More Farage wisdom

[vetran]

The European council elects him, and must consider the opinion of the European parliament. The European council is made up of the heads of government of EU states, as elected by their respective parliaments which were elected by the public of EU states.

I think the point he is trying to make is that Jose is not directly elected by the people but an appointee, we can choose (to a certain extent) the interview panel but not the applicants.

I'm mostly in agreement except for the bit in bold. UKIP don't offer a credible (or perhaps I should say attractive). I'm all in favour of leaving the EU, but UKIP stand for other tings as well - this weird 1950's pastiche of a socially conservative Britain with a probable wiping out of worker protections as well.

UKIP did seem credible last night according to the vote. Now you might not like that but as someone said yesterday the voting public don't all agree with us, otherwise B'liar would never have got near number 10.

Most people are offended by not being consulted on 'an ever closer union' its not what they agreed to. Many people see open door immigration as a bad thing. Many people see government work going to German & French companies in preference to UK companies as a bad thing.

I suspect UKIP is the only party that is trusted to give a referendum. Now the thing they can do to sort all of this out is to propose a fair referendum from all parties not a pledge that is reneged on.

[Mich the Tester]

I disagree. A head of government who commands the confidence of the House of Parliament is a reasonably democratic way of going about things. It would be no good if they didn't command the confidence because how could they pass a Budget?

But as we have decided that the appointment of Barroso is too indirect to be democratic, we should definitely reform the way our head of state gains and holds office.

I'm not going to sit here arguing the case for Barroso; he is elected indirectly, but as you say it's very indirect.

Besides, I'm bored of all this tulipe. If Brits want to leave the EU, go ahead; I can hedge my bets with dual citizenship anyway.

[MicrosoftBob]

Sometimes I wish I was sasguru! Did I say he said 'black or yellow or brown immigration', he actually said 'I fear there is going to be a very big migratory wave from the Mediterranean...' which although I suspect he only means the European countries it could also mean all those North African countries along with Far Eastern and some East European but he did specifically say 'white working class' so what about the 'black working class' or won't they be affected by this wave of immigration? Or is that white working class are tradesmen and black working class are office cleaners and bus drivers? I think he needs to clarify what he means by that?

So you didn't say "Imagine if he had said black or yellow or brown? What he should have done is used the word British, he's just showing his bigotry towards those who don't fit his ideal... "

[Old Greg]

True, we are a constitutional monarchy not a democracy

So as UKIP are for democracy, why don't they want an elected head of state for the UK. We can call them king or queen of we like and the current Queen can stand.

[vetran]

I agree. Can we get rid of the Queen on the same basis please?

build political support for her being removed put it to a vote preferably a referendum and yes I'm sure we can. Not sure if you will be able to nationalise her assets so you can flog them off to your mates though.

[Gittins Gal]

Well then it's up to the public to vote in the referenda, and if they really don't want something they can repeatedly vote against it. or do you somehow run out of 'no's or 'yes's after you've dealt them out? Were you given a limited collection of affirmatives and negatives at birth and told to be parsimonious in using them?

Honestly, this is really quite simple. It's a stupid repetitive process, but it's not difficult for the public to say 'no' some theoretically unlimited number of times.

Well what do you think happened in Ireland after the no vote? The organs of the state and the media went into overdrive no doubt using no end of spin to ensure they got the vote they wanted.

And, turning your point on the head, funny they wouldn't be keen on repeating the 1975 referendum isn't it?

[MicrosoftBob]

So as UKIP are for democracy, why don't they want an elected head of state for the UK. We can call them king or queen of we like and the current Queen can stand.

I don't know, it's an anomaly, we need some kind of upper house for checks and balances but don't really need a monarch.

[Old Greg]

build political support for her being removed put it to a vote preferably a referendum and yes I'm sure we can. Not sure if you will be able to nationalise her assets so you can flog them off to your mates though.

Do you want democracy or not?

[Mich the Tester]

I

Many people see government work going to German & French companies in preference to UK companies as a bad thing.

It's called 'trade'; it's what made Britain rich. If you're good at something, sell it to the world, if you're tulip at something, buy it from the world. Just make sure you're good at enough things to keep you head above water. Or would you prefer 70's style protectionism?

[Gittins Gal]

So as UKIP are for democracy, why don't they want an elected head of state for the UK. We can call them king or queen of we like and the current Queen can stand.

In theory, I don't mind the idea of that.

Problem is with our current system we'd end up with a choice between whoever the Tories put up and whoever Labour put up. And I'm sure they'd both be completely ghastly. Assuming we'd continue in the tradition of politically motivated celebs running for president we could end up with a choice between Phil Collins and Mick Hucknall.

I think I'll stick with the Queen for now thank you.