Thursday 19th February 2015

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 3:55 pm

Andy Maciver: As Scottish Conservatives gather for their conference, a stark message for Cameron. Only federalism can now save the Union.
http://www.conservativehome.com/platfor ... union.html

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 3:56 pm

https://speye.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/ ... nny-saved/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"The general election HB figures released – Welfare Reform costs MORE and not a penny saved"

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 3:57 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:It will be settled well before the GE (as it was with the SNP last time, and almost certainly with the same result)

Believe me on this, Cameron won't ultimately be able to dodge these debates without doing terrific damage to himself.

I'm beginning to think he might actually throw a 'sickie' on the night ... it feels that pathetic.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:01 pm

Who is my
neighbour?
A Letter from the
House of Bishops
to the People and
Parishes of the Church
of England for the
General Election 2015

I've posted an extract that doesn't mention religion but the whole letter talks sense. It says exactly what we're all saying except we don't mention the God or Christianity thing.

It is vital to find better ways of talking about many fundamental
questions facing us today. To name only a few of the major
questions which contemporary politics seems determined to avoid,
we need a richer justification for the state, a better account of the
purposes of government, and a more serious way of talking about
taxation. Most of all, we need an honest account of how we must live
in the future if generations yet to come are not to inherit a denuded
and exhausted planet.

It is not a matter of ticking off these issues one by one in election manifestos and speeches. Decent answers to the questions
facing the nation will only emerge when politicians start to promote a dialogue with the people about a worthwhile society, how individuals, communities and the nation relate to each other, and the potentials and limitations of politics in achieving such ends.
The different parties have failed to offer attractive visions of the kind of society and culture they wish to see, or distinctive goals they might pursue. Instead, we are subjected to sterile arguments about who might manage the existing system best. There is no idealism in this prospectus.
Most of all, we need an honest account of howwe must live in the future if generations yet to come are not to inherit a
denuded and exhausted planet.

Our electoral system often means that the outcomes turn on a very
small group of people within the overall electorate. Greater social
mobility and the erosion of old loyalties to place or class mean that
all the parties struggle to maintain their loyal core of voters whilst
reaching out to those who might yet be swayed their way. The result
is that any capacious political vision is stifled.
Instead, parties generate policies targeted at specific demographic
groupings, fashioned by expediency rather than vision or even
consistency. The art, or science, of targeting policies to tightlydefined
electoral groups has become highly sophisticated – but the
idea that politics is about satisfying the wants of distinct groups so
as to win their votes has prevented our politics from rising above a
kind of Dutch auction.

The time has surely come to move beyond mere “retail politics”,
where parties tailor their policies to the groups whose votes they
need, regardless of the good of the majority, whilst lobbyists,
pressure groups and sectional interests come armed with their
policy shopping lists and judge politicians by how many items
they promise to deliver. Instead of treating politics as an extension
of consumerism, we should focus on the common good, the
participation of more people in developing a political vision and
constructive ways to talk about communities and how they relate to
one another.

Read more at:
https://www.churchofengland.org/media/2 ... -pages.pdf

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:03 pm

citizenJA wrote:
yahyah wrote:Dan Hodges ✔ @DPJHodges
Follow
Massive problem for Labour now. Will surely have to give PWC donation back. Especially after Hodge comments.

I bet that made his day.
His heart's not in it. I wasn't even vaguely annoyed with his tweet. He's going to have to do better than that.

Given that the donation was in the form of PwC staff time, how can they possibly give it back?

And he's now calling PwC tax avoiders - bet they'll love that given there's ben no suggestion of anything they've done as a company.

Moron.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:12 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:It will be settled well before the GE (as it was with the SNP last time, and almost certainly with the same result)

Believe me on this, Cameron won't ultimately be able to dodge these debates without doing terrific damage to himself.

7,8 it makes no difference, the large debates I'm not hugely focused on, it's whether prime ministerial Cameron goes head to head with weak Miliband.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:20 pm

RogerOThornhill wrote:
citizenJA wrote:
yahyah wrote:Dan Hodges ✔ @DPJHodges
Follow
Massive problem for Labour now. Will surely have to give PWC donation back. Especially after Hodge comments.

I bet that made his day.
His heart's not in it. I wasn't even vaguely annoyed with his tweet. He's going to have to do better than that.
Given that the donation was in the form of PwC staff time, how can they possibly give it back?

And he's now calling PwC tax avoiders - bet they'll love that given there's ben no suggestion of anything they've done as a company.

Moron.

A lot of this is could be avoided if the Opposition had free access to The Treasury or OBR.

DonutHingeParty · Post by **DonutHingeParty** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:31 pm

Labour party to repay PWC for their provided office staff by arranging for volunteers to carry out audits for them.

First stop, HSBC.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:37 pm

ESA/IB numbers still increasing,back over 2.5 million.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:37 pm

Interesting views of the mental hospital where my poor neighbour used to be sent.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/berksh ... le-8672157

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:38 pm

Peter Jukes ‏@peterjukes 50m50 minutes ago
Anyone else think it's odd that while most other senior politicians were hacked by NOTW, Cameron, Hague, Osborne circle were not?

There were reports that Osborne's name appeared on Mulcaire's list.
But in general, this is something the MSM seem to have ignored probing.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:51 pm

WOKINGHAM may be an affluent borough, but an increasing number of people are fighting to keep a roof over their heads, says a grim report. -

http://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/wok ... eir-homes/

See. It's even happening down south, in John Redwood's constituency. I wonder what he tells them?

pk1 · Post by **pk1** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:55 pm

ohsocynical wrote:Interesting views of the mental hospital where my poor neighbour used to be sent.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/berksh ... le-8672157

That was where we used to (if clinically necessary, of course) send patients from Townlands Hospital where I started my nursing career. It was only about 12 miles from where we were in Henley.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 4:59 pm

I believe this happened a few weeks ago, but just in case, this is for the plane lovers among us

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/559104 ... wall-coast

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 5:00 pm

pk1 wrote:
ohsocynical wrote:Interesting views of the mental hospital where my poor neighbour used to be sent.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/berksh ... le-8672157
That was where we used to (if clinically necessary, of course) send patients from Townlands Hospital where I started my nursing career. It was only about 12 miles from where we were in Henley.

It was a dreaded place but we never heard anything bad said about it.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 5:02 pm

I ought to know this, but I don't. When will Labour's printed manifesto be published ?

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 5:07 pm

Boris Watch ‏@BorisWatch 2m2 minutes ago
DISASTER FOR FLAILING HODGES AS HE CAN'T MENTION TAX AVOIDANCE WITHOUT SOMEONE POINTING OUT HE WRITES FOR THE TELEGRAPH #allmilibands

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 5:08 pm

Correction to my aviation post above. This is a more recent occasion.

AngryAsWell · Post by **AngryAsWell** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 5:11 pm

yahyah wrote:I ought to know this, but I don't. When will Labour's printed manifesto be published ?

6 weeks before the election when the campaign starts.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 5:12 pm

Thanks Angry.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 5:40 pm

Arthur O'Connor ‏@Chantepoule 9 hrs9 hours ago
@MSmithsonPB @KevanJonesMP Since Tory Black & White Ball - held like a Mafia gathering with Cameron as Capo - Tories have dropped 5 points.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 5:52 pm

ComRes for ITV poll

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 6:18 pm

Hodges has spotted a killer quote.

"“Let’s talk about the difference between him [the Prime Minister] and me. None of these people have given a penny on my watch, and he’s up to his neck in this.""

And reaches this conclusion.

"There’s not getting around the fact Ed Miliband appears to have deliberately mislead the House of Commons. He implied that as Labour leader he had ended the practice of accepting donations from companies and individuals who practiced tax avoidance"

Note non-existent sub-editing too.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 6:25 pm

The only thing I am now interested in re DFH is when the formal ("more in sorrow than anger", of course) announcement he is voting Tory at the GE will materialise.

TheGrimSqueaker · Post by **TheGrimSqueaker** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 6:31 pm

AnatolyKasparov wrote:The only thing I am now interested in re DFH is when the formal ("more in sorrow than anger", of course) announcement he is voting Tory at the GE will materialise.

He has certainly been dropping sizeable hints.

And I genuinely think somebody, preferably the Telegraph's lawyers, have a word in his shell like, because he is heading for a nasty and expensive libel suit if he keeps pushing his luck like this; anybody with half a brain would know this, which counts him out I guess.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 6:34 pm

Good blog on StopHS2 nonsense here.

https://paulbigland.wordpress.com/2015/ ... ed-slides/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 6:51 pm

ED MILIBAND WRITES TO DAVID CAMERON ON EU REFORM

Ed Miliband MP, Leader of the Labour Party, writing to David Cameron today said:

Dear Prime Minister,

Great businesses across Britain need certainty to plan ahead, knowing that the markets on which they depend will still be open to them in the years ahead and that the inward investment that drives growth will continue to flow.

But your government is causing a great deal of uncertainty.

More than two years have passed since you promised to set out in detail your plan to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Europe.

But you have still not given any more than the broadest of hints what reforms you want, how you expect to achieve them, or what people would be voting on in a referendum for which for you have set an arbitrary deadline of 2017.

You will not even state whether you would still be advocating the UK remaining in Europe.

I am writing today to urge you to make good on your commitment to set out in detail a reform agenda for the EU and a strategy for building the alliances needed to deliver it.

You should not expect to get through the coming election without letting businesses and voters know the details of a plan which risks jobs, exports, and inward investment.

You should not go through this election campaign without saying which side you would be on in a referendum.

Labour has set out a set of ambitious and achievable reforms to make Europe work better for Britain.

We would not allow any more transfer of power from Britain to Brussels without the explicit consent of the British people in an in/out referendum.

But I am not going to tie a Labour government into an arbitrary timetable for an all-consuming debate about Britain exiting the EU, which would create huge instability for British businesses and be against our national interest.

I look forward to you setting out your reply.

http://press.labour.org.uk/post/1114688 ... -eu-reform

Posted a few hours ago.
Nothing new in it from Ed Miliband, just a refresher where the Labour party is at & a request for information about where Dave's at regarding his numerous, vague, EU proclamations.

Dave is probably simply confused.

'What the hell is Miliband writing about me & the EU? I love visiting, being photographed...of course I'm staying in the EU...oh...he's personally horrid...'

Dave, your speeches & missives have indicated courses of action you've neglected to follow through on. You really don't have a plan, Dave, do you? Not beyond getting through each hour feeling like you're 'good at it'.

frightful_oik · Post by **frightful_oik** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 7:06 pm

QT tonight:
Michael Heseltine, Nicola Sturgeon, Caroline Flint, Norman Lamb & Duncan Bannatyne.
Boring. Glad my TV licence runs out soon.

Hobiejoe · Post by **Hobiejoe** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 7:08 pm

ohsocynical wrote:I believe this happened a few weeks ago, but just in case, this is for the plane lovers among us

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/559104 ... wall-coast

I saw a similar report today. Was going to tease a Cornish friend by asking him how the Mebyon Kernow Free Air Force was going to respond to such provocation once they've achieved independence, but I'm too nice a guy. And we live not far from the border.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 7:10 pm

HindleA wrote:https://speye.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/ ... nny-saved/

"The general election HB figures released – Welfare Reform costs MORE and not a penny saved"

Have I understood this article correctly, please?

IDS has used his position as DWP minister to move, through legislation penalising housing benefit recipients for something never existing prior to current government fabricating it ('spare room subsidy'), 200,000 social housing sector tenants out of the social housing sector. This has cost more in every way possible. 200,000 former social housing sector tenants are no longer in social sector housing. They're now in private sector, Tory MP landlord accommodation everyone pays more for than prior their exodus. Out of London & into private sector housing.

Is that about it? Is this correct?

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 7:24 pm

Tubby Isaacs wrote:Hodges has spotted a killer quote.
"“Let’s talk about the difference between him [the Prime Minister] and me. None of these people have given a penny on my watch, and he’s up to his neck in this.""
And reaches this conclusion.
"There’s not getting around the fact Ed Miliband appears to have deliberately mislead the House of Commons. He implied that as Labour leader he had ended the practice of accepting donations from companies and individuals who practiced tax avoidance"
Note non-existent sub-editing too.

Good post, Tubby Isaacs.
'Appears, implied, misled & no getting around it', DanHodges, this isn't good news for DanHodges. It's not okay for DanHodges or anyone else to write inaccurate information when accurate information is available.

edited out a superfluous DanHodges

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 7:26 pm

Evening all.

We're just back from a cosy Q & A session for constituents (by invite) with our MP - the Rt Hon Stephen Crabb, Welsh Secretary ..... and all that.

I'm not going to say much about it now. Better I allow the pressure to deflate out of me slowly before a serious attempt to describe the way it was.

But as a taster .... according to Mr Crabb - Hinchingbrooke was 'a sweetheart deal by the previous government' - a gift to Circle.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 7:30 pm

Telegraph owners' £250m HSBC loan raises fresh questions over coverage
Barclay brothers secured loan for loss-making company shortly before Telegraph reporters were allegedly discouraged from running articles critical of HSBC

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/f ... nges-yodel

I think the Telegraph is going to be the gift that keeps on giving.

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 7:46 pm

More from Gove's Premier League.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 57712.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

One in four academies have seen their headteachers depart during the past year – prompting fears of a leadership recruitment crisis, according to finance experts.

The research – by UHY Hacker Young, which is involved in auditing academy accounts – shows the figures are higher when it comes to secondary schools alone with nearly one in three heads leaving.

Cameron's going to have a load more removed too if they're "mediocre".

What's the betting lots of these mediocre schools then get heads who've been moved on themselves already?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 7:46 pm

I wondered what this was about ....

Tom Blenkinsop ‏@TomBlenkinsop 52m52 minutes ago
Greens now want to move North East England...into Scotland. Dear me.

so I did a little digging and here's the petition he's talking about
Allow people in North East England to join Scotland
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/66679

It doesn't have many signatures - and appears to predate the Scottish Independence referendum ... anyone have any ideas why this is suddenly in the news again?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 7:51 pm

Lib Dem polling brings hope of future coalition role
The Liberal Democrats are spending £350,000 on constituency polling ahead of the election in May
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ition-role
The Liberal Democrats believe women and young voters switching from the Conservatives will help them secure enough seats to play a key role in another coalition government after the general election.

Over the last year the party has privately conducted just over 100 constituency polls that give it grounds to believe enough women and young voters have switched in recent months to make their participation in a further coalition the most likely outcome of the election in May.

The Lib Dems are spending £350,000 on constituency polling at the insistence of the party’s director of strategy, Ryan Coetzee. He demanded the unprecedented budget, telling the party leader and deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, if he did not poll in key seats he would be “just another person in Westminster with an opinion”.

I posted those first paras through clenched teeth - out of obligation to Robert Snozers who likes to know whether a Guardian article is worth reading before visiting the website .... Hope that helps you make your mind up.

Editing to add: No comments facility. Funny that - main story in politics section but no comments on.

TheGrimSqueaker · Post by **TheGrimSqueaker** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:02 pm

citizenJA wrote:edited out a superfluous DanHodges

We can but dream!!

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:08 pm

May2015 ‏@May2015NS 6m6 minutes ago
Exclusive: Lib Dems to hold off Tories and win at least 30 seats. They're polling better than public polls suggest. http://may2015.com/featured/introducing ... -30-seats/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:10 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:Evening all.

We're just back from a cosy Q & A session for constituents (by invite) with our MP - the Rt Hon Stephen Crabb, Welsh Secretary ..... and all that.

I'm not going to say much about it now. Better I allow the pressure to deflate out of me slowly before a serious attempt to describe the way it was.

But as a taster .... according to Mr Crabb - Hinchingbrooke was 'a sweetheart deal by the previous government' - a gift to Circle.

The Secretary of State for Wales (Stephen Crabb Tory for Preseli Pembrokeshire):
The previous Government were content to allow the British economy to become dangerously imbalanced with far too much reliance on the financial sector in London and the south-east. During this time Wales became poorer and fell to the bottom of the economic league tables, but we are determined to turn that around and achieve a stronger and more geographically balanced economy through a long-term plan, which is already starting to bear real fruit for Wales.

- 21 January 2015

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 2165000185

(my bold)

He's a right honourable son of biscuit, he is.
There's more.

Accident and Emergency Departments

2. Glyn Davies (Tory for Montgomeryshire): What discussions he has had with Ministers of the Welsh Government on waiting times at A and E departments that serve patients from both sides of the England-Wales border.

The Secretary of State for Wales (Stephen Crabb Tory for Preseli Pembrokeshire): My ministerial colleagues and I regularly raise concerns with the Welsh Government about the provision of health care along the England-Wales border and we are reviewing the current arrangements to ensure that they meet patients’ needs.

Glyn Davies (Tory for Montgomeryshire): When my constituents in Montgomeryshire need to attend A and E, they are taken either to hospitals in England, where 87% of patients are seen within four hours, or to hospitals in Wales, where, shockingly, the figure is only 63%. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Welsh Government and the UK Government should work together constructively to deliver reforms to ensure that only genuine emergencies attend A and E?

Stephen Crabb (Tory for Preseli Pembrokeshire): As ever, my hon. Friend makes a strong and constructive point. At this time of year, the NHS is facing severe pressures across the whole of the UK, and he is right to say that there is a disparity between the outcomes in Wales and those across the border in England. It is right that we should work together to address those disparities, but Welsh Government Ministers in Cardiff should be held to account for the decisions that have led to some of the problems.

- 21 January 2015

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 2165000201

The UK Parlimentary website is a treasure trove of documented testimony from our elected representatives.
650 of them.
I've posted Crabb's list of utterances in Parliament linked below.
649 other representatives are similarly reachable.

Stephen Crabb
Spoken material by date
Includes all oral questions, debate and Westminster Hall contributions from this MP during the current session (most recent first).

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 63_od.html

Let's print out these documents & read them aloud on the village green.
Labour majority.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:14 pm

Tubby Isaacs wrote:More from Gove's Premier League.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/educa ... 57712.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
One in four academies have seen their headteachers depart during the past year – prompting fears of a leadership recruitment crisis, according to finance experts.
The research – by UHY Hacker Young, which is involved in auditing academy accounts – shows the figures are higher when it comes to secondary schools alone with nearly one in three heads leaving.
Cameron's going to have a load more removed too if they're "mediocre".
What's the betting lots of these mediocre schools then get heads who've been moved on themselves already?

"...five years ago the mediocrity rate was sooooo much higher thankstothelastlot...."

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:18 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:
May2015 ‏@May2015NS 6m6 minutes ago
Exclusive: Lib Dems to hold off Tories and win at least 30 seats. They're polling better than public polls suggest. http://may2015.com/featured/introducing ... -30-seats/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

(my bold)
How does that work, then.

"...polling better than public polls suggest..."

The Lib Dems are polling more strongly than public polls suggest.

Sure, enough, RR2, that's what the website title actually has printed.
jesus christ almighty

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:18 pm

More good news from my local hospital trust.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015 ... rse-resign" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The chief executive and chief nurse of Barts Health NHS trust in London have announced their resignations, a fortnight after the trust reported a £93m deficit.

Peter Morris has been chief executive for six years, while Prof Kay Riley has been at Barts for eight years. Last summer Barts’ deficit was expected to be around £44m, but on 5 February it was announced that it had more than doubled.

PFI payments seem to be about £96m. Why aren't these nationalized?

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:20 pm

citizenJA wrote:
rebeccariots2 wrote:
May2015 ‏@May2015NS 6m6 minutes ago
Exclusive: Lib Dems to hold off Tories and win at least 30 seats. They're polling better than public polls suggest. http://may2015.com/featured/introducing ... -30-seats/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …
(my bold)
How does that work, then.

"...polling better than public polls suggest..."
The Lib Dems are polling more strongly than public polls suggest.
Sure, enough, RR2, that's what the website title actually has printed.
jesus christ almighty

The Lib Dems have been doing their own private polling - that's why the headline seems really contradictory - if that's what you meant. I know it feels ludicrous in every other way as well.

Spacedone · Post by **Spacedone** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:22 pm

ohsocynical wrote:
Telegraph owners' £250m HSBC loan raises fresh questions over coverage
Barclay brothers secured loan for loss-making company shortly before Telegraph reporters were allegedly discouraged from running articles critical of HSBC

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/f ... nges-yodel
I think the Telegraph is going to be the gift that keeps on giving.

The Law of Unintended Consequences is certainly having a fair old go at this one. If Cameron hasn't launched his "Anti-Business Miliband" attack then it's possible that the HSBC story could have faded in a few days, just like it did previously. But he launched his attack and Miliband responded by targeting his donors and their tax avoidance/evasion, presumably naming Lord Green because of his links to the HSBC story, something Cameron should have been aware of before making him a Lord and Government Minister.

Lord Green's reaction to being mentioned and his climbdown 24 hours later kept the HSBC story rolling in the media... all except the Telegraph who buried it when it was front page everywhere else. That absence was the final straw for Peter Oborne who resigned very publicly and aired the Telegraph's dirty laundry. Now the media and independent journalists are digging into that story and the Telegraph, one of the favourite newspapers of the Tories for favourable reporting and smears against their opposition, is looking increasingly damaged and journalistically compromised even to its own readers.

Oops.

TechnicalEphemera · Post by **TechnicalEphemera** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:25 pm

TheGrimSqueaker wrote:
citizenJA wrote:edited out a superfluous DanHodges
We can but dream!!

Dan Hodges has talked too much shit about Ed Miliband for too long. Nobody is listening anymore.

He is a discredited hack writing for a compromised paper.

I bet even the few Blairites left in Labour think he is a twat.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:28 pm

rebeccariots2 wrote:I wondered what this was about ....

Tom Blenkinsop ‏@TomBlenkinsop 52m52 minutes ago
Greens now want to move North East England...into Scotland. Dear me.
so I did a little digging and here's the petition he's talking about
Allow people in North East England to join Scotland
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/66679

It doesn't have many signatures - and appears to predate the Scottish Independence referendum ... anyone have any ideas why this is suddenly in the news again?

A devastating exchange between the Labour party MPs including Tom Blenkinsop, Hilary Benn & John Healey linked below.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 1040001232

I'm awed by power words have, truly.
Spoken & written, words tell the story.
Violence is absurd, it's failure.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:31 pm

from the House of Commons Debates 10 February 2015

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/p ... 1040001232

Tubby Isaacs · Post by **Tubby Isaacs** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:32 pm

Well said. It was indeed the "anti-business" meme that helped Miliband look different to Cameron.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:33 pm

DonutHingeParty wrote:Labour party to repay PWC for their provided office staff by arranging for volunteers to carry out audits for them.

First stop, HSBC.

This is genius.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 19 Feb, 2015 8:35 pm

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 10 hrs10 hours ago
Latest Lord Ashcroft marginals polling finds it’s not going to be as easy for UKIP to take CON seats as was thought http://bit.ly/1Le1Ule" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;