Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
The British state broadcaster is widely despised throughout the world for its grotesque propaganda. This is a fine opportunity to give it a good global kicking. I predict millions.
I think that is a significant overstatement.
Overseas most people don't see BBC News. BBC World, BBC America etc have minuscule audience shares, and on BBC America its main newscast is a Washington based program aimed at a US audience. It's not really liberal. Most folks here know the beeb from Top Gear, although a few know Dr Who.
I have no objection to the BBC getting a good kicking though.
They really blew this one. Potentially losing their most popular and profitable show.
Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
The British state broadcaster is widely despised throughout the world for its grotesque propaganda. This is a fine opportunity to give it a good global kicking. I predict millions.
They really blew this one. Potentially losing their most popular and profitable show.
They don't seem to have done anything though, so I'm not sure how they blew it.
Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
The British state broadcaster is widely despised throughout the world for its grotesque propaganda. This is a fine opportunity to give it a good global kicking. I predict millions.
I think that is a significant overstatement.
Overseas most people don't see BBC News. BBC World, BBC America etc have minuscule audience shares, and on BBC America its main newscast is a Washington based program aimed at a US audience. It's not really liberal. Most folks here know the beeb from Top Gear, although a few know Dr Who.
I have no objection to the BBC getting a good kicking though.
They really blew this one. Potentially losing their most popular and profitable show.
Only the jealousy of the legions of BBC nonentities can explain their suicidal vendetta against their golden goose. Dreadful people.
Which seat Labour gaining/CON hold will signify Ed PM or NOT PM ?
There's no such seat. FPTP doesn't work that way.
Aside from the multi-dimensional aspect of hung parliament arithmetic...
Of course, but the "defence of Basildon" / loss of Enfield Southgate in the 90s were "the moments"...
Just selective, albeit iconic examples. Crosby '97 was probably the clearest pointer that a landslide was on the cards (one of the first English seats to declare, and a massive swing).
Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
The British state broadcaster is widely despised throughout the world for its grotesque propaganda. This is a fine opportunity to give it a good global kicking. I predict millions.
They really blew this one. Potentially losing their most popular and profitable show.
They don't seem to have done anything though, so I'm not sure how they blew it.
1. They've suspended Clarkson.
2. They've said they will not show this week's episode
3. They have further said that they will probably not make the last 2 episodes of the series.
4. The BBCs most profitable property is at risk as a result.
If they go through with 3 they will lose substantial amounts in contractual penalties.
If that's not doing anything, then I'm Hillary Clinton's email server.
A future Labour government would never “in a month of Sundays” raise the £1.2bn it hopes to generate from the mansion tax to be levied on properties worth more than £2m, Lord Mandelson has said.
Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
The British state broadcaster is widely despised throughout the world for its grotesque propaganda. This is a fine opportunity to give it a good global kicking. I predict millions.
I think that is a significant overstatement.
Overseas most people don't see BBC News. BBC World, BBC America etc have minuscule audience shares, and on BBC America its main newscast is a Washington based program aimed at a US audience. It's not really liberal. Most folks here know the beeb from Top Gear, although a few know Dr Who.
I have no objection to the BBC getting a good kicking though.
They really blew this one. Potentially losing their most popular and profitable show.
Only the jealousy of the legions of BBC nonentities can explain their suicidal vendetta against their golden goose. Dreadful people.
Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
The British state broadcaster is widely despised throughout the world for its grotesque propaganda. This is a fine opportunity to give it a good global kicking. I predict millions.
They really blew this one. Potentially losing their most popular and profitable show.
They don't seem to have done anything though, so I'm not sure how they blew it.
1. They've suspended Clarkson.
2. They've said they will not show this week's episode
3. They have further said that they will probably not make the last 2 episodes of the series.
4. The BBCs most profitable property is at risk as a result.
If they go through with 3 they will lose substantial amounts in contractual penalties.
If that's not doing anything, then I'm Hillary Clinton's email server.
Given the allegation they probably had to do 1. Or resolve the matter expeditiously.
Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
Top Gear is shown in over 200 countries. If they cut the series short by not making the last 2 shows, presumably this would cost the beeb a lot of money in contractual issues with those broadcasters who buy the show.
BBC probably lost £200m already. Before they sack Clarkson.
Negotiations have been stopped with all 3 presenters, whose contracts are up in a few weeks. The format is owned by the BBC so they could not simply move networks and do the same show. But keeping the three together would be good - speaking personally, as I love the show.
It will be interesting to know what protection the BBC have and how much you can protect the format. After the brand name, you obviously can't stop another car show, I presume things like the stig, star in a reasonably price car, etc will be protected, but not sure after that what they can protect, as Top Gear is pretty random from week to week anyway.
I highly doubt the BBC can protect the idea of 3 middle aged blokes doing a road trip in a foreign country where stuff goes wrong.
A similar thing happened with Championship Manager computer game, after a disagreement, the development team went off and Football Manager was born. Eidos thought they had a lot of stuff tied down including the User Interface and the brand, but ultimately it didn't work because they didn't have the development team and Eidos couldn't protect anywhere near as much stuff as they thought they could.
Going from memory, I think this has happened before on Top Gear. Some years back, cast and crew jumped ship and started a program call Fifth Gear on another network.
Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
Top Gear is shown in over 200 countries. If they cut the series short by not making the last 2 shows, presumably this would cost the beeb a lot of money in contractual issues with those broadcasters who buy the show.
BBC probably lost £200m already. Before they sack Clarkson.
Negotiations have been stopped with all 3 presenters, whose contracts are up in a few weeks. The format is owned by the BBC so they could not simply move networks and do the same show. But keeping the three together would be good - speaking personally, as I love the show.
It will be interesting to know what protection the BBC have and how much you can protect the format. After the brand name, you obviously can't stop another car show, I presume things like the stig, star in a reasonably price car, etc will be protected, but not sure after that what they can protect, as Top Gear is pretty random from week to week anyway.
I highly doubt the BBC can protect the idea of 3 middle aged blokes doing a road trip in a foreign country where stuff goes wrong.
A similar thing happened with Championship Manager computer game, after a disagreement, the development team went off and Football Manager was born. Eidos thought they had a lot of stuff tied down including the User Interface and the brand, but ultimately it didn't work because they didn't have the development team and Eidos couldn't protect anywhere near as much stuff as they thought they could.
Going from memory, I think this has happened before on Top Gear. Some years back, cast and crew jumped ship and started a program call Fifth Gear on another network.
They did and the original Top Gear got canned. That is when Clarkson and Wilman approached the BBC and said we can reboot with a very different emphasis (i.e more fun, than factual) it but we want a lot of control etc.
I just wonder what the BBC have to protect beyond the brand name, as the type of program it is, it isn't like Big Brother, I don't see how you can protect some blokes drive some cars.
Yes, I think if Labour don't take that one then Dave stays as PM. Tory incumbent is hated, and the Tories have done everything they can to piss off northerners...
Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
Top Gear is shown in over 200 countries. If they cut the series short by not making the last 2 shows, presumably this would cost the beeb a lot of money in contractual issues with those broadcasters who buy the show.
BBC probably lost £200m already. Before they sack Clarkson.
Negotiations have been stopped with all 3 presenters, whose contracts are up in a few weeks. The format is owned by the BBC so they could not simply move networks and do the same show. But keeping the three together would be good - speaking personally, as I love the show.
It will be interesting to know what protection the BBC have and how much you can protect the format. After the brand name, you obviously can't stop another car show, I presume things like the stig, star in a reasonably price car, etc will be protected, but not sure after that what they can protect, as Top Gear is pretty random from week to week anyway.
I highly doubt the BBC can protect the idea of 3 middle aged blokes doing a road trip in a foreign country where stuff goes wrong.
A similar thing happened with Championship Manager computer game, after a disagreement, the development team went off and Football Manager was born. Eidos thought they had a lot of stuff tied down including the User Interface and the brand, but ultimately it didn't work because they didn't have the development team and Eidos couldn't protect anywhere near as much stuff as they thought they could.
Going from memory, I think this has happened before on Top Gear. Some years back, cast and crew jumped ship and started a program call Fifth Gear on another network.
They did and the original Top Gear got canned. That is when Clarkson and Wilman approached the BBC and said we can reboot with a very different emphasis (i.e more fun, than factual) it but we want a lot of control etc.
I just wonder what the BBC have to protect beyond the brand name, as the type of program it is, it isn't like Big Brother, I don't see how you can protect some blokes drive some cars.
Didn't the original Top Gear have presenters like Angela Rippon and Noel Edmunds?
Yes, it is difficult to copyright 3 middle aged men cocking about with the slogan "ambitious but rubbish".
Top Gear (UK version) is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most popular factual TV show.
I've probably traveled the world more than most (>25 countries): the BBC is not a common subject of conversation, but nearly always mentioned positively when it comes up, by contrast to CNN, Russia Today, etc., which are seen as too slanted to domestic assumptions. I've also seen polls in Britain showing it still very highly-rated. Like most familiar institutions, there are things most people dislike about it, but it fills a gap: a service which has the stated aim of being comprehensive and impartial, even when we think it fails to achieve it. Nobody else even tries, though curiously Al-Jazeera is making some progress in being seen as offering a different angle without being wildly biased.
I find myself surprisingly keen to see the BBC beaten up. Along with the Guardian, it represents something I have come to keenly and violently despise, in my own country. I want it humbled.
I suspect the coverage it gives to Islamists like CAGE is a significant factor.
Do that on someone else's quid, not mine.
I want it destroyed. And no I don't pay the 'tax on freedom of thought', known as the licence fee...
I find myself surprisingly keen to see the BBC beaten up. Along with the Guardian, it represents something I have come to keenly and violently despise, in my own country. I want it humbled.
I suspect the coverage it gives to Islamists like CAGE is a significant factor.
Do that on someone else's quid, not mine.
Agree with you about the Guardian, which is home to every Islamist nutter and sympathiser going. It really ought to be called the Madrassa Guardian.
But the Beeb is generally OK - a bit self-satisfied maybe but on the whole pretty good. Radio 4 is great: where else would you find "In Our Time"? And what about the Proms?
A rather sweeping and patronising dismissal of a variety of views from other posters, and on a site that spent the last three years telling us why its utterly impossible for the Conservatives to win a majority at the next GE. Should we all just shut up and not bother contributing an opposing view?
On thread: I do wonder whether there's a lot of counting chickens on the Tory side.
Even assuming a slight Tory lead - and probably to add to all the excitement we'll find that Labour are 5% ahead tonight - it still likely means that Labour will form the next government. So no real change from what has been likely for the last 3 years or so.
It sometimes feels as if the Tories think that because they find EdM unimaginably awful they simply cannot imagine how anyone can possibly vote Labour. That lack of imagination about why (a) people might not vote Tory - despite what the Tories think of as their own superior competence; and/or (b) people might vote Labour is a big failing.
It tends to turn into a "But the voters cannot be / won't be that stupid, surely!" rant, which is not tremendously attractive.
I've probably traveled the world more than most (>25 countries): the BBC is not a common subject of conversation, but nearly always mentioned positively when it comes up, by contrast to CNN, Russia Today, etc., which are seen as too slanted to domestic assumptions. I've also seen polls in Britain showing it still very highly-rated. Like most familiar institutions, there are things most people dislike about it, but it fills a gap: a service which has the stated aim of being comprehensive and impartial, even when we think it fails to achieve it. Nobody else even tries, though curiously Al-Jazeera is making some progress in being seen as offering a different angle without being wildly biased.
Clarkson should do the nation a favour and stand against Miliband in Doncaster...
Wouldn't that just make Miliband even more safe? Clarkson would probably just split the UKIP vote (Miliband's closest challengers in his seat).
They would probably give him a free run, just for the fun of it...
Or he could join UKIP.
i don't think Clarkson would fit too well in UKIP. He is on record stating a desire for a United states of Europe where he can be European first and English second.
A future Labour government would never “in a month of Sundays” raise the £1.2bn it hopes to generate from the mansion tax to be levied on properties worth more than £2m, Lord Mandelson has said.
A rather sweeping and patronising dismissal of a variety of views from other posters, and on a site that spent the last three years telling us why its utterly impossible for the Conservatives to win a majority at the next GE. Should we all just shut up and not bother contributing an opposing view?
On thread: I do wonder whether there's a lot of counting chickens on the Tory side.
Even assuming a slight Tory lead - and probably to add to all the excitement we'll find that Labour are 5% ahead tonight - it still likely means that Labour will form the next government. So no real change from what has been likely for the last 3 years or so.
It sometimes feels as if the Tories think that because they find EdM unimaginably awful they simply cannot imagine how anyone can possibly vote Labour. That lack of imagination about why (a) people might not vote Tory - despite what the Tories think of as their own superior competence; and/or (b) people might vote Labour is a big failing.
It tends to turn into a "But the voters cannot be / won't be that stupid, surely!" rant, which is not tremendously attractive.
To answer your question, no.
I was expressing my view. A few minor leads and some people are behaving as if the election is in the bag for the Tories. And too many underestimate Milliband and overestimate Cameron, in my view. But others can and do express their views. I don't see why you think I'm trying to shut anyone up.
A future Labour government would never “in a month of Sundays” raise the £1.2bn it hopes to generate from the mansion tax to be levied on properties worth more than £2m, Lord Mandelson has said.
David Cameron has described suspended Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson as a "huge talent". But he said while he had many responsibilities as prime minister, "sadly, securing the future of Top Gear isn't one of them".
Clarkson has passed the 600,000 petition mark. He is now the SECOND most important thing ever ever ever.
Be most amusing if he makes a million (tho I doubt he will).
Nite nite.
Top Gear is shown in over 200 countries. If they cut the series short by not making the last 2 shows, presumably this would cost the beeb a lot of money in contractual issues with those broadcasters who buy the show.
BBC probably lost £200m already. Before they sack Clarkson.
Negotiations have been stopped with all 3 presenters, whose contracts are up in a few weeks. The format is owned by the BBC so they could not simply move networks and do the same show. But keeping the three together would be good - speaking personally, as I love the show.
It will be interesting to know what protection the BBC have and how much you can protect the format. After the brand name, you obviously can't stop another car show, I presume things like the stig, star in a reasonably price car, etc will be protected, but not sure after that what they can protect, as Top Gear is pretty random from week to week anyway.
I highly doubt the BBC can protect the idea of 3 middle aged blokes doing a road trip in a foreign country where stuff goes wrong.
A similar thing happened with Championship Manager computer game, after a disagreement, the development team went off and Football Manager was born. Eidos thought they had a lot of stuff tied down including the User Interface and the brand, but ultimately it didn't work because they didn't have the development team and Eidos couldn't protect anywhere near as much stuff as they thought they could.
Going from memory, I think this has happened before on Top Gear. Some years back, cast and crew jumped ship and started a program call Fifth Gear on another network.
Ed Miliband has suffered the humiliation of being mocked by his shadow chancellor.
Asked where he met his wife and fellow Labour frontbencher Yvette Cooper, Mr Balls explains how they met through mutual friends on Hampstead Heath, a park in north London. “We weren’t collecting stories for speeches. It was just a walk,” Mr Balls joked, a reference to Mr Miliband’s bizarre decision to name drop a whole series of ‘ordinary people’ he had supposedly met while walking on Hampstead Heath last summer.
Only two PMQs remain before polling day and the Labour leader used all six questions to ask David Cameron one thing: when might he ask him more questions? Nothing on policy. Nothing on convictions. Just questions about questions.
He meant questions outside the House, of course. On telly. That’s the difference, according to Labour. A televised head-to-head debate is nothing like parliament.
Except that PMQs is a televised head-to-head debate.
Oh no, not the ruddy TV debates again. Ed Miliband hopes to stride to national victory in two months.
You'd think he would be surging with policy ideas: crisp soundbites describing his healthcare ideas, foreign policy vision, economic priorities and intentions on everything from schools to transport.
You'd think he might use this moment to speak with the verve of Henry Tudor at the walls of Harfleur. A flourish of drollery would lead to a patriotic denunciation of the bad things done by the party opposite to the burghers of Britain.
In short, a Leader of the Opposition this close to the big off would tend – would he not? – to have a quiver of philosophical longbow arrows with which to pierce his opponent's hide at Prime Minister's Question Time.
@CarlottaVance, it gets even worse for Ed Miliband as he suffers the further humilition of being mocked by Jeremy Clarkson. Independent - Jeremy Clarkson suspension: Top Gear presenter apologises to Ed Miliband for stealing his thunder "Just when Ed Miliband thought he’d finally been given some positive media coverage, Jeremy Clarkson was suspended by the BBC for allegedly punching a colleague and knocking the Labour leader off the headlines."
"Anyone thinking the The Top Gear presenter lacked sympathy were proved wrong however when took to Twitter to make a public apology to Miliband. “Sorry Ed. It seems I knocked your "I'm a human" piece down the news agenda.”
Ed Miliband has suffered the humiliation of being mocked by his shadow chancellor.
Asked where he met his wife and fellow Labour frontbencher Yvette Cooper, Mr Balls explains how they met through mutual friends on Hampstead Heath, a park in north London. “We weren’t collecting stories for speeches. It was just a walk,” Mr Balls joked, a reference to Mr Miliband’s bizarre decision to name drop a whole series of ‘ordinary people’ he had supposedly met while walking on Hampstead Heath last summer.
Even now the Clarkson petition is increasing by about 100 signatures a minute
"Petitions are like doing a jigsaw. A pointless way to pass the time until you die!"
"It is the destiny of wine to be drunk, and it is the destiny of glucose to be oxidized. But it was not oxidized immediately: its drinker kept it in his liver for more than a week, well curled up and tranquil, as a reserve aliment for a sudden effort; an effort that he was forced to make the following Sunday, pursuing a bolting horse. Farewell to the hexagonal structure: in the space of a few instants the skein was unwound and became glucose again, and this was dragged by the bloodstream all the way to a minute muscle fiber in the thigh, and here brutally split into two molecules of lactic acid, the grim harbinger of fatigue: only later, some minutes after, the panting of the lungs was able to supply the oxygen necessary to quietly oxidize the latter. So a new molecule of carbon dioxide returned to the atmosphere, and a parcel of the energy that the sun had handed to the vine-shoot passed from the state of chemical energy to that of mechanical energy, and thereafter settled down in the slothful condition of heat, warming up imperceptibly the air moved by the running and the blood of the runner. 'Such is life', although rarely is it described in this manner: an inserting itself, a drawing off to its advantage, a parasitizing of the downward course of energy, from its noble solar form to the degraded one of lowtemperature heat. In this downward course, which leads to equilibrium and thus death, life draws a bend and nests in it."
(Primo Levi, Carbon)
Or, it's all just a bit of old oxidation. ultimately pointless. Doesn't mean you can't find the poetry in it, as above. Even, perhaps, in jigsaws.
He doesn't seem to have yet made the China Daily despite being popular in China. There again I suppose the Chinese authorities would not look kindly on stories about petitions of any sort really. People power isn't really their thing is it?
I've probably traveled the world more than most (>25 countries): the BBC is not a common subject of conversation, but nearly always mentioned positively when it comes up, by contrast to CNN, Russia Today, etc., which are seen as too slanted to domestic assumptions. I've also seen polls in Britain showing it still very highly-rated. Like most familiar institutions, there are things most people dislike about it, but it fills a gap: a service which has the stated aim of being comprehensive and impartial, even when we think it fails to achieve it. Nobody else even tries, though curiously Al-Jazeera is making some progress in being seen as offering a different angle without being wildly biased.
Nick, I've travelled to over 70 countries over the last 5 decades. The BBC World News used to be mentioned, always in a positive light, up to about the 1980s. I have not heard any non-Brit mention it to me unsolicited in at least 20 years. BBC period pieces, cop shows and comedies do get mentioned, usually by the liberal elite in cringingly positive terms.
For me, its the brilliant Christmas specials of Top Gear that have now become a traditional must watch in the way that Only Fools and Horses used to be on the Beeb. But I doubt that they will ever top this entrance into a country! YouTube - The Scenic Route to Iraq - Top Gear - BBC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBu7mU1yi9g
He doesn't seem to have yet made the China Daily despite being popular in China. There again I suppose the Chinese authorities would not look kindly on stories about petitions of any sort really. People power isn't really their thing is it?
He doesn't seem to have yet made the China Daily despite being popular in China. There again I suppose the Chinese authorities would not look kindly on stories about petitions of any sort really. People power isn't really their thing is it?
In my company, if one staff member slapped another, he would have been sacked ! Simple.
In most companies that would be appropriate, and hitting someone is not acceptable behaviour. But if you kill the golden goose, more people lose jobs than just Clarkson. He is not an off the shelf component that can simply be swapped out for a new one. Sure the Beeb can do the show with three other presenters, but it won't be the number one factual TV show in the world earning the Corporation GBP250 million pa. Indeed, it might not even break even.
Managing talent is not easy, but you can't simply say that if someone in my company did that they'd be sacked and imply that is how Clarkson should be handled. What would your company do if it relied on the creative product of one person (or a group of three people) for its existence/sales and that person was the malcreant (effectively the position Top Gear is in)? Would it jeopardize everyone's jobs because that is what the HR book says is the right thing to do?
Even now the Clarkson petition is increasing by about 100 signatures a minute
"Petitions are like doing a jigsaw. A pointless way to pass the time until you die!"
"It is the destiny of wine to be drunk, and it is the destiny of glucose to be oxidized. But it was not oxidized immediately: its drinker kept it in his liver for more than a week, well curled up and tranquil, as a reserve aliment for a sudden effort; an effort that he was forced to make the following Sunday, pursuing a bolting horse. Farewell to the hexagonal structure: in the space of a few instants the skein was unwound and became glucose again, and this was dragged by the bloodstream all the way to a minute muscle fiber in the thigh, and here brutally split into two molecules of lactic acid, the grim harbinger of fatigue: only later, some minutes after, the panting of the lungs was able to supply the oxygen necessary to quietly oxidize the latter. So a new molecule of carbon dioxide returned to the atmosphere, and a parcel of the energy that the sun had handed to the vine-shoot passed from the state of chemical energy to that of mechanical energy, and thereafter settled down in the slothful condition of heat, warming up imperceptibly the air moved by the running and the blood of the runner. 'Such is life', although rarely is it described in this manner: an inserting itself, a drawing off to its advantage, a parasitizing of the downward course of energy, from its noble solar form to the degraded one of lowtemperature heat. In this downward course, which leads to equilibrium and thus death, life draws a bend and nests in it."
(Primo Levi, Carbon)
Or, it's all just a bit of old oxidation. ultimately pointless. Doesn't mean you can't find the poetry in it, as above. Even, perhaps, in jigsaws.
A great piece of writing by Primo Levi. One writer who has altered my view of the world in each book he wrote.
Latest ARSE with added APLOMB 2015 General Election & "JackW Dozen" Projection Countdown :
50 hours 50 minutes 50 seconds
I swear it was 50/50/50 yesterday.. I must be going mad.
Indeed.
You are going bonkers.
Thinking of bellwether seats, the JackW dozen seem to be the ones to watch. I suspect that UNS will vary considerably by region and by sub-swings between the ferment of parties. Hopefully Jack can pick this up.
A few too many are TCTC at present. Is the ARSE going to get off the fence in the final version? Is the final ARSE of this election planned for 5 May?
Latest ARSE with added APLOMB 2015 General Election & "JackW Dozen" Projection Countdown :
50 hours 50 minutes 50 seconds
I swear it was 50/50/50 yesterday.. I must be going mad.
Indeed.
You are going bonkers.
Thinking of bellwether seats, the JackW dozen seem to be the ones to watch. I suspect that UNS will vary considerably by region and by sub-swings between the ferment of parties. Hopefully Jack can pick this up.
A few too many are TCTC at present. Is the ARSE going to get off the fence in the final version? Is the final ARSE of this election planned for 5 May?
The "JackW Dozen" was designed to offer, within the constraints of 13 seats, a broad geographical and party balance of marginal seats when selected a year ago.
The only seat that has significantly moved out that orbit is Cambridge. It appeared as an interesting three way marginal but will be a comfortable LibDem HOLD.
Whilst there are 4 TCTC presently all seats are allocated in each forecast. There will be an eve of poll super ARSE issued at 10pm on 6th May.
Latest ARSE with added APLOMB 2015 General Election & "JackW Dozen" Projection Countdown :
50 hours 50 minutes 50 seconds
I swear it was 50/50/50 yesterday.. I must be going mad.
Indeed.
You are going bonkers.
Thinking of bellwether seats, the JackW dozen seem to be the ones to watch. I suspect that UNS will vary considerably by region and by sub-swings between the ferment of parties. Hopefully Jack can pick this up.
A few too many are TCTC at present. Is the ARSE going to get off the fence in the final version? Is the final ARSE of this election planned for 5 May?
The "JackW Dozen" was designed to offer, within the constraints of 13 seats, a broad geographical and party balance of marginal seats when selected a year ago.
The only seat that has significantly moved out that orbit is Cambridge. It appeared as an interesting three way marginal but will be a comfortable LibDem HOLD.
Whilst there are 4 TCTC presently all seats are allocated in each forecast. There will be an eve of poll super ARSE issued at 10pm on 6th May.
Excellent! I shall look forward to seeing it.
Is a super ARSE one with added PIES (Principal Investigator Electoral Survey)? Will it require a post May 7 DIET (Decisive Income Exchange and Transfer) to Mrs JackW's shoe shopping budget?
We should be in for a treat with the next thread as there are two significant political front page stories today, which also top BBC on-line – surprisingly, neither involve a suspended TV presenter.
He is by far the most interesting Labour politician around at the moment and there are several hints in the interview that his relationship with Miliband is cool at best. He acknowledges that Osborne effectively abandoned austerity half way through the Parliament (I seem to recall at the time of the 2012 budget commenting that Osbo was taking a year off deficit reduction) and that it was, in his view, the right thing to do.
His differences with Osborne are not so much on what he has done, where it is hard to see a difference, but on what Osborne wants to do in returning to austerity in the next Parliament.
What is not clear to me is how he proposes to deal with the unacknowledged structural deficit he played such a large part in creating without Osborne's cuts. What is the alternative? I suspect that he and Miliband simply cannot agree one, hence the confused silence on the issue.
He is by no means everyone's cup of tea but IMO he would have been a much, much better choice for leader than Miliband.
This is some Cornish liberal party standing aside for Ukip... Does it mean anything?
Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) 11/03/2015 22:53 Liberal Party urges supporters to vote Ukip: po.st/CaXiMA
It is The Liberal Party (the "AFC Liberal Party") not everyone went off with the SDP to become the MK Dons of Politics.
Indeed. IIRC they oppose EU membership on the grounds that the EU is in itself a restraint on Free Trade. They’ve a few councillors nation (or at least England)-wide. I think there’s a group in Yorkshire or the NE.
Are UKIP also going to prove their credentials by scrapping the sex equality laws?
I'm assuming that the disability discrimination laws go on day one.
There's f'all chance of UKIP winning a majority: these comments may stop people wanting them in any potential coalition, though.
BTW, who's your avatar?
A stupid policy. Why on earth would anyone think that discrimination on the grounds of irrelevant characteristics is a good thing?
Sadiq Khan is the wrong person to make the criticism though, given that he has proposed racial quotas, an equally daft policy.
We already have 'positive' discrimination, this needs scrapping. Personally I think the indigenous population should be favoured in treatment, its our country and if people don't like it they can leave.
The Rotherham/Ferguson mentality needs confronting.
I get the impression Ed Balls is a reason you may just be able to consider Labour in the GE. The fact he is well regarded by many Conservatives on here is probably doing Labour no favours at all in Scotland mind.
I get the impression Ed Balls is a reason you may just be able to consider Labour in the GE. The fact he is well regarded by many Conservatives on here is probably doing Labour no favours at all in Scotland mind.
Is "The Most Annoying Man in UK Politics (tm)" really that well regarded on here? His record in gov and his recent media outings don't bode well. My missus is left of centre, but much like me she despises the man.
In fact, she is struggling to think who to vote for in the GE. Not Tories natch, but given the Lab front bench just now not Lab either. Libs are a wasted vote (even if they win this seat), and she has been turned off the SNP by the continuous bleating and puerile politics of the "45ers"... At this rate she may well end up abstaining, something she has never done before.
He is by far the most interesting Labour politician around at the moment and there are several hints in the interview that his relationship with Miliband is cool at best. He acknowledges that Osborne effectively abandoned austerity half way through the Parliament (I seem to recall at the time of the 2012 budget commenting that Osbo was taking a year off deficit reduction) and that it was, in his view, the right thing to do.
His differences with Osborne are not so much on what he has done, where it is hard to see a difference, but on what Osborne wants to do in returning to austerity in the next Parliament.
What is not clear to me is how he proposes to deal with the unacknowledged structural deficit he played such a large part in creating without Osborne's cuts. What is the alternative? I suspect that he and Miliband simply cannot agree one, hence the confused silence on the issue.
He is by no means everyone's cup of tea but IMO he would have been a much, much better choice for leader than Miliband.
I idly speculated years ago on here that the whole 'too far too fast' shtick was part of a conspiracy between the 2 (Balls/Ozzy) to create an impression of austerity for the media and global investors and thus avoid the real harsh cuts needed to get the deficit gone. I recall Ozzy child-sat for Balls kids whilst they took turns being interviewed some time ago and just wondered if it was all 'for show'.
Comments
Overseas most people don't see BBC News. BBC World, BBC America etc have minuscule audience shares, and on BBC America its main newscast is a Washington based program aimed at a US audience. It's not really liberal. Most folks here know the beeb from Top Gear, although a few know Dr Who.
I have no objection to the BBC getting a good kicking though.
They really blew this one. Potentially losing their most popular and profitable show.
Aside from the multi-dimensional aspect of hung parliament arithmetic...
2. They've said they will not show this week's episode
3. They have further said that they will probably not make the last 2 episodes of the series.
4. The BBCs most profitable property is at risk as a result.
If they go through with 3 they will lose substantial amounts in contractual penalties.
If that's not doing anything, then I'm Hillary Clinton's email server.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/11/mandelson-undermines-ed-miliband-stance-on-mansion-tax-and-tv-debates
The rest are unforced errors.
I just wonder what the BBC have to protect beyond the brand name, as the type of program it is, it isn't like Big Brother, I don't see how you can protect some blokes drive some cars.
Yes, it is difficult to copyright 3 middle aged men cocking about with the slogan "ambitious but rubbish".
Top Gear (UK version) is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most popular factual TV show.
BBC data: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2014/global-news-audience-265m
I've probably traveled the world more than most (>25 countries): the BBC is not a common subject of conversation, but nearly always mentioned positively when it comes up, by contrast to CNN, Russia Today, etc., which are seen as too slanted to domestic assumptions. I've also seen polls in Britain showing it still very highly-rated. Like most familiar institutions, there are things most people dislike about it, but it fills a gap: a service which has the stated aim of being comprehensive and impartial, even when we think it fails to achieve it. Nobody else even tries, though curiously Al-Jazeera is making some progress in being seen as offering a different angle without being wildly biased.
Or he could join UKIP.
Hanretty converted that to a seat forecast of Con 295, Lab 267.
But the Beeb is generally OK - a bit self-satisfied maybe but on the whole pretty good. Radio 4 is great: where else would you find "In Our Time"? And what about the Proms?
Coral go 3-1 on Vautour @ 8:30 am (£20 max, existing customer offer)
You can lay it off on Betfair at 2-1 if you don't fancy the horse.
I was expressing my view. A few minor leads and some people are behaving as if the election is in the bag for the Tories. And too many underestimate Milliband and overestimate Cameron, in my view. But others can and do express their views. I don't see why you think I'm trying to shut anyone up.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/liberaldemocrats/11465751/to-do-Lib-Dem-donor-scandal-dodgy-donation-received-by-Nick-Cleggs-party.html
Who'd have thought The Chief Secretary of the Treasury would be so cheap..
But he said while he had many responsibilities as prime minister, "sadly, securing the future of Top Gear isn't one of them".
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-31845110
Asked where he met his wife and fellow Labour frontbencher Yvette Cooper, Mr Balls explains how they met through mutual friends on Hampstead Heath, a park in north London. “We weren’t collecting stories for speeches. It was just a walk,” Mr Balls joked, a reference to Mr Miliband’s bizarre decision to name drop a whole series of ‘ordinary people’ he had supposedly met while walking on Hampstead Heath last summer.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/generalelection/balls-mocks-ed-miliband-but-says-he-would-enjoy-having-a-drink-with-george-osborne-10102362.html
http://www2.tnsglobal.com/l/36112/2015-02-17/3ghkfh/36112/77704/BIF_datatables_18Feb2015.pdf
Only two PMQs remain before polling day and the Labour leader used all six questions to ask David Cameron one thing: when might he ask him more questions? Nothing on policy. Nothing on convictions. Just questions about questions.
He meant questions outside the House, of course. On telly. That’s the difference, according to Labour. A televised head-to-head debate is nothing like parliament.
Except that PMQs is a televised head-to-head debate.
http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2015/03/pmqs-sketch-miliband-could-have-lost-the-election-today/
Oh no, not the ruddy TV debates again. Ed Miliband hopes to stride to national victory in two months.
You'd think he would be surging with policy ideas: crisp soundbites describing his healthcare ideas, foreign policy vision, economic priorities and intentions on everything from schools to transport.
You'd think he might use this moment to speak with the verve of Henry Tudor at the walls of Harfleur. A flourish of drollery would lead to a patriotic denunciation of the bad things done by the party opposite to the burghers of Britain.
In short, a Leader of the Opposition this close to the big off would tend – would he not? – to have a quiver of philosophical longbow arrows with which to pierce his opponent's hide at Prime Minister's Question Time.
Dream on, ye voters.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2990674/That-negative-nurdling-defensive-doodle-Miliband-QUENTIN-LETTS-Yesterday-Parliament.html
Independent - Jeremy Clarkson suspension: Top Gear presenter apologises to Ed Miliband for stealing his thunder
"Just when Ed Miliband thought he’d finally been given some positive media coverage, Jeremy Clarkson was suspended by the BBC for allegedly punching a colleague and knocking the Labour leader off the headlines."
"Anyone thinking the The Top Gear presenter lacked sympathy were proved wrong however when took to Twitter to make a public apology to Miliband. “Sorry Ed. It seems I knocked your "I'm a human" piece down the news agenda.”
was not oxidized immediately: its drinker kept it in his liver for more than a week, well
curled up and tranquil, as a reserve aliment for a sudden effort; an effort that he was
forced to make the following Sunday, pursuing a bolting horse. Farewell to the hexagonal
structure: in the space of a few instants the skein was unwound and became glucose
again, and this was dragged by the bloodstream all the way to a minute muscle fiber in
the thigh, and here brutally split into two molecules of lactic acid, the grim harbinger of
fatigue: only later, some minutes after, the panting of the lungs was able to supply the
oxygen necessary to quietly oxidize the latter. So a new molecule of carbon dioxide
returned to the atmosphere, and a parcel of the energy that the sun had handed to the
vine-shoot passed from the state of chemical energy to that of mechanical energy, and
thereafter settled down in the slothful condition of heat, warming up imperceptibly the air
moved by the running and the blood of the runner. 'Such is life', although rarely is it
described in this manner: an inserting itself, a drawing off to its advantage, a parasitizing
of the downward course of energy, from its noble solar form to the degraded one of lowtemperature heat. In this downward course, which leads to equilibrium and thus death,
life draws a bend and nests in it."
(Primo Levi, Carbon)
Or, it's all just a bit of old oxidation. ultimately pointless. Doesn't mean you can't find the poetry in it, as above. Even, perhaps, in jigsaws.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/10/europe/bbc-jeremy-clarkson/
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/03/10/bbc-suspends-top-gear-host-jeremy-clarkson/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-12/bringbackclarkson-petition-calls-for-return-to-top-gear/6305396
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/gossip/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501135&objectid=11415896
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/BBC-suspends-Top-Gear-host-Jeremy-Clarkson/articleshow/46521043.cms
He doesn't seem to have yet made the China Daily despite being popular in China. There again I suppose the Chinese authorities would not look kindly on stories about petitions of any sort really. People power isn't really their thing is it?
YouTube - The Scenic Route to Iraq - Top Gear - BBC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBu7mU1yi9g
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1734910/bbc-suspends-top-gear-host-jeremy-clarkson-after-fracas-producer
Managing talent is not easy, but you can't simply say that if someone in my company did that they'd be sacked and imply that is how Clarkson should be handled. What would your company do if it relied on the creative product of one person (or a group of three people) for its existence/sales and that person was the malcreant (effectively the position Top Gear is in)? Would it jeopardize everyone's jobs because that is what the HR book says is the right thing to do?
http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/hillary-insider-email-scandal-inside-job-by-obama/
Thought this was an interesting read... O?T though peripherally related to Obama, I guess
50 hours 50 minutes 50 seconds
You are going bonkers.
A few too many are TCTC at present. Is the ARSE going to get off the fence in the final version? Is the final ARSE of this election planned for 5 May?
The only seat that has significantly moved out that orbit is Cambridge. It appeared as an interesting three way marginal but will be a comfortable LibDem HOLD.
Whilst there are 4 TCTC presently all seats are allocated in each forecast. There will be an eve of poll super ARSE issued at 10pm on 6th May.
No comment.
Is a super ARSE one with added PIES (Principal Investigator Electoral Survey)? Will it require a post May 7 DIET (Decisive Income Exchange and Transfer) to Mrs JackW's shoe shopping budget?
UKIP, the bigots' friends. Those closet racists can start coming out of the closet now.
I'm assuming that the disability discrimination laws go on day one.
BTW, who's your avatar?
He is by far the most interesting Labour politician around at the moment and there are several hints in the interview that his relationship with Miliband is cool at best. He acknowledges that Osborne effectively abandoned austerity half way through the Parliament (I seem to recall at the time of the 2012 budget commenting that Osbo was taking a year off deficit reduction) and that it was, in his view, the right thing to do.
His differences with Osborne are not so much on what he has done, where it is hard to see a difference, but on what Osborne wants to do in returning to austerity in the next Parliament.
What is not clear to me is how he proposes to deal with the unacknowledged structural deficit he played such a large part in creating without Osborne's cuts. What is the alternative? I suspect that he and Miliband simply cannot agree one, hence the confused silence on the issue.
He is by no means everyone's cup of tea but IMO he would have been a much, much better choice for leader than Miliband.
I do like the phrase the MK Dons of politics.
In their honour, here's a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdXEdCwQPNM
wendyM, glasgow, United Kingdom, 6 hours ago
is it abuse miliband day at dm today ?
More likes than dislikes in the DM comment section on the Ed Miliband article seemingly having a go at him for his kitchen.
Sadiq Khan is the wrong person to make the criticism though, given that he has proposed racial quotas, an equally daft policy.
The Rotherham/Ferguson mentality needs confronting.
I get the impression Ed Balls is a reason you may just be able to consider Labour in the GE. The fact he is well regarded by many Conservatives on here is probably doing Labour no favours at all in Scotland mind.
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/a-journey-into-ukip-country/16763#.VQE3NhBFCBY
Ridiculous hyperbole or historically illiterate
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3643823/Enoch-Powells-Rivers-of-Blood-speech.html
I could have added our favourite Bullingdon boy supporting his 'friend' smacking an underling for not supplying a hot dinner
Lib Dem Ibrahim Taguri quits party amid donation claims
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31845664
In fact, she is struggling to think who to vote for in the GE. Not Tories natch, but given the Lab front bench just now not Lab either. Libs are a wasted vote (even if they win this seat), and she has been turned off the SNP by the continuous bleating and puerile politics of the "45ers"... At this rate she may well end up abstaining, something she has never done before.
And I've had egg-sucking dog stuck in my head all morning today!