What we have is a situation where the top 1% are increasingly divorced from the rest of us but where the top 1% have increasing proportions of the wealth and power and where membership of the top 1% is drawn from an increasingly smaller grouping.
To a lesser extent this applies to the top 10%.
This is no IMO a basis for a stable or happy society.
What is your problem with this "top 1%"? They are a group of people, statistically about the population of a small village, who you and I (and by that I mean you) will never meet either in business or socially. Why does this make you so unhappy?
Right now I can see one of Roman Abramovich's yachts floating palaces lying semi-floodlit out of my window down in the port. I'm not envious of him; jealous or unhappy in the psychologically imbalanced way these things seem to make the Left feel. Good for him.
The Times ... There used to be a great paper over there. It's decline has been precipitous and sad to see. Still the best of a bad lot, but now a shadow of what it was just a couple of years ago.
Indeed, their sports coverage is still the best.
It is. And I do like the Saturday edition.
So do I, the iPad edition (apart from a few weeks earlier on this year) is an utter joy.
The Times ... There used to be a great paper over there. It's decline has been precipitous and sad to see. Still the best of a bad lot, but now a shadow of what it was just a couple of years ago.
Indeed, their sports coverage is still the best.
It is. And I do like the Saturday edition.
So do I, the iPad edition (apart from a few weeks earlier on this year) is an utter joy.
I'll be the last one buying the paper!
I stayed at a hotel recently, and they gave out complimentary editions of the Sunday Times, you and the poor paper boys and girls that deliver them, are going to get a hernia.
On Twitter there are plenty of people who think the Times front cover photo is a perfectly reasonable choice of image. Shows how wide the gap is between metropolitan opinion and the rest of the country, most of whom will probably think it's in extremely poor taste.
Right now I can see one of Roman Abramovich's yachts floating palaces lying semi-floodlit out of my window down in the port. I'm not envious of him; jealous or unhappy in the psychologically imbalanced way these things seem to make the Left feel. Good for him.
You could probably have picked a *slightly* better example than Roman Abramovich!
What we have is a situation where the top 1% are increasingly divorced from the rest of us but where the top 1% have increasing proportions of the wealth and power and where membership of the top 1% is drawn from an increasingly smaller grouping.
To a lesser extent this applies to the top 10%.
This is no IMO a basis for a stable or happy society.
What is your problem with this "top 1%"? They are a group of people, statistically about the population of a small village, who you and I (and by that I mean you) will never meet either in business or socially. Why does this make you so unhappy?
Right now I can see one of Roman Abramovich's yachts floating palaces lying semi-floodlit out of my window down in the port. I'm not envious of him; jealous or unhappy in the psychologically imbalanced way these things seem to make the Left feel. Good for him.
To give but one example.
Members of the top 1% caused a little difficulty a few years back with some banks.
I'll be paying higher taxes for the rest of my life because of it, the relevant members of the top 1% have walked away with rather large payoffs and pension pots. Both of which my taxes will be helping to fund.
What we have is a situation where the top 1% are increasingly divorced from the rest of us but where the top 1% have increasing proportions of the wealth and power and where membership of the top 1% is drawn from an increasingly smaller grouping.
To a lesser extent this applies to the top 10%.
This is no IMO a basis for a stable or happy society.
What is your problem with this "top 1%"? They are a group of people, statistically about the population of a small village, who you and I (and by that I mean you) will never meet either in business or socially. Why does this make you so unhappy?
Right now I can see one of Roman Abramovich's yachts floating palaces lying semi-floodlit out of my window down in the port. I'm not envious of him; jealous or unhappy in the psychologically imbalanced way these things seem to make the Left feel. Good for him.
The Times ... There used to be a great paper over there. It's decline has been precipitous and sad to see. Still the best of a bad lot, but now a shadow of what it was just a couple of years ago.
Indeed, their sports coverage is still the best.
It is. And I do like the Saturday edition.
So do I, the iPad edition (apart from a few weeks earlier on this year) is an utter joy.
I'll be the last one buying the paper!
I stayed at a hotel recently, and they gave out complimentary editions of the Sunday Times, you and the poor paper boys and girls that deliver them, are going to get a hernia.
It is massive.
I go across the road to get mine. Wouldn't be seen dead with The Sunday Times. It's my least favourite paper. I fear the plan is to take The Times itself down the same path. Should that happen it'll be the internet for me.
Right now I can see one of Roman Abramovich's yachts floating palaces lying semi-floodlit out of my window down in the port. I'm not envious of him; jealous or unhappy in the psychologically imbalanced way these things seem to make the Left feel. Good for him.
You could probably have picked a *slightly* better example than Roman Abramovich!
Indeed. Not sure we should be applauding the way Roman made his billions.
The Times ... There used to be a great paper over there. It's decline has been precipitous and sad to see. Still the best of a bad lot, but now a shadow of what it was just a couple of years ago.
Indeed, their sports coverage is still the best.
It is. And I do like the Saturday edition.
So do I, the iPad edition (apart from a few weeks earlier on this year) is an utter joy.
I'll be the last one buying the paper!
I stayed at a hotel recently, and they gave out complimentary editions of the Sunday Times, you and the poor paper boys and girls that deliver them, are going to get a hernia.
It is massive.
I go across the road to get mine. Wouldn't be seen dead with The Sunday Times. It's my least favourite paper. I fear the plan is to take The Times itself down the same path. Should that happen it'll be the internet for me.
The moving of Jonathan Witherow from the Sunday Times to the Times may be a huge mistake.
He's made quite a few changes I don't approve of.
On a PB front, his ditching of Populus phone polls and Ipsos-Mori polls on Scotland for The Times in favour of YouGov, big big mistakes.
What do you find most offensive: someone using the phrase "of ethnic extraction" or Farage being made to look like Hitler on the front of a national newspaper?
The debate as to whether the big move by polling companies to cheaper online surveys can produce as accurate a result as previous more expensive phone polling is going to be answered at the next GE. With face to face or phone polling we discovered the 'shy Tory' syndrome back in 1992, but with online polling we might also see a new phenomenon whereby fired up party activists are more likely to sign up and participate in greater numbers in surveys. IMHO, the online polling industry is going to be tested, especially after the flattering Cleggism polling bounce before the last GE did not materialise on the actual day.
I must admit that I thought the chances of any Tory polling lead this year was most likely during the Conservative Conference. Another surprise tonight was that George Osborne's Work for the dole policy got a very positive thumbs up from Scots stopped & asked their opinion on STV's Scotland Tonight.
On the other hand, Newsnight Scotland decided to devote an extended programme to a very dry and boring Indy debate on Culture in Scotland rather than even touch on the fact that the current Chancellor of the Exchequer was speaking from his party Conference in Manchester. P*ss poor planning and preparation from their Editorial team after their coverage of the Labour Conference last week.
There has to be quite a strong chance of a brief and tiny Tory polling lead right after Cameron's speech.
Evens?
From the distant perspective of Crete, Ed Miliband's energy pledge looked like a clever tactical wheeze that would haunt him strategically, when it will be subjected to analysis. The Brits don't like the Coailtion but they REALLY don't like "socialism". Not any more.
But I confess I may be reading this wrong, 1500 miles away.
That assessment is quite close to that of Paddy Power who are offering 5/4 against YouGov showing a Tory lead in their voting intention polls during the remainder of 2013. For this to happen in H1 2014 they offer 4/1 and for H2 2014 their odds are 9/2.
In a preview of the Tories’ election platform, aides said the party would be able to claim that a litre of petrol is 20p cheaper in 2015 than it would have been under Labour’s fuel duty escalator for above-inflation increases.
However, Mr Osborne attempted to reframe Mr Miliband’s cost of living argument to suggest it was a sign of Labour’s weakness. “[Labour would] much rather just talk about the cost of living as if the cost of living was somehow detached from the performance of the economy,” he said. “You ask the citizens of Greece what happens to living standards when the economy fails.” http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article3882965.ece
They do, however, maintain a rock solid +12 point lead when it comes to 'who is to blame for the spending cuts'......
Given that spending is rising this year thats a pretty dumb question.
I know - it really irritates you doesn't it.......must be down to the two Eds going on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on.....about 'the cuts'.......
The return of Danusica, 52, and others like her, suggests the failure of a joint operation, by the Home Office, local government, police and a taxpayer-funded charity, to clear the camps of homeless Romanians which have been building up around the city. Instead, it appears the scheme intended to reconnect vulnerable people with support services in their own country has been exploited as a carousel for career beggars.
The destination for nearly nine out of ten trips was Romania. The council estimates that one in five of those who were “reconnected” has since returned. “I came back here because I have so many debts at home,” explains Danusica, who sits huddled in blankets, playing a recorder, while men in evening dress walk past her on the way to the Dorchester. This is her third time in London. “We are poor. I have three children and 17 grandchildren to raise.
David Jack @DJack_Journo Schoolboy error by @Ed_Miliband's media team thinking that the Mail would run his reply to "Man who hated Britain" piece unchallenged
"Of course, it was not the Mail that first drew the prominent Marxist sociologist Professor Ralph Miliband — a man who was not averse to publicity — into the public arena. This was the decision of his son who, for two years running, has told Labour conferences how his refugee father fled Nazi persecution to Britain.
More pertinent still, McBride argues that Miliband Jnr is obsessed with maintaining Ralph’s legacy.
Winning the leadership, he writes, was Ed’s ‘ultimate tribute’ to his father — an attempt to ‘achieve his father’s vision’.
With this testimony before us, from a former Labour spin doctor who knew Mr Miliband inside out, the Mail felt a duty to lay before our readers the father’s vision that is said to have inspired our would-be next Prime Minister.
How can Ralph Miliband’s vision be declared out of bounds for public discussion — particularly since he spent his entire life attempting to convert the impressionable young to his poisonous creed?
Today, we stand by every word we published on Saturday, from the headline to our assertion that the beliefs of Miliband Snr ‘should disturb everyone who loves this country’.
@Plato - going after Miliband Sr's Marxism is fair game - hanging too much on a single diary entry when he was 17 silly, undermining the stronger case.
@Plato - going after Miliband Sr's Marxism is fair game - hanging too much on a single diary entry when he was 17 silly, undermining the stronger case.
TBH - I really didn't pay much attention to that bit, but it did make me carry on reading something I'd normally switch off from. I assume that's why they used it as a hook, given how chummy Mr Dacre was with Gordon - this blitz on Miliband is intriguing.
Utterly contemptable stuff from the Daily Mail. Hatchet jobs on family members is a new low.
EdM's media team should have ignored it - demanding a right of reply was as David Jack notes a schoolboy error as it allowed the Mail to say it all over again with icing on top.
Cameron didn't respond to the many attacks on his dad or whatever - he allowed others to do it for him.
Utterly contemptable stuff from the Daily Mail. Hatchet jobs on family members is a new low.
Won't do Miliband any harm, it'll play into the narrative that he's prepared to stand up to the strong while Cameron boots someone looking after a disabled relative out of a council flat if they need a separate room to sleep in while giving his rich mates access and tax cuts.
The other aspect is to remind people that in the 30s the Daily Mail backed the Nazis. Now that IS an "evil legacy" to apologise for.
Utterly contemptable stuff from the Daily Mail. Hatchet jobs on family members is a new low.
EdM's media team should have ignored it - demanding a right of reply was as David Jack notes a schoolboy error as it allowed the Mail to say it all over again with icing on top.
Indeed
'what do you expect from a paper that was sympathetic to the Nazis?'
would have sufficed - but I fear Ed thinks he has to win every argument.......
Utterly contemptable stuff from the Daily Mail. Hatchet jobs on family members is a new low.
Won't do Miliband any harm, it'll play into the narrative that he's prepared to stand up to the strong while Cameron boots someone looking after a disabled relative out of a council flat if they need a separate room to sleep in while giving his rich mates access and tax cuts.
in the 30s the Daily Mail backed the Nazis.
I hope you've got strong support for that - wouldn't want to get OGH into trouble......there is a world of difference between being 'sympathetic' and 'backing'. Did the Mail write 'Vote Hitler'?
Utterly contemptable stuff from the Daily Mail. Hatchet jobs on family members is a new low.
Won't do Miliband any harm, it'll play into the narrative that he's prepared to stand up to the strong while Cameron boots someone looking after a disabled relative out of a council flat if they need a separate room to sleep in while giving his rich mates access and tax cuts.
in the 30s the Daily Mail backed the Nazis.
I hope you've got strong support for that - wouldn't want to get OGH into trouble......there is a world of difference between being 'sympathetic' and 'backing'. Did the Mail write 'Vote Hitler'?
The minor misdeeds such as Dachau and smashing Jewish owned property would be "submerged in the immense benefits the new regime is already bestowing on Germany"
Well said tim. if it hadn't been for the evil of Hitler we'd never have ended up with the mad dog Milbands in this country.
I see in the latest YouGov that the tories are 5% more popular with women than with men. This is pretty clearly because 5% more men support UKIP than women.
Should Cameron be concerned about this gender imbalance?
Not much movement in the betting anyway - PP now 10/11 that Blues will achieve a YG lead before the year end, tightened from 6/5 last week. Delurking - and off topic - my son has just inherited a bit and wants to get into share ownership in a small/medium way. Thought I'd start him off with a birthday prezzie of some shares, £100 or so - any ideas, suggestions or links? Ta.
The boring advice would be to buy a diversified index tracker (I like Vanguard myself).
More controversially, even if you were the best fund manager in the world, £100 is not going to transform his finances. So perhaps you might think about buying shares in 3-4 big well-known British companies. You can then follow them together in the news and get fun from doing that together (and hopefully get him interested in shares more generally). Probably not the best investment strategy though!
(NB: I am not authorised to offer investment advice to retail investors, DYOR, etc, etc)
So argues Simpson - undeterred by the fact that Kristalnacht was 5 years after Rothermere wrote that. After the chaos of Weimar there was a lot of support in the early 30s for the "strong men" of Europe - even Shaw wrote in 1936 that Mr Hitler had "a bee in his bonnet" about Jews.....but do please feel free to post support from the Mail of Hitler from the late 30s....
Utterly contemptable stuff from the Daily Mail. Hatchet jobs on family members is a new low.
Won't do Miliband any harm, it'll play into the narrative that he's prepared to stand up to the strong while Cameron boots someone looking after a disabled relative out of a council flat if they need a separate room to sleep in while giving his rich mates access and tax cuts.
in the 30s the Daily Mail backed the Nazis.
I hope you've got strong support for that - wouldn't want to get OGH into trouble......there is a world of difference between being 'sympathetic' and 'backing'. Did the Mail write 'Vote Hitler'?
The minor misdeeds such as Dachau and smashing Jewish owned property would be "submerged in the immense benefits the new regime is already bestowing on Germany"
Crikey - 30000 scientists want to sue Al Gore over AGW
30000 scientists who have 9000 PhDs between them. Hm.
Yes, because only people with Doctorates can be intelligent, knowledgeable and are worthy to have an opinion, ffs.
It's quite cool in academia not to have a doctorate, as it can mean you were so good you got fastt tracked to a lecturership or fellowship without having to fart around for four years first.
Crikey - 30000 scientists want to sue Al Gore over AGW
30000 scientists who have 9000 PhDs between them. Hm.
Yes, because only people with Doctorates can be intelligent, knowledgeable and are worthy to have an opinion, ffs.
I was expecting the legal cases to start in the other direction, given the weight of evidence.
As an interesting point, the Chief Scientist of the Met Office, Julia Slingo, was awarded her PhD on the basis of scientific papers published, rather than on the basis of a PhD thesis, so for a long time she was a successful practising scientist without a PhD.
With £100 I would buy shares for him in a single company. I'd get your son to do some research into a few different smaller quoted companies and get him to choose on a long term basis applying his research. The investment may or may not do well, but he will get value for money both in monitoring the share price and in understanding the principles of share investment.
" Tim Hands, chairman of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, said it was illogical that parents were criticised for paying for an independent education while it was deemed acceptable to buy an expensive home next to a top state school to secure a place.
He suggested some leading state comprehensives were actually more socially-exclusive than many private schools. In a speech, Dr Hands picked out The London Oratory, a state-funded Roman Catholic school, famously chosen by Tony Blair and Nick Clegg for their children, saying it was surrounded by multi-million pound houses and had just one-in-20 pupils eligible for free meals.
Crikey - 30000 scientists want to sue Al Gore over AGW
30000 scientists who have 9000 PhDs between them. Hm.
Yes, because only people with Doctorates can be intelligent, knowledgeable and are worthy to have an opinion, ffs.
I was expecting the legal cases to start in the other direction, given the weight of evidence.
As an interesting point, the Chief Scientist of the Met Office, Julia Slingo, was awarded her PhD on the basis of scientific papers published, rather than on the basis of a PhD thesis, so for a long time she was a successful practising scientist without a PhD.
There are a surprising number of them to my knowledge, a fair few around here. Some people drop out, others cannot be bothered with the hassle, whilst others prefer to be generalists ("science tarts", someone described them). There're lots of reasons why people don't have PhD's, yet can still be classed as scientists.
My sister-in-law only get her doctorate this year, at a rather late age, and after working for decades in industry and academia. She's been researching graphene, photovoltaics and others items for years before that, although her area's in that wide merger of engineering and science.
I'd trust her opinion and knowledge on any of those subjects, even before she had a doctorate.
I keep saying this, but polling temperature must be taken over time. Let's just wait and see how things look a month from now. Anything at the moment is to be treated with extreme caution: there's too much media swarm on individual issues and politicians.
made-up stats @madeupstats 45% of the Daily Mail website's advertising income is generated by visits from people who hate it and everything it stands for.
Quite apart from the rights and wrongs or it, I think the Mail has overreached itself - describing EdM's affectionate piece about his dad as "tetchy and menacing" is just peculiar, as is their series of "oh and another thing" postscripts. I note that they've switched off reader comments "for legal reasons", even though you can't libel the dead. Together with the Times' schoolboy jape at Farage (who is really more like Boris than Hitler), it's not a great morning for the press.
The 6-point YG lead is still higher than I'd expect in Tory conference week, but Cameron's got a couple of days to try to get their temporary boost. The oddity is the UKIP 13 in a week when you'd expect them to be squeezed - that's where I'd expect most of a jump to come from. Labour will settle back to the 37-38 where we started the conference season and we can resume debating how Cameron is going to win those Brown oters and left-wing LDs.
I expect the Mail read the following passage as tetchy and menacing:
"It’s part of our job description as politicians to be criticised and attacked by newspapers, including the Daily Mail. It comes with the territory. The British people have great wisdom to sort the fair from the unfair. And I have other ways of answering back."
I expect the Mail read the following passage as tetchy and menacing:
"It’s part of our job description as politicians to be criticised and attacked by newspapers, including the Daily Mail. It comes with the territory. The British people have great wisdom to sort the fair from the unfair. And I have other ways of answering back."
I expect the Mail read the following passage as tetchy and menacing:
"It’s part of our job description as politicians to be criticised and attacked by newspapers, including the Daily Mail. It comes with the territory. The British people have great wisdom to sort the fair from the unfair. And I have other ways of answering back."
"...Lord Ashcroft said the Tories should benefit from the Labour leader’s recent lurch to “radical socialism”. The former party treasurer, who now carries out in-depth opinion poll research, compared Mr Miliband’s Left-wing politics to a belief in Father Christmas.
He said: “I was at the [Labour] party conference, I was actually sitting in the hall listening to Miliband. And if I were a Conservative scriptwriter who wanted Ed Miliband to say certain things to help the Conservative cause in the last 18 months to the next general election, then he just about touched on every issue.
“I believe blue water has now developed between the Conservatives and Labour – and Ed is moving his party towards radical socialism. We now have a particular target and can discuss the effects of price controls and land nationalisation.”
The Tory peer acknowledged that many of the policies announced at the Labour conference in Brighton were popular. But then he quipped: “I believe in Father Christmas to this day, I would be very disillusioned if somebody told me that he didn’t exist.” He added: “Worldwide, if you look at socialism, it has barely worked when you try to buck a market economy.” http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/433495/Ed-Miliband-doing-a-great-job-of-losing-it-for-Labour-says-Lord-Ashcroft
Came to check and see if either match I bet on yesterday had started. Neither have (not unusual for tennis matches to be delayed an hour or two due to long earlier matches), but a weird thing has happened. I backed Granollers to beat Simon, but now Simon seems to not be taking part, and Granollers seems to be playing Pryzsiezny now... not sure why.
I'd guess Simon's injured or otherwise withdrawn from the tournament.
Edited extra bit: according to Twitter Simon's withdrawn.
@Jonathan Why not simply write "And I can answer back"?
I read it as a reference to the fact that in the age of the Internet there are now "other ways" to respond and communicate directly with audience. At most a slight jibe at the press.
Either way that is nothing compared to the Mail's use of the word "Evil".
The 6-point YG lead is still higher than I'd expect in Tory conference week, but Cameron's got a couple of days to try to get their temporary boost. The oddity is the UKIP 13 in a week when you'd expect them to be squeezed - that's where I'd expect most of a jump to come from. Labour will settle back to the 37-38 where we started the conference season and we can resume debating how Cameron is going to win those Brown oters and left-wing LDs.
Have you thought of entering Strictly Come Spinning? The Tory Conference had hardly begun when the polling for this poll was taken. We'll know the extent of any bounce (post Cameron speech) on Friday or Sunday.
Your final sentence is more sensible. But over the coming months the interesting aspect will be how the Tory vote moves. If that also shifts to the 37-39 range, then the 'traditional' explanation of Governments being rewarded as the economy improves will be strengthened as opposed to the Palmer/Smithson ideological divide.
FWIW, I expect small Labour leads to persist until around the New Year which will gradually be replaced (erratically and inconsistently) by small Tory ones.
@tim To be clear, I despise what the Mail has done.
Maybe he was alluding to the fact that MPs especially LotO have many outlets for their views that are denied to other people (cf. Caroline Lucas' belief you must chain yourself to a daffodil). Sometimes a cigar is just....etc....
De-lurking anecdote. ...girl at work yesterday, lowish level admin post...never overtly political at all absolutely slating her teacher boyfriend for striking for the day. ..on the grounds that they do not have any appreciation at all of jus how fortunate they are and living in a well pensioned well paid bubble....nods of agreement all around from other ladies and some othe bitterish "anti-teacher" sentiment. ...interested me
The oddity is the UKIP 13 in a week when you'd expect them to be squeezed - that's where I'd expect most of a jump to come from.
It's the opposite of odd, Nick. Kippers are the protest party disliking mainstream politicians who they think are, to put it politely, only in it for themselves.
That there should be a UKIP bounce when the media is full of mainstream politicians is to be expected.
De-lurking anecdote. ...girl at work yesterday, lowish level admin post...never overtly political at all absolutely slating her teacher boyfriend for striking for the day. ..on the grounds that they do not have any appreciation at all of jus how fortunate they are and living in a well pensioned well paid bubble....nods of agreement all around from other ladies and some othe bitterish "anti-teacher" sentiment. ...interested me
FB
Heh. I got the opposite yesterday evening - I was in a room with a couple of teachers, and they were slagging Gove off something rotten. The depth of their hatred was quite funny.
It was an evening class, which was held in a classroom where politics was taught. On the wall were pictures of Cameron, Miliband and Clegg. I was surprised when they joked about how they would deface all of the pictures, not just Cameron. Oh, and Clegg was apparently the most attractive, then Miliband, with Cameron the worst.
In the same class the week before, another woman mentioned something she feared in life was 'socialism'. I haven't met someone like that for a long, long time ...
De-lurking anecdote. ...girl at work yesterday, lowish level admin post...never overtly political at all absolutely slating her teacher boyfriend for striking for the day. ..on the grounds that they do not have any appreciation at all of jus how fortunate they are and living in a well pensioned well paid bubble....nods of agreement all around from other ladies and some othe bitterish "anti-teacher" sentiment. ...interested me
FB
Heh. I got the opposite yesterday evening - I was in a room with a couple of teachers, and they were slagging Gove off something rotten. The depth of their hatred was quite funny.
It was an evening class, which was held in a classroom where politics was taught. On the wall were pictures of Cameron, Miliband and Clegg. I was surprised when they joked about how they would deface all of the pictures, not just Cameron. Oh, and Clegg was apparently the most attractive, then Miliband, with Cameron the worst.
In the same class the week before, another woman mentioned something she feared in life was 'socialism'. I haven't met someone like that for a long, long time ...
Not sure why it's being referred to as a marriage tax break when it's more like a single-income couple tax break.
Finding myself in the strange position that a Tory government would directly benefit me more, financially.Though they'd be more likely to abolish my job.
@tim To be clear, I despise what the Mail has done.
Potentially a soldiers letter moment. Remember which PB Tories cheered the Sun on?
No. The Mail's articles are unpleasant and unjustified but they won't have any impact one way or the other. The circumstances of the Sun accusing a sitting PM (not opposition leader) of personally showing gross insensitivity towards greiving relatives were of a wholly different order.
The oddity is the UKIP 13 in a week when you'd expect them to be squeezed - that's where I'd expect most of a jump to come from.
It's the opposite of odd, Nick. Kippers are the protest party disliking mainstream politicians who they think are, to put it politely, only in it for themselves.
That there should be a UKIP bounce when the media is full of mainstream politicians is to be expected.
Especially when the Times has a large front page photograph of Nigel farage made to look like Hitler, from mastache to fronted combed hair. A real photoshop special! Sieg heil!
Paul Waugh also tweets that the Prime Minister has given Ed Miliband support on this:
"@paulwaugh PM on Mail v Milibands:’If anyone had a go at my father I wd want to respond v vigorously." + "completely understand why" Ed making hs point"
Yes: the Guardian piece is wrong. It would not have been newsworthy had it been about Mr Thomas, Senior, and therefore crossed a line.
However, I would like you to put the two pieces - the Mail and the Guardian one - side-by-side for a moment. Cast aside your natural tendency to flail and attack anyone around you for a second, and actually read the two pieces at the same time.
I'll wait while you do it, if you want.
OK, now tell me that the Mail piece was anything more than a pretty nasty hatchet job, based on a few comments made by a 17 year old.
Yes: the Guardian piece is wrong. It would not have been newsworthy had it been about Mr Thomas, Senior, and therefore crossed a line.
However, I would like you to put the two pieces - the Mail and the Guardian one - side-by-side for a moment. Cast aside your natural tendency to flail and attack anyone around you for a second, and actually read the two pieces at the same time.
I'll wait while you do it, if you want.
OK, now tell me that the Mail piece was anything more than a pretty nasty hatchet job, based on a few comments made by a 17 year old.
TBH that the LSE Ralph Miliband Lecture was delivered by one of the Gaddafi regime doesn't help either.
I've only read the Daily Mail when I've been waiting for a haircut, but it's managed to survive better than most.
When I was a paper boy (early to mid 1960s), virtually every house had a newspaper delivered. The Mirror and Express dominated (the Sun was till the come), and the Mail was a tiny add on. I grew up on the Mirror. I remember once trying to buy a Telegraph for a particular article and being told by the newsagent. "Sorry, boy, no demand for it here."
I say, crikey isn't our poll score simply spiffing when you consider how the economy is doing now and how we've just had our little conference down on the coast where we carried on just being true to ourselves. Fancy us being 4 points in the lead against the mighty coalition right in the heart of their conference up north somewhere quaint. Did you see, 6 points with one young pollster. How splendid.
Jolly good show and pip pip for our return to power in 2 years hence. We really are doing splendidly. Onwards and forwards.
Comments
Right now I can see one of Roman Abramovich's yachts floating palaces lying semi-floodlit out of my window down in the port. I'm not envious of him; jealous or unhappy in the psychologically imbalanced way these things seem to make the Left feel. Good for him.
Don't they realise comparing Dave to a popular TV show has backfired for left leaning organisations in the past.
What next, comparing Dave to The Doctor or Sherlock Holmes?
http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1214117/unite-mocks-wealth-cabinet-downton-ad/
It is massive.
Same as his wife
Comment is Free is impressive as well.
Members of the top 1% caused a little difficulty a few years back with some banks.
I'll be paying higher taxes for the rest of my life because of it, the relevant members of the top 1% have walked away with rather large payoffs and pension pots. Both of which my taxes will be helping to fund.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9272073/Former-chief-constable-who-admitted-gross-misconduct-gets-shocking-250000-payout.html
And are you describing me as being on the Left ?
I'm sure SeanT will tell us otherwise but the Times has lost much of its relevance behind the paywall.
The Telegraph and Guardian are clearly more read and linked to now.
He's made quite a few changes I don't approve of.
On a PB front, his ditching of Populus phone polls and Ipsos-Mori polls on Scotland for The Times in favour of YouGov, big big mistakes.
The point Mike made to me was, would the telegraph expenses story have had the same impact if the stories were behind a paywall?
What do you find most offensive: someone using the phrase "of ethnic extraction" or Farage being made to look like Hitler on the front of a national newspaper?
On the other hand, Newsnight Scotland decided to devote an extended programme to a very dry and boring Indy debate on Culture in Scotland rather than even touch on the fact that the current Chancellor of the Exchequer was speaking from his party Conference in Manchester. P*ss poor planning and preparation from their Editorial team after their coverage of the Labour Conference last week.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/30/us-government-shutdown-congress-deadline-live
http://houselive.gov
Almost 700,000 public workers in the US have been told to stay at home on unpaid leave as the government shut down goes into force
The Times being a Murdoch paper is a rag !
ComRes - England & Wales
Lab 38%
Con 33%
UKIP 12%
LD 11%
Grn 4%
ComRes - Scotland
Con 33%
Lab 33%
SNP 30%
LD 5%
Grn 0
UKIP 0
http://www.comres.co.uk/polls/Independent_Political_Poll_1st_October_2013.pdf
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/washington-braces-for-the-first-shutdown-of-the-national-government-in-17-years/2013/09/30/977ebca2-29bd-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html
I wonder how the equity markets will react? Tokyo is first out.
http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/q5rp313o9c/YG-Archive-Pol-Sun-results-300913.pdf
They do, however, maintain a rock solid +12 point lead when it comes to 'who is to blame for the spending cuts'......
However, Mr Osborne attempted to reframe Mr Miliband’s cost of living argument to suggest it was a sign of Labour’s weakness. “[Labour would] much rather just talk about the cost of living as if the cost of living was somehow detached from the performance of the economy,” he said. “You ask the citizens of Greece what happens to living standards when the economy fails.” http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article3882965.ece
The return of Danusica, 52, and others like her, suggests the failure of a joint operation, by the Home Office, local government, police and a taxpayer-funded charity, to clear the camps of homeless Romanians which have been building up around the city. Instead, it appears the scheme intended to reconnect vulnerable people with support services in their own country has been exploited as a carousel for career beggars.
The destination for nearly nine out of ten trips was Romania. The council estimates that one in five of those who were “reconnected” has since returned. “I came back here because I have so many debts at home,” explains Danusica, who sits huddled in blankets, playing a recorder, while men in evening dress walk past her on the way to the Dorchester. This is her third time in London. “We are poor. I have three children and 17 grandchildren to raise.
Salia Lacusta, 39, and her husband, Sorin, 40, said they have shuttled between London and Romania more than 40 times over the past four to five years. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article3883555.ece#commentsStart
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2439593/Why-father-loved-Britain-Ed-Miliband.html
The Mail is unrepentant:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2439714/An-evil-legacy-wont-apologise.html
Schoolboy error by @Ed_Miliband's media team thinking that the Mail would run his reply to "Man who hated Britain" piece unchallenged
"Of course, it was not the Mail that first drew the prominent Marxist sociologist Professor Ralph Miliband — a man who was not averse to publicity — into the public arena. This was the decision of his son who, for two years running, has told Labour conferences how his refugee father fled Nazi persecution to Britain.
More pertinent still, McBride argues that Miliband Jnr is obsessed with maintaining Ralph’s legacy.
Winning the leadership, he writes, was Ed’s ‘ultimate tribute’ to his father — an attempt to ‘achieve his father’s vision’.
With this testimony before us, from a former Labour spin doctor who knew Mr Miliband inside out, the Mail felt a duty to lay before our readers the father’s vision that is said to have inspired our would-be next Prime Minister.
How can Ralph Miliband’s vision be declared out of bounds for public discussion — particularly since he spent his entire life attempting to convert the impressionable young to his poisonous creed?
Today, we stand by every word we published on Saturday, from the headline to our assertion that the beliefs of Miliband Snr ‘should disturb everyone who loves this country’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2439714/An-evil-legacy-wont-apologise.html#ixzz2gRgK7mMx
"As the Labour leader reacts angrily to our critique of his Marxist father... We repeat: This man did hate Britain."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2439565/As-Ed-Miliband-reacts-angrily-critique-Marxist-father--We-repeat-This-man-did-hate-Britain.html#ixzz2gRkehUux
Cameron didn't respond to the many attacks on his dad or whatever - he allowed others to do it for him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FfHW7KR33IQ
'what do you expect from a paper that was sympathetic to the Nazis?'
would have sufficed - but I fear Ed thinks he has to win every argument.......
#Russia manufacturing #PMI unchanged at 49.4 in Sep rounds off worst quarter since 2009 Q4 bit.ly/1hh2mjT
Should Cameron be concerned about this gender imbalance?
More controversially, even if you were the best fund manager in the world, £100 is not going to transform his finances. So perhaps you might think about buying shares in 3-4 big well-known British companies. You can then follow them together in the news and get fun from doing that together (and hopefully get him interested in shares more generally). Probably not the best investment strategy though!
(NB: I am not authorised to offer investment advice to retail investors, DYOR, etc, etc)
As an interesting point, the Chief Scientist of the Met Office, Julia Slingo, was awarded her PhD on the basis of scientific papers published, rather than on the basis of a PhD thesis, so for a long time she was a successful practising scientist without a PhD.
He suggested some leading state comprehensives were actually more socially-exclusive than many private schools. In a speech, Dr Hands picked out The London Oratory, a state-funded Roman Catholic school, famously chosen by Tony Blair and Nick Clegg for their children, saying it was surrounded by multi-million pound houses and had just one-in-20 pupils eligible for free meals.
The comments come amid repeated attacks from politicians on the privileged position of private school pupils. Earlier this year, Lord Adonis, the former Labour Schools minister, said independent schools were “seriously disabling” children by segregating them from the rest of society. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10344810/Parents-feel-like-social-lepers-for-choosing-private-schools.html
Huge support for marriage tax breaks in @YouGov poll for @TheSunNewspaper: 62% to 20%. Which wins me a little bet with @tnewtondunn
My sister-in-law only get her doctorate this year, at a rather late age, and after working for decades in industry and academia. She's been researching graphene, photovoltaics and others items for years before that, although her area's in that wide merger of engineering and science.
I'd trust her opinion and knowledge on any of those subjects, even before she had a doctorate.
Rain check.
45% of the Daily Mail website's advertising income is generated by visits from people who hate it and everything it stands for.
The 6-point YG lead is still higher than I'd expect in Tory conference week, but Cameron's got a couple of days to try to get their temporary boost. The oddity is the UKIP 13 in a week when you'd expect them to be squeezed - that's where I'd expect most of a jump to come from. Labour will settle back to the 37-38 where we started the conference season and we can resume debating how Cameron is going to win those Brown oters and left-wing LDs.
"It’s part of our job description as politicians to be criticised and attacked by newspapers, including the Daily Mail. It comes with the territory. The British people have great wisdom to sort the fair from the unfair. And I have other ways of answering back."
He said: “I was at the [Labour] party conference, I was actually sitting in the hall listening to Miliband. And if I were a Conservative scriptwriter who wanted Ed Miliband to say certain things to help the Conservative cause in the last 18 months to the next general election, then he just about touched on every issue.
“I believe blue water has now developed between the Conservatives and Labour – and Ed is moving his party towards radical socialism. We now have a particular target and can discuss the effects of price controls and land nationalisation.”
The Tory peer acknowledged that many of the policies announced at the Labour conference in Brighton were popular. But then he quipped: “I believe in Father Christmas to this day, I would be very disillusioned if somebody told me that he didn’t exist.” He added: “Worldwide, if you look at socialism, it has barely worked when you try to buck a market economy.” http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/433495/Ed-Miliband-doing-a-great-job-of-losing-it-for-Labour-says-Lord-Ashcroft
Came to check and see if either match I bet on yesterday had started. Neither have (not unusual for tennis matches to be delayed an hour or two due to long earlier matches), but a weird thing has happened. I backed Granollers to beat Simon, but now Simon seems to not be taking part, and Granollers seems to be playing Pryzsiezny now... not sure why.
I'd guess Simon's injured or otherwise withdrawn from the tournament.
Edited extra bit: according to Twitter Simon's withdrawn.
Either way that is nothing compared to the Mail's use of the word "Evil".
Your final sentence is more sensible. But over the coming months the interesting aspect will be how the Tory vote moves. If that also shifts to the 37-39 range, then the 'traditional' explanation of Governments being rewarded as the economy improves will be strengthened as opposed to the Palmer/Smithson ideological divide.
FWIW, I expect small Labour leads to persist until around the New Year which will gradually be replaced (erratically and inconsistently) by small Tory ones.
What's the difference?
FB
I don't think teachers will get very much sympathy.
That there should be a UKIP bounce when the media is full of mainstream politicians is to be expected.
It was an evening class, which was held in a classroom where politics was taught. On the wall were pictures of Cameron, Miliband and Clegg. I was surprised when they joked about how they would deface all of the pictures, not just Cameron. Oh, and Clegg was apparently the most attractive, then Miliband, with Cameron the worst.
In the same class the week before, another woman mentioned something she feared in life was 'socialism'. I haven't met someone like that for a long, long time ...
What all these anecdotes tell us is that you can't trust or rely on the general public.
Once we have wrested control from them, the future is ours.
Finding myself in the strange position that a Tory government would directly benefit me more, financially.Though they'd be more likely to abolish my job.
"My dad loved Britain. Here's the truth >> RT @Ed_Miliband: My article in the Daily Mail about my father: http://labourpress.tumblr.com/post/62751616247/ed-miliband-my-dad-was-a-man-who-loved-britain …"
In the real world, stocks in Asia and Europe are up modestly this morning, and futures are indicating the US will open up too.
Has "communication" really enhanced the status of central bankers?
"The 6-point YG lead is still higher than I'd expect in Tory conference week,"
"@paulwaugh
PM on Mail v Milibands:’If anyone had a go at my father I wd want to respond v vigorously." + "completely understand why" Ed making hs point"
However, I would like you to put the two pieces - the Mail and the Guardian one - side-by-side for a moment. Cast aside your natural tendency to flail and attack anyone around you for a second, and actually read the two pieces at the same time.
I'll wait while you do it, if you want.
OK, now tell me that the Mail piece was anything more than a pretty nasty hatchet job, based on a few comments made by a 17 year old.
I've only read the Daily Mail when I've been waiting for a haircut, but it's managed to survive better than most.
When I was a paper boy (early to mid 1960s), virtually every house had a newspaper delivered. The Mirror and Express dominated (the Sun was till the come), and the Mail was a tiny add on. I grew up on the Mirror. I remember once trying to buy a Telegraph for a particular article and being told by the newsagent. "Sorry, boy, no demand for it here."
How times change.
Jolly good show and pip pip for our return to power in 2 years hence. We really are doing splendidly. Onwards and forwards.