Bollitics: The General Election 2010 Exit Poll

[peterms]

I understand that PR often results in coalition governments but they will be significantly better than this sham.

True and the more we get experienced in them, the better we would get.

Coalitions are about discussion, diplomacy and compromise.

Sounds like someone has just written the greatest job description for Britons. I always thought we were pretty, bloody good at that shit.

Some people of a foreign persuasion might say we need to get a bit more in touch with our fem side before we make that claim.

[snowychap]

No doubt it will be dismissed as it doesn't come from an approved source such as Socialist Youth Newspaper of the Labour Party Young Socialists or Workers' Charter

We knew it wasn't from a source such as that when you deigned to give us a link. :winkold:

[mykeyb]

This is going to get very interesting.

The way the election has finished has made it really diifficult for anyone to form a strong government apart from the Conservative and Libdems. The Rainbow Alliance will have to try and keep so many plates in the air in trying to keep everyone happy it will be almost impossible to govern properly.

The Libdems will obviously put PR as their no1 concession in any negotiations as this may well be the only chance to get something done on it.

When they get round to sorting out electoral reform perhaps they might look at changing the current rules that means in a hung parliament the sitting party get first dibs at forming a government regardless of how well (or not) they have done at the ballot box.

Does anyone else think we could well be doing this all again in 6 months time.

[tonyh29]

We knew it wasn't from a source such as that when you deigned to give us a link.

as no doubt you've been told before ..you are a tad premature snowy

I was merely sorting out my short links rather than those naughty chaps who just post long ones and write "I don't know how to do short links"

:-)

[Ads]

True and the more we get experienced in them, the better we would get.

Do you really think party tribalism will diminish?

Everybody hates each other- working with each other, having it all go tits up and then blaming the other side will only exacerbate it!

Not that I think we'll see a proportional system mind.

[markavfc40]

The best thing that can now happen is for the Tories to be allowed to govern without a majority. There is no point the Lib Dems getting into bed with either the Conservatives, due to core policies being too far apart, or with Labour/numerous other parties as this would not be anywhere near stable enough. In both cases the coalitions would last no longer than 12 months.

Letting the Tories govern without a majority should hopefully ensure they won't be allowed to do anything too reckless and be allowed to look after a select few whilst the rest of us pay for it. For however long they can survive governing with a minority it will at least give an insight into what the Tories are all about and the electorate can again see them for what they are before another election is called.

[snowychap]

I understand that PR often results in coalition governments but they will be significantly better than this sham.

True and the more we get experienced in them, the better we would get.

Coalitions are about discussion, diplomacy and compromise.

Sounds like someone has just written the greatest job description for Britons. I always thought we were pretty, bloody good at that shit.

Some people of a foreign persuasion might say we need to get a bit more in touch with our fem side before we make that claim.

Never did I imply, though, that we did those things for anything other than 'our own' good.

I'm not sure that many of those of this 'foreign persuasion' would actually say that we weren't any good at those things - they'd definitely wonder about the ends to which we put these abilities.

[Ads]

Rhetoric alert.

[peterms]

No doubt it will be dismissed as it doesn't come from an approved source such as Socialist Youth Newspaper of the Labour Party Young Socialists or Workers' Charter but none the less it's an interesting article ...

It is a measure of Gordon Brown’s loose grip on reality that he sought to depict his decision to stand down later this year as a noble act of self-sacrifice made in the national interest. The truth is that this was an act of quite staggering cynicism based on naked party advantage. With the incomprehensible connivance of Nick Clegg – whose reputation will surely never recover – Mr Brown is effectively seeking to nullify the result of last week’s general election. Blinded by his tribal loathing of the Conservatives, he is ready to risk everything – and we use that term advisedly – to keep David Cameron out of Downing Street.

This unelected leader of the Labour Party will remain Prime Minister, even though his party secured two million fewer votes and 48 fewer seats than the Tories. He will then hand over at a time of his choosing to a new Labour leader. At that point, the United Kingdom will find itself governed by a Labour prime minister the country has not elected, succeeding a Labour prime minister neither the country nor his party elected. Even by Labour’s standards, this is self-serving and unscrupulous.

Since last Friday we have lived with the fiction that Mr Brown was simply doing his constitutional duty by staying at the helm until a new government could be formed, acting in the national interest. Now we see that all the time he has been acting in his and his party’s interest, defying the verdict of the electorate by trying to create a coalition of the election losers. This is a bleak day for our democracy

Full article

Well, it's a pretty poor piece.

No, not because it doesn't come from Spartacist Weekly, but because the tiresome author doesn't seem to think that doing what in my day was known as "British Constitution A-Level" should be a precondition for writing supposedly informed articles about the British Constitution, such as it is.

Full of self-serving opinion, short on precedent and history. In my day, that was a sacking offence on the Torygraph.

[snowychap]

We knew it wasn't from a source such as that when you deigned to give us a link.

as no doubt you've been told before ..you are a tad premature snowy

I was merely sorting out my short links rather than those naughty chaps who just post long ones and write "I don't know how to do short links"

:-)

Not premature at all, Mr H.

You need to reread what I said.

I said when you deigned to give us a link.

If it had been from the SWP or some such other plagiarism, you might have omitted the link. :winkold:

[peterms]

...

as no doubt you've been told before ..you are a tad premature snowy...

I quite liked that one.

[Ads]

...

as no doubt you've been told before ..you are a tad premature snowy...

I quite liked that one.

Don’t worry Snowy, its happened to us all at some point.

[snowychap]

Anyone who uses the phrase 'holding the country to ransom' in anything other than a clearly ironic manner ought to be put on the next boat to Iceland.

**Not aimed at anyone on VT** Aimed at 'political commentators' and politicians.

[tonyh29]

...

as no doubt you've been told before ..you are a tad premature snowy...

I quite liked that one.

Don’t worry Snowy, its happened to us all at some point.

you speak for yourself .. I'm still waiting to even get that close to a woman

[LJRM050389]

Anyone seen the Boulton Campbell interview?

[peterms]

...

as no doubt you've been told before ..you are a tad premature snowy...

I quite liked that one.

Don’t worry Snowy, its happened to us all at some point.

you speak for yourself .. I'm still waiting to even get that close to a woman

See, by saying "woman" you've halved your possibilities at a stroke, so to speak.

[bickster]

Anyone seen the Boulton Campbell interview?

Yes, all of us probably (see the debate about ten pages back, where Torys think Boulton won and everyone else thinks the opposite)

[Ads]

...

as no doubt you've been told before ..you are a tad premature snowy...

I quite liked that one.

Don’t worry Snowy, its happened to us all at some point.

you speak for yourself .. I'm still waiting to even get that close to a woman

You shouldn’t mock my affliction. I had it so bad a few years ago that I was hospitalised. It was touch and go at one point.

[peterms]

Anyone who uses the phrase 'holding the country to ransom' in anything other than a clearly ironic manner ought to be put on the next boat to Iceland.

**Not aimed at anyone on VT** Aimed at 'political commentators' and politicians.

This phrase was popular in the 1970s, among people who mostly couldn't hold more that two thoughts in their head at any one time, at least one of those being "sit on chair", or "don't fall down".

It seems to be coming back into fashion. It can only be a bad sign.

[snowychap]

...

as no doubt you've been told before ..you are a tad premature snowy...

I quite liked that one.

Don’t worry Snowy, its happened to us all at some point.

*Looking very confused*

WTF?

**** me, I know it's a football forum but I don't know how we can go from Tony not reading and understanding my post to me sneezing before the pollen count gets high in just a couple of posts.

Unless there was some Tintin reference and we've all got our knickers around Peter's twist.