The Politics Thread

[Bruce Rioja]

Alternatively- shoot all of the above. Appoint those willing to rule in the interests of the disadvantaged working class. Shoot the work shy. Put all those who havent done a decent days work in their lives in labour camps (bankers, profiteers and landowners and the privately educated). Abolish private wealth. Invest in adult literacy, the Arts and sport (for propaganda purposes as well as intrinsic value). Its the coming thing folks!!!

Well, you will go around demanding your own Parliament.

[Hoboh]

Threads about religion and politics almost always end in tears....or locked. I know...

Tears of laughter at random outbursts of passionate class hatred?!

Class has nowt to do with it!!! Try Envy.

Many a knob talks in a posh accent as many a knob talks in a gruff Northern accent

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Many a knob talks in a posh accent as many a knob talks in a gruff Northern accent

Sure.

And it is as Bernard Shaw said: "It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him."

We all offend somebody.

[KeeeeeeeBaaaaaaab]

I'm going to use that all the time now. Especially to Arsenal fans.

[CrazyHorse]

Shame.No good my pretending to be mad, dear boy. Who would notice another lunatic around here?

Hmmmm, fortunately they have not yet taken over the asylum... though we do have our concerns about CrazyHorse, from time to time.

Hoss =

[Hoboh]

Many a knob talks in a posh accent as many a knob talks in a gruff Northern accent

Sure.

And it is as Benard Shaw said: "It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him."
We all offend somebody.

Posh b*gger!

[InsaneApache]

You could not make this up. On the day the nation was convulsed by the row over the building of the third runway at Heathrow, the government slipped into parliament one of the most self-serving pieces of legislation in modern times.

Harriet Harman, the leader of the house, got Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to table a parliamentary order that will exempt all MPs and peers from having to release detailed expenses under the Freedom of Information Act.

The order, which will come into force 24 hours after being debated next week in parliament, will stop in its tracks all the victories won by campaigners and journalists to bring full transparency to individual MPs' expenditure on travel, equipping their second or constituency homes, staffing, office details and individual travel receipts by air, rail and car.

The timing is extraordinary. The parliamentary authorities were poised to release a mindboggling 1.2m pieces of papers detailing three years' individual expenses after a two-year battle covering all but the Sinn Féin MPs. The public had already had a foretaste of what was come last year when a limited release of expenditure for a small number of MPs revealed lots of detail - from the £1,920 pergola and plants ordered by Margaret Beckett for her constituency home to Barbara Follett, the wife of the successful author, Ken Follett, and Labour MP for Stevenage claiming £1,600 for cleaning the windows of her London home.

Now none of this will become public, and all existing FOI requests will be blocked. There is an alternative disclosure scheme planned but it will not provide the detail. And the public suspicion of MPs will grow. Everyone will think their elected representatives have something to hide.

As the tribunal ruling that backed openness said: "The laxity of and lack of clarity in the rules for ACA (additional costs allowance for second homes) is redolent of a culture very different from that which exists in the commercial sphere or in most other public sector organisations today. In our judgment these features, coupled with the very limited nature of the checks, constitute a recipe for confusion, inconsistency and the risk of misuse."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog ... eofcommons

Remember all this when you vote sometime these next 12 months. I will. I don't care who the sitting MP is, I won't be voting for any incumbent regardless of political affiliation. I suggest everyone does the same and throw these money grasping bastards out. All of them.

[TANGODANCER]

Problem is , the British are so soft they'll moan about it then just sit back and accept it. If the real truth were known about how many of these wastrels were scrounging a good living off the tax-paying public it would cause a riot in any other country. Taking the pxxs grand style and making their own laws to enable them to do it.

[Verbal]

I'm working on a research paper about this at the minute, and I can tell you the amount of money put aside to 'aide' MPs is absolutely ridiculous.

[Worthy4England]

You could not make this up. On the day the nation was convulsed by the row over the building of the third runway at Heathrow, the government slipped into parliament one of the most self-serving pieces of legislation in modern times.

Harriet Harman, the leader of the house, got Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to table a parliamentary order that will exempt all MPs and peers from having to release detailed expenses under the Freedom of Information Act.

The order, which will come into force 24 hours after being debated next week in parliament, will stop in its tracks all the victories won by campaigners and journalists to bring full transparency to individual MPs' expenditure on travel, equipping their second or constituency homes, staffing, office details and individual travel receipts by air, rail and car.

The timing is extraordinary. The parliamentary authorities were poised to release a mindboggling 1.2m pieces of papers detailing three years' individual expenses after a two-year battle covering all but the Sinn Féin MPs. The public had already had a foretaste of what was come last year when a limited release of expenditure for a small number of MPs revealed lots of detail - from the £1,920 pergola and plants ordered by Margaret Beckett for her constituency home to Barbara Follett, the wife of the successful author, Ken Follett, and Labour MP for Stevenage claiming £1,600 for cleaning the windows of her London home.

Now none of this will become public, and all existing FOI requests will be blocked. There is an alternative disclosure scheme planned but it will not provide the detail. And the public suspicion of MPs will grow. Everyone will think their elected representatives have something to hide.

As the tribunal ruling that backed openness said: "The laxity of and lack of clarity in the rules for ACA (additional costs allowance for second homes) is redolent of a culture very different from that which exists in the commercial sphere or in most other public sector organisations today. In our judgment these features, coupled with the very limited nature of the checks, constitute a recipe for confusion, inconsistency and the risk of misuse."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog ... eofcommons

Remember all this when you vote sometime these next 12 months. I will. I don't care who the sitting MP is, I won't be voting for any incumbent regardless of political affiliation. I suggest everyone does the same and throw these money grasping bastards out. All of them.

I think I probably come from t'other side of the political fence IA, but I'm with you on this. they spend a lot of time criticising businesses for "excess" but I've yet to see anyone successfully get money for cleaning the windows at their home address in private companies, think I'm going to make a bid for a pergola in this weeks exes though.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

So.... Obama is in. After fluffing his lines when swearing the oath, and then delivering a speech without a single memorable moment, all the time his twin teleprompter arrangement making him look like he was following a tennis match.....

....perhaps he is already trying to manage expectation.

[superjohnmcginlay]

So.... Obama is in. After fluffing his lines when swearing the oath, and then delivering a speech without a single memorable moment, all the time his twin teleprompter arrangement making him look like he was following a tennis match.....

....perhaps he is already trying to manage expectation.

Oh I dunno. I thought the speech was alright, quite powerful. And Im firmly in the "completely fooking sick of hearing about it, stop blubbing and gushing you annoying American idiots, why are we having bloody partys about it in Britain" camp.

[keveh]

So.... Obama is in. After fluffing his lines when swearing the oath, and then delivering a speech without a single memorable moment, all the time his twin teleprompter arrangement making him look like he was following a tennis match.....

....perhaps he is already trying to manage expectation.

That wasn't really his fault, he also corrected one of the lines read out to him.

I agree that there wasn't really anything that stood out in the speech, but I like how he basically said "our country is in the shit, don't get carried away just because I'm black".

[InsaneApache]

Wait! Obamas black?

[Athers]

Dunno about you Mummy (and anyone else) but I really wasn't comfortable with the (very conservative) pastor's long prayer and all the talk of God at the inauguration, but then it's America and not my country.

Good chance that at some point they'll have had one or more Presidents who don't believe in a God of course.

[Puskas]

Good chance that at some point they'll have had one or more Presidents who don't believe in a God of course.

Not for a few years, yet. At least not one who'll admit to it...

[warthog]

So.... Obama is in. After fluffing his lines when swearing the oath, and then delivering a speech without a single memorable moment, all the time his twin teleprompter arrangement making him look like he was following a tennis match.....

....perhaps he is already trying to manage expectation.

Aye. Bush was always shit hot at speeches.

[Athers]

Good chance that at some point they'll have had one or more Presidents who don't believe in a God of course.

Not for a few years, yet. At least not one who'll admit to it...

Not for a long long time one who'll admit it but in 44 there's a decent chance at least 1 has just lied about their faith I reckon.

[BWFC_Insane]

So.... Obama is in. After fluffing his lines when swearing the oath, and then delivering a speech without a single memorable moment, all the time his twin teleprompter arrangement making him look like he was following a tennis match.....

....perhaps he is already trying to manage expectation.

A speech full of common sense and staightforward ideas brilliantly delivered. What a disaster that was?

Mind you probably liked George I.Q. of a 1 year old Bush.

To quote the great Dylan "the times they are a changin"

Conservatism is dying!

[InsaneApache]

I wonder if Colonel Washington had athiest leanings?

The declaration of independence and the constitution of the US is one of the most uplfting and enlightened proclaimation in history. If not the most.