Off Topic Political Debate

My head is firmly in the sand!! We are not causing global warming we are in a period inter ice age and sany trends we are seeing are debateable in the extreme and definitely within data noise. Prudence would say don't take a chance so agree we should look at the sustainability on this planet the thing is its not CO2 methane or the like we need to focus on but H20!!! Water is our limiting factor and it is a case of overpopulation. When you have competing organisms in a space that cannot support those organisms for whatever reason it is overpopulation. The population will self regulate by disease, starvation, survival of fittest (war) in nature but in our "civilized" society we deny natures regulation.

 

With all the data available that's on par with believing the Moon is made of cheese.

We have plenty of water, and will do forever. We just need to manage things properly.

 

Totally agree. The data on manmade global warming is very strong. Denial is akin to those who deny Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
If it were a problem of pure H2O the solution would be desalination


Mmmmmm -what type of cheese? Now if it is Emmental......

 

I think it's Emoontal...

 

I have to disagree, it's Stilton. The evidence for global warming is non existent, for every trend showing warming it can be countered by another data set showing plateau and in terms of geological time whatever we measure is noise. Desalination is not the easy answer to the water problem. Desal only works with enormous energy input which is coming from where?

 

There is a near-global consensus amongst scientists that we are causing GW. All studies attempting to disprove it are funded by the people making money off fossil fuels. We have the means to put a stop to it, unfortunately greed and selfishness will always win...

Renewable energy makes sense, and instead of our government giving huge subsidies to petrol firms we should put all our efforts into becoming a leader in renewable energies. Unfortunately the Tories will help our their mates.

 

Global sea level rose by about 17cm in the last century, but has risen by double this since 2000. NASA's gravity recovery and climate experiment have found that Greenland lost 150-250 cubic km. of ice per year between 2002 and 2006. The figure for Antarctica is about 152 cubic km. per year over the same period. The extent and thickness of arctic sea ice has declined rapidly over the last 20 years. If you add glacial retreat to these figures, together with things like ocean acidification, and then give any creedence whatsoever to the one study in a thousand sponsored by Shell etc. which contradict these figures, then there is no hope.

 

The only people seriously questioning man made global warming are those involved with petro-chemicals et al. I agree that we should switch subsidies towards helping the UK become a world leader in renewable energy.

 

As a sub-topic, something to open up for discussion. After their very poor showing in the GE, how do you see the future for the Labour Party? After one of the favourites pulled out of the leadership election and several of the other candidates delivering less than inspiring platitudes about how they wouold take the party forward, I can see a couple of years on internal strife for them. In addition, they no longer seem to have any identity. Do they move back to the party of the centre as devised by Blair? or do they lurch back to their roots and pick up the left wing red flag? I can see the unions backing a left wing candidate and a lot of the general membership wishing for a return to the Blairite days!

 

I don't think it'll make much difference who they put in charge. After 5 years of Tory government people will vote Labour even if they have Abu Hamza as leader...

 

Labour's roots lay in a time when there was a large, relatively homogenous industrial working class in England. Labour cannot go back because society has changed and the poorest 30% or so of the population are now a fragmented group of fruit pickers, call centre workers, bouncers and zero hour contract workers who have, mostly, become estranged from politics. In order to go back they would need to do what Obama did in the USA, ie. manage to get people to the vote who had previously never voted. If anyone, either right or left, can find out the reasons for the 34% of non voters - who they are etc. and mobilize them, then the field is theirs. I think that a simple left vs right debate ie. should Labour go back to New Labour etc. is too premature. We will never know what might have happened if Scotland had voted as it normally does, if the spectre of the SNP in Westminster had not been raised, and also if Labour had had a transparent policy on Europe. This last point may have been their Achilles heal - nobody knows exactly how far Labour will go with Europe and at which point they would say no. How many voted for the Tories simply because they wanted a referendum ?

 

Always assuming that they still have the right to vote then. With this bunch in charge, it wouldn't surprise me to find MPs being appointed in similar manner to those currently taking up residence in the HoL...

 

You are either a rubbish troll, very naive or a very over optimistic person. I can guarantee that will not happen, they have lost Scotland and are very unlikely to get it back anytime soon and as Cologne states, their traditional "working class"voter has disappeared. Need to up your game a bit....

 

Only if people forget the incompetence of the Labour Party. Hopefully the union's choice of Andy Burnham is successful, he is a nonentity who will keep Labour unelectable for many years to come.

The Uk is conservative and will become more so once the SNP has gained independence. I expect the boundary changes to be a government priority which will cement the Tories for a generation.

The sun is shining.

 

Doesn't matter that they've lost their 'working class' voters, the media tore into Milliband whilst glamorising UKIP, things will be different next time.

The new wave of cuts the Tories are about to unleash will ruin the lives of millions of people, and next wave of privatisation will just make things worse. Inequality will be even more extreme between the rich and poor by the time the next election comes round.

The Green party will continue to gather support, especially now that fracking will be encouraged all over the country. UKIP will be finished without Farage/after the referendum, whatever the outcome.

I honestly see the coalition we nearly had this time taking power, Labour/Green/SNP. I doubt we'll get a Labour majority, but they will be a protest vote against the Tories.

 

You are optimistic if nothing else.!!!

I think you are going to be mightily disappointed though. The future is blue.

 

People remember Tory light (Blair) as taking us into war illegally, PPI fiasco, and arguing with Brown. Blair and Mandelson have since shown the world to be money grabbing and without morals. The left of Labour will never be elected and the right cannot be trusted.
Maybe Liz Kendall is right and Labour are finished.

 

That was in response to you saying the UK is 'conservative'. It's not, it just depends on who wins the popularity contest running up to the election, which is decided (unfortunately) by the media.

Next time will be different though. The younger generations are not Tories in the making, and are slowly becoming more politicised. As I said, UKIP will no longer be around to steal their share of votes, as the Europe question will no longer be on the agenda.

Why you decided to spout more tired clichés about Blair I don't know. Your 'brain' seems to automatically generate rubbish like that every time you post.

By the way, do you honestly think Cameron and Osborne have 'morals'? Really?

 

In 5 years time people will have seen that the SNP can work constructively within a UK government in Westminster and so the paranoia over them will not be as great next time around, or the fear of a possible Labour-SNP arrangement. The EU referendum will also be behind us (whatever that will bring) - will the Conservatives survive this in one piece ? What is also forgotten is that it is very rare in British politics for a party to be removed from office after just one term - the British are fair in this and give everyone a second chance. So Labour's chance is next time, if British electoral history remains true to form.