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Listed below are comments made by theorangeparty between Wednesday, 30th September 2009 and Friday, 20th November 2009.

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Britain lands key EU foreign policy post 09:11am on 20 Nov 2009
Interesting that both the Mail and Guardian have the same take and same headline - The Great EU Stitch-Up.

But no reference here to the fact that two unelected non-entities are now the face of a new EU superstate.

This is an outrageous stitch-up by Europe's ruling elite. Did any of the 500 million citizens anywhere in Europe get a look in?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/stitched-up-eu-empire.html
Not the Queen's Speech 11:14am on 18 Nov 2009
Your post is politically spot on today Nick. I take my hat off to you.

I'm also pleased to see BBC Online News using the headline "Queen to set out Brown programme", so voters are left in no doubt about the motives behind the 'speech'.

This shameful charade of New Labour's 'Queen's Speech' is both an insult to the public and total waste of time.

What galls me is that the Queen is being used as an election pawn in a shameless party political broadcast to parliament.

Do voters really have to stomach six more months of this party politicking?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/queen-uses-as-election-gimmick-pawn.html
Plotters, quitters and fighters 4:22pm on 16 Nov 2009
A good point here Nick: "This week, Gordon Brown will try to rally them with what's being described as a "focused" Queen's Speech - focused on beating the Tories, that is."

Exactly. Rather than setting out forthcoming government legislation, the 'Queen's Speech' is being used to test the water with a manifesto and "smoke out the Tories".

LibDem leader Nick Clegg reckons the time could be better spent "cleaning up parliament".

Isn't the Queen's Speech then just a party political broadcast to parliament at taxpayers' expense to shore up Brown's position and sway wavering voters?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/queen-uses-as-election-gimmick-pawn.html
When politics matters... 2:08pm on 09 Nov 2009
You've hit the nail on the head in your closing paragraphs of this post. I agree with the insightful way you've flagged up recent events as cyphers for a public mood over Afghanistan.

But are there not also issues over leadership here and whether Brown understands that people - and names - matter.

On that letter, I feel you are giving the PM too easy a ride. No matter how much it is spun, isn't the only view that really counts that of the grieving mum?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/browns-letter-stinks.html
The Kelly Report 1:11pm on 04 Nov 2009
I think you are getting ahead of yourself here Nick. You seem to imply that everything is done and dusted when it's not.

The Kelly report is just that - a report. Nothing will see the light of day this side of a general election.

I agree many of the comments here, who've seen through the sham summed up by 7: "What's the betting everything will be done to water down these proposals."

The proposals should have been accepted in full and MPs given the chance to vote on the review recommendations. In that way MPs would have to stand up and be counted.

Instead it's down to yet another unelected, unaccountable quango or committee.

Setting up another quango in Kelly's wake was not the best way to build trust. When all the fuss dies down, won't voters and taxpayers still be left out in the cold?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/kellys-heroes-and-zeros.html
Not one but two major rows 1:08pm on 02 Nov 2009
Totally agree with 1. badgercourage. A mess of their own making.

Also with great respect Nick, I feel using the quote "nutty professor" is a tad tabloid and rather insulting to a man who commands great respect. In fact I cannot find any source for your attributable quote.

Johnson is just the latest in a long line of hapless home secretaries caught up in the political football of drugs classification which has been raging since the '70s. It's the way home secretaries handle the thorny issue which is enlightening.

Johnson has displayed woeful arrogance by sacking his top drugs expert for daring to do his job, speak the truth and speak his scientific mind. After all he could have easily stuck to his guns and just binned the advice.

Isn't this now a question of trust. if scientists are barred from the drugs classification debate, then who does the public believe? Who do they trust when trying to come up with an informed opinion? Home secretary Johnson or a respected scientist?

Where does that leave the supposed 'independence' of advice to the government?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/johnsons-reefer-madness.html
Cameron the Heathite? 3:27pm on 22 Oct 2009
A good point here Nick, even Thatcher shied away from taking on the postal workers. But I would suggest there's a political dimention to this dispute that you've missed.

The posties are being used as election pawns and 'Maggie' Mandy is the root cause of the problem. No wonder Tories are milking it for all its worth.

Despite the Mandy spin, public sympathy is certainly not with the fat cat Mail bosses.

The dispute could be settled if only dithering Brown would get off the fence and bang a few heads together, starting with Mandelson and Crozier and tell this couple who are clearly in cahoots to call off the relentless attacks.

After all it's still a publicly-owned company and Mandy has cabinet responsibility doesn't he?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/maggie-mandys-last-post.html
Benefit cuts consensus? 11:48am on 05 Oct 2009
You've hit the nail on the head, Nick. There's an election round the corner. Dave has to be seen to be bold, with radical real alternatives.

But what is becoming clear is how some Tory policies are New Labour but with a different wrapping. Benefits now schools academies later.

What you haven't suggested is an explanation. The Tories are trying a touch of triangulation to strangle the opponents. Will it work - only if voters trust Dave to deliver?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/tory-triangulation-then-strangulation.html
Cameron keeps schtum on Lisbon 1:44pm on 04 Oct 2009
Agree up to a point Nick but I feel you are taking the New Labour line too close to heart, painting the Tories as a Party in disarray, divided once again on Europe.

Sure, it's the first real test of the new PM-in waiting's leadership keeping a lid on a Eurosceptic backlash after the Irish were duped and blackmailed into a 'yes' vote . But it ain't over 'til the Czech Republic sings.

Hague hasn't been exactly vague about his distaste for Blair as president of a new all powerful superstate.

Cameron may be doing the referendum shuffle but at this stage he's not going to fall into the trap of lying and reneging over a referendum promise, like the other lot did.

The sham of the 'politics of hope' evident in the Irish 'yes' vote, will take time to unravel into reality.

Cameron has begun the process of telling voters what he stands for and where he stands. Hasn't he everything to gain by being realistic - and that includes Europe?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/reality-or-hyped-up-hope.html
'Labour's lost it,' says the Sun 07:41am on 30 Sep 2009
Nick, your post and the BBC line seems to be that New Labour has lost the backing of the Sun. Turn it around. The Murdoch empire in the shape of the Sun has officially endorsed the Conservative Party in the election. No surprises there. He's been banging the drum for Dave for quite a while.

Murdoch will back the candidate who sells newspapers. The Sun has captured the mood of voters. End of. Brown's conference speech was just the last straw.

Thanks for kindly showing the Sun front page on the BBC 10 o'clock News. What a way to rain on the parade?

http://theorangepartyblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/its-sun-wot-won-it.html

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