Now I've never been all that interested in policitics if I'm honest. To me (in this country at least) there seems to be a repetitive cycle of political parties that come into power doing pretty much the same thing as the party before them with not a lot really changing. The cycle seems to go something like this:

- Party X comes into power after a long run by party Y
- Party X is voted in after a young fresh leader takes over and promises a new fresh party with new fresh ideas
- Party X starts off well and has a decent 'honeymoon' period which includes some economic growth
- After a good run things start to go a bit Pete Tong for Party X and Party Y gets a new fresh leader with new fresh ideas
- Party Y comes into power after a long run by Party X

And so on...

My question is why does this cycle keep getting repeated? Not only that but when the conservatives (inevitably) get voted in at the next general election will there be a significant change in the fortunes of this country? I know we all blame the government for...well everything but hypothetically speaking if we were to stick with Labour wouldn't the country go through the recession and then come out of it again anyway (just like we have before)?

I just realised that makes me sound very pro Labour, but no I'm not.

Last question does anyone think there will EVER be another political party strong enough to truly compete with Labour and Conservative?

Sorry if any of this sounds dumb but like I say I've never been interested in politics and I'm interested to know what peeps think.

I'm in a similar situation as you Theo (determined about that one). I don't think it will make an enormous amount of difference.

And it's less for me about one party becoming crap, as another party really pulling out all the stops to be attractive and get into power.

The country only ever seems to have bad times when a party has rested on it's laurels and gone stale. And/or it's theories about success are proven to not quite have the flexibility and longevity they foolishly promised us they would.

Actually maybe it's those promises that lead us to feel let down. If they were honest (granted they would never get in power) they'd say "well it'll work for a while but you never know what might happen with America so it might fuck up a few years down the line. Don't worry though, we'll pull through together"....actually that's exactly why I'm NOT in politics!

Stop throwing these damned carrots will you.

Pretty well summed up nothing much changes but maintaining the status quo and not having proportional representation stops loony fringe parties from getting a chance in times of recession as we have now.

If anything hopefully it will give labour a kick up the arse.

There is no real workers party again even the Socialist Workers Party is full of disassociated and cut off bureucrats.


I doubt it I should imagine the parties would just adapt and change their colours to adapt to whatever social situation was playing out in the U.K and the world at the time.

I find British politics very backhanded anyway. far too much is happening without either consent or knowledge.

Jamaican politics! Now that shit is funny. In this country, when there is something said in the commons that people agree with you get a murmured yeah, yeah ,yeah. Over there the brothers are jumping out of their seats, slapping desks and stamping feet. It was without a doubt the funniest politics program i have ever watched. I waited each day for the programme to come on.

Oh yeah....no. Anyone going into politics wants to be in the controlling party. Whether that's motivated by socially responsible or selfish desires, it's what they want. So, are they going to join a rubbish party and risk never having a loud voice? Unlikely.

i wasn't bothered about politics here but they've made it so you can't get a kebab or a beer on your way home from space; which is an outrage. something must be done.

To be fair, Labour only really got in (in 97) because they adopted the tory policies (which was the reason they called themselves 'new labour'). Before that they had some distinctly looney policies (which alot of their back benchers still try to push through).

Anyhoo, before Mrs Thatcher got in there was a complete chasm between labour policies and tory policies and to be fair, since the war neither party had experienced the long term success that either has enjoyed since (if a party managed to stay in for 2 consectutive terms they were doing well).

Obviously most of the people on this site are too young to remember what the political or social landscape was like in the days before Mrs Thatcher, for that we must rely on other peoples opinions and second hand information.

But, to be honest, these days, the difference in this country between 'right' and 'left' are quite small but I do believe it is the finer points which do make all the difference (i.e. Stealth taxing people out of existance etc!).

They can stealth tax the middle classes all they like IMO.

Sadly, thats the nature of the beast - stealth taxes get all of us and tend to hit the lower classes hardest!

The whole tax system is designed to tax the 'working man'.
Those who earn 100k and above usually pay less tax due to the way they are paid their salary.

The Rich stay rich no matter who is in government... where do you think their 'contributions' come from??

Governments will always tax the 'people' more than the middle to upper classes'

And 'WE' put them in power!!

I know just trying to get someone to bite :-)

Yeah but it's just not worth it, we always get screwed by the government.

So why bother entering into a political voting system that cannot possibly result in anything other than your own ass being delivered to you by the postman one morning. People in this country are so apathetic if you don't like something then get organised join alternative lobby groups try to disrupt governmental activities you disagree with!

That's all well and good but it's a catch 22 anyway. If you vote for one of the fringe parties it often feels like a "wasted vote" as you know in your heart they are never gonna be put in a position where they can really make a difference. On the other hand if you vote for one of the big two you're betraying yourself to a certain extent if you didn't want to vote for them in the first place.

Also like Alex says (and which I also tried to hit upon with my initial post) there really isn't all that much difference between the two big parties now anyway to you could argue what's the point in voting if you're just gonna get the same thing anyway? (give or take a policy or two)

Power corrupts, and the longer power rests with anyone the more corrupt they become. I loathe the party political system and have a rather off the wall theory. If a system where to serve as a councillor or mp were in existence that didnt make it a career option, but to make it a public duty...a form of service then it may well make things happen which we, the electorate actually want. Fixed terms of 12 or 18 months and no parties, just to be voted in on the promise to serve the community to the best of your ability...pay to be your 'civilian' salary plus fixed expenses would prevent the 'snouts in the trough', no lobbying by big business to be allowed..one vote, one voice only.

Lol I have suggested that as well but only half jokingly it's great in theory but you would have to be paid to campaign if you were going to be voted in. I guess you could be called up to serve like jury duty but then miscreants would end up in charge half the time.

I wasn't talking about voting for fringe parties I was talking about joining groups that actually take action and raise awarness outside of establishment political parties.

Sadly wrongn, this would result in even more corruption and ineptitude than we already have.

In my experience Capn' those types of groups tend to be extremists (one way or another). Which tends to result in some pretty over the top methods and beliefs (in certain areas).

Unfortunately in the real world the only viable alternative to democracy is autocracy, and given the choice I know what I'd rather live in.