[DISCUSSION] The Politics Thread

Charles Clarke and John Prescott are arguing with each other on the bbc news channel but are refusing to make eye contact.

I saw Ed Milliband speaking yesterday and I felt that he came across very well, appearing sincere and honest while giving a fairly decent speech. It particularly struck me that he seemed so much more likeable than his brother who fits perfectly alongside Cameron and Clegg as another slimey salesman.

Midtown wrote:I saw Ed Milliband speaking yesterday and I felt that he came across very well, appearing sincere and honest while giving a fairly decent speech. It particularly struck me that he seemed so much more likeable than his brother who fits perfectly alongside Cameron and Clegg as another slimey salesman.

You think? I thought it was totally uninteresting content, and he's not blessed with an ounce of charisma and delivered it so dryly I was losing interest. The only other time I'd heard him speak considerably was on BBC Question Time where he was more impressive.

I could see a Blair/Brown relationship with his brother mind; one slick charmer, and the other one with the brains to co-ordinate socio-economic policy. It would unite the party fairly well too. Drifting off to the left like that ridiculous Cruddas would be suicide. Johnson would be marginally better.

Personally I think a D. Miliband/Johnson ticket is about the best Labour could muster at the minute. Ironically I can only think of Brown's left bollock Ed Balls as the most qualified chancellor; obviously in which case we'd be getting more of the same. Ho hum.

Cameron does come across as a slimy bugger. The previous prime minister did quite well on that ticket though.

SC wrote:

Midtown wrote:I saw Ed Milliband speaking yesterday and I felt that he came across very well, appearing sincere and honest while giving a fairly decent speech. It particularly struck me that he seemed so much more likeable than his brother who fits perfectly alongside Cameron and Clegg as another slimey salesman.

You think? I thought it was totally uninteresting content, and he's not blessed with an ounce of charisma and delivered it so dryly I was losing interest. The only other time I'd heard him speak considerably was on BBC Question Time where he was more impressive.

I could see a Blair/Brown relationship with his brother mind; one slick charmer, and the other one with the brains to co-ordinate socio-economic policy. It would unite the party fairly well too. Drifting off to the left like that ridiculous Cruddas would be suicide. Johnson would be marginally better.

Personally I think a D. Miliband/Johnson ticket is about the best Labour could muster at the minute. Ironically I can only think of Brown's left bollock Ed Balls as the most qualified chancellor; obviously in which case we'd be getting more of the same. Ho hum.

It wasn't particularly entertaining, but I can't think of any Labour MP that is a truly talented orator. I just feel that he comes across as more genuine than his brother who hasn't really struck me as being all that charismatic.

I would also say that drifting off to the left might not be electoral disaster for Labour, if you look at opinion polling there are big majorities in favour of windfall taxes and higher rates of taxation for big earners.

The chancellor is giving a speech so boring he could say anything and no-one would notice. Poor show Darling.

Memento Mori wrote:The chancellor is giving a speech so boring he could say anything and no-one would notice. Poor show Darling.

What can he say. He's refusing to rule out/confirm tax cuts (other than saying we're most are paying less tax this month...which...don't remind people of that farce Darling!)

He can't/wont announce any budget cuts/improvements.

He wont announce any decent measures in the short term....and not because we can't afford them, but because there shouldn't be "knee jerk" reactions.

He can't really criticise the regulatory structure of the UK since old GB set it up. The most interesting thing is GB has joined the "blame the fat cats" bandwagon, attempting to seduce Cal-like voters with his talk of big bonuses, completing missing his own contribution to the mess - Classic lab.


It's also funny to watch David Milliband pretend to be loyal, after his "testing the waters" for a leadership bid showed that no one, anywhere, gives a toss about him

Labour have just lost the plot.

Should have let Blair stay tbh.

They should have at least checked that there next party leader had full controll of his body functions.
I mean if he can't controll his bottom lip how can he controll a country

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7630532.stm


That about sums it up.

Oh god they won't to destroy the city half of them. That's what makes us a decent economy. Wihtout we are like the 20th biggest in the world instea dof like the 5th.

Memento Mori wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7630532.stm


That about sums it up.

Oh god. That was horrid.

WTF was Sarah Brown doing there? Simply trying to ape the US style?

The was dire. The same old same old listing of "achievements" under Lab, chest thumping and self gratification. (And the Eye story! Again!)

Some lovely historical revision....(e.g. the 10p thing..."came as a shock"...what was that? Brown always insisted no one was worse off, and this later "fix" was just "doing more to help people").

Despite trying to finally answer the "fix the roof while the sun was shining" (only a year late ), there was nothing in there of any substance.

Well done Nick Robinson on the BBC for picking up Brown's jibe at Miliband. Anyone switched in could tell it had nothing at all to do with Osbourne. Am I supposed to believe Alistair Darling is good and experienced enough to lead our economy in the right direction? Pfft.

I'd love to know how Brown plans on getting his hands on the money necessary to provide all of the services he promised today; especially in light of the current financial situation. I can't wait for him to be questioned about it, and yet again struggle to provide a coherant answer; "Oh yes, we will sit around in government and make the difficult decisions because we believe in fairne..zzzzZ." Or just blame the Tories for it, that'll do.

As for the boring diatribe about how Labour created the minimum wage - yes, you did but, it's caused long-term unemployment for thousands of individuals whom are not being re-educated nor seeking re-employment. I'd like to know how you plan on dealing with them; but of course you can't. I'd like to hear reform for fairer council housing, reform of the welfare system to ensure individuals who work are not penalised, reform of the family courts to ensure greater rights for fathers, reform of our justice system regarding weak sentencing, prison overcrowding and poor rehabilitation, reform of paternity laws to ensure gender equality, reform of the upper-end tax system, better treatment for our armed forces and pensioners, further integration into Europe, strong plans to reform our financial system, ditching of pointless quangos and most of all a French-inspired system where workers working overtime pay reduced/no tax for such hours.

It's delightful to see Brown suffering under the pressure of discontented MPs when all he did was make Blair's life a misery for years doing exactly the same thing.

Regarding this appalling government, being disgruntled doesn't even begin.

Although it's now a different party convention than mentioned in the topic, Cameron's performance as a speaker today was very impressive IMO. I can also see the topics brought up touching some good notes with the country, too.

SC wrote:Although it's now a different party convention than mentioned in the topic, Cameron's performance as a speaker today was very impressive IMO. I can also see the topics brought up touching some good notes with the country, too.

This. He spoke very well IMO

SC wrote:Although it's now a different party convention than mentioned in the topic, Cameron's performance as a speaker today was very impressive IMO. I can also see the topics brought up touching some good notes with the country, too.

I only got to see the first 15 mins before returning to work, but yeah, what I saw was impressive. Very statesmanlike.

SC wrote:Although it's now a different party convention than mentioned in the topic, Cameron's performance as a speaker today was very impressive IMO. I can also see the topics brought up touching some good notes with the country, too.

I've had problems accessing the internet recently.

Ooooh, that Cameron's a lovely lad isn't he?