politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » The ethnic minority vote could be decisive in London’s Mayo

I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race. When they get their minds on doing something, they do it fluffin well.

SeanT said:

richardDodd said:

Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them.
"No Sir Timberland boots do not leak".
"Yes they do..this one here"
"No Sir, our boots do not leak"
This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak".
Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak.
Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.

The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scarpa-Mens-SL-Active--/dp/B0069WHERA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1439838280&sr=8-9&keywords=scarpa+boots

Cyclefree said:

rullko said:

SeanT said:

Scott_P said:

@DPJHodges: Corbyn on Raed Salah: "He did not at any stage utter any antisemitic remarks to me". The next Labour leader actually said that.

To be fair there are loads of senior lefties and Labourites who have associated far too closely with Islamists, Holocaust deniers, terrorists. It's just that Jezbollah is the first to get real scrutiny on the issue.

Well, yes. Burnham and Cooper were both members of a government which didn't just say cordial things about anti-semites, but actively armed Gaddafi, al-Assad and the Saudis.

There are very very few good choices in the Middle East. We should certainly stop being quite as cosy with the Saudis and Qataris as we are. But there is a difference between the demands of realpolitik, when you are in government, and the choices you make as a backbencher with no official standing of any kind. JC is rightly being called out on the choices he has made. I hope that people like Blait and others will be called out on the decisions they made. But Blair's failings do not excuse or justify Corbyn's own failings.

For far too long the Left has talked loudly about racism but turned a blind eye or worse to the illiberalism of groups if they were either ethnic minorities or foreign minority religions, provided those groups voted for them. It is and has been a disgraceful position and it would be nice if the chaos and violence engulfing the Middle East and the various atrocities in Europe might at last open their eyes.

There's something to all of that. But Corbyn is being simultaneously condemned for being populist, unwilling to be realistic about the compromises of office, and for getting close to nasty types in (what he has claimed to be) the name of realpolitik.

Yvette: Andy should step down because he's too similar to Jeremy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11808589/Yvette-Cooper-Andy-Burnham-is-too-similar-to-Jeremy-Corbyn-and-must-step-aside.html

HYUFD said:

MikeK said:

HYUFD said:

Have just completed and posted my ballot for the Labour Leadership election

For leader I voted:

1. Burnham
2. Kendall
3. Corbyn
4. Cooper

For Deputy I voted:

1. Creasy
2. Flint
3. Bradshaw
4. Watson
5. Eagle

How you come to think about the people mentioned above is beyond me. To actually vote for them shows a nervous breakdown is coming. A wave of such breakdowns is threatening to engulf certain PBers.

Well Labour opened up the £3 ballot so I may as well take advantage, I will certainly not be having any breakdowns following the result

I've not received my ballot yet !

#Maybetommorow...

Pulpstar said:

HYUFD said:

MikeK said:

HYUFD said:

Have just completed and posted my ballot for the Labour Leadership election

For leader I voted:

1. Burnham
2. Kendall
3. Corbyn
4. Cooper

For Deputy I voted:

1. Creasy
2. Flint
3. Bradshaw
4. Watson
5. Eagle

How you come to think about the people mentioned above is beyond me. To actually vote for them shows a nervous breakdown is coming. A wave of such breakdowns is threatening to engulf certain PBers.

Well Labour opened up the £3 ballot so I may as well take advantage, I will certainly not be having any breakdowns following the result

I've not received my ballot yet !

#Maybetommorow...

Nor have I perhaps we have been black balled

bigjohnowls said:

Pulpstar said:

HYUFD said:

MikeK said:

HYUFD said:

Have just completed and posted my ballot for the Labour Leadership election

For leader I voted:

1. Burnham
2. Kendall
3. Corbyn
4. Cooper

For Deputy I voted:

1. Creasy
2. Flint
3. Bradshaw
4. Watson
5. Eagle

How you come to think about the people mentioned above is beyond me. To actually vote for them shows a nervous breakdown is coming. A wave of such breakdowns is threatening to engulf certain PBers.

Well Labour opened up the £3 ballot so I may as well take advantage, I will certainly not be having any breakdowns following the result

I've not received my ballot yet !

#Maybetommorow...

Nor have I perhaps we have been black balled

Indicating a preference for Jezza over Andy Burnham or Yvette Cooper doesn't pass Harriet's witchcraft test maybe.

notme said:

Barnesian said:

Pulpstar said:

I think Zac can appeal outside the traditional Tory demographic !

As I mentioned below, he appeals to me and I'm certainly not the traditional demographic! His campaign couild catch fire.

He will be a major pain in the bum to the government as well...

Another plus.

‏@georgeeaton: Team Cooper say their data shows her beating Burnham in every region and him in fourth place in London.


@georgeeaton: "This is desperate from Yvette. Straight out of the Ed Balls playbook," says Burnham source on poll claims.

Pulpstar said:

HurstLlama said:

JosiasJessop said:

SeanT said:

richardDodd said:

Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them.
"No Sir Timberland boots do not leak".
"Yes they do..this one here"
"No Sir, our boots do not leak"
This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak".
Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak.
Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.

The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scarpa-Mens-SL-Active--/dp/B0069WHERA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1439838280&sr=8-9&keywords=scarpa+boots

Agree with that. I got through five pairs of Scarpa Trek II's in a year, and they are my boot of choice now.

http://www.buachaille.com/p1676-0-1/2-3-Season-Hiking-Boots/Scarpa-Trek-II-GTX-Mens.html

The only boots I never need to break in: I just put some insoles in them, lace 'em up and head for the hills.

You got through five pairs in a year? When you say, "Got through" I presume you mean wore out. If so I hardly see why they should be thought of as wonderful boots. Crumbs, in my soldiering days we wore our boots pretty hard and even Boots DMS could be relied upon to last for more than a couple of months.

Mr Jessop does long mileage...

Yes, I know mr. Star, but in any period of 24 hours there are only so many times one can place one foot in front of the other and as a squaddie I reckon I was about on maximum most days. Boots that last only a couple of months don't sound brilliant to me.

Jeremy has long campaigned for the end of the oppression of an entire nation of people by a racist government that is fully supported by his opponents here even as it continues to steal their land (I realise many PB Tories are supremacist bullies who wholeheartedly approve of dispossession of the weak).The fact that a few people who share these aims have unsavoury views doesn't in any way tar him with the same brush.
I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.

Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.

Plato said:

An excuse to post this.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNPTlT8HXjk

tyson said:

I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race. When they get their minds on doing something, they do it fluffin well.

SeanT said:

richardDodd said:

Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them.
"No Sir Timberland boots do not leak".
"Yes they do..this one here"
"No Sir, our boots do not leak"
This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak".
Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak.
Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.

The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scarpa-Mens-SL-Active--/dp/B0069WHERA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1439838280&sr=8-9&keywords=scarpa+boots

Pity they didn't put in any rustproofing!

Never mind, we had:

https://youtu.be/FU-tuY0Z7nQ

Given there are four candidates there can only be a maximum of three counts so there is no point in anyone listing a fourth preference.

SeanT said:

JosiasJessop said:

SeanT said:

richardDodd said:

Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them.
"No Sir Timberland boots do not leak".
"Yes they do..this one here"
"No Sir, our boots do not leak"
This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak".
Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak.
Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.

The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scarpa-Mens-SL-Active--/dp/B0069WHERA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1439838280&sr=8-9&keywords=scarpa+boots

Agree with that. I got through five pairs of Scarpa Trek II's in a year, and they are my boot of choice now.

http://www.buachaille.com/p1676-0-1/2-3-Season-Hiking-Boots/Scarpa-Trek-II-GTX-Mens.html

The only boots I never need to break in: I just put some insoles in them, lace 'em up and head for the hills.

My experience too. I couldn't believe how comfortable they were from the get-go. Just put them on, and, er, that's it. Not a blister.

My Scarpas have got the ultimate challenge at the end of August. I'm spending a week trekking and boating in Disko Bay and the ice fjords - in Greenland. Brrr.

Just don't take them onto the slipway at Clais Charnach near Cape Wrath,. It turns out they're not to grippy on wet stones ...

http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/record/rcahms/4723/clais-charnach-slipway/rcahms?item=1123181#carousel

The Tories have provided vital armaments and support to Islamic fundamentalists in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi and more, playing a pivotal role in enabling the scourge of medieval death cults that have engulfed a huge swathe of the globe.

Jeremy has probably briefly chatted to a couple of nutters at pro-Palestinian functions whilst campaigning for an end to oppression by a fascist UK establishment ally.

JWisemann said:

Jeremy has long campaigned for the end of the oppression of an entire nation of people by a racist government that is fully supported by his opponents here even as it continues to steal their land (I realise many PB Tories are supremacist bullies who wholeheartedly approve of dispossession of the weak).The fact that a few people who share these aims have unsavoury views doesn't in any way tar him with the same brush.
I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.

Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.

Hmmm, raving mad or troll. Can't make up my mind.

JWisemann said:

The Tories have provided vital armaments and support to Islamic fundamentalists in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi and more, playing a pivotal role in enabling the scourge of medieval death cults that have engulfed a huge swathe of the globe.

Jeremy has probably briefly chatted to a couple of nutters at pro-Palestinian functions whilst campaigning for an end to oppression by a fascist UK establishment ally.

You're obsessing about Muslims again, are you sure you're not Phil Woolas?

HurstLlama said:

JosiasJessop said:

SeanT said:

richardDodd said:

Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them.
"No Sir Timberland boots do not leak".
"Yes they do..this one here"
"No Sir, our boots do not leak"
This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak".
Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak.
Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.

The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scarpa-Mens-SL-Active--/dp/B0069WHERA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1439838280&sr=8-9&keywords=scarpa+boots

Agree with that. I got through five pairs of Scarpa Trek II's in a year, and they are my boot of choice now.

http://www.buachaille.com/p1676-0-1/2-3-Season-Hiking-Boots/Scarpa-Trek-II-GTX-Mens.html

The only boots I never need to break in: I just put some insoles in them, lace 'em up and head for the hills.

You got through five pairs in a year? When you say, "Got through" I presume you mean wore out. If so I hardly see why they should be thought of as wonderful boots. Crumbs, in my soldiering days we wore our boots pretty hard and even Boots DMS could be relied upon to last for more than a couple of months.

I wondered if someone'd bite.

The problem is one of maintenance. My current pair of Trek II's (I ordered three or four pairs in bulk in case they changed the design) has lasted for over 2,000 miles, by dint of washing after most trips and waxing.

However, I couldn't do that on my coastal walk. The boots were regularly dipped in the sea, immersed in mud, driven through miles of sand, used as a pillow whilst having a break, thrown at angry dogs, caught on barbed wire, peed on, enveloped in farmyard slurry, and lost.

Sometimes several of those on the same day. Worst was when the pee was not my own ...

When walking day after day, it is impossible to wash the boots and have them dry in time to wax them for the next day. So a pair would often last around a 1,000 miles, or a couple of months walking. If I'd been able to wash and wax them regularly, it would have been a different story. Add in the fact I have an unusual gait (severe supination), and they wear out quickly on trips.

I also got through four pairs of trainers, which I used on road sections (e.g. the miles of lochjside walking in west Scotland). They'd only last a few hundred miles.

SeanT said:

tyson said:

I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race. When they get their minds on doing something, they do it fluffin well.

SeanT said:

richardDodd said:

Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them.
"No Sir Timberland boots do not leak".
"Yes they do..this one here"
"No Sir, our boots do not leak"
This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak".
Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak.
Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.

The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scarpa-Mens-SL-Active--/dp/B0069WHERA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1439838280&sr=8-9&keywords=scarpa+boots

The same thought has struck me on my recent visits to less obvious parts of Italy - Alto Adige, Friuli-Giulia, Sicily. It is a marvellous country, still full of great invention and resourcefulness. The lumbering cities of Rome and Milan slow it down.

That said the single most impressive Italian I've met recently - a world ski jump champion who also knew more history than most academics - yearned for a return of a Mussolini, to sort all the problems.

Mussolini's grandaughter has been in politics for some time, now an MEP. Pretty sharp too, this is her comment on Godfrey Bloom after his fridge remark:

"I know the English have a sense of humour about themselves, but I am from Naples and I can say that we women do know how to cook and clean the refrigerator and even be politicians, while perhaps Godfrey Bloom does not know either how to clean the refrigerator or how to be a politician."

Very poor tally for the bulls this year during the summer's torture festivities in Spain. Only seven torturers killed so far against six or seven thousand terrified animals. Let's hope for a better score next year for the bulls, or better still, the Spaniards to stop this cruel blood lust.

tyson said:

I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race.

They were, circa 500BC to 100AD

I'm voting Khan, because, you know, 33/1. Really wished I'd jumped on Corbyn when a few others I know were.

tyson said:

Very poor tally for the bulls this year during the summer's torture festivities in Spain. Only seven torturers killed so far against six or seven thousand terrified animals. Let's hope for a better score next year for the bulls, or better still, the Spaniards to stop this cruel blood lust.

We'll get "Vida en un mercado" telling us how it's a Spaniard's birthright to rip apart bulls ;p

foxinsoxuk said:

SeanT said:

tyson said:

I tell you if Italians were not so hopelessly bureaucratic, terribly governed, make even the most simple task complicated, fixated with conspiracy, they would be the master race. When they get their minds on doing something, they do it fluffin well.

SeanT said:

richardDodd said:

Hurst Llama...You sound like me...I had a treasured pair of Timberland boots for ten years and they served me well all over the globe...one day one of them leaked.....I took them back to Timberland on Bond street and told them they leaked and could they repair them.
"No Sir Timberland boots do not leak".
"Yes they do..this one here"
"No Sir, our boots do not leak"
This exchange went on for a few minutes and the assistant eventually took my old battered boots away and brought me a brand new pair, saying "Our boots do not leak".
Timberland is one of my favourite stores and gets a load of dosh from me every Christmas...because their boots don't leak.
Everything else seems to be wearing out rapidly tho.. including me.

The best walking boots in the world are Italian. Scarpa.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scarpa-Mens-SL-Active--/dp/B0069WHERA/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1439838280&sr=8-9&keywords=scarpa+boots

The same thought has struck me on my recent visits to less obvious parts of Italy - Alto Adige, Friuli-Giulia, Sicily. It is a marvellous country, still full of great invention and resourcefulness. The lumbering cities of Rome and Milan slow it down.

That said the single most impressive Italian I've met recently - a world ski jump champion who also knew more history than most academics - yearned for a return of a Mussolini, to sort all the problems.

Mussolini's grandaughter has been in politics for some time, now an MEP. Pretty sharp too, this is her comment on Godfrey Bloom after his fridge remark:

"I know the English have a sense of humour about themselves, but I am from Naples and I can say that we women do know how to cook and clean the refrigerator and even be politicians, while perhaps Godfrey Bloom does not know either how to clean the refrigerator or how to be a politician."

And related to Sophia Loren, as well.

NickPalmer said:

The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today.

I'm not sure that Jowell does have this wrapped up. Whilst it may be true that she is ahead amongst traditional Labour members, how can we know how the £3 vote-baggers and union affiliates are leaning? It seems inconceivable that the Corbyn effect is seeing off Blairites and other known trouble-makers and counter-revolutionaries everywhere except in London, where arch-Blairite Tessa sails serenely on.

What is most interesting about the header article is that, if taken on board by the selectorate, it removes the main argument for voting Tessa.

The Times have done some research and say one in six voters in Labour's leadership election is a member of Unite.

Plato said:

Lammy announced he'll offer amnesty to 300k illegals if he wins

JEO said:

Casino_Royale said:

The only thing that keeps the Conservatives competitive in London is the relatively poor turnout amongst ethnic minority voters, and a big advantage in the suburbs in Outer London.

But, eventually, the demographics of the city will change so much that even this advantage will not be enough. The question then becomes whether the Conservatives can broaden their appeal in those groups sufficiently, or if London moves into an entirely different political realm for good.

My money would be more on the latter.

Of course, the demographics of London will be shaped by policy, and the Conservatives look likely to have control over immigration policy for the next 10 years. They have the ability to reverse Labour's gerrymandering of the electorate in London. Whether they have the will to do that is another question. It will certainly be damaging if London, the engine of the UK economy, ends up with the Labour left in control because Conservatives can not get a grip on both legal and illegal migration. Sadiq Khan is already proposing to make white British people legally disadvantaged. Jowell wants to ban advertising of healthy looking women. Lammy wants to give out passports to whoever can smuggle themselves into the country.

..and build loads of cheap housing on the green belt. What a combo!

SeanT said:

saddened said:

JWisemann said:

Jeremy has long campaigned for the end of the oppression of an entire nation of people by a racist government that is fully supported by his opponents here even as it continues to steal their land (I realise many PB Tories are supremacist bullies who wholeheartedly approve of dispossession of the weak).The fact that a few people who share these aims have unsavoury views doesn't in any way tar him with the same brush.
I'm sure there were probably black South Africans with extremist views during apartheid, that wouldn't have made supporting the broader campaigns against it any less vital.

Outside of the pro-Palestinian cause, the only befriending of Islamists has been done by the Tories and Blairites, usually to make their mates a fortune. Slightly different.

Hmmm, raving mad or troll. Can't make up my mind.

Plato thought the fragrant Mister WIsemann was a sock puppet belonging to OGH, employed to entertain himself, and others, by enlivening debate.

It's a tempting theory.

He's not bad but has a tendency to over egg it in occasion.

tyson said:

I suppose we can also begrudgingly give them 1400-1580 or so when the Medicis were doing their thing, and modernising Europe a tad. I am looking out to the Duomo, in Florence now through my lounge window- architects still argue about how it was built such is the design of the Cupola. All I can say is that it is very big.

Good point, and no need to be begrudging about it. Italy is wonderful, and I guess you have to admit that the Italians should get at least some of the credit!

SeanT said:

That said the single most impressive Italian I've met recently - a world ski jump champion who also knew more history than most academics - yearned for a return of a Mussolini, to sort all the problems.

Did he think colonial humiliation, recurring military defeat, invasion & occupation by both allies & enemies and a ubiquitous (if slightly unfair) reputation for martial cowardice was worth it just to get a few commies jailed and the trains to run on time?

Richard_Nabavi said:

tyson said:

I suppose we can also begrudgingly give them 1400-1580 or so when the Medicis were doing their thing, and modernising Europe a tad. I am looking out to the Duomo, in Florence now through my lounge window- architects still argue about how it was built such is the design of the Cupola. All I can say is that it is very big.

Good point, and no need to be begrudging about it. Italy is wonderful, and I guess you have to admit that the Italians should get at least some of the credit!

And there is the invention of the banking industry - though that may be, perhaps, seen as a mixed blessing!

Cyclefree said:

And there is the invention of the banking industry - though that may be, perhaps, seen as a mixed blessing!

On the negative side, they invented double-entry accounting.

Some fun for the evening:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/03/upshot/a-quick-puzzle-to-test-your-problem-solving.html

NickPalmer said:

The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today. So far, have had literature from Burnham, Corbyn, Watson (much bigger than anyone else's), Creasy, Jowell and Khan - just emails from everyone else. Corbyn's came today as well, in an envelope marked "WARNING - CONTAINS A NEW KIND OF POLITICS" - straightforward content, nothing startling. It includes an appeal for second preferences from those supporting someone else.

Nick- when Corbyn wins, we can all take a bit of time out as Labour ceases to be a party of any weight and becomes a kind of hybrid of a pressure group and laughing stock. Perhaps the London contest will provide a slight distraction, but if a Labour bod wins, it will probably prolong Jeremy's excruciating tenure.

TheScreamingEagles said:

The Times have done some research and say one in six voters in Labour's leadership election is a member of Unite.

A minimum. They were quoted as having 104,000 in the affiliates.
On top of that are the Unite members that are also full Labour members.

Richard_Nabavi said:

@TheScreamingEagles - Brilliant!

Yes I am brilliant.

Oh, you were talking about the Matt Cartoon

TheScreamingEagles said:

That's awesome = Matt is brilliant.

SeanT said:

JWisemann said:

Okay, so arming Islamic fundamentalists across a quarter of the globe is realpolitik, chatting to a nutter at a function in aid of oppressed people is tantamount to being Hitler. Of course.

Ah, Mister Smithson, with this you are spoiling us!

Theuniondivvie said:

SeanT said:

That said the single most impressive Italian I've met recently - a world ski jump champion who also knew more history than most academics - yearned for a return of a Mussolini, to sort all the problems.

Did he think colonial humiliation, recurring military defeat, invasion & occupation by both allies & enemies and a ubiquitous (if slightly unfair) reputation for martial cowardice was worth it just to get a few commies jailed and the trains to run on time?

If Fascist Italy had just chosen the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio as leader (as nearly happened) rather than the oafish Mussolini, all would have been well.

I wrote about d'Annunzio for Das Torygraf

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/seanthomas/100253258/this-man-was-a-sadomasochist-drug-addict-fearless-pilot-and-politician-only-in-italy/

G d'Annunzio is my favourite politician EVAH. Possibly my favourite single person.

D'Annunzio is certainly a fascinating character, far more so than Musso. I've had Lucy Hughes-Hallet's bio by my bed since Christmas, must get down to it. Bit off reading lately.

There'll be some entertaining comments on this page I guess:

http://labourlist.org/2015/08/miliband-backs-kendall-and-warns-corbyn-victory-could-lead-to-one-party-tory-state/

The first comment:

"I never did trust David, whenever I heard him singing 'The Red Flag' it was never an extraordinary rendition."

Dixie said:

HYUFD said:

Glenys Kinnock votes 1. Cooper 2. Burnham and Khan for Mayor
https://twitter.com/GlenysKinnock/status/633330879255941120?lang=en-gb

Another Kinnock in hyperbole. Talkign bollocks is their game

It's said that Major said of Neil Kinnock that the reason he was a windbag was that, having nothing to say, he had no idea when he'd stopped saying it.

AndyJS said:

There'll be some entertaining comments on this page I guess:

http://labourlist.org/2015/08/miliband-backs-kendall-and-warns-corbyn-victory-could-lead-to-one-party-tory-state/

The first comment:

"I never did trust David, whenever I heard him singing 'The Red Flag' it was never an extraordinary rendition."

Shady behaviour indeed. Reminds me of a news bit from when Kim Jong Un had his uncle killed, with a commentator talking about Kim saying his uncle had disrespected him, citing that when he had been appointed to some post, the uncle only clapped half heartedly.

Richard_Nabavi said:

NickPalmer said:

The thread's notable for its lack of interest in the header, which is odd, since it's quite striking - the first good polling news for Khan for some time. I think Jowell has the race wrapped up, but Khan's still in there pitching - got a leaflet from him today.

I'm not sure that Jowell does have this wrapped up. Whilst it may be true that she is ahead amongst traditional Labour members, how can we know how the £3 vote-baggers and union affiliates are leaning? It seems inconceivable that the Corbyn effect is seeing off Blairites and other known trouble-makers and counter-revolutionaries everywhere except in London, where arch-Blairite Tessa sails serenely on.

What is most interesting about the header article is that, if taken on board by the selectorate, it removes the main argument for voting Tessa.

Not convinced that London members and associates see much political difference between Jowell and Khan. But I agree about the poll.

@ Cyclefree. Re our discussion yesterday, I did know one Philosophy student at Bristol. I forget his name, but he looked like a blue-eyed Jesus and fancied himself as an aesthete. Wonder if you can work out who it was based on that sketchy description!

SeanT said:

PS I'm slightly struggling with Andrew Roberts' Napoleon. Brilliant on facts but needs more absurd, colourful gossip. Hopefully it will sharpen up.

First book of his I haven't finished.

kle4 said:

bigjohnowls said:

Extract from the leadership rules:

"No candidates or persons acting on behalf of a candidate will use their own material, access to publicity or any media outlets to disparage or brief against any other candidate."

Mandleson plan by rule breaking

That seems like a pretty silly rule. What if one or more of the candidates does something which quite reasonably deserves to be disparaged by the others? Rely on the 'right wing media' to do it for them?

It is an utterly absurd rule for a contest. What is the point of even having an election if you can't disparage your rivals in the election? It is a kids glove rule that is going to be broken through underhand means rather than honest ones.

bigjohnowls said:

Yvette Cooper: Andy Burnham is too similar to Jeremy Corbyn and must step aside.
Well they are both men one was favourite and is now an outsider
LOL Kendall too similar to Cooper who steps aside?
Cooper loses any chance of 2nd place with this kind of Bollox IMO

I've just heard Cooper on the News (her voice seemed almost to be breaking before she regained some control and heaven forbid she seemed to be blinking a lot) - anyway - she said she did not know what Burnham stood for anymore as his opinions changed so much. Incredibly cutting. At the death - when its all too late - the race is hotting up.
From what I saw of Burnham he looked totally weak and pathetic. A perfect rabbit caught in the headlights.
I'm coming to the conclusion that Strictly Come Dancing might have been a better format for this leadership election.

foxinsoxuk said:

MarqueeMark said:

Scott_P said:

@cathynewman: So @Corbyn4Leader admits he may have given money to group run by Holocaust denier but says wouldn't have done had he known his views #c4news

So either Corbyn is a fool - or he thinks we are....

I think we do have supporting evidence that Jezzbollah is - as SeanT suggests - a bit thick.

Naught but PB Tory Propaganda!

foxinsoxuk said:

bigjohnowls said:

Extract from the leadership rules:

"No candidates or persons acting on behalf of a candidate will use their own material, access to publicity or any media outlets to disparage or brief against any other candidate."

Mandleson plan by rule breaking

Sounds as if no candidate can make the finish line then!

Jezza has run a positive campaign. No rule breaking by Jezza as far as I know.

Kendall has been at it for weeks. Cooper more recently and Burnham now by the looks of it.