so humour is also a no go area unless approved by Leonardo-- i have read your posts over the last week, some very staggering contradictions, did you 'support' Blair by any chance. As for your attempt to marginalise me, its not really a problem, if it makes you feel good, then carry on.....
I'm very well thank you, trying to find out how to pronounce Ak's full name so that I can order a caramel latte in keeping with my favourite Hornette, I love you all equally, but she is more equal than anyone else!
Would anybody who understand any of rude-little-boys posts please explain them to me. He does not seem to understand that some people are "floating voters" - and have not had some sort of ideology thrust down their throat. I have told him I have no political affiliation - I vote for whoever and whichever party I think presents the best case at an election. Some of MT's things were good and some bad - did you read my 3 and 3 RLB? Yes Some of Blair was good - some bad - same with most politicians. I believe though that most politicians are ineffective and do not deliver 10% of what they promise so guess I am also rather cynical about them. I have previously asked you to actually state what you believe with arguments to support but you never have. Also I now ask you to show me contradictions in my arguments so that I can at least try to explain myself. I am more than willing to engage you in friendly and honest debate RLB but cannot until you allow it - like others, I still think you are just a WUM - prove us wrong. RLB - I am sorry if I missed your attempt at humour somewhere down the line - tell me the joke again and I will try to laugh. I don't need to marginalise you - you do that job wonderfully yourself. But I do try to be condescending towards you as you appreciate that so much or you would not keep coming back for more
I always think of AK as Akoo- ray- rah - not sure though. He wont let me lose weight by changing my order to a tea with no sugar and skimmed milk though - I get a (very nice) cappucino
I have just had a browse around the various forums to see how they were covering this theme. Surprise, surprise Liverpool 606 is very one sided in its analysis. As if we didn't know that already. However it is a reminder to me of how intensely regional British politics is - more so than in other European countries. There are many reasons for this but one supporting factor is , for me, the lack of a form of proportional representation. After every election we have one part of the country saying 'We didn't vote for this rubbish' in the case of the North of England strengthening their conception that government is in London, by London and for London. The Labour party know that they cannot win constituencies in Surrey and the Tories not in Barnsley or Liverpool, both parties channel their resources to target marginal seats looking for an absolute majority, and develop their politics accordingly. I once canvassed for the Labour party in Taunton Deane constituency - God what an experience - we had a budget of 20 pounds, because resources had been diverted to 'more important' marginals like Ipswich etc. With a form of PR all votes become important to all parties and maybe the North South divide would become more relaxed with time. As it is a large number of people vote tactically or through fear of the other side getting an overall majority. So, our candidate in Taunton Deane indicated that we should maybe vote Liberal ! Someone has said on these threads that Thatcher had the support of 45% of the electorate (Actually it was the party and not her), in any other European country they would have been looking for a coalition partner on that basis. PR is in most cases unfortunately a more expensive system, and one in which small parties like the Green Party would have their resources stretched to canvass in 600+ constituencies simultaneously. However in course of time a political culture devolops which is conducive to coalition government - or how else could there have been an S.P.D. and C.D.U. coalition in Germany (The equivalent of Labour - Conservative) a coalition unthinkable in England, and I feel that Britain should travel this path.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtClJYJBj8 A heartfelt and surely sobering response to the massed ranks of the Tory MPs from Glenda Jackson that certainly highlights the divide facing the nation. A nice touch from the Speaker of the House too - putting a Tory MP firmly in his place.
Very good by John Bercow - provided it's not abusive or libellious people shoudlbe free to say what they want. That's the whole point of deomcracy - a concept that Mrs T claimed to represent above anything else.
I think Mrs T would have loved the cut and thrust of the discussions and would have been scrapping it out with the best of them. She would have had a lot to say about Kinnock if the situation was reversed...
Good post cologne. Not sure that PR is the blame though - I think it is more to do with way of life. People in inner cities and industrial areas have long known that their only strength is in numbers - they needed unions to help them fight against the injustices of mill and mine owners and the like. (As an aside this was the form of Toryism that MT tried to return to - everyone seems to think she invented greed with the City but look at the immense wealth early industrialists built up). Unions were the only way that the "ordinary man" had any chance of fairness. The Labour Party grew out of these roots and has largely retained that bedrock support. Conversely in the sedate shires the Tory gentry held sway. I was born in the early 50s and so experienced the "13 years of Tory misrule" as Harold Wilson labelled it. Of course it was not but whoever cares about truth when the rhetoric is good? Then we had 6 years of Labour. They could reverse a lot of what went before and take no blame for their mistakes. Then back to the Tories, then back to Labour etc etc. Finally you got 18 years of Tory government followed by 13 of Labour. All of them were good at blaming their predecessors. Under PR that is much more difficult as the same people and parties share government in a coalition usually and so not only can they not shift the blame completely but also they have to find compromise - and take the country along with them. Perhaps the defining aspect of MT was she appeared not to care less what others thought - not even her own Party. She was just right and nobody else mattered. Hence the division and conflict with no attempt to listen to others. Eventually she went too far and alienated even her own Party so much that they threw her out. So PR has a lot going for it However it is not rooted in our British psyche where we like winner takes all in the first past the post system. So now we have a coalition where the extremes are lessened but the country hates them. Probably partly because Cameron and Clegg appear to be useless out-of touch toffs with no experience of life outside their privileged background. (I know I sound like a left wing siren on this but it is the way I see them - they are a pretty useless pair). It is a shame because I suspect the next election will return us to one or other of the two parties that have had their turn too often - it is difficult to see another coalition for a long time and they momentum behind the push for PR has dwindled - it would never win in a rederendum held now. ps I thought the 45% I saw just referred to an opinion poll recently in the Guardian that asked about people's attitude to MT
Ak is good or Heyrðu, it is "here" = hair thoo, works. Geitungur Akureyrar is gay toon kur ak ur ay rarh ð is like th in that the letter g changes depending on where it is found or what it is between ei is ay not eye
Thank you for the help Ak, if it's all the same to you and you're happy with it, I will stick with Ak I remember you from the old BBC606 when you helped our "Political Canary" with the use of HTML in producing his marvelous "Americanised" match day threads!
In spite of my best efforts to stir up a bit of controversy... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/apr/10/thatcher-death-ding-dong-witch The milk snatcher, the chicken farmers, Geri's twin sister and a big-time Charley, to name just a few. They have had their share of characters.
