Blair's a greedy airhead who squandered a great economic inheritance, led us into a pointless war in Iraq and whose cowardice inflicted Brown on us, first as Chancellor, then Prime Minister.
Interesting article looking at changes in 1,008 BBC selected 'key wards'.
"What seems to have happened is that between 2010 and 2012 UKIP took votes mainly from the Conservatives, but between 2012 and 2014 they have had more success in attracting Labour voters. The net effect is that the UKIP rise from 2010 to 2014 has been at similar expense to Labour and the Conservatives."
Devolution in Scotland, peace in northern Ireland, the minimum wage, 32% fall in crime whilst he was in office, brought in civil partnerships for gays, won the olympics for London. Public debt fell under Blair from 49% of GDP to 44% when he left office. (after 4 years of Cameron it's gone from 67% to 90%)
The mismanagement of devolution has brought the union to the brink of dissolution. Peace in Northern Ireland, he gets credit for, but shared with John Major. The fall in crime has been a global phenomenon, likely linked to reduced lead in cars, and has continued since he left office. As for public debt, either you are being knowingly deceiving in picking those numbers or you don't understand how deficits and economic cycles work.
R5 live phone in on Clegg now. Lembit putting in boot.
Lembits a drunk nutcase..I saw him at the count in Sutton on Thursday night where he had to be taken home as he was so off his face... The bloke has no credibility
Blair's record in Northern Ireland also included undermining the moderates in the SDLP and UUP; going behind the backs of the other parties to make promises not to prosecute "On the Runs", and trying to get the other parties to agree that the IRA be allowed to police Catholic districts (it took the Irish government to point out what a bad idea that was).
Blair's a greedy airhead who squandered a great economic inheritance, led us into a pointless war in Iraq and whose cowardice inflicted Brown on us, first as Chancellor, then Prime Minister.
A comment worthy of a knighthood - but for a small donation (£1m) I'll up it to a peerage. ; )
Could we have a thread about something that actually matters in British politics? The LibDems don't. Ok so that's slight hyperbole but they are a lot less significant than OGH, a LibDem, would have us believe. There are much more significant thread opportunities surrounding both UKIP and Labour.
No. Clegg's survival is the big political betting story at the moment - just see the papers and betting markets.
- "Clegg's survival is the big political betting story at the moment"
Err...
Matched bets at Betfair (£):
IndyRef winner: 437,054 Next UK GE seats: 281,779 Next PM: 27,607 Next Tory leader: 17,900 Newark by-election: 9,440 Next Liberal Democrat leader: 7,239
Scintillating stuff the Lib Dem catfight. Stifles yawn.
Blair's record in Northern Ireland also included undermining the moderates in the SDLP and UUP; going behind the backs of the other parties to make promises not to prosecute "On the Runs", and trying to get the other parties to agree that the IRA be allowed to police Catholic districts (it took the Irish government to point out what a bad idea that was).
Didn't Blair also allow sinn fein mp's to claim expenses despite not taking their seats? Happy to be corrected if I got that wrong.
R5 live phone in on Clegg now. Lembit putting in boot.
Lembits a drunk nutcase..I saw him at the count in Sutton on Thursday night where he had to be taken home as he was so off his face... The bloke has no credibility
He was on the BBC sunday talk programme. He looked very puffy, and not that well I thought.
I wonder if Chris Huhne has any involvement in these polls. He writes for the Grauniad regularly, has the dosh and is not exactly close to Clegg.
I did speculate about that.
Poor Huhne, if he had been able to keep the snake inside the pet store he'd probably be in pole position to become Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister shortly.
Devolution in Scotland, peace in northern Ireland, the minimum wage, 32% fall in crime whilst he was in office, brought in civil partnerships for gays, won the olympics for London. Public debt fell under Blair from 49% of GDP to 44% when he left office. (after 4 years of Cameron it's gone from 67% to 90%)
The mismanagement of devolution has brought the union to the brink of dissolution. Peace in Northern Ireland, he gets credit for, but shared with John Major. The fall in crime has been a global phenomenon, likely linked to reduced lead in cars, and has continued since he left office. As for public debt, either you are being knowingly deceiving in picking those numbers or you don't understand how deficits and economic cycles work.
"Likely linked to reduced lead in cars"
Really??
Yes, Mr Socrates is right, though perhaps not the cars per se but the petrol in them. Logic is that lead is a neurotoxin especially for young folk and has a significant effect on criminality in young males. I seem to recall a feature on it in New Scientist some time ago on this so it should be on their website if you want to know more. [BTW I had a Vanilla hiccup and almost - I think - pressed the spam/troll button in error for the quote one - my apologies if so.)
Interesting article looking at changes in 1,008 BBC selected 'key wards'.
"What seems to have happened is that between 2010 and 2012 UKIP took votes mainly from the Conservatives, but between 2012 and 2014 they have had more success in attracting Labour voters. The net effect is that the UKIP rise from 2010 to 2014 has been at similar expense to Labour and the Conservatives."
I posted many months ago that this was likely to happen - anyone with better skills at working the pb.com back issues would see I called it "UKIP 2.0".
I wonder if Chris Huhne has any involvement in these polls. He writes for the Grauniad regularly, has the dosh and is not exactly close to Clegg.
I did speculate about that.
Poor Huhne, if he had been able to keep the snake inside the pet store he'd probably be in pole position to become Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister shortly.
I was more thinking had he won how much worse a predicament the Lib Dems might now find themselves in. A party having to resign and being jailed for being a crim would have been lethal.
I wonder if Chris Huhne has any involvement in these polls. He writes for the Grauniad regularly, has the dosh and is not exactly close to Clegg.
I did speculate about that.
Poor Huhne, if he had been able to keep the snake inside the pet store he'd probably be in pole position to become Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister shortly.
I was more thinking had he won how much worse a predicament the Lib Dems might now find themselves in. A party having to resign and being jailed for being a crim would have been lethal.
Yeah but if he hadn't made the beast with two backs with a woman who was not his wife, his wife wouldn't have gone to the media about those speeding points.
"Counting was suspended at 12:40 BST on Tuesday after almost 16 hours at the King's Hall in Belfast." How long will it take to finish this nonsense today? One constituency, three seats. This has to be the most ridiculous system for holding an election. STV - WTF?
Could we have a thread about something that actually matters in British politics? The LibDems don't. Ok so that's slight hyperbole but they are a lot less significant than OGH, a LibDem, would have us believe. There are much more significant thread opportunities surrounding both UKIP and Labour.
No. Clegg's survival is the big political betting story at the moment - just see the papers and betting markets.
- "Clegg's survival is the big political betting story at the moment"
Err...
Matched bets at Betfair (£):
IndyRef winner: 437,054 Next UK GE seats: 281,779 Next PM: 27,607 Next Tory leader: 17,900 Newark by-election: 9,440 Next Liberal Democrat leader: 7,239
Scintillating stuff the Lib Dem catfight. Stifles yawn.
Now you know how the rest of us feel when every thread is hijacked by you droning on about SINDY.
I wonder if Chris Huhne has any involvement in these polls. He writes for the Grauniad regularly, has the dosh and is not exactly close to Clegg.
I did speculate about that.
Poor Huhne, if he had been able to keep the snake inside the pet store he'd probably be in pole position to become Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister shortly.
I was more thinking had he won how much worse a predicament the Lib Dems might now find themselves in. A party having to resign and being jailed for being a crim would have been lethal.
Yeah but if he hadn't made the beast with two backs with a woman who was not his wife, his wife wouldn't have gone to the media about those speeding points.
Looking at his wife and considering what we now know of her personality, you can't really blame him.
I wonder if Chris Huhne has any involvement in these polls. He writes for the Grauniad regularly, has the dosh and is not exactly close to Clegg.
I did speculate about that.
Poor Huhne, if he had been able to keep the snake inside the pet store he'd probably be in pole position to become Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister shortly.
An unfortunate mix of metaphors surely (but the first is novel to me and a nice one for the collection).
I suspect that the European elite will reflect long and hard on these results and conclude that the solution is ............ More Europe.
LOL!
On a not unrelated note, can anyone explain to me why we couldn't (logically) not keep the other three freedoms (capital, goods & services) but get an opt-out from people?
It doesn't seem fundamental to a common *market* to me. It might help fill a few skilled jobs here and there (which is what it was originally intended to) but it's not critical. It certainly doesn't seem to have been intended as a conduit for mass immigration.
We are already outside Schengen. Liechtenstein already imposes a permanent quota for all EEA citizens. Switzerland is in the process of doing that. A starting point could be to tighten up on permanent jobs, but keep it flexible for temporary contracts of 24 months or less. Perhaps even give a right for member states to review it (with a view to re-imposing reasonable restrictions) after 12 months if immigration levels from particular member states is too high.
It would probably involve amending TFEU. But so what? It's not impossible. Let's have a debate about the details.
I wonder if Chris Huhne has any involvement in these polls. He writes for the Grauniad regularly, has the dosh and is not exactly close to Clegg.
I did speculate about that.
Poor Huhne, if he had been able to keep the snake inside the pet store he'd probably be in pole position to become Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister shortly.
I was more thinking had he won how much worse a predicament the Lib Dems might now find themselves in. A party having to resign and being jailed for being a crim would have been lethal.
Yeah but if he hadn't made the beast with two backs with a woman who was not his wife, his wife wouldn't have gone to the media about those speeding points.
I wonder if Chris Huhne has any involvement in these polls. He writes for the Grauniad regularly, has the dosh and is not exactly close to Clegg.
I did speculate about that.
Poor Huhne, if he had been able to keep the snake inside the pet store he'd probably be in pole position to become Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister shortly.
I was more thinking had he won how much worse a predicament the Lib Dems might now find themselves in. A party having to resign and being jailed for being a crim would have been lethal.
Yeah but if he hadn't made the beast with two backs with a woman who was not his wife, his wife wouldn't have gone to the media about those speeding points.
Looking at his wife and considering what we now know of her personality, you can't really blame him.
She seems to be behaving exactly as most women I know would in such circumstances.
@SkyAnushka: .@ICMResearch going to publish leaked poll this morning... The other places they say LDs lose - Redcar/Cambridge/Wells more expected
Wells would be no surprise at all.
This is going to focus the minds of a lot of Lib Dem MPs. Dangerous times for Clegg.
But is there anything they can do. Taking this poll at face value none of the mentioned candidates would salvage the position sufficiently. They may conclude that they're dead whatever and just soak up the punishment under Clegg.
SeanF - I also see that Blair has basically already said that on Radio 4:
'He also told the programme the rationale for Europe today was "probably stronger than it has ever been" in terms of enabling medium-sized countries to play a role on the international stage.'
To be fair, he also said that the EU should "get out of doing the things it doesn't need to do", instead allowing countries to deal with more issues at a national level. And went on to say: "European leaders have got to grip and focus on the big issues... if the European leaders focus on the big issues and show they are gripping those big issues and get out of some of the things that irritate people about Brussels, then I think there is a real chance you will get the right types of reforms in Europe," he added.
But, to be honest, that sounds more like a few tokenistic gestures on some of the more silly EU directives and regulations, rather than anything substantial. He completely doesn't get the issue of immigration and says he wouldn't change a thing.
Mr. Royale, I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of Blair's mouth. On the EU, he managed to give away half the rebate in return for nothing. It made Alan Johnson's renegotiation of GP contracts look like a triumph.
Mr. Royale, I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of Blair's mouth. On the EU, he managed to give away half the rebate in return for nothing. It made Alan Johnson's renegotiation of GP contracts look like a triumph.
You're being very harsh on a pretty straight sort of guy.
Mr. Royale, I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of Blair's mouth. On the EU, he managed to give away half the rebate in return for nothing. It made Alan Johnson's renegotiation of GP contracts look like a triumph.
You think I would? I wouldn't trust the change he gave me if he sold me a coffee, or with a bucket of water if my trousers were on fire.
If he was captaining the last life raft to leave the Titantic, I'd take my chances with the ship.
Devolution in Scotland, peace in northern Ireland, the minimum wage, 32% fall in crime whilst he was in office, brought in civil partnerships for gays, won the olympics for London. Public debt fell under Blair from 49% of GDP to 44% when he left office. (after 4 years of Cameron it's gone from 67% to 90%)
The mismanagement of devolution has brought the union to the brink of dissolution. Peace in Northern Ireland, he gets credit for, but shared with John Major. The fall in crime has been a global phenomenon, likely linked to reduced lead in cars, and has continued since he left office. As for public debt, either you are being knowingly deceiving in picking those numbers or you don't understand how deficits and economic cycles work.
Mr. Royale, I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of Blair's mouth. On the EU, he managed to give away half the rebate in return for nothing. It made Alan Johnson's renegotiation of GP contracts look like a triumph.
Mr Dancer, Blair was fundamentally a showman. It mattered not to him what was in the show if anything as long as he was bouncing about the stage. Hence his ideological vacancy and predilection for destructive policy choices. He did occasionally stumble upon decent policy answers by accident. He is the Paul Daniels of politics, a reasonably likeable conjurer well past his prime.
@Financier - indeed although London is part of the electorate. Anyone can do that - without the SE Labour would have won and the Tories would have got 22%!!!
The combined Labour-Conservative vote share went up from 2009. Ukip has prospered by consolidating protest votes that used to go to a plurality of parties – but protest politics tends to splinter, and it will again.
Janan Ganesh makes a very good point there - it is one which we should certainly bear in mind when analysing the impact of the results.
Could we have a thread about something that actually matters in British politics? The LibDems don't. Ok so that's slight hyperbole but they are a lot less significant than OGH, a LibDem, would have us believe. There are much more significant thread opportunities surrounding both UKIP and Labour.
No. Clegg's survival is the big political betting story at the moment - just see the papers and betting markets.
- "Clegg's survival is the big political betting story at the moment"
Err...
Matched bets at Betfair (£):
IndyRef winner: 437,054 Next UK GE seats: 281,779 Next PM: 27,607 Next Tory leader: 17,900 Newark by-election: 9,440 Next Liberal Democrat leader: 7,239
Scintillating stuff the Lib Dem catfight. Stifles yawn.
As the Sindy ref has been dragging on for 4 years that isn't that impressive.
Figures for the last 3 days determine "at the moment"
UKIP has "no solutions to the problems of the 21st Century", former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.....
Mr Blair said it must also "confront and expose" parties like UKIP.
"You look underneath that UKIP facade and you see something pretty nasty and unpleasant," he told BBC Radio 4......
"You have got to take on people who, within countries, who are arguing for a combination of anti-EU and anti-immigration policies which are not the answer," he said.
"I am afraid, with those forces, you have got to be prepared to stand up, lead and take them on."
He urged Labour and other parties not to ape UKIP's stance on Europe and immigration and said Ed Miliband must "stay firm" on his pledge not to hold a EU referendum unless more powers go to Brussels.
Well over half the MEPs we elected are not happy with the status quo - to put it mildly - and either want meaningful renegotiation or withdrawal.
Con + UKIP seats (43 MEPs) = 58.9% of all MEPs Con + UKIP votes = 51.4% of all votes
If we lump in all Eurosceptic votes, however unsavoury, we get even bigger numbers:
Con + UKIP + ED + BNP + AIFE + NO2EU + WDARN + Britain First + Liberty GB + CPA votes = 55.67%
If you added in Northern Ireland, the numbers would become even more compelling. I've excluded Green - as they're anti-euro, rather than actively Eurosceptic - but there's a case to include some of their voters too.
Of course, I don't expect the EU to do very much, but (if they don't) they can't complain if the UK eventually exits the organisation due to its own inaction.
@Financier - indeed although London is part of the electorate. Anyone can do that - without the SE Labour would have won and the Tories would have got 22%!!!
I was just quoting one of your Party's blogs. Perhaps you need to read it and then respond to them and not me. If you do not like the message then do not blame the messenger.
Devolution in Scotland, peace in northern Ireland, the minimum wage, 32% fall in crime whilst he was in office, brought in civil partnerships for gays, won the olympics for London. Public debt fell under Blair from 49% of GDP to 44% when he left office. (after 4 years of Cameron it's gone from 67% to 90%)
The mismanagement of devolution has brought the union to the brink of dissolution. Peace in Northern Ireland, he gets credit for, but shared with John Major. The fall in crime has been a global phenomenon, likely linked to reduced lead in cars, and has continued since he left office. As for public debt, either you are being knowingly deceiving in picking those numbers or you don't understand how deficits and economic cycles work.
"Likely linked to reduced lead in cars"
Really??
The banning of leaded paints and fuels has been followed by a massive drop in criminal behaviour. The link has been formed because lead has been known to alter brain chemistry and absorption of airborne lead particles has also previously been linked to criminality. The logical conclusion is easy to form, though it should be added that there are no conclusive studies yet about this phenomenon. Studies are on going in countries where leaded fuels and paints are still commonly used.
The combined Labour-Conservative vote share went up from 2009. Ukip has prospered by consolidating protest votes that used to go to a plurality of parties – but protest politics tends to splinter, and it will again.
Janan Ganesh makes a very good point there - it is one which we should certainly bear in mind when analysing the impact of the results.
That's not entirely untrue. However, underlying that attitude is a tone of.. 'just carry on as we are, ignore them, they will go away eventually...'
I suggest that attitude is the one most guaranteed to sustain, and even increase, UKIP's vote share in future elections.
These results are absolutely seismic. Only a totally delusional politician would seek to explain them away.
Mr. Royale, I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of Blair's mouth. On the EU, he managed to give away half the rebate in return for nothing. It made Alan Johnson's renegotiation of GP contracts look like a triumph.
Mr Dancer, Blair was fundamentally a showman. It mattered not to him what was in the show if anything as long as he was bouncing about the stage. Hence his ideological vacancy and predilection for destructive policy choices. He did occasionally stumble upon decent policy answers by accident. He is the Paul Daniels of politics, a reasonably likeable conjurer well past his prime.
I listened to some of Blair's radio interview. He said that the EU is important so that nations like the UK can exercise power . For what purposes would we want to exercise power? He totally ignored (in the bit I heard) people's concerns about their perceptions of uncontrolled immigration. Until that is sorted the EU will never gain support.
Pochettino is one of the finest managers in Britain at the moment, Spurs would be crazy not to pick him and should consider themselves lucky he's on the market at the right time for them. Sadly Levy being Levy they'll probably fire him in two years when they should support him and keep him for a decade.
Pochettino is one of the finest managers in Britain at the moment, Spurs would be crazy not to pick him and should consider themselves lucky he's on the market at the right time for them. Sadly Levy being Levy they'll probably fire him in two years when they should support him and keep him for a decade.
@Casino_Royale - No, the results are very significant, but they are not 'absolutely seismic'. The Conservative vote held up reasonably well in the circumstances, Labour recovered from its unbelievably bad 2009 result - a derisory 15.7%, remember, which was pretty seismic - the BNP vote collapsed and probably went to UKIP, the LibDem vote collapsed and part of it went to UKIP, and UKIP also probably picked up a little bit of vote share from very minor parties like the English Democrats.
To put this all in perspective, in 1989 the Greens got well over half what UKIP got last week. How seismic was that?
UKIP has "no solutions to the problems of the 21st Century", former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.....
Mr Blair said it must also "confront and expose" parties like UKIP.
"You look underneath that UKIP facade and you see something pretty nasty and unpleasant," he told BBC Radio 4......
"You have got to take on people who, within countries, who are arguing for a combination of anti-EU and anti-immigration policies which are not the answer," he said.
"I am afraid, with those forces, you have got to be prepared to stand up, lead and take them on."
He urged Labour and other parties not to ape UKIP's stance on Europe and immigration and said Ed Miliband must "stay firm" on his pledge not to hold a EU referendum unless more powers go to Brussels.
I voted for Blair twice and also for Brown.. what did I get? A war I totally disagreed with that was based on lies, and mass immigration on an unprecedented scale that I wasnt told about that was based on estimates so wildly innaccurate you have to suspect they were lies.
What can be more "nasty and unpleasant" than massacring thousands of innocent Iraqi's and hundreds of British serviceman, on the flimsiest of evidence, while deceiving millions of your own voters by flooding their towns with immigrants that are undercutting their wages then calling them bigots for noticing?
I thought about voting LibDem in 2010, but didnt, and thank God because the last thing I wanted was to prop up David Cameron
UKIP are anti uncontrolled immigration & oppose intervention in wars that are none of our business... Two things that Labour let me down on. There must be plenty more people like me who have voted for other parties in the past and been let down. If the worst UKIP do is have some councillor say something dodgy that I have heard down the pub a million times, then I can suffer that
Pochettino is one of the finest managers in Britain at the moment, Spurs would be crazy not to pick him and should consider themselves lucky he's on the market at the right time for them. Sadly Levy being Levy they'll probably fire him in two years when they should support him and keep him for a decade.
He might be crazy to go to spurs tho. Could be better off waiting a while until Jose gets bored or Arsenal finally lose patience. Though I suppose his players will sold sold from under him at Southampton..
Mr. Royale, I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of Blair's mouth. On the EU, he managed to give away half the rebate in return for nothing. It made Alan Johnson's renegotiation of GP contracts look like a triumph.
Mr Dancer, Blair was fundamentally a showman. It mattered not to him what was in the show if anything as long as he was bouncing about the stage. Hence his ideological vacancy and predilection for destructive policy choices. He did occasionally stumble upon decent policy answers by accident. He is the Paul Daniels of politics, a reasonably likeable conjurer well past his prime.
I listened to some of Blair's radio interview. He said that the EU is important so that nations like the UK can exercise power . For what purposes would we want to exercise power? He totally ignored (in the bit I heard) people's concerns about their perceptions of uncontrolled immigration. Until that is sorted the EU will never gain support.
The trouble is he forgets we are one of the permanent members of the UNSC. We have well formed links with countries containing a sizeable chunk of the earths population and are developing links with the most populous state on earth, the idea we can't exercise power/influence independently of political monoliths like the EU is batty.
"Someone or maybe a group of Lib Dems are spending serious money trying to oust Clegg"
Leading lights in this are clearly the Social Liberal groups acting with a £ backer or two. The main name that is primarily being proposed is Cable's. Also notable is the unusually quiet sh*t of the year, Oakeshott.
Comments
Blair's a greedy airhead who squandered a great economic inheritance, led us into a pointless war in Iraq and whose cowardice inflicted Brown on us, first as Chancellor, then Prime Minister.
Con 5/6
Lab EVS
UKIP 20/1
LD 100/1
"What seems to have happened is that between 2010 and 2012 UKIP took votes mainly from the Conservatives, but between 2012 and 2014 they have had more success in attracting Labour voters. The net effect is that the UKIP rise from 2010 to 2014 has been at similar expense to Labour and the Conservatives."
http://electionsetc.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/unraveling-2014-local-election-changes.html
Really??
The bloke has no credibility
Err...
Matched bets at Betfair (£):
IndyRef winner: 437,054
Next UK GE seats: 281,779
Next PM: 27,607
Next Tory leader: 17,900
Newark by-election: 9,440
Next Liberal Democrat leader: 7,239
Scintillating stuff the Lib Dem catfight. Stifles yawn.
@MSmithsonPB I wouldn't put any money on it if I were you, however, as I have had no involvement in the poll reported in the Guardian.
Mr. Eagles, that makes absolutely no sense.
Dr. Spyn, since women gained the vote Britain's power and territory has shrunk dramatically.
Happy to be corrected if I got that wrong.
On the other hand, it's worth recalling the Lib Dems axed Ming and Kennedy. Maybe they'll go for three in a row.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10857198/Ukip-have-torn-up-the-map.html
Poor Huhne, if he had been able to keep the snake inside the pet store he'd probably be in pole position to become Lib Dem Leader and Deputy Prime Minister shortly.
http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/mgElectionElectionAreaResults.aspx?EID=3&RPID=38134540
I really want to back them, Pochettino's appointment is a real coup.
http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/top-4-finish
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/05/can-nick-clegg-survive-his-partys-wrath/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=can-nick-clegg-survive-his-partys-wrath&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
On a not unrelated note, can anyone explain to me why we couldn't (logically) not keep the other three freedoms (capital, goods & services) but get an opt-out from people?
It doesn't seem fundamental to a common *market* to me. It might help fill a few skilled jobs here and there (which is what it was originally intended to) but it's not critical. It certainly doesn't seem to have been intended as a conduit for mass immigration.
We are already outside Schengen. Liechtenstein already imposes a permanent quota for all EEA citizens. Switzerland is in the process of doing that. A starting point could be to tighten up on permanent jobs, but keep it flexible for temporary contracts of 24 months or less. Perhaps even give a right for member states to review it (with a view to re-imposing reasonable restrictions) after 12 months if immigration levels from particular member states is too high.
It would probably involve amending TFEU. But so what? It's not impossible. Let's have a debate about the details.
This is going to focus the minds of a lot of Lib Dem MPs. Dangerous times for Clegg.
http://labourlist.org/2014/05/labour-needs-to-make-profound-changes-to-win-in-2015/
Well I've noted that they are the joint 6th party in UK politics in terms of European seat results, level with Plaid Cymru.
Clegg look's broken and destroyed on the front of the Rant. Can only be a matter of time, surely?
The Lib Dems held Hallam fairly comfortably in these locals, Labour ~ 13% behind iirc
Labour is going to take it according to this ICM poll.
Now I know Labour's vote is famously lazy, but will it honestly differentially turn out more for them in the GE to make up that gap ?
And if they do, surely a Labour majority is nailed on, or the Lib Dems are getting about 7 seats, or both !
I think Labour will get a higher differential turnout at GE2015, but not to this degree.
'He also told the programme the rationale for Europe today was "probably stronger than it has ever been" in terms of enabling medium-sized countries to play a role on the international stage.'
To be fair, he also said that the EU should "get out of doing the things it doesn't need to do", instead allowing countries to deal with more issues at a national level. And went on to say: "European leaders have got to grip and focus on the big issues... if the European leaders focus on the big issues and show they are gripping those big issues and get out of some of the things that irritate people about Brussels, then I think there is a real chance you will get the right types of reforms in Europe," he added.
But, to be honest, that sounds more like a few tokenistic gestures on some of the more silly EU directives and regulations, rather than anything substantial. He completely doesn't get the issue of immigration and says he wouldn't change a thing.
"Without London, Labour could well have been 2nd in the local elections and third in the European elections."
...and without the South-East constituency Labour would have topped the polls in the Euros
and been even further ahead in the Locals.
If he was captaining the last life raft to leave the Titantic, I'd take my chances with the ship.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27579235
You are a gentleman and a scholar.
Interestingly Labour has very few GE targets in the SE......
Today they're getting Ed Miliband...
http://order-order.com/2014/05/27/politics-of-polly-visit-to-thurrock-dont-make-sense-miliband-attempting-to-shore-up-labour-morale/
As the Sindy ref has been dragging on for 4 years that isn't that impressive.
Figures for the last 3 days determine "at the moment"
UKIP has "no solutions to the problems of the 21st Century", former Prime Minister Tony Blair has said.....
Mr Blair said it must also "confront and expose" parties like UKIP.
"You look underneath that UKIP facade and you see something pretty nasty and unpleasant," he told BBC Radio 4......
"You have got to take on people who, within countries, who are arguing for a combination of anti-EU and anti-immigration policies which are not the answer," he said.
"I am afraid, with those forces, you have got to be prepared to stand up, lead and take them on."
He urged Labour and other parties not to ape UKIP's stance on Europe and immigration and said Ed Miliband must "stay firm" on his pledge not to hold a EU referendum unless more powers go to Brussels.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27585260
Well over half the MEPs we elected are not happy with the status quo - to put it mildly - and either want meaningful renegotiation or withdrawal.
Con + UKIP seats (43 MEPs) = 58.9% of all MEPs
Con + UKIP votes = 51.4% of all votes
If we lump in all Eurosceptic votes, however unsavoury, we get even bigger numbers:
Con + UKIP + ED + BNP + AIFE + NO2EU + WDARN + Britain First + Liberty GB + CPA votes = 55.67%
If you added in Northern Ireland, the numbers would become even more compelling. I've excluded Green - as they're anti-euro, rather than actively Eurosceptic - but there's a case to include some of their voters too.
Of course, I don't expect the EU to do very much, but (if they don't) they can't complain if the UK eventually exits the organisation due to its own inaction.
However, UKIP's vote was significant enough to perhaps cause the matter to be reconsidered.
Temperatures have plateaued, but it's just Warmor testing the faithful
I suggest that attitude is the one most guaranteed to sustain, and even increase, UKIP's vote share in future elections.
These results are absolutely seismic. Only a totally delusional politician would seek to explain them away.
Where did I blame you? I merely responded to the point. Don't be so touchy!
A referendum is a sideshow that will create massive uncertainly.
Hold firm.
Tottenham Hotspur close to luring Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino to White Hart Lane
Argentine expected to be named as new manager at Spurs within 48 hours as Southampton brace themselves for summer exodus
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/tottenham-hotspur/10856706/Tottenham-Hotspur-close-to-luring-Southampton-manager-Mauricio-Pochettino-to-White-Hart-Lane.html
and here
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/26/mauricio-pochettino-advanced-talks-tottenham-hotspur-manager
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27585765
Comments are rather obvious.
Reminds me a bit of the idiot Mark Easton's article from a year or so ago claiming that white flight was due to rising prosperity and a good thing.
This is from December, and is still apt.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/19/liverpool-brendan-rodgers-tottenham-cardiff
To put this all in perspective, in 1989 the Greens got well over half what UKIP got last week. How seismic was that?
What can be more "nasty and unpleasant" than massacring thousands of innocent Iraqi's and hundreds of British serviceman, on the flimsiest of evidence, while deceiving millions of your own voters by flooding their towns with immigrants that are undercutting their wages then calling them bigots for noticing?
I thought about voting LibDem in 2010, but didnt, and thank God because the last thing I wanted was to prop up David Cameron
UKIP are anti uncontrolled immigration & oppose intervention in wars that are none of our business... Two things that Labour let me down on. There must be plenty more people like me who have voted for other parties in the past and been let down. If the worst UKIP do is have some councillor say something dodgy that I have heard down the pub a million times, then I can suffer that
Cameron should say that General Elections are a cause of uncertainty and just declare himself Prime Minister for Life.
They claim to be in favour of a referendum, but that specifying the date "causes uncertainty"
Nonsense on stilts
Leading lights in this are clearly the Social Liberal groups acting with a £ backer or two. The main name that is primarily being proposed is Cable's. Also notable is the unusually quiet sh*t of the year, Oakeshott.