Thursday 27th November 2014

[Spacedone]

Nigel Farage fails to turn up for his own motion in European Parliament
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2014/11/n ... arliament/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I bet he didn't forget to pick up his expenses tho.....

Tut tut. They're not expenses, it's an allowance...

[citizenJA]

Ed masters discipline
Ed Balls is doing all he can to confound the Coalition’s narrative of Labour’s supposed economic profligacy. And while he may not be running in London next year, he tells Paul Waugh there’s still a marathon task ahead
A long read, but nothing new.

http://www.politicshome.com/uk/article/ ... pline.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd no idea Ed Balls was a musician - he's taking the Grade 4 piano exam the day after the Autumn Statement.

[Spacedone]

Is it me or is he morphing into Nick Griffin?

[AngryAsWell]

Nigel Farage fails to turn up for his own motion in European Parliament
http://politicalscrapbook.net/2014/11/n ... arliament/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I bet he didn't forget to pick up his expenses tho.....

Tut tut. They're not expenses, it's an allowance...

silly me....

[rebeccariots2]

@Spacedone
Is it me or is he morphing into Nick Griffin?

Best laugh I've had all day. Thousand thanks for that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Was this just a complete lie?

Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab): Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that real wages have fallen by up to 9% in recent years, with two thirds of those who got work last year earning less than the living wage. This is leading to extensive in-work poverty, especially in areas such as the north-east that already have lower incomes. How can the Prime Minister say that we are all in this together, and what will he do to tackle the issue?

The Prime Minister: First of all, we will go on growing the economy, creating jobs, and, crucially, cutting people’s taxes. Because the best way to help with this issue is to do what we have done, which is to lift 3 million of the lowest paid people out of poverty altogether and to cut taxes for 26 million more. The figures show that two thirds of the jobs we have created have been full-time jobs, not part-time jobs. The long-term economic plan is working.

[AngryAsWell]

Ed masters discipline
Ed Balls is doing all he can to confound the Coalition’s narrative of Labour’s supposed economic profligacy. And while he may not be running in London next year, he tells Paul Waugh there’s still a marathon task ahead
A long read, but nothing new.

http://www.politicshome.com/uk/article/ ... pline.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd no idea Ed Balls was a musician - he's taking the Grade 4 piano exam the day after the Autumn Statement.

Ed has a stammer. Part of overcoming that could/may have been be to start playing the piano, the metronome's steady regular beat helps to steady breathing and aid concentration, and that helps speech flow better.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Melton Blue ‏@MeltonBlue 2m2 minutes ago
Oh dear the Twitterati Left hurling insults and abuse.

Don't seem to like the #VoteLabourGetMiliband slogan

Can FTN let this individual know, something along the lines of:

#VoteLabourGetMiliband is excellent slogan thanks - but terrible hashtag as Tory antidote to #CameronMustGo

I've been generally sporting with them on Twitter hope it's OK

[Spacedone]

@Spacedone
Is it me or is he morphing into Nick Griffin?

Best laugh I've had all day. Thousand thanks for that.

And judging from Twitter I'm not the only one to have spotted the resemblance.

[tinyclanger2]

I got a sense during the EdFest a couple of weeks ago that there was some kind of tipping point on the horizon. I'm not saying things are going to miraculously get better, but it does seem that the MSM in their desperation have successfully triggered the process of their future decline into irrelevance. Given the Guardian's despicable hounding of Gordon Brown, and the BBC's roughly concomitant collapse into an air-head infested propaganda machine, this is an excellent turn of events.

I also see that the new series of Lilyhammer has arrived on Netflix....

[ErnstRemarx]

DPAC supported action on this:



Free lifts to school for disabled children facing axe by Coventry Council.


http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/c ... ign=buffer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This means 4-16 year olds. Essentially it is disabled transport, but makes it sound like these children are getting a freeby that other people don't get. These kids won't get to school at all without this kind of assistance. I don't know whether this is a widespread practice in councils or an isolated example, but I do know these children have as much right to access education as any other children.

I think there have been other councils making similar cuts - seem to remember a story relatively recently about it. Awful stuff happening now. Feels like the impact of government cuts to local authorities and other central programmes is really starting to have a very visible impact now ... with much more in the pipeline.

I'm sure Ernst will be along later to tell us what it is like trying to deal with the cuts to local authorities from a councillor perspective ... in his usual frank and robust way. I hope so anyway. I wouldn't like to be in that position now.

Editing to take out the 'doing' - which was doing nothing.

I'll tell you now. It's a massive pile of shit that we've been dumped in by central government. Make no mistake, when councils cut services, it's because of the effects of central government cuts, no more, no less. We're even worse off in Bury because we're the smallest metropolitan borough in the country and simply don't rack up the points (indices of deprivation) that neighbouring authorities do. For example, if we were the size of Rochdale (next door) we would actually have been given another £20m, as opposed to losing £54m. The Barnet formula fucks us over big time, and central government is completely uninterested, as we're not Tory and in the south.

We're seeing closures of all sorts of provision, and good people having to take redundancy at the council and it's heartbreaking. Faith school free travel for kids outside the immediate catchment area went 2 years back. I was in the overview and scrutiny meeting that tackled that, and I've rarely been as disgusted as I was that evening, with parents who've made a choice to send their kids to a faith school complaining bitterly that disabled kids still had free transport. If I'd been as christian, I would have been utterly ashamed to hear that. As a humanist, it made for a grim evening.

We're facing having to re-appraise and rejig practically every single service we do, and I find it utterly baffling that there are residents in the borough raising FB pages and conducting campaigns to get the council to restore services - very public ones - when it's simply a financial impossibility. These people claim they're the 'voice of reason' or suchlike, but in fact they're fantasists. Those services aren't coming back in the way they knew them; not now, not ever, unless a rich benefactor would like to replace that £54,000,000 that the Tories have swiped.

They can complain as much as they want, and probably vote us out down the road, but that will make fuck all difference to Bury's central government settlement. It will still be shite and if it's a Tory council by then, they can make the unedifying choices about shutting social need provision. I imagine those useless tossers will simply put Bury out to tender (or on Ebay), get a one year hit for a council tax cut and then preside over a catastrophic disintegration of services as they get ripped off by the private sector, who'll do them no favours.

Until then, we continue to fight the fight. I'm part of a budget group on the council that seeks to examine, streamline, enhance and otherwise scrutinise ideas for service change, and also ideas on how we can expand our ability to generate money. It's challenging to say the least, but I/we have already made a difference this year, and expect to next. The frightening bit is that you're at the coal face, discussing the issues regarding people's livelihoods and millions of pounds - but I'd rather it were me than some fucking Tory or FibDem numpty.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

I always like Ally Fogg and now I know why

[ErnstRemarx]

https://downdetector.co.uk/problems/twitter

[edit] It might not hurt to close your browser completely and open it up again. Or even reboot the PC. Gremlins get everywhere.

Thanks but not worked still no reply or retweet button, wonder if they doing an update or something ...

I don't use it but I have an account and it's fine. Maybe you've been reported??

Or it's just buggy.

[edit] saying that a different site I use keeps crashing, it could be the internet. Maybe someone dropped it.

diGriz, I've got to tell you something.

Your avatar is a duck isn't it?

Yet, when I look at it, I see a chimp viewed at chest height and slightly from the left using two hands to steady and aim a revolver, a la the best crime shows.

I desperately hope that other people can see it too or else I'm going to have to seek some form of therapy (perhaps including beer).

[PaulfromYorkshire]

National Opinion Poll (YouGov):
LAB - 31% (-1)
CON - 31% (-2)
UKIP - 17% (+1)
LDEM - 8% (+2)
GRN - 6% (-1)

Weird?

[TechnicalEphemera]

National Opinion Poll (YouGov):
LAB - 31% (-1)
CON - 31% (-2)
UKIP - 17% (+1)
LDEM - 8% (+2)
GRN - 6% (-1)

Weird?

Sampling error.

Statistically no change. I think they are all showing a small Labour lead.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Thanks but not worked still no reply or retweet button, wonder if they doing an update or something ...

I don't use it but I have an account and it's fine. Maybe you've been reported??

Or it's just buggy.

[edit] saying that a different site I use keeps crashing, it could be the internet. Maybe someone dropped it.

diGriz, I've got to tell you something.

Your avatar is a duck isn't it?

Yet, when I look at it, I see a chimp viewed at chest height and slightly from the left using two hands to steady and aim a revolver, a la the best crime shows.

I desperately hope that other people can see it too or else I'm going to have to seek some form of therapy (perhaps including beer).

I'm really worried now because no matter how I try I can't see a duck it's a chimp with a gun and always has been.

[ErnstRemarx]

OK so twitter now working but FTN keeps logging me out even with the ticked thing ticked

Hi AAW, I'll check the admin setting for the board, but I think we've got persistent logins checked. Does your browser clear all cookies and history when you close it? That might explain why you have to keep logging back in (publicly broadcast in case others have the same issue).

[citizenJA]

Morning all.

Haven't read the report yet but there's (imo) a fundamental error in logic in the second paragraph.
The outcome of the vote is, of course, irrefutable but the idea that the promise of more powers in some way influenced the result is, as far as I am aware, unproven. The only conclusion that can be drawn from the referendum is that the majority of Scottish residents wish to remain in the UK - nothing more or less.

I need to write my thoughts here - you're absolutely correct, Eric.

The report shouldn't have attempted to combine the thoughts of my Scottish friends with the promises, pledges, oaths made by government prior to their voting on the issue below.

My friends in Scotland voted YES or NO when each were asked - "Should Scotland be an independent country".
An electorate turnout of 84.6%, 3,619,915 people, gave our country their responses.

Every promise government made to Scotland before that vote must be fulfilled regardless of the result. To do otherwise leaves government prone to reap the personal consequences of infamous conduct.

Scottish Independence Referendum 2014

No - 55.3% 2,001,926
Yes - 44.7% 1,617,989

http://www.ukpolitical.info/scottish-in ... rendum.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

edited here to add - I'm specifically referring to the inappropriate hypothesising of the thoughts, motivations & consciences of Scottish voters

Scotland voted ‘No’, but it did so with each of the three main UK parties promising more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

That's not ours to know, nor does it advance anything of value - it muddies the waters.

There was, though, quite a lot of complaint that there was no option for Devo-Max on the referendum ballot paper – at least in my circles and in what I read via press and social media – at the time the referendum was being campaigned for and then agreed.

I deliberated before posting what I did earlier today. I don't know now if I've been wise posting it because I'm aware of the pain the Scottish Referendum vote & outcome have caused remains. I posted the number of people & the percentages of voters for YES & NO. I did this for a pointed, explicit reason. I failed to adequately explain my motivation for doing so.

No - 55.3% 2,001,926
Yes - 44.7% 1,617,989

"Now here’s the thing. All of us, all political leaders, all of us in this hall, have a responsibility to try and explain why 45 per cent of people voted yes."

- Ed Miliband
23 September 2014

Miliband acknowledged 45% of Scottish people voted to make Scotland an independent country. So do I. That hasn't just gone away. A momentous vote - look at that voter turnout - almost 85% of the entire electorate voted.

I'd be really pissed off if 85% of my friends & I turned up to vote & found only one question on the ballot & nothing more after having been promised more. Was the referendum ballot paper supposed to have the Devo-Max option on it at the time of the referendum? Dave beseeching Scottish people not to vote for independence because Tories wouldn't always be in government was probably the most authentic words I've heard from him but his word is nothing & his promises worthless because he's repeatedly broken his word, he's betrayed trust. Look at the mess he's created. Dave originally decided the option on the ballot for the Scottish Referendum. Dave may very well have promised the ballot would have a Devo-Max option as well as the independence, yes or no option. The Scottish voters didn't show up to find they had more options. I know, some postal ballots were cast already - what is Dave's government promising? What is happening? No one needs to prove to me or anyone 45% of those Scottish voters wanting independence from the rest of the country & 55% of the Scottish voters choosing to remain a part of the country need to all be given what they've been promised.

"Scotland voted ‘No’, but it did so with each of the three main UK parties promising more powers for the Scottish Parliament."

Scotland voted ‘No’. Each of the three main UK parties promised more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

The promises must be kept.

[citizenJA]

Yet, when I look at it, I see a chimp viewed at chest height and slightly from the left using two hands to steady and aim a revolver, a la the best crime shows.

You mean it's not?

It's not a duck.

It's a chimp on a bed holding a gun.

[citizenJA]

I'm really worried now because no matter how I try I can't see a duck it's a chimp with a gun and always has been.

Good. I'm in good company.

[ErnstRemarx]

Natalie Rowe @RealNatalieRowe · Nov 26
A man up at my door now! ,saying I need to sign for a letter or I'll be arrested and taken away to Holloway prison! IVE Called the Police

Natalie Rowe @RealNatalieRowe · Nov 26
Police arrived, man had left, very threatening behaviour , said I needed to sign for a letter from a Solicitor, I have CCTV Police will look

Natalie Rowe @RealNatalieRowe · Nov 26
@b_magnanti Since when do you go to Holloway for not signing a letter? Someone is keen to serve papers on me, wonder WHO, I'm ok, PHEW !

Natalie Rowe @RealNatalieRowe · Nov 26
@bitch_Jennifer I didn't open my door, Hopefully CCTV will shed some light, once it's downloaded

She's a hoot, isn't she. Well her twitter thread is certainly a real hoot ...

I sincerely hope that all the evidence that she has and that she's happy to dish is in secure locations with strict instructions as to its release to friends/relatives/friendly media as necessary. That's the minimum I'd do, as I'm pretty sure there are government personnel who have previous on break ins, and who wouldn't blink an eyelid.

[citizenJA]

I always like Ally Fogg and now I know why

Yes, me too. Ally Fogg seems like he'd be good company, you know? Intelligent, not fussy, down to earth.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Funnily enough, he's just been a bit sarcy to me. Said private schools about the tie- I said Hunt's proposals would force them to share work experience, alumni etc. He wasn't impressed.

But I like him.

[citizenJA]

Ed masters discipline
Ed Balls is doing all he can to confound the Coalition’s narrative of Labour’s supposed economic profligacy. And while he may not be running in London next year, he tells Paul Waugh there’s still a marathon task ahead
A long read, but nothing new.

http://www.politicshome.com/uk/article/ ... pline.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'd no idea Ed Balls was a musician - he's taking the Grade 4 piano exam the day after the Autumn Statement.

Ed has a stammer. Part of overcoming that could/may have been be to start playing the piano, the metronome's steady regular beat helps to steady breathing and aid concentration, and that helps speech flow better.

I knew about the speech impediment. Musicians make better mathematicians - I've read that somewhere, it might be completely wrong. Also, is a Chancellor better for being a good mathematician? I don't know. Ed Balls is an interesting man; Miliband hasn't moved Ed Balls & I trust Miliband's judgement.

[ErnstRemarx]

I don't use it but I have an account and it's fine. Maybe you've been reported??

Or it's just buggy.

[edit] saying that a different site I use keeps crashing, it could be the internet. Maybe someone dropped it.

diGriz, I've got to tell you something.

Your avatar is a duck isn't it?

Yet, when I look at it, I see a chimp viewed at chest height and slightly from the left using two hands to steady and aim a revolver, a la the best crime shows.

I desperately hope that other people can see it too or else I'm going to have to seek some form of therapy (perhaps including beer).

I'm really worried now because no matter how I try I can't see a duck it's a chimp with a gun and always has been.

Now I'm worried! For a long time I saw a mallard snapped from upper right, but sort of monochrome (hence no green flashes).

Are you absolutely sure it's not a duck? I've got to stop doing class A's.

[citizenJA]

Funnily enough, he's just been a bit sarcy to me. Said private schools about the tie- I said Hunt's proposals would force them to share work experience, alumni etc. He wasn't impressed.

But I like him.

Ah, did he really, then? Yes, I can believe that. You're right. I'm impressed with Hunt's proposals. Fogg's mistaken.

[Hobiejoe]

Thanks but not worked still no reply or retweet button, wonder if they doing an update or something ...

I don't use it but I have an account and it's fine. Maybe you've been reported??

Or it's just buggy.

[edit] saying that a different site I use keeps crashing, it could be the internet. Maybe someone dropped it.

diGriz, I've got to tell you something.

Your avatar is a duck isn't it?

Yet, when I look at it, I see a chimp viewed at chest height and slightly from the left using two hands to steady and aim a revolver, a la the best crime shows.

I desperately hope that other people can see it too or else I'm going to have to seek some form of therapy (perhaps including beer).

Beer, Mathter? Of courth thir...it ith my calling. Well, that and the jars full of wobbly bits. Oopth, dropped my lipth for a thecund!

[Eric_WLothian]

Morning all.

Haven't read the report yet but there's (imo) a fundamental error in logic in the second paragraph.
The outcome of the vote is, of course, irrefutable but the idea that the promise of more powers in some way influenced the result is, as far as I am aware, unproven. The only conclusion that can be drawn from the referendum is that the majority of Scottish residents wish to remain in the UK - nothing more or less.

I need to write my thoughts here - you're absolutely correct, Eric.

The report shouldn't have attempted to combine the thoughts of my Scottish friends with the promises, pledges, oaths made by government prior to their voting on the issue below.

My friends in Scotland voted YES or NO when each were asked - "Should Scotland be an independent country".
An electorate turnout of 84.6%, 3,619,915 people, gave our country their responses.

Every promise government made to Scotland before that vote must be fulfilled regardless of the result. To do otherwise leaves government prone to reap the personal consequences of infamous conduct.

Scottish Independence Referendum 2014

No - 55.3% 2,001,926
Yes - 44.7% 1,617,989

http://www.ukpolitical.info/scottish-in ... rendum.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

edited here to add - I'm specifically referring to the inappropriate hypothesising of the thoughts, motivations & consciences of Scottish voters

Scotland voted ‘No’, but it did so with each of the three main UK parties promising more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

That's not ours to know, nor does it advance anything of value - it muddies the waters.

There was, though, quite a lot of complaint that there was no option for Devo-Max on the referendum ballot paper – at least in my circles and in what I read via press and social media – at the time the referendum was being campaigned for and then agreed.

Apologies for coming back to this so late in the day (been at granddaughter's school concert).
The trouble with devo-max are (a) it has never been defined and (b) it would affect the whole of the UK, therefore it's unfair to only put it to Scottish voters. As I see it, it's perfectly ok for Scotland to vote on leaving the 'club' but it's not ok to try to change the rules of the club without allowing the other members to vote. I really hate to say this, but on this occasion I think Dave was right to insist on the yes/no question.

It would be interesting to know if the (vague) promises from the unionist parties affected the number of 'no' votes. I, personally, don't know anybody who hadn't made their mind up long before the rogue opinion poll panicked the 'no' camp.

For me, the absurdity of some of the SNP assertions far outweighed any possible retraction of the promises made by the UK parties. I think the haste to placate the SNP is unfortunate (to say the least). (Wasn't it once called appeasement)?

By the way, when the Irish Republic reduced APD, the UK gov reduced it for Belfast, so they wouldn't lose out. I can see airports in the North mirroring any reductions in Scotland.

[seeingclearly]

Is it me or is he morphing into Nick Griffin?

I've got an eye for the oblique, so was drawn to the lower right corner of your post, where I found a headline about paracetamol, that ubiquitous end result of hours of waiting in A&E and weeks of trying to get an appointment with a GP. I'm also very unusually bored tonight, and news of a Govian appearance on QT burst a brief notion that I might want to watch it.

I wound up instead wondering what 80 million quids worth of paracetamol might mean. So here it is.....

2.90(recurring)billion standard adult doses

or

44.75 tablets worth for every man woman and child in Britain given an infinitesimal margin of error.

Of course there is the matter of paediatric dosing which would change that figure.

--------------------------

I know, you have to be very bored to do this stuff. I am. Life on a sofa is limited to say the least, and having always lived a pretty full life is driving me a little bit nuts, so if my posts are a bit bonkers please forgive me. Was I really empathising with our Chancellor not long ago? I re watched the clip, much larger today, and merely wondered exactly what he was seeing. Oh, well..........

Wondering how many other people have an ancient tub of NHS supplied painkillers stashed in a drawer or bathroom cabinet.....

[Tubby Isaacs]

For me, the absurdity of some of the SNP assertions far outweighed any possible retraction of the promises made by the UK parties

Indeed.

And the overwhelming confidence Scotland would do everything bettter, just because.

[citizenJA]

DPAC supported action on this:



Free lifts to school for disabled children facing axe by Coventry Council.


http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/c ... ign=buffer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This means 4-16 year olds. Essentially it is disabled transport, but makes it sound like these children are getting a freeby that other people don't get. These kids won't get to school at all without this kind of assistance. I don't know whether this is a widespread practice in councils or an isolated example, but I do know these children have as much right to access education as any other children.

I think there have been other councils making similar cuts - seem to remember a story relatively recently about it. Awful stuff happening now. Feels like the impact of government cuts to local authorities and other central programmes is really starting to have a very visible impact now ... with much more in the pipeline.

I'm sure Ernst will be along later to tell us what it is like trying to deal with the cuts to local authorities from a councillor perspective ... in his usual frank and robust way. I hope so anyway. I wouldn't like to be in that position now.

Editing to take out the 'doing' - which was doing nothing.

I'll tell you now. It's a massive pile of shit that we've been dumped in by central government. Make no mistake, when councils cut services, it's because of the effects of central government cuts, no more, no less. We're even worse off in Bury because we're the smallest metropolitan borough in the country and simply don't rack up the points (indices of deprivation) that neighbouring authorities do. For example, if we were the size of Rochdale (next door) we would actually have been given another £20m, as opposed to losing £54m. The Barnet formula fucks us over big time, and central government is completely uninterested, as we're not Tory and in the south.

We're seeing closures of all sorts of provision, and good people having to take redundancy at the council and it's heartbreaking. Faith school free travel for kids outside the immediate catchment area went 2 years back. I was in the overview and scrutiny meeting that tackled that, and I've rarely been as disgusted as I was that evening, with parents who've made a choice to send their kids to a faith school complaining bitterly that disabled kids still had free transport. If I'd been as christian, I would have been utterly ashamed to hear that. As a humanist, it made for a grim evening.

We're facing having to re-appraise and rejig practically every single service we do, and I find it utterly baffling that there are residents in the borough raising FB pages and conducting campaigns to get the council to restore services - very public ones - when it's simply a financial impossibility. These people claim they're the 'voice of reason' or suchlike, but in fact they're fantasists. Those services aren't coming back in the way they knew them; not now, not ever, unless a rich benefactor would like to replace that £54,000,000 that the Tories have swiped.

They can complain as much as they want, and probably vote us out down the road, but that will make fuck all difference to Bury's central government settlement. It will still be shite and if it's a Tory council by then, they can make the unedifying choices about shutting social need provision. I imagine those useless tossers will simply put Bury out to tender (or on Ebay), get a one year hit for a council tax cut and then preside over a catastrophic disintegration of services as they get ripped off by the private sector, who'll do them no favours.

Until then, we continue to fight the fight. I'm part of a budget group on the council that seeks to examine, streamline, enhance and otherwise scrutinise ideas for service change, and also ideas on how we can expand our ability to generate money. It's challenging to say the least, but I/we have already made a difference this year, and expect to next. The frightening bit is that you're at the coal face, discussing the issues regarding people's livelihoods and millions of pounds - but I'd rather it were me than some fucking Tory or FibDem numpty.

I would like to work in local government with you.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Funnily enough, he's just been a bit sarcy to me. Said private schools about the tie- I said Hunt's proposals would force them to share work experience, alumni etc. He wasn't impressed.

But I like him.

Ah, did he really, then? Yes, I can believe that. You're right. I'm impressed with Hunt's proposals. Fogg's mistaken.

He replied with something about just lifting up a few to join priveleged lot.

I said that's what bursaries do. Not sure he knew the proposals.

[Tubby Isaacs]

http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/29 ... y-election" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lib Dems beaten by TUSC.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

David Lindsay retweeted
Michele Paule ‏@michele_paule 47s48 seconds ago
3 by-elections in Oxford today; 3 big wins for @Oxford_Labour. Shows limited appeal of Kippers & Greens as alternatives to Tories here

[PaulfromYorkshire]

http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/29 ... y-election

Lib Dems beaten by TUSC.

37 votes Clegg should resign it's pathetic

[ErnstRemarx]

I think there have been other councils making similar cuts - seem to remember a story relatively recently about it. Awful stuff happening now. Feels like the impact of government cuts to local authorities and other central programmes is really starting to have a very visible impact now ... with much more in the pipeline.

I'm sure Ernst will be along later to tell us what it is like trying to deal with the cuts to local authorities from a councillor perspective ... in his usual frank and robust way. I hope so anyway. I wouldn't like to be in that position now.

Editing to take out the 'doing' - which was doing nothing.

I'll tell you now. It's a massive pile of shit that we've been dumped in by central government. Make no mistake, when councils cut services, it's because of the effects of central government cuts, no more, no less. We're even worse off in Bury because we're the smallest metropolitan borough in the country and simply don't rack up the points (indices of deprivation) that neighbouring authorities do. For example, if we were the size of Rochdale (next door) we would actually have been given another £20m, as opposed to losing £54m. The Barnet formula fucks us over big time, and central government is completely uninterested, as we're not Tory and in the south.

We're seeing closures of all sorts of provision, and good people having to take redundancy at the council and it's heartbreaking. Faith school free travel for kids outside the immediate catchment area went 2 years back. I was in the overview and scrutiny meeting that tackled that, and I've rarely been as disgusted as I was that evening, with parents who've made a choice to send their kids to a faith school complaining bitterly that disabled kids still had free transport. If I'd been as christian, I would have been utterly ashamed to hear that. As a humanist, it made for a grim evening.

We're facing having to re-appraise and rejig practically every single service we do, and I find it utterly baffling that there are residents in the borough raising FB pages and conducting campaigns to get the council to restore services - very public ones - when it's simply a financial impossibility. These people claim they're the 'voice of reason' or suchlike, but in fact they're fantasists. Those services aren't coming back in the way they knew them; not now, not ever, unless a rich benefactor would like to replace that £54,000,000 that the Tories have swiped.

They can complain as much as they want, and probably vote us out down the road, but that will make fuck all difference to Bury's central government settlement. It will still be shite and if it's a Tory council by then, they can make the unedifying choices about shutting social need provision. I imagine those useless tossers will simply put Bury out to tender (or on Ebay), get a one year hit for a council tax cut and then preside over a catastrophic disintegration of services as they get ripped off by the private sector, who'll do them no favours.

Until then, we continue to fight the fight. I'm part of a budget group on the council that seeks to examine, streamline, enhance and otherwise scrutinise ideas for service change, and also ideas on how we can expand our ability to generate money. It's challenging to say the least, but I/we have already made a difference this year, and expect to next. The frightening bit is that you're at the coal face, discussing the issues regarding people's livelihoods and millions of pounds - but I'd rather it were me than some fucking Tory or FibDem numpty.

I would like to work in local government with you.

Thank you JA, that's uncommonly kind of you.

I don't like what I'm having to tackle, and no-one I can think of in the Labour group on the council relishes what we're doing in any sense at all - none of us came into politics to cut provision and services. But we're where we are, and, as I said better me and a few inventive lefties with some imagination than the brain dead that fill the ranks opposite us who are truly unfit for - any - purpose, lest it be being penny for the Guys.

[citizenJA]

I need to write my thoughts here - you're absolutely correct, Eric.

The report shouldn't have attempted to combine the thoughts of my Scottish friends with the promises, pledges, oaths made by government prior to their voting on the issue below.

My friends in Scotland voted YES or NO when each were asked - "Should Scotland be an independent country".
An electorate turnout of 84.6%, 3,619,915 people, gave our country their responses.

Every promise government made to Scotland before that vote must be fulfilled regardless of the result. To do otherwise leaves government prone to reap the personal consequences of infamous conduct.
edited here to add - I'm specifically referring to the inappropriate hypothesising of the thoughts, motivations & consciences of Scottish voters That's not ours to know, nor does it advance anything of value - it muddies the waters.

There was, though, quite a lot of complaint that there was no option for Devo-Max on the referendum ballot paper – at least in my circles and in what I read via press and social media – at the time the referendum was being campaigned for and then agreed.

Apologies for coming back to this so late in the day (been at granddaughter's school concert).
The trouble with devo-max are (a) it has never been defined and (b) it would affect the whole of the UK, therefore it's unfair to only put it to Scottish voters. As I see it, it's perfectly ok for Scotland to vote on leaving the 'club' but it's not ok to try to change the rules of the club without allowing the other members to vote. I really hate to say this, but on this occasion I think Dave was right to insist on the yes/no question.

It would be interesting to know if the (vague) promises from the unionist parties affected the number of 'no' votes. I, personally, don't know anybody who hadn't made their mind up long before the rogue opinion poll panicked the 'no' camp.

For me, the absurdity of some of the SNP assertions far outweighed any possible retraction of the promises made by the UK parties. I think the haste to placate the SNP is unfortunate (to say the least). (Wasn't it once called appeasement)?

By the way, when the Irish Republic reduced APD, the UK gov reduced it for Belfast, so they wouldn't lose out. I can see airports in the North mirroring any reductions in Scotland.

It would be interesting to know if the (vague) promises from the unionist parties affected the number of 'no' votes. I, personally, don't know anybody who hadn't made their mind up long before the rogue opinion poll panicked the 'no' camp.

I used many words to more or less agree here - really - I was struck with your earlier post connecting voting outcomes based upon promises made.

Scotland voted ‘No’, but it did so with each of the three main UK parties promising more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

Scotland voted No. Each of the three main UK parties promised more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And even worse.

LAB HOLD Blackbird Leys ward. LAB 509 UKIP 91 CON 27 GRN 21 TUSC 13 LD 11

[Eric_WLothian]

For me, the absurdity of some of the SNP assertions far outweighed any possible retraction of the promises made by the UK parties

Indeed.

And the overwhelming confidence Scotland would do everything bettter, just because.

TBH, I would vote to scrap devolution before I would vote for independence. The Lab/Lib coalitions worked fine - there was no appreciable conflict between Holyrood and Westminster and the lack of a single ruling party meant that a second (moderating) chamber was unnecessary. With a single party majority, the Scottish Parliament can do what it wants, without any effective opposition.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Funnily enough, he's just been a bit sarcy to me. Said private schools about the tie- I said Hunt's proposals would force them to share work experience, alumni etc. He wasn't impressed.

But I like him.

That's the thing. I think I really like him then he says something annoying. Guess he's just human and different to me. It's almost like we want these poor writers to be our perfect mates.

Why we like him I think is because he believes what he says and Rusbridger hasn't compromised him.

Yet

[PaulfromYorkshire]

And even worse.

LAB HOLD Blackbird Leys ward. LAB 509 UKIP 91 CON 27 GRN 21 TUSC 13 LD 11

Pathetic enough to be written in a word.

ELEVEN votes?!

[citizenJA]

ErnstRemarx -

I don't like what I'm having to tackle, and no-one I can think of in the Labour group on the council relishes what we're doing in any sense at all - none of us came into politics to cut provision and services. But we're where we are, and, as I said better me and a few inventive lefties with some imagination than the brain dead that fill the ranks opposite us who are truly unfit for - any - purpose, lest it be being penny for the Guys.

A few inventive lefties with imagination helped create the NHS.

I'm glad to know you. My spouses siblings & families live in Bury. It's a beautiful place. I'm torn. Stoke is too; beauty is often in unlooked for places.

[citizenJA]

We've more confirmation individual votes matter a lot.

[TechnicalEphemera]

And even worse.

LAB HOLD Blackbird Leys ward. LAB 509 UKIP 91 CON 27 GRN 21 TUSC 13 LD 11

Exactly the sort of place UKIP should be romping home in, according to our right wing press.

I will clearly have to stop taking the piss out of TUSC they are becoming the 5th party in this country.

(Admire the left, gifted unification by Clegg it still splits into 3 - Thatcher was right - Losers).

[ErnstRemarx]

ErnstRemarx -

I don't like what I'm having to tackle, and no-one I can think of in the Labour group on the council relishes what we're doing in any sense at all - none of us came into politics to cut provision and services. But we're where we are, and, as I said better me and a few inventive lefties with some imagination than the brain dead that fill the ranks opposite us who are truly unfit for - any - purpose, lest it be being penny for the Guys.

A few inventive lefties with imagination helped create the NHS.

I'm glad to know you. My spouses siblings & families live in Bury. It's a beautiful place. I'm torn. Stoke is too; beauty is often in unlooked for places.

Thank you.

Curiously enough, I went to Keele University, so I know/knew Stoke, Hanley, Burslem (Boslem!), Newcastle and Silverdale very well indeed. What an odd crossover! I'd be interested to know what your other half's rellies think of us: I'll put money on us being the devil incarnate for the three weekly bin collections... I hope they share your politics!

Bury *is* beautiful, particularly my ward, where I live. And that's why I don't want it fucked up by a bunch of politically illiterate and cranially challenged morons who'd have problems pouring piss out of a boot even if the instructions to do so were written on the boot's sole.

[refitman]

http://www.hillingdon.gov.uk/article/29 ... y-election

Lib Dems beaten by TUSC.

37 votes Clegg should resign it's pathetic

Did they hear about Labour's '35%' strategy, but miss the %?

[TechnicalEphemera]

For me, the absurdity of some of the SNP assertions far outweighed any possible retraction of the promises made by the UK parties

Indeed.

And the overwhelming confidence Scotland would do everything bettter, just because.

TBH, I would vote to scrap devolution before I would vote for independence. The Lab/Lib coalitions worked fine - there was no appreciable conflict between Holyrood and Westminster and the lack of a single ruling party meant that a second (moderating) chamber was unnecessary. With a single party majority, the Scottish Parliament can do what it wants, without any effective opposition.

While we are at it WTF were the Scottish Greens playing at on abortion.

Cretins, irresponsible cretins. Scotland is not more liberal on abortion than rBritain.

[Eric_WLothian]

Scotland voted No. Each of the three main UK parties promised more powers for the Scottish Parliament.

They did indeed - promises made in haste which will, imo, be regretted at leisure. There are powers conferred under the Scotland Act 2012 (including some tax-raising responsibilities) which are to be implemented next year. Better to have waited for these before rushing ahead in a panic!

[Tubby Isaacs]

Funnily enough, he's just been a bit sarcy to me. Said private schools about the tie- I said Hunt's proposals would force them to share work experience, alumni etc. He wasn't impressed.

But I like him.

That's the thing. I think I really like him then he says something annoying. Guess he's just human and different to me. It's almost like we want these poor writers to be our perfect mates.

Why we like him I think is because he believes what he says and Rusbridger hasn't compromised him.

Yet

This is it in a nutshell.

No prob with his tweet or tone- just that he probably hadn't seen Hunt's ideas. And it was only a tweet- not an article or anything, where I always like him.

[Tubby Isaacs]

And even worse.

LAB HOLD Blackbird Leys ward. LAB 509 UKIP 91 CON 27 GRN 21 TUSC 13 LD 11

Exactly the sort of place UKIP should be romping home in, according to our right wing press.

I will clearly have to stop taking the piss out of TUSC they are becoming the 5th party in this country.

(Admire the left, gifted unification by Clegg it still splits into 3 - Thatcher was right - Losers).

Exactly, yes. Not a well-off area, but with the rich very close by, as well as lots of those dreadful middle class leftists.