Sep 2019
2:08pm, 24 Sep 2019
32,458 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Lol at Raemond's paint analogy from previous page. I want to see that do the rounds of FB!  G
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Sep 2019
2:15pm, 24 Sep 2019
20,860 posts
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BigChiefRunningBore
Just going to pitch in here with a gripe The phrase "politics is broken in the UK" is only ever uttered by politicians and (because sometimes they are actually different) dickheads. I keep hearing this from assorted cliche-mongers. It is wrong and has no sense of history. Universal suffrage has only been with us for 101 years. As recently as 1975 Spain, for example, was run by a fascist dictator. One generation ago the UK was in a world war. The political and social gains made in the last 100 years remain fragile. Politics and politicians will remain as dirty a business as office politics and well - business! So stop pretending everything is broken. Pick a team and avoid cliches lest your soul be damned to the Civil Service in the afterlife. |
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Sep 2019
2:19pm, 24 Sep 2019
32,459 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Beetelgeuse reference - I call you BCRB! And 2nd world war is... err... at least 2 generations ago, or arguably nearly 3 (if a generation is 25 years). But yes, I agree, our politics and Euro and western democratic politics is a bit messy, at worst. It isn't broken. Except, dragging it back to 21st century issues, and this generation, for climate change. I would argue, that our largely capital and growth driven economies and hence politics is not suitable to deal with the global climate crisis. Just ask this generation - Greta Thunberg put it brilliantly in her excoriation of the world's governments in the UN. She's my new hero. G
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Sep 2019
2:20pm, 24 Sep 2019
15,257 posts
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Chrisull
Too right Chiefie, it isn't broken and today has emphasised that.
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Sep 2019
2:22pm, 24 Sep 2019
24,101 posts
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Wriggling Snake
Sorry to be pedantic, but men and women got the same voting rights in the Representation of the People Act 1928, i.e. over 21. Rather than the 1918 act, which was wilfully and inaccurately portrayed by TV and newspapers as 'equal votes'. en.wikipedia.org Thanks. so it is less than 100 years. |
Sep 2019
2:23pm, 24 Sep 2019
5,277 posts
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jda
Similarly for "constitutional crisis". There have been big questions asked but the constitution seems to be holding up pretty well. I wonder whether a written one would have explicitly contained accidental loopholes of the sort that Johnson has attempted to exploit.
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Sep 2019
2:25pm, 24 Sep 2019
18,868 posts
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DeeGee
Only 91 years of Universal Suffrage, Chiefy, Not all women got the vote in 1918. And there's only been 50 years with a UK voting age of 18. UK Politics is modernising, but as it's been around since 1215 it's going to take a while to make it happen. Rather like how difficult it is to disentangle a nation from 45 years' of international treaties and legal structures. |
Sep 2019
2:26pm, 24 Sep 2019
8,763 posts
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larkim
Agree, it's a lazy and disingenuous accusation to say politics is broken. I do wonder if we have a particularly unusual paucity of political talent at the moment though, partly as a consequence of the public perception of politicians (driven by those who suggest "politics is broken" etc). There are relatively few on the front benches of the two biggest parties who it appears command respect for their wisdom (even if you disagree with some of their principles).
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Sep 2019
2:27pm, 24 Sep 2019
18,869 posts
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DeeGee
I don't trust a written constitution precisely because of that, jda. I have done a little bit of study of the constitution of the French fifth republic, for instance, which was written "by" DeGaulle (or in his image, anyway) and contains massive provisions for the president to simply suspend parliament and rule on a whim. |
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Sep 2019
2:29pm, 24 Sep 2019
18,870 posts
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DeeGee
The pundit who shouts loudly about how politics is broken is the same pundit who failed to be elected to Parliament seven times. So he would complain, wouldn't he? Just like my son accuses me of cheating every time I beat him at a board game. |
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