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Percentages
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In today’s Sun http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4896953/Tories-want-change-to-strike-laws.html Boris Johnson says, "The idea that a strike can be called by a majority of those that vote, rather than a majority of all those balloted, is farcical…I'd urge the Government to act with some Thatcherite zeal and at the very least legislate against strikes supported by less than half of all union members." (Note the band-wagon reference to Thatcher.)
A reasonable idea one might think, at least until one grasps that Johnson himself became London Mayor in 2012 when the turnout was only 38% of the capital’s electorate!
Apart from the usual Tory “one rule for us and another rule for them” policy, what conceivable grounds can there be for supporting his view or considering it any less farcical? Surely what's good for the Tory goose should be equally good for the Union gander.
A reasonable idea one might think, at least until one grasps that Johnson himself became London Mayor in 2012 when the turnout was only 38% of the capital’s electorate!
Apart from the usual Tory “one rule for us and another rule for them” policy, what conceivable grounds can there be for supporting his view or considering it any less farcical? Surely what's good for the Tory goose should be equally good for the Union gander.
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Lazygun........sorry it wasn't the Daily Mail.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9185917/Its-time-to-give-John-Major-the-credit-we-so-cruelly-denied-him.html
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@Sqad - I think I misread your post a tad.
Here is where I was getting confused. Mike suggests that DC might be ousted by BoJo, rather like Thatcher was ousted by Major, and goes on to suggest DC should be concerned.
You, in reponse to this,said this, I assume as being a rebuttal of Mikes comments;
"Yes and he won more votes – 14 million – than any other British prime minister has ever done. "
But you failed to identify who it was you were referring to. Now, having seen your additional response, i see you are referring to John Major, and your argument is that Ed Milliband should be concerned since John Major won the largest share of the vote -14 milion.
None of this was clear from your original response :)
Oh, and I also think you are letting your bias pre-judge me a tad. I am grateful that people can offer a source other than the DM, and the DT is quantitatively and qualitatively a more reliable source. However - I am unable to see the link you offered, since DT references are paywalled.
Is that all clear now? :)
Here is where I was getting confused. Mike suggests that DC might be ousted by BoJo, rather like Thatcher was ousted by Major, and goes on to suggest DC should be concerned.
You, in reponse to this,said this, I assume as being a rebuttal of Mikes comments;
"Yes and he won more votes – 14 million – than any other British prime minister has ever done. "
But you failed to identify who it was you were referring to. Now, having seen your additional response, i see you are referring to John Major, and your argument is that Ed Milliband should be concerned since John Major won the largest share of the vote -14 milion.
None of this was clear from your original response :)
Oh, and I also think you are letting your bias pre-judge me a tad. I am grateful that people can offer a source other than the DM, and the DT is quantitatively and qualitatively a more reliable source. However - I am unable to see the link you offered, since DT references are paywalled.
Is that all clear now? :)
Can we put the record straight about John Major. In the the 1992 election which he won, he ended up with 336 seats, losing 40 seats. But in the election of 1997 he only retained 165 seats, letting Labour win by a huge landslide. This win prevented the Tories from forming a government for 13 years, despite making numerous changes to their leadership.
I suspect that Major was and still is actually a very nice man, despite him representing a party that I do not support. He would have made a very good Scout Leader, or Chair of your local Parent Teacher Association. If he was a next-door neighbour of yours, he would have had been happy to lend you all the attachments for your Black and Decker that you didn't have, and he could be relied on completely to water your garden and feed the fish when you were on hols. The local youth cricket team would have been glad to welcome him into their midst.
So, all in all a good egg. But as a Prime Minister he was promoted above his abilities. Remember that he only ended up replacing Thatcher because he wasn't Michael Heseltine, which the Tories wanted to prevent getting into Number Ten at all costs.
But, as I said, basically a nice man.
I suspect that Major was and still is actually a very nice man, despite him representing a party that I do not support. He would have made a very good Scout Leader, or Chair of your local Parent Teacher Association. If he was a next-door neighbour of yours, he would have had been happy to lend you all the attachments for your Black and Decker that you didn't have, and he could be relied on completely to water your garden and feed the fish when you were on hols. The local youth cricket team would have been glad to welcome him into their midst.
So, all in all a good egg. But as a Prime Minister he was promoted above his abilities. Remember that he only ended up replacing Thatcher because he wasn't Michael Heseltine, which the Tories wanted to prevent getting into Number Ten at all costs.
But, as I said, basically a nice man.
mikey....I agree.....BUT....this is purely anecdotal depending upon my aging memory.
Pre 1992 election...we, the Tories were very scared indeed. Neil Kinnock was no fool, an educated charismatic leader of the Labour Party and we were sh1t scared.....he was a threat....initially very left wing, but lightened up a little befor the election. We ( the Consultants ) were making good money in private practice, thanks to long waiting lists in the NHS and the thought of a left wing, very electable Labour leader bringing a left wing Government into power was not very appealing. Polls suggested that the electorate wanted rid of the Tories and unemployment was rising, an environment beautifully set up for a Labour victory.
The Labour party Rally in Sheffield, to me, was the turning point, Kinnock gave everyone the feeling that all the Labour Party had to do was to turn up.......and i thought so too. However he made a right t1t of himself and Major got 14 million votes (whatever LazyGun said) and the Tories were back.
At lunch we all agreed that we, a bunch of Tories, would never see a left wing government again.....and we haven't.
.............yes, at the moment, the thought of a Tory victory at the next election is remote............BUT.........
Pre 1992 election...we, the Tories were very scared indeed. Neil Kinnock was no fool, an educated charismatic leader of the Labour Party and we were sh1t scared.....he was a threat....initially very left wing, but lightened up a little befor the election. We ( the Consultants ) were making good money in private practice, thanks to long waiting lists in the NHS and the thought of a left wing, very electable Labour leader bringing a left wing Government into power was not very appealing. Polls suggested that the electorate wanted rid of the Tories and unemployment was rising, an environment beautifully set up for a Labour victory.
The Labour party Rally in Sheffield, to me, was the turning point, Kinnock gave everyone the feeling that all the Labour Party had to do was to turn up.......and i thought so too. However he made a right t1t of himself and Major got 14 million votes (whatever LazyGun said) and the Tories were back.
At lunch we all agreed that we, a bunch of Tories, would never see a left wing government again.....and we haven't.
.............yes, at the moment, the thought of a Tory victory at the next election is remote............BUT.........
Very interesting sqad, and not bad for an ageing memory !
But Major was really the Last Chance Saloon for the Tories at the time. They were petrified, not of Kinnock, but of Heseltine. He was and remains a committed European enthusiast, and Europe was very much the issue of the day for the Tories at the time. I think they would have elected anybody, as long as it wasn't Heseltine.
They saw, quite rightly, that Thatcher had turned from an election winner to an election liability. The BBC did a marvellous dramatisation of the ousting of Maggie, starring Lyndsey Duncan, which was said it all. She was stabbed in the back in a fashion that even Julius Caesar would have considered a trifle excessive.
So it was a relief that Major was elected leader and then, shortly after, won the 1992 General Election. But it was a false dawn. Major squandered his victory over Kinnock, albeit not all down to his incompetence. Remember the "Bastards"...Major word, not mine. The knives that had barely been removed from Thatchers back were then inserted in him, mostly by his own party.
As I have said previously. Major was basically a nice chap and I ended up feeling sorry for him, something that hadn't happened to me about a Tory politician before, and I have to say, hasn't since either.
But Major was really the Last Chance Saloon for the Tories at the time. They were petrified, not of Kinnock, but of Heseltine. He was and remains a committed European enthusiast, and Europe was very much the issue of the day for the Tories at the time. I think they would have elected anybody, as long as it wasn't Heseltine.
They saw, quite rightly, that Thatcher had turned from an election winner to an election liability. The BBC did a marvellous dramatisation of the ousting of Maggie, starring Lyndsey Duncan, which was said it all. She was stabbed in the back in a fashion that even Julius Caesar would have considered a trifle excessive.
So it was a relief that Major was elected leader and then, shortly after, won the 1992 General Election. But it was a false dawn. Major squandered his victory over Kinnock, albeit not all down to his incompetence. Remember the "Bastards"...Major word, not mine. The knives that had barely been removed from Thatchers back were then inserted in him, mostly by his own party.
As I have said previously. Major was basically a nice chap and I ended up feeling sorry for him, something that hadn't happened to me about a Tory politician before, and I have to say, hasn't since either.
mikey...I agree....but my point was and is.........Neil Kinnock had us all p1ssing in our pants....he was a bright, clever, educated lefty ( we are knee deep in them now) and charismatic.........a big threat to right wingers.
Imagine Private medicine with Neil Kinnock at the helm.....I would now be retired in a two up and two down in Attercliffe...............didn't fancy that.
Imagine Private medicine with Neil Kinnock at the helm.....I would now be retired in a two up and two down in Attercliffe...............didn't fancy that.
Not sure where Attercliff is sqad ,and no, I am not going to Google it !
I know very little about the NHS, apart from being an occasional end-user, and you are obviously more informed on this subject than me. My brother is currently very ill in ITC from a serious head injury and he appears to be having the best possible care.
But can we be sure that the NHS is safe in any political parties hands, given all the recent and present scandals ? I am trying to be as unbiased as possible and I would admit that Labour haven't always made the correct decisions, any more than the Tories. But it would seem to me that the NHS is on the brink of a complete loss of any confidence, by anybody.
I'm not sure what needs to be done but I suspect that it isn't one thing....its a cocktail of solutions that are needed.
I know very little about the NHS, apart from being an occasional end-user, and you are obviously more informed on this subject than me. My brother is currently very ill in ITC from a serious head injury and he appears to be having the best possible care.
But can we be sure that the NHS is safe in any political parties hands, given all the recent and present scandals ? I am trying to be as unbiased as possible and I would admit that Labour haven't always made the correct decisions, any more than the Tories. But it would seem to me that the NHS is on the brink of a complete loss of any confidence, by anybody.
I'm not sure what needs to be done but I suspect that it isn't one thing....its a cocktail of solutions that are needed.
@jno - That seems odd. I can call up the Telegraph front page, but if I call up one of the story links, it goes to a page telling me I need to be a subscriber - the same applies when i try and activate a link to a Telegraph story.
They have gone behind a partial paywall. You can only access 20 free stories a month - after that, the paywall goes up.
They have gone behind a partial paywall. You can only access 20 free stories a month - after that, the paywall goes up.