Around the same time, the SNP will find out whether it has defeated the Lib Dems in their fortress of Orkney & Shetland, a seat that has returned Liberal MPs in every election but one since 1837. If the nationalists win there, only the hugely popular Charles Kennedy, whose Ross, Skye & Lochaber seat reports at 7am, will stand in the way of a total SNP victory.
Ahahah If O&S goes, you can put every penny you've got on Kennedy going.
As I understand it O&S isn’t any more keen on being ruled by Edinburgh than it is by London. Given the opporftunioty older inhabitants at any rate would probably prefer Oslo or Copenhagen!
Dear Dear OKC, get real.
History, my dear sir, history!
Bollox you mean, you should not believe everything you read in the Daily Heil
How did Scotland come by the islands, then?
Life is a bit different from 7 centuries or so ago. next you will be telling me that USA will be voting to be part of Britain.
So this stone slab business, is it better or worse than the Tories passing a law to make sure they do something? Same principle - shows our commitment to do this - more striking and bizarre visual manifestation (in that is has a visual manifestation), but actually creating a law to force themselves not to back down.
Its worse, much worse. Doesn't mean the legislation promise wasn't idiotic though.
As I said the other day, the problem for Miliband will be his own ambition. It'll be his only ever shot at becoming PM and - understandably - he'll do all he can to grab the Holy Grail.
If he does come behind on votes and seats (I think he will on votes, it remains to be seen on seats) then he'd be best-advised to stay clear of the SNP. The word 'Nationalism' is a bit of a giveaway. Labour is a proud party and should have no truck with nationalists.
The SNP want to break up Britain and masquerade as left-of-centre redistributionists only because it suits their current needs. In reality they are just a party of tribalist thugs who hate Britain, hate England, hate being ruled from London and hate anyone who disagrees with them. The manner of the Cybernats alone should be enough to put any sensible mainstream politician off. The SNP are just fortunate to have had charismatic leadership this past ten years.
Whether or not Miliband is resolute enough to put common-sense before ambition is soon to be discovered.
I don't normally bother responding to recycled MSM nonsense and ridiculous statements your making about the SNP. There are extremist on both sides in Scotland, as there are in England e.g. EDL. The ugly underbelly of unionism was plain for all to see in the violent scenes in George Square on the day after the referendum. Indeed even on the day of the referendum there were only 2 arrests, with 1 being a Labour candidate for Liverpool allegedly assaulting a Yes voter.
I think if Ed has a chance of becoming the PM he will seize it, at the end of the day these guys all crave power, putting country before party isn't in their DNA, Labour tried this approach in Scotland during the referendum, look how that has worked out for them.
If those business rates affect Scotland's budget it is perfectly legitimate. As long as our pocket money is based on what Westminster votes for England then there is nothing that should stop us voting on it. Same would apply to your Scottish examples above, you cannot have your cake and eat it. If they do not like it then they should introduce a fair system so that English votes do not affect Scotland. Also you have had a LibDem coalition government twice , once in Holyrood and once in UK.
It may be legitimate, but is also represents an absolute conflict of interest.
Let's say the SNP votes to reduce business rates in Scotland, and then votes (with Labour support) to triple business rates anywhere not in Scotland, but within 100 miles of the Scottish border.
It would be perfectly legitimate, but would it be right?
Has anyone got any theories why the pollsters and the experts employed to analyze the polls don't trust them? Even last night's two or three of which were 'final polls'?
These people may well have to go back to counting washing powder coupons if they are as wrong as they think they are.
They usually get it right so why the cold feet this time?
"An NHS with the time to care", eh? What does success actually look like on that, Ed? How do you MEASURE it?
It just means a new clock on every ward....
Are you mad, do you think we're made of money?!
I appreciate this from Labour though. Some really, really silly gimmick thrown out at the weekend to amuse/infuriate wonks that, like everything else, will not shift the outcome an inch, but at least provides some fodder for distraction and discussion, and we've not had enough of those from the actual campaigns proper.
Print media is a dead loss as a business, Mr Murdoch, the Barclay Bros etc are not in it to make money (they all know they could easily get better returns elsewhere), they very wealthy individuals who are are in it to pursue a political agenda that suits the wealthy.
Hang, on what does 'An NHS with the time to care' actually mean?
Can we start with not killing 1200 of their CUSTOMERS like they did in Stafford? Maybe allowing their CUSTOMERS to drink from bottled water instead of flower vases? Maybe not making their CUSTOMERS lie in their own shit for days? Maybe not having their CUSTOMERS sleep in corridors because they have targets to meet? Maybe running the NHS for the CUSTOMERS rather than the people who work there? Maybe keeping their expensive capital equipment running more than 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, you know, for the CUSTOMERS' benefit?
Sorry but Labour's politicisation of the NHS is the biggest reason I couldn't vote for them.
1983 saw the Longest Suicide Note in History. 2015 sees @Ed_Miliband go further as he poses with his own tombstone. http://t.co/Ij1ylO0aDU
He makes Brown look almost sane. What a complete plank the man is, so bad I hope the Tories win.
Wow. I know things look rosy for Scotland either way, but can he be that bad?
He is worse, that tombstone is easily the most stupid political act ever, and to compound it every one of the "pledges" are just waffle. If that cretin is running the country next week , we are doomed.
It may be legitimate, but is also represents an absolute conflict of interest.
Let's say the SNP votes to reduce business rates in Scotland, and then votes (with Labour support) to triple business rates anywhere not in Scotland, but within 100 miles of the Scottish border.
It would be perfectly legitimate, but would it be right?
The Labour stone is the kitschest moment of the campaign.
It's a great idea, they can hide the pledge about not doing deals with the SNP behind it.
It's been a while since I read Exodus, but didn't the Israelis reject Moses and the 10 Commandments the first time that he brought them down the mountain? IIRC, he got so frustrated he broke them in pieces* and had to go back to get some more.
* I have vague memory that he ground up the broken ones into dust and force-fed them to his people, but that's just weird...
The pollsters, politicians and commentariat have created in their minds a dysfunctional parliament of hell and now appear to be blaming the voters for it!
I think the voters intend something rather different....
I wonder what Labour donors will think of this bizarre stunt? Monumental masonry doesn't come cheap - and not at 8'6" tall. There's so much wrong with it on every level.
I never thought I'd laugh more than Blackbusters - but this is so SURREAL
What a pity that this thread casually repeats as if fact the nonsence about SNP candidates that appears in the deadwood press. Amost universally the ones who have been on the TV and radio have come across as top quality for an articulate prersentation of their viewpoint.
The problem is the ones who have not been on TV and radio. There's probably a reason they've been kept away. The SNP would not want them calling No voters Quisling and teaitors, or telling OAPs they'll do soon and then Scotland will be "free".
No the problem is what scotslass says.
Lies in the press being re-reported as fact.
Neil Hay did NOT accuse anyone of being a Quisling.
''You will never be happy with anything until you achieve independence.''
In a discussion Malcolm never makes a point without attaching a personal insult to the person he is addressing.
What an unpleasant individual he is.
Given some of the reports emerging of the conduct of the SNP and its supporters, Malcolm's attitude is hardly surprising.
I'm Welsh, and perfectly understand the patriotic (mainly sport-related) anti-Englishness. But there is a stark difference between patriotism and nationalism. As history proves.
LOL, idiot loses argument and whines like a big jessie. Supported by another sad loser, fenster and Taffy , two cheeks of the same whinging ARSE,
You may add me to that arse if you like. I remain baffled why being able to 'dish it out but also take it' is some point of pride, when we could just remain civil in the first place, or why getting angry at personal insults, reacting to those insults (with complaints rather than merely retaliation) means someone has 'lost' an argument. It's frankly bizarre.
But go ahead, call me a whinging loser idiot nancy idiot. (may as well be twice for good measure) That'll prove you are clearly the master debater. (bear in mind I thought Yes would win and think Scotland will be independent before too many years have passed, so I cannot be too much of an idiot, right)
LOL, you are not the full bawbee. If people are not civil to you it is not sensible to turn the other cheek , they just skelp that one as well. When you have whinging jessies posting rubbish they should be called out for the idiots they are. .
Each to their own.
Agreed , you sound like a compassionate caring sensitive person. I am a bit more on the look after yourself side. It takes all sorts mind you, and it is just banter.
What a pity that this thread casually repeats as if fact the nonsence about SNP candidates that appears in the deadwood press. Amost universally the ones who have been on the TV and radio have come across as top quality for an articulate prersentation of their viewpoint.
The problem is the ones who have not been on TV and radio. There's probably a reason they've been kept away. The SNP would not want them calling No voters Quisling and teaitors, or telling OAPs they'll do soon and then Scotland will be "free".
No the problem is what scotslass says.
Lies in the press being re-reported as fact.
Neil Hay did NOT accuse anyone of being a Quisling.
And the bedroom tax is not actually a tax. It's almost as though misinformation, or at least misinterpretation of the information, is part and parcel of all politics unfortuantely.
On the slab again (thank you, Labour), might I suggest to Tory spinners that you may want to photoshop your interpretations of Labour's pledges/negative impact on the stone, rather than leaving his own pledges? If you circulate it unaltered, sure most people will think it looks silly, but you will also increase the number of people who see Labour's pledges and some of them may like them.
Mr. Royale, you can actually judge a political pledge's worth by examining the contrary argument. If both are valid, then the original pledge is worth something. The classic right/left low taxes/high public spending argument would be one such example.
But when a politician says they want a fairer Britain, what's the bloody point of wasting breath on such nonsense? Who's going to stand up on stage and proclaim we have too much fairness?
A really good point, Mr Dancer.
It's perfectly reasonable to say that extra spending is a good thing, and this tax or that tax will go up for pay for it. The LDs got their best result ever in 2005 when they pledged a penny on income tax for education.
The problem comes when there's no proper costing of plans, or that billions more in taxes can be raised by the rich, who will of course just roll over and pay up.
All parties are guilty of this to some extent, although Balls does seem to have spent his bankers' bonus tax 10 times over by now, for a pretty egregious example of this sort of thinking.
The SNP will have accomplished what they did in 1979 when they brought down the LAB government, ushering in the destruction of most that was positive in the country, and what the SDP-LIB alliance did in 1982, and indeed what the LD party did in 2010 - they will have kept LAB out of office.
I despise the Tory party, but it's quite accurate to call them the natural party of government in this country. For as long as almost anyone can remember, they have only ever been kicked out of office spectacularly - in 1945 and 1997 with huge groundswells of hope and support helping the Labour party; in 1964 when the Tory government was an obvious shambles and there'd clearly been a decision from up-top that it was time for a change (just look at the TV comedy of the time); and in 1974 when the miners kicked their backsides with huge popular support.
And for all the talk about front-runners falling at hedges and remember Portillo and Johnson on the sofa, Johnson went to Eton and he's likely to be handed the job. He's likely to be piped into it by Cameron.
"Rugby may be more clever, Harrow may make more row, But we'll row for ever, Steady from stroke to bow"
I take it you are talking about Portillo and [ Alan ] Johnson on the sofa and [ Boris ] Johnson went to Eton !
I don't know about Portillo and AJ on the sofa! I meant Boris Johnson's recent performance on the sofa with Ed Miliband, which was described (wrongly in my opinion) on this very blog as having jeopardised or wrecked BJ's chances of the Tory leadership.
The weather is truly atrocious here but if the tories are to have a surprise gain in Perth and North Perthshire I really need to get going. I am confident that the leaflets I deliver today will make all the difference.
(And the answer is nothing more than wine, I promise).
If those business rates affect Scotland's budget it is perfectly legitimate. As long as our pocket money is based on what Westminster votes for England then there is nothing that should stop us voting on it. Same would apply to your Scottish examples above, you cannot have your cake and eat it. If they do not like it then they should introduce a fair system so that English votes do not affect Scotland. Also you have had a LibDem coalition government twice , once in Holyrood and once in UK.
It may be legitimate, but is also represents an absolute conflict of interest.
Let's say the SNP votes to reduce business rates in Scotland, and then votes (with Labour support) to triple business rates anywhere not in Scotland, but within 100 miles of the Scottish border.
It would be perfectly legitimate, but would it be right?
Charles, No but the answer is not to be undemocratic and ban Scotland from having any say in UK , the answer is to have a proper system where UK MP's voting on supposed English matters do not adversely affect Scotland, ie a proper federal system which has impacts only for the country that votes on it. You cannot have your cake and eat it.
The Labour stone is the kitschest moment of the campaign.
It's a great idea, they can hide the pledge about not doing deals with the SNP behind it.
It's been a while since I read Exodus, but didn't the Israelis reject Moses and the 10 Commandments the first time that he brought them down the mountain? IIRC, he got so frustrated he broke them in pieces* and had to go back to get some more.
* I have vague memory that he ground up the broken ones into dust and force-fed them to his people, but that's just weird...
My recollection is that they were broken but put in the ark of the covenant thingy and then kept in the temple in Jerusalem when it was built. (At least until Indiana Jones came along).
What a pity that this thread casually repeats as if fact the nonsence about SNP candidates that appears in the deadwood press. Amost universally the ones who have been on the TV and radio have come across as top quality for an articulate prersentation of their viewpoint.
The problem is the ones who have not been on TV and radio. There's probably a reason they've been kept away. The SNP would not want them calling No voters Quisling and teaitors, or telling OAPs they'll do soon and then Scotland will be "free".
No the problem is what scotslass says.
Lies in the press being re-reported as fact.
Neil Hay did NOT accuse anyone of being a Quisling.
Preference is to just believe the lies, easy to believe the SNP supporters eat babies.
@ChristianJMay Spare a thought for future archaeologists who will unearth Miliband's slab. "We've unearthed a culture who worshiped vague platitudes..."
What a pity that this thread casually repeats as if fact the nonsence about SNP candidates that appears in the deadwood press. Amost universally the ones who have been on the TV and radio have come across as top quality for an articulate prersentation of their viewpoint.
I don't think the public fall for it any more. Any party that poses any threat to the position of the wealthy and privileged (SNP, Labour, UKIP) is mercilessly vilified in the Tory press.
Anyone not voting for the Tories probably dismisses anything that Murdoch or the Mail or Telegraph come up with.
The more it is not going their way (and lets face it they expected the Tories to be cruising home by now) the more vicious it will get. Such is the quality of the "democracy" we live in, every 5 years Murdoch pops over and tries to decide who will govern a country.
He might agree to a 0.1% increase. Clegg is such a poor politician ! His red lines barely has any ink on them.
Given how confident and assured he can sound a lot of the time, I am increasingly of the opinion that Clegg is either genuinely mad or simply a very very good actor. To borrow and paraphrase from the late, great Terry Pratchett, he's the only person out there who will try to bluff a hand with no cards.
Clegg is so good at the debate stuff that he really is the heir to Blair.
Miss Plato, Blackbusters was a mistake. This is eight and a half feet of deliberation.
Mr. G, we agree Miliband would be useless, but why would the SNP then actively support the clown?
MD, they would only support him if it was in Scotland's/UK's interests. SNP want to improve the country and at present that means the UK. If that cretin gets in then we can only hope someone ( anyone ) is there to stop him ruining the country completely.
If Labour are the only party in a position to form a government it won't be the SNP that will be distracting attention it will be riots in the Tory Party. Within days there will be a backbench mutiny the like of which we haven't seen in Jack's lifetime.
Osborne and Cameron will be garotted and a most unsavoury scrap will begin The (demoralised) modernisers versus the right wing fruitcakes. In the meantime Ed and Nicola could spend days in flagrante delicto on the Speaker's chair and no one would notice
The weather is truly atrocious here but if the tories are to have a surprise gain in Perth and North Perthshire I really need to get going. I am confident that the leaflets I deliver today will make all the difference.
(And the answer is nothing more than wine, I promise).
Hope you get well drookit David , you deserve it for putting stuff like that through poor souls doors on a Sunday.
The first genuine point and laugh moment of the campaign.....
I'm just imagining the people in the focus group stifling their giggles and going, "A pledge cenotaph, yes, that would make me more likely to vote Labour".
So on reflection, Labour are clearly going for the Russell Brand strategy here - a lot of people are going to mock them mercilessly for it, but in doing so they figure a lot more people will see their pledges, and it might work on some of them.
Was doing some knocking-up in Great Yarmouth yesterday with some GOTV for P's & Qs.
I know that people will say that you only see what you want to see but in this seaside town, the UKIP vote in the marginal wards of Bradwell and Caister [where the election will be determined] is evaporating.
A bus-load of FBU heavies up from London was doing likewise, but in the 'Labour' heartlands.
When I canvassed these areas last Autumn [during Clacton & Rochester], UKIP were ahead. So, today, UKIP has fallen-away dramatically.
So, the most recent Ashcroft just doesn't look like what I'm seeing on the ground. Yes there is _some_ UKIP but not in the bucket-loads that's being stated. UKIP does control seats on the local Council. Last year they took 10 of the 13 places up for grabs, equally as it turns out from Labour [5] and Conservatives [5]. So there are people who GENUINELY did vote for UKIP quite recently within the last 12 months in the borough.
We know polls adjust for past-vote-weighting.
I'm just wondering in a General [as opposed to borough or EU vote] whether this is distorting the past vote weighting so that the polls are showing UKIP performing more strongly in the General than they actually are by observable calibration on the ground.
If I'm right, then polls are methodogically over-stating UKIP. My thesis is that a past-vote weighting for a Borough or EU poll should not be confused with a past-vote weighting for the General. Yet it seems that they are.
Can those who look at these things more closely than me comment? Is there a methodology point here that might explain why the UKIP vote appears to be holding up on the polls more than we're seeing on the ground?
Bunnco - Your Man on the Spot
Bunnco, Than k you for feeding back your experiences. I find it really helpful and I wish more people on here could do the same.
I posted something similar last night about Thanet S. I am simply not seeing the Labour vote that Ashcroft is picking up. Likewise another canvasser who was out in a part of Sandwich yesterday-an area Farage will expect to do very well in. He said UKIP support was strong but Mackinlay was getting good numbers and better feedback than a month ago.
I am ever more convinced that some of the pollsters are going to be scratching their heads on Friday morning and wondering where they went wrong.
If Ed really means this monolith to be a perpetual reminder of his pledges to the One Nation, then rather than have it in one of his gardens, perhaps he should be perpetually to tied to the damned thing?
If his liver is eaten daily by an eagle, so be it.
It really is the most vacuous tosh I have ever seen a major political party present. And to set it in stone? A sense of humour is a good thing but only in its place.
I don't think its actually engraved on the stone - it looks like its been printed, or what ever the modern equivalent of Letraset is......
There's a lot of empty space on Miliband's tablet of stone. It's as though they lost heart with engraving the listed banalities when they reached six and skipped the last four.
The good thing about the Edstone is that there's some space at the bottom if he come sup with some new pledges, or where Labour could cross out Ed's name and put someone elses if they have to.
Was doing some knocking-up in Great Yarmouth yesterday with some GOTV for P's & Qs.
I know that people will say that you only see what you want to see but in this seaside town, the UKIP vote in the marginal wards of Bradwell and Caister [where the election will be determined] is evaporating.
A bus-load of FBU heavies up from London was doing likewise, but in the 'Labour' heartlands.
When I canvassed these areas last Autumn [during Clacton & Rochester], UKIP were ahead. So, today, UKIP has fallen-away dramatically.
So, the most recent Ashcroft just doesn't look like what I'm seeing on the ground. Yes there is _some_ UKIP but not in the bucket-loads that's being stated. UKIP does control seats on the local Council. Last year they took 10 of the 13 places up for grabs, equally as it turns out from Labour [5] and Conservatives [5]. So there are people who GENUINELY did vote for UKIP quite recently within the last 12 months in the borough.
We know polls adjust for past-vote-weighting.
I'm just wondering in a General [as opposed to borough or EU vote] whether this is distorting the past vote weighting so that the polls are showing UKIP performing more strongly in the General than they actually are by observable calibration on the ground.
If I'm right, then polls are methodogically over-stating UKIP. My thesis is that a past-vote weighting for a Borough or EU poll should not be confused with a past-vote weighting for the General. Yet it seems that they are.
Can those who look at these things more closely than me comment? Is there a methodology point here that might explain why the UKIP vote appears to be holding up on the polls more than we're seeing on the ground?
Bunnco - Your Man on the Spot
Bunnco, Than k you for feeding back your experiences. I find it really helpful and I wish more people on here could do the same.
I posted something similar last night about Thanet S. I am simply not seeing the Labour vote that Ashcroft is picking up. Likewise another canvasser who was out in a part of Sandwich yesterday-an area Farage will expect to do very well in. He said UKIP support was strong but Mackinlay was getting good numbers and better feedback than a month ago.
I am ever more convinced that some of the pollsters are going to be scratching their heads on Friday morning and wondering where they went wrong.
Not much evidence of UKIP in Uttoxeter (which is part of Burton; theoretically a marginal but the popular first-time incumbent should be fine). A couple of UKIP posters in windows when leafletting but little on the doorstep. Some switchers both ways otherwise.
WTF is the deal with that stone? Is this Miliband's Sheffield rally moment?
The press should be all over this: sinking their teeth in to the simple extreme-weirdness of this, and it's smack of megalomania, and hubris.
The press have already gone over the top slinging abuse at Miliband so I seriously doubt this will do any damage. I reckon this about Ed's 10th "Sheffield Rally" moment to date according to the PB Tories! Ultimately the penny might drop that vicious personal attacks by the Mail & Murdoch are actually counter productive to many voters.
The first genuine point and laugh moment of the campaign.....
I'm just imagining the people in the focus group stifling their giggles and going, "A pledge cenotaph, yes, that would make me more likely to vote Labour".
The first genuine point and laugh moment of the campaign.....
I'm just imagining the people in the focus group stifling their giggles and going, "A pledge cenotaph, yes, that would make me more likely to vote Labour".
Mr Edmund, every 7th May, left-leaners will gather in Islington to put a red rose at the base of this Tomb of the Unknown Voter.....
WTF is the deal with that stone? Is this Miliband's Sheffield rally moment?
The press should be all over this: sinking their teeth in to the simple extreme-weirdness of this, and it's smack of megalomania, and hubris.
The press have already gone over the top slinging abuse at Miliband so I seriously doubt this will do any damage. I reckon this about Ed's 10th "Sheffield Rally" moment to date according to the PB Tories! Ultimately the penny might drop that vicious personal attacks by the Mail & Murdoch are actually counter productive to many voters.
If Ed really means this monolith to be a perpetual reminder of his pledges to the One Nation, then rather than have it in one of his gardens, perhaps he should be perpetually to tied to the damned thing?
If his liver is eaten daily by an eagle, so be it.
That is completely unfair. Prometheus did something useful with his life.
WTF is the deal with that stone? Is this Miliband's Sheffield rally moment?
The press should be all over this: sinking their teeth in to the simple extreme-weirdness of this, and it's smack of megalomania, and hubris.
The press have already gone over the top slinging abuse at Miliband so I seriously doubt this will do any damage. I reckon this about Ed's 10th "Sheffield Rally" moment to date according to the PB Tories! Ultimately the penny might drop that vicious personal attacks by the Mail & Murdoch are actually counter productive to many voters.
Presumably why Ed thought this was a good idea then; he knows attacking him has not worked, so he can draw such fire without fear.
There's a lot of empty space on Miliband's tablet of stone. It's as though they lost heart with engraving the listed banalities when they reached six and skipped the last four.
The space is for Alex and Nicola to add their own pledges and signatures next week.
The first genuine point and laugh moment of the campaign.....
I'm just imagining the people in the focus group stifling their giggles and going, "A pledge cenotaph, yes, that would make me more likely to vote Labour".
The first genuine point and laugh moment of the campaign.....
I'm just imagining the people in the focus group stifling their giggles and going, "A pledge cenotaph, yes, that would make me more likely to vote Labour".
Mr Edmund, every 7th May, left-leaners will gather in Islington to put a red rose at the base of this Tomb of the Unknown Voter.....
What a ridiculous slab!!! But a lot of people are going to see those pledges now.
There are no pledges on that slab, just some waffly bullshit. That is the whole point he is not only stupid but thinks voters are as well that they will be taken in by the airy fairy guff carved on his Tombstone.
Last year there was a Better Together plan to carve stuff in rock. Some folk were gung-ho for it while the rest of us argued it would look stupid, like a tombstone & send the wrong message. The only sane Labour person against was @JohannLamont -go figure
There must be some decent solid working class Labour voters who are somewhat ashamed of what their leaders are doing in their name this morning..how do they avoid talking about it down at the pub.. He,s bought a bloody big stone...written some garbage on it...wtf..
Please make sure you do not get stoned in Broxtowe with this aspiring Labour MP.
Frankly I cannot see why anyone would want to share a pint with someone who supports a party that wants to ruin Britain and has a track record of supporting it as it ruined it in the past.
What a ridiculous slab!!! But a lot of people are going to see those pledges now.
There are no pledges on that slab, just some waffly bullshit. That is the whole point he is not only stupid but thinks voters are as well that they will be taken in by the airy fairy guff carved on his Tombstone.
Spot on. Miliband has intellectual contempt for the British electorate as this preposterous stunt confirms.
What a ridiculous slab!!! But a lot of people are going to see those pledges now.
There are no pledges on that slab, just some waffly bullshit. That is the whole point he is not only stupid but thinks voters are as well that they will be taken in by the airy fairy guff carved on his Tombstone.
Spot on. Miliband has intellectual contempt for the British electorate as this preposterous stunt confirms.
Please make sure you do not get stoned in Broxtowe with this aspiring Labour MP.
Frankly I cannot see why anyone would want to share a pint with someone who supports a party that wants to ruin Britain and has a track record of supporting it as it ruined it in the past.
The beauty of democracy is we can disagree as to which party or parties best fit that description.
What a ridiculous slab!!! But a lot of people are going to see those pledges now.
There are no pledges on that slab, just some waffly bullshit. That is the whole point he is not only stupid but thinks voters are as well that they will be taken in by the airy fairy guff carved on his Tombstone.
TBF when you get to this point in the election campaign the parties are aiming at a diminishing proportion of still-undecided voters, who are by and large the dimmest portion of the electorate. This is why at this point they seem to be competing for the stupidest idea.
We should probably be grateful that they're now doing meaningless things like writing things on stones or promising to pass laws about what kind of laws they can pass, rather than feeling the need to announce actual new policies that they may later feel they have to enact.
Last year there was a Better Together plan to carve stuff in rock. Some folk were gung-ho for it while the rest of us argued it would look stupid, like a tombstone & send the wrong message. The only sane Labour person against was @JohannLamont -go figure
So where did this idea originate? Has it been done overseas?
Miss Plato, Blackbusters was a mistake. This is eight and a half feet of deliberation.
Mr. G, we agree Miliband would be useless, but why would the SNP then actively support the clown?
MD, they would only support him if it was in Scotland's/UK's interests. SNP want to improve the country and at present that means the UK. If that cretin gets in then we can only hope someone ( anyone ) is there to stop him ruining the country completely.
I always knew you are a Scottish Conservative in a future Independent Scotland malg.
Surely it will not be long now before your dream can turn into reality.
How do you go along with all that left wing stuff from Nicola in the meantime ?
Comments
I think if Ed has a chance of becoming the PM he will seize it, at the end of the day these guys all crave power, putting country before party isn't in their DNA, Labour tried this approach in Scotland during the referendum, look how that has worked out for them.
Great clear message there!
Let's say the SNP votes to reduce business rates in Scotland, and then votes (with Labour support) to triple business rates anywhere not in Scotland, but within 100 miles of the Scottish border.
It would be perfectly legitimate, but would it be right?
These people may well have to go back to counting washing powder coupons if they are as wrong as they think they are.
They usually get it right so why the cold feet this time?
I appreciate this from Labour though. Some really, really silly gimmick thrown out at the weekend to amuse/infuriate wonks that, like everything else, will not shift the outcome an inch, but at least provides some fodder for distraction and discussion, and we've not had enough of those from the actual campaigns proper.
Maybe allowing their CUSTOMERS to drink from bottled water instead of flower vases?
Maybe not making their CUSTOMERS lie in their own shit for days?
Maybe not having their CUSTOMERS sleep in corridors because they have targets to meet?
Maybe running the NHS for the CUSTOMERS rather than the people who work there?
Maybe keeping their expensive capital equipment running more than 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, you know, for the CUSTOMERS' benefit?
Sorry but Labour's politicisation of the NHS is the biggest reason I couldn't vote for them.
* I have vague memory that he ground up the broken ones into dust and force-fed them to his people, but that's just weird...
I think the voters intend something rather different....
I never thought I'd laugh more than Blackbusters - but this is so SURREAL
http://tinyurl.com/lxyghqt
I'm almost beginning to feel sorry for Jim. Almost.
Lies in the press being re-reported as fact.
Neil Hay did NOT accuse anyone of being a Quisling.
Mr. G, we agree Miliband would be useless, but why would the SNP then actively support the clown?
Labours back room are planning to introduce first
On the slab again (thank you, Labour), might I suggest to Tory spinners that you may want to photoshop your interpretations of Labour's pledges/negative impact on the stone, rather than leaving his own pledges? If you circulate it unaltered, sure most people will think it looks silly, but you will also increase the number of people who see Labour's pledges and some of them may like them.
It's perfectly reasonable to say that extra spending is a good thing, and this tax or that tax will go up for pay for it. The LDs got their best result ever in 2005 when they pledged a penny on income tax for education.
The problem comes when there's no proper costing of plans, or that billions more in taxes can be raised by the rich, who will of course just roll over and pay up.
All parties are guilty of this to some extent, although Balls does seem to have spent his bankers' bonus tax 10 times over by now, for a pretty egregious example of this sort of thinking.
*flees to safety*
(And the answer is nothing more than wine, I promise).
You cannot have your cake and eat it.
The Telegraph editorial comes out for the Conservative party.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11579151/Sunday-Telegraph-Vote-in-the-national-interest.-Vote-Conservative.html
https://twitter.com/DPJHodges/status/594796616126697472
Anyone not voting for the Tories probably dismisses anything that Murdoch or the Mail or Telegraph come up with.
The more it is not going their way (and lets face it they expected the Tories to be cruising home by now) the more vicious it will get. Such is the quality of the "democracy" we live in, every 5 years Murdoch pops over and tries to decide who will govern a country.
Osborne and Cameron will be garotted and a most unsavoury scrap will begin The (demoralised) modernisers versus the right wing fruitcakes. In the meantime Ed and Nicola could spend days in flagrante delicto on the Speaker's chair and no one would notice
I do wonder how it'll go.
Edited extra bit: Sturgeon/Salmond are obviously more competent than Miliband, but they also have a vested interest.
https://twitter.com/Inst_4_Studies/status/594797335286255616
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Pictures/web/t/e/i/alex-salmond-18111_450.jpg
At least the SNP had the good sense to stick to just one promise !!
I posted something similar last night about Thanet S. I am simply not seeing the Labour vote that Ashcroft is picking up. Likewise another canvasser who was out in a part of Sandwich yesterday-an area Farage will expect to do very well in. He said UKIP support was strong but Mackinlay was getting good numbers and better feedback than a month ago.
I am ever more convinced that some of the pollsters are going to be scratching their heads on Friday morning and wondering where they went wrong.
If his liver is eaten daily by an eagle, so be it.
Mr. Tory/Mr. Bunnco, cheers for these reports.
Expect him to be signed up to some interesting offers.....
Telegraph Politics (@TelePolitics)
03/05/2015 10:38
Nigel Farage: Ukip will exterminate Dr Who tgr.ph/1bQEEz2
I disagree with Ed Miliband's and Labour's analysis of the situation, and with virtually every single one of their suggested solutions.
I think they would be a terrible government.
But do I despise them? Hell, no!
I know, I'm going, I'm going....shiver.
Ben @Jamin2g 22m22 minutes ago
Even Neil Kinnock drew the line at an 8ft headstone.
#EdStone
Arf
Last year there was a Better Together plan to carve stuff in rock. Some folk were gung-ho for it while the rest of us argued it would look stupid, like a tombstone & send the wrong message. The only sane Labour person against was @JohannLamont -go figure
He,s bought a bloody big stone...written some garbage on it...wtf..
Frankly I cannot see why anyone would want to share a pint with someone who supports a party that wants to ruin Britain and has a track record of supporting it as it ruined it in the past.
We should probably be grateful that they're now doing meaningless things like writing things on stones or promising to pass laws about what kind of laws they can pass, rather than feeling the need to announce actual new policies that they may later feel they have to enact.
Surely it will not be long now before your dream can turn into reality.
How do you go along with all that left wing stuff from Nicola in the meantime ?