Note: this isn’t the full list of all non-target seats for the Tories, but rather the full list of those that have been leaked. “Non-target” means either ‘we’re not going to win’ or ‘we think this is super-safe’.
Re Eltham, look at the declining Labour vote over the last four elections... and if UKIP are taking from the Tories more than they are Labour, plus the BNP vote, I can see Peter Whittle going extremely close
On Sunday, Tsipras stood before the Greek parliament to give an update on what he wanted, and where he thought the negotiations were. Having spent most of last week seeing investors and assuring them "we know that we're not going to be able to deliver on all our promises to the electorate, and it is our plan to run a permanent primary budget surplus," he seemed to spin 180 degrees, and to declare that he would meet all his promises, and to make threats about collecting second world war reparations from Germany. The temperature was raised again yesterday, when the finance minister announced that, should Greece leave the Euro, then the Euro would fall apart.
It is fair to say that at the IMF in New York, and in the corridors of Europe, SYRIZA's tactics are being met with exasperation. There was a general feeling last week that a deal was broadly in reach: with maturity extensions, a moratorium on some interest payments, coupon cuts, a reduction in the required primary surplus, and the IMF taking on the role of supervising Greece. The price for all this was - of course - continued reform. (By the way, this would be a cracking deal, reducing the effective value of Greece's outstanding debt from 170% of GDP to probably just less than 100%, in real terms.)
However, I think the latest Tsipras u-turn (which was probably made to shore up his fractious coalition - many of whom are not prepared to accept supervision under any circumstances), may well have the opposite of what he was hoping. A number countries seem to be coming to the view that the Greek government will probably just renege on its promises anyway, so why give it the deal of the century? And a number of German economists have made pointed comments along the lines of (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Greece says that the Euro would fall apart if they left. We think it will fall apart if they stay."
It is still slightly more likely Greece stays in the Euro, than it goes. The Americans are putting a lot of pressure on the Athens government behind the scenes (although I think the Russians are pulling in the opposite direction). But the probability of Grexit has increased significantly since last week.
I wonder what Grexit would require procedurally on the Greek side. The conventional (?) story is that you call a bank holiday, convene parliament and vote through whatever you need. But could Tsipras get a majority for Grexit? He's leading a shaky coalition with a smallish majority that just got elected promising to stay in the Euro. It's not as if there's no alternative - they could just abide by the previous conditions and the creditors turn the taps back on.
If my assumption is right and he can't actually win a parliamentary vote on this, can he somehow do what he needs without one?
Janan Ganesh, Esq @JGaneshEsq · 21h 21 hours ago Why use the commonly understood "divided" when surely either "fractious", "fissiparous" or "disunited" would suffice? #GaneshStyleTip
If my assumption is right and he can't actually win a parliamentary vote on this, can he somehow do what he needs without one?
The alternative would be that he has Greece kicked out of the Euro, rather than leaving.
It doesn't sound like there is a majority* in the Greek parliament that would accept a compromise deal that still involved external supervision, but it looks like the other side in negotiations won't accept a deal without.
Thus Greek leaves the Euro because of a failure to reach a deal, and the Greek government is forced to put in place alternative arrangements.
* This might not be true. One assumes that ND would support such a deal, so maybe it could be passed if the government were willing to face down a large rebellion from within its own ranks and enough MPs were convinced it was the best deal they could get and a better option to leaving the Euro. It would pretty much destroy Syriza, though, I would have thought.
Lance Dyer @Lance63 10m10 minutes ago Albert Einstein described insanity as - 'Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time' Applies to Tories!
I agree with that, though the same could be said of the L/Dems and Labour.
Very misleading headline Mike. Left out in the cold? You have Birkenhead, Holborn & St Pancras and Leeds West on there. None of which the Conservatives have much for a chance of winning.
Nice to see Hertsmere get a mention. Mind you the last time there was any electoral activity here (posters etc) was 1983. Since then the only stuff we get is the leaflets through the door delivered by the RM.
I see that Braintree is regarded as “safe”. I’m not so sure. UKIP seems to be making an effort, there are 9k LibDem voters apparently up for grabs and the Labour candidate has got to be more impressive than last time!
A couple of interesting snippets from todays outpouring from my ARSE.
Two of the four LibDem new holds were majorities of 3 votes and 57 votes and one of the new SNP gains was 12 votes.
o_O How on earth can you have it that exact
It's only down to sheer brilliance.
Unlike the "JackW Dozen" the ARSE projection has to allocate seats and also produces the numbers. It's rather a clever little wheeze and something to do with inputs, algorithms, tea leaves and a judicious oiling of single malt.
If my assumption is right and he can't actually win a parliamentary vote on this, can he somehow do what he needs without one?
The alternative would be that he has Greece kicked out of the Euro, rather than leaving.
It doesn't sound like there is a majority* in the Greek parliament that would accept a compromise deal that still involved external supervision, but it looks like the other side in negotiations won't accept a deal without.
Thus Greek leaves the Euro because of a failure to reach a deal, and the Greek government is forced to put in place alternative arrangements.
* This might not be true. One assumes that ND would support such a deal, so maybe it could be passed if the government were willing to face down a large rebellion from within its own ranks and enough MPs were convinced it was the best deal they could get and a better option to leaving the Euro. It would pretty much destroy Syriza, though, I would have thought.
Non-rhetorically, do parliament need to vote to honour the deal they've already agreed to? I guess there's an extension of something involved, so maybe they need to agree to that?
But if nobody will agree anything, wouldn't Greece stay in the Euro, only its banks don't have any Euros? Sucks if you have money in a Greek bank, but presumbly you could open a new account with Commerzbank and carry on doing business...
Greece would effectively be forced out the Euro, if the ECB refused to support the Greek banks through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance programme. The ECB would be required by its constitution not to accept Greek government bonds as collateral should Greece be in default. If no deal is reached between Greece and its creditors by the end of February, it will almost certainly default.
With ELA support removed, Greek banks would be bust, and would be unable to process payments or allow withdrawls. In this circumstance, the only option open to the Greek government would be to suspend Euro membership, implement a forced conversion to Drachma, and then print Drachma to support the Greek banks with.
Surely this "list" is only of interest where it diverges from the 40/40 (hold 40, gain 40)? And I don't know when that list was created - if more than 12 months ago, it would need to be tweaked to respond to the changing threat from UKIP.
@sammacrory: "Isn't it getting a bit trivial. You're jumping on this agenda"- Balls snaps as Miliband's #BCCConf absence - not Balls' speech - makes news
Greece would effectively be forced out the Euro, if the ECB refused to support the Greek banks through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance programme. The ECB would be required by its constitution not to accept Greek government bonds as collateral should Greece be in default. If no deal is reached between Greece and its creditors by the end of February, it will almost certainly default.
With ELA support removed, Greek banks would be bust, and would be unable to process payments or allow withdrawls. In this circumstance, the only option open to the Greek government would be to suspend Euro membership, implement a forced conversion to Drachma, and then print Drachma to support the Greek banks with.
Anyone know if New Drachma are being printed anywhere. It was rumoured some time ago that the Dutch had a suupply,or at least plans for a supply, of New Guilders.
In fairness the list is broadly accurate, but to think R&S/B&S were ever going to be, for one second, either safe or a lost cause is interesting.
Going back in time... those two looked safe as houses prior to UKIP. Cannock probably looked safe prior to the Nazi stag do. West Aberdeenshire is Scottish; normal rules don't apply :-)
That leaves Dudley South which may well have been seen as safe prior to Chris Kelly standing down; perhaps the candidate photo was tagged as non-target for another seat?
Greece would effectively be forced out the Euro, if the ECB refused to support the Greek banks through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance programme. The ECB would be required by its constitution not to accept Greek government bonds as collateral should Greece be in default. If no deal is reached between Greece and its creditors by the end of February, it will almost certainly default.
With ELA support removed, Greek banks would be bust, and would be unable to process payments or allow withdrawls. In this circumstance, the only option open to the Greek government would be to suspend Euro membership, implement a forced conversion to Drachma, and then print Drachma to support the Greek banks with.
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. Obviously both these options are politically difficult for coalition MPs, so I'm wondering whether Tsipras needs them to vote in favour of them before he's able to execute either or both.
Surely this "list" is only of interest where it diverges from the 40/40 (hold 40, gain 40)? And I don't know when that list was created - if more than 12 months ago, it would need to be tweaked to respond to the changing threat from UKIP.
Is there a list of the 40:40 somewhere? It strikes me that this list might match exactly.
Greece would effectively be forced out the Euro, if the ECB refused to support the Greek banks through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance programme. The ECB would be required by its constitution not to accept Greek government bonds as collateral should Greece be in default. If no deal is reached between Greece and its creditors by the end of February, it will almost certainly default.
With ELA support removed, Greek banks would be bust, and would be unable to process payments or allow withdrawls. In this circumstance, the only option open to the Greek government would be to suspend Euro membership, implement a forced conversion to Drachma, and then print Drachma to support the Greek banks with.
Anyone know if New Drachma are being printed anywhere. It was rumoured some time ago that the Dutch had a suupply,or at least plans for a supply, of New Guilders.
Surely this "list" is only of interest where it diverges from the 40/40 (hold 40, gain 40)? And I don't know when that list was created - if more than 12 months ago, it would need to be tweaked to respond to the changing threat from UKIP.
Is there a list of the 40:40 somewhere? It strikes me that this list might match exactly.
Surely this "list" is only of interest where it diverges from the 40/40 (hold 40, gain 40)? And I don't know when that list was created - if more than 12 months ago, it would need to be tweaked to respond to the changing threat from UKIP.
Is there a list of the 40:40 somewhere? It strikes me that this list might match exactly.
Anyway, the Beast of Bolsover can sleep easier knowing the might of the CCHQ machine isn't gunning for him. (Which kinda sums up the non-story nature of this!)
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
Greece would effectively be forced out the Euro, if the ECB refused to support the Greek banks through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance programme. The ECB would be required by its constitution not to accept Greek government bonds as collateral should Greece be in default. If no deal is reached between Greece and its creditors by the end of February, it will almost certainly default.
With ELA support removed, Greek banks would be bust, and would be unable to process payments or allow withdrawls. In this circumstance, the only option open to the Greek government would be to suspend Euro membership, implement a forced conversion to Drachma, and then print Drachma to support the Greek banks with.
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. Obviously both these options are politically difficult for coalition MPs, so I'm wondering whether Tsipras needs them to vote in favour of them before he's able to execute either or both.
I would think his concern will be that if he tries to go solo on this without the backing of some sort of formal vote from his coalition, the coalition will fragment, and his government will fall to a vote of confidence shortly there after.
Personally I think it comes down to whether Tsipras is more willing to lose his government or the Euro. Pretty much any proposal that would be acceptable to the Troika would involve supervision, and pretty much any proposal that involves that sort of supervision will be unacceptable to reportedly a third of his coalition.
Greece would effectively be forced out the Euro, if the ECB refused to support the Greek banks through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance programme. The ECB would be required by its constitution not to accept Greek government bonds as collateral should Greece be in default. If no deal is reached between Greece and its creditors by the end of February, it will almost certainly default.
With ELA support removed, Greek banks would be bust, and would be unable to process payments or allow withdrawls. In this circumstance, the only option open to the Greek government would be to suspend Euro membership, implement a forced conversion to Drachma, and then print Drachma to support the Greek banks with.
Anyone know if New Drachma are being printed anywhere. It was rumoured some time ago that the Dutch had a suupply,or at least plans for a supply, of New Guilders.
Any overtime being worked at De La Rue?
Could the Greeks even afford to pay De La Rue the $50 million+ to do so?
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
The new avatar is from Brandon Sanderson's "The Stormilght Archive": The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. The avatar shows the sigils from Bridge 4. and the Bridge 4 guards.
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
Close the banks, stop the bank run.
Yes, absolutely, that is what they'd have to do. But then what? You can't go back to business as usual and pretend nothing had happened.
rcs1000 - I think the US are not just applying pressure on Greece, but they are applying pressure on the EMU countries as well to come up with a deal. Also, Merkel's peace plan with Russia has gone down so poorly with the Whitehouse that many now don't think that Germany can be trusted to have primacy within the EU and want the UK to take more leading role again.
Additionally good manufacturing news this morning, industrial production is down but the manufacturing industry has beaten expectation of no growth and a cut of a third in YoY growth. The major faller in industrial production was electricity and oil/gas.
Mr. K, I've been meaning to get Words of Radiance since it came out. Way of Kings is my favourite Sanderson book so far (also meaning to get Douglas Hulick's second story).
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
Close the banks, stop the bank run.
Yes, absolutely, that is what they'd have to do. But then what? You can't go back to business as usual and pretend nothing had happened.
Take Merkel's best offer, or if you don't have the votes to do that dissolve the government and have new elections. I'd have thought the creditors would extend credit for long enough for these annoying left-wingers to go away. Either way the ECB turns the taps back on and everybody goes back to work.
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
Close the banks, stop the bank run.
Yes, absolutely, that is what they'd have to do. But then what? You can't go back to business as usual and pretend nothing had happened.
Convert all money in Greek banks to New Drachma, capital controls, fixed exchange rates and USD/GBP bonds sold in London to cover the immediate FX shortfall.
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
Close the banks, stop the bank run.
Yes, absolutely, that is what they'd have to do. But then what? You can't go back to business as usual and pretend nothing had happened.
At least it’s spring and there’ll soon be tourist spending. Maybe, if you’re going to Greece, take dollars or pounds.
Take Merkel's best offer, or if you don't have the votes to do that dissolve the government and have new elections. I'd have thought the creditors would extend credit for long enough for these annoying left-wingers to go away. Either way the ECB turns the taps back on and everybody goes back to work.
There wouldn't be a best offer. In such a scenario, there is one thing and thing only which could rescue the situation, which would be an unconditional guarantee of all liabilities of Greek banks by someone creditworthy and big enough to take the hit, which in practice means the ECB, IMF and the German taxpayer in some form or another. And that ain't gonna happen.
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
Close the banks, stop the bank run.
Yes, absolutely, that is what they'd have to do. But then what? You can't go back to business as usual and pretend nothing had happened.
Convert all money in Greek banks to New Drachma, capital controls, fixed exchange rates and USD/GBP bonds sold in London to cover the immediate FX shortfall.
That supposed a great deal more competence than the Greek state has shown in the past.
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
Close the banks, stop the bank run.
Yes, absolutely, that is what they'd have to do. But then what? You can't go back to business as usual and pretend nothing had happened.
At least it’s spring and there’ll soon be tourist spending. Maybe, if you’re going to Greece, take dollars or pounds.
And your own medical supplies etc
TBH why bother? The country is clapped out, and the PM is threatening to nationalise the decent holiday resorts. There are better places to go.
Nice to see Hertsmere get a mention. Mind you the last time there was any electoral activity here (posters etc) was 1983. Since then the only stuff we get is the leaflets through the door delivered by the RM.
There are eleven constituencies in the county of Hertfordshire. Suppose you split the county into three multi-member PR constituencies, two returning four MPs and the third, three. You might create a four-member PR constituency from the present constituencies of Hertsmere, Watford, St Albans and South West Hertfordshire.
The aggregate vote in the 2010 general election in these four seats was, with notional PR results:
Political Party | Votes | % | Seats (D'Hondt PR) ------------------------------------------------------------- Conservative | 98,073 | 46.3% | 2 Liberal Democrat | 61,157 | 28.8% | 1 Labour | 39,435 | 18.6% | 1 UKIP | 6,389 | 3.0% | Other | 7,009 | 3.3% | Total | 212,027 |
I'd hope that this would encourage more campaigning in Hertsmere and South West Hertfordshire, rather than having it all concentrated in Watford, but except for the recent rise of UKIP the four seats here look pretty safe in a PR calculation, so perhaps it would just kill campaigning in Watford?
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
Close the banks, stop the bank run.
Yes, absolutely, that is what they'd have to do. But then what? You can't go back to business as usual and pretend nothing had happened.
At least it’s spring and there’ll soon be tourist spending. Maybe, if you’re going to Greece, take dollars or pounds.
Would you really want to head off to a nationalised holiday resort?
Re Eltham, look at the declining Labour vote over the last four elections... and if UKIP are taking from the Tories more than they are Labour, plus the BNP vote, I can see Peter Whittle going extremely close
@chrisshipitv: Source at #BCCConf tells me they asked EdM office if they were SURE Labour leader didn't want to speak here? Were told NO, it will be EdB...
@Pulpstar If West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine is a non-target for the Conservatives, it raises the question where they are targeting in Scotland. That has to be comfortably one of their three best shots north of the border (not that they have any easy targets in Scotland, of course).
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine Dumfries & Galloway as the third?
That wouldn't be their only option, they could go get back with program, ELA support would be restored, the banks would be unbust, and everybody could go back to merrily depositing and withdrawing their Euros. .
No, if the situation were to reach the point of a bank run and complete chaos, there'd be no going back. It would become completely unstable in a matter of hours.
Close the banks, stop the bank run.
Yes, absolutely, that is what they'd have to do. But then what? You can't go back to business as usual and pretend nothing had happened.
At least it’s spring and there’ll soon be tourist spending. Maybe, if you’re going to Greece, take dollars or pounds.
Would you really want to head off to a nationalised holiday resort?
No... but making them appealing to a certain type of punter isn't that hard, duty free booze at the resorts, cheap fish and chip dinners, endless supply of free contraceptives and you would be fighting off 18-30 crowd with a stick.
@chrisshipitv: Source at #BCCConf tells me they asked EdM office if they were SURE Labour leader didn't want to speak here? Were told NO, it will be EdB...
Anyone know what more pressing engagement meant that Ed M reluctantly had to decline the invitation?
On topic - nice to have it confirmed that my seat (Vauxhall) isn't a Tory target... Although I think that you could probably tell that already - my favourite recent moment was a couple of Saturdays ago - the local Labour councillors had an action day in nearby Battersea, the Tories were doing similarly down in Tooting or somewhere, and the Lib Dems were all next door trying to shore up Simon Hughes' seat in Bermondsey...
Mr. K, I've been meaning to get Words of Radiance since it came out. Way of Kings is my favourite Sanderson book so far (also meaning to get Douglas Hulick's second story).
@Morris_Dancer You will love it; the writing and the story weaving are near impeccable. I cant wait for Book 3, which is due at the end of the year, I hope.
If my assumption is right and he can't actually win a parliamentary vote on this, can he somehow do what he needs without one?
The alternative would be that he has Greece kicked out of the Euro, rather than leaving.
It doesn't sound like there is a majority* in the Greek parliament that would accept a compromise deal that still involved external supervision, but it looks like the other side in negotiations won't accept a deal without.
Thus Greek leaves the Euro because of a failure to reach a deal, and the Greek government is forced to put in place alternative arrangements.
* This might not be true. One assumes that ND would support such a deal, so maybe it could be passed if the government were willing to face down a large rebellion from within its own ranks and enough MPs were convinced it was the best deal they could get and a better option to leaving the Euro. It would pretty much destroy Syriza, though, I would have thought.
Non-rhetorically, do parliament need to vote to honour the deal they've already agreed to? I guess there's an extension of something involved, so maybe they need to agree to that?
But if nobody will agree anything, wouldn't Greece stay in the Euro, only its banks don't have any Euros? Sucks if you have money in a Greek bank, but presumbly you could open a new account with Commerzbank and carry on doing business...
I think that if there is no new deal, and the Greek Parliament/government doesn't honour the old deal (including privatisations, spending cuts, etc) then the EU cuts off bailout funding and the Greek government runs out of Euros.
The only way for the Greek government to keep functioning in that circumstance is surely to leave the Euro and start printing heavily devalued Drachmas to pay people with - thus achieving austerity through devaluation.
@bbcnickrobinson: Cameron echoes Kinnock - "I warn you not to aspire to aspire, to work, to turn a profit ... because in their vision you are the enemy"
@paulwaugh: Cameron goes for Red Wedge tactic. Says Blair and Brown believed in business, but Miliband doesn't.
@BBCNormanS: David Cameron says "everyone who works in business has reason to fear the alternative" of a Labour Govt #bccconf
Mr. K, I have heard similarly positive things elsewhere. Currently got 5 [physical] books to read and quite a few more on the old Kindle, so it'll be a while before I get around to it, though.
@chrisshipitv: Source at #BCCConf tells me they asked EdM office if they were SURE Labour leader didn't want to speak here? Were told NO, it will be EdB...
Ed Miliband and Ed Balls are operating a good cop/bad cop strategy with regard to business issues.
Oh - and apologies that I've been somewhat absent on here since Christmas (cue multiple 'who are you' comments no doubt) - been focused on trying to get some Pirate activity and traction going locally and on Twitter etc. so have less time for interesting and diverting (but potentially less helpful) discussion here. Would just like to say thanks to antifrank for his regular betting blogposts - well written and really clear to aid understanding of what's likely going on - please keep them up. :-)
Take Merkel's best offer, or if you don't have the votes to do that dissolve the government and have new elections. I'd have thought the creditors would extend credit for long enough for these annoying left-wingers to go away. Either way the ECB turns the taps back on and everybody goes back to work.
There wouldn't be a best offer. In such a scenario, there is one thing and thing only which could rescue the situation, which would be an unconditional guarantee of all liabilities of Greek banks by someone creditworthy and big enough to take the hit, which in practice means the ECB, IMF and the German taxpayer in some form or another. And that ain't gonna happen.
What's preventing that situation now? It's not like nobody's noticed the risk of having their money in a Greek bank.
Totally O/T, but I found this on the BBC. "EX-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who denies charges of pimping, has told a court in northern France that he took part in only a few rare sex parties.
He said prosecutors had greatly exaggerated the frequency of his "licentious evenings". There had only been 12 in three years, he said."
I don't think the list is surprising. The only seats the Tories will be targeting are LD marginals and a small number of Labour marginals such as Southampton Itchen and Hampstead.
Comments
A couple of interesting snippets from todays outpouring from my ARSE.
Two of the four LibDem new holds were majorities of 3 votes and 57 votes and one of the new SNP gains was 12 votes.
You and I both know, if the Tories want to win/remain in power post May, they will be (and are) targeting some of those seats.
As I said, these lists are constantly updated and what we mean by targeted means something else to CCHQ.
Some techie at CCHQ screwed up.
All LibDem seats are super marginals.
All SLAB seats are super marginals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eltham_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Election_results
25/1 is massive.. lets hope someone prices up "to finish 2nd"
OT FPT I wonder what Grexit would require procedurally on the Greek side. The conventional (?) story is that you call a bank holiday, convene parliament and vote through whatever you need. But could Tsipras get a majority for Grexit? He's leading a shaky coalition with a smallish majority that just got elected promising to stay in the Euro. It's not as if there's no alternative - they could just abide by the previous conditions and the creditors turn the taps back on.
If my assumption is right and he can't actually win a parliamentary vote on this, can he somehow do what he needs without one?
Janan Ganesh, Esq @JGaneshEsq
· 21h 21 hours ago
Why use the commonly understood "divided" when surely either "fractious", "fissiparous" or "disunited" would suffice? #GaneshStyleTip
It doesn't sound like there is a majority* in the Greek parliament that would accept a compromise deal that still involved external supervision, but it looks like the other side in negotiations won't accept a deal without.
Thus Greek leaves the Euro because of a failure to reach a deal, and the Greek government is forced to put in place alternative arrangements.
* This might not be true. One assumes that ND would support such a deal, so maybe it could be passed if the government were willing to face down a large rebellion from within its own ranks and enough MPs were convinced it was the best deal they could get and a better option to leaving the Euro. It would pretty much destroy Syriza, though, I would have thought.
Albert Einstein described insanity as -
'Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time' Applies to Tories!
I agree with that, though the same could be said of the L/Dems and Labour.
Since then the only stuff we get is the leaflets through the door delivered by the RM.
Edited extra bit: welcome to pb.com, Mr. 1983.
If so, it will be the second bloody time they'll have cost me money here!
Unlike the "JackW Dozen" the ARSE projection has to allocate seats and also produces the numbers. It's rather a clever little wheeze and something to do with inputs, algorithms, tea leaves and a judicious oiling of single malt.
Probably my own prejudices showing there though (And book...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZniqRgw6IQ
Germany rejects Greece’s demands for £120billion in reparations http://dailym.ai/1CbAEBy via @MailOnline
Fight between Tsipras and Merkel gathers pace.
Safety betting and accurate projections are not happy bedfellows. If you are risk averse then this is not a game for you.
John Youles @Mines_a_pint 15m15 minutes ago
Global warming believers are like a ‘cult’, says MIT scientist http://dailym.ai/1BiJiha via @MailOnline
But if nobody will agree anything, wouldn't Greece stay in the Euro, only its banks don't have any Euros? Sucks if you have money in a Greek bank, but presumbly you could open a new account with Commerzbank and carry on doing business...
West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine
Cannock Chase
Rochester & Strood
Boston & Skegness
Any others that anyone thinks would be surprising if true?
Greece would effectively be forced out the Euro, if the ECB refused to support the Greek banks through the Emergency Liquidity Assistance programme. The ECB would be required by its constitution not to accept Greek government bonds as collateral should Greece be in default. If no deal is reached between Greece and its creditors by the end of February, it will almost certainly default.
With ELA support removed, Greek banks would be bust, and would be unable to process payments or allow withdrawls. In this circumstance, the only option open to the Greek government would be to suspend Euro membership, implement a forced conversion to Drachma, and then print Drachma to support the Greek banks with.
@sammacrory: "Isn't it getting a bit trivial. You're jumping on this agenda"- Balls snaps as Miliband's #BCCConf absence - not Balls' speech - makes news
It isn't exactly a Damacine conversion by the professor?
https://www.skepticalscience.com/skeptic_Richard_Lindzen.htm
Any overtime being worked at De La Rue?
That leaves Dudley South which may well have been seen as safe prior to Chris Kelly standing down; perhaps the candidate photo was tagged as non-target for another seat?
All I need now is for those nice Conservatives to vote tactically.....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18180232
Personally I think it comes down to whether Tsipras is more willing to lose his government or the Euro. Pretty much any proposal that would be acceptable to the Troika would involve supervision, and pretty much any proposal that involves that sort of supervision will be unacceptable to reportedly a third of his coalition.
MIT professors are usually right.
"Economist at MIT Awarded Nobel Prize, Blasts Reagan : Hits 'Disastrous' Federal Deficit, Urges Tax Hike"
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-10-15/news/mn-16490_1_savings
It’d bit a bit like the old lira! Or, for Sean T, the Vietnamese dong.
Did Scott_P finally get potted for spending all day on Twitter?
The new avatar is from Brandon Sanderson's "The Stormilght Archive": The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance. The avatar shows the sigils from Bridge 4. and the Bridge 4 guards.
TBH why bother? The country is clapped out, and the PM is threatening to nationalise the decent holiday resorts. There are better places to go.
The aggregate vote in the 2010 general election in these four seats was, with notional PR results: I'd hope that this would encourage more campaigning in Hertsmere and South West Hertfordshire, rather than having it all concentrated in Watford, but except for the recent rise of UKIP the four seats here look pretty safe in a PR calculation, so perhaps it would just kill campaigning in Watford?
I prefer to compare with 1992 as that had a similar national picture to now
1992 - Labour - 41.9%, Con - 46%, LD -11.7%
2010 - Labour - 41.4%, Con - 37.5%, LD -12.6%
So really the Lab vote has looked pretty solid while the Con vote has declined.
I'd expect Lab to get around 45% next time and an increased majority
@chrisshipitv: Source at #BCCConf tells me they asked EdM office if they were SURE Labour leader didn't want to speak here? Were told NO, it will be EdB...
West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine
Dumfries & Galloway as the third?
Ed can refute that in his speech.
Oh, wait...
You will love it; the writing and the story weaving are near impeccable. I cant wait for Book 3, which is due at the end of the year, I hope.
The only way for the Greek government to keep functioning in that circumstance is surely to leave the Euro and start printing heavily devalued Drachmas to pay people with - thus achieving austerity through devaluation.
@paulwaugh: Cameron goes for Red Wedge tactic. Says Blair and Brown believed in business, but Miliband doesn't.
@BBCNormanS: David Cameron says "everyone who works in business has reason to fear the alternative" of a Labour Govt #bccconf
Industry PLC.
Ed is the bad cop.
"EX-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who denies charges of pimping, has told a court in northern France that he took part in only a few rare sex parties.
He said prosecutors had greatly exaggerated the frequency of his "licentious evenings". There had only been 12 in three years, he said."
You'd have to have a heart of stone etc........