youdontknowme In Britain the party landscape is somewhat more varied, but except for the Lib Dems, most of the significant third parties are regional players.

The problem in the UK is that population numbers in a seat vary hugely, and the first past the post system gives us some very strange results. In the last election the SNP MPs won with on average 25000 votes. There are 59 SNP MPs in Westminster, they got about 1.3 million votes.
There is 1 Green Party MP, they got about 900,000 votes.
The current government has an 80 seat majority, which means they can do pretty much as they like. They had 43% of the vote.

      hanna_anders in the UK we might as well just have one party. With the SNP taking pretty much all the seats is scotland makes it practically impossible for Labour to be elected. Combine that with the effects northern ireland has with the unionist parties always supporting the Conservatives and sinn fein not taking their seats pretty much grantee a tory government.

        Avery

        curious

        ok, so the speaker is the american counterpart to Bärbel Bas in germany. i made a slight mistake and thought that the counterpart to the "Fraktionsvorsitzender" was meant.

        youdontknowme In Germany, there have been several cases where the largest party was not part of the majority coalition, but still had the office of Bundestagspräsident.

        like the later president Karl Carstens (CDU) during the time of Chancellor helmut schmidt

                Angelina i made a slight mistake and thought that the counterpart to the "Fraktionsvorsitzender" was meant.

                Yeah, those roles are more akin to majority and minority leader. Not a 1:1 mapping since the US legislature does not do coalitions to the extent Germany does (there are no house representatives that do not belong to the two major parties at the moment, and all independent senators are as close to Democrats as the CSU is to the CDU), but probably the closest fit to that you can get.

                But yeah, Bärbel Bas would be our counterpart to Kevin McCarthy right now. Only that I expect him to be a lot more partisan in the way he runs the house than her.

                Angelina like the later president Karl Carstens (CDU) during the time of Chancellor helmut schmidt

                Yeah, the Brandt/Schmidt era had several Union "speakers" since the SPD majority relied on FDP votes and CDU/CSU were the plurality group.

                      Angelina so the speaker is the american counterpart to Bärbel Bas in germany

                      I don't follow German politics that closely as to know who currently is in that position. Why would I, when I am not living there. But of course I still know how the system works.

                          curious It is formally the second highest office in the country after the President, but considering nobody gives a damn about who our president is when the chancellor handles most of the governing, nobody can be blamed for not knowing about her.

                              youdontknowme the chancellor

                              I was just reading about Merkel visiting Bush the younger in 2006. She lasted a long time compared to our people.

                                  Speaking of US politics... I see George Santos flashed a white power symbol in parliament.

                                  I'm not really surprised given that these people will do anything to "own the libs", but regardless of your political persuasion, the fact that this is even remotely accepted by an elected representative shows just how far US civil society has descended.

                                    Sin find it somewhat fascinating that that sign is basically designed to be plausibly deniable as an OK sign, and that displaying it in a less overt way sort of makes the message more clear.

                                    Avery I was just reading about Merkel visiting Bush the younger in 2006. She lasted a long time compared to our people.

                                    Yeah, we do not have term limits for chancellor, only for president, who can serve two terms at most. And experience and not rocking the boat are big pluses on the conservative side of the spectrum, so Adenauer, Kohl and Merkel each had long tenures of four terms each.

                                        Sin shows just how far US civil society has descended.

                                        Nah, the January 6, 2020 riots, when thugs invaded the Capitol Building, overpowered Capitol police, and chased the vice president and his guards into a bomb shelter is a better example.

                                          youdontknowme
                                          I am aware of the position of that office, however, I live in Switzerland not Germany. So giving - as you call it - a damn about who holds that office currently is from where I am perfectly OK. If I was living in Germany of course, I should know and care who is part of 'my' government.

                                              curious Yeah, only two reasons the world knows so much about about US leaders other than President and maybe Secretary of State is because the current dysfunctional situation has such global impacts and the internet can be very US-centric. I assume German speakers outside of Germany might be exposed to some of the bigger gaffes from our politicians, but all the stuff that works as expected gets fairly little attention.

                                              Meanwhile, I would assume that if you asked Americans about who the president of Germany is, the vast majority of responses wozld be empty or nonsensical, and almost everyone who did give a sensible response would name a current or former chancellor.

                                                  youdontknowme
                                                  My view on that is:
                                                  Knowing how the political system and government in the most powerful / influential country on this planet works is part of general knowledge that I think everyone should have.
                                                  Who is in a given position at a given point in time, is something completely different.
                                                  It might or might not be relevant for a better understanding of the day to day political issues but is definitely not part of general knowledge that you would expect or at least hope everyone to have.

                                                    youdontknowme Only that I expect him to be a lot more partisan in the way he runs the house than her.

                                                    I once read that he would still remain majority leader, so it would be as if "Bundestagspräsident" and "Fraktionsvorsitzender" were the same person, then it is clear that he is more partisan.

                                                    youdontknowme but considering nobody gives a damn about who our president is when the chancellor handles most of the governing,

                                                    because both the president and the Bundestag president are purely representative offices in the public perception, but I can tell you that even 50% of Germans would not know if I asked who the Bundestag president is.

                                                    curious If I was living in Germany of course, I should know and care who is part of 'my' government.

                                                    it would be nice, most people don't even know which politicians are from which party.

                                                            7 days later

                                                            @Ines Re: "Useful links" - Very good post to have in this forum. Good job.

                                                            However I assume: "Anyone has right..." should be "No one has the right..."

                                                              Ines
                                                              Could you add my posting about German law. It helps to get a perspective on one's own situation and helps to put things in perspective.
                                                              link

                                                                @Avery I was finally able to take your advice RE the CellMate device.

                                                                  bdsamm I was finally able to take your advice RE the CellMate device.

                                                                  Excellent.

                                                                      Avery Yes, I had been in it long enough but, it is the most comfortable one except when the erection problem arises. So, I do miss it.