Have politicians lost their way?
Writing to the Conservatives targeted in a smear campaign by his special adviser Gordon Brown says 'Like the overwhelming majority of figures in public life across the political spectrum, I entered politics because of a sense of public duty and to improve the lives and opportunities of those less fortunate than me.'
On the phone-in Nicky will be asking if politicians are being submerged in sleaze or is public duty in Westminster alive and well?
On this morning's programme Nicky spoke to satirist Armando Iannucci and political novelist Michael Dobbs about spin and sleaze. You can listen to the interview here:
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5LNPI: Do you have sympathy for Gary McKinnon?
10:21 Fri, 27 Nov 09
Do you have sympathy for Gary McKinnon? He's the British computer hacker who could be sent to the US to face trial. He's admitted to hacking into American military computers, and has since been diagnosed with a form of autism.
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The greater question is why a "resignation" still allows Damian McBride to work in Downing Street
On top of which, Gordon Brown's letter to Gus O'Donnell takes no account of the contract conditions under which special advisers already work under. Looks like deflection and completely disingenuous
As I have put on the Daily Politics Blog, I believe someone has already written an official complaint. It is now up to the Downing Street machine to recognise this complaint and then call in the police
It could get even more embarrassing yet if the Met police have to knock on the door of Downing Street for the second prime minister in a row.
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Every politician use to say before the election when its come to change your time schedule for people then something goes different. All the thing turn down. Politician is a person that has just record the some few dialogs to shown just himself better then other.
Acai Berry
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There's no doubt that corruption is rife in this incredibly sleazy government - from an unelected PM to legal theft called expenses, an illegal war, more lies than truth and now smear tactics. Why is there no legal method of removing a criminal government other than having to wait for an election? Having said that I don't expect much from a change in government, maybe not so much corruption but no change in the fact that we don't matter, this country and it's people are irrelevant.
So the answer to the question has to be yes they've lost their way by a million miles.
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Hole In the Wall Gang. Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy said it in my opinion.
"I got vision and the whole worlds wearing bifocals"
The "I"in that quote isn't selfish and immodestly singular - except others seem to be wilfully blinkered at the moment.
The query on this thread is redundant because everybody in Westminster and the Media know exactly what they are doing and us mere mortals - the voters - readers and listeners - in my opinion - are excluded.
I cried foul days agos about why the Emails went into the Press at all. Why the photographed document that caused a top policeman to resign was a "threat" at all to an ongoing Operation?
We are being played by cynical personages and I wont bother playing the "have they lost their way" game.
"They" are trying to lead us a merry dance of misdirection.
Every time someone comes on and reminds us all they have allegedly been "traduced" by the other side and how dare someone!
We - or at least I had forgotten you have been traduced already!
Oh - (hell)ow Shelagh.
I lost my way a bit there. Politeness should be affected though.
Hole in the Wall?
Another name for ATM isn't it? I got vision and the whole worlds wearing bifocals
lol
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Non political viewpoint, I am not a Labour or Conservative supporter:
I heard the phone in yesterday. Many of the callers were obviously political ringers rather than genuine callers although as I missed the start it could have been set up that way.
The handling of this whole issue by the BBC has shown up that its presenters and pundits are largely of the left and find it pretty hard to mouth words that could possibly give an alternative point of view for us to consider. It gives a foretaste for us all of the future if the Conservative Party get in to power. And there is one of my first complaints: the BBC presenters insist on saying Tory. Could they not use the correct name for the party?
Next and most importantly, my complaints are all to do with losing the Radio Five messageboard as a place to discuss all the furore and the way it has been reported. Just what kind of organisation blocks discussion and a forum for a radio station which reports news? There is nowhere to talk about this except on these blogs which no-one has the time or energy to follow for a couple of hours a day. The blog is soon forgotten, the board was there for many hours a day to extend the possibility of expanding the discussion.
I wish the BBC would admit this mistake because here we are with the first big story dominating the station and the only place to talk about it is on here. Don't send me to the UK news board because it is filled with rubbish mostly which is never shut down.
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i'm from madagascar
i think that politicans all over the world, if they really love their country, they'll take no salary or wages to serve their country
they always say it's a hard job, have you ever seen anyone in a field to ask to do the hardest job?
the world would become a better place without politicians!
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does the world really need politicians? that's the question.
have they lost their way?
which way?
way to what?
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There is a wonderful irony that Derek Drapers wife sues the Mirror newspaper and wins undisclosed damages for allegations that she is having an affair, and yet he plots and plans to make unfounded allegations about politicians, seemingly without thought to how it would affect their families and careers.
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We are now at possibly the lowest moral point in the history of UK politics.
We have MPs who will not tell the truth, but will spin and distort to prove a point which does not exist.
We have MPs who are prepared to fleece the taxpayer of as much money as they can under a corrupt and unjust expenses system.
We have MPs who will not answer questions put to them.
We have MPs who will try to gain advantage through slur and lies.
MPs do not have the right to undertake these actions, and a response of getting rid of them at the next ballot box is not good enough as we are stuck with them for up to 5 years.
It is time that MPs are legaly required to take a legally binding oath, under statute, which has the same effects as a witness in a court of law.
MPs must be required to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Failure to do so, must result in the loss of their job and status, sparking an immediate by-election.
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I have never been insensed enough to write in to the BBC before. I am so bored of the political arguments that are running rampant at the moment whilst the country dissolves before our government and opposing parties eyes.
And to hear some female politician saying that if women were in office "...they would be bitching about each others shoes" is laughable if it wasn't so down right degrading to the rest of women in the country.
When, please tell me when, our government is going to find the courage it needs to ignore all the slating (giving and receiving - and let's face it, isn't it a spin doctors job to spin... therefore shouldn't he be praised as one policitician actually doing his job) and get on with running and improving the country. Stop setting targets that cause death and squabbling (NHS and schools) and rule for heavens sake.
If I was a veteran from World War 1 or 2 I would be wondering why I had fought for this country - I would be gutted. If I was someone who had lost a child, friend or relative to the last world war, I would be gutted.
Could we please stop with all the nonsense - MPs should stop bleeding the country dry with expenses and be more concerned about whether they will have any money in the economy left to drain with expenses.
And my final rant is... I can't believe we are in a situation where no opposing party wants to win the next election - how utterly ridiculous is that. Our government has made our country a poison chalice. I also can't believe that I now look across the Atlantic to America and their President and feel jealousy. Jealousy that they had a man who stood up for what he believed in, even though it was HIGHLY unlikely he would get elected due to his skin colour. Oh for the days when we have a LEADER again in stead of 3 policitical parties that haven't got one upstanding leader between them.
What a waste of a country!
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Commentators and politicians say that this email smear story scandal reflects the politics of the gutter.
That's the problem. There is no politics between New Labour and the Tories; they don't differ ideologically and have no idea how to deal with the economic crisis. Their only means of scoring political points against each other is to adopt tactics like these knowing full well its all going to get massive coverage in the media to distract the public from the real issues that really need debating.
John Piennar said on 5 Live this morning that people listen to the news more at Bank Holiday periods. They do but many, because of the holiday atmosphere are more gullible and easily won over to all the hysteria that goes with it! This was a typical story that's clearly been kept in abeyance since January for this purpose.
If Damien McBride was responsible for these email smears then why hasn't the main story been for a call for him to apologise rather than Gordon Brown. The reason obviously is that it would have been less newsworthy if that was the case!
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Lost their way?
Why are we surprised when we hear things like this? To quote: 'Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.' - Henry A. Kissinger
Politics is never a morally clean pursuit.
'In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.' - Charles de Gaulle
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