Following the Argentine path, someone must have left out six coups or golpe d'estado from 1930 -83, the disappearances and elimination of political opponents, Peronism. All came to an end thanks to Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
By the way, Argentina has Messi. It's not all bad for them.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
By the way, Argentina has Messi. It's not all bad for them.
Scottn'Paste being the prime example.
Still, at least he got the Monty Hall problem right.
' How can Britain get out of this oscillating cycle of destructive populism? The first step is for some serious politicians to speak out against it. And there too the prospects are bleak. The centre has been hollowed out. Brexit cleared out the Conservatives who were able and prepared to do this: David Cameron and George Osborne have left the stage. '
That will be the same Cameron and Osborne who promised no tax increase and guaranteed spending increases and never said no to funding their own vanity projects.
If you want a date as to when things started going wrong then try January 1998.
That was the last month the UK had a trade surplus.
For us to follow a similar trajectory to Argentina, the public and politicians would have to lose faith in our governing institutions. I don't think that's likely but it's more possible now than it has been for a long time (I am of course setting aside the sort of serial constitutional reformers and tinkerers that you find mostly within the LDs and bits of the Labour Party).
Arguably, the cracks are already appearing. Some remainers have already lost faith in those institutions as a result of the EU referendum. A Corbyn or Corbynista led majority government turning out to be as left wing as expected would have a similar result amongst those on the right.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
We would need several military juntas too in the meantime. In any case Argentina actually does better than the article suggests, it is a G20 nation, with a gdp per capita above the global average and has won more world cups than England has
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
It's completely fallacious to interpret the election result that way. Labour were highly ambivalent about Brexit and had 'tests' for the Brexit deal that could never be met. In any case in a representative democracy you can't treat every for every MP as a full endorsement of every dot and comma of the party's manifesto.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
It's completely fallacious to interpret the election result that way. Labour were highly ambivalent about Brexit and had 'tests' for the Brexit deal that could never be met. In any case in a representative democracy you can't treat every for every MP as a full endorsement of every dot and comma of the party's manifesto.
Looks like we'll have to rely on the referendum result, then.
Your side had the British government, pretty much all big business and the civil service on side. Remind me, how did that go for you?
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
YouGov predicted LibDens to finish third in C Central. I laughed. I was wrong! Tidal wave of students here one suspects.
It is also not as if the rest of the west is immune to populism at the moment either, while apart from Greece populist parties have generally not taken power they are still on the rise, in Italy 5* may have taken a hit in local elections but still tops the national polls and in the US it is likely the next election will be between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, the aftershocks of the 2008 crash are still affecting UK politics but they are still present elsewhere as well
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
It's completely fallacious to interpret the election result that way. Labour were highly ambivalent about Brexit and had 'tests' for the Brexit deal that could never be met. In any case in a representative democracy you can't treat every for every MP as a full endorsement of every dot and comma of the party's manifesto.
Looks like we'll have to rely on the referendum result, then.
Your side had the British government, pretty much all big business and the civil service on side. Remind me, how did that go for you?
As I've pointed out before, my side wasn't on the ballot paper in the referendum. Cameron's deal was for a permanently semi-detached relationship on the basis of never joining the Euro. It's Brexit that has shattered that consensus.
It is also not as if the rest of the west is immune to populism at the moment either, while apart from Greece populist parties have generally not taken power they are still on the rise, in Italy 5* may have taken a hit in local elections but still tops the national polls and in the US it is likely the next election will be between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, the aftershocks of the 2008 crash are still affecting UK politics but they are still present elsewhere as well
I don't think Bernie will run again; he's getting too old. Warren is a possibility, but thr Dems will probably go for a conpromise candidate, maybe someone like Kirsten Gillibrand.
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
By the way, Argentina has Messi. It's not all bad for them.
Scottn'Paste being the prime example.
Still, at least he got the Monty Hall problem right.
Oh, wait....
Imagine if both Con and Lab had said they were going to reverse the referendum decision in their manifestos, and got 84% of the vote/480 odd seats. There is no way Brexiteers could spin that to mean its good for Brexit or that the public desire it.
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
It's completely fallacious to interpret the election result that way. Labour were highly ambivalent about Brexit and had 'tests' for the Brexit deal that could never be met. In any case in a representative democracy you can't treat every for every MP as a full endorsement of every dot and comma of the party's manifesto.
You interpret every election result as proving that the voters want More Europe. The EU is your religion.
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
By the way, Argentina has Messi. It's not all bad for them.
Scottn'Paste being the prime example.
Still, at least he got the Monty Hall problem right.
Oh, wait....
Imagine if both Con and Lab had said they were going to reverse the referendum decision in their manifestos, and got 84% of the vote/480 odd seats. There is no way Brexiteers could spin that to mean its good for Brexit or that the public desire it.
It would have made for an interesting election had they decided to do that!
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
By the way, Argentina has Messi. It's not all bad for them.
Scottn'Paste being the prime example.
Still, at least he got the Monty Hall problem right.
Oh, wait....
Imagine if both Con and Lab had said they were going to reverse the referendum decision in their manifestos, and got 84% of the vote/480 odd seats. There is no way Brexiteers could spin that to mean its good for Brexit or that the public desire it.
It would have made for an interesting election had they decided to do that!
Christ knows who I would have voted for.
The party would have lost my (admittedly pitiful( donations, mind.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
Well it didn't exactly bring the government down, did it?
Anyone elese really annoyed that Perth and Perthshire North didn't turn blue because it would have made the map of Scotland look a lot neater. No? Just me? OK........
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
Anyone elese really annoyed that Perth and Perthshire North didn't turn blue because it would have made the map of Scotland look a lot neater. No? Just me? OK........
I like neat electoral maps but I had money on the SNP in Perth as a saver bet.
In the thread header Alastair is being somewhat disingenuous.
He says
"The public liked the idea of saving contributions to the EU to spend on funding NHS contributions (this mysteriously has not yet materialised) "
Why should it, when he knows full well we have not yet left the EU and will not for at least another 18 months to 2 years. As such we are still paying the same vast sums of money to the EU (£283 million a week) as we were before the referendum.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
IDS was plainly not up to it, but all of his successors have had their flaws.
It is also not as if the rest of the west is immune to populism at the moment either, while apart from Greece populist parties have generally not taken power they are still on the rise, in Italy 5* may have taken a hit in local elections but still tops the national polls and in the US it is likely the next election will be between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, the aftershocks of the 2008 crash are still affecting UK politics but they are still present elsewhere as well
I don't think Bernie will run again; he's getting too old. Warren is a possibility, but thr Dems will probably go for a conpromise candidate, maybe someone like Kirsten Gillibrand.
Bernie is making all the noises about running again, at 75 he is younger than Reagan was in the final years of his presidency and he had a 10 point lead over Trump yesterday with PPP, Warren had a 3 point lead, if he thinks he is the best candidate for the Democrats to win the rustbelt states he will run. Gillibrand is too centrist for the Democrats in their current mood, after 2016 they will not nominate another centrist who has been Senator for New York
Why is CPI of 2.9% reported as a disaster but HPI of 5.6% reported as a good thing ?
House prices continuing to rise at multiples of wages increases might benefit rich economics editors but I know which inflation rate is most damaging for the country.
And while I can buy good wine for a fiver and good beer for a quid a bottle there's no CPI problem either.
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
By the way, Argentina has Messi. It's not all bad for them.
Scottn'Paste being the prime example.
Still, at least he got the Monty Hall problem right.
Oh, wait....
Imagine if both Con and Lab had said they were going to reverse the referendum decision in their manifestos, and got 84% of the vote/480 odd seats. There is no way Brexiteers could spin that to mean its good for Brexit or that the public desire it.
It would have made for an interesting election had they decided to do that!
I would suggest in that instance the two parties would be hard pressed to get 50% let alone 84%
An uncharacteristically rambling article from Mr Meeks. Some thoughts:
1) Relative decline was always inevitable for Britain as the first industrial nation. Thanks to our failure to complete imperial federation and the loss of our position as the world's creditor through two world wars, we guaranteed that Britain would eventually decline to become a medium-weight European power in the same bracket as France and Germany. That had already happened by the late 60s, and I don't see anything to suggest we will suffer a further precipitous collapse.
2) Argentina fell prey to over dependence on the export of a few comodities and the sudden loss of markets for those comodities. Britain's economy has always been much more diverse, and even with the loss of much of our 'traditional' industry we are not a one trick pony.
The referendum has not, as Meeks correctly points out, laid fertile ground for centre ground politics. But LEAVE can't take all the blame.
In GE17, charges of "We can't afford that extreme left nonsense, we'll go bust" were barely raised at the LAB manifesto and didn't really cut through when they were. Why not? Why didn't predictions of outright economic disaster carry much weight?
Maybe the voters had heard a very similar prediction from the REMAIN campaign a few months back. Maybe they found that despite predictions of immediate sky-high interest rates, deflation, a 10% recession, three million jobs lost etc, all that really happened to them was that Toblerones got gappy, everyone they knew had a job, and their tracker mortgages actually fell a few quid a month.
In such circumstances you could, when someone says "Don't vote that way, it'll ruin the economy", forgive them for not listening.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
In the thread header Alastair is being somewhat disingenuous.
He says
"The public liked the idea of saving contributions to the EU to spend on funding NHS contributions (this mysteriously has not yet materialised) "
Why should it, when he knows full well we have not yet left the EU and will not for at least another 18 months to 2 years. As such we are still paying the same vast sums of money to the EU (£283 million a week) as we were before the referendum.
If Boris is PM after the next election and gives 350m a week to the NHS, how long can we ban Scott for? A week for every time he posted the pic?
You keep on fearing TSE. Get all those sleepless nights in and see if it makes anything any better. I meanwhile will be sleeping soundly in the knowledge that Brexit is good for the country.
My only concern might be whether that whining I hear is mosquitoes or unreconciled Remainers. I think I have a rolled up newspaper for both.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
That's risible. Choreographed resignation designed to cause maximum discomfort to remain don't quite square with the oh so honest well intentioned politician you're describing. As you know.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
He was a disloyal b*st*rd
Yeah, cos Maastricht was a great moment in our history that led to no further political repercussions...
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
He was a disloyal b*st*rd
He put principles before party. We need more like him not less. Loyalty to an intrinsically corrupt system - which applies to all the parties - is nothing to be proud of.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
That's risible. Choreographed resignation designed to cause maximum discomfort to remain don't quite square with the oh so honest well intentioned politician you're describing. As you know.
On one side we have an ex-chancellor who has flounced off, on the other side we have a man who devoted a decade of his life to reducing poverty in a fair way, and who is still fighting the good fight.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
He was a disloyal b*st*rd
Yeah, cos Maastricht was a great moment in our history that led to no further political repercussions...
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
There's history, even David Davis off the record is reported to think IDS is a traitorous bastard.
Goes back to the Maastricht debate/votes.
There was collusion between Tory rebels and Labour whips to try and defeat the government and Davis was in the whips office and IDS was one of the ringleaders.
You keep on fearing TSE. Get all those sleepless nights in and see if it makes anything any better. I meanwhile will be sleeping soundly in the knowledge that Brexit is good for the country.
Nothing is ever good no matter its form or how well managed it is, that's ideology talking. If things are badly handled, then it won't be good for the country in a practical sense. If it is well handled, it will be good for the country.
Matthew Parris takes a pop at the snooty, condescending elites who ran Theresa's campaign. I must say, he has a point.
As the campaign kicked off, how many times did you read the winking advice from a political commentator that ‘if you’re already sick of reading about Mrs May’s “strong and stable leadership” and how this is a choice about who negotiates Brexit, Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn, then it’s working’? Or even worse, the nudge-nudge suggestion that the mindless repetition of crude slogans isn’t aimed at people like you or me, but the poor old hoi polloi whose attention span for politics is rather limited?
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
There's history, even David Davis off the record is reported to think IDS is a traitorous bastard.
Goes back to the Maastricht debate/votes.
There was collusion between Tory rebels and Labour whips to try and defeat the government and Davis was in the whips office and IDS was one of the ringleaders.
If the rebels had won in the early 90s we'd have had Portillo as PM by 2001. That'd have been a far better situation!
The other thing Alastair ignores in his thread header is that Argentina's problems stem primarily from politics not economics. It has never been a stable liberal democracy and the acceptance of basic democratic systems has never really taken root. Just go and look at the succession of political crisis that have enveloped the country back way before Alastair's starting date of 1913. I am afraid the comparison simply does not hold water.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
That's risible. Choreographed resignation designed to cause maximum discomfort to remain don't quite square with the oh so honest well intentioned politician you're describing. As you know.
On one side we have an ex-chancellor who has flounced off, on the other side we have a man who devoted a decade of his life to reducing poverty in a fair way, and who is still fighting the good fight.
I know who I'd trust more.
I give up. When you're defending IDS and May you're going to be on the wrong side of any argument. Is all.
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
It's completely fallacious to interpret the election result that way. Labour were highly ambivalent about Brexit and had 'tests' for the Brexit deal that could never be met. In any case in a representative democracy you can't treat every for every MP as a full endorsement of every dot and comma of the party's manifesto.
Labour were so ambivalent they made it clear at every opportunity that they wanted us not only to leave the EU but the Single Market as well. Corbyn actually wants a harder Brexit than I do.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
That's risible. Choreographed resignation designed to cause maximum discomfort to remain don't quite square with the oh so honest well intentioned politician you're describing. As you know.
On one side we have an ex-chancellor who has flounced off, on the other side we have a man who devoted a decade of his life to reducing poverty in a fair way, and who is still fighting the good fight.
I know who I'd trust more.
I give up. When you're defending IDS and May you're going to be on the wrong side of any argument. Is all.
Interesting header, thought-provoking, but a tad hysterical. It may be poor taste to say so, but the fact is that Latin people are rubbish at founding stable and prosperous colonies. Anglo Saxons run colonies better. Anglo Saxons create countries that other people want to live in.
And populism is only incoherent in the sense that "what people want" is incoherent. There's lots of different people. They want different stuff. Whether what a particular individual wants can be labelled "populist" or not is largely a matter of whether it's fashionable. Not much more than that.
You keep on fearing TSE. Get all those sleepless nights in and see if it makes anything any better. I meanwhile will be sleeping soundly in the knowledge that Brexit is good for the country.
My only concern might be whether that whining I hear is mosquitoes or unreconciled Remainers. I think I have a rolled up newspaper for both.
Richard, 80% of my day job is spent prepping for Brexit.
I'm staggered at how uninformed and unprepared our government and some MPs are for Brexit.
We're 77 days in to a 730 day process, bugger all has happened, 49 days of those 77 days have been spent focusing on the needless election.
We're likely to fall out of the EU with no deal, with WTO terms and if that doesn't terrify you, then you're even more uninformed than I thought you were.
Why is CPI of 2.9% reported as a disaster but HPI of 5.6% reported as a good thing ?
House prices continuing to rise at multiples of wages increases might benefit rich economics editors but I know which inflation rate is most damaging for the country.
And while I can buy good wine for a fiver and good beer for a quid a bottle there's no CPI problem either.
False claims re control over house price inflation.
Perhaps Labour should have split. 85% of people voted for parties saying that they'd leave the EU (and, in the case of Labour, the Single Market). But some are using the warped logic that because neither party won a majority of seats, then this is all null and void.
It's completely fallacious to interpret the election result that way. Labour were highly ambivalent about Brexit and had 'tests' for the Brexit deal that could never be met. In any case in a representative democracy you can't treat every for every MP as a full endorsement of every dot and comma of the party's manifesto.
Labour were so ambivalent they made it clear at every opportunity that they wanted us not only to leave the EU but the Single Market as well. Corbyn actually wants a harder Brexit than I do.
What William means is that actually, 85% were voting against Brexit, and in favour of joining the Euro. Even though they didn't realise it.
You keep on fearing TSE. Get all those sleepless nights in and see if it makes anything any better. I meanwhile will be sleeping soundly in the knowledge that Brexit is good for the country.
Nothing is ever good no matter its form or how well managed it is, that's ideology talking. If things are badly handled, then it won't be good for the country in a practical sense. If it is well handled, it will be good for the country.
It all depends on how bad one considers things to be now while we are still inside.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
There's history, even David Davis off the record is reported to think IDS is a traitorous bastard.
Goes back to the Maastricht debate/votes.
There was collusion between Tory rebels and Labour whips to try and defeat the government and Davis was in the whips office and IDS was one of the ringleaders.
Again you attack someone for putting principles and country before party. Which reflects very badly on you and not at all badly on IDS.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
There's history, even David Davis off the record is reported to think IDS is a traitorous bastard.
Goes back to the Maastricht debate/votes.
There was collusion between Tory rebels and Labour whips to try and defeat the government and Davis was in the whips office and IDS was one of the ringleaders.
IDS was newly elected in 1992, he was certainly not one of the Maastricht rebel ringleaders.
10 Conservative MPs had the whip withdrawn 18 more Conservative MPs listed as also voting against the government 16 more Conservative MPs including IDS listed as abstaining
Helmer ran as a candidate in Leics South, and appeared at the Leicester Mercury hustings representing UKIP. During this he revealed that his partner was Indian.
Andrea - Cardiff Central should have been better for the Lib Dems. They really have been clobbered.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Osborne is a neo-liberal headbanger. He thought it would be OK to get a tax cut for the middle classes through whilst cutting welfare for the disabled.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
And, yet, the enlightened on here still bashed IDS for his resignation over that.
Yeah. Cos that's why he resigned.
I find the distrust of IDS amongst party members one of the most bizarre sides of the neo-liberal elements of the Conservative party. Yes he was a hopeless leader. Yes he isn't the biggest dreamer or thinker in the world. But by-God is he a Tory through and through. And by-God I'd trust his intentions more than the identikit politicians who laughed at him.
There's history, even David Davis off the record is reported to think IDS is a traitorous bastard.
Goes back to the Maastricht debate/votes.
There was collusion between Tory rebels and Labour whips to try and defeat the government and Davis was in the whips office and IDS was one of the ringleaders.
IDS was newly elected in 1992, he was certainly not one of the Maastricht rebel ringleaders.
10 Conservative MPs had the whip withdrawn 18 more Conservative MPs listed as also voting against the government 16 more Conservative MPs including IDS listed as abstaining
You keep on fearing TSE. Get all those sleepless nights in and see if it makes anything any better. I meanwhile will be sleeping soundly in the knowledge that Brexit is good for the country.
My only concern might be whether that whining I hear is mosquitoes or unreconciled Remainers. I think I have a rolled up newspaper for both.
Richard, 80% of my day job is spent prepping for Brexit.
I'm staggered at how uninformed and unprepared our government and some MPs are for Brexit.
We're 77 days in to a 730 day process, bugger all has happened, 49 days of those 77 days have been spent focusing on the needless election.
We're likely to fall out of the EU with no deal, with WTO terms and if that doesn't terrify you, then you're even more uninformed than I thought you were.
The trouble is that you and your kind have spent so long attacking any form of Brexit that to be blunt we no longer believe you. We believe you to be dishonest and willing to say and do absolutely anything to try and reverse the result of the referendum.
You cried wolf so very often that you simply have no credibility left.
Why is everyone thinking people voted for Labour because of 'bungs'.
Maybe, just maybe, they liked Corbyn and his vision. Not enough to win, but the Tories are in complete SELF INFLICTED chaos, whilst labour seem stromg amd stable in comparision.
If they want to hold a referendum or an election, they should do a better job helping people in this country.
May seems to intensely dislike the common person. Corbyn doest. People can see and sense these things you know
Now that we have a hung parliament and the DUP hold the balance of power and back a softer Brexit inevitably a hard Brexit is dead even if May wanted it as she cannot get it through Parliament, fudged Brexit is most likely
Comments
1) Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock) 50.4%
2) Merthyr (Gerald Jones) 48.7%
3) Cardiff Central (Jo Stevens) 42.6%
4) Rhondda (Chris Bryant) 41.8%
5) Cynon Valley (Ann Clwyd) 41.6%
6) Swansea East (Carolyn Harris) 37.4%
7) Ogmore (Chris Elmore) 37.3%
8) Blaenau Gwent (Nick Smith) 36.8%
9) Neath (Christina Rees) 33.0%
10) Islwyn (Chris Evans) 31.6%
11) Llanelli (Nia Griffiths) 29.8%
12) Caerphilly (Wayne David) 29.3%
13) Cardiff South (Stephen Doughty) 29.3%
14) Pontypridd (Owen Smith) 28.7%
15) Swansea West (Geraint Davies) 28.5%
16) Cardiff West (Kevin Brennan) 26.9%
17) Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) 26.6%
18) Newport East (Jessica Morden) 21.7%
19) Ynis Mon (Albert Owen) 14.1%
20) Newport West (Paul Flynn) 13.0%
21) Alyn and Deeside (Mark Tami) 11.7%
22) Clwyd South (Susan Elan Jones) 11.6%
23) Bridgend (Madeleine Moon) 10.9%
24) Delyn (David Hanson) 10.8%
25) Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin) 8.0% GAIN
26) Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi) 7.2% GAIN
27) Vale of Clwyd (Chris Ruane) 6.1% GAIN
28) Wrexham (Ian Lucas) 5.2%
Welsh Labour did quite well in the Southern Valleys and held up in North Wales Labour leaning marginals.
Good article.
But, who knows how things will turn out?
By the way, Argentina has Messi. It's not all bad for them.
Isn't part of the problem here that Alastair Meeks thinks that someone like George Osborne represents the centre. To my mind Theresa May would seem to be a far more centrist politician, although undoubtedly under the influence of some fairly unhinged individuals.
Still, at least he got the Monty Hall problem right.
Oh, wait....
That will be the same Cameron and Osborne who promised no tax increase and guaranteed spending increases and never said no to funding their own vanity projects.
If you want a date as to when things started going wrong then try January 1998.
That was the last month the UK had a trade surplus.
Its been magic money tree ever since.
For us to follow a similar trajectory to Argentina, the public and politicians would have to lose faith in our governing institutions. I don't think that's likely but it's more possible now than it has been for a long time (I am of course setting aside the sort of serial constitutional reformers and tinkerers that you find mostly within the LDs and bits of the Labour Party).
Arguably, the cracks are already appearing. Some remainers have already lost faith in those institutions as a result of the EU referendum. A Corbyn or Corbynista led majority government turning out to be as left wing as expected would have a similar result amongst those on the right.
Amazing how many in Soton Test brought the latter up....
Your side had the British government, pretty much all big business and the civil service on side. Remind me, how did that go for you?
Combined with a nice Marlborough Sauv. B., they go down a treat on these hot evenings.
The party would have lost my (admittedly pitiful( donations, mind.
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21596582-one-hundred-years-ago-argentina-was-future-what-went-wrong-century-decline
EDIT: The Egg and Bacon Brigade should take note. If our PM can join in, so can they.
He says
"The public liked the idea of saving contributions to the EU to spend on funding NHS contributions (this mysteriously has not yet materialised) "
Why should it, when he knows full well we have not yet left the EU and will not for at least another 18 months to 2 years. As such we are still paying the same vast sums of money to the EU (£283 million a week) as we were before the referendum.
Why is CPI of 2.9% reported as a disaster but HPI of 5.6% reported as a good thing ?
House prices continuing to rise at multiples of wages increases might benefit rich economics editors but I know which inflation rate is most damaging for the country.
And while I can buy good wine for a fiver and good beer for a quid a bottle there's no CPI problem either.
1) Relative decline was always inevitable for Britain as the first industrial nation. Thanks to our failure to complete imperial federation and the loss of our position as the world's creditor through two world wars, we guaranteed that Britain would eventually decline to become a medium-weight European power in the same bracket as France and Germany. That had already happened by the late 60s, and I don't see anything to suggest we will suffer a further precipitous collapse.
2) Argentina fell prey to over dependence on the export of a few comodities and the sudden loss of markets for those comodities. Britain's economy has always been much more diverse, and even with the loss of much of our 'traditional' industry we are not a one trick pony.
In GE17, charges of "We can't afford that extreme left nonsense, we'll go bust" were barely raised at the LAB manifesto and didn't really cut through when they were. Why not? Why didn't predictions of outright economic disaster carry much weight?
Maybe the voters had heard a very similar prediction from the REMAIN campaign a few months back. Maybe they found that despite predictions of immediate sky-high interest rates, deflation, a 10% recession, three million jobs lost etc, all that really happened to them was that Toblerones got gappy, everyone they knew had a job, and their tracker mortgages actually fell a few quid a month.
In such circumstances you could, when someone says "Don't vote that way, it'll ruin the economy", forgive them for not listening.
What a depressing thought. Seems correct though. We punish even the appearance of anything other than incoherent populism.
My only concern might be whether that whining I hear is mosquitoes or unreconciled Remainers. I think I have a rolled up newspaper for both.
As you know.
I know who I'd trust more.
There is nothing new about over promising and under delivering. That is a feature of all governments, not just democracies 'suffering' from populism.
Goes back to the Maastricht debate/votes.
There was collusion between Tory rebels and Labour whips to try and defeat the government and Davis was in the whips office and IDS was one of the ringleaders.
As the campaign kicked off, how many times did you read the winking advice from a political commentator that ‘if you’re already sick of reading about Mrs May’s “strong and stable leadership” and how this is a choice about who negotiates Brexit, Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn, then it’s working’? Or even worse, the nudge-nudge suggestion that the mindless repetition of crude slogans isn’t aimed at people like you or me, but the poor old hoi polloi whose attention span for politics is rather limited?
https://www.spectator.co.uk/2017/06/theresa-may-has-been-diminished-by-this-election-campaign/
Is all.
Asking for a friend...
It may be poor taste to say so, but the fact is that Latin people are rubbish at founding stable and prosperous colonies. Anglo Saxons run colonies better. Anglo Saxons create countries that other people want to live in.
And populism is only incoherent in the sense that "what people want" is incoherent. There's lots of different people. They want different stuff. Whether what a particular individual wants can be labelled "populist" or not is largely a matter of whether it's fashionable. Not much more than that.
Farage will not be in the debates!
I'm staggered at how uninformed and unprepared our government and some MPs are for Brexit.
We're 77 days in to a 730 day process, bugger all has happened, 49 days of those 77 days have been spent focusing on the needless election.
We're likely to fall out of the EU with no deal, with WTO terms and if that doesn't terrify you, then you're even more uninformed than I thought you were.
Brexit, I hope, will go down with her ship.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/housepriceindexmonthlyquarterlytables1to19
Probably just as well we've only ever had 2 UKIP MPs
This shows what a minor role IDS played:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht_Rebels
10 Conservative MPs had the whip withdrawn
18 more Conservative MPs listed as also voting against the government
16 more Conservative MPs including IDS listed as abstaining
I'm guessing she's lined up enhanced access or thinks she's in line for *exclusive* brexit scoops or something - to make up for it.
On the tweet (and similar), I don't like the overly personal swipes directed at May for non-political mexican wavey type stuff.
She's only human.
Jeremy Corbyn's hobby is drain covers ffs.
1) There is no prospect of Europe being united under a single power that will threaten us militarily.
2) There is no prospect of a united Europe threatening Britain with a revised Continental system (even under the dreaded WTO option).
We have much to be thankful for, even if the Union Flag no longer flies over the world's oceans.
You cried wolf so very often that you simply have no credibility left.
Maybe, just maybe, they liked Corbyn and his vision. Not enough to win, but the Tories are in complete SELF INFLICTED chaos, whilst labour seem stromg amd stable in comparision.
If they want to hold a referendum or an election, they should do a better job helping people in this country.
May seems to intensely dislike the common person. Corbyn doest. People can see and sense these things you know