There is certainly more merit in this I'd definitely rather have aristocrats inheriting a seat in the Lords rather than the current system whereby the party in power elevates it's failed MPs and other cronies to the Lords. I'd like to see more appointees who transcend the petty squabble of party politics. I'd like to see the Lords staffed by religious and community leaders, scientists and engineers, economists and businessmen - all of which must steadfastly refuse a whip from any party. The Lords is supposed to be our safety net; back in the day, it was full of establishment figures which favoured an establishment-led government. These days it is full of old and new Labour figures. In both these cases, it means some government doesn't get the scrutiny that it requires. In addition, Blair mastered the art of by-passing or over-ruling the Lords, but he wasn't the first - I'd like the Lords to be able seriously bloody and incumbent governments proverbial nose.
I'm in two minds about a "hung" Parliament, On the one hand the current Scottish Parliament is doing OK and has increased discussion and negotiation between parties, but this has only happened once the Previous Lab/Lib coalition got kicked out. I do think that if Proportional voting came in smaller parties might actually start to increase their share of the vote. One factor stopping people voting for them currently is that the top three parties are so big you currently have to vote for the biggest party that will keep whichever party you don't want in, out. If people are assured that their vote does count, smaller parties might start to make more of a gain. Unfortunately whit our current crop of politicians and all of the history and tradition encasing them, unlike the new and fresh Scottish parliament, I can only see a hung parliament resulting in a total standstill of any policies till a new election is called in 12-16 months. I can't see them actually negotiating rather than shouting "our way is right" at the top of their lungs.
Interesting reading.... Although the Lib Dem manifesto appears to be further left than New Labour, over the last 13 years, Lib Dem voting patterns have trended towards the Tories. That is, it appears that the Lib Dems have been increasingly voting the same as the Conservatives. I don't think anybody expected this.
According to the Mail on Sunday the lib dems are the last people we want . Complete open house to all imigrants and amnesty to all illegal imigrants who have avoided capture for 10 year's, And want's to hand over all powers to the EU, And is funded by a billionaire Muslim Nadhmi Auchi living in the UK who was arrested in france for fraud, And Clegg was also accused of trying to cover up work for a controversial lobby firm which helped Colonel Gaddafi resist efforts to send the Lockerbie Bomber to the UK for trial in 1992. And is also embroiled in the 1998 cash for access scandal. As the saying go's I'll be buggered if I would be a Liberal.
While I agree that we don't really want the Lib Dems anywhere near the seats of power, I would hate to use the Daily Mail as my flag-bearer. We need to cast a more critical eye over their behaviour and their politics, particularly because they have had a free ride so far, but.... While Auchi is a convicted crook and the Lib Dems deserve criticism for accepting his cash, what really galls the Daily Mail is that he is a Muslim crook.
Yeah you cant believe what you read in news paper's but this is checkable info, Thats not to say any of the party's are much better.
They are all pretty naff options. It's which ever party is the lesser evil to you. Personally I want labour gone. I'd rather have a bunch of moneys in pajamas running the country than them. Monkeys would do a better job too...
Pretty much my view. Though it's ironic that the Tories are all seen as wealthy businessmen and aristocrats, when labour are backed by a whole range of fat cats and have more in the Lords than anyone else... A colleague accused them of being Tory rag, but I'd say they are UKIP-bordering-on-BNP.
Probably something to do with Labour being populated by people with predominantly "normal" backgrounds, while the Tories are composed of very little but Etonites and people who's daddies were slightly too poor to send them to Eton and so sent them to Stowe instead.
Agreed on the Daily Mail, its borderline racist. As in its on the otherside of the border. Although Labour under Blair could be viewed as being backed by fat cats, under Brown their donors have started to go back to being Trade Unions. Their biggest donors now are the Unions and local businessmen in Glasgow. When I say businessmen, I mean men with questionable activities that may or may not be legal, if you get my meaning. I'd still rather have Labour than Tories if I'm really honest though. Still can't forgive them for decimating the whole of Lanarkshire during their last time in charge. We're only just starting to see some improvement now but its still a completely broken area.
Yeah, all the public schoolboys become Tories: Tony Blair... Lord Falconer... Lord Levy... Not to mention the 60 MPs from the current crop who were all educated in public schools. Their biggest donors have always been the unions, though it has decreased gradually over the last 50 years... Without the support of Unite alone, the Labour Party would fold overnight. However, it is increasingly dependent on wealthy businessmen, and who can forget the Robinson, Mittal, Hindujas and Ecclestone scandals? Nick Clegg went to public school, a his party was funded my a fraudster. And yet, the accusations persists that the Tories are all toffs funded my dodgy millionaires. How positively perverse!
I am of the school of thought that if we get a hung parliament then the nation is poo poo-ed. In other news, someone tried to convince me to vote Lib Dem the other day.. That was a right laugh.
The voting system is this country is broken. It needs to be fixed. The graphic I saw on the news yesterday was ridiculous - if the Conservatives got something like 37% of the vote, the Lib Dems 34% and Labour 29%, Labour would have the greatest number of seats in parliament. Ridiculous!
They're extremely BNP. They hate Immigrants of all types. They were Oswald Mosley's biggest supporter when he create the British Union of Facists... They haven't changed much.
1. Lib Dems 2. Conservatives 3. Anyone else except the war mongering, financial-sector-destroying, Labour ******s.
Lets be clear here. I think all three parties are full of the same swindling, elitist, self-righteous, egotistical, self-serving idiots. I'm not saying all politicians are the same but I find the "main men" so to speak are all the same. Quite a few of the backbenchers are actually bloody good MPs but when it comes to votes in the Commons, they just get whipped into line. There are far too many career politicians in all the parties who are only in it for the power and the money. Anyone who thinks any one of these three parties are any less corrupt or more noble than the others needs to educate themselves.
You are right about them all being as bad as each other, particularly in this modern era where all parties are actually ideologically similar. All parties offer the same candidates from the same schools and professions. We complain about 'career politicians', but back in the day, we welcomed them because they saw 'serving the nation' as their vocation, as opposed the the union activists and businessmen that became MPs to serve their own interests. Now we want more union activists and businessmen because they live in the 'real world' and can more accurately empathise with the voters. Bottom line - voters will always have something to whinge about. If you don't like it and want things to change, get involved yourself - start on your parish council and work your way up...
They've hardly destroyed the financial sector. Under Labour, London has become the financial capital of the world.
Bless....! London has been one of the financial capitals of the world for decades - it's rather subjective to claim it is, or ever was, *the* capital - however, it has recently been struggling under a comparatively harsh tax regime and the country is failing to produce enough high-calibre graduates with the right skills: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/artic...obal-financial-capital-in-jeopardy-52414.aspx The reality is that, temporary peaks and troughs aside, London will be one of the leading financial markets in the world for some years to come - regardless of which party is in power.