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AndrewBrier

Listed below are comments made by AndrewBrier between Monday, 24th November 2008 and Tuesday, 10th February 2009.

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Equivalence in death 09:46am on 10 Feb 2009 "Equeasy", that's very good.

Since when has rational thought EVER entered the political debate about the risks of taking drugs?

As politicians always pander to the lowest form of tabloid debate on this issue, I'm sure they'll will quietly ignore this recommendation.

It would be interesting to compile an informed list of all society accepted activities that people do on a regular basis and that are more dangerous than ecstasy....
Tory 'watch-list' of 'potentially embarrassing' candidates 8:19pm on 06 Jan 2009 Moderators: zargonscrunty's post #17 which I replied to in #24 (which btw I erroneously numbered as #20) has for some reason been referred to you.

Whilst I didn't agree with the post at all I can't for the life of me understand why it has been removed.

Free speech is just that, free .. and zargonscrunty's post has just as much right to be there as mine.

Please could you reinstate his post #17.

Thank you.
Tory 'watch-list' of 'potentially embarrassing' candidates 6:12pm on 06 Jan 2009 zargonscrunty @20: I respect your right to your opinion, I really do, however the same could quite easily be said about yourself.

Your post manages in about 50 words to imply that the majority of Tories hate minorities plus they also hate their own minority who apparently don't, plus that the majority of Tories are also against positive discrimination. Oh and you also imply that Im a Tory (or Tory activist or something). Impressive stuff. It's good to see there are still people with open minds unencumbered by stereotypes and inherited world views.

I stick to my view that Mr Crick sometimes displays a lack of impartiality and think equating his lack to mine is disingenuous as he is a reporter, the political editor of newsnight no less and whose opinion influences and informs millions of people. A position that IMHO requires absolute impartiality (at least as an ideal) as a prerequisite. On the other hand Im just a lowly member of the public, like you.
Tory 'watch-list' of 'potentially embarrassing' candidates 5:01pm on 06 Jan 2009 Michael Crick suggests "What will also concern many candidates and grassroots activists is the suggestion in the minutes that extra resources may have to be pumped into constituencies which have candidates who are female or come from ethnic minorities. This seems designed to save the party from the potential that such seats might be lost in disproportionate numbers." in relation to the following minutes excerpt:

"Of 250 candidates, 70 are women and 10 are of an ethnic minorities [sic] - something extra needs to be done to ensure that these ones are not lost."

So it seems Michael Cricks ONLY interpretation of the above sentence is that ethnic minority or female candidates are less likely to win in Tory areas. This is a very narrow and negative view.

Another (equally valid) interpretation is that in an attempt to prove the Tory party are no longer made up of white middle class males a little positive discrimination should be exercised to help get the candidates elected. If you have a fixed pot of resources for electing all candidates across all constituencies, plus a belief that a group of them are currently under-represented then it seems perfectly sensible to target additional resources accordingly to help to redress the balance. I would view this as a positive interpretation (for the Tories) of the minutes excerpt.

It seems to me in instances like this, and others too many to mention in Mr Cricks's reporting career, he almost always takes the negative view of the Tory party and their intentions. In some cases appearing to actively go out of his way to do so.

I just do not believe he is a balanced reporter.
Our banks 'have to lend more' 2:48pm on 04 Jan 2009 RP points out "the Treasury is moving towards a plan that looks awfully like the Tories' proposal for taxpayers' to guarantee a proportion of lending to business"

One can sense the spin the government was weaving already as the BBC's David Thompson said in an earlier news item:
"Opposition parties would claim that giving them more money was evidence that the government's original plan to revive the economy had stalled.
"However, ministers would be likely to argue that any flak would be worthwhile if a second bail-out helped shore up the already fragile banking sector - and got it lending to the public once again."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7809533.stm

So the Tories propose a loan guarantee scheme months ago, which Labour ignores or sidesteps by labelling them as a 'do nothing' party. Surprise surprise the Tories were right all along, Labour (read GB's psychological flaws) can't bare giving the Tories any credit so brief and hint to the effect that it would be irresponsible not to consider all options as the banking sector is frgaile and needs all the support it can get.

Net effect: GB steals another policy, gets away with it and paints the Tories as negative and not 'pulling together' in the true British sense..!
We own Royal Bank 09:20am on 28 Nov 2008 "Somehow it was a bit too humiliating to be no more than the pipework for the real generators of wealth, companies with genuinely new services, real products and real technology. "

Take heed all you bankers out there who haven't yet seen the change in your perceived role.

You're probably still thinking of a return to the good ole days of being the top of the pile, lording it over and holding to ransom the real wealth creators.

In reality you are a cog, albeit a large and integral one, but still a cog.

Please take your responsibilities seriously from now on.
Citi and manic Monday 12:03pm on 24 Nov 2008 LOL post #32! Perhaps irony is the first thing to suffer in these 'serious' times...

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