Brilliant debating, really.

I beleive he's stated he wont remove the other pass system that all of the Tory Councils are clamouring for....

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No no. I don't take it as an unfair or cheap point and I agree with you. However, one has to consider that Pinochet managed to then split the body of the Argentine Armed forces to the North to keep an eye on Pinochet's forces... the man basically helped us win the Falklands.

I also note the article's and quote it thus:

"I'm also very much aware that it is you who brought democracy to Chile, you set up a constitution suitable for democracy, you put it into effect, elections were held, and then, in accordance with the result, you stepped down."

One also has to consider that during the previous Allende government's tenure the country was in absolute chaos:

During his tenure, Chilean politics rose to a state of civil unrest amid strike, lockouts, US Economic Sanctions [because Allende was a Marxist], an attempted coup in the early summer of 1973, the August 22nd Resolution which the majority of Chile's Chamber of Deptuies then called for the military to restore order all of which eventually culminated in Pinochet's coup.

Mercifully the man was just smart enough to begin to restor democracy with his 1980 plebiscite, but yes I agree, there were human rights abuses under Pinochet's regime, much like any one-man-band governments such as the Argentinian Juntras and Cuba.  

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Please stay as it is interesting to see the other side of it if done in a non abusive manner.

I do not consider someone a troll if they openly admit to being from another party.

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I've fixed the tags - don't worry about those.

It's just a few people trying to vent, and that too because our own party refuses to listen and converse with us.

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I’ll answer the Boris attacks first of all, then move onto the rest.

“Boris has said to a black presenter, "You can't out-ethnic me", and has called black people "piccaninnies".”

From what I remember both times were a joke, Boris’ “Out-ethnic me.” was because the presenter was largely of Afro-Caribbean decent, while Boris himself lays claim to five else six different minorities from across Europe, not a racist attack per se, but by the definition of ethnicity, Boris would indeed “out ethnic“ the dual minority of an Afro-Caribbean.

 I technically come from four different countries myself, I have a half Scottish Mother, a Half Welsh Father and one part of the family came from Northern Ireland, making me “British“ by any kind of definition, but made up of four different “minorities”.

The piccaninnies is again often taken out of context. It was about what he perceived of Blair’s “God-Like” attitude towards the world in which people were simple enough to simply fall dumb to his aura, reducing all people to mere grotesque caricatures.

During it he makes comical sweeping generalizations and bangs on about the “Zeus Like” Blair in his “Big British Jet”. Most of the time you have to step back and re-read the article or the paragraph in full, repeating singular words from it “verbatim” is like saying Ken Livingstone cheerily pops down to Hamas meetings in London Cafes in Edgware Road, he doesn’t, but this can be lauded by some of those of the more “Extreme” centrist behaviour such as the Nationals.

I also think political correctness is at a point where it’s becoming intolerable. It’s a different form of Orwell’s “Double think” at least Ken and Boris could state their cases and be able to do so well.

Both Bozza and Red Ken have the “knack” of driving the other side of the fence nuts, Boris does it because he’s a highly intelligent, well educated man with a good sense of humour, this doesn’t make him incompetent or incapable of high office, despite the left‘s attempt to laud him as such [Yes Polly dear, I am looking at you].

Much like Ken, the 30 year political tower isn’t unsuitable to making a few wise cracks and appearing on the odd TV show. He also doesn’t care what people on the right think of him, much like Bozza doesn’t mind what the left thinks, they both know where they stand and why and I think both sides at least have a gentleman‘s disagreement on those matters.

If I’m honest I’d recommend reading Boris’ latest book “Have I got Views for you” it gives a greater insight into how intelligent he actually is. As much as it may cause some lefties to blow gaskets at least you know there’s a lot of substance behind the fop.

Also, on the SUV charge, it’s being dropped because the charge would do very little but force mothers to drag x amount of kids into smaller and smaller cars, or onto public transport which is unsafe for small children, especially numerous ones. Until the Tesla Motor Company gets it’s act together, or until more companies start making “switch off” engines like BMW and Toyota now do, London will just have to suffer a couple of Chelsea tractors for a short while.

The Minimum wage is also an oddity, it can curb economic growth and running because it becomes mandatory to pay that amount always, and the wage never goes down, it always goes up, which puts greater strain on the economic prospects of smaller companies. However, conversely, it allows a better quality of life for those near to the bottom of the wage-ladder such as me.

If it was me, I’d still have a minimum wage of some sort, but be able to wind it up or down as the economic climate dictated, or set different “bands” to it dependant on business size, rather than age, as it presently is.

Now, ONWARD TO CHAVEZ!

The main problem I have with Chavez is perhaps his incredibly bizarre method of government, it seems to remind me a little of the Hitlerite method of a “weak” dictatorship [Argh, Godwin’s law thou hath struck me]. His ministries compete between each other for his attention and know the price of failure. Mockery on a national television show.

I also seem to remember his attempt at becoming “President for Life” was also thwarted by the students and middle classes in protest, before being crushed by the courts.

Engaging with him is going to be incredibly problematic. The man is prone to highly undiplomatically rants and rages which can make it incredibly hard to talk to him. A chap I know in the US diplomatic service said that they try to deal with the ministers only simply because they know how to be polite if disagreeing with the United States.  Chavez on the other hand lauds and mocks as often as possible, calling himself and Cuba an “Axis of Good” as well as beginning to cuddle up to Iran who both trade in “Petro-Euros” instead of Petro-Dollars on the simple basis of undermining the United States.

Now, I also agree about Saudi Arabia, we have to find a way of sorting them out, the regime is abhorrent and should continue to be encouraged to move to a more constitutional monarchical stance. We should also be keeping an eye on, or even curbing, the Whabbisit Empire being carved out in Africa on the back of Saudi-Petro-Dollars. The problem is, Chavez is more prominent in people’s minds because he’s often ranting and raving on his Allo President TV show, or has caused another diplomatic blunderbuss that takes weeks to sort out. Put simply, it’s always the loud ones that get the attention.

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