sat 25 and sun 26 April

[Hobiejoe]

Actually that sounds lovely. I'm not vegetarian. I do eat a lot of vegetarian food, and a lot of fish or sea food. And that's mostly what I cook. But, I enjoy a meat dish now and then. You'll no doubt be surprised to know that I don't knit spaghetti or hug trees [often] either.

Ah, but do you knit trees and hug spaghetti? 'Cause that would be really impressive.

Yes. But only when I'm drinking yoghurt, wearing sandals, and living in a yurt.

House! What do I win?

My wife is veggie/sometimes pescatarian. Our boy is a little particular in his diet, but as long as there's heinz beans, pasta and a tomato sauce and nutella he's good. Daughter take's after dad, and enjoys a range of food. Better still, not only will she try anything, but she'll tell me what she doesn't like, and why. Razor clams were the latest. I didn't like them either.

[utopiandreams]

I've been thinking about the so called low blow that Miliband supposedly lay at Cameron's door, which to be honest I didn't read in quite the same way given its context. I suspect the reaction has emphasised Cameron's role rather than Europe as a whole. Nevertheless Cameron is the man who thought he would be good at PM, surely he appreciated that such duties include making the difficult decisions. So I have a question for him, another that provokes faux outrage, but one I wish a journalist or interviewer would ask the next time he brings up his late son, Ivan.

Having brought a profoundly disabled child into the world, loved and cared for him, how do you feel toward others that either care for or are disabled themselves? It's the sort of question I could imagine from Stephen Sackur, nothing hostile or combative in tone, just a calm and measured query. Whether he prefers to answer on a personal level as opposed to the politician is entirely up to him. One would only hope for an honest answer to such a question, or would that be expecting too much?

If it were me asking the questions I would move on to what he felt of the support, above and beyond the NHS, that his family received from the tax-payer and its place in a civilised society. 'And now we come to those tough decisions, namely the forthcoming reduction of benefits for the disabled and their carers that were leaked recently and of how seriously those without his wealth behind them would be affected. Furthermore I'd also like to ask whether or not he had any qualms when stood at the dispatch box repeatedly stating that the disabled shall not be affected by the bedroom tax.

On a personal level I would also like to ask what made Sam and him choose to claim DLA for their son. I only ask this because, although advised to make such claim for our own daughter from two years of age, we did not do so until over a year after my late wife suffered a life-changing stroke.

[utopiandreams]

... Given the rubbish I've seen recently, it seems many of today's journalists merely believe in their own ability to write whatever they want to write, or whatever furthers the agenda of whoever pays them.

I agree, Robert, but suspect they see themselves as columnists rather than reporters expressing their own views, or rather those we should also be adopting. How much is the fault of owners or their editors I leave open to question, otherwise I'd be expressing my own opinions if I hadn't already framed the debate.

[utopiandreams]

Apparently Theresa May has said that a Lab SNP government would be worst crisis since abdication. As someone on UKPR was saying, 'You would think WW2 would be in with a shout.'

She's obviously got a very short memory, frightful_oik. Whatever happened to the last five years?

[TheGrimSqueaker]

I'd like to join the others in wishing you well Ernst. Hang on in there mate.

Reclaim Brixton march: Protesters smash up Foxtons shop front and storm Town Hall
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/r ... 03936.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

James Cropper ‏@JamesCropper95 · 5h5 hours ago
I was just thrown to the ground by police inside the station even after stating that I was press #reclaimbrixton

Bet its not on the news....

Have to admit to not being massively surprised by this story, I was living in the area until a couple of years ago, and rumblings were starting then. A lot of this started back in 2007/8 when the two covered markets, Market Row and Granville Arcade, were bought by a new owner who wanted to demolish them and build a 10 storey residential block (with a new market underneath) on the site; the locals fought a very successful campaign and managed to get the two markets (and the nearby Reliance Arcade) schedules as Grade II listed buildings, thereby stopping the development.

So London Associated Properties, in cahoots with Lambeth Council, have been working to 'gentrify' the area in other ways; they basically ejected all the tenants from Granville Arcade, renamed it "Brixton Village" and filled it full of cafes and restaurants of the sort beloved by the Guardian. At the same time the Council has been upping the rent on its own commercial properties and pitches, making it untenable for a lot of long established businesses to keep trading; Red Records (which had been on the High Street, filling the air with reggae, since at least the late 60s) went in 2009, a lot of the traders on the open markets (especially the caterers, who provide direct competition to Brixton Village) have been forced away.

The point about Brixton was that it was a home grown, homogeneous community; largely Afro-Caribbean, there are also a sizeable number of Portuguese, a long standing bohemian/musical community and people who just simply enjoyed the whole multi-culturalism of the place .... people like me, I guess. It isn't perfect, but not the hotbed of crime you would think, as long as you keep your wits about you and know the 'rules'; but the Council, who really should know better, have embarked on this gentrification and it has now turned into something that looks suspiciously like social cleansing, it is certainly doing its best to rip the heart out of the existing community. When Foxtons arrived (post-2011 riots) it immediately became identified with the process, effectively became the visible symbol of it; I said at the time to friends that if things boiled over in the area Foxtons windows would be the first to be smashed - surprised it took so long to be honest.

[Swarthlander]

Yes. But only when I'm drinking yoghurt, wearing sandals, and living in a yurt.

I always thought a Yurt was the yoghurt container.

Good morning.

PS: The site is slow this am.

[Spacedone]

Lots and lots of estate agents, property speculators and BTL landlords on Twitter this morning attacking Labour over their newly announced rent policy. Apparently capping rent increases to just the rate of inflation and cutting the tax break for landlords who don't make their properties decent places to live will damage the BTL market and nobody will build houses anymore.

If you hear an annoying whining noise today don't worry, it's just the vested interests.

[ephemerid]

Lots and lots of estate agents, property speculators and BTL landlords on Twitter this morning attacking Labour over their newly announced rent policy. Apparently capping rent increases to just the rate of inflation and cutting the tax break for landlords who don't make their properties decent places to live will damage the BTL market and nobody will build houses anymore.

If you hear an annoying whining noise today don't worry, it's just the vested interests.

It's very interesting, this - I think they are coming to realise that Ed is, in fact, a bit of a socialist.....

Having done up a few wrecks myself (and lived happily in them for a while) I'm a bit of an addict of those TV makeover shows.
Homes under the hammer is a case in point - and when they assess the newly-renovated properties for rental, they invariably say that the yield for the owner is £X and that yield is usually in the 10% to 15% area. So if you spend £100,000 on a wreck, do it up, and rent it out, you can expect to "earn" quite a lot of money. A loan or mortgage on such a sum would cost between £400 and £1,000 PCM depending on the term in years and the rate of interest - renting out such a property would yield anything from £500 to megabucks.

Assured shorthold tenancies have very little protection from rent hikes - landlords can, and do, raise the rent when the 6-month term expires. At the moment, there is nothing to stop them hiking them up way beyond the overall rate of inflation.
We have zero inflation now - but private rents have increased by 3.2% in London and an average of 2% in most other places. It doesn't sound like much, but of you're paying £600 PCM your rise will be in the order of £12 a month. If you get LHA, you will have to find the shortfall yourself from whatever income you have. There was an article about this in the G on Friday.

Capping increases is a good idea - it means that landlords can't hike rents up willy-nilly, and if it stops some of the BTL landlords buying up hundreds of properties and renting them out (thus blowing up the property bubble further) it's a good thing.

[rebeccariots2]

Tim Shipman ‏@ShippersUnbound 8m8 minutes ago
Boris says rent controls would discourage the building of new homes. Says housing associations think it is "dribble"

Paul Waugh ‏@paulwaugh 8m8 minutes ago
Boris wafts away claims that Tory donors want him as leader as soon as poss #marr

Tim Shipman ‏@ShippersUnbound 7m7 minutes ago
Boris dismisses Miliband plan for rent cap on the grounds that it didn't work when "the emperor Diocletian tried it"

Emily Ashton ‏@elashton 7m7 minutes ago
Boris ends his rambling monologue, I mean interview, with a mention of the "emperor Diocletian". #marrshow

Who was it - tinyclanger I think - who said it would be like being ruled by a Midwich Cuckoo? How right you are - how right. The country doesn't deserve that .... the Tory party just may.

[tinyclanger2]

At the risk of sounding flippant, I'd like to say "good evening all".

Good evening all.

Maintaining the laser-focus on politics that I'm renowned for, and using the statistically and empirically bomb-proof technique of Listening To People In My Pub, I can report that Dave has indeed made a connection with the ordinary voter with his devotion to the game with the round ball. Just not the connection he was hoping for.

Even his most diligent apologist had nothing. People, generally of a C/conservative persuasion, who hadn't heard the story (more, I've no doubt, than if Ed had made the same gaffe. Sorry about the grammar - I boldly introduced Sprog 1 to the original Star Trek last night) were openly laughing.

As I mentioned obliquely last night when talking about a wager on a Labour majority in amongst the rest of my tittle-tattle, the feeling that the background sussuration on social media, the hedging of bets in the the BBC as, perhaps, they'll take Pascal's wager, is all in Labour's favour, but this is just gut-instinct conjecture with a provenance as sound as a prediction of the date of "crossover" from the lately lamented NickyB.


*edited* It's late, I've been here since midday, and buggerit. There's an " 'll " added, and a couple of other nips'n'tucks. Hope my brackets are up to snuff.

Brackets are a bugger. Ask PF.

[rebeccariots2]

Nicholas Watt ‏@nicholaswatt 44s44 seconds ago
Oh dear. @BorisJohnson looking a tad nervous as @Ed_Miliband asks him whether he supports state sponsored tax avoidance with no-doms

Is that a QTWTAIY?

[tinyclanger2]

Re the Mail on Sunday headline.

Laura McInerney
‏@miss_mcinerney
Was pondering this just the other day: what does a constitutional crisis actually involve? Is it just a lot of tutting?

I'll wager it could amount to the writing of one or two letters.
Possibly even three.

[rebeccariots2]

Is this a vision of future PMQs.jpg (40.25 KiB) Viewed 7703 times

Tim Shipman ‏@ShippersUnbound 2m2 minutes ago
Miliband relishing getting stuck into Boris. Is this a vision of future pmqs?

[rebeccariots2]

Tim Shipman ‏@ShippersUnbound 3m3 minutes ago
Once again #musiconMarr intervenes to cut off the best bit of the show. I could have watched 10 more minutes of Boris and Mili going at it

Tom McTague ‏@TomMcTague 3m3 minutes ago
Whatever happens on May 7, Ed is fighting the election he wants to fight. He's confident. Had Boris squirming there

Isabel Hardman ‏@IsabelHardman 4m4 minutes ago
Miliband is having more fun in this session with Boris.

[mikems]

Q: But what happens if you need SNP support for, say, a road in England. They will say the money has to go into the A9 first.

Miliband says he will put forward a Labour budget and a Labour Queen’s speech.

It is Labour that is addressing the issues in this election, he says.

Marr says party broadcasts should take place elsewhere.

You what, Andy?

[mikems]

— Tim Montgomerie ن (@montie)
April 26, 2015

Nonsense for Miliband to claim he leads his party.Unlike Kinnock he's constantly appeased his party- eg on tax, spending and borrowing #Marr

Why is this person regarded as intelligent with opinions that are worth reporting? He's a tory twitter troll, nothing more.

How can anyone rise to eminence when they express such banal and absurd thoughts?

Can we tweet him something rude please?

[mikems]

Montgomery thinks Labour leader's job is to attack own party on behalf of tories.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

It's very interesting, this - I think they are coming to realise that Ed is, in fact, a bit of a socialist.....

Are you sure, I thought he was nothing but a Red Tory.

More and more hints of the radicalism which I suspect will come out when he is in Number 10. And, boy, he just had Boris all over the shop on Marr, that was great fun to watch; no wonder Cameron ducked the debate.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Montgomery thinks Labour leader's job is to attack own party on behalf of tories.

Because that is what Blair spent much of his time doing in his latter years. It is not a healthy thing, nonetheless.

(and how much has Cameron slagged off his own party, if its such a good thing?)

[frightful_oik]

Intriguing chart:
http://azizonomics.com/2015/04/22/on-tr ... nequality/

[tinyclanger2]

James Maxwell @jamesmaxwell86
Miliband completely outclassing Boris. #marrshow

[StephenDolan]

Tim Shipman ‏@ShippersUnbound 3m3 minutes ago
Once again #musiconMarr intervenes to cut off the best bit of the show. I could have watched 10 more minutes of Boris and Mili going at it

Tom McTague ‏@TomMcTague 3m3 minutes ago
Whatever happens on May 7, Ed is fighting the election he wants to fight. He's confident. Had Boris squirming there

Isabel Hardman ‏@IsabelHardman 4m4 minutes ago
Miliband is having more fun in this session with Boris.

Morning all.

Sounds like I'll have to catch up with iplayer later.

[ohsocynical]

'Yes, I know,' he shrugs, acknowledging the apparent contradiction, 'I've spent my whole political life fighting the Conservatives.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z3YMZEJHLc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Claims Vince Cable.

He pinched that quote from Ed. It's what Ed said to Nicola Sturgeon? at one of the debates.

[tinyclanger2]

bluetits feeding each other again (courting stylee)

[refitman]

Montgomery thinks Labour leader's job is to attack own party on behalf of tories.

Because that is what Blair spent much of his time doing in his latter years. It is not a healthy thing, nonetheless.

(and how much has Cameron slagged off his own party, if its such a good thing?)

Woth reading the replies to that tweet. For example:

Sky Lark ‏@SkylarkBill 1h1 hour ago

@montie very funny Monty, 1/ to find you're a fan of Kinnock 2/ your myopia on Cameron appeasing the UKIP tendency of his own party.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[refitman]

OBM, posted at the other place:

michaelsylvain
2h ago
57 58

Theresa May's Daily Mail Diary. Sunday, 26th April.

7:00 - Woke up. Got out of bed. Stubbed my toe. I blame Alex Salmond.

7:15 - Started making a cup of tea. What are the chances of being able to make some tea if Labour are dependent on the SNP, eh?

7:16 - Oh no! The milk's gone. Did Nicola Sturgeon come round and steal it in the night? I wouldn't put it past her.

7:17 - No tea. This is the worst constitutional crisis since the abdication.

7:30 - Still worrying about the future of my career (crossed out) country. When will the people we're calmly and rationally trying to terrify realise that only by electing a party that's bought and controlled by a handful of billionaire financiers can we restore our democracy?

8:00 - Spoke to a nice Paul Dacre about how people in Scotland voting for someone who then takes their place in the government they were elected to and represents the people who elected them is literally worse than Hitler. Come to think of it, didn't his paper used to support Hitler? What a decent, honourable, patriotic paper it must be.

8:05 - Might talk to the Sun, too. I mean, if you can't trust a newspaper that's been condemned by the UN for language similar to that which is used when inciting genocide, what can you trust? Certainly not people in Scotland, unless they democratically do exactly what we tell them is good for them. I'm glad I remember what democracy means. Unlike Alex Salmond!

***

I think what I'm saying is:

a) Someone at CCHQ genuinely seems to think the reason the Tory poll ratings aren't improving is they haven't been histrionically shrill enough. No, really.
b) As a result, this Tory "the SNP ate my hamster" election campaign its backers are so dementedly, shriekingly, milk-curdlingly insane that they have jumped the shark (not just the Mail front page, or the Telegraph yesterday - there's a Lloyd-Weber piece today with a graphic of Miliband and Sturgeon as Phantom of the Opera, FFS)
c) This election is broken. Can we have a grown up one, please? One where, say, one party isn't prepared to design a campaign that is actively destroying the union it is purporting to want to save by using it as a scaremongering tactic solely to get a few more years in power? Please?

*sigh*

[tinybgoat]

At the risk of sounding flippant, I'd like to say "good evening all".

Good evening all.

Maintaining the laser-focus on politics that I'm renowned for, and using the statistically and empirically bomb-proof technique of Listening To People In My Pub, I can report that Dave has indeed made a connection with the ordinary voter with his devotion to the game with the round ball. Just not the connection he was hoping for.

Even his most diligent apologist had nothing. People, generally of a C/conservative persuasion, who hadn't heard the story (more, I've no doubt, than if Ed had made the same gaffe. Sorry about the grammar - I boldly introduced Sprog 1 to the original Star Trek last night) were openly laughing.

As I mentioned obliquely last night when talking about a wager on a Labour majority in amongst the rest of my tittle-tattle, the feeling that the background sussuration on social media, the hedging of bets in the the BBC as, perhaps, they'll take Pascal's wager, is all in Labour's favour, but this is just gut-instinct conjecture with a provenance as sound as a prediction of the date of "crossover" from the lately lamented NickyB.


*edited* It's late, I've been here since midday, and buggerit. There's an " 'll " added, and a couple of other nips'n'tucks. Hope my brackets are up to snuff.

Brackets are a bugger. Ask PF.

Brackets are buggers.(?)

[tinyclanger2]

Boris Johnson describes Marr as “a lefty BBC journalist.”

(Graun Blog)

No wonder us "lefties" can't agree on anything.

[frightful_oik]

Mail headline trendind:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/worstcrisis ... e&src=tren

[onebuttonmonkey]

Seeing as the Tory election campaign has completely and utterly jumped the shark, here's Theresa May's Daily Mail Diary, or: The SNP Ate My Hamster

http://onebuttonmonkey.com/obm/2015/4/2 ... diary.html

[Eric_WLothian]

How many times does Ed Miliband have to say this before Cameron (and the SNP) accept it?

Mr Miliband said that if he was Prime Minister it would be a “Labour budget” and a “Labour Queen’s speech” that he said was “not going to be written by the SNP”.
When pressed on whether he was ruling out a confidence and supply deal with the SNP as well as any formal coalition, he said: “No deals”.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/t ... -1-3754791

[utopiandreams]

Close allies of David Cameron are are concerned that the rigours of the electoral campaign are damaging his health. After early signs of brain-fade yesterday Cameron was later reported to have lost his debit card at a cash point machine after several attempts to enter his pin number. After a hasty phone call to his bank he was overheard constantly repeating, "Hilda" in answer to what was believed to have been his mother's middle name.

[tinyclanger2]

Actually what's happened is that the M15, masquerading as the SNP, have kidnapped my hamster and are asking Ed Miliband for 7.9 billion quid to return him.

[onebuttonmonkey]

OBM, posted at the other place:

michaelsylvain
2h ago
57 58

Theresa May's Daily Mail Diary. Sunday, 26th April.

7:00 - Woke up. Got out of bed. Stubbed my toe. I blame Alex Salmond.

7:15 - Started making a cup of tea. What are the chances of being able to make some tea if Labour are dependent on the SNP, eh?

7:16 - Oh no! The milk's gone. Did Nicola Sturgeon come round and steal it in the night? I wouldn't put it past her.

7:17 - No tea. This is the worst constitutional crisis since the abdication.

7:30 - Still worrying about the future of my career (crossed out) country. When will the people we're calmly and rationally trying to terrify realise that only by electing a party that's bought and controlled by a handful of billionaire financiers can we restore our democracy?

8:00 - Spoke to a nice Paul Dacre about how people in Scotland voting for someone who then takes their place in the government they were elected to and represents the people who elected them is literally worse than Hitler. Come to think of it, didn't his paper used to support Hitler? What a decent, honourable, patriotic paper it must be.

8:05 - Might talk to the Sun, too. I mean, if you can't trust a newspaper that's been condemned by the UN for language similar to that which is used when inciting genocide, what can you trust? Certainly not people in Scotland, unless they democratically do exactly what we tell them is good for them. I'm glad I remember what democracy means. Unlike Alex Salmond!

***

I think what I'm saying is:

a) Someone at CCHQ genuinely seems to think the reason the Tory poll ratings aren't improving is they haven't been histrionically shrill enough. No, really.
b) As a result, this Tory "the SNP ate my hamster" election campaign its backers are so dementedly, shriekingly, milk-curdlingly insane that they have jumped the shark (not just the Mail front page, or the Telegraph yesterday - there's a Lloyd-Weber piece today with a graphic of Miliband and Sturgeon as Phantom of the Opera, FFS)
c) This election is broken. Can we have a grown up one, please? One where, say, one party isn't prepared to design a campaign that is actively destroying the union it is purporting to want to save by using it as a scaremongering tactic solely to get a few more years in power? Please?

*sigh*

I've added a link to the version - with pictures! - on my blog. Cheers for the repost.

[utopiandreams]

Q: But what happens if you need SNP support for, say, a road in England. They will say the money has to go into the A9 first.

Miliband says he will put forward a Labour budget and a Labour Queen’s speech.

It is Labour that is addressing the issues in this election, he says.

Marr says party broadcasts should take place elsewhere.

You what, Andy?

To be fair to Andrew, mikems, who isn't as impartial as he claims he did say similar to Boris.

[Swarthlander]

Someone has pinched my signature. #worstcrisissincetheabdication

[tinyclanger2]

Armando Iannucci, must be getting writer's cramp with all this lot going on.

[tinyclanger2]

Note new signature
("modest" emoticon)

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Peter Tatchell doing his "I am the official spokesperson for the LGBT community" routine again, and getting rightfully pwned.

Peter Tatchell @PeterTatchell
· 36m 36 minutes ago
The #Green Party has the best policies for LGBTs & for everyone http://bit.ly/1EoC6oI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; @WillDuckworthGP @AnotherGreen @climate_rev

Harold Horwitz ‏@HaroldH_2015 · 31m31 minutes ago
@PeterTatchell I, @amylame @mcashmanCBE @SebDance @angelaeagle and millions of others beg to differ http://www.labouremail.org.uk/files/upl ... 4b817f.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

[ohsocynical]

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 2 mins2 minutes ago

Prof John Curtice poll of polls has CON & LAB on 34% each which would produce

LAB 297 seats
CON 267

http://bit.ly/1HGUZCH" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[utopiandreams]

Forgive me if I am wrong but have just thought of rebeccariots having just found a printout of four young badgers queueing outside my Mum's back door (previous place). Unfortunately my scanner's packed up so I cannot include it here.

[tinyclanger2]

To be honest, while I'm keen to help, I find myself alarmed by the call to gird my loins. What does it entail. Exactly?

[tinyclanger2]

"Albino KGB sleeper agent & part-time mayor"

Fantastic.

[ohsocynical]

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 22 mins22 minutes ago
ICM's Wisdom Index for S Tel in which sample predicts party vote shares has
CON 32
LAB 32
LD 14
UKIP 12

[tinyclanger2]

Tim Montgomerie ن ✔@montie
Tory MPs somewhat down on @BorisJohnson's #Marr performance, one telling me: If he wants top job he needs more precision, less bluster
1:02 PM - 26 Apr 2015

Yeah - good luck with that.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Almost no chance of the LibDems getting anything like that "wisdom index" score next month, IMO.

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.scotsman.com/news/uk/voters- ... -1-3754824" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Am having a "Snozer Moment". If we live in a situation whereby mendacious scaremongering can convince so many of us, what is indeed the point?

[refitman]

Oh dear, that's huge and I can't find a way to resize on my iPad - mods, can you help?

Sorted.

[PorFavor]

Tim Montgomerie ن ✔@montie
Tory MPs somewhat down on @BorisJohnson's #Marr performance, one telling me: If he wants top job he needs more precision, less bluster
1:02 PM - 26 Apr 2015

Yeah - good luck with that.

Boris Johnson is in a difficult position. He's built his public persona on the bluster stuff and hiding what I believe to be his true political face. How can he ditch the bluster and still hope to maintain what popularity he has? How can he maintain the bluster and hope to be taken seriously? He's blustered himself into a corner.

[PorFavor]

Good morfternoon!