FlyTheNest

SpinningHugo

The acceptance of the Tory "welfare" cuts is a painful, and dramatic illustration of how you can only move politics in your direction by being in government.

SpinningHugo

Harman will soon effectively be history in Labour terms anyway. People thus shouldn't get too upset at what she says. The next leader will be free to set their own course, and hopefully will...... I don't think this is right. Once this position is adopted, it will be impossible to reverse (save by ...

SpinningHugo

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... dy-burnham" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SpinningHugo

Labour backing Tory social security changes according to Harman http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02wwc7b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; A gift for Corbyn. Yep - you wonder if she (and Chris Leslie) actually secretly wants him to win. If so, they're going the right way abou...

SpinningHugo

Labour backing Tory social security changes according to Harman
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02wwc7b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A gift for Corbyn.

SpinningHugo

http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com ... _mumbling/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The most recent two posts in Chris Dillow's blog about why raising the minimum wage is such a bad idea (and no substitute for tax credits) is well worth reading.

SpinningHugo

He stole Labour's clothes. The Living Wage thing is pure pre-distribution. I don't like it (the best way of helping the poor is to give them money rather than fix prices) but it is good politics. it didn't leak and so Harman fluffed her reply, talking about cuts to tax credits without any scheme to...

SpinningHugo

He stole Labour's clothes. The Living Wage thing is pure pre-distribution. I don't like it (the best way of helping the poor is to give them money rather than fix prices) but it is good politics. it didn't leak and so Harman fluffed her reply, talking about cuts to tax credits without any scheme to ...

SpinningHugo

Just listened to Redwood on Toady with his Laffer Curve nonsense. Not challenged once by Montague. Wankers! Apparently again made the claim that having the top rate of tax at 45p raises more money than it does at 50p - something demolished many times now as fictional. or, at very best, there is zer...

SpinningHugo

I missed this from last week. Peter Oborne returns to Daily Mail Award-winning journalist who left the Telegraph over its commercial policies will write a new weekly political column http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jun/30/peter-oborne-returns-to-daily-mail?CMP=share_btn_tw" onclick="...

SpinningHugo

The 2015 intake of Labour MP's is very diverse, give them time and they may get to the top I don't think that is right. http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/08/parliament-must-shed-privately-educated-and-westminster-bubble-mps-win-voters-trust" onclick="window.open(this.href);return ...

SpinningHugo

A No in Greece, and the Chinese stockmarket collapsing?

Interesting times.

Buy gold is my advice (or if you cannot afford that, stock up on tins of soup).

SpinningHugo

Agree with Hugo on the narrowness of the political class, and can't help feel (having been in and left academia) that there is much to learn of great value outside of it that might help one contribute to running a country. Including different perspective. Would very much like to see far wider parti...

SpinningHugo

:roll: What's odd about liking a sport that you discovered from having lived in the US when you were a kid? i like baseball (although I am a blue jays fan myself. In the UK every pol has to love football. Sad, but that is the way it is. Perhaps it is different for women pols? Miliband supported Lee...

SpinningHugo

and will probably play better than Miliband's love of baseball (which was a small contribution to his appearing odd). :roll: What's odd about liking a sport that you discovered from having lived in the US when you were a kid? i like baseball (although I am a blue jays fan myself. In the UK every po...

SpinningHugo

AB has worked at Thomas Cook and as a journalist on trade journals with titles like Tank World and Passenger Rail Management and Container Management. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/andy-burnham-tvs-boys-blackstuff-6002643" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Personally I'...

SpinningHugo

Yes, all very true and I agree. Though there is always the "Nixon to China" argument - only somebody who has been part of the system, and thus understands it, can successfully change it? Burnham is an ex-SPAD and all that, true, but he has also IIRC had a job outside politics (sports teac...

SpinningHugo

I see what you mean, but I recall what A Campbell said about such things...... (ie it was only when politically aware people were getting fed up with a certain phrase, that it was finally getting through to the general public) The problem is not the phrase but who is using it. Someone more entrench...

SpinningHugo

Wish AB would stop using "Westminster bubble!" its getting a tad boring now I see what you mean, but I recall what A Campbell said about such things...... (ie it was only when politically aware people were getting fed up with a certain phrase, that it was finally getting through to the ge...

SpinningHugo

@SpinningHugo Bake Off and Strictly? No wonder you feel it not worth the money. Snob! No - I watch Bake Off (not Strictly which I think is way past its sell by date and has been steadily dumbed down since its inception) but if those are the only programmes you want to watch it's a pretty narrow sel...

SpinningHugo

utopiandreams wrote:@SpinningHugo

Bake Off and Strictly? No wonder you feel it not worth the money.

Snob!

SpinningHugo

The BBC. I love radio 3 passionately, and no commercial broadcaster would provide it. it feels like civilization to me. The Tories hate it, as it is not part of the private sector, but I am not sure that should be enough to cause us to love it. The way it is funded is a poll tax. Yes, there are some...

SpinningHugo

Went to see Andy Burnham speak and answer questions tonight. I will try to post something on it tomorrow but for now will just say the Welsh audience were top bods IMO. Burnham was told in a variety of ways that Labour need to be plain and direct speaking using words that most people use and relate...

SpinningHugo

It is obvious you have never been a building-site worker. Sacking people is exactly what they do. And they hoard land to keep prices high, by regulating supply and demand, not to even their workload. If local authorities were in charge of real housing policy, they would be instructed to start build...

SpinningHugo

They need a cushion so that when jobs come to an end they aren't forced either to keep hundreds of people idle or sack them. It is obvious you have never been a building-site worker. Sacking people is exactly what they do. And they hoard land to keep prices high, by regulating supply and demand, no...

SpinningHugo

I saw the face of Mr. Miliband after the 2015 GE result I did too. This is admittedly a matter of impression, but mine was not the same as yours. I was somewhat surprised he was able to make jokes about Milifandom for example. As for the list of horrors, I am pretty sure I can give you a long list ...

SpinningHugo

They need a cushion so that when jobs come to an end they aren't forced either to keep hundreds of people idle or sack them. It is obvious you have never been a building-site worker. Sacking people is exactly what they do. And they hoard land to keep prices high, by regulating supply and demand, no...

SpinningHugo

We will get 200,000 homes built a year by 2020. This will close the gap between the number of homes we build and the number of homes we need, as well as providing up to 230,000 jobs in construction. We will unblock the supply of new homes by giving local authorities "use it or lose it" po...

SpinningHugo

"Does Liz Kendall have what it takes to interfere in the housing market to get hundreds of thousands of homes built as Ed was proposing" This is a classic example of what Hopi Sen called Labour's dressing itself up in Syriza clothing, whilst actually proposing SPD policies. The housing pl...

SpinningHugo

"Does Liz Kendall have what it takes to interfere in the housing market to get hundreds of thousands of homes built as Ed was proposing" This is a classic example of what Hopi Sen called Labour's dressing itself up in Syriza clothing, whilst actually proposing SPD policies. The housing ple...

SpinningHugo

Jeremy Corbyn has as much chance as anyone else of winning a general election. Blair won because the tories were exhausted and people were fed up to the back teeth of them. Blairites insist on interpreting this as proof of the widespread popularity of their own views. But they are wrong. In five ye...

SpinningHugo

It is just as possible that they voted for Labour because of Ed Miliband's manifesto and Labour risks losing them if they reject it entirely as Kendall seems to be doing (and if she isn't doing that, then she is appalling at putting herself across because that's how it seems). Of course in a way th...

SpinningHugo

(iii) The abuse that Kendall receives shows, for me, that Labour is unwilling to make the compromises necessary to gain power. I regret that. And this is where most of us here part company. One of the most irritating things about neo-Blairites is their tendency to claim (especially when pressed in ...

SpinningHugo

I don't think Kendall will win (which is sad) but I do think that the abuse she gets reveals why Labour loses. What does this even mean? It means (i) Kendall won't win. I regret this (ii) Kendall gets lots of abuse. (iii) The abuse that Kendall receives shows, for me, that Labour is unwilling to ma...

SpinningHugo

There is a difference between doing a token interview with the Currant Bun and making its approval a centrepiece of your strategy. But, of course, you know that :) If those were the facts, you would of course be right. But they are not. Those interviews are just as prominent and of the same length....

SpinningHugo

Good morfternoon. Labour leadership: Kendall in 'continuity Miliband' warning 24 minutes ago Liz Kendall says she is the only Labour leadership candidate who would fully break with Ed Miliband's leadership. She told The Sun her three rivals were all "continuity Miliband" candidates who wo...

SpinningHugo

For those interested, this is about gay marriage in the US. It is conservative

https://spinninghugo.wordpress.com/2015 ... e-a-judge/

SpinningHugo

I explained at length at the time what I thought was wrong with the 2015 manifesto (on here and elsewhere). So no. I liked the Labour party 2015 manifesto. Jobs guarantee (real wages for work!), dump Health & Social Care Act 2012 , dump Bedroom Tax, regulate Buy-to-Let, private sector housing, ...

SpinningHugo

"From this perspective Burnham has the strongest grasp of how things stand, praising the manifesto that 9m people just voted for as one of the best he's stood on." What matters is the same thing that has mattered in every election since the early 1920s. The gap between the Tory and Labour...

SpinningHugo

"From this perspective Burnham has the strongest grasp of how things stand, praising the manifesto that 9m people just voted for as one of the best he's stood on." What matters is the same thing that has mattered in every election since the early 1920s. The gap between the Tory and Labour ...

SpinningHugo

http://www.policy-network.net/pno_detai ... ign=buffer

SpinningHugo

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jun/24/tax-credits-over-inflated-but-still-a-life-raft-for-many What Brown could not foresee was that the credits would become a major post-crash safety net, inflating their cost from £9bn to £30bn by 2010. The above line caught my eye. The tax credit bill c...

SpinningHugo

Cruddas is one of the guilty men. Not worth listening to.

He studied philosophy at Warwick, at a time when it was dominated by examining continental philosophy like Derrida.

It painfully shows.

SpinningHugo

Good morning. :D Andy Burnham is the Labour leadership contender most likely to improve the party’s chances at the next general election, according to a survey of 2,000 people for The Independent by ORB. And we know how reliable polls are. :roll: Liz Kendall, the shadow Care Minister who is seen as...

SpinningHugo

Interesting - I noticed this when I was watching the debate the other night. (via a Laura McInerney tweet) Education and The English question https://johnohowson.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/education-and-the-english-question/ Whatever happened to that English votes thing - presumably as the Tories won...

SpinningHugo

Interesting - I noticed this when I was watching the debate the other night. (via a Laura McInerney tweet) Education and The English question https://johnohowson.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/education-and-the-english-question/ What was more interesting, in a debate entirely about schools in England, we...

SpinningHugo

If people want some interesting and intelligent talk on what policy should look like in the UK, this is interesting on the UK http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/23/talking-britain/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto&_r=0 Stick with it and watch David Hendry, the most interesting of the t...

SpinningHugo

Forgive me if I come over all Hugo-ish for a moment, but what exactly is another demonstration meant to achieve? Sunny Hundal had a good and thought-provoking piece on LabourList recently about how the initially promising anti-austerity/pro-change movements after the coalition was formed in 2010 ha...

SpinningHugo

Sometimes I can't understand Paul Mason's blog posts but this one's pretty clear. Greek crisis: crunch time http://blogs.channel4.com/paul-mason-blog/greece-crunch-time/3882" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Here’s what I think: First, the working assumption of the Greek lead...

SpinningHugo

You seem to be almost relying on that in order that your dream of the future of the Labour Party might be realised. We are no longer in 2007. Sorry? Are you really expecting a government with a majority of 16 to fall between now and the next 5 years? Of course they won't, bar some kind of catastrop...

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