Disappointing for the tories. When are these Lib Dems going to start going home? When are the floating voters going to start realising that their economic futures would once again be at risk with a party which thinks government spending is the answer to everything?
Alex Salmond's economic plan for independence was facing a double challenge on Sunday as fresh evidence suggested both the public and business leaders remain unconvinced.
Disappointing for the tories. When are these Lib Dems going to start going home? When are the floating voters going to start realising that their economic futures would once again be at risk with a party which thinks government spending is the answer to everything?
In the LAB-CON marginals my guess is that most of the 2010 LD switchers have made up their minds and won't be reverting. In the LD-CON marginals the main yellow GE strategy will be to keep the LAB tactical voters and encourage more.
"In the LAB-CON marginals my guess is that most of the 2010 LD switchers have made up their minds and won't be reverting." I think this will dawn on many on here about six or seven hours after the polls close next year.
What was fascinating is that the squeezed middle is largely a myth. He says:
"One striking result from the official annual survey of hours and earnings is that people who have stayed in work continuously (defined as more than a year in each survey) have done pretty well.
So, taking the 12 months to April in each case their pay rose by 6.8% in 2008, 4% in 2009, 4% again in 2010, 3.7% in 2011, 3.6% in 2012 and 3.3% in 2013. Their pay, and this is a large group, has mainly stayed ahead of inflation."
The apparent drop in real wages has largely been as a result of more less skilled people joining the workforce bringing down the average wage and the average productivity of those in work. Those who have stayed in work are generally better off, even if not excitingly so.
This makes the failure of the tories to make inroads in the Labour support even more disappointing. Austerity, for most, has been nothing of the sort which is why consumption has largely kept up despite an increase in the saving rate and a reduction in debt ratios for the consumer.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
"In the LAB-CON marginals my guess is that most of the 2010 LD switchers have made up their minds and won't be reverting." I think this will dawn on many on here about six or seven hours after the polls close next year.
What will Dan Hodges be blogging as Ed is being driven up the Mall to the Palace?
The scores are only rock solid if you think the pollsters have got Ukip right (also Lab voters in Con-LD land will vote LD in the end even if they won't admit to it at the moment).
Alex Salmond's economic plan for independence was facing a double challenge on Sunday as fresh evidence suggested both the public and business leaders remain unconvinced.
It is actually hard to see what the arguments *are*, very hard to get a flavour from Dave's rather sickly "every fibre of my being" salvoes delivered from the safety of London, and Eck's currency flounderings.
I have more time for Eck than Dave - implementing a minimum drink price policy with real teeth in Scotland of all places takes real balls - but he needs a position fast on currency. His boldest and best move would be to announce a Scotch Franc backed by the oil (which the SNP knew nothing about in 1974 because the Whitehall fops covered it up). Given the present policy vacuum on both sides the chances of wild last-minute swings based on Bannockburnery are really rather high.
The tory position on Bannockburnery is also rather pathetic - appealing to history when 1707 is really rather recent compared to, frinstance, Bannockburn. Here's our own dear J R-M stating the unionist case on the grounds that "England did not become a nation until it was united by King Alfred's grandson, Athelstan." WTAF?
"In the LAB-CON marginals my guess is that most of the 2010 LD switchers have made up their minds and won't be reverting." I think this will dawn on many on here about six or seven hours after the polls close next year.
What will Dan Hodges be blogging as Ed is being driven up the Mall to the Palace?
Presumably that this is a disastrous day for Ed because he is now going to be found out. It might even be true for once!
When are the floating voters going to start realising that their economic futures would once again be at risk
I am extremely disappointed with the people. If they continue like this then we may have to sack them!
As I have stated on here many times before, this is going to end up really messy on here on the night of the general election. Do the voters realise what fury they will face on this messageboard if they do not vote as the majority of posters on here want them to. The fury will be of biblical proportions. They need to be informed.
When are the floating voters going to start realising that their economic futures would once again be at risk
I am extremely disappointed with the people. If they continue like this then we may have to sack them!
Like the Swiss people who have so shocked your sensibilities today.
I was far from shocked by the result of the Swiss referendum, Moniker.
I know that in your home country you can have referendums until the right progressive result is reached. Unfortunately for your delicate nature you'll find that Swiss concepts of democracy are far more robust.
"In the LAB-CON marginals my guess is that most of the 2010 LD switchers have made up their minds and won't be reverting." I think this will dawn on many on here about six or seven hours after the polls close next year.
What will Dan Hodges be blogging as Ed is being driven up the Mall to the Palace?
He will, of course, be blogging that it is a disaster for Labour (not to mention the country), and he will of course be right.
I'm still gobsmacked that so few Labour supporters see this - only a few remnant and bitter Blairites, and maybe Hopi Sen. All the rest must think that politics and economics will come to an end on May 7th 2015, and that the means by which Ed Miliband gets into No 10 (if indeed he does), and the promises he has appeared to make, and the anti-business, anti-prosperity policy commitments, and most of all the fact that he actually appears to believe all his 'predators vs producers' nonsense, have no consequences.
Alex Salmond's economic plan for independence was facing a double challenge on Sunday as fresh evidence suggested both the public and business leaders remain unconvinced.
"In the LAB-CON marginals my guess is that most of the 2010 LD switchers have made up their minds and won't be reverting." I think this will dawn on many on here about six or seven hours after the polls close next year.
What will Dan Hodges be blogging as Ed is being driven up the Mall to the Palace?
Disappointing for the tories. When are these Lib Dems going to start going home? When are the floating voters going to start realising that their economic futures would once again be at risk with a party which thinks government spending is the answer to everything?
When they become stupid enough to believe that the supply of labour doesn't effect the demand. Until that point LibLabCon are the same party.
"In the LAB-CON marginals my guess is that most of the 2010 LD switchers have made up their minds and won't be reverting." I think this will dawn on many on here about six or seven hours after the polls close next year.
What will Dan Hodges be blogging as Ed is being driven up the Mall to the Palace?
It will be one of the highlights of the election, the headline "Ed Milibands Labour winning the election is a disaster for Ed Miliband". Did he not say he would run through Westminster naked if he won, or was that another bet of his?
By the way, I admire your determination to get across the point of the 2010 Lib Dem to Labour crossovers staying put, I gave up months ago.
Politician accuses politicians of "playing politics"
Ministers are "playing politics" with the flood crisis and "getting in the way of decent people doing a valiant job", according to an unprecedented outburst from the embattled boss of the Environment Agency, who blamed the government for limiting the agency's response.
Disappointing for the tories. When are these Lib Dems going to start going home? When are the floating voters going to start realising that their economic futures would once again be at risk with a party which thinks government spending is the answer to everything?
When they become stupid enough to believe that the supply of labour doesn't effect the demand. Until that point LibLabCon are the same party.
The UK has been stunningly successful in creating low value, low skilled jobs, almost certainly the most successful in the EU. This has kept unemployment relatively low and has employement at record levels. It has also hidden the worst consequences of our dysfunctional education system.
How have we done this? By subsidising such employment so that only a small fraction of the cost of providing that labour is paid by the employer. So we have WTC, CTC, we subsidise housing through HB and we subsidise these poorly paid workers to have more children through a range of other benefits including CB and free school meals.
Is this a good thing? Probably, yes. Mass unemployment is a bad thing and labour gives people self respect. OTOH, as Robert would point out, the cost of such a welfare state is very high taxes, a very large bureaucracy and a major loss of international competitiveness. The question is whether the point will come that we simply cannot afford this level of indulgence.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
Express even more garbage than usual. 2 week old photo of baby George plus some rubbish on how they have cracked the secret of neutralising the rhinovirus.
Blimey, if Pickles thinks the sight of a cabinet minister sitting there like a great fat slug blaming 'everyone but us, guvnor' for what's happening in Somerset is a vote winner, then surely he's mistaken. Last time I looked Government was ever more focused on setting Agency Priorities and allocating budgets accordingly. Shifting the blame like this does not wash. Despicable but despicable has always been fatty's strength.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
That is undoubtedly true Nick. Economic competence or being "right" (whatever that means with modern complexity) will never be enough if the public do not feel the tories are people like them or at least care about people like them.
Cameron can do this better than most which is why his polling runs ahead of the party but the stereotypes are strong and have affected even him. They need more "ordinary" people, especially women, representing the party. A number of competent women were elected in 2010 (one in a constituency near to your heart) but they have not been given a nearly high enough profile.
Disappointing for the tories. When are these Lib Dems going to start going home? When are the floating voters going to start realising that their economic futures would once again be at risk with a party which thinks government spending is the answer to everything?
When they become stupid enough to believe that the supply of labour doesn't effect the demand. Until that point LibLabCon are the same party.
The UK has been stunningly successful in creating low value, low skilled jobs, almost certainly the most successful in the EU. This has kept unemployment relatively low and has employement at record levels. It has also hidden the worst consequences of our dysfunctional education system.
How have we done this? By subsidising such employment so that only a small fraction of the cost of providing that labour is paid by the employer. So we have WTC, CTC, we subsidise housing through HB and we subsidise these poorly paid workers to have more children through a range of other benefits including CB and free school meals.
Is this a good thing? Probably, yes. Mass unemployment is a bad thing and labour gives people self respect. OTOH, as Robert would point out, the cost of such a welfare state is very high taxes, a very large bureaucracy and a major loss of international competitiveness. The question is whether the point will come that we simply cannot afford this level of indulgence.
So in other words import a massive hidden labour surplus disguised by the welfare system until the time comes to pull the plug?
AKA Pure economic warfare colluded in by the entire political class at the behest of cheap labour lobbyists with the only real difference being the Tory part of the LibLabCon are the worst at hiding it.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
There's not much difference between Labour and the Conservatives on like/dislike. None of our political parties are popular.
Richard Nabavi is right that Labour is nowhere near ready for power in 2015. Nick Palmer is right that the thought of a Tory government is truly horrendous. It's a tricky one.
Blimey, if Pickles thinks the sight of a cabinet minister sitting there like a great fat slug blaming 'everyone but us, guvnor' for what's happening in Somerset is a vote winner, then surely he's mistaken. Last time I looked Government was ever more focused on setting Agency Priorities and allocating budgets accordingly. Shifting the blame like this does not wash. Despicable but despicable has always been fatty's strength.
He could blame the EU's biodiversity targets and the EA's decision to encourage flooding to meet those EU targets as that is the main reason but the Cameroons are 100% Europhile and so will sit there and take show trial beatings from a media organisation that won't tell the public about the EU's biodiversity targets or that the EA decided to encourage flooding to meet those EU targets.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
That is undoubtedly true Nick. Economic competence or being "right" (whatever that means with modern complexity) will never be enough if the public do not feel the tories are people like them or at least care about people like them.
Cameron can do this better than most which is why his polling runs ahead of the party but the stereotypes are strong and have affected even him. They need more "ordinary" people, especially women, representing the party. A number of competent women were elected in 2010 (one in a constituency near to your heart) but they have not been given a nearly high enough profile.
Mr L I am all agog with the common sense in that post. I think I now need a lie down.
Richard Nabavi is right that Labour is nowhere near ready for power in 2015. Nick Palmer is right that the thought of a Tory government is truly horrendous.
While YouGov is right that calamity Clegg is toxic.
Express even more garbage than usual. 2 week old photo of baby George plus some rubbish on how they have cracked the secret of neutralising the rhinovirus.
And the FT have picked up on probably the most important story of the day: "EU Swiss warning sends signal to the UK"
These weekly average are very useful. Really cuts through the Dan Hodges-esque faux-analysis of Labour's crumbling poll lead.
That said, I do have some apprehension about whether Labour will actually pull it off, but NOT for the reasons the clueless Westminster village think, that the people who are currently saying they'll vote Labour will change their mind at the last minute and vote Tory instead: these people in almost all cases simply hate the Tories and would never vote for them, even if they maybe think David Cameron comes across as a decent guy on a personal level and would be a more interesting person to have a drink with than Ed Miliband. Nor is there any real danger of the Lib Dems pulling back some of their 2010 lefty voters that have since defected, no matter how much desperate "differentiation" they try.
No, the real danger for Labour is those people who are currently saying they'll vote for them simply don't show up on polling day. It really can't be overestimated how deep the disillusionment is towards politics in general (including Labour) among the working-classes, Labour's supposed core vote. While Westminster groupthink dictates Labour have "lurched to left", in my experience it's actually Labour's middle-class supporters, especially ones who work in the public sector, who are most satisfied with the party and most enthusiastic about voting for them next year. But it's a very different story with their working-class supporters.
I'm willing to nail my colours to the mast and say that if turnout in 2015 is 60% or above, Labour will win a majority no matter what. But if turnout dips below that, then I expect that fall to come disproportionately from poorer and younger people, and in that case Labour would be in real trouble.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
That is undoubtedly true Nick. Economic competence or being "right" (whatever that means with modern complexity) will never be enough if the public do not feel the tories are people like them or at least care about people like them.
Cameron can do this better than most which is why his polling runs ahead of the party but the stereotypes are strong and have affected even him. They need more "ordinary" people, especially women, representing the party. A number of competent women were elected in 2010 (one in a constituency near to your heart) but they have not been given a nearly high enough profile.
Mr L I am all agog with the common sense in that post. I think I now need a lie down.
No need to be agog at common sense from DavidL. He's been the voice of Tory sanity as long as I've been reading PB.
It just came out of the blue. I think we need a warning if he is going to post something like that among all the other right wing pony on here.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
That is undoubtedly true Nick. Economic competence or being "right" (whatever that means with modern complexity) will never be enough if the public do not feel the tories are people like them or at least care about people like them.
Cameron can do this better than most which is why his polling runs ahead of the party but the stereotypes are strong and have affected even him. They need more "ordinary" people, especially women, representing the party. A number of competent women were elected in 2010 (one in a constituency near to your heart) but they have not been given a nearly high enough profile.
Mr L I am all agog with the common sense in that post. I think I now need a lie down.
No need to be agog at common sense from DavidL. He's been the voice of Tory sanity as long as I've been reading PB.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
There's not much difference between Labour and the Conservatives on like/dislike. None of our political parties are popular.
Indeed. Despite the mightily loathed Gove who will send swarms of tactical voters to key marginals in 2015, Labour's lead on Education is +25 +15 +10 +5
Blimey, if Pickles thinks the sight of a cabinet minister sitting there like a great fat slug blaming 'everyone but us, guvnor' for what's happening in Somerset is a vote winner, then surely he's mistaken. Last time I looked Government was ever more focused on setting Agency Priorities and allocating budgets accordingly. Shifting the blame like this does not wash. Despicable but despicable has always been fatty's strength.
He could blame the EU's biodiversity targets and the EA's decision to encourage flooding to meet those EU targets as that is the main reason but the Cameroons are 100% Europhile and so will sit there and take show trial beatings from a media organisation that won't tell the public about the EU's biodiversity targets or that the EA decided to encourage flooding to meet those EU targets.
I suppose being omniscient, you'll be able to tell me how increased flooding contributes to biodiversity targets? Prolonged flooding is more likely to result in adverse condition. I think you'll find that budget cuts leading to increasingly thinly spread resources are as much to blame.
PB Tories unanswered questions. Why aren't people believing our claims they are better off? Why do they laugh when we blame the floods on Labour decisions made 15 years ago? Why aren't people supporting us on benefits or immigration? Why is Give so unpopular as he saves education? The same with Hunt at Health?
They don't get it. For swathes of this country "Tory" is a swear word. Even when Labour needed to be out of office they blamed them on being too much like the Tories so voted LibDem - who lied to their own members to put the Tories into power.
The Tories didn't win the election despite the other choice being a man written off by everyone especially his own party. Yet they find themselves in power thanks to the LibDems lying to the electorate, in direct contradiction of what so many thought they were voting for. In short Gove, Hunt, Osborne, Eric the Silurian - a minority supported them, the majority rejected them. And thats before their own side wrote them off as too soft and went down the pub with Farage. Why would the general population support a government they don't want? Because you say the alternative would be worse? But they don't trust you as far as they can thrown you, why would your word sway them?
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
That is undoubtedly true Nick. Economic competence or being "right" (whatever that means with modern complexity) will never be enough if the public do not feel the tories are people like them or at least care about people like them.
Cameron can do this better than most which is why his polling runs ahead of the party but the stereotypes are strong and have affected even him. They need more "ordinary" people, especially women, representing the party. A number of competent women were elected in 2010 (one in a constituency near to your heart) but they have not been given a nearly high enough profile.
Mr L I am all agog with the common sense in that post. I think I now need a lie down.
Pickles was supposedly one of those who could reach ordinary voters. Not much sign of that today.
Express even more garbage than usual. 2 week old photo of baby George plus some rubbish on how they have cracked the secret of neutralising the rhinovirus.
And the FT have picked up on probably the most important story of the day: "EU Swiss warning sends signal to the UK"
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
That is undoubtedly true Nick. Economic competence or being "right" (whatever that means with modern complexity) will never be enough if the public do not feel the tories are people like them or at least care about people like them.
Cameron can do this better than most which is why his polling runs ahead of the party but the stereotypes are strong and have affected even him. They need more "ordinary" people, especially women, representing the party. A number of competent women were elected in 2010 (one in a constituency near to your heart) but they have not been given a nearly high enough profile.
Mr L I am all agog with the common sense in that post. I think I now need a lie down.
Pickles was supposedly one of those who could reach ordinary voters. Not much sign of that today.
Blimey, if Pickles thinks the sight of a cabinet minister sitting there like a great fat slug blaming 'everyone but us, guvnor' for what's happening in Somerset is a vote winner, then surely he's mistaken. Last time I looked Government was ever more focused on setting Agency Priorities and allocating budgets accordingly. Shifting the blame like this does not wash. Despicable but despicable has always been fatty's strength.
He could blame the EU's biodiversity targets and the EA's decision to encourage flooding to meet those EU targets as that is the main reason but the Cameroons are 100% Europhile and so will sit there and take show trial beatings from a media organisation that won't tell the public about the EU's biodiversity targets or that the EA decided to encourage flooding to meet those EU targets.
I suppose being omniscient, you'll be able to tell me how increased flooding contributes to biodiversity targets? Prolonged flooding is more likely to result in adverse condition. I think you'll find that budget cuts leading to increasingly thinly spread resources are as much to blame.
No need to be omniscient just sit and think about it a bit more.
PB Tories unanswered questions. Why aren't people believing our claims they are better off? Why do they laugh when we blame the floods on Labour decisions made 15 years ago? Why aren't people supporting us on benefits or immigration? Why is Give so unpopular as he saves education? The same with Hunt at Health?
They don't get it. For swathes of this country "Tory" is a swear word. Even when Labour needed to be out of office they blamed them on being too much like the Tories so voted LibDem - who lied to their own members to put the Tories into power.
The Tories didn't win the election despite the other choice being a man written off by everyone especially his own party. Yet they find themselves in power thanks to the LibDems lying to the electorate, in direct contradiction of what so many thought they were voting for. In short Gove, Hunt, Osborne, Eric the Silurian - a minority supported them, the majority rejected them. And thats before their own side wrote them off as too soft and went down the pub with Farage. Why would the general population support a government they don't want? Because you say the alternative would be worse? But they don't trust you as far as they can thrown you, why would your word sway them?
"Why do they laugh when we blame the floods on Labour decisions made 15 years ago?"
1) The Cameroons are mostly taking the blame like good little Europhiles. 2) IIRC the EA's decision to encourage flooding was from 2008 so 5 years ago.
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
I wonder if they have decided that. Maybe all that this illustrates is that, if you take decisions one at a time, you get inconsistency and direct contradiction between the different decisions.
Express even more garbage than usual. 2 week old photo of baby George plus some rubbish on how they have cracked the secret of neutralising the rhinovirus.
And the FT have picked up on probably the most important story of the day: "EU Swiss warning sends signal to the UK"
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
And the EU will negotiate with the Swiss with more than one eye on the UK.
Just as they will negotiate with the Sçots with more than one eye on a Catalonia et al.
Bit unfair on the Swiss and the Scots, but c'est la víe!
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
I wonder if they have decided that. Maybe all that this illustrates is that, if you take decisions one at a time, you get inconsistency and direct contradiction between the different decisions.
I did not follow the campaign, but I can't believe the consequences of a Yes weren't made abundantly clear. I wonder if it is one of the reasons the result was so tight
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
I wonder if they have decided that. Maybe all that this illustrates is that, if you take decisions one at a time, you get inconsistency and direct contradiction between the different decisions.
No, I expect they wanted their current relationship with the EU AND immigration control....Wonder who is going to break it to them......
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
They need to start getting people to like them again. Most of that 37-39% aren't motivated by economic analysis - they suspect that differences will be less dramatic than one might expect or wish. But a large proportion just dislike the Conservative Party and want to see it out of government - for many, it's become as simple as that.
That is undoubtedly true Nick. Economic competence or being "right" (whatever that means with modern complexity) will never be enough if the public do not feel the tories are people like them or at least care about people like them.
Cameron can do this better than most which is why his polling runs ahead of the party but the stereotypes are strong and have affected even him. They need more "ordinary" people, especially women, representing the party. A number of competent women were elected in 2010 (one in a constituency near to your heart) but they have not been given a nearly high enough profile.
Mr L I am all agog with the common sense in that post. I think I now need a lie down.
No need to be agog at common sense from DavidL. He's been the voice of Tory sanity as long as I've been reading PB.
It just came out of the blue. I think we need a warning if he is going to post something like that among all the other right wing pony on here.
Trick is not to get sucked down into the sewer by the relentless torrent of rightwing effluent pouring onto PB.
There are sane Tories. It's a shame for democracy that they're not prominent in their crumbling once-great Party, but there we go.
Can't say I'm impressed by Labour's hatred of "baby eating" Tories. Non-thinking/unthinking socialists who would vote for a donkey with a red rosette.
Express even more garbage than usual. 2 week old photo of baby George plus some rubbish on how they have cracked the secret of neutralising the rhinovirus.
And the FT have picked up on probably the most important story of the day: "EU Swiss warning sends signal to the UK"
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
And the EU will negotiate with the Swiss with more than one eye on the UK.
Just as they will negotiate with the Sçots with more than one eye on a Catalonia et al.
Bit unfair on the Swiss and the Scots, but c'est la víe!
The EU can certainly now make Switzerland a much less attractive place to, say, run a hedge fund or similar. It is definitely a chance to send signals.
Cameron highlighting problems with Swiss or Norwegian model of EU engagement (former model partic favoured by some Eurosceptics)
Farage is absolutely delighted with the Swiss referendum so it's somewhat unlikey to be very good news for Cammie considering what happened during his immigration vote shambles when his own MPs humiliated him so completely.
If tory rebels start seriously pondering over yet another referendum but this one on immigration then it won't end well for him. Nor will Cast Iron Cammie's compete lack of details on renegotiation stand up for very long come the EU elections.
Parents are to be given a new power to call in a specialist team to boost the performance of failing schools or teachers, under a set of wide-ranging public service reform plans to be laid out on Monday by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband.
The improvement team, working separately from Ofsted, will have powers to set out school improvement plans, order greater collaboration between schools or even remove failing headteachers. The body would have powers to intervene with academies, free schools and community schools.
Disappointing for the tories. When are these Lib Dems going to start going home? When are the floating voters going to start realising that their economic futures would once again be at risk with a party which thinks government spending is the answer to everything?
In the LAB-CON marginals my guess is that most of the 2010 LD switchers have made up their minds and won't be reverting. In the LD-CON marginals the main yellow GE strategy will be to keep the LAB tactical voters and encourage more.
That sounds credible. However if the Party has been reduced to simply encouraging tactical voters to stop the Tories it's essentially a nothing Party. Perhaps that's just necessary short term tactics, the retreat before the big surge in 2020.
Express even more garbage than usual. 2 week old photo of baby George plus some rubbish on how they have cracked the secret of neutralising the rhinovirus.
And the FT have picked up on probably the most important story of the day: "EU Swiss warning sends signal to the UK"
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
And the EU will negotiate with the Swiss with more than one eye on the UK.
Just as they will negotiate with the Sçots with more than one eye on a Catalonia et al.
Bit unfair on the Swiss and the Scots, but c'est la víe!
The EU can certainly now make Switzerland a much less attractive place to, say, run a hedge fund or similar. It is definitely a chance to send signals.
Express even more garbage than usual. 2 week old photo of baby George plus some rubbish on how they have cracked the secret of neutralising the rhinovirus.
And the FT have picked up on probably the most important story of the day: "EU Swiss warning sends signal to the UK"
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
And the EU will negotiate with the Swiss with more than one eye on the UK.
Just as they will negotiate with the Sçots with more than one eye on a Catalonia et al.
Bit unfair on the Swiss and the Scots, but c'est la víe!
The EU can certainly now make Switzerland a much less attractive place to, say, run a hedge fund or similar. It is definitely a chance to send signals.
Bullying an independent country because you don't approve of something they have voted for? Really? You disgust me. Again.
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
I wonder if they have decided that. Maybe all that this illustrates is that, if you take decisions one at a time, you get inconsistency and direct contradiction between the different decisions.
No, I expect they wanted their current relationship with the EU AND immigration control....Wonder who is going to break it to them......
They will find out when they have to fill in landing cards and queue in line with e.g. Africans when their plane lands in the UK.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
Mr L I am all agog with the common sense in that post. I think I now need a lie down.
No need to be agog at common sense from DavidL. He's been the voice of Tory sanity as long as I've been reading PB.
It just came out of the blue. I think we need a warning if he is going to post something like that among all the other right wing pony on here.
Trick is not to get sucked down into the sewer by the relentless torrent of rightwing effluent pouring onto PB.
There are sane Tories. It's a shame for democracy that they're not prominent in their crumbling once-great Party, but there we go.
You're right we shouldn't just dismiss all people who vote Tory as baby eaters etc. It's interesting that Michael Gove is such a divisive figure even amongst Tory voters. I think the Tory commentariat makes a big mistake in thinking that the Tories THEY particularly like are the ones who are popular with the Tory masses. Ultimately there are a lot of people who think immigration has been too high and that Labour is incompetent and got us into a mess. Middle England is not obsessed by the free market or the choice agenda in public services. It's a figment of the Tory commentariat's imagination.
Why do they believe it? Probably because they think Blair took the same view and his election victories meant one must take his assumptions about what middle England wanted at face value.
Express even more garbage than usual. 2 week old photo of baby George plus some rubbish on how they have cracked the secret of neutralising the rhinovirus.
And the FT have picked up on probably the most important story of the day: "EU Swiss warning sends signal to the UK"
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
And the EU will negotiate with the Swiss with more than one eye on the UK.
Just as they will negotiate with the Sçots with more than one eye on a Catalonia et al.
Bit unfair on the Swiss and the Scots, but c'est la víe!
The EU can certainly now make Switzerland a much less attractive place to, say, run a hedge fund or similar. It is definitely a chance to send signals.
Bullying an independent country because you don't approve of something they have voted for? Really? You disgust me. Again.
In fairness to the EU (not something I write often) you can't have associate members of the club unilaterally changing the rules....
Have I missed something here or are we now linking nine year old articles.
Oh wow I didn't notice that!
I did comment that it was a few years old But it was an easy thing to overlook as the theft of postal votes by the left is pretty much a rolling and ongoing scandal.
Express even more garbage than usual. 2 week old photo of baby George plus some rubbish on how they have cracked the secret of neutralising the rhinovirus.
And the FT have picked up on probably the most important story of the day: "EU Swiss warning sends signal to the UK"
That looks like the big story to me too. The Swiss electorate has clearly decided they want a new relationship with the EU, even if that means less access to the single market. It's noteworthy that it was the Italian-speaking part that was most in favour of quotas - far fewer immigrants and also far fewer large-scale exporting businesses. Pharma and finance will not be happy, that's for sure.
And the EU will negotiate with the Swiss with more than one eye on the UK.
Just as they will negotiate with the Sçots with more than one eye on a Catalonia et al.
Bit unfair on the Swiss and the Scots, but c'est la víe!
The EU can certainly now make Switzerland a much less attractive place to, say, run a hedge fund or similar. It is definitely a chance to send signals.
Bullying an independent country because you don't approve of something they have voted for? Really? You disgust me. Again.
In fairness to the EU (not something I write often) you can't have associate members of the club unilaterally changing the rules....
Democracy is a terribly annoying thing and it'd be much more helpful to the EU if it wasn't allowed.
12 Years a Slave well worth seeing, a very powerful and evocative film!
Hmmm I was a little disappointed... Think it would've been better if we had got to know Solomon better before he was a slave... And Brad Pitts character seemed a bit comical
Some scenes were pretty harrowing though, how did humans treat each other like that? Ignorance isn't an excuse, even if you thought black people were animals, who would treat animals that way?
Comments
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/scottish-politics/10627344/Scottish-independence-Double-blow-for-Alex-Salmonds-economic-plans.html
Do you think Nick Clegg is doing well or badly as leader of the Liberal Democrats?
TOTAL WELL - 19%
TOTAL BADLY - 71%
Don't know - 10%
Triumph for Gove, sorry, Clegg!
Somerset Local News @SomersetNewsUK 8h
Eric Pickles blames flooding on global warming before claiming 'foreign aid ... - Daily Mail: Daily ... http://bit.ly/1ghUVJT #Somerset
What was fascinating is that the squeezed middle is largely a myth. He says:
"One striking result from the official annual survey of hours and earnings is that people who have stayed in work continuously (defined as more than a year in each survey) have done pretty well.
So, taking the 12 months to April in each case their pay rose by 6.8% in 2008, 4% in 2009, 4% again in 2010, 3.7% in 2011, 3.6% in 2012 and 3.3% in 2013. Their pay, and this is a large group, has mainly stayed ahead of inflation."
The apparent drop in real wages has largely been as a result of more less skilled people joining the workforce bringing down the average wage and the average productivity of those in work. Those who have stayed in work are generally better off, even if not excitingly so.
This makes the failure of the tories to make inroads in the Labour support even more disappointing. Austerity, for most, has been nothing of the sort which is why consumption has largely kept up despite an increase in the saving rate and a reduction in debt ratios for the consumer.
Tories at this point must be beginning to wonder what it is going to take to persuade people to re-elect them. It is not proving easy.
It is actually hard to see what the arguments *are*, very hard to get a flavour from Dave's rather sickly "every fibre of my being" salvoes delivered from the safety of London, and Eck's currency flounderings.
I have more time for Eck than Dave - implementing a minimum drink price policy with real teeth in Scotland of all places takes real balls - but he needs a position fast on currency. His boldest and best move would be to announce a Scotch Franc backed by the oil (which the SNP knew nothing about in 1974 because the Whitehall fops covered it up). Given the present policy vacuum on both sides the chances of wild last-minute swings based on Bannockburnery are really rather high.
The tory position on Bannockburnery is also rather pathetic - appealing to history when 1707 is really rather recent compared to, frinstance, Bannockburn. Here's our own dear J R-M stating the unionist case on the grounds that "England did not become a nation until it was united by King Alfred's grandson, Athelstan." WTAF?
Read more: http://www.somersetguardian.co.uk/Unity-lessened-loss-Scottish-brothers/story-20569970-detail/story.html#ixzz2srZTs4pa
Could the Cameroons be fully paid-up 100% Europhiles after all - what a shock.
Constituencies – SNP 44% (-1) : Lab 31% (+1) : Con 13% (-1) : LD 6% (-4) : Oth 6% (+2)
Regional List – SNP 44% (nc) : Lab 28% (+2) : Con 13% (+1) : Green 7% (+4) : LD 4% (-1) : Oth 3% (-5)
I'm still gobsmacked that so few Labour supporters see this - only a few remnant and bitter Blairites, and maybe Hopi Sen. All the rest must think that politics and economics will come to an end on May 7th 2015, and that the means by which Ed Miliband gets into No 10 (if indeed he does), and the promises he has appeared to make, and the anti-business, anti-prosperity policy commitments, and most of all the fact that he actually appears to believe all his 'predators vs producers' nonsense, have no consequences.
By the way, I admire your determination to get across the point of the 2010 Lib Dem to Labour crossovers staying put, I gave up months ago.
Ministers are "playing politics" with the flood crisis and "getting in the way of decent people doing a valiant job", according to an unprecedented outburst from the embattled boss of the Environment Agency, who blamed the government for limiting the agency's response.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/09/floods-environment-agency-chris-smith-hits-back
Whatever the merits of Lord Smith's case, I suspect the photo editor is not a fan....
Stop griping about Eric Pickles' limo bill... Look how he got to #somersetfloods pic.twitter.com/kUHtD8pyKY
Shirley @shirleykay11
Eric Pickles tea and biscuits bill up to £76,000 but he's lectured others to keep costs down Mirror Online - http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/eric-pickles-tea-biscuits-bill-3062584 … #bbcnews
http://www.politicshome.com/uk/article/92703/the_guardian_sunday_9th_february_2014.html
How have we done this? By subsidising such employment so that only a small fraction of the cost of providing that labour is paid by the employer. So we have WTC, CTC, we subsidise housing through HB and we subsidise these poorly paid workers to have more children through a range of other benefits including CB and free school meals.
Is this a good thing? Probably, yes. Mass unemployment is a bad thing and labour gives people self respect. OTOH, as Robert would point out, the cost of such a welfare state is very high taxes, a very large bureaucracy and a major loss of international competitiveness. The question is whether the point will come that we simply cannot afford this level of indulgence.
Mark Harper, the former immigration minister, claimed more than £2,000 in parliamentary expenses to pay an illegal immigrant to clean his home.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10627741/Former-immigration-minister-Mark-Harper-used-expenses-to-pay-illegal-cleaner.html
Says it all.
Cameron can do this better than most which is why his polling runs ahead of the party but the stereotypes are strong and have affected even him. They need more "ordinary" people, especially women, representing the party. A number of competent women were elected in 2010 (one in a constituency near to your heart) but they have not been given a nearly high enough profile.
AKA Pure economic warfare colluded in by the entire political class at the behest of cheap labour lobbyists with the only real difference being the Tory part of the LibLabCon are the worst at hiding it.
We can't let him forget that.
Very tricky indeed.
That said, I do have some apprehension about whether Labour will actually pull it off, but NOT for the reasons the clueless Westminster village think, that the people who are currently saying they'll vote Labour will change their mind at the last minute and vote Tory instead: these people in almost all cases simply hate the Tories and would never vote for them, even if they maybe think David Cameron comes across as a decent guy on a personal level and would be a more interesting person to have a drink with than Ed Miliband. Nor is there any real danger of the Lib Dems pulling back some of their 2010 lefty voters that have since defected, no matter how much desperate "differentiation" they try.
No, the real danger for Labour is those people who are currently saying they'll vote for them simply don't show up on polling day. It really can't be overestimated how deep the disillusionment is towards politics in general (including Labour) among the working-classes, Labour's supposed core vote. While Westminster groupthink dictates Labour have "lurched to left", in my experience it's actually Labour's middle-class supporters, especially ones who work in the public sector, who are most satisfied with the party and most enthusiastic about voting for them next year. But it's a very different story with their working-class supporters.
I'm willing to nail my colours to the mast and say that if turnout in 2015 is 60% or above, Labour will win a majority no matter what. But if turnout dips below that, then I expect that fall to come disproportionately from poorer and younger people, and in that case Labour would be in real trouble.
He won't end up doing it but it would be good to see one of his off base predictions finally hung around his neck.
They don't get it. For swathes of this country "Tory" is a swear word. Even when Labour needed to be out of office they blamed them on being too much like the Tories so voted LibDem - who lied to their own members to put the Tories into power.
The Tories didn't win the election despite the other choice being a man written off by everyone especially his own party. Yet they find themselves in power thanks to the LibDems lying to the electorate, in direct contradiction of what so many thought they were voting for. In short Gove, Hunt, Osborne, Eric the Silurian - a minority supported them, the majority rejected them. And thats before their own side wrote them off as too soft and went down the pub with Farage. Why would the general population support a government they don't want? Because you say the alternative would be worse? But they don't trust you as far as they can thrown you, why would your word sway them?
Not much sign of that today.
http://www.virginmedia.com/images/12Nov_doctor-who-sontaran-590x350.jpg
1) The Cameroons are mostly taking the blame like good little Europhiles.
2) IIRC the EA's decision to encourage flooding was from 2008 so 5 years ago.
"a minority supported them, the majority rejected them"
I didn't hear you moaning too much when Tony got back in 2005 on 35%.
Just as they will negotiate with the Sçots with more than one eye on a Catalonia et al.
Bit unfair on the Swiss and the Scots, but c'est la víe!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26112330
In fact the UK has the lowest gas prices, apart from Luxembourg, in Western Europe:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25200808
If tory rebels start seriously pondering over yet another referendum but this one on immigration then it won't end well for him. Nor will Cast Iron Cammie's compete lack of details on renegotiation stand up for very long come the EU elections.
Parents are to be given a new power to call in a specialist team to boost the performance of failing schools or teachers, under a set of wide-ranging public service reform plans to be laid out on Monday by the Labour leader, Ed Miliband.
The improvement team, working separately from Ofsted, will have powers to set out school improvement plans, order greater collaboration between schools or even remove failing headteachers. The body would have powers to intervene with academies, free schools and community schools.
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/feb/09/ed-miliband-labour-parents-headteachers
But it was an easy thing to overlook as the theft of postal votes by the left is pretty much a rolling and ongoing scandal.
Some scenes were pretty harrowing though, how did humans treat each other like that? Ignorance isn't an excuse, even if you thought black people were animals, who would treat animals that way?