The United Kingdom Elections 2010

[Furunculus]

Tragically, this is no longer the case. Look at that frightful Thatcher woman, a grocer's daughter for Pity's sake, going around giving the peasantry ownership of their own homes and reducing their tax burden that should be grinding them into submission.

Not at all what is expected, what.

unlike Louis, I am full agreement with the sentiment.

this irrational thatcher hatred is deeply unhealthy for those who exhibit it, especially for Brits for whom it makes an actual difference.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Believe me, the Welsh speak Welsh, they also swear in it; I can tell you that from personal experience.

Not down south around bridgend, newport and cardiff way. Meeting someone who speaks welsh is something of a novelty where I live, even the majority of my friends can say more in other langauges than Welsh. Maybe its different in mid wales and the north but the two places I have lived in the south have very very few welsh speakers, off the top of my head I now as many people fluent in polish as welsh (two incase your intrested) When I still went to school a girl came joined our year who could speak welsh and it was a novelty to everyone, outside of her there wasn't a single fluent person in my year.

Also less sure on this one, but im sure a fluent friend told me there are no swear words in welsh, you could construct an insulting sentence but theres no actual swear words... my memorys a little hazy there though...

in mid-wales which is supposedly very welshy, i often come across the chippy-welsh types who will deliberately try to talk in welsh to make a point of excluding any english, but even they often cannot comfortably converse with their friends as easily as they could in english.

Ah boys, try living with a Welsh womean for two years; it's a wild Celtic rollacoaster.

Just take my work for it, ok, there are 600,000 native-Welsh speakers in Wales, so Beskar claim that, "not even the Welsh speak Welsh" is incorrect, perhaps even tautological given that the Welsh-speakers define "Welshness" as use of said language.

What you are essentially saying is that you want the same thing we have here in Australia. Federal and State government, where in your case the states will be NI, Wales, Scotland and England.

No, I'd rather just have the one Parliament; and effective County Councils.

Bollox - to quote the most useful Irish phrase I've ever learned.

Thatcher has destroyed the British lower classes. Income inequality in Britain is now back to the level it was in Dickens' time.
Social mobility is the lowest in Europe. Talent is no longer decisive for succes in Britain. Your parents' class is.

Coolius, to quote the most useful Latin phrase I ever learned. If anyone destroyed the working class is was Labour, when they used unhealthy sbsidies to hold up dying industries. All Thatcher did was pull the life-support 20 years later and put the patient out of its misery. Had Labour indulged in more sanguine ecenomic practices during the 50's and 60's we might have aBritish ship-building industry today.

[Vladimir]

Wow. I'm four pages behind.

Does anyone think the Liberal Democrats are the real winners in this election? How can a party in the minority loose seats yet have so much power?

[Furunculus]

Wow. I'm four pages behind.

Does anyone think the Liberal Democrats are the real winners in this election? How can a party in the minority loose seats yet have so much power?

we won't find out 'how' much power until we see which bits of the the various manifesto's have been torn up...............

Still, the Conservatives have a better record, if only because they aren't prone to dicking about with our Constitution.

amen!