The internal politics of both Scotland and Wales now resemble those of most Continental countries more than they resemble the English. The voters do not directly elect a government. They create circumstances in which the political parties negotiate to decide which of them will form the government.
05 May 2007
Widening the gap...
...between politicians and people, still further. This from today's [UK] Daily Telegraph:
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2 comments:
Sounds good to me, if by government they mean the executive branch. There should be no more power in the executive branch than it needs to be to keep day-to-day affairs running.
I don't like the British/US idea that government works best when one party has absolute control. When the people is divided, it's a good thing that parties have to work together in the executive branch. What it usually means is that they have to compromise on their more controversial points, and we get a government that nobody likes (when did that ever happen anyway?) but most can at least stomach.
Did I mention that I don't like the Daily Telegraph, either? Well, Matt's pretty good. And the crossword, although the threshold is quite high for us non-native speakers!
I take your point, but I think it's unhealthy for people not to know what policies they are voting for. The tendency then is to disengage from politics completely, to be cynical about all politics, and to resent every policy as being imposed from above. I'd like, of course, to see people voting for outcomes, along Swiss lines. I like the Telegraph for its website (all free). I'll take look at the crossword now.
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