UK Elections

[Canard DuJour]

Canard,

Have to agree. I quite liked him once he got going, but the negatives you mention were still there. The real problem is that I was trying to give him a break, and that's a luxury that most voters were not offering.

Alex.

Is everybody missing the point? It may be a big haystack but the clue for finding the needle is right before us. The conservatives offer to submit EU membership to a vote in two years. hmmmnnn what's not to like in that by the voter. No not the economist, the statesman, the businessman, but, the voter like those who voted for keeping out immigrants and fear their liberties and way of life is being sacrificed to the god of internationalism. Sheesh. But hey, pollsters could have corrected their models if only they hadn't take the Cool Aid of a good story about outsiders coming to the rescue.

What's not to like is there's a good chance Britain will vote to pull out of the EU (hang on, hang on..) which will likely mean another Scottish independence referendum with Scotland going independent this time, which will mean near perpetual Tory government in England, which means eventual privatisation of the NHS and anything else not nailed down.

 

[whichphilosophy]

Anti-Zionist does not mean anti-Jewish. Clearly you must have only read edited accounts of him. A lot of women have parliamentary seats in the UK and are leaders of parties.

I suspect you are right. Somebody using such relatively mild terms to describe George Galloway will only have read edited accounts of him.

It's called seeing his speeches in full and looking at his side of the argument seeing his talks that are unedited.. The media is just about all edited accounts. We need more mavericks in our political system whether to the right or to the left. He was dead right about ISIS and Iraq

 

[dismal]

I suspect you are right. Somebody using such relatively mild terms to describe George Galloway will only have read edited accounts of him.

It's called seeing his speeches in full and looking at his side of the argument seeing his talks that are unedited.. The media is just about all edited accounts. We need more mavericks in our political system whether to the right or to the left. He was dead right about ISIS and Iraq

I'm inclined to question the wisdom of basing your election campaign on the claim your opponent is a Zionist pawn when said opponent is a Pakistani muslim. Perhaps personal attacks about the details (OMG She was 16 not 15!!!!!) of her arranged marriage to her cousin did not help the old white man win the Anti-Zionists over either.

 

[Philos]

What's not to like is there's a good chance Britain will vote to pull out of the EU (hang on, hang on..) which will likely mean another Scottish independence referendum with Scotland going independent this time, which will mean near perpetual Tory government in England, which means eventual privatisation of the NHS and anything else not nailed down.

On a personal note it feels like a Thatcher sequel. The papers are already trumpeting: - coming out of the EU human rights protection, insurance model for the nhs, school tests for infants starting at 4 years old, regulating what's left of trade union freedom, BBC licence fee compulsory on the council tax even if you don't have a TV.

This is Orwell 1984 stuff and there will be more to come.

For the individual who doesn't support the Tories there isn't much to do except stop reading the news. One thing I have realised is that the Lib Dems did stop a lot of the bad stuff; and look what happened to them. No wonder Clegg said it was "unkind". That guy was royally f***** over.

Alex.

 

[whichphilosophy]

It's called seeing his speeches in full and looking at his side of the argument seeing his talks that are unedited.. The media is just about all edited accounts. We need more mavericks in our political system whether to the right or to the left. He was dead right about ISIS and Iraq

I'm inclined to question the wisdom of basing your election campaign on the claim your opponent is a Zionist pawn when said opponent is a Pakistani muslim. Perhaps personal attacks about the details (OMG She was 16 not 15!!!!!) of her arranged marriage to her cousin did not help the old white man win the Anti-Zionists over either.

He won against the odds before and this time he didn't. I don't know really if there was any relevance in her being 15 or 16 as in modern society both ages would seem too young to get married.

 

[bilby]

I'm inclined to question the wisdom of basing your election campaign on the claim your opponent is a Zionist pawn when said opponent is a Pakistani muslim. Perhaps personal attacks about the details (OMG She was 16 not 15!!!!!) of her arranged marriage to her cousin did not help the old white man win the Anti-Zionists over either.

He won against the odds before and this time he didn't. I don't know really if there was any relevance in her being 15 or 16 as in modern society both ages would seem too young to get married.

Not really.

In Australia, 16 year old women could marry without legal restriction until 1991, when the Sex Discrimination Amendment Act raised the age to 18, to match the age requirement for men. Women aged 16 and 17 can still legally marry in Australia with the consent of the courts.
In the United Kingdom, 16 and 17 year olds can marry with the consent of their parent or legal guardian (Consent is not required in Scotland).
In France, 15, 16 and 17 year old girls can marry with the consent of one parent.
In Germany, 16 and 17 year olds can marry but require both court and parental consent.
In Andorra, 14 and 15 year olds require the consent of the courts to marry; 16 year olds and over can marry without legal restriction.
The US States of Missouri, Hawaii and Georgia all allow 15 year olds to marry with parental consent, and New Hampshire allows girls as young as 13 to marry with both parental and judicial consent.

It seems that there are plenty of modern societies where 15 or 16 is not considered too young to get married; and even a handful that allow marriage for people as young as 13 or 14.

 

[whichphilosophy]

He won against the odds before and this time he didn't. I don't know really if there was any relevance in her being 15 or 16 as in modern society both ages would seem too young to get married.

Not really.

In Australia, 16 year old women could marry without legal restriction until 1991, when the Sex Discrimination Amendment Act raised the age to 18, to match the age requirement for men. Women aged 16 and 17 can still legally marry in Australia with the consent of the courts.
In the United Kingdom, 16 and 17 year olds can marry with the consent of their parent or legal guardian (Consent is not required in Scotland).
In France, 15, 16 and 17 year old girls can marry with the consent of one parent.
In Germany, 16 and 17 year olds can marry but require both court and parental consent.
In Andorra, 14 and 15 year olds require the consent of the courts to marry; 16 year olds and over can marry without legal restriction.
The US States of Missouri, Hawaii and Georgia all allow 15 year olds to marry with parental consent, and New Hampshire allows girls as young as 13 to marry with both parental and judicial consent.


It seems that there are plenty of modern societies where 15 or 16 is not considered too young to get married; and even a handful that allow marriage for people as young as 13 or 14.

This is a matter of viewpoint. Generally speaking I would suggest (but not impel people) to marry so young.

In ancient Rome girls got married above 13 and boys above 14. Nowadays we look at later marriages because of things like college and building a career first. However some people may be ready to marry at 16

 

[Canard DuJour]

What's not to like is there's a good chance Britain will vote to pull out of the EU (hang on, hang on..) which will likely mean another Scottish independence referendum with Scotland going independent this time, which will mean near perpetual Tory government in England, which means eventual privatisation of the NHS and anything else not nailed down.

On a personal note it feels like a Thatcher sequel. The papers are already trumpeting: - coming out of the EU human rights protection, insurance model for the nhs, school tests for infants starting at 4 years old, regulating what's left of trade union freedom, BBC licence fee compulsory on the council tax even if you don't have a TV.

This is Orwell 1984 stuff and there will be more to come.

Yep, that's the spin machine revving up. They'll leak increasingly drastic privatisation plans and deny them. Then when the somewhat watered down privatisation eventually starts, people will be inured to the idea. Only they won't call it that either, they'll call it Enterprise Finance Initiative or some shite, and claim to be saving the NHS from some crisis they've manufactured.

For the individual who doesn't support the Tories there isn't much to do except stop reading the news. One thing I have realised is that the Lib Dems did stop a lot of the bad stuff; and look what happened to them. No wonder Clegg said it was "unkind". That guy was royally f***** over.

Alex.

He was, but the Lib Dems got what they deserved IMO. For all the bad stuff they stopped, they facilitated as much by getting into bed with the Tories, using the votes of people who'd never have dreamt of voting Tory. A few weeks of constitutional kerfuffle would have been far less damaging than 5 years of austerity - not least for the Lib Dems who're now basically toast.

 

[dismal]

He won against the odds before and this time he didn't. I don't know really if there was any relevance in her being 15 or 16 as in modern society both ages would seem too young to get married.

Not really.

In Australia, 16 year old women could marry without legal restriction until 1991, when the Sex Discrimination Amendment Act raised the age to 18, to match the age requirement for men. Women aged 16 and 17 can still legally marry in Australia with the consent of the courts.
In the United Kingdom, 16 and 17 year olds can marry with the consent of their parent or legal guardian (Consent is not required in Scotland).
In France, 15, 16 and 17 year old girls can marry with the consent of one parent.
In Germany, 16 and 17 year olds can marry but require both court and parental consent.
In Andorra, 14 and 15 year olds require the consent of the courts to marry; 16 year olds and over can marry without legal restriction.
The US States of Missouri, Hawaii and Georgia all allow 15 year olds to marry with parental consent, and New Hampshire allows girls as young as 13 to marry with both parental and judicial consent.

It seems that there are plenty of modern societies where 15 or 16 is not considered too young to get married; and even a handful that allow marriage for people as young as 13 or 14.

As I understand none of this was the issue he went after her for. He went after her for lying that she was forced to marry her cousin at 15 when she was really 16!

So, by logic, if you're a good anti-Zionist muslim you vote for the old European white guy.

 

[Togo]

'Gorgeous' George has always been red-hot about people lying. He did quite a funny appearance in the US senate, where he pointed out that several prominent senators had made speeches including items so obviously untrue that they were either incompetent or intentionally trying to deceive, and invited the senate, as a body, to recognise that. When it comes to pointing out lies, hypocrisy and deception, he's a maverick who has done a lot of good. Unfortunately, like many people who make a point of exposing the failings of others, he's also a d**k.

You get exactly the same effect here, on these forums, or indeed on any political forum.