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

Speaking at his monthly press conference in Whitehall, Clegg said: "You've got a Conservative party now who are driven, it seems to me, by two very clear ideological impulses. One is to remorselessly pare back the state – for ideological reasons just cut back the state.

"Secondly – and I think they are making a monumental mistake in doing so – they say the only people in society, the only section in society, which will bear the burden of further fiscal consolidation are the working-age poor."

Wow. maybe somebody should, like, try to stop them.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/david-camerons-struggling-single-mum-helptobuy-poster-girl-purchases-own-145000-flat-through-her-estate-agency-firm-9041091.html

That doesn't strike me as egregiously awful. The BMW is described as a company car and I don't think it's unreasonable for a recently divorced person with a child to struggle to put together a £25k deposit, or whatever, on their own. Less dodgy than people getting £600k state-backed mortgages with 5% down.

lol nv

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/06/law-to-stop-eveyone-everything

hadn't spotted this until now

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/06/david-cameron-barber-mbe-services-hairdressing

David Cameron's barber was awarded an MBE in the New Year honours list for "services to hairdressing", it has emerged.

I genuinely cannot believe that Clegg is stupid enough to believe that anyone will take that interview seriously as a point of differentiation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/09/fire-stations-close_n_4567663.html#slide=more332582

At Clerkenwell Fire Station, which at more than 140 years old is the oldest in the country, fireman Alex Badcock looked stricken as he walked out of the station gate, covering his mouth with his hands.
...
The fire station is set to be immediately converted to luxury flats.

&, of course:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/met-police-will-have-water-cannon-by-this-summer-if-boris-johnson-has-his-way-9046812.html

Clerkenwell Fire Station is full of firemen's flats which have remained empty for years, but is actually the nearest station to Boris Johnson's home. I hope that comes back to bite him in the arse someday.

What are the chances of some kind of funding related row between the tories and the police?

Already happening; google Tom Winsor and all shall be revealed.

When the riots began over that weekend, a lot of on-call police just didn't answer their phones and boasted about it on police blogs like the now-closed Inspector Gadget.

every time i think about posting another succulent Gove quote i end up coming to the conclusion that teachers kinda really enjoy being trolled

This is depressingly moronic:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01/10/chuka-umunna-eu-migration_n_4573691.html

that was a good question time that

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/new-nhs-drugs-policy-could-see-elderly-denied-treatment-9050297.html

New drugs will only be made available on the NHS if they help people deemed to be a benefit to society under proposals that prompted fears elderly people could be denied treatment

feels like we've been wasting the word 'fascist' all those other times we've used it.

otm. thats the grimmest.

As good as time as any to chime in with my monthly "I can't believe the Tories are actually as bad as the caricatures they've been drawn as for all these years"

Wider societal benefits would potentially also include things like reducing the strain on carers but this quote from Lord How's seems key:

We cannot simply spend more and more on drugs – this would mean spending less and less elsewhere. That’s why we have asked NICE to look at the impact that drugs can have on people’s ability to work or contribute to the economy and society. A drug that brings a lot of extra benefits may justify the NHS paying more, but equally the NHS might pay less for a drug that does not deliver wider benefits.

NICE has always had a cost / benefit analysis framework which has taken anticipated years to live into account and it's difficult to determine exactly how much of a change this is.

Lord Howe.

I am sometimes distracted from despair by the fact that in a tiny anecdotal sense this government IS alienating people who have voted Tory all their life. I have a good friend who actually stood as a Tory councillor once who is disgusted by the current government on so many levels, in fact he posts more anti-Tory shit on Facebook than everyone but my most marxist friend (that might be because I normally don't friend people who spam political stuff on my feed).

It can happen? Maybe.

NICE? seriously?

National Institute For Clinical Excellence.

Very New Labour name.

I am sometimes distracted from despair by the fact that in a tiny anecdotal sense this government IS alienating people who have voted Tory all their life.

Same here. I feel like there's a group of people who've always voted conservative because they equate political conservatism with principles such as tradition, morality and community. The free market/small government/rich get richer side of things was either covered up by these three or was seen to be inherently involved in them.

Now that tradition, morality and community have been disposed of (except as shaky catch-phrases) maybe this type of conservative voter will find what's left (the free market/small government/rich get richer side of things) unappealing.

The one group that the Tories seriously cannot afford to alienate is the older voter, but if they keep going after pensions and medical treatment for the elderly, they are going to do just that.

Huh. Should probably try and get 'death panels' going as a meme in the UK.

On the other hand, pandering to their core audience is likely to screw over the under-75s even more so you can't really win.

I was about to say that under-75s don't vote for Tories, but actually recent experience working in the banking industry shows that actually, many of them do, and the motives aren't traditionalism at all (or thinly dressed up, if it is) but greed. The greatest myth the Tories ever put out was that if you vote Tory, act Tory, think Tory, you will have access to the kind of privilege that Tories openly display themselves as having (both the wealth kind and the other kind) and when Tories flaunt their privilege, it's actually advertising for the Tory lifestyle, rather than the grotesque posturing we see it for. And if you don't get with the Tory program, you're just a chav and it's your own fault. Or something.

I have met a lot of socially liberal finance types who don't relish voting for them but probably will because they buy into the idea that they are managing the economy pretty well. It's not clear-cut greed, it tends to be 'I would like the country to spend more on social welfare but the economy just cannot sustain it' which, if they do win the next election, will be the message they win it on.

As good as time as any to chime in with my monthly "I can't believe the Tories are actually as bad as the caricatures they've been drawn as for all these years"

Some of us old bores have been saying it for years and getting mildly teased on ILX for it - but not recently

Like a banker would ever knowingly have contact with people who require social welfare? Economy can sustain welfare spending just fine (it's adding costs via third parties like Atos and other costs are going up in, say, the NHS that wouldn't be rising outwith cuts elsewhere) and I do not see how any intelligent person hasn't figured out the cuts are wholly ideological, a made choice rather than 'we have no choice'.

Would help if more than a handful of people in party politics or the mainstream press was making the case for that to be true. The choice seems to be between 'we need to make major cuts quickly' and 'we need to make major cuts a bit more slowly'. The idea that the country was almost on the brink of economic collapse and had to be dragged away from the precipice or go the way of Spain / Greece has been effectively sold and not effectively challenged.

The recession's been such a great opportunity for them – they've always wanted to do this stuff but now they get to pretend they have to do this stuff

It has occurred to me now I'm sober that aforementioned Tory friend is a history teacher so him being pissed off by the Tories is perhaps not surprising.

Big hearted Britain

fuck's sake

Why, why, is there nothing surprising about that?

Outrage fatigue? No rage left in the rage-pot?

want to see the actual thing before making a judgement (the article seems to be giving it a bit of a spin) but can't really be arsed.

i'm just jealous because i never get given any shopping vouchers for good/bad work

i do! amazon vouchers. and i got a cinema voucher for shooting that one guy in the face.

are you an escort?

The recession's been such a great opportunity for them – they've always wanted to do this stuff but now they get to pretend they have to do this stuff

― cardamon, 11. januar 2014 17:33 (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Whenever someone told me about Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, I would think they were way too conspirational. But it's exactly what has happened.

Shock Doctrine should be required reading for just about everyone.

Thank you, The Guardian.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/About/General/2014/1/16/1389904845298/Britains-Chancellor-of-th-009.jpg

nice one Labour!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25803006

Not even pretending to oppose Tories any more.

Tory spokesman zing otm:
"After 13 years of Labour running our education system, many young people looking for work do not have the English and Maths skills they need to get a job."

Problem is both parties then punish/blame the person with the no job and the poor education.

don't forget continuing to pursue the same fucked-up education policy that helped create the situation

They seem to have given up on the argument that one of the problems is that there are 100x candidates chasing after x jobs. Perhaps they should just have done and praise the Tories for creating all of these jobs that people are too thick and illiterate to do.

So what about this Costa Coffee thing. Wow.