“Should Donald Trump, the current leader in most statewide and national polling, become the party’s pick, Rove predicted that the Democrats would maintain control of the White House for another four years and would also retake control of the Senate. The GOP’s overall share of seats in the House would also take a tumble, he added. “However, if the Republican field is only two or three candidates by the March 15 primaries,” he also wrote, Trump will not be the Republican nominee. “If on the Ides of March someone wins both the winner-take-all primaries in Florida (by congressional district) and Ohio (statewide), that person will be the nominee.” http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/karl-rove-multi-ballot-gop-convention-217454
GOP Panic lol
Confirms my view the Bush family will vote for Hillary in the privacy of the booth if Trump is the nominee
!jeb might not.
He's run such a lacklustre campaign, its possible that he neither wants the top job nor the politicking that goes with it and is merely going through the motions because of his family.
Jeb may not vote for President at all in a huff and just vote down the rest of the ballot instead, Bush Snr and Bush Jnr though and their wives are close to the Clintons and despise Trump for destroying the chances of the crown prince of the family and could well vote for Hillary
A more contributions based welfare payment system would be better
At the root the problems with EU / benefits is the fact most European countries already have some sort of contribution based system, and they think its a bit weird we don't, why don't we change and that the whole migrants claiming benefits issues wouldn't be so great.
Merging Income tax and NI is going the opposite way. I would have thought a staged increase in NI and reduction in income tax would be plausible. But again quite frankly we need a national consensus. We do not need a political football.
This does not stop health services running up deficits and need ing to borrow money or have the hole filled by national governments
The problem with NI (apart from the complexity and cost of running 2 systems) is that it only taxes income from pay, i.e. income from Saving(intest, dividends, rent etc) is not paid, therefore it is a distortion in the favour of the wealthy.
There is a large held misconception that employers NI is not paid by the employee, it is in the form of lower pay, if employer NI was abolished (or reduced) the free market forces, the Invisible hand of the market, would mean that pay would increase, and by the same amount.
It is just a sheared to pretend to people that they are not paying as much tax as they actually are.
for Info,
1) If you are on the standard rate of tax 20% then in reality 40.24% of the money your employer allocates to compensate you, is taken by the government.
2) running the NI system cost 4.6 Billion pounds.
NI contributions are used to pay for the state pension and contributory JSA, the former is especially relied on by the poor, they are also more likely to use the latter, most other western nations have at least some element of insurance to their welfare state. The only exceptions are Australia and New Zealand
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
AS usual the average citizen made to pay for the stupidity of our political masters.
The killer line is in the Guardian opinion piece today.
"Which is why, of course, liberals like me are reluctant to talk about it."
I see...so you are reluctant to talk about widespread wrong doing, because of Stage III fears. And besides, don't remember you been so reluctant to lay into Tyson Fury for what best part of 1-2 weeks, and he is from an often oppressed and marginalized group* in society.
* And no I don't been dickheads.
You will note that sympathy for travellers and those of African descent has become muted in recent years among the idiot left. They have found a new marginalised group to play with.
Another way to view it is that while the right made and sometimes still makes quips about the disco trade and Bongo-Bongo Land, the left won the battle for public acceptance, to the point that Britain is now a better place to be black in than practically any other European country. (Though some on the right definitely have it in for black female inner-city politicians, I don't think you would see anything like that on PB comments)
Only 20% at my med school are white males, only 10% are white state educated males. I enjoy arguing the case for positive discrimination in favour of white state educated males in my own image at selection meetings. Sometimes they think I am joking.
I am always astounded when professional offence-takers like Brendan O'Neill whine about other people being offended Oops I ended up on another train of thought, hard reset I am always astounded when professional offence-takers like Brendan O'Neill note that women get more uni degrees than men, while not noting that men are paid more on average than women, thus failing to put 2 and 2 together because they might add up to accepting the existence of sexism
@MrHarryCole: Fmr top White House official has branded the views of Labour’s new Defence chief Emily Thornberry “sheer lunacy”: https://t.co/sXrdxH4LZF
@MrHarryCole: Thornberry claimed last year that UK nukes are controlled by USA – a nutty conspiracy theory squashed by experts: https://t.co/sXrdxH4LZF
Somebody was on here 2-3 days ago saying on a recent trip to Vienna they were told by taxi drivers to watch out.
Young Miss Moses said to me tonight that they should tell the men not to go out and have a night curfew placed on them. After all it's them raping and sexually assaulting us.
Can't fault the logic I suppose though the practicalities may be somewhat challenging.
Naturally I'm not really in favour of curfews on anyone, but it has occurred to me that if men, as a whole, were under a curfew until this problem was fixed, it would get fixed (one way or another) pretty damn fast.
Of course it would be fixed, as there would be no men about. How would you fix it after the curfew was released? Keeping rapists indoors temporarily isn't the solution.
I don't think Miss Moses was being serious but making the point that the victims are the ones always targeted for blame and as such have to take steps to protect themselves. All well and good but the perpetrators seem to be able to walk away
Somebody was on here 2-3 days ago saying on a recent trip to Vienna they were told by taxi drivers to watch out.
Young Miss Moses said to me tonight that they should tell the men not to go out and have a night curfew placed on them. After all it's them raping and sexually assaulting us.
Can't fault the logic I suppose though the practicalities may be somewhat challenging.
Naturally I'm not really in favour of curfews on anyone, but it has occurred to me that if men, as a whole, were under a curfew until this problem was fixed, it would get fixed (one way or another) pretty damn fast.
Of course it would be fixed, as there would be no men about. How would you fix it after the curfew was released? Keeping rapists indoors temporarily isn't the solution.
I don't think Miss Moses was being serious but making the point that the victims are the ones always targeted for blame and as such have to take steps to protect themselves. All well and good but the perpetrators seem to be able to walk away
I don't think asking rapists not to go out and rape would really work. I agree that there seems to be some element of a cover-up in the recent attacks, although they are now being reported widely.
AS usual the average citizen made to pay for the stupidity of our political masters.
The killer line is in the Guardian opinion piece today.
"Which is why, of course, liberals like me are reluctant to talk about it."
I see...so you are reluctant to talk about widespread wrong doing, because of Stage III fears. And besides, don't remember you been so reluctant to lay into Tyson Fury for what best part of 1-2 weeks, and he is from an often oppressed and marginalized group* in society.
* And no I don't been dickheads.
You will note that sympathy for travellers and those of African descent has become muted in recent years among the idiot left. They have found a new marginalised group to play with.
Another way to view it is that while the right made and sometimes still makes quips about the disco trade and Bongo-Bongo Land, the left won the battle for public acceptance, to the point that Britain is now a better place to be black in than practically any other European country. (Though some on the right definitely have it in for black female inner-city politicians, I don't think you would see anything like that on PB comments)
Only 20% at my med school are white males, only 10% are white state educated males. I enjoy arguing the case for positive discrimination in favour of white state educated males in my own image at selection meetings. Sometimes they think I am joking.
I am always astounded when professional offence-takers like Brendan O'Neill whine about other people being offended Oops I ended up on another train of thought, hard reset I am always astounded when professional offence-takers like Brendan O'Neill note that women get more uni degrees than men, while not noting that men are paid more on average than women, thus failing to put 2 and 2 together because they might add up to accepting the existence of sexism
Is every worker straight out of university or do you think there might be some workers who left university (or never went) years earlier?
There is no gender pay gap for those of similar qualifications who have recently left university anymore. So no such thing as sexism there.
@MrHarryCole: Fmr top White House official has branded the views of Labour’s new Defence chief Emily Thornberry “sheer lunacy”: https://t.co/sXrdxH4LZF
@MrHarryCole: Thornberry claimed last year that UK nukes are controlled by USA – a nutty conspiracy theory squashed by experts: https://t.co/sXrdxH4LZF
I notice on that site a quip that the reshuffles took longer than Britany Spears first marriage. Arf!
@MrHarryCole: Fmr top White House official has branded the views of Labour’s new Defence chief Emily Thornberry “sheer lunacy”: https://t.co/sXrdxH4LZF
@MrHarryCole: Thornberry claimed last year that UK nukes are controlled by USA – a nutty conspiracy theory squashed by experts: https://t.co/sXrdxH4LZF
He has clearly been watching that fantastic reality show on her from the 90's.
@BethRigby: #doughtygate: turning into a perfect mash up of In the Thick of It and W1A.
Not really sure why this one is running on, to be honest. Initially it looked probably ok, but there were some questions, but they were quickly resolved in that Doughty said on air he'd written to JC, so it wasn't as though he actually resigned on air, he had let the leader know first, and just expedited the process of explaining himself to the media as would happen anyway, and that's all it was, not anything more.
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
No reds under this bed, old chap. I help out locally where I can and I'd like to do a bit more if time allows, but I'm not involved in organising anything more strenuous than Sainsbury microwaveable meals. I'll be 66 next month and I'm enjoying having a bit more free time with only two jobs instead of three.
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
No reds under this bed, old chap. I help out locally where I can and I'd like to do a bit more if time allows, but I'm not involved in organising anything more strenuous than Sainsbury microwaveable meals. I'll be 66 next month and I'm enjoying having a bit more free time with only two jobs instead of three.
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
No reds under this bed, old chap. I help out locally where I can and I'd like to do a bit more if time allows, but I'm not involved in organising anything more strenuous than Sainsbury microwaveable meals. I'll be 66 next month and I'm enjoying having a bit more free time with only two jobs instead of three.
Not under the bed but in the bed... but I am amazed your wiki page doesn't mention your "former" communist views, I mean they are sort of relevant now especially as you have nailed your colours to Corbyn's mast.
Not been around much today - have we managed to get through a day without any cockups from anyone in the Jezlamic People's Party? Would be something of a record.
No
Ah, just seen about the delightful Mrs Thornberry detailing the exact reasons why she's been appointed Shadow Defence and why Our Glorious Leader was so wise appointing her.
Good grief - simply staggers belief.
Didn't she used to be a barrister? I naively assumed that would require intelligence, guile and tact.
", Belgium’s immigration minister tried to calm popular fears over the sex attacks by ordering new migrants to face mandatory “respect for women” courses."
", Belgium’s immigration minister tried to calm popular fears over the sex attacks by ordering new migrants to face mandatory “respect for women” courses."
WTF - seriously WTF
The idea that you can alter someone's long-standing views on women with a few "courses" is ridiculous. It took centuries for those changes to happen in the West.
", Belgium’s immigration minister tried to calm popular fears over the sex attacks by ordering new migrants to face mandatory “respect for women” courses."
WTF - seriously WTF
I'm now convinced that these people don't understand other cultures - they think they're basically Belgians of a different hue. Idiot.
", Belgium’s immigration minister tried to calm popular fears over the sex attacks by ordering new migrants to face mandatory “respect for women” courses."
WTF - seriously WTF
The idea that you can alter someone's long-standing views on women with a few "courses" is ridiculous. It took centuries for those changes to happen in the West.
are you going to put 2015 GE on you tube.. It runs out on the BBC .. its not indefinite...
", Belgium’s immigration minister tried to calm popular fears over the sex attacks by ordering new migrants to face mandatory “respect for women” courses."
WTF - seriously WTF
The idea that you can alter someone's long-standing views on women with a few "courses" is ridiculous. It took centuries for those changes to happen in the West.
Don't tell the Scandias. They are already doing this....
", Belgium’s immigration minister tried to calm popular fears over the sex attacks by ordering new migrants to face mandatory “respect for women” courses."
WTF - seriously WTF
The idea that you can alter someone's long-standing views on women with a few "courses" is ridiculous. It took centuries for those changes to happen in the West.
", Belgium’s immigration minister tried to calm popular fears over the sex attacks by ordering new migrants to face mandatory “respect for women” courses."
WTF - seriously WTF
The idea that you can alter someone's long-standing views on women with a few "courses" is ridiculous. It took centuries for those changes to happen in the West.
are you going to put 2015 GE on you tube.. It runs out on the BBC .. its not indefinite...
Mrs Stodge and I spent Christmas in Vegas - does that make us Communists ? Given what Vegas does and how it does it, it would be an interesting argument.
Evening all
I see the usual suspects are still wittering on about Corbyn and the Labour leadership. I've been a member of a political party (well, that's what it calls itself) for over thirty years. I don't know how it is in other parties (I suspect very similar) but parties, like most clubs or societies, are strange beasts. Corbyn shouldn't have been in the contest but he was let in and outmanoeuvred his opponents by simply not being like them.
The Conservatives, whatever the economic truth, lost their reputation for sound economic management in 1992 and only recovered it when Labour lost it over Northern Rock/Lehmann. That's why the global economic situation and the stock market falls this week are so much more important that wibbling over Emily Thornberry or which Shadow Minister resigned.
One of the big reasons for the Conservative victory in May was economic competence - Osborne's remarkable volte face this week in tone compared with the Autumn Statement suggested an element of preparing for the worst. At what point will the economic headwinds impact ? How then does Osborne achieve his cherished goal of eradicating the deficit and running budget surpluses if economic activity won't allow him to do so and how will people react politically if the global slowdown manifests itself in declining economic activity here ?
Still, who cares when you can re-tweet an anti-Labour story ?
", Belgium’s immigration minister tried to calm popular fears over the sex attacks by ordering new migrants to face mandatory “respect for women” courses."
WTF - seriously WTF
The idea that you can alter someone's long-standing views on women with a few "courses" is ridiculous. It took centuries for those changes to happen in the West.
are you going to put 2015 GE on you tube.. It runs out on the BBC .. its not indefinite...
I was going to but lots of other people have already done it I think. It's odd to think I was the only one putting election shows on YouTube five years ago.
", Belgium’s immigration minister tried to calm popular fears over the sex attacks by ordering new migrants to face mandatory “respect for women” courses."
WTF - seriously WTF
The idea that you can alter someone's long-standing views on women with a few "courses" is ridiculous. It took centuries for those changes to happen in the West.
are you going to put 2015 GE on you tube.. It runs out on the BBC .. its not indefinite...
I was going to but lots of other people have already done it I think. It's odd to think I was the only one putting election shows on YouTube five years ago.
For posterity, and so that they are all in one convenient location!
The BBC hate Corbyn because they know Labour will never win an election under his leadership.
Not really, it takes a few years for a government to take control over the BBC, through new appointments and replacements that come very gradually. Thatcher was complaining constantly until the Tories finally got control of it in the late 80's. likewise the BBC was under Tory control for the first years of New Labour, and remained a Labour bastion way into Cameron's government.
A rule of thumb is that the BBC will always oppose a first term government, and support it after it wins re-election.
I'm going to give Mike some credit, it can't be easy continually putting up anti UKIP threads, this one with its insinuation of racism indicates the barrel is being scraped. As others have pointed out, BNP have been completely insignificant for a long time, nobody in particular benefits from their demise, everybody does.
I'm going to give Mike some credit, it can't be easy continually putting up anti UKIP threads, this one with its insinuation of racism indicates the barrel is being scraped. As others have pointed out, BNP have been completely insignificant for a long time, nobody in particular benefits from their demise, everybody does.
Mrs Stodge and I spent Christmas in Vegas - does that make us Communists ? Given what Vegas does and how it does it, it would be an interesting argument.
Evening all
I see the usual suspects are still wittering on about Corbyn and the Labour leadership. I've been a member of a political party (well, that's what it calls itself) for over thirty years. I don't know how it is in other parties (I suspect very similar) but parties, like most clubs or societies, are strange beasts. Corbyn shouldn't have been in the contest but he was let in and outmanoeuvred his opponents by simply not being like them.
The Conservatives, whatever the economic truth, lost their reputation for sound economic management in 1992 and only recovered it when Labour lost it over Northern Rock/Lehmann. That's why the global economic situation and the stock market falls this week are so much more important that wibbling over Emily Thornberry or which Shadow Minister resigned.
One of the big reasons for the Conservative victory in May was economic competence - Osborne's remarkable volte face this week in tone compared with the Autumn Statement suggested an element of preparing for the worst. At what point will the economic headwinds impact ? How then does Osborne achieve his cherished goal of eradicating the deficit and running budget surpluses if economic activity won't allow him to do so and how will people react politically if the global slowdown manifests itself in declining economic activity here ?
Still, who cares when you can re-tweet an anti-Labour story ?
While I agree with your points about Osborne, and that despite even the current mess things can still go poorly for the Tories if/when the economy goes south as I expect it to, it is not only people who want to see Labour do poorly who are wittering on about Corbyn and the leadership, it's Labour people all over the web, and there's no point in pretending otherwise. I'm open to discussion of topics other than Jeremy bloody Corbyn, but his own actions and his own internal opponents are keeping him in the news more than his external opponents.
And of course a reshuffle is going to be obsessed over more than arcane if important economic matters which are longstanding and will remain so for years to come - it's a dramatic event, politically, it's silly in the extreme to think people interested in politics should not focus on it because other matters are more important. Go down that route, and 90% of what any side brings up should be shouted down as not important compared to something else - why is someone talking about trains when there's floods on? Why talk about not enough classrooms being built, when there's turmoil in the middle east to worry about? Etc etc
More fun and games at Trump’s latest rally “A Donald Trump rally in Burlington, Vermont, Thursday night was overflowing with thousands of Trump supporters who waited in line for hours in hopes of nabbing a seat. The event was also attended by Bernie Sanders supporters – for whom the Donald handed down a harsh message. “Throw ’em out into the cold,” the GOP frontrunner ordered security, as the protesters shouted, “Bernie! Bernie!” “Don’t give him his coat,” Trump added. “Keep his coat, confiscate his coat.” “It’s about 10 degrees below zero outside … You can keep his coat. Tell him we’ll send it to him in a couple of weeks,” Trump told security. “You know, it’s sort of fun. Isn’t this more exciting?” Trump told the crowd. “You know, you go to a Hillary thing. It’s like, boring. You go to a Jeb thing and you fall asleep.” The protesters weren’t the only ones ejected from the event. Trump’s security turned away anyone who refused to pledge their allegiance to the billionaire businessman – even undecided voters. “We have more than 20,000 people that showed up for 1,400 spots. I’m taking care of my people, not people who don’t want to vote for me or are undecided,” Trump said in a statement, according to NBC News. “They are loyal to me and I am loyal to them.” http://www.people.com/article/donald-trump-protesters-confiscates-coats?xid=rss-topheadlines
Mrs Stodge and I spent Christmas in Vegas - does that make us Communists ? Given what Vegas does and how it does it, it would be an interesting argument.
???
I have not the slightest clue what your comment is about. Someone was suggesting Dr Palmer might be (or want to be I suppose) involved in some way with current Labour goings on, as a Corbyn supporter, and I was just suggesting he's enjoying time away from Parliament for other things, like foreign holidays.
I have a temperature report - and this time it's in Celsius!
At game time on Sunday, 1pm Eastern, when Seattle visits Minnesota to play in an outdoor stadium, the temperature is forecasted to be -18 celsius, 0 fahrenheit.
@afneil: As more comes out about what happened in Cologne and other German cities the Merkel government faces crisis.
So they should.
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Here are the German polls. Can you spot any recent trends? If anything the CDU seems a bit up on a couple of months ago. The AfD definitely bounced in the autumn, but have seemed stuck since. You can see the full list for each institute by clicking on it.
It's interesting you say that because I've always noticed how on the BBC's 1983 election night programme the presenters seemed to be in a very sombre mood, whereas in 1987 the atmosphere in the studio seemed to be much more exuberant.
The BBC hate Corbyn because they know Labour will never win an election under his leadership.
Not really, it takes a few years for a government to take control over the BBC, through new appointments and replacements that come very gradually. Thatcher was complaining constantly until the Tories finally got control of it in the late 80's. likewise the BBC was under Tory control for the first years of New Labour, and remained a Labour bastion way into Cameron's government.
A rule of thumb is that the BBC will always oppose a first term government, and support it after it wins re-election.
Basically the son of the governor of Iowa is following Cruz with a van disrupting his rallies with material that says that Cruz is against Ethanol, followed by Cruz saying that he will phase out Ethanol, and farmers getting worried that Cruz will phase out Ethanol.
Hillary might face up to 10 years in prison for violating 18 USC 793 over un-marking classified emails (possible smoking gun):
Bonus on Ted Cruz birther issue, although most pundits say that Cruz is safe, Cruz needs to provide the State Department form FS-240 or CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) to prove he is an American citizen at birth that his mother should have requested and filled at his birth, if not then he's going to lose a probable court case brought against him by Democrats.
If he doesn't prove that he is a natural born citizen then by law he is barred from being President of the USA.
Mrs Stodge and I spent Christmas in Vegas - does that make us Communists ? Given what Vegas does and how it does it, it would be an interesting argument.
???
I have not the slightest clue what your comment is about. Someone was suggesting Dr Palmer might be (or want to be I suppose) involved in some way with current Labour goings on, as a Corbyn supporter, and I was just suggesting he's enjoying time away from Parliament for other things, like foreign holidays.
You made the comment about Vegas - I simply followed it up.
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
No reds under this bed, old chap. I help out locally where I can and I'd like to do a bit more if time allows, but I'm not involved in organising anything more strenuous than Sainsbury microwaveable meals. I'll be 66 next month and I'm enjoying having a bit more free time with only two jobs instead of three.
Not under the bed but in the bed... but I am amazed your wiki page doesn't mention your "former" communist views, I mean they are sort of relevant now especially as you have nailed your colours to Corbyn's mast.
You're free to stick them in if you want to - I don't wrote the page and it's bad form for people to edit their own page. But however much you put quotes around them, we're talking about my views 45 years ago. I gave up on communism when I was 21 (and living in Denmark) - felt it was a nice idea in principle (so long as it was linked to democracy, in the Eurocommunist fashion of the time) that didn't actually work.
@afneil: As more comes out about what happened in Cologne and other German cities the Merkel government faces crisis.
So they should.
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Here are the German polls. Can you spot any recent trends? If anything the CDU seems a bit up on a couple of months ago. The AfD definitely bounced in the autumn, but have seemed stuck since. You can see the full list for each institute by clicking on it.
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
No reds under this bed, old chap. I help out locally where I can and I'd like to do a bit more if time allows, but I'm not involved in organising anything more strenuous than Sainsbury microwaveable meals. I'll be 66 next month and I'm enjoying having a bit more free time with only two jobs instead of three.
Not under the bed but in the bed... but I am amazed your wiki page doesn't mention your "former" communist views, I mean they are sort of relevant now especially as you have nailed your colours to Corbyn's mast.
You're free to stick them in if you want to - I don't wrote the page and it's bad form for people to edit their own page. But however much you put quotes around them, we're talking about my views 45 years ago. I gave up on communism when I was 21 (and living in Denmark) - felt it was a nice idea in principle (so long as it was linked to democracy, in the Eurocommunist fashion of the time) that didn't actually work.
I have a temperature report - and this time it's in Celsius!
At game time on Sunday, 1pm Eastern, when Seattle visits Minnesota to play in an outdoor stadium, the temperature is forecasted to be -18 celsius, 0 fahrenheit.
In the last cold snap a few days ago, we briefly got to -1 fahrenheit once the windchill was taken into account. Not ready for that yet... Grrrr
@afneil: As more comes out about what happened in Cologne and other German cities the Merkel government faces crisis.
So they should.
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Here are the German polls. Can you spot any recent trends? If anything the CDU seems a bit up on a couple of months ago. The AfD definitely bounced in the autumn, but have seemed stuck since. You can see the full list for each institute by clicking on it.
@afneil: As more comes out about what happened in Cologne and other German cities the Merkel government faces crisis.
So they should.
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Here are the German polls. Can you spot any recent trends? If anything the CDU seems a bit up on a couple of months ago. The AfD definitely bounced in the autumn, but have seemed stuck since. You can see the full list for each institute by clicking on it.
Yes, a difficulty with all this CDU-in-crisis stuff is that AfD is still polling in single figures. Maybe they are just not very credible?
They have the same problem as most radical right parties - they are constantly fighting off suspicion of being neo-Nazi or at least racist - the media keep finding one more district chairman with dodgy views. In Germany, for obvious historical reasons, that's even more deadly than elsewhere.
To give Farage credit, he did impose the ban on former BNP members early on, and that's limited the problem for UKIP. I think floating voters see them as a bit obsessive and maybe a bit racist, but not neo-Nazi or anything like that.
@afneil: As more comes out about what happened in Cologne and other German cities the Merkel government faces crisis.
So they should.
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Here are the German polls. Can you spot any recent trends? If anything the CDU seems a bit up on a couple of months ago. The AfD definitely bounced in the autumn, but have seemed stuck since. You can see the full list for each institute by clicking on it.
Yes, a difficulty with all this CDU-in-crisis stuff is that AfD is still polling in single figures. Maybe they are just not very credible?
German society are not very used to changing government or opposing it (the old "I only obeyed orders"), since 1949 they have only voted to change government 4 times (1969, 1983, 1998 and 2005).
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
No reds under this bed, old chap. I help out locally where I can and I'd like to do a bit more if time allows, but I'm not involved in organising anything more strenuous than Sainsbury microwaveable meals. I'll be 66 next month and I'm enjoying having a bit more free time with only two jobs instead of three.
Not under the bed but in the bed... but I am amazed your wiki page doesn't mention your "former" communist views, I mean they are sort of relevant now especially as you have nailed your colours to Corbyn's mast.
You're free to stick them in if you want to - I don't wrote the page and it's bad form for people to edit their own page. But however much you put quotes around them, we're talking about my views 45 years ago. I gave up on communism when I was 21 (and living in Denmark) - felt it was a nice idea in principle (so long as it was linked to democracy, in the Eurocommunist fashion of the time) that didn't actually work.
Well, a eurocommunist is virtually a Tory
Discovering that communism doesn't work at 21 is understandable, going through life believing in socialism is ridiculous.
I appreciate that plenty of people claim to be socialists because it makes them feel good and they want to appear kind, but to actually believe in it as an adult is like putting sixpence under the pillow and hoping for a fairy to turn up.
It's interesting you say that because I've always noticed how on the BBC's 1983 election night programme the presenters seemed to be in a very sombre mood, whereas in 1987 the atmosphere in the studio seemed to be much more exuberant.
The BBC hate Corbyn because they know Labour will never win an election under his leadership.
Not really, it takes a few years for a government to take control over the BBC, through new appointments and replacements that come very gradually. Thatcher was complaining constantly until the Tories finally got control of it in the late 80's. likewise the BBC was under Tory control for the first years of New Labour, and remained a Labour bastion way into Cameron's government.
A rule of thumb is that the BBC will always oppose a first term government, and support it after it wins re-election.
Say what? Tory controlled BBC under Thatcher - ha ha ha...
Maajid Nawaz, LD candidate for Hampstead at the general election:
"Why We Can’t Stay Silent on Germany’s Mass Sex Assaults It took several days for the news of hundreds of sexual assaults in Cologne to make headlines. As progressives dither over what to say, the far right has already seized the opportunity."
Maajid Nawaz would have been a veryvuseful voice in parliament. His twitter is excellent.
So an excellent Twitter account means he would be useful in having a say in running the country? I think from this episode we can see how useful he would have been.
No wonder you LD's are an endangered species.
Every time I see him on the media / read his articles, they always seem bang on the money on his specialist subject i.e Islamism. And the more extremist element of the LD tried to get his expelled.
Agree wholeheartedly. Much better than the nit we have got in that constituency.
Basically the son of the governor of Iowa is following Cruz with a van disrupting his rallies with material that says that Cruz is against Ethanol, followed by Cruz saying that he will phase out Ethanol, and farmers getting worried that Cruz will phase out Ethanol.
Hillary might face up to 10 years in prison for violating 18 USC 793 over un-marking classified emails (possible smoking gun):
Bonus on Ted Cruz birther issue, although most pundits say that Cruz is safe, Cruz needs to provide the State Department form FS-240 or CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) to prove he is an American citizen at birth that his mother should have requested and filled at his birth, if not then he's going to lose a probable court case brought against him by Democrats.
If he doesn't prove that he is a natural born citizen then by law he is barred from being President of the USA.
Key word 'might', in all probability certainly not and even if she did she would just transfer her delegates to Biden
GOsborneGenius @GOsborneGenius @jeremycorbyn While an incompetent Labour leader and his ridiculous comms chief managed to keep Cameron off the front pages
Do German pollsters account for respondents being embarrassed to admit who they're supporting?
It seems to be a factor but a marginal one - both the far right and the Left Party tend to do a little better in actual elections than the polls predict, but only by about 1 percentage point.
@afneil: As more comes out about what happened in Cologne and other German cities the Merkel government faces crisis.
So they should.
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Here are the German polls. Can you spot any recent trends? If anything the CDU seems a bit up on a couple of months ago. The AfD definitely bounced in the autumn, but have seemed stuck since. You can see the full list for each institute by clicking on it.
So I see El Chapo the drug kingpin has been arrested again, fresh from his second breakout from prison - at what point do his cartel stop spending money and men's lives getting him out and dying to defend him?
GOsborneGenius @GOsborneGenius @jeremycorbyn While an incompetent Labour leader and his ridiculous comms chief managed to keep Cameron off the front pages
Almost makes one nostalgic for Lucy Powell and the Edstone...
@afneil: As more comes out about what happened in Cologne and other German cities the Merkel government faces crisis.
So they should.
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Here are the German polls. Can you spot any recent trends? If anything the CDU seems a bit up on a couple of months ago. The AfD definitely bounced in the autumn, but have seemed stuck since. You can see the full list for each institute by clicking on it.
Yes, a difficulty with all this CDU-in-crisis stuff is that AfD is still polling in single figures. Maybe they are just not very credible?
They have the same problem as most radical right parties - they are constantly fighting off suspicion of being neo-Nazi or at least racist - the media keep finding one more district chairman with dodgy views. In Germany, for obvious historical reasons, that's even more deadly than elsewhere.
To give Farage credit, he did impose the ban on former BNP members early on, and that's limited the problem for UKIP. I think floating voters see them as a bit obsessive and maybe a bit racist, but not neo-Nazi or anything like that.
Floating voters? Oh come off it Nick the Labour Party has chucked all sorts of rubbish at ukip. You're clearly a decent man, there is an element of your party that will stoop to any depths where smearing is concerned. The labour council in Rotherham removed two foster children because the parents joined ukip.
Somebody was on here 2-3 days ago saying on a recent trip to Vienna they were told by taxi drivers to watch out.
Young Miss Moses said to me tonight that they should tell the men not to go out and have a night curfew placed on them. After all it's them raping and sexually assaulting us.
Can't fault the logic I suppose though the practicalities may be somewhat challenging.
Basically the son of the governor of Iowa is following Cruz with a van disrupting his rallies with material that says that Cruz is against Ethanol, followed by Cruz saying that he will phase out Ethanol, and farmers getting worried that Cruz will phase out Ethanol.
Hillary might face up to 10 years in prison for violating 18 USC 793 over un-marking classified emails (possible smoking gun):
Bonus on Ted Cruz birther issue, although most pundits say that Cruz is safe, Cruz needs to provide the State Department form FS-240 or CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) to prove he is an American citizen at birth that his mother should have requested and filled at his birth, if not then he's going to lose a probable court case brought against him by Democrats.
If he doesn't prove that he is a natural born citizen then by law he is barred from being President of the USA.
Key word 'might', in all probability certainly not and even if she did she would just transfer her delegates to Biden
GOsborneGenius @GOsborneGenius @jeremycorbyn While an incompetent Labour leader and his ridiculous comms chief managed to keep Cameron off the front pages
I can't imagine how angry old Timmybot is, I mean he was angry enough when Labour were in power....
While I agree with your points about Osborne, and that despite even the current mess things can still go poorly for the Tories if/when the economy goes south as I expect it to, it is not only people who want to see Labour do poorly who are wittering on about Corbyn and the leadership, it's Labour people all over the web, and there's no point in pretending otherwise. I'm open to discussion of topics other than Jeremy bloody Corbyn, but his own actions and his own internal opponents are keeping him in the news more than his external opponents.
And of course a reshuffle is going to be obsessed over more than arcane if important economic matters which are longstanding and will remain so for years to come - it's a dramatic event, politically, it's silly in the extreme to think people interested in politics should not focus on it because other matters are more important. Go down that route, and 90% of what any side brings up should be shouted down as not important compared to something else - why is someone talking about trains when there's floods on? Why talk about not enough classrooms being built, when there's turmoil in the middle east to worry about? Etc etc
From my perspective, and I'm not desperately hostile to the man, I find Corbyn (or rather the team around him) to be completely lacking in nous when it comes to basic political and media management. They have consistently lost control of the media narrative which is something, given they are facing a largely hostile media, of which they should be more aware.
I realise for those opposed to Corbyn within the Labour Party, this is all profoundly frustrating as it was for anti-Coalition LDs under Nick Clegg. The question then becomes - do you wait for the Party to come back to you or do you leave (given you can always rejoin if it does return to a more favourable place) ?
The ludicrous rules under which Corbyn was elected notwithstanding, the Opposition party has three options - say nothing (MIliband), say the diametric opposite of the Government and damn the consequences or accept the Government's core agenda but offer to improve it/make it fairer.run it better (delete as appropriate).
Short of a black swan event, the next Government will probably have to continue the policies of the current Government in most areas. That doesn't mean that Government has to be of the same political stripe but in policy terms, the room for manoeuvre is limited.
Basically the son of the governor of Iowa is following Cruz with a van disrupting his rallies with material that says that Cruz is against Ethanol, followed by Cruz saying that he will phase out Ethanol, and farmers getting worried that Cruz will phase out Ethanol.
Hillary might face up to 10 years in prison for violating 18 USC 793 over un-marking classified emails (possible smoking gun):
Bonus on Ted Cruz birther issue, although most pundits say that Cruz is safe, Cruz needs to provide the State Department form FS-240 or CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) to prove he is an American citizen at birth that his mother should have requested and filled at his birth, if not then he's going to lose a probable court case brought against him by Democrats.
If he doesn't prove that he is a natural born citizen then by law he is barred from being President of the USA.
I've been banging on about Clinton's email problems on here for months and months. Legally they have her dead to rights.The evidence of her guilt is overwhelming.
The problem is that this is a political decision. Obama has ordered that the result of the FBI investigation not be made public. The decision whether or not to prosecute will be made by AG Loretta Lynch. Unlike her predecessor Holder, racist and biased, she is a straight up lady. I have faith she will make the right decision. Before becoming AG, she led the investigation that resulted in the FIFA indictments.
The FBI investigators are absolutely livid about Obama injecting himself in the middle of this.
Regarding Cruz, he was born in Canada to a US citizen. He has renounced his Canadian citizenship. From what little I understand there was a law in 1790 using the phrase 'natural born citizen'. The revised law a few years later dropped the phrase 'natural born'. The issue has never been litigated.
John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone. But he was a lot more popular in DC than Cruz, who is not popular at all in DC.
The whole ethanol business is a racket. It reduces fuel economy, increases emissions, and wrecks engines. It needs to be gone.
@afneil: As more comes out about what happened in Cologne and other German cities the Merkel government faces crisis.
So they should.
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Here are the German polls. Can you spot any recent trends? If anything the CDU seems a bit up on a couple of months ago. The AfD definitely bounced in the autumn, but have seemed stuck since. You can see the full list for each institute by clicking on it.
Yes, a difficulty with all this CDU-in-crisis stuff is that AfD is still polling in single figures. Maybe they are just not very credible?
They have the same problem as most radical right parties - they are constantly fighting off suspicion of being neo-Nazi or at least racist - the media keep finding one more district chairman with dodgy views. In Germany, for obvious historical reasons, that's even more deadly than elsewhere.
To give Farage credit, he did impose the ban on former BNP members early on, and that's limited the problem for UKIP. I think floating voters see them as a bit obsessive and maybe a bit racist, but not neo-Nazi or anything like that.
No doubt the neo-Nazi whiff is especially toxic in Germany.
I'm not at all clear about the relationship, if any, between AfD and Pegida. If asked I would probably guess AfD=UKIP, Pegida=BNP, but I don't know if that's right.
It's a fair point about UKIP. Even those of us who think they are... special... still see them as a respectable party. "BNP in blazers" is not really a fair characterisation.
So I see El Chapo the drug kingpin has been arrested again, fresh from his second breakout from prison - at what point do his cartel stop spending money and men's lives getting him out and dying to defend him?
It's seriously bad there. I worked in Mexico for a few years and made some good business contacts. When I set up my own company I wanted one of these contacts who also became a good friend to work a Mexican branch if I set it up. This was on GOM Coast and in the south not a hotbed of drug cartels. He wanted to do it but had to refuse as he said it would draw attention to him and his family and make him / them a target for kidnap or worse. Mexico is not the one I remember and is in a bad place at the moment.
Somebody was on here 2-3 days ago saying on a recent trip to Vienna they were told by taxi drivers to watch out.
Young Miss Moses said to me tonight that they should tell the men not to go out and have a night curfew placed on them. After all it's them raping and sexually assaulting us.
Can't fault the logic I suppose though the practicalities may be somewhat challenging.
Sensible girl Miss Moses.
She's very sensible but I hate to say naive. Millions of young Germans are perfectly capable of having a night out without surrounding young girls and molesting them, curtailing their social lives because of the unacceptable behaviour of visitors seems unfair. I'm told that the places these people have come from are awful, if they can't behave send them straight back.
Mrs Stodge and I spent Christmas in Vegas - does that make us Communists ? Given what Vegas does and how it does it, it would be an interesting argument.
???
I have not the slightest clue what your comment is about. Someone was suggesting Dr Palmer might be (or want to be I suppose) involved in some way with current Labour goings on, as a Corbyn supporter, and I was just suggesting he's enjoying time away from Parliament for other things, like foreign holidays.
You made the comment about Vegas - I simply followed it up.
Yes, but the link to communism? That wasn't me and that was what had be confused.
"While I agree with your points about Osborne, and that despite even the current mess things can still go poorly for the Tories if/when the economy goes south as I expect it to, it is not only people who want to see Labour do poorly who are wittering on about Corbyn and the leadership, it's Labour people all over the web, and there's no point in pretending otherwise. I'm open to discussion of topics other than Jeremy bloody Corbyn, but his own actions and his own internal opponents are keeping him in the news more than his external opponents.
And of course a reshuffle is going to be obsessed over more than arcane if important economic matters which are longstanding and will remain so for years to come - it's a dramatic event, politically, it's silly in the extreme to think people interested in politics should not focus on it because other matters are more important. Go down that route, and 90% of what any side brings up should be shouted down as not important compared to something else - why is someone talking about trains when there's floods on? Why talk about not enough classrooms being built, when there's turmoil in the middle east to worry about? Etc etc"
I say: Labour sympathisers always look forward to an economic downturn when the Tories are in power, even when the government is not to blame. Labour has no ideas which will lead the country to prosperity. However, on a cheerful note, Andrew Sentence, formerly of the Bank of England, predicts that public and private capital investment will shield the UK from a downturn in China and the emerging economies. And our major export markets in the USA and Europe are likely to grow.
I have a temperature report - and this time it's in Celsius!
At game time on Sunday, 1pm Eastern, when Seattle visits Minnesota to play in an outdoor stadium, the temperature is forecasted to be -18 celsius, 0 fahrenheit.
In the last cold snap a few days ago, we briefly got to -1 fahrenheit once the windchill was taken into account. Not ready for that yet... Grrrr
I bet you could get a great deal on a farm in Minnesota
We got below freezing - slightly - for 2 nights. Yup, it's time to panic.....
Somebody was on here 2-3 days ago saying on a recent trip to Vienna they were told by taxi drivers to watch out.
Young Miss Moses said to me tonight that they should tell the men not to go out and have a night curfew placed on them. After all it's them raping and sexually assaulting us.
Can't fault the logic I suppose though the practicalities may be somewhat challenging.
Naturally I'm not really in favour of curfews on anyone, but it has occurred to me that if men, as a whole, were under a curfew until this problem was fixed, it would get fixed (one way or another) pretty damn fast.
In effect women are being placed under a curfew. So why not the men? That's where the risk is.
A little bit of 2016 update, Ted Cruz faces a barrage of attacks on Ethanol (precisely what I was predicting):
Bonus on Ted Cruz birther issue, although most pundits say that Cruz is safe, Cruz needs to provide the State Department form FS-240 or CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) to prove he is an American citizen at birth that his mother should have requested and filled at his birth, if not then he's going to lose a probable court case brought against him by Democrats.
If he doesn't prove that he is a natural born citizen then by law he is barred from being President of the USA.
I've been banging on about Clinton's email problems on here for months and months. Legally they have her dead to rights.The evidence of her guilt is overwhelming.
The problem is that this is a political decision. Obama has ordered that the result of the FBI investigation not be made public. The decision whether or not to prosecute will be made by AG Loretta Lynch. Unlike her predecessor Holder, racist and biased, she is a straight up lady. I have faith she will make the right decision. Before becoming AG, she led the investigation that resulted in the FIFA indictments.
The FBI investigators are absolutely livid about Obama injecting himself in the middle of this.
Regarding Cruz, he was born in Canada to a US citizen. He has renounced his Canadian citizenship. From what little I understand there was a law in 1790 using the phrase 'natural born citizen'. The revised law a few years later dropped the phrase 'natural born'. The issue has never been litigated.
John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone. But he was a lot more popular in DC than Cruz, who is not popular at all in DC.
True, there was some ambiguity over McCain over whether the Panama Canal Zone was part of the US, but the Senate voted unanimously for a resolution in favour of McCain's case.
There is no ambiguity that Canada is part of the US, it's clearly not, so Cruz needs to produce his FS-240 that his mother should have filled in when he was born. If he doesn't have it then it's curtains.
Somebody was on here 2-3 days ago saying on a recent trip to Vienna they were told by taxi drivers to watch out.
Young Miss Moses said to me tonight that they should tell the men not to go out and have a night curfew placed on them. After all it's them raping and sexually assaulting us.
Can't fault the logic I suppose though the practicalities may be somewhat challenging.
Naturally I'm not really in favour of curfews on anyone, but it has occurred to me that if men, as a whole, were under a curfew until this problem was fixed, it would get fixed (one way or another) pretty damn fast.
In effect women are being placed under a curfew. So why not the men? That's where the risk is.
Oh come on that's unfair, I'm as outraged as anybody but imposing a curfew on men when the authorities know it's a tiny % of the population isn't right.
Mrs Stodge and I spent Christmas in Vegas - does that make us Communists ? Given what Vegas does and how it does it, it would be an interesting argument.
???
I have not the slightest clue what your comment is about. Someone was suggesting Dr Palmer might be (or want to be I suppose) involved in some way with current Labour goings on, as a Corbyn supporter, and I was just suggesting he's enjoying time away from Parliament for other things, like foreign holidays.
You made the comment about Vegas - I simply followed it up.
Yes, but the link to communism? That wasn't me and that was what had be confused.
It was the reference to Mr Palmer and the obsession some on here have about his political past beliefs.
Indeed, I find Vegas astonishingly egalitarian - everyone has the chance to lose money at the casinos. Unfortunately, I took $400 off Mr Wynn at his Blackjack table so treated Mrs Stodge to a very nice steak dinner at Carnevino in the Palazzo.
One thing I did notice was the creeping Asianisation (new word, let's try it out) of Vegas. More and more noodle bars and Asian restaurants and the new Resort World complex being built on the Fontainebleau site will appeal directly to the Chinese/Japanese/Korean market.
I'm cooling on the Strip - we did our second stint at the M Resort which is very modern but I love South Point which is a wonderfully old-fashioned Vegas hotel with separate race and sports book so the horse racing gambler doesn't have to put up with the oafish football and basketball fans.
Labour sympathisers always look forward to an economic downturn when the Tories are in power, even when the government is not to blame. Labour has no ideas which will lead the country to prosperity.
Not a Labour sympathiser myself, though I am a serial Labour optimist, thinking they would win in 2015 on the basis that even if it is necessary (as I think it was) people would vote against austerity. I may be applying the same logic in thinking Labour prospects should be better in 2020 after 10 years of Tory austerity and chances of globally caused downturn (I don't think it matters how much the people in power are to blame or not), though with Corbyn in charge the Tories will probably have a lot more leeway than they would otherewise even in a bad scenario for them.
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
No reds under this bed, old chap. I help out locally where I can and I'd like to do a bit more if time allows, but I'm not involved in organising anything more strenuous than Sainsbury microwaveable meals. I'll be 66 next month and I'm enjoying having a bit more free time with only two jobs instead of three.
Not under the bed but in the bed... but I am amazed your wiki page doesn't mention your "former" communist views, I mean they are sort of relevant now especially as you have nailed your colours to Corbyn's mast.
You're free to stick them in if you want to - I don't wrote the page and it's bad form for people to edit their own page. But however much you put quotes around them, we're talking about my views 45 years ago. I gave up on communism when I was 21 (and living in Denmark) - felt it was a nice idea in principle (so long as it was linked to democracy, in the Eurocommunist fashion of the time) that didn't actually work.
Well, a eurocommunist is virtually a Tory
Discovering that communism doesn't work at 21 is understandable, going through life believing in socialism is ridiculous.
I appreciate that plenty of people claim to be socialists because it makes them feel good and they want to appear kind, but to actually believe in it as an adult is like putting sixpence under the pillow and hoping for a fairy to turn up.
Though I'm strongly opposed to a socialist government here, I don't it's necessarily *ridiculous* to be a socialist. Certainly there was a time, a little over a hundred years ago - when I would have said it was eminently reasonable. To me, socialism as an idealistic vision has never recovered from the failure of the Second International in 1914.
Since then vast amounts of water have passed under the bridge and to be a socialist now seems almost antique. However, it is still a very powerful critique of capitalism. It has its allure.
Basically the son of the governor of Iowa is following Cruz with a van disrupting his rallies with material that says that Cruz is against Ethanol, followed by Cruz saying that he will phase out Ethanol, and farmers getting worried that Cruz will phase out Ethanol.
Hillary might face up to 10 years in prison for violating 18 USC 793 over un-marking classified emails (possible smoking gun):
Bonus on Ted Cruz birther issue, although most pundits say that Cruz is safe, Cruz needs to provide the State Department form FS-240 or CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) to prove he is an American citizen at birth that his mother should have requested and filled at his birth, if not then he's going to lose a probable court case brought against him by Democrats.
If he doesn't prove that he is a natural born citizen then by law he is barred from being President of the USA.
Key word 'might', in all probability certainly not and even if she did she would just transfer her delegates to Biden
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
No reds under this bed, old chap. I help out locally where I can and I'd like to do a bit more if time allows, but I'm not involved in organising anything more strenuous than Sainsbury microwaveable meals. I'll be 66 next month and I'm enjoying having a bit more free time with only two jobs instead of three.
Not under the bed but in the bed... but I am amazed your wiki page doesn't mention your "former" communist views, I mean they are sort of relevant now especially as you have nailed your colours to Corbyn's mast.
You're free to stick them in if you want to - I don't wrote the page and it's bad form for people to edit their own page. But however much you put quotes around them, we're talking about my views 45 years ago. I gave up on communism when I was 21 (and living in Denmark) - felt it was a nice idea in principle (so long as it was linked to democracy, in the Eurocommunist fashion of the time) that didn't actually work.
Well, a eurocommunist is virtually a Tory
Discoverin
Though I'm strongly opposed to a socialist government here, I don't it's necessarily *ridiculous* to be a socialist. Certainly there was a time, a little over a hundred years ago - when I would have said it was eminently reasonable. To me, socialism as a idealistic vision has never recovered from the failure of the Second International in 1914.
Since then vast amounts of water have passed under the bridge and to be a socialist now seems almost antique. However, it is still a very powerful critique of capitalism. It has its allure.
I'm still not voting for it though
What about 'socialist inspired' ideas?
Personally, I don't think most people fear a label like socialist in a politician, unless they are simultaneously seen as extreme (one might argue anyone who is or might be a socialist is definitely extreme, but people can get away with that sort of thing - a similar example is the argument some put forward that Cameron's strength is not alarming people when he is in fact a lot more right wing than many people think, who regard him as instinctively centrist), though there are a fringe who, regardless of how ideologically consistent they are with genuine socialism, do see it as the 'moral' tag to have against evil capitalists, but those are a minority. So someone socialist or socialist inspired I think could still be accepted.
@afneil: As more comes out about what happened in Cologne and other German cities the Merkel government faces crisis.
So they should.
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Here are the German polls. Can you spot any recent trends? If anything the CDU seems a bit up on a couple of months ago. The AfD definitely bounced in the autumn, but have seemed stuck since. You can see the full list for each institute by clicking on it.
Yes, a difficulty with all this CDU-in-crisis stuff is that AfD is still polling in single figures. Maybe they are just not very credible?
They have the same problem as most radical right parties - they are constantly fighting off suspicion of being neo-Nazi or at least racist - the media keep finding one more district chairman with dodgy views. In Germany, for obvious historical reasons, that's even more deadly than elsewhere.
To give Farage credit, he did impose the ban on former BNP members early on, and that's limited the problem for UKIP. I think floating voters see them as a bit obsessive and maybe a bit racist, but not neo-Nazi or anything like that.
No doubt the neo-Nazi whiff is especially toxic in Germany.
I'm not at all clear about the relationship, if any, between AfD and Pegida. If asked I would probably guess AfD=UKIP, Pegida=BNP, but I don't know if that's right.
It's a fair point about UKIP. Even those of us who think they are... special... still see them as a respectable party. "BNP in blazers" is not really a fair characterisation.
For me, I think the main problem with UKIP is not that they're seen as "racist", but more that they're just stuffy and old-fashioned. I actually think Farage's comments about women not breastfeeding in public, and the whole thing about "gay marriage causing floods", have been worse for their reputation than anything they've said about immigration
A little bit of 2016 update, Ted Cruz faces a barrage of attacks on Ethanol (precisely what I was predicting):
Bonus on Ted Cruz birther issue, although most pundits say that Cruz is safe, Cruz needs to provide the State Department form FS-240 or CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) to prove he is an American citizen at birth that his mother should have requested and filled at his birth, if not then he's going to lose a probable court case brought against him by Democrats.
If he doesn't prove that he is a natural born citizen then by law he is barred from being President of the USA.
I've been banging on about Clinton's email problems on here for months and months. Legally they have her dead to rights.The evidence of her guilt is overwhelming.
The problem is that this is a political decision. Obama has ordered that the result of the FBI investigation not be made public. The decision whether or not to prosecute will be made by AG Loretta Lynch. Unlike her predecessor Holder, racist and biased, she is a straight up lady. I have faith she will make the right decision. Before becoming AG, she led the investigation that resulted in the FIFA indictments.
The FBI investigators are absolutely livid about Obama injecting himself in the middle of this.
Regarding Cruz, he was born in Canada to a US citizen. He has renounced his Canadian citizenship. From what little I understand there was a law in 1790 using the phrase 'natural born citizen'. The revised law a few years later dropped the phrase 'natural born'. The issue has never been litigated.
John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone. But he was a lot more popular in DC than Cruz, who is not popular at all in DC.
True, there was some ambiguity over McCain over whether the Panama Canal Zone was part of the US, but the Senate voted unanimously for a resolution in favour of McCain's case.
There is no ambiguity that Canada is part of the US, it's clearly not, so Cruz needs to produce his FS-240 that his mother should have filled in when he was born. If he doesn't have it then it's curtains.
The ambiguity is that the difference between "natural born citizen" and "citizen" has never been litigated in US courts. The facts of his birth location and his mother's US citizenship are well established.
Rod Crosby will go nuts on this given half a chance.
'Livingstone running the Labour leadership' - 8th Jan already and Christmas has turned up again for the tory party. This is before Lady Nugee works her magic and the shadow city minister comes up with a policy.
There is a "former " communist who posts on this site. I wonder if Nick Palmer is involved in Labour's organisation. .. It fits very well with the cabal running the show these days.
No reds under this bed, old chap. I help out locally where I can and I'd like to do a bit more if time allows, but I'm not involved in organising anything more strenuous than Sainsbury microwaveable meals. I'll be 66 next month and I'm enjoying having a bit more free time with only two jobs instead of three.
Not under the bed but in the bed... but I am amazed your wiki page doesn't mention your "former" communist views, I mean they are sort of relevant now especially as you have nailed your colours to Corbyn's mast.
You're free to stick them in if you want to - I don't wrote the page and it's bad form for people to edit their own page. But however much you put quotes around them, we're talking about my views 45 years ago. I gave up on communism when I was 21 (and living in Denmark) - felt it was a nice idea in principle (so long as it was linked to democracy, in the Eurocommunist fashion of the time) that didn't actually work.
Well, a eurocommunist is virtually a Tory
Discovering that communism doesn't work at 21 is understandable, going through life believing in socialism is ridiculous.
I appreciate that plenty of people claim to be socialists because it makes them feel good and they want to appear kind, but to actually believe in it as an adult is like putting sixpence under the pillow and hoping for a fairy to turn up.
Though I'm strongly opposed to a socialist government here, I don't it's necessarily *ridiculous* to be a socialist. Certainly there was a time, a little over a hundred years ago - when I would have said it was eminently reasonable. To me, socialism as an idealistic vision has never recovered from the failure of the Second International in 1914.
Since then vast amounts of water have passed under the bridge and to be a socialist now seems almost antique. However, it is still a very powerful critique of capitalism. It has its allure.
I'm still not voting for it though
I'm not sure how hoping socialism would work 100 years ago (it hadn't been tried) has any relevance to proclaiming to be a socialist today. It's a crutch for people who feel guilty about making money or an ideology for impressionable youngsters.
Reading Nick Palmer's posts he moved from one to the other hoping nobody would notice. In his defence he's not the only one, just read the Guardian, you never see it on council estates.
Comments
What a fool Farage is
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/12088804/Nigel-Farage-I-made-a-terrible-terrible-mistake-over-assassination-attempt-claims.html
Oops I ended up on another train of thought, hard reset
I am always astounded when professional offence-takers like Brendan O'Neill note that women get more uni degrees than men, while not noting that men are paid more on average than women, thus failing to put 2 and 2 together because they might add up to accepting the existence of sexism
I'd go with "far left anti war communists" ...
https://t.co/sXrdxH4LZF
@MrHarryCole: Thornberry claimed last year that UK nukes are controlled by USA – a nutty conspiracy theory squashed by experts: https://t.co/sXrdxH4LZF
There is no gender pay gap for those of similar qualifications who have recently left university anymore. So no such thing as sexism there.
On the premise that any publicity is good publicity perhaps Corbyn has calculated he's worth having.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/12090388/Europe-in-crisis-over-sex-attacks-by-migrants-amid-calls-for-emergency-EU-meeting.html
WTF - seriously WTF
Imagine if this is still going on come referendum time.
Evening all
I see the usual suspects are still wittering on about Corbyn and the Labour leadership. I've been a member of a political party (well, that's what it calls itself) for over thirty years. I don't know how it is in other parties (I suspect very similar) but parties, like most clubs or societies, are strange beasts. Corbyn shouldn't have been in the contest but he was let in and outmanoeuvred his opponents by simply not being like them.
The Conservatives, whatever the economic truth, lost their reputation for sound economic management in 1992 and only recovered it when Labour lost it over Northern Rock/Lehmann. That's why the global economic situation and the stock market falls this week are so much more important that wibbling over Emily Thornberry or which Shadow Minister resigned.
One of the big reasons for the Conservative victory in May was economic competence - Osborne's remarkable volte face this week in tone compared with the Autumn Statement suggested an element of preparing for the worst. At what point will the economic headwinds impact ? How then does Osborne achieve his cherished goal of eradicating the deficit and running budget surpluses if economic activity won't allow him to do so and how will people react politically if the global slowdown manifests itself in declining economic activity here ?
Still, who cares when you can re-tweet an anti-Labour story ?
Thatcher was complaining constantly until the Tories finally got control of it in the late 80's. likewise the BBC was under Tory control for the first years of New Labour, and remained a Labour bastion way into Cameron's government.
A rule of thumb is that the BBC will always oppose a first term government, and support it after it wins re-election.
And of course a reshuffle is going to be obsessed over more than arcane if important economic matters which are longstanding and will remain so for years to come - it's a dramatic event, politically, it's silly in the extreme to think people interested in politics should not focus on it because other matters are more important. Go down that route, and 90% of what any side brings up should be shouted down as not important compared to something else - why is someone talking about trains when there's floods on? Why talk about not enough classrooms being built, when there's turmoil in the middle east to worry about? Etc etc
“A Donald Trump rally in Burlington, Vermont, Thursday night was overflowing with thousands of Trump supporters who waited in line for hours in hopes of nabbing a seat. The event was also attended by Bernie Sanders supporters – for whom the Donald handed down a harsh message.
“Throw ’em out into the cold,” the GOP frontrunner ordered security, as the protesters shouted, “Bernie! Bernie!”
“Don’t give him his coat,” Trump added. “Keep his coat, confiscate his coat.”
“It’s about 10 degrees below zero outside … You can keep his coat. Tell him we’ll send it to him in a couple of weeks,” Trump told security.
“You know, it’s sort of fun. Isn’t this more exciting?” Trump told the crowd. “You know, you go to a Hillary thing. It’s like, boring. You go to a Jeb thing and you fall asleep.”
The protesters weren’t the only ones ejected from the event. Trump’s security turned away anyone who refused to pledge their allegiance to the billionaire businessman – even undecided voters.
“We have more than 20,000 people that showed up for 1,400 spots. I’m taking care of my people, not people who don’t want to vote for me or are undecided,” Trump said in a statement, according to NBC News. “They are loyal to me and I am loyal to them.”
http://www.people.com/article/donald-trump-protesters-confiscates-coats?xid=rss-topheadlines
I have not the slightest clue what your comment is about. Someone was suggesting Dr Palmer might be (or want to be I suppose) involved in some way with current Labour goings on, as a Corbyn supporter, and I was just suggesting he's enjoying time away from Parliament for other things, like foreign holidays.
At game time on Sunday, 1pm Eastern, when Seattle visits Minnesota to play in an outdoor stadium, the temperature is forecasted to be -18 celsius, 0 fahrenheit.
http://www.wahlrecht.de/umfragen/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/01/07/when-ethanol-attacks-starring-ted-cruz/
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/06/politics/ted-cruz-ethanol-iowa/
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2016/01/07/ethanol-questions-dog-ted-cruz-iowa/78403364/
http://www.wsj.com/articles/ethanol-backers-mobilize-against-ted-cruz-in-iowa-republican-race-1452127023
Basically the son of the governor of Iowa is following Cruz with a van disrupting his rallies with material that says that Cruz is against Ethanol, followed by Cruz saying that he will phase out Ethanol, and farmers getting worried that Cruz will phase out Ethanol.
Hillary might face up to 10 years in prison for violating 18 USC 793 over un-marking classified emails (possible smoking gun):
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/state-department-releases-more-clinton-emails-several-marked-classified/
http://hotair.com/?p=3889422
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3391031/Game-set-match-classified-emails-Bombshell-email-shows-Hillary-Clinton-telling-aide-secure-information-send-nonsecure.html
Bonus on Ted Cruz birther issue, although most pundits say that Cruz is safe, Cruz needs to provide the State Department form FS-240 or CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) to prove he is an American citizen at birth that his mother should have requested and filled at his birth, if not then he's going to lose a probable court case brought against him by Democrats.
If he doesn't prove that he is a natural born citizen then by law he is barred from being President of the USA.
To give Farage credit, he did impose the ban on former BNP members early on, and that's limited the problem for UKIP. I think floating voters see them as a bit obsessive and maybe a bit racist, but not neo-Nazi or anything like that.
I appreciate that plenty of people claim to be socialists because it makes them feel good and they want to appear kind, but to actually believe in it as an adult is like putting sixpence under the pillow and hoping for a fairy to turn up.
GOsborneGenius @GOsborneGenius
@jeremycorbyn While an incompetent Labour leader and his ridiculous comms chief managed to keep Cameron off the front pages
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/793
So it's up to the prosecutor and the Judge and Jury to decide what the possible sentence is.
So far it's a political blow to Hillary, a predictable blow when that email scandal started to unravel.
I realise for those opposed to Corbyn within the Labour Party, this is all profoundly frustrating as it was for anti-Coalition LDs under Nick Clegg. The question then becomes - do you wait for the Party to come back to you or do you leave (given you can always rejoin if it does return to a more favourable place) ?
The ludicrous rules under which Corbyn was elected notwithstanding, the Opposition party has three options - say nothing (MIliband), say the diametric opposite of the Government and damn the consequences or accept the Government's core agenda but offer to improve it/make it fairer.run it better (delete as appropriate).
Short of a black swan event, the next Government will probably have to continue the policies of the current Government in most areas. That doesn't mean that Government has to be of the same political stripe but in policy terms, the room for manoeuvre is limited.
The problem is that this is a political decision. Obama has ordered that the result of the FBI investigation not be made public. The decision whether or not to prosecute will be made by AG Loretta Lynch. Unlike her predecessor Holder, racist and biased, she is a straight up lady. I have faith she will make the right decision. Before becoming AG, she led the investigation that resulted in the FIFA indictments.
The FBI investigators are absolutely livid about Obama injecting himself in the middle of this.
Regarding Cruz, he was born in Canada to a US citizen. He has renounced his Canadian citizenship. From what little I understand there was a law in 1790 using the phrase 'natural born citizen'. The revised law a few years later dropped the phrase 'natural born'. The issue has never been litigated.
John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone. But he was a lot more popular in DC than Cruz, who is not popular at all in DC.
The whole ethanol business is a racket. It reduces fuel economy, increases emissions, and wrecks engines. It needs to be gone.
I'm not at all clear about the relationship, if any, between AfD and Pegida. If asked I would probably guess AfD=UKIP, Pegida=BNP, but I don't know if that's right.
It's a fair point about UKIP. Even those of us who think they are... special... still see them as a respectable party. "BNP in blazers" is not really a fair characterisation.
Fox National GOP Trump 35, Cruz 20 Rubio 13, Carson 10
Dems Clinton 54,Sanders 39
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/08/fox-news-poll-trump-holds-commanding-lead-in-new-hampshire.html
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/08/fox-news-poll-trump-cruz-top-gop-race-nationally.html
"While I agree with your points about Osborne, and that despite even the current mess things can still go poorly for the Tories if/when the economy goes south as I expect it to, it is not only people who want to see Labour do poorly who are wittering on about Corbyn and the leadership, it's Labour people all over the web, and there's no point in pretending otherwise. I'm open to discussion of topics other than Jeremy bloody Corbyn, but his own actions and his own internal opponents are keeping him in the news more than his external opponents.
And of course a reshuffle is going to be obsessed over more than arcane if important economic matters which are longstanding and will remain so for years to come - it's a dramatic event, politically, it's silly in the extreme to think people interested in politics should not focus on it because other matters are more important. Go down that route, and 90% of what any side brings up should be shouted down as not important compared to something else - why is someone talking about trains when there's floods on? Why talk about not enough classrooms being built, when there's turmoil in the middle east to worry about? Etc etc"
I say:
Labour sympathisers always look forward to an economic downturn when the Tories are in power, even when the government is not to blame. Labour has no ideas which will lead the country to prosperity. However, on a cheerful note, Andrew Sentence, formerly of the Bank of England, predicts that public and private capital investment will shield the UK from a downturn in China and the emerging economies. And our major export markets in the USA and Europe are likely to grow.
We got below freezing - slightly - for 2 nights. Yup, it's time to panic.....
There is no ambiguity that Canada is part of the US, it's clearly not, so Cruz needs to produce his FS-240 that his mother should have filled in when he was born. If he doesn't have it then it's curtains.
Cruz 27(-1)
Trump 23(-3)
Rubio 15(+2)
Carson 9(-1)
Bush 7(+2)
http://www.thelocal.it/20160108/italy-set-to-decriminalize-illegal-immigration
Indeed, I find Vegas astonishingly egalitarian - everyone has the chance to lose money at the casinos. Unfortunately, I took $400 off Mr Wynn at his Blackjack table so treated Mrs Stodge to a very nice steak dinner at Carnevino in the Palazzo.
One thing I did notice was the creeping Asianisation (new word, let's try it out) of Vegas. More and more noodle bars and Asian restaurants and the new Resort World complex being built on the Fontainebleau site will appeal directly to the Chinese/Japanese/Korean market.
I'm cooling on the Strip - we did our second stint at the M Resort which is very modern but I love South Point which is a wonderfully old-fashioned Vegas hotel with separate race and sports book so the horse racing gambler doesn't have to put up with the oafish football and basketball fans.
Since then vast amounts of water have passed under the bridge and to be a socialist now seems almost antique. However, it is still a very powerful critique of capitalism. It has its allure.
I'm still not voting for it though
Personally, I don't think most people fear a label like socialist in a politician, unless they are simultaneously seen as extreme (one might argue anyone who is or might be a socialist is definitely extreme, but people can get away with that sort of thing - a similar example is the argument some put forward that Cameron's strength is not alarming people when he is in fact a lot more right wing than many people think, who regard him as instinctively centrist), though there are a fringe who, regardless of how ideologically consistent they are with genuine socialism, do see it as the 'moral' tag to have against evil capitalists, but those are a minority. So someone socialist or socialist inspired I think could still be accepted.
Rod Crosby will go nuts on this given half a chance.
This is before Lady Nugee works her magic and the shadow city minister comes up with a policy.
Reading Nick Palmer's posts he moved from one to the other hoping nobody would notice. In his defence he's not the only one, just read the Guardian, you never see it on council estates.