Friday 3rd June 2016

[yahyah]

Wotcha PF.

[ohsocynical]

Interesting snippet on the radio earlier.

According to the website where you can sign up to vote.
3,000 hits, from young people, but only 10 actually finished registering because of having to supply a national insurance number.

Thinking about this...Seriously worried about youngsters staying power and commitment.

It was a nuisance having to sort out my NI number when I registered, but it didn't take that long.

I'm actually very confused about this. You need your NI number to sign on and you need it when you get a job for tax etc, so how are all these young people with no knowledge of their NI number actually existing? Is is possible a lot of people are put off getting on the electoral register because it puts together their NI number with an address, thus maybe making them findable by student loans companies, debt collectors etc?

10 out of 3,000. That many can't all be lying low.
I had to get up from the computer, go to a box and sort out a piece of paper with my NI number on it. I swore, but did it.
I suspect they just can't be bothered.

[PorFavor]

Just heard Julian Lloyd Webber on Radio 2 talking about music. He criticised successive Tory governments for cutting music education at state schools - 'they don't like to hear this, but it's always Tory governments,' he said. He said the last Labour government had made a lot of progress regarding music education which has since been lost.

How different to his brother Andrew, who memorably flew from New York to attend the Lords and vote for cutting benefits for poor people ...

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Piers Corbyn, David Miliband. All older brothers. Any more examples that anyone can think of? There must be a study in that somewhere.

[PorFavor]

Good morfternoon.

Bloody freezing.

[ohsocynical]

Thinking about this...Seriously worried about youngsters staying power and commitment.

It was a nuisance having to sort out my NI number when I registered, but it didn't take that long.

I'm actually very confused about this. You need your NI number to sign on and you need it when you get a job for tax etc, so how are all these young people with no knowledge of their NI number actually existing? Is is possible a lot of people are put off getting on the electoral register because it puts together their NI number with an address, thus maybe making them findable by student loans companies, debt collectors etc?

10 out of 3,000. That many can't all be lying low.
I had to get up from the computer, go to a box and sort out a piece of paper with my NI number on it. I swore, but did it.
I suspect they just can't be bothered.

It's pretty much what I suspect happened at the GE. Loads of them said they would vote and for Ed, but when it came to getting themselves to the polling station they couldn't be arsed.
I was telling that day, and the absence of youngsters was noticeable.

[Tubby Isaacs]

We cannot cope with the scale and speed of current immigration... what greater attack could there be on workers’ rights than to depress wages on the lowest points on the income scale so that the minimum wage becomes the maximum wage for millions and millions of people

Neil Hamilton there, outing himself as a Soviet-style anti-capitalist.

This is the "lump of labour" fallacy, the idea that there's only a fixed amount of work in the economy and that immigration lowers the price of it. And indeed the "lump of capital" fallacy too.

He's talking bollocks. A large proportion of working age people left Ireland from 2008. Did those who stayed get big pay rises? When the likes of Mr Wetherspoons promises his staff a pay rise if immigration gets below a certain level, I might take Hamilton seriously.

This all points up how you need different campaigns that address different sorts of people. Corbyn telling Hamilton that he's not a proper capitalist isn't going to help anybody.

[ohsocynical]

Good morfternoon.

Bloody freezing.

Isn't it We have to hang on until Sunday.

[yahyah]

I hate to mention it but my husband is sitting in the garden reading, it is still so warm.

[gilsey]

That's my 'dinner hour' spoken for 12.00 until 01.00 is all I am allowed, then from 03.00 until 04.00. Back to bed after that for 22 hours a day for bed rest.

Only time I get to use the laptop, which is a pain in the rear. Got my Android tablet thingy at the bedside but battery life is crap.

Seriously considering Macbook Air with 14 hour battery life.

Mrs55 has got one and loves it.

So have/do I, when they brought out the Air2 the original ones stayed on sale at a less exorbitant price so I got one.

I've been using it the last couple of days, in the end we did pack a bag and go to Scotland to see the sun. Back home now and not much has changed although the forecast is better for tomorrow.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Brilliant political insight by the founder of the Wag Club on LondonLive News.

Apparently Crossrail shouldn't have been built because "we've got enough people already, why do you need more coming in from Kent?"

[ohsocynical]

I hate to mention it but my husband is sitting in the garden reading, it is still so warm.

Cruel, cruel

[PorFavor]

I hate to mention it

I don't think you do, really . . . . .

[yahyah]

It's just that we don't get that much of it here. Usually the weather report rain blob is just hovering over Aberystwyth and down past us, even if north and south Wales are sunny.

[yahyah]

Night all.

Fingers crossed my blood pressure reading is better tomorrow.
Have had to record it for next week's check up with the GP.
Since being on this new medication it is in the severe hypertension zone which is worrying.
My diastolic used to be optimal, even when my systolic was through the roof. Now that's raised as well.
Not sure why.

Am fed up. All the Brexit nonsense doesn't help.

[ohsocynical]

It's just that we don't get that much of it here. Usually the weather report rain blob is just hovering over Aberystwyth and down past us, even if north and south Wales are sunny.

I'll get me violin...

[yahyah]

It's just that we don't get that much of it here. Usually the weather report rain blob is just hovering over Aberystwyth and down past us, even if north and south Wales are sunny.

I'll get me violin...

My one's rusty and mouldy from all the rain

[ohsocynical]

Night all.

Fingers crossed my blood pressure reading is better tomorrow.
Have had to record it for next week's check up with the GP.
Since being on this new medication it is in the severe hypertension zone which is worrying.
My diastolic used to be optimal, even when my systolic was through the roof. Now that's raised as well.
Not sure why.

Am fed up. All the Brexit nonsense doesn't help.

Sod politics. You need lots and lots of laughter.

[PorFavor]

@yahyah

Night night.

[ohsocynical]

Night all.

Fingers crossed my blood pressure reading is better tomorrow.
Have had to record it for next week's check up with the GP.
Since being on this new medication it is in the severe hypertension zone which is worrying.
My diastolic used to be optimal, even when my systolic was through the roof. Now that's raised as well.
Not sure why.

Am fed up. All the Brexit nonsense doesn't help.

Sod politics. You need lots and lots of laughter.

Nothing is worth letting the idiots make you unwell.

[martinson]

Night all.

Fingers crossed my blood pressure reading is better tomorrow.
Have had to record it for next week's check up with the GP.
Since being on this new medication it is in the severe hypertension zone which is worrying.
My diastolic used to be optimal, even when my systolic was through the roof. Now that's raised as well.
Not sure why.

Am fed up. All the Brexit nonsense doesn't help.

Sod politics. You need lots and lots of laughter.

I remember the old Readers Digest section 'Laughter is the best medicine' that used to give £25 if they printed a contribution. I can even remember a particular item that said,
As we get older we can have trouble with our vowels and suffer from inconsonance.

Hope that the weather improves for all those suffering at least we can all enjoy the longer days.

[PorFavor]

Night all.

Fingers crossed my blood pressure reading is better tomorrow.
Have had to record it for next week's check up with the GP.
Since being on this new medication it is in the severe hypertension zone which is worrying.
My diastolic used to be optimal, even when my systolic was through the roof. Now that's raised as well.
Not sure why.

Am fed up. All the Brexit nonsense doesn't help.

Sod politics. You need lots and lots of laughter.

I remember the old Readers Digest section 'Laughter is the best medicine' that used to give £25 if they printed a contribution. I can even remember a particular item that said,
As we get older we can have trouble with our vowels and suffer from inconsonance.

Hope that the weather improves for all those suffering at least we can all enjoy the longer days.

Just to be contrary -

I don't like longer days. I prefer it to get dark at a reasonable time but to stay hot. Tropics-like.

I am Joe's bile duct . . . .

[martinson]

Sod politics. You need lots and lots of laughter.

I remember the old Readers Digest section 'Laughter is the best medicine' that used to give £25 if they printed a contribution. I can even remember a particular item that said,
As we get older we can have trouble with our vowels and suffer from inconsonance.

Hope that the weather improves for all those suffering at least we can all enjoy the longer days.

Just to be contrary -

I don't like longer days. I prefer it to get dark at a reasonable time but to stay hot. Tropics-like.

I am Joe's bile duct . . . .

You wouldn't like to live on Skye then?

http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/portree" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tubby Isaacs]

Gove, who has been a passionate Eurosceptic ever since he saw his adopted father’s fish business go bust partly because of the common fisheries polices

Says the Guardian.

As opposed to say, the need to stop overfishing?

[citizenJA]

@yahyah

Night night.

Goodnight, yahyah.

[ohsocynical]

Hundreds of homeless Wokingham families put up in B&Bs

Between 2014 and 2015 the number of families and individuals placed in bed and breakfasts rose by more than 100 per cent

http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/readin ... t-11414492" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citizenJA]

The longer days disconcert me too sometimes, odd that.

[rebeccariots2]

EU dilutes proposal to halve air pollution deaths after UK lobbying
If implemented, weakened proposal means 14,000 people could die prematurely across Europe each year from 2030
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/ ... k-lobbying" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Tory UK really does seem to be a pretty malign force in the EU. Surprised they don't all want to see the back of us.

[PorFavor]

I remember the old Readers Digest section 'Laughter is the best medicine' that used to give £25 if they printed a contribution. I can even remember a particular item that said,
As we get older we can have trouble with our vowels and suffer from inconsonance.

Hope that the weather improves for all those suffering at least we can all enjoy the longer days.

Just to be contrary -

I don't like longer days. I prefer it to get dark at a reasonable time but to stay hot. Tropics-like.

I am Joe's bile duct . . . .

You wouldn't like to live on Skye then?

http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/portree" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ha! No.

[ohsocynical]

Job RabkinVerified account
‏@jobrabkin

Lincolnshire police announce "investigation" into @karlmccartney's #electionexpenses. Making no further comment at this stage #c4news

J P ‏@sandpiper64 1h
@jobrabkin @karlmccartney

Excellent. I've met McCartney. He looks at you like you're something he just scraped off his shoe.

[PorFavor]

Job RabkinVerified account
‏@jobrabkin

Lincolnshire police announce "investigation" into @karlmccartney's #electionexpenses. Making no further comment at this stage #c4news

J P ‏@sandpiper64 1h
@jobrabkin @karlmccartney

Excellent. I've met McCartney. He looks at you like you're something he just scraped off his shoe.

Naturally there's some sort of rolling list in the press keeping a tally of all these instances of "investigations" . . . .

[AnatolyKasparov]

Seven local council byelections this week:

Rushmoor DC - the only deferred poll from last month's regular elections saw a Labour hold with approaching half the vote - this ward comfortably returned three Labour councillors in the all out elections (after boundary changes) in 2012, and they fairly comfortably won a straight fight with the Tories two years later. But on GE day, the Tories came through to win in a close three way contest with UKIP polling a strong third place with over 27% in their first outing here. Their share was almost unchanged this time, but that was enough to get second as the Tories had a double figure slump since last year (and Labour advanced by only slightly less) Greens stood here for the first time, but had to be content with less than 4%.

Denbighshire - two vacancies here, the first was an Independent hold meaning they continue to have both seats in this ward after sharing them with Plaid Cymru in the 2004 and 2008 elections. The winner this time was the unluckly one out of the three Indie candidates who missed out in 2012 - his own personal share was up but still to a relatively modest winning score of 36%; but the decreased Independent presence overall meant all the "party political" candidates advanced to some degree - Plaid were a good runner up followed by the Tories who more than doubled their score after coming last four years ago, then Labour (on 10%, little changed from their last showing here in 2008) and the last placed LibDems also up slightly. The other contest was even more fragmented, but saw an Independent gain from the Tories - this had seen an unopposed Independent victory in 2004, but the Tories won fairly comfortably in both the subsequent elections. In 2012 they had faced only party political opposition (Labour/LibDem) but this time two Independents took nearly 50% between them - and it was close, meaning the winner had barely a quarter of the vote which is a remarkably low winning score. Tories crashed by a full 30%, from half the votes to just a fifth - and Labour were down by 25%, meaning they were edged out of fourth by the LibDems who (rather remarkably, perhaps) managed to up their share. Plaid last with just 3%, less than half their previous showing in 2008.

Argyll and Bute - Independent hold, though that does not tell the full story; the previous incumbent had gone over to the SNP after being elected as an Indy in the 2012 election, and the winner had previously been a Labour candidate here. Which brings us to the other remarkable thing about this division - this was, quite incredibly, the FOURTH contest here since the regular elections here four years ago (and you can add *another* by-election in late 2011 to that as well - five such vacancies in five years has to be a recent record in the UK) The above mentioned defection meant the SNP had three out of four seats here after winning just one four years ago (as opposed to three Independents) and the first by-election in the summer of 2014 (pre-referendum, of course) saw them lose that on transfers - but subsequent contests in late 2014 and early this year saw them make two gains, reflecting of course the more general political zeitgeist north of the border. This time round, too, the Nats were clearly ahead on first preferences (well up on the pre-referendum contests, but slightly down on the last two) but their lack of transfer friendliness here again ultimately cost them - and the ultimate Indy winner was slightly up on earlier this year. Tories third, a smidgen down on the most recent byelection but up on previously then the LibDems (who managed to get a seat here in seemingly far back 2007) improving on 2012 after sitting the subsequent vacancies out.

Dorset CC - LibDem gain from Tory with nearly half the vote and an increase of 15%, meaning they regain this division where they edged out the Tories in a straight fight back in 2005 but lost equally narrowly in 2009 and 2013. UKIP polled decently here on the latter occasion with 22%, but for some reason decided to sit this one out - meaning the losing Tory scored notably high (some 47%) for a multi-party contest and lost the seat despite advancing nearly 10% themselves. Labour making up the numbers with less than 4% - this was actually slightly up on both the previous contests, there can't be many weaker areas anywhere that they contest regularly?

Lewes DC - LibDem hold, seeing off a strong Green challenge after the latter snatched one of the two seats here last year. In what may be a "spillover" effect from not far away Brighton, the Greens had already run the LibDems close here in 2011 after the yellows had won both seats fairly comfortably in 2007 and (even more so) 2003. A remarkably fragmented outcome on GE day was lessened this time as both Independent and UKIP candidates who polled decently then sat this one out - Greens upped their share by nearly 10% only to see the LibDems up by a full 18% to their best share here since 2003. Third placed Labour also slightly up on last year (and little changed on 2011) whilst the Tories - once runners up here - fell to a new low of less than 10%.

Mid Suffolk DC - Green gain from Tory, who won this single member ward for the first time this century last year; LibDems won it in 2003 and a byelection the following year, before the localist "Suffolk Together" group triumphed in 2007 and 2011 before being narrowly beaten come GE day. Neither they or UKIP (who also polled decently last May) stood this time, and the Greens took advantage as they polled nearly 35% in their first outing here - edging out the Tories who clearly regressed from 2015's high point. This is the latest of a run of poor Tory local byelection results in Suffolk, ascribed by many to the growing unpopularity of the (Tory) county council - next May's elections there could well be worth watching. LibDems saw a bit of a return to their glory days here as they more than doubled their share to a quarter of the vote, followed by a token Labour candidate who actually boasted on social media they had done no campaigning - in the circumstances perhaps 6% in their first effort here for ages wasn't so bad

Four contests next week.

[refitman]

From the Graun coverage of Gove:

Q: You said people are suffering from the EU. You do not have any evidence for that.

Gove says the money is being spent on the EU, and things like Juncker’s private jet, not the people of this country.

Has he forgotten about Cameron's jet already?

[NonOxCol]

I am not a member of the Labour Party and, if I were, I probably would have voted for Burnham.

But I'm nominating this spectacularly disingenuous pile of bubblecrud for a Groan award:

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

[RogerOThornhill]

Anyone still disagree that the academy system is just a civil service land grab?

Another ELEVEN deputy directors appointed to regional schools commissioner offices – taking total to 19

http://schoolsweek.co.uk/another-eight- ... tal-to-16/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But it has emerged today there will actually be another eleven deputy directors to support RSCs appointed from within the Department for Education. Five of these are deputy directors already working in the government’s academies group, who will be assigned to specific RSC offices.

The other six will be civil servants reshuffled from elsewhere in the department – taking the total to 19.

Sir Humphrey Appleby approves...local authorities neutered and impoverished and we have a Regional DfE.

Cheers Govey and NiMo...did you really think this through?

[Tubby Isaacs]

He's "the Gover" nowadays.

[refitman]

Apparently Gove is ignorant of the election allegations about the Tories.

Has he been living in a hole for the last month? Or just relying on the BBC for his news?

[ohsocynical]

Apparently Gove is ignorant of the election allegations about the Tories.

Has he been living in a hole for the last month? Or just relying on the BBC for his news?

He's doing what all good and obedient Tories do.

Ignore it long enough and it will all go away and be forgotten....

[PaulfromYorkshire]

I am not a member of the Labour Party and, if I were, I probably would have voted for Burnham.

But I'm nominating this spectacularly disingenuous pile of bubblecrud for a Groan award:

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

Hi NOC

Yes and thankfully it's getting a right hammering BTL. I thought I'd reproduce this comment

Rochdalelass 11m ago

We're the people looking at you all from a distance. Reading your commentaries, taking note of your vocabulary and tone - some of us even have university training in it, seeing journalists on TV and listening to their stress and intonation, watching your body language, and in the kindest way possible I have to tell you, you don't have a leg to stand on linguistically or professionally.
It is as simple as that. You are either journalists or you are not. What you might be are propagandists, PR for a political party that isn't Labour, subjective observers of politics, but what you are not is impartial reporters of the truth. We expect to find highly personal opinion in editorials or pieces from professional politicians, but every single piece of reportage is now biased and carefully selective in choice and emphasis of what is reported or not, and the tone and highly prejudiced and colourful language. Its been a very long time since we had any hint of balance and comparative analysis.

So, no, it isnt complicated at all, and the fact that journalists salaries have rocketed through the roof does not actually mean that your IQs have rocketed skywards too. Instead of being respected as professional journalists, Im afraid most in your profession are now viewed as highly paid off stooges. You never wondered why you were all suddenly worth such a huge salary that you'd be afraid of losing your jobs and reputation within the media and forced to find graduate jobs in another sphere that would pay many of you a normal graduate wage, maybe as much as ten times less for a great deal more work and longer hours?

[citizenJA]

I am not a member of the Labour Party and, if I were, I probably would have voted for Burnham.

But I'm nominating this spectacularly disingenuous pile of bubblecrud for a Groan award:

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

"Journalists are not out to destroy Corbyn because he threatens to bring down the neoliberal elite, or because they’re all Tories, or because they live in a bubble of groupthink.
It’s more that most journalists – rightly or wrongly – simply don’t expect Corbyn to win an election."

Yeah, because, um, yeah...

Second the nomination!

[PaulfromYorkshire]

The Hinsliff piece really does have some of the best BTL I've seen in a while.

Most people are saying the same thing in different ways, which is basically that it's not a matter of left right bias, or Labour Tory bias, it's a class thing and a Westminster thing. The establishment is scared by Corbyn because they can't control him. Simple as.

[citizenJA]

The Hinsliff piece really does have some of the best BTL I've seen in a while.

Most people are saying the same thing in different ways, which is basically that it's not a matter of left right bias, or Labour Tory bias, it's a class thing and a Westminster thing. The establishment is scared by Corbyn because they can't control him. Simple as.

Is it? Is it a class thing? Hinsliff writes like someone under the influence of hallucinogens, in my opinion, seriously. The statements made in the article aren't logical, it's not rational.

[citizenJA]

"We are paying the price of our media. British journalism thinks of itself as uniquely excellent. It is more illuminating to think of it as
uniquely awful. Few European countries have newspapers that are as partisan, misleading and confrontational as some of the
over mighty titles in this country. The possibility of Brexit could only have happened because of the British press – if there were
no other good reason for voting to remain, the hope of denying the press their long-craved triumph on Europe would suffice for me."

- Martin Kettle
3 June 2016

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

Wonders never do quite cease.

[mbc1955]

"We are paying the price of our media. British journalism thinks of itself as uniquely excellent. It is more illuminating to think of it as
uniquely awful. Few European countries have newspapers that are as partisan, misleading and confrontational as some of the
over mighty titles in this country. The possibility of Brexit could only have happened because of the British press – if there were
no other good reason for voting to remain, the hope of denying the press their long-craved triumph on Europe would suffice for me."

- Martin Kettle
3 June 2016

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

Wonders never do quite cease.

Martin Kettle? Saying something sensible and not obviously wrong-headed? Am I on Earth-2, all of a sudden?

[NonOxCol]

The Hinsliff piece really does have some of the best BTL I've seen in a while.

Most people are saying the same thing in different ways, which is basically that it's not a matter of left right bias, or Labour Tory bias, it's a class thing and a Westminster thing. The establishment is scared by Corbyn because they can't control him. Simple as.

I did almost add that it was so gratifying to observe an article being fisked absolutely senseless by the BTL community.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Kettle said something sensible a while ago IIRC, about Corbyn being a genuine Eurosceptic who supports Reman, a good thing. I think so too.

If only some Labour people could back Corbyn on this...

[rebeccariots2]

The Hinsliff piece really does have some of the best BTL I've seen in a while.

Most people are saying the same thing in different ways, which is basically that it's not a matter of left right bias, or Labour Tory bias, it's a class thing and a Westminster thing. The establishment is scared by Corbyn because they can't control him. Simple as.

Is it? Is it a class thing? Hinsliff writes like someone under the influence of hallucinogens, in my opinion, seriously. The statements made in the article aren't logical, it's not rational.

My sister was cornered (and I use that word because it's the only one that seems to fit with how she described it to me) by a fellow member of her Labour party branch - a journalist of the Westminster / metro bubble type - in a supermarket when she was out buying groceries. This was during the party leadership contest. They lambasted her - publicly and rather unpleasantly - because they didn't think that she of all people (presumably because they thought she was like them) should have voted for Corbyn. She calmed them down a bit and had the good grace to suggest they go for a coffee and talk more. She shouldn't have bothered. She said she could not believe the blinkered and utterly inbuilt belief in the god given right to be right because we are right and no one else could have the slightest smidgin of right that came from them.

Isabel Hardman - to give her deserved credit - seems to have recognised some of this tendency and the need for journalists to get out a bit.

Fwiw - my sis said to me the other day 'I reckon London will vote In and the rest of the country Out'. Going to be an interesting breakdown of the geographics re the vote.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Isabel Hardman has quite a lot of good insights, which you might not expect given how much of her (so far short) career has been spent in the bubble.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

The Hinsliff piece really does have some of the best BTL I've seen in a while.

Most people are saying the same thing in different ways, which is basically that it's not a matter of left right bias, or Labour Tory bias, it's a class thing and a Westminster thing. The establishment is scared by Corbyn because they can't control him. Simple as.

Is it? Is it a class thing? Hinsliff writes like someone under the influence of hallucinogens, in my opinion, seriously. The statements made in the article aren't logical, it's not rational.

But that's the point JA. She just knows she's right.

I imagine you've lived here for long enough now JA to get a good idea of the class thing, but perhaps only those of us brought up as subjects of her Maj really get the Cameron / Kuenssberg lip curl and all it means.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Just been (say so myself) knocking about an SNP MSP on higher education policy. General point about SNP people- mention the Welsh Government. It throws them because they're only used to arguing about how much better they are than Westminster.

He didn't do very well v Lucy Hunter Blackburn either, who knows a lot about the incidence of grants (paucity thereof) on poor students.

[RogerOThornhill]

Well quite. Nobody in Leave is either the Health Secretary or the Chancellor - they have no powers to promise anything.