Rave Up with Arielle Free

[fathomer90]

It makes me laugh when unofficialmills does politics. You all appear to think you are political scientists or something.

[Guest]

We'll not discuss politics and allow political apathy to take over then.

[Robbie Keane]

It makes me laugh when unofficialmills does politics. You all appear to think you are political scientists or something.

Yeah, weird what having knowledge of a subject does to you. Try it sometime.

[fathomer90]

I think you will find I do know something about it- I hope so given the fact I'm studying politics at one of the best universities in the world.

I just find the tone of the posts offputting.

From what some of you have said previously, I hope to god you remain

Apathetic.

[E*F*4L]

oh i see we (us UM'ers/R1 listners are not brainy enough to discuss politics, just because we haven't been to Yale, Harvard, UCL, Cambridge, Oxford or Kyoto

the reason nobody cares is because Democracy doesn't work !

the turn out for the last by-election (the one in Scotland) was 34% i think, even in Afghanistan the people have said they don't trust the politicians thus the turn-out was low.

i have always voted in elections & what i have learned over the years is that it makes no difference at all who you vote for as they are all the same, they are only in it for themselves & what they can get out of it, they don't care about the 'people' take that EU high representative for foreign affairs and security job Baroness Ashton has now got, she has never been elected by anyone ever for any of her roles in government, Peter Mandelson has been sacked & yet he still gets chosen for a job in government & the EU just makes it worse by way of un-elected people.

taxation without representation.

i have written to MP's & the party leaders on various things from why are they getting involved in the Ross/Brand radio indecent to why they stood by & watched Israel commit war crimes against Gaza & Lebanon & say/do nothing about it, & what do i get in reply, just fobbed off with letters from the leaders/MP's & even one from Downing Street to tell me they had passed my letter on to the Foreign & Commonwealth office where by their reply was to cut a long story short "we are doing what we can" (which is nothing at all).

you only have to watch BBC Parliament to see the MP's booing & jeering at each other great we have a bunch of three year olds running the country who are acting, like a bunch of pricks, Gordon Brown couldn't run a bath let alone a country!

[fathomer90]

....and you could do a better job then Brown? I think you would happy by the picks for European president / Foreign affairs. There pretty much non entities who will just peform a chairmen style role. Not at all what they were billed in the Lisbon Treaty!

I dont really know what to say about your other opinions. Churchill said "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." I think he was proberley right. I think democracy is the best system for getting people to "think" about their constituents. PR might be a way forward- but look what happened at the European Elections!

[E*F*4L]

....and you could do a better job then Brown? I think you would happy by the picks for European president / Foreign affairs. There pretty much non entities who will just peform a chairmen style role. Not at all what they were billed in the Lisbon Treaty!

I dont really know what to say about your other opinions. Churchill said "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." I think he was proberley right. I think democracy is the best system for getting people to "think" about their constituents. PR might be a way forward- but look what happened at the European Elections!

well i would be honest for a start if i was PM or a MP for that matter, the main problem is that they all have to tow the party line.

as for "the picks for European president / Foreign affairs" well the way you have put it is what im trying to say all along "There pretty much non entities" exactly so what is the point in having them ?

they will just get paid huge amounts & have more staff costing even more money creating yet another layer of bureaucracy, some US president (cannot remember who it was now) said "if there is a crises i don't know who to call in Europe" well what is the point in calling this new president if he has no power ?

the same for this foreign/defense role, she cannot send troops anywhere yet, so what is the point ?

the point is that they will one day take over once everything is in place, they are already going to have EU embassy's all over the world & the point of this more money wasted because who is going to use them when there will still be a British, French, Spanish etc embassy.

just like the EU want to put black boxes in cars encase of a accident, they said no we won't be tracking people it will only be activated when there is a accident so we know who is at fault, well once all cars have the boxes they will just change the law/rule so that people will be tracked that's how things work, that's how they do it.

it has been written about many times, 1984, The Shock Doctrine, Animal Farm & The Evitable Conflict to name but a few.

as for Churchill

PR (proportional representation) was what the main parties wanted but with the growth of other parties (smaller) they know that if PR is brought in these far right/left parties will be the ones that gain the most, even the EU elections which are PR are pointless, my MEP means nothing to me, doesn't speak for me because they don't do anything because they do a none job, & people know this thats why the turn out is very low, how can a 34% voter turn out (in that Scottish by-election) give the MP a mandate to represent anyone ?

if only 34% voted & he got (i don't know the amount he did get) so lets say he got 18%, thus he is representing only 18% of the people in that constituency, that doesn't give him the right to represent anyone, & people don't vote because everyone knows they are all the same & they are all lairs & cheats.

maybe R1 can do more to engage young people in politics, but until politicians can be trusted & actually answer a question nobody will care.

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[Grace]

I think you will find I do know something about it- I hope so given the fact I'm studying politics at one of the best universities in the world.

I just find the tone of the posts offputting.

From what some of you have said previously, I hope to god you remain

Apathetic.

On a personal, rather nosy note, what uni are you at?

well i would be honest for a start if i was PM or a MP for that matter

But don't forget, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

As a politics student, I should probably be a lot more opinionated than I am, but I tend to find that remaining fairly neutral lets me appreciate both sides of the argument. I personally view Europe as a neccessary evil, but I can't be doing with all the hyperbole about how they're going to take over!!!!!! etc

[E*F*4L]

Brussels gives CIA the power to search UK bank records

HE CIA is to be given broad access to the bank records of millions of Britons under a European Union plan to fight terrorism.

The Brussels agreement, which will come into force in two months’ time, requires the 27 EU member states to grant requests for banking information made by the United States under its terrorist finance tracking programme.

full story here --> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6945972.ece

also

Net prices ‘fixed’, warns eBay

BRITAIN’S biggest online marketplace, eBay, has exposed big brands for fixing prices on its website at inflated levels for popular Christmas gifts, from flatscreen LCD televisions to £300 coffee makers.

The company says retailers who sell items across the internet, including on eBay, are being “bullied†by manufacturers to push up their prices in line with other retailers to protect long-term profit margins. They are threatened with the loss of their supplies if they do not comply.

full story here --> http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article6945943.ece

so much for EU protection for consumers

The disclosures come as the European commission considers giving manufacturers sweeping powers to control online sales. Under the proposals, manufacturers would be able to ban sales from retailers without a “bricks and mortar†presence. This would mean higher prices for consumers.

this doesn't surprise me on bit

[E*F*4L]

Ireland crisis: 'I cannot wait to get away'

As the Irish government accepts up to 90bn euros (£77bn; $124bn) of EU-led loans amid calls for a general election, many of the country's young people are planning to emulate their ancestors and emigrate in pursuit of work.

The unemployment rate is above 13% and an estimated 100,000 people are expected to leave by 2014, with Australia and New Zealand among the most popular destinations.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11810195

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hopefully Spain & Portugal are next to fall

as for Chancellor George Osborne saying that us the UK taxpayer should borrow money from the markets & give it to Ireland ! what a prick what he knows about economics i have forgotten

i hope the Irish banks fail due to the political turmoil, thus the UK will loose it's £7bn the EU will loose the £77bn + causing the break-up of the Euro & ultimately the EU