Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 1m1 minute ago Labour sent three chickens to Downing Street to get a pic with PM's car as he left for PMQs Only trouble was they turned up 20 mins too late 1 retweet 1 favorite Reply Retweeted1 Favorite1 More
I see Ed has been out and about with his child props on the school run, in a staged piece for Good Morning Britain.
Was he followed by some chickens, a bacon sandwich, Gromit, Wallace and some wannabe activists?
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 1m1 minute ago Labour sent three chickens to Downing Street to get a pic with PM's car as he left for PMQs Only trouble was they turned up 20 mins too late 1 retweet 1 favorite Reply Retweeted1 Favorite1 More
I see Ed has been out and about with his child props on the school run, in a staged piece for Good Morning Britain. Desperate stuff.
/ Wonder if his two kids will emulate Tarquin and Guinevere from Viz?
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 1m1 minute ago Labour sent three chickens to Downing Street to get a pic with PM's car as he left for PMQs Only trouble was they turned up 20 mins too late 1 retweet 1 favorite Reply Retweeted1 Favorite1 More
I see Ed has been out and about with his child props on the school run, in a staged piece for Good Morning Britain. Desperate stuff.
Too right. I couldn't imagine Dave using his kids for photo-opportunities.
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 1m1 minute ago Labour sent three chickens to Downing Street to get a pic with PM's car as he left for PMQs Only trouble was they turned up 20 mins too late 1 retweet 1 favorite Reply Retweeted1 Favorite1 More
I thought the Ed Miliband run Labour party doesn't do silly stunts like that? I thought under his leadership they were all about policy?
I've just seen from an article on the BBC website that the BBC, ITV and Sky are jointly commissioning a single UK-wide exit poll. Sorry if this is old news but, I've not seen it stated before.
Media Guido (@MediaGuido) 25/03/2015 11:00 Actual Pub Landlord Likes Farage, Irritated With Guardian: order-order.com/2015/03/25/act…
It sounds like Nigel Farage behaved very well considering. I would have had to restrain myself from physically injuring one of them had my children been scared by such a mob. It is very telling that the coach driver refused to let them back on board after witnessing their behaviour. Such a shame that left-wing papers like the Guardian and the Independent attempted to paint Farage as the bad guy in this fracas. It's this sort of one-sided reporting that causes UKIP-supporters to stop listening to anyone else.
I've just seen from an article on the BBC website that the BBC, ITV and Sky are jointly commissioning a single UK-wide exit poll. Sorry if this is old news but, I've not seen it stated before.
You managed to see anything on the new look BBC website...gold star for you. I am struggling to navigate through he mess.
I also have some bets on Greens in coalition and SNP-Lab coalition in case anyone thinks I'm bragging about my book. Slightly underwater in Boston too, it's not all good bets !
I've just seen from an article on the BBC website that the BBC, ITV and Sky are jointly commissioning a single UK-wide exit poll. Sorry if this is old news but, I've not seen it stated before.
I've just seen from an article on the BBC website that the BBC, ITV and Sky are jointly commissioning a single UK-wide exit poll. Sorry if this is old news but, I've not seen it stated before.
Yup, has been known for a while.
They were having issues because of North Britain but got that sorted now.
The equivalent of Tim going on about Cameron's bald patch
How must teenagers with hang ups on their appearance feel when they see the government ridiculing opponents for how they look?
But look at those pictures. Then imagine him as our Prime Minister, tasked with going to Moscow to negotiate the gas to Europe being turned back on.
Like it or not, looking the part is part of the job spec.
Sorry I disagree and I don't believe you would say the same if the roles were reversed
Well, you're wrong.
I'd probably laugh myself silly at the collected "awkward" photos of Michael Gove, if he were put forward as the next PM....
Doesn't say much for you really
Probably not. But I would just observe that in recent years the Tory party only seems to feel comfortable with those who are "middling". John Major - middling. Hague. IDS. Howard. All middling. Heseltine, Portillo? A bit too flash, a bit too full of themselves.
Cameron was a bit risky, being an attractive, fresh-faced guy. But it was either him or a bloke who was in the SAS. The SAS is so not middling....
And just to show I am equally vacuous to the left and the right, I would say that Theresa May has no chance of leadership whilst ever she has those panda eyes. The Uncle Fester tribute act is not a good look when becoming party leader. Not middling enough. She's gonna need to take a break for a few weeks - and have a bit of work done....
I agree that unattractive politicians are at a disadvantage, rightly or wrongly. I've said the same as you re May. But I would be angry and disappointed at Ukip if they put out tweets/posters mocking her for her appearance, or pointing out her physical bad points... I would probably not vote for them if they did that in fact
Hilarious. UKIP of course in its deeply principled way rises above objecting to how people look.
UKIP sacked that individual, if I recall correctly. I hope the same thing happens to the people that run the CCHQ Twitter feed. It was a completely unprofessional Tweet.
I've just seen from an article on the BBC website that the BBC, ITV and Sky are jointly commissioning a single UK-wide exit poll. Sorry if this is old news but, I've not seen it stated before.
Didn't they do it last time as well?
Could do with seperate Scottish, Midlands and London exit polls tbh !
Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 35s36 seconds ago Cameron children loving their dad's performance. Tory backbenchers kinda pleased too. 1 retweet 0 favorites Reply Retweeted1 Favorite More Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 2m2 minutes ago Miliband looks like he's stepped on a rake. The rake was marked 'jobs tax rise'. 8 retweets 3 favorites Reply Retweet8 Favorite3 More
The equivalent of Tim going on about Cameron's bald patch
How must teenagers with hang ups on their appearance feel when they see the government ridiculing opponents for how they look?
But look at those pictures. Then imagine him as our Prime Minister, tasked with going to Moscow to negotiate the gas to Europe being turned back on.
Like it or not, looking the part is part of the job spec.
Sorry I disagree and I don't believe you would say the same if the roles were reversed
Well, you're wrong.
I'd probably laugh myself silly at the collected "awkward" photos of Michael Gove, if he were put forward as the next PM....
Doesn't say much for you really
Probably not. But I would just observe that in recent years the Tory party only seems to feel comfortable with those who are "middling". John Major - middling. Hague. IDS. Howard. All middling. Heseltine, Portillo? A bit too flash, a bit too full of themselves.
Cameron was a bit risky, being an attractive, fresh-faced guy. But it was either him or a bloke who was in the SAS. The SAS is so not middling....
And just to show I am equally vacuous to the left and the right, I would say that Theresa May has no chance of leadership whilst ever she has those panda eyes. The Uncle Fester tribute act is not a good look when becoming party leader. Not middling enough. She's gonna need to take a break for a few weeks - and have a bit of work done....
I agree that unattractive politicians are at a disadvantage, rightly or wrongly. I've said the same as you re May. But I would be angry and disappointed at Ukip if they put out tweets/posters mocking her for her appearance, or pointing out her physical bad points... I would probably not vote for them if they did that in fact
Hilarious. UKIP of course in its deeply principled way rises above objecting to how people look.
UKIP sacked that individual, if I recall correctly. I hope the same thing happens to the people that run the CCHQ Twitter feed. It was a completely unprofessional Tweet.
But as for the water is wet pronouncement, well, that depends:
Technically pure water is not very wet.
I’ll take your word for it – but if you can swim in it, then it’s 'very' wet imho.
The issue is surface tension and adhesion I believe. Soap helps; or so I try to assure Fox jr.
Would you have better or worse buoyancy in a pool of heavy water?
You would float a little higher - heavy water (D2O) has a higher atomic mass than normal water (H2O) and a higher density so to displace your weight requires a lower volume.
Soap is a good wetting agent - but it is absolutely hopeless on hydrocarbons e.g. grease because the ch2-ch3 groups are not slightly charged. That is why you use detergents.
You would actually float a fair bit higher - there's not much margin of buoyancy in fresh water and deuterium monoxide is about 10% denser so you get all that benefit. But not as high as in the Dead Sea - checking the net has that at 24% denser than plain water.
From that YouGov poll, the party leaders have the following top three attributes:
David Cameron: out of touch, smug, arrogant Ed Miliband: out of his depth, weak, weird Nick Clegg: out of his depth, weak, out of touch Nigel Farage: arrogant, smug, stands up for Britain
Of the attributes offered for consideration,
David Cameron is most: out of touch, smug, doesn't listen, competent, up to the job, determined
Ed Miliband is most: principled, out of his depth, fair (joint), shares my values, weird, on my side
Nick Clegg is most: likeable, weak, fair (joint), indecisive
Nigel Farage is most: arrogant, stands up for Britain, dishonest, ruthless, down to earth
I really don't understand some of those leader characteristics. Clegg is seen as out of his depth and weak. I'm not sure why people would think that. Personally I think he's much less sincere and far more savvy than people realise. Maybe it's some of the self-pitying and limp apologies? Still the public clearly think he's weak and out of his depth which presumably explains why the coalition looks and smells like Thatcher part II. They don't seem to consider that Clegg is actually not that far away politically from Cameron and Osborne.
I am surprised people on here are not making more of an issue of the SNP saying they will block every bill from a Tory government. That effectively means that a Conservative minority government will only happen if Labour decide to allow it. In my humble view, this reduces the chance of David Cameron staying on as PM substantially. Assuming a hung parliment, power will now entirely be in Labour's hands. Given an SNP-Labour coalition has been ruled out, they will need to decide between:
1) Forming their own minority government 2) Allowing a Conservative minority government 3) Forming a grand coalition
Option 1 would require the consent of the SNP and would mean the SNP would have them over a barrel to negotiate terms. Option 2 would be deeply opposed by Ed Miliband as he is very left-wing and would be very opposed to a more right-wing government than the coalition. They'd get constant flack from allowing it to happen from their base when they could have "just done a deal with the SNP". Option 3 would likely mean the Tories being very conciliatory, as they know the only other option is the SNP trying to destroy the union from government.
So it ultimately means a very tough deal from the SNP (and a tiny government majority) or a very good deal from the Tories (and a huge government majority). I think Option 3 is far more likely than people give it credit for. It would also mean Alex Salmond as Leader of the Opposition.
Option 1 would suit the Conservatives very nicely. They have no more interest in helping UKIP than Labour has in helping the SNP by forming a grand coalition.
In practice, Labour would probably need to cobble something together with the Lib Dems as well as the SNP in order to get English-only votes through.
I worry Option 1 would help UKIP a lot. They will apparently be second place in a hundred northern Labour seats. A poorly performing Labour government propped up by the SNP could cause them to lose a lot of votes in such seats. That could mean UKIP go from three to five seats to several dozen.
Bad performance by Miliband, never recovered from the straight answer on VAT, but I can't have the Prime Minister declaring himself the victor of PMQs because he asked questions that were not answered
Ed Miliband again shows he is like the school swat. Works hard on prepping for tests, but not as bright as results would suggest. And if there is a last minute change in the format, he is screwed.
Bad performance by Miliband, never recovered from the straight answer on VAT, but I can't have the Prime Minister declaring himself the victor of PMQs because he asked questions that were not answered
So Dave rules out a VAT rise just as he did before the last election. Clearly, that kills the issue stone dead.
Tories have a fairly easy out on that...Coalition. Obviously Labour can then say, but but back in 1990's etc, but then we just descend into well when Labour said no rise in x or y and it happened.
Interesting snippet here about stock valuation implications of the election.
Presumably shorting Centrica stock could be a proxy for betting on a Miliband victory in the election.
Ahem.
From the article:
Deutsche’s valuation gap is still eye-catching. It reckons the owner of British Gas could be worth 20% less under a Labour-led government than a Conservative one. And under an “aggressive” Labour government, the downside for Centrica could be 40%.
Make up your own mind whether these estimates are accurate. But there is an underlying point here: stock market investors don’t seem to be talking about the election yet. It’s very odd.
Well, quite. Some of us have been taking note of this risk for the last year or more.
Bad performance by Miliband, never recovered from the straight answer on VAT, but I can't have the Prime Minister declaring himself the victor of PMQs because he asked questions that were not answered
There used to be a Director who shared my Christian name and who happened to be a friend of mine but when it came to work he was a monster. Very talented but a monster and when he fell of a cliff while shooting an ad it was said the bars of Soho had never done such brisk business.
I suspect rather less tragically the same will happen now the loathsome Clarkson is out.
So Dave rules out a VAT rise just as he did before the last election. Clearly, that kills the issue stone dead.
"Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News there were "no plans in existence" to raise VAT but said it would be impossible to rule out any such moves in future as "you can't ask George Osborne to write the 2010 budget now"
So Dave rules out a VAT rise just as he did before the last election. Clearly, that kills the issue stone dead.
Tories have a fairly easy out on that...Coalition. Obviously Labour can then say, but but back in 1990's etc, but then we just descend into well when Labour said no rise in x or y and it happened.
Yes, they can try to blame the LibDems. But presumably the LibDems might clarify. Dave will be asked about this again and again. And again and again the context will be that the last two times the Tories were in government they raised VAT having said that they would not beforehand.
So Dave rules out a VAT rise just as he did before the last election. Clearly, that kills the issue stone dead.
"Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News there were "no plans in existence" to raise VAT but said it would be impossible to rule out any such moves in future as "you can't ask George Osborne to write the 2010 budget now"
Yep, that should kill the story stone dead. As should this:
"We have absolutely no plans to raise VAT. Our first budget is all about recognising we need to get spending under control rather than putting up tax."
Ed Miliband again shows he is like the school swat. Works hard on prepping for tests, but not as bright as results would suggest. And if there is a last minute change in the format, he is screwed.
So Dave rules out a VAT rise just as he did before the last election. Clearly, that kills the issue stone dead.
Tories have a fairly easy out on that...Coalition. Obviously Labour can then say, but but back in 1990's etc, but then we just descend into well when Labour said no rise in x or y and it happened.
Yes, they can try to blame the LibDems. But presumably the LibDems might clarify. Dave will be asked about this again and again. And again and again the context will be that the last two times the Tories were in government they raised VAT having said that they would not beforehand.
Well the out is still easy in terms of Lib Dems, they might say Tories pushed for VAT rise, and Tories say but Lib Dems wouldn't cut such and such.
You hope that Dave gets asked this again and again. It will just come down to do people believe him or not and also the guns will turn around and say so Ed what taxes are you going to rule out rising...You can't just throw out look look Tory tax rise and not expect to get the same back.
I would say in terms of perception, Tories are seen as the party of lower taxes in the way Labour are of the NHS....neither are true, but I don't see the advantage for Ed to focus on tax when most people perceptions are Labour are the party who will increase your taxes.
@alstewitn: #PMQs The @David_Cameron cock-up over Michael Connarty MP 'not' retiring was funny & confident. That will worry some.
@iainmartin1: More "Jockophobia". #PMQs question featuring a Mr McSporran gets loud laugh. Disgraceful. Prime Minister Salmond will put an end to all this
@alstewitn: #PMQs The @David_Cameron cock-up over Michael Connarty MP 'not' retiring was funny & confident. That will worry some.
@iainmartin1: More "Jockophobia". #PMQs question featuring a Mr McSporran gets loud laugh. Disgraceful. Prime Minister Salmond will put an end to all this
He blamed someone else... Whatever floats your boat I suppose #dontimpressmemuch
Ed Miliband again shows he is like the school swat. Works hard on prepping for tests, but not as bright as results would suggest. And if there is a last minute change in the format, he is screwed.
So it's settled, crossover is going to happen again this week?
Comments
Wonder if his two kids will emulate Tarquin and Guinevere from Viz?
25/03/2015 11:00
Actual Pub Landlord Likes Farage, Irritated With Guardian: order-order.com/2015/03/25/act…
Presumably shorting Centrica stock could be a proxy for betting on a Miliband victory in the election.
Sam Cam is at the commons with the kids for the last question time.
Are they props as well?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3008395/It-s-not-exactly-Gandhi-David-Cameron-sees-funny-daughter-Nancy-11-threatens-hunger-strike-unless-Jeremy-Clarkson-returns-Gear.html
One of my favourite Betfair markets has been Electoral Bias, been able to lay off alot of middle on Con votes, Lab seats with that.
They were having issues because of North Britain but got that sorted now.
"Will you rule out a rise in VAT?"
"Yes!"
Brilliant. 5 further questions go down the pan!
Why the hell won't you debate with him, Dave?
Cameron children loving their dad's performance. Tory backbenchers kinda pleased too.
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Paul Waugh @paulwaugh 2m2 minutes ago
Miliband looks like he's stepped on a rake. The rake was marked 'jobs tax rise'.
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Miliband is drowning. Wonder if he's blaming Ed Balls' VAT charge for the puncture in his lifebelt
But it's not going to be enough, I fear, to prevent Ed and Dave swapping sides in 7 weeks time.
This is just like Thatcher's final PMQs! ("You could wipe the floor with this lot...")
http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/ao7qcdoada/YG-Archive-Pol-Sunday-Times-results-200315.pdf
How many questions did Dave actually answer today?
That's why he doesn't want a head to head debate.
Dave knows he'll go all Borg at Wolf 359 on Ed, and Ed will get the sympathy vote.
Lucy. What a fun appointment she has proven to be.
For CCHQ.
All other comparisons are pure speculation ....
From the article:
Deutsche’s valuation gap is still eye-catching. It reckons the owner of British Gas could be worth 20% less under a Labour-led government than a Conservative one. And under an “aggressive” Labour government, the downside for Centrica could be 40%.
Make up your own mind whether these estimates are accurate. But there is an underlying point here: stock market investors don’t seem to be talking about the election yet. It’s very odd.
Well, quite. Some of us have been taking note of this risk for the last year or more.
But a bad perf from Ed no doubt about it
I suspect rather less tragically the same will happen now the loathsome Clarkson is out.
Yes, of course....do you lot actually listen to the questions, or do you just read twatter?
I feel your pain.
"We have absolutely no plans to raise VAT. Our first budget is all about recognising we need to get spending under control rather than putting up tax."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/election-2010/7625873/General-Election-2010-Cameron-dismisses-claim-Tories-would-put-up-VAT.html
I rely 100% on this site and twitter and err the Sun for an accurate assessment !
Hardly anyone thinks the Tories increase taxes compared with Labour - and then he threw in wibble about the NHS.
That was embarrassingly poor and desperate.
You hope that Dave gets asked this again and again. It will just come down to do people believe him or not and also the guns will turn around and say so Ed what taxes are you going to rule out rising...You can't just throw out look look Tory tax rise and not expect to get the same back.
I would say in terms of perception, Tories are seen as the party of lower taxes in the way Labour are of the NHS....neither are true, but I don't see the advantage for Ed to focus on tax when most people perceptions are Labour are the party who will increase your taxes.
@iainmartin1: More "Jockophobia". #PMQs question featuring a Mr McSporran gets loud laugh. Disgraceful. Prime Minister Salmond will put an end to all this
http://farm1.staticflickr.com/24/58683008_2dc4c01d94_z.jpg?zz=1
Cam's had his shredded wheat today.