Jack Straw retires from parliament

[VladimirIlyich]

Well, not all MPs do those things, and profit from second homes on which mortgage payments have been claimed now has to be paid back, of course. Voters should examine their MP's expenses and vote accordingly. My cousin stood in Sefton last time on a platform of claiming the bare minimum in expenses and only got 20% of the vote in third, so that gives you an idea of how much the general public cares about these things.

Could it not have been that the voters simply didnt like your cousin or the Party he represented?

 

[Stu Monty]

Well, not all MPs do those things, and profit from second homes on which mortgage payments have been claimed now has to be paid back, of course. Voters should examine their MP's expenses and vote accordingly. My cousin stood in Sefton last time on a platform of claiming the bare minimum in expenses and only got 20% of the vote in third, so that gives you an idea of how much the general public cares about these things.

It really doesn't.

[dennis tooth]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkKAWHNKXCo

 

Haha SD coming on here protesting about wages for MPs but never nurses. Course not, this is austerity. Funny kid.

[littletedwest]

IIRC, two-thirds of MPs take a pay cut to enter the House of Commons.I'd be interested to see how many here would take a pay cut to become an MP.

that's part of the issue I'd say. If 66% of members of parliament earned in excess of 3 times the average national wage in past jobs how can they expect to represent a massive chunk of the electorate?

The days of ex miners like Dennis skinner and other people from working class backgrounds seems a million years ago (I know Dennis is still a sitting mp)

 

nowadays you can pretty much say any old shit and as long as it's in the interests of "business " nobody seems to say fuck all.

[Moo]

MPs don't get paid enough to ensure that you're going to attract people with the appropriate experience and capability without them having the opportunity to do something else as well. Wages from directorships would be included in the 'something else'. Expenses and flipping are being clamped down on.

 

If you want high calibre MPs, you've either got to pay them appropriately, or allow them to have ways of supplementing their income. I am in favour of increasing their salaries and precluding them for earning anything else for their time as MP. If we paid them £150K a year, with tightly controlled expenses, that should be enough to widen the pool to include people with other careers who may want to take time out to become MPs. Ministers should get a small additional premium, but not the differential that they currently enjoy.

But what makes a high calibre MP? And what qualifications do they need? Experience wise surely that comes from being an MP?

Maybe the right way to go is to lower the wage to discourage already well off people from standing? A lower wage would surely result in politicians more representative of society who therefore have society at the forefront of their thinking?

[Bobby Hundreds]

LESSONS HAVE BEEN LEARNT. Move on.

[stringvest]

Well, not all MPs do those things, and profit from second homes on which mortgage payments have been claimed now has to be paid back, of course. Voters should examine their MP's expenses and vote accordingly. My cousin stood in Sefton last time on a platform of claiming the bare minimum in expenses and only got 20% of the vote in third, so that gives you an idea of how much the general public cares about these things.

 

With respect, your cousin finishing third has absolutely nothing to do with MPs pay.

[Major Tom]

But what makes a high calibre MP? And what qualifications do they need? Experience wise surely that comes from being an MP?

Maybe the right way to go is to lower the wage to discourage already well off people from standing? A lower wage would surely result in politicians more representative of society who therefore have society at the forefront of their thinking?

 

Problem there being that most people have money at the forefront of their thinking.

 

This is not about money. It's a about a mindset and a lifestyle.

[stringvest]

But what makes a high calibre MP? And what qualifications do they need? Experience wise surely that comes from being an MP?

Maybe the right way to go is to lower the wage to discourage already well off people from standing? A lower wage would surely result in politicians more representative of society who therefore have society at the forefront of their thinking?

 

I want MPs who understand how the world works.  Who have had experiences not just standing in the job queue, but running businesses, working in positions of influence where they can learn from successes and failures.  From senior positions in the public sector services.  Everyone with half a brain understands what it is like to be on the bones of your arse, even if they haven't walked in those particular shoes. Not everyone has the wherewithal to understand how to fix big stuff - and I'm not just talking about within the constraints of the status quo before Dennis stirs from his basket again.  

 

And while I'm at it, I also wouldn't want any MPs under the age of 40.  

[Moo]

I want MPs who understand how the world works. Who have had experiences not just standing in the job queue, but running businesses, working in positions of influence where they can learn from successes and failures. From senior positions in the public sector services. Everyone with half a brain understands what it is like to be on the bones of your arse, even if they haven't walked in those particular shoes. Not everyone has the wherewithal to understand how to fix big stuff - and I'm not just talking about within the constraints of the status quo before Dennis stirs from his basket again.

 

And while I'm at it, I also wouldn't want any MPs under the age of 40.

Do politicians really fix big stuff or do they go to their advisors /make it up as they go along? I guess you're saying that's what you'd like not necessarily what we have.

However I don't think that understanding poverty equates to caring about it, just as I don't think that someone who has expertise in big business won't put big business first on the list of priorities.

[stringvest]

Do politicians really fix big stuff or do they go to their advisors /make it up as they go along? I guess you're saying that's what you'd like not necessarily what we have.

However I don't think that understanding poverty equates to caring about it, just as I don't think that someone who has expertise in big business won't put big business first on the list of priorities.

 

I hate career politicians, as almost without exception they're self-serving useless cunts. I guess that's what I'm saying.  Most of their 'advisors' are exactly the same.  

[Major Tom]

Do politicians really fix big stuff

 

They try.

 

Trouble is they all have different agendas so they all have to make big sacrifices. In terms of horse-trading, I mean.

[Strontium]

But what makes a high calibre MP? And what qualifications do they need? Experience wise surely that comes from being an MP?

Maybe the right way to go is to lower the wage to discourage already well off people from standing? A lower wage would surely result in politicians more representative of society who therefore have society at the forefront of their thinking?

 

Where did this idea that MPs should be representative of the people who vote them in come from? If you want representative then you should do away with elections and just drag 600 randoms in off the street.

 

I don't want politicians who are representative of the general populace, I want politicians who are smarter and more capable than the average.

[Moo]

Where did this idea that MPs should be representative of the people who vote them in come from? If you want representative then you should do away with elections and just drag 600 randoms in off the street.

 

I don't want politicians who are representative of the general populace, I want politicians who are smarter and more capable than the average.

Of course, and I don't think anyone would advocate dragging people off the street.

There would still have to be elections, MP's would still had to prove themselves at a local level and on issues, and yes some in business.

 

What qualifications do MP's have to have? How do we judge their intelligence?

 

Oh and, what exactly is the point of democracy if those elected don't represent the electorate?

[Jairzinho]

To pretend we have a democracy.

[Major Tom]

Where did this idea that MPs should be representative of the people who vote them in come from?.

From the idea that those sort of people will know best how to serve us.

[Anubis]

I hate career politicians, as almost without exception they're self-serving useless cunts. I guess that's what I'm saying.  Most of their 'advisors' are exactly the same.  

 

And therein lies a major problem. Parties are too intent on choosing candidates who have been groomed for political life and who's experience of the world around them is often limited to public school and a very limited working career.

[Neil G]

MPs don't get paid enough to ensure that you're going to attract people with the appropriate experience and capability without them having the opportunity to do something else as well. Wages from directorships would be included in the 'something else'. Expenses and flipping are being clamped down on.

 

If you want high calibre MPs, you've either got to pay them appropriately, or allow them to have ways of supplementing their income. I am in favour of increasing their salaries and precluding them for earning anything else for their time as MP. If we paid them £150K a year, with tightly controlled expenses, that should be enough to widen the pool to include people with other careers who may want to take time out to become MPs. Ministers should get a small additional premium, but not the differential that they currently enjoy.

 

I think £150k is a bit high myself, but I agree with the rest of that.

 

While we're at it, we should pay local councillors a salary to do the job full-time as well. It would cost a lot, but given that the impact of the job on people's quality of life is often as great as that of MPs, it would be worth it. It would open up the role of councillor to all kinds of people for whom it's currently not an option, it would allow councillors to engage far more effectively with their constituents and get more done, and it would massively improve the quality of the decision-making and performance of local government. In terms of efficiencies, income generation and saving future costs to the public purse through preventative measures, it would end up paying for itself comfortably.

[Gnasher]

Austerity for some

 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/25/mi6-600k-legal-bill-block-libyan-couple-rendition-civil-case

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Straw is, was and ever shall be a fucking cunt.

[Strontium]

Excuse the source, nobody else has it yet...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4186192/Jack-Straw-tried-Eurotrash-axed-Channel-4.html
 

Jack Straw 'tried to get Eurotrash axed by Channel 4': Former Home Secretary 'doggedly lobbied to get cult show taken off air after being appalled when he caught his son watching it'

 

• Eurotrash gained a cult following after it was first aired on television in 1993
• The late-night show was presented by fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier
• But Jack Straw was apparently so appalled he secretly lobbied for it to be axed

It was a gaudy, outrageous and risqué late-night show that gained a cult following when it first aired in the 1990s.

 

But despite its popularity with a generation of young males, it appears not everyone was a fan of Eurotrash.

 

In fact, former home secretary Jack Straw was apparently so appalled when he walked in on his son watching the show that he secretly lobbied for it to be axed from the airwaves.

 

Mr Straw is said to have 'doggedly' pushed Channel 4's then head of nations and regions, Stuart Cosgrove, to get the show removed from the schedule.

Mr Cosgrove, speaking on BBC Radio Scotland yesterday (Thursday) about politicians trying to influence the media, said: 'I had a situation with a particular politician who was Jack Straw, the former Labour Minister, when I was at Channel 4.

 

'He was adamant that he wanted Eurotrash to be taken out of the Channel Four schedule because he had gone home and found his young teenage son laughing at a sketch about Lady Godiva, it was that kind of bizarre, but he was fairly dogged about it.'

Mr Cosgrove, who worked for Channel 4 for more than 20 years, continued: 'Of course we kind of brushed it off or whatever.

 

'But there is no question that there are politicians that assume they have got the power to kind of influence and push and test at the edges or whatever. And that goes on daily.'

[Stickman]

Excuse the source, nobody else has it yet...http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4186192/Jack-Straw-tried-Eurotrash-axed-Channel-4.html

 

The Straw that broke the Channels back.

[lifetime fan]

Said it before, change the colour tie and you'd never know he wasn't a tory.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

IIRC, two-thirds of MPs take a pay cut to enter the House of Commons.

 

I'd be interested to see how many here would take a pay cut to become an MP.

So 2/3 of MPs come from a class that is paid more than £75k?

 

No wonder the system's fucked.

[Strontium]

The system's fucked because MPs tend to be highly qualified, highly employable people?