Who is likely to become chancellor if the Tories stay on btw ?
I have a slip with Gove at 50/1.
Osborne almost certainly, unless he is persuaded that Foreign Office would offer him even more opportunity to be at centre of EU renegotiations, which he considers the most important job of next parliament. If he goes then Hammond.
The whistleblowers who broke the Jimmy Savile story have seen their careers nosedive while executives protect their own status
To be fair, they could be crap employees.
The scandal is simply this: the BBC is forcing out or demoting the journalists who exposed Jimmy Savile as a voracious abuser of girls. As Meirion Jones put it to me: “There is a small group of powerful people at the BBC who think it would have been better if the truth about Savile had never come out. And they aim to punish the reporters who revealed it.”
It interesting that all those bosses in the firing line just got shifted around a bit...kinda of reminds me of the Rotherham Council approach to dealing with a similar issue.
I've just had a brilliant idea for what we should put on a £2 coin
The French government is attempting to block a coin commemorating the Battle of Waterloo, claiming it is a “symbol that is negative” and would undermine the unity of the eurozone.
In an extraordinary intervention, France wants to block plans for a €2 coin to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the historic battle fought by the Duke of Wellington against Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815.
A draft design of the coin was submitted to the Council of the European Union by Belgium, the site of the battle, in February this year.
However, just days letter France objected to the coin, claiming it could cause “hostile reactions in France” and undermine the eurozone
When the patriotic clamour for a bank holiday on 21 October, I am tempted to counter-propose 22 October, on the basis that it would both be an appropriate Apologise-to-the-French-for-Trafalgar day, and roughly mark the start of Diwali.
The 25th of October would be my choice.
Feck yeah, St Crispin's Day. Waterloo was good, but Waterloo for some reason never got the Shakespeare treatment.
But Waterloo got the ABBA treatment, which is nearly as good.
I've just had a brilliant idea for what we should put on a £2 coin
The French government is attempting to block a coin commemorating the Battle of Waterloo, claiming it is a “symbol that is negative” and would undermine the unity of the eurozone.
In an extraordinary intervention, France wants to block plans for a €2 coin to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the historic battle fought by the Duke of Wellington against Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815.
A draft design of the coin was submitted to the Council of the European Union by Belgium, the site of the battle, in February this year.
However, just days letter France objected to the coin, claiming it could cause “hostile reactions in France” and undermine the eurozone
I went to the same school as Al Murray and we used to play Dulwich (Farage's school) at Rugby. However Farage is a few years older than Murray so it's unlikely they crossed swords on the playing fields of Eton. Incidentally whenever Al came back to the school some of the Masters had great difficulty in understanding that he was a comedian and wondered what he did for a day job.
I have difficulty understanding that as well.
Pub Landlord is at least better than his original act...impersonating the sounds effects like the sound various models of car make when opening doors, winding down windows, closing the boot etc...he did that for 3 years on the circuit.
If your wish is to antagonize the French government, you are best off sticking to victories in the Napoleonic Wars. My experiences among French friends suggests they are particularly sensitive over Napoleon, given that many consider him the greatest ever Frenchman.
Vittoria, Salamanca and Trafalgar could thus work, alongside Waterloo, as the major London stations.
The scandal is simply this: the BBC is forcing out or demoting the journalists who exposed Jimmy Savile as a voracious abuser of girls. As Meirion Jones put it to me: “There is a small group of powerful people at the BBC who think it would have been better if the truth about Savile had never come out. And they aim to punish the reporters who revealed it.”
Usual wretched behaviour as far as the BBC is concerned. Slowly but surely, a core mass of people with an axe to grind are forming who are gathering enough dirt over time to bring the pillars of the establishment to task. I don't think it will reach critical mass until the next economic downturn that begins in just over 6 months time from now.
I don't follow. Why does he need to be off air? if you don't like him, don't watch Top Gear.
roseree- I mean ffs. We don't live in North Korea.
...
You do realise that Top Gear is, by far, the BBC's most successful and profitable programme, generating around £300m a year?
... BBC-felchers of the Left might ponder that. They might also ponder WHY Clarkson is so popular. Right now #BringBackClarkson is trending number 6, worldwide.
seanT- I'd no rather see Clarkson expunged from our TV than you stopping to post at pbCOM. I love polemic; colourful people with colourful views. Clarkson is a showman and often funny. I don't think anything could be drearier than Harman's pink bus preaching kitchen table politics.
I actually like Boris too. Entertaining and fun. But whether I want them taking responsibility for the decisions on behalf of the poorest, disenfranchised, most vulnerable- people they obviously have nothing in common with.. that is another matter.
What a load of wotsit. The people we need to take decisions are the people most likely to make the right decisions. History tells us that since the dawn of time socialists make the wrong decisions - not least for the poorest amongst us. Just because someone has 'wealth' does not expunge them from having any 'worth'.
On the subject of Clarkson - he used to own Top Gear and its format along with the executive producer. I think they sold the nice little earner back to the BBC for a lump of money. Clarkson has nothing to lose by being sacked. The BBC have the job of keeping the programme going if they can in order to keep making money. This whole programme raises a couple if not more issues. 1 - the BBC hate cars and motoring - it goes against its greeny touchy feely ethos. It especially hates gas guzzling cars. But it likes the money it makes and ratings and it likes F1 for the same reason. F1 makes the BBC feel important and it glamourises F1 beyond its worth for the same reason. 2 - the BBC syndicates Top Gear and sells the format as well. It constantly turns the spotlight on capitalism , it constantly attacks private enterprise - not least in fields which it thinks should be socialised - but when push comes to shove it uses it monopolistic power to promote its own commercial interests. The fact that this leaves us with a host of garbage programming like the egregious Eastenders and repetitive appearances for its own favoured actors and performers is just another two fingers to its alleged higher purpose.
"We concluded that this party name, if used on a ballot paper, was not likely to lead to electors confusing it with another registered party. At the same time we refused to register the emblem that the Free United Kingdom Party is currently using for campaigning purposes. This is clearly similar to UKIP’s registered emblem and as a result we judged that there was a clear risk of voter confusion. The party may use this emblem in other contexts but it may not use it on ballot papers. The acronym FUKP will also not appear on the ballot paper."
Sufficient for you? And if not, why not I wonder?
Yeah, I came to the same conclusion in an earlier post. Do keep up
Edit - and my "if not, why not" was directed at the electoral comission not comparing FUKP to UKIP, not toward Dair (who is no slouch when it comes to these things).
It was on the Daily Politics and the source was the guy from Beer, Cigs and Crumpet party who tried to avoid having Crumpet being removed from the party name, he said he tried to pass it as an acronym but was told by the Electoral Commission that they don't consider acronyms when they make a judgement.
Although from what someone else posted in this thread, they clearly do as they are banning FUKP from using FUKP on the ballot.
What nonsense. English voters don't give a stuff about the SNP. What is teeing them off is that Milliband comes across as totally clueless. He should sack Balls right now get out from under the Tories austerity and make his claim to be PM in or out of coalition.
Justine's word 'decency' links in nicely with the Clarkson debacle. Just looking at a re-run of his insensitive gaffes on 4 reminds me of how truly awful he is. We have Clarkson insulting Brown's lack of sight in one eye, deliberately using two racist terms, provoking Argentinian ire through unwise number plates etc.etc. The man's a dated menace and needs to be off air as soon as possible.
I don't follow. Why does he need to be off air? if you don't like him, don't watch Top Gear.
roseree- I mean ffs. We don't live in North Korea.
I am always happy that Clarkson has such a high profile because he openly and proudly displays the oafish, ignorant stupidity of the right wing Tories. We know they ALL do it behind our backs- I mean ALL of them in their gentlemen's clubs, their soireees, their smug dinner parties. Tory policies reek of the self satisfied, conceited disdain of the plebs from tax cuts, to free schools to bedroom taxes, but very few (aka Clarkson) are prepared to articulate their vile views publicly. Boris Johnson would fit into this category, but he still harbours ambitions. In the future, if BJ's plans fail, expect to see him driving a sports car in Top Gear and slagging off plebs.
You do realise that Top Gear is, by far, the BBC's most successful and profitable programme, generating around £300m a year?
If it is kicked into touch by some bien pensant producer, somewhat akin to yourself, or surbiton, or whoever, then all your precious unwatchable-but-worthy BBC programming will suffer, indeed the entire corporation would be in trouble, as would any business which lost its most profitable asset overnight.
BBC-felchers of the Left might ponder that. They might also ponder WHY Clarkson is so popular. Right now #BringBackClarkson is trending number 6, worldwide.
. But whether I want them taking responsibility for the decisions on behalf of the poorest, disenfranchised, most vulnerable- people they obviously have nothing in common with.. that is another matter.
Is it not the case that most mass movements, most reforms have not been carried out by the poorest, disenfranchised or most vulnerable, but by wealthy powerful and successful people. Who they have nothing in common with.
Well it was a great time away climbing Kilimanjaro, but back to Blighty and I'm not too surprised to see Labour's decline in the polls. Will be interesting to see when the blood letting begins - a more feeble opposition you could not wish to see.
Although I loathe Ed Balls, I really do question the extent to which he wants to win in 8 weeks time. Am pretty sure just like 2007 and calling for the election that never was in advance of 2008, I think he can see that this election is as good as the 1928 US election to lose. And with so much waiting to be exposed on Savile being brought into the mainstream, who the heck would want to win the next election?
If your wish is to antagonize the French government, you are best off sticking to victories in the Napoleonic Wars. My experiences among French friends suggests they are particularly sensitive over Napoleon, given that many consider him the greatest ever Frenchman.
Vittoria, Salamanca and Trafalgar could thus work, alongside Waterloo, as the major London stations.
If you wish to antagonise the French (and who doesn't?) the secret is not some Napoleonic defeat, it is to remind them that we liberated them.
They can stand being defeated (they have got used to it!) But they cannot stand the fact that we won both World wars, largely on their turf.
Starting to get rather worried about these polls. The thing about Scotland is it could easily become a double whammy for Labour. Losing seats to the SNP which then convinces English voters that a Labour government would be in the pocket of the SNP. It's an absolute nightmare.
Its happening already and is only going to intensify. Toxic for labour
Well maybe if Labour hadn't been part of a campaign to castigate Scotland amongst English public opinion and perpetuate the myth of the "subsidy junkie".
Well it took a lot longer than I'd expected to carve out important tops in many stockmarkets. Looking at a fair sized correction into early June now I think, but US market should be a really good buy if the Dow is around the 16,300 level in early June.
US Dollar strength materialising as I had predicted all along, to much derision on here. However, thinking after the current leg higher, we'll need a somewhat protracted correction lower in the Dollar, before it can rocket higher once we get past the great end of September 2015 turn down date in Martin Armstrong's Economic Confidence Model.
I went to the same school as Al Murray and we used to play Dulwich (Farage's school) at Rugby. However Farage is a few years older than Murray so it's unlikely they crossed swords on the playing fields of Eton. Incidentally whenever Al came back to the school some of the Masters had great difficulty in understanding that he was a comedian and wondered what he did for a day job.
If Murray takes the anti kipper vote than thats to Farage's advantage. If he merely energises it to the tory benefit, and the initials of his party ought to, then I can see why he is upset. Murray of course is Farage's Spitting Image puppet - thats why he does not like it up him.
Starting to get rather worried about these polls. The thing about Scotland is it could easily become a double whammy for Labour. Losing seats to the SNP which then convinces English voters that a Labour government would be in the pocket of the SNP. It's an absolute nightmare.
Its happening already and is only going to intensify. Toxic for labour
Well maybe if Labour hadn't been part of a campaign to castigate Scotland amongst English public opinion and perpetuate the myth of the "subsidy junkie".
Chickens coming home to roost.
Does anyone know when the next Ashcroft Scottish constituency polls are due? Great to see that the SNP advance ongoing, and the Scottish Labour conference as dead as a doornail. I would like to see some more Edinburgh polls - East, West and South West looking good for the SNP. I'd like to see one in Edinburgh South - if the SNP can be really challenging there in what is the most English seat in Scotland in terms of people born in England as a % of the electorate, then little of Scotland is going to survive the avalanche.
If anyone has ever questioned if the BBC and The Guardian are two cheeks of the same backside, just look at today.
BBC soft focus interview with Mrs Ed
Guardian lead story from 2005 FFS about sale of company Sam Cam works for trying to imply it was a dodgy deal.
The Sam Cam story is comical...10 years ago, some blokes bought a successful company for a higher than expected price, then sold it a few years later for even more money....
Maybe unlike the Guardian, that is why they make money? They know the value of something and see an opportunity to add even more to it resulting in a profit.
Local communication from my local MP - '..the Government has had to take tough decisions, in order to put the economy on the solid footing it now is'
Well some solid footing when we are just over 6 months away from the start of the Sovereign Debt Crisis beginning in earnest with UK plc borrowing nigh on £100bn a year. We don't hear much more about the 2010 manifesto pledge that the deficit would be zero by the time of the 2015 election, with a cumulative £250-300bn more borrowed over the course of this parliament compared to the 2010 projection.
We equally don't hear about Mr Osborne's phrase of rebalancing the economy - current account running at around 5% of GDP deficit - another massive miss compared to what was promised.
And we don't hear about the UK's productivity record over the past 5 years which is pretty lamentable, with the economy around 5% less productive per head compared to around 2007. Firms by and large are not investing in technology for the future as a result of the lack of confidence, not borrowing at 0.5% BoE interest rate because they don't perceive future returns to make it worthwhile.
If that's a solid footing then you could have fooled me!
Starting to get rather worried about these polls. The thing about Scotland is it could easily become a double whammy for Labour. Losing seats to the SNP which then convinces English voters that a Labour government would be in the pocket of the SNP. It's an absolute nightmare.
Its happening already and is only going to intensify. Toxic for labour
Well maybe if Labour hadn't been part of a campaign to castigate Scotland amongst English public opinion and perpetuate the myth of the "subsidy junkie".
Chickens coming home to roost.
Does anyone know when the next Ashcroft Scottish constituency polls are due? Great to see that the SNP advance ongoing, and the Scottish Labour conference as dead as a doornail. I would like to see some more Edinburgh polls - East, West and South West looking good for the SNP. I'd like to see one in Edinburgh South - if the SNP can be really challenging there in what is the most English seat in Scotland in terms of people born in England as a % of the electorate, then little of Scotland is going to survive the avalanche.
No info on further Ashcroft Scottish polls. His next batch will apparently be marginals which previously polled narrow Labour leads over Conservatives.
Argyll and Bute looks like a one horse race to me.
yes. heard nothing from that horse yet.
Where abouts in A&B are you? Are you down at the Campbelltown end or up at the Loch Lomond end of the seat? Arguably one of the most beautiful constituencies in the whole of the country. Nailed on SNP gain - Shadsy had it at 1/8 on last I looked, about right IMHO.
I wonder whether Nigel Farage, for all his authenticity branding, is playing political games here. The people voting for Al Murray are those that wish to mock UKIP, not those who are inclined to support them. That means every extra vote Murray gets is a vote for which the Conservatives can not compete. It's completely in UKIP's interest to play him up as a result.
Personally, I wish Al Murray had looked for his advertising elsewhere. If he genuinely opposed Nigel Farage, he would do his best to stay away from electoral politics, which are a serious matter.
Its a fair point. But Murray can see Farage for what he is and he makes his point the best why he is able to. it may indeed help Farage but equally it makes quite clear to kippers what they are voting for.
Starting to get rather worried about these polls. The thing about Scotland is it could easily become a double whammy for Labour. Losing seats to the SNP which then convinces English voters that a Labour government would be in the pocket of the SNP. It's an absolute nightmare.
Its happening already and is only going to intensify. Toxic for labour
Well maybe if Labour hadn't been part of a campaign to castigate Scotland amongst English public opinion and perpetuate the myth of the "subsidy junkie".
Chickens coming home to roost.
Does anyone know when the next Ashcroft Scottish constituency polls are due? Great to see that the SNP advance ongoing, and the Scottish Labour conference as dead as a doornail. I would like to see some more Edinburgh polls - East, West and South West looking good for the SNP. I'd like to see one in Edinburgh South - if the SNP can be really challenging there in what is the most English seat in Scotland in terms of people born in England as a % of the electorate, then little of Scotland is going to survive the avalanche.
No info on further Ashcroft Scottish polls. His next batch will apparently be marginals which previously polled narrow Labour leads over Conservatives.
Thanks - I really need to go through the whole 651 seats as I normally do, and get things pinned down when I get chance. As someone said earlier, I'd like to see the following result:
Conservative 280 Labour 260 SNP 50 Lib Dem 30 PC5 UKIP 5 Green 1 Respect (Galloway) 1 Speaker 1 NI 18
Getting a stable government out of that would be fun! Labour getting 260 given the polling trends right now looks in around the right ballpark if they lose 35 of their Scottish MP's then would have to gain 35 in England assuming Cardiff North and Cardiff Central are picked up in Wales.
Still looking for Labour to outperform in London with around 10 gains there, and I think the pronounced urban movement to Labour, rural / suburb movement to Tory that was such a feature of the 2010 election will figure quite prominently this time too.
Argyll and Bute looks like a one horse race to me.
yes. heard nothing from that horse yet.
Where abouts in A&B are you? Are you down at the Campbelltown end or up at the Loch Lomond end of the seat? Arguably one of the most beautiful constituencies in the whole of the country. Nailed on SNP gain - Shadsy had it at 1/8 on last I looked, about right IMHO.
You are right there. A83 then A85 is really a beautiful drive. Turn left at Tarbet and look down over the loch as I remember. Phew. I was confused by the Tarbet and Tarbert as I recall. I've been to Lochgilphead by both routes (not accidentally I should add.)
Argyll and Bute looks like a one horse race to me.
yes. heard nothing from that horse yet.
Where abouts in A&B are you? Are you down at the Campbelltown end or up at the Loch Lomond end of the seat? Arguably one of the most beautiful constituencies in the whole of the country. Nailed on SNP gain - Shadsy had it at 1/8 on last I looked, about right IMHO.
You are right there. A83 then A85 is really a beautiful drive. Turn left at Tarbet and look down over the loch as I remember. Phew. I was confused by the Tarbet and Tarbert as I recall. I've been to Lochgilphead by both routes (not accidentally I should add.)
Stayed in Arrochar whilst climbing Ben Lomond a few years back. Absolutely loved Inveraray. Would like to do the drive down to Campbeltown at some point, its amazing when you're just driving out of Glasgow on the road up to Fort William / Loch Lomond and see signs saying 125 miles to there!
I noticed today that the BBC headline writers are on their fourth version of the ‘hacking scandal' on the BBC front page, but have not yet managed to squeeze the words ‘Daily Mirror’ into a single one of them.
Is this deliberate? – as a quick Google search for 'BBC Mirror Hacking scandal’ does not reveal much after 2012.
Starting to get rather worried about these polls. The thing about Scotland is it could easily become a double whammy for Labour. Losing seats to the SNP which then convinces English voters that a Labour government would be in the pocket of the SNP. It's an absolute nightmare.
Its happening already and is only going to intensify. Toxic for labour
Well maybe if Labour hadn't been part of a campaign to castigate Scotland amongst English public opinion and perpetuate the myth of the "subsidy junkie".
Chickens coming home to roost.
Does anyone know when the next Ashcroft Scottish constituency polls are due? Great to see that the SNP advance ongoing, and the Scottish Labour conference as dead as a doornail. I would like to see some more Edinburgh polls - East, West and South West looking good for the SNP. I'd like to see one in Edinburgh South - if the SNP can be really challenging there in what is the most English seat in Scotland in terms of people born in England as a % of the electorate, then little of Scotland is going to survive the avalanche.
No info on further Ashcroft Scottish polls. His next batch will apparently be marginals which previously polled narrow Labour leads over Conservatives.
Thanks - I really need to go through the whole 651 seats as I normally do, and get things pinned down when I get chance. As someone said earlier, I'd like to see the following result:
Conservative 280 Labour 260 SNP 50 Lib Dem 30 PC5 UKIP 5 Green 1 Respect (Galloway) 1 Speaker 1 NI 18
Getting a stable government out of that would be fun! Labour getting 260 given the polling trends right now looks in around the right ballpark if they lose 35 of their Scottish MP's then would have to gain 35 in England assuming Cardiff North and Cardiff Central are picked up in Wales.
Still looking for Labour to outperform in London with around 10 gains there, and I think the pronounced urban movement to Labour, rural / suburb movement to Tory that was such a feature of the 2010 election will figure quite prominently this time too.
I suppose the question is who will vote against Miliband, if the time comes? Conservatives and Ukip will, but given the choice to support Cameron, I find it hard to think of many more who would: the Lib Dems if they think they can keep the current coalition going, which wouldn't happen on those numbers, and perhaps Galloway. In that scenario, Labour + LD have 290, Conservative + Ukip have 285, and MOST of the remainder would vote down a minority Conservative administration and abstain on one headed by Miliband.
Let's see if the Blues can get the hattrick tomorrow....
Tonight's was the hat-trick.
Well, a hattrick in YouGov/The Sun polls!
- "We're going in. We're going in full throttle. That oughta keep those Tories off our back!" - "But, Ed. Will we be able to pull out in time?" - "It'll be just like Romanian Beggar's Canyon back home!"
Where abouts in A&B are you? Are you down at the Campbelltown end or up at the Loch Lomond end of the seat? Arguably one of the most beautiful constituencies in the whole of the country. Nailed on SNP gain - Shadsy had it at 1/8 on last I looked, about right IMHO.
Lomond end - on the Rosneath Peninsula, very close to Coulport. The views are great and the rent is cheap. Going to have to get a job at some point though.....
The Helensburgh/Lomond part of the constituency is presumably somewhat more resistant to the SNP than the rest of it because of Trident. Indeed, it's in the Dumbarton constituency for the Scottish parliament, which I think was the only constituency to show a swing from the SNP to Labour at the last Scottish election.
@Hunchman I've got my betting position to a big fat gypsy zero on most seats, most votes for Labour - but certainly not writing off my minority Labour Gov't or Ed PM bets... YET.
I don't follow. Why does he need to be off air? if you don't like him, don't watch Top Gear.
roseree- I mean ffs. We don't live in North Korea.
...
You do realise that Top Gear is, by far, the BBC's most successful and profitable programme, generating around £300m a year?
... BBC-felchers of the Left might ponder that. They might also ponder WHY Clarkson is so popular. Right now #BringBackClarkson is trending number 6, worldwide.
seanT- I'd no rather see Clarkson expunged from our TV than you stopping to post at pbCOM. I love polemic; colourful people with colourful views. Clarkson is a showman and often funny. I don't think anything could be drearier than Harman's pink bus preaching kitchen table politics.
I actually like Boris too. Entertaining and fun. But whether I want them taking responsibility for the decisions on behalf of the poorest, disenfranchised, most vulnerable- people they obviously have nothing in common with.. that is another matter.
What a load of wotsit. The people we need to take decisions are the people most likely to make the right decisions. History tells us that since the dawn of time socialists make the wrong decisions - not least for the poorest amongst us. Just because someone has 'wealth' does not expunge them from having any 'worth'.
On the subject of Clarkson - he used to own Top Gear and its format along with the executive producer. I think they sold the nice little earner back to the BBC for a lump of money. Clarkson has nothing to lose by being sacked. The BBC have the job of keeping the programme going if they can in order to keep making money. This whole programme raises a couple if not more issues. 1 - the BBC hate cars and motoring - it goes against its greeny touchy feely ethos. It especially hates gas guzzling cars. But it likes the money it makes and ratings and it likes F1 for the same reason. F1 makes the BBC feel important and it glamourises F1 beyond its worth for the same reason. 2 - the BBC syndicates Top Gear and sells the format as well. It constantly turns the spotlight on capitalism , it constantly attacks private enterprise - not least in fields which it thinks should be socialised - but when push comes to shove it uses it monopolistic power to promote its own commercial interests. The fact that this leaves us with a host of garbage programming like the egregious Eastenders and repetitive appearances for its own favoured actors and performers is just another two fingers to its alleged higher purpose.
Some of you really are ridiculous and beyond parody in your anti-BBC ranting.
Where abouts in A&B are you? Are you down at the Campbelltown end or up at the Loch Lomond end of the seat? Arguably one of the most beautiful constituencies in the whole of the country. Nailed on SNP gain - Shadsy had it at 1/8 on last I looked, about right IMHO.
Lomond end - on the Rosneath Peninsula, very close to Coulport. The views are great and the rent is cheap. Going to have to get a job at some point though.....
The Helensburgh/Lomond part of the constituency is presumably somewhat more resistant to the SNP than the rest of it because of Trident. Indeed, it's in the Dumbarton constituency for the Scottish parliament, which I think was the only constituency to show a swing from the SNP to Labour at the last Scottish election.
Doubt A&B is heading anything other than SNP but I think it is No bet @ 1-8.
"We concluded that this party name, if used on a ballot paper, was not likely to lead to electors confusing it with another registered party. At the same time we refused to register the emblem that the Free United Kingdom Party is currently using for campaigning purposes. This is clearly similar to UKIP’s registered emblem and as a result we judged that there was a clear risk of voter confusion. The party may use this emblem in other contexts but it may not use it on ballot papers. The acronym FUKP will also not appear on the ballot paper."
Sufficient for you? And if not, why not I wonder?
Yeah, I came to the same conclusion in an earlier post. Do keep up
Edit - and my "if not, why not" was directed at the electoral comission not comparing FUKP to UKIP, not toward Dair (who is no slouch when it comes to these things).
It was on the Daily Politics and the source was the guy from Beer, Cigs and Crumpet party who tried to avoid having Crumpet being removed from the party name, he said he tried to pass it as an acronym but was told by the Electoral Commission that they don't consider acronyms when they make a judgement.
Although from what someone else posted in this thread, they clearly do as they are banning FUKP from using FUKP on the ballot.
No; they do not consider acronyms. ''If in the Commission’s opinion an acronym or abbreviation is not well-known and widely-used in everyday language, it will not normally be permitted for your party name. Examples of well known acronyms used in common language include ‘UK’, EU’ and ‘NHS’. '' http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/107694/to-names-rp.pdf Putting it simply you could register a party as Save Our NHS. Or even Save The EU... However they do not allow UKIP or FUKP on a ballot paper, if ''an acronym is not well-known and widely-used, the words it is intended to represent must be spelled out and written in lower case – and each word will count towards the overall six-word limit''.
This counts against UKIP I think since UKIP is known as more as UKIP. It is of course not illegal in any parallel universe to set up a party knock politics and promote yourself. Screaming Lord Such proved that.
I don't follow. Why does he need to be off air? if you don't like him, don't watch Top Gear.
roseree- I mean ffs. We don't live in North Korea.
...
...
... ...
seanT- I'd no rather see Clarkson expunged from our TV than you stopping to post at pbCOM. I love polemic; colourful people with colourful views. Clarkson is a showman and often funny. I don't think anything could be drearier than Harman's pink bus preaching kitchen table politics.
I actually like Boris too. Entertaining and fun. But whether I want them taking responsibility for the decisions on behalf of the poorest, disenfranchised, most vulnerable- people they obviously have nothing in common with.. that is another matter.
What a load of wotsit. The people we need to take decisions are the people most likely to make the right decisions. History tells us that since the dawn of time socialists make the wrong decisions - not least for the poorest amongst us. Just because someone has 'wealth' does not expunge them from having any 'worth'.
On the subject of Clarkson - he used to own Top Gear and its format along with the executive producer. I think they sold the nice little earner back to the BBC for a lump of money. Clarkson has nothing to lose by being sacked. The BBC have the job of keeping the programme going if they can in order to keep making money. This whole programme raises a couple if not more issues. 1 - the BBC hate cars and motoring - it goes against its greeny touchy feely ethos. It especially hates gas guzzling cars. But it likes the money it makes and ratings and it likes F1 for the same reason. F1 makes the BBC feel important and it glamourises F1 beyond its worth for the same reason. 2 - the BBC syndicates Top Gear and sells the format as well. It constantly turns the spotlight on capitalism , it constantly attacks private enterprise - not least in fields which it thinks should be socialised - but when push comes to shove it uses it monopolistic power to promote its own commercial interests. The fact that this leaves us with a host of garbage programming like the egregious Eastenders and repetitive appearances for its own favoured actors and performers is just another two fingers to its alleged higher purpose.
Some of you really are ridiculous and beyond parody in your anti-BBC ranting.
Its the support for the BBC which is beyond parody. The commercial power the anti commerce BBC uses is grossly hypocritical. As you have just proved however it does offer a good litmus test.
Who is likely to become chancellor if the Tories stay on btw ?
I have a slip with Gove at 50/1.
Osborne almost certainly, unless he is persuaded that Foreign Office would offer him even more opportunity to be at centre of EU renegotiations, which he considers the most important job of next parliament. If he goes then Hammond.
At the last reshuffle, it was rumoured Hague was standing down to make way for Osborne as Foreign Secretary, until some crisis or other intervened.
Duncan said the approach undermined the role of select committees to “take evidence, form a view and publish a report”. He added: “You have pre-empted this proper process by injecting into a hearing of the committee a self-aggrandising outburst which was nothing short of vile.
“As if to prove the inappropriateness of your behaviour, you tried to mitigate it by saying this was just a personal view. Thus in your own words you have said why it was utterly inappropriate for you to use the platform of a Pac hearing in this way.”
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
Blue Dawn....
Hi Rob - what are you doing up at this time of night, as if I didn't know (PfP whistles nonchalantly).
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
Blue Dawn....
Hi Rob - what are you doing up at this time of night, as if I didn't know (PfP whistles nonchalantly).
PB Nightwatch! I'm like David Attenborough with his infrared cameras, watching the wildlife on PB.
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
Blue Dawn....
Hi Rob - what are you doing up at this time of night, as if I didn't know (PfP whistles nonchalantly).
PB Nightwatch! I'm like David Attenborough with his infrared cameras, watching the wildlife on PB.
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
We must be due a new article on "Conservatives cannot win here". Innocent face.
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
Those 24 LD seats depend on a predicted vote share of 13.6%, which seems optimistic at the mo'.
this comment says it all about the BBC on the reinstate jeremy clarkson petition
"Clarkson suspended for arguing while Jimmy Savile got away with multiple rapes"
CLARKSON was one of main BBC news stories last night and again this morning.....
Him getting the boot is going to cost the BBC a packet in contract rights. His BBC Worldwide contract doesn't expire until September, but what the hell, its only public money, not like it really matters
It’s safe to say that no president in modern times has had his legitimacy questioned by the opposition party as much as Barack Obama. But as his term in office enters its final phase, Republicans are embarking on an entirely new enterprise: They have decided that as long as he holds the office of the presidency, it’s no longer necessary to respect the office itself.
It’s safe to say that no president in modern times has had his legitimacy questioned by the opposition party as much as Barack Obama. But as his term in office enters its final phase, Republicans are embarking on an entirely new enterprise: They have decided that as long as he holds the office of the presidency, it’s no longer necessary to respect the office itself.
Sooner or later there will be a huge showdown in America between Parliament Congress and the King President which I suspect will result in a president who has much the same powers as the Governor General of Australia or President of Ireland.
Up late I see. I'm up early. The sub sample (and they should be taken as a 5 poll average) of 48 SNP 20 Lab and 18 Tory would see the departure of the last, sole, lonely, isolated and fluffy Tory MP from Scotland. Highly satisfactory!
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
Those 24 LD seats depend on a predicted vote share of 13.6%, which seems optimistic at the mo'.
Quite. If I suggested that I thought the Tories we're going to get a 50% uplift from their current polling, I might have something of a credibility issue.
They might get an uptick as some yellow-reds finally get a bit queasy about voting for Ed as PM. I suspect they will sit it out or go Green though.
But there is also evidence out there that those who have stayed the course - perhaps we could call them the yellow-blues - are having grave concerns about Ed as PM too. The idea that the LibDems might be a conduit to power for Ed Miliband is leaving many to wonder if it is worth the risk. These are the folks who have kept the LibDems at 6-7%. When they start to peel away, even 24 seats will be but a dream...
Up late I see. I'm up early. The sub sample (and they should be taken as a 5 poll average) of 48 SNP 20 Lab and 18 Tory would see the departure of the last, sole, lonely, isolated and fluffy Tory MP from Scotland. Highly satisfactory!
It’s safe to say that no president in modern times has had his legitimacy questioned by the opposition party as much as Barack Obama. But as his term in office enters its final phase, Republicans are embarking on an entirely new enterprise: They have decided that as long as he holds the office of the presidency, it’s no longer necessary to respect the office itself.
Up late I see. I'm up early. The sub sample (and they should be taken as a 5 poll average) of 48 SNP 20 Lab and 18 Tory would see the departure of the last, sole, lonely, isolated and fluffy Tory MP from Scotland. Highly satisfactory!
Good morning fellow insomniacs!
Touching distance of Tories outpolling SLAB (if you believe in subsamples) something that has not happened for decades.
Jacks ARSE still predicting just 32 SNP as I recall.
Up late I see. I'm up early. The sub sample (and they should be taken as a 5 poll average) of 48 SNP 20 Lab and 18 Tory would see the departure of the last, sole, lonely, isolated and fluffy Tory MP from Scotland. Highly satisfactory!
Good morning fellow insomniacs!
Touching distance of Tories outpolling SLAB (if you believe in subsamples) something that has not happened for decades.
Jacks ARSE still predicting just 32 SNP as I recall.
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
Remember it's a "coin toss" who wins most seats...
Local communication from my local MP - '..the Government has had to take tough decisions, in order to put the economy on the solid footing it now is'
Well some solid footing when we are just over 6 months away from the start of the Sovereign Debt Crisis beginning in earnest with UK plc borrowing nigh on £100bn a year.
After January's figures the total for the year is going to be well below that number..
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
It’s safe to say that no president in modern times has had his legitimacy questioned by the opposition party as much as Barack Obama. But as his term in office enters its final phase, Republicans are embarking on an entirely new enterprise: They have decided that as long as he holds the office of the presidency, it’s no longer necessary to respect the office itself.
Sooner or later there will be a huge showdown in America between Parliament Congress and the King President which I suspect will result in a president who has much the same powers as the Governor General of Australia or President of Ireland.
Maybe that's what you'd like at the moment, with a right wing Congress and a moderate President, but these things change. The US constitution rests on 'checks and balances' and it's obvious who's out of line in this case.
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
Up late I see. I'm up early. The sub sample (and they should be taken as a 5 poll average) of 48 SNP 20 Lab and 18 Tory would see the departure of the last, sole, lonely, isolated and fluffy Tory MP from Scotland. Highly satisfactory!
Good morning fellow insomniacs!
Touching distance of Tories outpolling SLAB (if you believe in subsamples) something that has not happened for decades.
Jacks ARSE still predicting just 32 SNP as I recall.
I can't help thinking that there will be some movement back from UKIP and the Greens to the main 2 parties, and it could be the same for the SNP. Also Labour will be putting everything into what now count as the more marginal Lab/SNP contests.
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
Nice to see @hunchman on again. He is always extremely pleasant and the forecasts of stock market and economic meltdown just a few months away are always amusing. Of course one day he will be right.
But not today I think.
The collapse in the price of oil has done more for western economies than QE ever did. Growth is on the up and not just here.
He is of course correct that our trade deficit is a real concern. I suspect at some point in the next Parliament it will force the government of the day to put the brakes on growth in a fairly large way. We simply cannot go on like this.
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
Or it could be they are saving them for the election for maximum impact.
Who knows?
They might have been better advised to avoid comfort polling then Anthony Wells reported that the VI question was third after questions about the constituency.
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
Is discussion of these invisible polls still on the verboten list?
I did a review of LD seats a couple of weeks back, dividing the LD vote according to the split in 2010 voters in the polling tables, amongst other factors.
I came up with 28 holds. Maybe I am a bit optomistic. The better odds are on the opposition in apparently safe LD seats. People really expecting a wipeout like the Euros should get their stakes on.
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
Is discussion of these invisible polls still on the verboten list?
I did a review of LD seats a couple of weeks back, dividing the LD vote according to the split in 2010 voters in the polling tables, amongst other factors.
I came up with 28 holds. Maybe I am a bit optomistic. The better odds are on the opposition in apparently safe LD seats. People really expecting a wipeout like the Euros should get their stakes on.
That's encouraging. I was on 28 Lib Dems in the competition.
One record that is almost certain to go is the number of deposits lost by a single party at a GE. I recall in the distant past there was that bizarre flying Yoga party. They must have lost quite a few although they did produce what was arguably the most entertaining PEB ever.
Up late I see. I'm up early. The sub sample (and they should be taken as a 5 poll average) of 48 SNP 20 Lab and 18 Tory would see the departure of the last, sole, lonely, isolated and fluffy Tory MP from Scotland. Highly satisfactory!
Good morning fellow insomniacs!
Touching distance of Tories outpolling SLAB (if you believe in subsamples) something that has not happened for decades.
Jacks ARSE still predicting just 32 SNP as I recall.
I can't help thinking that there will be some movement back from UKIP and the Greens to the main 2 parties, and it could be the same for the SNP. Also Labour will be putting everything into what now count as the more marginal Lab/SNP contests.
Up late I see. I'm up early. The sub sample (and they should be taken as a 5 poll average) of 48 SNP 20 Lab and 18 Tory would see the departure of the last, sole, lonely, isolated and fluffy Tory MP from Scotland. Highly satisfactory!
Good morning fellow insomniacs!
Touching distance of Tories outpolling SLAB (if you believe in subsamples) something that has not happened for decades.
Jacks ARSE still predicting just 32 SNP as I recall.
I can't help thinking that there will be some movement back from UKIP and the Greens to the main 2 parties, and it could be the same for the SNP. Also Labour will be putting everything into what now count as the more marginal Lab/SNP contests.
Normally you would expect vote squeezing, but in the UKIP case I think the media will give Farage plenty of exposure and hype. He's been out of the spotlight lately
this comment says it all about the BBC on the reinstate jeremy clarkson petition
"Clarkson suspended for arguing while Jimmy Savile got away with multiple rapes"
CLARKSON was one of main BBC news stories last night and again this morning.....
Him getting the boot is going to cost the BBC a packet in contract rights. His BBC Worldwide contract doesn't expire until September, but what the hell, its only public money, not like it really matters
The loss of income from global sales of the show is the killer, if it is scrapped.
But never mind, they can always slash programme budgets elsewhere, waste more money on pointless studio reorganisation, keep managers in place and sit tight in the hope that Miliband will gift them the new TV tax they want.
http://www.electionforecast.co.uk/ 's latest forecast shows the Tories powering ahead, being on course to win 293 seats at the GE, 22 seats ahead of Labour's 271. The LibDems are projected to win a miserable 24 seats ...... cue Mike Smithson to accuse its head UEA's Chris Hanretty of being a "denier", a term he directed at me just a few weeks ago when I suggested a similar tally for the Yellow team.
Remember it's a "coin toss" who wins most seats...
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
Is discussion of these invisible polls still on the verboten list?
I did a review of LD seats a couple of weeks back, dividing the LD vote according to the split in 2010 voters in the polling tables, amongst other factors.
I came up with 28 holds. Maybe I am a bit optomistic. The better odds are on the opposition in apparently safe LD seats. People really expecting a wipeout like the Euros should get their stakes on.
In Wales @ Ceredignion. Plaid held the seat from 1992 up until 2005. I think it's perfectly possible a Lib Dem collapse could see them retaking it. Particularly given the Plaid candidate has some TV glamour.
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
According to Anthony Wells, the LDs have commissioned 120 private polls. They've only published one, and that shows them tied.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
Duncan said the approach undermined the role of select committees to “take evidence, form a view and publish a report”. He added: “You have pre-empted this proper process by injecting into a hearing of the committee a self-aggrandising outburst which was nothing short of vile.
“As if to prove the inappropriateness of your behaviour, you tried to mitigate it by saying this was just a personal view. Thus in your own words you have said why it was utterly inappropriate for you to use the platform of a Pac hearing in this way.”
The Bingham Centre for Law writes reports on matters affecting the rule of law, usually in other countries. But I understand that it will be looking at Parliamentary select committees and whether the way they are run is consistent with the proper rule of law. Maybe grandstanding and self-righteous egomaniacs will get their comeuppance.
If your wish is to antagonize the French government, you are best off sticking to victories in the Napoleonic Wars. My experiences among French friends suggests they are particularly sensitive over Napoleon, given that many consider him the greatest ever Frenchman.
Vittoria, Salamanca and Trafalgar could thus work, alongside Waterloo, as the major London stations.
If you wish to antagonise the French (and who doesn't?) the secret is not some Napoleonic defeat, it is to remind them that we liberated them.
They can stand being defeated (they have got used to it!) But they cannot stand the fact that we won both World wars, largely on their turf.
I think the issue is that the frogs see Napoleon as some sort of hero, a national treasure. In reality he was much more of a monster who sought to subjugate the whole of Europe by force. Not quite in Hitler's league - but a vicious nasty hegemonstic twunt dwarf universally hated by everyone else in Europe. That's the problem. Their hero was a cnut deserving to be filed in the same historical drawer as Stalin, Hitler, the Spanish Inquisition, Rodrigo Borgia and every other megalomaniacal a'hole there ever was. And deep down they know it.
It’s safe to say that no president in modern times has had his legitimacy questioned by the opposition party as much as Barack Obama. But as his term in office enters its final phase, Republicans are embarking on an entirely new enterprise: They have decided that as long as he holds the office of the presidency, it’s no longer necessary to respect the office itself.
Not entirely new: the GOP did much the same under Clinton. If this sort of oppositionism became established over here, it could do serious damage to our politics.
Duncan said the approach undermined the role of select committees to “take evidence, form a view and publish a report”. He added: “You have pre-empted this proper process by injecting into a hearing of the committee a self-aggrandising outburst which was nothing short of vile.
“As if to prove the inappropriateness of your behaviour, you tried to mitigate it by saying this was just a personal view. Thus in your own words you have said why it was utterly inappropriate for you to use the platform of a Pac hearing in this way.”
The Bingham Centre for Law writes reports on matters affecting the rule of law, usually in other countries. But I understand that it will be looking at Parliamentary select committees and whether the way they are run is consistent with the proper rule of law. Maybe grandstanding and self-righteous egomaniacs will get their comeuppance.
I think they can do very valuable work - but sometimes get well ahead of themselves - like the pompous hounding of David Kelly - and Stemcor Hodge could do with taking down a peg or two.
It’s safe to say that no president in modern times has had his legitimacy questioned by the opposition party as much as Barack Obama. But as his term in office enters its final phase, Republicans are embarking on an entirely new enterprise: They have decided that as long as he holds the office of the presidency, it’s no longer necessary to respect the office itself.
Not entirely new: the GOP did much the same under Clinton. If this sort of oppositionism became established over here, it could do serious damage to our politics.Mr Obama is a lame duck. This happens to all US Presidents. Power melts away.
It’s safe to say that no president in modern times has had his legitimacy questioned by the opposition party as much as Barack Obama. But as his term in office enters its final phase, Republicans are embarking on an entirely new enterprise: They have decided that as long as he holds the office of the presidency, it’s no longer necessary to respect the office itself.
Not entirely new: the GOP did much the same under Clinton. If this sort of oppositionism became established over here, it could do serious damage to our politics.
I assume its part of the ongoing game where congress won't discuss anything proposed by the Democrats and the President veto's anything proposed by a Republican. No wonder their economy is going okay, no meddling with the laws always keeps business happy.
Never does Hodge let her personal history temper her contempt for those whose failures seem so trivial compared with her own, or permit a shard of self-awareness to put the tiniest puncture hole in her titanium shell of righteous indignation. It is as if she regards the Hodge of Islington (if she ever existed at all) as an entirely different Hodge from the PAC’s gushing font of moral authority.
Comments
Welsh poll with Con and Labour pretty much where they were in 2010;
http://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/electionsinwales/2015/03/10/new-barometer-poll-westminster-vote-intention-figures/
I would say that's pretty poor for Lab?
Lib-Dems facing a Welsh Wipeout and losing all three of the seats the currently.
If your wish is to antagonize the French government, you are best off sticking to victories in the Napoleonic Wars. My experiences among French friends suggests they are particularly sensitive over Napoleon, given that many consider him the greatest ever Frenchman.
Vittoria, Salamanca and Trafalgar could thus work, alongside Waterloo, as the major London stations.
Usual wretched behaviour as far as the BBC is concerned. Slowly but surely, a core mass of people with an axe to grind are forming who are gathering enough dirt over time to bring the pillars of the establishment to task. I don't think it will reach critical mass until the next economic downturn that begins in just over 6 months time from now.
On the subject of Clarkson - he used to own Top Gear and its format along with the executive producer. I think they sold the nice little earner back to the BBC for a lump of money. Clarkson has nothing to lose by being sacked. The BBC have the job of keeping the programme going if they can in order to keep making money.
This whole programme raises a couple if not more issues.
1 - the BBC hate cars and motoring - it goes against its greeny touchy feely ethos. It especially hates gas guzzling cars. But it likes the money it makes and ratings and it likes F1 for the same reason. F1 makes the BBC feel important and it glamourises F1 beyond its worth for the same reason.
2 - the BBC syndicates Top Gear and sells the format as well. It constantly turns the spotlight on capitalism , it constantly attacks private enterprise - not least in fields which it thinks should be socialised - but when push comes to shove it uses it monopolistic power to promote its own commercial interests. The fact that this leaves us with a host of garbage programming like the egregious Eastenders and repetitive appearances for its own favoured actors and performers is just another two fingers to its alleged higher purpose.
Although from what someone else posted in this thread, they clearly do as they are banning FUKP from using FUKP on the ballot.
What nonsense. English voters don't give a stuff about the SNP. What is teeing them off is that Milliband comes across as totally clueless. He should sack Balls right now get out from under the Tories austerity and make his claim to be PM in or out of coalition.
Although I loathe Ed Balls, I really do question the extent to which he wants to win in 8 weeks time. Am pretty sure just like 2007 and calling for the election that never was in advance of 2008, I think he can see that this election is as good as the 1928 US election to lose. And with so much waiting to be exposed on Savile being brought into the mainstream, who the heck would want to win the next election?
They can stand being defeated (they have got used to it!) But they cannot stand the fact that we won both World wars, largely on their turf.
Chickens coming home to roost.
http://armstrongeconomics.com/2015/03/10/the-euro-cracks-107/
Well it took a lot longer than I'd expected to carve out important tops in many stockmarkets. Looking at a fair sized correction into early June now I think, but US market should be a really good buy if the Dow is around the 16,300 level in early June.
US Dollar strength materialising as I had predicted all along, to much derision on here. However, thinking after the current leg higher, we'll need a somewhat protracted correction lower in the Dollar, before it can rocket higher once we get past the great end of September 2015 turn down date in Martin Armstrong's Economic Confidence Model.
BBC soft focus interview with Mrs Ed
Guardian lead story from 2005 FFS about sale of company Sam Cam works for trying to imply it was a dodgy deal.
Murray of course is Farage's Spitting Image puppet - thats why he does not like it up him.
Maybe unlike the Guardian, that is why they make money? They know the value of something and see an opportunity to add even more to it resulting in a profit.
Well some solid footing when we are just over 6 months away from the start of the Sovereign Debt Crisis beginning in earnest with UK plc borrowing nigh on £100bn a year. We don't hear much more about the 2010 manifesto pledge that the deficit would be zero by the time of the 2015 election, with a cumulative £250-300bn more borrowed over the course of this parliament compared to the 2010 projection.
We equally don't hear about Mr Osborne's phrase of rebalancing the economy - current account running at around 5% of GDP deficit - another massive miss compared to what was promised.
And we don't hear about the UK's productivity record over the past 5 years which is pretty lamentable, with the economy around 5% less productive per head compared to around 2007. Firms by and large are not investing in technology for the future as a result of the lack of confidence, not borrowing at 0.5% BoE interest rate because they don't perceive future returns to make it worthwhile.
If that's a solid footing then you could have fooled me!
Conservative 280
Labour 260
SNP 50
Lib Dem 30
PC5
UKIP 5
Green 1
Respect (Galloway) 1
Speaker 1
NI 18
Getting a stable government out of that would be fun! Labour getting 260 given the polling trends right now looks in around the right ballpark if they lose 35 of their Scottish MP's then would have to gain 35 in England assuming Cardiff North and Cardiff Central are picked up in Wales.
Still looking for Labour to outperform in London with around 10 gains there, and I think the pronounced urban movement to Labour, rural / suburb movement to Tory that was such a feature of the 2010 election will figure quite prominently this time too.
Is this deliberate? – as a quick Google search for 'BBC Mirror Hacking scandal’ does not reveal much after 2012.
- "But, Ed. Will we be able to pull out in time?"
- "It'll be just like Romanian Beggar's Canyon back home!"
83 28/08/13 Single To Win
7.01 - 8.00% @ 2/1 UK UnemploymentUK Unemployment Rate On 1st June 2015 £5.00 Pending
The time I listened to Tim on UK employment ;p
The Helensburgh/Lomond part of the constituency is presumably somewhat more resistant to the SNP than the rest of it because of Trident. Indeed, it's in the Dumbarton constituency for the Scottish parliament, which I think was the only constituency to show a swing from the SNP to Labour at the last Scottish election.
I've got my betting position to a big fat gypsy zero on most seats, most votes for Labour - but certainly not writing off my minority Labour Gov't or Ed PM bets... YET.
Some of you really are ridiculous and beyond parody in your anti-BBC ranting.
well-known and widely-used in everyday language, it will not normally be permitted for your party name. Examples of well known acronyms used in common language include ‘UK’, EU’
and ‘NHS’. ''
http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/107694/to-names-rp.pdf
Putting it simply you could register a party as Save Our NHS. Or even Save The EU...
However they do not allow UKIP or FUKP on a ballot paper, if ''an acronym is not well-known and
widely-used, the words it is intended to represent must be spelled out and written in lower case – and each word will count towards the overall six-word limit''.
This counts against UKIP I think since UKIP is known as more as UKIP.
It is of course not illegal in any parallel universe to set up a party knock politics and promote yourself. Screaming Lord Such proved that.
"Clarkson suspended for arguing while Jimmy Savile got away with multiple rapes"
Duncan said the approach undermined the role of select committees to “take evidence, form a view and publish a report”. He added: “You have pre-empted this proper process by injecting into a hearing of the committee a self-aggrandising outburst which was nothing short of vile.
“As if to prove the inappropriateness of your behaviour, you tried to mitigate it by saying this was just a personal view. Thus in your own words you have said why it was utterly inappropriate for you to use the platform of a Pac hearing in this way.”
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/10/margaret-hodge-accused-bullying-hsbc-bosses
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/03/09/republicans-are-beginning-to-act-as-though-barack-obama-isnt-even-the-president/
Cameron vs Miliband:
Sticks to what he believes in: +7 (+1)
Decisive: +13 (+1)
Strong: +11 (-1)
And in the Scottish sub sample horror show:
Lab: 20
SNP: 48
Up late I see. I'm up early. The sub sample (and they should be taken as a 5 poll average) of 48 SNP 20 Lab and 18 Tory would see the departure of the last, sole, lonely, isolated and fluffy Tory MP from Scotland. Highly satisfactory!
They might get an uptick as some yellow-reds finally get a bit queasy about voting for Ed as PM. I suspect they will sit it out or go Green though.
But there is also evidence out there that those who have stayed the course - perhaps we could call them the yellow-blues - are having grave concerns about Ed as PM too. The idea that the LibDems might be a conduit to power for Ed Miliband is leaving many to wonder if it is worth the risk. These are the folks who have kept the LibDems at 6-7%. When they start to peel away, even 24 seats will be but a dream...
My competition entry is for them to get 17.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/10/nydn-blasts-iran-letter_n_6836392.html
Touching distance of Tories outpolling SLAB (if you believe in subsamples) something that has not happened for decades.
Jacks ARSE still predicting just 32 SNP as I recall.
Yes. 32 for the SNP presently.
Tories ahead for 3rd day running I see.
Yougov now gold standard?
There could also be a Welsh nationalist 'sympathy vote' increase to mirror the SNP rise (although nothing like to the same extent) and, if the debates do happen, that might help Plaid and their profile too.
But the constituency betting odds aren't attractive enough to tempt me atm.
Maybe that's what you'd like at the moment, with a right wing Congress and a moderate President, but these things change. The US constitution rests on 'checks and balances' and it's obvious who's out of line in this case.
If tied in one constituency is the best of 120 they're looking into the abyss.
http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/blog/archives/9283
Who knows?
But not today I think.
The collapse in the price of oil has done more for western economies than QE ever did. Growth is on the up and not just here.
He is of course correct that our trade deficit is a real concern. I suspect at some point in the next Parliament it will force the government of the day to put the brakes on growth in a fairly large way. We simply cannot go on like this.
I came up with 28 holds. Maybe I am a bit optomistic. The better odds are on the opposition in apparently safe LD seats. People really expecting a wipeout like the Euros should get their stakes on.
One record that is almost certain to go is the number of deposits lost by a single party at a GE. I recall in the distant past there was that bizarre flying Yoga party. They must have lost quite a few although they did produce what was arguably the most entertaining PEB ever.
But never mind, they can always slash programme budgets elsewhere, waste more money on pointless studio reorganisation, keep managers in place and sit tight in the hope that Miliband will gift them the new TV tax they want.
Torbay would be totemic.
I assume its part of the ongoing game where congress won't discuss anything proposed by the Democrats and the President veto's anything proposed by a Republican. No wonder their economy is going okay, no meddling with the laws always keeps business happy.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/with-a-past-like-hers-margaret-hodge-might-show-a-bit-more-humility-10098871.html