[Richard Meyer]

Well, I can't make any sense out of American politics, and I certainly don't know anything about British politics.

But I do like the the poem titled "Politics" by Yeats. I believe it was the last poem he wrote:

Politics

In our time the destiny of man presents its meanings in political terms. —Thomas Mann

How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics,
Yet here's a travelled man that knows
What he talks about,
And there's a politician
That has both read and thought,
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war's alarms,
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms.

Perhaps there should be some law requiring all politicians to take a course in poetry. If they spent half of each day reading and arguing about poetry, they'd have that much less time to trouble our lives.

Richard

[Ann Drysdale]

The tone of this suggests we should turn it into a Flyting thread and curse in verse.

[Nigel Mace]

Indeed - why not go for it, Ann? Let us savour your opening salvo. I posted, yesterday, the invitation for you to name the next fortnight's round.

[Brian Allgar]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

Should we not have a thread on this? I will be in Trumpland of course but be assured I shall vote postally. The forms are on the way. Present polls give the divine Theresa a majority of 100 seats over everyone else i.e. more power than any Tory since I don't know when.

You'll be in Trumpland? So will everyone else in England if this vile woman gets her huge majority. I hadn't realized that Mad Cows were able to establish political dynasties.

[Brian Allgar]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

Changing the boundaries to make them more fair is worth 30-40 seats to the Tories I believe.

Isn't "changing the boundaries" a euphemism for "gerrymandering"?

[Ann Drysdale]

Nigel, (re post #13) never dare a fool.

[Nigel Mace]

Woo-hoo, Ann!
Having said which, we are about to entertain for the evening - but I promise to return to the fray tomorrow. Meanwhile - and no doubt more doughtily - let us hope that our fellow prose posters to this thread will seize the moment and weigh in.
Brian, if you can tear yourself away from Sunday's still headier Gallic excitements...? John, will you lift a lance...? Aaron, a note from outside...? Jerome, a hopeful line...?

[David Anthony]

It seems that the popularity of the Scottish Nationalist Party peaked shortly before the Scottish independence referendum. In the subsequent Scottish parliamentary elections they failed to win a majority. I believe the early general election will be bad news for the SNP because the Scottish Conservative Party and unionism are resurgent. Sorry, Nigel.

[John Whitworth]

No, Brian, it is not. It is the opposite. It is making things more fair, more equal. As in Oz.

How can it be fair that an idle Glaswegians vote is worth two form the industrious south?

[Roger Slater]

It's not fair, in my opinion. The same way it wasn't fair that Trump won the election even though Clinton had three million more votes than he did, and it wasn't fair that individual voters in some states had literally triple the voting power as voters in states like New York (where I live). It was legal, however, which is what Trump voters answer when this is pointed out. Yes, legal. But not fair.