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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #1775 on: September 20, 2013, 01:25:03 PM »

The guy second from left on the third row from bottom might... not... be? Just about? If you squint? Perhaps?
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #1776 on: September 20, 2013, 01:31:49 PM »



You get a gazillion points if you can spot someone who isn't white.
You're a racist.
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #1777 on: September 20, 2013, 01:56:01 PM »

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Leftbehind
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« Reply #1778 on: September 20, 2013, 03:40:23 PM »

That's more like it.
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Khunanup
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« Reply #1779 on: September 20, 2013, 04:59:49 PM »

To give Andrew Neil something to bang on about?

I attempted to watch Nick Cleggs speech, lasted about half an hour. I think his speech and indeed his conference, has gone about as well as he could have realistically hoped. He has strengthened his position within his party. Some of his attack lines on the Tories may even work.

However it has struck me, on several occasions, that everyone at the Liberal Democrat Conference, including the media, exist in a bizarre parallel universe. They seem to think people will believe a word Nick Clegg says about any topic, give the LD any credit and that the parties unpopularity won't matter. They are in for a shock, I think.



All party conferences exist in a weird bubble where even time doesn't work the same (you look at your watch and it's 4pm, you look at your watch again seemingly a couple of hours later and it's nearly midnight!). Part of that is you're surrounded by people who come from the same place as you on most things and people who are there to network so are eager to talk and listen. Very, very odd but enjoyable.
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Khunanup
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« Reply #1780 on: September 20, 2013, 05:06:09 PM »

You saw with your own eyes and heard with your own ears how they acted after the last General Election. These people have no grasp of strategy.

Duh, you do a warm up policy at the start of your conference and a big one towards the end. We have free school meals for all infant school age children and will go into the election promising free meals for all primary school children as a big announcement. Labour have just done abolishing the bedroom tax for social housing tenants only so I presume there's a really huge one coming next Tuesday/Wednesday.
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Leftbehind
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« Reply #1781 on: September 21, 2013, 06:25:42 AM »



lol
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #1782 on: September 21, 2013, 01:10:38 PM »

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Explains a lot about what Labour's showing people about themselves and the Conservatives at this conference.
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True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)
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« Reply #1783 on: September 21, 2013, 02:51:54 PM »

Did that survey also ask if they expected to be worse off in either event?  Those particular numbers can be best explained if those who thought it wouldn't matter to them who won answered disagree to both questions, so just simply asking would you be better off doesn't give good insight into whether people think they would be worse off.
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #1784 on: September 24, 2013, 06:33:39 AM »

EdM's on at 2.
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #1785 on: September 24, 2013, 10:08:21 AM »


And I think he's shut the naysayers up.
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YL
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« Reply #1786 on: September 24, 2013, 03:10:05 PM »


It seems to be going down reasonably well at the moment (well, unless you take Dan Hodges seriously).  But the media's coverage of EdM has been so one-sided I'm pretty sure the naysayers will be back.
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Leftbehind
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« Reply #1787 on: September 24, 2013, 04:19:40 PM »

Are the 1 million homes council houses?

If not, I wouldn't be so confident - most measures announced carry their own disappointments (no re-nationalisations, much of government legacy set to remain intact, lots of piecemeal rather than fundamental reforms announced).

If I vote Labour it will still more or less be to save the NHS, as judging by Balls' speech, they're now committed to reversing the coalition's privatisation.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #1788 on: September 24, 2013, 04:48:21 PM »

The trouble with renationalisation is that it's expensive; it's one extra reason why those keen on the privatisation of everything love it so.
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Leftbehind
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« Reply #1789 on: September 24, 2013, 05:43:42 PM »

Aye, I know, but it just feels like we're wasting our time with everything else (like freezing energy prices - easily undone, and the firms will soon make-up for lost time). As long as the profit motive is in it, I don't think our utilities will ever be anything other than a racket.

Stumbled across this Youtube. Comprehensively defeated so many right-wing arguments better than I've seen any ministers do, such a waste of talent.
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #1790 on: September 24, 2013, 06:31:18 PM »

Love how the only Tory argument against the energy freeze is "oh, back to the 70s then!"

Good luck arguing for the status quo and even higher bills.
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Leftbehind
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« Reply #1791 on: September 25, 2013, 04:17:28 AM »

Love how the only Tory argument against the energy freeze is "oh, back to the 70s then!"

Good luck arguing for the status quo and even higher bills.

Decent wages and pensions, low unemployment, strong unions, affordable utilities and housing...tell me more, Tories!
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afleitch
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« Reply #1792 on: September 25, 2013, 04:44:45 AM »

The problem for Ed of course is that the big news of the conference (look! A policy!) was the energy bill pledge which is something that will be scrutinised and quietly dropped before the election. If it’s not, then come next year or early 2015 if Labour look as if they are performing well enough in the polls to be odds on favourites and energy bills go up significantly, my lot can say it’s going up faster because of the fear Labour coming in to power. At present most people accept that you can freeze it for a year or two but the moment you unfreeze then the bills will probably shoot back up again. So you have a double edged sword. The Tories can push for better regulation of the industry rather than promise a rash, short term freeze.

On building new houses at a rate of some 200,000 a year then that also has significant issues and is a more dangerous proposal. Labour are of course perhaps feeling a tad guilty for allowing 500,000 council houses being sold off during their watch during which time, with Chancellor Brown actually prohibiting local authorities from using the receipts from right-to-buy purchases to build new homes.

The first problem Labour have is planning; Labour have floated the relaxation of planning laws and the abilities of some towns/cities to be given a ‘right to grow’ beyond their own boundaries overriding neighbouring towns and authorities. Planning laws are there for a reason, a ‘free for all’ for the housing sector is not conducive to maintaining respect for the green belt and the urban footprint. The second issue is more an issue of local government reform. A city will not spend it’s own money or money given to it (as they used to do when building new towns) building outside it’s boundary unless it sees an extension of it’s own boundaries. The idea that Manchester will be allowed to override Bury in turn Bury override Lancashire is a planning and administrative nightmare. Potential developments will get bogged down in the courts whether pitting one LA against another or environmentalists against the planners unless you launch a full scale reform of local government

The truth is 200,000 homes will not be built a year. Planning, buying land, clearing land, building roads, hooking areas up to the grid and actually building while trying to steer a project through potential legal challenges will mean that most developments probably won’t start until the end of the first term. If you build a new town even of say 10,000 people, you still have to build associated infrastructure, such as roads and by-passes that extend beyond the footprint of the town. You’re giving rural and suburban Tories a huge electoral gift here.

If 200,000 homes actually were built in the first year then be very, very cautious of their quality because there’s no way to build planned developments in that short space of time. There are very few ‘shovel ready’ projects. Lastly, cities, mets and corporations don’t build homes anymore like they did in Macmillans day; all developments from house building to renovation and repair tend to be carried out by contracted private companies. There are legal requirements to put contracts out to tender. In either event you are essentially giving private companies public money and lot’s of it to build public homes.

I’m saying this as someone who is very much in favour of a house building programme, though within the existing footprints of cities.
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #1793 on: September 25, 2013, 09:54:58 AM »

Ed confirms he's up for the debates in 2015. Just Dave holding out now...
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Silent Hunter
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« Reply #1794 on: September 25, 2013, 11:24:59 AM »

The Tories can push for better regulation of the industry rather than promise a rash, short term freeze.

Then do it now.
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Filuwaúrdjan
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« Reply #1795 on: September 25, 2013, 01:20:08 PM »

The Tories won't be pushing for any meaningful regulation of the energy sector for a whole range of reasons. Some are ideological. One is the fact that the industry's chief shill is none other than the extraordinarily awful Angela Knight, one time Tory MP and Economic Secretary to the Treasury and former chief shill for the banking industry.
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afleitch
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« Reply #1796 on: September 25, 2013, 01:29:36 PM »

The Tories won't be pushing for any meaningful regulation of the energy sector for a whole range of reasons. Some are ideological. One is the fact that the industry's chief shill is none other than the extraordinarily awful Angela Knight, one time Tory MP and Economic Secretary to the Treasury and former chief shill for the banking industry.

As I said, the energy policy (with average household savings per day in the pennies for a short while) isn't the big problem. It's the housing policy; committing yourself to the biggest house building program since the 1950's by instigating a 1950's style 'f-ck you' approach to planning is dangerous particularly at the time that local authorities have ambition and have approaches (such as refurbishing old stock and replacing post-war housing) that don't require planning changes to get them off the ground, but money.
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Leftbehind
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« Reply #1797 on: September 25, 2013, 07:40:02 PM »

Lovely timing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24273838

Interesting to see the polling in the next couple of days.
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #1798 on: September 26, 2013, 08:11:26 AM »

Lovely timing:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24273838

Interesting to see the polling in the next couple of days.

"When it was question of to cap banker's bonuses or not, he sided with the bankers." - There you go Ed.
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YL
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« Reply #1799 on: September 26, 2013, 03:09:22 PM »

Interesting to see the polling in the next couple of days.

YouGov polls since Sunday (dates are those of the fieldwork):
19/20 Sept: Lab 39 Con 33 LD 14 UKIP 9
22/23 Sept: Lab 40 Con 32 UKIP 12 LD 10
23/24 Sept: Lab 39 Con 34 LD 10 UKIP 10
24/25 Sept: Lab 41 Con 32 UKIP 11 LD 8

In the last one (released this morning) Miliband's figure in the "best Prime Minister" question is up from 21% the last time the question was asked (two weeks ago) to 26%, coming from Don't Knows.  (Cameron is on 35% and Clegg on 5%, both pretty much unchanged.)  He does get the best score among 2010 Lib Dem voters, though only on 26% (19% for Cameron and 16% for Clegg).
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