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

also what's the real reason she's leaving do you think? other than being piss poor

I don't know, but the important thing is to make idle speculation.

CAN DO!

Sorry - that sounded snarky. The important thing really *is* to make idle speculation.

It's being presented as "struggling to be both an MP and a mum" which is kind of playing down additional time taken up by being a startup CEO, author and ubiquitous media figure.

also managing Metallica more important than serving constituents apptly

How hard is it to be an MP living in a foreign country? Like, is that even legal? I was under the impression that the whole "moving to NY" thing was the reason. Why she's moving there is another question. Just kind of irritated at the way it's being presented.

wld be great if mensch worked w/ metallica on their next concept alb

It's being presented as "struggling to be both an MP and a mum" which is kind of playing down additional time taken up by being a startup CEO, author and ubiquitous media figure.

It's fair to decide *something* has to give - presumably MPing is currently the least lucrative of her ventures.

it's the tory way

Clegg to announce today that Lords reform is dead along with entire political reform agenda. And he stays in coalition why?

Rawnsley piece from the other week on this scenario:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/15/andrew-rawnsley-only-cameron-can-save-coalition

Crucially this bit:

Whatever you may think of these proposals for the Lords, the Lib Dems burn with an entirely understandable resentment that they have repeatedly done their duty by the coalition by swallowing a lot of things they don't like, but a blocking minority of Conservative MPs simply will not reciprocate when it comes to something that Lib Dems care about. From my conversations with very senior Lib Dems I have absolutely no doubt of this: if Lords reform does not progress in September, the Lib Dems will respond by killing the redrawing of constituency boundaries which are estimated to be worth an extra dozen to 20 seats to the Tories at the next general election. Moreover, they will veto the boundary changes as an explicit act of payback for Tory sabotage of Lords reform. It won't be a case of Nick Clegg quietly licensing his backbenchers and peers to work with Labour to vote down the boundary changes. All Lib Dems, ministers included, will vote against.

being an mp is a shit job is presumably the reason

I'd hazard a guess that she gets more nasty and sustained abuse and hate mail than most other MPs as well, disproportionate to anything she's actually done (bar being a Tory MP obviously).

young mps resign early because it's a terrible job all the time. mostly they don't do it mid-term, and they aren't as #guardian #cif famous as this one, but it's not unusual.

she's not just guardian and cif famous, she's appeared on Have I Got News For You as well, where she roundly humiliated herself, and i'm guessing though i can't be sure that there wasn't a gun pressed to her head when she accepted the booking?

Please dear god, let the redrawing of constituency boundaries not actually happen - love, someone who lives in a constituency that is due to get shafted.

(I've come around on Devonwall, though, if it means that Cornwall gets to recover territory previously lose to the Sowsnek.)

Lost, even.

More likely that we'd get to nibble a bit more Cornwall, isn't it? I'm a bit out-of touch on this one but most of the opposition I know of came from the Cornish side.

Yes, well, the Cornish (probably quite rightly) think that all their local services are going to be "centralised" and hived off into Devon - there's been a lot of scandals where it's been exposed that there have been e.g. weekends where there were only 2 police officers on duty for all of Cornwall, or no on-call doctors at all on duty in all of Cornwall.

I know and understand why they're worried about it. I just think that if they do force it through, it would be better for the Cornish to just invade and colonise bits of Devon instead. I'm being kind of facetious in the face of something that is really rather awful, but think they could win more territory out of it, and restore the old boundaries at the river Exe instead of the Tamar. They'll never do it, but it's fun to think about.

Clegg to announce today that Lords reform is dead along with entire political reform agenda. And he stays in coalition why?

Ministerial car, globe-trotting, illusion of power? Or he's an actual genuine Tory in Lib clothing?

You'd think the LDs would tire of appearing on TV to continually defend the worst of someone else's policies but there's no sign of serious dissatisfaction in the ranks yet.

- Misplaced sense of duty, wanting to show that coalition government can work is more important to them than the things they're throwing under the bus.

- Abject terror at what will happen to them at the next election, whenever that is. Most of them aren't going to keep their jobs and they want to hang on to them for as long as possible. If Clegg dissolves the coalition now he's effectively making most of his MPs redundant.

- Gonna be another 60 years before they get the opportunity to sit on this side of the house again.

- Clegg and several of his Orange Book mates are basically Tories anyway, they're just squeamish about many of the authoritarian elements of actual Toryism.

- Nice to have a job in this economy

dissolving the coalition now will just mean a tory government as well, no? don't see labour winning (or even particularly wanting to win?)

lol @ fucking lords reform being the thing that finally makes the Lib Dems snap

Last YouGov has a strong Labour lead but I think the Tories will get a boost with GB Olympic success.

YouGov ‏@YouGov
Labour lead strong: Latest YouGov/SundayTimes results 3rd-5th August - CON 32%, LAB 44%, LD 10%, UKIP 8%; APP -37

Clegg is on TV right now saying that "part of the coalition contract has been broken" and they will indeed vote against the boundary changes.

I think the Tories will get a boost with GB Olympic success

Like the Beijing Bounce that saw Brown re-elected with a thumping majority?

I think that's pretty neutralised, it started under BLair and Livingstone.

Except that isn't how things work, the public is no more likely to give Blair credit for the Olympics than they are to give Livingstone credit for the bikes. It's more a case of a bounce in public morale, but it's not going to last for very long after the games have finished and reality sets in again.

otm. any benefit is neutralised not so much by blair/livingstone's involvement as the -0.7% growth.

I don't think anyone will be rushing to congratulate Blair and Livingstone for Olympic success, or anything else.

I've not seem much of a Tory attempt to gain credit for the games. Admittedly from afar, I see them presenting this as a great coming together and haven't seen much political hay being made, I could be wrong.

In other words, I think they rightly saw that claiming or even implying sole credit would have ben political suicide. (triple dip rules all, though)

I know the bounce will be short-lived, but I think it's relevant in term of the coalition possibly splitting (which it won't) in the near future. Once we get to wintertime and everyone's still skint and out of work and losing benefits and services the Olympics will be a distant memory, just as Beijing was by the time Brown got round to calling an election.

"nce we get to wintertime and everyone's still skint and out of work and losing benefits and services the Olympics will be a distant memory"

so you're saying it's not relevant?

I've not seem much of a Tory attempt to gain credit for the games.

You've not been paying much attention to Boris then.

Cameron has been pretty quiet, admittedly.

Admittedly Boris has only just been re-elected anyway but he's the one politician who is unequivocally benefiting from the Olympics.

so you're saying it's not relevant?

As relevant as any poll discussion, so no :)

I'm saying recent polls show a strong Labour lead but I expect that to change slightly thanks to Olympic GB feelgood. I mentioned the poll (iirc) in response to Ken saying Labour wouldn't win/want to win an election should the coalition dissolve.

Cameron will wait till after the games then try to milk it for all it's worth. There'll be a short term bounce for him, not least as it's keeping bad news off the front page, but it'll fade after a few months. I don't think this is his Falkland's moment.

Boris is more of a liability to the current tory regime, he needs cameron to fail to be ascend.

TBF he was in charge of the project longer than Ken or the Tories in central government were.

xposts

he's the one politician who is unequivocally benefiting from the Olympics.

Jeremy Hunt attempted a wee bit of glory-hunting but fucked it up with his bell-end falling off then being pictured with Murdoch.

I've not seem much of a Tory attempt to gain credit for the games. Admittedly from afar, I see them presenting this as a great coming together and haven't seen much political hay being made, I could be wrong.

― American Fear of Pranksterism (Ed), Monday, 6 August 2012 15:11 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

JHunt was on this morning explaining that cutting the funding to sports academies etc was creating a leaner, fitter population, or something...

XPOST !!

"If we starve our children today they will be tomorrow's long distance champions, look at Ethopia!" he didn't say.

Cameron's having a hilariously bad Olympics. Every time he says anything up pops Boris to either torpedo it or hijack it.

Not just Boris...

https://twitter.com/KarlTurnerMP/status/233641912807075840

Lololol.

Have we talked about businesses not gaining the expected boost in profits they expected from the Games? To me it's no surprise.

Beautiful, beautiful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nMtSJDrGc

ha! i'm stealing that, thanks!