Tory candidate for Wakefield in a spot of bother over ill advised social media posts aimed at his opponent.
I am not sure this is as good as your earlier coup.
Calvert said something uncomplimentary about Mary Creagh NINE years ago.
He said "I can't believe just how shocking Mary Creagh looks on TV. Obviously the BBC make up dept don’t work on Sunday.” on 8 August 2010
Is that it? Or is there more ?
It isn't, but the stream of candidates in bother (most of whom are old enough to know better) is fairly steady.
Local party are reviewing his position, apparently.
The stuff by the Labour candidate in West Derby is much worse, but he's 'been on a journey' and Liverpool Labour is full of dim Trots, so he'll probably get away with it.
We are in danger of total false equivalence in some of this stuff. Making one or two dodgy comments / jokes years ago is totally different ball game to people having a long.history of anti-Semitic comments or the alleged stuff around the Cairns mate rape trial story.
e.g. the labour MP in the stoke area that made some snide comments about other parts of stoke and stuff like that, i don't care about.
Lift up your head Long-Bailey Lift up your head and grin Lift up your head Long-Bailey Poor girl you're bound to win
Mmmm. Find 2 shorts planks and cut them in half vertically, rather.
She does not remind you of Roy Jenkins or Dennis Healey in the way of top Labour material. If my life depended upon choosing between RLB and Laura Pidcock - who must have a future on Radio 4 comedy and the Edinburgh fringe - I would choose RLB.
YouGov must be being selective from their ever growing panel as to who gets VI questions nowadays. I haven’t been asked for ages. I wonder what metric they are using and whether this affects their findings.
They are probably becoming more successful in finding ways to weed out the political obsessives of the sort who contribute to this site and who are utterly unrepresentative of the general population, much as though we may kid ourselves otherwise.
Sad but probably true.
Meanwhile, trivia, which is the only English County never to have elected a female MP?
Rutland?
Yes. Rutland and IOW are the obvious choices and the IOW is currently claiming that title. Although Rutland appears also to qualify so the IOW, and my question, aren’t actually on the money.
Is the IoW a county? I always thought it was part of Hampshire.
Showing your age, since it broke free from Hampshire in 1974
We all know that only the pre-1974 county boundaries count.
This is a disgrace considering they cancelled some Northern improvements for going a few million over.
The opening of Crossrail has been put back again, until 2021 at the earliest, with cost overruns now mounting to nearly £3 billion and the total bill at more than £18 billion.
The trans-London underground railway, already a year late and £2.2 billion over budget, has been delayed because new stations at Bond Street, in the centre of London, and Whitechapel, east of the City, are not ready. Signalling issues have also contributed to the delay.
Lift up your head Long-Bailey Lift up your head and grin Lift up your head Long-Bailey Poor girl you're bound to win
Mmmm. Find 2 shorts planks and cut them in half vertically, rather.
She does not remind you of Roy Jenkins or Dennis Healey in the way of top Labour material. If my life depended upon choosing between RLB and Laura Pidcock - who must have a future on Radio 4 comedy and the Edinburgh fringe - I would choose RLB.
YouGov must be being selective from their ever growing panel as to who gets VI questions nowadays. I haven’t been asked for ages. I wonder what metric they are using and whether this affects their findings.
They are probably becoming more successful in finding ways to weed out the political obsessives of the sort who contribute to this site and who are utterly unrepresentative of the general population, much as though we may kid ourselves otherwise.
Sad but probably true.
Meanwhile, trivia, which is the only English County never to have elected a female MP?
Rutland?
Yes. Rutland and IOW are the obvious choices and the IOW is currently claiming that title. Although Rutland appears also to qualify so the IOW, and my question, aren’t actually on the money.
Is the IoW a county? I always thought it was part of Hampshire.
Showing your age, since it broke free from Hampshire in 1974
Has there ever been a female MP from Herefordshire ?
Lift up your head Long-Bailey Lift up your head and grin Lift up your head Long-Bailey Poor girl you're bound to win
Mmmm. Find 2 shorts planks and cut them in half vertically, rather.
She does not remind you of Roy Jenkins or Dennis Healey in the way of top Labour material. If my life depended upon choosing between RLB and Laura Pidcock - who must have a future on Radio 4 comedy and the Edinburgh fringe - I would choose RLB.
YouGov must be being selective from their ever growing panel as to who gets VI questions nowadays. I haven’t been asked for ages. I wonder what metric they are using and whether this affects their findings.
They are probably becoming more successful in finding ways to weed out the political obsessives of the sort who contribute to this site and who are utterly unrepresentative of the general population, much as though we may kid ourselves otherwise.
Sad but probably true.
Meanwhile, trivia, which is the only English County never to have elected a female MP?
Rutland?
Yes. Rutland and IOW are the obvious choices and the IOW is currently claiming that title. Although Rutland appears also to qualify so the IOW, and my question, aren’t actually on the money.
Is the IoW a county? I always thought it was part of Hampshire.
Showing your age, since it broke free from Hampshire in 1974
Has there ever been a female MP from Herefordshire ?
No.
It did when it was Hereford and Worcester
Herefordshire is not Hereford and Worcester, in the same way London is not Greater London.
Tory candidate for Wakefield in a spot of bother over ill advised social media posts aimed at his opponent.
I am not sure this is as good as your earlier coup.
Calvert said something uncomplimentary about Mary Creagh NINE years ago.
He said "I can't believe just how shocking Mary Creagh looks on TV. Obviously the BBC make up dept don’t work on Sunday.” on 8 August 2010
Is that it? Or is there more ?
It isn't, but the stream of candidates in bother (most of whom are old enough to know better) is fairly steady.
Local party are reviewing his position, apparently.
The stuff by the Labour candidate in West Derby is much worse, but he's 'been on a journey' and Liverpool Labour is full of dim Trots, so he'll probably get away with it.
We are in danger of total false equivalence in some of this stuff. Making one or two dodgy comments / jokes years ago is totally different ball game to people having a long.history of anti-Semitic comments or the alleged stuff around the Cairns mate rape trial story.
e.g. the labour MP in the stoke area that made some snide comments about other parts of stoke and stuff like that, i don't care about.
That guy in Liverpool however does sound like a nasty piece of work.
The report they wouldn’t publish, did recommendation in it suggest database’s and systems parties put together to profile and target voters is a key risk, and publishing would have drawn attention to it threatening election plan?
There have been references to the super system Cummings has built to win this election, but each time its caveated barely half a dozen people can get into it, it is extremely secure etc
For people who wonder what cuts through to the ordinary voters, this was from Ashcroft's focus group.
A final quickfire round. What do we actually know about the leaders? Impressions of Jo Swinson remained sketchy: “Er, she’s a lady;” “Has a young child;” “Was a junior minister in the coalition;” “Has a Labrador.”
Boris? “Lives in Islington;” “Had a big fight with his girlfriend;” “Went to Eton;” “Doesn’t know how many children he has;” “Lied to the Queen;” “Wrote a novel called Seventy-Two Virgins;” “There was a scandal with a pig.” How will you feel if you wake up on 13th December and he’s still Prime Minister? “Thank God;” “Well, here we are again;” “There will be riots outside the Co-op. I might even be there;” “I’d go to Europe like a shot, but we won’t be allowed to.”
And Mr. Corbyn? “Went to Glastonbury;” “Has an allotment;” “He cycles everywhere;” “Vegetarian;” “He had a thing with Diane Abbott. A tryst, I think they called it;” “Went to a private school;” “He has a cat called El Gato who comes when he sings Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree.”
Corbyn's cat sure has strange sexual predilections.
Lift up your head Long-Bailey Lift up your head and grin Lift up your head Long-Bailey Poor girl you're bound to win
Mmmm. Find 2 shorts planks and cut them in half vertically, rather.
She does not remind you of Roy Jenkins or Dennis Healey in the way of top Labour material. If my life depended upon choosing between RLB and Laura Pidcock - who must have a future on Radio 4 comedy and the Edinburgh fringe - I would choose RLB.
YouGov must be being selective from their ever growing panel as to who gets VI questions nowadays. I haven’t been asked for ages. I wonder what metric they are using and whether this affects their findings.
They are probably becoming more successful in finding ways to weed out the political obsessives of the sort who contribute to this site and who are utterly unrepresentative of the general population, much as though we may kid ourselves otherwise.
Sad but probably true.
Meanwhile, trivia, which is the only English County never to have elected a female MP?
Rutland?
Yes. Rutland and IOW are the obvious choices and the IOW is currently claiming that title. Although Rutland appears also to qualify so the IOW, and my question, aren’t actually on the money.
Is the IoW a county? I always thought it was part of Hampshire.
Showing your age, since it broke free from Hampshire in 1974
We all know that only the pre-1974 county boundaries count.
These tours of regional hospitals and schools are supposed to be mainly for the local media market. Jeez. 101.
Perhaps they've noticed that local papers are (in most places) dying on their arse, while the numbers listening to a typical local radio station are tiny (you need to be on a lot of local radio shows to equal one Radio 2 soundbite).
Seems to me you're also quite likely to get thrown a curveball about the closure of a maternity unit in the cottage hospital a decade ago, whereas national media questions may be hostile but are much more predictable and susceptible to a prepared line.
Not saying I condone the Tory approach, but it isn't necessarily stupid.
Stephen Bush in today's NewStatesman says that Labour are prioritising a strategy for maximising coverage in local newspapers and regional TV.
Respect to Ken Clarke for never having been online. He hasn't missed much apart from a lot of people being angry over nothing in particular. (Not referring to this site).
Tory candidate for Wakefield in a spot of bother over ill advised social media posts aimed at his opponent.
I am not sure this is as good as your earlier coup.
Calvert said something uncomplimentary about Mary Creagh NINE years ago.
He said "I can't believe just how shocking Mary Creagh looks on TV. Obviously the BBC make up dept don’t work on Sunday.” on 8 August 2010
Is that it? Or is there more ?
It isn't, but the stream of candidates in bother (most of whom are old enough to know better) is fairly steady.
Local party are reviewing his position, apparently.
The stuff by the Labour candidate in West Derby is much worse, but he's 'been on a journey' and Liverpool Labour is full of dim Trots, so he'll probably get away with it.
We are in danger of total false equivalence in some of this stuff. Making one or two dodgy comments / jokes years ago is totally different ball game to people having a long.history of anti-Semitic comments or the alleged stuff around the Cairns mate rape trial story.
e.g. the labour MP in the stoke area that made some snide comments about other parts of stoke and stuff like that, i don't care about.
That guy in Liverpool however does sound like a nasty piece of work.
For me, it is always if there is a pattern.
If it is couple of tweets / likes / shares, especially from years ago, and little "real world" evidence to corroborate that is their views, then jog on.
However, if there is a clear pattern of particular anti-semite, Islamophobic, etc type posts, and they have happily shared platforms with similar known dodgy types, etc then I have a problem.
These tours of regional hospitals and schools are supposed to be mainly for the local media market. Jeez. 101.
Perhaps they've noticed that local papers are (in most places) dying on their arse, while the numbers listening to a typical local radio station are tiny (you need to be on a lot of local radio shows to equal one Radio 2 soundbite).
Seems to me you're also quite likely to get thrown a curveball about the closure of a maternity unit in the cottage hospital a decade ago, whereas national media questions may be hostile but are much more predictable and susceptible to a prepared line.
Not saying I condone the Tory approach, but it isn't necessarily stupid.
Stephen Bush in today's NewStatesman says that Labour are prioritising a strategy for maximising coverage in local newspapers and regional TV.
Tories better get a grip on this one.
Labour: a 1970s party with a 1970s approach to media?
Respect to Ken Clarke for never having been online. He hasn't missed much apart from a lot of people being angry over nothing in particular. (Not referring to this site).
We're all angry about very particular things.
Indeed yes. Death to uncivilised bastards who put pineapple on their pizza!
Respect to Ken Clarke for never having been online. He hasn't missed much apart from a lot of people being angry over nothing in particular. (Not referring to this site).
We're all angry about very particular things.
Indeed yes. Death to uncivilised bastards who put pineapple on their pizza!
We keep being told all the reasons 2019 will not be like 2017, but I must say seeing the regional voting polling floating around today I do get a sense of deja vu. Maybe I'm recalling wrong but I swear very similar things were seen then.
I'm working on a plot showing the polling averages in the 50 days leading up to the election. So far Labour's curve looks eerily familiar, lol.
Cool stuff. Tories are not being as triumphant as last time, and from that one can see why.
Tory candidate for Wakefield in a spot of bother over ill advised social media posts aimed at his opponent.
I am not sure this is as good as your earlier coup.
Calvert said something uncomplimentary about Mary Creagh NINE years ago.
He said "I can't believe just how shocking Mary Creagh looks on TV. Obviously the BBC make up dept don’t work on Sunday.” on 8 August 2010
Is that it? Or is there more ?
It isn't, but the stream of candidates in bother (most of whom are old enough to know better) is fairly steady.
Local party are reviewing his position, apparently.
The stuff by the Labour candidate in West Derby is much worse, but he's 'been on a journey' and Liverpool Labour is full of dim Trots, so he'll probably get away with it.
Well after nine years and 2 hard fought campaigns, if that's the most egregious offence he's committed I think he might be OK.
It's a case of 'just one more push' for the tories in Wakefield. I was balls deep (for me) on labour in 2017, having had insider information from the Labour team I was certain it would go blue.
A couple of days before the election a poster here (David Herdson??) foretold an unexpected labour hold - the canvass returns he'd seen from the tory camp meant that they'd thrown the towel in. I wished I'd changed my position but I was silly and lost badly. It wasn't a brexit election after all and remainer Creagh won well.
No idea whether to avoid this rerun, or to back Mary "Houdini" Creagh to do what the labour candidates have been doing in Wakefield for 30 years and hang on again.
Respect to Ken Clarke for never having been online. He hasn't missed much apart from a lot of people being angry over nothing in particular. (Not referring to this site).
It’s a really good piece and for some reason free to non subscribers.
It’s an interesting question as to whether we’d be brighter if we ditched online and went back to reading books and listening to vinyl, or live music.
The election is impossible to call but Mr Clarke says: “If I had to stake my life on it I think it will produce a hung parliament.” He has not decided who to support on December 12. “I’ve voted Conservative every general election in my life and I am a natural Conservative but at the moment the party has gone so right-wing I shall probably hesitate a bit, I’ll make my mind up the night before.” He is impressed by Ruth Edwards, the Tory candidate in Rushcliffe. “If some fire-breathing right-wing idiot had been selected to replace me that would have rather simplified my choice.”
......
He (Clarke) grimaces when we mention the current cabinet. “It’s not the greatest.” Nor is he an admirer of Boris Johnson, who backed him years ago to become leader. “It’s this crash bang wallop personal approach to government that isn’t working. It was bizarre taking the whip away from me.” He doesn’t care, however, that Mr Johnson didn’t reinstate it before he left. “It doesn’t make a tuppence difference. I carried on sitting on the Conservative benches. I regard myself as a Conservative.”
He is more concerned for others who lost the whip. “I am very angry about the way he has terminated the career of younger people in mid-career. He has allowed his apparatchiks to turn it into a bit of a purge of the moderate wing. I deeply disagree with the way he has treated David Gauke. It is quite appalling. Amber Rudd is potential prime minister material; to end her career is dreadful.”
Very sad to hear David Gauke is having to stand down.... if only TMay could have cut off the careers of those like Private Francois and that Bridgen oik.
I'm not sorry about Dominic Grieve, Guto Bebb, Justine Greening, Philip Lee going. They brought it on themselves.
Certainly, I'm sorry about Clarke, Hammond, Gauke, Letwin etc.
Lift up your head Long-Bailey Lift up your head and grin Lift up your head Long-Bailey Poor girl you're bound to win
Mmmm. Find 2 shorts planks and cut them in half vertically, rather.
She does not remind you of Roy Jenkins or Dennis Healey in the way of top Labour material. If my life depended upon choosing between RLB and Laura Pidcock - who must have a future on Radio 4 comedy and the Edinburgh fringe - I would choose RLB.
YouGov must be being selective from their ever growing panel as to who gets VI questions nowadays. I haven’t been asked for ages. I wonder what metric they are using and whether this affects their findings.
They are probably becoming more successful in finding ways to weed out the political obsessives of the sort who contribute to this site and who are utterly unrepresentative of the general population, much as though we may kid ourselves otherwise.
Sad but probably true.
Meanwhile, trivia, which is the only English County never to have elected a female MP?
Rutland?
Yes. Rutland and IOW are the obvious choices and the IOW is currently claiming that title. Although Rutland appears also to qualify so the IOW, and my question, aren’t actually on the money.
Is the IoW a county? I always thought it was part of Hampshire.
Showing your age, since it broke free from Hampshire in 1974
Has there ever been a female MP from Herefordshire ?
No.
It did when it was Hereford and Worcester
Herefordshire is not Hereford and Worcester, in the same way London is not Greater London.
Respect to Ken Clarke for never having been online. He hasn't missed much apart from a lot of people being angry over nothing in particular. (Not referring to this site).
It’s a really good piece and for some reason free to non subscribers.
It’s an interesting question as to whether we’d be brighter if we ditched online and went back to reading books and listening to vinyl, or live music.
We would certainly have better concentration skills I reckon.
Here's a little theory on the debates. I don't actually think it's likely, but think it's possible.
Corbyn and Johnson's people have clearly made great play with ITV and the BBC that it's head-to-head or they don't show.
If they had a free hand, would the broadcasters design it as head to head? Probably not for three reasons. Firstly, it's poor TV - male, stale and pale, probably both being pretty cautious. There's nobody in there to mix it up - a splash of colour; a battle on multiple fronts. Secondly, it's legally risky - Rule 6 of the Broadcasting Code has special requirements around election impartiality including "appropriate coverage" to parties with "significant views and perspectives". So where's the Remain voice in an election explicitly called to get a majority for a way forward on Brexit? The revoke and remain view is shared by a lot of people and is unrepresented in the head-to-head which is Leave on my deal vs Leave on MY deal (probably - TBC). Thirdly, ITV and BBC types are the metropolitan elite - notwithstanding the televisual aspects and legal aspects, quite a few will be personally uncomfortable about this whole situation.
So possibly you wait until the 11th hour - literally right before the debate - and say "Jeremy! Boris! So sorry chaps, but the bloody lawyers say we've got to put in a third podium. Awfully sorry and all that; I was livid but what could I do?" You put them in an unbelievably tricky position - do you walk when faced with debating with a woman?
As I say, I don't actually think this is a probable scenario. But wouldn't totally rule it out.
Of course Farage would argue that there's no voice for Leave.....
The election is impossible to call but Mr Clarke says: “If I had to stake my life on it I think it will produce a hung parliament.” He has not decided who to support on December 12. “I’ve voted Conservative every general election in my life and I am a natural Conservative but at the moment the party has gone so right-wing I shall probably hesitate a bit, I’ll make my mind up the night before.” He is impressed by Ruth Edwards, the Tory candidate in Rushcliffe. “If some fire-breathing right-wing idiot had been selected to replace me that would have rather simplified my choice.”
......
He (Clarke) grimaces when we mention the current cabinet. “It’s not the greatest.” Nor is he an admirer of Boris Johnson, who backed him years ago to become leader. “It’s this crash bang wallop personal approach to government that isn’t working. It was bizarre taking the whip away from me.” He doesn’t care, however, that Mr Johnson didn’t reinstate it before he left. “It doesn’t make a tuppence difference. I carried on sitting on the Conservative benches. I regard myself as a Conservative.”
He is more concerned for others who lost the whip. “I am very angry about the way he has terminated the career of younger people in mid-career. He has allowed his apparatchiks to turn it into a bit of a purge of the moderate wing. I deeply disagree with the way he has treated David Gauke. It is quite appalling. Amber Rudd is potential prime minister material; to end her career is dreadful.”
Very sad to hear David Gauke is having to stand down.... if only TMay could have cut off the careers of those like Private Francois and that Bridgen oik.
I'm not sorry about Dominic Grieve, Guto Bebb, Justine Greening, Philip Lee going. They brought it on themselves.
Certainly, I'm sorry about Clarke, Hammond, Gauke, Letwin etc.
The lights are going out across the Conservative Party, they may not be lit again for some time.
Lift up your head Long-Bailey Lift up your head and grin Lift up your head Long-Bailey Poor girl you're bound to win
Mmmm. Find 2 shorts planks and cut them in half vertically, rather.
She does not remind you of Roy Jenkins or Dennis Healey in the way of top Labour material. If my life depended upon choosing between RLB and Laura Pidcock - who must have a future on Radio 4 comedy and the Edinburgh fringe - I would choose RLB.
YouGov must be being selective from their ever growing panel as to who gets VI questions nowadays. I haven’t been asked for ages. I wonder what metric they are using and whether this affects their findings.
They are probably becoming more successful in finding ways to weed out the political obsessives of the sort who contribute to this site and who are utterly unrepresentative of the general population, much as though we may kid ourselves otherwise.
Sad but probably true.
Meanwhile, trivia, which is the only English County never to have elected a female MP?
Rutland?
Yes. Rutland and IOW are the obvious choices and the IOW is currently claiming that title. Although Rutland appears also to qualify so the IOW, and my question, aren’t actually on the money.
Is the IoW a county? I always thought it was part of Hampshire.
Showing your age, since it broke free from Hampshire in 1974
Has there ever been a female MP from Herefordshire ?
No.
It did when it was Hereford and Worcester
Herefordshire is not Hereford and Worcester, in the same way London is not Greater London.
Respect to Ken Clarke for never having been online. He hasn't missed much apart from a lot of people being angry over nothing in particular. (Not referring to this site).
We're all angry about very particular things.
Indeed yes. Death to uncivilised bastards who put pineapple on their pizza!
Tory candidate for Wakefield in a spot of bother over ill advised social media posts aimed at his opponent.
I am not sure this is as good as your earlier coup.
Calvert said something uncomplimentary about Mary Creagh NINE years ago.
He said "I can't believe just how shocking Mary Creagh looks on TV. Obviously the BBC make up dept don’t work on Sunday.” on 8 August 2010
Is that it? Or is there more ?
It isn't, but the stream of candidates in bother (most of whom are old enough to know better) is fairly steady.
Local party are reviewing his position, apparently.
The stuff by the Labour candidate in West Derby is much worse, but he's 'been on a journey' and Liverpool Labour is full of dim Trots, so he'll probably get away with it.
We are in danger of total false equivalence in some of this stuff. Making one or two dodgy comments / jokes years ago is totally different ball game to people having a long.history of anti-Semitic comments or the alleged stuff around the Cairns mate rape trial story.
e.g. the labour MP in the stoke area that made some snide comments about other parts of stoke and stuff like that, i don't care about.
That guy in Liverpool however does sound like a nasty piece of work.
For me, it is always if there is a pattern.
If it is couple of tweets / likes / shares, especially from years ago, and little "real world" evidence to corroborate that is their views, then jog on.
However, if there is a clear pattern of particular anti-semite, Islamophobic, etc type posts, and they have happily shared platforms with similar known dodgy types, etc then I have a problem.
That seems pretty reasonable. Everybody will have some things that are not great, it doesn't mean they are irredeemable - it's why the demand for resignations when something emerges, even if said person apologises and it was a long time ago, is not useful, as well as indicating apparently people cannot ever be forgiven - but when it's a pattern? That requires more to forgive, particularly if an opponent would not be forgiven for it.
Respect to Ken Clarke for never having been online. He hasn't missed much apart from a lot of people being angry over nothing in particular. (Not referring to this site).
It’s a really good piece and for some reason free to non subscribers.
It’s an interesting question as to whether we’d be brighter if we ditched online and went back to reading books and listening to vinyl, or live music.
It’s actually quite relaxing going analogue once in a while. You get more sleep.
Lift up your head Long-Bailey Lift up your head and grin Lift up your head Long-Bailey Poor girl you're bound to win
Mmmm. Find 2 shorts planks and cut them in half vertically, rather.
She does not remind you of Roy Jenkins or Dennis Healey in the way of top Labour material. If my life depended upon choosing between RLB and Laura Pidcock - who must have a future on Radio 4 comedy and the Edinburgh fringe - I would choose RLB.
YouGov must be being selective from their ever growing panel as to who gets VI questions nowadays. I haven’t been asked for ages. I wonder what metric they are using and whether this affects their findings.
They are probably becoming more successful in finding ways to weed out the political obsessives of the sort who contribute to this site and who are utterly unrepresentative of the general population, much as though we may kid ourselves otherwise.
Sad but probably true.
Meanwhile, trivia, which is the only English County never to have elected a female MP?
Rutland?
Yes. Rutland and IOW are the obvious choices and the IOW is currently claiming that title. Although Rutland appears also to qualify so the IOW, and my question, aren’t actually on the money.
Is the IoW a county? I always thought it was part of Hampshire.
Showing your age, since it broke free from Hampshire in 1974
We all know that only the pre-1974 county boundaries count.
Lift up your head Long-Bailey Lift up your head and grin Lift up your head Long-Bailey Poor girl you're bound to win
Mmmm. Find 2 shorts planks and cut them in half vertically, rather.
She does not remind you of Roy Jenkins or Dennis Healey in the way of top Labour material. If my life depended upon choosing between RLB and Laura Pidcock - who must have a future on Radio 4 comedy and the Edinburgh fringe - I would choose RLB.
YouGov must be being selective from their ever growing panel as to who gets VI questions nowadays. I haven’t been asked for ages. I wonder what metric they are using and whether this affects their findings.
They are probably becoming more successful in finding ways to weed out the political obsessives of the sort who contribute to this site and who are utterly unrepresentative of the general population, much as though we may kid ourselves otherwise.
Sad but probably true.
Meanwhile, trivia, which is the only English County never to have elected a female MP?
Rutland?
Yes. Rutland and IOW are the obvious choices and the IOW is currently claiming that title. Although Rutland appears also to qualify so the IOW, and my question, aren’t actually on the money.
Is the IoW a county? I always thought it was part of Hampshire.
Showing your age, since it broke free from Hampshire in 1974
We all know that only the pre-1974 county boundaries count.
If we go by that criteria, Westmorland has also never had a female MP.
Be careful; next we'll be into Ridings and Parts if we go down that route.
These tours of regional hospitals and schools are supposed to be mainly for the local media market. Jeez. 101.
Perhaps they've noticed that local papers are (in most places) dying on their arse, while the numbers listening to a typical local radio station are tiny (you need to be on a lot of local radio shows to equal one Radio 2 soundbite).
Seems to me you're also quite likely to get thrown a curveball about the closure of a maternity unit in the cottage hospital a decade ago, whereas national media questions may be hostile but are much more predictable and susceptible to a prepared line.
Not saying I condone the Tory approach, but it isn't necessarily stupid.
Stephen Bush in today's NewStatesman says that Labour are prioritising a strategy for maximising coverage in local newspapers and regional TV.
Tories better get a grip on this one.
Considering they have been pushing for an election for months they have seemed very unprepared and easily bumped off message.
The election is impossible to call but Mr Clarke says: “If I had to stake my life on it I think it will produce a hung parliament.” He has not decided who to support on December 12. “I’ve voted Conservative every general election in my life and I am a natural Conservative but at the moment the party has gone so right-wing I shall probably hesitate a bit, I’ll make my mind up the night before.” He is impressed by Ruth Edwards, the Tory candidate in Rushcliffe. “If some fire-breathing right-wing idiot had been selected to replace me that would have rather simplified my choice.”
......
He (Clarke) grimaces when we mention the current cabinet. “It’s not the greatest.” Nor is he an admirer of Boris Johnson, who backed him years ago to become leader. “It’s this crash bang wallop personal approach to government that isn’t working. It was bizarre taking the whip away from me.” He doesn’t care, however, that Mr Johnson didn’t reinstate it before he left. “It doesn’t make a tuppence difference. I carried on sitting on the Conservative benches. I regard myself as a Conservative.”
He is more concerned for others who lost the whip. “I am very angry about the way he has terminated the career of younger people in mid-career. He has allowed his apparatchiks to turn it into a bit of a purge of the moderate wing. I deeply disagree with the way he has treated David Gauke. It is quite appalling. Amber Rudd is potential prime minister material; to end her career is dreadful.”
Very sad to hear David Gauke is having to stand down.... if only TMay could have cut off the careers of those like Private Francois and that Bridgen oik.
I'm not sorry about Dominic Grieve, Guto Bebb, Justine Greening, Philip Lee going. They brought it on themselves.
Certainly, I'm sorry about Clarke, Hammond, Gauke, Letwin etc.
The lights are going out across the Conservative Party, they may not be lit again for some time.
The Conservatives look set to win a hefty vote share.
We keep being told all the reasons 2019 will not be like 2017, but I must say seeing the regional voting polling floating around today I do get a sense of deja vu. Maybe I'm recalling wrong but I swear very similar things were seen then.
I'm working on a plot showing the polling averages in the 50 days leading up to the election. So far Labour's curve looks eerily familiar, lol.
Cool stuff. Tories are not being as triumphant as last time, and from that one can see why.
Theory: Whenever the media gives the overwhelming impression that an electoral outcome can't happen, there are two significant effects that make it more likely to happen:
(1) People who are in a general populist rage against the media and others go "Well **** you then, if you're against it, I'm voting for it".
(2) People who don't believe that outcome is going to happen, or even necessarily want it to happen, feel free to indulge their feelings or hobby horses by voting in the "impossible" direction.
Result: 2015 Con Maj, 2016 Brexit, 2016 Trump, 2017 Almost Corbyn.
Not being seen as nailed on in the media is paradoxically a good thing for the Conservatives in this election...
These tours of regional hospitals and schools are supposed to be mainly for the local media market. Jeez. 101.
Perhaps they've noticed that local papers are (in most places) dying on their arse, while the numbers listening to a typical local radio station are tiny (you need to be on a lot of local radio shows to equal one Radio 2 soundbite).
Seems to me you're also quite likely to get thrown a curveball about the closure of a maternity unit in the cottage hospital a decade ago, whereas national media questions may be hostile but are much more predictable and susceptible to a prepared line.
Not saying I condone the Tory approach, but it isn't necessarily stupid.
Stephen Bush in today's NewStatesman says that Labour are prioritising a strategy for maximising coverage in local newspapers and regional TV.
Tories better get a grip on this one.
Considering they have been pushing for an election for months they have seemed very unprepared and easily bumped off message.
They prepared for a “Deal or No Deal” election. Selling a concrete deal is a *lot* harder.
We keep being told all the reasons 2019 will not be like 2017, but I must say seeing the regional voting polling floating around today I do get a sense of deja vu. Maybe I'm recalling wrong but I swear very similar things were seen then.
I'm working on a plot showing the polling averages in the 50 days leading up to the election. So far Labour's curve looks eerily familiar, lol.
Cool stuff. Tories are not being as triumphant as last time, and from that one can see why.
Theory: Whenever the media gives the overwhelming impression that an electoral outcome can't happen, there are two significant effects that make it more likely to happen:
(1) People who are in a general populist rage against the media and others go "Well **** you then, if you're against it, I'm voting for it".
(2) People who don't believe that outcome is going to happen, or even necessarily want it to happen, feel free to indulge their feelings or hobby horses by voting in the "impossible" direction.
Result: 2015 Con Maj, 2016 Brexit, 2016 Trump, 2017 Almost Corbyn.
Not being seen as nailed on in the media is paradoxically a good thing for the Conservatives in this election...
The zany fun they must have in the Labour social media office. And Friday is Whacky Tacky Tie Day too, I understand, so the LOLZ must've been almost unbearable today.
The election is impossible to call but Mr Clarke says: “If I had to stake my life on it I think it will produce a hung parliament.” He has not decided who to support on December 12. “I’ve voted Conservative every general election in my life and I am a natural Conservative but at the moment the party has gone so right-wing I shall probably hesitate a bit, I’ll make my mind up the night before.” He is impressed by Ruth Edwards, the Tory candidate in Rushcliffe. “If some fire-breathing right-wing idiot had been selected to replace me that would have rather simplified my choice.”
......
He (Clarke) grimaces when we mention the current cabinet. “It’s not the greatest.” Nor is he an admirer of Boris Johnson, who backed him years ago to become leader. “It’s this crash bang wallop personal approach to government that isn’t working. It was bizarre taking the whip away from me.” He doesn’t care, however, that Mr Johnson didn’t reinstate it before he left. “It doesn’t make a tuppence difference. I carried on sitting on the Conservative benches. I regard myself as a Conservative.”
He is more concerned for others who lost the whip. “I am very angry about the way he has terminated the career of younger people in mid-career. He has allowed his apparatchiks to turn it into a bit of a purge of the moderate wing. I deeply disagree with the way he has treated David Gauke. It is quite appalling. Amber Rudd is potential prime minister material; to end her career is dreadful.”
Very sad to hear David Gauke is having to stand down.... if only TMay could have cut off the careers of those like Private Francois and that Bridgen oik.
I'm not sorry about Dominic Grieve, Guto Bebb, Justine Greening, Philip Lee going. They brought it on themselves.
Certainly, I'm sorry about Clarke, Hammond, Gauke, Letwin etc.
The lights are going out across the Conservative Party, they may not be lit again for some time.
The Conservatives look set to win a hefty vote share.
Winning a hefty share does not mean much depending on what others get, particularly when they have no allies anymore. It's still looking relatively good for then, but if it does go poorly, as it very much might, I don't think technically being the most popular party in the UK will be of great comfort to them.
We keep being told all the reasons 2019 will not be like 2017, but I must say seeing the regional voting polling floating around today I do get a sense of deja vu. Maybe I'm recalling wrong but I swear very similar things were seen then.
I'm working on a plot showing the polling averages in the 50 days leading up to the election. So far Labour's curve looks eerily familiar, lol.
Cool stuff. Tories are not being as triumphant as last time, and from that one can see why.
The election is impossible to call but Mr Clarke says: “If I had to stake my life on it I think it will produce a hung parliament.” He has not decided who to support on December 12. “I’ve voted Conservative every general election in my life and I am a natural Conservative but at the moment the party has gone so right-wing I shall probably hesitate a bit, I’ll make my mind up the night before.” He is impressed by Ruth Edwards, the Tory candidate in Rushcliffe. “If some fire-breathing right-wing idiot had been selected to replace me that would have rather simplified my choice.”
......
He (Clarke) grimaces when we mention the current cabinet. “It’s not the greatest.” Nor is he an admirer of Boris Johnson, who backed him years ago to become leader. “It’s this crash bang wallop personal approach to government that isn’t working. It was bizarre taking the whip away from me.” He doesn’t care, however, that Mr Johnson didn’t reinstate it before he left. “It doesn’t make a tuppence difference. I carried on sitting on the Conservative benches. I regard myself as a Conservative.”
He is more concerned for others who lost the whip. “I am very angry about the way he has terminated the career of younger people in mid-career. He has allowed his apparatchiks to turn it into a bit of a purge of the moderate wing. I deeply disagree with the way he has treated David Gauke. It is quite appalling. Amber Rudd is potential prime minister material; to end her career is dreadful.”
Very sad to hear David Gauke is having to stand down.... if only TMay could have cut off the careers of those like Private Francois and that Bridgen oik.
I'm not sorry about Dominic Grieve, Guto Bebb, Justine Greening, Philip Lee going. They brought it on themselves.
Certainly, I'm sorry about Clarke, Hammond, Gauke, Letwin etc.
The lights are going out across the Conservative Party, they may not be lit again for some time.
The Europhile headbangers are going out across the Consrvative Party, they may not be missed for some time.....
A week is a long time in politics, 7 hours a long time in election mode, and the Tories have stormed the last two days.
Boris has nailed today as win with his promise and clarity on customs.
Which were then shown to be lies but who care he can say what he wants
His opponents trying to get a mantra he can’t be trusted, where is this evidence he lied on ire to mainland customs, what experts who explain Boris was right say west to east. If he simply lied on this one it would be massive blunder “Rest of world knows your deal better than you” the fact it’s not monumental gaff today is because it’s west east movement not east west.
I don’t think I can explain it more clearly, but some people sealed in a bubble don’t want to know honest truth at election time. 😕. Not going to stop me playing it straight in my posts though.
We need Sturgeon on the telly more - every time voters see that hectoring extremist means more votes for CON!
Just seen a clip on Sky News where Beth Rigby asked Sturgeon "wouldn't Scottish voters wanting to escape Brexit be better off voting Labour to get a second referendum?"
Interesting that Rigby suggested that voters ought to vote Labour when if they really don't like Brexit they could just vote Lib Dem.
We keep being told all the reasons 2019 will not be like 2017, but I must say seeing the regional voting polling floating around today I do get a sense of deja vu. Maybe I'm recalling wrong but I swear very similar things were seen then.
I'm working on a plot showing the polling averages in the 50 days leading up to the election. So far Labour's curve looks eerily familiar, lol.
Cool stuff. Tories are not being as triumphant as last time, and from that one can see why.
Theory: Whenever the media gives the overwhelming impression that an electoral outcome can't happen, there are two significant effects that make it more likely to happen:
(1) People who are in a general populist rage against the media and others go "Well **** you then, if you're against it, I'm voting for it".
(2) People who don't believe that outcome is going to happen, or even necessarily want it to happen, feel free to indulge their feelings or hobby horses by voting in the "impossible" direction.
Result: 2015 Con Maj, 2016 Brexit, 2016 Trump, 2017 Almost Corbyn.
Not being seen as nailed on in the media is paradoxically a good thing for the Conservatives in this election...
On that basis couldn't you argue that people will decide to vote for Swinson and Revoke?
We need Sturgeon on the telly more - every time voters see that hectoring extremist means more votes for CON!
Just seen a clip on Sky News where Beth Rigby asked Sturgeon "wouldn't Scottish voters wanting to escape Brexit be better off voting Labour to get a second referendum?"
Interesting that Rigby suggested that voters ought to vote Labour when if they really don't like Brexit they could just vote Lib Dem.
I don't know why Sky presenters just go the whole hog and wear LAB rosettes! Their coverage is so biased in favour of LAB.
Most people in Scotland don't want independence. In the CON held seats it is really only CON v SNP and most of those will vote CON like last time.
The zany fun they must have in the Labour social media office. And Friday is Whacky Tacky Tie Day too, I understand, so the LOLZ must've been almost unbearable today.
That’s so embarrassing by Harry Cole. Harry Cole doesn’t understand how 2019 election works if he thinks that mere slither of blue ahead of Labour is win. With green and red bar charts that big it’s a clear Conservative loss!
But then hacks aren’t associated with tiger on a Friday, nor is it Diet Pepsi in that open can he’s nursing.
Respect to Ken Clarke for never having been online. He hasn't missed much apart from a lot of people being angry over nothing in particular. (Not referring to this site).
It’s a really good piece and for some reason free to non subscribers.
It’s an interesting question as to whether we’d be brighter if we ditched online and went back to reading books and listening to vinyl, or live music.
Politics wouldn't be so immediate and quite so polarised. Sadly we can't go backwards though
We need Sturgeon on the telly more - every time voters see that hectoring extremist means more votes for CON!
Just seen a clip on Sky News where Beth Rigby asked Sturgeon "wouldn't Scottish voters wanting to escape Brexit be better off voting Labour to get a second referendum?"
Interesting that Rigby suggested that voters ought to vote Labour when if they really don't like Brexit they could just vote Lib Dem.
This is a disgrace considering they cancelled some Northern improvements for going a few million over.
The opening of Crossrail has been put back again, until 2021 at the earliest, with cost overruns now mounting to nearly £3 billion and the total bill at more than £18 billion.
The trans-London underground railway, already a year late and £2.2 billion over budget, has been delayed because new stations at Bond Street, in the centre of London, and Whitechapel, east of the City, are not ready. Signalling issues have also contributed to the delay.
It won't be the last delay or overrun either. Original budget and programme was a fantasy.
Boris should cancel HS2 now - then we can spend more money on other better projects and the voters will love it!
Too late to cancel Crossrail although it should never have been started.
Crossrail is basically finished. It's just in peak systems integration phase right now and troubleshooting.
Want to know why the programme keeps extending?
It assumes every test, test case and piece of software will be passed right first time. No Board or Government will accept 'planning for failure' so each rebaseline of the plan assumes everything will be an absolute success (despite the fact the real world never performs exactly as the design intended) and then act surprised when a failure requires a design and software fix - and sometimes a build fix too that then needs procuring - which punts out the programme.
Crossrail is trying to reconcile four different signalling systems with brand new train software. Expect a lot more of these.
Good evening all. Not obvious how Gauke can win his constituency standing as an independent.
Maybe MPs get a better pay-off when they are defeated than when they merely resign?
Yep £22,000 or so better - which was confirmed earlier this week as some MP is switching constituency and doesn't qualify for it.
Do you have a link for that, please? In 2017, I am sure they'd moved to resettlement grant payable regardless of defeat or retirement. It wouldn't shock me if they'd switched again, but I'd not heard it.
This is a disgrace considering they cancelled some Northern improvements for going a few million over.
The opening of Crossrail has been put back again, until 2021 at the earliest, with cost overruns now mounting to nearly £3 billion and the total bill at more than £18 billion.
The trans-London underground railway, already a year late and £2.2 billion over budget, has been delayed because new stations at Bond Street, in the centre of London, and Whitechapel, east of the City, are not ready. Signalling issues have also contributed to the delay.
We keep being told all the reasons 2019 will not be like 2017, but I must say seeing the regional voting polling floating around today I do get a sense of deja vu. Maybe I'm recalling wrong but I swear very similar things were seen then.
I'm working on a plot showing the polling averages in the 50 days leading up to the election. So far Labour's curve looks eerily familiar, lol.
Cool stuff. Tories are not being as triumphant as last time, and from that one can see why.
Theory: Whenever the media gives the overwhelming impression that an electoral outcome can't happen, there are two significant effects that make it more likely to happen:
(1) People who are in a general populist rage against the media and others go "Well **** you then, if you're against it, I'm voting for it".
(2) People who don't believe that outcome is going to happen, or even necessarily want it to happen, feel free to indulge their feelings or hobby horses by voting in the "impossible" direction.
Result: 2015 Con Maj, 2016 Brexit, 2016 Trump, 2017 Almost Corbyn.
Not being seen as nailed on in the media is paradoxically a good thing for the Conservatives in this election...
...The Conservatives have unveiled plans for a new “NHS visa” with the aim of making it quicker, easier and cheaper for foreign nurses to work in the UK...
Am I understanding correctly that the Conservatives are proposing fast-tracking for medical professionals AND making it cheaper than it used to be?
More expensive for Portuguese nurses but much cheaper for Canadian or Philippino ones.
One has to admire the Tories. 2 years ago we had to wait for the manifesto before learning of the dementia tax. This time they're giving it to us in advance. It is awfully kind of them.
For cutting the price of a visa for the vast majority of incoming nurses? Or are you demanding cheaper visas for middle income Europeans than low income Africans and Asians?
I see no good reason for imposing a visa cost of nearly £500 on nurses wishing to come and work here from the EU.
Nor do I see a good reason for encouraging the loss of nurses from much poorer countries than ours.
Do you believe that all immigrant nurses should pay the same regardless of nationality?
This is a disgrace considering they cancelled some Northern improvements for going a few million over.
The opening of Crossrail has been put back again, until 2021 at the earliest, with cost overruns now mounting to nearly £3 billion and the total bill at more than £18 billion.
The trans-London underground railway, already a year late and £2.2 billion over budget, has been delayed because new stations at Bond Street, in the centre of London, and Whitechapel, east of the City, are not ready. Signalling issues have also contributed to the delay.
Comments
e.g. the labour MP in the stoke area that made some snide comments about other parts of stoke and stuff like that, i don't care about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Wight#Modern_history
The report they wouldn’t publish, did recommendation in it suggest database’s and systems parties put together to profile and target voters is a key risk, and publishing would have drawn attention to it threatening election plan?
There have been references to the super system Cummings has built to win this election, but each time its caveated barely half a dozen people can get into it, it is extremely secure etc
Boris has nailed today as win with his promise and clarity on customs.
Tories better get a grip on this one.
Eh? So which ditch is it then?
If it is couple of tweets / likes / shares, especially from years ago, and little "real world" evidence to corroborate that is their views, then jog on.
However, if there is a clear pattern of particular anti-semite, Islamophobic, etc type posts, and they have happily shared platforms with similar known dodgy types, etc then I have a problem.
Well after nine years and 2 hard fought campaigns, if that's the most egregious offence he's committed I think he might be OK.
It's a case of 'just one more push' for the tories in Wakefield. I was balls deep (for me) on labour in 2017, having had insider information from the Labour team I was certain it would go blue.
A couple of days before the election a poster here (David Herdson??) foretold an unexpected labour hold - the canvass returns he'd seen from the tory camp meant that they'd thrown the towel in. I wished I'd changed my position but I was silly and lost badly. It wasn't a brexit election after all and remainer Creagh won well.
No idea whether to avoid this rerun, or to back Mary "Houdini" Creagh to do what the labour candidates have been doing in Wakefield for 30 years and hang on again.
It’s an interesting question as to whether we’d be brighter if we ditched online and went back to reading books and listening to vinyl, or live music.
Certainly, I'm sorry about Clarke, Hammond, Gauke, Letwin etc.
You get more sleep.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_shire_stone
(1) People who are in a general populist rage against the media and others go "Well **** you then, if you're against it, I'm voting for it".
(2) People who don't believe that outcome is going to happen, or even necessarily want it to happen, feel free to indulge their feelings or hobby horses by voting in the "impossible" direction.
Result: 2015 Con Maj, 2016 Brexit, 2016 Trump, 2017 Almost Corbyn.
Not being seen as nailed on in the media is paradoxically a good thing for the Conservatives in this election...
https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1192872515779125256
The customs and NI was yet another lie by Bozo .
Or ever.
If he simply lied on this one it would be massive blunder “Rest of world knows your deal better than you” the fact it’s not monumental gaff today is because it’s west east movement not east west.
I don’t think I can explain it more clearly, but some people sealed in a bubble don’t want to know honest truth at election time. 😕. Not going to stop me playing it straight in my posts though.
Interesting that Rigby suggested that voters ought to vote Labour when if they really don't like Brexit they could just vote Lib Dem.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QKBkaUkK-z7xlqJG3cdE96jC5g1HMPOEmq_FuT1lTXo/edit#gid=0
https://twitter.com/britainelects/status/1192814543380062213?s=20
https://twitter.com/britainelects/status/1192838122838614022?s=20
https://twitter.com/britainelects/status/1192820952842813442?s=20
https://twitter.com/britainelects/status/1192815365136568320?s=20
Most people in Scotland don't want independence. In the CON held seats it is really only CON v SNP and most of those will vote CON like last time.
But then hacks aren’t associated with tiger on a Friday, nor is it Diet Pepsi in that open can he’s nursing.
NEW THREAD
https://twitter.com/britainelects/status/1192822695412584452?s=20
Want to know why the programme keeps extending?
It assumes every test, test case and piece of software will be passed right first time. No Board or Government will accept 'planning for failure' so each rebaseline of the plan assumes everything will be an absolute success (despite the fact the real world never performs exactly as the design intended) and then act surprised when a failure requires a design and software fix - and sometimes a build fix too that then needs procuring - which punts out the programme.
Crossrail is trying to reconcile four different signalling systems with brand new train software. Expect a lot more of these.
He’s a bigger liar than Trump!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qi046Xn6lA
Bet against the pundit class.
Good piece @Cyclefree ! Thought it was genuinely from Meeks though lol