Nice teaching staff they have in The Islamic State of Lancs
'A junior school teacher has been banned from the classroom for life after posting dozens of sick, racist tweets encouraging the murder of non-Muslims and praising the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning.
Mother-of-one Nargs Bibi, 31, who worked at Knowsley Junior School in Oldham for three years, posted 40 offensive and malicious messages immediately after Mr Henning's brutal murder by Jihadi John.'
Mortimer As RobD states that was 2 years into the Parliament, this is in the government's 'honeymoon' period and with pollsters having changed their methodogies
It would be interesting to periodically survey PB users political leanings using one of the NOJAM tables, as opposed to party affiliations I think the following should cover most basis:
- left wing - centre left - centrist - centre right - right wing
I would guess it is very different.
Readers would be like the British public, a mild centre-right plurality but with very few at all self-identifying as right-wing. Commenters would be about 75 centre-right or right-wing. I guess because betting is an individualistic activity.
Not sure it makes so much sense to think the PB is "inherently" right-wing, either because of the betting or for any other reason. The below-the-line commentariat here used to have a pretty strong left/centre-left/liberal tendency, though things had evened themselves out by - hm, 2010ish? (Sean Fear would be one of the best people to ask on this.)
Incidentally the recent guest posts have all been very good. I would love to see the likes of Morus (Greg Callus) or Yellow Submarine resurface again, if you're lurking out there folks. TSE and David Herdson are Tories, as is their right, and are very good at what they do, but some more above-the-line counterbalance would be welcome. Don Brind was a nice pick by OGH; I wish we saw more of Henry G Manson as his "Labour internals" pieces are obviously well-informed.
Stodge Yes ringfencing has been Blair's greatest mistake
Five and a bit years is enough time to take responsibility for one's party's actions in government. The radicalism and purpose of Thatcher is completely absent from Cameron, who has no idea why he wants to be Prime Minister, except that it is an Eton lark (I mean this in the nicest possible way). Ringfencing is a good way to appear nice while accepting that a long-term fiscal direction doesn't exist for this government, except welfare cuts that nobody has any idea how to implement.
O/T.. not sure that I approve of the iPads being used to record the English MPs votes. Why not have the tellers do this? Should be obvious which ones the SNP are due to their incessant clapping
Mortimer As RobD states that was 2 years into the Parliament, this is in the government's 'honeymoon' period and with pollsters having changed their methodogies
They had to change their methodologies because they were inaccurate reflections of the real result. You probably don't want to be conflating policies with the polls from the last five years with any degree of accuracy.
A wonderfully pleasant and fresh evening in London Town after the heat of the past 36 hours.
My critique of Osborne (and I have to say Coalition) economic policy was the absurdity of ring-fencing certain areas of Government expenditure. The concept of "sacred cows" notwithstanding, it seems hard to argue that if local Government can make efficiency savings without, so some say, impairing front-line service delivery, the same should be true of the NHS, Police Authorities and everyone else.
As for benefits, we spend around £160 billion of which £75 billion is or are pensions. If that is sacrosanct, the proposed cut is £12 billion off a budget of £85 billion which will be interesting.
The issue with the NHS is that demand is going up every year so while the spending is ringfenced, it still is making, and needs to make, efficiencies each year just to stay still.
In my view, a lot of Councils waste money. A lot of them put Council Tax up by the maximum amount each year. If you look at how a few councils have been able to cut Council Tax by making smart savings it shows you what can be done.
As for pensioners, I don't see why they don't fold all the various benefits into the state pension. That way they wouldn't have to worry about means testing as it would be taxable.
Mortimer As RobD states that was 2 years into the Parliament, this is in the government's 'honeymoon' period and with pollsters having changed their methodogies
They had to change their methodologies because they were inaccurate reflections of the real result. You probably don't want to be conflating policies with the polls from the last five years with any degree of accuracy.
Yeah, my point was to suggest that the Tories were probably higher prior to GE2015, and it is only by changing their methodologies, that they have gotten closer to the truth.
O/T.. not sure that I approve of the iPads being used to record the English MPs votes. Why not have the tellers do this? Should be obvious which ones the SNP are due to their incessant clapping
It would be interesting to periodically survey PB users political leanings using one of the NOJAM tables, as opposed to party affiliations I think the following should cover most basis:
- left wing - centre left - centrist - centre right - right wing
I would guess it is very different.
Readers would be like the British public, a mild centre-right plurality but with very few at all self-identifying as right-wing. Commenters would be about 75 centre-right or right-wing. I guess because betting is an individualistic activity.
Not sure it makes so much sense to think the PB is "inherently" right-wing, either because of the betting or for any other reason. The below-the-line commentariat here used to have a pretty strong left/centre-left/liberal tendency, though things had evened themselves out by - hm, 2010ish? (Sean Fear would be one of the best people to ask on this.)
Incidentally the recent guest posts have all been very good. I would love to see the likes of Morus (Greg Callus) or Yellow Submarine resurface again, if you're lurking out there folks. TSE and David Herdson are Tories, as is their right, and are very good at what they do, but some more above-the-line counterbalance would be welcome. Don Brind was a nice pick by OGH; I wish we saw more of Henry G Manson as his "Labour internals" pieces are obviously well-informed.
I too miss YS's comments, and even, strangely, the tender ramblings of BenM. Has he gone too?
O/T.. not sure that I approve of the iPads being used to record the English MPs votes. Why not have the tellers do this? Should be obvious which ones the SNP are due to their incessant clapping
Are they still doing that? How dreadfully naff.
To be fair, I don't think so, not after the Speaker's intervention.
DavidL That was true until 2005, but he lost some of his base then to the LDs and Respect, other than Iraq he did not too badly on the economy etc and started some public service reforms. He also pushed through legislation expanding homosexual rights and introduced the minimum wage
Blair actually lost a lot of his base in 2001 as shown in the huge drop in the Labour vote - though somewhat masked by the collapse in turnout to 59%. His second landslide owed everything to Tory weakness and the lack of an alternative rather than any continuing enthusiasm for him.
justin124 The Labour vote fell slightly by 2.5% in 2001 most of which went to Kennedy's LDs who rose 1.5%, true, however the bigger change was 2005 when the Labour vote fell by 5.5% and the LD vote rose by 3.7%
justin124 The Labour vote fell slightly by 2.5% in 2001 most of which went to Kennedy's LDs who rose 1.5%, true, however the bigger change was 2005 when the Labour vote fell by 5.5% and the LD vote rose by 3.7%
But the actual Labour vote dropped by several million - the modest fall in % share was due to the collapse in turnout. The signs of disillusionment and disappointment were already very clear.
justin124 The Labour vote fell slightly by 2.5% in 2001 most of which went to Kennedy's LDs who rose 1.5%, true, however the bigger change was 2005 when the Labour vote fell by 5.5% and the LD vote rose by 3.7%
But the actual Labour vote dropped by several million - the modest fall in % share was due to the collapse in turnout. The signs of disillusionment and disappointment were already very clear.
HYUFD I am not suggesting that the Tories were popular in 2001 - rather that Blair had lost much of his appeal to the traditional Labour base as reflected in their failure to turnout for him.
It would be interesting to periodically survey PB users political leanings using one of the NOJAM tables, as opposed to party affiliations I think the following should cover most basis:
- left wing - centre left - centrist - centre right - right wing
I would guess it is very different.
Readers would be like the British public, a mild centre-right plurality but with very few at all self-identifying as right-wing. Commenters would be about 75 centre-right or right-wing. I guess because betting is an individualistic activity.
Not sure it makes so much sense to think the PB is "inherently" right-wing, either because of the betting or for any other reason. The below-the-line commentariat here used to have a pretty strong left/centre-left/liberal tendency, though things had evened themselves out by - hm, 2010ish? (Sean Fear would be one of the best people to ask on this.)
Incidentally the recent guest posts have all been very good. I would love to see the likes of Morus (Greg Callus) or Yellow Submarine resurface again, if you're lurking out there folks. TSE and David Herdson are Tories, as is their right, and are very good at what they do, but some more above-the-line counterbalance would be welcome. Don Brind was a nice pick by OGH; I wish we saw more of Henry G Manson as his "Labour internals" pieces are obviously well-informed.
I too miss YS's comments, and even, strangely, the tender ramblings of BenM. Has he gone too?
I miss Ash, who would be loving the Greek situation. I only delurked after years of passive activity, because he posted something particularly daft about the Irish bailout. He'd be in his element, bless him.
justin124 The Labour vote fell slightly by 2.5% in 2001 most of which went to Kennedy's LDs who rose 1.5%, true, however the bigger change was 2005 when the Labour vote fell by 5.5% and the LD vote rose by 3.7%
But the actual Labour vote dropped by several million - the modest fall in % share was due to the collapse in turnout. The signs of disillusionment and disappointment were already very clear.
I think that many Labour voters just didn't bother to vote because they knew that Labour would win anyway.
Yes - I am sure it was a factor just as it was in 1983 when the Tory landslide fell well short of the poll predictions. Same perhaps true of Labour's win back in 1966.
justin124 Indeed but it was 2005 where the real disillusion set in post-Iraq
I don't disagree. In my view Blair misread the mood of the electorate in 1997. People were ready - and expecting - a much sharper reversal of Thatcherism than he was offering or inclined to implement. When the reality became clear that his programme amounted to little more than 'Thatcherism with a human face' a significant section of left of centre voters gave up on him. A more radical set of policies - say similar to what John Smith might have offered - could well have antagonised some middle-England voters but would almost certainly have kept his core support loyal for much longer.By 2001 many people were not convinced that much had really changed - so they stopped voting!
Comments
By this time after GE2010, we had already had about thirty new polls. So far after GE2015, we've had five.
'A junior school teacher has been banned from the classroom for life after posting dozens of sick, racist tweets encouraging the murder of non-Muslims and praising the beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning.
Mother-of-one Nargs Bibi, 31, who worked at Knowsley Junior School in Oldham for three years, posted 40 offensive and malicious messages immediately after Mr Henning's brutal murder by Jihadi John.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3147288/Junior-school-teacher-banned-LIFE-spewing-racist-bile-Twitter-including-praising-beheading-Alan-Henning-urging-murder-non-Muslims.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailUK
Incidentally the recent guest posts have all been very good. I would love to see the likes of Morus (Greg Callus) or Yellow Submarine resurface again, if you're lurking out there folks. TSE and David Herdson are Tories, as is their right, and are very good at what they do, but some more above-the-line counterbalance would be welcome. Don Brind was a nice pick by OGH; I wish we saw more of Henry G Manson as his "Labour internals" pieces are obviously well-informed.
http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/NAO_briefing_Delivering_efficiency_savings_NHS.pdf
http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/files/kf/field/field_publication_file/the-nhs-productivity-challenge-kingsfund-may14.pdf
''The unprecedented slowdown in the growth of NHS funding in England
since 2010 has meant that the NHS has had to pursue the most ambitious
programme of productivity improvement since its foundation in order to
close the gap between need and available funding.''
Misrepresenting Cameron vis a vis Thatcher is pretty pathetic.
In my view, a lot of Councils waste money. A lot of them put Council Tax up by the maximum amount each year. If you look at how a few councils have been able to cut Council Tax by making smart savings it shows you what can be done.
As for pensioners, I don't see why they don't fold all the various benefits into the state pension. That way they wouldn't have to worry about means testing as it would be taxable.
More final polls had the Tories ahead than Labour even if they failed to predict a Tory majority
https://twitter.com/LivUniPol/status/616529252268310528
Blair well concealed the extent of his inner evil. Not for a minute did people believe they were voting for a war criminal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_United_Kingdom_general_election,_2001
I think that many Labour voters just didn't bother to vote because they knew that Labour would win anyway.
I am not suggesting that the Tories were popular in 2001 - rather that Blair had lost much of his appeal to the traditional Labour base as reflected in their failure to turnout for him.