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

xp re choice... no, patients want to be treated as well as possible, as close to home as possible.

If I were properly sickly ill, the last thing I'd want to be stressed about is trying to choose a consultant/ surgeon/ whatever.

Also, I assume this info will be available online? if so then they're disadvantaging people (eg elderly / disabled etc) who may not have access to the internet or the appropriate research skills. More power to the people already in power, right? Conservatism in fucking ACTION.

Already saving money.

http://anmblog.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c565553ef0134856cc10a970c-500wi

Ah Bloxwich, land of my birthing.

She can't fucking write, though...

How much investment in schools?

200 million

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/economy/gfx/1956farthing220x224.jpg

She gets my vote for being In Touch and recognised for being hands on.

Putting a stop on more speed camera's

^ investment in education too late for her obv.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-10649459

This doesn't strike me as an inherently terrible idea if it were to replace student loans altogether, although I've no idea how one would go about actually implementing it.

Would still have to be loans for living expenses I think.

or they could just raise the higher rate of income tax to 50% regardless of degree or not, rather than wasting time and money on a separate tax scheme.

^^ exactly. but i guess that would upset the vast number of people on high salaries who didn't go to university.

^ but who benefit from the fact that lots of other people do.

Think the "vast" bit was a joke.

Glad tom has articulated what I've been internally screaming at the radio all day, anyway.

Tory peer Lord Taylor facing expenses prosecution

... errrr, what's he doing in the photo accompanying this story?

ya know that finger thing you do to make your eyes cross? He's trying to make both eyes face outwards.

Tough for this guy though, I mean, for years he was the only Black Tory and then David Cameron comes along, with his ideas for a modern Conservative Party, and now the Coalition benches are, uh, full of, ummmmmm, Afro-Caribbean, uh, MPs

fucking hell, zac goldsmith on channel 4 news this evening

someone should do a moaty on this assclown

Such a seething little pus-ball of entitlement.

Wow, that was a masterclass on how not to handle either the allegation or the tv interview. Total amateur hour stuff.

And you know he's going to be thinking - "well, that went well, completely vindicated"

He is definitely his father's son

Watching the above Zac Goldsmith debacle now, laughing/wincing/muting: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid62612474001?bctid=129204519001

Thought this kind of stuff normally waited at least a year or two into a new government, thanks for getting ahead of schedule

I couldn't watch all of that clip, it made me want to beat the shit out of the hateful entitled piece of shit.

car crash television

Think Snow let himself get stonewalled tbh

kinda true, but at the expense of Goldsmith looking like a slimy cunt, so I guess it all balances out.

I do wish I hadn't used the phrase 'slimy cunt'.

all that "you'd better watch it" stuff made me want to take a brick to the guy's skull. i don't mean 'guy', but the word im after is unfortunately gendered.

He is definitely his father's son

Absolutely, this reminded me of his father heckling David Mellor at the 1997.

all that "you'd better watch it" stuff

... which also pure Jimmy Goldsmith, "you don't want to mess with me" bullying tactics

Don't know what happened to the end of my sentence '..at the 1997 general election', as if you didn't already know that.

The Sunday Times has disclosed that the Conservative Party filmed pre-election cinema advertisements that portrayed a gay couple, in a shower "coming out" as Conservative among racy series with references to pornography and teenage pregnancy but were never shown. The newspaper claims that the advertisements cost £100,000 to make, while others say they cost between £300,000 and £500,000.

The films that were produced by advertising agency Euro RSCG reportedly included one particularly aimed at the gay community. It showed two "good-looking" young men in a sports changing room shower. One says "It feels so right. I am going to tell everyone." According to the Sunday Times, the other then puts a hand to his friend's mouth as part of an embrace and replies "I think I am too." The camera then pans around to reveal the two men's team-mates looking on "in horror", a Vote Conservative slogan is then revealed.

so the front page of the telegraph today seemed to be frothing abt how the govt won't install an anti-burkha law like the french have. i mean seriously, fuck that. if they ever set anything like that in motion you will not see me for dust, as i explore how long one can live in the US on an i-visa... is it even a thing?

if by "a thing" you mean "are there enough people who will support this shit/stand idly by while it happens" then yeah, I think it's probably a thing.

It's actually going to be quite a lot of fun watching the Tories' media treatment go from 'easy ride' turn into 'routine public savaging' in a matter of months. On TV at least.

ugh @ gove on Today this morning. "Why are you rushing through this legislation?" "Yeah well Labour did the same so whatevs"

Mr Cameron is also set to confirm plans to use funds stuck in dormant bank accounts to enable charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups to take over the running of public services.

IN ORDER TO TRANSFER OUT (GBP60 MILLION DOLLARS) FROM OUR BANK. I HAVE THE COURAGE TO ASK YOUTO LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND HONEST PERSON WHO WILL BE CAPABLE FOR THIS IMPORTANT BUSINESSBELIEVING THAT YOU WILL NEVER LET ME DOWN EITHER NOW OR IN FUTURE.

I AM MR. DAVID CAMERON, THE pRIME MANAGER OF BIG SOCIETY PLC.

Gove was repellent on Today. I was begging for Sarah Montague to tell him to stfu about alleged BBC bias (apparently asking questions constitutes bias) and defend the subject at hand. It's a bit early in the term to be resorting to paranoia about bias.

Bad planning on Cameron's part really, if you're going to be cutting something as emotive as schools it's a bad idea to put someone like Gove in the firing line because he's someone that everyone would dearly love to give a good kicking to.

On the other hand, maybe he's the sort of minister that PMs love because he acts as a lightning conductor for bad news (Stephen Byers is still the all time gold standard for this).

Phil Redmond onstage to introduce Cameron launching the Big Society this morning - what is it with these Scouse gits?

Having looked at it a bit more, bits of the big society are terrific ideas - lending money to groups to buy community pubs, for instance, and I'd be surprised if there wasn't something about football clubs in there as well. This government seems to be more pro co-ops than the last Tory govt and that's positive.

But crucially the whole thing falls down when they start talking about public services. "Farm it out to volunteers and hope for the best" doesn't seem like a good way to deliver anything that doesn't really have a business case. It might work in smaller rural communities but what exactly happens if and when these start to fail? There's a world of difference between running a local business and a public service.

Buying pubs is always a good idea

publican service

Buy them from whom?

The pen pushers in Whitehall who are trying to micromanage your local pub

It might work in smaller rural communities but what exactly happens if and when these start to fail?

I'm guessing there are some private enterprises ready to step in and help out. Big Society may eventually = piecemeal privatisation of *everything*.

That's the idea