What would YOU do in power?

[Dillinger4]

I would impose Plato's Republic

 

[_angel_]

I'd like to end faith schools. I'd improve special needs education, scrap SATS and endless testing, give teachers a bit more autonomy back. Improve language teaching in schools (eleven is far too old to start) Scrap the idea of compulsory education to 17/18. Invest more in smaller class sizes. Maybe some kind of ;lottery so middle class parents can't monopolise "good" schools. Some kind of system that Oxbridge allocated a certain number of places in all state schools..?

Reopen a lot of the trainstations that were closed and improve/ renationalise rail.

to get people out of cars pt has to be reliable and maybe even in some cases free.

 

[Dhimmi]

I'd make the trains run on time...

 

[_angel_]

stop the weird way schools are funded to be pitted against each other and compete for pots of cash, and 'poor' schools being punished with less funding. Schools shouldn't be run as businesses, neither should hospitals for that matter. Instead of lining the pockets of agencies, I'd like directly employed nhs cleaners who get paid decent money and stop hospital bugs etc.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

I'd soon realise that every social reform I'd want to impose would cause large scale capital flight and plunge the country into recession. Then having accepted that I was a hostage to the market forces unleashed by Thatcher's counterrevolution I'd probably become a neo-liberal sell out and shit like that.

 

[the button]

I'd soon realise that every social reform I'd want to impose would cause large scale capital flight and plunge the country into recession. Then having accepted that I was a hostage to the market forces unleashed by Thatcher's counterrevolution I'd probably become a neo-liberal sell out and shit like that.

Such honesty cannot go unrewarded.

Have a chip.

 

[Jeff Robinson]

Did you want a peerage?

 

[i-am-your-idea]

surrender it

 

[shagnasty]

I would invoke Pr to make the electoral system more democratic .As for any other policies Council house building programe most certainly.educational oppurtunities for all

 

[EddyBlack]

Get justice for the families of the victims of the Omagh bombing. It’s a complete disgrace.
Help for the terribly afflicted of Afghanistan (non more so, even if it costs us). It’s a complete disgrace.

 

[Alright]

These forums are a haven for smug , know-it-all bastards who brand people who they disagree with "loons" (see Bilderberg thread as a good example) . They criticise and criticise anything in their path, but apart from the odd poster like Stoat Boy (who admits to being a Tory), very few of them show what exactly THEIR politics are. Do they have any? Or are they just passing the time of day in a cushy civil service job winding people up?

So here goes. Your chance to say what YOU would do if you were PM.

1. Shoot Trev in the face.

2. Abolish all tax over £50,000 income, to REALLY inspire the entrepreneuers in the face of the sub-continent.

3. Abolish all benefits, and give EVERYONE £150 a week.

 

[Detroit City]

free lap dance for all after the 4th drink

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I'd do away with the pound and bring in the Euro, and I'd make it easier for turks and armenians to immigrate with full benefits.

 

[Detroit City]

, and I'd make it easier for turks and armenians to immigrate with full benefits.

right, like thats gonna happen

 

[the button]

Did you want a peerage?

Yes plz.

Lord Button of Lewisham, thx.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I'd also convert the road system to left hand drive, like the rest of the world.

 

[shagnasty]

That is not true japan drive on the right.but the side drive must have been a left over from horse driven transport

 

[_angel_]

3. Abolish all benefits, and give EVERYONE £150 a week.

Too simplistic, needs more thinking about, I'd do some kind of locally assessed citizens wage.

 

[ViolentPanda]

I toyed with the idea of making all schools public and giving people back the proportion of their taxes that went on education. Then all schools would be fee paying and people could vote with their wallets rather than with the postcode lottery we have at the moment. The trouble with this is that there would be enormous differences in fees and the rich would still see their children benefit more than is perhaps fair.

Well, that and the fact that money means nothing if it's not matched with materiel[/b] and with decent staffing.

I do think making spending the same as average in the private sector would be a good step in making education more equal and perhaps of making private schools a thing of the past. Why pay twice at that rate when the local school has the same funding as a private school?

I don't really buy your argument about pupils and teachers, if they don't perform, replace em.

And when you've run through the limited pool of replacements?

I think education is about more than just classroom subjects, they should also take part in physical education, football, rugby, hockey, whatever and this will be good for them.

In which case perhaps effort should be invested in convincing parents that their little darlings should walk to and from school, too?

Well if people are paying the full cost of their courses they should of course be free to learn whatever they want but I see the university system as a system to provide workers for the economy. As such it needs to provide workers that the economy demands and an employment measure would be a good angle to make education become linked to the demands of the economy.

In which case you have a startlingly instrumentalist view of higher education. Primary and secondary education may well be mostly tuned to "serving the needs of the economy", but higher education in general isn't (and shouldn't be). How can you hope to stimulate original thinking if everything you do is underscored with a pound sign?

I would like to see state funding back for degree courses with students being able to take a degree without ending up tens of thousands in debt. Especially if it was state funded I think there is a justification for state funding courses that do result in employment rather than those that do not.

Then you should propose a bursary system along the lines of what's currently on offer to nurses and some teachers, then.

If people want to pay to study a subject which has only a small chance of getting them employment, they should be able to but it should not be part of the national effort to "provide workers for the economy".

Why not?
Often it isn't the subject a person studies that gives them the tools to be able to function well in the world of work, it's that they've learnt to think and act for themselves (something that we should be able to arrive at ourselves, but that few people actually do).

 

[Blagsta]

These forums are a haven for smug , know-it-all bastards who brand people who they disagree with "loons" (see Bilderberg thread as a good example) .

Come on, that's not quite true is it?

 

[DotCommunist]

The self styled BenefitCheat-Finder General proposes giving everyone a straight £150 citizen wage.

Well fuck me Alright, you've had a sensible idea. Unfortunatly you qualified it with 'abolish all benefits'

Good luck to the single mother of four surviving on £150, and good luck to the disabled people funding their care with your £150. You total fucking loon, honestly you come in wielding the hammer on problems that require the scalpel.

 

[_angel_]

The self styled BenefitCheat-Finder General proposes giving everyone a straight £150 citizen wage.

Well fuck me Alright, you've had a sensible idea. Unfortunatly you qualified it with 'abolish all benefits'

Good luck to the single mother of four surviving on £150, and good luck to the disabled people funding their care with your £150. You total fucking loon, honestly you come in wielding the hammer on problems that require the scalpel.

I know one size does not fit all. Two able bodied people would be able to live reasonably without working, where frail single pensioner would have to choose between no house or no food never mind heat or eat. It would be shit for single disabled people without a partners money coming in. Basically, leaving the vulnerable and single worst off (in the gutter in many cases) and as you cant get a benefit if you've no address, they prob wouldn't even get the tiny bit they're entitled to.

Citizens wage needs thinking about ie: more for sick and disabled or pensioners because they have to live off of it. More for those lone caring for kids - why should the person who stays bringing up kids be punished over the one who fucks off? etc.

It would also have to be regional - cost of living is higher in London for eg.

I would increase minimum wage and have a special higher rate for London.

 

[danny la rouge]

These forums are a haven for smug , know-it-all bastards who brand people who they disagree with "loons" (see Bilderberg thread as a good example).

A number of things here. First of all, you haven't been here very long, and there have in fact been loads of "what are your politics?" threads. Some might still be here. Have a look.

Secondly, over the years, long-term posters have often discussed what they'd do, what they do do, and what they'd hope could be achieved. Sometimes we assume now that much of that can be left implicit, because we know each other so well.

Thirdly, in my dealings with you I've found you make wide-of-the-mark assumptions about people's politics, based on generalizations that you make. ("Reading the tabloids makes you a right winger", "Gay people can't be Tories", "disabled people shouldn't read tabloids" and so on). This is just an observation, not a put-down.

To answer your question about what I'd do if PM? I'd abolish myself.

 

[Steve Booth]

Local taxation and power of veto

Proportional representation for the Westminster Parliament so that the people in there bear some relationship to the votes cast. Elections to be held annually.

The other important change is to make all taxation local. The taxes are locally levied and collected, at individual council ward or parish council level. There would be (i) an income tax on individuals (ii) corporation tax on companies (iii) tax on goods being brought into the ward or taken out of it.

Connected to this would be an absolute power of veto passed by the local council on any laws or policies decided by the county council or Westminster. The local councils can agree to band together and allocate money for facilities which serve wider than the individual ward level, for example a regional hospital or a secondary school. But if a policy they or their electors disagree with is being foisted on them, they have the absolute power of veto over it by the simple means of denying it its funding.

Making the local the deciding influence will make all politics much more responsive to peoples' wishes and aspirations.

 

[trevhagl]

A number of things here. First of all, you haven't been here very long, and there have in fact been loads of "what are your politics?" threads. Some might still be here. Have a look.

Secondly, over the years, long-term posters have often discussed what they'd do, what they do do, and what they'd hope could be achieved. Sometimes we assume now that much of that can be left implicit, because we know each other so well.

Thirdly, in my dealings with you I've found you make wide-of-the-mark assumptions about people's politics, based on generalizations that you make. ("Reading the tabloids makes you a right winger", "Gay people can't be Tories", "disabled people shouldn't read tabloids" and so on). This is just an observation, not a put-down.

To answer your question about what I'd do if PM? I'd abolish myself.

Still none the wiser as to what your actual beliefs are!

 

[trevhagl]

1. Shoot Trev in the face.

2. Abolish all tax over £50,000 income, to REALLY inspire the entrepreneuers in the face of the sub-continent.

3. Abolish all benefits, and give EVERYONE £150 a week.

Ha ha Tories, ya get a good fucking laugh out of the cunts if nowt else

 

[weltweit]

...In which case you have a startlingly instrumentalist view of higher education. Primary and secondary education may well be mostly tuned to "serving the needs of the economy", but higher education in general isn't (and shouldn't be). How can you hope to stimulate original thinking if everything you do is underscored with a pound sign?

Well I am aware that my views are not held by pretty much anyone on Urban as this has come up before.

However I am not sure this would result in the decimation of worthwhile academic subjects because people with english, history or arts or sociology whatever degrees do get jobs and so their courses might possibly be reduced they would not be decimated.

Then you should propose a bursary system along the lines of what's currently on offer to nurses and some teachers, then.

I am not aware of what is on offer to them.

Often it isn't the subject a person studies that gives them the tools to be able to function well in the world of work, it's that they've learnt to think and act for themselves (something that we should be able to arrive at ourselves, but that few people actually do).

Yes, I am in favour of people learning how to think and how to learn.

But in my own experience (I did a vocational degree) I found I was interviewing with people who had done an academic degree AND an MBA on top of it just to become "jobworthy".

I am in favour of more vocational education, apprenticeships and the like.

Mind you I am also in favour of manufacturing industry, which puts me in a pretty small bracket of the uk population.

 

[behemoth]

These forums are a haven for smug , know-it-all bastards who brand people who they disagree with "loons" (see Bilderberg thread as a good example) . They criticise and criticise anything in their path, but apart from the odd poster like Stoat Boy (who admits to being a Tory), very few of them show what exactly THEIR politics are. Do they have any? Or are they just passing the time of day in a cushy civil service job winding people up?

So here goes. Your chance to say what YOU would do if you were PM.

I would trust the people to make laws directly via weekly referenda using the lottery machine network.

And to be honest, reading your long-winded first paragraph, you do sound like a loon.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

That is not true japan drive on the right.but the side drive must have been a left over from horse driven transport

Ok: you and the Japanese.

Them I can forgive: they gave us sushi.

 

[Detroit City]

i would put a tim hortons on every corner in the UK and then make plans for the rest of europe