DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived post-Murdoch era

none of them, not even Howard, make animals howl uncontrollably in their presence tbf

http://www.threespeech.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/cameron1.1.jpg

Just interjecting so I don't bookmark old shiny gammon face.

Gove apparently thinks Osborne can be PM. Anyone but Boris will do for a lot of them though.

Gove might be the next editor of the Mail, so..

Gove would genuinely be an improvement upon Dacre.

Ah, but apart from Cameron, obv, that list of pictures were a bunch of blokes that were allowed to be Conservative leader because there wasn't any hope of being in govt. Once there was, there was a bunch of scramble to get the leaders job.

also allowed to be Conservative leader because not enough of the party could stomach Portillo or Clarke and those three were thought to be slightly more electable than, say, John Redwood, was the impression I got?

All of them were elected in the hope that they would be PM... obviously.

No.

They were placeholders.

You're overestimating the rationality of the Tory party here. I think a lot of them definitely thought that Labour 97 would be an immediate disaster, but they plumped for Hague because he wasn't one of their rivals, but I think they definitely saw him as a potential PM, at least at first. IDS was the product of rival factions splitting the vote between different and better qualified candidates. Howard was probably a placeholder, I'll give you that.

Yeah, that's the one I was primarily thinking of.

But IDS was, a bit, as well

putting a round peg into a square hole bound to lead to irritable dowel syndrome

'Tarring of the Thatcher brand' - where could this go?

It feels as though today's tories could pass off the paedo thing as being something old tories did, the ones who were Lords and not just ordinary hard-working blokes who are Lords

They"ll be giving Savile his knighthood back soon enough

some amazing stuff in this

http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2014/jul/28/-sp-bullying-hypocrisy-andy-coulson-reign-news-of-the-world-hack-attack-nick-davies

Love it

After the Guardian broke the news of the pair's resignation and the reasons they had given to Ms Tucker , she said she went away to look up the meaning of "occult". "It means that which is hidden," she said. "Nothing I do is hidden, nothing Glen does is hidden. It's all in the public domain. I have a website, Glen is very active on Facebook. There's nothing occult in what we do."I do call in archangels at times and in some of the meditations I do bring in archangels. Angels appear in all the major religions of the world."After the Guardian broke the news of the pair's resignation and the reasons they had given to Ms Tucker , she said she went away to look up the meaning of "occult". "It means that which is hidden," she said. "Nothing I do is hidden, nothing Glen does is hidden. It's all in the public domain. I have a website, Glen is very active on Facebook. There's nothing occult in what we do. "I do call in archangels at times and in some of the meditations I do bring in archangels. Angels appear in all the major religions of the world."

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/30/ukip-resigned-occult-jake-baynes-graham-livings

what i take from this is apparently angels can be racist too

http://tompride.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/woman-arrested-for-posting-photo-of-george-osborne-at-prostitutes-flat/

"Everyone's got their different beliefs. It's not for me to belittle anyone's beliefs. People have different views. But if Ukip is trying to shake off this fruitcake image thing, we're not doing a good job of it."

xp

I find it a bit odd – not bad, exactly, but curious – how little people seem to care about that coke/dominatrix period in Osborne's life.

I find it curious too, though I'm more than curious at why she was arrested for sharing the photo, and incredibly curious that this hasn't got more traction in the press.

Yes, the use of the police to keep your problems out of the press is more concerning.

The arrest may be unconnected. The police going round to 'have a word' is entirely feasible but actually arresting someone without valid cause would open them up to all sorts of repercussions.

OK, did everyone get this annoying questionnaire from the Tories?

"Which THREE of the following issues are most important bla bla bla Immigration bla Tuition fees"

Well, I think it's pretty important that we have more immigration and no tuition fees. Is that what the poll setters meant?

Also one option is "welfare - rewarding hard work" which is pretty weaselly, where is the extra sheet of paper to specify whether a tick in the "welfare" box means "more welfare" or "only welfare for 'hard workers'" or "the very existence of welfare actively outrages me, to think that someone might be given enough money to buy brand-x baked beans out of the tax I could only partially dodge on my multi-million inheritance" or what

(also, yes, wtf at arrest)

Our policy: only people In work will qualify for out-of-work benefits.

That's push-polling. It's actually illegal to frame poll questions thusly in America. xp

When did you stop trying to bring down the government?

Still, as long as HARD WORKING FAMILIES are feeling the benefit, that's all that matters.

"Mr Clapson did not appeal or ask for a reconsideration of the sanction or apply for a hardship payment."

hardly the government's fault if people choose to do this to themselves

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/03/the-british-jobs-miracle/

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to how many of the people actually doing these miraculous new jobs professional journalist Fraser Nelson has bothered to speak to?

(That's in response to Tom's link btw, the actual blog post is several months old)

Would be interesting to know the percentage of people in work whose salary has kept pace with inflation over the last four years.

hardly the government's fault if people choose to do this to themselves

Most people are not aware that they can appeal a sanction decision, or that they can apply for hardship payments. Job Centre staff are supposed to let people know, but they rarely do.

Clinically depressed people often have such dread of News In Brown Envelopes that they may not even open them, as it explains in the article.

Surely Britain's Job Miracle should have put a spring into the step of this mopey fellow

hard to see what a change of government would do for clinically depressed people at the moment

Since it wasn't actually a suicide I dunno if the Job Centre staff will get the usual bonus. PCS needs to get on that quick

Bloody immigrants, they come over here to take our copper and gold, leaving their decorative hair tresses lying all over the place.

poetry!

why do families work damn hard to get paid/While you splash millions on legal aid?

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/young-independence-conference-what-drives-ukips-youth-wing

i'm confused, does the MP who's stepping down because his hours and pay are inadequate to maintain a decent family life have any political links to the MP who's saying the government needs to continue to cut welfare benefits?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/03/schools-separate-pupils-ability-setting

as far as i'm aware the evidence that streaming is of benefit to pupils' education is, i'll be generous, inconclusive. fuck these twisted barbarian fuckers, fuck them all to death

how do private schools deal w/ differing levels?

the same in many instances

Setting according to ability for separate subjects is controversial since it is argued that it helps those with high ability and leaves those with lower ability behind.

this is really shitty writing

how do private schools deal w/ differing levels?

all children of wealthy parents extremely able and clever iirc

government already denying this is a policy according to Radio 4

there are several studies that indicate that mixed ability groups raise the achievement of "less able" students far more than they inhibit the "more able" students

high school education in the uk is so thoroughly rotten that I struggle to deal w/ one issue in isolation

oh yeah absolutely i think the structure's fucked top to bottom but for some reason i get extra angry when education policy continually pushes middle class prejudices over any concessions to pedagogic theory