The Sunday papers round-up
January 4th, 2009
Israel’s invasion of Gaza leads the broadsheets
Last night’s entry of Israeli ground forces into Gaza leads most of the Sunday newspapers, although the Mail on Sunday chooses instead to highlight the UK waste paper mountain. The Times, Telegraph, Observer and Independent all feature the stepping up in military operations by Israel, after several days of air strikes.
With Knesset elections still scheduled for 10th February, and Defense Minister Barak and Foreign Minister Livni leading Labor and Kadima into the elections, the domestic political angle is explored too, with the Telegraph examining the Israeli leadership’s “gamble of enormous proportions” over Gaza, as well as a profile of Tzipi Livni who is described as the “rising star of Israeli politics”, although she may well face a squeeze at the election between the (so far) improving Ehud Barak’s Labor and Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud waiting on the right.
Back in the UK, the Times reports that Brown is set to unveil a crisis jobs package, including massive spending on transport infrastructure (with a strong hint that Heathrow runway 3 will go ahead) and green jobs. Meanwhile the Telegraph reports on opposition to the plans for a second bank bailout, while Dominic Grieve has broken cover to attack the increase in the top rate of income tax.
The Observer has an interview with the Prime Minister who is described as being in a “determinedly upbeat mood” ahead of a three-day tour of recession blackspots and a jobs crisis summit with union bosses and business leaders. Away from the economic crisis, the Times reports that the Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police to hack into personal computers without a warrant.
Among the columnists, Michael Portillo declares that Peter Mandelson has opened a euro trap for Gordon Brown, while Matthew D’Ancona warns that like Winston Churchill in 1945, Brown might win the war, but lose the peace: “his shrewder strategists, especially Peter Mandelson, grasp that the perception of robust competence in a crisis is not enough to secure a fresh electoral mandate for the future”.
Alan Watkins focuses on a subject that is likely to keep commentators and PB’ers alike busy for a while, the timing of the next election, always a hardy perennial in a floating-term polity like the UK. By calling an early election, says Watkins, “Brown can save his party from total ignominy and leave No 10 with his head held high”.
“Mr Brown might, however, try to save his party, not simply from defeat. He might suffer a worse defeat still if he were to go on and on. This theory is gaining acceptance or, at any rate, a certain plausibility in government circles. Far better, these Labour people say, for Mr Brown to take an exalted post in the World Bank or some body of that kind after saving his party by maintaining a respectable, though not a winning, position.”
Later today on PB - the 2008 Forecaster of the Year results
Double Carpet
MessageSpace Advertising
Treacle Puddingth?
GO TO BED
The Telegraph reports “Borrowing costs could fall from two per cent to as low as one per cent this week in a bid to stimulate lending.”
Logically, reducing borrowing costs stimulates borrowing while actually discouraging lending.
Ask the banks.
“Far better, these Labour people say, for Mr Brown to take an exalted post in the World Bank or some body of that kind after saving his party by maintaining a respectable, though not a winning, position.”
Hmm ….. that 7/4 bet with Hills that Brown will be the first leader through the exit door, just looks better and better - even at the present odds of 5/4 it still looks like real value.
Mike, when planning PB’s 2009 Academy Awards Ceremony, please would you consider two additional voting categories, one for the spotter of the short priced betting tip of the year (the Shoo-in Award) and the other for the spotter of the long shot betting tip of the year (entitled the St Jude or even the Aston Villa Award).
Of course such bets should be real and reasonably available from a bookmaker rather than just £2 worth at some outlandish odds and there for a mere nanosecond with Betfair.
As well as providing some lively competition throughout the year, this would re-inject some emphasis on a key element of PB, where let us not forget, the “B” stands for betting.
O/T betting update.
For those following the American football “home underdog” tip, so far this weekend 2 of the 4 have won !
Surely Mike this is the most interesting political story of the day: in the MoS.
http://tinyurl.com/9nkgqz
Who’d have Adam & Eve’d it.
Seventh!
I just nearly ran over an ostrich.
6 It’s certainly a cracking portrait, but what a shame it’s to be hidden away in No 10, rather than in the NPG.
8 This is what happens when your laptop is on your lap whilst driving.
It now looks highly likely Franken will be Minnesota’s next senator.
8
I nearly froze solid. It was minus 9 here this morning at 7am
8. What were you doing driving down Downing Street?
There is a yougov poll, (of sorts) to muse over.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/04/fabian-society-poll-taxation-wealth
Brown smirking while refusing to rule out 2009 election
‘It’s the furtherest thing from my mind’
Our Prime Minister is a liar!!
And he continues the Nowt to do with me line.
Our Prime Minister is deluded!!
Brown in a weak interview by Marr says that “an election is the last thing on my mind.”
‘It started in America’, he should release a song.
Brown blames banking crisis on lack of global banking regulation - totally deluded.
He claims to have always been seeking global co-operation on banking - without giving any evidence -more stories.
15 & 17 I didn’t see the Marr interview, but it certainly sounds like Q1 2009 is certainly out and Probably H1 2009 also. I’m going to have another bite at that 11/2 against H2 2009 from Hills.
BTW, I don’t suppose Marr bothered to ask him about the Vince Cable/ Ming Campbell story did he? Nah, I thought not.
21. Not as yet, a few minutes left yet though.
He says that the effectiveness of injection of money into the economy must be judged over the next few months - so no election in H1?
The Times reports that the Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police to hack into personal computers without a warrant.
Reading between the lines it would seem that the police have no particular tools at their disposal, other than those available to the hacking community - ergo if you are protected against hacking (firewalls, antivirus software, don’t open attachments, etc) then the police will not be able to hack you.
23. Answering a different question as well I notice. The question was specific to VAT.
He says that things will go right due to the action that he has taken.
All of this endless election speculation is incredibly tedious. When Cameron gets in, along with all of his other constitutional reforms that he’ll being in, I hope he’ll go for fixed parliaments and that should take away all of this neverending election speculation nonsense.
25. That rather makes him a hostage to fortune.
Claims to have lower debt then USA, France, Germany and Japan and so UK is in a better position.
#26 As economists Reinhart and Rogoff pointed out in their recent paper ‘The Aftermath of Financial Crises’:
…one would be wise not to push too far the conceit that we are smarter than our predecessors
Now for the good news
Great deflation news for binge drinkers!!
Times Online: JD Wetherspoon to cut price of a pint to 99p
Britain’s biggest high street pub chain is to cut the price of a pint of beer to levels not seen since 1989 in a move likely to spark a price war. JD Wetherspoon, which runs more than 700 pubs under the Wetherspoons and Lloyds No 1 brands, will from Monday cut the prices of a pint of Greene King IPA and a bottle of San Miguel premium lager to 99p. A bottle of Blossom Hill rosé wine will be £4.99. The average price of a pint of beer today is about £2.75. We can all drink until pass out, so we don’t have to face reality!!
30. Not great news for teetotalers like me.
Trouble with Wetherspoons it’s full of smelly old men nursing pints for 3 hours are raging alcoholics. The food is microwaved and pretty inedible.
I’d like to see Roger in one mixing with his people.
26 “Fixed terms” are a nonsense. Ask Schroeder.
26 I didn’t realise the Tories had any policies relating to constitutional reform. Certainly nothing as radical as fixed term parliaments.
31 Some are quite good, and serve a good range of well kept real ale at keen prices. Some even have a decent short-order chef. However they do vary widely according to the management, the location, and the type of clientele they’re trying to attract.
re 14. That Fabian Society poll does not seem to be up on the YouGov website. It will be interesting to see the details because questions like whether people agreed that “those at the top are failing to pay their fair share towards investment in public services” sounds pretty leading to me.
A big reason why non voting intention surveys have to be treated with care.
28. Sounds a bit like Enron. Although much of it was off balance sheet. I just despair at the lack of deep thinking that is displayed not only on this but many other matters. The nation will pay dearly for such superficiality.
21 that should take away all of this neverending election speculation nonsense
GIN - it may be “election speculation nonsense” to you, but it’s food and drink to many of us - remember this is a betting site!
Ooh! By the end of the interview “last thing on my mind” became “…not the first thing on my mind” - the cynic in me sees that as the preferred formulation that he perhaps misstated earlier in the interview. Either way it rules out H1 2009, but perhaps don’t law H2 2009 too heavily.
I’m sorry to have missed yesterday’s thread because it was the most interesting thread for a while. FWIW, my thoughts:
* It can’t be called a Government of National Unity without the full engagement of the Liberal Democrats; the idea that Labour plus Cable = GoNU is laughable. It would be a defection, however it was presented.
* If Cable were offered CoE, Clegg would have to be deputy prime minister.
* It will be hard to sell this as a GoNU if the Tories are frozen out - though it is possible that a few tory malcontents could be persuaded to join it and give it a veneer of respectability. I don’t think that is terribly likely.
* Coming at the end of the standard 4-year term, this will strengthen the calls for an election - let the people decide if there should be a GoNU.
* I can’t see the Liberal Democrats going for this (at least not the full engagement scenario) at this point, given the shape of the electoral map and the damage it would do both to their activist and voting base to be seen to have hitched their cart to the Labour horse. Only senior tory involvement could avert that.
* Therefore, I don’t think this is likely to happen. I can foresee an attempt by Gordon Brown to try to create an enhanced GOAT which he will portray as as GONU, but I think even GB will stop short of declaring this without the full support of at least one, and preferably both, of the opposition parties.
35 Will Ladbrokes be offering odds on all 650 constituencies at the next election.
35. OGH: That Fabian Society poll does not seem to be up on the YouGov website.
The article’s trailing a report that’s out this week. I won’t believe the results until we actually see them, not the spin…
37 Reference to post 21 should read post 26.
14.
Its a poll commissioned by the Fabian Society and run by the Guardian, sets alarm bells ringing as regards to its reliability.
Gordon in the Observer promises action “to create probably 100,000 additional jobs over the next period of time”
Probably? so its still back of fag packet policy.
and then what is “the next period of time” - this month, this year, this decade?
re 39 I doubt it - given that the outcomes in at least 450 seats are almost total certainties and won’t affect the election outcome.
We don’t have to worry now the Govt. has found a brand new industry, to bring in as much foreign currency as it needs.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article5439440.ece
added to:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article5439441.ece
37. I’m sure you’d still have plenty of other things to bet on.
Didn’t see all of the Marr interview (watched from about half 9ish). I thought Marr actually asked some decent questions, but he allowed himself to be fobbed off, certainly didn’t interrupt constantly like he does with Cameron and never succeeded in getting an answer or a point conceded.
That Guardian article is interesting as it falls foul of a logical fallacy seen on here, that if most people blame America for starting the crisis they do not blame the government for making us vulnerable.
The two are totally compatible and Brown’s constant mantra that it is all America’s fault is not the same as the Guardians formulation that the public largely “blame America for starting the credit crunch”.
The may, and do it seems to me, blame Brown for leaving us more vulnerable than we ought to be.
Why, oh why is ‘y’ so shy?
ICM poll of 6 West London marginal parliamentary seats for Greenpeace mentioned in Sunday Times: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5439473.ece
The fieldwork is supposed to have taken place on 17 December.
This does not look as if it was the same as the December Guardian ICM poll which had fieldwork on 12-14 December: http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/pdfs/2008_dec_guard_poll.pdf.
It is quite rare to get a ‘proper’ national poll of such a small number of constituencies and the figures could be very intereting.
Presumably it is covered by the BPC rules and the underlying data should be published. Mike, can you get it from Nick Sparrow?
have Ladbrokes got any prices up yet for Sutton&Cheam or Carshalton&Wallington?
Both close Lib Dem/Tory marginals.
A CHARITY that has had more than £840,000 of loans quietly written off by a government fund has made two unlawful donations to the Labour party.
Catz Club, which runs after-school clubs for children, paid £30,000 to attend two Labour fundraising events at Wembley stadium. Charity law bans the use of charitable funds to bank-roll political parties.
Labour’s lax checks on donations were exposed in November 2007 by the David Abrahams scandal in which a series of gifts were made through proxy donors.
The party now faces scrutiny over the failure to check the legality of the Catz Club donations.
Brown’s going to be on the Gabby Logan show on 5live after 11. I wonder if he’ll be participating in their “news versus sport” segment…
51. Nice one - more corruption.
They are the celebrities whose advice about healthy lifestyles is deemed more credible than that of a doctor or government minister. Want to get people to stop smoking? Get Gary Lucy, handsome PC Will Fletcher in The Bill, to record video diaries outlining his struggle to quit. Looking for someone to convince more men to use contraception? Strictly Come Dancing winner Alesha Dixon, posing au naturelle, should attract their attention.
But the Department of Health, which increasingly uses actors, singers, television stars and sports personalities to convince the nation to adopt healthier habits, refuses to admit how much it spends on celebrity campaigns. Now critics have accused the government of “unacceptable secrecy” following speculation that stars are being paid up to £10,000 a day for their appearances.
The DoH has rejected a bid by the Observer under the Freedom of Information Act to find out how much money Dixon received for backing the Condom Essential Wear campaign, or the fee paid to model turned television presenter Melinda Messenger for helping to promote the 5-A-Day healthy eating scheme, or the amount paid to singer Jenny Frost for supporting its Breast Buddy breastfeeding initiative.
Officials confirmed that Frost, of the band Atomic Kitten, worked on the campaign for eight days and was “paid for public relations work, including interviews and personal appearances, as well as the use of her image on the pack sent out to young mums who sign up for Breast Buddy”. But the DoH refused to reveal how much the singer received, citing “commercial interests” as the reason. Disclosure of the amount would deter other celebrities from fronting such campaigns in the future, it said. One official working inside the department said Frost had received £10,000 a day for her work, but the Observer has been unable to verify that figure.
Dixon generated publicity for a contraceptive campaign when she posed in a bath full of condoms. William Scott, an FoI official at the DoH who confirmed that Dixon worked on the promotion for one day, said: “The total cost of the photographic shoot for the campaign was £30,000. This covered [the] photographer’s fee, Ms Dixon’s fee, other agency fees, production costs, venue hire, hair, make-up, props and sundries.” But he would not specify how much the singer had received.
Scott said that release of information about such payments would make it more difficult to persuade celebrities to work with the department in the future. “The department appreciates that high-profile individuals are very successful at communicating public health messages,” he added.
Last night MPs and the leader of the country’s family doctors insisted that the public had a right to know the size of such payments. “It’s good to work with people who are of a high profile. But given that it’s a national health service, we do have a right to know how much celebrities are paid,” said Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of GPs. “It’s just a shame that celebrities don’t give up their time for free to help improve the health of the nation. That would be a brilliant, public-spirited thing to do.”
Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrats’ spokesman on health, said: “In many ways the use of celebrities makes a lot of sense, but there’s no justification at all for secrecy over these fees. It’s unacceptable and ludicrous that the DoH refuses to release the amounts paid. It’s public money and we have a right to know.”
Independent MP and ex-hospital consultant Dr Richard Taylor, a member of the Commons health select committee, said: “I think it’s one of those kneejerk government reactions that ‘using a celebrity must be a good thing, let’s do it’. But does that work? I don’t think there’s any evidence that it does.”
47. Marr loves to brown-nose his Great Leader.
Never was a broadcaster so entralled with his master as Andrew marr. A right Pr*ck.
Frank Field trashes Labour’s immigration claims - the language he uses is about as close as one can get to accusing the government of lying.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5439490.ece
54 This is a tricky one: as an ex-Civil Service HR person I of course support the right of most people to maintain confidentiality about their income. The FOIA allows this as a reason for not divulging information and it sounds like the Observer put in a crap FOI request that was too easy to turn down.
What they should have asked for is the cost of each campaign, surely the advertising fees would have far outweighed the starlet’s time anyway.
55. Surely a “left” prick!
Just a small comment on this ‘probably 100k’ latest splurge as it also includes one of my greatest bugbears.
Why do politicians, GB is one who does it over and over again, use such annoyingly meaningless phrases as “next period of time” and “a number of years” - you hear it used over and over again in interviews with our MPs and it means absolutely nothing.
It could be 1 to 1000 and it is used all the time and interviewers left them get away with it.
I will die in the next period of time and I was born a number of years ago… great, it means nothing.
50 - if they do I might have a punt!!
Boris Johnson’s libertarian defence of the tube alcohol ban:
“I’m by nature a libertarian,” Mr. Johnson shoots back, “but I thought there was a general freedom that people ought to have to be able to sit on the Tube late at night without having some guy with a six pack of beer leering at them in a threatening way.”
56. It does seem ridiculous that the only group of immigrants for whom the Government is making it harder to enter the country are skilled migrants.
59. I wonder if this ‘jobs pledge’ isn’t very bad politics. Over the next few months, unemployment is going to rise very rapidly indeed, which will make Brown’s claims look hollow. The contrast between government rhetoric and reality will be enormous and will risk destroying utterly the government’s credibility.
Labour still seem to be stuck in the spin mode which has been the default setting for the last decade, believing that it is enough to make endless announcements and to appear to be ‘doing something’ to win votes.
That may have appeared to work in the good times, but in the current situation it looks utterly wrongheaded. The bank bailout - mendaciously presented as being likely to ‘kickstart lending’ and hubristically as ’saving the world’ - has already unravelled, and so will this latest wheeze.
Is bombing the shit out of Hamas not a ‘political solution’ then?
It sounds like one to me.
Sidney is clearly still feeling very sore about the very generous odds he handed out to Mike and others on Ming becoming the next Speaker - he has not yet put up any UK political markets.
re 50 - To check on betting on specific constituencies click the in the right hand column which reads CONSTITUENCY BETTING which will bring up this:-
http://politicalbetting.bestbetting.com/specials/politics/uk/next-general-election/constituency-betting/
Betting that goes through these links provides a small commission which helps keep PB going.
Its all posturing with Gordo, appear to be doing something. creating public sector jobs and yet more public spending is going to piss people off who are already fed up with an overblown state sector both in terms of spending and employees
re 67. Yep - I’m looking forward to the £3,300 I’ll get when Ming becomes Speaker. Not bad for a £100 bet.
Yesterday Ming wasn’t listed a an option. I called, asked for a quote, and got the 33/1.
The lesson - it always pay to get on the phone and ask.
Inspired by Benedict White, Martin Day and others I’ve experimentally started a blog, lazily using the default Labour blog system. The first entry is pretty much the sort of bland generalisations that you might expect, but people who like (or hate) my stuff may like to bookmark it:
http://blogs.labour.org.uk/nickpalmermp
Basically what I’ll be doing there is discursive stuff that’s too long and issue-oriented for pb.com and too unrelated to Broxtowe to be a priority for my local emails.
31: woody, that’s disgraceful wetherspoonisism. The Beeston Wetherspooons (The Last Post) is airy, pleasant and noted for decent food - it’s probably the second best pub in the town (after the Victoria).
BTW, the local supermarkets seem to be pursuing different price wars. Sainsbury has put out a range of new cheap lines, which basically mean that those of us who like microwave stuff (look away, Woody) have a fair choice for £2 a go or less if we want. I’ve not noticed that at Tesco, but they’ve slashed their fuel prices 3p below Sainsbury and everyone else locally - down to 93.9p diesel.
64: martin coxall, still trying to pin down that charity bet you (I think!) agreed to the other day - £10 on Labour going under 20% at the Euros. No umbrage taken if you’ve had second thoughts, but can you say yea or nay?
re 71. We’ll make a Tom Watson or a Bob Piper out of you yet Nick!!
Nick Palmer@71: Does your blog have an RSS feed? If not, no disrespect to the people maintaining the Labour Party’s custom blogging system, but you might be better off with a regular (free) blog from http://wordpress.com/ or somewhere.
73 Where do you get the 450 from. I guess 170 Labour, 200 Tories, plus 50 “certain” Tory gains plus 30 Lib Dems. Would that be right. Any chance of a link to all the seats given odds.
@72:
No, I wouldn’t welch on a charity bet Nick! What kinda guy do you take me for?
Can anyone tell me where the savings Darling promised in the PBRS is coming from. And come to that where the claimed previous savings came from.
“the Government has delivered £26.5bn of efficiency savings – exceeding the target set by Sir Peter Gershon by £5bn.
Building on this, at last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review, we committed to improve value for money, targeting a total ( spending reductions) of £30bn by 2010/11…. ”
I wonder how expanding the government payroll by 100,000 fits into this. Or are we into more dodgy statistics, double counting and triple announcements.
Or perhaps it is one of those savings where you spend more than you meant to but not quite as much as it could have been, so there is a ’saving’?
The idea that there can be global supervision of bankers is completely bonkers.
However Brown puts this up to distract attention from the UK. Gabby asks “how long will this recession last?” Brown says “it depends upon on how others act”. Again Brown deploys the distraction strategy.
Meanwhile R5Live get their priorities right (?) and interrupt the PM with a transport and weather report followed by BBC adverts …..
Good to see that the Left have a handle on the Gaza situation:
http://www.hurryupharry.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/london1.JPG
79.
This seems unbelievable !!
The Hamas government has placed dozens of Fatah members under house arrest out of fear that they might exploit the current IDF operation to regain control of the Gaza Strip.
The move came amid reports that the Fatah leadership in the West Bank has instructed its followers to be ready to assume power over the Gaza Strip when and if Israel’s military operation results in the removal of Hamas rule.
Fatah officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Hamas militiamen had been assaulting many Fatah activists since the beginning of the operation last Saturday. They said at least 75 activists were shot in the legs while others had their hands broken.
Wisam Abu Jalhoum, a Fatah activist from the Jabalya refugee camp, was shot in the legs by Hamas militiamen for allegedly expressing joy over the IDF air strikes on Hamas targets.
71. You must be lucky then Nick because the ones around here are terrible with food that makes me feel ill.
Might be the managers I suppose, if ever i’m in Beeston, i’ll have a look in.
80, does it?
Remember how charming Hamas and Fatah’s conduct to one another was during and immediately after Hamas tore through Gaza eliminating Fatah opposition.
re 75
http://politicalbetting.bestbetting.com/specials/politics/uk/next-general-election/constituency-betting/
100,000 new jobs created personally by Gordon…
paying companies to take on apprentices they do actually need and can’t actually use makes no sense at all - why train people for jobs that don’t exist and are unlikely to exist for some considerable time?
Green industries? no specifics - yet again
With unemployment likely to go up by several times 100K, this is not really going to make any significant impact
Typical Brown noise - not subject to proper scrutiny by patsy Marr
77. 84. What you can be sure of is that there is no new money behind this announcement, no new schemes, and certainly no new 100,000 jobs. It’s pure fluff, as usual.
Labour still think they can spin the recession away. Just look at Nick Palmer’s lame attempts to get us excited by hyping up the desperate price cuts firms are making to stay in business as if they were good news.
85
Yes it certainly isnt good news, food price inflation is well over 10%. Whilst they might be knocking 3p off fuel, hidden price increases are noticeable.(ie they only trumpet the offers) The last time I bought 1kg of own brand brown rice in my supermarket (a month or so ago) it was 88p. Now its 1.34
The papers’ headline today is: “Thatcher finds a permanent home at No 10″
Who says she ever left there? Blair, Brown and Major have essentially carried on the regime of unregulated institutionalised theft (with a backdoor ’share’ into party pockets) which she ushered in.
Nicky Campbell’s handling of the Gaza issue on BBC this morning (caricature spokesmen on both sides allowed to harangue each other without any obvious purpose or direction) called for a more serious and competent approach in future. Timmy Mallet perhaps?
There’s a trivial item in today’s Observer with potential to upset the political betting markets - Brown’s assertion that his new years resolution is to take up running. Of course, this could easily be dismissed along with the rest of the 3-page hagiography, but if Brown ‘delivers’, the chances of him being PM at the end of 2009 are significantly reduced. When a 58-year-old tub of lard starts jogging for the first time in 40 years the outcome is … unpredictable at best.
Morning All,
Another Brown / Marr interview. I fast forwarded through it as we already know the content - more meaningless platitudes, more blame evasion, another futile plea to another country to stop what it is doing which they will ignore, more ineffective, wasteful proposals (3 million unemployed, 100 thousand new jobs mostly for labourers - big deal!) and no doubt another attempt by Brown to associate himself with another great Conservative Prime Minister (why is it he doesn’t choose a Labour or Liberal Prime Minister?).
As for the rest - more stories of how Jackboot Spliff is creating a vision of 1984 in her own image (she should be sacked but perhaps even Gordon is afraid of her).
Then we hear that Gordon is going on a tour to gloat over his good works but wrap it up in the spin that he cares about his umpteenth crisis.
It’s a standard Sunday in Brown’s Britain and with the cold the future looks even more bleak . Now the one thing that would have brightened my morning would have been to hear Anne Robinson say:
“Gordon, YOU ARE THE WEAKEST LINK. GOODBYE!”
But I take it she didn’t seeing as she was sat on his sofa?
I have the Fabian report in front of me it says;
“Findings are based on initial analysis of research conducted by The Fabian Society: an opinion poll of 2,044 people conducted by YouGov from 28/11 to 1/12, and qualitative research consisting of focus groups with 70 people from a range of income groups, social and ethnic backgrounds, and representing a cross-spectrum of political beliefs and opinions, conducted in London, Bristol, Sheffield and Glasgow, between July and December 2008. The final stage of the research, to be completed over the next two months, will consist of deliberative workshops in three parts of the country as well as a further opinion poll. The research is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and is the part of the JRF’s Public Interest in Poverty Issues programme. The final report will be published by the JRF in 2009.”
85. “What you can be sure of is that there is no new money behind this announcement, no new schemes, and certainly no new 100,000 jobs. It’s pure fluff, as usual.”
Let’s think; the ‘new jobs’ and ‘green industries’ that’ll be the roof laggers again, surely?
92, probably. As runnymede stated above, with unemployment continuing to soar, even if 100,000 new jobs were delivered it’d be like a pint of blood for a patient whose had both legs blown off.
93, who’s*, I think. Whoops.
92. Or Labourers after all Gordon can’t let all the EU migrants go back home. He needs to keep them in work over here.
H1 2009 is beginning to look like The Weakest Link again.After a small flurry of most unexpected support it is on the drift again.
I just heard GB on Radio5Live ‘ruling out’ a 2009 GE.
Thought he came across very well and almost made a few jokes.
Hi,
I read this excellent site several times a day, but this is my first posting. Firstly I’d like to say the general prognosis of the comments have led me to re-sign on the electoral roll to ensure my vote counts when a GE comes (I don’t trust a thing Gordon says so I still think there is a chance of a H1 2009 election, although I am based in one of the safest Tory seats so I’m not too worried about the area turning ‘Nu-Lab’.
Also, reading the post yesterday about Vince C potentially being offered CoE and a Lib-Lab coalition was really depressing - politicians are so fickle these days - do any have integrity? I am beginning to long for the old die-hards such as Sir Teddy Taylor who put constituency matters and principles above everything else (mind, I don’t agree with all he believed in). So my question is this; are there any unsung political heroes still out there? Are your local MPs worth their salt?
96 I would not trust Gordo “ruling out” anything. If the polls are favourable (unlikey IMHO) he is just as likely to say that economic circumstances demand a new mandate.
89. Instead of ‘Jim’ll fix it’ it’ll be Jim Fixx.
And the sight of Gordon in baggy off-white shorts and trailed by a cardiac crew should be worth a laugh or two.
MTF @ 97.It is not a Question of Trust but of simply guaging the effect on the market short term.
Also,H1 2009 is now an expiring option as we speak.As each week goes by without an announcement,so the likelihood of it happening decreases.
Re; election timing- IMO- almost certain to be timed in with the Euro’s next year. There is no viable plan B for Labour, unless Brown goes even earlier.
I get the feeling there is beginning to be a consensus about next June with the expectation that the Tories will win with a narrow majority.
O/T- thoroughly recommend Che Part One. Superb depiction of a great man whether one agrees with his politics or not. Off to see Frost Vs Nixon later.
98. I think we can safely assume Brown won’t be becoming an exercise freak. I suspect this is just another attempt to improve his appalling image.
The contrast between this overweight, saggy-jowled and unhealthy looking oddball and the clean, healthy and vital image portrayed by Cameron must be a major headache for Labour spinners.
Cameron took part in a fun run along a freezing cold brook in his local village recently - eccentric, fun, active and very English. Can you imagine Brown doing something like that?
91. Crikey how self selecting can they be? Talk about manipulating the sample base to get the result you want.
91. Rowntree should have stuck to Kit-Kats, not the invariably rubbishy leftist research its Trust funds.
100..Guevara a great man? just another dead red.
81: woody, if you’re ever in Beeston on a Fri-Sun, let me know and I’ll buy you a drink there.
103. Quite funny when the released a report which said this:
“The social security system, and especially means-tested benefits,
contributes a large proportion of the incomes of some minority groups,
especially Pakistanis and Bangladeshis”
Its lefty hand wringing language telling us what we all knew about the scam of mass immigration, and thats its only purpose could be to wipe out the tories in inner cities.
Is Brown losing Polly’s support again?
100. Do you think Pinochet was a great man?
108…no.
109 Che has no greater claim for the mantle then pinochet.
101 - I’d pay a spectacular amount of money to watch Brown compete in that sort of thing. It would be like watching a blind man walk around Escher’s ‘Relativity’.
97 - Welcome! Always nice when lurkers come out of the shadows!
Decent, unsung MPs? FWIW, I’d suggest Richard Bacon from the Tory benches, and Nick Hervey from the Lib Dems. John Grogan for Labour is a decent chap as well.
Thanks for the welcome Morus. I always enjoy reading the informed views here and it is definitely convincing me to become more politically active, not just an armchair critic!
Melanie Phillips is in great form in the following blog:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/3204131/the-moral-battleground.thtml
Nothing more need be said.
“always a hardy perennial in a floating-term polity like the UK.”
Liked that description DC.