Thirsk and Malton

Voters at Thirsk and Malton (in Yorkshire) elected Conservative Anne McIntosh to take the final seat in the new parliament.

Votes cast were as follows:

* Conservative - 20,167 (52.87%)
* Liberal Democrat - 8,886 (23.30%)
* Labour - 5,169 (13.55%)
* UKIP - 2,502 (6.56%)
* Liberal - 1,418 (3.72%)

Turnout was 50.3%, with 38,142 votes cast.

According to the BBC the 'notional results' of the 2005 election would have been

Conservative - 51.9%
Labour - 23.4%
Liberal Democrat - 18.8%
Others - 5.9%

Based on those figures, and according to BBC, Labour should have pulled in 11,585 votes, so didn't do at all well. The Conservatives increased their percentage vote, the Lib Dems must be delighted with the result and the 'other parties' polled more than anticipated - so it looks as if previously Labour voters have switched their allegiance and been brave enough to support what were minotiry parties.

Whichever member of which Labour family ends up leading the party, they need to take a careful look at this result, and work out what went so badly wrong. Perhaps they will also need to understand that a 'coalition' may have, at long last, freed the country from the rotating two party system.

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By election in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath?

If Mr Brown is, as he has said, going to retire from politics there will need to be a by-election in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.

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Turnout maps, compared with results map.

The first map shows turnout, it's from BBC

There are more, localised, turnout maps on the BBC.

As before, these are the results, from the Mail

There is still one vote to come in. The election at Thirsk & Malton will be on 27th May. It was delayed due to the sudden death of the UKIP candidate.

The various party leaders etc would, Mrs Rigby thinks, be unwise to forget about this election in amongst all the chat, discussion and wrangling that's going on, because the gain/loss of that single seat could make quite a lot of difference.

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Taking lessons from Brussels

Last week we had a general election.

The results of that election were as follows (BBC):-

Conservative - 306 seats / 10,706,647 votes / 36.1%

Labour - 258 seats / 8,604,358 votes / 29.0%

Liberal Democrat - 57 seats / 6,827,938 votes / 23.0%

Democratic Unionist Party - 8 seats / 168,216 votes / 0.6%

Scottish National Party - 6 seats / 491,386 votes / 1.7%

Sinn Fein - 5 seats / 171,942 votes / 0.6%

Social Democratic & Labour Party - 3 seats / 110,970 votes / 0.4%

Plaid Cymru - 3 seats / 165,394 votes / 0.6%

Alliance Party - 1 / seats 42,762 votes / 0.1%

Green - 1 seats / 285,616 votes / 1.0%

Total votes cast = 29,653,638

The permanent resident Prime Minister - whose political party came second - has been telling the electorate that we really voted for Labour. To make sure he gets his message across he's getting an awful lot of help from the apolitical BBC, his chums Alistair Campbell and Peter Mandelson, and newly elected Jack Dromey. Other chums of his, including Billy Bragg, helpfully organised a 'surprise' protest demonstration on Saturday, just to push the message home.

All these people are happy to use their analytical skills to crunch the voting statistics to tell us that, if we didn't vote Conservative, we were really voting for a continuing Labour Government.

The resident Prime Minister has told us that he has to stay as Prime Minister, and has to carry on living at that lovely Number 10 Downing Street because it's his duty. He has to do all this for us voters because he, and he alone, knows what's best for Britain.

To help him along, and make sure he gets all his new laws passed easily, he is putting together an alliance of all the other parties - all of whom were elected by people who pretended to deliberately choose not to vote for a Labour candidate - and he's going to call it a "Progressive Alliance".

Mr Brown had already told that nice Mr Clegg about the finer details of this alliance in some meetings - Mr Clegg was sworn to secrecy, he was told not to tell anybody they'd been talking and, being the good sound fellow and independent thinker that he is, Mr Clegg did exactly as he was told.

Once Mr Brown has got his pretty coloured alliance working - (this is a friendly alliance of all those parties whose voters didn't really vote for them) - Mr Brown has said he will resign, and let somebody else lead the Labour Party. He says this will be before the Labour conference in the autumn. And he will, because he always keeps his promises and, as the Anglo Saxon Chronicler points out

... you dont have to be the leader of a party to be Prime Minister. (it's just a convention, not law)

Mr Brown says he's made his announcement early because he's still got lots of work to do to help Britain become the country of his dreams, so before he resigns he will pass legislation to change the electoral system - because he knows that's exactly what we, the electorate, really want. We want a different way of electing our MPs because the boring old system we've got doesn't work very well. We don't like it because it lets too many of the wrong sort of people win too many seats at Westminster, which is such a silly thing to happen.

Doing this is much more important than hmm, let's see. It's more important than sorting out the recession, the economy, or the downward free-fall of sterling. It's more important than sorting out unemployment. It's more important than doing something about all those pesky illegal immigrants (that can now slip into Dover because all the Immigration staff have been moved somewhere else). It's more important than tweaking our lovely education system to make sure even more school leavers are barely literate and numerate. The thing that's most important, the most pressing need for Britain just now is ... a nice new electoral system.

Once we have a the lovely electoral system Mr Brown chooses for us, he might let us have another general election - and then we'll be sure to vote the way we were intended to last week, and we'll elect the right people for all the right constituencies. Except these people won't be 'right' they'll be very far 'left', they'll be his chums.

Maybe Mr Brown was taking note of what happened when the naughty people of Ireland voted against signing the Lisbon Treaty? Brussels made them vote again, and the Irish then said it was a lovely treaty, they said they'd obviously made a terrible mistake the last time they voted.

It would have been quite interesting to see how many times the Irish might have had to vote if they had kept on saying, "No!" Would they, too, have had a nice new voting system?

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Saturday muddle

It would seem that Mr Brown might have messed up his chances of dealing with Mr Clegg because, well, because they don't like each other.

Way back, when the party leaders were called in to be talked to about the expenses 'scandal', Mr Clegg was not amused by the way he and his party were expected to do Mr Brown's bidding. It was clear then that they could not work together and today, according to reports, this animosity has continued.

Earlier the BBC carried a report from Jon Sopel saying that a telephone call between Mr Brown and Mr Clegg was less than constructive. Mrs Rigby regrets not keeping a copy, because she can no longer find the article. It is, however, still in the Telegraph, which says,

The source told the BBC's Jon Sopel that during the leaders' conversation last night, the tone went "downhill" at the mention of resignation.

It was claimed Mr Brown's approach was to begin "a diatribe" and "a rant" and the source said the Labour leader was "threatening in his approach to Nick Clegg".

Mr Clegg was said to have came off the phone assured that it would be impossible to work with Brown because of his attitude towards working with other people.

Naturally this has been downplayed by Labour

describing the chat as "constructive"

Yes, of course it was, very constructive. Messrs Brown and Clegg are the best of friends.

Fast forward a bit to the VE Day ceremony in London, some noted that Mr Brown failed to sing the National Anthem.

"Nick and Dave both proudly singing the national anthem in harmony with each other; Gordo looking glumly on, sullen faced, silent."

Remember, Mr Brown is currently the Prime Minister of Great Britain - at least that's what he is claiming by remaining at Number 10. And it's a faux pas of the highest order, especially at a national event marking the anniversary of the end of War in Europe and honouring the lives of those who died.

Every picture tells a story, this says quite a lot. (From the Mail)

Also from the Mail

This from the Spectator

Somebody, probably a Constitutional expert, seems to have made a decision that placed Mr Cameron in in the middle. Possibly because it is the Conservatives who have the highest number of seats in Westminster - something Labour seems to have forgotten in their cries of, "But they didn't get a parliamentary majority". (They've also forgotten that the country has, politically, 'swung' the furthest since 1931, which is no mean feat for any political party.)

When laying their wreaths at the cenotaph all three party leaders stepped forward together - indicating that nobody is in control of government, and nobody is in control of Britain and nobody represents all of us.

And now, according to a 'tweet' from Iain Dale (via CF) Mr Brown has gone to Scotland.

This afternoon, with Mr Brown safely out of the way and therefore not even remotely involved, there's been a handy, hastily organised, little demonstration in London calling for a 'fair' voting system. It is truly amazing how they managed to get Police consent so quickly, when it can take weeks!

The demonstration was, seemingly, spontaneously organised by an apparently decent group calling itself 'Take Back Parliament' ... which appears to be linked to another 'campaigning group' which has the blessing of Communist Billy Bragg, who likes to call everybody "brother" or "comrade", and who Mrs R has mentioned before.

So, all those enthusiastic people waving their banners should be very careful what they wish for. They might think our voting system is unfair, they might not like FPTP as it stands and they could be right - because constituency boundaries do seem to have been drawn to favour just one party. But these demonstrators probably have absolutely no idea that they're being used by those with their own agenda, and whose agenda is not in the national interest.*

The most important thing at the moment is not the voting system and it is not the egos of politicians. The most important thing at the moment is the British economy.

Sterling and the FTSE have taken a dive, if there are no announcements by Monday things are likely to get worse. The rest of the world is looking, and the man who claims to hold the balance of power - because he can - has gone to Scotland.

The party leaders may have been granted an unusual 18 days to organise a coalition or power-sharing agreement, but the country cannot afford them to take so long. It is urgent, and it's important, it needs a quick decision.

Either that or let's have another election, and we will decide.

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*
Mrs Rigby notes that the demonstrators are wearing purple - the same purple as the ties Mr Brown seemed to prefer.
Coincidence? Chance? Or deliberate?

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A picture of Britain - England loses.

Is this a picture of a country that should be entering a power-sharing agreement?

And, in the meantime Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their Parliament and their Assemblies to take care of their 'devolved' issues, whilst England is being babysat by a few civil servants because we are ruled from Westminster alone.

We need an English Parliament now, probably more than at any time in the past, because England has chosen it's government, yet the wheeling and dealing will ensure that the balance of power is held by MPs from other parts of the Union.

Scotland - Labour 41, LD 11, SNP 6, Conservative 1
N Ireland - DUP 8, Sinn Fein 5, SDUP 3, Alliance 1
Wales - Labour 26, Conservative 8, LD 3, Plaid Cymru 3

England - Conservative 297, Labour 191, Liberal Democrat 43, Green 1

UK total Conservative 306 Labour 258 Lib Dems 57

Labour, with Lib Dem support will have 315 seats. Sinn Fein do not take their seats, so that coalition would have a 'working majority' of just 4 seats, and 4 parliamentary votes - but only over the Tories. They seem to be forgetting all the other political parties.

Picture from the Mail

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Take him home please.

It's time the people of Scotland recognised how much Mr Brown has done for them, and offered something in return.

He's clearly very happy on his home soil, where he is closer to his ancestral roots. Look at his chirpily cheerful smile - it's enough to melt the hearts of the dourest Highlander.

Now look what happens when he starts worrying about Britain, can't you see the stress it's causing the poor man? Can't you see how he looks older, greyer and careworn?

Perhaps his troubles are to do with a slight conflict of interests, to do with that pledge he signed, back in 1988, called the 'Scottish Claim of Right". This is what it said :

We, gathered as the Scottish Constitutional Convention, do hereby acknowledge the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs, and do hereby declare and pledge that in all our actions and deliberations their interests shall be paramount.

We further declare and pledge that our actions and deliberations shall be directed to the following ends:

* To agree a scheme for an Assembly or Parliament for Scotland;
* To mobilise Scottish opinion and ensure the approval of the Scottish people for that scheme; and
* To assert the right of the Scottish people to secure the implementation of that scheme.

(Further details and the list of signatories are here)

It all worked out too, and Scotland got its' devolution and its' Parliament. So you Scots have to recognise, and reward, the huge amount he's done for the country of his birth.

So Mrs Rigby can't emphasise enough just how deeply she believes the people of Scotland have a massive responsibility for this man's welfare. She believes you should acknowledge, and understand, how deep have been his personal sacrifices.

He has, after all, for thirteen long years, had to spend the greater part of his year in deepest London, where he's been surrounded by Cockney Sparrows and East End scalliwags who speak in tongues so very alien to the ears of someone born north of the border.

Mrs Rigby would therefore ask you to remember all this when it's time to cast your vote.

She asks you to consider how best to ensure that Mr Brown is able to spend his days close to the Manse in Kirkaldy where he spent his formative years and where he'll be welcomed with open arms.

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Making a decision?

Mrs R has been finding it really difficult to make her decision, so she's looked around the blogosphere for a bit of inspiration. If you're still undecided why not take a look for yourself.

The Angry Walrus has put together a lengthy piece outlining his reasons for/against various possibilities.

Subrosa outlines her thoughts about older voters here

Daniel1979 says Don't vote Labour

Mark Wadsworth says, "Sod it!"to tactical voting, and gives reasons why.

Witterings from Witney discusses the end of democracy as we know it

Then there are all the newspapers and all the broadcasters, all rushing to push their final messages before polling day. Some offer dire warnings - "Vote for them and you'll die!" sort of stuff, others try to offer a more reasoned approach and look at history - which is the approach Mrs Rigby prefers.

The thing is that we Rigbys can only vote for Labour, Liberal Democrat, Conservative or Green. That's it, a choice of four candidates and a choice of four parties. It's probably because of local history and who's 'traditionally' represented the area of Rigby Town at Westminster.

Mrs R now realises she probably really wanted to vote UKIP - because she thinks Britain could cope very nicely outside the EU. That would be the only reason though and now, looking at the UKIP site, she sees that Lord Pearson likes the idea of a hung parliament. That's something Mrs Rigby thinks would be almost worse than Labour winning, because it could mean stagnation at a time when the rest of the world needs to know what Britain's going to do about it's spiralling debt.

If there'd been a sensible Independent, whose policies were based on Libertarian principles she might have voted for them - but there isn't, so she can't.

Mrs Rigby knows she won't vote Labour. It isn't only because of how they've behaved during the past 13 years, but also because of what they did during previous terms in government.

More senior Rigbys have often talked of what we now refer to as 'social engineering' disasters, that were painted as being socially kind, benevolent, at the time. Some of these policies included 'slum clearance' and the building of vast council/corporation estates in semi-rural areas that were miles away from where people had previously worked, miles away from what they knew, and miles away from the hustle and bustle of city life they had grown up with.

The population movement, according to some of the Rigbys, destroyed their own chances of ever 'making something' of themselves because, back then, few people could move somewhere else to look for work. They relied on getting a job, doing it well, and gradually working up the ladder to, maybe, being a foreman or something similar.

Flooding the local labour market meant more competition, more choice for employers (both private and public sector), and it also meant some people would never get a job, because they had the wrong skills. They were put on the dole - and some of those people's grandchildren are still drawing 'unemployment' benefit of one sort or another.

It's a pattern that's been repeated by the last government - but this time the incoming work force has arrived from overseas.

And Labour, of course, also got rid of Grammar Schools, even though the Prime Minister of the day had benefitted from a Grammar School education he removed that right from the electorate, claiming it was 'more equal'. Now we have "Academies" for Dance and Drama, because it's fun and cool. Forget about grammar, we don't need it no more - innit!

So, that leaves Liberal Democrats, Conservative and Greens.

The Greens seem to splatter their policies with the word "unfair". This or that is 'unfair' and they don't like it, but their actual policies don't seem to have a bite. (It would be rather churlish to say they don't flesh out the bones, but those words spring to mind.)

And, you see, Mrs Rigby is a denier - she denies AGW, although she acknowledges that climate changes, and has done since the ice retreated. Mrs R likes electricity and she likes central heating, she also likes her car - because it's more reliable than the local bus service. So Mrs R shouldn't vote Green, because it would be against her own principles and against her own lifestyle choice, although we Rigbys do garden organically (because we prefer not to kill the wrong things with slug pellets) and we compost and so on, because it's what we've always done. It's nothing new.

The Lib Dems? Errm, no! There are some 'working for the Lib Dems' people within the Rigby family. They're fine, lovely people - but messed up a bit at both school and 'Uni', and it's the only 'job' they could get after quite a few years of dabbling with bar work, playing poker, 'working' for relatives etc. Although she doubts if this pattern is followed right the way through the Lib Dems as a whole, Mrs R doesn't like the idea of any party being run by those who can't manage to get a job anywhere else. She also thinks Mr Clegg is a young 'career politician' who's totally enthralled by the EU - even though he tries to say otherwise, and she doesn't like that either.

That leaves the Conservatives, who've held the Rigby Town seat for years.

Is the (ex/hoping to be returned) MP any good? Actually yes. In the past few years several different Rigbys have written to this MP several times. Each contact has generated an immediate response, followed up later by a more detailed written reply and/or a telephone call. Sometimes there's been the answer to a written parliamentary question - which means that even if they may, personally, have thought it was a "silly and irrelevant question" (as "Kit" does) they realised it wasn't either silly or irrelevant to whoever had taken the time and trouble to ask it.

This MPs record on expenses? - They're clean. No untoward claims. No improprieties. No need to make any repayments. No need to sack members of the extended family.

Their policies? Hmm.

If they go ahead with the Great Repeal Bill then that's good. If they keep the promise of a referendum for any more changes in the EU constitution (having been stitched up by both Labour and the EU regarding Lisbon) then that's good too.

It would be good if they could acknowledge that Britain could pull out of the EU, if it really had a mind to.

It would be good if they could acknowledge that England has no independent voice, and did something about it. They could at least make both St George's Day and St David's Day into proper holidays. If the Scots and Irish can manage it, so can the English and Welsh.

But, we're told that election manifesto promises can be broken - Labour has destroyed that trust in politicians, Parliament and government.

Can the Tories rebuild that trust? Don't know, don't know if the media will let them. They might, if they get a decent majority and if the Unions let them - because the Unions still think they run this country.

It will be interesting to see who wins, both on Thursday and in the ensuing months. Let's hope Britain gets the strong, fearless government it needs. Mrs Rigby's single vote, if she does decide to use it, probably won't make any difference - but yours might.

Cast it wisely, and cast it for yourself, for your local area and for the good of the country as a whole - if you can.

Be strong and stand for your principles, whatever they may be, not for whatever somebody else tells you your principles should be.

The only person you can trust on polling day is yourself. Don't imagine that somebody else will 'vote share' - promises can, and are, broken.

So don't try to cheat, or beat, the system. We all deserve so much more than that, and we need so much more than that to get us out of a very deep hole.

And finally, because Mrs Rigby actually hopes that not many people will vote Labour, this quote from comments here

As I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord for a labour defeat...
- felix, east uk, 5/5/2010 9:24

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Three videos - essential viewing.

There's a video at Tory Bear called "Thirteen Years of Labour"

This is essential viewing - it's so important to remember the last thirteen years, not allow them to be brushed under the carpet.

Labour's manifesto promises are, after all, not legally binding - they got a Judge to say so.

As the Filthy Engineer says,

Vote Labour and you'll be sorry. Very sorry.

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Look here to see "The Truth about Ed Balls" - a short video, just a minute and a half.

Interesting reminders of a few things that have previously been in the news, things that have been glossed over.

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Do you recall how often Mr Straw kept saying we needed a "written constitution"?

Hah! He was wrong!

If you watch this video you'll learn that we already have one, and it's ancient, even older than Mr Straw.

"Members of Parliament are contracted to obey the written constitution."

There is Magna Carta 1215, with

presumption for liberty
right to trial by peers
a limitation of power
a right of redress
a right of enforcement

Then there are the Declaration of Right 1688 and the Bill of Rights 1689.

If you recall there are a few ex-MPs going to trial on Thursday 6th May 2010. They are trying to use these ancient laws as a basis for their defence.

Some of the bits and pieces have been repealed, but not this section of the Magna Carta :-

no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised of his freehold, or Liberties, or Free Custom, or to be outlawed, or to be exiled, or anywise destroyed; nor will we not pass upon him, nor but by lawful judgement by his peers or by the law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer justice or Right.

And about enforcement of, or attempts to repeal, the above law:-

[It] Shall not be infringed or broken ... it shall be had of no force or effect

Now cast your mind back to the efforts to legalise detention without either charge or trial for up to 48 days - and they were able to slip in the 28 days, because it was less.

Watch this video over at Captain Ranty's place - it's very important - not necessarily for this week, but for the future.

Watch the other videos in the series, if you have time. They are important.

It's called general knowledge.

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Brown and ‘fairness’. Again. (from Chicken Yoghurt)

This is quoted in full - a piece written by Justin McKeating at Chicken Yoghurt.

Seen first on CF's place.

Mrs Rigby hopes the author doesn't mind too much that his excellent article is reproduced in full, but she thinks it's worth it.

The trouble is, you can spend so much of your time worrying about the theoretical horrors of a Tory government that you forget the practical horrors of a New Labour one.

Complicity in torture. Chemical weapons in Iraq. The children of refugees developing post-traumatic stress disorder in internment camps. Women who clean the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s office living on lentils to pay for a school uniform. Should I go on?

You listen to Brown make his ‘barnstorming‘ speech to Citizens UK with its ‘compassion’, ‘goodwill’, ‘fairness’, ‘duty’, ‘friendship’, ‘justice’, ‘dignity’ and ‘good society’, and you wonder how we reconcile those with the above list of grotesques. I’ve said it before and I’ll damn well say it again, Brown invokes the decency with which he says he was brought up and you wonder what the hell happened to it. The rhetoric is a long way behind the reality.

I don’t think he’s that good an actor which rules him out as a pathological liar. Look at this letter from Brown to Open Kingdom on the subject of the detention of child refugees. As someone with a horrified fascination with what our so-called civilized society does to these children, I could spend all day pointing out what I’ll charitably call errors in his letter, much of it contradicted by many an unread and unreported study.

Brown clearly believes what he’s saying and writing (or written for him), so is he deluded, in denial or so insulated from the real world by his handlers that he has no idea of the terrible things his government does in his name? His letter to Open Kingdom makes me think he either has the facts but doesn’t wish to admit them or someone is keeping the facts from him. Does he close his eyes and ears or does someone blindfold him and cover his lugs for him?

Whatever the reasons it’s no way to run a country while laying claim to the virtues of compassion and decency. Brown’s running a government that’s yet to find a minimum standard of human decency let alone the lofty peaks of sainthood he tries to scale with his cheap talk.

‘If you fight for fairness, you will always find in me a friend, a partner and a brother,’ said Brown in his speech yesterday. Reading that next to an account of a child refugee screaming in the night at Yarl’s Wood makes my lunch rise. (Brown was non-commital at best when question about child detention. He ‘wanted no child to suffer’. Which is nice.) It reminds me of what Jamie Kenny said about George Best when the old bastard died:

I’m a football fan, but fuck the football too. It meant nothing from the moment he first raised his hand to his wife. If he could have avoided living like a swine by staying in Belfast and working at Tesco’s, then he should have done that.

I’m a fairness fan, but fuck the minimum wage too (wave it at the family living on lentils)**. Brown’s ‘achievements’ meant nothing from the moment that child first started to scream.

(I hear a lot about how the Tories would have done the same or worse had they been in power for the last 13 years. I don’t find it very comforting or persuasive when feeling pressure to vote for New Labour. And anyway, I don’t have the same knack of peering into alternate universes as some people. Maybe what we need is another theory like Schrödinger’s cat or McKeating’s Niqab. Let us call it McKeating’s Cameron. We shove David Cameron in a box. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics implies that until the votes are counted on Thursday night, he is simultaneously the benign change we need and a complete bastard.)

Now you've read this, you should hop over there and cast your eye over some of the other pieces on the site. They're worth reading.

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**
More about the family living on lentils here

Before Brown’s speech (on 3rd May 2010) came Martha, 62, and her daughter Sandra, cleaners who – deliciously neatly – clean the chancellor’s office. They earn £6.95 an hour, explained Martha, and have to get up at 3.30am to take a tortuous bus journey because the tube is too expensive. In order to buy her granddaughter’s school uniform, the whole family had to eat lentils for a week.

It was then the turn of the granddaughter, who broke down at the lectern. “If they were paid a living wage,” she sobbed, “we wouldn’t have to eat lentils for a week. If they were paid a living wage, my mum could afford the tube and I would see her for three hours more a day …”

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Is this a fantasy manifesto?

Taken from here. This is part of Labour's election manifesto. It's the only part of the manifesto that mentions the armed forces.

This is what it says

The challenge for Britain

To harness our strengths and values, as we develop Britain’s world role in a global era, using our alliances and networks in order to promote security, economic prosperity, development and to safeguard the environment. The contrast with the Tory view could not be starker: they are stuck in the past, spurning alliances in Europe and helpless to defend our interests or secure the global change we need.

Ah, the nasty Tories - they had to be in there somewhere. It's called NLP you know - keep saying the right things often enough and the people will agree.

It isn't the Tories who have sent our troops to war with inferior kit. They aren't the ones who lied about MoD finances - to both an inquiry and to Parliament.

How, precisely, is any future government supposed to 'defend our interest' when the Labour government has given away some of our battleships and sold others at rock bottom prices?

Labour politicians always go on about "Opposition MPs" voting for the Iraq War - but we now know they lies were told to Parliament. Parliament was told there were weapons and security threats - that we now know did not exist.

The next stage of national renewal

* Conduct a Strategic Defence Review to equip our Armed Forces for 21st Century challenges, and support our troops and veterans.

There have been calls for a Defence Review for some time. There should have been one, but procrastination is always easier, and thirteen years passes in the blink of an eye, and there have been much more important things to do during those 13 years.

* Use our international reach to build security and stability – combating terrorism and extremism, curbing proliferation, preventing and resolving conflict, and tackling climate change.

What 'international reach'?

Would that be The Foreign Office - whose staff are so dim that they manage to offend the Pope?

Do they think Britain can make other countries toe their party line, and force their own 'citizens' to pay for ID cards, and biometric passports, and photo-driving licenses? Do they intend to make other countries keep DNA (and associated data) of innocent people - even though it's been ruled illegal? Will all countries of the world have to install full body scanners at airports - even the countries that can barely afford to run an airport?

And climate change? Yep, it needs to be tackled, and fast too. There were hailstones in Rigby Town yesterday, on 3rd May. Sure is a heck of a lot colder than last year!

Could have something to do with the wind coming from the east, over which we have no control - yet!

* Lead the agenda for an outward-facing European Union that delivers jobs, prosperity and global influence.

For the EU to look outwards it has to fix itself from the inside too, it's in a mess, it's over-bureaucratic, it's undemocratic and it's too big to work.

Jobs? Pray, where are those jobs going to come from? Our tourist industry is dying on its' feet, because it's too expensive for tourists to visit Britain, and anyway, tourists like to take photographs - they don't like to be threatened by PCSOs and shop security staff and then get arrested for being terrorists.

Tourism is about the only 'industry' Britain has left, and look what happened when tourism ground to a halt during the Foot and Mouth crisis. Some rural communities have never recovered.

* Re-energise the drive to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, supporting sustainable growth and combating poverty.

As Mrs Rigby doesn't know what these "Millennium Development Goals" might be she hasn't a clue what this means. She's sure it isn't meant to mean closing factories and selling the management of British infrastructure overseas - and making people in other countries extremely rich.

"Poverty" is relative. People in Britain are not poor, not by world standards. When there are rich people there will always be 'relatively poor' people. Labour has had 13 years to close the gap. Statistics suggest the gap has widened.

* Reform the UN, International Financial Institutions, the G8 and G20, and NATO to adapt to the new global challenges.

Hahahaha!

The Labour Party, as the British government, says it's going to 'reform' all these international institutions? It plans to do it all on its' own? Perhaps it might first be a good idea to ask other people, in other countries, if they want these changes ...

All this, it's a fantasy. They say they want to change the world? The world has seen what's happened here in Britain over the last 13 years and, in general, the world doesn't like what it sees - except those who want to pick over a carcass.

And in the meantime we're still fighting a war in Afghanistan.

Young men and women are fighting a war that's meant to bring democracy to Afghanistan.

And, here in Britain?

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed 28 allegations have been made in London alone.

It is investigating five cases - four in Tower Hamlets and one in Ealing - and a further 23 claims are being "assessed".

Barking and Dagenham, Lambeth, Westminster, Enfield, Hounslow, Haringey, Ealing, Brent, Bexleyheath, Camden and Redbridge are among the London boroughs under scrunity.

According to the Daily Mail, concerns have also been raised with officers in Yorkshire and Derby.

Couldn't make it up really, could you?

What an utter farce.

....

Brown wants Lib Dems to vote Labour.

And meanwhile, in the Guardian, Mr Brown asks Lib Dems living in 'marginal constituencies' to vote Labour.

He says

Those in Labour-Tory marginals should back us if they want to see real reform and keep alive the ideals of the good society

Thirteen years wasn't long enough, was it?

Not enough time to 'eradicate poverty', not enough time to bring in 'voting reform', not enough time to 'reform public services and ensure diversity', not enough time to take proper care of the 'most vulnerable in our society'.

Makes you wonder what they actually did during those thirteen long years because, as Captain Ranty suggests, almost everybody has been targetted by Labour at some point or other. Take a look at the list.

Drivers-overtaxed, and told they are bad people. Penalised for choosing vehicles that are fit for purpose.

Drinkers-overtaxed and all are punished for the misdeeds of a few.

Smokers- massively overtaxed, shunned, ejected, victimised, denormalised, and criminalised.

The employed-massively overtaxed, with more pain to come.

Fatties-just because.

The unemployed-lazy bastards. Five million will not work. (Not can't, but won't)

Photographers-how dare you take pictures. Bloody terrorists.

Shoppers-we need to watch you lot. All the time and everywhere you go.

Envirocrims-garden bonfire? No slopbucket in the kitchen? Fly off on holiday? Bastards.

Climate change deniers-AKA scum de jour. Brussels are preparing a law to catch you filth.

Free speechers-more than three is now a mob. An unruly mob. Ask a question of any politician and you are out, old son. Hold a protest or wave your signs and we will despatch a S.W.A.T team to kick you around. We may even kill some of you. No-one will be punished for your wrongful death.

NHS users-leeches. Every one of you. Your treatment is now conditional. If we don't like your ailment, you're not coming in.

Our children-they snatch them at will. Those that get hurt/abused/murdered somehow "fall through the net". Those that fail in their responsibilities are usually free to go. No blame attached, although "lessons will be learned". Deep joy.

Our oldsters-worked all your life? Saved hard? We'll have that money, thank you. And we'll treat you like shit. We'll help ourselves to your savings, when you are alive, or when you are dead. It matters not to us. You do not deserve any dignity. We bled you dry now fuck off, do the decent thing and die.

Air Transportation users-how very dare you! Planes are nasty, belching beasts (unless we, the elected, use them) so we will make travel a tortuous event. It will be most unpleasant. Jobsworths will abound, and we will take your stuff off you for no sensible reason.

CR misses out people who live in rural areas, who have seen public transport, post offices, shops and schools disappear, whilst they've been the targets of political spite - because they live somewhere pretty.

Do read the rest of Captain Ranty's post, and see the analysis of party policies. It's worth it.

....

Balls to vote Lib Dem?***

A couple of days to Mrs R made a very small donation to Antony Calvert's campaign to 'get Balls out". She did this because she would dearly like to see Mr Balls in the political wasteland - although she knows very well that if he doesn't win he's likely to end up in ermine. It might be too late for the 'Dissolution Honours', but there'll be plenty of other opportunities. But, maybe not, because he might just have committed political treason, silly chap.

Mr Balls is reported as saying that he wants Labour voters in so-called 'marginal seats'* to vote Lib Dem "to keep the Tories out".

Mr Balls is a professional politician who probably spends a lot of time with the party's 'faithful'. Mr Balls wants to be leader of the Labour Party, at least that's what the papers tell us, yet he's asking people who support the Labour Party to vote for the Lib Dems - to keep the nasty, baby-eating, Policeman-sacking, murderous, Tories out of government.

There are a few things Mr Balls might not have realised, the main one is that not many people are really 'politically aware'. They see headlines, scan the rest and make their own opinion.

There might have been 'millions' watching those debates, but educational theorists say few people these days can sustain concentration for more than ten or fifteen minutes, yet broadcasters expected the electorate to watch three men talking for 90 minutes - without a tea/coffee/meal/snack/toilet break. Not many will have done so.

People like Mr Balls aren't likely to realise that ordinary folk won't have a clue if they live in a marginal seat, and not many people know if their constituency boundary has been redrawn.

Not many people will even think about finding out if the Labour candidate might be in a fairly dodgy position - financially.

When somebody stands for election they have to pay a deposit - it's £500 per person. It says so here. It also says that

A deposit ... is forfeited if they fail to gain at least 5% of the votes cast in their constituency

And, Mrs R will say it again - Mr Balls is asking Labour voters to vote Lib Dem.

No, it might not be exactly what he said, and it isn't likely to be what he means - but it's what a lot of people will think he means when they skim the headlines or hear it on the television or radio.

So, there are all those Labour voters who've been a bit irritated by Mr Brown's behaviour and have decided to do a Mrs Duffy and not vote, they won't even stroll to the postbox with their envelope.

There are some Labour voters who've become so disenchanted with what's been going on that they're going to vote BNP and there are the rest, who are a bit unsure.

Is it likely those unsure people will vote Conservative? Not a chance, not if they've 'always voted Labour', they'd sooner cut off their hands.

Is it likely those people will vote Lib Dem? Actually, Mrs R thinks not, not when it comes to putting an X in a box. She thinks they're more likely to stay at home, especially if it's cold, and more especially if it's raining.

If that happens it's going to make an awful mess of the polling figures - and might even mean quite a few Labour candidates lose their deposits.

During their time in office Labour has cost the Rigby family considerably more than £500 and, because of their appalling mismanagement of the economy, will go on costing them more than £500 for quite a few years to come.

Poetic justice, don't you think?

Did Mr Balls really think his little scheme through?

And to think he wanted to be Chancellor of the Exchequer!


..........

*
Mrs Rigby went to find out a bit more about these 'marginals'. The BBC has a handy sort of gizmo that lists each party's 'battlegrounds', which it describes thusly

The list is based on "notional" results, which provide an estimate of the 2005 election outcome, had recent constituency boundary changes been in force then.

According to the list there are 44 target marginals identified by Labour, with majorities ranging from 0.1% to 9.9%. 33 are Conservative, 9 are Liberal Democrats, 1 is Scottish National Party and 1 is Respect-Unity Coalition.

There are 30 seats identified as Liberal Democrat marginals, with majorities ranging from 0.2% to 9.2%. 17 of these are Conservative, the other 13 are Labour.

There are 116 Conservatives target seats, ranging from a 'nominal' 0% difference (the new constituency of Gillingham & Rainham) and 12% difference. The list contains 89 Labour seats, 23 Lib Dem, 2 SNP, 1 Independent Community Health Concern (and Mrs R clearly can't count, but she's gone boggle eyed trying to go through the list, and gives up!)

Plaid Cymru is targetting 12 seats - 11 Labour and 1 Lib Dem.

Scottish Nationalists are targetting 14 seats - 13 Labour and 1 Lib Dem.

There's another bit of the site (dropdown) that lists 'Defence seats', but you'll have to look for yourself. Here they are Lib Dems (28), Labour (24), Conservative (50), Plaid (2), SNP (6).

It says that

Losing 24 seats would mean Gordon Brown's Labour party losing its overall majority in the House of Commons.

The seats highlighted in the map and in the list below are the 24 most likely to fall, based on Labour-held seats where they have the smallest majority over the next party.

Bored yet? No? Good!

Using Mrs Rigby's own brand of statistical analysis** she worked out that the other parties combined are targetting a grand total of 127 Labour marginals. Some of them might well be the same seats, if so she hasn't a clue which they might be.

Mrs Rigby then looked at this BBC site. It's fairly straightforward, all you do is choose your constituency and see who's standing, then scroll down a bit to see the numbers and percentages next to the names. If your seat is a 'marginal' or 'target' it says so.

Mrs R looked at all the constituencies she's ever voted in since she was 18. Every one of them has this 'nominal' number, so she reckons loads and loads of constituency boundaries have been redrawn. She notes that some of those seats are now called 'marginals'.

..........
**
Adding all the red numbers together

..........
***
Well, he should if he follows his own advice and wants to keep the Conservatives out of his own seat of Morley and Outwood

....

Vote Labour for us?

This picture is meant to be proudly showing off the latest election posters.

Let's look at it carefully.

Remember that everything will have been carefully planned beforehand, down to the finest detail - but nobody thought to get rid of the rubbish. It's there, piled up behind the people who think they're important and to the side of the advertising screens. Mrs R thinks it somehow adds to the emptiness, the desolation of an empty, wet, car park.

The 'eyecatching' (rule of thirds) part of the picture says "Vote Labour for us" - the intended punchline is concealed by the all those important people, who really do want us to vote for them. They want us to vote for them so they can keep earning their wages. But they needn't worry too much, because they've already arranged brilliant severance pay and lifelong pension packages for themselves.

The picture was taken by Richard Pohle, for the Times.

....

Pictures of Gordon

Published on Friday 30th April and taken at Manchester Piccadilly Station the day before.

All pictures taken by Richard Pohle and published in the Times Election Photoblog.

The next picture was taken in Wolverhampton, on the same day.

And here, talking to the faithful - but nobody looks particularly pleased to be there, not even the Business Secretary who is, possibly, seeing his empire crumble before his eyes.

It's unbelievable to think this man has been both Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister.

....

Military helicopters and headsets.

The father of the most senior British officer to be killed in Afghanistan spoke yesterday of his pride that his son's death had led to the armed forces being better equipped.

Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, who commanded 1,000 Welsh Guards, was killed by a Taliban roadside bomb after volunteering to take the most dangerous position in an armoured vehicle to inspire his troops.

An inquest yesterday heard that only three weeks earlier the 39-year- old wrote a damning memo on the lack of helicopter support in Helmand.

He complained bitterly in the email to his superiors that helicopter support for troops was 'very clearly not fit for purpose' and meant that troops had to be moved by road rather than by air, exposing them to the threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Yesterday Trooper Hammond's parents said: 'We were devastated by Josh's death and as a family his loss has left a gaping hole in our lives.

'But we are also very proud, not only of what he achieved but of the way he chose to live his life.'

All above quoted from the Mail

Poster from here

Earlier this week another inquest was told that three soldiers would not have died as a result of American 'friendly fire' if a radio operator had been supplied with a headset.

....

Trying to "smear" Mrs Duffy

...it was claimed that Mr Brown had misheard the 66-year-old and had though she had asked 'where are they f***ing from?'

If this is true it shows, yet again, how completely and utterly out of touch they are with the ordinary people who have always voted Labour.

Ordinary people don't swear. Ordinary people don't use foul language, especially not people like Mrs Duffy, and especially not in front of television cameras or when speaking to leaders of political parties - who they respect because of what they are (or were), not because of who they are.

How dare they try to 'smear' her in a feeble attempt to paper over the yawning chasms cracks. It is not reasonable, or acceptable, to try to destroy the character of an ordinary woman in an attempt to make political gain.

Mrs Rigby is so angry, so incredibly angry.

This is, perhaps the first time in many years that Mrs Rigby would support a claim for attempted character assassination, libel, alongside a demand for significant compensation for hurt and emotional distress.

Why on earth should a 66 year old widow have to put up with this, just because she went out for a loaf of bread and happened to see Mr Brown - leader of the Labour Party and one-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Mrs Rigby hopes this is the final nail in the coffin of the disgusting "New Labour" project. The party needs cleaning out, it needs to be destroyed and rebuilt from the bottom up.

As much as Mrs Rigby dislikes Alan Johnson, at least he seems to acknowledge his real working class roots - unlike the privileged and socially advantaged, sneering, social-climbing, arrogant Milibands, and male and female Balls and that despicable misandrist Harman woman.

If Mrs Rigby lived in Rochdale, which she doesn't, she would probably vote BNP - out of spite, just to show them her contempt.

....

Choreographed and synchronised debating?

A smile moment, captured by the Mail

Oh, and why does Mr Brown keep wearing a royal purple tie?

....

"maybe you shouldn't be running?

The whole ‘winning votes’ thing is secondary; if you have to hide who you are, and what you stand for, to win, maybe you shouldn’t be running?

So says Dave Semple in a response to his post Campaign moments and Brown’s bigotry.

Found via comments left at Anna Raccoon

....

Elvis should not have been in the building

Lodge Park Technology College, where Mark Wright sang for the Prime Minister, is not allowed to permit performances of live music before 6pm.

Damian Wilkins, the health protection manager at Corby council, has contacted Tom Waterworth, the head teacher, to demand an explanation.

Under the Act, Campbell, the organiser of the event, and Waterworth, the licence holder, could face criminal prosecution resulting in six months in prison or a £20,000 fine.

Foisted by their own petard perhaps, because

The college was unable to get a Temporary Event Notice authorising the performance of music, as plans to allow last-minute event notices were withdrawn by the Government this month.

Quoted from the Telegraph.

h/t Penguin

....