Coalition in Westminster

Last night had a whiff of nostalgia for me with the re-release of that popular chant from my youth "Tories Out!".

ETA: And I'm sure that the Tories and their troop of trained poodles will be heartened with the news that the number of people unemployed is getting back to good old Tory levels. I'm sure with the cuts they are planning they will soon be on track for breaking their past record! ;)
 
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I see the new gov is already being described as "LibDemCon".
I wonder if they'll show up in Star Trek uniforms.
 
An awful lot of grown up talk about working together for the good of the country but I can’t believe them. They’re politicians after all. I give it 6 months until the Lib Dem back benchers vote with the opposition on an important bill and then it gets really messy.
 
martu said:
An awful lot of grown up talk about working together for the good of the country but I can’t believe them. They’re politicians after all. I give it 6 months until the Lib Dem back benchers vote with the opposition on an important bill and then it gets really messy.
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I cant see them doing that, to a degree they are tainted now so its in their interests to show it can work for a full term. if we went back to the polls soon i guess a lot of them would lose their jobs.
 
martu said:
An awful lot of grown up talk about working together for the good of the country but I can’t believe them. They’re politicians after all. I give it 6 months until the Lib Dem back benchers vote with the opposition on an important bill and then it gets really messy.
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I don't know, judging from the speech, and the promises they're making about being stable, I think they're truly making a good attempt at a coalition. From what I'm hearing and reading, it's the british public (mainly the ones on far right/left) that's stuck with old ideas of having one party governments, not the politicians.

Oh, one thing to add: If this coalition does serve the full 5 years, and if they do make the country a better place, it will take a long time before labour is anywhere near the power that they have now. If AV passes, libdems and conservatives can continue with a new dcoalition, and labour will need to make compromises to get into government again. If the coalition fails, it'll be bad for both conservatives and libdems.
 
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Well, they're talking the talk. If I was being cynical I'd suggest that the biggest partner in the coalition doesn't have much choice if they want to take charge, and the other partner is happy to get what it can. And they both have to make it sound like they couldn't have asked for anything better to happen.
 
Darth Rotor said:
Whoever coined that deserves a pint. :cool:
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I saw it on the "Blether with Brian" BBC blog, but I couldn't tell you who came up with it or even if they got it from elsewhere.

The comments on that blog are a study, when compared (for example) to those on Nick Robinson's blog.

Rolfe.
 
Delscottio said:
I cant see them doing that, to a degree they are tainted now so its in their interests to show it can work for a full term. if we went back to the polls soon i guess a lot of them would lose their jobs.
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Frank327 said:
I don't know, judging from the speech, and the promises they're making about being stable, I think they're truly making a good attempt at a coalition. From what I'm hearing and reading, it's the british public (mainly the ones on far right/left) that's stuck with old ideas of having one party governments, not the politicians.

Oh, one thing to add: If this coalition does serve the full 5 years, and if they do make the country a better place, it will take a long time before labour is anywhere near the power that they have now. If AV passes, libdems and conservatives can continue with a new dcoalition, and labour will need to make compromises to get into government again. If the coalition fails, it'll be bad for both conservatives and libdems.
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I hope you are both right but as I said I'm doubtful.
 
richardm said:
Well, they're talking the talk. If I was being cynical I'd suggest that the biggest partner in the coalition doesn't have much choice if they want to take charge, and the other partner is happy to get what it can. And they both have to make it sound like they couldn't have asked for anything better to happen.
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But this talk matters. If this coalition fails, it WILL come down on cameron. After all, he said that he could've chosen a minority government with libdem support, but went for the extra mile because he has confidence it will work. If it won't work, cameron won't be able to say "it was my only choice".
 
At the moment though it is just talk. And while he's saying what we want to hear, he knows what it is that we want to hear.

Should we take him at face value? Or have a look at what people who have worked with him but don't count themselves among his friends think?

Former Cameron Colleagues said:
"slippery", "ruthlessly ambitious", somewhat guarded individual. Would not trust Mr Cameron "with my daughter's pocket money".

"To describe Cameron's approach to corporate PR as unhelpful and evasive overstates by a wide-ish margin the clarity and plain-speaking that he brought to the job of being Michael Green's mouthpiece,"


Former Sun business editor Ian King, recalling the same era, has described Mr Cameron as a "poisonous, slippery individual".
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I'm willing to be convinced that he's going to be a good PM, but he's going to have to convince me because I'm not prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.



Perhaps I'm just not feeling very charitable at the moment.


My personal feelings towards the man are also probably a derail, but I've typed it out now so you're getting it regardless ;)
 
It's all horribly reminiscent of those videos of weddings, where the happy couple proclaim undying love, which are watched through tears, then binned, during the messy divorce...
 
richardm said:
At the moment though it is just talk. And while he's saying what we want to hear, he knows what it is that we want to hear.

Should we take him at face value? Or have a look at what people who have worked with him but don't count themselves among his friends think?
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That he's a good PR man? We knew that.
 
Europe will be the end of this marriage.

I'm still not entirely sure how the Tory partners in Europe and the Lib/Dems are in any tiny way compatible.

Maybe like a lot of the other areas where they disagree less blatantly they will all play "Pretend" and hope it doesn't matter.

One interesting point. It's my opinion that the Lib/Dems, in the event of another election (and despite the fixed length parliament thing there can be one) will be destroyed. They certainly will be wiped out north of the border and no labour voter will tactically vote for them after this.

Maybe the Cameron plan is to throw the crumbs (and lets be fair they are crumbs, Deputy Leader, that's a laugh, That was like being deputy leader of my home when I was still with my ex!) and swallow this indignity knowing that when the end comes he has already discredited one enemy (libs) while the other may still be regrouping (though in my optimism I'm thinking that it won't take long for Labour to do that now).
 
Rolfe said:
I was at one time a big fan of AV, but I seem to have moved on. It seems to me to be a bit of a half-way house to PR. However, you may be right and it's likely to be a big improvement on FPTP. Take longer to count though!

They're also talking about fixed term parliaments, which could be interesting.

Rolfe.
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I like the idea of proportional systems but strongly think that any list-based element should not be considered, as it prevents the voters voting out an individual candidate, so the party is the constituency that matters.

I would like larger constituencies chosen with, say 3-5 member STV, with AV as a second-option.

You might guess that I think AV+ is worse than FPTP.
 
You know, you'd think this was the first ever coalition in the UK in recent times.........
 
commandlinegamer said:
Comment from Enemies of Reason [1]:



Reminds me of the scene in the film The Guns of Navarone where Gregory Peck finally loses patience with David Niven's constant whining:

"Well, son... your bystanding days are over! You're in it now, up to your neck!"


[1] http://enemiesofreason.co.uk/2010/05/12/youre-in-power-now/
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[derail]

Ironic really as David Niven left Hollywood to join the Commandos during WWII.

Apparently before one operation he told his troops, "Look, you chaps only have to do this once. But I'll have to do it all over again in Hollywood with Errol Flynn".
[/derail]
 
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