The Party Conferences

[HST Power]

Today, David Cameron closed the Tory Party conference in Manchester.

With all three conferences now finished, I thought it would be a good idea to open the next of RailUKs political threads, as the ones we have are always very good with relative, thoughtful discussion.

Which party do you think has made the most significant mark (on the thoughts of the voter) through its conference? Which party seemed to properly address the issues affecting Britain?

 

[Class172]

One word: Boring

 

[HST Power]

One word: Boring

Dissapointing.

 

[Minilad]

If you listen to them it only encourages them to spout more drivel. Best not bother.
How long before someone mentions The Cat !!

Oh and a little note to Cameron. Don't you think if people could pay off their debts they would. Maybe it's got something to do with the fact they can't afford to. Great financial advice from a man who has probably never had to worry about money at anytime in his life

 

[valenta]

In doing this, I will try not to take my political views into account, as I have biases towards parties.
Each one made various promises, and as stated by the latter, much of this is drivel and promises that never come to fruition. So, I'll judge it on who's promises I believe will happen.
Conservatives: Unfortunately, I am a firm left winger so my views will be shadowed by this. Some of the promises that Cameron has made sound "good" but I have various doubts whether these "promises" will be put into action.
Labour: Ed Miliband seems convincing. I'm glad he had the guts to say that he wasn't another Tony Blair, who I didn't care for. His promises also carried some weight, but again, will these promises be followed through.
Lib Dem: To be quite honest, I didn't take much notice of the conference. I find him intensely annoying, and should be remembered for the demise of the Liberal Democrats.
As I have said my thoughts are very biased. And frankly, I would hesitate to believe any polotician anymore... :roll:

 

[Schnellzug]

Labour have, of course, a great advantage, in being able to promise anything they like, knowing full Well that everyone will have forgotten about it by the time we're next permitted the chance to swap one lot for the other lot.

 

[Minilad]

Labour have, of course, a great advantage, in being able to promise anything they like, knowing full Well that everyone will have forgotten about it by the time we're next permitted the chance to swap one lot for the other lot.

Since when has actually being able to do the thing they promised stopped a politician from promising it anyway. And that applies to all parties

 

[SS4]

They just go to show how divorced our politicians are from reality

 

[ainsworth74]

Unless the coalition implodes suddenly we're to far from an election for anything they say here to really mean much (if it ever does). But none the less my thoughts:

Lib Dems: What conference? Seriously, have they even had one? ))

Labour: Not impressed by Miliband, seems to be heading a fair ways left so he's never going to appeal to me (Centre-Right). I was slightly more impressed by Ed Balls.

Conservatives: Load of waffle really, they seem to be continuing in the same vein they have since the election come up some good ideas (everyone pays off their credit card debts) then either balls up the implementation or don't have a clue how to do it anyway (no body has money to pay off their debts!).

Overall? Yawn... Come back in 2/3 years when the election is closer.

 

[Seacook]

None of them meant anything - they were all equally ineffective. I can never understand the publicity that the party conferences generate - they are of no real interest except to the people involved. It's not as though they do anything like decide policy. Why not hold all of them in the same week and just get it over with?

 

[ralphchadkirk]

I shall do the honours XCDriver, and mention Catgate.

Apart from a large PR disaster, how are we expected to have faith in politicians to do what the electorate want of them, and do what is best for the country when two ministers disagree over something quite simple (for the record, I support Ken Clarke), and the fact that what Theresa May said, was just plain wrong?

 

[Schnellzug]

Labour: Not impressed by Miliband, seems to be heading a fair ways left so he's never going to appeal to me (Centre-Right). I was slightly more impressed by Ed Balls. .

I sincerely hope he does get command of Labour at some point, for obvious reasons.

 

[90019]

Where's the 'None of the above' option?

 

[Greenback]

I'm sure that the conferences are great fun and very useful for the attendees. I don't think they offer anything of interest to the general population as they are only really designed for party activists to meet up and convince each other they are doing a good job.

I can't understand why they get so much coverage in the emdia. They certainly don't address any of the country's problems, it's all just a load of waffle and hot air!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

All three party conferences were very uninspiring and seemed to be more for internal conference consumption to resolve internal party matters rather than a beacon of light to inspire the general voting public.

 

[wintonian]

2 out of the 3 are media events, only 1 creates party policy.

However I am not supposed to display any political bias at the moment so I won't be saying which one.

 

[ainsworth74]

However I am not supposed to display any political bias at the moment so I won't be saying which one.

Well that's just boring

 

[wintonian]

Well that's just boring

I get the urge for political debate sometimes and occasionally I just can't control it.

 

[Temple Meads]

All three party conferences were very uninspiring and seemed to be more for internal conference consumption to resolve internal party matters rather than a beacon of light to inspire the general voting public.

Agreed.

Neither Cameron or Miliband did anything to convince me that they should be PM, or indeed their parties.
The Lib-Dems were of course, a non event

I'm Labour though, so will always support their leader over the Tory chief.

 

[bb21]

Seriously all I hear from the Tories is "We can get through this. We must be strong. bla bla bla..." without much substance.

Ed Miliband has no personality. I can't see Labour going anywhere under him.

The Lib Dems, well, where do I start?

None of the parties offered anything concrete that gives me confidence as to where this country is heading. The future really looks bleak.

 

[Ferret]

I found all three conferences to be woeful. Ed Balls made one or two useful points in amongst his usual guff, and Cameron mentioned something I've been saying for years about personal debt part-causing the financial meltdown. All in all though, Labour embarassed themselves with the booing of Blair, the Tories embarassed themselves over the Human Rights/cat fiasco and it was a waste of my time reading about it all!

 

[HST Power]

Where's the 'None of the above' option?

You get that next year.

Apart from a large PR disaster, how are we expected to have faith in politicians to do what the electorate want of them, and do what is best for the country when two ministers disagree over something quite simple (for the record, I support Ken Clarke), and the fact that what Theresa May said, was just plain wrong?

The catgate scandal has been a disaster. Many people (including myself) would like to see the Human Rights Act go. Unfortunately, the context of May's message has been overshadowed by this mishap with the cat. Had she not mentioned the stupid thing, she would probably have gained a lot more support through her desire to abolish the act. Instead, all people want to talk about is the cat!!

Nick Clegg wants the Human Rights act to stay, I get the impression Ken Clarke does as well but there are plenty of Tories who want it out. Will this be the next test of coalition?

 

[SS4]

You get that next year.



The catgate scandal has been a disaster. Many people (including myself) would like to see the Human Rights Act go. Unfortunately, the context of May's message has been overshadowed by this mishap with the cat. Had she not mentioned the stupid thing, she would probably have gained a lot more support through her desire to abolish the act. Instead, all people want to talk about is the cat!!

Nick Clegg wants the Human Rights act to stay, I get the impression Ken Clarke does as well but there are plenty of Tories who want it out. Will this be the next test of coalition?

Rightly or wrongly people are always going to be suspicious about Tory policy regarding basic rights especially universal ones. There has been too much negative coverage about it letting criminals live the life of Riley in the UK. Here is the text in full

As I understand it Article 8 is the one that May despises so much.


What would you replace the HRA with? Is Article 11 (the right to protest) so grotesque?

 

[ralphchadkirk]

I think it would be a sad day for Britain if the HRA did go. There are basic rights, which, I believe everyone should be entitled to regardless of who they are or what they have done. Everything from the right to a fair trial, to freedom of expression.

 

[SS4]

I think it would be a sad day for Britain if the HRA did go. There are basic rights, which, I believe everyone should be entitled to regardless of who they are or what they have done. Everything from the right to a fair trial, to freedom of expression.

I agree, the issue is that the government appears to be using one ambiguous article (article 8) to throw the whole lot out.

I am half expecting the house of commons to be mysteriously gutted by fire and left-wing agitators to get the blame tempting the government to suspend civil liberties

 

[scotsman]

Well, let's ignore the Lib Dems.

Tories: Well, as slick as can be expected when your largest donors are admen, business and PR companies. Sadly, nothing can be as slick that at conference. Especially the politicians, who repeatedly embarass themselves (you all know what I'm on about). Watching Steve Hilton lead that guy away....lol.

Labour: Typical Labour Conference, different northern city, same Oxbridge mugs in charge. Ed Miliband thinks he can move forward by attacking the Tories and presenting policy that he believes will get elected. What he doesn't realise is that Labour will get nowhere until they find something they actually stand for. New Labour is dead. Sadly, they still think they can squeeze some life out of it.

 

[185]

I was fortunate enough to have had a longer talk with a very senior Tory than Newsnight managed with him. Despite my distrust for his party, he is one of the few Conservatives I have a lot of respect for, and I did manage to get a few pointers as to what is likely to be happening to our rail network.

Needless to say I did not hesitate to utterly slate FirstGroup, which tied in with what he had also heard from a PTE about them

 

[HST Power]

I was unclear in my above posting.

I fully agree that everyone is entitled to basic human rights, that is without question. Of course you should have a fair trial, and a right to freedom of speech. We could hardly call ourselves a democracy if this was not the case.

My dissastisfaction is with silly rights, rights that are being taken advantage of for all the wrong reasons. Take the British inmate for instance, who used the Human Rights court to protest against his prison introducing a healthy food scheme. He protested he had a 'human right' to be served junk food.
Then there's the illegal immigrant, who has a 'human right' to stay in the UK because he has a daughter, a daughter to whom he pays absolutely no upkeep. Worst of the all, there's the case of the foreigner who killed a man by throwing him into the River Thames whilst on a drunken night out. He too has a 'human right' to be in the UK.

Look through the internet. Google 'Human Rights man can stay in the UK' and you will get millions of results. This is where my dissastisfaction lies (or is it lyes???!).

 

[district]

I am looking forward to gay marriage as proposed by the Conservative party, although I am a member of the labour party myself.

 

[90019]

Look through the internet. Google 'Human Rights man can stay in the UK' and you will get millions of results. This is where my dissastisfaction lies (or is it lyes???!).

I wonder how many of those results will be articles from tabloids that are deliberately written using dubious 'evidence' to try and outrage people.