-TSS-

Usually in a two-party system people start yearning for a change for the sake of change after two terms of one of the two parties. Only if the alternative is for some reason unelectable as was the case in the UK in both 1987 and 1992 the party in power remained in power but as soon as the alternative got its act together there was a massive swing in 1997. Then the pendulum swung back 13 years later. And then it swung back 14 years later. That's the dynamic of a two-party system..

Perhaps having unelected technocrats as leaders is not a problem but actually a solution.

It was absolutely news to me that it is even possible to be for a non-British persons governor of the Bank of England. A funny side note that since in the UK they are very touchy about not calling England or English anything which refers to the whole of the UK but the Bank of England is an exception. Nobody bats an eyelid even though it is the central-bank of the whole of the UK.

As you have a similar electoral-system as the UK is it possible in your country that if there's an election today and the opposition wins the opposition-leader becomes PM tomorrow? In this case on April 29th?

It's strange that you have election days on Mondays. Do you have some early-voting opportunities in case you can't go to vote on a Monday because of work? On the other hand, American elections are always on a Tuesday.

People are prisoners of their own geography and therefore act accordingly without realising that not everybody else shares the same geography.' What I mean by this is that we in Europe and especially here next to Russia where the war in Ukraine is of utmost interest it is not so everywhere else. Unlike we seem to think here, the world does not revolve around Putin. He is not some genius master-mind who is plotting behind the scenes and manipulating the world affairs. I recently talked to a friend who has moved to Argentina and he said that in Argentina nobody talks about Ukraine, Russia or Putin.

Have you noticed any difference in your personal lives based on which party is in the government? Especially in Canada which is a federal country. I could ask the same question about your provincial level as well. I can't speak for others but in Finland I think there are two opposite groups of people who actually feel the difference which party is in the government. Namely those close to the poverty-line who are very dependant on the government-handouts. Of course if those handouts are increased or decreased you notice the difference. The other group is the opposite the very wealthy people who feel the pinch if the socialists tax their capital gains or stock market dividends compared to if the conservatives decide the tax-rate. As for the everyday ordinary working man there is very little difference which party is in the government.

Why does Trump get so involved in this anyway? He has little to gain but a lot to lose. There's always the chance of international humiliation but even if he brokers a peace which makes him look good it is so what to most Americans the majority of whom don't care about Ukraine or even find it on a map. Most Americans don't care about the Middle-East either but the people who finance American politicians care very much about the Middle-East so the politicians must care too. However, most Americans care more about the economy, the fuel prices and taxes instead of some obscure country on the other side of the world. Btw, do you Canadians also call petrol as gas like Americans do? How do you differentiate between petrol and gas if you call both as gas?

Do you have by-elections in Canada? I mean if a seat becomes vacant in the middle of a parliamentary-term there's an extra-election to fill it.

These days people have gone so insane that when they say crazy things you can't be sure are they being serious or is it some sarcasm.

If the Liberals lose the election do you think he will exit politics the next day? I mean he entered politics fast and he would exit politics also fast.

Is he even a member of Canadian parliament? Doesn't it kind of tell you something about the Liberal-party that they don't even themselves consider any of their active politicians qualified to lead the party and the country?

There is still some strange persisting idea in some people's minds that if you are pro-Russian you must be a leftist. Something to do with the 80's mindset even though these days it is the leftists who call everybody who disagrees with them as Putinists. Btw calling people Putinists has become like calling people fascists or racists, completely useless abuses which have lost their meaning due to overuse. However, there can be both right-wing and left-wing people who are pro-Russian. That is actually being Russophile. For Russophiles the existing societal system has only instrumental value be it the Czar, the communists or Putin. The most important thing for Russophiles is that the interests of Russia comes first and whichever political at any given time serves the Russian interests best is used but is discarded if need be. Russophiles, unless they are Russians themselves, is about the lowest form of human life. Our parliament in Finland passed the NATO-application by votes 184-7. I think that is fairly accurate proportion of people in our country how many people are Russophiles how many most definitely are not.

Have you noticed any difference in your lives based on which party is in the government? I can say from my Finnish perspective where we always have coalition-governments that I really haven't. I guess if one lives near the poverty-line then cutting the benefits is something really hits the everyday life of such a person or if somebody is loaded with money whose dividends could be taxed with a different rate based which government taxes makes a huge difference but ordinary people rarely see any difference which government there is.

I didn't know that it's even possible to be the governor of Bank of England if you're not British. Well, obviously it is. Strange though.

He can thank Donald Trump for the increasing support for the Canadian Liberals since doubtlessly most Canadians regardless pf their political views are disgusted with Trump's silly comments about international comments including those of Canada.

If Trump's popularity falls it is because there is going to be some economic downturn which makes people worse off in terms of standard of living. Foreign affairs have no effect on his popularity unless there is some absolute humiliation. Many Americans struggle to point the location of Ukraine on the map. The same goes for Gaza or even the Panama-canal. Therefore Trump can handle foreign affairs like an elephant in a china shop without having to worry about losing support.

I'm sure it has already been mentioned but please mention it one more time is Trudeau going to be PM until the election but somebody else leads the Liberals in the election or is there going to be a new Liberal-leader and PM before the election? Someone who could be PM only for few months if the Liberals lose the election?

I like the German electoral system with two votes. Hopefully if the UK and Canada ever ditch the FPTP-system they take the German system just like New Zealand did 30 years ago when they threw away FPTP.

I watched Vance's speech and I don't understand the controversy about it. There was not a single word I would disagree with him what he said. It is easy to understand the mindset of Americans regarding Europeans. We Europeans are mostly a bunch of whining babies living under the protective umbrella of the Americans. When things are easy it is common for us to say that we are so much older countries and nations and therefore we are so much more sophisticated than those stupid American yokels. We also feel the need to advise Americans how to run their country concerning things like health-care, abortion etc as if we knew better. But when things get tough we whine like little children for help that Americans come and save us from whatever Hitler or Putin is going to overrun us. Happily I can say that Finland is an exception and so is Poland regarding military-spending. If every European country was like Finland and Poland there wouldn't be any problem.

Hey Igor: I know that your language in Russia is apart from being ugly it is also retarded but civilized languages have the form where you can say that what if something is even though in reality it isn't. That was what I meant with my reference with Canada being a superpower. In Canada there are so many Ukrainians that the Canadian government would never dare to propose a peace-deal which Trump is proposing.

Such a shame that Canada is not a superpower because if it was the government of that superpower Canada would never let Ukraine down as there is a huge Ukrainian diaspora in Canada,

Since Trump is not going to lift the sanctions on Russia I wonder will all the bullshit stop about Trump being Putin's puppet.

At least it took 10 years for Trudeau to be hated by almost everybody in his country. In the UK Starmer managed the same in only six months.

Could be quite a blow to Newsom's presidential ambitions.