The Evening Standard has picked up on an aside by Speaker John Bercow in work and pensions questions yesterday. Frustrated by the length of employment minister Esther McVey's answers, he said: "I am reminded of the feeling when one thinks the washing machine will stop - but it does not!"
What an odious man he is...I miss the days of old Betty.
Regardless, the other parties need to ignore convention and put up a decent alternative in Buckingham. He's been a dreadful Speaker.
The "convention" such as it was has been disregarded for decades and in any case Bercow would romp home in Buckingham where he is well regarded.
Out of interest does he do any constituency work? If not, how are is his constituents represented if he's too occupied by the second job?
All Speakers undertake constituency work to a limited extent but by convention neighbouring MP's take up some of the burden.
It's an unusual situation where by necessity the Speaker is a HoC man but also has the traditional workload of other MP's.
The Evening Standard has picked up on an aside by Speaker John Bercow in work and pensions questions yesterday. Frustrated by the length of employment minister Esther McVey's answers, he said: "I am reminded of the feeling when one thinks the washing machine will stop - but it does not!"
What an odious man he is...I miss the days of old Betty.
Regardless, the other parties need to ignore convention and put up a decent alternative in Buckingham. He's been a dreadful Speaker.
The "convention" such as it was has been disregarded for decades and in any case Bercow would romp home in Buckingham where he is well regarded.
Out of interest does he do any constituency work? If not, how are is his constituents represented if he's too occupied by the second job?
All Speakers undertake constituency work to a limited extent but by convention neighbouring MP's take up some of the burden.
It's an unusual situation where by necessity the Speaker is a HoC man but also has the traditional workload of other MP's.
It is the same situation, as if an MP was also a government minister. They often have a neighbouring MP who will take some of their constituency work from them. I don't think they get any additional budget for staff or civil servants to help them.
The Conservatives finished four behind Labour in February 1974.
For a Labour/SNP deal to work, they'd need an overall majority between them.
Apologies and well spotted, Sean though I'm pretty sure the Conservatives polled fractionally more votes in that election.
Why do you think Lab/SNP would need an overall majority - as long as they were ahead of CON +LD that would be enough given the absence of SF and the fractured nature of Ulster politics.
The SNP would be very wayward allies for Labour, and the two parties hate each other.
To be more precise, SLab loathe, hate & detest the SNP, the SNP in a reciprocal manner have grown to despise & dislike SLab, the new influx of 45ers (many former SLab) joining and/or supporting the SNP loathe, hate & detest SLab with a vengeance, London Labour taking a lead from their Jocks dislike and fear the SNP (though are slightly mystified by them), the SNP aren't keen on London Labour but see them as a party they could do (some) business with.
Lots of ways that maelstrom could pan out.
The SNP MPs will have been elected on the basis of kicking the Tories out. Whatever they think of Labour that will surely sharpen minds.
The Evening Standard has picked up on an aside by Speaker John Bercow in work and pensions questions yesterday. Frustrated by the length of employment minister Esther McVey's answers, he said: "I am reminded of the feeling when one thinks the washing machine will stop - but it does not!"
What an odious man he is...I miss the days of old Betty.
Regardless, the other parties need to ignore convention and put up a decent alternative in Buckingham. He's been a dreadful Speaker.
The "convention" such as it was has been disregarded for decades and in any case Bercow would romp home in Buckingham where he is well regarded.
Out of interest does he do any constituency work? If not, how are is his constituents represented if he's too occupied by the second job?
All Speakers undertake constituency work to a limited extent but by convention neighbouring MP's take up some of the burden.
It's an unusual situation where by necessity the Speaker is a HoC man but also has the traditional workload of other MP's.
The Evening Standard has picked up on an aside by Speaker John Bercow in work and pensions questions yesterday. Frustrated by the length of employment minister Esther McVey's answers, he said: "I am reminded of the feeling when one thinks the washing machine will stop - but it does not!"
What an odious man he is...I miss the days of old Betty.
Regardless, the other parties need to ignore convention and put up a decent alternative in Buckingham. He's been a dreadful Speaker.
The "convention" such as it was has been disregarded for decades and in any case Bercow would romp home in Buckingham where he is well regarded.
Out of interest does he do any constituency work? If not, how are is his constituents represented if he's too occupied by the second job?
All Speakers undertake constituency work to a limited extent but by convention neighbouring MP's take up some of the burden.
It's an unusual situation where by necessity the Speaker is a HoC man but also has the traditional workload of other MP's.
It is the same situation, as if an MP was also a government minister. They often have a neighbouring MP who will take some of their constituency work from them. I don't think they get any additional budget for staff or civil servants to help them.
It's much less so with government ministers. You'll tend to find constituency agents and research staff take up some of the work but MP's tend to jealously guard their constituency reputation and broadly speaking their electorate are rationale enough to understand the wider workload of ministers.
The position of the Speaker is unique to parliament.
I don't know if this values and issues poll from Comres has been highlighted here yet. It might have some relevance in regard the proposed focus of the parties' campaigns:
For all the speculation and the expectation of the deadest of dead heat election results, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the outcome in seats panned out not broadly dissimilar to last time.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
Ed M's "get out of jail" free card is the chance he has to cut a deal with the SNP
Look at the SNP and what they might demand.
Look at the 100 or so labour MPs in English marginals. Or is it more than that, given seats like Rotherham. Is there such a thing as a safe labour seat any more?
Reckon those two groups could hammer out a deal that could lead to viable government. For five years....??
Quite apart from the drip drip of the SNP voting on English only matter after English only matter. Day after day, week after week.
For all the speculation and the expectation of the deadest of dead heat election results, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the outcome in seats panned out not broadly dissimilar to last time.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
You don't think the last few polls are the true picture ?
For all the speculation and the expectation of the deadest of dead heat election results, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the outcome in seats panned out not broadly dissimilar to last time.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
Recent polling doesn't seem that encouraging for Ed M.
For all the speculation and the expectation of the deadest of dead heat election results, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the outcome in seats panned out not broadly dissimilar to last time.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
Utter nonsense.
There was almost zero prospect of Ed Miliband becoming PM before the SNP surge and now his prospects are so vanishingly small that there is more likelihood of a three-legged pantomime horse winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Ed is electorally a dead man walking and now we are entering his slow walk to failure. The question is whether Cameron will be in Coalition again with the yellow peril or edges toward a majority. On that issue the jury is out.
For all the speculation and the expectation of the deadest of dead heat election results, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the outcome in seats panned out not broadly dissimilar to last time.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
Utter nonsense.
There was almost zero prospect of Ed Miliband becoming PM before the SNP surge and now his prospects are so vanishingly small that there is more likelihood of a three-legged pantomime horse winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Ed is electorally a dead man walking and now we are entering his slow walk to failure. The question is whether Cameron will be in Coalition again with the yellow peril or edges toward a majority. On that issue the jury is out.
So what your basically saying is that Ed Miliband Will Never Be Prime Minister?
For all the speculation and the expectation of the deadest of dead heat election results, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the outcome in seats panned out not broadly dissimilar to last time.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
You don't think the last few polls are the true picture ?
Bob has long been the authentic and permanently designated Cassandra of Cameron's Conservatives. Woe, woe, and thrice woe.
Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe tells MPs he believes the actions of so-called Islamic State have "very little to do with religion; that's the mask under which it hides. The thing is about politics."
For all the speculation and the expectation of the deadest of dead heat election results, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the outcome in seats panned out not broadly dissimilar to last time.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
You don't think the last few polls are the true picture ?
Bob has long been the authentic and permanently designated Cassandra of Cameron's Conservatives. Woe, woe, and thrice woe.
I can't understand the optimists or pessimists on either side at the moment, I think it's all still to play for Ed & Dave. The latest Yougov looks ominous for Labour but we'll see with the rest of the week if the blues can sustain a lead.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
For all the speculation and the expectation of the deadest of dead heat election results, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the outcome in seats panned out not broadly dissimilar to last time.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
You don't think the last few polls are the true picture ?
Bob has long been the authentic and permanently designated Cassandra of Cameron's Conservatives. Woe, woe, and thrice woe.
However Bob (and myself) both (correctly) pin-pointed that Cameron was blowing his chance of a majority in 2010.
This time, though, I have to part company with Bob's assessment as it looks to me as though the polls are moving quite significantly to Con and my expectation is Conservative's largest party in terms of vote share and seats with a continuation of either the coalition or a minority Con government,
For all the speculation and the expectation of the deadest of dead heat election results, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the outcome in seats panned out not broadly dissimilar to last time.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
Utter nonsense.
There was almost zero prospect of Ed Miliband becoming PM before the SNP surge and now his prospects are so vanishingly small that there is more likelihood of a three-legged pantomime horse winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Ed is electorally a dead man walking and now we are entering his slow walk to failure. The question is whether Cameron will be in Coalition again with the yellow peril or edges toward a majority. On that issue the jury is out.
So what your basically saying is that Ed Miliband Will Never Be Prime Minister?
Apparently so.
I'm minded to recall some wag on PB has been saying so for years but frankly my memory is struggling to name this political soothsayer of unparalleled brilliance.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
If the Conservatives finish up 4% ahead, it doesn't matter how many votes UKIP poll. They'll be well ahead of Labour.
If the BBC fire him, then it's not hard to see Hammond and May going and the three of them making Top Gear under another name. Over 300 million worldwide viewers give them great leverage.
It was my understanding that the precise order in which Her Majesty would invite political leaders to attempt to form coalitions and/or minority governments was defined shortly before the 2010 election. The noises from Buckingham Palace also suggest she will remain out of the way this time. For that reason, it is difficult to see how the monarchy could be tarnished by the whole affair. If anything, the inevitable wrangling and accusation-slanging from politicians is likely to improve the reputation of a position that stands above politics.
If the BBC fire him, then it's not hard to see Hammond and May going and the three of them making Top Gear under another name. Over 300 million worldwide viewers give them great leverage.
Be interesting to know what the argument was.
That's what I meant. I'm sure Clarkson/Top Gear-Like-Show will turn up on another channel (maybe Sky most likely given Clarkson's connections to Rebekah, Murdoch's, etc...?)
If the BBC fire him, then it's not hard to see Hammond and May going and the three of them making Top Gear under another name. Over 300 million worldwide viewers give them great leverage.
Be interesting to know what the argument was.
SKY or ITV would sign them in the blink of an eye. Think of the revenues.
Since there will be very little prospect of anyone outside the Conservative party having any chance of forming a government, and the incumbent PM is in the Conservative party, the Queen will actually not need to do anything. If Cameron chooses not to resign (most likely) then the Queen has no decision to make, and if that turns out to be the wrong decision it reflects on Cameron politically, not on the Queen or constitution.
If Cameron does resign, presumably he will only do so if it is absolutely clear the Conservatives cannot govern, in which case it won't be remotely controversial for the Queen to ask Miliband whether he can form a government.
The only thing clear about this is that anti frank shares the paranoid obsessions of most PB posters on the role of the SNP. Yesterday's Ashcroft showed 70 per cent want them in Government in Scotland - Labour would be foolish to rule it out in defiance of that wish. The SNP may not want a full coalition but have sensibly not ruled it out and would certainly want any arrangement to be a success.
I'm not paranoid about the SNP. It is in the longterm interests of the SNP that the monarchy should be destabilised, so long as they are not blamed for that destabilisation. That the average member of the SNP is anti-monarchist is merely a happy coincidence.
BBC's decision to not show Top Gear does seem a bit of a toys and pram moment.
Maybe Clarkson's refusing to appear alongside Hammond & May unless the blokes from Channel 5s old banger programme are included to make him look good along with Murray Walker and Georgie Thompson?
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
It is quite ironic that the Conservatives will be badly hit by the failure to change to the Alternative Vote system, while the Liberal Democrats look like they will be protected by First Past the Post. I voted to maintain the FPTP system in the referendum, but I now wonder whether it was a mistake. The situation in Scotland, where the SNP will utterly dominate the nation's Westminster delegation when the country voted against independence is wholly inappropriate. The current electoral system would be brought farther into disrepute should the UK Independence Party received double the Liberal Democrat vote and yet receive a fraction of the seats.
Piers Morgan twitter feed is going to be interesting...
I think Piers and Jeremy have buried the hatchet (and amazingly enough not in each other's heads) Though I'm waiting to see Piers Morgans Twitter feed if/when Plod ever comes calling...
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
I'm feel you should urgently seek the advice of your physician as it's clear your brain has become badly addled by sustained absence from the portals of PB.
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
Just as we moved past of hours of the BBC talking to other past and present BBC employees to debate the debate about the debates...now it will be hours of the BBC talking to other past and present BBC employees about Clarkson...but Mirror phone hacking of little interest.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
If the Conservatives finish up 4% ahead, it doesn't matter how many votes UKIP poll. They'll be well ahead of Labour.
You think on a 4% lead the Tories win new seats to compensate for the Lib Dem losses to Labour
I voted to maintain the FPTP system in the referendum, but I now wonder whether it was a mistake.
me too
The AV referedum was the mistake, I think. When it came to my personal vote, and I was constrained to put an x in one of two boxes, it was a simple choice - even when I am far from certain which system I would prefer overall. AV represents nothing at all.
Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn 1m1 minute ago Ed Miliband's wife Justine has complained about the "really vicious, personal" attacks on him in an interview with the BBC.
Since there will be very little prospect of anyone outside the Conservative party having any chance of forming a government, and the incumbent PM is in the Conservative party, the Queen will actually not need to do anything. If Cameron chooses not to resign (most likely) then the Queen has no decision to make, and if that turns out to be the wrong decision it reflects on Cameron politically, not on the Queen or constitution.
If Cameron does resign, presumably he will only do so if it is absolutely clear the Conservatives cannot govern, in which case it won't be remotely controversial for the Queen to ask Miliband whether he can form a government.
What would you advise people who followed your SPIN recommendations on the SNP to do now, hold out or cash out for a loss ?
Auntie doesn't seem to understand who wears the trousers in her relationship with the orangutan. Effwits.
Considering the rather pathetic story that got him his first warning, I wouldn't be surprised if Clarkson dropped one too many sweeteners into the producer's tea.
(From memory, it was an unbroadcast section from years before of Clarkson mumbling to himself. Then the BBC take over the production company and the section is 'found' and appears in the papers).
Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn 1m1 minute ago Ed Miliband's wife Justine has complained about the "really vicious, personal" attacks on him in an interview with the BBC.
It's phase 2.
After the Jailtime (debates) Bill (2016) comes the And You Must Be Nice To Ed Bill (2017)
Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn 1m1 minute ago Ed Miliband's wife Justine has complained about the "really vicious, personal" attacks on him in an interview with the BBC.
Is she going to have to go around like Sarah did and mind him when he meets the real general public...In 2010, it was beyond sad, to see this intelligent women having to act as a human shield to stop a deluded man from talking too much to normal people.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
I'm feel you should urgently seek the advice of your physician as it's clear your brain has become badly addled by sustained absence from the portals of PB.
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
@bob_sykes clearly does not live in Scotland if he doubts the SLAB clash and SNP surge. I have not come across a labour voter canvassing in Edinburgh East despite it being a notionally safe Labour seat. This is EDINBURGH- an area which voted comfortably NO.
Tories are 1.55 to win most seats, implying about 275 seats.
Seats 272-286 are as follows, all evens or better [apologies if any are stale]:
Boston and Skegness 1/1 City Of Chester 1/1 Great Yarmouth 1/1 Devon North 11/10 Ipswich 11/10 Portsmouth South 11/10 Pudsey 11/10 Cheadle 6/5 Halesowen and Rowley Regis 6/5 St Ives 6/5 Cornwall North 5/4 Croydon Central 5/4 Keighley 5/4 Northampton North 5/4 Stockton South 5/4
This portfolio ought to be a winner if you buy the Tories as favourites.
Alternatively, couple it with a chunky back of Lab most seats for a virtual arb.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
It is quite ironic that the Conservatives will be badly hit by the failure to change to the Alternative Vote system, while the Liberal Democrats look like they will be protected by First Past the Post. I voted to maintain the FPTP system in the referendum, but I now wonder whether it was a mistake. The situation in Scotland, where the SNP will utterly dominate the nation's Westminster delegation when the country voted against independence is wholly inappropriate. The current electoral system would be brought farther into disrepute should the UK Independence Party received double the Liberal Democrat vote and yet receive a fraction of the seats.
Strictly speaking, the Scots didn't vote against independence - though more did than didn't. And voting for the SNP within the UK is a completely different matter, especially as indyref has been put off till such time as the wider body politic wish to rerun it. (The wish of the unionist side to suppress even the possibility is arguably far more undemocratic.)
And as FPTP is what the UK establishment want, it can't complain if the Scots vote in people using that voting system to take part in the UK parliament. At 45%-50% of the vote the SNP would at least have a decent democratic mandate by the miserable standards of the FPTP system. IT might also be argued that the SNP, like your example of UKIP, have done very badly out of FPTP in contrast to Labour and the Tories, so it ill behoves their opponents to cry foul when things don't go their way.
having said that, I have considerable sympathy with your views on FPTP. It's worth remembering that the SNP also have a majority government (just) at Holyrood, with a non_FPTP voting system so bent by the Unionist wish to prevent a referendum as to have the completely opposite effect to FPTP. But it does give minority parties such as the Tories representation in some sort of proportion to the vote, which is important.
Just as we moved past of hours of the BBC talking to other past and present BBC employees to debate the debate about the debates...now it will be hours of the BBC talking to other past and present BBC employees about Clarkson...but Mirror phone hacking of little interest.
Seems brave to push Clarkson from the financial point of view, and poor timing since his BBC Worldwide contract doesn't expire until September this year
Normal service will be resumed next week after toys are recovered to the pram in my opinion, too expensive for the BBC to be doing anything else while under fire for fat cat salaries.
@Scott_P I dare say she might complain, especially when the internet is full of morons who will retweet anything, without checking if it is true or not?
Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn 1m1 minute ago Ed Miliband's wife Justine has complained about the "really vicious, personal" attacks on him in an interview with the BBC.
It's phase 2.
After the Jailtime (debates) Bill (2016) comes the And You Must Be Nice To Ed Bill (2017)
looks like they have moved to phase 2b - "Save Ed's job at Harvard for June"
His team are up there with the secret Canadians as the "duff election team of the decade".
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
I'm feel you should urgently seek the advice of your physician as it's clear your brain has become badly addled by sustained absence from the portals of PB.
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
@bob_sykes clearly does not live in Scotland if he doubts the SLAB clash and SNP surge. I have not come across a labour voter canvassing in Edinburgh East despite it being a notionally safe Labour seat. This is EDINBURGH- an area which voted comfortably NO.
Edinburgh East should be safe as houses for the SNP - Get down to ensuring Edi South
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
I'm feel you should urgently seek the advice of your physician as it's clear your brain has become badly addled by sustained absence from the portals of PB.
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
@bob_sykes clearly does not live in Scotland if he doubts the SLAB clash and SNP surge. I have not come across a labour voter canvassing in Edinburgh East despite it being a notionally safe Labour seat. This is EDINBURGH- an area which voted comfortably NO.
I do think Bob is underestimating the collapse Labour is going to face in Scotland.
I don't think it will be quite as bad as the polls suggest, but nevertheless it's hard to see how Labour avoids at the very least a minor melt-down north of the border.
Shame that the relationship between Clarkson/Top Gear and the Beeb seems to have imploded, perhaps inevitably. I think they record Sunday's show at Dunsford Park on a Tuesday, so presumably something flared up during recording today, which means the reason it won't be broadcast on Sunday is because they didn't actually manage to record this week's show?
Either way, it's clearly the end. I can't help feeling Clarkson was almost willing it to happen with his various outbursts and controversies, continually testing and baiting the lefty Beeb to its politically correct and hyper-sensitive limits.
Shame that the relationship between Clarkson/Top Gear and the Beeb seems to have imploded, perhaps inevitably. I think they record Sunday's show at Dunsford Park on a Tuesday, so presumably something flared up during recording today, which means the reason it won't be broadcast on Sunday is because they didn't actually manage to record this week's show?
Either way, it's clearly the end. I can't help feeling Clarkson was almost willing it to happen with his various outbursts and controversies, continually testing and baiting the lefty Beeb to its politically correct and hyper-sensitive limits.
Normally record on a Wednesday.
BBC Management have clearly been spoiling for a fight. Let them get on with it, and give everyone yet another reason not to watch, and pay the licence fee.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
I'm feel you should urgently seek the advice of your physician as it's clear your brain has become badly addled by sustained absence from the portals of PB.
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
@bob_sykes clearly does not live in Scotland if he doubts the SLAB clash and SNP surge. I have not come across a labour voter canvassing in Edinburgh East despite it being a notionally safe Labour seat. This is EDINBURGH- an area which voted comfortably NO.
Edinburgh East should be safe as houses for the SNP - Get down to ensuring Edi South
That i will not be doing considering I am canvassing for one of the 'minor' parties in Scotland
Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn 1m1 minute ago Ed Miliband's wife Justine has complained about the "really vicious, personal" attacks on him in an interview with the BBC.
Oh dear, this sort of chatter never goes down well. - If Ed can’t control his own MPs from sniping at him from the side-lines, or is thin skinned enough to worry about what the papers say, he really shouldn’t be in politics or get the wife involved.
Shame that the relationship between Clarkson/Top Gear and the Beeb seems to have imploded, perhaps inevitably. I think they record Sunday's show at Dunsford Park on a Tuesday, so presumably something flared up during recording today, which means the reason it won't be broadcast on Sunday is because they didn't actually manage to record this week's show?
Either way, it's clearly the end. I can't help feeling Clarkson was almost willing it to happen with his various outbursts and controversies, continually testing and baiting the lefty Beeb to its politically correct and hyper-sensitive limits.
TBH, with the odd exception of certain episodes / segments , IMO Top Gear is generally a very tired show and you get the feeling that the presenters are pretty tired of it as well.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
I'm feel you should urgently seek the advice of your physician as it's clear your brain has become badly addled by sustained absence from the portals of PB.
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
@bob_sykes clearly does not live in Scotland if he doubts the SLAB clash and SNP surge. I have not come across a labour voter canvassing in Edinburgh East despite it being a notionally safe Labour seat. This is EDINBURGH- an area which voted comfortably NO.
Edinburgh East should be safe as houses for the SNP - Get down to ensuring Edi South
That i will not be doing considering I am canvassing for one of the 'minor' parties in Scotland
Haha yes please stay in Edi East if you're out for the Greens, Nats can probably afford 10 or so % for the Greens there and still win at a canter.
I voted to maintain the FPTP system in the referendum, but I now wonder whether it was a mistake.
me too
Swayed by the prospect of temporary electoral advantage? Tut
Up to a point Lord Copper. And of course no practical system is ideal, but something a bit more proportional which retains constituency representation. But I'll say no more, we have what we have.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
I'm feel you should urgently seek the advice of your physician as it's clear your brain has become badly addled by sustained absence from the portals of PB.
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
@bob_sykes clearly does not live in Scotland if he doubts the SLAB clash and SNP surge. I have not come across a labour voter canvassing in Edinburgh East despite it being a notionally safe Labour seat. This is EDINBURGH- an area which voted comfortably NO.
Edinburgh East should be safe as houses for the SNP - Get down to ensuring Edi South
That i will not be doing considering I am canvassing for one of the 'minor' parties in Scotland
Haha yes please stay in Edi East if you're out for the Greens, Nats can probably afford 10 or so % for the Greens there and still win at a canter.
Haha @pulpstar Pigs will start flying before I canvass for the greens. Think Pandas and you'll be closer to the truth
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
I'm feel you should urgently seek the advice of your physician as it's clear your brain has become badly addled by sustained absence from the portals of PB.
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
@bob_sykes clearly does not live in Scotland if he doubts the SLAB clash and SNP surge. I have not come across a labour voter canvassing in Edinburgh East despite it being a notionally safe Labour seat. This is EDINBURGH- an area which voted comfortably NO.
Anyone who claims that they canvassed an area and not come across a single opposition voter is either telling porkies or a bloody awful canvasser . We remember for example Rik Willis saying on here he had not found a single Lib Dem voter shortly before he was defeated by them in Sutton and Cheam in 2005
Shame that the relationship between Clarkson/Top Gear and the Beeb seems to have imploded, perhaps inevitably. I think they record Sunday's show at Dunsford Park on a Tuesday, so presumably something flared up during recording today, which means the reason it won't be broadcast on Sunday is because they didn't actually manage to record this week's show?
Either way, it's clearly the end. I can't help feeling Clarkson was almost willing it to happen with his various outbursts and controversies, continually testing and baiting the lefty Beeb to its politically correct and hyper-sensitive limits.
Normally record on a Wednesday.
OK, I stand corrected then. But that's why it won't be on this Sunday, because they won't be recording anything tomorrow.
It's a massive judgement call for the BBC, because it's not like JC is just a hired presenter on a BBC show, it's basically his and Andy Wilman's (the exec producer) baby. It'd be interesting to know the contractual and licensing arrangements that would need to be unpicked, not to mention the substantial revenues that flow into the BBC coffers. It's not simply a case of sacking a hired-in presenter and replacing with someone else.
The show and an international brand dies without Clarkson, without question. And any copy-cat show Clarkson "takes" to another channel, presumably Sky, will get zilch viewers, vanish into obscurity and frankly, be crap.
Mr. Urquhart, it's far from its heights, though I enjoyed the recent episode when Hammond was left in Canadian wilderness.
Politician's wives are bloody irrelevant. Unless they're standing for election themselves they have no business courting the media.
A problem for Miliband, which Brown never had, is that it could be perceived as the wimp's girlfriend telling the bullies they're mean. Brown, for all his flaws, never came across as being a wimp.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
I'm feel you should urgently seek the advice of your physician as it's clear your brain has become badly addled by sustained absence from the portals of PB.
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
@bob_sykes clearly does not live in Scotland if he doubts the SLAB clash and SNP surge. I have not come across a labour voter canvassing in Edinburgh East despite it being a notionally safe Labour seat. This is EDINBURGH- an area which voted comfortably NO.
Anyone who claims that they canvassed an area and not come across a single opposition voter is either telling porkies or a bloody awful canvasser . We remember for example Rik Willis saying on here he had not found a single Lib Dem voter shortly before he was defeated by them in Sutton and Cheam in 2005
SNP probably ahead by ~ 20 points in Edinburgh East at the least.
SNP 49 Lab 27 Con 8 Green 7 LD 5
Something like that.
Also both the SNP and the SLAB are his opposition...
Just wondering, has Sam Cam or Miriam González Durántez ever done a big sit down with BBC or Sky etc?
AFAIK, they seem to keep themselves to themselves and just get on with their own careers, despite constant and often really nasty abuse been thrown at their husbands and their family.
Just wondering, has Sam Cam or Miriam González Durántez ever done a big sit down with BBC or Sky etc?
AFAIK, they seem to keep themselves to themselves and just get on with their own careers, despite constant and often really nasty abuse been thrown at their husbands and their family.
Wheeling out the wives does seem to be a fairly good indicator of a campaign in terminal decline.
Shame that the relationship between Clarkson/Top Gear and the Beeb seems to have imploded, perhaps inevitably. I think they record Sunday's show at Dunsford Park on a Tuesday, so presumably something flared up during recording today, which means the reason it won't be broadcast on Sunday is because they didn't actually manage to record this week's show?
Either way, it's clearly the end. I can't help feeling Clarkson was almost willing it to happen with his various outbursts and controversies, continually testing and baiting the lefty Beeb to its politically correct and hyper-sensitive limits.
Normally record on a Wednesday.
OK, I stand corrected then. But that's why it won't be on this Sunday, because they won't be recording anything tomorrow.
It's a massive judgement call for the BBC, because it's not like JC is just a hired presenter on a BBC show, it's basically his and Andy Wilman's (the exec producer) baby. It'd be interesting to know the contractual and licensing arrangements that would need to be unpicked, not to mention the substantial revenues that flow into the BBC coffers. It's not simply a case of sacking a hired-in presenter and replacing with someone else.
The show and an international brand dies without Clarkson, without question. And any copy-cat show Clarkson "takes" to another channel, presumably Sky, will get zilch viewers, vanish into obscurity and frankly, be crap.
I believe in the past 2 years, the whole arrangement between Clarkson / Wilman's company and the BBC has be radically reworked.
The other galling thing about Clarkson is having to endure an exultant Daily Mirror, which will no doubt claim his scalp, even though it's not their doing.
Someone lost 26k of winnings due to Annie's fall at the last. Check twitter !
Not me and hopefully not Peter. I've already seen a figure of £150 million quoted as to hoe much the bookies were saved on having to pay out on Mullins accumulators.
ANNIE POWER didn't carry my money though I thought she would win. I made my cash on THE DRUID'S NEPHEW which covered opposing UN DE SCEAUX who I thought wouldn't get round.
Unfortuately some twerp has stuck me for a 3pm meeting in Lewes tomorrow which means I won't be able to see the Champion Chase. I had wanted the meeting yesterday morning so I could nip down to Plumpton for an afternoon's sport.
Comments
It's an unusual situation where by necessity the Speaker is a HoC man but also has the traditional workload of other MP's.
Anyone have anything for the next 2 ?
The position of the Speaker is unique to parliament.
I was about to say something nice following your comment FPT - welcome back: we need sensible people like you on board.
And then I saw this...
:twisted:
I was about to say something nice following your comment FPT - welcome back: we need sensible people like you on board.
And then I saw this...
http://comres.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/February2015_Poll_Tables.pdf
Top Five Issues
Protecting the NHS 60%
Immigration Cap 46%
EU Referendum 26%
Increasing Apprenticeships 25%
Longer Prison Sentences 17%
These beat ending austerity, tax cuts, mansion tax and numerous other issues.
The bottom four were increasing Defence spending, Protecting the Aid Budget, Cutting Public Services and Legalising of 'all' drugs.
Top values were
Freedom Of Speech 46%,
Respect for Rule Of Law 33%
A Sense Of Humour 29%
Politeness 27%
Tolerance Of Others 26%
These beat other values such as Equality and Fairness
The bottom three were in order Curiosity, Aspiration and Multiculturalism.
HOWEVER - that may be me clinging to false hope. You'd have to say from where things stand, it does look increasingly like EdM is going to walk into No 10 in less than 2 months time. And I never thought that was REALLY going to happen. I expected swingback, I expected UKIP to be put back in their box, but it just didn't happen - the nibbling back towards nominal Tory leads this past couple of weeks is nowhere near enough.
It's now Ed's to lose. As someone who called it pretty accurately last time 2 or 3 months out, I'm going to call it now for Ed - a minority Labour Government (some way short of a majority), that nobody really wants, led by a PM nobody wants, propped up by the votes, when needed, of a rabble of assorted lefties from elsewhere.
The funny thing is - I fear it might turn out to be a not very bad Government with the fair wind it's likely to benefit from. With the hard graft done by the Coalition, the chump nobody wanted might conceivably win a second term...
Look at the SNP and what they might demand.
Look at the 100 or so labour MPs in English marginals. Or is it more than that, given seats like Rotherham. Is there such a thing as a safe labour seat any more?
Reckon those two groups could hammer out a deal that could lead to viable government. For five years....??
Quite apart from the drip drip of the SNP voting on English only matter after English only matter. Day after day, week after week.
There was almost zero prospect of Ed Miliband becoming PM before the SNP surge and now his prospects are so vanishingly small that there is more likelihood of a three-legged pantomime horse winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Ed is electorally a dead man walking and now we are entering his slow walk to failure. The question is whether Cameron will be in Coalition again with the yellow peril or edges toward a majority. On that issue the jury is out.
Shakes head....
Ah no, seething punter.
The Tories are going to hand over seats to Labour due to the UKIP surge, lose a handful to the purples themselves, and you know the SNP ain't gonna do anything like as well as the polls suggest. The LDs will lose seats to the Tories, but not that many.
The polls are better for the Tories, but still disastrous to hopes of remaining in power whilst UKIP polls so high.
It's the electoral system that will put Ed in power, not his charisma or recognised leadership star potential.
This time, though, I have to part company with Bob's assessment as it looks to me as though the polls are moving quite significantly to Con and my expectation is Conservative's largest party in terms of vote share and seats with a continuation of either the coalition or a minority Con government,
I'm minded to recall some wag on PB has been saying so for years but frankly my memory is struggling to name this political soothsayer of unparalleled brilliance.
Mr. F, Charles [ahem, the prince, not the esteemed member of pb.com] is more like Ser Dontos.
Several of the "Crusades" were religious, the profit motive involved was merely a sideshow.
*shakes head*
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31824040
According to Twitter, there will be no Top Gear on Sunday as a result.
Poor old Ed - unlucky and hopeless.
If the BBC fire him, then it's not hard to see Hammond and May going and the three of them making Top Gear under another name. Over 300 million worldwide viewers give them great leverage.
Be interesting to know what the argument was.
"The committee-as-kangaroo-court speaks to the end of politics and its replacement by one of the oldest, ugliest habits of humankind: scapegoating."
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/03/who-the-hell-does-margaret-hodge-think-she-is-robespierre/
Perhaps it was something in tonight's show that caused the fall out?
If Cameron does resign, presumably he will only do so if it is absolutely clear the Conservatives cannot govern, in which case it won't be remotely controversial for the Queen to ask Miliband whether he can form a government.
Worth recalling that the 'slope' nonsense [I think] also led to an edition of QI including Clarkson not being broadcast.
Arrogant prick!
Does he call for a judge led inquiry into Top Gear or phone hacking at The Mirror, during tomorrow's PMQ's?
You need to closely analyse my ARSE, inwardly digest and repent of your wayward behaviour. We at PB central will welcome you back into the bosom of our fraternity in the fullness of time as and when this nasty affliction subsides on the 8th May.
AV is the worst electoral system ever devised by man.
One less reason to pay the licence fee - there aren't many left.
Tom Newton Dunn @tnewtondunn 1m1 minute ago
Ed Miliband's wife Justine has complained about the "really vicious, personal" attacks on him in an interview with the BBC.
(From memory, it was an unbroadcast section from years before of Clarkson mumbling to himself. Then the BBC take over the production company and the section is 'found' and appears in the papers).
After the Jailtime (debates) Bill (2016) comes the And You Must Be Nice To Ed Bill (2017)
Tories are 1.55 to win most seats, implying about 275 seats.
Seats 272-286 are as follows, all evens or better [apologies if any are stale]:
Boston and Skegness 1/1
City Of Chester 1/1
Great Yarmouth 1/1
Devon North 11/10
Ipswich 11/10
Portsmouth South 11/10
Pudsey 11/10
Cheadle 6/5
Halesowen and Rowley Regis 6/5
St Ives 6/5
Cornwall North 5/4
Croydon Central 5/4
Keighley 5/4
Northampton North 5/4
Stockton South 5/4
This portfolio ought to be a winner if you buy the Tories as favourites.
Alternatively, couple it with a chunky back of Lab most seats for a virtual arb.
And as FPTP is what the UK establishment want, it can't complain if the Scots vote in people using that voting system to take part in the UK parliament. At 45%-50% of the vote the SNP would at least have a decent democratic mandate by the miserable standards of the FPTP system. IT might also be argued that the SNP, like your example of UKIP, have done very badly out of FPTP in contrast to Labour and the Tories, so it ill behoves their opponents to cry foul when things don't go their way.
having said that, I have considerable sympathy with your views on FPTP. It's worth remembering that the SNP also have a majority government (just) at Holyrood, with a non_FPTP voting system so bent by the Unionist wish to prevent a referendum as to have the completely opposite effect to FPTP. But it does give minority parties such as the Tories representation in some sort of proportion to the vote, which is important.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10808089/Jeremy-Clarkson-could-get-two-pay-offs-if-forced-out-of-BBC-over-Top-Gear-gaffe.html
Normal service will be resumed next week after toys are recovered to the pram in my opinion, too expensive for the BBC to be doing anything else while under fire for fat cat salaries.
I dare say she might complain, especially when the internet is full of morons who will retweet anything, without checking if it is true or not?
(not you Scott )
His team are up there with the secret Canadians as the "duff election team of the decade".
I don't think it will be quite as bad as the polls suggest, but nevertheless it's hard to see how Labour avoids at the very least a minor melt-down north of the border.
Either way, it's clearly the end. I can't help feeling Clarkson was almost willing it to happen with his various outbursts and controversies, continually testing and baiting the lefty Beeb to its politically correct and hyper-sensitive limits.
BBC Management have clearly been spoiling for a fight. Let them get on with it, and give everyone yet another reason not to watch, and pay the licence fee.
It's a massive judgement call for the BBC, because it's not like JC is just a hired presenter on a BBC show, it's basically his and Andy Wilman's (the exec producer) baby. It'd be interesting to know the contractual and licensing arrangements that would need to be unpicked, not to mention the substantial revenues that flow into the BBC coffers. It's not simply a case of sacking a hired-in presenter and replacing with someone else.
The show and an international brand dies without Clarkson, without question. And any copy-cat show Clarkson "takes" to another channel, presumably Sky, will get zilch viewers, vanish into obscurity and frankly, be crap.
Politician's wives are bloody irrelevant. Unless they're standing for election themselves they have no business courting the media.
A problem for Miliband, which Brown never had, is that it could be perceived as the wimp's girlfriend telling the bullies they're mean. Brown, for all his flaws, never came across as being a wimp.
With the Footsie, it is usually a rare moment of sanity caused by the coke dealer getting busted.
You just said, and I agree, it's Clarkson + Wilman [I'd add the other presenters too]. There's nothing magical about the BBC.
SNP 49
Lab 27
Con 8
Green 7
LD 5
Something like that.
Also both the SNP and the SLAB are his opposition...
AFAIK, they seem to keep themselves to themselves and just get on with their own careers, despite constant and often really nasty abuse been thrown at their husbands and their family.
ANNIE POWER didn't carry my money though I thought she would win. I made my cash on THE DRUID'S NEPHEW which covered opposing UN DE SCEAUX who I thought wouldn't get round.
Unfortuately some twerp has stuck me for a 3pm meeting in Lewes tomorrow which means I won't be able to see the Champion Chase. I had wanted the meeting yesterday morning so I could nip down to Plumpton for an afternoon's sport.