Friday 8 th January 2016

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:36 am

Morning.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ia ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Iain Duncan Smith's new fit-to-work firm is doing even worse than Atos reveals spending watchdog

https://www.nao.org.uk/report/contracte ... sessments/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:40 am

I've lost a year.Damn backlog.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 1:11 am

I agree,and all in a rather patronising dismissive if not rude manner.

Guardian on NAO report,I think it is a year since Sue Marsh joined Maximus,well remember the robust discussions here.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016 ... ling-costs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Post by **refitman** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 7:09 am

HindleA wrote:I've lost a year.Damn backlog.

Fixed it.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 7:21 am

Thanks.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 7:32 am

HindleA wrote:Morning.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ia ... ar_twitter" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Iain Duncan Smith's new fit-to-work firm is doing even worse than Atos reveals spending watchdog

https://www.nao.org.uk/report/contracte ... sessments/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now now HindleA. ESA assessments are only taking 23 weeks now - instead of 29 weeks previously. It's a rip roaring success on this govt's terms. (Costs are rising and performance standards aren't being met - but pah, minor stuff).

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 7:35 am

RobertSnozers wrote:Apparently Doughty was only 'considering' resigning when the BBC gave him a platform

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

'we knew his resignation just before the PMQs would be a dramatic moment with a big political impact'

I've got this vision of Kuennsberg putting her head around the door every five minutes to check if he'd finished writing the letter yet. And if he hadn't - sittng down next to him and helping him construct the sentences.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 7:37 am

As you can see I've got up in super sarcastic form this morning. Could be something to do with the torrential rain outside which I'm pretty much beyond being able to describe my reaction to ....

Morning all.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 7:43 am

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/eco ... are_btn_tw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
It's goodbye Tigger, hello Eeyore as Osborne ditches his upbeat tone
Larry Elliott

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 7:45 am

The Guardian have given the Hunt / Keogh letter re the junior doctors the right headline:

Jeremy Hunt accused of politicising Paris attacks in doctors dispute
Health secretary’s officials helped ‘toughen up’ a letter from NHS chief medic concerning a doctors’ strike coinciding with a terrorist attack
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... is-attacks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He's the slimiest health secretary yet - he has form on this after all. Remember how shocked people were when he used that speech in the HoC to attack Burnham re Mid Staffs. It was seen as a pretty unprecedented politicisation and personalised attack then (let alone that it wasn't justified re Burnham).

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 8:31 am

This Indy story on the DWP report is damning. (The G doesn't seem to have anything on it yet).

DWP fit-to-work assessments cost more than they save, report reveals
Government will pay £1.6bn in next three years to private contractors who carry out controversial assessments
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 01636.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The study by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that the Department for Work and Pensions is handing over £1.6bn over the next three years to private contractors who carry out the controversial health and disability assessments.

But at the same time, the Government’s own financial watchdog has warned that savings in benefits payments are likely to be less than a billion pounds by 2020 as a result of the new tests.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 8:42 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:This Indy story on the DWP report is damning. (The G doesn't seem to have anything on it yet).

DWP fit-to-work assessments cost more than they save, report reveals
Government will pay £1.6bn in next three years to private contractors who carry out controversial assessments
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 01636.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The study by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that the Department for Work and Pensions is handing over £1.6bn over the next three years to private contractors who carry out the controversial health and disability assessments.

But at the same time, the Government’s own financial watchdog has warned that savings in benefits payments are likely to be less than a billion pounds by 2020 as a result of the new tests.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016 ... t-66354667" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 9:01 am

Re the resignation/BBC kerfuffle...

People out there citing Alistair Campbell not thinking it was an issue as if that makes it right - of course, he'd say that - he's a spin doctor!

He would have loved a gift like that when he was in No 10 - I could imagine Craig Oliver phoning his old mates and saying "thanks. I owe you one"

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 9:07 am

RogerOThornhill wrote:Re the resignation/BBC kerfuffle...

People out there citing Alistair Campbell not thinking it was an issue as if that makes it right - of course, he'd say that - he's a spin doctor!

He would have loved a gift like that when he was in No 10 - I could imagine Craig Oliver phoning his old mates and saying "thanks. I owe you one"

I think it tells me most about Doughty tbh. That he was willing to make sure his resignation caused the maximum impact it could.

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 9:15 am

From Paul Waugh of Huff Post's daily email.

Meanwhile, media ‘manipulation’ means even Simon Danczuk’s friends must be despairing of his latest conduct. The Sun reports him texting Sophena Houlihan to arrange a “funny” meeting, and suggesting a media agency will “pay you a fee etc take photos”. Senior Labour sources suggest his initial offer to work for him is what will really matter in expelling him from the party.

I'm withdrawing any credit I gave him for seeming to observe some decorum on twitter. If this is true the man is an utter ass.

nickyinnorfolk · Post by **nickyinnorfolk** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 9:18 am

I've submitted a complaint to the BBC regarding Kuenssberg - in this instance regarding her biased reportage on the Labour reshuffle, although her plotting to get useful idiot Stephen Doughty to resign on air just before PMQs was equally dismal. I know I'll just get fobbed off, but I think it's worth the effort for as many of us as possible to contact the BBC just to let them know that we have noticed what they're doing and that it's not acceptable.

The Canary website has a good article about the blatant bias in Kuenssberg's report on 6th Jan, which is what I specifically complained to the BBC about:

http://www.thecanary.co/2016/01/07/bbc- ... st-tories/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And they include a link to the complaints form for the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/#anchor" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 9:34 am

Interesting from Andrew Lilco.

A few problems with Cameron’s latest four year benefits delay wheeze

http://www.andrewlilico.com/2016/01/08/ ... lay-wheeze

It’s simply flat inconsistent to say (as Cameron does) one wants to be able to deter the free movement of labour and at the same time to stay in the EU. Neither do I agree that stopping benefits would make much difference to inflows of EU migrant workers to the UK when our job opportunities are so much better than elsewhere in the EU.

Cameron inconsistent? Surely not.

nickyinnorfolk · Post by **nickyinnorfolk** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 9:56 am

Peter Hitchens in the Mail. Hitchens can sometimes be eccentric in his views (for example he regards Cameron, despite all the evidence pointing to him being a dogmatic and far right Thatcherite, as a closet leftist) but here he hits the nail on the head.

The identifiable sycophants of David Cameron in the media are dedicated to attacks on Mr Corbyn, attacks so relentless that you would think there was nothing else to write about, that the economy was fine (rather than poised on a precipice) that the NHS was perfect (rather than in increasingly deep difficulties) and that the Prime Minister’s attempts to escape his EU referendum pledge (a hopeless, illogical tangle) were going well. Not to mention disasters visible to me daily such as the hopeless delay on the electrification of the Great Western mainline, miles behind timetable and mountains of money over budget. Let’s forget HS2 and the Heathrow expansion, or the relentless slither towards a Scottish secession, and the utter failure of all attempts to control our borders.

No, the most important thing in politics turns out to be whether Mike Who swaps jobs with Brenda What, and if Stan Nobody has quit his non-job as deputy minister for Tramways and Fine Arts, in protest at the easing out of Albert Whatsit from his non-job as Shadow Secretary of State for Wind Farms.

Billed for weeks as the ‘revenge reshuffle’, it was supposed to be a sort of Westminster version of the Red Wedding in ‘Game of Thrones’, with the Shadow Cabinet corridor knee-deep in blood and littered with grotesque political corpses and the weltering, obscene figures of the dying, crying ‘treachery!’ and ‘murder!’ What, I wonder, was the source for this fantasy? I don’t think Mr Corbyn talks much to the Parliamentary Lobby, who he rightly recognises are not his friends.

The actual event (in which great crowds of reporters hung about stairwells and lift-shafts trying to find something, anything interesting to write about) involved Jeremy Corbyn boring a few colleagues half to death with conciliatory, polite conversations, and getting rid of a few people from (unpaid, unimportant) jobs because they disagree with him about major policy issues. Well, I never. A party leader who wants allies in his Shadow Cabinet.

Well, I never, a party leader whose authority comes from the old-fashioned left-wing party membership clashing with a new-fashioned left-wing Parliamentary Party whose authority comes from their endorsement by the media and the money men who decide who’s top in politics.

For the first time in my life, this country is actually coming to resemble the Marxist caricature of crude money and power, concentrated in a power elite, versus the disdained people – a caricature that has never hitherto been true at all and which does not prove that the Marxists were right.

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 10:05 am

Re political bias at the BBC.

When I watch local BBC news, such as Points West, I've not noticed any particular change in the way political stories are covered, or any of the bias apparent in the main BBC political team's reporting. When a political issue has been debated on local news, representatives of different parties appear to be treated the same and are allowed to debate with each other with pretty neutral chairing by the presenters. As the bias in national coverage has become worse, the balance in local reporting has become more apparent. I have also been similarly struck when watching studio debates on youtube, such as debates between MEPs on TTIP, for instance. I guess what I'm saying is that the accusation of BBC bias in favour of the Tories on Newsnight and national news etc can't be easily dismissed, when the way in which it is presented is so noticeably different from other political coverage which is expected to conform to the same standards of impartiality.

As for Kuenssberg, she is attracting more accusations of bias than her predecessors, I think, because she seems to lack the cynicism that, say Paxman or Neill, seem to have for all politics and politicians. That's to say, being harder on Labour while being hard on all parties is much less noticeable than being hard on Labour while swooning over Cameron and generally licking the Tories' butts. She really is shredding the BBC's reputation at the moment, all whilst unattractively appearing to be chewing a wasp much of the time. I honestly can't see her lasting, if only in the interests of watchable television.

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 10:09 am

http://press.labour.org.uk/post/1368722 ... the-tories" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Labour Press
This report highlights the shambles the Tories have made of outsourcing health and disability assessments - Debbie Abrahams

Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Minister for Disabled People, commenting on the report from the National Audit Office showing that the DWPs outsourced health and disability assessments are in a ‘cycle of optimistic targets, contractual underperformance and costly recovery’, said:

“This report highlights the shambles the Tories have made of outsourcing health and disability assessments. The independent experts at the NAO have rightly shown that under this government the system, like so many other projects, is stuck in a cycle of underperformance.

“Too many disabled people have been badly let down by these assessments and this research shows that it’s not only been costly for those who’ve been mistreated, but all taxpayers. It’s yet another example of incompetence from the DWP and a thorough overhaul of the systems is desperately needed.”

It comes only weeks after another analysis revealed between 2010 and 2013, the Work Capability Assessment was independently associated with an additional 590 suicides. How much more evidence does the Government need before they get that the system is not fit for purpose and needs a complete overhaul?’

nickyinnorfolk · Post by **nickyinnorfolk** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 10:14 am

JC says he'll be getting on his bike round my neck of the woods!

Speaking at the Newspaper Conference’s annual lunch in Westminster, [Mr Corbyn] said he was disappointed Labour had failed to gain both the Norwich North and Great Yarmouth seats from the Conservatives in last May’s election.

But he said an increase in Labour membership in the east of England since his election as leader left him hopeful.

“In Norwich and further out in Cambridge we did gain,” he said. “We are doing a lot of campaigning in the area - you will see me cycling around Norfolk from vote to vote.”

Mr Corbyn praised Norfolk’s only Labour MP Clive Lewis, who holds the Norwich South seat - and who, on Wednesday, gifted the leader three bottles of so-called Corbyn Ale from a Norwich microbrewery as a belated Christmas present.

Mr Lewis’ maiden speech in the House of Commons on the future of the Hewett School, where he criticised academy chain the Inspiration Trust was praised by Mr Corbyn.

“Clive is a great friend of mine and he’s doing very well,” he said. “I was really impressed with the way he dealt with the education issues when he first came in here in May.

“I talk to Clive a lot and I have learnt a lot from him.”

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/co ... _1_4371446" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Incidentally, the Eastern Daily Press also revealed that JC actually once was the geography teacher he allegedly resembles.)

As discussed on here, part of the reason Norwich North remained Tory was Chloe Smith's empty promise to improve rail links to London. I did some canvassing in Norwich North before the election and found that Smith wasn't particularly well liked - 'robotic' was a word which often came up.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 10:18 am

HindleA wrote:http://press.labour.org.uk/post/1368722 ... the-tories

Labour Press
This report highlights the shambles the Tories have made of outsourcing health and disability assessments - Debbie Abrahams

Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Minister for Disabled People, commenting on the report from the National Audit Office showing that the DWPs outsourced health and disability assessments are in a ‘cycle of optimistic targets, contractual underperformance and costly recovery’, said:

“This report highlights the shambles the Tories have made of outsourcing health and disability assessments. The independent experts at the NAO have rightly shown that under this government the system, like so many other projects, is stuck in a cycle of underperformance.

“Too many disabled people have been badly let down by these assessments and this research shows that it’s not only been costly for those who’ve been mistreated, but all taxpayers. It’s yet another example of incompetence from the DWP and a thorough overhaul of the systems is desperately needed.”

It comes only weeks after another analysis revealed between 2010 and 2013, the Work Capability Assessment was independently associated with an additional 590 suicides. How much more evidence does the Government need before they get that the system is not fit for purpose and needs a complete overhaul?’

Pfft, boring, what can we moan about Corbyn with? Get Austin or Woodcock on the phone. Sigh.

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 10:25 am

Morfterbubble aftereveingtons all...

As ever, have been lurking but not able to write in such a way as to add anything to the excellent discussions on here...and sometimes, as a £3 Corbynista* it can be a bit tricky (just in the sense that I know some of the things I might say might be taken the wrong way/seem insensitive...it's more my issue than anyone in here though!)

Seeing a few comments about Leigh Day, Clouncy Funt and the 'ambulance chaser' stuff, I wonder whether their involvement in this might have anything to do with it...

Law firm Leigh Day, representing Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), is considering legal action against the UK Government unless it suspends all licences permitting UK produced arms to be sent to Saudi Arabia.
On 12 November 2015, Leigh Day wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) saying in light of alleged grave breaches of international humanitarian law that it was concerned about arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
BIS replied on 10 December 2015, but it failed to reassure Leigh Day or CAAT that the UK government was following its own rules when assessing the risk that the goods exported might be used in contravention of IHL.
According to senior UN officials and respected NGOs, the military campaign in Yemen has involved substantial numbers of air strikes by the Saudi led coalition which appear to have targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure.

https://www.caat.org.uk/media/press-releases/2015-12-17

...that'll be civilian infrastructure like hospitals http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/ ... 447254018/...and of course, if the light is shone on the arms trade with Saudi Arabia, the truth might come out about al yamamah http://www.theguardian.com/baefiles/pag ... 31,00.html...or then again, maybe not

...or perhaps this....

During and since the start of the military action against Gaza in July 2014, with the ensuing deaths of over 2,000 Palestinians and the destruction of homes and vital infrastructure, there have been many calls for an arms embargo.

These calls led Prime Minister David Cameron to say on 4 August 2014 that all export licences would be reviewed. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills announced the results of the review on 12 August 2014. Outrageously, no licences were to be suspended unless a ceasefire then in place failed and fighting started again. Fighting did resume on 20 August 2014, but the UK government did not consider it a "resumption of significant hostilities" so the licences were not suspended.

https://www.caat.org.uk/resources/count ... rael/legal

...but no - it's not possible - it's all in my tin-foil hat

and definitely nothing for BBC News/Newsnight/MSM to worry their pretty little heads about.

*I've this thing about the 'names' - surely 'Corbynite' is the magical substance that surrounds JC at PMQs, like a shield, protecting him from the putrid bile being spouted by the Murkydochian Monsters and made up of hundreds of thousands of little pieces of positive, hopeful thought (delivered through FTN Quantum Tunnels(TM)) from those who support his anti-austerity, anti-warfare agenda, and, the 'Corbynista', which is made up of the people that have voted for him (in the leadership election (60%), Oldham by-election (62%) etc) and who supply the 'Corbynite'?

...and a 'Hippy No Fear' for 2016 to everyone

Willow904 · Post by **Willow904** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 10:34 am

StephenDolan wrote:
HindleA wrote:http://press.labour.org.uk/post/1368722 ... the-tories

Labour Press
This report highlights the shambles the Tories have made of outsourcing health and disability assessments - Debbie Abrahams

Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Minister for Disabled People, commenting on the report from the National Audit Office showing that the DWPs outsourced health and disability assessments are in a ‘cycle of optimistic targets, contractual underperformance and costly recovery’, said:

“This report highlights the shambles the Tories have made of outsourcing health and disability assessments. The independent experts at the NAO have rightly shown that under this government the system, like so many other projects, is stuck in a cycle of underperformance.

“Too many disabled people have been badly let down by these assessments and this research shows that it’s not only been costly for those who’ve been mistreated, but all taxpayers. It’s yet another example of incompetence from the DWP and a thorough overhaul of the systems is desperately needed.”

It comes only weeks after another analysis revealed between 2010 and 2013, the Work Capability Assessment was independently associated with an additional 590 suicides. How much more evidence does the Government need before they get that the system is not fit for purpose and needs a complete overhaul?’
Pfft, boring, what can we moan about Corbyn with? Get Austin or Woodcock on the phone. Sigh.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. The real question is what more do the media need before they get off their asses and hold the government to account for clear and ongoing failures. Are there no journalists with a conscience any more? Exactly whose interests does protecting IDS serve? It will be worse for the Tory party as a whole if his shambles is allowed to rumble on til it explodes, rather than being quietly shelved because of rising costs etc. Osborne's insane if he thinks UC can handle the amount of claims necessary to claw back the tax credit savings he's moved there.

RogerOThornhill · Post by **RogerOThornhill** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 10:35 am

Nicky Morgan seems to be presiding over a complete shamble at the DfE. Some stories around this morning...

1. School admissions in a total mess as a result of...guess what? Yep, academies...

https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/br ... ions-rules

2. Four HoC committee heads are now calling on her to make PSHE lessons compulsory.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/commi ... hed-15-16/

3. A year ago she promised to do something about making research available to teachers. Nope, not done that yet.

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/englands-teach ... -research/

4. Nearly a week after the ST story about times table tests, we've yet to see any detail about what it means.

What on earth does her department do all day - they seem to be spending so much time on "every school an academy by 2020" that they're neglecting the basics. Utterly useless.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 10:36 am

I don't actually blame the BBC in this instance (re Doughty) for wanting a "good story" - that at least is how journalists have always behaved.

His own collusion in this is rather more damning IMO - you could almost sense the desperation of someone "not even famous in their own household" to finally matter.

(and of course, *if* the Beeb played any part in persuading him to resign - though there is no hard evidence of this as yet - that is a whole new ball game)

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:04 am

That is not good, I agree.......

Lonewolfie · Post by **Lonewolfie** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:05 am

Willow904 wrote:Re political bias at the BBC.

When I watch local BBC news, such as Points West, I've not noticed any particular change in the way political stories are covered, or any of the bias apparent in the main BBC political team's reporting. When a political issue has been debated on local news, representatives of different parties appear to be treated the same and are allowed to debate with each other with pretty neutral chairing by the presenters. As the bias in national coverage has become worse, the balance in local reporting has become more apparent. I have also been similarly struck when watching studio debates on youtube, such as debates between MEPs on TTIP, for instance. I guess what I'm saying is that the accusation of BBC bias in favour of the Tories on Newsnight and national news etc can't be easily dismissed, when the way in which it is presented is so noticeably different from other political coverage which is expected to conform to the same standards of impartiality.

As for Kuenssberg, she is attracting more accusations of bias than her predecessors, I think, because she seems to lack the cynicism that, say Paxman or Neill, seem to have for all politics and politicians. That's to say, being harder on Labour while being hard on all parties is much less noticeable than being hard on Labour while swooning over Cameron and generally licking the Tories' butts. She really is shredding the BBC's reputation at the moment, all whilst unattractively appearing to be chewing a wasp much of the time. I honestly can't see her lasting, if only in the interests of watchable television.

...but...she's on the list of 'approved' journalists - it's nearly 10 years since this...

Coulson became the Conservative Party's director of communications on 9 July 2007. Various media stories estimated his salary at between £275,000[25] and £475,000; the party indicated the latter figure was "inaccurate" and that his salary was "substantially less" but refused to provide an exact figure.[26] In July 2011 the Mail on Sunday alleged that Cameron had been about to appoint the BBC's Guto Harri, but was persuaded by Rebekah Wade to appoint Coulson. The paper quoted "an individual intimately involved in Mr Coulson's recruitment" as saying "Rebekah indicated the job should go to Andy. Cameron was told it should be someone acceptable to News International. The company was also desperate to find something for Andy after he took the rap when the phone hacking first became an issue. The approach was along the lines of, 'If you find something for Andy we will return the favour'."[27]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Coulson

...which, I believe(TM) ushered in a new style of 'media management' for Clouncy, Gidiot et al - the setting up of a massive shiny squirrel production line (eg 'the taxpayer' - as though non-taxpayers are somehow unimportant (for the avoidance of doubt, I state again, my belief(TM) that money is a means to an end and is never more important than a human life), a direct line from the very top of Murkydochia and total war (in 'media' terms) on Labour and everything related to them as a political force...was it all designed to concentrate the money upwards?...or could there be another agenda? (Oh b******s...there's that tin-foil hat again

)

Whatever the reasons, we've come to a point where the BBC is incapable of actually being 'impartial' (don't forget that they pretty much ignored the 2012 Health & Social Care Bill). I still believe(TM) in the original ideals of the BBC, much like the NHS, but until the stranglehold on media disinformation is reversed, they will continue to do as they're told...which, from here in Hope (just north of Peterborough), doesn't look that far away - revenge reshuffle my a*** - http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/j ... aria-eagle - by all accounts (happy to be corrected) Dugher was spectacularly useless in his actual role...I think Maria's got a bit of fire in her belly (so to speak) so things might get a bit difficult for those hiding behind the 'pre-Leveson implentation' media circus.

ttfn

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:05 am

rebeccariots2 wrote:This Indy story on the DWP report is damning. (The G doesn't seem to have anything on it yet).

DWP fit-to-work assessments cost more than they save, report reveals
Government will pay £1.6bn in next three years to private contractors who carry out controversial assessments
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 01636.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The study by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that the Department for Work and Pensions is handing over £1.6bn over the next three years to private contractors who carry out the controversial health and disability assessments.

But at the same time, the Government’s own financial watchdog has warned that savings in benefits payments are likely to be less than a billion pounds by 2020 as a result of the new tests.

Yes - but money's rightly no object when you're dedicated to transforming people's lives by lifting them out of poverty (I'm surprised he hasn't come up with that one yet). Iain Smith should be canonised. Or do I mean subjected to cannon fire?

PorFavor · Post by **PorFavor** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:06 am

Good morfternoon.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:08 am

Tory governments mess people up.
Despoil the land, too.

Good-morning.

utopiandreams · Post by **utopiandreams** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:10 am

Had just popped by for a lurk over a coffee but couldn't resist logging in to thank Wolfie.

As for Laura Kuenssberg wanting to make the news, a little balance please. My suggestion is that she collars the nonentity who posed the Leigh Day question and the pig-fucker himself to repeat their slurs outside the chamber, although I guess the latter has a brother that would advise against.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:10 am

nickyinnorfolk wrote:Peter Hitchens in the Mail. Hitchens can sometimes be eccentric in his views (for example he regards Cameron, despite all the evidence pointing to him being a dogmatic and far right Thatcherite, as a closet leftist) but here he hits the nail on the head.

The identifiable sycophants of David Cameron in the media are dedicated to attacks on Mr Corbyn, attacks so relentless that you would think there was nothing else to write about, that the economy was fine (rather than poised on a precipice) that the NHS was perfect (rather than in increasingly deep difficulties) and that the Prime Minister’s attempts to escape his EU referendum pledge (a hopeless, illogical tangle) were going well. Not to mention disasters visible to me daily such as the hopeless delay on the electrification of the Great Western mainline, miles behind timetable and mountains of money over budget. Let’s forget HS2 and the Heathrow expansion, or the relentless slither towards a Scottish secession, and the utter failure of all attempts to control our borders.

No, the most important thing in politics turns out to be whether Mike Who swaps jobs with Brenda What, and if Stan Nobody has quit his non-job as deputy minister for Tramways and Fine Arts, in protest at the easing out of Albert Whatsit from his non-job as Shadow Secretary of State for Wind Farms.

Billed for weeks as the ‘revenge reshuffle’, it was supposed to be a sort of Westminster version of the Red Wedding in ‘Game of Thrones’, with the Shadow Cabinet corridor knee-deep in blood and littered with grotesque political corpses and the weltering, obscene figures of the dying, crying ‘treachery!’ and ‘murder!’ What, I wonder, was the source for this fantasy? I don’t think Mr Corbyn talks much to the Parliamentary Lobby, who he rightly recognises are not his friends.

The actual event (in which great crowds of reporters hung about stairwells and lift-shafts trying to find something, anything interesting to write about) involved Jeremy Corbyn boring a few colleagues half to death with conciliatory, polite conversations, and getting rid of a few people from (unpaid, unimportant) jobs because they disagree with him about major policy issues. Well, I never. A party leader who wants allies in his Shadow Cabinet.

Well, I never, a party leader whose authority comes from the old-fashioned left-wing party membership clashing with a new-fashioned left-wing Parliamentary Party whose authority comes from their endorsement by the media and the money men who decide who’s top in politics.

For the first time in my life, this country is actually coming to resemble the Marxist caricature of crude money and power, concentrated in a power elite, versus the disdained people – a caricature that has never hitherto been true at all and which does not prove that the Marxists were right.

And that's not all of it, the whole thing is worth a read.
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/ ... rbage.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The timing of the Syria debate, in retrospect, looks rather suspicious. There was no special military or diplomatic reason, as is quite obvious now, for holding it that night. The only reason for hurry was the Oldham poll. There was nothing else on the grid that couldn’t be altered. A humiliation for |Mr Corbyn on Wednesday night at Westminster and another one on Thursday night in Oldham Town Hall, and the brave boys of New Labour would have acted.

Alas for Blairism, the people of Oldham didn’t do as the Blairites wanted. This, of course was immediately said to be in spite of Jeremy Corbyn, and not to his credit. If it had gone the other way, it would (I promise you) have been entirely his fault, and the people’s verdict on Corbynism.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:13 am

Yes, all the eulogies within the political/media "bubble" for St Michael of Dugher seemed to skate over the fact he wasn't terribly effective at his job (not an irrelevant consideration for a party leader, even if said person *hasn't* been "bravely" - ie anonymously - slagging you off day after day)

As for Maria Eagle, lets not run away with the idea it was her position on Trident that was the clinching factor in her being moved. IMO it was rather more to do with that infamous Sunday morning interview with Marr when she appeared to agree with that general slagging off Corbyn in public - and indeed that his intervention was a legitimate one. Now, I have a bit of sympathy for her in that she was clearly put on the spot about this without due warning - but maybe she accepts in retrospect that she was a bit "off". Hence her acquiescing in Jez's wishes?

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:29 am

RobertSnozers wrote:
nickyinnorfolk wrote:Peter Hitchens in the Mail. Hitchens can sometimes be eccentric in his views (for example he regards Cameron, despite all the evidence pointing to him being a dogmatic and far right Thatcherite, as a closet leftist) but here he hits the nail on the head.

The identifiable sycophants of David Cameron in the media are dedicated to attacks on Mr Corbyn, attacks so relentless that you would think there was nothing else to write about, that the economy was fine (rather than poised on a precipice) that the NHS was perfect (rather than in increasingly deep difficulties) and that the Prime Minister’s attempts to escape his EU referendum pledge (a hopeless, illogical tangle) were going well. Not to mention disasters visible to me daily such as the hopeless delay on the electrification of the Great Western mainline, miles behind timetable and mountains of money over budget. Let’s forget HS2 and the Heathrow expansion, or the relentless slither towards a Scottish secession, and the utter failure of all attempts to control our borders.

No, the most important thing in politics turns out to be whether Mike Who swaps jobs with Brenda What, and if Stan Nobody has quit his non-job as deputy minister for Tramways and Fine Arts, in protest at the easing out of Albert Whatsit from his non-job as Shadow Secretary of State for Wind Farms.

Billed for weeks as the ‘revenge reshuffle’, it was supposed to be a sort of Westminster version of the Red Wedding in ‘Game of Thrones’, with the Shadow Cabinet corridor knee-deep in blood and littered with grotesque political corpses and the weltering, obscene figures of the dying, crying ‘treachery!’ and ‘murder!’ What, I wonder, was the source for this fantasy? I don’t think Mr Corbyn talks much to the Parliamentary Lobby, who he rightly recognises are not his friends.

The actual event (in which great crowds of reporters hung about stairwells and lift-shafts trying to find something, anything interesting to write about) involved Jeremy Corbyn boring a few colleagues half to death with conciliatory, polite conversations, and getting rid of a few people from (unpaid, unimportant) jobs because they disagree with him about major policy issues. Well, I never. A party leader who wants allies in his Shadow Cabinet.

Well, I never, a party leader whose authority comes from the old-fashioned left-wing party membership clashing with a new-fashioned left-wing Parliamentary Party whose authority comes from their endorsement by the media and the money men who decide who’s top in politics.

For the first time in my life, this country is actually coming to resemble the Marxist caricature of crude money and power, concentrated in a power elite, versus the disdained people – a caricature that has never hitherto been true at all and which does not prove that the Marxists were right.
This is so on-the-money that it's depressing. I think what the more independent-minded right-wing commentators are beginning to realise is that the increasing domination of the right in public life will only allow one version of the true faith, much as it seems is happening on the left. I can imagine the dismay among people like Peter Oborne when they see people in the same political colours as them so obviously twisting the truth and the way the truth is reported or ignored to suit their own ends. It is not, after all, cricket. I think some right-wingers believe they can win the arguments without the spin and cant. The difference between the right and left, though, is that the battle for the 'true faith' was largely fought and lost/won years ago. The establishment, the media, big business etc all knitted together by cosy networks forged in the old schools and at Oxbridge dining clubs, has reached a consensus of a particular sort of semi-free market orthodoxy. Politicians are allowed to get away with incompetence and failure as long as they give plenty of opportunities for business to get hold of public money and the media are allowed to say more or less what they like.

As far as Hitchens' view of Cameron is concerned, I think people tend to define politicians they don't like according to the things they don't like about them, hence the ease with which people can accuse people like Liz Kendall of being more or less a Tory, while ignoring the views they agree with. I dare say Hitchens sees Cameron in terms of his relative social liberalism with support for things like same-sex marriage, and possibly his earlier green ideals, which to a social conservative might look like leftism. Perhaps it's that he's not looking terribly closely - Cameron likes to appear centrist while actually doing pretty right wing things.

I think too, that people like Hitchens are increasingly aware of just how criminally incompetent this government is. There's no hiding from it.

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:31 am

RobertSnozers wrote:
AnatolyKasparov wrote:That is not good, I agree.......
Not good? It's bloody horrifying.

Peter Jukes, no friend of Corbyn's, thinks this might be a nail in the BBC's coffin.

If proved beyond reasonable doubt it might be the end of, if not the Beeb, then at least Kuenssberg? Though admittedly I am not holding my breath there.

ephemerid · Post by **ephemerid** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:35 am

Willow904 wrote: I think you've hit the nail on the head there. The real question is what more do the media need before they get off their asses and hold the government to account for clear and ongoing failures. Are there no journalists with a conscience any more? Exactly whose interests does protecting IDS serve? It will be worse for the Tory party as a whole if his shambles is allowed to rumble on til it explodes, rather than being quietly shelved because of rising costs etc. Osborne's insane if he thinks UC can handle the amount of claims necessary to claw back the tax credit savings he's moved there.

"Exactly whose interests does protecting IDS serve?"

Dear Willow -
You are a compassionate human being. That is not an accolade that can be attributed to IDS or Osborne.
Perhaps that's why you find it difficult to understand why they behave as they do.

First: IDS -

A serial failure whose only success in life so far is marrying into money and a class he aspires to.
He is on a quasi-religious mission to rid the poor of their worklessness, which he believes is the root of their poverty.
To that end, he punishes them - at vast expense and flying in the face of all evidence.

It is entirely possible that he is so deluded that he actually really does believe in what he's doing.
It is also possible that he doesn't, and is simply doing the bidding of his masters whose approval he craves.
Either way, he is determined to push through his "reforms"

It has been obvious for a long time that none of this is about saving money.
IDS has squandered in excess of £25 Billion on his schemes, none of which work as advertised.
The evidence that they do not work is in the ever-rising spend on social security.

Next: Osborne -

A nonentitly in any profession other than politics, in his current position due to connections not ability.
Zero experience of real life or real employment; zero understanding of his job and the effects his policies have.
His aim is to be the Prime Minister and line his pockets - and those of his pals - in the process.

He is doing what even Thatcher never dared to do - he is dismantling social security as we know it.
He doesn't care how much he spends on this; he will allow IDS to keep on as long as it takes.
He is doing what many Tories have been hoping for - getting rid of state support for our poor.

Whether the policy is taxes, housing, wages, or benefits, his only interest is shrinking the state.
He is not interested in debt, homelessness, untoward deaths, suicides, or anything else.
He will support the rich, the landlords, the employers, and anyone who is not poor.

He is too intelligent not to know what he is doing. He simply has no empathy.
He knows Universal Credit will fail. He doesn't care.
He knows Maximus are not complying with their contract. He doesn't care.

Conclusion - IDS will be allowed to run with his antics, and Osborne will fund them. There will be no backtracking.
Whether IDS believes his shit or not, he is the means by which Osborne will get rid of benefits.
When Universal Credit fails, he will use it as an excuse to privatise social security.
He doesn't care.

This current crop of Tories are engaged in demolishing our welfare state.
Education, health, social security, justice - all in the process of being handed over to Tory supporters and donors and foreign friends.

Anyone who knows anything about these issues has seen the writing on the wall.
Why our opposition parties continue to sit on their hands is a mystery to me.
They must know what we know - and their silence is a national disgrace.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:38 am

nickyinnorfolk wrote:Peter Hitchens in the Mail. Hitchens can sometimes be eccentric in his views (for example he regards Cameron, despite all the evidence pointing to him being a dogmatic and far right Thatcherite, as a closet leftist) but here he hits the nail on the head.

The identifiable sycophants of David Cameron in the media are dedicated to attacks on Mr Corbyn, attacks so relentless that you would think there was nothing else to write about, that the economy was fine (rather than poised on a precipice) that the NHS was perfect (rather than in increasingly deep difficulties) and that the Prime Minister’s attempts to escape his EU referendum pledge (a hopeless, illogical tangle) were going well. Not to mention disasters visible to me daily such as the hopeless delay on the electrification of the Great Western mainline, miles behind timetable and mountains of money over budget. Let’s forget HS2 and the Heathrow expansion, or the relentless slither towards a Scottish secession, and the utter failure of all attempts to control our borders.

No, the most important thing in politics turns out to be whether Mike Who swaps jobs with Brenda What, and if Stan Nobody has quit his non-job as deputy minister for Tramways and Fine Arts, in protest at the easing out of Albert Whatsit from his non-job as Shadow Secretary of State for Wind Farms.

Billed for weeks as the ‘revenge reshuffle’, it was supposed to be a sort of Westminster version of the Red Wedding in ‘Game of Thrones’, with the Shadow Cabinet corridor knee-deep in blood and littered with grotesque political corpses and the weltering, obscene figures of the dying, crying ‘treachery!’ and ‘murder!’ What, I wonder, was the source for this fantasy? I don’t think Mr Corbyn talks much to the Parliamentary Lobby, who he rightly recognises are not his friends.

The actual event (in which great crowds of reporters hung about stairwells and lift-shafts trying to find something, anything interesting to write about) involved Jeremy Corbyn boring a few colleagues half to death with conciliatory, polite conversations, and getting rid of a few people from (unpaid, unimportant) jobs because they disagree with him about major policy issues. Well, I never. A party leader who wants allies in his Shadow Cabinet.

Well, I never, a party leader whose authority comes from the old-fashioned left-wing party membership clashing with a new-fashioned left-wing Parliamentary Party whose authority comes from their endorsement by the media and the money men who decide who’s top in politics.

For the first time in my life, this country is actually coming to resemble the Marxist caricature of crude money and power, concentrated in a power elite, versus the disdained people – a caricature that has never hitherto been true at all and which does not prove that the Marxists were right.

Hitchens neglected flood waters destroying homes and businesses in the list of things media ignore
in order to devote more time to Labour bashing. Doubtless there's more we may need to know but
currently don't. But you're right, Hitchens' work quoted above is good.

ScarletGas · Post by **ScarletGas** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 11:54 am

On the Doughty/Kuenssberg issue I see the Westminster "bubble" are out in force with an argument based on that's her job and defending the actions of the BBC pretty strongly.

Firstly I think it shows how far the journalistic "profession" has fallen in recent years when they can even think let alone elucidate this reasoning. The BBC (and therefore her) role is to report the news not create it and it is the latest in a long line of incidents where La Kuenssberg has wanted to be front and centre of the story rather than just reporting it.

I do and actually have felt for some time that reporters actually see themselves as personalities rather than just independent purveyors of facts. Maybe this has something to do with the 24/7 news cycle and press previews where TV journalists ask newsprint journalists for their opinion on publications of other journalists! Whatever it is its a disappointing and may I say dangerous development on many levels.

Of course we have always had personality journalists and I have no objection to this genre where opinions are clearly defined by the individuals background as right/centre/left or from wherever however this is an age where this is clouded by establishment figures (and make no mistake the press are part of the establishment) colluding to benefit a chosen party.

This in my view is where the BBC and La Kuenssberg have, in their haste to break a scoop,forgotten their role as impartial journalists not to create news.Incidentally from what I have read when first contacted at 9am Doughty was only considering resigning.So what happened between then and 12.25.It does not take a Honours graduate in politics to understand the effect this would have on PMQs five minutes later and Kuenssberg and the Daily Politics team are canny operators.

So the defence from the BBC is also flawed when it states that the reshuffle was the biggest story of the week. In whose eyes? To most I would suggest the reshuffle was a pretty way down a long list of important stories (unless you never got your backside out of Westminster)

As to Doughty himself I will waste only a few words. For someone who is shallow enough to want his 5 minutes of fame based on some immature,petulant reaction instead of working hard to improve the lot of those constituents who put him there...............Bah!I have wasted to many words and time on him already!

HindleA · Post by **HindleA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:00 pm

Realise frustration but humbly suggest many are not sitting on their hands,to suggest otherwise does them a disfavour.Many good people doing the best they can.It is usually the ones you will not have heard of,ploughing for others,rather than themselves.Easy for tub thumping ego mania to be mistaken for opposition with a purpose and effect.Behind the scenes you will find the true picture.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:02 pm

Montreal traffic camera captures stunning images of snowy owl in flight

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

Robert PoëtiVerified account
@robertpoeti
Minister of Transport and Minister responsible for the Montreal region (tweeted the image above)

A traffic camera above a Montreal freeway has taken stunning images of a snowy owl in flight.
The bird was captured mid-air by the CCTV camera at the intersection of Autoroute 40 and the
Boulevard des Sources, in the West Island of Montreal, on the morning of 3 January.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:03 pm

ScarletGas wrote: So the defence from the BBC is also flawed when it states that the reshuffle was the biggest story of the week. In whose eyes? To most I would suggest the reshuffle was a pretty way down a long list of important stories (unless you never got your backside out of Westminster)

Did they really say that?
Stock markets crashing round the world, people starving in Syria, complete destruction of social housing here and Aberdeenshire under water. BBC needs to get its head out of its backside.

Keunssberg is singularly unappealing.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:05 pm

cja, I saw that yesterday, fabulous isn't it.

gilsey · Post by **gilsey** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:07 pm

There’s drama in the City -- high street retailer Sports Direct has issued a profits warning.

The company admitted that it could miss its target of £420m profits by up to £40m, following weak sales since its last financial results on 10 December.

It blamed:

“a deterioration of trading conditions on the high street and a continuation of the unseasonal weather over the key Christmas period”.

citizenJA · Post by **citizenJA** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:12 pm

Flood warnings for:
England and Wales
12:04pm Friday 08 January 2016

20 Flood warnings - flooding is expected. Immediate action required.
► 20 Flood warnings - flooding is expected. Immediate action required.
117 Flood alerts - flooding is possible. Be prepared.
► 117 Flood alerts - flooding is possible. Be prepared.
97 Warnings no longer in force - flood warnings and flood alerts removed in the last 24 hours.
► 97 Warnings no longer in force - flood warnings and flood alerts removed in the last 24 hours.

https://flood-warning-information.servi ... k/warnings" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

River Swale at Kirby Wiske
Latest Information

The current level at Kirby Wiske is 2.5m and is still rising in response to Thursday’s rainfall.
Levels are likely to remain high in the catchment over the coming days as further showers
are forecast over the weekend. The York Incident Room is on 24 hour duty and we will
continue to monitor the situation and update this message as new information is available.

Nineteen (19) more flooding expected notifications in England and Wales linked above.

Scotland's warnings are linked elsewhere.

Scotland hit by further flooding and travel disruption

Transport network in Aberdeen and surrounding area
disrupted as water levels reach record highs, while
parts of northern England brace for more rain

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016 ... n-aberdeen" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Post by **PaulfromYorkshire** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:16 pm

I think the Kuenssberg incident chimes with two things, which make it more significant.

It confirms for many apparent bias in her reporting. If she'd been busy hammering Cameron for his EU cave-in earlier in the week there would surely have been fewer eyebrows raised. But no she was building and building up the revenge reshuffle story.

It's another example of Westminster Village navel gazing. Again if she had been interrogating Cameron on his lies and hypocrisy around flood defences, this would have looked like a clever scoop.

Kuenssberg is London, Tory establishment to the core and this proves it.

ohsocynical · Post by **ohsocynical** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:18 pm

gilsey wrote:
There’s drama in the City -- high street retailer Sports Direct has issued a profits warning.

The company admitted that it could miss its target of £420m profits by up to £40m, following weak sales since its last financial results on 10 December.

It blamed:

“a deterioration of trading conditions on the high street and a continuation of the unseasonal weather over the key Christmas period”.

Power to the people. Ignore us at your peril...

AnatolyKasparov · Post by **AnatolyKasparov** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:18 pm

I realise how far the Torygraph has fallen in recent years - but it currently has a brilliant, almost word perfect piece by Tim Stanley on this week's Labour shenanigans.

Which forces me to ask - WHY IS IT ONLY RIGHT WING JOURNALISTS CURRENTLY SAYING THIS STUFF?

(though tbf away from the dead tree press, that is not *quite* as true - Emma Burnell's effort on LabourList is also well worth reading, for those who haven't already)

rebeccariots2 · Post by **rebeccariots2** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:21 pm

RobertSnozers wrote:
AnatolyKasparov wrote:
RobertSnozers wrote: Not good? It's bloody horrifying.

Peter Jukes, no friend of Corbyn's, thinks this might be a nail in the BBC's coffin.
If proved beyond reasonable doubt it might be the end of, if not the Beeb, then at least Kuenssberg? Though admittedly I am not holding my breath there.
Nah. The producer will get fired if anyone does.

The person who wrote that blog - that was unfortunately far too honest - will be the one who gets the flack.

StephenDolan · Post by **StephenDolan** » Fri 08 Jan, 2016 12:22 pm

Tom Watson doing some good work.

Key data on migrant benefit claimants being hidden, Tom Watson says

http://gu.com/p/4ft67" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;