8 Comments on “BCfm’s weekly Politics Show presented by Billy Quain”

1. Mr. Billy Quain i really mean it when i type you are doing a great job as fill in host for the Politics Shows . i don’t listen to much other bcfm programs. I know little about your arts and culture show( i will listen now), but you know more than most hosts about Bristol , British and World Politics . You are a true renaissance man ! I don’t want to get Tony angry but you seem to bring a more diverse issues and news in your fill in job . keep up the great work !!!

   And as Always my sincere respect for Martin Summers . Maybe you two guys can start another show along with Tony’s show . I have no right to say since i am an American , but i think there are too many music shows on bcfm like on many of our alternative and community radio stations here in the usa .

   re to Martin mentioning the US written Constitution : William Hogeland a scholar on the US constituion concludes our constitution favors the creditor class over the debtor class . I forget but it comes before the bill of rights in the convoluted writing of the articles etc. Michael Parenti PhD always points to Madison’s taking notes during the writing of the constitution that most of our so called founding fathers(also slave owners) insisted the US “democracy” should be run by the “opulant” and not yeoman farmer or tradesman nor factory workers.

   Personally I feel our constitution needs a rewrite to recognize and make or rescind laws for the great workers struggles late 19th century till about the 1970’s . As Parenti says in so many words : Don’t think Captialism is reponsible for our better standard of living in the west for the working and middle class, No it was the democratic struggle against capitalism which gives us a better standard of living in the working and middle classes . USA, Canada, UK and most western countries were at a third world level in 1900 . Is it any surprise that all our clothes, etc is made in third world countries were there is no labor laws, starvation wages,child labor, etc ? We in the west are not such self respecting that we will not do such work under the horrible conditions in the the third world today . It is just that we are at advanced level of democratic struggle . If capitalists had their way children and most us would be working under 1900 or third world conditions again . ever since the reagan thatcher “revolution” most of us are losing our gains and the powerful exploiters are pushing us backwards.

   https://williamhogeland.wordpress.com/tag/1776/

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aJArigViMU

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   • I’m mortally offended! Not 😉 Glad to hear Billy is doing such a good job covering on The Politics Show. Will have a listen tonight.
     I’ve been interviewing veteran journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club here in Hong Kong on the growing tensions between the ‘Special Administrative Area’ & Beijing…

     The Strange and Sad Case of Gui Minhai
     Months after being released, Gui, a Swedish citizen, was abruptly arrested again.
     https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/the-strange-and-sad-case-of-gui-minhai/

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     • well you know my comments are usually things i sometimes regret . i ‘m just emotional and when someone is filling in for you that is good i go overboard with plaudits and criticisms , Nobody can replace you Tony . Im sorry i implied or demonstratively stated Mr. Quain was better than you.– Wow, i thought you were on vacation . Your doing some important work there at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong ! I hope it isn’t classified 🙂 and that you can tell the listeners about what you discovered and what you contributed . But as you know, protect your sources and don’t give us any names of truth tellers and whistle blowers if that would get them in trouble with the beast : US, UK, Saudi, Israel , some western countries “deep states”

       Cheers Mate ! (i.e. Tony Gosling)

       dahszil dahszil
       american
       usa

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2. “What is Elizabeth Blackwell most famous for?
   Physician and educator Elizabeth Blackwell was born on February 3, 1821, in Bristol, England. Brought up in a liberal household that stressed education, Blackwell eventually broke into the field of medicine to become the first woman to graduate from medical school in the United States. ”

   https://www.biography.com/people/elizabeth-blackwell-9214198

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3. I agree with you Martin Summers about proportional representation…I thought you should have been able to reply to the “No…..” from Mr. Quain, to explain your qualified statement about about about the good and bad about Northern Ireland elections. Do they have proportional representation?

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   • The electoral regime in Northern Ireland is a dogs breakfast. In elections to the Westminster parliament it is still a First Past The Post system, which in the Northern Ireland context often leads to formal and informal pacts so that each community unites around one agreed candidate. Thus hunger striker Bobby Sands was given a boost in his electoral campaign by the withdrawal of the candidate of the moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party and his opponent Ken Maginnis, who lost, was the sole candidate from the Unionist camp. Other elections, such as to the Stormont Assembly, are by proportional representation (as are all elections in the Irish Republic). PR in such elections was a necessary response to the First Past The Post gerrymandering and sectarian redistricting of the old unionist dominated politics of the six counties before 1969 where, for example, only “householders” were entitled to vote in local elections and the discrimination against catholics in the allocation of housing was used for voter suppression. Electoral reform has therefore been an essential part of bringing the war to an end. Will it take a civil war to bring electoral reform in the UK? or the US?

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     • thanks martin summers

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     • Good question Martin. It does seem a second civil war, which they’ve calculated they would win, could be part of the UK Establishment oligarchy policy.

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