Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

None of the 2 and a half can win outright, and that's before ukip tear them a nu asshole.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/07/ed-miliband-more-pressure-quit-labour-leader-byelection-failure-critics

Miliband will face more pressure to quit in case of byelection failure, critics say

Critics of Ed Miliband say he will face further pressure to step down as Labour leader if the party fails to put in a credible performance in the Rochester and Strood byelection later this month.

As he launched a pledge to win the general election “street by street”, one party source said a poor performance in an area held by Labour under Tony Blair would raise questions about Miliband’s ability to win over centre-ground voters.

The warning came as a series of shadow cabinet ministers rallied round Miliband after party sources confirmed that unease about his leadership had been passed to Dave Watts, the chair of the parliamentary Labour party. Tristram Hunt, the shadow education secretary, declared Miliband was on course to become an “innovative, reforming, radical” prime minister.

A withering attack on the sneering political elite from Labour mutineer:

Our leaders can't keep ignoring what voters care about, writes IAN AUSTIN MP


By Ian Austin, Labour Mp for Dudley North

Published: 00:38, 8 November 2014 | Updated: 00:52, 8 November 2014



Everyone knows immigration is controversial, but I wasn’t prepared for the reaction when I raised it with the Prime Minister last week.

I stood up in the Commons and said voters in Dudley don’t think people should be able to come to Britain and be unemployed. They think people should have to work and pay taxes before they can claim benefits. They certainly don’t think it’s fair that child benefit can be claimed in the UK for children living abroad.

Judging by the emails and letters I’ve received since, most people think that’s plain common sense. Many said they were really pleased to hear a Labour MP saying it.



Ian Austin stood up in the Commons and said voters in Dudley don’t think people should be able to come to Britain and be unemployed



I’m afraid it didn’t go down so well in Westminster.

The Prime Minister scoffed and sneered and said I shouldn’t be raising the issue. The Left-leaning Guardian accused me of sticking a jackboot into immigrants. I knew some people would not agree with me, but I didn’t anticipate being called a Nazi.


I ought to be used to it by now. When I told ministers in the last Labour Government they’d made mistakes – including on Eastern Europe – and immigration was too high, I was told I sounded like the BNP.

But this Government is getting it wrong too. David Cameron promised he’d get net migration down to the tens of thousands but it’s actually gone up to over 240,000.

The asylum system is in chaos and foreign criminals aren’t being deported. It’s no wonder people in Dudley think politicians in Westminster haven’t been listening.

Well, I’ve been listening to ordinary people in my constituency and raising their concerns since I became an MP nine years ago.

I’ve always said that if you want to live in Britain, you must be prepared to work hard and pay your way, obey the law and speak English. There’s no other way to play a full part in British society.



More quite radical stuff here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2826183/A-withering-attack-sneering-political-elite-Labour-mutineer-leaders-t-ignoring-voters-care-writes-IAN-AUSTIN-MP.html

UKIP may alter the balance in individual constituencies but won't get enough MPs to have any serious impact over a coalition.

The SNP won't affect much either. Labour looks like losing a slab of MPs in Scotland but it won't make much of a difference to a coalition. The sum total of SNP plus Labour will not change. SNP would almost certainly go into a coalition with Labour. That means that Labour would be no better or worse off in terms of a coalition. So SNP will not be Labour's saviour as any seat they lose they will pick up in a coalition with SNP.

It still comes down to who will get the most seats. That party will have the first chance of forming a government. That is where Labour's losses in Scotland could be important. If Labour lose a lot of seats in Scotland then it will affect their ability to get the most seats and then be allowed the chance to form a government.

There is a difference between hearing, listening, and considering what they say in order aid in making your decision.

But following baying mobs whipped up by thoughtless mindless individuals for their own personal benefits is becoming the norm for the majority of UKIPPERS, the far right wing of the tories (especially some of the latter's present leadership) and minority of far left detached old Labour.

--------
Cynic,

The problem is the liars are no longer plausible!

does that mean that plausible liars are more than acceptable? :-)

======

No, but at least one had a better standard of lying!

So why doesn't he go over to UKIP

Haze,

Leadership.

If as expected the Cons lose the next election there will probably be a split in the party and the R/Wingers will switch to UKIP.

Cameron will resign or be rejected by the party and god only knows who will be the puppet leader of the haunch.

------------------------

I have a feeling Clegg will hang on, but Alexander and maybe one or two other Libs will defect to the Haunch.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2826121/SIMON-HEFFER-Dave-pray-Miliband-doesn-t-quit.html

There will have been cheers in Downing Street at the news that, despite some panic-stricken Labour MPs calling for his resignation, Ed Miliband was staying put as party leader.

For the increasingly hopeless Mr Miliband is David Cameron’s most powerful not-so-secret election weapon in his fight to remain prime minister.

When Harold Wilson was similarly said to have lost the confidence of the Labour faithful in 1969, he sharply retorted: ‘I know what’s going on. I’m going on!’ Mr Miliband, sadly, lacks both the wit and the stature to disarm his own critics so easily.

Since his pitiful conference speech and Labour’s plunge in the polls in its Scottish heartland, Mr Miliband looks like a loser.

Haze,

The tories are s==== scared!

Ed play it cool and let them destroy themselves.

The public groan when Osborne the U-bend's names are mention.

======

Any news at Party HQ about Hague taking over from Cameron?

Mind I wouldn't turn my back on Theresa.

Another Socialist leader found out to be useless.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0IQ14R20141106?irpc=932

Hollande popularity plumbs new low in mid-term French poll

PARIS (Reuters) - Half-way into his five-year mandate the popularity of French President Francois Hollande hit a new low on Thursday, hours before the Socialist leader addresses the nation to defend his shaky record on the economy.

In the worst score for a president in modern-day polling, Hollande received a 12 percent approval rating in the monthly survey by pollster YouGov, down 15 percent from the prior month. Other recent polls have put his popularity at 13 percent.

Earlier the chief executive of France's third-largest bank, Credit Agricole, slammed Hollande's government for its uncertain efforts to kickstart the eurozone's second largest economy.

"The absence of a clear vision and lack of coherence in economic policies is weighing on confidence and therefore investment and economic activity," CEO Jean-Paul Chifflet said during a conference call to present the bank's results.

Hollande is due later to face journalists and members of the public for a question-and-answer session on prime-time TF1 evening television. He will likely face criticism about broken promises to cut rising unemployment and public deficits.

Hollande failed to meet his goal of reversing the rise in unemployment by the end of last year. A pro-business strategy to boost the economy through tax breaks for companies who boost hiring has alienated many of his left-wing former backers.

His impopularity has stoked a backlash from rebel lawsmakers on the left of the Socialist Party seeking to block his supply-side economic reforms, even as the far-right National Front has made inroads with disillusioned French voters.

A Harris Interactive poll published on Monday found that 92 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with Hollande's track record, with 96 percent saying he had not held to his campaign promises made before coming to power in 2012.

fred - No, but at least one had a better standard of lying!

so were they bad teachers or did they have bad pupils? :-)

Ed shadow minister plunges in the dagger: Now Tristram Hunt joins Labour revolt... as poll says Miliband is liability

Labour voters said the best thing Mr Miliband can do to help Labour beat David Cameron is to quit.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2826937/Ed-shadow-minister-plunges-dagger-Tristram-Hunt-joins-Labour-revolt-poll-says-Miliband-liability.html

By Szu Ping Chan7:44PM GMT 08 Nov 2014 Comments4 Comments
Interest rates will remain on hold beyond next year’s general election, the Bank of England is expected to signal this week, in an environment of lower inflation, weak wage growth and increasing eurozone headwinds.
Economists expect the Bank’s latest Inflation Report to highlight a risk that price rises, as measured by the consumer prices index (CPI) could fall below 1pc at the beginning of 2015, from September’s five-year low of 1.2pc.
According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), the recent decline in oil prices to $83 a barrel from $115 in June will push CPI inflation down to 0.5pc by next June. Douglas McWilliams, chief executive of the CEBR, said if prices fell to $60 a barrel, headline inflation could turn negative.
If inflation dips below 1pc, Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, will have to write an open letter to the Chancellor explaining the fall and how policymakers will ensure that inflation returns to the Bank’s 2pc target.
Alan Clarke, a strategist at Scotiabank, said it was very likely this could happen before the end of this year. “Last December, we had a 6.5pc increase in gas and electricity prices, that’s not being repeated this year, so that will push inflation down by 0.3 percentage points.
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Coupled with that you’ve got Sainsbury’s recent decision to cut 1,200 prices and mild autumn weather pushing down on clothing prices. All in all, if they forecast sub-1pc inflation they’re conceding that Carney’s going to have to write a letter and the market will push back the first hike even more than it already has done."
In June, Mr Carney said the decision surrounding the timing of the first rate increase “could happen sooner than markets expect”, prompting traders to price in a November rate hike. However, an oil glut, the slowdown in the eurozone and falling inflation means markets now expect the Bank to raise rates in August 2015, well after May’s election.
Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England’s chief economist, said in a speech last month that a “gloomier” global outlook and lower inflation suggested that policymakers could afford to keep interest rates lower for longer.

Here we go!

http://news.sky.com/story/1369726/ed-miliband-in-fresh-crisis-over-leadership

Ed Miliband In Fresh Crisis Over Leadership

Ed Miliband's leadership was plunged into fresh crisis after reports that 20 shadow ministers are poised to call on him to quit.

Senior figures are ready to strike if former home secretary Alan Johnson signals he is prepared to step into the breach, according to The Observer.

The number of Labour MPs prepared to act has "reached a critical mass" but they want a coronation rather than a difficult leadership contest.

A senior figure told The Observer: "There are 20 frontbenchers who are actively considering what is best to do. They are from all areas of the party, bar the hard left."

Polls also suggest a dramatic fall in support for Mr Miliband's leadership.

Only 34% of Labour voters questioned now think Mr Miliband is up to being party leader, compared to 51% last month, said a YouGov poll for the Sunday Times.

In another blow the Mail on Sunday reports Shadow Education Secretary Tristrum Hunt criticising moves to rebrand Mr Miliband's profile.

He reportedly tells colleagues. "I never believed the answer to Labour's problems was to show people more of Ed Miliband.

"It has been a complete failure. It is making things worse, not better. Ed has excellent qualities but that is not the way to show them. It is absurd."

Sky's senior political correspondent Jason Farrell said: "If you were going to look at this and say this was a Conservative paper plot, look at the front page of the Observer, because that is quite worrying reading from a Labour newspaper.

"They’re saying that 20 shadow ministers are ready to call for him to quit.

"There isn't a letter demanding Ed Miliband's resignation, but there could be very quickly."

Farrell added: "All of these newspapers are going to make pretty difficult reading for Ed Miliband."

What if they get someone competent?


Would be very bad news for dave.

Alan Johnson is the likely candidate. I wouldn't think he would be popular across the country. He is a bit lack lustre and not much of a public speaker. It is said that he lacks the ambition to be PM.

The queens corgi would be more popular than Ed, but whats Cameroons claim to fame?

max - What if they get someone competent?

answer - as long patently obvious DM would have been a shoo-in ....... tories are deeply grateful to unite and other hard-left unions for getting em elected as their puppet

Fred has gone very quiet . :-))