1. I haven't yet seen a business case for micro transaction payment systems which can return investment.
To compensate for the inability of transaction fees to cover processing costs, schemes like bitcoin need to earn their money on the clearing and prepayment float. In times of low interest rates, the interest margin will not be enough.
Who are you talking about when you say "schemes like bitcoin"? It's a peer-to-peer network, there is no clearing and prepayment float and nobody who needs to earn money on it.
2. The 'libertarian' aspect can easily lead to the non-state currency becoming a tax evasion, laundering and law-breaking vehicle. The Feds are watching and will move to close operations down if users succumb to easy temptation.
They can't close operations down without shutting down the internet. They could frustrate legal use by businesses, but that wouldn't stop people using it for illegal purposes.
Bitcoin are better establishing wide use of the product then selling up to one of the bank supported international payment systems. The premium paid would be a much better way of gaining a return on investment than any artificial inflating of the 'currency' value.
You can't sell a peer-to-peer network to a bank, any more than you can steal the pound.
Just because the costs and revenues are 'mutually owned' doesn't mean they don't exist.
It may be difficult for the Feds to suppress operations but where there is a will there will be a way.
Banks are always buying mutuals. Bitcoin's owners are its users (and developers). Everyone has a price.
I'd offer you a bet that a bank won't buy Bitcoin, but I can't think of an actual, testable meaning of it. It's like saying gravity will paint happiness hamster.
Fixing the car's probably more important than switching either or both of their drivers. It just isn't fast enough. In the last 3 races Massa had one DNF, and in the others he finished 3 places behind Alonso, which is par for the course with a second driver.
Upgrades are coming to Spa, as expected after the summer break, but if they don't work then Lotus and Mercedes may move out of sight.
1. I haven't yet seen a business case for micro transaction payment systems which can return investment.
To compensate for the inability of transaction fees to cover processing costs, schemes like bitcoin need to earn their money on the clearing and prepayment float. In times of low interest rates, the interest margin will not be enough.
Who are you talking about when you say "schemes like bitcoin"? It's a peer-to-peer network, there is no clearing and prepayment float and nobody who needs to earn money on it.
2. The 'libertarian' aspect can easily lead to the non-state currency becoming a tax evasion, laundering and law-breaking vehicle. The Feds are watching and will move to close operations down if users succumb to easy temptation.
They can't close operations down without shutting down the internet. They could frustrate legal use by businesses, but that wouldn't stop people using it for illegal purposes.
Bitcoin are better establishing wide use of the product then selling up to one of the bank supported international payment systems. The premium paid would be a much better way of gaining a return on investment than any artificial inflating of the 'currency' value.
You can't sell a peer-to-peer network to a bank, any more than you can steal the pound.
Just because the costs and revenues are 'mutually owned' doesn't mean they don't exist.
It may be difficult for the Feds to suppress operations but where there is a will there will be a way.
Banks are always buying mutuals. Bitcoin's owners are its users (and developers). Everyone has a price.
I'd offer you a bet that a bank won't buy Bitcoin, but I can't think of an actual, testable meaning of it. It's like saying gravity will paint happiness hamster.
It won't be a bank. More likely an organisation like Visa or Mastercard.
And it won't happen until or unless bitcoin gains more traction in the market.
So it will either remain marginal or be a victim of its own success.
GIGO applies here, doesn't it? The Obama team appointed their data guy for 2012 on November 6th, 2008. Where are the Tories going to get all this data from at short notice? They can't even keep a simple MSSQL database running so they know which doors to knock on.
EIT & Neil : I always get suspicious when people say things like 'They can't even keep a simple MSSQL running ... '. It fires the same warning signs as a manager saying 'just knock up a quick SQL database to allow our customer to keep track ...'
I have heard references to Conservative party database problems, but no details. Are there any links anywhere about what is rumoured to have gone on?
Congratulations to Nick P.
You may be right. What I'm getting this from is - not sure if I'll be able to find links - is: 1) They apparently lost their central database weeks before Eastleigh when a vendor went bust, and weren't able to get it back by Eastleigh. 2) People were still complaining that their system (I think it's Merlin) was unavailable at the local elections, quite a bit later.
Thanks. You mean the Conservative Party got bitten by the free market? ;-)
So they needed a cron job to do a dump or hotcopy, and the necessary mirrored infrastructure at a different company? Not necessarily easy to set up or to ensure it works when a disaster happens. Hardly the first time It's occurred. It's why good IT people can and do earn a great deal of money.
You necessarily don't need the whole thing set up ready to fail over immediately, but you need proper backups and a procedure to restore from them if a vendor goes away. But TBF we don't know all the details...
One thing to be said about the video in the threader: people concentrating on Messina's salary are hitting the wrong target. To do this well, securely and legally will cost a great deal of money, even with the use of volunteers.
I assume Messina has been reassured that the money will be available. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if plans were already in place as part of the deal to get him.
Also note the concentration on details, such as trying out many different layouts of campaign emails. The sheer unprofessionalism of some campaign literature needs to stop or the effort is wasted.
However, care may need to be taken in assuming what worked in a US presidential election will work in a UK general election.
I'm unsure how Crosby and he will work together - I realise there is a split, but would be interested to see how it will work in practice.
Thanks very much for all the friendly notes from right across the spectrum! I'm on the national executive of the newly-affiliated Labour Animal Welfare Society, so perhaps the Daily Mail will report this is our first daring grab for power?
LabourList - "1) The Campaign Manager: Mark was dead right yesterday: we can’t waste time and talent playing internal Shadow Cabinet politics over who gets to be Campaign Co-ordinator. Instead we need a full time, professional campaign manager. Maybe it’s an American, an Australian or a German for all I care, but what really matters is that they have the time, energy, skill, experience and professionalism to go toe-to-toe with Crosby and Messina alike – and win. That’s a full time job that’s far more about Brewer’s Green and marginal seats then it is about Portcullis House or Milbank studios."
@PlatoSays I was amazed that Ed Miliband had still not replaced Tom Watson following his resignation, but that article suggests that this delay is down to internal Shadow Cabinet politics being at play? If so, its another classic example of very weak leadership from Ed Miliband at a pivotal time in the election cycle. There has been a growing media narrative from various left leaning journalists of an ever increasing sense of drift within the Labour operation under Ed Miliband in recent months. And this suggests that Ed and his team are not even reaching out to their most loyal fan base in the media, and at a time they are already starved of ammunition by the large policy vacuum that has grown up around them. No wonder that everyone from Owen Jones to Len McClusky is now merrily wading in and trying to fill this gaping vacuum, further confusing the situation the Labour party find themselves in.
The fact that Ed Miliband let the perception grow that he was going to rely on a '35% strategy' to win the GE was a big enough political mistake, it smacks of complacency and a lack of any big ideas. But its a disaster for Ed Miliband and his team if it continues to gain traction as the big Labour strategy just as their polling lead shrinks as we head to the next GE. We all remember when Brown was being urged to cut and run early while ahead in the polls, and the Autumn GE that was called off before it had ever been called? That subsequent Conservative Conference showed that a week is a long time in politics, and the polls can and do change on the back of positive as well as negative news. Ed Miliband's problem is that he was as hungry and ambitious as Gordon Brown to win the tribal Labour Leadership. But now like Gordon, he doesn't have a clue what to do now he has achieved that goal.
No one with his cred would take on a task he didn't think he'd win.
That includes the funding to pay for it and the autonomy over his area of control. He isn't an idiot and Crosby's role must have been made clear before he took the job on.
If he didn't do such basics - he's not the force he's billed as and has proven himself to be. I'd be sure if I was in his shoes.
One thing to be said about the video in the threader: people concentrating on Messina's salary are hitting the wrong target. To do this well, securely and legally will cost a great deal of money, even with the use of volunteers.
I assume Messina has been reassured that the money will be available. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if plans were already in place as part of the deal to get him.
Also note the concentration on details, such as trying out many different layouts of campaign emails. The sheer unprofessionalism of some campaign literature needs to stop or the effort is wasted.
However, care may need to be taken in assuming what worked in a US presidential election will work in a UK general election.
I'm unsure how Crosby and he will work together - I realise there is a split, but would be interested to see how it will work in practice.
Looks a bit desperate to me the Tories hiring two foreign advisors. The UK electorate is a lot different to the US and we don't spend as much on election campaigns. Negative campaigning is more accepted in the US, whereas in the UK, I think people don't like it.
Looks a bit desperate to me the Tories hiring two foreign advisors. The UK electorate is a lot different to the US and we don't spend as much on election campaigns. Negative campaigning is more accepted in the US, whereas in the UK, I think people don't like it.
HAHHAAHHAHAHHAHAHAAHA
That looks like desperate Labour activist trying to rubbish it after LabourList implored Obama to stop his appointment.
The best-known posters are the Labour Isn't Working and Labour's Tax Bombshell ones. Both attack a party. I do agree, though, that personal attacks tend not to work or even backfire (cf the Sun achieving the seemingly impossible and getting Brown some sympathy).
The best-known posters are the Labour Isn't Working and Labour's Tax Bombshell ones. Both attack a party. I do agree, though, that personal attacks tend not to work or even backfire (cf the Sun achieving the seemingly impossible and getting Brown some sympathy).
Looks a bit desperate to me the Tories hiring two foreign advisors. The UK electorate is a lot different to the US and we don't spend as much on election campaigns. Negative campaigning is more accepted in the US, whereas in the UK, I think people don't like it.
TBF one side-effect of the extra spending is that in a lot of ways their electoral technology is just much better developed than anyone else's. There are plenty of 2012 techniques the Tories should be able to apply - I'm just skeptical that they'll have the other pieces in place that they need to apply them.
@AndyJS Unlike most others on your list the LAB candidate chosen for Burnley is NOT like Nick Palmer the ex MP. The first time incumbency bonus will go to Entwistle.
Miss Plato, that was perhaps the only poster I might've recalled from the 2010 campaign.
The most notable bit of campaigning of that sort was Labour's rather nasty punchbag PPB.
I can't really recall any PEBs bar Clegg's where paper blew all over the place. And I only recall it because I wondered if it was CGI or if dozens of activists were employed to clean it up at 5am. I didn't recall a single thing it actually said.
That is was called 'Say Goodbye To Broken Promises' is another matter re tuition fees.
The population of the UK is? It's size is? About that of Oregon. Comparing the money spent on a US POTUS campaign to a UK election is clearly nonsense.
Looks a bit desperate to me the Tories hiring two foreign advisors. The UK electorate is a lot different to the US and we don't spend as much on election campaigns. Negative campaigning is more accepted in the US, whereas in the UK, I think people don't like it.
TBF one side-effect of the extra spending is that in a lot of ways their electoral technology is just much better developed than anyone else's. There are plenty of 2012 techniques the Tories should be able to apply - I'm just skeptical that they'll have the other pieces in place that they need to apply them.
He's a great hire. Like you, though, I am sceptical he'll make that much difference and bemused that some Labour and Tory supporters are putting so much store by it. Despite my own misplaced scepticism as to Obama's chances from what I remember there was never a time when Obama was not the favourite for re-election; and, as you say, he had a young, large and very enthused base of volunteers, as well as a GOP that had swung hard to the right and could easily be portrayed in that light (remember Romneys 47% comment - enthusiastically endorsed by many on here, of course). Those, I'd contend, were the real keys to Obama's victory last year.
Looks a bit desperate to me the Tories hiring two foreign advisors. The UK electorate is a lot different to the US and we don't spend as much on election campaigns. Negative campaigning is more accepted in the US, whereas in the UK, I think people don't like it.
foreign advisers? FOREIGN advisers? Good God, next thing they'll be hiring darkies from bongo bongo land.
I love the unthinking racism of the bien pensant left; so ingrained they don't know it's there.
Looks a bit desperate to me the Tories hiring two foreign advisors. The UK electorate is a lot different to the US and we don't spend as much on election campaigns. Negative campaigning is more accepted in the US, whereas in the UK, I think people don't like it.
foreign advisers? FOREIGN advisers? Good God, next thing they'll be hiring darkies from bongo bongo land.
I love the unthinking racism of the bien pensant left; so ingrained they don't know it's there.
Mr. Palmer, it's an Animal Farm reference. I would recommend it heartily (personally I think it's far better than 1984, which was a bit of a slog at times).
The best-known posters are the Labour Isn't Working and Labour's Tax Bombshell ones. Both attack a party. I do agree, though, that personal attacks tend not to work or even backfire (cf the Sun achieving the seemingly impossible and getting Brown some sympathy).
Mr. Palmer, it's an Animal Farm reference. I would recommend it heartily (personally I think it's far better than 1984, which was a bit of a slog at times).
I concur. Animal Farm made me think and get emotional - 1984 got a bit dull and predictable. It was like watching an overhyped film and shifting in your seat waiting for it to end.
If you were a regular blog reader - you'll recall Charlotte Gore who was a LD. Then she resigned. She's been irked by #Trolliday
"They call it “Trolliday”. Show your support for victims of intensive and targeted harassment by boycotting Twitter for a single day...So why is “Trolliday” still going ahead regardless? And what’s with calling these people ‘trolls’? “Troll” being a cutesy term for people who wind other people up for the lulz. That’s…. that’s not what’s happening here. What’s happening here is terrorism.
Terrorism is the use of fear and intimidation to achieve political ends. Making sure there’s a woman on British banknotes? Political. Some journalist abusing a minority in a column? Political. The war for what our culture should be is being literally fought out on the Internet. To me, sustained threats of violence, rape, murder along with more general abuse from hundreds of people targeted at an individual? That’s not trolling. That’s war.
The aim? To silence the enemy and prevent others taking their place. The worst thing is that it works. It works really really well. Sometimes it’s intensive, targeting bullying and other times it’s just the general background noise on Twitter where you see your allies and friends mocked and abused for holding different opinions, different ideas and beliefs. Do you stand your ground, do you stick up for your friends? Or do you keep your mouth shut to avoid the aggravation of a confrontation?
I think all too often I’ve been guilty of the latter. Increasingly so. I don’t feel as free to express my opinion as I once did. So, the way I see it? Disappearing off Twitter for a day is like protesting against the Taliban by pulling your girls out of school. It’s giving them exactly what they want... > more here http://charlottegore.com/2013/08/03/the-war-on-internet-terrorism.html
If you were a regular blog reader - you'll recall Charlotte Gore who was a LD. Then she resigned. She's been irked by #Trolliday
"They call it “Trolliday”. Show your support for victims of intensive and targeted harassment by boycotting Twitter for a single day...So why is “Trolliday” still going ahead regardless? And what’s with calling these people ‘trolls’? “Troll” being a cutesy term for people who wind other people up for the lulz. That’s…. that’s not what’s happening here. What’s happening here is terrorism.
Terrorism is the use of fear and intimidation to achieve political ends. Making sure there’s a woman on British banknotes? Political. Some journalist abusing a minority in a column? Political. The war for what our culture should be is being literally fought out on the Internet. To me, sustained threats of violence, rape, murder along with more general abuse from hundreds of people targeted at an individual? That’s not trolling. That’s war.
The aim? To silence the enemy and prevent others taking their place. The worst thing is that it works. It works really really well. Sometimes it’s intensive, targeting bullying and other times it’s just the general background noise on Twitter where you see your allies and friends mocked and abused for holding different opinions, different ideas and beliefs. Do you stand your ground, do you stick up for your friends? Or do you keep your mouth shut to avoid the aggravation of a confrontation?
I think all too often I’ve been guilty of the latter. Increasingly so. I don’t feel as free to express my opinion as I once did. So, the way I see it? Disappearing off Twitter for a day is like protesting against the Taliban by pulling your girls out of school. It’s giving them exactly what they want... > more here http://charlottegore.com/2013/08/03/the-war-on-internet-terrorism.html
OT I'm in need of some TV or movie recommendations - I've tried Stargate Atlantis S1 and got halfway. I saw the pilot of Stargate and fell about laughing. I endured all of Stargate Universe then discovered it was cancelled so the plot ducked out.
Battlestar Galactica - argh...
And then CSI Miami after exhausting NYrk and Vegas runs - its terrible.
And the X-Files ... I'm at Episode 12 in S2 and not sure I can stand Scully asking Fox once again why he's so convinced about something really weird, and then neither of them writing anything in their reports...
There must be stuff out there I've not seen that's worth watching - Help!
OT I'm in need of some TV or movie recommendations - I've tried Stargate Atlantis S1 and got halfway. I saw the pilot of Stargate and fell about laughing.
Battlestar Galactica - argh...
And then CSI Miami after exhausting NYrk and Vegas runs - its terrible.
And the X-Files ... I'm at Episode 12 in S2 and not sure I can stand Scully asking Fox once again why he's so convinced about something really weird, and then neither of them writing anything in their reports...
There must be stuff out there I've not seen that's worth watching - Help!
Have you ever watched Chuck? I bought it for Mrs J's birthday after seeing series 1-3 on TV, and it is hilarious. Some very Geeky references. Its brilliance is in merging Chuck's secret job as a spy with his 'cover' job in a computer store. Keep an eye out for the brilliance that is Jeffster ...
It's about a seemingly ordinary Joe who becomes an unwilling spy for the CIA and NSA after they upload a computer into his brain by accident. It may not be your sort of thing, but it's definitely ours!
OT I'm in need of some TV or movie recommendations - I've tried Stargate Atlantis S1 and got halfway. I saw the pilot of Stargate and fell about laughing. I endured all of Stargate Universe then discovered it was cancelled so the plot ducked out.
Battlestar Galactica - argh...
And then CSI Miami after exhausting NYrk and Vegas runs - its terrible.
And the X-Files ... I'm at Episode 12 in S2 and not sure I can stand Scully asking Fox once again why he's so convinced about something really weird, and then neither of them writing anything in their reports...
There must be stuff out there I've not seen that's worth watching - Help!
Anticipation is building for series 3 of Sherlock, this BBC Teaser Trailer was only posted yesterday and its already fast heading towards a million views. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llGXWICGsD4
OT I'm in need of some TV or movie recommendations - I've tried Stargate Atlantis S1 and got halfway. I saw the pilot of Stargate and fell about laughing. I endured all of Stargate Universe then discovered it was cancelled so the plot ducked out.
Battlestar Galactica - argh...
And then CSI Miami after exhausting NYrk and Vegas runs - its terrible.
And the X-Files ... I'm at Episode 12 in S2 and not sure I can stand Scully asking Fox once again why he's so convinced about something really weird, and then neither of them writing anything in their reports...
There must be stuff out there I've not seen that's worth watching - Help!
"Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads " is on YouTube.
Bedford: Richard Fuller vs Patrick Hall Broxtowe: Anna Soubry vs Nick Palmer Burnley: Gordon Birtwistle vs Julie Cooper Cambridge: Julian Huppert vs Daniel Zeichner Newton Abbot: Anne Marie Morris vs Richard Younger-Ross Warwickshire North: Dan Byles vs Mike O'Brien
As I wrote the other day, I am surprised Soubry did not move to safer pastures. Maybe, in today's Conservative Party candidates like her are not entirely welcome ! I don't think she is a Euro-sceptic. Pity she will lose next time.
Well done, Nick. See you back where you belong in 2015. However, this backdoor Animal Welfare entryism into out great party has to stop !
Norwegian elections - yes, Labour has recovered ground (they got a huge sympathy wave after the island massacre but it fell right back, then recovered a bit) but it still looks like a win for the Conservatives and UKIP-like right - 92 seats between them (85 needed to win). The Socialist Left party is predicted to lose heavily - the complex Norwegian system is fairly proportional at regional level but punishes smallish parties.
OT I'm in need of some TV or movie recommendations - I've tried Stargate Atlantis S1 and got halfway. I saw the pilot of Stargate and fell about laughing. I endured all of Stargate Universe then discovered it was cancelled so the plot ducked out.
Battlestar Galactica - argh...
And then CSI Miami after exhausting NYrk and Vegas runs - its terrible.
And the X-Files ... I'm at Episode 12 in S2 and not sure I can stand Scully asking Fox once again why he's so convinced about something really weird, and then neither of them writing anything in their reports...
There must be stuff out there I've not seen that's worth watching - Help!
Plato, as you know Mrs SSC has impeccable taste when it comes to TV. – However, this suggestion oddly enough comes from her mother and is a comedy drama called ‘Death in paradise’ - it certainly in no Sherlock, but Ben Miller, who stars as the’ quintessential English man abroad’ and the hapless detective, is entertaining and sweet. He even wares a suit, but unfortunately no waistcoat…!
"This session with new CON hire, Jim Messina, is well worth watching"
It appears that the usual inept tory spinners wetting themselves over this appointment didn't.
Messina explicity states that the reason that the Dems won was Barack Obama. A crucial point which has sailed over the heads of the dimwits on here who don't appear to understand that obvious truth. Lest we forget, the inept tory spinners spent on here their time attacking that same Obama and cheering on the comical Romney during the 2012 campaign.
He also makes it clear time and again that the data is used for targeting. Since the vast U.S. spend on media buys simply does not apply here then his most direct usefulness to CCHQ will obviously be for targeting online and targeting for the ground campaign.
You can have all the accurate data in the world but unless you have ground troops, members and activists to then take advantage of it, it is useless.
The tory membership is falling hard, nor is the average age of that membership particularly conducive to a fierce online social media campaign.
Obama had a vast network of youth activists which he energised in 2008 and still had more than enough remaining in 2012 to make a huge difference.
Again, that simply does not apply to the tories here.
Facebook, Twitter and other social media Data are also losing their appeal and usefulness as a reliable source as it is becoming all too apparent that such data is being polluted, manipulated and in some cases simply outright false.
Twitter too is incredibly easily exploited with scams and 'robot' accounts polluting the data. Same with all the other social media. Garbage in, garbage out still applies. It doesn't make all data useless but it severely limits it's utility.
What matters most about Messina is that he can stop the incompetence which saw the tories systems breaking down and crashing and put something in that at least functions. For that reason alone he is a good hire and should prove worth the money Cammie is spending on hiring him. But the idea and inept spin on here by the PB tories that Messina is a 'magic bullet' on his own and can single handedly win an election is frankly hilarious.
Comments
Looking forward to seeing you back as an MP in 2015.
Congratulations to Mr. Palmer.
Ferrari try innovative motivation technique by indicating Massa will probably get fired in the near future:
http://www.espn.co.uk/ferrari/motorsport/story/119589.html
Fixing the car's probably more important than switching either or both of their drivers. It just isn't fast enough. In the last 3 races Massa had one DNF, and in the others he finished 3 places behind Alonso, which is par for the course with a second driver.
Upgrades are coming to Spa, as expected after the summer break, but if they don't work then Lotus and Mercedes may move out of sight.
And it won't happen until or unless bitcoin gains more traction in the market.
So it will either remain marginal or be a victim of its own success.
We will know in three years.
The value is in the trademark and user base.
I assume Messina has been reassured that the money will be available. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if plans were already in place as part of the deal to get him.
Also note the concentration on details, such as trying out many different layouts of campaign emails. The sheer unprofessionalism of some campaign literature needs to stop or the effort is wasted.
However, care may need to be taken in assuming what worked in a US presidential election will work in a UK general election.
I'm unsure how Crosby and he will work together - I realise there is a split, but would be interested to see how it will work in practice.
@PlatoSays I was amazed that Ed Miliband had still not replaced Tom Watson following his resignation, but that article suggests that this delay is down to internal Shadow Cabinet politics being at play? If so, its another classic example of very weak leadership from Ed Miliband at a pivotal time in the election cycle. There has been a growing media narrative from various left leaning journalists of an ever increasing sense of drift within the Labour operation under Ed Miliband in recent months. And this suggests that Ed and his team are not even reaching out to their most loyal fan base in the media, and at a time they are already starved of ammunition by the large policy vacuum that has grown up around them. No wonder that everyone from Owen Jones to Len McClusky is now merrily wading in and trying to fill this gaping vacuum, further confusing the situation the Labour party find themselves in.
The fact that Ed Miliband let the perception grow that he was going to rely on a '35% strategy' to win the GE was a big enough political mistake, it smacks of complacency and a lack of any big ideas. But its a disaster for Ed Miliband and his team if it continues to gain traction as the big Labour strategy just as their polling lead shrinks as we head to the next GE. We all remember when Brown was being urged to cut and run early while ahead in the polls, and the Autumn GE that was called off before it had ever been called? That subsequent Conservative Conference showed that a week is a long time in politics, and the polls can and do change on the back of positive as well as negative news. Ed Miliband's problem is that he was as hungry and ambitious as Gordon Brown to win the tribal Labour Leadership. But now like Gordon, he doesn't have a clue what to do now he has achieved that goal.
That includes the funding to pay for it and the autonomy over his area of control. He isn't an idiot and Crosby's role must have been made clear before he took the job on.
If he didn't do such basics - he's not the force he's billed as and has proven himself to be. I'd be sure if I was in his shoes.
That looks like desperate Labour activist trying to rubbish it after LabourList implored Obama to stop his appointment.
The best-known posters are the Labour Isn't Working and Labour's Tax Bombshell ones. Both attack a party. I do agree, though, that personal attacks tend not to work or even backfire (cf the Sun achieving the seemingly impossible and getting Brown some sympathy).
The most notable bit of campaigning of that sort was Labour's rather nasty punchbag PPB.
That is was called 'Say Goodbye To Broken Promises' is another matter re tuition fees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTLR8R9JXz4
I was surprised, in fact, how small most of the states are in population terms - even places like Texas, New York and Florida are in the 20-25m area.
I love the unthinking racism of the bien pensant left; so ingrained they don't know it's there.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/sep/20/clegg-appoints-south-african-strategy-director
“Fire up the Quattro (It’s Time for Change)”
Daily Mail - Labour scores own goal as 'flattered' Cameron takes just four hours to hijack 80s Gene Hunt poster for Tory campaign
"They call it “Trolliday”. Show your support for victims of intensive and targeted harassment by boycotting Twitter for a single day...So why is “Trolliday” still going ahead regardless? And what’s with calling these people ‘trolls’? “Troll” being a cutesy term for people who wind other people up for the lulz. That’s…. that’s not what’s happening here. What’s happening here is terrorism.
Terrorism is the use of fear and intimidation to achieve political ends. Making sure there’s a woman on British banknotes? Political. Some journalist abusing a minority in a column? Political. The war for what our culture should be is being literally fought out on the Internet. To me, sustained threats of violence, rape, murder along with more general abuse from hundreds of people targeted at an individual? That’s not trolling. That’s war.
The aim? To silence the enemy and prevent others taking their place. The worst thing is that it works. It works really really well. Sometimes it’s intensive, targeting bullying and other times it’s just the general background noise on Twitter where you see your allies and friends mocked and abused for holding different opinions, different ideas and beliefs. Do you stand your ground, do you stick up for your friends? Or do you keep your mouth shut to avoid the aggravation of a confrontation?
I think all too often I’ve been guilty of the latter. Increasingly so. I don’t feel as free to express my opinion as I once did. So, the way I see it? Disappearing off Twitter for a day is like protesting against the Taliban by pulling your girls out of school. It’s giving them exactly what they want... > more here http://charlottegore.com/2013/08/03/the-war-on-internet-terrorism.html
Congratulations on your success, but shame on you for not knowing Trotsky and Lenin - the two pigs.
"The C.I.A. paid for the filming, part of the U.S. cultural offensive during the Cold War, and influenced how Orwell's ideas were to be presented.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm_(1954_film)
Mugabe polled just 2.1 million votes, even with rigging:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/03/zimbabwe-morgan-tsvangirai
ARSE now has Broxtowe as "Recount"
"I think he was joking..."
Sorry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwean_general_election,_1990
Battlestar Galactica - argh...
And then CSI Miami after exhausting NYrk and Vegas runs - its terrible.
And the X-Files ... I'm at Episode 12 in S2 and not sure I can stand Scully asking Fox once again why he's so convinced about something really weird, and then neither of them writing anything in their reports...
There must be stuff out there I've not seen that's worth watching - Help!
It's about a seemingly ordinary Joe who becomes an unwilling spy for the CIA and NSA after they upload a computer into his brain by accident. It may not be your sort of thing, but it's definitely ours!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_(TV_series)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llGXWICGsD4
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_parliamentary_election,_2013
Well done, Nick. See you back where you belong in 2015. However, this backdoor Animal Welfare entryism into out great party has to stop !
Norwegian elections - yes, Labour has recovered ground (they got a huge sympathy wave after the island massacre but it fell right back, then recovered a bit) but it still looks like a win for the Conservatives and UKIP-like right - 92 seats between them (85 needed to win). The Socialist Left party is predicted to lose heavily - the complex Norwegian system is fairly proportional at regional level but punishes smallish parties.
All about Nick Palmer thread.
Kohl wanted half of Turks out of Germany.
Would that have included Mesut Özil's parents, I wonder ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_in_Paradise_(TV_series)
It appears that the usual inept tory spinners wetting themselves over this appointment didn't.
Messina explicity states that the reason that the Dems won was Barack Obama. A crucial point which has sailed over the heads of the dimwits on here who don't appear to understand that obvious truth. Lest we forget, the inept tory spinners spent on here their time attacking that same Obama and cheering on the comical Romney during the 2012 campaign.
He also makes it clear time and again that the data is used for targeting. Since the vast U.S. spend on media buys simply does not apply here then his most direct usefulness to CCHQ will obviously be for targeting online and targeting for the ground campaign.
You can have all the accurate data in the world but unless you have ground troops, members and activists to then take advantage of it, it is useless.
The tory membership is falling hard, nor is the average age of that membership particularly conducive to a fierce online social media campaign.
Obama had a vast network of youth activists which he energised in 2008 and still had more than enough remaining in 2012 to make a huge difference.
Again, that simply does not apply to the tories here.
Facebook, Twitter and other social media Data are also losing their appeal and usefulness as a reliable source as it is becoming all too apparent that such data is being polluted, manipulated and in some cases simply outright false. Twitter too is incredibly easily exploited with scams and 'robot' accounts polluting the data. Same with all the other social media. Garbage in, garbage out still applies. It doesn't make all data useless but it severely limits it's utility.
What matters most about Messina is that he can stop the incompetence which saw the tories systems breaking down and crashing and put something in that at least functions. For that reason alone he is a good hire and should prove worth the money Cammie is spending on hiring him. But the idea and inept spin on here by the PB tories that Messina is a 'magic bullet' on his own and can single handedly win an election is frankly hilarious.
Hearty congratulations, Nick.