Postal Vote

[annfoto]

My postal vote for the UK referendum arrived in my PO box today!
I would need to use someone like DHL to get it in on time and there is no way I'm paying for that.
They have known for some considerable time that this vote was taking place tomorrow so why did they not send them out earlier - conspiracy?

[peteroldracer]

See if you can spot a date/time of posting ann - usually on the reverse of the envelope. It may be that like most UK government mail they have sent it via a factoring house, often somewhere like Malta, so it can take 3 or 4 weeks.
I worked in a mailing house for a while and we could get four times the amount of mail sent for the same cost as best bulk post in the UK, but using a factor in Belgium.
I suppose it shows that market forces work, but perhaps some neddy civil servant (i.e. most of them) has not taken service needs into account!

[annfoto]

Peter,
Not a hint of a date. Sent Royal Mail 1st class and has a rubber stamp Airmail/Par Avion nothing else.
They probably didn't take into account Semana Santa, Royal wedding, Labour Day, Día de la Cruz etc.
We got them in loads of time at the last general election.
I posted this on the Yestofairevotes.org site and this was the reply

It will be interesting to know just how many attempts have been made to deprive people of their vote in this referendum. Mugabe would be proud of this country

[country boy]

I have to say Ann that we got ours about three weeks ago...the fault will probably lie with your local Correos, not the UK. We voted No by the way if that makes feel any better or worse

[masterob]

Still haven't received ours and they were despatched First Class mail on 18th April. Hammersmith & Fulham Council e-mailed to say so - that's what I call service. Don't know who to blame but it's academic now!

For what it's worth our votes would have been a big YES!

[annfoto]

That confirms my conspiracy theory then. I think they profiled everyone who applied for a postal vote then sent out the forms on time to those they thought likely to vote No

[country boy]

Excellent...the System worked !!!

[annfoto]

I wonder what criteria they used in their profiling. I bet they looked at which online newspapers you read, discovered that I read The Guardian and said no way, we will only send them out to Telegraph and Daily Mail reader's

[masterob]

Don't think your conspiracy theory works - we read the Telegraph (but definitely NOT the Mail!) and have still not received the papers. Just hope that the NO vote doesn't win by 2 votes!!

[annfoto]

OK maybe it is because I am Scottish and statistically more likely to vote yes. Perhaps they only sent out English voters papers on time.

[masterob]

You've cracked it, we are Welsh so obviously in the same boat! Oh well.

[peteroldracer]

It would even up things a bit if all Celts were excluded from having anything to do with voting in England - at least until there is an English Assembly.
I am sick and tired of hearing Scots and Welsh folk going on about how wonderful their home lands are - but living in England, Spain, France....anywhere but!

[annfoto]

Scotland should be independent soon and Wales - who knows, so Westminster will be your English assembly.
Scotland should have had her independence years ago but the English government couldn't alow it, they needed their hands on Scotland's oil wealth then frittered it all away

[masterob]

I am sick and tired of hearing Scots and Welsh folk going on about how wonderful their home lands are - but living in England, Spain, France....anywhere but!

Are you implying that the English NEVER go on about how wonderful their homeland is? If so, perhaps that tells you something about England?
Coming to think about it, some (most) English folk don't seem to understand that the words "England/English" are not synonymous with "Britain/British".

[Beachcomber]

At least, when Scotland gets independence, the English taxpayers won't have to continue subsidising their populist policies or suffer their interference in the English political process. A solution at last to the West Lothian question?

Not having been eligible to vote in the UK for years I was unable to cast my No to AV vote but it sounds as though the Nos have walked it anyway so it doesn't really matter.

[annfoto]

The money that Scotland receives from Westminster is just returning a tiny proportion of Scotland's stolen oil revenues.
The Scottish parliament already uses a type of AV. The system was designed by the Labour government in such a way that they thought it impossible for the SNP to gain an overall majority - So that's one more thing they got wrong.

[Beachcomber]

Well, as far as I'm concerned the SNP,the socialists and the liberals deserve each other and I really won't lose too much sleep if Scotland is cast adrift from the United Kingdom.

My main concern is that the PSOE is kicked out of national and regional government at the earliest opportunity!

[katy]

If Scotland were to have independence they would be looking for bail out from Brussels..or would they float away and leave the English to pay off those Scottish bank debts Let them all go I am fed up of saying I am British when I am English it's not PC is it, but it's ok to say you are Welsh, scottish etc.

[Mowser]

At least, when Scotland gets independence, the English taxpayers won't have to continue subsidising their populist policies blah blah blah

What a heap of unadulterated mince. Away and check some fact before you spout your rubbish.
(btw - your wonderful "English" gin? 80% of all gin & vodka is made in Scotland.

IT'S SCOTLAND'S GIN!

[Mowser]

katy
You can be British and English! I'm British & Scottish.
Check your passport btw - apparently you're not English on it and I'm not Scottish.

(Scottish banks were UK regulated. I blame Broon)