trinesg

We already do the last part at night. Not that much has changed in a thousand years – come visit and you'll see :o)

It was the debate about the Data Retention Directive. The majority of Parliament, after a long day of debates and weeks of deliberations and dealings, voted to implement the directive in Norwegian law. This EU directive basically forces any telecom operator to store data regarding their customers' phone calls and other usage, including location data.

I quoted Padmé and said "so this is how democracy dies – with thunderous applause". I was appalled that over half of the representatives of the people could vote for such a thing.

There are obvious reasons to change the drug policies in Norway. We're highest in overdoses in Europe, for example, and it's clear that the war on drugs does not work.

We'll keep expanding the policies we created when we were in government last – treating drug addiction as a disease and not chasing them as criminals.

Our party has adopted a lot the policies that are in place in Portugal. There's a lot that can be done before we legalise, but the debate about drugs is one we will always have in the party. Our youth party is for decriminalisation and legalisation, but we're not quite there. To me, the most important thing is to change how we view drug addicts. They should be viewed as patients and people in need of help.

About the teachers: we need five-year education for teachers, we need to give them better career options and treat them as proper academics. It also means they need better salaries, and proper access to go back to school for a bit later in their careers. Shortly put, we need to raise the respect for teachers in Norway.

I am for gender equality in military service.

A good thing with having lots of parties is that it's easier for each individual to find a party that suits their views. In Norway, that results in a high turnout at elections. The downside is that each party needs to compromise and find solutions with other parties. But you need to do that inside large parties as well. I guess it's just a different dynamic.

All democracies need liberals – politicians who protect the traditions of liberal democracies and civil rights. Liberalism is one of the oldest living ideologies, it has survived the test of time, and it has a set of ideas that doesn't have a history to be embarrassed about. :o)