Biggus, you said many holes but only state two, of which both pertain to the point I made re-fixed term parliaments; the remainder being your point of view on the situation in Europe, and party politics.
To counter...
Fixed term parliaments, fixed at the maximum allowable of 5 years...DC wanted to scrap the ability of government to call elections when it was 'politically convenient' to do so. However, they have elected to fix their parliamentary term for the longest possible, I would guess in the hope that by the time the electorate vote once more, all the pain and hurt would have been forgotten. By the way, this bill had the support of a majority of just 15 in the House of Lords - many are still unconvinced. Hole No.1 countered.
Joe Soap not being able to kick them out early - semantics here. Harshly negative opinion polls, defeats in local elections etc leading to pressure from the opposition has in the past succeeded in forcing government to the polls by encouraging ruling MPs to show no-confidence in their party. I think we tie on this one depending on your perspective.
Europe et al. Believe me I have been smelling the roses for sometime having quite substantial funds invested in a smorgasbord of stocks and investment trusts of varying risks; and also as one of those entrepreneurs which this administration claim to back so much. Shame the banks do not see eye to eye with the PM, despite his constant pleading to them to do so. As Miliband quite concisely pointed out to DC at PM questions today (I'm not a Labour fan by the way) the Conservative manifesto pledged to protect the
numbers of both police and nurses - not the
proportion of front line. Since they have come to power, the numbers of both have dropped markedly. Now, is this the mark of a devious government (not that I used this term in the first place - I think you did...)?
Now, Labour admitted they too would be making budget cuts. But not so deep and not so fast. Only time will tell which strategy was best. However, time is currently showing that austerity has done nothing to kick-start the economy. Yes we may have (temporarily) protected our AAA credit rating. But has this inadvertently made GBP a safe haven thus pushing up the value of the pound and therefore making us less competitive amongst our peers? Well, the evidence is certainly indicating this...double dip for us, yet the Euro zone is in growth...
I'd love to share that red with you; I think we could seriously bore each other senseless.
