The Year Was 2005...

Kangy

Kangy

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Robert Kilroy-Silk was hovering after his hasty withdrawal from UKIP, a shortlived and vicious party that was defeated by common sense and failure to act. He may have been slowed down, but Kilroy wasn't quite ready to end his assault on the sensible majority.

No, Kilroy had other plans. Together, with his other UKIP exile cronies, they formed Veritas! Fixated on his warped belief of the "truth", Veritas persued a grim victory over those who didn't fall in line with his xenophobic, paranoid view of the world. With Labour and the Tories weakened by poor leadership, the stakes are high!

The thrilling conclusion to this saga will come in May! Will Gordon Brown overthrow Blair and finally take his rightful thrown, and fulfill his destiny? Will Michael Howard get a grip on his party? Could the Lib Dems suprise us all, and defeat Kilroy once and for all!

Find out next time!
 
im sorry, those of us west of the pond dont understand ur version of english, wtf was that about?
 
I think Labour have got it, Brown will become PM (I hope) the Lib Dems will become the new opposition, and the Conservatives will vanish into history.

It's Brittish politics, eg.
 
*throws a rock in the pond*


So, what's going on? None of that made any sense to me o_O
 
fringe UK politics.. nothing to see here apart from a mad old man pissing into his own face. move along ppl.
 
Once again, a thread that makes me feel more like the phrase "stupid American" is not all that off base. Honestly, we in America are taught more or less nothing (in schools) about current events in other countries unless it somehow largely affects the US.
 
He_Who_Is_Steve said:
Once again, a thread that makes me feel more like the phrase "stupid American" is not all that off base. Honestly, we in America are taught more or less nothing (in schools) about current events in other countries unless it somehow largely affects the US.
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I couldn't have put it better myself. Everyone seems to know what's going on here, but I have almost no idea what's going on any place else. I really do have my work cut out for me.
 
in the case of UK politics - ignorance is definately bliss. ever been to a pantomime?
 
Earl Danish said:
in the case of UK politics - ignorance is definately bliss. ever been to a pantomime?
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I don't know what that is, but I hate mimes.
 
Why should we need to learn about politics in other countries? I don't plan on being a politician, and I sure as hell have enough dates to memmorize for history class without adding France, Spain, and Russia into the mix.
 
lol - pantomime is darker and smellier than politics. but you get ice cream in the interval. check out a pantomime next time you really want to do something great. ;] you'll probly see half the future house of lords in the chorusline.
 
Death.Trap said:
Why should we need to learn about politics in other countries? I don't plan on being a politician, and I sure as hell have enough dates to memmorize for history class without adding France, Spain, and Russia into the mix.
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The point is that kids in many other countries (correct me if I'm wrong) learn their history, our history, and the history of many different other countries, as opposed to us learning American history and a general world history.
 
He_Who_Is_Steve said:
The point is that kids in many other countries (correct me if I'm wrong) learn their history, our history, and the history of many different other countries, as opposed to us learning American history and a general world history.
Click to expand...

Yep. My entire grammar, middle, and high school career had a very strong focus on American history, and briefly touched upon everything else. The really sad thing is that even with the heavy focus on American history, most people are still totally ignorant of the countries past. So not only do we get a poor grasp on world history, we hardly get one on our own.

Oh yeah, there were some Egyptians and stuff, and then there was some kind of Dark Age or something, and then America was founded and Christopher Columbus was our first President.
 
It's true. I definitely know more about today's american politics then I do about the last thirty years of canadian politics.
That's mostly because I don't think there's much wrong with our parliament though. Comparatively, at least.

On one hand you hear Jean Chretien misspent a few million dollars funding a golf course, or Paul Martin misspent a few million on shipping companies, but then America starts a multi-billion dollar war without really explaining why.
Squeaky wheel gets the grease, in this case. :p
 
He_Who_Is_Steve said:
The point is that kids in many other countries (correct me if I'm wrong) learn their history, our history, and the history of many different other countries, as opposed to us learning American history and a general world history.
Click to expand...


yes...... but in other countries education is handled as something that is more than glamorized daycare.
 
I thought America would get a great deal of English, French and Spanish history?
 
Mechagodzilla said:
It's true. I definitely know more about today's american politics then I do about the last thirty years of canadian politics.
That's mostly because I don't think there's much wrong with our parliament though. Comparatively, at least.
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Mechagodzilla,

What was all that talk about the French Canadians and military tanks surrounding the capital back in the early to mid 1990's, something about they feared a revolution because of inequalities?
 
RZAL said:
Mechagodzilla,

What was all that talk about the French Canadians and military tanks surrounding the capital back in the early to mid 1990's, something about they feared a revolution because of inequalities?
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Are you referring to the armed standoff of the summer of 1990 between the Canadian army and Mohawk Indians as Oka, just outside of Montreal, which stands as a reminder of the fragility of pluriethnicity and pluriculturalism in Quebec. The sad, public displays of racial intolerance which became the trademark of the "Oka crisis" did nothing to alleviate mounting tensions between Québecois and Quebec's aboriginal communities?
 
Nickcpus said:
Are you referring to the armed standoff of the summer of 1990 between the Canadian army and Mohawk Indians as Oka, just outside of Montreal, which stands as a reminder of the fragility of pluriethnicity and pluriculturalism in Quebec. The sad, public displays of racial intolerance which became the trademark of the "Oka crisis" did nothing to alleviate mounting tensions between Québecois and Quebec's aboriginal communities?
Click to expand...
No, I don’t remember that one, heres the one I’m talking about. For some reason I thought they actually called them in, at least thats what I remember from the news and maybe one of my old sociology classes.


ELIZABETH THOMPSON
The Gazette Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Former Defence Minister David Collenette was prepared to call in the Canadian armed forces to protect federal property and assets in Quebec in the event of a referendum victory by sovereignist forces in 1995, according to a new biography of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

In Iron Man: the Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien, author Lawrence Martin reveals that the federal government was prepared to take a much harder line with Quebec than it publicly admitted, should sovereignist forces have won the agonizingly close referendum.

One of the strongest advocates of adopting a hard line with Quebec was Collenette.

"Defence Minister Collenette was ready, in the event of a loss, to make the federal presence felt," Martin writes in his book just published by Viking Canada. "For starters, the army was to protect federal property and federal assets from a sovereignist takeover. 'I was in a tough position,' he recalled years later. 'I was minister of defence. There were things that went on that we had to prepare for that I don't even want to talk about.' "

Earlier in the chapter, Martin suggests Collenette was also prepared to come to the aid of federalists still in Quebec.

" 'My view,' Collenette would explain in a later interview, 'was that these guys aren't going to get away with this. This is my country. I don't care what the numbers are. It's one thing to say you want to separate. But now we start playing hardball. Because we're not going to abandon all those people who want to stay in Canada.' "

Martin is the author of The Will to Win, a biography of Chrétien's earlier years, as a well as The Antagonist, a controversial biography of ex-Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard.

In the Iron Man, Martin reveals that Chrétien adviser Eddie Goldenberg had prepared two speeches for the PM to deliver on referendum night - one in the event of a federalist win and the other in the event that sovereignist forces were victorious.

"A negation of the verdict in front of tens of thousands of celebrating Quebecers would have risked a bloody backlash. But in fact that is what Chrétien planned to do," Martin wrote. "Goldenberg recalled the speech he prepared for Chrétien that night. 'He wasn't about to let the country break up,' he said. Chrétien's speech would say, 'We are getting a message from the people. But this is not the breakup of the country.' "

Former solicitor-general Herb Gray said he and most cabinet ministers agreed with a hard-line approach. Gray said Chrétien was to say that "the referendum was a consultative exercise and that nothing in our constitution allows anything to be changed by a referendum."

In an interview for the book, Chrétien admitted he would not have recognized a close vote.

"You know, at 50 (per cent) plus one, I was not about to let go the country. You don't break your country because one guy forgets his glasses at home."

Jacques Parizeau, then the premier of Quebec, revealed in his book Pour un Québec Souverain that he was prepared to declare unilateral separation if Ottawa refused to accept the referendum result. Throw in Chrétien's stance and Collenette's willingness to call in the troops, Martin speculates, and you have the elements for a possible civil war.

In his book, Martin paints a picture of a cabinet lured into a sense of complacency by Chrétien lieutenant Alfonso Gagliano, only to suddenly wake up and realize the country was on the brink of disaster.

Sheila Copps was one of the few federal ministers who made forays into Quebec to campaign and was one of the few to sense trouble, Martin writes. "Copps, who normally had deep faith in the instincts of Jean Chrétien, couldn't believe the attitude."

It was only near the end of the referendum campaign that the feds woke up, he writes, recounting how Chrétien broke into tears at a caucus meeting only a few days before the vote.

All the while, federal and provincial federalists were barely on speaking terms, said Liza Frulla, a key organizer of the No forces. Frulla and other Italian Canadians in her riding were being warned they would "have to go back to your own country," when the sovereignist side won.

http://www.canada.com/montreal/stor...C0-3C2F0511B92E
 
See, now that's the sort of thing that I should know about Canada, but but don't. :p
 
qckbeam said:
I couldn't have put it better myself. Everyone seems to know what's going on here, but I have almost no idea what's going on any place else. I really do have my work cut out for me.
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i learnt a lot about other countries, and history in my school. But i have learnt a lot from the people on this site. as all of you are from around the globe, listening to all your points and views are all facts to me :D.

i am constantly learning, i like learning, rofl :E

and i suppose we all Learn something different, Every day :D
 
Who cares about GB? Denmark is holding an election next week. :O
 
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