politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Osborne’s new job: Rewarding failure
“He wrecked the economy and he’ll wreck anything he gets his hands on.” — the verdict on the new editor of the London Evening Standard from a Tory activist vox popped at the Conservative Spring Forum in Cardiff by Channel Four’s Michael Crick.
Productivity would have skyrocketed if Osborne had thrown 2 million employees under the bus by reducing govt in-job support. If that had been the case we'd be now living under Ed Miliband's government. We'd also still be staying in the EU, mind, so not all downside.
The most interesting thing about today's debate, not one Tory criticised George Osborne.
They know Ozzy is going to be leader, possibly in the very near future.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the George; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His brilliance is marching on.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. George Osborne is a failure. As a Chancellor he was OK and better than I was expecting after his reaction to the Credit Crunch. He obviously learnt from that. But as someone who was credited as being the political Svengali of the Conservative government, he really wasn't that good at machinations. He was on the right side of the argument on Brexit and a social liberal, which I approve of.
The most interesting thing about today's debate, not one Tory criticised George Osborne.
They know Ozzy is going to be leader, possibly in the very near future.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the George; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His brilliance is marching on.
Mr. Eagles, that's indeed horrendous. The far right is still small, but has scope to grow. I'm surprised it isn't larger, to be honest.
On-topic: if we ended up staying in, it would put rocket boosters under political division and bitterness. A new Farage-Banks political vehicle could gain widespread support very quickly.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You've got a cheek, trying to hold the current government responsible for the crash of 2008/09. It took years to recover the 7% drop in output that occurred during that time. Output is now well above the level that the government inherited, and the deficit is well below the level the government inherited.
A dismal article as usual from Mr Brind. It would be nice if he at least attempted to be dispassionate, rather than laying on his partisanship with a trowel.
The problem with any argument that claims that "austerity has caused problem X, Y or Z" is that we haven't had any austerity (yet). We've had lots of talk about it, but no actual austerity. As the header mentions, we're still running a large deficit - the stimulus goes on. Austerity is what happened in Greece or Ireland, not mildly trimming a gigantic deficit.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record - though that rarely holds people back - this is a bigger betrayal than had he joined another party. I wouldn't mind him deciding that his love of Europe trumps all else and therefore he'd be more at home in the Lib Dems. There'd be a certain honesty about it, a certain internal consistency. But by saying he's going to act as the voice of London, he's forfeited all right to represent a Cheshire constituency.
I don't know whether the Tatton constituency can get rid of him, but if he's looking for another seat after the boundary review I can't imagine anywhere else in Cheshire would be too keen to have him. Though maybe he's planning a wholesale shift to somewhere down south anyway.
The most interesting thing about today's debate, not one Tory criticised George Osborne.
They know Ozzy is going to be leader, possibly in the very near future.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the George; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His brilliance is marching on.
just so wrong
the opposite of love isnt hate, it's indifference
they no longer care
I'm off to have dinner, but I'm going to do an Osborne is awesome/next PM nailed on piece this Sunday, just for you and Don.
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
If anything Osborne was just too successful for his own good. Had the economy been in the perilous state he inherited from New Labour, then it's doubtful the public would have had the stomach to gamble with Brexit. Ozzy's golden legacy sowed the seeds of complacency alas.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
Maybe, just maybe, you should consider whether the EU and/or the Remain camp did things that alienated public support for the EU. You did throw away a 20% lead, after all.
The most interesting thing about today's debate, not one Tory criticised George Osborne.
They know Ozzy is going to be leader, possibly in the very near future.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the George; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His brilliance is marching on.
just so wrong
the opposite of love isnt hate, it's indifference
they no longer care
I'm off to have dinner, but I'm going to do an Osborne is awesome/next PM nailed on piece this Sunday, just for you and Don.
Osborne's approval ratings were through the floor by the time he was deposed as Chancellor. People aren't going to be yearning for his return, no matter how much of a mess May makes of the Brexit negotiations.
Why do Remainers think that enlisting the very people that caused so many to vote Leave with their policies and interventions is going to turn the tide? Blair, Heseltine, Cameron, Osborne, Ashdown.. the Leave vote could easily be explained as two fingers to precisely these people.
This line from Blair resonated
"Populism identifies an enemy as the answer to what are essentially the problems of accelerated change".
...says the man who put his foot on the accelerator
Mr. Dawning, from your perspective the blame belongs to Cameron. Osborne advised him against the referendum.
Mr. Cookie, I'm not against MPs having second jobs, but do agree the conflict seems too great to be considered acceptable.
Yes, Mr. Dancer, I agree - I don't disagree with outside interests - I think it's probably healthy - but I don't see how he can act as the voice of London and the voice of Tatton.
"Although he was sacked by Theresa May last year his enduring legacy is the decade and a half of stagnant livings standards revealed last week by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It forecast that average real earnings in 2022 will be no higher they were in 2007. IFS director Paul Johnson commented: “Fifteen years without a pay rise. I’m rather lost for superlatives."
It's not only Osborne who cannot count. Mr Brind can't either. Osborne was Chancellor from May 2010 to June 2016. Six years.
Who was responsible for the other years of economic stagnation? Might the party in power before then have had something to do with it?
The economy was not all sweetness and light up to May 2010 and then driven to hell in a handbasket by Osborne.
Sorry: I know how hard it can be to write a good article. So I hesitate to criticize. But this is incoherent. Criticise Osborne by all means for his failures as Chancellor but we were left in a hell of a mess by the party that was kicked out in May 2010, a party that had been in power for 13 years and it is simply untenable to claim that what happened during those 13 years (and in earlier years) did not also form part of the backdrop to the EU referendum.
The Brexit Rogues Gallery should include pretty much the entire political class who, despite all their planet sized brains, were unable to make a convincingly positive case for the EU and for the way in which it is developing in a way that resonated with a country which was in the EU and enjoying the advantages of being in the EU. That's one hell of a failure.
And, finally, Mr B makes the mistake all British politicians have made since the Treaty of Rome was first signed. He thinks that the EU is all about economics and the Single Market. The one thing you'd hope pro-EU campaigners would understand is that the EU is - and always has been - primarily about politics. It is a political project. Economics is the means but it is not the end. The political case for the EU wasn't even attempted by the Blairs, Majors and Heseltines of this world. It is possible that in addition to those who thought the economics didn't work for them there were enough people who thought that the political consequences of being in the EU didn't work for them either and/or outweighed any economic benefits.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
That's quite a good photograph though. It makes one think, and it's possible to read much into it. For example, Blair would have symbolically sat in the centre, legs akimbo. May rests on the left wing....
The Leave campaign was, of course, built on lies and false promises by the sad fact is that my side, Remain, was led people who were damaged goods so far as most voters were concerned
That is rather avoiding confronting that Remain was unable to convince people, and you're choosing to blame the deliverers rather than the message. That's very comforting, but not very helpful.
I also think blaming Osborne's stewardship of the economy as the reason is overly simplistic. Immigration was a far bigger concern. And while I lambasted the man for not dealing with the deficit, I have yet to see it explained how people who think austerity, cutting, is wrong, as you seem to say, think him not cutting enough is a bad thing. It's a failure of his, but one those who didn't want austerity should be thankful for.
On Osborne generally, speaking roles and adviser jobs are one thing, but he's clearly got no plans to get back in government again, and probably not long to stay as an MP.
Unfair to say Tessy was an unenthusiastic Remainer.
It recalls a comment from Cyan a couple of threads ago that disparagingly said that a certain person's politics could be summed up by holding up a piece of cardboard.
I believe Osborne warned Cameron against the referendum , so his nous is not all bad. If he had been more like Brown in stopping the PM from joining the Euro he would still be in office.However he was more like Mandelson and became beguiled by Cameron .
That's quite a good photograph though. It makes one think, and it's possible to read much into it. For example, Blair would have symbolically sat in the centre, legs akimbo. May rests on the left wing....
But is it Annie Liebovitz making you think, or Theresa May?
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
The Dupont-Aignan walkout was the biggest ever Facebook act by a French politician, measured in likes + comments + shares, BY A FACTOR OF TWO:
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
The only one I heard Was lord Hesseltine on Any Questions and the power of his argument was impressive. The hypocrisy and stupidity of Villiers Stuartis a rare joy in these black days leading up to Brexit
The Leave campaign was, of course, built on lies and false promises by the sad fact is that my side, Remain, was led people who were damaged goods so far as most voters were concerned
That is rather avoiding confronting that Remain was unable to convince people, and you're choosing to blame the deliverers rather than the message. That's very comforting, but not very helpful.
I also think blaming Osborne's stewardship of the economy as the reason is overly simplistic. Immigration was a far bigger concern. And while I lambasted the man for not dealing with the deficit, I have yet to see it explained how people who think austerity, cutting, is wrong, as you seem to say, think him not cutting enough is a bad thing. It's a failure of his, but one those who didn't want austerity should be thankful for.
On Osborne generally, speaking roles and adviser jobs are one thing, but he's clearly got no plans to get back in government again, and probably not long to stay as an MP.
Georgie said "an immediate recession will occur on 24th June if we vote for Brexit." clearly a lie.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
"Although he was sacked by Theresa May last year his enduring legacy is the decade and a half of stagnant livings standards revealed last week by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It forecast that average real earnings in 2022 will be no higher they were in 2007. IFS director Paul Johnson commented: “Fifteen years without a pay rise. I’m rather lost for superlatives."
The Brexit Rogues Gallery should include pretty much the entire political class who, despite all their planet sized brains, were unable to make a convincingly positive case for the EU and for the way in which it is developing in a way that resonated with a country which was in the EU and enjoying the advantages of being in the EU. That's one hell of a failure.
It was the fault of the Tories; it was the fault of Farage; it was the fault of the poor; it was the fault of the old; it was the fault of the tabloids; it was the fault of the uneducated; it was the fault of the English. Do people who are really angry about the result ever wonder if it was their own fault that they lost?
That's quite a good photograph though. It makes one think, and it's possible to read much into it. For example, Blair would have symbolically sat in the centre, legs akimbo. May rests on the left wing....
But is it Annie Liebovitz making you think, or Theresa May?
Politicians have images they wish to project. I'd say that is considered - the artist is rarely better than the subject (and v.v.).
I believe Osborne warned Cameron against the referendum , so his nous is not all bad. If he had been more like Brown in stopping the PM from joining the Euro he would still be in office.However he was more like Mandelson and became beguiled by Cameron .
Or maybe he thought that loyalty to the PM was a virtue. The fact that he may have thought that imitating Brown was not the way to go speaks well of him rather than the opposite.
That referendum was lost long before the campaign. If Cameron and Co wanted to win it they should have been making the case for the EU long long before early 2016. They should have been doing so from the moment the promise of a referendum was made. Cameron was doing the equivalent of fattening the pig on market day and trying to sell it to vegetarians.
"Although he was sacked by Theresa May last year his enduring legacy is the decade and a half of stagnant livings standards revealed last week by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. It forecast that average real earnings in 2022 will be no higher they were in 2007. IFS director Paul Johnson commented: “Fifteen years without a pay rise. I’m rather lost for superlatives."
The Brexit Rogues Gallery should include pretty much the entire political class who, despite all their planet sized brains, were unable to make a convincingly positive case for the EU and for the way in which it is developing in a way that resonated with a country which was in the EU and enjoying the advantages of being in the EU. That's one hell of a failure.
It was the fault of the Tories; it was the fault of Farage; it was the fault of the poor; it was the fault of the old; it was the fault of the tabloids; it was the fault of the uneducated; it was the fault of the English. Do people who are really angry about the result ever wonder if it was their own fault that they lost?
So despite inheriting the worst public sector deficit, horrific off balance sheet liabilities, unmatched consumer borrowing which needed to be dialled back reducing demand, a EZ in a complete mess that significantly reduced export opportunities and huge built in increases in government spending built on Labour bribes Osborne managed to produce record levels of employment, halve the deficit and provide the highest growth in the G7 in that period. Oh, and he delivered an overall majority from a minority administration for his party as well.
Like his namesake Mr Best it is entirely appropriate to ask, "George, where did it all go wrong?"
I believe Osborne warned Cameron against the referendum , so his nous is not all bad. If he had been more like Brown in stopping the PM from joining the Euro he would still be in office.However he was more like Mandelson and became beguiled by Cameron .
Cameron was doing the equivalent of fattening the pig on market day and trying to sell it to vegetarians.
On the economy Osborne failed, of course, by his own yardstick — the promise to cut the annual budget deficit to zero by 2015.
Well yes, a failure if you're a fiscal conservative like some of us on here. But not a failure if you're Ed Miliband, Don Brind or the rest of the BBC.
I also think blaming Osborne's stewardship of the economy as the reason is overly simplistic. Immigration was a far bigger concern. And while I lambasted the man for not dealing with the deficit, I have yet to see it explained how people who think austerity, cutting, is wrong, as you seem to say, think him not cutting enough is a bad thing. It's a failure of his, but one those who didn't want austerity should be thankful for.
Only now are some on the left like Keiran Pedley beginning to realise that banging on about the NHS or housing being at breaking point might not be all that clever if you don't want people to question the levels of immigration.
But despite all of this there seems to be no Gadarene rush for the doors to the exit from the UK. So what the hell is going on?
The UK is a large economy irrespective of the EU and the whole conversation about international trade, and specifically a reliance on Europe, is substantially overdone?
The conversation has also been almost entirely about stability being good for business, but so is change. It just depends which business you are in.
Continental exporters will feel the same pressures to protect their UK generated profits/revenue in the same way that UK ones feel the need to do with their european ones.
If Business A vacates the marketplace, businesses B,C and D are presented with an opportunity to fill the space.
I believe Osborne warned Cameron against the referendum , so his nous is not all bad. If he had been more like Brown in stopping the PM from joining the Euro he would still be in office.However he was more like Mandelson and became beguiled by Cameron .
Or maybe he thought that loyalty to the PM was a virtue. The fact that he may have thought that imitating Brown was not the way to go speaks well of him rather than the opposite.
That referendum was lost long before the campaign. If Cameron and Co wanted to win it they should have been making the case for the EU long long before early 2016. They should have been doing so from the moment the promise of a referendum was made. Cameron was doing the equivalent of fattening the pig on market day and trying to sell it to vegetarians.
They did not need a referendum .You can not lose if you do not hold one .The vast majority of the country was not clambering to be asked.Total Tory clusterfuc* which Osborne had the power to stop Cameron ending his premiership .Loyalty is not a virtue when it is misguided.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
Always good to hear diagnoses of incompetence and failure from a key member of Owen Smith's (or Jones was it, or Evans?) legendary "challenge Corbyn" team of 2016.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
In many ways Remain did run a good campaign (and I'm saying that as a former Vote Leave Constituency Coordinator) - there were tactical errors, but the overall strategy of going all in on economic risk was their best shot at winning over enough swing voters.
I think Osborne did a fair enough job as Chancellor given the hand he was dealt with but I think he has now positioned himself as the standard bearer of the diehard Cameroons which is not the best place to be in given the Tory party's current mood.
As for Don Brind and the EU even if we went to WTO terms we would still trade with the EU and it was precisely because EU trade is now worth less than half of the UK's overall trade that enough felt able to vote Leave (a position Scotland still has not achieved in terms of UK trade). If his party had imposed the 7 year work permits requirement Germany, for example, imposed on Eastern European migrants in 2004 we would probably never have had a Brexit referendum, let alone a Leave vote
The only one I heard Was lord Hesseltine on Any Questions and the power of his argument was impressive. The hypocrisy and stupidity of Villiers Stuartis a rare joy in these black days leading up to Brexit
Heseltine can be an effective debater. No doubt. But the effectiveness of an argument is not measured by how impressed those who agree with the argument are but how well you are able to persuade those who oppose you or are not convinced.
Too many on the Remain side were talking to themselves or - and this is very common, particularly amongst lawyers and other professionals - thought that the rationality of their argument would be enough. Big mistake that. Persuasion is as much about emotion and about saying something that makes sense to those you are seeking to persuade. And to persuade you need to understand what motivates your audience. You need first to listen.
There is a case - a good one - to be made for immigration, for immigration from the EU and free movement within it. I could make it. But it was notable how few on the Remain side sought to make it or did so as if it was something that needed to be endured or did so in a way which contrived to insult its audience. If no-one was listening to the audience which needed persuading, why on earth should they listen to Heseltine and his rational arguments. No amount of rationality will compensate for de haut en bas condescension and lofty indifference to your concerns.
The footage of the Republican trying to spin Putin wanting Clinton to lose as not being the same as wanting Trump to win is both jaw dropping and toe curling.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
In many ways Remain did run a good campaign (and I'm saying that as a former Vote Leave Constituency Coordinator) - there were tactical errors, but the overall strategy of going all in on economic risk was their best shot at winning over enough swing voters.
Remain's biggest mistake was not discrediting the messenger enough. Gove and Johnson in particular should have got the same treatment as Lyin' Ted, Little Marco and Low Energy Jeb.
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
The footage of the Republican trying to spin Putin wanting Clinton to lose as not being the same as wanting Trump to win is both jaw dropping and toe curling.
I'm sure it is, haven't seen it, but in practice that circle is easily squared. I didn't want either of them to win.
The footage of the Republican trying to spin Putin wanting Clinton to lose as not being the same as wanting Trump to win is both jaw dropping and toe curling.
To be fair, wanting one of the two to lose, but the other not to win, was the mental state of pretty much everyone in the world, surely?
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
I wish I could agree with you. it's so much easier to blame people you can put a face to but the sad truth having watched acres of vox pops during the referendum is that those responsible are the shell suited morons who don't like foreigners.
You could blame newspapers for leading them by the nose but just because someone feeds you malicious poison doesn't absolve you from the stupidity of eating it
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
In many ways Remain did run a good campaign (and I'm saying that as a former Vote Leave Constituency Coordinator) - there were tactical errors, but the overall strategy of going all in on economic risk was their best shot at winning over enough swing voters.
Remain's biggest mistake was not discrediting the messenger enough. Gove and Johnson in particular should have got the same treatment as Lyin' Ted, Little Marco and Low Energy Jeb.
It's an argument, but Amber Rudd's attack on Johnson during the ITV debate went down badly.
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
In many ways Remain did run a good campaign (and I'm saying that as a former Vote Leave Constituency Coordinator) - there were tactical errors, but the overall strategy of going all in on economic risk was their best shot at winning over enough swing voters.
I was tearing my hair out at the disorganisation of the Leave campaign until late in the day. At one point, I was the Leave campaign in Luton.
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
In many ways Remain did run a good campaign (and I'm saying that as a former Vote Leave Constituency Coordinator) - there were tactical errors, but the overall strategy of going all in on economic risk was their best shot at winning over enough swing voters.
Interesting to hear that. My feeling was that Remain certainly had enough advantages that they were rightly favourites before the referendum. But i don't really know - if leave had lost i might well be praising the united remain campaign which crushed the hopelessly divided leave campaign.
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
In many ways Remain did run a good campaign (and I'm saying that as a former Vote Leave Constituency Coordinator) - there were tactical errors, but the overall strategy of going all in on economic risk was their best shot at winning over enough swing voters.
Remain's biggest mistake was not discrediting the messenger enough. Gove and Johnson in particular should have got the same treatment as Lyin' Ted, Little Marco and Low Energy Jeb.
It's an argument, but Amber Rudd's attack on Johnson during the ITV debate went down badly.
Remain were the liberal elite spouting their undemocratic principles. We're now going to be free. Even that will take 2 years.
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
In many ways Remain did run a good campaign (and I'm saying that as a former Vote Leave Constituency Coordinator) - there were tactical errors, but the overall strategy of going all in on economic risk was their best shot at winning over enough swing voters.
I was tearing my hair out at the disorganisation of the Leave campaign until late in the day. At one point, I was the Leave campaign in Luton.
It's clear in hindsight that Cummings had an excellent strategy and data game. Maybe it didn't always feel like it though!
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
One of the main reasons I - as a relatively well off metropolitan londoner - voted to leave, was the fact that even on 75k aged 31 I felt utterly unable to to start a family. My own living standards - and I say this as someone who's relatively well off (though not compared to some posters on here) - are paltry in comparison to those of my parents at my age.
With 300,000 new people coming to the country each year the simple fact is the infrastructure cannot cope. The salary I earn which would have bought a family home a generation ago barely buys a one bedroom grime pit in london these days. Move to the provinces? I'd be lucky to find a job and if I did my income would be cut by half, probably more.
I genuinely don't know if Brexit will be good or bad for my hypothetical children, but they weighed heavily on my mind as I was casting my vote. All I could think was, maybe things can get worse, but since I am already in a position where I am unable to house, feed and educate a family then I might as well gamble and hope that our nation's collective decision to pull the emergency cord will finally lead to something being done.
For me, it was an all-in shove. And I say this as a well-off middle class professional. I imagine quite a few people worse off than me genuinely did say "well it can't get any worse" and they would be quite right.
You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about lots of people on here. A lot of us are worried about our children and the future of this country and would like to have good government and a good opposition and have said so.
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
One of the main reasons I - as a relatively well off metropolitan londoner - voted to leave, was the fact that even on 75k aged 31 I felt utterly unable to to start a family. My own living standards - and I say this as someone who's relatively well off (though not compared to some posters on here) - are paltry in comparison to those of my parents at my age.
With 300,000 new people coming to the country each year the simple fact is the infrastructure cannot cope. The salary I earn which would have bought a family home a generation ago barely buys a one bedroom grime pit in london these days. Move to the provinces? I'd be lucky to find a job and if I did my income would be cut by half, probably more.
I genuinely don't know if Brexit will be good or bad for my hypothetical children, but they weighed heavily on my mind as I was casting my vote. All I could think was, maybe things can get worse, but since I am already in a position where I am unable to house, feed and educate a family then I might as well gamble and hope that our nation's collective decision to pull the emergency cord will finally lead to something being done.
For me, it was an all-in shove. And I say this as a well-off middle class professional. I imagine quite a few people worse off than me genuinely did say "well it can't get any worse" and they would be quite right.
If you don't mind me asking, how much were you parents earning at your age, roughly?
I couldn't agree more with Don. The lost years of the Osborne/Cameron government directly led to the despair that led to Brexit. Now, of course, it is going to get far, far worse for those on the poverty-line as Brexit destroys our already fragile economy. I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble. The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich. But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in. Oh for a viable moderate government. Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
I wish I could agree with you. it's so much easier to blame people you can put a face to but the sad truth having watched acres of vox pops during the referendum is that those responsible are the shell suited morons who don't like foreigners.
You could blame newspapers for leading them by the nose but just because someone feeds you malicious poison doesn't absolve you from the stupidity of eating it
Don't be silly, Roger. I know many Leave voters, none of them either shell-suited or moronic, or motivated by a dislike of foreigners. You live entirely by choice in the most racially intolerant country in the first world - I am not making that up - and it colours your judgment. You should come over and see for yourself - if you can tolerate the concept of negroes and swarthy Levantines wandering freely in the streets.
Dupont-Aignan is at 4.5% in the latest Ifop poll. Data was gathered on 18-20 March, so presumably some was collected before his interview walkout on Saturday evening. Expect his next poll score to be higher. The video of his walkout has had 12 million hits at Facebook.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Full details of the new Ifop
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
What is it with Cyan and Dupont-Aignan? Have you backed him at 1000/1 or something?
Dupont-Aignan is a pretty interesting character. He's Eurosceptic without being - and I chose my words carefully - a member of a party with borderline fascist leanings.
France, like so many other European countries, needs sensible Eurosceptics. By which I mean fiscally rational, business friendly Eurosceptics.
Marine Le Pen believes that France should pay higher pensions and lower the retirement age. She believes that the EU is too free trade and wants to raise tariffs on goods from outside France. She is a member of a political party which - not that long ago - described the holocaust as a 'detail'. She believes that a lack of government regulation in France is a major part of that country's problems.
There are many who look at MLP and say, "I hate the EU, and she's a Eurosceptic! Therefore I like MLP." But her prescriptions for France are either utterly unrealistic, or would make it poorer.
I hope D-A arises and is able to put forward a sensible Eurosceptic movement in France. I am not currently optimistic.
Comments
George is a modern day polymath.
@PaulBrandITV: Horrifically, they even went so far as to say murdered MP Jo Cox 'had it coming'.
https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/843885002664394752
They know Ozzy is going to be leader, possibly in the very near future.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the George;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:
His brilliance is marching on.
the opposite of love isnt hate, it's indifference
they no longer care
On-topic: if we ended up staying in, it would put rocket boosters under political division and bitterness. A new Farage-Banks political vehicle could gain widespread support very quickly.
I expect to see the country fall even further behind over the next twenty years. It's very very sad but when my kids leave school over the next decade I may well encourage them to go abroad. This country is in serious, serious trouble.
The posters on here will be fine of course. You can continue your conversations about the best way to invest your piles of cash. One of the great truisms of life is that the rich never suffer, and most of the posters on here are rich.
But its you and people like you who will be responsible, along with the self-indulgent rich left-wingers who have kept Corbyn in.
Oh for a viable moderate government.
Strap yourselves in, it's going to be a rough ride.
What's that quote about a classical education? It allows one to despise the wealth it prevents one from acquiring.
No wonder Mr. Eagles is so loaded
I don't know whether the Tatton constituency can get rid of him, but if he's looking for another seat after the boundary review I can't imagine anywhere else in Cheshire would be too keen to have him. Though maybe he's planning a wholesale shift to somewhere down south anyway.
In tonight's debate among the leading five, it will be interesting to watch how Macron plays his recent conversion to the reintroduction of conscription.
Mr. Cookie, I'm not against MPs having second jobs, but do agree the conflict seems too great to be considered acceptable.
This line from Blair resonated
"Populism identifies an enemy as the answer to what are essentially the problems of accelerated change".
...says the man who put his foot on the accelerator
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/mar/17/tony-blair-launches-pushback-against-frightening-populism
TM the PM was a remainer, but now she is cast by Don as some kind of traitor because she accepts the result! Incredible
It's not only Osborne who cannot count. Mr Brind can't either. Osborne was Chancellor from May 2010 to June 2016. Six years.
Who was responsible for the other years of economic stagnation? Might the party in power before then have had something to do with it?
The economy was not all sweetness and light up to May 2010 and then driven to hell in a handbasket by Osborne.
Sorry: I know how hard it can be to write a good article. So I hesitate to criticize. But this is incoherent. Criticise Osborne by all means for his failures as Chancellor but we were left in a hell of a mess by the party that was kicked out in May 2010, a party that had been in power for 13 years and it is simply untenable to claim that what happened during those 13 years (and in earlier years) did not also form part of the backdrop to the EU referendum.
The Brexit Rogues Gallery should include pretty much the entire political class who, despite all their planet sized brains, were unable to make a convincingly positive case for the EU and for the way in which it is developing in a way that resonated with a country which was in the EU and enjoying the advantages of being in the EU. That's one hell of a failure.
And, finally, Mr B makes the mistake all British politicians have made since the Treaty of Rome was first signed. He thinks that the EU is all about economics and the Single Market. The one thing you'd hope pro-EU campaigners would understand is that the EU is - and always has been - primarily about politics. It is a political project. Economics is the means but it is not the end. The political case for the EU wasn't even attempted by the Blairs, Majors and Heseltines of this world. It is possible that in addition to those who thought the economics didn't work for them there were enough people who thought that the political consequences of being in the EU didn't work for them either and/or outweighed any economic benefits.
https://twitter.com/juliansheasport/status/843793568242302980
That is rather avoiding confronting that Remain was unable to convince people, and you're choosing to blame the deliverers rather than the message. That's very comforting, but not very helpful.
I also think blaming Osborne's stewardship of the economy as the reason is overly simplistic. Immigration was a far bigger concern. And while I lambasted the man for not dealing with the deficit, I have yet to see it explained how people who think austerity, cutting, is wrong, as you seem to say, think him not cutting enough is a bad thing. It's a failure of his, but one those who didn't want austerity should be thankful for.
On Osborne generally, speaking roles and adviser jobs are one thing, but he's clearly got no plans to get back in government again, and probably not long to stay as an MP.
https://twitter.com/TomMery/status/843861801494306817
Round 1 Le Pen 26% Macron 25% Fillon 18% Hamon 12.5% Melenchon 11.5% Dupont-Aignan 4.5%
Runoff Macron 60% Le Pen 40%
http://dataviz.ifop.com:8080/IFOP_ROLLING/IFOP_20-03-2017.pdf
Those who were responsible for Brexit were those who took Britain's membership of the EU and the advantages of the EU for Britain for granted for far too long and forgot to think about - let alone articulate convincingly - the case for both. In that vacuum mountebanks like Farage prospered.
That referendum was lost long before the campaign. If Cameron and Co wanted to win it they should have been making the case for the EU long long before early 2016. They should have been doing so from the moment the promise of a referendum was made. Cameron was doing the equivalent of fattening the pig on market day and trying to sell it to vegetarians.
Like his namesake Mr Best it is entirely appropriate to ask, "George, where did it all go wrong?"
Well yes, a failure if you're a fiscal conservative like some of us on here. But not a failure if you're Ed Miliband, Don Brind or the rest of the BBC.
The conversation has also been almost entirely about stability being good for business, but so is change. It just depends which business you are in.
Continental exporters will feel the same pressures to protect their UK generated profits/revenue in the same way that UK ones feel the need to do with their european ones.
If Business A vacates the marketplace, businesses B,C and D are presented with an opportunity to fill the space.
Peace is good for business.
War is good for business.
No doubt Remain didn't run a very good campaign... But at the end of the day the blame or the credit depending on how you think of it must go to the Leave side.
As for Don Brind and the EU even if we went to WTO terms we would still trade with the EU and it was precisely because EU trade is now worth less than half of the UK's overall trade that enough felt able to vote Leave (a position Scotland still has not achieved in terms of UK trade). If his party had imposed the 7 year work permits requirement Germany, for example, imposed on Eastern European migrants in 2004 we would probably never have had a Brexit referendum, let alone a Leave vote
Too many on the Remain side were talking to themselves or - and this is very common, particularly amongst lawyers and other professionals - thought that the rationality of their argument would be enough. Big mistake that. Persuasion is as much about emotion and about saying something that makes sense to those you are seeking to persuade. And to persuade you need to understand what motivates your audience. You need first to listen.
There is a case - a good one - to be made for immigration, for immigration from the EU and free movement within it. I could make it. But it was notable how few on the Remain side sought to make it or did so as if it was something that needed to be endured or did so in a way which contrived to insult its audience. If no-one was listening to the audience which needed persuading, why on earth should they listen to Heseltine and his rational arguments. No amount of rationality will compensate for de haut en bas condescension and lofty indifference to your concerns.
Good evening, everybody.
You could blame newspapers for leading them by the nose but just because someone feeds you malicious poison doesn't absolve you from the stupidity of eating it
Good article. Worth reading.
Are we headed for a bond market bloodbath?
My feeling was that Remain certainly had enough advantages that they were rightly favourites before the referendum. But i don't really know - if leave had lost i might well be praising the united remain campaign which crushed the hopelessly divided leave campaign.
Keep calling those who have come to a different political view to your own, rogues and liars. That'll persuade them.
https://twitter.com/JenWilliamsMEN/status/843907732289830912
With 300,000 new people coming to the country each year the simple fact is the infrastructure cannot cope. The salary I earn which would have bought a family home a generation ago barely buys a one bedroom grime pit in london these days. Move to the provinces? I'd be lucky to find a job and if I did my income would be cut by half, probably more.
I genuinely don't know if Brexit will be good or bad for my hypothetical children, but they weighed heavily on my mind as I was casting my vote. All I could think was, maybe things can get worse, but since I am already in a position where I am unable to house, feed and educate a family then I might as well gamble and hope that our nation's collective decision to pull the emergency cord will finally lead to something being done.
For me, it was an all-in shove. And I say this as a well-off middle class professional. I imagine quite a few people worse off than me genuinely did say "well it can't get any worse" and they would be quite right.
France, like so many other European countries, needs sensible Eurosceptics. By which I mean fiscally rational, business friendly Eurosceptics.
Marine Le Pen believes that France should pay higher pensions and lower the retirement age. She believes that the EU is too free trade and wants to raise tariffs on goods from outside France. She is a member of a political party which - not that long ago - described the holocaust as a 'detail'. She believes that a lack of government regulation in France is a major part of that country's problems.
There are many who look at MLP and say, "I hate the EU, and she's a Eurosceptic! Therefore I like MLP." But her prescriptions for France are either utterly unrealistic, or would make it poorer.
I hope D-A arises and is able to put forward a sensible Eurosceptic movement in France. I am not currently optimistic.