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

alan johnson's tie is pimpin

I can't hear what he just said but Johnson was nodding and smiling in a "just dropped the best zing ever" way, and Miliband was gesticulating wildly from behind him.

miliband seems to be carrying on some sort of extended argument w/someone opposite him?

johnson vg so far!

Twitter seems to be 3/4 in favour of Johnson and 1/4 against. Apparently he is "bringing it".

johnson had clearly read that freedland piece. he started weak but it got better and then the radio cut away to the news

I was delighted to have to miss the rest of Johnson's speech so that I could hear the woman from You & Yours asking voters in Stafford for their garbled instant reactions. He may not convince as someone who knows the numbers back to front but he's king of the zing and he made all the right arguments (ie Freedland's) in the first five minutes.

King of the Zing is fine at the moment when everyone is reeling at the scale of the cuts but there wasn't much proactive to offer. In the longer term I think he'll be easy for Osborne to pick off.

We'll see. He's a much better performer than Osborne and if he's sufficiently well-briefed I think he'll do fine in HoC exchanges. But I can't see him driving Labour's economic policy behind the scenes.

Which I think is the point, Milliband doesn't want an economic 'ite tying him to the past.

Have a horrible feeling that a lot of today's butchery will tie him to the future tho.

so since I'm an asshole who only cares about things that affect me, what exactly does this:

increasing the age threshold for the Shared Room Rate in Housing Benefit from 25
to 35. This will ensure that Housing Benefit rules reflect the housing expectations of
people of a similar age not on benefits

mean?

It means nobody in their 20s can reasonably expect to live in their own place I think.

think it means you get fuck all in rent supplement until you're 35.

Doesn't bother me, I'm a middle-aged man with another 50 years of work to look forward to.

xp property crash over here removed that worry, at least. cmon over here, i'll get you a 3 bed semi-d for yourself if you want.

We've almost kinda semi got the use of a biggish place in Donegal if we wanted it but y'know probably will have to have a job at some point.

Just waiting for the balance to tip a little further until it looks the better option tbh

think it means you get fuck all in rent supplement until you're 35.

― cant believe you sb'd me for that (darraghmac), Wednesday, 20 October 2010 13:44 (1 minute ago)

well ya that much I got. Ah well time to move back in with mummy.

Donegal is the worst of the worst when it comes to prospects I think. They've always had unemployment rates much higher than everywhere else.

Damn near worth it to live in Donegal imo.

how does cost of living in dublin compare to the uk, big man?

who me?

you know more than me re: this, so yeah

never lived in Dublin tbh, but it's hellish expensive all things taken into account.

though i'd say property rental has probably dropped to something like a reasonable level now.

yay crossrail tbf

really? don't get why they have demolish a bunch of soho

i'd do that just for fun tbqh

Because Tottenham Court Road station was and is a total shithole, regardless of Paolozzi mosaics?

also a whole block at the top of dean st

are you opposed to crossrail because of that?

im pretty whatevs about it

nvr lived on the central line

new rolling stock had better be sexy or i'm going to be totes outraged, sick of the manky old 315s :(

I do live on the Central line but I almost never use TCR because if I'm on foot near there, I might as well walk the quarter-mile home.

OTOH there is one reason I miss bendy buses: free shuttle service from Centre Point. Sorry, but fuck 'tapping in' for three stops' worth of ride.

finally they came for the bendy-bus freeloaders
and by that time there was no-one left to speak up

LOLLLLLL, could be much worse: N29, anyone?

N29 is kind of pleasant as a bendy compared with the old days on the double decker.

when your bus is jam packed it's kind of nice to have 3 exits.

never 'got' bendy bus hate

no nice upstairs view, fewer seats, fucked up heating

tbf the lack of panoramic vista isn't top of my concerns first thing in the morning

vive la différence

bendy buses were fine. people hating on them must not have had very much else to complain about.

we do have pretty much perfect lives its true

think i preferred bendy buses tbh

more moderner

more room to stand up -- obvs would 'rather' sit down on a bus, but standing up on a double-decker, where there's no room, is worse tha standing up on a bendy, where there's more

osbourne consoled after being caught travelling 3 stops without beeping

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/10/20/1287587387285/George-Osborne-delivers-t-005.jpg

reminds me of

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/51285/thumbs/s-OBAMAECONOMIC-large.jpg

winchester school remix of that, maybe

st pauls

just a day boy iirc

Other Bullingdon members called him Oik.