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.

Whatever the outcome next May, Parliament needs a new Speaker
'Vindictive and openly biased’ against the Tories, John Bercow is clearly not up to the job



By Peter Oborne8:32PM GMT 30 Dec 2014 Comments265 Comments
The year ahead threatens to be one of the most dramatic in modern parliamentary history. Less than three months remain till the expiry of the first coalition government since the Second World War. It is breaking up amid acrimony and bitterness. We are entering unknown territory. There is every chance that the Liberal Democrats will turn on their Conservative partners on a point of principle, or perhaps even gang up with the Labour opposition in a vote of confidence.
Then there is the question of what will happen when a new Parliament forms in May. Many experts predict another coalition, or perhaps a Lib-Lab pact. Conservative central office is reportedly preparing for two elections in 2015. The permutations are endless as Britain embarks on potentially the most unstable political year since 1974, the last year of two elections. Amid such uncertainty it is essential that the House of Commons should have a respected figure in charge.
Unfortunately John Bercow has been a partial and self-promoting Speaker, said by his critics to be openly biased against the Conservatives, vindictive to those he dislikes and notoriously prone to favouritism. Mr Bercow may well face one or more knife-edge decisions, for example over a point of procedure in a confidence motion, which shape the circumstances in which a government can stand or fall.



Yet he is not, to put it mildly, a figure in whom both main parties feel equal trust. Having Mr Bercow in charge is rather like putting a partisan referee on duty for a vital football match. More troubling still, Parliament enters the new year without a Commons clerk. The occupant of this post is never a public figure, yet the House of Commons cannot work without him. The post (full title: “The Under Clerk of the Parliaments, to wait upon the Commons”) dates back to the Middle Ages, and the occupant always possesses a profound knowledge of precedent, procedure and how Parliament operates. Such knowledge is beyond price in uncertain times such as the year that lies ahead. Lack of a Commons clerk in such circumstances is unthinkable – to continue the footballing analogy, it is like a Premier League team embarking on a new season without a manager


The vacancy is entirely the fault of Speaker Bercow. He created the problem in the first place by making life unbearable for the former Commons clerk, the hugely respected Sir Robert Rogers. Sir Robert, exhausted by Speaker Bercow’s petulance and foul language, reluctantly concluded that he had no choice but to retire.



Having driven Sir Robert out of his job, Speaker Bercow sought to bring in his own creature. In an attempted constitutional coup d’etat, he stuffed the selection panel with cronies, snubbed David Natzler (the highly experienced deputy clerk) and chose Carol Mills from the Australian parliament.
Ms Mills, who has since become notorious, was unsuitable for a number of reasons. She was mired in scandal, and has since been accused of misleading the Australian parliament. But most striking of all, Carol Mills had no knowledge at all of British parliamentary procedure. Nevertheless Mr Bercow’s committee chose Ms Mills. She would now be in place had not a parliamentary revolt, led by the constitutionally minded Conservative MP Jesse Norman, prevented her appointment.


Speaker Bercow’s standing and reputation have been very seriously damaged as a consequence. However, the Speaker is nothing if not a fighter. He and his allies have mounted a rearguard action over the Christmas period. They have come out with an account of events that is so misleading and shamelessly self-serving that it needs to be challenged.
On Boxing Day Mr Bercow, invited on the Today programme as guest editor, insouciantly informed the presenter Mishal Hussein that he was the blameless victim of the Mills fiasco. Without naming him, he disreputably insinuated that the responsibility lay with Sir Robert Rogers, the former clerk, for resisting reform. The real problem, said Bercow, was that the selection panel had been given an “undeliverable brief”.


Speaker Bercow was misleading Radio 4 listeners. The brief was the same as the brief under which Sir Robert was recruited three years ago, so it cannot have been impossible. Furthermore, the former clerk was widely regarded as having been a great success, as borne out by the handsome tributes during the Commons debate that marked his retirement.
Even more troubling than Speaker Bercow’s misleading testimony were remarks made by Margaret Hodge when I interviewed her before Christmas on Radio 4’s Week in Westminster. Mrs Hodge, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), is one of the Bercow cronies brought on to the Carol Mills selection panel. She was unrepentant, insisting that Ms Mills was an “excellent” candidate.
Like Mr Bercow, Mrs Hodge claimed that the brief was at the heart of the problem because the selection panel was asked to choose an expert in Commons procedure who was also a top administrator. She said that they “weren’t given any choice” about the job description. This claim is wrong. Angela Eagle, shadow leader of the Commons (and a fellow member of the selection committee), told Parliament on September 10 that the job description had been agreed by the committee.
Mrs Hodge also told me that the selection procedure was “really rigorous”. Yet during his contribution to that September 10 Commons debate, Andrew Lansley, another member of the selection committee, made plain that the process had been distressingly lax or (as Lansley put it) “ill-founded”. In any case, no rigorous procedure could ever have chosen Carol Mills, or got near to choosing her. To be brutal, Speaker Bercow and his ally Margaret Hodge have come up with a tissue of obfuscation to justify their decision to appoint Ms Mills.



The situation could be worse than it is. David Natzler is an accomplished acting clerk. However he lacks the customary authority of letters patent from the monarch, and knows that he does not have the support of the Speaker. So it is important to learn the right lessons from the Mills fiasco. The first point is that Margaret Hodge should not be allowed anywhere near the next selection panel. Leaving aside her comments on Radio 4, she has a confusion of interests – as chairman of the PAC, the next Commons clerk may have to account to her.
Secondly, the new clerk (Mr Natzler, overlooked the first time, is the outstanding candidate and obvious choice) must surely be in place by the time Parliament reassembles in May. Third, protections are needed to stop Mr Bercow manipulating the next selection process.
The first thing Parliament does when it reconvenes after a general election is to elect a Speaker. Since this vote is by open ballot, MPs will be fearful to oppose John Bercow. They fear that they will not be called to speak if they vote against him. Nevertheless, Speaker Bercow (a very young Speaker when he was appointed after Speaker Martin resigned in disgrace five years ago) reportedly promised to stand down in 2018 when he reaches the age of 55. Some way must be found of ensuring that he keeps that promise.

Cheers Max Ive printed it off.

Alex Youngs (ex Everton and Stockport County......the Golden Vision)GAY BAR in Dundee......



word is Alex works behind the bar now and again.

Max - 54019 is a very interesting read ..... however, it should not be forgotten that the french also have a very heavy taxation system across the board, including a punitive wealth tax on all possessions

neither should it be forgotten than france now has unemployment levels running at a record 10% ...... heavy taxation will no doubt have played its part in this

Alex Young? he was brilliant one of the many outstanding players of the 60's.

Lets face it Alf, your just a cheap o when it comes down to it.

Every picture tells a story don't it. GF the internet gay bar trawler, oh duckie! LOL!!!

You are going to have to do better than that knob head. The Golden Vision is now 77yrs of age, I doubt he would be interested in gay bars. Now you, who knows?

Yep he was a great goal poacher.

Tory Blair?... Tories really scraping the barrel if they have to bring him into it -):

I always thought he was a tory in poor disguise.

Would fit in nicely with the present Cameron motley crew.

The real face of Con Party below.

Scotland, Scotland!!!!

you're right stan, for i don't use an nhs dentist, almost never go to the doctor and my annual psa check is done privately .... further, my children were never a strain on the state education system .... nor have i ever claimed benefits (my pension and winter fuel allowance just appear out of the ether) nor sought council housing .... and i pay all my taxes with nothing hidden offshore, whether in property or anything else

all in all, i am a model citizen after whom all should aspire :-)

============

indeed, it is aspiration in all fields that should be encouraged, even if it means that some will inevitably fail ..... and yes, we all know that that is anathema to the do-gooders nowadays

regular and competitive sport has now almost completely fallen by the wayside in state schools - but someone has to lose (oh weep weep) - and it is the sports clubs that have (been obliged?) taken on that role

Cynic you used NHS DIRECT before you went on holiday.........JUST IN CASE........nudge nudge wink wink.


Having said that if youve paid dont be afraid.

Its your right.

I note that I have not received a new years present from you Alf

So as you seem to be flushed enough with the ackers by going private in your health requirements my choice of pressy is this.




Thank you in advance -):

Competitive sports fell by the wayside in the 1960's. Endorsed by left wing nutters who high on God knows what had this crazy notion that in the school play ground if you were not picked to play in the school football team you were a victim. The fact you were actually crap at footie was immaterial. So incentive to actually improve not an option.

"regular and competitive sport has now almost completely fallen by the wayside in state schools - but someone has to lose (oh weep weep)"

Thats because Local Authorities starved of funds by the Tories have had to sell off school playing fields to balance budgets.

Always the same under the Tories "we'l look after our own" F the rest.

Manuel,

You belong in the thirties with the rest of blue rinse brigade and the neo-fascists of the tory right wing. The world has moved on and society has changed and is more socially aware and mutually responsible than you would seem to wish.

Have there been weaknesses in the social and economic developments over last 50-60 years?

Were mistakes made in "public" and "private" services and businesses?

Yes of course.

Sensible action would be, firstly to understand the roots of the "failings" and "mistakes" made, but, also to understand the "underlying intentions, or goals " of the poor actions taken.

Then to address them.

That is done by modification of the "systems", not their whole scale destruction with the return to outdated ideologies.

-=-=-=-=-

.

Tricky fingers!

More shite by Fred The RED! surprised NO, the armchair critic who can't even be arsed to vote. GOBSHITE OF THE YEAR (Recurring) foxtrot back to Wales, preferably to the Labour Council in charge of NHS!

Hey Chris, is Alex Young gay or is it just a business venture?