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Salmond's a leftie, it's the only rationale they have - sucking from the public teat.
Blue Rog
Is this a suggestion that the great unwashed be permitted to tour the Miliband family home?
It is not the gold taps and personalised bottles of vodka which are of concern.
I fear the visiting Shadow Cabinet might be mistaken for the Menagerie
But which home? There's so many to choose from
Is that the independence dream come true?
What is the longer game?
Because right now you are providing succour unlimited to those of a hurry-up-and-go-if-you're-going bent.
That's why he wants independence, less scrutiny to his sucking.
I was starting to get a complex. Must be what a Scot Nat feels like.
Anyway, just finished reading 22/11/63, the Stephen King book.
Oswald and JFK meets 50s nostalgia meets time travel meets a love story.
Really enjoyed it too.
He's not an MP. Is this a spoof or is Paul Staines missing yet more idiots from his site?
Never said he was. He's waiting to get full, unconstrained access to an independent Scotland's nipple
You might want to explain to us why Westminster are likely to trough it even more when the Scottish Parliament turned down any pay rise beyond that given to public servants - about 1% pa IIRC - and that means a pay cut in real terms.
I read the Mail just now in a hospital waiting room, they specifically asked three questions, none of which have been answered. Hewitt hasn't issued a statement that I am aware of, Harman claims to have issued the facts but has not done anything other than accuse the Mail of a smear campaign.
To be fair Dromey has issued a robust statement, I presume it can backed up by minutes of the various meetings he claims to have been at, failing that there must be a record somewhere to back him up, or people at the meetings who can confirm his statement.
Sucking behind closed doors, hidden.
The facts say otherwise.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/24/harriet-harman-daily-mail-paedophile-campaign-allegations
And it`s upto those making the charges to show some proof that there was serious misconduct.
And the leaders are presumed to be innocent unless the Mail can show some proof which they haven`t produced so far.
Link 9 is intriguing. If it's just a name change, meh. If it's really leading to a merger with income tax, then a large rise in tax for the working over-65s, which I flirted with the other day, will follow. I wonder which paper will pick that up?
I didn't say it would deliver a Cons majority from here on in.
But it would be fabulous fun and put a spring in the step of Tories across the country (= England).
The PB Tories & Unionists seem to be very angry.
Mystifying.
After being at work for 3 years (in the early 80's) I managed to get a mortgage on a 3 bedroom semi, and I wasn't pulling in the sort of dosh an MP got.
The accusation is not one of misconduct but of (youthful) misjudgement.
Long explanations and rebuttals are unnecessary. A simple acceptance that the policy of decriminalisation of certain paedophile activity advocated by the NCCL in the mid to late 1970s was wrong and an expression of regret at being personally associated with such an initiative is enough.
No one is seeking the execution or resignation of Hewitt, Harman and Dromey.
I would rather drink than visit Chateau Palmer.
Is it a government or private member's bill? The article wasn't clear.
And yes it would make sense for an 'earnings tax' to attach to non-pension income for the over-65s albeit with a higher threshold than would apply to pre-pension age workers.
————————————
Labour majority: 146
Labour majority without any Scottish MPs in Parliament: 143
NO CHANGE WITHOUT SCOTTISH MPS
1950 Labour govt (Attlee)
————————————
Labour majority: 5
Without Scottish MPs: 2
NO CHANGE
1951 Conservative govt (Churchill/Eden)
——————————————————–
Conservative majority: 17
Without Scottish MPs: 16
NO CHANGE
1955 Conservative govt (Eden/Macmillan)
——————————————————–
Conservative majority: 60
Without Scottish MPs: 61
NO CHANGE
1959 Conservative govt (Macmillan/Douglas-Home)
————————————————————————
Conservative majority: 100
Without Scottish MPs: 109
NO CHANGE
1964 Labour govt (Wilson)
————————————
Labour majority: 4
Without Scottish MPs: -9
CHANGE: LABOUR MAJORITY TO CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY OF 1
(Con 280, Lab 274, Lib 5)
1966 Labour govt (Wilson)
————————————
Labour majority: 98
Without Scottish MPs: 77
NO CHANGE
1970 Conservative govt (Heath)
——————————————–
Conservative majority: 30
Without Scottish MPs: 55
NO CHANGE
1974 Minority Labour govt (Wilson)
————————————————
Labour majority: -33
Without Scottish MPs: -50
POSSIBLE CHANGE – LABOUR MINORITY TO CONSERVATIVE MINORITY
(Without Scots: Con 276, Lab 261, Lib 11, Others 16)
1974b Labour govt (Wilson/Callaghan)
—————————————————–
Labour majority: 3
Without Scottish MPs: -8
CHANGE: LABOUR MAJORITY TO LABOUR MINORITY
(Lab 278 Con 261 Lib 10 others 15)
1979 Conservative govt (Thatcher)
————————————————
Conservative majority: 43
Without Scottish MPs: 70
NO CHANGE
1983 Conservative govt (Thatcher)
————————————————
Conservative majority: 144
Without Scottish MPs: 174
NO CHANGE
1987 Conservative govt (Thatcher/Major)
——————————————————
Conservative majority: 102
Without Scottish MPs: 154
NO CHANGE
1992 Conservative govt (Major)
———————————————
Conservative majority: 21
Without Scottish MPs: 71
NO CHANGE
1997 Labour govt (Blair)
———————————–
Labour majority: 179
Without Scottish MPs: 139
NO CHANGE
2001 Labour govt (Blair)
———————————–
Labour majority: 167
Without Scottish MPs: 129
NO CHANGE
2005 Labour govt (Blair/Brown)
——————————————–
Labour majority: 66
Without Scottish MPs: 43
NO CHANGE
2010 Coalition govt (Cameron)
——————————————
Conservative majority: -38
Without Scottish MPs: 19
CHANGE: CON-LIB COALITION TO CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY
Sources:
All UK general election results
General election results in Scotland 1945-2001 (Table 1e, p.13)
General election results in Scotland 2005 and 2010
to which another organisation with questionable credentials was affliated.People might be excused for thinking there were accused of serious misconduct.
And from what I have read,there doesn`t seem to be a case to answer atleast with Hattie and her husband as both seemed to have actively opposed the questionable activities.
Russia waves the stick.
It cant have gone without notice how many Western officials and governments were making statements saying Russia would be unwise to militarily intervene in the Ukraine. Yesterday I reported how a number of regional nations have put elements on higher alert & watch status.
Even William Hague has flown off to Washington.
Why?
The intelligence told them the Russians at least were going to rattle the sabre and, at worst make some kind of move. And they have. Russian military forces, well aware that they are being watched, have been rather busy in 3 areas both within and bordering Ukrainian territory.
North East of Kharkiv which, itself is close to the border.
South East of Donetsk, which again is close to the border
Sevastapol,
The last of these movements are hard to gauge as it isn't clear if its an injection of fresh forces (certainly troops have turned in) or a deployment back home from security duties related to the Olympics. Equally in such a restive region at the Crimea the Russians could justify the need to beef up their security there. Certainly it would be the most obvious place for Russia to work with surrogates or directly show its muscle if it wanted.
The first two, however are more significant because there is less defensive reasons to use as a cover. Both to close to areas considered somewhat sympathetic to a closer association with Russia.
When you also get the Russian Prime Minister effectively saying they see no one in the new Ukrainian government as legitimate to have dialogue with and a clear statement that they see Russia security under threat, its a fair bit of noise.
Perhaps the West's most curious initiative is reportedly inviting the Ukraine to a NATO defence ministers meeting. Thats a very carefully calibrated move. Certainly the West are playing tough in what looks like a cold war scenario. Putin has no respect for Obama, that much is clear, he thinks he's weak but would he actually decide to escalate beyond noise, economic punishment measures, lots of military exercises and 'securing our citizens safety'?
I'd not bet yes but equally I'd not be confident enough to bet no. The West are genuinely concerned.
Are we expecting tax-cuts for champagne and Michelin starred restaurants?
The change to labour will be massive but it will be cultural not numerical in it's primary consequence. You would then be faced with an ultra-Blairite labour party except I strongly doubt they will call themselves that any more for obvious reasons. Blue Labour will be the most likely nomenclature but the effect will be the same. A labour party even more dominated by triangulation and Blairite reforms.
Would there have been a second election in 74 if Heath had a minority govt?
Would we have had the winter of discontent and the rise of Mrs Thatcher to power in 79 if there had been a Conservative govt 74-79?
Alternatively, if Major had a 70+ seat majority, would his govt have functioned better than with a 21 seat majority?
Most of all: if Cameron had been able to have a majority govt in 2010, then would the LibDems be squeezing out Labour as the party of opposition.
You cannot simply assume that any of these govts would have been the same without the Scots as they were with them included.
.@davidblairdt's latest dispatch: #Kiev protesters plan 'revolutionary justice' for their overthrown tormentors http://fw.to/Em2rded
If this happens, Russian action cannot be far behind.
I find it totally unsurprising that the Russia is marshalling forces at key locations on their side of the Ukrainian-Russian border and in Sevastopol.
The Russian psyche hates negotiating from a position of weakness and, where the opportunity allows and within their perceived sphere of influence, Russians will always deploy power first and talk later.
I don't see tanks rolling into the west of Ukraine in the next few days though. Moscow is likely to publicly denounce developments in Kiev as it negotiates hard with Western powers, refusing to accept that it has no right of intervention.
Given that the problems in the Ukraine are mainly economic and money is needed fast, then Putin may just sit back and allow the EU to finance the Ukraine's energy bills! Failing that I see Putin frustrating any deal which positions the EU and NATO as the Ukraine's saviour; allow tension to build up within Eastern Ukraine and then move in when the tension turns into civil unrest threatening ethnic Russians.
If this happens and Russian tanks park up in Kiev's Independence Square, then, counter-intuitively, expect Russia to change its negotiating policy with the western powers into a paragon of reasonable co-operation.
It's the way they always do it!
LOL To fight it out among the shattered tiny remnants of the lib dems to see who can be most tory of all? Not unless they have a death wish.
Labour already focus on the south and south east marginals and the removal of scotland would merely make that focus utterly relentless with no qualms whatsoever about out-posturing the tories on any number of issues. Something that Cammie has already reciprocated in case you didn't notice. He is a second rate Blair impersonator after all and is merely expanding on the Blairite reforms. Labour would revert very quickly indeed to the Blair way of doing things and they would have little trouble triangulating on Cammie. They would have even less trouble if the tories pick a BOOer and/or even more right wing leader should Cammie lose.
Let the Mail have their fun.
Stop trying to intervene at every article!
We might end up thinking you are a Milibandit!
Yawn.
But this is not really a Russian vs. Ukrainian inter-ethnic fight.
The Ukraine has all the problems inherited by Russia without the massive foreign currency earnings of the latter.
It is about old Soviet style deprivation and political corruption versus the dream of a new beginning.
It is money that is needed. If it arrives in Russian tanks then there won't be much resistance.
It is comes through a well-negotiated deal between Russia, the EU and US then we will all benefit.
And it is this goal which all diplomats should be working towards, not a splitting off of Ukraine from Russia's sphere of influence. The latter policy guarantees conflict and risks it escalating internationally.
The campaign for a lower age of consent was seen as a legitimate gay cause, and the illegality of homosexuality in Scotland led to some as seeing PIE as an allied cause.
In addition there was a move to a less punitive attitude to sexual misbehaviour and a trend to dealing with these issues by other forms of mediation such as family therapy.
David Cameron: No more coalitions after next General Election
Prime Minister wants to make a commitment in Conservative Party election manifesto he will not form second coalition government even if he falls short of Commons majority
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/10659321/David-Cameron-No-more-coalitions-after-next-General-Election.html
ROFL
Westminster bubble thinkers, so adorable.
1955
Con 36
Lab 34
2010
Lab 41
Con 1
ergo, the scenarios where the Tories could now win overall, with the amputation of Scotland, are vastly increased...
Anyone at University during the mid 1970s would not be in the least bit surprised by the position being advocated by the NCCL. They wouldn't necessarily have agreed with it but the tolerance of extreme libertarian views was much higher in the innocence of the post-flower and peace age.
The Mail is not so much campaigning for the heads of Labour's paedophile apologists but teasing them in the same way as it might tease the Marxists and CND campaigners of the era.
God, even I attended an International Marxist Group meeting addressed by Tariq Ali in my misspent youth. I didn't though contribute to their funds as the upturned motorcycle helmets were passed along the ranks of seats like a church collection.
We all have our crosses to bear. SMukesh and others of later generations need to calm down.
This from the article -
In recent conversations with those around the Prime Minister, I have been struck by the blue-eyed certainty that is shaping his view of what might happen after the general election. Part of that comes from internal Tory polling, which shows that there is no longer a public appetite for an alliance, and that voters would prefer single-party government. I haven’t seen the detail, but I am struck by the forcefulness with which those closest to Mr Cameron now believe that the prospect of another coalition is an electoral liability, while the offer of single-party administration is a vote-winner.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100260996/david-camerons-election-gamble-could-electrify-british-politics/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Wonder who it is he contacts to ask the tories to do so? The idea that he could just do so himself as leader of the tory party clearly being ridiculous.
P-P-P-Posturing?? Cammie? surely not.
I don't chase compouter!
I stand in the middle of the pitch and blow my whistle as compouter does yet another touchline circuit.
True Tories keep their chasing to the hunting fields.
Seems a bizarre move by Cameron, given that a Tory maj is the least popular of any feasible outcome.
David Jack @DJack_Journo 3s
Tonight's @thetimes front: Tory MP Peter Bone quizzed by police over £100,000 benefits fraud linked to care-home fees pic.twitter.com/NHRQHfWL5o
"Harman defends link to paedophile group" is only one step away from "When did you stop beating your wife" and bears no relation to the actual article.
I would have liked to say I would expect better from the Telegraph but I am not sure I would these days.
CARDINAL Keith O’Brien is facing a new investigation by the Vatican and may face a “trial” under canon law which could lead to him losing his red hat.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/disgraced-keith-o-brien-faces-vatican-trial-1-3316333
No more free lunches for you at the cornerstone group comrade Bone.
*chortle*
Seems to me that this was never more at best than a smear attempt by the Mail which deserves to backfire.
"There is no shortage of Tories who wish he could do just that, and hope against reality that the Lib Dems might walk out and bring down the Government."
Why would Tories want the Liberals to pull down the government now, giving Labour an almost certain win?
BBC ticker headline.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/10659169/Harriet-Harman-admits-paedophile-group-joined-her-civil-liberties-group-in-the-1970s.html
Edit As I said earlier you have to ignore the Telegraph spin which is pretty deplorable.
1) Stop putting him in existential peril in almost every f'ing episode. Considering the BBC signal every regeneration at least six months in advance, there's little point in putting the doctor in yet another will-he wont-he situation, as you know he won't die. There's subtler ways of playing the audience.
2) They get decent writers or they get decent writers that are not devoting most of their time to other series.
3) Kill off people. No, not redshirts, but companions. Don't just put them into an alternate universe, but actually kill them stone cold dead on screen. For good. And not in a they-had-a-happy-and-long-life way they did with Amy and Rory.
4) As you say, leave off the time travel paradoxes and write neater plot arcs. For instance, in the anniversary episode the Doctor put Gallifrey into a pocket universe, only for it to be communicated with in the very next frigging episode.
5) Stop rewriting time.
6) Stop using deus ex machina.
I know that's technically three things, but my brain's melted and a glass of cheap wine has not yet reconstituted it.
Danged it, it's six now! That wine was the best the Co-Op could buy ...
Northamptonshire Police said yesterday: “A 61-year-old man was formally interviewed under caution in April 2013 in connection with alleged fraud offences. A police file was submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service in November 2013 and we await their decision.”
Harriet Harman breaks her silence on paedophile allegations in a few minutes time on #newsnight
Several PIE members were prosecuted for illegal acts, but I think that NCCL took the line that while some actions were illegal, the agitation to change the law was a perfectly legal activity.
We live in more censorious times. What was seen as a penchant for under-age starstruck groupies is now seen as what it actually was, enabling of child abuse.
The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there.
But the police think she has more.
There is no suggestion that she acted improperly in any way, but anyone with assets of more than £23,250 is expected to pay their own care home fees. The Times has established that a property owned by Mr Bone’s mother-in-law was sold shortly before she moved into the Northamptonshire home.
Sounds very dirty.
It means that all those LD voters who prefer Con to Lab will think they have to vote Con to get Con - as LDs will go with Lab.
OK, more LD voters prefer Lab to Con but never mind - even if 1/3 prefer Con to Lab it helps him get that 1/3.
It also helps get UKIP voters back - making them think that it will be more of a pure Con Government.
Of course it's high risk but even if result is the same as last time it would still be hard to form a Lab/LD coalition.
Out of interest if they were Tory MP's I presume you would be just as supportive of the accused?
But I am looking forward to Guardians.
On the substance of the link - I hope not. I'd like to see Peter Capaldi have a fair run.
'DAILY MIRROR: THE QUEEN & CHARLES CASH IN ON BENEFITS'
http://tinyurl.com/nzblxle
Like Bone, she should definitely have kept mum.
Claiming that the Mail are as bad as the NCCL because they publish photographs of underage girls in bikinis was not the wisest line to take.
I agree that longer 4-6 episode story lines are better, though perhaps relegated to less frantic times. As well as better characterisation, it does give potential for cliffhangers that are not the existential threats that feature so heavily in the recent series.
I do not think Peter Capaldi will be either a well remembered or log lived Doctor. Better to have someone less famous who can last a few series and allow some character development.
Dacre is still trying to prove that there's milage in crashingly unsubtle hit-pieces on politicians at a time when the newspaper political influence is clearly ever diminishing. You'd think after the 'Clegg is a Nazi' hilarity someone might take Dacre to one side whenever he has these 'funny turns'.
twitter.com/hendopolis/status/438079262483316736/photo/1
Starting to make their hit job on Red Ed look like small fry.
One question I wonder is, why now?
This isn't a new story, I remember reading about the history of those being named ages ago, and they have been high profile politicians for a very very long time. As far as I can tell no new twist / evidence against those being named is being presented.
The Queen (through the Crown and Duchy of Lancaster estates) and Prince Charles (through the Duchy of Cornwall estates) rent properties to tenants who (lawfully) claim housing benefits.
Mirror take: The Queen and Charles Cash In On Benefits.
Oh dear.
At least the Bone story has some risk of being newsworthy.
T Minus....http://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/to?day=7&month=5&msg=UK+General+Election&p0=0&year=2015
yawn,