Mirror Poll: Would you vote for Vapers In Power?

[Ripshod]

One issue is enough for me. I'm not a politician and I wouldn't want to be.

They have a party. Even though they're not elected they are still politicians. How contrary is that!!

Also, having just one policy doesn't instill any confidence at all.

And I won't lie to any polls about it.

[markm]

They are not a political party, the idea is to use the political system to gain visibility for vaping.
They do not actually want or expect any votes, they aren't even bothered about their deposit.
By running in the election, they can gain media coverage, as demonstrated by a poll being
Run by a national news paper.
Now if we as vapers can't tick the box in support of vaping, because that is how it will be interpreted,
Then perhaps we can all just resign ourselves to going back to smoking next spring.

[Greg]

Mar 17, 2015 20:55:33 GMT markm said:

They are not a political party, the idea is to use the political system to gain visibility for vaping.
They do not actually want or expect any votes, they aren't even bothered about their deposit.
By running in the election, they can gain media coverage, as demonstrated by a poll being
Run by a national news paper.
Now if we as vapers can't tick the box in support of vaping, because that is how it will be interpreted,
Then perhaps we can all just resign ourselves to going back to smoking next spring.

Most of us are well stocked so won't be returning to smoking any time soon 

[markm]

Mar 17, 2015 20:58:04 GMT Greg said:

Mar 17, 2015 20:55:33 GMT markm said:

They are not a political party, the idea is to use the political system to gain visibility for vaping.
They do not actually want or expect any votes, they aren't even bothered about their deposit.
By running in the election, they can gain media coverage, as demonstrated by a poll being
Run by a national news paper.
Now if we as vapers can't tick the box in support of vaping, because that is how it will be interpreted,
Then perhaps we can all just resign ourselves to going back to smoking next spring.

Most of us are well stocked so won't be returning to smoking any time soon 

So you don't mind that those that haven't discovered vaping will be condemned to smoke.
your lack of compassion is astounding.

[Greg]

Mar 17, 2015 21:00:54 GMT markm said:

Mar 17, 2015 20:58:04 GMT Greg said:

Most of us are well stocked so won't be returning to smoking any time soon 

So you don't mind that those that haven't discovered vaping will be condemned to smoke.
your lack of compassion is astounding.

I look after number one first. Although I'd be unhappy if others lost the oppurtunity to take up this fantastic invention I have said for a very long time money will win in the end.
Its not a lack of compassion but a reality.

Whenever I read your posts rather than compassion I sense self preservation in a look after number one kinda way. Maybe we're not so different after all 

[sydsut]

Mar 17, 2015 20:55:33 GMT markm said:

They are not a political party, the idea is to use the political system to gain visibility for vaping.
They do not actually want or expect any votes, they aren't even bothered about their deposit.
By running in the election, they can gain media coverage, as demonstrated by a poll being
Run by a national news paper.
Now if we as vapers can't tick the box in support of vaping, because that is how it will be interpreted,
Then perhaps we can all just resign ourselves to going back to smoking next spring.

All too true

[Chrissie]

Mar 17, 2015 21:07:42 GMT Greg said:

Mar 17, 2015 21:00:54 GMT markm said:

So you don't mind that those that haven't discovered vaping will be condemned to smoke.
your lack of compassion is astounding.

I look after number one first. Although I'd be unhappy if others lost the oppurtunity to take up this fantastic invention I have said for a very long time money will win in the end.
Its not a lack of compassion but a reality.

Whenever I read your posts rather than compassion I sense self preservation in a look after number one kinda way. Maybe we're not so different after all 

I think that's unfair Greg markm has always come across as a good vendor who is interested, for the sake of all of us, to help safeguard vaping.

To me, it looks like the whole idea behind Vapers In Power is already working - i.e. the article in the Mirror is a really good start.

I've voted yes - 91% yes 9% no.

[Bobsbeer]

Voted Yes, Mirror poll is 92-8, so someone believes in them.

[Montana]

Greg , I to think that markm 's comments were spot on.Normally when the boss steps in , that's normally the time to stop , but you just can't stop   . 

Right , back on the topic , I voted yes , for the reasons that they and us want , that's more fair coverage and NOT the BS that is being thrown our way by paid off interests.

91% - 9%



Andy

[Raffles]

I've also voted 'yes' for the sole reason of not letting any poll suggest we don't care.

In the real world, however, it's meaningless... IMO  ???

[buggritt]

God, I wish you were working for me Andy.

[GunJack]

93-7

[Get Off My Cloud]

Mar 17, 2015 20:55:33 GMT markm said:

They are not a political party, the idea is to use the political system to gain visibility for vaping.
They do not actually want or expect any votes, they aren't even bothered about their deposit.
By running in the election, they can gain media coverage, as demonstrated by a poll being
Run by a national news paper.
Now if we as vapers can't tick the box in support of vaping, because that is how it will be interpreted,
Then perhaps we can all just resign ourselves to going back to smoking next spring.

I think the point is that fielding these electoral candidates purpose isn't to  influence political discussion from the inside as elected MP's.
The purpose appears to be more akin to an outside pressure group and the methodology just seems a bit strange, the normal methodology would be to create a lobbying group and lobby existing politicians.
Politics clearly has more than one issue that needs to be considered, running on one issue alone puts it in them in the camp of kook candidates.
By that i'm not saying supporting vaping is kooky i'm saying applying as an electoral candidate on any one issue and flat out saying no other issues are even going to be a consideration or concern is kooky.

So i think we can safely say that they have no serious electoral ambition or expectation and this is more of a publicity stunt to gain media attention for vapers and vaping.
The question then remains whether that attention gained portrays vaping in a positive or negative light.

[blaze]

True dr00g, and I hope we can be positive. In fact, in the early days of ViP, we emailed Viscount Ridley to ask for advice - his advice was to employ a lobbyist, because that is how decisions are made these days. Unfortunately, we're not exactly in a position to do so. We're just people who either gave up or cut down on smoking because of ecigs, and we don't want the EU to scupper that for anyone else.

It might be that ViP has a negative effect, although I can't see how - surely even by existing we send a powerful message that people care about this stuff? We're not experts or professionals - we're just kind of caught up in this (I was reading the wrong UKV thread at the wrong time lol). But we're trying. Its well known that despite the alleged 2.1M users of ecigs out there, few turn up to demos and few sign petitions - EFVI was a triumph but it still fell far short of its target.

I see ViP as a way to use a few committed people to have a big effect. Its a try, nothing more.

p.s. actually, if you look at clause d, paragraph 5, article 20 of the TPD: "any form of public or private contribution to any event, activity or individual person with the aim or direct or indirect effect of promoting electronic cigarettes and refill containers and involving or taking place in several Member States or otherwise having cross-border effects is prohibited", the infamous forum-banning clause, then we've already succeeded. Political parties are allowed freedom of expression and association - we can promote ecigs post-TPD and anyone who wants to reference us can promote them too!

[Perpetua]

Some ' housekeeping ' by way of the more personal posts has been done on this thread . . . please let's not descend to that level, it helps no cause whatsoever and does none of you good people any favours either.

I'd appreciate if any further comments of that nature are not made on this thread.

Thank you.