WHO do the political parties represent

Yes, it represents the wealthy, but also many more. Otherwise, it would only have a few thousand voters. Is it something peculiarly British that we seem to accept deference to our uber-wealthy?

This post asks "who do political parties represent?"

The Tory party represents the wealthy and always has. The new 25-year old Duke of Westminster, for instance, whose £9bn inheritance will not be subject to inheritance tax (unlike the estates of many ordinary householders) - www.thecanary.co/2016/08/12/single-aristocrat-avoided-more-entire-deficit/

Is this right? If you think not you can sign a petition and/or ask your MP why no government has tackled such gross inequality.

That's the end of this thread then dd

We can see, all over the world, those who are power-hungry making use of the lack of knowledge of others, sadly.

@ niggly,

I agree with you that most people don't understand the relevance of GDP, etc. Unfortunately, that means that politicians can use those very statistics to give an impression that the country is doing is doing well. For example, they constantly talk about bringing down the deficit, but ignore that the country's debt has gone through the roof. It's a bit like keeping your current account out of the red by borrowing more and more money.

That's why people would do themselves a favour by trying to find out some of the basics of macro-economics and there are some excellent videos on YouTube and the BBC does some straightforward explanations. People don't need to go into minute details to understand the principles.

Thatcher did a brilliant job of persuading people that a country's economy is like a household budget and that we shouldn't spend beyond our means. Unfortunately, economies don't work quite like that. A household can stop spending quite so much without damaging the local economy, but if everybody does the same, it won't be long before shopkeepers' incomes are affected. They are also consumers, so they will have to stop spending so much...and so it goes on. That's what is so wrong about austerity.

nigglienelly: "People want to be able to relate their own circumstances with what they are being told in language they can easily understand and feel enthusiastic, (or not) about. In other words politicians need to learn to inspire a crowd"

I don't really like invoking Godwin's Law, but Hitler was a master of relating to people's circumstances and prejudices, used easily understandable language and was amazingly inspirational. People need to be critical and look for facts.

DaphneBroon Not to be discussed on an open forum.

And WHY was that Petra?? (10.06)

Before online newspapers, I sometimes purchased the Sun to get the low-down on a news story, quickly and in an easily accessible form. Found it excellent. (Shock-horror)

We don't want 'dumbed down politics' but perhaps what we do need is honest politics, the facts presented in a concise way together with the financial implications of each aim.

I agree that not everyone has the time, the inclination or indeed the required education to trawl the internet seeking out relevant facts or to read the parties' manifestos before a GE, therefore rely on MSM or headline grabbing internet articles, with their obvious bias.

A precis of each parties' policies honestly presented in a bulleted format rather than rhetoric, sound-bites, personal attacks and a lot of hot air would be a good starting point.

As for PR, I think we could end with an uneasy coalition to the right of what we have at present. We had a form of PR with the EU elections and many UKIP MEPs were returned - look where that got us.

Yes. So leave her alone now! (Petra 's post)

Quoting previous posts in this thread:

"message daphnedill Sat 13-Aug-16 20:03:11
@petra (on whatever thread it was)

I'm not the slightest bit confused. I'm like a cat with a catmint toy, toying with my victim, but I'll get bored. grin
Add comment | Report | Private message daphnedill Sat 13-Aug-16 19:59:58
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that you don't understand my point grin grin grin"

So nasty!

I'm sure many of you remember that obieones last incarnation on here as soontobe ended in tears.

What you need is political parties speaking to people in ordinary everyday language that ordinary everyday people can readily understand and relate to. Not everyone is an intellectual, and the possessor of not one but in some cases several degrees, and numerous life experiences in intellectual pursuits, in fact most people aren't! Some of us left education with three or four not very good O'levels and one scraped A'level, some left with little or nothing at all! Talking endlessly about GDP, statistics, and ratio's is talking over a lot of people's heads including mine, leaving a lot us bewildered and frankly bored and turned off. People want to be able to relate their own circumstances with what they are being told in language they can easily understand and feel enthusiastic, (or not) about. In other words politicians need to learn to inspire a crowd, which of course, like him or not, Jeremy Corbyn is successfully doing!

Dumbed down politics is already pretty prevalent. Some voters never seem to understand that policies have consequences . We might want lower taxes but not poorer public services, we might want to bring back grammar schools but dont want our children to end up in a secondary modern, we might want to "bring back control" but not suffer the colossal damage being done by brexit , etc etc etc.

Dumbed down politics is dangerous,

I have sent a report to gransnet. And about DaphneBroon too.

I wonder that all the time dd.

@jinglbellsfrocks

The text speak comment was obviously too nuanced.

I haven't seen obieone making any good points.

I'm seriously wondering if her comments are a wind up.

Although I doubt he is his only enemy Obieone.

I don't think a suggestion that politics needs to be "dumbed down" , that there should fewer "long" words are necessary and that we should be satisfied with soundbites constitutes a good point and don't think I am alone.
Wasn't there once a film called Dumb and Dumber?

There is an inbetween between what we have now and textspeak.

It will be interesting to see if Donald Trump wins. Though he can be his own worst enemy.

FFS Daphnebroon!

Obieone makes a very good point there. (the text speak comment was ridiculous. And insulting)

Democracy is indeed in the eyes of the beholder.

A Constitutional Monarchy, with a non-elected Chamber with hereditary peers, non-elected appointees and representatives of one religious group only- doesn't sound very 'Democratic' to others. And neither does a system where, due to the First Past the Post system- someone who lives in an area not representative of their views- can vote all their lives knowing their vote will go straight to the bin!

Dumbed down??? Dumb yes.

And the end result is.....
Donald Trump.

Actually, if politics is simplified to short soundbites, it becomes a blunt instrument, with no flexibility at all, just two angry mobs shouting slogans and waving banners at each other.

And who is going to do the dumbing down? The party who wants you to vote for it? They will say "We have the best policies for the whole country" so as to get the votes of everyone.

Then the other party will say "We are the ones with the best policies for the whole country" so that they get everyone's votes.

The important differences between the policies are in the parts which would be lost in the dumbing down.

If that is truly what you think the average person is capable of grasping, god help,us.
Maybe u wd lk it in txt spk 2?