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Evening all.

FPT -

Tim posted-

Tim Shipman (Mail) ‏@ShippersUnbound 2m
M.Eagle - Creagh job swap clears the way for Labour to ditch HS2

Besides Osbornes ever tightening ligature around the throat of the Tory Party, that's the biggest news.

Not what I heard on radio leeds news reports,creagh sounded all in favour of HS2,bringing jobs to the north and all that.

That Malala link at 21 is worth reading - regardless of your politics.

Tykejohnno said:

FPT -

Tim posted-

Tim Shipman (Mail) ‏@ShippersUnbound 2m
M.Eagle - Creagh job swap clears the way for Labour to ditch HS2

Besides Osbornes ever tightening ligature around the throat of the Tory Party, that's the biggest news.

Not what I heard on radio leeds news reports,creagh sounded all in favour of HS2,bringing jobs to the north and all that.

You've got a lot of marginals in Yorkshire out of which you shoud get a lot of leverage.

Evening again all

What are we to make of today's goings and other goings ? As many have said, the Osbornians, the Osborniates, the Osbornites or whatever we finish up calling them are in the ascendant which means Osborne comes out of 2015 either in pole position to take over the Conservative Party when Cameron stands down or joining his ally in the political wilderness.

It's a huge personal and political gamble and if the Conservatives lose in 2015, Osborne and his allies will have a long time to contemplate that failure.

On the LD side, I presume the replacement of Moore by Carmichael will allow Moore to fight to hold his seat. As for the exit of Jeremy Browne, I don't pretend to know the whys and wherefores. Could Browne realistically be a challenger for a post-Clegg leadership battle ? If he keeps his seat, I suppose he could.

Good evening, everyone.

It's worth mentioning the Leeds tram/trolleybus system. There isn't one, despite it being promised for ages, and last time a large sum (over £100m, I think) was spent preparing for it only for the Government (then Labour) to pull the plug. The suspicion would be that HS2 might go ahead but that we wouldn't benefit.

Stark_Dawning said:

Tykejohnno said:

Not what I heard on radio leeds news reports,creagh sounded all in favour of HS2,bringing jobs to the north and all that.

Yes, sounds as if Creagh is a committed HS2-ite:

17:16pm There's been much talk of how Maria Eagle's departure as shadow transport secretary (she is now shadow environment secretary) could pave the way for a Labour U-turn over High Speed 2. But during this afternoon's reshuffle briefing, the party's spokesman emphasised that Mary Creagh is a "supporter of HS2" and that "there is no change in the party's position".

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/10/labour-and-government-reshuffles-live-updates

Balls is the scapper, and I suspect Miliband will continue wholeheartedly with the project, if only to emphasize Balls's continuing impotence.

Oh dear,for all those against the HS2 project,labour did the old grand duke of York tactic,they marched you up to the top of the hill and - so on,you know the rest ;-)

Unless they playing the lib dem strategy of saying one thing in the north and another in the south,just poor.

tim said:

HuffPost UK ‏@HuffPostUK
"Robin Cook was on Ministry of Defence land,I believe,when he died and I have doubts over what happened"Norman Baker http://huff.to/1bQnpcl

Paul Richards ‏@Labourpaul
If a civil servant wrote a book alleging what Norman Baker's book alleges, there is no way they'd survive vetting for a Home Office job.

Like the US Govt making one of the "Obama is a secret Muslim" crowd a security advisor, bonkers.

I think for sheer comedy value, Obama should end a speech, not with God Bless America, but with Allah bless America, Allahu Akbar.

TheScreamingEagles said:

MikeSmithson said:

Tykejohnno said:

FPT -

Tim posted-

Tim Shipman (Mail) ‏@ShippersUnbound 2m
M.Eagle - Creagh job swap clears the way for Labour to ditch HS2

Besides Osbornes ever tightening ligature around the throat of the Tory Party, that's the biggest news.

Not what I heard on radio leeds news reports,creagh sounded all in favour of HS2,bringing jobs to the north and all that.

You've got a lot of marginals in Yorkshire out of which you shoud get a lot of leverage.

They should spend the HS2 money on improving Northern inter city travel.

It will be a joke that once HS2 is complete, it will take roughly half the time it takes to go from Sheffield to London, to go from Sheffield to Manchester.

This post is nothing to do with the fact that I have a daily train commute from Sheffield to Manchester.

You get a lot of pretty scenery on that journey.

Maaarsh, how very dare you! Just where do you live anyway?

Tories after reshuffle seem to be united ;-)

Nadine Dorries MP @NadineDorriesMP

Very sad to see Kris Hopkins promoted. One of parliaments slimiest, nastiest MPs. Really. Awful. Decision.

tim said:

HuffPost UK ‏@HuffPostUK
"Robin Cook was on Ministry of Defence land,I believe,when he died and I have doubts over what happened"Norman Baker http://huff.to/1bQnpcl

Paul Richards ‏@Labourpaul
If a civil servant wrote a book alleging what Norman Baker's book alleges, there is no way they'd survive vetting for a Home Office job.

Like the US Govt making one of the "Obama is a secret Muslim" crowd a security advisor, bonkers.

To be fair it wouldn't matter what Obama did as the swivel-eyed loons and warmongering Neocon chickenhawks will always repeatedly make a fool of themselves.

Obama launches a drone strike killing a terrorist? He's still a secret muslim who hates America.
They are simply incapable of changing and the GOP is continuing to lose it's mind as it becomes ever more obsessive and paranoid. Just we predicted back when Romney was beaten.


The PB Romneys are just yet more hilarious proof of that.

Tykejohnno said:

Tories after reshuffle seem to be united ;-)

Nadine Dorries MP @NadineDorriesMP

Very sad to see Kris Hopkins promoted. One of parliaments slimiest, nastiest MPs. Really. Awful. Decision.

JohnO is a fan of Mr Hopkins, and Ms Dorries isn't a fan.

I can't think of two better character references for the awesomeness of Mr Hopkins

Dan Hodges @DPJHodges

How can Nadine Dorries get away with tweeting something like that about a colleague and still retain the Tory whip?

Can anyone remember Charles's anecdote about Cameron ?

Not the museum anecdote where Cameron ignored everyone but the African but the one where Charles's mum was ignored by Cameron at a dinner.

I think it might cast more light on the reshuffle.

I shouldn't hold the inability of Kris Hopkins' parents to spell against him, but it's hard not to.

I am from Lancashire, incidentally (and rather obviously.. )

tim said:

Nadine Dorries MP ‏@NadineDorriesMP 5m
Very sad to see Kris Hopkins promoted. One of parliaments slimiest, nastiest MPs. Really. Awful. Decision.

Sounds like there's some history there.

Amusing though they are it's not as if they are the ones calling the shots on the elections strategy.

InterraceToday.com ‏@InterraceToday

From http://InterraceToday.com : PM's new fixer in racist rant at Muslims: Foul-mouthed abuse by campaign chief... http://tinyurl.com/c4dfuv4

Which hardly makes this a surprise either as those with integrity will want to stay well away from Crosby's kind of slime and nastiness.

'Conservative party's problem with ethnic minority voters is costing it seats'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/11/ethnic-minority-votes-decide-general-election-2015

Mr. Eagles, I must be sleepy. I misread that as M15 initially

Tykejohnno said:

Tykejohnno said:

David Cameron on the ITV - The Agenda - 10.35pm

Cam on @tombradby's ITV1 Agenda tonight: EdM 'struck a chord' on energy prices. See PolHome http://www.politicshome.com

Should be interesting - David Baddiel on as well.

Interesting tactic by Dave. He's clearly planning to clutch Ed to his bosom and do the killing-with-kindness thing.

Mr. Maaarsh, ah, that explains much. One cannot expect the inhabitants of Mordor to understand the delights of those who dwell in Rivendell.

Stark_Dawning said:

Tykejohnno said:

Tykejohnno said:

David Cameron on the ITV - The Agenda - 10.35pm

Cam on @tombradby's ITV1 Agenda tonight: EdM 'struck a chord' on energy prices. See PolHome http://www.politicshome.com

Should be interesting - David Baddiel on as well.

Interesting tactic by Dave. He's clearly planning to clutch Ed to his bosom and do the killing-with-kindness thing.

One thing,don't mention Tottenham with Cameron and baddiel together ;-)

MikeK said:

@Mick_Pork

"Obama launches a drone strike killing a terrorist? He's still a secret muslim who hates America."

If, heaven forbid, Obama was a secret muslim

Is that like if UKIP were "closet racists, loonies and fruitcakes"? Except Cammie didn't say if at all when he called them that.

Front pages as they come in -

http://www.politicshome.com/uk/article/86084/the_daily_telegraph_tuesday_8th_october_2013.html

@TSE

Your shoes were worse!

Karzai leading the news on his leaving and the power sharing deal with the Taliban.

This will definitely end well.

tim said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

tim said:

MikeK said:

@Mick_Pork

"Obama launches a drone strike killing a terrorist? He's still a secret muslim who hates America."

If, heaven forbid, Obama was a secret muslim, he wouldn't care a damn for the lives of fellow muslims. In every country where islam holds sway, muslims are killing other muslims (of the wrong sect) by the thousand's every day; sometimes every hour. If wanted to find a religeon of death this is it.

Did you ever come up with evidence for your claim that 30,000 Brits a year were converting to Islam?

How about reading Malala Yousafzais piece and listening to her interview before judging an entire religion from the standpoint of those who categorise all Jews or Christians as the same

Do you agree with Islamic attitudes to alcohol?

I don't "agree" with much religious teaching

So why are you so quick to defend Islam?

another_richard said:

Can anyone remember Charles's anecdote about Cameron ?

Not the museum anecdote where Cameron ignored everyone but the African but the one where Charles's mum was ignored by Cameron at a dinner.

I think it might cast more light on the reshuffle.

It wasn't that she was ignored: he was very polite and courteous.

It was that he "doesn't know how to listen".

TheScreamingEagles said:

maaarsh - Fighting talk, I was born and bred in Sheffield.

Another Richard - It is, especially if you go on the local stopping service, rather than Manchester Airport service.

Stark Dawning - Supertram is a success, they are finally expanding it to my part of Sheffield for HS2

Supertram suffered some big PR blows in the early years, which it has never recovered from in some quarters. ISTR that was due to the choice of lines and stations in the middle of nowhere, but development helped these; perhaps the Supertram actually enabled them. I haven't been to Sheffield much since I dated a girl there, and when I went to Sheffield Midland station a couple of years ago I was amazed at the transformation. What had been a grey, bleak area was now all glass and grass.

These light rail projects in the UK never make their money back in terms of fares. What they do is enable travel and business. The same thing happened in Nottingham and Croydon, two other tram networks I know a small amount about.

On another note: I don't agree with Tim about much, by on Malala we're as one. An inspirational and rather brave young woman. It's a shame she didn't get Time's POTY last year. She would have been a much better and wiser choice than Obama, again.

Indeed, how about the Nobel Peace Price for Malala? She'd certainly fit in more easily with Tawakol Karman than Obama.

Although I'm rather hesitant about thrusting such a young person further into the limelight.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Apologies for linking to a screen grab of an EDL supporting website, but they manage to dish Malala, and prove once again, that they are utter douches, and the bags you put the douche in

EDLNewsXtra ‏@EDLNewsXtra 6m

Malala Yousafzai, who fought Islamic Extremism for real, continues to be held in low regard, by the #EDL.

http://twitpic.com/dgglow

I like to look on the optimistic side of things. At least there were only about 3 posters on the website

uhm, is there a way to link videos without having them appear on the comment? I mean, I would like to post just the www.link instead of inviding all the comment section

Charles said:

another_richard said:

Can anyone remember Charles's anecdote about Cameron ?

Not the museum anecdote where Cameron ignored everyone but the African but the one where Charles's mum was ignored by Cameron at a dinner.

I think it might cast more light on the reshuffle.

It wasn't that she was ignored: he was very polite and courteous.

It was that he "doesn't know how to listen".

Thanks Charles.

Gavin Williamson to be Dave's new PPS (via Kris Hopkins twitter). Excellent choice.

Hardly a surprise.

Shayan Billbas ‏@shayanbillbas 28s

It is believed that the proposal for press self regulation has been rejected by the privy council. #Leveson

tim said:

@iankatz1000: .@BBCAllegra reveals privy council committee has rejected press's plan for beefed up regulation regime. Expect v angry papers tomorrow...

He means angrier though they will struggle to top 'Leveson hates Britain' thanks to Dacre's PR genius.

tim said:

Leveson
Child Benefit Fines
Royal Mail rip off

Three stories for the right wing press to express gratitude to Cameron over

Nothing on labour and lets get on with HS2 project then.

tim said:

@iankatz1000: .@BBCAllegra reveals privy council committee has rejected press's plan for beefed up regulation regime. Expect v angry papers tomorrow...

Not sure the papers will be angry, tim.

This is a perfect outcome for those resisting the imposition of regulation by politicians and makes an agreed regulatory solution before the next GE less likely.

What did Mark Hoban do wrong?

Oh, and link 23 is nothing. As usual, when it comes to alcohol, the Russians do it with style:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8ZmOgMlyRE

surbiton said:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/07/jeremy-hunt-claims-against-andy-burnham

Hold on ! This cannot be correct. I thought Labour was going to be in trouble on this. The PBTories told us....

It is only the Guardian spinning that line, Surby.

Hunt has not apologised nor withdrawn his tweet.

He has written to Burnham highlighting the basis of his accusation: that the Department of Health under Burnham imposed restrictions on the CQC's briefings to the media.

It is quite evident from the published emails that this was the perception of CQC officials.

Hunt is undertaking to legislate to prevent such political interference in future.

Over to Burnham and his legal team.

tim said:

Charles said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Apologies for linking to a screen grab of an EDL supporting website, but they manage to dish Malala, and prove once again, that they are utter douches, and the bags you put the douche in

EDLNewsXtra ‏@EDLNewsXtra 6m

Malala Yousafzai, who fought Islamic Extremism for real, continues to be held in low regard, by the #EDL.

http://twitpic.com/dgglow

I like to look on the optimistic side of things. At least there were only about 3 posters on the website

Is English their second or third language?, Malala vs the EDL in a spelling death match is what we need

o, goodness. I hadn't realised it was English they were writing in!

SouthCoastKevin said:

DavidL said:

The first key difference between Blair and Brown and Cameron and Osborne is that the latter trust each other. This takes a lot of the tension and "balancing" out of reshuffles.

The second and more important difference is that the latter are in fact trustworthy. What a difference to government that makes.

I think this absolutely right and a really important point. Sure, there have been mistakes (certainly of presentation, and also of policy I'm sure most people would say) but the government seems to have been more or less stable over the last three years. Which is all the more remarkable considering the economic situation and the fact that there are two different parties in government.

Personally, I've found the latter point easy to forget, given the contrast between this government's relative harmony and the backbiting and off-the-record briefing that characterised the previous government.

I have tended to think the same, and give them some credit for that, but in fairness I don't really remember the early New Labour years, so it I don't really have a conception of how outwardly stable yet internally bitter it may have been in the early days, when the latter years were so full of bile and lies about unity. I imagine during the last days of the Tories in 1997 and what popular history tells me was an impression of oodles of sleaze all over the place, many youngsters found it strange to have a non-tained by sleaze governing group (at that stage and comparitively though it may have been).

surbiton said:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/07/jeremy-hunt-claims-against-andy-burnham

Hold on ! This cannot be correct. I thought Labour was going to be in trouble on this. The PBTories told us....

They're always wrong and they never learn.

The tory comedy spinners on PB are all the proof anyone ever needs of that.

tim said:

AveryLP said:

tim said:

@iankatz1000: .@BBCAllegra reveals privy council committee has rejected press's plan for beefed up regulation regime. Expect v angry papers tomorrow...

Not sure the papers will be angry, tim.

This is a perfect outcome for those resisting the imposition of regulation by politicians and makes an agreed regulatory solution before the next GE less likely.

The mistake you always make is thinking Cameron commands the support of his backbenchers

The mistake you always make is to think that anyone but Cameron controls the legislative agenda.

AveryLP said:

Hunt is undertaking to legislate to prevent such political interference in future.

Quite right. Whatever you think of Hunt, even he wouldn't claim to be able to outlaw lying Labour ministers in the future. It was weak and failing processes he had in his sights. Strange though that Burnham panicked and immediately presumed it was all about him. The strength of paranoia gripping the man must be debilitating.

Privy council rejects press's alternative charter.

RichardNabavi said:

As for Ed's reshuffle... Tristram Hunt??? Is Ed mad?

I know,a Tristram on labours front bench ;-)

notme said:

tim said:

Charles said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Apologies for linking to a screen grab of an EDL supporting website, but they manage to dish Malala, and prove once again, that they are utter douches, and the bags you put the douche in

EDLNewsXtra ‏@EDLNewsXtra 6m

Malala Yousafzai, who fought Islamic Extremism for real, continues to be held in low regard, by the #EDL.

http://twitpic.com/dgglow

I like to look on the optimistic side of things. At least there were only about 3 posters on the website

Is English their second or third language?, Malala vs the EDL in a spelling death match is what we need

One of the reasons the left hate the EDL so much is that they genuinely are a working class organisation. Along with that comes with generally poor standards of literacy and less developed communication skills.

An easy target for metropolitan leftie elites.

So, people what can spell and knows grammar is metropolitan elites now?