Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

fred in one of his rare but more lucid moments correctly pointed out that if an mp is elected to the westminster parliament, then he has an absolute right to cast his vote as he thinks fit

Stop it c, you know full well that the average mp will do as he/she is told.

The chicken has been pumped up for the pot.

the blacks in Baltimore are turning the states into the new Africa killing and looting for their own ends time for the republicans to send in the troops and shoot on site
are their will be no usa it will be Africa 2

only brainless humans shit in their own beds that is now the case in most black countries

though the rioting, looting and general rampaging cannot be remotely condoned, the police force in baltimore, and especially in areas of the southern states have a great deal to answer for

Hold your breath......drop everything......Amanda Holden's sister is trapped on Everest...what ? at the top clinging at 90 degrees to a pole with both hands ?.....heavens.....strewth.....no don't worry she's safe, thank god....found in a restaurant...........dear....for one moment : I thought we were going to get a show special......phew !....the relief is tangible.....

Not sure if our electoral system is the best.....perhaps a second round of voting might be a better idea so a clear majority can be determined.....

Latest YouGov / The Sun results 27th April -

Con 35%, Lab 34%, LD 9%, UKIP 12%, GRN 5%;

i don't think that would work with a "first past the post" system

It is amusing to think that the SNP have come to bite Labour as it was their idea for a Scottish Parliament in their election manifesto. Labour gave a referendum in Sept 1997 to decide if there was support for a Scottish Assembly. At the time, it was thought that it would boost Labour's popularity in Scotland and stem the rise of the SNP. Another badly misjudged Labour policy. It ranks with Labour's policy to open our doors to mass immigration.

Which the tories are suggesting they would repeat with devolution in England.

Trust Cameron to pick another failing policy!

8-)

Please correct me : are we going to get the Conservatives with the most seats but Labour with SNP in government ?.......I hope not....how on earth does that work ?.....

The most likely scenario under a minority Labour government is that the SNP would vote for Ed Miliband’s Queen’s speech but then might, for example, refuse to support an emergency budget that will probably follow in June over future funding for Trident or too deep austerity cuts. It may be on Trident that the Conservatives would dig Labour out of the hole and vote with them against the SNP. But if not Trident another issue is bound to arise.

Peter Kellner of YouGov has said that if a prime minister wanted to face down the SNP by threatening to call an early election instead of giving in to their demands he could do so under the new legislation by putting down a no-confidence motion against his own government and instructing his MPs to abstain. He might attract complete ridicule for doing so but it does make it possible for him to threaten to call an election in the face of SNP threats.

The SNP is also boxed in with the added pressure, that if it was to collapse a minority Labour government, thereby allowing a Tory government at Westminster, it could face paying a heavy political price among its supporters.

In short, politics does and can get pretty complicated and messy. Have a look at the following Wikipedia entry which describes what happened the messy events of 1979 in some detail:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_vote_of_no_confidence_in_the_government_of_James_Callaghan

The polls are all over the place, no one knows what is going to happen.

Here are some of the findings across 4 polls.


The four utterly contradictory polls that tell the story of this election and why it is pointless trying to predict the outcome


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/the-four-utterly-contradictory-polls-that-tell-the-story-of-this-election-and-why-it-is-pointless-trying-to-predict-the-outcome-10207701.html

We might get a deal between the Tories and the SNP.....but that would mean giving into some SNP requests.....

The SNP won't ever do a deal with the Tories on any basis.

on that basis, perhaps NS will be PM :-)

I would think, that some of the political experts and academics in Westminster will have written many papers about this stuff. Historical events will have been studied and debated in both Oxford and Cambridge universities for sure.

Routes of eventuality will have been mapped out so that political leaders will have a good idea of what to do for several different scenarios.

These are very interesting and fascinating political times.

Today's headline is that growth in GDP seems to have stalled. It's only 0.3% this last quarter as against 0.6% for the quarter before. Osborne is reminding everyone that these are economically delicate times and 'the plan' needs to continue. I suppose Miliband and Balls will be attacking Tory economic policy, saying something like, 'It's not as good as all that. Look what has now happened. It's stalling! This is what needs to be done.'