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

i would vote for independence

Best thing the Tories can do is stay the fuck out of it tbh. William Hague telling us it would only cost us £200 a year each to never see him again had people reaching for their wallets and did more for the yes vote than any of Salmond's bluster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dPfskOrsWg&feature=youtu.be

funny i thought the pro-independence campaign (this is independence for scotland to which i refer) was going to lean itself heavily on the emotional appeal but now that's the essence of cameron's plea weird

The problem for the Unionists is that it's hard to compete with Salmond's fat-faced smug positivity - I mean, how can you sound positive about Britain, it's shit - all you can really do is try to put the willies up people. This is Cameron's attempt at injecting a bit of positivity - at a safe distance of 500 miles.

A senior British defence official described a year without military action as a problem. Recruiters were already struggling and the prospect of no action in 2015 would not help. "You want to join the army to do stuff," he said.

He anticipated action in the future: "I think after the election the prime minister will have the appetite to get on to the horse again, though we have to make sure it is the right horse. I would be surprised if nothing happens a year and a half or two from now."

maybe they can deal with the flood

maybe they can deal with Scotland, we'll have to watch out for border reavers, cattle raiders and sheep stealers once they're independent.

Which. Side. Do. I. Take?

*paints self blue and tears self in half*

Salmond's fat-faced smug positivity

unfortunately this is the main negative to me

maybe they can deal with the flood

killin foreigners or not interested bruv

Cameron's speech about the flood managing to imply annoyance at having to pay to fix stuff but no, no, we will do what we have to, just a bit annoyed that it's going to cost money is all

we will do what we have to, to make sure these tiresome oiks continue voting Tory

If this were all happening a year from now it'd cost them the election.

I hope 'money is no object' is brought up next time there's a problem with nhs, or schools

http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2014/02/13/the-benefit-sanction-debt-trap-is-this-iain-duncan-smiths-nastiest-move-so-far/

Unemployed and disabled people could find themselves owing the Government hundreds, or even thousands of pounds, if they fail to attend workfare or miss a meeting with the Jobcentre.

Details are emerging (thanks to @refuted) of a horrifying regime planned when Universal Credit is introduced which will see emergency Hardship Payments converted into repayable loans.

http://www.channel4.com/news/why-is-government-website-carrying-fake-jobs

The government's Jobmatch website is carrying bogus vacancies from nine online recruitment agencies run by a Baptist deacon in Coventry, who makes money by encouraging visitors to post their CVs.

and if you don't apply for enough non-existent jobs to help this guy makes £thousands you'll lose your benefits

Ahh yeah that fucking thing too

Universal Jobmatch is a crock of shite, reverse engineered from the software Monster use on their site and you'd think wouldn't you that a government portal should have people checking to make sure the jobs are good and legit, but no

Not to mention its habit of eating your email address and password so you have to make a new email address just to use it

Nick Clegg says Lib Dem-Labour coalition possible
You slippery bastard.

OK, so the water-cannons-in-London thing we keep hearing about, that nobody who isn't a top cop or Boris Johnson seems to want (or to vote for if on the GLA) ?

They're inviting the public to respond to the consultation. Also, if any of you have experience with consultation docs, does it appear to you as if they're trying to get the cannons in by hook or by crook?

https://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/policing-crime/mission-priorities/water-cannon

are fourth place parties able to form coalitions?
xpost

TS: Conservative majority or Lab/LibDem/UKIP coalition?

the latter wd be funnier

It's gonna be Con/UKIP

nigel farage, deputy prime minister

still don't think UKIP are capable of turning their comedy protest vote into actual parliamentary seats, god knows they've had enough goes at it

Also I'm guessing that any actual parliamentary seats for UKIP will come at the expense of Tory seats (?). Which doesn't help much for coalition building.

But they won't get any seats

sure, that too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26256971

Labour concede they won't give a fuck about the unemployed after you've voted for them.

hey, it's still important to vote for them as they will make a very real difference to people's lives

Blair 'advised Brooks before arrest'

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair gave advice to News International boss Rebekah Brooks on handling the developing phone-hacking scandal days before her arrest, a court hears.

^ Something so depressing about this.

it's okay, he says it was informal so no big deal eh?

as advices go though, they were pretty crap

hey guys, he was on a journey, just back off mmmkay?

You're surely not implying that the sacked manager of Cardiff City was party to this hell on earth?

something something shady club with history of combustible supporters something

It's probably exactly same advice he gave to Gadaffi when it all kicked off in Libya.

Rebekah Brooks has a terrible grasp of the English language based on that memo.

no that is how her name is spelt

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/20/people-stripped-benefits-charged-decision

Cunts

the borough of islington were running assistance for welfare appeals and had >80% success

this is only blue sky dogshit that will never happen but charging for access to public tribunals lik this seems like an obvious human rights act violation

Immigration appeals require a fee, iirc.

"[Women] don't have to feel unfeminine," she said.

"There are some wonderful sports which you can do and perform to a very high level and I think those participating look absolutely radiant and very feminine such as ballet, gymnastics, cheerleading and even roller-skating.

"We really need to take a step back and actually ask women what they want and give it to them.

"Whether it's a Zumba class or a game of rounders after they've dropped the kids off. That's the approach we need to take - what works for them."

Helen Grant, Minister for Sport and Equalities, Ladies and Gentlemen

fuck's fucking sake

the aggravating thing is that there's a real point underneath all the 1950s "women know your place" bullshit

Immigration appeals require a fee, iirc.

― Ramnaresh Samhain (ShariVari), Friday, February 21, 2014 6:12 AM (1 hour ago)

and under current legal aid rules, as i understand it, people making immigration appeals are only eligible for legal aid if they're judged to have a more than 50% chance of success (not sure how this fits with the govt's earlier move to deny legal aid to non-uk residents, which I guess you could argue a new asylum seeker is by default).

It's not just the ConDems that have that opinion about women. The Labour policy document:

http://www.sportsthinktank.com/uploads/labour-sports-manifesto.pdf

There are now sports centres specifically for teenage girls; programmes such as “Back 2
Netball” offering flexible formats to appeal to women who may not have played sport since
school; and a UK Athletics Women’s Running Network, providing a safe an accessible
environment for women of all ages to enjoy running in their own time.
We will ensure that the Active Women programme, backed by £10 million of lottery
funding, delivers more opportunities to get women from disadvantaged communities and
those caring for children to play sport – including providing crèche facilities onsite for small
children, or sports activities for children while their mums play.
We will work closely with sports’ governing bodies to enable more women to take part both
in traditional sports such as hockey and netball, as well as trying a wider range of new
sports and activities such as aerobic dance.

iirc the main thinking at one point for why women didn't carry on with sport into adulthood was that communal changing rooms put teenage girls off sport because they didn't want to be seen in their underwear by girls they thought were more attractive than them. (or, rephrased, that looks were the thing that defined their decisions and not wanting to do sport)

(I am not playing the Tory card on this btw, just pointing out that our politicians these days try and make hay from minor linguistic differences while having virtually identical policies.)

as i said, i totally agree with the idea that anything that encourages people to be more active is good, and that women's sport needs to be taken more seriously by broadcasters and journalists. the language in that Helen Grant interview is counter-productive to those aims.