The General Election Thread

[malg]

OK, lots of politicians on telly and radio, spouting ideas/policies in what is now the lead up to the general election. Let's use this thread to post these ideas. It appears that UKIP have opened the Pandora's Box on immigration, and even Ed is talking about it.

I'll start with something I saw this morning from the shadow education secretary. I can't see that it's a vote winner, and think teachers want more from a Labour shadow education secretary than a version of the Hippocratic oath, and a compass!

Anyway, this is from the BBC website (there was more, but this is the headline grabbing stuff):
Teachers should take a public oath committing themselves to the values of their profession, suggests Labour's Tristram Hunt. The shadow education secretary says it would be like the Hippocratic oath taken by doctors. Such a symbolic statement when teachers qualified would help to "elevate" the status of the profession, he says. The pledge would emphasise the "moral calling and the noble profession of teaching".

Mr Hunt has returned from visiting Singapore, which has one of the world's highest-performing education systems, where he was looking for ideas to bring to England. Singapore's new teachers receive a compass to point them in the right direction. As Labour begins setting out its stall for the election, improving the quality of teaching is going to be a key theme.

Singapore's strength in education, said Mr Hunt, was its "total prioritisation on teacher quality". This included a public statement of teachers' commitment to their profession and the symbolic gift of a compass, directing them towards their responsibility "to provide a sense of moral purpose and virtue to young people".

"There is a teacher's oath about continuing to learn and to pass on the love of learning. I'm very attracted by this notion of having almost a Hippocratic oath about the meaning and purpose of teaching. It's bolstering the moment of qualification and the meaning of qualification - what it means to become a teacher. That seems to be an important idea that we want to explore. It can't just be a gimmick - it has to be part of a commitment to professional development and career pathways."

The improvement in education standards in Singapore was not an accident, he said, but a result of long-term political decisions.

 

[law74]

were education is concerned, rip up league tables and targets etc and let the teachers teach the future generations the skills they will need, not just the ability to regurgitate text on a page.

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

Could be a seminal election next year as I think a significant number of people are fed up with the dross that passes for leadership and policy among the main parties. Listened to Pienaar's Politics on 5 Live this morning and Chukka Ummuna was talking in meaningless platitudes and Boris Johnson was making shit up as he went along.

I'm seriously thinking of voting UKIP, not because I believe in their policies but because I want to kick the main parties in the balls and give them a wake up call.

 

[smudgedj]

General election here in Bolivia today. It's mandatory to vote here. My vote will be going to Evo Morales.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-29588002

So why would a right winger vote for a Socialist? (PMSL He talks like a good Marxist in reality he isn't)

He had to rewrite the Bolivian constitution so he could serve a third term , and he had to have his closest rival arrested, but he's kept the peace here for ten years; and last month he gave all the public sector workers a 10% pay rise.

However most of all he's a family friend so he gets my vote.

 

[Damocles]

Could be a seminal election next year as I think a significant number of people are fed up with the dross that passes for leadership and policy among the main parties. Listened to Pienaar's Politics on 5 Live this morning and Chukka Ummuna was talking in meaningless platitudes and Boris Johnson was making shit up as he went along.

I'm seriously thinking of voting UKIP, not because I believe in their policies but because I want to kick the main parties in the balls and give them a wake up call.

The problem with this is that it's backwards. UKIP are NOT some revolutionary group who want to "stick it to those fat cats in Washington Westminster", they are a bunch of upper class white people who decided that the Tories were no longer right wing enough..

Nigel Farage is literally a rich stockbroker who is the son of a rich stockbroker who was public school educated and went straight into the Tory party. He isn't Che Guevara. He is part of the problem and not the solution.

 

[hilts]

Could be a seminal election next year as I think a significant number of people are fed up with the dross that passes for leadership and policy among the main parties. Listened to Pienaar's Politics on 5 Live this morning and Chukka Ummuna was talking in meaningless platitudes and Boris Johnson was making shit up as he went along.

I'm seriously thinking of voting UKIP, not because I believe in their policies but because I want to kick the main parties in the balls and give them a wake up call.

The problem with this is that it's backwards. UKIP are NOT some revolutionary group who want to "stick it to those fat cats in Washington Westminster", they are a bunch of upper class white people who decided that the Tories were no longer right wing enough..

Nigel Farage is literally a rich stockbroker who is the son of a rich stockbroker who was public school educated and went straight into the Tory party. He isn't Che Guevara. He is part of the problem and not the solution.

So who is the solution then?

 

[BimboBob]

Could be a seminal election next year as I think a significant number of people are fed up with the dross that passes for leadership and policy among the main parties. Listened to Pienaar's Politics on 5 Live this morning and Chukka Ummuna was talking in meaningless platitudes and Boris Johnson was making shit up as he went along.

I'm seriously thinking of voting UKIP, not because I believe in their policies but because I want to kick the main parties in the balls and give them a wake up call.

The problem with this is that it's backwards. UKIP are NOT some revolutionary group who want to "stick it to those fat cats in Washington Westminster", they are a bunch of upper class white people who decided that the Tories were no longer right wing enough..

Nigel Farage is literally a rich stockbroker who is the son of a rich stockbroker who was public school educated and went straight into the Tory party. He isn't Che Guevara. He is part of the problem and not the solution.

So who is the solution then?

There is no solution. UKIP only exist due to wanting to get out of Europe, the Tories are the only party to offer a referendum (craftily set for after an election) and the rest are no hopers.

Seeing as the general consensus is that Europe is a pile of poo then I expect other parties to jump on the bandwagon. It's the only way to get in power it seems.

 

[Damocles]

Could be a seminal election next year as I think a significant number of people are fed up with the dross that passes for leadership and policy among the main parties. Listened to Pienaar's Politics on 5 Live this morning and Chukka Ummuna was talking in meaningless platitudes and Boris Johnson was making shit up as he went along.

I'm seriously thinking of voting UKIP, not because I believe in their policies but because I want to kick the main parties in the balls and give them a wake up call.

The problem with this is that it's backwards. UKIP are NOT some revolutionary group who want to "stick it to those fat cats in Washington Westminster", they are a bunch of upper class white people who decided that the Tories were no longer right wing enough..

Nigel Farage is literally a rich stockbroker who is the son of a rich stockbroker who was public school educated and went straight into the Tory party. He isn't Che Guevara. He is part of the problem and not the solution.

So who is the solution then?

I don't know to be honest. The problem isn't that the actors are shite, it's that the stage is broken.

I think we have to reassess our democratic system entirely. The purpose of an MP is to represent a block of people who couldn't make these decisions directly due to logistical problems in having the whole country in Parliament. We can also now add a lack of available time or interest to that list as reasons.

In a world where I can type a message and it be instantly read on the other side of the world, where X-Factor can garner 3 million phone line votes in a single hour, where everybody has mobile phones with the ability to send text messages, I'm not even sure if we need MPs any more. I see no reason why a truly direct democracy cannot work, it certainly isn't difficult technologically speaking.

This would also engage people in politics in a way that they just aren't currently engaged. There would be no "them" to blame things on if it didn't go right. If the economy wasn't fixed it's because we fucked it up, not some faceless MP that we can all talk cynically about with their links to bankers. People could raise a bill and the public could vote directly. They could read it directly. They could leave comments concerning it and read the comments of others.

There would be problems of course but not insurmountable ones and at least we would reflect the will of the people in a manner that currently we don't. We do however have a rapidly declining voter turnout and Government that over half of this country didn't vote for.

 

[TGR]

Could be a seminal election next year as I think a significant number of people are fed up with the dross that passes for leadership and policy among the main parties. Listened to Pienaar's Politics on 5 Live this morning and Chukka Ummuna was talking in meaningless platitudes and Boris Johnson was making shit up as he went along.

I'm seriously thinking of voting UKIP, not because I believe in their policies but because I want to kick the main parties in the balls and give them a wake up call.

The problem with this is that it's backwards. UKIP are NOT some revolutionary group who want to "stick it to those fat cats in Washington Westminster", they are a bunch of upper class white people who decided that the Tories were no longer right wing enough..

Nigel Farage is literally a rich stockbroker who is the son of a rich stockbroker who was public school educated and went straight into the Tory party. He isn't Che Guevara. He is part of the problem and not the solution.

He's more of a solution than the three other main leaders (who are the problem) and the voting public are starting to think the same.
It's going to be very interesting between now and next May that is for sure.

 

[blueinsa]

Could be a seminal election next year as I think a significant number of people are fed up with the dross that passes for leadership and policy among the main parties. Listened to Pienaar's Politics on 5 Live this morning and Chukka Ummuna was talking in meaningless platitudes and Boris Johnson was making shit up as he went along.

I'm seriously thinking of voting UKIP, not because I believe in their policies but because I want to kick the main parties in the balls and give them a wake up call.

Exactly my thinking right now.

The end of career politicians like you have mentioned above can't come soon enough. We have to be governed by free thinkers rather than sheep on the lookout for the next rung of the ladder!