UKIP Vs Good Old fashioned self interest

[SpontaneousOrder]

You asserted that 99.9% of CUK members were raving socialists and wannabe despots. I pointed out that that would amount to 17000 members of CUK who you describe as being raving socialists and wannabe despots.

I then suggested that you couldn't find 100 members out of those 17000. You took that to mean "list 100 members". I apologise for your not being able to understand that when I said
you thought I meant "list 100 people who are members of CUK" rather than from the list of raving socialists and wannabe despots on CUK.

So, I'll reword it...

Based on your figure of 99.9% of CUK members being raving socialists and wannabe despots, can you name 100 posters who meet that description?

100 posters would be a mere 0.5% of the CUK membership, so it should be dead easy for you to identify 100 posters who are raving socialists and wannabe despots.

I'm not gonna write down 100 names that I can't copy/paste! And as you know the very vast majority of those 17000 users aren't active anymore, so it doesn't really make sense to say 99.9% out of them all (hence why I thought you meant name 100 users generally).

But anyway... of everyone that posts more than once a month, I'd identify a very small handful - probably could count on one hand - that i wouldn't put in that category. 99.9% was chosen as a number for Spelling Bee's benefit, although I would put the number in the high nineties, and would speculate that given a broader view it would be in the high nineties. The comment shouldn't be taken too literally though - hence the unreasonable level of precision which is obviously more figurative than literal.

Some people just have different thresholds for classifying socialism & despotism though.

[Mich the Tester]

You can suggest it, but as a miner's son it's unlikely I'll ever vote for the Tories. I think the coalition has somewhat tempered their excesses though - it's such a shame that we didn't get proportional representation.

Anyway, I doubt Cameron will get very far with his 'renegotiation' but a high UKIP result in this election would give him a lot more ammunition to try it with.

Hmmmm, no, I negotiate with Germans, Dutch people, Belgians and so on quite a lot; I don't think this will give him more ammunition because that's not what they take seriously; if anything an implicit threat to walk away makes it more difficult for him as they think 'well you're not hanging around anyway'. Happily they will probably take David Cameron himself seriously, because he's actually held in quite high regard on this side of the North Sea and seen, rightly or wrongly, as a moderate, rational guy.

[MicrosoftBob]

can I suggest voting Conservative?

Vote UKIP!

[Smartie]

Moderate or misunderstood?

...and seen, rightly or wrongly, as a moderate, rational guy.

And this is the other reason that UKIP is doing well - people are completely fed up with politicians who simply trot out the usual party lines, never give a straight answer and have no convictions or at least none they're prepared to explain and defend. All the major parties are doing it and it demeans politics and destroys engagement with the political process by the people. "Hard working families" anyone?

[Mich the Tester]

And this is the other reason that UKIP is doing well - people are completely fed up with politicians who simply trot out the usual party lines, never give a straight answer and have no convictions or at least none they're prepared to explain and defend. All the major parties are doing it and it demeans politics and destroys engagement with the political process by the people. "Hard working families" anyone?

Yep, but I think the central theme is that they're doing well because the rest aren't. I don't actually hear any straight answers from UKIP on important questions either, such as access to the single market; lots of vague harrumphing and grandstanding about 'they'll still want to trade with us because we're big and important' and 'maybe' we can get a deal like Norway or Switzerland despite not having huge oil reserves or being right in the middle of Europe's biggest internal trade routes.

You're right about the behaviour of the major parties. Personally I think the answer is to look a bit less at the parties and look more at the individuals you can vote for at an election; you might find that someone from a different party to your natural choice is actually a more suitable person to represent you. Both the British system of constituency voting and the Dutch system of national PR voting have succumbed to a problem of people voting for a party and then finding that they're being governed by policies they don't feel they voted for and I think that's because these huge political machines we call 'parties' are dominating the action. I'd like to see either more independent candidates doing well, or more independently minded candidates who will go against their party line, but for that to happen, we all have to actually take the time to find out about the candidates themselves and not just the party manifesto.

[darmstadt]

which year so we have context?

Mid 80's

[petergriffin]

Mid 80's

£5.50 a/h was shed loadsa money back then.

And to be fair council estates were far better back then and almost ok to live even if you weren't poor.

[darmstadt]

Only this morning my daughter missed her bus for school because it did not turn up. The problem was that an EU law has just been implemented restricting the number of children that can be carried on a bus. Instead the bus company have to use 2 buses and the driver of one of them did not turn up. I have submitted a CV of a Bulgarian driver so this EU thing is not so bad after all.

What law would this be then? One to make sure that your daughter is safe on the bus such as seatbelts:

New regulations which came into force in September 2006 as a result of an EU Directive changed the rules for buses and coaches by requiring that seat belts or child restraints must be used by seated occupants aged three years and above in all moving buses and coaches where they are available.

Or was it the 3-2 rule where 3 children could sit on seating for 2 adults which is not an EU law: Abolition of 3-for-2 and standing on school buses | Department of Education Northern Ireland. Inquiring minds want to know or are you just bulltulipting in order to blame the EU? Maybe you should be blaming the bus company for not ensuring that they have enough staff....

[TheFaQQer]

But anyway... of everyone that posts more than once a month, I'd identify a very small handful - probably could count on one hand - that i wouldn't put in that category.
...
Some people just have different thresholds for classifying socialism & despotism though.

I'll agree with the last part

I honestly don't see CUK as a hive of socialism, it must be said.

[Smartie]

What law would this be then? One to make sure that your daughter is safe on the bus such as seatbelts:

New regulations which came into force in September 2006 as a result of an EU Directive changed the rules for buses and coaches by requiring that seat belts or child restraints must be used by seated occupants aged three years and above in all moving buses and coaches where they are available.

That's funny 'cos my young niece missed out on a school trip in France because she refused to get on a bus without seatbelts supplied by the French school. Think "where they are available" applies here. That and the French take less notice of the regulations.