DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived post-Murdoch era

EMil has barely anybody else but himself to blame for his leadership but there's been a whiff of anti-semitism amongst the general anti-intelligentsiaism that's been pelted at him from day 1. NB you don't have to be a member of any kind of intelligentsia to draw the insinuations from the gutter press.

Be too smart/dumb/weird/straight/ginger/bald/plebian/privileged

Be the leader of the labour party, at any point in history

"We should have someone who is more popular" is a reflexive panic move from any party especially when faced with actively populist leaders like Salmond and Farage. Some segments of the Tories are desperate for Boris Johnson for the same reason.

The "he looks weird" thing is definitely informed by unacknowledged anti-semitism - cf multiple amateur social media comedians comparing him to the Child Catcher. Although it's worth pointing out that the person to whom he is most consistently unfavourably compared is his own brother.

My guess is that Labour's long poll lead has been entirely chimeric for years and will evaporate at election time. Still, I suspect that Labour were banking on basically stumbling over the line next May and are now bricking themselves because of Scotland. There's almost certainly some unvoiced frustration at the leadership having committed to austerity, which still feels like a very high political price to pay for the opportunity to scrape over the line and become the weakest and post pilloried Prime Minister since the 70s if not before.

has this genuinely happened anywhere in the last 50 years? i mean surely you don't/ can't switch leaders with less 200 days to go? i wonder what David Miliband makes of it all.

One of my friends is wont to save of EMil, "If only he'd die or something!" That's, uh, pretty harsh. Still, Gaitskell, mystery illness, rapid decline and death, Labour win next election.

... John Smith!

yeah, that worked out well

has this genuinely happened anywhere in the last 50 years? i mean surely you don't/ can't switch leaders with less 200 days to go?

Australia last year (& cf the last four years)

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/79242000/jpg/_79242446_thesunfront251114.jpg

not sure how much damage this will do to the tories but both cabbies and van drivers insulted by the old guard trad parties in the space of one week in what feels like son of plebgate - seems to be creating yet more room for farage to do his man of the people shtick and the sun seems to be more than happy to stir it up

^^^ Is exactly what this is about. UKIP might as well be the political wing of News International at the moment. The Sun probably doesn't want them as a government but they're one hell of a pressure group on both main parties.

there is a personal element too though - mellor has long been an enemy of the tabloids, am sure that murdoch is loving the chance to stick the boot in

So Cameron has issued a 'warning' of a second recession. A warning, mind. Not an admission. If you don't all behave, that's what's going to happen.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/16/david-cameron-third-eurozone-recession-g20-warning

Ooooh, you little liar!

He was a complete clown to have sued. Will cost him career and a hell of a lot of money.

He hasn't had a career in a while anyway. Of course if he was a brazen cunt like Chris Huhne he wouldn't let it stop him pursuing a lucrative media career of some sort.

He's still an MP, at least until the next general election.

Another Islingtonian, btw. The borough's not having a great run.

"I am delighted to hear again my innocence, my reputation and my integrity as a police officer has been recognised."

the judge said PC Rowland was "not the sort of man who would have had the wit, imagination or inclination to invent on the spur of the moment an account of what a senior politician had said to him in temper".

lol

ha ha. bit of a dick move by the judge there tho. people are v good at imaginatively rehearsing the speeches of entrenched enemies imo.

in this case tho it's the "pleb" part that's the problem that probably makes the judge right - public school snobbery and of course the whole imaginative greatness of this particular particle of UK social shittitude.

Now I want Emily Thornberry to sue that fat fuck from Rochester

yes, she should take a stand for the benefit of everybody who's ever made an internet comment entirely devoid of classist snobbery

lol so the judge found the policeman too plebby to have come up with the word pleb

Kind of odd seeing my GP (his wife) interviewed about this on the news.

His bill could end up being comfortably over £1.5m. I'd have thought the PC would be in line for out-of-court damages on top of that.

Literally the first thing you learn when studying libel law is to never sue unless you are absolutely sure you're going to win. The second thing you learn is that you can never be absolutely sure you're going to win.

thought the idea was mostly to intimidate small fry who could never afford to defend a libel case- ergo, one that gets to court, has failed.

Yes, that's pretty accurate.

Mitchell's seat, Sutton Coldfield, has been Tory since the war at least but good grief imagine the populist / independent candidates that are going to be up against him at the next election.

I can imagine the "Pleb and Proud" party forming..

http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2014/11/28/the-first-of-the-new-workhouses/

^ ?

http://i.imgur.com/MiftnyD.gif

"To get back to the warning that I received. You may take it with however many grains of salt that you wish. That the brown acid that is circulating around us isn't too good. It is suggested that you stay away from that. Of course it's your own trip. So be my guest, but please be advised that there is a warning on that one, ok?"

Given the billions worth of spending announced over the last few days (NHS/road building/flood defences) my guess is that there's one fucking massive pre-election bribe in Osborne's statement today.

Almost certain.

Well there's something or other about Stamp Duty - a subject of which I know nothing - apparently he's just stolen that idea from the SNP though.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/postgraduate-loans-of-10k-announced-by-osborne/2017368.article#.VH8ec_b-zsh.twitter

my first thought is that this seems like a good idea? someone tell me why i'm wrong

because they'll probably ramp up the interest every year and make it literally impossible to pay back unless you have an £80k salary? But yeah, I'm tempted.

idea sounds good, but the accompanying photo...
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/Pictures/web/v/e/u/george-osborn_450.jpg

ah you have to be under 30. balls.

(xp) photo from his Fat Chancellor period, he's all gorgeous, svelte and pouty now.

Oh what, like this?

http://i.imgur.com/MiftnyD.gif

http://www.dedleg.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ecstasy_gurning.jpg

Dunno about this, what you lot think:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/12/07/the-archbishop-of-canterburys-bizarre-idea-to-nationalise-the-food-banks/

Bear in mind Tim Worstall is a failed UKIP MP when he says things like this:

There is most certainly a debate about hunger and food banks in the UK at present. The number of food banks has mushroomed in recent years, as has the number of people using them. This is not quite the same as stating that the number of hungry people has risen in recent years however. That more people use something that there’s more of isn’t really a surprise. So it might well be that there’s no increased demand, just an increase in supply

Seems pretty clear the voluntary sector is propping up the welfare state in a way it should never have to. Welby is correct in saying those costs should be brought within goverment spending, though they'd be better off cutting out the middle man and just stop mucking about with people's benefits in the first place.

"It has emerged that a proposal to save taxpayers some money by making peers and MPs share a catering department has been rejected 'because the Lords feared that the quality of champagne would not be as good if they chose a joint service.'"

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/dec/07/champagne-house-of-lords-reform-taxpayer?CMP=share_btn_fb

It's a good job all the upper classes got expelled in 1999 and replaced by part nominees, isn't it?

*party*

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0157/4472/products/champagne-party-gold-foil-print-black-1-462x392_large.jpg?v=1391463350

http://www.theargus.co.uk/resources/images/3441652.jpg

since when did the mp for brighton kemptown turn into an own brand lvg?