Re: The UK General Election Thread

by Dello on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 08:46

Oh, and of course David Cameron is a fan...

http://www.oldtownandlawnintouch.com/news/641/

by Basil on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 08:50

Curiouser and curiouser

by Merlin on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 10:35

JKLever wrote:Tories need to come out with some real policies to be honest.

Why bother?
Labour (policies) have done / are doing their damndest to scupper their own ship!!
Remind us again ... on whose watch has this country lost over 300+ soldiers, whilst riding on the brink of bankruptcy?

by Basil on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 10:49

There is circumstantial evidence to suggest that the Tories are rudderless - take the fiasco over the 50p tax rate - now the laughable bank shares wheeze. They give the impression of making things up as they go along.

Cameron = Heath

by JKLever on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 13:21

Basil wrote:
JKLever wrote:Tories need to come out with some real policies to be honest.

When they do, they're bollocks - selling shares in the nationalised banks? Oh, please!!!! just how long do they think it will be before the shares can be sold at a profit? Not in the lifetime of the next Parliament, I'll wager - not that the next Parliament looks like being a very long one.

Oh they'll do worse than that, they'll sell them for less than what was paid for the short term political gain without waiting. Sod the fact that the UK government with shrewd timing could well slash a huge wad off the debt.

by horace on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 13:24

Merlin wrote:
JKLever wrote:Tories need to come out with some real policies to be honest.

Why bother?
Labour (policies) have done / are doing their damndest to scupper their own ship!!
Remind us again ... on whose watch has this country lost over 300+ soldiers, whilst riding on the brink of bankruptcy?

oh plse merls...what about maggie t in the Falklands?...the smell of your cant is wafting down to the sthn hemisphere

by Growler on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 14:24

No real comparison between the two conflicts H ...... the one was a response to armed invasion of British sovereign territory, the other an action of questionable legality, with ill defined objectives in a country where we have absolutely no economic interest.

Furthermore, the government justified it by asserting that doing nothing would lead to hordes of beardy men in robes blowing themselves up all over the place Rolling Eyes

by horace on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 15:05

hmmn...the Argies still consider the malvinas to be their territory that is unfairly occupied by the Angles...

an argument can be made to support the Argies attempts to take back their sovereign territory

by Growler on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 15:28

Maybe so horace - but that's a separate issue.

The point at hand is that there's no justification at all for our troops being in Afghanistan - we've no quarrel with the country, and were certainly not *invited* by their government - can you see the difference in that context ?

by PeterCS on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 15:55

Dello wrote:
Basil wrote:
Dello wrote:
So far, three patrons of the anti-bullying charity have resigned - the latest being Tory MP Ann Widdecombe - in protest at the "revelations". Not only has Miss Pratt (the woman in question) destroyed her own charity, seemingly for political benefit, but I would imagine "confidential" help-lines and support groups all over the country will be damaged by the notion that there are people out there who might happily drag their private information, private conversations, into the public realm, for their own political (or other) benefit.

The joke of it all is, why is anyone trying so hard to make Gordon Brown look bad? Just point a camera or a microphone at him. The rest will fall into place.

If I was a patron of this charity, I would be doing my damndest to make sure that the Chief Exec resigned, rather than jumping ship myself.

Seems the charity is just a front for her husband's business anyway...

http://thebullyinghelpline.blogspot.com/2009/08/why-not-to-ask-for-independent.html

Nauseatingly exploitative, cynical profiteering..Or as they used to say: Corruptio optimi pessimum est

(And no, Dellboy, I don't mean you.)

by PeterCS on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 16:04

Growler wrote:No real comparison between the two conflicts H ...... the one was a response to armed invasion of British sovereign territory, the other an action of questionable legality, with ill defined objectives in a country where we have absolutely no economic interest.

Furthermore, the government justified it by asserting that doing nothing would lead to hordes of beardy men in robes blowing themselves up all over the place

But IIRC, the (British) Government had slept on previous warnings of junta intent to invade. Maggie was always better at (and preferred) displays of power than quieter steps to prevent the problem in the first place. A war indeed relatively easy to win, once the US had been "brought onside", but a bad example of international skills.

Whereas Blair's wandering in to Afghanistan was on his little god Bush's coattails..And not worked out as regards ends and means.

You can certainly compare the questionable statesmanship and diplomacy.

by PeterCS on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 16:08

Dello wrote:What a beat up this "bullying" thing is.

The head of a confidential charity helpline in which no names or specifics are ever asked for or given decides to "reveal" that several people in the prime minister's office had contacted the anti-bullying charity in recent years.

She later clarifies that none of the allegations were about Gordon Brown. (That part won't make the news.)

She also admits to having been contacted and supported in her actions by some Conservatives, but that she's not "politically motivated".

David Cameron's got his righteous hat on and is demanding answers from number 10. His right hand man at Tory HQ, incidentally, is Andy Coulson, who was named as the ring-leader in a "culture of bullying" during his time as editor of News of the World, in an employment tribunal where a sacked journalist received a record £800,000 in compensation.

So far, three patrons of the anti-bullying charity have resigned - the latest being Tory MP Ann Widdecombe - in protest at the "revelations". Not only has Miss Pratt (the woman in question) destroyed her own charity, seemingly for political benefit, but I would imagine "confidential" help-lines and support groups all over the country will be damaged by the notion that there are people out there who might happily drag their private information, private conversations, into the public realm, for their own political (or other) benefit.

The joke of it all is, why is anyone trying so hard to make Gordon Brown look bad? Just point a camera or a microphone at him. The rest will fall into place.

Political post of the year so far.

by JKLever on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 16:10

horace wrote:hmmn...the Argies still consider the malvinas to be their territory that is unfairly occupied by the Angles...

Has to be said the Falklanders easily have as much right to call those Islands home as you squinty eyed nasal folk call Australia yours.

I know how you love your ethnics H, so not really Angles - Kelpers are mostly of Scots-Welsh descent.

by horace on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 16:36

Growler wrote:Maybe so horace - but that's a separate issue.

The point at hand is that there's no justification at all for our troops being in Afghanistan - we've no quarrel with the country, and were certainly not *invited* by their government - can you see the difference in that context ?

...

agree with you entirely re the Iraq invasion

by embee on Mon 22 Feb 2010, 16:54

What a load of Bollocks ...The Ozzies , The Seppoes and the Poms know what is right and Iraq wasn't ...It was our duty to make things right ...and we have done ...

Now if the silly buggers cant see that we'll just have to keep shooting them until they do ...

To borrow a Merlo-ism ....

End of.