Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

Not the result I voted for but then again three terms is enough for any government to hold sole power, I must say I think the LD's entering into a full coalition with the Tories could well prove to be a good thing for progressives in this country, this way both sides have to compromise meaning that any ideological fantasies some Tories might have had will have to be binned.
Personally I'm of the opinion that no party should end up with a big majority, it just seems to encourage ministers of the day to pay lip-service to parliament and to try and run things from a small clique of people in number 10.
One point I would like to raise is the near hysteria some posters seem to be experiencing about a so called "rudderless ship", this fallacy is ridiculous the civil service have not suddenly disappeared from their jobs, and anything important enough to require the attention of a minister, like Darling attending a meeting with Europe's finance ministers the other day was being taken care off.
Methinks its more to do with misdirected anger towards the LD's because they dared to speak with Labour, either way its immaterial now as we now have a solution that thanks to the fact it wasn't rushed through in a couple of hours to appease our biased press, has a very real chance of lasting.
Five days to do a deal that'll last or a few hours to appease Murdochs toilet paper?? thankfully Cameron had a bit more savvy.

---------- Post added at 02:58 ---------- Previous post was at 02:56 ----------

Blimey Rizzy, you seem to be in a dark hole yourself mate.:)

---------- Post added at 03:10 ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 ----------

Surely you gave it just a little thought Gary? you must have seen the polls showing a Tory lead mate.
This is exactly why I totally disagree when people say we should have compulsory voting, in Australia the ballot papers are printed with the "running order" different on each paper, so as the party listed at the top of the page doesn't over benefit from people coming in and just putting a cross in the first box.
Do we really want people who put more thought into voting on the X-factor being "made" to vote here?:td:
Aarrh I says no..:)

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

List of coalition policies here (from 12:16 onwards):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2...2010-live-blog

"Lib Dems priorities that have been secured

• Referendum to bring in some form of alternative vote system. Coalition members will be subject to three-line whip to force the legislation for a referendum through, but they will be free to campaign against the reforms before referendum. "


I think that is a pretty good list of policies, with some surprising (but necessary) concessions from both sides.

And I am very pleased to see mention of a FREEDOM BILL and other civil liberty measures! :D

RIP ID Cards & other nonsense & goodbye New Labour Authoritarianism :D

Nice that both parties in coalition support civil liberties, & want to undo some of Labour's crap.

The fixed term parliament deal is going to apply to *this* parliament too. 5 year terms, only broken by an "enhanced majority". So, although there can still be an early election in some circumstances (presumably no confidence comes under that, as the other side would have an enhanced majority), no longer will the PM be able to go "quick, the polls are good - call an election now!".

That, plus what has been said by people on both sides, suggests strongly that each party is in this for the long term, they want this to work.

Yup, from what I saw on the BBC, Sky & elsewhere it was something like:

5 Cabinet positions: Deputy PM (Clegg), Scottish Secretary (Danny Alexander), Education Secretary (Laws), Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Cable), Home Secretary (Huhne).

Along with various other Ministerial positions, totalling 20 (not sure if that includes the more senior ones above).


Confirmation on the various positions (other than Deputy PM, which we already know is definite), along with policies, is expected on Wednesday.


Yep! :D

Unanimous support from the Lib Dem Parliamentary Party.

Near-unanimous support (one "No" vote) from the Lib Dem Federal Executive.


Clegg's statement: http://www.libdemvoice.org/statement...-mp-19452.html

---------- Post added at 03:32 ---------- Previous post was at 03:10 ----------

Yup, I'm glad they took their time over it. Hell, compared to Europe though it was rushed - apparently deals can take a month to negotiate in some countries!

Re. anger toward the Lib Dems:

I don't think the talks with Labour were particularly serious. From what I have read, the Lib Dems were utterly unimpressed with what Labour offered (which was, I believe... the Labour manifesto) & felt that no real concessions were made by them. And of course various senior Labour MPs publicly trashed the idea of a coalition with the Lib Dems.

Sky Guardian

There was nothing illegitimate about them talking with Labour, anyway. I think convention would actually have dictated that they talked to them *first*, as the incumbents. Clegg kept his word that he'd talk to the party with the mandate first & had proper, serious, talks with the Tories. They later talked to Labour, & later still had more formal talks, but I think they knew nothing would come of it.

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Re. anger toward the Lib Dems from those on the Left, including people who may have voted Lib Dem this time to "keep the Tories out":

They (the voters) should get over it.

People voting Lib Dem didn't produce a Tory win, people voting Tory did. They got the highest no. of votes & the highest no. of seats. The main swing was from Labour votes to Tory votes (5% swing IIRC), not Labour votes to Lib Dem votes. The main seat change was Labour to Tory, not Labour to Lib Dem. 90-odd seats changed from Labour to the Tories, that's why they "won". The Lib Dems actually lost seats, they didn't cost Labour the election. Labour cost themselves the election.

---------- Post added at 03:54 ---------- Previous post was at 03:32 ----------

Oh, something I meant to reply to in the previous thread, but forgot before it was locked:

Regarding "Baron Mandelson of Foy in the county of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the county of Durham"...

A previous post saying that the Dark Lord could use the Peerage Act 1963 to resign his peerage and enable him to seek election to the House of Commons is incorrect.

Mandelson is a life peer, not a hereditary peer. Only hereditary peers may disclaim their peerages under the Peerage Act 1963.

Labour did plan on introducing legislation enabling life peers to resign, as part of the recent Constitutional Reform Bill. IIRC some people did allege at the time that perhaps it was aimed at enabling Mandelson to resign his peerage and get back in the Commons...

However, the Bill was dropped in the run up to the dissolution of Parliament.

So Mandelson is stuck with his life peerage and barred from entering the House of Commons...

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

Peerages have often been given to trouble makers to keep them out of the commons, Thatcher often used that technique to keep non-conformists quiet and I always considered that was why Mandelson was given his.

I'm fairly happy about the coalition, not because I thought Gordon Brown did anything particularly bad - this country was, up until the bank crisis, in pretty good shape and many economists considered him to be our best Chancellor for a very long time, but in truth Chancellor was probably the best place for him, he was never made to be a Prime Minister with all the attention and media gouging that job brings. I'm happy for a couple of reasons, the alternative would have been a coalition between many competing interests removing focus from the target of stability, the Tories economically tend to be fairly reliable if a little naive and short-sighted and maybe this time they'll understand a little more of the meaning of social cohesion and how to avoid being as divisive as they have in the past - doubtful I know. The second reason being we finally may have a change to the voting system that allows everyone to feel like their vote means something and hopefully increase turnout as a bonus, assuming it is a PR system as opposed to an AV system which would simply replace a two party dictatorship with a three party version.

I suspect the Lib-Dems will blunt some of the sharper, more extreme edges of the Tories, most of which get hidden below election-time duvets, and if they can't I'll expect the BBC to re-use their dust-free sets for Election 2011.

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

:rofl:

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:rofl:

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

I know it's a little late but where is the 'We will see' option in the poll?:D

As long as this government works to prevent local councils from misusing terrorist laws to spy on their constituents in regards to school places,littering etc,etc.

And also knocks on the head the idea that some police and others have that no one is allowed to photograph anyone or anything on UK streets UNLESS they are an OBVIOUS bomb target such as a police station or MOD property.

That's if they are actually keen to redress the erosion of civil liberties.

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

I'm in the 'We will see" bracket so undecided seemed to be closest option.

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

Would have liked this option - Chose undecided as being the nearest.

All in all seems like sensible people in sensible places, just not too sure about Osborne. :erm:

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

I'm just delighted that Brown and his cohorts have finally been dumped! Of course these are uncharted waters and we're all going to have to wait and see how things work out. Fingers crossed that we haven't already gone past the point of no return and tipped over the edge of the financial abyss....

I'm hoping that the presence of the Lib Dems within the government may just assuage the paranoid, hysterical, hatred of some of those whose seem to think that the Tories eat babies for breakfast, get off on making life as hard as possible for us mere mortals and aim to turn us all into a nation of subservient serfs.

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

I have to say, I think the Tories have got on over on them there!

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We just need to dig up!

---------- Post added at 09:07 ---------- Previous post was at 09:01 ----------

Sounds promising. Any idea of what else will be in the freedom bill? I am hoping for no innocent people on DNA database, a judge needs to approve any request from police for personal data, and such.

Should be 4 years if you ask me.

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

While I'm sure they are grateful for your vote, I doubt they consider your bedtime important enough to be worth debating. I imagine they were probably too busy discussing the coalition. ;) :p:

---------- Post added at 09:15 ---------- Previous post was at 09:13 ----------

Honestly, there's always a critic or three. :rolleyes: :p:

'Undecided' and 'we will see' are semantically similar enough, I think.

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

Part of Transformational Leadership is Individual Consideration, so they may have been discussing Damien's bed-time, and who should be tucking him in (Dave or Nick). :D

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...010/05/148.jpg

---------- Post added at 09:29 ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 ----------

ooo tough choice!

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

Correct. A couple of weeks is pretty much the norm in The Netherlands, and people don't get worked up over it. In Holland the Queen will appoint a person (usually from the biggest party) tasked with talking to all parties who will then decide on the most likely coalition before formal talks between parties commence. Talks can break down, and multiple coalition choices may be considered. People don't get worked up about it, and don't see the country as a rudderless ship. Instead, policy for the coming 4 years is laid out, and rather than rushing it through to form a government, this is considered a process that is worth taking time over to make sure that parties reach a viable agreement. As said elsewhere, the world doesn't stop spinning during this period. The civil servants are in place to deal with any urgent matters, and there is a parliament. The only thing that doesn't happen is that no bills of any importance are passed in parliament. It really isn't a big deal provided it doesn't last ages.

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

And here's the money shot:

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/at...1&d=1273653343

Re: The New British Government: David Cameron is Prime Minister
 

I really want to know what's happening now! When we will get this 'repeal' act designed to overturn all the awful bills Labour passed regarding civil liberties, what will be in that act? The £10,000 tax free allowance will be phased in, will we see this in the emergency budget?