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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Guido’s could be right: George Osborne is a Tory version of

SystemSystem Posts: 11,705
edited December 2015 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Guido’s could be right: George Osborne is a Tory version of Ed Miliband

Shortly after Ed Miliband was elected LAB leader in September 2010 some bright spark set up a website devoted to pictures of the opposition leader looking awkward.

Read the full story here


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Comments

  • Options
    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    "George Osborne is a Tory version of Ed Miliband"

    ie miles more electable than Corbo...
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    A key difference being that Osborne can be made PM without the nation's say so; his real challenge will be to convince once in the job. cf. Brown.
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    RazedabodeRazedabode Posts: 2,978
    I agree. But against corbyn, many would hold their noses and still vote for conservatives I think. Where there'll be big trouble is Osborne against a different Labour leader.
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    This is all true but if Ed Miliband had been running against the Tory equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn he'd be Prime Minister.
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    the Tory equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn.

    Sir Nicholas Fairbairn ?

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    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    I'd have no problem voting for Osborne. He's not my choice for PM, but he's competent to do the job, take the pressure and knows his weak points.
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    This is all true but if Ed Miliband had been running against the Tory equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn he'd be Prime Minister.

    John Carlisle

    Was known as the Tory MP for Johannesburg North
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    DairDair Posts: 6,108
    Wanderer said:

    Dair said:

    Wanderer said:

    Scott_P said:

    @RuthDavidsonMSP: Crikey. Even @PeteWishart suggests @ScotTories could beat @scottishlabour in May. Pass the smelling salts, Gertie.. https://t.co/6LQDJTD5eu

    Is this actually becoming dangerous for Ruth Davidson from an expectations-management point of view?
    Not really because Scotland has AMS. If the Tories can broach 20% and Labour slip below that, the Tories will almost certainly get more seats than Labour on the list (and have a better chance than Labour of winning any constituencies).

    If the Tories have more votes, it comes down to relatively unlikely electoral maths for them not to be the second party at Holyrood.
    How likely is it in your opinion?
    It is starting to look better than even.

    Scottish Labour have imploded even more since May. Their leader is poor and routinely gets slapped about at FMQs. Albeit that's outwith the public ken but she isn't known and isn't visible ANYWHERE else. At least Ruthie gets pictures riding tanks or feeding journalists Soleros.

    All this before the infighting has even started. They currently have 106 candidates fighting it out for perhaps 16 to 20 List Seats. There will be dirty tricks and it will further damage Labour.

    Not to mention Labour's paws being all over the Forth Road Bridge problems. Often due to their own inept attempts to smear the SNP.
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    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    It won;t be Osborne.
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    DairDair Posts: 6,108
    Osborne doesn't just look awkward and weird. He looks positively "amped".
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    edited December 2015
    It wasn't just the awkwardness that did for Ed, it was partly also having a tin ear, and frankly being a bit of an idiot, Osborne is showing some talent in both these areas as well (see pasty taxes, byron burgers, quarterly tax returns for small businesses, political magic tricks that don't make it to the next day, and other corporatist bullshit). The harder he seems to try to get the job, but more his obsession demonstrates his unsuitability to the public, very much as TP says, like Brown.
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    FPT

    Oh yes Moazzem Begg...he's just a poor boy, nobody loves him, he's just a poor boy, running an Islamic Bookshop...who has also been a Jahadi, attended training camps, etc etc etc and now is involved in CAGE.

    Again just terribly unlucky bloke. Wrong place, wrong time. How was he to know that so many of his friends are Islamic extremists and that the Taliban could be a bit naughty.

    And last week, some f##king idiot judge released Amram Choudary AGAIN on bail, after being re-arrested for breaking his BAIL.

    ISIS must think we are totally bonkers and a load of bed wetters when they read this stuff.
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    On topic, ordinarily yes, but if Osborne is facing Corbyn then Ozzy will stride the parade ground with the confidence born of aristocratic schooling can never be afraid. He never has been. Like latter day Pushkins drilled in the elite academy of Cameroonism, his is bursting with a sense of destiny.
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    Over 2/1 about Next Prime Minister (Prime Minister After Cameron on betfair) looks like very good value to me.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,292
    edited December 2015
    More Brown than Miliband...and equally unelectable. Tories would be bloody stupid to follow in Labour's footsteps by repeating the mistake.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTE6cTBrGcA
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    FPT

    Oh yes Moazzem Begg...he's just a poor boy, nobody loves him, he's just a poor boy, running an Islamic Bookshop...who has also been a Jahadi, attended training camps, etc etc etc and now is involved in CAGE.

    Again just terribly unlucky bloke. Wrong place, wrong time. How was he to know that so many of his friends are Islamic extremists and that the Taliban could be a bit naughty.

    And last week, some f##king idiot judge released Amram Choudary AGAIN on bail, after being re-arrested for breaking his BAIL.

    ISIS must think we are totally bonkers and a load of bed wetters when they read this stuff.

    I'm assuming these guys are all MI6 agents and they are arrested occasionally for cover.
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    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,565
    FPT:

    CD13 said:

    Dr Palmer,

    "Campaigns to change the law to (as they see it) help animals have greater difficulty in getting charitable status than their human campaign counterparts."

    Yes, I can see that a "Save the plague rat." might struggle a little. They need to be cuddly to be liked. I'd go with edible ones, myself. Something a line the lines of "Save the juicy Turkey."

    Enjoyable examples, but the underlying issue is that essentially the "public interest" test for charities comes down to some bloke deciding what he's willing to accept is in the public interest whether he personally agrees with it or not - thus Eton gets thumbs up and opposing circus animals gets thumbs down, whereas someone else might have reversed those decisions. It's one of those irregular verbs:

    I am a campaigner for the public interest
    You are someone with debatable views which shouldn't necessarily get tax advantages
    He is a scoundrel who is leaching money from taxpayers for his perverse campaigns

    One option would be to exclude campaigns - thus helping the homeless would qualify, but calling for laws to help the homeless would not - but that would mean the law helped alleviate problems but not solve them. If one gets rid of the subjectivity, you could end up with Scientology, Flat Earthers and the Ku Klux Klan getting tax advantages, so it's difficult, but the situation is not satisfactory. I'm not sure what the right answer is.
    I think I'm completely in favour of excluding campaigns. I can't see any drawback at this point (though it is a new concept for me). It seperates the actual act of doing good from the far more dubious process of lobbying the Government for more taxpayer's cash.
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    The Tories are much better off leaving Osborne in No 11

    Pains me to say it but he is either a genius or very lucky, more likely both
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,974

    FPT, and apologies for going off topic.

    Clearly, there can be no justification for avoiding English criminal law, or attempting to oust the jurisdiction of an English court.

    However, plenty of people will submit to arbitration, as an alternative to litigation. And, plenty of people consider themselves bound by moral laws, which are not part of the secular legal system. There is nothing in law to prevent a Jewish woman from applying to our family courts for a divorce, maintenance, or the custody of children. But, she may still feel bound by her own moral laws to get a religious divorce.

    The same thing happens quite a lot on the Continent, in those countries where legal marriage is completely separated from religious marriage. People may be married in the eyes of the secular law, but not according to Catholic canon law. And, they may be married in the eyes of the Catholic church, but not in the eyes of the secular law.
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    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,565
    TGOHF said:

    FPT

    Oh yes Moazzem Begg...he's just a poor boy, nobody loves him, he's just a poor boy, running an Islamic Bookshop...who has also been a Jahadi, attended training camps, etc etc etc and now is involved in CAGE.

    Again just terribly unlucky bloke. Wrong place, wrong time. How was he to know that so many of his friends are Islamic extremists and that the Taliban could be a bit naughty.

    And last week, some f##king idiot judge released Amram Choudary AGAIN on bail, after being re-arrested for breaking his BAIL.

    ISIS must think we are totally bonkers and a load of bed wetters when they read this stuff.

    I'm assuming these guys are all MI6 agents and they are arrested occasionally for cover.
    Which would rather seem part of the problem.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,292
    edited December 2015
    TGOHF said:

    FPT

    Oh yes Moazzem Begg...he's just a poor boy, nobody loves him, he's just a poor boy, running an Islamic Bookshop...who has also been a Jahadi, attended training camps, etc etc etc and now is involved in CAGE.

    Again just terribly unlucky bloke. Wrong place, wrong time. How was he to know that so many of his friends are Islamic extremists and that the Taliban could be a bit naughty.

    And last week, some f##king idiot judge released Amram Choudary AGAIN on bail, after being re-arrested for breaking his BAIL.

    ISIS must think we are totally bonkers and a load of bed wetters when they read this stuff.

    I'm assuming these guys are all MI6 agents and they are arrested occasionally for cover.
    If that was true, MI6 have managed to hire so right dummies....dangerous dummies, but definitely dummies. I would hope that MI6 do have moles, and that said moles are away from the spotlight making connections with people who exist in the shadows, spreading their warped version of Islam and preaching Jahadi.
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    Dair said:

    Wanderer said:

    Dair said:

    Wanderer said:

    Scott_P said:

    @RuthDavidsonMSP: Crikey. Even @PeteWishart suggests @ScotTories could beat @scottishlabour in May. Pass the smelling salts, Gertie.. https://t.co/6LQDJTD5eu

    Is this actually becoming dangerous for Ruth Davidson from an expectations-management point of view?
    Not really because Scotland has AMS. If the Tories can broach 20% and Labour slip below that, the Tories will almost certainly get more seats than Labour on the list (and have a better chance than Labour of winning any constituencies).

    If the Tories have more votes, it comes down to relatively unlikely electoral maths for them not to be the second party at Holyrood.
    How likely is it in your opinion?
    It is starting to look better than even.

    Scottish Labour have imploded even more since May. Their leader is poor and routinely gets slapped about at FMQs. Albeit that's outwith the public ken but she isn't known and isn't visible ANYWHERE else. At least Ruthie gets pictures riding tanks or feeding journalists Soleros.

    All this before the infighting has even started. They currently have 106 candidates fighting it out for perhaps 16 to 20 List Seats. There will be dirty tricks and it will further damage Labour.

    Not to mention Labour's paws being all over the Forth Road Bridge problems. Often due to their own inept attempts to smear the SNP.
    Tories 9/4 with Ladbrokes still. Tempting.
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    PongPong Posts: 4,693
    edited December 2015
    I don't disagree.

    There are also uncanny similarities between Paul Staines & Damien McBride.

    #justsayin'
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    Champions League draw: Arsenal to face Barcelona, Chelsea against PSG

    Well English teams involvement in the Champions League will be done and dusted very early (AGAIN) this year .
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    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    edited December 2015
    Should the Tories appoint Osborne as leader they deserve all they'll get at GE 2020.

    If the chum of low tax paying big businesses, greedy banks and property spivs is at the helm, and Corbyn gone, they'll lose big at the next election and rightly so.

    The loathsome creature is no friend of the traditional Tory voter.

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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    edited December 2015
    Sean_F said:

    However, plenty of people will submit to arbitration, as an alternative to litigation. And, plenty of people consider themselves bound by moral laws, which are not part of the secular legal system. There is nothing in law to prevent a Jewish woman from applying to our family courts for a divorce, maintenance, or the custody of children. But, she may still feel bound by her own moral laws to get a religious divorce.

    The issue would seem to be how to ensure that all parties to these irregular courts are aware of their limitations, and that there are more powerful alternatives available from the state. It is also how to stop someone being bullied, cajoled or miss-informed by their community into accepting a solution that is unacceptable to them or which treats the unfairly or contrary to accepted norms, such as sex discrimination.

    One can easily see how a young woman could arrive from another country, and be told by her elders and religious leaders that their community only "accepts" ruling by the irregular courts, and that is would bring great shame on the community to be seen to make a fuss outside their community, it's possible threats might be made in this regard, quietly and out of the public eye, they might also conspire along with other members of her community to not mention the alternatives.
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    Yet again a certain amount of desperation is evident. Not least from Guido.
    There is nothing in particular that is good bad or indifferent in Osborne that separates him from 99% of other politicians.
    Unlike Miliband however he has found time to register the births of his children. Miliband's awkwardness was more than skin deep.
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    DairDair Posts: 6,108
    Cyclefree said:


    The basic precepts of sharia law are fundamentally at odds with the basic rights and concepts of most Western European legal systems as exemplified in the ECHR. It is untenable, in my view, that European citizens should be deprived of the rights under the ECHR and our legal systems or excused their obligations on the basis of some informal so-called religious "court". We do not live in a theocracy and I see no reason at all to subject some of our fellow citizens to a theocracy within our country.

    There it is.

    The Tories want to scrap ECHR so they can IMPOSE SHARIA LAW!
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    WandererWanderer Posts: 3,838
    Dair said:

    Wanderer said:

    Dair said:

    Wanderer said:

    Scott_P said:

    @RuthDavidsonMSP: Crikey. Even @PeteWishart suggests @ScotTories could beat @scottishlabour in May. Pass the smelling salts, Gertie.. https://t.co/6LQDJTD5eu

    Is this actually becoming dangerous for Ruth Davidson from an expectations-management point of view?
    Not really because Scotland has AMS. If the Tories can broach 20% and Labour slip below that, the Tories will almost certainly get more seats than Labour on the list (and have a better chance than Labour of winning any constituencies).

    If the Tories have more votes, it comes down to relatively unlikely electoral maths for them not to be the second party at Holyrood.
    How likely is it in your opinion?
    It is starting to look better than even.

    Scottish Labour have imploded even more since May. Their leader is poor and routinely gets slapped about at FMQs. Albeit that's outwith the public ken but she isn't known and isn't visible ANYWHERE else. At least Ruthie gets pictures riding tanks or feeding journalists Soleros.

    All this before the infighting has even started. They currently have 106 candidates fighting it out for perhaps 16 to 20 List Seats. There will be dirty tricks and it will further damage Labour.

    Not to mention Labour's paws being all over the Forth Road Bridge problems. Often due to their own inept attempts to smear the SNP.
    Interesting. Thanks.

    I am tempted but, jeez, betting on the Scottish Tories...
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,292
    edited December 2015
    I see the yet another Hugo Spiffington-Smythe type is in charge of a hard left organisation (Momentum). What is it with these idiots who then start banging on about comfortable old and corrupt ruling elites...they obviously don't teach self awareness at these £30k a year schools.
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    George Osborne is not a people person, that's for sure. That may not stop him becoming Prime Minister, however, since that is within the gift of the Conservative party rather than the electorate.
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    Off topic, something for the EU referendum campaign:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a498119a-a24c-11e5-8d70-42b68cfae6e4.html?ftcamp=published_links/rss/brussels/feed//product#axzz3uHigJ2Pk

    "The crash, the parliamentary expenses scandal and the popular turn against immigration have drained all confidence from the establishment, which has slumped from irrational exuberance to the vigilance of hypochondriacs in under a decade. Whether they deserve to or not, they should relax. Anti-establishment politics is a paper tiger. Britons vent in local and European elections but, when they have to choose a government or settle an existential question in a referendum, they vote with colder blood than we credit. Their livelihoods are at stake in a way the livelihoods of mobile, resilient elites seldom are.

    There is something else — nearer to aesthetic taste than risk calculation. Britons dislike the establishment but not as much as they dislike people who rant about the establishment. Withholding trust from MPs and fat cats is only natural; defining your worldview against them smells too much like zealotry."
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @BuzzFeedUKPol: It doesn't truly feel like Christmas until Jeremy Corbyn releases his Christmas card. Here it is. https://t.co/pLS4V06PYg
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    TGOHF said:

    FPT

    Oh yes Moazzem Begg...he's just a poor boy, nobody loves him, he's just a poor boy, running an Islamic Bookshop...who has also been a Jahadi, attended training camps, etc etc etc and now is involved in CAGE.

    Again just terribly unlucky bloke. Wrong place, wrong time. How was he to know that so many of his friends are Islamic extremists and that the Taliban could be a bit naughty.

    And last week, some f##king idiot judge released Amram Choudary AGAIN on bail, after being re-arrested for breaking his BAIL.

    ISIS must think we are totally bonkers and a load of bed wetters when they read this stuff.

    I'm assuming these guys are all MI6 agents and they are arrested occasionally for cover.
    I'm not usually one for conspiracy theories, but that would be better than the fact that we keep bailing these scumbags using the rights that they wish to deny us.
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    IndigoIndigo Posts: 9,966
    edited December 2015

    There is nothing in particular that is good bad or indifferent in Osborne that separates him from 99% of other politicians.

    Take off your blue coloured spectacles and take another look. When asked about GO the words people use tend to be ones like "smug" "sneering" "uncaring" and if he is lucky "aristocratic". Hardly a man of the people. What is depressing in many ways is how ordinary a lot of other politicians are, people like Postie Johnson, a more ordinary man is would be hard to find in Westminster and yet well thought of by the public across the political spectrum, because he has that golden quality for a politician "authenticity", Cameron has it, despite frequently lying through his teeth, Osborne doesn't.

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    stodgestodge Posts: 12,895
    Afternoon all :)

    I'm no Tory but, given the way Conservatives choose their leaders, it's going to be very hard to keep Osborne out of the contest and out of the final two to go to the membership.

    The question then becomes Osborne vs ? - Johnson, May, Hammond, Clarkson, A.N Other or S.O Else ? The membership may not be as easy an electorate to manipulate as the parliamentary party and it's purely for that reason Osborne isn't a shoo-in.

    This would be the first time the Conservatives have chosen their leader whilst in office under the post-Hague reforms so in effect the electorate of the Conservative membership will be choosing the Prime Minister. I'm sure whomsoever succeeds Cameron will have the difficult balancing act of continuity vs reward (keep the good Cabinet Ministers while promoting your friends and favourites).

    Unlike in 1990, there's no clear evidence any other candidate would do as well if not better than the current incumbent (and some evidence one or two prospective candidates might do a good deal worse) but there's nobody arguing Cameron should run and win the 2020 GE and stand down immediately afterward.After all, it's the defeated who quit after the election, not the victorious.
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    Scott_P said:

    @BuzzFeedUKPol: It doesn't truly feel like Christmas until Jeremy Corbyn releases his Christmas card. Here it is. https://t.co/pLS4V06PYg

    That's a spoof right?
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,974

    Off topic, something for the EU referendum campaign:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a498119a-a24c-11e5-8d70-42b68cfae6e4.html?ftcamp=published_links/rss/brussels/feed//product#axzz3uHigJ2Pk

    "The crash, the parliamentary expenses scandal and the popular turn against immigration have drained all confidence from the establishment, which has slumped from irrational exuberance to the vigilance of hypochondriacs in under a decade. Whether they deserve to or not, they should relax. Anti-establishment politics is a paper tiger. Britons vent in local and European elections but, when they have to choose a government or settle an existential question in a referendum, they vote with colder blood than we credit. Their livelihoods are at stake in a way the livelihoods of mobile, resilient elites seldom are.

    There is something else — nearer to aesthetic taste than risk calculation. Britons dislike the establishment but not as much as they dislike people who rant about the establishment. Withholding trust from MPs and fat cats is only natural; defining your worldview against them smells too much like zealotry."

    Anti-establishment politics is a paper tiger, until it isn't. Rather like resentment towards the Scottish Labour Party.
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    More Brown than Miliband...and equally unelectable. Tories would be bloody stupid to follow in Labour's footsteps by repeating the mistake.

    The comparison between Osborne and Brown is incredibly shallow and amounts to basically "was Chancellor". As were so many other PMs like John Major who won the following election.

    Brown spent a decade publicly and privately undermining his PM. Osborne has been very loyal.

    Brown inherited a golden economic legacy and squandered it, Osborne inherited an absolute mess and is slowly but surely fixing it.

    Really the comparison is puerile.
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    Racism against awkward people! :lol:
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    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    Indigo said:

    There is nothing in particular that is good bad or indifferent in Osborne that separates him from 99% of other politicians.

    Take off your blue coloured spectacles and take another look. When asked about GO the words people use tend to be ones like "smug" "sneering" "uncaring" and if he is lucky "aristocratic". Hardly a man of the people. What is depressing in many ways is how ordinary a lot of other politicians are, people like Postie Johnson, a more ordinary man is would be hard to find in Westminster and yet well thought of by the public across the political spectrum, because he has that golden quality for a politician "authenticity", Cameron has it, despite frequently lying through his teeth, Osborne doesn't.

    Osborne is loathed. Witness the response he received at the Olympics.
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    It depends who Osborne is up against, doesn't it? I'd take Ed Miliband over Jeremy Corbyn every single day of the week.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453

    Scott_P said:

    @BuzzFeedUKPol: It doesn't truly feel like Christmas until Jeremy Corbyn releases his Christmas card. Here it is. https://t.co/pLS4V06PYg

    That's a spoof right?
    @PickardJE: Corbyn's Christmas card is a bicycle that has frozen up and is not going anywhere. https://t.co/FpyIJL13gN

    @PickardJE: Can't help noticing that the traffic light is set to RED @MartinHoscik @robindepeyer Whatever that means.
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    Scott_P said:

    @BuzzFeedUKPol: It doesn't truly feel like Christmas until Jeremy Corbyn releases his Christmas card. Here it is. https://t.co/pLS4V06PYg

    That's a spoof right?
    It must be. The card refers to Christmas :-)
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    Indigo said:

    Sean_F said:

    However, plenty of people will submit to arbitration, as an alternative to litigation. And, plenty of people consider themselves bound by moral laws, which are not part of the secular legal system. There is nothing in law to prevent a Jewish woman from applying to our family courts for a divorce, maintenance, or the custody of children. But, she may still feel bound by her own moral laws to get a religious divorce.

    The issue would seem to be how to ensure that all parties to these irregular courts are aware of their limitations, and that there are more powerful alternatives available from the state. It is also how to stop someone being bullied, cajoled or miss-informed by their community into accepting a solution that is unacceptable to them or which treats the unfairly or contrary to accepted norms, such as sex discrimination.

    One can easily see how a young woman could arrive from another country, and be told by her elders and religious leaders that their community only "accepts" ruling by the irregular courts, and that is would bring great shame on the community to be seen to make a fuss outside their community, it's possible threats might be made in this regard, quietly and out of the public eye, they might also conspire along with other members of her community to not mention the alternatives.
    Exactly. We need to see charities and women's refuge centres inside these communities, run by enlightened members of those communities. It's not acceptable to say to a woman that if she leaves her abusive husband she'll lose access to her children and be dumped back to her home country in disgrace and shame. We owe it to these people in the UK to prove we're better than that.
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    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976
    edited December 2015
    Osborne is a backroom person, so was Ed, and that’s where he should have stayed.

    GOWNBPL.
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    I'm surprised that Jeremy Corbyn has used the culturally limiting word "Christmas" on his card.
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    WandererWanderer Posts: 3,838
    On topic, I personally find Osborne the most appealing of the senior Tories. However, I think they'd be stupid to choose him (unless they can arrange for the electorate to be replaced with clones of me, which while desirable is not likely).

    But more to the point, I don't think they will choose him unless he can manoeuvre so as to get into the last two against someone clearly inadequate.
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    Sean_F said:

    Off topic, something for the EU referendum campaign:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a498119a-a24c-11e5-8d70-42b68cfae6e4.html?ftcamp=published_links/rss/brussels/feed//product#axzz3uHigJ2Pk

    "The crash, the parliamentary expenses scandal and the popular turn against immigration have drained all confidence from the establishment, which has slumped from irrational exuberance to the vigilance of hypochondriacs in under a decade. Whether they deserve to or not, they should relax. Anti-establishment politics is a paper tiger. Britons vent in local and European elections but, when they have to choose a government or settle an existential question in a referendum, they vote with colder blood than we credit. Their livelihoods are at stake in a way the livelihoods of mobile, resilient elites seldom are.

    There is something else — nearer to aesthetic taste than risk calculation. Britons dislike the establishment but not as much as they dislike people who rant about the establishment. Withholding trust from MPs and fat cats is only natural; defining your worldview against them smells too much like zealotry."

    Anti-establishment politics is a paper tiger, until it isn't. Rather like resentment towards the Scottish Labour Party.
    Except that the SNP have become the establishment from the opposition in Scotland, step by step. There was no actual single tsunami in Scotland though we like to imagine one. In 2007 the SNP went from the second party to first part on a plurality of just a single seat.

    From the position of incumbency they won a decade ago the SNP have built themselves as the new Scottish establishment. It isn't anti-establishment politics, it is just a change in establishment.
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    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,974

    Yet again a certain amount of desperation is evident. Not least from Guido.
    There is nothing in particular that is good bad or indifferent in Osborne that separates him from 99% of other politicians.
    Unlike Miliband however he has found time to register the births of his children. Miliband's awkwardness was more than skin deep.

    I think Alistair Meeks is correct that he gives the impression of someone who likes to pull the wings off flies.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,292
    edited December 2015

    More Brown than Miliband...and equally unelectable. Tories would be bloody stupid to follow in Labour's footsteps by repeating the mistake.

    The comparison between Osborne and Brown is incredibly shallow and amounts to basically "was Chancellor". As were so many other PMs like John Major who won the following election.

    Brown spent a decade publicly and privately undermining his PM. Osborne has been very loyal.

    Brown inherited a golden economic legacy and squandered it, Osborne inherited an absolute mess and is slowly but surely fixing it.

    Really the comparison is puerile.
    Osborne doesn't spend his time undermining his PM, but there is plenty of suggestions that other people suffer from Team Osborne operations.

    If we look at budgets, Osborne is very Brownian in his presentation. Rarely are things as they seem and many decisions are not made for the right reasons. He has also kicked tough decisions into the long grass, rather continually concentrating on short term-ish.

    In terms of the recovery, the UK has gone pretty well, but cuts are nowhere near as large as spun and we are again stoking up house price inflation as a source of wealth and no sign of the march of the makers / Northern Powerhouse.

    I could go on....Is Osborne as bad a chancellor as Brown, no. Is he very Brownian, yes, although I would say it is a combination of Brown + Mandelson. And the public reaction to him is very similar.
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    Scott_P said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BuzzFeedUKPol: It doesn't truly feel like Christmas until Jeremy Corbyn releases his Christmas card. Here it is. https://t.co/pLS4V06PYg

    That's a spoof right?
    @PickardJE: Corbyn's Christmas card is a bicycle that has frozen up and is not going anywhere. https://t.co/FpyIJL13gN

    @PickardJE: Can't help noticing that the traffic light is set to RED @MartinHoscik @robindepeyer Whatever that means.
    Phone box is also RED!
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    Osborne is a backroom person, so was Ed, and that’s where he should have stayed.

    GOWNBPL.

    JICIPM! :lol:
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    Pong said:

    I don't disagree.

    There are also uncanny similarities between Paul Staines & Damien McBride.

    #justsayin'

    Both rather rotund and with Irish roots?

    I think the similarity ends there - one is a total scumbag who sought to smear opponents with lies, the other is a great example of freedom of speech and holding the executive to account in a democracy.
  • Options

    A key difference being that Osborne can be made PM without the nation's say so; his real challenge will be to convince once in the job. cf. Brown.

    Mmmm...
    He (or someone else) may be made tory leader before the election... but would he or they become PM straight away? We have a fixed term parliament now.
    He or whoever may be elected leader in October or November 2019. But Cameron may stay as PM and one way or another go to the Palace on 8 May 2020 to recommend a new PM.
    To give one example... The USA manages for 2 to 3 months with an outgoing President before the new one is sworn in.

    BTW - we are still in 2015. May 2020 is an awful long way away. Only PBers could be obsessing about what might happen on October 2019.
  • Options
    FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,062
    I wouldn't vote for either of them but I'm bewildered that Osborne is seen as much more of an electoral liability than Cameron. They're just the same to me. I honestly think most people look at Cameron and see a nice family man whatever the politics. He's done a very good job of hiding the less appealing aspects of his character - see Andrew Rawnsley's article yesterday.
  • Options
    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
  • Options
    runnymederunnymede Posts: 2,536
    'It is also how to stop someone being bullied, cajoled or miss-informed by their community into accepting a solution that is unacceptable to them or which treats the unfairly or contrary to accepted norms, such as sex discrimination'

    But that is more or less the point of these 'courts' isn't it? Why would they exist except to try to impose another set of values than those which English or Scottish law enshrine?

  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    Scott_P said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BuzzFeedUKPol: It doesn't truly feel like Christmas until Jeremy Corbyn releases his Christmas card. Here it is. https://t.co/pLS4V06PYg

    That's a spoof right?
    @PickardJE: Corbyn's Christmas card is a bicycle that has frozen up and is not going anywhere. https://t.co/FpyIJL13gN

    @PickardJE: Can't help noticing that the traffic light is set to RED @MartinHoscik @robindepeyer Whatever that means.
    The SJWs dare to use the "C" word on a card? Must be a spoof.
  • Options

    George Osborne is not a people person, that's for sure. That may not stop him becoming Prime Minister, however, since that is within the gift of the Conservative party rather than the electorate.

    And the gift of the Conservative Party electorate, don't forget.
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,292
    edited December 2015
  • Options

    A key difference being that Osborne can be made PM without the nation's say so; his real challenge will be to convince once in the job. cf. Brown.

    Mmmm...
    He (or someone else) may be made tory leader before the election... but would he or they become PM straight away? We have a fixed term parliament now.
    He or whoever may be elected leader in October or November 2019. But Cameron may stay as PM and one way or another go to the Palace on 8 May 2020 to recommend a new PM.
    To give one example... The USA manages for 2 to 3 months with an outgoing President before the new one is sworn in.

    BTW - we are still in 2015. May 2020 is an awful long way away. Only PBers could be obsessing about what might happen on October 2019.
    It would be difficult to have an elected replacement Tory leader not be PM if Parliament is sitting.
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    DairDair Posts: 6,108
    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
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    Off topic, something for the EU referendum campaign:

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a498119a-a24c-11e5-8d70-42b68cfae6e4.html?ftcamp=published_links/rss/brussels/feed//product#axzz3uHigJ2Pk

    "The crash, the parliamentary expenses scandal and the popular turn against immigration have drained all confidence from the establishment, which has slumped from irrational exuberance to the vigilance of hypochondriacs in under a decade. Whether they deserve to or not, they should relax. Anti-establishment politics is a paper tiger. Britons vent in local and European elections but, when they have to choose a government or settle an existential question in a referendum, they vote with colder blood than we credit. Their livelihoods are at stake in a way the livelihoods of mobile, resilient elites seldom are.

    There is something else — nearer to aesthetic taste than risk calculation. Britons dislike the establishment but not as much as they dislike people who rant about the establishment. Withholding trust from MPs and fat cats is only natural; defining your worldview against them smells too much like zealotry."

    That's astonishingly complacent thinking.
  • Options
    Good afternoon, everyone.

    FPT: Miss Cyclefree, I remember being taught at school that charity was largely poor people in rich countries giving to rich people in poor countries.
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    stodgestodge Posts: 12,895
    Scott_P said:


    @PickardJE: Corbyn's Christmas card is a bicycle that has frozen up and is not going anywhere. https://t.co/FpyIJL13gN

    @PickardJE: Can't help noticing that the traffic light is set to RED @MartinHoscik @robindepeyer Whatever that means.

    Sounds better than Cameron's dreadful effort yet are Christmas cards really worth tweeting about ?

    Do right-wing bloggers have nothing better to do than comment on Corbyn's cards ?

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    stodge said:

    Scott_P said:


    @PickardJE: Corbyn's Christmas card is a bicycle that has frozen up and is not going anywhere. https://t.co/FpyIJL13gN

    @PickardJE: Can't help noticing that the traffic light is set to RED @MartinHoscik @robindepeyer Whatever that means.

    Sounds better than Cameron's dreadful effort yet are Christmas cards really worth tweeting about ?

    Do right-wing bloggers have nothing better to do than comment on Corbyn's cards ?

    I think you will find it is now traditionally yearly activity to mock all the crap Xmas cards sent out by politicians of all colours.
  • Options
    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,144

    George Osborne is not a people person, that's for sure. That may not stop him becoming Prime Minister, however, since that is within the gift of the Conservative party rather than the electorate.

    I've been told by someone who worked in his office that Osborne is extremely shy. Being in the public eye is very difficult for him.

    Crap career choice then, George!
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941

    A key difference being that Osborne can be made PM without the nation's say so; his real challenge will be to convince once in the job. cf. Brown.

    Mmmm...
    He (or someone else) may be made tory leader before the election... but would he or they become PM straight away? We have a fixed term parliament now.
    He or whoever may be elected leader in October or November 2019. But Cameron may stay as PM and one way or another go to the Palace on 8 May 2020 to recommend a new PM.
    To give one example... The USA manages for 2 to 3 months with an outgoing President before the new one is sworn in.

    BTW - we are still in 2015. May 2020 is an awful long way away. Only PBers could be obsessing about what might happen on October 2019.
    Yes, myself and others have suggested that before. Cameron resigns as party leader in 2019 but not as PM. He continues in that role until the election while allowing the newly elected party leader to stand on their own manifesto. DC stands down as PM the day after the election if there's a clear winner, maybe stays on for a few days if there isn't.

    *looks at betting slips* The new Tory leader won't be Osborne or Johnson.
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    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,631
    Oh good, an Osborne is crap thread! I don't think he would be a good PM at all. He would be Brown all over again. Hopefully someone like Priti Patel can barge in on the leadership election. She is a bit unsteady at times, but with some decent coaching she could be a really good leader/PM.
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    MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 50,144

    I'm surprised that Jeremy Corbyn has used the culturally limiting word "Christmas" on his card.


    But with a small "c"......
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    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the Forth Road Bridge is such a Labour issue why did the SNP remove the toll?
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,068
    runnymede said:

    'It is also how to stop someone being bullied, cajoled or miss-informed by their community into accepting a solution that is unacceptable to them or which treats the unfairly or contrary to accepted norms, such as sex discrimination'

    But that is more or less the point of these 'courts' isn't it? Why would they exist except to try to impose another set of values than those which English or Scottish law enshrine?

    There are a great many extra-judicial courts in existence in the UK (the vast majority of which are non-religious in nature), where people contractually agree that arbitration will be handled, and that such arbitration will be be binding.

    If you gamble, the T&Cs of your contract with your bookmaker - when you open your account - will require you to renounce all ability to use the UK legal system to pursue claims. Instead, you need to use IBAS. (Or whatever it's called.)

    The Beth Din and Sharia courts are similar. They have no juristiction over people who do not sign their rights over to them. (And if you are happy to accept binding arbitration of IBAS or a Beth Din or a Sharia court, surely that's your concern.)

    More fundamentally, there are two separate issues here:

    1. Are people being pressured into accepting the jurisdiction of these institutions?

    2. Is there anything specifically about religious "courts" that makes them more onerous than civil ones?
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the bridge is still closed as the campaign starts the SNP will own it and then some. Buy Tory seats in Edinburgh.
  • Options
    stodge said:

    Scott_P said:


    @PickardJE: Corbyn's Christmas card is a bicycle that has frozen up and is not going anywhere. https://t.co/FpyIJL13gN

    @PickardJE: Can't help noticing that the traffic light is set to RED @MartinHoscik @robindepeyer Whatever that means.

    Sounds better than Cameron's dreadful effort yet are Christmas cards really worth tweeting about ?
    Do right-wing bloggers have nothing better to do than comment on Corbyn's cards ?
    Its better than phrenology
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,292
    edited December 2015

    I'm surprised that Jeremy Corbyn has used the culturally limiting word "Christmas" on his card.


    But with a small "c"......
    Not sure his mates at Finsbury Park Mosque will approve. Wonder if former regular Shaker Aamer knows Jahadi Jez? Wonder if he ever wrote a nice letter on his behalf?
  • Options
    Mr. Max, I agree. Patel would instantly revive economic prospects by gifting me a 50/1 winning bet :p
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    DairDair Posts: 6,108


    Except that the SNP have become the establishment from the opposition in Scotland, step by step. There was no actual single tsunami in Scotland though we like to imagine one. In 2007 the SNP went from the second party to first part on a plurality of just a single seat.

    From the position of incumbency they won a decade ago the SNP have built themselves as the new Scottish establishment. It isn't anti-establishment politics, it is just a change in establishment.

    When the history is written about the end of the United Kingdom, what time will be spent on that decision. A joint decision by the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Parties. A decision to "let them run it".

    With a minority of one.

    It seems so stupid today. So full of hubris and a marked underestimation of the ability of the SNP to do (at least) a reasonable job. Or perhaps they genuinely over-estimated their own abilities and Labour thought they actually did a good job which could not be matched.

    For want of a vote**, a seat was lost,
    For want of a seat, an election was lost,
    For want of an election, a parliament was lost,
    For want of a parliament, a nation was lost.


    ** technically, IIRC, it was 72 votes in the closest seat.

    It may not be the dumbest decision of all time. But for extinguishing of the United Kingdom, it was certainly the most important. 37 people, decided the fate of the UK.
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    rcs1000 said:

    runnymede said:

    'It is also how to stop someone being bullied, cajoled or miss-informed by their community into accepting a solution that is unacceptable to them or which treats the unfairly or contrary to accepted norms, such as sex discrimination'

    But that is more or less the point of these 'courts' isn't it? Why would they exist except to try to impose another set of values than those which English or Scottish law enshrine?

    There are a great many extra-judicial courts in existence in the UK (the vast majority of which are non-religious in nature), where people contractually agree that arbitration will be handled, and that such arbitration will be be binding.

    If you gamble, the T&Cs of your contract with your bookmaker - when you open your account - will require you to renounce all ability to use the UK legal system to pursue claims. Instead, you need to use IBAS. (Or whatever it's called.)

    The Beth Din and Sharia courts are similar. They have no juristiction over people who do not sign their rights over to them. (And if you are happy to accept binding arbitration of IBAS or a Beth Din or a Sharia court, surely that's your concern.)

    More fundamentally, there are two separate issues here:

    1. Are people being pressured into accepting the jurisdiction of these institutions?

    2. Is there anything specifically about religious "courts" that makes them more onerous than civil ones?
    1. Yes. Especially in Muslim and Jewish areas.
    2. Yes. We are talking about attempts by certain communities to bypass UK and EU Law of human rights, in order to control people who have little or no understanding of the British legal system. That is disgraceful in a Western democracy. Comparisons to eg a contract between a British company and a French company being subject to French law or arbitration is disengenuous.
  • Options
    Sandpit said:

    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the bridge is still closed as the campaign starts the SNP will own it and then some. Buy Tory seats in Edinburgh.
    I am not sure why being opposed to spending the thick end of £1.5bn on a new bridge should be a problem for SLAB. Without that expenditure then there ought to have been money to maintain the existing bridge.
  • Options
    DairDair Posts: 6,108
    edited December 2015

    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the Forth Road Bridge is such a Labour issue why did the SNP remove the toll?
    Parliament voted 120 - 0 to end bridge tolls on all Scottish Bridges. It was a sound and prudent move with near universal support (even the Greens only abstained).

    Labour's failure was a refusal to commission the new bridge during their time in office when it was clearly needed.
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,974
    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    runnymede said:

    'It is also how to stop someone being bullied, cajoled or miss-informed by their community into accepting a solution that is unacceptable to them or which treats the unfairly or contrary to accepted norms, such as sex discrimination'

    But that is more or less the point of these 'courts' isn't it? Why would they exist except to try to impose another set of values than those which English or Scottish law enshrine?

    There are a great many extra-judicial courts in existence in the UK (the vast majority of which are non-religious in nature), where people contractually agree that arbitration will be handled, and that such arbitration will be be binding.

    If you gamble, the T&Cs of your contract with your bookmaker - when you open your account - will require you to renounce all ability to use the UK legal system to pursue claims. Instead, you need to use IBAS. (Or whatever it's called.)

    The Beth Din and Sharia courts are similar. They have no juristiction over people who do not sign their rights over to them. (And if you are happy to accept binding arbitration of IBAS or a Beth Din or a Sharia court, surely that's your concern.)

    More fundamentally, there are two separate issues here:

    1. Are people being pressured into accepting the jurisdiction of these institutions?

    2. Is there anything specifically about religious "courts" that makes them more onerous than civil ones?
    1. Yes. Especially in Muslim and Jewish areas.
    2. Yes. We are talking about attempts by certain communities to bypass UK and EU Law of human rights, in order to control people who have little or no understanding of the British legal system. That is disgraceful in a Western democracy. Comparisons to eg a contract between a British company and a French company being subject to French law or arbitration is disengenuous.
    Many non-Jews use the Beth Din to arbitrate commercial disputes, where it has a very good reputation.
  • Options
    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    Sandpit said:

    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the bridge is still closed as the campaign starts the SNP will own it and then some. Buy Tory seats in Edinburgh.
    SNP are entirely culpable for this closed bridge fiasco - only surprise is they aren't blaming "Fatcha"

  • Options
    runnymederunnymede Posts: 2,536
    '1. Yes. Especially in Muslim and Jewish areas.
    2. Yes. We are talking about attempts by certain communities to bypass UK and EU Law of human rights, in order to control people who have little or no understanding of the British legal system. That is disgraceful in a Western democracy. Comparisons to eg a contract between a British company and a French company being subject to French law or arbitration is disengenuous.'

    To be fair, these are not easy things to get your head around from a narrow, middle-class liberal perspective.

    There is of course another point too - before long these courts are going to start trespassing into areas of criminal law as well. I wonder how white liberals will rationalise that.

  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,974
    rcs1000 said:

    runnymede said:

    'It is also how to stop someone being bullied, cajoled or miss-informed by their community into accepting a solution that is unacceptable to them or which treats the unfairly or contrary to accepted norms, such as sex discrimination'
    civil ones?

    BTW, I've sent you a PM.
  • Options
    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474
    Dair said:

    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the Forth Road Bridge is such a Labour issue why did the SNP remove the toll?
    Parliament voted 120 - 0 to end bridge tolls on all Scottish Bridges. It was a sound and prudent move with near universal support (even the Greens only abstained).
    Hardly a 'sound and prudent move' if the resulting fall in revenues has resulted in maintenance cuts, and a failure in the upkeep of critical infrastructure.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,227

    TGOHF said:

    FPT

    Oh yes Moazzem Begg...he's just a poor boy, nobody loves him, he's just a poor boy, running an Islamic Bookshop...who has also been a Jahadi, attended training camps, etc etc etc and now is involved in CAGE.

    Again just terribly unlucky bloke. Wrong place, wrong time. How was he to know that so many of his friends are Islamic extremists and that the Taliban could be a bit naughty.

    And last week, some f##king idiot judge released Amram Choudary AGAIN on bail, after being re-arrested for breaking his BAIL.

    ISIS must think we are totally bonkers and a load of bed wetters when they read this stuff.

    I'm assuming these guys are all MI6 agents and they are arrested occasionally for cover.
    Which would rather seem part of the problem.
    Terrorist organizations are routinely penetrated by the intelligence authorities. The latter wouldn't be doing their jobs if they didn't.

  • Options
    DairDair Posts: 6,108

    Sandpit said:

    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the bridge is still closed as the campaign starts the SNP will own it and then some. Buy Tory seats in Edinburgh.
    I am not sure why being opposed to spending the thick end of £1.5bn on a new bridge should be a problem for SLAB. Without that expenditure then there ought to have been money to maintain the existing bridge.
    Yes but here's the rub for SLAB.

    In 2006 when the clamour for a new bridge was getting impossible to ignore, SLAB returned £1.5bn to the UK Treasury unspent as they could not find any projects to use the money on.
  • Options
    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    watford30 said:

    Hardly a 'sound and prudent move' if the resulting fall in revenues has resulted in maintenance cuts, and a failure in the upkeep of critical infrastructure.

    It was "sound and prudent" in the same sense that Gordo "abolished boom and bust"
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,974
    Seat totals in France's Regions were:-

    Right 789,
    Left 551,
    FN 356,
    Corsican Nationalists 24.

    This compares with 2010,

    Left 1,177
    Right 511,
    FN 116,
    Other 43

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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    Sean_F said:

    Sandpit said:

    rcs1000 said:

    runnymede said:

    'It is also how to stop someone being bullied, cajoled or miss-informed by their community into accepting a solution that is unacceptable to them or which treats the unfairly or contrary to accepted norms, such as sex discrimination'

    But that is more or less the point of these 'courts' isn't it? Why would they exist except to try to impose another set of values than those which English or Scottish law enshrine?

    There are a great many extra-judicial courts in existence in the UK (the vast majority of which are non-religious in nature), where people contractually agree that arbitration will be handled, and that such arbitration will be be binding.

    If you gamble, the T&Cs of your contract with your bookmaker - when you open your account - will require you to renounce all ability to use the UK legal system to pursue claims. Instead, you need to use IBAS. (Or whatever it's called.)

    The Beth Din and Sharia courts are similar. They have no juristiction over people who do not sign their rights over to them. (And if you are happy to accept binding arbitration of IBAS or a Beth Din or a Sharia court, surely that's your concern.)

    More fundamentally, there are two separate issues here:

    1. Are people being pressured into accepting the jurisdiction of these institutions?

    2. Is there anything specifically about religious "courts" that makes them more onerous than civil ones?
    1. Yes. Especially in Muslim and Jewish areas.
    2. Yes. We are talking about attempts by certain communities to bypass UK and EU Law of human rights, in order to control people who have little or no understanding of the British legal system. That is disgraceful in a Western democracy. Comparisons to eg a contract between a British company and a French company being subject to French law or arbitration is disengenuous.
    Many non-Jews use the Beth Din to arbitrate commercial disputes, where it has a very good reputation.
    Great! A mutual commercial dispute resolution service is very different to a family dispute service that is completely at odds with English law.
  • Options
    DairDair Posts: 6,108
    watford30 said:

    Dair said:

    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the Forth Road Bridge is such a Labour issue why did the SNP remove the toll?
    Parliament voted 120 - 0 to end bridge tolls on all Scottish Bridges. It was a sound and prudent move with near universal support (even the Greens only abstained).
    Hardly a 'sound and prudent move' if the resulting fall in revenues has resulted in maintenance cuts, and a failure in the upkeep of critical infrastructure.
    The money was available for any and all maintenance required. FETA chose not to spend it. Indeed they had reserves of their own if required without needing to get money from the Scottish Government.

    The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @SkyNewsBreak: The Rugby Football Union has announced Mike Catt, Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree will leave their positions as England assistant coaches

    ...and there was much rejoicing...
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    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    Dair said:

    watford30 said:

    Dair said:

    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the Forth Road Bridge is such a Labour issue why did the SNP remove the toll?
    Parliament voted 120 - 0 to end bridge tolls on all Scottish Bridges. It was a sound and prudent move with near universal support (even the Greens only abstained).
    Hardly a 'sound and prudent move' if the resulting fall in revenues has resulted in maintenance cuts, and a failure in the upkeep of critical infrastructure.
    The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
    So you are admitting catastrophically slack oversight by the FM's office of this critical transport quango ?

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    Scott_P said:

    @SkyNewsBreak: The Rugby Football Union has announced Mike Catt, Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree will leave their positions as England assistant coaches

    ...and there was much rejoicing...

    But still sticking with the no foreign based player being selected nonsense...How that is even legal I have no idea.
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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 39,075
    Dair said:

    watford30 said:

    Dair said:

    Dair said:

    Scott_P said:

    @BBCDavidMiller: Asked if he will allow full disclosure of Forth Road Bridge documents, as Labour have demanded, @DerekMackayMSP responds: 'Yes I will".

    Scottish Labour in full on lemming mode.

    Their paws are all over the Forth Road Bridge. They know it. They even tried to smear the SNP with an email to Scottish Labour Councillor without even trying to explain why the Scottish Labour Councillor did nothing (perhaps because the email didn't ask for anything to be done, it's just comedy).

    SLAB must know that there will be reams of damaging releases about their cancellation of a new bridge, their opposition to a new bridge and their attempts to block a new bridge in the Minority parliament.

    It's almost as if Scottish Labour played a bluff when it was blindingly obvious to everyone that the bluff would be called.
    If the Forth Road Bridge is such a Labour issue why did the SNP remove the toll?
    Parliament voted 120 - 0 to end bridge tolls on all Scottish Bridges. It was a sound and prudent move with near universal support (even the Greens only abstained).
    Hardly a 'sound and prudent move' if the resulting fall in revenues has resulted in maintenance cuts, and a failure in the upkeep of critical infrastructure.
    The money was available for any and all maintenance required. FETA chose not to spend it. Indeed they had reserves of their own if required without needing to get money from the Scottish Government.

    The Liberal councillor who was chair of FETA said that no work was required at the time.
    "The money was available for any and all maintenance required."

    Source please, because it's fairly clear it was not: the maintenance was made to fit the budget, not vice versa.
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    OchEyeOchEye Posts: 1,469
    Wanderer said:

    Dair said:

    Wanderer said:

    Dair said:

    Wanderer said:

    Scott_P said:

    @RuthDavidsonMSP: Crikey. Even @PeteWishart suggests @ScotTories could beat @scottishlabour in May. Pass the smelling salts, Gertie.. https://t.co/6LQDJTD5eu

    Is this actually becoming dangerous for Ruth Davidson from an expectations-management point of view?
    .
    How likely is it in your opinion?

    All this before the infighting has even started. They currently have 106 candidates fighting it out for perhaps 16 to 20 List Seats. There will be dirty tricks and it will further damage Labour.

    Not to mention Labour's paws being all over the Forth Road Bridge problems. Often due to their own inept attempts to smear the SNP.
    Interesting. Thanks.

    I am tempted but, jeez, betting on the Scottish Tories...
    The alternative view that the Acolytes of the Sainted Phoney Rev Frae Bath don't want anyone to hear about is the briefing going on against Mackay and McGarry. Word is that they will soon be sacrificed to save Sturgeon's political life.

    Sturgeon's and MacKay's fingerprints are the ones Dair should be commenting on. The paper trail is available, we don't need to wait to see what MacKay will show - nearly everything has already been leaked. SNP votes are dying out in Fife and Lothians as people realise the danger the SNP were gambling their lives away with.

    As for Boswell, well, until someone found his personal company accounts and published them, he was pretty safe - now the HMRC and Parliamentary Standards are going to be looking a little closer at him, and gossip is going around that there may just be a few more juicy details still to come out (his local party did not want him to represent them, obviously they knew more about him)- which leaves Thomson.

    Sturgeon, as a lawyer with even small experience of conveyancing saw within seconds the game was up and dealt with it swiftly. Thomson is not in trouble about double dealing house sellars although that is morally unacceptable, she is though, in with the banks and building societies who were provided details of the mortgage requests. Once maybe an error, 13 times does look rather suspicious.

    Salmond's visit to Holyrood (yes, he is still an MSP as well as an MP) the other day was not only to remind people (Nats) that he is still alive. We are waiting for another version of the "if nominated I'll decline. If drafted I'll defer. And if elected I'll resign," before we see him take up the baton, leading the SNP into the election battle next year, should Nicola be forced from the FM hot seat.

    Rather than the Labour party collapsing, it is actually the SNP which have the greater problems.
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    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    edited December 2015
    runnymede said:

    '1. Yes. Especially in Muslim and Jewish areas.
    2. Yes. We are talking about attempts by certain communities to bypass UK and EU Law of human rights, in order to control people who have little or no understanding of the British legal system. That is disgraceful in a Western democracy. Comparisons to eg a contract between a British company and a French company being subject to French law or arbitration is disengenuous.'

    To be fair, these are not easy things to get your head around from a narrow, middle-class liberal perspective.

    There is of course another point too - before long these courts are going to start trespassing into areas of criminal law as well. I wonder how white liberals will rationalise that.

    What we need is a human rights lawyer willing to take on the case of a Muslim woman ostracised from her community and her children within the UK.

    Unfortunately they seem more interested in Shaker Ahmer and the massive legal aid involved in trying to prevent the UK deporting terrorist sympatisers.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @politicshome: Ken Livingstone: I would join the House of Lords if offered https://t.co/XVek8HlMo7 https://t.co/86SQBEeRVd
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