Oops
I began a spot of moonlighting presenting the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning. Feeling pretty smug at not messing up I emerged from the studio to be told that I'd spent the whole of a discussion about a possible cure for cancer referring to prostrate instead of prostate cancer. One e-mailer has already quipped that my new disease is presumably caught from too much lying down. No, it comes from getting up much much too early.
Lucky I'm not giving up the day job.
PS. You can watch Evan Davis and me reviewing today's programme here.
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~41~RS~)
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Ha ha haj! That's a good one this morning Nick.
Long walks in the forest are the best cure.
Have a nice day Nick!
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Nick and Evan Today dream team this morning!
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Clearly its labours fault that you got it wrong ;-)
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Its not as though you never get anything wrong, is it Nick? ;)
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We all make mistakes Nick. Don't worry, Gordon is still way ahead of you.
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Good job this morning Nick. It's a shame you won't be presenting more often as I enjoyed your style of interviewing. You also complement Evan very well - an economics and a political commentator are a good combo. You two are also far less aggressive in tone than Sue, Ed, Jim and John. It's a technique which can easily catch your opponent off guard eg Evan Davies and Alan Johnson interview a few weeks ago was superb "you've first began a consultation on pensions back in 1999 and only NOW you have come up with some proposals". A great interview.
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Any one can add an extra "r" into a word by mistake ie prostate to prostrate
It's a good job you weren't talking about "shirts" in government !!!
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Nick,
You and Evan were the dream team this morning; and I quite enjoyed hearing you talk about prostrate cancer. It just shows you're human like the rest of us!
I really enjoyed you both on the Today programme and hope this isn't the last time we hear you.
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Forget about it Nick, at least your mistakes won't ruin Britain
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Are you on tomorrow? I must listen. I have given up on the usual mob. Far too smug!
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Nick, isn't sad that even when having a bit of fun some people cant leave party politics out of it.
Well Nick there's one thing for certain your not alone ,I and many others on these blogs make worse gaffs than that, its nice that we can still have a laugh although prostate cancer is a killer, although I think there's probably a few on here suffering from your new disease.
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Enjoyed your presenting this morning Nick.
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@12
here fishy fishy fishy
As the only one who mention a party I guess you have taken the bait.
You really need to get a sense of humour.
definition of Irony: humour based on using words to suggest the opposite of their literal meaning
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@12
On further revue maybe your comment swere directed at #10
and i am suffering from Paranoia:extreme and unreasonable suspicion of other people and their motives
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Carry on making gaffes like this and you'll be next up for prime minister.
Failing that, you can be a trusted error prone advisor to grandantidote.
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If you're in to moonlighting, Nick, how about bolstering auntie's resources in Glasgow East? With Brian off on his hols and Michael chasing the dreaded Campbell (A), how about something from the front line?
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15 pot kettle You got it right after two attempts, on the other hand , not your obvious irony in this instance but irony seems to be frequently used as an excuse on these blogs.
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re: 12
How sanctimonious can you get? As usual you're just looking for reasons to be offended! And thank you for reminding us that prostate cancer is a killer, as if we didn't know.
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@18
We agree on something!
Irony is used (too) frequently as an excuse.
I read Nicks post this morning and wondered how we were going to manage a debate on something so mundane.
Ok back to hostilities. I think i'll go for Nicks last comment "Lucky i'm not giving up the day job"
What job is that exactly chief governmental plate spinner?
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re: 19
Nah I was a bit harsh there. I know that you mean well grandantidote, it's just that you're too trusting for your own good and so you've been completely deluded by the spin machine. At best your posts are interesting, at worst they read like they've been written by the Labour PR team. Don't worry though, you'll get wiser with time.
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re: 20
Yep I think so. Nick's posts too often lean towards Labour. Still, I wouldn't say he was a red-rosetted ventriloquist's dummy, unlike some on this board!
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Not as bad as the slip up I made in mixed company Nick.
Could have disappeared through the floor when someone pointed out I'd been talking about 'orgasms' instead of 'organisms'
Wondered why they were all creased up.
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How about the SATS marking fiasco?
Ed Balls performance on this one has been more "Freddie Starr" than "Rising Star".
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I don't listen normally, but by chance I as listening this morning and you weren't half bad ... all the usual presenters on holiday then and you got drafted in?
Still, it's good to have two 10 O'Clock heavyweights in the chair.
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Can't stand it! TWO presenters who know the answers (and have opinions) before the question is answered!
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It would be quite unforgivable if you referred to Gordon Brown as Gordon Drown!
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Prostrate eh ? ... I remember as a young lad, sitting on a bus hearing one middle aged lady telling another all the details of her sister's Hysterical Rectum....
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Don't worry Nick, you're not the first person to talk about prostrate cancer, and I'm sure you won't be the last.
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No, Nick, it's not "you can watch Evan Davis and I" it's "you can watch Evan Davis and ME". You wouldn't say "you can watch I", would you?
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I have just seen the review video and am horrified. How are we supposed to take seriously people who do not wear stiff white collars are suits? This is not Radio One you know. Next you will be telling me R4 announcers don't wear dinner jackets in the evening any more. Is nothing sacred?
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I am more and more convinced as to the problems in this country. Whatever happened to the freedom of the press. Exactly how many injunctions are there going around. Can we have full details of the moderators, they know who we are, who are these censors?
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30. At 1:28pm on 22 Jul 2008, Dickydoughnut wrote:
No, Nick, it's not "you can watch Evan Davis and I" it's "you can watch Evan Davis and ME". You wouldn't say "you can watch I", would you?
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Yes, I quite enjoyed hearing about prostrate cancer. I couldn't help wondering when there might be a breakthrough in upright cancer.
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Nick,
You resurrected a long lost tradition with the morning news which I - for one - miss since we lost the great Jack Demanio (sp-?).
Like getting the time check wrong by exactly one hour.
Like referring to the late African President Ndabaninghi Setole as "Rubber Dinghy Setole".
Etc.
(Sigh - happy days!)
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Nick....
We all make mistakes and i will read this blog later....
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21 Powertotheppl , I wondered what I had said to rattle your cage you say I will get wiser as I get older well what year was it that Margaret Thatcher closed down the mines overnight, well that was the year I got wiser, I had been getting wiser by the month previous to that but as they say thats when I got my smarts.
Previous to that I had voted Tory I regret to say but like you say older and wiser.
The only spin machine I've ever been confused by [not deluded] is the one that dries the washing thats why I leave my wife in control of it,
As for my posts reading like a Labour PR team, then I thank you for that, as long as I dont start writing like the "I'am not a tory brigade".
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16 robin jd other than to say this you are a self opinionated apology for a educated man are'nt you, dont bother to come back at me on this I have never professed to be educated but I am pretty sure I am way obove you and your snide remarks when it comes to intelligence.
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I have to say it was a rather good combination.
Evan is absolutely excellent and understanding economics he doesnot let rubbish pass unchallenged.
Your political analysis is always worth hearing - even when I dont agree. But dont give up the day job, particularly when you are annoying the MPs over their inflated allowances and bruising their egos by forcing them to account.
All the best from Fife!
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re: 37
grandantidote, this government is worse than the Tories ever were (and yes I am going to say it again, I'm not a Tory). The Tories stabbed us in the front, but that's better than being stabbed in the back like this lot are doing. Besides the lack of ideas, selective blindness, ineptitude and sleaze, soon we'll all be forced onto a biometric database 'for own security' and then what'll happen? Oh yes, they'll spy on us 'for our own security' and then someone will hack into the database or they'll lose the data. Chances of this happening: 100 percent. They cannot be trusted at all! Under this government I am genuinely afraid. Anyway, to finish on a lighter note, here's a joke just for you:
Q:How many Labour MPs does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: None, they just buy a new house at our expense
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#38 grandantidote
Thanks for the compliment.
So for the record (as you seem to enjoy evidence based analysis)....
When did NewLabour invade Iraq?
When did NewLabour allow Railtrack to go bust?
When did NewLabour stitch up Rover and sell it to the Chinese for a song?
When did the newLabour health secretary get booed by an NHS nurses conference?
When did NewLabour increase tax on the poorest?
When did the first bank go bust for 140 years?
When did Gordon Brown sell all our gold?
When did Gordon Brown rob the pension system?
When did the Metronet PFI go bust?
When did NewLabour propose that the slackers went back to work?
When did the budget deficit reach its highest level since 1946 (and who was in power then)?
When is Gordon Brown going to provide some of the leadership or management skills required to do his job?
When are the apologists for NewLabour going to accept they have made a complete hash of the country's finances?
Sorry grandantidote but, education or no, I merely present the facts of the NewLabour maladministration of these sceptered isles. (and that institution will outlast anything NewLabour has to offer)
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grandantidote - if you're going to snipe about being more intelligent than others, you might want to spellcheck your posts.
Nick, prostrate cancer? Oh dear oh dear
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Didn't hear this unfortunately, but it reminds me of the famous broadast in which a presenter referred to a young people's detention centre as a 'penile dustbin'.
Still, glad fewer police forces are dispersing crowds with bird shot.
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41 power to the ppl, I'm afraid that you are being almost uncontrolably paraniod you most try to get a grip, I am not going to go into all the points you mention they've been debated here many times with neither side being convinced by the other.
Its obvious to me that your paranioa is so rampant that to even try to reason with you would be pointless,maybe another day when your blood pressure has returned to normal.
Q how many conservative MPs does it take to change a light bulb?
A,none they just move into Mummy and Daddies over a million pound home while the get some serfs like you and I to go to their over a million pound home to do it for them.
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Nick
If you had to add an extra letter, I guess it is approriate you made an 'r's of it.
Re some of the resultant exchanges, is there nothing unpolitical and light-hearted enough to avoid snide and paranoid political exhanges in response ?
Lighten up.
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43 bradshad 1 Perhaps you should look to your self or dont you know that you dont have to educated to be intelligent if my way of writing indicated I came from the west country the north or the eastend try Colin Pillinger for a example. It would not indicate that I was unintelligent, it might be obvious that I had a poor education and that my grammer left much to be desired but I am pretty sure that my manual abilities which require intelligence are probably a mile ahead of yours.and I would love to have some of you smart alecs on herer that try to belittle me in a general knowledge test. What else can you do other than construct a reasonably grammaticaly correct letter?and criticise those that had a poorer education than yourself.
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re: 45
Lol, being a Labour stooge, 'you would say that wouldn't you.' I'll bet you're really one of Brown/Darling/Harman/Blears etc's many personas...
re: 46
I'm afraid not Only Jocking, we're the kind of people who spend too much time on political messageboards. Pretty much everyone on here is paranoid (justifiably so, like myself) or bonkers (like grandantidote). It is in our nature to be so. Might as well ask a dog not to chase cats as ask us to refrain from snide and paranoid political exchanges!
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#45
"Q how many conservative MPs does it take to change a light bulb?
A,none they just move into Mummy and Daddies over a million pound home while the get some serfs like you and I to go to their over a million pound home to do it for them."
Pathetic but illuminating.
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42 Robin jd you present what you percieve to be the facts,
When did the Tories destroy the mining industry,
When did the tories sell the railways in a hurry at a ridiculous price,
I could go on but whats the point, half of your questions are not valid anyway and I dont have time to play your game. My point to you was that its just that you cant resist the grammar thing and it merely discredits you rather than me.
I might add that in my rather long life I have become aware that it only takes one sentence to ask a question but it might take a book to answer it.
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49 u11714077, pathetic yes but better than 45 Power to the ppl,
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My issue is, like all of your party, grandantidote, you fail to answer for your own track record.
You are the ones who have been in charge for eleven years and you will have to address this at the next election when no-one wil be playing games.
Good luck.
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re: 52
RobinJD has a point grandantidote, you defend Labour's seedy past without looking at the facts. You might as well answer all criticism with 'LA LA LA I CAN"T HEAR YOU!' or 'WIBBLE WOBBLE JELLY ON A PLATE!'
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Prostrate instead of prostate cancer? Well at least we know why the UK has one of the lowest survival rates in the developed world. They were aiming for the wrong condition. Could make some really cruel word play using the PROST, but the Moderators would muzzle me once again. I'm really not laughing, illness isn't a joke, but this is really a silly mistake.
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#52 RobinJD
"like all of your party"
I find these kinds of comments quite amazing. If you stereotyped members of an ethnic group like this, you would be a racist. Those of you who are extreme party loyalists should reflect that there are people in the "other" party, who hold views that are virtually identical to your own.
As someone who supports neither Tory or New Labour, I can't see much difference between them.
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re: 55
The difference is, regardless of your views, that one is getting stronger by the day and the other is crumbling into oblivion due to a never-ending series of blunders and mistakes entirely of their own making.
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#56 power_to_the_ppl
But this is simply a cyclical pattern which affects any party that has been in power too long. It happened to Major's Tories, and will happen to future Government's as well.
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45. grandantidote
See youre in your element this afternoon.
Ok so how many Labour MPs will it take to change a light bulb in 2011
Both of them
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45. grandantidote
A lobbyist on his way home from working in Parliament came to a stop in traffic and thought to himself, "Wow, this traffic jam seems worse than usual."
Then he noticed a police officer walking between the lines of stopped cars so he rolled down his window and asked, "Officer, what's the holdup?"
The officer replied, "The Prime Minister is depressed, so he stopped his motorcade and is threatening to douse himself with gasoline and set himself on fire. He says no one believes his stories about why he bottled out of the election, or that he was planning his inheritance tax cut all along. So we're taking up a collection for him."
The lobbyist asked, "How much have you got so far?"
The officer replied, "About forty gallons, but a lot of people are still siphoning."
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Robinjd@42 "When did NewLabour allow Railtrack to go bust?"
Robinjd@52 "My issue is, like all of your party, grandantidote, you fail to answer for your own track record. "
It was Railtracks broken track record that led them to go bust.
Excellent decision to change it into a not for profit company. Instead of subsidising shareholders with subsidies. You seem quite upset about this decision. A former shareholder?
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re: 57
I agree completely. I just happen to think this shower are the worst yet.
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re: 59
Brilliant!
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#58 and 59
Funny!
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re: 60
And that excuses Labour from everything else listed on post 42? Accept it, they're completely worthless and they've ruined this country. You can't blame the previous government if you've been in power for 11 years!
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48 Power to the ppl I was delighted that you called me bonkers thats a first in my life, I thought that I was missing out on something I must have really got to you to get BONKERS and "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU and WIBBLE WOBBLE JELLY ON A PLATE within a couple of posts, I did warn you about the blood pressure and paranioa
I were you I would take a long rest .
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#55 oldnat
Like you, I find these exchanges amazing. I don't know why those concerned don't simply cut and paste their list of accusations/ defences/counter accusations/insults etc and post them irrespective of the topic.
Or maybe they do ?
#48 (power_to_the_ppl) reckons everybody on here is paranoid or bonkers which I take to be a proxy for politically committed to Labour or Conservative - no matter what.
To such diehards, any dissenting view is taken as evidence that the contributor is a Labour stooge or a undercover Tory.
I would respectfully suggest that the reality might be a wee bit different. Many people are not only not committed to any political party but take the view that it is necessary for healthy democracy that no one party should be in power for too long.
Fortunately that need for change
of the party in power every so often is helped along by the fact that every party in power eventually acts in such a way as to lose popularity. This usually happens due to a combination of factors - eg the pendulum swinging too far in the direction of some of that party's political dogmas or it's failings in office catching up with it over time (despite it's successes in other areas) or through hubris as a result of being in power too long.
When that happens, absent any big event, the game is up. This is more because of the fact that many people are against the government of the day than it is because they are for the opposition.
That is why - to the evident disbelief of eg grandantidote - that currently there are some Government critics who are in the 'I am not Tory' category. Just as there were many critics of the last Tory government who could say 'I am not Labour' In fact, many of these critics are the same people.
I know, I know - I'm wasting my time.
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I was expecting today's blog to be dull at first but it's been great fun today and now I'm all politicked out. I think your suggestion of a lie down grandantidote is the only sensible thing you've ever said. *Yawn* I think I'll go for a nap.
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52 robin jd I understood there was a free vote on the Iraq war I am not sure but I think the tories were more in favour than labour MPs.
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To my surprise, I found you a refreshing change on this morning's Today prog. I certainly prefer to hear you without having to look at your very silly spectacles. I realise they are a very contrived 'brand' to mark you out in the showbiz of political reporting, but stop being a sad attention seeker and get a grown up pair.
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I wonder if we could have confirmation of the rumours circulating that our wonderful war leader did not allow a rescue operation by the SAS to go ahead in respect of the five hostages in Iraq.
It will not be a question of we do not remark on the operations of Special Forces because surely it would not breach NATIONAL SECURITY if we were told the truth. The operation did not take place! But was it planned but not enacted.
I personally despair of Gordon Brown. What is the point of him continuing as our Prime Minister. How can he say anything about any regime when I personally believe that he took over as a result of a coup and he has not come to the electorate. He lacks any legitimacy. This is not good enough!
He paid for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and I regard him as just as much a war criminal as any other tyrant.
No doubt this will be moderated out but we seriously must stop thinking of the SAS as special. A recent trial held in camera should be reported on. It is unacceptable for this so one sided reporting of our military to go ahead, what is the government afraid of, who runs this country, the government or the military.
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64 power_to......
Not here to answer for labour. Just making the point that railtrack deserved to go under. Why was the rail network a monopoly, which cannot possibly run safely at a profit. privatised? How did they make profits? It sounded to me like it was to save money by cutting corners while keeping it at arms length from the government.
Now we have Network Rail a not for profit company. Who can run proper metal trains carrying the travelling public. not just a gravy train for shareholders.
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I have never felt so sad about the future for the people who inhabit these islands. The future does not look good so who would think that what these countries need is a Campaign for Freedom. The restoration of some freedoms we have lost and to give us freedoms which we have never had.
The monarchy is an anachronism and when the Queen eventually passes away then we must have a Republic. we can continue with the royalty for ceremonial purposes but we must have an elected President. We are nothing but a banana republic as it stands and there must be change.
Ooops have I suggested some sort of treason? If so then take me to the Tower.
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68. grandantidote
To be fair all MPs were misled by government on the real threat from Iraq
You will recall the Dossier
Ironically titled:
Iraq: Its Infrastructure of Concealment, Deception and Intimidation
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I thought I would let everybody know that on the 23rd June the PMs wonderful email the PM was 'temporarily suspended' for maintenance work. It is still not back up. It is not the email service that needs maintenance it is our war leader Brown.
You seriously could not make it up. Contact the PM with your opinions. As sson as we do down goes the site. He really ought to read your site Nick, he may learn the truth because as we all know 'The Truth is out here'
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74. T A Griffin (TAG)
Tis nothing, last week I tried to log onto a governement web site that actually closed at 5.00 pm
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45. grandantidote
A young, ruthless executive died and went to hell. When he got there, he saw one sign that said Conservative Hell, and another that said Nu Labour Hell.
In front of the Nu Labour Hell was an incredibly long line, while there was no-one in front of the Conservative Hell.
So the executive asked the guard, "What do they do to you in Nu Labour Hell?"
"They boil you in oil, whip you, and then put you on the rack," the guard replied.
"And what do they do to you in Conservative Hell?" "The same exact thing," the guard answered.
"Then why is everybody in line for Nu Labour Hell?"
"Because in Nu Labour Hell, they're always out of oil, whips, and racks!"
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72 TA Griffin (Tag)
I am not commenting on any of your points concerning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, because in the past it was established that I support them and the armed forces, whilst sharing yoru despair about Gordon Brown being an unelected prime minister. I don't however even begin to compare him with Mugabe, and believe he is more unwise than evil. But them I must admit, I have always believed that silliness can be even more dangerous than wickedness. I pray I am wrong. What I do not agree with is your idea of abolishing the monarchy and installing a president. So you don't believe in the divine rights of kings, the hierarchy whereby monarch is head of the country and church. Fair enough, but think of the presidents of other countries, a pretty ghastly lot. Could we do any better? I think of the establishment, the high court judges, the politicians. Banana republic sounds almost reasonable to the alternative of being lead by any of these clowns.
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re: 73
Concealment, deception and intimidation are Labour's Holy Trinity. Oh yeah and let's squeeze a fourth one in there too, allegedly *mmf* offering bribes, peerages etc in exchange for votes. I'm looking at you Vaz and DUP.
Get junk mail every day? Don't chuck it in the bin, forward it to 10 Downing St. Imagine the hilarity that would ensue if everyone in the country did that. :D
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#77 Phoenixarisen
Is there anyone that you don't dislike?
"think of the presidents of other countries, a pretty ghastly lot"
That's pretty well every other country in the world.
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re: 77
I think 'unwise' is a little too lenient. In order to wreak havoc like Broon has done you either have to be criminally insane or staggeringly inept or both. Or susceptible to hypnotism. And it doesn't help if you populate your cabinet with cabbage-headed buffoons. I think the real controlling force behind the government are the two alien caterpillars that live above Alistair Darling's eyes and exert untold hypnotic power over the PM's pickled brain. Beware everyone... they grow larger and more vicious with every drop of oil they guzzle down!
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"lucky I'm not giving up the day job" : too rght. Today's for journeymen (colourfulness an advantage). Insightful 'users' of the language are thin on the ground. Hurry back.
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#77. Exactly what part of our occupation of Iraq do you actually agree with.
What I ask anybody to do is to consider the German victory over France in WWII. France was occupied, did we support the resistance, yes. Were we right, of course, but in actual fact we were wrong. The legal government of France surrendered and accepted defeat. De Gaul was actually tried in his absence and found guilty of treason.
Iraq was defeated by a superior military force, does that mean they should just accept defeat, no. The people must resist.
We are a force of occupation and all we want is access to the oil. Go back to Churchill and our earlier occupation of Iraq in the twenties/thirties.
We are nothing but a bunch of mercenaries. Look at the privaye contractors operating outside of military law, laws which it has been proven we have broken.
This is what is so sad, we have lost all moral authority, we are the aggressors and we will pay for our misdemeanors.
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79 oldnat
That's right. I don't discriminate - don't like any of them!
80 power_to_the_ppl
You are spot on, I thought Darling wasn't just a pretty face.
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#83 Phoenixarisen
I take it then that you also dislike Lizzie and her dreadful family.
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Re #70 T A Griffin (TAG)
"I personally despair of Gordon Brown .... He lacks any legitimacy. This is not good enough!"
So do I, but I despair even more of the electorate's putting up with our arcane quasi-democratic system of putting such idiots into power. Collectively, we have the memory retention of mayflies.
Brown has no democratic legitimacy, but neither have many previous PMs of all parties. Douglas-Home was the last in 1963. But so what? We only get to choose the individual MPs and have only had party allegiance shown on the ballot papers in the last few decades. The party with a majority of MPs gets to choose the PM. Labour won the last election with the support of 35% of the votes and less than 25% of the electorate, yet our system gives them 100% of the power.
That much is common knowledge, but I wonder how many know that no political party has had a majority of the votes since the Tories in 1931, and surprisingly they kept the Labour ex-leader, MacDonald, as figurehead with his 13 National Labour MPs who between them got 1.5% of the vote. The last time a political party had a majority of the votes (50.3%) and formed a government was in the general election of 1900 won by the Tories. Even that wasn't democratic of course as no women could vote and not even all men over 21.
Of course all governments since WW2 say the system makes for "strong" government, but to paraphrase Ms Rice-Davies: Well, they would, wouldn't they? Personally, I don't want strong government but good, honest and accountable government. After three doses of New Labour, I don't think I'm alone, but four doses of the Tories between '79 and '97 ended much the same way.
Next time, the electorate will probably have a significant plurality for the Tories and so the political game of winner-takes-all between the two biggest parties will continue until the Tories run out of steam, have too many MPs caught in the wrong beds, and give the next reincarnation of SuperNew Labour Buggins' turn.
There is just a remote possibility that Labour are so damaged that they will be finished as a major party and the LibDems with their belief in democracy will get the Buggins' turn when the next Tory government eventually replay the later Major years. Unfortunately, in the meantime the Scots and likely the Welsh will jump ship and break the union, leaving England alone in the EU with a parliamentary system Cromwell would have been at home in.
If the electorate would think about system for once instead of the red-top headlines, they would vote for democracy and possibly take a democratic federal UK into another 300 years of union. I'm not hopeful that they will.
PS: If anyone recalls the date or the name of the act that allowed parties on ballot paper, please post it.
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Oh dear ! I signed up to this blog a few months back to read political comments on a range of topics. Sad that it turns out to be full of people who dont have political views, they just suffer from a range of prejudices disguised as views. Seems like I need to rethink the whole business of posting comments.
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Re #80 power_to_the_ppl
Yes, but how did you enjoy the play, Mrs Lincoln?
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82 Tag
I'm not a professional military man, so will probably sound naive. I seem to recall that a dictator, Sadam, was terrorising the citizens of Iraq who were not of the same sect as he was. The Kurds, in particular were cruelly slaughtered, gassed and subjected to absolute misery. Countries, including Kuwait and Israel were attacked by Sadam's rockets in the war of the 1990s, and the situation was very volatile. Many Iraqis are pleased our forces are there, whilst others who supported Sadam are not. A lot of Iraqis have sought sanctuary in the UK, so we can't be all bad.
Now is not the twenties nor the thirties, but mercenaries exist on all sides. Like jackals smelling blood, war brings out the human opportunists, but I emphasise this is not restricted to any one side, or any one nation.
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May be mice for you and audience that N. Robinson appears on Today.
But I thought you were a political commentator, Nick.
You aren't the story.
Did you really think that nothing in the political sphere was more worthy of a blog than the fact you got up early and made a gaffe?
Possibly one of the politicians dragged onto to (or rushing to get onto) Today will make a gaffe, which you will then include in a blog.
Maybe you'll be a bit more sympathetic. And that's the problem...
If the politicos (or journalists) can't function early - they simply shouldn't bother to get up! Plenty of people have to be in "work mode" at 0500. Their customers din't give a damn if they are in the mood/with it or not!
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U11714077 wrrote:
"Pathetic but illuminating",
Bulbs do, tho', don't they, like, illuminate.
In rresponse to the debate on light burbs changing tactics, whereby the divergent, but Brownian (motion) solutions of the first rpoblem, with regards to the letter "r, diverted once again and wnet towards a more political courrse towarrds the second.
C.
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re: 87
Aren't you a grump! Where's your sense of humour? You ought to relax, politics doesn't have to be Gordon Brown style you know, getting bogged down in all that detail...
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#88 Phoenixarisen
War is a political, not just a military process. Let's not revisit all the Iraq war origins argument, but if we were going to invade every country with a bad leader who encouraged terrorism, we'd have invaded Reagan's America.
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re: 90
That makes about as much sense as anything Brown comes out with at PMQs. Maybe a bit more actually.
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Re #91 power_to_the_ppl
I don't quite follow you. My #87 was intended as a lighthearted dig at your #80 which struck me as a pure catalogue of woe without any ideas on how to ameliorate it.
Yes, a lot of us feel like that about this government and many of its predecessors, but having had a moan I usually try to make a positive contribution to the debate.
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power_to_the_ppl,
"That makes about as much sense as anything Brown comes out with at PMQs. Maybe a bit more actually."
It's not supposed to make sense, remember politics is like quantum theory, it defies logic, untill you study it upside down, with one leg up in the air. Anyway, I thought the rule was "comments" only aimed at the blogger, aka, Nick? So, power_to_the_ppl, person, are we now having a blogging comment "conversation" or what?
Lets at least declare the letter "r" is now (sort of) famous. It just got in the way.
c.
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#92 oldnat
Reagan was awful in many. many ways, but there was a childishly idealistic streak about him that I always found rather endearing.
You know that he had a dream, that the cold war could have ended simply by flying Brezhnev over some American suburbs, and together, they would knock on a random door, and talk to a normal American family about their life? The idea was that when Brezhnev realised how happy and content the family was under capitalism, he would embrace American economics and values, and that would bring the entire conflict to an end.
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regan ended the cold war because his military expenditure bankrupted the Soviets who just couldnt keep up.
For all his other faults, he should be remembered for ending the cold war peacefully.
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#88.
You are of course absolutely correct in your analysis. However, for as long as we have a world with countries and borders then I think you will agree that regime change is illegal. So is a war of aggression.
Iraq was not a threat to us, what I would say is that the problem was that the west was made to look impotent. Fance and Germany had substantial investment in Iraq, look at oil for food programme and wonder if there was any corruption.
We now know that Bush offered Blair a get out which he declined, for what reqason we do not know or understand. Surely he would have spoken to Brown or did Brown do one of his now famous Pimpernel acts, they seek him here they seek him there but that elusive Brown could not not be found. That is one of the major issues that I have with him, I personally think that Brown is well, gutless.
Our soldiers have been let down, not only by the politicians but also by their senior officers who seriously should have refused orders. The soldiers signed up to fight for their Queen and Country, not on behalf of a disastrous American foreign policy.
There must be an inquiry immediately. The inquiry into Bloody Sunday has still not reported but that should not be allowed to be used as an excuse for not holding an inquiry into the disaster in Iraq. I think you will find that this government has even had to change Military Law so that soldiers can no longer refuse to accept oders from officers of a different country to our own, I may be wrong but I don't think that I am.
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TAG, you're probably wrong, they've always been able to take orders from officers above them in the chain of command, be they UK service personel or foreign. Unless you think NATO is only populated by British types.
Anyone see that women arrested under the Terrorism act for having the nerve to bring her disabled child back into the country? And yes I know they thought it was for child trafficking (which I think should be applauded - at least they're semi-awake) but why use the terrorism act?
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re: 94
Apologies Brownedov, I thought you were moaning at me.
re: 95
I was under the impression that 'conversations' on here are perfectly acceptable, as long as its loosely related to the topic.
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re: 99
Remember when Labour had the heckler Walter Wolfgang arrested under terrorism legislation? I think that tells you everything you need to know about Labour. Things can only get better my bottom!
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#99
They have always been able to take orders but they did not have to, that is the difference.
May I suggest that you investigate the role of the Australian SAS who have been operating in Iraq. They have to have an American with them so that they can say that the American has arrested or detained any prisoners because under Australian rules the 'prisoner' has to be followed throughout their period of arrest or detention to make sure that nothing illegal is done to the prisoner, for example something akin to torture like waterboarding.
As for the the woman reported on the Today programme being detained under the terrorism act, is this not proof of many of my comments relating to some of our freedoms being eroded. What sort of country have we become. No criticism of the armed forces allowed, national security being compromised and did anybody else not hear the appalling Balls comments to Parliament, blah blah blah don't want to compromise any future proceedings blah blah blah an absolute disgrace to the role of a supposed minister of state.
The other issue you may want to keep an eye on is the Abbott amendment to the Abortion laws extending them to Northern Ireland, let's see the DUP reaction to that one. Wonder what will happen to the 42 days detention.
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Don't feel too bad about your faux pas, Nick. When I was 11 my physics teacher read out to the entire class my essay on the optics of the human eye with many lovingly-crafted paragraphs on how light was focused on the rectum. I hasten to add that ever since then the difference between 'retina' and 'rectum' has been stamped on my consciousness, and I still blush at the word 'retina'!
Back to the day job, though, and the story of Gordon Brown and the glued protestor.
From your perspective, Nick, how inept is the No 10 machine? Here is the PM hosting an awards ceremony in which he will, at No 10 and with photographers in attendance, give awards to known and celebrated protestors against government policies. Could this sort of thing not have been predicted? Are they slow-witted, incompetent or simply arrogant enough to think 'it won't happen to Gordon' - or all three?
The level of PR incompetence from within No 10 seems breathtaking! I hold no brief for, or liking for, Labour but the sheer number of PR gaffes makes even me feel a tad sorry for Gordon...well, for a bit anyway.
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#102 TAG
I hadn't noticed the NI abortion thing.
I've often wondered whether any decent research has been done on the effects of having different abortion law in NI, compared to the mainland.
Do any of you know of any? I'd appreciate the reference.
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TAG - you have some issues, unfortuantely I cant think of a way of helping you without suggesting a recourse to finding a girlffriend ;)
In regards to mispronunciations/typo's
Try and 500 page Transport Assessment with Pubic Transport riddled all the way through it.
oops
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67 powertotheppl, You said.
"I think your suggestion of a lie down grandantidote is the only sensible thing you've ever said. *Yawn* I think I'll go for a nap, "
Well your partly right I did think that it might shut you up, but I was wrong you didn't get nearly enough sleep 2and 3/4 hours was not nearly enough to bring you to your senses, 78/ I think proves that, I think you should enlarge on you first paragraph if you want it taken seriously, of course your second paragraph doesn't help that cause much either.
By the time you got to writing 80/ I think you really were becoming quite manic, I dont think that I have ever read on these blogs such a tirade of uncalled for insults against HMs government. other than TAG and I'm not allowed to say what I think of him.You may not be happy with the labour party and thats your entitlement but your remarks implicate those that dont have the same view as you to the extent that you are insuling our view.
I would add that although I have no love for either Cameron or Osbourne or most of the Tory party I might make a remark EG Dangerous dave or Grinning gideon, but your sort of abuse to my mind goes well beyond the pale. Which is a pity as there are times when you seem to be in control, you must try not to get so excited.
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76 carrotsneed quangoes, mildly funny. not as good as a joke as the petrol one, not quite as offensive though.
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I must be sad. I think this blog is fantastic!
Unfortunately work and other commitments result in my being an infrequent visitor, but when I do have time I confess to thoroughly enjoying the exchanges between the regular contributors.
I think Nick is missing a trick. He should move to performance related pay and be recompensed based on the number of contributions. Even an inane topic such as an inserted 'R' leads to debates on subjects as diverse as the legality of various conflicts and the democratic legitimacy of Goverment.
Power to the people!
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re: 106
grandantidote my little chicken, you're making the classic mistake of confusing abuse and healthy disrespect. For instance, if I say that Nu-Labour have been gasping and flopping around like a fish in the bottom of the boat for this past year and that now they've stopped flopping, their eyes have glazed over and they're starting to stink, I think the majority of the population would agree with me that not only is it true, but that it is hardly 'abuse'. And by the way, during my nap I had a terrifying nightmare about Darling's eyebrows so they were fresh in my mind, which is why I brought them to the attention of us politically-minded pundits of the messageboard.
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re: 108
Woo! I'll drink to that!
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108 fredalo
It is certainly some lively exchanges on this thread ...... perhaps everyone will calm down a bit once they've got their SATS results.
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It's a bit off subject but I am sure Today covered it extensively.
Anyone know if there is any truth in the rumour that Karadjic was identified when someone noticed that his reindeer did not have a very shiny nose?
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109 ppl still over the top old chap. amusing as the eyebrow story is, your remarks were beyond what I think is acceptable.
As for being your little chicken you would have your work cut out eating me as this duck, not chicken is over six foot and over twenty stone, [see other blog]
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112
He'd have been much safer if he'd been in this country.
He could have been CRB cleared to work in a grotto in a department store, given a council flat and the Human Rights Brigade would have prevented his extradition.
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Find myself agreeing with #66. It might be the sunshine. Perhaps a hung paliament with the Lib Dems in to temper Cameron's backbenchers might be the best result for 2010.
GB reminds me of Jim Callaghan - a man who followed a master of spin, but whose time came too late. Glasgow East might make me think differently IF Labour can hang on.
As for Nick on Today - very good indeed. Is there going to be a re-shuffle?
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#115 - peteholly
Where does this idea of an election in 2010 come from? Since this lot tear up rules with impunity, move goal posts all over the place and keep the off-side rule under constant revue, what's stopping them asking for extra time and a penalty shoot out to prolong the agony?
Anyway, by that time, they will have found out so much about us in the interests of national security that you won't need an election because they will already be inside our heads.
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109 ppl I have replied to your post but for some totally unknown reason its awaiting moderation. if the've held my post back and believe me its very mild as you may find out and yet your post 80 got through unscathed.
It's also about time they took a look at TAG he advocates practically every thing that is alien to this country and yet when I called Maggies son an idiot last week my post was referred to the moderaters who afterwards saw sense and returned it.
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re: 116
Who knows, we may NEVER have another election. By 2010 Britain could be a wasteland: blood-red skies and burning buildings as far as the eye can see...
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Nick
There are plenty of people out here who get medical terms wrong.
A lady I used to know told me once that her father died of "tubergloshes". For ages I was at a loss to understand what she meant until my daughter-in-law (who is a nurse) told me it was probably tuberculosis.
Have a nice day.
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#118 . . . and benefits claimants rummaging around in the rubble picking up litter?
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re: 117
Yeah I wondered why it was held back, I thought it was because you'd lost your temper or something. I'll reply when it gets through, should it be worthy of one ;)
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re: 120
No, that'll be the few surviving Labour MPs when they've emerged from their gold-plated Westminster bunker. The benefits claimants would've been seized and eaten by them a long time ago when the world's harvests failed from all the chemicals dumped into the atmosphere.
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power-to-the-ppl
....and I thought Mr Darling's eyebrows were holding his brain together.
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re: 123
Well yeah that's one of their functions, but when he's working out the budget he isn't using his brain so they're free to climb off, roam around... and feed. They return once he has to talk to the media or if he needs to work out a difficult problem, like what he's having for his tea or where he's parked the car.
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#123 shellingout
Wonder if they are organic?
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Just how fed up must this guy be to try to glue himself to the PM.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7520401.stm
Tis the ultimate in self sacrifice.
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Sadly it didn’t work.
But I doubt there will be any Teflon jokes about Brown.
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#126 - CarrotsneedaQUANGO2
Thank God it wasn't the Queen. Talk about sticking to the subject.
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re: 126
My heart goes out to him, the poor soul! (Not the PM). That's an act of madness on par with the ID cards proposal and getting rid of ie. doubling the 10p tax band! The horror... the horror...
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118 ppl You've been watching Terminator too often just relax it's only a film, but the Labour party are like Arnold, they'll be back! and probably before the next election, Dave can't keep being this lucky and Gordon can't keep being this unlucky.
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#128 threnodio
Best quip yet!
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re: 130
Ahh that's funny, I've never heard the Labour party compared to Arnie before, though I could easily believe their MPs are alien cyborgs bent on total destruction of the UK! Argh, the carnage! But to be serious for a moment I certainly wouldn't put Gordo's failures down to bad luck, I think it's more to do with the fact that his policies are non gratum anus rodentum.
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GA.
...but the Labour party are like Arnold, they'll be back!
Let's wait and see what happens in Glasgow East before jumping the gun, shall we.
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125.
Organic What?
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134
The Terminator reference is quite accurate. Both Gordon Brown and the Terminator give wooden robot like performances, with similar monotonic drones and they have similar clunking fist styles of going about their business, and both their thinking essentially emanates from another time period.
Both of them are also ruthlessly single minded in pursuit of their goals, oblivious to the impassioned pleas of people yelling "please stop".
There are differences obviously, the Terminator did shoot people in the course of his work, Gordon only managed to shoot himself in the foot - well both feet actually. And the Terminator did manage to re-invent himself as one of the good guys for the sequel - I don't think that this is going to happen to Gordon Brown.
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The Terminator is now, of course, Governor of California. The only California we have in the UK is in Norfolk and I do believe there might be a Sub-Postmaster's job in the offing, although there might be a little too much emphasis on balancing the books for Gordon.
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re: 135
Lol well done! Hopefully the Glasgow East byelection will finish him off just like that hydraulic thingy. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, Brown will return to Scotland and all will be well!
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re: 136
You know, I think ol' Gordy would make an excellent lighthouse-keeper.
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136
I think the Post Office you mentioned has just been closed as part of the governments policy .
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Oh my god.
A seemingly unstoppable cyborg that has been sent back in time by a group of machines hell bent on the extermination of the human race.
The Terminator feels no pain, has no emotion, empathy and will stop at nothing to accomplish its mission.
With its disguise of real living tissue over metal, it is indistinguishable from normal humans,
Its him. Hes back.
Be warned
When you think it has been utterly destroyed, the bare metal endoskeleton is still fully functional and pursues you through to the next election.
Arrrggghhhhhhhhh.
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#140 Carrots etc
Oh come on! Cameron's not THAT bad.
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Since we're on the subject of film/politics parallels, how can I not mention Last Quango In Paris?
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Perhaps in the future, a post 2010 New Labour government has done something unspeakable. So a Terminator in the guise of Gordon Brown is sent back in time to prevent the Labour party being re-elected. He does this by taking over from a more sophisticated android a polymorphic shapeshifter called Tony Blair.
Once his mission is complete, his is then programmed to work in a post office, only to find in a cruel twist of fate that his own policies have closed the post office he was to work in, and his future has been destroyed.
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142
I like the Terminator analogy. I can actually picture Gordon Brown in a leather jacket and sun glasses, shooting himself in foot with a shotgun.
Hasta la Vista Baby! - as they say in Crewe and Nantwich.
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142. power_to_the_ppl
You mean the last 1162 Quangos in London.
The high budget production with over 700,000 cast, costing over 100 billion that totally failed to impress a totally stunned audience.
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He could star in "On Her Majestys Revenue and Customs Secret Service"
My name is Brown, Gordon Brown - shaken not stirred.
Or in "Ed-ThunderBalls".
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Or perhaps "EU only live twice".
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Yes, I agree with everybody else....in general, for a 'sprog' presenter -instead of 'analyser', Nick Robinson was ok.
The only giveaway was his hesitant, nervous re-action when on one occasion, the expected interviewee was not there -on the other end of the line.
After quite a comprehensive intro' to the piece to be covered, it was all the more galling for him to find there was no one there to talk to. He didn't splutter, but he did show his inexperience at dealing with such hiccups.
No doubt there will be more occasions in the future where 'missing persons' are presented to him on a dodgy line, and it will polish him up so that he will brush it aside, nonchalantly, just as 'Humph' does (ooh, sacrilege). I mean Humphrys of course.
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re: 143
Lol I'd definitely pay to watch that at the cinema. Hang on I can watch it in real time on BBC News 24.
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Gordon Brown and the Time of Doom.
Gordon Brown, Raider of the lost pension funds.
Gordon Brown. The Last Crusade.
The End
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2010: A Waste Odyssey
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Let's get onto novels - Gone With The Wind, or For Whom the Bell Tolls .......
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Advert for eyebrows like Darling.....
YOU ARE WORTH IT!
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re: 152
How about 'Things Fall Apart'
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#153
I was going to suggest Grecian 2000.
Hate that grey? Wash it away.
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Gordoin could always be a magician, with Darling as his able assistant. They're very good at making thing disappear.
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@137 power...
Now that's just plain cruel! There are real human beings here, you know.
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re: 156
Shame he can't make himself disappear, along with all those bloodsucking quangos! There'll come a time in the not too distant future when Darling won't take the blame any more and he'll saw Brown in half for real, unless he's truly loyal to the Labour machine, which I very much doubt. The only thing our MPs are loyal to is the pound sterling.
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can I go to bed now.....?
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With all this talk of film titles, Brown could star in a remake of
I Am Curious (Yellow)
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How about Brown, Balls, Milliband (E) and Darling starring in:
The Four Taxmen of the Apocalypse
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re: 157
Lol sorry Argyll Jenny! But we'd have to send him somewhere... I know, we could build a giant catapult like in the Simpsons, spin it around, fire him off and whichever country he lands in has to keep him!
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Desperately seeking prudence
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Re #163 CarrotsneedaQUANGO2
Definitely a contender for the Razzies - my favourite so far.
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Swindler's List
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130:
Wanna bet?
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Das Boot
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There was actually a movie called 'Darling' with Julie Christie but, given the plan to get out of Iraq but stay in Afghanistan, I am going for 'Carry on up the Khyber'
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Or "Jonny Gibb o' Gushetneuks"? (and only ancient Aberdonians like me will understand THAT reference)!
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Drop Dead Darling (needs no alteration lol)
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Dr. No Dosh (1962)
From Russia With Polonium Poisoning What ya gona do about it? (1963)
Goldfinger is about all we have left (1964)
Thunderballs So What (1965)
You Only Live Until The Next Election (1967)
On Her Majesty's Tax, Waste and Squander Service (1969)
Diamonds Are Forever but your gold has gone (1971)
Live and Let Everyone In (1973)
The Man with the Golden Smile has gone and left Mr Bean in charge.(1974)
The Spy Who Wrote The Doggy Dossier (1977)
Moonrake and Squander (1979)
For Your Eyes and Our CCTV Cameras Only (1981)
Octopussy will certainly not be in charge during my holiday (1983)
A View to a Killing at the Pumps (1985)
The Living Daylights wont beat a true statistic outa me(1987)
Licence to Kill Foxes Revoked (1989)
GoldenEye Can Not See My Expenses (1995)
Tomorrow Never Dies, Today Never Ends, Oh god roll on the election (1997)
The World is Not Enough for Tony (1999)
Die Another Day I need you alive and paying taxes (2002)
Super Casino Royale (2006)
Im off to bed.
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The Brown and the Fury
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Gord of the PFIs
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#169 - oldnat
What a shame you didn't press the wrong button and post that to Justin's blog. I would have loved watching you explaining "Jonny Gibb o' Gushetneuks" to MA2 and Xie-Ming.
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#174 threnodio
I'd have difficulty explaining it to anyone north of Nairn, or south of Dundee either!
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How many light bulbs do you need to change a politician?
500,000 energy saving light bulbs but then again they do most things in the dark anyway.
How can a blog about the over use of a letter "r" create 176 comments?
The latest news just in from government is the declaring of all "r"s bankupt in the use of language as of now. They say what Nick has done has ceated a new method of saving enegy.
It's idiculous.
Appaently, it's all to do with enegy saving. By having all wods devoid of the lette " " we ae saving fuel by the tillion. They ae also thinking of taking away many moe lettes in the futue. They say it could be that all news items done by news pesentes will not need lettes o even wods. They will just stand thee on the 6 'o' Clock News saying nothing with a micophone. Accoding to govenment, this will speed up news items to odinay people who will then esot to using mose code to communicate. People will use light bulbs for the dot dash method.
c.
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#117.
Exactly what do you mean that 'they' had better have a look a look at TAG ie me.
Who exactly are they that you refer to. You ought to see the comments of mine which are moderated out. You do not have a clue.
What I would ask anybody to do is to try to find out what injunctions have been taken out this year by the MoD and their lawyers.
Not only against any individual but also against the media for reporting on some, let us say, interesting cases involving the wonderful, totally beyond any criticism, best in the world, Special Forces.
Now surely this cannot be moderated out, or can it!
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130 grandantidote
"Dave can't keep being this lucky and Gordon can't keep being this unlucky."
Don't you believe it. You make your own luck. Brown is only creative with the figures and not with his policies, such as they are.
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Gordon Gump
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To return to the original "Oops", I understand Nick is to be awarded a peerage for help towards raising the targets of the NHS. There have been no fatalities from PROSTRATE CANCER , thus pushing the UK into the top league for medical success in this particular field.
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180:
I was about to say something similar before you preempted me. I don't subscribe to the statement that Gordon Brown's fortunes are merely down to ill luck and in my view they will not change for the better in the foreseeable future. I feel that they are down toa combination of bad judgement, poor decision making and and a dubious approach to a myriad of constant pressures. I tend to agree with an article in todays Press that on the Foreign Policy front he is relatively much more successful in spite of a few notable gaffes i.e. turning up late to sign a EU Treaty and staging a trip to Iraq during The Tory Party Conference to cynically deflect the attention of the voting General Public away from The Opposition.
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180:
I was about to say something similar before you preempted me. I don't subscribe to the statement that Gordon Brown's fortunes are merely down to ill luck and in my view they will not change for the better in the foreseeable future. I feel that they are down to a combination of bad judgement, poor decision making and and a dubious approach to a myriad of constant pressures. I tend to agree with an article in todays Press that on the Foreign Policy front he is relatively much more successful in spite of a few notable gaffes i.e. turning up late to sign a EU Treaty and staging a trip to Iraq during The Tory Party Conference to cynically deflect the attention of the voting General Public away from The Opposition.
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178 mikepko,And what policies does Cameron have to be lucky or not about.
Its nice to see that sanity has been restored to at least one Tory or [I'm not a Tory boy] the Tory lads seem to have had a manic afternoon and evening and I thought it was only ppl that was a oddball but it is as I feared all you Tories have the same problem unable to cope with the real world so lets slag Gordon that will make us look intelligent,Not.
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Oh, come on GA - it was only a bit of fun. Where's your sense of humour?
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Anyone know any socialist Jokes to cheer him up?
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re: 180
That's an excellent example of Nu Lie-Bore thinking. Have you ever thought of going undercover in Labour HQ? Then again, it could be tricky to keep your cool with all those champagne socialists. Into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell...
re: 183
Why thank you grandantidote, I'm flattered. But there you go again, just because nobody likes Brown doesn't necessarily mean that they suckle from the Tory teat. It's primarily because Brown lacks everything a leader requires to do his job, and took over from Bliar because of a dodgy deal done years ago. Oh and it might also have something to do with there being no money and no plan, unless you count flapping around like a wet hen a plan.
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177. T A Griffin (TAG)
This will cheer you up
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7520371.stm
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183 GA
Don't need to slag off Gordon - he does it himself by his actions.
And we all know that actions speak louder than words!!!
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I thought we had made it onto Novels to describe the government.
How come no one mentioned 1984.
Is it perhaps that they did but their comments have been changed into something more positive by Winston Smith
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power-to-the-ppl
I thought "Muddling Through" was their plan!
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185 Carrots need quangoes I thought they were all anti socialist jokes a few anti conservative jokes might be amusing except that there isn't anything remotely funny about the Tories, yes I have found some of the posts funny and I am able to laugh at joke aimed at me and the Labour party, but unfortunately there not always meant to be funny just a little nastyness
wrapped up in a supposedly funny joke.
I am generally amused by your sense of humour Carrot and I think I have conveyed that to you, but all the Tory boys are not as funny as they like to believe they are, no names no pack drill.
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Ministries of Oceania
Oceania's four ministries are housed in huge pyramidal structures, each roughly 930 feet high and visible throughout London, displaying the three slogans of the party (see below) on their façades.
Ministry of Peace
Newspeak: Minipax.
Conducts Oceania's perpetual war.
Ministry of Plenty
Newspeak: Miniplenty.
Responsible for rationing and controlling food and goods, along with all production of all domestic goods. The Ministry of Plenty declares false claims to have increased the standard of living every time by a considerable amount, when in fact the ministry counteracts its own claims.
Ministry of Truth
Newspeak: Minitrue.
The propaganda arm of Oceania's regime, controlling information: news, entertainment, education, and the fine arts. Winston Smith works for the Records Department (RecDep) of Minitrue, "rectifying" historical records and newspaper articles to make them conform to Big Brother's most recent pronouncements, thus making everything that the Party says true.
Ministry of Love
Newspeak: Miniluv.
The agency is responsible for the identification, monitoring, arrest and torture of dissidents, real or imagined.
Oh this is all so familier in Browns Britain!
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re: 190
Yep that's true, along with glutting themselves with as much of our tax as humanly possible before 2010.
re: 192
Spot on. Who can say, maybe ol' Gordy will meet the same fate as Winston, crying tears of gin as he's overwhelmed by the horror he has presided over. Also, it's ironic Orwell's real name was Blair, eh?
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178 mikepko,
"Don't you believe it. You make your own luck. Brown is only creative with the figures and not with his policies, such as they are."
And which of these two qualities is Cameron likely to produce in the future
because we havn't seen either yet.
188 Is that supposed to be one of the funny ones? if it is it fails badly.
Must try harder mike.
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re: 194
grandantidote, isn't it time for your weekly Labourholics Anonymous meeting? Remember, the first step is to admit you have a problem ;)
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Another novel to describe the government: Descent Into Hell, by Charles Williams
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Pot_Kettle
1984
You forget the most important point in the book,
The aim of the Inner party is not future paradise for the people but the retention of power,
Which has in fact become an end in itself.
That, rather alarmingly, is now true of them all and is exactly why PMs and ministers should only ever serve a maximum of 2 terms.
Or perhaps better still, as one friend recently put it., one term in government and one in prison.
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@197
I openly laughed at your last line.
Yeah I think its true our democratic system does need reveiwing and the US has it about right 2 four year terms should be a limit.
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197Carrotsneed quangoes Now that last sentence was funny!
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Since it's the Glasgow East byelection today, does anyone care to join me in prophesying the results? I think after his pitiful performance in the parliamentary Big Top this year, P. T. Brownum and his troupe of moronic ministerial minions will lose by a hair's breadth. It'll be an SNP victory, but only just, and Labour will (naturally) play it down as if it didn't matter a jot.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Re #197 CarrotsneedaQUANGO2
LOL but can't see Cameron agreeing to your last proposal.
Didn't George Mikes advocate that anyone wanting to be PM should commit to voluntary euthanasia at the end of one term?
Not that any of them reaching the top of the greasy pole would agree.
I can't find the quote but would be grateful if anyone remembers it. From one of his early books, I think.
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@200
I think that labour will narrowly squeak over the line thanks to the bribe of the new aircraft carriers.
They will go on to say that the 96 vote majority gives them a mandate to cancel the general election in 2010 due to a revue in the democratic process scheduled to last 5 years to be followed by a further reveiw as the first is now out of date
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Never mind about all this jibber jabber.
The governments gone and stolen Camerons Bike.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7523144.stm.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Re #203 Pot_Kettle
Another Tory giving away his best ideas to Labour?
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@206
LOL
If they take that one up I think they will hasten a revolution.
Its about time we had our own Bastille day.
Let them eat cake Gordon?
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#206 - Brownedov
Somebody has to give them ideas. They ran out of their own years ago.
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Re #207 Pot_Kettle
& #208 threnodio
They must be getting their ideas from somewhere.
The Whig/Tory consensus re the revolting French delayed overdue electoral reform for 30+ years. I fear there's a way to go before us revolting peasants try again.
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And there was me thinking they had some kind of policy lottery machine, where they pull a lever and a ball pops out saying 'raise taxes', 'cut spending', 'have a reshuffle' etc. The jackpot for us would be a General Election!
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Enough of this Jibber Jabber
Someones gone and niked Camerons bike
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7523602.stm
I wonder who would do such a thing.
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Now is it me or is he starting to sound a bit like Boris.
Watch very carefully, the bit where he says "id like it back"
Listen to the emphersis on the word back.
Its him I tell you.
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Re #210 power_to_the_ppl
LOL, but I thin the last ball's missing.
Time for a siesta before what could be a long count tonight, and may the best humanoid win.
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I sent an angry email to my MP about three weeks ago and received this stock response this afternoon:
'Welfare Reform
You may have seen that I announced new plans which would see long term jobless helping to improve the local community. The proposals put forward by myself would see people who have been unemployed for two years or those who go on and off of benefits working for their benefits and for the benefit of the local community. I would be grateful for your feedback on the plans.'
It seems quite innocuous at first, but the 'I' and 'myself' are quite telling. Surely it should be 'we' and 'us'? Not to mention that the plans are a bad idea anyway. Something sinister is afoot.
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re: 212
He sounded REMARKABLY like Boris. Well hey if it worked for him, and it helps oust Gordy...!
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214. power_to_the_ppl
You clearly havent seen these new initiatives in action
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7522546.stm
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211 carrots
grandantidote looks a likely suspect. If it is him, I bet he's painted it red already.
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206 browndov,when did a Tory ever have a best idea or even a poor one , we are all waiting with bated breath to hear.
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@214
Isnt your MP Parnell then?
I think it was he who put forward the proposals.
Although the proposals in principle have broad cross party support I do wonder how they will convince anyone that doing community work for benefits is any different to doing community service for criminal activity.
With the two things so closely related I can see an number of lower lifeforms using this as the excuse they need to turn to a life of crime as they will be doing the same community work but will also have their ill gotten gains as pay. Which is higher benefits or procedes of crime?
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re: 213
Brown's only got one ball (lol) and I think that one says 'raise taxes'. Have a nice nap! I think I might go outside and sunbathe for a while. Looking forward to a hearty debate on the byelection results tonight!
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211 carrotsneedquangoes You know very well who nicked his bike it was Gordon,and if it wasn't him it was some Tory sympathiser who took it away for his own safety, he thought that riding the wrong way up one way systems and across red lights might send out the wrong message to his hoodie friends or possibly reflect on the way he might run the country if elected.
I thought for a moment there carrot you said nuked his bike, now that really would have been nasty of Gordon.
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183 grandantidote,
I'm really not that bothered for the moment as to what David Cameron, may or may not do, or what his policies are. He is not in government at the moment and may not be for nearly two years.
I am much more concerned about what is happening NOW and in the immediate future, and much of this is the product of the policies of the past eleven years. When is Gordon Brown going to tell us about his "vision" or the "big picture". I'd be quite pleased if I could even see the "small picture".
The problem as I see it is that Gordon Brown is simply not up to the job, and shows no sign of improving on current situation. Many people such as myself are simply not impressed or enamoured with the way that our country is being run, and have not been for some time. Gordon Brown, unlike David Cameron, is actually in a position to change things and make things happen NOW. I'm much more interested in how HE is going to improve things. Unfortunately for him, much of the spiteful, pettiness and double standards from the authorities that blights people lives these days was introduced by his government, so I'm not overly hopeful that they will change.
How can anyone talk of a "moral compass" when his government seems to have no moral basis and so few core values ie integrity, responsibility, accountability, respect, fairness, empathy, honesty etc etc ........
I forget who said that "politicians are like childrens nappies, they need changing regularly and for exactly the same reason."
But they are correct in this instance, it is time for a change.
mY area actually has a very good Labour MP, who has done a lot of good work for the area, and for me personally, helping me with problems with the CSA. But how can I vote for her in a general election, if it also means a vote for Gordon Brown? He would take it as an endorsement for more of the same. This is a real problem for many Labour MPs, and is something that they acutely aware of. Do any Labour MPs really, genuinely, deep down think that people will vote for Gordon Brown to be PM again ? I'm not convinced that Gordon Brown will actually be the Labour leader at the next election.
I may have been slanging him off in my earlier posts, but I think I have every right to.
Gordon Brown, the floor is yours, tell us what YOU are going to do.
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220 power
think I'll join you outside. Sadly varnishing the windows!!!!
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217 mikepko now thats funny!
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re: 218
grandantidote he's keeping quiet because Labour will filch them and then lie about it. They've done it before and will do it again if they get the chance, and anyway he has no need to until the General Election.
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ppl Idid send you a post but it was removed I dont know why it only refered to your prolific post and having a bad tummy, nothing wrong it that is there?
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224 grandantidote.
Glad you think so.
On a more serious note, what would you do now to put the country back on its feet. We all know about world conditions, but would you as Labour do?
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218. grandantidote
This was a pretty good idea to be fair and one that labour should have really tackled 10 years ago.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7521089.stm
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re: 219
Yeah my MP is Purnell and yeah it was him, but it still seems distasteful and self-aggrandising to word it like that. (BTW he's been heard plotting to overthrow Brown, this was a few months ago though). You'd think he'd want to make it seem like a victory for the party rather than him alone. Anyway (one of) my main problem(s) with it is that nothing has been said about the people who are paid to do this already. And after 2 years unemployment? That's quitea long time. Does anyone know what percentage of people remain unemployed for over 2 years? I'm guessing it's not a large amount (presume for a sec that the stats are real, even though they're not). So it seems to me to be more smoke and mirrors really, giving the impression of doing something whilst really not doing a lot at all. I don't know! It must take more effort to come up with these dodgy schemes than to govern honestly. And another point, didn't Labour want to make criminals doing community service wear brightly-coloured overalls to 'humiliate them'? How does that fit in? Will the people forced to do manual la--- I mean community service be exempt from this? Do we have any details at all?
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re: 226
Don't worry, I saw it before Aunty Beeb removed it. My response: :p
Right lol I'm definitely off outside for a bit now. Ciao!
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Stop Press
DC's bike spotted on a ministerial bike rack on a ministerial car leaving Downing Street and heading for Suffolk.
GB was heard chortling away in the back mumbling something about "borrowing Boris's as his moral duty lead him to holiday abroad"
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@229
I recall you relating how a local punter accosted him in a public house,
Do you think he had asked said assaulter what he thought of the plans to make him work in the community instead of propping up the Wetherspoons economy?
Seems very likely given the current circumstances.
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@ 229
I think Purnell would has been whispering he would throw his weight behind DM when it comes to it. Not that Gord will leave willingly, even if tonight goes badly.
Looking forward to the results. This, people, is my Coronation St. And DC is obviously Bett Lynch.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
What exactly is NewLabour doing about the crisis in this country?
People vote for decisive and flexible governments not indecisive and stubborn ones.
The 10p tax, will he, won't he, farce was just a small example of how badly we are governed.
The tough on slackers, tough on the causes of slackers intitiative will be the same. It'll be amended and rewritten until the whole of the workshy benefits claiming NewLabour voting idlers have their way and work out new ways to stay in bed. NewLabour may have met their nemesis amongst their own ranks in James Purnell but he won't survive. Put all those voters back to work when they could be multiply dependant? What a silly idea. Just ask them nicely to eat their leftovers.
As for the tories not doing anything? Huh? We have a channel tunnel, a high speed rail link, we produce more cars in the UK than anyone else in Europe thanks to deals done with Nissan, Toyota and BMW. They built power stations so we have energy; they built more roads than we've ever had before; they made British Steel into a successful company again with a tenth of the staff and ten times the output. They shut down the unproductive mines and beat the miners. I'm sorry but we don't live in France where there are strikes and blockades everyday but we soon will be if we go back to old Labour ways.
There are more tory achievements than grandantidote can shake a stick at. But most of all we weren't nannied, we weren't molly coddled, spied upon, invaded by immigrants, taken into wars on bogus evidence or had our money spent on wasteful spin doctors and advisors. We weren't given reannouncement after reannouncement. We were free and there were no steath taxes or people looking for every chance to tax us some more. And the NHS was a fine institution characterised by centres of clinical excellence doing an excellent job, not a beaten up and over reviewed, superbug ridden and demoralised mess that it is now.
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I think the moderator has dozed off again :-)
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Since my post 234 is unlikely to make it past the moderators again I'll just include the second part:
re: 233
Nah, I'd say David Cameron's like Mike Baldwin and Gordon Broon's like Ken Barlow, hehe.
re: 235
That's pretty much correct, but you forget to say that the whole idea of the Labour party was originally founded on class envy, ie. if we can't be rich we'll make everybody poor.
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222 U11714971 ,You see where you and I differ is that I am very satisfied with what the labour party has done for this country in the last ten years now you may feel different about that but its obvious to me and probably to you that we are not going to convince one and other that our views are the right ones, you see what was it six or seven months ago, GB was ahead in the polls a rare event after ten years in power,in the last lets say ten months his poll rating has gone down dramatically.
My opinion and the opinion of millions of others is that he's had some bad luck, admittedly some of his own making, imagine for a moment that there was no recession, food prices were at a very reasonable level previous to this recession, say that the oil producers had not suddenly gone crazy and demanding ridiculous prices for oil then the fuel situation would be exactly as it was, now I am quite sure that you would agree that these two things have had a massive effect on the popularity of the Labour government unjustly of course. You try telling the Tory media that or the Tory party they are counting their blessings,they are daily pouring out bad press to the populace much of it unfounded
Now, I am not attempting in any way to say that thats all the problems that Labour have but thats the rotten apple in the barrel
OK we know that GB made a mistake with the 10p tax which he admitted to.
Then we get he didn't give us a referendum, in my opinion and many others including some leading Tory MPs he didn't have to, so much was made of that.
Then he turned up two hours late to sign the treaty, he was as I watched sitting before a select committee for two hours on a previousy arranged meeting, David Milliband our foriegn secretary had gone ahead as a sign of respect followed by GB two hour later to sign the treaty the members who had signed the treaty earlier greeted him warmly and accepted the reason that he was late,you would imagine that that would have been the end of the matter but no, the same people who were criticising him for signing the treaty were also criticising him for being late to sign it, again the Tory machine went into action headline news.
Dont you know that had he of gone, been there on time to sign the headlines would have read GB ignores the select committee to go to EU, he puts the EU before the British parliament, so he stayed and did his duty here so the Tory cry went out he's ignored twenty six nations because he was afraid to be seen signing with the others.
He has been critcised greatly over the Northern Rock colapse or as the Tories love to call it purely for political reasons the fiasco. there was no fiasco involved the bank was going under people were queing in the streets to get their money out those of us who have lived long enough to know, will know. that it was a catastrophy in the making the PM and chancellor decided to step in to save the bank knowing that if they didn't there would be a economical dis aster at first Cameron went along with the idea until he saw that they could gain a little political capital out of this, never mind the shareholders or the employees lets knock Labour lets tell people that it going to cost every tax payer in the country £2,000 and that labour were making a terrible mess of it whereas in truth labour were trying to get the best deal for Northern Rock and a fair return on the cash they had laid out they didn't rush to sell it to the first buyer that came along they waited to see what offers were on the table when there was nothing suitable they said right we'll nationalise it. now the company is doing quite well in the current crisis and is repaying the cash at a very good rate, had we of followed Camerons advice we would have sold it at a great loss to the country. but is that the way the Tory press and media saw it, no. Being cautious and not rushing into a bad sale was dithering nationalising was a step backward but they were wrong again and the bank is doing well and a disaster was avoided but does the labour party get credit for it no the tory press and the Tories pump out there lies and unfortunately owing to the constant erroneous bad press that they pump out the public are beginning to beleive them.
Must finnish although I have much I would like to say but I will say this Gordon Brown is a good man he is seen daily getting on with the job he is not fazed by the Tory spin machine he doesn't rise to the childish rants of Cameron and he has my full support,
No questions you have my opinion you can like it lump it or criticise or ridicule it but there you have it.
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#235 RobinJD
How very well put.
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Re #218 grandantidote
"when did a Tory ever have a best idea or even a poor one"
I'm not clear whether you're suggesting that Pot_Kettle's #203 is a good idea, but I'll charitably hope not.
Cetainly the current welfare proposals rely heavily on the recent Tory ones. They're basically good ideas, but the devil will be in the details and neither Tories nor NuLabour seem to want to reduce the number of bodies administering it.
Also, as I have said on another thread, Peter Lilley's pension reform proposals near the end of the Major govt were a very good idea and should have commanded all-party support.
Agreed on not too many brilliant ones lately, though, but then NuLabour haven't had a really good one since devolution - shame they didn't finish the job in England.
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GA.
It wasn't Labour's money they "laid out" as you put it, to save Northern Rock, it was taxpayer's money. The Government don't have any money - it's our money, and they are supposed to be able to manage it efficiently.
As I've said before, if GB had put a stop to the greed of the banks, Northern Rock would not have gone belly up. He had the power to do this, but he chose to sit back and collect the stamp duty instead!
I have been a voter for a number of years and I cannot ever remember a bank having to go cap in hand to the government to bail them out.
GB is now reaping what he has sown.
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re: 238
Much was made of Brown refusing to give us a referendum because he PROMISED to, and the only reason he didn't is because he knew what the answer would be already, ie. NO. But nevertheless he went ahead and did it anyway. How exactly is that being democratic? If he had shown through other acts that he was a strong leader it wouldn't be so bad as it would've at least looked like he was taking an unpopular decision for the greater good, but as it is, it looks like and without doubt proves that he's just doing whatever the heck he wants to without any sort of plan or any respect for the people he's supposed to be governing. He talks incessantly about his vision for Britain, which judging from his actions involves selling us out to Brussels, spying on us, nannying us, forcing us to do community service, infuriating us with endless amounts of bureaucracy, (it took me over 20 mins to make a doctor's appt. because they wanted to know all kinds of nonsense, whatever happened to 'OK there's a slot at 10-30, cya then, eh?), messing up the SATS by contracting it to an American company (erm why?), setting up over a thousand quangos (jobs for the boys) etc etc etc
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Haven't the mpderators been busy! Never seen so many comments removed, and surely its not just because the minister of education has a family name that fits him so well. Did DC's bike get pinched because he had a screw loose?
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Re #238 grandantidote
You make some reasonable points in that post, but you also leave yourself a little open. I'll leave others to take up the EU issue and just concentrate on two.
1. You say he's been unlucky with the economy, and to some extent that's true, but he did take all the credit for 10 years of growth as is own, without so much as acknowledging Ken Clarke's work in setting the economy on track in the last few years of the Major government.
He who steals all the credit must also accept the blame when the human waste products collide with the air movement device.
2. Regarding the 10% starting rate, to the best of my recollection he still has not properly admitted its calumny and was saying the day before a crucial vote in the HoC that nobody would lose out in flat contradiction of the facts.
Had he corrected the matter the moment he took office, he could have corrected it and laughed it off as something that Teflon Tone made him do.
As it was, it showed him to be gutless, heartless, humourless, without judgement and unreasonably stubborn. That, I am sure is why his popularity amongst his own MPs has never been high and why he did everything he could to suppress a leadership contest he would have walked while giving him democratic legitimacy within the Labour Party.
A great year, then!
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I note a few here want to talk about the by-election, but please note that the mods have just closed the latest Scotland: Blether with Brian thread for multiple posts having broken the Special House Rules During Election Periods.
To be fair, they probably should have closed it earlier. Unless you want the whole thread to close until the polls do, please follow them.
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Thanks for the warning Brownedov, we'll all have to (try to) be on our best behaviour!
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Re #243 Phoenixarisen
Almost certainly for the reasons I posted my #245
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235. RobinJD
People vote for decisive and flexible governments not indecisive and stubborn ones.
Not sure I know anyone who thought Thatcher was flexible.
Most want a strong leader with a vision, who runs with it despite the flak.
We were ready for Brown as we were fed up of Tonys spin and smile.
Brown promised renewal but delivered dour dithering and presided over calamity. Much not of his making, but then we came to realise just how much money had been squandered and so when the down turn came we looked at a mountain of debt and not a surplus like many countries now have.
When you think about it, it was crazy to expect renewal from the regimes No 2.
Strong leaders do not sit in the wings for 10 years brooding and awaiting thier go.
Ironic that Browns downfall will be the fact that he didnt save a little for a rainy day.
Odd for a Scott that
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Re #248 CarrotsneedaQUANGO2
I can see the analogy with Scott leading his doomed team into the unknown, but I wish he had a little more of the Captain Oates about him.
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Re #248 CarrotsneedaQUANGO2
More seriously, you may be right that:
"Most want a strong leader with a vision, who runs with it despite the flak."
It didn't work out too well for Germany or Italy when their democracies voted that way. It didn't even work out too well for Thatcher or Bliar, both having to be virtually manhandled off centre-stage at the end.
Yes, most people do want decisiveness, but the ability to listen and change accordingly is as important - both in the ultimate success of the leader and in the future of our democracy.
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238 grandantidote
"imagine for a moment that there was no recession, food prices were at a very reasonable level previous to this recession, say that the oil producers had not suddenly gone crazy and demanding ridiculous prices for oil"
Sorry GA, this doesn't work. We live in the present where these things are happening.
All of these have came to the fore since Brown's popularity wained because of Northern Rock, loss of discs, etc.
But they have happened and what has he done. Removed the 10p tax band then given us all a rise costing £2.7billion, put up car tax (hopefully to be repealed), signed the European treaty against the wishes of the majority of the country, etc, etc, and gone into hiding. No leadership whatsoever.
You also say he is unlucky. People say you make your own luck. Brown isn't unlucky, just incompetent.
In a company he would be a manager, not a director, and in the role of manager he would be a dictator who would put the backs up of the staff.
No, the circumstances aren't against Brown, it is Brown going his own sweet, or not so sweet, way in spite of the circumstancces.
I saw part of his speech today on povery at Lambeth Palace. There is something he is passionate about, and it showed in his speech. He doesn't have the same passion about running the UK and it shows.
I'm sure that if he could tax us to oblivion and give it to the World's poor he would be happy. He is a one policy politician, rob the rich (and averagely paid) and give to the poor. He's done it for 11 years and the majority are fed up with it, and have been for some time before the World "crisis" became apparent.
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re: 249
At least Scott had a compass and knew roughly where he was going. After so many U-turns Brown doesn't even know which way he's facing! If you're reading Mr. Brown, here's a clue: it's right into the abyss.
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re: 251
The short term solution would be to tar and feather Brown. Whilst that would have little to no impact on the economy it'd make us all feel a lot better. But enough of such wishful thinking. The first thing to do is to get rid of the pointless quangos before the bloat gets any worse, and use that money to pay off the crippling debt before we all perish in the flames and bankruptcy of the approaching Labourgeddon.
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Father Brown.....
Knees Up Mother Brown!
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#251 mikepko and 238 grandantidote
"the oil producers had not suddenly gone crazy and demanding ridiculous prices for oil".
This is not how it works, and you shouldn't confuse the 1970's OPEC cartel price hike with the current situation.
The current crisis is caused by hedge funds and bankers gambling on where future prices oil prices will go, because they lost such huge sums buying up dodgy bonds (the financial equivalent of dodgy dossiers).
Now I wonder what sort of political party these people vote for in their respective countries -
Centre Left? Far Left? Mmmmm difficult to know.
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Re #252 power_to_the_ppl
I think when you're that far South it just spins aimlessly.
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#254 Phoenixarisen
For a number of reasons connected with Gordon Brown's family, I think this suggested joke has crossed the invisible line of decency.
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re: 256
The compass or the Labour party?
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Re #257 oldnat
Agreed. There has to be a limit to humour somewhere, hopefully by self-censorship. I can't say I've see even the most vehement NuLabour supporters digging at Cameron's family, so one up to them for a change.
I think it's a different matter with the likes of Blunkett and Boris as when they "play the field" it's no surprise that all bets are off. Even then, it's a bit hard on their families.
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Re #258 power_to_the_ppl
Possibly the person with the compass. I don't really know as I've never been much further South than Cape Town.
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257 oldnat
You have a very dirty mind, old boy.
I was searching aimlessly for book or film titles with the name Brown in them, and in no way intended to insult Brown's family.
Shame on you.
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241 shellingout were does it say labours money its obvious that the money that any chancellor has is the peoples money .I have tried to tell many Tories on here in the past that this is the case but they still insist on saying that labour is taking their money, of course there taking the money thats what their there to do thats what government does in order to pay the bills etc. Just like mum used to do when you handed over your housekeeping money at the end of the week,at least thats what the working class have always done. Thats the only one I'll answer.
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#261 Phoenixarisen
No. You should have had some sensitivity about the implications of your search, before you posted.
Don't you know the history of the family's children?
I have no problem with posters insulting the policies of political leaders, or exposing the hypocrisy (sexual or otherwise) of politicians, but in this case you erred. Not funny, not decent.
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10 o'clock: When the hurly-burly's done, when the battle's lost and won... The byelection polls have closed...
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263 oldnat
Coming from you - that's ironic.
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re: 262
It's not that Labour are taking money, it's that they're taking too much money, and wasting it all on things that more often than not can be interpreted as bribes, oh and an illegal war, and yes the Quango black hole too.
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Now that the polls have closed, it's now presumably OK to post on Glasgow East.
BBC are reporting that the vote (including postal) is likely to be in line with the General Election percentage vote.
Should that be right, then whichever way the vote goes, the percentage distribution of the vote will be more significant than just a "Glasgow Fair" vote.
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We might make it up to 300 posts, not bad for a topicless thread! If it gets to 300 I'm going to do a dance round my computer to celebrate.
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#265 Phoenixarisen
I've made errors in posting previously, and apologised for it. Sad that you can't.
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Re #269 oldnat
Brian has a new thread and it's open for posting. Time to take up a different cudgel for a while I think.
TTFN all
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269 oldnat
I do not believe I have made an error. If I'd been so mean as to inadvertently mock GB's family then I'd apologise. From what I know of Brown's domestic life (which I don't really know much at all), I understand one of his children died in infancy and another has problems. BUT, what has this to do with the foolish posting I made? There was no reference to childhood disabilities - something I'd never make light of. You appear determined to hammer away at me, this isn't the first time and no doubt will not be the last. You read into my words what is in your own mind. If I had written such offensive statements the moderators, who are never hesitant, would have swiftly removed my posting. Please leave me alone and calm down.
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I don't think you meant any harm Phoenix, but let's get back to the real point of this blog: moaning about our freeloading MPs, those scoundrels who take more and more and do less and less. Seems Labour are gonna have another black eye tomorrow, the SNP seem to be on course for victory. (Viva la revolucion!)
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272
power_to_the_ppl
I trust you are right, but remember, the shows not over until the fat lady sings. (Hope I haven't insulted the sensibilities of any of our chubbier bloggers!)
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:)
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Lol yeah, if what grandantidote says in his earlier post is true then he weighs over double what I do! Eh up, what's this--- it would appear there is to be a recount! Apparently it's as close as few hundred votes, and there's some confusion with there being two Currans on the ballot paper. Argh the tension I can't take it arrgghhhh
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There is even some significance in the SNP majority, 365 votes. A vote for every day of the year. Every day that we have to continue with the totally abject failure known as Gordon Brown.
I am no Johny come lately on this but surely every diehard labour party supporter knows that Gordon Brown lacks any legitimacy. He always has and he always will. He took over a result of a coup and he lacked the guts to face the electorate.
Gordon Alexander highlighted on the BBC the collective responsibility of government, accordingly all labour MPs are guilty. Guilty of accepting Gordon as PM.
For me it was and continues to be the war in Iraq which is the deciding issue. For others it may be the economy, or Europe, or the environmnet, or the problems of MPs pay and allowances, it is a combination of issues, the list is without end.
The war in Iraq was and is a disaster, we have lost and retreated to the airport. No amount of 'spin' can change that. No amount of wasted lives in foreign places can change that. Blair got us into it, Brown paid for it, and they should both be out, Blair is gone, but Brown remains, a stain which cannot be removed.
I have said before about our freedoms, about the use of injunctions to silence informed debate, and I hope that soon we all will be given the chance to get labour out of office. The trouble is what is on offer as an alternative?
This will now be judged the worst parliament, not only of the 21st century but also the previous one. The days of a UK parliament are nearing the end, the break-up of the United Kingdom will be in my life time. It is time for freedom for England. An English parliament now, 365 votes, a vote to remind Brown every day of his failure.
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What becomes obvious is the chicanery of this governmnet. An election held in haste just after parliament rises for the summer recess.
I will be listening with interest to any government spokesman/woman who will dare to face 'the team'.
'It is unfair to blame Gordon Brown' says Douglas Alexander. Is that not the problem! I do not blame anybody, what I do want the chance to do is to hold people to account. I personally think that my local MP is a failure, he does not represent me and I want the opportunity to vote him out. I am not alone.
Brown makes an announcement about troops in Iraq, when will he come onto our screens expressing regret about the recent death of another soldier. Does he not deserve to be mentioned in parliament or will Gordon the Brave wait until parliament reconvenes to read out a long list of the dead. How can this man take a holiday, who will run the country in his absence! The problem for Gordon, we can get on without you, you are not irreplaceable.
Go Gordon, go now please and put us and you out of our misery.
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INTERVIEW WITH MR GRANDANTIDOTE FOLLOWING THE SNP VICTORY IN GLASGOW EAST
"Mr Grandantidote, how do you explain the SNP victory in Glasgow East?" asked the interviewer.
"Oh, that simple. Just a mid-term blip. It always happens" answered Mr Gandantidote.
"And what about Crewe and Nantwich?"
"Well, that was in England so it is different. It was all about the 10p tax issue, but that is sorted now. And it only cost £2.7billion."
"And what about London, Henley and the Local Elections?"
"That was nothing to do with Gordon Brown or Labour" answered Mr Grandantidote "but all to do with international problems."
"So everything is fine with the UK and Labour?"
"Of course, and at the next General Election Labour and Gordon Brown will sweep to back power."
"Now at the weekend Labour is having a strategy meeting in preparation for the next manifesto. And the unions, who give proportionately more to Labour now than in the recent past, will be involved in helping determine policy. How do you see that?"
Mr Grandantidote's eyes lit up.
"Now you'll see some real Labour policies, just like the good old days. You ain't seen nothing yet!!!"
"That's what worries me" said the interviewer.
I share his concern.
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Glasgow East is a massive watershed. It cannot be explained away.
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Another example of possible chicanery. Was there a recount, a waste of time and effort. But what happened there was a delay in the time it took to announce the result, a disastrous result. So, when was the result announced, too late for the English national papers to include the result and comments in their daily editions.
Oh, this cannot get any worse, or can it. As I have said before Brown must go but who will replace him. Oh, apparently we have a new Deputy PM, it is Harriet Harman. Should I book my flight to get out now? At least she isn't Scottish!
Great. Everything is great. No it isn't because we no longer live in Great Britain we live in Britain. We are not Great British we are British. A small point I know but the United Kingdom is finished, give me a referendum so that we can get freedom from Scotland, I want to be English.
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Wow
So will labour MPs panic and flee the leader and or will the stand firm
Talk about a test of courage and fortitude
Get ready for Harriet Harman PM
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Oh yes and prepare for todays "We are listening and learning" speach from the PM
Cant wait
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I've just listened to Des Browne on the Today programme. Pathetic. He just doesn't know what to say. No ideas, no strategy.
Labour are lost.
Well done Nick.
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278. mikepko
Very funny.
Glad Im out today and wont be around when wakes up and reads that.
I think he might be a bit upset.
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Ah, but GA, my mother (and your's too, I imagine) managed their housekeeping money a lot better than Mr Brown is managing ours.
Whether you reply to this mail or not, the fact still remains that the public have lost any trust they ever had for this government and, although your loyalty is admirable, it really won't help Mr Brown now. I think his days as PM are definitely numbered. Prepare yourself for a major reshuffle - at all levels!
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280 TAG
Sorry to disagree we need to be the UK we are stronger with Scotland and Wales, England needs them and they need England .
Devolution has only brought in extra civil servants, this weeks report Welsh assembly 2000 more civil servants with wage bill ?240m and Welsh MPs saying far to much legeistration to cope .
What happens if Cornwall wants development or Bradford, think about it TAG a utter total mess.
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284 carrots
I hope "my friend" enjoys it. True though.
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Hi Nick (and everyone else),
Once again, I've nothing constructive to add, I'm just gloating at the sight of Labour's Scottish Baronial strongholds crumbling....
I look forward to the rumblings at the Warwick Wake.
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Oh dear mr antidote!
Will you now beleive us?
Its over the only hope labour have is if GB falls on his sword and admits being a liability to his party and they have a bloodless coup.
Any other scenario will result in anhialation at the next general election.
DC has seen the nationalist writing on the wall and has joined up with the UUP in Norn Iron. SNP and Lib dem are going to divide up Scotland, Plaid and the Lib Dems are going to divide up Wales leaving middle England to us traditional middle england voters
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Is there any chance that Mr Brown will follow the lead of David Davis?
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Hate to say it you Labour lot (actually no I don't) but I was right, see post 200 ;)
I love the smell of red rosettes wilting in the morning... smells like... victory. I'll bet Brown's gonna say 'I am the right man to lead this country' and once again no-one will believe him. Can't wait for grandantidote to make his case!
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As the Bard would say in the "Scottish" play, "Out damn spot, out!!!"
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I think grandantidote is out spending his pension. Sadly for him, and everyone else on a pension, it is now worth a lot less than it was a year ago because of the rampant inflation (hidden of course) caused in part by this dreadful government..
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Every body seems to be saying in code there is no alternative to Gordon 'I feel your pain' Brown. I am not in pain, I am so sad that it has come to this!
What alternatives should there be.
Integrate Health with Social Services.
Give money for education directly to schools.
Abolish National Insurance.
Implement a flat rate tax, with nobody receiving less than £15,000 paying any tax.
Abolish all tax allowances.
Abolish Capital Gains Tax completely.
Treat all gains as taxable income.
Bring back Exchange Control.
My task is to stear the economy through these difficult times, this I promise I will do because I feel your pain.
Oh, and we can't afford the war in Afghanistan or the continued occupation of Iraq.
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Well, we could have predicted it. Brown's comments on the BBC website are
Gordon Brown has promised to "get on with the job" of dealing with the economy, following Labour's defeat in the Glasgow East by-election.
He told the BBC the government had to "listen and hear people's concerns" over rising fuel and other costs.
Addressing the economic downturn was his "whole focus", he added.
Ha, ha, ha. At this rate I could easily be PM and have time to spare for painting the house.
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From the BBC website:
'Mr Brown also said: "I'm getting on with the job. My task is getting on with the job. It's exactly what people want me to do."'
No further comment necessary, the people of Glasgow East did that yesterday.
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re: 295 and 296
Great minds eh mikepko?
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My cat started laughing.
So in one breath wee gordie says he's listening and in the next he says people want him to get on with the job.
Tiddles mewed "clearly he isnt listening, where's my fish?"
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@268
Are you ready to do the dance?
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Power
No so much great minds, just patently obvious to anyone with an open mind.
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Perhaps GB should get on with the job of looking for another more suitable job.
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re: 299
Yeah I'll do it now and extra vigorously! Today is a happy happy day! :D
re: 300
Lol OK I'll go along with that
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301 shelling
Who would have him with such a track record. Would you?
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I think the Terminator analogy has become more relevant than ever. The legless Brown has been blown up but he's still crawling along with only one thought: power.
What do you all make of Harridan Harman and her demands? I reckon she'll take over from Brown just before the General Election (and then lose it)
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All you tory bloggers, gloat gloat gloat gloat gloat gloat ad infintum, if I were in your shoes I would too, but much of what you say I disagree with, but with you all in a state of exuberance I think it should wait for another day.
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I would like to congratulate Mr Parnell at this time for his exquisetly timed own goal of the announcement of Labours new benefits policy.
Probably the finest example of putting one in your own net since John Arne Riise five minutes into stoppage time in the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea
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@304
I know the Harperson is a little bonkers but I dont think even she is insane enough to want to take over before the next General Election
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278 mikepko , I know your only having a bit of fun mike and I apreciate that , but it is just a little out of order or dont you think so
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305 grandantidote
How brave of you to wait!!
I suppose you are waiting for some good news for Labour. I think you will have to wait a long time, UNLESS Brown resigns.
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Nick (if you are still with us), it's evident that people want to talk about the fallout from Glasgow East.
My own view is that the faster Labour MPs get the message that they will lose their own seats with Mr Brown at the helm, and that less than two years is too little to pull things back for Labour unless they change horses now, the better for them.
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re: 307
Hmm I don't know... I think part of her still believes it's possible to win. It's the same kind of thinking (if you can call it thinking, maybe 'delusion') that all the Labour party suffer from. On one of the Grauniad blogs someone said that even after spending billions spying on us, Labour still don't know why the electorate are foaming at the mouth with rage. I think any kind of rational thought process is suspended when you get to Westminster. Must be the super-powerful distorting effect of the Quango black hole!
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mikepko
I wouldn't employ him in a pink fit, but I'm sure wherever he ends up (in that big company just for ex-PM's) he'll be rolling in it.
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Nick
Was it you who predicted that labour would hang on a few weeks ago or was that a different Nick Robinson?
Grandantidote I applaud you for appearing today, please dont let our collective gloat put you off coming back again.
To the rest of you i think we should have a poll on who from the left wont turn in today.
My vote is with eatonrifle
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305:
I wouldn't have expected any less than this kind of response from you. The whole situation is now past the point of gloating. We have a situation in which we are being governed by a lame duck P.M. in charge of a lame duck administration and that's nothing for anyone to be be pleased about. In fact it's highly dangerous. The country is rudderless and drifting along aimlessly with everyone wondering who the heck is in charge. Either The Unions or an ambitious back stabbing Labour politician could well step into this breach and make a mess of the whole thing. Some might think poetic justice but there are far more important things at stake than people's feelings.
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@311
They could do away with all the spying for info, all they need to do is get web access and read some blogs then off to the service providers to get the real identities of us dissenters, then off to jail with us for 42 days under the same terrorism act that wont allow parents to bring thier own disabled children back into the country.
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power-to-the-ppl
Can't see Harriet taking over now either. She's an ambitious woman and what little credibility she has left could be ruined if she took up the mantle too soon.
Did you see Des Browne on the TV this morning? He tried really hard to smile in the face of adversity, but his verbal support of GB fell far short of the mark. His expression said it all - we're dooooomed!!
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re: 313
Haven't seen jimbrant in a while!
re: 315
It's only a matter of time... Might as well dissent all we can now, hung for a sheep as for a lamb and all that!
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314 pK
What makes you think they aren't spying on us already. We are marked men and women.
I certainly hope that when we are arrested we are taken before Commissar Brown where we can tell him to his face exactly what we think of him.
That would be worth 42 days of rest and relaxation in Bellmarsh!!!
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316 shelling.
Browne was the same on the radio this morning. No idea whatsoever. Anf he's in charge of the armed forces.
We certainly are dooooommmmmed.
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re: 316
Hehe yeah, I thought he was going to burst into tears! But what can he say? We all know the truth. If Blair was around we'd have been lied to same as usual but we'd have lapped it up and asked for more!
I don't think Harman will try scalping anybody yet, but I think it's on the cards... Look at the way she's reportedly acting in preparation for Broon's holiday absence. There's something fishy going on and she's the one to watch...
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321
But can you imagine anyone voting for the head-girl feminist?
As for Brown, did everything a dictator usually does. He
1 Surrounded himself with weak yes-men and women.
2 Marginalised any real competition for PM by banishing them from cabinet
3 Got himself a chancellor who does what he says
4 Jumps up and down when anyone questions him and is a bully
5 Makes ALL of the decisions
6 Says he is infallible.
All of the great dictators have done the same, except they were able to send the opposition to Siberia or eliminate them.
And Harriet, God bless her is one of the weak yes-women.
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Regaring absent "red-flaggers." Whatever happened to kiwilegs?
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#289 - Pot_Kettle
About time too!
Old Britain is old hat. Time to have a rump parliament and skeleton government at Westminster with a restricted mandate for foreign, defence and macro-economic policy and let everything else be run in the regions under a federal system. That would, of course involve creating an English parliament. Well better late than never!
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@322
and onlywayup, only jocking, dhwilkinson
Its a real tumbleweed moment for the left this morning.
They must be holed up in GB's bunker.
@323
An English Parliament is the only way to hold the Union together in any form
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313:
I vote Gary Elsby.
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Re #305 grandantidote
Console yourself with the thought that, whatever he says, the SNP victory will be causing Cameron nearly as much of a headache as it does Brown.
If he doesn't want Scotland to withdraw from the Act of Union in 2010 he has to start doing something about it NOW, and direct rule from Westminster is not an option unless he's thinking of causing a British version of the Yugoslav civil wars.
Though I think Ken Clarke was a better chancellor than Brown, his watered-down "English Votes" proposals are feeble, unacceptable to any possible allies and far too little to satisfy England let alone Scotland and Wales.
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Re #323 threnodio
As I've said before, that's about the only hope of saving the union left.
Will nice Mr Cameron wake up and do something about it or is he a secret English Nat who would prefer the break-up to be done by revolting Scots and Welsh without his getting the blame for it?
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305:
Sorry to add to your woes mate but you missed an 'i' in your splendid latin phrase. Good try though. It should read 'ad infinitum'. The gloating that you speak of will only last as long as today's fish and chip papers after which everyone will realise that their pockets will be hard hit by the EDF fuel increases. So much for the £200 handed out by GB as a by election sop but already clawed back in home fuel increases. Where did the 2.7 billion go?
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You are of course quite right waldorf29 #328.
The suppliers put the prices up and the government gives money to the consumer so that the elderly can afford the increased prices, meanwhile what about the 'hard working families' what do they get?
As for pensioners there are just so many out there who are in fact very well off. Why are they being given extra money so that they put it in the bank. Of course these 'benefits' should be means tested.
As for retirees abroad why do they get the extra money. This is just plain crazy. You couldn't make it up. Labour have just so lost the plot, they are going to try to buy your votes.
Another problem I have is why can't the government which wants to help the home buyer bring back mortgage interest relieve at source, MIRAS.
Can we also have a definition from Gordon of a hard working family, or now the new buzzword, hard pressed family. I do so like to see these terms well defined, as a person living on a pension am I regarded as hard working or I am all worked out.
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In response to my previous post at 115, even I think things are looking desperate for Gordon Brown.
Maybe he should call an election. I actually think that would be THE nightmare scenario for the Conservatives. What on earth would/could they do differently if Dave was to enter 10 Downing Street in 10 days time?
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314 waldorf And there was I thinking I was being nice to you tories [or is it I'm not a Tory].
328 Ooh! I left that out so that it would make your day complete teach.
The £200 for over 65s and £300 for 80 year olds came out a few years ago at least five, I dont know what by elections were taking place then. They were increased to £250 for 65s and £350 for 80 year olds a few years later, and recently the over 80s were awarded £400 not sure whether there was a increase at that time for 65 year olds,also free TV license and bus pass are available.
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Sorry to correct you, but as a senior citizen I can confirm that the winter fuel allowance for a couple under 80 is £200. It is £100 for a single person, which I feel is unfair since they have nobody to cuddle up with and keep warm. TV licences are only free at the age of 75, although I believe they should pay somebody to watch most of the rubbish.
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329 TAG
I'm not a wealthy pensioner, quite the opposite, but I'm against means testing. That sort of cruelty belongs to the bad old days, The well off amongst the pensioners have spent a lifetime paying taxes and full NHS contributions, in fact they have helped to finance the rest of us poor people.
Retirees abroad get just the basic pension, but think how much they are saving us by being overseas. They make no claim on hospitals or doctors, and receive no bonuses.
From your posting I assume you are a young person, so you will agree that the Xmas bonus of £10 can only buy a very small turkey or bottle of good cheer!
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322 Pheonixarison you know we shouldn't be disagreeing over the WFA but I think come December you are in for a nice little bonus if you are only expecting £200, as it is now £250 I am also a pensioner and one with a long memory, do you remember that the winter temperature had to be below freezing not for a day or for five or six intimitant days but for seven continous days in order to be awarded £10, that used to help a lot.
Thats what the Tories thought we deserveds, even after the Labour party gave us the £200 the Tories for several years opposed it and said that it would be removed when they get back into power, whether that threat still holds I have no idea, I doubt if they have either. I am not absolutely sure on this one but I think the WFA for over eighties has now gone up to £400.
333/ I agree with everthing you write in this posting and like you I totaly disagree with TAG but that isn't surprising as I seldom find anything in his postings that I agree with.
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#322 Grandantidote
I'm not Nu Labour nor Tory, and find fault with both these parties. I do however recall a certain Virginia Bottomley, of the conservatives, who as Health Minister condemned thousands of patients, particularly the elderly, to such lengthy waits in queues, that they died before ever receiving essential treatment and operations. A cold, heartless woman who would fit in well with the crew GB now has, Harman, the previously employed Hewitt, Smith et al.
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332 pheonixarison all you have to do is put winter fuel allowance into your internet, press the first information you need right at the top an you will get all the information you require, sorry, you could tell me to go teach my granny to suck eggs,mind that could be difficult as she's been dead for over fifty years.anyway enjoy your extra £50
and dont spend it on the grandchildren as most people do.
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325 pheonixarison, yes I do remember her quite well as I was one of those patients although as you can see I survived. and I agree with what you say regarding her but your last sentence I cant agree with, labour since being in power has changed the NHS dramaticaly opposed every step of the way by the Tories the people that you mention can in no way be compared to bottomley who appeared to be totally without feeling,
given her background its not surprising.
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Agree with what has been said about Virginia Bottomley but she is no longer a player in this game and that is all in the past. My post 325 is now being confused with Phoenix's 335. Come on ga get a grip!
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I struggle to understand how a post on the overuse of 'r' has stretched into a few full blown debates. Is there an extension/alternative of Godwin's law that we can use to show how far off topic this thread has become and how the debate should be put to an end?
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You're doing a great job on Today, Nick. One small quibble: your pronunciation of Karadzic's name: try saying Carriage-Itch?
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