Politics in the UK

[DraftPickle]

Right so I'll say that the Lib Dems do deserve another chance at running the country once their party gets a stronger presence. I don't want to see the Tories in power because, if they are elected they will benefit only a small section of society, this then creates the ole shitness of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. They support this undisciplined type of banking that got us in this shit heap in the first place, we need institution like FSA to keep the banks in check. They believe in a mentality that everyone has a fair a chance of becoming successful and rich, this overly optimisitc view purely created through theory, in practise the reality is very different people do not all have even chances. Some MP's son has more of a chance in getting a influencing position in politics than I am and thats the thr brutal truth. All of what I have said can also be mirrored in our countries history. Write back if you want me to continue?

Uh. No. Not quite. The Tory Party Policy and direction is pretty much exactly the same as labours. I think you're acting upon stereotypes of the Tories, rather than actual fact. You know how I know this? I've spent the past month researching party policy, old and new, for the two main parties (And a little lib dem and fringe.). When it comes down to it, the two main parties occupy the same about-centre point on the political compass.

Conservatism traditionally follows the ideals that you describe, but Cameron is taking the party in a new, more central direction, seeking to push labour off the middle ground back to the socialist stance it once occupied.

OK so your half right, on the stereotypes front my stereotype is to completely distrust someone who has grown up in absolute privilege and generally polticians, throughout history they have said one thing pre-election and done the complete opposite afterwards. Don't get me wrong Cameron is another Blair (excluding politics) charismatic etc, he is trying to go somewhere but the very ethos of being Conservative prevents any change, quickly. The Conservative party has not changed that much be that policies or the members and the members are a huge influence on what happens if they gain power. Now on the front of Labour/Conservative going more for a centre left/centre right stance, personally I find that there is not enough difference between parties.

 

[GrinningManiac]

Meh, as long as we get a United States of Europe soon, I really don't care. I support Labour, more Brown than Blair (who, to be honest, landed Brown in the shizz) and I kinda pity the guy. Plus, he's a safe pair of hands

(Politics student at A-Level right here)

Your either being highly sarcastic or you must be the only European federalist in the United Kingdom. 0.0

If you are a European federalist.. fair enough. I call myself pro-European,but i don't think making Europe a federal state is quite feasable due to language barriers and public opposition.

Yeah, I think I'm the only one

Down with EU, up with U.S.E!

In my dream world, I'd have a United States of Eurasia, and I'd have the MUSE song of the same name as the anthemn

Went to see MUSE last night in Birmingham. Absaloutley bloody brilliant

 

[Agema]

I've some sympathy for Thatcher - the unions were too powerful, and the manufacturing/mining sector was hopelessly inefficient and archaic. The economy did badly need restructuring and modernising, and she sure managed that.

What it's hard to forgive or forget is that having gutted whole sectors of industry and whole communities with them, she left the victims of modernisation to just suck up the punishment and life in the dole queues. She should have provided retraining, or otherwise ameliorated the punishment, instead she just left the "invisible hand" of the market to sort things out, which in the case of many communities took many years, or was not so much invisible as totally nonexistent.

It didn't help that even years later in the mid-late 90s, as the then governor of the Bank of England Eddie George let slip, the country was following anti-inflation economic policies for the southeast that increased unemployment in the north and midlands. Which was a bit like kicking a man whilst he was down.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Also, best when trying to take the high ground, not just to use the word gumf as one of your first words of a post!

I don't try to take the high ground. I try to give my impression on things. Trying to compare wars 20 years apart is pointless, as I said. That they were started by the PM is what mattered.

Post Offices closing has little to do with the Royal Mail.

That's sort of like saying that a fuel price rise won't affect the car industry.

Every attempt at Modernisation, and turning the business around is met by the CWU striking.

Why is that? Are they so attached to their collapsing service, or are they terrified they'll be outsourced, made redundant and put on worse hours.

Why does our Government need to keep supporting Private Companies? It shouldn't need to be in as many Banks as it is now, and only is because the Government didn't adequately regulate the industy.

You're acting like the Opposition now. We're not talking about what Labour has done as we agree it's awful, we're talking about what the Tories will do. And if you expect me to believe that they will give the Banks a slap on the wrist for their extortionate pay rises, then ...no, I don't believe you're daft enough to defend that position.

What's the point in suggesting Nuclear Power here? We have agreements to reduce Greenhouse Gas emmissions, Nuclear does not create any. It has it's own problems, but it's a necessary evil. Saying that we can't use coal because of carbon emissions had relevance, the industry was dying if it knew it or not. Saying Nuclear Power isn't good for the environment is a weird rebuttal at best. It's fine.

One word. Chernobyl.
If that alone isn't warning enough, how about 9/11 happening with a Reactor this time?

Most of those areas were Steel, sure. Their Union demands a 20% payrise, when the company made a £150 million loss. The company wasn't properly viable. Same old story. Industries couldn't support themselves, did some more striking and managed to kill their industries. They've got no one to blame but themselves...or the Unions.

And if the Unions were at fault, and the Tories destroyed all the Unions, and then the un-unionised workforce got screwed over under Labour, can you see the pattern that emerges?

 

[Zoibie]

Meh, as long as we get a United States of Europe soon, I really don't care. I support Labour, more Brown than Blair (who, to be honest, landed Brown in the shizz) and I kinda pity the guy. Plus, he's a safe pair of hands

(Politics student at A-Level right here)

Politics A-level student here too but I'm not sure federalism would work for Europe. If Europe was less diverse then I might be inclined to agree.

And yeah, I too sympathise to some extent with Brown. But then I remember who he chose as SoS for Business...

 

[Sparrow]

I'm going to put myself up for election. My polices shall be:

- No, America. We're not helping you again.

- Rape and murder = Life sentances

- Animal abuse = Jail time.

- Complete smoking ban.

- Better pension schemes.

Vote Sparrow! Get a cookie!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

This is getting nowhere. You've obviously made up your mind that the Tories are wonderful people who will save us from the mess they created in the first place.

Skipping through the points.

Royal Mail work with the Post Office. One will affect the other. Fear of being collapsed, as has been done to the other union/industries mentioned has kept them allied against the private consortiums who are stripmining the assets of the Public Sector and the Governments. This is proven by the banks, who are already deciding that nothing has happened and they don't owe anyone anything.

And again, you state how badly Labour have done things without looking at how the Tories or Liberals would react in the same position. Simply saying "They wouldn't have let it get that far" is a non-issue now because it has.

Are you seriously and honestly suggesting that someone is going to fly planes with Nuclear Reactors on them as a Terrorist Event?

No. I'm seriously suggesting that if the Twin Towers couldn't be protected and withstand a plane hitting them, what chance does a Nuclear Reactor have? Think of a ten mile wide fireball that's already been proven to be feasible.

Just saying "coal produces smoke so it's bad" is getting back to the other discussion.

And what is your answer? "Well, the Tories wouldn't allow it." That makes me sad because I remember when they did. And seemingly we're going to have to go through it again.

 

[DraftPickle]

Lets to a bit of tidying up here, BROWN IS CRAP BUT HE DID NOT BREAK OUR ECONOMY, our economy has been heading this way since Thatcher, if she (as has been stated) support those she fucked over our economy would have been alot more stable, she did what she had to do but she didn't fucking do it right. Throughout the 90's our economy was up and down, stabilising an economy that turbulent takes decades of work. What we can accredit to Labour is taking onboard too many Conservative - esque policies, the loose regulation of the banks etc. Simply throwing around terms like "ahhh the economy" or "damn cushy liberals" won't wash you bastards

 

[GrinningManiac]

Meh, as long as we get a United States of Europe soon, I really don't care. I support Labour, more Brown than Blair (who, to be honest, landed Brown in the shizz) and I kinda pity the guy. Plus, he's a safe pair of hands

(Politics student at A-Level right here)

You mean Brown who broke the economy Brown?

Who, admittedly, did a good job until he had a choice to rein in the debt or let it zoidberg away.

Woopwoopwoopwoopwoop.

What did he do that broke it other than "Be in power when worldwide recession hits"?

It's not like he was activley denouncing claims of an incoming recession...COUGH*Hoover*COUGH...

 

[Dudemeister]

I think the Liberals may be a good party to get into power.

No one will vote for them because their banner is yellow

 

[Nickolai77]

Meh, as long as we get a United States of Europe soon, I really don't care. I support Labour, more Brown than Blair (who, to be honest, landed Brown in the shizz) and I kinda pity the guy. Plus, he's a safe pair of hands

(Politics student at A-Level right here)

Politics A-level student here too but I'm not sure federalism would work for Europe. If Europe was less diverse then I might be inclined to agree.

And yeah, I too sympathise to some extent with Brown. But then I remember who he chose as SoS for Business...

Politics university student here lol

As previously said, i don't think a federation would quite work due to the language barriers within Europe. Politically, Europe is broadly similar, eastern Europeans tend to be more right wing than western Europeans, but there are no significantly large political differences. Culturally i think Europeans are quite similar, certainly between UK, France, low countries, Germany and Scandinavia. After all, we share a common history. There is however quite a difference when we get to the mediteraian cultures in soutern Italy, Spain and Greece; and the eastern european nations. I think European diversity is signifcant, but manageable. The only real obsticle is the language barrier, and the fact that many Europeans are rather skepical of the EU. Look at how hard it was to push Lisbon through.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

Royal Mail work with the Post Office.

Ahh the post office. Never a finer example of how fucked up our political system is. During the recent strikes, Mandelson said "The Post office unions can't obstruct modernisation". Yes. These were the words of Lord Mandelson, who shows up for work dressed like this:-

What happened to their promise to "modernise" the House of Lords? "Well... that was before we found out how great it was. A hundred and fifty grand for 40 days of work a year, where you can't be fired as long as you turn up once during the whole year!" The problem with Labour is that they are really just Tories. Crushing labor unions, clinging to their own little baubles of privilege and ceremony, blaming problems that they themselves cause on other people.

The entire political system in this country is simply rotten. There is no accountability in politics (anyone remember Lord Hutton?), the media is grossly partisan and about as free as a barn pig, and our first past the post system of voting means that the vast majority of votes cast are nothing more than token support and mean nothing at all.

 

[Mr Companion]

To be honest I agree that the tory party will be way worse than the labour party. Labour has fecked up, but at least they PRETENDED to be something other than rich snobs. By comparison the Tory's might as well have horns growing from their skulls.

 

[GotMurf]

I'm a british Politics student, and after 2 years on the course all I can say is that if anything, a greater understanding of the UK political system just makes me desire anarchy more.

Anyway back on topic. Yes, the Conservatives will get in this term. And then they'll eventually grow unpopular, and Labour will get in. Regrettably, it's going to to-and-fro between these two parties until something radical happens.

 

[ReSpawn]

One word. Chernobyl.
If that alone isn't warning enough, how about 9/11 happening with a Reactor this time?

And with that one word, you've proven your ignorance.

Didn't you read the thread about nuclear power a while back?

About how, despite using a reactor design from the 50's, it still took gross incompetence on the part of the facilities staff in order to cause the meltdown?

About how modern designs significantly reduce the amount of waste produced, allow for the reprocessing of that waste in order to maximise energy production versus waste production, and render meltdowns impossible?

About how materials like Thorium are now a viable source of nuclear power, and are in greater abundance than Uranium?

I don't give a damn about your politics, but there is only one way we can forge ahead with green initiatives like reducing CO2, and meet the power requirements of modern society.

Stop perpetuating the misinformation.