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    State of UK Politics

    There was a time when I would get annoyed when people would say 'I don't bother voting. They're all as bad as one another'. I used to think that democracy was a great thing and that no-one should squander the right to vote.

    Now I can completely empathise with that view.

    If there were a general election tomorrow, I don't know who I would vote for. Either an independent or I would spoil my ballot paper in protest.

    It's not just the expenses scandal or the fact that two Lords may soon be suspended for accepting bribes (the first suspensions from the House of Lords since the 17th Century) but it's the way party politics gets in the way of running the country. I'm fed up with the way all parties must disagree about everything. You can bet that if one party said that the Sun rises in the East and sets in the West, the other two would dispute it. And every year it gets worse.

    We recently had the Ghurkha episode (which despite being appalling in its own right) made me aware of two interesting facts. One was that this was the first motion to be raised by an opposition party and not won by the governmant in decades. The second was that one labour MP was forced to resign from his ministerial post to vote against the Prime Minister.

    Called me daft, but isn't the point of Democracy supposed to be people voting for what they believe in? What's the point of voting for any MP if they are forced to vote with the Prime Minister and he wins nearly all the time. The big news story was that Gordon Brown had lost the vote. That this was one of the very few times democracy had worked and the lives of the Ghurkas got lost in the political wrangling.

    It seems that the MPs, political jounalists, party members and a very small section of the public live in their own bubble. David Cameron might be seen to have won an argument due to some witty retort during Prime Minister's question time, but who outside of this bubble gives a frig? Is it going to make anyone's life actually better?

    The whole system is rotten to the core. Guy Fawlkes had the right idea - blow it up and start again.

    #2
    The political system in this country has been buggered for a long, long time and clearly it isn't going to be sorted out... ever.

    Take the expenses row - in how many places would you get the same people who've been abusing a system, being the same ones to reform it?

    Yeah, that'll work.

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      #3
      Be a great time to start your own Political Party though wouldn't it

      The Purple People Party has a definate ring to it

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        #4
        Could be worse...

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          #5
          The problems are not unique to the UK. Here in Ireland, every generation of government blames corruption on the previous and yet they all end up doing the same thing.

          But these are man-made systems.

          They don't follow some divine plan. People just made up systems of rules and other people bend those rules or find loopholes to exploit them. But the point is, people just made them up.

          People seem to accept the world they are born into like there is no other way.

          But, if we created these systems, we can tear them down. As Brats says, blow it all up and start again.

          This is why I was actually hoping the banks would collapse here in Ireland. There was one day where that was hours from happening. It would have sent the country into anarchy and the government would have been torn down. I was willing to put money on the government not lasting a week if that happened. And, yeah, while the fallout would have been horrendous, the result would have been a need to rebuild pretty much from scratch.

          Sometimes, it's only by things going to complete **** that people will actually get up and contribute to making things better.

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            #6
            The current UKIP tv commercial is pretty funny so on that basis, probably get my vote.

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              #7
              To be honest, I don't give a crap about the expenses row. It's rich to hear TV presenters who earn double what MPs earn and jet across the world on (in the case of the BBC) the licence payer's expense, talk about this subject. I'm sure they don't hire accountants to ensure they pay as little tax as possible too...

              I don't really agree with the Gurkha thing. 1984 had a lot to say about the misuse of the 'our brave soldiers' thing being used to get public support. For every soldier that gets to stay in the UK, he'll bring along 3+ unskilled family members.

              But meh, I'm fed up of both these comparitively small issues filling up parliament time, talk about real issues affecting the country. Not issues that probably cost 0.0001% of GDP. I'm fed up with our rights being eroded when it comes to sex, privacy, freedom of speech and freedom whilst chavs sit their pumping out children they don't care about and don't bring up just so they can claim an extra £40 a week on benefits then whine to the sun whenever someone else has to do the parents job for them and discipline their brats.

              I'm fed up of Labour, we need a change. I'm also fed up of the "but the miners strikes..." line that always gets brought up and has helped labour stay in power so long. You should learn from the past, not let the past control you.

              </rant>

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                #8
                The way I see it the whole "smash the system" thing is a bit of an illusion. In this day and age the country is locked down so tight that the only thing that's likely to get smashed is your skull by a policeman with a riot baton.

                *paging Dave Fallows*

                I'm starting to believe that we've become so subjugated in this country that although people like to think they're railing against the system, it means nothing.

                I'd be surprised if the UK saw something akin to a revolution - the populace is far too docile now.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by abigsmurf View Post
                  It's rich to hear TV presenters who earn double what MPs earn and jet across the world on (in the case of the BBC) the licence payer's expense, talk about this subject. I'm sure they don't hire accountants to ensure they pay as little tax as possible too...
                  I totally agree with this bit. I've made my feelings known on the media being moral guardians on this forum before. They as much a bunch of parasites as any politician you care to think of.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by SharkSkin-Man View Post
                    Could be worse...

                    Yeah, tell that to the people of Zimbabwe!

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                      #11
                      Maybe we should vote BNP?
                      Last edited by El Leone; 14-05-2009, 12:43.

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                        #12
                        Don't make me godwin this thread

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by El Leone View Post
                          Maybe we should vote BNP?
                          I'm struggling to see how putting a massive bunch of racists in charge will sort anything out.

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                            #14
                            Well you see, once we get rid of all the minorities, non-christians and gays most of the jobs will be freed up meanin' the British people will have jobs and then we'll start making money again thus fixing the economy. Then we can deny the holocaust (jews are just attention seeking) and we'll all be super happy because the crime rates will have dropped because only minorities perform crimes and there will no longer be any teenage pregnancies because all the gays will be gone.

                            Now do you see?

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                              #15
                              Politicians should get paid the minimum wage. Then you'd get people doing it because they wanted to, not because they are power hungry egotistical maniacs who feed off risk and reward and are all quite happy to bend the rules as far as possible for their own gain and for short term kudos.

                              I'm guessing many decisions are made purely to keep your party in power in the short term rather than because it might actually be useful to the country. Which if true, sucks badly. Not that I can see any way of changing this. Apart from the wage reduction as above.

                              I'm guessing Brats wanted a serious discussion, so please keep the thread on track. Thanks.

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