The Politics Thread

[Verbal]

When I am distressed with our major parties (which is often) I tend to vote for the Green Party - surely there is a better fourth option than the BNP in the UK.

They aren't even fourth at the minute, though I suspect at the next General Election (considering what has gone on and the calls of Tebbit & co.) this will change. In terms of votes, the Greens are 6th and the BNP 7th. In the last election the Greens got nearly 100,000 more votes than the BNP (283,414 compared to 192745, although in fairness the treehuggers had 84 more candidates...). As well as the main three parties, this is less than UKIP (605,973) and the SNP (412,267).

In terms of % change from previous years, UKIP did the best, with a 0.8% increase. I'd expect a few more UKIP MPs come the next GE, possibly a BNP candidate and even less likely a Green candidate.

[Montreal Wanderer]

When I am distressed with our major parties (which is often) I tend to vote for the Green Party - surely there is a better fourth option than the BNP in the UK.

They aren't even fourth at the minute, though I suspect at the next General Election (considering what has gone on and the calls of Tebbit & co.) this will change. In terms of votes, the Greens are 6th and the BNP 7th. In the last election the Greens got nearly 100,000 more votes than the BNP (283,414 compared to 192745, although in fairness the treehuggers had 84 more candidates...). As well as the main three parties, this is less than UKIP (605,973) and the SNP (412,267).

In terms of % change from previous years, UKIP did the best, with a 0.8% increase. I'd expect a few more UKIP MPs come the next GE, possibly a BNP candidate and even less likely a Green candidate.

Over here we don't have an independence (from a larger union) party or a 'racist' one. Other than the three main parties, we do have an equivalent of the SNP - the Bloc Quebecois who seek independence for Quebec, or some form of sovereignty association with the rest of Canada who have a number of seats - but I would never vote for them. So the Greens are actually fifth. Behind them there are about five different kinds of communists, the Marijuana Party (who have a single plank in their platform - no prize for guessing) and the Rhinos who are our amusing loonies. If the Greens stood a serious chance of forming the government or even holding the balance of power in a minority government (we get a lot of those), I might rethink my protest vote.

[Verbal]

I think you'll be hard pressed to find a minority goernment in the UK for some time if we carry on with the FPTP system - it renders half the votes cast pointless, favours the big parties and has lead to strong government. At least in a minority government, parties with few MPs can hold sway on some votes.

Our very own Legalise Cannabis Alliance 6,950 votes in 2005, which was less than the National Front but more than the Commies. Some other parties who got votes include Death, Dungeons & Taxes, the Telepathic Partnership and the Removal of Tetramasts in Cornwall.

[TANGODANCER]

There is of course, the Monster Raving Loony Party, ever present in our ranks.

[superjohnmcginlay]

There is of course, the Monster Raving Loony Party, ever present in our ranks.

If you believe them, they've come up with policies that have been adopted. From their site:

LOONY IDEAS HIJACKED & INTRODUCED BY SERIOUS POLITICIANS

Reducing the voting age from 21 to 18 years old. (Introduced by Harold Wilson)
Abolition of the dog licence. (Another stolen Sutch idea)
Legalisation of commercial radio stations. (Introduced by Ted Heath)
Pedestrianising Carnaby Street to make it safer. (Loony campaign issue in the 1970 General Election)
All day opening of pubs. (Taken by Margaret Thatcher) God bless them for this
Abolition of the 11+ examinations. (Introduced by a Labour government)
Passports for Pets. (Introduced by a Labour government in recent years)
Ramps on buses to facilitate access for the elderly & disabled. (We now see kneeling buses frequently in service in the UK)
Putting parliament on wheels and traveling around the UK to give everyone a go rather than being centralised in London. (Sounds a little bit like devolution and regional assemblies doesn't it?)
Honouring 'The Beatles' with knighthoods. (Just another loony idea which wasn't quite so loony in the end)
Heated bus shelters (Some councils have started to introduce this loony idea)

.....AND THOSE STILL UNDER CONSIDERATION BUT PRESENTED AS IDEAS FROM PLAGIARISING SERIOUS PARTIES

Reducing the voting age from 18 to 16 years old (Hijacked as a campaign issue by the Liberal Democrats)

[Verbal]

One of their policies I think was to introduce a 99p coin. That would have been hilarious.

[superjohnmcginlay]

One of their policies I think was to introduce a 99p coin. That would have been hilarious.

It was in the 2005 manifesto. "To save on change".

[Verbal]

One of their policies I think was to introduce a 99p coin. That would have been hilarious.

It was in the 2005 manifesto. "To save on change".

See, even their talk about change has been hijacked.

[Montreal Wanderer]

I think you'll be hard pressed to find a minority goernment in the UK for some time if we carry on with the FPTP system - it renders half the votes cast pointless, favours the big parties and has lead to strong government. At least in a minority government, parties with few MPs can hold sway on some votes.

Our very own Legalise Cannabis Alliance 6,950 votes in 2005, which was less than the National Front but more than the Commies. Some other parties who got votes include Death, Dungeons & Taxes, the Telepathic Partnership and the Removal of Tetramasts in Cornwall.

We have the same FPTP system but get minorities just about as often as majorities, partly because the Bloc Quebecois get a lot of formerly Liberal seats in Quebec.

[Athers]

Just seen a laughably amateur party broadcast from the BNP. The people apart from Griffin who they picked to speak were classic - one councillor could barely read and an events organiser woman read from the autocue like a child in primary school.

[Verbal]

Just seen a laughably amateur party broadcast from the BNP. The people apart from Griffin who they picked to speak were classic - one councillor could barely read and an events organiser woman read from the autocue like a child in primary school.

Just saw that myself. Looked like an ad for direct line!

[Athers]

Don't worry though mate they've put up two CCTV cameras in the midlands.

[Athers]

UKIP's flyer in my postbox and they've got a big picture of Churchill on it - a cheap move from any party to use a dead politician on their campaign who can't answer as to whether he'd support their views or not.

From memory he wanted a United States of Europe didn't he? Though he was pro-Empire and I assume didn't think we'd need to be in such a thing.

[TANGODANCER]

Politics are crazy things. "Africa begins at the Pyrenees" was often said of Spain because they were so far behind and "different" to anyone else. Now, Catalunya and the Basque regions (as totally seperate entities) are both wanting diversification from Spain as the mother country. Ireland has suffered this in-fighting divide for almost a century, Wales and Scotland have no real desire to be associated with England as a unit, so what next? The Republic of Birmingham, the Scouse Republic or the Unified Yorkshire Teritories? Crackers, the lot of them. One day Britain will wake up to the fact that one of the worlds most civilised and organised countries in going steadily backwards due to its inability to find a governing body that can run the country in a civilised fashion. The Gunboat Empire is long dead, get a grip and realise it you so called politicians.

[hisroyalgingerness]

It's a sad irony in our nation's history that we deposed scandalous, greedy monarchs who weren't particularly acting in our best interests and put men of the people at the top of the tree to make decisions on our behalf. Now it's those men (and women) of the people who are scandalous and greedy and (some) of our royalty are repsected throughout the world - saving rainforests, helping disadvantaged youngsters and fighting our enemies.

I said at the time of the bank collapses that we're only angry as the horse has bolted, and this is similar. The disturbing thing is what else are they hiding? They've hidden a shoddy financial monitoring system and a pisspoor expenses system from us. What else are they fecking up?

[TANGODANCER]

Tonight, I found myself listening with some interest to the English Democrat Party. I've heard much worse.

[Prufrock]

Tonight, I found myself listening with some interest to the English Democrat Party. I've heard much worse.

Last time I read one of their things, was a leaflette for their London Mayor candidate. On their list of proposals was pulling out of Europe, which, aside from being mental, doesn't, last time I checked, fall under the remit of London Mayor. Their nothing more than another mental UKIP-esque (not quite BNP) bunch of quasi-racist mentalists, who more importantly, are idiots.

[TANGODANCER]

Tonight, I found myself listening with some interest to the English Democrat Party. I've heard much worse.

Last time I read one of their things, was a leaflette for their London Mayor candidate. On their list of proposals was pulling out of Europe, which, aside from being mental, doesn't, last time I checked, fall under the remit of London Mayor. Their nothing more than another mental UKIP-esque (not quite BNP) bunch of quasi-racist mentalists, who more importantly, are idiots.

So you read a leaflet and decided they were idiots, racists and mentalists. Hmm, not bad from one leaflet. Whilst having nothing more than an interest to listen (well, after all, we have such a great choice of people to run our country, don't we) I'm not quite as quick to write anyone off as idiots without knowing a little more about them. Course, we can always stick with the ones doing such a marvellous job of shafting the country right now I suppose.

[InsaneApache]

Why's leaving the EU mental? That's not what we signed up for. The first time my (elder)brother voted was on the EEC referendum. No mention in that about having our laws set by Bruxelles. Think that our MPs are troughing on the gravy train? Wait until we manage to wrangle the MEP expenses! (Which we won't)

Seriously guys, it is time that we started to look at the policies of the small parties. After all, we've seen what the main ones do with our money.

[Bruce Rioja]

Seriously guys, it is time that we started to look at the policies of the small parties. After all, we've seen what the main ones do with our money.

Is exactly what I'm thinking just now. Also, Prufrock, how come nationalism automatically equals racism in your book?