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

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?

He'd be leading the Lib Dems into the next election

Then the confirmation of the discovery of Richard III's body would be at the top of the BBC News webpage.

Indeed, that's a good story!

That dude certainly had a curved spine, but that's better than having no spine... like today's politicians... because they're spineless... er, bah dum pish?

Missed this last week:

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2013/01/31/david-the-awesome-power-of-the-moon-tredinnick-joins-the-commons-science-committee/

Bet Richard III must love "Get Up (Rattle)" by Bingo Players Featuring Far East Movement.

'Richard III, what's on your iPod (apart from mud from Bosworth Field)?'

He went on: "You might come to the conclusion that these telephone calls are two manipulative people trying unsuccessfully to manipulate each other."

Thank fuck people like this aren't running the country oh wait...

"Rosa Parks did not give up her seat on that bus for me, a traditional christian conservative, to go to the back of the bus" - Tory MP Stewart Jackson

Ok I'm done.

This is probably going to turn out to be the best thing Cameron does in office, with the added bonus that it gives the Tories an even greater likelihood of turning on each other.

Dorrieswatch:

"This bill in no way makes a requirement of faithfulness from same-sex couples. In fact, it does the opposite. In a heterosexual marriage a couple can divorce for adultery, and adultery is if you have sex with a member of the opposite sex. In a heterosexual marriage a couple vow to forsake all others ... A gay couple have no obligation to make that vow [to faithfulness] because they do not have to forsake all others because they cannot divorce for adultery. There is no requirement of faithfulness. And if there is no requirement of faithfulness, what is a marriage?"

"Rosa Parks did not give up her seat on that bus for me, a traditional christian conservative, to go to the back of the bus" - Tory MP Stewart Jackson

so this is what boggling actually feels like. boggle.

Enviable talent pool Conservative party has to draw on

did someone actually pull out the "Adam and Steve" line in Parliament today? o_O

.. And after all that money spent on their own education...

Twitter currently searching wide for a couple called Adam and Steve planning to marry once this passes.

that would be a first, no record of adam and steve in hansard

kind of what to search hansard for all the jon gauntish cant phrases

what/want

We celebrate new years eve, not new years steve

Keats wrote eve of st agnes, not steve of st fagness fyi

When Adam delved and Steve span
Who was the the gentleman?

Wow at Dorries and Jackson. Do they have no awareness of how idiotic they sound?

As a Christian I just don't besteve in gay marraige

Jeeves and Wooster, not Steve and Woofter

Oh fuck I just realised that I've been saying "perverting the cause of justice" all these years ;_;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/07/michael-gove-gcse-replacement

English Baccalaureate dead in the water. This was Gove's flagship policy.

Which educational/textbook company does Rupert Murdoch own, just out of interest?

He owns a company called Amplify which hasn't really moved into the UK education sales sphere yet. There's no doubt that he sees education as one of the core money-spinners of the future, though.

Undoubtedly.

Gove got religion to secure places for his children at St Mary Abbots (best primary school in Kensington and Chelsea, also three miles from where he lives). The normal parents hate him and the wife, who apparently teaches a Sunday school class there for extra brownie points. In view of what he's doing to other people's children, isn't that interesting?

Gove is the equivalent of an football manager who fucks up all the time and the media go easy on him because he's their mate. He must be world class when it comes to sucking up to people.

Totally. One of the most hilarious things I have seen on Twitter was one C. Moran going 'wait, he's really nice' like he'd willingly interact with any other person from her background.

am i right in saying this has been blocked by the committee/lib dems for practical concerns about the specific implementation timetable rather than problems of principle? "dead in the water" seems premature if so.

and by premature i mean optimistic, although presumably not during this parliament

Strikes me they are using this opportunity to get the hell off this boat.

Gove gets mad love from journos because he's one of them: he's basically just the one out of a hundred blowhard opinions 4 u columnists who managed to kiss enough of the right arses to get a chance of actual power. He's living the op-ed hack's dream.

English Baccalaureate dead in the water. This was Gove's flagship policy.

Wack EBacc-y gets smoked...

am i right in saying this has been blocked by the committee/lib dems for practical concerns about the specific implementation timetable rather than problems of principle? "dead in the water" seems premature if so.

He seems to be proposing revisions to the current GCSE structure rather than a a replacement now so i think it's over for the foreseeable future.

Anything that punctures that little prick's balloon of self-regard is worth celebrating

am sure you're all up on this already but it was a slight revelation to me:

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2010/07/gove-dark-stab-baddiel-footage

Slave labour illegal after all, phew

love this, from the comments page:

To equate these schemes with "slave labour" is an offense to genuine slaves around the world, which is the real crisis.

lol@ that guy giving a fuck about genuine slaves.

Well you know what Poundland's like, all cheap imitations of the genuine article, including their slaves

DEATH TO FALSE SLAVES

So...

Has anybody else been invited to the Labour People's Policy Forum to decide what 'One Nation' is actually all about? I'm baffled as to where my name came from, having never even been vaguely involved with the Labour party, but I'm half tempted to go.

First thoughts from the literature they've included:

The new Labour party logo looks really like some kind of BNP offshoot, and using "one nation" alongside it doesn't help.

The language used feels like a BNP hybrid too - lots of emphasis on the country needing to act together and become great again, focus on heavier/better policing and protecting children/the family from the scary 'future' Britain. "On immigration where those in power seemed to ignore the public's message that high levels of migration were having huge impacts on their lives. We must work to make sure that never happens again." (my emphasis) There are only about 10 paragraphs of text, so including it shows it's one of the main points of policy focus.

Personally, "Britain Isn't Working" is a mis-step. Feels like they would have gone with "coalition isn't working" for the complete Thatcher vibe if they thought they could have got away with it.

It's "invitation", not "invite".

The "Your Britain Policy Den" where you get the opportunity to "pitch to Labour's Policy Dragons" is just hilarious.

Whoever chose the photos of Ed in the booklet should look for a new job. My favourite is 'feeling a giant pair of invisible boobs at a picnic table', although 'Ref! I got the ball!' is good too.