h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Can I suggest that despite the issues raised by the parties, this is a single topic election ?

The topic is trust.

Do you trust a party that used to be run by Margret Thatcher ?

or

Do you trust a party that took us into an illegal war ?

or

Do you trust a party thats been divorced from power for 100 years ?

Interesting that you make the point in terms of the parties.

I trust the parties. I believe I know what each stands for.

Shame, really, that their leaders mostly seem to stand for something else.

Agreed totally on that last point; it is in the party leaders, and the polititions that the trust seems to have been lost No wonder relaly though mind.

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OK: try again, with some rephrasing: does *any* leader project an adequate degree of trust at the moment? I can only speak personally, but I distrust the leaders of two of the major parties and tend to treat the the leader of the other as a political ingenue. So, it comes down to policies, which is how it should be, really.

Funnily enough, it's not that that I don't trust the Tories because they were once run by MT (she was one of the most trustworthy politicians we've ever had, strangely. At least she stabbed people in the front, not in the back).

What I distrust in them is that they are trying to protect a caring sharing 'we're all changed now' whilst doing so under the leadership of a aman who was a wholehearted supporter of 'that woman'. I do not trust the Tories because i do not believe they have changed.

Strangely, I see Portillo now and wonder if we didn't lose out on the best Tory leader we never had.

I'm inclined to agree with you, but even he could deal in shabby jingoism when it suited him (remember the SAS speech? ). I think he's a lot older and wiser now.

I think losing his seat to Stephen Twigg taught him a valuable lesson in humility.

I guess we can only hope the shadow-chancellor is dealt a similar blow this time round.

personally i'm quite inclined towards the australian system where the votes are all totalled and a representative house is made. i have no further info, back after research

sorry, perhaps the system isn't australian!

anyway, that would have the current opposition in power oh well. i know a lot of people that pay no attention. i pay attention purely because in a year and a bit's time i'll be going to university (no, i can't vote) and i would rather like not to pay tuition fees. a grant would be nice, but that's well beyond hope. this is my issue which affects me!

I do think that trust is a key question and that trust throughout society in general is undermined.

Media sensationalist reporting is larglely to blame as it highlights what are essentially a few instances to the proportions of epidemic to ensure that we are led to suspect everyone. the number of MP's engaged in and convicted of dodgy dealings are in fact very few. The number of young people in this country who are 'the yob culture' are very few, the vast majority of young people are fine. The number of illegal immigrants who stab policeman to death is one, but apparently every illegal immigrant of a skin colour other than white, is a terrorist threat. If I trip and fall over in the street it is probably my fault but there is an ambulance chaser there to pick me up and assure me that I can blame somone else and get wodges of cash in return. Whilst in hospital I am apparently going to die of MRSA despite the fact that thousands come and go from hospitals every week suitably diagnosed and treated.

Perspective has gone out of the window in this country, blame cultures are destructive, always will be. Trust cannot flourish in such extreme perspectives.

Regards, SGG.

Morning SGG

Brilliant analysis. Loved it.

However, isn't the main thrust now a qustion of TB and Iraq. I don't want to rake over the should he/ shouldn't he, or did he/ didn't he arguments but whilst you are right in your claims that the media are largely to blame, that particular question will always dog TB.

Even if he was misreported there is still an element of doubt about what as PM he told the nation.

If in no other area of policy , when it comes to taking you country to war the PM MUST be Whiter than White. He asn't , and that's where the mistrust comes in.

That's not to say that I believe other leaders to b more or less trustworthy, it is a personal decision we all have to make, bearing in mind that there as once a conversion on the road to Damascus.

Novo

Portillo vs Blair. Image vs Image. I still say they should have elected Kenneth Clarke. We could do with someone who doesn't care too much what other people think of them?

Far too obviously pro-Europe and never forgiven for his part in Thatchers downfall.

The blue rinse brigade would never have had him.

Ah, but would the public have liked him

Nope. Far to pro-Europe.

I liked the final question on "question time" last night when a woman asked "had any of the politicians ever been tempted to give a straight answer to a straight question?"
At least Menzies Campbell had the honesty to answer "No"
A big part of the problem for me is that politicians from all parties seem to do anything to avoid giving simple answers to the questions that concern us.A politician can waffle on for several minutes but at the end of it you often still have no idea of their actual position.
We don't need politicians who endlessly quote statistics at us or who play the blame game ~ what i want is a politician who will lay their plans out simply and clearly and who i can trust to deliver on those promises after the election.

>A big part of the problem for me is that politicians from all parties seem to do anything to avoid giving simple answers to the questions that concern us<

If there were simple and straightforward answers to the issues that concern 'us' then they would, I'm sure.

Matters of national importance rarely boil down to convenient soundbites.

The last thing i want is sound bites ~ what i meant was that they rarely give straightforward and comprehensive answers.
More time seems to be spent trying to prove that their opponents are in the wrong than is spent making sure we are told their own policies.
Too often they try to overwhelm us with statistics and figures and talk in abstract about issues that need substantive answers.

The trend towards negative campaigning is now probably irreversible, unfortuneatly.

But again, substantive answers aren't all that easy. It's easy to say 'Reform the Civil Service', for example, but it needs years of careful study and implementation.

When an MP gets doorstepped by a journo he gets perhaps 3 minutes to make his point. You're not likely to get a substantive answer from that.