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Posts Tagged ‘Labour’

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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I have often of late complained of journalists writing up lots of worthless foam from the mouth about the current state of UK politics. I can have a certain empathy with them, they need to try and make it all look exciting and interesting, even if it isn’t because they need to hang on to their jobs but, are they contributing anything ? I doubt it why I have a picture here of Mr Smug himself…

I have had for some time now a feeling that the next election has already been decided some time ago and it is that Gordon Brown and Labour are out and fluctuations in the polls will not change that fact. It is in this sense that I wonder whether the people with the decision, the electorate, are even listening.

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I’m always up for a laugh but was astounded with the joint call by the deplorable Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt both of whom are “standing down at the next election”, for a secret ballot on Gordon Brown as the Leader of the Labour Party – to clear the air ! One wonders who is pulling their strings on this one, Harmon, Darling ?

What a hoot ! If anybody has the slightest doubt about the result of the next election in that Gordon Brown and Labour will be thrown out of Office and David Cameron will be the next Prime Minister with a good working majority, there goes the proof. It might have been a good idea a year ago but now, it can only be described as a death wish, perhaps they should “re-brand” as the Lemming Party.

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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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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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Apparently the other day, a Labour Housing Minister addressing the Fabian Society said that the era in which all Britons can aspire to own their own home may be coming to an end. He suggested that Britain may be moving towards a European model, with renting on a roughly equal footing with buying.

He then said that home ownership had fallen from 71 per cent of households in 2003 to 68 per cent today, noting that this trend began in 2005, well before the recession. “I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing,” he said, what a prat ! I notice he neglected to mention the uncontrolled immigration during that same period.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/its-time-to-give-up-the-dream-of-home-ownership-says-minister-1838189.html

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