General Chat

Albeit probably a fairly sizeable minority :-)

Ian

Once again a minority giving the majority a bad name...

It certainly is. MP's are just a microcosm of society in general and reflect the greed that always surfaces when easy money becomes available.

Like the parody of 'Keep the Red Flag Flying' (still labours anthem)-

'The working class can kiss my ass, I've got the foremans job at last'.

There are a lot of honourable people in parliament. Sadly, they are eclipsed by the arrogant, power hungry and corrupt ones who make the headlines all to frequently.

:-)

Ian

That's true Ian, that people do tend to have party loyalty rather than taking note of the individual. However, the majority PARTY is the one in Government, so maybe that's not a bad thing...altogether LOL

This fiddling of expenses seems to be across all parties though....not just the Government or the Leader of the House.

yep, quite agree. They need to be rooted out and exterminated like the vermin they are.

Unfortunately, its a sad fact of life and politics that in this country people vote for the party rather than the person. The vast majority of voters never meet their MP and have no interest in who he or she is.

Its an old saying that you could put a donkey up for office in many areas, and as long as it had the right colour rosette, it would get elected. Thats life :-)

Ian

How can you tell when a politician is lying ? ......... they open their mouth !

You're right Ian, I certainly don't remember the Tories buckling under pressure from anarchists rather than the electorate...though I would like to think that my small voice added to millions of others in this country who spoke out against Poll Tax, had something to do with it.

However the question is, what about those MP's who seem to have clearly claimed more expenses than they realistically should have.

I understand staffing expenses, as their staff are paid for out of their own pockets, but mortgages on houses they already own and have paid for? What's that about?

Yep, I decided that the only way to change anything was to be on the inside. No one ever changed anything by whinging to others in a pub or over the garden fence.

Ian

Im not sure if the innocent people who were caught up in the riots or those that had property damaged and destroyed would either agree or care about it being a tiny minority......there were many thousands involved in the riot which lasted for many hours.

Whatever, it was the riots that influenced the withdrawal of the poll tax, not the march. No one remembers that.

And hence it was nothing whatsoever to do with democracy. Whether it worked or not is neither here nor there - violent protest can never be justified in a democratic society.

Ian

I was thinking the same Stan :-))

Ian, only a very small minority of people caused those riots, the rest of us marched to voice our opposition to the Poll Tax and did not get involved in the anarchy. Sadly that small number of anarchists spoilt it for everyone....but the Poll Tax was abolished wasn't it...so in the end it worked.

You can meet your prospective candidate if they are new. Ask them questions. They want you to vote for them and they will answer you. If they tell lies, you can throw it back at them at a later date when they are found out.

If you are referring to the poll tax riots as opposed to marches, then that was nothing to do with democracy.

As for peaceful marches, they dont work. Name one that has worked. Lots of publicity, no action.

Nothing was ever changed by peaceful protest. The only way to change things is by the vote or direct action. One is democracy the other is anarchy.

Ian

My Nan always said about people with their eyes too close together.

She never did like Prince Charles lol

Do we know that the published expense sheets are the honest ones though?

BC pmsl

Well you could always look at their expense sheets from the previous years, for those who are standing for re-election. If they're new there isn't really a lot you can do until the next time of voting.

On the premise that all politicians are corrupt, I would vote for the one whose eyes are not too close together....Can't go wrong:-)

That applies to all areas of life Ian,not just the politics. None of us can change anything by just moaning about it...but then thats what democracy is all about isn't it? The Poll Tax marches proved that.

However, we vote for MPs to represent US, their electorate, and I'm not happy with the idea of voting for an already well paid representative who is more than prepared to rip of even more tax-payers money as perks. Trouble is, how do we know what they are up to before we vote, they are hardly going to admit it are they?

MPs should only be paid

the same amount

they give OAPs to live on

and free bus travel

You can see their expense sheets.

http://www.parliament.uk/about_commons/hocallowances/hocallowances06.cfm

By putting your money where your mouth is I mean taking an active part in influencing your MP, as opposed to voicing complaints to no avail. In other words, if an issue arises that you feel strongly about, go to see your MP or write to them. MP's will tell you that one of the hardest things they have to do is trying to get past the apathy of the average voter.

We also have the underused freedom of information act. Anyone can use it to find out almost anything you want. (not to be confused with Data Protection).

Ian

Thanks for explaining that, Ian. BC