Friday 6th February

[mikems]

Buttered crumpets. I always suffer from Spoonerism when I hear them mentioned.

[pk1]

What the bloody hell in going on with Labour & some of their councillors ?

Redcar, Rotherham now Stafford ?

http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.u ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TechnicalEphemera]

Pet hate again, inability of the press to report on aviation accidents.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/f ... led-taiwan

In reality - one engine failed, the other engine appears to have been shut down by the crew.

No confirmation as to why, yet. Very unusually the FDR data seems to have been released.

So if they can't get the basics right, why bother reporting.

[Willow904]

I love it. And my daughter puts it on buttered crumpets

My youngest is obsessed with marmite.

The fondant confection known as the Cadbury Creme Egg clearly separates the world into two kinds of people: Those who love them & those who don't. And both kinds of people are good.

Same with marmite.

From what I've heard Kraft are selflessly promoting harmony by changing the cream egg recipe to ensure we're all united in finding cream eggs disgusting. Lindt chocolate eggs are now poised to take over the world...

[Lonewolfie]

...money talks, as usual...and then, for me, perhaps the saddest news - much as I hate to say it, it seems Citizen Tommy has also been 'turned'. From a position of trying to clear his name and fight Murkydochia (a certain Mr Coulson was supposed to be facing charges of perjury in January) he seems to have changed his focus - his blog no longer exists and every tweet and public appearance is passionately Nationalist - still uttering socialist words, just not really looking at anything but 'Scotland will be free of the Tories' (and everyone in England is Tory) - so he no longer fights for the common man - just the Scottish common man...alongside Murkydochian favourite and Chief Scottish Obfuscation Enabler Salmond....and what of the perjury trial? Google seems to have been purged with no reference dated after the 21st of November, the date Coulson left prison I really hope I'm wrong, but something smells a bit.

I posted this from James Doleman on Monday:

@jamesdoleman: Andy Coulson pre-trial hearing in Edinburgh adjourns until next Monday.

so all is not over for young Mr C

Thanks PK - I missed that - a bit more light in Hope then I'm not sure quite how it'll play out though - ex-Chief MSM Manipulator (who may or may not have been jettisoned - unlikely as he has much knowledge of the stench of Murkydochia) vs a high profile Indy campaigner (Independence being the Murkydochian ambition)...

...and while I'm on MSM/Westmonster manipulation, isn't the raised profile of anti-Semetism (as opposed to reporting, raising and having people shouting in a studio about the 213% increase in disability hate crime http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/551327 ... ise-by-213) a cast-iron, gold-plated opportunity to enthusiastically support the next Jewish Prime Minister?

[HindleA]

LAB retains 3% lead with Populus online
Lab 34 (-), Con 31 (-), LD 8 (-), UKIP 16 (+2), GRN -1

[AngryAsWell]

Morning all and welcome SallyFran! Do feel free to get stuck in!

This King's Fund stuff: just listened to the bloke on the wireless. He said H&SCA was a massive diversion of resources in the first half of this Parliament and even reminded those who've forgotten that it was something Empty Dave explicitly promised not to do. So far so good. Then he said that the last thing the NHS needs now is another shake-up. He further said that he thought all the party leaders 'get this'. My question is: if Labour repeals H&SCA, as it has pledged to do, will this imply a further large re-organisation or can it be done by simply making small changes here and there? I honestly don't 'get it'.

I thought it was the 2013 regulations they were going to repeal, not the whole thing?
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013 ... tents/made" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nop the whole lot is going

So, if elected, Labour will introduce a Bill to repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012 in our first Queen’s Speech.

http://andyburnhammp.blogspot.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mikems]

Good news about the people refused entry to attend their granddaughter's funeral :

Thank you! My parents' visas have been granted.
Charity Gada
Eastbourne, United Kingdom

6 Feb 2015 — Last night we got the news we have been waiting for - my parents were granted visas to come to the UK for Andrea's funeral.

I want to say thank you so much to everyone who signed this petition and supported us.

Nothing can bring my daughter back - but we now know that we can do everything we want for her at her funeral. And most importantly her grandparents will there.

I cannot tell you have much comfort it will give me having my mother there with me.

Thank you for taking the time to support us. We never believed so many people would be willing to speak out for us.

Thank you,
Charity

[HindleA]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/201 ... -year-high" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


"U.K trade deficit widens to four year high "

Britain’s trade deficit last year was the widest since the coalition came to power, dealing a blow to the government’s drive to rebalance the economy away from consumer spending.

Official figures released on Friday, showing a trading deficit for goods and services of £34.8bn in 2014, will make disappointing reading for the Conservative party as it seeks to capitalise on its economic record ahead of May’s election. Despite a vow to revive manufacturing and raise exports, the trade deficit last year was the widest since 2010 as exports fell faster than imports.

[citizenJA]

LabourList media round up:

DISABLED people are told to call a premium rate government advice line more than a year after a No10 order to end them. The Disability Living Allowance Helpline, overseen by the Department for Work and Pensions, still has an 0845 number at up to 41p a minute. And last year it took 3.6million calls, making its private company operators a fortune. Veteran Labour MP Frank Field helped The Sun expose the Rip-Off Britain scandal of premium rate numbers being forced on the needy. - The Sun (£)

Can't quote from the article but Frank Field & the Scum giving a hoot about the 'needy' must surely win today's oxymoron prize.

Oh, hang on...Esther McVey told us all repeatedly during the committee inquiry how carefully the most vulnerable people in the nation were being treated by her Tory government...

http://data.parliament.uk/writteneviden ... /17970.pdf

What a piece of work it is.

[gilsey]

Britain’s trade deficit last year was the widest since the coalition came to power, dealing a blow to the government’s drive to rebalance the economy away from consumer spending.

Hardly surprising seeing as the 'drive' consisted of words and no action whatsoever.

[gilsey]

Morning all and welcome SallyFran! Do feel free to get stuck in!

This King's Fund stuff: just listened to the bloke on the wireless. He said H&SCA was a massive diversion of resources in the first half of this Parliament and even reminded those who've forgotten that it was something Empty Dave explicitly promised not to do. So far so good. Then he said that the last thing the NHS needs now is another shake-up. He further said that he thought all the party leaders 'get this'. My question is: if Labour repeals H&SCA, as it has pledged to do, will this imply a further large re-organisation or can it be done by simply making small changes here and there? I honestly don't 'get it'.

I thought it was the 2013 regulations they were going to repeal, not the whole thing?
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013 ... tents/made" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nop the whole lot is going

So, if elected, Labour will introduce a Bill to repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012 in our first Queen’s Speech.

http://andyburnhammp.blogspot.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well I'm as puzzled as oik then.
Over this, as so much else, I'll keep the faith that they know what they're doing.

[citizenJA]

My youngest is obsessed with marmite.

The fondant confection known as the Cadbury Creme Egg clearly separates the world into two kinds of people: Those who love them & those who don't. And both kinds of people are good.

Same with marmite.

From what I've heard Kraft are selflessly promoting harmony by changing the cream egg recipe to ensure we're all united in finding cream eggs disgusting. Lindt chocolate eggs are now poised to take over the world...

I know.

I knew the Egg would be lost to me one day.

I was pretty sure it'd be during this Tory government too.

I'm not saying current government destroyed the recipe for the Egg or directly violated the outer chocolate shell integrity of the Egg.

Please. A moment of silence for the loss of the Cadbury Creme Egg.

[StephenDolan]

What sort of access to the civil service do the official opposition get pre election?

[pk1]

When I read that Farage was due in Rotherham today, I admit to an internal groan knowing how he would take the opportunity to exploit the CSE situation.

But look:

Nigel Farage has abandoned a public appearance in Rotherham because of protests outside his party's office.

The UKIP leader was due to cut a ribbon at the office of election candidate Jane Collins but his team said he was not coming out on police advice.

About 40 protesters gathered outside the office, shouting that the Ukip leader was not welcome in the town.

Mr Farage accused trade unions of funding "undemocratic and anti-British" protests "to stop UKIP speaking".

The high-profile visit was supposed to draw attention to UKIP's challenge to Labour in May's general election and comes two days into a withering report into the way Labour-run Rotherham Council failed to deal with child sexual exploitation in the town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31163189" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Huge to those protesters !

[StephenDolan]

When I read that Farage was due in Rotherham today, I admit to an internal groan knowing how he would take the opportunity to exploit the CSE situation.

But look:

Nigel Farage has abandoned a public appearance in Rotherham because of protests outside his party's office.

The UKIP leader was due to cut a ribbon at the office of election candidate Jane Collins but his team said he was not coming out on police advice.

About 40 protesters gathered outside the office, shouting that the Ukip leader was not welcome in the town.

Mr Farage accused trade unions of funding "undemocratic and anti-British" protests "to stop UKIP speaking".

The high-profile visit was supposed to draw attention to UKIP's challenge to Labour in May's general election and comes two days into a withering report into the way Labour-run Rotherham Council failed to deal with child sexual exploitation in the town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31163189" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Huge to those protesters !

How is it unbritish? What happened to free speech hey Nige...

[HindleA]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 27240.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"Chancellor ignored advice from Treasury to launch Help to Buy Scheme"

[pk1]

What sort of access to the civil service do the official opposition get pre election?

By convention, opposition parties are entitled to enter into confidential discussions with senior civil servants in the run-up to a general election. Such discussions must be sanctioned by the Prime Minister of the day. They are intended primarily to allow opposition spokespersons to familiarise themselves with aspects of departmental organisation, and to inform civil servants of likely changes to the machinery of government in the event of a change of government.

In April 2014, it became known that the current Prime Minister had written to the Leader of the Opposition to inform him that pre-election contacts between the opposition and the Civil Service would be authorised from October 2014, 6 months prior to the May 2015 general election

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publi ... on-parties" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[StephenDolan]

What sort of access to the civil service do the official opposition get pre election?

By convention, opposition parties are entitled to enter into confidential discussions with senior civil servants in the run-up to a general election. Such discussions must be sanctioned by the Prime Minister of the day. They are intended primarily to allow opposition spokespersons to familiarise themselves with aspects of departmental organisation, and to inform civil servants of likely changes to the machinery of government in the event of a change of government.

In April 2014, it became known that the current Prime Minister had written to the Leader of the Opposition to inform him that pre-election contacts between the opposition and the Civil Service would be authorised from October 2014, 6 months prior to the May 2015 general election

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publi ... on-parties" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Excellent, thanks PK.

[SallyFran]

And welcome to Nicky and SallyFran who both joined us yesterday

(cheerily waves right back)

Good-afternoon, SallyFran, welcome!

Thank you very much for your warm welcomes everyone.

[ohsocynical]

When I read that Farage was due in Rotherham today, I admit to an internal groan knowing how he would take the opportunity to exploit the CSE situation.

But look:

Nigel Farage has abandoned a public appearance in Rotherham because of protests outside his party's office.

The UKIP leader was due to cut a ribbon at the office of election candidate Jane Collins but his team said he was not coming out on police advice.

About 40 protesters gathered outside the office, shouting that the Ukip leader was not welcome in the town.

Mr Farage accused trade unions of funding "undemocratic and anti-British" protests "to stop UKIP speaking".

The high-profile visit was supposed to draw attention to UKIP's challenge to Labour in May's general election and comes two days into a withering report into the way Labour-run Rotherham Council failed to deal with child sexual exploitation in the town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31163189" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Huge to those protesters !

I wonder if the BBC will report it?

[mikems]

In April 2014, it became known that the current Prime Minister had written to the Leader of the Opposition to inform him that pre-election contacts between the opposition and the Civil Service would be authorised from October 2014, 6 months prior to the May 2015 general election

Empty himself, along with all previous opposition leaders, had nine months of contact. He changed it to six for Labour, simply because he could. So he did.

[ohsocynical]

How it costs Berkshire families £70,000 more to live near a good school

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/readin ... ar-8572918

Living in the SE isn't always easier. If you're on a low income the divide is just as large as elsewhere in the country. And children just as disadvantaged.

[AnatolyKasparov]

LAB retains 3% lead with Populus online
Lab 34 (-), Con 31 (-), LD 8 (-), UKIP 16 (+2), GRN -1

Populus not repeating last night's LibDem surge with YouGov, then

Btw there will be an Opinium survey this weekend, they are switching to weekly polling between now and the GE.

[AngryAsWell]

Channel 4's Cathy Newman Apologises After CCTV Footage Emerges Of Mosque Incident

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/02 ... 1423219298" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TheGrimSqueaker]

What the bloody hell in going on with Labour & some of their councillors ?

Redcar, Rotherham now Stafford ?

http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.u ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't think it's just Labour. The quality of people in all parties at local authority level is variable, shall we say. While there are many extremely good local councillors, like some of this parish who work tirelessly and selflessly, there are some piss poor ones too, and LAs seem to attract power hungry little Napoleons. There will be power struggles. After the GE, there was a challenge to the Tory leader from his own party, but that hardly got any coverage. And look at Portsmouth city council for an example of how things can go completely wrong.

Very true. When I lived in Peterborough (which is south of Hope) there were all sorts of shenanigans going on within the Conservative grouping on the city council and their leader, Neville Sanders, was a thoroughly nasty piece of work; and I could tell you some stories about their current leader, Marco Cereste, which would horrify you .... but I won't, because we're better than they are.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Channel 4's Cathy Newman Apologises After CCTV Footage Emerges Of Mosque Incident

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/02 ... 1423219298" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Always seemed something "not quite right" about Newman to me, even though I can't exactly put my finger on it.

This merely backs up those suspicions......

[yahyah]

LAB retains 3% lead with Populus online
Lab 34 (-), Con 31 (-), LD 8 (-), UKIP 16 (+2), GRN -1

Populus not repeating last night's LibDem surge with YouGov, then

Btw there will be an Opinium survey this weekend, they are switching to weekly polling between now and the GE.

I was polled for that earlier in the week.
They asked questions about who you would vote for if your chosen party couldn't win in your constituency.

[ohsocynical]

When I read that Farage was due in Rotherham today, I admit to an internal groan knowing how he would take the opportunity to exploit the CSE situation.

But look:

Nigel Farage has abandoned a public appearance in Rotherham because of protests outside his party's office.

The UKIP leader was due to cut a ribbon at the office of election candidate Jane Collins but his team said he was not coming out on police advice.

About 40 protesters gathered outside the office, shouting that the Ukip leader was not welcome in the town.

Mr Farage accused trade unions of funding "undemocratic and anti-British" protests "to stop UKIP speaking".

The high-profile visit was supposed to draw attention to UKIP's challenge to Labour in May's general election and comes two days into a withering report into the way Labour-run Rotherham Council failed to deal with child sexual exploitation in the town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31163189" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Huge to those protesters !

Farage seems awfully easy to scare away. I mean it's not as though it's the National Front or Class War out protesting is it? Not as though he's going to have fireworks or bricks thrown at him, just colourful language. It's not just Cameron that's chicken

It's the indignation that gets me. What does he expect when he's birthed prejudice?

[pk1]

What the bloody hell in going on with Labour & some of their councillors ?

Redcar, Rotherham now Stafford ?

http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.u ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't think it's just Labour. The quality of people in all parties at local authority level is variable, shall we say. While there are many extremely good local councillors, like some of this parish who work tirelessly and selflessly, there are some piss poor ones too, and LAs seem to attract power hungry little Napoleons. There will be power struggles. After the GE, there was a challenge to the Tory leader from his own party, but that hardly got any coverage. And look at Portsmouth city council for an example of how things can go completely wrong.

Reassuring. Thanks Robert

[AngryAsWell]

What sort of access to the civil service do the official opposition get pre election?

By convention, opposition parties are entitled to enter into confidential discussions with senior civil servants in the run-up to a general election. Such discussions must be sanctioned by the Prime Minister of the day. They are intended primarily to allow opposition spokespersons to familiarise themselves with aspects of departmental organisation, and to inform civil servants of likely changes to the machinery of government in the event of a change of government.

In April 2014, it became known that the current Prime Minister had written to the Leader of the Opposition to inform him that pre-election contacts between the opposition and the Civil Service would be authorised from October 2014, 6 months prior to the May 2015 general election

http://www.parliament.uk/business/publi ... on-parties" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Excellent, thanks PK.

I might be wrong but I think the previous "normal" was 18 month run up (?)

[danesclose]

Afternoon all. I see Michael White has an early candidate for a "Nester" award with his retread of "In praise of IDS"

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

[pk1]

I wouldn't say reassuring. I've seen some of the functioning of local government up close, in what was admittedly a very Tory council with virtually no challenge from other parties, and I was not impressed. There were some really nasty pieces of work there, and some buffoons too. The only councillor I met in the whole time who struck me as really good was a LibDem.

I meant reassuring that it wasn't just in Labour councils.

[ohsocynical]

Tories deselect four Bracknell Forest councillors

FOUR councillors have been told they will not be allowed to stand for re-election on Bracknell Forest Council at the elections in May.

http://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/bra ... t1SVW.dpuf

This has been rumbling on for some time. Three Con councillors disagreed with some sort of planning policy and were suspended. A couple of them defected to UKIP.

As usual not very well reported on with no links to the past troubles.

It's like musical chairs.

[AnatolyKasparov]

I wouldn't say reassuring. I've seen some of the functioning of local government up close, in what was admittedly a very Tory council with virtually no challenge from other parties, and I was not impressed. There were some really nasty pieces of work there, and some buffoons too. The only councillor I met in the whole time who struck me as really good was a LibDem.

I meant reassuring that it wasn't just in Labour councils.

Oh it most certainly isn't - even the story you quoted showed the Tories were also at it

Maybe if there had been more "turmoil" in Rotherham a few years ago, they might be better off for it now?

[Rednorth]

I see Ed Miliband is the latest politician to jump on the mental health bandwagon with a lot of stupid soundbites & platitudes.

I wish all politicians would just fuck off and leave us alone. Last time Labour looked at mental health they designed the WCA & hired Atos to throw us all off benefits.

Fuck off Miliband. Go and use your magical X-ray eyes again on some bloke on a doorstep who you declared 'fit for work' after a five minute chat.

[AnatolyKasparov]

I see Ed Miliband is the latest politician to jump on the mental health bandwagon with a lot of stupid soundbites & platitudes.

I wish all politicians would just fuck off and leave us alone. Last time Labour looked at mental health they designed the WCA & hired Atos to throw us all off benefits.

Fuck off Miliband. Go and use your magical X-ray eyes again on some bloke on a doorstep who you declared 'fit for work' after a five minute chat.

Er, could we have some sort of context here please?

[citizenJA]

I see Ed Miliband is the latest politician to jump on the mental health bandwagon with a lot of stupid soundbites & platitudes.

I wish all politicians would just fuck off and leave us alone. Last time Labour looked at mental health they designed the WCA & hired Atos to throw us all off benefits.

Fuck off Miliband. Go and use your magical X-ray eyes again on some bloke on a doorstep who you declared 'fit for work' after a five minute chat.

Pardon?

[rebeccariots2]

Just catching up with last nights posts and the discussion between RR2 and Ernst about local government. I can endorse everything RR2 says about West Wales local government. We moved here (Carmarthenshire) 40 years ago. Our "independent" councillor was then in post and had been for some years (and his father before him). In those 40 years he has mostly been returned unopposed and, while I have always voted for anyone who stood against him most of my neighbours unthinkingly supported him. He finally retired (aged 90) on health grounds last year, and people were surprised that his daughter didn't take over from him!
On one occasion I asked him where he stood politically. His reply was that "We don't believe in bringing politics into local government"

Thank you Tonibel. Nice to know I'm not crazy! As I was trying to explain the situation here to Ernst last night ... I found myself wondering if I was. You sort of have to live here to fully understand and believe it.

[AngryAsWell]

I see Ed Miliband is the latest politician to jump on the mental health bandwagon with a lot of stupid soundbites & platitudes.

I wish all politicians would just fuck off and leave us alone. Last time Labour looked at mental health they designed the WCA & hired Atos to throw us all off benefits.

Fuck off Miliband. Go and use your magical X-ray eyes again on some bloke on a doorstep who you declared 'fit for work' after a five minute chat.

Ed was talking mental health in October 2012 so not sure "the latest politician to jump on the mental health bandwagon" is quite right.
The problem of mental illness in the UK is the "biggest unaddressed health challenge of our age", Labour leader Ed Miliband has said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20117661" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
He has since spoken on MH issues several time particularly in terms of extra resources within the NHS.

The New Statesman has a piece on MH - is this what your referring to ?
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... tal-health" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

Referring to his notorious utteration "I met a man in Doncaster on sickness benefits for years,there were things wrong with him but he could clearly work"paraphrase but gist.It was at the height of the scrounger rhetoric against the sick of disabled,far from providing opposition ,he enjoined it.It upset many people.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Rednorth is, I suspect, reacting to a Miliband tweet made last night.

Ed Miliband ‏@Ed_Miliband · 20h20 hours ago
Mental health is the biggest unaddressed health challenge of our age. It’s time to break the silence and end the stigma #TimetoTalk

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Referring to his notorious utteration "I met a man in Doncaster on sickness benefits for years,there were things wrong with him but he could clearly work"paraphrase but gist.It was at the height of the scrounger rhetoric against the sick of disabled,far from providing opposition ,he enjoined it.It upset many people.

More detail on that.

http://leftfootforward.org/2011/09/ed-m ... onference/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rednorth]

The last thing people with mental health issues need is politicians uttering platitudes and soundbites in an attempt to win votes. We are not a political football.

The Work Capability Assessment, banned in the US as 'disability-denial factories', was the result last time Labour looked at mental health and was explicitly designed to reduce the numbers with mental health problems on benefits. It replaced the PCS which hadn't done this enough. They took the advice of Unum, who wanted rid of state benefits so they could sell their privare insurance, and hired Atos to throw everyone to the dogs.

Now Ed's off again with his fatuous tweets. The best thing politicians can do for mental health people is stay the fuck off our case.

We saw how committed Ed was to mental health when he crawled up to Scotland and told Atos what a great job they were doing.

[citizenJA]

The Newstatesman article linked below does a grave disservice to the Labour party's commitment for including quality mental health policies to help people.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/20 ... tal-health

The Labour link in the article opens to Miliband's January report on the Labour Press website.

Ed Miliband commits the next government to a radical improvement in mental health provision
19 Jan 2015

http://press.labour.org.uk/post/1085319 ... nment-to-a

It's from this source the mental health policy review report from the yourbritain linked here is located.

The Mentally Healthy Society: The report of the Taskforce on Mental Health in Society

The independent Taskforce on Mental Health in Society, chaired by Sir Stephen O’Brien CBE, was established by Ed Miliband to look at how we can improve the mental health and wellbeing of our nation.

Labour has published the final report of the independent taskforce, which sets out some of the key next steps we need to take to become a mentally healthy society – on prevention, early intervention and better opportunities and support for those living with mental health problems.

This report is a submission to the Labour Party.

http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/agenda-20 ... in-society

http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/uploads/e ... ociety.pdf

From the conclusion of the seventy-four page report linked above -

"...this report has sought to do more than simply provide a list of policy recommendations,
but to articulate a set of principles with which to challenge the status quo:

• We should not accept a society where people live and work in environments that harm their
mental health, but should choose to shape our society in a way that promotes mental health and
helps prevent mental health problems

• We should not accept the human and economic costs of failing to intervene to stop problems
occurring or becoming worse than they need, but should act early – and have to justify not doing so

• We should not accept a society where people are stigmatised, left out or written off because of
their mental health, but should act to ensure that those living with mental health problems have
better opportunities and better quality of life than they do now"

Please be well, my friends.

[ephemerid]

I've been looking at the live blog over at the G on Greece.

Apart from some idiotic soundbites ATL from a few stroppy Eurocrats, who seem to think that because Varoufakis doesn't tuck his shirt in and refuses to wear a tie makes him a bully (odd - I think he's seriously attractive...but I digress) there is an astonishing amount of ignorance BTL.

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression of the situation is this - the IMF wants to lend the Greeks 7BN Euros to pay their existing debt of 4BN plus some other bills worth another 2BN or so due soon; ie. the IMF wants to lend the Greeks the cash they need to give it back to the IMF again. If they do that, they are in exactly the same position as before but will have to comply with the IMF's conditions of further austerity.

Surely it would make more sense to simply defer payments on the loans for a while and give Greece a bit of time to sort their country out?
If Tsipiras doesn't stick to his guns, the IMF will walk all over him and he'll have to impose even more austerity on his people and I can't see how he could do that because a) he wants the best for his people and b) there's nothing left for the Greeks to give.

Greece will be fucked. Again. People will die. Even more than have died already.

I'm sick of this. A sovereign nation being held to ransom like this. Being told it must comply and run the government how the creditors dictate.
I don't care about what went on before any more - we know it was down to greed and corruption in politics and banking.

The Euro-techno-whatever-crats are determined to make Tsipiras back down; they are basically refusing to allow him to be reasonable.
He's doing the right thing here, but they're putting obstacles in his way - and that's a surefire recipe for defaults, Grexit, and they will never ever get their money back and they will cause chaos in the banking systems they are claim they're trying to protect.

I don't pray often, but I am praying that these very brave Syriza politicians get their way. That would give strength to other left-wing movements within the EU and we might even get a bit more support fr the left here too.

Good luck to them.

[ohsocynical]

Is Gove a modern-day Thomas Cromwell?

It would be concerning if a minister no longer in post could manipulate the work of his successor from behind the scenes, like a modern-day Cromwell, says Sue Freestone

Unseen powers have always lurked behind all manner of thrones, but it is deeply concerning, if the reports are true, that a minister no longer in post can undermine and devalue the work of his successor and yet remain aloof and unaccountable for the work of a department he no longer leads.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/ed ... mwell.html

A slightly flippant article, but it does finally pinpoint that Gove isn't done with power yet.

[ohsocynical]

Nick Clegg on stand-by to be Prime Minister

NICK Clegg could serve as a caretaker prime minister after the general election until a new coalition is formed, a senior Lib Dem MP suggested yesterday.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/ ... e-Minister

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Nick Clegg on stand-by to be Prime Minister

NICK Clegg could serve as a caretaker prime minister after the general election until a new coalition is formed, a senior Lib Dem MP suggested yesterday.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/ ... e-Minister

Surely the fact that he won't even be an MP might have some bearing on the matter?

[AnatolyKasparov]

Weekly review up in the usual place - didn't take that long today

(indeed, until the GE council by-elections will be fairly thin on the ground - but there are still a few)