politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Nighthawks is now open and with a new Marf cartoon

Two great cartoons in one day, Marf? You're spoiling us!

I think Superman III and Gus Gorman was the first time I found out about computer programming. Fantastic film IMO.

AndyJS said:

I think Superman III and Gus Gorman was the first time I found out about computer programming. Fantastic film IMO.

It's actually by far the weakest of the original Superman trilogy* (ie. Christopher Reeves). But I remember enjoying it as a kid very much!

* well, Superman IV doesn't really count as it really was awful!

tim said:

"Instead, Cameron had his worst quarter of an hour on the floor of the House of Commons, in which he failed completely to hold the attention of MPs as he read from a boring Labour briefing document. It will have done him no harm to have been told off by the Speaker for the use of the phrase “con man”, but for the first time he looked like a prime minister at bay, and his side knew it."

John Rentoul, Cameron fan

What are the odds on him going next year, I'll take 8/1 if anyone's offering

Miliband piddled, while Grangemouth burned.

Cameron will NEVER win a majority for the Tories.

Lol 14 and 15.

PAGING NEIL.

GeoffM said:

SMukesh said:

Just watched PMQ`s.Though Miliband came out on top,I didn`t think Cameron did too badly.

But when Miliband pointed out that Sir John Major won a majority unlike the PM,boy,that would have stung!

It was the startling originality of the comment that shocked me. Forty-one months into the Parliament and we get side-swiped by this revelation. *yawn*

I guess Miliband was holding it back and used it to devastating effect today.You could almost hear it hitting the target.

Cameron didn`t expect it and never fully recovered.

Great cartoon Marf!

Link 18's too Geeky, even for me.

Although Superman III still's not as mind-numbingly stupid as Independence Day's alien ships, which had just the right port and interface for a 1990s laptop to connect to. It was good of the aliens to be so helpful. In reality the heroes should still be up there nearly 20 years later, trying to find the correct cable to plug into the alien ship, only to realise they left it in the last hotel room.

Unless you take the view that PC technology is reverse-engineered from the alien craft ...

See:
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/independence-day-interoperability/

Bobajob said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Aren't the Tories "Con"-men?

People forget that Sunil was, until recently, a Tory supporter. Why the change sir?

Syria. I think the turning point was the Syria vote, if you go back to the PB threads from that week

R0berts said:

There might be a problem with over-promising too, as he will be in power expected to deliver after the next election, and some things he won't be able to fix (he will inherit a bit of a mess from the Tories).

Yep, Balls may rue the day he asked for the OBR to adjudicate on election manifestos!

Bobajob said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Aren't the Tories "Con"-men?

People forget that Sunil was, until recently, a Tory supporter. Why the change sir?

I assume the current posting is spoof no?

TheScreamingEagles said:

I've added link 19

Yebbut there was no Pakistani (or Bangladeshi) Army back then!

Bobajob said:

GeoffM said:

SMukesh said:

GeoffM said:

SMukesh said:

Just watched PMQ`s.Though Miliband came out on top,I didn`t think Cameron did too badly.

But when Miliband pointed out that Sir John Major won a majority unlike the PM,boy,that would have stung!

It was the startling originality of the comment that shocked me. Forty-one months into the Parliament and we get side-swiped by this revelation. *yawn*

I guess Miliband was holding it back and used it to devastating effect today.You could almost hear it hitting the target.

Cameron didn`t expect it and never fully recovered.

It wasn't an original line but his scriptwriters found a great place for it. It changed the tempo of the exchange, certainly. Although throwing something utterly irrelevant into a discussion often has that effect. Pineapples.

Otters.

Nappies

taffys said:

Its true that Cameron has never won a tory majority like sir John.

But then he's never been as completely and devastatingly routed as Sir John, either.

Perhaps Dave should hold on to that thought.

He won't win a majority or lose to a majority I think

maaarsh said:

Yes, it is terribly annoying the way companies charge more for more valuable services.

In the socialist Utopia of Ed, companies will be free to charge as much as they like if there is an r in the month, but then they must freeze their prices, before raising them again as much as they like.

Who wouldn't vote for that?

The three police officers were talking to Andrew Mitchell. They accepted his apology. They admired his candour. They said that the next development would be an investigation by the Met into the conduct of the Downing St officers who’d traduced him. And then they called a halt to the meeting without ever going on to the reason they’d asked for it.

Then they went outside and called for his resignation. Could anyone explain? Anyone?

The response was, eventually: “Could you repeat the question?”

http://order-order.com/2013/10/23/sketch-a-pilgrim-stitch-up/

Richard Nabavi should read the Spectator article (item3). They would appear to find his arguments even more ridiculous than I did which is saying something (the one about Cameron not having promoted a green agenda when in opposition)

Bobajob said:

@Josias - have a look at my OP on this matter and let me know what you think. As a rail expert, I'm genuinely keen to hear your views sir.

Thanks for the compliment, but sadly I'm not a rail expert, or involved in the industry in any way. I'm just a well-read gentleman amateur who talks to people, and my opinions should always be judged as such. :-)

I've just read what I think is your OP on the previous thread, and I agree with the broad thrust. Ticketing is too complex on the privatised network. But tackling the issue is difficult, as the basic different ticket types do serve a purpose. I'd probably bore people by going into some of them. ;-)

The best we could probably do is revert back to the BR days, which had things like supersaver, advance, off-peak etc. So it'd be an improvement, but far from your ideal. Even in those days, there were the hated 'permitted routes' clauses that require a PhD to understand.

The government already looked into the issue (a report in 2011 from a study set up under Labour): the McNulty report - see section 4.6 of:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/4203/realising-the-potential-of-gb-rail-summary.pdf

I haven't seen a great deal of action on it.

I suggest you read the detailed report if you have chronic insomnia.

Sunil_Prasannan said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I've added link 19

Yebbut there was no Pakistani (or Bangladeshi) Army back then!

Do you know what happens when you lump Pakistanis with Indians on the internet?

It's like trollbait.

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

My Great-Grandfather served in the British Indian Army during WW2.

I have his medals.

One of the oddities, that in both India and Pakistan, there's almost a sense of embarrassment that the largest volunteer Army in history, was made up of colonials, fighting for the British Empire and an Emperor.

Scott_P said:

The three police officers were talking to Andrew Mitchell. They accepted his apology. They admired his candour. They said that the next development would be an investigation by the Met into the conduct of the Downing St officers who’d traduced him. And then they called a halt to the meeting without ever going on to the reason they’d asked for it.

Then they went outside and called for his resignation. Could anyone explain? Anyone?

The response was, eventually: “Could you repeat the question?”

http://order-order.com/2013/10/23/sketch-a-pilgrim-stitch-up/

What a pathetic bunch of officers, really. Their whole defence is really, 'we didn't mean to mislead anyone and contribute to getting a senior government figure fired' as if that in anyway absolves them of the fact that they did commit that act? Even if we are to believe their accounts they are either hopelessly, incompetently stupid or willfully reckless. Despicable.

Sunil_Prasannan said:

A few days ago, looked into ticketing between London and the West Midlands. I saw the cheapest season ticket is via the London Midland service (slow, stopping trains, instead of the large, fast Pendolinos run by Virgin Trains). As you might expect, it's labelled "London Midland only".

But there is another slightly higher fare referred to as "via Northampton". Hang on a minute! London Midland only go via Northampton! (Virgin take the faster route between Milton Keynes and Rugby that misses out Northampton)

Always go Virgin, Midland trains suck.

Virgin Trains = Depeche Mode

Midland Trains = Justin Bieber

Godsamned bloody plebgate:

They told MPs that they stood by their "accurate" account of a meeting with Mr Mitchell in October 2012.

What in the holy name of hell?! I like to think I can understand the internal logic of a position I disagree with very well, it's one reason I find it hard to get so riled up against or fervently in favour of most policies, but I am finding it hard to fathom what new information or interpretation I could receive to make me understand how that statement could be spoken with a straight face and honest intent, and yet I presume they have convinced themselves of it somehow. I just cannot figure it out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24629610

Interesting transcipt quote:

Detective Sergeant Stuart Hinton of Warwickshire Police : "... but if an officer has written those words in his pocket notebook or in a report and they are false then that is actually a very serious misconduct issue... their integrity is no longer intact."

I guess the same doesn't apply if an officer says something false out loud to journalists rather than write them in a note book then?

TheScreamingEagles said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

I've added link 19

Yebbut there was no Pakistani (or Bangladeshi) Army back then!

Do you know what happens when you lump Pakistanis with Indians on the internet?

It's like trollbait.

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

My Great-Grandfather served in the British Indian Army during WW2.

I have his medals.

One of the oddities, that in both India and Pakistan, there's almost a sense of embarrassment that the largest volunteer Army in history, was made up of colonials, fighting for the British Empire and an Emperor.

You should be proud TSE! Nearest I can manage in my family is that my uncle served as Dar Es Salaam deputy police commissioner, albeit long after the war!

Yes, the volunteer army was 2.5 million strong. But, BUT, I reckon it would have been 10 million strong if the Brits, I mean the British - sorry! - had made it widely known that according to Hitler's racial theories the Indians were "Asiatic Jugglers" who needed the British rule, AND that Germany and Japan had plans to carve up India between them, almost "ironically" along the modern Indo-Pak frontier - though admittedly the latter was less well known at the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Order_(Nazism)#Hitler.27s_plans_for_India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_power_negotiations_on_the_division_of_Asia_during_World_War_II

maaarsh said:

Cameron will be lucky if he can get a reasonable proportion of the electorate to remember his current position, let alone the old one.

This is the point that Danny Finkelstein makes in his column today.

Almost none of the voting public has any idea what happened at PMQs today. They might start in a little over a year from now

Polling support for 'an energy price freeze' is 6 points higher than support for 'Ed Miliband's price freeze'

Nobody is listening to politicians most of the time, except other politicians.

And us.

FPT

another_richard said:

AveryLP said:

fitalass said:

And Ed Miliband was too busy enjoying PMQ's to raise the most important news of the day, Grangemouth.

CarlottaVance said:

And Cameron gets 'Con-man' on the 6 o'clock news....twice.....

If Grangemouth had been a residential park in Primrose Hill, if would have formed the substance of all six questions to the Prime Minister.

Dear me Avery that's the sort of thing I might have said, you seem to be getting as cynical as Cousin Seth.

And I must say I was surprised you didn't reply to my criticism of your 'knowledge' of the trade balance.

I was hoping for at least one yellow box.

ar

I did reply to your trade balance post but it was unceremoniously ripped from PB's womb by Moderator with a stern warning not to embed charts. Moderator was so upset that the post was deleted entirely with a promise to similarly murder all unborn thoughts in future.

Anyway, here is the offending child but this time presented as a URL:

http://s11.postimg.org/y9i8o2y3n/united_kingdom_balance_of_trade.png

The post didn't say much beyond stating that the post war performance of the UK's balance of trade has not really impressed at any stage: flatlining to the the seventies then picking up to form two peaks coinciding with the corresponding twin oil price/extraction volume peaks.

There is a small upturn at the moment overcoming the accelerating decline in oil and gas but it will be along and bumpy journey to a surplus.

@afneil: Grangemouth supplies Scotland with 80% of its fuel. If the refinery stays closed for long it will need imports from England.

Probably the only excuse Eck needs to nationalise.

FREEEEEEDOMMMMMMM!

SeanT said:

kle4 said:

Scott_P said:

The three police officers were talking to Andrew Mitchell. They accepted his apology. They admired his candour. They said that the next development would be an investigation by the Met into the conduct of the Downing St officers who’d traduced him. And then they called a halt to the meeting without ever going on to the reason they’d asked for it.

Then they went outside and called for his resignation. Could anyone explain? Anyone?

The response was, eventually: “Could you repeat the question?”

http://order-order.com/2013/10/23/sketch-a-pilgrim-stitch-up/

That's a brilliant piece of journalism by Simon Carr. Why on earth is he reduced to blogging for Guido? He is far better than the Times parliamentary correspondent, the absurd Ann Trenwhatever,

Also: wow. Plebgate. Yes. These policemen should go to jail, for quite long periods of time. They lied and connived to bring down a government Minister; that's not just a sackable offence, that is borderline treacherous. Astonishing.
Indeed. I tend to make the point that while the whole affair, as it now appears (accepting the possibility new facts might make it appear not so bad, although that seems doubtful), is not the most despicable thing the police have ever done in this country in recent times, sadly, it very much is, whether an outright conspiracy or, more likely, a group of people indivudally deciding to use the situation for their own ends and ending up in an escalating coverup, it very much is among the most sinister of police misconducts, as the heights to which they felt no shame in bringing down a government minister should fill everyone with fear as to what officers in a similar bind might do to an ordinary person.

I will thank the affair for introducing the word 'traduced' into my vocabulary though.

If they are not lying idiots, those police officers, really quite senior figures, should be a lot more convincing though - we expect senior politicians to be good communicators and spinners, and senior police figures should at the least be able to articulate a convincing sounding argument.

tim said:

In a crowded market of fake Daves which is your favourite?

Frothy Guinness

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/08/article-0-0B888844000005DC-33_634x422.jpg

The Baby positioning wins it I think

Pimping Brooke

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/David+Cameron+Brooke+Kinsella+David+Cameron+vP2ukMzsfswl.jpg

The furrowed brow is special

Tim's making me feel sorry for Cameron.

"Perhaps the key figure in the dispute, Stephen Deans, is the convener for Unite in Scotland.

Unite started its industrial action earlier this month over what it says is the victimisation of Mr Deans, who has worked at the Ineos plant for more than 20 years.

Ineos accused him of contravening company policies as part of his work as former chair of the Labour Party in Falkirk.

He was suspended from Ineos in the summer in connection with his Labour Party activities, essentially accused of campaigning on work premises."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24640133

kle4 said:

Indeed. I tend to make the point that while the whole affair, as it now appears (accepting the possibility new facts might make it appear not so bad, although that seems doubtful), is not the most despicable thing the police have ever done in this country in recent times, sadly, it very much is, whether an outright conspiracy or, more likely, a group of people indivudally deciding to use the situation for their own ends and ending up in an escalating coverup, it very much is among the most sinister of police misconducts, as the heights to which they felt no shame in bringing down a government minister should fill everyone with fear as to what officers in a similar bind might do to an ordinary person.

No one should doubt the gravity of these events that present a challenge to our core democratic values. Police officers colluded to smear a cabinet member, seemingly in pursuit of their own political agenda, while their superiors simply shrugged their shoulders. The widespread anger in Westminster is entirely justified, while the performance of the police and their watchdog in the home affairs select committee this afternoon with an admission by Jerry Reakes-Williams, the professional standards officer for West Mercia police, that the public was misled will have done little to inspire public confidence.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/23/andrew-mitchell-britain-police-problem

Amusing that the scottish tory surger is still making excuses for his chums in scotish labour.

Andrew Neil ‏@afneil

Quite remarkable that 25 mins into PMQs and no mention of Grangemouth. And much of energy is a reserved Westminster power.

Andrew Neil ‏@afneil

Labour MP Eric Joyce describes Unite's handling of Grangemouth negotiations as a "shambles".

FAAAAAAALLKKIIIIRRRRK!

LOL

CarlottaVance said:

"Perhaps the key figure in the dispute, Stephen Deans, is the convener for Unite in Scotland.
Unite started its industrial action earlier this month over what it says is the victimisation of Mr Deans, who has worked at the Ineos plant for more than 20 years.
Ineos accused him of contravening company policies as part of his work as former chair of the Labour Party in Falkirk.
He was suspended from Ineos in the summer in connection with his Labour Party activities, essentially accused of campaigning on work premises."

Remember, Falkirk is Brilliant news for Ed. Nothing but good can come of it.

SeanT said:

Also: wow. Plebgate. Yes. These policemen should go to jail, for quite long periods of time. They lied and connived to bring down a government Minister; that's not just a sackable offence, that is borderline treacherous. Astonishing.

It's doubtful that the conduct of the West Midlands officers could have amounted to an offence in law. It is far from certain that they were acting in their capacity as public officials at the time. The Court of Appeal has recently given guidance on the subject in R v Cosford [2013] 2 Cr App R 8. Giving the judgment of the court, Leveson LJ (as he then was) stated at (p. 87) that the question

'should be addressed to the nature of the duty undertaken and, in particular, whether it is a public duty in the sense that it represents the fulfilment of one of the responsibilities of government such that the public have a significant interest in its discharge extending beyond an interest in anyone who might be directly affected by a serious failure in the performance of the duty.'

It is difficult to argue that the duties of a Police Federation representative fall within what the court considered to be a public duty. The course of justice certainly wasn't engaged in the West Midlands case, and there have been no prosecutions for treason or treason felony since 1945.

Yorkcity said:

Tykejohnno said:

tim said:

In a crowded market of fake Daves which is your favourite?

Frothy Guinness

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/08/article-0-0B888844000005DC-33_634x422.jpg

The Baby positioning wins it I think

Pimping Brooke

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/David+Cameron+Brooke+Kinsella+David+Cameron+vP2ukMzsfswl.jpg

The furrowed brow is special

Tim's making me feel sorry for Cameron.

Same here ,just catching up on the threads I knew it was bad, when the ultra scottish female defender of all thing dave,was posting furiously that it was terrible for ED at lunch time instead of 2 in the morning.

Two different ways of feeling sorry for him,yours is because he got showed up,mine is because of tim's/pb labours non stop bull ;-)

...there have been no prosecutions for treason or treason felony since 1945.

Even with all those people who were caught spying for the Russians? Interesting.

What's the sentence for treason, in theory anyway?

My favourite is "pointing at squid"

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/files/2013/07/cameron-fish-431x288.jpg

Though Ed Miliband Ice cream van interview is nearly its equal:

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1119035/thumbs/r-ED-MILIBAND-FUNNY-large570.jpg?5

tim said:

In a crowded market of fake Daves which is your favourite?

Frothy Guinness

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/08/article-0-0B888844000005DC-33_634x422.jpg

The Baby positioning wins it I think

Pimping Brooke

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/David+Cameron+Brooke+Kinsella+David+Cameron+vP2ukMzsfswl.jpg

The furrowed brow is special

Sunil_Prasannan said:

MikeK said:

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Cameron will NEVER win a majority for the Tories.

We all know that, so why aren't you in UKIP instead of hanging on tho Ed's coatails?

Comrade Godfrey!

I would love it if UKIP topped the poll at the Euro Election next year!

Even above labour ?

foxinsoxuk said:

My favourite is "pointing at squid"

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/files/2013/07/cameron-fish-431x288.jpg

Though Ed Miliband Ice cream van interview is nearly its equal:

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1119035/thumbs/r-ED-MILIBAND-FUNNY-large570.jpg?5

tim said:

In a crowded market of fake Daves which is your favourite?

Frothy Guinness

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/08/article-0-0B888844000005DC-33_634x422.jpg

The Baby positioning wins it I think

Pimping Brooke

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/David+Cameron+Brooke+Kinsella+David+Cameron+vP2ukMzsfswl.jpg

The furrowed brow is special

I'm boring I'm afraid - there's something about how happy he seems in it that makes the David M banana photo special for me.

SeanT said:

DavidL said:

kle4 said:

SeanT said:

kle4 said:

Scott_P said:

Then they went outside and called for his resignation. Could anyone explain? Anyone?

The response was, eventually: “Could you repeat the question?”

http://order-order.com/2013/10/23/sketch-a-pilgrim-stitch-up/

That's a brilliant piece of journalism by Simon Carr. Why on earth is he reduced to blogging for Guido? He is far better than the Times parliamentary correspondent, the absurd Ann Trenwhatever,

Also: wow. Plebgate. Yes. These policemen should go to jail, for quite long periods of time. They lied and connived to bring down a government Minister; that's not just a sackable offence, that is borderline treacherous. Astonishing.

Indeed
If they are not lying idiots, those police officers, really quite senior figures, should be a lot more convincing though - we expect senior politicians to be good communicators and spinners, and senior police figures should at the least be able to articulate a convincing sounding argument.

Is Simon Carr not with the Indy anymore? When I decided I just could not take one more dead seagull on the front page of my paper he was the one regret I had about what I was leaving behind.

Carr was very good because you could never be sure of his own political opinions. I'm guessing he is slightly to the right, but it is uncertain. He could also be woundingly nasty in a dry and witty way.

Wasted on the Indy. But blogging for Guido?!

*professional sigh*

In my opinion he has been the best sketch writer of the Commons for the last 10 years. Bitingly funny but usually with a point as well. It is remarkable one of the major papers did not pick him up.

Great news for Berlusconi's foolish fascist fans.

Abbaleksandr ‏@abbaleksandr 1m

Silvio Berlusconi to face another trial for corruption | euronews, world news http://www.euronews.com/2013/10/23/silvio-berlusconi-to-face-another-trial-for-corruption/ …

Mick_Pork said:

Great news for Berlusconi's foolish fascist fans.

Abbaleksandr ‏@abbaleksandr 1m

Silvio Berlusconi to face another trial for corruption | euronews, world news http://www.euronews.com/2013/10/23/silvio-berlusconi-to-face-another-trial-for-corruption/ …

Aw, making fun of Berlusconi's legal troubles used to be very enjoyable, but now he actually seems to be losing a lot of them it's just increasingly sad. He looks so down a lot of the time, the poor persecuted billionaire.

Tykejohnno said:

Yorkcity said:

Tykejohnno said:

tim said:

In a crowded market of fake Daves which is your favourite?

Frothy Guinness

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/10/08/article-0-0B888844000005DC-33_634x422.jpg

The Baby positioning wins it I think

Pimping Brooke

http://www4.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/David+Cameron+Brooke+Kinsella+David+Cameron+vP2ukMzsfswl.jpg

The furrowed brow is special

Tim's making me feel sorry for Cameron.

Same here ,just catching up on the threads I knew it was bad, when the ultra scottish female defender of all thing dave,was posting furiously that it was terrible for ED at lunch time instead of 2 in the morning.

Two different ways of feeling sorry for him,yours is because he got showed up,mine is because of tim's/pb labours non stop bull ;-)

True, my father is a big conservative and keeps saying regarding PM, Dave looks the part but isn`t .Ed does not look the part but he might just be another Wilson.