Off Topic The Politics Thread

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Should the UK remain a part of the EU or leave?

  • Stay in

    Votes: 56 47.9%
  • Get out

    Votes: 61 52.1%

  • Total voters
    117
  • Poll closed .
Looks more to me like a seizure of power by a group of right wing free market fundamentalists - like a corporate coup d'etat, which nobody voted for. Friends of mine here are amazed that the internal problems of a party which never had more than 37% of the votes cast, and has only about 130,000 members could have such far reaching consequences - this could never happen in a real democracy.

Lol.
 
Looks more to me like a seizure of power by a group of right wing free market fundamentalists - like a corporate coup d'etat, which nobody voted for. Friends of mine here are amazed that the internal problems of a party which never had more than 37% of the votes cast, and has only about 130,000 members could have such far reaching consequences - this could never happen in a real democracy.

Do you mean a real democracy like the EU?

The UK system is no doubt flawed, but it's stood the test of time. And anomalies work both ways. No one elected Gordon Brown.
 
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Do you mean a real democracy like the EU?

The UK system is no doubt flawed, but it's stood the test of time. And anomalies work both ways. No one elected Gordon Brown.
They didnt and as Boris said, it was a disgrace and much more. That's one thing I do agree with him on, but we know he changes his mind with the weather!
 
Looks more to me like a seizure of power by a group of right wing free market fundamentalists - like a corporate coup d'etat, which nobody voted for. Friends of mine here are amazed that the internal problems of a party which never had more than 37% of the votes cast, and has only about 130,000 members could have such far reaching consequences - this could never happen in a real democracy.

0.2% of the country had a say and 0.14% chose Boris. You can’t get more democratic than that.
 
Looks more to me like a seizure of power by a group of right wing free market fundamentalists - like a corporate coup d'etat, which nobody voted for. Friends of mine here are amazed that the internal problems of a party which never had more than 37% of the votes cast, and has only about 130,000 members could have such far reaching consequences - this could never happen in a real democracy.
How did the CDU elect Merkel as leader? If she retires due to ill health don’t MPs, rather than the people, vote for a new chancellor who is appointed by the president? What % of votes does the CDU get? From what I see they got nearly 33% last time. Nobody in Germany voted explicitly for a coalition, which is what they always get.

No western liberal democracy is actually very democratic, they are all shams.
 
Wow, is it actually 50% remain/leave?! Happy to stand corrected if so and v surprised!
As Strolls points out a condition of being in the cabinet is being prepared to support a no deal Brexit on 31 October if necessary. It’s Johnson’s team, his rules, fair enough.

No place for Iain Duncan Smith or David Davies, Johnson might be a better judge of character than I imagined. Dom Cummings described Davies as ‘thick as mince, lazy as a toad and vain as Narcissus’. I don’t think he rates him.
 
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Sure, Labour defended Gordon Brown's coronation, and some Tories decried it

Now, the Tories defend Boris's election by a small number, and Labour are crying foul
I think you will find it's not just labour supporters crying foul goldy. I totally agree with BoJo with his comments about Brown. That is where the pure hypocrisy lays
 
How did the CDU elect Merkel as leader? If she retires due to ill health don’t MPs, rather than the people, vote for a new chancellor who is appointed by the president? What % of votes does the CDU get? From what I see they got nearly 33% last time. Nobody in Germany voted explicitly for a coalition, which is what they always get.

No western liberal democracy is actually very democratic, they are all shams.
The CDU does not have a majority Stan - they have 33% of the vote and 33% of the seats in the Bundestag, which is as it should be. Everybody who voted for them or the SPD knew, in advance, that a coalition would be the most likely outcome - there was also a referendum amongst SPD members as to whether to go through with this. Coalitions are a way of life in Germany. You cannot compare their system with yours because the country is so very decentralized in comparison - only about 30% of public spending actually comes directly from Berlin - this compares to over 75% from Westminster. I pay my taxes to the state government in Düsseldorf, not to central government. This is another major fault of the British system - there is no effective balance to it. You know in advance that you only need to keep 36% of the people happy and, as long as the other 64% are divided then they can go to hell. Having got your 'majority' based on such figures, there is no effective counterbalance to the centralized structure of an overpowerfull Westminster.
 
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I think you will find it's not just labour supporters crying foul goldy. I totally agree with BoJo with his comments about Brown. That is where the pure hypocrisy lays

If you're asking me to agree that Boris is a hypocrite on this issue, Bob - I do, and he is. He's one of many in that place
 
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The CDU does not have a majority Stan - they have 33% of the vote and 33% of the seats in the Bundestag, which is as it should be. Everybody who voted for them or the SPD knew, in advance, that a coalition would be the most likely outcome - there was also a referendum amongst SPD members as to whether to go through with this. Coalitions are a way of life in Germany. You cannot compare their system with yours because the country is so very decentralized in comparison - only about 30% of public spending actually comes directly from Berlin - this compares to over 75% from Westminster. I pay my taxes to the state government in Düsseldorf, not to central government. This is another major fault of the British system - there is no effective balance to it. You know in advance that you only need to keep 36% of the people happy and, as long as the other 64% are divided then they can go to hell. Having got your 'majority' based on such figures, there is no effective counterbalance to the centralized structure of an overpowerfull Westminster.
It’s a sham, the pathetic modesty screen for capitalism, like all liberal democracies. I think you know this Cologne. Besides the British had a chance to change their system a few years ago, and decided pretty decisively not to. They chose, democratically.

And the CDU/CSU has 35% of the seats.
 
It’s a sham, the pathetic modesty screen for capitalism, like all liberal democracies. I think you know this Cologne. Besides the British had a chance to change their system a few years ago, and decided pretty decisively not to. They chose, democratically.

And the CDU/CSU has 35% of the seats.
You've guessed that I am not a great fan of the German political system Stan - or of any other so called liberal democracy. For me democracy is a process and not an end product - either you are democratizing or you aren't. You also can't describe anywhere as being democratic if only the political sphere is involved, and that only once every 4 years. The German system does have the slender advantage of not being so extremely centralized and so, even if the bundestag isn't up to much, then regional governments can fill the gap. In fact the state governments can be used as testing grounds to see if coalition combinations work before being tried at the federal level. The referendum in Britain on PR was a complete waste of time because the form of voting which was offerred was far to complicated - whereas PR is anything but complicated.
 
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When Boris accuses Corbyn of preferring to side with Iran rather than our close allies in the USA, what exactly is his point?

What have Iran done so wrong by the rest of the world that a military invasion is a possible outcome?

Have the usa demonstrated such compassion towards foreign nations over the last 60/70 years, that any moral soul would automatically align them self with the septics?

Some detail please prime minister, some specifics, and don't quote zaghari ratcliffe and tit for tat oil tankers, that don't cut it.

Or-daar, oorr-daar
 
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When Boris accuses Corbyn of preferring to side with Iran rather than our close allies in the USA, what exactly is his point?

What have Iran done so wrong by the rest of the world that a military invasion is a possible outcome?

Have the usa demonstrated such compassion towards foreign nations over the last 60/70 years, that any moral soul would automatically align them self with the septics?

Some detail please prime minister, some specifics, and don't quote zaghari ratcliffe and tit for tat oil tankers, that don't cut it.

Or-daar, oorr-daar
There has to be some country somewhere to bomb otherwise the bomb cupboard becomes full and the need to make more becomes less.
 
There has to be some country somewhere to bomb otherwise the bomb cupboard becomes full and the need to make more becomes less.
War is definitely good business, but there are more reasons than just weapon manufacturers profits. A half decent opposition leader would hammer Johnson on this subject.