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

Difficult results to stomach here in the UK

Urgh. Same here.

You failed, Ukanians. You let tge bad guys in.

In Spain a party created four months ago, Podemos, We Can, has gained 5 seats. They are from the left, the real left. Ordinary people voted in open assambleys.
Another group from the left, IU, has risen a lot too, IU and Podemos will join Syriza, which has won in Greece, and will make a group.

The Socialist leader has left his post. I hope they have learned that you can´t call yourself socialist and apply neoliberal policies at the same time. I think that that is also the reason behind the debacle of French socialists.


I don´t think that British or French voters have become overnight fascists. I think that there´s a lot of political ignorance where populism grows with strengh.
Le Pen and other are anti-austerity, and blame the Troika, who cannot agree with that? The problem is that they are a mess , morally and economically.

UKIP are very much for austerity, and austerity with bells on.

So, it´s a punishment vote against bipartidism?

and many more reasons sociologist should say, I guess.

Partly domestic politics come into it yes, but this is also a genuine vote against Europe, particularly against integration and open borders.

integration and open borders...
I watched Farage the other day warning against the possible migrants from the south of Europe because of our high rate of unemployment.
actually, since before this crisis , lots of spanish nurses are going to uk to work. they are very much esteemed for the professionality and fine preparation. I don´t think thats a problem.

that clown should know that open borders are not the problem with europe, but the greed of the fat cats that govern Brussels, among other reasons.

In UK, people suffer policies of austerity while corporations like vodafone, google,etc and many riches avoid taxes or make fraud.

and that happens everywhere, as the privatization of basic services. Those are some of the problems... derived from a hipertrophied capitalism , a sick, corrupt system that protect the robbers and slave and punish ordinary people.

Chaplin, The great dictator, final discurse:




http://youtu.be/QcvjoWOwnn4

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible -- Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another; human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me I say, "Do not despair." The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die; and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers: Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel; who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate; only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural.

Soldiers: Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written, "the kingdom of God is within man" -- not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men, in you, you the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers: In the name of democracy, let us all unite!

I'm confused. First you warn us about a clown then you give us a speech from a clown. How do we know who the good clowns are and which are the bad ones. Please Maria, tell us what to think.

It will be interesting if the UK tries to leave Europe, leaving independent in the EU.

... leaving independent Scotland in the EU.

But that's not really likely Gnomon. All of the main parties are committed to the EU, even the Tories. UKIP are a mildly amusing terrier yapping on the sidelines and their "winning" the EU elections only highlights how powerless and irrelevant the EU Parliament is.

Its been going on for ages it started with the privitastion of all the lams duck utilities. Gas, water, power, post office, telecoms all making fortunes now, we have been ripped off and it continues

Yet to see a poor long serving MP without a good pension and s*d the rest of us, maybe a change might help...

The EU elections, on some aspects have shown how irrelevant is the EU parliament for some voters, but some people have used these elections to send a few messages to the local parties. A historic participation in Portugal and Catalunya, in the former the socialists have won, in the latter the independentist left. Syriza in Greece. In spain the main parties, conservatives and socialists have lost about 2. 5 million votes each one...



swl, I´m not telling you what to think, I´ve brought some words that have relevance nowadays after so many years. Sometimes it´s good to remember the history and the obvious about human beings. I thought this was a pertinent moment.

Please don't regard the EU Parliament as irreverent, It is the only democratic part of the EU and our only means of keeping the appointed ones in check.

"The simple, bald fact is this: from a UK perspective the European elections are a staggering irrelevance. Despite Ukip's oft-debunked claim that 75% of our laws are made in Brussels, the European parliament has minimal direct relevance on most issues our parties campaign on, or that voters care about.

The European commission proposes most European legislation; national governments (including the UK's) have considerable say over what happens; and the European parliament often serves essentially as a rubber stamp. Given that both Ukip and the Conservatives sit in fringe groupings within the parliament, the impact of the UK's vote on Thursday on political decision making in Europe will be close to zero.

The parties notice this, and that's why their campaigns are essentially nonsense."

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/21/forget-ukip-and-staggeringly-irrelevant-european-elections

That article was posted before the elections... 21/05/2014
Am I surprised the Grauniad called it wrong?
Not a Lot.

"The European commission proposes most European legislation; national governments (including the UK's) have considerable say over what happens; and the European parliament often serves essentially as a rubber stamp."

We appear to be in danger of violent agreement.

Except when the parliament stops the Commission pushing through legislation.

See ACTA and the current battles over TTIP which the commission etc are trying to force through in secret talks without debate, yet again.

If UKIP were actually concerned about EU made law they could get off there arses and take part in the Parliament, The input from UKIP MEP's noticeably missing from the records, apart from claiming expenses.

I want to thank Maria for her input and passion
on this topic. The importance of Euro-politics
is mostly lost upon us in the Colonies.
And I am very glad to hear the left has made
some significant gains in Spain.

~jwf~



"The gains in Spain fall mainly on the plane..."