Politicians....don't you just love 'em

[newcastle]

I've always been a cynic....especially when it comes to politics.

The Labour party promising goodies for all....without a thought to the penal taxation or mountainous debt that would be the likely consequence. Or maybe they really do believe there's enough waste in the system which can be trimmed. Still. you can fool all of the people some of the time. And if that time happens to be a General Election.....

Or you can support the Conservative "free market" approach. But it seems they get cold feet at the likelihood of other airlines benefiting from the demise of Monarch by hiking their prices (unlike Monarch's planes, the share prices of Egyptair & Ryanair have already taken off). That wouldn't go down too well with Joe public and the government has "warned" other airlines against taking advantage.


A pox on both their houses.

[Major Thom]

They always say Newc. A politician lies when you see his or her mouth move. They are a law to their own.

[newcastle]

Amazing scenes at the Conservative Party Conference.

Whatever your political affiliation, you have to feel sorry for Teresa May struggling with a persistent cough whilst the cameras relayed the letters of the Conservative slogan slowly dropping off, one by one, behind her.

Heaven knows what our American cousins thought of the security arrangements. They're used to seeing POTUS surrounded by a veritable army of secret service goons, armed to the teeth. A would be assailant wouldn't get within spitting distance.

May , on the other hand, was approached by some loony armed with a sheet of paper...and he went on to confront most of the cabinet.

Admittedly, there's nothing lethal about a sheet of paper but what if he'd been an exponent of the Vulcan death grip?

Amber Rudd could have been consigned to oblivion!

There's no justice

[LuxorFan]

Wanna swap our president for your PM?

[Zooropa]

Wanna swap our president for your PM?

YES!

[Zooropa]

Whatever people may think of Trump and personally i'm ambivalent, he wont/does not fiddle about at the margins.

All the great leaders in History have been reformers and all the crap ones establishment "carry on as we are" merchants.

Id rather Trump than "i may or may not implement the will of the people" May.


I will take Sh1t or bust over same old same old everytime.

[Hafiz]

Most western parties face the same problem at the moment.

The left parties with vaguely socialist policies no longer believe socialism works but don't have any economic growth ideas. As a movement their working class has disappeared and their theories don't, and never, worked. For the hard right their strong capitalism delivers growth but only to a few and at big social cost and with social disruption.

The so-called Blair 'middle way' between the two has been discredited.

Particularly in Europe, and especially France the old right and left have collapsed and new, and entirely untried, parties have emerged with either mad or vague policies. In the US the middle ground seems to no longer exist.

I think its also true that the West has never had such a hopeless lot of foolish leaders for generations and maybe this makes Merkel look so good.

It might be true that Trump is no statesman, but that ignores that the alternative Clinton was very far from a strong contender and had a background in alleged corruption and sucking up to vested interests which disenthused many.She had a campaign budget many times larger than Trump and a volunteer campaign workforce which was multiples the size of Trumps- but still failed to beat a Republican that many of his own party members were disgusted by. I think her full failure has been unexplored and that the real story is that the fact that these were the two choices shows that US politics is rotten.

Unlike the 60's the young seem uninterested in politics - but like the 60's they seem to hate politicians. As they get older this could become a big issue.

The next decade should be interesting - as both the left and right try to develop new philosophies to adapt to the new social and economic circumstances, build their membership and win more votes. Maybe they will fail and we will see new political parties emerge. For example the 1920's saw the disappearance from UK politics of the once powerful Liberal Party because it was no longer relevant.

In Australia the average age of the declining membership of our conservative party is over 70. That tells you all you need to know about its relevance and appeal. It is also relevant that union membership in the West has collapsed, particularly with young people, in the last 30 years. These institutions no longer appeal and their ideas don't either.

[newcastle]

Wanna swap our president for your PM?

He might have something interesting you teach us about Britain.

phpBB [video]

[carrie]

Gosh an island surrounded by water must remember that, never heard of one before

[Mad Dilys]

Is it just me or does Trump speak and behave like an outsize primary school student?

[Major Thom]

No you are right MD, supported by 35 million dollars from the Rifle Club and a woman at his side that resembles a shop manikin. What ever he talks about is written down in front to him, "so it is" "so it is".

He is completely oblivious to the rest of the world, nothing will make him even resemble a statesman, states things that he knows will be unacceptable, then becomes a bully when they are not accepted. Does not even seem to be able to find a builder capable of building walls, or a hairdresser to jump into the same nest that is made from twigs and many cans of lacquer. Have to admit though this is the first leader to talk tough and then lay down and act like he's asleep when the going gets tough. The first Western leader to be a racist, the first western leader to lie through his ceramic teeth, the first western leader that get ignored by the rest of the world and will continue to be for the next 3.5 years, the first western leader to make the US look Dim, (Listen to his followers) The first western leader who thinks repeating everything he says is being tough.