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Posts Tagged ‘Conservatives’

I know that the Independent along with most papers in ‘Fleet Street’ is suffering financial problems since the “paid for by advertising” business model they all relied upon collapsed and to be honest, is not likely to return in the future but, that is no excuse to continue being stupid.

Although it is really a bit of a dead duck, in their main editorial today, Sunday, they return to the Lord Ashcroft story again. The last time they did this, some 90% of the people who wrote in dismissed the story as just Labour Party election campaigning and so on.

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I must admit to becoming a fan of one of the regular Independent columnists John Rentoul because although I think his natural instincts are likely left wing, his approach is very broad and he examines issues without bias and lots of common sense.

Today he was writing on the narrowing of the polls between Labour and the Conservatives, well worth a read: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-rentoul/john-rentoul-policies-smash-personalities-1912985.html

And another one but if one is crystal ball gazing, well worth a read: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-convention-says-voters-like-big-spending-governmentsits-wrong-1912836.html

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The former Europe Minister Denis MacShane wrote an article on the EU intended to show that the EU is wonderful and the “Beastly Tories” will detach us from it which given the difficulties Greece is currently in, hardly seems a sensible approach to reality.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/denis-macshane-shame-on-those-now-sneering-at-the-european-project-1900566.html

However as an election has to take place in months, the Labour Party is dragging “any old has been” off the back benches to write “wicked Tory” articles on any and every topic they can, what a sad sack of shit this Labour Government has become.

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There is a regular columnist in the Independent called John Rentoul who is a serious Labour Party supporter and often writes some interesting articles however today, I thought that whilst he raised some good points he also wrote some really daft stuff.

In simple terms he was advocating that the Labour Party removed Brown before the General Election to improve their prospects but anyway, looked towards a Plan B about the Leadership post an election defeat. Worth a read to hence the link: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-rentoul/john-rentoul-i-know-a-man-who-can-keep-the-new-labour-flame-burning-1858850.html

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The General Election Campaign is under way and the opening shots were fired by Labour with an attempt at a re-run of the “Tory Toffs” theme from last year’s Nantwich and Crewe by-election, it appears that Gordon “Dirty Slugger” Brown has got his way again, Labour will fight a crude and desperate campaign.

The main topic will be Cameron’s promise to allow a free vote on whether to repeal the legislation on the Fox Hunting ban which will be “proof” for Labour of how the “Tories” are disconnected from the concerns of ordinary people. In reality the legislation should be repealed on the grounds that is so poorly drafted that it is unenforceable, so much so that the Police have given up even trying.

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Every now and then on the various comments boards, people will put forward the notion that a Hung Parliament would be a “Good Idea” but my view is that is the very last thing the Country needs right now. Whilst any specific cash value placed on just how much extra interest would be paid on British Government Debt should there be one, there would most certainly be a heavy cost which could arrive in various forms.

There are a number of factors at play here and I would like to map them out as my “argument” against a Hung Parliament starting with the Financial issues which lead directly to the ‘Political’.

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Some days ago we learned that the three main political parties – Conservatives, Labour, LibDems, have agreed to hold TV Debates during the run up to the General Election which of course has immediately led to protest from the various Celtic Nationalist Parties as well as UKIP and presumably, the BNP.

The real question though is whether it adds anything to British Politics or is it just something that excites the ‘Media People’ only. I must be honest and say that my viewpoint starts with a healthy dose of total scepticism. I am sure the first one will be watched by many though even then, only the committed and/or angry and the following ones by very few.

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I often comment via the readers pages to articles in the Press and likely these often motivate to expand my thinking on any particular topic in this blog and particularly when you have ‘companions’ who although they may have different political views, share a common interest in looking for current answers or solutions.

One such person who I met via the Independent is called John and we were discussing an article by Andrew Grice last Saturday when he posed some interesting questions, this blog entry is an attempt to answer those: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/andrew-grice/andrew-grice-bad-case-of-jitters-on-tory-bandwagon-provides-a-test-of-nerve-for-cameron-1838772.html

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In yesterday’s Times, a Murdoch owned newspaper, there was a leading Editorial called: “Preparing for Government” and subtitled: “David Cameron seems content to drift into power on the back of Labour’s unpopularity. Even if this strategy succeeds it will provide no mandate to govern”. As ever I give you the link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article6948033.ece

I will start with a copy of my ‘unpublished comment’ and whilst one may say based upon the content, “Fair Enough” but to be fair to the Times, they have published similar from me before so, I guess it depends who is on the “desk” at the time. However, there are other issues here too which need to be examined…

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Given the current state of the British economy, social problems and unemployment, it can be of no surprise to see politicians considering “voluntary work” as being a suitable path to explore. However and much to my surprise, the Conservative Party has gone one further and via sponsorship, is funding a pilot scheme aimed at 16 year olds on a purely “volunteer basis”.

The details can be found in the following article by John Rentoul, hardly a Tory supporter at the best of times but he writes up a truly interesting article on the subject.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-rentoul/john-rentoul-like-it-or-not-there-it-is-a-tory-policy-1825377.html

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