If you were the leader of your own political party, what would your manifesto say? :)
And maybe if we have enough reasonable candidates we'll have a Hexus.Election for a laff :D
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If you were the leader of your own political party, what would your manifesto say? :)
And maybe if we have enough reasonable candidates we'll have a Hexus.Election for a laff :D
By voting for me, should your death be deemed necessary it will be quick & painless! :D
FREE P:naughty:RN 4 ALL
Well, considering that manifesto pledges do not need to have any hard work or research behind them...
1) Elimination of intra-government squabbling (eg my local NHS hospital and council have recently been spending hundreds of thousands on lawyers fees arguing over the value of land that is to be compulsory purchased from the hospital, by the council. FFS, it's just re-distributing taxpayers money!)
2) Reduction of NHS practitioner and Police paperwork burdens
3) Return of school curricula to 'hard' subjects, and not the latest fashionable soft social issues.
4) Streamlining of public services; money spent on delivering results, not on endless discussions, debates, and quangoes.
5) Increase of benefits for those who need it; dramatic reduction in number of people who qualify. Basically, huge crackdown on benefit thieves.
6) JSA is given for a year as it is now, then you have to do 3 days a week community service to continue being eligible.
7) Road work to be done 24hr/s a day, 7 days a week, in order to dramatically reduce construction times. Direct costs will slightly increase, indirect cost due to traffic disruption etc will decrease.
8) Increase in wages for high performance public workers (to draw in the quality people), large cutting of the 'chaff'; ie elimination of extraneous public employees.
9) In general, a major reduction of state influence in people's lives, and an increase in personal responsibility for parenting and social behaviour. The elimination of the "Nanny State".
10) Pursuit of Nuclear Power options for modern power generation.
11) Initially, with the reduction of public expenditure, reduction of national debt. Once this is to lower levels, reduction of the tax burden on the public.
12) Tougher laws on illegal immigration; and more importantly, faster deportation to ensure lower costs. Combined with this, zero tolerance on those endorsing terrorism; they're not welcome in our country, free speach or otherwise.
13) Motorway speed limit raised to 85mph, and properly enforced.
14) Process put in place to identify and penalise 'nuisance' lawsuits; like parents suing schools because their kid fell over playing football.
15) Tougher punishment for crimes in terms of custodial sentences and fines. If we need more prisons, so be it; we'll run them on the cheap, and they won't be very nice.
16) Removal of 'devolution'. They can either be part of the UK, or out of it, no middle road. More power to local government is fine, but it will be the same for all parts of the union, not different for each individual country.
17) Following on from above, election catchment areas will be adjusted to give equal numbers of voters in each area, and ensure an equal vote influence for all.
There's so much more to do, but that's a start... :mrgreen:
Vote santa for:
1) free presents;
2) free chocolate gold money;
3) free big tins of Quality Street;
4) free food until you're busting;
5) free films on telly;
6) free special warm inside luvverliness feeling.
My running mate will be Kylie in a skimpy fur edged santa costume.
Vote for the portly RED feller today :)
Vote Rave and you'll get, in no particular order:):
1) Immediate moves to decriminalise all recreational drugs. Heroin, Crack etc. available on prescription to minimise the harm associated with criminal activity; Cannabis, Ecstasy, Mushies etc. taxed and sold through licenced outlets to over 18s.
2) Prisons to become centres of rehabilitation rather than punishment. Early release to be conditional upon completing a course in basic literacy; for longer sentences, vocational job-skills courses to be mandatory. Releasing prisoners without first equipping them to 'go straight' is a waste of everyone's time and money.
3) All Local Education Authorities to reintroduce Grammar Schools and Secondary Moderns; streaming to be compulsory. HOWEVER- Grammar schools to get 15% less resources per pupil and teachers to be paid 10% less- they will thus have the choice between teaching 'smart' kids, or earning more working with more 'challenging' pupils. Pupils to be given annual or biannual opportunities to move schools so that 'failing the 11 plus' is not a life sentence. Secondary Moderns to focus heavily on skills based jobs training so that pupils leave equipped to make good money as builders/plumbers/mechanics etc. rather than a McJob being their only opportunity.
4) ID cards and the National Identity Register scrapped immediately. All those responsible for introducing them in the first place to be tried for Crimes Against Democracy*.
*Optional:p.
5) Existing planning regulations to be chucked in the bin wholesale. A massive program of investment in new housing to begin immediately. Anyone talking about 'Affordable Housing' to be put in the stocks and slapped about the face with a wet fish- ALL HOUSING SHOULD BE AFFORDABLE FFS. The current unaffordability of housing is IMO at the root of most of this country's problems. It reinforces class divides and makes our workforce uncompetitive in the worldwide market. We have the smallest newbuild houses in Europe, and yet as a proportion of our landmass Great Britain is 89% undeveloped- the highest proportion in Europe. This is complete stupidity, and it must be corrected.
6) In conjunction with the above- strict control of the banks. The housing bubble and subsequent catastrophic bust (which is just getting started, by the way) was caused by a complete failure to prevent banks from printing money and giving it to anyone and everyone, thus bidding up the price of a basic human right- a home- to stupid levels. This could and should have been prevented, and must be in future.
7) Massive investment in renewable energy- and most importantly large scale energy storage systems. We could power this country through wind and wave power alone- but only if we (say) build another 20 Dinorwigs. Even if this costs £100bn over 10 years it would be money well spent.
8) Complete renationalisation of the railways; all local bus services to be, at the very least, regulated by local transport authorities in a similar way to how London bus services are tendered.
9) Inheritance Tax threshold to be reduced back to its previous level of £375k or less. I would be personally 'disadvantaged' by this in the event of the death of either of my parents. I inherited a brain, a good education, and a good upbringing from my parents. I shouldn't need their money too. Large inheritances simply perpetuate ongoing class divides and inequality.
10) Tax System to be massively simplified. For a start- 'tax credits' will be abolished immediately, as paying one set of civil servants to collect tax, and then another set to pay it back out again is complete stupidity. Instead, your tax code will reflect your circumstances- single people will pay no tax on the first £6k-ish of their earnings as now, people with 1 child will pay no tax on first £10k etc. etc. Result should be considerable efficiency savings without noticeably altering anyone's overall taxation/benefit level.
Eh, that's the main stuff covered. Obviously I could go on all night, probably better if I don't:rolleyes:.
You should run. I'd vote for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rave
To be honest, most of these sound like a good idea, my only difference of opinion comes on education. I believe that teenagers should be assessed for training most suited to their personality and aspirations. Classes would be run on a myriad of topics such as maths & sciences, to more practical skills such as computer use, how to budget your finances, to dealing with inter-office politics. This would continue till approximately 21 (or longer with more involved academic subjects) or until the teenager finds themselves a job (since many businesses reliy on low paid teenage staff to function)Quote:
Originally Posted by Kata
Wow - quality candidates !
Kata for PM
Rave for Home secretary
All we need is a Chancellor..
But Kylie could be the winning factor.
I think we've got the makings of a political winner here...
Might have to do something about the central banks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rave
A lot of the banking problems came from political interference, people need to save money, we all want pensions etc, but you simply couldn't get a good return when the greenspan puts and the like where bound.
As such we would remove the government interference with targets, allowing the BoE to run as a separate entity without political interference. This would stop someone been a douche and spending a shed load of government money.
I'd bring in a tougher form of guarantee than CVA on Over The Counter transactions, people would have to have my government issued assets to back them up to certain shock ratios, a handy way of insuring our deficit maintenance wouldn't be too high as well, with only minor impact on investors overall returns.
Rating agencies would be toughly regulated, they would be vetted that they understand the products they are rating as well as or better than the issuing structurer.
Re-assess the way local authorities and other government organisations are allowed to manage their money, to prevent IceSave style issues.
Bring in a massive tax on Rave's drugs.
Increase VAT to 20%, we need the money.
The Manifesto
1) Civil court system will be eradicated above £5k - only small personal/business disagreements will be dealt with here, such as breach of SOGA or Judge Judy style conflicts over unfulfilled contracts. Instead of everybody suing each other, criminal courts will be used instead, where people will be charged with any crime that has been committed. If the judge deems it necessary, they will award what compensation they deem to be fair. It will be made clear that people need to use some common sense, and if they fall over, they should've worn sensible shoes and watched where they were going. And for definite, someone cannot be found innocent in criminal court but then liable in civil court. On the downside, Shooty will lose his job. But on the plus side people will stop looking everywhere for opportunities to sue someone else.
2) All motorways to be expanded to 5 lanes, speed limits to be raised to 90 mph. 3 lanes was a good idea 50 years ago, now we need to move on. People will be reminded that they still must drive with due care and attention considering circumstances. Driving at 90mph in rain on busy roads is unacceptable, as is tapping away at a sat nav endlessly, or indeed, using a mobile phone. See below for costs.
3) Prisons to generate income. Prisoners will be trained in relevant skills, and utilised for schemes like the above. They will be paid a small salary (a good chunk below minimum wage), which they can channel into whichever benefits they want. Decent food, rent a television, rent a PS3, whatever they choose. Any unspent money will never be turned into cash. Those who refuse to comply will receive no benefits and live in solitary confinement.
4) Prisons to become prisons. Repeat offenders will be punished with long jail terms, and those who commit serious crime will not be permitted to escape with suspended jail terms and community service. All crimes will carry a mandatory minimum sentence, whether that is a fine, community service, or a prison term. Fraudsters and the like will have all proceeds of their crime forcibly repossessed and sold off to help finance the prison system.
5) Cuts in bureaucracy across the board. We need to accept that people may suffer accidents sometimes, and that procedure may not be followed to the letter on every single occasion, so that we consequently can let people get on with their jobs. If they are negligent or commit an offence, then they will be sacked or charged with a crime. They should not need to document everything they do during the day in order to use it as proof. Eradication of the civil court may help here to reduce fear of people getting sued.
6) Education system to be overhauled. Firstly, stupid subjects will be eliminated. Travel and tourism is considered by most teachers to be an easy version of geography, which is ridiculous. It should be removed and replaced with an actual geography course. Unique subjects, such as media studies, are fine, but they must be brought into line with other courses like English, Maths, so on. Nobody should be disadvantaged because they waste 2+ years studying a course they liked the sound of but actually turns out to be a joke.
Secondly, lower and higher tier examinations will be eliminated. Making pupils take a paper where they have no opportunity to score higher than a C is hugely unfair. All papers should offer all grades, and all students should be judged by the same yardstick. For the same reason, exam boards will be stopped and one single board will run all papers. Students get no choice in which board to do, and some are notoriously easier than others, which again is unfair.
Thirdly, the government should have an approved list of university courses that it will fund. Courses that provide people with unrealistic expectations, like Forensic Science at universities of a low calibre, should be stopped because they offer very little chance of getting into the industry they imply.
Fourthly, former polytechnics / new universities will be encouraged to provide shorter-term training courses in practical skills, such as sales techniques, customer service, building, plumbing, so on so forth to ensure that anybody can go to university if they wish, without having to do a traditional writing-based course.
7) No more public consultations over construction of economically/scientifically vital infrastructure. If a site is determined as being ideal for a windfarm, the local residents should not have the opportunity to fight it and have the plans cancelled over the plight of the long-nosed African Seaswan. No location is perfect, there will always be a species of bird harmed, or somebody's view spoiled. Sadly, that's life. If necessary, locals will be given a choice. Wind farm, coal, or nuclear. We need the electricity, it will have to go somewhere. Investment in tidal systems and so on will also be accelerated, with all debate over which fish varieties might die out cancelled, so dependency on fossil fuels can be cut drastically.
8) National unemployment benefit. All citizens of the United Kingdom over the age of compulsory education will receive an automatic payment, determined as the minimum amount of money needed to live in a studio flat, and pay for electricity, gas, water, food and cheap clothing. Unemployment benefit/jobseekers allowance will thus be terminated, and anybody who is unhappy with that style of living can look for work, receive free training, go to university, or register with local council to find work. Additional money will be given for dependents, and to people who are unable to work as determined by a doctor, if no suitable treatment is available. This additional money will not alter depending on circumstances. This is not intended to punish those who can't find work, but to ensure that nobody is in a situation where working does not boost their income over sitting at home. It will also free up council employees from having to investigate people's job seeking efforts to see if they are eligible for jobseekers allowance and instead let them focus on finding suitable positions for willing individuals.
Just a few thoughts... probably riddled with economic flaws but hey, that's for the chancellor to fix ;)
It was all going fine until that point. Inheritance tax is a real bugbear of mine. Whilst I don't expect to inherit anything, I do feel that if parents or whoever, want to leave their money or belongings to someone then that should be their choice.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rave
They have earn't it and payed tax on it already. Why should I get taxed on a gift that someone has decided to give to me? It is no one else's business what people choose to do with their things.
Things like this anger me, being told what you can and can't do with you own stuff.
Reminds me of a friend I knew that got a caution for criminal damage for deciding to hit his own car with a hammer to put some dents in it (it was a rubbish car that was about to go to the scrappie in a few days).
inheritance tax is a bit of a toughie, the commies will say "Well its just richos keeping the money in the family". But in fact its worse its a tax on un-expected death.
If you've say only £2M odds are you will use trusts and other perfectly legit ways of transferring the money, if you have a heart attack and haven't put these plans in place your buggered.
Free hat.
A red hat by any chance?Quote:
Originally Posted by directhex
http://southparkstudios-intl.mtvnima...609_img_17.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Lee @ SCAN
I would like to take this moment to say how both George and myself completely oppose the murder of innocent babies.
http://southparkstudios.mtvnimages.c...0609_04_v6.jpg
Hmmm.Quote:
Originally Posted by 0iD
Bearing in mind exactly how much (see *) I'd like to be elected, my manifesto would be :-
1) Elect me and I sincerely promise you'll get a dictatorship in which I do precisely as I chose, and there's no guarantee it'll be benevolent.
2) Given the above, anyone voting for me is clearly a moron so should have the mandate removed from them, permanently .... and retrospectively, so as to cover the previous election, that being the one that elected me.
3) If elected, I will resign .... and emigrate, because I'm damned if I want to live in a country daft enough to elect me.
(*) About as much as I want, AIDS, a dose of the clap and Gordon Brown as a roommate. Though at a push, I might accept the first two, but the last one is just going too far.
That sounds very much like the ending to The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy*, anyone who's capable of getting elected should on no account be given actual power.
*the radio series, natch.
1) Shoot a cyclist and win a cash prize.
2) Fine all foreigners, living abroad.
3) The wearing of swords shall become mandatory. This will teach discipline (in learning sword fighting) and a healthy respect for your fellow (wo)man. Yes the murder rate will increase but is that necessarily a bad thing? There are far too many of us anyway.
4) Heat sealed plastic will be banned on pain of death.
5) All t.v. adverts will be banned on pain of death.
6) Fibre broadband for all - at least gigabit speed - with a lottery of death by firing squad for one B.T. executive per week until 100% coverage of the U.K. is reached.
7) All Premiership footballers to receive mandatory doses of Bromide, a 99.9% pay cut and further education classes.
8) All bankers and politicians responsible for the reprehensible mess of the country/economy today shall be killed and eaten.
9) Anyone caught maltreating animals and/or children shall be killed and eaten.
10) Anyone I don't like the look of shall be killed and eaten.
11) All local planning officers shall be made to live next door to stupid sites they've approved for six months and then be killed and eaten.
12) Ofcom shall be disbanded and all current and previous members shall be killed and eaten.
Vote for me and my Tolerance Party. :)
What I actually had in mind was an adaptation of a remark attributed to Groucho Marx, which went something like "I don't care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members." But the HGTTG quote works for me too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Salazaar
I would not make a good politician. For a start, I'd get banned from the BBC the first time someone asked me to comment on Gordon Brown's policies or competence, because the adjectives and expletives I'm thinking when I type my views of him on here would be too likely to ..... ahem .... 'accidentally' slip out, and I'm sure that using that kind of language about one's "honourable" colleagues, 'just isn't done, don'tcha know, ol' boy.'
And that's before we even get to policies which, in the interests of my blood pressure, I don't intend to get into.
Doesn't seem entirely unreasonable. Except for item 8). You want us to eat a banker? My body is a temple and I refuse to desecrate it like that. Amend that to "feed them to the lions", preferably before we kill them and you've got my vote.Quote:
Originally Posted by pollaxe
No wait .... that might leave me running foul of item 9) .... mistreating lions. How about we offer them to the lions and see how discerning lions are? Or sharks maybe? Nah, they're animals too. Is there anything wrong in 'mistreating' a vat of acid?
Great idea and we can have it just before the Lottery draw instead of having 20-30 minutes of Dale Winton mincing across the TV or some other Z list celeb who can only this as a job.Quote:
Originally Posted by Saracen
I say you all merge your policies and form 1 super party and fight n00blabour ;)
Well look- to be perfectly honest, if I'm to have the courage of my convictions, I think that inheritance tax should be 100% with no exemptions. Just because my parents are wealthy, why should I inherit a nice free house in which to spend my retirement? I'm 30 and the only pension I currently have is (at current rates) about £800 a year from my 2 1/2 years in the civil service. I'm not especially worried though, as under the current system I'll have a 1/3rd share in the estates of both my parents (they're divorced, and I have two brothers). So- I don't have to worry about paying for housing in my old age, I just have to find money for food, energy, and council tax. Given that I'm a tightwad, I reckon I could get by on an income of <£400 a month if I owned my own house outright.Quote:
Originally Posted by 99Flake
It's swings and roundabouts really- if a massive crash in house prices were to occur, then I could afford to buy and pay off my own house by the time I'm 67 (which is when I'll be retiring- I think). But then the value of my inheritance will crash. If not, I'm basically priced out of home ownership forever, in which case I need to inherit. I would prefer the first option by a long way, because it puts me on an equal footing with someone who's prepared to work as hard as me but who's parents own nothing. That's fair, and IMO fairness is paramount.
But equally I'm aware that a 100% inheritance tax is tantamount to communism, and communism provably doesn't work very well. People need to have an incentive to benefit from the fruits of their labours, and one benefit is the pleasure of knowing that you've provided for your own children.
You've got to remember also that under the current system, inheritances beyond the threshold are not subject to 100% tax, but IIRC 40%. So if you leave an estate valued at £2m, instead of £1m, your beneficiaries still inherit 60% more than if you were a mere millionaire.
Thinking on, IMO a sensible reform of the inheritance tax system would be to abolish an outright threshold on the value of an estate, and instead put a limit on individual bequests to your children of, say, £100-200k. As I've said, I have two brothers; my wife is an only child. Her parents' house is worth about £300k, and she'll get it all with no inheritance tax to pay, even if the old threshold is reintroduced. My parents will- I guess- leave an estate of ~£500k each, so there would be tax to pay on that before it got split three ways- which is a bit unfair.
Because you've (possibly) done nothing to earn it beyond being born?Quote:
They have earn't it and payed tax on it already. Why should I get taxed on a gift that someone has decided to give to me?
Your friend is an idiot for accepting the caution then. He should have told the police to prosecute him. In the extremely unlikely event that they decided to go ahead, he should have turned up in court and asked whether, say, James May making a Picasso tribute sculpture out of an old Ford Capri (which is a classic car now, values much higher than 10 years ago) was also criminal damage?Quote:
It is no one else's business what people choose to do with their things.
Things like this anger me, being told what you can and can't do with you own stuff.
Reminds me of a friend I knew that got a caution for criminal damage for deciding to hit his own car with a hammer to put some dents in it (it was a rubbish car that was about to go to the scrappie in a few days).
A high inheritance tax is IMO totally unfair, as Flake said, parents have worked for that money, have paid tax on that money and in most cases have actively saved that money. Why shouldn't they be allowed to pass it onto their children? If the parents were smart enough to have earn't & saved that much, chances are they will have brought up their children to appreciate the money and put it to good use when it comes to it. Either way, by the time the parents are old enough to pass it on, their kids will be in their late 50s? 60s? and should have already made a life for themselves. That and if you put inheritance tax up that much there surely there would be mass emigration of people towards the end of their lives, taking their money with them, to avoid it?
Mass renewable energy is a gimmic as well I think, nuclear power & ways of sorting the waste out properly is a more viable alternative. At least for the next couple of decades. :)