I'm not new to politics when people fill the void in the absence of conflict or real issues with intellectual nougat to keep the conversation going.
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UK Politics (11 Viewers)
- Thread starter Red
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For me the SNP have done a good job in Scotland with what limited power they've had in the Scottish Parliament. Given the high voter turnout this time around I think you can say that the SNP gains are legitimate whether because of support for independence or because people thought they were all-round the best party to represent their interests. It's likely a mix of the two.
For me the only real shame is that the Conservatives have an overall majority and do not need to comprimise with any other party. I think that besides UKIP no other party would have been willing to deal with them and so we would have seen a coalition of Labour, SNP, Green and other small parties. This would have been a better representation of the UK as a whole. I can see that in many ways the UK economy has seen a decent recovery under the Tories - especially in the middle class - however huge problems still remain and I would have liked to have seen another party who care more about the working class have a crucial say in decisions made by the Tories.
Once a taxi driver - forever a source of interesting points of view on politics, at least in Glasgow - told me he sees the Tories as being more effective in power than opposition and Labour more effective as an opposition than as the ruling party. I can see his point to a certain extent but not in this case of having a majority Conservative government.
Specifically in Scotland this result bodes well as the SNP, even if you do not like them, do not have to answer to a party down in England and therefore can solely look out for the interests of Scotland. Even if you do not see a border between Scotland and England and consider the UK as one unified country this is a good thing as it allows the SNP MPs to properly look out for their constituents. This also lends further credence to the fact that Scotland is now governed by a Conservative government which is simply did not vote for. There is a single Tory MP in Scotland and it seems like the party which won a majority even of the popular vote will have little to no say in the grand scheme of UK politics. One way or another the electoral system needs to change.
For me the only real shame is that the Conservatives have an overall majority and do not need to comprimise with any other party. I think that besides UKIP no other party would have been willing to deal with them and so we would have seen a coalition of Labour, SNP, Green and other small parties. This would have been a better representation of the UK as a whole. I can see that in many ways the UK economy has seen a decent recovery under the Tories - especially in the middle class - however huge problems still remain and I would have liked to have seen another party who care more about the working class have a crucial say in decisions made by the Tories.
Once a taxi driver - forever a source of interesting points of view on politics, at least in Glasgow - told me he sees the Tories as being more effective in power than opposition and Labour more effective as an opposition than as the ruling party. I can see his point to a certain extent but not in this case of having a majority Conservative government.
Specifically in Scotland this result bodes well as the SNP, even if you do not like them, do not have to answer to a party down in England and therefore can solely look out for the interests of Scotland. Even if you do not see a border between Scotland and England and consider the UK as one unified country this is a good thing as it allows the SNP MPs to properly look out for their constituents. This also lends further credence to the fact that Scotland is now governed by a Conservative government which is simply did not vote for. There is a single Tory MP in Scotland and it seems like the party which won a majority even of the popular vote will have little to no say in the grand scheme of UK politics. One way or another the electoral system needs to change.
But all of them -- Labour and Conservatives alike -- are preaching from a false narrative of economic irresponsibility turned austerity turned economic savior. If nobody is willing to talk about what actually happened economically from around 2006-2013, then that foundation is sand to begin with and anything they try to layer on top of it is irrelevant mistruths.
I don't agree that Scotland is better off by more SNP in Westminster. The people who SNP target for votes may be better off but not all of Scotland.
SNP won a lot of seats that Labour traditionally win, therefore reducing their total. Also, some people in England apparently voted Conservative out of fear of a coalition of Labour & SNP.
But it does seem given the margin they won by that anyway.
SNP won a lot of seats that Labour traditionally win, therefore reducing their total. Also, some people in England apparently voted Conservative out of fear of a coalition of Labour & SNP.
But it does seem given the margin they won by that anyway.
Seems bittersweet for the SNP, gaining so many seats but with seemingly little central power against a Tory majority. Locally it should be good news in many respects.
Thoughts?]
Great result for the SNP.
They get to continue the narrative of Scotland not being represented in Westminster. They also don't have to involve themselves in the risky business of actually governing in Westminster.
Labour made things unnecessarily hard for themselves by not fighting the line that they were at fault for everything in the financial crisis (though they cannot be blameless).
Winning that argument was huge for the Tories because it has given them the chance to go making whatever idieologically-driven cuts they fancy in the name of unnecessary austerity.
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“Words,” wrote John Maynard Keynes, “ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking.” I’ve always loved that quote, and have tried to apply it to my own writing. But I have to admit that in the long slump that followed the 2008 financial crisis — a slump that we had both the tools and the knowledge to end quickly, but didn’t — the unthinking were quite successful in fending off unwelcome thoughts.
And nowhere was the triumph of inanity more complete than in Keynes’s homeland, which is going to the polls as I write this. Britain’s election should be a referendum on a failed economic doctrine, but it isn’t, because nobody with influence is challenging transparently false claims and bad ideas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/opinion/paul-krugman-triumph-of-the-unthinking.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region
Labour made things unnecessarily hard for themselves by not fighting the line that they were at fault for everything in the financial crisis (though they cannot be blameless).
Only then can they believably critisize the economic policies of austerity and neoliberalism.
It's going to be interesting to see how Labour reacts to this.
Obviously there was an issue with Milliband not appealing to many people, but beyond that they seem to have got lost in a nothingy position on the political spectrum.
They seem to be seen as dangerously left in much of the south of England, but they aren't seen as left enough in more traditional Labour areas.
That meant they could take seats off the Lib Dems, but they stood no chance in key seats against the SNP and the Tories.
I don't know at this point how Labour goes about building support, beyond sitting waiting for ages for people to forget their alledged incompetence that led to the 2008 crash and for people to wake up to just how damaging Tory policies are likely to be.
Obviously there was an issue with Milliband not appealing to many people, but beyond that they seem to have got lost in a nothingy position on the political spectrum.
They seem to be seen as dangerously left in much of the south of England, but they aren't seen as left enough in more traditional Labour areas.
That meant they could take seats off the Lib Dems, but they stood no chance in key seats against the SNP and the Tories.
I don't know at this point how Labour goes about building support, beyond sitting waiting for ages for people to forget their alledged incompetence that led to the 2008 crash and for people to wake up to just how damaging Tory policies are likely to be.
"To help with the crackdown on illegal workers", which is completely unrelated, of course, because a company isn't going to be paying legitimate tax for illegal workers.
As a self-employed British citizen aged 32 it doesn't affect me at all, but I am for anything which gets more British youngsters into apprenticeships and full time work. I assume this would have little to no impact on foreign workers doing menial jobs that British people won't do, just that companies may think twice for example about hiring a young worker from an eastern European EU member country rather than taking on a British equivalent. For the big firms it is going to make absolutely no difference, although I know that even big engineering firms like JLR, Nissan and others do like to source locally for many jobs.
As a self-employed British citizen aged 32 it doesn't affect me at all, but I am for anything which gets more British youngsters into apprenticeships and full time work. I assume this would have little to no impact on foreign workers doing menial jobs that British people won't do, just that companies may think twice for example about hiring a young worker from an eastern European EU member country rather than taking on a British equivalent. For the big firms it is going to make absolutely no difference, although I know that even big engineering firms like JLR, Nissan and others do like to source locally for many jobs.