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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Marf gives her take as EdM prepares to give his big speech

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  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @IsabelOakeshott: Tomorrow's papers will be full of 'return to socialism'/' lurch to left'/ 'interfering in the market..' Land grabs, price caps, etc

    How did another journalist spot this non-story? The combined might of Newsense™ declared it misunderstood...
  • Daniel Furr ‏@DanielFurrUK 1m
    After a little research, EU to set completion of unified energy market next year. Price freeze is dead in the water already.

    Illegal, illegal, illegal

    Still, it'll please the left wing and the stupid.
  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    JohnO said:

    @tim - er, anyone can apply or obtain planning permission - it's the ability to implement it that matters. So the 'new' builder will have to own that land i.e. it would have to be expropriated from the owner.

    I don't think tim know's what he's talking about.. or the principles of 'ownership' are beyond him.

    According to Ed - all property is theft (from the government).

  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Vote for me and I'll steal your property....
  • RichardNabaviRichardNabavi Posts: 3,413
    edited September 2013
    There are two possible explanations.

    1) Ed thinks that the way to win the election is to commission focus groups, note down the top ten issues ('energy bills', 'youth unemployment', 'cost of living', 'shortage of housing', 'bedroom tax' etc), and then go down the list saying he'll intervene to fix them;

    or (and this is the one which should frighten us all):

    2) Ed really does think like a five-year old: "Daddy, why doesn't the government pass a law giving everyone enough money?"
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,769
    Whats this about the land appropriation ?

    Is my avatar (Ginger)'s grazing safe under Ed Miliband ?
  • taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    Ed Miliband promising to freeze the prices he is responsible for causing to increase in the first place....

    You couldn't make it up.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,518

    Well, there's Labours credibility in the business world going down the pan...

    Hopefully the electorate will be wise enough to see through the sweeties and spin.

    Not people seeing they energy bills going up massively,people want to see these energy companies punished.

    People also want to ensure that the lights won't turn off. A few days of energy analysts and execs telling the country on primetime news that this price freeze could lead to blackouts is enough to put the willies into the public. The energy companies now have a massive incentive to keep Labour out in 2015 and Ed just put a big bullseye on his back.
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @BethRigby: 16-17 year olds to be given the vote - Ed does know that the younger generation are turning Tory doesn't he? #lab13
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,531
    edited September 2013
    Sunil Prasannan ‏@Sunil_P2 1m Probably the best speech Ed's ever given! The boy done good! #Lab13.
  • RedRag1RedRag1 Posts: 527
    Scott_P said:

    @IsabelOakeshott: Tomorrow's papers will be full of 'return to socialism'/' lurch to left'/ 'interfering in the market..' Land grabs, price caps, etc

    How did another journalist spot this non-story? The combined might of Newsense™ declared it misunderstood...

    Would that be the same journo who works for a right wing paper, who's owner has just been attacked by Ed M. Well, she must have a balanced opinion then.
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    LOL

    Now they're applauding the Silence of the Lamont.
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @charlotteahenry: Did Ed seriously...seriously just try to claim credit for equal marriage?! YOU HAD 13 YEARS. Utterly....utterly shameless. #lab13
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    There is no energy in Ed's speech.

    It is all mid-summer meander. A picnic of platitudes on the banks of a river.
  • taffys said:

    Does this mean Ed Miliband will steal my garden if I don;t build on it?

    Only if you get planing permission to build a house in your garden.
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,676

    Probably the best Ed speech in the world.

    Sunil - we know you admire him because of his Syria stance. And it is fair enough that you hold a strong non-interventionist view.

    But EdM's Syria stance was to agree to intervene.

    And then he went back on his word.

  • MaxPB said:

    Well, there's Labours credibility in the business world going down the pan...

    Hopefully the electorate will be wise enough to see through the sweeties and spin.

    Not people seeing they energy bills going up massively,people want to see these energy companies punished.

    People also want to ensure that the lights won't turn off. A few days of energy analysts and execs telling the country on primetime news that this price freeze could lead to blackouts is enough to put the willies into the public. The energy companies now have a massive incentive to keep Labour out in 2015 and Ed just put a big bullseye on his back.
    Also the energy companies will just point out that there will be huge increases after the 2017 period to catch up for under investment.
  • MaxPB said:

    Well, there's Labours credibility in the business world going down the pan...

    Hopefully the electorate will be wise enough to see through the sweeties and spin.

    Not people seeing they energy bills going up massively,people want to see these energy companies punished.

    People also want to ensure that the lights won't turn off. A few days of energy analysts and execs telling the country on primetime news that this price freeze could lead to blackouts is enough to put the willies into the public. The energy companies now have a massive incentive to keep Labour out in 2015 and Ed just put a big bullseye on his back.
    That assumes people can think beyond today / tomorrow. Prices are today's problem, when people don't have enough money to last until payday, why should they think of next year?
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    A standing ovation. Oh, no, wait, yes, no, maybe, er, no...
  • TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633
    zero praise from tim for the energy freeze - even he knows its DOA

  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited September 2013
    FFS little Ed's so desperate he's going down the 'Jennifer's ear' route to try and boost SLAB and the unionists.

    Now he's ranting about "foreigners" after his immigration dog-whistling.

    Unspoofable.
  • RedRag1RedRag1 Posts: 527
    Scott_P said:

    @BethRigby: 16-17 year olds to be given the vote - Ed does know that the younger generation are turning Tory doesn't he? #lab13

    More bull from the PB Hodges....go check the facts.

    Todays poll - Lab 21% ahead
    Sunday poll - Lab 7% ahead
    Friday Poll - Lab 9% ahead

    Do you believe any old shit the Tories spoon feed you?
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    Scott_P said:

    A standing ovation. Oh, no, wait, yes, no, maybe, er, no...

    No. Just spare applause subsidy.

  • TykejohnnoTykejohnno Posts: 7,362
    MaxPB said:

    Well, there's Labours credibility in the business world going down the pan...

    Hopefully the electorate will be wise enough to see through the sweeties and spin.

    Not people seeing they energy bills going up massively,people want to see these energy companies punished.

    People also want to ensure that the lights won't turn off. A few days of energy analysts and execs telling the country on primetime news that this price freeze could lead to blackouts is enough to put the willies into the public. The energy companies now have a massive incentive to keep Labour out in 2015 and Ed just put a big bullseye on his back.
    Won't matter to the ordinary folk out there,all they see is ed helping them with they bills,it's up to the tories and they friends to take this policy apart before it becomes a election winner.



  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @jennirsl: Some radical ideas in Miliband speech - builders' land confiscated if not developed: energy price controls: small business tax cut.

    Another journalist on the non-story. Where are they getting this from? Were they perhaps listening to the speech instead of stalking a poster on a blog?
  • NeilNeil Posts: 7,983
    edited September 2013
    Scott_P said:

    @charlotteahenry: Did Ed seriously...seriously just try to claim credit for equal marriage?! YOU HAD 13 YEARS. Utterly....utterly shameless. #lab13

    And tbf in those 13 years Labour got rid of section 28, allowed gays to serve openly in the military, outlawed discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, equalised the age of consent, allowed for adoption by same-sex couples and brought in civil partnerships.

  • TOPPING said:

    Sunil Prasannan ‏@Sunil_P2 1m Probably the best speech Ed's ever given! The boy done good! #Lab13

    Sunil - we know you admire him because of his Syria stance. And it is fair enough that you hold a strong non-interventionist view.

    But EdM's Syria stance was to agree to intervene.

    And then he went back on his word.

    TOPPING - It isn't just his Syria stance.

    The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that Ed, for lack of a better word, is good. Ed is right, Ed works. Ed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Ed, in all of his forms; Ed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And Ed, you mark my words, will not only save the Labour Party, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the UK. Thank you very much.

  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    Little Ed somehow forgetting who it was that brought in ATOS as he talks about welfare.

    Oops!
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @krishgm: Are those interim standing ovations genuine or do they keep thinking he's finished? #Miliband

    They are just hoping he has finished...
  • JohnOJohnO Posts: 4,286
    Ed doesn't shout well, does he? Friends, friends, and I mean this most sincerely....

  • Re: Milliband's energy promise. So the Sun can save some money and re-run the front page it used 21 years ago.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_Kinnock_wins_today_will_the_last_person_to_leave_Britain_please_turn_out_the_lights

  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @michaelsavage: Golly... RT @Kevin_Maguire: Red Ed is back today
  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,676
    edited September 2013

    TOPPING said:

    Sunil Prasannan ‏@Sunil_P2 1m Probably the best speech Ed's ever given! The boy done good! #Lab13

    Sunil - we know you admire him because of his Syria stance. And it is fair enough that you hold a strong non-interventionist view.

    But EdM's Syria stance was to agree to intervene.

    And then he went back on his word.

    TOPPING - It isn't just his Syria stance.

    The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that Ed, for lack of a better word, is good. Ed is right, Ed works. Ed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Ed, in all of his forms; Ed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And Ed, you mark my words, will not only save the Labour Party, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the UK. Thank you very much.

    *applause*

    :)
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @iainmartin1: Miliband unveils his immigration policy. Tells Lynton Crosby: Go home.
  • RedRag1RedRag1 Posts: 527

    MaxPB said:

    Well, there's Labours credibility in the business world going down the pan...

    Hopefully the electorate will be wise enough to see through the sweeties and spin.

    Not people seeing they energy bills going up massively,people want to see these energy companies punished.

    People also want to ensure that the lights won't turn off. A few days of energy analysts and execs telling the country on primetime news that this price freeze could lead to blackouts is enough to put the willies into the public. The energy companies now have a massive incentive to keep Labour out in 2015 and Ed just put a big bullseye on his back.
    Won't matter to the ordinary folk out there,all they see is ed helping them with they bills,it's up to the tories and they friends to take this policy apart before it becomes a election winner.



    Tyke - Not worth even debating it with them, most can't see past what their one eyed leader says. I assume when you say their friends, you mean the people most of the PB Hodges are already quoting? Times/Express/Mail/Telegraph/Sun journos?
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    edited September 2013
    JohnO said:

    Ed doesn't shout well, does he? Friends, friends, and I mean this most sincerely....

    It is difficult to dislike Ed.

    Much easier to feel sorry for him.

    He means well.

  • I wonder whether Dan Hodges will be impressed?
  • Scott_P said:

    @MASieghart: How can you freeze energy bills AND take all carbon out of energy by 2030? Doesn’t add up, does it? #lab13

    You could put several pence on the basic rate of income tax for direct government investment in zero carbon energy generation. It's about the only way to square the circle - which is why both governments have been happy for energy bills to rise instead, and for energy companies to take the blame.
  • Scott_P said:

    @krishgm: Are those interim standing ovations genuine or do they keep thinking he's finished? #Miliband

    They are just hoping he has finished...

    Either that or they're really thinking their in soviet Russia and are off the gulaks if they don't...
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,769
    Ed Miliband will promise ANYTHING to get elected - the less coherent the better (Green energy + Price caps + Investment o_O ?!)

    This speech may well go down very well with the country at large even though it looks to be full of nonsense...
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,347
    edited September 2013
    Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said Labour would "break up the big six" energy companies into firms which produce energy and firms which supply homes

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24213366

    Putting aside it sounds exactly like the disaster of railways having trains separate from track /stations, is this going to be legal under EU law? Free movement of goods and services etc.

    And how will a price cap be legal again under EU law?

    From bit a caught, certainly sounds like Ed wasn't misquoted / misspoke when faced with when are you going to bring back Socialism question.
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    I think this is the finale.

    I detect a cresendo.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,302
    Ed Miliband as Prime Minister ?

    No we're Britain we're better than this.

  • RedRag1RedRag1 Posts: 527

    I wonder whether Dan Hodges will be impressed?

    PB Hodges - looking to their king for direction.

  • Good afternoon, everyone.

    Gave the Mili-speech a quick look, but the self-righteous Blair mannerisms put me off so I decided to watch the rather good Top Gear Bolivia special instead.

    On energy prices, why stop there? Why not guarantee food will not rise in price?
  • Votes for 16 year olds
    Energy price controls
    Build it or lose it land grab
    200k new homes a year
    Free spare rooms for council tenants
    Increase minimum wage
    Tax cut for small biz, tax increase for bigger biz

    Can't be faulted on launching new policies, can he?
  • Did he use enough verbs?
  • Why do we still think Ed is crap? Ed is most definitely not crap! He is merely misunderstood, and I put it to you that is the chief reason why he is so maligned and ridiculed by the evil right-wing media.

    I am certain you will agree with me that Ed is magnificently charismatic and eloquent. He is an inspiring and refreshing standard bearer for the social democratic tradition in our great nation. Yes, indeed: One Nation. Nay, his performance at Conference this afternoon must surely have been amongst the greatest (if not the greatest) ever given by a leader of the Labour Party, or indeed of any party leader! Such magnificence, such poise, such alacrity. Wow! And his wonderful repertoire of jokes would put even Harry Hill to shame!

    He is articulate, passionate, an accomplished orator, and I think a real progressive alternative to the smarmy posh boy Cameron!
  • A few observations on the content as I understand it:

    1) Red Ed is back. The Thatcherite consensus is well and truly broken today. This means that 2015 is an era-defining election.

    2) Ed Miliband is right to attack David Cameron hard. He's the Conservatives' best asset. Labour need to tarnish it.

    3) I'm not warm on "Britain is better than this" as a theme. It sounds like the cry of a football football fan whose team is 2-0 down with 15 minutes to go.
  • TykejohnnoTykejohnno Posts: 7,362

    Good afternoon, everyone.

    Gave the Mili-speech a quick look, but the self-righteous Blair mannerisms put me off so I decided to watch the rather good Top Gear Bolivia special instead.

    On energy prices, why stop there? Why not guarantee food will not rise in price?

    Why not,VAT cut ?
  • For the Mail, Times and Telegraph this speech may finally make their minds up about Ed Miliband and thst will not be favourable.
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    @rosschawkins: Brown also threatened to force energy firms to cut bills when Ed Miliband was at DECC in 08 http://t.co/UcU8iw3G6J
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530

    Good afternoon, everyone.

    Gave the Mili-speech a quick look, but the self-righteous Blair mannerisms put me off so I decided to watch the rather good Top Gear Bolivia special instead.

    On energy prices, why stop there? Why not guarantee food will not rise in price?

    Like pasties for instance?

    Since we are on the subject of great speeches of our time (or indeeed not) let us not forget "the master". ;)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCovGqMiZyA

  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,302
    edited September 2013
    ROFL,

    Norman Smith BBC :Ed's Dirty Harry moment just unbelievable.
  • antifrank said:


    1) Red Ed is back. The Thatcherite consensus is well and truly broken today. This means that 2015 is an era-defining election..

    Maybe. More likely there will be hurried 'clarifications', just as there have been whenever Labour have announced anything in the last couple of years.

  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,676
    ComRes: "not showing leadership".
  • Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said Labour would "break up the big six" energy companies into firms which produce energy and firms which supply homes

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24213366

    Putting aside it sounds exactly like the disaster of railways having trains separate from track /stations, is this going to be legal under EU law? Free movement of goods and services etc.

    And how will a price cap be legal again under EU law?

    From bit a caught, certainly sounds like Ed wasn't misquoted / misspoke when faced with when are you going to bring back Socialism question.

    I doubt there would be an issue with unbundling electricity delivery and supply - if anything it's something the EU will require.

    As far as the price cap goes I'd have thought the issue was more that the main drivers of prices aren't under the utilities' control, so if their costs get higher than the cap everyone's going to have to make their own energy by peddling on little exercise bikes.
  • kjohnwkjohnw Posts: 1,456
    edited September 2013
    Eds going for the 35% strategy. problem is despite his nasal re-engineering you cant polish a turd
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    corporeal said:
    Send love poems, not sexts, urges Gove

    Michael Gove is encouraging teenagers to stop "sexting" and send each other love poems with the help of new app Love Book.


    Straight out of "the thick of it".

    LOL

  • Mr. Baskerville, cheers for that summary.

    Votes for 16 year olds - whilst a legitimate position I think it's silly to say someone is too young to get married without permission but is old enough to help pick the government.

    Energy price controls - Red Ed returns, comrade.

    Build it or lose it land grab - this sounds dodgy, but I would need more details to be sure.

    200k new homes a year - a familiar promise, which was unkept last time.

    Free spare rooms for council tenants - what we really need to do now is increase spending on welfare.

    Increase minimum wage - I like the idea of the minimum wage, but I do worry that it is one of the main reasons why youth unemployment remains so high.

    Tax cut for small biz, tax increase for bigger biz - judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not, for the ability to relocate is my ally, and a powerful ally it is.
  • RedRag1RedRag1 Posts: 527

    For the Mail, Times and Telegraph this speech may finally make their minds up about Ed Miliband and thst will not be favourable.

    Are you extracting the urine. Those three made their mind up about any Labour leader, whoever it was, years ago.
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815
    Murdoch gets his revenge in early.

    Sky News switch to Obama speaking at the UN General Assembly.
  • Blue_rogBlue_rog Posts: 2,019

    Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said Labour would "break up the big six" energy companies into firms which produce energy and firms which supply homes

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24213366

    Putting aside it sounds exactly like the disaster of railways having trains separate from track /stations, is this going to be legal under EU law? Free movement of goods and services etc.

    And how will a price cap be legal again under EU law?

    From bit a caught, certainly sounds like Ed wasn't misquoted / misspoke when faced with when are you going to bring back Socialism question.

    I doubt there would be an issue with unbundling electricity delivery and supply - if anything it's something the EU will require.

    As far as the price cap goes I'd have thought the issue was more that the main drivers of prices aren't under the utilities' control, so if their costs get higher than the cap everyone's going to have to make their own energy by peddling on little exercise bikes.
    ...or perhaps by putting up a windmill on their chimney :-)
  • hucks67hucks67 Posts: 758
    Ed Miliband is the best party leader since Harold Macmillan !

    What an excellent speech
  • For the Mail, Times and Telegraph this speech may finally make their minds up about Ed Miliband and thst will not be favourable.

    Yebbut they is part of the evil right-wing media I hinted at above!
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 77,769
    "Tax cut for small biz, tax increase for bigger biz - judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not, for the ability to relocate is my ally, and a powerful ally it is."

    This measure sounds like a good one for accountants too ;)
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,006
    FPT:

    Nothing was more certain in this world than that the Kenyan authorities would claim the crisis was over before it actually was.
  • RedRag1 said:

    For the Mail, Times and Telegraph this speech may finally make their minds up about Ed Miliband and thst will not be favourable.

    Are you extracting the urine. Those three made their mind up about any Labour leader, whoever it was, years ago.
    No, they were often supportive of Brown at various times. The Telegraph's hacks were closest to the Brownites. the Times were more neutral and the Mail's Editor thought Brown was touched by greatness.
  • RedRag1RedRag1 Posts: 527
    casper said:

    That energy price freeze is a political masterstroke. Going to be an incredibly tricky one for Cameron and co.

    Don't be silly, check this thread the PB Hodges think it's a disaster....then again, one of them said after yesterday that there will be a crossover from Labour to Tory soon in the polls, which was followed by a Labour 8% lead.
  • RedRag1RedRag1 Posts: 527
    Reporter on BBC seems to be trying to find someone to say something negative about the speech.....without much luck.
  • john_zimsjohn_zims Posts: 3,399
    @Morris_Dancer

    '200k new homes a year - a familiar promise, which was unkept last time.'

    I thought it was by 2020?
  • JohnOJohnO Posts: 4,286
    hucks67 said:

    Ed Miliband is the best party leader since Harold Macmillan !

    What an excellent speech

    You mean even better than Michael Foot?
  • Somebody is happy with Ed's speech...

    Former minister Lord Foulkes says: "That is by far the best leader's speech I've heard in my time in politics."

  • As far as the price cap goes I'd have thought the issue was more that the main drivers of prices aren't under the utilities' control, so if their costs get higher than the cap everyone's going to have to make their own energy by peddling on little exercise bikes.

    They could always ration, if the marginal cost goes too high. Stick to baseload electricity, and if demand goes up, they could introduce blackouts.
  • Mr. Zims, was it? Didn't see the speech (beyond a few moments, which convinced me the Top Gear Bolivia special was more worthy of watching).

    So, it's effectively meaningless. Still, that's one way to avoid having to try and keep it.
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    Energy prices - AN OBJECTIVE.

    Careful now. Is this a promise or an aspiration?
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 81,347
    edited September 2013
    I missed some of Ed's speech, did he explain why 20 months? Seems a random number? Why not 2 years? Why not 3? Why not real terms freeze for whole of next parliament if we are going down the road of price controls.
  • JohnO said:

    hucks67 said:

    Ed Miliband is the best party leader since Harold Macmillan !

    What an excellent speech

    You mean even better than Michael Foot?
    Ed's oratory and passion are second to none, and he makes a perfect antidote to the smarmy, puffed-up posh-boy Cameron!

  • As far as the price cap goes I'd have thought the issue was more that the main drivers of prices aren't under the utilities' control, so if their costs get higher than the cap everyone's going to have to make their own energy by peddling on little exercise bikes.

    They could always ration, if the marginal cost goes too high. Stick to baseload electricity, and if demand goes up, they could introduce blackouts.
    Ah, a three day week, back to the 70s socialist paradise.
  • AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 25,302
    Caroline Flint making it up as she goes along. Now lets see her explain how more investment is going to be attracted to fill our energy gaps.

    And I assume global warming is now history.
  • Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 32,006
    Votes for 16 year olds, but at the same time 25 is the new age for adulthood:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24173194
  • AveryLP said:

    Murdoch gets his revenge in early.

    Sky News switch to Obama speaking at the UN General Assembly.

    No disrespect meant to British politicians but Obama's speech is obviously more important that Ed Miliband's. (*)

    (*) Although last time I made a point like this about how insignificant Britain and Ed Miliband in particular are in the grand scheme of things the British vote ended up stopping the greatest military-industrial war machine the world has ever known from going to war in the Middle East again, so maybe I'm underestimating them.
  • john_zimsjohn_zims Posts: 3,399
    @Morris_Dancer

    'So, it's effectively meaningless.'

    Yes,but deliberately misleading.
  • Interesting comment on the BBC story:
    "+92
    Comment number 49.
    David Brackin
    6 Hours ago

    I run a small business. I employ a dozen people. We store and ship real physical goods so we need a modest storage unit and that costs more than £50k a year in London. We wouldn't benefit from this change.

    My friends who run hedge funds operate from very small offices and would benefit from this tax break.

    Small businesses are small revenues, not small premises. Tax profits not costs."
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530

    Somebody is happy with Ed's speech...

    Former minister Lord Foulkes says: "That is by far the best leader's speech I've heard in my time in politics."

    He even looked sober when he said it. Which is something of a miracle if you know about Foulkes. ;)

  • Tim's very quiet.. getting briefing memo, or crying in a corner as new labour and blairism die with a whimper?
  • AveryLPAveryLP Posts: 7,815

    JohnO said:

    hucks67 said:

    Ed Miliband is the best party leader since Harold Macmillan !

    What an excellent speech

    You mean even better than Michael Foot?
    Ed's oratory and passion are second to none, and he makes a perfect antidote to the smarmy, puffed-up posh-boy Cameron!
    Not second to Rachel Reeves?

    Nor Stella Creasey?

  • TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 42,676
    WTF?????

    Now Caroline Flint and Labour want to enter the energy derivatives market.

    Priceless.
  • Mr. Brooke, the bit I saw was that apparently we'll have no 'carbon' at all in energy production by 2030.

    Worry not, Miliband is still a greenist (sadly, this does not mark him apart from the other leaders, though he is perhaps a shade more zealous).
  • AnorakAnorak Posts: 6,621
    It's like Life on Mars, but with politics. CEGB, here we come.

    Milk Marketing Board next up.
  • edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,654
    edited September 2013


    As far as the price cap goes I'd have thought the issue was more that the main drivers of prices aren't under the utilities' control, so if their costs get higher than the cap everyone's going to have to make their own energy by peddling on little exercise bikes.

    They could always ration, if the marginal cost goes too high. Stick to baseload electricity, and if demand goes up, they could introduce blackouts.
    TBF when we suddenly had to cut energy use in Japan we managed to shave off 10% to 15% without too much difficulty, so maybe it could be done. The hitch is that it may be difficult to create the necessary blitz spirit over the results of a bit of political pandering.
  • Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited September 2013
    Don't remember quite as much shrieking from the PB Hodges when Osbrowne announced the State getting involved in house prices with his somewhat eccentric help to buy scheme.
  • Mick_Pork said:

    Energy prices - AN OBJECTIVE.

    Careful now. Is this a promise or an aspiration?

    I don't know, or care, at this point. However, it does need analysis. You know, what-if scenarios, etc?
  • "He vowed to abolish energy watchdog Ofgem and replace it with a new regulatory regime that ensures customers get a "fair deal".

    "We will legislate for this in our first Queen's Speech and it will come into effect in 2017," the Labour leader told activists.

    "But in the meantime I am not willing to just stand by. So the next Labour government will freeze gas and electricity prices until the start of 2017."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24213366

    How will they freeze prices if no new regulator / powers until 2017 ?
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,494
    taffys said:

    Does this mean Ed Miliband will steal my garden if I don;t build on it?

    No, it means if you propose to build, get permission and then do nothing, you'll lose the permission. At present, you can let it drift for 5 years.

  • RichardNabaviRichardNabavi Posts: 3,413
    edited September 2013
    Blimey, are people really taking this price-freeze proposal seriously?

    Truly mind-boggling if so, but if it's a vote-winner I'm happy to suggest a few more in the same vein:

    - Everyone to be paid a 'living wage'
    - Mortgage rates to be capped at 0.5% for ten years
    - Savings rates to be a minimum 5% a year for ten years
    - Pensions to double
    - Petrol price increases to be outlawed
    - Any company employing more than 100 people to be forced to take on five young people for every 100 existing staff
    - Private sector rents to be capped at 90% of their 2010 level
    - Unlimited free child-care for all

    That lot should be enough for a Miliband landslide, surely?
  • Ben ‏@Jamin2g 1m - Next week all Cameron has to do is say he's not Ed Miliband and leave the stage. #bbcdp #skynews #Lab13

    Well, it's an opinion I guess.
  • Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    Caroline Flint confirms that there is no precedent of price controls ever working.
This discussion has been closed.