Politicians Category
Politicans and world leaders making news and in the news, and spouting hot air
Labour activist Bethany Barker gets publicly shamed
Kids, eh. They say the darndest things. Take Bethany Baker, 19, described in the Telegraph as the “student chosen to introduce Jeremy Corbyn at his local election launch”. Bethany Baker has just resigned as general secretary of Nottingham Labour Students. She doubtless had a bright and rosy future in the Labour movement until someone spotted “a series of racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic tweets” on her account.
Take these tweets from 2013:
“I cooked brandon chicken and rice, supporting the n***** race.”
“I hate bbc one, f****** c**** black f****** b**** I hate everyone #mayday.”
There’s another tweet mocking Jews in their unlovely “Jew caps”.
The stars and frosting are used lest any reader not on twitter and therefore not used to such nastiness get offended.
The paper adds:
In response to a tweet about the jewellery firm Pandora knowing “your mood” she tweeted “it’s a jewellery company you f****** f****t it will never know your mood”.
Miss Barker has issued a statement:
“Some screenshots have resurfaced about what I said in the past. I’m absolutely horrified and beyond disgusted about these tweets and they are in no way representative of the views I hold now.
“I have no recollection of writing these tweets and I am unequivocally sorry for the shadow that has been brought over our society because of it.
“These views are in no way what I align with today and I am beyond upset that I could ever say such things.”
You might wonder how someone who says such things gets to be a leading light of Labour student politics? Or you may not. You might see the anti-Semitism as some part of Bethany Barker’s audition to be a Labour activist. Or you may not.
But can we not be sympathetic to Bethany’s plight? The Sun features a line from Bethany’s apology that the Telegraph does not. She writes: “I have changed so much since I was 14, I was not nice and my past is something I am ashamed of.”
The Independent makes her age-at-tweeting a key part of the story:
Fair enough, no? Who at 14 is not a bit of a dick and says ugly things? And who sane wants to be publicly shamed? If we can spend a moment wondering about Bethany Barker’s state of mind rather than the media’s shaming of her, don’t our hot views cool a little? Those tweets stick and prick with stigma. And we wonder how language became more important than deeds?
Jacob Collier, chairman of the student group, tells us it’s not Labour policy to be a bigot: “We reiterate these comments are not reflective of Nottingham Labour Students members and we will do everything as a committee to ensure that our society is an inclusive and welcoming place for everyone regardless of their background, ability, age, ethnicity, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.”
What price many student activists are now hitting the delete button.
Posted: 9th, May 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians | Comment
Bias media: Daily Express rejects Crusader Jeremy Corbyn over NHS parking charges
On July 1 2014, the Daily Express launched a “Crusade” against parking charges at NHS hospitals. Readers were urged to sign a petition, which began: “I petition the Prime Minister to step in to end the scandalous cost forced on patients and families when parking at hospital…”
Sarah O’Grady had news:
THE Daily Express has launched a crusade to help the sick, the elderly and hard-pressed families across the country by calling for an end to the disgraceful and unfair practice of sky-high parking charges in hospital car parks.
The campaign thundered on. It was backed by a pretty impressive 97% of Daily Express readers.
Things improved for patients in August 2014 when Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered a relaxation of rules on hospital car parking to ensure seriously ill patients are not penalised.
“Daily Express Crusade victory as ministers get tough on rip-off hospital parking,” cheered the paper, aligning its crusade with political policy. When politicians promise to end the charges they do so because they are on the same side as the Express. The paper reported:
Under new guidelines announced by ministers today, “priority groups” should be allowed to park without charge or at a greatly reduced cost.
They include visitors with relatives who are gravely ill or who have to stay in hospital for an extended period.
People with disabilities, those who make frequent outpatient visits and staff working shifts will also be able to take advantage of the concessions, the Department of Health said.
The announcement is a major victory for the Daily Express crusade to prevent thousands of people up and down the country being ripped off by extortionate charges of up to £4 an hour.
More than 10,000 people have pledged their support via postal coupons or on our website calling for the sky-high parking charges to be abolished or reduced. The Daily Express will continue to press for the guidelines to be adopted by hospital trusts.
But the charges kept on coming.
On December 22 2015, the paper picked up its simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of fair play to slam the “Greedy” hospitals earning up to £3.7m a year each through parking charges. “Their current behaviour is completely at odds with the ethos of the NHS,” it added.
As the BBC notes:
Hospital car parking fees were abolished in Scotland and Wales in 2008, although a small number of hospitals still charge as they remain tied in to contracts with private companies that manage their parking facilities. Fees may be charged in Northern Ireland.
In England, whether to charge fees is a decision for individual trusts, with some making parking free for particular patients, such as cancer patients or those using dialysis, or for parents staying overnight with their children.
Who will end this greed? One man will. It’s Jeremy Corbyn, who will end this “tax on serious illness”. He says:
“Labour will end hospital parking charges, which place an unfair and unnecessary burden on families, patients and NHS staff. Hospital parking charges are a tax on serious illnesses.”
So how does the Express report on this breakthrough, the arrival of a champion to lead their Crusaders into Jerusalem’s free parking zones? It doesn’t. There’s not single a word on it in the paper. You can, however, read about it on the Express‘ website – but you’ll find no word on how Corbyn is part of the paper’s Crusade. In fact, there’s no mention of the Crusade at all. The 97% will be disappointed.
Spotter: Liz Gerard – follow her here and here. And read her on Sub-Scribe.
Posted: 9th, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Anthony Atamanuik understands why Donald Trump says everything twice
Anthony Atamanuik’s impression of Donald Trump is superb.
David Hepworth explains why Atamanuik’s impression works so well:
Like all TV personalities he [Trump] only believes in one thing, which is the thing that appears to be going down well at this particular moment. When he says things it’s clearly the first time he’s thought them. Which is why you can observe him hearing them coming out of his own mouth. They’re clearly as fresh to him as they are to us. And as soon as he’s heard himself say something which sound OK to him he repeats it.
There are two reasons for this. So that he can enjoy the sound of it and also give his mouth time to prepare the next thing to say.
Spotter: David Hepworth
Posted: 9th, May 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment
Local Elections make Labour elite choke on their quinoa
Why has the Labour vote evaporated? Maybe it’s because Labour stopped representing the people it was created to represent. It is a party not fit for purpose.
Aditya Chakrabortty looks at Labour’s Welsh problem in the Guardian. In the recent local council elections Labour lost its Welsh heartland council of Blaenau Gwent to independents.
For decades, Labour took this area and its other heartlands for granted – while it flirted with Mondeo Man and Worcester Woman. It parachuted in its plastic professional politicians – just think of the way Tristram Hunt was airlifted into Stoke – and ignored the need to nurture local talent. Now in Wales and elsewhere, it is paying the price of decades of ingrained arrogance.
No. It’s worse than that. Labour is utterly disconnected.
It’s Brexit, says Mick Hume:
Brexit has brought to a head the divorce between Labour and millions of working-class voters. Some 90-odd per cent of Labour MPs backed the establishment’s Remain campaign – including Corbyn, the ‘man of principle’ who shelved his longstanding Bennite principle of opposing the EU for the duration of the referendum campaign. More than 70 per cent of Labour MPs, however, represented seats where the majority of voters backed Leave.
As the newly elected Tory mayor of Tees Valley said after his victory in that supposed Labour stronghold last week, locals had ‘voted strongly for Leave but our local Labour opponents were all for Remain, making them completely unconnected’.
If you want to find individuals who epitomise Labour’s aloofness from the proles, their detachment and otherworldliness from people who don’t know how to pronounce quinoa (tip, it’s pronounced “Eugh!”) you could cop a load of pretty much any of Jeremy Cobyn’s shadow Cabinet but my pick has to be knowing anti-sexist Emily Thornberry.
When not mocking the working classes, the Islington MP is patronising. Speaking on Peston on Sunday Thornberry revealed her low opinion voters: “There is no alternative vision that the Tories are offering. It is not good enough for people to simply say ‘I like Theresa May’s hair’ or ‘I like that shade of blue’. Politics is not about that, politics is about how you change people’s lives.”
Next week, Emily will use her Missionary Masterclass to tell voters how to hold a pencil and that tobacco, although a leaf, is not one of their five a day.
Posted: 9th, May 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment
GE17: The reactionary Progressive Alliance will eat itself
The alternative to Theresa May’s Tories is to vote for a rival party. It pretty much doesn’t matter which one. They’ve decided to be the same. The BBC tells us:
Jeremy Corbyn needs to get round a table with the Greens to discuss ways of developing a progressive alliance, it’s co-leader Caroline Lucas has said.
Bit odd, no?
The alliance of Labour, Green, LibDem, SNP and whoever else opposes the Tories points to one alternative – a two party answer. You can have the one leader one nation Conservatives, or the multi-leader, one world alternative.
As Tim Worstall wonders, why not all just join the same party?
Robert Harries replies:
Because the Labour Party are far too pro-industrial socialism and (in theory) want to forward policies for material abundance for the masses, while the Greens are just austerity-socialists, middle class ‘moralists’ and neo-Malthusian moronic shites who aim for us all to be poor and think working class people going on cheap flights on holiday is a terrible thing.
It’s happening!
The Green Party has been the main driver of such alliances so far, having stood down for Labour or the Lib Dems in Ealing, Hove, Ilford, Hove, Oxford West and Abingdon, Richmond Park and Twickenham, while the Liberal Democrats agreed to stand down in Brighton Pavillion to enable Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas a better chance of retaining her seat.
Labour has meanwhile made it clear at a national level that it would not support such alliances, but activists in a number of constituencies have nonetheless defied such orders and decided not to back their own candidates in order to increase the chances for another progressive candidate in the region.
If you don’t back your own candidate – and how crap must they be? – you reduce the electorate’s choices. How is that progressive?
Lib Dem grandee Vince Cable has been caught on tape sharing such scandalous information that the Conservatives have felt honour-bound to release it to the general public.
In the “secret tapes”, Cable refers to Labour’s Rupa Huq, who is defending her marginal seat of Ealing Central and Acton…
Cable, who is fighting to regain his former seat in Twickenham, lets slip that he gave Huq a lift home after a TV appearance and they “talked for a couple of hours”. The former Coalition Business secretary then drops the bombshell: “It was very clear that on almost every issue our views were almost identical.” He urges “our people around the country” to “think and act in a constructive way”.
The plan seems simple: create an anti-democratic ego-led mess so that before long we’ll be begging to be controlled by the EU’s anti-democratic egomaniac technocrats.
Posted: 8th, May 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment
Daily Express: Macron win overshadowed by breaking Broccoli news
Having supported UKIP and Marine Le Pen’s Presidential bid (she was backed by former UKIP and Express columnist leader Nigel Farage) – “Good news for the UK’ EU trembles as Marine Le Pen victory would make pound STRONGER” (April 17); “‘It will be GAME OVER’ Le Pen victory will DESTROY European Union’, warns former Italian PM” (March 1); “Marine Le Pen will BREAK DOWN the European Union even if she LOSES, experts claim” (April 23) – how does the Daily Express cover the news that Le Pen lost and Emmanuel Macron won in France?
Answer: with Broccoli.
Posted: 8th, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Tabloids | Comment
Bloody Corbyn And Brexit: Voters’ deliver candid message to Labour
It turns out that having rubbished the electorate for being thick and voting the wrong way in the referendum, when you go asking for them to vote for you you get told to naff off.
The former leader of the Labour group on Leicestershire council, Robert Sharp, is upset. He tells the Leicester Mercury:
“I am personally disappointed but we saw it coming. I have said before that it has been tough on the doorstep. We have struggled to get local issues noticed.
“All we have had back at us is Brexit and ‘bloody Corbyn’. I don’t want to sound like a bitter candidate who has just lost his seat and is trying to blame someone else, but Jeremy Corbyn has had a negative impact on this campaign.”
Posted: 7th, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
BBC pundit: ‘Everyone who votes Tory is a racist’ and Labour is mystified by Brexit
On BBC TV’s Newsnight, former Newsnight Economic’s Editor Paul Mason – he now works at Channel 4 – has news for all Tory voters. It’s all about race.
Paul Mason: Tory voters are racist. #Newsnight. pic.twitter.com/UFkK5HHFSZ
— Ben (@Jamin2g) May 5, 2017
PS: You anti-racists can vote Labour, then, which has no problem with racism at all.
PPS: Brendan O’Neill knocks:
Posted: 6th, May 2017 | In: Politicians, TV & Radio | Comment
Green Left Weekly: ‘British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has done remarkably well’
Australian publication Green Left Weekly aims to deliver “news and ideas the mainstream media won’t”. For instance, it’s the only paper we can find that says “British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has done remarkably well since Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May’s April 19 announcement of general elections on June 8.”
Green Left Weekly reported that on May 4. Two days on and the poisonous mainstream media has a different view on Corbyn’s performance.
Spotter: Tim Worstall
Posted: 6th, May 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians, Reviews, Tabloids | Comment
You Janus: John Prescott demands ‘cheap publicity stunts’ to damage Theresa May
Compare and contrast former deputy prime minister John Prescott’s views on TV debates.
September 2 2009:
“Sky’s TV debate campaign is cheap publicity for Murdoch. Gordon can beat Cameron any day of the week. Doesn’t need to go on Sky to prove it.”
April 17 2017:
Empty seat her.
Is Mr Prescott’s view altered by the fact that in 2009 uninspiring anointed Prime Minister Gordon Brown was a poor performer on live TV and Labour could only lose – but in 2017 uninspiring anointed Prime Minister Theresa May is a poor performer on live TV and Labour can only gain?
Posted: 5th, May 2017 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment
Brexit thrives as voters bring about the demise of UKIP and Labour’s slow suicide
UKIP’s vote share in the Council election is down by 16%. They are demolished. The good news is that this also demolishes the argument that a vote for Brexit was a vote for racism and Nigel Farage’s monocular views.
Operation Black Vote launched this to encourage people from ethnic minorities to register and vote in the EU referendum
Brexit lives on and thrives as UKIP dies on the vine.
At 09:00 BST, across the 23 English and Welsh counties that had fully declared results, the Tories had control of 10 authorities and 561 seats, a net gain of 155.
Labour had control of five authorities and 404 seats, a net loss of 125. The Lib Dems had 143 seats, a net loss of 28. UKIP had failed to win any seats, a net loss of 41, while the Greens had picked up five.
Labour are being eroded. Jeremy Corbyn could reduce a Tory landslide by resigning immediately. The Tories only need slap his face on posters to secure voters in the General Election. He won’t, of course. Labour is so far to the Left that it’s now anti-Labour.
Posted: 5th, May 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment
GE17: Diane Abbott creates 250,000 more police officers on up to £8,000 a year each – maybe
When Diane Abbott went on Nick Ferrari’s LBC radio show to talk about Labour’s plans for Government, she told listeners what 10,000 extra police officers would cost. They would cost about £80m. Or £300,000. Or it might be more. Or less. Or something in the middle. Maybe.
Here’s Diane – your future Home Secretary – to explain:
Posted: 2nd, May 2017 | In: Politicians, TV & Radio | Comment (1)
Indian minister gives 700 brides wooden bats to beat drunk husbands
To India, where a politician is equipping women with foot-long wooden bats “for beating drunkards”. The first batch of bats was presented to 700 brides during a mass wedding on Saturday.
As Gopal Bhargava handed out the gifts, he told the women that only after attempting to reason with their drunk husbands should they “let the wooden paddles do the talking”.
“You’re FOUR it now!”
The Guardian notes:
Bhargava said he wanted to draw attention to the plight of rural women who face domestic abuse from their alcoholic husbands.“Women say whenever their husbands get drunk they become violent. Their savings are taken away and splurged on liquor,” he said.
He’s ordered a further 10,000 bats to give to future brides.
But all might not be as it seems. The bats are the same type used to help clean dirty laundry. Yeah. It’s a trap!
Posted: 1st, May 2017 | In: Politicians, Strange But True | Comment
Antisemitism and homophobia is better aired than buried
When David Ward was removed as a Liberal Demorcrat candidate in the upcoming General Election because his party’s leader Tim Farron operates a “no tolerance – zero tolerance – of anti-Semitic remarks”, Ward told BBC News.
“I am a liberal through and through. How on earth could I be racist or be anti-Semitic?”
Steady. That’s a rhetorical question as illustrated by Ward continuing:
“I would defy anybody to find one single derogatory comment I’ve made against a Jew which was not related to something being done in Israel.”
Looking aside from Farron’s apparent ignorance of Ward’s words before Theresa May and the Tories pointed them out to him in the Commons, and marvel at the man’s defence.
Wow. There it is. The modern problem with ‘the Jews’ summed up: it is okay to hate ‘the Jews’, or at least to be derogatory against the Jews, if you’re attacking Israel, if your apparently loftier target is the Jewish State and its militarism. This speaks to the way in which attacking Israel has become a means of being derogatory about Jews, who are seen as bearing responsibility for various military crimes, and, among the more far-out left, for economic malaise and global instability, too. This is the anti-imperialism of fools.
Back to Farron, and why he thought it right to condemn Ward as soon as the media glare was shone on his opinions. Mind, this was in the same week that Farron discovered that he was ok with gay sex. It was, he said, not a “sin”. The odd thing is that Tim’s an Evangelical Christian, and they believe that homosexuality is wrong. Where does that leave Tim, then? Does the man have the courage of his convictions?
As a Christian, then, Tim was a few burning embers short of the full Cranmer when it came to loyalty and conviction — but it saved his political skin. By way of explanation he mumbled something about specks of sawdust and removing the plank of wood from his own eye. I’d remove the large block of wood from inside your cranium, mate, before you start wittering on in that wet George Formby accent about bloody sawdust. Drop your beliefs just so the gibbering Twitter monkeys don’t get you? Sell out your god for an extra five seats in the Commons? Anyone ever tell you at Bible class about Judas?
In a free country you should be able to say what you like, however stupid or bigoted. Farron’s banning and flimflammery befuddles his message. What does he believe in? What does he think?
It’s not progressive to find Jews guilty of collective guilt because of your weird obsession with Israel over, say, China, France, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Pakistan, Russian, Thailand or anywhere else with problems. And it’s just as weird to spend your time wondering about men having consensual sex because you read a book and believed everything in it to be factually true. But it is a triumph of free speech in a free society to give full throat to your prejudices and let others offend you with theirs.
Rather than this banning and revisionism being an oddity, Tim Farron’s illiberal liberalism is very much in keeping with the age of no-platforming people with whom you don’t agree and banning things that upset you. If you can’t say what you think, it’s not just the bastards and bigots who miss out. We all lose.
Posted: 30th, April 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment
Dalston Momentum and Hackney Momentum’s clarification is beyond parody
On Twitter., Dalston Momentum – based in Hackney, London – has a message for Hackney Momentum – based in Hackney, London – about an upcoming event:
Hackney Momentum asked us to point out they’re engaging voters with performance theatre, NOT performance art
Satire is not dead. Yet.
As for the event, well, it tells us:
In this meeting we’ll be using performance to help people develop ways of getting Labour’s message across.
Bring your own tissues.
Posted: 29th, April 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment
Tim Farron finds his backbone and blocks David Ward over ‘antisemitic’ comments
In today’s Sun we read that the LibDems have approved David Ward as their candidate for Bradford East. Ward lost the seat to Labour in 2015. Ward is the man who likened “the Jews” to the Nazis, the paper reminds us.
But just as we started to think there is no exit for such nastiness we learn that LibDem leader Tim Farron has sacked Ward. Farron says Ward’s comments about Jews were “deeply offensive, wrong and antisemitic”.
HURRAH! Finally one of them gets booted out. Other politicos accused of anti-Semitism get suspended. “I believe in a politics that is open, tolerant and united. David Ward is unfit to represent the party and I have sacked him,” said Farron.
But, as the Guardian points out, the sacking only occurred after Theresa May criticised Ward’s selection following a question from Eric Pickles during prime minister’s questions. Pickles asked if May “shares my disgust that a former member of this house criticised by the home affairs select committee for antisemitism has been selected for Bradford East for the Liberal Democrats?”
May said voters would be “disappointed to see the Liberal Democrats re-adopt a candidate with a questionable record on antisemitism”. The paper notes:
Ward has also said he would be willing to fire rockets from Gaza into Israel and praised the Labour MP Naz Shah after she was suspended by her party for antisemitic posts on Facebook.
Naz wasn’t kicked out. She was suspended. She was re-educated. She discovered that anti-Semitism is a form of racism. Shah, the Labour MP for Bradford West – what is about that place? – delivered an apology, albeit with a sympathetic backstory.
“The language I used was anti-Semitic, it was offensive,” she said. “What I did was I hurt people and the language that was the clear anti-Semitic language, which I didn’t know at the time, was when I said, ‘The Jews are rallying.'”
She then went on a journey:
Ms Shah said she had been on a learning journey in recent months and had received “amazing compassion” from the Jewish community. “I didn’t get anti-Semitism as racism,” said Ms Shah. “I had never come across it. I think what I had was an ignorance.”
With her abhorrent views unchecked, Naz had made it all the way to be a front-bench advisor in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet. Until she was exposed in the media, at no point did Shah think anti-Semitism could be wrong, let alone racist. Is that because everyone around her was as ignorant as she was? Or is it because anti-Semitism is rife in Labour, which is a safe space to be an anti-Jewish bigot? We can give ink to our thoughts on polling day.
Says Farron: “I don’t select our individual candidates and nor should I. But let me be clear, I won’t tolerate antisemitism in my party. David Ward has been disciplined in the past and if he or anyone else makes antisemitic remarks in this campaign I will expect the party to act quickly and decisively, as we did when we suspended a candidate in Luton South yesterday …Ashuk Ahmed, was suspended over Facebook posts that compared Zionism to the Nazis.”
Don’t panic, lads. You can always go back to school and stand as a representative for the NUS.
The National Union of Students (NUS) is embroiled in a fresh anti-Semitism row after three candidates holding or running for positions on its executive committee were revealed to have made offensive comments.
In online posts seen by The Independent, one current member of the union’s National Executive Council shared a video mocking Jews as having big noses and being tight with money, while another publicly suggested Jewish people are tight-fisted and said he wanted to destroy Israel.
A third, who is seeking a position on the union’s executive in elections being held this week, wrote an offensive Twitter message referring to Jews and using the phrase “Heil Hitler”.
Good job the Left has no issue with Jews. We know this because Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti told us there is no anti-Semitism in Labour Party.
Vote now. And vote often.
Posted: 26th, April 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, Reviews | Comments (2)
Theresa May: “We want to lead the world in preventing tourism”
On the hustings for GE17, a nervy Theresa May tells the electorate: “We want to lead the world in preventing tourism.”
Theresa May: "We want to lead the world in preventing tourism". pic.twitter.com/OcrLkWso5W
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) April 25, 2017
Spotter: Adam Bienkov
Posted: 25th, April 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment
The French Election is a huge waste of paper
The French election are riding high on the news cycle. The field has narrowed into a straight fight between Front National’s Marine Le Pen and independent Emmanuel Macron. Round 2 will be defined not what the French are for but what they are against. Do you want a samey rosy-fingered dawn (Marcon) or a honey-soaked past dipped in aspic (Le Pen)?
But this post is about the system. In Round 1, French voters were given 11 pieces of paper – 1 for each candidate. In the booth they choose 1 and put it in envelope. The rest are, presumably, thrown away. More paper is printed than used. There is no electronic voting and very few voting machines.
Voting underway in France. Voters take 11 pieces of paper; 1 for each candidate. In the booth they choose 1 and put it in envelope @SkyNews pic.twitter.com/2pCicrbgsB
— Mark Stone (@Stone_SkyNews) April 23, 2017
Michæl Saunby tweets: “Avoids the need for pencils, which some (kippers) have a phobia of.”
Indeed, at the EU referendum some voters smelled a rat:
@Rox_Tans tweeted: “When you vote take a pen with you! They just tried making me do mine in pencil yeah ok so you can rub it out? Don’t think so bruv.”
Echoing this sentiment, @Kez_777 wrote: “Please make sure you take a BLACK PEN with you to vote as pencil votes can be tampered with (I wouldnt put anything past Cameron) #VoteLeave”
So is the French system better?
Posted: 24th, April 2017 | In: Politicians, Reviews, Technology | Comment
Emily Thornberry: ‘There are people who poo who create a lot of jobs’
Emily Thornberry, Labour MP and shadow Foreign Secretary in Jeremy Corbyn’s Cabinet of anyone who lives within walking distance of his Islington home, is on Radio 4. She says: “There are people who poo who create a lot of jobs.”
Emily Thornberry: ‘There are people who poo who create a lot of jobs’ pic.twitter.com/nIAxEoLPd0
— Liam Taggart (@LiamMTaggart) April 21, 2017
That’s the jobbies sorted.
Posted: 22nd, April 2017 | In: Politicians, TV & Radio | Comment
Labour’s party political broadcast showing indoctrinized Corbyn Kids backfires
Labour’s latest electoral move is to take a teacher and show her instructing her students that education is safe in Labour’s hands. She’s shown indoctrinating her seven to eight year old students after they ask her some questions about politics. The internet rose to the challenge: what happens when they ask some difficult questions?
Our political broadcast airs tonight on @BBCOne. Share the teaser ↓ pic.twitter.com/9wxk4u34mg
— The Labour Party (@UKLabour) April 21, 2017
Spotter: Robbie Travers
Posted: 22nd, April 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comment
UKIP candidate delivers manifesto in the style of a Beat poem
UKIP candidate Gisela Allen has delivered her manifesto. Answering the question ‘Why do you want to be a councillor?” in Glasgow’s Garscadden/Scotstounhill ward, Gisela just lets it all pour out.
As Liam Kirkaldy tweets: “There’s really a lot going on in this UKIP candidate’s election pitch. It’s like a stream of consciousness beat poem.”
Is it a spoof?
Bill Kidd, SNP MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, thinks it’s real. “Ms Allen with these outlandish statements has become a manifestation of all that makes her party so very unrepresentative of the constituents in Garscadden/Scotstounhill, or for that matter in Glasgow and Scotland,” he opines.
Labour candidate Eva Murray adds: “I’ve seen Ms. Allen’s comments and I, along with the many people in the communities I have spoken to strongly disagree with many if not most of them. We must aim to be an inclusive and caring society, which is exactly why I’m proud to be a Labour candidate in this election standing on the values of equality and fairness. I am sure the people of Garscadden/Scotstounhill will reject these shameful comments from the UKIP candidate.”
We looked and its turns out that Gisela Allen does exist and she is a UKIP candidate!
Spotter: Liam Kirkaldy, Clydebank Post
Posted: 22nd, April 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comment
Caption writers protect the Easter Bunny from would-be Trump assassins and Elma Fudd
The President of the United States is on the LEFT.
“Excellent use of parentheses. Bravo caption writers.” tweets @Zoeparamour.
“Sometimes Breaking News comes at exactly the perfect moment” adds @Melissajpeltier.
Spotter: Twitter/@MelissaJPeltier & Twitter/@ZoeParamour
Posted: 22nd, April 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, TV & Radio | Comment
Tim Farron is the illiberal Liberal
Tim Farron is the LibDem’s leader. He’s an Evangelical Christian. Does he think gay sex is a mortal sin, a crime against God? Conservative MP and former deputy speaker Nigel Evans asked him. “I do not,” says Farron. “I am very proud to have gone through the lobby behind the Honourable Gentleman under the Coalition Government where the Liberal Democrats introduced gay marriage, equal marriage and, indeed, did not go as far as it should in terms of recognising transgender rights. There’s so much more to be done. If we campaign in this election for an open, united and tolerant society, then we need to make sure we are not complacent in any way about LGBT rights.”
Farron was asked the same thing on Channel 4 News. “A while back I asked you whether it was true that you believed homosexuality was a sin, and you struggled to answer,” said Cathy Newman. “Now you’ve had a while to consider that question, what is the answer?” “I don’t think I struggled to answer, I talked about how I’m not in a position to be making theological pronouncements,” replied Tim.”…As a liberal, I’m passionate about equality – about equal marriage, about equal rights for LGBT people, fighting not just for LGBT rights in this country but overseas.”
Tim Farron’s beliefs are his own affair. You can believe what you like. When he abstained from voting for same-sex marriage in May 2013, he did so because it felt the right thing to do. Good for him. Not every movement necessitates the crushing and humiliation of our enemies. Freedom means expressing our heartfelt beliefs and causing offence. Hathos draws many towards religion and strict god-given moral codes as it once drew censors to outlaw gay sex. It exists for knowing narcissists to mock and use to define our righteous selves – we are what we are not. And we are not wrong.
We could be generous to Tim and think that he’s recognised his prejudices and done the liberal thing in discounting them in policy for the common good? Love for the ineffable and all human beings propels his support for gay rights. Maybe. Maybe not.
The gut feeling is that Tim Farron speaks with the conviction of a man who has read one book and agreed with everything in it. He says, “We are all sinners.” That’s a cop out. He’s an illiberal Liberal.
Posted: 19th, April 2017 | In: Politicians | Comment
Daily Mirror news trust: Arsenal and Theresa May are both for turning
How about this for wraparound newspaper cover. The Daily Mirror’s front page leads with Theresa May’s “U-turn”. Having said there would be no General Election before 202o, May has called one for June 8 2017.
If it’s all about trust, what are Mirror readers to make of the paper’s back page news story that Arsenal have made it clear Arsene Wenger will still be manager next season? The paper says Schalke defender Sead Kolasinac, 23, has been been told Wenger will remain at Arsenal for a further two seasons.
June 8 is one for the diary. And while you’re on that page, you might care to put a line through another event scheduled for that month. On June 30 2017, Arsene Wenger is to quit the club. We read that in the Daily Mirror.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 19th, April 2017 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Politicians, Sports, Tabloids | Comment
