European Parliament

F-18 – the choices we had on our ballot papers were:

1. A right wing mob of war-crazed US puppets busily ignoring the wishes of the citizens
2. A right wing mob of potentially war-crazed US puppets with a stupendous history of ignoring the wishes of the citizens
3, 4, 5, etc. A left/right/far right wing mob of sad deluded souls who no more than a tiny fraction of people would vote for, thus pointless voting for them

A stupidly large amount of the UK population vote for ‘their’ party, the one they have always voted for, the one their dad voted for, the one their grandad voted for, etc. etc. Thus the result was as expected really.

The whole system is crap but I have yet to be convinced there exists a better one.

And Americans think Europeans are liberals hahahaha

anyways, think about it this way, at least your leader looks much better than Churchill or Thatcher

I don’t know if there’s a better system. Look at what happened in the Netherlands after Pim Fortuyn. Many people voted on a “small” party, a party which entered elections for the first time. The LPF showed such parties can not govern. Fact is: most people vote with their heart rather than their mind. Hence many will vote EXTREME left or right instead of CENTRE left/right.

I find myself largely in agreement with Damien.

There has to be a better system than the one we have now…the fact that we haven’t found one yet just shows that we need to carry on looking.

I don’t understand you brits.. after all that arguing over Blair, he’s still favored by most of the people.. is it that no one is better or do you all represent nothing more than a vocal minority with a hamburger fetish.

Damned if I can explain it, Ben.

Maybe it’s because a lot of people hanker for the days of The Empire On Which The Sun Never Sets, when Britannia really did rule the waves?

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be……

Why do Brits still think they are the only ones who are being patriotic? It’s not Britain vs the rest of Europe. Britain is but one state in the EU. We Belgians are also proud of our country, we don’t want to give up everything as well.

Given that I hold passports from two of the member states I must admit I like the idea of being European although I do think that the current system will benefit from the changes Ben has outlined above.

There is quite a significant amount of opposition to the EU in Britain, however. We Brits are a patriotic lot and lots of people fear being ruled by Brussels and losing our currency. I personally think the EU will become a benefit to all states, although I think we will lose the pound soon. Doesn’t bother me but might stir things up a bit in Britain.

Well I agree with you Dave. The EU Parliament should not interfere into domestic issues. However, currently, the EU is not a legal “body” yet. In fact, all the so called ‘European’ laws went through the British Parliament as well, as with every other national parliament. The constitution will change this, and give the EU Parliament autonomous power, which I think will be a lot better because now EU is not being governed by the EU Parliament or the Commission but a council of ministers, ie Blair, Chirac, Schroder and some others …

It’s not like the UK is forced to stay in the EU. If the house of commons decides tomorrow it wants to leave the EU there’s nothing we can do about it. However, nothing can prevent, in that case, the EU from protecting its own economy against the British. A possible trade union could solve that problem, like the EU has with Norway and Switzerland for example.

I do believe the constution will make things a bit more clear. In fact, some power (dealing with agriculture and fishery) will go BACK to the national states again. I like to see the EU dealing mainly with foreign affairs, defence and economic policies. It would be unwise though to try to change the whole British legal system. The UK should be able to keep it’s common law system. In fact, the EU has adopted common law as well in it’s institutions. It’s not like the EU is mainly focused on the Continental – French legal instutions.

However, I don’t understand why you British think the EU is ruled by the French. There are still 23 other members. You British have a lot more to say than us Belgians for example.

I believe it is the insurance that stopped Sally B from doing a display. A single display. Not all displays since, I believe, she is also performing at Duxford on the same days as the cancelled Southampton ones. Since, as has already been pointed out on historic, they are claiming that they are being charged £1000 a day surely that would be the case for the whole day, not per display? – Nermal

No Nermal I think you’ll find she’s grounded until further notice. The brake down of £1000 per airshow I think is down to the extra cost being £12,000 and they planned to do 12 shows.

No no no, Nermal. 😮

You know the rules – blame foreigners (especially the French) at every opportunity!! ;););)

Edited, since I had only seen the first part of a relevant post and not the more important rest of it – Nermal