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@Ohso and Yahyah, problem is that people like that give Greens (like Tizme and Tem) a bad name; they result in the oft raised accusation of them being a comfortable & middle class party, which isn't entirely fair.
Tizme and Temulkar are principled people, and I very much miss their posting here. Spirited people, and not like some of the "you've sold out, you're all Tories" posters elsewhere who I sometimes wonder if they're Tories, trying to get the Greens a bad rep.
"And John Pienaar this morning. That was the biggest political story of the week apparently."
Yes indeedy!
Ed Balls, faced with that rottweiler on heels Maitlis haranguing him, has a memory lapse or whatever - hold the front page!
Susan Kramer, who is, apparently, a minister for Transport, gave a watch to the Mayor of Taipei - which is a diplomatic faux-pas, as it suggests to the recipient in Chinese culture that their time is running out. Understandably, very few people heard about this; but I have to wonder what the reaction would have been had the watch-giver been a Labour MP.
Nothing important has happened in politics this week. Nothing, zero, nada, zilch.
No putative PM has announced any policies, especially anything to do with tax havens, SureStart, hate crime, or business. Oh no.
No poll has shown a lead for any party at all, and the odd person who comments that there might be one is amazed it's Labour.
What's really really important is the OGRFG was far too busy dealing with a crisis in Leamington Spa to join other NATO members in discussions on the Ukraine. He must have been invited, obviously, but just left his junior minions to get on with it. Honest.
What's also really important is that Gidiot gets to tell us all about a nice new bribe for pensioners and all the time he wants to tell us all (with a jolly serious face on) that there might be a bit of a problem in the Eurozone of the Greeks don't do as they're told. Truly.
Only slightly less important is Hunt ignoring the excess deaths rise but reminding us that many many thousands of people die all the time at Mid Staff and everywhere that is failing to cope now that Labour are still responsible for the NHS after 5 years. Oh yes.
Still very important is that sanctions only apply to 0.00000006% of the claimants getting this "support" and a million sanctions a year on less than a million claimants is actually a very very tiny proportion and the vast vast majority never get sanctioned at all. Oh no.
What we must understand, as dear Isobel has informed us today, is that Labour will fail because they "do not have a mantra".
Not having a mantra is why they are behind in the polls.
Actually, they're ahead in the polls, but that will get 'em nowhere because they haven't got a mantra. Obvious, really.
Isobel and her pals, the ones in the Westminster Bubble which is the beating heart of the UK where all inside it absolutely know what the Great British Public think, like the Tories mantra and are convinced it will win them another term in office.
They are surely correct! After all, we are all intoning "longtermeconomicplan" even though there isn't one, aren't we? On the hour, even.
Former home secretary Leon Brittan 'buried in unmarked grave due to vandalism fears' after 'very private' funeral
Lord Brittan died in January amid allegations of sexual abuse of children
He was accused of covering up evidence incriminating senior politicians
Critics said death was 'a loss' to Home Office inquiry into alleged abuse
The 75-year-old has been buried in a Jewish cemetery in north London
His grave is unmarked amid fears any tombstone would be damaged http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... neral.html
Btl at the Guardian has been temporarily taken over by people who think Ed Miliband might have the right idea with all this tackling UK overseas territories tax havens.
It's a bit surreal. Maybe I have to read a bit further to find all the "Miliband is a socialist/red Tory/ too weird to tackle tax havens comments?!
"Fall seven times, get up eight" - Japanese proverb
TechnicalEphemera wrote:Above on the giving a watch to a Manderin person.
It actually says I hope you die (although not quite that strongly).
Now I know that, most of my international work colleagues know that. WTF are the foreign office doing??
Somebody needs to be sacked.
Exactly! I'm horrified! However, the entire world probably knows current government are dumber than the idea of giving a watch to another person acting in a foreign policy capacity.
Btl at the Guardian has been temporarily taken over by people who think Ed Miliband might have the right idea with all this tackling UK overseas territories tax havens.
It's a bit surreal. Maybe I have to read a bit further to find all the "Miliband is a socialist/red Tory/ too weird to tackle tax havens comments?!
The Tory interns received an invite to drink a toast to Tory interests & see who won the super-rich make-over raffle.
A university academic has come out in support of the Durham Free School. Of course, it's entirely academic, no vested interests etc.
he was founding president of the Education Fund, Orient Global, living for two years in Hyderabad, India (on unpaid leave from the University), where he helped create a chain of low cost private schools and associated educational infrastructure.
He is co-founder and chairman of Omega Schools Franchise Ltd, a chain of low-cost private schools in Ghana. Its first two schools opened in 2009, and it has grown to 40 schools with 20,000 students, with significant investment from Pearson's Affordable Learning Fund.
Tooley has also created embryonic chains of low-cost private schools in Sierra Leone and India. He is the patron of AFED - the Association of Formidable Educational Development - in Nigeria, an association of 3,000 low-cost private schools.
From Oxford he moved to the University of Manchesterin 1995; at the same time he also created the Education and Training Unit at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London. He took up his current chair at Newcastle University in July 1998. He is a member of the academic advisory councils for several think-tanks, including Reform, Civitas, Institute of Economic Affairs, Taxpayers' Alliance and Globalisation Institute. He is an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, a member of the Mont Pelerin Society,[11] and a thought-leader for Schoolventures.
Like Willow904 - I think I must be temporarily in a parallel surreal universe ... when I hear Mark Littlewood and Philip Lee, Tory MP, bashing Osborne for shamelessly trying to buy votes via the pensioners bond. And that's what I've just heard.
Not to mention his utter stupidity in attempting to draw parallels between the reductions in deaths in the the aviation and nuclear industries with deaths in the health system. Nuclear power stations and airlines are not exactly the first port of call for someone seeking treatment for injury or illness, after all...
This time, I'm gonna be stronger I'm not giving in...
Btl at the Guardian has been temporarily taken over by people who think Ed Miliband might have the right idea with all this tackling UK overseas territories tax havens.
It's a bit surreal. Maybe I have to read a bit further to find all the "Miliband is a socialist/red Tory/ too weird to tackle tax havens comments?!
Just been reading BTL. Lovely to see so many people in agreement.
That Boots bloke opening his big mouth certainly set the ball rolling. What a gift for Labour.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
Btl at the Guardian has been temporarily taken over by people who think Ed Miliband might have the right idea with all this tackling UK overseas territories tax havens.
It's a bit surreal. Maybe I have to read a bit further to find all the "Miliband is a socialist/red Tory/ too weird to tackle tax havens comments?!
It's rather difficult to follow this piece all the way through ... but I think I get the gist ... it's saying Farage has potentially got someone very dodgy as his right hand man.
There are many comments I could make ... but I'm just thinking them.
It always astonishes me that people BTL think Osborne is the right man for the job. This is, after all, the man who is only in politics because they didn't want him anywhere near the family business.
For Ernst (mainly). A little bit more insight on the state of our council .... which has featured, yet again, in Private Eye's latest Rotten Boroughs column.
Apparently, Pembrokeshire has “some of the most spineless, incompetent and venal councillors in Britain.”
Who knew?
Readers whose eyeballs pop out at such a bold claim had better go no further or they may never retreat.
That is from the latest blog post from one of two excellent councillor bloggers we have (and who have been playing their part in shining the light on some of the murk).
Btl at the Guardian has been temporarily taken over by people who think Ed Miliband might have the right idea with all this tackling UK overseas territories tax havens.
It's a bit surreal. Maybe I have to read a bit further to find all the "Miliband is a socialist/red Tory/ too weird to tackle tax havens comments?!
Just been reading BTL. Lovely to see so many people in agreement.
That Boots bloke opening his big mouth certainly set the ball rolling. What a gift for Labour.
Yes - I said yesterday that his utterances had cheered me up enormously and that I had high hopes of them having opened up the way. Or words to that effect. Good, isn't it?
Btl at the Guardian has been temporarily taken over by people who think Ed Miliband might have the right idea with all this tackling UK overseas territories tax havens.
It's a bit surreal. Maybe I have to read a bit further to find all the "Miliband is a socialist/red Tory/ too weird to tackle tax havens comments?!
Just been reading BTL. Lovely to see so many people in agreement.
That Boots bloke opening his big mouth certainly set the ball rolling. What a gift for Labour.
Yes - I said yesterday that his utterances had cheered me up enormously and that I had high hopes of them having opened up the way. Or words to that effect. Good, isn't it?
Thought provoking and particularly relevant for many of us wondering about some of the shadow ministers' intentions re their briefs post election ... and interesting comments.
Michael Crick @MichaelLCrick · 3h 3 hours ago
Just arrived in Paisley. Looking for SNP's 20-year old cand Mhairi Black. SNP being very protective. Anyone know where we might find her?
Michael Crick retweeted
Angus MacFergus @AngusMacFergus · 1h 1 hour ago
@MichaelLCrick Its Nationalist hating Channel 4 news up to stir the shit. Piss off Cricky
Oh it's going to be a joyous run up to the election ....
@Ohso and Yahyah, problem is that people like that give Greens (like Tizme and Tem) a bad name; they result in the oft raised accusation of them being a comfortable & middle class party, which isn't entirely fair.
Tizme and Temulkar are principled people, and I very much miss their posting here. Spirited people, and not like some of the "you've sold out, you're all Tories" posters elsewhere who I sometimes wonder if they're Tories, trying to get the Greens a bad rep.
I really hope they'll return to FTN.
Sadly I note Tizme deleted all her posts, which is a great shame. Ernst perhaps you could email her with what you just said?
@Ohso and Yahyah, problem is that people like that give Greens (like Tizme and Tem) a bad name; they result in the oft raised accusation of them being a comfortable & middle class party, which isn't entirely fair.
Tizme and Temulkar are principled people, and I very much miss their posting here. Spirited people, and not like some of the "you've sold out, you're all Tories" posters elsewhere who I sometimes wonder if they're Tories, trying to get the Greens a bad rep.
I really hope they'll return to FTN.
Sadly I note Tizme deleted all her posts, which is a great shame. Ernst perhaps you could email her with what you just said?
I hope it was clear from my comment last night that I was most emphatically not including them with "the neighbours". They are, as Ernst says, very principled people and I respected them both for that.
Former home secretary Leon Brittan 'buried in unmarked grave due to vandalism fears' after 'very private' funeral
Lord Brittan died in January amid allegations of sexual abuse of children
He was accused of covering up evidence incriminating senior politicians
Critics said death was 'a loss' to Home Office inquiry into alleged abuse
The 75-year-old has been buried in a Jewish cemetery in north London
His grave is unmarked amid fears any tombstone would be damaged http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... neral.html
It says on Twitter that Jewish graves aren't marked by a headstone until a year after the burial. Then they have a dedication ceremony.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
A CONTROVERSIAL decision to award a multi-million pound NHS contract to a private company cost health bosses £348,000. http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11778079 ... ign=buffer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
HSBC’s Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers dodge taxes and conceal millions of dollars of assets, doling out bundles of untraceable cash and advising clients on how to circumvent domestic tax authorities, according to a huge cache of leaked secret bank account files.
The files – obtained through an international collaboration of news outlets, including the Guardian, the French daily Le Monde, BBC Panorama and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – reveal that HSBC’s Swiss private bank:
I know those bottom of the page polls, that Black Ops Belam has fixed to every Mirror article, are total bilge (to borrow a phrase), but at 92% to 8% in favour of Oliver that one makes for good reading!
Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 6h 6 hours ago
@anthonyjwells updates UKPR UNS seat projector to take account of Scotland http://bit.ly/1zxeutT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
CON 241
LAB 312
LD 22
OTH (Incl SNP) 57
Here's the front page, for those who don't want to/can't open the PDF.
The King’s Fund supports the aims of the Health and Social Care Bill. Many of the
changes it will introduce, such as involving GPs in commissioning, giving health care
providers greater autonomy, and enhancing the role of local authorities in the health
system have the potential to improve care for patients and enhance the performance of
the NHS. While elements of the Bill are an evolution of previous reforms, the scale of the
changes and the speed with which they will be implemented make this the biggest
shake-up of the NHS since it was established.
The Bill will introduce a step change in the application of market-based principles in the
health system, a radical reform of commissioning, and the biggest reorganisation of the
NHS since it was established. While ministers are right to stress the need for service
change if the NHS is to be truly world class, the means used must be proportionate to
the problems to be addressed. Against a background of significant progress over the past
decade and a need for the NHS to deliver unprecedented productivity gains over the next
few years, the speed and scale of the reforms present risks that could affect performance
during the transition.
This is a summary of The King’s Fund’s views on the Bill.
• While we support increased competition where this can be shown to benefit patients,
the Bill appears to move towards promoting competition at the expense of
collaboration and integration of services.
• The approach set out in the Bill places a heavy onus on Monitor as the economic
regulator to oversee a step change in competition in the health care market. The
outcome will depend on how Monitor interprets its duties and invokes its powers.
• The provider reforms set out in the Bill will be challenging to deliver in a difficult
financial environment that will require significant changes to the configuration of
services, including reductions in capacity and closures in some areas.
• We support GP-led commissioning as an opportunity to improve patient care, but GP
consortia must include a wide range of health and social care professionals, and a
flexible approach must be adopted to rolling out consortia across the country.
• While we welcome the enhanced role of local authorities in the health system, the
powers granted to Health and Wellbeing Boards are weak and there is a risk that
health and social care integration may be more difficult to achieve.
• The government’s plans do not make clear who will be responsible for providing ‘local
system leadership’ and planning services across GP consortia boundaries when
strategic health authorities (SHAs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) are abolished.
AND,
here's Chris Ham, Chief Executive of the King’s Fund, again recommending more taxpayers' funds
are committed to Mutuals! And he has the gall to say in his NHS under the Coalition report that privatisation is no-where!
Odd that Mr Ham should release his part 1 report saying Coalition isn't doing much privatising, knowing that is part of Andy Burnham's claim for votes.
Happy to be called a Labour Party Tribalist as I don't consider it as an insult in the grand scheme of things!
Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 6h 6 hours ago
@anthonyjwells updates UKPR UNS seat projector to take account of Scotland http://bit.ly/1zxeutT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
CON 241
LAB 312
LD 22
OTH (Incl SNP) 57
That's tell the SNP to shut up or put the Tories in territory.
Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 6h 6 hours ago
@anthonyjwells updates UKPR UNS seat projector to take account of Scotland http://bit.ly/1zxeutT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
CON 241
LAB 312
LD 22
OTH (Incl SNP) 57
That's tell the SNP to shut up or put the Tories in territory.
Actually that is more Labour /Lib Dem or Labour /SNP coalition territory.
Tory Party doesn't have a shot at forming a government.
I have often wondered if a post Clegg Lib Dem party would manage to work with Labour. Since the majority of their remaining seats will be Tory marginals you would think it is a good fit for a recovery plan.
Mike Smithson @MSmithsonPB · 6h 6 hours ago
@anthonyjwells updates UKPR UNS seat projector to take account of Scotland http://bit.ly/1zxeutT" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
CON 241
LAB 312
LD 22
OTH (Incl SNP) 57
That's tell the SNP to shut up or put the Tories in territory.
It's based on uniform swing though ... so doesn't really do the job for such strange times. The swings that polls are showing in Scotland are hardly 'uniform'.
This election is just such uncharted territory.
I keep hoping there are a lot of very sensible people keeping a quiet counsel with themselves at the mo who will come out and vote the best way to keep the Tories out .... but I know that's just me hoping.
