If you were Prime Minister

[Sparx]

If you were PM what would you like to see in place?

If i was Prime Minister i would ban people using the Underground in rush hour carrying suitcases and berghans. Especially if they stop every 3 steps to look around puzzled and hitting everyone

 

[fettoken]

I would make a law that could easily recognize power hungry and illiterate / incompetent politicians from entering government. Then i would be thrown out due to my own law.

 

[ford prefect]

I would make a law that could easily recognize power hungry and illiterate / incompetent politicians from entering government. Then i would be thrown out due to my own law.

I agree - but would take it further. Make it illegal for anyone who wants to be a politician from becomming one - in fact make the job a punishment for repeated parking offences - 1 year community service as a politician. I suspect a mild disinterest in politics would be much better than political ambition.

 

[old.Tohtori]

I'd quit really.

 

[DaGaffer]

I agree - but would take it further. Make it illegal for anyone who wants to be a politician from becomming one - in fact make the job a punishment for repeated parking offences - 1 year community service as a politician. I suspect a mild disinterest in politics would be much better than political ambition.

I've often thought politics should be like Jury service, a service to society you'd prefer to avoid.

 

[Ezteq]

I would insist on implementing nap times!! Punishment by lobster for anyone who is cruel to animals (consenting lobsters obviously), the immediate removal of vocal chords of jedwood and other such annnoyances, mandatory charity work for people who are unemployed (get off yer arses and do something!!), promote using local produce and capping stupidly high food, movie and fuel prices aaand more cartoons on a saturday and sunday morning + the reintroduction of the sunday afternoon cartoon doublebills.

TV would be divided up by channel (i.e. a game show channel, music channel etc) reality shows will be placed on the furthest away channel rather than spread about waiting to inflict themselves on innocent bystanders.

Halloween would be declaired a national holiday, it will be against the law to make anyone work on xmas eve or day, they can if they want to but you can't force them!

Cocacola will only be served in glass bottles and all households that have passed a 'fit for duty' test and who require pets will be issued pets from rehoming shelters!!

All nobheads will be deported to the Isle of Man, and a fence put round it to keep them there.

Vote for meee!!!

 

[cHodAX]

All nobheads will be deported to the Isle of Man, and a fence put round it to keep them there.

Vote for meee!!!

No no, leave the Isle of man alone, nice people. Ship them all off the the Falkland Island that no one really lives on.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

On a more sensible note, I'd plan and implement regulation for drug legalisation.

 

[Cerb]

Head hunt the best experts I could find to develop and build the absolute best possible transport and power infrastructure regardless of the cost.

and probably raise taxes to do it.

 

[Mabs]

bring in compulsory sterilisation for people who read the daily mail

 

[Helme]

I'd nationalise banks to start with, most of the bullshit bubbles are directly caused by them fucking around for their own profit. Then I'd limit campaign contributions from corporations, as well as make donations completely transparent so there is no way to receive money without everyone knowing who gave it to you. After that, I'd begin trying to implement some form of more direct democracy, in that the people elected are responsible by law to keep their campaign promises, and if they don't they can be immediately recalled without any bullshit grace periods, maybe also implement some sort of cap on amount of time you can serve in a public office. Career politicians are one of the reasons politics are so bad, they don't care about the people they represent. They care about their career. I don't really blame them but with a lifetime cap on how long they can serve maybe they would focus more on making an impression.

Those are the basics things, in the long term I'd implement a job-guarantee program, which would be very simple to do and the only reason it isn't done is because private corporations enjoy the lower wages, and better qualified people they get from high unemployment. I'd probably also do something along the lines of introducing a law that forbids private corporations from outsourcing to Asia if they are still turning a profit. Yes, they won't earn as much money but I don't think the thousands of workers who lose their jobs to outsourcing really cares. Probably encourage investment rather than hoarding by some taxes as well.

This would actually require me to be some sort of dictator I guess, because there's no way any politician would vote for any of this.

 

[Tom]

Immediate execution for anyone responsible for installing speed bumps.

Immediate execution for staff at any council which does not immediately fix the fucking roads so they're safe to cycle and drive on.

Massive cull of useless public sector muppets. Divert funds to useful public sector workers.

 

[DaGaffer]

I'd nationalise banks to start with, most of the bullshit bubbles are directly caused by them fucking around for their own profit. Then I'd limit campaign contributions from corporations, as well as make donations completely transparent so there is no way to receive money without everyone knowing who gave it to you. After that, I'd begin trying to implement some form of more direct democracy, in that the people elected are responsible by law to keep their campaign promises, and if they don't they can be immediately recalled without any bullshit grace periods, maybe also implement some sort of cap on amount of time you can serve in a public office. Career politicians are one of the reasons politics are so bad, they don't care about the people they represent. They care about their career. I don't really blame them but with a lifetime cap on how long they can serve maybe they would focus more on making an impression.

Those are the basics things, in the long term I'd implement a job-guarantee program, which would be very simple to do and the only reason it isn't done is because private corporations enjoy the lower wages, and better qualified people they get from high unemployment. I'd probably also do something along the lines of introducing a law that forbids private corporations from outsourcing to Asia if they are still turning a profit. Yes, they won't earn as much money but I don't think the thousands of workers who lose their jobs to outsourcing really cares. Probably encourage investment rather than hoarding by some taxes as well.

This would actually require me to be some sort of dictator I guess, because there's no way any politician would vote for any of this.

Most of that wouldn't work. Like forbidding outsourcing. You're effectively forbidding imports if you do that, so you're not going to have much of an economy left.

Job guarantees, ditto. It also leads to the problem of what you're guaranteeing, the role or the person (both have massive implications, with the former being particularly bad - that's effectively what destroyed British manufacturing, amongst other things).

Nationalise the banks and the public are underwriting them. That's what's effectively happened in Ireland and believe me, its not a good thing. Outlawing underwriting payments to bond holders from the public purse would be a better idea, and better yet if it was multilateral.

A cap on public office terms would be a good idea, but the corollary is that you'd end up of necessity with a more powerful civil service.

 

[Helme]

I should clarify that the job gaurantee I'm talking about is the one where the state works as a last-resort hire, there's no unemployment benefits. You work, and you get paid the minimum wage for your work, until you can either transfer to the private market or move up the ladder to more important jobs in the government. There's been serious work done researching it, and it wouldn't actually cost much more than what we currently pay for unemployment and most of it would actually pay for itself with increased tax revenue and increased consumption.

Personally, I can't see the reason why we shouldn't nationalise banks when we effectively saved them from bankruptcy. Instead, we do things like the US federal bank lend at 0.5% interest to Goldman Sachs and it's ilk and they lend the money right back to us at 3.5%. I'd take Japan as a good example of what a nationalised bank can accomplish. Yes, they have almost 200% of their GDP in debt but it is a non-issue, because the shareholders(the people) aren't going to bail.

The outsourcing idea is probably not that well thought out, I'll give you that. But it's clear that free market agreements like NAFTA only screws over the people, and something must be done to prevent it. Especially if corporations actually still make profits without outsourcing.

A cap is a bit troublesome but I really can't see any way to get around it otherwise. I think we'd need a major shift in politicians thinking from being self-serving to seeing it more as the military, a civic duty. And I just don't see that happening with the current system.

 

[tierk]

Vote for meee!!!

Sure but first give us another bum shot!!!

FFS 2011 has been boring as fook so far!!

 

[Tilda]

I'd stop fucking with the NHS. Just because society is changing doesn't mean you need to tweak the NHS again, when it hasn't recovered from being messed with last time.

 

[russell]

I would abolish the National Curriculum as Statutory and bring back Corporal punishment in schools and national service -make it more community service. I would fine/ community service people who are awful parents. I would promote/fund one parent/carer to stay at home -if they want to, whilst the children are under the age of 10, so there is some stability for the child. I would put more money into the NHS for nursing and take money out of government services, by capping the higher earners salaries and abolishing useless services like Ofsted. I would encourage less academic teaching and more practical, life skills vocational teaching. I would half the number of children going to University and encourage trades and skills.
I would make it a criminal offence for people in the private sector to earn over a certain amount -and they would have to put it back into pension schemes, paternity and health care for employees.
I would make cinema viewing cheaper -vending foods even more expensive. I would cap the rate of hours that you are legally allowed to work a week and pay more for O/T.
I would strictly control what children view under the age of 10 and give families free leisure centre/ gym passes to be active. I would immediately stop all immigration (just for the time being -so it can be reviewed) and I would also review all spending on the benefit system (esp people getting pregnant so they can get a house!)

Rah!!!

 

[Helme]

Your extended maternity/paternity leave makes me remember a very interesting video, that isn't related but at the same time kind of is. I'd recommend it, it's very US centric but I'm certain the same can be seen in statistics here. The illusion we've had of middle-class economic growth since the 70s has actually all been because of women entering the workforce, of course household incomes doubled when you have two people working instead of one. But in reality, the actual income hasn't increased at all for the average household over this period.

Doubt anyone is going to watch it but meh, YouTube - ‪The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class‬‏

 

[Wazzerphuk]

I would abolish the National Curriculum as Statutory and bring back Corporal punishment in schools and national service -make it more community service. I would fine/ community service people who are awful parents. I would promote/fund one parent/carer to stay at home -if they want to, whilst the children are under the age of 10, so there is some stability for the child. I would put more money into the NHS for nursing and take money out of government services, by capping the higher earners salaries and abolishing useless services like Ofsted. I would encourage less academic teaching and more practical, life skills vocational teaching. I would half the number of children going to University and encourage trades and skills.
I would make it a criminal offence for people in the private sector to earn over a certain amount -and they would have to put it back into pension schemes, paternity and health care for employees.
I would make cinema viewing cheaper -vending foods even more expensive. I would cap the rate of hours that you are legally allowed to work a week and pay more for O/T.
I would strictly control what children view under the age of 10 and give families free leisure centre/ gym passes to be active. I would immediately stop all immigration (just for the time being -so it can be reviewed) and I would also review all spending on the benefit system (esp people getting pregnant so they can get a house!)

Rah!!!

You'd outlaw a national curriculum? How would you then ensure that kids left school with the same level of education in appropriate things? Or would you just rework it? Cos the first is a MENTAL statement.

 

[Ctuchik]

I agree - but would take it further. Make it illegal for anyone who wants to be a politician from becomming one - in fact make the job a punishment for repeated parking offences - 1 year community service as a politician. I suspect a mild disinterest in politics would be much better than political ambition.

That's a really really good idea.

Also transfer ownership of all his/her financial possessions to the government, and if the town/city/whatever he/she is set to work with doesn't make a profit they can't have it back.

And it has to be an actual profit, so no tax raises are allowed...

 

[russell]

You'd outlaw a national curriculum? How would you then ensure that kids left school with the same level of education in appropriate things? Or would you just rework it? Cos the first is a MENTAL statement.

There are numerous creative curriculums and the international curriculum. Most schools would still use the NC as a base to check they are covering the basics, but more freedom to teach how you see best suits the needs of the children would be good
Also the NC only works well if you are

• white
• middle class
• female
• good at listening
• good at reading
• good at sitting still
• good at passive learning

 

[Chilly]

Make university free of fees (but still make students pay rent to give them some motivation and ability to work), put in hard entrance exams, fuck the thickos and lazy people. Reduce the pressure on universities to fund themselves and give them more freedom to practice excellent education, rather than excellent degree generation.

Ban gambling, it's pointless.

I'd like to say regulate the fuck out of the banks, but I dont really know how without completely bollocking up the system.

Abolish every single monopoly that exists in the country unless there is a fucking good reason. Any monopoly should be publicly owned, at the very least.

 

[Helme]

For banking regulation I'd start with limiting speculation on the commodities market, it was heavily regulated a few decades ago and the prices remained steady for most of the 20th century, after it was de-regulated we've got bubble after bubble that results in mass starvation amongst other things.

 

[Wij]

I'd abuse my position to make poor girls grudgingly wank me off.

 

[georgie]

Only girls? Not like you to limit your options like that, Wij.