British Politics

[Moon-Crane]

Woo Hoo! England is without a leader! Anarchy soon to follow!

hehe, Nah, it doesn't last long - Cameron's already in now. It doesn't drag out like in the US for some reason.

[Dorset Girl]

Every cloud has a silver lining. At least we have a vaguely good looking PM now.

Seriously - maybe it's not going to work out so badly. A Conservative government to deal with the deficit, but with some good Lib Dem ideas in there to knock the hard edges off.

[jrsightes]

What the hell happened? As of this morning, it looked like LAB/LIB was the most likely coalition. What changed?

[CatNamedRudy]

Woo Hoo! England is without a leader! Anarchy soon to follow!

hehe, Nah, it doesn't last long - Cameron's already in now. It doesn't drag out like in the US for some reason.

Actually, there's never a time in the US when there isn't a President. If the President resigns, the Vice President takes over duties immediately and is sworn in quickly. LBJ was sworn in on the plane when Kennedy was killed.

I just think Anarchy in England would fun. Also a good name for a band!

[jrsightes]

Woo Hoo! England is without a leader! Anarchy soon to follow!

hehe, Nah, it doesn't last long - Cameron's already in now. It doesn't drag out like in the US for some reason.

Actually, there's never a time in the US when there isn't a President. If the President resigns, the Vice President takes over duties immediately and is sworn in quickly. LBJ was sworn in on the plane when Kennedy was killed.

I just think Anarchy in England would fun. Also a good name for a band!

And the swearing-in is just a formality. The moment JFK was declared dead, LBJ automatically became President. He was required to take the oath, but he was already President when he took it. This issue came up in 2009, when the President was sworn in at 12:04 instead of noon. Constitutionally, he became President the instant the clock struck 12.

[Dorset Girl]

What the hell happened? As of this morning, it looked like LAB/LIB was the most likely coalition. What changed?

D'you think? I felt that that idea was dismissed quite quickly. Even though Lab and Lib are closer in terms of core principles and policies, they would never have been able to form a majority without dragging other parties in.

[Dorset Girl]

Also a good name for a band!

Ooh, that would be such a good band name!

[CatNamedRudy]

Also a good name for a band!

Ooh, that would be such a good band name!

HEY! That was MY idea not JRs!

[Dorset Girl]

Also a good name for a band!

Ooh, that would be such a good band name!

HEY! That was MY idea not JRs!

Hehe, sorry, messed up my quote editing.

[Dorset Girl]

Here we go - Anarchy in England. With apologies to KISS.

[jrsightes]

What the hell happened? As of this morning, it looked like LAB/LIB was the most likely coalition. What changed?

D'you think? I felt that that idea was dismissed quite quickly. Even though Lab and Lib are closer in terms of core principles and policies, they would never have been able to form a majority without dragging other parties in.

That's what the BBC analyst was saying on Countdown. I guess technically it was recorded last night, but I watched it at 4 this morning. He said that with Gordon Brown's resignation, it was likely that the Lib Dems would favor a "rainbow" coalition with Labour and the various small parties, who would also have a stake in the Lib Dems electoral reform plan. I'm interested to see what concessions the Tories had to make on that issue to bring the Lib Dems into the "corrupt bargain," as we called it in our Presidential election of 1800.

[CatNamedRudy]

Here we go - Anarchy in England. With apologies to KISS.

[Dorset Girl]

Clegg looks like he's been Tangoed (that may not make sense if it's only Britain that had Tango commercials).

[Moon-Crane]

Actually, there's never a time in the US when there isn't a President. If the President resigns, the Vice President takes over duties immediately and is sworn in quickly. LBJ was sworn in on the plane when Kennedy was killed.

Yes, sorry, i meant more about there being such a long time between the actual election result and the hoop-la of the official inaugeration. We essentially have the vote and the big cheese is booted out within a day of the result being known (granted with a bit more flannel this time).

[Moon-Crane]

Clegg looks like he's been Tangoed (that may not make sense if it's only Britain that had Tango commercials).

good pic. Clegg looked like Dougal from Father Ted when i first glanced at it.

[JT]

Guess you're not up to date on American political code language. "integrity of national borders" should be read "keeping out the brown people."

Bull crap. Typical liberal bull. Why should I give a you know what whether some one is a 'brown person' or not? Has nothing to do with the integrity of national borders. And you've got to know that. If liberals truly cannot differentiate between the importance of national integrity and racism then that would be truly astounding. So much for that liberal 'sophistication'. Can't even discern something as blatantly un-nuanced as that. I don't give a flying hoot whether the government-program-demanding lib ass is a pasty faced Swede or a swarthy Mexican.

[JT]

I suppose we Obama voters also rigged all the polls in the days and weeks leading up to election, which almost universally predicted the Obama landslide that was only possible with illegal votes.

We make it damn near impossible to vote illegally in this country, despite the ACORN nonsense you might hear from the right.

Whats 'nonsense'? The fact of ACORN/lib corruption or the fact that the Right exposes it? And only the Right.

[Hans the German Butler]

I suppose we Obama voters also rigged all the polls in the days and weeks leading up to election, which almost universally predicted the Obama landslide that was only possible with illegal votes.

We make it damn near impossible to vote illegally in this country, despite the ACORN nonsense you might hear from the right.

Whats 'nonsense'? The fact of ACORN/lib corruption or the fact that the Right exposes it? And only the Right.

Just a gentle reminder, this is the British Politics thread.

[Dorset Girl]

It was worth me digging this thread up especially to post this link - a video that explains all about the upcoming referendum and 'fuputupuh'.

[Moon-Crane]

The AV debate always reminds me of this scene from Auf Wiedersehen Pet when they're voting on what colour to paint the hut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp-G-GeZS00&feature=player_detailpage#t=409s

[Dorset Girl]

Uncanny! That could be the 'say no' campaigners' slogan: "Everybody gets what nobody wants"!

[Mr Blue Sky]

The AV debate always reminds me of this scene from Auf Wiedersehen Pet when they're voting on what colour to paint the hut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp-G-GeZS00&feature=player_detailpage#t=409s

Ha! That's brilliant, I'd forgotten about that scene (I can feel a full re-watch coming on )

Perfectly sums up my feelings on the AV system to be honest. This current government is one huge watered down compromise, and I don't fancy that every 4/5 years.

You'd think the Lib Dems would see the pitfalls of this system given their current massive unpopularity. I haven't seen a 'NO' campaign leaflet yet without an obsequious looking Nick Clegg on the front...

[Mr Blue Sky]

Looks like the 'NOs' have it in the referendum, and the Lib Dems took a predictable kicking in the local elections too. Interesting that the Tories have stayed around the same - Labour will have hoped to have eaten into more of their suport given the current climate.

Not sure what happened in Scotland to give the SNP such a good night over Labour?

[Moon-Crane]

I voted Conservative in the local election. Purely selfishly this time around, as their guy is the only one talking about reversing the stupid anti-car parking and road management schemes getting shoved upon us at the moment.

I voted no to AV.

[Dorset Girl]

I was very undecided about AV. A 'no' vote, as I saw it, would be in the Tory's benefit, and being anti-Tory as I am, I was sceptical about voting no. But a 'yes' vote wouldn't necessarily be a good thing either. It may benefit the Lib Dems (if I absolutely had to swear allegiance to a particular party, that's who it would be) but it could possibly benefit the BNP too. A very difficult decision, and I'm still not sure whether I voted the right way.