The Cologne story is just getting worse and worse. I still cannot believe that police attitudes to rape and sexual assault can actually be like that in this day and age. And the DM comments' section on the Cologne story. Only they could believe it's been 50 years since Britain was a 'great country'. Sigh.
It is bizarre. The entire "Women need to ..." line of thinking needs to be knocked on the head immediately.
''I still cannot believe that police attitudes to rape and sexual assault can actually be like that in this day and age.''
???? Have you never heard of Rotherham? Oxford? The faults of the police were far worse there than Cologne, and that was just a few years ago.
I've obviously heard of those incidents, but it doesn't mean you can't find it utterly mind-blowing how the police (both here and in Germany) can think like that.
Was this the worst conducted reshuffle ever? Trailed for days it was completed in the middle of the night when nobody was watching and was a complete anti climax. Then the headlines the next day are dominated by Shadow Cabinet resignations instead
Some government ones have been worse. I seem to remember a Brown reshuffle that ended in a complete shambles. I'm pretty sure that at least one Thatcher one did. And Macmillan's NOTLK still being referred to as a reference point gives proof as to its own status as a classic.
Cameron has, perhaps, been fortunate in being constrained by the coalition and so having much less scope to reshuffle last parliament.
According to the Seldon book he made a positive choice not to do it.
Was this the worst conducted reshuffle ever? Trailed for days it was completed in the middle of the night when nobody was watching and was a complete anti climax. Then the headlines the next day are dominated by Shadow Cabinet resignations instead
Some government ones have been worse. I seem to remember a Brown reshuffle that ended in a complete shambles. I'm pretty sure that at least one Thatcher one did. And Macmillan's NOTLK still being referred to as a reference point gives proof as to its own status as a classic.
Cameron has, perhaps, been fortunate in being constrained by the coalition and so having much less scope to reshuffle last parliament.
According to the Seldon book he made a positive choice not to do it.
I've obviously heard of those incidents, but it doesn't mean you can't find it utterly mind-blowing how the police (both here and in Germany) can think like that.
Why is it mind blowing? In the prevailing climate of political correctness, where officers can be sent on diversity awareness courses for a casual remark and have their careers ruined at the same time, its perfectly understandable.
So, having seen Scottish Labour described as a 'branch office', the remainder of non-London English Labour is now being consigned to the same fate. What of Wales?
We had Millionaire, Multi-Kitchened, North London Labour and it has been replaced by the still-protesting-about-Vietnam-Soviet Republic of North London Labour.
From here Bairstow should swing the bat and then we could look at a third declaration of this match.
Even if we lose, just basically play like its a Twenty20.
Who do you think would win from here if this were a timeless test?
From here South Africa but if it was a timeless test we would never be here. The day 2 declaration would never have happened under a timeless test and the way we were playing we could have racked up close to a thousand runs and put SA under far more pressure.
Nor would we have had the batting like a whirling dervish.
Cameron has, perhaps, been fortunate in being constrained by the coalition and so having much less scope to reshuffle last parliament.
I agree that the inability to hold full reshuffles actually helped Cameron in the coalition days. I wonder if he would agree and if he'll exercise the same self-restraint now. Tricky: if you have the power of patronage there are always people demanding you use it (to promote them, naturally).
There's going to a major post-referendum reshuffle isn't there, whoever wins?
Well what issues are there with the current cabinet ?
George is a competent COE, even if he does love the Chinese state more than ours. Hammond is doing an OK job as Foreign Secretary, May has done Home Sec for what seems an eternity now and with the trickiest of the great offices of state in many ways is competent and is seen to be competent. Gove is shaking up law, which is much needed. Fallon, whilst not to everyone's tastes represents a strong note on defence which hits at a very weak point of Labour. Javid, a self made man makes an excellent business secretary. IDS has made welfare reform his raison d'etre, and like Hunt at health although these are tricky subjects for the Conservatives are 100% in tune with the leadership.
Was this the worst conducted reshuffle ever? Trailed for days it was completed in the middle of the night when nobody was watching and was a complete anti climax. Then the headlines the next day are dominated by Shadow Cabinet resignations instead
Some government ones have been worse. I seem to remember a Brown reshuffle that ended in a complete shambles. I'm pretty sure that at least one Thatcher one did. And Macmillan's NOTLK still being referred to as a reference point gives proof as to its own status as a classic.
Cameron has, perhaps, been fortunate in being constrained by the coalition and so having much less scope to reshuffle last parliament.
According to the Seldon book he made a positive choice not to do it.
Something I must read
Stable government post coalition certainly indicates it's a positive choice. Even if it was born of necessity.
As I said the other day, things have been steadily getting worse for Labour for about ten years.
The worrying thing is that trend shows no sign of reversing. If anything it is accelerating.
So, at some point in the future we might look back at this reshuffle as "the good old days".
I can't think of any national or international event however damaging to the Conservatives that would now benefit Labour. The public would just find a new alternative like they did with the SDP. Cameron must be the luckiest leader in history
David Cameron evidently believes in by and large letting people have a proper chance of getting to grips with their jobs and then letting them get on with it. The reshuffle that most clearly demonstrates that was the one after the 2015 general election. He had the opportunity radically to reshape his Cabinet with command of his party and a lot of former Lib Dem posts to fill. Instead he took a minimalist approach.
I strongly approve of this. Unless a minister is hopelessly tainted, they will do their job better if they have a deeper understanding of the problems they face, which they will gain with more time in the job.
David Cameron evidently believes in by and large letting people have a proper chance of getting to grips with their jobs and then letting them get on with it. The reshuffle that most clearly demonstrates that was the one after the 2015 general election. He had the opportunity radically to reshape his Cabinet with command of his party and a lot of former Lib Dem posts to fill. Instead he took a minimalist approach.
I strongly approve of this. Unless a minister is hopelessly tainted, they will do their job better if they have a deeper understanding of the problems they face, which they will gain with more time in the job.
It is one of the most positive things about Cameron led government. This obsession with moving everybody around every year or two under Blair. Imagine if a company swapped CFO, with head of HR, with the head of R&D, every year or two, it would be utter chaos.
''I still cannot believe that police attitudes to rape and sexual assault can actually be like that in this day and age.''
???? Have you never heard of Rotherham? Oxford? The faults of the police were far worse there than Cologne, and that was just a few years ago.
For the Cologne police, as for the Rotherham police, the chief principle (as set by their superiors) is Not To Be Racist.
That comes before the rule of law, naturally.
Sorry but I am sceptical that it is all due to anti racism. The exact same thing happened allegedly with Saville and many other alleged abusers. The consistent issue isn't race it's not believing or standing up for victims regardless of race. The same happens for other crimes too. Burgled? Well you should have had better security etc ...
Was this the worst conducted reshuffle ever? Trailed for days it was completed in the middle of the night when nobody was watching and was a complete anti climax. Then the headlines the next day are dominated by Shadow Cabinet resignations instead
Some government ones have been worse. I seem to remember a Brown reshuffle that ended in a complete shambles. I'm pretty sure that at least one Thatcher one did. And Macmillan's NOTLK still being referred to as a reference point gives proof as to its own status as a classic.
Cameron has, perhaps, been fortunate in being constrained by the coalition and so having much less scope to reshuffle last parliament.
According to the Seldon book he made a positive choice not to do it.
Something I must read
Stable government post coalition certainly indicates it's a positive choice. Even if it was born of necessity.
Seldon claims it was based on Cameron and Osborne's firm view of previous administrations (Lab and Con). The book is worth reading, sometimes a bit gushing and sometimes too accepting of self serving views of participants but well written and lots of insight. Tends to push you towards the cock up view of politics and made me more sympathetic to Osborne.
Cameron comes across to me as very self righteous although you probably need bordering on sociopathic levels of self belief/certainty to get to be and remain Prime Minister. Seldon (unsurprisingly) is more sympathetic to the born to rule public school breeding view of leadership.
I can't think of any national or international event however damaging to the Conservatives that would now benefit Labour. The public would just find a new alternative like they did with the SDP. Cameron must be the luckiest leader in history
Sigh. An event that causes Corbyn and/or McDonnell to resign voluntarily might just have some benefit.
The Thatcher 1989 reshuffle was a bit of a disaster, she removed Sir Geoffrey Howe as Foreign Secretary and demoted him to Leader of the House, then pondered making him Home Secretary, which annoyed the then current Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, when it leaked out.
Howe also didn't want to give up his residence at Chevening, which led to one wag calling him 'Sir Geoffrey Houses'
And to top it all off, she promoted the little known about Chief Secretary to the Treasury, John Major (who he? - Ed) as Howe's replacement.
David Cameron evidently believes in by and large letting people have a proper chance of getting to grips with their jobs and then letting them get on with it. The reshuffle that most clearly demonstrates that was the one after the 2015 general election. He had the opportunity radically to reshape his Cabinet with command of his party and a lot of former Lib Dem posts to fill. Instead he took a minimalist approach.
I strongly approve of this. Unless a minister is hopelessly tainted, they will do their job better if they have a deeper understanding of the problems they face, which they will gain with more time in the job.
Yes, if good government is the object it's clearly best.
I'm feeling deprived now. No resignations in over an hour
I would expect the next batch to come just before 5pm - ready for PM and the evening news shows
If they are going to do it, I hope they try to top each other with bitter accusations or mode of resignation. Topping resigning on air may be tough.
Actually, the very fact that no-one seems to be mooting such.a thing, that they still stress how loyal they are to Labour, seemingly sincerely, is if anything one of the few positives in all this - the strength of the brand and tribal loyalty to it is still pretty strong it seems, and they may despite Corbyn and what he is doing to Labour, but they will never knowingly act against Labour (they would presumably arguing providing fodder for Tory attacks on Corbyn now is benefiting labour in the long run)
Re. PMQs. I just heard the highlights and to my mind Cameron's series of not very funny jibes come across really badly in comparison to Corbyn's refusal to rise to the provocation in favour of sticking to the issue. If you'd been flooded over Xmas I think you would certainly warm more to him than to Cameron. Obviously, Corbyn is utterly unelectable, but when he goes there is something that I think moderate politicians of all the main parties should take from his modus operandi.
There is a definite niche for a party leader who can ask pointed questions in a polite and reasonable manner without engaging in silly, schoolboy one-upmanship. And to many of his supporters, Corbyn's appeal lies in his personal integrity and sincerity - it's why he was elected leader, where Diane Abbott never would have been. His policies are, of course, lunacy (I will certainly not vote Labour while he remains leader) - but as I say there are lessons that other politicians can learn from his manner of conducting himself.
Bad light now. That has been the other consideration today. If England were not able to bowl Finn and Broad what would be the point?
So, despite one of the finest Innings I have ever seen and a few stumbles today, we have a test match where all of 19 wickets fell in 5 days of play. That is not good for the game. As a test wicket this was a disgrace.
the world has gone mad - in the comments section of the guardian Michael White is getting called out as some sort of crypto fascist for suggesting Corbyn is.... err....not that good at politics.
Toynbee et al not pure enough for the true believers. Extraordinary as I dont really remember the old militant stuff.
I know pretty much everyone is sick of the status quo but this?
Labour really looking like two parties now irespective of a formal split.
Nah, that's been the norm regarding CIF for sometime now. These people are totally insane. They cannot take anyone disagreeing with them on anything ever. They'd probably even get angry if you didn't like the same TV shows they did.
The Cologne story is just getting worse and worse. I still cannot believe that police attitudes to rape and sexual assault can actually be like that in this day and age. And the DM comments' section on the Cologne story. Only they could believe it's been 50 years since Britain was a 'great country'. Sigh.
What did the police actually do or not do? Were they there, were they slow to respond Was there a riot. Did they stand and watch women being molested? I ask because I do not know what is being reported. I see someone is saying there were 2000 offenders / attackers now. What is the number. Where there any plain vanilla 'german' men around. What were they doing.
The Thatcher 1989 reshuffle was a bit of a disaster, she removed Sir Geoffrey Howe as Foreign Secretary and demoted him to Leader of the House, then pondered making him Home Secretary, which annoyed the then current Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, when it leaked out.
Howe also didn't want to give up his residence at Chevening, which led to one wag calling him 'Sir Geoffrey Houses'
And to top it all off, she promoted the little known about Chief Secretary to the Treasury, John Major (who he? - Ed) as Howe's replacement.
By the end Major was her preferred successor so perhaps not a bad refhuffle.
Can you chair a select committee and be a shadow minister? It sounds like a potential scheduling nightmare but I'm not sure. Trying to do some math on replacements.
I'm feeling deprived now. No resignations in over an hour
I would expect the next batch to come just before 5pm - ready for PM and the evening news shows
If they are going to do it, I hope they try to top each other with bitter accusations or mode of resignation. Topping resigning on air may be tough.
Actually, the very fact that no-one seems to be mooting such.a thing, that they still stress how loyal they are to Labour, seemingly sincerely, is if anything one of the few positives in all this - the strength of the brand and tribal loyalty to it is still pretty strong it seems, and they may despite Corbyn and what he is doing to Labour, but they will never knowingly act against Labour (they would presumably arguing providing fodder for Tory attacks on Corbyn now is benefiting labour in the long run)
We forgot that a number of Labour Lords have jumped ship under Corbyn.
The Cologne story is just getting worse and worse. I still cannot believe that police attitudes to rape and sexual assault can actually be like that in this day and age. And the DM comments' section on the Cologne story. Only they could believe it's been 50 years since Britain was a 'great country'. Sigh.
It is bizarre. The entire "Women need to ..." line of thinking needs to be knocked on the head immediately.
Britain is greater than it's ever been.
I agree. For all our flaws as a country, there are still many things fantastic about this country. I'm certainly glad to be British.
Well what issues are there with the current cabinet ?
George is a competent COE, even if he does love the Chinese state more than ours. Hammond is doing an OK job as Foreign Secretary, May has done Home Sec for what seems an eternity now and with the trickiest of the great offices of state in many ways is competent and is seen to be competent. Gove is shaking up law, which is much needed. Fallon, whilst not to everyone's tastes represents a strong note on defence which hits at a very weak point of Labour. Javid, a self made man makes an excellent business secretary. IDS has made welfare reform his raison d'etre, and like Hunt at health although these are tricky subjects for the Conservatives are 100% in tune with the leadership.
It's not perfect, but it's a very solid team.
It is a very strong team, but of those you mention I'm disappointed with Javid. He doesn't seem to have done very much, and getting rid of bonkers regulations seems to be completely stalled. He needs to get moving much more vigorously.
Re. PMQs. I just heard the highlights and to my mind Cameron's series of not very funny jibes come across really badly in comparison to Corbyn's refusal to rise to the provocation in favour of sticking to the issue. If you'd been flooded over Xmas I think you would certainly warm more to him than to Cameron. Obviously, Corbyn is utterly unelectable, but when he goes there is something that I think moderate politicians of all the main parties should take from his modus operandi.
There is a definite niche for a party leader who can ask pointed questions in a polite and reasonable manner without engaging in silly, schoolboy one-upmanship. And to many of his supporters, Corbyn's appeal lies in his personal integrity and sincerity - it's why he was elected leader, where Diane Abbott never would have been. His policies are, of course, lunacy (I will certainly not vote Labour while he remains leader) - but as I say there are lessons that other politicians can learn from his manner of conducting himself.
True enough. I do think you need a bit of an opportunistic, nasty streak, to be leader (and Corbyn's nasty streak is certainly not in his manner) - it is sometimes very useful to be able to mock and put down your opponents. Cameron is good at it, but he can take it too far sometimes.
If Corbyn were more moderate in position as well as manner, I would seriously consider voting for the man, his personal mode of conduct is by all accounts quite appealing, even if many of his views are not.
Bad light now. That has been the other consideration today. If England were not able to bowl Finn and Broad what would be the point?
So, despite one of the finest Innings I have ever seen and a few stumbles today, we have a test match where all of 19 wickets fell in 5 days of play. That is not good for the game. As a test wicket this was a disgrace.
@Jamin2g: People are resigning on television, Labour are trailing by double digits in most polls. Has the penny dropped now? #bbcdp #pmqs
No they are not! Most polls have them 5 to 8 points behind.
The latest poll from yougov has Labour 10 points behind
But the most recent poll in terms of fieldwork dates is actually ICM which has Labour only 5 points behind.
But you keep on ignoring what ICM said about that poll.
For our part, it is clear that phone polls steadfastly continue to collect too many Labour voters in the raw sample, and the challenge for phone polling is to find a way to overcome the systematic reasons for doing so.
Well what issues are there with the current cabinet ?
George is a competent COE, even if he does love the Chinese state more than ours. Hammond is doing an OK job as Foreign Secretary, May has done Home Sec for what seems an eternity now and with the trickiest of the great offices of state in many ways is competent and is seen to be competent. Gove is shaking up law, which is much needed. Fallon, whilst not to everyone's tastes represents a strong note on defence which hits at a very weak point of Labour. Javid, a self made man makes an excellent business secretary. IDS has made welfare reform his raison d'etre, and like Hunt at health although these are tricky subjects for the Conservatives are 100% in tune with the leadership.
It's not perfect, but it's a very solid team.
It is a very strong team, but of those you mention I'm disappointed with Javid. He doesn't seem to have done very much, and getting rid of bonkers regulations seems to be completely stalled. He needs to get moving much more vigorously.
I'm quite pleased with his planned privitisation of the green investment bank. Plus Companies House + Insolvency Service digital plans are both impressive & so far running smoothly.
As I said the other day, things have been steadily getting worse for Labour for about ten years.
The worrying thing is that trend shows no sign of reversing. If anything it is accelerating.
So, at some point in the future we might look back at this reshuffle as "the good old days".
There is a certain irony that from the point at which 'Things Can Only Get Better' was being constantly pumped out time after time on election night 1997, things have only got worse for Labour.
Bad light now. That has been the other consideration today. If England were not able to bowl Finn and Broad what would be the point?
So, despite one of the finest Innings I have ever seen and a few stumbles today, we have a test match where all of 19 wickets fell in 5 days of play. That is not good for the game. As a test wicket this was a disgrace.
England could have won this.
Catches win matches.
They could undoubtedly have put SA under more pressure but take another 13 wickets on this wicket? I really doubt it.
The consistent issue isn't race it's not believing or standing up for victims regardless of race.
Are you telling me that if muslim girls were being trafficked by gangs of white men the police in Rotherham would not have been all over it? Or if Muslim girls were surrounded by gangs of whites in Cologne, ditto??
Well what issues are there with the current cabinet ?
George is a competent COE, even if he does love the Chinese state more than ours. Hammond is doing an OK job as Foreign Secretary, May has done Home Sec for what seems an eternity now and with the trickiest of the great offices of state in many ways is competent and is seen to be competent. Gove is shaking up law, which is much needed. Fallon, whilst not to everyone's tastes represents a strong note on defence which hits at a very weak point of Labour. Javid, a self made man makes an excellent business secretary. IDS has made welfare reform his raison d'etre, and like Hunt at health although these are tricky subjects for the Conservatives are 100% in tune with the leadership.
It's not perfect, but it's a very solid team.
It is a very strong team, but of those you mention I'm disappointed with Javid. He doesn't seem to have done very much, and getting rid of bonkers regulations seems to be completely stalled. He needs to get moving much more vigorously.
I'm quite pleased with his planned privitisation of the green investment bank. Plus Companies House + Insolvency Service digital plans are both impressive & so far running smoothly.
I am not sure if we need the department in the first place. Can't its functions be hived off. In my view this is the reason why it seems he is not doing much, there is not much to do.
@Jamin2g: People are resigning on television, Labour are trailing by double digits in most polls. Has the penny dropped now? #bbcdp #pmqs
No they are not! Most polls have them 5 to 8 points behind.
The latest poll from yougov has Labour 10 points behind
But the most recent poll in terms of fieldwork dates is actually ICM which has Labour only 5 points behind.
Keep spinning, you might even convince yourself.
I am not spinning - why on earth not try checking the facts for once? It really is not so difficult to access these sources if you are genuinely interested. Frankly 'spin' seems to come far more naturally to you than to many others. You appear to not want to know the facts and would prefer to remain psephologically pretty ignorant whilst spouting propaganda.
I'm quite pleased with his planned privitisation of the green investment bank. Plus Companies House + Insolvency Service digital plans are both impressive & so far running smoothly.
Fair enough, but the move to online services was already in hand and shouldn't need much input from the Business Sec other than keeping an eye on it.
This will not be going on any future Tory leaflets nor any posters
@SophyRidgeSky: Kevan Jones on Emily Thornberry: "She knows nothing about defence as far as I can see it...she's been put in there to agree with the leader"
Do we really think that Labour's civil war is not going to impact on Sadiq Khan's chances of becoming mayor in four months' time?
It's already priced in to some extent. Though I am still heavily pro-Zac I am reluctantly squaring a bit off at these prices (had been hoping for evens a while back).
The Tory leadership want Khan to win. The Labour MPs want Goldsmith to win.
the world has gone mad - in the comments section of the guardian Michael White is getting called out as some sort of crypto fascist for suggesting Corbyn is.... err....not that good at politics.
Toynbee et al not pure enough for the true believers. Extraordinary as I dont really remember the old militant stuff.
I know pretty much everyone is sick of the status quo but this?
Labour really looking like two parties now irespective of a formal split.
Nah, that's been the norm regarding CIF for sometime now. These people are totally insane. They cannot take anyone disagreeing with them on anything ever. They'd probably even get angry if you didn't like the same TV shows they did.
The Cologne story is just getting worse and worse. I still cannot believe that police attitudes to rape and sexual assault can actually be like that in this day and age. And the DM comments' section on the Cologne story. Only they could believe it's been 50 years since Britain was a 'great country'. Sigh.
What did the police actually do or not do? Were they there, were they slow to respond Was there a riot. Did they stand and watch women being molested? I ask because I do not know what is being reported. I see someone is saying there were 2000 offenders / attackers now. What is the number. Where there any plain vanilla 'german' men around. What were they doing.
From what I understand of the story, the main issue is that the police were slow to respond. And then there are the mayor of Cologne's recent comments about women having to be 'prepare' and be 'careful' for these kinds of things. The attackers, from all of the articles I've read have said they are mostly of North African and Arab origin. They believe that a gang of 1,000-2,000 deliberately set out to sexually assault women.
Well what issues are there with the current cabinet ?
George is a competent COE, even if he does love the Chinese state more than ours. Hammond is doing an OK job as Foreign Secretary, May has done Home Sec for what seems an eternity now and with the trickiest of the great offices of state in many ways is competent and is seen to be competent. Gove is shaking up law, which is much needed. Fallon, whilst not to everyone's tastes represents a strong note on defence which hits at a very weak point of Labour. Javid, a self made man makes an excellent business secretary. IDS has made welfare reform his raison d'etre, and like Hunt at health although these are tricky subjects for the Conservatives are 100% in tune with the leadership.
It's not perfect, but it's a very solid team.
It is a very strong team, but of those you mention I'm disappointed with Javid. He doesn't seem to have done very much, and getting rid of bonkers regulations seems to be completely stalled. He needs to get moving much more vigorously.
I'm quite pleased with his planned privitisation of the green investment bank. Plus Companies House + Insolvency Service digital plans are both impressive & so far running smoothly.
I am not sure if we need the department in the first place. Can't its functions be hived off. In my view this is the reason why it seems he is not doing much, there is not much to do.
I agree but I assume that's up to Cameron at the end of the day. The executive agencies it looks after are for the most part self-contained and self managing with little need or desire for ministerial intervention. [Companies House, The Insolvency Service, Intellectual Property Office, Met Office etc.]
@Jamin2g: People are resigning on television, Labour are trailing by double digits in most polls. Has the penny dropped now? #bbcdp #pmqs
No they are not! Most polls have them 5 to 8 points behind.
The latest poll from yougov has Labour 10 points behind
But the most recent poll in terms of fieldwork dates is actually ICM which has Labour only 5 points behind.
Keep spinning, you might even convince yourself.
I am not spinning - why on earth not try checking the facts for once? It really is not so difficult to access these sources if you are genuinely interested. Frankly 'spin' seems to come far more naturally to you than to many others. You appear to not want to know the facts and would prefer to remain psephologically pretty ignorant whilst spouting propaganda.
Picking one poll that you like outside of a number that could be equally relevant could be fairly described as spinning, no?
This will not be going on any future Tory leaflets nor any posters
@SophyRidgeSky: Kevan Jones on Emily Thornberry: "She knows nothing about defence as far as I can see it...she's been put in there to agree with the leader"
A result of today’s resignations - Ex front benchers now outside the shadow tent pissing in.
Corbyn's enemies: "We'll resign if you remove Benn"
Corbyn: "Fine, I won't remove Benn"
Corbyn's enemies: "We resign anyway, die you b@stard die"
What does all this teach us? That Corbyn should have ignored his enemies since they are unreasonable in their hatred towards him, instead of moving 2-3 out he should have removed all of them (Benn included) before they resigned.
This will not be going on any future Tory leaflets nor any posters
@SophyRidgeSky: Kevan Jones on Emily Thornberry: "She knows nothing about defence as far as I can see it...she's been put in there to agree with the leader"
A result of today’s resignations - Ex front benchers now outside the shadow tent pissing in.
This will not be going on any future Tory leaflets nor any posters
@SophyRidgeSky: Kevan Jones on Emily Thornberry: "She knows nothing about defence as far as I can see it...she's been put in there to agree with the leader"
She may or may not know much about defence, but her father comes from a defence related background. 2 things I have a down on her for is she is a tridentscrapper and she worked in Mansfields Chambers. Given her white van gaff she seems a bit crass. She is another who sent her children to private school. She is, properly, Lady Nugee.
Well what issues are there with the current cabinet ?
George is a competent COE, even if he does love the Chinese state more than ours. Hammond is doing an OK job as Foreign Secretary, May has done Home Sec for what seems an eternity now and with the trickiest of the great offices of state in many ways is competent and is seen to be competent. Gove is shaking up law, which is much needed. Fallon, whilst not to everyone's tastes represents a strong note on defence which hits at a very weak point of Labour. Javid, a self made man makes an excellent business secretary. IDS has made welfare reform his raison d'etre, and like Hunt at health although these are tricky subjects for the Conservatives are 100% in tune with the leadership.
It's not perfect, but it's a very solid team.
It is a very strong team, but of those you mention I'm disappointed with Javid. He doesn't seem to have done very much, and getting rid of bonkers regulations seems to be completely stalled. He needs to get moving much more vigorously.
Very true. He lacks the energy and drive to tackle these things.
Sounds like Farange made the jump from "not seen anything like it" to "EU controlled spies have tried to do me in, while also rigging the voting in the Oldham by-election" conspiracy theory....
The thing is you could actually reasonably believe somebody might try and knock him off by loosening the wheel nuts or cutting the brake lines on his car. Not our "EU overloads", but definitely some random nutter. I can definitely believe he gets regular death threats, which made the original headline believable.
Do we really think that Labour's civil war is not going to impact on Sadiq Khan's chances of becoming mayor in four months' time?
Yes. Even those causing a fuss are loyal to labour above all else, and large parts of the labour vote in London will be the same, unhappily voting Labour even in civil war. Add to that those who are very happy with the leadership, and lukewarm Tory support of Zac, and Khan not being a firm Corbynistas but still getting the support of such, and he will win easily.
Corbyn's enemies: "We'll resign if you remove Benn"
Corbyn: "Fine, I won't remove Benn"
Corbyn's enemies: "We resign anyway, die you b@stard die"
What does all this teach us? That Corbyn should have ignored his enemies since they are unreasonable in their hatred towards him, instead of moving 2-3 out he should have removed all of them (Benn included) before they resigned.
Yep. I don't like Corbyn (agreeable manner notwithstanding), but even if it is his fault entirely, his internal critics showed they will not stay quiet and see if he can do it, they will undermine him. Benn and others are not the worst offenders, and they are willing to serve in some capacity, but leaving them in place does not prevent criticism. So it's not about Stalinist purity that I think he should have removed them, but because he had no good options - he will be constantly undermined regardless, so he might as well go as extreme as he can in getting a shadow cabinet that backs him, so no one there is constantly seen as a potential rival or might resign at any moment.
Some years ago I was driving on the M25 at full motorway speed in the fast lane, in quite heavy traffic, when the car started shuddering and making a most alarming noise. I managed to pull in safely to the hard shoulder, looked at the service booklet, and discovered that there was a BMW garage close to the next turn off. So I gently proceeded there, and asked them if they could take a look. I had to wait a bit, because they were busy, but eventually they got round to looking at the car.
All four wheels were loose. I had had the car serviced a couple of days earlier and the garage had failed to tighten the nuts. I think I was quite lucky to survive.
Some years ago I was driving on the M25 at full motorway speed in the fast lane, in quite heavy traffic, when the car started shuddering and making a most alarming noise. I managed to pull in safely to the hard shoulder, looked at the service booklet, and discovered that there was a BMW garage close to the next turn off. So I gently proceeded there, and asked them if they could take a look. I had to wait a bit, because they were busy, but eventually they got round to looking at the car.
All four wheels were loose. I had had the car serviced a couple of days earlier and the garage had failed to tighten the nuts. I think I was quite lucky to survive.
I remember when I was a youngster, the wheel (for the same reason) actually fell off my mothers car as she was taking me out for the day. I was for some reason looking out of the back of the car when it happened, and saw the wheel roll away behind us. On just 3 wheels we somehow managed to avoid probably 20 cars before crashing into the verge.
I think it was the EU overlords trying to knock my mum off.
My other memory from that day, was a nice old lady came out and gave us ferrero rocher. From a poor family, had never had ferrero rocher before.
Some years ago I was driving on the M25 at full motorway speed in the fast lane, in quite heavy traffic, when the car started shuddering and making a most alarming noise. I managed to pull in safely to the hard shoulder, looked at the service booklet, and discovered that there was a BMW garage close to the next turn off. So I gently proceeded there, and asked them if they could take a look. I had to wait a bit, because they were busy, but eventually they got round to looking at the car.
All four wheels were loose. I had had the car serviced a couple of days earlier and the garage had failed to tighten the nuts. I think I was quite lucky to survive.
Once I saw a mini lose a wheel in the centre of Derby. As we passed we saw a wheel go ten or twenty feet in the air, hit a building, then a car. Somehow it missed the few pedestrians on the pavement.
Some years ago I was driving on the M25 at full motorway speed in the fast lane, in quite heavy traffic, when the car started shuddering and making a most alarming noise. I managed to pull in safely to the hard shoulder, looked at the service booklet, and discovered that there was a BMW garage close to the next turn off. So I gently proceeded there, and asked them if they could take a look. I had to wait a bit, because they were busy, but eventually they got round to looking at the car.
All four wheels were loose. I had had the car serviced a couple of days earlier and the garage had failed to tighten the nuts. I think I was quite lucky to survive.
As Sir Humphrey Appleby would have commented. "It would seem that Mr Farage is far too unimportant to be on a death list "
...he will be constantly undermined regardless, so he might as well go as extreme as he can in getting a shadow cabinet that backs him, so no one there is constantly seen as a potential rival or might resign at any moment.
He is conducting a very long-term experiment to find out at what point Burnham will resign.
Some years ago I was driving on the M25 at full motorway speed in the fast lane, in quite heavy traffic, when the car started shuddering and making a most alarming noise. I managed to pull in safely to the hard shoulder, looked at the service booklet, and discovered that there was a BMW garage close to the next turn off. So I gently proceeded there, and asked them if they could take a look. I had to wait a bit, because they were busy, but eventually they got round to looking at the car.
All four wheels were loose. I had had the car serviced a couple of days earlier and the garage had failed to tighten the nuts. I think I was quite lucky to survive.
Once I saw a mini lose a wheel in the centre of Derby. As we passed we saw a wheel go ten or twenty feet in the air, hit a building, then a car. Somehow it missed the few pedestrians on the pavement.
Quite a sight.
Saw a BMW with a completely flat tyre driving round in Bradford once; was driving along the M1 when my fuel pump cut out and the car lost all power. And on a seperate occasion undertook someone whilst in the fast lane of the M1.
...he will be constantly undermined regardless, so he might as well go as extreme as he can in getting a shadow cabinet that backs him, so no one there is constantly seen as a potential rival or might resign at any moment.
He is conducting a very long-term experiment to find out at what point Burnham will resign.
For quite a few years I used to conduct some of my firm's interviews for graduate recruitment. In earlier years I liked to ask candidates whether there were any clients for whom they would refuse to act on ethical grounds. I would tempt them with increasingly fraught examples: tobacco companies; sub-prime lenders; life sciences firms; neo-Nazi organisations. Of course, I was less interested in their answer and more interested in their reasoning.
In later years I had to abandon this question because it appears that there are no organisations that young graduates nowadays would refuse to act for.
For the same reason, I fear that any such very long-term experiment may be wasted on Andy Burnham.
Harry Cole Fallon on Labour: leader would abolish Armed Forces, shad chancellor wanted to disband MI5, now shad def sec would scrap nuclear deterrent.
I've not really gotten into the Farron/Fallon mixup before, but my first thought on that was indeed that the LD leader was going very aggressive for him there!
Just re-reading the headline "Corbyn's Reshuffle" - as has been pointed out on the tweets - more people have walked out than been re-shuffled - so does it even count as a #reshuffle yet ???
...he will be constantly undermined regardless, so he might as well go as extreme as he can in getting a shadow cabinet that backs him, so no one there is constantly seen as a potential rival or might resign at any moment.
He is conducting a very long-term experiment to find out at what point Burnham will resign.
For quite a few years I used to conduct some of my firm's interviews for graduate recruitment. In earlier years I liked to ask candidates whether there were any clients for whom they would refuse to act on ethical grounds. I would tempt them with increasingly fraught examples: tobacco companies; sub-prime lenders; life sciences firms; neo-Nazi organisations. Of course, I was less interested in their answer and more interested in their reasoning.
In later years I had to abandon this question because it appears that there are no organisations that young graduates nowadays would refuse to act for.
For the same reason, I fear that any such very long-term experiment may be wasted on Andy Burnham.
Surely that says more about the morals of those wishing to enter the legal profession, rather than graduates as a whole?
'I've not really gotten into the Farron/Fallon mixup before, but my first thought on that was indeed that the LD leader was going very aggressive for him there!''
One crumb of consolation for labour is that the parties that would replace them have very low grade leaders.
...he will be constantly undermined regardless, so he might as well go as extreme as he can in getting a shadow cabinet that backs him, so no one there is constantly seen as a potential rival or might resign at any moment.
He is conducting a very long-term experiment to find out at what point Burnham will resign.
For quite a few years I used to conduct some of my firm's interviews for graduate recruitment. In earlier years I liked to ask candidates whether there were any clients for whom they would refuse to act on ethical grounds. I would tempt them with increasingly fraught examples: tobacco companies; sub-prime lenders; life sciences firms; neo-Nazi organisations. Of course, I was less interested in their answer and more interested in their reasoning.
In later years I had to abandon this question because it appears that there are no organisations that young graduates nowadays would refuse to act for.
For the same reason, I fear that any such very long-term experiment may be wasted on Andy Burnham.
It may be that it is not so much that graduates are more amoral than in the past as that they (perhaps mistakenly) are more inclined to think your firm is, and they are saying what they think you want to hear.
David Skelton .@Dannythefink often reminds us most people don't obsess about politics. Lab reshuffle only trending 19th in UK atm: https://t.co/gI1eHMzdEt
Is this wikipedia page correct in thinking that these positions were vacant? (prior to the recent resignations) Shadow Minister for Employment Shadow Minister for Armed Forces https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Opposition_frontbench If so it just illustrates what you would get with a future Corbyn government - no employment or armed forces.
...he will be constantly undermined regardless, so he might as well go as extreme as he can in getting a shadow cabinet that backs him, so no one there is constantly seen as a potential rival or might resign at any moment.
He is conducting a very long-term experiment to find out at what point Burnham will resign.
For quite a few years I used to conduct some of my firm's interviews for graduate recruitment. In earlier years I liked to ask candidates whether there were any clients for whom they would refuse to act on ethical grounds. I would tempt them with increasingly fraught examples: tobacco companies; sub-prime lenders; life sciences firms; neo-Nazi organisations. Of course, I was less interested in their answer and more interested in their reasoning.
In later years I had to abandon this question because it appears that there are no organisations that young graduates nowadays would refuse to act for.
For the same reason, I fear that any such very long-term experiment may be wasted on Andy Burnham.
It may be that it is not so much that graduates are more amoral than in the past as that they (perhaps mistakenly) are more inclined to think your firm is, and they are saying what they think you want to hear.
It would indeed have been a mistake. I can't recall recommending offering a job to any candidate who wasn't prepared to draw a line in the sand somewhere.
David Skelton .@Dannythefink often reminds us most people don't obsess about politics. Lab reshuffle only trending 19th in UK atm: https://t.co/gI1eHMzdEt
It is the most read story on BBC, though.
EDIT: Or atleast it was about half an hour ago, been knocked off by a vitally important story about Celebrity Big Brother now.
David Skelton .@Dannythefink often reminds us most people don't obsess about politics. Lab reshuffle only trending 19th in UK atm: https://t.co/gI1eHMzdEt
It is the most read story on BBC, though.
EDIT: Or atleast it was about half an hour ago, been knocked off by a vitally important story about Celebrity Big Brother now.
And I've still got PMQs top on my twitter screen - tho I assume nowadays they're tailored.
Some years ago I was driving on the M25 at full motorway speed in the fast lane, in quite heavy traffic, when the car started shuddering and making a most alarming noise. I managed to pull in safely to the hard shoulder, looked at the service booklet, and discovered that there was a BMW garage close to the next turn off. So I gently proceeded there, and asked them if they could take a look. I had to wait a bit, because they were busy, but eventually they got round to looking at the car.
All four wheels were loose. I had had the car serviced a couple of days earlier and the garage had failed to tighten the nuts. I think I was quite lucky to survive.
Once I saw a mini lose a wheel in the centre of Derby. As we passed we saw a wheel go ten or twenty feet in the air, hit a building, then a car. Somehow it missed the few pedestrians on the pavement.
Quite a sight.
Saw a BMW with a completely flat tyre driving round in Bradford once; was driving along the M1 when my fuel pump cut out and the car lost all power. And on a seperate occasion undertook someone whilst in the fast lane of the M1.
I once saw a tipper lorry leave a demo site that had a brick trapped between the twin rear wheels (where one axle has four wheels). It was making a heck of a noise as it went down the road at speed as the wheels were severely unbalanced. It was in the days before mobile phones, and the site office got a phone call an hour later from the subbie saying that one of the lorries had had a blowout and required two tyres changing.
I still cannot believe the driver did not hear the noise.
Comments
http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/8203-happen-North-Korea-dropped-anuclear-bomb/story-28473819-detail/story.html
Britain is greater than it's ever been.
Why is it mind blowing? In the prevailing climate of political correctness, where officers can be sent on diversity awareness courses for a casual remark and have their careers ruined at the same time, its perfectly understandable.
We had Millionaire, Multi-Kitchened, North London Labour and it has been replaced by the still-protesting-about-Vietnam-Soviet Republic of North London Labour.
Sharia Labour from 2020?.
George is a competent COE, even if he does love the Chinese state more than ours. Hammond is doing an OK job as Foreign Secretary, May has done Home Sec for what seems an eternity now and with the trickiest of the great offices of state in many ways is competent and is seen to be competent.
Gove is shaking up law, which is much needed. Fallon, whilst not to everyone's tastes represents a strong note on defence which hits at a very weak point of Labour. Javid, a self made man makes an excellent business secretary. IDS has made welfare reform his raison d'etre, and like Hunt at health although these are tricky subjects for the Conservatives are 100% in tune with the leadership.
It's not perfect, but it's a very solid team.
and Happy New Year Roger :-)
I strongly approve of this. Unless a minister is hopelessly tainted, they will do their job better if they have a deeper understanding of the problems they face, which they will gain with more time in the job.
As the Labour resignations continue, it is exactly six years since Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt tried to oust Brown after #PMQs
Cameron comes across to me as very self righteous although you probably need bordering on sociopathic levels of self belief/certainty to get to be and remain Prime Minister. Seldon (unsurprisingly) is more sympathetic to the born to rule public school breeding view of leadership.
Howe also didn't want to give up his residence at Chevening, which led to one wag calling him 'Sir Geoffrey Houses'
And to top it all off, she promoted the little known about Chief Secretary to the Treasury, John Major (who he? - Ed) as Howe's replacement.
There is a definite niche for a party leader who can ask pointed questions in a polite and reasonable manner without engaging in silly, schoolboy one-upmanship. And to many of his supporters, Corbyn's appeal lies in his personal integrity and sincerity - it's why he was elected leader, where Diane Abbott never would have been. His policies are, of course, lunacy (I will certainly not vote Labour while he remains leader) - but as I say there are lessons that other politicians can learn from his manner of conducting himself.
So, despite one of the finest Innings I have ever seen and a few stumbles today, we have a test match where all of 19 wickets fell in 5 days of play. That is not good for the game. As a test wicket this was a disgrace.
Were they there, were they slow to respond
Was there a riot. Did they stand and watch women being molested?
I ask because I do not know what is being reported.
I see someone is saying there were 2000 offenders / attackers now. What is the number.
Where there any plain vanilla 'german' men around. What were they doing.
If Corbyn were more moderate in position as well as manner, I would seriously consider voting for the man, his personal mode of conduct is by all accounts quite appealing, even if many of his views are not.
Catches win matches.
For our part, it is clear that phone polls steadfastly continue to collect too many Labour voters in the raw sample, and the challenge for phone polling is to find a way to overcome the systematic reasons for doing so.
Are you telling me that if muslim girls were being trafficked by gangs of white men the police in Rotherham would not have been all over it? Or if Muslim girls were surrounded by gangs of whites in Cologne, ditto??
@SophyRidgeSky: Kevan Jones on Emily Thornberry: "She knows nothing about defence as far as I can see it...she's been put in there to agree with the leader"
The Tory leadership want Khan to win. The Labour MPs want Goldsmith to win.
This is not something I am predicting.
It seems that Corbyn has let the reshuffle go on too long, and it has got too big.
It is now a self-sustaining reaction and continues to reshuffle itself without his input.
https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/684738400751087618
"We'll resign if you remove Benn"
Corbyn:
"Fine, I won't remove Benn"
Corbyn's enemies:
"We resign anyway, die you b@stard die"
What does all this teach us?
That Corbyn should have ignored his enemies since they are unreasonable in their hatred towards him, instead of moving 2-3 out he should have removed all of them (Benn included) before they resigned.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-34244215
Helpfully dug out by Patrick Wintour of the Guardian.....
Nigel Farage's 'Assassination' Claims Rubbished By Mechanics Who Fixed His 'Sabotaged' Volvo
http://huff.to/1TEndSH
2 things I have a down on her for is she is a tridentscrapper and she worked in Mansfields Chambers.
Given her white van gaff she seems a bit crass. She is another who sent her children to private school. She is, properly, Lady Nugee.
The thing is you could actually reasonably believe somebody might try and knock him off by loosening the wheel nuts or cutting the brake lines on his car. Not our "EU overloads", but definitely some random nutter. I can definitely believe he gets regular death threats, which made the original headline believable.
All four wheels were loose. I had had the car serviced a couple of days earlier and the garage had failed to tighten the nuts. I think I was quite lucky to survive.
They have taken the bold new progressive step and created a circular firing squad.
I think it was the EU overlords trying to knock my mum off.
My other memory from that day, was a nice old lady came out and gave us ferrero rocher. From a poor family, had never had ferrero rocher before.
Quite a sight.
As Sir Humphrey Appleby would have commented. "It would seem that Mr Farage is far too unimportant to be on a death list "
Fallon on Labour: leader would abolish Armed Forces, shad chancellor wanted to disband MI5, now shad def sec would scrap nuclear deterrent.
In later years I had to abandon this question because it appears that there are no organisations that young graduates nowadays would refuse to act for.
For the same reason, I fear that any such very long-term experiment may be wasted on Andy Burnham.
One crumb of consolation for labour is that the parties that would replace them have very low grade leaders.
.@Dannythefink often reminds us most people don't obsess about politics. Lab reshuffle only trending 19th in UK atm: https://t.co/gI1eHMzdEt
Shadow Minister for Employment
Shadow Minister for Armed Forces
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Opposition_frontbench
If so it just illustrates what you would get with a future Corbyn government - no employment or armed forces.
EDIT: Or atleast it was about half an hour ago, been knocked off by a vitally important story about Celebrity Big Brother now.
By party voters
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYC2YIyWEAADPO1.png
By region
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYC2efgWEAAvAHh.png
By qualifications
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYC2jhNWQAEa8KS.png
By social class
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYC2lr-WkAAjr5S.png
By newspaper readers
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CYC2nyrWkAABYxt.png
I still cannot believe the driver did not hear the noise.