Same level of political apathy in UK as in USA or less ?

[steve2470]

Thanks once again for your patience with my Yank questions.

I love watching PMQ, moreso than my own Congress. Is the level of political apathy the same in the UK as in the USA or is it less ? I find the PMQ very enlightening about the real differences between Cameron and Labor, etc.

[T_i_B]

1. Can't comment on USA for apathy

But there is quite a lot of political apathy in the UK, perhaps more then USA.

Our political parties are very much "top-down" organisations sp there isn't much incentive to get involved with them if I'm honest.

Plus there is the whole matter of what UK politicans stand for...........very little other then grabbing power for themselves.

And even then, with things as bad as they are economically I do think that grand inspiring political visions count for less right now then preventing economic matters getting even worse.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. I might say there's more apathy in the UK

For instance, there still isn't a decent equivalent of DU in the UK, as far as I know. There are are some general political forums, but they seem dominated by right wing types - often UK Independence Party, or even BNP. There are places like the comments section of The Guardian, or Liberal Conspiracy, but they are, as T_i_B says, more 'top-down' in style.

[T_i_B]

3. As far as discussion forums go.....

...I frequent Sheffield Forum, which has the full spectrum of nutters when it comes to politics. It can bee a car-crash of a forum (and yes it is essentially for those of us from Sheffield, not the rest of Britain) but when it's good it's very good. Here's my latest effort, which the mods have ordered me to edit to include my own opinion, even though one of the main reasons I posted it was because I didn't have much of an opinion as it had only just happened!

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=903086

However, I should point out that the lack of a DU-style forum is the very least of the UK's problems when it comes to apathy. The UK's political parties really need to do more to make themselves more appealing to those of us who are interested in what's going on in the world but sadly that's not something that's on their agenda.

[sibelian]

4. Worse, by miles.

I think politically we're slowly turning into another version of Italy.

[LeftishBrit]

5. More in some ways, less in others

More people get out on Election Day and go to the polls here, though it's gone down a bit in recent years.

I think, however, that fewer people are political activists - though I may have an incorrect idea about how many are in the USA. Certainly (and that's a good thing!) I think there is less activism on the far *Right*. The BNP and EDL are a serious pain, but I think not as pervasive as the American Tea Party extremists and the like.