Election Time
I'm very wary of the conservatives 'Big Society' stance.
When listened to beyond the soundbites, it's clear that this is aimed to appeal both to those who want 'smaller government' and those who want more devolved politics, and even to the less authoritarian socialist leaning people.
The thing is, their plans indicate simply a withdrawal of government - a 'it's your responsibility, deal with it' approach. Which might well appease the wealthy, time-rich middle classes (those who can afford both the time and money to run schools and to volunteer) but buggers those communities where spare time and cash is at a premium.
A failing school with children from poor backgrounds is not going to be helped by making it the responsibility of families where both parents are working full time on near minimum wage in order to get by.
The volunteer sector, all 3 candidates sang the praises of it, tends to cater for the most needy and the most ignored - the alcoholics, the drug users, the homeless, the injured veterans, the young and the old and vulnerable etc.
The volunteer sector, though often providing outstanding service quality, is rarely provided at an adequate level to deal with those problems. The voluntary sector needs more support from the government - in real terms of money and time - not in a 'oh, you're great - more people should do this' rhetoric which expands an already over worked voluntary sector into all areas of social life.
'Big Society' in the tories definition, is only possible, will only work effectively when given big support by a genrous government - which implies a bigger, more engaged government than the tories want and will provide. Making the whole argument two-faced. As per usual.
When listened to beyond the soundbites, it's clear that this is aimed to appeal both to those who want 'smaller government' and those who want more devolved politics, and even to the less authoritarian socialist leaning people.
The thing is, their plans indicate simply a withdrawal of government - a 'it's your responsibility, deal with it' approach. Which might well appease the wealthy, time-rich middle classes (those who can afford both the time and money to run schools and to volunteer) but buggers those communities where spare time and cash is at a premium.
A failing school with children from poor backgrounds is not going to be helped by making it the responsibility of families where both parents are working full time on near minimum wage in order to get by.
The volunteer sector, all 3 candidates sang the praises of it, tends to cater for the most needy and the most ignored - the alcoholics, the drug users, the homeless, the injured veterans, the young and the old and vulnerable etc.
The volunteer sector, though often providing outstanding service quality, is rarely provided at an adequate level to deal with those problems. The voluntary sector needs more support from the government - in real terms of money and time - not in a 'oh, you're great - more people should do this' rhetoric which expands an already over worked voluntary sector into all areas of social life.
'Big Society' in the tories definition, is only possible, will only work effectively when given big support by a genrous government - which implies a bigger, more engaged government than the tories want and will provide. Making the whole argument two-faced. As per usual.
Whoever you vote for, the government wins.
Wow, those are certainly some interesting policies.
Elected police chiefs
I agree entirely with you on that, what on earth is the point in electing a police chief? What would be the content of their campaigns? "I'll uphold the law!" "No, I'll uphold the law better", they could probably campaign on stuff like neighborhood watches and stuff but it would be a very tenuous campaign where, as you say, you're introducing the politician policeman.
Local authority stuff
Not entirely in agreement with you on this. Handing power over to the EU is moving power away from British people, moving power to British people is, obviously, not. I quite like the suggestions I've heard for things like voting down local tax increases, kicking out MPs etc. I didn't realise the threshold was as low as 5%, what exactly can those 5% of people do, simply trigger a poll which requires a majority ruling?
National insurance
I don't know much about national insurance, why would an increase put the economy in the hands of the rich?
Most of the stuff I liked about the conservative policies was cutting back a lot, but simply cutting waste. When he said that an awful lot of people said in the live comment stream that there *is* a lot of waste to cut, so that's certainly a good policy.
Elected police chiefs
I agree entirely with you on that, what on earth is the point in electing a police chief? What would be the content of their campaigns? "I'll uphold the law!" "No, I'll uphold the law better", they could probably campaign on stuff like neighborhood watches and stuff but it would be a very tenuous campaign where, as you say, you're introducing the politician policeman.
Local authority stuff
Not entirely in agreement with you on this. Handing power over to the EU is moving power away from British people, moving power to British people is, obviously, not. I quite like the suggestions I've heard for things like voting down local tax increases, kicking out MPs etc. I didn't realise the threshold was as low as 5%, what exactly can those 5% of people do, simply trigger a poll which requires a majority ruling?
National insurance
I don't know much about national insurance, why would an increase put the economy in the hands of the rich?
Most of the stuff I liked about the conservative policies was cutting back a lot, but simply cutting waste. When he said that an awful lot of people said in the live comment stream that there *is* a lot of waste to cut, so that's certainly a good policy.
Last edited by martin on Tue Apr 20, 2010 1:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
GENERATION 22:The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment.
-
- level5
- Posts: 1187
- Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:37 pm
- Contact:
red rouge wrote:The monster raving luny party are making 99p coins because nothing costs £1 any more
Er, no. They aren't making them; they aren't the Royal Mint. They just plan to introduce them if they get elected, which has never happened. Besides, for this election they're called the Monster Raving Loony William Hill Party.
Anyway, Pirate Party UK
-
- level5
- Posts: 1187
- Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:37 pm
- Contact:
elexis wrote:red rouge wrote:and thank you for that grammar scan i was really tired and couldn't spellmicrochip08 wrote:Grammar untouched.red rouge wrote:...
Fix'd.
To my knowledge, I don't think a single Loony candidate has managed to keep their deposit, the closest being 4.6% of the voters in the recent by-election (I think).
I do like the way that their manifesto highlights parts of society, and I love the way BBC News tries to be impartial
I actually agree with some of their ideas: the cross on the ballot paper being replaced by a tick, for example.
Yahoo News has an interesting article on the manifesto itself (for some reason I can't reach OMRLP's website).
The idea behind elected police chiefs is giving the public a say in their local police force. It's primarily a policy role, currently local forces and police authorities do set their own policies on spending, targets, practices, etc, so I see no problem with making this a democratic process.
I'm a strong believer in making decisions on the most local level possible, it is far more democratic and the only way to give people real control over politics.
I'm a strong believer in making decisions on the most local level possible, it is far more democratic and the only way to give people real control over politics.
Re: Election Time
prophile wrote:Vote Lib Dem! <handwave>
Darksun wrote:The idea behind elected police chiefs is giving the public a say in their local police force. It's primarily a policy role, currently local forces and police authorities do set their own policies on spending, targets, practices, etc, so I see no problem with making this a democratic process.
Due in part to a certain local problem with this, I'm not he biggest fan of elected law enforcement and the politicization it brings to the profession. I prefer the chief law enforcement officer being hired by the town council or city manager.
Darksun wrote: so I see no problem with making this a democratic process.
Really? I can see a lot of problems...
Can anyone be a candidate or just those in the police? It looks like a high level management type job so surely anyone with the right skill set can put themselves forward?
Which voting system will be used...in some communities, the demographics could easily skew the result in a first past the post election? Who decides on the voting system?
What will be the rules and procedures for the campaign...I mean will candidates be able to criticise their opponents’ records in the force? Will advertising be allowed? Who will fund the campaigns?
Will candidates have to reveal their political preferences and will the winner then have a mandate to challenge local and national govt policy?
What will be the relationship between elected police chiefs and elected govt officials - will we see public squabbling for example if the local police chief supports Labour and the local MP is Conservative?
How will elected police chiefs guard against the accusation of implementing politically motivated policies?
What if an elected police chief disagrees with performance measurement statistics for them and their force...can they collect and present their own statistics? After all they will have a mandate and will only be accountable to the electorate? Or will they...will local and national government have the right to remove poorly performing police chiefs, even though they were democratically elected?
This appears to be handing power down to local level simply for the sake of it rather for any actual benefit.
-
- Site Admin
- Posts: 1783
- Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 1:48 am
- Location: North of the Wall
- Contact:
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 15 guests