The Dictatorship of the Etonariat

[DracoM]

[a] NOT 100% of UK citizens voted.
[b] the %'s therefore are already unable to bear the weight of being a 'majority' / 'minority'.
[c] A majority of what? ONLY of those who voted.

Some suggestions have been made that in effect only about 30% at the very most of the UK therefore voted to leave!!

[d] hence re-running it, now that far more info is available, and we are better informed might produce be a far more trustworthy outcome.

[Frances_iom]

Corbyn's friends appear to be in the same 'democratic' wing as the Johnson gang - why bother with tedious democracy when you can avoid it by a show of hands (whose?)

[gradus]

Corbyn's friends appear to be in the same 'democratic' wing as the Johnson gang - why bother with tedious democracy when you can avoid it by a show of hands (whose?)

Sir Michael Edwards of British Leyland fame died last week and he too had to contend with mass meetings where a show of hands was all that was required to strike and wreck an industry. The militant left doesn't change.

[Bryn]

Sir Michael Edwards of British Leyland fame died last week and he too had to contend with mass meetings where a show of hands was all that was required to strike and wreck an industry. The militant left doesn't change.

https://classics.honestjohn.co.uk/news/general-news/2013-04/de-classified-government-documents-the-future-of-british-leyland/

[John Locke]

The result stands. We voted to leave the EU.

I posed four questions. You answered none. You have a fixity of position which you appear to be unable to explain or justify. Have you no pride as an intelligent member of the human race? Do you not ache to test your views in the crucible of public debtae?

[Dave2002]

The entire omnishambles has been a most divisive, expsneive and embarrassing exercise that has damaged relations with EU (which UK will need to maintain whether or not it leaves) and caused no end of harm to UK's international reputation that will take many years to heal.

Additionally, seeming stagnation and lack of decisions regarding matters which are perhaps more important for many people represent a huge waste of opportunities. Many issues which have relatively little to do with Brexit have been put on the back burner, or not even considered at all.

[DracoM]

[Bella Kemp]

Am I the only one who's lost the thread on this thread? It seems like a version of Speaker's Corner where everyone is standing on a soapbox, putting across their views on just about every political debate of the day and being heckled. I find it hard to follow. I'm sure I'm as much to blame as anyone, but might I suggest we start some new threads which are a bit more focused?

[Richard Barrett]

Am I the only one who's lost the thread on this thread? It seems like a version of Speaker's Corner where everyone is standing on a soapbox, putting across their views on just about every political debate of the day and being heckled. I find it hard to follow. I'm sure I'm as much to blame as anyone, but might I suggest we start some new threads which are a bit more focused?

I think one problem is that most political threads here these days eventually settle into people expressing their entrenched positions on Brexit, which isn't very enlightening, I mean we've heard it all before many times and hardly anyone seems to listen to anyone else. There's a discussion to be had about the influence of Eton on politics, for example, which we haven't really had (although with Eton about to be abolished maybe it's an academic question ).

[John Locke]

There's a discussion to be had about the influence of Eton on politics, for example, which we haven't really had (although with Eton about to be abolished maybe it's an academic question ).

I was speaking to a neighbour's mother, a very elderly lady - who as a side issue voted Remain - who, to my complete bafflement said that she felt Eton and Oxford provided an ideal background for our politicians i.e. our rulers. How much remains of this forelock-tugging servility in the English [sic] character?

[teamsaint]

I think one problem is that most political threads here these days eventually settle into people expressing their entrenched positions on Brexit, which isn't very enlightening, I mean we've heard it all before many times and hardly anyone seems to listen to anyone else. There's a discussion to be had about the influence of Eton on politics, for example, which we haven't really had (although with Eton about to be abolished maybe it's an academic question ).

It’s a boat race to the bottom.

[Serial_Apologist]

I was speaking to a neighbour's mother, a very elderly lady - who as a side issue voted Remain - who, to my complete bafflement said that she felt Eton and Oxford provided an ideal background for our politicians i.e. our rulers. How much remains of this forelock-tugging subservience in the English [sic] character?

A woman on a TV phone-in this morning even said how UTTERLY DISGUSTED (she really was!) that Labour had decided on a policy of abolishing the public schools, (actually, the policy proposal is to integrate them into the state sector), when so many families on low incomes had paid large sums to have their children educated in the private sector.

[John Locke]

A woman on a TV phone-in this morning even said how UTTERLY DISGUSTED (she really was!) that Labour had decided on a policy of abolishing the public schools, (actually, the policy proposal is to integrate them into the state sector), when so many families on low incomes had paid large sums to have their children educated in the private sector.

A YouGov poll has 22% approving of a ban on 'private schools', 50% against and 28% Don't Know

https://yougov.co.uk/opi/surveys/results#/survey/07579420-dde5-11e9-8b4a-578fdf782d3e

If that link doesn't work, try this one

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/overview/survey-results

[CGR]

A woman on a TV phone-in this morning even said how UTTERLY DISGUSTED (she really was!) that Labour had decided on a policy of abolishing the public schools, (actually, the policy proposal is to integrate them into the state sector), when so many families on low incomes had paid large sums to have their children educated in the private sector.

The policy is almost certainly illegal as it goes against the convention on human rights which supports the rights of parents in choosing how their children are educated.

[Richard Barrett]

The policy is almost certainly illegal as it goes against the convention on human rights which supports the rights of parents in choosing how their children are educated.

I wonder then how it is that Finland has no fee-paying schools.