Chaudhry is the former premier of Kashmir and the MP for Mirpur, in Pakistan. In a 2010 BBC profile, he claimed he “always” visits Britain ahead of general elections in order to tell British-Pakistanis “how to vote“. Chaudhry claims:
“I always come during elections. It’s basically so I can tell people how to vote and who to vote for. Most of the Pakistanis here [in Britain] are from Mirpur, and I am the MP from Mirpur, and I know the issues here and who will be the best candidates to help solve the issues in Kashmir.”
Sadly, I can fully believe this.
You have to feel sorry for people who need to be told who to vote for, whether they be former residents of Kashmir or Sun readers.
Or fans of Steve Coogan, Eddie Izzard or Delia Smith.
On R5 no less - it's quite brilliant. A single sentence has totally negated the entire point of EdStone. CCHQ must have the negatives of something special.
For pity's sake you have posted about the "Edstone" about 6 times in the last hour, everyone has moved on, it's yesterday's news, stop flogging a dead horse.
rubbish, ms. powell has dragged it back to centre stage.
You obviously believe the "Edstone" was a cataclysmic political event, given that you have posted about 20 or 30 times in the last 24 hours. When can I expect the polls to swing massively in favour of the Tories then?
Question: How many GB constituencies include islands? Anyone care to list them?
Yns Mon Western Isles O&S Argyll & Bute Isle of Wight North Ayrshire Arran...
?
Castle Point (Canvey Island).
You need to define if habitable/inhabited - if the latter then the following are possible, thugh many were only lighthouse keepers and/or are deserted
Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Summer Isles etc.) Caithness etc (Stroma?) Those constituencies in Lothian and Fife which include the Forth islands from the Bridge outwards to May and, round the corner, the Bell Rock
Whichever in SW England has the Eddystone
Canvey is definitely inhabitable, and inhabited, though one may reasonably ask why.
I was wondering if the Thames and Humber forts (and were they not in the Mersey too?) qualify.
The Palmerston forts in the Solent are - presumably - covered by the IoW/Pompey constituencies, but I'm not sure about the equivalents out in the approaches to Plymouth and the Tamar.
Not sure the Palmerstone forts are inhabited. Hell of a way to the shops if they are.
We in the U.S. have had THREE major national executive/legislative elections since the last time you election-starved Brits had one (and you've only had one parliamentary election in ten years!). Given the scarcity, I'm glad you've decided to make it exciting by sending it down to the wire.
You obviously believe the "Edstone" was a cataclysmic political event
I think Lucy Powell's smashing of Edstone is interesting and entertaining
@MediaGuido: Now @labourpress are yelling at journalists who have tweeted Lucy Powell story demanding they say she was misquoted. Wheels coming off.
From the BBC live blog
My advice to Lucy Powell would be. 1. Don`t do any more media interviews. Too many lately have finished in, "car crashes." 2. When in a hole, stop digging. You only draw further attention to yourself.
For pity's sake you have posted about the "Edstone" about 6 times in the last hour, everyone has moved on, it's yesterday's news, stop flogging a dead horse.
rubbish, ms. powell has dragged it back to centre stage.
A stage whose audience consists entirely of anoraks
Chaudhry is the former premier of Kashmir and the MP for Mirpur, in Pakistan. In a 2010 BBC profile, he claimed he “always” visits Britain ahead of general elections in order to tell British-Pakistanis “how to vote“. Chaudhry claims:
“I always come during elections. It’s basically so I can tell people how to vote and who to vote for. Most of the Pakistanis here [in Britain] are from Mirpur, and I am the MP from Mirpur, and I know the issues here and who will be the best candidates to help solve the issues in Kashmir.”
Sadly, I can fully believe this.
Didn't Gorgeous explicitly (and succesfully) set out to buck this tradition though in Bradford?
While there's definitely truth to a Mirpuri tradition of patronage vote-as-the-elders-do, this looks like a windbag inflating his own self-importance.
We in the U.S. have had THREE major national executive/legislative elections since the last time you election-starved Brits had one (and you've only had one parliamentary election in ten years!). Given the scarcity, I'm glad you've decided to make it exciting by sending it down to the wire.
Chaudhry is the former premier of Kashmir and the MP for Mirpur, in Pakistan. In a 2010 BBC profile, he claimed he “always” visits Britain ahead of general elections in order to tell British-Pakistanis “how to vote“. Chaudhry claims:
“I always come during elections. It’s basically so I can tell people how to vote and who to vote for. Most of the Pakistanis here [in Britain] are from Mirpur, and I am the MP from Mirpur, and I know the issues here and who will be the best candidates to help solve the issues in Kashmir.”
Chaudhry is the former premier of Kashmir and the MP for Mirpur, in Pakistan. In a 2010 BBC profile, he claimed he “always” visits Britain ahead of general elections in order to tell British-Pakistanis “how to vote“. Chaudhry claims:
“I always come during elections. It’s basically so I can tell people how to vote and who to vote for. Most of the Pakistanis here [in Britain] are from Mirpur, and I am the MP from Mirpur, and I know the issues here and who will be the best candidates to help solve the issues in Kashmir.”
Sadly, I can fully believe this.
You have to feel sorry for people who need to be told who to vote for, whether they be former residents of Kashmir or Sun readers.
Or fans of Steve Coogan, Eddie Izzard or Delia Smith.
Yup.
Anybody at all. If you can't figure it out for yourself, should you really be voting?
Question: How many GB constituencies include islands? Anyone care to list them?
Yns Mon Western Isles O&S Argyll & Bute Isle of Wight North Ayrshire Arran...
?
Castle Point (Canvey Island).
You need to define if habitable/inhabited - if the latter then the following are possible, thugh many were only lighthouse keepers and/or are deserted
Ross, Skye and Lochaber (Summer Isles etc.) Caithness etc (Stroma?) Those constituencies in Lothian and Fife which include the Forth islands from the Bridge outwards to May and, round the corner, the Bell Rock
Whichever in SW England has the Eddystone
Canvey is definitely inhabitable, and inhabited, though one may reasonably ask why.
I was wondering if the Thames and Humber forts (and were they not in the Mersey too?) qualify.
The Palmerston forts in the Solent are - presumably - covered by the IoW/Pompey constituencies, but I'm not sure about the equivalents out in the approaches to Plymouth and the Tamar.
Not sure the Palmerstone forts are inhabited. Hell of a way to the shops if they are.
Certainly a couple of the Solent ones are - you see them when they occasionally go on the market with comedy disclaimers (ie Note: No Vehicle Access - Owner must own own boat or helicopter). Pretty certain that they are Portsmouth South rather than IoW technically.
Weren't you rather sweet on a Conservative Overall Majority earlier in the year, Rod?
Or am I mixing you up with Tissue Price?
I've been fairly sweet on a Con Maj at the prices - though having backed NOM first! A nice ICM and I'll be probably out for good. My own forecast is remarkably similar to Jack's - slightly more Nats and slightly fewer LDs though.
The Independent @Independent 2h2 hours ago HSBC chief says UK exit review will be complete by end of year – and Tory policy is to blame http://ind.pn/1c09R2M
Weren't you rather sweet on a Conservative Overall Majority earlier in the year, Rod?
Or am I mixing you up with Tissue Price?
I've been fairly sweet on a Con Maj at the prices - though having backed NOM first! A nice ICM and I'll be probably out for good. My own forecast is remarkably similar to Jack's - slightly more Nats and slightly fewer LDs though.
Hmmm...much as I admire Jack's ARSE, I will for once be keeping my distance.
The Independent @Independent 2h2 hours ago HSBC chief says UK exit review will be complete by end of year – and Tory policy is to blame
No he doesn't. He says, quite rightly, that the Banking Levy - you know, the one that Labour think isn't high enough - is to blame.
HSBC are particularly badly and unfairly hit by the insane bank-bashing which Labour, the LibDems, and (I am sorry to say) even the Tories have engaged in. But there's absolutely zero doubt that the worst offender is Labour.
The Piers Doughty Brown who was haranguing Murphy and Eddie Izzard yesterday, and who dear old, deluded Dair told us had nothing to do with the SNP, has today had his SNP membership suspended by Nicola Sturgeon. I blame SLab.
You obviously believe the "Edstone" was a cataclysmic political event, given that you have posted about 20 or 30 times in the last 24 hours. When can I expect the polls to swing massively in favour of the Tories then?
You're obviously worried that EdStone is potentially a political negative for Labour, or you wouldn't have posted about it 20 or 30 times in the last hour, in a forlorn attempt to stop people talking about it.
The Independent @Independent 2h2 hours ago HSBC chief says UK exit review will be complete by end of year – and Tory policy is to blame
No he doesn't. He says, quite rightly, that the Banking Levy - you know, the one that Labour think isn't high enough - is to blame.
HSBC are particularly badly and unfairly hit by the insane bank-bashing which Labour, the LibDems, and (I am sorry to say) even the Tories have engaged in. But there's absolutely zero doubt that the worst offender is Labour.
It seems a particular stretch to claim HSBC's potential exit is down to worry about not being in the European Union when the city they're considering moving to is Hong Kong.
The Independent @Independent 2h2 hours ago HSBC chief says UK exit review will be complete by end of year – and Tory policy is to blame http://ind.pn/1c09R2M
HSBC have been vocal with their complaints about the banking levy, which Labour and the LibDems would both increase.
Chaudhry is the former premier of Kashmir and the MP for Mirpur, in Pakistan. In a 2010 BBC profile, he claimed he “always” visits Britain ahead of general elections in order to tell British-Pakistanis “how to vote“. Chaudhry claims:
“I always come during elections. It’s basically so I can tell people how to vote and who to vote for. Most of the Pakistanis here [in Britain] are from Mirpur, and I am the MP from Mirpur, and I know the issues here and who will be the best candidates to help solve the issues in Kashmir.”
Sadly, I can fully believe this.
Why do we even allow Pakistanis to vote in our elections? Brits can't vote in Mirpur.
Thanks everyone for your replies. No-one has mentioned the Isle of Grain, but it isn't really an island. Also, there are some islands in the middle of the Thames that we ought to count too. Edit - just seen that rcs1000 has got there before me!
Osney, and South Hinksey, in Oxford technically qualify too ... in fact, as the Thames/Cherwell confluence is so heavily braided, much of Oxford city does too!
If you're going outwith tidal waters, or rather inside them, there are also one or two habitable islands on Scottish lochs - Lake of Menteith and Loch Leven (the one in Fife) have castles on islands IIRC, also one in Loch Awe. (But we'll ignore crannogs ...).
chestnut Indeed, but it is not an unqualified Labour endorsement, some of his supporters are encouraging vote swapping between Labour voters in marginals and Green voters in safe seats and Brighton and Norwich and Bristol
Stars We have had Scottish and Welsh, European and London and local elections and 2 referendums since 2010 so not completely starved
The stone is no longer the issue. Lucky Powell admitting, live on air, that Labour might not keep election pledges is now the story.
How would we know, seeing as some of them are vacuous. We'd have to ask our kids in 30 years time whether things were better for them.
Lucy Powell now trending at number 5 on Twitter. I don't think it's due to her nice red coat.
Labour, brilliantly, have managed to keep EdStone in the news for a third day running.
Will it have any effect? It is undeniable that the Labour campaign has ended poorly, after a promising start. They've been on the backfoot ever since Tories began attacking on the Nat question. Yet the polls have barely budged....
Richard Littlejohn ensuring a touch of balance by trending at No 4.
2. The Sheffield effect, the point of which has always been that it doesn't show up in the polls, only at the moment of truth in the polling booth.
There is no "Sheffield effect" for Labour evident in the ICM poll.
Labour on THIRTY SEVEN % in Hallam is a very strong indicator that they're doing quite well tbh.
Hallam is simply not the sort of place Labour should be picking up 37%.
An effect which is by definition invisible in polls, is invisible in a poll? Golly.
Is the Sheffield effect in any way evidenced? ie. we know the Sheffield rally was kind of awkward, but is there any verified connection between that event and the delta between poll and actual votes? Because if we're just using it as shorthand for "the polls woz wrong" then extrapolating that that wrongness depresses the Labour vote seems optimistic. Why couldn't the Tory vote be subject to the same problem?
Genuine question btw, I was quite young in 92.
Anecdotals from the immediate aftermath of people saying it was Sheffield that persuaded them Kinnock wasn't personally up to it. What makes it Labour-hostile is the personal inadequacy theme. (And that's not just sniping: see leader ratings for the last 5 years).
OK, so the Sheffield effect is proxy for an assumption that low personal ratings for the leader don't affect headline VI in the polls right up to the election, but depress actual votes for that party.
@ThomasNashe 's explanation seems rather more plausible: that late swings are possible due to campaigning factors, and may or may not be hung on a single media-friendly factor that demonstrates correlation (kind of) but not causation.
So all we can really say is that the polls might be wrong (either way), that in future we'd seek to find a reason for it, possibly call it a "Sheffield moment" but, if it's the Tories who underperform the polling, accept that Sheffield moments are available to all parties.
Was the unwind of the Cleggasm a Sheffield moment, btw?
I don't much disagree with any of that, but in 1992 Sheffield felt like a big deal at the time it happened, so it wasn't a question of deciding there must have been a specific cause for the surprise result and going back looking for the best match for what the cause might actually be. If tories underperform markedly on Thursday I won't be trying to identify retrospectively what their Sheffield moment might have been this time round; there hasn't been one (yet).
The Independent @Independent 2h2 hours ago HSBC chief says UK exit review will be complete by end of year – and Tory policy is to blame
No he doesn't. He says, quite rightly, that the Banking Levy - you know, the one that Labour think isn't high enough - is to blame.
HSBC are particularly badly and unfairly hit by the insane bank-bashing which Labour, the LibDems, and (I am sorry to say) even the Tories have engaged in. But there's absolutely zero doubt that the worst offender is Labour.
And the threat of leaving the EU if you read the article
The Independent @Independent 2h2 hours ago HSBC chief says UK exit review will be complete by end of year – and Tory policy is to blame
No he doesn't. He says, quite rightly, that the Banking Levy - you know, the one that Labour think isn't high enough - is to blame.
HSBC are particularly badly and unfairly hit by the insane bank-bashing which Labour, the LibDems, and (I am sorry to say) even the Tories have engaged in. But there's absolutely zero doubt that the worst offender is Labour.
Always good to see you defending the criminal fraternity.
Thanks everyone for your replies. No-one has mentioned the Isle of Grain, but it isn't really an island. Also, there are some islands in the middle of the Thames that we ought to count too. Edit - just seen that rcs1000 has got there before me!
Osney, and South Hinksey, in Oxford technically qualify too ... in fact, as the Thames/Cherwell confluence is so heavily braided, much of Oxford city does too!
If you're going outwith tidal waters, or rather inside them, there are also one or two habitable islands on Scottish lochs - Lake of Menteith and Loch Leven (the one in Fife) have castles on islands IIRC, also one in Loch Awe. (But we'll ignore crannogs ...).
Have we done Lindisfarne, which is in Berwick constituency?
The stone is no longer the issue. Lucky Powell admitting, live on air, that Labour might not keep election pledges is now the story.
How would we know, seeing as some of them are vacuous. We'd have to ask our kids in 30 years time whether things were better for them.
Lucy Powell now trending at number 5 on Twitter. I don't think it's due to her nice red coat.
Labour, brilliantly, have managed to keep EdStone in the news for a third day running.
Will it have any effect? It is undeniable that the Labour campaign has ended poorly, after a promising start. They've been on the backfoot ever since Tories began attacking on the Nat question. Yet the polls have barely budged....
Polls haven't budged because normal people are far more interested in "Married couple have second baby" type stories, followed (more justifiably) by the awful disaster in Nepal.
Wonkery and meta-debate don't interest most people; mis-speaking and not following the script often improves ratings if it does anything at all (though not in this case!).
We in the U.S. have had THREE major national executive/legislative elections since the last time you election-starved Brits had one (and you've only had one parliamentary election in ten years!). Given the scarcity, I'm glad you've decided to make it exciting by sending it down to the wire.
Welcome back!
Thanks, although I don't recognize you; maybe you had another name back in the day!
I hate to imagine what it would mean for the Tories if they can't eke out another term with the likes of Cameron, versus the likes of Miliband (after having only marginally beaten the hopeless Brown the last time around). Electoral reform and redrawing constituencies aren't everything, but what a missed opportunity for both Tories and LD's that proved to be.
The MSM spends much of its time highlighting Cybernat abuse, however I've rarely seen anything about Cyberunionist efforts. I think this is due to the MSM not quite realising that most of them are Cyberunionists, not only do they demonise Scots/SNP in their papers but then carpet bomb twitter, retweeting each other in a frenzy.
A good example of a Cyberunionist is a twitter user @Historywoman :
In 6 years she has tweeted over 100,000 times, if you skim through her feed, I think you'll agree she deserves the title of the Cybernat Slayer !!
My sense is that the Cyberunionist gives as good as it gets from Cybernats - just take a look at the United Against Separation page and you will see the Cyber war is well underway:
Thanks everyone for your replies. No-one has mentioned the Isle of Grain, but it isn't really an island. Also, there are some islands in the middle of the Thames that we ought to count too. Edit - just seen that rcs1000 has got there before me!
Osney, and South Hinksey, in Oxford technically qualify too ... in fact, as the Thames/Cherwell confluence is so heavily braided, much of Oxford city does too!
If you're going outwith tidal waters, or rather inside them, there are also one or two habitable islands on Scottish lochs - Lake of Menteith and Loch Leven (the one in Fife) have castles on islands IIRC, also one in Loch Awe. (But we'll ignore crannogs ...).
Have we done Lindisfarne, which is in Berwick constituency?
Yes, someone else did - though I can't remember if the other Farne Islands were included ...
It was four years ago today that we voted to reject AV.
Given what we know, and the expected election result, would AV have passed now?
(I know, we don't discuss AV enough)
I don't think so. As a system it's a dog's dinner and confusing as buggery to the average voter. STV or full PR would probably pass though.
AV is confusing but STV would pass?
How can AV be more confusing than STV?
AV is STV with a single outcome and is inherently easier to understand.
What? Ranking all candidates in order of preference, and the hiliarious and mystifying outcomes that can occur, is "inherently easier to understand" than First-Choice/Second-Choice?
Here in St Ives Cornwall and David Cameron is shortly to arrive at the town Hall apparently...
Going to every end of the country by the looks
I believe this is a Marginal seat here so falls in the meme of this mornings comments. This visit was not known about apparently according to local shopkeeper but the press starting to build up now as he was due at 1400 ...ish If he goes any further from here he will be at lands end.
It was four years ago today that we voted to reject AV.
Given what we know, and the expected election result, would AV have passed now?
(I know, we don't discuss AV enough)
I don't think so. As a system it's a dog's dinner and confusing as buggery to the average voter. STV or full PR would probably pass though.
AV is confusing but STV would pass?
How can AV be more confusing than STV?
AV is STV with a single outcome and is inherently easier to understand.
What? Ranking all candidates in order of preference, and the hiliarious and mystifying outcomes that can occur, is "inherently easier to understand" than First-Choice/Second-Choice?
Not sure why this is a big deal. It's not as if Labour have made a very big deal abour gender equality over the years, is it.
The silence of Harman on this has exposed her for precisely what she is. Just another hypocritical don't do as I do socialist. What's worse is hubby of all women shortlist fame was even on the panel so a double or even triple hypocrisy.
You have been warned. This project started in 1997 to 2010 and it has not gone way. It will restart this Friday with a vengeance in Labour get another 10 on the coat tails of the SNP. . Those who ignore this simple fact do so at our peril and the countries sadly.
The Piers Doughty Brown who was haranguing Murphy and Eddie Izzard yesterday, and who dear old, deluded Dair told us had nothing to do with the SNP, has today had his SNP membership suspended by Nicola Sturgeon. I blame SLab.
Poor show by Nicola but if Doughty Brown has tarred himself with an association with Clerkin so he has to share some of the blame.
Comments
Or fans of Steve Coogan, Eddie Izzard or Delia Smith.
O/T: Would Square Root like to increase the charity bet on Broxtowe at the same 2-1 odds?
Edit: they will vote next year
http://wingsoverscotland.com/maximum-toe-curl/#comments
South Dorset (Brownsea Island, although not fully inhabited)
@MediaGuido: Now @labourpress are yelling at journalists who have tweeted Lucy Powell story demanding they say she was misquoted. Wheels coming off.
From the BBC live blog http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/election-2015-32557049
Didn't Gorgeous explicitly (and succesfully) set out to buck this tradition though in Bradford?
While there's definitely truth to a Mirpuri tradition of patronage vote-as-the-elders-do, this looks like a windbag inflating his own self-importance.
Yup.
Anybody at all. If you can't figure it out for yourself, should you really be voting?
Wonder what the SNP would do if implementation came to a vote? Alex and Rupert haven't fallen out yet have they?
HSBC chief says UK exit review will be complete by end of year – and Tory policy is to blame http://ind.pn/1c09R2M
HSBC are particularly badly and unfairly hit by the insane bank-bashing which Labour, the LibDems, and (I am sorry to say) even the Tories have engaged in. But there's absolutely zero doubt that the worst offender is Labour.
Barrow and Furness (Walney Island)
North Antrim (Rathlin Island)
It's hard to imagine the SNP being anything other than pro-Leveson.
...
Why do we even allow Pakistanis to vote in our elections? Brits can't vote in Mirpur.
If you're going outwith tidal waters, or rather inside them, there are also one or two habitable islands on Scottish lochs - Lake of Menteith and Loch Leven (the one in Fife) have castles on islands IIRC, also one in Loch Awe. (But we'll ignore crannogs ...).
Stars We have had Scottish and Welsh, European and London and local elections and 2 referendums since 2010 so not completely starved
Which is yet another attempt to change the story from
@LucyMPowell: Honestly Tories and others desperately mis-quoting what I said. Anyone who heard the whole interview knows I said the opposite.
So was she misquoted, or accurately quoted and just incoherent?
Remember folks, she could be in the cabinet on Monday...
Just two more sleeps before this Tory Government is ejected!
Wonkery and meta-debate don't interest most people; mis-speaking and not following the script often improves ratings if it does anything at all (though not in this case!).
I hate to imagine what it would mean for the Tories if they can't eke out another term with the likes of Cameron, versus the likes of Miliband (after having only marginally beaten the hopeless Brown the last time around). Electoral reform and redrawing constituencies aren't everything, but what a missed opportunity for both Tories and LD's that proved to be.
A good example of a Cyberunionist is a twitter user @Historywoman :
https://twitter.com/Historywoman
In 6 years she has tweeted over 100,000 times, if you skim through her feed, I think you'll agree she deserves the title of the Cybernat Slayer !!
My sense is that the Cyberunionist gives as good as it gets from Cybernats - just take a look at the United Against Separation page and you will see the Cyber war is well underway:
https://www.facebook.com/VoteNo2014
CONSERVATIVE - 299
LABOUR - 253
LIB DEM - 23
DUP - 8
GREEN - 1
SNP - 49
UKIP - 2
PLAID - 5
SINN FEIN - 4
SDLP - 3
LSH - 1
SPEAKER - 1
ALLIANCE - 1
The BBC are still playing the recording
AV is STV with a single outcome and is inherently easier to understand.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html
Going to every end of the country by the looks
It's a view, I suppose.
If he goes any further from here he will be at lands end.
You have been warned. This project started in 1997 to 2010 and it has not gone way. It will restart this Friday with a vengeance in Labour get another 10 on the coat tails of the SNP. . Those who ignore this simple fact do so at our peril and the countries sadly.