Not exactly unexpected; but here it is anyway: Ed Balls trying to spin the line that "there was no debt, except that caused by bankers, and no deficit under Labour" - or something very close to that (it's a bit fuzzy!) despite the easily-provable facts:
UPDATE 31 Jan: Full Facts seems to disagree with Balls as well...
Sunday, 30 January 2011
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Tweet of the day - 29 Jan 2011
From Harry Cole, on-site witness to the London student protest, in response to Labourite "PennyRed" (Laurie Penny):
"RT @PennyRed: Five thousand protesters still stopping traffic on Park Lane <- I'm on a bus there right now. It's barely a hundred."
As usual, Labour folk lying, as they are wont to do...
Meanwhile, in Manchester, National Union of Students leader Aaron Porter has been turned upon by those he led to that demo, and here is being escorted away from the scene by police "for his own safety"(!)
"RT @PennyRed: Five thousand protesters still stopping traffic on Park Lane <- I'm on a bus there right now. It's barely a hundred."
As usual, Labour folk lying, as they are wont to do...
Meanwhile, in Manchester, National Union of Students leader Aaron Porter has been turned upon by those he led to that demo, and here is being escorted away from the scene by police "for his own safety"(!)
Friday, 28 January 2011
Egypt
Here is a link to some amazing photos of the situation in Egypt, courtesy of Reuters. There are few more at MSNBC here.
UPDATE 29 Jan @ noon: Reuters (again) now also have a one-minute clip of footage taken in Cairo this morning.
UPDATE 29 Jan @ noon: Reuters (again) now also have a one-minute clip of footage taken in Cairo this morning.
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Tower Hamlets post-script
The Labour party (of all people) have conducted an investigation and found that the new mayor, independent Lutfur Rahman, was elected with the aid of a number of 'voters' who had been added to the local Labour membership, but who did not actually exist.
There weren't enough of them to tip the balance by themselves, and produce a different electoral result; but there are other matters that - if they too were to be investigated - might then reach that level (or they might not: who knows?).
Andrew Gilligan is, as ever, on top of this and reports in very useful detail, as he has with previous episodes in this long-running story. The most telling extract, that informs us about the way election-rigging is attempted in certain places, is this:
Although small variations can legitimately occur and those are expected, it really is far greater than natural changes in population and even a modest increase in registrations in electoral years could perhaps explain. There is now such a history of such things going on as Gilligan has previously reported, possibly coming to wide attention for the first time earlier this century in Birmingham.
For some reason, it nearly always seems to be Asian (usually Muslim) dominated communities where this happens. I don't know what if anything can be deduced from this, but the records show it very clearly. It is also predominantly Labour or ex-Labour candidates and their associates who have so far been found out and (in some cases) prosecuted.
While nothing conclusive should be drawn from this, as nothing is absolute in this arena, it should help inform us and possibly even allow to weigh up candidates' and parties' claims and attitudes when it comes to our own elections, especially here in London.
There weren't enough of them to tip the balance by themselves, and produce a different electoral result; but there are other matters that - if they too were to be investigated - might then reach that level (or they might not: who knows?).
Andrew Gilligan is, as ever, on top of this and reports in very useful detail, as he has with previous episodes in this long-running story. The most telling extract, that informs us about the way election-rigging is attempted in certain places, is this:
"the Tower Hamlets electoral roll has gone up and down like a yoyo from year to year, depending on whether there are significant elections that year."
Although small variations can legitimately occur and those are expected, it really is far greater than natural changes in population and even a modest increase in registrations in electoral years could perhaps explain. There is now such a history of such things going on as Gilligan has previously reported, possibly coming to wide attention for the first time earlier this century in Birmingham.
For some reason, it nearly always seems to be Asian (usually Muslim) dominated communities where this happens. I don't know what if anything can be deduced from this, but the records show it very clearly. It is also predominantly Labour or ex-Labour candidates and their associates who have so far been found out and (in some cases) prosecuted.
While nothing conclusive should be drawn from this, as nothing is absolute in this arena, it should help inform us and possibly even allow to weigh up candidates' and parties' claims and attitudes when it comes to our own elections, especially here in London.
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Tweet of the day - 26 Jan 2011
"[Tom] Baldwin is giving Mili the ammo but he just cannot fire it properly."
It is notable that David Cameron won easily against Ed Miliband's sometimes quite nasty and occasionally desperate and shouted attacks.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Brothers-in-arms
Yes, the Miliband brothers are working together again, on a project initially set up by David M to recruit a thousand "community organisers" to resist the changes introduced by the coalition government and introduce their own changes. At least that's what this (somewhat isolated) Guardian article says.
The project is in reality aimed at bringing Labour back into government, and that is openly stated; but it looks like it will no doubt turn out to be yet another carefully dressed-up sleeper body that will one day be called upon to engage in full-scale subversion. That would be consistent with every other such initiative by Labour that involves what might loosely be termed outsiders, i.e. not the party hard core.
So, watch out for this Movement for Change, and be aware of who is behind it and its ultimate goals.
The project is in reality aimed at bringing Labour back into government, and that is openly stated; but it looks like it will no doubt turn out to be yet another carefully dressed-up sleeper body that will one day be called upon to engage in full-scale subversion. That would be consistent with every other such initiative by Labour that involves what might loosely be termed outsiders, i.e. not the party hard core.
So, watch out for this Movement for Change, and be aware of who is behind it and its ultimate goals.
Monday, 24 January 2011
Gordon's time bombs
The excellently-named and generally well-constructed Underdogs Bite Upwards blog-site has a very good post on Gordon Brown's "time bombs" that were set to go off during the current government's period in office though devised and put in place before last May's General Election.
Quite a few commentators were already well aware of Brown's "scorched earth" spending policy at that pre-election time, knowing he was spending public money like there was no tomorrow (which for Brown, thankfully there wasn't), but only a few of them seemed to have cottoned-on to the devious and corrupt plans he was putting in place.
Brown's overriding hatred for the political Right in general, and the Conservatives in particular, wasn't exactly a well-guarded secret. His agenda of everything but everything being about him and dedicated almost exclusively to the pursuance of that agenda, regardless of the cost to everyone else, has become more widely known during the past year or so. The sheer rawness of that manic obsession is now better known than it was while Brown was Chancellor, for example.
That was, and continues to be, sheer evil. Gordon Brown is one of the lowest forms of life I have ever encountered, and should by now have been executed as a warning to all those who would in future seek to abuse their positions for corrupt personal ends at everyone else's expense. As we know, one of Labour's earliest actions when getting into office in 1997 was to change the capital punishment provision for treason, in the full knowledge that they were committing treason every day in office.
It wasn't just the money: it was the selling-out of Britain to the Frankfurt School scheme to destroy our society (sedition and treason) so tht it could be swept up in a "socialist revolution" that would have turned Britain into a Soviet-style dictatorship, with Labour and their cronies at the helm and the rest of us as very much third-class citizens in fear for our lives. That was their plan all along, and we now know this.
All of them should be tried and deealt with under the law that existed before they tampered with it!
Today, as the "Underdogs" blogger has written, even our children are being deliberately subverted, which just goes to show the sheer depths of evil into which these filthy Communists (for that is what Labour truly are) have been prepared to descend. All of them were complicit in the decade-long programme that brought us to this point, and all of them need to be tried and dealt with appropriately.
Quite a few commentators were already well aware of Brown's "scorched earth" spending policy at that pre-election time, knowing he was spending public money like there was no tomorrow (which for Brown, thankfully there wasn't), but only a few of them seemed to have cottoned-on to the devious and corrupt plans he was putting in place.
Brown's overriding hatred for the political Right in general, and the Conservatives in particular, wasn't exactly a well-guarded secret. His agenda of everything but everything being about him and dedicated almost exclusively to the pursuance of that agenda, regardless of the cost to everyone else, has become more widely known during the past year or so. The sheer rawness of that manic obsession is now better known than it was while Brown was Chancellor, for example.
That was, and continues to be, sheer evil. Gordon Brown is one of the lowest forms of life I have ever encountered, and should by now have been executed as a warning to all those who would in future seek to abuse their positions for corrupt personal ends at everyone else's expense. As we know, one of Labour's earliest actions when getting into office in 1997 was to change the capital punishment provision for treason, in the full knowledge that they were committing treason every day in office.
It wasn't just the money: it was the selling-out of Britain to the Frankfurt School scheme to destroy our society (sedition and treason) so tht it could be swept up in a "socialist revolution" that would have turned Britain into a Soviet-style dictatorship, with Labour and their cronies at the helm and the rest of us as very much third-class citizens in fear for our lives. That was their plan all along, and we now know this.
All of them should be tried and deealt with under the law that existed before they tampered with it!
Today, as the "Underdogs" blogger has written, even our children are being deliberately subverted, which just goes to show the sheer depths of evil into which these filthy Communists (for that is what Labour truly are) have been prepared to descend. All of them were complicit in the decade-long programme that brought us to this point, and all of them need to be tried and dealt with appropriately.
Friday, 21 January 2011
Cabinet and Shadow experience
Dizzy has been looking at the real-world experience of those Conservatives and Lib Dems in the Cabinet and their Labour shadows, the former in response to a comment at his site regarding his initial reporting of just the "shadows" category, sourced from Richard Littlejohn (though he provides no link to this).
Here they are in full, with the added explanation that a SpAd is a special adviser, and I think a Wonk is a so-called ministerial bag carrier, being a loose variation on the general definition here.
First, here is the worldly experience of the coalition Cabinet before being politicians.
Now, here's the run down of the Shadow Cabinet members' worldly experience.
As Dizzy points out, via his two posts, there is a huge difference between the two groups. How can Labour relate to how the real world works and how real people have to live their lives when nearly all of their portfolio-ed MPs (and the vast majority of their backbenchers, I believe) have little or no experience of that world out there?
If there is any kind of class divide, it is surely that and not the artificial "Eton toff" divide that Labour dishonestly portray as a Conservative disconnect from ordinary people. In reality it is Labour who are disconnected from (most of) the rest of us, which explains their "on another planet" style that so often breaks through the spun lines they are supposed to be parroting but don't really understand and frequently get wrong.
Here they are in full, with the added explanation that a SpAd is a special adviser, and I think a Wonk is a so-called ministerial bag carrier, being a loose variation on the general definition here.
First, here is the worldly experience of the coalition Cabinet before being politicians.
- David Cameron - Director of Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications (7 years)
- Nick Clegg - Foreign Correspondent
- William Hague - Management consultant McKinsey & Company
- George Osborne - CCHQ Wonk
- Ken Clarke - Barrister QC
- Theresa May - Bank of England, financial consultant
- Liam Fox - GP, Civilian Army Medical Officer and Divisional Surgeon with St John Ambulance
- Vince Cable - Economics lecturer, Chief Economist, Royal Dutch Shell
- Iain Duncan-Smith - British Army Officer, Scots Guard
- Chris Huhne - Economic journalist, City entrepreneur, MD of Fitch IBCA
- Andrew Lansley - Civil Servant
- Michael Gove - Journalist
- Eric Pickles - Unknown
- Philip Hammond - Director of Speywood Medical Limited, Castlemead Ltd, Castelmead Home. Consu1ltant World Bank.
- Caroline Spelman - National Union Farmers, lobbyist
- Andrew Mitchell - UN Peacekeeper, British Army Royal Tank Regiment, Investment Bank Lazard, Manager and Financial Controller at Touche Ross & Co, Audit Manager at Storehouse PLC, Finance Director at W H Everett & Son Ltd, Senior Strategy Advisor for Accenture
- Jeremy Hunt - English language teacher in Japan, IT PR company, Profile PR
- Owen Paterson - Sales Director and Managing Director of British Leather Company, Director of Parsons and Sons (leather company)
- Michael Moore - Accountant
- Cheryl Gillan - Marketing consultant, Ernst & Young, marketing director with Kidsons Impey
- Baroness Warsi - Lawyer
- Lord Strathclyde - Hereditary Peer
- George Young - Economic adviser to Post Office Corporation
- Francis Maude - Criminal lawyer
- Dominic Grieve QC - Barrister
- Patrick McLoughlin - farmer, coal miner
Now, here's the run down of the Shadow Cabinet members' worldly experience.
- Ed Miliband - Wonk/SpAd
- Harriet Harman - Political campaign lawyer
- Ed Balls - Leader writer (4 years), SpAd
- Douglas Alexander - Solicitor(six months)
- Yvette Cooper - Journalist (2 years)
- Sadiq Khan - Political campaign lawyer
- Jim Murphy - Student politics
- John Denham - Student politics, political advocacy.
- Liam Byrne - Merchant Bank (Rothchilds), Accenture consultant
- John Healey - Trade Unions
- Andy Burnham - SpAd
- Caroline Flint - Local Government
- Maria Eagle - Solicitor
- Meg Hillier - Journalist (not for long)
- Mary Creagh - Charity work
- Shaun Woodward - BBC researcher/producer doing crap telly.
- Ann McKechin - Solicitor (7 years)
- Peter Hain - Trade Union researcher
- Ivan Lewis - Voluntary sector campaigner
- Tessa Jowell - Social worker and administrator for a charity.
- Angela Eagle - Trade Union
- Baroness Royall of Blaisdon - SpAd
- Rosie Winterton - SpAd, lobbyist
- Hilary Benn - Trade Union
- Lord Bassam of Brighton - Social worker, professional squatter
- Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC - Political campaign lawyer
- Tony Lloyd - Lecturer (2 years), MP for 28 years
As Dizzy points out, via his two posts, there is a huge difference between the two groups. How can Labour relate to how the real world works and how real people have to live their lives when nearly all of their portfolio-ed MPs (and the vast majority of their backbenchers, I believe) have little or no experience of that world out there?
If there is any kind of class divide, it is surely that and not the artificial "Eton toff" divide that Labour dishonestly portray as a Conservative disconnect from ordinary people. In reality it is Labour who are disconnected from (most of) the rest of us, which explains their "on another planet" style that so often breaks through the spun lines they are supposed to be parroting but don't really understand and frequently get wrong.
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Quote of the day - 20 Jan 2011
From Fraser Nelson, on the switch of Shadow Chancellor from Alan Johnson to Ed Balls:
Despite that, Ed Miliband said, when he appointed Johnson, that Ed Balls was the wrong man for the job. What has changed all of a sudden? Sheer desperation through lack of talent and ability within the Labour parliamentary party?
Meanwhile, it turns out that Johnson's "personal" reasons for resigning are not to do with illness (it looks to be genuinely so, actually); and Ed Balls has been spotted grinning like a Cheshire cat ever since the announcement that he is to take over.
"As for Alan Johnson - what a farce. Ed Milliband [sic] looks like a plank. Choosing a Shadow Chancellor is the most important thing you can do as Opposition Leader. He chose wrong, and everyone thinks so. Even the man he appointed."
Despite that, Ed Miliband said, when he appointed Johnson, that Ed Balls was the wrong man for the job. What has changed all of a sudden? Sheer desperation through lack of talent and ability within the Labour parliamentary party?
Meanwhile, it turns out that Johnson's "personal" reasons for resigning are not to do with illness (it looks to be genuinely so, actually); and Ed Balls has been spotted grinning like a Cheshire cat ever since the announcement that he is to take over.
Alan Johnson to quit
That's the latest news as I write, being effectively confirmed by at least three separate and not directly connected sources.
Well, the position he held was embarrassingly bad for him, and he really was a fish out of water as Shadow Chancellor. The best that can come from this is that at least he tried it and found out for himself that it is not "just another job" in national politics. Note that his resignation is said to be "for personal and family reasons" so are apparently nothing to do with his difficulties handling the brief itself.
However, let Johnson's problems with the Shadow Chancellorship be a lesson for all of those who might be tempted to have a go at the real Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. The position is far more technical than political (and it's very political!); and even the shadow equivalent post is not something that just any old politician can take on easily or successfully!
UPDATE at 5.10 pm: Now confirmed! News on the Shadow Cabinet front is that Ed Balls is to be the replacement Shadow Chancellor (no surprise there!), Yvette Cooper is to go to Home, Wee Dougie Alexander to FCO, Liam "there's no money left" Byrne to Welfare, and Tessa Jowell is to be given extra responsibilites shadowing the cabinet office. This is a very Brownite line-up; and Ed-M will be unable to control Ed-B in any way.
There may be trouble ahead...
Well, the position he held was embarrassingly bad for him, and he really was a fish out of water as Shadow Chancellor. The best that can come from this is that at least he tried it and found out for himself that it is not "just another job" in national politics. Note that his resignation is said to be "for personal and family reasons" so are apparently nothing to do with his difficulties handling the brief itself.
However, let Johnson's problems with the Shadow Chancellorship be a lesson for all of those who might be tempted to have a go at the real Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. The position is far more technical than political (and it's very political!); and even the shadow equivalent post is not something that just any old politician can take on easily or successfully!
UPDATE at 5.10 pm: Now confirmed! News on the Shadow Cabinet front is that Ed Balls is to be the replacement Shadow Chancellor (no surprise there!), Yvette Cooper is to go to Home, Wee Dougie Alexander to FCO, Liam "there's no money left" Byrne to Welfare, and Tessa Jowell is to be given extra responsibilites shadowing the cabinet office. This is a very Brownite line-up; and Ed-M will be unable to control Ed-B in any way.
There may be trouble ahead...
Tweet of the day - 20 Jan 2011
From Tory Press HQ regarding Ed Miliband's second attempt at a "Cameron Direct" style of event:
Yes, reports have been coming in from all over that the feed from this event was at first very poor (one description of the sound being as if the microphone had been placed in water) and then failing altogether. Following the embedded link displays this message:
"92 viewers watched Ed's last online 'public' broadcast. Number of viewers today = zero as livestream fails http://bit.ly/edlive"
Yes, reports have been coming in from all over that the feed from this event was at first very poor (one description of the sound being as if the microphone had been placed in water) and then failing altogether. Following the embedded link displays this message:
"Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the livestream is not currently available."
Islamophobia doesn't exist
That's right: it was invented by the fascists who are trying to impose themselves on us all.
Well, we probably already knew this; but just in case, here's a very clear, no-nonsense six-minute video on the subject, and it is thoroughly recommended that everyone listens to it:
Especially today, when Baroness Warsi is in the news on a closely-related topic, we all need to have a clear idea of what is really going on and what lies behind it.
Well, we probably already knew this; but just in case, here's a very clear, no-nonsense six-minute video on the subject, and it is thoroughly recommended that everyone listens to it:
Especially today, when Baroness Warsi is in the news on a closely-related topic, we all need to have a clear idea of what is really going on and what lies behind it.
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
Tweet of the day - 19 Jan 2011
Labour's Alistair Campbell, tweeting as "campbellclaret" (how pretentious is that?):
Now, who else could possibly even consider having the ghastly Jo Brand at such an event? Brand, whose 'humour' revolves primarily around bodily functions and really quite unappetising medical and similar matters.
Talk about dragging down to the lowest common denominator, with the emphasis on "common"! Bad Al Campbell even refers to her material as "great jokes"!
Any decent comedian would be able to find and aim at a point several levels higher than Ms Brand's brand(!) of so-called comedy. Even sniggering schoolboys would be embarrassed! This tells us a lot about Labour, so is well worth my reporting...
"Listening to Jo Brand telling great jokes re government at Labour fundraiser"
Now, who else could possibly even consider having the ghastly Jo Brand at such an event? Brand, whose 'humour' revolves primarily around bodily functions and really quite unappetising medical and similar matters.
Talk about dragging down to the lowest common denominator, with the emphasis on "common"! Bad Al Campbell even refers to her material as "great jokes"!
Any decent comedian would be able to find and aim at a point several levels higher than Ms Brand's brand(!) of so-called comedy. Even sniggering schoolboys would be embarrassed! This tells us a lot about Labour, so is well worth my reporting...
Constituency sizes
With the relevant Bill currently passing through Parliament, Labour have (predictably) been kicking up another fuss over the proposed equal-sized constituencies. For years Labour has benefited from unequal-sized constituencies that give voters in some areas more power-per-vote than thos in other areas.
Admittedly there are a couple of difficult cases such as the Isle of Wight one, and I don't know how best to solve those; but the basic principle remains: all votes should be of equal weight/value. Labour call that "gerrymandering", whereas it is in reality the present boundaries that seem to have been gerrymandered.
Interestingly, it was the nineteenth-century Chartist reform movement that established the principle of equal-sized constituencies (point No, 5 at this Wikipedia page), that movement being described as "possibly the first mass labour movement in the world". Notice that: Labour movement!
If you read through the rest of the Charter's main aims, you can see how very much in tune with the original (pre-Fabian) principles of the original Labour party the whole thing was. This is yet another reminder that today's Labour is far removed from that principled political movement of yesteryear, and is nowadays essentially just a Communist outfit with a carefully manufactured public image, whose primary aim is to turn Britain into a kind of Soviet Union Mk 2, via the EU and others.
Fortunately the Bill should go through, despite Labour Lords' well-reported filibustering practices, which will be a victory for the electorate, rather than any political party's own vested interests, which of course is as it should be.
Admittedly there are a couple of difficult cases such as the Isle of Wight one, and I don't know how best to solve those; but the basic principle remains: all votes should be of equal weight/value. Labour call that "gerrymandering", whereas it is in reality the present boundaries that seem to have been gerrymandered.
Interestingly, it was the nineteenth-century Chartist reform movement that established the principle of equal-sized constituencies (point No, 5 at this Wikipedia page), that movement being described as "possibly the first mass labour movement in the world". Notice that: Labour movement!
If you read through the rest of the Charter's main aims, you can see how very much in tune with the original (pre-Fabian) principles of the original Labour party the whole thing was. This is yet another reminder that today's Labour is far removed from that principled political movement of yesteryear, and is nowadays essentially just a Communist outfit with a carefully manufactured public image, whose primary aim is to turn Britain into a kind of Soviet Union Mk 2, via the EU and others.
Fortunately the Bill should go through, despite Labour Lords' well-reported filibustering practices, which will be a victory for the electorate, rather than any political party's own vested interests, which of course is as it should be.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Tweet of the day - 18 Jan 2011
My blogging mentor, John Ward, of all people, on the BBC's Robert Peston and his programme (being shown as I write this) on the big banks:
Having seen part of this programme and its obvious lefty slant, I can well understand the sentiment, and I shan't be bothering with any more of it!
"I can't watch Peston. I always switch the Pestoff!"
Having seen part of this programme and its obvious lefty slant, I can well understand the sentiment, and I shan't be bothering with any more of it!
Hypocrisy
Now there's a word we see all the time, where members of one political party will accuse one or more members of an opposing party of hypocrisy.
Sometimes it's a valid claim, often it isn't when one looks closely, and sometimes it falls into a bit of a grey area and is difficult (if not impossible) to decide with any degree of certainty. Occasionally, though, something quite clear-cut emerges, and when that happens it is nearly always concerning the actions and attitudes of a Labour politician or staffer.
Today's (near-enough impossible to refute) such claim revolves around "Penny Red" (real name Laurie Penny, of the New Statesman) and an advert for a "female preferred" recruit to be an intern who would be paid below the minimum wage - something that Labour themselves introduced in order to prevent this kind exploitation as they saw it.
Several commentators have been running with this story today, but Guido has the definitive story. As the job advert has now been amended, I hope that someone took a copy of the original - something I'd have done myself (and posted here) if I had heard about this before the change was made.
UPDATE 21 Jan: Mark "Crash! Bang!" Wallace has been conducting a little research and found that Jobs Direct wouldn't have accepted that job advertisement.
Sometimes it's a valid claim, often it isn't when one looks closely, and sometimes it falls into a bit of a grey area and is difficult (if not impossible) to decide with any degree of certainty. Occasionally, though, something quite clear-cut emerges, and when that happens it is nearly always concerning the actions and attitudes of a Labour politician or staffer.
Today's (near-enough impossible to refute) such claim revolves around "Penny Red" (real name Laurie Penny, of the New Statesman) and an advert for a "female preferred" recruit to be an intern who would be paid below the minimum wage - something that Labour themselves introduced in order to prevent this kind exploitation as they saw it.
Several commentators have been running with this story today, but Guido has the definitive story. As the job advert has now been amended, I hope that someone took a copy of the original - something I'd have done myself (and posted here) if I had heard about this before the change was made.
UPDATE 21 Jan: Mark "Crash! Bang!" Wallace has been conducting a little research and found that Jobs Direct wouldn't have accepted that job advertisement.
Monday, 17 January 2011
A trillion pounds
Update at 5.16 pm: the clock has just this moment passed the one trillion pound mark!
Ed must go!
So says the highly-respected John Rentoul of the generally left-leaning Independent on Sunday, on today's Daily Politics show on BBC-2, as tweeted here:
"John Rentoul on DP: If Labour are serious about wanting to win the next election, Ed Miliband needs to go"
Sunday, 16 January 2011
Quote of the day - 16 Jan 2011
Danny Alexander, commenting on Ed Miliband's failure to accept Labour's blame for the country's financial mess:
"[It's] all 'mea' and no 'culpa'."
Saturday, 15 January 2011
Depressing day for Red Ed
Of course, one might expect a Conservative MP to take it apart, as Matthew Hancock has in The Spectator Coffee House blog today. However it is difficult to seriously quibble with what he has written; and the ever-sharp (though still in need of a proofreader!) editor of the Speccie, James Forsyth, has reached similar conclusions, though he thinks the Labour leader might at least be moving toward acknowledging his party's failures on the economy.
Bottom line:
Red Ed is still in denial about Labour's part in Britain's financial mess, and can therefore never be credible on the economy!
Ed's problem is that the general public will come to realise this over time, and this will become plainly visible in the opinion polls in about two years from now, I estimate. By that time, Labour really need to be in a position where the voters of Britain will take real notice of that party's leadership (and yes, Alan Johnson will have to be replaced as Shadow Chancellor before that can happen) to give them a good run-up time toward the 2015 election.
I can't see it happening, myself.
Meanwhile, another of Ed's wheezes, the Fresh Ideas website, had a mere 96 visitors who logged on to the site for Ed's live question-and-answer session. All in all it hasn't been a very successful time for him, which might explain the somewhat strained and manic look on his face in the photo above!
Friday, 14 January 2011
London murders down
Today's news is that murders in London during 2010 were not only down on the year before, but the lowest they have been for about a third of a century - specifically, since 1978. One reason for this that has been put forward is the removal of weapons such as knives from the streets, making it more difficult to commit violence in general.
This is all good news, and shows we are on the path toward getting our communities back from gangs and other criminals, as well as reducing the tendency toward domestic violence. There's still a very long way to go, but we are now heading in the right direction after years of going the wrong way - something that could never have happened under a Labour of similarly lefty government and London mayor.
This is all good news, and shows we are on the path toward getting our communities back from gangs and other criminals, as well as reducing the tendency toward domestic violence. There's still a very long way to go, but we are now heading in the right direction after years of going the wrong way - something that could never have happened under a Labour of similarly lefty government and London mayor.
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Mouthpieces
For anyone who might have thought that the top Labour-supporting blogs were independent, think again!
Although there probably is a minor element of their work that is not entirely enslaved to the Labour party, it has been obvious to anyone watching that there are essentially Labour mouthpieces, often telling exactly the same story at the same time.
Guido has now got something more definitive on this, which is helpful in showing all of us who had noticed what was going on that we weren't jumping to false conclusions. It was and is all real, and so typical of the left! Remember Pravda in the days of the USSR? It's much the same.
Although there probably is a minor element of their work that is not entirely enslaved to the Labour party, it has been obvious to anyone watching that there are essentially Labour mouthpieces, often telling exactly the same story at the same time.
Guido has now got something more definitive on this, which is helpful in showing all of us who had noticed what was going on that we weren't jumping to false conclusions. It was and is all real, and so typical of the left! Remember Pravda in the days of the USSR? It's much the same.
Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Quote of the day - 12 Jan 2011
David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions just now:
As the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg commented live:
"We've ended up with a shadow chancellor that can't count and a Labour leader who doesn't count."
As the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg commented live:
"lab mps were laughing, then stopped rather suddenly"
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Left behind
Although voting intention figures are (as expected) currently good for Labour, it isn't because the people of Britain believe their tosh about the economy.
Although tribalism undoubtedly plays a part in any poll, so it'll never be clear-cut one way or the other, the one published yesterday by YouGov (PDF file) contains some interesting figures. The Independent's John Rentoul has today tweeted the answer to this question:
It turns out to be Con-LD coalition 22%; Last Labour government 40%, which is a suitably convincing majority for Labour being the ones blamed by the population at large.
Labour really have much lower credibility than they (and their mouthpieces) like to suggest, as people are no longer being taken in by them. Their good buddy at the huge Unite public-sector Union, Len McCluskey, has been caught out by Channel 4's FactCheck making dodgy claims regarding the nation's deficit and debt, getting a Fiction score on the FactCheck meter.
The deficit turns out to be the largest since 1945 (the end of the Second World War), completely contradicting McCluskey's claim that it "isn't all that big, historically). He wasn't quite as far out with regard to the overall national debt, which is the highest for just forty years or so (viz. since the late '60s). So that's all right then!
Typical lefty! Hasn't a clue, and is either dishonest himself or has been fed duff info by someone else who is either dishonest or just plain incompetent. Whichever way it turns out to be, the message is that these bods have no place commenting on such topics anyway and should never be invited or allowed to do so.
Although tribalism undoubtedly plays a part in any poll, so it'll never be clear-cut one way or the other, the one published yesterday by YouGov (PDF file) contains some interesting figures. The Independent's John Rentoul has today tweeted the answer to this question:
"Who do you think is most to blame for the current spending cuts?"
It turns out to be Con-LD coalition 22%; Last Labour government 40%, which is a suitably convincing majority for Labour being the ones blamed by the population at large.
Labour really have much lower credibility than they (and their mouthpieces) like to suggest, as people are no longer being taken in by them. Their good buddy at the huge Unite public-sector Union, Len McCluskey, has been caught out by Channel 4's FactCheck making dodgy claims regarding the nation's deficit and debt, getting a Fiction score on the FactCheck meter.
The deficit turns out to be the largest since 1945 (the end of the Second World War), completely contradicting McCluskey's claim that it "isn't all that big, historically). He wasn't quite as far out with regard to the overall national debt, which is the highest for just forty years or so (viz. since the late '60s). So that's all right then!
Typical lefty! Hasn't a clue, and is either dishonest himself or has been fed duff info by someone else who is either dishonest or just plain incompetent. Whichever way it turns out to be, the message is that these bods have no place commenting on such topics anyway and should never be invited or allowed to do so.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Giffords shooter was a "Left-wing pothead"
At least according to this report. (Of course, we don't yet know who shot the Congress member, but if this turns out to be right).
Here's another interesting snippet that, so far, the mainstream media seem to have missed completely. It isn't the whole story, it would seem, and Barking Spider has some more on this, which is very informative. However, it is known that the suspected shooter has read Karl Marx and a range of other works in the same genre, and (I gather) found the Communist manifesto and Mein Kampf to be his favourites.
Oh dear, all of that will upset the currently rolling anti-Sarah Palin lefty bandwagon...
Here's another interesting snippet that, so far, the mainstream media seem to have missed completely. It isn't the whole story, it would seem, and Barking Spider has some more on this, which is very informative. However, it is known that the suspected shooter has read Karl Marx and a range of other works in the same genre, and (I gather) found the Communist manifesto and Mein Kampf to be his favourites.
Oh dear, all of that will upset the currently rolling anti-Sarah Palin lefty bandwagon...
Seventeen votes
If anyone reading this thinks that there is a large groundswell in favour of the planned Underground strikes (planned to occur around the time of the royal wedding) - think again!
As this page at the RMT Union shows, only 29 station staff voted on the strike issue, of whom just 17 voted in favour (12 against, no spoilt ballot papers). I have taken a copy of the page as proof, just in case it is edited or removed later.
Now, what does that tell you about this business?
As this page at the RMT Union shows, only 29 station staff voted on the strike issue, of whom just 17 voted in favour (12 against, no spoilt ballot papers). I have taken a copy of the page as proof, just in case it is edited or removed later.
Now, what does that tell you about this business?
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Nut roasts
Oh no, actually NetRoots - today's big event for the political 'centre-left', or Communists of various types, most pretending not to be. It was not an altogether auspicious occasion, apparently.
The first trouble those following the conference on-line experienced was that they didn't know what hash-tag to use on Twitter, so ended up with two of them. Really clever!
At the event itself, there was a debate on whether they should still call each other "comrades", someone was lambasted for having a Nestle chocolate bar, and so it went on.
Their 'best' idea seems to have been to host all significant left-wing blogs on a common server. I'm all in favour of that: whenever the server goes down, they all vanish from sight for the duration! It's what we call the all-eggs-in-one-basket scenario...
Perhaps the true validity (or lack of it) was summed up by this Top Tweet by Puffles2010:
There's your real disconnect, summed up so well and becoming the Top Tweet in the #netroots conversation, which in itself tells us how true it rang with Twitterers. Champagne Socialists like Polly Toynbee and the rest of the Islington Set have no idea what "working class" really means, and everyone knows it - even from their own side.of the political divide!
UPDATE: Jackart seems to have sussed out what they're trying to do, better than I was able; also that "they are doomed to fail" as he puts it.
The first trouble those following the conference on-line experienced was that they didn't know what hash-tag to use on Twitter, so ended up with two of them. Really clever!
At the event itself, there was a debate on whether they should still call each other "comrades", someone was lambasted for having a Nestle chocolate bar, and so it went on.
Their 'best' idea seems to have been to host all significant left-wing blogs on a common server. I'm all in favour of that: whenever the server goes down, they all vanish from sight for the duration! It's what we call the all-eggs-in-one-basket scenario...
Perhaps the true validity (or lack of it) was summed up by this Top Tweet by Puffles2010:
"Puffles thinks that the big cheeses at the #netroots conference should spend a few weeks in working class communities..."
There's your real disconnect, summed up so well and becoming the Top Tweet in the #netroots conversation, which in itself tells us how true it rang with Twitterers. Champagne Socialists like Polly Toynbee and the rest of the Islington Set have no idea what "working class" really means, and everyone knows it - even from their own side.of the political divide!
UPDATE: Jackart seems to have sussed out what they're trying to do, better than I was able; also that "they are doomed to fail" as he puts it.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Cheater jailed
Chaytor-the-cheater - one of the MPs prosecuted over expenses claims - has today been jailed for 18 months. The verdict and sentencing news has just emerged, within the past few minutes.
The custodial sentence was really just about unavoidable, if descriptions of fairly clear-cut evidence are accurate. No doubt details will appear in public during the days to come, so we shall be able to judge for ourselves.
The custodial sentence was really just about unavoidable, if descriptions of fairly clear-cut evidence are accurate. No doubt details will appear in public during the days to come, so we shall be able to judge for ourselves.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Tweet of the day - 6 Jan 2011
From Donal Blaney:
"Today's political truth: Labour loves the poor so much, they promote policies to create millions more of them."
Message to Labour people
Not written by me, but so pertinent and to the point that it deserves wider coverage. Tory Aardvark has been plagued by Labour whingers and the like, so he has written the following open letter to them all:
I think that does the job!
P.S. Great cartoon over there too...
"Dear Labourites.
You spent the money, now shut up while we all pay it back.
Love xx"
I think that does the job!
P.S. Great cartoon over there too...
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Jabs for the many?
...or jabs for the 'flu?
Last year it was "jabs for the many", with 'flu as the excuse for jabbing millions of us if they could get at us. Along with expensive advertising from an early stage, the idea was to get the Bilderberg-inspired semi-lethal jabs (or so it is believed by some of those in the know) into a large proportion of the population. It's purportedly all part of the New World Order plan to kill off the majority of the world's population during the next few years.
That exercise seems to have been only a partial success, as although there was a lot of illness produced in a large number of those who were "inoculated", not many actual deaths arose that could be directly attributed to the jabs. Of course, this was probably just a trial at a reduced dosage of poisons such as Mercury (this whole topic has been covered by such as Fausty on several occasions). We are also being "buttered up" for future claimed pandemics and like, no doubt.
I have managed to avoid having any such injections since 1997, as I have long known of Labour's non-public attitudes toward the people of this country and have never trusted them. It is to the present government's credit that they behaved rather differently, and didn't even advertise regarding getting one's 'flu jab until circumstances made it the proper thing to do - i.e. there doesn't seem to have been an ulterior motive behind it.
Now, I am not so naive as to trust these inoculations even now and shall continue to avoid them; but at least I don't expect to be threatened with imprisonment for such avoidance this year, unlike what was being mooted only a year ago!
Last year it was "jabs for the many", with 'flu as the excuse for jabbing millions of us if they could get at us. Along with expensive advertising from an early stage, the idea was to get the Bilderberg-inspired semi-lethal jabs (or so it is believed by some of those in the know) into a large proportion of the population. It's purportedly all part of the New World Order plan to kill off the majority of the world's population during the next few years.
That exercise seems to have been only a partial success, as although there was a lot of illness produced in a large number of those who were "inoculated", not many actual deaths arose that could be directly attributed to the jabs. Of course, this was probably just a trial at a reduced dosage of poisons such as Mercury (this whole topic has been covered by such as Fausty on several occasions). We are also being "buttered up" for future claimed pandemics and like, no doubt.
I have managed to avoid having any such injections since 1997, as I have long known of Labour's non-public attitudes toward the people of this country and have never trusted them. It is to the present government's credit that they behaved rather differently, and didn't even advertise regarding getting one's 'flu jab until circumstances made it the proper thing to do - i.e. there doesn't seem to have been an ulterior motive behind it.
Now, I am not so naive as to trust these inoculations even now and shall continue to avoid them; but at least I don't expect to be threatened with imprisonment for such avoidance this year, unlike what was being mooted only a year ago!
VAT rise
The big news story so far this week has (for obvious chronological reasons) been the VAT increase to 20%, which came into effect yesterday. Labour and their innumerable mouthpieces have been decrying this, even though we all know that it became necessary to help generate the revenue needed to keep the country going.
After all, was it not their own Liam Byrne, former Chief Sec to the Treasury, who left a note telling his successor that "there's no money left" after Labour's "scorched earth" deliberate attempt to bankrupt our nation?
It is also to be noted that current Labour leader "Red Ed" Miliband pushed for a VAT increase not once but twice during his time within the Labour cabinet, yet today he is among those now suddenly claiming it is a bad idea. Well, sunshine, it was your party's doing, and you were happy with it before!
Hypocrisy is always writ large upon the real faces of Labour people, even if it's hidden from normal view by spin, selective memory and attempted re-writes of history.
The two good things about the VAT rise are that it spreads the tax take additional needs widely, and thus thinly - something costing £2.35 on Monday will cost just five pence more (£2.40) today - and that essentials such as food and children's clothing aren't charged any VAT anyway, helping the truly poor (i.e. as distinct from the many plasma-TV owning layabouts Labour 'bought' through welfare profligacy) as their main costs will be unaffected.
Just think of the alternatives to bring in the same level of revenue and one can see how this is probably just about the best (or least bad) approach that could have been taken by a competent government without vested interests it is trying to pander to, as was generally the case with Labour and is clearly what they would be doing if they had still been running our country.
We have thirteen years' experience of their approach to public spending and taxation, so none of us should be taken in by anything Labour bods and their supporters are claiming now.
After all, was it not their own Liam Byrne, former Chief Sec to the Treasury, who left a note telling his successor that "there's no money left" after Labour's "scorched earth" deliberate attempt to bankrupt our nation?
It is also to be noted that current Labour leader "Red Ed" Miliband pushed for a VAT increase not once but twice during his time within the Labour cabinet, yet today he is among those now suddenly claiming it is a bad idea. Well, sunshine, it was your party's doing, and you were happy with it before!
Hypocrisy is always writ large upon the real faces of Labour people, even if it's hidden from normal view by spin, selective memory and attempted re-writes of history.
The two good things about the VAT rise are that it spreads the tax take additional needs widely, and thus thinly - something costing £2.35 on Monday will cost just five pence more (£2.40) today - and that essentials such as food and children's clothing aren't charged any VAT anyway, helping the truly poor (i.e. as distinct from the many plasma-TV owning layabouts Labour 'bought' through welfare profligacy) as their main costs will be unaffected.
Just think of the alternatives to bring in the same level of revenue and one can see how this is probably just about the best (or least bad) approach that could have been taken by a competent government without vested interests it is trying to pander to, as was generally the case with Labour and is clearly what they would be doing if they had still been running our country.
We have thirteen years' experience of their approach to public spending and taxation, so none of us should be taken in by anything Labour bods and their supporters are claiming now.
Video of the day - 5 Jan 2011
This is what can happen if you order a bacon-based product at a so-called "Halal-friendly" Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) shop: not so "friendly" after all! Of course, what they forget is that God created the pig, and no meat-eaters apart from Muslims and Jews seem to have a problem with that...
The chips are supposed to be in the frier, not on his shoulder! I am also wondering what that "NOT HALAL" sign says in full...
Hat-tip to OldHoborn via Twitter
The chips are supposed to be in the frier, not on his shoulder! I am also wondering what that "NOT HALAL" sign says in full...
Hat-tip to OldHoborn via Twitter
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Postie in wrong post
Alan Johnson continues to be all over the place in his position struggling to cope with being Shadow Chancellor. If ever there were a peg that had no chance of being squeezed into a different-shaped hole, this is it!
Tory Totty (with a nice new logo at her blog!) has analytically looked at Johnson's most recent utterances on radio, and found that he still doesn't have a clue - even about some of the most basic aspects of his job - after having been in the post for long enough to have grasped the essentials. It's a worthwhile read.
Okay, it's been the Festive Season, but even so: looking back, former Shadow Chancellors seem to have been far more competent and got themselves well up to speed within a similar time frame.
Ah well, perhaps he might have got his act together by the time of the 2015 General Election campaign, though I somehow doubt it!
Tory Totty (with a nice new logo at her blog!) has analytically looked at Johnson's most recent utterances on radio, and found that he still doesn't have a clue - even about some of the most basic aspects of his job - after having been in the post for long enough to have grasped the essentials. It's a worthwhile read.
Okay, it's been the Festive Season, but even so: looking back, former Shadow Chancellors seem to have been far more competent and got themselves well up to speed within a similar time frame.
Ah well, perhaps he might have got his act together by the time of the 2015 General Election campaign, though I somehow doubt it!
Monday, 3 January 2011
Tweet of the day - 3 Jan 2011
Ed Miliband is trying to put it about that the (modest) imminent rise in VAT is something that Labour would never do.
Well, just one year ago, as Tory Press HQ reminds us...
Oh yes, so they did, even if it was just restoring a previous rate. The impact then would have been the same as it will be this time - just two-and-a-half percent on top of the present 117.5% of the price before VAT. Something costing £2.30 a year or so ago went up to £2.35, and will now be going up by the same amount (5 pence) to £2.40.
Wow! That'll break the bank...
Well, just one year ago, as Tory Press HQ reminds us...
"According to Ed Miliband, Labour never raised VAT. Except last January, that is..."
Oh yes, so they did, even if it was just restoring a previous rate. The impact then would have been the same as it will be this time - just two-and-a-half percent on top of the present 117.5% of the price before VAT. Something costing £2.30 a year or so ago went up to £2.35, and will now be going up by the same amount (5 pence) to £2.40.
Wow! That'll break the bank...
Book of the (New) Year
James Delingpole's delightful book of one-per-day ways to drive a 'liberal' crazy - 365 in total. The example he quotes at The Telegraph is typical:
It looks like being a fun read!
"Q. Why did God give liberals annoying, whiny voices?
A. So that even the blind could hate them."
It looks like being a fun read!
A hundred days of dithering
Now, one might reasonably expect such a negative reporting on the current Labour leader's initial period in that office; but if you look at what is in there it is hard to counter most if not all of what it says.
No doubt Labour supporters will find ways to put a better face on it, but Red's record shows him to be even more of a ditherer than Gordon Brown was - and Brown was notorious for it!
Here's just one example, quoted from that document:
" ‘I’ve worked with Ed in government. He could not make a decision to save his life – he does not want to know about the hard stuff’ (Former Cabinet Minister, Mail on Sunday, 26 September 2010);"
I have to admit that, with the best will in the world, I cannot come to any conclusion other than that Ed Miliband is really just a little boy who is completely out of his depth as leader of Her Majesty's Official Opposition Party, and probably never fully grasped what that position would actually mean. Now he is scared of his own shadow and will not make any policy decisions or keep to even recent promises policy-wise.
He just can't handle the job!
Sunday, 2 January 2011
BBC review of the 2010 political year
I've been trying to embed this video here, but lack the technical knowledge to do so and there is no such option provided at the originating web-page. I thought the BBC was a publicly-funded body (not all of it, I know, but the news is) so why are they allowed to keep their programmes effectively private? That is something that needs to be tackled!
Anyway, Laura Kuenssberg's review, lasting 24 minutes, is here and is actually quite good and generally very fair. It includes the "Buffy moment" and doesn't spare Gordon Brown any blushes, and I think most people would enjoy seeing that segment even if they wouldn't admit it to others(!)
Anyway, Laura Kuenssberg's review, lasting 24 minutes, is here and is actually quite good and generally very fair. It includes the "Buffy moment" and doesn't spare Gordon Brown any blushes, and I think most people would enjoy seeing that segment even if they wouldn't admit it to others(!)
Approaching a hundred
That ever-useful commentator at the Spectator's Coffee House, Peter Hoskin, has written a five-point round up of Ed Miliband's first hundred days as Labour party leader - two days early, but who's counting!
The five points he covers are (with my own expansions here):
In the event, it will be all that scheming by Gordon Brown to make any successor government look bad through his actions, that will score for Ed and Labour during the comings years of real austerity and cut-backs, not merely the anticipation of them as has been the case so far.
From April 2011 onward, when the new financial year's public sector budgets (especially within councils) are put into action - all the problems of which were generated by Brown's Scorched earth policy last spring - even the 'good guys' (and guy-esses, of course) elected to councils will come in for a lot of unwarranted stick, and will no doubt suffer electorally. That is how the baddies win so often, and are encouraged to continue with their evil practices simply because they do work.
Thus Ed-M can expect to do well in May's various local and devolved body elections, more or less by default, and will get a personal leadership boost as a result. He won't have earned it, of course, but it will happen nonetheless. Thus it will be not the first hundred-day period that brings him security as Labour leader, nor the second such period, but the third.
Meanwhile there is the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election in ten days or so from now; but that is very likely to stay a Labour seat which will keep Red ticking over until May. If Labour were to lose the seat, though, that would be a fairly severe blow to Ed's standing - he would be tarnished with that failure in a quite safe Labour seat and would find it difficult to shake that off unless May then produced truly outstanding success for Labour, which is possible but not all that likely. They'll probably do well, but not that well!
So, we need to watch these crucial upcoming events to see how the present Labour leader fares and is perceived, especially among the party membership and supporters. If he should fall, there still isn't anyone still around who could be seen as a competent successor. Even with the bar having been set lower than it has been since the days of landing themselves with Michael Foot, there still isn't the leadership talent there...
The five points he covers are (with my own expansions here):
- Appointing Alan Johnson as Shadow Chancellor - yes, it kept the Balls duo (Ed and Yvette Cooper) out of that post, which was a good move; but Johnson flounders in this position as his knowledge and experience are next to nothing;
- Red's customary dithering, even on telling the country what he stands for: we are asked to wait two years to find that out, and meanwhile all we have is "a blank sheet of paper";
- Trying to find a component of the electorate to target: specifically what he calls "the squeezed middle", but without any policies he can offer in order to appeal to them;
- Very variable public performances: Hoskin highlights Prime Minister's Questions, but Ed's creepy Christmas message and other public appearances is likely to get people's neck hair standing on end as they wonder just what they've got here; and
- Red's attempt to ditch that very "red" perception of him by so many, and to be fair he has made some effort in that regard but with relatively little credibility. He's probably stuck with that label for life.
In the event, it will be all that scheming by Gordon Brown to make any successor government look bad through his actions, that will score for Ed and Labour during the comings years of real austerity and cut-backs, not merely the anticipation of them as has been the case so far.
From April 2011 onward, when the new financial year's public sector budgets (especially within councils) are put into action - all the problems of which were generated by Brown's Scorched earth policy last spring - even the 'good guys' (and guy-esses, of course) elected to councils will come in for a lot of unwarranted stick, and will no doubt suffer electorally. That is how the baddies win so often, and are encouraged to continue with their evil practices simply because they do work.
Thus Ed-M can expect to do well in May's various local and devolved body elections, more or less by default, and will get a personal leadership boost as a result. He won't have earned it, of course, but it will happen nonetheless. Thus it will be not the first hundred-day period that brings him security as Labour leader, nor the second such period, but the third.
Meanwhile there is the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election in ten days or so from now; but that is very likely to stay a Labour seat which will keep Red ticking over until May. If Labour were to lose the seat, though, that would be a fairly severe blow to Ed's standing - he would be tarnished with that failure in a quite safe Labour seat and would find it difficult to shake that off unless May then produced truly outstanding success for Labour, which is possible but not all that likely. They'll probably do well, but not that well!
So, we need to watch these crucial upcoming events to see how the present Labour leader fares and is perceived, especially among the party membership and supporters. If he should fall, there still isn't anyone still around who could be seen as a competent successor. Even with the bar having been set lower than it has been since the days of landing themselves with Michael Foot, there still isn't the leadership talent there...
He'll be back!
Politics Home wonders if the American Constitution might be modified to allow him to stand for president.
If so, and if he is interested in that idea, perhaps it won't yet be "Hasta la vista, baby!" and more a case of "I'll be back!"
Warming to an idea
The graph here (which I have copied from the linked post) shows the sudden change in average temperature once the "inconvenient" weather stations had been excluded from the equation.
It's all rather obvious, when presented in this way, isn't it? You won't get that in The Guardian or at the BBC, of course!
Saturday, 1 January 2011
Quote of the day - 1 Jan 2011
A new year begins today, and it might be tempting to think that Labour will change for the better under Ed Miliband's leadership.
It won't.
Labour never really changes apart from its presentation and some apparent concessions to the real world under New Labour - though that has now gone, probably for ever.
It is in this context that it is worth reminding ourselves of one of Winston Churchill's quotes on Socialism in general, as this will apply even more to Labour from now on than it did from 1997:
It won't.
Labour never really changes apart from its presentation and some apparent concessions to the real world under New Labour - though that has now gone, probably for ever.
It is in this context that it is worth reminding ourselves of one of Winston Churchill's quotes on Socialism in general, as this will apply even more to Labour from now on than it did from 1997:
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."We must also never forget that any misery we are currently experiencing, and any that we encounter in future as a result of government intervention, is in reality being caused by Labour under Tony Blair and (especially) Gordon Brown, the real architect of this country's present woes.
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