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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: xxxLinda on March 30, 2008, 02:41:03 PM
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actually been able to vote in an election that might mean something.
In the past, my votes were were wasted because Labour have a landslide. But now we have an election in London that might sway things.
Although I adore Ken, I reckon he's been there far too long. (And I'm old enough to remember the GLC and everything Ken's done for London.
Also my family and their parents and grandparents were all working class Liverpuddlian Labour voters, until my Dad became an engineer and we all went kinda middle class and moved to Essex and then Canada and he started voting Conservative. All those taxes !
I did vote for Pierre Trudeau more than once when I lived in Canada ages ago, I even kissed him on each cheek and then shook his hand once, that worked! edit: I've just worked out that I must've just reached voting age that year. Was it 1986?
I've seen and met Ken umpteen times in the last 10 years. Never bothered to kiss him. There's something I don't like about him I haven't figured out yet.
He's so green, he says, he's mouldy.
Anyone here care to tell me how to vote? This is an election which will make a diff.
Boris cycles and he's a high-class blond and ...
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Sadly, I fit the american prototype of arrogant, and know nothing of which you speak...sorry. :-[
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actually been able to vote in an election that might mean something.
In the past, my votes were were wasted because Labour have a landslide. But now we have an election in London that might sway things.
Although I adore Ken, I reckon he's been there far too long. (And I'm old enough to remember the GLC and everything Ken's done for London.
Also my family and their parents and grandparents were all working class Liverpuddlian Labour voters, until my Dad became an engineer and we all went kinda middle class and moved to Essex and then Canada and he started voting Conservative. All those taxes !
I did vote for Pierre Trudeau more than once when I lived in Canada ages ago, I even kissed him on each cheek and then shook his hand once, that worked! edit: I've just worked out that I must've just reached voting age that year. Was it 1986?
I've seen and met Ken umpteen times in the last 10 years. Never bothered to kiss him. There's something I don't like about him I haven't figured out yet.
He's so green, he says, he's mouldy.
Anyone here care to tell me how to vote? This is an election which will make a diff.
Boris cycles and he's a high-class blond and ...
Linda,
Back in the days when you were still living here in Ontario was probably the last time I ever thought it made sense to vote Conservative. I too was a Bill Davis conservative, until he stepped down. Then my vote went to David Peterson in the Liberal party. Then in the next election it went to Bob Rae of the NDP. When he helped to defeat the Conservative minority and put Peterson's Liberals in power.
I saw the way those two worked together to stimulate business in this province, and how they worked to attract the film industry here. With his wife Shelley also being an actor, I knew he would have first hand knowledge about our needs within the film industry, and we'd be well taken care of. The way Bob Rae of the NDP worked with Peterson of the Liberals to bring about change in this province demonstrated to me the leadership, strength and non-partisan efforts we needed from our elected officials.
It was no surprise to most of us when he swept the next elections with a majority mandate from the people. Every single riding in Toronto went orange. I loved it. My boyfriend at the time had an absolute kanipfit, as did most of Bay Street, ...but the people were loving it.
He did do one thing that pissed me off to no end tho. It was when he altered the structure of how OHIP coverage came about. Instead of charging each person individually for it whether they wanted it or not, or whether they were covered elsewhere or not, (the way the Conservatives did) he shifted the burden to employers. Because I owned a corporation, I got dinged BIG TIME for health insurance premiums for employee health care coverage. And at the time, my corp only had one employee... moi, and I wasn't even drawing a salary, so I got dinged up the wazzoo. Thankfully, they restructured that pretty quickly.
Sadly, he did inherit a huge mess, and the BS mulroney did at the federal level didn't leave him with much wiggle room. He had a tough task ahead of him, but he pulled it off. Sadly, this province voted him out in 96 to usher in the conservatives of Mike Harris in the supposed "Common Sense" revolution, ...and we've been paying for it ever since.
After what the conservatives did to this province, and the legacy that is just now being felt, people are realizing what a good man Bob Rae really was, and they voted him out of office not for what he did wrong, ...but instead for what he did right. Within the last year, Bob Rae has exitted from provincial politics and moved to the federal level, and he's also crossed the floor from the NDP party to the Liberal party.
I've never met a Conservative on the Federal level I'd vote for except perhaps Jean Charest, ...but in recent years, in an attempt to help save this country and keep all provinces in confederation, he too crossed the floor and moved from the Conservative party to join the Liberal party, stepped down from politics at the federal level to assume leadership of the Quebec Liberal party on the provincial level. hmmm....
This seems to be a trend going on here in Canada... all the good politicians on the left, and all the good politicians on the right, ...are crossing the floor to sit with the Liberals in the center. Just once in my lifetime, I'd like to see a Liberal majority in Ottawa, with a Liberal majority at Queens park, ...with the Democrats in office in the USA.
Then, ...you'd see some spectacular things happening this side of the pond by golly. Is that too much to ask?
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Fuck me Jag, what are you smoking? Quit with the peta-paragraphs! :o
You trying to get into the Guinness World Records?
P.S. Ken Livingstone is a loser, coward and appeaser, it sickens me that we share the same nationality.
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Fuck me Jag, what are you smoking? Quit with the peta-paragraphs! :o
You trying to get into the Guinness World Records?
P.S. Ken Livingstone is a loser, coward and appeaser, it sickens me that we share the same nationality.
I think she is secretly German.
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I think she is secretly German.
A few of my ancestors were. ;) no joke.
One made some very important medical discoveries that even got named after him.
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A few of my ancestors were. ;) no joke. One made some very important medical discoveries that even got named after him.
I thought you were a thoroughbred Afrikaan?
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Fuck me Jag,
I already told ya nordic, ...NEVER! Not if you were the last man on earth! I'd go lesbian before I'd go there.
what are you smoking? Quit with the peta-paragraphs! :o
You trying to get into the Guinness World Records?
(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/em/angel2.gif)
Huh? ...what are you talking about? ;)
P.S. Ken Livingstone is a loser, coward and appeaser, it sickens me that we share the same nationality.
Everyone's an appeaser right Nordic? ::)
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I thought you were a thoroughbred Afrikaan?
(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/em/shocked.gif)
Who me? ...a thoroughbred? nope. The national motto of the country of my birthplace is "Out of Many One People"
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I'd go lesbian before I'd go there.
ORLY? :D
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ORLY? :D
It's bollocks, she'd fall for me in an heart beat. She just keeps up this attitude so that when we do meet she's on a knife edge. You should see the PM's I get from her :-*
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It's bollocks, she'd fall for me in an heart beat. She just keeps up this attitude so that when we do meet she's on a knife edge. You should see the PM's I get from her :-*
(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/em/trash.gif)
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I already told ya nordic, ...NEVER! Not if you were the last man on earth! I'd go lesbian before I'd go there.
(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/em/angel2.gif)
Huh? ...what are you talking about? ;)
Everyone's an appeaser right Nordic? ::)
Huh? I thought you were a lesbian. Seriously, you're not?! ???
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Huh? I thought you were a lesbian. Seriously, you're not?! ???
(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/rotflmao.gif)
Good Grief NO! (not that there's anything wrong with that) I'm heterosexual.
You're not the only one to think that though. Someone started that rumour a while back
I remember at one point Hugo thought I was, and decided to gift me with a giant graphic of female anatomy,
...and I mean a GIANT graphic. I opened my PM and couldn't believe my eyes.. :o
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(http://www.jaguarenterprises.net/images/rotflmao.gif)
Good Grief NO! (not that there's anything wrong with that) I'm heterosexual.
You're not the only one to think that though. Someone started that rumour a while back
I remember at one point Hugo thought I was, and decided to gift me with a giant graphic of female anatomy,
...and I mean a GIANT graphic. I opened my PM and couldn't believe my eyes.. :o
LOL
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LOL
It seemed like the thing took up the entire screen! :o I almost had a heart attack! {lol}
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actually been able to vote in an election that might mean something.
In the past, my votes were were wasted because Labour have a landslide. But now we have an election in London that might sway things.
Although I adore Ken, I reckon he's been there far too long. (And I'm old enough to remember the GLC and everything Ken's done for London.
Also my family and their parents and grandparents were all working class Liverpuddlian Labour voters, until my Dad became an engineer and we all went kinda middle class and moved to Essex and then Canada and he started voting Conservative. All those taxes !
I did vote for Pierre Trudeau more than once when I lived in Canada ages ago, I even kissed him on each cheek and then shook his hand once, that worked! edit: I've just worked out that I must've just reached voting age that year. Was it 1986?
I've seen and met Ken umpteen times in the last 10 years. Never bothered to kiss him. There's something I don't like about him I haven't figured out yet.
He's so green, he says, he's mouldy.
Anyone here care to tell me how to vote? This is an election which will make a diff.
Boris cycles and he's a high-class blond and ...
Who's the BNP candidate?
The BNP are a bunch of clowns to be honest, but if they can stop the wogs from taking over maybe you should vote for them.
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It seemed like the thing took up the entire screen! :o I almost had a heart attack! {lol}
Was there an echo when you laughed?
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Was there an echo when you laughed?
:o :-X
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:o :-X
LOL
Wow... that's a big kitty
Wow... that's a big kitty
... big kitty
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Who's the BNP candidate?
The BNP are a bunch of clowns to be honest, but if they can stop the wogs from taking over maybe you should vote for them.
Don't think there's a British National Party candidate, and there's no way on God's gorgeous earth he'd have a chance in London. I think they only have those racists in the suburbs and up north?
I'm not wasting my vote and that was the reason for this thread. The Tories and the Reds are about even (Blue Boris leading by a titchy little bit at the Mori polls today).
Voting Lib Dem will be a no go (and I kinda like Brian Paddick, the gay ex-headcop, he seems truthful... but they get maybe 10pc of the vote. He'll swing if there is a hung vote.
Greens get 2pc of the vote, so there's no point in that either.
Judi, unfortunately we only have two parties here and the Lib Dems don't get a look in. (And I'm sorry to say that I thought it appropriate that my employers in Canada were required to pay for my OHIP. It made sense, it was part of my employment deal.
Anyways, I've decided I'm definitely not voting for Red Ken again. I regret to say that I voted for him the first time recently, (he was mayor a long time ago previously when they had the Greater London Council, but I was in Canada), because he promised the earth. I didn't bother voting the second time because he was a shoo-in.
This time, the vote for the London Mayor matters...
xL
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You know what else is funny Judi? When I lived in Toronto all those years ago, I truly believed that politics there didn't matter. Sorry if that sounds condescending, but it's the truth.
Biggest bestest country and they don't do war. The most wonderful country.
I spent 17 years in Canada total, and all of that time, the main news was about the USA and then a little bit at the end about hockey. Sometimes the hockey made the main headlines...
So my excuse is that I know very little about politics. I wasn't living in England when Mags Thatcher was PM here, I missed it all. And where I was, they painted a picture of her as a great leader. It wasn't till I returned home that I realised how much in fact the populists disliked her & her policies.
She sold off the family jewels: all of the social housing, the railways, the utilities. But the Labour party (who would have done all of this and more, irregardless) have done even worse: schools, neighbourhoods, crime, the National Health Service, the Post Office.
This country is a mess. Can I come back to Canada? My pension there is certainly worth more than my British one.
xL
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You know what else is funny Judi? When I lived in Toronto all those years ago, I truly believed that politics there didn't matter. Sorry if that sounds condescending, but it's the truth.
Biggest bestest country and they don't do war. The most wonderful country.
I spent 17 years in Canada total, and all of that time, the main news was about the USA and then a little bit at the end about hockey. Sometimes the hockey made the main headlines...
So my excuse is that I know very little about politics. I wasn't living in England when Mags Thatcher was PM here, I missed it all. And where I was, they painted a picture of her as a great leader. It wasn't till I returned home that I realised how much in fact the populists disliked her & her policies.
She sold off the family jewels: all of the social housing, the railways, the utilities. But the Labour party (who would have done all of this and more, irregardless) have done even worse: schools, neighbourhoods, crime, the National Health Service, the Post Office.
This country is a mess. Can I come back to Canada? My pension there is certainly worth more than my British one.
xL
Wow, you're the first person I've met with a negative IQ.
You love Ken Livingstone but hate labour? Contradiction here.
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7324485.stm
Best thing you can do is vote BNP, not to actually get them in power but to let Labour and Co. realise that we've had enough of their shit. Most cowardice government ever. G. Brown is a repulsive fat cunt.
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sorry darling, you've not understood what's going on here.
Brown is our PM, he took over from Blair and they're the Labour party. They govern this fair country... The London vote has nothing to do with the Prime Minister or who is looking after GB, it's a local vote.
We have an election coming up on May 1st for a new London Mayor. It's looking as if Ken (the Labour candidate who has been in power for 8 years) will lose to Boris Johnson, Conservative.
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See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7324485.stm
Is that the news story they had on the BBC this morning about people being paranoid and no longer trusting anyone?
Sorry, I've had builders in and out all day and have been unable to find the time to click your blue link.
xL
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Wow, you're the first person I've met with a negative IQ.
You love Ken Livingstone but hate labour? Contradiction here.
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7324485.stm
Best thing you can do is vote BNP, not to actually get them in power but to let Labour and Co. realise that we've had enough of their shit. Most cowardice government ever. G. Brown is a repulsive fat cunt.
I wont' waste my vote, so I've two choices: Red or Blue.
I in fact said that I had previously adored Ken's policies, not that I love him, he's repulsive.
And I said that my family and theirs before them were all Labour voters, but explained that my Dad went Conservative after he hit the 50pc tax bracket... This country was great, it all went swimmingly after the last world war, but lately all the megamillionaire high tax paying commercial capitalists moved to America.
sorry darling, you've not understood what's going on here.
Brown is our PM, he took over from Blair and they're the Labour party. They govern this fair country... The London vote has nothing to do (unless the Reds lose) with the Prime Minister or who is looking after GB, it's a local vote.
We have an election coming up on May 1st for a new London Mayor. It's looking as if Ken (the Labour candidate who has been in power for 8 years) will lose to Boris Johnson, Conservative.
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Voting Lib Dem will be a no go (and I kinda like Brian Paddick, the gay ex-headcop, he seems truthful... but they get maybe 10pc of the vote. He'll swing if there is a hung vote.
{giggle}
Judi, unfortunately we only have two parties here and the Lib Dems don't get a look in. (And I'm sorry to say that I thought it appropriate that my employers in Canada were required to pay for my OHIP. It made sense, it was part of my employment deal.
Don't get me wrong, I agree that setting it up so that employers covered it made sense to me too, however, I was already covered because I had paid for it under the old structure and still had coverage left, and they DINGED me big time for employees I didn't have. If I remember correctly, it was done on a sliding scale something like 1-200 employees, 201 - 1000, or something like that, so I as someone already covered, and not even considered an employee at the time because I didn't draw a salary, got hit with the same rate as someone with 200 people employed. The one employee I did have at the time (moi) who was classified as a shareholder was already covered. It was like when I was 16 and had a part time job. As a dependant minor, I had full coverage through my Mom's insurance, but they took off the insurance premiums from my pay cheques. They had me paying twice. So Bob Rae changed it so people wouldn't be stuck paying twice or or even three times as is the case for those with two parents working, and they themselves having a PT time job. But the way he changed it, still ended up causing me to pay twice, as well as pay for employees I didn't have. I already had full coverage elsewhere. It was essentially forcing me to pay twice for the same thing. I didn't think I should be forced to pay the bill twice, if it was already fully paid... why ...just because they made a change in determining WHO should pay the bill? Nah! If the bill is paid... it's paid! Now, if they were going to refund me for the previous payments ok, but that wasn't the case.They quickly figured out they goofed and rectified how it was done. They hadn't taken into account smaller businesses. And even though I was a small fry, I had things structured to take advantage of benefits and strategies that often were only available to the large mega corporations. That initial transition period saw alot of people in similar situations, and those employers who had already stepped up to the plate to pay for their employees coverage and had been doing so for years, also found themselves paying twice as well. It was quickly rectified after that.
Alot of policies from the past didn't accomodate for the new paradigms. It was either you employed people, or you were employed by people. The concept of people doing a bit of this and a bit of that, and diversifying their income sources weren't taken into account because so few people were doing it. The widespread betrayal of the corporate world towards it's employees in the Reagan induced recession and the fallout from that, saw a huge upswing in people doing just that, so now we see these provisions, but they weren't in place back then.
Anyways, I've decided I'm definitely not voting for Red Ken again. I regret to say that I voted for him the first time recently, (he was mayor a long time ago previously when they had the Greater London Council, but I was in Canada), because he promised the earth. I didn't bother voting the second time because he was a shoo-in.
This time, the vote for the London Mayor matters...
xL
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{giggle}
Alot of policies from the past didn't accomodate for the new paradigms.
But many do. Health care in Canada was wonderful and the NHS here used to be.
Many of the new policies they've had to uptake on this little island were unfortunately decided by bigger powers.
I've tried to explain to people so many times about how when we moved to Canada from Britain in the 70s, my Dad had to have a good job, we had to prove we were worthy. I remember going to Canada House in Trafalgar Square and filling out a questionnaire about the names of previous Canadian Prime Ministers and naming the great lakes. & after that (& after checking my father's references), they allowed our family to emmigrate.
The huge problem here now is the fact that England took over the world and commonwealthed. Then, waaa, everyone from Europe, Africa, India and everywhere else has legal rights.
Payback. Makes sense to me and I'm 3rd generation British, but mixed race.
xxxL
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I wont' waste my vote, so I've two choices: Red or Blue.
We have an election coming up on May 1st for a new London Mayor. It's looking as if Ken (the Labour candidate who has been in power for 8 years) will lose to Boris Johnson, Conservative.
Linda, I think it's a mistake for people to "vote strategically"... where they vote for a candidate other than their preferred choice, simply because they think their preferred candidate has no chance of winning. I think this is a mistake, ...because what they end up getting is a government with a mandate that doesn't address their concerns. That's why I think it's so admirable of Ron Paul to stay in the election, because he is giving Republicans a candidate who represent their views. This is something McCain, or Obama, whichever gets the presidency cannot afford to ignore. Bush Snr. ignored the voices of Republican voters who wanted Ross Perot. He didn't listen to that huge constituency, and they flocked to Bill Clinton in the next election. Bill listened to the voices of democrats who voted for him, and he listened to the voices of Republicans who didn't vote him, ...and he got his 2nd term. Bill listened, and heard the people say it was all about the economy, while Bush wanted to run on his war record.
For a democracy to work, the people have to know what's going on, but more importantly, it can't be about choosing "the winning candidate", or refusing to vote the way you want because you don't think the candidate or the platform you want stands a chance of winning. Your vote is your say, and if's your way of telling the government that's what you want, and giving them your mandate, whether your candidate wins or not. If you don't tell the gov what you want, ...you can't complain when you don't get it, because you never bothered to state your wishes to begin with.
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I'm voting for Boris. Time for a change.
xL
This is a massive election year and I hope Obama wins too (don't know much if anything, about US politics, but I find the Mrs Clintons too much to take.
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But many do. Health care in Canada was wonderful and the NHS here used to be.
Healthcare in Canada still is wonderful. We just went through a sticky transition period in the crossover from individually funded coverage to employer funded coverage.
Many of the new policies they've had to uptake on this little island were unfortunately decided by bigger powers.
Can't comment there, I'm not familiar with how the UK manages their version of universal healthcare
I've tried to explain to people so many times about how when we moved to Canada from Britain in the 70s, my Dad had to have a good job, we had to prove we were worthy. I remember going to Canada House in Trafalgar Square and filling out a questionnaire about the names of previous Prime Ministers and naming the great lakes. & they allowed us to emmigrate.
The huge problem here is the fact that England took over the world and commonwealthed. Then, waaa, everyone from Europe, Africa, India and everywhere else has legal rights.
Payback. Makes sense to me and I'm 3rd generation British, but mixed race.
xxxL
Not sure what you're getting at here. Canada is part of the British CommonWealth as well. Under Pierre Elliot Trudeau, they dismantled the old racist system they had in place, and introduced a fairer points based system, and swung open the doors to every nation on the planet. If you had the criteria to pass, you got in. As a result, it has attracted some of the brightest minds on the planet, and the cream of the crop from around the world. Unfortunately, alot of them don't get very far because of the language barriers they face, ...but their credentials are impeccable. Now if only we could put a stop to so many of these unecessary wars around the world, we wouldn't have to take in so many refugees.
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Can't comment there, I'm not familiar with how the UK manages
I was talking about the war, sorry...
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I'm voting for Boris.
xL
This is a massive election year and I hope Obama wins too (don't know much if anything, about US politics, but I find the Mrs Clintons too much to take.
:) Isn't Boris the one you don't like? I know what you mean about Mrs Clinton.
While I respect her capabilities, I wouldn't trust that woman any further than I could throw her.
I have no doubt though that alot of people feel that way, ...and if she were to sew up the nomination, I'm sure there'll be alot of eyes watching her like a hawk!
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I was talking about the war, sorry...
Do you mean the NHS system there is overburdened with all the war casualties it now needs to treat?
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:) Isn't Boris the one you don't like?
Ken Livingstone has been London Mayor for 8 years, and there is an election coming up. Boris is the Conservative candidate. He's new. I like Boris, he cycles and he's a high class blond. Also he's hilariously funny.
I'm repeating myself.
xL
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Do you mean the NHS system there is overburdened with all the war casualties it now needs to treat?
It's not like 'nam or anything, but it's dire...
Nowadays it seems like more people die from CDiff and MRSA.
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Ken Livingstone has been London Mayor for 8 years, and there is an election coming up. Boris is the Conservative candidate. He's new. I like Boris, he cycles and he's a high class blond. Also he's hilariously funny.
I'm repeating myself.
xL
Hmmm... I see. Well he certainly does seem to have impeccable credentials for the position. ;D
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It's not like 'nam or anything, but it's dire...
Nowadays it seems like more people die from CDiff and MRSA.
Sorry Linda, I'm not familiar with those terms. What are CDiff and MRSA?
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alot of them don't get very far because of the language barriers they face
I so don't understand that. I thought the reason everyone wanted to move to England was because they really really wanted to learn English !
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Sorry Linda, I'm not familiar with those terms. What are CDiff and MRSA?
Killer hospital viruses. Not nice.