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

That's about the only notable thing he's done in his entire career

Shit like this makes my blood boil, reminds me why I hated so many of the last government's Home Secretaries.

http://www.specialweb.com/original/icons/thumbs_down.gif

Mehdi Hasan
Did the Israeli army sexually abuse Palestinian children?

ah, good old new statesman

I cannot find any reference to this story, or any follow-ups on the allegations, on any mainstream, news websites, perhaps because the claims are "uncorroborated" - or, perhaps, because of the pro-Israeli bias of much of the western media.

better get lorax on the case

"Moslem"

the model on their 'france turns right' cover is looking to their left, nice work guys

and yeah lol at 'pro-Israeli bias'

the model on their 'france turns right' cover is looking to their left, nice work guys

LOL, couldn't-make-it-up etc

We're all in this together

You've lost your job, now buy the t-shirt

limited shelf life surely

Reverse says "Blame him, he voted Lib Dem"

With the arrow, obv.

Getting sick of the Tories hijacking a perfectly pleasant High School Musical song.

Nu Old Nu Labour need to hit back, maybe something from Hairspray? "The Nicest Kids in Town" sounds like a winning slogan.

what, "Stick to the Status Quo" ? (xpost)

I'm not sure I care very much about the Queen's speech but can you imagine if the last gov had tried it?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/13/government-cancels-2011-queens-speech

Look forward to Peter Hitchens going mental in the Mail about the destruction of our ancient constitution and liberties.

That gives the coalition a very long time to get a lot of controversial and unpopular policies through the houses. Dodgy as fuck.

"In order to save democracy it was necessary to suspend democracy"

The first of the two walkouts could disrupt coverage of the Conservative Party conference while the second would fall on the day the government publishes the details of its planned cuts to public spending.

This will end well for the BBC.

anyone in the bbc on a permanent contract who thinks they have it hard can fuck off and die imo

eg anyone i know is on rolling or 6 month contracts max, and doesn't complain if they are asked to do something or the paperclips are changed or their chair allowance is revoked or whatever the hell...

anyone in the bbc on a permanent contract who thinks they have it hard can fuck off and die imo

― I see what this is (Local Garda), Monday, 13 September 2010 23:09 (14 minutes ago)

this a precursor to the coalition's eventual policy in which everyone at the bbc will be asked to fuck off and die

they should just do a logans run style cull, pretty much guarantee anyone who supports this strike is a lifer/the typical whingebag anyone in the beeb who actually wants to do their job has to suffer on a daily basis.

R, that actually sounds a little bit Thatcherbaby.

"a little"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEeCh4d9wIw

... and people wonder why I left.

I think that fellow first got involved with local politics when he was disallowed from putting a flagpole in the tiny front garden of his little Sidmouth guest house ("Fawlty Towers", honestly), and he responded by painting the whole front of the place in the colours of the union flag.

He initially stood for the Monster Raving Loony party, I think. Certainly he stayed involved with various Loony splinter groups for some time. He's a Tory now, I see. There's a shock.

OK, I'm confused.

Is it that the BBC is institutionally left wing, or is it the unions?

The way the Daily Mail is reporting it, is that the unions are saying "We Strike" and the management are going "Splendid! Why not pick two days when the conservatives are outlining their brave new world to the masses? Then NO ONE WILL KNOW!!!

BBC burying their strike on a bad news day vs Tories burying their bad news on a strike day.

Disagree with the timing, the Tory Party conference needs to be covered in full. They were under-scrutinized when they were in opposition, much of the rest of the media will give them a free pass, the BBC needs to be there and at the top of its game if people are going to stand a chance of making up their own mind. Overshadowing it with a strike plays into their hands somewhat.

Well, exactly.

One reason I don't buy it.

It's more depressing it's taken hardly any time to become the govt of Hit the Unions, and "They're trying to PREVENT our VOICE because they know we're RIGHT"

^^^The only rational disagreement to striking that I have read thus far. xpost

And actually walking out on the day the spending cuts are outlined in detail is even more wrong, and totally counterproductive. Get the message out there, people are going to hate it.

A Liberal Democrat speaks...

Bob Russell MP, House of Commons, 13/9/2010

"If the Chancellor wished to give a full statement to the House, he could have done so last week rather than giving a cursory one to the BBC and having to be dragged here today. I acknowledge that 75% of the cuts are Labour's cuts, but we have not as yet had the spending review. Clearly, none of the cuts will affect the quality of life of Members of Parliament, but they will certainly affect the disadvantaged in society. We know that there will be higher food costs in the coming year, and other costs will rise. I have no time for the welfare cheats, but to try to blame this country's financial ills on that small category of the population is unethical. It would be more ethical to act with equal determination towards those who cheat on tax, whether it be income tax, value added tax or corporation tax. There is now a whole industry of financial experts advising people on tax avoidance.

The turf war between the Chancellor's office and that of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is somewhat immature. Children living below the poverty line and people on low incomes, the disadvantaged in society, do not want this fun and games, they want fairness."

Best thing I've read this morning is the PDF of Grant Shapps' "new approach to producing rough sleeping counts and estimates". The Big Society approach amounts to "don't bother counting, just guess".

anyone in the bbc on a permanent contract who thinks they have it hard can fuck off and die imo

― I see what this is (Local Garda), Monday, 13 September 2010 22:09 (Yesterday) Permalink

eg anyone i know is on rolling or 6 month contracts max, and doesn't complain if they are asked to do something or the paperclips are changed or their chair allowance is revoked or whatever the hell...

― I see what this is (Local Garda), Monday, 13 September 2010 22:10 (Yesterday)

Industrial action to defend pensions and working conditions Vs Boasting about how far ahead you are in the race to the bottom

eg anyone i know is on rolling or 6 month contracts max,

Uh... good for you... uh, I think?

Won't somebody please think of the badgers?

unprincipled fucks. all for state intervention when it suits them -- ie killing hundreds of badgers. psychos.

badger radge repository

Brock-en Britain

The cullolition (ok, needs work...)

"The government has set out plans.." OH HO MY SIDES

Apparently, "to gain a license farmers must cull over at least 150 square km to prevent badgers simply fleeing the cull area". That's a huge area and is likely to represent tens of badgers in each instance. This government was always likely to be in cahoots with the NFU though, considering Caroline Spelman's close ties with them.

it's not thatcherbaby to point out that a huge amount of the people affected by the pension issue are not good at their jobs and sustaining them is a waste of public money, you should all work a few weeks in the english regions. it's just how it is.

i support the bbc hugely in terms of what it does editorially but i'm sorry, if these people leave due to this pension issue then all the better, the beeb has way too much deadwood on staff contracts, they have endless unused downtimers who are replacing younger people who actually want to be in programme x, y, z. it's a total mess.

i'm not supporting license fee cuts and god knows the top level of the beeb could save endless money to support the rank and file too but there are v few people in the younger gen in the bbc who can even relate to the strikers. and it's not a matter of just supporting them because it's a strike for working conditions, the sense of entitlement is alien to anyone who is used to modern bbc already...it'd be nice to go back to a system where they doled out permanent contracts endlessly but it wouldn't be right.

Big hearted Nick

Gotta love that phrase "compensate the poor for their predicament"

That's because they're not embracing social mobility tho. As Nick Clegg said in a previous speech everyone agrees social mobility is a good thing. (spits).