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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Remember Cameron’s early vote-Blue-go-green mantra?

SystemSystem Posts: 11,688
edited January 2015 in General

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Remember Cameron’s early vote-Blue-go-green mantra?

The pictures still remain a defining moment of his leadership: surrounded by a pack of huskies and against an Arctic backdrop, David Cameron pushing his vote-Blue-go-green message. It seems a long time ago and it is, almost nine years as the clock ticks and an era politically – before the Credit Crunch changed the entire political landscape.

Read the full story here


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Comments

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    MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    Like it a lot David.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Labour MPs are spending rather more time than they should be talking about who their next leader will be. Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umunna are the best-established candidates, but other names are coming into play, names like Liz Kendall, a health spokesman, Dan Jarvis, a soldier-turned politician. Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, is also “very active”, looking for friends and supporters in Parliament and the party membership, MPs say.

    “People are manoeuvring for position, trying to raise their profile,” says an MP. “If we win, they might get better jobs in government. If we lose, Ed’s gone and they’re ready to run. So why not put yourself about a bit now?”
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11380197/Ed-Miliband-is-flunking-Labours-history-test.html
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    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,980
    Scott_P said:

    Labour MPs are spending rather more time than they should be talking about who their next leader will be. Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Chuka Umunna are the best-established candidates, but other names are coming into play, names like Liz Kendall, a health spokesman, Dan Jarvis, a soldier-turned politician. Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, is also “very active”, looking for friends and supporters in Parliament and the party membership, MPs say.

    “People are manoeuvring for position, trying to raise their profile,” says an MP. “If we win, they might get better jobs in government. If we lose, Ed’s gone and they’re ready to run. So why not put yourself about a bit now?”
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11380197/Ed-Miliband-is-flunking-Labours-history-test.html

    Amazing stuff. Perhaps we could give a name to do this kind of thing: 'Politics' is what I would suggest.
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    LibDem leads over the Greens since August:

    https://twitter.com/Sunil_P2/status/559688551236124672
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    Head to Head:
    LibDems v. Greens since early August:

    https://twitter.com/Sunil_P2/status/559685444661960704
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    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,980
    On topic. Anyone know how the Greens are doing in terms of getting candidates in place? Last time I looked at this, there were lots of constituencies in which they hadn't found a candidate.
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    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,930
    UKIP will outpoll the Greens, I'm very confident of that.

    Going to be an expensive night for the Lib Dems as the national polling and local strength points towards perhaps the most unevenly distributed vote share ever. The flipside of that is that they simply must lose a tremendous amount of deposits, or the numbers won't add up.

    The greengasm... strength in the 18-24 yr old range, all looks a bit 2010 Cleggasm to me. Will getting 4% be a "good night" for the Greens, I think they'll be squeezed personally - they don't have major party status (Is that AS important any more though, with the rise of social media ?!)
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    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,980
    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Agreed - though it simply mirrors EdM's attitude to UKIP. One of the reasons the minor parties are going to do so well is the sheer ineptitude of the leaders of the three main parties.
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    Serena beats Maria 6-3, 7-6 to become Aussie Open champion.
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    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    You are writing this thread David, as the Green tide slowly ebbs. I'm sure they will do better than in 2010, but not by much. The absolute anarchy of the Green manifesto is making itself felt, as the more and more deplore its madness and the peculiarities of its leader, Natalie Bennett.

    Meanwhile, UKIP is stable and still growing in strength, much the chagrin of many that post to PB.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,933
    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic
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    saddenedsaddened Posts: 2,245
    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
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    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    edited January 2015
    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
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    Good article David. There is also the common move across Europe to more "alternative" NOTA parties. The worse their economic situation the greater the shift to the "alternatives" are. Be they left wing nationalists in France (Le Pen) or left and right wing nutjobs in Greece or the batsh*t crazies in Spain. In the UK, our improving economic situation reduces the chances of the NOTAs. Of course it is Labour and the Lib Dems that are now suffering and both would have been better off with different Leaders, but they chose to stick with a pair of unattractive Leaders. It should be noted that in the NOTAs the Greens are inflated by the % of young voters who will end up not voting in large numbers...
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    Glad to see the downward purple trend being acknowledged in the thread header.

    Apart from the odd 23% in Daily Mirror polls Gravity is catching up..

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2015_United_Kingdom_general_election#/image/File:UK_opinion_polling_2010-2015.png
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    ArtistArtist Posts: 1,882
    Even if they maintain their polling until election day, it's a great unknown whether people will actually put a tick in their box on the day. There's been little evidence of it during this term, though we haven't had many elections since their latest rise.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,933
    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
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    YorkcityYorkcity Posts: 4,382
    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    To be fair to Cameron he has used either the green agenda in 2006 or to include the green party in debates in 2015 to highlight green issues.

    I believe he did this out of conviction, for a better world for his and our children.
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    OGH/TSE - this maybe worth a thread. What if Greece's membership in the EC becomes untenable if it veto's the EC sanctions on Russia and gives citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals turning Greece into a conduit for access to the EC for Africa etc?
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    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    TGOHF said:

    Glad to see the downward purple trend being acknowledged in the thread header.

    Apart from the odd 23% in Daily Mirror polls Gravity is catching up..

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2015_United_Kingdom_general_election#/image/File:UK_opinion_polling_2010-2015.png

    More of your bullsh*t TGOHF. ;)
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    Recent highest score for Kipper polls (19% or over..)

    25/1 Survation Daily Mirror
    15/1 Opinium Observer
    19/12 Survation Daily Mirror
    15/12 TNS ????
    7/12 Lord Ashcroft
    27/11 TNS ???
    20/11 Opinium Observer

    Must be a major polling company and right wing media conspiracy to mark em down..
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    JohnLilburneJohnLilburne Posts: 6,014
    edited January 2015
    TGOHF said:

    Glad to see the downward purple trend being acknowledged in the thread header.

    Apart from the odd 23% in Daily Mirror polls Gravity is catching up..

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2015_United_Kingdom_general_election#/image/File:UK_opinion_polling_2010-2015.png

    That chart is up to date as of 10 Jan, so a little out of date and heavily influenced by the lack of polls over Christmas. I believe it is due to be updated once the January polls are all in and I expect it to show UKIP back over 15%. In any case it looks more like normal variation than a trend to me.

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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    Please prove your claims of liar, chancer and dissembler from fact and not just your opinion.
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,264
    I'd agree with David's comment that the Greens in the debate would be able to sloganize and avoid being picked up on too much on detail. This seems a sensible thought. Odd then that in this week's Newstatesman, a Labour source is quoted as saying that Labour strategists think Natalie Bennett would be eaten alive in a debate (much as she was by Andrew Neil).

    Are they trying to put the Greens off?

    Or, is Labour as badly advised at the top as it has appeared this week?
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    saddenedsaddened Posts: 2,245
    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,264

    OGH/TSE - this maybe worth a thread. What if Greece's membership in the EC becomes untenable if it veto's the EC sanctions on Russia and gives citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals turning Greece into a conduit for access to the EC for Africa etc?

    Why would it do the latter? They are already at 50% youth unemployment.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,933
    edited January 2015
    TGOHF said:

    Recent highest score for Kipper polls (19% or over..)

    25/1 Survation Daily Mirror
    15/1 Opinium Observer
    19/12 Survation Daily Mirror
    15/12 TNS ????
    7/12 Lord Ashcroft
    27/11 TNS ???
    20/11 Opinium Observer

    Must be a major polling company and right wing media conspiracy to mark em down..

    Who said 19 and over was the mark?

    Can't believe you bothered to find that as it proves or disproves nothing... What was the point? To make yourself look stupid? Or that there were lots of 18s?
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    SquareRootSquareRoot Posts: 7,095
    edited January 2015
    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Risible

    Blair .. 10 yrs achieved nothing bar a lot of dead soldiers and civilians

    Brown.. worst Prime Minister in living memory, probably ever.
    and you want to take a pop at Dave? Look in your own back yard first.
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    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31072321

    Greece economy: Merkel rules out more debt relief

    Merkel tells Greece and Syriza to get stuffed!
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    isamisam Posts: 40,933
    edited January 2015
    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome

    I don't have a childish dislike of cameron or any real dislike of him at all

    My dads bigger than your dad x
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,264

    Good article David. There is also the common move across Europe to more "alternative" NOTA parties. The worse their economic situation the greater the shift to the "alternatives" are. Be they left wing nationalists in France (Le Pen) or left and right wing nutjobs in Greece or the batsh*t crazies in Spain. In the UK, our improving economic situation reduces the chances of the NOTAs. Of course it is Labour and the Lib Dems that are now suffering and both would have been better off with different Leaders, but they chose to stick with a pair of unattractive Leaders. It should be noted that in the NOTAs the Greens are inflated by the % of young voters who will end up not voting in large numbers...

    Agree with your last point. It really is time the pollsters started adjusting for lack of voter registration amongst the young.
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    isam said:

    TGOHF said:

    Recent highest score for Kipper polls (19% or over..)

    25/1 Survation Daily Mirror
    15/1 Opinium Observer
    19/12 Survation Daily Mirror
    15/12 TNS ????
    7/12 Lord Ashcroft
    27/11 TNS ???
    20/11 Opinium Observer

    Must be a major polling company and right wing media conspiracy to mark em down..

    Who said 19 and over was the mark?

    Can't believe you bothered to find that as it proves or disproves nothing... What was the point? To make yourself look stupid? Or that there were lots of 18s?
    Head to head:

    Tories v. UKIP since August:
    https://twitter.com/Sunil_P2/status/559692236469043200
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    saddenedsaddened Posts: 2,245
    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome
    x
    Good outline the most likely for us.
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    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    MikeK. Some of the Kipper supporters that post on here frequently come out with this line of argument. Painting Cameron as a terrible liar, makes the issue of Leadership qualities on these aspects clearly a key to your support. Cameron has not though trashed his 2010 manifesto and has (last time I checked) stuck to over 2/3 of it even though in a coalition.

    Now how does the UKIP Leader compare? "UKIP leader Nigel Farage has disowned the party's entire general election manifesto - which he helped launch - branding it "drivel"."
    So was Farage "a real chancer, liar, and dissembler" when he was one of just 3 signatures on the UKIP 2010 manifesto?

    Do please be fair with the facts and not a "my party right or wrong" line of political tribal tripe.
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,264
    MikeK said:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31072321

    Greece economy: Merkel rules out more debt relief

    Merkel tells Greece and Syriza to get stuffed!

    Madness. And hypocrisy. Someone should mention 1950s German debt cancellation to her.
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    Financier said:

    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    Please prove your claims of liar, chancer and dissembler from fact and not just your opinion.
    Impossible for kippers to do this when they have Farage's 2010 manifesto actions to live down.
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    OGH/TSE - this maybe worth a thread. What if Greece's membership in the EC becomes untenable if it veto's the EC sanctions on Russia and gives citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals turning Greece into a conduit for access to the EC for Africa etc?

    I have been appointed editor of PB on Sundays.

    One of tomorrow's threads is nearly done and it is a humdinger as it includes a subtle reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and looks at a Grexit from the Eurozone
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    perdixperdix Posts: 1,806
    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    It's quite amazing that Cameron is so popular after so many difficult decisions. Even Labourites prefer him as PM - many kippers too.

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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    Financier said:

    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    Please prove your claims of liar, chancer and dissembler from fact and not just your opinion.
    I am not speaking for MikeK, but liar is easy. Reducing immigration, no ifs, no buts. Holding a vote on hunting with hounds (as promised to the Countryside Alliance and which is even in the coalition agreement). Emergency break, Points system... its like shooting at an open goal there are so many to pick from.
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    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    Financier said:

    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    Please prove your claims of liar, chancer and dissembler from fact and not just your opinion.
    I really can't be bothered to list all his crimes against his own party and the British people. From lying about Pasties to the EU, he has proved himself a fake conservative, although he probably remains a High Tory. Now work that out for yourself, if you can.
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    OblitusSumMeOblitusSumMe Posts: 9,143
    One curiosity of the opinion polls is that while most of them - Ashcroft, YouGov, etc - consistently find that the Greens pick up slightly more 2010 Labour voters than 2010 Conservative voters, Populus is an exception, and consistently finds the Greens attracting considerably more 2010 Conservative voters than 2010 Labour voters.

    Obviously these numbers are dwarfed in all cases by the number of 2010 Liberal Democrats who are sloshing around between the parties, but it's an interesting little detail, and particularly curious since Populus are one of the pollsters who tend to give lower headline scores for the Greens - the others being Survation and ComRes online if I remember correctly.

    So although this slice of the electorate is a small one, there is some evidence for the existence of a group of voters who really did "Vote Blue, Go Green" at the 2010 general election.
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    On topic masterful strategy by Dave to build up the Green surge and time it to perfection.

    He truly is the greatest.
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    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,980

    On topic masterful strategy by Dave to build up the Green surge and time it to perfection.

    He truly is the greatest.

    Congrats on your 20,000, btw.
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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    David Cameron was right to attack the Conservatives' image. Their problem, however, was not that they were seen as the nasty party, but the nasty and incompetent party. He therefore sought to detox with the wrong emphasis.

    The Conservatives' problem threatens to return. Few people think that the biggest problem facing Britain is the membership of one supranational organisation (there is a rather better case to be made that the future of the planet should be the number one priority). Yet it absorbs the energies of most of the right side of the political spectrum.

    David Cameron should have been pitching himself as the sensible pragmatic leader, not the veto-wielding friend of swivel-eyed loons, who in any case distrust him. He resisted for a while, then gave in. It will be his ultimate undoing.
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    FlightpathFlightpath Posts: 4,012

    On topic masterful strategy by Dave to build up the Green surge and time it to perfection.

    He truly is the greatest.

    Yes. How does he do it?

    Frankly I am happy to be green in the sense of wasting as little of possible and conserving what we can. Trying to save energy and avoiding conspicuous consumption seems to make sense. However I think I'll give Green Politics a bit of a miss.


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    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    edited January 2015

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Risible

    .
    I rate any Postwar prime minister over Cameron in a heartbeat. Even the weaker, shorter lived prime ministers such as Hume , Eden or Brown could at least point to a contribution in another high office.
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    OGH/TSE - this maybe worth a thread. What if Greece's membership in the EC becomes untenable if it veto's the EC sanctions on Russia and gives citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals turning Greece into a conduit for access to the EC for Africa etc?

    I have been appointed editor of PB on Sundays.

    One of tomorrow's threads is nearly done and it is a humdinger as it includes a subtle reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and looks at a Grexit from the Eurozone
    Congrats on yr appointment. 42 Drachmas to the Euro.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,933
    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome
    x
    Good outline the most likely for us.
    Who knows which is most likely to succeed? The market will decide

    But when we leave, cameron will convert to euro scepticism...
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    saddenedsaddened Posts: 2,245
    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome
    x
    Good outline the most likely for us.
    Who knows which is most likely to succeed? The market will decide

    But when we leave, cameron will convert to euro scepticism...
    Outline any then, you already have several in mind you say, so it should be easy.
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    antifrank said:

    David Cameron was right to attack the Conservatives' image. Their problem, however, was not that they were seen as the nasty party, but the nasty and incompetent party. He therefore sought to detox with the wrong emphasis.

    The Conservatives' problem threatens to return. Few people think that the biggest problem facing Britain is the membership of one supranational organisation (there is a rather better case to be made that the future of the planet should be the number one priority). Yet it absorbs the energies of most of the right side of the political spectrum.

    David Cameron should have been pitching himself as the sensible pragmatic leader, not the veto-wielding friend of swivel-eyed loons, who in any case distrust him. He resisted for a while, then gave in. It will be his ultimate undoing.

    A summary of that is David Cameron should have been a LD, some how that view isn't that much of a shocker coming from you ;)

    Most estimates suggest that the kippers are 2:1 Tory/Labour, which means with the kippers at 15%, 10% of that is ex-Tory, I would be interested in any evidence you have to suggest that he had picked up enough votes in his drift into Guardian territory to offset that loss of votes.

    For one thing it does make any sense in policy terms, the Guardianista metro-elite vote likes their social liberalism served with either no austerity (in which case they can get the same social liberal values and no austerity with the Greens), or with cuddly austerity, in which case they can get it with Labour, in both cases without the stigma of telling their friends at dinner parties that they voted Conservative.

    This tired old saw about winning elections in the centre ground is only true if you manage to hang on to your core vote, something Dave has spectacularly failed to do. I would suggest there is another significant group of right wing Tories who might poll as Dave supporters, but are going to decide on the day they really cant be bothered.

    Incidentally people think the top issue recently is immigration, which we cant do anything about in the EU, so that is a proxy for caring about the EU, several other similar items are near the top of the list, strangely the Environment is usually at the bottom.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Jonathan, indeed, Brown contributed a trillion pounds of debt and the worst recession in history.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    MikeK said:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31072321

    Greece economy: Merkel rules out more debt relief

    Merkel tells Greece and Syriza to get stuffed!

    Would she also tell Spain and Podemos the same thing if they win the election later this year? They're ahead in the polls at the moment.
  • Options
    FlightpathFlightpath Posts: 4,012
    MikeK said:

    Financier said:

    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    Please prove your claims of liar, chancer and dissembler from fact and not just your opinion.
    I really can't be bothered to list all his crimes against his own party and the British people. From lying about Pasties to the EU, he has proved himself a fake conservative, although he probably remains a High Tory. Now work that out for yourself, if you can.
    So thats - you can't justify it then. Meantime we know Farage has lied about his position on the NHS - we have it on tape. And we know that his General Secretary has said the NHS is “the biggest waste of money in the UK” and compared it to Nazi Germany.
    We know that Farage and UKIP are lying now and preparing to try to persuade us to abolish the NHS in the future.
    http://politicalscrapbook.net/2015/01/leaked-minutes-from-ukip-ruling-body-we-want-to-privatise-nhs-but-public-wont-let-us/
    ''In the longer term we want a radical approach but we cannot do that in this time frame.''
    ''When the sky does not fall in from the current changes, we will be able to come up with a radical policy.''
  • Options
    MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053

    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    MikeK. Some of the Kipper supporters that post on here frequently come out with this line of argument. Painting Cameron as a terrible liar, makes the issue of Leadership qualities on these aspects clearly a key to your support. Cameron has not though trashed his 2010 manifesto and has (last time I checked) stuck to over 2/3 of it even though in a coalition.

    Now how does the UKIP Leader compare? "UKIP leader Nigel Farage has disowned the party's entire general election manifesto - which he helped launch - branding it "drivel"."
    So was Farage "a real chancer, liar, and dissembler" when he was one of just 3 signatures on the UKIP 2010 manifesto?

    Do please be fair with the facts and not a "my party right or wrong" line of political tribal tripe.
    The simple answer to that, is that UKIP is not the same party it was in 2010. The leader of the party simply gave the manifesto job to a guy who wrote rubbish and it deserves to be scrapped. The fact that Farage signed this garbage, shows that he too has changed and grown up a bit. The party started to change in 2012, and is now completely different in tone and body to what was once a one issue party. It has been, what Marx would call a step change you know - from water to steam. :)

    If UKIP had remained the same party as it was in 2010, I wouldn't be a member, and that goes for many thousands of us.

    Lastly I'm never one to say my party right or wrong: I often send criticisms and suggestions to head office, and I have also criticised UKIP on PB, and will continue to do so , when appropriate. Can you say the same?
  • Options
    AndreaParma_82AndreaParma_82 Posts: 4,714
    edited January 2015
    Italian presidency...

    counting of the 4th rollcall has started...505 votes needed to be elected.

    to follow the count
    http://www.la7.it/dirette-tv
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome
    x
    Good outline the most likely for us.
    Who knows which is most likely to succeed? The market will decide

    But when we leave, cameron will convert to euro scepticism...
    Outline any then, you already have several in mind you say, so it should be easy.
    If Greece leaves, and Podemas gets elected in Spain and FN in France there wont be much of a EU left to leave.
  • Options
    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901

    Mr. Jonathan, indeed, Brown contributed a trillion pounds of debt and the worst recession in history.

    I suspect even you would applaud Brown for some things, the Union and the Euro are two.
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. Jonathan, the Vow has created a constitutional crisis rather than rescuing us from one and the euro was more about Brown not wanting to give up control rather than anything else (although he was on the right side of the argument). Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    AndyJS said:

    MikeK said:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31072321

    Greece economy: Merkel rules out more debt relief

    Merkel tells Greece and Syriza to get stuffed!

    Would she also tell Spain and Podemos the same thing if they win the election later this year? They're ahead in the polls at the moment.
    Of course not, she is bullying Greece because she thinks she can, Spain is far too big. Lets hope she hasn't miscalculated with Greece.
  • Options
    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited January 2015
    Pulpstar said:

    UKIP will outpoll the Greens, I'm very confident of that.

    Going to be an expensive night for the Lib Dems as the national polling and local strength points towards perhaps the most unevenly distributed vote share ever. The flipside of that is that they simply must lose a tremendous amount of deposits, or the numbers won't add up.

    The greengasm... strength in the 18-24 yr old range, all looks a bit 2010 Cleggasm to me. Will getting 4% be a "good night" for the Greens, I think they'll be squeezed personally - they don't have major party status (Is that AS important any more though, with the rise of social media ?!)

    With respect I haven't seen anyone suggesting the Greens have even the slightest chance of receiving more votes than UKIP. They might have an outside chance of getting more votes than the LDs.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,933
    edited January 2015
    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome
    x
    Good outline the most likely for us.
    Who knows which is most likely to succeed? The market will decide

    But when we leave, cameron will convert to euro scepticism...
    Outline any then, you already have several in mind you say, so it should be easy.
    It's ok I'll leave you to broaden your obviously one dimensional mind... Or just follow Daves orders until he changes his?

    Did you ever apologise for repeatedly accusing me of deleting/editing a post that I hadnt btw? You said your phone was playing up and you'd do it later that day... I'm sure someone who thinks they are onto something like you would be sure to want to be seen admitting a mistake?
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,930
    AndyJS said:

    Pulpstar said:

    UKIP will outpoll the Greens, I'm very confident of that.

    Going to be an expensive night for the Lib Dems as the national polling and local strength points towards perhaps the most unevenly distributed vote share ever. The flipside of that is that they simply must lose a tremendous amount of deposits, or the numbers won't add up.

    The greengasm... strength in the 18-24 yr old range, all looks a bit 2010 Cleggasm to me. Will getting 4% be a "good night" for the Greens, I think they'll be squeezed personally - they don't have major party status (Is that AS important any more though, with the rise of social media ?!)

    With respect I haven't seen anyone suggesting that the Greens have any chance of outvoting UKIP.
    UKIP hardly "broke through" last General Election though (I regard the Euros as a seperate matter)
  • Options
    YorkcityYorkcity Posts: 4,382

    On topic masterful strategy by Dave to build up the Green surge and time it to perfection.

    He truly is the greatest.

    I agree
  • Options
    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    Apparently Syriza and Podemos have very close relations. Both of them working together might be impossible for Merkel to deal with.
    Indigo said:

    AndyJS said:

    MikeK said:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31072321

    Greece economy: Merkel rules out more debt relief

    Merkel tells Greece and Syriza to get stuffed!

    Would she also tell Spain and Podemos the same thing if they win the election later this year? They're ahead in the polls at the moment.
    Of course not, she is bullying Greece because she thinks she can, Spain is far too big. Lets hope she hasn't miscalculated with Greece.
  • Options
    saddenedsaddened Posts: 2,245
    MikeK said:

    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    MikeK. Some of the Kipper supporters that post on here frequently come out with this line of argument. Painting Cameron as a terrible liar, makes the issue of Leadership qualities on these aspects clearly a key to your support. Cameron has not though trashed his 2010 manifesto and has (last time I checked) stuck to over 2/3 of it even though in a coalition.

    Now how does the UKIP Leader compare? "UKIP leader Nigel Farage has disowned the party's entire general election manifesto - which he helped launch - branding it "drivel"."
    So was Farage "a real chancer, liar, and dissembler" when he was one of just 3 signatures on the UKIP 2010 manifesto?

    Do please be fair with the facts and not a "my party right or wrong" line of political tribal tripe.
    The simple answer to that, is that UKIP is not the same party it was in 2010. The leader of the party simply gave the manifesto job to a guy who wrote rubbish and it deserves to be scrapped. The fact that Farage signed this garbage, shows that he too has changed and grown up a bit. The party started to change in 2012, and is now completely different in tone and body to what was once a one issue party. It has been, what Marx would call a step change you know - from water to steam. :)

    If UKIP had remained the same party as it was in 2010, I wouldn't be a member, and that goes for many thousands of us.

    Lastly I'm never one to say my party right or wrong: I often send criticisms and suggestions to head office, and I have also criticised UKIP on PB, and will continue to do so , when appropriate. Can you say the same?
    Care to explain how what Farage has done is different to what you criticize Cameron for?
  • Options
    VerulamiusVerulamius Posts: 1,435

    OGH/TSE - this maybe worth a thread. What if Greece's membership in the EC becomes untenable if it veto's the EC sanctions on Russia and gives citizenship to hundreds of thousands of illegals turning Greece into a conduit for access to the EC for Africa etc?

    I have been appointed editor of PB on Sundays.

    One of tomorrow's threads is nearly done and it is a humdinger as it includes a subtle reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and looks at a Grexit from the Eurozone
    Hitchhiker's Guide and the German approach to dealing with Greeks and others around the Med. Surely towels are going to be important?
  • Options
    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    Indigo said:

    antifrank said:

    David Cameron was right to attack the Conservatives' image. Their problem, however, was not that they were seen as the nasty party, but the nasty and incompetent party. He therefore sought to detox with the wrong emphasis.

    The Conservatives' problem threatens to return. Few people think that the biggest problem facing Britain is the membership of one supranational organisation (there is a rather better case to be made that the future of the planet should be the number one priority). Yet it absorbs the energies of most of the right side of the political spectrum.

    David Cameron should have been pitching himself as the sensible pragmatic leader, not the veto-wielding friend of swivel-eyed loons, who in any case distrust him. He resisted for a while, then gave in. It will be his ultimate undoing.

    A summary of that is David Cameron should have been a LD, some how that view isn't that much of a shocker coming from you ;)

    Most estimates suggest that the kippers are 2:1 Tory/Labour, which means with the kippers at 15%, 10% of that is ex-Tory, I would be interested in any evidence you have to suggest that he had picked up enough votes in his drift into Guardian territory to offset that loss of votes.

    For one thing it does make any sense in policy terms, the Guardianista metro-elite vote likes their social liberalism served with either no austerity (in which case they can get the same social liberal values and no austerity with the Greens), or with cuddly austerity, in which case they can get it with Labour, in both cases without the stigma of telling their friends at dinner parties that they voted Conservative.

    This tired old saw about winning elections in the centre ground is only true if you manage to hang on to your core vote, something Dave has spectacularly failed to do. I would suggest there is another significant group of right wing Tories who might poll as Dave supporters, but are going to decide on the day they really cant be bothered.

    Incidentally people think the top issue recently is immigration, which we cant do anything about in the EU, so that is a proxy for caring about the EU, several other similar items are near the top of the list, strangely the Environment is usually at the bottom.
    The Conservatives obsessed about the EU in 1997, 2001 and 2005. They did so less in 2010. Spot a possible pattern?
  • Options
    MikeK said:

    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    MikeK. Some of the Kipper supporters that post on here frequently come out with this line of argument. Painting Cameron as a terrible liar, makes the issue of Leadership qualities on these aspects clearly a key to your support. Cameron has not though trashed his 2010 manifesto and has (last time I checked) stuck to over 2/3 of it even though in a coalition.

    Now how does the UKIP Leader compare? "UKIP leader Nigel Farage has disowned the party's entire general election manifesto - which he helped launch - branding it "drivel"."
    So was Farage "a real chancer, liar, and dissembler" when he was one of just 3 signatures on the UKIP 2010 manifesto?

    Do please be fair with the facts and not a "my party right or wrong" line of political tribal tripe.
    The simple answer to that, is that UKIP is not the same party it was in 2010. The leader of the party simply gave the manifesto job to a guy who wrote rubbish and it deserves to be scrapped. The fact that Farage signed this garbage, shows that he too has changed and grown up a bit. The party started to change in 2012, and is now completely different in tone and body to what was once a one issue party. It has been, what Marx would call a step change you know - from water to steam. :)

    If UKIP had remained the same party as it was in 2010, I wouldn't be a member, and that goes for many thousands of us.

    Lastly I'm never one to say my party right or wrong: I often send criticisms and suggestions to head office, and I have also criticised UKIP on PB, and will continue to do so , when appropriate. Can you say the same?
    Thanks for the reply. FYI I simply left my party. re:"The fact that Farage signed this garbage, shows that he too has changed and grown up a bit." Well you should then apply that act of generosity to Cameron who has repudiated far less than Farage has. I am realistic enough to hope that Cameron's eventual replacement will be better, but at the moment Cameron is the best we have at keeping the socialists out ..... and in having a referendum on the EC.
  • Options
    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    Yorkcity said:

    On topic masterful strategy by Dave to build up the Green surge and time it to perfection.

    He truly is the greatest.

    I agree

    Just political tactical games born out of weakness.
  • Options
    Indigo said:

    AndyJS said:

    MikeK said:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-31072321

    Greece economy: Merkel rules out more debt relief

    Merkel tells Greece and Syriza to get stuffed!

    Would she also tell Spain and Podemos the same thing if they win the election later this year? They're ahead in the polls at the moment.
    Of course not, she is bullying Greece because she thinks she can, Spain is far too big. Lets hope she hasn't miscalculated with Greece.
    Maybe she has concluded that Greece can no longer fulfill all its obligations as an EC member and that Grexit is inevitable. Is that any different to her attitude at times to the UK? The EC fundamental principles are set so it is our way or the highway.
  • Options
    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    edited January 2015

    Like it a lot David.

    Cameron's environmentalism is nothing new: it's a core belief of traditional shire Tories like Cameron.

    Stewardship and Dominion demands equal emphasis on the duty as well as the privilege. It's a real failing of the current incarnation of capitalism that people forget their responsibilities
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    Yorkcity said:

    On topic masterful strategy by Dave to build up the Green surge and time it to perfection.

    He truly is the greatest.

    I agree
    If all you care about is getting someone with a blue rosette on into No10 I suppose. But building up the green surge a benefit to the country, well its a view I suppose. There might be a case (a very small thin one) for him having been good political tactics, he is conspicuously crap at party management, and outstandingly bad at telling the truth or having some principles and following them.

    If Labour had a borderline electable leader the Tories would be toast, and not just because of Dave's lack of election winning talent, but because if Labour had an eloquent, plausible smile-on-a-stick, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between him and Dave, two authoritarian, socially liberal, pro-austerity, unprincipled vote grabbers.
  • Options
    saddenedsaddened Posts: 2,245
    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome
    x
    Good outline the most likely for us.
    Who knows which is most likely to succeed? The market will decide

    But when we leave, cameron will convert to euro scepticism...
    Outline any then, you already have several in mind you say, so it should be easy.
    It's ok I'll leave you to broaden your obviously one dimensional mind... Or just follow Daves orders until he changes his?

    Did you ever apologise for repeatedly accusing me of deleting/editing a post that I hadnt btw? You said your phone was playing up and you'd do it later that day... I'm sure someone who thinks they are onto something like you would be sure to want to be seen admitting a mistake?
    1, it would be easier to admit you can't.
    2, as for following Dave, I'm happy to criticize him when appropriate as I did with the leader debates
    3,as for apologies, yes I did, I lost track of who said what in the multiple referencing

    If you want to be taken remotely seriously have at least an inkling of the argument you are making.

    I won't ask you how uk will leave the EU again, because it's obvious you haven't got the vaguest idea.
  • Options
    YorkcityYorkcity Posts: 4,382

    Mr. Jonathan, the Vow has created a constitutional crisis rather than rescuing us from one and the euro was more about Brown not wanting to give up control rather than anything else (although he was on the right side of the argument). Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

    Morris don`t forget the gold and the g20 for Brown.

    Also how Cameron led the world over Libya maybe he could go back with sarkozy to remind the voters of our joint success.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,933
    antifrank said:

    Indigo said:

    antifrank said:

    David Cameron was right to attack the Conservatives' image. Their problem, however, was not that they were seen as the nasty party, but the nasty and incompetent party. He therefore sought to detox with the wrong emphasis.

    The Conservatives' problem threatens to return. Few people think that the biggest problem facing Britain is the membership of one supranational organisation (there is a rather better case to be made that the future of the planet should be the number one priority). Yet it absorbs the energies of most of the right side of the political spectrum.

    David Cameron should have been pitching himself as the sensible pragmatic leader, not the veto-wielding friend of swivel-eyed loons, who in any case distrust him. He resisted for a while, then gave in. It will be his ultimate undoing.

    A summary of that is David Cameron should have been a LD, some how that view isn't that much of a shocker coming from you ;)

    Most estimates suggest that the kippers are 2:1 Tory/Labour, which means with the kippers at 15%, 10% of that is ex-Tory, I would be interested in any evidence you have to suggest that he had picked up enough votes in his drift into Guardian territory to offset that loss of votes.

    For one thing it does make any sense in policy terms, the Guardianista metro-elite vote likes their social liberalism served with either no austerity (in which case they can get the same social liberal values and no austerity with the Greens), or with cuddly austerity, in which case they can get it with Labour, in both cases without the stigma of telling their friends at dinner parties that they voted Conservative.

    This tired old saw about winning elections in the centre ground is only true if you manage to hang on to your core vote, something Dave has spectacularly failed to do. I would suggest there is another significant group of right wing Tories who might poll as Dave supporters, but are going to decide on the day they really cant be bothered.

    Incidentally people think the top issue recently is immigration, which we cant do anything about in the EU, so that is a proxy for caring about the EU, several other similar items are near the top of the list, strangely the Environment is usually at the bottom.
    The Conservatives obsessed about the EU in 1997, 2001 and 2005. They did so less in 2010. Spot a possible pattern?
    It is always a bit saddening when someone seemingly clever uses smoke screens to try and win a point

    There are several other things different in 2010 to the other years you mention that are more influential than tory "obsession" over the EU, and worst thing is, you know it but wanted to score a point


    yesMinister!
  • Options
    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    He believes in serving the country to the best of his ability.

    That means examining each problem in turn and trying to optimise the outcome.

    He doesn't believe it is right to impose his vision of what the country should be on other people. The downside is that it is very easy for those who do have an ideological objective to characterise him as being without principle.
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    antifrank said:

    Indigo said:

    antifrank said:

    David Cameron was right to attack the Conservatives' image. Their problem, however, was not that they were seen as the nasty party, but the nasty and incompetent party. He therefore sought to detox with the wrong emphasis.

    The Conservatives' problem threatens to return. Few people think that the biggest problem facing Britain is the membership of one supranational organisation (there is a rather better case to be made that the future of the planet should be the number one priority). Yet it absorbs the energies of most of the right side of the political spectrum.

    David Cameron should have been pitching himself as the sensible pragmatic leader, not the veto-wielding friend of swivel-eyed loons, who in any case distrust him. He resisted for a while, then gave in. It will be his ultimate undoing.

    A summary of that is David Cameron should have been a LD, some how that view isn't that much of a shocker coming from you ;)

    Most estimates suggest that the kippers are 2:1 Tory/Labour, which means with the kippers at 15%, 10% of that is ex-Tory, I would be interested in any evidence you have to suggest that he had picked up enough votes in his drift into Guardian territory to offset that loss of votes.

    For one thing it does make any sense in policy terms, the Guardianista metro-elite vote likes their social liberalism served with either no austerity (in which case they can get the same social liberal values and no austerity with the Greens), or with cuddly austerity, in which case they can get it with Labour, in both cases without the stigma of telling their friends at dinner parties that they voted Conservative.

    This tired old saw about winning elections in the centre ground is only true if you manage to hang on to your core vote, something Dave has spectacularly failed to do. I would suggest there is another significant group of right wing Tories who might poll as Dave supporters, but are going to decide on the day they really cant be bothered.

    Incidentally people think the top issue recently is immigration, which we cant do anything about in the EU, so that is a proxy for caring about the EU, several other similar items are near the top of the list, strangely the Environment is usually at the bottom.
    The Conservatives obsessed about the EU in 1997, 2001 and 2005. They did so less in 2010. Spot a possible pattern?
    Yes

    Blair, Blair, Blair, Brown
  • Options
    Indigo said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome
    x
    Good outline the most likely for us.
    Who knows which is most likely to succeed? The market will decide

    But when we leave, cameron will convert to euro scepticism...
    Outline any then, you already have several in mind you say, so it should be easy.
    If Greece leaves, and Podemas gets elected in Spain and FN in France there wont be much of a EU left to leave.
    True. The irony is that it is the lack of economic growth in the EC
    that is driving this. That lack of growth is caused by the socialist welfare policies and suffocating bureacracy which is stifling capitalism. At the Centre are the federalists that seem to be incapable of reform which would save the EC. Break up looks inevitable, unless we get growth - maybe the oil price will save the EC?
  • Options
    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. City, Libya's in a bad state today. It would not be in a good state had we not intervened, and might well be in a worse state (cf Syria).
  • Options
    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    saddened said:

    MikeK said:

    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    MikeK. Some of the Kipper supporters that post on here frequently come out with this line of argument. Painting Cameron as a terrible liar, makes the issue of Leadership qualities on these aspects clearly a key to your support. Cameron has not though trashed his 2010 manifesto and has (last time I checked) stuck to over 2/3 of it even though in a coalition.

    Now how does the UKIP Leader compare? "UKIP leader Nigel Farage has disowned the party's entire general election manifesto - which he helped launch - branding it "drivel"."
    So was Farage "a real chancer, liar, and dissembler" when he was one of just 3 signatures on the UKIP 2010 manifesto?

    Do please be fair with the facts and not a "my party right or wrong" line of political tribal tripe.
    The simple answer to that, is that UKIP is not the same party it was in 2010. The leader of the party simply gave the manifesto job to a guy who wrote rubbish and it deserves to be scrapped. The fact that Farage signed this garbage, shows that he too has changed and grown up a bit. The party started to change in 2012, and is now completely different in tone and body to what was once a one issue party. It has been, what Marx would call a step change you know - from water to steam. :)

    If UKIP had remained the same party as it was in 2010, I wouldn't be a member, and that goes for many thousands of us.

    Lastly I'm never one to say my party right or wrong: I often send criticisms and suggestions to head office, and I have also criticised UKIP on PB, and will continue to do so , when appropriate. Can you say the same?
    Care to explain how what Farage has done is different to what you criticize Cameron for?
    Come on this isn't hard

    One of those is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and First Lord of the Treasury, and one isn't even an MP. I'm a Tory, I don't give a crap what Farage says or does, you would hope that our leader and PM could do a bit better though.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    TGOHF said:

    Glad to see the downward purple trend being acknowledged in the thread header.

    Apart from the odd 23% in Daily Mirror polls Gravity is catching up..

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2015_United_Kingdom_general_election#/image/File:UK_opinion_polling_2010-2015.png

    That chart is up to date as of 10 Jan, so a little out of date and heavily influenced by the lack of polls over Christmas. I believe it is due to be updated once the January polls are all in and I expect it to show UKIP back over 15%. In any case it looks more like normal variation than a trend to me.

    I think the trend line would still be gently rising at this point, albeit it is clear that UKIP is at a trough on that trendline.

    However, if there is a breakthough to the downside rather than a turnaround, then @TGOHF may have an argument.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,933
    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome
    x
    Good outline the most likely for us.
    Who knows which is most likely to succeed? The market will decide

    But when we leave, cameron will convert to euro scepticism...
    Outline any then, you already have several in mind you say, so it should be easy.
    It's ok I'll leave you to broaden your obviously one dimensional mind... Or just follow Daves orders until he changes his?

    Did you ever apologise for repeatedly accusing me of deleting/editing a post that I hadnt btw? You said your phone was playing up and you'd do it later that day... I'm sure someone who thinks they are onto something like you would be sure to want to be seen admitting a mistake?
    1, it would be easier to admit you can't.
    2, as for following Dave, I'm happy to criticize him when appropriate as I did with the leader debates
    3,as for apologies, yes I did, I lost track of who said what in the multiple referencing

    If you want to be taken remotely seriously have at least an inkling of the argument you are making.

    I won't ask you how uk will leave the EU again, because it's obvious you haven't got the vaguest idea.
    It would be untrue to admit I can't and I never lie

    I have more than an inkling I have several ways that we could leave the EU... I hope you don't think you have won the argument with your loud flourishes...to be honest I just don't like being told what to do and stubbornness is making me not answer because you keep asking!

    But have no doubt I know what I'm talking about

    Hmmm the apology was an "if I have made a mistake" one... Always feels a bit half hearted. Though I think I said ok anyway, as it was obvious to everyone youd dropped a bollock

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    AlastairMeeksAlastairMeeks Posts: 30,340
    isam said:



    The Conservatives obsessed about the EU in 1997, 2001 and 2005. They did so less in 2010. Spot a possible pattern?

    It is always a bit saddening when someone seemingly clever uses smoke screens to try and win a point

    There are several other things different in 2010 to the other years you mention that are more influential than tory "obsession" over the EU, and worst thing is, you know it but wanted to score a point


    yesMinister!

    Yes, in 2010 the Conservatives for a change had a personally popular leader who saw that the world had moved on. The same man remains more popular than any other leader. Yet the nut nuts think that he's the one that is getting things wrong.
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    audreyanneaudreyanne Posts: 1,376
    O/T betting tip.

    You can get 7/1 on Tottenham finishing in the top 4 with Ladbrokes. I don't often bet on my own team. In fact, I'm struggling to think if I ever have but I think there's some value in this bet, especially if they land Kevin Mirallas or another striker before Monday's close. Bentaleb has returned from the African Nations Cup and he was in superb form, as are the other midfielders.
    I'm mentioning this now ahead of today's WBA game because if they win at The Hawthorns that price is likely to tighten.
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    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    Charles said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    He believes in serving the country to the best of his ability.

    That means examining each problem in turn and trying to optimise the outcome.

    He doesn't believe it is right to impose his vision of what the country should be on other people. The downside is that it is very easy for those who do have an ideological objective to characterise him as being without principle.
    Romantic Tory tosh. Cameron cares about Cameron and optimises accordingly.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Indigo said:

    Financier said:

    MikeK said:

    Jonathan said:

    Rather depressing this really. With Cameron it's all tactics and positioning. After 10 years, were still none the wiser about what he actually believes beyond trying to keep his job.

    Yes it is depressing that the Tory hinterland voted in a real chancer, liar, and dissembler as it's leader. A leader who has surrounded himself with likewise people. Thus the rise and rise of UKIP
    Please prove your claims of liar, chancer and dissembler from fact and not just your opinion.
    I am not speaking for MikeK, but liar is easy. Reducing immigration, no ifs, no buts. Holding a vote on hunting with hounds (as promised to the Countryside Alliance and which is even in the coalition agreement). Emergency break, Points system... its like shooting at an open goal there are so many to pick from.
    * Immigration: he tried, within the constraints of EU membership. He wasn't successful, but he tried. You can argue he failed, but not that he lied.

    * Hunting: was pre-discussed with the Countryside Alliance senior leadership team and agreed. They didn't have the numbers to win the vote and felt that holding it and losing would be a serious setback to the cause. A change of plan, but not a lie.

    * Emergency brake, points, etc, I believe have already been floated as ideas - potential ways to address the immigration issue - but have they ever actually been promises?
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    Italian presidency election...

    Mattarella is over 400 votes now....it looks he will be elected in a few minutes...
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    saddenedsaddened Posts: 2,245
    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome
    x
    Good outline the most likely for us.
    Who knows which is most likely to succeed? The market will decide

    But when we leave, cameron will convert to euro scepticism...
    Outline any then, you already have several in mind you say, so it should be easy.
    It's ok I'll leave you to broaden your obviously one dimensional mind... Or just follow Daves orders until he changes his?

    Did you ever apologise for repeatedly accusing me of deleting/editing a post that I hadnt btw? You said your phone was playing up and you'd do it later that day... I'm sure someone who thinks they are onto something like you would be sure to want to be seen admitting a mistake?
    1, it would be easier to admit you can't.
    2, as for following Dave, I'm happy to criticize him when appropriate as I did with the leader debates
    3,as for apologies, yes I did, I lost track of who said what in the multiple referencing

    If you want to be taken remotely seriously have at least an inkling of the argument you are making.

    I won't ask you how uk will leave the EU again, because it's obvious you haven't got the vaguest idea.
    It would be untrue to admit I can't and I never lie

    I have more than an inkling I have several ways that we could leave the EU... I hope you don't think you have won the argument with your loud flourishes...to be honest I just don't like being told what to do and stubbornness is making me not answer because you keep asking!

    But have no doubt I know what I'm talking about

    Hmmm the apology was an "if I have made a mistake" one... Always feels a bit half hearted. Though I think I said ok anyway, as it was obvious to everyone youd dropped a bollock

    Pitiful from start to end. It boils down to "I could but shan't so there!" Might work in a playground but not anywhere else.
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    FlightpathFlightpath Posts: 4,012
    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    saddened said:

    isam said:

    Holidays in apartheid SA / Sorrow for mandela
    Vote for clause 28 / gay marriage
    Vote blue go green / green crap

    In 2020 once we've left the Eu and he's the ex pm trying to sell a book no doubt he will be a Eurosceptic

    Talk us through how 5 years from now the UK is no longer in the EU.
    Whenever it is we leave he will say he was a Eurosceptic all along... A chancer with no conviction, amazed lemmings follow him over the top
    So we won't be leaving by 2020, you cannot imagine a viable path to that outcome? Just a childish dislike of Cameron who is a chancer, unlike the straight as a die Nigel Farage, who under no circumstances changed his view on an issue because it suits his purpose, like all other politicians.
    I can imagine several paths to that outcome

    I don't have a childish dislike of cameron or any real dislike of him at all

    My dads bigger than your dad x
    Of course you are childish. You try to say Cameron is a chancer but Farage is not. But refuse to justify it. You make a claim about leaving the EU but refuse to back it up.
    I can tell you why and how Farage is a chancer - he finds no interest in his anti EU stance so is happy to swing UKIP behind a blatantly scaremongering racist anti immigration policy and defend his blatantly racist ting tong rough diamond members. He is a desperate hypocritical lying chancer since when he is threatened with losing his nice gravy train he joins up with a Polish neo nazi holocaust denier.
    We might just leave the EU if we elect a Tory govt which will give us a referendum. Under no other circumstances will we leave before 2020.
    Childish is as childish does.
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    TCPoliticalBettingTCPoliticalBetting Posts: 10,819
    edited January 2015
    antifrank said:

    Indigo said:

    antifrank said:

    David Cameron was right to attack the Conservatives' image. Their problem, however, was not that they were seen as the nasty party, but the nasty and incompetent party. He therefore sought to detox with the wrong emphasis.

    The Conservatives' problem threatens to return. Few people think that the biggest problem facing Britain is the membership of one supranational organisation (there is a rather better case to be made that the future of the planet should be the number one priority). Yet it absorbs the energies of most of the right side of the political spectrum.

    David Cameron should have been pitching himself as the sensible pragmatic leader, not the veto-wielding friend of swivel-eyed loons, who in any case distrust him. He resisted for a while, then gave in. It will be his ultimate undoing.

    ......Most estimates suggest that the kippers are 2:1 Tory/Labour, which means with the kippers at 15%, 10% of that is ex-Tory, I would be interested in any evidence you have to suggest that he had picked up enough votes in his drift into Guardian territory to offset that loss of votes.

    For one thing it does make any sense in policy terms, the Guardianista metro-elite vote likes their social liberalism served with either no austerity............
    This tired old saw about winning elections in the centre ground is only true if you manage to hang on to your core vote, something Dave has spectacularly failed to do. I would suggest there is another significant group of right wing Tories who might poll as Dave supporters, but are going to decide on the day they really cant be bothered.

    Incidentally people think the top issue recently is immigration, which we cant do anything about in the EU, so that is a proxy for caring about the EU, several other similar items are near the top of the list, strangely the Environment is usually at the bottom.
    The Conservatives obsessed about the EU in 1997, 2001 and 2005. They did so less in 2010. Spot a possible pattern?
    The Heath Govt promised capitalism and then abandoned their right wing and lost the GE.
    The Thatcher Govts promised capitalism, stuck to it and succeeded.
    The Major 92 Govt promised capitalism and then abandoned their right wing and lost the GE.
    The Hague team promised capitalism and then abandoned their right wing and lost the GE.
    IDS - just had a very duff Leader to start with.
    Cameron promised capitalism at his selection and then abandoned the right wing and failed to win the GE.
    Cameron in Govt promised capitalism and then abandoned their right wing and has a 50/50 chances of losing this GE.
    (ps replace capitalism with "classic liberalism")
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    edited January 2015
    antifrank said:

    Yes, in 2010 the Conservatives for a change had a personally popular leader who saw that the world had moved on. The same man remains more popular than any other leader. Yet the nut nuts think that he's the one that is getting things wrong.

    As an LD would you be overjoyed if your leader was incredibly popular with CON and LAB voters ? Or would you think this might be because he had drifted rather far from the parties roots and was espousing policies which those other parties felt possibly more comfortable with than your own.

    I know it comes as a shock to centrists, but if all the electorate get is the same policies seen through a slightly different tinted glass, that isn't democracy. The public are entitled to different choices that they can chose between, I would argue they are even entitled to some nutty choices they can choose to reject.
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    YorkcityYorkcity Posts: 4,382
    Morris

    To be honest it is hard to see a successful intervention in this decade.
    Maybe this century.
    You probably need to go back to the previous century.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Indigo said:

    antifrank said:

    David Cameron was right to attack the Conservatives' image. Their problem, however, was not that they were seen as the nasty party, but the nasty and incompetent party. He therefore sought to detox with the wrong emphasis.

    The Conservatives' problem threatens to return. Few people think that the biggest problem facing Britain is the membership of one supranational organisation (there is a rather better case to be made that the future of the planet should be the number one priority). Yet it absorbs the energies of most of the right side of the political spectrum.

    David Cameron should have been pitching himself as the sensible pragmatic leader, not the veto-wielding friend of swivel-eyed loons, who in any case distrust him. He resisted for a while, then gave in. It will be his ultimate undoing.

    Most estimates suggest that the kippers are 2:1 Tory/Labour, which means with the kippers at 15%, 10% of that is ex-Tory, I would be interested in any evidence you have to suggest that he had picked up enough votes in his drift into Guardian territory to offset that loss of votes.

    It's always a bit dodgy using % numbers rather than absolutes because of the shifts from NOTA.

    But, roughly speaking, if they had lost 10% of the vote they should be on 27% in GB (vs 37% at the GE). The fact that they are on around 32% means they have picked up some votes from somewhere. Not enough - although I do believe that a decent chunk of UKIP poll support will vote Tory at the GE - but not negligible.
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    Morris_DancerMorris_Dancer Posts: 60,988
    Mr. City, Libya's debatable (in that the lack of intervention could've seen much worse happen).

    I think Afghanistan could've worked, but the pointless Iraq invasion led to resources being shifted, so we lost in two areas rather than succeeding, or having a chance to succeed, in one.
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    Sergio Mattarella is the new President of Italian Republic
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,930
    edited January 2015
    Double whammy for Mitchell !

    Even more libel costs and now back payment of avoided tax demanded by HMRC:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2933932/Gary-Lineker-s-goal-Match-Day-pundit-stung-1-3million-tax-bill.html

    Wealthy investors, including David Beckham, Ant and Dec and MP Andrew Mitchell

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2933299/Plebgate-MP-Andrew-Mitchell-loses-legal-bid-cut-3million-bill-failed-libel-action-adding-extra-100-000-tab.html

    Disgraced Tory MP Andrew Mitchell is facing financial ruin after losing a legal bid to cut his £3million bill for failed libel action - adding an extra £100,000 to his tab.


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    JackWJackW Posts: 14,787

    Sergio Mattarella is the new President of Italian Republic

    Bring back the monarchy !! :smile:

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    john_zimsjohn_zims Posts: 3,399
    @isam

    ' A chancer'

    FFS which politician isn't a 'chancer',if they are not they are clearly in the wrong career.
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    Charles said:

    * Immigration: he tried, within the constraints of EU membership. He wasn't successful, but he tried. You can argue he failed, but not that he lied.

    What he promised was not deliverable will within the EU even with a majority Conservative government. Promising something you are not capable of delivering is a lie.
    Charles said:

    * Hunting: was pre-discussed with the Countryside Alliance senior leadership team and agreed. They didn't have the numbers to win the vote and felt that holding it and losing would be a serious setback to the cause. A change of plan, but not a lie.

    Do you have a reference for that, they were pretty pissed off about it when they were interview in the papers a couple of weeks ago. The agreement in any case was to hold a vote, not to win it.

    Seriously we just need to show a bit of principle, if you cant deliver it, don't promise it. And for crying out loud don't try an weasel out of it with all this transparent "it was just a comment" crap when it was splashed all over the pre-election newsletter under the headline "If we don’t deliver, kick us out"
This discussion has been closed.