UK General Discussion

[You kip if you want to...]

So, er, Dave does what he always does, giving Ed the win in terms of conference speeches.

[Phony Moderate]

Stuart Bell has died.

RIP.

[minionofmidas]

RIP.

"Sir Stuart was the son of Durham miner", though. That sentence should unite in crawling the flesh of anybody loving the British class system and its trappings and that of anybody looking at it with derision.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A GMB-backed North Eastern right-winger of the old school and a devoted francophile. Attracted a fair bit of negative publicity in recent years, his style of MP being very much out of fashion these days. Probably, though, he's most notable for something he did early into his time as MP: he became the spokesman for the families affected by the Cleveland child abuse scandal in the late 1980s.

Also, there can't be many people who have been Second Church Commissioner and also published a pornographic novel.

RIP

[Silent Hunter]

Rest in Peace.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Grauniad obit

[countydurhamboy]

RIP to Sir Stuart Bell

[YL]

Helen Pidd (yes, I know) of the Guardian has written another article about George Galloway and Bradford.

[Leftbehind]

Cable appears to be playing apologist to Osborne's shares-for-rights horsesh**t over on LDV. Well that's an open goal for Labour to capitalise on if he is the Liberal's replacement.

[Silent Hunter]

McKinnon extradition blocked on human rights grounds

[Franzl]

McKinnon extradition blocked on human rights grounds

This is a good decision, as American justice would be totally disproportionate and doesn't care much about circrumstances such as these.

[Phony Moderate]

The BBC reaches levels of self-parody:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19967916

[minionofmidas]

That's my girl! Show that Tory bastard who's boss!

[freefair]

That's Cameron's cat vs Osbourne's cat.

[minionofmidas]

That's Cameron's cat vs Osbourne's cat.

I know she lives in Osbourne's household, but you have to ignore some annoying facts when you want to construct a simple morality story out of a real life event.

And I'm not aware of any pictures of her like the smarmy one of him that the BBC is showing.

[Peter the Lefty]

Alan Johnson in a stupid Blairite Americanophile rage over the McKinnon thing.  Christ.  You know something's wrong when Labour wanted to kiss the US government's @$$ even more than the Torries.  Oh well.  Even more of the ugly legacy of Tony Blair.  

[Phony Moderate]

Disgusting. Truly disgusting.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/local/gay-ulster-born-mp-conor-burns-not-for-same-sex-marriage-1-4381544

[Filuwaúrdjan]

lolgeorgeosborne

[Silent Hunter]

LOL Andrew Mitchell!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

hahahahaha!

[Leftbehind]

If only Osborne would do the same.

[Phony Moderate]

I don't like to judge people based on their looks....but Mitchell looks like a idiot, doesn't he? Good riddance.

[bore]

If I were a torie, I'd be thankful that the conservatives weren't pinning their hopes for re election on political genius extraordinaire George Osbourne. Oh wait.

[YL]

So, Mitchell has finally gone.  I suspect he could have kept his job if he'd apologised clearly and immediately without coming across as so evasive about what he actually said.  Cameron has a bit of a record now for letting people hang on for too long when it's become clear that their position is untenable; see also Fox and Coulson.

The Osborne thing may be a non-story, if you believe the Virgin Trains version of events.  But if you believe the ITV journalist who broke the story, it has an air of "don't you know who I am" arrogance and self-importance, not unlike the Mitchell story without the swearing and insults.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Walter Harrison, Labour's legendary deputy Chief Whip in the 1970s, is reported to have died aged 91.