It appears that many of the Corbyn voters are not bothering with a 2nd, 3rd or 4th selection - scanning through the #IVotedCorbyn he's certainly got folks motivated.
I think Labour's antics over the last couple of weeks since Corbyn moved into pole position are clear evidence that supposed "Public Servants" think of the voters as their servants - the MSM are no better.
I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race. When they get their minds on doing something, they do it fluffin well.
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
The only boots I never need to break in: I just put some insoles in them, lace 'em up and head for the hills.
You got through five pairs in a year? When you say, "Got through" I presume you mean wore out. If so I hardly see why they should be thought of as wonderful boots. Crumbs, in my soldiering days we wore our boots pretty hard and even Boots DMS could be relied upon to last for more than a couple of months.
I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race. When they get their minds on doing something, they do it fluffin well.
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
@DPJHodges: Corbyn on Raed Salah: "He did not at any stage utter any antisemitic remarks to me". The next Labour leader actually said that.
To be fair there are loads of senior lefties and Labourites who have associated far too closely with Islamists, Holocaust deniers, terrorists. It's just that Jezbollah is the first to get real scrutiny on the issue.
Well, yes. Burnham and Cooper were both members of a government which didn't just say cordial things about anti-semites, but actively armed Gaddafi, al-Assad and the Saudis.
There are very very few good choices in the Middle East. We should certainly stop being quite as cosy with the Saudis and Qataris as we are. But there is a difference between the demands of realpolitik, when you are in government, and the choices you make as a backbencher with no official standing of any kind. JC is rightly being called out on the choices he has made. I hope that people like Blait and others will be called out on the decisions they made. But Blair's failings do not excuse or justify Corbyn's own failings.
For far too long the Left has talked loudly about racism but turned a blind eye or worse to the illiberalism of groups if they were either ethnic minorities or foreign minority religions, provided those groups voted for them. It is and has been a disgraceful position and it would be nice if the chaos and violence engulfing the Middle East and the various atrocities in Europe might at last open their eyes.
There's something to all of that. But Corbyn is being simultaneously condemned for being populist, unwilling to be realistic about the compromises of office, and for getting close to nasty types in (what he has claimed to be) the name of realpolitik.
Have just completed and posted my ballot for the Labour Leadership election
For leader I voted:
1. Burnham 2. Kendall 3. Corbyn 4. Cooper
For Deputy I voted:
1. Creasy 2. Flint 3. Bradshaw 4. Watson 5. Eagle
How you come to think about the people mentioned above is beyond me. To actually vote for them shows a nervous breakdown is coming. A wave of such breakdowns is threatening to engulf certain PBers.
Well Labour opened up the £3 ballot so I may as well take advantage, I will certainly not be having any breakdowns following the result
@DPJHodges: Corbyn on Raed Salah: "He did not at any stage utter any antisemitic remarks to me". The next Labour leader actually said that.
To be fair there are loads of senior lefties and Labourites who have associated far too closely with Islamists, Holocaust deniers, terrorists. It's just that Jezbollah is the first to get real scrutiny on the issue.
Well, yes. Burnham and Cooper were both members of a government which didn't just say cordial things about anti-semites, but actively armed Gaddafi, al-Assad and the Saudis.
There are very very few good choices in the Middle East. We should certainly stop being quite as cosy with the Saudis and Qataris as we are. But there is a difference between the demands of realpolitik, when you are in government, and the choices you make as a backbencher with no official standing of any kind. JC is rightly being called out on the choices he has made. I hope that people like Blait and others will be called out on the decisions they made. But Blair's failings do not excuse or justify Corbyn's own failings.
For far too long the Left has talked loudly about racism but turned a blind eye or worse to the illiberalism of groups if they were either ethnic minorities or foreign minority religions, provided those groups voted for them. It is and has been a disgraceful position and it would be nice if the chaos and violence engulfing the Middle East and the various atrocities in Europe might at last open their eyes.
Why would it? Most politicians just go where the pressure groups and the votes are. So long as things don't go tits up in their lifetimes, they won't be too concerned.
Have just completed and posted my ballot for the Labour Leadership election
For leader I voted:
1. Burnham 2. Kendall 3. Corbyn 4. Cooper
For Deputy I voted:
1. Creasy 2. Flint 3. Bradshaw 4. Watson 5. Eagle
How you come to think about the people mentioned above is beyond me. To actually vote for them shows a nervous breakdown is coming. A wave of such breakdowns is threatening to engulf certain PBers.
Well Labour opened up the £3 ballot so I may as well take advantage, I will certainly not be having any breakdowns following the result
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
The only boots I never need to break in: I just put some insoles in them, lace 'em up and head for the hills.
You got through five pairs in a year? When you say, "Got through" I presume you mean wore out. If so I hardly see why they should be thought of as wonderful boots. Crumbs, in my soldiering days we wore our boots pretty hard and even Boots DMS could be relied upon to last for more than a couple of months.
Have just completed and posted my ballot for the Labour Leadership election
For leader I voted:
1. Burnham 2. Kendall 3. Corbyn 4. Cooper
For Deputy I voted:
1. Creasy 2. Flint 3. Bradshaw 4. Watson 5. Eagle
How you come to think about the people mentioned above is beyond me. To actually vote for them shows a nervous breakdown is coming. A wave of such breakdowns is threatening to engulf certain PBers.
Well Labour opened up the £3 ballot so I may as well take advantage, I will certainly not be having any breakdowns following the result
Have just completed and posted my ballot for the Labour Leadership election
For leader I voted:
1. Burnham 2. Kendall 3. Corbyn 4. Cooper
For Deputy I voted:
1. Creasy 2. Flint 3. Bradshaw 4. Watson 5. Eagle
How you come to think about the people mentioned above is beyond me. To actually vote for them shows a nervous breakdown is coming. A wave of such breakdowns is threatening to engulf certain PBers.
Well Labour opened up the £3 ballot so I may as well take advantage, I will certainly not be having any breakdowns following the result
I've not received my ballot yet !
#Maybetommorow...
Nor have I perhaps we have been black balled
Indicating a preference for Jezza over Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper doesn't pass Harriet's witchcraft test maybe.
Blinking heck...you couldn't make any of this up..
I was trying to explain to my wife today how the Trostkyites took control of public bodies, local councils, unions in the 70's and 80's. They used to call meetings at really anti social times- tea times, Saturday mornings etc.. and then elect representative when no other member bothered to turn up. It was all straight from the Trotskyist handbook.
Thanks to Ed- they don't even need to bother with any leg work. Just pay 3 notes and you're in.
Quite what Corbyn thinks he's going to achieve once he's leader, god only knows.
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
The only boots I never need to break in: I just put some insoles in them, lace 'em up and head for the hills.
You got through five pairs in a year? When you say, "Got through" I presume you mean wore out. If so I hardly see why they should be thought of as wonderful boots. Crumbs, in my soldiering days we wore our boots pretty hard and even Boots DMS could be relied upon to last for more than a couple of months.
Mr Jessop does long mileage...
Yes, I know mr. Star, but in any period of 24 hours there are only so many times one can place one foot in front of the other and as a squaddie I reckon I was about on maximum most days. Boots that last only a couple of months don't sound brilliant to me.
Jeremy has long campaigned for the end of the oppression of an entire nation of people by a racist government that is fully supported by his opponents here even as it continues to steal their land (I realise many PB Tories are supremacist bullies who wholeheartedly approve of dispossession of the weak).The fact that a few people who share these aims have unsavoury views doesn't in any way tar him with the same brush. I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.
Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.
Have just completed and posted my ballot for the Labour Leadership election
For leader I voted:
1. Burnham 2. Kendall 3. Corbyn 4. Cooper
For Deputy I voted:
1. Creasy 2. Flint 3. Bradshaw 4. Watson 5. Eagle
How you come to think about the people mentioned above is beyond me. To actually vote for them shows a nervous breakdown is coming. A wave of such breakdowns is threatening to engulf certain PBers.
Well Labour opened up the £3 ballot so I may as well take advantage, I will certainly not be having any breakdowns following the result
I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race. When they get their minds on doing something, they do it fluffin well.
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
Have just completed and posted my ballot for the Labour Leadership election
For leader I voted:
1. Burnham 2. Kendall 3. Corbyn 4. Cooper
For Deputy I voted:
1. Creasy 2. Flint 3. Bradshaw 4. Watson 5. Eagle
How you come to think about the people mentioned above is beyond me. To actually vote for them shows a nervous breakdown is coming. A wave of such breakdowns is threatening to engulf certain PBers.
Well Labour opened up the £3 ballot so I may as well take advantage, I will certainly not be having any breakdowns following the result
I've not received my ballot yet !
#Maybetommorow...
Nor have I perhaps we have been black balled
Indicating a preference for Jezza over Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper doesn't pass Harriet's witchcraft test maybe.
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
The only boots I never need to break in: I just put some insoles in them, lace 'em up and head for the hills.
You got through five pairs in a year? When you say, "Got through" I presume you mean wore out. If so I hardly see why they should be thought of as wonderful boots. Crumbs, in my soldiering days we wore our boots pretty hard and even Boots DMS could be relied upon to last for more than a couple of months.
But, of course, you were content with any colour, so long as it was black.
@SeanT, on the other hand, needs a different pair for each mood
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
The only boots I never need to break in: I just put some insoles in them, lace 'em up and head for the hills.
My experience too. I couldn't believe how comfortable they were from the get-go. Just put them on, and, er, that's it. Not a blister.
My Scarpas have got the ultimate challenge at the end of August. I'm spending a week trekking and boating in Disko Bay and the ice fjords - in Greenland. Brrr.
Just don't take them onto the slipway at Clais Charnach near Cape Wrath,. It turns out they're not to grippy on wet stones ...
The Tories have provided vital armaments and support to Islamic fundamentalists in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi and more, playing a pivotal role in enabling the scourge of medieval death cults that have engulfed a huge swathe of the globe.
Jeremy has probably briefly chatted to a couple of nutters at pro-Palestinian functions whilst campaigning for an end to oppression by a fascist UK establishment ally.
Jeremy has long campaigned for the end of the oppression of an entire nation of people by a racist government that is fully supported by his opponents here even as it continues to steal their land (I realise many PB Tories are supremacist bullies who wholeheartedly approve of dispossession of the weak).The fact that a few people who share these aims have unsavoury views doesn't in any way tar him with the same brush. I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.
Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.
Basically, the only way to get yourself off the Tory christmas card list if you are a genocidal dictator or murderous death cult is to call yourself a communist, and even then Ceacescu and Pol Pot managed to stay on it.
The Tories have provided vital armaments and support to Islamic fundamentalists in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi and more, playing a pivotal role in enabling the scourge of medieval death cults that have engulfed a huge swathe of the globe.
Jeremy has probably briefly chatted to a couple of nutters at pro-Palestinian functions whilst campaigning for an end to oppression by a fascist UK establishment ally.
You're obsessing about Muslims again, are you sure you're not Phil Woolas?
The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today. So far, have had literature from Burnham, Corbyn, Watson (much bigger than anyone else's), Creasy, Jowell and Khan - just emails from everyone else. Corbyn's came today as well, in an envelope marked "WARNING - CONTAINS A NEW KIND OF POLITICS" - straightforward content, nothing startling. It includes an appeal for second preferences from those supporting someone else.
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
The only boots I never need to break in: I just put some insoles in them, lace 'em up and head for the hills.
You got through five pairs in a year? When you say, "Got through" I presume you mean wore out. If so I hardly see why they should be thought of as wonderful boots. Crumbs, in my soldiering days we wore our boots pretty hard and even Boots DMS could be relied upon to last for more than a couple of months.
I wondered if someone'd bite.
The problem is one of maintenance. My current pair of Trek II's (I ordered three or four pairs in bulk in case they changed the design) has lasted for over 2,000 miles, by dint of washing after most trips and waxing.
However, I couldn't do that on my coastal walk. The boots were regularly dipped in the sea, immersed in mud, driven through miles of sand, used as a pillow whilst having a break, thrown at angry dogs, caught on barbed wire, peed on, enveloped in farmyard slurry, and lost.
Sometimes several of those on the same day. Worst was when the pee was not my own ...
When walking day after day, it is impossible to wash the boots and have them dry in time to wax them for the next day. So a pair would often last around a 1,000 miles, or a couple of months walking. If I'd been able to wash and wax them regularly, it would have been a different story. Add in the fact I have an unusual gait (severe supination), and they wear out quickly on trips.
I also got through four pairs of trainers, which I used on road sections (e.g. the miles of lochjside walking in west Scotland). They'd only last a few hundred miles.
I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race. When they get their minds on doing something, they do it fluffin well.
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
The same thought has struck me on my recent visits to less obvious parts of Italy - Alto Adige, Friuli-Giulia, Sicily. It is a marvellous country, still full of great invention and resourcefulness. The lumbering cities of Rome and Milan slow it down.
That said the single most impressive Italian I've met recently - a world ski jump champion who also knew more history than most academics - yearned for a return of a Mussolini, to sort all the problems.
Mussolini's grandaughter has been in politics for some time, now an MEP. Pretty sharp too, this is her comment on Godfrey Bloom after his fridge remark:
"I know the English have a sense of humour about themselves, but I am from Naples and I can say that we women do know how to cook and clean the refrigerator and even be politicians, while perhaps Godfrey Bloom does not know either how to clean the refrigerator or how to be a politician."
@DPJHodges: Corbyn on Raed Salah: "He did not at any stage utter any antisemitic remarks to me". The next Labour leader actually said that.
To be fair there are loads of senior lefties and Labourites who have associated far too closely with Islamists, Holocaust deniers, terrorists. It's just that Jezbollah is the first to get real scrutiny on the issue.
Well, yes. Burnham and Cooper were both members of a government which didn't just say cordial things about anti-semites, but actively armed Gaddafi, al-Assad and the Saudis.
There are very very few good choices in the Middle East. We should certainly stop being quite as cosy with the Saudis and Qataris as we are. But there is a difference between the demands of realpolitik, when you are in government, and the choices you make as a backbencher with no official standing of any kind. JC is rightly being called out on the choices he has made. I hope that people like Blait and others will be called out on the decisions they made. But Blair's failings do not excuse or justify Corbyn's own failings.
For far too long the Left has talked loudly about racism but turned a blind eye or worse to the illiberalism of groups if they were either ethnic minorities or foreign minority religions, provided those groups voted for them. It is and has been a disgraceful position and it would be nice if the chaos and violence engulfing the Middle East and the various atrocities in Europe might at last open their eyes.
Why would it? Most politicians just go where the pressure groups and the votes are. So long as things don't go tits up in their lifetimes, they won't be too concerned.
Except that things have gone tits up in their lifetime: 7/7, Lee Rigby, the shoe bomber, Jihadi John, the grotesqueries of CAGE, Babar Ahmed, the young going off to join IS, the Algerian terrorists sought by the French and given shelter here, Abu Hamza etc etc.
Britain has harboured and incubated terrorists and it is shameful that politicians have either ignored what's been happening or failed to take action to stop this.
Britain at its best means something worthwhile to me and it is not too much to ask to expect politicians and public servants to live up to the best Britain can be not suck up to the worst. Britain stood up to the bullies of Nazism, Fascism and Communism in the last century. Why be so gutless and weak in the face of their descendants and imitators now?l
Politicians don't court BNP votes.
Principles and values and morality mean something. They cannot be entirely absent from public discourse and action.
Very poor tally for the bulls this year during the summer's torture festivities in Spain. Only seven torturers killed so far against six or seven thousand terrified animals. Let's hope for a better score next year for the bulls, or better still, the Spaniards to stop this cruel blood lust.
The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today. So far, have had literature from Burnham, Corbyn, Watson (much bigger than anyone else's), Creasy, Jowell and Khan - just emails from everyone else. Corbyn's came today as well, in an envelope marked "WARNING - CONTAINS A NEW KIND OF POLITICS" - straightforward content, nothing startling. It includes an appeal for second preferences from those supporting someone else.
Khan started off ahead though and it was very ethnic minority centred, so that helped him, yougov had Zac ahead and Zac actually gained with the Black vote following the videos
I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race.
Basically, the only way to get yourself off the Tory christmas card list if you are a genocidal dictator or murderous death cult is to call yourself a communist, and even then Ceacescu and Pol Pot managed to stay on it.
Jeremy has long campaigned for the end of the oppression of an entire nation of people by a racist government that is fully supported by his opponents here even as it continues to steal their land (I realise many PB Tories are supremacist bullies who wholeheartedly approve of dispossession of the weak).The fact that a few people who share these aims have unsavoury views doesn't in any way tar him with the same brush. I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.
Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.
Very poor tally for the bulls this year during the summer's torture festivities in Spain. Only seven torturers killed so far against six or seven thousand terrified animals. Let's hope for a better score next year for the bulls, or better still, the Spaniards to stop this cruel blood lust.
We'll get "Vida en un mercado" telling us how it's a Spaniard's birthright to rip apart bulls ;p
I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race. When they get their minds on doing something, they do it fluffin well.
Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them. "No Sir Timberland boots do not leak". "Yes they do..this one here" "No Sir, our boots do not leak" This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak". Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak. Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.
The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.
The same thought has struck me on my recent visits to less obvious parts of Italy - Alto Adige, Friuli-Giulia, Sicily. It is a marvellous country, still full of great invention and resourcefulness. The lumbering cities of Rome and Milan slow it down.
That said the single most impressive Italian I've met recently - a world ski jump champion who also knew more history than most academics - yearned for a return of a Mussolini, to sort all the problems.
Mussolini's grandaughter has been in politics for some time, now an MEP. Pretty sharp too, this is her comment on Godfrey Bloom after his fridge remark:
"I know the English have a sense of humour about themselves, but I am from Naples and I can say that we women do know how to cook and clean the refrigerator and even be politicians, while perhaps Godfrey Bloom does not know either how to clean the refrigerator or how to be a politician."
Jeremy has long campaigned for the end of the oppression of an entire nation of people by a racist government that is fully supported by his opponents here even as it continues to steal their land (I realise many PB Tories are supremacist bullies who wholeheartedly approve of dispossession of the weak).The fact that a few people who share these aims have unsavoury views doesn't in any way tar him with the same brush. I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.
Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.
The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today.
I'm not sure that Jowell does have this wrapped up. Whilst it may be true that she is ahead amongst traditional Labour members, how can we know how the £3 vote-baggers and union affiliates are leaning? It seems inconceivable that the Corbyn effect is seeing off Blairites and other known trouble-makers and counter-revolutionaries everywhere except in London, where arch-Blairite Tessa sails serenely on.
What is most interesting about the header article is that, if taken on board by the selectorate, it removes the main argument for voting Tessa.
Basically, the only way to get yourself off the Tory christmas card list if you are a genocidal dictator or murderous death cult is to call yourself a communist, and even then Ceacescu and Pol Pot managed to stay on it.
That seals it, definitely troll.
No just forced to point out again and again that the Tories are rather lacking in lower limbs for keeping themselves upright when it comes to downright disgusting associates, which make Jeremy's cordiality to a few nut jobs, in the course of campaigning on very worthwhile issues, seem completely innocuous.
I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race.
They were, circa 500BC to 100AD
I suppose we can also begrudgingly give them 1400-1580 or so when the Medicis were doing their thing, and modernising Europe a tad. I am looking out to the Duomo, in Florence now through my lounge window- architects still argue about how it was built such is the design of the Cupola. All I can say is that it is very big.
The only thing that keeps the Conservatives competitive in London is the relatively poor turnout amongst ethnic minority voters, and a big advantage in the suburbs in Outer London.
But, eventually, the demographics of the city will change so much that even this advantage will not be enough. The question then becomes whether the Conservatives can broaden their appeal in those groups sufficiently, or if London moves into an entirely different political realm for good.
My money would be more on the latter.
Of course, the demographics of London will be shaped by policy, and the Conservatives look likely to have control over immigration policy for the next 10 years. They have the ability to reverse Labour's gerrymandering of the electorate in London. Whether they have the will to do that is another question. It will certainly be damaging if London, the engine of the UK economy, ends up with the Labour left in control because Conservatives can not get a grip on both legal and illegal migration. Sadiq Khan is already proposing to make white British people legally disadvantaged. Jowell wants to ban advertising of healthy looking women. Lammy wants to give out passports to whoever can smuggle themselves into the country.
..and build loads of cheap housing on the green belt. What a combo!
Basically, the only way to get yourself off the Tory christmas card list if you are a genocidal dictator or murderous death cult is to call yourself a communist, and even then Ceacescu and Pol Pot managed to stay on it.
I don't recall Labour governments breaking off relations with any of those groups. Of course the difference between governments of either stripe and Corbyn is that they acted out of cold reapolitik, while Corbyn considers such people his friends.
Jeremy has long campaigned for the end of the oppression of an entire nation of people by a racist government that is fully supported by his opponents here even as it continues to steal their land (I realise many PB Tories are supremacist bullies who wholeheartedly approve of dispossession of the weak).The fact that a few people who share these aims have unsavoury views doesn't in any way tar him with the same brush. I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.
Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.
Hmmm, raving mad or troll. Can't make up my mind.
Plato thought the fragrant Mister WIsemann was a sock puppet belonging to OGH, employed to entertain himself, and others, by enlivening debate.
It's a tempting theory.
He's not bad but has a tendency to over egg it in occasion.
Jeremy has long campaigned for the end of the oppression of an entire nation of people by a racist government that is fully supported by his opponents here even as it continues to steal their land (I realise many PB Tories are supremacist bullies who wholeheartedly approve of dispossession of the weak).The fact that a few people who share these aims have unsavoury views doesn't in any way tar him with the same brush. I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.
Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.
Hmmm, raving mad or troll. Can't make up my mind.
Plato thought the fragrant Mister WIsemann was a sock puppet belonging to OGH, employed to entertain himself, and others, by enlivening debate.
It's a tempting theory.
Possibly - if he/she were enlivening the debate. Deadening it would be more accurate.
I suppose we can also begrudgingly give them 1400-1580 or so when the Medicis were doing their thing, and modernising Europe a tad. I am looking out to the Duomo, in Florence now through my lounge window- architects still argue about how it was built such is the design of the Cupola. All I can say is that it is very big.
Good point, and no need to be begrudging about it. Italy is wonderful, and I guess you have to admit that the Italians should get at least some of the credit!
That said the single most impressive Italian I've met recently - a world ski jump champion who also knew more history than most academics - yearned for a return of a Mussolini, to sort all the problems.
Did he think colonial humiliation, recurring military defeat, invasion & occupation by both allies & enemies and a ubiquitous (if slightly unfair) reputation for martial cowardice was worth it just to get a few commies jailed and the trains to run on time?
I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race.
They were, circa 500BC to 100AD
Until at least 330, surely? Your early date also seems early.
I suppose we can also begrudgingly give them 1400-1580 or so when the Medicis were doing their thing, and modernising Europe a tad. I am looking out to the Duomo, in Florence now through my lounge window- architects still argue about how it was built such is the design of the Cupola. All I can say is that it is very big.
Good point, and no need to be begrudging about it. Italy is wonderful, and I guess you have to admit that the Italians should get at least some of the credit!
And there is the invention of the banking industry - though that may be, perhaps, seen as a mixed blessing!
Okay, so arming Islamic fundamentalists across a quarter of the globe is realpolitik, chatting to a nutter at a function in aid of oppressed people is tantamount to being Hitler. Of course.
The only thing that keeps the Conservatives competitive in London is the relatively poor turnout amongst ethnic minority voters, and a big advantage in the suburbs in Outer London.
But, eventually, the demographics of the city will change so much that even this advantage will not be enough. The question then becomes whether the Conservatives can broaden their appeal in those groups sufficiently, or if London moves into an entirely different political realm for good.
My money would be more on the latter.
Of course, the demographics of London will be shaped by policy, and the Conservatives look likely to have control over immigration policy for the next 10 years. They have the ability to reverse Labour's gerrymandering of the electorate in London. Whether they have the will to do that is another question. It will certainly be damaging if London, the engine of the UK economy, ends up with the Labour left in control because Conservatives can not get a grip on both legal and illegal migration. Sadiq Khan is already proposing to make white British people legally disadvantaged. Jowell wants to ban advertising of healthy looking women. Lammy wants to give out passports to whoever can smuggle themselves into the country.
..and build loads of cheap housing on the green belt. What a combo!
Would the Mayor even have the power to grant an amnesty? Don't think so. Gesture politics again.
The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today. So far, have had literature from Burnham, Corbyn, Watson (much bigger than anyone else's), Creasy, Jowell and Khan - just emails from everyone else. Corbyn's came today as well, in an envelope marked "WARNING - CONTAINS A NEW KIND OF POLITICS" - straightforward content, nothing startling. It includes an appeal for second preferences from those supporting someone else.
Which just goes to prove the point that no-one is interested in the Mayoral race until the Jezza Resurrection either triumphs or fades into oblivion.
The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today. So far, have had literature from Burnham, Corbyn, Watson (much bigger than anyone else's), Creasy, Jowell and Khan - just emails from everyone else. Corbyn's came today as well, in an envelope marked "WARNING - CONTAINS A NEW KIND OF POLITICS" - straightforward content, nothing startling. It includes an appeal for second preferences from those supporting someone else.
Nick- when Corbyn wins, we can all take a bit of time out as Labour ceases to be a party of any weight and becomes a kind of hybrid of a pressure group and laughing stock. Perhaps the London contest will provide a slight distraction, but if a Labour bod wins, it will probably prolong Jeremy's excruciating tenure.
Okay, so arming Islamic fundamentalists across a quarter of the globe is realpolitik, chatting to a nutter at a function in aid of oppressed people is tantamount to being Hitler. Of course.
You really seem to struggling with this. It's not the act but the motivation behind them. Supporting a nasty group against an even nastier group, or so that we can keep our economy functioning, is understandable. Supporting a nasty group because you just ideologically agree with them is reprehensible. The "at least he didn't arm them" excuse doesn't work very well when he has never been in a position to: who knows what he would do in power. Although I do note he hasn't advocated cutting ties with Saudi Arabia, so you're creating a completely artificial distinction.
Okay, so arming Islamic fundamentalists across a quarter of the globe is realpolitik, chatting to a nutter at a function in aid of oppressed people is tantamount to being Hitler. Of course.
Ah, Mister Smithson, with this you are spoiling us!
That said the single most impressive Italian I've met recently - a world ski jump champion who also knew more history than most academics - yearned for a return of a Mussolini, to sort all the problems.
Did he think colonial humiliation, recurring military defeat, invasion & occupation by both allies & enemies and a ubiquitous (if slightly unfair) reputation for martial cowardice was worth it just to get a few commies jailed and the trains to run on time?
If Fascist Italy had just chosen the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio as leader (as nearly happened) rather than the oafish Mussolini, all would have been well.
G d'Annunzio is my favourite politician EVAH. Possibly my favourite single person.
D'Annunzio is certainly a fascinating character, far more so than Musso. I've had Lucy Hughes-Hallet's bio by my bed since Christmas, must get down to it. Bit off reading lately.
The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today. So far, have had literature from Burnham, Corbyn, Watson (much bigger than anyone else's), Creasy, Jowell and Khan - just emails from everyone else. Corbyn's came today as well, in an envelope marked "WARNING - CONTAINS A NEW KIND OF POLITICS" - straightforward content, nothing startling. It includes an appeal for second preferences from those supporting someone else.
Nick- when Corbyn wins, we can all take a bit of time out as Labour ceases to be a party of any weight and becomes a kind of hybrid of a pressure group and laughing stock. Perhaps the London contest will provide a slight distraction, but if a Labour bod wins, it will probably prolong Jeremy's excruciating tenure.
While I'm not convinced a Corbyn win would definitely lead to that end (though it seems more likely than the alternative), I'd agree with the general sentiment about the London contest being a distraction.
Fact is, the way we're constantly told how much better Labour does in London, it seems like it would be a surprise if they didn't win, so which candidate ends up running for Labour seems largely inconsequential unless one has money on it.
I also have no interest who runs London, so am hoping for the most hilarious outcome. A wacky mayor of any stripe would I guess be best, but failing that, Goldsmith winning would be funny on the basis that London is supposed to be a Labour city, and being run by Tories, and Old Etonian Tories at that, for at least 12 years would be a fantastic shock to some people.
Another Kinnock in hyperbole. Talkign bollocks is their game
It's said that Major said of Neil Kinnock that the reason he was a windbag was that, having nothing to say, he had no idea when he'd stopped saying it.
Okay, so arming Islamic fundamentalists across a quarter of the globe is realpolitik, chatting to a nutter at a function in aid of oppressed people is tantamount to being Hitler. Of course.
Ah, Mister Smithson, with this you are spoiling us!
That said the single most impressive Italian I've met recently - a world ski jump champion who also knew more history than most academics - yearned for a return of a Mussolini, to sort all the problems.
Did he think colonial humiliation, recurring military defeat, invasion & occupation by both allies & enemies and a ubiquitous (if slightly unfair) reputation for martial cowardice was worth it just to get a few commies jailed and the trains to run on time?
If Fascist Italy had just chosen the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio as leader (as nearly happened) rather than the oafish Mussolini, all would have been well.
G d'Annunzio is my favourite politician EVAH. Possibly my favourite single person.
D'Annunzio is certainly a fascinating character, far more so than Musso. I've had Lucy Hughes-Hallet's bio by my bed since Christmas, must get down to it. Bit off reading lately.
It's possibly the best biography I've read since Ellmann's Joyce. Which is enormous praise. As that is perhaps the best literary biography ever.
Of course Hughes-Hallett had much better material to work with, but good luck to her. She chose well.
PS I'm slightly struggling with Andrew Roberts' Napoleon. Brilliant on facts but needs more absurd, colourful gossip. Hopefully it will sharpen up.
Andrew Roberts' Napoleon starts well but languishes after the early Italian campaigns. Pity, it could have been a good book.
"I never did trust David, whenever I heard him singing 'The Red Flag' it was never an extraordinary rendition."
Shady behaviour indeed. Reminds me of a news bit from when Kim Jong Un had his uncle killed, with a commentator talking about Kim saying his uncle had disrespected him, citing that when he had been appointed to some post, the uncle only clapped half heartedly.
"No candidates or persons acting on behalf of a candidate will use their own material, access to publicity or any media outlets to disparage or brief against any other candidate."
The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today.
I'm not sure that Jowell does have this wrapped up. Whilst it may be true that she is ahead amongst traditional Labour members, how can we know how the £3 vote-baggers and union affiliates are leaning? It seems inconceivable that the Corbyn effect is seeing off Blairites and other known trouble-makers and counter-revolutionaries everywhere except in London, where arch-Blairite Tessa sails serenely on.
What is most interesting about the header article is that, if taken on board by the selectorate, it removes the main argument for voting Tessa.
Not convinced that London members and associates see much political difference between Jowell and Khan. But I agree about the poll.
"No candidates or persons acting on behalf of a candidate will use their own material, access to publicity or any media outlets to disparage or brief against any other candidate."
Mandleson plan by rule breaking
That seems like a pretty silly rule. What if one or more of the candidates does something which quite reasonably deserves to be disparaged by the others? Rely on the 'right wing media' to do it for them?
@ Cyclefree. Re our discussion yesterday, I did know one Philosophy student at Bristol. I forget his name, but he looked like a blue-eyed Jesus and fancied himself as an aesthete. Wonder if you can work out who it was based on that sketchy description!
"No candidates or persons acting on behalf of a candidate will use their own material, access to publicity or any media outlets to disparage or brief against any other candidate."
Mandleson plan by rule breaking
Sounds as if no candidate can make the finish line then!
When has there not been much at stake for "the wider world"?
Well for example in the mid-to-late 90s there were fewer obvious potentially disastrous situations going on. What with Russia-Ukraine, ISIS and the ongoing Greece and Euro crisis, I can't remember there being a time where there were so many known potential catastrophes continually close to happening. Even the deep shock of 9/11 looks more significant now due to the reaction it elicited rather than the danger it actually posed. If you'd have said 15 years later there wouldn't just be the small groups of disciplined religious nutters who made up al-qaeda but an entire pseudo-state run by people who make bin-Laden look positively chivalrous we'd have been very scared. Similarly on the happy day the Euro began, few would've believed you about its mismanagement helping turn Greece into a basket case in Europe's porch. The world's unquestionably getting more unpredictable and dangerous as economic and political power remain in flux nd politicians are more impotent in the face of global trends.
"No candidates or persons acting on behalf of a candidate will use their own material, access to publicity or any media outlets to disparage or brief against any other candidate."
Mandleson plan by rule breaking
That seems like a pretty silly rule. What if one or more of the candidates does something which quite reasonably deserves to be disparaged by the others? Rely on the 'right wing media' to do it for them?
It is an utterly absurd rule for a contest. What is the point of even having an election if you can't disparage your rivals in the election? It is a kids glove rule that is going to be broken through underhand means rather than honest ones.
Hard to see beyond the bluffs and double-bluffs, but the claim from Cooper's camp that she's getting 60% of Burnham's 2nd preferences sounds pretty grim for the ABC people if Burnham comes 3rd - I can't see more than 5-10% of Burnham's 2nds going to Kendall, so that means Corbyn is getting a third of them.
Yvette Cooper: Andy Burnham is too similar to Jeremy Corbyn and must step aside. Well they are both men one was favourite and is now an outsider LOL Kendall too similar to Cooper who steps aside? Cooper loses any chance of 2nd place with this kind of Bollox IMO
I've just heard Cooper on the News (her voice seemed almost to be breaking before she regained some control and heaven forbid she seemed to be blinking a lot) - anyway - she said she did not know what Burnham stood for anymore as his opinions changed so much. Incredibly cutting. At the death - when its all too late - the race is hotting up. From what I saw of Burnham he looked totally weak and pathetic. A perfect rabbit caught in the headlights. I'm coming to the conclusion that Strictly Come Dancing might have been a better format for this leadership election.
For all that the Blairites might be sneering, Burnham's speech this morning was tactically astute. There is still a sizeable vote in the party mainstream who's hearts are with Jezza, but who are still hesitant about going over the precipice.
On the other hand, the kind of lecturing and screaming about how Corbyn's policies are undesirable even in principle that we get from Kendall, the Blairites and occasionally Cooper just reinforces the sense that "they just don't get it" and increases support for Corbs even more.
@cathynewman: So @Corbyn4Leader admits he may have given money to group run by Holocaust denier but says wouldn't have done had he known his views #c4news
So either Corbyn is a fool - or he thinks we are....
I think we do have supporting evidence that Jezzbollah is - as SeanT suggests - a bit thick.
"No candidates or persons acting on behalf of a candidate will use their own material, access to publicity or any media outlets to disparage or brief against any other candidate."
Mandleson plan by rule breaking
Sounds as if no candidate can make the finish line then!
Jezza has run a positive campaign. No rule breaking by Jezza as far as I know.
Kendall has been at it for weeks. Cooper more recently and Burnham now by the looks of it.
Comments
I think Labour's antics over the last couple of weeks since Corbyn moved into pole position are clear evidence that supposed "Public Servants" think of the voters as their servants - the MSM are no better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNPTlT8HXjk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11808589/Yvette-Cooper-Andy-Burnham-is-too-similar-to-Jeremy-Corbyn-and-must-step-aside.html
#Maybetommorow...
Is brilliant
I was trying to explain to my wife today how the Trostkyites took control of public bodies, local councils, unions in the 70's and 80's. They used to call meetings at really anti social times- tea times, Saturday mornings etc.. and then elect representative when no other member bothered to turn up. It was all straight from the Trotskyist handbook.
Thanks to Ed- they don't even need to bother with any leg work. Just pay 3 notes and you're in.
Quite what Corbyn thinks he's going to achieve once he's leader, god only knows.
@georgeeaton: "This is desperate from Yvette. Straight out of the Ed Balls playbook," says Burnham source on poll claims.
Yvette Cooper balls deep in trouble?
I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.
Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.
Never mind, we had:
https://youtu.be/FU-tuY0Z7nQ
No 2nd preferences.
Assuming I haven't been outed as a Tory!!!
@SeanT, on the other hand, needs a different pair for each mood
http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/record/rcahms/4723/clais-charnach-slipway/rcahms?item=1123181#carousel
For some, that is point enough.
Jeremy has probably briefly chatted to a couple of nutters at pro-Palestinian functions whilst campaigning for an end to oppression by a fascist UK establishment ally.
The problem is one of maintenance. My current pair of Trek II's (I ordered three or four pairs in bulk in case they changed the design) has lasted for over 2,000 miles, by dint of washing after most trips and waxing.
However, I couldn't do that on my coastal walk. The boots were regularly dipped in the sea, immersed in mud, driven through miles of sand, used as a pillow whilst having a break, thrown at angry dogs, caught on barbed wire, peed on, enveloped in farmyard slurry, and lost.
Sometimes several of those on the same day. Worst was when the pee was not my own ...
When walking day after day, it is impossible to wash the boots and have them dry in time to wax them for the next day. So a pair would often last around a 1,000 miles, or a couple of months walking. If I'd been able to wash and wax them regularly, it would have been a different story. Add in the fact I have an unusual gait (severe supination), and they wear out quickly on trips.
I also got through four pairs of trainers, which I used on road sections (e.g. the miles of lochjside walking in west Scotland). They'd only last a few hundred miles.
https://twitter.com/GlenysKinnock/status/633330879255941120?lang=en-gb
"I know the English have a sense of humour about themselves, but I am from Naples and I can say that we women do know how to cook and clean the refrigerator and even be politicians, while perhaps Godfrey Bloom does not know either how to clean the refrigerator or how to be a politician."
Britain has harboured and incubated terrorists and it is shameful that politicians have either ignored what's been happening or failed to take action to stop this.
Britain at its best means something worthwhile to me and it is not too much to ask to expect politicians and public servants to live up to the best Britain can be not suck up to the worst. Britain stood up to the bullies of Nazism, Fascism and Communism in the last century. Why be so gutless and weak in the face of their descendants and imitators now?l
Politicians don't court BNP votes.
Principles and values and morality mean something. They cannot be entirely absent from public discourse and action.
Or am I being a hopelessly naive romantic?
The countdown for your chance to vote for Corbyn (just over 3 weeks left):-
https://twitter.com/MarkHopkins123/status/633374973248335872
What is most interesting about the header article is that, if taken on board by the selectorate, it removes the main argument for voting Tessa.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/03/upshot/a-quick-puzzle-to-test-your-problem-solving.html
On top of that are the Unite members that are also full Labour members.
Oh, you were talking about the Matt Cartoon
Well they are both men one was favourite and is now an outsider
LOL Kendall too similar to Cooper who steps aside?
Cooper loses any chance of 2nd place with this kind of Bollox IMO
http://labourlist.org/2015/08/miliband-backs-kendall-and-warns-corbyn-victory-could-lead-to-one-party-tory-state/
The first comment:
"I never did trust David, whenever I heard him singing 'The Red Flag' it was never an extraordinary rendition."
Fact is, the way we're constantly told how much better Labour does in London, it seems like it would be a surprise if they didn't win, so which candidate ends up running for Labour seems largely inconsequential unless one has money on it.
I also have no interest who runs London, so am hoping for the most hilarious outcome. A wacky mayor of any stripe would I guess be best, but failing that, Goldsmith winning would be funny on the basis that London is supposed to be a Labour city, and being run by Tories, and Old Etonian Tories at that, for at least 12 years would be a fantastic shock to some people.
Mind you they agreed at the election the Ed was level so perhaps this is progress.
Burnhap - is there a bigger flip flopper in politics ?
"No candidates or persons acting on behalf of a candidate will use their own material, access to publicity or any media outlets to disparage or brief against any other candidate."
Mandleson plan by rule breaking
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/17/labour-leadership-andy-burnham-yvette-cooper-contest
I wonder what Cooper's 2nd preferences are doing. I know she's called for them to go to Burnham, but the current spat makes that seem less certain.
From what I saw of Burnham he looked totally weak and pathetic. A perfect rabbit caught in the headlights.
I'm coming to the conclusion that Strictly Come Dancing might have been a better format for this leadership election.
On the other hand, the kind of lecturing and screaming about how Corbyn's policies are undesirable even in principle that we get from Kendall, the Blairites and occasionally Cooper just reinforces the sense that "they just don't get it" and increases support for Corbs even more.
Kendall has been at it for weeks. Cooper more recently and Burnham now by the looks of it.