I did mean Gerard Butler, actually. Not sure who Gerard Murphy is.

Gerard Butler is, like Paolo Nutini, Fulton MacKay, John Byrne and myself from the town of Paisley.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

Do they consider Michael Caine posh, you think?

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Pointless thoughts can be read at http://www.thetediousworld.blogspot.co.uk/

A rambling, smug and frankly chauvinistic piece purportedly about Jack Straw from Michael White.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog ... john-smith



Amazing. If only those Muslims were a bit nicer to their womenfolk, then they'd be neoliberal like us. It would also probably help, though, if Britain and America didn't keep bombing Muslim countries back to the stone age or installing/propping up those ultra-repressive dictatorships that are willing to subordinate themselves to Western capital.



Er, did they? From my recollection pretty much everyone knew deep down that the Campbell dossier was a sham, as it subsequently proved to be, and there were a lot of people who weren't afraid to say so at the time. There weren't one million plus on the streets for the Stop the War demo for nothing. Also, with semi-regular bombings still ongoing and renewed talk of death squads (not least in, er, the Guardian) I'd be very wary of declaring the Iraq 'reconstruction' any sort of success.

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True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

And Momus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momus_(musician)

And Andrew Neil. Ouch.

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Brigate di Transizione

He did use his influence with his pal, M Thatcher, to stop his (and my) old school from getting closed down. It's the one vaguely positive thingI can think about with respect to Neill.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

It appears they've been sniffing extra-strength glue at Grauniad Towers recently. Just been reading this drivel from Deborah Orr:



http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... -appalling

That's right, it's Labour's fault the Fibs are propping up a shower of vindictive toff cunts. The Liberals have no desire to break away from the Tories because politically they're on the same page. It's no coincidence that liberal parties across Europe almost always end up in coalition with conservatives. And then there's this:



http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012 ... ory-leader

Er, not on my part of the political spectrum it's not. He's a cunt. Best of all is this from Policy Exchange clown Neil O'Brien:

The Conservatives can be the new workers' party

Not read Britannia Unchained, have you Neil?

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True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

I read Deborah Orr's piece and was at first intrigued at what seemed to be an interesting suggestion. But what Deborah forgets is that the Lib Dems aren't interested in talking to Labour on that basis at all. They weren't when the coalition agreement was made, and they aren't any more interested now. Remember Laws, instead of treating Liam Byrne's note as the private joke it was intended to be, publicising it deliberately in order to use it as a stick to beat Labour with and begin the whole "mess Labour left us" extended lie that the coalition kept propagating throughout the next two years, and keep doing so even still. Laws is now back in the government from his expenses disgrace. Does that really suggest that the Lib Dems would be interested in the kind of approach from Labour that Deborah suggests? Of course not.

Orr suggests that the Lib Dems would be interested in an offer from Labour now on the basis that they have nothing more to gain from the coalition. But again, Laws has been making plans, one must assume with Clegg's approval, to continue the alliance with the Tories after 2015.

The notion is, when one considers it properly, absolutely risible. I do get Deborah's point about it being an urgent imperative to get these bastards out asap, but as we say in the home country, you can only pish with the cock you've got, and the fixed term parliament system, a Lib Dem party exceptionally hostile to Labour and exceptionally fond of the Tories, and an imperative to ensure that Labour secures its own governing majority is the reality, what we are stuck with.

Deborah's suggestion is, I'm afraid, completely unworkable, if well-intentioned.

Tangentially, can I be the only one who is getting totally pissed off with the general assumption that the next GE will deliver another hung parliament and therefore another bloody coalition? In fact, it's fairly unlikely - hung parliaments are hardly ever delivered by UK elections. On the basis of what this particular hung parliament has delivered to the country, I hope and pray that we do not get another.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

Historically governments always lose support whilst in office. Even if they win a second term it's with a reduced majority. Now in the case of the Tories in the eighties or Labour in the noughties they had substantial majorities to lose. Cameron didn't even have a majority to start with and his crutch is going to evaporate. Where are the votes going to come from that will force Labour into a coalition?

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

I don't have a problem so much with Lib Dem social democrats/social liberals, but their position within their own party is incredibly weak - that party isn't going to be reclaimed for the left any time soon. Their conference was ample proof that the Orange Bookers still have that party by the balls and they have no reason to break with a Tory party whose ideology they largely share. There would have to be major changes at the Lib Dem top table before I could support a Labour-led coalition with them. The idea of Laws, Alexander and Clegg still being in government after the next election fills me with dread, to be honest. I wouldn't particularly want Cable in there either but he's pretty much nailed on to succeed Clegg come what may. What also concerns me is that a Lib-Lab coalition may play into the hands of the Blairites by bringing their old SDP mates back into the fold. It wasn't so long ago that Tim Fallon was openly trying to court Progress, after all.

I am amazed though that they seem so blase about their local election results over the last couple of years - they point to a catastrophic collapse in Lib Dem support (as does the rapid decline in their membership) but most of the party seems to be in deep denial.

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True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.

Prexactly. The Lib Dems are in meltdown, and face annihilation at the next election. As voting trends stand, things look very much like a Labour majority government is seriously on the cards. They won't be in possession of the balance of power after the next election, and we need to start recognising this instead of going along with the bonkers assumption that there will be another hung parliament with the Lib Dems as power brokers.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

The right wing of the LibDems are winning by default.
At least if my experience is anything to go by.
All the self confessed LibDdems that I knew left the party soon after that Tuition Fees business.

I imagine that the Orange bookers will end up in the Tories (one way or another) and the real LibDems will be left to pick up the pieces.

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That subtle admixture of the absurd and the surreally plausible...

Only exception being 1983 that I can think of, and that election had a pretty unique set of circumstances around it, Falklands bounce and all.

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Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

There's 1955 (and 1959), too.

In the re-runs of 1966 and 1974 the voters gave minority Labour administrations a small boost and a chance to govern alone. This is what Cameron's advisers will be hoping for.

In the case of a hung parliament, could Labour do a deal with the SNP rather than the Liberals? A vote on independence would no longer be an obstacle, assuming that Salmond's 2014 referendum goes ahead (and is rejected).