UK General Discussion

[freefair]

Read this. Then the comments section.

That clearly Implies social conservatism, which exists also in left wing parties. I agree with that but then I am a Libertarian.

[freefair]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/welsh-politics/welsh-politics-news/2012/05/18/union-leader-slams-plaid-alliance-of-progressives-stance-against-uk-government-cuts-91466-30998512/
This news story has done something amazing. It has made me sympathise with hard-left Plaid leader Leanne Wood. What an outrageous outburst
I'm so glad I've been brought up to hate the leadership of the Labour Party. They're willfully ignorant pigs and arrogant **nts who can only approach any issue with the bullish stance that everything they do is always right , and any other political party (apart from the Greens) is automatically f****ng wrong about everything.
(P.S, Don't pretend union leaders aren't Labour leaders too)

[freefair]

Cheryl Gillan announced AM Seats to be realigned to Boundary Review ones, number of list AMs to be increased to 30.

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1987 General Election replay on BBC Parliament

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2013- 1983 Replay?

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After Cameron leaves, d'you recon CWF and Cornerstone will try to ban "Progressive" groups, and make a deal to merge with/take on board UKIP?
After the Coalition, LiberalVision and "Orange Book" could also tragically be under threat. The last pro-market mechanism group in the LibDems.

[freefair]

That's Cameron's cat vs Osbourne's cat.

[freefair]

Horrific. UKIP are a very right wing party, ofc, but within the bounds of normality- not far right at all. Gove is right, this is indefensible, and Rotherham Council have had the PR armageddon they so thoroughly deserve for his act of totalitarian insanity. Hopefully the couple get their foster kids back- they sound like lovely people (ex Labour people too!). I hope  this really really badly affects the by election result for the Labour candidiate. I'd love to see UKIP get a seatm or see them top 30% and shave the Labour vote to the bone (ie sub 35%). Unlikely, but it would be wonderful. As if Rotherham CLP hadn't already shamed themselves with McShane.

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What the UK needs is a system in which the best politicians are just as attracted to subnational politics as they are to national/federal positions

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I absolutely hate it when people criticism Milliband's appearance or voice and claim they make it inappropriate for him to be head of government- that stuff isn't even politics. And yes, I can imagine him as PM. Not gladly, but I can. It all smacks of conscious and subconscious introduction of the oldest prejudice into otherwise rational political discourse.
A family member speculated- and there may or may not be something in this- that Galloway won Bradford West so convincingly because some Muslim's do not want a Jew as leader of the nation. That's just callous, and frankly, If that is at all true of anyone of any ethnicity, I'd rather those sorts of pond-scum didn't vote at all.
On other matters, isn't it a bit stupid for right wingers to claim they've "won" most debates post Thatcher?. Shouldn't they pretend they think the left have won so they won't try to win for real.

[freefair]

Angus Robertson and the SNP must be pretty vile to get me agreeing pretty fervently with Nigel Farage on last night's QT.

I don't mind the SNP usually but you're right, The Journalist lady was pretty awful too. I diagree with Galloway on almost everything but found myself In near total agreement with him throughout the show on the issues raised.

[freefair]

Plus, of course, doing away with the BBC. Makes me laugh how many proposing re-introducing national service conveniently never had to do it themselves.

I think conscription into a sort of national guard/psuedo military institution would be a fitting punishment for petty crime, antisocial behavior, or descriptiveness in state education.

[freefair]

disrupting some toff boat race

FGS, Oxbridge aren't toff institutions. You clearly either have next to no idea about them or you've got a massive chip on your shoulder about not having gone to them. I never even applied to them, and a clearly of a working class background, yet I have total admiration for those outstanding institutions. Two class friends have offers for Oxford and they are the most hardworking grounded lads I know.

[freefair]

Your two friends may go toward the 11/12% of working class students attending there - not the 88-89% middle-class to upper.

Well, one of them is what could be called upper-lower-middle class, but he's still a totally ordinary, non-posh person...

[freefair]

Why? because he's got opinions and views you disagree with, that are on the other side of the political spectrum? Jeez.

[freefair]

Another hugely unpopular privatisation that in all likelihood won't get reversed. Hard not to despair.

They all start out unpopular, but apart from Gas and Rail, where there's either no competition or consumer inertia/oligopolies and, they have been obviously good and popular choices with little to no bad side effects. Most of them are now seen to be completely normal (ie BT, BA ThomasCook, Jaguar (which will cause a boom in Wolverhampton!!),Corus, Gleneagles Hotel, Pickfords removals). I don't see Royal Mail being much different, as it has lots of competition and room for manouvre, and lots of incentives to co-operate and compete with others for best and/or cheapest service. Unless your idea of socialism is to prevent large private businesses from even existing, or to satick up for many of the incompetent postpersons they are compelled to employ, I don't see the practical objection. And I'm no Burkean Tory, so I'm not bothered if they replace the Queen's head.

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I still think they should replace "Democratic Socialist" with "Social-Democratic". Those two words put it theoretically outside of the global mainstream, and give false hope to people who needn't bother.  They may be similar, but what they imply is very different.

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Bizarre display of comic evil from Tory peer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23505723

Hardly- I listened to what he said and he seemed to be referring to the moorlands of Northumbria and Durham, not to the settlements, though that itself would hardly be inaccurate in some cases.
A Tory asking the government to focus on building Industry away from the overcrowded south seems to me the opposite of evil- infact it seems like an attempt to reconcile those areas with the Conservatives and compensate for the effects of deindustrialization and the end of mining.
context- I' strongly agree with Shale Gas and Fracking, so think that we should be doing it everywhere, Southern or not.

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MPs went for a totally pacifist stance.

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If I had a magic wand, this is how my sort of constitutional government would work ALL the time.

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Government's defeat here isn't of the sort that would trigger a new election right? Does the 5 year term now eliminate that risk?

That would have to be on a key manifesto/platform promise. In this case I don't think fixed term parliaments have had in impact.

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I actually really like my (80% female) student union, they're quite socially liberal and Blurred Lines has been played in their disco. Also they actually care about  and care for the students here, unlike others which are used massage future political careers. I know one of them likes Boris Johnson at least on a personal level. Though that said here even the heads of campus Labour and Tories are actually quite friendly with eachother.
Awesome place.

[freefair]

Nah, that'd be bad, since we'd lose Northumberland, Cumberland and North Yorkshire. If only some way could be found to exchange those places with areas like Hackney, Croydon and Brighton

Don't forget that bar 97 and 2001 the Midlands has always returned a majority of Tory MPs at in postwar elections.

[freefair]

Oh alright then, the Midlands has always been about as Labour and Tory as the national average- and Indeed since Thatcher has gotten sligtly more Tory- In 2010, 41% vs 30%.