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Anyone else got political fatigue?

(26 posts) (18 voices)

Started 1 year ago by shitsu_tonka
Latest reply from Ironduke

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shitsu_tonka

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The current leadership and opposition are both, to me, entirely mediocre. I love politics and have always been a political junkie but lately the only reaction I can muster to any domestic politician is 'oh do fuck off'.

Where are the diamonds bravely glistening amongst the shit? Are there any working politicians that people find inspiring or think are doing a good job?

Is the only imminent political event worth looking forward to Thatcher's funeral or does anyone know of something decent or interesting going on?

Posted 1 year ago #
Ironduke

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Michael Gove. He may look like a slimy weasel, but I do think he get's shit done.

Posted 1 year ago #
Qoxiivi

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I am very interested in politics but only in a philosophical sense: figuring out the most fair, functional and equitable method of social organisation given our needs, desires and nature.

I have almost no interest in party politics though. It’s just an overblown charade masking maintenance of the status quo and all we ever see of it is whatever bullshit has been filtered through PR companies and then pumped out of equally partisan media outlets.

Posted 1 year ago #
greg various

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Democracy for me is picking the bunch of wankers I think might do the least damage.

Posted 1 year ago #
rikkor

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I thought I had Bieber fever, but it's probably just a regular cold.

Posted 1 year ago #
vertical

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Greg various has it nailed.
Expect nothing and we won't be disappointed.
The system is now so deeply ingrained it won't change until a genuine leader takes the reins.

Posted 1 year ago #
Sinnick

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There are some good ones among the rest, less than half perhaps.

If candidates had to be independent, and the party system abolished, I think they might be a bit more focussed on the job. Can't imagine many MPs voting for it, though ...

Posted 1 year ago #
John Ffitch-Rucker

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Greg is spot on; voting is damage limitation at best. I’ve always tried to vote for the person least likely to damage my family and my country, in that order. The idealism and hope of my youth are long gone, eroded by a system that inspires nothing but weary cynicism.

Posted 1 year ago #
Gerontius

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start by paying them a meaningful wage.
then we might start getting some meaningful people.
why would the brightest sparks enter politics when they can earn/create/blag an MP wage before breakfast.
you get what you pay for
OK - so who was the last inspirational MP who made you sit up and listen?

Posted 1 year ago #
John Ffitch-Rucker

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Inspiration I can do without; competence, independence, honesty, intellectual courage and a basic sense of right and wrong would be a good start.

Posted 1 year ago #
Al OPecia

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MIcheal Gove gets shit done - yep what he does is shit, making it up, like the rest of the Coallition, as they go along. And in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Posted 1 year ago #
shitsu_tonka

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Gerontius - Mo Mowlem used to make me sit up and listen. Didn't always agree with what she said but at least with her you could be fairly confident she'd visited planet Earth and wasn't living in a bubble of wealth and self-interest like most of 'em.

I also had some respect for Estelle Morris when she very quickly resigned as a minister citing that she wasn't capable of doing the job. I like that she knew her limits and said so.

Posted 1 year ago #
The All New Jeni B

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The last politician that gained my respect was the late John Smith. A genuinely nice person who wanted to make a difference, who wasn't a power-crazed megalomaniac.

Think how different the world could have been if he'd lived, and Tony B Liar had never come to power.

Posted 1 year ago #
Al OPecia

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Gerontius - do we really just want people interested in making money attracted into politics? George Galloway used to make me sit up and listen, in disbelief.

Posted 1 year ago #
ronseal

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Thing is we all moan about politicians but do nothing ourselves.

So I asked about standing as a local councillor once

They told me that unless you join a party, you're fucked. Independents will just waste their deposit.

You can only get elected if you agree to join the Tories, Labour or LibDems. Then once you're in, there's no deviation from the party line, even if you disagree.

Why can't there be a party for people who hate greedy corporations. bankers AND loony lefties?

It's not much to ask is it?

Posted 1 year ago #
Sinnick

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As with a few of the other regulars, I'm a school governor. I do it because I want to help every child get the most out of the school. I do it for free, and I put a lot into it.

If central & devolved government were managed with a much lower salary, you'd get the right people doing it, and these crap politicians wouldn't be able to get a job in the real world.

Posted 1 year ago #
Ironduke

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I'm a school gov too..I'd seen a few others were too from a previous thread.

I find it very satisfying, but a lot of work and I certainly couldn't do it full time, and really only able to put in what I do because I don't mind committing majority of free time to it. I do also think that a 'holier-than-thou' spirit exists, and unfortunately it is very hard to criticise a volunteer's performance.

I think the current sitution of trying to attract the best brains but paying a (relatively) low salary to people who are otherwise capable of being very high-fliers means that either you get independently wealthy nerks or people to whom power is so important that they will sacrifice all else in its pursuit.

Neither group particularly attractive.

Posted 1 year ago #
Vertically Challenged Giant

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ronseal, that's quite depressing. Isn't it somehow anti-competitive behaviour? Could we refer the major political parties to the oft?

Posted 1 year ago #
fernandomando

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I have been involved in trials of corrupt councillors who changed their political party in accordance with the prevailing wind. Nothing wrong with that, but there is something wrong with defrauding the returning officer and downloading indecent images of children.

Politicians at the moment realise that we are all screwed. That is why BBC programmes are now all about entrepreneurs (dragon's den) and training for the British Army (Sandhurst). Once it was all about working class toil in factories, then property programmes. Soon relocation relocation will be replaced with isolation isolation, which will be about how best to put up defensive trade barriers for your business and nation. Then might come invasion invasion and devastation devastation. And then it will all start again.

Posted 1 year ago #
Ironduke

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I do believe Winston Churchill went from Conservative to Liberal and back again... on the interpretation, he was essentially an independent and wanted to do his own thing without party restriction...from another angle, he was a power hungry megalomaniac who would compromise his principles just to get elected.

I actually think more of the former for Churchill, but far too many politicians are the latter.

Posted 1 year ago #
writinginbsl

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how about legal, decent honest and truthful?

hmm..sounds familiar...

Posted 1 year ago #
John Ffitch-Rucker

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Someone cares...
http://bill4dogcatcher.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/dear-america-about-the-1-53-99-class-warfare-occupy-wall-street-and/

Posted 1 year ago #
thisisall1word

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I think that there are plenty of decent politicians out there, but they might not be getting massive headlines in national papers but quietly going about the business of helping their constituents rather than doing more wide reaching work like Mo Mowlem (complete hero).
I though that Tom Watson and Chris Bryant did more good than bad during the phone hacking trials.

And Baroness Floella Benjamin is awesome awesome awesome.

Posted 1 year ago #
JohnA

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One of those rare occasions where I completely agree with Jeni B.

I cannot see that John Smith would have joined in the war in Iraq.

Posted 1 year ago #
SpankyMonkey

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He was probably a bit too fat to fit in a tank, probably.

Posted 1 year ago #
Ironduke

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Is this like the Battle of Britain, two probables equals one confirmed?

Posted 1 year ago #

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