bart..................................................................................................................................................16
TO WHICH POLICIES WILL YOU PAY ATTENTION?................................................................................16
Walt.................................................................................................................................................16
Gayle................................................................................................................................................17
Gayle................................................................................................................................................17
Gemma............................................................................................................................................18
Walt.................................................................................................................................................18
Gemma............................................................................................................................................18
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................18
Walt.................................................................................................................................................19
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................19
Gayle................................................................................................................................................19
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................19
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................19
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................20
Delia.................................................................................................................................................20
Delia.................................................................................................................................................20
Walt.................................................................................................................................................20
4
Dundee Post 2
Delia.................................................................................................................................................20
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................21
Delia.................................................................................................................................................21
Delia.................................................................................................................................................21
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................21
Gemma............................................................................................................................................22
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................22
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................22
Gayle................................................................................................................................................22
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................22
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................23
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................23
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................23
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................23
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................23
Amelia..............................................................................................................................................24
Bart..................................................................................................................................................24
WAS THE ELECTION FAIR?...................................................................................................................25
Walt.................................................................................................................................................25
Walt.................................................................................................................................................25
Gayle................................................................................................................................................25
Gayle................................................................................................................................................25
Gayle................................................................................................................................................26
Gemma............................................................................................................................................26
Walt.................................................................................................................................................27
Gemma............................................................................................................................................27
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................27
Gayle................................................................................................................................................27
Gemma............................................................................................................................................27
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................27
Gemma............................................................................................................................................27
Gayle................................................................................................................................................27
Gemma............................................................................................................................................28
5
Dundee Post 2
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................28
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................28
Gayle................................................................................................................................................28
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................28
Gemma............................................................................................................................................28
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................28
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................28
Delia.................................................................................................................................................28
Delia.................................................................................................................................................29
Delia.................................................................................................................................................29
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................29
Gemma............................................................................................................................................29
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................29
Gemma............................................................................................................................................29
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................30
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................30
Amelia..............................................................................................................................................30
Gayle................................................................................................................................................31
Amelia..............................................................................................................................................31
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................31
Amelia..............................................................................................................................................31
Gayle................................................................................................................................................31
Amelia..............................................................................................................................................31
Bart..................................................................................................................................................31
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................31
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................32
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................32
Delia.................................................................................................................................................32
Walt.................................................................................................................................................33
Gayle................................................................................................................................................33
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................33
Walt.................................................................................................................................................33
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................33
6
Dundee Post 2
Gemma............................................................................................................................................33
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................33
Gemma............................................................................................................................................33
Walt.................................................................................................................................................33
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................34
Walt.................................................................................................................................................34
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................34
Walt.................................................................................................................................................34
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................34
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................34
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................34
Gemma............................................................................................................................................34
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................34
Gemma............................................................................................................................................34
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................34
Gemma............................................................................................................................................34
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................35
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35
Gemma............................................................................................................................................35
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35
Bart..................................................................................................................................................35
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................35
Gemma............................................................................................................................................35
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................36
Gemma............................................................................................................................................36
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................36
TOO MANY REFERENDUMS?...............................................................................................................36
Walt.................................................................................................................................................37
Gemma............................................................................................................................................37
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................37
7
Dundee Post 2
Ernest..............................................................................................................................................37
Bart..................................................................................................................................................37
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................37
Walt.................................................................................................................................................37
Delia.................................................................................................................................................38
Desmond.........................................................................................................................................38
Delia.................................................................................................................................................38
Oliver...............................................................................................................................................38
Delia.................................................................................................................................................38
8
Dundee Post 2
Transcript
VOTE CHOICE STORY
I2: So welcome back. For us, it's been a fantastic election, because this is the kind of thing that researchers just love to sink their teeth into and try and explain. But I don't know what it was like for you, and I guess we'll find out today. We are so happy to have you back because we want to get your experiences and find out what your day was like on election day, what your experience was, finding out about the election results and so on. But before I get to that I just need to confirm, in terms of housekeeping, the consent form you signed before the... so in the focus group before the election, covers you for this focus group as well, and just like in the previous focus group, if you have any questions about the research please feel free to ask us now, after the focus group or email at any point. So feel free to get in touch.
So what we are going to do today is talk about your voting experience. Essentially we would like you to go through your voting day, what was the day like, when did you decide how you are going to vote and your reaction to the results and so on. We'll also talk about what your impression was of how the election was run, what the Conservatives are going to do now, you know the key issues that you're going to be paying attention to over the next year or two years, and then generally kind of tied to the 2016 Scottish Parliamentary Elections. So we kind of go a long distance, span over a year. So we'll start with your voting experience.
I: Again, we always want a diversity of opinions, so we're not here to convince or whatever else, and even if.... We had one person who said she was normally a Labour voter in Birmingham but she would much prefer to see a strong Conservative government, majority rather than a coalition. So you know, if you felt relief about the outcome or you were torn about the outcome, whatever it is we definitely want to hear it and you shouldn't feel that anyone is going to judge you or anything like that. So we want to create that really open space where everyone feels that their opinion has a place, because it does, it's important for us, for the data, that you are going to speak freely. So we want o say... yeah. But you guys know that; I just thought I'd say it one more time.
I2: So your voting day, what was your voting day like? When did you decide how you were going to vote? Run us through your day. How did you find out about the results? What was your reaction to the results? That's essentially what we want to find out. So does anybody want to volunteer or should we go around?
9
Dundee Post 2
Walt: I'll kick off. My voting day, I'd already made up my mind I was going to do a tactical vote for Labour basically to keep out the SNP, because I don't believe in Scottish independence. I voted first thing in the morning, 7 o'clock, I'd business to do etc. Apart from that, it wasn't exciting. I went to bed that night, I didn't stay up and watch the TV and I learnt in the morning. I wasn't too surprised because of the opinion polls but it was grief obviously. The SNP got in by a landslide, well done to them, but it was also a relief that it wasn't a hung parliament, that they couldn't actually dictate terms with the balance of power in Westminster. That's about all I can say.
I2: Thank you, Walt.
Gayle: Well, I'm registered to vote in three places, because as a student you can register in other addresses as well. So I had the choice. But I had my last exam the day before the election. I woke up and I thought to myself "what difference is it going to make if I stay here in Dundee and vote? Everyone is going to vote SNP anyway," and I actually phoned my husband and I said "I think I'm going to go home and vote because it's not going to make a difference here." He said "well, it's not going to make a difference at home either so you might as well vote wherever you want to vote." So then I drove home, and I vote in (Village name removed), which is a tiny little village and there is 50 of us voting, and the woman said it was an excellent turnout. We were number 25 and it was during the afternoon already. [laughter] And I didn't know who I was going to vote for till the minute where I ticked the box. I was going to vote Labour, I decided I was going to vote Labour and then, just like him, I thought to myself it's you know, I'm just going to vote Conservatives, because it's going to be a hung parliament and all that. And I voted Conservatives the last election and I was heartbroken with everything they've done and all that, blamed the Liberal Democrats, and ended up voting Conservatives and that was it. And then we drove to Wales, because we were driving to Wales that day, and we stayed up watching the countings and all that on TV, yeah.
I2: And what did you do when you found out about the outcome?
Gayle: Well, I was happy. I knew here there wasn't a chance anyway but with the overall Conservatives, the majority and everything, I was happy about it.
I2: Thank you, Gayle. Gemma?
Gemma: Well, I was up late the night before so I didn't get up till later on, because I do a lot of my own personal research, so what had happened was by the time I got up, which wasn't really late, and got other things done in the house, I didn't get in until the afternoon, and I went to the local school to vote. There was only... I was surprised, I thought there would be lots of people there on the gates trying to get your vote but
10
Dundee Post 2
there wasn't. There was lots of SNP symbols, but there was one woman who was Labour and she tried to get my vote but I told her I'd be voting for UKIP. But it wasn't until I got into the polling station that I realised UKIP weren't standing in my sort of area. So I voted for Labour. I know Michael Murray, I met him last year. So I voted for Labour, and it was tactical to keep the SNP out. But in general, I would have really like to have voted for UKIP. And then I went on a big walk to Tesco, sorted my big daily walk and everything like that, and I stayed up that night and I watched the election right through to 6 o'clock in the morning. I was expecting the SNP to do really, really well. I was actually hoping the Tories would get in, because I put a £10 bet on the Tories to win. I put money on as well for there not to be a coalition and for David Cameron to be prime minister. So I won all my bets. [laughter] At least I won some money. But I did win £45. I put £10 on the Conservatives, it was 9-2, so I was really pleased about that. So... I was like "yes, I've won!" And I was pleased, because Nicola Sturgeon kept talking about having to prop up the... "I'll prop you up, I'll prop you up." I thought "all those words have went to nothing now because you can't prop them up at all." And in some ways I'm actually glad the SNP have done really well because now people are able to see they can't do anything. So they're powerless now. Not everybody's going to be really disappointed, well, that's the way I see it, eventually, as it goes on, because everybody seems to think that we're going to get these major changes, everything's going to be fantastic, and SNP can't do anything because they're still in a minority. It really means nothing. So I really can't stand the SNP. So that was my day. But I stayed up right throughout the night. What did annoy me when I watched it on TV, did you watch it on TV?
FR: Yes
Gemma: The likes of my local candidate, Chris Law, he went to talk and when he went to talk you couldn't... they just went back to the studio. So I found it quite irritating, and it's the first time ever I found the election very irritating on the TV. But also it was on the internet, it was on The Courier site as well, and that wasn't so bad. But I wanted to hear the candidates talking, not just the elected. He was making a speech and I thought "I really want to listen to him." They just went back to the studio, so I found that quite boring. I was sort of like between all the stations, Sky and everything to try and get some of it. So that was my...
I2: Great, thank you, Gemma. Ernest?
Ernest: First, I had a bowl of Cherrios [laughter] In all honesty, I can't quite remember exactly what I did. I know that I voted quite late on because I was doing stuff during the day, but I cannot for the life of me remember what that stuff was. Probably something that seemed important at the time but it's completely trivial. I voted Lib Dem, because I was voting in North East Fife where there's a very strong history of Lib Dem
11
Dundee Post 2
incumbency. This time however, it wasn't so much because I was feeling very passionately liberal or democratic, it was because in North East Fife the Lib Dems are really the only ones with any chance of keeping the SNP out, which was exactly what I wanted to happen. Obviously that didn't happen, which was a bit disappointing, for me anyway. Again, I voted tactically to try and keep the SNP out, because I don't trust them. It's no slight against anyone who does, that's not at all what I'm after, but I personally do not trust them. And then I think, I'm a bit of a night owl anyway, I stayed up enough to get the first kind of maybe 20, 30 seats or something but then I feel asleep and found out in the morning. Unlike a lot of the other people I was actually surprised that there was a Conservative majority. On the one hand it was kind of ... it's nice that you're in the absolute of a Conservative government or just the absolute of a single party government, because a coalition, it's not ideal for anybody. But on the other hand, the party of that government would not have been Conservative if I had been omnipotent. [laughter]
I2: Thank you, Ernest. Delia, what about you?
Delia: Voting day, I voted after I got home from uni. My partner called me and said "have you voted yet?" because he's not... he didn't start voting until I registered him for the last European elections, right before the independence referendum, so he's now quite into the whole voting thing. But, "No, I haven't got home from uni yet. But I will vote, don't worry." So I went to the polling station. Our polling station is always really quiet and polling here is just... I feel weird marking it with a pencil, I don't know why, because I'm like "they could erase that. What if they erased it?" I'm just a bit paranoid, I suppose. In the US it's all electronic, but then you get electronic glitches and stuff, which was part of the Al Gore versus Bush thing, I think, way back when. But I voted for the Green Party because I believe in politics of change, and up to the election I got a bit annoyed at people because they were saying "oh well, I don't see any point in voting for the Green Party because it'll just be a waste of a vote." And I just think "well, if everyone who thought that actually voted for a part y that they wanted to actually change things then it wouldn't be a waste of a vote, would it?" But people keep on voting for people, these... what I view as broken parties. I think Labour and I think Conservatives are broken parties, that's my opinion. I don't think that our society politically is working anymore so personally I think we need change and that's why I voted Green. But I was thinking about voting SNP. My partner's a very strong SNP supporter and I think they also have some politics of change. I'm not a big nationalist, I think the word "nationalism" has negative connotations in the English language and I think that was used in the press to very much vilify SNP and vilify what they stand for. I think Nicola Sturgeon a lot of the time was saying "we're not about...we've lost the independence referendum and this election isn't about the independence referendum," but the press often would keep on focusing on this independence, "you're a nationalist party, it's about independence," and Nicola Sturgeon was like "No, no, no we're not about
12
Dundee Post 2
independence, this is about a national election, the UK as a whole." So I got really annoyed with the press about that around about the election. And no, I didn't stay up. I find vote counting very boring, having to watch, "oh what colour is this going to be?" So I woke up the next morning and immediately went to BBC to see the results and my heart sank when I saw that it was Conservatives, because I think that the majority Conservative government is going to continue to politically destroy the UK. I think they're going to continue to destroy things like the NHS, which is one of the best things the UK has going for it, and as a medical student, now when I talk to my colleagues down south and the struggle that they have in healthcare down south in the last five years, and it's just getting worse and I think it's going to continue to get worse under the Conservative government, and thankfully in Scotland, Scotland sort of runs their own NHS, because of devolved powers, and I'm glad that I'm working within a Scottish NHS and I'm going to hopefully continue to train up here. I think the things that the Conservatives are wanting to do with benefits are frightening, the Human Rights Act, the fact that they want to be out of the EU, I just think all of this just...I think that, to me, is scarier than having an SNP coalition, and one of my friends who said "oh yeah, I voted tactically to keep the SNP out," I didn't say anything because I don't believe in talking about politics too much among friends, unless you agree, I don't like to fight with my friends too much, but I was just like "but aren't you scared of having a Conservative government for the next five years and continue the way things are going without even the Lib Dems to say 'no, you can't do that.'" So yeah, I was a bit bummed out about the election results. I was happy that SNP got so many seats, actually, because I hope they can fight for more devolved powers. I'm not sure anymore, since Scotland lost the independence referendum, if Scotland should be independent. But that's not what the debate's about. But I do think Scotland should have more devolved powers and more ability to run its own economy and things like the NHS and keep that, which is not happening at the moment. So that's how I felt. I know it's very different from everyone else.
I2: Thank you. You've already highlighted some of the things that we're going to be talking about, the issues that people are going to be keeping an eye on, so thank you.
Delia: And the press continues to annoy me, they continue to focus on things that are just... I read the Guardian, the BBC, Vice News, all these different... I listen to the radio and just try to get all these different viewpoints, but I don't think they're covering things very well.
I2: Oliver, what about you?
Oliver: I was up quite early but I was listening to the radio; there are some good programmes on Radio 4 Extra. So I went out and voted just after 9, and I reckoned that most of Dundee's seats and were going to strongly SNP so therefore I have a free vote.
13
Dundee Post 2
I'm Dundee West for the general election, I'm actually Dundee East for the Scottish Parliamentary election, because it's by region. So I'm Dundee West but I voted both seats, definitely. So I'm free vote so I think I said before I think I'm probably a Natural Green voter but this time I voted for TUSC, which is the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition. I'd been to hustings and I was very impressed by Jim McFarland, who was speaking at it, and I felt they were the only people who were genuinely speaking up against austerity for poorer people, for dispossessed, if you like, for working people. So I voted for them. There was the biggest TUSC vote in Scotland, me and 303 other people that voted for them, which is more than they got in any other constituency, but they have made progress [??] 22:35 so that was fine. As for the evening, the exit poll made me fairly depressed, frankly, because even before the election, on social media people had been talking about killing themselves if the Tories won again because of what they're going to do to people. It's been horrendous over the last five years and if they ever get a majority it's going to be...I mean, many people have died from this last government and many more are going to die from having the Tories in power again. So I found it depressing. And finally, when the radio announced the Battersea and East Belfast results, I thought "well, the forces 23:25 are rampant. I just can't stand anymore." I just went to bed, and of course in the morning you get the actual figures but ... So it's slightly depressing and I knew if the Tories won they were going to drive me into deeper poverty; that's a given. The question is how much and how bad is it going to be? I don't know. You were saying about destroying social security, dismantling the welfare state, the attack on human rights, because there now seems to be human beings in British people. I don't want to go on about issues. This means that then they can extend the forced labour schemes, do whatever they want, they've appointed a government... you'll want to talk about the current... who they've actually appointed...
I2: We'll definitely come back to that. That's part of the issues.
Oliver: Okay, just on the one positive note was they're actually...I don't normally bet but like my friend over here I actually bet on the Tories having an absolute majority so I actually made more money than you. [laughter] So it must have been quite big odds on that. But it doesn't compensate. I'd rather have lost the bet.
I2: Thank you very much, Oliver. Desmond?
Desmond: I knew who I was going to vote for. I woke up in the morning as early as I could I walked into the voting station. I voted SNP. I thought they were going to claim the seat quite strongly. I was a bit taken aback by how much the swing was in Dundee West from Labour to SNP, that was a massive swing. I knew SNP were going to do well in Scotland, how many seats, nobody knew. And to me, as you were saying about the papers were going on about the independence issue and Nicola Sturgeon wasn't
14
Dundee Post 2
mentioning independence whatsoever. It seemed to me Scotland was going to go firmly with SNP and she wasn't about working with Labour, working with the Greens, working with the progressive parties, keeping David Cameron out of office. There would be more anti Tory MPs than there would be Tory MPs so therefore he wouldn't have the number to govern. Of course, how it would work out, nobody knew. UK wise, I thought Labour would do better around London, and it did, but I wasn't too convinced with Ed Miliband and it seemed a lot of people weren't convinced by him either and that seemed to lose him the vote in England, that and the Conservative gnat bashing basically, criticising Labour and SNP and warning the English voters about having a Labour government propped up by SNP, which I believe would have worked to a point. How it would have worked, I don't know, but it would be a better alternative than, like I said, the government who, as I say, will keep on destroying NHS, the infrastructure of this country, the welfare system and attacking the poor, attacking the young and basically destroying this country for the sake of a chosen few in the South of England. So I'm a bit depressed when it all came through. But one thing that I do hold on to is they have not got a big majority. They have got a majority of five, which isn't an awful lot. That could collapse within months because of MPs 27:42, by-elections, Tory rebellions, back bench rebellions. They don't have a guarantee of getting any law passed in this country because of that issue, so that's one thing which I hold onto, which is a sign of hope, and before long who knows, if a vote of no confidence comes about because they can't get laws passed there will be another election and this time things will be different because it'll be a different Labour leader in charge. Who it will be, I don't know, what direction they'll go, I don't know, but things will be different. The new Labour leader is more stronger than Ed Miliband, so how things are going to turn out, who knows?
I2: Thank you very much. Amelia.
Amelia: Yes, so I got up, I get up really early every morning because I do long distance running so I was up and by the time I was just coming back from my run the polls were just opening. So I was like "oh, I could go in" and then I was like 28:52. I voted I think about midday-ish. I was in the library and then I needed a break so... it was pretty quiet when I was there. I already knew I was voting Conservative. I wasn't like set, like nothing can change my mind, but I was like... well, nothing did change my mind so... yeah. Then I just went about my day. I pretty much knew, as everyone else did, that Dundee was going to be very strong SNP but I again didn't see the swing from Labour to SNP being so much in Dundee West but... That was quite amazing. I also didn't see all of Scotland being quite so SNP either and I thought... I knew it would be strong but not 56 out of 59 seats, and my home constituency in Edinburgh they're one of three that is not SNP so I'm quite proud of them. Yeah, it was amazing. It's very impressive and you have to hand it to Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond for how much they've taken the party over the last 10 years. But slightly...I'm not a fan of their work so I'm not too happy but impressed about it. But then I didn't stay up because I do not see the point at all, just go
15
Dundee Post 2
to sleep, fast forward and you get to the result at the same time as painstakingly watching it. So yeah, I was pretty happy when I woke up. I was quite surprised that it was a majority. I think, like most people, if they did get it, it would be some sort of messy coalition but surprisingly it just got passed. So I was pretty happy. I'm not massively Conservative, they were just the people that I would vote for naturally. I think I just quite naturally have got quite right wing views so I don't have a shine to David Cameron or anything like that; I don't even know what I think about the guy that much. But yeah, happy as I could be, I suppose.
I2: Thank you very much. Bart.
Bart: I'm a Labour Party activist. So I got to vote early on voting day, about 8 o'clock, and then voted Labour. The rest of the day I spent outside polling stations trying to invite people to vote for Labour but I wouldn't be very effective. But as an activist for Labour I thought Labour had a... and the other parties, I think the word "policy" was rubbish, really, because I thought we're all getting sucked into borrowing money to pay the groceries rather than for your own 30:42 which I find daft, really. And I think devolution wise Scotland should have more powers, but the danger of having more power, you might have less money to spend with these greater powers. So we wouldn't necessarily be better off. And I think the result, I anticipated that the polls would be wrong, because generally speaking in the past they've been fairly wrong and they aren't the best ?? the Tory vote and they had all the rest ?? although the scale of the surprise ?? So obviously, locally and nationally, I was very disappointed. I suppose the saving grace ?? I suppose that's something that you hope for, if they manage to stave off the right wingers of the party although that's obviously a hope rather than any evidence for ??
I2: Thank you, Bart. What I'll do, I'll circulate this again, just to save time. I don't know if you did it last time, but it's basically you signing and writing your name saying that you've got the £30. Obviously you haven't got the £30 but we'll give it to you at the end.
TO WHICH POLICIES WILL YOU PAY ATTENTION?
I: So in terms of the policies or the politics that are going to be coming up already or in the next few months, are there things that you're going to be paying attention to with the new Conservative government? So maybe we could just keep going around. And also you'll be finding that we are finishing before 90 minutes because there's a little less to talk about after the election than before, but it's okay, you'll still get paid the same amount.
Walt: I see by the radio this morning David Cameron is already flexing his muscles. He's talking about bringing the EU referendum forward a year and also he's talking
16
Dundee Post 2
about... well, Theresa May said they're not going to agree to the EU proposals to take an allocation, a quota, of these boat people, these immigrants. So he's flexing his muscles already. Actually on both points I agree with him, and I'm not barbaric, I know these people coming across from the North of Africa, it's very tragic, but we can't take hundreds of thousands of people and we can't let EU dictate to us on this either, I don't think. I'm anti euro, I think we should get out of the euro, so for me it's a happy thing if we have that referendum, although I think we'll lose it. And by the way, David Cameron himself was pro Europe but a lot of the Tories or his back benchers, are anti Europe. As far as other policies, obviously the crackdown on welfare, cuts will come and I hope it's not too brutal, but many people think the Tories are evil incarnate. I hope they're not. That's about all I'm looking for here. But he's flexing his muscles already, definitely and he's got a paper majority so, as you said, he'll have to be very careful, although I think he'll carry the DUP from Northern Ireland and a couple of the other Irish parties, and I don't know who else he'll carry but he has got a paper thin majority so he will have to be conciliatory, I think in some ... and his own back benchers don't agree with him on many aspects of his policies. But I'm more fearful about the cuts. I hope the people who are most vulnerable do not get affected. And I do not believe the Tories are evil incarnate but they might be very harsh.
I2: Gayle.
Gayle: I think everything is going to pretty much stay the way it is. I was highly excited about the SNP when I left. I don't know if you remember. I got home and I said "oh I think I'm going to vote for the SNP!" I had my parents at home, they were at home as well, and my husband. I could see their faces draining. "Do you know about the 5,000 acre policy? They'll come and take everyone's lands and all that." So I think with the Conservatives, you know, they're not going to rock the boat, basically. Everything is going to stay the same, there's not going to be any of this craziness, national tax and debt and everything. At the end of the day, you defend your corner. You know, you vote, obviously vote for the collective but you vote for what you want to happen as well. I know it sounds a bit 37:12. So yeah, that's what I think, nothing much is going to happen, everything is going to be much the same and that's the way it's going to be, basically.
I2: Are there any particular issues that you are going to be looking at, keeping an eye out for?
Gayle: I was keeping an eye before the election because I was very worried, because I've got family down south in central London. So we would basically have to move if they started with all this craziness of increasing tax and all that. So no, I think I agree that... whatever, but I was thinking I was going to change my vote and I was going to vote Labour and I was going to vote SNP and it was going to be all so beautiful. We
17
Dundee Post 2
survived through a recession and all that and we didn't feel it passing. Why change what's working?
Gemma: Well, I was secretly glad, because even though I come from a housing estate in Dundee, like a lot of people, a lot of people actually do like some of the austerity measures because there is a lot of unfairness. I don't particularly like when people... because there is a lot of people who do have...I have nothing against children, I love children, but have children quite irresponsibly, regardless of the situation they're in. So I do agree with 38:37 and things like that. What I don't agree with to do with austerity... I do agree with the guy there who said... I think they've got a tight sort of majority and I'll not be surprised if there is government changes. I think there will be government changes, and in the case of the DUP, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of a coalition or agreement or arrangement there ??. I definitely think there will be a coming together there, that's my personal analysis of that. But what I would quickly say to do with austerity, I've even asked Jim McFarland on Facebook ?? if you're thinking about austerity in the right way, you're affecting people, ?? there's people in top jobs earning over £100,000 a year, they're well and truly over paid, in my opinion, and there's people, head of a social work department who have not got any social work degrees or anything like that, in Fife Council, for example, and they've over £100,000 a year. I think if you're going to bring about austerity, affect the right people who are on massive pay. Even at the university, people who have massive, massive pay, like the principal, affect those people but don't affect the people that are at the bottom, and that's the problem with the Tories, they come in and affect the people at the bottom. But to do with the national health, I do think there's ?? but I also think, as strong as it is, the SNP are lying to people. They're short by £800,000,000 that they could have put into the NHS and they never, and that's how much they got from the Tories and they didn't put it in.
Walt: I heard that too
Gemma: So there's things that the SNP.... I used to go and watch council meetings years and years ago. They're awful and that's why I've got such a dislike for them. I used to think they never used to address issues. But Labour I don't like ?? vote for them. That is my opinion.
I: Ernest, issues that you care about or will be watching?
Ernest: I think what Gemma just mentioned, about the SNP's failing to address things is something that I'm going to be keeping an eye on, because as much as I understand the perspective you two have mentioned, I mean, I want to sort of start off by saying I trust Nicola Sturgeon a hell of a lot more than I ever trusted Alex Salmond. I think she's a lot more on the level than he was or continues to be, and as much as I don't agree... I think the media, you're right, they do hound people about things, and it's not fair but I kind of
18
Dundee Post 2
feel like you should know what you're going to do about independence if you have a lot of seats in the parliament. If it's such a simple... obviously the SNP are not all about independence but it is the cornerstone of what they do, and when you're kind of unable to give clear answers when asked about it by the media that then leads to me feeling like they're concealing something, which is a feeling also borne more along on the wings of the once in a lifetime rhetoric becoming a once in a generation rhetoric becoming a once every 15 years rhetoric, becoming a once every 10 years rhetoric, until it becomes a once every Tuesday thing. Independence is an issue. On a larger scale, that was something else as well, I now don't really have, much as I would not vote for independence for Scotland, again, I know that's not what the general election is about, but I no longer have a reason to say why not to, even though I wouldn't, I know in my head, my heart, that it's not what I want, I don't really have any more evidence to say not to, thanks to this Conservative majority. On a UK scale, I feel really bad because it's such small potatoes compared to you guys talking about welfare and the NHS and stuff, but I think the Conservatives had power for about six hours before Cameron was already talking about repealing the ban on fox hunting. Why? It's such a horrible cruel, and again, I know it's completely meaningless next to welfare and stuff but...
Walt: It's not meaningless to the fox
Ernest: No. Why would you ever... it's just another way to exercise power over something that can't fight back. It's kind of really symptomatic of...
Gayle: Oh... can I stop you there?
Ernest: No, you can't, because you've had your turn. [laughter] Yes, so I think, much as that is, in the human sphere, a relatively small issue, it's the inch thick snowball at the top of the hill.
I2: It's something that's important to you and that you pay attention to.
Ernest: Yeah, yeah, plus I feel bad about it now. [laughter]
I: No, don't apologise
I2: You don't have to apologise for your opinions. That's why we are creating this safe space where you can just speak your mind and not be judged.
I: This is amazing stuff for us, guys; amazing stuff!
I2: And Kristi said at the beginning we're looking for diversity, you've definitely hit the nail on the head. So thank you for that.
19
Dundee Post 2
I: And especially that whole shy Tory syndrome, it's so hard... so we've got a couple of people!
I2: We are doing a dance inside.
I: Whatever you think, all the stuff is really...
Ernest: We're all people.
I2: Exactly. Thank you. Delia.
I: Politics and policies. You talked before about the NHS but anything you didn't mention before?
Delia: BMA, which is the union for doctors and medical students and dentists and things, are quite good at keeping us up to date on what political parties are doing.
I: Do they do that by email?
Delia: Yes, email, Facebook, representation and things. So they'll be quite good at keeping us up to date on what's going on, mostly to do with progression. Careers wise they're quite good at keeping us up to date on things that are going on with privatisation and things, so that'll be quite interesting to watch and keep up to date on via the emails. The EU, I'm quite interested to see whether or not he does bring that referendum forward, and there was talk during the election, I believe, and I think there might be a law, I can't remember, I'll have to look in to it, about the different nations within a country all have to vote by a majority... if a country wants out of the EU then each of the nations within a country have to vote by a majority. So even if England was strongly anti EU, if Scotland voted to stay in the EU and Wales voted to stay in the EU and Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU by a majority then that would mean that the UK would have to stay in the EU. I have to look into that.
I2: I think they were proposing that.
Walt: Yeah, Nicola Sturgeon brought that up.
Delia: They were proposing it at one point but then I was having a discussion with someone who said it was in EU legislation as well. But I don't know if it is or not. So it will be quite interesting to see if that's something that Cameron considers. It could be a sneaky out for him actually if he's pro EU to stay in the EU but keep people happy, I suppose. Not that I agree with sneaky politics.
20
Dundee Post 2
Ernest: Is there any other kind?
Delia: Yeah, there isn't any other kind, I suppose. I'm quite interested to see what they are doing about the Human Rights Act as well, and just all these sorts of different policies. They're also quite anti internet privacy and they're passing quite, or they're trying to get through quite a few laws that are really going to affect our privacy on the internet, and not just blocking things like porn and stuff, this is like deep internet type of security, and I've got a few friends in the computer businesses and things and that's really going to affect to go online and do some of the things that we take as a right to be able to do. But they keep it under the headline of pornography and child abuse but they're not the same thing, so I'll be watching that as well because I don't want our rights to be...
I: You don't want the NSA here.
Delia: No, I don't want the NSA here. But I guess they have the GCHQ, I knew it was a bunch of letters. So I'll be watching quite a few things, and with SNP it will be interesting to see if they do get these devolved powers that are promised quickly on the independence referendum, and if they do get the devolved powers, what they do with the devolved powers, and if the NHS in Scotland continues to stay strong, and not even over the next one to two years, over the next five years since that's how long they'll be...
I: Oliver, how about you? What policies will you be...?
Oliver: I totally 49:08 with Gayle, I think Britain has changed quite a bit in the last five years and in the next five years it's going to become unrecognisable. It's just going to become a barbaric evil place in all sorts of different ways. So just to pick up on the last point about this new bill, snooper's chart or whatever you want to call it, is going to monitor internet communication. It is part of the strategy that the government started in the last parliament, the gagging war. I don't know if people even know there's a gagging war that came into effect last September which prevents charities and churches and trade unions and other organisations from speaking out in public about what's actually going on in the ground. The gagging war will mean that the new government can at least monitor, if not control or prosecute people for what we say on social media, and so all we're left with... and of course they're now talking in terms of government appointments and the person now in charge of UK media is someone who was vehemently pulled out of the BBC. So we're going to attempt, if they can, to get rid of the BBC or privatise it or strip it down or whatever, and that's very much a right wing agenda. Farage was talking about it, the Tory party are talking about it. And so all we'll be left with are the tax dodgers and pornographers [??] that run so much of the British media already. There's the Barclay brothers, Murdock, Richard Desmond own vast
21
Dundee Post 2
amount of British media. Very few of these people pay any UK taxes and Desmond of course makes his billions from pornography.[??] 50:56 So closing down free speech, closing down options even for people to express different points of view to the government is really, really scary, I think. It's really, strictly in a way, the last messages of freedom and democracy in many ways. So that's invariably scary because we've seen in the election the vile disgusting press, the way they were 51:27 people when they were ?? or Ed Miliband ?? It's just absolutely disgusting and the consistent lies over many, many years about... this time it's about immigrants, about all sorts of people. So that's just going to get worse and worse and worse, so that's incredibly bleak. If we look at the government, pointing to other areas, for example, he's now pointing at equalities. I mean, he certainly doesn't agree with equality because he's very much opposed to equal marriage and gay rights. If we point at the Disability Minister, he consistently voted against benefits for disabled children in the last parliament. This is their agenda, to attack people, especially the weakest and vulnerable and they're extending it further. The Human Rights Act, I mean, why? What's different from us to other human beings in Britain? I don't know, except they always seem to want to make changes. This will mean they'll be able to continue in other ways, as they're doing with employment law to take away workers' rights in all sorts of ways, and part of that also, abolishing the Human Rights Act will enable them to make that even go further. In terms of benefits and work, the forced labour in Britain, people forced to work for six months unpaid.
Gemma: Good.
Oliver: No it's not. We're talking about forced labour. It's obscene. 52:55 the Human Rights Act as it stands, somehow they got away with but if they abolish the Human Rights Act, why stop at six months? Why not have forced labour camps, ?? because that's what they would like. That's what you would like.
I: Wait, wait, wait! No, no, no! You can keep it to your opinions.
Oliver: Sorry.
Gayle: I'm very much against that. Just for the record, I agree with you it's not fair to force people to work for six months.
Oliver: Okay. So that and all sorts of things. As I say, so it's all these different areas frankly, and what happens to me personally as well, whether I'll have any money to live on, I don't know; I may well not.
I: Desmond, policies and politics?
22
Dundee Post 2
Desmond: There's a lot of areas to cover and a lot of policies to look at. It's a good thing the BBC is going to be scrapped; it's a good thing.
MR: Sorry?
Desmond: It's a good thing BBC is going to be stripped down because the BBC is very anti Scottish and everything else. It's very much Conservative led.
MR: No
Desmond: Anyway, that's my opinion.
MR: Okay
Desmond: That's my view
I: You can always talk to us, so it's probably better if you keep eye contact with us.
Desmond: One area I'll be looking at is housing. The housing crisis is only going to get worse with the Tories wanting to extend the right to buy housing associations, which is going to further limit the available houses to people for social housing. It's going to make the crisis a lot worse. Scotland has stopped ?? by 2016, which is a good thing but it's still going on in England. Tied to that, the welfare reform, how they're basically attacking the people on the lowest incomes, at the bottom, and getting all the money from them to pay for the deficit instead of taxing the rich. The land reform, these news measures brought up about the SNP taking the land from people, that's to build houses on to solve the housing crisis. There's too much land in Scotland which is owned by a very, very small percentage of the population. Land reform needs to be looked at and that means taking land back from land owners and give it back to public use to build houses on to solve the housing crisis. The EU referendum, it's very interesting that this is a possible law which says that all member states of the UK have to have a majority vote. That's one thing I agree with Nicola Sturgeon on and it's if Scotland votes for the EU and England doesn't then it's against Scotland's choice to come out of the EU, and if David Cameron decides to push through coming out of the EU because England backs it then I can see Nicola Sturgeon SNP demanding another referendum at that point. How that will happen, I don't know but it very much depends on the EU referendum itself and how that goes. There's so much to think about but that's the main issues that I'll be looking at, is housing, welfare reform, particularly if you're under 25 now you won't even get housing benefit, you won't even be able to rent a house, you'll be forced to stay at home with your mum and dad until you're 30 years old, and that, to me, is morally wrong. It's attacking the poorest in society just so it can benefit... pay out in tax cuts to the rich, and that's a grossly unfair economy and way to treat the British people.
23
Dundee Post 2
I2: Thank you. What are the issues that you'll be paying attention to?
Amelia: It's been mentioned a few times already, buzz words of more powers. I think that wasn't why... so I voted no in the referendum, and that wasn't why I voted no, because I thought oh yeah, more powers, that sounds good. I just thought okay, they can make that promise, but I'd already, unlike what Alex Salmond would tell you, I wasn't fooled into voting no because I thought yes, I'm going to get these amazing new powers. I'm just interested to see what happens, because I think it's a term that gets thrown around a lot, and yeah, it would probably be quite good to have more because I think we do a good job over how much control we have over NHS. So it would be interesting to see what we could do in other areas if we had more powers. But I think that would be one that I'm probably most interested in. Other things, just improving the economy in general. I'm not an economist, I'm not going to deny it, but I like the approach they have of reducing the deficit and I know that the way they do that isn't popular with people because it involves cuts and no one likes that word. But I think in order to actually be able to move forward at all with anything 59:13 financially on a small scale or a huge scale worldwide, we can't do that while we're leaking money. I think we need to get back, and I think in the past five years we have had economic growth and I think if that could continue that would be really good.
I: Thank you. Bart.
Bart: Well, I think if the economy grows, paying off their deficit it might not be such a cuts dominated event, although the Tories will always be fighting off the right wingers to try and impose more cuts on people ?? rather than economic reasons, necessarily. I don't think that the Tories will go for a fiscal surplus, I think we'll go for balancing the budget, which means that the cuts wouldn't necessarily as bad as they originally suggested, because in the past the Tories had a Lib Dem coalition and ended up implementing Alistair Darling's programme, whereas at the time... they criticised Alistair Darling's programme dramatically at the time. And I think the other issue would be Europe. I'm kind of worried if there's a vote to go out of Europe I think that would be disastrous for the economy. I think the saving grace, as far as independence is a concern, I think it's off the agenda for at least five years anyway, because Cameron isn't going to concede it, and also the SNP, are they going to 61:20 whilst ?? price is very low, which means they've got very limited money to spend ?? full fiscal autonomy.
I: Thanks for that.
WAS THE ELECTION FAIR?
24
Dundee Post 2
I2: So on a slightly different question a slightly different issue, you've spoken about your experiences of election day and the issues that you are going to be watching out for. Going back to the election, did you think that the election was well run, that it was a fair process?
I: So maybe think about your local experience when you went to vote. Was it well run? And then what was your impression of the overall count and everything else? We're working with the electoral commission on these kinds of questions so we want to know how people perceived, if there were problems or there were issues, concerns about fraud or problems at the polls?
Walt: I was one of the first there and there was no problem. I think it was efficient. One thing that came up after the elections was the whole process done through the process of "first past the post." I think we all know this. The SNP in Scotland won 1, 450,000 votes, which is 50% of the votes cast, and that gave them 96% of the seats. In England UKip won nearly 4 million votes and got only one seat. So obviously that's something... Fair play to the SNP but that is not fair, is it, that is not democratic either.
I2: But aside from the proportional thing, the electoral commission obviously cannot do anything about the proportional system, the first past the post, but in terms of actually how the actual elections are run anything concerning...
I: You have confidence that they've done a good job?
Walt: I think it was fair and it was well organised, and the count, the little I saw on TV, I think it was done very quickly and efficiently as effectively, as far as I could see.
Gayle: I don't think it was fair at all. They moved the booths, the voting booths this year, and you were almost... it's a tiny village hall, there was like 50 of us voting, you are arriving and they know you by name. She doesn't even need to take anything; she knows you by name. And you're voting next to them, you know? We used to vote facing... with some privacy, basically; now we have to vote with them watching your back. You know, I find it very strange to vote with people... obviously she's not watching you but she could be if she wanted to.
I: We'll take it out of the transcripts, but where was that?
Gayle: (Village name removed)
I: You mentioned that before so we'll make sure we pass that on.
25
Dundee Post 2
Gayle: And you vote in pencil. That will never... you see the thing going in the back, that box, you can put your hand in and take out... easily. No, it's not close to you and I don't know if my hands are very thin but you can easily... I just thought this time, it's the first time ever, I just felt I had no privacy whatsoever. I raised that. I said "what happened with the whole set up here, because it's horrible?" "Oh, it's because of selfies and all of that, people take selfies with the ballot paper." But, you know, signs, because last time they didn't even have a sign saying you can't use a mobile phone. It's all quite new to them, I understand, because people didn't even bother voting before the whole referendum started. It's a long drive for everyone to drive to (Village name removed) village hall and vote, basically, so people didn't really bother voting. But now that we had this awakening and everyone goes and votes and everything... She was really impressed we were number 25, she said she never had that before, that many people voting. [laughter] but I thought it was horrendous this time. I don't know if it's because it's all new to them.
I: We've not heard that before so we'll definitely give that as feedback.
Gemma: It was a lovely sunny day, and I like when it's a sunny day on an election, and when I went in the booth I felt them actually... I did notice the difference in the booths, I felt they were slightly narrower and they were quite open. I noticed it this time. I remember last year at the referendum I put on Twitter that I wish I could have taken a photograph of my vote. You see, I disagree with the process the Secrecy Act or whatever it comes under, that you're not allowed to take a photograph. I personally think you should be allowed to take a photograph. Regardless of the results, I've never ever trusted the votes. I don't trust it because boxes go missing. There was a box that went missing in an election years and years ago in Dundee, it was in the toilets they found it, so... that was way back in 2005. So I don't really like... I managed to get in on the back of a friend who was there. But I've never liked it, because what I don't like about the whole voting process is the system is too weak for me. You go from... I can't even remember what you call people who go to the count, but anybody who does go to the count, you're not witnessing these boxes being picked up and then dropped off. There is police escorts, but these vans, these beautiful shiny council vans, because we were out in the evening as well, my friend, he was up in ?? in his car and we seen all the police vehicles. So it was exciting, just before 10 o'clock. He said "oh, there must be something going down!" I said "it's the election! It's the election! Wait until they go up to the polling stations, they're sort of holding back and then going," and that's what it looked like, you started to see them all starting to stop in the areas of the polling stations. We did drive past one and there was a big shiny council van... they're always the most beautiful looking vans at an election. But these vans could be driving up with boxes tucked in them. Anything could be... because I'm not a big truster of the council, anything... nobody's witnessing these vans going from the election stations to the count, which was at the Disk in Dundee, and the driver, anything could be happening, anything could be
26
Dundee Post 2
happening in the vans, there is no witnesses, there is nothing there, and then obviously they go into the desk.
Walt: What would you want? Would you want security or something?
Gemma: For me, personally, for it to be totally water tight you need to have evidence of picking up the boxes, even video evidence, if you're allowed to do that, just to see it going into the vans and in the vans, just total evidence all the way there, because anything could be happening. That system is just too weak for my liking. I've never trusted it. I've always thought they're rigged, particularly going back to 2003 in Dundee where the SNP got a council seat but they got an MSP in, and every time I bumped into this MSP, because I was curious about her, she about drops through the floor every time I see her, because I was questioning it, basically. So I never really got... it was too odd. For it to be so low, for a councillor to lose his seat unfairly and then all of a sudden... and there was an odd strange increase in votes, and you would have to be doing something miraculous, a miraculous campaign, like Labour did when they did a campaign for the football, the guy who got through, he did a campaign. I think it was for Hibs or Hearts or something like that, the FC, and that's how he managed to get his vote. So it has to be something astounding. There was nothing astounding happening, they got very foolish results. So anyway, I'm not a big believer in... But I was actually served by the private secretary, she was working. So I didn't have any problem but like you I did notice you could put your hand in the thing. And what else I've never liked and I've always noticed it is there's a number on the bottom of your vote, the Scottish one, it's checked off on the register so you're not completely secret. The national elections, the British election, there's no number.
Oliver: There is. You can always tell if you... it doesn't happen but potentially you could actually check, yes, I every election.
Gayle: They shout out numbers to each other when they are giving you the ballot.
Gemma: But this time it wasn't on the ballot paper, the number.
Oliver: There's a barcode.
Gemma: Is there a barcode?
Gayle: Yes, when you fold it.
27
Dundee Post 2
Gemma: I didn't notice it. But I would like to be able to take a picture of mine, I would like to just be able to just Tweet or whatever. Because I think it's just evidence; I like the evidence.
I: Ernest, how was your day?
Ernest: Fife, non-interesting.
I: So your experience was very normal?
Ernest: Yeah. The polling station is 15 seconds walk from my front door. You guys are talking about booths, we don't get booths, we just get a table with two dividers across it.
Gayle: Are you quite far away from the other people?
Ernest: It's a town hall, far enough.
I: Maybe it's a physical space.
Gemma: Yeah, how much space are you getting.
I: I guess you didn't feel like it was...
Ernest: Yeah, I didn't feel like I was being impinged upon. I couldn't get my hand in the vote box if I tried, plus they're next to the people there and they work in pairs to kind of police each other. That's kind of what they do.
I: But your perception of it was it was fair, the count was fair, everything was...
Ernest: Yeah. And given the amount of CCTV there is in Britain now I'm not sure there's video records on the way; whether we have access to them is another matter. Yeah, thumbs up to the electoral commission; well done, I guess, on that small, small, small victory.
I: Delia, how about you?
Delia: Yeah, it's kind of a bit weird that you vote in pencil and you don't have to have any form of ID. Never have I been asked for ID. You just go up, I tell them my name and my address and they cross me off using their little ruler thing and I could be anybody that has a name and address. Again, I'm a bit paranoid. I don't know why; I'm not normally a paranoid person. But I could be someone else. What if I had a flatmate? I
28
Dundee Post 2
do, my partner, what if I wanted to... I couldn't because he's a guy. What if I lived with a girl? Because I know her name I just go and pretend to be her and vote the way I want to for her, that doesn't seem water tight enough for me. I don't like the fact that you vote in pencil; it's not permanent enough. Other than that, I think it's ... there is always two people there, they're always quite friendly, really nice, not too chatty, but they should be, and yeah, I thought the dividers were fine. I also think the amount of polling stations, at least I my perception, is really good. They make voting quite easy to do in cities here. I'm not quite sure in country areas. In the US sometimes it can be difficult to find your polling station, whereas here they seem to be dotted all over the place and within walking distance, which is fab.
I: And sometimes 25 people is high turnout! [laughter]
Delia: Yeah. I think they make it really accessible and they try to make it accessible to make sure there are enough polling stations, and there's never a line or anything so I think that's quite good.
I: So some conservative criticism as well as some compliments.
Delia: Yes
I: Good. Oliver, was your experience okay?
Oliver: Just normal. The polling station is just across the road from me so I rambled across and back. It was normal. I've been to many, many counts in the past and the questions about pencil and the ballot boxes are sealed and numbered so you can't substitute one easily. The ballot papers have always had a number on them so in theory one could check who they were but it's never been an issue. What you're talking about, somebody else going in, is called impersonation, and technically it's illegal and parties are allowed to appoint people to be in the polling stations to check, "oh that's not Delia there. She shouldn't be voting." People don't actually do it because it's never become an issue.
I: But I understand where she's got it from.
Gemma: It's fine, it's fine
Oliver: It's not really an issue, if it were an issue parties would take it ... sorry?
Gemma: But people who would be appointed would not necessarily know her.
29
Dundee Post 2
Oliver : Traditionally they would, but of course, I mean, it's possible, of course. A much bigger issue, which I have no personal evidence for, is the whole question of postal voting. It's obviously much easier for anybody to postal vote than turn up in person. I mean, that's... So that's an issue. There were obviously stories before the election of a couple of van loads of ballot papers going missing, I think there was some in Hastings and somewhere else, for postal voting, or postal votes being printed with... I think one had Labour the Green Party missed off it and stuff like that. So those are issues and I don't know how they'll resolve them. That's another story. But for me personally, it was fine.
I2: Thank you.
I: Appreciate you raising the postal vote issue.
Desmond: My polling station was just down the road in the local primary school, so it wasn't too far. I remember going into a polling station years ago and you had just a curtain pulled behind you. It seems to be depending where you go, you have different types of polling stations. You have a table, maybe you have a curtain, maybe you have a little booth, it depends on where you go, it seems to differ. I thought it was all the same. I feel that all I did was go up to the girl and say my name and my address, and like you say, I could have been anybody. There's no proof to say who you are. I think that's something that needs to be looked at, because you could go to vote and your name's been crossed off, you could go "I never voted." That, to me, is a big problem. But there's no foolproof method of voting and getting all the votes taken somewhere. There's always going to be somebody saying "oh, it's been set up in a particular way." There's no foolproof method available of doing that, even electronic, there could be a fault in the system, you could lose the information. So it's not a better way. You've got to choose something and just go with it. But I've always found the process simple, apart from the fact that I think the way we're going to vote is going to change, but that's another issue. I don't have any problems with the voting. Mostly it's been primary schools and town halls that I've used, and schools close for the day and so they get a day off, which is a nightmare for the mothers, but never mind... Generally, I don't find any problem with it but things need to be looked at a bit differently about how... well, each person differs, each person's got a question about it. But there's no pleasing everybody.
I: Amelia?
Amelia: Nothing out of the ordinary. It's only the second time in my life I've ever voted so I've not got many times to compare it to. But yes, it was fine. I also find it a little bit strange that you don't get asked for ID. It doesn't keep me awake at night but I did think that someone probably could...I just handed in my polling card and that was that. We do have stand up booths but I don't really feel like anyone's going to be watching
30
Dundee Post 2
over my shoulder; I'm not bothered by it. So yeah, it was fine. I think I was mostly impressed by the way that... because they have certain instructions. I had to cross, fold it over and show it to her and put it in a certain direction. Did anyone else do that?
Yeah [several agree]
Gayle: I didn't have to do any of that.
Amelia: So it struck me a as a bit odd because I hadn't done that in the last...
Desmond: Yeah, they have to see the barcode before it went in.
Amelia: Yeah, that was it. So I was like "My goodness, I'm going to mess this up and it's not going to count!" [laughter] But apparently I did it right.
Gayle: I asked why, I asked why and they said they needed to double check it wasn't a photocopy, that you didn't photocopy it.
Amelia: But yeah, so I was just impressed that as the woman gave instructions I was like "how many times have you said that today and you don't look like you want to die!" I was impressed. So yeah, five stars.
I2: Bart, what about you?
Bart: I've nothing to add really to what's already been said. It was a fairly simple process, going into the booth. I think, as Oliver suggested, the postal voting system needs to be looked at, for sure. And I think in terms of making it easier for people to vote, they might think of holding polling stations within shops or something different from schools or town halls, and also hold it at the weekend to make it easier. It also raises the question about voting over the internet as well. There's obviously security issues there. People mightn't feel very confident about doing it over the internet, I suppose.
Oliver: Just about me personally, in 1979, the election in 1979, I had to go away for work so I got a friend of mine to go and vote for me in person. I don't know if I was breaking any laws, or he was, but there you go. My vote wouldn't have counted otherwise because it was too late.... [over talking]
I2: You can get a proxy
31
Dundee Post 2
Oliver: But you have to get that in advance as well. You have to organise these things in advance. It was a last minute thing, I had to go away, couldn't be there on the day
I2: We'll probably cut this out of the transcript.
I: Yeah, you're anonymised so... So one of the things we want to know before you leave in terms of thinking ahead to 2016, and some people may not be thinking ahead that far yet. If you're not already depressed that they haven't started out lit through your door for the 2016 parliamentary elections yet. But for those of you, if this applies, do you think that the election outcome, so maybe how SNP performed or how the Conservatives have a majority government, will influence how you're thinking about voting for the parliamentary elections, and maybe this one could be by volunteer because, again, maybe not everyone is thinking that far ahead.
Desmond: The voting system is different, for a start. The system was brought in by the Labour government, 82:31 [name] to stop any party having an overall majority in the Scottish parliament. But somehow SNP has got an overall majority. So how this has come about, it was supposed to stop it but it never stopped it. There was an article if proportional representation has been in place for this election Labour would have got less seats, the Tories less seats, SNP less seats, other parties would have got more seats and UKip would have got a heck of a lot more seats. That's only one method. I don't see me changing my vote for the Scottish elections because Labour have got to be organised, they've got to get moving again and they're going to find it a struggle within one year to get motivated to get the votes. Whether it was tactical voting in this election or not, they're going to struggle, I believe. How the Tories are going to get on, they're going to get more seats because of proportional representation. But my vote isn't going to change but I'd like to see whether they change the voting system for the next general election to coincide with... the way most people seem to go is because an increase in the party, more Greens getting the vote, more UKIP getting the vote, away from the Tories and Labour . It's not very reflective of... the Scottish system seems a more fair system but they've got to be prepared that there will be more Labour MPs along with Tory MPs, and that's going to be the case but my vote isn't going to change.
I: Delia?
Delia: I don't think my vote will change and I'll still vote Greens. So far I've sort of thought about that a little bit, although I'm interested in seeing local policies. My family, British family, English family, have always been strong Labour supporters so I'd like to see how Labour reinvents itself, especially in Scotland. My dad sent me an email and said it's the death of Labour as we know it at the moment, which I thought was quite interesting. So I would be quite interested to see if they do reinvent themselves,
32
Dundee Post 2
especially up here where they used to have quite a strong support group in the population that they seem to have lost. So I'm quite interested to see if they try and build up that support again. I'm also interested to see what happens to the Lib Dems. I do strongly agree with the Greens but I also like some of the Lib Dem policies and I think they also have a lot of... basically I'm very hopeful. I'm hoping it'll be a lot of change for parties and they'll maybe start to realise that people are voting for SNP because they're trying to reject some of the main... or parties that have ruled for so long, and so in order to attract people to vote for them politics needs to change a little bit. So I'm very interested to see how 2016 goes for Scotland, in a positive way, because I so think we need to stay positive. Even though sometimes it does seem a bit bleak, I think we need to try to stay positive. Hopefully we can actually make a bit of a difference and things will be going forward the way we want them to.
I: Anyone else on the parliamentary...
Walt: I'll continue to vote. I don't know who I'll vote for but I'm voting against the SNP because I don't agree with their underlying concept of breaking up the UK. I think that's what they're there for ultimately, whatever they say. That's their ultimate purpose and I will vote against that. I'll probably vote for Labour because Labour is the most realistic opposition in a Holyrood parliament.
Gayle: Same here.
Oliver: We have the two votes, of course. That's the nice thing, we have two votes net year, our constituency vote and our list vote.
Walt: And sorry?
Oliver: We have a list vote as well as a constituency vote. We have two votes, you see. So you can vote tactically but maybe you want to vote, I don't know, maybe Labour or SNP for the Dundee seat, then you can vote Green or UKIP or whatever on the List vote
Gemma: The first past the post and then the...
Oliver: Aye, the List
Gemma: I keep forgetting it's the two.
Walt: Are they both professional proper sort of...
33
Dundee Post 2
Oliver: No, no. There'll be first past the post...
Walt: Is that the council vote?
Oliver: No, this is the Scottish Parliament. In the Scottish Parliament we have two votes...
Walt: I didn't know this
Oliver: We have a first past the post constituency, so down to East Dundee West or wherever, and that's the first past the post, but we also have a list vote as well. So we have two votes. So you can vote for different parties on these. So you could vote SNP for Dundee and then Greens on the List. Or if you vote, I don't know, Labour for Dundee and the Scottish Socialist Party for the West, or whatever.
I2: Or you can vote both the same party. [over talking]
Oliver: That was the good thing about the first Scottish Parliament, because people took advantage of that and therefore you got more of a rainbow parliament. I thought it was very refreshing and actually I'd quite like to see it again. I don't think we'll get it.
I: But you want to see more diversity in parliament?
Oliver: Yes
Gemma: Yes
I2: Will you be changing your vote for 2016?
Oliver: Me personally? I don't know, I imagine I'll probably go with SNP for the constituency and then Green for the List, which is what I'd be normally doing.
Gemma: Yeah. I find it's rare for people to vote differently. I always vote differently as well but initially when it came in I found it rare that people voted separately, but where I am is quite Labour people, just nice specific straightforward...
Oliver: But it's consistent, because it means you can vote tactically but you can also vote for what you actually want. There's a unity, which is good.
Gemma: Not everybody thinks like that. A lot of people just [over talking]
34
Dundee Post 2
Oliver: I agree, but I think people are not necessarily aware that you can do that.
Ernest: I've learnt something today; I didn't know that you could do that! [laughter]
Oliver: Vote for what you believe in on the list and then vote for what you believe tactically on the other one.
Gemma: I used to give mine to the Scottish Socialist Party when Tommy Sheridan was part of it.
Oliver: They're quite refreshing.
Oliver: Not any longer. 89:54
I: Anyone else? Now with this new found.... with SNP really having the dominance in parliament we're really curious if people want to see that carry over, if they want to see diversity, they want to see an increase in other parties or they also want to carry over. So that's what we're looking for. Obviously in a year's time things might change, you might be like "no, we want something completely different!" So we just want to benchmark you now so that in a year's time we can hear what things are new and on your mind, because we're hoping again to get some grant money to do the parliament and the Welsh Assembly. So we want to see how people think about the general election and then we want to see how people think about the parliamentary and local council elections too.
Oliver: I think a lot of it is going to depend on obviously what happens generally in the next coming year, but I'm thinking specifically after the general election, you have 56 SNP MPs and what will they actually be able to do? Probably very little, I would imagine. Therefore people are going to feel disappointed in a year's time or are we going to say "oh well, we can't do anything there but we're going to..." [over talking] I don't know.
Bart: It depends if the 56 are going to be feeble or feisty.
Oliver: And we don't know; we don't know.
Gemma: We've got 56 voice boxes now but we've had those voice boxes from Scotland before so what makes the difference just because they're SNP? Did it make my Labour MP any less for Scotland before, or less for Dundee? I mean, it's just a load of nonsense.
35
Dundee Post 2
Desmond: Labour have supported a minority, that was the plan, to support a minority Labour government. But now they've got a majority Conservative but they're not going to lie down and be quiet.
I: Okay, can we get back?
I2: I was just going to say, because there are some people who haven't told us what are they going to do about the 2016 election. So given the extra vote that you have realised that you have, what are you thinking about in terms of the 2016 election? Are you going to vote on the same issues, are you going to look at...
I: We've only got about five minutes left so we have to be...
I2: So I think we have Ernest, Gemma, Bart and Amelia who have yet to tell us.
I: I don't think... if you don't have an opinion you don't have to give... that's fine. So I don't want to call on people on this one.
Gemma: I'm going to vote for Labour to counter the SNP. I don't really expect it to be very effective. And the second vote, well if UKIP is in the area to vote I'll vote for them but if not I'll need to think about who else I'll give it to. I'm not too sure yet on the second one.
I2: Ernest?
Ernest: This opens up a whole new areas of possibilities. You taught me something; thank you. I'll probably might well vote Lib Dems again, just for the same... nobody likes change. [laughter] Just because it's what I'm used to. I know them, I like them -ish. Better the devil you know, really. And then yeah, List for... again I might vote Green, to be honest. I was kind of impressed with a lot of the sentiments that came out during the general election and more of that can't be a bad thing. I mean, not necessarily backed up by the strongest of policies but good sentiment means good people, means good decisions.
TOO MANY REFERENDUMS?
I: Now, the last thing we want to get... we've got about three minutes. I want to talk to you about the referendum, but we're not going to discuss the EU referendum itself, instead I want to ask you, Britain has had very few referendums, at least compared to the United States where we have basically western states have 18 referendums on the
36
Dundee Post 2
ballot every time you walk in. But there have been some and then there was a very long time where you didn't have a referendum. Now in the last seven or eight years you've had the AV Referendum and the Scottish Referendum and now you're looking at an EU Referendum. We're just wondering in terms of referendum as a general thing, do you guys like the idea of having more of these and having a vote or having a say, or some people might not. So we just want to give an impression on, do you think that the referendum falls on, where it falls is people think it's good that people have a direct democracy on the other hand some people are like "well, why do I pay you to go to Westminster if you're making us make all the decision?" So really quickly, if people want to....
Walt: Really quickly, in small doses. It's too stressful, it's too stressful and here it's caused a lot of ill will and bad blood. We don't want that too often. We've been very divisive, actually. You probably know this.
Gemma: Yeah, that's true.
Desmond: I find they're a must if you want to gauge public opinion. An election one year and in two year's time opinions change. A referendum, to me, you have to carry that out to gauge public opinion.
Ernest: Yeah, I think Walt's spot in with what he's saying. It's useful but it's incredibly stressful. But it is also really nice. I understand what you're saying about what do I pay you for, but the whole point of an elected official is to speak for you when you can't, so when you can that can only be a good thing.
Bart: I think referendums should be restricted to constitutional change. If there is a constitutional change there's a strong case for having a referendum on that type of issue. But I think having a referendum on a hanging, for example, might not be a good idea! [laughter]
I: Oliver?
Oliver: I think there may be a case for perhaps more local referendums 96:14 either on a state basis, say, on a Scottish basis or a regional basis in England perhaps, or even maybe possibly more localised. So there might be more of a case for having them, not just the constitutional national ones.
Walt: These things are also expensive, these referendums; they cost a hell of a lot of money.
37
Dundee Post 2
Delia: I think referendums are a good thing for big issues and just because you might have a party in government that might want to go one way doesn't mean that everyone in the country wants to go that way. Not all Conservatives that I know want to be out of the EU, just like some people from Labour and other political parties that would be more pro EU, not everyone that supports those parties wants to be in the EU. So I think for things like that... and then again the SNP didn't manage to get independence through but then a lot of people in Scotland voted for the SNP to make them the majority for Scottish members of parliament in Westminster. So I think that's very telling, in that just because people vote for a particular party doesn't mean they agree with all the policies but I think for big important things referendums are important to give a country...
Desmond: Not all the SNP members voted for independence either.
Delia: Right. Get a country consensus.
Oliver: People that voted no voted for the SNP, as you say.
Delia: So I think that's important.
I: Well, I think it's ending on a consensus. I feel like I should give you guys a round of applause; thank you very much.
38
![Queen - Best of [Transcribed Scores]](https://img.pdfslide.net/doc/110x75/55cf969f550346d0338cbe3f/queen-best-of-transcribed-scores.jpg)
