UK news: new minister for disabled against benefits and human rights for chronically ill

[AndyPandy]

Absolutely. If there was a majority in the senate, rather than the balance of power in the hands of those minor parties/independents, then our government would have set our country back decades, with just one year of scary-bad policy.

Agree. They might be a quirky bunch, but they have thwarted some bad policy moves.

 

[SilverbladeTE]

And Gove as Minister of Justice...?!
Gove was the douchebag who was against having a Parliamentary Enquiry into the abuse scandal
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/home-office-child-abuse-coverup-michael-gove-rules-out-public-inquiry-into-claims-of-paedophile-politicians-at-top-of-westminster-9587642.html

what next, the Chuckle Brothers in charge of Sellafield, Dr Harold Shipman in charge of the DWP, and Jimmy Saville taking over Gove's old job as the Education Secretary?!
Sleekit, Pob-faced, fud spanking, knob weasel of a man!

 

[Sean]

fud spanking, knob weasel of a man!

 

[jimells]

You don't actually have to vote, you just have to show up, or get a $50 fine or whatever it is these days.

Yes, coercion is certainly a hallmark of "democracy" and "freedom"...

 

[jimells]

There have been calls/petitions for other changes that might help

And you believe those changes can somehow change the policies of domination of native peoples, smashing of foreign societies, impoverishment of their own citizens?

 

[jimells]

The USA has far better leaders

I'd be interested to know who they are...

 

[jimells]

The sad truth is that none of these treaties are worth the paper they are printed on. There are more treaties that claim to protect rights than I can shake a stick at. Yet none of them stopped a dozen EU states from helping Uncle Sam kidnap, transport, imprison, and torture anyone he decided was an Evildoer.

I don't remember any EU government brought down over the CIA kidnap-and-torture program. I don't recall anyone going to prison over this. I don't recall any mass protests, although maybe there were, and they were buried by the media.

I do recall that polls consistently show Americans supporting torture. America has certainly earned all the chickens that are coming home to roost. One can not set the world on fire and not get burned.

 

[worldbackwards]

Why not? There are any number of alternatives but the public were given a referendum on voting reform not so long ago and rejected it which suggests there's no great appetite for change.

The options for voting reform were limited to an option that no-one much wanted, accompanied by a massive campaign of misinformation by the popular press to ensure that they got the result they wanted - the status quo.
The House of Lords remains entirely unelected, despite popular support for an elected second chamber. Both main parties are complicit in retaining this wholly undemocratic situation.

 

[SilverbladeTE]

The sad truth is that none of these treaties are worth the paper they are printed on. There are more treaties that claim to protect rights than I can shake a stick at. Yet none of them stopped a dozen EU states from helping Uncle Sam kidnap, transport, imprison, and torture anyone he decided was an Evildoer.

I don't remember any EU government brought down over the CIA kidnap-and-torture program. I don't recall anyone going to prison over this. I don't recall any mass protests, although maybe there were, and they were buried by the media.

I do recall that polls consistently show Americans supporting torture. America has certainly earned all the chickens that are coming home to roost. One can not set the world on fire and not get burned.

UK has been there, done that, got smashed in two world wars....they really were partially result of British Empire's creation and actions (Kaiser Wilhelm II was very jealous and the Elite in Germany wanted their own empire, too...Treaty of Versailles helped set stage for WW2 etc)

 

[Sean]

The options for voting reform were limited to an option that no-one much wanted,...

Probably learned that trick from John Howard, the Australian PM who 'allowed' us plebs to have a vote on becoming a republic, back in the late 1990s.

The rusted on old monarchist deliberately crippled the chances of a yes vote win by insisting we vote on a definite model straight up, rather than what should have happened: first a non-bonding plebiscite about the general principle, then, after another couple of years or so of further discussion about various models, a binding referendum on which specific model of republic we went to.