I doubt the DUP would look to take any lead on social affairs in such a scenario, despite their medieval views. They’ll be all about cash for the North.
Still shopping in tesco and supporting Liverpool then?
I wonder would the Tories be fucked if Labour had a stronger leader, or is Ed’s blandness a blessing in disguise?
Gerry Kelly is 4/1 to unseat Nigel Dodds in North Belfast. I think he might just about fall short but fuck me it would be tremendous fun if it happened.
If Alan Johnson was the leader, labour would do better.
They won’t want to take the lead but it won’t stop bigots making comments from time to time. Views that are unchallenged at the moment might be scandalous if exposed to a wider audience.
There are plenty of bigots and weirdos on the mainland as well, Rocko.
[QUOTE=“flattythehurdler, post: 1135426, member: 1170”]I’d agree with that @Rocko , though I hope not.
One of the fundamental flaws of a party based democracy is that a disproportionate minority can hold the balance of power and wield undue influence.
.[/QUOTE]
thought that would have been harder to achieve with Uk’s first past the post as opposed to proportional representation?..
But they’re both party based democracies.
I heard on the radio this morning that the unemployment rate in the UK is around 5%?
That must be near to full employment? I was surprised because you hear so much about the benefits culture in UK.
I know that but wouldn’t FPTP favour the established parties and reduce influence of minor parties?..
[QUOTE=“TreatyStones, post: 1135463, member: 1786”]I heard on the radio this morning that the unemployment rate in the UK is around 5%?
That must be near to full employment? I was surprised because you hear so much about the benefits culture in UK.[/QUOTE]
You’re correct pal. Very interesting. As of December 2014:
UK 5.5%
USA 5.6%
Germany 4.9%
A fair bit of that will be massaged by zero hours contracts, part time work etc.
It’s surprising really that the sense of recession seems to have receded as the uk is still borrowing hand over fist, and hasn’t even started to pay anything back yet.
[QUOTE=“flattythehurdler, post: 1135471, member: 1170”]A fair bit of that will be massaged by zero hours contracts, part time work etc.
It’s surprising really that the sense of recession seems to have receded as the uk is still borrowing hand over fist, and hasn’t even started to pay anything back yet.[/QUOTE]
http://www.theguardian.com/business/ng-interactive/2015/apr/29/the-austerity-delusion
It is impossible for countries such as the US and the UK, which borrow in their own currencies, to experience Greek-style crises, because they cannot run out of money – they can always print more.
The Guardian. Riiiiight.
That worked well for Germany.
[QUOTE=“flattythehurdler, post: 1135471, member: 1170”]A fair bit of that will be massaged by zero hours contracts, part time work etc.
It’s surprising really that the sense of recession seems to have receded as the uk is still borrowing hand over fist, and hasn’t even started to pay anything back yet.[/QUOTE]
Zero hours is only 2% of the workforce, you’d swear it was 22%.
This mornings polls show the main parties pretty level with if anything a slight switch to labour. It really is going to come down to how many UKipers swich to the Tories at the last minute.,
Between zero hours, and part time etc, it probably makes at least 5%, which significantly skews the 5% headline figure though.
But you can’t discount part time work. An lot of people on part time work are perfectly happy with and only want to work limited hours.
2% is still a total disgrace.