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back to article Election algorithm gives Tories sunnier outlook

As the election campaign hots up, could a model built to demonstrate the benefits of the Python programming language hold the key to a successful election forecast? The Tories almost certainly hope so, as one feature of VIPA - Voting Intentions Predictive Analysis – is that it consistently predicts a better outcome for that …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Polls are polls ...

    ... so I suppose it is better to publicly claim the best poll and privately sweat about the worse one?

    I see the Times (UK) is identifying electorate apathy as an important issue and that always seems worse for Labour than for Tories.

    And who can blame UK electorate for apathy?

    Can politicians do anything really? Well anything effective that is.

    The Credit Crunch (minnows sacrificed - perps go on to make millions in bonus)

    the rich continue to get richer and the poor continue to get poorer (even under a Labour government)

    services don't improve by too much least ways not in step with increases in funding although the new facilities being built for public services are quite stunning

    politicians cannot stop unemployment

    But does it need the weight of government and politicians to make the above doable or undoable?

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Grenade

      This is true

      Normally i am looking forward to voting, but since the only person standing who is from the country the parliament is in is a Labour bod i dont really see anyone to vote for...

      and if that looks racist then to be honest it is - i never vote for anyone who cannot walk to where they were born without getting their feet wet.

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  2. Pete 2 Silver badge

    My election algorithm

    This seems to sum up the level of political discourse in the election so far:

    perl -e 'do { print "Only the ",qw(Labour Liberal Tory)[$i++%3]," party knows what to do\n" } until $POLLINGDAY'

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  3. abigsmurf

    Inaccurate polls

    I suspect we'll see a Bush effect this time with the polls. There are so many people aggressively anti-Tory that lots of people will lie about voting for someone else (just like lots of people didn't want to admit to voting for Bush)

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    1. M Gale
      Reply Icon

      Oh God I hope not..

      ..and I don't even believe in the sky-fairy.

      1 new law every day, on average, since 1997. Well, you can thank New Labour for it now being illegal to detonate a nuclear weapon in the UK. Or, indeed, to protest about stupid laws in London without asking for permission first.

      Sections of Acts being crafted specifically (and unsuccessfully) to deal with one single person whose only crime is to show these bastards photographs of what their actions result in.

      ID cards and the National Identity Registry.

      Raping the National Insurance fund to pay for grand ideas, hoping they'll have the money to pay it back later.

      More CCTV cameras per person than any other country on Earth, and as you can see, that works so well!

      Thursday, May 6th. Get your arses out there and please, please, anybody but Labour. Also, "Taking Liberties" is a fiver from play.com, with free delivery. Get educated.

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Grenade

    Polls

    We all know polls are useless (clue shitty UKIP joke, finish laughing, carry on) and the media - not just El Reg - keeps telling us this.

    So then, why the BillboardEye Fart do we keep hearing what the random, plucked out of my arsehole numbers say?

    The election that counts is still a while off. If the political parties stopped trying to chase the few "swinging voters" like a perv in a playground then they might have time to actually come up with some solid policies.

    But they wont so they dont.

    Fuck them all and Viva La Revolution.

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  5. Matt Siddall
    WTF?

    Unfair?

    "A recent ICM poll predicts the Conservatives will receive 36.5 per cent of the national vote, Labour to get 31.9 per cent and Lib Dems to receive just 20.6 per cent.

    According to UK Polling Report, this is disastrous for the Tories, putting them on 273 seats, leaving Labour on 291, and giving the Lib Dems 54 seats."

    I know FPTP is ridiculous, but seriously? Tories get 14% more votes than labour and it nets them 8% less seats? They really need to fix this system...

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Word of the day

    Sociopath

    (itntraspecies predator)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociopath

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    1. M Gale
      Reply Icon
      Badgers

      I think we know what a Sociopath is..

      ..after all, he has a semi-regular feature here. And a pimply-faced youth to get revenge upon.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Paris Hilton

        Reply @ 21:03 GMT

        Dresses like a spiv

        Talks like a spiv

        Looks like a spiv

        Is a spiv

        Are we thinking about the same person?

        As an interesting aside it seems fruitful to list appropriate non-sociopathic tendencies as an interesting exercise and the non-sociopathic tendencies make equally good reading.

        As a further exercise try identifying sociopathic tendencies with people you know at work.

        Interesting isn't it?

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  7. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    "Labour vote overstated"

    If anything, it's the opposite.

    There are plenty of people who wouldn't tell anybody they're about to vote Labour, but are still going to do it, much like the Tories in the 1992 election when Major unexpectedly squeaked home.

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  8. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Oh, I thought you said erection

    Never mind....

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  9. Graham Marsden
    Coat

    "16 constituencies short of an overall majority"

    Is that like "a sandwich short of a picnic"?

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