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UK Politics Thread


deanb
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EU Referndum  

9 members have voted

  1. 1. Should UK leave the EU

    • From UK: Should Stay
      3
    • From UK: Should Leave
      0
    • Outside of UK: Should Stay
      4
    • Outside of UK: Should Leave
      0
    • Outside of UK: None of my beeswax
      1
    • Left Leg In UK, Left Leg Out UK: Do the Okie-Kokie (that's what it's all about)
      1


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Well, either you make it legal or the person doing heroin is a criminal because they're breaking the law. I suppose you could be really nice to him and pretend he's not a criminal but I'm not sure what the benefit of that is. I understand that chemical addiction is a genuine health issue and I'm not trying to downplay that but trying to remove the criminality of it seems somewhat unrelated.

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Something can be illegal without being a "crime". Basically the idea is that it's more effective to try to deal with it as a medical/psychological issue that requires treatment rather than trying to deal with it as a criminal issue that requires punishment.

 

Dealers/traffickers/etc? Totally should be dealt with criminally. Users not so much.

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Yup. He did say obviously if they're stealing, then that should be treat as a crime. He even brings in alcoholism, and alcohol isn't legal, as something that should be treat with the same compassion as he'd want for drug addicts. Basically it would be similar to how you put some criminals in mental institutes instead.

 

It's worth reinforcing here: Russell Brand was not touching upon the classification(does US have a classification system?), criminalization, legality etc etc of drug use. That was not the purpose of him being there. He's an actor/comedian, not a doctor/politician/barrister etc.

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Haha massive respect for Brand. Witness is as good a term as any.

 

MP: "You were arrested roughly 12 times?"

Brand: "Yes, it was rough."

 

I agree with the principal. Prostitutes, clients and drug users should not be pursued by the law, they are often in a vulnerable position and are being exploited (perhaps not clients of prostitutes... that's debatable). The people who provide the illegal activities, pimps and dealers are the ones that should be stopped.

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Yeah, but if you advertise where you'll be putting them months in advance it kinda makes them vulnerable to sabotage. Like Ethan says, maybe this is just a dry run and the real locations will be more under the radar, or maybe there will be like 20 sites, half of which are dummies...

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http://www.guardian....-votes-lib-dems (at least click this one, even if not in UK. Especially if your'e not UK)

and

http://www.guardian....nson-london-win

and

http://www.bbc.co.uk...litics-17270000

 

I've a feeling we'll be getting a labour government next general election (unless something big changes, though that something big could make it a sure fire thing too)

 

edit wrt first link:

zombie geiko: he's left wing, but it's pretty useless since he doesn't fly with them
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We'll not get a Labour government if they don't get rid of Ed Miliband. He's about as popular as a dose of the clap. People voting in the local elections are happy to vote Labour as a vote against the coalition, but come a general election no one could seriously see Mister Ed running the country.

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The liberal democrats lost all credibility when they entered into a coalition with the tories. I would have voted for them last time were I old enough but this time, I am old enough and I know better, as do a lot of people.

 

Lib dems are all talk, no action and if they were in power they wouldn't be able to deliver on the promises they make. However that's all irrelevant because I'm convinced after becoming David Camerons bitch, the liberal democrats will never be in power (as if their chances weren't small enough already).

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I wouldn't agree they were all talk and no action. Labour now and Conservatives when they were in opposition all they'll ever say is that the Government plans were awful but would never actually give any alternatives but Lib Dens always seemed to have fully developed plans for what they'd do.

 

What I don't get is why people are surprised that the coalition is making decisions that are not what the Lib Dems would choose. They're like 1/5 the size of the Conservatives so of course it is mostly Tory policy that is taken and somewhat mitigated by the Lib Dem presence.

 

It would take a miracle for Lib Dems to get a majority Government. Remember how popular they were before the election? They were actually leading the polls but tjat simply doesn't matter in this country. The problem with general elections is that 90% of Labour/Conservative voters will not chaIt nge who they vote for regardless of what the parties actually do. Labour in particular is a completely different beast from when a lot of people started voting for them, there's whole generations of families that have voted the same way. It's quasi-religious.

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That ellipsis implies some sarcasm. Whose stance is unreasonable? It has been a British island for 170+ years. The Falklanders don't want to be under Argentine rule, why'd you think a video of of an Argentine athlete running around the island had to be done in secret? Argentina invaded their island 30 years ago, so it's pretty understandable to not be very keen on them.

 

Geographically it's off the coast of Argentina, politically and culturally it's off the coast of Wales.

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