PDA

View Full Version : Go Da-vid! Go Da-vid! Its your Birthday!


Professor S
05-12-2010, 08:25 AM
My favorite politician has been asked for form a government in Great Britain. David Cameron is your new Prime Minister.

The new UK Prime Minister David Cameron is shaping his government, after his Conservative Party formed an historic coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is to be the new deputy prime minister, with four colleagues also getting cabinet jobs.

George Osborne is chancellor, William Hague is foreign secretary and Theresa May is the new home secretary.

In a message to supporters, Mr Cameron said it marked a "new era for Britain" adding: "Now let's get to work."

The coalition is the first time the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have had a power-sharing deal at Westminster and the first coalition in the UK since the Second World War.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8676607.stm

This presentation is what made me a huge fan:

<object width="446" height="326"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param> <param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/DavidCameron_2010-medium.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/DavidCameron_2010-embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=768&introDuration=16500&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=2000&adKeys=talk=david_cameron;year=2010;theme=a_taste_of_ted2010;theme=bold_predictions_stern_warnings;t heme=new_on_ted_com;event=TED2010;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="446" height="326" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talks/dynamic/DavidCameron_2010-medium.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/DavidCameron_2010-embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=768&introDuration=16500&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=2000&adKeys=talk=david_cameron;year=2010;theme=a_taste_of_ted2010;theme=bold_predictions_stern_warnings;t heme=new_on_ted_com;event=TED2010;"></embed></object>

Bond
05-12-2010, 10:24 AM
Here's the agreement reached between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats:

http://www.conservatives.com/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/agreement.ashx?dl=true

Xantar
05-16-2010, 07:59 PM
I hope they manage to get the proportional representation measure passed. In Britain, people don't vote for individual representatives but vote for the party as a whole. However, MPs are still voted in by district similar to the US. That kind of system only makes sense when individual politicians are relatively independent (yeah, some would say that's less true in the US than it used to be, but we're still a long way off from the UK). So instead, they now have a system where (in an extreme case) a third of voters could cast their vote for Conservatives and receive 0 representation. And meanwhile, the MPs would all be voting in lockstep for other policy items. It's just not right, regardless of where you are on the political spectrum.