New Labour with bile pouring out of big bad bullying sexing up Al and uber slimy poisonous Peter or Brown Labour with Damien,, Ed, Charlie and Gordon?
Even the leader assassinating LibDems don't get close.
More interesting is the Labour supporters who deny it happened, the agitprop to keep the pressure on the opposition, the win no matter what the cost mentality.
Until Labour have their own Theresa May moment they remain a serially flawed organisation. Whether it's gross economic mismanagement, the chaos of immigration, or the black arts politics, they can't face a reckoning with their past and admit they have a problem.
As Lord Acton wrote: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
So perhaps coalitions really may be better for the electorate than large majorities??
It points to a Cameron screw up imo.
Labour got away with it because they trashed the unwritten constitution and nobody could call them to account.
Cameron would have been better to pay more attention to HoL reform and work with Clegg to put a check in place to stop a repeat of the Blair years. If he had reformed now he could put in place a system of his choosing, by not doing so he leaves the whole question open.
Sorry to hear about Mr. Kendrick. It reminds me of Obama. Apparently he was at a stag do or suchlike, and when it became known a stripper was due to perform he bolted so that no embarrassing photos could be taken which might subsequently have a negative impact on a presidential campaign.
I do wonder if, amongst other problems, we're going to end up with a blandocracy.
Coalition, as we have seen, enables parties to ditch manifesto commitments at will. This occurs after such promises has earned them votes, which is not a great hallmark of democracy. Plus, when the next election rolls around it's hard to know who's really accountable for the good and bad stuff.
Clegg talks about the £10k threshold, and he's right that it was a Lib Dem policy, not a Conservative one. But, it was a Conservative chancellor who enacted it, and the 'Conservative-led'Government that gave it the green light.
Coalitions are not better for democracy. We need manifesto commitments to be met as much as is possible, and clear political accountability, not after-poll horse-trading amongst the political class with no need or desire to consult the people.
As Lord Acton wrote: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
So perhaps coalitions really may be better for the electorate than large majorities??
I was thinking just that this morning.
I don't know enough about foreign politics to say how well coalitions work in other countries (certainly, in Italy they seem to be a fail). However a similar situation may occur if there is one party - for example the Lib Dems or other smaller parties - who perennially hold the balance of power.
I'm slightly pleased with myself for bringing back my ID photo thing at the start of this week ... seems appropriate now for a day or two at least....
Little things to please little minds....
Whoever persuaded Brown to get armoured up like that deserves a promotion. He always reminds me of a badly glued and painted WarHammer Battle Orc in that getup.
We are about to witness what looks like the formation of another coalition in Germany, albeit with a strong leading party and Chancellor. Not sure how it plays out regarding enaction of manifesto promises or whether the electorate get a watered-down version of what the country really needs.
I did work for a while in East Germany under a totalitarian regime and that was an experience I would not want to repeat.
Politics is the art of the possible and in a democracy we are in the hands of the electorate - so if there is a hung parliament then a coalition will always result in compromise of one sort or another. The UK's problem is that it had not experienced a coalition for some 65 years and the minor party had an agenda that consisted more of political ambitions that were not was needed by the country at that moment in time.
We have seen how Blair, Brown, Mandelson and Campbell hi-jacked a desperate Labour party, tried to control and manipulate the media and imposed their placemen in constituencies where the electorate's economic circumstances was something totally foreign to them. As is usual in such regimes, it all fell apart due to personal ambitions and jealousies.
Very sorry to read about David Kendrick's decision overnight. I don't know him at all but on here he has always been unfailingly polite, gracious and a pleasure to read. UKIP don't seem to have many candidates of that quality.
So far as McBride is concerned I think Labour will do their best to ignore this. McBride was indeed poisonous and completely untrustworthy but as a result any publisher who wants to remain in business would have required credible document trails at the time of the alleged actions before putting ink on paper. In short challenging any of this filth is just likely to make it worse by producing material on which it is based. Much better to stick your hands in your ears and make lala sounds.
Of course a party that was fit to lead the country might take a different approach but I am not holding my breath.
@tpfkar ..... Oxford Lib Dems will be quietly pleased with this one.
It's all relative. Compared with Woking on Tuesday and its 39% loss of LD share over 2008, or even the 24% loss of LD share over 2012, couldn't you argue that the LDs would have been quietly pleased with almost any result?
Well, I wouldn't have thought they'd have been happy with losing vote-share; or staying in third place. No, I reckon a close second, in a seat they recently fell to third in, combined with momentum on the ground and the Tories moribund, will do nicely.
Comments
Who is the nasty party?
New Labour with bile pouring out of big bad bullying sexing up Al and uber slimy poisonous Peter or
Brown Labour with Damien,, Ed, Charlie and Gordon?
Even the leader assassinating LibDems don't get close.
Until Labour have their own Theresa May moment they remain a serially flawed organisation. Whether it's gross economic mismanagement, the chaos of immigration, or the black arts politics, they can't face a reckoning with their past and admit they have a problem.
Voters can draw their own conclusions.
That was the impression he gave I believe at the time by referring to him as Mr. McBride?
So perhaps coalitions really may be better for the electorate than large majorities??
Labour got away with it because they trashed the unwritten constitution and nobody could call them to account.
Cameron would have been better to pay more attention to HoL reform and work with Clegg to put a check in place to stop a repeat of the Blair years. If he had reformed now he could put in place a system of his choosing, by not doing so he leaves the whole question open.
Sorry to hear about Mr. Kendrick. It reminds me of Obama. Apparently he was at a stag do or suchlike, and when it became known a stripper was due to perform he bolted so that no embarrassing photos could be taken which might subsequently have a negative impact on a presidential campaign.
I do wonder if, amongst other problems, we're going to end up with a blandocracy.
Little things to please little minds....
http://bit.ly/1gEYnx6
Coalition, as we have seen, enables parties to ditch manifesto commitments at will. This occurs after such promises has earned them votes, which is not a great hallmark of democracy. Plus, when the next election rolls around it's hard to know who's really accountable for the good and bad stuff.
Clegg talks about the £10k threshold, and he's right that it was a Lib Dem policy, not a Conservative one. But, it was a Conservative chancellor who enacted it, and the 'Conservative-led'Government that gave it the green light.
Coalitions are not better for democracy. We need manifesto commitments to be met as much as is possible, and clear political accountability, not after-poll horse-trading amongst the political class with no need or desire to consult the people.
That is simply going to be too much for tim to miss - expect frequent innuendo's on the matter for the next fortnight....
I don't know enough about foreign politics to say how well coalitions work in other countries (certainly, in Italy they seem to be a fail). However a similar situation may occur if there is one party - for example the Lib Dems or other smaller parties - who perennially hold the balance of power.
.
We are about to witness what looks like the formation of another coalition in Germany, albeit with a strong leading party and Chancellor. Not sure how it plays out regarding enaction of manifesto promises or whether the electorate get a watered-down version of what the country really needs.
I did work for a while in East Germany under a totalitarian regime and that was an experience I would not want to repeat.
@MorrisDancer
Politics is the art of the possible and in a democracy we are in the hands of the electorate - so if there is a hung parliament then a coalition will always result in compromise of one sort or another. The UK's problem is that it had not experienced a coalition for some 65 years and the minor party had an agenda that consisted more of political ambitions that were not was needed by the country at that moment in time.
We have seen how Blair, Brown, Mandelson and Campbell hi-jacked a desperate Labour party, tried to control and manipulate the media and imposed their placemen in constituencies where the electorate's economic circumstances was something totally foreign to them. As is usual in such regimes, it all fell apart due to personal ambitions and jealousies.
So far as McBride is concerned I think Labour will do their best to ignore this. McBride was indeed poisonous and completely untrustworthy but as a result any publisher who wants to remain in business would have required credible document trails at the time of the alleged actions before putting ink on paper. In short challenging any of this filth is just likely to make it worse by producing material on which it is based. Much better to stick your hands in your ears and make lala sounds.
Of course a party that was fit to lead the country might take a different approach but I am not holding my breath.