parburypolitica

Moving on ....

2007-09-25T10:15:00.000+01:00

There have been quite a few Labour blogs that have called it a day over recent months for one reason or another. Even this blog has been feeling a little jaded recently. Don't get me wrong pointing out the errors of our opponents is always worthwile but being a pale 10th of recessmonkey or kerron isn't really worth the candle.

But i'm not chucking blogging in rather if you can't beat them do something more worthwhile. So this blog is moving over to wordpress and talking about policy alot more.

See you over there

http://parburypolitica.wordpress.com/

PS thanks to the people who put this blog 27th on Iain Dale's list. Those below will no doubt feel robbed and frankly i'm inclined to agree with them but there's always next year.

PPS Dodgy russians who make Jeffrey Archers branch of the tory party look positivly angelic and undertake legal action against bloggers can go to hell or state of non being as the some in the CoE now call it.

Facebook Tories

2007-09-19T14:45:00.000+01:00

I'm half in a state on amazement at what people will put on facebook and allow the world to see. Take one Richard Coates, apparently the Gloucestershire County Council Conservative Political Researcher where he is, in his own words, "Paid to indulge my megalomania, I dream of ruling the county with a rod of iron from my frozen throne."

Voter intimidation, shameless lies and ruthless cynicism: Are the Fib Dems the new nasty party?

2007-09-17T14:44:00.000+01:00

As the new political season is gearing up Parburypolitica has been campaigning around the country. Last weekend it was back to my old stamping ground in Manchester and the weekend before to Stonebridge for a by election in the new Brent Central seat. Now the the Lib Dems could be used as a dictionary definition for random but I did notice some similarities in how they operate across the country.

Dogshit politics: Follow a dog around all day and wait until it does its daily doing, put your worst mattress on the street for as long as it takes to photo or even pretend to clear off graffiti then con the local populace into believing your doing something about it.

If in doubt lie, lie and lie again: If the first approach doesn't work blame the labour party and "forget" to mention to the voters that you have been running the council for the past year and half. In those canvassing door step conversations which aren't recorded you can say what you want. Labour candidates suddenly become nightmare neighbours, hospitals face sudden closure unless a lib dem is elected .... the list could go on and on. Oh and if they lose it wasn't because the voters thought they were rubbish its because they were called paedophiles by the victors but somehow forgot to mention it during the campaign. Fib Dem grapes are always sour.

If that doesn't work send in the heavies: In the battle of the poster wars they play really dirty. Got a garden on a main road with a tree and they will be your best friends. Put a non lib dem poster up in one of "their" areas they wont leave you alone until you take it down.

Recruit randoms: Like all dodgy cults the lib dems prey on the weak and gullible. They get asked to be members. Weak, gullible and now more of your neighbours than average, or even better a wife beating mercenary, then you can be the fib dem candidate / councillor / MP or in Ming's dreams PM.

Lib dems want to end the NHS ... no seriously....

2007-09-14T10:17:00.000+01:00

Free at the point of use is the principle that is the bedrock of the NHS and the Lib Dems want to drive a coach and horses right through it. The lib dems seem to be in a spin at the moment. Personally I think it is rather unfair the Ming Campbell is written off because he is old when he really should be written off because he is useless and judging by what the they are saying in the Guardian politically venal. Bring on the campaign "Lib Dems want to destroy the NHS".

What the commies really mean.

2007-09-07T18:09:00.000+01:00

From the CPGB website

After the defeats of the 20th century, we have seen a process of disintegration of proletarian politics. Genuine Marxists must engage in a process of recomposition. Above all, the left needs a rigorous approach to theory, an attempt to rearticulate communism as a viable alternative to a global capitalism in terminal decline. We call on all serious partisans of the working class to join us in this work

and it should really say

After billions of people thought we were authoritarian idiots, we have seen a process of them telling us to go sling our hook. Really crusty agenda dyslexics only have the works of Marx and Engels for company so must engage in a process of recomposting. Above all, the left needs to talk to itself as no on else is listening, an attempt to regurgitate communism that is bound to fail because everyone has gone shopping. We call on all serious screwballs, nutters, misfits and people who secretly fantasize about Stalin in the lumpen polytechnic to join us in this work

Rabitte no more

2007-09-05T06:23:00.000+01:00

The Irish Labour party leader Pat Rabbitte is standing down following the recent general election they had over there. At the moment there is only one candidate for his replacement Eamon Gilmore. Wonder where they got that idea from.

Tory MP's refuse to back liability Boris

2007-09-03T16:03:00.000+01:00

In a startling revelation Tory MP's in London are split down the middle as only half were revealed as backers of Boris Johnson's mayoral campaign today. The overwhelming favourite to be selected as the Tories mayoral candidate is seen by many in the conservative parliamentary party as an embarrassing liability. This will come as a disappointment to his close friend and fellow Bullingdon club member David Cameron who had wanted a serious candidate like Greg Dyke but was prepared to settle for the old Etonian as it would create a greater perceived distance between his extremely rightwing friend and his modernising project.

London Tory MP's backing Boris 10
James Brokenshire
David Burrows
David Evennett
Justine Greening
Stephen Hammond
Greg Hands
Nick Hurd
Richard Ottoway
Andrew Rosindell
Lee Scott

London Tory MP's not backing Boris 9
Jacqui Lait
Bob Neill
Iain Duncam Smith
Mark Field
Andrew Pelling
Sir Malcolm Rifkind
Derek Conway
John Horam
John Randall

Tory makes a fat arse of himself

2007-08-15T14:09:00.000+01:00

There are two ways you can do politics. One way is to engage in serious work to benefit your constituents the other is to grandstand in the media and make a tit of yourself in the hope that you can lick the sole of Boris de Pfiffel Johnson's boots.

Sadly Brian Coleman a Tory member of the London Assembly has taken it upon himself to follow the second aforementioned path. Not happy to out Ted Heath with no evidence whatsoever after the guy had died and was unable to sue, he has decided to attack Blue Peter presenter, the delectable Konnie Huq.

Having met Konnie I can say she is about as political as your average heat magazine reader. Her sister Rupa is the politico in the family and she didn't even know that she was going to meet Ken. But none the less, according to more febrile rightwingers standing next to Ken Livingstone at a launch for a cycling event imperils the political impartiality of the BBC. No doubt the next thing Coleman is going to come up with is that standing next to gay people will make you gay. Frankly standing next to Brian Coleman would put me off the idea but that's by the by. Apparently Coleman is gay but unlike most gay guys he is a total ^*%&(* *&$%

Coleman says the mayor made a political rant. The is fatuous nonsense. No such rant ever took place. So unless he wants to produce a transcript, which I can't see him doing as it would blow his " case" out of the water he should apologies forthwith to both Konnie Huq and Ken Livingstone. It really irritates me that good people from all parties involved in politics have to put up with such shallow, rentaquote media whores who sole electoral purpose is to increase their squild notoriety amongst a bemused electorate while lining their pockets with taxpayers cash.

The real question that should be asked is not over Konnie Huq's political impartiality which is impeccable but rather why the taxpayer has to subsidize Brian Coleman's fat ass's taxi fares to the tune of £10,000 per year.

Perhaps if he followed Konnie's sensible advice and got on a bike the taxpayer could breath a large sigh of relief at the lifting of this onerous burden and so would his chairs.

When in a hole it's best to stop digging

2007-08-15T10:22:00.000+01:00

Sense from Bloggerheads

I'd vote for Neil Kinnock over Iain Dale anyday

2007-08-10T10:13:00.000+01:00

I know it's the silly season and news is thin on the ground but Iain must be having the slowest newsday of the year if he is rehashing this utter codswallop. Neil Kinnock was a fundamentally decent man who tried to drag his party towards electability but narrowly and sadly failed.

Now it is the incompetent, malicious, divisive, economically illiterate and just plain mean Thatcher and Major governments that helped deliver the splendid victories of 97, 01, and o5 but I can't help thinking it would have been a lot better for the country if Kinnock had won in 87 or 92.

Just in case you thought that the Tories would be an different if they got into government again I refer you to this invitation to join "Dave" Shameron at the races which includes directions for your private jet or helicopter! Forget his cheesy photo ops, if "Dave" ever gets the keys to Number 10 in the words of Neil Kinnock "I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old."

Tis the season to be merry

2007-08-10T10:01:00.000+01:00

Now we don't grow our own food any more like some medieval serf and get it all nicely wrapped from the supermarket we've kind of lost touch with the seasons of food production. If we hadn't had an allotment when we were growing up I'm sure that I would know even less than my admittedly limited knowledge of what's actually in season. One of the great things about the net is that you can find the answer to practically anything so I was rather pleased to stumble across this which has loads of good information.

Who kills more people: Osama Bin Laden or the motor car?

2007-07-26T11:24:00.000+01:00

It appears that Mr Al Qaeda is in fact something of a wannabe when it comes to killing people compared with the motor car. Around 3000 people died in 9/11 but more than 3000 people every single year die on Britain's roads. Never mind the War on Terror what about the War on Cars?

Lets face it it would be cheaper than invading lots of foreign countries and could save more British lives. The only problem is that is not such a good news story as terrorism. War correspondents would rather get shelled and bombed in far off lands than report on the slaughter on our own streets.

Still we aren't all going to get killed by the motor cars, some of us will succumb
to heart disease so perhaps it's grim reading for the car industry that the latest research is showing that exhaust fumes are driving, excuse the pun, up rates of heart disease.

Randomised controlled trials for social policy

2007-07-21T20:33:00.000+01:00

Seems like a good idea to me.

Nick Parrott's Fact of the Day

2007-07-20T19:04:00.000+01:00

Thought I would share this from my facebook wall. Hat tip Nick.

Ealing Southall was the lowest swing against an incumbent party in any by-election since 1982. The 1982 by-election was in Beaconsfield, where the Labour candidate was Tony Blair. Funny old game...

What a difference a day makes ....

2007-07-20T07:07:00.000+01:00

Two third places in Sedgefield and Ealing Southall and the tory boys over at ConHome are less than happy. Could Cameron be the next Conservative catastrophe? Yes according to these comments from Tory activists.

"Slam dunk for Labour tomorrow then!"

"sadly we offer nothing more than a fresh face."

"Cameron's going to take a massive slap in the cherubic chops over Ealing Southall. Cameron visited the place FIVE times and there was talk of winning it. Lit even ran as 'David Cameron's Conservatives', so it's personal!Not good at all."

"Well "call me Dave" can't blame the "nasty wing" this time. It was their choice of candidate, their style of campaign, their staffers on the ground and even "David Cameron's Conservatives" on the ballot paper. Time to start producing results "Dave" or we might want our Party back."

"I'm afraid this can't be spun any other way than a bad night for us."

"we can be justified in saying "Cameron out". IDS lost his position after Brent East and this is, in effect, far worse."

"The Cameron leadership is a shambles. Shame on us for putting up with it for 2 years."

"it is shockingly bad to be honest."

"I voted Tory the past 4 GE's and I CANNOT STAND Cameron. Many many of my Tory friends are the same. He is a puke-making spinmaster and the country is sick of it."

"Cameron needs to go. Brown will go to the polls this fall and will return a comfortable majority."

Cycling friendly cities

2007-07-19T17:55:00.000+01:00

Here is a great video from Holland on cycling friendly cities with transport polices that put people first and benefit the environment. Perhaps they should get the Brits to do their videos for them but the Dutch do wonderful city planning and the UK would benefit hugely from borrowing their ideas.

Police investigate Tories over Ealing Southall

2007-07-19T02:04:00.000+01:00

The sheer incompetence of the Conservative party is breath taking. They pick a candidate who isn't even a member, who has donated thousands to Labour and is not even one of the tens of thousands of people who have exactly the same amount of political experience as him (i.e. none) and actually live in the constituency.

Now they can't even run a by election campaign without getting investigated by the police

Tory Blogger admits defeat

2007-07-18T11:28:00.000+01:00

Good to see that Iain Dale doesn't think that the Tories stand a chance in Ealing Southall. Hopefully more important people like the electors of the seat are of the same opinion. No doubt we shall find out on Thursday.

I'm off to Ealing Southall

2007-07-13T18:07:00.000+01:00

for the weekend. While i'm gone don't play follow play follow the former lib dem leader like they do over at the CP's. It's dangerous kids.

Sport, dosh and governance

2007-07-12T14:35:00.000+01:00

A fascinating article in the Times.

Ealing Southall candidates: the dirty dozen

2007-07-10T14:35:00.000+01:00

Nigel Bakhai, Liberal Democrat
John Sydney Cartwright, The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
Sati Chaggar, English Democrats - 'Putting England First!'
Salvinder Singh Dhillon, Respect - Peace, Justice, Equality
Sarah Janet Edwards, Green Party
Kuldeep Singh Grewal, Independent
Tony Lit, David Cameron's Conservatives
Yakub Masih, Christian Party 'Proclaiming Christ's Lordship'
Jasdev Singh Rai, Independent
KT Rajan, UK Independence Party
Virendra Kumar Sharma, The Labour Party Candidate
Gulbash Singh, Independent

Here's the full list of Ealing Southall by election candidates. By elections are never the cleanest of campaigns so in a Telly Savalas moment it seems appropriate to call the candidates the dirty dozen, it also helps there being twelve. Anyway, then it struck me Virendra Sharma - Telly Savalas separated at birth?

World's biggest Dick (Cheney) nailed ...

2007-07-10T09:30:00.000+01:00

in a funnier way than they tend to do in his secret prisons.Dick Cheney would make a great Bond villain. Filming could also keep him occupied for the few weeks between when he steps down as vice president and when all the people who have been kidnapped and tortured on his orders start to sue his ass off. The video apparently expires on the 26th July so catch it while you can.

Britains railways are safest ever

2007-07-10T08:45:00.001+01:00

One of the great things about blogs is that you can highlight stuff that the mainstream media decide to leave out of its coverage. My dad is a little bit of a train buff and takes The Railway magazine. Normally I leave it well alone but I had a look at the latest issue and it turns out that for the first time ever there have been two consecutive years 2005, 2006 with no passenger deaths on the railways. There have been 6 years in postwar Britain where there have been no deaths on board trains and half of them have been in the 21st century the other was in 2003.

So this is something of a golden age of rail safety. Lets compare to other forms of transportation. Train travel is 23 times safer than car travel and 849 times safer than motorcycles. As you can see from national statistics road deaths have been reducing over the last 40 years but roads are still the killing fields of modern Britain with thousands dead every year. Can someone please explain to me why people are so attached to their expensive, polluting and slow cars ....

Dutch bikes

2007-07-09T20:15:00.000+01:00

This is an excellent video about Dutch bike culture. It's filmed from an American perspective but that doesn't mean that we don't have to learn exactly the same lessons because we suffer the same problems. The Dutch and also the Danes lead the way on creating healthy, happy and green societies so if your interested in improving your own society take a peek.

Tony Lit: a tory dream turns to a nightmare...

2007-07-09T12:40:00.000+01:00

First a little local difficulty cropped up today but nothing to worry about long term. Clearly they thought after not getting their man selected that he was so weak he had no hope as an independent candidate so they buggered off in a huff to the Tories and I suspect never to be heard from again. Pickled politics is even counting it as a rather big blessing and i'm looking forward to the Tories repeating their recent calls for immediate by elections. We could even combine the parliamentary and locals.

The defection of a bunch of non-entities shouldn't overshadow the extremely dubious choice of Tony Lit as a "Cameron Conservative" by election candidate. Considering that the last Asian "Dave" promoted to the shadow cabinet turned out to be homophobe and terrorist sympathiser you would of thought "Dave" would have the gumption to select someone as a candidate who's ink on the membership forms was dry.But no, not our "Dave".

As Kevin Maguire points out the guy drives a roller and is a former model. His dad is also worth a cool £75,000,000. No doubt "Dave" would have thought he was the right kind of chap if his dad has that much money. I disagree however. The Tories should not be selecting candidates based on the colour of their skin or indeed the size of former independent candidate daddies wallet but on the content of their character. Tony Lit is the blankest canvass since the great paint shortage of 1645. If they could get a mannequin to talk they would have put it on the ballot paper as possibly the only candidate that could be more vacuous. This is dangerous for the Tories. What kind of man are they trying to put in parliament? Who knows he only met them a week ago.

No doubt he has the nice house outside the constituency and the flash car and fancies strutting his stuff in the only palace (of Westminster) that you can be a part of without having carnal knowledge of someone in the royal family but a seat in parliament is really not about another trophy it's about public service.

In the unlikely event that Tory Lit is returned as the member for Ealing Southall he'd have a shock after the first surgery when he finds out they expect him to do it more than once.

Even a local Tory blogger is calling Lit a "high risk" so if and when it all blows up in "Dave's" face it's his appalling judgement which is at fault and no one else's.

Charlie Kennedy nabbed by the boys in blue

2007-07-06T16:50:00.000+01:00

The Guardian is reporting that the former Lib dem leader has been spoken to about smoking on a train. Never mind the sheer inconsiderateness towards other passengers, we all know that most of the problems that the British Transport Police have to deal with regarding anti social behaviour come down to alcohol an area in which Kennedy is an acknowledged expert. So Parburypolitica asks just how sober was he?

Letter to Gordon Dear Gordon,...

2007-07-05T14:00:00.000+01:00

The Gruniad has done a good PDF of the your new government but I would add an amendment to it.

We need a Minster of State for Active Travel and Fitness, it could be a joint appointment between the Department of Health and the Department of Transport in the same way that the Minister of State for Trade is between the Foreign Office and B.E.R.R.

Active Travel is shorthand for cycling and walking but basically covers anything that gets us out of motorcars and benefits our health and the environment. The job would basically be providing more and better opportunities for cycling and walking, promoting healthy lifestyles and tackling the car culture through urban design.

This is a job that would solve problems with both departments. At the moment the DOT is set up in a very anti green way and this needs to change. At the moment you have a Secretary of State, two Ministers of State one for roads and road safety and the other for aviation and shipping and a parliamentary undersecretary for railways.

I would change it like this. Split the aviation and shipping brief and give aviation to roads and shipping to railways this would create a vacancy in the DOT which could be filled with a Minster of State for Active Travel and Fitness. This would be also good for the Department of Health.

At the moment the NHS is a national illness service ie when we have something wrong with us it tries to fix it. The best way to improve our health though would be a change in lifestyle so this appointment would help rebalance the Department of Health from being to closely aligned with producer and indeed supplier interests to a situation where it takes into account the nationals wellness as well as illness.

We have an appalling car culture in this country, major lifestyle challenges that put the NHS at long term risk and an environment record that needs improvement. The vexing thing is that we know how to solve these challenges but what is needed is iron political will to see them through.

I want on of those!

2007-07-05T09:50:00.000+01:00

Here is an interesting quote from an interesting article in the Independent

Almost 200 years after their invention in northern England, railways (if they are well run) are still the pleasantest and safest way to travel. In 27 years, the French Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) system has carried more than a billion passengers. There has not been one serious injury.

We may have been the first but we haven't been the best for decades. So Tom now you have ditched the blog you have plenty of time left for effecting a national high speed rail network. Crack on.

Brothers in arms and oil and big wads of cash

2007-07-05T09:38:00.001+01:00

This picture amused me. Hat tip Harry's Place

Ealing Southall - The NEC really does know best!

2007-07-04T10:22:00.000+01:00

This may not be the conventional view at the moment but it is non the less right. Knowing why the NEC did what they did I can see the wisdom of their decision and while it may be a painful decision for some to accept at the moment it really is in the wannabe candidates long term best interests even if it may not feel like that this morning.

As this blog is a public forum there is a limit to what I can say on here. If you want to know why Jasbir Anand was not put on the shortlist go for a google though I cannot vouch for the truth of what you may find there . As for Sonika it was not the right time or place for her though above all her character remains unblemished by this minor set back and i'm sure that we will see her in the House of Commons in short order, just not in Ealing Southall.

Ealing Southall by election shortlist

2007-07-03T19:52:00.000+01:00

Well well the benevolent leadership which is the NEC has in its infinite wisdom got a shortlist of Jo Sidhu and Virendra Sharma for the members in Ealing Southall to choose from as opposed to five names for Sedgefield. Now I am certainly not going to give the opposition the kind of blog ammunition that they have been giving us recently save to say there will be more than a few bruised egos at not being included on the shortlist tonight some of whom actually have a valid point.

Tories appoint pro terrorist homophobe lawyer to top team

2007-07-03T14:22:00.000+01:00

I noted before the reluctance of "Dave" to appoint anyone to the shadow cabinet that we have ever heard of but the reasons why he wants to keep the names of his top teams quiet are becoming apparent. It turns out Sayeeda Warsi who he is sending to the lords to cover the shadow communities brief is a homophobe who thinks that terrorists are "freedom fighters". On the plus side she is a lawyer, because more lawyers in politics is just what the country wants. Way to go "Dave".

She even makes Michael Howard look like the voice of reason which is an achievement and a half.

"Mr. Michael Howard, leader of the Conservative party, disagreed with comments made in a BBC programme on 20/07/2005 by Ms. Sayeeda Warsi, vice-chairman of the party, stating that new anti-terror laws following the 7/7 attacks in London should not stop support for "(the) freedom fight" in Kashmir. She had further stated that "It would concern me if … the definition of terrorism was to cover maybe (the) legitimate freedom fight in Kashmir.""

All aboard?

2007-07-03T13:46:00.000+01:00

I'm very glad to see that the high speed railway system in Europe is getting its act together and competing with short haul air travel. Railteam.eu will mean that you will be able to buy tickets for high speed international trains a lot easier in the future. Previously passengers had to rely on the excellent Seat 61 for such things even though you would have thought train companies would be interested in making the purchase of tickets as easy as possible.

High speed rail is quicker city centre to city centre and a whole lot greener than air transport. Great Britain is only a small island so I think there should be an alternative to internal flights in the UK. I think simply banning domestic flights is not the right step at the moment but we should want to get the transport system to provide the great alternatives which are cheaper, greener and more convenient.

Britain has only one high speed rail line known as high speed one which is the english side of the channel tunnel to London route. Presently there is talk of high speed two replacing the west coast main line from London to Glasgow in a few decades time. This is all to the good but really we should be aiming for double figures at least not just 2 lines.

It is of course easy to call for expenditure, look at the fib dems for one, but it is important to say where the money should come from. I think we should slap on a £50 per flight High Speed Train Levy on all domestic flights and there should be an escalator of inflation + 5% applied annually. This would be a hypothicated tax that would be used only to finance high speed rail rather than general expenditure. We should also use the tax system to ensure that flights are always the most expensive means of travel as along as they are the most environmentally damaging.

We also need to approach this on a European level with expansion of the high speed rail networks across the continent and a transnational HSTL on short haul European flights.

2007-07-02T21:59:00.000+01:00

Apparently the Tories are having a reshuffle.

Who are these people ? At the moment the most famous Tories are "Dave",Boris and Maggie. Only one of which is in the shadow cabinet. Considering that these people want to lead the nation they should do us the courtesy of telling us who on earth they are!

Anyway Brown's start as PM, even if terrorist events mean it could have been better, is making them look like a bunch of amateurs out of their depth. So it all seems a bit like the Tories are reshuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic. I wonder what the proportion of the population is who are not members of political parties who can identify 6 or more members of the shadow cabinet? Answers on a postcard.

This lady aint staying at the Paris Hilton

2007-06-29T10:52:00.000+01:00

At last a journo refuses to serve up the rubbish we get for news. Take note BBC breakfast which is the home of "minor celeb with something to promote" TV.

The strange death of Tory England?

2007-06-26T17:17:00.000+01:00

What struck me about the delightful joy that is Quentin Davies' defection to Labour is that I cannot recall a defection from a party 10 years into opposition.You would have thought they would be on the way back to power after a decade and MP's wonderful and noble public servants that they are tend not to defect from parties on the brink of power.

So will the Tories ever regain power? Well the same question was asked of Labour in the wilderness years and now we are looking for a fourth election victory so I suspect that the Tory beast is only sleeping but of course I could be wrong....

All change please

2007-06-25T11:41:00.000+01:00

So the Labour Party has a new Leader and deputy.

I have to admit that I had my doubts about a coronation with no election amongst party members but in the words of George Formby "it's turned out nice again". The smooth transition has put us ahead in the polls for the first time in a quite a while. Not that there was ever any danger of John McDonnell actually winning but as least we avoided the Tory trap of the membership voting in a leader like Iain Duncan Smith which the parliamentary party think is a total loser.

The next few months are going to be exciting times in British politics. Brown is a very considerable politician unlike Eton Dave the flaky fake PR man. In the first series of the West Wing the political consultant Mandy (no not peter) has a brilliant line "I'm gonna bitchslap 'em around the beltway" I think Eton Dave the flaky fake PR man is going to feel a bit battered in the near future as Gordon gets into prime ministerial gear.

Relentless focus on the NHS

Cabinet Minister for Housing

Four Labour party Vice Chairs to build the organisation

Ban of protest outside parliament lifted

These all look like good moves for a government that is serious about winning the next election and Gordon hasn't even kissed hands with the Queen yet. I wouldn't want to be a tory in the next few months or come to that the next election or indeed ever.

And now for the deputy. Well that was a bit of a surprise. My congratulations go to Harriet "comeback kid" Harman. I'm sure that she will work very well with Gordon and i'm looking forward to the considerable contribution that she will make to a fourth! election victory as party chair.

As will have been apparent from the Cruddas badge on the site it was clear where my first preference went. Cruddas may not have won the vote but he won the battle of ideas. He is a politician of rare political courage and intellectual insight. The deputy leadership contest may have been the first time that most people had heard of him, it will not be the last. Well done Jon.

D-Day 63 today

2007-06-06T17:00:00.000+01:00

Today is the 63rd anniversary of D-Day. The sacrifice of the Allied soldiers on the beaches of northern France meant that Europe was free from Nazi tyranny and western Europe escaped from Communism. We also moved beyond the ritual slaughter of millions in global wars as a substitute for diplomacy. We will remember them.

Browsing with Bling

2007-06-06T16:49:00.000+01:00

There are lots of you out there still browsing with Explorer because it came in the box with the computer. For the more adventurous there is Firefox with its tabbed browsing (lots of webpages in one window rather than lots of windows) and Bling style add ons.

I especially like the leopard skin effect. Classy.

Beauty is in the eye ...

2007-06-06T16:47:00.000+01:00

of the beholder. But surely I can't be the only person who like the look of a fully loaded touring bike.

A Rightwing Royal Scandal - Parburypolitica Exclusive

2007-05-08T13:10:00.000+01:00

After the local elections there is one thing that we can say for sure, namely that the next general election will be a very closely fought contest. There is a significant possibility of a hung parliament. In such a situation that the Monarch should be seen to be politically neutral is of paramount importance. That goes to the heart of both the constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy.

Edward Young (pictured) is a former Vice Chairman, Reading East Conservative Association and a Reading Borough Councillor. He was elected in 1994 and became group leader, it is not clear yeat when he stood down but he was a conservative parliamentary candidate for Leigh in the 1997 general election. He then in 1999 went on to become an advisor to the Shadow Chancellor and subsequently The Leader of the Opposition William Hague up until 2001.

He then joined Grenada as Head of Corporate Communications, working primarily on the merger with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc. Prior to his election to Parliament David Cameron was Director of Corporate Affairs for Carlton and after 2001 he was retained as a consultant. It would be very interesting to find out what links they had with each other during this time.

So after his time as a tory candidate and tory spinner, add a couple of years of working in the private sector for non party political cover though don't let that stop you working in the same mileu as the future leader of the opposition,then become a member of the Royal Household as assistant Private Secretary to the Sovereign. As of September 2007 he will be promoted to Deputy Private Secretary. This puts him in line to be the next Principle Private Secretary the highest advisor to Her Majesty in time for the next election.

Did he declare his past as an active conservative when applying to the Royal Household?If he did what on earth are they playing at by putting the political impartiality of the Queen at risk. We can accept them being social conservatives but actively employing party political ones is a step to far.

We could be in a position where Her Majesty's most important advisor is not seen to be politically neutral and an ex advisor to the shadow foreign secreatary William Hague, he may even be a friend of David Cameron.

If after the next election there is a hung parliament and the Queen asked Mr Young his advice on the way forward for the country can he honestly say that his advice to the Sovereign would not at all be clouded by his political past. I think he can't say that with any certainty especially because of his personal links to the main protagonists of the Conservative parliamentary party. He should go now before his position becomes untenable in a constitutional crisis.

Dave Cameron's underage drinking - On Concorde

2007-05-08T12:37:00.000+01:00

This is a great bit from David Camerons Wiki entry. Personally I think the image of an 11 year old Concorde flying, Dom Perignon swilling David Cameron could be more damaging than Billy boy Hague and his 18 pints a day.

"Heatherdown Preparatory School

At the age of seven, Cameron was sent to Heatherdown Preparatory School in Berkshire, which counts Prince Andrew and Prince Edward among its alumni. A feature on Cameron by Frances Elliott and James Hanning in The Mail on Sunday, March 18, 2007 reports that in July, 1978 when Cameron was 11, Mrs Gordon Getty flew her son Peter, grandson of oil billionaire John Paul Getty and four classmates to the United States to celebrate his birthday. Cameron was one of the classmates chosen to accompany him. Rhidian Llewellyn, who at 18 taught Cameron briefly, was chaperoning the boys. As they tucked into caviar, salmon and beef borderlaise on board a Concorde bound for Washington he recalled turning towards Cameron who raised a glass of Dom Perignon '69 to him and exclaimed 'Good health, Sir!'"

Cruddas interview

2007-05-07T19:20:00.000+01:00

Straight talk or what.

What a brilliant idea?

2007-05-05T15:55:00.000+01:00

Foreign aid being syphoned off by governments due to corruption. NGO's spending to much on admin and fat western salaries. There are plenty of reasons not to help the developing world but Kiva is a pretty good answer to them.

It is a internet based system of micro credit. You don't get any interest on the loans you provide but the repayment rate is very high indeed and you help create businesses in the third world which is ultimately the best way of reducing poverty in those countries rather than solely foriegn aid important though that is. Anyway check it out.

None of the bastards will open the door to me

2007-05-02T23:59:00.000+01:00

Hopefully none of them will vote for Mr Ankers either. Whatever happens he wins the award for candidate name most likely to be a typographical error. Anyway this graphic has been shamelessly nicked from CP who will be commenting all night on the success or otherwise of Mr Ankers and the other Lib Dem members (I think is the right word)

Karl Rove with sideburns

2007-05-02T10:36:00.000+01:00

CBS's Dan Rather, who I think is still going, has a look at the 1972 Nixon relection campaign, including a young Karl Rove about 4 minutes in. Apart from the numpty look of one of the worlds most evil geniuses it is a fascinating to see how elections have changed in such a short amount of time.

The best nebula this side of the universe

2007-05-02T10:07:00.000+01:00

I love space. Perhaps I watched to much Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wednesdays 6pm BBC2 if I remember rightly, as a kid. Anyway the hubble space telescope has the benefit of not having the earths atmosphere getting in the ways of its lense so it can take some rather snazzy pics. Those people at NASA aren't ones to miss a good PR opportunity so now you to can have some brilliant images as Wallpaper on your desk top here.

Things can only get fried in batter

2007-04-30T11:54:00.000+01:00

Alex Salmond came up with a line recently to placate wavering Scottish Labour voters. If Scotland left the union it would not have to be for ever and Scotland could rejoin it if they wanted.

Who says that we would want the Scots back! I'm agnostic on the union. If the Scots want to have their own separate country I don't think we should start a civil war over it. They can go if they want to. You would hope that we could do a deal over the votes in Eurovision if the Scots could get over their paranoia that the english are holding them back.

I find the Scots Nats position incredible. It is predicated on the assumption that the English would roll over and want to get their tummy tickled like some labdrador gratfull at the return of its master. No doubt they would be whining for the return of their present subsidy junkie financial settlement.

If they want to stay fine. If they want to go fine. If they want to waltz in and out like it's strictly come dancing they can get lost. Then comes the divying up of the assets. The Scots should remember that it is British oil and the that Scotland is only a small part of Britain so I find it bizarre in the extreme that they should expect to get all the oil revenues.

The Scots get a remarkably good deal in the union. They get the rest of us to pay for public services which are more lavishly funded than for the rest of them. If you look at the coverage of the elections on thursday most of it is about Scotland when most people will be voting in england and wales. If they want to give that up fine but let them be under no illusion that they are going to get that deal back.

Shout out to the ladies

2007-04-27T12:20:00.000+01:00

News reaches Parburypolitica towers that Hornsey and Wood green is a bit short of candidates for the up coming selection which closes today! This was a seat that had a Labour majority of 20,000 in 1997 but is now occupied by Lynne Featherbrain. Given that performance I wouldn't expect Barbara Roache to be restanding so it is for someone else to take up the baton.

Hornsey & Wood Green
Held by: Lib Dem
Majority: 2,395
Second Place: Lab
All women shortlist? Yes
Closing date for applications: 27 April
Shortlisting: 23 May
Hustings: 20 June
Procedures Secretary: Mark Atkinson
41 Dukes Avenue, Muswell Hill, N10 2PX
Tel: 07811 468245
Email: markjatkinson@hotmail.com

Raspberry and mascarpone cheese cake

2007-04-25T12:24:00.000+01:00

675 ml Mascarpone
3 large eggs
170g sugar
200ml Creme fraiche
Short crust pastry
large punnet of raspberries

Pre heat oven to gas mark 6

Roll out pastry to fit 23cm spring sided cake tin and bake blind for 15 min. You can make it yourself but I got it frozen. Seemed ok.

Meanwhile mix together the sugar, mascarpone and eggs and 2/3rds of the Creme fraiche.

Whizz the raspberriers, saving the ones you want to save for decoration and then put through a sieve into the cake mixture to stop the seeds. Mix together . Should be a thick creamy pink coloured mixture which you can pour into the cake tin.

Leave a bit of space between the top of the pastry and the cheesecake mix and shove in the oven again at gas mark 6 for 20 min

Then turn down to gas mark 4 untill the top is gold brown. When it has finished cooking turn the oven off but leave the cheese cake in for 30 min before taking out.

Best left to call in the fridge overnight.

Top tip don't worry if the filling puffs up while in the oven as it shrinks when cooling for best results set properly overnight in the fridge.

Use remaining Creme fraiche and raspberries on top of the cake for decoration.

Yuuuuummmmmmmm.

Don't say I never get you anything

2007-04-04T19:56:00.000+01:00

Hours of fun for all the family

hallelujah

2007-04-03T11:13:00.000+01:00

Here's an argument for religion

Sarcasm

Hat tip Louis Theroux

Magnoliacide

2007-04-02T09:33:00.000+01:00

This is very bad news as I love Magnolia's.

Fun and games

2007-04-02T09:24:00.000+01:00

I hope he has got a good lawyer and he is a lawyer so that's fine and dandy.

Gumtree ads from Hell Part I

2007-04-01T10:46:00.000+01:00

This can't be an April fools as it was posted yesterday. Personally I think the £300 per week they are looking for is a bit steep.

Hello!

Oh god the interesting ones always start like this.

We have a fantastic living area in our garden in Chiswick.

Mud pits apparently are in this year.

The surroundings are quiet and you will sleep serenaded by the fox's cries at night and the occasional flight to/from Heathrow airport.

Which will be the one that gets blown up. But don't worry the fox cries will have driven you insane by then.

The space could accomodate a large-sized tent with all the trimmings

Que list of benefits that wouldn't be out of place in your average refugee camp.

(chair, cooking facilities and all of that, which you would have to bring yourself).

£300 per week and you have to provide your own accommodation!

A hose would provide you with a generous fresh water supply.

Gee thanks. Do Wateraid provide grants?

Other extras we are willing to throw in this fantastic offer are: the inclusion in our naturist community which holds meetings every saturday, with the realistic possibility of having intimate encounters with one (or more) of our members.

This is not a usual house share then.

We require a quiet, easy going person who has his own life but doesn't mind the odd glass of wine and occasional threesoming.

I'm beginning to see why the wine would be necessary.

We are open to sharing with couples too.

I bet you are.

We are a very open-minded couple, who doesn't mind gender, nationality or creed. You would be able to share the internal facilities (bathroom, kitchen, living room and when invited, the bedroom where we have a fantastic king size bed).

King size bed eh. I see someone was a member of the boy scouts. Be Prepared!

Please attach a picture of yourself when replying.We can provide pics of ourselves as well.

Somehow I feel that it aint going to be pretty.

Deposit of six weeks required, which you will get back when you leave, unless you damage the daffodils outside.

Ummm an £1800 deposit. These must be the world's most expensive daffodils.

In that case, you would be required to replant them and give us a share of your deposit which will go toward our time spent in supervising your gardening.

You have about as much chance of getting your deposit back as a trans Saharan camel herder has of getting frost bite in the midday sun.

Thanks a lot and we hope to hear from you soon! Lots of love, Jess & Linc xxx

Oh that's plenty of love alright.

Malaise?

2007-03-24T12:13:00.000Z

This is from a bit of a comment on the guardian website. Is this why the people have the malaise with politics that they do?

"Fundamentally I don't believe we live in a fully functioning democracy
anymore, and that's reflected in the Labour Party, Parliament and society in
general. Sure we have parties and elections, but do we really have politics
anymore?"

Reality is not always comfortable

2007-03-24T11:57:00.000Z

This is pretty damning. Before people start chipping in in favour of a certain somebody don't make me laugh. We need an Obama . . .

Bill's Bias

2007-03-23T17:46:00.000Z

Just got this from Bill Clintons email list

The only real reason to get involved in a campaign for president is becauseyou believe the candidate running is going to be the best president.

And with her experience, her commitment, her passion, her persistence, her record,and her ideas for the future on energy, healthcare, the economy, and security, I know Hillary will be the best president.

If he valuers his testicles he's not really going to say anything else is he now...

Next up Mrs Brown on how Mr Brown would be the best PM everrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Bethnal Green and Bow goings on

2007-03-23T17:15:00.000Z

Congratulations go to Rupa Huq for securing the womens nomination in Bethnal Green North Ward, commiserations to the also rans. Word reaches Parburypolitica that the Labour party branch meeting had the honour of a demonstration outside the meeting from assorted nutters, whingers, whiners and bankers from Respect. Ah Tower Hamlets politics, it gladens the heart.

Birkbeck Students Union centre of the political universe not

2007-03-23T17:09:00.000Z

Possibly the most rubbish set of student union election results in the history of student union politics. OK Birkbeck isn't really a student body that really digs SU politics but non the less. Of course I would have had greater right to complain if I had actually voted myself.

UNION ELECTION RESULTS - March 2007

Last modified on 19/03/2007

Results of Student Union Elections 12-16 March 2007

President

Gabriel Herman, 17 votes
Satish Nayer, 21 votes (elected)
Re-open Nominations, 5 votes

Lampanelle Editor

Elizabeth Wood, 36 votes (elected)
Re-open Nominations, 3 votes

NUS Delegate 2007

Luke Stobart, 33 votes (elected)
Re-open Nominations, 7 votes

Tom McCartney
Returning Officer

The Yellow Canaries slash and burn public sector

2007-03-23T16:40:00.000Z

There may be some people under the impression that Liberal Democrats are somehow a softie lefty version of the Labour Party, personally I would have hoped that the human species would have evolved beyond falling for such delusions but for the benefit of those yet to be enlighted as to the nature of the yellow canaries I have news for you.

Lib Dem councils Tauton dean and Somerset County council have decided to hop into bed with IBM to run loads of their services, presumably because the Lib Dem councillors running them are so useless they have no idea how to improve them other than getting in the private sector in to slash job and the terms and conditions of council staff. They also want IBM to run customer services. This is another brilliant idea separate the function for complaints from the people that have any say over the actual services. The press release is here

If that wasn't enough the Lib Dems in Bristol have come up with the genius idea of crapping on care workers. Full story here.

Telling it like it is - Gordon needs a proper challenge

2007-03-20T17:10:00.000Z

There have got to be quite a few Labour MP's in marginal and indeed not so marginal seats that are shitting themselves at Brown's -15% poll position against Cameron. I know the arguments, it's mid term, he can't be himself until he's PM and then things will improve. Fine I don't expect such polls to be the result come the general election but it's a hell of a mountain to climb. There is also the worrying fact that he is less popular than Tony Blair. This given Iraq has to be something of an achievement but not in a positive sense.

Brown could be an incredablily gifted PM. He knows government, he is brighter than a football team of PhD's, he is a deeply moral politican but not in a back to basics kind of way. Then there is the other side. His lack of interpersonal skills, his scottishness, his lack of voter attractiveness in certain sections of the electorate. There is also the fact that he is something of a known quantity for the electorate and they have made up there mind.

The situation is not helped with no chance challenges from the left and a cabinet that seems to think it is Gordon's hemoroid cream. At the moment I am still going to vote for Gordon because there is no realistic alternative. No proper debate about the future of the country and no cabinet member with any political testicles. There are some who might suggest that Brown is the Hillary Clinton of British politics, and then ask who is our Barack Obama?

Mark Thomas videotastic

2007-03-18T06:19:00.000Z

George Galloway interviewed on a toilet with Cuban Flag proclaiming Jarvis Cocker as the lead singer in Blur. "Radical" Margaret Hodge is more sensible, just.

Stay with this one for Simon Hughes claiming to be "a very good dancer" and then giving us the demonstration he is a lying little libdem git. Later on is David Amess using a marker pen on a partially clothed young lady. Bet she thinks she's a lucky girl.

Mark causing a little trouble with the boys in blue

Chris Paul and Alex Hilton - I salute you

2007-03-17T11:25:00.000Z

Chris Paul - He's been getting himself into a little bother recently. First there was the Lib Dem councillor looky likey thing. Well I have news for people. There is a resemblence. It's fair comment. I personally have a complaint. I think CP was being far to easy on the Manchester Lib Dems. They are a complete waste of space, morally and politically bankrupt and couldn't run a bath let alone a city. So CP keep up the good work but stop being so kind to the scoundrels. I know that you are a labour lefty so prefer the carrot to the stick but really it is not your responsibility to make sure that Manchester Lib Dems get their five a day. So less carrott more stick please.

To those that don't like what he has to say. There is plenty of space in the blogesphere for your own blog. It's called free speech. I thought the fib dems were supposed to be in favour of that but as ever it turns out not to be the case. Please quit the synthetic outrage which doesn't really exist. It's pathetic and bullying. So stop it.

Alex Hilton - Some idiotic people have been taking offence at his post claiming Thatcher was dead. If people want to be that gullible that is there perogative but the idea that such news of national importance (I thought that would be a better word than celebration) is going to appear on Recess Monkey first is laughable whatever Mr Dale says about the chimps contacts in Downing St. I thought the whole incident rather amusing though I was taken aback at the vitriol of the tory boys reaction to the mickey being taken out of their favourite MILF.

Peter Ainsworth Spotted

2007-02-28T23:13:00.000Z

Who he? you may ask. He is the tory who leads on DEFRA or as they are calling it now the hug a husky department. So you saw him in parliament or making some speech? No it was not long after PMQ's as I was walking from Birkbeck to Victoria. Hell I need the exercise and I was about to cross the road next to the national portrait gallery entering Trafalgar Square from a north easterly direction when I my eye chanced upon a furtive looking figure.

I would recognise the hair anywhere, you can check it out here, so the coat collar up around his neck was not much of a disguise. He was heading in the opposite direction to me into the west end. Perhaps it was all innocent but I just got this vibe that he was up to something. Then again he is a tory so he would generally be up to something as a rule.

Anyway electors of East Surrey your MP was AWOL from parliament on wednesday lunchtime when he should have been working in the palace of westminster. Didn't see any Labour MP's AWOL on my travels so best kick him out at the next election if you want an MP to actually do something useful rather than swan about the west end of London.

Conundrum

2007-02-28T02:42:00.000Z

If the Trident replacement is going to work in deterring the not exactly massive threat of nuclear destruction then why should we fork out again for national missile defence and if national missile defence actually worked properly then why would we need to replace Trident?

Answers on a postcard...

Will the real Nargis Khan please stand up

2007-02-28T02:32:00.000Z

You were all thinking that this was the real Nargis Khan website but what about this. Has Nargis been keeping her showbiz talent hidden under a bushel or is showbiz Nargis an imposter?

Guido

2007-02-14T12:58:00.000Z

The Guido Fawkes blog is supposed to be one of the best. A pathbreaking blog that sets the political scene. I can't help but think when I look at it that it's a bit dull, mundane and really rather tame. In the word of Scrybe it's webshite. Should the country ever have the misfortune to suffer another tory government I think that guido will really suffer as a new breed of anti tory blogs tear into the Eton collective and kick him off his anti Labour pedastal.

Gerald Kaufman a role model to us all ....

2007-02-13T17:26:00.000Z

Gerald Kaufman 77 this year and still one of the best parliamentarians around. Here is an article he did for the January's North West Labour rose:

Ten continuous years of Labour Government – sounds simple, doesn’t it ? Yet until theparty came to office on that astonishing day, 2 May 1997, we hadn’t ever had a
Government for more than six years nor ever won more than two elections in succession,nor ever governed for two full Parliaments.. And until that golden day in May we hadn’thad a Labour Government at all for 18 years.

Now, it is easy to take our party’s decade in power for granted, just as it is easy to take for granted, or even forget, some of our most notable achievements. Remember the Tory ban on trade unionism at GCHQ ? We scrapped it immediately. Remember the Tories’ Primary Purpose rule, which made it almost impossible for spouses to get visas to join their partners here from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and other countries ? Labour got rid of that right away, and instituted rights of appeal against refusal of visitor visas as well.

Remember the Tories’ warning that a National Minimum Wage would cause even greater job losses than the mass unemployment created by the Thatcher and Major governments ? We brought it in, fulfilling a commitment in the days leading up to and on polling day in making sure we get our Labour voters to actually vote first made by Labour as long ago as 1906. It goes up steadily. And more people are in jobs now than at any time in our country’s history. In the North-West alone, over 3 million are in work, an increase of 6 per cent under this government.

The Tories and their running-dogs, the Liberal Democrats, want us to forget how they voted in Parliament against the Windfall Tax on privatised industries that helped to finance the New Deal, which has slashed youth unemployment and funded other valuable projects. Police jobs are up, as well, with a record number of lads and lasses in blue in the North-West and government spending on the police in our region up by 9 per cent.

Remember when we didn’t even have a Department of International Development ? The Tories abolished Harold Wilson’s Ministry of Overseas Development and gave the post, such as it was, to a junior Foreign Office Minister. Now our International Development cabinet Secretary of State leads the world in help for developing countries, with spending up a massive 121 per cent - and that is taking inflation into account.

Remember when we had to pay to go into museums and art galleries ? Labour scrapped the charges, and now more Britons than ever before are taking advantage of these marvellous facilities. Since we won in 1997, I raise this now, just to remind people what it was like under the Tories as compared to our Labour government spending on the arts is up 68 per cent, and on sport up by 81 per cent – again allowing for inflation.

Remember the Tories’ anti-gay Section 28 ? Gone, with the age of consent reduced to 16 and civil partnerships now taken for granted.

Tony Blair, when he took over Labour’s leadership, chanted the mantra: Education, education, education. Labour has kept its word. In my Gorton constituency, teachers used to combat for their pupils’ attention against rain coming through the roof. Again allowing for inflation, spending on school building under Labour is up by 145 per cent, and total spending on schools has risen by 65 per cent. Spending on higher education is up by 44 per cent. The results? Nationally, the numbers in higher education are up by 26 per cent. In the North-West, the number of primary school pupils in classes of over 30 is reduced from 242,764 to 95,541 – and still falling. And those kids are getting a better diet as well.In our region, 278,500 get free fruit and vegetables every day.

And under-fives are getting their biggest boost ever, with over 800.000 children with access to over 1,000 children’s centre services, and more than £2 billion going to something that never existed before May 1997, and, but we have seen record levels of investment in health, in transport, record levels of people in work like so many other Labour achievements, is now taken for granted. Sure Start’s the name of the fantastic project that didn’t exist ten years ago. At the other end of the age spectrum, neither did the £200 annual Winter Fuel Payment. Nor free bus travel, as a national project, for pensioners. We in the Labour Party have a proud record in Government. The problem is many people have short memories and have forgotten the disaster that was the Tory years of 1979 to 1997.

And pensioners benefit too, from free annualflu jabs, an amazing project accepted now as a matter of course – all part of the billions upon billions of extra spending on Labour’s National Health Service, with waiting lists slashed and lots more records still to be broken.

Yes. We can regard these 10 years as just the start if we stay united, maintain and strengthen our resolve, and go forward determined for a fourth successive Labour victory. We have achieved much. We can and will achieve

Steve Hitchins ... From Bad to Worse

2007-02-13T10:56:00.000Z

Oh dear it appears that Shitchins is in more trouble. The diversity Tsar that wasn't appointed through open competition has been annoying the same womenfolk he is meant to be helping. A quick look at the Lindyloo blog, yes it's Lindyloo you got a problem with that, shows that Shitchins has got a lot to learn.

Lesson number one: As a "diversity Tsar" don't say that appointments of women and ethnic minorities are "tokenism" Yes that applies even if it your job.

Lesson number two: Given that you have the social charm of your average ferret and frankly that is being a bit harsh on the ferret don't think you can get away with calling women you have only just met "luv"

Shitchins

2007-02-12T23:41:00.000Z

I was minding my own business on the net when I saw a this picture of Steve Hitchins the booted out ex Fib Dem leader of Islington Council and new Fib Dem white male diversity Tsar. Now Mr Hitchins was perhaps not the most popular member of local government ever but it appears that he must have done something to piss of the staff as they have saved his picture as Shitchins.

Miss Prissy Knickers

2007-02-12T18:22:00.000Z

Not how I would describe any of the ladies going for selection in Manchester Withington but it is how Fib Dems describe their newly reselected PPC in Islington South and Finsbury Bridget Fox. Charming. Glad we don't get into that kind of thing.

The story that wont go away

2007-02-12T14:09:00.000Z

I have noticed that some people are searching for information about Cameron and his time in the Bullingdon Club at Oxford as i'm not a very rich aristo who went to oxford I haven't got the any inside information but judging by the debris he looks to have had an interesting time.

I thought this was an interesting line from the oxford student "Cameron was member of the club at a time when it was de rigeur to engage in the ‘man of the people’ pursuits of washing down “a cocktail of drugs with an honest, working class box of chips and a five pound bottle of wine”."

The bit that really irritates me is not the alleged use of drugs by rich tory boys but I think going and smashing a restaurant and buying your way out of it is just showing contempt for people of the highest order.

There is also more stuffhere, here, here, and here

McDonnell in Manchester

2007-02-12T13:13:00.000Z

Er no, but well done to Manchester Labour students for organising it. I wonder if we will see Gordon Brown doing Labour Club gigs come the leadership election. I hope so.

Bitch Fight!

2007-02-12T12:48:00.000Z

For the reds Tom Watson and for the blues Iain Dale are having a right ding dong on Iain's comments section. Handbags at the ready. Go!

TW: It depends on the type of blogging I guess. Unsourced, anonymous blogs that run scurrilous stories and then allow anonymous comments to character assasinate an opponent - that's bad for democracy. It is made all the worse when sites like yours Iain team up with the likes of Paul Delaire Staines. You give them legitimacy where none is deserved. And you do yourself a huge disservice defending his behaviour on television. Don't you think it's time we made a stand against this nonsense?

ID: Tom Watson, I'm surprised you have the cheek to show you face, let alone come out with such guff. Yesterday you posted a smear on your blog about Guido Fawkes and have now had to withdraw it. Perhaps you should start practising what you preach - ah, but I forgot, you're a New Labour MP. You don't believe the same laws apply to you, do you?

TW: Ah, glad you mention the Guido thing. Let us see the outcome of this particular debacle with Paul Delaire Staines.Rest assured though, if I am wrong, or in this case, if the Guardian are, I will apologise. Saying sorry is something I note you have never done, despite there being a long list of people you have made made allegations about that were then proven to be totally untrue.

I see that Mr Delaire Staines has admitted on his site that there will be an "about section" later this month. At least we can put a name to the dirt he peddles now. Still, you've been defending his actions and protecting his anonymity for months now. That wont matter to you either way will it.

ID:Tom, There have been many occasions on this blog where I have got things wrong and apologised. You only need to trawl the archives to find out.How exactly have I protected Guido's anonymity? he was 'outed' months ago. You don't like him because he threatens your ivory tower. The fact that you pathetically use his middle name says it all.

Get back to undermining Tony Blair. It's what you do best. Having said that, you didn't get that right did you?!

TW: Not going away Iain, sorry.

Fair Deal Phil
Chris Bryant
Tim Ireland

Say Sorry to them.As for Ivory Towers. Don't play that one with me man. You're as establishment as I am. Tory Agent, candidate, A-lister, Campaign Director to the Shadow Home Secretary, BBC commentator. You're hardly Chez Guevara are you?

ID: Tom, oh dear. People really do seem to delight in demanding apologies where none are due.

FairDealPhil, I don't recall the exact details of this but as far as I can remember I was supposed to be apologising for something someone else said.

Chris Bryant, I was duped by a Guardian story. I admitted it within 90 minutes. It was me that looked the fool. He then completely overreacted. I deleted the post at his request even though it was me that it made look stupid, not him.

Tim Ireland is demanding an apology because I asked a question. Asking questions is what I am paid to do. If he took offence at the question then I am sorry, but he is being over sensitive. You and I have been called far, far worse. Do we demand apologies every time anything bad is written or said about us? No. You take it on the chin and get on with life.

As I said before, if I get something wrong or go over the top in my language, it is my custom to apologise. I don't really care whgether you accept that or not.

BBC gets it wrong again...

2007-02-11T23:33:00.000Z

Lets get this right Manchester is not in any way, shape or form a second city. It is the best city in this country and if any Londoner want to disagree go talk to rush hour tube users. Go on I dare you.

Withington's comedy connections

2007-02-11T23:03:00.000Z

Manchester Withington Labour people are singing like canaries ala CP's Fib Dems about the selection but it's all good stuff as they have a strong field of contenders to take on the rascal soon to be ex MP Leech. Personnally I think all the wannabe MP's seeking selection would do a better job than the lying toerag John Leech so i'm not to bothered who wins as long as they are up for what will be a magnificent campaign.

I know it's a small world in politics but apparently Jenny Lennox used to share a house with Nick Parrott ex PPC in Kingston and a friend of mine from Labour student days. I shall have to check the authenticity of this as I only got the information from a single, though very good, source and we know what trouble the Labour party can get in when relying on information from a single source.

Sushi made easy

2007-02-11T01:28:00.000Z

Every so often you come across a website that is a cut above the rest and I have just found such a site. It about making sushi and it even has video and animation so even cooks who, like me wont be appearing on masterchef anytime soon, OK ever, think that it's doable. You can check it out here

Chorlton Park Labour

2007-02-10T19:10:00.000Z

Another nail in soon to be ex MP John Leech's political coffin has arrived in the blogosphere.

Is Blunkett going soft on drugs as he misses crack right in front of him?

2007-02-09T18:53:00.000Z

This is a photo of a BBC Asian Network debate on Big Brother at the University of East London. Clearly the photographer in front of Blunkett is doing a joint photography and building degree. I don't know what her pictures turned out like but she passed her builders bum exam with flying colours.

Tory's and the Drugs Barons?

2007-02-09T11:10:00.000Z

An excerpt on the sale of Smith Square from the Guardian

The freehold was sold on twice to offshore companies, ending up in the hands of a British Virgin Islands company, Platinum Overseas Holdings, which was owned by clients of the US bank, Citibank.

The secret owners of the company bought the freehold for £12.27m and sold it back to the Tories last year for £15.65m. The Tories say they do not know who the owners of the offshore company are and relied on assurances from Citibank that they were legitimate businessmen under the government's anti money laundering rules.

What's the betting that the Tories have just handed a bunch of drugs barons a £3m+ profit on money laundered assets? Why did the owners of Platinum Overseas Holdings need to hide behind a bank? Why should we trust Citibank? Can the Tories be so stupid as to give £15m+ to people they have no idea who they are? Yes is the simple answer.

Setting the record straight .... for Brussels

2007-02-08T20:57:00.000Z

We pay far to much attention to the emotionally charged but reality free and often factually inaccurate eurosceptic arguements in this country. Richard Corbett MEP takes them to task here. Nice one.

The Newest Member of Unison's Parliamentary Panel is ...

2007-02-07T23:48:00.000Z

Rupa Huq. Rupa has already been on the 2004 European list in the North West and was our candidate in Chesham and Amersham in 2005. Alas in both instances the electorate missed the golden opportunity of actually electing her. Though it should be pointed out that one of her erstwhile electorate in Chesham and Amersham was Robert Kilroy Silk so not getting his endorsement should hardly be a cause for concern.

Caption Competition

2007-02-05T23:31:00.000Z

On the left is Hugo Swire, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. On the right is Grayson Perry another Tory MP er no actually "he" is an artist who wants to be called Claire. Grayson or Claire as he like to be known is a distinguished artist having won the Turner prize and could never be a Tory MP as her dress sense is far to good.

Swire's achievements have included going to Eton, St Andrews, Sandhurst and Sotheby's which may make him even posher than David Shameron. No doubt it is part of a cunning evil master plan by the shameron machine to paint Dave as a regular guy by surrounding him with people who are even posher than he is.

So post away but look at the disclaimer first as I have been advised to cover myself against legal shinanigans.

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So there.

Who's a pretty boy then?

2007-02-05T20:14:00.000Z

John Edwards is clearly taking the policy heavy route to the Whitehouse. There are many reasons not to escalate the war in Iraq but I don't think the terrible fact that some GI's may not be able to access hairspray is the key clincher in the debate.

At least I know what I should be doing before going on Doughty Street.

Why being a Lib Dem MP is no job for life

2007-02-04T17:48:00.000Z

I have been having a play about on SPSS which is a statistical package used for data analysis and I was looking at the results for the Lib Dems at the last election and I think there is cause to suggest that the results make bleak reading for soon to be ex MP John Leech and other wastrel Lib Dem parliamentary squatters.

I was told once by a Labour hack who shall remain nameless that all soon to be ex MP John Leech had to do was ride a wave of anti government feeling and he shall have a job for life. Not sure it even had to be a Labour government just as long as it wasn't a Lib Dem one. I suppose the thinking behind it was they could follow the same negative campaigning style once in parliament as they had pursued as as a mere candidate seeking election.

The problem for the Lib Dems is that the results of the last general election show that it isn't that successful at all. In fact if you take out the by election winners and the MP's standing down for retirement with new candidates, basically if you just take Lib Dem MP's seeking relection MORE THAN HALF actually got a smaller percentage of the vote in 2005 than in 2001. Indeed four lost their seats in an election that saw the Lib Dems increase there number of seats overall.

Basically the data shows that the Lib Dems are more effective in seats where they are challengers than where they are incumbents. In the vast majority of seats where they just put up a candidate to say they are a national party but really didn't do much work there vote generally went up a bit based on the national picture. I don't like to admit it but the Lib Dems can be very effective campaigners. But they are not as good as they or we think they are once they hold a seat. Primarily this is because the voters have a higher expecation of MP's than candidates as they are afterall the people with the power and they are expected to get things done and since when has a Lib Dem MP got anything done?

This is the list of useless Lib Dems parliamentary squatters that the voters were less than impressed with as the percentage of the vote they got went down.

Norman Baker, Tom Brake, Malcolm Bruce, Paul Burstow, Edward Davey, Don Foster, Andrew George, Sandra Gidley, Mike Hancock, Evan Harris, Paul Holmes, Simon Hughes, Michael Moore, Mark Oaten, Adrian Sanders, Matthew Taylor, Steve Webb.

And these are the non by election people who lost their seats along with their previous majorities.

Sue Doughty 538 , Matthew Green 1630, David Rendel 2415, Brian Cotter 338.

Soon to be ex MP John Leech's majority today 667.

Shortly there will be a post on how the Lib Dems could easily get kicked out of 20 seats next time including the future Labour gain Manchester Withington.

18 and not for the first time.

2007-02-03T13:26:00.000Z

The Doughty Street crew have been foolish enough to invite me back on. Next Tuesday evening I shall be pointing out the error of their ways now that the 18 Doughty Street website is calling their wee pad "truly is a home and not just an office or studio. It is the home of the conservative movement."

Well Parburypolitica doesn't approve of conservative movements, not one bit. For one thing a conservative movement is about as close as you can get in polite society to constipation. So he is more than happy to enter enemy territory to sort out the mess that CCO's little emissaries try to pollute the minds of good left thinking British folk with.

Red Dwarf Daphne

2007-02-03T02:28:00.000Z

Acting is a career where you have to do some pretty dodgy roles before you hit the big time. You know the actress in Fraiser who plays Daphne Moon Jane Leeves. Well I found out today that TV execs in the US tried to do a US version of Red Dwarf. Fear not it never got past the pilot but nonetheless we get to see a much younger Janes Leeves playing Holly the computer.

There are two bits. The first one is 2m 47sec in and the second is 8m 8sec.

One of the many problems with Dubya

2007-02-03T00:33:00.000Z

"Only this president, only in this time, only with this dangerous even
messianic certitude, could answer a country demanding an exit strategy from Iraq, by offering an entrance strategy for Iran."

Keith Olbermann 11th January 2007 Hat tip Cut to the Chase

The No Standards Board

2007-02-01T11:43:00.000Z

This is insane. If your a Labour Mayor of London and you compare a jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard because they both get paid to do bad things the standards board for England wants to have you removed from office despite having the largest personal mandate in the country.

On the otherhand if you are a BNP councillor in Burnley and you go in for some domestic violence in from of the children followed by taking a swing at the law, getting banned from the local football ground and get convicted for a racially aggravated public order offence just to top it off. That apparently is you private life and you are fit to hold public office.

And here is the best bit Coun Turner, 44, of Athletic Street, Burnley, became a councillor in May 2003 and is a member of the community safety partnership steering group. They must have some interesting discussions like how to keep the community safe from the members of the steering group.

The full story is here

Is it cause I is short?

2007-02-01T11:31:00.000Z

How does Sarko intend to win the French presidential election? Is it by slagging off immigrants and slashing the public sector? Is it by being pathologically ambitious? Well for Sarko they all help but the real reason he thinks that you should vote for him is that he's a crazy disco dancer.

Best not let the electorate think about your crazy right wing politics eh Sarko.

Anyone fancy Ireland?

2007-01-26T16:02:00.000Z

Irish Labour wants your help! Let’s start campaigning together.
PES activists update special - 26 January 2007
It’s time for the first Europe-wide grassroots exchange for a national election. Activists from Irish Labour invite you to support their national election campaign in May.

Help Irish Labour replace a center-right government with a true modern social democratic alternative. Help building a new social Europe by organising campaigns together!
PES activists will concentrate on two electoral areas, in order to re-elect PES Treasurer and former Minister of Finance Ruairi Quinn for Dublin South East and elect the exciting young newcomer Dominic Hannigan in Meath East.
Subscribe at the campaign website: http://www.activist2activist.eu/.
Please forward this mail and inform all your contacts about this chance to develop European social democracy. For more information on PES activists and PES campaigns write to contact@pes.org or refer to http://www.pes.org/component/option,com_phpshop/Itemid,170/lang,en/.
Read more PES activists news at: http://www.pes.org/content/view/470/1710/lang,en/.

Useless journos sink to new levels of ineptitude

2007-01-25T16:46:00.000Z

This post is for the politically illiterate people who produce the London Lite paper. The paper edition carried this story about Ed Miliband objecting to an off licence under his flat. Ummm must be a slow news day but the dim wit journos decided to put a picture of his brother David next to the story with the caption "Noise fears: Ed Miliband" I suspect the cabinet office minister, that is Ed btw, is more concerned about never actually being recognised as anyone other than is brother. For the record David is the one on the left and Ed is the one on the right.

Deaflympics?

2007-01-25T16:39:00.000Z

No I had never heard of this either. From the Japanese PM's weekly email...

Incidentally, do you know about the Deaflympics? The Deaflympics are an international sports event for hearing-impaired persons and, just as with the Olympics and Paralympics, both summer and winter sessions of the event are held once every four years. Yesterday I met with athletes who will represent Japan in the 16th Winter Deaflympics, which open in Salt Lake City in the United States on February 1.

This meeting took place because a person working for the organization that is sending our athletes to the event sent me an e-mail via the website of the Prime Minister's Office saying, "Although the Olympics and Paralympics are well-known, few people are aware of the Deaflympics, and so I am writing to ask for your support." I decided to meet with the athletes to encourage them in any way I could.

I tried my best to communicate in sign language. I was able to share my feelings with them, signing, "Hello everyone. I am Prime Minister Abe. Thank you for coming today," and "Please do your best to win a medal." I was very relieved when the athletes applauded me. I am sure these athletes have faced extra challenges because of their hearing impairment, and yet they were upbeat and did not give the slightest impression that their lives have been difficult.

To the contrary, I gained inspiration from their approach of taking the path they need to follow and working diligently toward their goals. The sight of people from all walks of life discovering their own special talents and abilities and then doing their best with them truly strengthens me.

Do as your told

2007-01-25T10:27:00.000Z

I have just got this email from Labour HQ. The Whips office will be well annoyed. Look at the first line of it. Are they going to say anything other than Yes? I don't think so. The very idea of Labour MP's getting on with their own lives! There would be chaos I tell you. Anyway good stuff.

Do you think the government should tell you how to behave? Should they be giving you rules and guidance or let you get on with your own life?

We're inviting you to get involved with a debate about it in February 2007. We'd love for you and your friends to come and listen to two teams argue for and against the question, ask some questions of your own and tell us your thoughts in the subject.

We can now announce some of our panel for the discussion, which will be chaired by David Lammy MP, the Minister for Culture, and will include TV historian and Observer columnist Tristram Hunt, journalist and Muslim Womens' activist Farah Khan and Director of The Foreign Policy Centre and Chair of the Young People Now foundation Stephen Twigg. There will also be representatives from the Terrence Higgins Trust and the National Union of Students, but the most important opinions will come from you!

And that's just the start of it. From about 7pm we've lined up a few emerging bands for you, as well as a bit of food and drink to take us through the rest of the evening until the music stops.

The Deadline Fever, who are described as the most hyped, notorious, upcoming yet unsigned rock band in the North, are confirmed to appear. Brandon Steep, a band likened to Coldplay, Turin Breaks and Snow Patrol are also playing.

The Big Talk will be taking place at the Journal Tyne Theatre, Westgate Road, Newcastle (2 minutes from central station) on Saturday 3 February 2007 from 1:30pm until late. You can buy tickets for just £10 and invite your friends.

If there are a few of you from one area coming along let us know and we can arrange transport. Contact the Labour North West office on 01925 574913.

If you want to come along, you can sign up at www.mylifemysay.co.uk/big.event.

Tough on toddlers if not the causes of toddlers

2007-01-24T23:04:00.000Z

This little trouble maker (centre) was caught heckling at a Labour women's mentoring event at the House of Commons. Former Home Office minister Fiona McTaggart(right) with the help of Rupa Huq Bethnal Green and Bow's top selection choice, were about to slap an ASBO on him but he pleaded rather convincingly that it was his first offence so he was let off. Clearly he has a way with the ladies, the only other bloke in the place was Gordon Brown.

A Dale a day keeps the doctor in pay

2007-01-24T21:47:00.000Z

Tory Central Office on the web is a bit annoyed about government ministers having a blog. Especially that it might actually cost some money.

Jim Murphy, a minister of state at the department of work and pensions has a blog. So does another minister of state at DWP James Purnell here. Clearly they are into blogging in a big way at the DWP. I wonder if John Hutton is going to get one.

As well as great issues of state we also get to learn some fascinating bits of goss. For instance Jim Murphy lets slip that John McFall MP who is the Head of the Treasury Select Committee is his former deputy headteacher. I hope all his homework was up to date.

If the DWP is interested I could run all there blogs for them on a commission basis. £1 a hit. I think it would be safe to say that dealing with major national issues rather than taking the mick out of useless Lib Dem soon to be ex MP's like John Leech I could get a fair bit more traffic than they do at the moment. They save money on the £2 a hit they are paying at the moment. I make a tidy sum. Everyone's a winner.

McCain Cained

2007-01-24T19:35:00.000Z

Polls are showing that John McCain is taking a hit over escalation in Iraq. He is losing ground to Barack Obama who is anti war. McCain has long been a proponant of escalation in Iraq. It is a policy that would have the support of this blog if it was done right but with a president who's ability to tie his own shoe laces is in doubt, the policy won't work for reasons that I have outlined below. It is also good to see that Obama is picking up support amongst the swing voters that it will be necessary for him to win the presidency.

Lib Dem caption competition

2007-01-24T10:05:00.000Z

Put your suggestions in the comments section

Strangely addictive ....

2007-01-22T13:43:00.000Z

This is a bit of rather hypnotic music that I just can't get out of my head. So before you play the vids be warned they a bit addictive. The first one seems to be by some distant relatives of the Von Traps and the second one is an animaiton. Think Crazy frog.