There is a lot of interesting stuff there - certainly far more than Massie cherry picked to show that he was right and Yessers are wrong
On the topic of differential turnout in the forthcoming election the on I find most interesting is page 37 - "What do you think will happen to levels of political involvement – both your own and in the Scottish public as a whole – once the referendum is over?"
Scottish Public
Yes Greater 53.6 Normal 37.1 DK 9.3
No Greater 16.7% Normal 71.5% DK 11.8%
Yourself
Yes Greater 65.7% Normal 25.8% DK 8.5%
No Greater 31.9% Normal 57.6% DK 10.5%
I am no expert on this kind of stuff but this suggests to me that Yes voters are going to be more motivated to vote at the GE than No voters.
There is a lot of interesting stuff there - certainly far more than Massie cherry picked to show that he was right and Yessers are wrong
On the topic of differential turnout in the forthcoming election the on I find most interesting is page 37 - "What do you think will happen to levels of political involvement – both your own and in the Scottish public as a whole – once the referendum is over?"
Scottish Public
Yes Greater 53.6 Normal 37.1 DK 9.3
No Greater 16.7% Normal 71.5% DK 11.8%
Yourself
Yes Greater 65.7% Normal 25.8% DK 8.5%
No Greater 31.9% Normal 57.6% DK 10.5%
I am no expert on this kind of stuff but this suggests to me that Yes voters are going to be more motivated to vote at the GE than No voters.
The not the debate was a disaster for Cameron.His sweat mixed in with the make-up powder made him look Betty Grabel having mud treatment.He scored very badly for complacency and casual arrogance.
Can't help noticing the overlap between your views, your ways of expressing and - crucially - punctuating them, and those of the lovely roserees. I think you should PM each other with a view to romance. The two of you are going to need something to get you through the nights of the forthcoming conservative majority government, and I wouldn't bank on the NHS for too much longer...
And yet, in all its many reports on last night’s ‘debate’ the BBC failed to make any mention of the Guardian ICM poll showing 54% - 46% in Cameron’s favour. – says it all really.
Very keen to tell us who won one twitter though.
Was quite funny the Guardian journo live blogging...Ed has smashed, smashed it I tell you, awesome, amazing...oh the polling says he lost....but lets wait and see what our special panel of swing voters say...oh they aren't very impressed, they preferred Cameron...but look, look, twitter says Ed won.
Anyone with the least confidence in the forecast from Prosser (whoever they may be) of the LibDems winning 48 seats should rush to take bet365's seemingly most generous odds of 12/1 against the Yellow Team winning 41 or more seats. I for one will be resisting the temptation to invest in such a wager - which rather begs the question, does one actually have to pay good money to attend today's conference of "experts" at the LSE?
I wonder if anyone else has experienced the recent dubious trick pulled by Royal Mail which I have noticed both in London and Yorkshire whereby instead of the last local weekday collection being at around 5.00pm - 5.30pm, with a Saturday collection at 12.00 noon, the last weekday collection is now at 9.00 am with the Saturday collection at 7.00am would you believe! It occurs to me that Royal Mail has, by pulling this cunning stunt, effectively scrapped First Class Mail at a stroke without the embarrassment of having to admit doing so and without any reduction in their charges to take account of this considerably inferior standard of service, quite the opposite in fact, with postal rates about to be increased still further. Surprisingly, I have seen absolutely no mention of these changes in the media - how in God's name have they succeeded in getting them past the regulator, seemingly without any resistance?
Posted something at 4.30 this afternoon asked if it would go tomorrow. Was told no today sir last collection 5pm monday to friday
As mentioned down thread Ed rewriting history about Labour's time in power and the economy. Paxman was very poor when it came to really getting at Ed over this, instead he went all overly personal (which everybody has heard a million times, he is weird, he stabbed his brother etc), rather than getting to the nitty gritty of detail. He was much better at getting at Cameron on the detail (and Cameron was poor on it).
Was quite funny the Guardian journo live blogging...Ed has smashed, smashed it I tell you, awesome, amazing...oh the polling says he lost....but lets wait and see what our special panel of swing voters say...oh they aren't very impressed, they preferred Cameron...but look, look, twitter says Ed won.
It's Ok. The Guardian ran a special on-line poll of its readers today, and Ed DEFINITELY won that one...
There is a lot of interesting stuff there - certainly far more than Massie cherry picked to show that he was right and Yessers are wrong
On the topic of differential turnout in the forthcoming election the on I find most interesting is page 37 - "What do you think will happen to levels of political involvement – both your own and in the Scottish public as a whole – once the referendum is over?"
Scottish Public
Yes Greater 53.6 Normal 37.1 DK 9.3
No Greater 16.7% Normal 71.5% DK 11.8%
Yourself
Yes Greater 65.7% Normal 25.8% DK 8.5%
No Greater 31.9% Normal 57.6% DK 10.5%
I am no expert on this kind of stuff but this suggests to me that Yes voters are going to be more motivated to vote at the GE than No voters.
They better be !
I like how a third of the No voters think everyone else is going to sink back into a see of apathy but they'll personally stay switched on.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced the recent dubious trick pulled by Royal Mail which I have noticed both in London and Yorkshire whereby instead of the last local weekday collection being at around 5.00pm - 5.30pm, with a Saturday collection at 12.00 noon, the last weekday collection is now at 9.00 am with the Saturday collection at 7.00am would you believe! It occurs to me that Royal Mail has, by pulling this cunning stunt, effectively scrapped First Class Mail at a stroke without the embarrassment of having to admit doing so and without any reduction in their charges to take account of this considerably inferior standard of service, quite the opposite in fact, with postal rates about to be increased still further. Surprisingly, I have seen absolutely no mention of these changes in the media - how in God's name have they succeeded in getting them past the regulator, seemingly without any resistance?
Yep, same around here (Nottinghamshire). When I quizzed our postman I got some muttering about the whole system heading for disaster and all fault of privatisation.
Just read an interesting piece in the Times about a focus group who watched the debate. Although it mentioned a couple of people were swung round against their expectations to thinking Ed performed best, the really interesting bit is apparently Paxman got a really bad reception for getting "too personal" with Ed.
This imo backs up the argument that the Tories are making a big mistake by basing so much of their campaign around "Ed's weird! Ed's incompetent!". People DO think those things and will say them to their own friends, but (fairly or unfairly, and very hypocritically) they demand higher standards from politicians. Essentially, Joe Public might think it's OK for themselves to be nasty about people, but they might not think it's OK if it's politicians being nasty and bullying someone.
Really desperate stuff to rake clips up from 18 years ago
Good luck with that
I seemed to remember Labour at the last GE raking up Cameron standing next to Norman Lamont repeatedly, even though at that time Cameron was a Spad and I don't believe he even did the job for very long.
Balls in particularly was Gordo's right hand man through out his time in government, when he was making disastrous decisions.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced the recent dubious trick pulled by Royal Mail which I have noticed both in London and Yorkshire whereby instead of the last local weekday collection being at around 5.00pm - 5.30pm, with a Saturday collection at 12.00 noon, the last weekday collection is now at 9.00 am with the Saturday collection at 7.00am would you believe! It occurs to me that Royal Mail has, by pulling this cunning stunt, effectively scrapped First Class Mail at a stroke without the embarrassment of having to admit doing so and without any reduction in their charges to take account of this considerably inferior standard of service, quite the opposite in fact, with postal rates about to be increased still further. Surprisingly, I have seen absolutely no mention of these changes in the media - how in God's name have they succeeded in getting them past the regulator, seemingly without any resistance?
Posted something at 4.30 this afternoon asked if it would go tomorrow. Was told no today sir last collection 5pm monday to friday
How flattering to be called "Sir". I assume you were receiving counter service at a Post Office - try checking the last collection times as displayed by your local pillar box and you might find I am right. Clearly these all need to have their times changed prior to Royal Mail introducing the changes, which will probably take several months nationally.Clearly something is afoot which as I say has been evident in both SW London and West Yorkshire.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced the recent dubious trick pulled by Royal Mail which I have noticed both in London and Yorkshire whereby instead of the last local weekday collection being at around 5.00pm - 5.30pm, with a Saturday collection at 12.00 noon, the last weekday collection is now at 9.00 am with the Saturday collection at 7.00am would you believe! It occurs to me that Royal Mail has, by pulling this cunning stunt, effectively scrapped First Class Mail at a stroke without the embarrassment of having to admit doing so and without any reduction in their charges to take account of this considerably inferior standard of service, quite the opposite in fact, with postal rates about to be increased still further. Surprisingly, I have seen absolutely no mention of these changes in the media - how in God's name have they succeeded in getting them past the regulator, seemingly without any resistance?
Posted something at 4.30 this afternoon asked if it would go tomorrow. Was told no today sir last collection 5pm monday to friday
How flattering to be called "Sir". I assume you were receiving counter service at a Post Office - try checking the last collection times as displayed by your local pillar box and you might find I am right. Clearly these all need to have their times changed prior to Royal Mail introducing the changes, which will probably take several months nationally.
What is interesting, is Labour are in proper GE mode. Another announcement / launch today, it feels like it happens daily.
Tories, you wouldn't think we are only a very weeks from a GE. They obviously had the budget, which was a continue the current course, and in terms of announcements that is about it.
What we can take away from the attacks on Nigel Farage and Ed Miliband is that the LibLabCon are scared. They know their grip on power is slipping away so are getting more and more desperate.
Labour's announcement on a profit cap for private sector companies taking on NHS contracts just shows out of touch with reality they really are.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced the recent dubious trick pulled by Royal Mail which I have noticed both in London and Yorkshire whereby instead of the last local weekday collection being at around 5.00pm - 5.30pm, with a Saturday collection at 12.00 noon, the last weekday collection is now at 9.00 am with the Saturday collection at 7.00am would you believe! It occurs to me that Royal Mail has, by pulling this cunning stunt, effectively scrapped First Class Mail at a stroke without the embarrassment of having to admit doing so and without any reduction in their charges to take account of this considerably inferior standard of service, quite the opposite in fact, with postal rates about to be increased still further. Surprisingly, I have seen absolutely no mention of these changes in the media - how in God's name have they succeeded in getting them past the regulator, seemingly without any resistance?
Posted something at 4.30 this afternoon asked if it would go tomorrow. Was told no today sir last collection 5pm monday to friday
How flattering to be called "Sir". I assume you were receiving counter service at a Post Office - try checking the last collection times as displayed by your local pillar box and you might find I am right. Clearly these all need to have their times changed prior to Royal Mail introducing the changes, which will probably take several months nationally.Clearly something is afoot which as I say has been evident in both SW London and West Yorkshire.
Possibly using the same van to go out and leave the post in the lockers for the posties to post, and then collect from the postboxes. It really would be outrageous. And it also makes it impossible for many to reply the same day to post received (sometimes as late as 3 pm for me, and I don't live in the countryside).
I wonder if anyone else has experienced the recent dubious trick pulled by Royal Mail which I have noticed both in London and Yorkshire whereby instead of the last local weekday collection being at around 5.00pm - 5.30pm, with a Saturday collection at 12.00 noon, the last weekday collection is now at 9.00 am with the Saturday collection at 7.00am would you believe! It occurs to me that Royal Mail has, by pulling this cunning stunt, effectively scrapped First Class Mail at a stroke without the embarrassment of having to admit doing so and without any reduction in their charges to take account of this considerably inferior standard of service, quite the opposite in fact, with postal rates about to be increased still further. Surprisingly, I have seen absolutely no mention of these changes in the media - how in God's name have they succeeded in getting them past the regulator, seemingly without any resistance?
Posted something at 4.30 this afternoon asked if it would go tomorrow. Was told no today sir last collection 5pm monday to friday
How flattering to be called "Sir". I assume you were receiving counter service at a Post Office - try checking the last collection times as displayed by your local pillar box and you might find I am right. Clearly these all need to have their times changed prior to Royal Mail introducing the changes, which will probably take several months nationally.Clearly something is afoot which as I say has been evident in both SW London and West Yorkshire.
It was a post office yes so you might be right dunno
Deplorable that thugs in Alex Salmond masks should assault the LOTO, but what a Miliband moment. He gives it large about being well 'ard, up for it, Cameron's a wimp and a chicken etc., and gets taken at his word because he was speaking in a metaphorical, North London-y kind of sense and doesn't realise that White Van Man doesn't do metaphor.
And then, most tellingly, the incident is completely sanitised off the BBC news site, no doubt at the insistence of ed's team, because he comes out of it looking not so 'ard after all.
I wonder if anyone else has experienced the recent dubious trick pulled by Royal Mail which I have noticed both in London and Yorkshire whereby instead of the last local weekday collection being at around 5.00pm - 5.30pm, with a Saturday collection at 12.00 noon, the last weekday collection is now at 9.00 am with the Saturday collection at 7.00am would you believe! It occurs to me that Royal Mail has, by pulling this cunning stunt, effectively scrapped First Class Mail at a stroke without the embarrassment of having to admit doing so and without any reduction in their charges to take account of this considerably inferior standard of service, quite the opposite in fact, with postal rates about to be increased still further. Surprisingly, I have seen absolutely no mention of these changes in the media - how in God's name have they succeeded in getting them past the regulator, seemingly without any resistance?
Posted something at 4.30 this afternoon asked if it would go tomorrow. Was told no today sir last collection 5pm monday to friday
How flattering to be called "Sir". I assume you were receiving counter service at a Post Office - try checking the last collection times as displayed by your local pillar box and you might find I am right. Clearly these all need to have their times changed prior to Royal Mail introducing the changes, which will probably take several months nationally.Clearly something is afoot which as I say has been evident in both SW London and West Yorkshire.
Possibly using the same van to go out and leave the post in the lockers for the posties to post, and then collect from the postboxes. It really would be outrageous. And it also makes it impossible for many to reply the same day to post received (sometimes as late as 3 pm for me, and I don't live in the countryside).
What we can take away from the attacks on Nigel Farage and Ed Miliband is that the LibLabCon are scared.
Wait, what ?
An attack on Ed shows the Liblabcon are scared or an attack on Nigel does... I'm confused here.
Both. The three main political parties are becoming increasingly desperate so are resorting to increasingly desperate measures against each other/UKIP.
They were supposedly Tory activists yesterday with the Salmond masks. Apparently activists in those masks were photographed at someone's conference a while back.
Back on topic for me: Anyone with the least confidence in the forecast from Prosser (whoever they may be) of the LibDems winning 48 seats should rush to take bet365's seemingly most generous odds of 12/1 against the Yellow Team winning 41 or more seats. I for one will be resisting the temptation to invest in such a wager - ...........
My time expired contact lens read it as a forecast from Tossers.
OT. I don't know whether this is a concerted attack or coincidence but I'm being bombarded with advice from financial advisers and stock brokers of action to take to deal with the likelihood of a Labour victory. You'd think they were anticipating an attack by the Khmer Rouge not a change of government.
Will factory owners be jailed if they refuse to take on the apprentices that Ed is going to select and send to them ?
On the plus side, taking on a few hundred apprentices will be very handy for healthcare companies which might otherwise be at risk of making a non-Miliband-approved profit.
I do think that Labour are being a bit silly with all these rash promises.
Panem et circenses
The problem Mr Cameron has with debates is that he can be questioned on hwat he has actually done in office - with facts, statistics and analyses to back him up. Mr Miliband has done nothing for 5 years and can say basically what he likes. It takes a professional interviewer, well clued up, to trap him on them.
Of course the Tories are probably waiting to see what Mr Miliband shoots up in the air, before bringing it down.
I'm seeing comments on Twitter to the effect that Scottish Labour have released some sort of Apocalypse 2015 video and have had to pull it 20 minutes later thanks to Scottish Television pointing out they have copyright over (some of?) the content ...
Will factory owners be jailed if they refuse to take on the apprentices that Ed is going to select and send to them ?
On the plus side, taking on a few hundred apprentices will be very handy for healthcare companies which might otherwise be at risk of making a non-Miliband-approved profit.
I do think that Labour are being a bit silly with all these rash promises.
Panem et circenses
The problem Mr Cameron has with debates is that he can be questioned on hwat he has actually done in office - with facts, statistics and analyses to back him up. Mr Miliband has done nothing for 5 years and can say basically what he likes. It takes a professional interviewer, well clued up, to trap him on them.
Of course the Tories are probably waiting to see what Mr Miliband shoots up in the air, before bringing it down.
My reason for thinking its silly is that people will simply not believe them and the magic money tree will be up for debate all the time. It wuld be far better to be more vague and talk about fairness rather than making daft spending pledges all paid for by the Mansion Tax and bankers bonuses. Later on in the campaign Ed will be interviewed again and will look daft again.
Last night that well known rightwinger BENM said it was head in the hands time watching Ed muck it up with Paxman yet somehow he is now deemed to have done well. Ed will continue to struggle in interviews with all these promises.
View of a senior journalist on the influence of the Guardian on the CPS. "Looking to the future of the ongoing prosecutions of journalists, Shanahan sees Monday's Guardian editorial as a potential turning point.
“The Guardian, in a complete change from its usual position, said that it welcomed the acquittal of myself and my colleagues on Friday and described it as good. And I thought that was obviously welcome, but also significant, because it hints at a sea-change in thinking at The Guardian...
“But what matters there is The Guardian is obviously the bible of the left-wing establishment, and the BBC, and the chattering classes, and it’s probably the only paper the CPS is likely to take any notice of.” .......
OT. I don't know whether this is a concerted attack or coincidence but I'm being bombarded with advice from financial advisers and stock brokers of action to take to deal with the likelihood of a Labour victory. You'd think they were anticipating an attack by the Khmer Rouge not a change of government.
Seems fair enough to me; their effect on the economy might not be too dissimiliar.
OT. I don't know whether this is a concerted attack or coincidence but I'm being bombarded with advice from financial advisers and stock brokers of action to take to deal with the likelihood of a Labour victory. You'd think they were anticipating an attack by the Khmer Rouge not a change of government.
What we can take away from the attacks on Nigel Farage and Ed Miliband is that the LibLabCon are scared.
Wait, what ?
An attack on Ed shows the Liblabcon are scared or an attack on Nigel does... I'm confused here.
Both. The three main political parties are becoming increasingly desperate so are resorting to increasingly desperate measures against each other/UKIP.
They were supposedly Tory activists yesterday with the Salmond masks. Apparently activists in those masks were photographed at someone's conference a while back.
Deplorable that thugs in Alex Salmond masks should assault the LOTO, but what a Miliband moment. He gives it large about being well 'ard, up for it, Cameron's a wimp and a chicken etc., and gets taken at his word because he was speaking in a metaphorical, North London-y kind of sense and doesn't realise that White Van Man doesn't do metaphor.
Um. You realise the incident was before the programme?
What is interesting, is Labour are in proper GE mode. Another announcement / launch today, it feels like it happens daily.
Tories, you wouldn't think we are only a very weeks from a GE. They obviously had the budget, which was a continue the current course, and in terms of announcements that is about it.
And Lib Dem's, are they even standing?
The Conservatives wanted a low-key election runup in which their spending under the radar in December-March would pull them ahead. One reason that I'm optimstic is that the timeframe for the air bombardment is about to close in 3 days without the desired Tory lead, after which we'll be on more even terms.
The Conservatives wanted a low-key election runup in which their spending under the radar in December-March would pull them ahead. One reason that I'm optimstic is that the timeframe for the air bombardment is about to close in 3 days without the desired Tory lead, after which we'll be on more even terms.
Nick
Are you pleased with all these spending pledges by Labour?
Really desperate stuff to rake clips up from 18 years ago
Good luck with that
What was that, something about Thatcher??
Have you had some kind of loss of conciousness she was not in power 18 years ago.
The Tories were suffering the wipe out of 1997. Due mainly to the backlash of her years of course.
Of course at GE2015 the Tories are planning cuts even Thatcher would have left alone in order to fund tax cuts
You said it was really desperate stuff to rake clips up from 18 years ago. I was pointing out that many on the left still moan about Thatcher like there is no tomorrow.
A friend tells me that the actor playing Mycroft in the current modern-day Sherlock said it's also based on Mandelson. A role model for our times, evidently. :-)
The Conservatives are considering options for scrapping several benefits, the BBC has learned. Leaked documents from the Department for Work and Pensions also suggest a regional benefits cap, taxing disability benefits and reducing eligibility for the carers' allowance.
The Conservatives are considering options for scrapping several benefits, the BBC has learned. Leaked documents from the Department for Work and Pensions also suggest a regional benefits cap, taxing disability benefits and reducing eligibility for the carers' allowance.
Deplorable that thugs in Alex Salmond masks should assault the LOTO, but what a Miliband moment. He gives it large about being well 'ard, up for it, Cameron's a wimp and a chicken etc., and gets taken at his word because he was speaking in a metaphorical, North London-y kind of sense and doesn't realise that White Van Man doesn't do metaphor.
Um. You realise the incident was before the programme?
What is interesting, is Labour are in proper GE mode. Another announcement / launch today, it feels like it happens daily.
Tories, you wouldn't think we are only a very weeks from a GE. They obviously had the budget, which was a continue the current course, and in terms of announcements that is about it.
And Lib Dem's, are they even standing?
The Conservatives wanted a low-key election runup in which their spending under the radar in December-March would pull them ahead. One reason that I'm optimstic is that the timeframe for the air bombardment is about to close in 3 days without the desired Tory lead, after which we'll be on more even terms.
Yes of course I realise that, why do you think I omitted the hilarious "Hell yes I'm tough enough" from the litany of ed's claims? Certainly not because it isn't funny enough. ed has been saying that Cameron was "running scared" for weeks.
Good to see you doing patronising as well as complacent, definitely another string to the bow.
There is a lot of interesting stuff there - certainly far more than Massie cherry picked to show that he was right and Yessers are wrong
On the topic of differential turnout in the forthcoming election the on I find most interesting is page 37 - "What do you think will happen to levels of political involvement – both your own and in the Scottish public as a whole – once the referendum is over?"
Scottish Public
Yes Greater 53.6 Normal 37.1 DK 9.3
No Greater 16.7% Normal 71.5% DK 11.8%
Yourself
Yes Greater 65.7% Normal 25.8% DK 8.5%
No Greater 31.9% Normal 57.6% DK 10.5%
I am no expert on this kind of stuff but this suggests to me that Yes voters are going to be more motivated to vote at the GE than No voters.
Impossible to tell from this data set. For example, if 90% of the No vote were regular GE voters there would not be much upside on participation possible, whereas if 60% of the Yes vote were first time voters, then there would be a lot of upside. But it could still be that a higher percentage of No voters participate in the GE. Unless you know separately what percentage of those old enough to vote at the previous GE voted Yes and No in the referendum, you don't have much to go on in calculating the likelihood of yes and no voters to vote in the GE.
Really desperate stuff to rake clips up from 18 years ago
Good luck with that
So, why did they go to the trouble of having it pulled?
Do you think it will be effective seriously.
I think playing the man will backfire especially using clips from 1997
Labour did the same to Cameron in 2010, I presume they thought it would be effective?
When people drone on about Cameron and Carlton tv, they just do so because they think it will have no impact. If it wasn't so pathetic, the one eyedness of it would be funny.
The Conservatives are considering options for scrapping several benefits, the BBC has learned. Leaked documents from the Department for Work and Pensions also suggest a regional benefits cap, taxing disability benefits and reducing eligibility for the carers' allowance.
Unemployment, sickness and disability benefit cuts been examined for cuts of up to £80 per week by Tories.
Carers Allowance to go for 40% of people
Disability Living Allowance to be taxed.
Industrial Injury benefit to be borne by industry
According to 6pm news
Those all sound like positive and useful ways to roll back the dead hand of the State. So unfortunately they won't happen.
Those cuts will bring in less than half of the £12bn promised by GO
that's not really important, We need to cut much more elsewhere anyway. Much deeper. Not the pretendy cuts so far. Both because the economy needs it to improve right now after the mess Labour left it in, and because a very small State which leaves us alone is a wonderful thing.
Having watched a little of last night's shenanigans, I think The Times called it about right when they claimed Cameron argued a good case poorly while Miliband argued a bad case well so roughly honours even.
The Standard was a notch kinder to Miliband than usual tonight so some encouragement for the reds. Both sides have plenty of questions to answer on the economy and neither leader convinced me on that or in truth much else.
To paraphrase the definition of foxhunting - the unelectable in pursuit of the ungovernable.
OT. I don't know whether this is a concerted attack or coincidence but I'm being bombarded with advice from financial advisers and stock brokers of action to take to deal with the likelihood of a Labour victory. You'd think they were anticipating an attack by the Khmer Rouge not a change of government.
They should have said"Possibility of a Labour victory". I take the warnings seriously and have over the last 2 years taken steps to protect my assets. With no VAT or NI rises possible,they will come after anyone with assets,like a half million pound mansion.
Unemployment, sickness and disability benefit cuts been examined for cuts of up to £80 per week by Tories.
Carers Allowance to go for 40% of people
Disability Living Allowance to be taxed.
Industrial Injury benefit to be borne by industry
According to 6pm news
Those all sound like positive and useful ways to roll back the dead hand of the State. So unfortunately they won't happen.
Those cuts will bring in less than half of the £12bn promised by GO
that's not really important, We need to cut much more elsewhere anyway. Much deeper. Not the pretendy cuts so far. Both because the economy needs it to improve right now after the mess Labour left it in, and because a very small State which leaves us alone is a wonderful thing.
Its easy to increase unfunded spending by 50% in real terms over 10 years, like Brown did, but less easy to come along afterwards and try to pay for it.
More MP's sleaze. I'm bored with it. Silly penny pinching stories. Mainly Tories of course but they make no bones about the desirability of making money. They have said it's not illegal.....
Unemployment, sickness and disability benefit cuts been examined for cuts of up to £80 per week by Tories.
Carers Allowance to go for 40% of people
Disability Living Allowance to be taxed.
Industrial Injury benefit to be borne by industry
According to 6pm news
Those all sound like positive and useful ways to roll back the dead hand of the State. So unfortunately they won't happen.
Those cuts will bring in less than half of the £12bn promised by GO
that's not really important, We need to cut much more elsewhere anyway. Much deeper. Not the pretendy cuts so far. Both because the economy needs it to improve right now after the mess Labour left it in, and because a very small State which leaves us alone is a wonderful thing.
Its easy to increase unfunded spending by 50% in real terms over 10 years, like Brown did, but less easy to come along afterwards and try to pay for it.
Indeed. And on my darker days I do regret that a rampaging mob waving pitchforks and burning torches haven't nailed him upside down to a wall for doing that and leaving us in this mess.
More MP's sleaze. I'm bored with it. Silly penny pinching stories. Mainly Tories of course but they make no bones about the desirability of making money. They have said it's not illegal.....
How many Labour MP's went to prison and how many Tories over expenses>?
More MP's sleaze. I'm bored with it. Silly penny pinching stories. Mainly Tories of course but they make no bones about the desirability of making money. They have said it's not illegal.....
How many Labour MP's went to prison and how many Tories over expenses>?
How many votes will the Channel 4 story shift? How many in marginals? Will there be rushed reselections as party HQs encourage named MPs to stand down? Ancient history is neither here nor there.
So wait, they are going to cut the funding for disabled carers but keep attendance allowance which is the funding for OAPs?
They aren't definitely going to do anything. As far as I know, it is a document commissioned to ask how much each option could save and what would be the impact. Given it was leaked to the BBC, you know what angle it will be coming from.
However, Tories should have cut some oldie bribes e.g. free tv licences, thats £600 million saved a year, and I doubt that would lose them one vote with the OAP lot.
Labour's "getting tough" turned out to be nothing more than more red tape and a tiny number of very wealthy OAPs will lose their heating bung...net saving...square root of basically nothing, when you add in the all the admin.
Cant see what the benefit fuss is all about. Known they will cut £12bn not unusual to ask civil servants for advice on best way.
All jt really shows is that it will have to be exfended to pensioner benefits to make the numbers up. Extending the spare room subsidy rules to over 65s would be a good start and I don't think has been ruled out.
Re expenses. Anyone got a list of the 46.Any of them in seats where UKIP have a shout?
Charging rental/hotel expenses when u own a place and rent it out is taking the p in my book
A friend tells me that the actor playing Mycroft in the current modern-day Sherlock said it's also based on Mandelson. A role model for our times, evidently. :-)
On topic though, the Fisher and Murr predictions are impossible, the Tories can't lose only 10 seats net, if Labour also gain seats net by losing 30-35 seats to the SNP with the LD still in the 20's in seat numbers.
If Labour are+5 seats net: -35 to SNP, +10 LD, +20 CON it does not add up. Also for just 20 Lab gains from the Tories equates to a 1.5% swing in England, something far lower that the 5-5.5% polls show.
From all the above predictions, the Polling Observatory is closest to the actual polls.
Why not just legislate that everyone will make a profit of 5% - no more, no less - on everything and have done with it? Though that might make Bargain Hunt a bit boring.
Why not just legislate that everyone will make a profit of 5% - no more, no less - on everything and have done with it? Though that might make Bargain Hunt a bit boring.
It is such a bad idea. Ed is once again focusing on the wrong things.
Who cares how much profit a company makes? It is the cost and quality of the service that matters to us as the customer. If a company can do a batter job, for less, and make a healthy profit on top we ought to celebrate that. What we will end up with is companies doing a lousy job but making a "fair" profit, as the smarter companies look elsewhere to make a return on their investment.
Why not just legislate that everyone will make a profit of 5% - no more, no less - on everything and have done with it? Though that might make Bargain Hunt a bit boring.
At the very least, the 5% should in fairness be a risk-free return rate, with any shortfall underwritten by the taxpayer.
Cant see what the benefit fuss is all about. Known they will cut £12bn not unusual to ask civil servants for advice on best way.
All jt really shows is that it will have to be exfended to pensioner benefits to make the numbers up. Extending the spare room subsidy rules to over 65s would be a good start and I don't think has been ruled out.
Re expenses. Anyone got a list of the 46.Any of them in seats where UKIP have a shout?
Charging rental/hotel expenses when u own a place and rent it out is taking the p in my book
Why? yes, if the house was done up on expenses, otherwise, no ones business.
Comments
Speaking of academic research, I found the link to the final Scottish Referendum Study results
http://centreonconstitutionalchange.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Scottish Referendum Study 27 March 2015.pdf
There is a lot of interesting stuff there - certainly far more than Massie cherry picked to show that he was right and Yessers are wrong
On the topic of differential turnout in the forthcoming election the on I find most interesting is page 37 - "What do you think will happen to levels of political involvement – both your own and in the Scottish public as a whole – once the referendum is over?"
Scottish Public
Yes
Greater 53.6
Normal 37.1
DK 9.3
No
Greater 16.7%
Normal 71.5%
DK 11.8%
Yourself
Yes
Greater 65.7%
Normal 25.8%
DK 8.5%
No
Greater 31.9%
Normal 57.6%
DK 10.5%
I am no expert on this kind of stuff but this suggests to me that Yes voters are going to be more motivated to vote at the GE than No voters.
@NCPoliticsUK: John Curtice: #GE2015 Exit poll will provide seat numbers at 10pm, but may well contain a "too close to call" caveat #LSEforecasting
Was quite funny the Guardian journo live blogging...Ed has smashed, smashed it I tell you, awesome, amazing...oh the polling says he lost....but lets wait and see what our special panel of swing voters say...oh they aren't very impressed, they preferred Cameron...but look, look, twitter says Ed won.
Anyone with the least confidence in the forecast from Prosser (whoever they may be) of the LibDems winning 48 seats should rush to take bet365's seemingly most generous odds of 12/1 against the Yellow Team winning 41 or more seats.
I for one will be resisting the temptation to invest in such a wager - which rather begs the question, does one actually have to pay good money to attend today's conference of "experts" at the LSE?
This imo backs up the argument that the Tories are making a big mistake by basing so much of their campaign around "Ed's weird! Ed's incompetent!". People DO think those things and will say them to their own friends, but (fairly or unfairly, and very hypocritically) they demand higher standards from politicians. Essentially, Joe Public might think it's OK for themselves to be nasty about people, but they might not think it's OK if it's politicians being nasty and bullying someone.
Good luck with that
Balls in particularly was Gordo's right hand man through out his time in government, when he was making disastrous decisions.
It's a vote-winning smasher, as long as owl feed companies do not make more than 5% profit.
Tories, you wouldn't think we are only a very weeks from a GE. They obviously had the budget, which was a continue the current course, and in terms of announcements that is about it.
And Lib Dem's, are they even standing?
Labour's announcement on a profit cap for private sector companies taking on NHS contracts just shows out of touch with reality they really are.
Aiden Gillen modelled his portrayal of Littlefinger on Peter Mandelson:
https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/581442683404730368
And then, most tellingly, the incident is completely sanitised off the BBC news site, no doubt at the insistence of ed's team, because he comes out of it looking not so 'ard after all.
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Robin.
An attack on Ed shows the Liblabcon are scared or an attack on Nigel does... I'm confused here.
They were supposedly Tory activists yesterday with the Salmond masks. Apparently activists in those masks were photographed at someone's conference a while back.
http://www.itv.com/news/central/2015-03-14/protesters-rally-outside-labour-party-conference/
The problem Mr Cameron has with debates is that he can be questioned on hwat he has actually done in office - with facts, statistics and analyses to back him up. Mr Miliband has done nothing for 5 years and can say basically what he likes. It takes a professional interviewer, well clued up, to trap him on them.
Of course the Tories are probably waiting to see what Mr Miliband shoots up in the air, before bringing it down.
Carers Allowance to go for 40% of people
Disability Living Allowance to be taxed.
Industrial Injury benefit to be borne by industry
According to 6pm news
http://www.scottishlabour.org.uk/blog/entry/8th-may-2015
Anyone know anything about it? It doesn't say much for their efficiency or respect for the rule of law, anyway.
So unfortunately they won't happen.
Last night that well known rightwinger BENM said it was head in the hands time watching Ed muck it up with Paxman yet somehow he is now deemed to have done well. Ed will continue to struggle in interviews with all these promises.
"Looking to the future of the ongoing prosecutions of journalists, Shanahan sees Monday's Guardian editorial as a potential turning point.
“The Guardian, in a complete change from its usual position, said that it welcomed the acquittal of myself and my colleagues on Friday and described it as good. And I thought that was obviously welcome, but also significant, because it hints at a sea-change in thinking at The Guardian...
“But what matters there is The Guardian is obviously the bible of the left-wing establishment, and the BBC, and the chattering classes, and it’s probably the only paper the CPS is likely to take any notice of.” .......
“I think that we can shout all we like and the CPS won’t listen, but if The Guardian says – in quite measured tones in that leader [on Monday] – that these acquittals are a good thing, then I think that perhaps there is some hope that the CPS will listen."
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/after-three-barren-painful-and-miserable-years-cleared-sun-leader-writer-fergus-shanahan-no-mood
On that subject:
http://www.hl.co.uk/news/2015/3/27/financial-markets-have-not-priced-in-britains-shaky-politics
The Tories were suffering the wipe out of 1997. Due mainly to the backlash of her years of course.
Of course at GE2015 the Tories are planning cuts even Thatcher would have left alone in order to fund tax cuts
And Lib Dem's, are they even standing?
The Conservatives wanted a low-key election runup in which their spending under the radar in December-March would pull them ahead. One reason that I'm optimstic is that the timeframe for the air bombardment is about to close in 3 days without the desired Tory lead, after which we'll be on more even terms.
Nick
Are you pleased with all these spending pledges by Labour?
The Conservatives are considering options for scrapping several benefits, the BBC has learned.
Leaked documents from the Department for Work and Pensions also suggest a regional benefits cap, taxing disability benefits and reducing eligibility for the carers' allowance.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32084722
Told you gonna be a dirty election.
Cuts for ideological reasons.
Will probably be popular among those not in receipt methinks
"Perhaps they were Greens. They were wearing trousers, and plenty of footage from the Green party conference shows delegates wearing trousers."
I'm with you on this Izzy. They're not Tories. Not a twin set or set of pearls among them.
Good to see you doing patronising as well as complacent, definitely another string to the bow.
I think playing the man will backfire especially using clips from 1997
From a supporter of a party which goes on and on about Bullingdon!
Desperate stuff if they have to drag stuff up from 18 years ago.
I would rather get into policy myself like the £12BN of benefit cuts
I have answered your question perhaps you can answer mine.
Do you think it will be effective
Get those investments liquidated
Hart, Clyne, Cahill, Jones, Baines; Henderson, Carrick, Delph, Sterling, Rooney, Welbeck
Harry Kane on bench.
------
A midfield of Henderson, Carrick and Delph...sigh...no decent team in the world would be afraid of that midfield.
In Labour world all benefits are good. The benevolent government dispensing kindness and buying votes.
'Good' benefits cap.
'Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has said he is in favour of a regional benefits cap...'
Much deeper. Not the pretendy cuts so far.
Both because the economy needs it to improve right now after the mess Labour left it in, and because a very small State which leaves us alone is a wonderful thing.
Having watched a little of last night's shenanigans, I think The Times called it about right when they claimed Cameron argued a good case poorly while Miliband argued a bad case well so roughly honours even.
The Standard was a notch kinder to Miliband than usual tonight so some encouragement for the reds. Both sides have plenty of questions to answer on the economy and neither leader convinced me on that or in truth much else.
To paraphrase the definition of foxhunting - the unelectable in pursuit of the ungovernable.
I take the warnings seriously and have over the last 2 years taken steps to protect my assets.
With no VAT or NI rises possible,they will come after anyone with assets,like a half million pound mansion.
Noone bothers to link to Polly anymore nor Toilets, nor toenails, nor con home, and
its as though their influence has waned.
Roger would love Polly, she's the same sort of person, preaching about the poor whilst living in two homed luxury..
However, Tories should have cut some oldie bribes e.g. free tv licences, thats £600 million saved a year, and I doubt that would lose them one vote with the OAP lot.
Labour's "getting tough" turned out to be nothing more than more red tape and a tiny number of very wealthy OAPs will lose their heating bung...net saving...square root of basically nothing, when you add in the all the admin.
Next for a good inspection is the money merry go around of constituency offices...
777 minutes
All jt really shows is that it will have to be exfended to pensioner benefits to make the numbers up. Extending the spare room subsidy rules to over 65s would be a good start and I don't think has been ruled out.
Re expenses. Anyone got a list of the 46.Any of them in seats where UKIP have a shout?
Charging rental/hotel expenses when u own a place and rent it out is taking the p in my book
If Labour are+5 seats net: -35 to SNP, +10 LD, +20 CON it does not add up.
Also for just 20 Lab gains from the Tories equates to a 1.5% swing in England, something far lower that the 5-5.5% polls show.
From all the above predictions, the Polling Observatory is closest to the actual polls.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/11500757/46-MPs-claim-rent-or-hotels-to-live-in-London-despite-owning-taxpayer-funded-homes-in-capital.html
Who cares how much profit a company makes? It is the cost and quality of the service that matters to us as the customer. If a company can do a batter job, for less, and make a healthy profit on top we ought to celebrate that. What we will end up with is companies doing a lousy job but making a "fair" profit, as the smarter companies look elsewhere to make a return on their investment.