UK General Election 2015

[Jag_Warrior]

Americans attempting to comment on British politics — no, please no.

Your system of government is quite different from ours. In my case, though I don't follow the ins & outs of British politics religiously, I do admire the fact that people in the UK are not slaves to a defined, locked, two party system. Yes, you also have your two major parties. But a significant enough portion of the UK voting public will cast votes for lesser known parties. And in my opinion, that is something to be proud of. I wish that more of our citizens were less sheepish in that way.

[Malbec]

So Farage resigned but remains UKIP leader due to public demand

What a circus

I thought Farage did an excellent job actually. I have no time for his political beliefs but he deserves an award for what he managed to get done.

He's established essentially a far right political party, erasing the BNP and the EDL from the political landscape. He's kept violence out of his party completely and managed instead to appeal to people who were previously put off by the link such parties had with thugs. Despite having pretty low quality inexperienced staff to work with who did more harm than good with often bizarre tweets and interviews he's actually managed to engage with a huge chunk of the electorate, not just right wing Tories but labour voters too. In fact he did more damage to Labour than the Tories which is something noone expected.

Hats off to him. UKIP would be lost without him which is no doubt why they didn't accept his resignation.

[Jag_Warrior]

In the case of the property market in London, or where I live in Sydney then... goodbye!

Capital would leave, which would lead to a softening and maybe a relaxing of property prices and expected property yields, which would lead to a hold on rents.

Capital leaving probably would soften the property market. But since capital does not place itself into just one category, it's also likely that other markets would soften... like the labor market. And if the people, who would be more able to afford properties at lower prices, do not have access to the capital necessary to buy those properties (even at lower prices), then what?

I'm just not aware of any economy which has grown over time, while chasing capital away. On the question of taxation, what I would suggest is a better balance here - I have no idea how Australia's tax system is structured.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

New leader of the Labour Party, anyone?

Why not give it to Nigel Farage?

[Rollo]

Your system of government is quite different from ours. In my case, though I don't follow the ins & outs of British politics religiously, I do admire the fact that people in the UK are not slaves to a defined, locked, two party system. Yes, you also have your two major parties. But a significant enough portion of the UK voting public will cast votes for lesser known parties. And in my opinion, that is something to be proud of. I wish that more of our citizens were less sheepish in that way.

The Westminster System which exists in the UK is not that much different to the Congress. The biggest differences are that the Executive of a Westminster style parliament is made up of members of the parliament. The Queen does hold some reserve powers that the President of the USA does in that she's the one who signs off on legislation and she's also ultimately head of the armed forces. The Prime Minister, who is head of the Cabinet, appoints ministers in the same way that the President of the US does.

There was a French political scientist called Maurice Duverger who observed that for single member constituencies there is a tendency towards two-party politics but in multi-member constituencies there is a tendency towards multi-party politics. Duverger's Law is named

Australia which also uses a Westminster System elects members to the House of Representatives in the same way that the UK elects members to the House of Commons and this also tends towards two-party politics but the Australian Senate which appoints 12 Senators per state has a far greater number of minor parties.

I wish that more of our citizens were less sheepish in that way.

I think it's perfectly rational.

The United States mainly uses First-Past-The-Post voting for Single Member Constituencies. I think that it's a worst of all possible cases scenario because it encourages voters to vote for the two majors rather than wasting a vote on a losing candidate.
The thing is though, is that it's in the major parties best interests to keep the system as is. Hence the reason why both Labour and the Tories supported the "No to Alternative Vote" campaign when that went to a referendum in the UK.

[Starter]

The United States mainly uses First-Past-The-Post voting for Single Member Constituencies. I think that it's a worst of all possible cases scenario because it encourages voters to vote for the two majors rather than wasting a vote on a losing candidate.

I wouldn't say the worst, but certainly far from the best. By golly, we actually agree on something.

[odykas]

Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the Labour party.

The British Tsipras

I guess Cameron is celebrating

[Rollo]

Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the Labour party.

The British Tsipras

I guess Cameron is celebrating

Corbyn is probably the first genuine leftist leader of the Labour Party since James Callaghan and the "Winter of Discontent".
Cameron might be celebrating but he and his party are probably going to be put on notice because 2020 might very well spell the end of this term of Tory Government.

Corbyn, I suspect intends to shirt Labour back towards the left; this was mentioned by him in the run up to the leadership spill:

http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/lab45.htm
The great inter-war slumps were not acts of God or of blind forces. They were the sure and certain result of the concentration of too much economic power in the hands of too few men. These men had only learned how to act in the interest of their own bureaucratically-run private monopolies which may be likened to totalitarian oligarchies within our democratic State. They had and they felt no responsibility to the nation.
- Labour Party Manifesto: 1945 Election

Given what we've seen over the last 10 years, with the Global Financial Crisis and banks being bailed out by the state, then having bankers bonuses paid out to them, I think that the 1945 Manifesto is probably as relevant in 2015 as it was then... except that under Thatcher, everything was sold off to the criminals which now run and own the City and by inference, the country.

[odykas]

Jeremy Corbyn has been elected leader of the Labour party.

The British Tsipras

A day after the election:

That's all Labour needs: Now ex-Greek finance minister Varoufakis offers to help Corbyn draw up his economic blueprint

The worst clown in the world's economic scene offers his services. I would be worried

[Lousada]

Corbyn is probably the first genuine leftist leader of the Labour Party since James Callaghan and the "Winter of Discontent".
Cameron might be celebrating but he and his party are probably going to be put on notice because 2020 might very well spell the end of this term of Tory Government.

How can you be genuine left and at the same time support islamists, hamas, ayatollahs, extremists and also Putin???

Jeremy Corbyn, friend to Hamas, Iran and extremists

If Jeremy Corbyn wins, Labour will be in the extraordinary position of having a leader with among the most extensive links in Parliament to terrorists

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...xtremists.html