Jane Merrick @janemerrick23 6 mins Gordon Brown says "it would be good" if David Cameron did head to head debate with Alex Salmond #indyref #pressgallery
Andrew Neil @afneil 8 mins Gordon Brown says you can't allow referendum to be Britain v Scotland. Must be about two visions of Scotland.
So at least one person doesn't think an Eck v Dave debate would be an Scotland v England thing.
I've always wondered which opponent Gordon Brown hates most: the SNP or the Tories? We are beginning to see what has long been suspected: it is the Tories.
Jane Merrick @janemerrick23 6 mins Gordon Brown says "it would be good" if David Cameron did head to head debate with Alex Salmond #indyref #pressgallery
Andrew Neil @afneil 8 mins Gordon Brown says you can't allow referendum to be Britain v Scotland. Must be about two visions of Scotland.
So at least one person doesn't think an Eck v Dave debate would be an Scotland v England thing.
I've always wondered which opponent Gordon Brown hates most: the SNP or the Tories? We are beginning to see what has long been suspected: it is the Tories.
In that particular respect he seems out of step with much of SLAB.
I would be more than slightly surprised that Cameron would be quite so vocal in coming out against someone who will be in a position to be at least administratively difficult if he was not very confident that he could stop him.
Just one more point on this, the one thing that would be worse for an actual attempted renegotiation than failing to stop Juncker is succeeding in stopping him. The European Parliament would be hopping mad, anyone who supports the democratization process will start to think it can only be done by getting rid of Britain, and any attempt at an actual treaty change, which was already unbelievably hard because it involves 28 member states that all have their own agendas, each with multiple veto points, will be met with somebody's gloating revenge veto.
"In terms of the extent that she mentioned-the 16,500 and the 2,409-are those figures a surprise to you, or do they bear out the kind of investigations that you have been involved in?"
If you mapped the clusters of relatively strong BNP support with the areas where people knew about thousands of English children being raped, tortured, forced into prostitution and sometimes killed by grooming gangs while the entire political and media class covered it up what do you think the correlation would be?
to me it isnt nasty or racist to want to curb immigration
I agree... what is nasty is to label one immigrant as concerning but another as acceptable solely on the basis of their nationality...
Everone does it, as the polls show.
100% of respondents, that surprises me... may I have a link please?
Ah the old "Im so mmorally pure I dont understand" schtick...didnt take long
Supporters of all parties showed a preference for German neighbours over Romanians in a poll. As expected UKIP were least enthusiastic about either, and the Lib Dems were most enthusiastic. But all party groups showed the same distinction in temrs of who theyd prefer if forced to choose
Jesus, Theresa May is giving an absolutely awful performance in the HofC
Patronising tone, tripping up over her words, and playing party politics instead of addressing the root of the problem
.. and it shouldnt matter, but she looks awful
She has always been totally hopeless. That she is even being mentioned for leader is a sign of the dearth of talent in the Tory party.
Mind you, she'd be better than Gove.
Gove is top notch, he and Osborne would make a fantastic leadership team, for the Conservative Party and the nation, hopefully without you lot, you want your socialist state control, I hope you go it alone.
F1: Ferrari didn't put on their upgrades for the race due to overheating concerns. Red Bull were also borderline but took the risk. So, relatively, Ferrari should be a bit quicker in Austria.
I also have a potential early bet idea. Odds not that there yet. Betfair markets are up but haven't got going, Ladbrokes only have the winner market.
Incidentally, Austria's a returning circuit, so sort-of new. Won't be on the BBC unfortunately due to the organisation's Judas Iscariot deal of a few years back. I think Russia (a genuinely new circuit) will be on the BBC.
"We have just fought European Parliament elections and we were the only party that was actually focusing on the thorny issue of Europe and the EU’s flawed Freedom of Movement policy, which prevents us from having the power to control our own borders. The election result reflects the fact that we won the argument.
However, we must move on and develop our policies in other areas. Parties that run narrow campaigns which focus on a few headline policies are doomed to fail in general elections – William Hague’s Conservatives did this in 2001 and Ukip has done it in every election since its inception. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ If we as party do not broaden our agenda with a raft of policies that resonate with the public then we are doomed to fail because we will be repeating the same mistake.
That’s why I want to see us be bold and brave in the policy announcements we make at our party conference in Doncaster in September."
to me it isnt nasty or racist to want to curb immigration
I agree... what is nasty is to label one immigrant as concerning but another as acceptable solely on the basis of their nationality...
Funny, that's exactly what we do at the moment. Official government and opposition policy is EU immigrants good, non EU migrants bad.
We should treat everyone equally no matter where they come from. And that can only be done by leaving the EU.
A perfectly reasoned argument, consistent with having sovereignty over trade deals, and one which Farage should have stuck to.
And he did stick to it. He didn't single out Romanians in the election campaign on any of their billboards. He was just asked a question in a gotcha interview and he gave an honest answer. The rest of the media then jumped on it, and repeated it ad nauseum with far more coverage than it did to the actual main argments UKIP were making. It is then claimed that's the core of their message.
It's such nasty smear tactics that are a major motivating force for me to vote UKIP at the next election. When CCHQ works with the Guardian as part of a smear campaign against UKIP, rather than having an honest debate on policy points, it just shows how the whole political-media elite are all the same. UKIP aren't something new in politics - they're just a return to what we used to have before Blair and Campbell turned up to corrupt our public life.
I would be more than slightly surprised that Cameron would be quite so vocal in coming out against someone who will be in a position to be at least administratively difficult if he was not very confident that he could stop him.
Just one more point on this, the one thing that would be worse for an actual attempted renegotiation than failing to stop Juncker is succeeding in stopping him. The European Parliament would be hopping mad, anyone who supports the democratization process will start to think it can only be done by getting rid of Britain, and any attempt at an actual treaty change, which was already unbelievably hard because it involves 28 member states that all have their own agendas, each with multiple veto points, will be met with somebody's gloating revenge veto.
I can offer two possible explanations.
One: Cameron is a determined BOOer, but he is intent on demonstrating the impossibility of EU reform to the British people so that he can win a referendum on EU exit. Thus he has to sabotage his own attempts to secure reform.
Two: Cameron really does not care about the EU issue, would rather it went away, and so plays the whole thing for short-term advantage and expediency vis his relations with Tory backbenchers and creating credible sounding policies to combat UKIP. Thus the whole renegotiation policy is simply designed to reduce the loss of Tory votes to UKIP at the 2015GE, with no particular thought given to whether it makes any sense in the scenario where he remains PM after the election.
Consequently, the problems that opposing Juncker's candidacy might create for his stated policy in the period after May 2015 are simply too far away in the future that they don't matter to Cameron right now.
I guess there's actually a third, what you might call "Nabavi" option. That is that Cameron is motivated by a genuine desire to reform the EU in order to preserve British membership and he believes that other EU leaders will not take him seriously if he does not try to prevent an establishment federalist from becoming Commission President.
I know it's common to get a bit more reactionary as you get older, but what happens if you're already an anti-semitic, old fascist?
'Put Jewish singer in an oven, says Le Pen
The founder of France’s National Front caused outrage yesterday by saying that a popular Jewish singer should be put in an oven. Two weeks after topping the polls in the European elections, the party was on the defensive after the latest in a long line of anti-Semitic cracks by Jean-Marie Le Pen.'
to me it isnt nasty or racist to want to curb immigration
I agree... what is nasty is to label one immigrant as concerning but another as acceptable solely on the basis of their nationality...
Funny, that's exactly what we do at the moment. Official government and opposition policy is EU immigrants good, non EU migrants bad.
We should treat everyone equally no matter where they come from. And that can only be done by leaving the EU.
A perfectly reasoned argument, consistent with having sovereignty over trade deals, and one which Farage should have stuck to.
And he did stick to it. He didn't single out Romanians in the election campaign on any of their billboards. He was just asked a question in a gotcha interview and he gave an honest answer. The rest of the media then jumped on it, and repeated it ad nauseum with far more coverage than it did to the actual main argments UKIP were making. It is then claimed that's the core of their message.
It's such nasty smear tactics that are a major motivating force for me to vote UKIP at the next election. When CCHQ works with the Guardian as part of a smear campaign against UKIP, rather than having an honest debate on policy points, it just shows how the whole political-media elite are all the same. UKIP aren't something new in politics - they're just a return to what we used to have before Blair and Campbell turned up to corrupt our public life.
Much the same has been happening with Mr Salmond and the indyref debate - and as you say it has upset a lot of people.
Much as I am not impressed by May today, the Lib Dem and Labour MP's that are suggesting that the govt are engaging anti muslim rhetoric are evidence that nothing will change while any of these jokers with their heads in the sand run the country
I would be more than slightly surprised that Cameron would be quite so vocal in coming out against someone who will be in a position to be at least administratively difficult if he was not very confident that he could stop him.
Just one more point on this, the one thing that would be worse for an actual attempted renegotiation than failing to stop Juncker is succeeding in stopping him. The European Parliament would be hopping mad, anyone who supports the democratization process will start to think it can only be done by getting rid of Britain, and any attempt at an actual treaty change, which was already unbelievably hard because it involves 28 member states that all have their own agendas, each with multiple veto points, will be met with somebody's gloating revenge veto.
You really think the European Parliament would have ever been happy with power returning to the nation states under any circumstance? They're arch-federalists. They're going to fight tooth and nail against any repatriation. The only way they would ever vote for the deal is if the nation states arm twisted them into it. That possibility is incredibly slim, but it will exist regardless of how angry they are. A far bigger danger to Cameron is that further powers are transferred without treaty change, showing how weak his referendum lock is. That's going to happen regardless of the appointee, but it might happen less without Juncker.
Much as I am not impressed by May today, the Lib Dem and Labour MP's that are suggesting that the govt are engaging anti muslim rhetoric are evidence that nothing will change while any of these jokers with their heads in the sand run the country
That's the real problem. All this stuff started off really small decades ago and the only reason it got so big was because PC types ignored it.
Mr. Isam, the desire to play the race card (euracism, anyone?) remains strong. You don't need to actually bother responding to the points someone raises if they're nasty old bigots you can label, laugh at, then ignore.
Of course, constantly playing the race card after letting rip with immigration (which remains far too high) has led to lots of people becoming disengaged from politics, and the rise of UKIP. The Conservatives may be willing to tackle extremism (although I'm significantly unimpressed with May's approach, provoking a needless intra-Cabinet spat) but I have less faith in the Lib Dems and Labour.
The Guardian's paper operation is a complete money sink as a review of GMG's accounts quickly reveals. They should have ceased production of the physical paper yesterday.
Much as I am not impressed by May today, the Lib Dem and Labour MP's that are suggesting that the govt are engaging anti muslim rhetoric are evidence that nothing will change while any of these jokers with their heads in the sand run the country
That's the real problem. All this stuff started off really small decades ago and the only reason it got so big was because PC types ignored it.
It really is jaw-dropping. I don't expect left wingers to completely come to the same beliefs as me about this topic, but the fact that they all read threads like the last few PB ones and post about how right-wingers are being bigots, without any condemnation of the actual bigotry from these Muslim schools, demonstrates how utterly hypocritical they are. You can have a sensible debate about public services or taxation levels with the more intelligent lefties, but when it comes to matters of immigration and integration they seem nearly universally to suffer from a sort of mental deficiency that prevents them from interpreting and judging facts with the same yardstick for everyone.
I know it's common to get a bit more reactionary as you get older, but what happens if you're already an anti-semitic, old fascist?
'Put Jewish singer in an oven, says Le Pen
The founder of France’s National Front caused outrage yesterday by saying that a popular Jewish singer should be put in an oven. Two weeks after topping the polls in the European elections, the party was on the defensive after the latest in a long line of anti-Semitic cracks by Jean-Marie Le Pen.'
Much as I am not impressed by May today, the Lib Dem and Labour MP's that are suggesting that the govt are engaging anti muslim rhetoric are evidence that nothing will change while any of these jokers with their heads in the sand run the country
That's the real problem. All this stuff started off really small decades ago and the only reason it got so big was because PC types ignored it.
It really is jaw-dropping. I don't expect left wingers to completely come to the same beliefs as me about this topic, but the fact that they all read threads like the last few PB ones and post about how right-wingers are being bigots, without any condemnation of the actual bigotry from these Muslim schools, demonstrates how utterly hypocritical they are. You can have a sensible debate about public services or taxation levels with the more intelligent lefties, but when it comes to matters of immigration and integration they seem nearly universally to suffer from a sort of mental deficiency that prevents them from interpreting and judging facts with the same yardstick for everyone.
PC is their religion. Secularization doesn't stop naturally religious people being religious they just get religious about an ideology instead.
Mr. 56, to be fair, the excitable DJ did ask if Farage would prefer: A) a group of Romanian men some German children moving in next door. I would've thought both would be cause for concern.
He was just asked a question in a gotcha interview and he gave an honest answer.
Well, indeed - gotcha.
Except it wasn't a gotcha. Which is why lefties like you have had to deliberately lie about his answer in order to make him look bad. It reveals more about the ugliness and unpleasantness of the establishment than it does about Farage. The Great British public intuitively understood this, which is why UKIP went on to win the European elections after it. Your racism smears don't work any more with anyone but partisan lefty idiots.
Mr. 56, to be fair, the excitable DJ did ask if Farage would prefer: A) a group of Romanian men some German children moving in next door. I would've thought both would be cause for concern.
I would be more than slightly surprised that Cameron would be quite so vocal in coming out against someone who will be in a position to be at least administratively difficult if he was not very confident that he could stop him.
Just one more point on this, the one thing that would be worse for an actual attempted renegotiation than failing to stop Juncker is succeeding in stopping him. The European Parliament would be hopping mad, anyone who supports the democratization process will start to think it can only be done by getting rid of Britain, and any attempt at an actual treaty change, which was already unbelievably hard because it involves 28 member states that all have their own agendas, each with multiple veto points, will be met with somebody's gloating revenge veto.
You really think the European Parliament would have ever been happy with power returning to the nation states under any circumstance? They're arch-federalists. They're going to fight tooth and nail against any repatriation. The only way they would ever vote for the deal is if the nation states arm twisted them into it. That possibility is incredibly slim, but it will exist regardless of how angry they are. A far bigger danger to Cameron is that further powers are transferred without treaty change, showing how weak his referendum lock is. That's going to happen regardless of the appointee, but it might happen less without Juncker.
It's not just parliament, it's also people in other member states seeing the UK blocking democratic reform. You can't use the threat of leaving to extract concessions from people who want you to leave.
Mr. Eagles, I am willing to conduct an exhaustive review of girls' sixth form colleges to ascertain just how good or bad their education is. Shouldn't take me more than 6-7 years.
I would be more than slightly surprised that Cameron would be quite so vocal in coming out against someone who will be in a position to be at least administratively difficult if he was not very confident that he could stop him.
Just one more point on this, the one thing that would be worse for an actual attempted renegotiation than failing to stop Juncker is succeeding in stopping him. The European Parliament would be hopping mad, anyone who supports the democratization process will start to think it can only be done by getting rid of Britain, and any attempt at an actual treaty change, which was already unbelievably hard because it involves 28 member states that all have their own agendas, each with multiple veto points, will be met with somebody's gloating revenge veto.
You really think the European Parliament would have ever been happy with power returning to the nation states under any circumstance? They're arch-federalists. They're going to fight tooth and nail against any repatriation. The only way they would ever vote for the deal is if the nation states arm twisted them into it. That possibility is incredibly slim, but it will exist regardless of how angry they are. A far bigger danger to Cameron is that further powers are transferred without treaty change, showing how weak his referendum lock is. That's going to happen regardless of the appointee, but it might happen less without Juncker.
It's not just parliament, it's also people in other member states seeing the UK blocking democratic reform. You can't use the threat of leaving to extract concessions from people who want you to leave.
Which countries do you think support the President of the Commission being appointed by the composition of the European parliament over agreement of the nation states?
Mr. Slackbladder, something that seemed weird to me the other day was that Resident Evil 2 came out in 1998... or 16 years ago. Doesn't seem that long.
Socrates, UKIP got 27% in the Euros, compared to labour and conservatives just behind. You many call this 'winning', and of course some may agree with you. But 73% voted against their principle plank in these elections namely leaving the EU at once. Some might call that losing. These were not elections for anybody to form anything, certainly not anything so boring as a government. I think it does you're argument no great credit to term them 'winners'.
PS Sorry to hear about Rik Mayall. A vibrant talent.
Ashcroft National Poll, 6-8 June: CON 28% (+3), LAB 32% (-2), LD 8% (+2), UKIP 17% (-2). Details on @ConHome, 4pm
Intriguing, I have to say that these Ashcroft polls are interesting but seem somewhat turbulent.
Yes, it is turbulent but this, together with Populus showing a 1% Lab lead this morning, means it's a better polling day for Con so far - suggests the bounce in the Lab lead post Euros may now be starting to fade.
Matthew Goodwin @GoodwinMJ 1m Ukip only need 7% to have real impact in 2015. Their current average is twice that -14%. Someone tell mystic Dan http://bit.ly/1uKX8W8
Mr. Rentool, you mean like the 2004 GP contracts? Or proposing to reduce the NHS budget?
On a non-party political note, I wonder if we'll have an interesting discussion about whether or not certain activities, behaviours and foodstuffs should be subjected to tax increases or reductions based on the impact they have on the health of individuals and, therefore, the eventual cost to the taxpayer. Cigarettes and alcohol already have this, of course.
The demographic challenge for the NHS is going to be a serious challenge for whoever's in power.
Farage and Romanians next door? Its no use his apologists defending him, once the accusations broke after his remarks he said they were wrong. Did he say he was tired and no sleep, or was that another gaffe? Anyway he himself says they were wrong. But he is always doing that, chirping his dog whistles and then saying oops sorry. I think any 'tired and weary' excuses ought to wear thin when he is seen arriving in an overseas hotel at 4 in the morning on the eve of a by election. The fact that the minoskirted woman he was with had a walking stick is neither here nor there
Socrates, UKIP got 27% in the Euros, compared to labour and conservatives just behind. You many call this 'winning', and of course some may agree with you. But 73% voted against their principle plank in these elections namely leaving the EU at once. Some might call that losing. These were not elections for anybody to form anything, certainly not anything so boring as a government. I think it does you're argument no great credit to term them 'winners'.
PS Sorry to hear about Rik Mayall. A vibrant talent.
The Conservatives platform was based on reducing the EU's power, and Labour's campaign wasn't about the EU at all. The only party making a pro-EU case were the EU, and their vote was devastated. So you can try to spin this all you want, but nobody likes a Europhile.
Socrates, UKIP got 27% in the Euros, compared to labour and conservatives just behind. You many call this 'winning', and of course some may agree with you. But 73% voted against their principle plank in these elections namely leaving the EU at once. Some might call that losing. These were not elections for anybody to form anything, certainly not anything so boring as a government. I think it does you're argument no great credit to term them 'winners'.
UKIP received more votes than any other single party - of course they won the European elections.
If it had been an STV election and they had proved to be transfer repellent, and so consequently failed to win the most number of MEP seats, then you might have some claim to say that they did not win the elections. But since we used party-list PR they didn't have to worry about that.
Socrates, UKIP got 27% in the Euros, compared to labour and conservatives just behind. You many call this 'winning', and of course some may agree with you. But 73% voted against their principle plank in these elections namely leaving the EU at once. Some might call that losing. These were not elections for anybody to form anything, certainly not anything so boring as a government. I think it does you're argument no great credit to term them 'winners'.
PS Sorry to hear about Rik Mayall. A vibrant talent.
Coming first is generally considered to be winning.
Mr. Eagles, I am willing to conduct an exhaustive review of girls' sixth form colleges to ascertain just how good or bad their education is. Shouldn't take me more than 6-7 years.
How about an extensive review of convents, to see if nuns are maintaining their vows of chastity?
I know it's common to get a bit more reactionary as you get older, but what happens if you're already an anti-semitic, old fascist?
'Put Jewish singer in an oven, says Le Pen
The founder of France’s National Front caused outrage yesterday by saying that a popular Jewish singer should be put in an oven. Two weeks after topping the polls in the European elections, the party was on the defensive after the latest in a long line of anti-Semitic cracks by Jean-Marie Le Pen.'
Obviously I agree with you Mr F ... However ... What have they 'won'. Their view was considered a clear abd significant minority by the electorate that could be bothered to vote. To imply that the nation is swinging to them is absurd. Indeed as subsequent polling I believe showed, the trend towards staying in the EU actually hardened.
Comments
acceptable purely on the basis of their politics.
Many on the Left would be happy to side with any immigrant (from wherever and whether here illegally or not) over a Tory or a Kipper....
We should treat everyone equally no matter where they come from. And that can only be done by leaving the EU.
....A little shimmy to the right.
A little shimmy to the left....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27764730
"In terms of the extent that she mentioned-the 16,500 and the 2,409-are those figures a surprise to you, or do they bear out the kind of investigations that you have been involved in?"
If you mapped the clusters of relatively strong BNP support with the areas where people knew about thousands of English children being raped, tortured, forced into prostitution and sometimes killed by grooming gangs while the entire political and media class covered it up what do you think the correlation would be?
Ah the old "Im so mmorally pure I dont understand"
schtick...didnt take long
Supporters of all parties showed a preference for German neighbours over Romanians in a poll. As expected UKIP were least enthusiastic about either, and the Lib Dems were most enthusiastic. But all party groups showed the same distinction in temrs of who theyd prefer if forced to choose
So Farage was right to make the distinction
Total matched on this event:£18,319
Betting summary - Volume:£31
Last price matched: 220
You must have good faith in the Pickles surge !
I also have a potential early bet idea. Odds not that there yet. Betfair markets are up but haven't got going, Ladbrokes only have the winner market.
Incidentally, Austria's a returning circuit, so sort-of new. Won't be on the BBC unfortunately due to the organisation's Judas Iscariot deal of a few years back. I think Russia (a genuinely new circuit) will be on the BBC.
And don't forget to read my thrilling post-race analysis of Canada:
http://enormo-haddock.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/canada-post-race-analysis.html
However, we must move on and develop our policies in other areas. Parties that run narrow campaigns which focus on a few headline policies are doomed to fail in general elections – William Hague’s Conservatives did this in 2001 and Ukip has done it in every election since its inception. Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ If we as party do not broaden our agenda with a raft of policies that resonate with the public then we are doomed to fail because we will be repeating the same mistake.
That’s why I want to see us be bold and brave in the policy announcements we make at our party conference in Doncaster in September."
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/06/what-ism-sums-up-ukip-common-sense-ism/
It's such nasty smear tactics that are a major motivating force for me to vote UKIP at the next election. When CCHQ works with the Guardian as part of a smear campaign against UKIP, rather than having an honest debate on policy points, it just shows how the whole political-media elite are all the same. UKIP aren't something new in politics - they're just a return to what we used to have before Blair and Campbell turned up to corrupt our public life.
EDIT: Link removed
One: Cameron is a determined BOOer, but he is intent on demonstrating the impossibility of EU reform to the British people so that he can win a referendum on EU exit. Thus he has to sabotage his own attempts to secure reform.
Two: Cameron really does not care about the EU issue, would rather it went away, and so plays the whole thing for short-term advantage and expediency vis his relations with Tory backbenchers and creating credible sounding policies to combat UKIP. Thus the whole renegotiation policy is simply designed to reduce the loss of Tory votes to UKIP at the 2015GE, with no particular thought given to whether it makes any sense in the scenario where he remains PM after the election.
Consequently, the problems that opposing Juncker's candidacy might create for his stated policy in the period after May 2015 are simply too far away in the future that they don't matter to Cameron right now.
I guess there's actually a third, what you might call "Nabavi" option. That is that Cameron is motivated by a genuine desire to reform the EU in order to preserve British membership and he believes that other EU leaders will not take him seriously if he does not try to prevent an establishment federalist from becoming Commission President.
The Chancellor bored by T May statement. He's started Tweeting from the front bench:
twitter.com/George_Osborne/status/476007575566438401 …
*Innocent face*
I thought that but saw the date and time and thought it was ok
Will delete linkage
EDIT Oh, its too late
Of course, constantly playing the race card after letting rip with immigration (which remains far too high) has led to lots of people becoming disengaged from politics, and the rise of UKIP. The Conservatives may be willing to tackle extremism (although I'm significantly unimpressed with May's approach, provoking a needless intra-Cabinet spat) but I have less faith in the Lib Dems and Labour.
Theresa May will never be leader of the Conservative Party
A) a group of Romanian men
moving in next door. I would've thought both would be cause for concern.
As the product of an all boys school, it is great for your education.
Sky News Newsdesk @SkyNewsBreak 13s
A spokesman for Brunskill Management says comedian and actor Rik Mayall has died aged 56
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKfbSHW9uGA
A bit like saying no government has done more to promote mobile phone use, or green energy production.
Gladstone may have had some great reforming ministries, but these three issues were indeed sadly neglected in them.
I wonder how much that Quad bike accident he had affected his health?
Ashcroft National Poll, 6-8 June: CON 28% (+3), LAB 32% (-2), LD 8% (+2), UKIP 17% (-2). Details on @ConHome, 4pm
Rik Mayall ran his Twitter account like a pro. RIP.
pic.twitter.com/1ZXi22h0CG
Time, you bastard.
"Improving the NHS" at the top of the list of voters' priorities for "me & my family" in the Ashcroft National Poll:
pic.twitter.com/TTTpmBNgmu
Glad voice-acting's moved on, though.
These were not elections for anybody to form anything, certainly not anything so boring as a government. I think it does you're argument no great credit to term them 'winners'.
PS
Sorry to hear about Rik Mayall. A vibrant talent.
Ukip only need 7% to have real impact in 2015. Their current average is twice that -14%. Someone tell mystic Dan http://bit.ly/1uKX8W8
On a non-party political note, I wonder if we'll have an interesting discussion about whether or not certain activities, behaviours and foodstuffs should be subjected to tax increases or reductions based on the impact they have on the health of individuals and, therefore, the eventual cost to the taxpayer. Cigarettes and alcohol already have this, of course.
The demographic challenge for the NHS is going to be a serious challenge for whoever's in power.
Its no use his apologists defending him, once the accusations broke after his remarks he said they were wrong. Did he say he was tired and no sleep, or was that another gaffe? Anyway he himself says they were wrong. But he is always doing that, chirping his dog whistles and then saying oops sorry.
I think any 'tired and weary' excuses ought to wear thin when he is seen arriving in an overseas hotel at 4 in the morning on the eve of a by election. The fact that the minoskirted woman he was with had a walking stick is neither here nor there
Con -3, Lab +2, UKIP +1
That's a pretty good effort for a constituency poll.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark_by-election,_2014#Polling
If it had been an STV election and they had proved to be transfer repellent, and so consequently failed to win the most number of MEP seats, then you might have some claim to say that they did not win the elections. But since we used party-list PR they didn't have to worry about that.
No party has won 50%+1 since 1935.