The Demise of Personal Freedom.

[Paul Oliver]

Oh no i'm gonna go off on one

This Government is purely about bluff and bullshite, i see this EVERY day at work.

I did a long post but i may be risking my job if i post it so i may well send it to my MP instead

[principia]

If none of the current parties are doing what you want, what are you going to do to change it?

Revolution time.

J.

[Finless]

Originally Posted by Scuby

Given the things that people are complaining about here, choosing the party who will maybe drop income tax by 0.1% and spend an extra £1m on the NHS isn't going to even make a dent in the things people are complaining about in this thread.

So who would you vote for? Who would do something significantly different?

If none of the current parties are doing what you want, what are you going to do to change it?

Or if you prefer, what would you do differently to the current government? Remembering that every action has consequences somewhere. So increasing NHS funding has to be paid for - who is paying? Building nuclear power plants is about far more than the environment - what are the long term implications of being dependent on Russia or Saudi for our energy? Making parking free would be lovely - but where will all the cars park? Refusing to do anything to help other nations (whether for poverty, war, environmental disasters, etc) will save us some money - but the international relations impact will be significant.

Just being realistic here. A lot of people have ideals of what they'd like to see. They are often at odds with other peoples' ideals. Look at the power debate that's going on at the minute. Some are furious that the government may be considering more nuclear power. Others are furious that a power company has been given permission to build a new coal power plant in the UK. Others are furious that the government has allowed companies to build wind turbines in beautiful areas. All of these groups would say that the government is rubbish, has they priorities wrong, don't care about the environment / energy security / international relations / wildlife / the countryside, they're wasting our tax money, claim that the public as a whole don't like the idea, and so should be thrown out and replaced. Yet when you look at it maybe 33% want nuclear, 33% want coal, and 33% want wind - whichever you do, the majority will hate it. Yet there is no option that the government can choose that will please everyone. It's tough decisions, and as with anything else it'll always upset someone.

David

Valid points and I vote for nuclear power.

Personal freedom is sacrosanct beyond the limits of the 10 Commandments, I suppose? I mean they cover the major points of acceptable behaviour? Perhaps it is only as you get older that you realise that things change and I don't like a lot of what I see/hear/read about.

I'm not saying it is easy but how can you protect personal freedoms by removing them? I'm not personally talking about some of the difficult issues any government has to face but about straight down the line removal of personal freedom bit by bit.

If that reads as being 'snappy' it isn't aimed at you Scuby.

[Bantam]

Nuclear Power is an interesting one.

I am totally for nuclear power - but I think everyone needs to know something and it needs to be in the wide open before the majority understand it and get to know why it's useful, and history.

The reason why we have so much nuclear waste in this country is not because there's so much byproduct from nuclear power generation.

Far from it.

Anyone who has studied Nuclear Power will know that the old-style nuclear power stations weren't designed to generate electricity - that was a cover story / a by product.

The *actual* reason for older style nuclear power stations was to create fissile materials for the nuclear weapons programme. It just seemed a waste to not put all the generation potential to good use.

Now we're no longer making quite so much fissile material, you can build a nuclear power station that is extremely low risk (in fact, a coal fired power station would probably be more risky) that couldn't be blown up by terrorists, that would be clean, extremely efficient to run and would create very little waste. Heck - how do you think a Nuclear Powered Sub runs so well?

The problem is that you have the NIMBY syndrome where all the negative publicity around things like Windscale, THORP and Douneray, as well as Chernobyl, to make people believe that it's not safe, and it will take a huge amount of education to change that.

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by Finless

.....
I'm not saying it is easy but how can you protect personal freedoms ......

Actually its very easy. A written constitution that enshrines people's rights.

Most people in the UK are opposed to this.

You get the government that you deserve....

Chris

[Bantam]

Originally Posted by chrisch

Actually its very easy. A written constitution that enshrines people's rights.

Most people in the UK are opposed to this.

You get the government that you deserve....

Chris

What, like the American one?

Nah - the USA is the world's largest police state.

I agree, the French have it right in some respect, however, as you well know, it's like a militant hell getting anything done

[alrhem]

Originally Posted by Finless

I'm surprised. Surely trying to remove motorcylclists off the roads would cut down on the supply of donor organs?

LOL

As for the country - is there a national identity?

Im from northern ireland - so ill be damned whichever flag i choose to salute.
It pains me to say this but America has a fairly simple system - republican or democrat and very little in between. However it does have a national identity (based on brianwashing from birth by my understanding... :P)
Either way you are still american and follow the flag.

Yes we can disagree with some decisions that are made but we all trust that everythign is being done for the good of the country and the "greater good". The only thing is i dont trust politicians...

morals? honour? standing up for what you belive in?

we arent allowed to do any of that now because its not politically correct!!!!
screw that! the best person for the job should get it. If I dont like you i dont mind letting you know. Why should i have to bite my tongue of you have done something that offends me?

(someone just shoved me off the soap box...)

[Finless]

Originally Posted by chrisch

Actually its very easy. A written constitution that enshrines people's rights.

Most people in the UK are opposed to this.

You get the government that you deserve....

Chris

Would you care to elaborate? I'm not too well up on such matters as they have never previously been of note to me as I've generally concentrated on having a good time and, later in life, being grumpy and depressed.

Do you mean to say we have no such thing? Why are most people in the UK opposed to this?

I haven't had any government that I have particularly 'deserved'. I don't trust or believe any of them will actually do what they say 'pre election'.

[Finless]

Originally Posted by Bantam

I agree, the French have it right in some respect, however, as you well know, it's like a militant hell getting anything done

Oh good I like Status Quo.

[Stesh]

First They Came for the........?

First they came for the Smokers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Smokers.
Then they came for the Fat Tw@ts
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Fat Tw@t.
Then they came for the Golfers
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Golfers.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller