We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse.
Agree - and the two political parties seeing most growth play victim hood like a violin - sometimes it's difficult to tell their arguments apart - if only we weren't in the EU//UK everything ŵoukd be so much better and it's all someone else's fault.........
No doubt Labour's grip in the marginals is loosened, probably terminally.
My frustration with Ed is reaching Dan Hodges levels. If only he'd given yesterday's speech at the conference.
It wasn't great by any means and would still have been bettered by Cameron's, but as I said at the time, better a 2-1 defeat than the 5-0 drubbing Ed got.
Ed's then sat back and watched Labour's poll share slip away like sand in a timer, an utter irrelevance in Rochester.
And the lesson of the past few weeks is that Conference Speeches prior to elections do matter.
Only negatively, mainly. The Labour leader's conference speech mattered because it was awful and the public concluded that Ed Miliband wasn't up to the job.
Can anyone remember much of what David Cameron said?
Re Cameron's speech - perhaps not the substance but the effect of it (at least on Ed and the Labour Party)?
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
It is funny how the SNP cannot remember anything before 2011. From 2007 to 2011 it was Annabel Goldie and the Scottish Tories who put Alex Salmond into the First Minister seat and kept him there by voting through each SNP budget when Labour and the LibDems opposed them.
Just as the Jacobites failed to guard their flank and rear in 1746 and turned their backs on many of their early supporters so the SNP should watch out because the Scottish Tories haven't gone away. Quite the opposite.
It is a risk. Much depends on how this is structured if it happens. Nicola Sturgeon is rumoured to be opposed to the idea of a broader Yes alliance, but two out of three candidates for the Deputy role are openly in favour.
On the specifics of the piece, the Greens have named Edinburgh East as their one Scottish target. They'll be hugely annoyed if the SNP seek to put a different Yes Alliance candidate in that seat:
I'm wondering if the out of touch Nats are making a blunder here.
It could potentially allow across Scotland, Unionists to unite being the leading SNP/yes alliance candidate.
I think it's a good idea for the SNP (it stops the Yes vote being split), but it needs to be led by the Yes movement, not the SNP. Having an entirely avoidable row with the Greens would be a very bad start.
The No camp will not unite. The three unionist parties all hate each other. Can you imagine David Cameron encouraging votes for Ed Miliband anywhere?
Doesn't have to be leader led.
If you're a Scottish Tory voter and the best chance to stop the Nats is to vote SLAB, then they might do that.
We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse.
Agree - and the two political parties seeing most growth play victim hood like a violin - sometimes it's difficult to tell their arguments apart - if only we weren't in the EU//UK everything ŵoukd be so much better and it's all someone else's fault.........
The BBC helpfully create an election leaflet for UKIP:
' Ten men and three women were arrested.
The group, aged between 24 and 57, were arrested at addresses in Rochdale, Failsworth and Cheetham Hill on Wednesday and are still in custody.
Police said the woman, who was 25 weeks pregnant, was flown to Luton in May, believing she was going to visit her sister.
She was met by a man who claimed to be her sister's friend and was taken to an address in Failsworth, Oldham before being sold to another man.
In July, she was married under Sharia law in Rochdale.
The woman was later taken to hospital for an appointment by a woman who acted as an interpreter and told staff she wanted an abortion.
However, she was spoken to by an independent interpreter and police said it became clear "she was being sold into a marriage against her will".
Det Insp James Faulkner said: "She was completely unaware of this group's nefarious motives and by the time she realised what was going on, it was too late.
"She was met by a male unknown to her and trafficked to an address in London and then further on to the north west where the initial pretence of her coming to visit family was quickly dismissed and she was sold to an unknown male."
He said she was sold to a male and "lived with him for the purpose of securing his immigration status in this country".
Det Insp Faulkner said there was a trend for trafficking pregnant women as they are deemed more attractive for obtaining immigration status.
Police said they believed there were currently 400 cases of sham marriages in Manchester.
"Home Office statistics place a cost of £40,000 on the UK economy for each sham marriage," Mr Faulkner said.
Those arrested were held on suspicion of offences including trafficking people for exploitation and conspiracy to facilitate breach of immigration law. '
Isn't it wonderful how 'enriched' British society has become.
Lovely to see such a diverse vibrant mix of cultures
This looks like this is a case of people breaking the law and being caught. How would UKIP have handled it differently? Were the sarcastic remarks due to the nationality of the wrongdoers?
They sure were
I wouldn't have thought there were too many english people that need to trick pregnant young women into marriage in order to be allowed to stay in the country would you?
In a Ukip run Britain - will it be zero crime or zero crime committed by brown people ?
Do you think the government's response to the Rotherham report has been acceptable ?
Mr. Moses, not sure it'd affect the champagne (point of order: they do spray a sort of carbonated fruit drink in certain places, such as Bahrain and Abu Dhabi).
Be interesting if the Tories either get most votes or just creep over and get more seats than Labour. Then Labour are installed in England by Scottish Labour MP,s and a Nationalist Scottish party while Ed refuses EV4EL.. The West Lothian question would become a storm in a teacup in comparison.
It feeds a narrative of "needing" to vote Tory if you believe in a referendum, English self determination etc.
The ideal situation for the Tories is for the Tory element of UKIP to swing back, whilst all the other parts of UKIP's current vote remain firmly on board with Farage.
No doubt Labour's grip in the marginals is loosened, probably terminally.
My frustration with Ed is reaching Dan Hodges levels. If only he'd given yesterday's speech at the conference.
It wasn't great by any means and would still have been bettered by Cameron's, but as I said at the time, better a 2-1 defeat than the 5-0 drubbing Ed got.
Ed's then sat back and watched Labour's poll share slip away like sand in a timer, an utter irrelevance in Rochester.
And the lesson of the past few weeks is that Conference Speeches prior to elections do matter.
Only negatively, mainly. The Labour leader's conference speech mattered because it was awful and the public concluded that Ed Miliband wasn't up to the job.
Can anyone remember much of what David Cameron said?
No doubt Labour's grip in the marginals is loosened, probably terminally.
My frustration with Ed is reaching Dan Hodges levels. If only he'd given yesterday's speech at the conference.
It wasn't great by any means and would still have been bettered by Cameron's, but as I said at the time, better a 2-1 defeat than the 5-0 drubbing Ed got.
Ed's then sat back and watched Labour's poll share slip away like sand in a timer, an utter irrelevance in Rochester.
And the lesson of the past few weeks is that Conference Speeches prior to elections do matter.
Conference speeches are only really important to the party faithful, few others take much notice what goes on unless it is spectacularly good, or spectacularly bad.
Ed's problem is that not only was it poor, but it was also the final speech before the GE2015 -. It sets the narrative for the media for the remainder of the campaign period.
"Your Granddad died so you could buy our rosemary foccacia you ungrateful fucks, so get out there and start shopping."
We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse. Todays hand wringing in thenTelegraph and the Guardian is something to behold. In advertising terms I'd say it's close to a masterpece.
It's vomit inducing, and it's not even original.
That reminds me I must pop toTesco and buy some Pipes of Peace
"The ad is extremely powerful. A number of things really struck me, one is the attention to detail that's gone into the historical research," said Charles Byrne, Director of Fundraising at the Royal British Legion.
The chocolate bar that features in the advert will be on sale for £1 with all profits going to charity, a somewhat cheaper piece of advert memorabilia than John Lewis' £95 Monty penguin.
"Your Granddad died so you could buy our rosemary foccacia you ungrateful fucks, so get out there and start shopping."
We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse. Todays hand wringing in thenTelegraph and the Guardian is something to behold. In advertising terms I'd say it's close to a masterpece.
It's vomit inducing, and it's not even original.
That reminds me I must pop toTesco and buy some Pipes of Peace
"The ad is extremely powerful. A number of things really struck me, one is the attention to detail that's gone into the historical research," said Charles Byrne, Director of Fundraising at the Royal British Legion.
The chocolate bar that features in the advert will be on sale for £1 with all profits going to charity, a somewhat cheaper piece of advert memorabilia than John Lewis' £95 Monty penguin.
Very nice: Reading the comments I think our own Tapestry would be embarrassed!
The Slaughter of WW1 was a blood sacrifice. Arch Duke Ferdinand was being driven in a car with the number plate A/11/11/18 (Armistice 11/11/18) on the day of his assassination...The King, Kaiser and Tsar were all first cousins.
Src.: Reply · lucidmoment71 47 minutes ago [Youtube linking sucks!]
P.S. Vanilla sucks! Caches and crashes fibre-optics: Then reproduces garbage. Even Wodger isn't that sad....
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
Be interesting if the Tories either get most votes or just creep over and get more seats than Labour. Then Labour are installed in England by Scottish Labour MP,s and a Nationalist Scottish party while Ed refuses EV4EL.. The West Lothian question would become a storm in a teacup in comparison.
With respect, you're forgetting the point that the SNP were the original EV4EL party - and don't vote on English matters. And to get the SNP to repudiate that and to come on their side after the last 30 years of "We hate the SNP" as items 1, 2, 3, ... n of just about every SLAB policy document, speech, etc., Mr Miliband or his successor would have to make some really substantial sacrifice in Scotland.
And the only payments to SNP I can see working would be so great that they would effectively destroy SLAB as a Westminster presence - either through the party collapsing into civil war, or mass resignation of SLAB MPs and MSPs which would lose the party the very majority it seeks to gain (assuming there are enough to make a difference), or through the formation of proper UK and English Pmts - which last would then be taken over by the Tories.
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
It is funny how the SNP cannot remember anything before 2011. From 2007 to 2011 it was Annabel Goldie and the Scottish Tories who put Alex Salmond into the First Minister seat and kept him there by voting through each SNP budget when Labour and the LibDems opposed them.
Just as the Jacobites failed to guard their flank and rear in 1746 and turned their backs on many of their early supporters so the SNP should watch out because the Scottish Tories haven't gone away. Quite the opposite.
It is a risk. Much depends on how this is structured if it happens. Nicola Sturgeon is rumoured to be opposed to the idea of a broader Yes alliance, but two out of three candidates for the Deputy role are openly in favour.
On the specifics of the piece, the Greens have named Edinburgh East as their one Scottish target. They'll be hugely annoyed if the SNP seek to put a different Yes Alliance candidate in that seat:
I'm wondering if the out of touch Nats are making a blunder here.
It could potentially allow across Scotland, Unionists to unite being the leading SNP/yes alliance candidate.
I think it's a good idea for the SNP (it stops the Yes vote being split), but it needs to be led by the Yes movement, not the SNP. Having an entirely avoidable row with the Greens would be a very bad start.
The No camp will not unite. The three unionist parties all hate each other. Can you imagine David Cameron encouraging votes for Ed Miliband anywhere?
Doesn't have to be leader led.
If you're a Scottish Tory voter and the best chance to stop the Nats is to vote SLAB, then they might do that.
Which I think is what DavidL is contemplating.
It may help some of those voters down that path. It's easiest to see it helping a Lib Dem incumbent who is well liked personally.
"Your Granddad died so you could buy our rosemary foccacia you ungrateful fucks, so get out there and start shopping."
We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse. Todays hand wringing in thenTelegraph and the Guardian is something to behold. In advertising terms I'd say it's close to a masterpece.
It's vomit inducing, and it's not even original.
That reminds me I must pop toTesco and buy some Pipes of Peace
One matter clarified on Today programme by Nicola Sturgeon,there is no likelihood of the SNP propping up the Tories after GE2015.Any support for a Labour minority would be on "an issue by issue" basis,so no formal coalition with Labour either. The conclusion is to leave the SNP out of calculations for inclusion into the next government betting possibilities.
That brings about a very small probability of Tories most seats, Ed Miliband next PM. It is slim (very very slim), but possible.
Perhaps what's needed is to reconnect the franchise to economic power. An elected Upper House, with its power over Money Bills restored, elected on a different franchise - one that acknowledges that some people contribute more in tax than others. Say: you get a vote if you pay £10,000 in income tax (not many people do) and you can buy more at, say, £25,000 a go if you want to.
I like the idea of having a different franchise for an elected Upper House, not sure I would necessarily go with your idea, but I do think it's the sort of radical thinking that is required.
Some context for your figures of £10,000 in income tax.
At edge of basic rate/higher rate tax bands (£41,865) £6,373 pa income tax is paid.
Pay of £50,933 leads to £10,000 pa income tax.
Pay of £88,433 leads to £25,000 pa income tax.
From a partisan point of view it would be expected that your proposal would straightforwardly favour the Conservatives, but it's worth noting that very few pensions would pay out more than £50k per annum and Conservative support is strongest among the retired, so it might not be so simple.
When the franchise was restricted with economic criteria in the past, I think an income or property ownership threshold was used. Using an income tax threshold instead has the curious side effect of tax increases/decreases directly enfranchising or disenfranchising large numbers of potential electors at the boundary of the thresholds, which is perhaps undesirable.
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
Looking again at the Sainsburys ad, it is a strikingly original concept.. a 21st Century depiction of the horrors and futility of war using the Christmas day football match as its centrepiece
"Your Granddad died so you could buy our rosemary foccacia you ungrateful fucks, so get out there and start shopping."
We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse. Todays hand wringing in thenTelegraph and the Guardian is something to behold. In advertising terms I'd say it's close to a masterpece.
It's vomit inducing, and it's not even original.
That reminds me I must pop toTesco and buy some Pipes of Peace
"The ad is extremely powerful. A number of things really struck me, one is the attention to detail that's gone into the historical research," said Charles Byrne, Director of Fundraising at the Royal British Legion.
The chocolate bar that features in the advert will be on sale for £1 with all profits going to charity, a somewhat cheaper piece of advert memorabilia than John Lewis' £95 Monty penguin.
Sainsbury has supported the Royal Britush Legion for decades and delays it's Chrustmas advert launch each year until after Armistice day - you'll firgive me but it's not their ad I find vomit inducing......
The Christmas ad I enjoyed best in recent years was Harvey Nic's "I spent it in myself"
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
It is funny how the SNP cannot remember anything before 2011. From 2007 to 2011 it was Annabel Goldie and the Scottish Tories who put Alex Salmond into the First Minister seat and kept him there by voting through each SNP budget when Labour and the LibDems opposed them.
Just as the Jacobites failed to guard their flank and rear in 1746 and turned their backs on many of their early supporters so the SNP should watch out because the Scottish Tories haven't gone away. Quite the opposite.
It is a risk. Much depends on how this is structured if it happens. Nicola Sturgeon is rumoured to be opposed to the idea of a broader Yes alliance, but two out of three candidates for the Deputy role are openly in favour.
On the specifics of the piece, the Greens have named Edinburgh East as their one Scottish target. They'll be hugely annoyed if the SNP seek to put a different Yes Alliance candidate in that seat:
I'm wondering if the out of touch Nats are making a blunder here.
It could potentially allow across Scotland, Unionists to unite being the leading SNP/yes alliance candidate.
I think it's a good idea for the SNP (it stops the Yes vote being split), but it needs to be led by the Yes movement, not the SNP. Having an entirely avoidable row with the Greens would be a very bad start.
The No camp will not unite. The three unionist parties all hate each other. Can you imagine David Cameron encouraging votes for Ed Miliband anywhere?
Doesn't have to be leader led.
If you're a Scottish Tory voter and the best chance to stop the Nats is to vote SLAB, then they might do that.
Which I think is what DavidL is contemplating.
It may help some of those voters down that path. It's easiest to see it helping a Lib Dem incumbent who is well liked personally.
Do they not have the last bastion of protest votes up there?
And the lesson of the past few weeks is that Conference Speeches prior to elections do matter.
Indeed. I doubt most voters noticed, but it dismayed many activists who then decided they would prefer to spend the evening in the pub rather than knocking on doors.
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
It is funny how the SNP cannot remember anything before 2011. From 2007 to 2011 it was Annabel Goldie and the Scottish Tories who put Alex Salmond into the First Minister seat and kept him there by voting through each SNP budget when Labour and the LibDems opposed them.
Just as the Jacobites failed to guard their flank and rear in 1746 and turned their backs on many of their early supporters so the SNP should watch out because the Scottish Tories haven't gone away. Quite the opposite.
For those betting on a high number of SNP seats next year, this could be expensive.
The Scottish National party is planning to target more seats at Westminster by allowing prominent yes campaigners to stand at the general election, the Guardian can reveal.
The party’s annual conference is expected to endorse plans on Friday to allow its newest members to stand for election, after its ranks were swelled by more than 60,000 new activists and supporters after the referendum.
In a potentially far-reaching move, the party could also promote non-SNP candidates as part of a broader “yes alliance” of independence campaigners, allowing them to stand in place of the SNP under that wider banner.
It is a risk. Much depends on how this is structured if it happens. Nicola Sturgeon is rumoured to be opposed to the idea of a broader Yes alliance, but two out of three candidates for the Deputy role are openly in favour.
On the specifics of the piece, the Greens have named Edinburgh East as their one Scottish target. They'll be hugely annoyed if the SNP seek to put a different Yes Alliance candidate in that seat:
He also struggled when asked to say how many people actually pay zero tax. Perhaps he just had a Miliband-esque forgetful moment - about all those taken out of tax altogether by this Coalition Govt....
"General elections as I repeatedly observe are not decided by national party aggregate vote shares but by the outcomes in 650 separate constituency elections fought under first past the post."
True enough as far as it goes. But if you took that idea to its conclusion, you would have to believe that Tony Blair was lucky, twice, in 650 constituency elections. And then Gordon Brown mysteriously got unlucky. But in fact UK general elections are largely presidential elections.
I remember the 2005 GE with the Vote Tony Get Gordon slogan. All with painfully stage managed pictures of them eating an ice cream.
"Your Granddad died so you could buy our rosemary foccacia you ungrateful fucks, so get out there and start shopping."
We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse. Todays hand wringing in thenTelegraph and the Guardian is something to behold. In advertising terms I'd say it's close to a masterpece.
It's vomit inducing, and it's not even original.
That reminds me I must pop toTesco and buy some Pipes of Peace
"The ad is extremely powerful. A number of things really struck me, one is the attention to detail that's gone into the historical research," said Charles Byrne, Director of Fundraising at the Royal British Legion.
The chocolate bar that features in the advert will be on sale for £1 with all profits going to charity, a somewhat cheaper piece of advert memorabilia than John Lewis' £95 Monty penguin.
Sainsbury has supported the Royal Britush Legion for decades and delays it's Chrustmas advert launch each year until after Armistice day - you'll firgive me but it's not their ad I find vomit inducing......
The Christmas ad I enjoyed best in recent years was Harvey Nic's "I spent it in myself"
You can think what you like, cant I?
If Sainsburys real aim was to make a point about the futility of war etc, then make the ad and don't mention Sainsburys
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
It is funny how the SNP cannot remember anything before 2011. From 2007 to 2011 it was Annabel Goldie and the Scottish Tories who put Alex Salmond into the First Minister seat and kept him there by voting through each SNP budget when Labour and the LibDems opposed them.
Just as the Jacobites failed to guard their flank and rear in 1746 and turned their backs on many of their early supporters so the SNP should watch out because the Scottish Tories haven't gone away. Quite the opposite.
For those betting on a high number of SNP seats next year, this could be expensive.
The Scottish National party is planning to target more seats at Westminster by allowing prominent yes campaigners to stand at the general election, the Guardian can reveal.
The party’s annual conference is expected to endorse plans on Friday to allow its newest members to stand for election, after its ranks were swelled by more than 60,000 new activists and supporters after the referendum.
In a potentially far-reaching move, the party could also promote non-SNP candidates as part of a broader “yes alliance” of independence campaigners, allowing them to stand in place of the SNP under that wider banner.
It is a risk. Much depends on how this is structured if it happens. Nicola Sturgeon is rumoured to be opposed to the idea of a broader Yes alliance, but two out of three candidates for the Deputy role are openly in favour.
On the specifics of the piece, the Greens have named Edinburgh East as their one Scottish target. They'll be hugely annoyed if the SNP seek to put a different Yes Alliance candidate in that seat:
I'm wondering if the out of touch Nats are making a blunder here.
It could potentially allow across Scotland, Unionists to unite being the leading SNP/yes alliance candidate.
Ha Ha Ha , you been sniffing the sherry bottle
Considering you called me a turnip among other things, when I said UKIP were likely to win a Euro seat and No would win, it's clear I'm more in touch with the Scottish public than you are.
The BBC helpfully create an election leaflet for UKIP:
' Thirteen people have been arrested over a trafficking ring which saw a pregnant woman almost tricked into an abortion following a sham marriage.
The 20-year-old from Slovakia was sold for up to £15,000 by a gang in Greater Manchester who organised a marriage to a man facing deportation, police said.
The woman told an interpreter at hospital she had been "sold against her will" and was "appalled" by the prospect of an abortion.
Ten men and three women were arrested.
The group, aged between 24 and 57, were arrested at addresses in Rochdale, Failsworth and Cheetham Hill on Wednesday and are still in custody.
Police said the woman, who was 25 weeks pregnant, was flown to Luton in May, believing she was going to visit her sister.
She was met by a man who claimed to be her sister's friend and was taken to an address in Failsworth, Oldham before being sold to another man.
In July, she was married under Sharia law in Rochdale.
The woman was later taken to hospital for an appointment by a woman who acted as an interpreter and told staff she wanted an abortion.
However, she was spoken to by an independent interpreter and police said it became clear "she was being sold into a marriage against her will".
Det Insp James Faulkner said: "She was completely unaware of this group's nefarious motives and by the time she realised what was going on, it was too late.
"She was met by a male unknown to her and trafficked to an address in London and then further on to the north west where the initial pretence of her coming to visit family was quickly dismissed and she was sold to an unknown male."
He said she was sold to a male and "lived with him for the purpose of securing his immigration status in this country".
Det Insp Faulkner said there was a trend for trafficking pregnant women as they are deemed more attractive for obtaining immigration status.
Police said they believed there were currently 400 cases of sham marriages in Manchester.
"Home Office statistics place a cost of £40,000 on the UK economy for each sham marriage," Mr Faulkner said.
Those arrested were held on suspicion of offences including trafficking people for exploitation and conspiracy to facilitate breach of immigration law. '
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
Be interesting if the Tories either get most votes or just creep over and get more seats than Labour. Then Labour are installed in England by Scottish Labour MP,s and a Nationalist Scottish party while Ed refuses EV4EL.. The West Lothian question would become a storm in a teacup in comparison.
With respect, you're forgetting the point that the SNP were the original EV4EL party - and don't vote on English matters. And to get the SNP to repudiate that and to come on their side after the last 30 years of "We hate the SNP" as items 1, 2, 3, ... n of just about every SLAB policy document, speech, etc., Mr Miliband or his successor would have to make some really substantial sacrifice in Scotland.
And the only payments to SNP I can see working would be so great that they would effectively destroy SLAB as a Westminster presence - either through the party collapsing into civil war, or mass resignation of SLAB MPs and MSPs which would lose the party the very majority it seeks to gain (assuming there are enough to make a difference), or through the formation of proper UK and English Pmts - which last would then be taken over by the Tories.
But those are, of course, problems for Labour.
Agreed they don't. I think you perhaps underestimate the desperation of the Labour Party to take power and what they would do to hang on to it. Who could forget Browns Rainbow coalition? Weirder things have happened.
E.G. Con + UKIP + DUP doesn't add up to a majority, and the Lib Dems don't want to get into bed with the DUP or UKIP...
Con 286 Lab 285 LD 31 SNP 19 UKIP 8 DUP 8
So reluctantly the LDs, in the national interest decide the only option is to prop up Labour and the SNP decide we need a Gov't so decide to give c&s to the red/yellows.
Its a very very small probability but possible I feel...
He is for "big ideas", yet his platform is full of minor policies (like scrapping the bedroom tax), or aims without mechanics behind them (like a jobs guarantee or 100% renewables) that clearly won't happen. The one big policy with an actual mechanism - capping retail price rises - now won't have too much of an effect due to the huge fall in wholesale prices. Thank God.
Well quite. That's because he has a few ideas, but not vision. He doesnt know what he actually wants to do with the country, and doesnt have the faintest idea how he will get there., the next paragraph of that article is even more damning
Mr Miliband said his principal task was to change the country. But change it from what, and to what exactly? After all, his party was in government for 13 years until 2010. What we are today is as much Labour’s responsibility as anyone else’s. Were there not bankers before 2010 earning big bonuses? Were there not people avoiding taxes? What did the Labour government, of which Mr Miliband was a leading figure, do about that?
He lamented our unequal society; and yet inequality grew under the Labour government and the “privileged few” thrived. Indeed, the rich were taxed at a lower rate than they are now. The greatest scandals in the NHS happened on their watch. Immigration became an issue under Labour. This attempt by Mr Miliband to turn 2010 into Year Zero and disavow all responsibility for what went before simply does not wash.
This is what they always do. They turned 1979 into year zero and all the ills of the country and the planet were laid at the Tories door within 3 months of the election. They did the same in 2010.
The abject failure to actually do anything constructive or useful is equally matched by their ability to blame everyone or anyone else but themselves for the state in which they always leave the country.
How does this differ from the Conservatives? The article's analysis is a rather boorish one: essentially asking the rhetorical question, if the Labour/Conservative Party manifesto is any good, why were the policies not enacted by Cameron/Brown/Blair/Major/Thatcher?
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
It is funny how the SNP cannot remember anything before 2011. From 2007 to 2011 it was Annabel Goldie and the Scottish Tories who put Alex Salmond into the First Minister seat and kept him there by voting through each SNP budget when Labour and the LibDems opposed them.
Just as the Jacobites failed to guard their flank and rear in 1746 and turned their backs on many of their early supporters so the SNP should watch out because the Scottish Tories haven't gone away. Quite the opposite.
It is a risk. Much depends on how this is structured if it happens. Nicola Sturgeon is rumoured to be opposed to the idea of a broader Yes alliance, but two out of three candidates for the Deputy role are openly in favour.
On the specifics of the piece, the Greens have named Edinburgh East as their one Scottish target. They'll be hugely annoyed if the SNP seek to put a different Yes Alliance candidate in that seat:
I'm wondering if the out of touch Nats are making a blunder here.
It could potentially allow across Scotland, Unionists to unite being the leading SNP/yes alliance candidate.
I think it's a good idea for the SNP (it stops the Yes vote being split), but it needs to be led by the Yes movement, not the SNP. Having an entirely avoidable row with the Greens would be a very bad start.
The No camp will not unite. The three unionist parties all hate each other. Can you imagine David Cameron encouraging votes for Ed Miliband anywhere?
Doesn't have to be leader led.
If you're a Scottish Tory voter and the best chance to stop the Nats is to vote SLAB, then they might do that.
Which I think is what DavidL is contemplating.
It may help some of those voters down that path. It's easiest to see it helping a Lib Dem incumbent who is well liked personally.
In Scotland? The two most recent polls have the scottish LDs at 3 or 4%.
"Your Granddad died so you could buy our rosemary foccacia you ungrateful fucks, so get out there and start shopping."
We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse. Todays hand wringing in thenTelegraph and the Guardian is something to behold. In advertising terms I'd say it's close to a masterpece.
It's vomit inducing, and it's not even original.
That reminds me I must pop toTesco and buy some Pipes of Peace
"The ad is extremely powerful. A number of things really struck me, one is the attention to detail that's gone into the historical research," said Charles Byrne, Director of Fundraising at the Royal British Legion.
The chocolate bar that features in the advert will be on sale for £1 with all profits going to charity, a somewhat cheaper piece of advert memorabilia than John Lewis' £95 Monty penguin.
Sainsbury has supported the Royal Britush Legion for decades and delays it's Chrustmas advert launch each year until after Armistice day - you'll firgive me but it's not their ad I find vomit inducing......
The Christmas ad I enjoyed best in recent years was Harvey Nic's "I spent it in myself"
You can think what you like, cant I?
If Sainsburys real aim was to make a point about the futility of war etc, then make the ad and don't mention Sainsburys
I'm taken aback at the venom a UKIP supporter is directing at the supporter of the Royal British Legion, that's all, I thought UKIP saw the Legion as a good thing and all that, but we live and learn......
"Had Russell Brand given this speech, it would have been hailed by the Left as a great insight into the challenge of British inequality. But coming from Miliband, it was laughed off as the swansong of a doomed leader. "
Mr. Moses, not sure it'd affect the champagne (point of order: they do spray a sort of carbonated fruit drink in certain places, such as Bahrain and Abu Dhabi).
The kids would love it particularly if the post race interviews were then done by Mr Blobby.
The BBC helpfully create an election leaflet for UKIP:
' Thirteen people have been arrested over a trafficking ring which saw a pregnant woman almost tricked into an abortion following a sham marriage.
The 20-year-old from Slovakia was sold for up to £15,000 by a gang in Greater Manchester who organised a marriage to a man facing deportation, police said.
The woman told an interpreter at hospital she had been "sold against her will" and was "appalled" by the prospect of an abortion.
Ten men and three women were arrested.
The group, aged between 24 and 57, were arrested at addresses in Rochdale, Failsworth and Cheetham Hill on Wednesday and are still in custody.
Police said the woman, who was 25 weeks pregnant, was flown to Luton in May, believing she was going to visit her sister.
She was met by a man who claimed to be her sister's friend and was taken to an address in Failsworth, Oldham before being sold to another man.
In July, she was married under Sharia law in Rochdale.
The woman was later taken to hospital for an appointment by a woman who acted as an interpreter and told staff she wanted an abortion.
However, she was spoken to by an independent interpreter and police said it became clear "she was being sold into a marriage against her will".
Det Insp James Faulkner said: "She was completely unaware of this group's nefarious motives and by the time she realised what was going on, it was too late.
"She was met by a male unknown to her and trafficked to an address in London and then further on to the north west where the initial pretence of her coming to visit family was quickly dismissed and she was sold to an unknown male."
He said she was sold to a male and "lived with him for the purpose of securing his immigration status in this country".
Det Insp Faulkner said there was a trend for trafficking pregnant women as they are deemed more attractive for obtaining immigration status.
Police said they believed there were currently 400 cases of sham marriages in Manchester.
"Home Office statistics place a cost of £40,000 on the UK economy for each sham marriage," Mr Faulkner said.
Those arrested were held on suspicion of offences including trafficking people for exploitation and conspiracy to facilitate breach of immigration law. '
To be honest, Hamilton is a very strong favourite. But the Mercedes has suffered 5 (I believe) race-ending reliability issues this years (that'd be 5 from 36 occasions, counting each car separately for the races so far). Barring that, or an accident, it's hard to see Hamilton losing.
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
It is funny how the SNP cannot remember anything before 2011. From 2007 to 2011 it was Annabel Goldie and the Scottish Tories who put Alex Salmond into the First Minister seat and kept him there by voting through each SNP budget when Labour and the LibDems opposed them.
Just as the Jacobites failed to guard their flank and rear in 1746 and turned their backs on many of their early supporters so the SNP should watch out because the Scottish Tories haven't gone away. Quite the opposite.
It is a risk. Much depends on how this is structured if it happens. Nicola Sturgeon is rumoured to be opposed to the idea of a broader Yes alliance, but two out of three candidates for the Deputy role are openly in favour.
On the specifics of the piece, the Greens have named Edinburgh East as their one Scottish target. They'll be hugely annoyed if the SNP seek to put a different Yes Alliance candidate in that seat:
I'm wondering if the out of touch Nats are making a blunder here.
It could potentially allow across Scotland, Unionists to unite being the leading SNP/yes alliance candidate.
I think it's a good idea for the SNP (it stops the Yes vote being split), but it needs to be led by the Yes movement, not the SNP. Having an entirely avoidable row with the Greens would be a very bad start.
The No camp will not unite. The three unionist parties all hate each other. Can you imagine David Cameron encouraging votes for Ed Miliband anywhere?
Doesn't have to be leader led.
If you're a Scottish Tory voter and the best chance to stop the Nats is to vote SLAB, then they might do that.
Which I think is what DavidL is contemplating.
It may help some of those voters down that path. It's easiest to see it helping a Lib Dem incumbent who is well liked personally.
In Scotland? The two most recent polls have the scottish LDs at 3 or 4%.
Carmichael is nailed on, surely.
Charlie Kennedy probably is too, he is far away from the coalition and has a huge majority and I'd imagine has a big big personal vote.
"What do you mean by your last comment? You often make Nazi references to me"
Sorry Isam. That was completely inadvertant! I was using it as an illustration of another classic ad that was almost wholly plagiarized but in advertising the goals are different and memorability is everything
I see the SNP have ruled out propping up the Tories. From the Times Red Box:
"We wouldn't put the Tories into government," Nicola Sturgeon said on the Today programme, while, as part of an interview with Mure Dickie in the FT, Alex Salmond raises the possibility of a confidence and supply deal with the Labour Party after the next election.
It is funny how the SNP cannot remember anything before 2011. From 2007 to 2011 it was Annabel Goldie and the Scottish Tories who put Alex Salmond into the First Minister seat and kept him there by voting through each SNP budget when Labour and the LibDems opposed them.
Just as the Jacobites failed to guard their flank and rear in 1746 and turned their backs on many of their early supporters so the SNP should watch out because the Scottish Tories haven't gone away. Quite the opposite.
It is a risk. Much depends on how this is structured if it happens. Nicola Sturgeon is rumoured to be opposed to the idea of a broader Yes alliance, but two out of three candidates for the Deputy role are openly in favour.
On the specifics of the piece, the Greens have named Edinburgh East as their one Scottish target. They'll be hugely annoyed if the SNP seek to put a different Yes Alliance candidate in that seat:
I'm wondering if the out of touch Nats are making a blunder here.
It could potentially allow across Scotland, Unionists to unite being the leading SNP/yes alliance candidate.
I think it's a good idea for the SNP (it stops the Yes vote being split), but it needs to be led by the Yes movement, not the SNP. Having an entirely avoidable row with the Greens would be a very bad start.
The No camp will not unite. The three unionist parties all hate each other. Can you imagine David Cameron encouraging votes for Ed Miliband anywhere?
Doesn't have to be leader led.
If you're a Scottish Tory voter and the best chance to stop the Nats is to vote SLAB, then they might do that.
Which I think is what DavidL is contemplating.
It may help some of those voters down that path. It's easiest to see it helping a Lib Dem incumbent who is well liked personally.
In Scotland? The two most recent polls have the scottish LDs at 3 or 4%.
Indeed. But when Charles Kennedy is only 2/9 to keep his seat, these considerations must be borne in mind.
"Your Granddad died so you could buy our rosemary foccacia you ungrateful fucks, so get out there and start shopping."
We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse. Todays hand wringing in thenTelegraph and the Guardian is something to behold. In advertising terms I'd say it's close to a masterpece.
It's vomit inducing, and it's not even original.
That reminds me I must pop toTesco and buy some Pipes of Peace
"The ad is extremely powerful. A number of things really struck me, one is the attention to detail that's gone into the historical research," said Charles Byrne, Director of Fundraising at the Royal British Legion.
The chocolate bar that features in the advert will be on sale for £1 with all profits going to charity, a somewhat cheaper piece of advert memorabilia than John Lewis' £95 Monty penguin.
Sainsbury has supported the Royal Britush Legion for decades and delays it's Chrustmas advert launch each year until after Armistice day - you'll firgive me but it's not their ad I find vomit inducing......
The Christmas ad I enjoyed best in recent years was Harvey Nic's "I spent it in myself"
You can think what you like, cant I?
If Sainsburys real aim was to make a point about the futility of war etc, then make the ad and don't mention Sainsburys
I'm taken aback at the venom a UKIP supporter is directing at the supporter of the Royal British Legion, that's all, I thought UKIP saw the Legion as a good thing and all that, but we live and learn......
Get over yourself, not everything is to do with which party someone supports.
Roger thinks its a masterpiece, I think its a copy of Paul McCartney's "Pipes Of Peace" video
If corporates want to give to charities, all the better for them, but why the need to literally advertise the fact?
I think the DUP+UKIP will almost be able to be counted together in any c&s relationship and most likely with the Conservatives, oh they'll offer to Labour too but the terms won't be acceptable to the reds.
Re Sainsbury's ad, I rather hope someone has the wit to organise an Anglo-German event in memory of the Christmas Truce. I know it all went dreadfully wrong afterwards, but surely it was a good moment in a bad time, and worthy of recall.
"What do you mean by your last comment? You often make Nazi references to me"
Sorry Isam. That was completely inadvertant! I was using it as an illustration of another classic ad that was almost wholly plagiarized but in advertising the goals are different and memorability is everything
Fair enough... I actually do remember that ad and I loved the fact that he spoke in the same voice when the microphone was removed... brilliant
But that was a parody and they weren't making a political point. Regarding the Sainsburys ad I am not telling other people what they can like or dislike! I just don't like schmaltz and the charity part seems too self congratulatory for me
My favourite recent ad is the Harvey & Rabbit one by Thinkbox... should have been used by Better Together IMO
I think the DUP+UKIP will almost be able to be counted together in any c&s relationship and most likely with the Conservatives, oh they'll offer to Labour too but the terms won't be acceptable to the reds.
Similarly SNP/Labour.
well if you're banking on the DUP, it will be interesting to see how Martin McGuinness offer of an election pact to the SDLP will ride out. Could cost them 3 seats.
We're becoming a nation of victims. It used to just be Liverpudlians but it's spread to the rest of the country. I would date it from aftermath of Diana's car crash and it's just got worse.
Agree - and the two political parties seeing most growth play victim hood like a violin - sometimes it's difficult to tell their arguments apart - if only we weren't in the EU//UK everything ŵoukd be so much better and it's all someone else's fault.........
"Had Russell Brand given this speech, it would have been hailed by the Left as a great insight into the challenge of British inequality. But coming from Miliband, it was laughed off as the swansong of a doomed leader. "
And had the article been written by someone other than Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph you might not laugh it off as the deranged ranting of a right wing hack
I think the DUP+UKIP will almost be able to be counted together in any c&s relationship and most likely with the Conservatives, oh they'll offer to Labour too but the terms won't be acceptable to the reds.
I think the DUP+UKIP will almost be able to be counted together in any c&s relationship and most likely with the Conservatives, oh they'll offer to Labour too but the terms won't be acceptable to the reds.
Similarly SNP/Labour.
well if you're banking on the DUP, it will be interesting to see how Martin McGuinness offer of an election pact to the SDLP will ride out. Could cost them 3 seats.
QE ward is in South Cambridgeshire. Bearing in mind the excellent LD results there in May a Labour loss in QE, a Tory candidate with no local connections being parachuted in and a UKIP candidate who is local, anything could happen in that constituency.
Don't beat about the bush Len - tell us what you really think:
But it is also essential that the other leading candidate, Jim Murphy MP, does not seize the reins in Scotland. This is partly because he is a Westminster politician, and Unite members and many others have clearly expressed the view that Scottish Labour needs to be led from Holyrood by an MSP untainted by the expenses’ scandal which so undermined faith in London politicians.
But even more importantly, Murphy is the candidate of the past and the candidate of division. He is an advocate – and, let me acknowledge, a powerful and committed advocate – for the policies which have led Scottish Labour to its present pass. His victory would be all the SNP’s Christmases come at once.
He supports austerity and “economic credibility” with the City of London. He was a strong backer of the disastrous Iraq War, and made it clear he would have liked to see military action against Syria last year. He backs extending privatisation in the public services. He is a pioneer of tuition fees for students.
The SNP are going to be debating a "Scottish Alliance" proposal at their conference.
Although disappointingly it looks like the SNP are putting up a candidate in Edinburgh East - I would have loved to see the Scottish Greens get a free run an put a tenner on that.
"What do you mean by your last comment? You often make Nazi references to me"
Sorry Isam. That was completely inadvertant! I was using it as an illustration of another classic ad that was almost wholly plagiarized but in advertising the goals are different and memorability is everything
Re Sainsbury's ad, I rather hope someone has the wit to organise an Anglo-German event in memory of the Christmas Truce. I know it all went dreadfully wrong afterwards, but surely it was a good moment in a bad time, and worthy of recall.
Considering that ~10% if all artillery ordinances failed to explode; I would guess that in 'No-Mans Land' postponing the re-match was highly sensible (from Dec 1914 onwards)....
"What do you mean by your last comment? You often make Nazi references to me"
Sorry Isam. That was completely inadvertant! I was using it as an illustration of another classic ad that was almost wholly plagiarized but in advertising the goals are different and memorability is everything
Shyte:
I agree with Wodger....
January 15th contracts loaded up now, hopefully this winter will get very very cold very very fast in the USA ^_~
I've just realised if the Scottish Greens run as a Scottish Yes Alliance party, then that will stop me winning my Greens outpoll the Lib Dems bet.
The form of the electoral pact is still up in the air - one suggestion is that they will run as "Scottish Green - Yes Alliance" and SNP candidates will run as "SNP - Scottish Alliance" rather than as a hard "Yes Alliance" party. So that should still count I think.
I've just realised if the Scottish Greens run as a Scottish Yes Alliance party, then that will stop me winning my Greens outpoll the Lib Dems bet.
The form of the electoral pact is still up in the air - one suggestion is that they will run as "Scottish Green - Yes Alliance" and SNP candidates will run as "SNP - Scottish Alliance" rather than as a hard "Yes Alliance" party. So that should still count I think.
Mr. Eagles, maybe. Belgian chocolate is delicious, and their F1 race is excellent. On the other hand, most of their history does appear to be as a route for Germany to conquer France.
January 15th contracts loaded up now, hopefully this winter will get very very cold very very fast in the USA ^_~
Woke up early this morning; was contemplating the IG-Index programming option. Refreshed Al-Beeb's "Market-Data" page and - lo-and-behold - BC @ £49.50.
We now have to await the second-part: The Dec 31st closing values of Sterling and Brent. I am only 40% optimistic...! *
* Note to puntahs: When accepting a Pulpie bet ensure a) you are sober, and b) you read the terms first....
January 15th contracts loaded up now, hopefully this winter will get very very cold very very fast in the USA ^_~
Woke up early this morning; was contemplating the IG-Index programming option. Refreshed Al-Beeb's "Market-Data" page and - lo-and-behold - BC @ £49.50.
We now have to await the second-part: The Dec 31st closing values of Sterling and Brent. I am only 40% optimistic...! *
* Note to puntahs: When accepting a Pulpie bet ensure a) you are sober, and b) you read the terms first....
I'll admit I was expecting to win and tried to load the terms up in my favour... Brent rather than WTI due to the "spread", 50 GBP rather than 80 USD as I thought GBP might tank a bit from where it was, year end rather than anytime so the bet can "come back" if it is underwater (Like it is now). If I lose then you've called the market remarkably well.
@montie@ConHome a thoughtful piece, Tim. As always. Much to mull over
Is he thinking of re ratting?
Not until next March, when his re-ratting would cause maximum damage ahead of the election. "I have now had six months to see UKIP from the inside. I had thought they were well intentioned people, with an alternative vision for Britain. I was very wrong on both counts...."
He helpfully omits the polling that shows Cam more popular than the party. Tim is deep in the bubble.
That doesn't make Cameron a good leader. Conservative support hasn't really budged from 33% or thereabouts since 1997. Fortunately, Labour support has fallen away over that period.
@montie@ConHome a thoughtful piece, Tim. As always. Much to mull over
Is he thinking of re ratting?
Not until next March, when his re-ratting would cause maximum damage ahead of the election. "I have now had six months to see UKIP from the inside. I had thought they were well intentioned people, with an alternative vision for Britain. I was very wrong on both counts...."
Obviously were he to do that, he would be a patriotic principled chap worthy of praise.
@montie@ConHome a thoughtful piece, Tim. As always. Much to mull over
Is he thinking of re ratting?
Not until next March, when his re-ratting would cause maximum damage ahead of the election. "I have now had six months to see UKIP from the inside. I had thought they were well intentioned people, with an alternative vision for Britain. I was very wrong on both counts...."
Obviously were he to do that, he would be a patriotic principled chap worthy of praise.
@montie@ConHome a thoughtful piece, Tim. As always. Much to mull over
Is he thinking of re ratting?
Not until next March, when his re-ratting would cause maximum damage ahead of the election. "I have now had six months to see UKIP from the inside. I had thought they were well intentioned people, with an alternative vision for Britain. I was very wrong on both counts...."
Obviously were he to do that, he would be a patriotic principled chap worthy of praise.
I second that emotion
There's alot of wishful thinking on this site sometimes.
@montie@ConHome a thoughtful piece, Tim. As always. Much to mull over
Is he thinking of re ratting?
Not until next March, when his re-ratting would cause maximum damage ahead of the election. "I have now had six months to see UKIP from the inside. I had thought they were well intentioned people, with an alternative vision for Britain. I was very wrong on both counts...."
Obviously were he to do that, he would be a patriotic principled chap worthy of praise.
I second that emotion
There's alot of wishful thinking on this site sometimes.
Understatement of the century!!!
If UKIP can't even get the founder of UKIPhome to join them then really, they must be toxic.
He helpfully omits the polling that shows Cam more popular than the party. Tim is deep in the bubble.
That doesn't make Cameron a good leader. Conservative support hasn't really budged from 33% or thereabouts since 1997. Fortunately, Labour support has fallen away over that period.
Cameron also benefits from a sycophantic media, it's a neo con thing, and the benefit of being in power.
@montie@ConHome a thoughtful piece, Tim. As always. Much to mull over
Is he thinking of re ratting?
Not until next March, when his re-ratting would cause maximum damage ahead of the election. "I have now had six months to see UKIP from the inside. I had thought they were well intentioned people, with an alternative vision for Britain. I was very wrong on both counts...."
Obviously were he to do that, he would be a patriotic principled chap worthy of praise.
I second that emotion
There's alot of wishful thinking on this site sometimes.
Understatement of the century!!!
If UKIP can't even get the founder of UKIPhome to join them then really, they must be toxic.
Yup, the polling backs that up.
UKIP are the most extreme, least fit to govern party with candidates more likely to hold racist/offensive views
Comments
I can't see those that getting to the podium and then spraying strawberry fruit smoothies at each other is going to cut it somehow?
As you say a good start. Needs cutting down to about ten but at least it's a launch pad
If you're a Scottish Tory voter and the best chance to stop the Nats is to vote SLAB, then they might do that.
Which I think is what DavidL is contemplating.
A simple yes or no will suffice.
The ideal situation for the Tories is for the Tory element of UKIP to swing back, whilst all the other parts of UKIP's current vote remain firmly on board with Farage.
There was also all those tax cut aspirations.
Ed's problem is that not only was it poor, but it was also the final speech before the GE2015 -. It sets the narrative for the media for the remainder of the campaign period.
What do you mean by your last comment? You often make Nazi references to me
@PBModerator
The chocolate bar that features in the advert will be on sale for £1 with all profits going to charity, a somewhat cheaper piece of advert memorabilia than John Lewis' £95 Monty penguin.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/sainsburys-trenchesbased-christmas-advert-is-like-a-4minute-f-you-to-john-lewis-9857588.html
·
lucidmoment71
47 minutes ago [Youtube linking sucks!]
P.S. Vanilla sucks! Caches and crashes fibre-optics: Then reproduces garbage. Even Wodger isn't that sad....
And the only payments to SNP I can see working would be so great that they would effectively destroy SLAB as a Westminster presence - either through the party collapsing into civil war, or mass resignation of SLAB MPs and MSPs which would lose the party the very majority it seeks to gain (assuming there are enough to make a difference), or through the formation of proper UK and English Pmts - which last would then be taken over by the Tories.
But those are, of course, problems for Labour.
Some context for your figures of £10,000 in income tax.
At edge of basic rate/higher rate tax bands (£41,865) £6,373 pa income tax is paid.
Pay of £50,933 leads to £10,000 pa income tax.
Pay of £88,433 leads to £25,000 pa income tax.
From a partisan point of view it would be expected that your proposal would straightforwardly favour the Conservatives, but it's worth noting that very few pensions would pay out more than £50k per annum and Conservative support is strongest among the retired, so it might not be so simple.
When the franchise was restricted with economic criteria in the past, I think an income or property ownership threshold was used. Using an income tax threshold instead has the curious side effect of tax increases/decreases directly enfranchising or disenfranchising large numbers of potential electors at the boundary of the thresholds, which is perhaps undesirable.
Why didn't anyone think of it before?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ErrZ-ipoE
The Christmas ad I enjoyed best in recent years was Harvey Nic's "I spent it in myself"
Do they not have the last bastion of protest votes up there?
The McMonster Raving Loony Party?
Huppert is 5/4 to retain his seat with PP
order-order.com/2014/11/14/chuka-abandons-eds-zero-zero-thing-after-12-hours/
He also struggled when asked to say how many people actually pay zero tax. Perhaps he just had a Miliband-esque forgetful moment - about all those taken out of tax altogether by this Coalition Govt....
I remember the 2005 GE with the Vote Tony Get Gordon slogan. All with painfully stage managed pictures of them eating an ice cream.
Maybe we can get Vote Ed Get Balls.
If Sainsburys real aim was to make a point about the futility of war etc, then make the ad and don't mention Sainsburys
So Sharia Law is now accepted in the UK?
When did this happen?
Probably under the Tories trying to be oh so modern.
I was at least right about the storm in a teacup.
Con 286
Lab 285
LD 31
SNP 19
UKIP 8
DUP 8
So reluctantly the LDs, in the national interest decide the only option is to prop up Labour and the SNP decide we need a Gov't so decide to give c&s to the red/yellows.
Its a very very small probability but possible I feel...
The abject failure to actually do anything constructive or useful is equally matched by their ability to blame everyone or anyone else but themselves for the state in which they always leave the country.
How does this differ from the Conservatives? The article's analysis is a rather boorish one: essentially asking the rhetorical question, if the Labour/Conservative Party manifesto is any good, why were the policies not enacted by Cameron/Brown/Blair/Major/Thatcher?
"Had Russell Brand given this speech, it would have been hailed by the Left as a great insight into the challenge of British inequality. But coming from Miliband, it was laughed off as the swansong of a doomed leader. "
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/11229342/Ed-Miliband-sounds-good-but-lacks-substance-and-show.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29982917
To be honest, Hamilton is a very strong favourite. But the Mercedes has suffered 5 (I believe) race-ending reliability issues this years (that'd be 5 from 36 occasions, counting each car separately for the races so far). Barring that, or an accident, it's hard to see Hamilton losing.
Charlie Kennedy probably is too, he is far away from the coalition and has a huge majority and I'd imagine has a big big personal vote.
Thurso perhaps...
"What do you mean by your last comment? You often make Nazi references to me"
Sorry Isam. That was completely inadvertant! I was using it as an illustration of another classic ad that was almost wholly plagiarized but in advertising the goals are different and memorability is everything
https://electionsetcdev.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/forecast-141114.png
Roger thinks its a masterpiece, I think its a copy of Paul McCartney's "Pipes Of Peace" video
If corporates want to give to charities, all the better for them, but why the need to literally advertise the fact?
I think the DUP+UKIP will almost be able to be counted together in any c&s relationship and most likely with the Conservatives, oh they'll offer to Labour too but the terms won't be acceptable to the reds.
Similarly SNP/Labour.
Tory 286 Lab 284
But the truth is a foreign concept to many of your ilk.
Its Th'Ud, its Th'Ud*,
Banging his head, der-durh-der.
Its Th'Ud, its Th'Ud,
He may be brain-dead, der-durh-duhr-der-duhr.
Is he out of his head?
I think so, der-durh-duhr-der-duhr.
Is he out of his head?
I think so, der-durh-duhr-der-duhr.
:apols-to-presidents-of-the-united-states-of-america:
* Apols to Th'Ud. It is another imbecile. Good lyrics though...?
But that was a parody and they weren't making a political point. Regarding the Sainsburys ad I am not telling other people what they can like or dislike! I just don't like schmaltz and the charity part seems too self congratulatory for me
My favourite recent ad is the Harvey & Rabbit one by Thinkbox... should have been used by Better Together IMO
Only 13 per cent of people say Ed Miliband is ready to be Prime Minister. That's fewer people than believe Princess Diana was murdered
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ed-miliband/11228962/14-things-that-are-more-popular-than-Ed-Miliband.html
http://sluggerotoole.com/2014/11/13/mcguinness-i-am-calling-therefore-on-the-sdlp-to-withdraw-their-candidates-in-fermanaghsouth-tyrone-upper-bann-and-north-belfast/
That's Labour
"Had Russell Brand given this speech, it would have been hailed by the Left as a great insight into the challenge of British inequality. But coming from Miliband, it was laughed off as the swansong of a doomed leader. "
And had the article been written by someone other than Fraser Nelson in the Telegraph you might not laugh it off as the deranged ranting of a right wing hack
No viable government for 541 days or something
But it is also essential that the other leading candidate, Jim Murphy MP, does not seize the reins in Scotland. This is partly because he is a Westminster politician, and Unite members and many others have clearly expressed the view that Scottish Labour needs to be led from Holyrood by an MSP untainted by the expenses’ scandal which so undermined faith in London politicians.
But even more importantly, Murphy is the candidate of the past and the candidate of division. He is an advocate – and, let me acknowledge, a powerful and committed advocate – for the policies which have led Scottish Labour to its present pass. His victory would be all the SNP’s Christmases come at once.
He supports austerity and “economic credibility” with the City of London. He was a strong backer of the disastrous Iraq War, and made it clear he would have liked to see military action against Syria last year. He backs extending privatisation in the public services. He is a pioneer of tuition fees for students.
http://labourlist.org/2014/11/the-election-in-scotland-matters-to-all-of-us/
Although disappointingly it looks like the SNP are putting up a candidate in Edinburgh East - I would have loved to see the Scottish Greens get a free run an put a tenner on that.
I agree with Wodger....
Eeesh, what a numpty, from IDS's former Chief of Staff
Ten reasons why I won’t be joining UKIP
http://www.conservativehome.com/thetorydiary/2014/11/ten-reasons-why-i-wont-be-joining-ukip.html
"Face it, we're turning into Belgium next year."
Hopefully with the beer, the modules and the frites!
Belgium is a top country, it was a country invented to get up the nose of the French, you can't get higher praise than that.
We now have to await the second-part: The Dec 31st closing values of Sterling and Brent. I am only 40% optimistic...! *
* Note to puntahs: When accepting a Pulpie bet ensure a) you are sober, and b) you read the terms first....
Genuine question: Why are you frustrated with Redward? Do you still actually want Labour to win? (and if Yes why?)
Douglas Carswell MP @DouglasCarswell
@montie @ConHome a thoughtful piece, Tim. As always. Much to mull over
Is he thinking of re ratting?
Aye, right.
Had this dream that the French were brilliant and the British were crap.
Turns out his nation turned out to be a nation of collaborators, which need British (and American and Canadian) help to be liberated.
I'd be annoyed too if I were him.
If UKIP can't even get the founder of UKIPhome to join them then really, they must be toxic.
UKIP are the most extreme, least fit to govern party with candidates more likely to hold racist/offensive views