bickster Posted August 22, 2019 Moderator Share Posted August 22, 2019 11 minutes ago, desensitized43 said: I'm not saying you can't have unequal partners. It's impractical for every constituant part of a federal union to be of equal population, GDP etc. It wouldn't work on the current UK model because England (56m) is so enormous in comparison to Scotland (5.5m), Wales (3m) and NI (2m). Even if you gave the other nations of the UK disproportionately high representation, it would have to so grossly disproportionate to give them a meaningful say that it would be a non-starter. *not included GDP as my 2 minute google only displayed UK-wide figures Scotland is already disproportionately represented in its favour 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desensitized43 Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 (edited) 4 minutes ago, bickster said: Scotland is already disproportionately represented in its favour But not to a level where if the Welsh, Scottish and NI MP's all voted for something that agreed on it would be enough to carry a vote where English (or even just South-East based MPs) voted against. There's undoubtedly common ground between Scots and those in the north of England and to a lesser extent the Midlands. I certainly feel more affinity to the Scots and Welsh than I ever did for London and those living there (frankly I'd let it slide into the sea). Edited August 22, 2019 by desensitized43 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 1 hour ago, bickster said: Scotland is already disproportionately represented in its favour brexit says hi! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amsterdam_Neil_D Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 2 hours ago, desensitized43 said: London and those living there (frankly I'd let it slide into the sea). We should start a petition online, get it debated at least. Bet it's more than 52% as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted August 22, 2019 Moderator Share Posted August 22, 2019 14 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: brexit says hi! Sorry Chris, I'm being a bit dim, what point are you making? I was referring to the amount of voters per seat in Scotland compared to English constituencies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted August 22, 2019 Share Posted August 22, 2019 5 hours ago, bickster said: Sorry Chris, I'm being a bit dim, what point are you making? I was referring to the amount of voters per seat in Scotland compared to English constituencies It’s not disproportionately represented, to any meaningful degree, if it can’t impose it’s own will, on itself. It’s the old union block vote joke, if 3 vote for tea, and two vote for hot chocolate, and the GMB place their 3,000,000 votes for coffee, we’re all having coffee. That’s a fairly rubbish way of illustrating it. Basically, they might be statistically better represented by each having less voters per constituency, but that becomes irrelevant when up against the bloc vote from south of the border. As illustrated by Brexit, the first issue of consequence in quite some time and the Scots are hardly over represented there. They’re only over represented if they tilt legislation in their favour. But as far as I can tell, they don’t get to set the Westminster agenda. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted August 22, 2019 Moderator Share Posted August 22, 2019 19 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: It’s not disproportionately represented, to any meaningful degree, if it can’t impose it’s own will, on itself. It’s the old union block vote joke, if 3 vote for tea, and two vote for hot chocolate, and the GMB place their 3,000,000 votes for coffee, we’re all having coffee. That’s a fairly rubbish way of illustrating it. Basically, they might be statistically better represented by each having less voters per constituency, but that becomes irrelevant when up against the bloc vote from south of the border. As illustrated by Brexit, the first issue of consequence in quite some time and the Scots are hardly over represented there. They’re only over represented if they tilt legislation in their favour. But as far as I can tell, they don’t get to set the Westminster agenda. Yes I see what you're saying but when it comes to Westminster, they are better represented than say anyone in Liverpool by the same token purely because they get more seats per head of population, hence why the SNP have so many MPs in comparison to other parties like the LibDems and the Greens. It's the entire system that's wrong. FPTP is an arse and much more power should be devolved to the regions throughout the UK As we used to say in these parts Burn It All Down 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted August 22, 2019 Moderator Share Posted August 22, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 Johnny Foreigner's buying everything up at knock down prices cos of the pound's Brexit wounds. Quote The US toy company behind My Little Pony and Play-Doh has agreed to buy Peppa Pig for £3.3bn in the the latest foreign takeover of a much-loved British brand for a bargain price following the collapse in the value of the pound over fears of a no-deal Brexit. The sale of Peppa Pig’s owner Entertainment One to Hasbro brings the total value of UK companies to fall into overseas hands in the last two months to more than £25bn. City analysts said foreign investors were finding UK businesses very attractive since Boris Johnson’s ascension to prime minister sent sterling to its lowest level against the dollar in recent years. Grauniad Taking back control. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 Grauniad: Quote ... Watched closely by French protection officers on boats and paddleboards, and accompanied at least some of the way by the UK’s ambassador to Paris, Ed Llewellyn, Johnson struck out from the beach and swam to a distant rock and back. Like a typical newspaper columnist, which he was until recently, Johnson later turned the experience into a colourful metaphor for Brexit. “From here you cannot tell there is a gigantic hole in that rock. There is a way through. My point to the EU is that there is a way through, but you can’t find the way through if you just sit on the beach.” ... more on link Of course there may be another possible metaphor here: the UK takes a great big plunge in to the Atlantic, swims in the direction of the US, realises it's going to be a much more difficult journey than some originally, overly-optimistically thought and decides to swim back to the (relative) safety of European shores. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a m ole Posted August 26, 2019 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Nice to know that the future of our country lies in the hands of gammon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted August 26, 2019 Share Posted August 26, 2019 Quote Sun boycott reduced Euroscepticism on Merseyside, study shows Researchers find positive influence on Remain vote in Brexit referendum A long-running boycott of The Sun newspaper on Merseyside reduced Euroscepticism in the area and had a positive influence on its Remain vote in the Brexit referendum, university researchers have concluded. Florian Foos of the London School of Economics and Daniel Bischof of Zurich university said their research showed that the mass media could influence public opinion, but that the effect takes place over years rather than a single political campaign. Pro-EU politicians and campaigners have long claimed that newspapers such as the Eurosceptic Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Group, have shaped the public’s view of the bloc. Financial Times None of the papers like Corbyn of course, small matter of them being owned offshore and everything. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted August 27, 2019 Share Posted August 27, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xann Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post desensitized43 Posted August 28, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted August 28, 2019 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49493632 Quote The Queen will be asked by the government to suspend Parliament days after MPs return to work - and a matter of weeks before the Brexit deadline. The BBC's political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, says it will make way for Boris Johnson's new administration to hold a Queen's Speech - laying out the government's future plans - on 14 October. Here we go. Absolutely disgusting this is. I've never actually been on a protest march but I think we're approaching the time. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meregreen Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 So now we see who the real enemies of democracy are. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrusr Posted August 28, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted August 28, 2019 6 minutes ago, desensitized43 said: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49493632 Here we go. Absolutely disgusting this is. I've never actually been on a protest march but I think we're approaching the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 8 minutes ago, desensitized43 said: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-49493632 Here we go. Absolutely disgusting this is. I've never actually been on a protest march but I think we're approaching the time. Might this merely be Cummings's visible response to the result of yesterday's Opposition party meetings? I imagine it might be to flush out the next steps of those who met yesterday and any Tories who were reluctant to join them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 Taking back control from the EU, by taking power away from the elected parliament. Tinpot banana republic. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted August 28, 2019 Share Posted August 28, 2019 There really is no hope for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts