So does anyone like their system of government?

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You Gov boss Peter kellner has been conducting research on what people think of government in the UK. http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_upload...itain%20A5.pdf

And the results are:
About 2/3 of the population think the UK is democratic.

people were asked what they liked and disliked.
3% liked the quality of politicians while 53% disliked it.
3% liked the way the house of lords is elected 39% disliked it
5% like our political parties are good, 39% dislike.
13% liked the fact we get governments elected by less than 50%
of voters, 23% disliked it.
32% liked the queens role, 9% disliked.
The only institution which got more support than the queen was coverage by the media, which 36% liked and 7% disliked.

A similar poll on national attitudes was done in 1954. Then 38% thought their MP was doing a good job. Now 15% think so. 2/3 of people think that however good an MP is when they start the job, they become remote from the people who elected them. 2/3 also believe MPs lie all the time. This rises to 80% amongst supporters of the smaller parties. 57% of people interested in politics think MPs liars, 63% amongts those totally disinterested.

The proportion who trust the government stands at 20%.

58% think the result of an election makes no difference.
Half of both labour and conservative supporters think there is little difference between the two parties.

38% think we would be governed better by professional experts rather than politicians. 43% disagreed.

47% think we have a good choice of parties. The only group where there is a majority who believe there is a good choice of parties is members of the conservativw party.

People were asked who MPs listen to, and who they should listen to:
56% think they listen to large companies, 9% think they should.
44% think they listen to civil servants, 14% think they should.
35% think they listen to newspapers,1% think they should.
30% think they listen to the EU, 2% think they should.
27% think they listen to their voters, 77% think they should.
20% think the listen to the US government, 1% think they should.
4% think they listen to poor families, 40% think they should.
5% think they listen to people like me, 73% think they should.

People were asked how MPs should vote on issues in parliament.
100% said MPs should pay a great deal of attention to the wishes of their constituents, 4% thought they actually do.
100% said MPs should pay a great deal of attention to their election promises, 2% think they do.
30% thought they should pay attention to their party leaders wishes, 63% think they pay most attention to this.

In a free vote 58% thought MPS should vote how their constituents would wish and 29% thought they should be free to use their own judgement. 39% thought MPs should decide big issues, wheras 45% thought they should be put to a referendum. A big majority want MPs to be delegates, obeying their voters wishes, not representatives free to make up their own minds. Only 15% want them to have the freedom they have now


Any suggestions or views from elsewhere?

In the UK we love to grumble about our government just as we love to grumble about the weather. I don't dispute the figures @Dandelion has presented. What they leave out is how bothered anyone is about any of them.

About the only issue people could actually get motivated about is the Queen.

We do get the latest media-stirred fetishes. Right now people are arguing we should break our own and international law to send a nasty man to Jordan asap. A while back people were so enraged about paedophiles living in the community that a paediatrician was attacked by some midless yobs who thought the two words meant that same.

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It is of course a self fulfilling prophecy that if MPs are not influenced by their voters and the result is going to be someone of this mindset whoever wins, then there is little point becoming interested. But you are of course right that so long as the government does not do something too stupid then the people leave it alone to do what it likes. This always leads to governments overstepping the mark. For example, blair invaded Iraq. Thatcher brought us the poll tax.

This is however a very dangerous situation. We are in the middle of an economic crisis where governments chosen means of dealing with it is in danger of being diametrically opposed to the wishes of the people.

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What a cunt.

Perfect poll for the English, a whole series of negative options. English heaven.

Q1 - what the fuck are you actually doing to make the country a better place?

90% thought that that was someone else's job. 10% didn't understand the question.

As my Grandfather used to say, "If you are going to have a woman, why not have a beautiful one who wants to fuck you."

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Was that a vote for or against government?

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To a large extent, you get the government you deserve.

As my Grandfather used to say, "If you are going to have a woman, why not have a beautiful one who wants to fuck you."

I miss the good o'l East German days with the STAZI. *sigh*

Anybody remember Centrum in Alexanderplatz in East Berlin?

This is precisely the problem. People have created the concept of the other. The government. The 1%. The bankers. The rich. Them. They.

Everything that is wrong is someone else's responsibility. The attitude is shocking. There's no Christian sense of personal responsibility, no sense that we are all responsible for every aspect of our society. "We have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed, through our fault, our own fault, our own most grievous fault".

Yes there are people who give. But try to fill a vacancy on a residents' committee or the endless tasks needed by local groups and charities and churches, or try to get family members to shoulder family responsibilities, and there is a sad reluctance to get involved. People won't turn up to meet their councillor to look at an issue in their road.

There's a UK anthem which sets out the duty for service: "I vow to thee my country (all earthly things above) Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love". Today it's somehow seen as too nationalistic. But every nation needs this willingness to serve.

The best system of government is a democracy in which people serve their nation, where people respect their politicians for being willing to shoulder a heavy burden and act to support them.

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nope

There is more to sex appeal than just measurements. I don't need a bedroom to prove my womanliness. I can convey just as much sex appeal, picking apples off a tree or standing in the rain.
Audrey Hepburn

First time I saw Alexanderplatz, McDonald's had just opened and there was a queue. I think Centrum was still there. Not sure quite when they morphed into something western.

First time I went to Prague the machine gun emplacements were still in place at the airport concourse. First time in Bulgaria was on a transit visa without right to step of a train. First in Yugoslavia their currency was so soft they wouldn't accept it from foreigners - and I gave my first backhanded to get an official to do his job. First in Russia took me four hours to get through Sheremyetovo II airport. A customs officer confiscated a box of chocolates I had in my luggage. The world has moved on.

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Apparently one of the French presidential candidates is campaigning on a maximum of wage of 350,000 euros, never mind the million pound proposal.

Yes I've heard this. It's amazing how daft folk are!

What does seem clear is that a Hollande victory would have consequences. For starters he's pledged to reduce the French pension age from 62 to 60. France cannot afford 62 - sensible would be to move it up towards 65 soon and keep open the option of going quite a bit higher. This and his other spending pledges cannot be funded from taxation and will lead to a lack of confidence in France being able to repay its debts - France will follow Italy and Spain into the danger zone. Hollande is also pledged to renegitiate the Fiscal Union Compact, basically to allow higher spending and bigger deficits. His sensible measure (if you are French!) is that he wants Eurobonds and debt union, ie Germany pays.

The French people appear to have gone through this election without talking about any of the real issues. No-one is talking about the need for austerity. The people of France really do seem to believe they can retire at 60. I suppose if those nice Germans are going to fund it them that is just great.

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I met an intelligent charismatic Frenchman today.

He's been living in Korea for twenty years. Made a successful business, created jobs, valued by the Government, made good money, and fuck me got to keep some of it.

Corporate Europe is getting to the point where the purpose of business is to provide products and services solely for and at a price which will sustain overpaid workers and bloated bureaucracies. This is the deal that may be attractive to the senior management of French Banks and dinosaurs like Phillips, but it is unsustainable, both because the service and products become poorer, but also because incoming companies will kick their asses and under WTO agreements you can't or aren't supposed to stop them. Also no one overseas wants their shit.

Germany doesn't buy into this nonsense. And why Perados is telling me that Germany will not support a Europe that wants to be like this. Actually, they have been playing both sides of the same coin since the Euro, quiety fucking Europe for what they can and doing well in export markets on the relative devaluation that the Euro gave them. Well done, but the pants are down. We will see how impressive the wurst is.

I don't wish to wish ill on my Gallic cousins but in a way it would be a good wake up call for the world markets to reject them if this twat gets elected.

As my Grandfather used to say, "If you are going to have a woman, why not have a beautiful one who wants to fuck you."

I was last in France last September. Papers and the television had very basic information about the euro crisis. While UK, Germany, Ireland, USA and doubtless more have access to debate of a decent quality the French seemed stick with bland statements about local problems in Greece and not much else.

What I've seen of the presidential race is a nation in denial. The people of France do not seem to know that their best hope is austerity of the sort applied in Club Med - the French economy might possibly be strong enough to pull through. I'm willing to believe Sarkozy would see sense after election - but not Hollande.

Hollande doesn't like the UK (he feels we don't give enough support to the EU). His party has a visceral hatred of the USA both as the most capitalist nation but also as the nation that put his colleague Strauss Kahn through the pre-trial punishment of a humiliating "perp walk". He doesn't like Germany (no debt union, no Euro-bonds). If the French elect him, well OUCH!

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Jase, La France, La France, C'est La France, owed a living only slightly more than the English think that they are. Yet of course if you are French you can't imagine why anyone so barbaric as the English might think they are worth shit. Perhaps vice versa.

L'ancien regime. I give it 10 years to get very messy.

As my Grandfather used to say, "If you are going to have a woman, why not have a beautiful one who wants to fuck you."