Comments on: Christmas fun

By: John B Dick

John B Dick — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:20:10 +0000

David P

“I reiterate Europe is an issue no government can ignore.”

That is self evidently true, and few would argue that the EU is not beyond improvement, but what we are about here is gleaning information from polling data. Europe is, for most voters, well down the list of voters concerns and as the effects of the recession are felt and the causes and consequences for many and varied aspects of government policy become clearer, so will Europe become even more peripheral to voters and press coverage in the period from now to the election.

By: david p

david p — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:45:35 +0000

The trouble with major was that he had flawed judgement. He stuck with the disastrous ERM to the bitter end. If the speculators hasn’t thrown us out god knows what would have happened to the economy.He pushed through Maastrict knowing it would split the party, so he was the author of his own misfortunes there.
Quoting Edward heath, a walking disaster area as PM is unhelpful. I reiterate Europe is an issue no government can ignore.

By: John B Dick

John B Dick — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:48:04 +0000

There are fundamentalists in all parts of the political spectrum but it is a fact that constitutional matters related to Europe rank much lower in any listing of public concerns than you would think from reading scaremongering press stories about straight bananas.

Within the Conservative party too there are many other priorities, and towards the end of John Major’s government the right’s equivalent of Militant Tendency did him no favours. John Major has been judged a failure because he happened to be the party leader when a run of Conservative governments came to an end.

His achievements have been forgotten, but nobody could have been more successful than he was given the circumstances and party he had to deal with. In less than a year he persuaded the electorate that he was not Mrs T and decent man who woud do his best for the country as a whole and they gave him a chance to the surprise of many but in the end the Euroseptics (as Edward Heath called them) and English Nationalists were more than he could deal with.

In a more proportional system, UKIP (and BNP) could get the representation they are due according to their share of public support and the Conservatives could form a government without internal radicals unwilling to accept (as does the Labour left) that they are not in a majority within the party

Whatever happened to the Primrose League?

By: not whipable

not whipable — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 14:54:00 +0000

somehow on scotland i managed to get 16 -15 0 0 100 values just t say might be a wee bug

By: david p

david p — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 23:10:54 +0000

John R Dick.

I don’t like this talk of EU obsessives as if it was some fringe issue like esperanto of the height of office blocks. The EU touches on all issues of governance, Immigration, employment ,law and order , foreign and judicial policy. Not to mention the country’s future. Any politician not occupied with it is asleep at the wheel. It is something a Cameron government will have to wrestle with whether they like it or not.