politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » How it could go wrong for LAB in South Shields: 1. The man

TGOHF said:

I think the more interesting point from that quote is that the £6k fees cap may not be in the Labour manifesto.

Of course it won't. Not a chance: this is one of the zillions of coalition policies which Labour will end up supporting, having told us for months how terrible they are. Lord only knows why Ed M quite unnecessarily boxed himself into a corner on this.

Actually, it's obvious why - his usual combination of opportunism and naivety.

Every time a Conservative spokesman has appeared on a news outlet today they have described welfare dependance as introduced by the last government an 'act of cruelty'.

Someone obviously thinks it's a winning slogan and has instructed all Tory spokespeople to use it.

The essence of a slogan is to combine a memorable line with the product name which hopefully puts a positive gloss on your product "Things go better with Coke" "Go to work on an Egg" "Beanz meanz Heinze" 'Welfare an act of cruelty" (say Tories)

Whoever is behind it is quite simply a marketing illiterate. To have 'Act of cruelty-Tory-and welfare dependance' in the same sentence is insane but to usher in the biggest social security changes for several generations with it is political suicide.

@Roger

A Labour government won't reverse most of these benefit changes because they know the country couldn't afford to go on in the way it was before. Remember it was Liam Byrne who said there was no money left.

@AN1

Thanks for that!

Socrates said:

Plato said:

No wonder chris_g00 and Richard Tyndall and others don't post here any longer. What a tiresome and dreary discussion that's filled with zero intelligence from the Left.

Reading LabourList or whatever carries more IQ pixels = far too many lefties are really letting themselves down on PB if this is their level of *debate*.

There's plenty of good left wing posters on here: Neil, Southam, Nick Palmer, Edmund, etc.

Excuse me, but Neil is a pbTory: I express outrage on his behalf.

I'd add Jonathan to that list - he does politics, and knows his stuff. But where has Nicomachus (sic)/poster formely known as G: he's done a bunk and must be apprehended.

Scott_P said:

@DPJHodges: Please tell me @pollytoynbee hasn't really written about how she knows what it's like to live on £53 a week.

Oh, let's hope so.

Here you go:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/02/iain-duncan-smith-53-pounds-a-week?CMP=twt_gu

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/jan/13/socialexclusion.society

Good evening, everyone.

How peculiar. I was having a brief twitter back and forth (entirely civil) about the cost of the Royal Family (Civil List, Crown Estates etc) and seem unable to reply to the last response. Hmm.

Hard to see Labour losing South Shields.

carl said:

Things getting rough for Cameron and Co.

Who'd have thought that hammering the very poorest whilst handing a huge bonanza to the very richest would cause political problems for a Government of Upper Class Tory Millionaires?

You must be mistaken. The quiet man is turning up the volume again.

Duncan Smith slams £53 petition

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has insisted he knows what is like to be on the breadline as he dismissed a petition calling for him to live on £53 a week as a "complete stunt".

http://money.uk.msn.com/duncan-smith-slams-£53-petition

How could feeding the story possibly backfire on the incompetent fops ?
It's fast approaching 300,000 now.

*chortle*

AveryLP said:

Did you mistake a bag of Cadbury's mini Easter eggs for a sack of acorns?

No, did you tip Lansley for PM again Seth?

Charles said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Socrates said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

Socrates said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

O/T

Paulo Di Canio has vowed "Sunderland will conquer Europe"......starting with Poland first one presumes.

That's not fair: he's a fascist, not a nazi. Presumably Albania will be first.

I was thinking it might have been Abyssinia.

Abyssinia isn't in Europe.

It should be.

Has been a while since I read up on Benito Mussolini.

Didn't he start with Libya first and only then Abyssinia?

Anyway that particular screw up was the Norfolk branch of the family, not mine!

Maybe Sunderland could adopt the Giovenezza or Comrades, The Voices, as their official song.

TGOHF said:

Pork - do you believe that these signatures are a spontaneous uprising or a huge circle jerk inflated via unions and other leftist vested interest social media routes ?

Seriously.

Sure it is Mr Romney, sure it is. ;^)

antifrank said:

It's hard to work out who comes out of this worst out of the Conservatives and Labour:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/prime-minister-milibandthe-prospect-is-disastrous-8557032.html

Ouch for both of them.

Rentoul is just a bitter Blairite drone. That said, it is going to be vital that the next labour cabinet brings new people and new ideas to the table. Balls has to be moved from the Treasury.

Of course the easiest way to augment the £53 a week benefit is to procreate as many kids as you can to boost your benefit entitlement.

All a long way from the "Cathy come home" time of the 1960s. But this is what happens when there is no downside to irresponsible behaviour.

AN1 said:

We Should Be Told!

It's the Groyne Lighthouse in South Sheilds:

http://www.trawlerpictures.net/gallery/image/6765-groyne-lighthouse-south-shields/

It's been serving South Sheilds and the Tyne for 131 years - ten times longer than Miliband Sr....

JohnLoony said:

(OT) There has been quite a bit of kerfuffle on Twitter today about my defection. There was hardly any yesterday. I wonder why? Maybe everybody was so laid-back because it was bank holiday.

It wasn't merely a bank holiday, but April Fools Day.

But welcome to the Tory party, you'll fit right in.

TCPoliticalBetting said:

Contrast.
The IDS comment on £53 per week,
The child murderer Philpott seeking to expand his benefit entitlement.

One of them is fact the other is lunatic and vile straw man nonsense.

Did you even read the story?

TGOHF said:

Indeed - there should no CB paid for your 3rd child (or 4th, 5th etc ) born after say May 2015.

The next Govt will have to do it. Just who will be honest with the voters beforehand?

Possibly my favourite story of the year so far.

Former Priest Pleads Guilty To Dealing Meth

The former Connecticut priest, dubbed "Monsignor Meth", ran a porn video and sex toy shop to launder money, prosecutors say.

http://news.sky.com/story/1073047/former-priest-pleads-guilty-to-dealing-meth

Mick_Pork said:

TCPoliticalBetting said:

MickPork, I read that story, heard R4 News and watched the BBC News report. What's your view on killing kids in a bid to re-gain control of other kids and their child benefit?

He was an evil bastard who botched an obscene plan to win custody.

Your demented attempt to draw a straight line between that and the bedroom tax via a government minister's own words is so beyond the pale it would be staggering but for the fact that we are used to seeing it on here from PB tories. You must be exceedingly proud of yourself.

There is some nonsense posted on this site, but TCPB's comments have to be at the summit of the sickness pyramid.

@oflynnexpress: RT @BethRigby: Populus poll for Tories show 88pc of people support benefit cap. Probably nearer 100pc in Morrisons distribution centre. #perfectsoundbites

SouthamObserver said:

There is some nonsense posted on this site, but TCPB's comments have to be at the summit of the sickness pyramid.

Please explain. These are two main stories in the media, we will see which has the deeper resonance with voters.

HurstLlama said:

"It was when superstores unilaterally started opening on Sundays in the early 90s was the law reformed."

I don't remember that. I remember the battle between the let-'em-open and the Sunday-should- be-special/can't-ask-workers-to-work-on a Sunday brigades, but I have no memory at all of Tescos and the like defying the law as it then stood. What emerged seemed to be a compromise between the two positions (OK, you can open but not for long). Are you sure we had this out break of lawlessness by major businesses?

Er! As an assistant manager of a shop on Princes Street in Edinburgh back in the 1980's, the shop I worked in was one of the first to open 7/52. Only because nobody thought any shop in Scotland would ever legally open on a Sunday. We only closed on Christmas and New Year's day.

It became so profitable, most of the Scottish part of the group did the same within 5 years.

England had to wait until the laws were changed, and changed, and changed until the shops can trade as they can today.

Oh! For the Keep Sunday Special brigade, there was never a problem in getting staff into work on a Sunday, most staff preferred it so that they could take professional pride in maintaining the shop.

Ciao - off to my life!

jayfdee said:

Welfare benefits can be very generous. I have just moved my Father in law from a house that I own,into sheltered accomodation and find it hard to beleive how wealthy he now is.
He gets Pension,Pension credit,Attendance allowance,Housing Benefit,and of course no council tax.
A total income of £19000/annum. Housing benefit alone is nearly £9000/annum. He did not qualify for this before the move as he lived in a house owned by me.
The various benefits were awarded with very little scrutiny of his affairs,which were all legitimate anyway.
Oh forgot it is a one bedroom apartment he moved into,so no deduction of benefit.Very generous.

As we know, cutrting benefits for the elderly is off limits for the Tories. Strangely enough, the elderly are the people most likely to vote Tory. I doubt there is any connection.

Then MPs wonder why they are held in such contempt by some.

90 MPs get free iPads for working on 'paperless select committees'

Scores of MPs have been handed free iPads by Commons authorities after agreeing to work on “paperless select committees”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9967447/90-MPs-get-free-iPads-for-working-on-paperless-select-committees.html

TheScreamingEagles said:

philiph said:

TheScreamingEagles said:

philiph said:

DavidL said:

Yesterday I paid £83 to fill my car with diesel. On Sunday I went to Tescos and spent £112 on messages which admittedly included a couple of decent bottles of wine and a nice roast for Easter. I did not buy washing powder, toothpaste or any of the incidentals that are needed for a household.

My wife has been to Tescos again today and I even bought a few things yesterday. The idea that you can live reasonably well for £53 a week after housing and heating costs is frankly ridiculous. Our costs reflect a family of 4 who would obviously get more than £53 a week but come on.

Those that claim those living on benefits have a pleasant life have either never done it or did it so long ago that they have rose tinted spectacles (or maybe those goggles the Guardian was offering yesterday).

This is not the point. The point is what obligation do we owe our fellow citizens who are not contributing and, even more so, those who have never contributed? What can we afford to pay without damaging our economy and making it uncompetitive? What proportion of earned income should be mandated to the poor? This is the debate we need to have. Arguing about the living costs of a cabinet minister is frankly trivilising and patronising the people those who do it are claiming to help.

I hope you didn't go to Tesco on Sunday, they should be closed on Easter Sunday (unless it is a poxy little one).

And you are right the noise around Duncan Smith is an insult to those who should be getting help from the better off in society.

I think David is from Scotland, and the laws on Sunday trading are different in Scotland than they are in England & Wales

That is cheating, living in Scotland. Do real people still do that?

It has been a while since I read up on Scotland's trading laws, but IIRC, you can't compel workers to work on Sunday, but shops can open longer on Sunday in Scotland and there aren't the restrictions on Easter Sunday and Christmas Day that there are in England & Wales.

They were all open but closed early at 6pm, all big Tesco's are open 24x7 up here apart from xmas day.

TheScreamingEagles said:

Then MPs wonder why they are held in such contempt by some.


90 MPs get free iPads for working on 'paperless select committees'

Scores of MPs have been handed free iPads by Commons authorities after agreeing to work on “paperless select committees”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9967447/90-MPs-get-free-iPads-for-working-on-paperless-select-committees.html

What are they trying to make 'paperless'? The toilet?

Ben Page, Ipsos MORI‏@benatipsosmori1h
Doing BBC Newschannel on benefit cuts - 78% say want some people to have benefits cut, 72% say politicians should bring benefits bill down.

Labour on the wrong side of public opinion yet again.

@oflynnexpress: Tories had a decent political day today - fighting on side of majority and against the Left. The Lynton Crosby effect, I guess.

Triumph for the fops!

Charlie Cannell ‏@charliecannell 4m

IDS petition just hit 300,000 sigs. It was at 250,000 at 16:00. #IDSpetition

Just went to my Facebook page and there is some serious vitriol against benefits claimants . That Daydreak video is doing the rounds aswell, of that obese, lazy bint complaining that she'll have to start smoking less fags without her handouts.

If Cameron was doing badly with the ladies before, he's not doing bad among the threads I'm looking at. Girl after girl after girl is slamming the workshy. Here are some of the choice comments:

"Some people are genuine, but most of them are just lazy f*cking slobs".

"I'm proud that the little money I get I work bloody hard for"

"That bitch makes me spew" (about the wampa in Guido's vid)

"I've been a single parent working for five years and have never been able to afford a holiday with my kids, and yet 'she's' on hols every year"

"The slobs have ruined this country".

This isn't the Daily Mail either. This is a snapshot of my Valleys friends; all familiar with shell-suits and miners' strikes and dancing around their handbags. Real people.

See, the liberal intellegensia like Toynbee and Owen Jones pretend to know the craic but WE live at the front end. We know and we see who the scroungers are. I know a man (I'll name him BP) who drives a Ford Cougar and has the best caravanette (and suntan) you'll ever see. And we all know he's never done a day's work in his life. Neither has his wife. And they even claim for their son's asthma (despite him smoking like a trooper). We know this because he brags his balls off about it.

To be honest, none of it has ever bugged me. I've grown up with it, I'm used to it and I know at least hundreds of people who are at it. I also know people who've been busted for swindling the system. But now the twisted realities of the welfare state Brown menadaciously built are becoming known to a wider audience.

Simple fact is, welfare money whould go to those who genuinely need it. If a child is sick or disabled then make us fortunate people pay him all the money we can. But if some dodgy, lazy bugger twists his ankle and claims disability, tell him he's in entitled to nothing and point him towards an office job. It should be that simple.

Fenster said:

Just went to my Facebook page and there is some serious vitriol against benefits claimants .

Did they claim welfare would turn people into child killers?

Not up to PB tory standards then, are they?

Beverley_C said:

Fenster said:

If Cameron was doing badly with the ladies before, he's not doing bad among the threads I'm looking at.

It is not Cameron I object to, it is the way that the Coalition started so well and then ran out of steam in 12 months and ever since seem to have had the touch of the truly inept. I am not convinced they deserve another term but the LibDems have proved to be spineless and Labour are still the useless, lying authoritarians they showed themselves to be for 13 years.

Who is left to vote for? The choices are "The Inept", "The Spineless" and "The Deceivers". If someone shows a bit of gumption then they are liable to pick up votes.

The non-tribal voter's choice of who to vote for is appalling.

Bev.

On a cursory glance, the Universal Credit seems to be a welcome product of the coalition agreement. Removing the artificial barriers to working more than ~16hours a week for people on low-income benefit is very welcome, IMO. You are generally right though, it seems as though the entire government has no sense of purpose, just waiting for the inevitable defeat at 2015. That, and a massively incompetent media 'strategy' team.

Did they claim welfare would turn people into child killers?

Not up to PB tory standards then, are they?

They are not Mick.

Fenster will have to look harder to his facebook acquaintances.

1. If you grew up with all this benefit fiddling, how could Brown have created it?

Southam.

Fenster was born in 97 or then again maybe not, a more reasonable guess would be he hates Labour.

One senior detective expressed it in even stronger terms to the BBC.

'Obsessed with sex'

He said: "Mick never got over Lisa leaving him. And he'd lost five child benefits [through his children by Lisa] and five people who worshipped him

Mike Pork - This is from BBC - the detective talked about the lost income of Child Benefit - not TCPB?

shipmate1 said:

- the detective talked about the lost income of Child Benefit - not TCPB?

Did he say this?

"Contrast.
The IDS comment on £53 per week,
The child murderer Philpott seeking to expand his benefit entitlement.

How would some of the key people who founded the Fabians and the Labour party view the 2013 products of the welfare state such as the 17 kids from Philpott?

These are the battle lines for GE 2015 and beyond."

Since he quite clearly didn't and spoke of the other factors (NONE of which can possibly excuse or justify what he did) then perhaps you should stop digging?

As Southam said the silence on this from the usual suspects is deafening and all too telling.
But why not defend the lunacy? That's bound to look good isn't it?

Mark said

"Fenster's post is just typical anecdotal made up fiction but every pbtory will nod sagely and believe it as gospel . "

Has he forgot there is no more likes on here that he always used to try and accumulate.

He should go and get the claptrap somewhere else.

.

Mick P - I don't defend people and in all fairness, I have only just been lurking and reading recent posts. I just noted you made an accusation to bedroom tax and nastiness of TCPB (I don't know enough to know if he is or not) but his post talked about loss of Child Benefit which was also mentioned on the BBC report - that's all (I haven't "dug" past the last 15-20 posts!) Sorry, very lazy of me!!