100 posts
New pro-Labour, anti-coalition Lib Dem group launched
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A new Lib Dem group – Liberal Left – have announced their launch today. The group is opposed to Lib Dem membership of the coalition, and appeared avowedly pro-Labour. Their launch statement includes the phrase: “A future coalition w...
We can expect Salmond’s apology soon, right?
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A few weeks ago the SNP attacked Tom Harris over the creation of a “Downfall” parody that mocked Alex Salmond and senior Nat Joan McAlpine. He was later forced to resign. At the time I said that the reaction to Harris’s video had be...
Your Scotland, Your Referendum
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On 25th January 2012, First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond presented the Scottish parliament's consultation document for a referendum on Scottish independence. The document, called Your Scotland Your Referendum, describes itself as “an important...
David Cameron stands firm on Gibraltar’s right to self determination during speech before the Council of Europe
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British Prime Minister David Cameron was in Strasbourg this week to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (note: entirely different to the EU) of which the UK has now assumed the presidency.Following his speech delivered on Wedn...
More on Scotland and devo max
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I propose the following basic elements in a new constructive policy on Scotland for the Labour Party: 1. Scottish independence, just as much as devo max, will (or would) require the collaboration of the Westminster government, with whom its terms and...
The Tories would be right not to underestimate Labour
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Recently Tim Montgomerie launched a campaign to encourage Tories not to underestimate Labour. Despite our recent difficulties, he’s right to do so. At the last election we picked up just 29% of the vote and just weeks from election day it looke...
Even children are taught Salmond “Do you agree” question is biased
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After Scrapbook parodied Alex Salmond’s leading referendum question on Wednesday, Left Foot Forward’s Alex Hern has put the academic smackdown on the SNP’s dodgy wording: “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent...
The BBC's next director-general should be a Tory
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I've been thinking about who should be the next director-general of the BBC, now that Mark Thompson has announced he'll step down after the Olympics, and one thing is clear: he or she should be a Tory. Not necessarily an "out" Tory – that would pla...
State of the Labour blogosphere – into the darkness
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Let no one ever tell you that there are positives about being in opposition. Nothing about the gnawing impotence of opposition is positive. Nothing about waking up each morning to the sound of another government initiative is positive. Nothing about...
Scottish labour movement must find its own voice
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From the Workers Liberty website By Dale Street “There are two different forms of nationalism in the referendum. The British nationalism of a ‘No’ vote. The Scottish nationalism of a ‘Yes’ vote. And Scottish nationalism...
Hackney Stunelled
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Though Europe is often cited as the most contentious issue between the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Coalition Government partners, another important area of divergence is multiculturalism. David Cameron famously used a speech in Germany to sugge...
A call to arms
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For those who stand outside the austerity consensus, reading Len McCluskey’s column on Tuesday was like coming up for air. It is a cause of deep frustration that, as the Tories’ economic policies are shown to fail (in terms of jobs, growt...
Unite’s McCluskey warns of “certain general election defeat”
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The General Secretary of Unite – Britain’s biggest union and the Labour Party’s largest donor – has warned the Labour Party that it faces to “electoral disaster” over its approach to cuts. Writing in the Guardian,...
Two-speed Britain
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Last Tuesday evening, the House of Commons met to discuss the second reading of the Local Government Finance Bill, which, despite opposition from Labour MPs, progressed to the Committee Stage. This Bill is a very worrying prospect for all those inter...
Yes, we do accept cuts
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That was the key line from Ed Balls’s speech to the Fabian Society today, and it’s one that will no doubt be picked over here and elsewhere in the coming days, weeks, and probably months. It will be spun (by those of all political stripes...
Ed Balls speech to the Fabian Society
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Thank you Suresh and Andrew – and to all of you for coming along today and giving up your Saturday. And let me start by saying – after over 20 years of attending the Fabian annual January conference – what a great honour it is to be invi...
Britain and Its Scottish Region: Should a State Split?
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A region of one of the large E.U. states may split off to become a new state. For a U.S. state to split into two would require the approval of the Congress and presumably the U.S. President. I also assume the E.U.’s legislative and executive branch...
[SFTW] Salmond is on the hook
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Alex Salmond looks smug as a bug right now. His popularity in the Scottish polls is approaching that of Nicolai Ceausescu when he was running Romania. He should be careful what he wishes for....
A more democratic Union
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Scotland, and its potential independence, is currently a big political issue. The self-interested bickering of David Cameron and Alex Salmond has opened up a space for Labour to step-forward not just as defenders of the union but partisans of a new...
Would the EU allow a Scottish secession-accession?
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Following the whirlwind events of this week, Scotland now appears to be closer to secession than it has ever been in the 300-year history of Great Britain. This week the first minister of the devolved Scottish Parliament set a date for the first refe...
Scotland, 2014: A glimpse into the crystal ball.
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How a Scottish Independence referendum could play out: David Cameron calls an In/Out referendum in Scotland. ahead of Salmond’s 2014 date. Alex Salmond says that he does not regard it as legitimate, and that the Scottish Government will call...
Would EU law introduce border controls with Scotland?
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The last time there was a formal English border with Scotland was under the Romans, although for some parts of the middle ages both England and Scotland may have wished for one. Since then, it's pretty much been come and go as you wish. Well, that...
What is our answer to the English question?
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The stunning success of the Military Wives choir is a wonderful and quintessentially English story. Their story is one of resolve, of finding meaning in our locality and the people with whom we rub shoulders day to day, of combating our fears, and of...
Scottish independence: Haud yer weesht, Cameron
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On 9 January, British prime minister David Cameron offended pretty much everyone in British politics by telling the Scots to hurry up with their referendum on independence. Now the Scottish parliament has confirmed the vote will take place in autumn...
Why Ed Miliband’s speech won’t make much difference
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Late last year when Republicans called Obama “weak” on national security, the President had a blunt response: “Ask Osama Bin Laden… whether I engage in appeasement.” There’s no come-back to that. Unfortunately poli...
We Have Lift-off
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At least that was the hope for yesterday’s speech by Ed Miliband, the head of the British Labour Party. It was hyped for days as his re-launch by the media, who see his poor standing in the polls and rumors in the party as evidence that his d...
Does a single person in England care if the United Kingdom breaks up?
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The union of England and Scotland on May 1, 1707 was preceded by an evil omen when, in the last few days of April, 31 whales were found beached on the sands of Kirkcaldy. Three hundred years later, and the sighting of a Salmon(d) and a Sturgeon signa...
Alex Salmond is thinking like a European politician.
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The spat between Alex Salmond and David Cameron over a Scottish referendum on Independence is very telling about how British politics works, especially if compared against the Cameron government’s approach to Europe. Salmond is looking to prop...
What the PM considers reasonable political discourse
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In an interview with the Telegraph: “he criticised Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, saying that his heckling at Prime Minister’s Questions was “like having someone with Tourette’s sitting opposite you”.” The PM should apologise. R...
Taking 2012 predictions to their logical conclusion…
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2011 was one of the most unpredictable years on record. Well, strictly speaking, that’s not true; it was every bit as unpredictable as every other year, but lots of newsworthy things happened that people wouldn’t have dared predict a year ago tod...
2011 – Pick of the year
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2011 has been a great year for LabourList - nearly 550,000 of you have read the site over the last 12 months, viewing nearly 3 million pages of debate and analysis on the Labour Party and the labour movement. All of the biggest issues of the year ha...
Where will Boris Johnson be tonight?
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Not in London for the start of the Olympic year, watching the fireworks like millions of other Londoners, that’s for sure . Instead, he’ll be spending New Year at a “luxury Italian ski resort”. Deputy Chair of the Labour Par...
TOWIE for Ed?
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One of my earliest campaign memories is from the run-up to the 1997 election. I was a newly-joined party member and my presence was requested in Basildon to help out in Angela Smith’s campaign. Basildon was then a barometer seat. Despite boundary c...
Liverpool – I’m not giving any credit where no credit is due
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Today’s disclosure of Cabinet papers under the 30 year rule reveal that Tory ministers tried to persuade Msrgaret Thatcher to write off Liverpool after the 1981 riots and abandon it a process of ‘managed decline’. In the interests of fairness,...
We need more working class MPs to get more working class leaders
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One member of the House of Lords who expressed an interest in the Labour Diversity Fund to me recently quipped: “There are even more working class Labour politicians in here than there are in the House of Commons these days.” I have to take them...
Predictions for 2011 – How did I do?
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This time last year, I wrote a post with 11 predictions for 2011. One of the joys of blogging for me is the chance to reflect and grow. To see where I’ve called it right and where I haven’t and to learn from both of these. For example, I believe...
Thoroughly non-plussed by politics
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Today has been a normal sort of day for me online, in that I’ve stumbled across a couple of really fascinating things, stuff that’s brilliant. Today it was the Lytro camera, and an examination of the design work of Dieter Rams. … C...
Top 12 Political Cock-Ups 2011: How does David Cameron sleep at night?
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The antidote to the tedium of annual current affairs round-ups, here is the March installment of Scrapbook’s Top 12 Political Cock-Ups of 2011. The BBC’s teatime magazine programme The One Show isn’t famed as a forum of hard-hitting intervi...
The political stalemate in the UK is incredible. It can't continue like this, can it? | Deborah Orr
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There is much speculation about David Cameron calling a March election. But this, in reality, is out of the questionThe shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, told the Independent this week that it would be "in the national interest" for senior Lib Dems – bu...
Cameron and Salmond endanger Scotland’s national interests at the heart of Europe
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By any standards, the David Cameron’s decision last week to remove the UK from the negotiating table on the crisis of demand, growth and jobs in the Eurozone was a dereliction of duty, a disastrous failure of diplomacy, and a slap in the face for h...
David Cameron has left the City more, not less, vulnerable to EU law | Philip Whyte
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Cameron may have feared Sarkozy and Merkel taming the City, but the UK is now powerless to thwart new legislationThere are many puzzles about the British government's tactics at last week's EU summit. One is why it chose to identify the City of Londo...
Who wins from David Cameron's veto - Britain or the EU?
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British business is not happy and neither is America, but David Cameron has created some Christmas cheer for his Eurosceptic backbench MPs - writes Dean Carroll...
Sir Julian, the Parliament's Grand Dame exposes the paucity of Labours federastic wing
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Ooo, hark her! Sir Julian Priestly the former Secretary General of The European Parliament has coughed up a piece of bile over his morning gauffre. This man risen to a devalued knighthood for his services to the cause of the EU in Britain, alongside...
What Britain can learn from Singapore's answer to Eton
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A long time ago, when David Cameron was elected Leader of the Conservative Party, I was asked to join a team of so-called experts for a discussion on the Today programme. The question: was it possible that this country could ever again elect an Eton...
Lord Strathclyde approaches Labour peer to fund Conservatives
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Though Conservative coffers were swelled with donations of £2,744,618 in the third quarter of this year, party grandees still seem determined to open up new fronts when it comes to fundraising. Labour Lord Toby Harris reports that a top Tory even...
Unreasonableness and the Rebate
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While political battles are being waged over Cameron's veto, there seems to be at least one point of consensus within Britain: that the demands on the protection for financial services were reasonable. The Labour party hasn't set out exactly what it...
Government slash benefits for Disabled Children
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Last night, the House of Lords failed to support an amendment put down by Tanni Grey-Thompson, the most successful paralympian of all time, to protect the benefits of disabled children once Universal Credit is introduced. You can read more here but...
Labour now bookies favourites to win next election
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According to William Hill: 6/4 Labour Majority 7/4 Conservative Majority 2/1 Hung Parliament 100/1 Lib Dem Majority Related posts:New Populus poll shows Labour within three points of Tories Poll List: New polls show Labour as the biggest party in a...
Tory MEP: UK should be “offshore haven” like Hong Kong
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Related posts:RIP slick Tory PR: another Tory poster backfires...
UKIP overtake the LibDems
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A ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday and the Sunday Mirror shows that UKIP have overtaken the Liberal Democrats amongst those likely to vote, 8%/7% (page 7). This is an historic occurrence that has been coming and should hopefully get some de...
[Something for the weekend] The SGP without stability or growth
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Ah, the Stability and Growth Pact. You remember. Joining the SGP, members promised fiscal restraint, and in return were allowed to junk their soggy old currencies for a Deutschemark with a suntan....
Cameron in European Council: Weak, weaker... (Updated)
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Without democratic government and sufficient powers at the European Union or eurozone level, the national leaders have been forced to proceed further on the road of intergovernmentalism, although credible and sustainable solutions need durable and...
10 things Ken can do to win
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“Will Ken Livingstone win in London? No.” Thus spake Labour optimist and serial predictor of front-runner success Dan Hodges. But Hodges’ provocative sally in November’s Progress did give voice to a genuine concern felt by many party activi...
Ken challenges Boris to a debate on fares
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Open letter – time for a live debate on the fares Dear Boris, Today, in an interview for ITV London, you have claimed that my plan to put money back into Londoners’ pockets and purses through a fares cut is ‘crazed vote-getting.’ And your r...
Voter registration is the key to our electoral success
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One thing we are all painfully aware of is that if Labour is to succeed at the next General Election then it will have to do so in a political terrain that is much changed. We are all aware of the changes brought about by the existence of a governing...
Help: Can somebody translate
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Just seen this invitation on the Trading Standards websiteGrowth and Regulation: The Only Way is UpCIEH, in partnership with TSI and LBRO, are proud to be organising the 2012 Year Ahead Event taking place 2-3 February in Stratford-upon-Avon. The...
Cameron on lobbying
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In light of today’s major lobbying story, and alleged close links between No.10 and lobbyists, now seems a good time to remember what Cameron said about lobbying last year: “It is the next big scandal waiting to happen. It’s an issue that c...
Clarkson: it’s just a joke!
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Stewart Lee on Clarkson and his chums: What’s the matter? Don’t you have a sense of humour? Taken in context, it should be obvious…etc, etc… H/t: Monsuer Jelly...
Lib Dems will promise further cuts at next election, says Danny Alexander
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Related posts:The Promise of Britain – Final Party Election Broadcast Danny Alexander should resign says senior Scottish Lib Dem Danny Alexander reveals Oakeshott departure live on TV “This election will be won by people, not posters̶...
"Bleeding Britain" by Paul Krugman
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These days, ambulance-chaser economists like yours truly have an embarrassment of riches: so much is going wrong, in so many places, that one hardly knows where to start. But let’s spare a moment for...
Shallow slogans won’t defeat the Con-Dems
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By Matthew (via Workers Liberty) . “Strikes can smash the Tories”. “November 30: our day to smash the Tories”. “Mass strikes can kick out Con-Dems”. “Force Cameron out!” . The text under such headlines in Socialist Worker and...
ConHome columnist: cut aid to poorest to fund tax cut for the rich
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Conservative Home columnist Ruth Lea has given the “same old Tories” brigade another round of ammunition, with her suggestion that the government should cut the 50p tax rate — at the direct expense of the world’s poorest. Lea suggests th...
Honeyball’s Weekly Round-up
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The subject of how we fund our political parties reared its head again this week. Sir Christopher Kelly’s eagerly anticipated report into party political funding couldn’t have come at a worse time; we are, after all, a few billion pounds …...
What’s Ken’s equivalent of the Congestion Charge this time?
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Ken Livingstone’s first term as Mayor of London is intrinsically associated with the Congestion Charge. An unpopular idea at the start it is now impossible to imagine London without it. The quid pro quo for it was the investment in … Cont...
Miliband: Tories have failed on UK deficit
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Related posts:The Tories must choose between the cuts and the deficit Deficit deceivers will soon replace deficit deniers Ed Miliband: If the Tories aren’t scared then they should be David Miliband: Let’s take the deficit argument head on...
MEMO: Status: Secret. Not to be revealed to our ‘partners’
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Imagine my surprise when I went to a photo-copier in Portcullis House this morning, and there, on the glass, was this incredible secret memo on the Conservative’s political strategy: Subject: Conservative Political Strategy Date: 20th November 2011...
Britain must tell Argentina to mind its own business over Prince William’s deployment to the Falklands
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The Telegraph has reported that Argentina is mightily upset over British government plans to deploy Prince William to the Falkland Islands for six weeks in February and March next year. According to Robin Yapp in Sao Paolo: La Nacion newspaper in Bue...
UKIP jobs claim 'deluded' - Lib Dem
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Following a heated exchange between South West MEP Graham Watson and UKIP leader Nigel Farage MEP during a BBC debate this weekend in which the UKIP leader stated that 'not one single British job depends on EU membership', Watson has called on Farage...
Tory economic plan “backfiring” says Balls
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Related posts:Tory economic strategy in tatters Tory economic strategy in tatters Byrne: There are still economic risks; Mr Osborne’s plan would be profound mistake Ed Balls talks about The Children’s Plan – two years on Will the re...
Why David Cameron is right to highlight the secret failure of middle class schools
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The Prime Minister's article in today's Telegraph should be read by all those who have got used to the idea that failing schools are the problem of inner city ghettos where poverty and immigration turn what should be temples of education into war zon...
Respect lose Sparkbrook to Labour
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Comments (below) from the semi-Stalinist Socialist Unity blog about the welcome demise of a corrupt, communalist obstacle to workers’ unity: It appears that what remained has only now finally collapsed. There is supposed to be a Respec...
Why is the BBC using licence fee money to pay a man who wishes Margaret Thatcher dead?
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At first I couldn't believe it. Tim Montgomerie, the editor of Conservative Home, published a couple of tweets from an account purporting to be from Brian Limond, a comic who apparently has a series on BBC Scotland, under his nickname Limmy. Obviousl...
If the government can't grab the low-hanging fruit, we're never going to get growth
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A depressing story on page three of today's FT suggests that the government is thinking of giving up on an important pro-growth reform of the planning system. The Government had said that it was planning to reform the Use Classes Order – an obs...
Judge for yourselves: is this an 'ugly' and 'astonishing' arrest of a student protester?
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A student protester is handcuffed by undercover policemen in London – and the next day, on YouTube, they're compared to the Stasi and Syrian government stooges. "They are behaving exactly like the secret police did in Eastern Bloc countries," s...
Behr with a sore head
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In the Staggers yesterday, cheif leader writer of the Observer and lead political writer at the Staggers, Rapheal Behr writes a sort of political obitury of Nick Clegg. He describes him in glowing referential tones, almost a tragic hagiography, and e...
Theresa May’s attempts to pass the buck make for a distressing spectacle
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The days are long gone when a Cabinet member would take the blame as well as the praise It is almost 30 years since a British politician last resigned on a matter of honour. That was Lord Carrington, who insisted on taking the responsibility for Bri...
Gordon Brown's appalling legacy has made us think like peasants
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As Italy follows Greece to the brink of economic meltdown, rampaging uncertainty is turning everyone from an economic pseudo-savant into a peasant, desperate to hang on to commodities they can trust. And peasants like gold, of course, which – on th...
Anti-cuts protesters are living in cloud cuckoo land
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It beggars belief. How can anyone protest against government "cuts" on the day when Italy's bond yield has risen above 7 per cent? As any fule kno, the government hasn't actually cut public expenditure. In April-May 2011, public expenditure was 4.1 p...
We should welcome this experiment with workfare
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David Cameron has announced that Jobseekers who do not find sustainable work after they have been through the Government’s new welfare-to-work scheme, the Work Programme, will be made to do compulsory work in the community for six months. "Workfare...
This misdirected 'student' protest is a waste of time
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Call me a traitor to my peers, but today's "student" protest represents a total misuse of time, energy and resources. Last year, the vast majority of British students were united by their opposition to the findings of the Browne Review and to th...
PMQs: Ed Miliband helps out Theresa May
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After a third morning of nasty front pages, Theresa May would have been less than human if she wasn’t a tad anxious about PMQs today. Fortunately for the Home Secretary, she had lots of allies in the Commons, none of them more helpful than Ed Milib...
Targets for trouble
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I have just recived a map produced by the students for places which they wouold like to cause trouble today.Of course the only people who will sufer are the shopkeepers and retail/food outlets.All the financial types have been at work for hours, so d...
Populism in 21st century Britain: Why the EDL needs Facebook
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A new study by independent think tank Demos has revealed that online activism is at the heart of the English Defence League The far-right English Defence League (EDL) first emerged in 2009 as a street protest movement, whose ideology and rhetoric opp...
Euro-MP Hails South West’s Success in Water Quality Tests
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Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson has hailed the 'fantastic' results for South West's beaches in the latest European water quality tests. 142 of the South West's 144 beaches passed the mandatory standards, a 2% increase on 2010, with 137 beaches...
Wrong on so many levels
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Who says this website is narrow-minded? We leap from the crisis afflicting western capitalism to the question of how a young girl travels to school: federalism has something to say about them both. On the latter, the story in the Evening Standard tod...
Remember, remember the Fifth of November
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What could be more English than setting off fireworks, lighting bonfires and burning the effigy of a man who was executed over 400 years ago? Possibly my favourite date in the UK’s cultural calendar, 5 November marks the anniversary of …...
UKIP's poll rise is real, significant and sustainable
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As this graph from Anthony Wells of YouGov shows since the general election the steady growth of UKIP is one of the most intersting developements in British politics.This is of course in part because of the growth of the European Union in people's co...
"Plan B: The Building Blocks of a Progressive UK" by George Irvin
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By now, even the most die-hard Tory must realise that the UK economy under George Osborne has flat-lined; like the Python’s dead parrot, it wouldn’t ‘voom’ if you pumped 4 million volts through...
"We don't need a referendum - we need a change of Government".
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So says Nadhim Zahawi the Tory MP for Stratford and Avon on his website's political priorities page. No Nadhim, we need a referendum, and a change of government.The chap was up against the boss on the Politics Show today and just repeated the absurbd...
Fox in a hole
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The story of Liam Fox (a story that at the time of writing does not yet have an ending) can be read not so much as the story of ministerial misjudgements but as of uncontrolled lobbying. For those who have had the good fortune not...
Roger Helmer’s Greatest Hits
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Conservative MEP Roger Helmer has today announced that he is quitting his seat in the European Parliament at the end of this year. Citing disillusionment with the direction of the party, Brussels is set to lose one of its most off message sons. To co...
Liam Fox and the English Language
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“Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not simply due to the bad influences of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause...
Comment on Tories seem to have found someone even more barking than Roger Helmer by kosmopolit
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A worker - a winner ;-) He is also a lecturer for 'Paranormal Studies' at the International Metaphysical University: http://intermetu.com/faculty/rupert-matthews/ And he blogs at http://thehistorymanatlarge.blogspot.com and http://ghosthunteratlarge.
Nick Pisa: even worse than before
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A quite incredible failure of journalism overnight from Nick Pisa, journalist of the Daily Mail, writing a piece saying Amanda Knox was guilty of murder when she was actually innocent. More on the issue from Malcolm Coles and Anna Raccoon. … Co...
Primaries: can I be convinced?
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I’m no fan of First Past the Post. It distorts the UK election system in so many ways. But much as I dislike the system, it’s here to stay for the foreseeable future. So what can be done to improve … Continue reading →...
The idiot in Brussels
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(note: video is uploaded by UKIP, so they add their own vile header to the video. Thanks for @spignal for pointing out the film) Extraordinary ‘debate’ on Newsnight last night between Amadeu Altafaj Tardio (Ollie Rehn’s spokesperso...
'Cast Iron Cameron' - How much is his word worth?
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I only ask because it isn't just us UKIP types that are getting fed up with his vaccilating and dishonesty over his Euro promises.Here he is back in 2006 signing an uncontroversial little petition, you know, the one that says wasting £150...
