# BritDopers (and nosy foreigners) - The general election 2010 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 6, 2010, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133 "2010-04-06T11:13:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/901 "2010-05-12T16:27:09Z")
I am unbelievably happy. I don’t think I’ve been this pleased for years. This is the second change in government in thirty years and it looks about as close to Libertarianism as could possibly be conceived. It’s like being in a cult, or being in love. Forgotten how it felt. Wow. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/902 "2010-05-12T17:20:47Z")
Throughout the various threads about the UK election, I was surprized by the adamant support that Labour received on these boards, and what could only be described as utter hatred toward the Tories in general and David Cameron in particular, even though (at least from this side of the Atlanatic) Labour seemed to be on an out-of-control power grab for a total survaillance society (OK, perhaps I read [theRegister.co.uk](http://theRegister.co.uk) too much). Now, after reading the upcoming plans (yes, I know they are only just plans) that the Tories & LibDems have come up with, things seem quite reasonable. This is quite important to us, as whenever Labour came up with stupid ideas such as prohibiting photographing police or whatever, the security ‘parrots’ on our side would run around squawking ‘Bawk! Great Idea! Do it in Britian, must do it here! Bawk!’. Maybe our parrots could pick up on, say “Safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation.”, although I doubt it. Could anyone tell me why so many posters seemed to be flying off the handle about this election? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/903 "2010-05-12T17:25:12Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Throughout the various threads about the UK election, I was surprized by the adamant support that Labour received on these boards, and what could only be described as utter hatred toward the Tories in general and David Cameron in particular, even though (at least from this side of the Atlanatic) Labour seemed to be on an out-of-control power grab for a total survaillance society (OK, perhaps I read [theRegister.co.uk](http://theRegister.co.uk) too much). > Now, after reading the upcoming plans (yes, I know they are only just plans) that the Tories & LibDems have come up with, things seem quite reasonable. This is quite important to us, as whenever Labour came up with stupid ideas such as prohibiting photographing police or whatever, the security ‘parrots’ on our side would run around squawking ‘Bawk! Great Idea! Do it in Britian, must do it here! Bawk!’. Maybe our parrots could pick up on, say “Safeguards against the misuse of anti-terrorism legislation.”, although I doubt it. > > Could anyone tell me why so many posters seemed to be flying off the handle about this election? Essentially, the British left hate - and I mean hate - the conservative party, because of Margaret Thatcher. You may notice she resigned in 1990. I have resisted the temptation to defend her here, much as I would love to, as it would be the British equivalent of praising the most recent Bush - i.e. something of a thread hijack and certainly going nowhere. And, much as this board leans left by US standards, the majority, but certainly by no means all, of British posters here also lean to the left. There really is nothing to it other than that. ---
**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/904 "2010-05-12T17:29:59Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > It’s Douglas Carswell’s idea. The basic idea is that the public will comment on laws and regulations that are overly burdensome, and then a bill will be passed to repeal all the burdensome laws. This will be hilarious to watch. (I’d not heard of the idea til just now, but can see all sorts of problems in co-ordinating a Bill like that and getting it through Parliament. I’m glad that I’m not going to be on that Bill team!) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/905 "2010-05-12T17:30:44Z")
And to be extra politically neutral - by the 1990 comment, I do not mean they are tribal fools stuck in the past along with their ideology, even if they are (which I make no comment on one way or the other) - I just point out how divisive a figure she was then and now. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/906 "2010-05-12T17:31:57Z")
> [@nicole1912](#): > > This will be hilarious to watch. (I’d not heard of the idea til just now, but can see all sorts of problems in co-ordinating a Bill like that and getting it through Parliament. I’m glad that I’m not going to be on that Bill team!) You can edit it [here](http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Great_Repeal_Bill) - the majority of things they want to repeal I would agree with, although some are… eccentric… at best. Do we really want to abolish the concept of unfair contracts? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/907 "2010-05-12T17:44:14Z")
Slightly off topic: is there a British Obama on the horizon (ie., a minority other than a female with a real chance of becoming PM in the next 15 years)? For some reason it appears to be next to impossible to find a list of MPs broken down by ethnicity, though I’m assuming there are probably a half-dozen black and a dozen Asian MPs. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/908 "2010-05-12T17:51:16Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Slightly off topic: is there a British Obama on the horizon (ie., a minority other than a female with a real chance of becoming PM in the next 15 years)? > > For some reason it appears to be next to impossible to find a list of MPs broken down by ethnicity, though I’m assuming there are probably a half-dozen black and a dozen Asian MPs. David Cameron only became an MP in 2001 and leader of the tory party in 2005… we work quicker than that… quite possible there’ll be someone there who isn’t even in parliament now. As for ethnic minorities… tbh no one comes to mind. The new chairman of the conservative party is Baroness Warsi though, who’s both brown, muslim, and female 😃 This just isn’t an issue in British politics though. That’s not saying there’s no racial tension, but there’s no glass ceiling in the Westminster Village. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/909 "2010-05-12T17:53:33Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > It’s Douglas Carswell’s idea. The basic idea is that the public will comment on laws and regulations that are overly burdensome, and then a bill will be passed to repeal all the burdensome laws. Huh. How long a period will the public have to comment? Who gets to decide which laws and regs really are “overly burdensome,” and thus should be included in some kind of omnibus repeal bill? The devil really will be in the details on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/910 "2010-05-12T18:02:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Huh. How long a period will the public have to comment? Who gets to decide which laws and regs really are “overly burdensome,” and thus should be included in some kind of omnibus repeal bill? The devil really will be in the details on this one. Quite, but the details haven’t been announced yet… if you follow the link I gave a couple of posts ago there’s the current one for you to edit - it’s on one of the wiki sites! ---
**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/911 "2010-05-12T18:10:22Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > Quite, but the details haven’t been announced yet… if you follow the link I gave a couple of posts ago there’s the current one for you to edit - it’s on one of the wiki sites! It’s even better than I thought: they’re drafting a Bill through wiki. I suppose it’s possibly better than the usual type of consultation, but they’re going to get a lot of off-the-wall responses - everyone has legislation that they dislike. It’s going to be a huge job to sift through it all, even before they have the job of getting cross-Whitehall agreement to the end product. So very, very glad it’s not my job! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@The\_Urban\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Urban_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/912 "2010-05-12T18:34:45Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > Essentially, the British left hate - and I mean hate - the conservative party, because of Margaret Thatcher. > [snip] > There really is nothing to it other than that. > [@Angry Lurker](#): > > This just isn’t an issue in British politics though. That’s not saying there’s no racial tension, but there’s no glass ceiling in the Westminster Village. You do talk a lot of bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/913 "2010-05-12T18:37:13Z")
> [@The\_Urban\_Spaceman](#): > > You do talk a lot of bullshit. You lost. And in England… you didn’t just lose, but in the vernacular around these parts… you were pwned. Goodbye, scum 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/914 "2010-05-12T18:50:37Z")
> [@The\_Urban\_Spaceman](#): > > You do talk a lot of bullshit. > [@Angry Lurker](#): > > You lost. > > And in England… you didn’t just lose, but in the vernacular around these parts… you were pwned. Goodbye, scum 😃 Both of you cool it, please. And **Angry Lurker** , do not call other posters scum unless you’re posting in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/915 "2010-05-12T18:53:43Z")
Sorry, I wasn’t intending to refer to The Urban Spaceman specifically as scum, but to (his assumed) allegiances… Nevertheless I’ll be a bit more careful 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ivan732](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aeb1de/32.png) [@ivan732](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan732)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/916 "2010-05-12T19:24:20Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Throughout the various threads about the UK election, I was surprized by the adamant support that Labour received on these boards, and what could only be described as utter hatred toward the Tories in general and David Cameron in particular, even though (at least from this side of the Atlanatic) Labour seemed to be on an out-of-control power grab for a total survaillance society (OK, perhaps I read [theRegister.co.uk](http://theRegister.co.uk) too much). I think that historically Labour has not been seen as the party of authoritarianism. That is a recent development, and to be fair one that bothers many Labour supporters too. As for the vitriol directed at Tories, it is slightly bemusing to me, as a right-of-centre person. Reading some of this stuff, the haters seem to genuinely think that Tory voters want pensioners to starve, rejoice when people lose their jobs, are all racists, and so on, and despise them for it. I don’t feel that kind of revulsion towards Labour voters. I think they largely want the same things as I do, but have radically different views about how to achieve it. In short, I think they’re well-meaning but misguided. But on their side, there seems to be a certain intellectual arrogance that anyone who disagrees with their ideas about how to achieve a better society must not actually _want_ a better society. Because if they did, naturally they would agree with them. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/917 "2010-05-12T19:30:40Z")
> [@ivan732](#): > > I think that historically Labour has not been seen as the party of authoritarianism. That is a recent development, and to be fair one that bothers many Labour supporters too. > As for the vitriol directed at Tories, it is slightly bemusing to me, as a right-of-centre person. Reading some of this stuff, the haters seem to genuinely think that Tory voters want pensioners to starve, rejoice when people lose their jobs, are all racists, and so on, and despise them for it. I don’t feel that kind of revulsion towards Labour voters. I think they largely want the same things as I do, but have radically different views about how to achieve it. In short, I think they’re well-meaning but misguided. But on their side, there seems to be a certain intellectual arrogance that anyone who disagrees with their ideas about how to achieve a better society must not actually _want_ a better society. Because if they did, naturally they would agree with them. It is not so much Labour voters who believe that, but Labour supporters, I think. But it is certainly the case. Enormous tribalism. And a huge part down to Thatcher, or at least the left’s reaction to her. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/918 "2010-05-12T19:32:55Z")
What interests me is how the Lib Dem grass roots will take this. A huge number are in shock, anger, whatever you want to call it at present. I hope the vast majority get on board as they see what good this government who 2/3rds of the electorate voted for does. ---
**Author:** ![nicole1912](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@nicole1912](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nicole1912)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/919 "2010-05-12T19:55:29Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > What interests me is how the Lib Dem grass roots will take this. A huge number are in shock, anger, whatever you want to call it at present. I hope the vast majority get on board as they see what good this government who 2/3rds of the electorate voted for does. Even if they don’t see that, you’d think they’d be pleased that the Lib Dems have done as well for themselves as they have done - they haven’t ever had this kind of influence on government before. This ought to be a celebration for them, even if it does involve some compromise - the compromise is more power than they would otherwise have had. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133/920 "2010-05-12T20:07:20Z")
> [@nicole1912](#): > > Even if they don’t see that, you’d think they’d be pleased that the Lib Dems have done as well for themselves as they have done - they haven’t ever had this kind of influence on government before. This ought to be a celebration for them, even if it does involve some compromise - the compromise is more power than they would otherwise have had. But again we come back to the knee-jerk tory-hate, which is what many of them will have felt when this came out. I agree though - it will dissipate amongst the reasonable ones (and, I should add, most of them are reasonable, ridiculous facebook campaigns aside) shortly. In fact it’s probably already gone for many 🙂 For what it’s worth I think it may be a good idea to list the most influential blogs here… off the top of my head so may have missed something obvious: > **[politicalbetting.com – The web's premier resource for political betting.](https://www1.politicalbetting.com/)** > **[Guido Fawkes](https://order-order.com/)** > > Britain's leading news and politics site, blowing up Westminster since 2004, relaunched for 2025 > **[Conservative Home | Comprehensive, independent coverage of the UK...](https://conservativehome.com/)** > > Britain's leading Conservative website for news, comment, analysis, campaigns, and events, edited by Giles Dilnot. > **[Iain Dale's Diary](http://iaindale.blogspot.com/)** > > political commentator \* author \* publisher \* bookseller \* radio presenter \* blogger \* Conservative candidate \* former lobbyist \* Jack Russell owner \* West Ham United fanatic \* Email iain AT iaindale DOT com [http://dizzythinks.net/](http://dizzythinks.net/) [http://www.libdemvoice.org/](http://www.libdemvoice.org/) [http://www.labourhome.org/](http://www.labourhome.org/) > **[Latest from Coffee House | The Spectator](https://www.spectator.co.uk/coffee-house/)** > > Read about the latest in-depth analysis of the day’s news, plus all of the most up to date stories and gossip from Westminster as well as the rest of the world [http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/](http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/) And Daniel Hannan’s, if I could remember where to find it, although it’s not really terribly important for a general election thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/britdopers-and-nosy-foreigners-the-general-election-2010/535133.md?page=47)