UK General Discussion

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I put a thread about that up on the 'History' board. I love the detail about MI5 not having any suspicions of the guy. lolololol.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Oh Lordy Lord...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I don't recall a teacher (or lecturer or whatever) saying 'the welfare state is sacred, we must worship it', but maybe I wasn't paying attention at the time.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I seem to remember that Fox resigned under a considerable cloud. Short memories or something.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sort of thing that happens when you have back-to-back long-lasting governments.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19334292

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Asil Nadir gets ten years, Freddy Patel gets struck off.

This story is bizarre and at least vaguely concerning: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19354209

This, though, this is great: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/aug/23/sunderland-kid-1930s-mugshots-online

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Jimmy McGovern can sometimes feel like a one trick pony, but it's a very good trick so I don't mind much.

Robert Sheehan is a fantastic actor.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sir Rhodes Boyson, a colourful figure from what seems like another age, has died. He was best known for his mutton chops. He was also well known as an advocate (in a hammed-up Lancashire accent) of populist right-wing stances on education. He had stances on certain other issues that are now perhaps a little stomach-churning (though at least he wasn't a racist), and he was beloved by the Tory grassroots.

He held Brent North for the Tories from 1974 until 1997 when he fell victim to the biggest ever post-1945 swing from the Tories to Labour (a barely believable 18.8%). Oddly enough this wasn't a personal rejection as such, but the result of local fury at hospital reorganisation and demographic changes combined with the national landslide.

Anyway, a detail from one of his obits:

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[Filuwaúrdjan]

What, is this going to be an actual reshuffle, or are these all coming from unconfirmed rumourvilleland?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Warsi's departure would be a national tragedy. She isn't just a first rate hack ala Michael Fallon, she throws herself into matters with such palpable enthusiasm that you can almost believe that she almost believes everything she says. That's rare in politics. And hilarious.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Look, the fact that Hunt wasn't fired earlier this year was a pretty strong indication that Number 10 likes him. A lot. Reshuffles are about politics not 'competence' and politics is about power.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Interesting piece here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/sep/04/chris-grayling-justice-secretary-non-lawyer

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I doubt it would be interesting at all, actually. All much of muchness. Anyway. I say that they build a new bloody airport there; would make a change to see the obscenely rich get a kick in the teeth from a mammoth national infrastructure project.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

That's a really odd thing to leak.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Here's a challenge for you all. Read through this article and try to remember throughout that Cameron used to work in PR.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Well, yeah; the issue is that there have been enough bizarre little sexist episodes in public (and other attempts to make a point of what he clearly regards as his manly manness) that private behavior like that doesn't seem implausible.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Salma Yaqoob has resigned as leader of Respect... and has also quit the party.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You can take it right back to the beginning: their big prize was a referendum they were always likely to lose on a voting system that they didn't actually want. For which they were prepared to sacrifice their single most popular policy (opposition to university tuition fees). It's also hard not to notice that they do not occupy any of the four so-called 'Great Offices of State' (PM, Chancellor, Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary) or control one of the big spending departments like Health or Education.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

To be honest that deal was never a starter for three reasons. The first was that the two parties combined didn't have a Commons majority, the second was that the LibDem leadership is rather right-wing and not especially well disposed towards the Labour Party, and the third was that large sections of Labour's grassroots regard all other parties as bourgeois (that's not the word used, of course, but it describes the mentality well enough) and so doesn't especially like dealing with them.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Something long suspected has been confirmed beyond all doubt: that one of the main sources for the lies spread about after the disaster was Sir Irvine Patnick, then the (Tory) MP for Hallam. There have already been calls for him to lose his knighthood, ala Fred the Shred.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

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This is, of course, true. He doesn't. It's all out in the open now. Arsehole should resign now. Better, be cuffed.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Clegg's approval ratings are now at approximately minus sixty trillion.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

ICM play with their figures before publishing them.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9564006/In-full-Police-log-detailing-Andrew-Mitchells-pleb-rant.html

Hilarious