FlyTheNest

Tom Newton Dunn ‏@tnewtondunn 9h9 hours ago
"No10 and Grant Shapps are so incompetent, they can't even stitch someone up properly," a friend of Theresa May SPAD Nick Timothy.

Michael Crick
‏@MichaelLCrick
@tnewtondunn I blame Corinne Stockheath

yahyah wrote:

citizenJA wrote:

yahyah wrote:Afternoon.

Have got my Christmas reading sorted.
The library had a copy of the new Nye Bevan biography by Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds.
Reviews seem positive. The author has already written about Atlee.

Looking at one of the pics from the book, what stands out is that at 48 he was probably the youngest in the 1945 Labour cabinet.



Very different from our current political bunch where youth seems to win out over age.

I got it as a Christmas present from Mr. Citizen!

Hope you haven't unwrapped it yet JA, still five days to go.

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Tom Newton Dunn ‏@tnewtondunn 9h9 hours ago
"No10 and Grant Shapps are so incompetent, they can't even stitch someone up properly," a friend of Theresa May SPAD Nick Timothy.

Michael Crick
‏@MichaelLCrick
@tnewtondunn I blame Corinne Stockheath

'Cameron's judgement' again.

ohsocynical wrote:

yahyah wrote:

citizenJA wrote:I got it as a Christmas present from Mr. Citizen!

Hope you haven't unwrapped it yet JA, still five days to go.

I ordered a load of cheap paper backs from Amazon because I enjoyed reading a Susannah Gregory book about the middle ages in Cambridge and she has written a lot in the series. I intended saving them for Christmas, but couldn't stop myself, and have read them all.
Have also enjoyed CJ Sansome's Shardlake books. I'm saving the serious reading for later.

Edited to add. I did try getting them from ABBooks but they didn't have any listed. So I broke my embargo re Amazon.

Frances Ryan retweeted
ben stewart @benstewart999 · Dec 17
Well, @George_Osborne, your work is done. Today, India's national newspaper (The Hindu) ran this headline about us:

yahyah wrote:Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 8m 8 minutes ago
Some interesting polling tonight I'm told

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Separated at Christmas by council diktat: Couple married for 50 years left distraught after social workers refuse to let them stay in same nursing home despite doctor's approval
A distraught elderly couple face Christmas apart because of council rules
Raffaello Gerra, 84, and his wife Isabel, 70, have been married for 50 years
Mr Gerra cannot leave his hospital bed to visit his wife in her nursing home
Doctors say he should join Mrs Gerra in her care home but council say no
Milton Keynes Council say retired hotelier needs six-week assessment first
Their daughter says keeping parents apart is a 'box-ticking exercise'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... roval.html

Remember a similar case exposed a few years ago where a couple were separated in a similar way - one of them was blind, the other had other serious health problems? I seem to remember one was described as the other's eyes, and the other was their partners legs - very heartbreaking scenario. It was a Gloucestershire council as I remember it that very callously separated them - and paid a huge price when their son went public and the press went ballistic. I thought it was established then that this kind of thing is just really poor practice and shouldn't happen. The Gloucestershire council back tracked and issued statements to that effect anyway.

I'm hoping Milton Keynes gets it act together quick. The health and quality of life benefits for both from them being together will far outweigh any so called gains from him being assessed and then, most likely by the sound of it, kept apart from his wife. And I fail to see why the assessment can't be carried out in the nursing home - this is what was supposed to happen with lots of the national service frameworks - proper integration, collaboration and training so that different disciplines of health / social care workers could carry out single assessments.

AngryAsWell wrote:

rebeccariots2 wrote:

Separated at Christmas by council diktat: Couple married for 50 years left distraught after social workers refuse to let them stay in same nursing home despite doctor's approval
A distraught elderly couple face Christmas apart because of council rules
Raffaello Gerra, 84, and his wife Isabel, 70, have been married for 50 years
Mr Gerra cannot leave his hospital bed to visit his wife in her nursing home
Doctors say he should join Mrs Gerra in her care home but council say no
Milton Keynes Council say retired hotelier needs six-week assessment first
Their daughter says keeping parents apart is a 'box-ticking exercise'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... roval.html

Remember a similar case exposed a few years ago where a couple were separated in a similar way - one of them was blind, the other had other serious health problems? I seem to remember one was described as the other's eyes, and the other was their partners legs - very heartbreaking scenario. It was a Gloucestershire council as I remember it that very callously separated them - and paid a huge price when their son went public and the press went ballistic. I thought it was established then that this kind of thing is just really poor practice and shouldn't happen. The Gloucestershire council back tracked and issued statements to that effect anyway.

I'm hoping Milton Keynes gets it act together quick. The health and quality of life benefits for both from them being together will far outweigh any so called gains from him being assessed and then, most likely by the sound of it, kept apart from his wife. And I fail to see why the assessment can't be carried out in the nursing home - this is what was supposed to happen with lots of the national service frameworks - proper integration, collaboration and training so that different disciplines of health / social care workers could carry out single assessments.

As horrid as this sounds this is the bit I noticed
"But after the couple retired to Milton Keynes, Mrs Gerra was last year diagnosed with late stage dementia, and was forced to move into Ashby House Care Home."
When my MiL had the same diagnosis she was at the stage when not only did she not recognise FiL (or her children) she actively tried to harm them and would lash out uncontrollably and unexpectedly. Its a sad disease with appalling consequences for all, so although the story seem harsh, there could well be other issues going on that have not been explored by the paper. Not saying there are in this case, but there are always two side to be considered.

PorFavor wrote:Goodnight, everyone.

PorFavor wrote:Goodnight, everyone.

StephenDolan wrote:Please don't let too many licences be issued prior to the election. Not that I'm expecting this evidence led government to take such reports on-board.

http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archi ... an/383868/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ohsocynical wrote:

yahyah wrote:

citizenJA wrote:I got it as a Christmas present from Mr. Citizen!

Hope you haven't unwrapped it yet JA, still five days to go.

I ordered a load of cheap paper backs from Amazon because I enjoyed reading a Susannah Gregory book about the middle ages in Cambridge and she has written a lot in the series. I intended saving them for Christmas, but couldn't stop myself, and have read them all.
Have also enjoyed CJ Sansome's Shardlake books. I'm saving the serious reading for later.

Edited to add. I did try getting them from ABBooks but they didn't have any listed. So I broke my embargo re Amazon.

ohsocynical wrote:They're finding Trumpton UKIP a pain in the backside too

Ministers are "working on a solution" to avoid a drop in school funding for disadvantaged pupils because all England's infants now get free meals.

Pupil premium funding, worth £1,300 a year for each disadvantaged pupil registered, used to be tied to the number of pupils on free school meals.

But now low-income parents are required to register separately.

Schools Minister David Laws says he is working on a way of automatically identifying those who qualify.

He said he was "confident" the free school meal scheme could be delivered without any adverse effect on pupil premium funding.

He added: "There is no way we're going to allow that policy to be undermined, I can assure you of that."

The inherent contradictions of Conservatism and the tide that turned

http://kittysjones.wordpress.com/2014/1 ... servatism/
... This is a government that treats the public with contempt and delivers nothing but lies. Any party that can claim with a straight face that: “As part of our long-term economic plan, we’ve capped benefits to reward work” whilst presiding over the biggest drop in wages of all the G20 countries and a cost of living crisis that is leaving many people unable to meet even their most basic survival needs doesn’t care about democratic dialogue with the electorate.

And of course there is the basic absurdity of the claim – that cutting benefits for those out of work will somehow raise wages for those in work. The truth is that Conservatives like to keep people in a state of desperation so that they may be forced to take any work, no matter how unfair and low the pay is and no matter how poor the working conditions. Tories serve only the interests of the majority of their donors – private companies – who want to simply profit from cheap labour...

Hard Evidence: is a teacher shortage looming?
https://theconversation.com/hard-eviden ... ming-34990

rebeccariots2 wrote:Something I really don't want to hear at 7.30pm on a Saturday evening.

Fridge door opening - small pause - Mr Riots 'I could have sworn I had another beer in the fridge' ...

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 1m1 minute ago
LAB takes 7% lead in latet Opinium poll for Observer
LAB 36+2
CON 29=
UKIP 16-3
LD 6=
GRN 5

rearofthestore wrote:Bet this is what the Guardian/Observer highlights in its headlines:

Approval Ratings
Cameron -11
Miliband -28

AnatolyKasparov wrote:Tories genuinely hoped they would be ahead by the end of this year or at least effectively neck and neck- as was the case, pretty much, for a few weeks in November.

Osborne's "genius" has scuppered that, not for the first time

rearofthestore wrote:There's a bit of a trend now. Thank goodness!

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 1m1 minute ago
LAB takes 7% lead in latet Opinium poll for Observer
LAB 36+2
CON 29=
UKIP 16-3
LD 6=
GRN 5

rearofthestore wrote:Because I don't look any more. Is Nicholas B still talking about the moving averages and the next 5 polls on CIF?

rearofthestore wrote:Because I don't look any more. Is Nicholas B still talking about the moving averages and the next 5 polls on CIF?

rearofthestore wrote:Because I don't look any more. Is Nicholas B still talking about the moving averages and the next 5 polls on CIF?

Britain Elects ‏@britainelects · 7s7 seconds ago
National Opinion Poll (YouGov):
LAB - 34% (-1)
CON - 32% (+2)
UKIP - 15% (-1)
GRN - 8% (-)
LDEM - 6% (-)

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 37s37 seconds ago
Latest polls from Opinium, ICM, TNS, ComRes online, ComRes phone all have CON in 20s. With YouGov the blues rarely out of the 30s.

refitman wrote:

rearofthestore wrote:Bet this is what the Guardian/Observer highlights in its headlines:

Approval Ratings
Cameron -11
Miliband -28

The do mention it, but only in the terms that Miliband's has improved, while Cameron's have slipped. They do mention him 'forgetting' parts of the conference speech, but all in all, it's not very anti.

Rubisher's definitely on holiday.

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

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:And another one .....

Britain Elects ‏@britainelects · 7s7 seconds ago
National Opinion Poll (YouGov):
LAB - 34% (-1)
CON - 32% (+2)
UKIP - 15% (-1)
GRN - 8% (-)
LDEM - 6% (-)

Tish wrote:This is from yesterday, so apols if already posted but I couldn't see it anywhere. It seems that UKIPs "ordinary blokes" are not very happy about being pushed aside for a bunch of ex Tories and D List celebs. It's almost like they were just another political party stitching up the selection process for mates of the hierarchy.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... rnalSearch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tish wrote:These polls are all great, but I find it difficult to believe that the Autumn Statement could have had such a massive impact straight away. Aren't we always being told that one off political events don't really resonate with the public in such a dramatic way, unless they're the big kind of sex/fraud scandals that excite the tabloids? It makes me wonder how reliable all those polls claiming that that the parties were neck and neck a few weeks really were, becouse we now seem to be back at the same sort of figures that we've been at for the last three years, Labour with a 5/6 point lead.

I do wonder if the rise of the smaller parties is playing havoc with the traditional polling techniques, the way the Greens and the Lib Dems in particular are leaping up and down the polls is just ridiculous.

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

Tish wrote:This is from yesterday, so apols if already posted but I couldn't see it anywhere. It seems that UKIPs "ordinary blokes" are not very happy about being pushed aside for a bunch of ex Tories and D List celebs. It's almost like they were just another political party stitching up the selection process for mates of the hierarchy.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... rnalSearch" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some of the ex-Tory activists who've joined UKIP won't be happy either. It'll remind them of Cameron seeking to control candidates.

Any party that can claim with a straight face that: “As part of our long-term economic plan, we’ve capped benefits to reward work” whilst presiding over the biggest drop in wages of all the G20 countries

Tish wrote:These polls are all great, but I find it difficult to believe that the Autumn Statement could have had such a massive impact straight away. Aren't we always being told that one off political events don't really resonate with the public in such a dramatic way, unless they're the big kind of sex/fraud scandals that excite the tabloids? It makes me wonder how reliable all those polls claiming that that the parties were neck and neck a few weeks really were, becouse we now seem to be back at the same sort of figures that we've been at for the last three years, Labour with a 5/6 point lead.

I do wonder if the rise of the smaller parties is playing havoc with the traditional polling techniques, the way the Greens and the Lib Dems in particular are leaping up and down the polls is just ridiculous.