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Sorry to be a total pedant, but it just says Trinity College in that article, so she might have been at Trinity College, Dublin or Trinity College, Oxford.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
(Yes: I realise that Andy Burnham went to Cambridge, but he was at Fitzwilliam. And girls from Trinity College Cambridge, Tory or not, do not kiss boys from Fitzwilliam.)0 -
Yet in the post that immediately follows yours, I claim his main problem is that he is compromising...taffys said:Weird.
Not really. The Trident thing shows that Corbyn isn't remotely interested in debate or carrying a message to the voters, or even to the party. Less still is he interested in accommodating his views or compromise.
The idea is you just agree with him. Or you get replaced by someone who does.
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okc Do you ever wonder why the McCann parents were never prosecuted for child neglect..If it had been a couple from some Northern hell hole they would have done time and the other kids put into care..They went to the pub and left the kids unattended..but they were Doctors..0
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From my experience, they kiss everyone else though.rcs1000 said:
Sorry to be a total pedant, but it just says Trinity College in that article, so she might have been at Trinity College, Dublin or Trinity College, Oxford.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
(Yes: I realise that Andy Burnham went to Cambridge, but he was at Fitzwilliam. And girls from Trinity College Cambridge, Tory or not, do not kiss boys from Fitzwilliam.) 0 -
Vlads not a poncy-boots gaylord then?SeanT said:
Go, Vladimir, GO.MikeK said:http://www.rt.com/news/317104-russia-strike-isis-video/
From the video it looks like Russia is using anti personnel bomblets as well as missiles and heavier bombs.
Kill them all, you weirdly brilliant bare-chested Slavic homo-tyrant.
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At least he can remember. Unlike some I could (but won’t) mention. Not sure I can remember all the girls I kissed in my student days, but they were a long time ago!HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html0 -
Welcome to far left politics. Agree with the leader or you are out. UKIP works much the same.taffys said:Weird.
Not really. The Trident thing shows that Corbyn isn't remotely interested in debate or carrying a message to the voters, or even to the party. Less still is he interested in accommodating his views or compromise.
The idea is you just agree with him. Or you get replaced by someone who does.0 -
''Yet in the post that immediately follows yours, I claim his main problem is that he is compromising...
Indeed!!
He seems to be compromising, but does the party have any policies as such? on anything? Or is it all still up for 'debate'........ie until I can get enough people to agree with me.0 -
"Out" as in out of the party? Or "out" as in, taken out and shot?foxinsoxuk said:
Welcome to far left politics. Agree with the leader or you are out. UKIP works much the same.taffys said:Weird.
Not really. The Trident thing shows that Corbyn isn't remotely interested in debate or carrying a message to the voters, or even to the party. Less still is he interested in accommodating his views or compromise.
The idea is you just agree with him. Or you get replaced by someone who does.
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William Hague on visits of former PMs to conference. 'John Major would be genuinely helpful, Margaret Thatcher would try to be helpful but suddenly say what she thought and generate massive headlines of her own, and Ted Heath would not have the slightest intention of being helpful but would be there to show he could not be ignored.'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/11900130/Jeremy-Corbyn-conference-speech-regret-outsourcing-his-policy-to-Labour-party-members.html0 -
Yup. Some people can abandon their children in the pub too. And apparently think it’s quite funny!richardDodd said:okc Do you ever wonder why the McCann parents were never prosecuted for child neglect..If it had been a couple from some Northern hell hole they would have done time and the other kids put into care..They went to the pub and left the kids unattended..but they were Doctors..
Not even a visit from Social Services!0 -
I think a lot of people have the impression about Corbyn that because he wears linen suits sometimes and appears to be an eccentric he is as such some kind of academic, as those two ideas are linked together due to television.
But he isn't, he is not well educated, well read and nor has he written up a solid theory about politics in anything more advanced than a few pamphlets for stop the war.
He has not intellectual presence at all from what I've seen, he didn't sit on the back benches biding his time for his great theories to be born out in front of the masses. He sat on his backside doing local pastoral care in his constituency, thinking about nothing else but what he thought about back in the late 1970's.
He makes Cameron look like Gladstone.0 -
I warm to anyone willing to slot those rape-Nazi Islamogoons. Even, yes, Vladimir "probably shaves his chest" Putin.
Trouble is, Putin may not be bombing ISIS. He may be bombing US backed moderates in Syria.
And that is f8cking serious, if true.0 -
It very much depends on whether the party is in power or not!GIN1138 said:
"Out" as in out of the party? Or "out" as in, taken out and shot?foxinsoxuk said:
Welcome to far left politics. Agree with the leader or you are out. UKIP works much the same.taffys said:Weird.
Not really. The Trident thing shows that Corbyn isn't remotely interested in debate or carrying a message to the voters, or even to the party. Less still is he interested in accommodating his views or compromise.
The idea is you just agree with him. Or you get replaced by someone who does.0 -
Another point, the attacks on the MSM that he makes make cheer his supporters but in reality the press are weaker now than ever and will only get weaker. Attacking them, heavily regulating them changes very little in the long term.
It's solving a problem that is solving itself already.0 -
OKC I suppose you are referring to the Camerons ..Where on leaving the pub the daughter went to the toilet .. one parent thought she was with the other one..she was recovered five mins later.. certainly not abandoned...I guess you must be the perfect parent..well done..0
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Speaking from experience?rcs1000 said:
Sorry to be a total pedant, but it just says Trinity College in that article, so she might have been at Trinity College, Dublin or Trinity College, Oxford.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
(Yes: I realise that Andy Burnham went to Cambridge, but he was at Fitzwilliam. And girls from Trinity College Cambridge, Tory or not, do not kiss boys from Fitzwilliam.)0 -
It is a truth universally acknowledged.HYUFD said:
Speaking from experience?rcs1000 said:
Sorry to be a total pedant, but it just says Trinity College in that article, so she might have been at Trinity College, Dublin or Trinity College, Oxford.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
(Yes: I realise that Andy Burnham went to Cambridge, but he was at Fitzwilliam. And girls from Trinity College Cambridge, Tory or not, do not kiss boys from Fitzwilliam.)0 -
Lord Acton said it better - Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutelyJosiasJessop said:
I carefully didn't say he was evil; I said the power he yields rarely leads to anything other than evil. Even with good intentions, such power leads, directly or indirectly, to awful outcomes.SeanT said:
Putin isn't evil. He's a fairly thuggish autocrat, with a ruthless streak - but by the standards of Russian hard men - Ivan the Terrible to Stalin - he's positively benign, if not metrosexual, the Nick Clegg of historic Russian politics.JosiasJessop said:
I quite admire Putin. It's quite something to have such utter control over the politics, media and civil life of your country. He's an operator.SeanT said:
Go, Vladimir, GO.MikeK said:http://www.rt.com/news/317104-russia-strike-isis-video/
From the video it looks like Russia is using anti personnel bomblets as well as missiles and heavier bombs.
Kill them all, you weirdly brilliant bare-chested Slavic homo-tyrant.
I still disagree with him, though. Such power rarely leads to anything other than evil.
Look at Blair, who in 1997 had nearly unparalleled power in British politics.0 -
Now our children are adults, yes, all three have, at one time or another, said we were.richardDodd said:OKC I suppose you are referring to the CAMERONS ..Where on leaving the pub the daughter went to the toilet .. one parent thought she was with the other one..she was recovered five mins later.. certainly not abandoned...I guess you must be the perfect parent..well done..
Mind, when they were teenagers .......0 -
Are any of their supporters happy that Labour's current position on Trident is to pay for it but to promise not to use it? If they are happy with that then they're stupider than I imagined possible.0
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I better start being more abusive. I could do with a raise.SeanT said:This is brilliant. The more you moan on Twitter, and the angrier you get, and the more you talk about politics - the more you earn, or so it seems.
http://www.cityam.com/225498/have-big-salary-it-probably-shows-your-tweets-high-earners-sound-angrier-and-more-pessimistic0 -
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The bombings today appear not to be in IS controlled areas:SeanT said:
Who cares. American policy is a total failure in the Mid East. A total and calamitous failure, from the second Gulf War through Libya to encouraging the Arab Spring to not-quite-dealing-with-ISIS as it was "Junior League". Or so Obama thought.taffys said:I warm to anyone willing to slot those rape-Nazi Islamogoons. Even, yes, Vladimir "probably shaves his chest" Putin.
Trouble is, Putin may not be bombing ISIS. He may be bombing US backed moderates in Syria.
And that is f8cking serious, if true.
With all due respect to the leader of the Free World, F*ck off, America. America's days as global policeman are drawing to a natural close, perhaps at the right time,
And maybe now it's the moment for a more ruthless, regional actor to get the job done and kill those ISIS rats. Difficult to see how Syria could get any WORSE.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/30/putin-orders-u-s-jets-out-of-syria.html?via=mobile&source=twitter
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No good asking Labour supporters, they've all gone mad.JonnyJimmy said:Are any of their supporters happy that Labour's current position on Trident is to pay for it but to promise not to use it? If they are happy with that then they're stupider than I imagined possible.
Even that nice Dr Palmer has lost the plot...0 -
I will take your word for it, but student romances don't normally lead to marriagercs1000 said:
It is a truth universally acknowledged.HYUFD said:
Speaking from experience?rcs1000 said:
Sorry to be a total pedant, but it just says Trinity College in that article, so she might have been at Trinity College, Dublin or Trinity College, Oxford.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
(Yes: I realise that Andy Burnham went to Cambridge, but he was at Fitzwilliam. And girls from Trinity College Cambridge, Tory or not, do not kiss boys from Fitzwilliam.)0 -
Of more serious concern to me is the deconfliction of US, French and Russian air forces.taffys said:I warm to anyone willing to slot those rape-Nazi Islamogoons. Even, yes, Vladimir "probably shaves his chest" Putin.
Trouble is, Putin may not be bombing ISIS. He may be bombing US backed moderates in Syria.
And that is f8cking serious, if true.
Which makes me wonder: have Russian and NATO forces ever fought together or in the same airspaces before without it being war? I know NATO learnt a great deal from Eastern Bloc air forces after the fall of the Berlin Wall; e.g. the Ukranian and East German flankers, but have Russian and NATO forces even done cooperative exercises before?
It seems a recipe for disaster, especially given Putin's attitude to planes being shot out of the air (or not, according to some on here).0 -
Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.0 -
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..0 -
There's a program on BBC2 right now called "Welcome to the Mosque". I really do hope these people are not representative of Islam in the UK. I've never seen a bunch of more backwards and sexist people in this country.0
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True enough,Charles said:
Lord Acton said it better - Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutelyJosiasJessop said:
I carefully didn't say he was evil; I said the power he yields rarely leads to anything other than evil. Even with good intentions, such power leads, directly or indirectly, to awful outcomes.SeanT said:
Putin isn't evil. He's a fairly thuggish autocrat, with a ruthless streak - but by the standards of Russian hard men - Ivan the Terrible to Stalin - he's positively benign, if not metrosexual, the Nick Clegg of historic Russian politics.JosiasJessop said:
I quite admire Putin. It's quite something to have such utter control over the politics, media and civil life of your country. He's an operator.SeanT said:
Go, Vladimir, GO.MikeK said:http://www.rt.com/news/317104-russia-strike-isis-video/
From the video it looks like Russia is using anti personnel bomblets as well as missiles and heavier bombs.
Kill them all, you weirdly brilliant bare-chested Slavic homo-tyrant.
I still disagree with him, though. Such power rarely leads to anything other than evil.
Look at Blair, who in 1997 had nearly unparalleled power in British politics.0 -
Yes, you're right, the Tories scraping a majority this year, when led by someone far more popular than his likely successor, shows they are guaranteed landslide wins forevermore.GIN1138 said:
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..0 -
Do you think Corbyn would have managed as a lieutenant in the British army?HYUFD said:
Indeed, Corbyn is IDS with a beardSeanT said:
I've been travelling across a Greek island so I missed the speech, but I caught up with the most important snippets yesterday.Fenster said:Re Corbyn's speech and the lukewarm response, even from lefties.
I'll be honest, I reckon I could write a barnstormer of a speech for an anti-establishment, anti-Murdoch politician like Corbyn. It wouldn't be difficult to put together a real tub-thumper to have them banging the walls. It needn't be economically coherent or aimed at the middle ground either, it could be pitched merely as an anti-establishment spectacular. One to make them go nuts.
Why didn't Corbyn do this? His effort, for want of a better word, was just boring.
OMGod. Perhaps the vids I saw were unrepresentative, but he was unbelievably bad - inarticulate, confused, meandering, silly. And entirely lacking in any oratorical or actorly skills whatsoever.
I confess myself, like you, bewildered. I thought the whole point of Jihadi Jez was that, if nothing else, he'd be a rabblerousing red, able to fire up the comrades with a Slay The Tories take on the Gettysburg Address.
Instead, meh.
Weird.0 -
Apart from a few areas like Brighton, where 2/3 seats are Labour or Green already, that is more the case in outer London where Labour did better than average at the election in marginal seats. Most of the Kent and Essex marginals still have far more elderly and white man van voters than young graduates and ethnic minoritiesDanny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.0 -
He would not, no one goes to jail for £6k of benefit fraud. It tends to become custodial when you are getting over £20k.OldKingCole said:Just seen this on the Guardian site.
"Barrister who dodged rail fares into London for two years avoids prison.”
And it was his second offence!
There was an argument as to whether he owed the railway company £20k or £6k.
If that had been benefit fraud he’d be in the Scrubs tonight!0 -
It seems to me that the US can't do anything right in the eyes of some people. If they go into Iraq, they are aggressive warmongers who have screwed up the region. If they don't go into Syria, they are useless vaccillaters who have screwed up the region.
Has it occurred to SeanT that perhaps its the region itself that is to blame, rather than the US? I rather suspect that the place will still be a nightmare after Russia's intervention. Perhaps he will blame Russia then?
Although I suspect he will still find a way to blame the USA.0 -
If we ever thought of going to help people bring down Assad again, it would mean we were at war w Russia wouldn't it?JosiasJessop said:
Of more serious concern to me is the deconfliction of US, French and Russian air forces.taffys said:I warm to anyone willing to slot those rape-Nazi Islamogoons. Even, yes, Vladimir "probably shaves his chest" Putin.
Trouble is, Putin may not be bombing ISIS. He may be bombing US backed moderates in Syria.
And that is f8cking serious, if true.
Which makes me wonder: have Russian and NATO forces ever fought together or in the same airspaces before without it being war? I know NATO learnt a great deal from Eastern Bloc air forces after the fall of the Berlin Wall; e.g. the Ukranian and East German flankers, but have Russian and NATO forces even done cooperative exercises before?
It seems a recipe for disaster, especially given Putin's attitude to planes being shot out of the air (or not, according to some on here).0 -
I thought you were arguing for arming the Kurds a few months ago, when their civilians were trapped on the mountaintop? Because Assad and his Russian friends will be after them as well.SeanT said:
The Russians vigorously dispute this, and say they've hit both - ISIS and others.foxinsoxuk said:
The bombings today appear not to be in IS controlled areas:SeanT said:
Who cares. American policy is a total failure in the Mid East. A total and calamitous failure, from the second Gulf War through Libya to encouraging the Arab Spring to not-quite-dealing-with-ISIS as it was "Junior League". Or so Obama thought.taffys said:I warm to anyone willing to slot those rape-Nazi Islamogoons. Even, yes, Vladimir "probably shaves his chest" Putin.
Trouble is, Putin may not be bombing ISIS. He may be bombing US backed moderates in Syria.
And that is f8cking serious, if true.
With all due respect to the leader of the Free World, F*ck off, America. America's days as global policeman are drawing to a natural close, perhaps at the right time,
And maybe now it's the moment for a more ruthless, regional actor to get the job done and kill those ISIS rats. Difficult to see how Syria could get any WORSE.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/30/putin-orders-u-s-jets-out-of-syria.html?via=mobile&source=twitter
Besides, the so-called "moderate rebels" do not exist. They are all, now, jihadis of one shade or another. The idea there is some Lib Dem voting centrist rebel group with interesting ideas on recycling the 300,000 dead doesn't really cut it.0 -
Tories not guaranteed landslides for ever more... Labour will get back in when they come to their sense's and start engaging with the public rather than p*ssing on them. Same as always.Danny565 said:
Yes, you're right, the Tories scraping a majority this year, when led by someone far more popular than his likely successor, shows they are guaranteed landslide wins forevermore.GIN1138 said:
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..
Of course, Lab's only got so long to give up this madness. Eventually the public would start looking for an alternative to Lab and if there isn't one, somebody will create one.
Labours got a big decision to make after they lose in 2020. Do they get real, or go for Corbyn II. If they go for Corbyn II it might be the end of Lab forever.0 -
No, the report said much of the South was demographically trending towards being more multi-ethnic and younger on average - though it did single out Essex as an exception to that.HYUFD said:
Apart from a few areas like Brighton, where 2/3 seats are Labour or Green already, that is more the case in outer London where Labour did better than average at the election in marginal seats. Most of the Kent and Essex marginals still have far more elderly and white man van voters than young graduates and ethnic minoritiesDanny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.0 -
Do you think any of them will even try to justify that position though? It would be most entertaining to read!GIN1138 said:
No good asking Labour supporters, they've all gone mad.JonnyJimmy said:Are any of their supporters happy that Labour's current position on Trident is to pay for it but to promise not to use it? If they are happy with that then they're stupider than I imagined possible.
Even that nice Dr Palmer has lost the plot...0 -
How did that theory work out in May? - MKN and MKS Tory majorities increased.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.0 -
The Tories went round S England portaying Nicola Surgeon as a demoness who must be blocked at all costs, but owe muuch of their current strong position to her.Danny565 said:
Yes, you're right, the Tories scraping a majority this year, when led by someone far more popular than his likely successor, shows they are guaranteed landslide wins forevermore.GIN1138 said:
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..0 -
This BBC documentary is enraging me. It's asking softball questions to hardline Muslims, allowing them to have a mouthpiece, and then the presenter sympathises with them.0
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Fair point. It is hard to think Labour simply cannot compete even with years to go. I accept there are a lot of points against them at this point, and I usually dismiss the idea of treating every non-tory vote as part of a monolithic bloc and I still do, but people will surely take into account that if they don't like the Tories and the Tory leader in 2020, somebody has to oppose them, and the SNP can only do that from 59 seats total (if they are not already on the way to independence by then), so simply through lack of options Labour has to be at least moderately competitive regardless of if they deserve to be. Surely?Danny565 said:
Yes, you're right, the Tories scraping a majority this year, when led by someone far more popular than his likely successor, shows they are guaranteed landslide wins forevermore.GIN1138 said:
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..0 -
Nicola was useful... But I think Labour was probably doomed the moment they handed the key's to Ed Miliband.OldKingCole said:
The Tories went round S England portaying Nicola Surgeon as a demoness who must be blocked at all costs, but owe muuch of their current strong position to her.Danny565 said:
Yes, you're right, the Tories scraping a majority this year, when led by someone far more popular than his likely successor, shows they are guaranteed landslide wins forevermore.GIN1138 said:
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..
We said for years on here that sooner or later Ed's catastrophic personal ratings and Labours poll rating would have to meet... And that moment came at 10pm on 7th May.0 -
The whole point of the thread header is that supposedly increasing young-voter turnout would only help Labour in their safe seats. I'm making the point that in some of the Southern seats like MK, a higher youth turnout than this year would help Labour (though whether it's possible to get habitual non-voters to turn out is another question, of course)felix said:
How did that theory work out in May? - MKN and MKS Tory majorities increased.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.0 -
Rise of DIP ?TGOHF said:
This is only the tip of a coming volcano. I read a few days ago that that tenants from over 220 flats in Hamburg are due to be evicted in order to place immigrants. I lost the link, however, so one must take my word for it.MikeK said:Plato_Says said:Another case, its outrageous. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/11902296/Second-German-woman-evicted-from-her-home-to-make-way-for-refugees.html
A woman in Germany is being evicted from her home of 23 years to make way for asylum-seekers, in the second such case to emerge. Gabrielle Keller has been given until the end of the year to leave her flat in the small southern town of Eschbach, near the border with France.
The flat belongs to the local municipality, which says it is needed to house refugees.
Next time you hear how awful our striving to own a home culture is ...
Quite. There will be a few nervous people in germany, renting (especially from the state) doesnt seem quite so good anymore. Someone comes and tries to confiscate my house, it would be getting burnt down before anyone got their hands on it.
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I wonder what "Tim" thinks about it?JonnyJimmy said:
Do you think any of them will even try to justify that position though? It would be most entertaining to read!GIN1138 said:
No good asking Labour supporters, they've all gone mad.JonnyJimmy said:Are any of their supporters happy that Labour's current position on Trident is to pay for it but to promise not to use it? If they are happy with that then they're stupider than I imagined possible.
Even that nice Dr Palmer has lost the plot...
Didn't he want to bomb the hell out of everyone most of the time? :^O0 -
''This BBC documentary is enraging me. It's asking softball questions to hardline Muslims, allowing them to have a mouthpiece, and then the presenter sympathises with them. ''
Hopefully the Mail will be 'outraged' tomorrow...0 -
Both seats are already no longer very marginal. These one change theories are very silly because they assume only one change and that all in one direction. The SNP landslide did not occur because a few youngsters decided to vote - their impact was very marginal if at all.Danny565 said:
The whole point of the thread header is that supposedly increasing young-voter turnout would only help Labour in their safe seats. I'm making the point that in some of the Southern seats like MK, a higher youth turnout than this year would help Labour (though whether it's possible to get habitual non-voters to turn out is another question, of course)felix said:
How did that theory work out in May? - MKN and MKS Tory majorities increased.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.0 -
I'm not sure what the official legal situation would be. The western powers were invited into Iraq, and we are operating there in conjunction with their forces. We were not invited into Syria, which is why UK forces are generally not operating there. On the other hand, Syria has invited Russia in, but Iraq has not.isam said:
If we ever thought of going to help people bring down Assad again, it would mean we were at war w Russia wouldn't it?JosiasJessop said:
Of more serious concern to me is the deconfliction of US, French and Russian air forces.taffys said:I warm to anyone willing to slot those rape-Nazi Islamogoons. Even, yes, Vladimir "probably shaves his chest" Putin.
Trouble is, Putin may not be bombing ISIS. He may be bombing US backed moderates in Syria.
And that is f8cking serious, if true.
Which makes me wonder: have Russian and NATO forces ever fought together or in the same airspaces before without it being war? I know NATO learnt a great deal from Eastern Bloc air forces after the fall of the Berlin Wall; e.g. the Ukranian and East German flankers, but have Russian and NATO forces even done cooperative exercises before?
It seems a recipe for disaster, especially given Putin's attitude to planes being shot out of the air (or not, according to some on here).
It's incredibly messy. Perhaps Korea is the best analogous situation: ISTR we had western-allied fighter pilots mixing it up with Russian and Chinese ones at times, all over a disputed third country.
But the fact IS sees themselves as a separate state (even if we do not acknowledge it as such) is a complicating factor.0 -
Strikes me too as having more than a grain of truth.Dair said:It's starting to look increasingly like Corbyn has played a blinder and will achiever everything he wants by fundamentally changing the Labour Party.
It requires an assumption. That is that Jeremy Corbyn has absolutely no interest in becoming PM of the United Kingdom.
Once you accept that it is pretty clear that everything which is going on is a smokescreen, the chaos, the bizarre cabinet appointments who are more of an opposition to him than the Tories, the concilliatory but contradictory statements he is making.
It's all a cover to get the PLPs eye off the ball while hee floods the NEC with his supporters. As I understand it, the NEC is *everything* in Labour and the way it currently works was specifically designed by Kinnock and enhanced by Blair to put complete complete control of the party into the few hands on the NEC.
The NEC controls the policy, the agenda and the candidates. And Jezza is now in complete control of that. He can now use the next few years to transform Labour into a "proper" Socialist party, with a socialist platform and socialist PPCs for 2020.
He loses in 2020 but at that point he has replaced the bulk of Blairites and Brownits with the loony left, he can stand aside and let one of the younger generation (probably someone he's placed on the NEC and not in the Shadow Cabinet) take over.
To me this seems to be a worthwhile goal for someone with Corbyn's mindset. If that is his goal, he has already succeeded.
Question is whether it will still remain worth the while of the PLP to go for an overthrow at some point in the future. OK, they remain for the time being the gatekeepers for leadership candidates, but the party is such that it would be far harder to resist a more acceptable face of leftism sans Corbyn's history next time out, even if the PLP learn from the last battle and try to do so. I still think they might go for it, even if the prize is to end up with a Nandy or a Clive Lewis or whoever else from the Corbyn coterie emerges as a front runner in the meantime.
It also seems to suggest that an overthrow could be precipitated not by polling or elections but by the internal reorganisation of the Labour party itself, the progression of that becoming a greater threat to MPs jobs than success or failure at the polls. Again, an inexperienced left-winger might be thought of as less familiar with the internal mechanics of the party, so less able to force through change within it, and any perceived effectiveness may actually be considered a disadvantage. Of course, the new leader would also need to be somehow isolated from the old hands of the left who do know how to navigate the smokeless rooms.
Perhaps what the PLP might need now is not their own man, too risky with the base for the time being, but at very least their own choice of left-wing useful idiot?0 -
How many seats did the Tories gain from Labour? I thought most of their gains were from the LD’s. Weren’t Labour vs Tory about square?GIN1138 said:
Nicola was useful... But I think Labour was probably doomed the moment they handed the key's to Ed Miliband.OldKingCole said:
The Tories went round S England portaying Nicola Surgeon as a demoness who must be blocked at all costs, but owe muuch of their current strong position to her.Danny565 said:
Yes, you're right, the Tories scraping a majority this year, when led by someone far more popular than his likely successor, shows they are guaranteed landslide wins forevermore.GIN1138 said:
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..
We said for years on here that sooner or later Ed's catastrophic personal ratings and Labours poll rating would have to meet... And that moment came at 10pm on 7th May.
Labour’s losses were in Scotland.0 -
I believe so - but that the Tory seats vs Labour held up so well was the surprise for many. Without the SNP stuff and the personal ratings comparison being much more effective than I personally thought it would, the Tories would have lost a lot more seats on not much less of the vote.OldKingCole said:
Weren’t Labour vs Tory about square?GIN1138 said:
Nicola was useful... But I think Labour was probably doomed the moment they handed the key's to Ed Miliband.OldKingCole said:
The Tories went round S England portaying Nicola Surgeon as a demoness who must be blocked at all costs, but owe muuch of their current strong position to her.Danny565 said:
Yes, you're right, the Tories scraping a majority this year, when led by someone far more popular than his likely successor, shows they are guaranteed landslide wins forevermore.GIN1138 said:
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..
We said for years on here that sooner or later Ed's catastrophic personal ratings and Labours poll rating would have to meet... And that moment came at 10pm on 7th May.
0 -
To be fair, it will be like their position on schools and hospitals - build them with mountains of borrowed cash, only to find the collapse in tax receipts mean they will never see students or patients.JonnyJimmy said:Are any of their supporters happy that Labour's current position on Trident is to pay for it but to promise not to use it? If they are happy with that then they're stupider than I imagined possible.
0 -
Andy Burnham goes up in my estimation for the first time in, ooooh, I don't know how long.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
0 -
FPT: Corbyn's position on firing Trident missiles is readily resolvable. If London gets nuked, his peacenik approach will have failed big style, so he could instantly resign. With the proper protocols in place for Tom Watson to take immediate control of the authorisation codes.
He could let such be known - if the prospect of Tom Watson in charge of a nuclear response isn't still deterrence, I sure as hell don't know what is!0 -
The problem with the Beeb is that they think pumping out centre-left wooly liberal propaganda that the bulk of the population rejects is "brave journalism". It isn't. It's staying right within their comfort zone.0
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And now the Labour Party is led by a man who makes Ed Miliband look good by comparison, really good.GIN1138 said:Nicola was useful... But I think Labour was probably doomed the moment they handed the key's to Ed Miliband.
We said for years on here that sooner or later Ed's catastrophic personal ratings and Labours poll rating would have to meet... And that moment came at 10pm on 7th May.
But Labour need not worry as clearly there are millions of quasi-Marxist non-voters who hate the Queen just waiting to put a man who would not lift a finger to defend us if London was wiped from the map into Number 10.
0 -
I thought the current president was elected as an explicit rejection of that sort of thing. Do you support Obama withdrawing from the Middle East or not?SeanT said:
Don't be daft. I'm saying that the USA's recent record in Middle Eastern meddling has been dreadful-to-catastrophic, which it unquestionably has - partly because America is overly influenced by the Israeli lobby and partly because American liberals have completely failed to understand the virulence and malignity of Islamism.JEO said:It seems to me that the US can't do anything right in the eyes of some people. If they go into Iraq, they are aggressive warmongers who have screwed up the region. If they don't go into Syria, they are useless vaccillaters who have screwed up the region.
Has it occurred to SeanT that perhaps its the region itself that is to blame, rather than the US? I rather suspect that the place will still be a nightmare after Russia's intervention. Perhaps he will blame Russia then?
Although I suspect he will still find a way to blame the USA.
So let the Russians have a bash. Why not. If they get rid of ISIS great, they will be ridding us of an enemy.
America gets the blame because America sees itself, or saw itself until very recently, as THE global superpower and THE global policeman. If you assume that task, you get the brickbats when you fail.0 -
Have labour elected Ralph Miliband?0
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For me, the issue is simply this: if Corbyn can achieve his aim to take over the NEC (and it looks as though he has), then there is no simple way back to the centre for Labour.GIN1138 said:Danny565 said:
Tories not guaranteed landslides for ever more... Labour will get back in when they come to their sense's and start engaging with the public rather than p*ssing on them. Same as always.GIN1138 said:
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..
Of course, Lab's only got so long to give up this madness. Eventually the public would start looking for an alternative to Lab and if there isn't one, somebody will create one.
Labours got a big decision to make after they lose in 2020. Do they get real, or go for Corbyn II. If they go for Corbyn II it might be the end of Lab forever.
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.
Enjoy the ride..0 -
Starting to be concerned about the exhaust and output performance of these Wolfsburg players. They all have VW logos too.0
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Of course they haven't, Ralph would definitely have written his own speech. But maybe Labour think they've elected Ralph; they'll be sorely disappointed by the dud they've gotJonnyJimmy said:Have labour elected Ralph Miliband?
0 -
Ironically Egypt has now been taken over by even more of a hardman than before and probably just as wellSeanT said:
I think Obama should have realised from the calamity of Iraq then Libya then Egypt that an Arab hardman is better than nothing at all, because the vacuum is filled by Islamism, and he should have TACITLY helped Assad (snake that he is) and killed ISIS before it got too big to kill.JEO said:
I thought the current president was elected as an explicit rejection of that sort of thing. Do you support Obama withdrawing from the Middle East or not?SeanT said:
Don't be daft. I'm saying that the USA's recent record in Middle Eastern meddling has been dreadful-to-catastrophic, which it unquestionably has - partly because America is overly influenced by the Israeli lobby and partly because American liberals have completely failed to understand the virulence and malignity of Islamism.JEO said:It seems to me that the US can't do anything right in the eyes of some people. If they go into Iraq, they are aggressive warmongers who have screwed up the region. If they don't go into Syria, they are useless vaccillaters who have screwed up the region.
Has it occurred to SeanT that perhaps its the region itself that is to blame, rather than the US? I rather suspect that the place will still be a nightmare after Russia's intervention. Perhaps he will blame Russia then?
Although I suspect he will still find a way to blame the USA.
So let the Russians have a bash. Why not. If they get rid of ISIS great, they will be ridding us of an enemy.
America gets the blame because America sees itself, or saw itself until very recently, as THE global superpower and THE global policeman. If you assume that task, you get the brickbats when you fail.
He could have dealt with Assad afterwards, perhaps.
Too late now.0 -
I am sure he will be pleasedPro_Rata said:
Andy Burnham goes up in my estimation for the first time in, ooooh, I don't know how long.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html0 -
Time to revise the asylum rules:
http://home.bt.com/news/uk-news/libyan-sex-attack-cadets-seeking-asylum-in-uk-113640080032000 -
It was Labour which was being blocked. I don't think the SNP contested many seats in S England. NS was merely a tool.OldKingCole said:
The Tories went round S England portaying Nicola Surgeon as a demoness who must be blocked at all costs, but owe muuch of their current strong position to her.Danny565 said:
Yes, you're right, the Tories scraping a majority this year, when led by someone far more popular than his likely successor, shows they are guaranteed landslide wins forevermore.GIN1138 said:
Give over. Labours on a one way ticket to oblivion.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London, which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
Enjoy the ride..0 -
Seats like Reading and Stevenage and Milton Keynes maybe, seats like Chatham and Rochestor and Thanet probably not. Of course Essex differs between areas like Epping, Upminster, Hornchurch and Romford which are really outer London border and Southend and Braintree and Thurrock and Basildon, Colchestor and Chelmsford and Saffron Walden which may be less prone to changeDanny565 said:
No, the report said much of the South was demographically trending towards being more multi-ethnic and younger on average - though it did single out Essex as an exception to that.HYUFD said:
Apart from a few areas like Brighton, where 2/3 seats are Labour or Green already, that is more the case in outer London where Labour did better than average at the election in marginal seats. Most of the Kent and Essex marginals still have far more elderly and white man van voters than young graduates and ethnic minoritiesDanny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.0 -
It's by Lewis Baston, who is always worth reading. I think it's more that *some* rather than a lot of Southern towns are trending Labour. And unfortunately for Labour, the biggest pro-Labour swings in the South have tended to where they're weakest. The Thames Estuary, and Hertfordshire, where Labour used to win marginal seats, have shifted Right.Danny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.
0 -
@ScottyNational: Turner Prize in Glasgow:New art piece displayed titled 'SNP Integrity'- shows 13 miniature houses & a cheque made out to 'Music, wink, wink'0
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You forgot Trinity College Carmarthen, now University of Wales Trinity St. David. Not a lot of choice there - I can imagine if Andy Burnham was passing through in a group of Cambridge students who looked intelligent, if he kept his mouth shut and the light wasn't too good a young lady might consider him worth a quick snog.rcs1000 said:
Sorry to be a total pedant, but it just says Trinity College in that article, so she might have been at Trinity College, Dublin or Trinity College, Oxford.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
(Yes: I realise that Andy Burnham went to Cambridge, but he was at Fitzwilliam. And girls from Trinity College Cambridge, Tory or not, do not kiss boys from Fitzwilliam.)
Please mention that to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.HYUFD said:
I will take your word for it, but student romances don't normally lead to marriagercs1000 said:
It is a truth universally acknowledged.HYUFD said:
Speaking from experience?rcs1000 said:
Sorry to be a total pedant, but it just says Trinity College in that article, so she might have been at Trinity College, Dublin or Trinity College, Oxford.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
(Yes: I realise that Andy Burnham went to Cambridge, but he was at Fitzwilliam. And girls from Trinity College Cambridge, Tory or not, do not kiss boys from Fitzwilliam.)
In fact, I would say that a fairly high proportion of student romances end in marriage/long term cohabitation - roughly 40% in my circle (although as I spent eight and a half years at university until I was approaching thirty, I appreciate my experience may be exceptional)!0 -
Luton, Brighton and Hove, and Exeter are clear examples of a pro-Labour swing. Peterborough and Reading may head that way. Milton Keynes isn't heading that way. Stevenage almost looks like a safe Tory seat.HYUFD said:
Seats like Reading and Stevenage and Milton Keynes maybe, seats like Chatham and Rochestor and Thanet probably not. Of course Essex differs between areas like Epping, Upminster, Hornchurch and Romford which are really outer London border and Southend and Braintree and Thurrock and Basildon, Colchestor and Chelmsford and Saffron Walden which may be less prone to changeDanny565 said:
No, the report said much of the South was demographically trending towards being more multi-ethnic and younger on average - though it did single out Essex as an exception to that.HYUFD said:
Apart from a few areas like Brighton, where 2/3 seats are Labour or Green already, that is more the case in outer London where Labour did better than average at the election in marginal seats. Most of the Kent and Essex marginals still have far more elderly and white man van voters than young graduates and ethnic minoritiesDanny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.0 -
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Wouldn't dealing with Assad afterwards then mean Islamism would fill the vacuum again? How would it be any different in 2017 than in 2013?SeanT said:
I think Obama should have realised from the calamity of Iraq then Libya then Egypt that an Arab hardman is better than nothing at all, because the vacuum is filled by Islamism, and he should have TACITLY helped Assad (snake that he is) and killed ISIS before it got too big to kill.JEO said:
I thought the current president was elected as an explicit rejection of that sort of thing. Do you support Obama withdrawing from the Middle East or not?SeanT said:
Don't be daft. I'm saying that the USA's recent record in Middle Eastern meddling has been dreadful-to-catastrophic, which it unquestionably has - partly because America is overly influenced by the Israeli lobby and partly because American liberals have completely failed to understand the virulence and malignity of Islamism.JEO said:It seems to me that the US can't do anything right in the eyes of some people. If they go into Iraq, they are aggressive warmongers who have screwed up the region. If they don't go into Syria, they are useless vaccillaters who have screwed up the region.
Has it occurred to SeanT that perhaps its the region itself that is to blame, rather than the US? I rather suspect that the place will still be a nightmare after Russia's intervention. Perhaps he will blame Russia then?
Although I suspect he will still find a way to blame the USA.
So let the Russians have a bash. Why not. If they get rid of ISIS great, they will be ridding us of an enemy.
America gets the blame because America sees itself, or saw itself until very recently, as THE global superpower and THE global policeman. If you assume that task, you get the brickbats when you fail.
He could have dealt with Assad afterwards, perhaps.
Too late now.0 -
Ian Martin on the Labour conference
Can I humbly point out to journalist friends there that it all looks completely mad? Perhaps it seems mad inside, but it is being treated as though it is a normal event, because the broadcasters are doing their job (they have to) and just covering it, when they obviously want to turn to the camera and make cuckoo noises while flapping their arms like a chicken
Ihttp://www.capx.co/beyond-brighton-labour-conference-looks-utterly-bonkers/
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The article was brilliant, but the photo nearly put me off entirely.Moses_ said:
Ian Martin on the Labour conference
Can I humbly point out to journalist friends there that it all looks completely mad? Perhaps it seems mad inside, but it is being treated as though it is a normal event, because the broadcasters are doing their job (they have to) and just covering it, when they obviously want to turn to the camera and make cuckoo noises while flapping their arms like a chicken
Ihttp://www.capx.co/beyond-brighton-labour-conference-looks-utterly-bonkers/
Was 'Corbynistas love a mass debate' intended as a not-so-subtle homophone?0 -
When Hitler cosied up to Stalin it wasn't because he had married bliss in mind. The same when Churchill and Stalin got chummy, the marriage, if such it ever was, was certainly one of convenience for both. ISIS is a far greater threat to Western civilisation than Assad could ever be, so deal with ISIS and take it from there. What's so great about our Arab allies that we should deal so differently with them, compared to Assad? USA had the chance but not the inclination and Putin has an invitation. The USA should back off.SeanT said:
I think Obama should have realised from the calamity of Iraq then Libya then Egypt that an Arab hardman is better than nothing at all, because the vacuum is filled by Islamism, and he should have TACITLY helped Assad (snake that he is) and killed ISIS before it got too big to kill.JEO said:
I thought the current president was elected as an explicit rejection of that sort of thing. Do you support Obama withdrawing from the Middle East or not?SeanT said:
Don't be daft. I'm saying that the USA's recent record in Middle Eastern meddling has been dreadful-to-catastrophic, which it unquestionably has - partly because America is overly influenced by the Israeli lobby and partly because American liberals have completely failed to understand the virulence and malignity of Islamism.JEO said:It seems to me that the US can't do anything right in the eyes of some people. If they go into Iraq, they are aggressive warmongers who have screwed up the region. If they don't go into Syria, they are useless vaccillaters who have screwed up the region.
Has it occurred to SeanT that perhaps its the region itself that is to blame, rather than the US? I rather suspect that the place will still be a nightmare after Russia's intervention. Perhaps he will blame Russia then?
Although I suspect he will still find a way to blame the USA.
So let the Russians have a bash. Why not. If they get rid of ISIS great, they will be ridding us of an enemy.
America gets the blame because America sees itself, or saw itself until very recently, as THE global superpower and THE global policeman. If you assume that task, you get the brickbats when you fail.
He could have dealt with Assad afterwards, perhaps.
Too late now.0 -
How was someone that had their asylum claim rejected five years ago still in the UK able to rape a woman in 2015?
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-343929090 -
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In the final Western security analysis, what is the difference between Egypt and Saudi?HYUFD said:
Ironically Egypt has now been taken over by even more of a hardman than before and probably just as wellSeanT said:
I think Obama should have realised from the calamity of Iraq then Libya then Egypt that an Arab hardman is better than nothing at all, because the vacuum is filled by Islamism, and he should have TACITLY helped Assad (snake that he is) and killed ISIS before it got too big to kill.JEO said:
I thought the current president was elected as an explicit rejection of that sort of thing. Do you support Obama withdrawing from the Middle East or not?SeanT said:
Don't be daft. I'm saying that the USA's recent record in Middle Eastern meddling has been dreadful-to-catastrophic, which it unquestionably has - partly because America is overly influenced by the Israeli lobby and partly because American liberals have completely failed to understand the virulence and malignity of Islamism.JEO said:It seems to me that the US can't do anything right in the eyes of some people. If they go into Iraq, they are aggressive warmongers who have screwed up the region. If they don't go into Syria, they are useless vaccillaters who have screwed up the region.
Has it occurred to SeanT that perhaps its the region itself that is to blame, rather than the US? I rather suspect that the place will still be a nightmare after Russia's intervention. Perhaps he will blame Russia then?
Although I suspect he will still find a way to blame the USA.
So let the Russians have a bash. Why not. If they get rid of ISIS great, they will be ridding us of an enemy.
America gets the blame because America sees itself, or saw itself until very recently, as THE global superpower and THE global policeman. If you assume that task, you get the brickbats when you fail.
He could have dealt with Assad afterwards, perhaps.
Too late now.0 -
I don't think I've liked the state of the Labour party more than I like it now. Can everyone please lay off them and let them carry on!0
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Broadley agree, though movement in coastal Kent and Essex is even less pronouncedSean_F said:
Luton, Brighton and Hove, and Exeter are clear examples of a pro-Labour swing. Peterborough and Reading may head that way. Milton Keynes isn't heading that way. Stevenage almost looks like a safe Tory seat.HYUFD said:
Seats like Reading and Stevenage and Milton Keynes maybe, seats like Chatham and Rochestor and Thanet probably not. Of course Essex differs between areas like Epping, Upminster, Hornchurch and Romford which are really outer London border and Southend and Braintree and Thurrock and Basildon, Colchestor and Chelmsford and Saffron Walden which may be less prone to changeDanny565 said:
No, the report said much of the South was demographically trending towards being more multi-ethnic and younger on average - though it did single out Essex as an exception to that.HYUFD said:
Apart from a few areas like Brighton, where 2/3 seats are Labour or Green already, that is more the case in outer London where Labour did better than average at the election in marginal seats. Most of the Kent and Essex marginals still have far more elderly and white man van voters than young graduates and ethnic minoritiesDanny565 said:Just to say, it's not necessarily the case that a huge increase in young turnout would only favour Labour in their safe seats. Quite a lot of the southern marginals have VERY high young populations (Milton Keynes especially comes to mind).
I think Sean F posted a while back a report showing a lot of the big southern towns are demographically becoming a lot more like London (as young leftie graduates and ethnic minorities get priced out of London itself), which could theoretically be very good news for Labour.0 -
Does JC's speech make more sense if you assume he meant "kinda" rather than "kinder"?0
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40% is a fair number but still not a majority and in this case it was just a kiss, not a Mills and Boon novelydoethur said:
You forgot Trinity College Carmarthen, now University of Wales Trinity St. David. Not a lot of choice there - I can imagine if Andy Burnham was passing through in a group of Cambridge students who looked intelligent, if he kept his mouth shut and the light wasn't too good a young lady might consider him worth a quick snog.rcs1000 said:
Sorry to be a total pedant, but it just says Trinity College in that article, so she might have been at Trinity College, Dublin or Trinity College, Oxford.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
(Yes: I realise that Andy Burnham went to Cambridge, but he was at Fitzwilliam. And girls from Trinity College Cambridge, Tory or not, do not kiss boys from Fitzwilliam.)
Please mention that to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.HYUFD said:
I will take your word for it, but student romances don't normally lead to marriagercs1000 said:
It is a truth universally acknowledged.HYUFD said:
Speaking from experience?rcs1000 said:
Sorry to be a total pedant, but it just says Trinity College in that article, so she might have been at Trinity College, Dublin or Trinity College, Oxford.HYUFD said:Apparently Andy Burnham has kissed a Tory, she was called Octavia and was a student at Trinity College Cambridge
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/a2958691.html
(Yes: I realise that Andy Burnham went to Cambridge, but he was at Fitzwilliam. And girls from Trinity College Cambridge, Tory or not, do not kiss boys from Fitzwilliam.)
In fact, I would say that a fairly high proportion of student romances end in marriage/long term cohabitation - roughly 40% in my circle (although as I spent eight and a half years at university until I was approaching thirty, I appreciate my experience may be exceptional)!0 -
A rare lucid moment from a disgruntled Rafael Behr:
Perhaps the looser style means room for more substance. But all the permitted expansion is in a direction that moves away from the voters who most need persuading. Corbyn’s party is a red Tardis: bigger on the inside than the outside, a political labyrinth in a little box whose epic dimensions are invisible to the uninitiated passerby – and, as a vehicle for getting Labour to power, science fiction.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/29/jeremy-corbyn-labour-power
Even in the 1980s, the Guardian was unswervingly loyal to Labour. With that apparently lost, the last significant Labour paper is the Daily Mirror.
Without forgetting to allow for the collapsing status of the print media, how is Corbyn supposed to get his 'message' out to the huge majority of people who are not active on social media without a sympathetic mouthpiece to rely on? The Morning Star, with a circulation of just 7-10,000, won't help, and readers of the Mirror will already be either hard left or fundamentally uninterested in politics. If he's to reach the disengaged voters, he needs the readers of the Sun and the Mail (especially the Mail) to pay attention to him - but they simply won't do it.0 -
@holyroodmandy: I understand @MichelleThomson is working on a statement with her lawyer to be released tomorrow.0
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Andrew 'if my expenses are not paid I might be in line for a divorce' Burnham could only have his life improved by living in a Mills and Boon novel.HYUFD said:
40% is a fair number but still not a majority and in this case it was just a kiss, not a Mills and Boon novelHYUFD said:
Please mention that to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.ydoethur said:
I will take your word for it, but student romances don't normally lead to marriage
In fact, I would say that a fairly high proportion of student romances end in marriage/long term cohabitation - roughly 40% in my circle (although as I spent eight and a half years at university until I was approaching thirty, I appreciate my experience may be exceptional)!
With regard to 40%, the way I read your post was that it was 'not normal,' i.e. not usual for student romances to end in marriage and I was pointing out that it is actually perfectly normal and happens quite a lot, if indeed perhaps not the majority of the time.0 -
Lets be clear about the Russian involvement in Syria:
1. Its a direct result of Western inability to take a line early, stick to it and finish a task with the necessary decisiveness. The Kremlin have a phrase for it, weakness.
2. The air attacks today will do nothing to IS, because they didn't strike IS. They struck other insurgent areas. In fact what they were concerned with was the North-South corridor that Assad needs. IS strategic strength and resource is east of where today's attacks took place. Today's raids were battlefield support operations.
3. The extent of the Russian military build up is actually small, useful but small. Its possibly no more than 18-20 aircraft in total, if that (multiple sightings but possibly same aircraft). That effort has taken Russia weeks to prepare and if it gets much bigger it will stretch them. In short Putin is an old bluffer, again.
4. Assad is a puppet at this stage, it was whether he wanted to effectively to be run by the Iranians or not. As I mentioned here on several occasions, plenty in the regime didn't like the way the Iranians were getting involved, they effectively created a shadow military. Assad therefore prefers Putin.0 -
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/29/jeremy-corbyn-labour-powerydoethur said:A rare lucid moment from a disgruntled Rafael Behr:
Perhaps the looser style means room for more substance. But all the permitted expansion is in a direction that moves away from the voters who most need persuading. Corbyn’s party is a red Tardis: bigger on the inside than the outside, a political labyrinth in a little box whose epic dimensions are invisible to the uninitiated passerby – and, as a vehicle for getting Labour to power, science fiction.
Even in the 1980s, the Guardian was unswervingly loyal to Labour. With that apparently lost, the last significant Labour paper is the Daily Mirror.
Without forgetting to allow for the collapsing status of the print media, how is Corbyn supposed to get his 'message' out to the huge majority of people who are not active on social media without a sympathetic mouthpiece to rely on? The Morning Star, with a circulation of just 7-10,000, won't help, and readers of the Mirror will already be either hard left or fundamentally uninterested in politics. If he's to reach the disengaged voters, he needs the readers of the Sun and the Mail (especially the Mail) to pay attention to him - but they simply won't do it.
Came across a new word today for what Twitter does - narrowcasting. Very descriptive term, I reckon.
But millions of hours narrowcasting in this way achieves nothing.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/Jeremy_Corbyn/11902864/Jeremy-Corbyn-has-no-understanding-of-the-British-people-beyond-Islington.html0 -
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/29/jeremy-corbyn-labour-powerydoethur said:A rare lucid moment from a disgruntled Rafael Behr:
Perhaps the looser style means room for more substance. But all the permitted expansion is in a direction that moves away from the voters who most need persuading. Corbyn’s party is a red Tardis: bigger on the inside than the outside, a political labyrinth in a little box whose epic dimensions are invisible to the uninitiated passerby – and, as a vehicle for getting Labour to power, science fiction.
Even in the 1980s, the Guardian was unswervingly loyal to Labour. With that apparently lost, the last significant Labour paper is the Daily Mirror.
Without forgetting to allow for the collapsing status of the print media, how is Corbyn supposed to get his 'message' out to the huge majority of people who are not active on social media without a sympathetic mouthpiece to rely on? The Morning Star, with a circulation of just 7-10,000, won't help, and readers of the Mirror will already be either hard left or fundamentally uninterested in politics. If he's to reach the disengaged voters, he needs the readers of the Sun and the Mail (especially the Mail) to pay attention to him - but they simply won't do it.
In 1983 I believe the Guardian was more pro SDP, the Mirror had the headline 'loyal to Labour, loyal to you'. Of course in the Blair years almost all the papers, including the Sun, were pro Blair, only the Telegraph was really pro Tory0 -
Not to mention Ken Clarke and his other half (Caius and Newnham). Oh, and me and my other half of 22 years (same).ydoethur said:
Please mention that to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
In fact, I would say that a fairly high proportion of student romances end in marriage/long term cohabitation - roughly 40% in my circle (although as I spent eight and a half years at university until I was approaching thirty, I appreciate my experience may be exceptional)!
That's very nearly a statistic.
(My brief delurk after about 5 years is over. Back to the shadows for me.)
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Indeed, but I don't think this really counts as a romanceydoethur said:
Andrew 'if my expenses are not paid I might be in line for a divorce' Burnham could only have his life improved by living in a Mills and Boon novel.HYUFD said:
40% is a fair number but still not a majority and in this case it was just a kiss, not a Mills and Boon novelHYUFD said:
Please mention that to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.ydoethur said:
I will take your word for it, but student romances don't normally lead to marriage
In fact, I would say that a fairly high proportion of student romances end in marriage/long term cohabitation - roughly 40% in my circle (although as I spent eight and a half years at university until I was approaching thirty, I appreciate my experience may be exceptional)!
With regard to 40%, the way I read your post was that it was 'not normal,' i.e. not usual for student romances to end in marriage and I was pointing out that it is actually perfectly normal and happens quite a lot, if indeed perhaps not the majority of the time.0 -
Maybe a terrible thing to say, but I feel a bit safer knowing Russia are in Syria sorting ISIS out0
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Why do you think they're interested in sorting ISIS out?isam said:Maybe a terrible thing to say, but I feel a bit safer knowing Russia are in Syria sorting ISIS out
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Welcome, and goodbye!mwadams said:
Not to mention Ken Clarke and his other half (Caius and Newnham). Oh, and me and my other half of 22 years (same).ydoethur said:
Please mention that to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
In fact, I would say that a fairly high proportion of student romances end in marriage/long term cohabitation - roughly 40% in my circle (although as I spent eight and a half years at university until I was approaching thirty, I appreciate my experience may be exceptional)!
That's very nearly a statistic.
(My brief delurk after about 5 years is over. Back to the shadows for me.)0 -
As in "they are and what do I think there reasons for doing so are" or (more likely) "They're not so why do I think they are?"JosiasJessop said:
Why do you think they're interested in sorting ISIS out?isam said:Maybe a terrible thing to say, but I feel a bit safer knowing Russia are in Syria sorting ISIS out
I read an article last week about it which suggested they were. I'll try and find it, hang on
EDIT: Here we are
"So the long-time Syrian ally Russia called Washington’s bluff by establishing military bases in the regime stronghold Latakia. In a flash its tanks, fighter jets, military advisers, warships and even its most modern anti-aircraft missile system were in place. Its engineers constructed an airport landing strip almost overnight, as its navy conducted menacing drills in the nearby (Russian-leased) Syrian port of Tartus.
This was the most brazen overseas military deployment by Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. But it caught Nato off guard. Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. After all, we learnt of the Islamic State’s new caliphate — arguably the most important development in the region since the founding of Israel in 1948 — only when its leader announced the event on YouTube. Still, the question remains: why did the Russians move to guarantee Assad’s survival? The short answer is because the West’s Syrian strategy was in such disarray that Russia could expect Nato to look the other way.
Assad’s forces, long thought to be on the verge of collapse, meanwhile celebrated the bolstering of their military arsenal by bombing Islamic State targets in the north. Wave after wave of airstrikes hit their targets with previously unimaginable precision. Who could object to that? Senior Washington and London politicians, after years of repeating like a mantra that The Evil Dictator Assad Must Go Now, suddenly found themselves mumbling that, come to think of it, Assad does not need to go just yet after all. In fact, Nato should co-ordinate with Russia, in a renewed effort to destroy the Islamic State and stem the flow of refugees. Russia’s bluff played off."
http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9643672/putin-and-assad-have-made-fools-of-the-west/0
