General election results 2015

[MrGongGong]

Boorish behaviour cannot be excused but for me the concept of opposition to the ruling party is a strength our system. In debates at school we learn how to marshal arguments in order to propose or oppose a motion. I think this is a healthy process. Our parliament is one of the oldest and I would not yet be prepared to abandon the adversarial rectangular pattern which has served us generally fairly well for centuries.

It's a useful process for deciding SOME things
But absolutely hopeless for others (often the things which are more important)
The difficult part is working out which process is best for which situation.

[Beef Oven!]

I reckon that we cane safely turn to Albert Einstein for a reliable clue as to why UKIP garnered so many vote:

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."

Cold

[Beef Oven!]

If the EU referendum is a vote to stay in - UKIP are finished . The particularly shocking thing about them is that they have made racism respectable in some quarters .

The really shocking thing is their advance in the North - although it was nowhere near enough to get them a seat they clearly did much more damage to Labour than the Conservatives and makes it plain that a return to old fashioned Blairism is not the answer for Labour .

If we ever get a referendum, the result will be to stay in. If we'd had one in the last 10 years (choose any number of years) the result would have been to stay in. It is unlikely that the result of a referendum on this matter will cause 'the end' of the UKIP.

The UKIP, its supporters and the people who voted for it are not racist. There is nothing racist about it.

And by the way, racism is never respectable.

[Beef Oven!]

I think there may well be things that are 'understood' very well. But those potentially involved with running the country should not be slaves to what all sections of the population call out for. A prime example - and I'm simply expressing my personal view in what I've already said - restoration of the death penalty would be one such example. Some things should always be resisted.

Warm

But most people do not want the death penalty. The UKIP slavishly dropped its pro-death penalty stance some years back, accordingly. Perhaps they should have stuck to their principles?

[MrGongGong]

The UKIP, its supporters and the people who voted for it are not racist. There is nothing racist about it.

Animals is a great Floyd Album don't you think?

[french frank]

Our parliament is one of the oldest and I would not yet be prepared to abandon the adversarial rectangular pattern which has served us generally fairly well for centuries.

I'm not quite sure who you mean here by 'us'? It certainly hasn't served minorities very well. Though I do think it's contradictory to press for voting reform unless parties are prepared to cooperate with each other. If they still divide up like football fans on derby day there isn't much hope.

The voting population does seem very muddled that it doesn't really know what it does want. Except that when it gets it, it doesn't want it any more.

[Beef Oven!]

erm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32696505

Phew! That's a relief.

I think it's right that he puts the party ahead of his own personal interests.

There were a few interesting candidates and we'll miss out on a fascinating leadership battle.

I wonder who would have come out on top if Nige hadn't listened to his party? Douglas Carswell (although he ruled himself out at the weekend before Nige's decision to stay), Paul Nuttal, the working class scouser, the highly capable Suzanne Davis or Patrick O'Flynn? No shortage of good quality candidates.

[french frank]

But most people do not want the death penalty.

https://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/08/13/capital-punishment-50-years-favoured/

[Beef Oven!]

Animals is a great Floyd Album don't you think?

Funny you should say that. I was stuck in my car Hatfield for an hour or so a couple of months ago and my iPhone decided with its own mind to start playing Animals through the car's Bluetooth. I really enjoyed it!

I played it again a couple of weeks ago on my iPod on holiday and again I really enjoyed it. It seems much better than back in the day, when it was first released.

[Beef Oven!]

https://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/08/13...ears-favoured/

I'm sure I read somewhere that it was basically the other way around. And UKIP did alter its stance and I appear to have put two and two together and made five.

If you look at the trend, the country will be majority-against in the not too distant future.

[Richard Barrett]

for me the concept of opposition to the ruling party is a strength our system. In debates at school we learn how to marshal arguments in order to propose or oppose a motion. I think this is a healthy process.

I guess that would be why political discourse in the UK is at a so much higher level than in countries with PR, like Germany...

[StephenO]

The UKIP, its supporters and the people who voted for it are not racist. There is nothing racist about it.

Really?

In 2013 UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom said that the UK should stop providing aid to "Bongo Bongo Land." A second UKIP MEP has called for all UK Muslims to sign a special code of conduct and wants mosque building to be banned. One former UKIP candidate said that Islam was a cancer that needed eradicating. Another said he felt like a foreigner in Birmingham, the city of his birth. Yet another claimed that Jewish bankers financed 9/11. A one-time UKIP councillor was filmed saying she had a problem with "people with negroid features."

UKIP has expelled or suspended some of the above but doesn't it make you wonder what led them to join that particular party in the first place?

[Richard Barrett]

The UKIP, its supporters and the people who voted for it are not racist

Some of its members are certainly racist, although if they display this in public they do tend to get thrown out. Many of its supporters and the people who voted for it are certainly racist, I can't imagine where you get the idea that they aren't.

[french frank]

If you look at the trend, the country will be majority-against in the not too distant future.

I hope so, since it says younger people tend to be opposed.

But I see no reason to consult the electorate on what electoral system is used. They weren't consulted on FPTP. Nor do I think they should be consulted on whether we have the death penalty.

[MrGongGong]

There were a few interesting candidates and we'll miss out on a fascinating leadership battle.

I wonder who would have come out on top if Nige hadn't listened to his party? Douglas Carswell (although he ruled himself out at the weekend before Nige's decision to stay), Paul Nuttal, the working class scouser, the highly capable Suzanne Davis or Patrick O'Flynn? No shortage of good quality candidates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmCKvY684WI&spfreload=10

I think it's Rozanne Duncan's favourite track