Paxo having a go at Government

[DonPeffers]

https://www.channel5.com/show/paxman-why-are-our-politcians-so-crap/    on C5 Mon 02 Sep  9 to 10pm.

 

Paxman asks 'how did we reach a stage where our Government seems either untrustworthy, ineffectual or comical'?

 

Viewers won't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

 

[DonPeffers]

Having watched the program there were some interesting facts and suggestions.

 

 02 September 2019  https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/poll-public-distrust-in-dishonest-mps-deepening-since-brexit-vote-1-4995368

 

ComRes poll---a new low of only 9% of respondents said MPs were trustworthy and honest. 

 

The poll also found that just 16 per cent people think MPs put the interests of the UK first, with a mere seven per cent of the view that constituents are their priority.

It also shows significant support for imposing penalties on rule-breaking MPs – over four out of five (82 per cent) of those questioned believe that imposing severe penalties on those found guilty of breaking rules on behaviour and standards in public life would improve UK politics.

A similarly large majority (80 per cent) of those questioned believe there should be penalties in place for any MP found to be sharing disinformation, such as fake news and false claims.

 

Paxman stated half of MPs had to return money in the expenses scandal and 7, including 2 Lords, were jailed. Also half of all constituency seats never change hands.

 

Paxman suggested 'closing the Lords, using the money to double MPs' salaries. To be an MP you must have had a previous job. Maximum 10 years as an MP.'

 

I would add no other job allowed while an MP.

 

After voting against the Government last night (backing blocking a No Deal Brexit) 21 Conservative MPs have lost the whip and could face deselection for a forthcoming General Election (Brenda from Bristol says "not another one").

 

Imagine going into a used car dealership and telling the salesperson "my wife says I must not leave without a car (no deal not an option); what can I get for £12k?"   Any expectation of not getting ripped off?

 

One MP losing the whip is Ken Clarke who entered the Commons aged 29, served continuously as an MP, and is now aged 79.

 

While experience is good, so is new thinking.

 

I reckon the only way to sort out these beggars is to close the Commons bars and lock them in with no food until they come up with an agreed way forward. 

 

Any casualties will be accepted as collateral damage.

[jeff oakley]

They are the way they are because they are only really accountable at an election. It is harder to get an MP out than getting your kids back from social service as both feature unfathomable procedures.

My pet hate is an MP can be voted in from one party then switch sides and are able to carry on. Chuka Umunna has had three parties so far in this session but not had the decency to resign and call a by election. His and others decision to cross the floor deny their constituents of the party they voted for.

In the states they are going through discussions again that would disbar anyone from becoming a career senator. Some have been in the job for decades and come in with high aspirations and then forget them between elections and become fabulously wealthy as a result. Perhaps we should do the same which would stop some of the more loathsome people who hang in there. Kieth Vaz and Dianne Abbott , Ken Clarke and Nicholas Soames spring to mind as examples of that.

 

Jared O'Mara has done nothing for his constituents and said he intended to resign, but never quite got round to it now saying he is staying until the end of this parliament so able to vote in the house, if he goes there.

 

It is ridiculous and no wonder people trust politicians so little.

[corsechris]

Never give power to someone who wants it, they WILL abuse it.

[DonPeffers]

Seems our MPs are having more parties than Hugh Hefner ever had.

 

Ex Labour and Ex Change UK MP Luciana Berger is now (like Chuka Umunna) a Lib?Dem MP.

 

Also what a theatrical nonsense of a performance from Tory MP Phillip Lee, dramatically crossing the floor of the Commons while Boris Johnson addressed MPs, to defect to Lib?Dems.

[Alan France]

You could not make it up.

 

Dr. Lee gains 33,000 Conservative votes in the election (majority 16k)

The area votes leave, but he wants to stay.

His party carries a vote of no confidence in him over his position on Brexit.

He joins Lib Dems. (Now 33,000 don’t have representation of their choice)

Some Lib Dems leave the Party over Dr. Lee’s voting record on LGBT+

 

I think we need legislation to force a local election when an MP changes party, and probably when the PM changes.

 

 

[Blatman]

On 04/09/2019 at 16:25, DonPeffers said:

Imagine going into a used car dealership and telling the salesperson "my wife says I must not leave without a car (no deal not an option); what can I get for £12k?"   Any expectation of not getting ripped off?

 

I love that analogy  

[DonPeffers]

I had a westie drive out today to Carter Bar (Scotland England border).  Just checking where the EU border posts will be. 

 

If Scot Nats get another indy ref I wonder how many voters will now go for it after all the EU withdrawal shenanigans.  Yes Westminster is an almighty, incompetent, self-serving mess  BUT  if Scotland becomes an independent nation then Scotland would have the Euro as currency, EU border posts with England, trade tariffs with the rest of the UK (if outside the EU by then) and all the paperwork, cost and complexity that would bring and about 8.3% of UK National debt.

 

And what of independence?  Give up being partly ruled from Westminster, with our Holyrood assembly holding some powers,  to be ruled by Brussels---surely a sham of independence and likely with no way out of the EU later, as deletion of article 50 is under active consideration and will probably be in the next EU treaty.

[Man On The Clapham Omnibus]

Scotland would be independent of both ReUK and EU for a long while. Automatic continuation of membership for an independent Scotland is not on the table we're told. They might use the Pound but most likely it would be the Porridge Groat. 

[jim_l]

I am not getting the Sturgeon logic to be honest, 

"We are being taken involuntarily out of the EU, on which 130,000 Scottish jobs depend"  So, in response to that "We are taking ourselves out of the UK, which directly or indirectly supports 560,000 Scottish jobs, in addition, trade with the rest of the world, on which 177,000 jobs depend, is  mostly carried out via the UK. 

 

Other stuff I have read but can't personally vouch for:
   Public spending in Scotland is about £1,600 per person higher than in the UK as a whole, while tax revenues are around £300 per person lower.
   A currency union with the rest of the UK would leave fiscal policy in the hands of the Bank of England - not independent.
   Adoption of the Euro will leave Scotland's budget being subject to approval by the EU. 
   Scotland would indeed need to absorb it's share of UK national debt.

 

An independent Scotland would:
   Apply to join the EU
   Apply to join the UN
   Apply to join NATO
   Not be represented at G8/G20
   Apply to join the WTO

It would be unthinkable that any serious work on (remainder of the UK) military capacity, nuclear or otherwise, could take place in another nation. 

 

MOST significant though, an independent Scotland would need replace, fund, and provide IT and other systems for, 200 NEW PUBLIC BODIES equivalent to those UK bodies that perform government and non government function in Scotland,

So much more challenging than Brexit could ever be, amazing!  Undoing 300 years, not 40 years. 

[DonPeffers]

08 Sep 2019  https://news.sky.com/story/angela-smith-becomes-third-mp-in-a-week-to-join-liberal-democrats-11804756   Angela Smith becomes third MP in a week to join Liberal Democrats.

 

First she was a Labour MP, then Change UK and now LibDem. and no sign of standing in a by-election.

 

Meanwhile  Sep 6, 2019  https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1174620/Brexit-news-Emily-Thornberry-Labour-deal-UK-EU-withdrawal-Boris-Johnson-latest 

 

Labour insanity!  Thornberry admits she would broker a (new Labour negotiated) Brexit deal then VOTE AGAINST IT!

 

THE full madness of Labour's Brexit policy was mocked ruthlessly today after deputy shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry admitted she planned to negotiate a new Brexit deal with the European Union then campaign for it to be REJECTED!

 

Has the contraction of the Universe started with reverse logic now the norm?