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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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 Posted -
11/01/2009
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06:04
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New Year, new topic. If you want to see the old one do a forum search for same title but 2008.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 02/06/2009 : 07:52
The political commentators have been looking at the possible Godron Cabinet re-shuffle. (why do words like Titanic and deck chairs spring to mind?) The general concensus seems to be that Little Darling is due for the chop and the most likely relacement is Ed Balls. Really! Has anyone looked back at his track record? He was 'economic adviser' to Godron when he was chancellor and his fingerprints are all over PFI, the great pensions raid, the abortive tax change when the 10p band was abolished, the decision to combine Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue with all the mayhem that ensued. I could go on. If this is progress I am a Dutchman.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk  |
tripps
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Posted - 02/06/2009 : 13:57
"Things are so bad that Susan Boyle has rung Downing Street to check that Gordon Brown is OK."
(Anonymous blog commenter)
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Tizer
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Posted - 02/06/2009 : 16:54
I'll bet the Joanna Lumley Party is going strong and advancing towards Downing Street as we speak, camouflaged as Islington inhabitants and pretending to speak into mobile phones and write emails on Blackberries simultaneously. Godron will be cowering in the bunker and phoning the Bank of england to get them to wheel out the Quantitative Easing bomb or the Collateral Hedging Instrument.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 03/06/2009 : 06:30
I heard Denham, one of Godron's ministers, saying that there was no crisis. I've heard of keeping your head whan all about are losing theirs but this is ridiculous. Godron is teetering on the edge and even though I have supported Labour all my life I have no sympathy at all, he must reap what he has sown. I can't help thinking about TB watching from the sidelines.... they are talking about jumping ship, exactly what he did.
Cameron is jumping up and down with glee but if I were him I'd calm down and reflect that he could shortly be in a position where he has to substitute policies for rhetoric and dp something constructive. Who, in his right mind, wants to take over government at a time when politics is in uncharted waters? I said last week that we ain't seen nothing yet (I wrote that before Speaker Martin fell) and it still applies. We are on the verge of political melt-down and this is no time for partisan party politics.
If I had my way the three main parties would be forced to form a quasi-coalition administration by sitting down together, discussing what has gone wrong and instituting some emergency policies on a free vote. It wouldn't produce an immediate answer but it would at least persude the electorate that some lessons had struck home and the system of governance was responding.
Never mind the amount of plaster that has been smeared over the cracks, the financial system is still unfit for purpose, the banks are unreformed, government spending is ridiculous and we see no signs of serious cuts in non-social areas like abortive IT schemes, Trident, identity cards and PFI. The off-shore banks carry on helping tax avoidance, high level remuneration in business, the NHS, education and local government is out of control. Downing Street is still trying to run a presidential system without proper checks and counter-balances. We are in a mess and need serious reform which has to be long term and radical. As my mate Bob Smith said many years ago,"We've plaited sawdust for too long and now the pigeons are coming home to roost".
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 03/06/2009 : 06:42
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/02/editorial-gordon-brown-labour
Have a look at this editorial. I can't remember anything as powerful in my lifetime. Brilliant and concise.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 03/06/2009 : 20:23
It's gone quiet on this thread - I guess we are all holding our breath and waiting.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 04/06/2009 : 09:38
I certainly am. I listened to Harriet Harman doing her 'business as usual' bit last night and reached for the sick bag. News that Dr Reid visited his arch enemy Godron yesterday, what's that all about? The bottom line is that Brown is a dead man walking and his fate is being decided in the polling booths today. Last Practical day for an official leadership challenge is next Tuesday. Earliest Godron can announce his reshuffle (or rebuild) is Monday. Next week should see some interesting developments. I voted Labour for the county council and green for the EU. Couldn't think of anything better to do.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 04/06/2009 : 09:41
PS. A Tory leaflet yesterday through mu door said that David Whipp has had over £250,000 in fees and expenses from the CC over the last eight years. I don't think they will have made that up. In the recent kerfuffle last year it was quotede as £42,000 per annum.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
handlamp
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Posted - 04/06/2009 : 10:45
Harriet H has the same affect on me, Stanley. I bet she looses a stack of votes every time she's interviewed. Bring back Bessie Braddock.
Ted |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 04/06/2009 : 18:10
Ted. Ahh..... Bessie! Now there was a woman who was incapable of telling anything but the truth. Got her into lots of trouble of course but what a woman. Funnily enough, Ann Widdecombe reminds me of her. Try this as a rule of thumb, try to imagine any of them drinking a glass of stout and looking comfortable.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 04/06/2009 : 20:03
I've been expecting a good turn-out at this election because people would want to have their say. So at about 5.00pm I talked to the officials looking after the voting in our village hall. "Bet you've been busy" I said. "No", was the answer, "It's a very bad turn-out. People say they can't be bothered with voting - it won't do any good".
I hope the rest of the country isn't like that. The fewer people vote, the higher the proportion becomes of fanatics and extremists having their say.
EDIT on 5th June: From yesterday's Daily Telegraph on-line, the results of a YouGov survey. It will be interesting to see how the results of the election compare.
"A YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph today suggests that Labour could finish third in the European elections, behind the Tories and the UK Independence Party. The poll puts the Tories on 26 per cent, UKIP on 18 per cent, and Labour on 16 per cent. The Liberal Democrats got 15 per cent. In the local elections, Labour could lose control of the last four major county councils it holds, all former strongholds in northern England. The party also risks losing half of the 445 council seats it is defending in what would be its worst election defeat since 1977. Most council results will be declared on Friday, and the European elections will not declare until Sunday night, meaning it will be three more days before the full facts of Labour’s performance are known"
Apparently the poll suggested a higher turn-out than previously, but again let's see what really happens.
Edited by - Tizer on 05/06/2009 10:15:00
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 05/06/2009 : 12:34
I heard a suggestion this morning that turn-out was low. Good weather so I would have expected above average..... Waiting for news....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
panbiker
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Posted - 05/06/2009 : 18:42
Declared results for Lancashire County Council here:
http://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/lccelections/results/2009/elected.asp
From Barlicks point of view it's bye bye time for David, seems like folk have finaly said enough's enough.
Ian |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 06/06/2009 : 05:52
Ian. I noted that as well. I was talking to a lady who lives up Letcliffe before the election and she was in the same position as I was, a strong Labour voter who voted for David on the grounds he was a good man for the town. We had both changed our minds and agreed that it seemed to have gone to his head. I'm not sorry Keith Thomas got in for WC ward, he seems to be a good man. I nearly voted for him myself but at the last minute I couldn't vote for a Tory, not even tactically so I went for the inependent.
Listened to Caroline whingeing and whilst I can believe her accusations of token feminism and government by cabal of old lags in Number 10 I think there was an element of sour grapes. I wonder if he'll regret letting Glenys Kinnock into the Cabinet? Not noted for keeping stumm. The 'appointment' that really blew it for me was Alan Sugar as 'Enterprise Czar'. That is ridiculous and pure gesture politics.
Leaving all the arguments on one side, it is a broken government and all the spin in the world won't cure that. I doubt if there will be a revolt because if there was a GE at the moment most of the protesters would be out of a job, they need more time to make their arrangements.
The Tories will definitely win the next election but will wish they hadn't been born. They will have a broken economy and constitution and on previous form their reaction will be to cut social spending with a subsequent backlash. The most interesting statistic I saw last night was that the Tories had actually lost votes in the Council elections. It's the Liberals who have made ground, a straw in the wind but every reason for the Lib Dems to cheer up despite losing control in the West Country. They have a real opportunity now to be a power in the next Parliament but in order to do so that need to campaign on the general front of fighting against the modern evils that I am constantly griping about. distribution of wealth and opportunity. They must regain their 19th century role of the radical party.
It's a sad day for us old Labour supporters because in 1997 we had a wonderful opportunity to address the basic faults in our system of government. However, at the time I said that the danger was that the huge majority would give the opportunity to ignore Parliament and that the Blair/Brown/Mandelson cabal would fail if they didn't stop electioneering and start governing. They made both mistakes in spades and I shall never forgive them. It could well be twenty years before we see another socialist government in the wider sense. I shall not live to see it.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
panbiker
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Posted - 06/06/2009 : 13:23
I agree that the writings on the wall for the Labour Party nationaly and they only have themselves to blaim. New Labour was doomed to fail from the word go, socialism became a bit of a dirty word within the rank and file as they raced full tilt to remain electable adopting nothing more than watered down Tory policies. The National Executive did not have the bottle to push through proper socialist principals, they were not prepared to take a risk, being out in the wilderness for so long and pandered to the masses to stay in power. I suppose that's one way of doing it but not sustainable. I agree regarding the Liberal position but the present incumbents there would not know the meaning of the word radical! so it's sustained wilderness for them also unles they can come up with something different that will make a real change.
The far right vote in West Craven is worrying, I cannot see them gaining a seat here but it does show how discontented some are with the main parties. One thing I noticed in the LCC results was some of the very narrow margins and the pathetic turn out in lots of the wards. I think this should lend a hand towards compulsory voting. If the current situation does not get people to the polls, I think there is a clear case for making them, less than 35% is not representative and moves should be made to force a wider opinion if nescessary.
Ian |
SPEAKER'S CORNER 2012
