The Politics Thread

[Worthy4England]

You already do. To the point of boredom.

Just remind us what our currency is again?

[BWFC_Insane]

All this talk of UKIP just gives them the oxygen of publicity they want. Its fascinating that a party with absolutely no representation in the only Parliament it purports to recognise the full legitimacy of, has managed to gain equal billing as people who can show hundreds of seats. Even Nick Clegg smashes their support out of this galaxy.

It is also frightening that the mainstream media have pandered to this approach of whining about lack of publicity. I say unreservedly that it bears exact comparison with the Nazi propaganda machine. Repeat a lie often enough it will be believed. I see it unfolding before my eyes.

On the contrary I think giving a party with no policies or ideas other than a single and rather unpleasant message will in the end be a good thing as they'll burn out.

UKIP want to be able to play the "hard done to by the political elite" card. It is their oxygen at the moment. But as they are more exposed and more examined they will vanish without a trace.

Denying them coverage is exactly what they want. Because it creates the feeling that the other parties and media are trying to suppress them which is exactly the message they'd like people to believe.

[KeyserSoze]

https://www.facebook.com/britianfirst" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[thebish]

https://www.facebook.com/britianfirst" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Tomorrow it is my intention to help push the Lib Dems into fifth place. I'm voting Green Party for that single reason alone.

[bwfcdan94]

I'm voting in my first European election tomorrow, I wonder as a % how many people of my age will bother.

[thebish]

I'm voting in my first European election tomorrow, I wonder as a % how many people of my age will bother.

voting randomly for whoever is first on the ballot paper hardly sets you apart as a responsible adult citizen....

[Lost Leopard Spot]

I'm voting in my first European election tomorrow, I wonder as a % how many people of my age will bother.

voting randomly for whoever is first on the ballot paper hardly sets you apart as a responsible adult citizen....

I think it's the future

[bwfcdan94]

I'm voting in my first European election tomorrow, I wonder as a % how many people of my age will bother.

voting randomly for whoever is first on the ballot paper hardly sets you apart as a responsible adult citizen....

I think it's the future

, if you don't vote you have no right IMHO opinion to complain about the way we are being represented in Europe or about your local council. Your right though Bish, I may actually take some consideration in to who I vote for.

[thebish]

given Dan's strategy, how long before political parties take the same approach as plumbers used to in Yellow Pages..

AAAAAAAAAAAAAUKIP
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAConservatives
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALabour
Greens
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZMonster Raving Looney Party

[bwfcdan94]

I know I spread a rumour around on some recent Reading YouTube videos that Reading f.c were going into administration. The next day Talkshite did piece on Reading's financial difficulties, I can influence people you know!

[Lost Leopard Spot]

anyway, come on, I'm rallying all you non-cleggites out there. Vote Green... for a vert ual future.

[thebish]

sorry - cleggites always makes me think of clagnuts...

[Lost Leopard Spot]

sorry - cleggites always makes me think of clagnuts...

I used it for that exact mental resonance...

[bwfcdan94]

Who is standing for the Green party in Europe LLS is it Ashley Anderson?

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Who is standing for the Green party in Europe LLS is it Ashley Anderson?

Yes. Vote Green. (Say ta ta to cleggnuts).

[thebish]

Who is standing for the Green party in Europe LLS is it Ashley Anderson?

Yes. Vote Green. (Say ta ta to cleggnuts).

vote green - get used to scraping your clagnuts off on some old leaves and a stick...

[Lost Leopard Spot]

Who is standing for the Green party in Europe LLS is it Ashley Anderson?

Yes. Vote Green. (Say ta ta to cleggnuts).

vote green - get used to scraping your clagnuts off on some old leaves and a stick...

That's the spirit. (wholesome... fundamental).

[bwfcdan94]

I was presented with a vote green leaflet in Oxford city centre(while eating my dinner), I asked the question of is this leaflet made with recyclable paper, the bloke walked of embarrassed very fast.

[Hoboh]

If the currency has been saved, the political price has been very high. On the eve of the elections, the EU is staring at years of stagnation and relative decline, increasingly unable to compete globally, to sustain its social and welfare systems, to generate growth and jobs.

"Europe is in a mess. Our economies are failing to deliver higher living standards for most people, and many have lost faith in politicians' ability to deliver a brighter future, with support for extremists soaring," wrote Philippe Legrain, a former adviser to the head of the European commission and the author of a recent book on the crisis, last week. "After the longest and deepest recession since the 1930s, the recovery is the flimsiest on record. Much of Europe remains lumbered with broken banks and crushing debts. Most of Europe suffers from record low investment and feeble productivity growth. All of Europe is ageing fast. Depressingly, most Europeans think younger generations will have a worse life than they do."

And when things seemed irredeemably bleak, along came Russia's Vladimir Putin, invading and destabilising Ukraine, unilaterally redrawing the map of Europe on the EU's frontier, and challenging its leaders to stop him.

On the centre left and the centre right, an immigration debate is being avoided, leaving the stage to those who shout loudest. Last October, when more than 300 refugees from north Africa drowned off the coast of Lampedusa in Italy, there was an outcry as an EU summit approached. Europe's national leaders opted to shelve the issue. Herman Van Rompuy, the European council president chairing the summit, scratched the topic from the agenda and arranged to have immigration up for debate at a summit at the end of next month. Why? Because, senior officials in Brussels said, EU leaders did not want to trigger arguments about immigration before the elections for fear of boosting the anti-immigrant campaigners.

Nice bunch of chaps eh?

That's a view commonly held among policy-makers and senior officials in Brussels. "Our government is not credible any more," said an ambassador in Brussels of one member state. "You have to tell people things they don't like. If you don't, you get a populist party. You need to let people benefit from the new Europe and it's not happening."
Another ambassador from a large member state said of the elections: "It will be a pretty large populist revolt against elites. There's a very real risk that the barbarians are at the gates and that the gates will be closed.

Voters you pillock, voters