UK General Discussion

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Type 'newsnight' into the search thingy on the twitters.

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http://www.channel4.com/news/former-senior-political-figure-accused-of-sex-assault

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I'm please MacShane's gone.  It would have been ridiculous to leave Rotherham without an MP for a year as the committee's recommended punishment suggested, the offence seems bad enough to say that he should go, and he was never one of my favourite Labour MPs anyway.

Don't really disagree, although MacShane did have his good points. Suspect that whoever replaces him will be significantly more boring, but probably a much better MP.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Newsnight is on in fifteen minutes. Oddly for something driven by the internet, this has the feel of an old-fashioned television event. A rather tasteless one, mind.

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Yes, in the end they were never likely to as libel law is what it is (amongst other reasons). Have to wonder what the day will do to Newsnight's (already rather battered) reputation, and also where the story goes from here.

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Certainly you get the impression that Newsnight will probably not be using the Bureau for Investigative Journalism again.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2012/nov/05/secret-state-chris-mullin-vicar

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Not understanding the "gay witch hunt" comment...

There's a (really quite vile) homophobic tendency - one that isn't as common as it used to be, though it's still around - to assert that all gay men are child abusers.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Grauniad is claiming that Alistair McAlpine is a victim of mistaken identity.

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So then. Newsnight. Can it survive after this fiasco? Does it even deserve to? And what might a new flagship programme of that type look like or be called?

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It's terrible publicity. Career poison. I still don't understand her motive.

WANT ATTENTION

Besides, she didn't have a career anyway.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The main reason why the Tories failed to win a majority in 2010 despite a large popular vote lead is the fact that a lot of constituencies that once formed part of their automatic total have been voting LibDem since 1997 or so.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-20403439

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[Filuwaúrdjan]

With stories like this it's generally better to wait a little while before passing either comment or judgment...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The fact that he never sued even when things were more than hinted in print - and he was not a poor man - always did speak volumes...

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Smith was actually (if briefly) the Liberals Chief Whip.

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The long-lasting rumours about Cyril Smith have been confirmed.

Does Cyril Smith was the rather "large" Liberal MP?

This is so, yeah.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A rather bizarre and disturbing story from Norfolk: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-20577126

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They already have in a couple. Generally of the less than entirely reputable kind, of course.

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I think Max Clifford needs to hire someone to look after his image.

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Obviously the main news story of the day is the death of Sir Patrick Moore.

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Er... lol. Anyways, why on earth is a Marches football club conducting political opinion polls?

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Lots of census statistics out today. Obviously attention is on those specific sets that are least useful (except for statistical wank purposes), but there's some genuinely fascinating stuff about about housing and the like. The Welsh language stats are out as well and are mildly depressing.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Trying to wonder which ShadCab members might actually have quit over this and no one comes to mind (i.e. Burnham is a Catholic, but I seem to remember him being in favour during the leadership campaign). Can think of a couple of shadow frontbenchers who might have though.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

...oh Christ. This could turn into a disaster.

Think it's more that the leadership would rather not obligate the very, very well regarded Stephen Timms to resign from the front bench than an indication of anything significantly more widespread.