Tuesday 31st March 2015

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Good news on Twitter for the natives of Peterborough:

Chris Michaels ‏@cmichaels97 28 mins28 minutes ago
Good News - Nasty Tory MP Stewart Jackson likely to lose Peterborough to Labour. Majority only 4,861. Huge Lib Dem vote to squeeze. #LabGain

Peterborough is an odd place. When I moved there, in the late 80s, I came across open racism and general intolerance of the sort that had vanished from London 15 or so years earlier; if you went to any of the city's nightclubs at some point during the evening they would play "Time Warp" (from the Rocky Horror Show), something I always found ironic and apt. So Jackson was the perfect match for a swathe of the population, an unrepentantly bigoted homophobe.

Problem for him is that those people have now found UKIP, so his vote is being split; his predecessor was Blair Babe (according to the press) Helen Brinton (later Clark), so there is already a natural Labour vote on the ground which can only benefit from the Right vote fighting amongst themselves.

Night all.

[citizenJA]

Steve Bell's latest - wonderful

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... cs-cartoon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ErnstRemarx]

Quick message to Paul (the Tyke). This adopted Lancastrian got all the leaflets and targeted mail out, despite hail storms and freezing temperatures (didn't even wear my furry Russian hat).

So, nah nah, nayaah naaaah...!

[danesclose]

Not sure if this is meant as an early April Fool gag:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 46513.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TechnicalEphemera]

Not sure if this is meant as an early April Fool gag:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 46513.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Always look at the date.


Doesn't say 1st April.

[LadyCentauria]

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/econo ... did-ids-do

Duncan Smith was the first secretary of state with responsibility for welfare ever to be appointed to the job actually to have a proper background in the subject. He arrived in Whitehall with a clear vision and a determination to put it through. David Cameron tried to move him from the job, but Duncan Smith was committed to the task and stayed with it. He understood, like his lieutenant David Freud, that this is extraordinarily important. Getting a million and more people into jobs means that they feel better, are better off, more secure, more independent, happier and literally healthier. They are also more likely to be good citizens.

This transformation has surely been the greatest improvement to have been made by a British government in the last 30 years. Duncan Smith and Freud are doubtless aware of what they have achieved. But they also know that after the election, they are probably going to be moved aside. The question then will be the following: will those who take over at the DWP understand what has been achieved and how? Will they take unemployment to even lower levels or will they—as politicians in the 1960s and 1970s did—gradually ruin what they have inherited?

Is this satirical?

Well, he's under the impression that sanctions are for a week – or sometimes more. I think he really believes it – IDS wrote it... And he's the author of The Welfare State We're In, is a former international banker-turned-journalist, and a fellow of the Institute of Economic Affairs, and, also, a fellow of the Adam Smith Institute. (garnered from http://www.thewelfarestatewerein.com/about

[danesclose]

Not sure if this is meant as an early April Fool gag:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 46513.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Always look at the date.


Doesn't say 1st April.

Bloody hell - he must seriously think this will do him some good

[TechnicalEphemera]

Not sure if this is meant as an early April Fool gag:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 46513.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Always look at the date.


Doesn't say 1st April.

Bloody hell - he must seriously think this will do him some good

This stuff is hardly projecting gravitas. He is all over the place like a cheap suit.

[adam]

YouGov/The Sun

Lab 36 (+1)
Con 35 (-1)
UKIP 12 (-)
LibDem 7 (-1)
Green 5 (-)

[TechnicalEphemera]

YouGov/The Sun

Lab 36 (+1)
Con 35 (-1)
UKIP 12 (-)
LibDem 7 (-1)
Green 5 (-)

So margins of error, everybody is guessing. I suspect that UKIP vote is at base, the Green vote maybe squeezable by another point and the Lib Dems must now be at their absolute floor. I think we are heading into Labour just short of a majority land, and I am not sure much will change in five weeks.

Or maybe it will.

[RogerOThornhill]

I see someone has rounded up the usual suspects in the business world to claim that the world will end if Labour get in (DT front page tomorrow).

I'm shocked, shocked etc...

Two in one post? I'm good at this...

[adam]

Also from the telegraph

Britons are so ill at ease with levels of immigration in their towns that their children do not play football with their neighbours in the streets, Nigel Farage has said.

You spiteful shit-for-brains deluded lying cunt. Someone arrest the fucker.

[AngryAsWell]

Back to Peterborough :
Peterborough candidate Stewart Jackson criticised over 'stupid' email exchange

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ca ... e-32128877" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Minor on the scale of things, but indicative of tory mentality

[RogerOThornhill]

Watching Matt Hancock...he really is hopeless.

Have you noticed how their spending plans includes saving on tax avoidance...isn't that on the tax side though? Yeah...

[adam]

There is so much absurdity on the different news website front pages that I really, honestly, couldn't guess what their 'april fool' stories are.

[TechnicalEphemera]

Presumably the business people are going to have kittens at this.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... r-3-months

It will also give me a list of companies to avoid.

[Tubby Isaacs]

I see someone has rounded up the usual suspects in the business world to claim that the world will end if Labour get in (DT front page tomorrow).

I'm shocked, shocked etc...

Two in one post? I'm good at this...

Obviously not prompted by Miliband claiming business support for his EU policy.

[RogerOThornhill]

I see someone has rounded up the usual suspects in the business world to claim that the world will end if Labour get in (DT front page tomorrow).

I'm shocked, shocked etc...

Two in one post? I'm good at this...

Obviously not prompted by Miliband claiming business support for his EU policy.

I'd say this came out rather sooner than they would have wished. Still over a month until the vote - people will have forgotten about this by then.

And guess what - lead story over at the BBC website.

[LadyCentauria]

Spin on Labour's "If you are on a zero-hours contract and work regular hours for three months your employer will have to give you a proper contract" seems to be (from papers) "After three months on a zero-hour contract bosses will have to give you a full-time job and contract." Do they (the papers, certain commentators) not know that there are such things as proper part-time contracts?
:spit:

[LadyCentauria]

@ephie: get well soon
@Ohso: hope Mr. Ohso's tablets help – especially after today's clusterfuck at surgery and chemists.

[citizenJA]

goodnight, friends
please care for yourselves & people
I love you
cJA

[RogerOThornhill]

Sam Freedman
‏@Samfr
The Tories 2010 letter from "business leaders" also appeared on the evening of 31st March. Talk about a playbook.

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

[TechnicalEphemera]

Here is the Guardian's April Fool.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/a ... divestment

[TechnicalEphemera]

Sam Freedman
‏@Samfr
The Tories 2010 letter from "business leaders" also appeared on the evening of 31st March. Talk about a playbook.

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

Fighting the last war to the previous timetable should at least make it easy to deal with.

[LadyCentauria]

goodnight, friends
please care for yourselves & people
I love you
cJA

Aargh! So sorry to be late saying goodnight – I fell asleep in the wheelchair which is definitely not a comfy place to sleep

[LadyCentauria]

Here is the Guardian's April Fool.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/a ... divestment

Superbly done