General politics discussion thread

[Keith Houchen]

I think it was more a case of he was the resident MP who defected and the votes went with him. Unless Clacton really want to stop HIV being classed as a migrant and getting more benefits than a war veteran.

 

Anyone see Question Time the other night? Jeanette Winterson was ace. Now UKIP have an MP, they should be challenged on their policies which seem to evaporate with the morning dew. As she said, if Farage dies, UKIP die with him.

 

Any jihadists watching? #isis #jihad #neil #jannah #groominggangloki

Edited October 11, 2014 by Keith Houchen

[Linus]

I can't understand a vote for UKIP being a protest vote. Unless you're protesting against "them" coming over "here", in which case carry on, you daft racists.

[lanky316]

UKIP play on being anti-establishment, never mind that most of them are the establishment and the career politicians they say they're not and rail against. So they get a lot of people who are anti-EU and people who "want a change". The difference between them and the other disillusioned option as preached by Russell Brand and others is that they'll actually have an impact due to their activism ending in a lot of voters, whereas the alternative option put forward of not voting means that you don't get any say and you'll still suffer whatever the majority of those who vote for decides to do to you. Clacton is slightly different as it was pretty much a case of voting for the current bloke again, and as a population of white British voters (95% of the population according to the census) are probably more inclined to buy into exaggerated, or downright made up, stories about Johnny Foreigner.

 

As an example, in the low turnout in the Heywood and Middleton by-election UKIP stormed into a close second, it would appear that the low turnout meant that their activist vote blew apart that of the opposition for the seat and made it a lot closer. I would think in next years election it'll be more of a return to normal as people will be more inclined to vote then and so the UKIP share (theoretically) will drop, due to the increased voters of other parties, Labour could increase their majority judging by how (despite media reporting) they increased their share this time round.

 

I will say that as an aside from a "protest" vote people do genuinely buy into Farage, while the two major party leaders are charisma vacuums and Clegg destroyed his parties credibility Farage comes across as a better talker and gets a lot of media time (UKIP in general do and have for a few years been massively over represented on Question Time) and no matter what he says or comes out about candidate-A in whatever election they seem to come out smelling of roses. With the exception of "leave the EU" I don't think many people know UKIP policies, and even those few that come out tend to be changed within minutes so it seems they don't either!

[JNLister]

I don't know why people say UKIP's policies are mysterious. They've got a perfectly clear set of five social and economic policies:

 

1) Increase state intervention

2) Remove state interference

3) Cut taxes

4) Increase spending

5) Cut the deficit

 

BTW, just heard a radio piece about all those stats about how people of different ages voted in the Scottish referendum and it appears they are totally unreliable. They're breakdowns from a survey of 2,000 people, which is enough to be reliable when you are asking a general population question (such as "did you vote yes or no.") However, when you break that group down by demographics, you obviously get a much smaller and less reliable sample group in each case. The most extreme example was the stat about 16/17 year olds, which is based on responses from just 14 people.

Edited October 11, 2014 by JNLister

[gary v1]

I think it's fair to say though on age break down that pensioners were much much more NO than other age groups.  To e expected I think if you lived through/fought in the war and aren't really part of the 'devolution age'.  What I'd like to see is extensive new powers, see if we can make a success of that and then see if there's a will for another vote in 20 years.  It was maybe just too big a leap in 2014.  But by 2034 the parliament should have further enhanced its reputation and the 70% or so NO vote in the pensioners age group should be reduced by folk dying off if nothing else.

[SpacedNSpangled]

 UKIP is riddled with Freemasons.

[Loki]

And Jews.

[Dead Mike]

Given the ‘rise of UKIP’ I thought this might be quite interesting & relevant. It’s not a new article but I was only pointed to it this weekend. Probably the most informative & reasoned piece I’ve seen considering the arguments for & against an EU exit.

 

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21567914-how-britain-could-fall-out-european-union-and-what-it-would-mean-making-break

[HarmonicGenerator]

Charles Kennedy has died aged 55.

[stumobir]

Sad news, 55 is no age at all. He was a very likeable guy, seemed pretty genuine which is a rare thing for politicians.

[patiirc]

Sad sad news,  Charlie was one of my favourite politicians, principled, genuine and a great orator to boot.Sad day for Politics. Was looking forward to him kicking arse in the Lords or something after election defeat, however was not meant to be

[Carbomb]

Whoa, was not expecting that at all. That's really sad, taking into account his having to step down from the Lib Dem leadership because of his problems with alcohol. Felt really bad for him at the time.

 

I was never going to vote Lib Dem, but he probably came closest to getting my vote - came from the left of the party, seemed to have a good grasp of issues, and was quite adept at challenging and holding up a mirror to New Labour's excesses.

 

RIP Charles Kennedy.

[WyattSheepMask]

I said to my wife that this would happen the day after the election (source BBC News):

The government's remaining 30% stake in the Royal Mail is to be sold off to help pay down the deficit, George Osborne has said.

The chancellor said the shares - currently valued at £1.5bn - would be sold when ministers could be sure they would get value for money.

He also announced £3bn in efficiency savings in the current financial year.

Labour accused Mr Osborne of "ripping up" his long term economic plan by springing the announcement on MPs.

The government is committed to clearing the deficit by 2018/19 without increasing income tax or VAT, something Mr Osborne said would not be "easy".

He needs to find a further £30bn of savings over the next three years, with £12bn to come out of welfare spending and £13bn from cuts to government departments

[HarmonicGenerator]

Nicola Sturgeon's on the Daily Show tonight! What's she doing in New York?

 

Edit: Recap here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/sirajdatoo/the-daily-show-with-nicola-sturgeon#.xqNQ3JxW8

Edited June 9, 2015 by HarmonicGenerator

[Hugh Thesz]

Has anyone else seen this?  

 

To all the cynics who are dying to pollute political debate; and consequentially further alienating many from having political interest, by suggesting Mhari Black is merely receipting words written for her there is only one reply. 

If that were the case then she would be an even better actor than those who feign sympathy whist sitting on the Government benches.