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Turkeybellyboy

Listed below are comments made by Turkeybellyboy between Friday, 16th January 2009 and Wednesday, 21st October 2009.

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A week with Windows 11:25am on 21 Oct 2009 Mac Fanboyz - (yawn) - Wikipedia confirms the widespread belief that Apple got the GUI idea from what was Xerox PARC (and incidentally the mouse from SRI).

Hopefully we can move on from the dogmatic OS wars...!
The remarkable story of Brawn GP 2:38pm on 20 Oct 2009 Andrew - a documentary on Ross Brawn is in order, I think :-D
The 'C' word 2:57pm on 15 Sep 2009 Not sure if anyone listened to Robert Peston's interview of Jim Chanos [I think it was] the other day?

This guy is a hedge fund manager who told the G8 Finance Ministers which banks were the most vulnerable, even before the Crunch. The Ministers weren't interested, and only wanted to know about hedge fund regulation.

Guess what? Gordon Brown was at the meeting, where the weakness of our major banks was explicitly pointed out to him, yet he (and others) did nothing. Smoking gun anyone?
The politics of the Budget 12:55pm on 22 Apr 2009 Nick - I would be interested to hear what happens to a Government when it's credibility evaporates.

All this talk of narrative is becoming a bit laughable.

What also about the Electorate's increasing anger at the lies & incompetence of this Administration - e.g. scapegoating Ken Boston and other Civil Servants to save political skins?

What has happened in recent political history when the UK electorate wants to severely punish a political party?

In my view the whole New Labour project could spectacularly come apart at the seams, and perhaps the Labour Party as a whole as the Electorate seeks to gain revenge. Could be nasty.

Is Guido going to beat the Lobby correspondents to the tipping point again I wonder?
The blame game 6:07pm on 01 Apr 2009 GB is great at politics, but a disaster in terms of the governing.

That said, the Electorate keeps buying New Labour promises - e.g. 'things can only get better'!

Only once the Electorate can see through the spin and a) there is a credible alternative or b) things are so bad that [virtually] anyone else is a better bet, will we get change.

Bit of an ask for whoever takes over though, I wouldn't fancy it...
PM chooses his words carefully 08:47am on 27 Mar 2009 Nick - fascinating to see that your blog has become part of the online conflict between factions...

On more substantive matters, I was reading an article in The Economist this week about how the UK is going to have to slash Public Sector spending because of the financial mess we are in.

Perhaps you could start asking the Govt (& HM Opposition) what their position is, please? Peter Hain was saying on Sunday that the role of the Public Sector was still important, but I sense he was "being economical with the actualité".

Does GB want to keep on pumping money into the Economy, as that means we'll have to pay for this with future taxation? Or does he plan to cut Public expenditure as well, which mean taxes won't have to rise as much?

Will Labour try to portray such cuts as not affecting front-line services, and categorise Tory ones as "do nothing" cuts? Will the Media please pin HMG down on what would be yet another fib?

btw, do you read these comments, or are they just moderated by someone else? The "What does this mean?" link doesn't really explain...
Beware the City merry-go-round 2:44pm on 13 Feb 2009 Whenever I see a picture of GB these days, he always seems to be laughing.

This is odd, because the Electorate is pretty certain, that from certainly 1997 onwards, he only laughs when on the way home from shoving Tony Blair out and knowing that he'll become PM himself.

To be fair, I did see a couple of him this week at the mid-week 'grilling', but whenever I see these 'laughing' photos, I feel the spin doctors are over-compensating...
Confusion on the wildcat strikes 11:55am on 02 Feb 2009 I haven't done an exhaustive check of the comments posted already, so apologies if someone has already mentioned this.

IMO the danger for this Govt. is that when people start to question their stance on the issues - and see that they're contradictory and ineffectual - they might well start wondering about all the other Govt. statements, and wonder whether they're porkies as well.

I wonder if this particular crisis is a potential 'tipping point' for this Govt's remaining credibility?
Yates of the Yard (2) 12:38pm on 31 Jan 2009 Nick

Thanks for this post. Excellent to see that you're interacting with your commenters - IMO the format of these blogs mean that you can't respond in the comments themselves, which you might find better.

Check out how Tim O'Reilly does it.

Anyway, glad that you and others (e.g. Evan Davies) are getting your confidence back in challenging this Administration and its entourage. Don't let them bully you any more (and let them get away with it)!
Green shoots (2) 5:10pm on 16 Jan 2009 Nick - I think you are "damned if you do, and damned if you don't", i.e. you will get brickbats from both ends of the political spectrum.

I think you're right to comment on what she said, and I think it's right to make a justification. I seem to recall a similar circumstance regarding David Davis etc., and you published a follow-up post.

I personally reckon you're coming through a period of reflection, and as a result are becoming more sceptical of the whole New Labour mindset - and more balanced as a result.

I hope you feel free to have a pop at all political parties - maybe the BBC is also becoming less intimidated of New Labour (e.g. because of A. Gilligan affair), and more willing to call out the Govt. as appropriate.

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