Electoral Reform

Doesn’t seem to work too badly in Switzerland, tho’……..

The difference between a modern democracy and a dictatorship is that with a democracy you get to chose your dictator. It matters not what country or what party you are talking about they all do what is best for their pockets rather than what is best for the country.
The old saying about “if democratic voting was likely to cause real change it would be banned immediately” still holds true unfortunately.

Yes, I’ve heard that comment around as well – it is spot on.:D

Yes RH, but the Scottish just have to mither about the rest of the UK’s Parliament, as mithering about as their own little ‘Parliamentlet’ is about as (in)effective as the organisation itself!
I once heard someone say ‘Democracy’s all very well and good, till it doesn’t go your way’. Quite liked that :diablo:

You keep missing the point, Al. In the UK Election the votes are for the UK parliament – you already have your devolved parliament and separate elections.

The very principle of democracy; rule of the people, every mans opinion is equal.

True, but it obviously doesn’t work for us, where the majority of people in Scotland vote for one thing, and final outcome is entirely the opposite – that fact won’t go unnoticed.
We’ll just have to see how proportional representation pans out…

When all is said and done it really doesn’t matter which party is in power as you still get politicians.

Just because England has the bulk of the population, why should that be translated into such a dichotomy of power?

The very principle of democracy; rule of the people, every mans opinion is equal. No matter how hard you try you’re not going to convince anyone that the views of 5 million, 3 million or 1.5million are as important as the views of over 50 million. (admittedly that’s the entire population of the individual countries not the electorate, I can’t be bothered to sod about looking for those figures)

Without the Scottish vote Conservatives would have achieved a majority of 19, however they fell 20 short of a majority and left Labour a chance to form a coalition

Yes Al,I had not forgotten that either,I have actually been very polite about Broon on here – if I said what I really thought about him on here – I would be banned LOL :rolleyes:

rgds baz

You would not be alone mate.:D I’d be quite happy if he just disappeared into the wallpaper.

By the way you must be a mite chuffed that the new Government is reviewing the Barnett Formula and will reduce the annual subsidy by about £4.5 billion but devolve some tax-raising powers including a 10% of income tax bracket.

The new government has got nothing to lose – it’s not as if the Libs and Cons could do any worse in Scotland…;)

Those are ominous words, Al – “don’t think you have heard the last of him”. I can only hope you are wrong and that he recedes into the backwaters of Fife to be forever remembered only as the worst Prime Minister and the worst Chancellor in living memory – or ever!

By the way you must be a mite chuffed that the new Government is reviewing the Barnett Formula and will reduce the annual subsidy by about £4.5 billion but devolve some tax-raising powers including a 10% of income tax bracket.

Yes Al,I had not forgotten that either,I have actually been very polite about Broon on here – if I said what I really thought about him on here – I would be banned LOL :rolleyes:

rgds baz

Brown is a religious zealot of the worst kind, totally sure he is the man to save the British people from themselves. Don’t think you’ve heard the last from him!
I’ll never forgive him for selling 60% of the UK’s gold reserves between 1999 and 2002. For someone who is often cited as a financial wizard, that deal lost the tax-payers around 2 Billion pounds.
Gold traders and the Bank of England told HM Treasury that selling was a very bad idea, coming at a time when gold prices were at a 20-year low, but this advice was totally disregarded in the frenzy for a quick cash injection. Flooding the market with 400 tons of bullion (the most gold ever sold at one time!) plunged the prices even further. The cut-price gold was eagerly bought up by several Asian countries, including China.
This incident was made even worse by Labour telling parliament that the decision was made on the ‘technical advice of the Bank of England’, and then they blocked attempts by newspapers to disclose the advice Brown received before he sold the gold, which had been collected over the centuries…

What is truly amazing is that he managed to “fool a great many people for most of the time” to paraphrase the phrase. Those of us who saw through him years ago were too few and with no voice. I still wonder about the result of the election had Cameron really exposed the truth of Brown’s disastrous policies during the campaign, but he never went for the jugular.

But I know he’s a moron, Gordon is a moron Gordon is a moron, Gordon is a moron:D:D:D:dev2:

Very true LOL
I am ashamed to be from the same Kingdom as Broon…He thinks he is clever,but clearly is not :rolleyes:

waiting for any scraps that is thrown their way.

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Like free prescriptions and parking ??
In england we dont even get those scraps 😉
The scots/welsh have done fairly well out of labour,in england we didna get wee scraps like that 😉

rgds baz

….and it’s good to see that ‘tit’ gets past the moderation!

It all depends on the context, dear boy. 😉

I’ll try to remember to take my happy pills this afternoon…;)
and it’s good to see that ‘tit’ gets past the moderation!

Al – sometimes you really do sound as embittered as your avatar suggests. I know you’re not really, but just Scottish.;):)

Urgh, stop this treasonous talk of dissolution of the union, I wont tell you where in the UK I am *from* but I’m a strong unionist.

Good for you – but the Union is comprised of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England, four completely different countries and people. Now compare how many seats each has at Westminster…
England – 533
Scotland – 59
Wales – 40
N.I. – 18
Just because England has the bulk of the population, why should that be translated into such a dichotomy of power? It’s obvious that the other three nations will always be sucking on a hind tit, cap in hand, waiting for any scraps that is thrown their way.

Fair enough, but I don’t know how many Scots would view it that way when facing the cold reality of the situation, with huge cutbacks and job losses.
I’ll bet the peoples in nearly every part of the British Empire had the same fears initially, but are now very glad they became independent. Scots have always been rich in everything except hard cash, and I have no doubt we could easily manage by ourselves. We are amongst the most enterprising and inventive peoples on earth – imagine a world without TVs, telephones, the Bank of England, penecillin, anaeshthetics, RADAR, radios, syringes, pneumatic tyres, overhead valves, refrigerators, quinine, steam engines, the decimal point, fax machines, cloning, logarithims, tarmac, sulphuric acid, thermos flasks, light polarisation, the US and Chilean navies, Buicks, and Harley-Davidsons!

One more question, again playing devil’s advocate I’m afraid; say Scotland were independent and the Orkney and Shetland Islands held a referendum over independence from Scotland, an independence that would take 75% of the oil revenue with it, do you think the rest of Scotland would welcome or even allow such an independence?

It’s all relative – when does a small island become a nation? I know a lot of Orcadians and Shetlanders, and they are naturally proud of their Norse heritage, but would that really distill into being happy to be governed by Norway or Denmark? As far as internationally-agreed sea areas are concerned, the oil is in Scottish territorial waters, and these islands are part of Scotland.