US Republican Debate: We obviously don’t get too much news on the 2008 election cycle here since the shake out of the main candidates has yet to occur–though they did cover the actual results of the mid-term elections quite a lot. A week or two ago (I forgot to blog about it then) I saw a debate between the Republican hopefuls on Fox. Maybe it’s because they’re from my part of the country, but I thought Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee came off pretty well. I like Paul’s view of the government, but from the little I’ve seen, he doesn’t get much air time.
UK: In the north east, the Labour (left) and Liberal Democrats (centre-left) took all the votes in the most recent local elections, and the Conservatives (aka Torries) didn’t take any. From what I hear it dates back to when Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) shut down the mining operations. Around here, the LD’s hold a majority in the city council and the L’s hold a majority in the county council. Our pastor said that the (mining) labour unions also had quite a connection with the Methodists over the last couple of centuries, such that the local union banners were hung inside the chapels. But that obviously has changed.
As a bit of history, the LD’s broke off from the Labour party b/c they thought it was becoming too left wing. In national elections, the LD seems to always run a distant 3rd. Labour has held the power for the past 12 years or so at least with Tony Blair as Prime Minister. Gordon Brown (Labour) has been tapped to replace Blair next month as PM.
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 at 10:52 pm
Hi Ben. “the LD’s broke off from the Labour party b/c they thought it was becoming too left wing”. Almost but not quite. The Liberal Democrats are a party made up of a merger between the Liberal Party (which goes back to the mid 19th Century) and the Social Democratic Party, which was formed in 1981. It is the latter that broke off from the Labour Party.
Friday, 1 June 2007 at 7:22 pm
What is the consensus concerning Blair’s resignation?
Saturday, 2 June 2007 at 5:54 am
I think everyone is about ready to see him go, even his own party. The Iraq war is probably even more unpopular here than in the US. However, he does have a decent track record–good economy, peace in N. Ireland, increased devolution, among other things. (Devolution is the term here for a move towards more national autonomy for Wales, N.I., and Scotland, rather than a stong federal system.)