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Listed below are comments made by ianathome between Wednesday, 10th June 2009 and Friday, 20th November 2009.

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Britain lands key EU foreign policy post 12:58pm on 20 Nov 2009 Nick, I note that no-one mentioned this was the "more important" job until Tony Blair's bid for EU President began to falter badly. What a shame he wasted his time chasing such a trivial post.

Since it remains utterly obscure to the European people at large exactly what either post will entail, and since this shabby process of "election at the dinner table" has made it clear that Sarkozy and Merkel will not relinquish any real power, I suggest we wait and see what the new "high representative" makes of her role.
If you thought it was all over... 3:57pm on 19 Nov 2009 Nick, on your 1235 update: I should think if Tony Blair really is ready to step in and "help" Labour's election campaign - against a backdrop of regular hearings of the Iraq enquiry - that really will be the death knell for this Government.
It won't be March 01:26am on 12 Nov 2009 If Peter Mandelson would like a further title, I have a few I could suggest. Delicacy forbids me from mentioning them here.
Census question questions 6:57pm on 27 Oct 2009 I don't think Nick Hurd has exactly covered himself in glory with these interventions.

Before this story broke, I was well aware who Sir Michael Scholar was, but had never heard of Mr Hurd.

At least he has rectified that, but not in a good way, as they say!
General gimmick? 4:47pm on 07 Oct 2009 Ho ho. This is why I love Party Conferences. I wonder if Mr Grayling will be heading for a lesser role in the next few weeks/months.

David Cameron has shown himself to be thoroughly ruthless in response to embarrassing gaffs.
Cameron keeps schtum on Lisbon 6:24pm on 05 Oct 2009 Nick, your report on Radio 4's 6 o'clock news this evening focused largely on Europe.

The main problem seems to be that no-one at the Tory Party Conference is actually spending much time on this, so it was hard to see what substance lay behind the importance you were giving to the matter.

Wouldn't it be more helpful to concentrate on analysing the policies they actually are putting forward?
Benefit cuts consensus? 12:04pm on 05 Oct 2009 Nick, I'm a bit puzzled because your own news pages are carrying the following story:

"Labour rejected the Conservative approach to incapacity benefit claimants as "callous".

"This is unfair on the genuinely sick who should not suffer a £25 a week cut in benefit," employment minister Jim Knight said

"Our plans are to get people off benefit and into work. The Tories don't seem to care about getting people into jobs, they just want to cut their benefit."

I'm not sure Mr Knight has understood the Conservatives' policy (which, as you say, is exactly the same as his, only bigger and quicker), but the tactic seems to have worked in forcing the Government into defending Incapacity Benefit claimants and their right to go on claiming Incapacity Benefits.

I suppose you could mark that down as a score for Mr Cameron.
Cameron keeps schtum on Lisbon 7:10pm on 04 Oct 2009 Nick, I am getting worried that the media in general will spend the next week chasing this non-story over David Cameron and his stance on what is still a hypothetical future situation on Europe. If so, I do hope this will not be at the expense of giving proper and thorough examination of the Conservative party's proposed policies in important areas such as the economy, employment, social care, defence, law and order, etc.

I have no doubt that David Cameron will be able to skip away from these rather heavy-handed attempts to expose an imagined crisis/split within his party over European policy. If, by the end of the week, this turns out to be the main issue you have focused on, I will feel very badly served by the BBC's political Editor and will conclude that a major and important opportunity will have been lost to let the public see a proper examination of the full range of policies of the party that, at present, looks most likely to form the next Government.
The 'C' word 11:27am on 15 Sep 2009 "Brown's advisers have told him that if he is seen to be upfront with voters, they are much more likely to listen to his case - that case being that Tory cuts would wreck recovery and would damage public services.

“The next act in this drama will be the chancellor's pre-Budget report. It is increasingly clear that Alistair Darling plans to announce a spending package designed to force the Tories to spell out what more they would do, or to expose that they are refusing to do so and have hidden plans.”

========================================================================

On the assumption that both the PM and Chancellor will now start to set a programme of cuts in public expenditure, it seems there argument will be “Labour cuts good, Tory cuts bad.”

There is a fighting chance that the electorate won’t be taken in by this, particularly after all the twisting and turning and endless contorted spinning it has taken the Government even to get to this point.
Who's planning what cuts? 6:47pm on 10 Jun 2009 I was very shocked at PMQs today. The Prime Minister simply seems to have decided to mislead the public over the need for public spending cuts. If he is not misleading the public, he is perhaps deceiving himself. The Government spending figures he read out imply significant public spending cuts once debt repayments and inflation are taken into account. Everybody realises that, surely? Alistair Darling has prepared us for cuts. The IMF have prepared us for cuts. The only person who doesn't seem to get it is Mr Brown.

We do need a Prime Minister and Government who can grasp this over the next 10 years.

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