The UK Politics and EU Referendum thread - merged

[titaniumbean]

IRA and ETA isn't it?

[TightEnd]

Has Cameron stated whether Tory MP's will be allowed a free vote? If he has I might have missed it.

whipped

in 2013 there were 30 rebels voting against

[titaniumbean]

The case for and against British air strikes on Syrian territory http://econ.st/1Ik2lz4 

Click to see full-size image.

ISIL doesn't equal the sum total of terrorism though.

Why are we not talking about bombing boko harem?

[ripple11]

Not Dave Shoelace's question of the day

The Shadow Chancellor in a speech yesterday described UKIP as "an evil influence on our society" is he right?

whether he is right or not what should mainstream parties do to win back the 3.88m votes UKIP won in May 2015?

thats two questions.

lol...great timing. He obviously a Fred follower and backed UKIP at a decent price.

 

[Doobs]

The case for and against British air strikes on Syrian territory http://econ.st/1Ik2lz4 

Click to see full-size image.

ISIL doesn't equal the sum total of terrorism though.

Why are we not talking about bombing boko harem?

Presumably we have nothing against those that believe Western education is a place full of wives, concubines and female servants?

[neeko]

The timing of the debate is going to be interesting, labour want it after the by election on Thursday (Oldham), the tories want it before, anything else said is politics to hide this.

Labour had a 15k majority but following the death of Michael Meecher, today it is a marginal, UKIP are in second but if Jeremy Corbyn is front page news being weak in the face of terrorism, in that day's papers then that could swing it. (Let's ignore UKIP are prob against bombing as they don't believe in foreign wars much anyway)

[DaveShoelace]

Question of the day

Heard someone suggest that there should be a short knowledge test before voting. If you answer all the questions correctly, your vote counts for more because you have a more informed opinion. So as an example, maybe if the general knowledge test was today, perhaps a question could be 'who is the President of Syria?'. Even if it meant that people would try and game the system by studying just before voting, it would have the desired effect, because they would indeed have a more informed vote.

What do you think of this idea?

[horseplayer]

Question of the day

Heard someone suggest that there should be a short knowledge test before voting. If you answer all the questions correctly, your vote counts for more because you have a more informed opinion. So as an example, maybe if the general knowledge test was today, perhaps a question could be 'who is the President of Syria?'. Even if it meant that people would try and game the system by studying just before voting, it would have the desired effect, because they would indeed have a more informed vote.

What do you think of this idea?

Not a lot tbh

Where is the study coming from? Daily Mail front pages?

[titaniumbean]

I fancy this bloke. A lot, like a lot a lot.


https://www.opendemocracy.net/wfd/jacob-appelbaum/more-not-less-democracy


Embedded video -

[RED-DOG]

Question of the day

Heard someone suggest that there should be a short knowledge test before voting. If you answer all the questions correctly, your vote counts for more because you have a more informed opinion. So as an example, maybe if the general knowledge test was today, perhaps a question could be 'who is the President of Syria?'. Even if it meant that people would try and game the system by studying just before voting, it would have the desired effect, because they would indeed have a more informed vote.

What do you think of this idea?

The questions for the test would be impossible to set without introducing a bias. You would have to explain who the President of Syria was and what the impact of his actions and intentions are.


Knowing the name of the President of Syria wouldn't mean you had a more informed opinion about politics any more than knowing the name of the CEO of Ryanair would mean you had a more informed opinion about aircraft safety.

[DaveShoelace]

Question of the day

Heard someone suggest that there should be a short knowledge test before voting. If you answer all the questions correctly, your vote counts for more because you have a more informed opinion. So as an example, maybe if the general knowledge test was today, perhaps a question could be 'who is the President of Syria?'. Even if it meant that people would try and game the system by studying just before voting, it would have the desired effect, because they would indeed have a more informed vote.

What do you think of this idea?

Not a lot tbh

Where is the study coming from? Daily Mail front pages?

There wasn't a study, it was just an idea someone suggested in an interview. I don't actually agree with it myself, but thought it was an interesting discussion topic.

Why do you not think a lot of the idea?

[Jon MW]

Question of the day

Heard someone suggest that there should be a short knowledge test before voting. If you answer all the questions correctly, your vote counts for more because you have a more informed opinion. So as an example, maybe if the general knowledge test was today, perhaps a question could be 'who is the President of Syria?'. Even if it meant that people would try and game the system by studying just before voting, it would have the desired effect, because they would indeed have a more informed vote.

What do you think of this idea?

Not a lot tbh

Where is the study coming from? Daily Mail front pages?

There wasn't a study, it was just an idea someone suggested in an interview. I don't actually agree with it myself, but thought it was an interesting discussion topic.

Why do you not think a lot of the idea?

To put it another way - given the clear levels of ignorance and stupidity in a lot of the general population - why is democracy a good thing?

[titaniumbean]

What Jon said.


Scientific method  >  capitalist principles for democracy.

[Doobs]

I think I have just seen one of my favourite newspaper headlines ever

Front page of metro

"Corbyn's free vote puts UK on brink of war"

War mongering bastard.

[TightEnd]

I think I have just seen one of my favourite newspaper headlines ever

Front page of metro

"Corbyn's free vote puts UK on brink of war"

War mongering bastard.

it does seem a bit daft

the default of the media seems to be

we are going to war - corbyn's fault

we aren't going to war - corbyn's fault

i know the corollary of a labour free vote is that it is more likely that the vote passes, but he'd sure be pilloried if he whipped it and the vote failed