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

Who trusts politicians??!??!?!?

Depends on your definition of "trust". If you mean "believe everything they say", then no one, if you mean "having faith in them to run the economy/NHS/school system" then, erm, it's kinda important.

Of course, just makes me squirm to hear any politician/ policy wonk/ prick blabbering about trust I suppose

i'm off to start a revival of the Rote Armee Fraktion, have fun guys

I feel like everyone on the left EXCEPT Labour policy advisors ought to be listened to by Ed Miliband. Or just "listen" to the Labour policy advisors and then save yourself the hassle by binning any produced report.

So basically Cameron's running the NHS and the Prison Service himself now, what's next? Universities?

I dunno, it should've been screamingly obvious to them which way most of the country thinks (ie, basically like this) and in the 70s and 80s a significant proportion of yr traditional Labour vote would've leant left on economic issues and right on social issues. These are the people that Blunkett/Straw/Clarke were pandering to all along. It's also a part of the electorate that can be quite easily distracted by Cameron talking tough in the right places.

The challenge should be to communicate to these people WHY certain things are in their interests, but there doesn't seem to be much appetite for that.

next thing you'll be telling us political parties shd be activist and attempt to lead public thinking rather than just doing a bunch of market research

Can't find a dedicated phone hacking thread...all sorts of fun details in this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/08/phone-hacking-kate-middleton-tony-blair

According to journalists and investigators who worked with him, Rees exploited his position as a freemason to make links with masonic police officers who illegally sold him information on targets chosen by the News of the World, the Sunday Mirror and the Daily Mirror.

Some police contacts are said to have been blackmailed into providing confidential information. One of Rees's former associates claims that Rees had compromising photographs of serving officers, including one who was caught in a drunken coma with a couple of prostitutes and with a toilet seat around his neck.

ah we've all been there

Conservative MP Nicholas Soames told MPs he had known the Duke of Edinburgh for 50 years and considered him "the most exceptional man of his generation" and said MPs felt gratitude, respect and pride for his service to the UK.

No-one can bow and scrape better than an old fat tory MP.

ah my MP, can feel my heart swelling with pride.

he can't feel his swelling with heart disease because it's already in its later stages probably

so which 46-yr-old tory mp is being held on suspicion of sexual assault then?

god not Dorries again

andrew bridgen i think he's called. it's on PM.

oh the bbc "understands" that it is andrew bridgen (who?)

i was hoping it was nadine dorries

lol xps!

Bridgen, sort of Northern + right wing? LOL who isn't right wing in the Tory Party these days... apart from Ken Clarke

This past week with the squabbling, flip flopping and now this feels very like the dying embers of the Major administration. Unfortunately suspect it's going to be like this for a few more years.

yep, 90s revival in full swing, better start taking bets on which tory mp will accidentally hang themselves while dressed as dorothy from the wizard of oz

This Bridgen bloke is the next MP along from us (NW Leicestershire). He's mostly famous for not doing much, although I remember him sticking up for those B&B owners who hated gays (although that was before he was an MP iirc).

Oh yeah, and NW Leicestershire is one of those places that are about 99% white and are obsessed with immigration - there was a BNP councillor there until last month.

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2011/Jun/Week2/16009104.jpg

Andrew Bridgen must be really upset at missing out on his first Telegraph front page.

It was nice to believe, just for a while, that Ed Miliband wasn't going to be another craven cock who would capitulate to the right at any given opportunity, even it it was naive.

who would believe a guy who shafted his own brother would be of poor character, crazy

Agreed, BBC headline says it all - You scrounging bastards don't vote anyway so why should I give a fuckLabour not party for benefit cheats - Ed Miliband.. He did (sort of) slag off 'fat cats' but no-one's going to read that far down. Also the end of the speech was just the worst kind of meaningless pap.

So fed up I must put this pic of Eric Pickles here just to cheer myself up.
http://politicalscrapbook.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/pickles_eric_1987.jpg

This latest thing is cockish but is pure politics, i.e. there's no danger of any of these ideas (i.e. tying housing benefit to employment history) seeing the light of day, is there? But yes it's worrying to realise that THIS is the type of posturing they think they need to be doing right now. WTF.

I think the moment I knew EM was not cut out for greatness was when I saw him being asked whether he believed in God or not. It wasn't what he said, exactly ("No, I don't"), as how he said it. As if he'd been caught out being naughty.

i.e. there's no danger of any of these ideas (i.e. tying housing benefit to employment history) seeing the light of day

Not sure it's necessarily pure politics, there'll be a lot of senior people in the Labour Party saying that's exactly what Miliband should be doing. Not to mention the chances of the Tories going "yes that's a great idea we're having that" and then implementing it to wrongfoot Labour.

That Eric Pickles thing is a chilling cautionary tale I must admit.

The big lad's done well to keep gaining an extra 3kgs per year.

I feel slightly sorry for Eric being in a ismilar situation myself after years of pie chomping but then I remember he still goes on about 'winterval' and 'bin snoops' and I think, fuck him. All the photos of him now look like he's actually got something stored away in his mouth in case he gets peckish in Cabinet (where I am sure they frown on you if you bring in a slice from Greggs).

who would believe a guy who shafted his own brother would be of poor character, crazy

Well, his brother was David Miliband.

Professor Susan Hallam, the research project's leader, said: "Given the current emphasis on social mobility it is surprising that so many children are streamed at such a young age.

"We know that once in a stream the opportunities for movement to another stream are limited so life chances are being determined at a very early age."

Previous research has suggested streaming pupils does not raise standards, and can damage pupils' social development.

Prof Hallam described it as a "blunt instrument" which she thought had "pretty much died out". However, she did acknowledge it made teaching easier.

Former chief inspector of schools Sir Chris Woodhead said he was surprised and delighted schools were streaming children again.

"It seems to me that streaming is rather a good thing," he told the BBC's Today programme.

Just like to remind everybody that Woodhead is still a vindictive Tory cunt.

Disappointing that he's still well enough to appear on the radio.

Balls OTM:

When I myself spoke at Bloomberg, a few weeks after the Chancellor, I explained my concerns about the state of the economy and about the impact that George Osborne's decision would have on jobs and growth.

I was - and remain - deeply suspicious that he was using the imperative of deficit reduction as convenient cover to drive through a deeply ideological programme of cuts to public services and the welfare state.

But since then, I have become more convinced that George Osborne's plan was primarily about electoral politics - rapid tax rises and spending cuts chiefly designed to fit a political timetable that:

- gets the pain over early;

- makes Labour take the blame;

- uses the Liberal Democrats as a human shield;

- hoping to store up a Tory war-chest - bolstered perhaps with the proceeds from a quick sale of Northern Rock - to cut income taxes before the election.

probably worth unpacking your abbreviation & enjoying getting to type out "Balls On The Money", since you have a chance. obviously agree w/the above, i don't know if he's been great at persuading people of this yet though?

That's a no-brainer to those of us who actually pay attention, but merely pointing it out isn't really going to win any votes.

yeah the great thing about tax cuts is that everybody knows what you're up to but most people are more than happy to be bribed

I think Balls is a bit annoyed because the Tories are just better at this sort of thing. Labour in office spent a long time focussing on making themselves difficult to attack from the right while at the same time being excessively cautious, which meant they'd do not much for a while and then start dropping unpopular and pointless shit with an election campaign looming.

Using the LibDems as a human shield is a good line though, unless a furore blows up about it being disrespectful to actual human shields.

not sure human applies to Lib Dems.

so glad that the Labour Party's finally dead and i've got some closure to naive notions of parliamentary democracy ever making this country a better place.

Some John Cleese quote about despair and hope or something here.

Tories use "Shock and Awe" tactics on spending cuts.

Also Balls going "we are governed by right-wing ideologues who don't care about the economy and by the way CUT TAXES NOW!" is not really going to wash.

- makes Labour take the blame;

so unfair! it's almost as if labour actively encouraged the reckless bubble-economy of the 2000s or something.

And Ed Balls had nothing to do with it

Labour will surely win over the public by adopting voodoo-economics (not that there aren't reasons to roll back the Tory increase on VAT, just not the ones that Balls has suggested.)

ohoh http://pastebin.com/K1nerhk0

Crikey