Elections and politics

TheCatWoman said:

Is anyone else interested?

Yes.

TheCatWoman said:

I'm not party political

I am.

Here's a question.

With regard to those on the forum from Scotland, Wales (as you are), Ireland and Northern Ireland - does who is in position in Westminster  + their policies etc affect you much/at all?

I've lost track of the state of devolution with each of you ...

TheCatWoman said:

is politics a taboo subject on here?

Nope, although the thread is missing former member Baked Potato.

Yes Westminster does effect us in Wales, we are given a grant by Westminster and can spend it on things that are devolved powers, such as education and health. Our rules for covid were different than thos in England, this caused a whole load of problems with people insisting that they, being English, didn't have to conform to Welsh laws, we had police on the borders turning tourists back and some were so determined to get here they sent their luggage by courier so as it wouldn't seem they were long distance travellers.

Wales dosen't have tax raising powers, obviously we can change council tax rates, but not income tax or NI or VAT, we have no control over benefit rates either. Our government chooses to do things like give us free prescriptions and help for students going to uni, but those things have to come from the money central government gives us.

One of the arguements I was hearing last week was about Scotland, they do have devolved tax raising powers, but they cannot borrow, this means that they can't invest in infrastructure projects that will get their economy moving. They're being told to raise income tax to fund these things which is totally stupid and like saying to save thier pocket money to buy a big toy.

Westminster can totally stymie what the devolved powers can do by withholding money, often "punishing" us for voting the "wrong way", it can refuse to allow things to happen as the SNP have found to thier cost.

Some people in parliament really dislike devolution and wanted to roll it back, Boris Johnson wanted all the power to reside in Westminster for example. I think the only way forward will be more devolution, more power at a local level and maybe eventually federalisation with an English parliament as well as a national one to deal with things such defence.

yeah england needs its own local ruling power as we dont have one... we are the only one that doesnt have one, we have the joint british one that stands for britain not england... england needs a seperate office of power as westminster isnt that as scotland and wales can have a say on westminster and so that means wales and scotland have a say on english development while england has no say on wales or scotland. this essentially makes england a victim of discrimination and dictatorship more than any other part of the union and to fix this we need our own seperate ruling power seperate from the joint british union seat of westminster. in which scotland or wales have absolutely no say what so ever over anything in england.

Hear hear!

I know a guy who was so frustrated with the inaccesibilty of his M.P. that he entered the race, paid the fee and ran as an independent candidate, just so he could ask the MP his question...

Yep, it's a scam and always was, only greedy people couldn't or wouldn't see it. We not only pay more for our services but we get less of them too. I wouldn't want to see things go back to how they were in the 1970's with overmightly unions holding the country to ransom, but workers need more rights than they have currently and to be better able to use the ones they have, but for many people tribunals are unaffordable.

TheCatWoman said:

. Why on earth privatisation was thught to be such a good idea is beyond me. All it seems to have creared is private monopolies instead of public ones

There was public ownership.

Privatization means the wealth is now in private hands instead, with the double bonus that the Government can be less accountable and pay less, whilst the taxpayer pays ever more as time passes. 

A scam, in other words. 

I agree ISperg, nobody seems to be accountable, bosses of loss making firms get huge bonus's apparently the wealthy need lots of money and bonus's to make them work hard, whilst the rest of us can go hang.

Its not just politicians who can get away with no accountability, but big business too, look at the mess privatised water companies have made and now they want the tax payer to bail them out. Why on earth privatisation was thught to be such a good idea is beyond me. All it seems to have creared is private monopolies instead of public ones.

The big thing missing is "accountability".

If you are in government and launch say a ventilator challenge project at a cost of £440m (of public money) which involves the cream of british industry for about 4 months then abruptly cancel it, then perhaps there should be some public investigation into that particular decision, and your suitabilty in the role of decision maker?

If you decided to sell off the nations Gold reserves, at teh bottom of the market, then perhaps you should not retire in luxury...

If you get us into a war based on lies that you know to be lies, then perhaps a public trial rather than accolades shoudl come your way TONY BLAIR.

The list could go on.

If you or I botch our work really badly we have to account for our actions, and often face punishment, them politicians can do almost anything...

Accountabilty. 

As the Tories have had a majority and a coalition with the LibDems before that, Scotish and Welsh MP have been in a minority. Some Scotish and Welsh MP's are from unionist parties whilst others like Plaid Cymru and the SNP are nationalist, but seem to have very little impact on the overall outcomes of votes.

I think everyone feels disenfranchised under the current system of First Past the Post, I've never felt represented at a national level, admitedly thats probably because I tend not to vote for either of the main parties, but an MP is supposed to represent all their constituents not just the ones who voted for them. I wrote to our MP about an issue, I didn't get a reply but I had my detail's passed onto Conservative Central Office, who send me filling for the recycling bin.

I think PR would be a better system, FPTP makes politics to adversarial which I don't think works for people or projects, one lot get in and undo everything the previous lot did, just in time for the cycle to start again. I really think we need a greater consensus in our political thinking, actually I think many of the public do have a consensus, but our politicians don't.

I'd like to know how lack of goverment oversight leads to such massive delays, over spends and cancellations to so many infrastructure projects? Other countries manage to get project delievered on time and within budget.

I'd like to see less party politics, who is your MP answerable to, you or thier party? I think it's very difficult for them to be represent the wishes of their consstituents or those of their party and often they are at odds, If an MP wishes to progess up the slippery pole of government then they have to have a good record of voting with their party, more time on telly etc means more recognition and people are more likely to vote for someone they recognise. Some MP's are happy to stay as back benchers, representing the area they are elected too.

Then there's the way MP's are chosen, you have to be fairly well off to get as far as being a candidate, you will need to do a lot of behind the scenes schmoozing, getting to know the right people and do a fair bit of travelling. You also risk someone being parachuted in over the heads of you and your local constituency party, different parties selection procedures are different. I dont' think there's enough variety of people in parliament, to many seem to be lawyers and not enough seem to have done ordinary jobs, like worked in a supermarket or a call centre.

Personally I think the whole system's rotten to the core.

As the Tories have had a majority and a coalition with the LibDems before that, Scotish and Welsh MP have been in a minority. Some Scotish and Welsh MP's are from unionist parties whilst others like Plaid Cymru and the SNP are nationalist, but seem to have very little impact on the overall outcomes of votes.

I think everyone feels disenfranchised under the current system of First Past the Post, I've never felt represented at a national level, admitedly thats probably because I tend not to vote for either of the main parties, but an MP is supposed to represent all their constituents not just the ones who voted for them. I wrote to our MP about an issue, I didn't get a reply but I had my detail's passed onto Conservative Central Office, who send me filling for the recycling bin.

I think PR would be a better system, FPTP makes politics to adversarial which I don't think works for people or projects, one lot get in and undo everything the previous lot did, just in time for the cycle to start again. I really think we need a greater consensus in our political thinking, actually I think many of the public do have a consensus, but our politicians don't.

I'd like to know how lack of goverment oversight leads to such massive delays, over spends and cancellations to so many infrastructure projects? Other countries manage to get project delievered on time and within budget.

I'd like to see less party politics, who is your MP answerable to, you or thier party? I think it's very difficult for them to be represent the wishes of their consstituents or those of their party and often they are at odds, If an MP wishes to progess up the slippery pole of government then they have to have a good record of voting with their party, more time on telly etc means more recognition and people are more likely to vote for someone they recognise. Some MP's are happy to stay as back benchers, representing the area they are elected too.

Then there's the way MP's are chosen, you have to be fairly well off to get as far as being a candidate, you will need to do a lot of behind the scenes schmoozing, getting to know the right people and do a fair bit of travelling. You also risk someone being parachuted in over the heads of you and your local constituency party, different parties selection procedures are different. I dont' think there's enough variety of people in parliament, to many seem to be lawyers and not enough seem to have done ordinary jobs, like worked in a supermarket or a call centre.

Personally I think the whole system's rotten to the core.

Hear hear!

I know a guy who was so frustrated with the inaccesibilty of his M.P. that he entered the race, paid the fee and ran as an independent candidate, just so he could ask the MP his question...

Yep, it's a scam and always was, only greedy people couldn't or wouldn't see it. We not only pay more for our services but we get less of them too. I wouldn't want to see things go back to how they were in the 1970's with overmightly unions holding the country to ransom, but workers need more rights than they have currently and to be better able to use the ones they have, but for many people tribunals are unaffordable.

TheCatWoman said:

. Why on earth privatisation was thught to be such a good idea is beyond me. All it seems to have creared is private monopolies instead of public ones

There was public ownership.

Privatization means the wealth is now in private hands instead, with the double bonus that the Government can be less accountable and pay less, whilst the taxpayer pays ever more as time passes. 

A scam, in other words. 

I agree ISperg, nobody seems to be accountable, bosses of loss making firms get huge bonus's apparently the wealthy need lots of money and bonus's to make them work hard, whilst the rest of us can go hang.

Its not just politicians who can get away with no accountability, but big business too, look at the mess privatised water companies have made and now they want the tax payer to bail them out. Why on earth privatisation was thught to be such a good idea is beyond me. All it seems to have creared is private monopolies instead of public ones.

The big thing missing is "accountability".

If you are in government and launch say a ventilator challenge project at a cost of £440m (of public money) which involves the cream of british industry for about 4 months then abruptly cancel it, then perhaps there should be some public investigation into that particular decision, and your suitabilty in the role of decision maker?

If you decided to sell off the nations Gold reserves, at teh bottom of the market, then perhaps you should not retire in luxury...

If you get us into a war based on lies that you know to be lies, then perhaps a public trial rather than accolades shoudl come your way TONY BLAIR.

The list could go on.

If you or I botch our work really badly we have to account for our actions, and often face punishment, them politicians can do almost anything...

Accountabilty.