General Election 2015

[beorhthelm]

Can we add energy security to this?

yes please. this and housing should be two of the biggest if not the biggest election issues. none of the main party have anything on energy, as i understand it several power stations are planned to shutdown in during the next parliament.

 

[Gwylan]

Democracy - I would introduce direct democracy, this is where people can vote on issues that affect them rather than politicians doing it for us. One example of how this could be done, is by if a petition gets x amount of signatures on any issue, a mandatory referendum is held.

I hate the idea of government by referendum: does it really solve underlying problems? The Scots had a referendum six months ago: has it sorted out the independence question?

And you could get into the mess that Switzerland got into when it voted to ban all immigrants, ignoring the fact that Switzerland had a treaty with the EU giving right of entry. They're still trying to work out how to get out of that one

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Housing crisis - I would limit the amount of properties any person or organisation can own.

Democracy - I would introduce direct democracy, this is where people can vote on issues that affect them rather than politicians doing it for us. One example of how this could be done, is by if a petition gets x amount of signatures on any issue, a mandatory referendum is held.

That would cause chaos.

The cost of a referendum is huge. Also it would mean minority groups winning due to apathy of the majority. It's bad enough getting the public to vote now.

 

[spring hall convert]

none of the main party have anything on energy

Here's my take, the main parties game is to wait until fracking can be presented as a genuine 'keeping the lights on' situation. Whatever the cut of you cloth, energy policy has been mismanaged for a very long time now.

 

[Hampster Gull]

The problem is, if you boil down any political party to this kind of trite soundbite, you can make them sound however you want.

Agree it's trite but needs to be put in context of the comment I was responding too, which was also in part tongue in cheek. And yes, I think politicians are a fairly horrible bunch. However the core values of the parties and the direction they take us is important and that

 

[spring hall convert]

The cost of a referendum is huge. Also it would mean minority groups winning due to apathy of the majority. It's bad enough getting the public to vote now.

Only because it suits establishment interests to keep it huge. The technology exists now to have a far more direct democracy. Instead we are watching a load of prats in wigs, fartarsing around like it's 1750.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Only because it suits establishment interests to keep it huge. The technology exists now to have a far more direct democracy. Instead we are watching a load of prats in wigs, fartarsing around like it's 1750.

Still doesn't deal with apathy.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Housing crisis - I would limit the amount of properties any person or organisation can own.

Democracy - I would introduce direct democracy, this is where people can vote on issues that affect them rather than politicians doing it for us. One example of how this could be done, is by if a petition gets x amount of signatures on any issue, a mandatory referendum is held.

I am sure a variant of the latter could be effective in engaging people and taking some power away from politicians.

On housing , I would not limit demand but increase supply. There is lots of brownfield space.

 

[Triggaaar]

Housing crisis - I would limit the amount of properties any person or organisation can own.

So people with several properties will create different organisations to own their properties. More work for accountants.

Democracy - I would introduce direct democracy

What do you mean, you would? Why don't you? Why don't you enter the election and tell people of your ideas, and see if it's what the people want? And if you don't want to be elected, why don't you find someone who has similar views who does want to be elected, and you can help them campaign. If the people agree with you, it would happen.

 

[spring hall convert]

Still doesn't deal with apathy.

It would help.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

So people with several properties will create different organisations to own their properties. More work for accountants.

A quick win would be to not include interest as a tax deductible expense for rental income. Simple, clear, and effective and a deterrent against multiple home ownership.

 

[spring hall convert]

One example is if there was a referendum on the legalisation of cannabis, a problem that none of the main parties are brave enough to address - despite the public so universally accepting it as common sense..

I strongly suspect the big breweries still wield a lot of influence in this country and would kick up a major stink if this were on the table.

 

[Triggaaar]

I don't have the required skills, reputation or resources to realistically win 500 votes, let alone the amount that it would take to have any kind of influence

Then find some other people that agree with you, and together you can.

You believe we should have direct democracy. Obviously it goes without saying that would only be an option if the people of this country agree with you. If they do, it should be easy to get votes, as there's no other party to compete with you. It would also be easy to spread your word thanks to the internet.

the same applies to all of us, which is partly why this archaic democratic system is barely democratic at all.

Nonsense. If you have an idea that people believe in, it would be easy to win votes.

But that's the problem with your idea - other people don't agree with you. Post a poll asking NSC if we'd like to have direct democracy in place of our current system, and see how many people would like it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I hate the idea of government by referendum: does it really solve underlying problems? The Scots had a referendum six months ago: has it sorted out the independence question?

And you could get into the mess that Switzerland got into when it voted to ban all immigrants, ignoring the fact that Switzerland had a treaty with the EU giving right of entry. They're still trying to work out how to get out of that one

This.

 

[Triggaaar]

A quick win would be to not include interest as a tax deductible expense for rental income. Simple, clear, and effective and a deterrent against multiple home ownership.

It certainly would discourage people renting out houses. I'm not sure what effect that would have on the millions of people that want to rent a house to live in.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

It certainly would discourage people renting out houses. I'm not sure what effect that would have on the millions of people that want to rent a house to live in.

That's another question. The UK needs a balance of private ownership, private renting and social housing. The latter I'd like to engender as a real viable long term life-style alternative to buying. At present there is way too much private renting. Cut back on this and build more social housing.

 

[Man of Harveys]

I hate the idea of government by referendum: does it really solve underlying problems? The Scots had a referendum six months ago: has it sorted out the independence question?

And you could get into the mess that Switzerland got into when it voted to ban all immigrants, ignoring the fact that Switzerland had a treaty with the EU giving right of entry. They're still trying to work out how to get out of that one

This, in buckets. Referenda are a cop-out: beloved by the politically naïve, they offer politicians a cheap escape hatch whenever there's a really tough decision to be taken - exactly the sort of decision making that we pay them to take for us in the first place. We don't pay them to say "err not sure about this one, what do you lot think?" every time they're either not sure or the cabinet's split.

And I have no problem saying it: some details of policy are far too complex for a layman to decide on.

 

[spring hall convert]

That's another question. The UK needs a balance of private ownership, private renting and social housing. The latter I'd like to engender as a real viable long term life-style alternative to buying. At present there is way too much private renting. Cut back on this and build more social housing.

Far too much involved in this homeowning ponzi scheme to allow that to happen.

 

[simmo]

Democracy - I would introduce direct democracy, this is where people can vote on issues that affect them rather than politicians doing it for us. One example of how this could be done, is by if a petition gets x amount of signatures on any issue, a mandatory referendum is held.

What you espouse just would not work....very very soon people would get very bored of voting on every subject the turnout would very quickly be below 5%.

Remember the vote on AV we had 3 or so years ago. The percentage turnout was pitiful for such a major decision (42% just looked it up).

Imagine if we had to vote every other week on this minor subject or that minor subject. In reality the majority of the population have very little, if at times, any interest in politics in their life and I don't think this is grasped enough by people whom do have an interest in politics. They actually want to get on with the things that matter to them for eg family, home, work/salary etc.

Do you realise that around 1/4 of the population cannot even be arsed to spend 1 minute of their time putting an X next to a name/party every 5 years in a general election. How are you going to get these people to vote every other week on such issues as the legalisation of cannibis, which although may be dear to your heart is not high (gettit) on a list of other peoples agendas?

 

[Hampster Gull]

A quick win would be to not include interest as a tax deductible expense for rental income. Simple, clear, and effective and a deterrent against multiple home ownership.

Might be missing something but putting buy to let's into a company means interest is tax deductable again. For this to work you would have to change company taxation as well as personal. Interest on loans no longer tax for businesses will drive significant deleveraging with potential unforeseen consequences. It could just apply to businesses that deal in property but rather than the Inconsistency why not just build some more [edit - not buses but houses !] through housing trusts or councils