Stodge Danny Alexander has said the LDs will vote down a minority government as it is not in the national interest, but could do a Coalition deal with the Tories or Labour depending on which had the stronger mandate http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27129817
@BBCNormanS: "We must raise taxes " -Nick Clegg #marrshow
I thought Nick Clegg did very well on Marr a bit of honesty would not go amiss, especially on raising taxes to eliminate the deficit. I believe we will be looking at 25% VAT ,in the first budget after the 2015 GE,if the Conservatives are the largest party.
My old partner in crime- I think our only disagreement many years ago on here was when I slagged off Apple Computers- now I have 2 Macs, 3 iPads, iPhones and iPods- so I guess that is the end of our only argument.
Ed put his enlarged sense of ego against his more capable brother (much to my anger at the time)- and now, more worryingly, he is placing it against the interests of the Labour party and the terrifying prospects that holds for the future. Ed can see the data. He can see that he is a drag on the party's fortunes. He knows he cannot pull any rabbits out of the hat. He was hoping that the Tories would self harm to such an extent that Labour would win- but Cameron isn't that stupid. Ed is powerless to stop the negativity he creates. He blames the right wing press- but he is the story- they haven't created the bad headlines- in the same way as Major, Hague, IDS, Howard and Brown. For the sake of the future he has to walk, he just has to otherwise the left is doomed for another five years, maybe more.
I actually think that Ed is such a narcissist that even if Labour lose the election he will try and hang on.
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
@faisalislam: Yougov poll shows that, in one day of PMs speech, 2010 ex LibDem voters wanting to vote Conservative > doubled http://t.co/5xrz284oXL
That can't be true. 2010 ex LibDem voters are Labour's firewall.
Quite a few 2010 Lib Dems will break in favour of Labour next year. But I think it's a nonsense to believe they'll put Ed Miliband into No.10.
The firewall argument holds more water when it is based on marginal seat surveys.
Does it?
The most recent Ashcroft national poll last Monday showed 73% of current LD voters might end up voting differently next year. 71% of them either said they were satisfied with DC, or weren't but still preferred him to Ed Miliband. Amongst "swing voters" (those who haven't made up their mind, or still might change their minds) they break for Cameron over Miliband by 69% to 21%.
Now, I admit that's different to *2010* Lib Dems, but when you look at the polling numbers for those at YouGov today, it's clear that many of those might still be in play too.
Also from Ashcroft: "Most participants had not realised, or at least not thought about, the fact that the next general election was only eight or nine months away. They often said they had not full considered how to vote and would not do so until much closer to the time."
Ashcroft's marginals poll also showed that "amongst Conservative switchers to UKIP, 80% wanted to see the Tories in government, including 68% who wanted an overall Conservative majority.", "Seven in ten UKIP voters, including 87% of those defecting from the Conservatives, said they would rather have Cameron in Downing Street than Miliband."
You have to look at the whole picture. There are significant 2010 Lib Dem defections to UKIP and the Tories as well as Labour. Plus, a lot of the Tory>UKIP defectors are still very much in play. I think it's crazy not to take this into account.
Plenty of people haven't even begun to think about the election. That means serious punters must question how 'set in stone' current opinion poll results are. When they start to do so, the fundamentals don't look good for Miliband: Cameron holds whopping leads in leadership, and Cameron/Osborne over Balls/Miliband on the economy. The underlying preferences amongst UKIP defectors and swing voters are instructive too.
I don't dispute there will be movement of some 2010 Lib Dems to Labour. That will cost the Tories some seats. But I think it's madness to assume this forms an unbreakable "firewall" for Miliband, and will put him into No.10.
Survation are generally the pollsters that find the highest levels of support for UKIP. In Newark on the night the result marginally overstated UKIP, substantially overstated Labour and significantly understated the Conservatives.
Lord Ashcroft's poll was much closer to the final result (though it still understated the Conservatives and overstated Labour and UKIP):
Iif the 40% band is currently as stated (£41K) and given nominal income growth of 5% per annum* the equation 41 * (1.05 pow 5) equals 52.3275440625 according to Macrosoft's Calc (Vista).** The promise is as contemptible as R'Ed Milliband's miminum-wage promise!
I really think we have wasted billions on educating nothing more then thick people. Shame that only an elite can benefit despite the largesse....
* Real income growth of 2.7% coupled with 2.3% price-inflation. ** Projections are 2020.
The higher rate threshold doesnt get uprated in line with earnings.
Anyone get any Glasto tickets? After 25 mins I finally got into the site and got as far as putting in my banking details only to be given an error message, and the next time told they were sold out.
@BBCNormanS: "We must raise taxes " -Nick Clegg #marrshow
I thought Nick Clegg did very well on Marr a bit of honesty would not go amiss, especially on raising taxes to eliminate the deficit. I believe we will be looking at 25% VAT ,in the first budget after the 2015 GE,if the Conservatives are the largest party.
That is the only way a £7bn pledge on income taxes can be squared with a falling deficit.
Or perhaps Netscape? Now that seems so remarkable given that a browser is still a browser and they'd wiped the floor with Microsoft. IIRC back in about 1995 Microsoft were so far behind the curve that they bought a tiny start up called something like WebSpy and rebadged it. It was still crap.
Netscape was the default everywhere - and it was Microsoft's bundling that got them back in the game. But even after all that - Firefox still seems to be most popular and IEX is something I don't even think about.
I'm out of touch nowadays so may be misremembering a few details [was very engaged all that time ago/did a lot of corporate intranet work for Mercury and BT]. And of course BT infamously missed teh interweb entirely for years - despite a large chunk of its intellectual property looking a lot like HTML. We never really lived that one down...
The Tory conference was a gift to us. Punitive cuts to in work benefits for the grafting poor. £36bn a year of cits which will destroy what's left of public services and civic society. To pay for tax cuts for top earners. Personably I'd do very well off the 40p band move, but to do so off the backs of the poor is unconscionable. Ripping up human rights which even sane Tories like Grieve think is stupid. In short a programme to drive real fear for millions - sure Labour are being too timid. Happily the Tories aren't, and fear sells very well.
Yeah, the party that gets your kids raped in front of you is going to talk about the moral high ground.
#rumbled
You should be ashamed of that comment
No you should be ashamed you let it happen for 10 years.
Well that says it all about you.
Go read your original post
If you think that is justified you are beyond contempt.
"The party that gets your kids raped in front of you"
I'll sleep easy.
Good that proves the point
Clearly troubling your conscience ?, The contrast between nice upper class Stellas Creasy, relation to the aristicracy and Oxbridge Political sciences getting justice and 1400 WWC victims seeing nowt just sums it up.
Stella Creasy: read social and political sciences at Cambridge (similar to PPE) then did a postgrad at LSE. Then started working as a parliamentary researcher, doing a PhD in social psychology as well. Then worked as a lobbyist and PR consultant, was deputy director of a think tank and researched/wrote speeches for Labour ministers in the last government. Then she became an MP. Yup, very "real world".
I noted the nickname her fellow Labour MPs gave her, Stella Greasy.
Looking at the data the last two YouGov polls have been like the famous YES Indy Ref survey of a few weeks back. The raw numbers had NO/LAB ahead by a reasonable margin - it's the weighted numbers that reversed them.
My back of envelope calculations are that if the raw data had been responses to an Opinium poll then it would show a LAB lead of 4-5%.
The only other pollster to report since the DC speech, Populus, had comfortable LAB lead.
Ah of course - opinion pollsters should never weight the data - raw figures rule!
I loved his comment - along the lines of "Labour aren't talking about immigration, this is a mistake. I'm an immigrant and we're importing too many of the wrong sort".
If Miliband doesn't act after all that's happened, it's pretty obvious nothing will cause him to change his mind at this point. It's pretty damn clear that unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world is a huge burden of this country, but they persist in supporting it regardless. The reason is obvious: people that come in poor and stay poor vote Labour in huge numbers.
Do Labour support unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world? Arguably they did early in the Blair era, but what are the specific policies you're thinking of that they have now?
It's the lack of policy to address the current system of unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world, despite the fact it's so politically unpopular. As Lord Noon says, "we're importing too many of the wrong sort", and Ed Miliband doesn't want to do a damn thing about it.
@BBCNormanS: "We must raise taxes " -Nick Clegg #marrshow
I thought Nick Clegg did very well on Marr a bit of honesty would not go amiss, especially on raising taxes to eliminate the deficit. I believe we will be looking at 25% VAT ,in the first budget after the 2015 GE,if the Conservatives are the largest party.
That is the only way a £7bn pledge on income taxes can be squared with a falling deficit.
Not really, inflation keeps the value of the pledge down and growth does wonders for the deficit. That said, the VAT thing is a great response - for the Tories to explain why it's wrong they have to explain why their big tax cut is bullshit.
The Tory conference was a gift to us. Punitive cuts to in work benefits for the grafting poor. £36bn a year of cits which will destroy what's left of public services and civic society. To pay for tax cuts for top earners. Personably I'd do very well off the 40p band move, but to do so off the backs of the poor is unconscionable. Ripping up human rights which even sane Tories like Grieve think is stupid. In short a programme to drive real fear for millions - sure Labour are being too timid. Happily the Tories aren't, and fear sells very well.
Yeah, the party that gets your kids raped in front of you is going to talk about the moral high ground.
#rumbled
You should be ashamed of that comment
No you should be ashamed you let it happen for 10 years.
Well that says it all about you.
Go read your original post
If you think that is justified you are beyond contempt.
"The party that gets your kids raped in front of you"
I'll sleep easy.
Good that proves the point
Clearly troubling your conscience ?, The contrast between nice upper class Stellas Creasy, relation to the aristicracy and Oxbridge Political sciences getting justice and 1400 WWC victims seeing nowt just sums it up.
Stella Creasy: read social and political sciences at Cambridge (similar to PPE) then did a postgrad at LSE. Then started working as a parliamentary researcher, doing a PhD in social psychology as well. Then worked as a lobbyist and PR consultant, was deputy director of a think tank and researched/wrote speeches for Labour ministers in the last government. Then she became an MP. Yup, very "real world".
I noted the nickname her fellow Labour MPs gave her, Stella Greasy.
Tyson If Miliband does not get a majority next year or largest party he will be forced out if he does not walk, even Prescott attacking him this morning, Kinnock got a second try but he saved Labour from the abyss and reformed it as well as gaining votes and seats from 1983-1987
Mr. Palmer, I'd argue grown men throwing stones at cars because of a numberplate that was seemingly changed before even entering the country are the ones who need to grow up.
Mr. Tyson, I'm shocked you aren't impressed by Miliband's intellectual self-confidence
Exactly - I live on the South Coast - a trip to Glasgow and back would cost a bomb and take a whole day in itself. I'd go as far as Birmingham and back. Even maybe Leeds.
Surely a Scottish LD mini-conference to rally the local troops would be much more effective? Locating a conf that's out of the boomerang range of many supporters is counter-productive. Symbolism is meaningless if hardly any attend.
Not the city - but the location for prospective attendees. Somewhere more central for the majority of their activist appeared to be a lot more realistic to get vital rare bums on seats.
If my Party were polling in the mid single digits - I'd not bother to drag myself to Glasgow either. It must be very disheartening for their supporters. I feel a bit sorry for them.
I would have gone if it were within a couple of hours by train or car, but to Glasgow and then back to work on Monday? Not possible. Having it in Scotland is understandable because of the Scottish LD seats under threat, but not practicable for many English or Welsh.
A very odd decision to focus 2 years running on a place where they have only 20% of their MPs and I guess under 10% of their members. But maybe they thought Scotland would be lost from the UK so why not have a swan song. If they do drop to 2 or so Scottish MPs, it would be a fitting tribute to the move.
Anyone seen numbers of the LD attendees? The figs from the first debate on OMOV indicated that the delegates may only have 400. Add to that the non-voting Members, SPADs, etc etc. and the lobbyists.
The higher rate threshold doesnt get uprated in line with earnings.
Cheers Bermondsey-boy:
But if we wish to reduce the state to a sustainable and constant level it should be in a manner so that such as income-tax does not expand as a percentage of GDP. Ergo: What is happening is a stealth-tax on productivity and growth. This may be great for those with nothing to contribute, but England (an Her hanger-ons) desire a long term solution to the debts that you-and-yours' deny about our misspent past!
I loved his comment - along the lines of "Labour aren't talking about immigration, this is a mistake. I'm an immigrant and we're importing too many of the wrong sort".
If Miliband doesn't act after all that's happened, it's pretty obvious nothing will cause him to change his mind at this point. It's pretty damn clear that unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world is a huge burden of this country, but they persist in supporting it regardless. The reason is obvious: people that come in poor and stay poor vote Labour in huge numbers.
Do Labour support unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world? Arguably they did early in the Blair era, but what are the specific policies you're thinking of that they have now?
It's the lack of policy to address the current system of unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world, despite the fact it's so politically unpopular. As Lord Noon says, "we're importing too many of the wrong sort", and Ed Miliband doesn't want to do a damn thing about it.
The policies to reduce the current level of unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world would be things like preventing British people from living with their families, so you don't have to actually want more immigration from those parts of the world to oppose those policies.
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
Miss Plato, hadn't read about the numberplate being changed in Chile. If so, doesn't paint the Argies in a good light (well, not that stoning a car for having a 'bad' numberplate is acceptable anyway).
Mr. Owls, very unlucky. I did consider that (and Red Bull to top score), as well as the other things I highlighted in my pre-race piece.
MD , considering the tw*ts that were in it , it is a pity it was only stones.
The only difference between Carswell and Reckless is that the former jumped ship first.
So in the Tory inquisition, Carswell didn't have to "lie". Once he jumped ship, all the usual suspects and a bit more were asked under powerful spotlights, "Listen, sonny, will you join UKIP ?" . So as not to spoil the Farage God's plan, they had to lie !
Carswell would have done the same. A few more have since lied under torture.
Why is Carswell not being attacked ? The answer lies in 44%. Poor Reckless, only just "double-digit", now single digit.
Typical hypocritical Tories and PBTories, almost making a saint out of Carswell, because he is now untouchable.
So, if Carswell is so educated and brilliant, how come he is about to give his Mother Party an almighty thrashing ?
Exactly - I live on the South Coast - a trip to Glasgow and back would cost a bomb and take a whole day in itself. I'd go as far as Birmingham and back. Even maybe Leeds.
Surely a Scottish LD mini-conference to rally the local troops would be much more effective? Locating a conf that's out of the boomerang range of many supporters is counter-productive. Symbolism is meaningless if hardly any attend.
Not the city - but the location for prospective attendees. Somewhere more central for the majority of their activist appeared to be a lot more realistic to get vital rare bums on seats.
If my Party were polling in the mid single digits - I'd not bother to drag myself to Glasgow either. It must be very disheartening for their supporters. I feel a bit sorry for them.
I would have gone if it were within a couple of hours by train or car, but to Glasgow and then back to work on Monday? Not possible. Having it in Scotland is understandable because of the Scottish LD seats under threat, but not practicable for many English or Welsh.
A very odd decision to focus 2 years running on a place where they have only 20% of their MPs and I guess under 10% of their members.
They might have gotten a handy discount by negotiating a 2 year deal.
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
Looking at the data the last two YouGov polls have been like the famous YES Indy Ref survey of a few weeks back. The raw numbers had NO/LAB ahead by a reasonable margin - it's the weighted numbers that reversed them.
My back of envelope calculations are that if the raw data had been responses to an Opinium poll then it would show a LAB lead of 4-5%.
The only other pollster to report since the DC speech, Populus, had comfortable LAB lead.
Looks almost like a straght swap:
Unweighted Lab 625 Con 561
Weighted Lab 588 Con 627
Yet we we always use the weighted figures when calculating our weekly ELBOWs. We also have a policy of not using the headline percentages quoted by the pollsters, as they are sometimes (thankfully rarely) at variance with the actual data!
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I thought you were a "floating" voter like Plato.
Many, many posters claim to have voted Lib Dem in 2010, surbiton. You should know that.
I really felt we'd got a winner when he was elected as leader and despite having a serious tiff with him over AGW and other stuff like Minimum Pricing and other Nanny State stuff - that hasn't changed.
He's dropped all the flirting with Guardian readers now and I think that's given his personal credo a boost. I always felt that he was trying to please them a little too hard, rather than being himself. He may still think AGW is legit - I can take that on the chin, the market has killed most of that off already.
@BBCNormanS: "We must raise taxes " -Nick Clegg #marrshow
I thought Nick Clegg did very well on Marr a bit of honesty would not go amiss, especially on raising taxes to eliminate the deficit. I believe we will be looking at 25% VAT ,in the first budget after the 2015 GE,if the Conservatives are the largest party.
That is the only way a £7bn pledge on income taxes can be squared with a falling deficit.
Yes that is why politics is demeaned when Cameron lies to the electorate, in the way Bush snr did regarding read my lips no more taxes. The same outcome may occur as the US election, in that Dukakis was defeated, as this feels like a similar election, long time damage will occur to the trust in politics, to all parties.
Mr. Palmer, I'd argue grown men throwing stones at cars because of a numberplate that was seemingly changed before even entering the country are the ones who need to grow up.
Mr. Tyson, I'm shocked you aren't impressed by Miliband's intellectual self-confidence
If the numberplate was changed prior to entry into Argentina is a definite proof that it was deliberately done to provoke. That Clarkson is such a r***** shite !
Why did the number palte need to be changed ? It was after all neither a Chilean or Argentinian number plate !
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
It was the 29 production staff who were attacked and trapped.
The Top Gear presenters were told to leave the country pronto, to be followed by their backstage team - who were then ambushed/stoned.
Mssrs Clarkson et al lost touch with them for 6 hrs and feared the worse. It really is no laughing matter. I'm not given to being po-faced but this is one of them. It sounded truly frightening for the 29.
Miss Plato, hadn't read about the numberplate being changed in Chile. If so, doesn't paint the Argies in a good light (well, not that stoning a car for having a 'bad' numberplate is acceptable anyway).
Mr. Owls, very unlucky. I did consider that (and Red Bull to top score), as well as the other things I highlighted in my pre-race piece.
MD , considering the tw*ts that were in it , it is a pity it was only stones.
The only difference between Carswell and Reckless is that the former jumped ship first.
So in the Tory inquisition, Carswell didn't have to "lie". Once he jumped ship, all the usual suspects and a bit more were asked under powerful spotlights, "Listen, sonny, will you join UKIP ?" . So as not to spoil the Farage God's plan, they had to lie !
Carswell would have done the same. A few more have since lied under torture.
Why is Carswell not being attacked ? The answer lies in 44%. Poor Reckless, only just "double-digit", now single digit.
Typical hypocritical Tories and PBTories, almost making a saint out of Carswell, because he is now untouchable.
So, if Carswell is so educated and brilliant, how come he is about to give his Mother Party an almighty thrashing ?
Mark Littlewood (ex Lds media boss) writes in the Mail:
"Do you remember Kodak? Once a respected corporate giant, hugely successful in a competitive marketplace, the company’s fall from grace is now studied in business schools across the globe.
Kodak is widely seen as a perfect example of what not to do. Through a mixture of naivety, arrogance and managerial ineptitude, the company utterly failed to adapt to a rapidly changing world. As people moved towards digital technology rather than photographic film, away from handheld cameras and towards smartphone photography, Kodak refused to change. In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy.....
In years to come, the Liberal Democrats might be used as a case study by political historians in much the same way. Nick Clegg is in severe danger of leading the Kodak party of British politics. The political and economic environment has changed enormously in the past four years and the Lib Dems have utterly failed to change with it.
From the height of Cleggmania in the election campaign of 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister now finds his personal ratings on the floor and his party a margin of error or two from ceasing to register in the opinion polls at all.....
What went wrong? Well, there has been a range of spectacularly bad tactical and campaigning missteps. But the heart of what went wrong for the Lib Dems is the same as what went wrong for Kodak. A failure to recognise – let alone adapt to – dramatic and deep changes in the world in which they operate."
........... The LibDems have fallen to the floor because a significant chunk of their vote were Social Liberals who do not want to be in bed with a Tory and indeed, under Charlie K were sometimes to the left of Labour. Arguably a whole new category of voter can be found in the German 'Free Democrat" model of an economic liberal, freedom at all costs, right of centre policy area that I mentioned on here yesterday, and maybe thats where Littlewood and Browne want to go, but that's years of work and Vince and Farron aren't going with him.
I agree. I judge myself as a classical liberal. Interestingly the generation younger than me are also regarded as right wing on economics and leftie on social mores. This would have made the Orange Bookers the ideal party for the age and it would just grow as time went on and their propensity to vote changed....
Instead the older LD MPs and activists are from a Guardian wing, left on economics and left on social mores. So they talk up their left wing economic agenda and see their support keep dropping.
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I thought you were a "floating" voter like Plato.
My politics have probably drifted left, certainly since 2008. I had time for Vince Cable pre-2010, I don't know what has happened to him. I had voted Labour in 2005 largely in anger at Michael Howard and I actually had some time for Cameron in his early days as Tory leader. I don't think you'll find anything I've written on this site over the years to contradict that.
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I thought you were a "floating" voter like Plato.
LOL, did you mean "floundering"
Plato is a arch Tory but like all of them secretly wishes she was a kipper ! After all, she does not disagree on anything with them. Maybe, she even thinks they do not go far enough !
I loved his comment - along the lines of "Labour aren't talking about immigration, this is a mistake. I'm an immigrant and we're importing too many of the wrong sort".
If Miliband doesn't act after all that's happened, it's pretty obvious nothing will cause him to change his mind at this point. It's pretty damn clear that unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world is a huge burden of this country, but they persist in supporting it regardless. The reason is obvious: people that come in poor and stay poor vote Labour in huge numbers.
Do Labour support unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world? Arguably they did early in the Blair era, but what are the specific policies you're thinking of that they have now?
It's the lack of policy to address the current system of unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world, despite the fact it's so politically unpopular. As Lord Noon says, "we're importing too many of the wrong sort", and Ed Miliband doesn't want to do a damn thing about it.
The policies to reduce the current level of unskilled immigration from unstable parts of the world would be things like preventing British people from living with their families, so you don't have to actually want more immigration from those parts of the world to oppose those policies.
Family reunification can be done in their own countries.
YorkCity There is already a cynical attitude to politics, all raising taxes by Bush Snr to tackle the defict, did was hand the 1992 election to Bill Clinton. Though Bush 41 was given an award by the Kennedy family last week for his 'honour' in putting country first by doing so
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I thought you were a "floating" voter like Plato.
Many, many posters claim to have voted Lib Dem in 2010, surbiton. You should know that.
I not only claim that but I actually did. Indeed in 2005, I voted Lib Dem not as a tactical but as my first choice. Those were the days when Charlie stood up to that warmonger Blair !
In 2015, I will be voting for the party in my constituency which has the best chances of installing a Labour majority in Parliament.
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I thought you were a "floating" voter like Plato.
Many, many posters claim to have voted Lib Dem in 2010, surbiton. You should know that.
I not only claim that but I actually did. Indeed in 2005, I voted Lib Dem not as a tactical but as my first choice. Those were the days when Charlie stood up to that warmonger Blair !
In 2015, I will be voting for the party in my constituency which has the best chances of installing a Labour majority in Parliament.
So you will waste your vote and risk helping the Tories. Not smart.
It was the 29 production staff who were attacked and trapped. The Top Gear presenters were told to leave the country pronto, to be followed by their backstage team - who were then ambushed/stoned. Mssrs Clarkson et al lost touch with them for 6 hrs and feared the worse. It really is no laughing matter. I'm not given to being po-faced but this is one of them. It sounded truly frightening for the 29.
Miss Plato, hadn't read about the numberplate being changed in Chile. If so, doesn't paint the Argies in a good light (well, not that stoning a car for having a 'bad' numberplate is acceptable anyway). Mr. Owls, very unlucky. I did consider that (and Red Bull to top score), as well as the other things I highlighted in my pre-race piece.
MD , considering the tw*ts that were in it , it is a pity it was only stones.
5 years after the Falklands I went to Argentina on Business and was made very welcome by Ministers and ex Officers etc. At the airport on route to Uruguay the flight was delayed and they said "will call you" they then started to let others on with no call. I politely asked in broken spanish what was going on but that did not work so i resorted (in frustration) to speaking VERY LOUDLY and the attendant then changed tack and moved me through. I walked up to the security check in wondering what was next and the guard then asked me if I had any English coins - I gladly passed him some. Argentinians are Italians, who speak Spanish but want to be English (old Argentinian saying).
@steve_hawkes: Lib Dem conference kicks off and we get flip flop number one. Nick Clegg ditches "crude" Mansion Tax in favour of more Council Tax bands
When you are looking at 30 seats not 60 those 3 in SW London that you might lose because of the mansion tax suddenly become more important...
Morning PtP; real kick in the teeth last night - or should I say, 5am this morning. Muggins here watched it all...
So did I.
Can you understand why Zimmerman was taken off?
I thought they were a bit unlucky in the first game, and suffered from a crucial bad call (when Werth was struck out instead of being given a walk), but this time they self-destructed. And let's face it, if they can't score a single run in 13 innings....
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
Surprised to see Epsom dot-matrix (?) monsters have superseded them. I can tell you that they where early pioneers of CMYK technology in the press industry (along with Germany's Shira RIP) and all you modern digital-print newspapers were initially test (via the Daily Mail Trust) in Docklands using Agfa Chromo digital printers.
My claim-to-fame is I installed the first Scitex Brisque RIP-Server [Globally] that could communicate with a Dolev image-setter (and integrating a Silicon Graphics Server plus externals). Sadly they then sent me on a course to learn about the same...!
The only difference between Carswell and Reckless is that the former jumped ship first.
So in the Tory inquisition, Carswell didn't have to "lie". Once he jumped ship, all the usual suspects and a bit more were asked under powerful spotlights, "Listen, sonny, will you join UKIP ?" . So as not to spoil the Farage God's plan, they had to lie !
Carswell would have done the same. A few more have since lied under torture.
Why is Carswell not being attacked ? The answer lies in 44%. Poor Reckless, only just "double-digit", now single digit.
Typical hypocritical Tories and PBTories, almost making a saint out of Carswell, because he is now untouchable.
There may be a bit of that, but also Carswell is a genuinely independent thinker and something of a one-off, while Reckless is fairly standard right-wing Tory lobby fodder. If everyone like Carswell defected they'd only by down one, whereas if everyone like Reckless jumped they'd lose their majority.
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I thought you were a "floating" voter like Plato.
Many, many posters claim to have voted Lib Dem in 2010, surbiton. You should know that.
I not only claim that but I actually did. Indeed in 2005, I voted Lib Dem not as a tactical but as my first choice. Those were the days when Charlie stood up to that warmonger Blair !
In 2015, I will be voting for the party in my constituency which has the best chances of installing a Labour majority in Parliament.
So you will waste your vote and risk helping the Tories. Not smart.
Someone needs to send a message to Clegg that he will not get away with his coup. He proclaimed himself the great idealist in 2010, now wants to use the perculiarities of the British voting system to keep him in power. Perhaps that's his revenge for the AV disappointment?
Carswell comes across pretty daft, his libertarianism would dovetail with that. His focus on immaterial constitutional issues and support for extreme austerity suggests an inability to empathize and understand other people. Mildly autistic perhaps.
@steve_hawkes: Lib Dem conference kicks off and we get flip flop number one. Nick Clegg ditches "crude" Mansion Tax in favour of more Council Tax bands
When you are looking at 30 seats not 60 those 3 in SW London that you might lose because of the mansion tax suddenly become more important...
They won those seats with the mansion tax in their manifesto last time.
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I thought you were a "floating" voter like Plato.
Many, many posters claim to have voted Lib Dem in 2010, surbiton. You should know that.
I not only claim that but I actually did. Indeed in 2005, I voted Lib Dem not as a tactical but as my first choice. Those were the days when Charlie stood up to that warmonger Blair !
In 2015, I will be voting for the party in my constituency which has the best chances of installing a Labour majority in Parliament.
So you will waste your vote and risk helping the Tories. Not smart.
Mike, you didn't read my post carefully. There are two ways to install a Labour majority:
1. Where Labour has chances of winning, vote Labour
2. Where Labour's own chances are hopeless, vote a party taht can stop a Tory winning.
Stodge Obviously not as Osborne does not have a majority to do it at the moment with the LDs and certainly not until the deficit is solved, Cameron was quite clear he was promising the tax cuts on the basis of a Tory majority after the election
What does "the deficit is solved" mean - a Budget surplus, balanced Budget or what ? I saw something about a plan for a surplus by 2018-19 but if we remember some of the ludicrous forecasts produced in 2010 about how the deficit would have been eliminated by 2014-15, you can forgive me for being sceptical.
So what is the policy for raising the threshold ?
The bit about the Conservative majority is clear but may not be necessary.
IF we continue to run a deficit by 2019-2020, does that mean the threshold won't be raised ?
If the threshold is raised while a deficit still exists, isn't that a clear case of the Conservatives being irresponsible about tackling the deficit ?
Am I alone in thinking events in the Eurozone might once again scupper Osborne and Cameron's well-laid fiscal and political plans ?
As for the YouGov polling, to simply say if you think something will happen by 2020 is one thing - the question is whether people think it will happen by 2016 ?
I'd focus on the structural deficit rather than the total deficit.
In principle, you should ideally run a structural surplus to reduce the absolute level of debt as well as debt as a proportion of GDP.
However, I'd be comfortable with a part of spending cuts being returned to taxpayers in the form of targeted tax reductions once the structural deficit as a percentage of GDP is lower than real GDP growth (i.e. so the real value of our assets is growing fast than the debt).
The only difference between Carswell and Reckless is that the former jumped ship first.
So in the Tory inquisition, Carswell didn't have to "lie". Once he jumped ship, all the usual suspects and a bit more were asked under powerful spotlights, "Listen, sonny, will you join UKIP ?" . So as not to spoil the Farage God's plan, they had to lie !
Carswell would have done the same. A few more have since lied under torture.
Why is Carswell not being attacked ? The answer lies in 44%. Poor Reckless, only just "double-digit", now single digit.
Typical hypocritical Tories and PBTories, almost making a saint out of Carswell, because he is now untouchable.
There may be a bit of that, but also Carswell is a genuinely independent thinker and something of a one-off, while Reckless is fairly standard right-wing Tory lobby fodder. If everyone like Carswell defected they'd only by down one, whereas if everyone like Reckless jumped they'd lose their majority.
To be fair to Reckless he did fight the equivalent seat in 2001 and 2005. Didn’t clear off and find something easier!
I did a big chunk of my degree on inks and stuff - it's a huge field and I find it endlessly fascinating. I had BASF as a client for while - their inks division - now there's a company that had fingers in many pies.
Very rusty now as its nearly 30yrs ago - it's only the odd little things I remember as trivia.
Surprised to see Epsom dot-matrix (?) monsters have superseded them. I can tell you that they where early pioneers of CMYK technology in the press industry (along with Germany's Shira RIP) and all you modern digital-print newspapers were initially test (via the Daily Mail Trust) in Docklands using Agfa Chromo digital printers.
My claim-to-fame is I installed the first Scitex Brisque RIP-Server [Globally] that could communicate with a Dolev image-setter (and integrating a Silicon Graphics Server plus externals). Sadly they then sent me on a course to learn about the same...!
@steve_hawkes: Lib Dem conference kicks off and we get flip flop number one. Nick Clegg ditches "crude" Mansion Tax in favour of more Council Tax bands
When you are looking at 30 seats not 60 those 3 in SW London that you might lose because of the mansion tax suddenly become more important...
They won those seats with the mansion tax in their manifesto last time.
But most of their voters did not think they would have any chance of being in Govt......
So you will waste your vote and risk helping the Tories. Not smart.
The party who has voted most loyally for Tory bills has been the LibDems. Tory backbenchers rebel, LibDems do not. So its fairly clear - at least to the electorate - that a vote for the LibDems absolutely helps the Tories. Which explains the apocalyptic collapse in support for the party whose remaining activists haven't even bothered to turn out to their own party conference.
I did a big chunk of my degree on inks and stuff - it's a huge field and I find it endlessly fascinating. I had BASF as a client for while - their inks division - now there's a company that had fingers in many pies.
Very rusty now as its nearly 30yrs ago - it's only the odd little things I remember as trivia.
Surprised to see Epsom dot-matrix (?) monsters have superseded them. I can tell you that they where early pioneers of CMYK technology in the press industry (along with Germany's Shira RIP) and all you modern digital-print newspapers were initially test (via the Daily Mail Trust) in Docklands using Agfa Chromo digital printers.
My claim-to-fame is I installed the first Scitex Brisque RIP-Server [Globally] that could communicate with a Dolev image-setter (and integrating a Silicon Graphics Server plus externals). Sadly they then sent me on a course to learn about the same...!
Some people smoke, some are into drugs. Plato is into ink !
I did a big chunk of my degree on inks and stuff - it's a huge field and I find it endlessly fascinating. I had BASF as a client for while - their inks division - now there's a company that had fingers in many pies.
Very rusty now as its nearly 30yrs ago - it's only the odd little things I remember as trivia.
Surprised to see Epsom dot-matrix (?) monsters have superseded them. I can tell you that they where early pioneers of CMYK technology in the press industry (along with Germany's Shira RIP) and all you modern digital-print newspapers were initially test (via the Daily Mail Trust) in Docklands using Agfa Chromo digital printers.
My claim-to-fame is I installed the first Scitex Brisque RIP-Server [Globally] that could communicate with a Dolev image-setter (and integrating a Silicon Graphics Server plus externals). Sadly they then sent me on a course to learn about the same...!
Some people smoke, some are into drugs. Plato is into ink !
Mark Littlewood (ex Lds media boss) writes in the Mail:
"Do you remember Kodak? Once a respected corporate giant, hugely successful in a competitive marketplace, the company’s fall from grace is now studied in business schools across the globe.
Kodak is widely seen as a perfect example of what not to do. Through a mixture of naivety, arrogance and managerial ineptitude, the company utterly failed to adapt to a rapidly changing world. As people moved towards digital technology rather than photographic film, away from handheld cameras and towards smartphone photography, Kodak refused to change. In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy.....
In years to come, the Liberal Democrats might be used as a case study by political historians in much the same way. Nick Clegg is in severe danger of leading the Kodak party of British politics. The political and economic environment has changed enormously in the past four years and the Lib Dems have utterly failed to change with it.
From the height of Cleggmania in the election campaign of 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister now finds his personal ratings on the floor and his party a margin of error or two from ceasing to register in the opinion polls at all.....
What went wrong? Well, there has been a range of spectacularly bad tactical and campaigning missteps. But the heart of what went wrong for the Lib Dems is the same as what went wrong for Kodak. A failure to recognise – let alone adapt to – dramatic and deep changes in the world in which they operate."
He's completely wrong.
Kodak's failure was not one of a changing market. Or even one of innovation (for instance, they invented MS-DOS and digital film). But they chose not to adopt digital film for fear of cannibalising their core business.
Carswell comes across pretty daft, his libertarianism would dovetail with that. His focus on immaterial constitutional issues and support for extreme austerity suggests an inability to empathize and understand other people. Mildly autistic perhaps.
THe last sentence was totally unnecessary. I have a severely autistic son. So pardon me, if I do not join in with that kind of crass stupid, insensitive comment.
Another idiot called Osborne suggested the same about Gordon Brown.
It seems to me, for Tories, autism has become a word of abuse !
RP Exactly, if you are a leftwinger who opposes the Coalition you will vote Labour or Green, if you are a rightwinger who opposes the Coalition you will vote UKIP. If you are voting LD you support the government
Iif the 40% band is currently as stated (£41K) and given nominal income growth of 5% per annum* the equation 41 * (1.05 pow 5) equals 52.3275440625 according to Macrosoft's Calc (Vista).** The promise is as contemptible as R'Ed Milliband's miminum-wage promise!
I really think we have wasted billions on educating nothing more then thick people. Shame that only an elite can benefit despite the largesse....
* Real income growth of 2.7% coupled with 2.3% price-inflation. ** Projections are 2020.
It is I think even worse than that. I did some fag packet calculations the other day and by my reckoning the 40% threshold would have been comfortably over 50k by now if successive chancellors had not used the dishonest measure of fiscal drag to bring more and more people within its scope. The number of people paying 40% has risen by about 1 million under Conservative chancellor Osborne.
YorkCity There is already a cynical attitude to politics, all raising taxes by Bush Snr to tackle the defict, did was hand the 1992 election to Bill Clinton. Though Bush 41 was given an award by the Kennedy family last week for his 'honour' in putting country first by doing so
thanks hyufd was not aware that happened last week.
I did a big chunk of my degree on inks and stuff - it's a huge field and I find it endlessly fascinating. I had BASF as a client for while - their inks division - now there's a company that had fingers in many pies.
Very rusty now as its nearly 30yrs ago - it's only the odd little things I remember as trivia.
Surprised to see Epsom dot-matrix (?) monsters have superseded them. I can tell you that they where early pioneers of CMYK technology in the press industry (along with Germany's Shira RIP) and all you modern digital-print newspapers were initially test (via the Daily Mail Trust) in Docklands using Agfa Chromo digital printers.
My claim-to-fame is I installed the first Scitex Brisque RIP-Server [Globally] that could communicate with a Dolev image-setter (and integrating a Silicon Graphics Server plus externals). Sadly they then sent me on a course to learn about the same...!
Some people smoke, some are into drugs. Plato is into ink !
I have not lived in Chiswick since 2007. If I had then Mark Senior, Neil, etc. would not berate me about voting Lib Dem. In Chiswick, I would have voted Labour in 2010. Blair was gone by then.
TCPB That is relative, the younger generation are a bit more pro gay marriage and pro immigration than their elder peers, but they still support the first and oppose an increase in the second, they also oppose legalising drugs. They are also a bit more in favour of lower taxes, but like their peers accept higher taxes on the rich and accept spending cuts for now to solve the deficit but not for ever
A good week for the Tories, but how will thy convince the R&S voters to vote for them?
Say to Labour voters "You can't win here, so vote for your enemies at the next GE to give us a massive boost."
Say to Ukip voters "You're not very bright are you, vote for us you cretins." And "Vote Ukip, get Ed" doesn't work for this by election.
And how can Labour get tactical votes? Say to Tories exactly the same as the Tories say to Labpour voters (with as much chance of success)?
Perhaps the bookies have got this right?
The question is surely *should* they convince Rochester voters to vote for them -Around the time of Eastleigh UKIP was widely criticised for 'splitting the Tory vote'. Now we have a situation where the UKIP candidate is 10% ahead, he's essentially a Tory, yet the Conservatives are intent on torpedoing his chances of re-election, even if that means letting Labour in. Vote Conservative -Get Labour.
I am simply not convinced by this 'Reckless is the spawn of satan' nonsense I'm reading here. On the one hand he's meant to be an ambitious, lying, greasy pole climber, hence his defection to a growing party whilst the going's good, but on the other hand, he's a socially awkward serial rebel. Sorry, but you can't be both. We all know that the quickest route to preferment within the Tory party is to vote with the leadership. The truth is basically that Reckless is not as charismatic or as creative as Carswell, but on the other hand he is a principled man who takes his job of representing his constituents seriously.
RP Exactly, if you are a leftwinger who opposes the Coalition you will vote Labour or Green, if you are a rightwinger who opposes the Coalition you will vote UKIP. If you are voting LD you support the government
This has been the case since the election. Support the government? Vote Tory. Oppose the government? Vote Labour. Oppose the lot of them? Vote UKIP. What is the point of the LibDems spouting off about all the things they are against when every single time they vote them through? They complained about the bedroom tax proposals, they vote for the bedroom tax, they vote with the Tories against Labour motions against the bedroom tax, THEN say the Tories got it wrong on the bedroom tax. NO, this became YOUR policy LibDems because you voted for it repeatedly. And its the same on so many issues where they tell people they are against then vote in favour.
A vote for the LibDems is a vote for the Tories. The only way to distinguish a LibDem MP from a Tory is that the LibDem votes more loyally for Tory bills.
Stodge Danny Alexander has said the LDs will vote down a minority government as it is not in the national interest, but could do a Coalition deal with the Tories or Labour depending on which had the stronger mandate http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27129817
So "the national interest" revolves around whether the LibDems are in power or not?
TBH, I don't think Clacton really has much too worry him at all either way. Most Tories seem to think that Mr Carswell has made a mistake - but a heartfelt one and that he's a fairly honorable chap, but misguided.
He was always a stone in the shoe. Mr Reckless is a different kettle of fish, as many of us have noted.
It's never good to lose someone to a rival, but nor is it something to panic unduly over. If it'd turned into a Gang Of Four - I'd be concerned. It appears not since the £1m IOU press conference.
The effect of Cameron's speech has at least bought himself a quieter time from Leadership speculation and the ability to absorb the Clacton loss. Ed Milliband's Omnishambles Speech is the gift that keeps on giving. It is clearly having a corrosive effect and eroding enthusiasm within Labour.
Mr Carswell is incredibly bright, and incredibly thoughtful: even those who disagree with him would not doubt his motives, nor his passion.
What deep thoughts has Mr Reckless had? What flashes of wisdom? While no one doubts the sincerity of Mr Carswell's move, with Mr Reckless there is the nagging doubt: is he only doing this because he knows there is no hope of advancement in the Conservative Party?
As an aside, his Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Reckless) is hilarious. Mark Reckless was not rated as "one of the top three UK economists in the City of London in 1996 and 1997 by Extel & Institutional Investor client surveys". He was the most junior member of a team that was well regarded. And he parted ways with them after a couple of years. I wonder who edited his page? Could it have been a member of his staff?
Carswell did history at UEA and then business development.
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I've always assumed you were pretty solid Labour, and most likely on the leftwards side of the party...
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I thought you were a "floating" voter like Plato.
Many, many posters claim to have voted Lib Dem in 2010, surbiton. You should know that.
I not only claim that but I actually did. Indeed in 2005, I voted Lib Dem not as a tactical but as my first choice. Those were the days when Charlie stood up to that warmonger Blair !
In 2015, I will be voting for the party in my constituency which has the best chances of installing a Labour majority in Parliament.
So you will waste your vote and risk helping the Tories. Not smart.
Mike where I live in York Outer you might as well not bother if you are a Labour voter thinking of voting Lib Dem to stop the tories.
As the Lib Dems could not win it in 2010.
Saying that it always has historically been a safe Conservative seat previously Ryedale.
The lib dems would need a lot of publicity to outline where the Lib Dem/Conservative marginals are, but Clegg would have to lay of a bit, the anti Labour rhetoric, to entice these voters back. He started to make a good case this morning on Marr.
A good week for the Tories, but how will thy convince the R&S voters to vote for them?
Say to Labour voters "You can't win here, so vote for your enemies at the next GE to give us a massive boost."
Say to Ukip voters "You're not very bright are you, vote for us you cretins." And "Vote Ukip, get Ed" doesn't work for this by election.
And how can Labour get tactical votes? Say to Tories exactly the same as the Tories say to Labpour voters (with as much chance of success)?
Perhaps the bookies have got this right?
The question is surely *should* they convince Rochester voters to vote for them -Around the time of Eastleigh UKIP was widely criticised for 'splitting the Tory vote'. Now we have a situation where the UKIP candidate is 10% ahead, he's essentially a Tory, yet the Conservatives are intent on torpedoing his chances of re-election, even if that means letting Labour in. Vote Conservative -Get Labour.
I am simply not convinced by this 'Reckless is the spawn of satan' nonsense I'm reading here. On the one hand he's meant to be an ambitious, lying, greasy pole climber, hence his defection to a growing party whilst the going's good, but on the other hand, he's a socially awkward serial rebel. Sorry, but you can't be both. We all know that the quickest route to preferment within the Tory party is to vote with the leadership. The truth is basically that Reckless is not as charismatic or as creative as Carswell, but on the other hand he is a principled man who takes his job of representing his constituents seriously.
Vote Conservative -Get Labour.
Reckless' campaign literature could just say that along with the infamous bar charts saying only UKIP can win here !
Mark Littlewood (ex Lds media boss) writes in the Mail:
"Do you remember Kodak? Once a respected corporate giant, hugely successful in a competitive marketplace, the company’s fall from grace is now studied in business schools across the globe.
Kodak is widely seen as a perfect example of what not to do. Through a mixture of naivety, arrogance and managerial ineptitude, the company utterly failed to adapt to a rapidly changing world. As people moved towards digital technology rather than photographic film, away from handheld cameras and towards smartphone photography, Kodak refused to change. In 2012, Kodak filed for bankruptcy.....
In years to come, the Liberal Democrats might be used as a case study by political historians in much the same way. Nick Clegg is in severe danger of leading the Kodak party of British politics. The political and economic environment has changed enormously in the past four years and the Lib Dems have utterly failed to change with it.
From the height of Cleggmania in the election campaign of 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister now finds his personal ratings on the floor and his party a margin of error or two from ceasing to register in the opinion polls at all.....
What went wrong? Well, there has been a range of spectacularly bad tactical and campaigning missteps. But the heart of what went wrong for the Lib Dems is the same as what went wrong for Kodak. A failure to recognise – let alone adapt to – dramatic and deep changes in the world in which they operate."
He's completely wrong.
Kodak's failure was not one of a changing market. Or even one of innovation (for instance, they invented MS-DOS and digital film). But they chose not to adopt digital film for fear of cannibalising their core business.
Labour is a far better parallel...
Kodak is an example of brands having a limited shelf life when their category has a limited shelf life. Kodak was the number one brand in film photography -on the top of a declining iceberg, just like Olivetti in typewriters. There is little evidence to suggest that the name could have dominated digital photography, even if the company could.
Personally I've always thought they could have attempted to maintain the Kodak name in the digital era by having print shops where you could get your digital shots photo-shopped and nicely printed and framed. 'Turning pixels into pictures'. I think there was a slight window of opportunity there. Of course trends have left that idea behind now, as people mainly take pictures to share on SM rather than to adorn their walls or keep in albums.
@steve_hawkes: Lib Dem conference kicks off and we get flip flop number one. Nick Clegg ditches "crude" Mansion Tax in favour of more Council Tax bands
When you are looking at 30 seats not 60 those 3 in SW London that you might lose because of the mansion tax suddenly become more important...
They won those seats with the mansion tax in their manifesto last time.
True, but I don't think anyone paid any attention because no one expected them to be in government!
If they pledge the mansion tax this time, anyone who considers a LD/Lab coalition a possibility will probably put more weight on the issue (especially as Labour is pursuing the idea as well)
stodge - you can't read many of my posts if you think I'm a Tory! I've been on here over 7 years. I voted Lib Dem in 2010 and I'm disgusted. I believe Labour and Lib Dems are both looking to eliminate borrowing minus capital spending for 2018/19. Clegg has told Marr we need to raise taxes. If you're familiar with Stephen Tall on libdemvoice, he has a running list of all the areas of policy agreement between the two.
The Lib Dems should set out what they believe in and then challenge the other parties to move towards them if they wish to do a deal. They are far more likely than Ukip to be holding the balance of power next time. The policy of maintaining equidistance between red and blue makes them nothing more than a straw in the wind without backbone. A reactive party not a rooted one.
some of us can remember your posts prior to the 2010 GE and how you said you would be voting Conservative despite living in a Lab/LD marginal .
What???
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
I thought you were a "floating" voter like Plato.
Many, many posters claim to have voted Lib Dem in 2010, surbiton. You should know that.
I not only claim that but I actually did. Indeed in 2005, I voted Lib Dem not as a tactical but as my first choice. Those were the days when Charlie stood up to that warmonger Blair !
In 2015, I will be voting for the party in my constituency which has the best chances of installing a Labour majority in Parliament.
So you will waste your vote and risk helping the Tories. Not smart.
Mike where I live in York Outer you might as well not bother if you are a Labour voter thinking of voting Lib Dem to stop the tories.
As the Lib Dems could not win it in 2010.
Saying that it always has historically been a safe Conservative seat previously Ryedale.
The lib dems would need a lot of publicity to outline where the Lib Dem/Conservative marginals are, but Clegg would have to lay of a bit, the anti Labour rhetoric, to entice these voters back. He started to make a good case this morning on Marr.
That's right. He has to be even or, at the very least, try to pretend he is. He and the Orange Bookers are forever attacking Labour.
Many red Liberals will not come back whatever happens. The betrayal has left wounds - some still fresh.
RP Though the LDs did prevent the boundary changes and ensured the top tax rate was cut back to 45p not 40p and there is also a difference on the ECHR, in general you are right, this is a Coalition government and a vote for the LDs is a vote for it to continue
Carswell comes across pretty daft, his libertarianism would dovetail with that. His focus on immaterial constitutional issues and support for extreme austerity suggests an inability to empathize and understand other people. Mildly autistic perhaps.
THe last sentence was totally unnecessary. I have a severely autistic son. So pardon me, if I do not join in with that kind of crass stupid, insensitive comment.
Another idiot called Osborne suggested the same about Gordon Brown.
It seems to me, for Tories, autism has become a word of abuse !
I don't think that @FalseFlag is a Tory. A Kipper possibly.
But more likely a Yedinaya Rossiya supporter (and maybe activist as well).
RP Though the LDs did prevent the boundary changes and ensured the top tax rate was cut back to 45p not 40p, there is also a difference on the ECHR, but in general you are right, this is a Coalition government and a vote for the LDs is a vote for it to continue
For the first time in yonks, I don't think there will be any mention of AV or PR in Liberal manifesto. They now know how many "Liberals" there really are. Just like FPD in Germany, they would , forever, worry if they could breach the 5% threshold.
Kodak is an example of brands having a limited shelf life when their category has a limited shelf life. Kodak was the number one brand in film photography -on the top of a declining iceberg, just like Olivetti in typewriters. There is little evidence to suggest that the name could have dominated digital photography, even if the company could.
Personally I've always thought they could have attempted to maintain the Kodak name in the digital era by having print shops where you could get your digital shots photo-shopped and nicely printed and framed. 'Turning pixels into pictures'. I think there was a slight window of opportunity there. Of course trends have left that idea behind now, as people mainly take pictures to share on SM rather than to adorn their walls or keep in albums.
Kodak invented digital technology and had a patent on it.
Using a trusted brand name to introduce a novel technology that is a marked improvement on the core business - there is no reason to believe that Kodak wouldn't have been able to transfer the brands.
As for your retail idea, that's what they do with Kodak Pictures and Kodak Express.
A good week for the Tories, but how will thy convince the R&S voters to vote for them?
Say to Labour voters "You can't win here, so vote for your enemies at the next GE to give us a massive boost."
Say to Ukip voters "You're not very bright are you, vote for us you cretins." And "Vote Ukip, get Ed" doesn't work for this by election.
And how can Labour get tactical votes? Say to Tories exactly the same as the Tories say to Labpour voters (with as much chance of success)?
Perhaps the bookies have got this right?
The question is surely *should* they convince Rochester voters to vote for them -Around the time of Eastleigh UKIP was widely criticised for 'splitting the Tory vote'. Now we have a situation where the UKIP candidate is 10% ahead, he's essentially a Tory, yet the Conservatives are intent on torpedoing his chances of re-election, even if that means letting Labour in. Vote Conservative -Get Labour.
I am simply not convinced by this 'Reckless is the spawn of satan' nonsense I'm reading here. On the one hand he's meant to be an ambitious, lying, greasy pole climber, hence his defection to a growing party whilst the going's good, but on the other hand, he's a socially awkward serial rebel. Sorry, but you can't be both. We all know that the quickest route to preferment within the Tory party is to vote with the leadership. The truth is basically that Reckless is not as charismatic or as creative as Carswell, but on the other hand he is a principled man who takes his job of representing his constituents seriously.
Vote Conservative -Get Labour.
Reckless' campaign literature could just say that along with the infamous bar charts saying only UKIP can win here !
It may well do! And another thing -the more personal the attacks on Reckless, for instance attacking his integrity and making a huge thing that he lied (not sure what else he could possibly have done in the circumstances), the less well it will play with the electorate. Apart from anything else, the Tories will be attacking the man they were quite happy to endorse only a few weeks ago.
They actually have very few weapons to fight UKIP with, as is obvious when you realise that they are a mushy middle party that has been outflanked by a more focussed alternative. The main plus of the Tories is that they are more experienced, 'bigger' and more likely to win, and that UKIP are a bunch of cranks, gadflies, loonies, fruitcakes, and closet racists. This doesn't really work when the candidate is both an ex-Tory, the incumbent, and ahead in the polls.
Carswell comes across pretty daft, his libertarianism would dovetail with that. His focus on immaterial constitutional issues and support for extreme austerity suggests an inability to empathize and understand other people. Mildly autistic perhaps.
THe last sentence was totally unnecessary. I have a severely autistic son. So pardon me, if I do not join in with that kind of crass stupid, insensitive comment.
Another idiot called Osborne suggested the same about Gordon Brown.
It seems to me, for Tories, autism has become a word of abuse !
I don't think that @FalseFlag is a Tory. A Kipper possibly.
But more likely a Yedinaya Rossiya supporter (and maybe activist as well).
OK. I stand corrected. The sentiments expressed remain the same.
Comments
Morning PtP; real kick in the teeth last night - or should I say, 5am this morning. Muggins here watched it all...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27129817
especially on raising taxes to eliminate the deficit.
I believe we will be looking at 25% VAT ,in the first budget after the 2015 GE,if the
Conservatives are the largest party.
My old partner in crime- I think our only disagreement many years ago on here was when I slagged off Apple Computers- now I have 2 Macs, 3 iPads, iPhones and iPods- so I guess that is the end of our only argument.
Ed put his enlarged sense of ego against his more capable brother (much to my anger at the time)- and now, more worryingly, he is placing it against the interests of the Labour party and the terrifying prospects that holds for the future. Ed can see the data. He can see that he is a drag on the party's fortunes. He knows he cannot pull any rabbits out of the hat. He was hoping that the Tories would self harm to such an extent that Labour would win- but Cameron isn't that stupid. Ed is powerless to stop the negativity he creates. He blames the right wing press- but he is the story- they haven't created the bad headlines- in the same way as Major, Hague, IDS, Howard and Brown. For the sake of the future he has to walk, he just has to otherwise the left is doomed for another five years, maybe more.
I actually think that Ed is such a narcissist that even if Labour lose the election he will try and hang on.
The most recent Ashcroft national poll last Monday showed 73% of current LD voters might end up voting differently next year. 71% of them either said they were satisfied with DC, or weren't but still preferred him to Ed Miliband. Amongst "swing voters" (those who haven't made up their mind, or still might change their minds) they break for Cameron over Miliband by 69% to 21%.
Now, I admit that's different to *2010* Lib Dems, but when you look at the polling numbers for those at YouGov today, it's clear that many of those might still be in play too.
Also from Ashcroft: "Most participants had not realised, or at least not thought about, the fact that the next general election was only eight or nine months away. They often said they had not full considered how to vote and would not do so until much closer to the time."
Ashcroft's marginals poll also showed that "amongst Conservative switchers to UKIP, 80% wanted to see the Tories in government, including 68% who wanted an overall Conservative majority.", "Seven in ten UKIP voters, including 87% of those defecting from the Conservatives, said they would rather have Cameron in Downing Street than Miliband."
You have to look at the whole picture. There are significant 2010 Lib Dem defections to UKIP and the Tories as well as Labour. Plus, a lot of the Tory>UKIP defectors are still very much in play. I think it's crazy not to take this into account.
Plenty of people haven't even begun to think about the election. That means serious punters must question how 'set in stone' current opinion poll results are. When they start to do so, the fundamentals don't look good for Miliband: Cameron holds whopping leads in leadership, and Cameron/Osborne over Balls/Miliband on the economy. The underlying preferences amongst UKIP defectors and swing voters are instructive too.
I don't dispute there will be movement of some 2010 Lib Dems to Labour. That will cost the Tories some seats. But I think it's madness to assume this forms an unbreakable "firewall" for Miliband, and will put him into No.10.
The polling evidence just isn't there for that.
http://survation.com/newark-by-election-poll-survation-the-sun/
Survation are generally the pollsters that find the highest levels of support for UKIP. In Newark on the night the result marginally overstated UKIP, substantially overstated Labour and significantly understated the Conservatives.
Lord Ashcroft's poll was much closer to the final result (though it still understated the Conservatives and overstated Labour and UKIP):
http://lordashcroftpolls.com/2014/06/tories-set-hold-newark/
This looks likely to be very close to me.
Netscape was the default everywhere - and it was Microsoft's bundling that got them back in the game. But even after all that - Firefox still seems to be most popular and IEX is something I don't even think about.
I'm out of touch nowadays so may be misremembering a few details [was very engaged all that time ago/did a lot of corporate intranet work for Mercury and BT]. And of course BT infamously missed teh interweb entirely for years - despite a large chunk of its intellectual property looking a lot like HTML. We never really lived that one down...
Mr. Tyson, I'm shocked you aren't impressed by Miliband's intellectual self-confidence
Anyone seen numbers of the LD attendees? The figs from the first debate on OMOV indicated that the delegates may only have 400. Add to that the non-voting Members, SPADs, etc etc. and the lobbyists.
But if we wish to reduce the state to a sustainable and constant level it should be in a manner so that such as income-tax does not expand as a percentage of GDP. Ergo: What is happening is a stealth-tax on productivity and growth. This may be great for those with nothing to contribute, but England (an Her hanger-ons) desire a long term solution to the debts that you-and-yours' deny about our misspent past!
It's true I was hard on Brown, but I voted Lib Dem. Do you think all my anti-tory postings on here are the sign on a Conservative voter?
So in the Tory inquisition, Carswell didn't have to "lie". Once he jumped ship, all the usual suspects and a bit more were asked under powerful spotlights, "Listen, sonny, will you join UKIP ?" . So as not to spoil the Farage God's plan, they had to lie !
Carswell would have done the same. A few more have since lied under torture.
Why is Carswell not being attacked ? The answer lies in 44%. Poor Reckless, only just "double-digit", now single digit.
Typical hypocritical Tories and PBTories, almost making a saint out of Carswell, because he is now untouchable.
So, if Carswell is so educated and brilliant, how come he is about to give his Mother Party an almighty thrashing ?
How many photofilm/paper companies are left? Fuji? Ilford? Is Kodak still in business after going Chapter 11? I haven't noticed roll film in years.
EtA: Is "Continuous Tone" a pre-proofing standard in the media business? Some of the RIPs were user-tested by moi within the Europe...!
Looks almost like a straght swap:
Unweighted
Lab 625
Con 561
Weighted
Lab 588
Con 627
Yet we we always use the weighted figures when calculating our weekly ELBOWs. We also have a policy of not using the headline percentages quoted by the pollsters, as they are sometimes (thankfully rarely) at variance with the actual data!
The same outcome may occur as the US election, in that Dukakis was defeated, as this feels like a similar election, long time damage will occur to the trust in politics, to all parties.
Why did the number palte need to be changed ? It was after all neither a Chilean or Argentinian number plate !
The Top Gear presenters were told to leave the country pronto, to be followed by their backstage team - who were then ambushed/stoned.
Mssrs Clarkson et al lost touch with them for 6 hrs and feared the worse. It really is no laughing matter. I'm not given to being po-faced but this is one of them. It sounded truly frightening for the 29.
That's the difference.
Instead the older LD MPs and activists are from a Guardian wing, left on economics and left on social mores. So they talk up their left wing economic agenda and see their support keep dropping.
Miss Plato, I didn't realise that (not read the Sunday Times). That's absolutely appalling.
In 2015, I will be voting for the party in my constituency which has the best chances of installing a Labour majority in Parliament.
Argentinians are Italians, who speak Spanish but want to be English (old Argentinian saying).
Can you understand why Zimmerman was taken off?
I thought they were a bit unlucky in the first game, and suffered from a crucial bad call (when Werth was struck out instead of being given a walk), but this time they self-destructed. And let's face it, if they can't score a single run in 13 innings....
Surprised to see Epsom dot-matrix (?) monsters have superseded them. I can tell you that they where early pioneers of CMYK technology in the press industry (along with Germany's Shira RIP) and all you modern digital-print newspapers were initially test (via the Daily Mail Trust) in Docklands using Agfa Chromo digital printers.
My claim-to-fame is I installed the first Scitex Brisque RIP-Server [Globally] that could communicate with a Dolev image-setter (and integrating a Silicon Graphics Server plus externals). Sadly they then sent me on a course to learn about the same...!
1. Where Labour has chances of winning, vote Labour
2. Where Labour's own chances are hopeless, vote a party taht can stop a Tory winning.
In principle, you should ideally run a structural surplus to reduce the absolute level of debt as well as debt as a proportion of GDP.
However, I'd be comfortable with a part of spending cuts being returned to taxpayers in the form of targeted tax reductions once the structural deficit as a percentage of GDP is lower than real GDP growth (i.e. so the real value of our assets is growing fast than the debt).
Very rusty now as its nearly 30yrs ago - it's only the odd little things I remember as trivia.
What's yours - apart from living in Chiswick?
Kodak's failure was not one of a changing market. Or even one of innovation (for instance, they invented MS-DOS and digital film). But they chose not to adopt digital film for fear of cannibalising their core business.
Labour is a far better parallel...
Another idiot called Osborne suggested the same about Gordon Brown.
It seems to me, for Tories, autism has become a word of abuse !
But no fiscal drag is better than fiscal drag.
I am simply not convinced by this 'Reckless is the spawn of satan' nonsense I'm reading here. On the one hand he's meant to be an ambitious, lying, greasy pole climber, hence his defection to a growing party whilst the going's good, but on the other hand, he's a socially awkward serial rebel. Sorry, but you can't be both. We all know that the quickest route to preferment within the Tory party is to vote with the leadership. The truth is basically that Reckless is not as charismatic or as creative as Carswell, but on the other hand he is a principled man who takes his job of representing his constituents seriously.
A vote for the LibDems is a vote for the Tories. The only way to distinguish a LibDem MP from a Tory is that the LibDem votes more loyally for Tory bills.
Right.
That's clear.
Ok.
As the Lib Dems could not win it in 2010.
Saying that it always has historically been a safe Conservative seat previously Ryedale.
The lib dems would need a lot of publicity to outline where the Lib Dem/Conservative marginals are, but Clegg would have to lay of a bit, the anti Labour rhetoric, to entice these voters back.
He started to make a good case this morning on Marr.
Reckless' campaign literature could just say that along with the infamous bar charts saying only UKIP can win here !
Personally I've always thought they could have attempted to maintain the Kodak name in the digital era by having print shops where you could get your digital shots photo-shopped and nicely printed and framed. 'Turning pixels into pictures'. I think there was a slight window of opportunity there. Of course trends have left that idea behind now, as people mainly take pictures to share on SM rather than to adorn their walls or keep in albums.
If they pledge the mansion tax this time, anyone who considers a LD/Lab coalition a possibility will probably put more weight on the issue (especially as Labour is pursuing the idea as well)
Many red Liberals will not come back whatever happens. The betrayal has left wounds - some still fresh.
But more likely a Yedinaya Rossiya supporter (and maybe activist as well).
Using a trusted brand name to introduce a novel technology that is a marked improvement on the core business - there is no reason to believe that Kodak wouldn't have been able to transfer the brands.
As for your retail idea, that's what they do with Kodak Pictures and Kodak Express.
They actually have very few weapons to fight UKIP with, as is obvious when you realise that they are a mushy middle party that has been outflanked by a more focussed alternative. The main plus of the Tories is that they are more experienced, 'bigger' and more likely to win, and that UKIP are a bunch of cranks, gadflies, loonies, fruitcakes, and closet racists. This doesn't really work when the candidate is both an ex-Tory, the incumbent, and ahead in the polls.