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Some thoughts from over the water — 19 Comments

  1. As that old joke went 'Doesn't matter who you vote for, the government still gets in'.

    Actually, there is a serious side to that, as I witness every day watching our little lot in action. Politicians don't make policies and definitely don't make laws, civil servants do. Until we can vote for them, or just have a means of getting rid of them instead of the government minister they 'advised' when they screw up, not a lot of point going through the motions of electing another roomful of ventriloquist's dummies.

    Us taxpayers kicking up more fuss to get rid of some sock puppet 'charities' and 'advisory bodies' might be a start, considering we fund their nonsense too.

    • An election is what a Chinese man has before bleakfast?

      I agree.  Most of the laws these days come down from Brussels anyway and those that don't are dreamt up in some back room somewhere in Whitehall/Merrion Street. 

      Politicians should have more say, but even more so the people should have more say in politicians' decisions.  The British have voted and that is the last chance they have in years to have any more influence in the matter.

      The system is corrupt from top to bottom, but we appear to be stuck with it.

  2. Like you I hope we haven't seen the last of Nigel Farage I think he was the best politician and best party leader extant.Any politician who wants to leave the EU and dismantle the nanny state deserves far a better fate.

    • The UK needs Farage and Ireland needs his ilk.  He is the only one who seemed to listen to his constituents and was also not afraid to speak his mind.  Also is it my imagination or is he the only politician to have a sense of humour?

      • Well said,GD.I sincerely hope we haven't seen the last of Nigel.And I don't think it's your imagination,he really does seem to have a sense of humour.More than can be said for most,if not all of the other fuckers!

  3. I like Nigel.  I've been watching his stomp speeches on the EU Parliament floor for several years.  Maybe the UK, the world for that matter, will wake up one day.  When I saw the results this morning, I, like you and most people, thought more of the same. 

    • That's pretty close to my estimate.  With PR though, results would be considerably different as people can give their second, third and so on preferences if their first preference candidate fails to get elected.

      That graphic though is a graphic [*cough*] illustration of the difference between the two methods?

  4. I agree with Grandad's impression of Ed Miliband's eyes. He could have had a successful career as a horror movie character. Mind you, looks can be deceiving. Tony Blair's face reminds me of a family doctor, and Enda Kenny's looks like a spoiled priest. Michael Noonan looks and speaks like a Christian Brother. 

  5. The British had a referendum on PR in 2011  – and rejected it.

    First past the post has served Britain well, and kept nutcases out – the loonies in Dail Eireann would never have won a seat under First Past the Post. Everyone knows how the system works, if you want to change things you join one of the main parties and work from the inside. If you can't command the support of one of those parties, then you have no mandate for change, anyway.

  6. I like how Farage resigned today…said he'd have a break over the summer to recharge his batteries, then might put his name forward for the UKIP leadership election in the Autumn.

    Excellent thinking.

    Politics needs him., and his enemies will hate him being around.

    • It's not just the UK that needs him.  The whole of Europe needs more of his ilk.

      • The problem is that Farage's personality undermines his arguments. UKIP was founded by Alan Sked, one of my tutors at the LSE, as a party with an informed critique of the EU and an intellectually credible manifesto. Sked says Farage turned it into a "monster"

        • I agree that Farage somewhat dominated the party [some would say he was the party?] but I would still prefer UKIP's policies to those of the cretins that we suffer under at the moment.

          • The problem is that Farage created a party of xenophobes who had more in common with the BNP than with a credible libertarian party. 

            • I could argue that point.  I would contend that UKIP were painted as xenophobes whereas their real policy was one of immigration control rather than "keeping out the foreigners".

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