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Author | Topic: UK general election (May 5th) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Ooook! Member (Idle past 5844 days) Posts: 340 From: London, UK Joined: |
Just as a piece of light relief:
have a look at the The Official Monster Raving Loony Party website. Take special note to their "Manicfesto" My favorite policy is the creation of a 99p coin to save on change.
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Chiroptera Inactive Member |
quote: I wonder how many people are angry they didn't think of it first?
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mick Member (Idle past 5015 days) Posts: 913 Joined: |
I have a lot of sympathy for you, Tusko. I can't say I've ever trusted Galloway before a few months ago. A bit of a swiz, if you ask me.
However I was convinced by the reception (and hard time) he received from the fire brigades union, at various hustings over the last year or so. They really held him to account, made him explain himself in full, and ended up deciding to donate money to his campaign. You can listen to mp3s of some of his hustings at the hands of the fire brigade union by visiting the respect website. I can assure you it's worth it, they were pretty harsh. (Although I suspect respect may have cut the most difficult bits out of the mp3 files). But Galloway gave a fair account of his history standing up for striking unions, and militant labour in general, and in the end they liked him, hence the cash donation to him and to other Respect members. So if you you supported the fire brigade union in their recent strike, you should support Respect. Mick added in edit: unfortunately, as I am registerd to vote in Mansfield, under control of the utterly worthless but strangely popular Alan Meale, it's not worth me voting at all... This message has been edited by mick, 04-30-2005 08:44 PM
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MangyTiger Member (Idle past 6382 days) Posts: 989 From: Leicester, UK Joined: |
There are many differences, but the one that strikes me in particular is Britain’s parliamentary system with first past the post voting. This ensures government control by one party and is contrasted to coalition based democracy in the US. It doesn't ensure it, just makes it very likely. In 1974-79 we had a Parliament where no one party had an overall majority for most of its life. Labour formed a minority Government and Labour and the Liberals had an informal alliance which became known as the Lib-Lab Pact. This ran from '77 to '78. In the last Tory Government ('92-97) they initially had an overall majority of 21 but this was progressively reduced (Tory MPs died or resigned and the Tories lost the resultant by-election) until they had no overall majority and were effectively reliant on the Ulster Unionists to guarantee they could win key votes. The Tigers roared in Dublin - and I was there.
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Tusko Member (Idle past 129 days) Posts: 615 From: London, UK Joined: |
Embarrassing as it is to admit, I don't have a very firm grasp of our parliamentary system at all. There isn't any class in it at school, and I've never actually been bothered to educate myself in any detail about how it actually works.
I wish it was a compulsory element of the curriculum. Maybe it is now actually, but it wasn't ten or fifteen years ago. Proportional representation sounds like a good idea to me, but that's because I only have a very sketchy understanding of whats going on. So maybe I'd better shut up and listen.
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contracycle Inactive Member |
Galloway is an old fighter. He's always been a bit of eccentric, and always been a hard man to keep toeing the party line, especially as it became more and more new labour. Very old labour, joined as a young teenager, he's on the right side of the fence as far as I am concerned.
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contracycle Inactive Member |
quote: One problem with PR is that it severs the link between the seat and the candidate. At present, the safest seats are indeed given to party faithful, but those candidates still have to actually be elected. Under PR, seats will just be allocated to a list administered by the aprties. Thus, it may make politics even more remote and detached. Another major difference between the US and UK system is the direct election of the US president. In the UK the party leader becomes head of state by virtue of being party leader; this has often served to keep the leader under party control. Blair is something of an aberration in this regard, but for example the removal of Thatcher preserved the Tory government by making her a sacrifical offering. By contrast, the US ssystem is much more affected by the person of the president, and the president is held in much greater awe, seeing as he is the direct recipient of public acclaim.
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Andya Primanda Inactive Member |
Indonesia used to have proportional representation. It turns out to be abused by 'party elites' who got their MP seats from the hard work of local politicians.
The last election (2004) saw a change into a district system similar to the UK/US system. People seem to like it better because at least they know who they vote for.
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Tusko Member (Idle past 129 days) Posts: 615 From: London, UK Joined: |
This is also to Andya..
Ah, I see. I'm a bit annoyed I didn't think of that myself. Severing the link between the local community and their representative isn't really a good thing at all.
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Wounded King Member Posts: 4149 From: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Joined: |
You don't neccessarily sever those links. The scottish parliament has a form of PR, the Additional Members System (AMS), as while you do vote for your local MSP you also vote with a party preference for the allocation of 'List' members of parliament who have a wider geographical area of responsibility.
TTFN, WK
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MangyTiger Member (Idle past 6382 days) Posts: 989 From: Leicester, UK Joined: |
As it's the early hours of the last day of campaigning (insomniac - me ?) it's time for people to make their final predictions for the result.
I'm going for a Labour win with an overall majority of between 100 and 120 (down from 167 in 2001) The Tigers roared in Dublin - and I was there.
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Ooook! Member (Idle past 5844 days) Posts: 340 From: London, UK Joined: |
My analytical side is going to predict a Labour majority of 50-70. I think the marginal seats are going to be swinging all over the shop, and will definitely spring a few surprises. The Lib Dems will make some significant gains.
My pessimistic side is going to predict a freakish Tory victory. I know the polls weren't much different last time, but there's just something odd going on this year. Lucky I made use of that box of postal votes I found lying around eh?
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Dead Parrot Member (Idle past 3374 days) Posts: 151 From: Wellington, NZ Joined: |
I predict I will be happy I emigrated to New Zealand.
So long, suckers... Seriously, I'm going for lab. majority of about 130 - But the margins will be wafer-thin for many of the seats. Mat 27:5 And he went and hanged himself Luk 10:37 Go, and do thou likewise.
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contracycle Inactive Member |
Simon Schama on differebces between American and British campaign styles, which may be of interest to some.
Edit: Erm, oops Now that's what I call democracy | Politics | The Guardian This message has been edited by contracycle, 05-05-2005 07:53 AM
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Wounded King Member Posts: 4149 From: Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Joined: |
Shouldn't there be some sort of link there?
TTFN, WK
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