Gillian Duffy - the aftermath

That's Guido Fawkes' video take on the media story of the day. Incidentally the Elvis impersonator seems to be doing a very poor impression of Elvis Presley, which I suppose is fair as Gordon Brown has been doing a very poor impression of a Prime Minister since his election appointment.

The Appalling Strangeness I think sums up the real issue here with this:

'Ok, we've all been there. We've had a difficult conversation with someone, and then we've said something about them and been overheard when we thought we were out of earshot. And that's what basically happened to Brown today. He was caught out.

...

He's allowed to disagree with the woman, and he's allowed to think that she is bigoted. But offering a few platitudes before he runs back to his car and disappears is frankly pathetic. If he disagreed with her, he should have challenged her. He should have explained why he thought she was wrong, and debated with her. He is a leader in a democracy fighting an election, for fuck's sake. Now more than ever, he should be willing to engage with the people explain his own views, and discuss why he doesn't agree with others.

Don't forget that this is Gordon Brown - the self-styled conviction politician. Some fucking conviction politician, Gordo, if you are afraid to engage with an old woman who used to be a member of your party when she expresses her own opinions, and asks you questions.

As such, it is difficult to know how this could be much worse for Brown. Arguably, things would have been better had he insulted this woman to her face, or argued with her and lost. At least that way, he might have retained something approaching dignity from this sorry situation. But as it stands, Brown could not appear more pathetic - the bullying little man who runs away from old ladies, only to insult them behind their backs when he thinks they, and the rest of the nation, aren't listening.'

Gordon Brown nailed in a few paragraphs. Hopefully the general public will now realise what many of known for some time; Gordon Brown is a nasty piece of work, a bully and a fraud. Gordon Brown has been allowed to despoil the UK for too long, he must be kicked out of office and held to account for the damage he has wrought to the UK.


LibDem Mark Thompson makes a similar point:

'The most surprising thing about the encounter as far as I can tell is the change in tone from 10 seconds earlier when he was very smiley and jolly... and then as soon as he thinks he is out of mic range his demeanour completely changes. The encounter itself seemed pretty good natured and although the woman concerned, Gillian Duffy did press the PM on immigration and debt he had actually managed to turn the situation around and ended up asking about her grandchildren. Also, she is (was) a Labour voter and said so which appeared to please him.

...

The rapid switch in tone so starkly reveals the disparity between how he tries to portray himself in public and his actual persona. This underlines all those stories about thrown Nokias and him supposedly shouting and bullying people. It will make people more likely to believe them as we have seen a little window into his private world.

It also seems totally out of proportion. It's not like he had just come away from someone questioning him very harshly or belligerently. It was just an elderly lady who was perfectly polite. His response seems inexplicable frankly.'

Sounds about right

'Cocky, fake, slimy, inelegant, ineloquent, charmless, witless, weird, sinister, glacially cold and luminescently remote, he may be the most chillingly repulsive politician of even this golden generation. If Pixar set out to create a CGI character to embody everything the public has learned to despise about its political class, they'd be thrilled to come up with this lizardy schemer, who may have slipped through a tear in the fabric of space-time himself. Certainly he seems best suited to skulking beneath stone archways, in a purple robe, sibilantly sidling poison into the bloodstream of the medieval Vatican.

For a decade and more, this greyest of eminences has stirred, fixed, briefed and bullied, first to remove Mr Tony Blair; and latterly in the cause – keeping his master in power – that has pushed his party to the edge of the abyss. If he has a political philosophy, it is the domineering, top-down, we-know-best, infantilising statism of Gordon himself, but it's not really about that. For Mr Balls, it is football thug tribalism – a with-us-or-against-us Manichean sensibility next to which Mrs Thatcher seems a proto-Cleggian champion of consensus. '

Matthew Norman in The Independent; I don't think he's one of Ed Balls's biggest fans! Mind you the post-election scenario that Matthew Norman paints will not happen if the repulsive Ed Balls is defeated by Anthony Calvert in his 'castration' strategy. Now that would be worth staying up late for next Thursday night...

What happens in the bank

Armstrong & Miller

Baering in mind my recent experiences with banks, I really empathise!

Spreading fear as they go

Possibly the most vile Party Election Broadcast I have seen, but there's still over a week to go and I am sure Peter Mandelson and his team have some more fear and lies to spread.

Have the BBC played a very good 'long game'?

When the BBC started to boost David Cameron's chances of winning the Conservative party leadership at the expense of David Davis, I was surprised after all the former was an old-Etonian whilst the latter was a former council house lad. Yet the BBC seemed to smile upon the image of the smartly dressed, fresh faced, Notting Hill PR man and many commentators seemed to think this was because David Cameron was the BBC's sort of man, the acceptable face of liberal Conservatism; whilst David Davis was too right wing, too hard, too abrasive for the BBC's liking.

Some years on and is it beyond the realm of possibility that the BBC approved the candidacy of David Cameron precisely because his attributes would be easier for them and the Labour party to attack at a general election? Did the BBC help to foist an old-Etonian leader on the Conservative party, just so Labour could play the 'posh old-Etonian leader' card? Did the BBC approve David Cameron's candidacy just so the BBC/Labour alliance could more starkly compare their 'horny handed son of the soil' man (actually a middle class, socialist class warrior) with the 'priviledged background' of the Conservative leader?

A fanciful theory? Are you sure?

Now do you see why Labour are keeping Gordon Brown away from normal members of the public?

"That was a disaster.

"You should never have put me with that woman.

"Whose idea was that?"

Mr Brown went on: "It's just ridiculous."

His aide then asked: "What did she say?"

Mr Brown replied: "Oh, everything, she's just a sort of bigoted woman who said she used to vote Labour."



The Labour strategy for Gordon Brown's campaigning has been to keep him away from the public and only let him meet Labour supporters at carefully managed events. This could explain why.

So don't believe Gordon Brown's smiles and nice words to your face, behind your back he's attacking you.

Even the BBC have to report that:

'Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been caught on microphone describing a voter he had just spoken to in Rochdale as a "bigoted woman".

Sixty five-year-old Gillian Duffy had challenged Mr Brown on a number of issues including immigration and crime.

As he got into his car, he was still wearing a broadcast microphone and was heard to say "that was a disaster".

Mr Brown later apologised after the tape was played to him as he was interviewed on BBC Radio 2.

After listening to the recording, with his head in his hands, he said: "I do apologise if I've said anything that has been hurtful."

The comments were made after the conversation with Mrs Duffy, with Mr Brown not realising that he had a Sky News microphone pinned to his shirt.

He told an aide: "That was a disaster - they should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that? It's just ridiculous..."

Asked what she had said, he is heard to reply: "Ugh everything! She's just a sort of bigoted woman that said she used to be Labour. I mean it's just ridiculous. I don't know why Sue brought her up towards me."

How long before the Labour attack-dogs are unleashed to attack Gillian Duffy as they have attacked so many who have crossed them previously?


Meanwhile The Guardian are reporting Gillian Duffy's reaction to Gordon Brown's insult:

'1.02pm: Here, from the Press Association, is some more reaction from Gillian Duffy.

Duffy said she was "very disappointed" with Mr Brown's remarks.

After hearing what the prime minister had said about her, she said it was "very upsetting".
"He's an educated person, why has he come out with words like that?" she said.

"He's supposed to lead this country and he's calling an ordinary woman who's just come up and asked questions what most people would ask him – he's not doing anything about the national debt and it's going to be tax, tax, tax for another 20 years to get out of this mess – and he's calling me a bigot."

She said she would not now be voting in the general election.

Pressed on whether she still wanted Mr Brown in No 10, she said: "I'm not bothered whether he does or not now. I don't think he will."

She urged the PM to go out among the public and "find out what's going on in our lives".
She said she had not planned to speak to Mr Brown, but saw him "walking up the street" and thought she would ask him what he would do about the national debt.

"I thought he was understanding – but he wasn't, was he, the way he's come out with the comments ..."

Duffy, who has a daughter and two grandchildren, told reporters she used to work with handicapped children for Rochdale council before she retired.

Her husband, who was a painter and decorator, died of cancer four years ago.'

That's not the whole story is it?

The BBC report that 'European stock and debt markets continue to be hit by worries over Greece's heavily indebted economy, as the euro also falls.' Trouble in Euro-land, thank heavens we are not members of it, would seem to be the subtext. Let's leave aside that the BBC's current blue eyed party would have taken the UK into the Euro years ago and that the BBC in-house policy has always been pro the Euro for the UK, what is actually going on in the markets? The BBC line would seem to be that the Euro is falling, let's have a look... At 1pm, the BBC show Sterling down 0.66% against the Euro so which currency is suffering more, the Euro or Sterling?

Adam Boulton endears himself to Peter Mandelson, not!

Peter Mandelson does not like answering questions does he. I did like the heckle when Peter Mandelson says "Adam you're not standing for election either..." and a voice says "neither are you!". Note the way Peter Mandelson stares at the audience and Adam Boulton daring him to argue with 'the Prince of Evil' and seems very fond of democracy for a man who has had to retire from politics in disgrace twice and is now an unelected very senior minister. Do watch the way Peter Mandelson closes down Nick Robinson and controls Ed and Yvette. Ed Balls's junior Mandelson.Campbell impression is as irritating as ever and his staring eyes are quite frankly scary. Meanwhile Yvette Cooper just looks as though she will cry if anyone questions her too hard.

It seems that even the tame media, such as Nick Robinson, are now ready to turn on Peter Mandelson and his acolytes who have controlled the reporting of the Labour party's policies since 1995. Peter Mandelson's "Let's be clear" is as key a sign of coming dishonesty as Gordon Brown's "to be honest".


From the same conference came Andrew Neil's questioning of Ed Balls. Andrew Neil being one (if not the only) senior BBC journalist to have rumbled New Labour for what it is and to have been willing to question them hard over tha last 10 years or so.
Apologies for the Peter Mandelson 'choices' reprise at the beginning. More Ed Balls scary staring eyes and Peter Mandelson cutting off debate as well as Ed Balls being better able to answer a question on Peppa Pig than cuts.

It's a war...

Once again the liberal left MSM seem surprised that:

'Video has emerged which appears to show the alleged Christmas Day Detroit plane bomber attending a desert training camp run by al-Qaeda in Yemen.

The video released by ABC News shows a man resembling Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab firing a rifle and making a "martyrdom" statement to camera.

Gunmen are shown firing at British, UN and Israeli flags or symbols.

Mr Abdulmutallab has been in US custody since being overpowered by passengers as he allegedly tried to blow up a jet. '

No doubt an innocent explanation will be presented by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's lawyers and the BBC and others will accept that at face value.

So would you like to go round the back of the hangar for tops and fingers?

Armstrong & Miller

The eightieth weekly "No shit, Sherlock" award

This week's winner has to be the police for their report into the killing of Blair Peach in Southall in 1979. Apparently:

'A police officer is likely to have "struck the fatal blow" which killed a protester in west London 31 years ago, a Scotland Yard report reveals.'

Blair Peach killed by the police, "No shit, Sherlock".

Now I really am depressed

The BBC report that:

'People who regularly eat chocolate are more depressive, experts have found.

Research in Archives of Internal Medicine shows those who eat at least a bar every week are more glum than those who only eat chocolate now and again.

Many believe chocolate has the power to lift mood, and the US team say this may be true, although scientific proof for this is lacking.

But they say they cannot rule out that chocolate may be a cause rather than the cure for being depressed.

In the study, which included nearly 1,000 adults, the more chocolate the men and women consumed the lower their mood.

Those who ate the most - more than six regular 28g size bars a month - scored the highest on depression, using a recognised scale.'

My theory is that chocolate does lift the mood but eating chocolate makes you fat and so depressed. At a certain point the depression caused by being fat exceeds the mood lift from eating chocolate, in my case this happens half way into the second bar!

The 'left' and dodgy donations

In the UK the LibDems still refuse to accept that the £2.4 million donation they received from Michael Brown, an international bonds dealer who was found guilty of stealing more than £30m from clients, is tainted money and should be returned. Meanwhile in the US the Barack Obama White House has stated that President Obama will not be returning the over $994,000 he received from Goldman Sachs, even as his Administration brings action against the Wall Street firm for fraud.

That's the great thing about being on the left of politics, no shame.

People complained?

The News and Star report that:

'A mystery poster put up in Carlisle which showed Labour’s business secretary Peter Mandelson being hanged has been branded “offensive and cowardly”.

The owner of the 20ft wide hoarding in Warwick Road removed the poster after Labour Party officials complained, pointing out that the advert probably breached election law because it did not say who commissioned it.

The poster bore the simple slogan: “We don’t want a hung parliament.”

Cumbria police have confirmed that they intervened after receiving an official complaint.

The Carlisle businessman who owns the billboard refused to say who asked for the poster to be put up.'

Despicable, tasteless and vile; but enough of Peter Mandelson, what about the poster?

Poll Tracker - Is it my imaginations?

Is it my imagination or has the BBC's Poll Tracker moved back from showing the default poll as trhe 'Poll of Polls' to the 'latest poll' and is this anything to do with most recent polls, but not the most recent ICM poll, showing Labour firmly in third place; the ICM poll shows Labour 'only' two points behind the Lib Dems.

3 million jobs lost if the UK leaves the EU - True or false?

As this is a claim recently made by Gordon 'brownies' Broen nad previously by Tony 'bliar' Blair you will not be surprised to learn that it's not true... The Times has the explanation.

The BBC take some extreme parties more seriously than others

I see that the BBC are reporting quite seriously that:

'Respect have set out their conditions for supporting a Labour government in a hung Parliament.

As they launched their manifesto the party said they would not back a Tory government "under any circumstances".

But they would support Labour if troops were withdrawn from Afghanistan, more council houses were built, there was electoral reform and an end to cuts.

The anti-war party is hoping to gain up to three MPs on 6 May, which could leave it holding the balance of power.'

I wonder if the BBC would report the BNP's demands as equably? Somehow I think not.

Now that's a test drive

Armstrong & Miller...

Oh Sally Sparrow

I had the pleasure of watching the film 'An Education' recently and was most impressed by the performance of Carey Mulligan who I had last seen as Sally Sparrow in that excellent Dr Who episode 'Blink'. The only problem with the film was that we unlike, her co-star David (Peter Sarsgaard), do not get to see her topless; a real shame.

So here's a still from the 'banana scene'


But then I find that Carey Mulligan has done a nude scene in 'When did you last see your father' and here's a still...

Looking on IMDB I find that Carey Mulligan is a busy bee at the moment, she's got four films coming out soon including 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', 'My Fair Lady' in the Audrey Hepburn/Eliza Doolittle role, 'Never Let Me Go' and the Wall Street sequel 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'

Be honest how many condoms would you need to wear before you had sex with this individual?

Scary?

More such tattoos at 13 creepiest tattoos

Vote Caribou Barbie

Ray Stevens - Caribou Barbie

The Any Questions audience explained?

My ire over the appallingly biased Any Questions audience on Friday may have an explanation, Biased-BBC explain that 'the distribution of audience tickets is down to the hosts' and that the chair of governors at the host school is
Ms Fiona Millar, she being the Labour attack-spinner Alastair Campbells's 'partner'. I think all is becoming clear... Not helping my anger levels though!

BBC Poll Watch update expected any time soon?

The latest opinion poll on the BBC's Poll Tracker is still You Gov's poll showing Conservatives 34%, Labour 29% and Lib Dems 28%. I wonder when the BBC will update Poll Tracker to take account of the ComRes poll showing Conservatives on 34%, Lib Dems on 29% and Labour in third on 28%, or the latest You Gov pollshowing Consevatives 35%, LibDems 28% and Labour third on 27% or the latest BPIX poll showing Conservatives on 34%, Lib Dems on 30% and Labour third on 26%. My money is those polls all appearing before this one which will then be the latest poll - MORI showing Conservatives on 36%, Labour on 30% and the Lib Dems on 23%. I wonder how this will be reflected in the 'Poll of Polls'? I am sure that these polls will not affect the BBC/Labour narrative that David Cameron has suffered because of the leaders' debates and that the Lib Dems are gaining at the expense of the Conservatives; after all there is an election to be won...

Dr Who - The Time of Angels

How does Professor River Song know how to write 'old High Gallifreyan' and fly the TARDIS?

In my view River Song is back too soon but Amy Pond is beginning to become quite a good 'companion'; feisty, independent, wilfull, inquisitive and flirtatious.

Best lines in the program:
The Doctor - "Bishop - lock and load."
Father Octavian - "Verger - how are we doing with those explosives?"


From then on a good adventure romp with The Doctor trying to work out a very difficult puzzle and Amy Pond learning that the universe is far scarier than she ever imagined as she starts to turn to stone.

Bit of a cliffhanger though, although an odd one as it revolves not around peril but what The Doctor is about to do.

Is this for real? 'BIG TITS ZOMBIE in 3D!!!'

Is this a trailer for a real film or a spoof?

Twitch Film reports it straight:

'Strippers versus zombies! Strippers versus sushi! AV star Sola Aoi (Sora Aoi, 蒼井そら) wielding a chainsaw! It's everything a growing boy needs and it's all coming at you in 3D!

It's Takao Nakano's gleefully trashy Big Tits Zombie - the film adaptation of Rei Mikamoto's cult manga Kyonyo Dragon - and Twitch is proud to present the exclusive world premiere of the brand new trailer! Get out your rain slickers and make sure mom's not looking over your shoulder because it's about to get bloody!'

What's the point?

Woken up early full of anger and despair after last night's Any Questions. I think I need a day or so away from political blogging so as to recharge my blogging batteries. So for today at least just one item I have pre-prepared and none about politics.

"Any Questions?" Yes, where did you find that audience tonight and do you think they were an ideally balanced audience for an election campaign prog?

Take a listen to tonight's baying, booing and hissing mob and see what you think...

German WWII helicopters

Sean Linnane has more details and some background.

Even more bad economic news

News that the UK economy grew by 0.2% between January and March explains why Gordon Brown was not as bullish about the UK economy as he has been in the past - he of course had the figures before the debate, we mere mortals had to wait until today. 0.2% is less that the widely anticipated 0.4% growth and of course is open to revision.

As usual the BBC are accentuating the positive including the classic line 'That was weaker than the 0.4% growth predicted by many economists, but the figure may be revised.' Somehow I think they are trying to convince us that things may get better, if we just wait. BBC

BBC 5Live unbiased?

BBC 5Live is possibly even more anti-Conservative that Radio 4 and I have itemised some of the foibles of its presenters in the past. So I was not surprised to read on Biased BBC that Brett Spencer (5Live's interactive editor) has been Tweeting some rather uncomplimentary things about David Cameron. Not surprised, but still angry. Don't the Conservatives realise that it is people in such positions at the BBC who have been actively skewing politics reporting for years and the drip, drip, drip of such bias effects most listeners and viewers. The BBC's anti-Conservative views are probably worth 5% at the polls, shouldn't the Conservative party be angry? Why aren't they?

Excusing the bad UK borrowing figures

The BBC's report that the UK's borrowing hit a record £163.4bn in the last financial year has more excuses and 'explanations' than they have managed before. I have long documented the BBC's habit of excusing and explaining bad economic figures under this Labour government (of all the imbeciles) in a way that is completely at odds with the way that bad economic data under the last Conservative government was reported. But this report takes the biscuit, by my calculations of the 16 paragraphs (mostly very short) in the article - 8 are straight news, 3 are critical and 5 are excuses or defensive. I wonder what the respective proportions would be if this was a Conservative government or indeed were in an equivalent article from the early 1980s.

Burglary or Labour dirty tricks?

The news that Dr Liam Fox, the Conservative defence spokesman, has had his laptop stolen on the morning he had been due to outline the Conservative's armed forces manifesto seems a touch coincidental. I wonder what else was on the laptop and how useful it would be to the Labour election campaign...

Yet more bad economic news

I see that the UK borrowing figures for the last financial year are out and are £163.4bn, a massive increase over any other peacetime year. The BBC are spinning furiously that 'The borrowing figure for the 2009-10 financial year is lower than the £166.5bn predicted by Chancellor Alistair Darling in April's Budget.' but even they must see the appalling position that the UK economy is in.

Still to come this week on Friday (but Thursday for Gordon Brown so he has the figures before the second leaders' debate) the first official estimate of first quarter gross domestic product (GDP).

"We need to be put back in our place”

"Watching Germany rise from its knees after the war and become a vastly more prosperous nation has not been easy on the febrile British psyche. All nations have a cross to bear, and none more so than Germany with its memories of Nazism. But the British cross is more insidious still. A misplaced sense of superiority, sustained by delusions of grandeur and a tenacious obsession with the last war, is much harder to shake off. We need to be put back in our place."

Nick Clegg - Lib Dem leader and 'patriot'?

The ultimate Downfall parody

Hitler finds out about another Downfall parody - watch more funny videos

It seems that the Downfall parodies are being removed from YouTube at the request of the movie studio, the above is a fine commentary...



Thanks to Harry's Place for the spot.

Floating voters

I really don't understand how anyone can be so disengaged from everyday life as to be a floating voter. A non-voter, a plague on all your houses dispenser, a politics is boring believer yes; but a floating voter? What do these floating voters expect to happen over the next few weeks? What revelation do they think they will be privy to?

Just make your bloody minds up...

Surely this must be the first piece of video of Ann Widecombe and Peter Tatchell singing the same words. Top marks to Nigel Farage, nicely judged performance.

Proportional Representation would be a disaster

A Very British Dude explains why...

'Saint' Vince Cable?

Andrew Neil and Stephanie Flanders point out that Vince Cable is not the paragon of consistency that he claims and the line that the BBC normally push.



Thanks to Guido for the video.

Nick Cleg gand his expenses - not whiter than white

The difference between a gentleman and a thug

John Prescott



David Cameron


Two senior politicians have an egg thrown at them; John Prescott throws a punch whilst David Cameron makes light of it and comes up with quite a witty line (bearing in mind the person in the chicken costume that was following him about yesterday).

Even more bad economic news

The Telegraph reports that:

'The International Monetary Fund has cut its 2011 UK growth forecast, delivering a pre-election blow to the Government.

The Washington-based fund said it expected the UK economy to grow by 2.5pc next year, compared with an earlier forecast of 2.7pc. It maintained its 2010 prediction at 1.3pc growth in its latest World Economic Outlook report.

The IMF’s view of the British economy in 2011 is significantly more downbeat compared with the Government’s, after the Chancellor predicted a 3.25pc increase in gross domestic product in the Budget in March.

The gulf between the forecasts will add fuel to the political debate just two weeks before the general election on May 6. '

And also that:

'Spiralling sovereign debt in Europe, the US, and Japan has emerged as the top threat to the world economy and risks setting off a fresh financial storm, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

...

Countries with "outsized deficits and an unsustainable debt trajectory" that rely on foreigners to buy their bonds can run out of time quickly. The danger comes at "trigger dates" when clusters of debt maturites fall due, a problem that has hit Greece this year.

The Fund said there was a risk of "standoffs" as investors hold out for higher rates from defiant states. This could lead to "an unresolved solvency crisis", a veiled warning that some rich states may ultimately default.'

No wonder that The Telegraph also reports that:

'George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, and Ken Clarke, the shadow business secretary, predicted that the bond markets would collapse while the parties “haggled” over possible coalitions, leading to the intervention of the IMF.

Mr Clarke warned that the public had failed to appreciate the seriousness of the election given the troubled state of the economy, and the full consequences of an indecisive result and a hung parliament.

He said: "Not every single member of the electorate seems to realise how serious this election is.

"Bond markets won't wait. Sterling will wobble. We have seen even minor flickers in the opinion polls causing problems with interest rates in the recent past.

"If the British don't decide to put in a government with a working majority, and the markets think that we can't tackle our debt and deficit problems, then the IMF will have to do it for us."

Having been elected as an MP for the first time in 1970, Mr Clarke said that he could remember the “disaster” of the Lib-Lab pact of 1977, and how the government had been forced to turn to the IMF to sort out the nation’s finances for the only time in British history.

“It was a farce, it was a fiasco, it didn't save us from disaster,” he said.

"And I would be very, very alarmed if any prospect of that occurred on this occasion.

"This [the state of the economy] is worse than the Conservatives took over in 1970, worse than Labour took over in 1974, worse than we took over in 1979, and it really is going to require strong, purposeful government confident of its majority to put things into place."

Mr Osborne added: "It is a statement of fact that the last time - indeed the only time - the IMF came in was when the governing party did not have a workable majority in Parliament, which was in the late 1970s.

"And I don't think people should underestimate the economic consequences of political instability in this country at a time when we are running one of the largest budget deficits in the developed world, when people have questioned our credit rating, and when we can see that there is a very, very serious problem with unemployment and business confidence.

"So that is a very, very serious challenge, and political instability, a hung parliament - people need to be aware of the consequences of that." '

Makes perfect sense to me and also explains why Gold is looking increasingly like a safe haven.

More bad economic news

Gordon Brown's week just gets worse, his Labour party are now third in the opinion polls although thanks to the bias inherent in the electoral system Labour could still be the largest party in the new House of Commons, inflation is up more than expected and now unemployment is back above 2.5 million the highest since 1994.

Still to come this week are the latest statistics on retail sales and borrowing figures for the last full financial year and then on Friday (but Thursday for Gordon Brown so he has the figures before the second leaders' debate) the first official estimate of first quarter gross domestic product (GDP).

CAA Quango admits that 'Grounding may not have been necessary'

Channel 4 news report that:

'The Civil Aviation Authority has told Channel 4 News the grounding of aircraft caused by the ash cloud may not have been necessary if rigorous engine testing had been done previously.

...

he CAA's Richard Taylor told Channel 4 News: "We didn't know then (last Thursday) what we do know now. The kind of testing that has been done over the past four or five days has never been done before.

"The data was never analysed to the extent that we know what we know now.

"So if you ask me if aircraft would have been grounded last week, probably not."

Mr Taylor said that flights had been resumed over the UK because "engine manufacturers are now happy with the current concentrations (…) It wasn't until late yesterday afternoon that the engine manufactuers told us they were content with the testing data."

A similar explanation emerged from the National Air Traffic Service (Nats), the body with responsibility for implementing the shutdown.

A Nats source told Channel 4 News: "The science has been complex to try and find a way to do the analysis between the engine manufacturers and airframe makers."

They explained that last night they had "looked at the coordinates on where the cloud was, using the new densities."

The source continued:"This has been an unprecedented situation, with a lot of pressure on a lot of people."

Today's comments by the CAA and by Nats confirm the view of Bill Voss, chief executive of the independent Flight Safety Foundation, who said yesterday: "It is an incredibly serious oversight that research has never been carried out into what levels of volcanic ash pose a risk to planes."

In the last few days around 40 European airlines carried out test flights, including British Airways on Sunday. Their results suggested that the risks to aviation are not as high as computer models predict.

A test by German operator Lufthansa "did not find the slightest scratch on the cockpit windscreens, on the outer skin, nor in the engines," according to company spokesman Klaus Walther.'

So thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people inconvenienced, some seriously, and there might have been no need.

It seems that the 'ash cloud' scare was about as well based as avian flu, swine flu, AIDS and climate change - all were/are massively over-hyped and the reality is at variance with the computer modelled predictions. When will people remember - GIGO = Garbage In Garbage Out?

What happened to the ash cloud?

One day we are told that there is an ash cloud over the UK, that the rule is if there is any ash then there is no flying and that it won't move away for a few days at least. The next day we are told that safety tests showed plane engines could cope in areas of low density ash. Was the five day flight ban an overreaction or is the lifting of the ban premature; or both?

The BBC have done one of their famous u-turns where whatever the Labour government do is correct. Yesterday they were insinuating that Boris Johnson didn't understand the science and was asking reckless questions and that public safety was the priority, this morning they are reporting that Lord Adonis has denied that the decision to lift UK flight restrictions was the result of pressure from the airline industry.

This is a government who cannot see a problem without making a knee-jerk decision and they have been caught out again. I wouldn't trust Gordon Brown or any of his team to tell me the time let alone run a government department.

Who would have thought that Quantitative Easing would lead to inflation?

I predicted that Gordon Brown's panic policy of quantitative easing would lead to inflation and I was right. Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, assisted by the pro-Labour BBC, pushed the idea that deflation was the real worry; I think we all know that was complete crap. Here are the inflation rates of our current economic peers - USA 1.1%, Germany 1.2%, France 1.7%, Italy 1.4%, Spain 1.5% and here's the rate of a country that will soon be our peer if Gordon Brown's reign of incompetence is not ended on 6 May - Zimbabwe around 200,000,000%

Gordon Brown calculated that by creating fake prosperity based on property prices and other debt he could ensure his hold on power. The system crashed before he could hold an election and so he used quantatative easing to artificially boost the economy by pushing a fear of deflation. What excuse will he use for the next bout of bank note printing?

If George Osborne, David Cameron and Ken Clarke cannot tear Gordon Brown apart over this then they do not deserve to win the election.

Gordon Brown - the great clunking fist and master of his brief is comprehensively demolished by '24-year-old single mum Siobhan Randles'

This BBC Newsbeat piece on immigration is well worth a watch as '24-year-old single mum Siobhan Randles' demolishes Gordon Brown's pathetic excuses and arguments. In fact Siobhan Randles does a much better job that Labour supporting james Naughtie, but also a better job than John Humphrys or Jeremy Paxman.

Sufficient punishment?

The Mail report something that, if true, is a bloody disgrace:

'Two thugs who left a father-of-two permanently brain damaged after subjecting him to a 'brutal and unprovoked' attack because they wrongly branded him a paedophile have been jailed.

The sickening assault on Filipe Nunes David by the youths, who had been drinking and taking drugs, saw him beaten around the head with a wooden plank and left covered in blood on the pavement.

Mr David needed life-saving emergency surgery which resulted in him having part of his brain removed. He now needs help washing, dressing and eating and no longer recognises members of his family.

Kingston Crown Court heard how Brett Carslake, aged 20, was joined by 17-year-olds Jamie Bailey and Frank Miller as they ambushed their innocent victim.

Eyewitnesses told how the young men surrounded Mr David 40, a Portuguese national, and were heard to shout: 'Come on - let's get him.'

After beating him with a plank of wood they were then heard to scream: 'We've done it. We've beaten the paedophile!'

The Daily Mail today learned from a senior Surrey police source that the deluded youngsters had convinced themselves Mr David had a paedophile past which was simply not true.

'This was a completely innocent man who was targeted by these men. He did not have a single stain on his character but these three thought he had,' explained a police source.

Carslake, from Epsom, Surrey, was given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum of five years after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm. He was also told he will remain on licence for life.

Bailey, from Ewell, Surrey, was given a five-year term for beating Mr David with a plank of wood but could be eligible for parole in two and a half years.

Miller, from Epsom, Surrey, did not hit the victim but forced him from his bike and must complete a two-year supervision programme after pleading guilty to grievous bodily harm.'

Five years for beating a man insensible with a plank of wood, five years for ruining a man's life, five bloody years! Oh sorry, he could be eligible for parole in 2½ year; bloody marvellous - who thinks that is an adequate sentence?

Two years supervision for forcing the man from his bike and watching the others attack. No custodial sentence at all?

Labour Britain, the broken society.

Another way of tracking motorists

Another way of raising transgression taxes has been uncovered by The Telegraph:

'A new type of speed cameras which can use satellites to measure average speed over long distances are being tested in Britain.

The cameras, which combine number plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver, are similar to those used in roadworks.

The AA said it believed the new system could cover a network of streets as opposed to a straight line, and was “probably geared up to zones in residential areas.”

The Home Office is testing the cameras at two sites, one in Southwark, London, and the other A374 between Antony and Torpoint in Cornwall.

The `SpeedSpike’ system, which calculates average speed between any two points in the network, has been developed by PIPS Technology Ltd, an American-owned company with a base in Hampshire.

Details of the trials are contained in a House of Commons report. The company said in its evidence that the cameras enabled "number plate capture in all weather conditions, 24 hours a day". It also referred to the system's "low cost" and ease of installation.

The system could be used for "main road enforcement for congestion reduction and speed enforcement", and could help to "eliminate rat-runs" and cut speeds outside schools, it added.'

Big Brother is always watching you...

No flights flying into or out of London airports? Really?

BAW102 from Calgary was heading to Heathrow although has now turned back on itself and is circling over the North West at 35,000 feet.

BAW274 from Las Vegas to Heathrow is currently over the West of Ireland at 35,000 feet describing a circular pattern.

BAW84 from Vancouver to Heathrow is currently over the Isle of Man at 34,000 feet and heading for the South East.

BAW17V from Denver to Heathrow is also near the Isle of Man at 37,000 feet.

An unknown(!) BA 747 is also just nearing the Cornish coast, presumably heading for Heathrow or Gatwick...

EZY30M appears to be shuttling between Luton and Liverpool.

A private Cessna 550 from Monte Carlo is currently over Nottingham.


In fact at present I can see 12 flights over the UK and Ireland

You can monitor them, along with me at Watch Air Traffic - LIVE!".


The identifiers are the plane callsigns not the flight numbers, although those are also shown on the linked website.


What is going on?

Excusing the bad inflation figures

Once again the BBC report bad economic news with excuses, something I do not remember them doing when a conservative government was in power, but then there is an election to be saved for Labour.

The reality is a 3.4 per cent rise in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and the Retail Prices Index (RPI) - which includes the cost of mortgages and housing - reaching 4.4 per cent, which is the highest for that measure since September 2008.


Still to come this week are the latest statistics on unemployment, retail sales and borrowing figures for the last full financial year and then on Friday (but Thursday for Gordon Brown so he has the figures before the second leaders' debate) the first official estimate of first quarter gross domestic product (GDP).

In the next few weeks people will see their take home pay drop as a result of Gordon Brown’s decision to freeze tax allowances. And if anyone is thinking of voting LibDem remember that a hung Parliament is likely to lead to an even weaker pound and higher inflation, with the concomitant risk of higher interest rates to tackle it.

I am not alone in predicting this, James Hughes, chief economist at Black Swan Capital wealth management, said:

"The UK economy has some very deep, fundamental problems that won’t be solved simply by installing a new government, and this sharp increase in UK inflation to 3.4 per cent is possibly just the start of an inevitable and unstoppable slide towards double-digit inflation and interest rates within the next few years."

Gordon Brown's legacy like that of the Wilson/Callaghan/Healey government will be inflation, debt and despair - "Things can only get better" - REALLY?

The Brown Overspend Tax

Alex Masterley has had an excellent idea:

'Whoever gets into power will need to raise taxes. I am not in favour, but it is a likely necessity.

So if it happens, let us give credit where it is due and call it he Brown Overspend Tax or something like that.'

Great idea, Gordon Brown needs to become as hated a figure as Pol Pot, Hitler or Stalin; he's been almost as evil.

Barack Obama, Dr. Khalid al-Mansour and 'Legendary lawyer and politician Percy Sutton'

More detail here.

The air-transport ban - a manufactured crisis?

The Mail reports that (my emphasis):

'The Met Office unnecessarily triggered the six-day closure of British airspace which has cost passengers, airlines and the economy more than £1.5billion, according to senior officials.

A scientific model based on ‘probability’ rather than fact was used by the government agency to forecast the spread of the volcanic ash cloud, according to critics.

Matthias Ruete, the European Commission’s director general of transport, said air traffic authorities should not have imposed a widespread ban.

He suggested the ban should have been restricted to a 20 to 30 mile limit around the volcano in Iceland.

He said: 'The science behind the model we are running at the moment is based on certain assumptions where we do not have scientific evidence. It is a black box in certain areas.'

Results of 40 or so European test flights over the weekend, including a British Airways flight on Sunday, suggested the risks were not as high as computer models predicted.

None found evidence of any ash in engines, windows or lubrication systems.

'We don’t even know what density the cloud should be in order to affect jet engines. We have a model that runs on mathematical predictions.

'It is probability rather than actual things happening,' Mr Ruete said.'

A computer model, hmm that could be as relibale as those that predict Climate Change...

Gordon 'party advantage is all' Brown

I read that:

'The statistics watchdog has criticised the decision to allow Gordon Brown to get key economic figures before the party leaders’ television debate this Thursday.

The Prime Minister will be the only party leader to know if Britain has fallen back into recession before the debate. The figures will be released on Friday morning. Last night, Sir Michael Scholar, chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, said the situation was unacceptable.

The figures will show whether the recovery has been sustained during the first three months of the year. They are expected to have a significant bearing on the election campaign.

...

A spokesman for Sir Michael said the authority believed access to the statistics should be three hours or less before their release. Conservative sources said they might lodge a complaint.

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrats’ economics spokesman, said all parties should have the same information at the same time. '

Fairness & equality not words that Gordon Brown has ever run his life by. The man is a fraud and all his protestations about having a 'moral compass' and the like should be dismissed as lies.

Is this the pretext?

A while back I, and others, used to speculate that Gordon Brown would not hold a general election, 'postponing' because of some 'national emergency'. Am I alone in getting a tad suspicious that the seeming overreaction of completely closing UK airspace not because any volcanic ash has been observed above the UK but on the say so of Met Office who are relying on their always reliable computer simulations of weather systems. These are the same computer simulations that seem incapable of producing accurate three-day weather forecasts.

Are we being set-up for a postponed election? Before you scoff, remember that Tony Blair dry-ran this technique with the postponed council elections at the height of the foot-and-mouth epidemic, another disaster that was massively exaggerated and overreacted to by this Labour government.

Funny line?

'Giving up your seat to a woman is frowned upon in these days of sexual equality, so if you really want to be polite to a woman why not give up your job instead?'

From Guy Browning's 'Never Push When It Says Pull - Small rules for little problems'.

Bad day at work so...

Damned - 'Smash it Up'

The Damned were the first 'punk' group to have a single release 'New Rose' and I like them...

"We've been crying now for much too long
And now we're gonna dance to a different song
I'm gonna scream and shout til my dying breath
I'm gonna smash it up til theres nothing left

Oooh ooh smash it up, smash it up, smash it up
Oooh ooh smash it up, smash it up, smash it up

People call me villain oh its such a shame
Maybe its my clothes must be to blame
I don't even care if I look a mess
Don't wanna be a sucker like all the rest

Oooh ooh smash it up, smash it up, smash it up
Oooh ooh smash it up, smash it up, smash it up

Smash it up
Smash it up
Smash it up
Smash it up
Smash it up

Smash it up, you can keep your krishna burgers
Smash it up, and your Glastonbury hippies
Smash it up, you can stick your frothy lager
Smash it up, and your blow wave hairstyles

And everybody's smashing things down
I said everybody's smashing things down yeah"

Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, ,Rat Scabies & Algy Ward; pure poetry.

Well that explains that re complaining to the BBC

Guido Fawkes has the not totally unsurprising revelation that one of the people employed to deal with complaints of bias is a Labour party council candidate and 'on his Facebook page... spins for Brown, who he refers to as “the boss” and advocates his friends vote Labour.'

Anybody in the slightest surprised? I wonder what the BBC's reaction to this will be and whether there are any prospective Conservative councillors employed to deal with complaints?


Looks like I have come late to this story, Beeb Bias Craig has some more details.

Who's posh?

The Telegraph reveals that:

'Louis Theroux, the documentary-maker, has claimed he used to wake Nick Clegg up in the morning when they were at boarding school together.

The television presenter’s claim that he was the Liberal Democrat leader’s “fag” at Westminster School has led to renewed focus on the latter’s privileged upbringing.

Until recently, much had been made in the election campaign of David Cameron’s well-off family and his elite education at Eton and Oxford.

But Mr Clegg enjoyed an equally comfortable start in life, as the son of a successful banker, Nicholas Clegg, who is now chairman of United Trust Bank.

The MP’s maternal grandfather had been president of ABN, the Dutch bank. Despite this, Mr Clegg regularly criticises the “greedy” bankers who triggered the worldwide financial crisis and wants a 10 per cent tax on profits in the financial sector.

His paternal grandmother was Baroness Kira von Engelhardt, a descendant of an Attorney General in the Imperial Russian senate.

Mr Clegg grew up in the picturesque commuter town of Chalfont St Giles, Bucks, but his family also owns a large chalet in the Alps and a chateau in France.

He was sent to school at Westminster School in London where fees for boarders are now £28,344 a year.

One of his peers was Mr Theroux - best known for his BBC2 documentary series, Weird Weekends – who claims that he used to wait upon the politician every morning and bring him a newspaper.

Mr Theroux said that he had been Mr Clegg’s “fag”, in the old-fashioned system formerly widespread in public schools whereby younger pupils had to act as servants for older ones, waking him up in the morning during term time and presenting him with a newspaper.'

So what!

The return of Elizabeth Filkin

Elizabeth Filkin was the the former Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards who found there were certain members of the Government, including Keith Vaz and Peter Mandelson, whose conduct fell below the standards to which Labour said it was committed. Her contract was not renewed. The Telegraph report that:

'The intriguing prospect (of Elizabeth Filkin returning to a compliance role) is raised by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority’s disclosure that chief executive, Andrew McDonald, has been lunching with Mrs Filkin.... the authority will appoint a “compliance officer” after the election, responsible for probing errant MPs and dishing out punishments.

Drafting in Mrs Filkin - the nemesis of the pre-expenses scandal Commons - could be seen as a strong statement of intent.'

Justice would be done, now we just need the EU to find an investigatory role for Marta Andreasen!

Immigration - you can tell when Labour politicians are lying, their lips move

Immigration is one issue where all the facts point to the usual mix of Labour incompetence, mismanagement, deliberate policy and lying. The Telegraph revealed yesterday that:

'In the first ever televised prime ministerial debate last week, Mr Brown predicted "40,000 less students, I suspect, this year, because of our tightening of visa controls.'

Nobody will be surprised that this seems to have been about as accurate a figure as most proclaimed by Gordon Brown. The Telegraph explains:

'new figures revealed in a parliamentary answer show that 99,932 students successfully applied for visas up until September 2009 – with huge rises in the six months after the new points system was introduced in March. In the previous academic year, 61,247 visas were granted to students from the same seven countries.'

And on hand was FRank Field,

'the former Labour minister and outspoken critic of his own party's immigration policy who obtained the figures, said last night: "You cannot get a more clear demonstration that the points system does not work unless you also set a cap.'

'A cap' being Conservative policy and one that Gordon Brown says cannot work.

The Telegraph report ends:

'Sources have claimed that consular officials in the Indian sub-Continent were warning Home Office officials about the spike in applications at the end of last year after it became clear the new rules were open to exploitation.

Sir Andrew Green, the former diplomat who runs the anti-immigration think tank MigrationWatch, said: "This blows out of the water government claims about their points-based system being 'tough'. Most of it is students and that part has got off to a shambolic start."

He suggested the points-based system had turned the visa process into a 'box ticking' exercise that had all but eliminated face-to-face interviews from the application process. Students now knew exactly what they needed to do to gain a visa and were manipulating forms to ensure success.

Sources have told The Sunday Telegraph that consular officials were warning the Government last year of the huge spike – born out by the new figures – but that those fears were ignored until finally in February the system was suspended. '

I end with these thoughts: we know that over 90% of Gordon Brown's 'new jobs' have gone to people born outside of the UK, we know that the UK Immigration system had become all but a sham under this Labour government, we know that mass immigration was a deliberate Downing Street policy to radically change the country and "rub the Right's nose in diversity", we know that Labour's "points system" is a failure and that there are many ways that immigrants get around the system - "family reunion" being one. We know that Gordon Brown was part of the Labour government that stopped counting people in and out of the country and we know that re-implementing this system will not be in place for at least another three years. We know that the Labour government have used immigration as a weapon to destroy Conservatives and conservatism and that the Lib Dems favour an amnesty (of sorts on illegal immigrants. We know that immigration is one of the key matters that concern the British public so is it the fear of being called 'racists' and 'the nasty party' by the Labour/BBC/LibDem alliance that scares the Conservatives off of going hard on this subject? Time is running out, in 18 days the polls open and unless David Cameron's Conservatives change up a gear I fear for the future of the UK.

Will the risk averse 'powers that be' ever let us fly again?

Ever since the planes were grounded I have been wondering when or if we will ever be allowed to fly again. What organisation is going to give the all-clear and risk a plane being affected by volcanic ash? The fact that no plane has ever crashed after being affected by volcanic ash and that the only planes so affected have flown above erupting volcanoes not through these 'clouds of ash' that the experts' planes seem unable to find. I see that KLM have sent a 737 up and it is reported that:

'"At first glance there is no reason to suspect that anything is amiss," says KLM chief Peter Hartman, who participated in the flight as an observer along with operations head Ype de Haan.

Initial technical checks in a hangar after the landing have also revealed no problems, although KLM says it will obtain final results today.'

Are there other reasons for European airspace being closed, is this a dry run for something more sinister?

Is Frank Field considering a move to the Conservatives?

Frank Field continues his slow move to the Conservatives with The Mail reporting that:

'MP Frank Field accuses Gordon Brown of destroying economy

A former Labour Minister has accused Gordon Brown of ‘Alice In Wonderland politics’ which have left Britain facing ‘destruction’ by an economic catastrophe in the summer.

The doom-laden prediction came in a ferocious personal attack on the ‘abnormal’ Prime Minister by senior Labour MP Frank Field.

Ignoring pleas by Labour chiefs not to rock the boat in the run up to the Election, Mr Field savaged the Prime Minister’s economic record and said Britain might never recover unless swift action is taken to save the nation from bankruptcy.

‘Our country is in such a state,’ said Birkenhead MP Mr Field.

‘We’ve printed money to buy our own debt. It’s real Alice In Wonderland politics.

'We have to ask the world if they want to lend us money. If we can’t shift the debt we’re finished.’

Frank Field is one of the few honest Labour MPs and so really should do the decent thing and move away from a party lead by liars, cheats and crooks.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes - what a man

Sir Ranulph Fiennes on Top Gear, what a character...

Gordon Brown accused of lying in the first leaders' debate

Letters From a Tory accuses Gordon Brown of lying about army funding in the first leaders' debate. I am so not shocked, Gordon Brown lies as a matter of course, but he does have two 'tells'; the first is a fake smile, the second is when he says ' to be honest' (or similar).

In the second debate, David Cameron has to be angrier, he tried to be too Prime Ministerial on Thursday and lost ground because of it.

Two alternative views of the fallout from Nick Clegg 'win' in the leaders' debate

Events Dear Boy, Events writes a piece that include this:

'The subtlety of what took place on Thursday night is profound. The clothes that Cameron was expected to wear during the campaign have been taken from him. It is Clegg that has inspired and cut through to the electorate, and by doing so has put the Tories firmly on the defensive.

Little doubt Team Cameron are having ‘don’t panic yet’ meetings this weekend in an attempt to tweak their strategy. But they need more than that. The Tories need Clegg to ‘crash and burn’ spectacularly during the coming days, and for Cameron to score heavily in the second debate. Without both of these little happenings, he will be in deep trouble.

One more small matter. If the polls do continue to indicate a hung parliament, the turnout is likely to be high, which favours Labour rather than the Tories.'

However Nabidana presents a somewhat contrary view:

'But seriously, there are two more debates and almost three weeks of election campaigning left. And Brown has been holed below the water line, with no actual damage done to the Cameron electoral proposition. And why are we suddenly frightened of UNS where, actually, so many marginal seats have just become available to the LibDems where previously they were distant seconds to Labour.

I believe that Labour happiness at the result from the polls and the debate is misplaced – I suspect that when tabulated against seats, swing to LibDem will be stronger in Labour safe seats than in Conservative / Labour marginals, and that the current ‘hold’ seats for Conservatives are quite safe.

...

Calm the fuck down.'

Which point of view is correct? In three weeks we will know...

Vote yellow get Brown

Subrosa lists Lib Dem policies that Gordon Brown will acquiesce with in order to keep his snotty hands on the levers of power:

'We will not waste taxpayer subsidies on nuclear power and we will block any plans for dirty coal power stations.

A zero-carbon Britain – We are the first party to aim for a carbon neutral Britain so we don't contribute at all to global warming - making the British economy carbon neutral overall by 2050, reducing carbon emissions in the UK by over 40% of 1990 levels by 2020 as a step on the way.

Share the security burden through more defence co-operation with allies – European
countries need to work together more effectively on defence and security. There are huge savings to be made by buying in bulk and sharing military assets. With the defence budget under terrible strain, it would be irresponsible not to do this.

The Euro – Liberal Democrats believe that it is in Britain’s long-term interest to be part of the Euro.'

The BBC/Labour alliance have decided that to save Britain from 'the same old Tories' an alliance of Labour and the Lib Dems is the best option and they are actively working towards that end. The supine Conservatives have left it too late to complain about the BBC's bias that I, Biased-BBC and Beeb Bias Craig have been documenting for so long - they almost deserve to lose this election- the complacent fools.

Labour's frontline health service cuts

Dizzy Thinks has uncovered that Labour are introducing means testing for child dentistry. I do not expect the BBC to cover this story, after all there is an election to be won.

"Would you care for some tea?"

Possibly the best line ever in an episode of Dr Who - "Would you care for some tea?" said by a Dalek.

Other highlights, although what could be better than a Dalek offering The Doctor a cup of tea, were a Dalek carrying a box file on his 'sink plunger' and the frankly brilliant sight of a Dalek on the roof in a blackout with little khaki hoods on the little lights on his head.



'Victory of the Daleks' was a typical Mark Gatiss written episode, historical with a touch of the surreal. Mark Gatiss's love of the 1930s to 1950s as shown in 'The Idiot's Lantern' was nicely displayed and the character of Matt Smith's Doctor is becoming more filled out and Karen Gillan/Amy Pond's skirt was brief enough to keep the dad's watching happily .

Not a classic episode but good enough to keep the series ticking over nicely.


The spoilers at the end annoy, as usual, but next week it's the return of Professor River Song and the Weeping Angels in 'The Time of Angels'. As I said previously I feel it's too soon for the return of River Song, has nobody heard of delayed gratification in the Dr Who team? I also fear that the Weeping Angels might not be as incredible as in 'Blink'.

The BBC deciding the 'narrative'

Beeb Bias Craig has spotted something very revealing.

'David Cowling, editor of the BBC Political Research Unit, has posted this today on the BBC website's Poll Watch:

Analysis:
*
SATURDAY UPDATE:

A Sun newspaper poll, carried out after the TV debate, suggests Labour are in third place on 28% (down 3%), with the Lib Dems on 30% (up 8%) and the Conservatives 33% (down 4%). Applying the figures from The Sun poll, which came from a YouGov survey of 1,290 people, to the BBC News website's election seat calculator, results in the following: Labour 276 seats; Conservatives 245 seats; Lib Dems 100 seats; Others 29 seats.

This is the first national poll sampled after Thursday's debate. Clearly the findings, if confirmed by the polls expected on Sunday, are important. It is worth pointing out that the two point difference between the Liberal Democrats and Labour is within normal sampling error, so it does not mean Labour is definitively in third place.

Although the headline focus may be on the Liberal Democrats appearing ahead of Labour we should not ignore the poll's suggestion that the Conservative fall in support is bigger than Labour's.

Perhaps it is best to consider this single poll as an immediate referendum on Thursday night's debate, until we have evidence, if any, that it represents the settled will of British voters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8626154.stm

*
Why does Mr Cowling emphasize the possibility of a sampling error concerning the 2% Lib Dem lead over Labour but ignore it when foregrounding the additional 1% fall in support by the Conservatives (4% compared to 3% for Labour)? Surely we 'should not ignore' that the 'normal sampling error' also 'does not mean' 'that the Conservative fall in support is' 'definitively' ' bigger than Labour's'.'

I think Beeb Bias Craig knows as well as I do why Mr Cowling wants to place emphasis in the way that he says; the BBC need to keep the pressure on the Conservatives and minimise the pressure on Labour.

In a fairer world

So the Lib Dems have benefited hugely from Nick Clegg's appearance at the first leaders' debate. What he was doing there in the first place is beyond me but what might have happened had the party that came second in the most recent EU elections had also had a place? Here's Nigel Farage getting the exposure that he deserves...

Nigel Farage is wrong, there is one phrase that everyone will remember - Gordon Brown's "I agree with Nick"
Nice to see John Sergeant standing up for Gordon Brown's economic policies.

Labour have given up on winning the popular vote but still hope to win the most seats

The immediate reaction of the Labour party to last night's You Gov poll showing the Lib Dems overtaking the Labour party was to twitter: 'YouGov: Seats CON: 244 LAB: 271 LDEM 103 #ge2010 #labourwin'

As Dizzy Thinks writes:

'Now, losing the popular vote, coming second but still winning power, as in 2005, flew... just. However, boasting that even if you come third you'll still win most seats whilst campaigning on an electoral reform agenda?

Would the infamous "court of public opinion" stand for that?'

One more election not won by the Conservative party and the EU project can be finished, the 'new world order' established and electoral reform introduced to ensure a succession of left of centre governments and seats for the very minority parties that the liberal left claim to hate. Don't you just love democracy?

Now maybe the Conservatives will regret not standing up and complaining, as Labour did previously, to the Electoral Commission about the bias inherent in the UK electoral system. Regrets are one thing but it is far too late now and the left wing chickens are coming home to roost and whilst they roost they will crap all over the Conservative party's shiny new car.

Glenn Beck and debunking global warming

"It is the greatest scam in history... Global warming it is a scam." - John Coleman again.

You Gov poll

It seems that Labour's tactic may have misfired. Guido Fawkes is reporting that the latest YouGov poll shows: Cons 33%, Lib Dems 30%, Lab 28%


Fascinatingly whilst Sky News are reporting

'A new YouGov poll for The Sun has put Labour in third place - behind the Liberal Democrats - for the first time in the General Election campaign.

It comes on the heels of Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's winning performance in the first televised leaders' debate.

The poll puts the Conservatives in the lead on 33% (down four), the Liberal Democrats on 30% (up eight) and Labour on 28 (down three).

Professor Michael Thrasher has translated the figures into what the House of Commons may look like based on this poll.

Labour would still be the largest party with 78 seats despite being third in the popular vote, because of the distribution of votes in 2005 and the application of uniform swing, he told Sky News.

"The Lib Dems could be the kingmakers," he said, with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats able to call a coalition.'

The BBC are not yet reporting the story, presumably they need to check with Peter Mandelson for the correct spin to apply to this story.

The fallout from the first Leaders' debate (part 1)

So as I predicted Nick Clegg gained hugely from the first leaders' debate and from the way that Gordon Brown was cosying up to Nick Clegg during the debate and the way that Peter Mandelson was 'bigging up' Nick Clegg in interviews afterwards it would seem that the Lib-Lab pact is up and running already.

It would seem that the Labour leadership have done their calculations and realised that the guff about narrowing polls was just guff and that the larger swing in the marginals would be enough to give the Conservatives a working majority. So 'plan B' it had to be; 'plan B' being boosting the Lib Dems to ensure that Labour and the Lib Dems could form a government, change the voting system and so ensure a perpetual left of centre government in the UK. First readings seem to show that the Lib Dems have indeed been boosted but what if they are boosted too much?

Will the Lib Dems gain as much as the initial polls record? If the Lib Dems do gain will it be at the expense of the Conservatives in the south and west or Labour in the north?
The Labour calculation must be that disenchanted Labour voters would rather move to the Lib Dems than the Conservatives, are they right?
What if the Lib Dem voters who voted Labour in 1997, 2001 & 2005 so as to keep the Conservatives out as the Lib Dems couldn't win, now decide to vote Lib Dem; what might that do to the number of Labour MPs returned to Parliament?
I wonder what Labour MPs in Labour/Lib Dem marginals think of this tactic; do they like being thought of as expendable in the great war against the Tories?

Lots of questions there, but tomorrow an alternative theory from the more paranoid side of NotaSheep's brain...





Political Betting speculate that: 'Reports are buzzing about that the Lib Dems have moved into second place in a poll due out tonight. I assume it is YouGov - no doubt we will find out soon.'

That's odd

The BBC's 'Picking over the prime ministerial debates' has an odd point:

'Gordon Brown went bright, but plumped for a pink, deviating from the traditional Labour scarlet.

...

"It could be showing he's in touch with his feminine side... "'

Hmm, how odd.

Show Labour the door on May 6th

Thnaks to Tory Bear for the spot.

Unbiased Vox Pop?

The 07:00 Radio 4 news this morning included three interview with people who were in the audience for the leaders' debate last night. Two thought Nick CLegg had done best and might swap to vote Lib Dem, one had been impressed by all of them especially Gordon Brown. Noone plumped for David Cameron; I wonder how many people in total were questioned by the BBC and how those three were selected? There is after all a 'narrative' to push.


I turned on my radio about 30 seconds before hearing that piece, the Today programme is nothing if not reliable in its bias.

Thoughts on the first leaders' debate

Has David Cameron got an anecdote to illustrate every answer to every question?

Is Gordon Brown going to take the credit for his plans to improve everything from now on, ignoring the last 13 years?

Can Nick Clegg really believe his luck at being included in this debate despite having zero chance of becoming Prime Minister?

Did David Cameron say that he met a 40 year old black man in Plymouth who came to the UK when he was 6 and had been in the Royal Navy for 30 years. How old was he when he took the Queen's shilling?

Gordon Brown with an over-prepared joke there about posters and Lord Ashcroft.
And another over-prepared line about airbrushing pictures - the BBC will love that line.

Fuck off Gordon you have 'flippers' in your cabinet, one next door to you.
Gordon Brown suddenly in favour of democracy, and what is this crap about the hereditary peers and appointed - what's the proportion of hereditaries? 72 out of 733.

Mrs NotaSheep wants to know why Gordon Brown has a creepy smile on his face the whole time. She's even more annoyed by him than I am!

Gordon THE HOUSE OF LORDS IS NOT HEREDITARY NOW - IT IS ONLY 10% HEREDITARY

Education has not improved over the last few years, exams have got easier.

Mrs NotaSheep says she is in awe of David Cameron and Nick Clegg for not pummelling Gordon Brown.

Mrs NotaSheep (get your own blog) thinks that someone has told Gordon Brown to smile but he's taking it to extremes.

ALARM ALARM ALARM - When Gordon Brown says "I'll be honest with you" there is one thing for certain and that's that he is not being honest with us.

Will Nick Clegg manage to answer any question without mentioning "you two", "those two" or similar?

£1 billion is 1% of UK government spending, could you not save 1% Gordon?

Why did the business leaders say that they were against the 1% rise in NIc? Answer the f**king question Gordon, go on just the once?

Gordon Brown's (in)sincere warm words re our armed forces really piss me off every time he utters them, he so transparently fake.

Finally David Cameron attacks Gordon Brown on his under-funding of the armed forces in Afghanistan. Gordon Brown fails to address the original point and tells what is the situation now.

Does Gordon Brown ever answer a question? Personal guarantees from Gordon Brown are worth what?

Is it possible for Nick Clegg to answer a question without saying "let's be honest"?



Overall:
Gordon Brown came out far better than the low expectations that were carefully made for him. But his inane grinning really grates and the endless promises that are uncosted and purely made to trap the Conservatives into opposing very annoying and should have been challenged.

David Cameron didn't get passionate enough and didn't get angry with Gordon Brown's digging and lying. Looks good and sounds good but did himself no favours tonight, he needs to find a way of countering Gordon Brown's tactics in the next two debates.

Nick Clegg was just glad to be there and obviously could not believe his luck. Came over rather well although his obvious cosying up to Gordon was a bit too obvious. He will come out best in the post show polls and as I predicted when the debate line-up was announced the Lib Dems will get a boost in the polls, but from Labour or the Conservatives?


Now the closing remarks:
Nick Clegg - There is an alternative, ooh he noted down the questoners first names (maybe next time he will note their surnames and in the third debate their favourite
food). "Give real change a chance... choose something different"

Gordon Brown - X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent, "secure the recovery". How is not implementing the NIc rise taking money out of the economy, where does Gordon Brown think the money will go? Gordon Brown attacks David Cameron, will David Cameron return the compliment?

David Cameron - "Choose hope over fear... big society... wasting money to secure the recovery is wrong... nice end lines as well... incredible things... change and leadership that I would bring to this great country.


Best ending remarks by David Cameron, the most Prime Ministerial...


Now for the handshakes...


That's cruel having Gordon Brown descend on you to shake hands do people not realise where he puts his fingers?



NotaSheep is off to bed.

Ah bless!

I wasn't going to blog again before tonight's leaders' debate but this Guardian article was just too good to leave un-commented upon:

'Peter Mandelson has warned Gordon Brown to "show respect" to his adversaries during tonight's leadership debates amid fears that voters will disapprove of his brusque manner.

Asked if there was a danger that the prime minister would reveal his irritability towards the Tory leader, he said Brown would "do his best" to conceal his frustration.

"He's got to show respect," he said. "It's not that he doesn't think David Cameron is clever – David Cameron is clever – I think the prime minister just finds him sometimes a bit trivial, a bit glib."

"People will mark him down for not showing respect for the people he is debating with."'

Isn't it nice that the Prime Minister's controller has to 'warn' the Prime Minister to act like a normal human being rather than the weirdo that he truly is.

How the UK had this stain on the face of humanity foisted on us as Prime Minister is something that will be written about for years and years. Maybe in 20 or 30 years, when people have some perspective, they will realise that what Tony Blair, Gordon Brow, Peter Mandelson (and the rest of the Labour cabal) did to the UK was truly evil. The trouble is that they will have got away with it, rich and powerful men despite/because of their actions. However hopefully they will rot in hell for all eternity and I hope that the thought of this everlasting torment keeps them awake at night until the day they die.


As you can tell I am not a happy NotaSheep tonight.

What will it take for the BBC to declare anyone but Gordon Brown the victor of tonight's leaders' debate?

No seriously, what could possibly happen at tonight's debate that would convince the BBC 'pundits' that Gordon Brown had not 'won' it? If Gordon Brown started to shout "I am right, I am always right, he went to Eton, Lord Ashcroft, Lord Ascroft, Lord Ashcroft..."? If Gordon Brown started to weep quietly into his water and had to be lead away by Ed Balls? If Gordon Brown leapt across the stage and attacked David Cameron declaring "let me at the Tory toff"?

No it would take more than that...