Obviously I voted yesterday and the party who got my 2 votes don't 100% match my political beliefs but do a close enough job compared to the others. The point to my thread is to find (if there are any) politically like-minded individuals. So I will state my beliefs on what changes I believe are needed to take the country forward and to set an example to our friends across the globe. I will start with the big question that is: European Union I'm a very big "Out" guy, I would most certainly vote out. Having said that I wouldn't simply take it upon myself to just pull out of the EU in an instant even if I do believe it to be a mere stain on democracy and freedom. What I would do is give the public the freedom to decide via a referendum and I would expect the results to favour the out option but should the public vote in I would merely be happy that we where given the option. Independence It's common knowledge that the Scots have a referendum on whether to operate independently or remain as part of the UK. I myself feel Northern Ireland are much more entitled to said referendum (being on a different island to GB altogether) but I wouldn't deprive the Scots or the Welsh that right if the demand was there and in Scotland's case it is. But I certainly would hope Scotland would prefer a future inside the UK. Education Should the government run state schooling programs? in my opinion no, the notion is absurd. State education is pretty sub-standard and the fault of that is because these schools have no competition and there is no alternative apart from private schooling which the majority of us can not afford. We have very few grammar schools and our youths have developed a language of their own. My answer to this is for private investment to come in and buy these schools and improve them with independent finance and we should see the standards fly through the roof. NHS Every man with a brain and even half of those without a brain know the NHS is flailing like an amputee in a swimming pool. the answer is simple. Sell NHS off to private investors to the likes of Bupa and we will see competition. Bupa insurance wouldn't cost the earth because it would have others to compete with those others having bought many of old NHS establishments. Encourage employers to offer health insurance to it's employees if they are working for modest incomes. There are many initiatives that would make this work. Welfare My idea is to replace JSA with a token based initiative. For those actively seeking work the government will provide food tokens in which the individual would be expected to repay once the individual has gained meaningful employment. Immigration Right now the UK has a population of roughly 67'000'000 which is huge considering the size of the island. Provided the UK pull out of the EU so many EU workers/none-working populace will inevitably return home which will leave room for maybe a reasonable influx of skilled workers if needed in certain areas. Housing Council housing is something we should set out to abolish by selling tenants their homes permanently and offer deductions on current council properties and to print flyers to highlight new opportunities for tenants to own their homes. Bachelors who rent dated flats or maisonettes should be encouraged to rent privately so those flats/maisonettes can be destroyed and for the land to be sold off for investors to utilise accordingly. I assure you I have more thoughts but I guess I will remember those as soon as this thread has been submitted. Feel free to share your thoughts and have a good day
I think a public vote would certainly be won by the 'out' option - sadly in my view. In the short term, the southern half of england (with the exception of the far south -west) would be better off, but Wales, Scotland (assuming they weren't independant) Northern Ireland and the North-East would be far worse off. A huge proportion of investment in these areas comes from Europe, and although you can argue that they are just giving us our money back, the Westminster government do not invest to the same extent in these areas, but instead focus their investment massively in London, and then in a corridor up through the midlands to Manchester (which they think is North but is actually more than 100 miles inside the southern half of Britain). In the long term, everywhere outside of London would be worse off as isolationism doesn't work. London would prosper because it is already an international city and can never go back to being isolationist.
On a personal level. If I had 2 same sex neighbours rogering one another and decided to get hitched one evening and came back home the following day and they both said "morning" to me I would say "morning" back and wish them luck in the future. On a government standpoint I would leave the decision to the church and not interfere but if the church chose not to marry same sex couples I would expect them to seek private alternatives such as the registry office/reception option. I hope you don't find my views abhorent or cnut-like
Don't be stupid. You wouldn't have any food stamps left for energy after you had spent them getting on the bus to your job interview!!