Politics | Lunchtime Legend

rferrett
User
Ralph Ferrett, Male, 32,
Registered : March 11, 2010, 9:35 am
Tracks Played : 16239

You Probably Couldn't See For The Lights But You Were Staring Straight At Me
Arctic Monkeys
13 hours and 12 minutes ago
U.N.K.L.E. Main Title Theme
UNKLE
13 hours and 17 minutes ago
Bodies
Chapel Club
13 hours and 21 minutes ago
Bodies
The Smashing Pumpkins
13 hours and 25 minutes ago
It's Getting Boring By The Sea
Blood Red Shoes
13 hours and 28 minutes ago
Rules For Normal Living
RJD2
13 hours and 32 minutes ago
Blind
Chapel Club
13 hours and 36 minutes ago
Why Hip-Hop Sucks In '96 - Alternate Take
DJ Shadow
13 hours and 37 minutes ago
To Forgive
The Smashing Pumpkins
13 hours and 41 minutes ago
Worst Comes To Worst
Dilated Peoples
13 hours and 45 minutes ago

AV Vote and destabilising the coalition.

I have heard a few Labour folks tell me that they are considering voting “No” principally because they hope to destabilise the coalition and hopefully bring forward a General Election. The view was espoused here on Labour List by Sonny Leong, and a colleague of mine David Chivers from the CWU also voiced this.

I thought it was an interesting view that was worth a full blog post riposte, I mean who wouldn’t want the Lib Dems to get a kicking and the General Election early? I know the thought of

Continue reading AV Vote and destabilising the coalition.

This silent immigration debate is awfully noisy!

Eek! Apparently we cant talk about immigration. There is apparently a plot (presumably by the PC brigade) are at fault that is causing a massive Omertà in which there CAN BE NO DISCUSSION OF IMMIGRATION.

Well apparently anyway. I’m guessing the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, The Times, The Telegraph didn’t get the memo. Neither did our TV networks. Or I suppose any of our political parties. Or people you meet in pubs…

No huddled masses here we are British.

Hang on, actually loads of people talk about

Continue reading This silent immigration debate is awfully noisy!

Letter to Ed Miliband

Dear Ed,

Firstly congratulations on your Election as the leader of the Labour party. I supported you from the start and you got my First preference vote. I even made a small donation to your campaign so I am delighted that you have won.

As a small time political blogger from the Westcountry it is hugely presumptuous of me to give you any advice. However self important presumptuousness is something of the hall mark of political blogging so here I go, a few bits of advice:-

1. Remember that you said this in

Continue reading Letter to Ed Miliband

What next for the Labour Party?

Whatever hopes and dreams people may have for a “new politics” or for a different pluralist model in a world after electoral reform, the Truth is there is only one option now for those who oppose government. That is the Labour Party, if the Tories are not the principal party in Government after the next election then they won’t be replaced by Lib Dems, Greens, or one of the plethora of Left Wing Parties. That is the realpolitik.

What should be the questions for Trade Unions and the left is:-

What kind

Continue reading What next for the Labour Party?

Some idle speculation about the future for Political Parties.

Providing the Con-Dem coalition doesn’t volcanically explode in only a few months due to falling outs and fundamental incompatibility then there is every chance that for good or for bad the coalition will re-shape, and re-mould British politics and it could end up having a profound effect on our party structure. Particularly if voting reform happens.

I am massively in favour of voting reform, I think changing “the rules of the game” will have a massive impact on how the game is played. And a proper pluralism in our Party system,

Continue reading Some idle speculation about the future for Political Parties.

I’m against the TV leaders’ debates.

I need to start this by saying I am sure the part leaders TV debates will be very interesting. I will watch them and probably crack out some popcorn. But the truth is I do not think they will be good or healthy for our democracy.

The problem is that the TV debates will inevitably lead to a “dumbing down” of politics to the basic sound bite slogan level. Further people will, even more than they do now, make judgements based on appearances. Famously in the 1960 US presidential election John

Continue reading I’m against the TV leaders’ debates.

Supreme court decision on banking charges is wrong.

Yesterday the new “Supreme Court” ruled that the Office of Fair Trading was not allowed to investigate “unfair” bank charges. The court ruled that the basis under which the OFT was investigating was unlawful.

This will seem frankly astonishing to many of us, surely the whole point of the OFT is to investigate whether or not prices and fees charged by commercial enterprises are fair. And it throws up one of the important facets of civil society. Namely that there is a clear demarcation between what is right, and what is

Continue reading Supreme court decision on banking charges is wrong.