Interesting, got to admit that my first instinct was to look towards Vince Cable as this is just the type of 'unhelpful' briefing he tends to enjoy. Anna Soubry has connections to the North East of Scotland through her early television career on Grampian.
Andrew Neil @afneil 7m Senior minister tells me Guardian story that deal re monetary union and Faslane came from defence ministry. Makes sense
Intriguing. So who was it? List of defence ministers;
The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP Secretary of State The Rt Hon Mark Francois MP Minister of State Anna Soubry MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Dr Andrew Murrison MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Philip Dunne MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Lord Astor of Hever DL Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Whichever one did it, their career is very badly damaged. My eye is drawn to the name of Soubry. She has a reputation for saying ridiculous and foolish things. But maybe it was some posh twit like Astor.
Hammond has already, apparently, denied that it was him.
If it was Hammond (I find it hard to believe) he's surely f*cked his chances of becoming leader.
Easterross I doubt it will have changed any minds, Farage came across as a saloon bar populist, speaking up for the silent majority and popular with the likes of Rod Liddle, Simon Heffer and Kelvin Mackenzie, while the intellectual elite and metropolitan dwellers see him as backwards, uncouth and in the words of Yasmin Alibhai Brown UKIP is even 'dangerous'
Someone speaking up for the silent majority? Whatever next?
People are heartily sick of so called intellectuals deciding what is best for them, the same fools who told us we would all go to hell in a handcart if we didn't join the Euro.
Thought Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was dreadful. Sounded like she wanted the media to be banned from talking about ukip. Kinnock came across poorly too - complacent.
Hmm, so Farage respects Putin who propped up Assad in Syria and then put troops on the ground uninvited in the Ukraine minus their national identity tags or a UN beret to the 'kids' in charge of Foreign policy here.
"I said I don't like him, I wouldn't trust him, wouldn't want to live in his country. But compared with the kids who run foreign policy in this country I have got more respect for him than our lot."
Mick Pork Yes, but that was NO to AV Clegg has basically nothing to do with Scottish Independence or the Union.
You were the one trying to bring NO to AV into it in the first place. If you don't like the truth about who it's campaign was negative about and why, then again, I can't help you. Those are the facts.
Galloway has been holding meeting after meeting across Scotland banging the drum for the union and has actually done more meetings than Salmond
Salmond is scotland's first minister while Galloway is MP for Bradford West in between his self-publicising 'tours' (the first runs of which he was charging the sparse punters who showed up £15 a throw) You really don't know what you're talking about if you think Galloway's one man band is comparable to the grass roots meetings taking place up and down scotland.
Darling of course will be facing Salmond in any debate, not Cameron. Downing Street has not got a clue about what goes down well in Scotland, the dour Darling is far more attuned to Scots' sensibilities and can take on Salmond on the facts!
I hate to break it to you but your wonderful 'asset' Darling is one of THE biggest expenses troughers who even Clegg demanded should resign over his expenses. Darling is also going to be featuring very heavily indeed in Crosby's plans for the 2015 campaign. He and Brown will be playing a starring role in 'Don't let Labour ruin it again' as they replay the economic crash during which Darling was Chancellor and entirely culpable.
MickPork As far as I can see after the NO camp still has a sizeable lead, so negative campaigning is hardly damping its vote to badly is it! After wall to wall coverage by polling day the vast majority of Scots will turn out, they are only beginning to tune in now
I was very involved in the 2011 elections and I assure you I remember all the precise same complacency from SLAB as their massive lead began to get smaller and smaller as polling day got ever closer. They decided to double down on the negativity when the polls were narrowing because that was bound to work. It certainly did. Just not for them.
This week's Radio 4 Book of the Week is on John Carey who celebrates his 80th birthday in a few days' time. He's the Sunday Times' chief literary critic:
MickPork Well it shows negative campaigning can work, and the focus of the campaigning on 'endless coalition governments' was what really hit home (even if inaccurate) not personal attacks on Clegg
Twitter Alastair Stewart @alstewitn 26m Everyone got their #AprilFoolsDay filters in ?
Twitter already in full spoof mode and having lots fun.
Peter Thompson @TheRedRag 33m Survinium Poll April 1st Con 37 (+2) Lab 26 (-11) LD 10 (NC) UKIP 27 (+12) Huge swing from Labour exactly as UKIP have been predicting.
And who was it who used to work for RBS and trumpeted it as Scotland's greatest asset? Surely not one Alec Salmond? So Salmond can't really attack Darling on his economic record unlike the Tories
On 17 - I'm from Coventry, perhaps it is because it is my hometown but I can never actually hear the Coventry accent that well. It is definitely one that can be overtaken if you spend a substansive amount of time elsewhere.
" The Scottish independence debate has been taken to a new level after plans were unveiled for Alex Salmond’s head to feature on Scottish pound coins.
The plan, which would be introduced on April 1, 2015, would see the head of Scotland’s First Minister replace that of the Queen if the country votes for independence.
Within months of a “yes” vote, all Scottish coins in circulation would be replaced with “Salmond Sterling”.
The designs were being honed at a facility funded by Sir Sean Connery."
MickPork A decision on whether to abandon the 3 centuries old United Kingdom is not remotely comparable to the parochial 2011 Scottish Parliament election, of which the SNP was the largest party when the campaign began anyway and the Labour Party had just had a thumping defeat in the previous year's general election. There is no complacency, but at the moment it is NO who has a clear lead, and given referendums tend to swing at latter stages towards the status quo I fail to see why YES seems to see constant momentum, as in that ridiculous commentary last week over a Times poll with a 15 point NO lead!!
Sorry but if you seriously think sending a letter to RBS is comparable to actually regulating and supposedly making sure ALL the banks and the likes of Northern Rock weren't heading over a cliff, then you really do know nothing about the crash or Darling's extreme vulnerability on that and his expenses.
Darling never was this amusing secret weapon that so many deluded tories used to think he was. Which is why even Cammie and Osbrowne are turning on him now.
Clegg was No to AV's favourite weapon of choice because they could read the polling and knew how toxic he was with the voters. The fact that Clegg was also an idiot when it came to the Yes to AV campaign was no doubt very welcome as well. The NO to independence campaign looking particularly competent these days you think?
Galloway doesn't magically get gifted votes from the left any time he speaks or his 'party' Respect might actually be more than a one man band. YES has plenty of ex labour figures to put up against Galloway who didn't try to run back to little Ed then have a massive strop when little Ed said no thank you.
MickPork A decision on whether to abandon the 3 centuries old United Kingdom is not remotely comparable to the parochial 2011 Scottish Parliament election
It's fine just to admit you don't know much about either. It's not as many people really expect PB tories and PB Romneys to have much of a clue about such things.
Balls and Miliband to rescue Labour’s Scottish campaign…
Can Ed Miliband and Ed Balls save Labour in Scotland? The two Labour heavyweights have decided to move in to rescue their party’s disastrous campaign in Scotland — with Balls being sent up north to sharpen his party’s teeth. A desperate measure for a desperate situation: Labour has not only blown a 10-15 point lead over the SNP in just a few weeks, but now languishes some 10-13 percentage points behind. A mammoth, humiliating defeat looms.
Until now, Labour has liked to portray its campaign for the Holyrood elections as a totally Scottish affair: run in Scotland, organised in Scotland and led by Scottish politicians. Not any more. Senior staffers in Ed Miliband’s office started briefing Scottish hacks last night that Miliband is now going to take a much more "hands on" approach to the campaign. Miliband has only made one, brief appearance in the campaign so far. But he and Ed Balls are due to be in Scotland this week to push a more strident "anti-independence" message.
But it's not as if SLAB and Labour will be front and centre for the referendum, will they? Nor are they relying on some of the exact same 'masterminds' behind the 2011 campaign, except they are. It's also going to be the scottish tories and scottish lib dems who will be doing the lions share of the campaigning will it?
Interesting, got to admit that my first instinct was to look towards Vince Cable as this is just the type of 'unhelpful' briefing he tends to enjoy. Anna Soubry has connections to the North East of Scotland through her early television career on Grampian.
Andrew Neil @afneil 7m Senior minister tells me Guardian story that deal re monetary union and Faslane came from defence ministry. Makes sense
Intriguing. So who was it? List of defence ministers;
The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP Secretary of State The Rt Hon Mark Francois MP Minister of State Anna Soubry MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Dr Andrew Murrison MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Philip Dunne MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Lord Astor of Hever DL Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Whichever one did it, their career is very badly damaged. My eye is drawn to the name of Soubry. She has a reputation for saying ridiculous and foolish things. But maybe it was some posh twit like Astor.
Hammond has already, apparently, denied that it was him.
If it was Hammond (I find it hard to believe) he's surely f*cked his chances of becoming leader.
It wouldn't be the first time the govt has had to distance itself from Soubry:
"I said I don't like him, I wouldn't trust him, wouldn't want to live in his country. But compared with the kids who run foreign policy in this country I have got more respect for him than our lot."
"Stop being so negative, cut out the negativity" shriek the moaners, as all the while Wee Eck smiles at their gullibility. But the truth is that it is the SNP leader who is offering the most negative policy of all in this increasingly bitter battle.
After all it is he who is offering a resounding negative – a massive 'No' – to the Scottish people. If he wins on Sept 18, he will be creating a foreign country and saying that we can no longer be British.
"Stop being so negative, cut out the negativity" shriek the moaners
Wee Cochs is as dopey as the scottish tory surgers if he thinks we want the incompetent dipshits in 'better together' to cut out the negativity any more than we did for 2011 when Labour master strategised their last negative campaign 'triumph'.
Keep right on shrieking about currency because that's certainly doing you a power of good. Hence the most amusing PB tories running around like headless chickens trying to find and sack the tory minister who told the truth about Osbrowne's inept currency posturing for the gullible.
Comments
I don't know why they abolished the old Northern region which also included Cumbria.
Lab 2
UKIP 1
(basically, if the Tories come third, and Labour get twice their vote, this will happen)
e.g.
Lab 31% (2)
UKIP 19% (1)
Con 15% (0)
LD 10% (0)
So Labour would win 66.7% of the seats on 31% of the vote, illustrating some of the points in my earlier post.
Indeed, most of the recent polls predict such a result...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carey_(critic)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03yqrhy
2.6M Americans fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is what life is like for the ones who came home. http://wapo.st/afterthewars1
Alastair Stewart @alstewitn 26m
Everyone got their #AprilFoolsDay filters in ?
Twitter already in full spoof mode and having lots fun.
Peter Thompson @TheRedRag 33m
Survinium Poll April 1st Con 37 (+2) Lab 26 (-11) LD 10 (NC) UKIP 27 (+12) Huge swing from Labour exactly as UKIP have been predicting.
Alex Salmond to replace the Queen on new Scottish pound coin
" The Scottish independence debate has been taken to a new level after plans were unveiled for Alex Salmond’s head to feature on Scottish pound coins.
The plan, which would be introduced on April 1, 2015, would see the head of Scotland’s First Minister replace that of the Queen if the country votes for independence.
Within months of a “yes” vote, all Scottish coins in circulation would be replaced with “Salmond Sterling”.
The designs were being honed at a facility funded by Sir Sean Connery."
Also, will Salmond demand the removal of Adam Smith from the £20 Bank of England note?
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/nigel-farage-who-are-you/4od
Sorry but if you seriously think sending a letter to RBS is comparable to actually regulating and supposedly making sure ALL the banks and the likes of Northern Rock weren't heading over a cliff, then you really do know nothing about the crash or Darling's extreme vulnerability on that and his expenses.
Darling never was this amusing secret weapon that so many deluded tories used to think he was. Which is why even Cammie and Osbrowne are turning on him now.
Clegg was No to AV's favourite weapon of choice because they could read the polling and knew how toxic he was with the voters. The fact that Clegg was also an idiot when it came to the Yes to AV campaign was no doubt very welcome as well. The NO to independence campaign looking particularly competent these days you think?
Galloway doesn't magically get gifted votes from the left any time he speaks or his 'party' Respect might actually be more than a one man band. YES has plenty of ex labour figures to put up against Galloway who didn't try to run back to little Ed then have a massive strop when little Ed said no thank you.
Kate Gilson @kategilson
George Galloway wants @Ed_Miliband to be PM Ed: "he might want me to be PM but I don't want him to be an MP!" BOOM! http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22307221 …
Balls and Miliband to rescue Labour’s Scottish campaign…
Can Ed Miliband and Ed Balls save Labour in Scotland? The two Labour heavyweights have decided to move in to rescue their party’s disastrous campaign in Scotland — with Balls being sent up north to sharpen his party’s teeth. A desperate measure for a desperate situation: Labour has not only blown a 10-15 point lead over the SNP in just a few weeks, but now languishes some 10-13 percentage points behind. A mammoth, humiliating defeat looms.
Until now, Labour has liked to portray its campaign for the Holyrood elections as a totally Scottish affair: run in Scotland, organised in Scotland and led by Scottish politicians. Not any more.
Senior staffers in Ed Miliband’s office started briefing Scottish hacks last night that Miliband is now going to take a much more "hands on" approach to the campaign. Miliband has only made one, brief appearance in the campaign so far. But he and Ed Balls are due to be in Scotland this week to push a more strident "anti-independence" message.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2011/04/balls-and-miliband-to-rescue-labours-scottish-campaign/
But it's not as if SLAB and Labour will be front and centre for the referendum, will they? Nor are they relying on some of the exact same 'masterminds' behind the 2011 campaign, except they are. It's also going to be the scottish tories and scottish lib dems who will be doing the lions share of the campaigning will it?
LOL
*chortle*
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/sep/10/tories-anna-soubry-assisted-suicide
Tho in this case it's clearly a sacking offence.
After all it is he who is offering a resounding negative – a massive 'No' – to the Scottish people. If he wins on Sept 18, he will be creating a foreign country and saying that we can no longer be British.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/10735671/Salmond-would-love-a-positive-campaign.html
Keep right on shrieking about currency because that's certainly doing you a power of good. Hence the most amusing PB tories running around like headless chickens trying to find and sack the tory minister who told the truth about Osbrowne's inept currency posturing for the gullible.