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

This pundit suggests the UK horrorshow will dissuade the US from austerity measures, but I doubt it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/oct/25/economics-economy

Republicans get elected by promising "smaller government"; in office they tend to spend more than Democrats. They cut benefits and gut regulatory regimes so it FEELS smaller but it's more than made up for by corporate giveaways.

For the past 20 weeks I have been engaged in a very strange dialogue with the two noble Lords, in the course of which I have been trying to bring to their attention the willing availability of a strange organisation which wishes to make a great deal of money available to assist the recovery of the economy in this country. For want of a better name, I shall call it foundation X. That is not its real name, but it will do for the moment. Foundation X was introduced to me 20 weeks ago last week by an eminent City firm, which is FSA controlled. Its chairman came to me and said, "We have this extraordinary request to assist in a major financial reconstruction. It is megabucks, but we need your help to assist us in understanding whether this business is legitimate".

...

I found myself between a rock and a hard place that were totally paranoid about each other, because the foundation X people have an amazing obsession with their own security. They expect to be contacted only by someone equal to head of state status or someone with an international security rating equal to the top six people in the world. This is a strange situation.

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2010-11-01a.1463.8#g1536.0

wtf? he's just got one of those nigerian emails, right?

Fell asleep reading a Dan Brown book, more like.

haha what the fuck

is he just an old nutter? biggest lol comes after this guy has bumbled on for 30 minutes, ranting about "finding out the truth!" and some lib dem lord interrupts with "My Lords, back to the spending review..."

if someone is losing their marbles in a big way, why are they still ok to sit in the house of lords and waste everyone's time like this?

hundreds of years of tradition.

Something very lolworthy about this:

"Our ambition is to bring together the creativity and energy of Shoreditch and the incredible possibilities of the Olympic Park to help make east London one of the world's great technology centres."

East London is already full of Nathan Barley-looking cunts and I'm sure the Olympic Park has already got plenty of companies signed up for the tax breaks, so in my many ways this plan can't fail.

*in many ways*, even.

It's not an inherently terrible idea, but the notion that they all have to be in East London is presumably just bandwagon jumping after Cameron read that Silicon Roundabout story in the Standard the other week. Seems to overlook the fact that the UK tech industry isn't really clustered around Shoreditch.

for a sharp advertising mind such as Cameron Technology = Media = Facebook. Clever jonnies up in Cambridge curing cancer doesn't come into it.

gonna put plaistow on the map, then confuse everyone over how it's pronounced

Looking forward to buying a Ginsters at the "Facebook Garage".

better than the relentless garage

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11695416

a good thing, no?

depends how much poison comes with the sugar

Cameron's obviously got a few hooky tracks on his ipod.

So we'll get our version of the DMCA? With extending the recording copyright lifetime thrown in as well, I imagine…

Blimey, this doesn't happen very often. Woolas is such a cunt... I had no idea that Miliband had appointed him as a Shadow Minister with this hanging over his head, doesn't look like great judgement there.

Two High Court judges have ordered a re-run of this year's General Election

Only read that far and got excited for a sec.

Just me or has Ed Miliband so far failed to make any impression whatsoever?

Biding his time until the leadership election's over.

i know it shouldn't matter but watching ed in PMQs the other day all i could think about was his lisp and how childlike and callow it made him seem.

Unlike the elder statesmanlike gravitas that Cameron brings to leaning on a podium.
PMQs just makes me angry. Both of them need to get down to business.

They're both so so bad, I imagine them going over their lines beforehand and deludely going "lolol, this will kill him".

Seems to me EdM needs to definitely step up a gear or three and stop playing silly buggers. And, yes, fuck knows what making Woollas anything (let alone the fucking Home Office) was about. But, also, lols at LD's taking the high ground when it comes to campaigning.

i haven't been following the uk papers/radio since the leadership election, but my impression is that emills has been a bit of a damp squib. is that fair?

(not just at pmqs, more generally)

Problem is we only ever see him at PMQs!

Woolas should step down now but I don't suppose he will. I really don't understand his appointment. EdM knew this was coming, surely, he owes Woolas nothing - big supporter of his bro during the election iirc (except for haha - nominating Abbott at the last moment to make sure she got on the ballot) - and the man was hopeless at immigration (although tbf that's a no-win position for just about anyone anyway).

It's all very depressing anyway.

no, some media people think he's done better than expected

but they aren't, you know, against the cuts, not wholeheartedly

they're sitting it out and (i would imagine) slightly hoping it all blows up in osborne's face

meantime alan johnson is reading his economics primer (ha bloody ha)

speaker's office has confirmed woolas is no longer an mp.

Hoorah!

* waves bit of paper *

According to the Telegraph he's planning a judicial review of the decision. Just drag the whole thing out a bit longer why don't you.

the lib dems campaigned on basis of getting rid of tuition fees

In that particular constituency? Not going to go down well now is it...

Can E-Mili bump Woolas and put in someone less divisive? Not sure how that would look seeing as he's already backed him to some extent.

suspended from the labour party too now.

Gonna say, could Woolas stand again?

xposts, guess not.

he can't stand for parliament for 3 years

wonder how the by election will go guessing lib dem support would be somewhat er.. weaker than a few months ago.

According to Ladbrokes Labour are 1/2 to win.

To be fair to Emil, he is probly v. aware that the CuntDems are gonna see out another 4 and a half years and it's a bit early in the game to start dishing out hostages to fortune. Cameron was an amorphous fucker for at least his first year as party leader. Don't talk about specifics unless you really have to. Not saying this is any way good or right, but it is the game as it's now played.

I think Emily will have learned lessons from both William Hague and Nick Clegg actually. Hague cemented his public persona way too early and people never got over it, Clegg was virtually anonymous until suddenly bursting into public consciousness a bit too late. Cameron probably the right way to pitch it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/nov/05/nigel-farage-elected-ukip-leader

i figure if you leave yourself undefined you give your opponents the room to define you

There is that, yes...

though frankly that could apply to cameron at this stage as well - he's still kind of a question mark i think

should take a few leaves out of farage's book, that guy is serious business