I love the fact that you can sometimes download films on BBC iPlayer. For example "The Skin I Live In" is £8.99 on iTunes but you can currently get it for free with iPlayer.
Finally, for completeness, I should say that Ed Miliband's personal ratings may themselves change if he can persuade the public to take a fresh look at him. The general election debates are his best opportunity to do this, and I wonder whether the Conservatives might sabotage these not to avoid having to debate with Nigel Farage but to avoid giving Ed Miliband this chance.
Ed Miliband is better than the public currently realise, and that's dangerous for the Conservatives.
Interesting analysis. There seems to be a thing with Ed that he's a bit of a slow burner with people. The town hall format suits him best but generally one would think TV debates might suit, particularly if Dave gets angry.
Ed Miliband made a bad start to his tenure as leader, from which he has yet fully to recover. He looked odd, he sounded odd and the public wrote him off as weird and wonkish. You don't get a second chance to make a first impression.
Since then, he has shown a capacity to learn from his mistakes. He has found a style which suits him much better, though he still looks desperately beta male. But the public isn't really listening.
The next time they'll really listen is during the general election debates, and how they're adjudged to have played out. He doesn't need Cleggmania, just to exceed the public's low expectations. He should do this - unless the debates don't happen.
That's a good point - one of the benefits of people having low expectations of you is that it's easier to exceed them
''he right wing media attack on Miliband snr, and the public response to it, shows what could happen if they go over the top on Miliband jnr.''
I'm sure the right wing press would be quite happy to go after Ed's policies, but he doesn;t have any.
He's relying on a constant stream of 'isn't this cr*p?' bandwagons which have traction at the polls because things are tough and people, after five or six tough years, are serially curmudgeonly.
But that's just sentiment. Votes, when government is at really stake, is a different matter.
We've spent months on here decrying Ed's policies as Marxist and now you say he doesn't have any. Which is it?
UKIP aren't as popular as one would expect in places like Worcestershire, Shropshire, Cheshire. They're relatively strong down the east coast all the way from the Humber to Kent (although Suffolk is maybe an exception).
So you're saying UKIP are the Viking Party?
Eastern England has a record of insurgency. The Peasants' revolt was centred on Kent and East Anglia, and the heartland of Cromwell's support was East Anglia.
UKIP aren't as popular as one would expect in places like Worcestershire, Shropshire, Cheshire. They're relatively strong down the east coast all the way from the Humber to Kent (although Suffolk is maybe an exception).
So you're saying UKIP are the Viking Party?
Eastern England has a record of insurgency. The Peasants' revolt was centred on Kent and East Anglia, and the heartland of Cromwell's support was East Anglia.
3 Labour MP's are having a whinge about property prices in London. Hmm. Shame they didn't think about this during their 13 years in power, when they could have built more social housing or tried to get a handle on immigration. I suspect Abbott was too busy making money from TV appearances, and choosing private schools for her son.
She sends her children to a selective school in a different borough rather than a local comp, despite opposing them for others, so its not a big surprise
"Why is eastern England the cradle of English rebellion? That is more difficult to say. Perhaps there is something in the climate, or the soil, or the turnips, or the genetic inheritance from Jutland, that forges a stout, stubborn independence of spirit: the kind of spirit that will tolerate a deal of trouble, that prefers a quiet life, but, when finally roused to anger, can conquer an entire nation."
Re. MORI - It seems broken, sleazy Labour *MIGHT* be on the slide.
Re. Wythenshawe & Sale East bye-election - It will be a solid win for Labour, but NOT a landslide. Ed The Red remains "plodding." More Neil Kinnock than Tony Blair.
Deflation is everywhere but USUK have been money printing their way ahead of it in a race while the Germans are holding back the EU doing the same - wisely imo as it's only delaying things and making it worse in the end.
Absolutely, allowing drains to block up is a good way of stopping their contents overflowing. Keeping drains clear and free flowing can definitely lead to problems and problems far worse than allowing their contents to flow away.
Ed Miliband is better than the public currently realise, and that's dangerous for the Conservatives.
Not based on his performances at PMQ's. He had a spring in his step a year back, but has been rowing backwards recently, probably not unrelated to having nothing to contribute on the economy. I don't see him having a message to counter "steady as she goes with the Tories/Coalition".
Watching the news, wonder if the flooding might start lapping at David Cameron's shoes?
I dislike somethingmustbedoneerry myself. More sandbags quicker, dredging, none of it would have made a blind bit bit of difference. Some things like dredging might even make matters worse.
Though we do now, pretty desperately, need some long term planning. As we are seeing sooner than expected, events of this kind are only going to get worse and more frequent thanks to climate change.
But it's going to be more radical than dredging. We're talking abandoning parts of the country to flood plain, moving more infrastructure inland etc.
Dredging made all the difference for 100s of years.
Absolutely, allowing drains to block up is a good way of stopping their contents overflowing. Keeping drains clear and free flowing can definitely lead to problems and problems far worse than allowing their contents to flow away.
Offtopic
Can you confirm you got the email from me as I hadnt heard back I wasnt sure if I used the right address
Deflation is everywhere but USUK have been money printing their way ahead of it in a race while the Germans are holding back the EU doing the same - wisely imo as it's only delaying things and making it worse in the end.
There was a piece recently that pointed out many of the EU countries have falling populations, so deficit-spending there now creates a bigger long term problem.
@compouter2 I disagree with that. There are two possibilities, and under neither of them are the debates a bad thing for Nick Clegg.
1) Nick Clegg is already roadkill. If so, nothing he can say or do is going to improve his party's performance. Equally, however, his rivals aren't going to waste their breath attacking him - you don't kick dead dogs.
2) Nick Clegg is capable of public redemption. If so, the debates are his big opportunity to rekindle the embers.
If Nick Clegg can make the best comeback since Lazarus, that would raise a tricky problem for Ed Miliband as to how hard he should then attack the Lib Dems. I expect that Labour are planning on the basis of my first permutation. Certainly there's nothing in the polling to suggest otherwise just yet.
But the Lib Dems have to plan on the basis that my second permutation is a possibility.
Ed angles for a Labour-Conservative debate; Dave angles for a 3 leader debate; Nigel for a 4; Nick doesn't mind if it is 3 or 4. But definitely not 2.
My guess ?
Zero.
If that's how it pans out, that suits David Cameron best, because his personal advantage over his closest rival is then entrenched further.
Hmm But not Cameron needs Clegg to get a boost too to take back some of those 2010 Lib Dems from Labour. If that doesn't happen the conservatives have Bob Hope, no matter hwo well they realistically do.
If Mrs Stodge is any guide, a large number of disgruntled, miserable and soggy commuters battling their way home from London tonight at the end of tube strike round one. I suspect there won't be a round two.
On-topic, another solid poll for Labour and one could argue that if 1992 and 1997 are any guide, the connection between economic performance and political performance is more of a disconnection.
One can but sympathise for those driven from their homes or otherwise suffering through this spell of disturbed weather
This is Saturday's storm as viewed by the UK Met Office forecast model. Centre of the storm over Scotland, the main belt of winds across the Midlands and the South.
Absolutely, allowing drains to block up is a good way of stopping their contents overflowing. Keeping drains clear and free flowing can definitely lead to problems and problems far worse than allowing their contents to flow away.
Offtopic
Can you confirm you got the email from me as I hadnt heard back I wasnt sure if I used the right address
Zen I don't have an email in the ZenPagan name, so perhaps you should try again.
Re: the flooding - not convinced things are worse because of climate change - population growth and building on flood plains a far more likely culprit. but the biggest growth is all the ridiculous news reporting - much of it from today with reporters push questioning people to blame, blame blame. Why on earth people are surprised that there are floods in the somerset levels is beyond me.
''On-topic, another solid poll for Labour and one could argue that if 1992 and 1997 are any guide, the connection between economic performance and political performance is more of a disconnection.''
Maybe. In 1997 labour hammered the tories ceaselessly on the EMS crisis and the recessions that accompanied it. That approach drowned out the fact that the economy was improving big time under Ken Clarke.
Re: the flooding - not convinced things are worse because of climate change - population growth and building on flood plains a far more likely culprit. but the biggest growth is all the ridiculous news reporting - much of it from today with reporters push questioning people to blame, blame blame. Why on earth people are surprised that there are floods in the somerset levels is beyond me.
Part of it is down to policy though not necessarily this governments.
"Their message could not have been clearer. The prime reason for this disaster has been the deliberate refusal of the Environment Agency – since it took overall control of drainage and flooding policy in 1995 – to dredge the rivers that for centuries carried flood water from the Levels safely down to the sea."
edit: I don't know what the BBC version of what happened is.
Re: the flooding - not convinced things are worse because of climate change - population growth and building on flood plains a far more likely culprit. but the biggest growth is all the ridiculous news reporting - much of it from today with reporters push questioning people to blame, blame blame. Why on earth people are surprised that there are floods in the somerset levels is beyond me.
Entirely agree. I suspect freakonomics would suggest we give £250,000 to every householder flooded and tell them the get out of there. Then breach the dykes and let nature take its course. However may not be politically acceptable.
Re: the flooding - not convinced things are worse because of climate change - population growth and building on flood plains a far more likely culprit. but the biggest growth is all the ridiculous news reporting - much of it from today with reporters push questioning people to blame, blame blame. Why on earth people are surprised that there are floods in the somerset levels is beyond me.
Entirely agree. I suspect freakonomics would suggest we give £250,000 to every householder flooded and tell them the get out of there. Then breach the dykes and let nature take its course. However may not be politically acceptable.
Why? Farmers were draining the levels free of charge for 100s of years.
Re: the flooding - not convinced things are worse because of climate change - population growth and building on flood plains a far more likely culprit. but the biggest growth is all the ridiculous news reporting - much of it from today with reporters push questioning people to blame, blame blame. Why on earth people are surprised that there are floods in the somerset levels is beyond me.
Entirely agree. I suspect freakonomics would suggest we give £250,000 to every householder flooded and tell them the get out of there. Then breach the dykes and let nature take its course. However may not be politically acceptable.
Why? Farmers were draining the levels free of charge for 100s of years.
IANAE, but someone on the radio yesterday afternoon said that the (yes, you guessed it) EU had introduced a law, so that any material dredged from channels had to be placed near to the drain. Before, farmers used to spread it on the fields.
I also wonder how the material is classed for the purposes of landfill tax and dumping.
Comments
I love the fact that you can sometimes download films on BBC iPlayer. For example "The Skin I Live In" is £8.99 on iTunes but you can currently get it for free with iPlayer.
:where-is-Mickie Bolleaux-hey:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/seanthomas/100215196/eastern-england-is-in-rebellion-this-has-happened-before/
Re. Wythenshawe & Sale East bye-election - It will be a solid win for Labour, but NOT a landslide. Ed The Red remains "plodding." More Neil Kinnock than Tony Blair.
Absolutely, allowing drains to block up is a good way of stopping their contents overflowing. Keeping drains clear and free flowing can definitely lead to problems and problems far worse than allowing their contents to flow away.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/stats
twitter.com/gabyhinsliff/status/431201476921544704
Can you confirm you got the email from me as I hadnt heard back I wasnt sure if I used the right address
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-24/no-babies-no-stimulus.html
If Mrs Stodge is any guide, a large number of disgruntled, miserable and soggy commuters battling their way home from London tonight at the end of tube strike round one. I suspect there won't be a round two.
On-topic, another solid poll for Labour and one could argue that if 1992 and 1997 are any guide, the connection between economic performance and political performance is more of a disconnection.
One can but sympathise for those driven from their homes or otherwise suffering through this spell of disturbed weather
http://www.meteociel.fr/ukmo/runs/2014020612/UW60-21.GIF?06-18
This is Saturday's storm as viewed by the UK Met Office forecast model. Centre of the storm over Scotland, the main belt of winds across the Midlands and the South.
Maybe. In 1997 labour hammered the tories ceaselessly on the EMS crisis and the recessions that accompanied it. That approach drowned out the fact that the economy was improving big time under Ken Clarke.
Labour won;t be able to do that this time around.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/10610118/Unsung-heroes-gave-Owen-Paterson-his-solution-to-the-Somerset-floods-crisis.html
"Their message could not have been clearer. The prime reason for this disaster has been the deliberate refusal of the Environment Agency – since it took overall control of drainage and flooding policy in 1995 – to dredge the rivers that for centuries carried flood water from the Levels safely down to the sea."
edit: I don't know what the BBC version of what happened is.
I also wonder how the material is classed for the purposes of landfill tax and dumping.
Ah, it's here in all its glory:
http://www.thegreenblue.org.uk/pdf/z 1075. Dredging inland waterways.pdf