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Ok - this thread is for people to post items of interest (if any) on the UK election. We non-US'ns all laughed at Florida last November (remember? That was when the Japanese sent emergency supplies of Viagra to Florida because they'd heard they couldn't hold an election!) Some background. UK has 2 and a half main parties and many smaller ones. Labour (or in US "Socialist") has a large majority with Cheshire Cat Tony Blair as the leader. The Conservatives (or in US "Socialist") have Little Willie Hague as their (to be kind) leader. The polls seem to be running at 48% Lab, 30% Con, 18% Lib. The Times and Financial Times have today announced their support for Labour in this election. Scotland and Wales have no Conservative seats, but a lot of nationalist support for Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru. Northern Ireland of course has a large number of parties from the extreme Unionist (stay in UK) to extreme Nationalist (join Eire). One peculiarly British phenomenon is how well the "silly" parties do. Do you have silly parties in other countries and how well do they do in elections? The best known in UK is "The Monster Raving Loony Party" and you can look at their policies and electoral record at http://www.omrlp.com/. They have not won any national elections, but have a few local councillors, and one was even the local mayor for a while. The only real excitement we have had in the hustings was when the deputy prime minister John Prescott punched someone who had thrown an egg at him, changing his nickname from "2 Jags" to "2 Jabs" overnight. One of the issues in this election is fraudulent voting, made easier by the latest rules (or relaxation of them) on postal voting. The Northern Ireland slogan of "Vote Early, Vote Often" is now "Post Early, Post Often". And now the word link; voting as somone else is known as personation not impersonation. Rod
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I laugh when the people who called the election, hoping to win, lose. And wasn't "vote early and vote often"originally American?
jimthedog
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I must admit I had to laugh when William Hague actually had the gall to accuse Tony Blair of heading "the most arrogant government in the history of British democracy". Considering Maggie Thatcher. 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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And wasn't "vote early and vote often"originally American?
Don't know. I can't find any origin of the phrase, but I am interested. In modern British politics it is associated with Northern Ireland.
the people who called the election, hoping to win, lose
We all like hubris getting its just rewards, but in many elections the time (if not the result) is fixed. In UK the current government has to call the election any time up to 5 years from the previous one. It usually ends up at about 4 years. Officially it was only the local elections that were delayed this year because of the futon mouse, but everyone knows that Tony Blair was going to hold the national election on the same day, which he has done.
Rod
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Funny that you have so many nationalist parties, 'cause Canada is dealing with the same. Quebec wants out (they have for many hundreds of years, I suppose). Now some loonies in the West (which is where I come from) want out, and everyone else - including most westerners, I think - well, we all think they're completely delusional. Honestly, I don't imagine what they'd expect to gain from being independent. More dependence on the almighty US economy, and less ability to protect our own culture from our domineering neighbours - doesn't sound like an appealing option to me! how well the "silly" parties doHere we have silly parties but I don't honestly remember the names. The Marijuana Party wants to legalize pot in Canada, and that seems to be their only mandate. I'd heard previously that the Natural Law Party used to advocate yogic flying as a way to...something...but a quick look at their web page shows no mention of that. I had a friend who ran for the Communist party in the last federal election, and he got 137 votes. Interesting! How about the Rhinoceros Party? Their slogan: "Putting the party back in political party". http://www.rhinoparty.caOur Prime Minister (Jean Chretien) once tried to strangle a protester who got too close. Lots of complaints about that one, of course. It's a recurring theme on the political satire shows. Right up there with the break-in to his house, where his wife threatened the intruder with an Inuit statue. 
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the most arrogant governmentas opposed to Bush's most arrogative government? Only a dig, honest Rod
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Rhinoceros Party? Their slogan: "Putting the party back in political party". Last time we had the Party Party, but I haven't seen any sign of them this time. Many years ago the local football hooligans put up a candidate in Portsmouth. One of his policies was "Duty Free goods on the Gosport ferry". The ferries that ply between UK and France from Portsmouth used to have duty free goods, and he wanted the local 5 minute foot and bicycle ferry to have them too. Natural Law is still around in UK too. Re Nationalist parties in UK. Well of course the Scots and Welsh have been given their assemblies recently. The Scottish assembly has more power (though Billy Connolly still calls it "a wee pretendy government") than the Welsh, and has already passed laws at odds with the rest of UK. For example, reverting to free tuition at Universities, and paying for residential care for the elderly, which has led to the gibe that Scotland is a place to be young and to die, but you wouldn't want to live there. Which brings us to the "West Lothian Question": how come Scots MPs are allowed to vote at Westminster on English matters, while English MPs can't influence Scots affairs? http://www.edinburghac.demon.co.uk/placid/lothian.htm covers this quite well. Rod
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I found that article confusing, probably because I have no idea what the structure of gov't is in the UK. There are assemblies for the Scots and the Welsh, but not one for just the English alone? Confusing. And there is some sort of national assembly - is that what they call Westminster? With members from every part of the UK? Is it different people on the regional assemblies, or do the Scottish and Welsh MPs do double duty?
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Some individuals sit on both, but the posts are different (as is representation on local councils, and the supra-national EC elective body). In theory, someone could be a town councillor, county councillor, Assembly member, Member of Parliament, and also MEP (M of Euro Parl). Hey, talk about killing five birds with one stone...! I have wanted to found the Guy Fawkes Party for some time: our anthem would be that charming song that goes 'As soon as this pub closes, As soon as this pub closes, As soon as this pub closes - the Revolution Starts!'
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Bean states I found that article confusing, probably because I have no idea what the structure of gov't is in the UK. There are assemblies for the Scots and the Welsh, but not one for just the English alone? Confusing. And there is some sort of national assembly - is that what they call Westminster? With members from every part of the UK? Is it different people on the regional assemblies, or do the Scottish and Welsh MPs do double duty?
Bean, you are quite right, it almost as confusing as the laws of cricket. The United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) has its national assembly in Westminster. The House of Commons is elected by (some of) the people, in single-member first-past-the-post constituencies across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. All those countries apart from England has its own National Assembly, where the representatives are elected separately; all by some form of Proportional Representation. The (modern) Welsh and Scottish Assemblies are recent (2-3 years?). The Northern Irish assembly is much older but has been suspended for a lot of the time because they were fighting. [Stay behind after class and write out 100 times...]
The Channel Islands and Isle of Man have their own parliaments and are not represented in Westminster. They are dependencies. The UK and the Channel Islands (though NOT including the Isle of Man) are also a member of the European Union, to which we also elect representatives using Proportional Representation.
Westminster also has The House of Lords which traditionally was just that, Barons and Bishops and so on. A while back (30 years?) Life peers were introduced, who could not pass the right/responsibility to their children, who were appointed by the Govenment with an allocation to the opposition. Last year, the Hereditary peers were given only a limited number of (life) seats, and they had to vote amongst themselves to select which of their number would take them. There is still a lot of debate about the right form for a second chamber.
Still confused?
Rod
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