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

Plenty of rich people don't pay any tax and they expect both votes and influence, just for breathing. And I pay UK tax in all manner of ways so where is my fucking ballot? Eh? Eh? Disenfranchisement trolling is *the* down-side of raising the annual personal allowance so that many of the working poor pay no income tax: after a while, some bright spark of a wingnut suggests they aren't contributing enough to merit the respect due Real Citizens.

IN OTHER NEWS apparently David Cameron appears on David Letterman tomorrow evening. BOAK.

Ian Cowie was named Consumer Affairs Journalist of the Year in the London Press Club Awards 2012. He has been head of personal finance at Telegraph Media Group since 2008, having been personal finance editor since 1989. He joined the paper in 1986. He is @iancowie on Twitter.

19 years for one promotion

It's infuriating that the LibDem conference still seems to regard Clegg taking the party into government as some sort of achievement rather than the result of both main parties being sufficiently unpopular. Literally any LibDem leader could have managed that.

Nick Clegg proposes to make it even harder for people from low income families to get on the housing ladder by making it easier for the middle classes to pay for their kids' deposits out of their pension funds, thereby continuing to prop up house prices.

There's quite a lot to unpack in that - apparently the reviled 'granny tax' in the last Budget was a LibDem creation as well. I suppose what Clegg is getting at is some kind of generational redistribution from the baby boomers downwards. But it's a political kryptonite regardless of the rights and wrongs.

Less bothered about low income or middle class families "getting on the housing ladder" as I am about them having decent and affordable rented accommodation, of which there's an acute shortage right now, especially at the cheaper end of the spectrum.

That's OK, they're planning on increasing rents to pay for cheaper rented housing...

perhaps if there were some kind of system where local authorities provided decent quality rent-controlled accommodation for people on low incomes oh hang on

The Queen lobbied the then home secretary to secure the arrest of Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical Islamist cleric who faces imminent extradition to the US, the BBC's security correspondent has said.

Frank Gardner said the monarch personally told him she was aghast that Abu Hamza could not be arrested during the period when he regularly aired vehemently anti-British views as imam of Finsbury Park mosque in north London.

gawd bless you ma'am for your unconstitutional intervention in the judicial process.

can't wait for the queen gawd bless er to sort out londonistan for good

lol xp

BBC apology to Queen over Abu Hamza disclosure
Breaking news

The BBC has apologised for revealing that the Queen raised concerns with ministers about the activities of the radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri.

The apology comes after security correspondent Frank Gardner told BBC Radio 4 details of a private conversation he had with the Queen.

'sorry for disclosing something of material importance to anybody vaguely interested in the constitutional process'

"sorry we revealed you interfering with BBC impartiality through the medium of revealing you interfering with the judicial process"

ver queen of h'england, wot a ledge

this fuckin' country

"you can say what you like about the queen but she only ever shivved her own. or ethnics."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-councillor-david-stephenson-sacked-over-dead-manchester-pcs-joke-8175322.html

assume they've decided to privatise the police force at this stage

letterman vs beluga head was critically dull

Poor David

http://i.imgur.com/iDsoW.jpg

so psyched that the ex-Labour party is looking for guidance to its spiritual leader, Disraeli.

Don't think that actually means much outside a convenient slogan. People like Cruddas are even talking about reclaiming 'Big Society', apparently not realising why Cameron never mentions it any more.

Obviously they're largely right-wing twats anyway at this point but this is more of a rhetorical landgrab, I think.

Talking about an EU referendum is the sort of thing that will get them thoroughly clowned later down the line, though.

it's a soundbite, yes. the stated aim of reaching out to all voters and uniting the nation is pretty clear indication that the pursuit of the couple of hundred thousand middle class voters who can actually swing an election is still the party's core "value" tho

the sheer gall of pretending that there's a common ground between individuals and companies that seek to maximise their profit at any cost, the idiot running dogs that support them, and um, everybody else is the sort of shite i'd expect from a Macmillanite too

"the NHS is not like the gas, electricity and water industries"

yeah because their privatisation has worked out really well, which you appear to be tacitly approving you ridiculous douche

saw Eddie Izzard briefly on Channel 4 news last night, hope he gets hit by something large and fast, soon

presumably every other former celeb Lib Dem will be finding themselves right at home with Miliband's shitshower too

Eddie Izzard's been a Labour True Believer forever hasn't he?

nah, he was shilling the LDs at the last election at least, he believes that all extremism is bad, mmmmkay?

"most people are centre left or centre right", he said, presumably unaware that the currency's been devalued to the point where being "centre left" in 2012 puts you somewhere on a level with Ken Clarke

sorry, i don't even know why i'm rambling any more, fuck this party, fuck this country, fuck this planet, peace out

xxp are you sure? If he was stanning for the LDs then he had a very subtle way of doing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1YtLMrPTD0&hd=1

i stand corrected. he's still a wanker.

at the labour conference, i witnessed tom watson and jack straw's son doing a karaoke duet to the kaiser chiefs

never voting labour again

(not, sadly, "i predict a riot")

'I predict a riot'?

lol xpost

i sounded grumpier than i am. i'm just done with caring about this stuff. i feel like uk politics has reached an endgame that's gonna remain more or less grimly unchanged until the sea rises enough or the food runs out enough and if that's what people are happy with then ok, good day to you ladies and gentlemen.

Pretty sure I've said this before but I'm pretty sure that politicians still cling to the idea of a "centre ground" (which has failed and very very nearly fell out below everyone's feet) because the bailout of the banks insulated many people from it, or at least massively slowed down the pain. So many people don't even realise the extent to which it's actually failed. Until that happens we're probably still stuck in this same holding pattern.

Also lack of imagination, lack of political courage, etc etc.

Cripplingly dull conference speech by Osborne, including Godwin's law-style mention of the Ps of E: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/politics/2012/10/george-osbornes-speech-conservative-conference-full-text

"We will finish the job we have started."

Oh please don't

What jobs that then? Ensuring that benefit claimants kill themselves in record numbers?

But just as we should never balance the budget on the backs of the poor;

So it's an economic delusion to think you can balance it only on the wallets of the rich.

T/S broken back vs. broken wallet... either way, it's Broken Britain folks!

Headline on front of last night's Standard: "WORKERS URGED TO GIVE UP RIGHTS." Never in my worst nightmares did I dream, etc. How the fuck did we get to this, allow this to happen?

They must think people are complete idiots. If the idea is that your employer is struggling to the extent that it can't afford basic employment rights, then why on earth would any sane person give up those rights for shares in it?

Obviously it won't be voluntary and some firms will probably hire entire workforces on that basis. Assuming this can clear every obstacle and legal objection on the way which I find unlikely.

How the fuck did we get to this, allow this to happen?

Ask Nick Clegg

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPELE JUST ALAJRLKJ ARL;KJKLA;WEJR LNMAWEL;RKJ LAKSDJR OPENING UP ANY SOURCE OF NEWS AT ALL IS AN IMPOSSIBLE SOURCE OF RAGE AT THE MOMENT PLEASE CAN I JUST BE PUT TO SLEEP FOR THE NEXT 3 YEARS OR POSSIBLY FOREVER IF THEY WIN THE NEXT ELECTION TOO.

Sorry I wish I had something more coherent to say any more, but just AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH.

Boris is cute, though!

i am currently at the tory conference. woke up this morning, blearily saw this headline, assumed i must have misread, straight into breakfast meeting where i heard dude from the CSJ waxing lyrical about this fucking policy! only barely a paraphrase: "why are we so worried about the ~perfect job~ when all young people want is any sort of job at all?"

so glad i was sitting next to a lady from unicef who was as outraged by it all as i was (she kept her cool admirably when fraser nelson told her off for linking child poverty to the cuts)

btw this is my 4th tory conference and the level of sheer...unpleasantness and smugness is way way above any previous one i've been to. was trapped in boiling room with daniel hannan yelling endlessly about europe for 1.5 hrs yesterday ;_;

uproarious tory laughter is one of the most unpleasant sounds known to men

I note they've taken this moment to pander to the Daily Mail and say its now basically okay to shoot whoever you want on your land.