[Taristin]

I, too, though not british, vote for The Monster Raving Looney Party. Sounds appropriate. Since there's no 'The plural of penis is government' group.

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by Rictor
What's up with the 3 term thing? Most normal countries have a two-term limit on a single person as PM/Prez, and for good reason. Even places like Russia and other questionable democracies have a two-term limit. If Labour wins this one, which they almost certainly will, Blair will have been in power for over a decade....that's scary.

It's the westminster system AFAIK. It's the same here and in NZ. We've had PMs going for almost 20 years.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Rictor
aldo: I don't pretend to be particularly knowledgeable about British politics, but why are RESPECT two-faced wankers? As far as I know, they're just the Lib Dems taken further.

Um...not really.  

Firstly, you're talking a George Galoway ego trip; this is the same guy who (literal quote was something like "Sir, I salute your
courage, your strength, your indefatigability.") fawned over Saddam Hussein and then called on British troops to desert, disobey orders, etc in the war in Iraq.

Now, as you know, I'm 100% against said war.  However, that doesn't make saluting and praising a pretty nasty dictator right.  It also doesn't make it right to ask soldiers to effectively rebel against their country (even if the war itself is for the wrong reasons, unless the orders & actions are illegal as combat acts, you need to rely on soldiers to follow orders).

I think it's pretty two-faced to be a British MP, etc, for ages and then actively support an enemy country when at war - even a stupid, illegal and idiotic war - with them.  If you're angry at a war, campaign to stop it; it wns over more people than actively saying how much you hope your own countries troops will be driven out and killed.

(Another nitpick is that - prior to the war furore - Galloway was elected as MP of Kelvin, Glasgow.  Yet now he's standing in Bethnal, London... and apprarently spent most of his time in Portugal as a Glasgow MP.)

Basically, when you look at Respect & Veritas in particular, they're driven by a single controversial figure on a single issue.  That, to me, is not what a political party should be for.

(Incidentally, IIRC Respect is far more 'left wing' than the Liberal Democrats, who are probably a slightly-left-of-centre party; apparently the general secretary of Respect is a guy called John Rees, who was and is  one of higher-ups in the English equivalent of the Communist-stroke-Trotskyist party)

Originally posted by Raa
I, too, though not british, vote for The Monster Raving Looney Party. Sounds appropriate. Since there's no 'The plural of penis is government' group.

This years Manifesto;
"Traffic wardens will be re-named Dick Turpin because, let's face it, it's daylight robbery"
"All weapons of mass destruction will be made highly visible so that we can find them."
"Everyone wanting to come and live in the UK will be made welcome, so long as they are over the age of 85 and accompanied by both parents."

[Cyker]

See... I tried... I actually made an effort this time... sat down and looked at all the party policies as written on the BBC website.

In the end, the ONLY party I could find which didn't have at least one policy I was dead against was the Monster Raving Loonie Party. And that's because they don't *have* an entry on the BBC website...

I feel that to not vote is a really bad waste, given that some countries don't even *have* that right, but when you're forced into a "lesser of 6 evils" situation it really doesn't cast a good light on the whole process...

[Flipside]

The thing about Democracy is the ability to choose who's going to screw you over for the next 4 years

[Fineus]

I still feel my views vaguely sumarised by Rage Against The Machines point made in one of their music video (which I don't have with me, so the text may be off slightly):
but I do consistentyl
"(x number) of Americans will not vote in the comming elections, simply for no real choice on the ballot."

Sure, we're talking about England - but my feeling is the same. The major parties have seemed to have a tendency to say anything they can to get the vote, then do none of the things they promised in the run up.

[Flipside]

Very true, that's why no party ever uses 'We will keep to our election pledges' as an election pledge

That is the problem, the only people who consider the next election as somehow choosing good from bad are members of the political parties. The rest of us are just too depressed with the continual regurgitation of lies, damn lies and politics.

It's the one true weakness of Democratic Government. No Prime-Minister will ever start a project that takes more than a short amount of time, because it's not the person in power when a project starts that usually gets the credit It was that unwillingness to commit to anything long term that screwed the Steel and Coal industries and, now those policies of the 1990's are coming home to roost.

[Knight Templar]

Brit parties get all the cool names.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Kalfireth
I still feel my views vaguely sumarised by Rage Against The Machines point made in one of their music video (which I don't have with me, so the text may be off slightly):
but I do consistentyl
"(x number) of Americans will not vote in the comming elections, simply for no real choice on the ballot."

Sure, we're talking about Britain- but my feeling is the same. The major parties have seemed to have a tendency to say anything they can to get the vote, then do none of the things they promised in the run up.

Ach, at least get the country right; even if the BBC ignores us 90% of the time in the news, we're still involved in this election......

[Kie99]

Which brings up an interseting point, how come there is a Scotish Parliment, a Welsh Parliment and a British Parliment, but no English Parliment?

[vyper]

Because as much as it pains me to say this, England is pretty much the main state. In other words, Westminster will look out for you guys over the rest of us anyway!

[Flipside]

Hmmmm.... It's interesting actually. It's difficult to say whether having a seperate Parliament for England would either help each part of the UK to manage itself under the auspices of the United Kingdoms, otherwise, they aren't really United, just 'One Big Kingdom and it's Annexes'. Or it may just serve to seperate us more, though to be honest, despite the, mostly, friendly jibes between the various parts of the UK, I really don't see that happening.

[aldo_14]

I always thought the whole point of devolved parliaments was that people in Scotland, Wales and N.Ireland feel unrepresented by Westiminister.  England is always going to be the 'dominant partner' in terms of UK politics, so IMO the Westminister parliament already, naturally, represents the wishes of England primarily.

If you look at what has been mooted, it's along the lines of regional assemblies in England; so it's another example of people possibly feeling isolated from the government in London.

[Unknown Target]

How did I know that Snuffleupagus would win?

[Flipside]

True, decentralisation would do a hell of a lot to relieve that, but I think the resistance you'll meet there is from Londoners, who like being the Capital city AND the home to the Government. But it certainly makes sense to me that the Minister for the Lake District area shouldn't be living in a 3 bedroom house in North London etc.

UT : Cos Snuffleupagus would beat Prescott in an arm wrestle

Edit : Talking of Prescott, I still find myself thinking that I cannot think of a single civilian in this country whom, when so clearly identified as punching someone, even if they had thrown an egg at him (I mean, we get prosecuted for daring to stand up to thugs in our own neighbourhoods) and not be taken to court. If it had been a fight between 2 members of the public, both people would have been arrested for causing an affray, assault, Breaches of the Public Order act and, in Prescotts' case, being a fat obnoxious git.

Par Example : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/30/npist30.xml

[Taristin]

Amazing. In Soviet Amerika, Politicians don't resort to physical altercations.  










....Yet.

[Flipside]

I actually used to like it when punch-ups broke out in Parliament, it takes a lot of passion to swing for someone, and it was kind of good to know our Politicians were that passionate about what they believed.

Not that theres been a decent MP Punch-Up for about 30 years now

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Flipside
True, decentralisation would do a hell of a lot to relieve that, but I think the resistance you'll meet there is from Londoners, who like being the Capital city AND the home to the Government. But it certainly makes sense to me that the Minister for the Lake District area shouldn't be living in a 3 bedroom house in North London etc.

UT : Cos Snuffleupagus would beat Prescott in an arm wrestle

Edit : Talking of Prescott, I still find myself thinking that I cannot think of a single civilian in this country whom, when so clearly identified as punching someone, even if they had thrown an egg at him (I mean, we get prosecuted for daring to stand up to thugs in our own neighbourhoods) and not be taken to court. If it had been a fight between 2 members of the public, both people would have been arrested for causing an affray, assault, Breaches of the Public Order act and, in Prescotts' case, being a fat obnoxious git.

Par Example : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/03/30/npist30.xml

Well... much as I dislike the guy, I can't really complain about that; because if someone chucked an egg onto me, I'd probably do a hell of a lot more than just give a weak jab.

Worth nothing the airgun things comes quite soon after a toddler was killed by one in Scotland, and a young teenager nearly killed; there's a definite backlash that'd affect sentencing & the jury in that case.  It's harsh, though; it's punishing her almost as much for the polices failings as it is her actions.

[Taristin]

Originally posted by Flipside
I actually used to like it when punch-ups broke out in Parliament, it takes a lot of passion to swing for someone, and it was kind of good to know our Politicians were that passionate about what they believed.

Not that theres been a decent MP Punch-Up for about 30 years now

I didn't say it was bad...

American politicians are in it for the money. They couldn't give two rat's asses what their decision's consequences will be.

[Flipside]

Yep, I saw that one in Scotland about the baby whilst looking for that link

And I agree with you Aldo, I'd probably lose my rag myself, but the difference I suppose is the application of law, personally, I don't blame him for punching the guy, I suppose my problem is that the way the law works here, anyone of not such a high social standing would have been arrested, it's the inconsistency of the law as much as it's, and I don't use this word lightly, fear in the Police that is making matters, at least in London, though most likely in most of Britain, get rapidly worse and worse. the Police refuse to come out and deal with troublemakers, and this is when you have phoned to complain about 5 times, they still say they can't help.

If the Police are not going to bother doing their job, then why are they surprised when people take matters into their own hands. The Polce have to accept that the less they deal with the small problems, the more big problems they are going to see, and not simply hide in the Station and hope it will go away.