State of UK Politics

[El Leone]

You know, the problems we have politics over here don't seem so bad when you look at what's happening in the US right now...

[KIT786]

The Pirate Party - which won a surprise seat in the European Parliament in Sweden - has launched in the UK.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8199143.stm

[Orgun]

Well, I know who i'll be voting for

[abigsmurf]

MPs are treated like they are nationalised.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/6015434/Alan-Duncan-MPs-are-treated-like--and-have-to-survive-on-rations.html

You know what, MPs are nationalised. It is a public service.
This is not a backbencher either, he is shadow leader of the commons!
I find it really uncomfortable how dismissive he is of nationalised/ public services.

That story annoyed me, but not for the reason most tabloid readers were annoyed.

Are MPs not allowed to say anything in private? Are they supposed to be automatons who only say things that are in line with the party 24/7? The prospect of essentially outlawing independent thinking by MPs (through trial by media) is scary as hell.

£67k is a lot more than most people get, but being an MP is a high level job that has a hell of a lot more scrutiny than an average job. Living in London and generally maintaining the expected appearance and behaviour of an MP knocks a huge chunk off their wages (especially as a lot of these things won't be claimed for on expenses now).

No you don't won't politicians in the job for the money but you also really don't want politicians who are running short on money either. Positions of power + desperate for money aren't a good combination.

Or maybe we should have it like America where the majority of high level politicians are people rich to begin with or backed by companies.

[saif]

That story annoyed me, but not for the reason most tabloid readers were annoyed.

Are MPs not allowed to say anything in private? Are they supposed to be automatons who only say things that are in line with the party 24/7?........


......Or maybe we should have it like America where the majority of high level politicians are people rich to begin with or backed by companies.

I agree actually, MPs could be paid more. MPs should be allowed to say things in private, but that should match with what they say in public - otherwise they are lying in public. For me, that is the story here - more of a "they are lying".
MPs are quite well paid but not amazingly - they do have the opportunity to earn plenty of cash in other ways though. People should be made aware of the spin behind these initiatives. Now, Cameron has said ministers will take a pay cut which sounds great. This is blatantly so they can try and get pay cuts off everyone else. The difference is, the next front bench are all independently wealthy (usually through family...) and so the drop in income is not that onerous at all. At all. Do people know what the Bullingdon club is? You don't get in there by being poor at university. So do not try and pretend that you know what it is like for the majority of people when told about pay cuts.

[abigsmurf]

Oh joy. Another round of expense bollocks.

I
DO
NOT
CARE

Stop wasting parliament time and racking up costs many times more than the expenses themselves investigating and reporting on it. So they claimed excessive amounts in a fully legal manner. It pisses me off that the 'public' you see making all these comments are the same people who are probably abusing the family allowance or claiming tax credits in exactly the same manner (these are meant to help the poor, not provide extra income to people on average wages).

Can we please move on to something else. We're overdue an election now, how about setting a date?

[PeteJ]

I agree with the masses on this, the issue won't go away until those that made unreasonable claims are forced out. Paying back the money is the very least they need to do.

White collar benefit cheats.

[Kieran76]

It's quite simple, there will be an election in the next nine months. Have a quick look at what your current MP has been up to and vote accordingly.
I bet a lot of the people moaning about this sort aren't even registered voters.

[abigsmurf]

Indeed, don't like your MP's actions? Don't vote for him.If someone stands down or loses their place, let it be at the ballot box. Not trial by media.

[merf]

so we've reached the point where enough idiots vote for the BNP to qualify them for a slot on Question Time.

whilst I have no doubt in my mind to many right thinking people his poor appearance on this program will have no effect on their voting what does bother me is that many will just hear some soundbites, such as the 'indiginous Brits are our Aborigini's or Native Americans' and vote for them.

its a sad indictment on our traditional parties that people feel a vote for this lot is a sensible option but does indicate the strength of feeling and failing of the immigration policies of recent years.

[prinnysquad]

GMTV did a collage of these soundbites today, totally out of context, and frankly they made him sound almost credible.

I watched that tawdry programme last night and hated the entire thing. I despise Griffin and his cretinous party, but the behaviour on QT of the audience and the panel was pathetic. It was like bear baiting, with the panellists and the audience ganging up on the fool. Comments were shouted at him with plenty of finger pointing, making him look almost like a victim. The whole affair could have been conducted so much more productively if they engaged with his arguments (rather than shouting them down after half a sentence) and tore them apart in a civilised, calm manner.

The man's understanding of history is bad. His policies prey on economic frustration. But that episode last night was very poor. The Tory made perhaps the most incisive comment when she said that many people who voted BNP aren't racist, rather panicked by the apparent influx of immigrants, and the effect it has on communities, housing, and national and local economies.

[merf]

I saw the in depth GMTV report on this, all 3 mins of it (I was reading Digitiser).

To me this is the problem, watch the program (which as you say Prinny was lousy) and he was shifty, unbelievable and no right minded person could possibly vote for him or his lot. But a few out of context quotes in the lower end of the press and their target audience could be swayed.

There is a problem in this country, caused by the mainstream political parties and their policies. These BNP guys are just the latest to prey on it . The same has happened throughout history in many countries and like previously it seems to worryingly be reaching a mass of support here. 800k votes at the last Euro elections

[abigsmurf]

As much as the BNP are a loathsome party, they are still a political party and deserve treatment as such. They got 6% of the votes in the MEP elections, that cannot be ignored.

There is a lot of bitterness to our immigration policies which provided an open door to EU members. The government refused for a long time to address these policies and accused people of racism when they brought them up. There has already been a huge amount of anger regarding asylum seekers which wasn't properly address in the publics eye then, the government allowed in enough Polish and eastern European workers to fill a large sized city (when there is already a strain on UK housing). France and Germany didn't let so many people in yet we did.

These issues have been ignored by Labour and the Tories are too scared at being branded racist (and getting their old image brought up) to do properly press the government like they should. As such, people are turning to the only party that's strongly against immigration.

You've gotta admire the irony of an anti-fascism protest group (aggressively) protesting against legitimate political debate because they dislike one of the parties. Kinda cements the view that free speech in the UK has come to mean "freedom of speech that I approve of".

the BNP is full of scum but to use a famous quote: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

[endo]

Absolutely full of scum, but like you said if we don't allow them their say then we don't effectively have freedom of speech. I was reading counter-arguments yesterday that largely revolve around points like 'what if there was a party that advocated slavery/lowering the age of consent to 10, would we allow them their say?' etc. basically saying we should have free speech, but we should also draw a line between what is and isn't acceptable. How that line could ever be drawn, and by whom, I have no idea.

[gunrock]

Aren't we free to go and work in other EU memeber states? How many British people live in the Spanish Costa's? I'm sure local people get annoyed by all the old fogeys and cockney geezers, who live in their British ghetto's insisting on speaking only English, drinking in 'British' pubs and rejecting 'all that foreign muck', whilst increasing local house prices and bringing down the tone of the place to that of Chatham-on-sea.