Decision '79 theme and opening

[harry10313]

so, they closed the polling on 10 pm at night and count all the votes all night long? greet from Indonesia :)

[sabbieq]

@harry10313 Yes, UK polling stations stay open until 10pm (since 1970 - it was 9pm before then). Most seats count overnight these days. So when general elections have a decisive result, it's clear by the end of the night who's won and lost.

[caterpillarmodel]

This is exactly the result I predicted, except that the Silly Party won.

[caterpillarmodel]

I bet Thatcher wins......

[abhudson14]

@caterpillarmodel  unfortnetly yes

[WorldNews92]

@caterpillarmodel .......Nope, Callaghan's going to win. History will prove me right.

[henrygsterling]

I wish they'd bring back this theme... the 2010 one was good, but not THIS GOOD!!

[Feisty1967]

I love Sir Robin Day so much!! Smoking on screen!! He doesnt give a shit.

[MOSTechnology]

3:22 that cigar looks tasty

[cnmmedic218]

It was very different than. David looked so young. Computers were a mystery. An the election agent was described as a little man.

[dartaddict]

It's interesting that although the "King Arthur" theme tune was used for years on election nights, the pitch of it was changed several times.

[cuthelx]

Incredible really, the eve of the biggest Watershed in British political history since the War, and no one knew it

[peterdcarter1]

It's like living in space, in many ways.

[Grassy1977]

A glorious night, goodness knows what a mess we'd have been in by the mid 1980s if Labour had stayed in power.

[thebeeskl]

I love how 70s everyone looks...

[Runrome]

This tune is much better then crap one they used this year the BBC are always bent on fucking up established intors I wish there was overall majorty to govern the BBC and the public could have more control on the crap television they foster upon us these days

[MattWindsor91]

I take it this is the one Rick Wakeman did! I love the intro!

[MrElliotpaige]

Decision '79 AKA Britain wakes up to fascism!

[stupidjunk878]

LOSSES

LOSSES

LOSSES

[davidsan01]

sad night my arse!

[MrBlueSky1978]

I was 10 when this election took place. I well remember blue posters everywhere in what was a close fight in the constituency where I lived on the Wirral in Merseyside. I liked Callaghan and Healey but the Winter Of Discontent made Mrs Thatcher's victory inevitable.

My prediction for 2010 - Labour as the largest party in a hung parliament.

[welshleprechaun]

ah the days when you could smoke a cigar live in a news studio

[texancanadiancowboy]

Wow... Robin Day, total class act. If only CBC newscasters e.g. Peter Mansbridge had this much class.

[matchbox555]

smoking cigar on tv lol

[LabourAlexander]

When the Conservatives just slipped into power by a wisker! A sad night leading onto 16 years of pain.

[matchbox555]

18 years

[RoCkErX285]

Conservatives will win this year, but chances are they won't have a majority

[MrToadful]

Such a young David Dimbleby!

[UKSazzy67]

Sir Robin Day is a legend! RIP

[UKSazzy67]

My God! Someone smoking on screen! That is so politically incorrect these days! That would never be allowed now in BBC Election broadcasts! What different times we lived in then.

[ColonelRoss111]

@UKSazzy67 As time goes by its interesting to see we are less free now than we were even 10 years ago, let alone 30!

[icemachine79]

@ColonelRoss111 "Less free" is a very subjective term when it comes to subjects like this; unless of course you consider smoking some sort of basic human right. I could then (as an extreme example) say that never working a day in my life is a right too because I like staying home and sleeping in. Are you sure "less free" is really the way you want to characterize it? BTW, I am a smoker myself, but I understand the reasons behind the smoking ban and TV rules.

[ColonelRoss111]

well i was through what i said making reference to the madness of political correctness which hounds our society today but interpret it as you will.

[supremerat]

Political correctness is bullshit. It must be smashed.

[matt9741399]

@UKSazzy67 and a cigar no less!

[TheMarlinspike]

@UKSazzy67 Not just smoking , but a huge fucking cigar!

[The1985Channel]

@UKSazzy67 I wouldn't be too sure about that... I saw a German newscast from four months back which featured former chancellor Helmut Schmidt and he was allowed to smoke on TV... but that's German TV and they're a bit more liberal on the issue.

[longlivejacko]

n e 1 who votes 4 bnp deserves 2 b called racist. they r a racist party. they play on ppls fears. im not insecure and i dont hate other races because they dont look like me. i just dont understand how ppl can b so dumb? y hate ppl u dnt no just because they were born a different colour to u? if u were born black u wudnt hate urself wud u?

[BendikHolden]

was this a re run on BBC four?

[ColonelRoss111]

yes, yes it was

[BendikHolden]

sweet wish they did that in America :(

[Isthisthelongestname]

@BendikHolden

did what?

[ColonelRoss111]

i want a leader to take us out of europe. labour and the liberals have lost my vote already because they are so pro european. i'll either give my vote to the tories or UKIP.

[supremerat]

What about the BNP?

[ColonelRoss111]

no, i dont do holocaust deniers

[supremerat]

They are not Nazis

[ColonelRoss111]

they are racist, violent anti semites though. i am very politically motivated and have listened to their speeches and it is not something i would wish to be associated.

[supremerat]

What is so wrong with wanting to keep Britain white like it should be? The term racist was actually invented b y Leon Trotsky who was a mass murdering communist. Violent? Hast he NP ashed any one? Have they murdered or harmed any one? No, I don't think so.

[ColonelRoss111]

I am an anti communist and a former student of Russian History, 1855-1956 so will agree with you on that but keeping Britain white is impossible now, even if it were a majority view, there are too many ethnic groups that call this nation home. Not only that but you find it acceptable that the BNP leadership deny that all those people were murdered on the other side of the political spectrum under the Fuhrer, even endorsing the booklet 'Did Six Million really die?'

[supremerat]

I don't think it is impossible. 92% of the British population is white. Vast majority of the non whites live in London and certain major cities. So, they can easily be concentrated and forced to leave. And trust me, they'll want to go when a future nationalist government starts to crack down on them. Holocaust revisionism is not a policy of the BNP. Yes, there are not NS people in the party but most BNP members are just typical British folk.

[ColonelRoss111]

i said though, THE LEADERSHIP deny it and if voted for, these people would be elected to deny history. Oh and do explain this strategy for forcing out those born in this country who have never known any other life. i am against 1st generation illegals and those who have no loyalty to this country but what is your proposal for the others? Why not stop the rot in Scottish and Welsh nationals, The EU dictatorship under construction and disloyalty to the Crown which are tearing Britain up first?

[supremerat]

My strategy would be as follows:

1. Strip them of their citizenship

2. Organisation of flights to their home countries

Any one who resists will b e thrown in jail and/or shot in the streets

[ColonelRoss111]

And there you have it, the reasons why the BNP will never enjoy National support. you said to me before and i quote "Violent? Hast he NP ashed any one? Have they murdered or harmed any one? No, I don't think so." yet you have just proposed exactly that.

[supremerat]

No, what I said wasn't violent because violence would only be used if the foreigners resist deportation. The immigrants have murdered and harmed people. Just look at the crime statistics. Whites make up 92% of the population but yet make make up two thirds of the prison population

[ColonelRoss111]

The fact you think violence is excused at all is madness to me. There is no getting through to you so follow your doctrine and i will follow mine, but i feel secure that mine will be significantly more successful.

[dartaddict]

Latest Tory Majority Prediction: 58 on UKPollingReport co uk.

I think the Tories will win by about the same majority as they did in 1979, about 40. By the way, Dimbleby only looks about 10 years old here, and recently on the EU Elections Night he looked about 200 years old. Out of interest, does anyone know what his political views are?

[gopconservative78]

I believe you are right the polls all show a Tory victory the real question is how big of a majority will it be...I just hope it isn't below 20 or we will see a repeat of the 1992-1997 government mess.

[jhgilliatt]

Hopefully, the threat of selling Radio 1 has put most people off voting for the Tories :P

[dartaddict]

Lol.

[Hodnux]

Personally, I'd want the Lib Dems share of the vote to go above 25% and for them to get at least 100 seats at the next general.

[Pulsar205]

Callahan looks like Brown at 1.34 lol. Maybe they came out of the same machine in factory block 5 haha

This brings back memories. I was only ten at the time but hated the thought of Labour winning after those awful dustman strikes with rubbish piled up everywhere. There was a clear contest here; not like today where they're all in the same trough oink oink squeeeeeel!

[maurice]

Yes! You remember. Folks remember the landmark events that happened in their single figure childhoods. Oldies reminiscing the early 20th century do that all the time.

But throughout the Tory years, from as early as 1985, only 6 years in! the Tories and media repeatedly accused the young voters who had been aged 10 in 1979, of not remembering it. That was a systematic abuse of a generation. Disbelieved to remember our own 70s childhoods. Was this degrading ever done to any other generation?

[Pulsar205]

Well my dad was a Teddy Boy back in the fifties and teenagers used to get it in the neck from the then Tory government!

I don't recall what the media said, but that election was one hell of a decider. That we were going to possibly have a lady PM was different, but the country was in a complete mess. I remember the dustman strikes and The Winter Of Our Discontent. We had so much rubbish my dad had to bury it in the garden!

[UKSazzy67]

I so agree! I was only 11 at the time of the 1979 General Election and I too remember the "Winter of Discontent", and rubbish piled high in the streets, the dead being left unburied etc., etc., and I remember my mother telling me that Margaret Thatcher is a great woman who is going to change Britain 4 the better. However, that didn't stop me becoming a labout voter in '97 as a young woman.

[snufkin84]

"some kind of computerised magic" haha.

[happylad65]

What horrible music.

[aeronuk1]

the whole night is available to watch on BBC iplayer in case anyone is interested

[gopconservative78]

To bad we here in the United States we can't :(

[aeronuk1]

BBC iplayer in on the internet not TV so you probably can, it's under BBC Parliment chanel

[gopconservative78]

This was the moment that Britain found a LEADER!

[LANbritain]

30 years 2day

[garethmurtagh]

Love the way that David Dimbleby was so impressed with the cartoon Big Ben that actually told the right time!

That was Space Age technology back then!

[britishjohn04]

Those were the days though, when there were real characters on tv. Can anyone imagine a modern day presenter or commentator, smoking a cigar, live on tv?

[GeeGee3374]

No Labour MP will vote against the government on a matter of confidence. Just as Tory rebels would never vote against John Major when he did confidence votes after the 1992 election over maastricht and such like.

[GeeGee3374]

Labour only had 311 MPs in march 1979, they had to relay on the Ulster Unionists who abstained as did a republican independent. The SDLP voted against Labour and Doc Brougton (Lab) was to ill to attend and died a few days later 310 voted aye 311 voted noe.

Which Act of parliament states you can't have more than two PMs in 1 term?

[idlevice066]

I don't think there is one. I think out of convention by the time you got to the third leader I think they would call a General election or there would be civil unrest! Also you would think they would call an election to affirm their position any cause if they didn't they would have no hope of winning the next general election. In its modern form that occurance to affect the office of PM is unprecedented

[053bss]

All the more reason why there should have been an election in 2007; 1. it would have been democratic and 2. your lot would have been utterly humiliated, and personally I'd take sweet pleasure in seeing Cameron's witless grin wiped from his imbecilic face, the Etonian toe-rag.

[GeeGee3374]

BBC Parliament are showing this in full from 9am, bank holiday monday (4th April)

[garethmurtagh]

And if you're watching it keep an eye out for the result from Edinburgh South going through. That was Brown's first attempt to be elected and he failed!

[GeeGee3374]

thanks for the tip :)

[Supermercado]

GAINS

GAINS

GAINS

I love it

[darkarts59]

Liberation day as I like to call it.

[abhudson14]

this was the day the counrty went to hell

[flymogram]

Absolutely. I can't believe that there are so many people who think otherwise.

[theredraven]

You must not have been around in May 1997.

[flymogram]

I was around then.

[theredraven]

So you must understand that it was then that this country went to hell.

[flymogram]

I think the country was already in hell. New Labour only made it worse.

[gopconservative78]

This was the point in UK history that a woman transformed the nation.....and WAS needed for a strong leader!

[bigfilmhat]

From across the pond it appears that Blair and Brown have really bungled thing up, even though Cameron and the tories are a shitty alternative.

Thatcher was a dried up old prune. I bet she had steel wool instead of cunt hair.

[bigfilmhat]

thingS, not  thing.

[bigfilmhat]

That Robin Day guy is cool.

[LewisLegohead]

Ahh! The good old days when you could smoke at work!

[gopconservative78]

This was Thatcher's moment to transform Britain and make being Labour a crime

[Wolverhampton1]

Oh GOP - she hardly made being Labour a "crime" did she?

In 1997 Labour won a 179 seat majority, in 2001 a 167 seat majority, and 2005 a 67 seat majority.

12 years on the Tories are still in opposition my friend, and Obama is now in the White House.

Sorry mate, you lot have lost!

[gopconservative78]

Yes she did 1979...Majority 44

1983....144 Majority

1987....102 Majority

1992....Major still had 21 Majority

Labour is Communism with a smile

[flymogram]

Communism with a smile? What are you talking about?

[053bss]

That makes the Tories and the GOP Fascism with a smile does it?

[bigfilmhat]

I can only comment on my USA, the GOP does'nt know how to smile the way the Tories do.

[AaronApolloCamp]

You made a reference to an American election...you Brits would just rather vote in an American election, wouldn't you?

[endlessraining]

Your a prat

[Medeasbiggestfan]

New Labour won in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Thatcher destroyed old socialist Labour.

[antonjon1]

Not really, most working class ended up better off in the long run

[Kettenring]

A sad day for the Soviet Union.

[antonjon1]

Can't wait for election 2010. Hope Labour gets wiped out and we have a long period of conservative Government just like in '79'

[theredraven]

Who cares? As long as Labour piss off I couldn't be bothered even if the Green party wins.

[theredraven]

No, that's just Labour on roids.

[DAVIDCAMERONFORPM]

No, Labour was wiped out in 1983, after 4 years of a Conservative governement, when people realised who was better at running the country. With a majority of 144. Labour have distroyed this great country, just as they did between 1974 & 1979. and once again it's the Conservatives that have to pick up the pieces and the people who have to pay for it. BROWN OUT NOW!

[flymogram]

The Tories only won a landslide after The Falklands. Before that there was a recession, no doubt the fault of the previous government in your eyes, and Thatcher was not a particularly popular PM. .

[DAVIDCAMERONFORPM]

Not particularly popular? You don't win 3 elections by not being popular!

[053bss]

I don't recall Blair ever being popular before he won the 2005 election with almost the same seat share as Thatcher in '87... You don't necessarily have to be Mr. Popular to win an election.

[053bss]

It's spelled "destroyed"... Exactly what your great leader did to our industry by allowing it to be sold off to Europe and *Communist* China.

We don't need the Tories. We need social security & decent housing. In London already, Johnson has raised public transport fares for the next 8 years, & has scrapped the policy that half of all new homes must be affordable.

Also, open your eyes. Cameron's Tories are press-panderers and show-boaters... Remember 1997-2007?

Vote Cameron, get Blair.

[flymogram]

Dead right.

[053bss]

Thank you!

[gopconservative78]

don't worry the 2010 election the Tory Majority should be 100-110

[abhudson14]

lets bloody hope not

[gopconservative78]

ok 150-160 after the scandal....I love watching your PM go down in flames

[abhudson14]

it alright for in USA. But there been more scandals under a tory govenment

[gopconservative78]

well the electorate in the UK hates Labour so get ready for 18 years of new Tory rule!

[abhudson14]

No way we dont need them bastards in again remember the last time there were for 18 years?

[JAYROX1969]

Wasnt blairs government going to be whiter than white, ahem! No sleaze etc, they're all the same, a bunch of greedy pigs with their nose in the trough, ie, taxpayers money. So labour is no different to the tories.

[Hodnux]

Well, if the 2008 local election results were to have been replicated in a General Election, the Tories would have had a majority of 134.

[gopconservative78]

still will be a landslide in 2010 for the Tories

[flymogram]

Unlikely. They may win but not with a landslide.

[Wolverhampton1]

Finchley been a Labour held seat since 1997. How times change!

[antidisenstable]

It's funny to see Robin Day smoking a cigar - how different life was back then - only 29 years ago.

[antidisenstable]

Wow, I wish I'd been alive and grown up back then; it would have been magical.

[053bss]

Wow, for an election theme this is really trippy! Very 60s!

[dipper64]

Too much electronic music for the 60s, I'd say very 70s

[053bss]

I know it's the late 70s, you dingbat. I'm just pointing out that the graphics are very psychedelic.

Are all Tories this pedantic?

[happylad65]

No, just colourful. "Psychedelic" was the Magic Roundabout, mid-to-late 1960s era.

[abarzilai664]

Who's the Guy in yellow?

[scitops]

Liberal Party leader David Steel.

[tvcreamguide]

Yes, the polls close at 10pm and the results start coming in around 11pm. In 1979 there'd be something like half the results coming in overnight and then the other half - away from the big cities - during the next day, so the coverage returned at 7am and continued to 4pm. Now, most results are counted on the night so the coverage runs through til the morning, but is over by lunchtime.

[waltlantz]

Yankee watching this on the cusp of US election.

Dude, the beeb was on till 4 am?! I don't even know if our big 3 were on much past midnight for these things! To say nothing of our dinky public broadcaster.

[waltlantz]

Wait I'm sorry it seems like you announce the beginnings much later than we do in the states. Our poll returns start at around 7pm-8pm.

[slimes23]

I'm not being anti-american, but we have this novel system of counting the votes and then announcing the results rather than the other way round. : )

[chuckmonkey7337]

LOL

[StevoArmstrong]

Fantastic to hear "Arthur" from where it all started. Election nights wouldn't be the same with this Wakeman classic!

Lets hope Election '09 (or '10) continues this...

[Georgiahulse]

I was so surprised to see the presenter smoking a cigar on BBC television! The Health and Safety brigade, the Human Rights division...all sorts of people would be after him if he smoked on live television today.

[smithhehehaha]

RIP Mr Day

[smithhehehaha]

Happy to Mr Day that he wouldn't listen to these complaints anymore

RIP Mr Day again

[Georgiahulse]

I like how the single cross at the beginning reprsents the single vote for the single video. You see, back then (this is the year I was born), people had creativity and the ability to think. Today it's all computers; nobody has the passion to think and be clever in what they do. It's like the BBC News Theme - it sounds like a Heart Monitor tune, produced by DJ Sammy. Listen to the BBC 1990 news opener; that's class.

[Wolverhampton1]

I agree totally Georgia.

Some things were better then. Election coverage and news coverage was usually much more exciting up to 1997 than now.

However, the coverage of the Obama victory in November was great. Anything David Dimbleby presents is always excellent and was as much 30 years ago as today. He is a national treasure and I hope he continues presenting till his last day on earth!

[GullibleKit]

This is less Election Night and more Doctor Who. :P

[ecafssot]

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! In, in, in!

[Supermercado]

The incinerator?

[ecafssot]

That's one way to solve fuel-povety. They say witches burn very well.

[theredraven]

I beleive idiots like yourself burn even better.

Toasty hey?

[halsalli]

No smoking in the studio please Mr Day!

[chuckmonkey7337]

halsalli i know i thought he looked like something out of dickens' pickwick papers or something definately a larger than life character mr. day was.

[ukburger]

This must of been exciting.

[220773]

Rick Wakeman rules, although he's a Tory and in favour of the death penalty, still a wonderful artist and a true pal.

He must have celebrated that '79 victory, I guess...

Definitely not us in Glasgow...

[GeeGee3374]

the last time the true Liberal party stood at an election.