Weekend Edition Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th March

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:00 am

Chris Bryant MP ‏@RhonddaBryant 55s55 seconds ago
Tories howled at @jeremycorbyn on Wednesday when he said this was an unfair budget. Now we learn IDS agreed.

Ian Lucas ‏@IanCLucas 2m2 minutes ago
As an MP, it's difficult to know what the Budget votes on Tuesday will be about.

He's right. There isn't actually a clearly set out Budget now - as far as I understand it. This power mad lot have completely subverted any transparency and proper democratic process in the HoC. MPs no longer need to know what they are voting on apparently.

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:01 am

How can IDS say he opposed the "welfare cap"?

He has told so many lies since his resignation - let alone before it - that he is rewriting history.

Are we now supposed to believe that he had nothing to do with any of his "reforms" and all he did was obey Osborne's orders? Seriously?

Tories on Twitter are all saying what a great interview and how IDS came across well. FFS.

The truth is out there, Tories - read Hansard.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:15 am

I'm just having a frisson of something as I recall the Guardian's 'In praise of IDS'.

Not their finest hour.

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:19 am

Evenaftermorn all...

Blimey....is it true? Has the stupid man done it again?

Dearie dearie me....Tories at 'war'? The Idiot Dipped in Sh1t 'resigning' on 'principle'...sorry, run that by me again...'principle'...no, sorry, that doesn't make any sense...one more ti...oh never mind!

So....now it's gone from the DWP, 1) Is it still protected by armed guards whenever it gets to within 100 yards of the public (or 500 yards of a person experiencing physical or cognitive life challenges)? 2) Will it be able to keep control of all of the strands of the various existing legal proceedings and judgements against it and its' activities....or does the new incumbent have the necessary jewels to continue to ignore law and responsibility, thereby stopping the reporting of the realitites of the last 6 years of unforgivable spiteful inhuman incompetence? (tbf, we know the UNUM-Maximarse-Serco-G4S-ATOS-Virgin-uncare take-over of all things government-societal was started many years previous to 2010)...and for me the best question....3) will it or can it be protected from legal action/actions around negligence and manslaughter in public office through incompetence?....if the answer is no, the rest (Gidiot, Grovel, Slimy Dave, Priti Vac*nt (spelt phonetically from the original lyrics by Mr Lydon)) will (or should, at least) also end up in the dock.

I'm really sorry, but I can't help feeling a great degree of hope (which is, as you all know, just north of Peterborough, and where I reside)...and I am fully and totally aware of my own failings of being too optimistic and hoping for too much change...but...as has been linked upthread...Ed Miliband supports Corbyn (he always has - they just missed out reporting it before), Corbyn slaughters Gidiot and his monsters at the budget, Labour take the lead in a poll (I know, it's just one poll...but imagine the look on the Puce Pisstrumpets' face when the penny dropped that, um, actually, perhaps there is an opposition after all...and it's got PRINCIPLES).

Is Parliament in recess, or will Corbyn get the chance to 'have another go' at Clouncy Funt at PMQs? (btw, this little name for him is most definitely borne out by the Daily Fail piece upthread, by expenses cheat Laws) - and how will Clouncy be feeling about that? No Gove or Boris to back him up, Gidiot up to his neck in ordure?

...and are some in the Bubble really suggesting that the 'Brexit' campaign is better with IDS? I'm waiting for 'Brexit' to decide on who their leader is - y'know, 'cos if we 'Brexit', that'll be the person heading up the negotiations for a 'leave', n'est pas? So will be Gove? Boris? IDS? George Galloway?....no thanks, I'll Bremain if it's all the same to you. (Other opinions are available)

...and, as ever, my sincere gratitude to everyone for being here and providing a foil to the meejah madness.

...and I'm assuming that in the time it's taken me to write this, Odious IDS is now on Marr telling everyone what a nice cuddly compassionate person it is....well, it can jolly well frack the frack off, the fracking fracking fracker.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:21 am

Owen Smith ‏@OwenSmith_MP 8m8 minutes ago
I agree with IDS. #marrshow

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:25 am

Christopher Hope ‏@christopherhope 3m3 minutes ago
DWP ministers at war about IDS’s legacy. Moments after Ros Altmann criticises IDS Priti Patel phones BBC to say she is speaking personally.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:28 am

Armando IannucciVerified account
‏@Aiannucci
And petition to scrap plans forcing all state schools to become academies nearly at 100,000 too. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/124702" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:32 am

Owen Smith, Labour’s shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, offers his view on the Iain Duncan Smith’s interview on the Andrew Marr show. He says the Conservative Party is “tearing itself apart over an unfair Budget” and that Osborne should resign.

“No-one will believe Iain Duncan Smith’s sudden change of heart,” he said.

After all this is the man who introduced the Bedroom Tax. But what his comments do reveal is growing anger within the Conservative Party about George Osborne’s management of the economy.

The Chancellor’s unfair Budget is falling apart at the seams. George Osborne now needs to urgently clarify whether these cuts to disability benefits will go ahead and, if not, how he will make up for the huge hole in his Budget.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/liv ... e#comments" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:32 am

Osborne seems to be the quietest man at the moment.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:50 am

RogerOThornhill wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:Morning. Nice to have you back here Roger.

Yes - they would release the forced academisation proposals while you were away. As you say ... it's not going down very well. You would have enjoyed Nicky Morgan's balls up performance on QT.
And apparently Nick Gibb got absolutely shredded by Chris Cook on Newsnight. Cook really does know his stuff on this and has described the DfE as the most chaotic and inefficient department in government.

Yes, he did say that on Newsnight, class.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:51 am

Tom Newton Dunn ‏@tnewtondunn 7m7 minutes ago
"I can't see how this Budget can proceed this week. Osborne should come to Parliament and withdraw it," @johnmcdonnellMP tells @JPonpolitics

Tim Shipman Retweeted
steve hawkes ‏@steve_hawkes 11m11 minutes ago
David Mellor: "I think George Osborne should be moved. I'm sure we can do without Philip Hammond as Foreign Secretary"

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:52 am

Willow904 wrote:
Owen Smith, Labour’s shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, offers his view on the Iain Duncan Smith’s interview on the Andrew Marr show. He says the Conservative Party is “tearing itself apart over an unfair Budget” and that Osborne should resign.

“No-one will believe Iain Duncan Smith’s sudden change of heart,” he said.

After all this is the man who introduced the Bedroom Tax. But what his comments do reveal is growing anger within the Conservative Party about George Osborne’s management of the economy.

The Chancellor’s unfair Budget is falling apart at the seams. George Osborne now needs to urgently clarify whether these cuts to disability benefits will go ahead and, if not, how he will make up for the huge hole in his Budget.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/liv ... e#comments" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can pretty much guarantee that he won't do the sensible thing and raise fuel duty.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:53 am

Lest we forget

http://leftfootforward.org/2011/11/mail ... ed-people/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:53 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Chris Bryant MP ‏@RhonddaBryant 55s55 seconds ago
Tories howled at @jeremycorbyn on Wednesday when he said this was an unfair budget. Now we learn IDS agreed.

Ian Lucas ‏@IanCLucas 2m2 minutes ago
As an MP, it's difficult to know what the Budget votes on Tuesday will be about.
He's right. There isn't actually a clearly set out Budget now - as far as I understand it. This power mad lot have completely subverted any transparency and proper democratic process in the HoC. MPs no longer need to know what they are voting on apparently.

Quite - but I've a feeling that this is true across the board...cuts to ESA, cuts to Tax Credits, H & SC Bill 2012, Fracking laws (the laws around fracking, not the expenses cheat), Leveson, banking regulation....as Oh Dear Dorries says...why bother to have principles and actually read something if you can be bribed (and whipped, but perhaps that's one for Ms Rowe) to vote for it? Then there's the Free Schools, Academisation and the attendant obfuscation....defence....Police, Fire Service...all cut and removed from public view (Childrens Social Services....run by Virgin un-care and the like, with no oversight)...

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2015/01/ ... -services/)

No other country anywhere allows decisions about the protection of children to be contracted outside of public services and the state’s immediate responsibility.
Nowhere else takes the considerable risk of these services only being accountable back to the government or local authorities through a contract. Why not? Well just look at how G4S, SERCO, A4e, and ATOS have let down the public so badly on their expensive profit-generating contracts for the tagging of offenders, provision of out-of-hours GP services, helping long-term unemployed people into work, and the welfare benefits assessments of disabled people.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012 ... -nhs-devon

Virgin says it has increased its experience in children's services since it began working more than a year ago with the charity Kids Company, focusing on teenagers and sexual health issues. Branson bought 75% of Assura Medical with a £4m loan in 2010. The company, rebranded Virgin Care this year, has expanded and now runs 120 NHS services, most notably GP practices. An investigation last year showed Virgin had links with 50% or more of the board members at three of the 52 first-wave GP commissioning groups that will purchase care on behalf of patients from next year.

...they've voted for all of this and more (badger cull/bombing Syria).

...and on Oh Dear Dorries....surely saying that her Twitter timeline is polluted by 'Lefties' who should look at the voting record of their 'favourite' MP (by which, I'm assuming she means Corbyn)...doesn't that just say Corbyn voted on principle...and couldn't be bribed?

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:55 am

RIP Barry Hines.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 10:58 am

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update ... ines-dies/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:01 am

HindleA wrote:Lest we forget

http://leftfootforward.org/2011/11/mail ... ed-people/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

...afore I go...don't forget this as well...evidence (I believe(TM)) of Tory-Coulson-Murkydochia media message management...

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/central-g ... wers-until

Political journalists have expressed surprise and concern after research by Press Gazette revealed that 20 central Government departments employ more than 1,500 communications staff.
Freedom of Information Act releases and transparency figures show that the Home Office (pictured: Reuters) has 276 full-time equivalent staff with communications responsibilties.
Elsewhere, the Department of Work and Pensions employs 14 and the Cabinet Office employs 205.
In total, some 1,514 FTE staff across the main Government departments are communications professionals or have communications responsibilities.

ttfn

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:02 am

https://m.youtube.com/?hl=en-GB&gl=GB#/ ... Nb7cIFWGDg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:03 am

Maria Hutchings ‏@MariaHutchings 5m5 minutes ago South East, England
#marr Biggest threat to Osborne Must now be black lash over Laws' info:Osborne offered to stand down Tory candidates in Lib Dem Marginals

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:09 am

George Eaton ‏@georgeeaton 7m7 minutes ago
Expect Boris to pick up the "compassionate conservative" theme.

It's utterly venal.

Sick bags aren't made big enough.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:10 am

HindleA wrote:https://m.youtube.com/?hl=en-GB&gl=GB#/ ... Nb7cIFWGDg

Am I meant to watch the 'Weather Girl's Nip Slip Goes Viral'? That's the one that's top of the page.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:15 am

Where is refitman,when you need him.

Meant to be excerpt from "The Price of Coal"

Post by **refitman** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:40 am

HindleA wrote:Where is refitman,when you need him.

Meant to be excerpt from "The Price of Coal"

currently on my phone, in a train station. Will fix it when I'm ensconced in first class.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:41 am

HindleA wrote:Where is refitman,when you need him.

Meant to be excerpt from "The Price of Coal"

Never mind. I can't stand Bryan Ferry, anyway.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:45 am

Good morfternoon.

Still no sign of our Leader. Or, indeed, endless column inches on Boris Johnson's every twitch. Why give them the luxury of time to formulate their lines? (Sorry. I must have George Osborne on the brain.)

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:46 am

Thanks refitman.

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:54 am

HindleA wrote:Lest we forget

http://leftfootforward.org/2011/11/mail ... ed-people/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Indeed. It was not a form, it was a book. Almost no-one was awarded DLA without having to go to appeal. When that happened a proper doctor got to see you. I went through this twice for an incurable condition. Putting down the intimate details of your life and condition was a difficult and sometimes humiliating process. The difference between then and now was there was a climate in which disability was being recognised for what it is. Not some fucking psychologised bullshit spun by a bunch of theiving rentiers. Apologies for the anger, though I won't withdraw it. I have come here fresh from watching the Marr show and the bunch of perfect shits who decide what and what not we ought to believe in.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:55 am

Aditya Chakrabortty ‏@chakrabortty 2m2 minutes ago
Aditya Chakrabortty Retweeted Rowena Mason
Unravelling faster than a crap jumper.

Rowena Mason ‏@rowenamason 18m18 minutes ago
Tory MP Heidi Allen says "we have made some poor decisions" in the budget and some of tax cuts wrong - "got to start again"

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:59 am

Angela Rayner MP ‏@AngelaRayner 15m15 minutes ago
Clear precise appraisal of current situation and where we are at the moment on DWP from @OwenSmith_MP Sunday politics show with Andrew Neil

Yvette Cooper ‏@YvetteCooperMP 15m15 minutes ago
Serious risk that Tories just seek alternative cuts for disabled & low paid workers - as Osborne & IDS did before #osbornestatementneeded

Really good to see Labour MPs saying all the right things in all the right places. Follows on from Corbyn giving the right response to Osborne's 'budget' statement.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 11:59 am

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... -poor-tory" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

IDS's first interview since resigning – verdict

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:01 pm

Debbie Abrahams ‏@Debbie_abrahams 20m20 minutes ago
#bbcsp Looks like many Tory backbenchers r coming over 2 Labour's thinking abt social security inc #PIP assessment. Hopefully #wca process 2

Justin Madders MP ‏@justinmadders 22m22 minutes ago
If the Tory infighting goes on like this much longer the Trident vote will suddenly be brought forward as a desperate attempt to distract

He might be spot on with that.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:05 pm

Lucy Powell MP Retweeted
rob kelsall ‏@rob_kelsall 50m50 minutes ago London, England
Nicky Morgan gets a pasting by Mums. Completely misjudged the mood. Be great to see @LucyMPowell respond on Mumsnet http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/guest_posts ... hools?pg=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Well worth a look. Nicky Morgan's guest post is getting savaged BTL - and very eloquently savaged.

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:09 pm

Amid all the shouting there is also the background noise, and the barely heard.

The articles discrediting the left, Cohen, I see little evidence of what you suggest except among very young pseudogeeky kids around 14 years old. Others are just trolling. But ATL is not acceptable.

Two instances so far comparing Osbo to Brown??!!??

The story about Cameron and being asked to account for actions on Libya, and the impending crisis expected to emerge because of a different kind of hole, more like a vacuum one might say that will suck everything disatrous in.

And sorry, IDS as some kins of hero of the weak is not on, and fuck his Centre for Social Justice bull too. Its enough to make Orwell weep.

And I haven't even got to the Altman Patel thing yet. Will they be mudwrestling or not?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:14 pm

Example from BTL on Nicky Morgan's Mumsnet guest post ...

ravenAK Fri 18-Mar-16 20:17:36
Nicky,

I am an experienced teacher of a core subject.

I have moved overseas with my three children.

You have put us in a position where emigration is a far superior option for my family than working or learning in the UK education system.

I get that on a human level you are probably an ok person who has inherited a shit portfolio from a toxic predecessor who is still interfering - I'm a teacher. I can totes empathize with that one! - but the above is just embarrassing.

Address the problems or tell us to fuck off (& overwhelmingly we are).

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:17 pm

Ros Altmann making a load of finger-on-the-pulse sense, as usual . . .

“As far as I could tell, he appeared to spend much of the last few months plotting over Europe and against the leadership of the party and it seemed to me he had been planning to find a reason to resign for a long time,” she said.(Guardian)

And then -

Altmann said she was extremely shocked by the news of the resignation and was highly critical of the way Duncan Smith had behaved.(Guardian)

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ts-altmann

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:18 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Paul Waugh ‏@paulwaugh 1m1 minute ago
IDS fires huge exocet: Osborne welfare trap for Labour was to blame:
'The problem was the institution of the WelfareCap..pretty arbitrarily'

norman smith ‏@BBCNormanS 2m2 minutes ago
PIP benefit changes shd not have been part of Budget - IDS @MarrShow

Tim Shipman ‏@ShippersUnbound 2m2 minutes ago
IDS says Osborne wanted welfare changes "rushed" before the budget. He didn't know about middle class tax cuts "until later"

James Tapsfield ‏@JamesTapsfield 2m2 minutes ago
IDS condemns lowering of the welfare spending cap as "arbitrary" #marr
And that's also why Labour should have never gone along with any of Osborne's stupid 'welfare traps'.

Maybe someone should ask Harriet Harman what she thinks

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:20 pm

and here's another fine example ...

leccybill Fri 18-Mar-16 22:02:25
My post was deleted as it was considered a personal attack on Nicky Morgan. Well I consider her reforms to be a personal attack on me as a teacher, my child and my profession. I will repeat my (toned down) point as it's worth making.

Dear Nicky and your minions,

Today at work, in the staffroom, we did a quick poll. It's a big and generally happy high school, non academy, over 100 teachers. EVERY SINGLE LAST FUCKING ONE OF US has an exit strategy from teaching to be executed as soon as possible. At least 20 of us will go this September, voluntarily, with no jobs to go to. Many are looking to take their skills and experience abroad.

I have a child in Year 1. I'm giving it until this point next year and then I will seriously consider the prospect of home schooling - something I would never have conceived before. I owe it to her to take her out of this corrupt system.

I have 12 years experience teaching in the state sector, bog standard comp in the lowest performing authority in the UK. I've earned my stripes, I've seen it all and I think I'm more than qualified to tell you that you've absolutely fucked education and there's no going back.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:22 pm

seeingclearly wrote:Amid all the shouting there is also the background noise, and the barely heard.

The articles discrediting the left, Cohen, I see little evidence of what you suggest except among very young pseudogeeky kids around 14 years old. Others are just trolling. But ATL is not acceptable.

Two instances so far comparing Osbo to Brown??!!??

The story about Cameron and being asked to account for actions on Libya, and the impending crisis expected to emerge because of a different kind of hole, more like a vacuum one might say that will suck everything disatrous in.

And sorry, IDS as some kins of hero of the weak is not on, and fuck his Centre for Social Justice bull too. Its enough to make Orwell weep.

And I haven't even got to the Altman Patel thing yet. Will they be mudwrestling or not?

I do hope 'not'.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:27 pm

HindleA wrote:RIP Barry Hines.

Another one struck down by Alzheimers

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:29 pm

Come on Anushka, you mean you did not notice the unreality of the mans position, "I am resigning" the repetition was there to make it obvious, he has resigned and been replaced. And his avowal of "no ambition", where is your critical eye. Yet you call the campaign against the cuts "vicious". Not half as vicious as driving people to despair and suicide. This is no angel of sweetness and light, his policies have created more misery than I can bear to think of right now. Another 'lost generation' though he swears he was trying to give them chances through his mandatory voluntary schemes and sanction regimes.

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:30 pm

So where is OGRPPGFTCC today?
Apart from his sniffy little letter to Nosferatu, what's he up to?
Where's Caligulidiot? In hiding? Where's Boris?

There's old George Perugia, telling massive porkies about opposing the welfare cap, having nothing to do with any of his own reforms, pretending he's a one-man social justice crusader, and those he accuses of being responsible for his ideas are very very quiet...... (note to Iain - you might want to be Wilberforce, but he freed people from slavery, he didn't send them to it via workfare)

It looks like all the minor mouthpieces like Priti Vacant are all over the airwaves explaining how IDS is a lovely bloke really and means well etc. but we have to stick to ourlongtermeconomicplan and as always when Osborne's in the shit he sends out the minions to take the flak.

What's the betting they're all holed up somewhere, trying to find a way to punish IDS, blame him for the Budget, give Crabb his orders, and plotting a u-turn that proves they're listening whilst setting a date to bring in the cuts anyway and make 'em worse out of spite?

It's that Charlotte Leslie I feel sorry for. Love her. Hasn't had many swimsuit photo-opps lately, has she?
Luckily, she's in the news today saying she'll resign if the PIP cuts aren't stopped. Even more luckily, they are, allegedly.
So now that she doesn't have to resign for that, can we expect her resignation for supporting the ESA cuts?
Helloooooo Charlotte!!!

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:37 pm

I am distraught that my party could enact such misanthropy that I wholeheartedly cheered on a few days ago.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:40 pm

I defended the disabled from baddie Osborne,so much so I ordered my department to appeal any attempt to water down the policies that I was against.

Post by **refitman** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:43 pm

HindleA wrote:I defended the disabled from baddie Osborne,so much so I ordered my department to appeal any attempt to water down the policies that I was against.

A big boy did it and ran away.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:46 pm

Owen Jones ‏@OwenJones84 26m26 minutes ago
A former minister in Iain Duncan Smith's department once described him to me with two words: "Cognitive dissonance"

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:48 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
Aditya Chakrabortty ‏@chakrabortty 2m2 minutes ago
Aditya Chakrabortty Retweeted Rowena Mason
Unravelling faster than a crap jumper.

Rowena Mason ‏@rowenamason 18m18 minutes ago
Tory MP Heidi Allen says "we have made some poor decisions" in the budget and some of tax cuts wrong - "got to start again"

No word from George Osborne or the fearful Dave Cameron
Send in Heidi Allen, hasn't been an MP for an entire year

Good-morning

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:52 pm

Philip Cowley Retweeted
Robert Saunders ‏@redhistorian 3h3 hours ago
In the last Parliament, Clegg and IDS absorbed a huge amount of the vitriol that could have gone Cameron's way. Both are now gone.

Probably true. Now got a new phrase for such people 'vitriol blotters'.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 12:58 pm

School academy plan ‘doomed to fail’, warns Blunkett

Former education secretary baffled by proposals to reform school approach (Guardian\Observer)

I can't stand the man, but David Blunkett sets out the situation very clearly in this article.

http://www.theguardian.com/education/20 ... d-blunkett

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 1:02 pm

Your voting records and Parliamentary speeches, written answers and questions are available for everyone to see, Tory government.

seeingclearly · Post by **seeingclearly** » Sun 20 Mar, 2016 1:09 pm

As to our missing pair I used to call them thing one and thing two for their sheer capacity for for creating mayhem and for sure the dhildren all joined in too and with great hilarity. The analogy fell flat when the cat failed to materialise and the grownups didn't seem to give a fig. More recently I have looked at more real life analogies, I remember a project I applied for, a very big budget or it was in the days when thousands mattered and billions weren't tossed around as if they were small change. Among others there were some pretty good bids, but we all knew we had lost out when a couple of 27 something, dressed for the part in sharp suits guys turned up with very impressive hardware and smart manbags, how could we possibly compete. They duly won the contract, they could certainly talk the talk. I didn't learn till a lot later that they never delivered a thing. Not one single thing. This lot remind me of them, even more so when Clegg was also on board, they so bloody plausible, that even though you knew they were spivs, you did at least expect they had some competencies. Today I question that they ever did, our mistake really, as a nation. Though in idler moments I do wonder who put them up to deliver a wrecked nation by 2015, which they didn't deliver on time. Of course you have to have a gang to keep you there, and it was always clear who they were. IDS was one of their lynchpins, of course he was. They just forgot to keep him onside.