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RESPECT Party

2008-02-03T16:29:19Z

Greenpeas: /* Respect */

===Respect===

Respect is an extreme-left wing political party founded by British politician [[George Galloway]] who was expelled from the Labour Party for supporting attacks on British troops taking part in [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]], the liberation of Iraq.

It draws its support from the extremist Socialist Workers Party (GB) and the [[anti-semitic]] [[Muslim Association of Britain]].

RESPECT Party

2008-02-03T16:25:08Z

Greenpeas: New page: ===Respect=== Respect is an extreme-left wing political party founded by British politician George Galloway who was explelled from the Labour Party for supporting attacks on British t...

===Respect===

Respect is an extreme-left wing political party founded by British politician [[George Galloway]] who was explelled from the Labour Party for supporting attacks on British troops taking part in [[Operation Iraqi Freedom]], the liberation of Iraq.

It draws its support from the extremist [[Socialist Workers Party]] and the [[anti-semitic]] [[Muslim Association of Britain]].

British politics

2008-02-03T16:21:38Z

Greenpeas: /* Minor parties */

'''British politics''' take place within the context of a [[democracy|democratic]] [[parliamentary]] system dominated by three major parties.

The political culture of the UK tends to be more liberal than that of the United States, but less so than that of many other European nations.

==Institutions==

===Parliament===

''See also [[Parliament]]''

The cornerstone of the unwritten British [[constitution]] is ''Parliamentary supremacy'', or ''Parliamentary sovereignty''.

Britain is one of a small number of nations without a written constitution, and the British legislature, ''Parliament'', is free to legislate however it pleases. In British law, the only authority higher than parliamentary legislation is the law of the [[European Union]], and Britain is subject to EU law only by virtue of the fact that Parliament has chosen to accept it.

Parliament consists of the Queen, the [[House of Lords]] and the [[House of Commons (UK)|House of Commons]]. The Queen today takes no part in active politics (the last time that a monarch refused to ratify a law passed by the Lords and Commons was in 1714). While the House of Lords is considered to be the more prestigious chamber, the Commons is dominant by virtue of the fact that its members are elected rather than appointed. The Lords can only delay rather than veto legislation, though the Commons rarely chooses to push through laws against the Lords' wishes (it has done so only five times since the Lords' absolute veto was removed in 1911).

Reform of the House of Lords is a current political issue in the UK. The House of Commons has resolved to make it more democratic, so that 80% or 100% of its members are elected rather than appointed.

===The Executive===

The British Government operates in the name of the Queen (or the "Crown"), but power lies in practice with the '''Prime Minister''' and his '''Cabinet'''. The British Prime Minister has one of the most powerful roles of any democratic head of government or head of state (though some, like the French President, have similar or more extensive powers).

== Devolution ==

{| class="wikitable"
|- bgcolor=cccccc
! Nation/Region || Legislature || Executive || Leader(s)
|-
| '''[[Scotland]]''' || Scottish Parliament || Scottish Executive || First Minister
|-
| '''[[Wales]]''' || National Assembly for Wales || Welsh Assembly Government || First Minister
|-
| '''[[Northern Ireland]]''' || Northern Ireland Assembly || Northern Ireland Executive || First Minister and Deputy First Minister1
|-
| '''[[London|Greater London]]''' || London Assembly|| Mayor of London || Mayor of London
|}


1 Northern Ireland is a dyarchy in which both leaders are regarded as equal.


==Local government==

Each locality in the UK has its own '''local authority''': there are '''councils''' of various sorts, as well as a number of elected '''mayors''' (most notably in London, whose current mayor is the popular but controversial left-wing politician [[Ken Livingstone]]). The powers of local authorities have been declining for many years, but it is believed that they are due for a significant revival.

It should be noted that most mayors in Britain are relatively powerless officials who serve as mere figureheads (rather like the Queen). However, a number of cities, such as London, have powerful mayors with a full executive role.

==Parties==

The British political spectrum has historically been dominated by the '''[[Labour Party]]''' on the left, the '''[[Conservative Party]]''' on the right, and the '''Liberal Party''' (now the [[Liberal Democrats]]) in the centre between them ("liberal" in British political terminology is often used to mean "centrist" or "moderate", rather than "left-wing").

In recent times, there has been a perception that the main parties are crowding together on the centre ground. In the 1990s, Labour moved decisively away from the traditional left (angering many of its more traditionally-minded supporters), to the point where it was perceived by many as being less left-wing than the Liberal Democrats. Since the advent of [[David Cameron]] as its leader in 2005, the Conservative Party has moved away from the territory of the traditional right (in this case too, angering many of its more strongly conservative or [[Thatcherism|Thatcherite]] supporters).

===Labour===

The Labour Party is the current party of government in the UK. It is also the largest party in the Welsh legislature and the second-largest party in the Scottish Parliament.

Following its defeat by Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives in 1979, the Labour Party adopted a strongly left-wing, socialist program. Following a catastrophic defeat in the 1983 general election, more moderate politicians took charge of Labour and slowly moved it closer to the centre ground of British politics, a process started by [[Neil Kinnock]] in the mid-1980s and carried forward enthusiastically by [[Tony Blair]] after his election as leader in 1994. Many more traditional, left-wing Labour supporters see Tony Blair as an usurper whose policies are too right-wing for comfort. This has been the case in particular following the Iraq War.

Blair's policies were arguably a mixture of left (e.g. higher taxes, higher government spending, greater integration with the European Union, support for the [[homosexual agenda]]) and right (e.g. pro-market reforms in the public services, retention of Lady Thatcher's labour laws, support for the [[War on Terror]] and [[George W. Bush]]'s foreign policies). His successor [[Gordon Brown]], once a close ally of Blair, has spoken out against the idea of the party shifting back to the left

===Conservatives===

British conservatism has traditionally been a moderate, non-ideological creed: its heroes include such pragmatic figures as [[Edmund Burke]] in the eighteenth century and Sir [[Robert Peel]] and [[Benjamin Disraeli]] in the nineteenth century. These figures contrasted with contemporary conservatives from other European countries such as the French thinker [[Joseph de Maistre]], who were often strong, ideologically-minded supporters of absolute monarchy and Roman Catholicism.

The Conservative Party became strongly ideologically conservative during the leadership of [[Margaret Thatcher]] (1975-1990). Since Lady Thatcher resigned in 1990s, the strongly conservative element within the party has been more or less eclipsed. It had some influence in the 1990s during the leadership of Sir John Major (1990-1997), but the current Conservative leader, [[David Cameron]], has moved decisively away from "Thatcherism", to the dismay of many Conservative activists.

===Liberal Democrats===

The Liberal Democrats (or "Lib Dems") were formed in 1988 by the merger of the old centrist Liberal Party with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP). They have long advocated disestablishing the [[Church of England]], and their current leader is [[Nick Clegg]], who has publicly said he is "not an active believer" in God, but claims to be "open-minded" about religion.<ref>''Nick Clegg is a believer in families, not God'' [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3076044.ece Times Online]</ref>

The Liberal Democrats are divided between a relatively left-wing faction (to which Campbell and Kennedy belong), which has taken positions to the left of the Labour Party on a number of issues, and a more right-wing, pro-[[free market]] faction (several of whose members contributed to a controversial collection of essays published in 2004 called ''The Orange Book''). The Liberal Democrats are strong advocates of anti discrimination laws.

=== Scotland ===
The largest party in Scotland is the '''[[Scottish National Party]]''', which is in fact a major force in Scottish politics, being the largest party in the Scottish Parliament. It advocates independence for Scotland.

=== Wales ===
There is also a Welsh nationalist party, called '''Plaid Cymru''', or simply '''Plaid'''.

=== Northern Ireland ===
Northern Ireland has a number of political parties:
* '''[[Democratic Unionist Party]]''' - strongly Unionist
* '''[[Sinn Fein]]''' - strongly Irish-Nationalist ("Republican")
* '''[[Ulster Unionist Party]]''' - moderately Unionist
* '''[[Social Democratic and Labour Party]]''' - moderately Irish-Nationalist

===Minor parties===
There are several other minor British parties worthy of mention:
* The '''[[UK Independence Party]]''' advocates the withdrawal of Britain from the [[European Union]] and other more strongly conservative policies than those supported by the official Conservative Party.
* The '''[[Green Party (UK)|Green Party]]''' campaigns for protection of the environment, decentralisation and social justice.
* '''[[RESPECT Party|Respect]]''' is a strongly left-wing, socialist party led by the maverick ex-Labour politician [[George Galloway]].
* The '''[[British National Party]]''' is generally seen as an extreme right-wing or fascist party. It advocates the repatriation of non-white people from the UK to the countries of their or their families' origin.
*The [[Monster raving loony party|Monster Raving Loony Party]] is a 'joke' party, which however often receives significant numbers of [[protest vote]]s especially in high-profile [[by-election]]s (which may attract a large number, sometimes dozens, of other not entirely serious candidates).

==References==
<references/>
[[Category:British Politics]]

George Galloway

2008-02-03T16:14:57Z

Greenpeas:

[[Image:George_Galloway.jpg|right|thumb|200px|George Galloway]]
'''George Galloway''' (August 16, 1954, [[Dundee]]) is an extreme [[left-wing]] [[Scotland|Scottish]] politician and the [[Respect]] Member of Parliament (MP) for Bethnal Green and Bow, in [[London]] (although he is commonly referred to in the media as the "member for Baghdad North"). He was expelled from the [[Britain|British]] [[Labour party]] in October 2003 for bringing the party into disrepute. The party charged that Galloway incited [[Arab]]s to fight British troops and also incited British troops to defy the orders of their officers. The party's National Constitutional Committee was unanimous in its guilty verdict.<ref>"Labour statement on Galloway" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3208755.stm ''BBC News''] October 23, 2003</ref>
[[Image:Galloway traitor.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Allegations of [[Treason]] have been levelled at Galloway]]
Galloway first entered politics aged 26 in his home town, where he ordered the [[PLO]] flag to be flown over the town hall and withdraw the city's civic hospitality to visiting [[NATO]] warships. The political editor of one major [[British]] newspaper has gone on record as saying: "''Galloway is a silver-tongued bully who has always been surrounded by a cloud of suspicion over his shifty activities, his manipulation of other people’s cash and his readiness to punch anyone he could not sue...A congenital liar, his favourite defence trick was total denial. If that failed, he would claim he had been misquoted.''"<ref>'''Kavanagh, Trevor''' "Paid to be a traitor" ''The Sun'' (2006)</ref>

In a 1994 speech he addressed [[Saddam Hussein]] as "Your Excellency, Mr President," and went on to state: "''Sir, allow me to salute your courage, your strength and your indefatigability''" and "''hatta al-nasr, hatta al-nasr, hatta al-Quds''" (Arabic for "until victory, until victory, until Jerusalem"). In his defense he claimed he had been misquoted - although TV footage showed that he hadn't. He was also caught on video meeting with [[Uday Hussein]], Saddam's eldest son, calling him "Excellency"<ref>"Video Shows British MP Met With Hussein's Son" [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,182797,00.html ''Fox News''] January 25, 2006</ref>

Viciously anti-[[Israel]], he has boasted that he sometimes dreamed he was part of an army wading ashore waving a [[Kalashnikov]] and driving the [[Judaism|Jewish]] nation into the sea. When this was reported, he claimed he had been misquoted.

Though Galloway's supporter's claim that he is an "anti-war" politician, he was a supporter of Saddam Hussein's 1991 attack on Kuwait, as well as describing terrorists in post-Saddam Iraq as "freedom fighters."

Galloway has stated "''I am on the anti-imperialist left... and I think the disappearance of the Soviet Union is the biggest catastrophe of my life. If there was a Soviet Union today, we would not be having this conversation about plunging into a new war in the Middle East, and the US would not be rampaging around the globe.''"<ref>'''Hattenstone, Simon''', "Saddam and me" [http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,792765,00.html ''The Guardian''] September 16, 2002</ref>

In a 2006 interview, he said that the [[assassination]] of British [[Prime Minister]] [[Tony Blair]] by [[suicide bomber]] would be "''morally justified... [and] entirely logical and explicable.''"<ref>'''[[Christopher Hitchens|Hitchens, Christopher]]''' "Furious George: Galloway preapproves the murder of the British prime minister" [http://www.slate.com/id/2142635 ''Slate''] May 30, 2006</ref>

==Backlash==
On June 10, 2007 Galloway was the victim of an attack by 6 men at [[Glasgow]] Airport. He said afterwards: "''It was a terrifying experience and quite disgraceful for these people to behave like this. There was one guy I would describe as a ringleader who said, 'I don't like your radio talk, I don't like your newspaper talk, I have a religious duty to knock you down'.''"<ref>"Galloway tells of mob attack" [http://news.scotsman.com/politics.cfm?id=911832007 ''The Scotsman''] June 11, 2007</ref>

On July 18, 2007, the [[Daily Mail]] reported that Galloway could face a fresh police inquiry into his financial links to Saddam Hussein's regime. His response was ''"They should be striking a medal for me. But these are the people who just a couple of weeks ago were giving a tear- stained standing ovation to a man - Tony Blair - who most of the world believes to be a war criminal."'' <ref> [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=468624&in_page_id=1770 Galloway faces new police enquiry into Saddam cash] </ref>

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Politics]]

SiCKO

2008-02-03T16:06:40Z

Greenpeas:

'''SiCKO''' is a 2007 film by American filmmaker [[Michael Moore]] which uses the [[health care]] debate to critique the economic system of America (see [[free market economics]]). Moore unfavorably compares the American health care system to various other countries' systems of [[universal health care]].

The biggest weakness of the documentary is Moore's one-sided analysis. He emphasizes the bad points of American health care and the good points of the alternatives. His portrayal of health care in Cuba is a complete whitewash. 

The film also innaccurately portrays the British National Health Service (NHS) as free; in fact NHS policies vary between the four constituent countries of the UK. Drug prescriptions, eye tests and dental charges have to be paid in most cases, on top of the income tax and National Insurance funding. Most British citizens believe that the NHS offers care of a poor quality.

The film has generated some controversy for a sequence in which Moore brings a group of patients to [[Cuba]], which may have violated the American embargo of that country. The film is designed to have a political impact, but both [[Republican]] and [[Democratic]] politicians have distanced themselves from it.<ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-movie22jun22,0,5962985.story?coll=la-home-center</ref>

==Reviews==
Peter Barry Chowka at [[American Thinker]] says "Sicko" is "a naked [[propaganda]] exercise on behalf of full-bore [[socialism]]. <ref>http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/06/prepare_to_be_sickened_by_sick.html</ref>

David Asman of [[Fox News]] says the film "keeps getting praise, even though some of it just isn't true—like his suggestion that Cubans get better heath care than we do". <ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290197,00.html</ref>

Roger Friedman of Fox News called the film a "brilliant and uplifting new documentary" and praised Moore for the way in which he lets "very articulate average Americans tell their personal horror stories at the hands of insurance companies" and "criticizes both [[Democrats]] and [[Republicans]] for their inaction and in some cases their willingness to be bribed by pharmaceutical companies and insurance carriers."<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,273875,00.html</ref>

==Embargo Investigation==
The production of SiCKO has brought about a controversy concerning Moore’s adherence to the [[United States]] broad trade embargo imposed against [[Cuba]] since 1962. A United States Treasury Department letter implied that Moore did not receive authorization before traveling to Cuba to film his documentary; this would be in direct conflict with the embargo’s rules<ref> http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/1118621</ref>. Moore is now facing a U.S. government probe on the legality of the Cuba trip<ref> http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/05/11/1920233.htm</ref>. He has hired an elite Washington attorney, [[David Boies]], to represent him in the matter, and states, "I have broken no laws, and I have nothing to hide.”<ref> http://au.news.yahoo.com/070510/2/13f42.html</ref>

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Schlockumentary]]
[[category:propaganda]]