SNP in Westminster seems interesting to me - if they coalition with the Tories they'll be as savaged as Lib Dem has been, but the Tories want to devolve more fiscal autonomy than Labour does according to the released proposals
SNP would not form any type of formal coalition with the Tories. It would be political suicide for them.
50+ SNP MPs (which I do not think is likely) changes everything. It means "Screw your 'devolution' plans here's the demands from the people of Scotland you've got 2 years to implement it and you better hope your lot vote to stay in the EU"
it was political suicide for Lib Dem too, and they did it anyway
I think being obliged to actually use taxation powers would be generically suicidal for the SNP, simply because trying to balance their new and old support groups would be difficult. if you run off disenchantment of other parties, you had better keep the magic running for yourself
Salmond had unassailable 79 group credentials, but Sturgeon doesn't
The following is an actual quote from the actual Alex Salmond when he opened a Lidl store yesterday. Not the Angry Salmond tribute account but the actual Alex Salmond
“This is my first supermarket opening. There were a number of reasons to open the store – staff have raised cash for good causes, I’m impressed by the new store and because Lidl isn’t Asda.
I think a person's reaction to this quote would sum up their reaction to Alex Salmond himself in a nutshell.
It's quite entertaining to watch the leadership of both Labour and the Conservatives draw exactly the same lesson from the referendum: do everything possible to make sure the Scots vote yes next time.
Entertaining in the Blackadder Goes Forth sense, of course: I'll be utterly gutted if - or as it increasingly seems, when - an ancient union that has done many worthwhile things of which we should be extremely proud is broken up because of a bunch of clueless professionally political non-entities who seem to be physically incapable of perceiving how disconnected they are from us and how alienated we are from them.
My country, which survived Napoleon's empire, ended the African slave trade, transformed the world economically and politically, survived 2 world wars, stood alone against the fascist tide, dismantled the greatest empire in the history of the world as peacefully as could reasonably be expected, introduced a welfare state, free education and free healthcare despite being economically devastated... my country is being blindly taken to the breakers by a bunch of geese who wouldn't be able to keep a job as a call centre manager in the real world, because they simply can't imagine that they might be wrong about anything, that anything might be more important than they are, that the people don't think of them as any kind of leaders or even trust them to so much as successfully take a shit in a toilet without 6 special advisors to point their arses in the right direction.
So I feel that my "neither of them deserve a vote" position is vindicated.
As is my "Put the whole boiling of 'em into a skip and shoot it into the fucking sun. Yes, that means you too Farage, you disgusting blathering toad's anus." position.
V1m on
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AManFromEarthLet's get to twerk!The King in the SwampRegistered Userregular
The following is an actual quote from the actual Alex Salmond when he opened a Lidl store yesterday. Not the Angry Salmond tribute account but the actual Alex Salmond
“This is my first supermarket opening. There were a number of reasons to open the store – staff have raised cash for good causes, I’m impressed by the new store and because Lidl isn’t Asda.
I think a person's reaction to this quote would sum up their reaction to Alex Salmond himself in a nutshell.
And lo, though he had been banished to his northern realms by the salamander, the puffin, and the loon, our brave hero conquered the tyrant trump and set his sights firmly on the beastial walton empire as his next target.
It's quite entertaining to watch the leadership of both Labour and the Conservatives draw exactly the same lesson from the referendum: do everything possible to make sure the Scots vote yes next time.
Entertaining in the Blackadder Goes Forth sense, of course: I'll be utterly gutted if - or as it increasingly seems, when - an ancient union that has done many worthwhile things of which we should be extremely proud is broken up because of a bunch of clueless professionally political non-entities who seem to be physically incapable of perceiving how disconnected they are from us and how alienated we are from them.
My country, which survived Napoleon's empire, ended the African slave trade, transformed the world economically and politically, survived 2 world wars, stood alone against the fascist tide, dismantled the greatest empire in the history of the world as peacefully as could reasonably be expected, introduced a welfare state, free education and free healthcare despite being economically devastated... my country is being blindly taken to the breakers by a bunch of geese who wouldn't be able to keep a job as a call centre manager in the real world, because they simply can't imagine that they might be wrong about anything, that anything might be more important than they are, that the people don't think of them as any kind of leaders or even trust them to so much as successfully take a shit in a toilet without 6 special advisors to point their arses in the right direction.
So I feel that my "neither of them deserve a vote" position is vindicated.
As is my "Put the whole boiling of 'em into a skip and shoot it into the fucking sun. Yes, that means you too Farage, you disgusting blathering toad's anus." position.
Your country will still be there. It was the people who did the good things, and some of the bad. And the people will still be there.
And it's not as if our political leaders were wonders before. We may have been early in stopping slaving, but we were keen on doing it until then. We fought fascists... but some of us were fascists ourselves, and some still are.
I've never been proud of my nation. But the people are alright, mostly. And will continue to be no matter what happens.
The current system of official caution works, the caution goes on your record and any subsequent misdemeanors are looked at with the knowledge of previous behaviour in mind. This will lead to fine after fine for repeat offenders without the courts being involved. It might save some money, but will not tackle the behaviour.
It's quite entertaining to watch the leadership of both Labour and the Conservatives draw exactly the same lesson from the referendum: do everything possible to make sure the Scots vote yes next time.
Entertaining in the Blackadder Goes Forth sense, of course: I'll be utterly gutted if - or as it increasingly seems, when - an ancient union that has done many worthwhile things of which we should be extremely proud is broken up because of a bunch of clueless professionally political non-entities who seem to be physically incapable of perceiving how disconnected they are from us and how alienated we are from them.
My country, which survived Napoleon's empire, ended the African slave trade, transformed the world economically and politically, survived 2 world wars, stood alone against the fascist tide, dismantled the greatest empire in the history of the world as peacefully as could reasonably be expected, introduced a welfare state, free education and free healthcare despite being economically devastated... my country is being blindly taken to the breakers by a bunch of geese who wouldn't be able to keep a job as a call centre manager in the real world, because they simply can't imagine that they might be wrong about anything, that anything might be more important than they are, that the people don't think of them as any kind of leaders or even trust them to so much as successfully take a shit in a toilet without 6 special advisors to point their arses in the right direction.
So I feel that my "neither of them deserve a vote" position is vindicated.
As is my "Put the whole boiling of 'em into a skip and shoot it into the fucking sun. Yes, that means you too Farage, you disgusting blathering toad's anus." position.
Your country will still be there. It was the people who did the good things, and some of the bad. And the people will still be there.
And it's not as if our political leaders were wonders before. We may have been early in stopping slaving, but we were keen on doing it until then. We fought fascists... but some of us were fascists ourselves, and some still are.
I've never been proud of my nation. But the people are alright, mostly. And will continue to be no matter what happens.
That's like saying I shouldn't care if my parents get divorced because they're still my parents.
It's quite entertaining to watch the leadership of both Labour and the Conservatives draw exactly the same lesson from the referendum: do everything possible to make sure the Scots vote yes next time.
Entertaining in the Blackadder Goes Forth sense, of course: I'll be utterly gutted if - or as it increasingly seems, when - an ancient union that has done many worthwhile things of which we should be extremely proud is broken up because of a bunch of clueless professionally political non-entities who seem to be physically incapable of perceiving how disconnected they are from us and how alienated we are from them.
My country, which survived Napoleon's empire, ended the African slave trade, transformed the world economically and politically, survived 2 world wars, stood alone against the fascist tide, dismantled the greatest empire in the history of the world as peacefully as could reasonably be expected, introduced a welfare state, free education and free healthcare despite being economically devastated... my country is being blindly taken to the breakers by a bunch of geese who wouldn't be able to keep a job as a call centre manager in the real world, because they simply can't imagine that they might be wrong about anything, that anything might be more important than they are, that the people don't think of them as any kind of leaders or even trust them to so much as successfully take a shit in a toilet without 6 special advisors to point their arses in the right direction.
So I feel that my "neither of them deserve a vote" position is vindicated.
As is my "Put the whole boiling of 'em into a skip and shoot it into the fucking sun. Yes, that means you too Farage, you disgusting blathering toad's anus." position.
Your country will still be there. It was the people who did the good things, and some of the bad. And the people will still be there.
And it's not as if our political leaders were wonders before. We may have been early in stopping slaving, but we were keen on doing it until then. We fought fascists... but some of us were fascists ourselves, and some still are.
I've never been proud of my nation. But the people are alright, mostly. And will continue to be no matter what happens.
That's like saying I shouldn't care if my parents get divorced because they're still my parents.
My parents' divorce was the right choice for them and made both of them happier. Made me and my sister happier too.
And divorce is probably a terrible analogy, but if you're going to make it, are you an adult or a child in this mental picture? Because what you wrote is an adult reaction, and it sounds like you think the child's one is the appropriate one.
I figure I could take a bear.
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AManFromEarthLet's get to twerk!The King in the SwampRegistered Userregular
Posh that's ridiculous and I think it's be better for us all to move on.
Merkel has announced she would accept the UK leaving the EU if it meant migrat rules stayed in place.
Cameron is playing with fire and I really hope he's less magnifying glass over ants than his moon faced posh boy tableau leads me to believe he is.
Posh that's ridiculous and I think it's be better for us all to move on.
Merkel has announced she would accept the UK leaving the EU if it meant migrat rules stayed in place.
Cameron is playing with fire and I really hope he's less magnifying glass over ants than his moon faced posh boy tableau leads me to believe he is.
What exactly in my post is ridiculous? I would really like to know, rather than you declaring it so, clasping the last word greedily, and 'moving on'.
poshniallo on
I figure I could take a bear.
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AManFromEarthLet's get to twerk!The King in the SwampRegistered Userregular
Chancellor Angela Merkel would rather see the UK exit from the European Union than compromise over the principle of free movement of workers, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel.
Mrs Merkel is alleged to fear that the UK is approaching a "point of no return".
Downing Street would not comment on the reports.
Mr Cameron wants to renegotiate the terms of the UK's continued membership before holding an in-out referendum.
The prime minister said that freedom of movement would be "at the very heart of my renegotiation strategy for Europe", but Mrs Merkel is said by the magazine to have made clear she will withdraw her support for the UK's continued EU membership if he continues to push for migration reform.
I have a lot of problems with the way the EU works today, but I really really like the idea and want it to succeed. I also think that the EU and UK are better together than apart.
Thirdly, a UK exit from the EU would justify another independence referendum in my opinion. And maybe not just for Scotland.
I want the EU together too, particularly because so much of the anti-EU rhetoric is just completely false.
But whatever happens, I'll be inordinately proud of political unions that are able to handle dissent and even dissolution peacefully. The norm for almost all of human history has been violence in these situations.
Hell, think of it as divorce becoming legal - a shallow reading looks at that as sad, when it's actually a sign of great social progress.
I figure I could take a bear.
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AManFromEarthLet's get to twerk!The King in the SwampRegistered Userregular
I find the divorce metaphor overdone and not entirely useful.
Peaceful dissolution is obviously a good thing and a sign of a mature society. However, that doesn't make it not an imminently idiotic thing to do from a financial, social, and increasingly security point of view.
And in an age where there are people dying in Ukraine for their right to maybe, someday, join the European community I find it the insulting for people like Cameron and Farage to be playing so fast and loose with the UK's membership.
I find the divorce metaphor overdone and not entirely useful.
Peaceful dissolution is obviously a good thing and a sign of a mature society. However, that doesn't make it not an imminently idiotic thing to do from a financial, social, and increasingly security point of view.
And in an age where there are people dying in Ukraine for their right to maybe, someday, join the European community I find it the insulting for people like Cameron and Farage to be playing so fast and loose with the UK's membership.
OK, good point. The divorce metaphor wasn't mine, though.
The rest of your post I completely agree with.
I figure I could take a bear.
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AManFromEarthLet's get to twerk!The King in the SwampRegistered Userregular
Sorry, Posh, just a general commentary on the term. It bugged me during the Scottish referendum too.
Since stories are cropping up about discontent among labour MP's about Ed Milliband, I thought I'd ask what you guys make of him?
As someone who would vote Labour if I could, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in Ed. I had no real issues with how he was elected, or his general capability, it's just that he's failed to make any real impact or have much of a presence. I can't remember many of his policies at all. I can't really put my finger on what it is about him either, it just seems that he isn't really leading with a strong positive and realistic message.
Still, would be a damned shame if Labour lost to the tories again.
Labour won't lose to the Tories, the Tories didn't even win out of the paltry 30-odd% that votes. But the vote that resulted in Ed winning was either rigged or genuinely a case of mistaken identity. The man doesn't have the appearance or personality to lead a country and could only hope to achieve that position purely through the anti-voting of Tories and Lib Dems. He's a complete non-entity. What does he stand for? A leader should have made this clear by now, he should have strong beliefs and instead he's busy doing stupid things with pasties and giving coppers to the homeless.
Since stories are cropping up about discontent among labour MP's about Ed Milliband, I thought I'd ask what you guys make of him?
He's an over-privileged, utterly disconnected spineless worm with no redeeming features. I challenge anyone to make a substantiative difference between him and David Cameron or to convince me that they could both swap jobs and names tomorrow and anyone would even notice.
I don't mind Ed so much. He doesn't seem like a dick, which is about enough for me. Really though I wish there was more confidence in him, cause even though I'm no die hard Labour person, I'd like to see them win the GE more comfortably than they will (if they do). Ultimately he's a wonk, but there are worse things to be; I'll settle.
You can level many critisims at Ed Milliband but being indistinguishable from David Cameron is not one of them. That is assuming you've been paying the slightest bit of attention and haven't just decided to throw your hands up and declare "they're all the same" in a fit of cynicism.
He's without a doubt the most left wing leader labour have had since Kinnock. His main catch phrase is "cost of living crisis" which is shorthand for we need to start redistributing some wealth before a loaf of bread is only within the reach of millionaires. He is arguably the only one doing this while the Tories are trying to hide impish grins while cutting everything up to and including tax on big business in the name of "austerity". Meanwhile the lib dems have forgotten they will cease to be a political entity for a generation after the next election and are trying to act like the sensible middle ground.
Ed lacks the charisma and statesman like image to be a national leader but then so does Cameron so nothing lost there. We haven't had a charismatic statesman in charge since Tony Blair and look how that worked out.
I'm writing this as a drunk man on a bus, so infer what you will. My opinion of Ed is a 'leftie' who is far more interested in making a right wing.point for 'middle England' rather than truly standing for either the working class or the left
Ed seems fine to me. But then he reminds me of people I know. I also didn't get fully why people apparently hates the NZ Labour leader who just lost an election so my judgement is off perhaps.
Freedom for the Northern Isles!
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AManFromEarthLet's get to twerk!The King in the SwampRegistered Userregular
So I'll post the BBC link when I get off mobile later, but George Osbourbe has emerged from his EU chrysalis with a solution to the EU payment that rivals the wisdom of Zeus himself.
They'll pay in two sections over 2015, adding up to 76something million pounds and the EU will apply 2016's rebate to cover the additional billion quid.
Georgie is claiming he's halved the bill, but to my mind he's haut signed up for an extended installment plan.
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
Since stories are cropping up about discontent among labour MP's about Ed Milliband, I thought I'd ask what you guys make of him?
He's an over-privileged, utterly disconnected spineless worm with no redeeming features. I challenge anyone to make a substantiative difference between him and David Cameron or to convince me that they could both swap jobs and names tomorrow and anyone would even notice.
he has vastly more core convictions than david cameron relating to his politics because his father was a pretty dedicated marxist
hes pretty ideological
if he was standard slimy new labour type like blair he wouldnt be having anywhere near the difficulty he is
You can level many critisims at Ed Milliband but being indistinguishable from David Cameron is not one of them. That is assuming you've been paying the slightest bit of attention and haven't just decided to throw your hands up and declare "they're all the same" in a fit of cynicism.
He's without a doubt the most left wing leader labour have had since Kinnock. His main catch phrase is "cost of living crisis" which is shorthand for we need to start redistributing some wealth before a loaf of bread is only within the reach of millionaires. He is arguably the only one doing this while the Tories are trying to hide impish grins while cutting everything up to and including tax on big business in the name of "austerity". Meanwhile the lib dems have forgotten they will cease to be a political entity for a generation after the next election and are trying to act like the sensible middle ground.
Ed lacks the charisma and statesman like image to be a national leader but then so does Cameron so nothing lost there. We haven't had a charismatic statesman in charge since Tony Blair and look how that worked out.
Sometimes I like to imagine what would have happened if Gordon Brown had called an election in 2007.
So I'll post the BBC link when I get off mobile later, but George Osbourbe has emerged from his EU chrysalis with a solution to the EU payment that rivals the wisdom of Zeus himself.
They'll pay in two sections over 2015, adding up to 76something million pounds and the EU will apply 2016's rebate to cover the additional billion quid.
Georgie is claiming he's halved the bill, but to my mind he's haut signed up for an extended installment plan.
We will also be handing back that rebate so we will be paying the full amount.
So I'll post the BBC link when I get off mobile later, but George Osbourbe has emerged from his EU chrysalis with a solution to the EU payment that rivals the wisdom of Zeus himself.
They'll pay in two sections over 2015, adding up to 76something million pounds and the EU will apply 2016's rebate to cover the additional billion quid.
Georgie is claiming he's halved the bill, but to my mind he's haut signed up for an extended installment plan.
We will also be handing back that rebate so we will be paying the full amount.
Yeah I know. Such load of bullshit coming out of the government over this thing.
So I'll post the BBC link when I get off mobile later, but George Osbourbe has emerged from his EU chrysalis with a solution to the EU payment that rivals the wisdom of Zeus himself.
They'll pay in two sections over 2015, adding up to 76something million pounds and the EU will apply 2016's rebate to cover the additional billion quid.
Georgie is claiming he's halved the bill, but to my mind he's haut signed up for an extended installment plan.
He's done neither. He doubled the bill by intentionally not factoring in the UK rebate then claimed to have gotten a 50% discount.
Basically he set up a straw man and expecting a pat on the back for knocking it down. Meanwhile while he's setting up his "I fought the EU and won" victory parade the rest of the European finance ministers are scratching their heads and reporting that the matter of the UK bill didn't even come up in discussion and the matter of the UK rebate was never in doubt as it was confirmed weeks ago in October.
Basically the Tories are once again assuming we are incredible idiots who they can throw a fish to and we will slap our fins together in delight.
As far as I can tell there appears to be a cabal within Labour set on toppling him and replacing him with Alan Johnson, who has explicitly and repeatedly said he doesn't want to be party leader
As far as I can tell there appears to be a cabal within Labour set on toppling him and replacing him with Alan Johnson, who has explicitly and repeatedly said he doesn't want to be party leader
Because a man who couldn't hack it as Shadow Chancellor is obviously the man fit to lead the country.
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AManFromEarthLet's get to twerk!The King in the SwampRegistered Userregular
Poor Ed.
At least he seems to actually give a shit about people.
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surrealitychecklonely, but not unloveddreaming of faulty keys and latchesRegistered Userregular
As far as I can tell there appears to be a cabal within Labour set on toppling him and replacing him with Alan Johnson, who has explicitly and repeatedly said he doesn't want to be party leader
there is mad discontent internally in the labour camp
milliband has been not consulting the shadow cabinet about stuff and making random policy pronouncements etc
there is much salt
thus standard labour factionalistic bullshit inc
whereas the conservatives are just sitting there trying to work out if they should either piss off the ukip tories by pivoting away from ukip or make themselves ukip lite and not really justify the difference while pissing off the more centrist old cons
its a gloriously impossible choice and i am getting a boner at their discomfort
meanwhile the lib dems sit there sadly with what few things theyve done being completely ignored as their party vanishes into oblivion
Posts
SNP would not form any type of formal coalition with the Tories. It would be political suicide for them.
50+ SNP MPs (which I do not think is likely) changes everything. It means "Screw your 'devolution' plans here's the demands from the people of Scotland you've got 2 years to implement it and you better hope your lot vote to stay in the EU"
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I think being obliged to actually use taxation powers would be generically suicidal for the SNP, simply because trying to balance their new and old support groups would be difficult. if you run off disenchantment of other parties, you had better keep the magic running for yourself
Salmond had unassailable 79 group credentials, but Sturgeon doesn't
I think a person's reaction to this quote would sum up their reaction to Alex Salmond himself in a nutshell.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Entertaining in the Blackadder Goes Forth sense, of course: I'll be utterly gutted if - or as it increasingly seems, when - an ancient union that has done many worthwhile things of which we should be extremely proud is broken up because of a bunch of clueless professionally political non-entities who seem to be physically incapable of perceiving how disconnected they are from us and how alienated we are from them.
My country, which survived Napoleon's empire, ended the African slave trade, transformed the world economically and politically, survived 2 world wars, stood alone against the fascist tide, dismantled the greatest empire in the history of the world as peacefully as could reasonably be expected, introduced a welfare state, free education and free healthcare despite being economically devastated... my country is being blindly taken to the breakers by a bunch of geese who wouldn't be able to keep a job as a call centre manager in the real world, because they simply can't imagine that they might be wrong about anything, that anything might be more important than they are, that the people don't think of them as any kind of leaders or even trust them to so much as successfully take a shit in a toilet without 6 special advisors to point their arses in the right direction.
So I feel that my "neither of them deserve a vote" position is vindicated.
As is my "Put the whole boiling of 'em into a skip and shoot it into the fucking sun. Yes, that means you too Farage, you disgusting blathering toad's anus." position.
And lo, though he had been banished to his northern realms by the salamander, the puffin, and the loon, our brave hero conquered the tyrant trump and set his sights firmly on the beastial walton empire as his next target.
http://news.stv.tv/scotland-decides/297966-scots-would-vote-yes-if-referendum-was-held-now-according-to-times-poll/
52% Yes if referendum held today. Apparently a "generation" is about 6 weeks.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Your country will still be there. It was the people who did the good things, and some of the bad. And the people will still be there.
And it's not as if our political leaders were wonders before. We may have been early in stopping slaving, but we were keen on doing it until then. We fought fascists... but some of us were fascists ourselves, and some still are.
I've never been proud of my nation. But the people are alright, mostly. And will continue to be no matter what happens.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Grayling sleepwalking into a police state it seems, where fines are the answer to everything.
To quote a comment on that article:
That's like saying I shouldn't care if my parents get divorced because they're still my parents.
My parents' divorce was the right choice for them and made both of them happier. Made me and my sister happier too.
And divorce is probably a terrible analogy, but if you're going to make it, are you an adult or a child in this mental picture? Because what you wrote is an adult reaction, and it sounds like you think the child's one is the appropriate one.
Merkel has announced she would accept the UK leaving the EU if it meant migrat rules stayed in place.
Cameron is playing with fire and I really hope he's less magnifying glass over ants than his moon faced posh boy tableau leads me to believe he is.
What exactly in my post is ridiculous? I would really like to know, rather than you declaring it so, clasping the last word greedily, and 'moving on'.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29874392
I have a lot of problems with the way the EU works today, but I really really like the idea and want it to succeed. I also think that the EU and UK are better together than apart.
Thirdly, a UK exit from the EU would justify another independence referendum in my opinion. And maybe not just for Scotland.
But whatever happens, I'll be inordinately proud of political unions that are able to handle dissent and even dissolution peacefully. The norm for almost all of human history has been violence in these situations.
Hell, think of it as divorce becoming legal - a shallow reading looks at that as sad, when it's actually a sign of great social progress.
Peaceful dissolution is obviously a good thing and a sign of a mature society. However, that doesn't make it not an imminently idiotic thing to do from a financial, social, and increasingly security point of view.
And in an age where there are people dying in Ukraine for their right to maybe, someday, join the European community I find it the insulting for people like Cameron and Farage to be playing so fast and loose with the UK's membership.
OK, good point. The divorce metaphor wasn't mine, though.
The rest of your post I completely agree with.
As someone who would vote Labour if I could, I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in Ed. I had no real issues with how he was elected, or his general capability, it's just that he's failed to make any real impact or have much of a presence. I can't remember many of his policies at all. I can't really put my finger on what it is about him either, it just seems that he isn't really leading with a strong positive and realistic message.
Still, would be a damned shame if Labour lost to the tories again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29946827
He's an over-privileged, utterly disconnected spineless worm with no redeeming features. I challenge anyone to make a substantiative difference between him and David Cameron or to convince me that they could both swap jobs and names tomorrow and anyone would even notice.
He's without a doubt the most left wing leader labour have had since Kinnock. His main catch phrase is "cost of living crisis" which is shorthand for we need to start redistributing some wealth before a loaf of bread is only within the reach of millionaires. He is arguably the only one doing this while the Tories are trying to hide impish grins while cutting everything up to and including tax on big business in the name of "austerity". Meanwhile the lib dems have forgotten they will cease to be a political entity for a generation after the next election and are trying to act like the sensible middle ground.
Ed lacks the charisma and statesman like image to be a national leader but then so does Cameron so nothing lost there. We haven't had a charismatic statesman in charge since Tony Blair and look how that worked out.
They'll pay in two sections over 2015, adding up to 76something million pounds and the EU will apply 2016's rebate to cover the additional billion quid.
Georgie is claiming he's halved the bill, but to my mind he's haut signed up for an extended installment plan.
he has vastly more core convictions than david cameron relating to his politics because his father was a pretty dedicated marxist
hes pretty ideological
if he was standard slimy new labour type like blair he wouldnt be having anywhere near the difficulty he is
Sometimes I like to imagine what would have happened if Gordon Brown had called an election in 2007.
We will also be handing back that rebate so we will be paying the full amount.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Yeah I know. Such load of bullshit coming out of the government over this thing.
He's done neither. He doubled the bill by intentionally not factoring in the UK rebate then claimed to have gotten a 50% discount.
Basically he set up a straw man and expecting a pat on the back for knocking it down. Meanwhile while he's setting up his "I fought the EU and won" victory parade the rest of the European finance ministers are scratching their heads and reporting that the matter of the UK bill didn't even come up in discussion and the matter of the UK rebate was never in doubt as it was confirmed weeks ago in October.
Basically the Tories are once again assuming we are incredible idiots who they can throw a fish to and we will slap our fins together in delight.
What the shit?
As far as I can tell there appears to be a cabal within Labour set on toppling him and replacing him with Alan Johnson, who has explicitly and repeatedly said he doesn't want to be party leader
Because a man who couldn't hack it as Shadow Chancellor is obviously the man fit to lead the country.
At least he seems to actually give a shit about people.
there is mad discontent internally in the labour camp
milliband has been not consulting the shadow cabinet about stuff and making random policy pronouncements etc
there is much salt
thus standard labour factionalistic bullshit inc
whereas the conservatives are just sitting there trying to work out if they should either piss off the ukip tories by pivoting away from ukip or make themselves ukip lite and not really justify the difference while pissing off the more centrist old cons
its a gloriously impossible choice and i am getting a boner at their discomfort
meanwhile the lib dems sit there sadly with what few things theyve done being completely ignored as their party vanishes into oblivion
next election gonna be real funny
Well Labour did just hire a couple American Democratic Party strategists.
So at leasts it's consistent.
I figured Nixon would have taught them that a mid-stream or near-term leadership change can be really damaging.
This is being pretty reductive and dishonest, but it's mainly for lulz. :P