The Political Thread

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Sad situation, and that Private Eye article seems to imply some very high salaries to senior staff!

[Jim_Campbell]

Sad situation, and that Private Eye article seems to imply some very high salaries to senior staff!

It's all part of the great Tory scheme to shovel as much public money into private pockets as possible. The schools/colleges themselves are not-for-profit but the senior, non-teaching, managers are taking obscene sums of money out of the education budget.

But it's more 'efficient' than the evil, wasteful public sector, right?

Bah.

Jim

[Professor Bear]

I would think we'd be a bit more upbeat as 2000ad fans, as the book's only really been at its best when the country's been at its worst.  It was playing a blinder during the Thatcher years but as soon as she's out of office someone commissioned Outlaw.  Creatives need a machine to rage against.

There was no rigging.

Richmond Clements was a ballot counter, so you can understand why I would assume the worst.

[Richmond Clements]

Richmond Clements was a ballot counter, so you can understand why I would assume the worst.

Why I oughtta..!

To answer the questions above briefly (because I haven't really got the time right now) it is impossible - impossible - to alter the course of any ballot once the voting slip is in the box.
The checks and balances in place work and work brilliantly. There are no mistakes. There is no conspiracy. The truth is more frightening: people voted in a Tory government.

[Professor Bear]

Which is exactly what you would say.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

There are no mistakes. There is no conspiracy. The truth is more frightening: people voted in a Tory government.

Now that is frightening! In 1992 when Neil Kinnock lost the election I believe they discovered afterwards the reasons why the polls where so inaccurate about voter intentions. Some people had told their wives,their work colleagues and pollsters they were never going to vote Tory but secretly had decided to do so since they felt it served their own best interest. Perhaps these 'Ghost Tories' have struck again. Against voter deceit there is very little pollsters can do in order to obtain accurate data.

Our ability to deceive others is often admired in society and is often considered a sign of high intelligence. I have no doubt an awful lot of people are smirking over the cornflakes how they stuffed it to the left once again. Sad but then I always believed human nature was mostly rotten!

[IndigoPrime]

The truth is more frightening: people voted in a Tory government.

Worse than that: they voted in a manner to try and keep out the SNP, who were never going to get into government anyway, merely potentially having some influence over the budget. And by attempting to stop the SNP gaining any influence and 'breaking up the UK', we now have a toxic Tory government that will plunge us into two years of EU 'will we or won't we' hell, potentially ending in breaking up the UK anyway. GOOD JOB, EVERYONE.

(Even senior Tories—including Euro-sceptics—know leaving the EU is a dumb move, but the way the Scottish referendum was handled gives me no faith whatsoever Cameron will urge the electorate into taking the sensible decision. And I can't imagine he'll go for Sturgeon's country lock, only allowing an exit if ALL four UK countries vote in favour. Bizarrely, however, that was his argument for something rather less dangerous: time-zone changes. I just hope Juncker is a lot smarter than Cameron and can figure out a way to give Cameron meaningless changes that he'll be able to yell are the HUGE REPATRIATION OF POWERS he's been demanding.)

I just saw a stat on the Grauniad saying that under Proportional Representation UKIP would have won 83 seats.
Say what you like about First Past The Post, but it has it's good points.

Not really. 3.5 million people voted UKIP and they have barely any representation in parliament. I read every manifesto. Theirs is occasionally toxic, but beyond some oddball nostalgia and a hateful stance on immigrants, it was no worse than the Conservative one. About three times as many people voted Conservative, yet they got 331 times as many seats. That's just wrong in a democratic society.

I see quite a few people arguing the election was unfair on the Greens, but: "Phew! At least we don't have 80 UKIP MPs!" Yet the thought of 25 Greens would make many on the right a little sick. We should just own the political situation in our country—UKIP supporters and all—and ensure the representation in parliament actually corresponds reasonably well to how people voted. Right now we have the following situation:

Party (number of candidates): votes required for each seat

UKIP (624): 3,881,129
Green Party (568): 1,157,613
Liberal Democrat (631): 301,986
Labour (631): 40,290
Conservative (647): 34,244

That doesn't look a lot like a reasoned and fair democracy to me—and it's only going to get worse when this government cuts down the number of MPs (under the guise of 'saving the UK money'), gerrymanders the new constituencies and makes it harder for non-Tories to get elected.

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

I agree that Ghost Tories struck again. It's no wonder really, as a Conservative vote is generally seen as a vote for self-interest, hardly the noblest of motivations but obviously it's going to be important to very many people.

Personally I also voted for self-interest, but I voted Green because I'd rather not boil to death from the effects of environmental destruction.

[Professor Bear]

Sad but then I always believed human nature was mostly rotten!

I believe that people are better than that - the world we live in is proof that we want stability and kindness as the norm, and not to be serfs who subsidise the extravagant lifestyles of a small group.  The steamroller result in Scotland is proof that people want viable and palpable change from how things are currently done, and if anything, people in England simply bought into the idea that Labour were some sort of risk, rather than a party just as elite and illiberal as the Tories.  If there was a real alternative to the Tories - a rabid anti-austerity and pro-NHS party operating on a national level, things could have been significantly different, but sadly, true lefties would rather snipe and argue among themselves than create such a united front.

[Jimmy Baker's Assistant]

I can't imagine he'll go for Sturgeon's country lock, only allowing an exit if ALL four UK countries vote in favour.

I support this version of the EU referendum, and I hold out hope Cameron will support it too (which is possible, particularly if he ends up coming down on the pro-EU side).

[IndigoPrime]

If there was a real alternative to the Tories - a rabid anti-austerity and pro-NHS party operating on a national level, things could have been significantly different

The Green Party ticks all those boxes, and a million people voted for them. But it means fuck-all under FPTP. (They should have over 20 MPs today.)

I can't imagine he'll go for Sturgeon's country lock, only allowing an exit if ALL four UK countries vote in favour.

I support this version of the EU referendum, and I hold out hope Cameron will support it too (which is possible, particularly if he ends up coming down on the pro-EU side).

There is literally no chance this will happen, since his backbenchers would go mental, the press would nail him to the wall, and it was an idea first brought up by the SNP. Like I said, it's a bit fucking rich that he wouldn't press ahead with a trial on shifting our time-zone, unless Scotland agreed, but leaving the EU would apparently be fine. (And he will hopefully come down on the pro-EU side, although he's quitting after this parliament, so I wonder if he'll also step down as an MP and flee to the corporate world...)

[Professor Bear]

The Green Party ticks all those boxes, and a million people voted for them.

They might have had more votes if people knew the Greens were actually standing in their area.  I didn't hear a peep about our local Green candidate, and I don't know anyone else who did.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Then those people should've read all the names on that piece of paper before they put their cross on it.

[Professor Bear]

In Northern Ireland we have proportional voting, so we don't put crosses on our ballots - we draw cocks on them.

[Ghost MacRoth]

In Northern Ireland we have proportional voting, so we don't put crosses on our ballots - we draw cocks on them.

As it's proportional, does that mean a larger picture depending on how you rate the candidate?