NationStates Jolt Archive

btw, this isn't about football. I just couldn't think of a better title.

Surprise greeted me this morning when I looked at the paper. UKIP seem to have done far better than anyone expected taking 18% of the vote share pushing the Lib-Dems into fourth place (with 15%). Concervatives seem to be going through a revival period as there vote share was well above Labours (28% Con, 21% Lab). As a side note, this is the first election in 75 years where the top two parties fell below 25% (the last time this happened was the 'khaki' election in 1918). So it could be the beginning of the fall of the two-party state in Britain.

Something to be happy about is that turn out was surprisingly high (38.9%), which may not seem much but it was higher than expected and about 10% higher than the average of the new EU countries, but it was lower than the 25-state average of 44.6%.

Polly Toynbee (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/elections2004/comment/0,14549,1238299,00.html)is disappointed (still deciding if this is good or bad) about the results because of the potentially harmful effects it could have on our place in Europe.

I am disappointed as the party I voted for failed to get one seat. But I am sure I'll live to fight another day.

it's a shame that Euro voting isn't compulsory or else you would be seeing the Eurosceptics getting close to a majority of the vote. instead they just didn't vote.

many of the governments in europe have gone against the wishes of their people and this is the response.

once blair is gone the UK will more than likely pull out altogether. It's not as if they french/german style of socialism is the british way anyway...

Am I the only left of centre pro european left in the UK? Whatever happened to working together with our neighbors and allies to improve diplimatic, cultural, and democratic relations? Remember, an EU nation has never been to war with another EU nation. This has been the case ever since the Union was founded and will continue to be the case for as long as it remains.

Am I the only left of centre pro european left in the UK? Whatever happened to working together with our neighbors and allies to improve diplimatic, cultural, and democratic relations? Remember, an EU nation has never been to war with another EU nation. This has been the case ever since the Union was founded and will continue to be the case for as long as it remains.

give it time :wink:

you can be sure that there will be some kind of confrontation if the elitist national leaders continue to force the EU down the throats of the common people.

this brotherly sentiment is all well and good but it doesn't put food on the table and it doesn't protect countries from the whims of others.

Well, Berlusconi has a confrontion on his name. I think most people in Europe don't really know what's happening in Brussel. They just aren't interested.

Am I the only left of centre pro european left in the UK? Whatever happened to working together with our neighbors and allies to improve diplimatic, cultural, and democratic relations? Remember, an EU nation has never been to war with another EU nation. This has been the case ever since the Union was founded and will continue to be the case for as long as it remains.

No, there are still some of us left -- judging by the name I'd say we were more common north of the Border, though.

once blair is gone the UK will more than likely pull out altogether. It's not as if they french/german style of socialism is the british way anyway...

:D Ah, the painful aftereffects of last night's football linger on (my ribs are still sore). Seriously, though, there is no way that the UK's business community would stand for withdrawal from the EU. Most of the pro-European pressure in the UK is from businesses keen to drop the pound, get into the Euro-zone and stop having to give their banks huge chunks of cash just for pressing two buttons every time they sell anything to their major customers.

BTW, what do you mean by "the British way"? Given that both Wales and Scotland voted for Michael Foot in 1979, and continued to vote Labour in ever-increasing numbers right through the Thatcher years, it seems unlikely that "the British way" exists.

I'm still very much in two minds about whether Britain should join or not, partly for selfish reasons but also partly because I think Britain is still an important link to America and we shouldn't pledge ourselves to one power or another quite yet. I do realize that eventually, however, we will have to join the EU.
As for Blair - get out.

BTW, what do you mean by "the British way"? Given that both Wales and Scotland voted for Michael Foot in 1979, and continued to vote Labour in ever-increasing numbers right through the Thatcher years, it seems unlikely that "the British way" exists.

well considering that scotland has a population of 5million (and gets more seats per capita than england), and wales has 2million people (and also gets more seats per capita) in political sense britain = england. (my folks will hate me for saying that)

scotland and wales are labour heartlands but together they only amount to 7million hardly enough to change the "british way."

I am the people's republic of Themostcooled and I think this 'Euro' idea STINKS!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm still very much in two minds about whether Britain should join or not, partly for selfish reasons but also partly because I think Britain is still an important link to America and we shouldn't pledge ourselves to one power or another quite yet. I do realize that eventually, however, we will have to join the EU.
As for Blair - get out.

You do realize that Britain already *is* part of the Eu, don't you? That was a joke, right? :shock:

BTW, what do you mean by "the British way"? Given that both Wales and Scotland voted for Michael Foot in 1979, and continued to vote Labour in ever-increasing numbers right through the Thatcher years, it seems unlikely that "the British way" exists.

well considering that scotland has a population of 5million (and gets more seats per capita than england), and wales has 2million people (and also gets more seats per capita) in political sense britain = england. (my folks will hate me for saying that)

scotland and wales are labour heartlands but together they only amount to 7million hardly enough to change the "british way."

That's arguable, true, although in fairness it might be better just to talk about "the English way", since there seems to be such a noticeable divide along national boundaries. But then you'd get the Scots and Welsh complaining about that, too. :)