Mock Election 2008

A Long-Standing Truth?

Wikileaks has become one of the most discussed website these days since the page is displaying secret and confidential documents with the speed of light – everything for Iraq, Afghanistan and many many more documents are now accessible for the public and this is somehow contraversial – governments are going mad trying to impose some restrictions and the people from Wikileaks are on the opposite opinion – they are trying to give more and more. Everything seems to be accessible – from the prices of the forces insurance to the most complicated diplomatic relationships.
What is particularly interesting is some documentation that seems a bit doubtful – as a common fact the UK is the strongest and most reliable ally of the United States and this is a persistent and somehow unquestioned truth. But is it really? The documentation in the website gives some significant grounds for reconsidering these facts and provides some sufficient information to reach a conclusion rather difficult to comprehend.
The documentation on the website quotes some diplomatic correspondence – the US expressly considers its relationship with the UK. The diplomatic notes state that the UK is undoubtedly a strong supporter of the US in terms of resources and support in military and financial cooperation. However, the US concludes some points on which this might be shaken. And while the UK is completely unaware of such considerations, the problem persists as the US documentation quotes the words of some officials as they conclude that the public in the UK and the US must keep their opinion that the bond between the countries is unshaken and stronger than ever.
US is probably bothered by the political change in the governance of the UK and it is hard to determine how the resulting tension from these publications would affect the connection between the two states.

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The UK Representation

Another incident has occurred in the EU Parliament today, 24th of November, as a classic rule in a House of equals in front of democratic discussions. The UK representative of Yorkshire, Mr Godfrey Bloom was ejected from the EU Parliament Chamber after making a clearly unacceptable Nazi remark at a German MEP Schuz, something the EU Parliament could not comply with.
Mr Bloom quoted a famous phrase from the Nazi Dictionary and thus angered quite a lot of people inside the Chamber. Having into consideration the politics of freedom of speech, his remarks might have been well accepted if composed otherwise and not containing Nazi expressions. However, the harshness of Mr Bloom led to a wider dis approvement and instead of discussing the problems of Europe (from unemployment and locum doctors jobs to financial deficit and democracy) the members of the Parliament held themselves engaged in discussing a completely irrelevant matter that might violate the process of work of the House.
Such an outburst of emotions and political moves is particularly harmful for the EU Parliament. In order for Europe to be led democratically, on the one hand, every representative need to have his seat ensured and his vote readied for the voting procedures on legislation. However, on the other hand, the EU Parliament is an institution that must go against the proclamation of Nazism and ideals of the past so the House obviously does not need considerations and comparisons of persons with the regimes that led to the most serious destructions ever known to mankind.
Both arguments seem fair enough to support and still, The EU parliament is an institution with legislative and consulting functions and not a place for resolution of personal disputes and discussions on the moral consequences from a speech.

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Unemployment and Immigration

What Britain is facing after the world economic crisis is high rates of unemployment and even more severe fight fir visas for immigrants. This is somehow related and the two factors interacting might worsen the situation in the country. As one of the main considerations by the Labours made in their election campaign was on immigration, it seems that the conservative government would have to emphasise on the issue if it wants to resolve those matters of unemployment and well being of the population of the UK.
Unemployment, understandably, rose after the world economic crisis. Many companies were forced to cut the personnel required for its production and cut the production as well since the decreased demand and the financial difficulties were putting pressure on the working class. Many people, even those holding the dream locum doctor job, were forced to quit receiving the pink slip. And since then the UK seems to be stuck in these rates of unemployment and even now when the recession is going away, people hardly see any positive outcome in the near future.
On the other hand, the immigration in the UK during the last few years has gone way too far – the country needs professional labour and qualified workers and along with them, the flow of immigrants looking for prosperity in the UK and London in particular has led to quite a lot of difficulties – namely the increase in unemployment. Problems with the collecting of taxes and inability to support the household by the majority of unemployed influenced negatively the country.
Now what the UK needs to do is impose more strict requirements for granting visas to non-EU citizens and tighten the rules governing the admission to residence in the country. On the other hand, new legislative measures in the public finance might improve the employment and contribute to the faster resolution of the problems of unemployment.

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A Persistent Issue

Since the several publications by investigative journalists and some undoubtedly shocking reports by reporters and world-wide institutions several years ago, the world witnessed inhuman treatment and extreme abuse among the suspects of terrorism by the authorities of France and the UK (as representatives of the forces in the middle East from Europe). The US was, furthermore, condemned as being even more severe and harsh on people suspected of conducting terrorism activities but no valuable proof which led people to believe that the Middle East invasions were solely based on fuel services interests.
France as a major military force in Europe, has long been famed for its secret services that interfere mainly with the Middle East in pursue it of terrorist and potential threats that might infringe the security of the state. However, the public demand for disclosure of relevant information by the officials in relation to the anti terrorism activity conducted by the services, has led to no outcome – the French institutions would not go into even considering the issue since the majority of these cases are classified and even some people from the military institutions have no access to that data.
On the other hand, in the UK things are getting quite accessible to the public which might not be the willing scenario for officials. As they try to fight back the legal claims by dozens of people claiming to have been abused and mistreated, the public continues to pressure the authorities requiring information on the conducted anti-terrorism activities. David Cameron has already said several times that such information, at this point, would not be likely to be disclosed and the government even started a campaign in trying to settle down disputes between military services and alleged victims of torture in order to escape the public trial and the publicity.

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’Only Poland Expanded’

The 2009 statistics on the EU economy are a subject of discussion these days since soon the 2010 year would be over and this would be the time when the economic development of member states would be reviewed and subjected to specialised analysis. And no matter how strong countries like Germany and France proclaim that the EU is stable enough and its development is steady and with increased rates, there seem to be some issues of concern especially when looking at the 2009 reports for comparison.
In 2009, the 27 member states of the organisation started getting out of the recession and in 2010 it was officially announced that the financial crisis is over. However, for countries like Greece, the recession was more serious than it was for countries for … Poland. Poland remained the last bastion of economic development for the EU and it is not even a member of the Euro zone. The country significantly increased its development rates and the economic rise in Poland in 2009 was with over 3% – something remarkable on the overall scene where countries like Greece and Latvia were loosing money and were falling in deep deficit (where everything from laptop for sale to vegetable markets was affected by the financial crisis).
The giants like France and the UK were expected to grow significantly more than it actually appeared to be. These two were among the largest debt owners and still remain economies that might need more time to reach the Polish level. France, as a member of the Euro zone, however, seems to be in a favourable position due to the money management that EU offers to countries with the Euro currency.
So the general conclusion might seem a bit disappointing for all those who became quite excited after the announcements that the EU is getting stronger and stronger even during economic crisis. On the other hand, countries like Poland remain examples of how the EU countries should approach the economic matters and disputes and truly, an increase in the economic development is expected in 2011.

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When Germany Met The UK

The British PM, David Cameron, has officially announced he has had a meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel (surprisingly this was not on the Underground freebies ) and both of them have discussed some matters that led to a substantive considerations on foreign policy, security matters and economic development.
The first of these considerations was mainly related to the anticipated rise in the EU budget. Both leaders agreed that the increase of almost 6% in the EU money would be grossly inappropriate especially in times of post recession when some of the countries would suffer from contributing to the EU budget. On the other hand, they thing 3% of rise is necessary and would be a good idea especially considering the fact that states like Germany and UK can afford it and thus smaller states, which contribute less, would pay even less for their contributions which would be a good start for getting out of the recession in the upcoming year.
Another issue they discussed was the position on Afghanistan – Merkel supports Britain in their efforts to put stability in the region and the German commitment to the mission has not gone down – cooperation in the are would be a main priority as well as focuses on anti terrorism and stability in regions as Iran and North Korea.
Cameron, on the other hand, raised some perfect and purely economic considerations and talked with Merkel about the upcoming G20 summit in Seoul, South Korea, which would be quite economically focused due to the post recession period. According to the British PM, Germany and the UK should establish a treaty with Turkey Indonesia in order to boost the world trade and economy since these two Eastern countries have a good ground for development and plenty of production resources and human force.

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Geert Wilders Against Islam

Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician that has become famous mainly for his radical views on Islam and Muslims. When he appeared on the 4th of October at the court, where there is a case being led against him for discrimination and hatred, he seemed quite silent and, while previously proclaiming the freedom of speech and right of expression, this time the politician seemed speechless… or probably this was a legal advice.
Mr Wilders is one of the politicians that are becoming more and more popular in Northern and Western Europe – his party won almost 15% of the votes in the elections in the Netherlands and is a part of a governmental coalition with the Christian-Democrats. It is a notion in the regions mentioned above that a more radical approach against Muslims is becoming evident – people are either getting seduced by the sweet idea of a monogamous society and start loosing their realistic views, or just speakers such as Wilders really know how to convince people.
In the last decade, the Dutch have had many of these radical politicians within their political spheres and several murders have occurred as a result of the hatred these people were proclaiming. In a world of the 21st century such opposition against a religion ( and most importantly insulting it – Wilders’ speeches are full of offending words against Islam which he used to repeat like an used ipod ) seems to be somehow popular and politicians of such aspect claim that soon Europe would be soon Islamised – something people are ready to believe if a single observation over immigration is made.
However, hatred and incapability of tolerance remind people of something else that happened 60 70 years ago and that the modern day world is fighting against – the fight people should live seems to have nothing to do with Islam. It should be a fight for the preservation of human rights and liberties and the proclamation of freedom and self-expression.

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Encouraging the Youth

Britain is currently facing a difficult decision to make since its own policies are proving to be somehow dangerous for the development of the state as a whole. Some debates among scholars, policy specialists and academics have led to making some general conclusions that seem quite disturbing.

Many young people in Britain live on benefits and this has become a topic of discussion that the new government is facing. People at the age of 18-19 are becoming more and more discouraged to study and undertake innitiatives to boost their career realisation – it is much easier for them to make family at that age and apply for the benefit scheme which would cover their basic expenses and needs and would not cause them future struggle.

Since the numbers are getting quite disturbing especially after April 2010 when some preciesely estimated data by an independant commission appointed to research the issue was passed to the governmental institutions and it became clear that the British youth … lack motivation.

Young people are mainly concerned with education and profitable career as a result. However, the increasing number of people willing to live on benefits might result in higher taxation policies, lack of specialists in certain areas and the need to look for alternative labour markets abroad (which would mean more freedom for immigrants willing to enter the UK). Goods exchange in the EU,fuel supply contract with different countries and lower tax rates for trade are all areas from which the UK is currently benefiting from but it cannot afford increase in the immigration rates – it is getting a serious issue and serious measures need to be taken.

This is the reason why the government of the day needs to undertake an approach to motivate and stimulate young people – while living on benefits they are parasites for the ordinary taxpayers and their professional development is highly important for the ecnomic and social development of the UK in future – the country is suffering from professional deficit and needs to undertake a more serious approach towards young people.

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Machiavelli, a realpolitic

Biodiesel is a topic of discussion nowadays but in the past there were other issues of importance and of them was the points made by Machiavelli in his book ’The Prince’.

Nicolo Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher, writer and playwright, but foremost, a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. Although producing quite a good number of works, he is most famous for his ‘handbook for rulers’, called ‘The Prince’. This short book, written as a gesture of goodwill and loyalty to the ruler of Florence at the time, Lorenzo de Medici, has become both an inspiration and an emblem of cynicism for generations of politicians and thinkers, ever since its coming to life.

Through the course of Machiavelli’s work, we can observe his reasoning over different situations and problems, concerning the stewardship of a principality (a state governed by a Prince), giving specific advice to princes on appropriate actions to be taken. Being and educated man, familiar with both ancient history and the contemporary state of affairs, the author uses the deeds of different rulers, as examples, to support his theories. The writer also shares his thoughts on fortune, or Fortuna, how it is referred to on several occasions, and its influence over the successes or failures of men.

Nicolo Machiavelli can be described as being bold and cynical about the way he writes in his book. The pieces of advice he gives are straightforward and he does not hesitate much before promoting drastic measures to the intended reader, Lorenzo de Medici. It is made clear, in the first few chapters, that when the preservation of the prince’s power is in question, morals should be left aside. Instead more practical, and in a way scientific, approaches should be adopted. To be continued…

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Youngest Votes

The turnout of the youngest voters in the last two general elections was the lowest among all age groups. This gives good information, but not entirely sufficient to be able to fully comprehend how low the turnout among young people was. To have a more thorough understanding of the issue we must make a few comparisons. In the 2005 general election the next least active group, after young people, were people aged 25-34, with 48% of them casting their vote, and the most active group was the 65+ group with turnout of 75%. This shows that the next group after young people is more active by 11%, and the most active group leads young 18-24 year-olds by a staggering 38%. Having observed these figures, we now can have a more informed judgement and can realise how little the interest of young people in politics and elections actually is.

Other literature reviewed so far, and which is yet to be discussed, has helped me identify 4 main reasons for the low turnout among young people: convenience issues, non-registration, apathy, and alienation. I shall discuss these four reasons in detail in the next few paragraphs of this section.

To begin with I will look at the convenience issues. We live in times of globalisation and cutting edge technology and, if we look around, we are likely to have little trouble in locating a piece of a technological advancement that is part of our life, e.g. telephones, internet. It is only natural that the election process should be modernised too, since people have changed the ways they communicate between themselves (e.g. email), the way they can send their vote across should also adapt to these changes. Improving the accessibility to voting is likely to increase the number of voters exercising their voting right. ‘It is believed that innovative use of ICT’s might enable young people to engage with political issues, the processes of public decision-making and wider civil society’. Being more involved in the political life of the country will increase the likelihood of young people voting, and will give more representative results at elections. Other considerations that relate to the convenience issues are that many people may be working, ill, away from home or have child care duties to attend to. All these obstacles that come in the way, can be removed should the elections become more accessible, and one way is going online. Other solution to the problem may be longer hours of the polling stations, telephone voting and mobile polling stations.

Are you not sitting comfortably in your a sofa? Buy sofas!

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