QED

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

...i am more and more troubled by the timing of that Glaxo announcement on Budget Day about new investment because of the budget ..... the discussion on these boreds about Maude on Today and the expose of Cruddas in the STimes [thanks to Ams and 8thO for links initially]


does the case against Murdoch Brooks et al boil down to they got it for free?

who is behind reopening the third runway debate ... at which leaders group dinner did that come up

if you are not in on it you can pay to get an in on it

Boris is not in on it .... he may be the only honest Tory

and yes i also think that the Labour funding from the TUs is wrong as well ....

i am a puritan i believe it is the parties responsibility to build a mambership platform that finances them on the basis of subscriptions and jumble sales .... the low level of membership is an indictment of our democracy ... and too few parties ...

it's crook it's gangster ...still

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

not even a bonus sized fine

£875m would have made their eyes water and knocked a few quid off the deficit eh

[Serial_Apologist]

and yes i also think that the Labour funding from the TUs is wrong as well ....

i am a puritan i believe it is the parties responsibility to build a mambership platform that finances them on the basis of subscriptions and jumble sales .... the low level of membership is an indictment of our democracy ... and too few parties ...

it's crook it's gangster ...still

Yes but calum there's a world of difference between billionaires paying to get their own interests met in policy-making and individual trade union members contributing to LP political funds - though I do agree that amounts paid to all parties for electioneering expenses are gross and unacceptable.

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore...unds-guide.pdf

[aeolium]

Yes but calum there's a world of difference between billionaires paying to get their own interests met in policy-making and individual trade union members contributing to LP political funds - though I do agree that amounts paid to all parties for electioneering expenses are gross and unacceptable.

But there's no reason why those members could not contribute directly to any political party if they choose. And in any case Labour and the Libdems also take large donations from wealthy people.

Although I like calum dislike the idea of public funding of political parties - not least as I think party has too much influence over politics rather than having individual representatives who are able to make up their own minds on the merits of policy - I have come round to the view that it is the least worst option and far better than the present setup. Having major parties funded by rich people makes it effectively impossible to have any really progressive tax system. And alongside the corruption of influence, there is the insidious corruption of lobbying (which Cameron had argued against in opposition but which he has done nothing to tackle) and the 'revolving door' system which is so regularly exposed by Private Eye: the system by which people in the media or government move in to business positions which lead one to suspect that their earlier position was effectively compromised (for instance Brian Wilson who was Energy Minister for the last government 2003-2005 then became a non-executive director in AMEC Nuclear Holdings - this kind of thing happens time after time).

[Lateralthinking1]

.......And in his time Yvette Cooper's Dad was Mr Nuclear UK. Some more ordinary people - nurses, shelf stackers, etc - in Parliament would be helpful. Across the board, it is too much of a club.

[amateur51]

.......And in his time Yvette Cooper's Dad was Mr Nuclear UK. Some more ordinary people - nurses, shelf stackers, etc - in Parliament would be helpful. Across the board, it is too much of a club.

In 1968, I was in the last year in my North Wales Grammar School to take an examination in English Language including sentence analysis etc. We also had a thriving after-school Literary & Debating Society which taught us how to string an argument together and how to respond in kind.

Have young people had this sort of experience in the years since, I wonder? I ask in all sincerity, not being a parent.

[Resurrection Man]

...
Have young people had this sort of experience in the years since, I wonder? I ask in all sincerity, not being a parent.

Coming to this late and apologies if this has already been answered.

You're going to hate this but the answer is 'Yes' but predominantly in Public Schools

[jean]

In 1968, I was in the last year in my North Wales Grammar School to take an examination in English Language including sentence analysis etc...Have young people had this sort of experience in the years since, I wonder?

I think it should be pointed out that the nobody does clause analysis any more anywhere, and for very good reasons.

[amateur51]

.......And in his time Yvette Cooper's Dad was Mr Nuclear UK. Some more ordinary people - nurses, shelf stackers, etc - in Parliament would be helpful. Across the board, it is too much of a club.

From John Harris in the Guardian today:

"Note also the words of backbencher Nadine Dorries, whose Liverpudlian dad was a bus driver: "The problem is that policy is being run by two public schoolboys who don't know what it's like to go to the supermarket and have to put things back on the shelves because they can't afford it for their children's lunchboxes. What's worse, they don't care, either." "

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i recall the old days [welll the 60s & 70s] and block votes and mandatory affiliation fees ....

it seems to me that if we believe in democracy we should behave like active democrats and join parties go to meetings stand serve etc ... in our millions, then the establishment would have a nightmare