We need a coup

This whole site is definitely left wing.
As you probably don't know any of us personally, how on earth can you make that sweeping statement?
You are making assumptions based on what you have read from a small number of posters, but can you provide hard evidence that the majority on this site are on the left?

There are tens of thousands of members, from all over the world, do you know the political views of all?

Marydoll

^This whole site is definitely left wing^.
As you probably don't know any of us personally, how on earth can you make that sweeping statement?
You are making assumptions based on what you have read from a small number of posters, but can you provide hard evidence that the majority on this site are on the left?

There are tens of thousands of members, from all over the world, do you know the political views of all?

Sorry, I was referring to this thread in particular but basing my judgment on some of my posts which have been deleted and other posts which haven't.

Whatever his shade of politics, right or left, a leader looks after his/her people, particularly the coming generation who are the future of the nation.

It is a good thing to take a pride in your achievements, but for every family which comes out of the scrum of "winner takes all" in possession of the ball of achievement, and can race to the touchline with it, assured of roars of approval, a glow of pride and a successful career with a decent ininterrupted salary, there are many who were handicapped from the start.

No school teaches pupils to be scornful of those who have not achieved success in the struggle and competition of life or to believe they should not be treated charitably. Well, not since Mr Squeers and his cane, or the orphanage where a starving Oliver Twist was foolhardy enough to ask for his meagre bowl of unappetising gruel to be refilled.

If you expect us to believe that you learnt to abandon those in need in a classroom, *Janpt" pull the other one. Perhaps you are just enjoying playing at being shocking?

No school teaches pupils to be scornful of those who have not achieved success in the struggle

I think that Eton does, Elegran.

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Elegran

Whatever his shade of politics, right or left, a leader looks after his/her people, particularly the coming generation who are the future of the nation.

It is a good thing to take a pride in your achievements, but for every family which comes out of the scrum of "winner takes all" in possession of the ball of achievement, and can race to the touchline with it, assured of roars of approval, a glow of pride and a successful career with a decent ininterrupted salary, there are many who were handicapped from the start.

No school teaches pupils to be scornful of those who have not achieved success in the struggle and competition of life or to believe they should not be treated charitably. Well, not since Mr Squeers and his cane, or the orphanage where a starving Oliver Twist was foolhardy enough to ask for his meagre bowl of unappetising gruel to be refilled.

If you expect us to believe that you learnt to abandon those in need in a classroom, *Janpt" pull the other one. Perhaps you are just enjoying playing at being shocking?

You have misunderstood. Everyone can take pride in their own achievements no matter how great or small. Where did I say I was taught to abandon those in need or be scornful of others ?

MaizieD

^No school teaches pupils to be scornful of those who have not achieved success in the struggle^

I think that Eton does, Elegran.

You beat me to it Maizie Did you read the recent New Statesman article about how pupils there are taught to win at any cost?

The political position of most of the posters on Gransnet used to be somewhere in the centre - some centre left, some centre right, plus a few way out in either direction. I know that my own contributions have in the past been on the lines that each party has a different plan and policy, but that they were all genuine in their belief that their view would be best for the country - the whole country.

It is only in the last few years that posters have turned generally against the current Government, and that is because of the antics of a small group of political opportunists who saw in a general dissatisfaction with the EU a chance to raise their visibilty and power by espousing the popular "cause" of "freedom" and then by exploiting the resulting deep divisions. People in high positions have shown their venality by awarding lucrative contracts to friends and family, their opinion of their own rules by breaking them, the value they put respectively on themselves and the citizens of the future by voting for a large raise for MPs and a hungry half-term for children relying on school meals in an economy in very bad shape.

If the political landscape were to return to a reasonable balance, so would the ratio of posts supporting one or other party. While the right is making itself unacceptable, of course there will be more posters favouring the left.

09:06Alegrias2
MaizieD
No school teaches pupils to be scornful of those who have not achieved success in the struggle
I think that Eton does,Elegran.
You beat me to itMaizie. Did you read the recent New Statesman article about how pupils there are taught to win at any cost?

Ahem, it's very easy to highlight the bits you want to.
I offer this from Eton's school statement:
Our School Culture is based on:

Number One Priority
Caring

Maizie Are you sure that there haven't substituted an R for an N there?

Fair enough Elianne, I'm not that familiar with how Eton operates and can only go by what was reported.

I'm not sure that Eton schoolboys are known for being caring though, especially not the one we have in charge of the country right now.

So, Jan As an extension to your school's admirable ethos, did you work out for yourself that it was OK "to abandon those in need " ?

One formenr Eton schoolboy's view.

Sorry, posted too early.

One former Eton schoolboy's view:

www.newstatesman.com/culture/observations/2020/10/personal-story-eton-and-need-win.

Quote from the article: Put slightly differently, the necessity of winning at all costs – even perhaps at the cost of one’s health – was the prime message I brought away from Eton.

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By their fruits shall ye know them, Ellianne

Eton can tell whatever porkies it likes on their website but I prefer to judge it by its highly visible alumni...

I remember a tv documentary some years ago where Eton boys exchanged places for two weeks with boys from a Liverpool Comprehensive.

When they got together at the end one of the Liverpool boys said to an Eton boy "Your parents must really hate you to send you there"

"This whole site is definitely left wing" posts a right-wing GNetter, but , according to a recent study only 22% of Britons identify with left or right.

"Historic political divisions between Left and Right are breaking down as class barriers erode, with Britons falling into one of seven “tribes”, according to a detailed new study of the nation’s attitudes and outlook.

Research for the thinktank More in Common discovered that the coronavirus pandemic was driving demands for change across the United Kingdom and among all shades of political opinion.

Only 22% of Britons said they identified closely with Left or Right, with 70 per cent viewing such labels as unhelpful and more than half describing themselves as being on the centre ground. "

inews.co.uk/news/politics/left-and-right-political-opinion-britain-conservatives-labour-737495

It is only because of our undemocratic FPTP electoral system that so many are forced into voting, not for what they believe in, but for the lesser of two evils. This is the main reason that the UK is in such a mess.

A good article, Alegrias I like the bit - "Boris Johnson is easily underestimated, both as a classicist (he is a very able one) and as a politician. He is very good at winning. The costs have turned out to be considerable, for others"

Janpt do you consider yourself a Christian? Its Christian principles that the Labour movement was founded on .As you appear to have missed it at school maybe you should read about Keir Hardie and Robert Bontine Cuningham-Graham ,you might learn something useful '

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Elegran

So, Jan As an extension to your school's admirable ethos, did you work out for yourself that it was OK "to abandon those in need " ?

I don't know where you got the idea that I thought it was o.k. to abandon those in need !! Is it o.k. to treat right wing posters with contempt ?

I liked the article as well Elegran, very enlightening.

I think we are lucky in Scotland varian that we don't have the FPTP system for the Scottish parliament, as we are given a much bigger choice of who to vote for and the parliament itself is more balanced.

And paddyanne - hear hear regarding Cunningham-Graham! Why don't more people know about him?

paddyanne

Janpt do you consider yourself a Christian? Its Christian principles that the Labour movement was founded on .As you appear to have missed it at school maybe you should read about Keir Hardie and Robert Bontine Cuningham-Graham ,you might learn something useful '

I don't need any advice from you on what I should read. I certainly have no wish to read anything by someone with the name Keir or any other Marxist, Communist advocate.

Sorry, Varian classic example of suggesting a simple solution for a complicated problem. I do not think changing the voting system alone will have much effect on what flavour of government we get.

I have yet to see a study of changing voting patterns where countries have gone from first past the post to some form of PR but my impression is that the result is just more of the same government with the same parties dominating government, but usually in coalitions.

Except for a few countries like Israel. Israel has ended up with a clutter of fissiparous parties, one for every day of the year, which has led to a succession of coalition governments dependent on exremist religious parties to make numbers up and thus having to impose laws that protect extremist sects and impose unpopular religious legislation on an electorate the majority of whom object to these extremist laws.