Saturday 29th April, Sunday 30th April & Monday 1st May 2017

[PorFavor]

I know. It'd take a forensic photographer to demonstrate my montages aren't real.

Are you trying to tell me that they're not?

[tinyclanger2]

http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index. ... andidates/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
New polling suggests that CON London strongholds could be vulnerable to Stop Brexit candidates

[tinyclanger2]

I know. It'd take a forensic photographer to demonstrate my montages aren't real.

Are you trying to tell me that they're not?

damn, gave it away.
i'm a fool.

[refitman]

This weekends polls vary in the Tory lead (between 11 and 19 points) but are all consistent in showing a definite Labour uptick.

The prediction a certain regular here made the other day of under 20% of the vote and less than 100 MPs is not looking terribly clever AT THE MOMENT.......

It is odd that Hugo hasn't popped up to show us the polls.

[AnatolyKasparov]

He doesn't seem to have posted at all since Thursday?

[howsillyofme1]

He doesn't seem to have posted at all since Thursday?

shhhhhh!

[tinybgoat]

He doesn't seem to have posted at all since Thursday?

Hopefully, busy keeping the slugs off his black-eyed Susans.

edited: his twitter looks to also have been quiet last few days.

[tinybgoat]

here we go again:

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/m ... -1-4433428" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
May warns voting for SNP will put Corbyn into No 10

If there were a coalition, would Corbyn automatically be prime minister, or could coalition MPs maybe vote on a candidate? (seem to remember Clegg saying he'd not accept Gordon Brown as leader in 2010)

[howsillyofme1]

The PM has to have the confidence of the house - that is his/her electorate (although this seems difficult to get across to people) and if Corbyn could not command the majority then someone else could try and form a Government from outside the official leadership

I wouldn't put it past the PLP to do that but if Corbyn was in that position from where we are now I think it would be very difficult to justify doing that from the Labour side

It would be another great example of Labour shooting themselves in the foot though and so, in that case, would not be particularly surprising

It would be an 'interesting' time forming a Coalition with Corbyn as leader though....(hasn't Farron already ruled one out though and Labour wouldn't form a formal coalition with the SNP either)

If there is no majority Government then I imagine second election or a Tory confidence/supply with the LD and DUP would probably be favourites

[howsillyofme1]

It really wears me out does my undiminishing admiration for this most effective, truthful, open and competent of Prime Ministers!

Here is another example of how she has so well planned for Brexit and the robust reasoning why she is holding a General Election

https://stream.liv.ac.uk/3732ckea" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edited to add: But Corbyn is just so much lacking when compared against her isn't he?

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics ... 27316.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Rachel Johnson, who has joined the Liberal Democrats, said she believed leaving the EU is a “suicide mission” that will take Britain “over a cliff."

[tinyclanger2]

Warning: Iain Dale

http://iaindale.com/posts/2017/04/19/ge ... ons-so-far" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PorFavor]

Warning: Iain Dale

http://iaindale.com/posts/2017/04/19/ge ... ons-so-far

Warning: Link doesn't work

[seeingclearly]

Not wheelchair accessible


Looks likes a portaloo with pretensions to me.

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/dun ... 10046.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The gross over-confidence of politicians like Trump and Cameron might help explain inequality
One does not have to look far in politics to find the Dunning-Kruger effect. 'The lack of a referendum was poisoning British politics and so I put that right,' Cameron has bizarrely concluded

Thus was established the “Dunning-Kruger effect”: the cognitive bias of illusory superiority. People who rate their talents highly sometimes just don’t grasp how incompetent they truly are.

How hard can it be?

[tinyclanger2]

One does not have to look far in politics to find the Dunning-Kruger effect. David Cameron was once asked why he wanted to be prime minister and replied: “Because I think I’d be rather good at it.” Before the 2015 general election he solemnly warned that Britain faced an “inescapable choice – stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband”.

[tinyclanger2]

Warning: Iain Dale

http://iaindale.com/posts/2017/04/19/ge ... ons-so-far" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Warning: Link doesn't work

have amended (forgot dratted space again)

[citizenJA]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/ ... are_btn_tw
How to make the world a better place

"A desire to share a common purpose is not a sentimental virtue. Our institutions are all imperfect but they are the only instruments of society that represent the belief – the hope if you like – that we’re capable of working together. ...increase support for weapons of happiness: arts, sports and education. A tectonic shift in education could erode our political immaturity, our insular attitude towards Europe and our paranoia about our national identity. It could change attitudes to class, to the state, to each other and to ourselves."
- Richard Eyre

"The graph of history is never linear, but often twisted and broken. There is no automatic road to progress. We are going through a period of disillusionment, despair and cynicism during the course of which a huge vacuum has opened up. As reason deserts us...an old-new right emerges in different continents.... A rational solution exists...."
- Tariq Ali

"Unlike “affordable”, “social” or “key worker” schemes, municipal housing was intended to be universal, and for 35 years has been under continual attack. Private renting, in hugely insecure circumstances is increasingly dominant in the big cities. ...return to unambiguous, publicly owned council housing, available to everyone who wants and needs it, rather than those with the time for housing co-ops or the wherewithal for community land trusts. ...build the sort of democratic structures of collective ownership...."
- Owen Hatherley

"When people get their “facts” from Facebook, their idea of debate from Twitter, their understanding of human nature from fantasies and their ability to parse a promise from nowhere, you can’t expect them to act in their own best interests, let alone their country’s. Remember when we were naive enough to lambast advertising, lament the loss of a literate working class, and even – whisper it who dare – look back longingly to the “organic society”? Well, we can’t manufacture a togetherness no one any longer feels."
- Howard Jacobson

"Comfortable, affordable housing with security of tenure is both a need and a right, yet that need and right have been taken hostage by successive governments who have treated our housing stock as a tool to keep the economy from crashing. The creation of a National Housing Service to meet housing needs – to oversee new housebuilding, planning, repairs and to guarantee genuinely affordable rents – would be as significant to public health as the NHS is to individual health, in terms of reducing stress, improving living conditions and preventing exploitation."
- Lynsey Hanley

"Scrap the personal allowance and give everyone a graduated income. Fund it through an income tax levy and higher corporation tax. Make it a point of national pride.... Anyone not in paid work, but receiving the basic income, will have to do Community Exchange – a number of hours a week contributing to their community. The point is to make us all feel part of society, giving and receiving. We have to break the binary of the haves and have nots. A basic income, with obligations, can do that."
- Jeanette Winterson

[citizenJA]

Meetings between all Labour MPs regularly together, hundreds of them, you understand, all of them. It's not a performance, they're peoples' representatives, come as you are. Labour MPs sharing the same space with each other, speaking with each other every few days, sharing what they're working on together. Televise the meetings in order for people to see and hear Labour MPs together. Doing so offers people and country what Labour party leadership does in government. There will be arguments, moments of hilarity, tension and some resolution between them all. The sessions' purposes include witnessing the process of cooperative, accountable governance in real time.
- citizenJA

[howsillyofme1]

Iain Dale just seems to be assuming all the UKIP voters will vote for the Tories....I think this seems to be what is being picked up in the national polling too

Will this actually hold true though when it comes to voting day - especially in Labour areas where ex-UKIP voters may not be so keen on Tory social policies

Will have to watch this space.....

[citizenJA]

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/dun ... 10046.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The gross over-confidence of politicians like Trump and Cameron might help explain inequality
One does not have to look far in politics to find the Dunning-Kruger effect. 'The lack of a referendum was poisoning British politics and so I put that right,' Cameron has bizarrely concluded

Thus was established the “Dunning-Kruger effect”: the cognitive bias of illusory superiority. People who rate their talents highly sometimes just don’t grasp how incompetent they truly are.

How hard can it be?

Trump, Cameron and many independently well-to-do people don't have to meet with strangers, they don't get contradicted, they literally don't have to compromise or cooperate on any regular basis. They're emotionally retarded and don't understand the lives others without independent wealth navigate day-to-day. It's bad for them, worse for people they've power over. They shouldn't be allowed positions of power, they're not qualified.

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 10116.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Theresa May has denied she called a snap general election to bury an investigation into Conservative candidates' election expenses.
...
When asked if the issue was discussed before she called the election, she said: "Let's be clear in relation to the electoral commission issue, local spending was properly declared.

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.politico.eu/newsletter/sunda ... 9D%A4-may/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
POLITICO Sunday Crunch: Brexit galaxies — Taxing issues — Gove ❤ May

Includes:

Chillaxer of the week: Former Prime Minister David Cameron, who now hangs out in a £25,000 luxury shepherd’s hut.

[citizenJA]

One does not have to look far in politics to find the Dunning-Kruger effect. David Cameron was once asked why he wanted to be prime minister and replied: “Because I think I’d be rather good at it.” Before the 2015 general election he solemnly warned that Britain faced an “inescapable choice – stability and strong Government with me, or chaos with Ed Miliband”.

Why isn't this recent and simple example of Tory government having PUBLICLY BLOWN IT ON THEIR OWN TERMS not acknowledged more openly among the general population? Who'd vote for a government failing so spectacularly? The polls say people continue supporting current jackass Tory government doing nothing but failing. People aren't stupid. People are managed. A lot of what we see is what SOMEONE WITH MONEY puts into our homes and public spaces.

[citizenJA]

Wouldn't you like a nice dictatorship instead of that troublesome democratically elected nonsense? Come now. Be honest. You'd like it better if it were simpler. You know you would.

[tinyclanger2]

The Donaeld:

Donaeld The Unready‏ @donaeldunready 5h5 hours ago

Mayden Theresa should remember that you can't win a campaign just repeating same slogan. That's not how we're Making Mercia Great Again.
https://twitter.com/donaeldunready" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[AnatolyKasparov]

Iain Dale just seems to be assuming all the UKIP voters will vote for the Tories....I think this seems to be what is being picked up in the national polling too

Will this actually hold true though when it comes to voting day - especially in Labour areas where ex-UKIP voters may not be so keen on Tory social policies

Will have to watch this space.....

Most previous ex-kippers do indeed seem to be going Tory at present (some evidence for this in "real" votes as well as the polls)

But I get the impression that much of this support is fairly soft and could yet be influenced by the campaign.

[citizenJA]

On the night of Theresa May’s announcement that she was calling a snap election, she addressed a private meeting of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers. In the words of one in the audience, there was only one passage of the speech when “she really came alive”. That was when the Tory leader talked about her domestic agenda. Mrs May told her fellow Conservatives that she needed her own mandate to ensure that she could realise her ambitions to change Britain.

That raises a big question which ought to be absolutely central to this election: what is her domestic agenda?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... in-writing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tinyclanger2]

https://scroll.in/article/835905/the-wa ... -breakdown" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The way out is not easy: Four of the five Brexit scenarios will lead to total breakdown
Four scenarios point to total breakdown followed by a clean cut in economic and trade links between Britain, European Union.

[tinybgoat]

It really wears me out does my undiminishing admiration for this most effective, truthful, open and competent of Prime Ministers!

Here is another example of how she has so well planned for Brexit and the robust reasoning why she is holding a General Election

https://stream.liv.ac.uk/3732ckea" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edited to add: But Corbyn is just so much lacking when compared against her isn't he?

"so this short video ....", everything else he said was good though.

[howsillyofme1]

It really wears me out does my undiminishing admiration for this most effective, truthful, open and competent of Prime Ministers!

Here is another example of how she has so well planned for Brexit and the robust reasoning why she is holding a General Election

https://stream.liv.ac.uk/3732ckea" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edited to add: But Corbyn is just so much lacking when compared against her isn't he?

"so this short video ....", everything else he said was good though.

It is compared to some of his others....he did a lot prior to the referendum

[PorFavor]

Kim Jong-May awkward and incredulous as journalist asks question (Guardian)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... s-question

[tinybgoat]

Originally i thought it was wrong for Theresa May to call an election having triggered && committed the country to the article 50 process - it's not reasonable for another party to have to take over negotiations, without the chance to prepare for them & start them according to their own timetable.
Having watched the video HowSilly's linked to, I now also hold the slightly contradictory view that this would effectively lead to a one party state, with only the Tories allowed to be in power, negotiating.
On the Marr show, May kept on saying how important it was that she should be able to negotiate the right deal, but there is no measure given on what she views as a good or right result.
Her stated wish is to get a strong mandate, but hasn't defined what that mandate would be, I don't know if this can be pointed out by other parties, but if Tories win I wouldn't think it gives them any better mandate for Brexit, if there aren't specific objectives attached & a measure to show if & when they're failing or not (preferably in the manifesto)

[tinyclanger2]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 09921.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Theresa May is facing fresh accusations of “hiding” from voters after a campaign event held in Scotland was publicly listed as a children’s birthday party.

Bemused locals in Aberdeenshire had been unable to find the location of the Prime Minister’s visit, which was not advertised in advance.

[tinyclanger2]

“It’s been so secretive, they are supposed to be holding these big rallies but all she’s doing is hiding in little village halls, not saying they are going to be there.

“So there’s no one apart from local Conservative activists standing there and boosting her ego even more.

“It’s quite pathetic really – for the Prime Minister of the UK to be hiding in a village hall in rural Aberdeenshire.”

[tinybgoat]

Missing, Kitten Heels,
Scared of unfamiliar faces & dogged opposition.
May be hiding in garden sheds, village halls, or strong stables.
Answers to no-one.

[tinyclanger2]

So I guess we'll be having strong and stable Brexit. No chaos at all.

[tinyclanger2]

are we thinking about locking the strong and stable door after the kittens have bolted?

[tinyclanger2]

that's got me back on what's strong and stable that shouldn't be.

[tinyclanger2]

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/wor ... ity-peril/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Britain’s blithe approach is now raising alarms amongst the EU-27. At their dinner in Downing Street last Wednesday, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was stunned when Mrs May dismissed an agreed timetable for the Brexit negotiations. The Prime Minister said Britain wanted to first discuss future trade arrangements, and only afterwards the exit issues mentioned in Article 50, contradicting assurances given to Brussels by her top Brexit official, Oliver Robbins. Mr Juncker said there was no point in having even a first meeting unless the Britain accepted the EU Treaty and the political reality that pits London against the EU’s 27 member states.

[HindleA]

Already been near here,so secret she didn't know the location,but on shed watch in case of return.

[tinyclanger2]

Brexit is a gargantuan task even for the EU, whose entire history could be described through various negotiations. But it is especially daunting for Britain, which has no recent history of trade negotiations, a poor understanding of the EU treaties, and a dismissive approach to the EU’s unity. So far, it bodes ill for Britain’s hopes for a smooth Brexit.

https://inews.co.uk/essentials/news/wor ... ity-peril/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Strong. and. stable.

[tinyclanger2]

Mash on Strong and Stable:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/politics/ ... 0428126823" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Sources close to the prime minister said that while she ‘stood by’ the phrase, it was ‘borrowed’ from a leaflet that she found next to the Cabinet table in Number 10.

[tinyclanger2]

The source added: “She was also very surprised to discover the existence of vacuum pumps, so that may become a campaign theme.”

[HindleA]

"Can you guess where I am yet?"

[tinyclanger2]

Uh-oh:

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/soci ... 0119120532" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
BERLIN will return thousands of hipsters when Britain leaves the EU, it has emerged.

Angela Merkel confirmed that British hipsters would be expelled post-Brexit as they have little to offer Germany except basic website design skills and minimal techno club nights.

[tinyclanger2]

“They are nice enough but utterly useless. We have plenty of local young people who can serve cocktails in a surly way.”

[PorFavor]

“They are nice enough but utterly useless. We have plenty of local young people who can serve cocktails in a surly way.”

That would make a good headstone inscription -

"Nice enough but utterly useless."

[HindleA]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... es-cartoon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Martin Rowson on Theresa May and Tory pledges

[citizenJA]

Does it matter to the EU and 'Brexit' negotiations which government is returned in June 2017?