27% thought that their area was well represented among the Labour leadership.
A quarter of voters thought that Labour stood no real chance at all there, suggesting that they regarded backing the party as a wasted vote.
22 per cent said they did not know anyone who they thought supported or voted Labour.
Neither these nor the Tory mirror images in the north and Scotland seem especially high, do they? I wouldn't be especially dismayed to learn that 30% of Broxtowe voters would never vote for me, if 70% said they'd consider doing so. Similarly, the Tories will be quite pleased to hear that 46% of Scots would consider giving them a spin.
Significant regional variations were not found in the popularity of Tory policies.
26k benefits cap supported by 79% of Northerners, and 85% of Southerners (excluding London)
The commitment to reduce immigration to “tens of thousands” 83% support in both the North and the South
Help-to-Buy scheme was backed by 63 per cent of voters in the North and 62 per cent in the South (excluding London)
Depends on the question, doesn't it. Most people think, I suggest, that benefits are too high, except for the ones they or their nearest and dearest get!
For example, I could agree in general, but don't you dare touch my bus pass!
27% thought that their area was well represented among the Labour leadership.
A quarter of voters thought that Labour stood no real chance at all there, suggesting that they regarded backing the party as a wasted vote.
22 per cent said they did not know anyone who they thought supported or voted Labour.
Neither these nor the Tory mirror images in the north and Scotland seem especially high, do they? I wouldn't be especially dismayed to learn that 30% of Broxtowe voters would never vote for me, if 70% said they'd consider doing so. Similarly, the Tories will be quite pleased to hear that 46% of Scots would consider giving them a spin.
They do seem on the low side. Reading elsewhere these figures seem to suggest these people wouldn't engage with any Tory or Lab campaigners in any circumstances.
May be wise to see the precise wording of the questions.
Going back to the spare room subsidy, does any one who argues against this policy still think that there is not enough social housing for those people in under crowded accommodation to trade down to.
A separate argument to that is what are the demographics of the people who will be pushed out of their homes and what are the demographics of the people who will replace them. If those demographics are notably different then even though it might not be deliberate it will *look* a certain way and add to the general feeling that the political class as a whole are waging economic and demographic war against the indigenous population. Hence why Ukip should stay neutral on the issue - prob not overtly anti, just neutral.
Link 1 is quite damning. We have government by a well connected SPADocracy, who secure each others preferment into safe seats. Lets see which favourite gets parachuted into Shaun Woodwards constituency, and other tempting safe seats with the fast track to a ministry.
Today I spent an afternoon with our management consultants, teenage scribblers all, who lectured me on how to increase productivity within my own department. They based this on the sound knowledge of a day or two in the department with no real understanding of what we do and why we do it a particular way.
Nice quite sweet wet behind the ears youths that they were, I could not control my anger at their idiocies that were being lapped up by a senior management team that is well known for its failure to listen to front line clinicians. It was all I could do to keep from swearing at their plans.
My conclusion: we are bewitched by these over-ambitious, under-experienced but well presented kids, both at work and in politics. They need to be replaced by people who have done front line work, and who know what they are talking about. If we do not then we are f***ed.
Labour strategists expect UKIP’s share of the vote to fall significantly at a general election and want to persuade UKIP voters to back Labour rather than voting for the Tories.
Improving the party’s message on immigration is seen as crucial.
I wonder if Jack Straw’s ‘mea culpa’ in the press yesterday was a prelude to this offensive?
Link 1 is quite damning. We have government by a well connected SPADocracy, who secure each others preferment into safe seats. Lets see which favourite gets parachuted into Shaun Woodwards constituency, and other tempting safe seats with the fast track to a ministry.
snip
My conclusion: we are bewitched by these over-ambitious, under-experienced but well presented kids, both at work and in politics. They need to be replaced by people who have done front line work, and who know what they are talking about. If we do not then we are f***ed.
snip
In fact, it would be nice to see a table of all the professions MPs had before entering parliament...
I think I read somewhere that around 90 of our current MPs have never held a significant job, outside of politics.
What's a "significant job"?
Do we want more builders as MPs?
Why not? What's wrong with builders? I presume a significant job is any job that's not wanky spaddery/ PPE/bag carrying/ intern stuff. That pretty much rules out Cameron, Clegg and Milliband.
"Wanky spaddery bag carrying" exists in big business for Daddy's little gems / PPE tossers too though, to an even greater extent. Just because a job is in the private sector doesn't make it any more "proper", look at David Cameron's CV.
There's nothing wrong with builders. I just don't want Parliament full of builders, waitresses, teachers, firemen, posties, plumbers. I think the triangle heads do a better job.
What's up with normal people, aint we good enough for you?
Hehe. Would you like parliament to be run by a few hundred assorted bar staff, mechanics, call centre workers, teaching assistants, porters, gardeners, salesmen, cleaners, childminders? I wouldn't.
I may do one of the jobs I've mentioned in this thread, don't jump to conclusions pal!
Labour strategists expect UKIP’s share of the vote to fall significantly at a general election and want to persuade UKIP voters to back Labour rather than voting for the Tories.
Improving the party’s message on immigration is seen as crucial.
I wonder if Jack Straw’s ‘mea culpa’ in the press yesterday was a prelude to this offensive?
And will it wash, with UKIP?
I doubt it will effect the people who've already made their minds up but for every one of them there'll be 1 or 2 waverers who might be kept steady by it.
Labour strategists expect UKIP’s share of the vote to fall significantly at a general election and want to persuade UKIP voters to back Labour rather than voting for the Tories.
Improving the party’s message on immigration is seen as crucial.
Caught Gogglebox on C4 tonight, and it covered last weeks BBC QuestionTime. The response was very negative for Farage, but exceptionally positive for Anna Soubry's performance which was compared with Mrs Thatcher.
In 2004 I bought an Apple Mac G4 desktop computer. It was quite expensive but I reasoned that getting what was then one of the best computers available would be worth it in the long run. That's turned out to be true because I'm still using it today. Definitely value for money over ten years. It's still able to do software updates on some things, although having a PowerPC chip rather than a Intel chip means quite a lot of newer stuff won't work, such as Google Chrome. That was a bit unlucky because the change in chip occurred only a few months after I bought it IIRC. The amazing thing is that it neither looks old nor seems particularly dated in terms of performance.
The new Apple Mac Pro is launching in a few weeks time which will be interesting.
Caught Gogglebox on C4 tonight, and it covered last weeks BBC QuestionTime. The response was very negative for Farage, but exceptionally positive for Anna Soubry's performance which was compared with Mrs Thatcher.
Interestingly, Ladbrokes offer Nick Palmer at odds of 1/3 to recapture Broxtowe for Labour, whilst his opponent Anna Soubry is on offer at 11/4. As a rising star, it's somewhat surprising that La Soubry hasn't been found a safer seat unless of course she feels she has a real chance of keeping her present one.
In 2004 I bought an Apple Mac G4 desktop computer. It was quite expensive but I reasoned that getting what was then one of the best computers available would be worth it in the long run. That's turned out to be true because I'm still using it today. Definitely value for money over ten years. It's still able to do software updates on some things, although having a PowerPC chip rather than a Intel chip means quite a lot of newer stuff won't work, such as Google Chrome. That was a bit unlucky because the change in chip occurred only a few months after I bought it IIRC. The amazing thing is that it neither looks old nor seems particularly dated in terms of performance.
The new Apple Mac Pro is launching in a few weeks time which will be interesting.
Hehe. Would you like parliament to be run by a few hundred assorted bar staff, mechanics, call centre workers, teaching assistants, porters, gardeners, salesmen, cleaners, childminders? I wouldn't.
I may do one of the jobs I've mentioned in this thread, don't jump to conclusions pal!
I think it would be a vast improvement.
OK, so you've got a son or daughter who is interested in politics, joins a political party/gets iinvolved in the Student Union/goes to a few Union meetings at work,
Along come the opportunity to work for an MP or the research department of their Party or of their Union. Assuming the money's adequate what do you say to them? "Stuff that son (or girl) get thee down pit.(Incidentally, most of my grandparents. great-uncles etc would have been delighted if their children had got a job "for the Union" or whatever, rather than being colliers!) Or get yourself into the City (if that's a "proper" job!). Or "you're better off as a trainee supermarket manager"?
If the SPAD jobs weren't there, people wouldn't do them !How much worse Is benig a SPAD than working for Greenpeace, Oxfam or whatever?
JJ, I had 16 years in multinational business management and I'd run two successful small businesses, as well as three-year MRC technical IT project. On the other hand, I didn't know anyone in Parliament. I was fairly quickly moved onto the Treasury Select Committee, the Whips (who then had right of appointment) arguing that this was a good idea with business experience and mathematics, and they saw me more as a persistent nerdish questioner than someone for the front office. I didn't like it, but they might have been right. Similarly, the one GP that we had got moved swiftly to the Health Select Committee.
So I'm not sure that promotions in Parliament are the problem. It's more that most people in politics work their way up through a series of political jobs, and moving sideways from another profession is a bit unusual. That's partly because if you're successful in a profession you do earn more, with less stress - nobody monitors your private life, tries to discredit you, or openly plots to get your job. I took a 40% pay cut in 1997 and if I'm elected in 2015 I'll take another (smaller) one. You have to be very politically motivated to do it, and that might not be a good thing - perhaps we need more MPs who aren't single-minded about politics?
Nick, I've praised you in the past for actually having had a long and varied career before entering parliament. We need more people with that sort of experience, IMHO.
Career politicians are fine. However we have too many of them, including the leaders of all three parties. None of them have a wide range of experience (Cleggg perhaps being the best of the three). Which is not vital for a politician, but a big help.
As I've said passim, experts in various fields are really needed in the HoL. They are the revising chamber - fill it with people who actually know their stuff, instead of political failures such as Prescott or Warsi.
If ever a man had a career before entering Parliament it was Prescott.
It's alleged of course, that he was inspired to take an interest in political affairs by Eden, to whom he was steward on his retirement/convalescent trip to New Zealand.
If ever a man had a career before entering Parliament it was Prescott.
It's alleged of course, that he was inspired to take an interest in political affairs by Eden, to whom he was steward on his retirement/convalescent trip to New Zealand.
Possibly, although his Union activism predates that to his time on Cunard:
He recalls how Sir Anthony came across as "an old-fashioned Tory gent" who wasn't above posing for a photo with the ship's engineers.
If ever a man had a career before entering Parliament it was Prescott.
It's alleged of course, that he was inspired to take an interest in political affairs by Eden, to whom he was steward on his retirement/convalescent trip to New Zealand.
Prescott entered parliament at 32, after many years working as a trade union official. Cameron and Miliband were both older when they entered. Clegg was about the same age when he became an MEP.
I'm not sure that Prescott can be stood up as a good example of an MP in any area. This is especially true whilst he was a minister - everything he touched turned to crud.
Merging this story with my dislike of Prescott: it is a bit rich labour complaining about good homes being demolished after the hideous mess that was Pathfinder.
And again, I bet no-one on here will defend Pathfinder.
This fundamentally changes the context for Ed Miliband’s speech launching the union link reforms in July this year. When he spoke, attacking “machine politics” and what had gone on in Falkirk, it is very likely Ed Miliband did so in the full knowledge that his team had given the green light to Unite’s activities in the constituency....
.....It begs the question, when Ed Miliband condemned Unite’s “machine politics” in Falkirk, did he forget his office had signed-off on their tactics?
Merging this story with my dislike of Prescott: it is a bit rich labour complaining about good homes being demolished after the hideous mess that was Pathfinder.
And again, I bet no-one on here will defend Pathfinder.
The difference is Pathfinder did lead to the demolition of homes - unlike current government policy!
This fundamentally changes the context for Ed Miliband’s speech launching the union link reforms in July this year. When he spoke, attacking “machine politics” and what had gone on in Falkirk, it is very likely Ed Miliband did so in the full knowledge that his team had given the green light to Unite’s activities in the constituency....
.....It begs the question, when Ed Miliband condemned Unite’s “machine politics” in Falkirk, did he forget his office had signed-off on their tactics?
If ever a man had a career before entering Parliament it was Prescott.
It's alleged of course, that he was inspired to take an interest in political affairs by Eden, to whom he was steward on his retirement/convalescent trip to New Zealand.
Possibly, although his Union activism predates that to his time on Cunard:
He recalls how Sir Anthony came across as "an old-fashioned Tory gent" who wasn't above posing for a photo with the ship's engineers.
According to Wikipedia (!) he joined Cunard from school. In those days (1954), as I remember well, service in the Merchant Navy meant that a young man was exempt from National Service, although IIRC one had to do five years instead of two. NS ended in (again IIRC) in 1961 and Prescot who by then had begun his Union activities started on the path that led to Westminster, via Ruskin College and Hull University.
This fundamentally changes the context for Ed Miliband’s speech launching the union link reforms in July this year. When he spoke, attacking “machine politics” and what had gone on in Falkirk, it is very likely Ed Miliband did so in the full knowledge that his team had given the green light to Unite’s activities in the constituency....
.....It begs the question, when Ed Miliband condemned Unite’s “machine politics” in Falkirk, did he forget his office had signed-off on their tactics?
And in today's comedy F1 news, Michael Schumacher turned down an offer from Lotus to drive for them for the last two races, to cover for the injured Kimi Raikkonen.
One thing about Carlotta's obsession that I'm enjoying is being directed to sites where Labour happily dive into their own dirty washing. One of the things that always marked out Labour as a radical party was the excruciating amount self analysis and self criticism.
Campbell and Blair stifled it to an extent but it's always been there and it's so much more interesting and motivating than the Bufton Tufton fan clubs that are the essence of Tory support.
As I've said passim, experts in various fields are really needed in the HoL. They are the revising chamber - fill it with people who actually know their stuff, instead of political failures such as Prescott or Warsi.
I can see an argument for an unelected Lords if it's full of experts from all walks of life (that does mean plumbers AND bankers). I'd be happy to see such a chamber always have the committee stage of Bills before the Commons, so that Commons MPs would be aware of what detailed reservations anbd changes they might have put forward. But such an unelected Chamber should then not have a power to block or delay - it would in effect be a large Select Committee.
TBF it is a bit like that now. A friend appointed there says it's quite intimidating if you're not speaking on your own pet subject, since Britain's leading expert on the issue is probably listening to you and waiting to intervene. Obviously there are lots of people there who couldn't be called expert, but they do have some impressive people.
As I've said passim, experts in various fields are really needed in the HoL. They are the revising chamber - fill it with people who actually know their stuff, instead of political failures such as Prescott or Warsi.
I can see an argument for an unelected Lords if it's full of experts from all walks of life (that does mean plumbers AND bankers). I'd be happy to see such a chamber always have the committee stage of Bills before the Commons, so that Commons MPs would be aware of what detailed reservations anbd changes they might have put forward. But such an unelected Chamber should then not have a power to block or delay - it would in effect be a large Select Committee.
TBF it is a bit like that now. A friend appointed there says it's quite intimidating if you're not speaking on your own pet subject, since Britain's leading expert on the issue is probably listening to you and waiting to intervene. Obviously there are lots of people there who couldn't be called expert, but they do have some impressive people.
I've put a proposal on here when we were discussing HoL reform, and got shot down in flames. ;-)
A house of experts would be my way to go. And yes, you are right: there are many experts in the house. IMHO the HoL fulfils its role in a much more capable manner than the HoC.
But I disagree about the blocking and delaying thing. The HoC makes too many mistakes for that to be feasible. Personally, I think the current relationship works quite well in that respect - the government can still push through legislation against the Lord's wishes, but it hurts.
In 2004 I bought an Apple Mac G4 desktop computer. It was quite expensive but I reasoned that getting what was then one of the best computers available would be worth it in the long run. That's turned out to be true because I'm still using it today. Definitely value for money over ten years. It's still able to do software updates on some things, although having a PowerPC chip rather than a Intel chip means quite a lot of newer stuff won't work, such as Google Chrome. That was a bit unlucky because the change in chip occurred only a few months after I bought it IIRC. The amazing thing is that it neither looks old nor seems particularly dated in terms of performance.
The new Apple Mac Pro is launching in a few weeks time which will be interesting.
You don't find that it's now running slow?
Yes and no. Obviously it's slow compared to the latest models but I didn't notice that until about a year ago. And I don't play games much or use applications that require enormous speed.
I will have to replace it in the six months. The main point is that it managed to seem like a cutting edge machine for about seven or eight years which was very surprising.
Caught Gogglebox on C4 tonight, and it covered last weeks BBC QuestionTime. The response was very negative for Farage, but exceptionally positive for Anna Soubry's performance which was compared with Mrs Thatcher.
Interestingly, Ladbrokes offer Nick Palmer at odds of 1/3 to recapture Broxtowe for Labour, whilst his opponent Anna Soubry is on offer at 11/4. As a rising star, it's somewhat surprising that La Soubry hasn't been found a safer seat unless of course she feels she has a real chance of keeping her present one.
Soubry's electoral performances have been distinctly underwhelming.
In 2005 she achieved a swing of only 2.1% in Gedling and in 2010 she achieved a swing of only 2.7% in Broxtowe.
Now to be fair these are two constituencies drifting electorally away from the Conservatives.
But they still did better when she wasn't their candidate - 3.7% in Broxtowe in 2005 and 3.3% in Gedling in 2010.
And any suggestion that Soubry should be given a safe seat would be tantamount to admitting the Conservatives were going to lose in 2015. As Soubry is already 57 that would effectively end her ministerial career by itself.
Credit where it's due - a nice initiative by Pokerstars, setting up dummy tournaments - you pay between $1 and $1000 to enter, and PS donates it to the typhoon victims with a matched contribution. Over 1500 signups overnight, including 16 who've gone for the max $1000. I think the tournaments do get played anyway, with no prizes - should be a pleasant atmosphere instead of the usual "Moron! How could you call that?!" stuff.
It's amazing how dismissive the rest of the country is towards the West Midlands. When a report comes out saying Solihull is the best place to live in the UK everyone ignores or makes jokes about it - or at least it feels a bit like that. Even the East Midlands doesn't take the West Midlands seriously.
Labour sources have been seeking to deflect blame for the Falkirk scandal from Iain McNicol, the party’s general secretary. Yesterday The Times revealed that Mr McNicol had struck a deal over membership with Mr McCluskey.
Sources suggest that Mr McNicol did this because he was trying to make the “best of a bad situation” which he had been left by people in Mr Miliband’s office. His intervention was designed to protect future party revenues by allowing a delay in the collection of direct debits for new members from Falkirk until after the candidate selection contest. This suggests that responsibility for the Falkirk deal lies with the people around Mr Miliband.
Dutch GDP numbers are out at 8:30. I think they will be a shocker. Expectations are for a 0.9% YoY drop. I wouldn't be surprised if it were closer to 1.5% or 2%.
Italian numbers are out at 9:00 - expectations are for the recession to continue. Based on what I'm hearing about improved SME loan losses at Italian banks, I wouldn't be surprised if there was to be an improvement. Growth might be too much to ask for, mind.
Dutch GDP numbers are out at 8:30. I think they will be a shocker. Expectations are for a 0.9% YoY drop. I wouldn't be surprised if it were closer to 1.5% or 2%.
Do you know if the Netherlands has a trade surplus or deficit ?
It's amazing how dismissive the rest of the country is towards the West Midlands. When a report comes out saying Solihull is the best place to live in the UK everyone ignores or makes jokes about it - or at least it feels a bit like that. Even the East Midlands doesn't take the West Midlands seriously.
Dutch GDP numbers are out at 8:30. I think they will be a shocker. Expectations are for a 0.9% YoY drop. I wouldn't be surprised if it were closer to 1.5% or 2%.
Do you know if the Netherlands has a trade surplus or deficit ?
It's worth remembering that the Netherlands contains much of the European petrochemicals complex around Rotterdam.
For those of you who think that EU imposed austerity is a Bad Thing (TM), the Netherlands is probably the best example. Government debt-to-GDP is a fairly modest 71%, and the budget deficit is 4%. Was there really any imperative to bash them to get the deficit below 3% this year?
White collar workers will become the new poor as their jobs are replaced by computers, the Government’s advisor on social mobility has warned.
Employees such as legal clerks and local government administrators will see their wages collapse as new technology makes their skills less valuable, just like manual workers have, Alan Milburn said.
Across the United States and Europe jobs working life has polarised into “lovely jobs” and “lousy jobs”, with the wages at the bottom end of the jobs market falling behind growth in the rest of the economy thanks to advances in technology, Mr Milburn said.
That fate will soon be shared by office workers as their jobs are outsourced to emerging economies and replaced by computers, he warns, “hollowing out the middle of the labour market”.
“It is likely that as the cost of computing power continues to fall technology will replace many more middle-class jobs that rely on repetitive and routine tasks – or at least make them less valuable in the labour market,” he told the Resolution Foundation. “In other words, the earnings squeeze already felt by people at the bottom could increasingly spread to those in the middle.”
The assumption that a rising economy will “lift all boats” and result in better wages is no longer true, he said........
Real wages did not grow for blue-collar workers from 2003 until 2008, he said, and were “propped up” by tax credits at a cost of £20bn a year. The state can “no longer afford” to support such measures, he said.
Mr Milburn said he did not believe immigration from eastern Europe after 2004 had brought down wages for unskilled workers and had boosted growth.
Is it not typical for a HMG advisor to wake up to a fact that has been apparent for the last thirty years - that IT has reduced and is still reducing the number of office and clerical jobs. Why do we pay such people who were asleep when they were in government - or were they so detached from everyday life that living in their Westminster bubble (and not in their NE constituency) that they did not know what was happening in the real world.
Labour sources have been seeking to deflect blame for the Falkirk scandal from Iain McNicol, the party’s general secretary........responsibility for the Falkirk deal lies with the people around Mr Miliband.
Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life.
It's amazing how dismissive the rest of the country is towards the West Midlands. When a report comes out saying Solihull is the best place to live in the UK everyone ignores or makes jokes about it - or at least it feels a bit like that. Even the East Midlands doesn't take the West Midlands seriously.
Its the Brummie accent.
I once saw a chilling TV play about Stalin - played with a strong "Oirish" accent - his "thick" Georgian accent led his Muscovite "superiors" to fatally under estimate him......
Perez has confirmed his departure, and although it's not yet official it seems nigh on certain that Magnussen will get his seat.
Lotus have been denied by Hulkenberg, and now by Schumacher. Kovalainen seems to be next in line. The absence of a Maldonado mention is hopefully good news.
I also heard an amusing story that Ferrari gave Sauber the money for Hulkenberg's wages, so the team could pay him and therefore have a veto over whether he's able to leave for Lotus for the last two races. This means a good driver doesn't join Lotus for the end of the season, helping Ferrari stay ahead of Lotus in the Constructors' (probably worth $10m or so a place).
In non-F1 news, very interesting to hear predictions and results from Mr. 1000 about Europe's various economies.
Genuine Q - as a benchmark, how many can name their MP?
I've seen a poll on this - IIRC it was something like 35%. I'd guess it's a lot higher in marginal seats - I find that nearly everyone 'knows' both me and my successor as we've been bombarding them with stuff forever. A friend who lives in a safe seat says she never gets political material from anyone and she had no clue who her MP was until I told her (she then said she'd vaguely heard of him).
PCCs have a much larger catchment area and no budget for communications with them, so like Euro-MPs they're a bit stumped what to do. The Notts PCC does lots of visits to CAT meetings etc. which at least reach some of the people most interested in local crime and he tries to accept any invitaiton to talk to local groups - I'm not sure what we can realistically expect beyond that and a good website.
Basically, and this is a crude summary of the numbers we're seeing this morning, Europe continues to recover, but only at a very tepid pace, and there clearly is no 'break-out' yet.
Genuine Q - as a benchmark, how many can name their MP?
I've seen a poll on this - IIRC it was something like 35%. I'd guess it's a lot higher in marginal seats - I find that nearly everyone 'knows' both me and my successor as we've been bombarding them with stuff forever. A friend who lives in a safe seat says she never gets political material from anyone and she had no clue who her MP was until I told her (she then said she'd vaguely heard of him).
PCCs have a much larger catchment area and no budget for communications with them, so like Euro-MPs they're a bit stumped what to do. The Notts PCC does lots of visits to CAT meetings etc. which at least reach some of the people most interested in local crime and he tries to accept any invitaiton to talk to local groups - I'm not sure what we can realistically expect beyond that and a good website.
Thanks Nick - useful info. Kind of puts the PCC sneer in context then would you say?
I am not too surprised that Solihull is rated the best place to live. I had five years there at school. It is a very pleasant suburb; easy enough to get into Brum, and easy enough to get back to. Lots of lovely countryside around and good housing.
I have liked the midlands ever since, it is less class conscious than either North or South, and a place that has a long culture of enterprise. Culturally it is more like america than most of England.
It's amazing how dismissive the rest of the country is towards the West Midlands. When a report comes out saying Solihull is the best place to live in the UK everyone ignores or makes jokes about it - or at least it feels a bit like that. Even the East Midlands doesn't take the West Midlands seriously.
Comments
twitter.com/Sophrosyne_1/status/396949400943353856/photo/1
For example, I could agree in general, but don't you dare touch my bus pass!
May be wise to see the precise wording of the questions.
And will it wash, with UKIP?
The new Apple Mac Pro is launching in a few weeks time which will be interesting.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2506917/Best-place-live-UK-Er-Solihull.html
As a rising star, it's somewhat surprising that La Soubry hasn't been found a safer seat unless of course she feels she has a real chance of keeping her present one.
Happy birthday HRH Charles, Prince of Wales
Latest YouGov / The Sun results 13th November - Con 31%, Lab 39%, LD 9%, UKIP 13%; APP -29
Hehe. Would you like parliament to be run by a few hundred assorted bar staff, mechanics, call centre workers, teaching assistants, porters, gardeners, salesmen, cleaners, childminders? I wouldn't.
I may do one of the jobs I've mentioned in this thread, don't jump to conclusions pal!
I think it would be a vast improvement.
OK, so you've got a son or daughter who is interested in politics, joins a political party/gets iinvolved in the Student Union/goes to a few Union meetings at work,
Along come the opportunity to work for an MP or the research department of their Party or of their Union. Assuming the money's adequate what do you say to them? "Stuff that son (or girl) get thee down pit.(Incidentally, most of my grandparents. great-uncles etc would have been delighted if their children had got a job "for the Union" or whatever, rather than being colliers!)
Or get yourself into the City (if that's a "proper" job!). Or "you're better off as a trainee supermarket manager"?
If the SPAD jobs weren't there, people wouldn't do them !How much worse Is benig a SPAD than working for Greenpeace, Oxfam or whatever?
Career politicians are fine. However we have too many of them, including the leaders of all three parties. None of them have a wide range of experience (Cleggg perhaps being the best of the three). Which is not vital for a politician, but a big help.
As I've said passim, experts in various fields are really needed in the HoL. They are the revising chamber - fill it with people who actually know their stuff, instead of political failures such as Prescott or Warsi.
http://cdn.yougov.com/cumulus_uploads/document/3kjtxlepsv/YG-Archive-Pol-Sun-results-131113.pdf
(And to you, Chuck) ;-)
It's alleged of course, that he was inspired to take an interest in political affairs by Eden, to whom he was steward on his retirement/convalescent trip to New Zealand.
He recalls how Sir Anthony came across as "an old-fashioned Tory gent" who wasn't above posing for a photo with the ship's engineers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6296053.stm
I'm not sure that Prescott can be stood up as a good example of an MP in any area. This is especially true whilst he was a minister - everything he touched turned to crud.
A horrible man.
Councils in Wigan and Liverpool are looking to demolish larger properties because people can’t afford to live in them.
The story was repeated in The Independent. Also in The Mirror. Naturally Channel 4 News.
The problem is that it is not true.
I contacted the three housing associations concerned and none of them have any such plans.
http://www.conservativehome.com/localgovernment/2013/11/homes-are-not-being-demolished-due-to-spare-room-subsidy-cut.html
And again, I bet no-one on here will defend Pathfinder.
That would be a big step!
.....It begs the question, when Ed Miliband condemned Unite’s “machine politics” in Falkirk, did he forget his office had signed-off on their tactics?
http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2013/11/13/when-ed-miliband-condemned-unites-machine-politics-in-falkirk-did-he-forget-his-office-had-signed-off-on-their-tactics/
The Uk must not follow by electing a socialist like Ed.
Labour down 3% in a day....
a co-incidence?
You do realise that post was from a Labour blog don't you?
Are they "completely obsessed" too?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/24935646
That really would have been hilarious ...
Germany's economy grew by 0.3% in the July-to-September period, less than half the 0.7% growth rate seen in the previous quarter.
Earlier, figures from France showed its economy contracted by 0.1% in the third quarter of the year.
The French economy had grown by 0.5% in the previous three months.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24937301
"Oh god. You are completely obsessed."
One thing about Carlotta's obsession that I'm enjoying is being directed to sites where Labour happily dive into their own dirty washing. One of the things that always marked out Labour as a radical party was the excruciating amount self analysis and self criticism.
Campbell and Blair stifled it to an extent but it's always been there and it's so much more interesting and motivating than the Bufton Tufton fan clubs that are the essence of Tory support.
TBF it is a bit like that now. A friend appointed there says it's quite intimidating if you're not speaking on your own pet subject, since Britain's leading expert on the issue is probably listening to you and waiting to intervene. Obviously there are lots of people there who couldn't be called expert, but they do have some impressive people.
The deceleration comes despite aggressive measures taken this year to spur growth after years of stagnation.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made reviving the economy his top priority.
His economic policies, known as Abenomics, include boosting stimulus and key sector reforms.
Stronger growth seen earlier in the year had been driven by personal consumption, which weakened in the third quarter.....
His "Abenomics" policies are based on the so-called "three arrows" - monetary policy, fiscal stimulus and structural reforms.
The first arrow, monetary policy, is aimed at ending Japan's almost two decades of falling prices, or deflation.
The second arrow has seen Mr Abe announce plans to boost government spending on infrastructure, to foster growth.
And the third arrow - key sector reform - is aimed at encouraging private investment in the country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24936348
A house of experts would be my way to go. And yes, you are right: there are many experts in the house. IMHO the HoL fulfils its role in a much more capable manner than the HoC.
But I disagree about the blocking and delaying thing. The HoC makes too many mistakes for that to be feasible. Personally, I think the current relationship works quite well in that respect - the government can still push through legislation against the Lord's wishes, but it hurts.
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/research/parliament/house-of-lords/lords-defeats
I will have to replace it in the six months. The main point is that it managed to seem like a cutting edge machine for about seven or eight years which was very surprising.
In 2005 she achieved a swing of only 2.1% in Gedling and in 2010 she achieved a swing of only 2.7% in Broxtowe.
Now to be fair these are two constituencies drifting electorally away from the Conservatives.
But they still did better when she wasn't their candidate - 3.7% in Broxtowe in 2005 and 3.3% in Gedling in 2010.
And any suggestion that Soubry should be given a safe seat would be tantamount to admitting the Conservatives were going to lose in 2015. As Soubry is already 57 that would effectively end her ministerial career by itself.
Unspoofable...
There's probably a lesson in there somewhere...
Bad news from the Czech Republic, where GDP growth went in the opposite direction. Expected to rise 0.5% on the second quarter, it actually fell 0.5%.
@fwred: First time in almost 5 years (since Q109) that Spain does better than France. http://t.co/uRhAFVrQCi
But look at those Romanians go! GDP growth of 4.1% YoY, up from 1.5% in 2Q.
It's worth remembering that the Netherlands contains much of the European petrochemicals complex around Rotterdam.
For those of you who think that EU imposed austerity is a Bad Thing (TM), the Netherlands is probably the best example. Government debt-to-GDP is a fairly modest 71%, and the budget deficit is 4%. Was there really any imperative to bash them to get the deficit below 3% this year?
Employees such as legal clerks and local government administrators will see their wages collapse as new technology makes their skills less valuable, just like manual workers have, Alan Milburn said.
Across the United States and Europe jobs working life has polarised into “lovely jobs” and “lousy jobs”, with the wages at the bottom end of the jobs market falling behind growth in the rest of the economy thanks to advances in technology, Mr Milburn said.
That fate will soon be shared by office workers as their jobs are outsourced to emerging economies and replaced by computers, he warns, “hollowing out the middle of the labour market”.
“It is likely that as the cost of computing power continues to fall technology will replace many more middle-class jobs that rely on repetitive and routine tasks – or at least make them less valuable in the labour market,” he told the Resolution Foundation. “In other words, the earnings squeeze already felt by people at the bottom could increasingly spread to those in the middle.”
The assumption that a rising economy will “lift all boats” and result in better wages is no longer true, he said........
Real wages did not grow for blue-collar workers from 2003 until 2008, he said, and were “propped up” by tax credits at a cost of £20bn a year. The state can “no longer afford” to support such measures, he said.
Mr Milburn said he did not believe immigration from eastern Europe after 2004 had brought down wages for unskilled workers and had boosted growth.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/10448086/White-collar-workers-to-become-new-poor-as-computers-take-over.html
Is it not typical for a HMG advisor to wake up to a fact that has been apparent for the last thirty years - that IT has reduced and is still reducing the number of office and clerical jobs. Why do we pay such people who were asleep when they were in government - or were they so detached from everyday life that living in their Westminster bubble (and not in their NE constituency) that they did not know what was happening in the real world.
Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his friends for his life.
Popcorn time!
Perez has confirmed his departure, and although it's not yet official it seems nigh on certain that Magnussen will get his seat.
Lotus have been denied by Hulkenberg, and now by Schumacher. Kovalainen seems to be next in line. The absence of a Maldonado mention is hopefully good news.
I also heard an amusing story that Ferrari gave Sauber the money for Hulkenberg's wages, so the team could pay him and therefore have a veto over whether he's able to leave for Lotus for the last two races. This means a good driver doesn't join Lotus for the end of the season, helping Ferrari stay ahead of Lotus in the Constructors' (probably worth $10m or so a place).
In non-F1 news, very interesting to hear predictions and results from Mr. 1000 about Europe's various economies.
My Dutch forecasts were off. 3Q GDP was just down 0.6% year-over-year.
Hmm...
PCCs have a much larger catchment area and no budget for communications with them, so like Euro-MPs they're a bit stumped what to do. The Notts PCC does lots of visits to CAT meetings etc. which at least reach some of the people most interested in local crime and he tries to accept any invitaiton to talk to local groups - I'm not sure what we can realistically expect beyond that and a good website.
I have liked the midlands ever since, it is less class conscious than either North or South, and a place that has a long culture of enterprise. Culturally it is more like america than most of England.
Hooray for Solihull!