UK General Election 2024

[DaveF]

Called today by PM Rishi Sunak for 4th July - a day for celebrating liberty in the US, but probably not going to make a huge amount of difference here, whatever the outcome.

[steve ridgway]

I did wonder when the news earlier claimed inflation had dropped into the target range whether this would be their chance .

[Mandryka]

I think Sunak's a total fool. He could have looked at Accuweather and postponed it, held it inside, had a flunky hold an umbrella over him. But no, presumably defying all advice he intrepidly steps outside, knowing that he would probably get drenched and certainly be accompanied by Things Can Only Get Better.

Called today by PM Rishi Sunak for 4th July - a day for celebrating liberty in the US, but probably not going to make a huge amount of difference here, whatever the outcome.

Well I can't help think that Starmer is slightly less corrupt.

[steve ridgway]

I think it's good for democracy not to have the one party ruling for ever.

[Florestan]

I think it's good for democracy not to have the one party ruling for ever.

Political parties have become the scourge of democracy. To have any chance of getting elected, one has not only to join a party, but also to kowtow to its line --- and since meritorious and decent people are usually independent in thought and action, the system quickly filters them out in favor of the mediocre and the corrupt. Nominally it is a democracy but for all intents and purposes it has been turned into a partitocracy.

[steve ridgway]

Political parties have become the scourge of democracy. To have any chance of getting elected, one has not only to join a party, but also to kowtow to its line --- and since meritorious and decent people are usually independent in thought and action, the system quickly filters them out in favor of the mediocre and the corrupt. Nominally it is a democracy but for all intents and purposes it has been turned into a partitocracy.

True, elected individuals who vote independently on each issue could be better, but the choice we get here is between sh*t and sh*te .

[Florestan]

True, elected individuals who vote independently on each issue could be better, but the choice we get here is between sh*t and sh*te .

Pretty much the same in my country.

[steve ridgway]

Pretty much the same in my country.

Plus we don't have proportional representation so if 51% of voters in every constituency voted for the blue party they'd get 100% of the members of parliament.

[Florestan]

if 51% of voters in every constituency voted for the blue party they'd get 100% of the members of parliament.

AFAIK, this never happened, though. Or did it?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

During the 2005 parliamentary election, the Labour Party won 56.5 percent of the legislative seats though the Party received only 36.1 percent of the popular votes in the nation. It's because the UK (and USA etc) uses single member district system rather than proportional representation system like Israel. The Labor Party won a slight majority of districts with a very narrow margin while it received very few votes in the districts it didn't win.

[steve ridgway]

During the 2005 parliamentary election, the Labour Party won 56.5 percent of the legislative seats though the Party received only 36.1 percent of the popular votes in the nation. It's because the UK (and USA etc) uses single member district system rather than proportional representation system like Israel. The Labor Party won a slight majority of districts with a very narrow margin while it received very few votes in the districts it didn't win.

It does however generally reduce the influence of minority extremist parties.

[Todd]

It's because the UK (and USA etc) uses single member district system rather than proportional representation system like Israel.

Israel is not a good example to use when covering the topic of democracy.

[Irons]

Well I can't help think that Starmer is slightly less corrupt.

Paul Gambaccini would not hold that view. On the subject of corruption Angela Rayner has questions to answer. Lets face it they all have their noses in the trough.

[Luke]

The 'they're all as bad as each other answer' is a cop out which the right wing press like to encourage as it lets them off the hook. In this case what Rayner may or may not have done re her living arrangements concerns sums in the low 1000s; the self-interested corruption the Tories have been getting away with for years (PPE contracts for mates, Johnson's many loans from his mates, etc etc, I really don't want to list everything) runs into the many 1000000s. Really not comparable, no matter what the Mail and Telegraph would like to pretend.

[Karl Henning]

The 'they're all as bad as each other answer' is a cop out which the right wing press like to encourage as it lets them off the hook.

Yes, the whitabootery winds up benefiting the right-wing extremists.

[Todd]

Johnson's many loans from his mates, etc etc, I really don't want to list everything) runs into the many 1000000s.

That's it?  At least in the states, national level corruption involves real money, and sometimes gold bars stored at home.

[Mandryka]

That's it?  At least in the states, national level corruption involves real money, and sometimes gold bars stored at home.

Yes well as an addict of Shark Tank and the UK equivalent, Dragons Den, I've learned that everything to do with money is bigger in he USA.  However, I think if we look at Sunak's grift, we'd find some very significant sums making their way from the UK treasury to companies he has a stake in.

[Mandryka]

It does however generally reduce the influence of minority extremist parties.

But the Tories are right wing extremists.

[steve ridgway]

That's it?  At least in the states, national level corruption involves real money, and sometimes gold bars stored at home.

You'll be shocked then at how much the parties here spend on their campaigns. I found this BBC News Article from 2019:

Political parties' spend is also capped at £30,000 for each constituency that it contests in a general election. So if a party stood a candidate in each of the 650 UK constituencies, its maximum spend would total £19.5m.

[steve ridgway]

But the Tories are right wing extremists.

They're not a minority though .