http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4661024.stm

Tories now support Blair. Lib dems are a laughing stock!

Is it any wonder that politics is uninteresting for millions of people?

I found myself nodding in agreement with Norman Tebbit on "Today" this morning who was bemoaning the homogenous nature of English politics.

Where do we go from here?

no there not supporting blair, he is just telling the truth- tony blair DID do a very good job and he DID recognice what the voters wanted in 1995.

Just because he is a tory it doesn't automatically mean he has to disagree with everything the labour party does? Thats just reaction politics.

(im a labour man myself but im very impressed with the way that cameron has handled himself since he took over- he will be a force at the next election if the rest of the party and sort themselves out and back him)

I think it's time we got rid of Party politics altogether!

There are only a few MP's who run a Government, the rest are Party Hacks living like parasites off the Public Purse, filled up to ever-increasing degrees by the real people..the Public who are totally sick of the lot of them.

The country is being run by the Civil Service, which in recent years has become more and more politicised.

We should reduce the number of MP's in Parliament by 50%. Those MP's should all be Independents prepared to work in the service of the people of the UK, for the benefit of the people of the UK.

All elected MP's thus chosen would be in the House all the time, and not swanning round the subsidised Bars and Tea Rooms, or in places which might be Front Page news in the News of the World every Sunday.

Every MP should have a seat around a Circular Hall, not packing the House standing up to vote like sheep when called. There would be no "Party" Whips.

Voting in the House should be electronic, with immediate results being registered. This voting through the Lobbies, with each of them looking which way others are voting has to stop. Individual MP votes on Bills and Laws passed should be available on the Internet, so we can judge the performance of our particular elected representative in relation to what we expect from them, on our behalf.

The House of Lords should be fully elected in the same way. Chop that in half too!

No Honours System in the Prime Minister's gift. No Political Honours System.
Honours to go only to ordinary people who serve the Community by good deeds, unpaid.

General Elections should be held on a fixed term basis, not at the behest of a Prime Minister's choosing.

The Scottish Talking Shop in Edinburgh should be closed down immediately, together with the other, similar abomination, the Welsh Assembly.

Get rid of the fairyland dress and titles, the pomp and other rubbish that accompanies Gonernment as we know it.

I will work out further details not mentioned here when I have calmed down :)

Phew....please don't get me started:thumbsup:

The tories are playing a clever game.
Blair is a lame prime minister now, ever since he said he wouldn't be standing at the next election the power has been shifting away.
He's made some dumb decisions in his time and this was another one.

Basically his own party dont agree with his policies, and the only way he's going to get them through is through a coalition with the tories.

The Tories have nothing to loose and everything to gain from this.

I agree about getting rid of the party system. Its a total con.
The parties are in effect private companies, which will basically service the needs of their 'customers' i.e. the people who throw money their way.

ALL MP's should be independent, thus allowing them to unite on common agreements without labels being attached.

Politics is only dying because the people are too ignorant to follow it.

When it's for something which brings the moral decay and decline down in society even further like 24/7 drinking then they get interested/

How about the Citizen Funded Referendum?
It works like this:
If you want a law passed, you have to state clearly what you want; then get (say) 5% of the relevant electorate (City Council, County Council, or whole country) to sign up -- WITH (say) 25 quid for each signature. This pays for a publicity campaign, but you now have to get 25% of the electorate to sign up with (say) 5 quid per signature.
NOW the people who run elections take the money, and organise a vote.
If the people support the proposal, the Government have (say) 3 months to
bring in the law, or face a general election.
Grass roots democracy! and the people who want to change the law foot the bill!
BTW - the Labour Party can sign up all its members and use its own funds; a multimillionaire can put up his money and make all his workers sign up; but it won't be a law if the voters don't vote for it.

Sounds an interesting proposition.....but the ne'er-do-wells in Westminster would be traumatised.... as they would if a true Democracy was ever attained here.

jfish1936....do you Aussies have the same opinion of your Government
as the majority do over here?

Are the electorate apathetic in the same way?

I think it's time we got rid of Party politics altogether!

There are only a few MP's who run a Government, the rest are Party Hacks living like parasites off the Public Purse, filled up to ever-increasing degrees by the real people..the Public who are totally sick of the lot of them.

The country is being run by the Civil Service, which in recent years has become more and more politicised.

We should reduce the number of MP's in Parliament by 50%. Those MP's should all be Independents prepared to work in the service of the people of the UK, for the benefit of the people of the UK.

All elected MP's thus chosen would be in the House all the time, and not swanning round the subsidised Bars and Tea Rooms, or in places which might be Front Page news in the News of the World every Sunday.

Every MP should have a seat around a Circular Hall, not packing the House standing up to vote like sheep when called. There would be no "Party" Whips.

Voting in the House should be electronic, with immediate results being registered. This voting through the Lobbies, with each of them looking which way others are voting has to stop. Individual MP votes on Bills and Laws passed should be available on the Internet, so we can judge the performance of our particular elected representative in relation to what we expect from them, on our behalf.

The House of Lords should be fully elected in the same way. Chop that in half too!

No Honours System in the Prime Minister's gift. No Political Honours System.
Honours to go only to ordinary people who serve the Community by good deeds, unpaid.

General Elections should be held on a fixed term basis, not at the behest of a Prime Minister's choosing.

The Scottish Talking Shop in Edinburgh should be closed down immediately, together with the other, similar abomination, the Welsh Assembly.

Get rid of the fairyland dress and titles, the pomp and other rubbish that accompanies Gonernment as we know it.

I will work out further details not mentioned here when I have calmed down :)

Phew....please don't get me started:thumbsup:


Best idea I've heard in a while.

Best idea I've heard in a while.

Thank you wendygs.... a kindred soul at last. :)

I think it's time we got rid of Party politics altogether!

There are only a few MP's who run a Government, the rest are Party Hacks living like parasites off the Public Purse, filled up to ever-increasing degrees by the real people..[snipped],

...Phew....please don't get me started:thumbsup:

I'll need time to absorb that lot! Would be interested in hearing more if you are calmer!!
:roll:

Politics is only dying because the people are too ignorant to follow it.

When it's for something which brings the moral decay and decline down in society even further like 24/7 drinking then they get interested/

Or maybe it's because of cynicism. I'm increasingly of the view as I get older that all politicians are corrupt, lying, self-serving hypocrites, regardless of their party, and many other people think the same. Perhaps that's the reason why voter turnout is low.

I'll need time to absorb that lot! Would be interested in hearing more if you are calmer!!
:roll:
I am calm.... my post remains the same......you are welcome to make any comment you choose.....I will not take offence.....:)

Sounds an interesting proposition.....but the ne'er-do-wells in Westminster would be traumatised.... as they would if a true Democracy was ever attained here.

jfish1936....do you Aussies have the same opinion of your Government
as the majority do over here?

Are the electorate apathetic in the same way?

1/. Voting is compulsory; I was against that, but I now think it's a good idea.
(It started so the bosses couldn't keep the workers on late so they missed their vote!)
2/. Many of us feel that the government is running for its benefit. There are 7 state governments and one Federal. They share some responsibilities, and like to blame each other for problems rather than co-operating to solve them; obviously, the federal coalition government (call it Conservative) would rather see a Labor state get its hospitals in a mess and say "serves you right for voting Labor" than get together to give the people good facilities.
There's Freedom of Information; so huge trollies of paperwork go into the Cabinet Room for meetings; they're not referred to, but because they went in they are Cabinet secrets; so the Minister whose wife crashed his official car needn't worry, all the documents are secret for 30 years.
I often feel that a Premier (state) or Prime Minister (federal) takes great care when a controversy is brewing NOT TO MEET anyone who knows the truth ...
so he can say later "I wasn't informed" even if it's been newspaper headlines.
The Queensland government of 1980 met journalists' questions about illegal gambling with denial that any illegal casinos existed; the journalists had been in them, and seen high police and government members there.

Still, remember Winston Churchill: "Democracy is a bad system of government; but it's better than any of the others" (OK those with the works of Churchill at hand, tell me what he really said)

1/. Voting is compulsory; I was against that, but I now think it's a good idea.
(It started so the bosses couldn't keep the workers on late so they missed their vote!)
2/. Many of us feel that the government is running for its benefit. There are 7 state governments and one Federal. They share some responsibilities, and like to blame each other for problems rather than co-operating to solve them; obviously, the federal coalition government (call it Conservative) would rather see a Labor state get its hospitals in a mess and say "serves you right for voting Labor" than get together to give the people good facilities.
There's Freedom of Information; so huge trollies of paperwork go into the Cabinet Room for meetings; they're not referred to, but because they went in they are Cabinet secrets; so the Minister whose wife crashed his official car needn't worry, all the documents are secret for 30 years.
I often feel that a Premier (state) or Prime Minister (federal) takes great care when a controversy is brewing NOT TO MEET anyone who knows the truth ...
so he can say later "I wasn't informed" even if it's been newspaper headlines.
The Queensland government of 1980 met journalists' questions about illegal gambling with denial that any illegal casinos existed; the journalists had been in them, and seen high police and government members there.

Still, remember Winston Churchill: "Democracy is a bad system of government; but it's better than any of the others" (OK those with the works of Churchill at hand, tell me what he really said)

Thanks for enlightening me on Aussie politics, jfish.

It would appear that given a brand new Continent, the slime eventually reaches to the top of the Pond, to achieve perpetual ascendency over the goldfish swimming underneath :thumbsup:

(OK those with the works of Churchill at hand, tell me what he really said)

"Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

From Hansard, November 11, 1947.:)