Hopi Sen twitter feeds reads like somebody about to witness the most almighty of pile ups...
what's he doing, he's pulled out a little red book, no don't say, no don't say Let's quote from Mao, oh god he has, sadness in their eyes.... [RADIO SILENCE]
I remember the day when the likes of Hopi were in the "centre" of the Labour Party, now he must feel like the weird outsider in his own party.
TBH with Laural and Hardy in charge nothing is becoming unbelievable. Last week, hug a Jahadi and send him to the naughty step, now quoting from a book by a mass murderer. Just another day in the weird world of the UK Labour Party circa 2015. It really makes Gordon Brown's time in charge, complete with all his PR disasters, pale into insignificance.
Since Alex Salmond reads this blog can I ask him to give his projection of the price of Brent Crude over the next 5 years and apologise to the House for his last one?
I remember the day when the likes of Hopi were in the "centre" of the Labour Party, now he must feel like the weird outsider in his own party.
Hopi Sen has always been on the extreme right of the party.
Ed Miliband is the centre of the party.
I didn't mean it in terms of left / right politically, i meant it when he was involved in the day to day stuff. Maybe I should have said "at the heart", in his role as press officer.
If Salmond had been on here under the guise of any of the well-known Nats, he'd have had three years warning of the issues that were going to trip up the YES campaign...
If Salmond had been on here under the guise of any of the well-known Nats, he'd have had three years warning of the issues that were going to trip up the YES campaign...
Since Alex Salmond reads this blog can I ask him to give his projection of the price of Brent Crude over the next 5 years and apologise to the House for his last one?
Are you going to ask for an apology from the Brent Crude Futures market as well?
Since Alex Salmond reads this blog can I ask him to give his projection of the price of Brent Crude over the next 5 years and apologise to the House for his last one?
Are you going to ask for an apology from the Brent Crude Futures market as well?
Were they also vying for independence, and claiming financial stability/certainty? I thought it was around so people could make money, regardless of the direction of price.
Just woke up so trying to catch up, but have the tax credit cuts been reversed entirely? Wow.
The real 'wow' might be that the projections are for quite a bit more in tax revenues. This seems to have given a bit of leeway to delay the tax credit welfare issue.
Just woke up so trying to catch up, but have the tax credit cuts been reversed entirely? Wow.
The real 'wow' might be that the projections are for quite a bit more in tax revenues. This seems to have given a bit of leeway to delay the tax credit welfare issue.
Hopefully he used the extra money to reduce the deficit, not fund scrapping cuts or new spending!
Given McDonnell's love of Mao's Red Book, I suppose that someone on The Labour benches might recall Mr Tucker. "If some cunt can fuck something up, that cunt will pick the worst possible time to fucking fuck it up cause that cunt's a cunt."
But it will be expressed in a more refined manner.
What chance he comes up with a load of weasel words that manage to avoid saying that Mao was bad. So the journalist will ask the question a different way and he'll again avoid saying a bad word about Mao.
As Laurel and Hardy might once have said, that's another fine mess...
If Salmond had been on here under the guise of any of the well-known Nats, he'd have had three years warning of the issues that were going to trip up the YES campaign...
I have been stuck in court all day and am somewhat bemused at the headlines. The WTC cuts cancelled or at least postponed to 2018? I really did not see that coming. And a lot more money for housing and some more money for the police (actually quite a small amount)? I am bemused that he thinks he has this amount to play with when the month on month figures for the deficit have not been great.
And McDonnell made a tit of himself? Well that at least was predictable.
@SebastianEPayne: John McDonnell's team have edited out the Mao bit from their video of his #spendingreview response #streisandeffect https://t.co/o8LaNi2UPx
I have been stuck in court all day and am somewhat bemused at the headlines. The WTC cuts cancelled or at least postponed to 2018? I really did not see that coming. And a lot more money for housing and some more money for the police (actually quite a small amount)? I am bemused that he thinks he has this amount to play with when the month on month figures for the deficit have not been great.
And McDonnell made a tit of himself? Well that at least was predictable.
"John McDonnell says today is the day George Osborne promised that the deficit would be eliminated, but it is currently more than £70m. He's failed in his fiscal targets, he adds."
Just 70m, the boy wonder is doing much much better than I thought on the deficit reduction...
@robertshrimsley: "Osborne relaxed. Someone had taken a great leap backwards and somehow, miraculously, it turned out not to be him." https://t.co/Fd7ztDIYHS
I have been stuck in court all day and am somewhat bemused at the headlines. The WTC cuts cancelled or at least postponed to 2018? I really did not see that coming. And a lot more money for housing and some more money for the police (actually quite a small amount)? I am bemused that he thinks he has this amount to play with when the month on month figures for the deficit have not been great.
And McDonnell made a tit of himself? Well that at least was predictable.
We can all play Santa with big numbers.
I'm going to wait for the detailed analysis before I reach a final judgement on this budget. But I fear Osborne is being led by public opinion rather than leading it - which is a road to nowhere.
If these forecasts look like they're not panning out in 18 months then all these cuts could be back on the table again, and possibly more to boot, and it may be even tougher for him given he's ceded the political argument.
I have been stuck in court all day and am somewhat bemused at the headlines. The WTC cuts cancelled or at least postponed to 2018? I really did not see that coming. And a lot more money for housing and some more money for the police (actually quite a small amount)? I am bemused that he thinks he has this amount to play with when the month on month figures for the deficit have not been great.
And McDonnell made a tit of himself? Well that at least was predictable.
Osborne suffers Brown's fear of a bad headline.
It certainly does seem that Cameron and Osborne are determined to govern in the same manner as Blair and Brown. One can only hope that their administration will not be quite as awful for the nation as was that of their seeming role models.
''I am bemused that he thinks he has this amount to play with when the month on month figures for the deficit have not been great.''
He doesn't. And when the finances are all at sea in a year's time, the public will realise George Osborne will never close the deficit, if he had fifty years to do it.
''Osborne suffers Brown's fear of a bad headline. ''
Genuine low tax tories will be absolutely gutted by today's measures.
Yes I'm a little puzzled by the tax credit reversal. If they are going to be abolished anyway (and incorporated into the universal credit) won't it have the same effect on low wage workers as the original proposal?
I have been stuck in court all day and am somewhat bemused at the headlines. The WTC cuts cancelled or at least postponed to 2018? I really did not see that coming. And a lot more money for housing and some more money for the police (actually quite a small amount)? I am bemused that he thinks he has this amount to play with when the month on month figures for the deficit have not been great.
And McDonnell made a tit of himself? Well that at least was predictable.
We can all play Santa with big numbers.
I'm going to wait for the detailed analysis before I reach a final judgement on this budget. But I fear Osborne is being led by public opinion rather than leading it - which is a road to nowhere.
If these forecasts look like they're not panning out in 18 months then all these cuts could be back on the table again, and possibly more to boot.
Oh most definitely, and if we hit the next recession before 2020 Osborne is going to look a proper Charlie (what was it used to say about Brown not fixing the roof whilst the sun was shining?). Mind you, such is the state of the Labour Party he will probably get away with it even if the economy does go tits up.
Politically he maybe on to a winner but for the health and well being of the Nation he is a useless fecker.
Given that we still have a structural deficit of about £70bn per annum that may not actually be good news.
There has never been any 'austerity' as generally categorised. The government has always been quite cautious about cutting expenditure and expenditure will continue to cut at pretty much the same rate. I am not sure that many areas in the public sector are going to say that the era of cuts is over. The OBR may be wrong but they have probably got a better handle on things than you or me and they continue to predict a fall in the deficit leading to a surplus as previously.
''Osborne suffers Brown's fear of a bad headline. ''
Genuine low tax tories will be absolutely gutted by today's measures.
Anyone who thinks you can cure a deficit of £130B a year by only cutting spending must live in a different world.. Try doing it in 5 years and you'll never be in office again..
Here's a well-known one that's been discussed on here: when was the last time a submarine was partly sunk by an aircraft?
South Georgia 1982? Though as it was tied up alongside at the time I am not sure that partially sunk is the correct term.
Yep. I think it was partly listing after the helicopter attack, so I call that 'partially sunk'.
On 25 April, after resupplying the Argentine garrison in South Georgia, the submarine ARA Santa Fe was spotted on the surface[62] by a Westland Wessex HAS Mk 3 helicopter from HMS Antrim, which attacked the Argentine submarine with depth charges. HMS Plymouth launched a Westland Wasp HAS.Mk.1 helicopter, and HMS Brilliant launched a Westland Lynx HAS Mk 2. The Lynx launched a torpedo, and strafed the submarine with its pintle-mounted general purpose machine gun; the Wessex also fired on Santa Fe with its GPMG. The Wasp from HMS Plymouth as well as two other Wasps launched from HMS Endurance fired AS-12 ASM antiship missiles at the submarine, scoring hits. Santa Fe was damaged badly enough to prevent her from diving. The crew abandoned the submarine at the jetty at King Edward Point on South Georgia.
McDonnell is just hopeless. He just makes Osborne look like an economic genius in contrast to his daft ramblings. I suspect he pulled out the little red book to ensure that noone paid much attention to what else he said. I don't think he understands that wishful thinking isn't a very effective policy device.
Still our thoughts today should be with the 4.1 children that still live in absolute poverty.
Hopi Sen twitter feeds reads like somebody about to witness the most almighty of pile ups...
what's he doing, he's pulled out a little red book, no don't say, no don't say Let's quote from Mao, oh god he has, sadness in their eyes.... [RADIO SILENCE]
I remember the day when the likes of Hopi were in the "centre" of the Labour Party, now he must feel like the weird outsider in his own party.
Who is this Hopi Sen that PB Tories are so excited about ?
"... I don't think he understands that wishful thinking isn't a very effective policy device."
Osborne seems to get by on it .
That's not true though is it. Osborne has presided over a really quite substantial reduction in the deficit. Perhaps it's mostly luck, but he has delivered at least in part on the goals he set himself. Those goals were pretty vital for us as a nation too.
I don't like at all the way he allows the deadlines to slide, and I'm really disappointed that he hasn't found a way to kill off welfare as a pillar of society. (I'm all for mitigating the impact in the short term, but the long term ambition should have been retained.)
Osborne has overall done a fair job in difficult circumstances. Would you really want McDonnell in his place?
"Jeremy Corbyn is being kept away from campaigning ahead of next week’s Oldham West by-election because of concerns he is “toxic” among voters, according to a Labour MP."
Hopi Sen twitter feeds reads like somebody about to witness the most almighty of pile ups...
what's he doing, he's pulled out a little red book, no don't say, no don't say Let's quote from Mao, oh god he has, sadness in their eyes.... [RADIO SILENCE]
I remember the day when the likes of Hopi were in the "centre" of the Labour Party, now he must feel like the weird outsider in his own party.
Who is this Hopi Sen that PB Tories are so excited about ?
Am I supposed to be a PB Tory now? Weird. Two weeks ago I was giving the government both barrels over snoopers charter, and today I rubbishing Osborne's deficit reduction claims.
Hopi Sen twitter feeds reads like somebody about to witness the most almighty of pile ups...
what's he doing, he's pulled out a little red book, no don't say, no don't say Let's quote from Mao, oh god he has, sadness in their eyes.... [RADIO SILENCE]
I remember the day when the likes of Hopi were in the "centre" of the Labour Party, now he must feel like the weird outsider in his own party.
Who is this Hopi Sen that PB Tories are so excited about ?
Here's a well-known one that's been discussed on here: when was the last time a submarine was partly sunk by an aircraft?
Belgrano was the only ship sunk by a nuclear submarine.
I think several trawlers too. Not intentionally though.
I assume the sub was simply too high and hit the bottom of the trawler, rather than firing it's torpedos!
Haven't some subs fouled a trawler's nets and tipped them over?
Indeed -The trawler Antares was sunk by a trafalgar-class submarine, HMS Trenchant 20 odd years ago. - There’s been lots of speculation as to the sinking of other fishing vessels over the years, but more often than not it is attributed to high seas.
Comments
https://twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/669515044812664832
what's he doing,
he's pulled out a little red book,
no don't say, no don't say Let's quote from Mao,
oh god he has,
sadness in their eyes....
[RADIO SILENCE]
I remember the day when the likes of Hopi were in the "centre" of the Labour Party, now he must feel like the weird outsider in his own party.
Good to get such an establishment name check, he knew enough about it to indicate more than a passing interest.
http://www.onemanandhisblog.com/archives/2015/11/uk-google-search-traffic-little-red-book-week.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/maos-great-leap-forward-killed-45-million-in-four-years-2081630.html
TBH with Laural and Hardy in charge nothing is becoming unbelievable. Last week, hug a Jahadi and send him to the naughty step, now quoting from a book by a mass murderer. Just another day in the weird world of the UK Labour Party circa 2015. It really makes Gordon Brown's time in charge, complete with all his PR disasters, pale into insignificance.
Ed Miliband is the centre of the party.
Air to air victories in that list, the one I posted:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post–World_War_II_air-to-air_combat_losses
This seems to have given a bit of leeway to delay the tax credit welfare issue.
http://blogs.new.spectator.co.uk/2015/11/who-will-influence-the-eu-referendum-martin-lewis-not-june-sarpong/
Given McDonnell's love of Mao's Red Book, I suppose that someone on The Labour benches might recall Mr Tucker. "If some cunt can fuck something up, that cunt will pick the worst possible time to fucking fuck it up cause that cunt's a cunt."
But it will be expressed in a more refined manner.
@LabourPress Can you confirm that it was @SeumasMilne's copy of the Red Book which he has treasured since Winchester? On deadline. Thanks.
As Laurel and Hardy might once have said, that's another fine mess...
@paulwaugh @SMcPartlandMP @nicholaswatt I am very happy, but prefer to clap rather than bang wood....
Finbarr Saunders and his double entendres...
"The Shadow Chancellor's response to the Autumn Statement was a joke"
"Autumn statement ushers in the end of austerity"
Given that we still have a structural deficit of about £70bn per annum that may not actually be good news.
And McDonnell made a tit of himself? Well that at least was predictable.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs/12016635/Junior-doctors-strike-Government-agrees-to-talks-at-Acas.html
Alex Wickham @WikiGuido
Amazing. McDonnell tweets out video of his speech but WIPES Mao section! http://order-order.com/2015/11/25/mcdonnell-wipes-mao-from-official-video-of-speech/
Just 70m, the boy wonder is doing much much better than I thought on the deficit reduction...
I couldn't possibly comment.
http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/the_spending_review_was_a_big_missed_opportunity
http://order-order.com/2015/11/25/tim-yeo-guidos-part-in-his-downfall-part-94/
Umm...
Genuine low tax tories will be absolutely gutted by today's measures.
@robertshrimsley: "Osborne relaxed. Someone had taken a great leap backwards and somehow, miraculously, it turned out not to be him." https://t.co/Fd7ztDIYHS
@GdnPolitics: John McDonnell's great leap forward puts Osborne one step ahead https://t.co/bVjgBL8lwU
The Long March starts here
I'm going to wait for the detailed analysis before I reach a final judgement on this budget. But I fear Osborne is being led by public opinion rather than leading it - which is a road to nowhere.
If these forecasts look like they're not panning out in 18 months then all these cuts could be back on the table again, and possibly more to boot, and it may be even tougher for him given he's ceded the political argument.
He doesn't. And when the finances are all at sea in a year's time, the public will realise George Osborne will never close the deficit, if he had fifty years to do it.
More importantly, so will the markets.
Voters might very well conclude that whatever party you vote for you get social democracy. Social democracy light, or social democracy heavy.
Nothing else is on the table.
The thing I remember is a U-Turn on Tax Credits.
Politically he maybe on to a winner but for the health and well being of the Nation he is a useless fecker.
The OBR may be wrong but they have probably got a better handle on things than you or me and they continue to predict a fall in the deficit leading to a surplus as previously.
Sadly McDonnell seems arthritically incompetent.
(see the poll tax riots)
Still our thoughts today should be with the 4.1 children that still live in absolute poverty.
When is the last time someone you deem centre of Labour won a UK election?
"... I don't think he understands that wishful thinking isn't a very effective policy device."
Osborne seems to get by on it .
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/submarine-crew-blamed-for-sinking-of-antares-1532324.html
Some of the other trawler losses are a bit more mysterious.
What was Osborne's response? The clip unfortunately doesn't include it!
I don't like at all the way he allows the deadlines to slide, and I'm really disappointed that he hasn't found a way to kill off welfare as a pillar of society. (I'm all for mitigating the impact in the short term, but the long term ambition should have been retained.)
Osborne has overall done a fair job in difficult circumstances. Would you really want McDonnell in his place?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/12014388/Wheres-Jeremy-Corbyn-Labour-leader-hardly-seen-in-Oldham-West-and-Royton-by-election.html