Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th October 2014

[tinyclanger2]

I saw the Scaffold once. Back in the day.

[ephemerid]

2014 Lib Dem conference:

Far from the madding crowd

?

That's good, TC, very good.

[AngryAsWell]

Tough reading for Miliband amidst party unrest

When oh when will these bar stewards (no offence to landlords!) stop attacking from inside. Not even named who wrote it cowards

http://labourlist.org/2014/10/tough-rea ... ourList%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[tinyclanger2]

Tough reading for Miliband amidst party unrest

When oh when will these bar stewards (no offence to landlords!) stop attacking from inside. Not even named who wrote it cowards

http://labourlist.org/2014/10/tough-rea ... ourList%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

God it's depressing. "sapiens" my farage.

[seeingclearly]

Not sure if this post from Diary of a Benefit Scrounger made it to this place, if it didn't it should have. It's a huge issue at the moment, probably worse than ever, but it would not be fair to say it is new. Women in particular may recognise this, I know I do.

Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head. (Ok, this really has to stop)

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspo ... -stop.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ephemerid]

Tories

David Cameron

featuring George Osborne as Uriah Heep

Shurely shome mishtake?????

David Copperfield, no?

Anyway - I'm liking Oliver Twist for the Tories.

Ed would have to be Oliver....with John McDonnell as that nice Mr.Brownlow.

IDS as Fagin, Harper as Sikes, Shapps as Toby Crackit, and McVile as Nancy (who in my version stays evil).
Pickles as Mr.Bumble the Beadle, and May and Grayling as the incompetent Peelers, Osborne as the undertaker.

Artful Dodger? Why Cameron of course - who else could get away with it?
Can't you just picture him doing his cheeky chappie routine?

[tinyclanger2]

Tories

David Cameron

featuring George Osborne as Uriah Heep

Shurely shome mishtake?????

David Copperfield, no?

Confess was looking at syllables more than content. Then got carried away by the Uriah Heep image. Sorry.

[ErnstRemarx]

Just checked our users list. Aside from the three very strange additions that occurred on Friday last, we appear to have stemmed the tide of spambots. All by simply Q&A. Could do with a few more people joining thobut. Feel free to put out the FTN address widely to interested parties.

I'm still listening to anyone who wants to comment on the possibility of a 'links' section, as well as anyone else's ideas for FTN. I've seen so much invention and wit on this site that I'm absolutely certain that there are/must be lots of good things that Dan, Paul and myself can put in place here. We have the agency, and, I suspect, no monopoly on ideas.

[Tubby Isaacs]

So, no big Labour campaign after that week of rubbish from the Tories?

Not good enough.

[ephemerid]

Not sure if this post from Diary of a Benefit Scrounger made it to this place, if it didn't it should have. It's a huge issue at the moment, probably worse than ever, but it would not be fair to say it is new. Women in particular may recognise this, I know I do.

Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Head. (Ok, this really has to stop)

http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspo ... -stop.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sue's experience is pretty typical these days, I'm sorry to say.

Mine is this - compare and contrast, if you will.

In 1982, I was working at the Royal Masonic Hospital in London. Being staff, I got private care there for free. I had a slipped disc - back then, we didn't have MRI scans and my consultant listened to what I said I was experiencing and treated me accordingly. I had spinal traction for 4 weeks, with him asking me as we went along how things were going - he was perfectly prepared to change his plan for treatment if it wasn't working.
In 1990, the same thing happened again, and I was treated in my local hospital. I was staff there, too; as was the husband, who was well-known around the hospital. The treatment prescribed was not what I thought was was appropriate (spinal fusion) so I asked for, and got, intensive physio while I waited for MRI. This subsequently showed I have spinal stenosis and am thus prone to slipped discs.
Spinal fusion was risky at the best of times, and not appropriate for me at that point. The consultant agreed, and we worked out a rehab with the physios that worked.

In 2005, I had to have a major gynae op. Routine, but major. I was seen by an Advanced Nurse Practitioner who informed me what would happen with the op and the post-op care. I had a few problems with this (especially the standard morphine self-admin pump post-op which as a recovering alkie I wanted to avoid) and I also explained that due to liver damage I was likely to be less ale than most to fight infection and I wanted antibiotic cover.
All of this was supposed to be in my care plan. It wasn't. On the day, I asked the anaesthetist not to write me up for the pump, and told him exactly what analgesia I required. I woke up to find the pump in situ and Show tearing his hair out because not only had I specifically requested not to have it, the thing didn't work. I was in severe pain all night, and every time I asked for help I was told to use the pump - in desperation, I did, but the needle had "tissued" in the vein and I wasn't getting the drug at all.
It all got worse over the next few days. I was put in a room with a loo - which was leaking filthy water all over the floor. I pointed this out to the HCP who was supposed to be helping me to wash, and she chucked a load of dirty sheets out of the linen skip on it - and it stayed there for another 8 hours. I had a continuous single subcutaneous suture, which was removed by a person in a sisters' uniform with the scissors from her pocket without her washing her hands, and when I protested she said it's not a sterile procedure.
The consultant came to see me on day 3 - I said I wanted better care or I'd go home. He laughed and said this is the best there is, I know it's not brilliant, winked, and told me I could go home the next day. Next day, a staff nurse came to ask me if I wanted counselling for the loss of my womanhood, and I said I wanted some antibiotics for what looked like an incipient wound infection.
She refused to check the wound or take my temperature, and asked me when I was leaving. Fucking pronto, said I.

10 days later, after feeling ill for some time, the whole abdominal wound de-hisced, I ended up in hospital again on IV antibiotics, and the subsequent mess took 5 months and 15 courses of antibiotics to heal. I now have a neuroma in the keloid scarring, which can be very painful at times. I am also now unlikely to respond to the usual antibiotics if I get sick, which with COPD is a bit of an issue.

All of this saga is an illustration of how both nursing and medical staff simply do not listen. My GP here is fantastic, and she beleives in the idea of the expert patient - that filters down to the practice nurses who run the chronic illness clinics I attend, and by going to those we can nip problems in the bud and I don't need consultant involvement. My GP only refers to consultants if she and her team can't deal with something themselves or if she needs an opinion for a definitive diagnosis. Same applies to mental health issues, and if you need a talking therapy you usually get an appointment within 6 weeks. This is NHS Wales, mind.

Sue is quite right about this - apart from the pain and distress, unnecessary remedial treatment and care, and sheer emotional trauma of not being believed and having to fight for decent care, the costs are enormous. Even if, as she says, all you care about is money, on that criterion alone this nonsense needs to stop.

[letsskiptotheleft]

So, no big Labour campaign after that week of rubbish from the Tories?

Not good enough.

There are times I think that Labour have a masterplan, don't be unduly worried, but then I see no fight back, when one is needed i wonder, Osborne's and Cameron's speech should be attacked like a terrier going for a rats neck, there has been reaction but not with the venom 8 months before an election I would have expected. Still 3/4 not pulling their weight, and I know I keep on and on but Balls hasn't cut through, I doubt he will tbh?

[TechnicalEphemera]

So, no big Labour campaign after that week of rubbish from the Tories?

Not good enough.

There are times I think that Labour have a masterplan, don't be unduly worried, but then I see no fight back, when one is needed i wonder, Osborne's and Cameron's speech should be attacked like a terrier going for a rats neck, there has been reaction but not with the venom 8 months before an election I would have expected. Still 3/4 not pulling their weight, and I know I keep on and on but Balls hasn't cut through, I doubt he will tbh?

I don't see why there should be a campaign, there is nothing going on right now to merit it.

Labour has problems, Miliband has a credibility problem, which is what the press has fought hard to achieve. At this stage maybe Andy Burnham could win it if parachuted in (but Labour leadership elections rarely work like that).

However this is a marathon not a sprint, and Cameron has given Labour a lot of ammunition with that speech. Remember how fast the polls moved in Scotland and expect Labour to throw the kitchen sink at the NHS a fortnight from the election.

The fundamentals are around policy. The Tory policy set polls very negatively, the Labour policy set is popular. The Tories are also the nasty party again, shorn of all their fluffy bits expect project Fear to turn up with a vengeance in May. Meanwhile a credit rating agency views Labour as a safer bet on the economy than the Tory party.

I would still look at replacing Balls with Darling. Tell him if he keeps his head down and Labour wins he can be foreign secretary.

[TechnicalEphemera]

Off topic - and non political.

Is there another game on the planet as hard to watch at a stadium than Baseball?

A typical game lasts 9 innings and takes 3-4 hours. The problem is that when teams are all square after 9 they play until one team is ahead at the end of a set of innings.

Last night in a post season playoff game the Washington Nationals played the San Francisco Giants. The Giants managed to sneak the tying run (1-1) in the 9th inning thus moving the game to extra innings.

The result finally Giants 2 Nationals 1 after 18 innings.

So the Nationals fans (home team) had to stay for 6-8 hours (instead of 3-4) get transport home (probably at 2am) and they lost.

Ouch.

[tinyclanger2]

After seeing the Scaffold, but before today, I did once watch a baseball match. I had literally no idea what was going on, and I came away with the same impression I get from watching Dutch tv, whereby you get 7 minutes of Monk and then 10 mins of ads, so that while it is impossible to eradicate the repeated images of donkey sanctuaries and the kama sutra erotic lifestyle exhibition, you cannot remember for the life of you what was happening in the show.

[ErnstRemarx]

TE - my instinctive first choice for leader was Burnham. My realisation that voting for him would be Miliband D. as leader led me pragmatically to vote Miliband E. one, Burnham A. two. Quite agree on Darling.

MsRemarx came back a couple of hours ago from canvassing in Langley - a very down at heel area in Middleton that should be natural Labour territory. Her opinion is that it's holding up pretty well, and that only a couple of Labour voters were toying with a vote for UKIP. People aren't stupid. They know what by elections are and represent, and they surely must know down Langley way after the last four years that a right wing party will emphatically not improve their lives.

I hear a lot of shit get spoken in local pubs about 'this country', but I've never met anyone who can sit down opposite me and tell me why a UKIP government is a good idea. They just seem to be starry eyed about the prospect of it, and bugger the consequences. One or two are converts, most are not. They're seeking reassurance that they will get what they voted for and what, perhaps when they were younger, looked like an eternal verity.

I never look for a political discussion down the pub. I'm a local councillor, so I reason that it's about the last thing people want from me -unless they're looking for it, and then I'm good to go. I get the odd comment, but mostly people just want to be left alone, know that services are there when needed, and that's about it. I don't the full on rants about sovereignty or self-determination that apparently are so common on CiF and elsewhere.

As long as the beer flows, the kids are well and there's food on the table, that's good enough.

Having said that, I know people who would never consider themselves political who have gone to extraordinary lengths to find stuff out about things they hold dear. People who are more or less planning experts, ASBO experts and so forth. This enthusiasm needs harnessing, and it might be the conversation that you or I have with them that will make it happen.

[tinyclanger2]

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

If the SNP form a pact with the Scottish Tories part of me will laugh my head off.

[AngryAsWell]

Forgot about AS blog on the LibDem's, just check in when AS tweeted a link

Here are the LibDemers - whatever they want to call them - I call them meaningless twaddle

Lib Dems back public services reforms

After a debate lasting more than two hours, delegates have voted in favour of a party policy paper on the public services.

Its proposals include:
Applying Freedom of Information obligations to private firms providing public services
Encouraging public service providers to make themselves more accountable, and awarding them “accredited public service” status when they do
Using targets “with extreme caution”
Backing the creation of a Royal College of Teachers
Ensuring all children are taught be a qualified teacher (a key Labour policy)
Making all state schools teach the national curriculum
Repealing the rule requiring all new schools to be academies or free schools
Ensuring parity of esteem between mental and physical health services
Ending the role of the Competition and Markets Authority in health
Extending evening and weekend opening for GPs
Allowing public bodies to bid for rail franchises


Delegates also backed an amendment committing the party to “repealing any parts of the NHS Health and Social Care Act 2012 dealing with competition where they are shown to make NHS services vulnerable to increased privatisation through international agreements on free markets in goods and services.” This is a reference to the proposed EU/US free trade agreement (the TTIP).

[refitman]

Forgot above AS blog on LibDem's just check in when AS tweeted a link

Here are the LibDemers - whatever they want to call them - I call them meaningless twaddle

Lib Dems back public services reforms

After a debate lasting more than two hours, delegates have voted in favour of a party policy paper on the public services.

Its proposals include:
Applying Freedom of Information obligations to private firms providing public services
Encouraging public service providers to make themselves more accountable, and awarding them “accredited public service” status when they do
Using targets “with extreme caution”
Backing the creation of a Royal College of Teachers
Ensuring all children are taught be a qualified teacher (a key Labour policy)
Making all state schools teach the national curriculum
Repealing the rule requiring all new schools to be academies or free schools
Ensuring parity of esteem between mental and physical health services
Ending the role of the Competition and Markets Authority in health
Extending evening and weekend opening for GPs
Allowing public bodies to bid for rail franchises


Delegates also backed an amendment committing the party to “repealing any parts of the NHS Health and Social Care Act 2012 dealing with competition where they are shown to make NHS services vulnerable to increased privatisation through international agreements on free markets in goods and services.” This is a reference to the proposed EU/US free trade agreement (the TTIP).

Aren't they all Labour policies?

[rebeccariots2]

After seeing the Scaffold, but before today, I did once watch a baseball match. I had literally no idea what was going on, and I came away with the same impression I get from watching Dutch tv, whereby you get 7 minutes of Monk and then 10 mins of ads, so that while it is impossible to eradicate the repeated images of donkey sanctuaries and the kama sutra erotic lifestyle exhibition, you cannot remember for the life of you what was happening in the show.

Just wondering what sort of food you order in restaurants now ....

[PorFavor]

Goodnight, everyone.

[Tubby Isaacs]

So, no big Labour campaign after that week of rubbish from the Tories?

Not good enough.

There are times I think that Labour have a masterplan, don't be unduly worried, but then I see no fight back, when one is needed i wonder, Osborne's and Cameron's speech should be attacked like a terrier going for a rats neck, there has been reaction but not with the venom 8 months before an election I would have expected. Still 3/4 not pulling their weight, and I know I keep on and on but Balls hasn't cut through, I doubt he will tbh?

I don't see why there should be a campaign, there is nothing going on right now to merit it.

Labour has problems, Miliband has a credibility problem, which is what the press has fought hard to achieve. At this stage maybe Andy Burnham could win it if parachuted in (but Labour leadership elections rarely work like that).

However this is a marathon not a sprint, and Cameron has given Labour a lot of ammunition with that speech. Remember how fast the polls moved in Scotland and expect Labour to throw the kitchen sink at the NHS a fortnight from the election.

The fundamentals are around policy. The Tory policy set polls very negatively, the Labour policy set is popular. The Tories are also the nasty party again, shorn of all their fluffy bits expect project Fear to turn up with a vengeance in May. Meanwhile a credit rating agency views Labour as a safer bet on the economy than the Tory party.

I would still look at replacing Balls with Darling. Tell him if he keeps his head down and Labour wins he can be foreign secretary.

I think there's far more to be said now.

I accept (reluctantly) opposing IDS on competency rather than moral grounds. But even so, there's surely a level below which benefits can't fall, whatever's happening to wages. And he's supposed to have had 4 years sorting out the shirkers. If so, then why is he having to cut benefits in real terms?

The Lib Dems, by having their conference at the right time, have rhetorically got the tone right. Labour ought to have been there before.

[letsskiptotheleft]

A muppet speaks!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... warns.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think the idea of us being latched into a Labour Gov and what has gone on in France under Hollande, I think it could be enormously damaging for our party in that kind of relationship.

Norman Lamb, no surprise there then, almost as bad as Malcolm Bruce who said this morning only the Libs have the experience to govern, I wish I taking the piss, but I am not.

[tinyclanger2]

You say goodnight PF, but I can't help thinking you're off to have a quick listen to Lily the Pink.

[LadyCentauria]

Has Dave never thought that if he put more money into peoples pockets. And I mean proper money, enough to live on, which would make them stop feeling so bad about themselves, those people are going to stop worrying about immigrants taking jobs and UKIP would lose a mass of working class support.

Very good point

[Tubby Isaacs]

A muppet speaks!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... warns.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think the idea of us being latched into a Labour Gov and what has gone on in France under Hollande, I think it could be enormously damaging for our party in that kind of relationship.

Norman Lamb, no surprise there then, almost as bad as Malcolm Bruce who said this morning only the Libs have the experience to govern, I wish I taking the piss, but I am not.

What have Labour ever advocated like Hollande?

[rebeccariots2]

There are times I think that Labour have a masterplan, don't be unduly worried, but then I see no fight back, when one is needed i wonder, Osborne's and Cameron's speech should be attacked like a terrier going for a rats neck, there has been reaction but not with the venom 8 months before an election I would have expected. Still 3/4 not pulling their weight, and I know I keep on and on but Balls hasn't cut through, I doubt he will tbh?

I don't see why there should be a campaign, there is nothing going on right now to merit it.

Labour has problems, Miliband has a credibility problem, which is what the press has fought hard to achieve. At this stage maybe Andy Burnham could win it if parachuted in (but Labour leadership elections rarely work like that).
However this is a marathon not a sprint, and Cameron has given Labour a lot of ammunition with that speech. Remember how fast the polls moved in Scotland and expect Labour to throw the kitchen sink at the NHS a fortnight from the election.

The fundamentals are around policy. The Tory policy set polls very negatively, the Labour policy set is popular. The Tories are also the nasty party again, shorn of all their fluffy bits expect project Fear to turn up with a vengeance in May. Meanwhile a credit rating agency views Labour as a safer bet on the economy than the Tory party.

I would still look at replacing Balls with Darling. Tell him if he keeps his head down and Labour wins he can be foreign secretary.

I think there's far more to be said now.

I accept (reluctantly) opposing IDS on competency rather than moral grounds. But even so, there's surely a level below which benefits can't fall, whatever's happening to wages. And he's supposed to have had 4 years sorting out the shirkers. If so, then why is he having to cut benefits in real terms?

The Lib Dems, by having their conference at the right time, have rhetorically got the tone right. Labour ought to have been there before.

Agree somewhat with you Tubby - especially on the last point. I have also wondered why Labour haven't properly attacked the Tories for their blatantly vicious and skewed attacks on working age benefits ... even if it's just to scream about at least half of those in receipt of said benefits being in work ... and showing up the sham recovery for what it is ... a sham.

[Tubby Isaacs]

We're going to get this bollocks about Labour and Hollande a lot, aren't we?

Miliband welcomed him as a voice against austerity in the Eurozone. Can anyone seriously argue that there hasn't been too much austerity in the Eurozone?

[letsskiptotheleft]

http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2014/10/da ... ard-trick/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some good stuff on this blog.

[AngryAsWell]

Forgot above AS blog on LibDem's just check in when AS tweeted a link

Here are the LibDemers - whatever they want to call them - I call them meaningless twaddle

Lib Dems back public services reforms

After a debate lasting more than two hours, delegates have voted in favour of a party policy paper on the public services.

Its proposals include:
Applying Freedom of Information obligations to private firms providing public services
Encouraging public service providers to make themselves more accountable, and awarding them “accredited public service” status when they do
Using targets “with extreme caution”
Backing the creation of a Royal College of Teachers
Ensuring all children are taught be a qualified teacher (a key Labour policy)
Making all state schools teach the national curriculum
Repealing the rule requiring all new schools to be academies or free schools
Ensuring parity of esteem between mental and physical health services
Ending the role of the Competition and Markets Authority in health
Extending evening and weekend opening for GPs
Allowing public bodies to bid for rail franchises


Delegates also backed an amendment committing the party to “repealing any parts of the NHS Health and Social Care Act 2012 dealing with competition where they are shown to make NHS services vulnerable to increased privatisation through international agreements on free markets in goods and services.” This is a reference to the proposed EU/US free trade agreement (the TTIP).

Aren't they all Labour policies?

You'll be comparing the LibDem's to Hollande next.....

[RogerOThornhill]

Did anyone read Tebbit's piece about that un-spoken speech from Thatcher?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/norma ... democracy/

The interesting bit is right at the end.

Had I seen the draft of the speech which she had intended to make at the Conservative Party Conference at Brighton in 1984, condemning "The Enemy Within" in such harsh terms, I think I would have advised her against it.

In the event, the attack by the other "enemy within" changed everything. The wave of horror from the public and Labour leaders alike changed every thing. It was only a pity that the text of the speech she never made has survived.

I do think so at all as it just shows what an utter loon she was. Says a lot when even Tebbit thinks she had gone too far.

The comments are hilarious as usual - Common Purpose, Frankfurt School...and the utterly bonkers rogerhicks.

[letsskiptotheleft]

Did anyone read Tebbit's piece about that un-spoken speech from Thatcher?

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/norma ... democracy/

The interesting bit is right at the end.

Had I seen the draft of the speech which she had intended to make at the Conservative Party Conference at Brighton in 1984, condemning "The Enemy Within" in such harsh terms, I think I would have advised her against it.

In the event, the attack by the other "enemy within" changed everything. The wave of horror from the public and Labour leaders alike changed every thing. It was only a pity that the text of the speech she never made has survived.

I do think so at all as it just shows what an utter loon she was. Says a lot when even Tebbit thinks she had gone too far.

The comments are hilarious as usual - Common Purpose, Frankfurt School...and the utterly bonkers rogerhicks.

I was going to read it, didn't quite have the stomach though, was The Margaret Thatcher Foundation mentioned btl, the looniest of the loons, still Mirror readers never fail, 47% voted her the worst PM ever, and 30% reckoned she was merely ''bad'' gives Gordon a break is suppose?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ma ... rs-4370106" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2014/10/da ... ard-trick/

Some good stuff on this blog.

Agree.I have been following it for some years.

[rebeccariots2]

Alex Hunt ‏@iAlexhunt 23m23 minutes ago
Norman Lamb warns that a coalition with Labour that puts Ed Miliband in No 10 could cause Lib Dems 'enormous damage': http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29496473" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

That's a bit like saying the already massive hole in the seat of their pants .... might grow so humungously large it reveals the hideous nothing underneath it.

And there are rather a lot of people who think a coalition with the Lib Dems would cause Labour enormous damage.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Which is fine, if I use grockle in a perjorative way. Which I don't. It's merely a local variation of "tourist or visitor", and so we continue to use an old word from way back, a local dialect word, and one I use here.

Now, if you, as a visitor, were to walk into my pub I'm pretty damn sure neither I nor my staff are going to say "Good evening grockle, what can I get you?" Because that's just rude and aggressive, as you suggest. And that's why we don't do so. But when I post something on a friendly forum like this I use idioms or local words, the vernacular, as I would in everyday conversation with "locals", and with actual "grockles" once we've got to know each other a little, some of those grockles are well up for a little ironic banter.

Hmmmph. You seem to think I'm some kind of tourist-hater. I'm not.

Hi HJ

Just wondering how much you work at your Tripadvisor presence.

To be honest, I don't. It's not good for my blood pressure.

Sadly we can't please absolutely everyone with what we do, and sometimes mistakes happen. When things go wrong we do our best to put things right, but some people will not say anything at the time and then go and post something nasty when they get home. It really is utterly depressing. On the brighter side, an awful lot of people understand what goes on, and can see through malicious posts.

They're right about the scruffiness of the upholstery though. Just can't afford the £'000's to have it redone while the economy is so obviously booming!

I agree with what you say, but why not persuade some of your happy regulars, who may not "do" Trip Advisor, to sign up and give you a better press, obviously staying honest. We have a nearby pub that does the most wonderful food and beer and it upset me to see a couple of negative reviews pulling it down the "league table" on Trip Advisor. So after a particularly good nosh one day I decided to sign up and gave it a really shiny, though realistic review.

The way you describe your context with some more obvious tourist destination rivals round the corner makes it really important that you have reviews to tempt people off the beaten track. As I said, please do encourage some of your regulars to do their bit. It can make a big difference.

Lecture over

[AngryAsWell]

@Ernst
Have you seen this? UKIP playing really dirty - glad to see Bolton have got police involved

It reads: “The Labour controlled towns of Bolton, Bury, Oxford and Derby, which are run by the politically correct/diversity Labour brigades, are under investigation as part of police operation Doublet following the Rotherham and Rochdale scandals in which disgusting child sex abuse has been going on.”

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... ts-7864169" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rebeccariots2]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... parliament

If the SNP form a pact with the Scottish Tories part of me will laugh my head off.

I think the Scottish Tories will need to think again ...

SNP pledge to fight Tory plan to scrap human rights laws
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home ... ish%20News

They're off to a flying start with that one.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

On Labour and campaigning, I agree about the long game.

Ed will succeed I think because there are enough voters who can see that Cameron, Clegg and Farage are all essentially frauds. Which he isn't.

So, why not let people see for themselves how slippery Dave is, how repulsive UKIP are, how useless Clegg is, while the conferences and by-elections are happening? They seem to me to be doing quite a good job for Labour

[rebeccariots2]

Patrick Wintour ‏@patrickwintour 2m2 minutes ago
Lib Dems defining largest party as one with most votes, not seats, makes coalition 2.0 with DC easier. http://gu.com/p/426yv/tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; via @guardian

[Tubby Isaacs]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... parliament

If the SNP form a pact with the Scottish Tories part of me will laugh my head off.

I think the Scottish Tories will need to think again ...

SNP pledge to fight Tory plan to scrap human rights laws
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home ... ish%20News

They're off to a flying start with that one.

Fair play to them.

Any chance they're going to admit that Labour aren't the same as the Tories at any point?

[rebeccariots2]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... parliament

If the SNP form a pact with the Scottish Tories part of me will laugh my head off.

I think the Scottish Tories will need to think again ...

SNP pledge to fight Tory plan to scrap human rights laws
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home ... ish%20News

They're off to a flying start with that one.

Fair play to them.

Any chance they're going to admit that Labour aren't the same as the Tories at any point?

My flying start was aimed at the Scottish Tories not the SNP (in case you thought otherwise). I agree with the SNP stance. It just shows the enormous - unbridgeable - gulf between Tory thinking and SNP thinking - and most people with an atom of decency and common sense.

Editing to add: And no, probably no chance they will stop villifying Labour as equally nasty as the Tories ... it doesn't suit their strategy.

[tinyclanger2]

Patrick Wintour ‏@patrickwintour 2m2 minutes ago
Lib Dems defining largest party as one with most votes, not seats, makes coalition 2.0 with DC easier. http://gu.com/p/426yv/tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; via @guardian

Complete scum. The lot of them.

[tinyclanger2]

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

The race [rochester and strood] becomes a tie – but Labour could snatch it

14/1 on Labour winning the by-election looks very tasty, in light of the above, but I think most of my money today will be going on a Tory hold.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Jesus look at this shit.

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

It turns out to mean that they can't spend the Mansion Tax money before the Mansion Tax actually exists. As spotted by Temulkar, and others.

Denis Campbell was OK, I thought. He sounds pretty gleeful about this. And it's the lead story.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

It would be a much better and more honest General Election if Clegg and Cameron simply presented their joint Coalition plans for the future.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Jesus look at this shit.

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

It turns out to mean that they can't spend the Mansion Tax money before the Mansion Tax actually exists. As spotted by Temulkar, and others.

Denis Campbell was OK, I thought. He sounds pretty gleeful about this. And it's the lead story.

Unbelievable. Ed Miliband in to possessing magic wand shocker

[Temulkar]

http://politicalbetting.com/

The race [rochester and strood] becomes a tie – but Labour could snatch it

14/1 on Labour winning the by-election looks very tasty, in light of the above, but I think most of my money today will be going on a Tory hold.

Dunno; if I was a labour supporter in Rochester, I would be seriously tempted to vote UKIP just to heap misery on Cameron. Two defeats could really bring him down.

[letsskiptotheleft]

Patrick Wintour ‏@patrickwintour 2m2 minutes ago
Lib Dems defining largest party as one with most votes, not seats, makes coalition 2.0 with DC easier. http://gu.com/p/426yv/tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; via @guardian

Complete scum. The lot of them.

Yep, also bleating about their negotiators, who happened to be their own leadership.

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehous ... ting-team/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PaulfromYorkshire]

It would be a much better and more honest General Election if Clegg and Cameron simply presented their joint Coalition plans for the future.

As if to prove me right

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/enviro ... esses.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Vince-Cable-admits-green-taxes-are-damaging-British-businesses

[letsskiptotheleft]

http://politicalbetting.com/

The race [rochester and strood] becomes a tie – but Labour could snatch it

14/1 on Labour winning the by-election looks very tasty, in light of the above, but I think most of my money today will be going on a Tory hold.

Dunno; if I was a labour supporter in Rochester, I would be seriously tempted to vote UKIP just to heap misery on Cameron. Two defeats could really bring him down.

Yes, with you there, maybe then the press will move on from the ''Ukip tanks on Labour lawn'' bollocks.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Wow even Ian Birrell…

Ian Birrell ‏@ianbirrell 1m1 minute ago
Surely this crazed suggestion to tax disability benefits cannot be for real? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 75338.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …