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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Boris must be able to stand for the Tory leadership

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  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    Heres a likely subject for a new thread. UK GENERALELECTION 2015 has started tweeting lists of tweeters following candidates, as per below:

    General Election ‏@UKELECTIONS2015
    #Guildford

    @HarryAldridge 2,138 followers #UKIP

    @KellyMarieLD 1,995 #LibDem

    @RichardWLabour 923 #Labour

    Could the next GE be the first tweeter election?
  • fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,320
    edited December 2013
    Well said Cyclefree, couldn't agree more. We have finally got to the wonderful point where every adult in the UK regardless of gender or sexuality has the same rights whether it be the vote, the age of consent or marriage. That anyone would try to use our universities to introduce this kind of backward adult gender segregation is abhorrent.
    Cyclefree said:

    On the day there is a memorial for a man who fought all his life to abolish racial segregation, there was a depressing debate on Channel 4 news this evening between an Islamist and Y Ali-Brown about the decision of some British universities - including UCL - to permit segregation of men and women at British - yes, you read that right - British universities if some Islamist wants it because it would offend his religious views and, therefore, in the sort of cock-a-mamie thinking that would have got me failed when I was at university, be an infringement of his freedom of speech.

    There is a petition against this monstrosity but that - once again - we have an example of how women's rights are trampled on in the rush to appease male fascists is beyond depressing.

    Rather than a group hug and a photo op over Mandela I want politicians here to do something serious about such grotesqueries. Or is gender segregation good now?

  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,064
    edited December 2013

    I take back all those derogatory things I've ever said about IDS, because if this is true, then he's a star.

    Make no mistake: Iain Duncan Smith wants the end of social security

    Don't let the bluster, incompetence and misinformation obscure the Quiet Man's true, Tory purpose: destroying the welfare safety net

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/10/make-no-mistake-iain-duncan-smith-end-social-security

    http://i.imgur.com/odY8vxd.gif
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited December 2013
    MikeK said:

    Heres a likely subject for a new thread. UK GENERALELECTION 2015 has started tweeting lists of tweeters following candidates, as per below:

    General Election ‏@UKELECTIONS2015
    #Guildford

    @HarryAldridge 2,138 followers #UKIP

    @KellyMarieLD 1,995 #LibDem

    @RichardWLabour 923 #Labour

    Could the next GE be the first tweeter election?

    Yes, that was my idea. Took me most of the last four evenings to put the links together.

    I don't have my own website so I usually hand the ideas over to that blog.
  • Paywall

    The Prime Minister declared that he was keeping a “little black book” of policies that the Liberal Democrats had blocked for use during the 2015 poll in an interview with The Spectator magazine.
  • fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,320
    I followed the debate today in the Commons on this issue. And despite all the noise and rhetoric from the Labour benches, it was quite stark just how ill positioned or equipped they were to criticise the delays in the implementation of these long over due welfare reforms with their own record in Government and in Opposition.
    MaxPB said:

    I take back all those derogatory things I've ever said about IDS, because if this is true, then he's a star.

    Make no mistake: Iain Duncan Smith wants the end of social security

    Don't let the bluster, incompetence and misinformation obscure the Quiet Man's true, Tory purpose: destroying the welfare safety net

    http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/10/make-no-mistake-iain-duncan-smith-end-social-security

    http://i.imgur.com/odY8vxd.gif
  • foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    I suppose that the difference is that some murderers are individuals, and some have an ideological background that justifies their acts, and often celebrates them. This is as true of the attack on the soldier in Woolwich, as it is for the "honour" crimes that misogynists commit.

    antifrank said:

    antifrank said:

    @isam @nigel4england Civil war? Get a grip, the pair of you.

    A British soldier hacked to death in broad daylight on a London street, with the perpetrator confessing only today that he is at war.

    Agreed it's not the stuff of Robert E Lee but he confessed to being at war with us only today, so what would you call it?
    A pair of nutters.

    Murder rates have halved in ten years. That does not happen in civil wars.
    What about 52 killed and 770 injured in 7/7? Just a few nutters?

    These people are at war with us.
    You give them more credit and respectability than they deserve by referring to murder as war. All it does is reinforce their message and give them some warped form of justification. Better to just deal with them as common - or uncommon - criminals and deny them the ability to claim that justification. .
    Agreed, doesn't mean that Powell was wrong though.
    Since the government immediately introduced the 1968 immigration act I don't think there is any way of claiming whether his predictions were accurate or not.since the picture had changed. But the idea that we today are facing a civil war or anything approaching it is simply not realistic.
    Tell that to the victims.
    That's a pretty daft comment. Should we consider that there is a civil war going on between men and women simply because occasionally a deranged misogynist decides to cut up some women?

    People kill each other for all sorts of reasons. Most of them utterly illogical and unjustifiable. They then make all sorts of outlandish claims for their behaviour - the classic one being that God or 'the voices' made them do it. By giving any credence to their claims you are simply allowing them to perpetuate their self justification.
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    This was correct yesterday. A few more have been added since:

    Number of selected candidates with personal Twitter pages:

    Conservatives: 151/171 = 88.3%
    Labour: 244/265 = 92.1%
    LDs: 66/79 = 83.5%
    UKIP: 31/66 = 47.0%
    Greens: 8/9 = 88.9%
    PC: 11/14 = 78.6%

    Totals: 511/604 = 84.6%
  • SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Jonathan said:

    Jonathan said:

    Since when did SeanT qualify as a minor celebrity? He's not even been on Ch5 big brother or IACGMOOH yet.

    Sean's become a minor celebratory amongst my friends, even those who have no interest in politics.

    A few of them, quite unprompted shared two of Sean's telegraph pieces.

    His popularity would have soared even more, if I had told them Sean has insulted me on a few occasions.

    Good to see they take the Telegraph on Blossom ward.
    That's nice. You're accusing TSE's friends of being mentally deranged, and you obviously find this an agreeable insult.

    The British Left, you never stop with the pungent, smelly hypocrisy, do you?
    Err without wanting to annoy you.

    The piece they most shared with me was this one

    Are atheists mentally ill?

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/seanthomas/100231060/are-atheists-mentally-ill/

    Edit and the second one they shared with me, was your impartial and honest appraisal of the Labour government of 1997 to 2010

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/seanthomas/100240679/exclusive-labour-1997-2010-was-the-worst-government-ever-and-this-is-why/
    lol. But that's why I AM BETTER THAN THEM. I am a belligerent, drunken, hedonistic, greedy, whoremongering, Thatcherite capitalist patriot. That's what I am. Everything I do or say or write (ESPECIALLY on the Telegraph) reflects this.

    Necessarily, my posts can be a bit punchy, but What You See Is What You Get.

    With these shifty, warty, pungent, smelly old lefties, like tim or Jonathan, they pretend to be all nicey-nicey, then they consistently come out with the most odious, canting junk, some of it quite seriously pernicious (like their failure to condemn Islamism).

    String them up!!
    Excellent native Primrose Hill lefty wit!
  • MikeKMikeK Posts: 9,053
    edited December 2013
    AndyJS said:

    MikeK said:

    Heres a likely subject for a new thread. UK GENERALELECTION 2015 has started tweeting lists of tweeters following candidates, as per below:

    General Election ‏@UKELECTIONS2015
    #Guildford

    @HarryAldridge 2,138 followers #UKIP

    @KellyMarieLD 1,995 #LibDem

    @RichardWLabour 923 #Labour

    Could the next GE be the first tweeter election?

    Yes, that was my idea. Took me most of the last four evenings to put the links together.

    I don't have my own website so I usually hand the ideas over to that blog.
    Actually, I myself have been thinking of a tweeting campaign for UKIP and have passed my ideas on to the exec.
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited December 2013
    MikeK said:

    AndyJS said:

    MikeK said:

    Heres a likely subject for a new thread. UK GENERALELECTION 2015 has started tweeting lists of tweeters following candidates, as per below:

    General Election ‏@UKELECTIONS2015
    #Guildford

    @HarryAldridge 2,138 followers #UKIP

    @KellyMarieLD 1,995 #LibDem

    @RichardWLabour 923 #Labour

    Could the next GE be the first tweeter election?

    Yes, that was my idea. Took me most of the last four evenings to put the links together.

    I don't have my own website so I usually hand the ideas over to that blog.
    Actually, I myself have been thinking of a tweeting campaign for UKIP and have passed my ideas on to the exec.
    Slight problem — as you can see from the figures I just posted, UKIP have the lowest proportion of candidates on Twitter, less than 50%. 31 out of 66 candidates selected so far.
  • Times/YouGov #indyref poll

    Yes 33 (+1)

    No 52 (no change)

    Changes since last poll in September.

    Fieldwork all post white paper
  • fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,320
    Just want to second all these posts, you would think that it was Obama or Cameron who had pulled out the mobile phone and instigated this photo the way some stuffed shirts are behaving. And on that point, isn't poor Obama not even allowed to carry a personal phone.
    SeanT said:

    SMukesh said:

    tim said:

    SMukesh said:

    Dave and Obama acting like gits on the Mail`s front page.

    He's done a selfie and joined "TeamNigella" on the same day, he's definitely got that common touch.
    It`s very heartening to see Dave looking so solemn at the funeral.
    A Tory smiles at a funeral, and we never hear the end of it. A Tory smiles at a memorial service, and we never hear the end of it.

    Can PB's brains trust tell us the countenance someone should have on these occasions? A stiff British upper lip, gaze straight forward and perhaps - just perhaps - the merest trace of moisture in the corner of one eye?
    The memorial service was boring, silly, chaotic, undignified, cringeworthy and embarrassing. Our prime minister should be congratulated for capturing that complex mood with a single photo.
    HYUFD said:

    Also, given the rather shambolic memorial for Mandela today, empty seats, noisy backround not to mention the open air venue in the rain despite a hundred world leaders (and an excellent speech by Obama in the circumstances) can I suggest as we do state occasions better than anywhere else, we offer the choir of Westminster Abbey, the Archbishop of Canterbury the Grenadier Guards and military organisers to nations around the world to organise funerals and memorials when statesmen pop their clogs?

    SeanT said:

    SMukesh said:

    tim said:

    SMukesh said:

    Dave and Obama acting like gits on the Mail`s front page.

    He's done a selfie and joined "TeamNigella" on the same day, he's definitely got that common touch.
    It`s very heartening to see Dave looking so solemn at the funeral.
    A Tory smiles at a funeral, and we never hear the end of it. A Tory smiles at a memorial service, and we never hear the end of it.

    Can PB's brains trust tell us the countenance someone should have on these occasions? A stiff British upper lip, gaze straight forward and perhaps - just perhaps - the merest trace of moisture in the corner of one eye?
    The memorial service was boring, silly, chaotic, undignified, cringeworthy and embarrassing. Our prime minister should be congratulated for capturing that complex mood with a single photo.
    +1

    This attack line (if it is an attack at all) is even more silly given the smiles, laughing and dancing displayed by many of the people present. It was a memorial service, not a funeral.
  • 48% think independence would leave Scotland worse off. 26% say it would be better off. 12% say no difference, 14% say Don't know
  • tessyCtessyC Posts: 106
    Don't know if posted but there is a Welsh poll out tonight.

    http://www.itv.com/news/wales/2013-12-10/new-poll-tracks-welsh-voters/

    Changes on last elections

    Westminster

    Labour 46% (+10%)
    Conservative 21% (-5%)
    Plaid Cymru 12% (+1%)
    UKIP 10% (+8%)
    Liberal Democrats 8% (-12%)
    Others 4% (no change)

    Assembly Constituency

    Labour 43% (+1%)
    Conservative 19% (-6%)
    Plaid Cymru 20% (+1%)
    Liberal Democrats 9% (-2%)
    UKIP 7% (+7%)
    Others 3% (no change)

    List

    Labour 40% (+3%)
    Conservative 19% (-3.5%)
    Plaid Cymru 15% (-3%)
    UKIP 10% (+5%)
    Liberal Democrats 9% (+1%)
    Others 7% (-3%)


    Europe

    Labour 41%
    Conservative 20%
    Plaid Cymru 13%
    UKIP 13%
    Liberal Democrats 8%
    Others 5%

    EU referendum 40% Leave, 38% stay

    Devolution of Income tax: 38% against, 35% for.
  • If Scots were convinced the country would be better off independent, the result would be – 41% for ‘Yes’& 44% for ‘No’.
  • NinoinozNinoinoz Posts: 1,312
    SeanT said:

    tim said:

    Cyclefree said:

    tim said:

    Mr. Roberts, it's not the biological differences, it's the cultural differences. Gender segregation is not something that helps our society, nor is it an acceptable vestige of a foreign culture. It has no place in a civilised country.

    Then stop the gender segregation, secularise all places of learning, stop girls and boys being educated separately by any religious bodies which attract state funding.Or within any educational establishment.

    tim ae you defending the Islamists insistence on segregation? They are the ones calling for
    it, not any other group.
    Exactly Sunil. I'm sure Tim will do his bit by signing the petition against such segregation. And Ina answer to his question, this problem has arisen because of the creed of Islamism and the pathetic cowardice of the university and intellectual and political establishment in the face of a fascistic creed.

    There are, as far as I'm aware , no Jewish or Irish Catholic groups at university demanding that women must be segregated from men merely because the speaker is Jewish or Catholic or believes the moon is made of green cheese.

    And I would feel react in exactly the same way if there were such groups. But the fact is that now we face a serious threat to our liberal views from Islamists and. If we really believe them we need to confront such people not indulge in pathetic whataboutery and self-congratulations over past victories.
    You'll defend to the death girls being segregated in other religious schools though no doubt, or Catholic schools right to teach religious views regarding contraception, or parents rights to segregate their own children in school classes by withdrawing them for religious reasons.
    If an educational establishment receives state funding why should it gender segregate at all.
    If religious groups want to organise on campuses and gender segregate let them go to a Mosque, a Church or a Synagogue


    I've had enough of this argument. We have secondary education by gender in the UK because it is part of our educational tradition. It may be illogical, but there it is. And it has persisted, for good and bad reasons.

    However the whole thrust of UNIVERSITY education in the United Kingdom has been towards greater open-ness and intermingling - of races, faiths, and genders - over the last two centuries.

    I went to a university - UCL - which exists for precisely this reason. It is the "Godless College of Gower Street", founded by philosopher Jeremy Bentham, and it exists exactly because Bentham and his enlightened friends felt that non-Anglicans and non-believers should be allowed higher education, just like the middle and upper class Anglicans.

    It became a success and, soon afterwards, the spirit of liberality was extended to women - and indeed everyone who qualified. UCL is now one of the greatest universities in the world.

    This is the KEY achievement of the Anglo-Saxon education system: all are welcome, no one is disallowed, racial, religious or gender segregation is abhorrent.

    It is this key achievement which Islamists seek to reverse, and they are succeeding, by subtly nibbling away at its foundations, and what they are doing is disgusting, and we need to say STOP. NO. GO AWAY.

    The fact you defend them says it all.
    We have gender separation in schools because girls, especially, benefit from it.

    If colleges exclude Muslims rather than accommodate them, they will withdraw from existing colleges and found their own. They are doing that with schools already.

    As for your comment over Anglo-Saxon education, you overlook the fact that England is decreasingly Anglo-Saxon by the day.
  • However, if voters were persuaded that Independence would be economically bad for Scotland 28% would vote yes, 58% would vote no
  • AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    "As for your comment over Anglo-Saxon education, you overlook the fact that England is decreasingly Anglo-Saxon by the day."

    Still about 80%, 90% outside London.
  • tessyCtessyC Posts: 106
    In terms of seats from the poll:

    Westminster

    Labour: 33 seats (+7)
    Conservatives 3 seats (-5)
    Plaid Cymru 2 seats (-1)
    Liberal Democrats 2 seats (-1)

    Assembly

    Labour: 30 (no change); 29 constituency AMs, 1 list AM
    Conservative: 11 (-3); 5 constituency AMs, 6 list AMs
    Plaid Cymru: 9 (-2); 5 constituency AMs, 4 list AMs
    Liberal Democrats: 5 (no change); 1 constituency AM, 4 list AMs
    UKIP 5 (+5); all 5 would be list AMs
  • fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,320
    The Yes Campaign had a lot riding on that White Paper launch being a game changer, it failed abysmally. And I suspect because it read far more like a party political manifesto launch than a serious non partisan attempt at making the case for Independence.

    Times/YouGov #indyref poll

    Yes 33 (+1)

    No 52 (no change)

    Changes since last poll in September.

    Fieldwork all post white paper

  • Err....what have I done?
  • fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,320
    TessyC, interesting poll considering all the recent negative stories coming out of Wales on issues like the NHS and education?
    tessyC said:

    In terms of seats from the poll:

    Westminster

    Labour: 33 seats (+7)
    Conservatives 3 seats (-5)
    Plaid Cymru 2 seats (-1)
    Liberal Democrats 2 seats (-1)

    Assembly

    Labour: 30 (no change); 29 constituency AMs, 1 list AM
    Conservative: 11 (-3); 5 constituency AMs, 6 list AMs
    Plaid Cymru: 9 (-2); 5 constituency AMs, 4 list AMs
    Liberal Democrats: 5 (no change); 1 constituency AM, 4 list AMs
    UKIP 5 (+5); all 5 would be list AMs

  • Err....what have I done?

    We don't discuss moderation.
  • Err....what have I done?

    We don't discuss moderation.
    Fair enough!

    Out of interest, not really been on tonight. Was someone called a racist?
  • Err....what have I done?

    We don't discuss moderation.
    Fair enough!

    Out of interest, not really been on tonight. Was someone called a racist?
    Repeatedly, despite warnings and clarifications.
  • fitalass said:

    The Yes Campaign had a lot riding on that White Paper launch being a game changer, it failed abysmally. And I suspect because it read far more like a party political manifesto launch than a serious non partisan attempt at making the case for Independence.

    Times/YouGov #indyref poll

    Yes 33 (+1)

    No 52 (no change)

    Changes since last poll in September.

    Fieldwork all post white paper

    The White Paper failed to answer the important questions as Salmond sheepishly confessed in today's STV interview.

    http://news.stv.tv/politics/252461-stv-poll-labour-closes-in-on-snp-in-holyrood-voting-intentions/

  • NinoinozNinoinoz Posts: 1,312
    AndyJS said:

    "As for your comment over Anglo-Saxon education, you overlook the fact that England is decreasingly Anglo-Saxon by the day."

    Still about 80%, 90% outside London.

    And are 80% of tertiary education colleges religious?

    If not, then that's discriminatory and should be put right immediately. Of course, the figure should be higher as not all Anglos are non-religious.

    Gosh, maybe I'll get a Catholic university system within my lifetime if 'liberals' carry being so illiberal.
  • tessyCtessyC Posts: 106
    edited December 2013
    @fitalass Yes although I would say the Conservatives are doing well to be only down 5% at this stage, they seem to have a pretty solid 20% core vote here. Media scrutiny is not the best in Wales with only one national newspaper and BBC and ITV regional news, of which none have ever been hostile to the Welsh government in making them accountable. With the national comparisons now being made by the Coalition things may start to change, I dont hold my breath though.
  • fitalassfitalass Posts: 4,320
    Yes, very similar up here in Scotland when it comes to media coverage too. Which makes all the wailing from the Nats about a biased or unfair media all the more daft, they are getting away with just about Scot free scrutiny of their domestic governance right now while whinging about Indy Ref balance.
    tessyC said:

    @fitalass Yes although I would say the Conservatives are doing well to be only down 5% at this stage, they seem to have a pretty solid 20% core vote here. Media scrutiny is not the best in Wales with only one national newspaper and BBC and ITV regional news, of which none have ever been hostile to the Welsh government in making them accountable. With the national comparisons now being made by the Coalition things may start to change, I dont hold my breath though.

  • old_labourold_labour Posts: 3,238
    @Sunil_Prasannan
    I hope you are enjoying Warwick and getting some train time!

    Cyclefree said:

    Or is gender segregation good now?

    Of course it isn't. Not really au fait with how far down the line the proposed segregation is but hopefully it won't be actually implemented (I'm currently working at Warwick at the moment).
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 52,133
    edited December 2013

    @Sunil_Prasannan
    I hope you are enjoying Warwick and getting some train time!

    Cyclefree said:

    Or is gender segregation good now?

    Of course it isn't. Not really au fait with how far down the line the proposed segregation is but hopefully it won't be actually implemented (I'm currently working at Warwick at the moment).
    Thanks! Well I've been to Brum on both the Chiltern and West Coast lines, as well as through Nuneaton on the WCML- so I hope to to fill the gap by doing Leamington Spa to Coventry and Coventry to Nuneaton (the latter operated by single car diesel trains).
  • New Thread
  • Just watched a disturbing film called "Compliance" on Film4, basically a prank-call version of the Millgram experiment. Based on real and apparently frequent events, even more disturbingly.
  • old_labourold_labour Posts: 3,238
    That's a grandiose name for a few lines written on a piece of A4 paper.

    Paywall

    The Prime Minister declared that he was keeping a “little black book” of policies that the Liberal Democrats had blocked for use during the 2015 poll in an interview with The Spectator magazine.

  • old_labourold_labour Posts: 3,238
    I think Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga can sleep soundly in their beds.
    MikeK said:

    Heres a likely subject for a new thread. UK GENERALELECTION 2015 has started tweeting lists of tweeters following candidates, as per below:

    General Election ‏@UKELECTIONS2015
    #Guildford

    @HarryAldridge 2,138 followers #UKIP

    @KellyMarieLD 1,995 #LibDem

    @RichardWLabour 923 #Labour

    Could the next GE be the first tweeter election?

This discussion has been closed.