Be Excellent To Each Other

good, long, piece by A Campbell on Trump, Brexit and the successes of the campaigns.

Good read, that.

The stuff nightmares are made of.

Whilst I don't disagree with much he says there it still seems a bit rich for a fucking spin doctor, a hired bullshit artist, to be moaning about post-truth politics.

Quite.

I literally refuse to voluntarily read a single word of that man's output.

Man, this "I agree with Mark" malarkey has to stop.

I need to stop agreeing with Myp...oh, we've done that.

I know it sounds a bit bad, what with Labour in derisory 4th place in a by-election, during what should be a time of mass protest against an at-times shambolic government, but hey, it's not all bad.

Corbyn and his team *absolutely trounced* the Bus Pass Elvis Party.

"Sleaford and North Hykeham" sounds made up, the sort of constituency one of Berties pal's is being made to run for by his uncle in order to keep receiving his allowance. Also, 37% turnout is bloody awful, isn't it? I know By Elections rarely have high turnout, but that sounds really low.

It's awful. But, here we are.

So you've never heard of the Sleaford Mods?

YouGov:

CON 42 (+3)
LAB 25 (-2)
LD 11 (+2)
UKIP 12 (-2)
GRN 4 (=)
SNP 5 (=)

4th-5th Dec
N=1,667
Tabs/writeup https://t.co/8GjwWGWaVe

Lowest Labour in opposition since '83

The Lib Dems are on the rise!

Margin of error notwithstanding.

Corbyn's starting to make Michael Foot look good - all as predicted.
I reckon the Tories will hit 50%, seriously. Labour's decline should bottom out at around 16%.

I hope so.
I'd love to see Labour annihilated out of existence and the Lib Dems massively stronger. I thought the Con-Lib coalition was awesome, far better than this Con govt. for my tastes.

I actually voted LD during the GE before last.

If people see Brexit (or whatever actually happens) as going well, and Corbyn keeps Corbyning, I think you're right and Labour may well get stomped.

Also, don't knock the Bus Pass Elvis Party. They speak a lot of sense regarding corporate power on our High Streets, animal welfare, rural infrastructure and amenities, and the installation of Euthanasia Booths in Wetherspoons.

I voted LibDem in 1997, 2001, and 2005. But after the reduction in 2015 from a party to more of a cosy soiree I think it's far too soon to roll out the banners.

Don't you live in Tatton?

Not far off....

You is on fire, dude. On fire I tells thee! *applause*

Twatton?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 65271.html

Brilliant. I can't see how it could possibly work, but I love how angry it's already made people.

It's a very odd thing for them to be saying, because what they're effectively offering is non-reciprocal freedom of movement, which is completely counter to what their prior position has been.

They're also saying it is just a part of the negotiating stance; an option we can choose to take up that would likely come at a cost of some kind.

At first glance this looks awesome, could be a bit of a master stroke.
We'll have to see how it all pans out, but on a prima facie basis...

Not sure what you're trying to say here… Would you rather the LibDems fill the opposition role in the absence of a functioning Labour Party, or just have another (far larger in seat count) Tory/LibDem coalition?


I've never voted LibDem before only, Labour. But I've since become a single-issue voter now, and as the LibDems are making the right noises on Europe at the moment, they are currently the party I'm most likely to vote for next time. (No, I still don't really forgive them for the coalition.)

I think you're assuming what a lot of people assume, which is that Cavey is a Tory voter.

Much like he mistakes everyone who disagrees with the Tories as staunch Labour devotees

Though AFAIK he usually does vote Tory?

We went for a 20 week scan yesterday and all is well

When we went for our first son at 13 weeks pictures from the scan were free, the next time we went at 20 weeks they were a £1 each

Now the pictures are £3 each and you have to buy them at a touch terminal before you go in.

I never really minded buying them as I don't see why the NHS should buy me pictures they are already doing enough checking my unborn child's heath.

When we had the scan yesterday it was done by a guy who was really nice and plain talking , he was also a locum so didn't mind tell us what he thought of the payment scheme for pictures.

He told us that all the equipment and cost of the paper to print the pictures comes from the NHS, then they have contracted out the touch screen device and money collecting to an external company.

The NHS see less than 30% of the money collected, he has a mate who works in accounts at the hospital so said this was a accurate figure.

On top of this most of the staff think that the concept of charging people is out of order so just give pictures for free or give out more that people pay for.

We got there yesterday at the last minute as the car park was busy so didn't buy any, he still gave us 3 as we left!

The NHS don't appear to be able to collect easy money, sure if they had some sort of card machine on the desk where you sign in they could get a lot more income from the pictures!

It was also a similar story when my son was born, I booked a private room after he was born for my wife to rest at a cost of £100. When we let nobody had a clue that we had been in there, so I asked to pay and where the card machine was. They looked at me like I was mad.

4 months later I got a bill, I had to dig my cheque book out and post them the payment.

Mick Whelan typified everything I distrust about unions on R4 this morning.

Unpopular leader says the party is unpopular because he is unpopular within party and this isn't popular but Abbott says it will get better.

Yeah, it's well beyond parody now (gutted ). Surely all but the most grievance-blinded and/or top-percentile addled S.E.Ls would have to concede that, all as long predicted here of course, Corbyn has been - and remains - an absolute car-crash (in fact, probably the worst disaster to befall the Party in its entire history). Oh, and there's precious little sign of this so-called "appetite for more left wing politics in the UK", either, quite the opposite in fact.

Oh well. I'm sure his latest stroke of genius, employing an ex Sinn Fein staffer as "head of stakeholder engagement" (whatever the feck that means) will go down an absolute storm, yeah?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12 ... byns-team/

Oh no, that's right, ~20% polling beckons.
It really is becoming harder to believe each day that he's not basically just trolling the electorate for lols? Time for you to "cross the floor", Mali.

Mate,it gets better...

Now, my MP is Philip Davies, who some think is a bit of a clod. I don't want him as an MP. I voted Labour last time. Labour came second in Shipley. Shipley Labour are very pro Corbyn. I will not vote Labour with C-Bomb and his cronies at the helm. I will vote Green, instead. So, Davies gets a bigger majority.

Ah, the Guardian - purveyor of laughable black-is-white, wishful thinking garbage as ever... "ride the populist wave to beat the Tories" when said Tories have never enjoyed such support, 20-points clear of Labour and increasing further. It is *they* who are riding the wave, not bloody Labour - they're all washed up, and good bloody riddance the useless twats. Perhaps people have already grown tired of their "reinventing" themselves over the years? (Certainly, they've grown tired of the dire consequences arising from the last incarnation that held power).

Corbyn's constituency of S.E.L.s and tea time revolutionaries account for a very small fraction of the overall electorate. Most of the sensible grown ups - the stakeholders of this society - lean towards the centre and centre-Right.

Take me for example: I have no idea who Labour are any more. I dared question JC (LOL) to a staunch socialist colleague of mine and got a standard lecture about "the will of the people" and how Corbyn is a good man who lead us to prosperity.

I don't see it. Corbyn is demonstrably a good man with good intentions, but he's no leader of men.

The GE result in my constituency was as close as it gets on Merseyside and with the boundaries changing before the next GE I reckon the Wirral will be a much bluer shade in the future.

*sigh* Looks like I'm a Liberal now.

Have they changed their policies on GMOs and nuclear power? Or are the Lib Dems just utterly non-viable where you are?

Non viable. Fewer votes than Greens. It went Con, lab, ukip, green, libdem, yorkshire first.

To give Mr Corbyn his due, he did go on the attack quite effectively at PMQs this week over social care, but I'm not sure if that's the start of a new trend or easy pickings. Mrs May isn't as clear or confident as her predecessor was in that arena.

I do like Caroline Lucas and think she's an asset to the House of Commons.

I like the Green guy. He's our councillor and popped by the other day so I could moan about needing a permit to visit the tip.

Frankly, I think you should run MaliA. Use that pic of you and Julia Bradbury as your election poster and you'll be a shoe in.

I have idly considered it, but:

Pay isn't enough
London is 2.5 hours away
Don't want to live in London
I'm a Mighty Space Pirate
Chicks, flicks and exploding ships 4 life
Would need to join tory party
Then get selected
Then run a campaign
Would take a couple of years

You'd make a good Tory, mate. Tories are MaliCool^TM.

Swingin'
\

Hello ladies

From the stuff I've been reading today, 'clod' may be a bit of an understatement.