Labour have conceded the civil liberties principle to the National Government...

[Phony Moderate]

...Why?

[afleitch]

...Why?

This probably summarises it

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/11/coalition-cameron-clegg

'In two months, the coalition has announced the ending of the wasteful and, as it turns out, dangerously insecure children's database, ContactPoint, as well as the ID card scheme. Immigration minister Damian Green put an end to the inhumane detention of thousands of children belonging to asylum seekers. Theresa May has agreed to examine the way the police are collecting and storing photographs and data about legitimate protesters, like 85-year-old peace campaigner John Catt who was classified as a "domestic extremist". She has also said that the automatic number plate recognition system that tracks and records 10 million vehicle journey per day will be placed under statutory regulation and scrutinised for the first time. CCTV cameras used to watch Muslims in Birmingham have been disabled. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act terror laws, used by councils to spy on members of the public, are to be reserved for counterterror operations. And in the last week the home secretary suspended section 44 of the Terrorism Act which allowed police to stop and search 250,000 innocent people last year alone, and Cameron announced details of a full judicial inquiry into allegations that British intelligence officers were involved in the torture of terror suspects.

For the past five years, the Observer has campaigned on all these issues and more, but I never hoped I'd be writing the above paragraph so soon after the election. There is real satisfaction to be taken from the announcement of a torture inquiry just months after a British foreign secretary – David Miliband – had done his utmost to suppress details by going to court. This is good government wherever you stand on the ideological spectrum, and the rest of these actions should be given more than a grudging welcome by those who argue that cuts are the only way to assess the coalition. Let's remember that there is just 1% difference between Labour and coalition proposals on cuts.'

[Phony Moderate]

This is good government wherever you stand on the ideological spectrum, and the rest of these actions should be given more than a grudging welcome by those who argue that cuts are the only way to assess the coalition.

Even if you're Peter Mandelson?  

[minionofmidas]

I approve.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition government.

[Phony Moderate]

    This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition national government.

And i'm sure the majority in 1997 said the same thing.

[afleitch]

    This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition national government.

And i'm sure the majority in 1997 said the same thing.

It's not known as the 'National' government. This is about the only place on the interwebs (other than some Labour forums and blogs) where it is. It's the coalition government. As the mod, I could start enforcing that

[Phony Moderate]

    This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition national government.

And i'm sure the majority in 1997 said the same thing.

It's not known as the 'National' government. This is about the only place on the interwebs (other than some Labour forums and blogs) where it is. It's the coalition government. As the mod, I could start enforcing that

Obviously it's not known as the National Government, considering that National Governments in the past have epically failed.

[afleitch]

    This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition national government.

And i'm sure the majority in 1997 said the same thing.

It's not known as the 'National' government. This is about the only place on the interwebs (other than some Labour forums and blogs) where it is. It's the coalition government. As the mod, I could start enforcing that

Obviously it's not known as the National Government, considering that National Governments in the past have epically failed.

Yes. It's not known as the 'National Government' because it's not known as the National Government; it's called the Coalition. It would have been called a coalition had it been Labour-Lib Dem. It was talked of as a coalition before any had been formed!

If you want to call it a National Government for the lolz then fine; just don't go quoting and 'editing' other peoples posts because they call it the Coalition.

[minionofmidas]

I move we give infraction points to anyone who calls it anything else than "National Government"!

[doktorb]

But it's not a National Government, that was a specific term given to the administration during WWII.

This is a Coalition.

[minionofmidas]

That was a specific term given to the administration during WWII.

That's not what the allusion is to, though. It was also the official name of the Tory led governments post 31... and the idea behind the term's use for the current coalition is to smear the LDs as Ramsay MacDonald like sellouts.

[doktorb]

Aaah. Well, as a LibDem card-carrying member, I can stand up quite proudly and surely, and confirm without doubt, that we are not sellouts. It's clearly not true. So "National Government" is not merely inaccurate, it's plain wrong.

[minionofmidas]

That depends on what policy area you look at, exactly.

But yeah, it's a vile-ish propaganda term that's caught on on here because it's also funny.

[doktorb]

Hehe, yeah, I'm not far-left, I do still have a sense of humour

[You kip if you want to...]

Aaah. Well, as a LibDem card-carrying member, I can stand up quite proudly and surely, and confirm without doubt, that we are not sellouts. It's clearly not true.

That's an extremely subjective statement.

[Phony Moderate]

Whatever happened to that proposed Lisbon Treaty referendum?

[You kip if you want to...]

Whatever happened to that proposed Lisbon Treaty referendum?

Dave said no some time last year and anyway, it's not like any of the Europhile Liberals would let them do it. I'd support the Yes campaign in any EU referendum either way though.

[Democratic Hawk]

     This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition government.

I wouldn't be betting the house on it

[Franzl]

     This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition government.

I wouldn't be betting the house on it

I doubt there's anything the coalition could do that would gain your approval. It's all part of the "cult of neoliberalism", after all.

[k-onmmunist]

     This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition government.

Is this post some sort of sick joke?

[Associate Justice PiT]

    This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition government.

Is this post some sort of sick joke?

     Evidently you missed afleitch's post in this thread.

[Franzl]

     This is wonderful news. It looks like the United Kingdom will be a better place for the efforts of the coalition government.

I wouldn't be betting the house on it

I doubt there's anything the coalition could do that would gain your approval. It's all part of the "cult of neoliberalism", after all.

Not necessarily given that I agree with Iain Duncan Smith when he says that work is the road out of poverty. The 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were testament to that. Then we got the Blessed Margaret - the Founding Mother of Mass Welfare Dependency in this country - and an historical leap in poverty [Cameron himself in his interview with Jeremy Paxman admitted that the Thatcher governments had, willingly, tolerated that]

Tolerated or caused I ask? Aye, the Road to Serfdom for many - in Thatcher's Britain it was - £1.50 an hour? I don't call that freedom. I call that waged slavery

Did you just copy and paste that post from a recent thread? Looks 99% identical to me.

[Franzl]

Did you just copy and paste that post from a recent thread? Looks 99% identical to me.

Yes I did. And being accurate I tend to wield it at the Right like a sledgehammer

I find it more amusing than anything else, to be honest....but be my guest.

[Democratic Hawk]

Did you just copy and paste that post from a recent thread? Looks 99% identical to me.

Yes I did. And being accurate I tend to wield it at the Right like a sledgehammer