The United Kingdom Elections 2010

[Furunculus]

I would like to apologise on behalf of the entire island north and south that we failed to prevent Cameron getting back to England dam volcano never goes when you want it to

lol, i don't think your speaking on behalf of the DUP.

[gaelic cowboy]

lol, i don't think your speaking on behalf of the DUP.

lol

Man I can just see the hastily prepared car crash style events they would have had to prepare today in the north if he had got stuck over here. Labour may secretly hate the working class but Tory incomprehension of the "colonies" would have made for tremendous fun.

[Furunculus]

que?

[tibilicus]

The real question seems to be can we afford another 5 years of LAbor?http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gmg/op/...20787&cat=News.

[Furunculus]

no is the short and sweet answer to that.

[al Roumi]

no is the short and sweet answer to that.

Lol, perhaps the real questions are (cos I've heard nothing on them really so far):

What can we afford?
What can we afford to do without?

Shame we aren't voting on proposals to address either question - frankly I feel less wise about parties' intentions now than I did before the election was called. boo.

[Furunculus]

oops, a trifle embarrassing:

Hung parliament would be bad for Britain, says law firm where Nick Clegg's wife works

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/elec...ife-works.html

DLA Piper, where Miriam González Durántez is a partner and head of international trade, said that legislation passed by coalitions is often “anodyne” because it has been “watered down” through “endless” negotiation.

The leading legal practice also said that British hung parliament could lead to “perverse” results as “extreme” parties force “bad” policies through in return for keeping a minority government in power.

Its intervention will come as an embarrassment to the Liberal Democrat leader, who is likely to be the biggest beneficiary if the general election ends in political stalemate.

Mr Clegg could be the “kingmaker” if neither Labour nor the Conservatives win an outright majority, playing a key role in the choice of the next Prime Minister as well as being able to demand that his party’s policies on electoral reform are made law before supporting any coalition.

But on the eve of the election DLA Piper, where the Lib Dem leader’s wife has worked since 2006, issued a press release on the serious problems that a hung parliament could create for Britain.

Paul Stone, a partner and public law expert at the firm, said: "A hallmark feature of a coalition government is the sheer time it can take to achieve consensus. From a legal point of view, this often results in laws being passed that are of high quality and well scrutinised, but unfortunately, are often watered down to the point of being anodyne as a result of endless rounds of review and compromise.

“The main risk to UK legislation is from the perverse results which can arise when the extreme agendas of minority fringe, or single issue parties, actually gain a disproportionate ability to influence policy in return for keeping a minority government in power. In such a situation the silent majority may well find itself being forced to bend to the will of the hard line minority; such situations can result not only in ‘bad’ laws but laws which are clearly outside the scope of what the broad majority of a voting population would be prepared to support.”

However he added that Italy’s “weak coalition governments” helped the economy in the 1970s, as the political “vacuum” allowed businesses to flourish without state interference.