Friday 19th September 2014

[pk1]

Graun live blog on Ed Milibands speech (which I didn't hear so can only go by the report):

He is not taking questions and, on the question of whether Labour supports change along the lines of the “English voters for English laws” plan proposed by David Cameron, he was completely silent.

What part of 'English voters for English laws' and 'he was completely silent' is hard to understand ??

They hate him don't they & I just wish they had the balls to come out & say so !

Away from the Graun, the Times Red Box email today has this rather good comment:

Brown, Murphy and Darling take the honours

Ed Miliband spent most of the final days of the campaign in Scotland after polls suggested the possibility of defeat. The outcome might have dashed any chances he had of forming a majority government.

But whenever he does his reshuffle he owes a promotion to Jim Murphy, who was demoted to shadow international development secretary in the last shakeup but has played a key role. Indefatigable and passionate Murphy, the most prominent Blairite left at the top of Miliband’s party, took the fight to the separatists, managing to get himself pelted by eggs. That enabled him to be first to draw attention to the “intimidatory tactics” of his opponents.

Gordon Brown has had an astonishing resurgence. Red Box revealed this week that his calls were not always taken when he tried to warn London that the campaign was not going well. But his barnstorming speeches late in the battle, recalling a Brown of earlier years, must have brought thousands of Labour votes back from the SNP fold. Brown himself is back, and you wonder whether he will stand for the Scottish parliament as he has hinted. If so, it would not be long before he became the Labour leader there.

And Alistair Darling was the first to be congratulated by the PM this morning. He was criticised after Salmond beat him in the second TV debate. But he was praised for his overall performance. His carefully delivered warnings about the economic risks of separation may have helped to turn things.

Salmond can also claim to be a winner. He certainly won the campaign and secured a whole series of extra devolved powers. But he did not look like a winner this morning.

https://times-deck.s3-eu-west-1.amazona ... 2e1ca.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


@ Willow, hi & I echo the others in saying it's good to see you over here.

[PorFavor]

@pk1

It wasn't the sort of occasion for taking questions. They might just as well have said Ed Miliband's gone to the men's room but won't be taking questions. It's infuriating, isn't it?

[rebeccariots2]

Welcome Willow904. So Ed-bashing has resumed in earnest over there, has it.

There's no accounting for the way some people will interpret things. I have been astonished by a recent slew of anti-Labour, you can't trust Labour comments on the anti-badger cull social media outlets ... prompted by Labour repeating their clearly stated policy of stopping both current and any future badger culling if they are in government! I'm not an uncritical Labour supporter - I will call them as necessary - but this is incredible given they clearly decided against badger culling when in government - introduced the badger vaccination pilots which were cancelled, all but one, by the Tories when they got into office - and it is a Labour government that reversed a policy of badger culling in Wales and has since successfully reduced bovine TB. All I have been able to do is swallow hard and ignore.

[Willow904]

@Willow904

Hello.

I don't go to the Guardian (comments btl) much these days but, when I do and see your posts, I always read them because I know they'll be intelligent and thoughtful. I usually agree with them, too. It's a bit of a bear garden over there, isn't it? I caught sight, earlier, of a comment jeering at the Scots (by a poster who didn't even appear to be Scottish him\herself) for being cowards or something similar. Perhaps it was posted by DevoDave. It was very reminiscent of his style.

Thanks PorFavor, I do try to be thoughtful. I like to hear other perspectives as well. Some Ukip commenters on CIF are interesting as I think it's important to understand why people are drawn to charlatans like Farage, for instance. A can of worms has been opened by this referendum, however and I haven't formed strong opinions yet as to where the UK goes from here and am keen to know what others think. Unfortunately that means reading an awful lot of pointless tripe to get to a good opinion btl at the Guardian at the moment so I thought I'd try here for a bit of common sense!

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Ed has promised more autonomy to the regions...What are the chances the Referendum and raising peoples awareness of regional powers, will make that particular policy a vote winner?

A promise made long before it was just a matter of expediency too; as I've said a couple of times 'over there', it looks as though at least one Party is capable of thinking and making grown up decisions.

@Willow904. Welcome to the throng. Good to see you here. Dreadful over there today, isn't it? The Crosby Massive are out in force, and we're back to Kippers swarming over all the threads. Happy days.

[RogerOThornhill]

Another triumph for the Free School movement...

EXCLUSIVE: Secondary opens with 17 pupils

http://academiesweek.co.uk/secondary-op ... 17-pupils/

A free school has opened in South London this month with only 17 pupils, Academies Week can reveal.

Trinity Academy – a secondary free school in Brixton – opened two weeks ago and originally had a planned admission number of 120 children.

The low pupil roll comes against the backdrop of a secondary places surplus in Lambeth. According to Lambeth Council figures, the borough expected to have 226 more places this year than required.

The school has opened in a pre-existing building on the former Brixton Hill campus of Lambeth College.

The freehold was purchased by the DfE for £18m in May.

[pk1]

Which laws apply only to England ?

[Willow904]

Hello to ohsocynical, RobertSnozers, pk1, rebeccariots2 and TheGrimSqueaker. Thanks for the warm welcome. I am loving the edit button, btw!

[rebeccariots2]

Now for the post that could make me a laughing stock and give me a reputation as FTN's political idiot.

If - as the commentators are now rushing to say - Labour are facing the terrible prospect of perhaps winning an overall UK election, but not having enough MPs in England to have a majority in England and therefore the ability to implement Labour policies in England post 2015 and a devo settlement -

bear with me

could it mean there might just seem a tiny point to voting Lib Dem again in some key English constituencies (ducks for cover)? That people might decide it would be better to hope the Lib Dems and Labour could do a supply and demand deal (not a coalition, never again a coalition with them) to be able to deliver better policies in England .... for which we need fewer Tory MPs in England and the only way to achieve that in some places might be to vote Lib Dem. (I'm leaving UKIP out of this - but that's another can of worms that needs to be thought through re this scenario.)

I say this as someone who can't stand the Lib Dems - and hates the thought of them 'holding the balance of power' in any way in future. But neither do I want to see England stuffed and forever in the grip of right wing nastiness.

[RogerOThornhill]

Oh, interesting...

Letter exposes U-turn on AET outsourcing

http://academiesweek.co.uk/letter-expos ... tsourcing/

The Department for Education (DfE) appears to have made a U-turn on its involvement in a plan by the country’s largest academy chain to outsource non-teaching roles.
Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) announced earlier this year it wanted to outsource non-teaching roles in a contract worth up to £400m.

In February, Dominic Herrington, the former director of the DfE’s academies group and now South East England and South London Regional Schools Commissioner, told MPs at the education select committee that AET’s decisions about the process was a matter for the board of trustees, not the DfE.

but

However, the schools minister Lord Nash has now stated that any final decisions about the outsourcing would be for new Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, to decide.

In a letter sent to Labour MP Alex Cunningham and seen by Academies Week, Lord Nash said: “The decision on the right approach is fundamentally for the academy trust as long as they are operating within the terms of their funding agreement.”

He added: “I would like to reassure you that AET’s proposal can only be implemented after approval by the Secretary of State.”

Not that it might make any difference to the final result if Morgan was around for longer but given that it almost certainly won't happen before the election, that would seem to be dead in the water.

[rebeccariots2]

Another triumph for the Free School movement...

EXCLUSIVE: Secondary opens with 17 pupils

http://academiesweek.co.uk/secondary-op ... 17-pupils/

A free school has opened in South London this month with only 17 pupils, Academies Week can reveal.

Trinity Academy – a secondary free school in Brixton – opened two weeks ago and originally had a planned admission number of 120 children.

The low pupil roll comes against the backdrop of a secondary places surplus in Lambeth. According to Lambeth Council figures, the borough expected to have 226 more places this year than required.

The school has opened in a pre-existing building on the former Brixton Hill campus of Lambeth College.

The freehold was purchased by the DfE for £18m in May.

That's disgraceful.

[RogerOThornhill]

Wow, lots of interesting education stories...this one is very peculiar.

Agnew joins Nash at Future Academies

http://academiesweek.co.uk/agnew-joins- ... academies/

A non-executive board member at the Department for Education (DfE) has taken a new role with an academy trust founded by education minister Lord Nash, Academies Week can report.

Theodore Agnew took up a role as a director of Future Academies in July, documents newly lodged with Companies House show.

Mr Agnew is sponsor and chairman at the Inspiration Trust, which runs six schools and a sixth form college in Norfolk.

Given that Inspiration is being investigated for its schools seemingly knowing in advance about Ofsted inspections, I wonder whether he's ready to ditch Inspiration?

Odd.

BTW there is no way that non-exec members of the DfE and chairing an academies board should be academy sponsors.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

If - as the commentators are now rushing to say - Labour are facing the terrible prospect of perhaps winning an overall UK election, but not having enough MPs in England to have a majority in England and therefore the ability to implement Labour policies in England post 2015 and a devo settlement -

Always the possibility that the commentators are talking out of their arses; charitably I will suggest that they are doing so out of ignorance rather than feeble & transparent attempts to undermine Miliband ......

At each of the three 'New Labour Elections' Labour had a sufficiently large majority that, even if you had taken the Scottish MPs out of the equation, there would still have been a working majority; surely the priority is to make that happen again? And I don't say that from the "excluding MPs" corner, but from the "healthy majority is a chance for more radicalism" corner. The marginals will be the key, and Labour are doing well there; fingers crossed that Dave gets some very unwelcome birthday presents this year, courtesy of the voters of Clacton and Heywood & Middleton.

[ohsocynical]

Boris Johnson: David Cameron's pledge to Scotland is 'reckless'
Boris Johnson says pledge to maintain high levels of funding for Scotland is 'reckless' while Owen Paterson warns 'lopsided constitutional settlement cannot last'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... kless.html


Whooooooo. And they're off.

Edited to change a word.

[rebeccariots2]

If - as the commentators are now rushing to say - Labour are facing the terrible prospect of perhaps winning an overall UK election, but not having enough MPs in England to have a majority in England and therefore the ability to implement Labour policies in England post 2015 and a devo settlement -

Always the possibility that the commentators are talking out of their arses; charitably I will suggest that they are doing so out of ignorance rather than feeble & transparent attempts to undermine Miliband ......

At each of the three 'New Labour Elections' Labour had a sufficiently large majority that, even if you had taken the Scottish MPs out of the equation, there would still have been a working majority; surely the priority is to make that happen again? And I don't say that from the "excluding MPs" corner, but from the "healthy majority is a chance for more radicalism" corner. The marginals will be the key, and Labour are doing well there; fingers crossed that Dave gets some very unwelcome birthday presents this year, courtesy of the voters of Clacton and Heywood & Middleton.

Thank you for that welcome healthy dose of scepticism Squeaker - and for not calling me stupid. I do hope you are right.

[gilsey]

Hello all. Mind if I join you. BTL on the Guardian seems to have turned into a bash Ed fest. Not sure why a steady and competent campaign by Alastair Darling and a timely, and passionate, last minute intervention by Gordon Brown, all to save David Cameron's ass and win this referendum for the sake of the union despite the Coalition's best effort to turn every section of society on each other and tear the whole country apart, means that Ed is a loser, but that seems to be the consensus of opinion at the moment.

Agreed. Grateful for the explanation from RS -

I don't see that Labour areas voting strongly for independence is a failure for Miliband - far less than areas like Aberdeenshire voting No are a problem for Salmond. It's not as though voting for independence automatically mean people turn their back on Labour - can't see the logic in that view at all.

I was interested in Peter Kellner's comment soon after the polls closed, that No voters were more determined to vote. The Glasgow result suggests that was right, the turnout was relatively low. I find that strange, would have expected the Yessers to be keener.

Kudos to whoever it was here who called it for the 'shy noes' a couple of weeks ago.

[tinyclanger2]

Hopefully the basterd Tories will just tear themselves apart. That would be ideal. Time for Ed and Gordon - the two most reviled politicians we've ever had - to change the political dialogue once and for all.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Hello all. Mind if I join you. BTL on the Guardian seems to have turned into a bash Ed fest. Not sure why a steady and competent campaign by Alastair Darling and a timely, and passionate, last minute intervention by Gordon Brown, all to save David Cameron's ass and win this referendum for the sake of the union despite the Coalition's best effort to turn every section of society on each other and tear the whole country apart, means that Ed is a loser, but that seems to be the consensus of opinion at the moment.

Meanwhile, no one seems to have much to say about David Cameron's speech, which sounds like a hastily crafted attempt to gerrymander Labour out of power by handing out of proportion influence over the whole of England to the over-populated South East. i.e. to try to create all the advantages to the Tories of Scotland going independent, without the inconvenience of losing the vote. As others have already said, I really don't trust Cameron, everything he does is self-serving, rushed and ultimately disastrous for ordinary people.

Morning Willow and welcome!

I still don't know what anyone thinks Labour should have done differently? It's not like Miliband wanted the referendum in the first place.

[rebeccariots2]

Hopefully the basterd Tories will just tear themselves apart. That would be ideal. Time for Ed and Gordon - the two most reviled politicians we've ever had - to change the political dialogue once and for all.

Oh the irony - would be delicious.

[ephemerid]

What I am wondering now is what, if any, of the promises made in The Vow will be kept - or, indeed, possible.

Some of the promises are not going to be do-able without the agreement of the Secretaries of State currently responsible for them.
The devolved administrations have some say in some areas, but in others must kowtow to Westminster.

One example - as ever, in social security - is Housing Benefit. One of the promises after a No vote was that Scotland could sort out HB itself.
It is, of course, impossible.
HB is part of Universal Credit which will become the UK-wide basic benefit for people in and out of work on low incomes. If Scotland gets either special rules that apply only to Scottish claimants or if it doesn't have to have UC at all - what happens then?
First, IDS would have to agree; next, new rules would have to be brought in for Scotland; and the central funding of UC would have to fiddled with to accommodate the special rules for just one of four separate countries.

Some of the already devolved social security is a mess, too.
In England, bedroom tax is imposed on all those subject to it (and some who aren't but that's another story). In Scotland, the Scottish government does not impose it because it doesn't have to. In Wales, the Welsh government imposes it because it does. In NI they are supposed to impose it but don't, much to the fury of Nosferatu Smith.
In England, the new rules which impose a proportion of Council Tax on claimants who previously didn't pay any involve any percentage from 5% to 25% of the total annual bill; any and every council can impose pretty much what they want. And they do. In Scotland, they don't. In Wales, the Welsh government has opted to cover the cost of the shortfall in central funding itself rather than charge the poor.
The devolved governments already have those differences, along with differing rules on benefits in kind like prescriptions etc. but there is no way that HB can be treated separately if UC comes in without some special arrangements and that will not sit well with the rest of the UK.

Lord Smith of Kelvin is a very clever and able man - but unless he and his Commission have the power to override Secretaries of State and ministerial decree, whatever the department, none of the promises will be kept.

I realise that there will be a lot of silliness today from the dafter Nats - there have already been any number of accusations. However I do think that some No voters will have been influenced by the promises made while the agreement for "electoral purdah" was broken by Cameron et al, and the quasi-Devo Max on offer at the last minute probably convinced some waverers to go for No.

Westminster is not to be trusted on this. Cameron refused any Devo Max option, he decided to bribe the voters at the last minute on the basis of one rogue poll, and now he's backtracking as expected by me and many others.
Labour really do need to step up now - Miliband has set the agenda on many things, rescued Cameron from his stupidity on many an occasion; this is an opportunity for him to commit wholeheartedly to change and to a more federal arrangement beyond the money he has already said he'll make available to the regions. And he needs to get on with it.

[RogerOThornhill]

Wow, lots of interesting education stories...this one is very peculiar.

Agnew joins Nash at Future Academies

http://academiesweek.co.uk/agnew-joins- ... academies/

A non-executive board member at the Department for Education (DfE) has taken a new role with an academy trust founded by education minister Lord Nash, Academies Week can report.

Theodore Agnew took up a role as a director of Future Academies in July, documents newly lodged with Companies House show.

Mr Agnew is sponsor and chairman at the Inspiration Trust, which runs six schools and a sixth form college in Norfolk.

Given that Inspiration is being investigated for its schools seemingly knowing in advance about Ofsted inspections, I wonder whether he's ready to ditch Inspiration?

Odd.

BTW there is no way that non-exec members of the DfE and chairing an academies board should be academy sponsors.

Actually...I wonder whether this is Nash's way of getting round him currently breaking the Clarke recommendation of not having governors sitting on more than 2 school GBs - bring in a chum that can take 2 of them off your hands.

There you go - problem solved.

[Willow904]

Graun live blog on Ed Milibands speech (which I didn't hear so can only go by the report):

He is not taking questions and, on the question of whether Labour supports change along the lines of the “English voters for English laws” plan proposed by David Cameron, he was completely silent.

Ed Miliband has known for some time that he will be giving his annual party conference speech shortly after the referendum. It seems impossible to me that he hasn't prepared for both a yes and a no, and whichever it turned out to be would have a speech ready that would tie in with his desire to make 2015 a big change election.

Cameron has got in first with his kneejerk, self-serving reaction, but Ed will have the earlier opportunity to tie a response to the wider general election campaign. Personally I hope that will mean dropping the horrible "working Britain better off" and getting back to the much better theme of "One Nation". I'm hoping the reason Ed has nothing to say to Cameron's "English voters for English laws" is because he has his own solution to the so-called West Lothian question, and he wants to outline it in his own terms in his own time rather than as a response to Cameron. We'll see - and very soon. This year's Labour conference is going to be pivotal.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

If - as the commentators are now rushing to say - Labour are facing the terrible prospect of perhaps winning an overall UK election, but not having enough MPs in England to have a majority in England and therefore the ability to implement Labour policies in England post 2015 and a devo settlement -

Always the possibility that the commentators are talking out of their arses; charitably I will suggest that they are doing so out of ignorance rather than feeble & transparent attempts to undermine Miliband ......

At each of the three 'New Labour Elections' Labour had a sufficiently large majority that, even if you had taken the Scottish MPs out of the equation, there would still have been a working majority; surely the priority is to make that happen again? And I don't say that from the "excluding MPs" corner, but from the "healthy majority is a chance for more radicalism" corner. The marginals will be the key, and Labour are doing well there; fingers crossed that Dave gets some very unwelcome birthday presents this year, courtesy of the voters of Clacton and Heywood & Middleton.

Thank you for that welcome healthy dose of scepticism Squeaker - and for not calling me stupid. I do hope you are right.

Of course you aren't stupid. There will, undoubtedly, be the odd marginal where nose holding is in order, but I genuinely don't feel the need for panic; all the people predicting Labour meltdown have vested interests in doing so (from Crosby to "Havisham" Hodges), all the commentators (on Twitter and elsewhere) saying Miliband's silence on the West Lothian question today shows he has no ideas are missing the point - Labour and Miliband are increasingly setting the tone, they have no need to dance to anybody else's tunes.

[rebeccariots2]

Hello all. Mind if I join you. BTL on the Guardian seems to have turned into a bash Ed fest. Not sure why a steady and competent campaign by Alastair Darling and a timely, and passionate, last minute intervention by Gordon Brown, all to save David Cameron's ass and win this referendum for the sake of the union despite the Coalition's best effort to turn every section of society on each other and tear the whole country apart, means that Ed is a loser, but that seems to be the consensus of opinion at the moment.

Meanwhile, no one seems to have much to say about David Cameron's speech, which sounds like a hastily crafted attempt to gerrymander Labour out of power by handing out of proportion influence over the whole of England to the over-populated South East. i.e. to try to create all the advantages to the Tories of Scotland going independent, without the inconvenience of losing the vote. As others have already said, I really don't trust Cameron, everything he does is self-serving, rushed and ultimately disastrous for ordinary people.

Morning Willow and welcome!

I still don't know what anyone thinks Labour should have done differently? It's not like Miliband wanted the referendum in the first place.

Quite. I imagine this indy ref, the tactics and outcome, is giving a lot of food for thought to those pressing for a Euro in / out referendum. Let us pray that Dave is nowhere near any position of power that would give him responsibility for designing and implementing any such referendum. Can you imagine how inept and self serving that process would be ....

[rebeccariots2]

Which laws apply only to England ?

Good point. A good deal applies only to England and Wales (like the Health and Social Care Act for example) but Wales seems to have got a bit forgotten in all this.

Can't see Carwyn Jones allowing that. Waiting for dust to settle?

[AngryAsWell]

Better Politics Policy Consultation
This Policy Consultation covers:
•One Nation Politics
•Political reform
•Devolution
•Equalities

Click pdf download to view

http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/agenda-20 ... nsultation" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Right, let us see how long that comment survives! Appalling Wintour anti-Ed hack job up, should be swarming with the usual suspects any moment, but managed to beat them to it this time.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... mentpage=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rebeccariots2]

Retweeted by BBC Politics
BBC News (UK) ‏@BBCNews 7m
Wales "cannot and will not play second fiddle" as new UK constitution is decided, says FM Carwyn Jones http://bbc.in/1sAESLZ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; #indyref

[AnatolyKasparov]

So those of us who invoked Quebec 1995 weren't wrong.

Good morning, everyone - everything has changed and nothing has changed I see (ie its all bad news for Labour/Ed, as usual)

[ohsocynical]

Jesus wept.

A family member in the US, is highly indignant about voter fraud in the Referendum. Her husband fancies he has Viking blood via Scots ancestry [although I couldn't even find a Scots link for him]

What was it? 10 questionable voters in Glasgow?

[StephenDolan]

Voter fraud. One of the usual straws grasped for.

[ohsocynical]

@Stephen & Robert:

I despair. I really do.

And the idiot husband hasn't bothered to read [he's a Fox News fan] that in the far north of Scotland where genuine Viking descendants live, they weren't even sure they'd go along with it if the vote was yes.

[ohsocynical]

I mainly use Twitter because there is a lot of humour and sarcasm posted; the last week or so not so much, but it's surfacing again.

Iain Duncan Smith MP ‏@IDS_MP 7m
Mel Gibson, seen here playing William Wallace in Highlander shows the face of many Scots today #IndyRef pic.twitter.com/yBhXZT4EFM

Elizabeth Windsor ‏@Queen_UK 7m
Just popped into @Coral and put Glasgow on Alex Salmond to resign at 4/1. Not laughing now are we Al? #OneRuler

I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't laugh, but I can't help myself.

[citizenJA]

I'm delighted the Union remains & by such a clear majority.



It's all bad news for Ed Miliband however - all Labours fault if the Union had been lost & all the reason the Union remains is all down to the Cons

Can we now get back to concentrating on kicking out the Cons instead of fighting with each other - please ?

Morning PK and yes I agree. Lovely to see you.

Good morning, everyone. I'm glad we're together.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Ed has the chance in a few days, come his conference speech, to propose some sensible and logical constitutional proposals. I hope he does so.

[ohsocynical]

I'm delighted the Union remains & by such a clear majority.



It's all bad news for Ed Miliband however - all Labours fault if the Union had been lost & all the reason the Union remains is all down to the Cons

Can we now get back to concentrating on kicking out the Cons instead of fighting with each other - please ?

Morning PK and yes I agree. Lovely to see you.

Good morning, everyone. I'm glad we're together.

Me too....Morning CitizenJA

[citizenJA]

@RobertSnozers

The commentariat seems to be responding as if the only way forward is to exclude Scottish MPs at Westminster from voting on devolved issues.

Mind you, I think we can trust Cameron to plump for the option that will be worst for Labour's prospects come 2015.

I'm completely at a loss - which Scottish MPs are being discussed below the line on the Guardian threads? Are they the Labour party MPs voted for in Scottish constituencies to represent them, the SNP MPs or LibDems? And that lonely Tory MP? Those MPs won't get to vote in Westminster? Is this what's being discussed?

[AngryAsWell]

Ed has the chance in a few days, come his conference speech, to propose some sensible and logical constitutional proposals. I hope he does so.

They are already in hand
Better Politics Policy Consultation
This Policy Consultation covers:
•One Nation Politics
•Political reform
•Devolution
•Equalities

Click pdf download to view

http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/agenda-20" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... nsultation

[pk1]

Copied from UKPR on the subject of the West Lothian question:

Has anyone on TV yet pointed out that if you have English only (MP's) voting it would mean that either a) There can be no Welsh or Scottish prime minster of the UK again or else b) the Prime Minister of the day and members of the cabinet, if not English (MP's), will be barred from voting on their own policies!

Good point !

So for instance, Alasdair Darling could never again be the Chancellor, Brown never the PM & so on because they represent Scottish seats so could not vote in England-only bills (whatever they are)

No Readers Edition over at the Graun again yet so I'll drop this latest Populus here:

Lab 36 (+1)
Con 32 (-2)
LD 9 (=)
UKIP 15 (+2)
Others 8 (=)

[citizenJA]

I love you all - I have learned from all my Scottish friends how essential voter participation is. That is a victory. That sounds like a sound-bite but I mean it wholeheartedly, sincerely. Notice how government in Westminster is paying attention.

I'm staring solemnly staring both percentages.

[citizenJA]

Willow - thank you for your posts; I agree.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Right, let us see how long that comment survives! Appalling Wintour anti-Ed hack job up, should be swarming with the usual suspects any moment, but managed to beat them to it this time.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... mentpage=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Good comment. And as for:

These issues also, incidentally, divide the Liberal Democrats.

...The LibDems have been incidental for some time.

LibDems ....LibDems ...? No, you've lost me there. Are they some sort of endangered woodland creature.

[ephemerid]

New poster on the G's thread about Ed Miliband - "Ronnie Reason" and another slightly different Mondian avatar........hellooooooo Hugo!

[citizenJA]

From Willow:

Meanwhile, no one seems to have much to say about David Cameron's speech, which sounds like a hastily crafted attempt to gerrymander Labour out of power by handing out of proportion influence over the whole of England to the over-populated South East. i.e. to try to create all the advantages to the Tories of Scotland going independent, without the inconvenience of losing the vote. As others have already said, I really don't trust Cameron, everything he does is self-serving, rushed and ultimately disastrous for ordinary people.

An outrage, Cameron is an outrage & Tories are absolutely shameless, deluded liars. They know they're small, they don't have the votes for a majority government & they are goners. The flooding of bizarre comments below the line on the G website are shocking.

[citizenJA]

New poster on the G's thread about Ed Miliband - "Ronnie Reason" and another slightly different Mondian avatar........hellooooooo Hugo!

Oh my!

Let's sport with the idle trifler.

[ohsocynical]

Ed has the chance in a few days, come his conference speech, to propose some sensible and logical constitutional proposals. I hope he does so.

God I hope so. If past experience is anything to go by, he'll only promise what has been costed and can be delivered.

I think the message about the NHS sell off is well and truly out there now, as is the bedroom tax and controlling the energy companies.

Ed has said he'll give more powers to councils and regions. We're all much more aware of how autonomy works thanks to the Indyref, so some of the message is already out there. In the lead up to 2015 he needs fresh reform that will connect with the doubters and waverers. Maybe that will be the one.

A lot depends on how the Coalition handles the repercussions of the No vote...Past experience however means they'll cock that up as well so Ed has it all to play for.

[citizenJA]

@pk1

It wasn't the sort of occasion for taking questions. They might just as well have said Ed Miliband's gone to the men's room but won't be taking questions. It's infuriating, isn't it?

I think the following is brilliant:

He is not taking questions and, on the question of whether Labour supports change along the lines of the “English voters for English laws” plan proposed by David Cameron, he was completely silent.

Because it's outrageous. Ed was probably attempting to reconcile his commitment to non-violence with the strong desire to jerk a knot in Cameron's tail for suggesting this Tory coup d'état.

[ohsocynical]

New poster on the G's thread about Ed Miliband - "Ronnie Reason" and another slightly different Mondian avatar........hellooooooo Hugo!

I'm sure I read that there's an app that, if you feed it some ones written work it doesn't matter what name they use, it can tell if it's written by the same person...Have I put that clearly enough

Just think. The Guardian trolls would have nowhere to hide.

[RogerOThornhill]

New poster on the G's thread about Ed Miliband - "Ronnie Reason" and another slightly different Mondian avatar........hellooooooo Hugo!

Oh my!

Let's sport with the idle trifler.

I see ninja is there too.

Was her really a deputy head? He posts as if he's a complete dimwit who's just been let loose on a keyboard for the first time.

[citizenJA]

New poster on the G's thread about Ed Miliband - "Ronnie Reason" and another slightly different Mondian avatar........hellooooooo Hugo!

Oh my!

Let's sport with the idle trifler.

I see ninja is there too.

Was her really a deputy head? He posts as if he's a complete dimwit who's just been let loose on a keyboard for the first time.

I've no idea - did he claim to be a deputy head? I wouldn't believe a word he said one way or another about anything.