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

I think it's a big enough story that it will deflect away from a lot of other horrible shite without them actually having to do much before the election

Thing is, what powers do they actually want to take back from the EU? I mean, obviously, being Tories they want to fuck over workers when and where they can - Cameron even seems to be hankering after some Europe wide campaign for workers everywhere to be fucked over - but it's the usual vague blather about mythical red tape and regulations. I think he said at one point, "We don't want Europe to tell us how many hours junior doctors should work", uh, right Dave, that's a vote winner.

A lot of people might not like "europe" as such, but most do not care enough to vote for the Conservatives to be back in power so as to get a referendum on it.

Mind you he might fall back into line like a good obedient little Tory twat like the rest of them are doing for the sake of winning the next election

If they were prepared to be obedient this wouldn't be a problem. You just know that a significant proportion of them view not being hard enough on Europe (and by extension, immigration, tax and regulation) as the reason they're ignominiously in coalition. Cameron is still probably the Tories' greatest electoral asset, in the absence of Boris Johnson MP, but he doesn't have much security within his own party.

Quite an amusing comment from Tony Blair (remember him?)

"...it reminds me a bit of the Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles, where the sheriff holds a gun to his own head and says at one point, "If you don't do what I want, I'll blow my brains out." You want to watch that one of the 26 don't just say, go ahead."

Angela Merkel: "Oh, Lordy, Lord, he's desperate! Do what he say! Do what he say!"

A lot of people might not like "europe" as such, but most do not care enough to vote for the Conservatives to be back in power so as to get a referendum on it.

I don't agree. People don't feel strongly enough about it to put obvious lamers like UKIP into Parliament but the Tories running with it could well be enough to outgun whatever pitiful manifesto Labour can come up with at the next election.

and if this referendum ever takes place on the terms Cameron claims, then i'd say the likelihood - slim, maybe - is of a "leave" vote. which Cam probably doesn't want, but that's how cynical this gamble is - the chance of winning the next general election at the cost of financially wrecking the country

and if this referendum ever takes place on the terms Cameron claims, then i'd say the likelihood - slim, maybe - is of a "leave" vote. which Cam probably doesn't want, but that's how cynical this gamble is - the chance of winning the next general election at the cost of financially wrecking the country

― you jelly like bitter lemon (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 23 January 2013 15:50 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's what I meant by shrewd btw - agree the political intelligence, other than in a brutal, survivalist sense, is at a very low wattage.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/21/David_Cameron_official.jpg/220px-David_Cameron_official.jpg
"I'm hungry, should I kill this goose that lays golden eggs?"

Has Europe actually ended up being a big issue with voters at general election time? I don't know much about early 70s politics so please tell me if it was then. I kind of think it's one of those issues that drives Westminster and a small number of voters mad and the rest of the population don't really see it as a key issue when push comes to shove. I certainly can't see many voters thinking "Oh, I'm not going to vote Labour because they won't give us a referendum on European membership."

I mean, even among those considering voting Ukip, only a quarter rate Europe as one of the top three issues facing the country.

The high point for caring was 1997, when 40% rated it in their top three issues. Now that figure is 2% according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Ugh, Cameron is so pleased with himself - I mean even more than usual

40% rated it in their top three issues but a pro-European party still won by a landslide. Nowadays at least half the electorate have grown up within the EU and don't really know what it would be like outside it. I'd have imagined that Europe dropped down the priority list as the prospect of Britain joining the Euro receded.

We're now another bad quarter away from a triple-dip recession. these fuckwits are destroying a decade.

Clegg's admission today was kind of astonishing. I'm sure that wasn't cleared with the Tories.

We're shit and we know we are

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/27/uk-immigration-romania-bulgaria-ministers

In 2007, Eurostar ran adverts in Belgium for its trains to London depicting a tattooed skinhead urinating into a china teacup.

Pictures! Or..

Please don't come to Britain – it rains and the jobs are scarce and low-paid.

truth in advertising.

if they go with this - they can't, if they're sane - then any sensible opposition party shd be running subtitled versions in their own party political broadcast slots between now and the next general election

Oh, this is one of those ideas that will hit the wall of someone saying "don't be so soft, lad", and will never happen.

You seem convinced such a wall exists, I'm not convinced though...

They're already doing enough to make sure no one wants to invest here over the next five years so it's not as if they're that arsed about portraying Britain as a shitehole.

Meanwhile here's the man who will save the Tories yeah right.

Tarbuck Obama.

But if we had a black Tory PM, Daily Mail readers wouldn't know who to vote for. Oh wait, they'd just keep voting for UKIP...

UKIP membership: 19,000.

We need to give these people a massive platform because?

because newspaper editors/publishers agree with them.

i don't think membership of a political party has much correlation with the number of people who share views with that party.

people who seriously believe the EU is an important institution ought to start by accepting that a lot of people in the UK, presumably elsewhere, don't share that opinion. behind every comedy UKIP stooge on TV are a bunch of non swivel-eyed-inbreds who are suspicious of the EU partly from xenophobia, partly from instinctive distrust of mega-bureaucracies. perhaps politicians who believe that democracy is a big deal ought to try to confront some of these prejudices rationally occasionally?

i dunno, just thinking out loud.

how do you rationally confont xenophobia? i don't think callin the ~ great british public ~ a load of slow-witted reactionary swine is on the table

i cd care less, the EU draws its legitimacy from a bunch of governments i don't think of as particularly legitimate, just an ueber-sham parliament afaic

but the contempt that naysayers are treated with by pro politicians on both sides of the argument is a revealing little insight into what pro politicians think about democracy

and i think i'm saying that to dismiss all objections to the EU as xenophobic is cynical and defeatist at the same time

and xenophobia - prejudice anyway - can be rationally countered, if you've the will and the energy. one of the reasons that voters move towards far right parties imo is not mainstream parties failing to recognise their concerns but mainstream parties consistently, cravenly refusing to unambiguously oppose racism

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/01/britains-economy-is-a-disaster-and-nobody-is-entirely-sure-why/272556/

I can think of a few pretty obvious Bullingdon-membershipped reasons why

will ye fuck off?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v2vPsxwKXE

maybe the economy's a disaster because the supply of low-skilled low paid jobs is finite and the gov has slashed everything else

As someone who may have to rely on it I'm pretty fucking furious about the Lewisham A&E announcement.

(For anyone not paying attention this is Jeremy Hunt's decision to downgrade ahem partially close a solvent well-performing A&E department to 'support' two indebted fuckups several miles away)

yeah, it's hard to imagine Hunt's estimate of two extra minutes of ambulance travel being correct if your options are QE and KCH

King's and Guy's are both shitting it about the likely extra patient numbers. Working at KCH A&E on a Saturday night probably sucks enough as it is without +xx% seriously ill people from Lewisham being brought in from too far down the road

Apparently the mayor of Lewisham says they're going to do a legal challenge?

Jeremy Hunt really ought to be in prison, so obviously this government decided it would be a great idea to put him in charge of the NHS.

Yes, well done again Liberal Democrats

Liberal Democrats, the opposition party that likes to say "Yes"

Yes Yes Yes, michael gove finally receives some comeuppance: unanimous criticism from cross-party education select committee.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/english-baccalaureate-plans-from-michael-gove-threaten-to-wreck-stability-of-entire-examination-system-8473586.html

The sad thing though is none of this will deter him from his boneheadedness.

nah it's about time Gove was held to account for the boneheaded uselessness of the entire history of the English eductational scare quote system unscare quote

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/31/adam-afriyie-profile-tory-plot-rumours

so afriyie owns a 'content farm'. another tory deep in the SEO game (cf. chairman shapps' HowToCorp)

love how despite the 'do no evil' motto google are indirectly responsible for this shady underworld of new age grifters and conservative politicians

Jeremy Hunt also part of dodgy underpaid information economy, as reported in a rather good Quietus article last summer.

Apparently the mayor of Lewisham says they're going to do a legal challenge?

Apparently so, the challenge rests on whether the government actually has the authority to downgrade Lewisham to prop up the South London Healthcare Trust because it was never part of the trust in the first place. Which is why it's solvent rather than hamstrung by a shitty Blair-era PFI.

Local party aside, Labour have been worse than useless in their alleged 'opposition', possibly because they're responsible for the SLHT mess in the first place. Given they could feasibly win the election on the issue of the NHS it's stupid as well.

Sorry, shitty Brown-era PFI, need to get my dates right.

Haha also the Afriyie thing explains the really unflattering photo of Gordon Brown on the Adfero website.

Another example, this time from my neck of the woods, of the NHS being safe in Cameron's hands

Murmurings about Gove

So, Chris Huhne then. What would have happened if he had just taken the points?