Beware - New Dangerous STD!

awip2062 · Post by **awip2062** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:22 am

We should get the opinon of others in the UK like Schu and Ogg too, Matt.

Devil's Advocate · Post by **Devil's Advocate** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:24 am

Um. There were elections a few weeks ago..... Local councils, so no real threat to Blair. It was good to see his party do badly though.

ElfDude · Post by **ElfDude** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:35 am

Devil's Advocate wrote:Um. There were elections a few weeks ago..... Local councils, so no real threat to Blair. It was good to see his party do badly though.

He's Labour Party, isn't he? If I understand correctly, his stance on invading Iraq kind of went in the face of his own party didn't it?

Devil's Advocate · Post by **Devil's Advocate** » Thu May 25, 2006 12:48 pm

Yes, and yes.

ElfDude · Post by **ElfDude** » Thu May 25, 2006 1:01 pm

Devil's Advocate wrote:Yes, and yes.

Is there a party you favor? I have a feeling it isn't conservative.

Soup4Rush · Post by **Soup4Rush** » Thu May 25, 2006 1:52 pm

really

Devil's Advocate · Post by **Devil's Advocate** » Thu May 25, 2006 5:14 pm

I'll give you a clue: it begins with "L" and ends with "iberal"

ElfDude · Post by **ElfDude** » Thu May 25, 2006 5:24 pm

Devil's Advocate wrote:I'll give you a clue: it begins with "L" and ends with "iberal"

Among how many significant parties is the vote divided? Over here, in addition to Republicans and Democrats there are a number of parties on the ballot (Libertarian, Socialist Workers, American, etc.) but they always (with the exception of the little hand grenade with the bad haircut, Ross Perot) get less that one percent of the vote.

Devil's Advocate · Post by **Devil's Advocate** » Thu May 25, 2006 5:36 pm

Quite a lot. At the last general election, Labour and Conservative each got about 1/3 of the votes, and the Liberals took 1/4.

That translates to Labour getting a little over half the seats in Parliament, the Tories getting most of the rest, and the LibDems have about 40, iirc. (The total is 6 hundred and something)

There are also Welsh and Scottish nationalist parties (one of each), who have a handful of seats, a couple of independants, and while Gorge Galloway's party fielded a number of candidates, he alone was elected.

In Northern Ireland there are four main parties, none of which are active on the mainland. So there are a handful of each of them in the Westminster parliament.

Add to that the parties that never manage to win any seats in Westminster (but are often more successful in European, regional and council elections), such as the Greens and the racist BNP, and it's a lot more interesting than conservative "Democrats" vs. very conservative "Republicans"....

ElfDude · Post by **ElfDude** » Thu May 25, 2006 5:44 pm

Thanks for that info. Sounds like it's a lot harder to win anything with the vote being split that many ways. I guess I can see both good and bad in that...

awip2062 · Post by **awip2062** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:18 pm

Devil's Advocate wrote: it's a lot more interesting than conservative "Democrats" vs. very conservative "Republicans"....

Is this how you view our Democrats and Republicans? Just wondering because I don't think that is the majority view here.

ElfDude · Post by **ElfDude** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:25 pm

awip2062 wrote:
Devil's Advocate wrote: it's a lot more interesting than conservative "Democrats" vs. very conservative "Republicans"....
Is this how you view our Democrats and Republicans? Just wondering because I don't think that is the majority view here.

The low Bush approval ratings certainly aren't because the conservative base who elected him are moving to the left.

awip2062 · Post by **awip2062** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:44 pm

LOL! No, not the ones I know, that is for sure.

Devil's Advocate · Post by **Devil's Advocate** » Fri May 26, 2006 3:54 am

awip2062 wrote:
Devil's Advocate wrote: it's a lot more interesting than conservative "Democrats" vs. very conservative "Republicans"....
Is this how you view our Democrats and Republicans? Just wondering because I don't think that is the majority view here.

It's all relative. But the reason there's so much personality-based vitriol in American politics is that there's so little to choose between the two big parties in their policy. Sadly, it's heading that way here too.

awip2062 · Post by **awip2062** » Fri May 26, 2006 7:43 am

Most people I know see it more as liberal Republicans and even more liberal Democrats. LOL Relative, indeed.