Posts by Rich Lock
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From UK C4's snowmail e-mail this morning:
Gordon Brown is under some pressure from people in his own party wanting him to quit as Labour leader so they can start putting an alternative bid to the Lib Dems before Nick Clegg signs on the dotted line with David Cameron. The process this would involve is so convoluted as to make it almost certainly impossible - but the theory goes that Gordon Brown resigns as Labour leader but not as prime minister, while Harriet Harman as caretaker leader negotiates with Nick Clegg. This would be on the basis that David Miliband will stand unopposed by any serious candidate as new Labour leader, so that the Lib Dems know exactly who they would go into government with eventually.
Once the deal is done Gordon Brown goes to the palace and advises the Queen that the caretaker Harriet Harman can form a government with the Lib Dems, then once Labour has its new leader in place she goes to the palace and advises the Queen that Miliband will be taking over as prime minister. As I write this it sounds either so mad as to be unworkable, or so intricately thought through as to be plausible. It also requires Ed Balls and Ed Miliband to give up their hopes of Labour leadership.
Does anyone else's head hurt?
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hinged on Labour gently dog-whistling in tune with the BNP's anti-foreign messages. A bit icky to say the least.
Hang on, isn't inclusive democracy all about listening to aggrieved minorities?
Any attempt to talk sensibly about immigration in the UK is more or less doomed to fail before it even gets to the starting gate.
It's a complex issue with no easy solution, and so needs an intelligent and detailed debate. But because of it's hyper-emotive nature, simplistic screaming loonies at both ends of the specturm will make sure any nuanced discussion is drowned (out) at birth.
There was an enormous kerfuffle when the leaders of 'Operation Trident' pointed out what was an obvious elephant in the room at the time - that a lot of violent crime in London was black-on-black.
Operation Trident would be a minor zephyr compared to the shitstorm that would result in an attempt to a free and frank discusion of immigration in the UK.
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I should probably schedule a timpanometry.
Beethoven's 10th is recommended, if you can afford the full string section.
And stop mumbling.
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I'm sorry, the what now?
They're on a boat, bitch, with their swim trunks and their flippy-floppies.
Consider this: The UK is still a monarchy. A hung parliament is likely. In that event, the queen apparently gets the final say.
Joan Collins and Richard and Judy have been spotted aboard. Clearly the BBC are attempting to hijack the correct constitutional process. Now, can anyone confirm the presence of Julian Clary?
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they won't learn a damn thing
If we take the definition of 'won't' as 'refuse to', then I should say that's business as usual, then.
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BBC reports long queues and would-be voters turned away as the booths close.
That's extremely unusual for a UK election.
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What the hell is the UK independence party?
UKIP are a bunch of John Bull Englishmen, who look across the channel at Johnny Foreigner, and think that although all of this European integration thing might be alright for the Frogs, the Hun, and the Eyties, they'll stay out of it, thank you kindly.
The sort of people who look upon any external attempt (by Europe) to 'interfere' with the way the UK is run internally as incontrovertible proof that the hand of the devil is at work. Or if not the devil, at least some sort of socialism. And that's the same thing, really.
Oddly enough, although the very mention of 'Europe' is enough to bring them out in a bad case of hives, mentioning the increase of US meddling on those fair shores has, if anything, the opposite effect.
They are of the opinion that the 'Great' needs to be put back into Britain. Things started going downhill when The Empire was lost.
Crudely speaking, they want to 'unsign' Britain from any sort of EU treaty that's been signed in the last 30-40 years.
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I've checking out The Guardian website daily for years, so I'm not exactly insensible to the editorially left-ward lean. Adjust scanners and move on.
Hmmm, clearly the toryforce is strong with this one. He does not react to the strongest of our probes. Increase the signal strength!
"stealing the election" and #torycoup
Well, I've been in Napier for a week, so I've managed to miss most of the dingbattier stuff in the run-up. Apparently they didn't have internet in the 1930's. Who knew?
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it's not as if the more right-leaning papers are shy about going for the Gordon "grumpy mole" Brown shots
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@Craig
I kind of expected a rather more sober discussion of rather interesting and not entirely clear constitutional ground, without the grossly tabloid headline.
A quick google search for 'election' on The Grauniad website, limited to just their UK news, just in the last month, throws up over 20,000 hits of raw red meat for you to get your teeth into.
A search for 'constitution' on their main site throws up over 600 hits, including this one as the top entry.
Fill yer boots....