Politics at Westminster | BREAKING: UKIP

A fairer comparison would be against the Eurozone. Correct me if I'm wrong, but despite being saddled with one of the worst deficits in the EU, hasn't the UK economy grown in this term (whereas it has shrunk in the Eurozone). Hasn't unemployment fallen (whereas it has risen in the Eurozone)?

Seems to me that "swimming against the tide" would be a better analogy.
Pissing in the wind is more apt. As economist Jim O'Neill said last year 'the UK is in a strong position to benefit from one of the fastest accelerations in the global economy for more than 30 years'.
 
EU elections are next month then, and as far as I can gather, no one really gives a shit.
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None of that is down to the Tories, they've just surfed the global economic trends. There will be another year of favourable numbers which they'll pass off as their doing, a budget giveaway in April and a election win in May (helped by the UKIP protest vote not materialising at a general election, Lib Dem voters cutting out the middleman and Labour's pitiful lack of alternative policies).


It would have been easy for them to cave in to external views on economic policy such as the IMF, they stuck with something that seemed early in their term not to be working. I'm not aware of some global economic trend that would propel the UK to the top of the pops for G7 growth.
 
It would have been easy for them to cave in to external views on economic policy such as the IMF, they stuck with something that seemed early in their term not to be working. I'm not aware of some global economic trend that would propel the UK to the top of the pops for G7 growth.
World trade 2012 – 2015: +7% per year, GDP + 4.6% per year. Tory troglodyte polices didn't work then and haven't worked now - what they've done is retard the process of recovery.
 
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World trade 2012 – 2015: +7% per year, GDP + 4.6% per year. Tory troglodyte polices didn't work then and haven't worked now - what they've done is retard the process of recovery.

Are you comparing global growth including emerging economies to UK growth? I was looking at peer countries in G7.
 
Christians are unhappy because David Cameron shuts their door to them and Atheists are unhappy because Cameron refers to Britain as a Christian Country. He's a special kind of dick.
 
Christians are unhappy because David Cameron shuts their door to them and Atheists are unhappy because Cameron refers to Britain as a Christian Country. He's a special kind of dick.

Maybe some people can never be happy and look for an excuse to be annoyed about everything.
 
Christians are unhappy because David Cameron shuts their door to them and Atheists are unhappy because Cameron refers to Britain as a Christian Country. He's a special kind of dick.
Offend the socially conservative Christians with gay marriage. Offend the progressive Christians, by hitting the "undeserving poor". Offend the rest of us by proclaiming us a Christian country.

It's the South Park policy of "as long as we offend everyone it's okay".
 
There must be a reason why they don't vote Tory then. I blame Thatcher, there's still some detoxifying to be done there yet.

It's Thatcher, principally. It must be.

I mean, what are the chances that just basically nobody in Scotland is a Tory? It's quite unlikely.
 
Anyone answer me something, how come we've had Conserves or Labour since like forever, certainly in my lifetime (yeah yellow Clegg whatever whatver), but we always seem to vote them in again? We get fed up with Thatch and co selling everything to big business so get in Red Blair who annoys everyone with an illegal war so we then get back in the blues who sell everything to their mates again... rinse and repeat.

Are we all just slaves to the media in the same ways we buy whatever shaving foam, deodorant or fast food they say or just coincidence?
 
Anyone answer me something, how come we've had Conserves or Labour since like forever, certainly in my lifetime (yeah yellow Clegg whatever whatver), but we always seem to vote them in again? We get fed up with Thatch and co selling everything to big business so get in Red Blair who annoys everyone with an illegal war so we then get back in the blues who sell everything to their mates again... rinse and repeat.

Are we all just slaves to the media in the same ways we buy whatever shaving foam, deodorant or fast food they say or just coincidence?
Voting system is a large part of it, discouraging competition beyond a two-party system. We've got those particular parties because they appealed to the broadest swathe of people when suffrage was universalised, with Labour at that point superseding the Liberals.
 
Anyone answer me something, how come we've had Conserves or Labour since like forever, certainly in my lifetime (yeah yellow Clegg whatever whatver), but we always seem to vote them in again? We get fed up with Thatch and co selling everything to big business so get in Red Blair who annoys everyone with an illegal war so we then get back in the blues who sell everything to their mates again... rinse and repeat.

Are we all just slaves to the media in the same ways we buy whatever shaving foam, deodorant or fast food they say or just coincidence?


I think the parties represent a dichotomy in human nature. Individual desire and motivation to gain from your own work and stand on your own merit versus the collective necessity of pooling labour for large projects and to aggregate risk. The other political forces can be accommodated in some way by both approaches but these two ways of thinking don’t blend well and are opposed.
 
Anyone answer me something, how come we've had Conserves or Labour since like forever, certainly in my lifetime (yeah yellow Clegg whatever whatver), but we always seem to vote them in again? We get fed up with Thatch and co selling everything to big business so get in Red Blair who annoys everyone with an illegal war so we then get back in the blues who sell everything to their mates again... rinse and repeat.

Are we all just slaves to the media in the same ways we buy whatever shaving foam, deodorant or fast food they say or just coincidence?
The nature of the FPTP(First past the post) voting system discourages third party voting. It is surprising that third parties have significant influence in the UK, to be quite honest. Look at the U.S for an example of the FPTP/party system gone horribly wrong. Also there are a host of philosophical issues with the party/whip system but that's beside the point.

Basically first past the post is a fairly undemocratic system which makes voting for a third party a 'wasted' vote more often than not, since it's very difficult to break the Labour/Con duopoly on most of the seats in Parliament, even if a third party has a substantial portion of the popular vote.

Also Rupert Murdoch.
 
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When people got sick and tired of Cowell's X factor 20m viewer show guaranteeing the Xmas number 1 single year after year, making it unfair, they took to the web, nominated an old song (Rage rock band) and all voted it, hell I even bought two copies and the people won, Xfactor came second despite its huge advantage/leverage with media.

Why can't this happen with politics? Someone pick a party, don't have to fully agree with EVERYTHING they do, be it Farage's UKIP, Green Party, whoever, anyone who ain't ultra nasty and clear the same old two parties out. People power.

Instead everyone seem's to just watch BBC and ITV news and vote on what they hear, the rest don't vote at all, too busy with soaps, reality tv, social media or their football teams. Even work or their families.

Seems to be a lot on the news lately about Farage and his party, wonder why.... I'm not buying it. I think someone is scared of his party's rise and using the media to bring him down. Same old two parties then!
 
The nature of the FPTP(First past the post) voting system discourages third party voting. It is surprising that third parties have significant influence in the UK, to be quite honest. Look at the U.S for an example of the FPTP/party system gone horribly wrong. Also there are a host of philosophical issues with the party/whip system but that's beside the point.

Basically first past the post is a fairly undemocratic system which makes voting for a third party a 'wasted' vote more often than not, since it's very difficult to break the Labour/Con duopoly on most of the seats in Parliament, even if a third party has a substantial portion of the popular vote.

Also Rupert Murdoch.

How can it be undemocratic when people have just voted to use it as the method for elections. Just because it has problems doesn't mean there is a better alternative which is free from flaws.
 
When people got sick and tired of Cowell's X factor 20m viewer show guaranteeing the Xmas number 1 single year after year, making it unfair, they took to the web, nominated an old song (Rage rock band) and all voted it, hell I even bought two copies and the people won, Xfactor came second despite its huge advantage/leverage with media.

Why can't this happen with politics? Someone pick a party, don't have to fully agree with EVERYTHING they do, be it Farage's UKIP, Green Party, whoever, anyone who ain't ultra nasty and clear the same old two parties out. People power.

Instead everyone seem's to just watch BBC and ITV news and vote on what they hear, the rest don't vote at all, too busy with soaps, reality tv, social media or their football teams. Even work or their families.

Seems to be a lot on the news lately about Farage and his party, wonder why.... I'm not buying it. I think someone is scared of his party's rise and using the media to bring him down. Same old two parties then!

It might be that people think about their vote in a general election a little more than X factor. It is right that as a party rises in public awareness it receives more scrutiny. As the general election approaches people tend to go back to the main parties because the quirky alternatives are fun to use to toy with the main parties but you wouldn't want them to have any real power.
 
What's the drawback with mandatory voting?

It could lead to a spike in the share of the vote for lunatic/fringe parties as people vote for them as a protest at being made to vote in the first place. If people wish to disengage from the process that's as much their democratic right as ours is to engage.