|Laguna|

Well general elections are pretty important and then they only get 60%

Dang it, well done. and I thought I was doing a hard question : / Your turn.

Ok, I think this is a better one. It's a bit harder and more complex, as the last ones have been answered pretty quickly, so make sure you read the question. One N-E user recently bought an Xbox360, and so to comply with their gamercard name, they changed their N-E name. What was this person's original user name, before the change.

Domstercool>

I think that that's it, i knew it was something with Ben in it.

GentleBen? Random, just came to mind

Yep. Well done. Maybe too easy?

Erm, my question. Who is this forum's No1 Shenmue fan?

So am I

Ashley! ..

Fascinating, well yeah. But more important? Politics for everyday people affects far more people, despite the fact that not many acknowledge this. For example, Labour, despite promising not to introduce top up fees, they did (*shakes fist*) and this affects you and me directly as we are both going to university, and as a consequence, we are going to be in far more debt than we would have been had maybe Labour not got into power. Again, the Iraq war, a key political affair that has deeply affected our country. Due to this war, we have seen an insurgence of terrorism, as depicted by 7/7 bombings. This has lead to fear among people, and a strong strong increase in anti-Muslim sentiment in this country. This is a direct result of politics, and again, I come back to the "what if" situation. Had maybe the Conservatives been in power at the end, then maybe they wouldn't have been so eager to appease America, and go to war. If this had happen, I'm sure a lot more people would be alive today. Politics dictates how our country is run, and those who we are elected, are sovereign, i.e. the most powerful people in this country. They have a huge power, and can, and will affect our life daily. Be it regarding the NHS, be it regarding smoking in pubs, regardless, they are without doubt one the most important parts of any society, as they define the laws by which we live. Rant over. Sorry, have just been writing an essay for my politics, so I was in a long writing mood.

I found the clip for those that didn't see it.

Yeah, but wasn't the vote also held in England, Wales and Scotland?

I'm not an avid cricket fan, in fact I barely know anything technical about it, but I do know that the really fat bloke who bowls for Bermuda (I think) is hilarious. Seems so random to have such a huge guy playing a sport like cricket when nearly everyone else is pretty fit and athletic.

In my class at the moment we were discussing referendums that have taken place in Britain in the past, and one of them was "should Northern Ireland remain part of the United Kingdom or join the Republic of Ireland?" in 1973. Now I, and most of my class were of the opinion that Northern Ireland should join the Republic, but looking at the actual results of the referendum, 91% of the population voted in favor of keeping Northern Ireland in the UK. Now I was wondering, how would you vote if this referendum took place tomorrow, (and if you're underage, imagine you can vote). Yes or no to keep NI in the UK? *This is not meant to offend any people in NI btw, just opinions etc

Well I share my birthday with David Beckham's son, Brooklyn. So there

Aye, that's the problem. The only way I foresee it happening if a Labour/Conservatives have to form a collation with the Lib Dems, who will make the condition that PR is introduced. I think this happened in Scotland when Labour had to form a coalition with the Lib Dems, and the only way Labour got them to agree was to allow proportional representation in local council elections in Scotland. Here's what would have happened, had PR been used in the last general election. As you can see, it's obvious why the Lib Dems want PR so badly.

Zing! I bought a Dreamcast and Shenmue 1 and 2 a while ago, but about half way through Shenmue 1 the Dreamcast broke, and I never got round to replacing it... Until this Wednesday! I can't wait! I'm getting a new TV for my bedroom, and I'm being reunited with Shenmue. Happy days.

Bah! Final Fantasy XII is better than Final Fantasy X, but to not even include Final Fantasy XII on the list at all... And no Tales Of Symphonia on the Gamecube list, yet Baten is! Ludicrous.

Didn't know whether to post this in the Politics thread, or this one. But I think it is more suited for here. So/ Hey, any Scottish people out there, who know a wee thing about politics, do the Scottish Parliamentry elections get much antetnion? It's for an essay I'm doing contrasting General elections with Scottish and European elections, and I know that not much attention is given to European elections, (29% turnout!) but I haven't the foggiest on how big a deal Scottish Parliamentry Elections are. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I think why a lot of people don't vote is because they view it as a vote wasted, for example, the area I live in has been under Conservative rule since I was born, and many people who do live in my area and do support Labour do not bother to vote as they think they'd just be wasting their vote. So in a way to remedy that, proportional representation could be introduced, as it would encourage people to vote for smaller, minority parties, like Green, or UKIP, or Respect who have policies that are specially designed, and not just in the middle like the Cons/Lab, as this way their vote would really mean something. Currently, under first past the post, if you vote for these parties it is generally a wasted vote due to the dominance of the Conservatives and Labour.

Indeed. What particularly sickens me is when people do not vote, yet they moan about the person/party that gets into office. So annoying. But then again, some famous political theorist (his name escapes me) claimed that "Does the case for democracy break down when most people are proven to be stupid". I mean should morons who have no idea at all about politics be allowed to vote, when their vote will only be based upon something frivolous like the looks of the politician or their hair colour. Should those who are of a low intelligence, or those who are completely politically ignorant be entrusted with the power of which will decide who will lead our country for the next four years? Because of these people, which are unfortunately in the majority, I believe has lead to this horrible spin, and PR centred style of politics, with all the crap about presenting politicians to be "just like you lot, one of the lads etc". Nowadays it’s more about the presentation of policies rather than the actual policies themselves, style over substance so to speak.

I agree with you. I think people who came into politics, (hopefully) during this slimey end to Labours time in power, like myself, are more likely to vote for the Conservatives as not many would want to vote for Labour after seeing all the scandal, and all the lies that the Labour reign has perpetrated. However, I see the Conservatives winning the next election, and then they stay in power for a bit, and then gradually their standards will fall, and they will start to become corrupt, and complacant (just like the Labour is today) and the people of that time will see this, and favour Labour, vote them in. And so the cycle will continue.

Yay thanks I don't often create threads, and I was scared this one would bomb. Oh and did anyone see the Comic Relief sketch containing Tony Blair? This may be just me, but I found saw it as an blatant attempt by him to try and "look cool" and improve his PR. I found it horribly cringey and I doubt he's gives a sod about Red Nose day.

I'm just curious in this day in age how many people keep up to date with today's political agenda or if many take the "they're all lying corrupt so-and-sos" and try and blank any political goings on. I do Politics for AS (but I would like to think that I would be interested in it regardless), so I generally try and read what I can in newspapers each day about what's happening in the Commons and such. But what about you? How involved and informed are you? Are you a member or strong supporter of any particular political party? And if not, why not?