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General Election 2015



Hampster Gull

Well-known member
Dec 22, 2010
13,465
So although our economy was flying at the start of this century, our debt continued to increase. I don't find that impressive.

This is exactly the point. Overspend in the good times and overspend in the bad is a disgrace for our kids and their kids
 






Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
53,157
Goldstone
I think we have only just finished paying the yanks for the second world war
"The last payment was made on 29 December 2006 for the sum of about $83m (£45.5m)... The final payment was actually six years late"

I don't think those war debts play a big part in our recent debt figures.

I totally agree that the UK were going to be hit badly by the financial crisis, because finance is such a large part of our economy, so I don't blame Labour for it all. And I agree that bank regulation is not a strong point of any of our parties. I do however think that Labour should have started to pay off some of our debt while the going was good. Maybe that wouldn't have made much of a differences in the big scheme of things, but it's the principle - I think our debt is a big deal, and I want a government that plans to reduce it and one day (in the very distant future) have it paid off. I don't want a government that has no interest in paying it off even when they times are good.
 








Kuipers Supporters Club

Well-known member
Feb 10, 2009
5,770
GOSBTS
No. I prefer my leaders to lead, not use referendums when there are tough decisions to be made. They're voted in and paid to make decisions for us.

'I prefer my leaders to lead' - like when Hitler used the Enabling Act to make tough decisions?

Christ what a cop out answer from someone who normally does better. Somethings - like Scotland, the voting system and leaving the EU are decisions too important for just politicians to decide for us.

So Scotland - as the SNP are in charge should they have made the decision to secede from the UK without having it voted on by the people? Of course not.

FWIW - I would have preffered AV to be used instead of FPTP - put the people voted against it, that's democracy.

Just let the people decide - we should have the power, not politicians.
 










seagullsovergrimsby

#cpfctinpotclub
Aug 21, 2005
43,944
Crap Town
I wouldn't be sure they didn't care, but I'm sure they didn't do enough for the north. They should have slowed down the pit closures and worked harder to bring industry in. Although that ***t Scargill didn't help with the mines.

Thatcher brought in McGregor to head the NCB to ensure there was no middle ground over pit closures. After the strike finished nobody believed Scargill that a second phase of closures were being lined up. Heseltine had a smug look on his face when he announced the end was up for 31 of the remaining 50 deep pit mines in 1992. In 2015 there are only 3 left in operation.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,705
The Fatherland
'I prefer my leaders to lead' - like when Hitler used the Enabling Act to make tough decisions?

Christ what a cop out answer from someone who normally does better. Somethings - like Scotland, the voting system and leaving the EU are decisions too important for just politicians to decide for us.

So Scotland - as the SNP are in charge should they have made the decision to secede from the UK without having it voted on by the people? Of course not.

FWIW - I would have preffered AV to be used instead of FPTP - put the people voted against it, that's democracy.

Just let the people decide - we should have the power, not politicians.

The cop out is with politicians using it as a convenient escape-hatch for tough decisions, not with me. We vote and pay for MPs to represent us and run the country, this is what they should do. Otherwise me might as well dispense with them and install an administrative body to run the country via X-Factor style phone ins. Parties should be brave and state their desires in their manifesto; the Tory party should decide if they think the UK is best in or out of the EU and go to the polls in May with this. Their current fudged conditional referendum nonsense is nothing but weakness. At least UKIP and Labour both have the balls to ride the election on a clear EU decision.
 




Westdene Seagull

aka Cap'n Carl Firecrotch
NSC Patron
Oct 27, 2003
21,526
The arse end of Hangleton
Just corrected that for you

Yes he did, but he wasn't in power at the time and the treaty had been enacted before he got into power so he couldn't hold one - why he promised one is beyond me. But Blair and Brown promised one on Lisbon and LIED. An out and out lie as THEY were in power and could have held one. Labour you see, liars through and through.
 


Hampster Gull

Well-known member
Dec 22, 2010
13,465
The cop out is with politicians using it as a convenient escape-hatch for tough decisions, not with me. We vote and pay for MPs to represent us and run the country, this is what they should do. Otherwise me might as well dispense with them and install an administrative body to run the country via X-Factor style phone ins. Parties should be brave and state their desires in their manifesto; the Tory party should decide if they think the UK is best in or out of the EU and go to the polls in May with this. Their current fudged conditional referendum nonsense is nothing but weakness. At least UKIP and Labour both have the balls to ride the election on a clear EU decision.

Not an escape hatch at all. It has a clear place in a democracy in the Uk and in many european countries. Changing the sovereignty as fundamentally as we have seen should be put to the public. The UK did it in 1975. It was fine, people had a debate and made a choice. A bit like the people of Scotland, they chose to stay in the UK.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,705
The Fatherland
Not an escape hatch at all. It has a clear place in a democracy in the Uk and in many european countries. Changing the sovereignty as fundamentally as we have seen should be put to the public. The UK did it in 1975. It was fine, people had a debate and made a choice. A bit like the people of Scotland, they chose to stay in the UK.

Fine. But I don't agree.
 






Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,705
The Fatherland
I have just read that of the 20 FPTP elections only 10 have delivered a majority; 5 were a minority and 5 hung. Interesting stat and something to calm the nerves of those worried about the future.
 


Titanic

Super Moderator
Helpful Moderator
Jul 5, 2003
39,922
West Sussex
Opinium Observer poll (16 - 17 Apr):
CON 36% (=)
LAB 32% (-2)
UKIP 13% (+2)
LD 8% (+1)
GRN 5% (-1)

Cue the usual excuses about statistical variance, margins of error, too many AB/C1's etc... etc...
 


Hampster Gull

Well-known member
Dec 22, 2010
13,465
I have just read that of the 20 FPTP elections only 10 have delivered a majority; 5 were a minority and 5 hung. Interesting stat and something to calm the nerves of those worried about the future.

Its a good point. The coalition over the last five years has done well. The right partnership can do well
 




beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
36,016
I have just read that of the 20 FPTP elections only 10 have delivered a majority; 5 were a minority and 5 hung. Interesting stat and something to calm the nerves of those worried about the future.

you should check your source, for a start minority governments are hung parliaments. prior to 2010, only hung parliament since the war was '74, and that covers 18 elections.
 


Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,705
The Fatherland
you should check your source, for a start minority governments are hung parliaments. prior to 2010, only hung parliament since the war was '74, and that covers 18 elections.

Professor Robert Hazell of the University College London.

"Hung parliaments may seem unusual but they are not. Britain had 20 governments in the 20th century, according to Professor Robert Hazell of the UCL Constitution Unit. Of these, five were coalitions and five were minority governments. Only 50% of these governments were the “traditional” single-party majority government that Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system is often deemed to favour."
 


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