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

" Speaking as someone who has been to a UC preparatory meeting or two recently, you have absolutely NO IDEA how much of a GIGANTIC clusterfuck that's going to turn into..."

Having trouble seeing how the combination of this and housing benefit cuts won't lead to poll tax level unrest and probably more.

Don't think it'll save much money either unless the govt sneakily removes councils' obligation to rehouse in the event of involuntary homelessness. They might end up spending more.

that might put the onus onto the councils tho, who'll get the flack for having to spend more on housing by cutting back on fripperies like libraries and meals on wheels.

Currently Housing Costs are planned to be included as part of UC, so yeah.

Having trouble seeing how the combination of this and housing benefit cuts won't lead to poll tax level unrest and probably more.

GBP don't give a fuck about people on benefits, in fact they increasingly despise them

it's almost as if the gov were tory cunts or something. thank god there's a popular, articulate leftist party waiting to step in and repair this damage

Not sure who's going to be on the streets protesting about the plight of people on benefits tbh

you might be putting it a bit strong, that awful benefits culture extends right thru to Hardworking Families © too nowadays

I suppose, and of course the Liberal Democrats will be there to protect them

well, microscopic redistribution of wealth via a benefits system is a liberal invention after all, albeit stolen from arch-liberal von Bismarck. kinda makes you wonder if the labour movement took a wrong turn making it a central plank of their economic thinking for the last 70-odd years

or drags me to the insanely cynical conclusion that the benefits system exists partly for the purpose of threatening to withdraw it from moral deviants

And it's a sharp jab to the kidney region, then a swift uppercut to the jaw, and he's OUT and he won't be getting up from that!

Significant little dip at the end of the blue line where the yellow line stays steady.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/56694000/jpg/_56694763_unemp464x248.jpg

The hell with it - this pic has to go somewhere.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/11/14/article-2061295-0ECABBCC00000578-892_308x652.jpg

"oos that gut-lord marching?"

(Obvious caption no 4512)

George obviously tired and shagged out after a session with a black dominatrix down the gym.

Trying to get in with the PM after seeing the pics of Cameron and Alex James having a lark with Clarkson.

Poor guy has probably jogged round all the way from No. 11 to see the PM.

xps
Talking of which...

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a349958/blurs-alex-james-apologises-as-harvest-festival-hits-administration.html

See, we really are all in this together, etc.

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/56694000/jpg/_56694763_unemp464x248.jpg

feel like it doesnt matter that the labour party dont have a charismatic leader or any policy or anything, they should just turn this into a sticker and swot it on cams head everytime he gets up to speak in parliament.

Dunno tbh if you zoomed in on the last few years it tells you unemployment ramped up under Gordon Brown and Cam has stopped the rot while reducing the total claimants.

Yeah a large section of the population would view reducing claimant numbers as a worthy achievement, irrespective of whether (or especially when) unemployment is not falling.

Not sure who's going to be on the streets protesting about the plight of people on benefits tbh

Combination of lefty usual suspects and the thousands of people out on the street smashing stuff up because they suddenly can't afford to live. The idea of the working poor and the fact that a sizeable proportion of benefit claimants are already in jobs is seemingly completely edited out of public discourse. Obviously this is 1x massive failure on Labour's part.

Did anyone see that horrible episode of Police Camera Action dressed up as an 'England Riots' episode of Panorama last night?

Briefly, not enough to make an impression either way.

I find those PCA shows fascinating, from the viewpoint of 'blatant editorialising'..

Commentator: "hurn.. not so smart now, banged up overnight!"
(....)
Commentator: "he was later released without chaaarge..."

'Look at this bozo...What is he thinkin'?'

Nah, I grew up thinking shows like Dispatches and Panorama were supposed to be gritty, unbiased, hard-factual documentaries but this was about 25 minutes of footage of people throwing bricks at cops while police chiefs go on about "wanton violence and destruction". The penultimate 4 minutes they asked "Is there maybe a reason why this is happening? And are the gaol sentences too harsh and generalised for crimes such as nicking a pack of fags or telling a policeman to fuck off?". And in the last minute a police chief came on and said "no, it's wanton violence and destruction". And then it ended.

The first show I saw Paul Ross presenting was one of those "Police 5"/"Crimewatch" type shows. The first part was the usual (and reasonable) "do you recognise this lad breaking into a granny's house" type stuff.

Part two were freeze-frames of the anti-polltax demonstration and "If you know this girl, ring Westminster police on ..."

At that point, I decided I did not like Paul Ross.

Funnily enough, nothing he's done has been good enough to revise that opinion (his bro J has at least done the occasional interesting thing)..

Anarchy in the UK: 20 years on from the Poll Tax & Strangeways riots

Can't wait for Dave's impression of Goodluck Jonathan.

Ed Miliband will call for "more responsible capitalism", amid mounting fears of a double-dip recession and record youth unemployment.

He will follow this up with a call for "less ugly politicians" and "dryer water".

"bankers and protestors should shake hands. that would verse them well in compassion"

Young jobseekers told to work without pay or lose unemployment benefits

Like someone said on FB: "Cunts" is the word.

The first show I saw Paul Ross presenting was one of those "Police 5"/"Crimewatch" type shows

Me too! and he did it so badly that for the first 5-10 minutes I was convinced it was a *spoof* of a "Police 5"/"Crimewatch" type show.

At last my crappy star spotting comes in handy - I once saw Paul Ross and his lovely wife sharing a table with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and his lovely wife at now defunct London eaterie Mash. I could him from the cheap seats.

you never him

Young jobseekers told to work without pay or lose unemployment benefits

Like someone said on FB: "Cunts" is the word.

Corvee labour.

It's eighties work experience back again. Doesn't begin to replace apprenticeships but it's not exactly Indonesia.

think they pay people in indonesia tbf

tbf they already 'offered' this in pre-coalition days if you were unfortunate enough to be young and six months on JSA, with the alternative being sitting an office 9-5, five days a week, with absolutely nothing to do (hey guys spend the next three hours doing job searches!).

i say tbf, but fuck em rly the cunts.

I can't believe that pledging to lay off half a million public sector workers would damage the economy. Who saw that coming?????

it's funny cos i can do a job search in about 30 mins from home and guess what? there's fuck all jobs

Because your local supermarket is full of kids working for free?

Like I know working in Asda isn't exactly anyone's dream but some people have to and what incentive is there for them to employ anyone else when there's a massive supply of kids being frogmarched in to work for free?

Also there's a lot of speculation out there that Osborne is about to put his hands up and admit they won't eliminate the deficit this parliament AND some reports that they're going to end up borrowing more than Labour. Pretty sure that would just amount to an admission of incompetence and/or idiotic intransigence but that they'll get through it all by blaming the Euro.

and the last government

This has been doing the rounds on Twitter etc., but it's definitely worth a read if you haven't already done so:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/16/why-britain-doesnt-make-things-manufacturing

Good article, I look forward to the radio 3 talk. Also a bonus for a good slagging of Richard FLorida, that guy is a fucknugget of the highest order who has had far too much influence on US/UK economic policy with his shonky research.

The odd thing is that all this techno-utopianism came from men who would struggle to order a book off Amazon. Alistair Campbell tells a story about how Blair got his first-ever mobile phone after stepping down as prime minister in 2007. His first text to Campbell read: "This is amazing, you can send words on a phone."

But indeed, good article. Florida being Cameron's 'guru' is so wrong. This: But what really stuck out was how Florida fenced off creative work. You were either a knowledge worker or a factory worker – as if the other stuff didn't require brains. is so so so otm.

It also chimes with the position of Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary. In July he appeared to echo Gordon Brown's infamous plea for "British jobs for British workers" but has since said that he rejects that in favour of a policy of "getting British workers ready for British jobs".