British politics thread

[mikesiva]

This is the real face of UKIP....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... rence.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Pamela Preedy, secretary of UKIP’s Redcar branch, wrote: ‘The image of Stephen Lawrence has been promoted to sainthood, with his own memorial site, constant invocation of his name in any discussion of racism; even to close down a discussion about immigration when the issue bore no relevance to his murder’. Ms Preedy then accused David Cameron of ‘worshipping at the shrine of Saint Stephen’, complaining that ‘we are supposed to publicly mark the anniversaries of his death .  .  . Please give it a rest!’ Ms Preedy added in the message, left last year: ‘I’m sure his mother still grieves for him, but it’s time she did it privately without setting him up as some kind of media icon. She risks .  .  . boring us all to tears.’"

And....

"David William Griffiths, a member of UKIP’s West London branch, used the site to argue that some people were ‘intended by nature’ to be slaves and were ‘marked out for subjection’ from birth. He went on to quote selectively from Hindu literature to argue that a ‘base-born man’ can ‘never conceal his real nature’. He concluded with the offensive line: ‘That kingdom in which such b*******, sullying [the purity of] the castes, are born, perishes quickly together with its inhabitants.’"

[mikesiva]

"The arrival of the SS Empire Windrush in June 1948 at Tilbury Dock, Essex, in England, marked the beginning of post-war mass migration. The ship had made an 8,000 mile journey from the Caribbean to London with 492 passengers on board from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and other islands. Most of the passengers were ex-servicemen seeking work. This marked the beginning of post-war mass migration. When they walked down the gangplank onto British soil they could not have imagined that their journey would begin an important landmark in the history of London and the rest of country. The passengers on board the Windrush were invited to come to Britain after World War Two, to assist with labour shortages."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/sto ... ush2.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is what UKIP needs to learn...the Windrush generation were invited to the UK, to help rebuild the country.

[Gils]

In reality the response to the call for labour was minimal and by 1958 only 125,000 workers had arrived in Britain from the Caribbean islands.

125,000 from an estimated 600, 000 British migrants.

Construction workers, ship building, textiles, technicians, hospital staff, rail, tube and bus workers, foundry workers and manufacturing in general.- skilled workers who would right the English economy.

It should also be noted that more Jamaican's went to Panama to work on the canal.

Generally the islands were characterised by high population densities, high levels of unemployment, low gross domestic product per capita and low rates of economic growth.

Whats changed, given a choice it's easy to see why many would leave, and continue to do so.
http://www.historytoday.com/zig-henry/n ... ts-1945-62" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;"

[mapoui2]

Whats changed, given a choice it's easy to see why many would leave, and continue to do so.

NEWS only For AFRO. why is it he never appears on a thread like this?

[mikesiva]

And while the pro-Tory press continue to rail against Labour's Harriet Harman for working as a legal officer at a human rights organisation that had paedophile group PIE as one of its many affiliates, the same Daily Mail ignores the fact that the Thatcher government refused to prosecute PIE bigwig Sir Peter Hayman when his paedophile behaviour came to light in 1981:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 33,3738845" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mikesiva]

RIP Tony Benn....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26573929" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He represented an era of Labour politicians whose views I agreed with...there is no one like Benn, Michael Foot, etc in today's money-grabbing parliament.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18686794" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He opposed Western intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq, he hailed the NHS as the greatest achievement of Labour (Attlee), and he fought against inheriting his peerage, because he did not want to sit in that reprehensible House of Lords, which he felt should be abolished, along with the monarchy. He was not afraid to take unpopular stances, such as opposing military action in the Falklands, and believed in a united Ireland.

Despite his vilification in the media, I found this very striking:

"In 2006, he topped a poll commissioned by the BBC's Daily Politics programme to find who people considered to be their political hero, beating Margaret Thatcher into second place."

He was my political hero too, along with Foot....

Sadly, they were both subject to a lot of misinformation from the right-wing press, who compared their policies with Eastern Europe, when they really wanted to take Britain into a Scandinavian version of socialism. The much-criticised 1983 manifesto called for higher personal taxation, for a more friendly state support system, much like what exists in Scandinavian countries. The manifesto also called for nuclear disarmament, something I also agree with. It is unfortunate that Britain did not embrace this vision....

Instead, the Britain of today sees Britons living a poorer standard of living than their Scandinavian neighbours. Britain missed an opportunity when they rejected the likes of Benn and Foot.

[mikesiva]

"An elaborate social safety net in addition to public services such as free education and universal healthcare."

"High percentage of workers belonging to a labour union. In 2010, labour union density was 69.9% in Finland, 68.3% in Sweden, and 54.8% in Norway. In comparison, labour union density was 12.9% in Mexico and 11.3% in the United States."

"Sweden at 56.6% of GDP, Denmark at 51.7%, and Finland at 48.6% reflect very high public spending. One key reason for public spending is the large number of public employees. These employees work in various fields including education, healthcare, and for the government itself. They often have lifelong job security and make up around a third of the workforce (more than 38% in Denmark). Public spending in social transfers such as unemployment benefits and early-retirement programmes is high. In 2001, the wage-based unemployment benefits were around 90% of wage in Denmark and 80% in Sweden, compared to 75% in the Netherlands and 60% in Germany. The unemployed were also able to receive benefits several years before reductions, compared to quick benefit reduction in other countries."

"Public expenditure for health and education is significantly higher in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in comparison to the OECD average."

"Overall tax burdens (as a percentage of GDP) are among the world's highest; Sweden (51.1%), Denmark (46% in 2011), and Finland (43.3%)."

"The United Nations World Happiness Report 2013 shows that the happiest nations are concentrated in Northern Europe. The Nordics ranked highest on the metrics of real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, generosity and freedom from corruption."

"The Nordic countries received the highest ranking for protecting workers rights on the International Trade Union Confederation's 2014 Global Rights Index, with Denmark being the only nation to receive a perfect score."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/m ... ate-nation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mikesiva]

An interesting article on British corruption....

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/dav ... 23756.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And another....

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/columnists/ ... elections/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mikesiva]

And the corrupt tax haven overseas dependencies, including BVI and Cayman....

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 18386.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 68451.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mikesiva]

"BBC projected national vote share (if the results were repeated at a general election): Lab 31%, Con 30%, Lib Dem 15%, UKIP 12%"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2016-36192606" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And yet, the media will tell us that the local election was a "disaster" for Labour....