British Politics

[skdadl]

The Lib-Dems started as a cowardly form of Labour, and then New Labour became a different sort of cowardly form of Labour, so labour/social-dem politics in the UK is really quite a mess, as we can see from current elxn results.

I suspect that Mr Clegg's little adventure is going to end with the Lib-Dems being wiped out, and maybe the Old Labour rump will rise again. Or something. But it is a mess.

Meanwhile, the SNP has its first majority in the Scottish parliament, which probably means a referendum on independence w/i four years. I'm not sure the independence option would pass -- Scots vote in elections rather as Quebeckers do, often mainly in protest, but that doesn't mean they want the end of the union. Or it could.

[Croghan27]

Meanwhile, the SNP has its first majority in the Scottish parliament, which
probably means a referendum on independence w/i four years. I'm not sure the
independence option would pass

Another venue I visited observed that once the independence position was front and center on the SNP website: now it is buried back in one of the links. The suggestion being that this reflects it's priority.
 
As for: "I suspect that Mr Clegg's little adventure is going to end with the Lib-Dems being wiped out"  you may indeed be correct - ever since Andrew Boner Law (a good New Brunswick boy) ousted Lloyd George the party has been in decline. Only once, in a coalition with Labour, no less, have their fortunes improved.
 
If so, I for one. shall be saddened. Since before the War they have been the home of kooks, oddballs, and those rejected by the left, right and even the center - should they disappear from the knowledge of men then perhaps this 21st century is too humourless for me. 

[skdadl]

Well, the Lib Dems aren't exactly the old Liberal party, which had really ceased to matter in UK politics by the 1980s, although some members held on by tradition. What took on new life was what began as a split from Labour -- the Soc Dems -- who were soft Labour, didn't like Old Labour, and who carried on on their own for a few years, and then they and the Libs joined up. But it was the Soc Dems who had the wind in their sails and the leading figures, some of whom had been prominent Labourites.

[Toedancer]

Cameron quietly resigns as a patron for the Jewish National Fund

- it says time constraints, but that can't be since previous PM's had no trouble
-winds of change? re: the Arab Spring, because let's face it Cameroon is as right wing con as Harper is. Or is this very subtle sign to go back to 1967 borders for a peace deal?

[Croghan27]

It looks like British Conservatives are even dumber that Canadian ones. Two of Cameron's ministers are in deep doodoo.
 
The Osborne Plan for the economy, a typical con plan of cuts to services and then further cuts to services, is not working. Even some Tories admit that:

 

 George Osborne plan isn't working, say top UK economists
 
Former Tory backers voice concern
over government's economic policy as critics say chancellor needs plan B

and the David Willetts plan to triple university tuitions is opposed by Oxford and Cambridge dons ..... one, his former tutor, has a beautiful comment about him:
 

"He has got the kind of open-mindedness which enables him to see the
value of a whole range of points of view, especially that of the person he last
talked to."

Not quite a sign in the House of Lords ... but not too bad. 

[Toedancer]

I'm sure many of you, like me, having been watching the total anarchy in the city of London and in many communities all around. I've been waiting for some journo to finally say the democratic institutions and the pretty boy bourgeoisie who run them, along with the unelected media are all dysfunctional/incompetent and impotent to do anything useful. After 4 nights I suppose This is a Beginning.

Two nights ago Cameron refused to leave Italy and his tennis lessons. Now he's got 16,000 cops out on the streets. I don't know about rubber bullets, tear gas or even a curfew as of yet (things have quieted down somewhat) but I see the Met has interesting directions for shopkeepers - someone will have to explain this to me.

Reasonable Force

Does the law protect me? What is 'reasonable force'?
Anyone can use reasonable force to protect themselves or others, or to carry out an arrest or to prevent crime. You are not expected to make fine judgements over the level of force you use in the heat of the moment. So long as you only do what you honestly and instinctively believe is necessary in the heat of the moment that would be the strongest evidence of you acting lawfully and in self-defence. This is still the case if you use something to hand as a weapon.
 As a general rule, the more extreme the circumstances and the fear felt, the more force you can lawfully use in self-defence.

If that advice was given during the riots, can u imagine what could of have happened between shopkeepers and the criminal element/thugs? What does - 'use something to hand as a weapon' mean? It seems a peculiar way to put things, no?

[lagatta]

Shirley Murgraff, an elderly East-Ender and former educator, remembers a pre-NHS Britain and doesn't want to see a post-NHS one:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/07/nhs-uk-uncut-protest

This is about Britain but is relevant here or anywhere there is a National Health system.

[Toedancer]

Cameroon is a traitor to the people he is supposed to serve. Anti-democratic NWO prick. 81 Tories defied Cameroon's whip.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15442765


There will be no referendum for the people to stay in the EU! Apparently the 'national interest' comes before the peoples interest. The motion called for a referendum on whether the UK should stay in the EU, leave it or renegogiate is membership.


70% of voters polled wanted a say, and 49% polled wanted to leave the EU. Bad odds for Cameroon. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/24/eu-referendum-poll-uk-withdrawal


And to think the spoiled little pood-face campaigned anti-EU! His ass is going to be spanked and boy will he be surprised.

[Toedancer]

Pudgy cheek, overfed milksop Cameroon has made it impossible to march or protest in England. Everyone on benefits who happens to be charged at a demonstration of any kind will have 25 pounds deducted from their benefits. Now that's pure and simply a hatred of the 99%. That kind of vile agenda is too easily missed and this is how Cameroon as a shill of elite bankers and corporate serving whores chip away at sovereign rights and freedom. IMF is the Global Bank, NATO is the one world army, WHO the one world health government, WTO one world trade, wtf are we all being introduced to? OWS message of non-violent action cannot be sustained in this culture of total control.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15503503

[sparqui]

The contempt for the poor has been growing for a long time but in these past few weeks, it's now freaking evident that that contempt extends to anyone struggling to make a living. 

[Toedancer]

This 'test case' bullshit has to STOP! A student may be extradicted to the AmeriKa


http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jan/13/tvshack-student-founder-extradition

However, Purdy noted that visitors to the site had to register, and could post their own links. He ruled that the case met the test of so-called dual liability, also dismissing arguments that extradition would be a breach of O'Dwyer's human rights.The student, whose father, Peter, is a retired GP in Bolsover, Derbyshire, remains on bail and will appeal.
His mother, Julia, wept outside Westminster magistrates court following the decision and condemned the controversial 2003 extradition treatybetween the UK and US as unbalanced.
"Look at how many people we send over there, and how few come here," she said. "If they can come for Richard they can come for anyone." O'Dwyer's family and other supporters say his case is similar to that of Gary McKinnon, the computer hacker who has spent years fighting US extradition.

If Britain abandons it's citizens, we know sure as dogshit on a hockeystick Harper will abandon Canadians, so PISS on that. I guess corporations and sites are People now? How the fuck can the US court dictate what law someone not in the U.S. must obey? What happened to territorial jurisdiction, is the UK now part of the NAU? Has it now become Either your with us OR your with the pirates? I'm so disgusted I could SPIT! This a 23 year old young man, my gawd, he could be our son, nephew, brother, uncle, boyfriend, whatever.

[Toedancer]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/19/uk-government-to-demand-access-to-all-phone-and-internet-user-data/  more detail @ Telegraph  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/9090617/Phone-and-email-records-to-be-stored-in-new-spy-plan.html


The Brits have no shame whatsoever. Nor the Americans, nor the Canadians. This is going to be a done deal whether we like it or not. Basically they are all identical, no coincidence.


Personally I grow disinterested and very weary and will turn ev. OFF. What a bunch of annoying misfits, pricks, losers and tossers they are. Thankfully I retain the gift of common sense. Is the Internet too big to fail?

[Toedancer]

LMAO @ Peter Hitchens on the EU.  http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/debate/article-2146903/Why-defeat-evil-empire--embrace-stupid-one.html

If the old USSR was an Evil Empire – and it was – the EU is the Stupid Empire. Obsessed with the idea that the nation state is obsolete, the EU has sought to bind its colonies tightly, while pretending they are still independent.

This is why what is essentially a modern German empire is not held together by armies, but by a sticky web of regulations and a currency that destroys prosperity wherever it is introduced (with one important exception, Germany itself, for whom the euro means cheap exports to Asia).

-snip-

Old-fashioned empires were at least honest.They marched in, plundered everything they could cart away, killed or imprisoned resisters, suborned collaborators, and imposed their language on the conquered.Other humiliating measures followed – forcing the newly-subject people to live according to the invader’s time, to pay special taxes to their new masters, to surrender control of their borders, to use the invader’s weights and measures, salute the invader’s flag and obey the invader’s laws.Eventually, after a few years of imposed occupation money, set at a viciously rigged exchange rate, the subjugated nation’s economy would have been reduced to such a devastated and dependent state that it could be forced to accept the imperial currency.  

[lagatta]

Toe, the Mail on Sunday is a particularly reactionary and racist newspaper. I really don't understand why you are referencing that piece of shit. There are many more progressive critiques of the current form of the European Union.

[Toedancer]

Agreed, just found it particularly entertaining.