2) Is an intriguing thought, as I've seen the same thought expressed for the Tory old guard/ That is, defeat in one term by Ed M would lead the Tories to stop reforming and modernizing and get back to their roots and, so the theory goes, regain support. Even the article suggests a lurch to the right would be a possibility.
Clearly more and more people are trying to see the positives in an Ed M victory they do not actually want but see as almost inevitable.
1) Yes they can. Labour can ignore it and still win handsomely. They shouldn't, but they're in no danger.
Can you please keep this to yourself please. I enjoy the different reasons people post that they say will lead to a Tory majority and your dose of reality may put them off. Have you never heard of swingback?
12) I am so sick of that argument. Our problem is we spend too much time looking in the mirror, and focusing on our own hypocrisy, that we for some reason think that means Russia is free from it. Jones acknowledges that point briefly, but still says that just means the focus should remain to 'force us to consider how the rest of the world looks at us'. We personally do need to be aware of the realities of our own actions and how it is about our own advantage, but I don't think that means we cannot ever act (not that acting in this latest situation may be correct, options are very limited). We are not as honourable as our rhetoric in foreign affairs suggests? Well colour me shocked. Guilty as charged, but we still have the same right as any other nation to act, or not act, in the best interests of this nation without feeling as though doing so makes us worse than the other parties.
I'll say this though: he is spot on when he says "International law is treated by Great Powers as a convenient stick to beat opponents with, to be discarded when it is inconvenient."
Surely the England cricket team can't throw this away ;-)
Not doable - I hope! We need to crack this partnership though.
More's to the point, why have we ended up with the cricketers and the footballers playing on the same night again? Do the schedulers just ignore one another?
I may be wrong, however, the last Tory councillor was in Manchester was a Lib Dem councillor who defected. He then lost at his first re-election attempt. Struggling to find when the last time the Tory Party run Manchester.
Surely the England cricket team can't throw this away ;-)
Not doable - I hope! We need to crack this partnership though.
More's to the point, why have we ended up with the cricketers and the footballers playing on the same night again? Do the schedulers just ignore one another?
The schedulers only get to together, when they are both playing at home.
I don't think England play a London test when England play at Wembley.
While I remember, I was intrigued by NickP's forecast this morning that the government might fall just short of term, in early 2015. Any chance of a thread on this prospect at some point? Cheers.
15) Seems like not long ago Qatar was being praised to the hilt for increasing its influence and power while not pissing anyone off enough to harm its relations with anyone.
13) Our politicians are right - any economic impact from acting in Ukraine would be very unpopular even if the moral case were clear cut, which of course it is not as people are very split on even if we should dare to comment upon a nation that is not our own, so of course they will not tolerate that.
While I remember, I was intrigued by NickP's forecast this morning that the government might fall just short of term, in early 2015. Any chance of a thread on this prospect at some point? Cheers.
You'd have to ask Mike, I don't have a stint as guest editor coming up for a while.
That said, last time Mike and I discussed it, we were both of the opinion that the coalition will go the distance, bar one or two black swans.
Such as Dave being replaced by someone who wants to break up the coalition.
It's a fairly startling and sobering thought that the 44 year old uber-geek Ed Miliband, the awkward, big-nosed, mildly Aspergery dorkus that you all laughed at in University, is going to be Prime Minister in about a year.
*emigrates*
Don't worry, once he actually gets in and is as constrained by finances as this lot, his ability to improve or destroy things will be pretty limited.
#10 Apparently it's a doctor who attended the victims saying the bullets dug out of the bodies of both the police and demonstrators were the same.
#14 Hard to say if he's winning or losing without knowing what he wants. My guess is he wants x and y where x appears to be proceeding slowly and cautiously without any incidents and y needs bleep to be happening in bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep and bleep and not just bleep. Time will tell on that.
It's a fairly startling and sobering thought that the 44 year old uber-geek Ed Miliband, the awkward, big-nosed, mildly Aspergery dorkus that you all laughed at in University, is going to be Prime Minister in about a year.
*emigrates*
I thought you hated Cameron and wanted him kicked out?
It's a fairly startling and sobering thought that the 44 year old uber-geek Ed Miliband, the awkward, big-nosed, mildly Aspergery dorkus that you all laughed at in University, is going to be Prime Minister in about a year.
*emigrates*
The strange thing is, I can't imagine a single person in Britain, upon seeing Miliband stumble up to the doors of Number Ten, not thinking 'F*ck me! Who the hell let that happen?'
It's a fairly startling and sobering thought that the 44 year old uber-geek Ed Miliband, the awkward, big-nosed, mildly Aspergery dorkus that you all laughed at in University, is going to be Prime Minister in about a year.
*emigrates*
The strange thing is, I can't imagine a single person in Britain, upon seeing Miliband stumble up to the doors of Number Ten, not thinking 'F*ck me! Who the hell let that happen?'
Ed M is not magisterial, but most people don't care I'd say. They vote for a party brand for the most part, and that tribal loyalty is tough to crack unless a leader is beyond hopeless, which Ed M clearly isn't, given the Tories attempted to switch from an Ed M is crap theme to an Ed M is dangerous theme last year.
He's obviously bright, he's bland, he's a political creature to his marrow, and he has an occasional bold streak between long bouts of indecisive caution. He's not likely to destroy the country or inspire it with his dynamism, but he could end up doing alright, or not great. It's a toss up, but he's nothing really to fear, and the vast majority of people I suspect will not worry about him in No. 10 until things start to hit the fan, if they do.
I dislike Miliband less than the others all tolled but then i quite liked Foot so that's not saying much (didn't agree about nukes and Sovs obviously).
It's a fairly startling and sobering thought that the 44 year old uber-geek Ed Miliband, the awkward, big-nosed, mildly Aspergery dorkus that you all laughed at in University, is going to be Prime Minister in about a year.
*emigrates*
The strange thing is, I can't imagine a single person in Britain, upon seeing Miliband stumble up to the doors of Number Ten, not thinking 'F*ck me! Who the hell let that happen?'
The key word in that post is I. The myopia of the Right.
It's a fairly startling and sobering thought that the 44 year old uber-geek Ed Miliband, the awkward, big-nosed, mildly Aspergery dorkus that you all laughed at in University, is going to be Prime Minister in about a year.
*emigrates*
The strange thing is, I can't imagine a single person in Britain, upon seeing Miliband stumble up to the doors of Number Ten, not thinking 'F*ck me! Who the hell let that happen?'
The key word in that post is I. The myopia of the Right.
The Conservative vote seems to have collapsed and they will lose perhaps half their seats in equal numbers to PQ and PLQ . At this stage it looks like PQ will be the largest party but fall just short of an overall majority .
Link 18. Wow! Is that what counts for analysis these days? A ridiculous straw man.
This had to be the best line:
"The Irish Civil War at least enabled the Irish to kick the English out of the majority of their country, albeit at the cost at at least 200 000 - 300 000 dead in an evil and bitter civil war, fomented and intensified by the English to salve their self-image of Great Power."
But it was a tough competition.
I note but offer no comment on the fact that this website was advertising "Elliot Wave" stuff. hunchman, is this you?!
@ Neil. The sad thing is that the author seems to be earnest. I hope it's a satire.
Have you seen the author's bio?
Andrew McKillop has more than 30 years experience in the energy, economic and finance domains. Trained at London UK’s University College, he has had specially long experience of energy policy, project administration and the development and financing of alternate energy.
This included his role of in-house Expert on Policy and Programming at the DG XVII-Energy of the European Commission, Director of Information of the OAPEC technology transfer subsidiary, AREC and researcher for UN agencies including the ILO.
Jonathan Freedland @Freedland · 2 mins Miliband tells @CST_UK he's felt more a part of the Jewish community since becoming Labour leader than ever before
Don't think he will be mentioning this in the part of Bradford I live ;-)
@ Neil. The sad thing is that the author seems to be earnest. I hope it's a satire.
Have you seen the author's bio?
Andrew McKillop has more than 30 years experience in the energy, economic and finance domains. Trained at London UK’s University College, he has had specially long experience of energy policy, project administration and the development and financing of alternate energy.
This included his role of in-house Expert on Policy and Programming at the DG XVII-Energy of the European Commission, Director of Information of the OAPEC technology transfer subsidiary, AREC and researcher for UN agencies including the ILO.
He still seems to think that the Irish Civil War claimed about a quarter of million lives and was the fault of "the English" (whoever they are). Fact checking may not be his thing.
@ TSE Very thin resume. Trained at, rather than named degree. In-house expert followed by vague positions consistent with a permanently self-employed consultant ramping the resume. I could be wrong, but I wouldn't hire based on that. Strangely, a web search of the 'OAPEC technology transfer subsidiary' only links returns to his resume/articles.
@ Neil. The sad thing is that the author seems to be earnest. I hope it's a satire.
Have you seen the author's bio?
Andrew McKillop has more than 30 years experience in the energy, economic and finance domains. Trained at London UK’s University College, he has had specially long experience of energy policy, project administration and the development and financing of alternate energy.
This included his role of in-house Expert on Policy and Programming at the DG XVII-Energy of the European Commission, Director of Information of the OAPEC technology transfer subsidiary, AREC and researcher for UN agencies including the ILO.
He still seems to think that the Irish Civil War claimed about a quarter of million lives and was the fault of "the English" (whoever they are). Fact checking may not be his thing.
He's probably one of those advocates of man made global warming,
I agree, not just because it's Labour - I don't think we should get into bettin g on court cases, as it devalues the process and introduces a small risk of affecting the process (members of the jury can bet).
YouGov - taking it in the same spirit as the 9-point lead two days ago.
Nick Sutton @suttonnick · 2 mins Thursday's Telegraph front page - "Middle class blamed for migration" #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/YPnnTf48cx
Last time I was in a school where teachers were responsible for giving careers advice was... erm... never.
Well I know you are probably too young for this (that was meant as a compliment by the way not a put down) but 30 years ago when I was at school we certainly had teachers giving careers advice.
It's a fairly startling and sobering thought that the 44 year old uber-geek Ed Miliband, the awkward, big-nosed, mildly Aspergery dorkus that you all laughed at in University, is going to be Prime Minister in about a year.
*emigrates*
I thought you hated Cameron and wanted him kicked out?
Given the increasing obsession with navel gazing over the thoughts of local councillors I thought we might widen the scope a little
BENEFIT cheat councillor Lisa Smiles, who was convicted of conning the local authority out of £2,000, has resigned from both the Labour Party and the city council.
A CONSERVATIVE councillor has resigned from the ruling Tory group on East Riding Council citing "bullying and intimidation" by some of his party colleagues.
He has been great all season, Out of contract in the summer, but with promotion and a rock solid place in the team, I think that he will sign another contract.
I'll leave people to make what they like of that comment.
I nearly incited a riot on another forum when I suggested it should be mandatory for some women to wear the Burqa.
That was not the comment I was referring to. The fact that greater importance is put on the misguided thoughts of individuals than is put on the criminal and anti-social behaviour of others speaks volumes to how perverse the establishment view of politics and society has become.
It makes you wonder whether '1984' was Science Fiction or prophecy?
I'll leave people to make what they like of that comment.
I nearly incited a riot on another forum when I suggested it should be mandatory for some women to wear the Burqa.
That was not the comment I was referring to. The fact that greater importance is put on the misguided thoughts of individuals than is put on the criminal and anti-social behaviour of others speaks volumes to how perverse the establishment view of politics and society has become.
It makes you wonder whether '1984' was Science Fiction or prophecy?
You're reading far too much into my comments and choices.
An American anchor working for state-owned television station Russia Today quit on air on Wednesday. Liz Wahl, in the network's D.C. bureau, said she could no longer be "part of a network that whitewashes the actions of Putin." Wahl said she is the grandchild of Hungarian refugees who fled Soviet oppression
Even as a Unionist, I have to say the BBC's coverage of the RBS/Lloyds kerfuffle is just outrageously biased towards NO.
Essentially, their idea of balance is to say:
Lloyds/RBS will probably leave Scotland for England post-Yes and that will destroy jobs in Scotland/However, if this happens, theoretically Scotland might be able to proportionately diminish its finance sector thus, in the end, reducing pressure on Scots GDP in the event of a financial crash and ensuing bank bail-outs.
Which argument is more convincing? YOUR JOB, OR THE JOB OF SOMEONE YOU KNOW, WILL DISAPPEAR WITH INDEPENDENCE, or Scots GDP might rebalance in a potentially positive way after a decade or so following a Yes despite the immediate impoverishment, maybe
I can see why Nats hate the Beeb.
Sean - fair enough. As I have long said, the fact that a country that would be around the world's 17th richest would somehow 'struggle' to be viable is insane. It is perfectly viable - it has a diverse economy and a genuinely global brand. The question is whether we want it to be independent, which I don't.
But you are right - the BBC coverage is risibly biased. Peston interviewed S&P's bod the other day. The bod was equivocal. Peston then said: "what he means is..." and went on to paint a bearish picture. Quite remarkable.
Pop the chips away, I don't have any salt and vinegar handy. There used to be a regular Conservative poster on here called RikW, and he and Mark Senior used to post up tit for tat just about every Conservative/Libdem councillor resignation that popped in the local news anywhere in the UK BEFORE Ukip were even a feature of local politics. UKIP are playing in the big domestic politics playground now, and that is going to means far more media scrutiny as a result. Just like all the other parties. And to be fair, UKIP have been pretty damn lucky about the lack of media attention when it came to one or two of their former MEP's in the past!
Given the increasing obsession with navel gazing over the thoughts of local councillors I thought we might widen the scope a little
BENEFIT cheat councillor Lisa Smiles, who was convicted of conning the local authority out of £2,000, has resigned from both the Labour Party and the city council.
A CONSERVATIVE councillor has resigned from the ruling Tory group on East Riding Council citing "bullying and intimidation" by some of his party colleagues.
An American anchor working for state-owned television station Russia Today quit on air on Wednesday. Liz Wahl, in the network's D.C. bureau, said she could no longer be "part of a network that whitewashes the actions of Putin." Wahl said she is the grandchild of Hungarian refugees who fled Soviet oppression
Twitter Sun Politics @Sun_Politics 6s YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Labour lead now three points: CON 34%, LAB 37%, LD 10%, UKIP 11%
Smallest gap since......?
Is it the curse of Smithson? As soon as Mike started majoring in the 'voteless recovery' the legendary crossover looks on the cards again.
Would you like to predict by when?
Yes. At the end of the conference season. Cameron will have delivered a game changer, as is his knack, and Miliband will have blundered with one irresponsible and populist gimmick too far.
Comments
It's quite worrying that it's pretty hard for seasoned England fans like us to name our starting XI.
One thing in our favour - at least the hype won't follow us this time.
Defence is the main issue.
Clearly more and more people are trying to see the positives in an Ed M victory they do not actually want but see as almost inevitable.
When were they proud Tory heartlands?
I'll say this though: he is spot on when he says "International law is treated by Great Powers as a convenient stick to beat opponents with, to be discarded when it is inconvenient."
More's to the point, why have we ended up with the cricketers and the footballers playing on the same night again? Do the schedulers just ignore one another?
I don't think England play a London test when England play at Wembley.
While I remember, I was intrigued by NickP's forecast this morning that the government might fall just short of term, in early 2015. Any chance of a thread on this prospect at some point? Cheers.
13) Our politicians are right - any economic impact from acting in Ukraine would be very unpopular even if the moral case were clear cut, which of course it is not as people are very split on even if we should dare to comment upon a nation that is not our own, so of course they will not tolerate that.
That said, last time Mike and I discussed it, we were both of the opinion that the coalition will go the distance, bar one or two black swans.
Such as Dave being replaced by someone who wants to break up the coalition.
Got nil nil written all over this match.
Got VI'd, and inter alia, asked about Putin/Ukraine and would I buy from Scottish firms post Independence.
Amusing thing was, I was in Edinburgh when I received the invite/did the poll.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVb2gbMtN3I
#10 Apparently it's a doctor who attended the victims saying the bullets dug out of the bodies of both the police and demonstrators were the same.
#14 Hard to say if he's winning or losing without knowing what he wants. My guess is he wants x and y where x appears to be proceeding slowly and cautiously without any incidents and y needs bleep to be happening in bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep and bleep and not just bleep. Time will tell on that.
#19 trick question
Granted, I am a Liverpool fan.
He's obviously bright, he's bland, he's a political creature to his marrow, and he has an occasional bold streak between long bouts of indecisive caution. He's not likely to destroy the country or inspire it with his dynamism, but he could end up doing alright, or not great. It's a toss up, but he's nothing really to fear, and the vast majority of people I suspect will not worry about him in No. 10 until things start to hit the fan, if they do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXlXYl2p7Xw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbXjhXN1W3s
2012 seats PQ 54 PLQ 50 CAQ 19 QS 2
2012 vote share PQ 31.9% PLQ 31.2% CAQ 27.0% QS 6.0% ON 1.9%
Latest poll PQ 37% PLQ 35% CAQ 15% QS 8% PVQ 2% ON 1%
The Conservative vote seems to have collapsed and they will lose perhaps half their seats in equal numbers to PQ and PLQ . At this stage it looks like PQ will be the largest party but fall just short of an overall majority .
"The Irish Civil War at least enabled the Irish to kick the English out of the majority of their country, albeit at the cost at at least 200 000 - 300 000 dead in an evil and bitter civil war, fomented and intensified by the English to salve their self-image of Great Power."
But it was a tough competition.
I note but offer no comment on the fact that this website was advertising "Elliot Wave" stuff. hunchman, is this you?!
Let's hope the Australian Grand Prix is more exciting than the football sounds.
Edited extra bit: ahem.
I had Sturridge as first goal scorer.
Andrew McKillop has more than 30 years experience in the energy, economic and finance domains. Trained at London UK’s University College, he has had specially long experience of energy policy, project administration and the development and financing of alternate energy.
This included his role of in-house Expert on Policy and Programming at the DG XVII-Energy of the European Commission, Director of Information of the OAPEC technology transfer subsidiary, AREC and researcher for UN agencies including the ILO.
Miliband tells @CST_UK he's felt more a part of the Jewish community since becoming Labour leader than ever before
Don't think he will be mentioning this in the part of Bradford I live ;-)
Now that's trolling.
I hope you've be able to trade out.
YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Labour lead now three points: CON 34%, LAB 37%, LD 10%, UKIP 11%
Sun Politics @Sun_Politics 6s
YouGov/Sun poll tonight - Labour lead now three points: CON 34%, LAB 37%, LD 10%, UKIP 11%
http://press.labour.org.uk/post/78553779557/gloria-de-piero-letter-to-paddy-power-calling-on-them
I agree, not just because it's Labour - I don't think we should get into bettin g on court cases, as it devalues the process and introduces a small risk of affecting the process (members of the jury can bet).
YouGov - taking it in the same spirit as the 9-point lead two days ago.
Thursday's Telegraph front page - "Middle class blamed for migration" #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/YPnnTf48cx
https://twitter.com/Telegraph
Any women spectators are advised to go to the loo before arriving at the venue
BENEFIT cheat councillor Lisa Smiles, who was convicted of conning the local authority out of £2,000, has resigned from both the Labour Party and the city council.
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/local/all-news/labour-councillor-quits-sunderland-city-council-after-2-000-benefit-fraud-conviction-1-6416802
A CONSERVATIVE councillor has resigned from the ruling Tory group on East Riding Council citing "bullying and intimidation" by some of his party colleagues.
http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/Councillor-Nick-Evans-quits-East-Riding-Tory/story-20477508-detail/story.html
A PROMINENT Tiverton councillor has resigned from the Liberal Democrat Party after he admitted defrauding his own council.
Kevin Wilson had been a member of the party since its formation in 1988.
http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Fraudster-councillor-quits-Lib-Dems-admitting/story-20489377-detail/story.html
Funny how the Guardian (and Pb.com) didn't report on these isn't it?
Andrew Hawkins @Andrew_ComRes
RT @tom_ComRes: New ComRes/@itvnews poll: 65% agree the government is more concerned with protecting banks than British public...
A failed bank generally doesn't make a depositor happy.
Sleazy and bullying councillors isn't news.
Though, if I had found this story, I would have included it in nighthawks.
Conservative Councillor Chris Joannides Booted Out Of Party, After Comparing Burkas To Bin Bags
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/04/burka-bin-bag_n_4895968.html
Both parties are in their normal range.
The ball was changed during the West Indies innings due to unnatural deterioration.
And its detailed rebuttal of the Treasury case? 'They're bluffing'.
Well, that's that then......
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/05/independent-scotland-sterling-pact-holyrood
It makes you wonder whether '1984' was Science Fiction or prophecy?
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6q-f-zD4xPY/SdxX2Ehs7oI/AAAAAAAANFY/IMiZiHusuB8/s320/SquirrelInUnderpantsSmiling.jpg
An American anchor working for state-owned television station Russia Today quit on air on Wednesday. Liz Wahl, in the network's D.C. bureau, said she could no longer be "part of a network that whitewashes the actions of Putin." Wahl said she is the grandchild of Hungarian refugees who fled Soviet oppression
http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2014/03/05/rt-anchor-quits-on-air.html
But you are right - the BBC coverage is risibly biased. Peston interviewed S&P's bod the other day. The bod was equivocal. Peston then said: "what he means is..." and went on to paint a bearish picture. Quite remarkable.
Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrggh.... oops, you hit the post tonight, perhaps that confidence is ebbing.
Unless we sneak up through the playoffs* and nick him
*there is zero chance of this happening