[The Weeping Angel]

Judging by the quotes I heard on the news this morning, 'troops on the streets' was very much a last resort option if things went really bad and civil order broke down.

The way it's being spun is as if Gordon wanted martial law and the chance to declare himself dictator.

The right also seem to forget that they were calling for troops on the streets during the London riots, and parked anti aircraft batteries on housing estates during the Olympics.

What the hell was McBride thinking having this serialized in the mail?

[new puritan]

Judging by the quotes I heard on the news this morning, 'troops on the streets' was very much a last resort option if things went really bad and civil order broke down.

Yep, but the fact that the possibility was seriously discussed - even in passing - goes to show how grave people in the highest echelons of power thought the situation might have become. Again, all this is just dismissed out of hand by the rightist think-tanks. I just find the complacency and triumphalism incredible.

[Andy McDandy]

Judging by the quotes I heard on the news this morning, 'troops on the streets' was very much a last resort option if things went really bad and civil order broke down.

The way it's being spun is as if Gordon wanted martial law and the chance to declare himself dictator.

The right also seem to forget that they were calling for troops on the streets during the London riots, and parked anti aircraft batteries on housing estates during the Olympics.

What the hell was McBride thinking having this serialized in the mail?

Money, dear boy. Money.

That said, he may well have sold the serialisation rights with no assurance on when it would be run, so he could have sold them months ago and Dacre's just chose the best time for them to go nuclear. I think the lesson to be learned is to simply not do business with the Mail.

[The Weeping Angel]

Alistair Campbell said the same thing on twitter

[The Weeping Angel]

Listening to this arse on Any Questions Christ what a fucking idiot.

[Tubby Isaacs]

You don't enjoy his blokeyness then?

What a pleasure a pint with him would be.

[new puritan]

You don't enjoy his blokeyness then?

What a pleasure a pint with him would be.

That depends on where the pint ended up.

[Tubby Isaacs]

You wouldn't enjoy re-examining all your political assumptions with Mark then?

[Bones McCoy]

You don't enjoy his blokeyness then?

What a pleasure a pint with him would be.

That depends on where the pint ended up.

I'm not sure I can produce that volume of piss in one sitting (standing?)

[The Weeping Angel]

Standing up for the little guy as usual

http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2014/ ... crite.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Tubby Isaacs]

He's in a bit of a bind. If plain packaging has seen smoking increase, as he claims, then why are his tobacco pals wanting him to oppose it?

Liberal Democrat Voice Liberal Voice of the Year, 2011.

http://www.libdemvoice.org/winner-liber ... 26608.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Lying for cash.

[The Weeping Angel]

He's very liberal when it comes too taking other people's cash though

[Messianic Trees]

Rightwing UK thinktank 'offered ministerial access' to potential US donors

A rightwing thinktank has been offering potential US donors access to government ministers and civil servants as it raises cash for research to support the free-trade deals demanded by hardline Brexiters, according to an investigation.

The director of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) was secretly recorded telling an undercover reporter that funders could get to know ministers on first-name terms and that his organisation was in “the Brexit influencing game”.

Mark Littlewood claimed the IEA could make introductions to ministers and said the thinktank’s trade expert knew Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Davis and Liam Fox well.

The IEA chief was also recorded suggesting potential US donors could fund and shape “substantial content” of research commissioned by the thinktank and that its findings would always support the argument for free-trade deals.

This could hugely benefit US farmers by lifting the ban on the sale in the UK of beef from cattle treated with growth hormones and chlorine-washed chicken.

Speaking about what kind of Westminster access the IEA could provide donors with, Littlewood told the investigator: “I have absolutely no problem with people who have business interests, us facilitating those.”

The investigation, undertaken in May and June, also revealed the thinktank had already provided access to a minister for a US organisation.

[Kreuzberger]

Mark Littlewood claimed the IEA could make introductions to ministers and said the thinktank’s trade expert knew Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Davis and Liam Fox well.

Again, how naive we were. We thought that she was making them own Brexit. She was letting them.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Not Littlewood this time. But is this the thread for this lot? Here's Victoria Hewson.

I mean, who knew that the Single Market didn't cover absolutely everything? I don't know, maybe Conservative-led governments could have put a bit more energy into opening up the less open EU economies, instead of dicking about with referendum locks and Brexit?