Rog

A sociopathic hater of Britain? That's almost funny. Admittedly I disliked what Britain, especially England, had become after so many years of Socialist and Socialist influenced government and the destructive effect on Britain by the loathsome thing that the trading bloc we had joined had morphed into but sociopathic hater of Britain? Only in your mind.

The reality is that we could not.

Wrong. AndI am FAR from alone in holding opinions and values that some people find reactionary.

Not to mention the potential knock on effects of BREXIT.

Re your first point - that is precisely why we voted for BREXIT.

I disagree. It was not a UK wide referendum, I for one wish it had been. My guess is the result would have been massively in favour of Scotland becoming independent from England. Totally independent.

Israel is a classic example of minority parties having power in government far beyond their support from the electorate when coalition governments are in office. Edited to add - I absolutely agree about education in politics should be apolitical which then brings in the highly politicized content in so many of our schools and places of tertiary education today.

I absolutely agree about the first past the post system being very wrong and since the subtle changing of the committee stages to stack the committee membership on a purely political basis, usually by the government of the day to ensure any findings were very pro government wants, any argument that all interests would be included has fallen by the wayside. The Westminster confrontational model is also waaay past its use by date but what to replace it with? Almost anything is my view but any form of coalition is almost always basically at least potentially unstable and can result in small parties having power in government far beyond that which is justified by the percentage of vote they take - Israel is a classic example. I'd be interested to read other opinions of what to replace the now well broken Westminster system with. Going to your first point re universal suffrage - what is wrong with looking for a way to ensure that people being granted suffrage understand the results of the choice they make are likely to be?

So what is wrong with my thoughts on how better governments might be elected? It's nothing more than putting up some straw men.

The Scottish vote to which you refer was a local thing and so did not set a precedent for the UK as a whole. My suggestion of a "cut in age" of 25 is simply my opinion and the reason that I think it would make sense. As for land owner, in MY opinion people who are unemployed should not get a vote in by-elections of general elections. Why should they have a say in who governs the country? Those who pay taxes should be those who call the tune. Personally I'm of the opinion that some form of political education should be completed before a vote in the governing of the UK is granted. No highly complex thing but evidence that people who vote have at least some understanding of just what it is that they are voting on.

Well whatever. It took time and several incomplete answers but we got there in the end. For now, untill BREXIT changes bite across the statute books.

It doesn't follow. If they're daft enough to do either that clearly shows they are not yet fit to vote, especially not where the future of the UK is concerned.

Scotland is part of the UK, not representative of the UK. I do understand the argument for allowing children of 16 to have had a say in the UK referendum but believe it would have been wrong. They just don't have the breadth of knowledge or experience of life at that age or for that matter under 25 as I pointed out.

Don't believe that I have any.

Crow wanted. Please forward to me! I've finally had a reply to my query re the need for vehicles from the island and so without MOT or formal vehicle inspection and certification being driven on UK roads and I WAS WRONG! Here is the final and formal reply to my query ---- Vehicles from the Isle of Man that arrive without any form of roadworthiness test Thank you for your follow-up email. Vehicles which are visiting from the Isle of Man are exempt from roadworthiness testing if they are in Great Britain temporarily and have been here less than 12 months, per the Motor Vehicles (Tests) Regulations 1981, Regulation 6(1)(xi). These regulations can be found here, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1981/1694/regulation/6/made, and I have replicated them below for your convenience. 6.—(1) Pursuant to section 44(4) the Secretary of State hereby prescribes the following vehicles as those to which section 44 does not apply:— … (xi)a vehicle temporarily in Great Britain displaying a registration mark mentioned in Regulation 5 of the Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) Regulations 1971, a period of twelve months not having elapsed since the vehicle was last brought into Great Britain If a vehicle is moving from the Isle of Man to Great Britain permanently it would need to be registered and tested in Great Britain. Yours sincerely Antony Ovens Policy Adviser, Roadworthiness and Vehicle Testing However I had a number of phone calls leading up to this and it was suggested that this situation might well change as a result of changes that will come in as BREXIT progresses. It was also suggested that it would probably be a good idea for anyone bringing a car to the mainland to carry details of why they did not need to have a current MOT in case of being stopped or involved in an incident as this provision had required a lot of searching before a clear answer was turned up. So there you go! Mea Culpa or just my bad --- I got it wrong.