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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Paddy Ashdown (1941-2018) RIP
politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Paddy Ashdown (1941-2018) RIP
It was announced about an hour ago that Paddy Ashdown, the first leader of Lib Dems has died at the age of 77. Two months ago he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer.
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I do support a vote because, sadly, I don't see parliament breaking the deadlock, but if someone truly believes the options already before us cannot be accepted? No, they are posturing and want the vote purely for their favoured option.
(PS If I get banned for this rant-ette, I'll come back as VictorMeldrew)
It is clear that many of Paddy Ashdown's colleagues and opponents respected him. He did have a more interesting career before he entered mainstream politics.
I did notice something about his extra-curricula activities at school which made me smile, for all the wrong reasons. If repeated today, the lady in question would probably have her career ended at a tribunal. RIP Mr Ashdown.
https://twitter.com/jeremycorbyn/status/1076581825034838023?s=19
At that precise moment the intercom went off and a voice came over the loudspeaker " We have a Mr Ashbourne in reception. Shall I send him up?"
Anyway a very nice and modest man. I always thought his rather hectoring persona didn't suit him and the real person was very much nicer.
Teflon beginning to wear off Corbz this year.
A Big Beast Goes Fart Oo Soon
I join those who pay tribute to Paddy Ashdown. A man of personal and political courage who devoted himself to public service for almost his entire adult life. Yes he could do a good line in pompous but if that's the worst that may be said of a man then his life was well worth the living.
RIP
https://twitter.com/Anna_Soubry/status/1076603333669019648
Remarkable that Ashdown was a second-tier player in politics in his day.
He had more talent, guile and intellect than the current Tory and Labour front benches combined.
Apologies if I have damned his memory by faint praise.
As Mortimer says, a titan. RIP.
https://twitter.com/rosskempsell/status/1076577535243243520
An old friend of mine (a professional diver who got me my first job offshore) was a member of Paddy's Squadron serving in Aden during the pullout in 1967. His tales of what they did in payback for some of the atrocities done to our troops would make you hair stand on end. I am immensely glad Paddy was on our side not someone elses.
I'd forgotten that after the PPB we shot together he sent me a very nice letter thanking me and apologising for his 'hooded eyes'!
Hard to believe he was never in Government - he should have been.
Thoughts with all who knew him well and were close
RIP Paddy
Oh FFS. "Our first honest political leader"?
So Atlee, Callaghan, John Smith etc were all dishonest?
Plus, Jezza may well be an out and out liar, given the wreathe and other incidents.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/porn-sites-will-require-proof-age-april-next-year-123901041.html
I have been surprised that we have not seen more from those like Starmer popping up in the last week or so. Previously after Corbyn might appear lukewarm on remaining (given the policy is not to remain) Starmer or someone would pop up to emphasise that all options were on the table, which remainers would take as endorsement of remaining.
Can Corbyn really keep this up? He must be under immense pressure to just come out for a second referendum already, and at the least allow everyone to do what they will on it (which in effect would be to campaign for remain). I guess he cannot change position until absolutely a GE has been ruled out, but there's not as much political downside to doing so as not doing it at this point. He might as well get out ahead of the calls.
We should not forget Charles Kennedy as well. A truly decent fellow. I miss him in these bonkers times.
I detect a union fix.
Yes it's just a hyperbolic supportive comment at a single event. I do not take it as evidence of every supporter of Corbyn's, nor proof that such devotion can only be found in one direction. But jeez, how can people right something like that even of someone they admire? I doubt Corbyn would agree with the sentiment expressed.
Good night everybody and a Merry Xmas.
https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/1075863017705926657
Politicians of the centre have to fail before more extreme politicians (of left or right) can gain enough support to take charge.
It is the failures of centrist politicians of the recent past that have allowed Farage or Corbyn to find their voice and become influential.
I hope we do have people of sufficient calibre still!
I will miss him. He was a major reason I joined the Lib Dems.
He is a leaver. End of.
Note the small 'l'. So basically anyone who believes in individual liberty and freedoms.
https://twitter.com/liamyoung/status/1076628126392819712
[Royal Institution lecture, 2016]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=658xlubwnDc
https://www.li.com/events/the-strange-death-of-liberalism
I like to think that this is all a cunning plan to make our teenagers more technoliterate.
One of the advantages of STV is that you not only get to choose a political party but can express preferences over who you want to represent you.
One thing which came across strongly in his obituaries was his readiness to be persuaded to accept something he did not originally espouse himself - from his original conversion to liberalism to approving of the coalition with the Cameron’s Conservatives.
An unusual and admirable trait in a strong leader not entirely lacking in ego.
Also it doesn't really fit with the parliamentary record given that some of Corbyns much criticised rebellions came on issues of civil liberties. One of the things I prefer about Corbyn over New Labour leadership is it is much less authoritarian.
We saw it in the election as well where the response from the Tories to terrorist attacks was to threaten human rights. Corbyn didn't go for it because it goes against his political views. In fairness it also works for the different political tribes, the types of people who support Corbyn are more interested in civil liberties and the people who support May security and order. Each played to their base.
As for the tweet he was complaining about, it seemed a fair comment about one individual (not poor people in general) who, let it be noted, had already sought to mock the tweeter with a weak caricature. If you can’t take it, you shouldn’t dish it out. (Actually, you shouldn’t dish it out whether or not you can take it because it debases public discourse.)
Say that - for some reason - the price of oil were to go up ten times because of a hydrocarbon eating bug that stifled production massively.
Developed economies would have a terrible time. Rather than sending abroad 5% of GDP to pay for energy, they would probably send abroad 25%. We'd all be a lot poorer.
And we'd probably elect people that promised an easy solution to the superbug. These people would probably be on the political extremes. ("Only by nationalising the forces of production can we overcome this" or "Multinational companies that monopolised oil extraction have led us here" or "It is the Brits working together who must overcome this challenge" or somesuch.)
Here's the thing: countries run by politicians of all shapes and hues have seen economic growth come down sharply in the last 20 years. This should probably tell us that domestic politicians are the not the primary issue.
It was a long sentence with several parts. I'm going to assume you didn't mean the outing the entire left as hating individual liberty and freedom.
So you don't think he is pissed off at a rich guy mocking some poor person on Twitter... because I would certainly say that was true.
He could have meant a number of things by including liberal, it probably doesn't indicate a love for the term but it seems unlikely he was declaring himself as against individual liberty and freedom. Although it can also be like the term stupid people, which doesn't actually indicate you hate everyone who is a person... just a descriptive term of the people (or person in this case) you are angry at.
Ideally if we did get to a second referendum Corbyn could campaign separately from others not on the left. I think it was Stephen Bush talking about the problems of conflicting messages from the remain camp.
The other thing, which Bastani is probably right on is the attraction of using a second referendum as an opportunity to take Corbyn down would be too much for some to resist.
But he has a Jewish grandmother, disagreeing with your political views does not make him an anti semite.
I don’t think he was pissed off at all. He was affecting to be pissed off, which is a very different matter.
Why was he affecting to be pissed off? Because the tweeter had been mean to an online chum. Was the tweeter mocking the poor in general? No, the tweeter was mocking one online individual (who may or may not be the person actually named in the account) who had aggressively mocked him personally, suggesting that she was a fraud.
The hard left has a problem that it generalises the particular, as in this case, and then seeks to particularise the general, as you have sought to do on Liam Young’s behalf. The simpler explanation is that Liam Young despised liberal values to the point of considering liberal an all-purpose insult. Your feeble attempt at throwing up chaff merely reinforces the point.
It is probably the problem with a large part of the remain 'leadership' (or spokespeople), some of them came from lower down but far too many have very comfortable lives and look down on the people they are supposed to serve.
Considering Owen Jones has met her it seems pretty legitimate, I suppose he could be in on some kind of conspiracy that the right wingers on Twitter allege but it seems a bit far fetched.
You've gone off into accusing the hard left of generalising...
Before we ignore the obvious problem with accusing any large group of generalising you do realise I was disagreeing with someone who generalised the left to begin with, which is the post your responded to.
The simplest explanation is the most likely, James was being an offensive and got called out on it.
James O’Brien is suggesting that “Rachael Swindon” is a fraud. He’s not looking down on her because she’s poor, he’s suggesting that she is duping others into subsidising her lifestyle. It takes some pretty hard work to affect to misunderstand what he was saying but, credit to the hard left, you've put the shift in.
Meanwhile, you still haven’t explained why “liberal” is an all-purpose insult.
There is no justification for a referendum. 88% of the electorate voted for parties who did not have proposals for a third EU referendum in their manifestos. General election, Yes; Referendum, No.
Or for another example calling someone a stupid idiot doesn't sound quite as good as calling someone a stupid little idiot, the little is just in there for effect rather than implying a hatred of little people. I've strung an insult together about somebody with little in there who was taller than me.
He's mocking her for asking for money, scrounging as he so affectionately puts it and accuses her of being a fraud with very little proof apart from his own conspiracies. I don't usually mind James O'Brien despite his anti Corbyn angle but he is being a really nasty piece of work there.
I suppose it is easier to dismiss your opponents and those who vote for them as bad people, stupid and tricked than face up to your own sides intellectual deficit and complete lack of appeal.