FlyTheNest

Lies and the lying liars who tell them.

During his Jeremy Paxman interview, the Prime Minister stated that the government cut non-EU immigration by 13%.

But the claim could be misunderstood: the best estimate of how much non-EU immigration has fallen since the government took office is 6%, and that’s well within the margin of error. 13% is the fall from a peak in 2011.

It's going up again now too, though figures won't be in till after the election

Took advantage of the sun coming out to run around outside a bit to keep from going insane from reading satire or not satire (not satire is worse) & before I got far was tossed about outside with rain & wind. I made it back - literally thrown back inside by the wind & the sun is shining at the moment again.

Anyone need tea & biscuits?

Ah. I've had a look. I think my re-Tweet was about 60 B&Q stores closing.

More poor sods having to cope with job centres.

citizenJA wrote:Took advantage of the sun coming out to run around outside a bit to keep from going insane from reading satire or not satire (not satire is worse) & before I got far was tossed about outside with rain & wind. I made it back - literally thrown back inside by the wind & the sun is shining at the moment again.

It's very windy here in Tory Bracknell, but the sun has been shining all day. Quite pleasant.

citizenJA wrote:Anyone need tea & biscuits?

I reckon you'd need a stiff drink after seeing what you'd been up against.

Is that OpenSeas back again?

I know it doesn't take much to confuse me but...

Remember all those right wingers who used to tell us on Cif that it is not the role of government to create jobs ?

Well someone tell IDS, Nicky Morgan & their leaders as that's all they are talking about today.
Cameron boobed on Sky claiming he'd create 10,000 jobs a day, that'd be 18 million.

Grant Shapps ‏@grantshapps 6h6 hours ago

@UKLabour want to hit businesses with regulations that would cost jobs #chaos
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... oyees.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Fat Nicholas ‏@SchraderAsac 6 hrs6 hours ago
@grantshapps @UKLabour you lying little spiv, if you had any decency you'd quit now

Don't you just love Twitter.

RogerOThornhill wrote:

citizenJA wrote:Anyone need tea & biscuits?

I reckon you'd need a stiff drink after seeing what you'd been up against.

Is that OpenSeas back again?

Indeed.

yahyah wrote:I know it doesn't take much to confuse me but...

Remember all those right wingers who used to tell us on Cif that it is not the role of government to create jobs ?

Well someone tell IDS, Nicky Morgan & their leaders as that's all they are talking about today.
Cameron boobed on Sky claiming he'd create 10,000 jobs a day, that'd be 18 million.

Perhaps not a boob. Perhaps that's how many they've predicted will be on ZH or have disappeared off the books after another five Tory years.

ohsocynical wrote:

yahyah wrote:I know it doesn't take much to confuse me but...

Remember all those right wingers who used to tell us on Cif that it is not the role of government to create jobs ?

Well someone tell IDS, Nicky Morgan & their leaders as that's all they are talking about today.
Cameron boobed on Sky claiming he'd create 10,000 jobs a day, that'd be 18 million.

Perhaps not a boob. Perhaps that's how many they've predicted will be on ZH or have disappeared off the books after another five Tory years.

Yes, it was probably a Freudian slip.

citizenJA wrote:

RogerOThornhill wrote:

citizenJA wrote:Anyone need tea & biscuits?

I reckon you'd need a stiff drink after seeing what you'd been up against.

Is that OpenSeas back again?

Indeed.

I was a bit slow on the uptake but then he came out with that UKIP swingback and I thought...oh...wait...

ohsocynical wrote:Grant Shapps ‏@grantshapps 6h6 hours ago

@UKLabour want to hit businesses with regulations that would cost jobs #chaos
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... oyees.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; …

Fat Nicholas ‏@SchraderAsac 6 hrs6 hours ago
@grantshapps @UKLabour you lying little spiv, if you had any decency you'd quit now

Don't you just love Twitter.

Yep.
I've mentioned before now I don't watch a lot of media.
I watched the Shapps' interview on Newsnight last night after its recommendation here.

Disturbing how often Shapps simply insisted upon continuing to talk, to tell the same lies repeatedly, over & over, without allowing a very reasonable Evans to cut it with a 'but that isn't true, we've got that debunked...' only for Shapps to deny & deny & repeat again the same lies.

It sounds as though Osborne did the same today sometime.
I don't like that kind of behaviour.

There must be somewhere when decent people are able to say, to those representative leading the country
'You're wrong, you're making up stories. Stop it. Now. We're moving on now with grown up talk of cooperation & working together.'

yahyah wrote:I know it doesn't take much to confuse me but...

Remember all those right wingers who used to tell us on Cif that it is not the role of government to create jobs ?

Well someone tell IDS, Nicky Morgan & their leaders as that's all they are talking about today.
Cameron boobed on Sky claiming he'd create 10,000 jobs a day, that'd be 18 million.

It shouldn't be the role of government to help people buy a house either.

What happened to that old fashioned idea of having a job that enable you to buy a house, without help from government?

RogerOThornhill wrote:

citizenJA wrote:

RogerOThornhill wrote: I reckon you'd need a stiff drink after seeing what you'd been up against.

Is that OpenSeas back again?

Indeed.

I was a bit slow on the uptake but then he came out with that UKIP swingback and I thought...oh...wait...

It's difficult to change writing style, particularly if they believe the same ideas. It probably takes a genius to write in a different 'voice'. People sometimes think they're more clever than they are or can be. I don't care if someone wants to take a different name. I wish they'd take different views but it's their choice.

Blimey. A piece about Ed Balls in the Standard which, contrary to expectations, is not a hatchet job; in fact it is really rather good.

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/lon ... 45865.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some small degree of progress in Scotland by Murphy, I think he will continue to build on that base. However the last bit on the TNS Scottish poll is hysterical.

The poll put support for the Tories at 13% across the 40 seats, with the Liberal Democrats, Scottish Greens, Ukip and other parties each on 2%.

How is that Green/SNP alliance going then?

As for the Lib Dems 2%, wow.

TechnicalEphemera wrote:Some small degree of progress in Scotland by Murphy, I think he will continue to build on that base. However the last bit on the TNS Scottish poll is hysterical.

The poll put support for the Tories at 13% across the 40 seats, with the Liberal Democrats, Scottish Greens, Ukip and other parties each on 2%.

How is that Green/SNP alliance going then?

As for the Lib Dems 2%, wow.

Another day, another London poll, again, bad polling for slippery Hughes, the straight choice in Bermondsey, hard to think he's held on for 32 years, he still could of course.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics ... 45900.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lord Ashcroft polling figures for Scotland had Labour losing 35 of their 41.

Latest ITV polling has Labour losing 28.

Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 1 min1 minute ago

LAB's London progress could be masking a bigger trend: the party’s putting on most support where it doesn’t need it

http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index. ... /#vanilla-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ohsocynical wrote:Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 1 min1 minute ago

LAB's London progress could be masking a bigger trend: the party’s putting on most support where it doesn’t need it

http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index. ... /#vanilla-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

37% v 43%? Margin of error comes into play.

Good evening all.

Been a bit quiet as not too well at the mo.

Apart from having a pop at NickyB's ignorance and spin this morning.....excellent article by Aditya.

There is a very good account of what workfare felt like by one who has done it here - imajsaclaimant.wordpress.com
I was particularly angry to read his comments about landlords - it's worth a read, lest we forget why people like me campaign on these things.

All I will say about the Tories and their various outings today is this - they are going OTT on the lies now. It's getting to the point where I wonder if all Labour need to do is just wait for them to shoot themselves and each other in their well-shod feet.

StephenDolan wrote:

ohsocynical wrote:Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 1 min1 minute ago

LAB's London progress could be masking a bigger trend: the party’s putting on most support where it doesn’t need it

http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index. ... /#vanilla-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

37% v 43%? Margin of error comes into play.

Smithson, for all his good points does like to find negatives with Labour polling.

''Why winning 7/8 extra seats in London is bad news for Labour eh''.

ephemerid wrote:Good evening all.

Been a bit quiet as not too well at the mo.

Apart from having a pop at NickyB's ignorance and spin this morning.....excellent article by Aditya.

There is a very good account of what workfare felt like by one who has done it here - imajsaclaimant.wordpress.com
I was particularly angry to read his comments about landlords - it's worth a read, lest we forget why people like me campaign on these things.

All I will say about the Tories and their various outings today is this - they are going OTT on the lies now. It's getting to the point where I wonder if all Labour need to do is just wait for them to shoot themselves and each other in their well-shod feet.

It's probably not possible but if Labour could get interests rates up to a decent level, then all those landlords who are supporting the Tories would be only too happy to vote Labour. They'd sell their properties and be only too glad to sit back and live on the interest from their savings, or watch their pension pots grow.

Greed and looking out for no 1 is driving their support for the Tories.

37 to 43% in Labour seats (where the SNP is supposed to be strongest) is interesting. Murphy must figure he can pull some more of that back. Especially if you allow for the shy Labour voter. Still it is only one poll.

Talk about spinning improved polling for Labour than it has had recently from Scotland. Fuck off Guardian.

Click-bait central.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ad-in-poll" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

glynn parry ‏@PARRY1956 4 mins4 minutes ago

UK POLLING POPLUS CON 34%, LAB 34%, LDEM 8%, UKIP 15%, GRN 4%

I've been watching the LibDem figures...They're up and down rather a lot. Or is it me?

TechnicalEphemera wrote:37 to 43% in Labour seats (where the SNP is supposed to be strongest) is interesting. Murphy must figure he can pull some more of that back. Especially if you allow for the shy Labour voter. Still it is only one poll.

Well exactly. We're talking about 30% moving from Labour 2010 to SNP 2015. It only takes 10% of those to change their minds.

Hope you're up and running again soon Ephie....

Goodnight, everyone.

No punches pulled here, top item on the site too.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 47119.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Reckon the Tories should use the old Mars bar theme as their slogan, change the word ''mars'' to ''lie'' its all they have to give.

Goodnight, PF

On the news that 60 B&Qs are going to close because takings are so poor, to me that reads that the housing market isn't as buoyant as they'd have us believe.

PorFavor wrote:Goodnight, everyone.

Night PF

According to the UK Polling report that ITN Scottish poll isn't real, but a small sample culled from another poll. In which case ignore.

letsskiptotheleft wrote:

StephenDolan wrote:

ohsocynical wrote:Mike Smithson ‏@MSmithsonPB 1 min1 minute ago

LAB's London progress could be masking a bigger trend: the party’s putting on most support where it doesn’t need it

http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index. ... /#vanilla-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

37% v 43%? Margin of error comes into play.

Smithson, for all his good points does like to find negatives with Labour polling.

''Why winning 7/8 extra seats in London is bad news for Labour eh''.

Yeah I thought it was a bit bizarre too.

ohsocynical wrote:On the news that 60 B&Qs are going to close because takings are so poor, to me that reads that the housing market isn't as buoyant as they'd have us believe.

The excuse on the radio from B&Q is that everyone's shopping online. That doesn't ring true to me. Shopping for DIY items is something I wouldn't do online and I'm a technophile. I want to see and feel what I am buying when I do DIY shopping.

Any polling from the midlands recently?

Proper marginal territory. Ashcroft has polling from the 8 most marginal seats tomorrow, released, I think at midday.

"Hostile coverage of Labour party leaders is nothing new. This time the fear of tougher press regulation could make the attacks sharper than ever"
"Remember Red Ed? Back in 2010, he stalked the land, knifing his brother, eating babies and hating Britain like his father did, rarely off the front pages. Then, for several years during which Labour led in the opinion polls, he seemed to disappear from view entirely. Recently, though, Red Ed has made an unmistakable return. Today it is hard to open some newspapers without finding him at the heart of the rightwing version of the election narrative."

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

Just been doing one of those "which political party should you vote for quizzes" (40% Labour 40% Green, if you're interested, and a tiny bit of Libdem!). Anyway, there's a graphic at the end which basically tells us that Tory voters clearly don't do online quizzes:

https://voteforpolicies.org.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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

AngryAsWell wrote:"Hostile coverage of Labour party leaders is nothing new. This time the fear of tougher press regulation could make the attacks sharper than ever"
"Remember Red Ed? Back in 2010, he stalked the land, knifing his brother, eating babies and hating Britain like his father did, rarely off the front pages. Then, for several years during which Labour led in the opinion polls, he seemed to disappear from view entirely. Recently, though, Red Ed has made an unmistakable return. Today it is hard to open some newspapers without finding him at the heart of the rightwing version of the election narrative."

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

graun wrote:Some will ask: what’s new? In one sense, that response is right. The aggressive anti-Labour partisanship of some of Britain’s media is at least a century old.

that's pretty rich coming from the Guardian. cf:incessant harrying of Gordon Brown c. 2010.

tinyclanger2 wrote:

AngryAsWell wrote:"Hostile coverage of Labour party leaders is nothing new. This time the fear of tougher press regulation could make the attacks sharper than ever"
"Remember Red Ed? Back in 2010, he stalked the land, knifing his brother, eating babies and hating Britain like his father did, rarely off the front pages. Then, for several years during which Labour led in the opinion polls, he seemed to disappear from view entirely. Recently, though, Red Ed has made an unmistakable return. Today it is hard to open some newspapers without finding him at the heart of the rightwing version of the election narrative."

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

graun wrote:Some will ask: what’s new? In one sense, that response is right. The aggressive anti-Labour partisanship of some of Britain’s media is at least a century old.

that's pretty rich coming from the Guardian. cf:incessant harrying of Gordon Brown c. 2010.

Not to mention the summer of 2012 (or was it 2013?) where they launched a sustained attack on Miliband with half a dozen articles a day for over a month.

BBC 3’s Free Speech programme currently has representatives from the Lib Dems and Ukip on for its #AskLibDems and #AskUkip segment. Apparently Clegg and Farage both declined the invitation to appear.

More cowards unwilling to defend their polices.

Or should I say, unwilling to defend their policies directly to the people they expect to vote for them, rather than fawning, & partisan, presenters & journalists?!

Willow904 wrote:

BBC 3’s Free Speech programme currently has representatives from the Lib Dems and Ukip on for its #AskLibDems and #AskUkip segment. Apparently Clegg and Farage both declined the invitation to appear.

More cowards unwilling to defend their polices.

Or should I say, unwilling to defend their policies directly to the people they expect to vote for them, rather than fawning, & partisan, presenters & journalists?!

It was definitely announced after the Tory edition that Clegg and Farage would be on. Clearly Farage decided his poison wouldn't find a receptive audience with young people and Clegg decided that he didn't want another kicking.

Spacedone wrote:

Willow904 wrote:

BBC 3’s Free Speech programme currently has representatives from the Lib Dems and Ukip on for its #AskLibDems and #AskUkip segment. Apparently Clegg and Farage both declined the invitation to appear.

More cowards unwilling to defend their polices.

Or should I say, unwilling to defend their policies directly to the people they expect to vote for them, rather than fawning, & partisan, presenters & journalists?!

It was definitely announced after the Tory edition that Clegg and Farage would be on. Clearly Farage decided his poison wouldn't find a receptive audience with young people and Clegg decided that he didn't want another kicking.

Farage didn't do Ask the Leaders, either. Clegg did. He wasn't very good, as I remember, rather condescending, but I didn't think it was a disaster. I wonder if he felt he couldn't do it without Farage there as well.

"Cameron's attacks on Miliband may end up helping Labour
Cameron’s obsession with his supposedly too-weak-for-the-job rival tells us something important about the Tory leader’s own confidence, or lack thereof"

Two in one day ?
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/com ... ing-labour" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good evening peeps. Another one-off post to let you know how campaigning is going in rural Preseli Pembs. Last night we held the first of a series of informal meetings with our candidate in a local pub (but all resemblance to anything Farage-like ends there). Mr Riots and I have been out and about delivering invites to undecided and/or usually Labour bods over the past 10 days. I’ve had some lovely conversations with people I haven’t seen for a while as this gave me a perfect excuse to drop by and chat. One of the perks of doing this canvassing malarkey is catching the small moments in lives that I probably wouldn’t know anything about otherwise. The last person I delivered an invite to was a local artist whose work I really really like. I know several mutual acquaintances but I’ve never met her in person. She lives out on Cermaes Head in an old white farmhouse overlooking the fabulous Poppit Sands, Teifi Estuary, Cardigan Bay and Island. It’s a breathtaking position. I tapped on the glass door of the little conservatory at the back of her house at exactly the moment she stood up from taking a photo of a plant. I came in and we immediately connected over this beautiful single flowered hellebore – no introductions necessary – which had shed its seeds onto the floor in a wonderful display of fecundity. It was this natural pattern that she had been snapping. My sort of person.

The meeting was held in the snug / restaurant area of the White Hart Inn. I was curious to see if anyone would turn up. They did! Not loads but enough (there were about 25 to 30 of us packed in cosily) to make it a very interesting conversation with some new views and voices. I am proud to say that our candidate came across really well in his responses to people’s concerns and questions. We talked about the broken politics in Pembrokeshire – it really is – and his determination to keep on fixing it. A young man asked him if he would ever vote against the party whip – he would if he felt a proposed action or policy really went against his principles or constituents interests but not as a habitual practice as he has chosen to join and represent the Labour party because he agrees with its core beliefs and policies. The same young man also asked questions about the Iraq war and Trident. But the bulk of the concerns were about key issues in Pembrokeshire – low wages, lack of jobs and opportunities, how we make this a place where young people can stay and make a living, health services that haven’t been planned to deliver well for rural areas, flooding, fracking and animal welfare – and a very current issue re the introduction of parking charges in our village which will effectively tax people for living here as the car park is mainly used by residents who don’t have on street parking. There is very little on street parking here – we have narrow, mediaeval streets – and an awful lot of double yellow lines.

The threat of the Tories’ plans for a further 12 billion cuts was a major talking point. People are scared and appalled at the thought of means testing disability benefits and reducing support for carers. This is a village which looks very picturesque but is also home to a lot of vulnerable people and scores highly on many deprivation indices. People who work in local advice services and for social housing spoke very eloquently about how the kind of cuts leaked would impact heavily on people here.

To sum up – proud of the people from my community who came along for caring about the things they so obviously cared about – and proud of our candidate who spoke from the heart – didn’t bullshit – was brave enough to put forward his own views on some issues when he knew they probably weren’t going to be the most obviously popular but argued them well and convincingly – and didn’t over promise. People will have gone away knowing above all that he will work really hard for the people of Pembrokeshire – and he will engage and help with issues even when controversial and not necessarily directly helpful to him. He came across as decent , real, courageous and on our side. One lady– formerly an undecided - said very sweetly and directly to him ‘Having listened to you, I’ll vote for you but I won’t be voting for Ed Miliband’. I’m planning to pop in and have a chat with her in the coming weeks to find out what it is about Ed Miliband that she thinks doesn’t cut it … and let her know why I think he’s good news. That’s not a threat – I’m genuinely interested in understanding her reservations. It was a good meeting. Paul Miller, our Labour candidate, wants people to start engaging with and challenging the status quo in Pembrokeshire. From the conversations I’ve had – we’ve clearly started doing so and it’s gathering momentum.

AngryAsWell wrote:"Cameron's attacks on Miliband may end up helping Labour
Cameron’s obsession with his supposedly too-weak-for-the-job rival tells us something important about the Tory leader’s own confidence, or lack thereof"

Two in one day ?
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/com ... ing-labour" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Two in one day?' I know! It may have something to do with Dave's entire campaign resting on saying nasty, personally insulting things about Ed Miliband.