HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: agc@bnr.ca (Alan Carter)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Any minority candidates?
Date: 13 Apr 92 17:31:39 GMT
Organization: BNR-Europe-Limited, Maidenhead, England

In article <1992Apr13.110717.3834@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:
|> From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
|> >As well as Keith Vaz, Bernie Grant and [help! I've forgotten her name] who
|> >stood and won for Labour in 1987, and are standing again, Labour have four or
|> >five other ethnic minority candidates in winnable seats, as well as some
|> >losers. I don't know about the Libdems, but the Tories have a couple of Asian
|> >candidates in constituiencies with large Asian populations. And, as Francis
|> >suggested, they are popular amongst the self-made restaurant/corner-shop
|> >owning small-business people. They also have, famously, a black barrister in
|> >white middle-class little England Cheltenham. When he was selected last year,
|> >there was a great hoo-hah in the local party, with several openly racist
|> >members resigning. He is likely to lose, a result of the Libdem gain in the
|> >region and of the racist vote against him.
|> 
|> Labour also have Ghanaian Paul Boateng, and the Asian member
|> who won the Langbaurgh by-election earlier this year and kept
|> his seat. The Tories have their first Asian member, elected for
|> Brentford and Isleworth in the general election.
|> 
|> As for Cheltenham, there is a fair chance the Conservative
|> would have lost whatever his colour. The Conservatives lost the
|> very similar seat of Bath to the LibDems despite the fact that
|> the Conservative candidate was a government minister who had
|> represented the seat previously and the LibDem candidate was an
|> outsider who had only been selected at the last minute. In Cheltenham
|> they had the advantage of a well-established local candidate.
|> It was not the Conservative's colour that brought him down,
|> it was the fact that he came from Brirmingham and didn't
|> seem to have much to say for the people of Cheltenham.

The Cheltenham situation is a little more complex than that. Traditionally
Cheltenham is Liberal. It was held by the Tories for many years because of the
excellent constituency work done by Charles Irving who retired this time. 
Irving was one of those odd MPs whose majority could well have gone UP if he
stood as an Independent because those of us who cannot bring ourselves to
vote Tory would have been free to vote for him. Of course the Tories like to
prattle on about 'True Blue Cheltenham', but the local party must have known
they were in trouble, which the candidate from Birmingham may not have had the
local knowledge to see clearly.

Now True Blue Cheltenham has been lost to the Liberals but its hard to see the
local party bigwigs being hauled over the coals with so many... variables.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alan Carter - My opinions are subjective - virtual reality is in my skull.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From: jlloyd@cc.uow.edu.au (Jonathan Lloyd)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Lib dem seats in rural areas (was Farewell to Kinnock)
Date: 15 Apr 92 22:33:30 GMT
Organization: University Of Wollongong

bob@castle.ed.ac.uk (Bob Gray) writes:

>jlloyd@cc.uow.edu.au (Jonathan Lloyd) writes:
>>You and I both know that those in much of rural Scotland and the North 
>>are nearly as conservative as those in the Home Counties. They don't like
>>being dictated to by what they perceive as the lefties in town!

>The elections must be rigged then. They keep electing  a lot
>of Liberal Democrat MPs.
>	Bob.

Well Bob truth be told I have not yet seen the regional breakdown in 
detail yet. 

But I don't think that 20 seats is a lot of Lib Dem MPs, relative to the
large conurbations country folk do tend to be a tad more conservative.

But you are correct in one sense that Lib Dems always seem to get more
sympathy in the country but the whole political scene there is shifted to
the right a bit (don't you think?).

I remember being told e.g. by people in Ayrshire that their rates shot up when 
they became part of Strathclyde region. They were pretty pissed off about 
subsidising Glasgow folk, and getting less for their very high Scottish
rates. (1988). I think you will find that people in the country areas are
fairly resentful of "townies interefering" etc.
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:6386 rec.arts.books:7951
From: terra@athena.mit.edu (Terra Witkop)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE
Date: 14 Apr 92 12:39:55 GMT
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

In article <kujhdnINNtd@early-bird.think.com> wark@think.com (Mark Warkentin) writes:
>Here in beanytown lots of the locals use the word "tonic".  Anyone heard of
>the usage elswhere?
>-- 

I've been living in Metro-Boston for almost 4 years, and have *very*
rarely heard anyone refer to soda (I grew up in Western Mass., where
all fizzy drinks are soda) as "tonic"; maybe I heard this once or
twice from my ex-SO's mother, who grew up in Revere.  When I went to
UMASS-Amherst, there were a lot of students from Boston, and I had
to get used to referring to grinders as "subs" -- now the word
"grinder" sounds weird to me...
>
>
>         #                                                      #    
>         #  The opinions expressed are not my own and I disavow #


--
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Theresa (Terra) Witkop                         terra@athena.mit.edu
MIT, Room 8-109, Cambridge, MA  02139-4307
Standard disclaimer applies.
From: gdb15@grebe.cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Great Britain as a malfunctioning democracy
Date: 15 Apr 92 19:52:45 GMT
Reply-To: gdb15@cl.cam.ac.uk (Guy Barry)
Organization: U of Cambridge Computer Lab, UK

In article <1992Apr15.155534.518@dcs.qmw.ac.uk> mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:

>Candidates in UK elections are selected by the local branch of
>their party, not by the party nationally. It may therefore be
>assumed that if an MP votes against the party lines in the
>interests of his or her constituency, he or she will get the
>backing of the local party.
>
>I would say part of the reason for UK MP's slavish backing of
>the party line is simply tradition. People in the UK expect it
>to happen. Most of them vote for the party label, not for the
>individual candidate. 

I don't think that's the case, since once a candidate gets into
Parliament he's effectively no longer accountable to his electorate
for the way he votes.  Surely the main reason is the whipping system:
MPs know that if they want to get ahead in their Parliamentary career
they'd better toe the line.  Those who aren't interested in achieving
high office tend to be more maverick.  Under the Thatcher regime
whipping was extremely strict (I remember some nasty rumours about
threats being made to one or two backbench MPs when the poll tax was
brought in).  Major seems to be rather more conciliatory; in his
recent batch of appointments to the front benches he's brought in
quite a few MPs who were left "in the cold" during the Thatcher years.

Also, when there's a government with a small majority like the present
one, MPs on both sides are themselves more likely to want to toe the
party line; on the government side because they don't want to be
responsible for bringing their own government down, and on the
opposition side because there may be an actual chance of defeating the
government.

--
Guy Barry	Phone: +44 (0)223 334757 | University of Cambridge
		  Fax: +44 (0)223 334678 | Computer Laboratory   
	   JANET: Guy.Barry@uk.ac.cam.cl | New Museums Site, Pembroke Street
        Internet: Guy.Barry@cl.cam.ac.uk | Cambridge CB2 3QG, England, UK
From: pdg@crosfield.co.uk (paul goffin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: Election Fraud by the Conservatives
Date: 13 Apr 92 07:41:09 GMT
Reply-To: pdg@crosfield.co.uk (paul goffin)
Followup-To: soc.culture.british
Organization: Crosfield Electronics, Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom.

In article <1992Apr10.163753.5602@bristol.ac.uk> P.Smee@bristol.ac.uk (Paul Smee) writes:
>In article <PLUMMER.92Apr10085146@tulum.cs.swarthmore.edu> plummer@cs.swarthmore.edu (David Barker-Plummer) writes:

>>Is that 77.5% of those on the roll, or 77.5% of the voting-age
>>population.  

>An obviously American question.  It's a bit of an oversimplification,
>but in essence, over here, it's the Government's responsibility to make
>sure that all eligible voters are registered; not like the States,
>where if you don't go in and tell them about you, they don't care.  So,
>to a very good approximation, if you are of voting age over here, and
>the government is aware of your existence, you will be on the electoral
>roll.

Sorry, WRONG!

Every year the "electoral roll" is drawn up.  Every address is sent
an electoral register form (these are hand delivered by local
govt officals, so they try to find all new houses too!)

This has to be filled in with the details of everyone over 16 at that
address, and then returned to the registra.

If you're not on that list, you don't get to vote.

Of course, if you don't want to pay the poll tax, you might suspect
that 'they' might use the electoral roll information to find out
about you and therefore not register to vote!  (Poll tax registration
is a serarate process.)

Since most people who don't register for poll tax probably don't
want a Tory government, this probably reduces the size of the opposition
vote.

Paul.
-- 
+-------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
+ Paul Goffin +  Crosfield Electronics Ltd. U.K.  +44 442 230000x3357 +
+             +  My opinions are my OWN. - no one would pay for this! +
+-------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
From: sp@mirabeau.osf.fr (Simon Patience)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: The Decline of Britain (was Re: Great Britain as a malfunctioning democracy)
Date: 16 Apr 92 07:25:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: osf.1992Apr16.072526.1828
Reply-To: sp@mirabeau.osf.fr (Simon Patience)
Organization: OSF Research Institute

In article <tahonen.3@katk.Helsinki.FI>, tahonen@katk.Helsinki.FI (Timo
Ahonen) writes:
> In article <1992Apr14.133600.10682@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>
baker@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Andrew Baker) writes:
> 
> >Do you consider the magazine _The_Economist_ to be a "tabloid" or
> >"tory propaganda"?  Do you consider its editors and writers to be "morons"
> >and "bigots"?
> 
> No, The Economist can't be "tory propaganda"; after all it's editors are for 
> Scotland's right of self-determination to decide its constitutional question 
> by herself, whereas Tories are vehemently against such a heretical idea 
> against the 'sacred' Union.

It also supports PR, a written constition and it thinks many of the Tory
privatisation plans a waste of time as they don't introduce competition,
just private monopolies instead of state ones. etc etc etc.

If you believe the Economist is a tory organ then I don't think you can
have read it very carefully.

Simon.

  Simon Patience
  Open Software Foundation			Phone: +33-76-63-48-72
  Research Institute				FAX:   +33-76-51-05-32
  2 Avenue De Vignate				Email: sp@gr.osf.org
  38610 Gieres, France				       uunet!gr.osf.org!sp
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.politics.british,soc.culture.european
From: jes@tcom.stc.co.uk (JES)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.politics.british
Subject: Re: Rampant paranoia (was Voting slips: what happens to them,DANGER!)
Date: 7 Apr 92 08:38:16 GMT
Reply-To: jes@tcom.stc.co.uk (JES)
Organization: NT Europe Limited, London N11 1HB.

In article <1992Apr04.213121.8468@robobar.co.uk> gtoal@robobar.co.uk (Graham Toal "gtoal@vangogh.cs.berkeley.edu") writes:
>OK, what you missed (and haven't noticed any time you voted) is that
>when you go to vote, they find your name in a large book.

The book is electoral register.  This is the means by which you are
'ticked off' when you vote, so that you cannot vote more than once.  You
cannot vote at a polling station where you are not on the register (for
that station).

>Your name
>has a number next to it.  You are given a voting form with that
>number on it.

??  Don't remember that bit.  The ballot paper is always stamped, which
validates it.  I ballot paper without a stamp is invalid.

>Therefore it is trivially easy to find out how you
>voted.

I don't believe this - but I will take careful note when I vote
on Thursday.

>Wht we Brits have stood for this blatant disregard for
>democracy for so long never fails to surprise me.  The 'party line'
>is that the information is needed to catch abuse of the voting system
>where unscrupulous people may vote more than once or some such rot.
>Doesn't make sense to me.  The names alone should be enough...

>G

Dave Kennard
From: streater@unixhub.SLAC.Stanford.EDU (Tim Streater)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: The Archers and BBC-WS
Keywords: Archers
Date: 17 Apr 92 17:28:54 GMT
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

Why not post the address you wrote to, then those of us as feels
like it can drop them a line. Who knows - it might even end up
being broadcast on the local FM stations here (they pick up the
satellite feed - now digital!).

Tim

In the summer, the outdoors, it should be closed! - Hercule Poirot.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: horne-scott@CS.YALE.EDU (Scott Horne)
Subject: Re: dweeb?
Organization: Computer "Science" Dept, Yale University
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 05:07:08 GMT

In article <NICKH.92Apr13123607@VOILA.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU>, nickh@CS.CMU.EDU (Nick Haines) writes:
<In article <1992Apr12.002852.21905@cs.yale.edu> horne-scott@CS.YALE.EDU (Scott Horne) writes:
<
<   Fortunately, not everyone in this country fits that characterisation (note
<   the correct spelling--no `z'). 
<
<Read a dictionary. I suggest the OED.

I never have bought the _OED_'s line here.  Most of the _-i[sz]e_ words
came into English through French, not through Greek.

					--Scott

-- 
Scott Horne                               ...!{harvard,cmcl2,decvax}!yale!horne
horne@cs.Yale.edu      SnailMail:  Box 7196 Yale Station, New Haven, CT   06520
203 436-1848                Residence:  Rm 1848 Silliman College, New Haven, CT
Shao2shan1 sheng1 de tai4yang2 yong3 bu2 luo4!
From: ross@tarski.tmc.edu (David Ross)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: US INS complaints
Date: 13 Apr 92 23:07:15 GMT
Article-I.D.: news.1992Apr13.230715.14587
Organization: University of Hawaii Mathematics Department

It should be pointed out that this works the other way, too; during
the 3 years I lived in England I had the Home Office (in the guise
of the local constabulary) swing by every couple of months to reconfirm
all the data in my green card (er, book) - usually at odd, inconvenient
hours.  During the US invasion of Libya they came by almost weekly -
as if, as an American Jew of E. European descent, I might be in league
with Libyan terrorists and need close supervision.

- David

--
David Ross, Dept. of Math., Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu HI  96822
Internet: ross@kahuna.math.hawaii.edu  -or- ross@tarski.math.hawaii.edu
Phone: 808-956-9949
From: martin.baines@uk.sun.com (Martin Baines - Sun UK - SE Manager Cambridge/Gatwick)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Who did you vote *against*? (was Re: British leftist losers)
Date: 15 Apr 92 16:43:30 GMT
Reply-To: martin.baines@uk.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems
NNTP-Posting-Host: bottomdog.uk.sun.com

In article 27517@dcs.qmw.ac.uk, mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:

[deleted earlier thread]

>Firstly, the Labour Party does not support proportional
>representation. Secondly, whereas most Labour supporters would
>put the Liberal Democrats as their second choice, Liberal
>Democrat supporters split almost evenly to the Conservatives
>and Labour as their second choice. So such an agreement would
>have no effect on Conservative-Labour marginals

I don't know where Matthew gets this figure for second choices
of LibDems, but it sounds about right to me from personal
experiances. So lets have some fun:

Share of Votes of the Parties:

Con      Lab     LDem
41.9     34.4     17.8

Votes "againgst" each major Party:

Con      Lab
43.3     50.8

So....

It looks to me like all this talk about the Great Anti-Tory Alliance
is missing the point: perhaps we should have the great anti-Labour
Alliance????

---
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You might say that, but I couldn't possibly comment"

Martin Baines, Sales Support Manager,
Sun Microsystems Ltd, 306 Science Park, Cambridge, CB4 4WG, UK
Phone: +44 223 420421                 Fax: +44 223 420257
JANET:     Martin.Baines@uk.co.sun    Other UK:  Martin.Baines@sun.co.uk
Internet:  Martin.Baines@UK.sun.com
X.400:     g=martin s=baines prmd=sunir admd=mci c=us
From: Adrian.Waterworth@newcastle.ac.uk (Adrian Waterworth)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: MAJOR WINS MAJORITY!!!
Date: 10 Apr 92 11:46:35 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, NE1 7RU

jswilson@mta.ca (SCOTT_WILSON) writes:

>After all the doubts of the election polls.... The Conservatives
>win again!!!
>I never doubted for a second that John Major would not win.  He (or rather) and
>the Conservatives are the best bet to pull Britain out of the recession.
>It sure takes your vote counters a long time though.  I didn't know till 5am
>your time that he was elected...1 am my time.

Let's face it, the Tories are back in power for another five years or
so. Surprise, sur-fweepin'-prise!! And they're going to pull us out of
this dung-hole of a recession that they've landed us in. In a pig's
ear!!

Having said that (and in the interest of fairness), Labour or the
LibDems would have been no better. The economy would still have been
utterly screwed for the foreseeable future. There would still have been
bog-all chance of recovery and the country would still have ended up
going to the dogs one way or another.

Mind you, I'm going to miss the NHS and schools. They were far from
perfect, but I'd got used to them being around, you know? Still, so
long as we can all save our few pennies of income tax and look forward
to our desolate watered-down-Monetarist true-blue future, who the Hell
cares if some kids won't be able to get a decent education and half the
populace won't be able to afford medical treatment.

Then again, I suppose it hasn't come to that just yet. If we're lucky,
it might be nine months or more before they take it that far.

Roll on Armageddon!

>Good luck for the next 5 years!

Yeah, thanks. We're gonna need it.

			Adrian 

		(In a particularly cynical mood today, believe it or not!)
______________________________________________________________________________
FROM  : Adrian Waterworth.   E-MAIL : Adrian.Waterworth@newcastle.ac.uk
			     UUCP : ...!ukc!newcastle.ac.uk!Adrian.Waterworth
PHONE : +44 91 222 6858
POST  : Computing Lab. University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. NE1 7RU.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: migod@turing.toronto.edu (Mike Godfrey)
Subject: Questions on the election
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Date: 10 Apr 92 15:51:07 GMT



-- What kind of seat did Glenda Jackson win (was it traditionally a 
   marginal/strong Labour/LibDem/Tory seat)?

-- Who defeated Gerry Adams and from what party?  What was Adams' plurality
   last time around?  Any ideas on what this represents?

-- What was the "conservative newspaper" that endorsed Labour this time
   around?  The local news didn't identify it.

Thanks.

-- 
Mike Godfrey   	           		"Either that wallpaper goes, or I do."
Dept of Comp Sci, UofT      	         	-- allegedly, the last words
migod@turing.toronto.edu			   of Oscar Wilde
Xref: sparky soc.culture.british:6302 rec.arts.books:7906
From: wark@think.com (Mark Warkentin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,rec.arts.books
Subject: Re: ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE
Date: 13 Apr 1992 17:32:39 GMT
Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
NNTP-Posting-Host: gandalf.think.com

Here in beanytown lots of the locals use the word "tonic".  Anyone heard of
the usage elswhere?
-- 


         #                                                      #    
         #  The opinions expressed are not my own and I disavow #
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,uk.politics
From: dj@ssd.kodak.com (Dave Jones)
Subject: Re: election 92: LORD SUTCH'S RESULTS
Organization: :noitazinagrO
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 13:36:03 GMT

In article <1992Apr14.161555.22165@newcastle.ac.uk> w.p.coyne@newcastle.ac.uk writes:
>Screaming Lord Sutch of the Monster Raving Loony Party stood against 
>all three party leaders here are his results, with a few other candidates
>
>
>Yeovil:  6 candidates
>            1st Paddy Ashdown (liberal Dem) 30,958
>            4th Jay Risbridger (Green)      639
>            5th David Sutch (Loony)         338 

I'm sure Sutch would have done a lot better in Yeovil if there'd been
a level playing field there.

(Groans from diehard soccer fans......)


-- 
||Dave Jones (dj@ekcolor.ssd.kodak.com)    ||-------------------------------|
||Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY 14653-7300|-------------------------------|
|| If Unix is a computer system            ||-------------------------------|
|| then a pile of bricks is a house        ||-------------------------------|
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
From: livesey@solntze.esd.sgi.com (Jon Livesey)
Subject: Re: Election Fraud by the Conservatives
Keywords: Poll Tax
Organization: sgi
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 01:55:54 GMT

In article <1992Apr14.182940.19572@hasler.ascom.ch>, kevinh@hslrswi.hasler.ascom.ch (kevinh) writes:
|> 
|> In article <1992Apr13.113910.5083@dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, mmh@cs.qmw.ac.uk (Matthew Huntbach) writes:
> |> Boundary changes are not a fiddle - they are decided by an
> |> independent commission, 
>
> Ok, fiddle was little strong. But how come the Conservatives will
> quite happily correct this "discrepancy" in our electoral system
> (that just happens to give them further gains) whilst they are 
> totally opposed to the fair (PR) type system, not that they are
> biased or anything!!

Simple.   The boundary revisions are required no matter what the
method of voting chosen.   They concern changes in population, not
changes in voting method.

jon.
From: stevew@cs.man.ac.uk (Steve Wallis)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british
Subject: Re: When must general elections be held?
Date: 15 Apr 92 13:15:31 GMT
	<1992Apr14.180239.5446@vax.oxford.ac.uk>
Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Manchester

In article <1992Apr14.180239.5446@vax.oxford.ac.uk> wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk writes:
>All Major needs is 326
>sycophantic MPs willing to change the rules, and Bob's his uncle. No more
>tricky general elections. Hundreds of years of uninterrupted conservative
>government....

Why do people keep coming up with such rubbish?  If the Tories tried this,
there would be a general strike and the government would be brought down
immediately.

>That's the price you pay for the British unwritten constitution.

They probably had a written constitution in Albania...

Steve.

--
  /    / / \    / /            --------------------------------------------
  \/\ /\ \/ \  / \\/      /    |    Steve Wallis (stevew@cs.man.ac.uk)    |
    /   \ \/ \/   \\//\  /     | Mail me if you want to join the struggle |
                   \/  \/      --------- for a socialist society. ---------
Newsgroups: soc.culture.british,alt.politics.british