Thursday 12th March 2015

Spacedone · Post by **Spacedone** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 6:40 am

Another morning of waking up to BBC radio telling me how nobody is interested in the TV debates and it's all Ed Miliband's fault anyway... if no one is interested how come these right-wing glovepuppets (this one was from the Daily Mail) keep having to declare it?

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 6:51 am

Morning Space & anyone else who's up.

I've left a warm bed to log on to the net to find out about the Lib Dem donation sting carried out by the Telegraph after hearing it headlined by Radio 4 this morning.

Haven't read last night's FTN posts, it's probably already been linked but in case it hasn't the Torygraph had a live blog about it last night.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... -live.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

& this morning

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... party.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:02 am

Front page of the Telegraph, can't post the pic link:

http://www.thepaperboy.com/frontpages/a ... 3_2015.jpg

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:13 am

The Lib Dems have wheeled out Paddy Ashdown to bluster on Radio 4.

He says he's reviewed the partial evidence and there are questions for Taguri to answer.

He's stood down as Lib Dem candidate in Brent Central, where Sarah Teather's standing down, and is reported to be standing as an Independent instead.
Radio 4 said the Libs are going to fight against him which will split the their vote in a marginal seat.

Am a little puzzled that Ashdown says Taguri would have to resign party membership if he stood as an independent. Yet a local Independent councillor near me was a member of the Lib Dems at the same time.
Ashdown sounds grumpy and rattled.

Telegraph, Mail & Indie all reporting it, Guardian seem not to be - Rusbridger's probably waiting for his orders from Clegg.

Post by **refitman** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:18 am

yahyah wrote:Front page of the Telegraph, can't post the pic link:

http://www.thepaperboy.com/frontpages/a ... 3_2015.jpg

That link appears to be dead yahyah. Found another though:

Post by **refitman** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:20 am

yahyah wrote:The Lib Dems have wheeled out Paddy Ashdown to bluster on Radio 4.

He says he's reviewed the partial evidence and there are questions for Taguri to answer.

He's stood down as Lib Dem candidate in Brent Central, where Sarah Teather's standing down, and is reported to be standing as an Independent instead.
Radio 4 said the Libs are going to fight against him which will split the their vote in a marginal seat.

Am a little puzzled that Ashdown says Taguri would have to resign party membership if he stood as an independent. Yet a local Independent councillor near me was a member of the Lib Dems at the same time.
Ashdown sounds grumpy and rattled.

Telegraph, Mail & Indie all reporting it, Guardian seem not to be - Rusbridger's probably waiting for his orders from Clegg.

Andrew Sparrow's got it on the live blog.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:27 am

Thanks Dan.

Am trying to avoid the Osborne 12bn welfare budget cut as election pledge story. Too depressing.

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:28 am

Morning All

And let's have the YouGov this morning

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:30 am

Latest YouGov / The Sun results 11th March -

Con 34%,
Lab 35%,
LD 7%,
UKIP 14%,
GRN 5%;

APP -17

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:39 am

Spacedone wrote:Another morning of waking up to BBC radio telling me how nobody is interested in the TV debates and it's all Ed Miliband's fault anyway... if no one is interested how come these right-wing glovepuppets (this one was from the Daily Mail) keep having to declare it?

I think Cameron's "Taking the fifth", or something like it,
There was a brief bit on Radio 4, at weekend, asking:
If a politician were empty chaired, what design of chair should be used,
For Cameron I'd go with High chair (& spat out dummy)
Any better ideas?
Also any mileage in " Have you seen Dave" posters?
although might be mistaken for Top Gear rerun advert.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:42 am

Beautifully timed. Another squirrel/pink van to distract us from the dreadful Dave.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 7:42 am

tinybgoat wrote:
Spacedone wrote:Another morning of waking up to BBC radio telling me how nobody is interested in the TV debates and it's all Ed Miliband's fault anyway... if no one is interested how come these right-wing glovepuppets (this one was from the Daily Mail) keep having to declare it?
I think Cameron's "Taking the fifth", or something like it,
There was a brief bit on Radio 4, at weekend, asking:
If a politician were empty chaired, what design of chair should be used,
For Cameron I'd go with High chair (& spat out dummy)
Any better ideas?
Also any mileage in " Have you seen Dave" posters?
although might be mistaken for Top Gear rerun advert.

Or 'Where's [the] Wally' ?

tinybgoat · Post by **tinybgoat** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 8:08 am

yahyah wrote:
tinybgoat wrote:
Spacedone wrote:Another morning of waking up to BBC radio telling me how nobody is interested in the TV debates and it's all Ed Miliband's fault anyway... if no one is interested how come these right-wing glovepuppets (this one was from the Daily Mail) keep having to declare it?
I think Cameron's "Taking the fifth", or something like it,
There was a brief bit on Radio 4, at weekend, asking:
If a politician were empty chaired, what design of chair should be used,
For Cameron I'd go with High chair (& spat out dummy)
Any better ideas?
Also any mileage in " Have you seen Dave" posters?
although might be mistaken for Top Gear rerun advert.

Or 'Where's [the] Wally' ?

I'd like to see Martin Rows on or Steve Bell's take on that,
or have they already done it?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 8:37 am

The LAB facing CON seats with the smallest majorities. Swings % required

http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index. ... ajorities/

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 8:40 am

From the Telegraph, Danny Alexander bigging up his role in cutting tax for the wealthiest.

''However, during the dinner, the Chief Secretary did boast about cutting the top rate of tax to 45 percent....''

If true, what a hypocrite.

Back in 2011 he said “The Government’s first priority in tax reductions will be tax cuts for people on low and middle incomes – those very families who are working hard to make ends meet....Anyone who thinks we are going to shift our priority to reducing the tax burden for the wealthiest they have got another thing coming.”

In February 2014 he said another top-rate tax cut would happen 'over my dead body'.

Post by **letsskiptotheleft** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 8:40 am

You know what we need in this country right now, something to give the economy a boost.

Discrimination in the workplace.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 8:43 am

The state secondary school selected by David Cameron and Michael Gove for their daughters appears to have breached school admission laws by asking parents for money when offering them a place, Schools Week can reveal.

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/exclusive-gove ... n-request/

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 8:55 am

ohsocynical wrote:
The state secondary school selected by David Cameron and Michael Gove for their daughters appears to have breached school admission laws by asking parents for money when offering them a place, Schools Week can reveal.

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/exclusive-gove ... n-request/

Peter Hitchens to his credit wrote about their admission rules last when when Gove, bypassing Sally Coates school which was close to where he lives, sent his daughter to Greycoats.

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/ ... g-to-.html

TechnicalEphemera · Post by **TechnicalEphemera** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 9:01 am

WTF is the Indy doing. It has stopped pretending to be a real paper.

The sex life of Keynes as top story? Keeping it relevant guys.

Is this sponsored, or have they really led with "Look everybody a squirrel"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 01971.html

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 9:02 am

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 22 hrs22 hours ago
@robfordmancs

Election day seat spreads at GE10 overstated CON by 17 MPs & understated LAB by 33.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 9:03 am

Thanks for the link Roger.

At the end Hitchens says he will be returning to the matter later, the article being from a year ago - any further info would be gratefully received.

Hitchens is correct in saying ''some parents who have themselves not received this sort of schooling might find it daunting or demanding, and it might perhaps require some persistence and background knowledge to understand it properly and to complete it.''

Some parents may not have the reading skills - all helps keep 'plebs' out, strange that.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 9:06 am

TechnicalEphemera wrote:WTF is the Indy doing. It has stopped pretending to be a real paper.

The sex life of Keynes as top story? Keeping it relevant guys.

Is this sponsored, or have they really led with "Look everybody a squirrel"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 01971.html

Urgh...Who needs to know what he liked or disliked in bed [or hanging from a chandelier] or how long it took him to ejaculate ?

Edited to add: if it was about George Osborne then it would, of course, be fascinating.

mikems · Post by **mikems** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 9:21 am

The Independent is an untrustworthy rag run by someone who should never have been allowed within a million miles of a national title like that. Not a fit and proper person.

Having Keynes as their lead makes a change. It is usually 'PUTIN!!!!' or 'MUSLIMS!!!!!', just like in the Star or Scum.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 9:35 am

Clegg on LBC:

Nick Clegg -- idea Danny Alexander or any MP has done anything wrong on donations is "categorically untrue

Clegg: The undercover reporter got to Danny Alexander because he said he was supporting the Lib Dems. http://l-bc.co/C1egg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; #CallClegg

On a personal note, the last few weeks has been wearing, Tory electoral bribes, internecine warfare between left leaning people, polls showing narrow lead or worse for Labour.

Feel like some fight back today, a good Lib Dem scandal always gets the blood pumping.

Only negative thought is that there are more stings to come and will be used to help the right wing vote.

Have a good morning !

FuriousGeorge · Post by **FuriousGeorge** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 9:35 am

Suffolk county councillor plans to continue role from USA:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-31832177

Well we are always being encouraged to work remotely I suppose....

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 9:55 am

yahyah wrote:Clegg on LBC:

Nick Clegg -- idea Danny Alexander or any MP has done anything wrong on donations is "categorically untrue

Clegg: The undercover reporter got to Danny Alexander because he said he was supporting the Lib Dems. http://l-bc.co/C1egg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; #CallClegg

On a personal note, the last few weeks has been wearing, Tory electoral bribes, internecine warfare between left leaning people, polls showing narrow lead or worse for Labour.

Feel like some fight back today, a good Lib Dem scandal always gets the blood pumping.

Only negative thought is that there are more stings to come and will be used to help the right wing vote.

Have a good morning !

Been reading all my Tweets. Very few on the LibDem sting. Might pick up later, but so far if it was a red herring by the Telegraph, its bombed.

One Tweet said what were the business men thinking of backing a party that is on its way out and I suspect that's going to be the general opinion rather than shock horror.

TechnicalEphemera · Post by **TechnicalEphemera** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 10:01 am

mikems wrote:The Independent is an untrustworthy rag run by someone who should never have been allowed within a million miles of a national title like that. Not a fit and proper person.

Having Keynes as their lead makes a change. It is usually 'PUTIN!!!!' or 'MUSLIMS!!!!!', just like in the Star or Scum.

The current editor is also a huge fan of replacing the NHS with private health insurance.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 10:03 am

Good morfternoon.

As yahyah has already touched on, the mood here seems to have lifted somewhat today. That's a relief.

And - did I dream it through my drowsiness, or did David Cameron appear on the news last night waffling on about the national crisis that is the Jeremy Clarkson Affair? I was going to make some sarky comment yesterday about his calling a COBBLERS meeting on the subject but scrubbed round it because I thought I was just being silly. I should have known better . . . .

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 10:09 am

This made me laugh -

Lib Dem candidate resigns after funding allegations & Nick Clegg's phone-in (Andrew Sparrow, Guardian)

I know we can be scathing about Nick Clegg's "phone-ins" but surely that's a bit of an extreme reaction?

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 10:19 am

DUP ruling out supporting Cameron? Possibly.

We’ll back the party that scraps the bedroom tax

http://gu.com/p/46h2p" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 10:35 am

Any news on absent friends? (I'm thinking of rebeccariots2.)

Edited to make bold

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 10:43 am

yahyah wrote:Thanks Dan.

Am trying to avoid the Osborne 12bn welfare budget cut as election pledge story. Too depressing.

Morning, yahyah, morning all.

I can't find a story on this - but I have been thinking about it quite a lot.....

I try to avoid the newspaper articles and DWP press releases if I'm looking for accurate figures; I prefer to use the fact-check blogs and anything by Declan Gaffney because they are invariably accurate and usually fair and apolitical to a degree.

Osborne claimed that he inherited a social security budget that was "out of control". The annual spend at the time was £200 Billion.
It is now £217 Billion. This includes social security benefits, tax credits, and other payments.

Of that, £74BN goes on the state pension, £3BN in Pension Credit, £3BN on pensioners Housing Benefit, Winter Fuel Allowance £3BN, Bus passes £1BN, with the free TV license a minnow at £10 Million. Altogether, that's £84 Billion.
This part of the budget is currently protected and can only rise - partly due to the triple lock, partly due to an ageing population.

Take pension and pensioner benefits out, and you have £133BN.
By far the next highest items of spending are tax credits at £46BN and Housing Benefit/LHA at £25BN - £71BN - leaving £62BN.
Child Benefit £12BN, DLA/PIP £13BN, ESA/IB £10BN, JSA £5BN, Income Support £5BN - that's £45BN, and there are various other benefits, specialised pensions, and grants etc. which account for the rest but individually are less than a billion or so in most cases.

So where can Osborne cut?

Tax credits and housing-related benefits are the obvious choice, as they cost the most. But they will be cut significantly anyway by Universal Credit as it is means-tested in a completely different way - plus of course all UC working claimants will be subject to sanction.

If Child Benefit is restricted to 3 children, he won't save a huge amount in the space of a single Parliamentary term.

DLA is already being cut by 20% because the conversion to PIP has that cut built in to its implementation.

Even though far fewer people appeal ESA decisions (mainly because they can't) I think this is where the axe will fall first.
I think he will get rid of the most expensive tier of ESA, which is WRAG. He has already time-limited conts-based WRAG, and I think he will get rid of it altogether.
WRAG claimants comprise about 30-40% of the total caseload and their payment is 20% more than the basic Assessment Phase rate.
Getting rid of this group would save a lot of money, or reducing the payment to JSA rate would do it too. Doing this would save about a billion.
Because WRAG claimants have jobsearch conditionality, he could justify this by claiming it's fairer. They will also be on Universal Credit, so more will be saved on the means test and sanctions.
The Assessment Phase claimants "churn" very quickly - the vast majority do not claim for long enough to get a WCA, and they are on the lowest rates, so I think they will stay as they are for now.
The Support Group accounts for 18-20% of the caseload, and I think they will stay as they are so that he can claim he is taking care of the most vulnerable.

Next up - I think he will freeze or reduce basic rates at some point. A cut of 5% in out-of-work benefits would save a billion or so.
Then he will do something with tax credits and HB, as between them they cost £70BN or so together - although UC will change entitlement over time, I think he will do something to cut these much sooner.

All this is sheer speculation, obviously. Personally, I doubt he seriously intends to save any money at all. He planned to cut the £20BN HB bill to £18BN but managed to increase it by £5BN. Whatever he saved on JSA when people in their hundreds of thousands went self employed he has lost in tax credits and then some.

I suspect his talk about saving money is just his attempt to placate the people he thinks will vote for the Tories if they're being seen to be tough on welfare - unless he seriously intends to leave a huge swathe of the population destitute, he can't save £12BN.

If the Tories get in again, all this stuff will be privatised. It's already happening (Capita are now going to be processing online UC) and social security as we know it will go. It's all very scary.....

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 10:53 am

PorFavor wrote:Good morfternoon.

As yahyah has already touched on, the mood here seems to have lifted somewhat today. That's a relief.

And - did I dream it through my drowsiness, or did David Cameron appear on the news last night waffling on about the national crisis that is the Jeremy Clarkson Affair? I was going to make some sarky comment yesterday about his calling a COBBLERS meeting on the subject but scrubbed round it because I thought I was just being silly. I should have known better . . . .

Good morning.

Unfortunately, I saw both David Cameron, and Kirstie Allsop on Newsnight, both declaring that their kids love Top Gear.
Not sure how old Callme's youngest is, but I think Kirstie's is 8.
Am I alone in finding that alarming?

Maybe 'the kids love it' is their justification for watching it.

pk1 · Post by **pk1** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 10:54 am

yahyah wrote:Morning Space & anyone else who's up.

I've left a warm bed to log on to the net to find out about the Lib Dem donation sting carried out by the Telegraph after hearing it headlined by Radio 4 this morning.

Haven't read last night's FTN posts, it's probably already been linked but in case it hasn't the Torygraph had a live blog about it last night.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... -live.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

& this morning

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... party.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I wasn't surprised when it was revealed to be Ibrahim Taguri.

He & I had 'words' last year, after he had done a LD stint on the Murnaghan show:

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 10:59 am

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/11/8193751/li ... itary-coup" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now there's food for thought for Hammond and Fox....

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 11:10 am

StephenDolan wrote:http://www.vox.com/2015/3/11/8193751/li ... itary-coup

Now there's food for thought for Hammond and Fox....

Lovely closing paragraph:

Graham's proposal is so astonishing that it's pretty much impossible to believe that's what he really meant. He is a mainstream politician and an attorney who served as an Air Force JAG. Surely — surely — he is not actually proposing such an unconstitutional action.

.... Right?

We've not really witnessed the reversal of democratic rights in a developed western democracy, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't happen. Complacency is a very dangerous thing.....

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 11:18 am

PorFavor wrote:Any news on absent friends? (I'm thinking of rebeccariots2.)

Edited to make bold

Refitman emailed her yesterday evening, and they are both okay. RebeccaR2 is stepping up her support for her local Labour PPC so concentrating on that for the next bit.

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 11:22 am

The deeply delightful Sarah Vine (wife of the Govefish) has pronounced on Justine Thornton/Miliband's TV interview.

In her article on the Daily Heil, she comments at considerable length on why the Miliband's kitchen is reminiscent of tower blocks in Minsk during the Communist era. She does not approve at all of the kitchen, and is most displeased about the crockery and the laundry basket.

Evidently, the beauty of a blue-striped Cornishware mug is lost on Sarah - had she recognised it for what is is, I daresay she would have treated us all to a diatribe on how the lefty intelligentsia only use such crockery to promote their pretence that they are ordinary.....but fret not, dear Sarah goes into all that later when she has finished trashing Justine's kitchen appurtenance options.

Naturally, the Govefishes kitchen is the heart of the home where stuff doesn't work because it has bits missing and it's all so lovely and homely and they even have "furry visitors"! What larks!
Sarah, naturally, hasn't quite worked out that the rodents are only there because they feel at home. As to whether this is due to the au pair's failure to clean behind the fridge or is a need for the rats to gather with others of their kind I couldn't possibly comment....

ErnstRemarx · Post by **ErnstRemarx** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 11:22 am

PorFavor wrote:Any news on absent friends? (I'm thinking of rebeccariots2.)

Edited to make bold

Just to let you, Ohso and everyone else know, I emailed her yesterday and received a reply. Basically she's been a little downcast at the arguing going on here and hasn't wnated to log in to FTN. Instead she's going to do some local campaigning for her candidate and then reassess herself with her batteries recharged. I think I speak for all of us when I say hurry back RR2 when you feel you have the equilibrium.

To everyone else, let's have a tad more positivity. In particular, please share any good news stories you may have about your experiences on the doorstep and meeting the great unwashed.

Upward and onward.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 11:29 am

Latest YouGov has the usual scum/Star(221 to 347) and Guardian(152 to 76) reweightings, but seeing as these are baked in its the male and Lib Dems 2010 categories that caught my eye today.

Male 25-39 had to be increased 121 to 218, 60+ 299 down to 225. It's times like this I'd look to AK regarding how this affects the overall MOE.

Lib Dems 2010 breakdown is
C18,L26,LD25,UKIP16,G12.

One final musing. Over the life of a fixed 5 year parliament there's a reasonable percentage of the population that move across age boundaries for polling companies. I wonder what effect that has.

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 11:37 am

@ ohsocynical and ErnstRemarx

Thank you for the update. Please send rebeccariots2 my best wishes should the opportunity present itself and urge her not to take things to heart so. She's missed - although if it's got to be here or out pounding the pavements\grass verges\cowpats or whatever, then encouragement and gratitude should be in order!

FuriousGeorge · Post by **FuriousGeorge** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 11:54 am

Is it too much of a stretch of the imagination that Clarkson has created the top gear nonsense to distract from Camerons refusal to take part in the TV debates....

hehehe /conspiracy!

minch · Post by **minch** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 12:05 pm

Hi there everyone. I read everyday but I am a bit shy about posting so I don't normally log in.

Some thoughts on polls.
Remember that if a poll has a quoted error margin of +-3% then, 19 times out of 20, the real value is within the given value +-3%.
If a poll has Labour on 31% and Conservatives on 30% then what it is saying (19 times out of 20) is that Labour is somewhere between 28% and 34% and Cons between 27% and 33%, that is all.

For 1 in 20 polls (on average) the real value will be outside the band defined by the figure they give.
There are so many polls that this will seem to happen quite often, and if it did not then the quoted error margin is wrong.

[Edited to add “on average”]

AngryAsWell · Post by **AngryAsWell** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 12:18 pm

FuriousGeorge wrote:Is it too much of a stretch of the imagination that Clarkson has created the top gear nonsense to distract from Camerons refusal to take part in the TV debates....

hehehe /conspiracy!

Tin foil hat.... but he did tweet
"Sorry Ed, I seem to have knocked your "at home" off the front pages."

Found it

Jeremy Clarkson @JeremyClarkson
· Mar 10
Sorry Ed. It seems I knocked your "I'm a human" piece down the news agenda.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 12:20 pm

FuriousGeorge wrote:Is it too much of a stretch of the imagination that Clarkson has created the top gear nonsense to distract from Camerons refusal to take part in the TV debates....

hehehe /conspiracy!

Oh, I don't know. It's getting to the point where, like Iain Smith, I'll believe anything.

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 12:39 pm

@minch - thanks for the reminder about margin of error in polls.

@ ephie
The story I was trying to avoid was in the Mail, saw the headline on my search engine when I was searching for something else.

George Osborne's big benefit freeze: Budget to signal election pledge to cut £12billion from welfare
Slashing £12bn from benefits bill will be at the heart of Tory election pitch

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z3UAsmeH1D" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 12:39 pm

ephemerid wrote:The deeply delightful Sarah Vine (wife of the Govefish) has pronounced on Justine Thornton/Miliband's TV interview.

In her article on the Daily Heil, she comments at considerable length on why the Miliband's kitchen is reminiscent of tower blocks in Minsk during the Communist era. She does not approve at all of the kitchen, and is most displeased about the crockery and the laundry basket.

Evidently, the beauty of a blue-striped Cornishware mug is lost on Sarah - had she recognised it for what is is, I daresay she would have treated us all to a diatribe on how the lefty intelligentsia only use such crockery to promote their pretence that they are ordinary.....but fret not, dear Sarah goes into all that later when she has finished trashing Justine's kitchen appurtenance options.

Naturally, the Govefishes kitchen is the heart of the home where stuff doesn't work because it has bits missing and it's all so lovely and homely and they even have "furry visitors"! What larks!
Sarah, naturally, hasn't quite worked out that the rodents are only there because they feel at home. As to whether this is due to the au pair's failure to clean behind the fridge or is a need for the rats to gather with others of their kind I couldn't possibly comment....

She does know rats and mice are incontinent and pee as they're scuttling around in your cupboards and on work surfaces?

Remind me not to accept an invitation to supper at their place

yahyah · Post by **yahyah** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 12:52 pm

Just look at the headline ffs.

''SARAH VINE: Why their kitchen tells you all you need to know about the mirthless Milibands... and why there's nothing to suggest that Ed and Justine are not, in fact, aliens''

& 'No home-making for Justine: she’s far too busy sticking to her feminist principles'
''Not much prospect of a decent meal emanating from that mean, sterile, little box inside Ed Miliband's home, pictured''

Ms Vine is queen of the Gotcha, the Mail's very own Glenda Slagg.
If they had an expensive, cluttered kitchen Vine would be bitching about that.

Just shows Justine was right in what she said.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 12:52 pm

Tim Yeo - Tory MP for South Suffolk - last I read had money invested in some renewable energy ventures, he's described here by the G,

"Tim Yeo, a veteran Conservative MP and nuclear enthusiast..."
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... ay-tim-yeo

Toppled last year according to this.

The veteran Conservative Tim Yeo lost his battle on Monday to remain an MP when party activists voted to deselect him at the general election.
His removal comes just three days after Tory members also decided not to readopt another long-serving MP, Anne McIntosh, as their candidate next year.
The decision to oust Mr Yeo from the safe seat of Suffolk South is an embarrassing rebuff for David Cameron who had written a strong letter of support for the former minister.
Mr Yeo, who is considered to be on the party’s centre-Left, faced complaints over his low profile locally as well as his extensive business activities.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 04991.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Today's news from the daft Yeo.

Shale gas exploration can be environmentally sound, and should be the centrepiece of the next government’s energy policy, the Conservative’s most senior green-leaning MP has urged.

Tim Yeo, the Tory former minister, and chairman of parliament’s energy and climate committee, said the time had come to make the “green” case in favour of fracking, and that the incoming government after the general election must seize on the technology for the good of the UK’s environment and economy.

“There is an opportunity now, and it might not exist in a few years [when other European countries have developed fracking],” he told the Guardian. “People who think fracking is an environmental problem are mistaken.”

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... cy-tim-yeo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is supposed to be a 'left-leaning' Tory? No such creature exists - the Tory party's values are available for anyone to recognise & people make their choices accordingly.
Go away, Yeo.
Go quiet & don't take out the remaining functional environments of this nation's communities.
I don't like Tories, I don't indeed. God damned dangerous nutters the lot.
I'm sorry I can't be more cheerful.
There's a god awful stink in the air today here in the Midlands & my head aches.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Thu 12 Mar, 2015 12:56 pm

Oh, I see below the line on that last link I posted come sane voices are present.
Good.