I recently discovered that my (soon to be former) MP has a blog, on MySpace. It’s actually not awful, for a MySpace blog, but today, he’s speculating Blair Resigns? :
something is definitely in the air. I don’t know what it is, but if Blair announces his resignation by the end of this week, you read it here first.
So the Westminster bubble says something is up. It would, of course, be a good thing for him to go. Here’s just hoping the constitutionally illiterate morons don’t make much running with getting Brown to got for an early election, we need to give the man time to mess things up utterly.
January 16th, 2007
Posted by
MatGB |
Blair, Leadership, NuLab, Political Weblog Project |
4 comments
Donald’s on form:
STATEMENT: If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.
QUESTION: Do you have curtains?
STATEMENT: They’re to stop anyone perving over intimate moments with my wife.
QUESTION: You do know that as soon as they upload your STD records on that health database, the whole of Whitehall can see everyone you’ve fucked since freshers’ week?
Write To Them. Or chase down a Swiss grandad.
Damn stupid idiotic centralising authoritarian fools. Technology will solve all our problems. Especially if it’s a technology that we don’t really understand and will subcontract to a bunch of incompetents like Capita et al…
November 4th, 2006
Posted by
TaKtiX |
NuLab, civil liberties, National Identity Register |
one comment
Remember this time last year, when they kicked the lifelong party member out of the conference for being honest? Well, guess what? This year?
They’re not even letting him onto the conference floor. That’s despite him now being elected to the NEC (via).
In other news, Gordon Brown is rumoured to be planning to announce plans for a constitutional convention, complete with full written constitution. Maybe Helena Kennedy managed to get to him? So, the question is, is it posturing, is he a genuine reformer, has he been putting up with Tony’s authoritarianism, or is it something he’s going to fuck up completely?
Why is it that even when they’re saying exactly what I want to hear, I don’t believe a word this lot say? Time will tell I guess. (via)
September 25th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
Brown, NuLab, Constitution, Labour, Walter Wolfgang |
no comments
From new blogger Sammy Morse:
Personally, I doubt Blair will last 12 months or anything like it. Until he goes, civil war will reign in the Labour Party. Unlike Blair, too many people in the Labour Party have an interest in not losing the next election for that to happen. Unless they’re really, really stupid. And I don’t think they are. … Brown will be a disaster as Labour leader. If Brown really had the capacity to be leader, he would have become so after the Granita restaurant, after Blair was clearly out of step with the country on the war, after Labour lost 50 seats at the General Election, etc., etc. He didn’t because he has no killer instinct and no real leadership skills. Brown likes to skulk in the corner and avoid difficult issues
He goes on to analyse the state of the parties, the poll rankings, the likely effect on the next election, etc. It’s one of those “I wish I’d written that” posts, well worth a read.
In addition, Caramel Betty asks “what’s Charles Clarke up to?” and has re read his resignation speech:
However, I do not think it would be appropriate to remain in government in these circumstances and return to the backbenches, where I will be a strong and active supporter of this government and the leadership of Tony Blair for his full parliamentary term.
Do we detect a note of “well Gordon’ll never give me a job” in the Safety Elephant’s behaviour? In the meantime?
Keep an eye on Jack Straw over the weekend. Have fun in the Middle East Tony…
September 8th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
Brown, Blair, Leadership, Infighting, NuLab |
3 comments
I’d forgotten this, oops. Um, online conference involving some bigwigs, cross party, looks like a good idea, started today.
Taking Power - Have your say about how Britain is run
Worth giving a look and getting involved in methinks.
I, um, spent the day with my grandmother, not even mobile phone reception in South Pool, ’tis a lovely place. We didn’t turn the radio on in the car on the way back either. So, I’m currently catching up with the news. Initial reactions?
Go Tom! Agree with Bob’s assesment. Tired Tony on his way out? Good. However, and this is important, look out for buried news. Blairwatch is already on the case.
I might be able to put together a more coherent reaction, but in the meantime? Yay!
September 6th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
Blair, Leadership, NuLab, Reform, POWER, Constitution |
no comments
Busy, in case you hadn’t figured. In the meantime, I’ve linked a few times to
Steve, who it turns out is randomly a friend of a former housemate of mine and Paul’s, although we’ve never met, small world. Anyway, he now writes for new blog/news site,
The Slant, which I’m plugging because, well, it’s good.
His first article:
Thousands of pupils received their A-level results today, and amazingly the UK seems to be getting more intelligent than ever!
In the spirit of the occasion, the rest of this article will be multiple choice:
Seriously, go read the rest. For the record, he thinks even less of Ruth Kelly than me. Seriously, it is possible. Anyway…
What should I write next?
I’ve been busy at work (see terror alerts and false flags, all over the newspapers and below), but it’s about time I wrote a decent, substantive article. I’ve got 3 in my mind, fleshed out to a point where I just need to find time to type them up. Which d’you want first?
- The Cameron Project: What he’s up to and why it should work
- Tactical Voting: It’s a myth, it doesn’t exist (seriously)
- House of Lords reform: I missed Lords Reform day on here, but put up a few links on my journal (Blogger went down), I could flesh that out a bit?
Anyone got a preference? Also…
Blogger Beta
I’ve been playing around with the new version of Blogger (via) here, it does actually seem rather good, so even though there isn’t a 3-column option (yet), I’ll likely switch when they’ll let me, the good bits more than outweigh the bad. Category tags for a start, and easy feed displays &c. So expect a few weirdnesses as I do silly stuff to get it to work. I’m so not looking forward to going back to label every post.
August 18th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
NuLab, Xblogging, Ruth Kelly |
6 comments
On the subject of the Lords as
an accident waiting to happen, we have two interesting post.
Garry Smith shows that the loans were probably not, really, on commercial terms, and were really donations in disguise.
In fact, the loans are actually only repayable six months after the lender specifically asks for them to be repaid. If the lender does not do so, the loan might conceivably never be repaid. It’s almost as if the terms of the loans have been specifically written so that they could be turned into donations at a later date.
In the meantime, Shaun Rolph has all the evidence pointing that Levy and Blair acted illegally if they did withhold details of the money to the elected party treasurer, Jack Dromey (via).
anyone who, with intent to deceive, concealed from Jack Dromey (i) the amount of any donation made to the party, or (ii) the person or body making such a donation, has committed a criminal offence.
It’s probably a good thing for tired Tony that he knows a few decent lawyers, right? When I wrote that post, I didn’t even think to dream he’d be out because he broke a law he himself wrote.
July 23rd, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
Blair, NuLab, Party funding, Levy, Dromey, corruption |
no comments
Jack Straw - Cretin?
Right, it’s fairly well established around these here parts that we don’t think much of the current Government. However, we now have conclusive proof that Jack Straw is an idiot:
we have a problem in the House, which is called researchers trying to prove a point and the result of these websites called TheyWorkForYou which simply seem to measure MPs’ work by quantitative rather than qualitative measures.
July 23rd, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
Reform, Constitution, Pledgebank, Jack Straw, TheyWorkForYou, Parliament, House of Lords, ElectTheLords, New Politics Network, Charter 88 |
no comments
My dislike of the Labour leadership is a sense of betreyal. I voted for the bastards before, and I’d like to be able to vote for them again. But, currently, I can’t. Prescott is by no means the only fault, but his perpetuation in office by Blair is completely beyond me. Others, howver, have no sense of betrayal, and have always hated him. Tim Montgomerie at Conservative Home has created a list of reasons to dislike Honest John’s term in government, since the very beginning. Given that many of the policy areas he claimed for himself at the beginning were issues I felt strongly about, and in cases still do, his absolute failure to implement anything decent is worthy of comment. So, using Tim’s list as a starting point, here’s mine:
- Council Tax rates have effectively doubled for most people in the last ten years, and the short term bribe in the 2005 budget for pensioners was abolished this year.
- The Standards Board for England is an anti-democratic monstrosity that puts those we elect at the control of quangocrats. Ken shouldn’t have been suspended; it’s teh electors job to fire him, no one else’s
- Postal voting has been pushed and pushed and pushed. Make no mistake, the facility for the frail and housebound to vote by post is essential. But everyone else should go to the polling booth. Fraud allegations are perpetual, and very worrying.
- Integrated transport policy? Anyone remember this one? We were going to cut car use (its risen), improve railways (um…), improve availability, etc. Me? I’d love to travel by bus instead of driving most mornings. Not going to happen, even with a half price bus pass from work.
- Strategic Rail Authority. Yes, well, enough said there, when Transport was removed from his control (let’s face it, he wasn’t up to it), Darling abolished the waste of money that it was.
- The Thames Gateway city project. Combined with the demolish half the north project. Very little has effectively been done to encourage people to live, work, set up offices in, etc in areas outside of the SE. The SE can’t handle more people effectively, water supplies are limited, housing density growing, etc. The North? Emptying. The SW? Full of second homes, holiday homes, etc. Empirical evidence for the latter? There is no way that my I could, even if I doubled my salary, afford a mortgage on the house my father was born in. Why? Holiday homes. Honest John’s fault.
- The England Problem. A perpetual topic on here, but John was given the task of sorting out devolution in England. What did we get? Devolution from the centre? No. We got another local government reorganisation offered, with virtually no devolved power, a White Elephant. The boundaries he’s using are over 50 years old and outdated, based on bureacratic, treasury need rather than local lines. Horrible mess. The worst is he’s effectively killed off any arguments for decent, genuine devolution from Westminster to any form of regional or provincial assemblies, which would be a genuine (and to my mind good) solution to the West Lothian Question.
- The Casino at the Dome. Let’s face it, this is the big one. It appears, on every face, to be genuine corruption, and it’s not just Honest John that it tars. But John is their designated scapegoat.
He’s going to go, and soon. I, like Snoo, do not care who he’s slept with. It’s gossip, tittle tattle, salacious fun. It does raise a concern (did any of them deserve their promotions?), but, ultimately, sex scandal, I care not.
He’s corrupt, incompetent and an utter failure. He has betrayed the principles of his party, he has betrayed the principles he was elected on, and his botched implementation of vital policies has done lasting damage to this country. Time to go John.
On the other hand
Clive at The UK Today:
Now I agree that something doesn’t add up, by I’m more concerned about what is going on elsewhere in Government while Prescott acts as a lighting conductor for all the flak being aimed at New Labour. It may be crediting Blair with too much foresight, but it seems very convenient that John has been kept around in spite of Tracey Temple and croquet on the lawn at Dorneywood.
Prescott seems emminently suited to the role he is now fulfilling, the bumbling leftie northerner who is out of his depth; the fall guy who can be blamed for any number of ills given the wide remit the ODPM used to have.
John? Given most of it isn’t your fault, can you stop being a scapegoat and take Tony with you?
Update:
From the comments, A rather good selection of Prescottisms
July 8th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
NuLab, Prescott, failure, incompetence |
8 comments
Mr Eugenides:
Just to recap: a minister whose department is in charge of planning applications for casinos receives free hospitality from a tycoon bidding to build a supercasino. Minister stays night in tycoon’s ranch with “a small number of civil servants” (including diary secretary?) and makes charity donation to cover hospitality. Donation paid for out of public purse.
The abridged version: Prescott spends night on Colorado ranch relaxing/sipping martinis/banging his mistress, and gets you to pay for it.
Guido has
more (including the news, revealed by
Iain Dale, that the Daily Mail may be planning to run a story
revealing alleging that DPM was having an affair with an unnamed Labour MP. Needless to say this story is not true and no-one should imagine otherwise, certainly not R**** W********’s lawyers).
The debasement of ethical standards in public life is almost complete.
I said before that it was a smokescreen and I didn’t care who he slept with. I suspect the rumours to be true, it piques my interest in a salacious way, but ultimately, I care not. But the idea that he’s off on junkets to ranches owned by people bidding for contracts he has power to grant?
“Honest” John really ought to go now. On his own, or with the tired man.
July 4th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
Prescott, Winterton, Anschutz, planning, casino |
2 comments
What’s the point of being a candidate for one of the big two parties in their safest seats? You only ever
lose them. Bromley has gone to recount, I was going to stay up, but I’ll await the morning news.
To get close is impressive, to take it to recount? Looks like Labour lose their deposit there as well. Blair’s odds of lasting the year out look slimmer. And if Bromley is as close as reported then I wouldn’t want to be Dave in the morning. Shot in the arm for Ming though.
On the “we’re screwed” thing, it’s looking like the only chance we’ve got is an incredibly strong Lib Dem performance next few years. Damnit, I hate being partizan! Dave’s crap, Labour is falling to peices, Ming’s our best hope. We really are screwed.
G’night all…
Update:
Neill wins Bromley for the Tories, with a majority of just 646. From what I’ve seen of the campaigning there though, I agree with James, not the sort of politics I like to see, anywhere, from any party.
June 30th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
NuLab, Parties, LibDems, Conservatives, Blaenau Gwent, Bromley, by-election |
no comments
Hmm. Just finished listening to Charles Clarke on On the Ropes (again) - always worth a listen anyway, but this one had added comedy value. From the BBC coverage, David Davis said Mr Clarke’s comments were a Blairite version of Sir Geoffrey Howe’s attack on Margaret Thatcher in 1990, something that Simon predicted nine months ago. Also, I really like this comedy quote:
Education Minister Jim Knight said ex-ministers “bitching” about Mr Blair were doing Labour “no favours”.
Well no Mr Knight, they’re not, but then, neither is tired Tony.
Are we getting there d’you think? Is Simon right, is this the beginning of the end?
Addenda
:Is it possible this was timed to minimise the damage instead?
June 27th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
Blair, Leadership, NuLab, Charles Clarke |
no comments
Well, Alex has finally got it working. Labour Home is launched, to compete with Conservative Home and Liberal Review. It looks ok, and it’s something I thought was lacking awhileback (even mentioned it’s lack in a thread at B4L). He’s also got a team of writers lined up. Shame that one of them seems to have both a poor grasp of economics and a very weird definition of liberalism.
June 24th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
NuLab, Xblogging, Parties, Labour Home, LibDems, liberalism |
6 comments
I’ve never liked negative campaigns. The demonisation of the opponents, the personal attacks, etc. I prefer to see debates on the issues, genuine engagement, open discussion. Of course, that’s not to say that negative posters, etc don’t have a place, but the over-emphasis of them in recent years has, to my mind, been part of the degradation of political discourse that has lead to the widespread apathy that we’re all aware of.
June 10th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
NuLab, Parties, LibDems, Conservatives, adverts, humour |
4 comments
Tim Ireland:
I am coming for you, and I will not stop.
Your time is up, your goodwill is shot to hell, and your plans for further reform are doomed to failure.
Further; the longer you hang on, the easier it will be for me to tie your political heirs to your poisoned legacy.
I will soon be coming for them, and I will not stop.
This is not a vendetta… it is a necessity; I simply cannot allow those in power to continue to cynically exploit the threat of terrorism for political and financial gain.
As your staff have read Bloggerheads, they will no doubt be aware of my clear position on violence… so they will know that I mean you no physical harm, even when I say the following:
I plan to pursue you to the end of your political career and beyond. Further, I have taken a solemn vow to one day piss on your grave. You lying, torturing, murdering bastard.
Cheers
Tim Ireland
It won’t surprise any of our regular reasons to learn I pretty much endorse Tim’s campaign 100%.
Blogger’s playing up and not even letting me post comments. I’m swamped at work. Paul’s got a new job and is busy. Updates may be sparse. Bear with us, we’ll be back up to speed as and when…
June 9th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
Blair, NuLab, Parties |
no comments
Scottish electoral mechanics are always interesting to watch. South of the border, most seats are either safe or two-way marginals. Three-way marginals are rare, and tend to disappear over the course of a few elections, the third party squeeze / ratchet effect caused by Duverger’s Law means that it becomes “irrational” as the economists put it to vote for the third place or below candidate. Yet in Scotland? They not only still have three way marginals, they also have some 4 way marginals.
May 19th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
NuLab, voting, Parties, LibDems, electoral reform, FPTP, Duverger, Scotland, elections |
2 comments
Gordon Brown:
“Tony Blair said last night that he was going to organise it in a stable and orderly way.”
Does anyone else read that as if they’re planning a coronation, no election, no party democracy?
May 9th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
Brown, Blair, Leadership, NuLab, party democracy |
no comments
I wholeheartedly support the idea that politicians should blog more, communicate more, discuss things directly, etc. Ergo, when a Govt Minister sets up a blog, I think that’s, on balance, a good idea. For the record, I’m working on my employers to give me space for a newsblog at work, it’ll be a good way to communicate with the people I work with. Whether they’ll buy it or not I don’t know, but I don’t think work blogs are a waste of time, nor of taxpayers money.
Note the corrolary though. When it’s done right.
May 6th, 2006
Posted by
MatGB |
NuLab, Xblogging, Parties, David Milliband, Labour |
3 comments
