An outsider's view of British politics

Other countries are entitled to think what they like, but I think some of us are more than uncomfortable at the prospect of eventually being a federal state run by Germany with its poodle France yapping along behind, particularly after Mrs Merkels latest speech in which she appears to be encouraging nations to ditch sovereignty in favour of all embracing loyalty to the greater good ie : our old friend Germany el al!
Errr, No thankyou!!!

The Sri Lankan MP's came to blows in their chamber. At least there has been no brawling in the HoC, at least nit recently.

Perhaps we should also ask how the British see the politics of other countries.
Especially those which will have an influence on how Brexit is proceeding.

Well I ask you how should other countries see British politics at the moment?. A lot feel that the British are fools leaving a group of countries which is trying to move forward in what will be a dangerouse age with mounting polution and chaotic weather conditions.

Quite apart from the views of those living outside the UK, just consider those EU citizens who live here, many for most of their lives, working, paying taxes and contributing to our country in many ways. These folk (about 3.8 million) were not permitted to vote in the EU referendum which affected them more than anyone else, nor can they vote in general elections, and now Theresa May accuses them of being "queue jumpers" (a venal crime in British society).

Read this empassioned letter to the PM from Alex Andreou, a Greek man who has lived in the UK since 1990, and consider how unfeeling, indeed un-Christian Theresa May is and how far we have sunk from being a nation that valued "fair play"-

"I'm not a 'queue jumper', I'm a hard-working European who loves Britain - and you're causing me misery"

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/theresa-may-im-not-a-queue-jumper-im-a-hard-working-european-who-loves-britain-and-youre-causing-me-misery/ar-BBPVEjS

Yep, its still ScoMo - for the mo!
for how long, I wonder!

But Lucky how Democratic was it for TM to thrash out a deal with the DUP behind closed doors which involved a massive bribe of our money in return for 10 just 10MPs support that none of us on the mainland had even been able to vote for. The 2010-15 government also was a coalition so FPTP doesn’t seem to be working very well now does it? Only a majority government in 2 of the last 8 years.

It is a choice - we either have FPTP (which I believe is undemocratic) that almost guarantees an opposition to challenge the government; or we have some sort of PR that results in a coalition where opposition is behind closed doors as they try and thrash out compromises.

I agree with varian about FPTP but I'm not sure how best to change that.
So far as bullying, braying behaviour in the HoC, I can't believe it results in the best possible outcome. There is a video circulating on line this morning of Labour front bencher Clive Lewis mimicking shooting himself as he sits behind a colleague who is making an impassioned speech. Some commentators are incensed he can 'joke' about suicide, others suggesting he felt his colleague was being verbose.

The HoC is debating serious issues. It's possible to introduce some humour into debates but sneering, unprofessional behaviour needs stopping. Having said that, given the accusations about it being a bullying culture, maybe that's too much to ask for.,

Jalima1108, I'll just need to check the papers before I answer that. Yep, its still ScoMo - for the mo!

I expect Sri Lankans think the UK's politics are very tame.

www.theguardian.com/world/video/2018/nov/15/sri-lanka-mps-fight-in-parliament-as-political-turmoil-continues-video

I certainly think that the televising of PMQs does the image of our parliamentary system no favours. The infantile behaviour shown there is what people remember. I don't care for it because it trivialises Parliament.

Much of the real serious work of parliament is done in the Committees. They are filmed too, but I don't think many people bother to watch it.

I agree with you, varian about the undemocratic nature of our FPTP system. We should endeavour to make voting more meaningful for everyone, not just voters in marginal constituencies.

lemongrove I think Australians have a robust attitude to life in general

Apricity is it the same one as last week?

Or for a bit of light relief you could consider "The Australian Way". We change our Prime Ministers like our underwear. ?

Despite our current problems the UK system is one of the most stable in the world, when you look around at the corruption and instability in other countries, indeed within the EU, we are pretty good . Just because a stupid politician by the name of Cameron called a referendum to appease a few extreme right wingers does not mean we are dead in the water.
It's not likely that any change to Proportional Representation will happen, nor should it, that would result in perpetual hung parliaments, no government would be able to get anything done, being held to ransome by small small parties with crazy demands.

Isn’t it always a coalition government in Sweden,Greta ?

Jalima the Aussies have a very robust attitude in Parliament don’t they, I remember a punch up ( or near punch up) one time.

I sometimes hear an Australian view of British politics which is not very flattering - Australia being the country which cannot seem to hang on to a Prime Minister for very long before someone comes along and metaphorically stabs them in the back - or the front - or instigates a coup.

I didn't think that Sweden had a Prime Minister at the moment - that in itself sounds like a recipe for chaos.

In fact, I thought that Swedish politics had been in chaos for a number of years - but perhaps they do 'chaos' a bit more quietly and sedately than the British.

The adversarial nature of British politics needs to be changed. MPs are elected by FPTP.

In the general election of 1983 this resulted in-

Conservative Party 42.4% of votes elected 397 MPs
Labour Party 27.6% of votes elected 209 MPs
SDP/Liberal Alliance 25.4% of votes elected 23 MPs

How could anyone claiming to believe in democracy defend this?

The distortion of FPTP maintains a two-party system as it is so easy for MPs to be elected in "safe seats" Any party, like the Liberal Democrats, which does not represent the interests of a narrow social or geographical group, but has support across the country, will always struggle to break through this distortion.

The result is reflected in the design of the House of Commons where government and opposition MPs sit on opposite sides of the chamber, three swords-lengths apart. This is inherently confrontational. In most democracies a circular or semi-circular seating arrangements reflect the gradation of views rather than "them and us" , representatives are elected by some form of proportional representation and this tends to result in coalitions between parties which have to learn to work together for the good of the country. In mature democracies, "compromise" is not a dirty word.

lemongrove, The writer of the article suggests that the confrontational and adversarial stance rooted in British culture is hampering and damaging the Brexit process.

Oh well thats nice for them all.

Our MP’s all seem to get on well enough away from the chamber though.

Are you Swedish Greta ?
Think something is lost in translation here.
Who said that you compared Parliaments etc?
The Swedish newspapers , in saying what they did ( or rather one journo did) must be pondering that our Parliament is rowdier than in Sweden ( which it probably is.)

Ideally the Government should be governing and the Opposition opposing but things are such a muddle at the moment perhaps it would help if they all changed seats to reflect their opinions. The Mother of Parliaments seems to have turned into the mother and father of all punch ups.

I did not compare the British Parliament to the Swedish one or any other. I did not say one was better/worse than the other. I do not know, lemongrove why the Swedish Parliament should be humourless or dour.