I can only assume that those who advocate a 9% UKIP vote must be blinkered by London-centric view of politics. On the morning of May 23rd, having stayed up through the night for LabourList’s election liveblog, I was reflecting on a poor night so far for Labour."
I really couldn't care less whether Cameron or Miliband is PM this time next year, but Labours approach to winning by doing little other than look at the stats/electoral system flaws needed to gain power is cynical to say the least, and it makes me kind of hope they fail.
Oh but you will - Cam = PM means a referendum.. Ed means none meaning you can moan endlessly.
"Cam = PM means a referendum"
Does it? He is PM now
Yes.
I think you are wrong.. have a think
No I'm pretty sure Cam is PM - perhaps someone will confirm - wikipedia ?
Less of the unfunny smugness... Ill bet you 6/4 Cameron is PM in 2017 and there is no referendum
£200?
Is the bet void if no Cam PM ?
Yes
£50 yer on...
OK so I have £50 at 6/4 no Referendum, ie you have £75@4/6 there will be?
The qualifier is that Cameron has to be PM
Er no - the 6/4 is in my favour surely ? Not 4/6.
No, no you are on at 4/6 that there will be a referendum if Cameron is PM
I thought you said it was a certainty?
You offered the bet.. I'd accept at evens.
I said I'd take at 6/4 and you said £50!
This all started because you said "Cam=PM" meant a referendum.. now you don't think its a 60% chance?
@Morris_Dancer Searches of PB are further complicated by the changes in software, and the outages that occurred, and despite Roberts best endeavors, parts of the archive appear to be missing. (which is why I could only post a link to Cameron's calls for an election). Anyone who feels like it, and has the time is welcome to find an archive close to the date in question, and I will try to find the specific posts from there.
Is it Balls birthday soon? Dear Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kind regards on the anniversary of your being born From The Leader of the Opposition
I can only assume that those who advocate a 9% UKIP vote must be blinkered by London-centric view of politics. On the morning of May 23rd, having stayed up through the night for LabourList’s election liveblog, I was reflecting on a poor night so far for Labour."
I really couldn't care less whether Cameron or Miliband is PM this time next year, but Labours approach to winning by doing little other than look at the stats/electoral system flaws needed to gain power is cynical to say the least, and it makes me kind of hope they fail.
Oh but you will - Cam = PM means a referendum.. Ed means none meaning you can moan endlessly.
"Cam = PM means a referendum"
Does it? He is PM now
Yes.
I think you are wrong.. have a think
No I'm pretty sure Cam is PM - perhaps someone will confirm - wikipedia ?
Less of the unfunny smugness... Ill bet you 6/4 Cameron is PM in 2017 and there is no referendum
£200?
Is the bet void if no Cam PM ?
Yes
£50 yer on...
OK so I have £50 at 6/4 no Referendum, ie you have £75@4/6 there will be?
The qualifier is that Cameron has to be PM
Er no - the 6/4 is in my favour surely ? Not 4/6.
No, no you are on at 4/6 that there will be a referendum if Cameron is PM
I thought you said it was a certainty?
You offered the bet.. I'd accept at evens.
I said I'd take at 6/4 and you said £50!
This all started because you said "Cam=PM" meant a referendum.. now you don't think its a 60% chance?
I said I'll go to evens - s'up to you.
You laid 6/4
isam: Ill bet you 6/4 Cameron is PM in 2017 and there is no referendum
£200?
TGOHF: Is the bet void if no Cam PM ?
isam: Yes
TGOHF :£50 yer on...
isam: OK so I have £50 at 6/4 no Referendum, ie you have £75@4/6 there will be?
Mr. Isam, what would happen to the bet if Cameron is re-elected as PM in 2015, goes off to do his negotiations, realises he is not going to be able to pull of a Wilson and resigns in 2017 before the referendum is called?
I appreciate how difficult it is to get these things right, but Ed/Labour's effort here on the remembrance wreaths is extraordinary: Link
EdM was very busy over the weekend condemning Cameron for not condemning Israel often enough. So in his absence one of his office signed on his behalf. We all know that EdM cares little for numerous media appearances just to grab a headline and thinks that stunts to attract tv coverage through meaningless attacks on Govt are not what EdM is about. Being a busy principled man leaves little time for the small bits of signing that a Leader is asked to do.
Mr. Isam, what would happen to the bet if Cameron is re-elected as PM in 2015, goes off to do his negotiations, realises he is not going to be able to pull of a Wilson and resigns in 2017 before the referendum is called?
Deary me - that's a shocking effort from Ed Miliband.
I don't believe it, no politician would be that crass and unsensitive. That has to be a spoof.
C4 news claiming it isn't. Looks like a PA or intern has filled it in..
Edit - bit much, even for me
Do PAs/interns not grasp that this is pretty f*cking important and maybe, just maybe they should write some words like "Remembering the fallen", "We will remember them", "The glorious dead", "In remembrance" - something just something like that ?!
Deary me - that's a shocking effort from Ed Miliband.
I don't believe it, no politician would be that crass and unsensitive. That has to be a spoof.
C4 news claiming it isn't. Looks like a PA or intern has filled it in..
Edit - bit much, even for me
Do PAs/interns not grasp that this is pretty f*cking important and maybe, just maybe they should write some words like "Remembering the fallen", "We will remember them", "The glorious dead", "In remembrance" - something just something like that ?!
How can a PA/intern or w/e be so unaware ?
Because they are lefty plebs working for a lefty pleb and have no interest in honour, respect or anything other than their client vote?
Deary me - that's a shocking effort from Ed Miliband.
I don't believe it, no politician would be that crass and unsensitive. That has to be a spoof.
C4 news claiming it isn't. Looks like a PA or intern has filled it in..
Edit - bit much, even for me
Do PAs/interns not grasp that this is pretty f*cking important and maybe, just maybe they should write some words like "Remembering the fallen", "We will remember them", "The glorious dead", "In remembrance" - something just something like that ?!
How can a PA/intern or w/e be so unaware ?
Because they are lefty plebs working for a lefty pleb and have no interest in honour, respect or anything other than their client vote?
@HurstLlama I have found his medal card, and despite the National Archive site's attempt to "scramble" it, it appears the M.M. was awarded for an action on the Western Front. This is not a great help, as the medal was created in 1916 but could be backdated to 1914. The "block" listing on the London gazette only contains one other name though ( 6 Jan 1917) which might point to it being for an action in the latter part of 1916, by which time the 1st battalion would already have left. Not conclusive, but adds to the circumstantial evidence in that "backdated" awards would I think be released in larger "blocks". ( pte. Sutherland J 10844 Highland Light Infantry ) which might fit with him being busted from L Cpl. back down to private on the same day according to the story, but it might just have easily been that he was promoted after (eventually being demobbed as a corporal). As you know, even the battalions war diaries are lacking information on the common soldier. As an aside, reading the losses amongst their officers is bad enough, and I have the highest respect for them, if not the "high command".
Ed Miliband needs to get some new aides. If I was a SPAD or intern, researcher or w/e I'd be completely embarrassed by that lamentable effort and just resign immediately.
OldKingCole says (or said) - 'Just because existing regimes are bad, it does not follow that their replacements will be any better… '
No. But just because a course of action has problems does not mean that it should not be pursued. Dictatorships and the toleration of totalitarianism are not the best way to promote peace or freedom in the world. Wishing the awkward problems of the world to go away is not going to help us in our future. The West did not start the anti Gadaffi revolution, the West showed itself to be far too willing to put up with his excesses. The West were confronted with the consequences and elected (rightly in my humble opinion) to intervene to prevent massacres. Anti intervention votes in parliament have given the green light to all kinds of fanatics - its this which is the disaster. We should be constant and resolute in supporting all factions that are democratic and not fanatic. The Labour Party and idiot tory backbenchers have done the world a grave disservice.
Ed Miliband needs to get some new aides. If I was a SPAD or intern, researcher or w/e I'd be completely embarrassed by that lamentable effort and just resign immediately.
Ed should have removed the note - better nothing than that.
However polling shows that Lib-Lab switchers don't care about this topic
If that was the case, and to be honest, I don't think Miliband would be so insensitive to lay the wreath with that message as part of a plan, then he should really have detached the note. He could have shown the note afterwards as evidence of his quick thinking if pressed as to why there was no note
Cameron's wreath had a personal signed message in remembrance Milibands (on the same paper) just said 'from the leader of the opposition' labour claim it's all because Ed got given his wreath seconds before laying it and the message was pre-written by the organisers. Seems that's only a problem be had though.....
Labour claim ed was given the wreath 'seconds' before having to lay it, already filled in by the authorities. So he just went ahead.
It's not clear, according to labour, how that dastardly David Cameron managed to write a heart felt message on HIS wreath (presumably given over at the same time?)
Perhaps Dave got his wreath blank, and ed got his filled in??
Ed Miliband needs to get some new aides. If I was a SPAD or intern, researcher or w/e I'd be completely embarrassed by that lamentable effort and just resign immediately.
Ed should have removed the note - better nothing than that.
However polling shows that Lib-Lab switchers don't care about this topic
Red Liberals back unpatriotic, Ill-prepared, disrespectful buffoons 100%
Labour claim ed was given the wreath 'seconds' before having to lay it, already filled in by the authorities. So he just went ahead.
It's not clear, according to labour, how that dastardly David Cameron managed to write a heart felt message on HIS wreath (presumably given over at the same time?)
Perhaps Dave got his wreath blank, and ed got his filled in??
Almost looks like it is a placeholder, to tell them that this is the wreath belonging to the LOTO.
What's been written on Clegg's wreath - should be instructive.
Poor form of the organisers to hand him that wreath tbh though - if that is what has happened.
Not if, despite repeated requests, No message had been sent back to attach (for example), or no contact had been made about message content (for example)
Not only making an egregious insult to the dead and their heirs by not taking care to write his own tribute but made worse by a silly attempt to wriggle out of it with an excuse that a six year old would see as full of holes.
His excuse: he couldn't even be bothered to bring a wreath in the first place and had to use someone else's.
Mr Smarmerton your aside, 'As an aside, reading the losses amongst their officers is bad enough, and I have the highest respect for them, if not the "high command" ' does show you do not understand the issues facing the 'high command'.
It was the high command which introduced the Lewis gun, which oversaw the changes in artillery tactics, which reorganised the make up of the infantry battalions, which constantly reviewed and implemented the various training regimes implementing greater field craft, which introduced the tank, which oversaw airborne reconnaissance and other operations and which created the army which, by combining all these factors into a modern whole, finally defeated Germany. The day which all of us should be looking towards remembering is 8 August 2018 - the 100th anniversary on the battle of Amiens. This was the day we gave Ludendorff a nervous breakdown.
Cameron coming out of this looking pretty good IMO!
Quite. Looks like he took the time to ensure a fitting message was attached. I would imagine Salmond did too, being a smart cookie. The dross of British politics didn't bother,
Cameron's wreath had a personal signed message in remembrance Milibands (on the same paper) just said 'from the leader of the opposition' labour claim it's all because Ed got given his wreath seconds before laying it and the message was pre-written by the organisers. Seems that's only a problem be had though.....
Really someone from his office should have got in touch with the organisers to say that they wanted to make sure that an appropriate note (produce an appropriately handwritten note from EdM) would be attached to the wreath. One phone call and the 5 minutes it takes to write the note. It's not as if they didn't have plenty of notice.
Poor thinking and sloppy planning by EdM's office.
Edit: Of course if the organisers left it to the last minute then that's sloppy too. It really doesn't take a genius to organise these things.
@Flightpath Historians have been arguing about the competence , or lack of, of the High Command during WW1. You are entitled to your view, as I am entitled to mine. It was not easy, as it was a "new" type of warfare, but you will be hard pressed to say that there solutions showed a great understanding of what was the actual reality on the ground. Some of this can be put down to the primitive communications of the time, but heaps of it can only be explained by an indifference on both sides to the fate of their troops and a lack of imagination.
Deary me - that's a shocking effort from Ed Miliband.
I don't believe it, no politician would be that crass and unsensitive. That has to be a spoof.
C4 news claiming it isn't. Looks like a PA or intern has filled it in..
Perhaps it was a set up by the SNP organisers but Cameron was ready for them. If it was the organisers fault then they should be shot - not least because the writing is in itself so infantile and crass, not even respectfully printed. If Miliband's helpers were half asleep and allowed it to happen than they should be shot. If it was Miliband's fault then he should stay as we tories clearly need him.
Note all 'shooting' is metaphorical. These 'labels' look to me to be just markers and the idea was they should be have been replaced by some personal inscription.
But who would have woken up this morning with the thought that Miliband would be guilty of allowing such a crass description on a wreath he was laying? You could not make it up.
@HurstLlama I have found his medal card, and despite the National Archive site's attempt to "scramble" it, it appears the M.M. was awarded for an action on the Western Front. This is not a great help, as the medal was created in 1916 but could be backdated to 1914. The "block" listing on the London gazette only contains one other name though ( 6 Jan 1917) which might point to it being for an action in the latter part of 1916, by which time the 1st battalion would already have left. Not conclusive, but adds to the circumstantial evidence in that "backdated" awards would I think be released in larger "blocks". ( pte. Sutherland J 10844 Highland Light Infantry ) which might fit with him being busted from L Cpl. back down to private on the same day according to the story, but it might just have easily been that he was promoted after (eventually being demobbed as a corporal). As you know, even the battalions war diaries are lacking information on the common soldier. As an aside, reading the losses amongst their officers is bad enough, and I have the highest respect for them, if not the "high command".
Plumbing the information you provided into the new IWM site gives a corporal John Sutherland and a Private J Sutherland of the HLI with the same service number, both seem to be stub records created from a medal index card. No news to you, but there is no other detail recorded and I am sure you do have relevent information. As the IWM is trying to build an archive of the lives of people in WWI maybe you would think about contributing what you do know about your grandfather.
By the way, the award of the MM is a big deal and was even in the midst of a World War. A gallantry award has never been given lightly in the British army so whatever he did to deserve it is probably recorded in the war diary. If it was for an action on the Western front then there is quite a narrow time frame to consider.
P.S. I see that the HLI arrived in Marseilles in December 1914, do you happen to know the name of the troopship he was on? The reason I ask was that my grandfather was also in India when war broke out and his battalion came back at about that time. It would be an odd coincidence if a hundred years later their respective grandsons were chatting on something neither of them could have imagined.
OK, I confess this is rather a big counterfactual but:
How about?
No WW1, no Treaty of Versailles, no Bolshevik Revolution, no Communism, no Naziism, no Holocaust, no ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, no ongoing Russo-Ukrainian Conflict.
Well every Ed critic has to apply the same to Clegg obviously.. strange that people aren't doing so...
But how come Cameron wrote a tribute? That's what we need to find out
I said they are both the dross of British politics. What the episode shows, however this came about is that Cameron is a better politician, and a better man, than either his deputy or LOTO
@isam His department would have organized the wreaths, and, if you are a cynic, arranged it so that Cameron's pre written note was attached, while making sure neither Clegg or Ed had time to attach one themselves. Basic politics, with added twitter tweets.
Ed Miliband needs to get some new aides. If I was a SPAD or intern, researcher or w/e I'd be completely embarrassed by that lamentable effort and just resign immediately.
Ed should have removed the note - better nothing than that.
However polling shows that Lib-Lab switchers don't care about this topic
Looks laminated to me, think he could have damaged the wreath if he attempted to remove the note.
Ed better hope that the organisers weren't in touch with him/his office about an appropriate note.
It seems like this is more on the organisers than on Ed, given Clegg's wreath. But that compare-and-contrast photo is still going to be in several papers tomorrow, I reckon.
OK, I confess this is rather a big counterfactual but:
How about?
No WW1, no Treaty of Versailles, no Bolshevik Revolution, no Communism, no Naziism, no Holocaust, no ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, no ongoing Russo-Ukrainian Conflict.
Bolshevik revolution and communism would have happened anyway, see 1905, Mensheviks and later activity, and would have been the opposition in the first world war whenever that came
@isam His department would have organized the wreaths, and, if you are a cynic, arranged it so that Cameron's pre written note was attached, while making sure neither Clegg or Ed had time to attach one themselves. Basic politics, with added twitter tweets.
@HurstLlama I have found his medal card, and despite the National Archive site's attempt to "scramble" it, it appears the M.M. was awarded for an action on the Western Front. This is not a great help, as the medal was created in 1916 but could be backdated to 1914. The "block" listing on the London gazette only contains one other name though ( 6 Jan 1917) which might point to it being for an action in the latter part of 1916, by which time the 1st battalion would already have left. Not conclusive, but adds to the circumstantial evidence in that "backdated" awards would I think be released in larger "blocks". ( pte. Sutherland J 10844 Highland Light Infantry ) which might fit with him being busted from L Cpl. back down to private on the same day according to the story, but it might just have easily been that he was promoted after (eventually being demobbed as a corporal). As you know, even the battalions war diaries are lacking information on the common soldier. As an aside, reading the losses amongst their officers is bad enough, and I have the highest respect for them, if not the "high command".
No news to you, but there is no other detail recorded and I am sure you do have relevent information. As the IWM is trying to build an archive of the lives of people in WWI maybe you would think about contributing what you do know about your grandfather.
By the way, the award of the MM is a big deal and was even in the midst of a World War. A gallantry award has never been given lightly in the British army so whatever he did to deserve it is probably recorded in the war diary. If it was for an action on the Western front then there is quite a narrow time frame to consider.
P.S. I see that the HLI arrived in Marseilles in December 1914, do you happen to know the name of the troopship he was on? The reason I ask was that my grandfather was also in India when war broke out and his battalion came back at about that time. It would be an odd coincidence if a hundred years later their respective grandsons were chatting on something neither of them could have imagined.
My great uncle, an Irishman and a doctor, joined the British Army and died in 1916. I have his war diary. He is buried in a grave outside Calais. My own father joined the RAF and became a squadron leader.
Interestingly, the National Museum of Ireland is starting to collect information about Irishmen fighting in both world wars, having rather previously neglected them (to put it mildly) - last week's unveiling of a memorial to them at Glasnevin Cemetery was an example of this. I have offered to share information about my relatives but have yet to hear back. It would be good to get their contribution recognised.
Update: Nick Clegg's wreath says "From the Deputy Prime Minister" and is in the same handwriting as Miliband's http://labli.st/1v1gUAo
OK, so the same person wrote both Ed's and Nick's wreath. Did they also write Dave's? Did all three men get them in time to write a personal message? If not, why not?
@isam His department would have organized the wreaths, and, if you are a cynic, arranged it so that Cameron's pre written note was attached, while making sure neither Clegg or Ed had time to attach one themselves. Basic politics, with added twitter tweets.
If this is somehow an attempt to stitch up Clegg/Miliband then that would be an utter disgrace.
Someone has either fucked up, or acted in a wholely inappropriate political manner - big time. Quite who though I'm not sure.
Comments
Happy anniversary,
the leader of the opposition
Who cares if it's photoshopped? It's classic bacon buttie stuff
Searches of PB are further complicated by the changes in software, and the outages that occurred, and despite Roberts best endeavors, parts of the archive appear to be missing.
(which is why I could only post a link to Cameron's calls for an election).
Anyone who feels like it, and has the time is welcome to find an archive close to the date in question, and I will try to find the specific posts from there.
David Cameron @David_Cameron 1m
Their enduring legacy is our liberty - remembering the fallen at the Cenotaph in Glasgow. #WW1centenary
"Their enduring legacy is our liberty"
Which our governments remove from us without even a proper debate?
Dear Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Kind regards on the anniversary of your being born
From
The Leader of the Opposition
isam: Ill bet you 6/4 Cameron is PM in 2017 and there is no referendum
£200?
TGOHF: Is the bet void if no Cam PM ?
isam: Yes
TGOHF :£50 yer on...
isam: OK so I have £50 at 6/4 no Referendum, ie you have £75@4/6 there will be?
The qualifier is that Cameron has to be PM
We've been told this many times.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/britain-has-taken-longer-to-recover-from-recession-than-at-any-time-since-the-south-sea-bubble-9645218.html
I'm sorry, but this is far, far worse than any apparent inability to eat a bloody bacon sandwich pic.twitter.com/WbOTHxdInK
Lazy Git
Thank you.
Following on from our conversation yesterday about your grandfather's WWI service, have you seen the Imperial War Museum's new site?
https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/
You may find it a source of useful information as you have the old chap's service number and you may be able to contribute to it.
P.S. The offer of research at the National Archives stands and will remain open. No fee but you can buy me a drink if I find anything useful.
I've always been very interested and knowledgable about history and military history.
Then again.
Ed's father hated Britain. What do you expect
*trollface*
Well said. I was thinking of the very, very best that could be spun out of this by labour.
And it was an epic fail.
Those five constituencies labour could lose to UKIP? they just turned into 10.
'.Hello, I'm LOTO, are you a gun man?'
Ed Mili was handed wreath for today's service by organisers secs before he had to lay it and didnt have chance to write a msg say Labour
Keumars Afifi-Sabet @Keumars 9m
Has Ed Miliband just laid the wreath to end all wreaths? #WW1centenary
How can a PA/intern or w/e be so unaware ?
Yeah..pull the other one, it's got bells on it
Or Cameron took the time before hand to make sure he had written up a note for the wreath.
It would be interesting to see what was on Clegg and Salmond's wreathes.
Did Farage lay one??
Time for a hashtag:
#NotUpToItEd
http://labourlist.org/2014/08/about-that-miliband-wreath/
Labourlist doing it's best for ed.
I have found his medal card, and despite the National Archive site's attempt to "scramble" it, it appears the M.M. was awarded for an action on the Western Front.
This is not a great help, as the medal was created in 1916 but could be backdated to 1914.
The "block" listing on the London gazette only contains one other name though ( 6 Jan 1917)
which might point to it being for an action in the latter part of 1916, by which time the 1st battalion would already have left.
Not conclusive, but adds to the circumstantial evidence in that "backdated" awards would I think be released in larger "blocks".
( pte. Sutherland J 10844 Highland Light Infantry ) which might fit with him being busted from L Cpl. back down to private on the same day according to the story, but it might just have easily been that he was promoted after (eventually being demobbed as a corporal).
As you know, even the battalions war diaries are lacking information on the common soldier. As an aside, reading the losses amongst their officers is bad enough, and I have the highest respect for them, if not the "high command".
No. But just because a course of action has problems does not mean that it should not be pursued. Dictatorships and the toleration of totalitarianism are not the best way to promote peace or freedom in the world. Wishing the awkward problems of the world to go away is not going to help us in our future.
The West did not start the anti Gadaffi revolution, the West showed itself to be far too willing to put up with his excesses. The West were confronted with the consequences and elected (rightly in my humble opinion) to intervene to prevent massacres.
Anti intervention votes in parliament have given the green light to all kinds of fanatics - its this which is the disaster. We should be constant and resolute in supporting all factions that are democratic and not fanatic. The Labour Party and idiot tory backbenchers have done the world a grave disservice.
However polling shows that Lib-Lab switchers don't care about this topic
Milibands (on the same paper) just said 'from the leader of the opposition'
labour claim it's all because Ed got given his wreath seconds before laying it and the message was pre-written by the organisers.
Seems that's only a problem be had though.....
I'm not sure that Farage was at the Glasgow Cenotaph - just looks like Cameron, Miliband, Clegg and Salmond
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/live-experience/cps/624/media/images/76727000/jpg/_76727932_de27-2.jpg
It's not clear, according to labour, how that dastardly David Cameron managed to write a heart felt message on HIS wreath (presumably given over at the same time?)
Perhaps Dave got his wreath blank, and ed got his filled in??
Poor form of the organisers to hand him that wreath tbh though - if that is what has happened.
Indeed but Dave's wreath looks like it was left blank where the placeholder writing is on ed's and Dave filled it in himself. Curious
Not only making an egregious insult to the dead and their heirs by not taking care to write his own tribute but made worse by a silly attempt to wriggle out of it with an excuse that a six year old would see as full of holes.
His excuse: he couldn't even be bothered to bring a wreath in the first place and had to use someone else's.
It was the high command which introduced the Lewis gun, which oversaw the changes in artillery tactics, which reorganised the make up of the infantry battalions, which constantly reviewed and implemented the various training regimes implementing greater field craft, which introduced the tank, which oversaw airborne reconnaissance and other operations and which created the army which, by combining all these factors into a modern whole, finally defeated Germany.
The day which all of us should be looking towards remembering is 8 August 2018 - the 100th anniversary on the battle of Amiens. This was the day we gave Ludendorff a nervous breakdown.
That Cameron wreath/Miliband wreath row that is dominating Twitter, add Clegg's and it looks a bit different (pic PA) pic.twitter.com/MDG4Zkf3ab
On clegg#s wreath,it says from 'From the Deputy Prime Minister' don't know if true.
//twitter.com/JonathanHaynes/status/496277755894722560/photo/1
The dross of British politics didn't bother,
Poor thinking and sloppy planning by EdM's office.
Edit: Of course if the organisers left it to the last minute then that's sloppy too. It really doesn't take a genius to organise these things.
Historians have been arguing about the competence , or lack of, of the High Command during WW1.
You are entitled to your view, as I am entitled to mine.
It was not easy, as it was a "new" type of warfare, but you will be hard pressed to say that there solutions showed a great understanding of what was the actual reality on the ground.
Some of this can be put down to the primitive communications of the time, but heaps of it can only be explained by an indifference on both sides to the fate of their troops and a lack of imagination.
LabourList @LabourList
Update: Nick Clegg's wreath says "From the Deputy Prime Minister" and is in the same handwriting as Miliband's http://labli.st/1v1gUAo
Ed better hope for his own sake he wasn't asked if he wanted to write a personal note.
FFS - stick to chasing Obama for photo ops in future.
Pathetic, pathetic man.
But how come Cameron wrote a tribute? That's what we need to find out
If it was the organisers fault then they should be shot - not least because the writing is in itself so infantile and crass, not even respectfully printed.
If Miliband's helpers were half asleep and allowed it to happen than they should be shot.
If it was Miliband's fault then he should stay as we tories clearly need him.
Note all 'shooting' is metaphorical.
These 'labels' look to me to be just markers and the idea was they should be have been replaced by some personal inscription.
But who would have woken up this morning with the thought that Miliband would be guilty of allowing such a crass description on a wreath he was laying? You could not make it up.
By the way, the award of the MM is a big deal and was even in the midst of a World War. A gallantry award has never been given lightly in the British army so whatever he did to deserve it is probably recorded in the war diary. If it was for an action on the Western front then there is quite a narrow time frame to consider.
P.S. I see that the HLI arrived in Marseilles in December 1914, do you happen to know the name of the troopship he was on? The reason I ask was that my grandfather was also in India when war broke out and his battalion came back at about that time. It would be an odd coincidence if a hundred years later their respective grandsons were chatting on something neither of them could have imagined.
How about?
No WW1, no Treaty of Versailles, no Bolshevik Revolution, no Communism, no Naziism, no Holocaust, no ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, no ongoing Russo-Ukrainian Conflict.
What the episode shows, however this came about is that Cameron is a better politician, and a better man, than either his deputy or LOTO
His department would have organized the wreaths, and, if you are a cynic, arranged it so that Cameron's pre written note was attached, while making sure neither Clegg or Ed had time to attach one themselves.
Basic politics, with added twitter tweets.
Michael Heaver @Michael_Heaver
.@SuzanneEvans1 a new Deputy Chairman for UKIP, fantastic news.
Ed better hope that the organisers weren't in touch with him/his office about an appropriate note.
Interestingly, the National Museum of Ireland is starting to collect information about Irishmen fighting in both world wars, having rather previously neglected them (to put it mildly) - last week's unveiling of a memorial to them at Glasnevin Cemetery was an example of this. I have offered to share information about my relatives but have yet to hear back. It would be good to get their contribution recognised.
http://aboutasfarasdelgados.blogspot.co.uk/
Someone has either fucked up, or acted in a wholely inappropriate political manner - big time. Quite who though I'm not sure.