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

LOL Southern Irishman

i don't even own a knitted sweater, for shame

I think the legacy of Cameron's party wrt Northern Ireland is one reason why it was harder for him to apologise in the Commons than it would have been for Blair. Obviously would have been a piece of piss for Brown.

Can always rely on Maggie:

'In 1998 Thatcher said she regretted signing the Agreement and said of Enoch Powell's opposition to the Agreement: "I now believe that his assessment was right"'

^ agree. The apology meant more from a Tory PM. We don't really have beef with Labour, tbh. Except on an individual level in my case, probably

(xp)

regretting something after doing it works both ways, thatcher might regret the AIA and tony can 'regret' illegally invading Iraq for no good reason.

But the Anglo Irish Agreement was a tad better than invading Iraq illegally

'works both ways'

mind you who was in govt when we were invaded illegally?

I blame Thatcher

Clearly a Blair policy tbh

BBC, Wednesday, 19 March, 2003

There was relief for the government after fears that many more of Labour's backbenchers would oppose Tony Blair's line on Iraq.

But the revolt among Labour MPs was still up on the last vote with 139 backbenchers opposing Mr Blair compared to 122 at the last vote.

Fifteen Tories defied their leadership by voting against the government.

Way to go Tories!

Tory natural tendency is to invade brown countries. 15 voting against is a bigger deal than ten times that on the Labour side doing, y'know, what a Labour Govt MP ought to be doing.

Straws *clutch* *clutch*

i dunno if that's true. have recent tory governments done that much invading?

clutching at straws- thatcher?

it was not a particularly serious point, this is not a particularly serious debate

Dunno, it's all very well and good but there were enough Labour MPs willing to forget their principles and do what the government told them for this to be a ridiculous argument.

Actually not sure there was any PM of modern times who committed to war more times than Tony Blair?

John Major. Little place called Iraq.

War on poverty, that was a doozy

Coalition have a new spin on that: War on the Poor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/06/alan-budd-george-osborne-shambles

anyway, i powerskimmed this, could be a thing maybe

Oh oh

Various ministers keep mentioning that Budd guy, like it's a incantatory spell or something

This is also relevant in light of the Budd thing.

The country tipping back into recession would be disastrous for the country but also for any attempt to cut the deficit. Given Osbourne's response to any warnings of this kind has been to stick his fingers in his ears and go "ner ner ner not listening" he could get absolutely castigated for it. And no one liked Osbourne in the first place.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/7/6/1278432681132

really beginning to question the incestuous relationship btwn 'the thick of it' and real life labour party at this stage

Squirm, creep, squirm

I just don't believe that there is absolutely no money for this! Surely they could reserve something for a couple of hundred of the neediest projects.

i was beaten daily schooled in portakabin classrooms for a great deal of my higher ed and it did me no harm.

then i got on my bike and looked for work.

If it was that much of a priority they'd raise taxes, or reallocate money from elsewhere. It isn't a priority, big surprise.

I recently heard that there was an incredible Thick of It moment at the Treasury not so long ago - Osbourne had commissioned someone to calculate the true size of the hole in the public finances.

They went away and worked on it for ages and came back going "erm, there isn't a hole, Alistair Darling was if anything too pessimistic, everything's accounted for" and the response was sudden panic and "what the hell are we supposed to do now? We've told everyone there's a black hole".

i was in portakabins during the lower-sixth

character-building stuff

xpost

grr

our entire school was just portakabins, tell that to kids today? they'd laugh at you.

I know, you had it so much easier in those days

they wouldn't hear you over their ipods

and they can't speak english anyway

it's all 'ting dis' and 'innit dat, bruv', innit bruv?

tru dat

And that's just in Ireland

1 tru ting you say bruv

KMT @u Blud.

The public library in my old town was a portakabin from when they tore the old one down in 1979 until the late 90s.

I wonder if that date range has anything in common with the new era of portakabin chic?

The internet tells me it was a portakabin until 2003. Had definitely been one for at least 20 years by then. Guess I'll take back my previous unfounded assertion.

I think Swindon public library is still a collection of several portakabins joined together (no longer very porta-, then) and has been since much the same time, but that's the kind of classy, literate place Swindon is, I suppose.

well i was in portakabins in 1996–7 (see above). returned in the autumn and we had buildings. for this tony i thank you.

It was initially expected that Mr Gove would write an apology to the Speaker of the House of Commons.

But Labour's Vernon Coaker has called for Mr Gove to make the apology in person.

Speaker John Bercow echoed this suggestion, saying it would be "more helpful in these circumstances and perhaps more apposite if the relevant minister were indeed to seek to come to the House to make this statement".

Bercow strikes again! :)

why Lab didn't run w this in the general election I don't know. who could look at it and not go DIE DIE DIE DIE.

― dead flower :( (Pashmina), Monday, July 5, 2010 4:53 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/06/daily-mirror-david-cameron-bullingdon-club

gillman and soame have an almost total monopoly on group/matriculation/graduation photos in oxford afaict.

The photo has about the same impact as the one PE used to print of Andrew Neil at every opportunity. i.e. none. Still makes me lol (even if it's a rather hollow lol nowadays) though.

what pe photo of andrew neil?

in the strong vest with the azn chick

they still print it at every opportunity, actually.