Just so you know, the tories, in 2008 proclaimed to match labour spending. So the whole Conservative rubbish about labour spending too much is hypocrisy at its finest.
UK General Election 2015 | Conservatives win with an overall majority
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Just so you know, the tories, in 2008 proclaimed to match labour spending. So the whole Conservative rubbish about labour spending too much is hypocrisy at its finest.
I'm not completely with Labour but I thought Miliband came across well in the Brand interview. At a time when Cameron is ducking out of debates and keeping a remarkably low profile, Miliband is putting himself out there. Miliband's big weakness since he became party leader has been the perception of his lack of charisma or gravitas. Him and his campaign team have done remarkably well to make up some ground on Cameron in that respect, in part due to his willingness to be more accessible and visible than his opponents.
I'm not saying the Conservatives are any better. Both parties end up in a "who can spend the most" pissing contest not because it is the best for the country, but because it wins votes.
Notice that now the economy is one of the main focuses of an election, Labour are also committing to austerity.
Brand was a lot less direct than I'dve liked. I guess "change doesn't happen overnight", as Ed kept saying, is a difficult point to argue with. I'd give Ed about a 6 or a 6.5/10, he dodged the question about Murdoch with " yeah we'll look at it", and when Brand said it seems like its very difficult to gain leverage over powerful organisations no matter who is in power, he said "that's simply not true" and less than a minute later was saying how hard it was. Also seemed a bit impatient at times. Still I give him massive props for even doing it and he's infinitely more likeable than Davey C. He didn't resort to simply saying "well the Tories are bigger cnuts than us" all the time like I thought he would.
I'll still almost definitely vote Green, I have to admit that I did feel a pang in my stomach that tempted me to vote Labour when I read the ludicrous hatchet job DM did on the trailer and the smarmy Little Englanders in the comments.
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In what respect? Brand was like a broken record and barely tested him, Miliband just said what he liked for most of the time.
I love Ed. "You go'a do it! You go'a do it!"
" It ain't gonna 'appen!"Labour's campaigning up here has been terrible, but the problem is that they persistently refuse to recognise the problems. They seem to think that, "Vote SNP get Tory" is going to suddenly begin to become popular when it's just not working. Figures like Kezia Dugdale constantly use interviews to, instead of promoting Labour policies, slate the SNP. Jim Murphy has now resorted to standing in street corners in Glasgow, shouting at people who are already voting Labour to vote Labour.
The problem with Gordon Brown is that, while he's a big name, he's associated with New Labour. He's associated with Blair; with Iraq, more right-wing politics and things like that. He's a positive figure for Labour voters, but he's not the type who are going to convert people that don't like Labour, and want a more positive vision. Like Jim Murphy, whose spell as Scottish Labour leader has been a bit shite, he's associated with Blair. And people don't like Blair.
And while it arguably makes sense for Labour to not do a deal with the SNP, Labour and the Tories writing off the SNP as dangerous comes across as a bit patronising to Scottish voters. Last September, we were told that we had a vitally important role to play in the union if we stayed. Now we're being told that we only have an important role in the union if we vote for the parties that Labour and the Tories want us to. Yeah, I can see why they don't want to work with a nationalist party who support independence, but it still comes across as a bit hypocritical in a sense.
But the SNP won't win all 59. I'd be shocked if Carmichael loses his seat for example, while some of Jim Murphy, Douglas Alexander etc will manage to cling onto their seats, even if only just.
Holyrood will be different though. With AMS, the SNP will walk the constituency vote and probably obtain a majority, but the regional lists will have Labour and the Tories finishing somewhere between 15-35 seats each in all probability, with the Greens maybe getting about 10-15 if SNP voters go for the Greens in the lists, and maybe the same for the Scottish Socialists. Lib Dems will get a token few as well, but will struggle.
In the sense that he placated Brand and got him onside whilst also putting his points across and not making any promises he'd later regret. Brand comes from an anti-government leftist position and I feel like Miliband did a decent job of defending the democratic process and appealing to people who wouldn't otherwise have voted/might have voted for a smaller, more left wing party.
Like I say, I'm not 100% with him (I don't see enough difference between him and Tories for my personal liking) but I'd say there were far more positives than negatives for him in that interview.
Agree on the last point. The problem is that every issue in politics is being led by one or another agenda, driven by the media and a certain viewpoint. The immigration and economy debates are being driven by the right, healthcare, climate change and education by the left. The narrative of the economy is being driven by the right as the RW media always go one about how we need austerity (which we do not) and how we needed to put growth on the back burners, whilst dealing with the debt.
I don't think Miliband really wants to be so tough on immigration or hold back on spending but is being forced to by the media and public perceptions.
Wonder if either of Cameron or Miliband will go on The Last Leg?
You can see the difficulty they feel they're in when the talk of their "current budget surplus" comes up, widely regarded to mean they'll get day-to-day spending balanced but investment spending is out of the equation and more relaxed - which many see as good for the economy. They don't feel they can admit this, however, so always have to duck and evade the question of "will you have higher debt levels than the Tories plan to after 5 years?" due to the number the press did on them post 2008.
Has Ed done much campaigning in Scotland at all? Admittedly the Westminster connection has the potential to be negative, but it surely couldn't do any greater harm at this point. In the similar fashion to how Labour launched its new housing policy recently, doing likewise from Edinburgh or Glasgow would at least hint at some degree of interest.
I remember listening to Jim Murphy on Fivelive minutes after the helicopter crash at the Cluther pub, he was nearby apparently and went to help; though a politician he didn't sound like one of the aliens from V sci-fi series. IIRC Gordon Brown made a speech in Newcastle earlier this week, by the sounds of it he might carry more weight in England.
AH! Regional lists, an area in which i require some educating.
Perhaps you saw it at the time, however you might be interested in Hardeep Singh Kohli's appearance on This Week with Andrew Neil: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pvk9c
He's done a bit here and there, but since he's not massively popular, there's been a lot of focus on Murphy and co. Which is probably a poor choice, since Murphy's perceived to be slimy and untrustworthy, whereas Miliband's more viewed as incompetent but harmless.
With regional lists, in Scotland at least, we have 8 regions, each of which have 7 MSP's. I'm not completely sure of how the whole thing works, although it does manage to add some level of proportionality.
Watching the link now - Hardeep Singh makes some decent points: Scotland can't be told how much we're loved one moment and how important we are, only as long as we vote for the parties that we're supposed to vote for.
Can't see the Tories being happy the Lib Dems have leaked this...
http://www.theguardian.com/politics...xander-tory-plans-welfare-cuts-child-benefits
http://www.theguardian.com/politics...xander-tory-plans-welfare-cuts-child-benefits
Will this be hurtful, or will no one be surprised by this anyway?
Now that would be proper good telly.
Well most working people will have heard that the Tories plan £12bn of welfare cuts but they will have wrongly assumed this will mostly fall on the unemployed (because people hugely overestimate the money that is spent on out of work benefits). Making it explicit that child benefit will be slashed for everyone, working and unemployed, makes it a lot more real.
Jesus, tomorrow's S*n front page...
The Sun says vote Tory because they'll stop the SNP
The Scottish Sun says vote SNP
If there's anything that could convince me to vote Labour, it's the Conservative press in this campaign. Utterly pathetic, as per usual.
why the feck..i mean....what?
I think Murdoch just really hates Miliband.
Yeah, he despises him. Article from The Independent a week ago:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/m...ng-enough-to-attack-ed-miliband-10191005.html
Hopefully that ludicrous front page will remind voters of the leaked Conservative plans regarding Child Benefits. Trust The Sun to have no flair for irony, or indeed, anything requiring wit.
What a vile man he is. To think that he's probably the most powerful media man in the country. Hasn't no party backed by him lost an election since the 1970's? Shows you the extent of his influence unfortunately.
I actually bought a Sun today, it was just ridiculous rubbish from front page to back - amazingly gone further downhill since it went behind the paywall (possibly because no-one gives it any attention these days)
whats the plans for child benefits then? scrapping them no doubt
See Mike's post above, mate.
I bought The Telegraph today because it came free with a bottle of water at the station. It wasn't much better.
I just wanted to see what they were up to. Back in the day despicable as their editorial policy and politics were, the paper was well put together now it's just a mess.
Cheaper than buying the water on its own at Smiths. Buy the water, bin the paper. Bargain.
Should a 19-yr-old really be eligible for child benefit? And are not Labour supportive of means testing when it suits them?
For my part £8bn in cuts sounds excessive and unrealistic, but there does still seem to be scope for a little additional tweaking.
I'm sadly a Sun+ subscriber. Just for Striker though... (not Page 3
)I used to get that from WH Smith with the water from time to time, I even think I read it once. They started doing Buxton with it and I don't like the taste so stopped.
The written press is just awful. They do all sort of promos just so people buy it and they can sell their ads.