Everything you ever wanted to know about British politics but were afraid to ask...

[Cyclefrance]

With the British government in meltdown (for John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, change meltdown to trousers-down), the headlines make interesting reading again. It occured to me, however, that many of you in the US probably know very little about our government (much as we probably know about yours). So here's a little thread in an attempt to change that for you.

If you want to know something about our politicians, who they are, what they get up to, what they should get up to and how we feel about them then ask here.

I hope that some of my British comrade Cellarites will join in - Jaguar, Limey and others.

To bring you up-to-date with all the fun we are having in UK politics at the moment:

1. Charles Clarke, Secretary of State for the Home Office (Prisons, Immigration, Law & Order, Terrorism and all those nice little things) has manged to oversee the 'loss' of up to 1,000 (probably more) foreign hard-line criminals. They should have been deported, but, oops, they got released back into the free world by mistake. Only a half dozen or thereabouts have so far murdered or raped or committed other serious crimes, so still plenty of time to catch the rest and bring them under control - if only anyone knew who they were.....

2. Patricia Hewitt (now nicknamed Patricia Blew-it), Secretary of State for Health keeps telling everyone she meets that our health service has had its best year yet. Hard to get people to listen when there is close to a £1 billion deficit this year, hospitals are closing wards and front-line staff are being dismissed (13,000 expected to go). Poor girl, she can no longer give a speech, she gets boo-ed off the stage by angry doctors and nurses.

3. Last but not least, John Prescott, who has been screwing his secretary. OK it happens, but he really shouldn't have preached about the need for this thing to stop a few years back. Was known as two Jags, because of his cars, but now, predictably known as two shags!


Not to forget the opposition:

David Cameron, new leader of the Conservative/Tory Party is keen to show us his green credentials in this age of global warming. So he cycles to work each day - sadly with his chauffeur driving his Lexus behind carrying a change of clothes. Oh, but he did get a photo taken of him on a glacier to help bring home the point. But sadly he had to fly there and create a few unnecessary extra CO2 emmissions doing so....

Anything else you want to know - just ask. I and my fello Brits will do our best to enlighten, I am sure - maybe not always the exact truth, but British politics will hopefully become a source of entertainment for a change.

[Cyclefrance]

Still afraid to ask, eh?

Well, the current state of play is John Prescott projecting slightly ahead in the resignation stakes - managing to hang on by his balls, one might say.... Charles Clarke looked as though he was going to take a clear lead but has reined back a shade (although it's difficult to understand how or why - maybe he's electronically tagged?). Patricia Hewitt is keeping her head down and maintaining a position at the rear of the field - no trophies likely for her as she is and things stand, but there's still plenty of ground yet to be covered, and the field could change round completely before it's all over - stranger things have happened.

[Cyclefrance]

It's almost as if the Prescott thing will take care of itself, or else the opposition parties are happy to let him wait on the sidelines - prolong the agony sort of thing. Tonight, guns are blazing from the Tories and LibDems unequivocably in Mr Clarke's direction...

Tomorrow...? We'll have to wait and see....

[Trilby]

I like this, CF. It's very educational. I don't know enough to comment specifically, but generally it's nice to know that people are people where ever you go! I especially liked the one about David Cameron biking to work, HA!--please keep us informed about the UK--!

[Cyclefrance]

Green Policy turns into Greenbacks...

Oops! The EU Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme, meant to act as a device to limit and reduce the amount of carbon pumped into the atmosphere looks as though it has given power companies a £1 billion windfall profit instead.

It's a bit hard to follow, but essentially, firms had been given the trading permits free of charge by the government and their relative value is set by pricing the carbon available against a permit. Companies that produced low carbon output would be able to sell their excess to those who produce high carbon output and needed the extra capacity - overall it was hoped that the scheme would see carbon levels reduce as firms either used their earnings to improve emissions or saw it more advantageous to improve emissions rather than pay for extra carbon capacity without such change

Now the rapidly increased value of electricity has pushed the carbon value up and so those selling spare 'carbon capacity' have seen the price they are being offered soar - and they haven't had to make any investment at all in new technology to reduce emissions further to do reap this reward. Likewise those paying have the extra dosh to do so. A clear case of using the wrong device to achieve the desired result, and yet another example of a badly thought through, government-inspired cock-up. Our government has even been fighting to have the carbon limits raised, blissfully unaware of what was happening with the original scheme.

Nice to know they have everything under control.....

[limey]

Sorry CF but I find this as depressing as reading Private Eye. Politicians shag around,they lie, they cheat, they manipulate everything to their own short-term ends. Bah!

[Cyclefrance]

My work... depressing!?!

I'll take to the bottle immediately (we have a nice Sauvignon Blanc sitting doing nothing anyway, and if I'm not quick Mrs CF will only down it all by herself!)

Equally sorry, but I find the antics of the politicians nothing short of farcical entertainment. No wonder they're situated so close to the Whitehall Theatre, home of Brian 'there-go-my-trousers-again' Rix!

[Cyclefrance]

Local Elections on 4th May

Tomorrow sees a large part of the country (if they have the will to do so) vote to elect local councillors.

Years gone by these elections used to be distinct from the main government of the country and you would see residents associations, independent parties and other 'non-political' bodies entering into the fray.

Nowadays, it is generally just a reflection of the government parties but operating at local level and dealing with local issues which are funded through a 'Council Tax ' system based upon the value of your house and the number of people resident in it. How much is this tax? Well, currently I pay £2,000 a year for what seems to be having my dustbins emptied and not much else - as I don't partake of any of the other srevices covered (education, policing, subsidised housing, libraries, road maintenance and so on). Clearly there are others who get more and pay less for the privilege - it's that sort of a system...!

So tomorrow we will see various Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates slugging it out across the country and the electorate giving their opinion on the current state of our government in their voting - because the local elections are now more to do with how we feel about the main government 's performance than the local issues they are meant to cater for.

So watch this space and see if Labour 's disastrous last ten days gets the reaction that many are predicting - a dramatic drop in the number of Labour held seats and wards in local councils.

[Cyclefrance]

Bad day it was indeed for labour. Lost control of the London boroughs to the Conservatives and lost 250 councillors overall. British Nationalist Party, known for its extremist right-wing views and policies, gained 11 seats, reflecting the electorate's dissatisfaction with the government's inability to handle problems with immigration and other sensitive issues. Main winners Conservative's though taking 40% of the vote with Labour at 26% and Lib Dems at 27%

Result has prompted an instant major cabinet re-shuffle by Blair.

Charles Clarke is sacked as Home Secretary - replaced by John Reid (seems to move rapidly from one department to the next before any mud sticks - has headed Health and Defence in last twelve months!)

Surprisingly John Prescott stays as Deputy PM but loses his department

Jack Straw goes as Foreign Secretary, being replaced by Margaret Becket - Straw becomes leader of the House of Commons.

Not surprisingly Gordon Brown stays as Chancellor.

No mention yet of Patricia Hewitt being moved....

Probably more to come - so will update later.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The EU Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme

Has the government, any government, ever come up with a scheme that the utilities haven't been able to turn to their advantage?
The upside of the soaring credits value/cost, is they may be willing to spend more on reducing carbon spewing.

Being only vaguely aware of the system and completely lost on the characters, makes it hard to follow.

[Cyclefrance]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

The EU Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme

Has the government, any government, ever come up with a scheme that the utilities haven't been able to turn to their advantage?
The upside of the soaring credits value/cost, is they may be willing to spend more on reducing carbon spewing.

Being only vaguely aware of the system and completely lost on the characters, makes it hard to follow.

Setting aside the overhead of managing/policing this, I guess the permits should have had some base value linked to the price of energy at the time of issue. Trades would still be done at the market price, but the difference between base price and elevated price would be passed to a third party/body that would ensure that this element was used to improve emissions rather than see it go straight in the pocket of the company selling its spare capacity.

Otherwise it needs a re-think to uncover a better and more direct way of encouraging companies to improve/reduce emissions than relying on the current trading solution which now looks very flaky.

[Cyclefrance]

Looks like Prescott is going to be investigated by the police for shagging in his office during working hours! Also a growing band of critics wanting to know what he will be doing to justify his ongoing salary and perks (one paper rates these as equivalent to £800,000 per year), as although he keeps his job, he has lost all his responsibilities!

Meantime Blair refusing to respond to a growing army of MPs demanding he sets a timetable for when he will stand down as PM.

Adjustment to final figures for seats lost by Labour which ended up at 319 - while Conservatives gained 316 and Lib Dems gained 2.

A lot of unhappy Labour ministers at Blair's cabinet reshuffle and the Labour Party looking like it is cracking up badly.

All points to a rocky ride over the next few weeks and predictions of an almost inevitable outcome....

[Cyclefrance]

Oh, dear... oh dear...! Civil war a-brewing in the Labour Party. A large slug of Labour MPs have openly declared that they want our Tone to show his hand as to when he will stand down and also to set out a timetable so that it's not a last minute thing just before the next election.

Tony doesn't want to play yet and it's causing a good deal of friction - there's a lot of Labour MPs out there very nervous at the drop in Labour's voter share and eager to attack the problem at its core - which they see as being the Party's leader....

What do you think? - express your view in the poll above

[Cyclefrance]

Seems Tony is playing for time - he has taken a ' don't damage the party' line with his critics, and given them a promise that he will give time for his replacement to take proper charge before the next election - it's just, well, you know, not the right time now, when there's still so much to do and with stuff that's still ongoing....

Now where have we heard before...? Tony is famous for his stalling tactics and also for his ability to change his mind (and that's a polite way of saying it!). It will be interesting to see if sufficient Labour MPs swallow his message to prevent a showdown.

BTW, don't hold back giving your opinion above - I certainly put my two pennuth in on a lot of the US polls, after all....

[Elspode]

Do people in Britain long for Winston Churchill to be reincarnated in the same way that people in the US long for Harry Truman to make a return appearance?