| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Is Inflation the inevitable result of the Devaluation of the Gordon Brown Pound ? | |
| Posted by: | Fraser Pearce | |
| Date/Time: | 13/11/09 09:30:00 |
| David – A few thoughts... ------- “For a start the size of the House of Commons should be reduced to no more than 350...” - Surely a smaller lower chamber will concentrate the political class even more? The select club will become even more select. Surely the link between them and us - MP and constituent - will become even more remote with average constituency sizes approaching 150,000 people? Imagine instead a House of Commons with a couple of thousand MPs. This would require much smaller constituencies. Smaller constituencies would make elections more local, with every vote at a premium, swing votes having a greater influence on the outcome. Greater localism may also favour smaller political parties and political independents More constituencies would also likely stretch the resources of the major political parties, which in itself would threaten the Lib-Lab-Con Commons cartel. Again, this might favour the smaller parties and independents. At worst, it would force the major parties to become more ‘local’, to work harder, re-engage at more local level and really earn their votes. We need to reinvigorate our parliamentary democracy, not concentrate it even more in the hands of the major parties via less MPs and bigger constituencies. The political class is part of the problem, not the solution – somehow their stranglehold needs to be broken, not reinforced. ------- “The necessity for every single one of the UK's 700 plus quangoes should be reviewed and the number reduced by 10% per annum until there are only 200 left.” - Why ‘limit’ the number to 200? Each household spends over £3,500 every year on quangos – this is the number that matters. Take each case on its own merit – it might leave us with 500 quangos, it might leave us with 50. ------- “And of course the troops should be brought home from Afghanistan as it is quite obvious that this country can no longer afford to have them there.” - The Taliban have moved beyond the Northwest Frontier Province and into Punjab, particularly in Seraiki. Groups such as Quetta Tehrik-e-Taliban Punjab, Tehrik-e-Taliban Balochistan, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba have formed a cross-border alliance with each other and AQ. If we cut loose from Afghanistan, this increases the likelihood of a fragmented or partitioned Pakistan. This would precipitate a humanitarian crisis that will likely spill over to the UK. If/when this happens, Britain faces “maybe a couple of million” Pakistanis trying to make it here (although I believe this number’s on the high side). As such, we may be forced to stay in situ and increase aid foreign to corrupt regimes, if only to stop importing their problems closer to home. |