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.
....
Showing posts with label vote. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vote. Show all posts
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
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.
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.
....
Monday, 10 May 2010
Taking lessons from Brussels
Last week we had a general election.
The results of that election were as follows (BBC):-
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
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?
The results of that election were as follows (BBC):-
Conservative - 306 seats / 10,706,647 votes / 36.1%The
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
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?
....
Labels:
election,
Parliament,
vote,
voting
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Time to speak for England
Time to speak for EnglandRead the rest here.
England gave the Conservatives a strong popular vote and a majority of the Parliamentary seats. It is time for us Conservatives to speak for England. For too long we have criticised but had to accept unbalanced devolution ...
....
Thursday, 6 May 2010
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 :
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.
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.(Further details and the list of signatories are here)
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.
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.
....
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
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
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
....
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
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
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.
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!
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.
"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.
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?
What an utter farce.
This is what it says
The challenge for BritainAh, 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.
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.
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 renewalThere 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.
* Conduct a Strategic Defence Review to equip our Armed Forces for 21st Century challenges, and support our troops and veterans.
* 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.Couldn't make it up really, could you?
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.
What an utter farce.
....
Broken Britain - Jerome Taylor
Good grief!
This is Indy reporter Jerome Taylor, who had been hoping to investigate election fraud in east London.
Please read the article.
Oh, and the man Jerome hoped to interview, and outside whose house he was attacked?
Was he, naturally, very concerned? Did he want to be sure Jerome was okay? Did he offer help to catch the attackers? Did he welcome Jerome indoors? Errm! Not quite!
He said:
Please read the article.
Oh, and the man Jerome hoped to interview, and outside whose house he was attacked?
Was he, naturally, very concerned? Did he want to be sure Jerome was okay? Did he offer help to catch the attackers? Did he welcome Jerome indoors? Errm! Not quite!
He said:
"I am not going to talk to you about this. Why have you been knocking on my door. You don't disturb me. If you knock on my door again I will take you to court."h/t Raedwald
....
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
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.
Do read the rest of Captain Ranty's post, and see the analysis of party policies. It's worth it.
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 societyThirteen 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.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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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 constituencyAnd, 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.Bored yet? No? Good!
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.
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
....
Monday, 3 May 2010
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.
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.
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.
....
Saturday, 1 May 2010
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.All above quoted from the Mail
'But we are also very proud, not only of what he achieved but of the way he chose to live his life.'
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.
....
Friday, 30 April 2010
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
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.
....
Thursday, 29 April 2010
"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
....
Sorry? No, not really!
"I apologise if what I said caused any offence"Empty sort of words really, hinting that others might not have been offended.
"[I would] never put myself in a position where I would want to say anything like that about a woman I'd met".As Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Mr Brown should never have been in a position to make a personal choice about who he did or didn't meet.
The position, not the person who holds the position, is what's important. The position is that of representing the whole population, and it should be done effectively and politely at all times. We, the electorate, irrespective of our political affiliation, deserve nothing less.
This short sentence would suggest that Mr Brown has been able to avoid what he often refers to as 'difficult situations', because those around him have known he cannot cope with criticism, cannot cope with challenge.
Let's hope he hasn't made any other gaffes, international gaffes, that have been kept from the media, or which the media has deliberately kept from the front pages because they 'like him so much'.
"this was me being helpful to the broadcasters, with my microphone on, rushing into the car because I had to get to another appointment and they have chosen to play my private conversation."Translated means - "I'm a nice man really. I was being nice to them - and now look what they've done, they've stabbed me in the back."
An, "Et tu, Brute?" sort of moment, or a child-like plea, asking the big boys to play nicely? Perhaps hinting they should help smooth things over, as they've done before when he's made a mess of things?
Mr Brown made a fuller public apology to Labour Party membersWould that he had taken a moment to apologise to everybody who has been hurt and who has been sickened by his outburst. Would that he had taken a moment to apologise to all who have paid his wages, and expenses, for the past thirteen years.
By being so thoughtless, by being so callous, he has upset far more people than he can possibly imagine and, because of the country's dire financial situation, he can't even try to bribe his way back into favour - but what's the betting he'll try, what's the betting he'll try to pretend to funnel some non-existent cash to Rochdale.
Nick Robinson said
"For those of us who have known Gordon Brown for many years, what we have seen is no huge surprise. He has got better and better at handling himself in public, but quite often he flares up in private, expresses frustration,"Ah!
Backtrack a few lines, because it seems that Nick Robinson has, unwittingly, answered the question.
His words suggest that the media has in fact been protecting the man by concealing what many have suspected for years, and they may have done it simply because they themselves are supporters of one particular political party - and that comes first. It comes before national interest.
If this is true, then the media have done the country a terrible disservice.
Alastair Campbell - unelected, and who was Mr Blair's communications director, said,
"She was clearly not a bigot and [Mr Brown] knew that."Perhaps Mr Campbell would care to cast his eye over Inspector Gadget's blog, where he says
I wondered what would happen to Mrs Duffy if she really was a Ruralshire Constabulary police officer?Mrs Rigby thinks not.
A huge rollicking, the next available slot on a diversity training course and zero chance of ever being promoted would follow.
Well, now the PM has responded by apologising for calling her a bigot, can I expect a similar message from the Ruralshire Chief within the next few days?
She thinks those in certain positions of authority will actually agree with Mr Brown, and will think the same as this anonymous commenter 'David' over at Constantly Furious's place
But really, what is the news story here? Gordon meets inbred bigot. Gordon is polite to her in public and then calls her an inbred bigot in private.Nothing much more to say really, is there.
The uncomfortable truth is that, for the first time ever, he was actually right about something.
Maybe they really do want warring factions on the streets, and maybe they know precisely how to achieve it, because all that's left is anger.
Respect - for personal opinions. Gone.
Respect - for the elderly. Gone.
Respect - for ordinary folk, who might not subscribe to the opinions of the political elite. Gone.
Respect - has been thrown out with the dirty bathwater.
....
Labels:
media,
politician,
vote
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Reasons not to vote Labour #10 (bigoted)
He told an aide: "That was a disaster - they should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that? It's just ridiculous..."Quoting Mr Brown after speaking to a real member of the public in Rochdale.
Asked what she had said, he replied: "Everything, she was just a bigoted woman."
Mr Brown had forgotten he had a microphone attached to his lapel, so his words were recorded for the benefit of Sky News.
..........
P.S.
Thanks to Uncle Marvo and his link Mrs R can share this little video with you, which she first found in this page on the Times - which has further details of the incident and also notes that Mrs Gillian Duffy's postal vote,
- which was for Labour, and which was sitting in an envelope in her hall - would not now be posted, she added.The video is from Sky News which has a full article here
This is Mr Brown being pleasant to Mrs Duffy, and then getting into his car where he shows his true feelings - and suggests he was set up.
And this is Mrs Duffy afterwards.
Mrs Duffy wanted to know about the economy, and she wanted to know why her pension is being taxed, she also wanted to know about immigration and crime and sentencing.
She said to the reporters that she didn't know why Mr Brown had bothered to go to Rochdale to see 'young offenders' (presumably they're in the background clearing a footpath). She didn't seem to understand why none of the locals had known he would be in the area, and had only spotted him by chance because of the Police cordon.
This little incident says such a lot. It shows how, in constantly pandering to 'minorities' of all shape and form, the machinations of Labour government have taken their party a million miles away from those it claims to represent.
Mrs Duffy isn't unique, she's just the same as most people of her background. The salt of the earth, honest, loyal, law abiding and intrinsically decent. There are many people like Mrs Duffy within Mrs R's wider family, which is why she feels so much sympathy for her.
Labour has allowed itself to become totally detached from decent, ordinary people. People, who take pride in their appearance, who speak properly and who always behave properly. Maybe Mr Brown doesn't realise that there are thousands and thousands of Mrs Duffys in Britain - these people are hurt and confused by the way things are going in this country, because they trust politicians to treat them decently.
Mr Brown's behaviour today is just a small example of the ongoing betrayal - where he says one thing to your face, and despises you, and treats you with derision and contempt the rest of the time.
Oh, and Mrs R thinks it's also worth noting three further things.
Mr Brown complained that
"They have chosen to play my private conversation with the person who was in the car with me,"He later, apparently, telephoned Mrs Duffy - so presumably he wasn't too bothered about getting access to her telephone number and talking to her when she was at home. Maybe she was on her own - did he care?
At no time was Mrs Duffy rude, she wanted to get away from the reporters but they kept on asking her questions. She maintained her dignity throughout, although she was clearly very upset.
Mr Brown could learn some serious lessons from her behaviour and her use of language.
"He is an educated person, why did he come out with words like that?" she said.
..........
P.P.S.
Here's the full transcript, from the Times
and a picture, from the Telegraph - after hearing the tape whilst on the Jeremy Vine Show.
....
The Hung Parliament Party
h/t John Ward in Medway, who says a lot more about it. See if you agree with both him and the video.
....
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
A ministry of all the talents?
A ministry of all the talents, an end to partisan bickering, a national consensus – such have been the justifications of every dictatorship in history, from Bonaparte’s onwards. A free country must have the ability to sack its leaders, cleanly, peaceably and decisively. Unless I am mistaken, we intend to exercise that right on May 6. Let’s not surrender it immediately thereafter.So says Dan Hannan - read the rest and see if you end up agreeing with him
h/t LFaT
....
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