Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th January 2015

[rebeccariots2]

Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 2h 2 hours ago
The worst GE15 Scottish poll for the SNP for more than 3 months. Lead down to 10pts- http://po.st/RfwBe4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have to wait and see what other Scottish polls bring.

This post ends with what I assume is a tongue in cheek observation from Mike Smithson that if the figures proved right on election day it could lead to the Tories doubling their seats in Scotland - from 1 to 2.

[RogerOThornhill]

Oh dear what a shock.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... mentpage=1

Where are Anonymous when you need them? It would be wonderful to know what Cameron is hiding. My guess dodgy investment vehicles and the fact he earns multiples of his salary from other sources that he only pays a minimum tax rate on.

Notice NickyB pretty earlier on the scene to do a "nothing to see here" and giveusaclue to do her usual "I'm trying to show that I'm not biased in any way...but I'm an obvious Tory"

Post of the day...

BuckHucklebuck NicholasB 10m ago

Oh Nicky, seeing you wearily pick up your spear, don the battered chainmail and prepare to stand the ground in defence of David Cameron with a resigned sense of duty...

It's admirable, in that sort of 'Japanese soldier fights second world war until 1973' sort of way.

[rebeccariots2]

@warrenmorgan: Brighton and Hove Green Party tells Green councillors to vote against Green council Budget http://greenleftblog.blogspot.co.uk/201 ... otion.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; … #farce

I'm trying to get my head around this. Has the Green council there actually produced a budget with cuts proposed? The link goes to an account of the meeting of the B&H Green Party where they unanimously passed the motion saying no Green councillors should support a budget with cuts.

[rebeccariots2]

David Cameron's favourite surgeon whose memoir moved PM to tears tells him: 'Your NHS policy is c***'
Brain surgeon Henry Marsh has blasted the PM's handling of NHS system
His memoir was said to have moved Mr Cameron to tears when he read it
But he said the PM is fomenting a 'permanent revolution' in the NHS
This is 'demoralising' staff and is due to Mr Cameron's lack of 'vision'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... icy-c.html

[rebeccariots2]

GENERAL ELECTION PREDICTIONS 75: TEESSIDE
http://www.iaindale.com/posts/2015/01/1 ... um=twitter
Seats: 6
Current Political Makeup: Con 1,Lab 4, LibDem 1
Predicted Political Makeup after May 7: Con 1, Lab 5
Redcar - Sitting MP: Ian Swales (LibDem) Prediction: Labour gain

[rebeccariots2]

Followed by this:

Iain Dale @IainDale · 40m 40 minutes ago
Blog: My election prediction is out! Con 279, Lab 302, Lib 24, SNP 18, UKIP 5, Green 1 - Read my reasoning here... http://iaindale.com/posts/2015/01/18/ge ... -a-second-

[AnatolyKasparov]

GENERAL ELECTION PREDICTIONS 75: TEESSIDE
http://www.iaindale.com/posts/2015/01/1 ... um=twitter
Seats: 6
Current Political Makeup: Con 1,Lab 4, LibDem 1
Predicted Political Makeup after May 7: Con 1, Lab 5
Redcar - Sitting MP: Ian Swales (LibDem) Prediction: Labour gain

So he is predicting a Tory hold in Stockton S, then - that's rather brave. Though I expect it to be close again, it is a low swing seat outside "realigning" elections.

[TechnicalEphemera]

GENERAL ELECTION PREDICTIONS 75: TEESSIDE
http://www.iaindale.com/posts/2015/01/1 ... um=twitter
Seats: 6
Current Political Makeup: Con 1,Lab 4, LibDem 1
Predicted Political Makeup after May 7: Con 1, Lab 5
Redcar - Sitting MP: Ian Swales (LibDem) Prediction: Labour gain

So he is predicting a Tory hold in Stockton S, then - that's rather brave. Though I expect it to be close again, it is a low swing seat outside "realigning" elections.

I think his predictions are little more than gut feel, a bit of inbuilt Tory optimism and a few conversations with Tory MPs.

His weakness in the North and Scotland is fairly obvious. That said I haven't been near Stockton for a decade so I have no clue.

[Spacedone]

GENERAL ELECTION PREDICTIONS 75: TEESSIDE
http://www.iaindale.com/posts/2015/01/1 ... um=twitter
Seats: 6
Current Political Makeup: Con 1,Lab 4, LibDem 1
Predicted Political Makeup after May 7: Con 1, Lab 5
Redcar - Sitting MP: Ian Swales (LibDem) Prediction: Labour gain

So he is predicting a Tory hold in Stockton S, then - that's rather brave. Though I expect it to be close again, it is a low swing seat outside "realigning" elections.

Some of his predictions defy logic. He has Heywood and Middleton going to UKIP. If they couldn't win it in the by-election on a low turnout and with the usual protest vote in their favour then I fail to see how they're going to win it on double the turnout and with a change of Government a possibility.

[refitman]

So he is predicting a Tory hold in Stockton S, then - that's rather brave. Though I expect it to be close again, it is a low swing seat outside "realigning" elections.

Some of his predictions defy logic. He has Heywood and Middleton going to UKIP. If they couldn't win it in the by-election on a low turnout and with the usual protest vote in their favour then I fail to see how they're going to win it on double the turnout and with a change of Government a possibility.

Iain Dale has his moments, then he goes and assaults a pensioner.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Oh dear what a shock.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... mentpage=1

Where are Anonymous when you need them? It would be wonderful to know what Cameron is hiding. My guess dodgy investment vehicles and the fact he earns multiples of his salary from other sources that he only pays a minimum tax rate on.

Doesn't have to be anything as sinister as that, although it is no great secret that both he and Osborne have monies offshore. Remember, he made this promise around the time of the 50p/45p tax change (and partially influenced by BoJo and the Mail's concentration on Livingstone's tax status) when he was being a touch evasive as to whether or not he would personally benefit form the change, and Gideon unequivocally stated he wouldn't; now as it was patently obvious that Gideon was being a lying git, and equally obvious that OGRFPG was going to benefit handsomely, he made this pledge to quieten the row and the loyal press swallowed it, hook, line & sinker. More ammo for Miliband at PMQ I suspect.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

2015 general election: enough of the fatalism. It’s a great time to push for change in politics
Politicians are fearful, the electorate is confused, but let’s harness the ideas and passion alive in the country
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... for-change
... I would argue the opposite, that now is the best time in a generation to go out and vote. With such a fragmented system on offer, nothing is inevitable. Uncertainty may create instability, but it can also generate churn and change in a way that doing nothing never can...
Now, each one of us has the opportunity to look at our constituency result in the last election and see what would best make a difference this time round. Alternative answers such as Green, nationalist, pro-NHS, even the Pub Landlord, no longer look like stupid also-rans. This time round, the day after the election, party leaders are going to look at the numbers – how many voted and how many didn’t vote for them. If both those figures breach certain tipping points then, irrespective of the number of seats won, and regardless of the make-up of the new House of Commons, the political agenda will have changed utterly.

It may cause confusion, anger and upset. It could all end badly, but it’s there as an opportunity if we want to have any sort of impact on the national political agenda. It will only happen if we come out in numbers;

There's some sense in this argument re the large turnout - and also looking carefully at the options seat by seat. And then I read BTL that he urged people to vote for the Lib Dems last time round ... is that true? Another credibility blow - especially as he refers to himself in this piece as a left winger.

Did he support the Lib Dems? Oh yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando_Ia ... d_politics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AnatolyKasparov]

The other place this morning features LibDem troll petercs making a dick of himself (over supposedly "cowardly" Ed versus "brave" Nick)

Always a cheering sight

[frightful_oik]

Neil being particularly Tory today. Not allowing Harman to finish any point. Plus they managed to get the bacon sandwich picture in as well.

[mbc1955]

2015 general election: enough of the fatalism. It’s a great time to push for change in politics
Politicians are fearful, the electorate is confused, but let’s harness the ideas and passion alive in the country
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... for-change
... I would argue the opposite, that now is the best time in a generation to go out and vote. With such a fragmented system on offer, nothing is inevitable. Uncertainty may create instability, but it can also generate churn and change in a way that doing nothing never can...
Now, each one of us has the opportunity to look at our constituency result in the last election and see what would best make a difference this time round. Alternative answers such as Green, nationalist, pro-NHS, even the Pub Landlord, no longer look like stupid also-rans. This time round, the day after the election, party leaders are going to look at the numbers – how many voted and how many didn’t vote for them. If both those figures breach certain tipping points then, irrespective of the number of seats won, and regardless of the make-up of the new House of Commons, the political agenda will have changed utterly.

It may cause confusion, anger and upset. It could all end badly, but it’s there as an opportunity if we want to have any sort of impact on the national political agenda. It will only happen if we come out in numbers;

There's some sense in this argument re the large turnout - and also looking carefully at the options seat by seat. And then I read BTL that he urged people to vote for the Lib Dems last time round ... is that true? Another credibility blow - especially as he refers to himself in this piece as a left winger.

Did he support the Lib Dems? Oh yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando_Ia ... d_politics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I voted Lib Dem in 2010. As indeed I had done all the way back to 1974(1), except during 1983-97 when I voted Labour on an anti-Tory basis.

You may be sure that I won't be doing that ever again. You'll notice that Ianucci isn't proposing it this time round.

[danesclose]

GENERAL ELECTION PREDICTIONS 75: TEESSIDE
http://www.iaindale.com/posts/2015/01/1 ... um=twitter
Seats: 6
Current Political Makeup: Con 1,Lab 4, LibDem 1
Predicted Political Makeup after May 7: Con 1, Lab 5
Redcar - Sitting MP: Ian Swales (LibDem) Prediction: Labour gain

So he is predicting a Tory hold in Stockton S, then - that's rather brave. Though I expect it to be close again, it is a low swing seat outside "realigning" elections.

To be honest I think the LDs have more chance of holding Redcar, given the majority & the splits in the local Labour party

[TheGrimSqueaker]

There's some sense in this argument re the large turnout - and also looking carefully at the options seat by seat. And then I read BTL that he urged people to vote for the Lib Dems last time round ... is that true? Another credibility blow - especially as he refers to himself in this piece as a left winger.

Did he support the Lib Dems? Oh yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armando_Ia ... d_politics" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I voted Lib Dem in 2010. As indeed I had done all the way back to 1974(1), except during 1983-97 when I voted Labour on an anti-Tory basis.

You may be sure that I won't be doing that ever again. You'll notice that Ianucci isn't proposing it this time round.

Isn't he? Not reading that paper any longer I'll have to take your word for it.

In many ways it is people like you have been let down the worst. Sure, Clegg has screwed us all over for his ride in the limo, but loyal supporters like yourself have been treated with utter contempt and the hard work of years thrown back in your faces, much as Blair did with us.

Edit - Okay, I went and read it, five minutes of my life I will never get back. Ianucci is undoubtedly articulate but he often comes across simply as smug and superior (his "Charm Offensive" was the epitome of that); that article has "aren't I clever" written in invisible ink between each line. He and Rusbridger deserve each other.

[danesclose]

Cut & paste from AS blog on Clegg's interview.

clegg.jpg (56.33 KiB) Viewed 7191 times

Isn't stating that the broadcasters need to come forward with different proposals dictating to them what they should do?

[gilsey]

So he is predicting a Tory hold in Stockton S, then - that's rather brave. Though I expect it to be close again, it is a low swing seat outside "realigning" elections.

To be honest I think the LDs have more chance of holding Redcar, given the majority & the splits in the local Labour party

I agree about Redcar.

I'm thinking of going leaflet-ing for Labour in Stockton S, but not until the weather improves.
Snowing here today.

[AnatolyKasparov]

LibDems are doomed in Redcar without Swales - bookies have Labour about 6/1 *on* to win despite the local infighting.

[rebeccariots2]

I volunteered my doorstepping time to the Fishguard crew yesterday as we didn't have anything going on up here. Very interesting to be out with others in a town rather than village setting. They have it much easier on the legs IMO - and much easier to track the streets, house numbers etc.

The others were much amused by my ability to remain ultra polite and courteous despite the response. On an otherwise very positive day - yes we met a lot of people saying they were going to vote Labour - the stand out 'conversation' for me was the woman who virtually spat out 'I would never vote for them bastards letting all those filthy Muslims and extremists in'. Nice eh. Funny thing is the only description I can give of how she looked and came across is 'very extreme'. My co doorstepper had to distance himself as I said to her 'Thank you very much for taking the time to tell me that'. It's the convent education - never leaves you.

[tinyclanger2]

'I would never vote for them bastards letting all those filthy Muslims and extremists in'

How utterly charming. Wonder if anyone's mentioned to her anything about the filthy Normans. And Germans and French and Saxons and Danes and Dutch and Italians (and North Africans). Not forgetting, of course, the Amesbury Archer. I tend to think of him as Swiss.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Written to OBR- lies about voting for £30bn of cuts all over SNP, Greens and Plaid Cymru communications.

Labour contributions in the debate made it quite clear what the vote was about, even if they couldn't read it.

New politics from the "alternative" parties, there.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Not mentioned here yet - there was another YouGov poll this weekend in the Sun on Sunday - Lab 33 Con 31 UKIP 16 LibDem 7 Green 7.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

'I would never vote for them bastards letting all those filthy Muslims and extremists in'

How utterly charming. Wonder if anyone's mentioned to her anything about the filthy Normans. And Germans and French and Saxons and Danes and Dutch and Italians (and North Africans). Not forgetting, of course, the Amesbury Archer. I tend to think of him as Swiss.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Fishguard founded by Norse raiders and settlers? In which case if her family are long established in the area she herself is the descendant of some pretty extreme incomers ..... deport her immediately.

[tinyclanger2]

'I would never vote for them bastards letting all those filthy Muslims and extremists in'

How utterly charming. Wonder if anyone's mentioned to her anything about the filthy Normans. And Germans and French and Saxons and Danes and Dutch and Italians (and North Africans). Not forgetting, of course, the Amesbury Archer. I tend to think of him as Swiss.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Fishguard founded by Norse raiders and settlers? In which case if her family are long established in the area she herself is the descendant of some pretty extreme incomers ..... deport her immediately.

The town name Fishguard derives from old Norse fiskigarðr meaning "fish catching enclosure",[3] indicating that there may have been a Scandinavian trading post, although no evidence has been found.[4] Called "Fiscard" until the turn of the 19th Century when the name was "Anglicised", Fishguard was a marcher borough and in 1603 was described as one of five Pembrokeshire boroughs overseen by a portreeve.[5] The Norman settlement lay along what is now High Street between the church at its north end and the remains of a Norman motte at its south end.

[Eric_WLothian]

Panelbase have Labour on 31% to the SNP 41% in Escosse.

No idea how reliable Panelbase are though.

They tend to be quite good for the Nats, so a 10% deficit is not terrible - if other polls back it up it could be "game on"........

There are a plenty of problems with schools and council services in Scotland. Westminster cuts must only wash for so long, surely?

You'd think that "nice policies" like free prescriptions and tuition fees came at a cost in other areas or something....

If you're not familiar with SNP history on local government, in 2007 they got elected on a promise of a local income tax. It added 3p (I think) to income tax and abolished council tax. Unfortunately, per the IFS, it left a nice £450m hole in council budgets. This was explained away with "efficiency savings", in true hard right style. Scotland being under 1/10 population of England, you could compare that to £4.5bn coming out of English budgets. Labour, old, Blairite, party of the rich, Labour argued against it in favour of tax and spend. Best that Sturgeon could do was "whaddabout Trident?" (which cost Scotland way under that) but this schtick got taken seriously, as it still seems to be.

Local government, the police- bring that under Holyrood, anything to make it more important.

Chancers.

It was Panelbase that had to close its registration of Scottish-based panellists pre-referendum, due to an (alleged) co-ordinated influx of SNP sympathisers/members!

The SNP froze council tax long before the Tories thought of it - all part of the centralisation of power. (Local Authorities dependent on cash from Holyrood, single police force and fire service, state 'guardians' etc).

Free childcare to enable women to return to non-existent jobs, together with local income tax are just a couple of unfulfilled promises.

To be fair, I don't think the cost of providing free prescriptions is significant, given that most were free anyway (on the grounds of age or means-testing). Free university education has been at the expense of further education colleges.

As for buying a two-flights-a-day airport...

'chancers' is quite complimentary

Edited to add that there's something fishy about polls which cause Electoral Calculus to predict a close race between the SNP and LibDems in Orkney & Shetland.

[rebeccariots2]

The rise of the "anti-Ukip" party: how the Greens are hammering Labour
Ed Miliband's worst nightmare.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... ing-labour

[rebeccariots2]

How wealthy landowners are destroying Britain’s wild birds – and getting away with it
https://tompride.wordpress.com/

[TheGrimSqueaker]

The rise of the "anti-Ukip" party: how the Greens are hammering Labour
Ed Miliband's worst nightmare.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... ing-labour

Blimey, did Tim Wigmore take lessons from 'Havisham' while he was at the Telegraph & the Spectator?

[Eric_WLothian]

How wealthy landowners are destroying Britain’s wild birds – and getting away with it
https://tompride.wordpress.com/

Don't know how widely this has been reported:

http://www.scotsman.com/news/environmen ... -1-3660462

[citizenJA]

I volunteered my doorstepping time to the Fishguard crew yesterday as we didn't have anything going on up here. Very interesting to be out with others in a town rather than village setting. They have it much easier on the legs IMO - and much easier to track the streets, house numbers etc.

The others were much amused by my ability to remain ultra polite and courteous despite the response. On an otherwise very positive day - yes we met a lot of people saying they were going to vote Labour - the stand out 'conversation' for me was the woman who virtually spat out 'I would never vote for them bastards letting all those filthy Muslims and extremists in'. Nice eh. Funny thing is the only description I can give of how she looked and came across is 'very extreme'. My co doorstepper had to distance himself as I said to her 'Thank you very much for taking the time to tell me that'. It's the convent education - never leaves you.

How many 'filthy Muslims & extremists' in Fishguard these days? Do they bother thinking about their thoughts at all? Wonder where they came from?

'Why do I think this?'

I hear a catch phrase based on who knows what coming out of peoples' mouths. Sometimes, someone they may know & trust says, 'No, Ed Miliband isn't an aristocratic millionaire like the Tories' here's Ed Miliband's biography...' they'll bother to reconsider why the thought, 'Ed Miliband is a millionaire just like Cameron' is in their head. I hear this from people - simple things about people, demographics, their neighbourhood, that don't stand up to the slightest scrutiny but somehow it's really important for some to continue to believe it. It comes out a mechanical phrase, 'Miliband is just like all of them', 'Filthy Muslims & extremists are let in' (where? where do you seen anyone matching that description here in Fishguard?) but nothing or no one other than their best friend or vicar can impress upon them all their thoughts aren't true & when the day is done their mechanical phrase is back in their head.

It's harder than WW2. There was one enemy & that was more or less true. After the war, everyone left alive believed inside them they deserved some of the best & so the NHS, the social security provisions, jobs & homes were built. What's happened now? Television, lonely little homes, everyone stuck in car, broken social ties, broken coherent thought, too much noise, chronic, lying phrases repeated, making their impression & to question peoples' beliefs mechanically coming out of their mouths is to call them a liar. These conversations I've had with people have happened throughout the last few years here in the middle of the UK. They didn't happen when I was canvassing for Labour. They happened in the shops, train stations, family holiday get togethers - it's demoralising. Okay, people you're voting for your death by not voting, by holding onto unexamined hatred, mechanical phrases, neglecting reality. I hadn't intended it but what I've written was written long ago in Ragged Trousered Philanthropists & before that somewhere else.

How do we collectively get what we want, that prosperity earned by us all, our institutions created together & sold out from underneath us, under these conditions?

[rebeccariots2]

The rise of the "anti-Ukip" party: how the Greens are hammering Labour
Ed Miliband's worst nightmare.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... ing-labour

Blimey, did Tim Wigmore take lessons from 'Havisham' while he was at the Telegraph & the Spectator?

Being anti UKIP is not a reason I've heard being given for voting Green around here. It is however a reason I've heard quite a few people give for voting Labour. But then he does seem to focus a lot on Brighton ... and I am still trying to understand what is going on down there - as I posted earlier. I may well have misunderstood but it seems to be Green on Green in some respects now...

[RogerOThornhill]

The rise of the "anti-Ukip" party: how the Greens are hammering Labour
Ed Miliband's worst nightmare.
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... ing-labour

Blimey, did Tim Wigmore take lessons from 'Havisham' while he was at the Telegraph & the Spectator?

Is it my imagination or does the NS seem to be getting very anti-Labour and anti-left recently?

[citizenJA]

How wealthy landowners are destroying Britain’s wild birds – and getting away with it
https://tompride.wordpress.com/

Don't know how widely this has been reported:

http://www.scotsman.com/news/environmen ... -1-3660462

Hey, everyone! Look at Tom Pride's website, would you please? We've found the filthy extremists & it's old news. Wealthy landowners bailed out by you. You owe them nothing. They are stealing & cheating & it's time to ask them how badly they want to hold rule of law in contempt. Remind them if laws no longer apply they can kiss the rules goodbye for everyone. Try to pass down inheritance under those conditions.

https://tompride.wordpress.com/2015/01/ ... y-with-it/

[tinyclanger2]

On "the Greens" I have a very strong preference to see the more or less socially and environmentally minded bite the collective bullet and join forces against the very real danger of the Right. Thereafter they can work to improve what the left can offer overall. I know I've said it before, but when faced with tens of NGOs (fragmented from a larger whole on the basis of eg: how to define "sustainable") competing corporations will always work to present a united front, which have on the whole not been seriously or permanently challenged by even the most long term environmental campaigning. It would be encouraging to see some very canny, strategic thinking at this particular moment in time.

[ohsocynical]

Scott Nelson ‏@TheMockneyRebel 22 mins22 minutes ago
@thei100 @yourthurrock

Latest Thurrock poll:

CON 30% (+1),
LAB 41% (+1),
UKIP 16% (-2),
LDEM 1% (nc)

[Tubby Isaacs]

It was Panelbase that had to close its registration of Scottish-based panellists pre-referendum, due to an (alleged) co-ordinated influx of SNP sympathisers/members!

The SNP froze council tax long before the Tories thought of it - all part of the centralisation of power. (Local Authorities dependent on cash from Holyrood, single police force and fire service, state 'guardians' etc).

Free childcare to enable women to return to non-existent jobs, together with local income tax are just a couple of unfulfilled promises.

To be fair, I don't think the cost of providing free prescriptions is significant, given that most were free anyway (on the grounds of age or means-testing). Free university education has been at the expense of further education colleges.

As for buying a two-flights-a-day airport...

'chancers' is quite complimentary

Edited to add that there's something fishy about polls which cause Electoral Calculus to predict a close race between the SNP and LibDems in Orkney & Shetland.

Found a reply to a FOIA on prescription charges.

The estimated outturn for prescription charge income in England in 2007/08
is -L-421million. This does not include income from prescription charges
collected by dispensing doctors,
The total cost associated with the collection of prescription charges is
not separately identifiable and therefore no estimate of the net income to
the NHS can be made.

Probably not a particularly large amount of money for prescriptions in Scotland then, but a source of income nonetheless. I'd certainly consider it rather than cuts.

You're right about the amount of free prescriptions- getting on for 89% of them, per the same FOIA.

The FE cuts look appalling- this is were lower income people are far more likely to go that university. They also don't exactly square with the puffed up rubbish about Scotland being this upskilled, manufacturing place that's only being held back by us fools in England.

And, unlike Wales, the generosity seems to be limited to those studying in Scotland, which can't be good. Doubtless those who like the look of such places as Imperial College London are traitors of whom the Government can wash its hands.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Blimey, did Tim Wigmore take lessons from 'Havisham' while he was at the Telegraph & the Spectator?

Is it my imagination or does the NS seem to be getting very anti-Labour and anti-left recently?

Did you see this piece of comedy a while ago?

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

The author cleared off once me and Ruth Serwotka had handed him his arse on Twitter.

Marklu appears in the comments to. He's been on good for at the DT- they don't like him mentioning Robert Peal.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Scott Nelson ‏@TheMockneyRebel 22 mins22 minutes ago
@thei100 @yourthurrock

Latest Thurrock poll:

CON 30% (+1),
LAB 41% (+1),
UKIP 16% (-2),
LDEM 1% (nc)

That's way too good.

There's a Labour candidate with about the worst backstory possible for that constituency. They need a John Mann there, as Anatoly would say.

[refitman]

Scott Nelson ‏@TheMockneyRebel 22 mins22 minutes ago
@thei100 @yourthurrock

Latest Thurrock poll:

CON 30% (+1),
LAB 41% (+1),
UKIP 16% (-2),
LDEM 1% (nc)

Where's the Landlord?

[citizenJA]

On "the Greens" I have a very strong preference to see the more or less socially and environmentally minded bite the collective bullet and join forces against the very real danger of the Right. Thereafter they can work to improve what the left can offer overall. I know I've said it before, but when faced with tens of NGOs (fragmented from a larger whole on the basis of eg: how to define "sustainable") competing corporations will always work to present a united front, which have on the whole not been seriously or permanently challenged by even the most long term environmental campaigning. It would be encouraging to see some very canny, strategic thinking at this particular moment in time.

Exactly.

[Tubby Isaacs]

So he is predicting a Tory hold in Stockton S, then - that's rather brave. Though I expect it to be close again, it is a low swing seat outside "realigning" elections.

To be honest I think the LDs have more chance of holding Redcar, given the majority & the splits in the local Labour party

I agree about Redcar.

I'm thinking of going leaflet-ing for Labour in Stockton S, but not until the weather improves.
Snowing here today.

Stockton S has a land deal/free school which could blow up.

It's in a large village with no secondary whose kids have to be bussed to Stockton every day. There are Good schools there which already have spare capacity.

I don't know if it's dawned on people yet that the new school will save a few bus rides, but really muck up the other schools. And of course quite likely not be all that good anyway.

Alex Cunningham next door is good on Education. Hope he can help get this over.

[RogerOThornhill]

Did you see this piece of comedy a while ago?

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

The author cleared off once me and Ruth Serwotka had handed him his arse on Twitter.

Marklu appears in the comments to. He's been on good for at the DT- they don't like him mentioning Robert Peal.

No, I missed that - it's the easiest thing in the world to point to one successful chain and say "See, the whole policy is a success!" when if it was being honest they should look at E-Act, Djangoly, Prospects, AET and say "What do these failures mean to the policy?".

Three others are schools which ARK has set up independently; which they term “free” schools (while they are set up through slightly different processes, there is, as the BBC and New Schools Network have detailed, "essentially" no difference between academies and free schools once established).

Did they? I must have missed that...did they persuade the DfE to remove ARK schools from the list of free schools so to make comparability with free-standing schools better? Nope.

[giselle97]

Good afternoon. The sun is shining brightly in Yaxley, Peterborough and I'm going for a walk - well wrapped up though.

I've looked at this as it was on the front page of the Peterborough Torygraph on the newspaper stand.

I listened to the video in full. I loved it when she said "... 2008 when the credit crunch happened ...". I know there's more important content within the article and video but I can only mention that as I'm completely mystified by anything to do with "education".

30 jobs to go at flagship Peterborough academy - video

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news ... -1-6521829

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Scott Nelson ‏@TheMockneyRebel 22 mins22 minutes ago
@thei100 @yourthurrock

Latest Thurrock poll:

CON 30% (+1),
LAB 41% (+1),
UKIP 16% (-2),
LDEM 1% (nc)

That's way too good.

There's a Labour candidate with about the worst backstory possible for that constituency. They need a John Mann there, as Anatoly would say.

Polly Billington may not have the "back story" but she won her right to fight the seat fair & square, and she is putting in a lot of work to win it (as is Scott). Mind you, her biggest asset appears to be Jackie Doyle-Price, with her wonderful ability to put both feet, not just the one, if the proverbial it.

[Tubby Isaacs]

It's quite amusing imagining the SNP gazing wondrously at fire engines and police cars. Wahoo, look, it's got Scotland on it. Scotland. Scotland. Because we're all Scots.

Still, I guess they can use it to show us authoritarians down here how it's done.

Per wiki.

In June 2014 a leaked Police Scotland internal email to police managers in Dunfermline ordered a substantial increase in "stop and search" activities and warned any police officers not meeting the higher targets would be subjected to a performance development review. Police Scotland has previously denied setting stop and search performance targets for individual officers.[14] The next month, it was revealed that between April and December 2013, Police Scotland's officers stopped and searched members of the Scottish public at a rate of 979.6 per 10,000 people, a rate was three times higher than that of the Metropolitan Police Service and nine times higher than that of the New York Police Department. It was also revealed that the Scottish Police Authority, the body tasked with overseeing Police Scotland, had removed criticism of Police Scotland's use of "stop and search" powers from a report it had commissioned. Also removed from the report were calls for a review of stop and search on children and for clarification of the policy's primary aim

3 times worse than our most notorious force who are overseen by Boris Johnson and Stephen Greenhalgh.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Scott Nelson ‏@TheMockneyRebel 22 mins22 minutes ago
@thei100 @yourthurrock

Latest Thurrock poll:

CON 30% (+1),
LAB 41% (+1),
UKIP 16% (-2),
LDEM 1% (nc)

That's way too good.

There's a Labour candidate with about the worst backstory possible for that constituency. They need a John Mann there, as Anatoly would say.

Polly Billington may not have the "back story" but she won her right to fight the seat fair & square, and she is putting in a lot of work to win it (as is Scott). Mind you, her biggest asset appears to be Jackie Doyle-Price, with her wonderful ability to put both feet, not just the one, if the proverbial it.

Fair play to her and Scott for the hard work, but she's not a good fit for the constituency and it's harder work than it should be to beat the woeful Doyle-Price.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Good afternoon. The sun is shining brightly in Yaxley, Peterborough and I'm going for a walk - well wrapped up though.

I've looked at this as it was on the front page of the Peterborough Torygraph on the newspaper stand.

I listened to the video in full. I loved it when she said "... 2008 when the credit crunch happened ...". I know there's more important content within the article and video but I can only mention that as I'm completely mystified by anything to do with "education".

30 jobs to go at flagship Peterborough academy - video

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news ... -1-6521829

Thanks for that link. My son went to TDA ...well, actually, he started at Deacons and was 14 when the Academy opened. He certainly benefited from the improved facilities on offer, he would never have got the same opportunities at Deacons; and the same applied to his new classmates from Ken Stimpson and Hereward.

I don't know what has gone on there since he left. I gather there have been some slightly iffy Ofsted reports, but I always put that down to Gove deciding it wasn't the right sort of academy - can't have anything started under Labour being deemed a success. I was always torn about the PFI/commercial side of the Academy, but there was no way that Peterborough Council were going to find the money to make improvements of that scale at the existing (pretty rundown, to be fair) sites; sadly it sounds as though there may be some real underlying problems after all.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Johnson, classicist and man of culture, happy to dump luxury flat towers on Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign ... -goodsyard" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hackney are strongly opposed. Lutfur might be more positive if he can get loads of redevelopment money out of it.

But Johnson'll decide. Ho ho, Jolly good fun.