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

This would be grim and exasperating even without the never-acknowledged current of anti-Semitism behind a lot of Miliband criticism.

re that http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/189623/a-polite-hatred-4-british-left

This means appealing to the party’s base, which includes the trade unions, groups like the PSC, and Britain’s growing Muslim vote. Railing against the iniquities of Israel is a good way of garnering support in these constituencies.

Trade unions?

there's a "surprising" number of Unions allied to pro-Palestinian campaigns

you can't support any pro-Palestinian campaigns without being Julius Streicher iirc

there are other threads for discussing the peculiarly unnuanced response of kneejerk left liberals to Palestine - but i was just explaining the sentence quoted above as to why Railing against the iniquities of Israel is a good way of garnering support amongst Trade Unions

Trade Unions don't vote in elections, trade union members do, no proof that railing against the iniquities of Israel is a vote winner with that constituency.

I suppose depends on what is meant by 'garnering support'.

there are other threads for discussing the peculiarly unnuanced response of kneejerk left liberals to Palestine

lol is that why ur being so painstakingly even-handed here

"Now is the not the moment to interrogate the vicious genocidal totalitarianism of the effete ivory tower liberal pansy left"

it's weird i cd've sworn i picked different words

Miliband actually voted to recognise Palestinian statehood, which takes guts to do wherever you are on the spectrum of Jewish beliefs and heritage.

Maureen Lipman begs to differ.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbHNVtsAD2M#t=108

can feel my cynicism dropping away as he lays into "those 'orrible zero hour contracts", had to stand up and sing The Red Flag

Probably time to repost this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-563570/Martin-Freeman-life-shouldnt-just-day-office.html

"Multiculturalism hasn't and doesn't help, because rightly or wrongly it polarises people so much," he continues.
"Racism is one thing – and I don't agree with that in any form – but noticing that there are differences is normal and fine and to be encouraged.
"We've reached a state now where it's, 'You shouldn't notice. Why are you noticing he's got a bomb and has a beard and is Muslim and wants to kill your family?"
"There is no country in the world like this. If all of a sudden all the traffic wardens in Ghana were Welsh, they'd really notice and might not love it…

'The funny thing about the acting business is that there are more poofs in it than you can have hot dinners thrown at you,'"

That is entirely unsurprising, the complacency of people who branded themselves "left-liberal" at some point in the early 90s and never thought about it ever again.

^ entire labour party to thread lol

'The funny thing about the acting business is that there are more poofs dimwits in it than you can have hot dinners thrown at you,'"

maybe we could do with a separate thread for annoying photos of politicians on the campaign trail but for now...

http://www.theargus.co.uk/resources/images/3645434.jpg

Not really surprised that tim from the office is a dreadful person, he is tim from the office after all

The really outrageous thing about this story isn't tim from the office settling into the loveable racist national treasure slot he was always destined for but "you can have hot dinners thrown at you" ffs that is not the expression you moron

would queue for a long time for the chance to throw a hot dinner at tim from the office

Labour fundraising ideas.

You know what'd help things? Involving Joey Essex.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32127044

zing

https://40.media.tumblr.com/39f5a07de5b8d354a915939fd8e24915/tumblr_nm2wf38XKS1sqmjg8o1_500.jpg

It's going to upset a lot of zingers if Salmond doesn't win a seat.

Little Englanders will need a new bogeyman.

that's no way to refer to Brenda

I was in a bar in Westminster this afternoon for a work meeting, and Grant Shapps was being interviewed at a table literally a couple of feet away. No idea who was interviewing him but he was getting a ludicrously easy ride.

Farage with his alliance of farmers and geriatrics:

http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-620/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/3/31/1427806040764/89dd991e-a046-4067-8990-05795f336557-620x372.jpeg

an escalator on the white cliffs would be great, fuck the h8as

dover wites

lol @ iconoclastic, no bullshit private eye taking dictation from tory central office for its cover

Having trouble with the concept of "lol @ private eye" tbh

Extremely rare that one even gets as far as l, yes.

http://youtu.be/UziZYL_gtDc

Entire nation set to piss itself laughing

oops! wonder what the highest ranking politician to lose their seat before now was?

Thinking about the implications of that scenario, even if the LibDems somehow hold onto enough other seats, how do you form a coalition when your leader's just been kicked out? And presumably about to resign?

xp Portillo? He was Secretary of State for Defence

My daughter is in Clegg's constituency, his biggest problem is that he has two large student campuses in it and he hasn't exactly endeared himself to students since the last election.

i'm from hallam. i'm in the US now, but i just reregistered to vote from overseas in hallam. lol.

i don't think the students are particularly a problem. there have always been a lot of students there, but until 1997 this was a conservative constituency represented by this chamer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irvine_Patnick. they just don't vote in the numbers.

but the bourgeois lefty vibe in hallam is definitely a problem for him, in the same way it was a boost for his predecessor in 1997 (for whom i worked in westminster for one magical summer). hallam has a massive NHS, teacher and university professional class, one of the biggest afaict.

Students tend to vote in their home constituencies anyway, don't they? But I think Hallam was a special case last time round and will be again - there were people literally queuing up to vote in 2010. I'd guess on this occasion there'll be a lot of students deliberately registering there to ensure they're voting against Clegg specifically.

the queues at least as seen on tv were not in the student neighborhoods

but yeah, student turnout will probably be higher than usual

His local party will be moving heaven and earth to ensure he holds on to his seat, he probably will. George Brown had been Deputy Prime Minister when he lost his seat in 1970, he was only Deputy Leader of the Labour Party by then, and not even in the cabinet by then.

... two by thens

So, Farage dribbles a ton of racist crap, blames everything on ex-Communists, with a bonus swipe at foreigners coming over here and bleeding us dry with their HIV+ statuses, and still manages to convince 20% of those polled that he won that debate. FFS.

Nicola Sturgeon tonight: "If there are changes needing made in the European Union then surely the best thing to do is try to build alliances to make those changes, not act like a petulant schoolchild threatening to leave if you don't get your way, it's better to try to work together to get that change."

So in a way, you might say two groups could work... better, together?

like.. no way did The Sun have a pre-prepared front page or anything

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBnkPwmUgAAcyiU.jpg

the weediness of that tiny paragraph ("he lost his temper.. "), i'm astonished anyone falls for it. they've been kicking Miliband on every front page every chance they get for months. i can't recall anything like it before but maybe it's always been this way. they're obviously shitting it this time thinking they've backed the wrong horse.