Politicy stuff

[selenay]

I like the British system of elections. Not only does it only take a couple of months as opposed to a couple of years, but there's a quick change when the government is voted out. The Americans have this period between election and swearing in that confuses me greatly. Exactly which president is in charge during the interregnum? Which one decides to go to war if the country is attacked during that time? Ditto for the new elected Senate/House?

Here we like to be quick about it. In '97, Blair was opening the front door of No. 10 while Major was sneaking out of the back door. None of this interregnum stuff. The election is called in favour of a new government, the new Prime Minister goes to the Queen to accept it and he's into the new house in time for tea. Same applies to the new MPs. Somehow it seems much safer and less confusing.



This thought was brought to you by the S2 West Wing episode The Lame Duck Congress, the letter P and the number 4.

Comments

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

Between the election and the inauguration the outgoing president is in charge. If they are courteous and professional, they will include the incoming president in any necessary decisions. I don't expect Bush will do this after Kerry kicks his priveleged, deceitful, cowardly ass. /g/

Kamil made the icon. Geran insisted I use it. He's disliked Bush ever since I explained the concept and reality of budget deficits.

"You mean me and Marina and Jacob and all our friends and all of the other kids in America, we're going to have to pay back all that money?"

"Yes."

"Oh, that Bush is a bad president."

BTW, you are absolutely right about the British system making more sense, except for that bit about the Queen, of course. /g,d,r/

[selenay]

Between the election and the inauguration the outgoing president is in charge.

That makes sense, I guess. Except for the fact that he's been voted out of office and my British mind figures that should mean he can't do anything anymore :-)

Kamil made the icon.

:-) Very good icon.

Although I keep seeing someone else when it flashes up *cough*. The last Tory leader was nicknamed Cough by one of our more satirical news magazines. He was a bit...bland. And unnoticable. And...um...bland. The current Tory leader has been nicknamed The Vampire. He's actually worse than Bush and Blair combined.

"Oh, that Bush is a bad president."

Your Geran is a very sensible young man. And they say that kids can't understand politics :-)

BTW, you are absolutely right about the British system making more sense, except for that bit about the Queen, of course. /g,d,r/

:-p~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darned rebellious ingrates :-) My Mom is Canadian. Her family fled America during the War of Independence because they were Crown Loyalists. Guess that makes me rather a monarchist :-)

I actually like the Queen bit. It's a little archaic and odd to non-Brits, but I like the traditions. Blair has to ask the Queen to dissolve Parliament and call an election, the Queen has to open Parliament each year and she has to give permission for the victorious party leader to form a government. They're all formalities and I doubt the Queen would refuse her permission, but I like the acknowledgement of our history and the way things were. I'm almost embarassed to admit that I support the continuation of our monarchy :-))

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

Your Geran is a very sensible young man. And they say that kids can't understand politics :-)

I'm indoctrinating him. /g/ Although it isn't taking much effort.

Darned rebellious ingrates :-)

Hee. I was just teasing, you know. I kinda like the Queen, and the traditions are cool.

Her family fled America during the War of Independence because they were Crown Loyalists.

I have no idea what my family did during the Revolution or if they were even on this continent (I secretly suspect I'm descended from Canadians on my father's side.). But the spouse has an ancestor who defected from the British army and another who was a German mercenary hired by the British. He also defected and then married a Mohawk woman.

You mentioned emigrating in one of your comments? Where is it you wish to go?

[selenay]

I'm indoctrinating him. /g/

You're a good mom :-)

I kinda like the Queen, and the traditions are cool.

:-) Some non-Brits really don't get the Queen thing. Of course, I don't get the President thing...

I have no idea what my family did during the Revolution

My aunt did a big family history thing a few years back and found that we originally settled in Masechusetts before fleeing north to New Brunswich. It's pretty neat to know things like that - makes history a bit more real, somehow, when I know that my ancestors were actually involved.

Where is it you wish to go?

Canada :-) I'm planning to go in about four years - I need to graduate (finally) and get some money together. The parents are planning to follow when they retire. We own a house out there that's currently being rented out and I'll take over posession when I get there. That will give me somewhere to live for a couple of years while looking for my own place - hopefully I'll be able to hand over the keys to it when the parents arrive. Mom's really looking forward to going home and Da and I have fallen in love with the country. I'm not sure how they'll cope with leaving my sister behind, but she's quite happy to stay here.

[mmmchelle.livejournal.com]

I suspected it was Canada.

What part of Canada? I'm about an hour south of Montreal, and I've spent a fair amount of time in Ottawa. I love Ottawa.

[selenay]

I suspected it was Canada.

:-))

What part of Canada?

Nova Scotia. Most of my family is there and I've fallen in love with the landscape and the friendliness of the Maritimers. Our house overlooks the ocean *bg*

I love Ottawa.

I was in Ottawa a few years ago for Canada Day - very cool street party :-) My Da's brother and his family went to visit Ottawa a few years ago with a view to moving there. They went in January and it was -30C ever day. It's going to be a looooong time before we pursuade them that not all of Canada is like that and in the summer it really does go over zero. Most of my friends think that I'm going to live with the polar bears and the Inuit :-)

[paranoidangel]

Canada :-) I'm planning to go in about four years

My sister mentioned to me today that she'd like to go to Canada, and that she could get a secondment with her company for 3 or 4 months, or 1 or 2 years. I'm waiting for you to move out there :)

[selenay]

:-) There will always be a spare room (or two or three *g*) for friends to stay it while I show them exactly why Canada is the most beautiful country on the planet.

Not that I'm biased...

[paranoidangel]

The current Tory leader has been nicknamed The Vampire. He's actually worse than Bush and Blair combined.

I didn't know about the nicknames, but the worst thing about reading that was I couldn't think who was Tory leader. I've remembered now, but it took a few minutes :)

[selenay]

I didn't know about the nicknames

Private Eye's nicknames make it very difficult to take some politicians seriously. Although the universal name for one of the candidates during the Major/Thatcher swap was even better. Still can't look at him without thinking of Mr. Spock...

[paranoidangel]

Still can't look at him without thinking of Mr. Spock...

I remember that one. Of course, once someone pointed it out it was blindingly obvious. And still funny.

[paranoidangel]

there's a quick change when the government is voted out

Although it's not instantaneous here, mind you. Elections are on a Thursday, results are early Friday morning (technically) or as late as Friday evening if there are recounts, new PM takes over on Saturday. I think. I know that was the case in 1979 because I was born the day Thatcher took over, which was the Saturday. I'm trying to remember what happened in 1997, but all I remember is it being weird with someone else in charge.

Which does make me wonder who is in power on election day, although I suppose it's whoever was in power up to that point on the basis you have no way of knowing who else should be in power.

An addendum to this which I've been meaning to tell people, but I overheard a conversation on the train a couple of weeks ago where a Lib Dem in Weymouth (who was going for the Salisbury seat at the next election) said that Blair wouldn't call an election this autumn because people are still annoyed about Iraq, so the election would be 5th May. Which sounds plausible enough, whether it's true only time will tell.

[selenay]

The '97 election definitely had a Friday take-over - I remember listening to Blair taking over Downing Street during my lunch break at school. I think most of the Sixth Form were listening it wasn't only our first experience with a new government, it was also the first time we'd voted :-) I'm fairly sure that the power transfer happened so soon because the election was called so early - I seem to recall that Labour had an unassailable lead by the time I went to bed on Thursday and they'd been declared by the time I got up the next day. I suspect that the '79 election had to wait until Saturday because it was closer - no landslide victory so they had to wait until all the results were in before calling it.

whether it's true only time will tell

At the moment, I'm not putting bets on either. Labour central sent out messages that all branches had to have candidates selected by the end of September, giving them the option of an autumn election. It depends on how they see their numbers going. On the one hand, they know what the likely result is if they call an election now. They won't lose Parliament, although their majority will go down and it's going to be the Lib Dems and UKIP that pick up the votes. OTOH, they could wait until May and hope their numbers improve. The worry with that one (for Labour) is that their numbers could go down further if more bad news appears. They'll probably be hoping that their numbers will pick up, but I don't see it happening. The Hartlepool by-election was good news for Labour, but I suspect that the win was as much because opposition is fairly equally split between LB, UKIP and Tory as their party doing well. Also, by-election results are very different from general election results. People vote more for the candidate in by-elections and for the party in general (i.e. Blair) during the general.

I'm going to really enjoy this election when it finally appears :-)

[paranoidangel]

it was also the first time we'd voted

It's alright for some...

I had no idea how close or far the 79 election was. All I know was my mum blaming me for her voting Conservative (she claims it was because she was two weeks overdue at the time and I threatened to come three weeks early. She had a proxy vote, just in case). And my dad thought about saving the paper from my birthday but it was too boring being as it was filled with election stuff :)

I remember the 92 election being quite close and it was quite obvious Labour were going to win 97 by quite a bit, hence the reason the Tories hung on nearly as long as possible (they actually could have another month, the buggers)