Reply to: 'British Democracy Is a Farce'

[Addanc]

Wiki on the subject

Looks good, do you think the LibLabCon will sign-up to this?

[Sysman]

Don't the Swiss have some sort of blocking referenda mechanism; sounds like a good way of keeping the politicos in check.

Wiki on the subject

The possibility of facultative referendums forces the parliament to search for a compromise between the major interest groups. In many cases, the mere threat of a facultative referendum or of an initiative is enough to make the parliament adjust a law.

[minestrone]

British democracy is an a la carte kebab. We never invented it but we made it work, now we seem to be on a mission to destroy that.

I have 3 councilors, an MSP, an MP and a MEP, three parliaments, Scots law, UK law and European law and these people are more obsessed with each day informing me what I can and cannot do. The SNP are now pushing through an 'offended law' where they admit singing God Save the Queen in certain circumstances will get you arrested. Madness I tell ye. It was all working out quite well until we let people who invent laws for a living in charge.

[Addanc]

However, be that as it may, whilst our method of administering Democracy is unlikely ever to please everyone, it is about as representative as can be feasibly obtained.

Don't the Swiss have some sort of blocking referenda mechanism; sounds like a good way of keeping the politicos in check.

[Sysman]

Britain and the Allies imposed a democratic system in Germany after WWII that was considered too democratic to use in the UK. The hope was that by Germany being too democratic; it would cause chaos and disrupt industry. The opposite was proven

According to the Michael Moore film I watched last night, Capitalism: A Love Story, they also gave unions representation on German company boards and allowed unions in Japan.

That went according to plan too

[minestrone]

I hardly think the Bosch are in any position to question the "Democracy in Action" of any other nation, not with their track record.

They have just got these Siemens trains on our line, I am prepared to forgive the company now.

The Germans can ram it as far as I am concerned. They have to live under a constitution written for them by us. Lectures from Germans on democracy? We had to shoot our way to Berlin to give them it.

[Sysman]

Besides, why are the Germans so concerned about British politics? We sure as hell don't care what goes on over there.

It's the same right across Europe. They take more interest in UK politics than the UK takes in theirs. The UK is the odd man out in being so insular.

[Sysman]

Ive been having this weird idea lately that we might get democracy in the next few decades (as opposed to representative democracy) due to the power of the interweb.

How hard could it be to set up a list of policy areas and to register the number of votes

Look up Diebold voting machines

[Sysman]

I'm sure you know your history but Windsor was a name created after the World War 1 when the names "Saxe-Coburg-Gotha" and "von Wettin" simply weren't working for the people of the Britain and the British Empire.


But then again lots of people don't get on with their relations.

Wiki linky

he House of Windsor is the current royal house of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V by royal proclamation on the 17 July 1917, when he changed the name of his family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor, due to the anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during World War I.

...

Upon hearing that his cousin had changed the name of the British royal house to Windsor, German Emperor Wilhelm II remarked jokingly that he planned to see Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

On Prince Philip's side:

Also in 1917 Prince Louis of Battenberg adopted the surname Mountbatten, a partial translation into English. Prince Louis is the maternal grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

[Paddy]

If phone hacking and police bribes are the worst things to happen to British Democracy then I think we are OK.

Besides, why are the Germans so concerned about British politics? We sure as hell don't care what goes on over there.

Britain and the Allies imposed a democratic system in Germany after WWII that was considered too democratic to use in the UK. The hope was that by Germany being too democratic; it would cause chaos and disrupt industry. The opposite was proven

[scooterscot]

Every now and again we go sailing the subject of democracy comes up over dinner once we're berthed up for the night. At no other time, strange that, perhaps because we're away from everyone else. I don't know.

What we all agree governments start wars, people do not. Democracy works, yes, but our governments rarely do.

[EternalOptimist]

Ive been having this weird idea lately that we might get democracy in the next few decades (as opposed to representative democracy) due to the power of the interweb.

How hard could it be to set up a list of policy areas and to register the number of votes ?



just think, no more politicians. just pressure groups, pr firms and 'opinion makers'

[shaunbhoy]

I supported the protesting for the UK not to go war with Iraq way back. Don't think one person in Scotland wanted that war in their name. What is democratic about that?

I suspect that with that bold statement, you would be miles from the truth.
However, be that as it may, whilst our method of administering Democracy is unlikely ever to please everyone, it is about as representative as can be feasibly obtained.
Certainly no worse than the German model, and without some of the wild transitions that have so marred them historically.
As long as they exhibit a trait, every few decades/generations, to embark on pointless military escapades during which millions of them are killed (arguably to the benefit of the world at large), they are in no position to disparagingly point their chubby
cabbage-munching fingers at anyone.

[scooterscot]

I hardly think the Bosch are in any position to question the "Democracy in Action" of any other nation, not with their track record.

I supported the protesting for the UK not to go war with Iraq way back. Don't think one person in Scotland wanted that war in their name. What is democratic about that?

[EternalOptimist]

Many of the Germans in my office make a better Brit than me with their poster mugs and knowledge of the royal family.

yeah but I wear jackboots and have a little moustache and a swaztica tatooed on my bum, but that hardly makes me a nazi does it ?