Dunwoody’s action plan

What does Tamsin Dunwoody, the Labour Candidate for Crewe and Nantwich, mean when she says

I’m going to get tough on the yobs, bullies and underage drinking on our streets. I will push forward on regeneration and restore pride in our town.

I will fight to get well paid, skilled jobs for local people and I will listen and respond to people’s concerns about immigration.

Is she insinuating that her mother, god rest her soul, neglected her constituents and that she is the one to restore the pride of Crewe (what about Nantwich?). On the second issue, what does the good lady mean when she talks about responding to peoples concerns over immigration? Is Tamsin thinking about setting up her own outpost of the minute-men?

All of this is interesting, but what is most telling about Tamsin’s. and Labour’s, panic in Crewe and Nantwich is the anti-toff campaign they are running against the Conservative candidate. I agree with Mike Smithson when he says

expect it to get tough out there and some hard things will be said and written

this is true, however the level of the campaign is quite interesting and quite disturbing, it seems as though Labour are pursuing a scorched earth in an attempt to stop the haemorrhaging to the Conservatives. The policy does however depend on a) Labour getting their vote 100% ourt for Labour, and b) the Conservatives not getting their vote out in suffiecient numbers.

I can not see the first happening, if the Labour supporters don’t go for the Conservatives, many will go LibDem. As for the second issue, the LibDems are in a distant third, therefore those wanting to switch will most likely go for the Conservative Candidate and it they don’t I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they just stayed at home.

I am going down to help campaign for the Conservative Candidate, Edward Timpson, on Wednesday and do my best to help out on Thursday in whatever way I can, it will certainly be interesting to see the reaction on the doorstep.

Work and stuff

Alright, so I said I would write some more stuff after (last) Tuesday…. This has obviously not happened. Why, you ask? Well it is really very simple. I finished and handed in my essays on Monday (they were not so good), I went out Monday night, I got up Tuesday and went to Hyde Park and sat with class-mates all day drinking beer and eating BBQ, I got home and passed out. Since then I have worked around 30 hours in the pub and considering its only Friday I don’t think that is something to sneer at. I have been getting up, going to work, coming home, going to bed, getting up, going to work, coming home and then going to bed… Tomorrow is my last shift for a whole WEEK! I am (instead of working) going to Crewe this coming week to work on the by-election, I will be going with 4 or 5 other chaps and I will be driving there and back because it is by far the cheaper way of doing it.

In other news; I had a job interview for a headhunting firm in Leeds but did not get it, the same day saw my taking part in my first ever Radio show - LSR’s Political Animal - I thoroughly enjoyed myself, although I was exceedingly nervous and I don’t think I spoke up often enough, better luck next time…

Blogging

There will be a distinct lack in blogging on this site for the next 48 hours. I have 12,000 to be in tomorrow at 4.00pm and I have as yet not finished them. After the hand-in, I plan to go out and have a very good time. I will not be fit to write again at least until Tuesday afternoon.

Apologies, but essays and Gin take precedence over blogging.

Lib Dems resort to anti-war rhetoric….. in Henley

The Liberal Democrats are calling for the Henley electorate to “HOLD THEM TO ACCOUNT”, they say that because Boris and DC voted for the war in Iraq people should vote Liberal Democrat. Are they really that desperate and that devoid of policy that they are using an issue which does not address the current issues within the economic climate? Is this the only thing the LibDems can level at us? I would have thought they would at least make something up before resorting to this.

If this is the sort of thing the Lib Dems are going to get into I think it is very sad, I have seen quite disgusting leaflets from them before, it’s what they are good at, but this is both disturbing and telling. If the Lib Dem’s won’t attack us on policy, we must assume that either, they agree with our policies, in that case why vote LD when you can vote for the Party which can actually form a Government after the next General Election, or else the LD’s don’t actually have any policies at all.

Both are as bad and both reflect the problem the Liberal Democrats have, they thrived when Blair went into Iraq and the Conservatives had not yet won peoples confidence. Now that we have a real opposition with massive leads in the country the LD’s will get squeezed, and they’ll get squeezed hard. Don’t be suriprised if Labour is not the only party to collapse at the next General Election, the LibDem’s time could be up.

I seem to have upset some Liverpool football fans

Scrolling through my stat’s counter page I noticed I was getting rather a lot of hit’s from YNWA.tv, a site I had never heard of before. According to Des who posted a forum response at 09:07 today, I am a bell-end and according to John am Rhein, “Anyone who uses the word ‘oik’ should be anihilated”… how nice!

Meanwhile Macca, asks of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, “so in summary - he’s a f***ing grade A c***?”.

Did they even read the article or understand the point of the ban on alcohol? I doubt it. Just in case they tune in again, here it is for them simply. Boris Johnson did not write the offensive article, Simon Heffer did. Also the point to banning alcohol on public transport is that it makes people feel safer so that certain people are no longer hanging around on platforms drinking tins of Superstrength lager. It is about perceptions. On the issue of policing the ban, the Mayor has pledged an increase of Policing on public transport and to get the Police out of the stations back onto the beat. This makes the plan both practical and will enable the Police to enforce it.

As for Bob Crow, why else would he single out Liverpool, is Liverpool football club in London’s borders? No. He could have picked Chelsea, Arsenal or any number of other London clubs, he plumped for Liverpool because of what Heffer said.

Oh, one final thing. The word oik is derogatory, but so is the term bell end and insinuating that anyone who uses particular words of the English language someone else finds objectionable should be shot is really far more offensive. If you don’t like the way I say something, comment on the post, tell me and others who read the site, don’t skulk off and start resorting to Stalinist suggestions of liquidating certain people because you don’t like the way they talk.

YouGov gives reason to smile (if you’re a Tory)

I go out to work for one evening and YouGov publish the results of their latest poll. It is as you will have already heard, 26%. I don’t think digits really do the number justice so, TWENTY-SIX PERCENT! Wow!

Wow, wow and wow again.

There will be certain people who sneer at this poll, certain people mainly from the left. But bear this in mind, it was YouGov who got the Mayoral polls spot on, not Mori, not Populas and not ComRes, YouGov.

The poll has the parties standing at:
Conservative - 49%
Labour - 23%
LibDems - 17%

How the British people have fallen out with NuLabour. How I love it.

I am going to go down to Crewe for to work on the by-election in the final week so we shall see if this converts into the first win for over 20 years for the Conservatives attacking a by-election, here’s hoping!

Update - The Beeb have decided not to report (at least on their Website) that their Government paymasters are getting walloped 26%. Both ITV and Sky are doing so. What does this say about “public service” broadcasting? (I would put the links in but I’m staying a friends house tonight and using his laptop which doesn’t appear to allow me to do anything much but upload an article)

Update #2 - having just got back home I have realised I didn’t state anywhere in the front of the article that the 26% is the Conservative lead over the Labour government, well done Gordon, keep on going and we’ll be into the 30’s soon!

Bob Crow gives a touch of crass to London

The following comment was made by one Bob Crow of the RMT in response to Mayor Johnson’s announcement that after 1st June, the consumption of alcohol on London public transport is to be banned.

“Perhaps the mayor will come out with his underpants on over his trousers like Superman one Saturday to show us how it should be done, and maybe tell a crowd of Liverpool supporters that they can’t drink on the train.”

I know I shouldn’t let this Lefty oik irritate me but he does. I don’t mind the rather pathetic joke about Superman, what I do mind it bringing up an incident that the Mayor of London has already apologised for (many time), even though it was not Mr Johnson’s hand that penned the offending article, it was (I am reliably told) Simon Heffer, Boris Johnson however took the heat as he was the Editor. So perhaps Crow could piss off and rile the RMT up about something else and let the Mayor get on with his job. I would make some sort of glib comment about perhaps Crow going to City Hall to show the Mayor how to do his job, but I fear the consequences of letting the man loose on London for even one hour.

Will Boris stay on as MP?

I commented earlier in the week that to stay on as MP could damage Boris Johnson’s standing as Mayor of London. However I have just been reminded that Red Ken maintained his Parliamentary seat following his election in 2000. The difference is however that Ken was MP for Brent East, a London constituency, Boris is MP for for Henley which is not. Would it be better for Boris to step down now, or could he wait until the next General Election? I think that as long as Boris is fulfilling both job roles he can do, without much fuss, both jobs. Keep in mind that David Cameron is also leader of the Party as well as MP for Whitney, just as William Hague is Shadow Foreign Secretary as well as MP for Richmond. It is entirely possible for an MP to have a second larger job, its just an issue of whether he can do both properly.

The Government’s response to EU Petition

I have just received the Government’s response to a petition I signed earlier this year, the petition was calling for Great Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU), rather unsurprising and disheartening, not that I expected anything other that that. I wonder whether they will accept the petition to Knight Joe Calzaghe, probably, that would go down well in Wales, they really can’t afford to lose any more votes there.

“We the undersigned petition the Prime to withdraw from the European Union.”

Details of Petition:

“It is of no benefit to the UK any longer. It is a gross waste of money and should not be funded by the taxpayer any longer. This unelected, bureaucratic bloc is simply infringing national sovereignty constantly and we must remove ourselves from the threat of Europe. We are slowly but surely losing our independence because of those two simple letters - EU.

Now I understand that others do not share my views on the EU, I have no issue with trading with Europe, I do however have issues with EU law and the EU economic and political goals. I do not believe it is in Britain’s interests to harness ourselves to an EU political structure or a European trading format for that matter. I believe that Britain has squandered and is continuing to squander the vast opportunities of trade with the common wealth nations. The Government’s response is below.

Membership of the European Union has brought significant benefits to the UK, in terms of wealth, jobs, peace and security. Through the EU, we belong to the world’s biggest trading bloc. Over half of British trade is with Europe. An estimated three and a half million British jobs are linked to exports to the EU, and our membership allows us to live, work and travel across Europe.

It has cost Britain more over the long term in terms not of money but also in legislative power, the suggestions of an expanded EU Space Agency and a centralizes Defence R&D programme also raise questions of Britain’s future ability to govern its own Defence policy, further eroding British Sovereignty. I have no issue of dealing with Europe or any of the nations there-in, I just don’t believe we should be run by Europe.

The EU has not increased our security situation either in terms of physical security or in terms of border security. Immigration is good for Britain, it always has been, this is not the issue, the issue is those who are not deported because of EU human rights and the ability of the European Courts to over rule the Government and the Courts.

On the issue of trade, the EU are not going to stop trading with Britain if we are not in the EU, it just won’t happen, therefore those three and half million jobs will be quite safe.

The greatest issue is however that British courts and the British Parliament would no longer be beholden to Brussels.

Concession time?

Last nights vote in Indiana was closer than I thought and the Clinton campaign looks as though it is starting to founder. Has Obama done what he failed to complete on Super Tuesday? Has he demolished the most formidable Democrat election machine since the Kennedy era? We shall see.

Update - Just spotted a comment on PoliticalBetting.com’s article on the betting market for the upcoming Crewe and Nantwich by-election. The comment links to this article on Former Sen. George McGovern appealing to Clinton to drop out of contention for the Party’s Presidential nomination. McGovern has historically been a Clinton ally, but he has jumped the fence to support Obama.

The by-election has been triggered following the death of long standing MP and Parliamentarian Gwyneth Dunwoody, her daughter, Tamsin Dunwoody, is the Labour party’s candidate and the Conservative’s have selected Edward Timpson.