Topic: General Election 2010

[MALCOLM]

Fuck me, Cameron's POSH?????? thanks "The Daily Mirror" !

[mr. logic]

The Mirror's campaign has been truly piss poor.

[greencalx]

At coffee, a colleague claimed that the Mirror has some highly juicy dirt on the prospective chancellor, but it's been super-injunctioned. Anyone else heard this, or just complete bullshit?

[biggytitbo]

Yeah, pathetic class war shite. How New Labour drones can launch a class war when plenty of prominent new labour cunts like Ed Balls went to public school I don't know. Hell the puppet master of new Labour is a millionaire friend of the oligarchs called Lord Mandelson and loads of them, not to mention elite public school educated Blair himself, wallow in swimming pools of cash from property dealings and lucrative directorships when they leave.

[biggytitbo]

At coffee, a colleague claimed that the Mirror has some highly juicy dirt on the prospective chancellor, but it's been super-injunctioned. Anyone else heard this, or just complete bullshit?

Is it that he's obviously fucking useless and will be out of the door within 5 seconds if they win?

[Danger Man]

At coffee, a colleague claimed that the Mirror has some highly juicy dirt on the prospective chancellor, but it's been super-injunctioned. Anyone else heard this, or just complete bullshit?

'Taking drugs with a prostitute' is the most common rumour about George.

One could assume that any member of the Bullingdon Club will have taken huge amounts of white powder in their time. David Cameron staying awake for the last 36 hours seems to indicate that some of them might still be doing it....

(Where would David get the drugs? From George's brother, a doctor who is very free with the prescription pad)

[thepuffpastryhangman]

Yeah, pathetic class war shite.

It's hardly class war, the lack of experience is highlighted too. The cover is gash though, true.

How New Labour drones can launch a class war when plenty of prominent new labour cunts like Ed Balls went to public school I don't know.

Nottm Boys High, a day school that's hardly Westminster or Eton.

Hell the puppet master of new Labour is a millionaire friend of the oligarchs called Lord Mandelson

At least he's nothing like Osborne. They sleep in entirely different cabins on Nat Rothschild's yacht, and only share the pool together when taking cocktails.
 

and loads of them, not to mention elite public school educated Blair himself, wallow in swimming pools of cash from property dealings and lucrative directorships when they leave.

The 'no second job for MPs' law is one of Labour's better ideas, it should be, it was over thirteen years in the making.

[Danger Man]

Nottm Boys High, a day school that's hardly Westminster or Eton.

Quite right, he went to a nice public school. Not a bad public school.

But....Kenneth Clarke also went there.....so maybe Nottingham Boy's only became good from the 1970's onwards.

[Guy]

Those new wooden urinals down the library are shit.

[MALCOLM]

What is the actual problem with having some toff in charge though?

No hypotheticals, please

[Danger Man]

What is the actual problem with having some toff in charge though?

Jacob makes the case for:

Mr Rees-Mogg, the Eton and Oxford-educated son of the Tory peer and former editor of The Times, William Rees-Mogg, said: "Oxford and Cambridge are world-renowned universities that get the crème of British academic life. It would be absolutely perverse to be biased against some of the cleverest people in the country.

"We don't want to make it harder for intellectually able people to be Tory party candidates. The Tory party, when it's elected, has to be able to form a government and it's not going to be able to form a government if it has potted plants as candidates simply to make up quotas."

He added: "When you go to an MP, you want somebody who will write an articulate letter to the social services or whoever it is to get your problem sorted out."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/state-school-pupils-are-potted-plants-says-tory-418767.html

[biggytitbo]

What is the actual problem with having some toff in charge though?

No hypotheticals, please

The real problem is slightly more insidious than that. The real problem is the political classes and their conveyor belt to power. Oxford/Cambridge educated, straight out of university to some policy review, think tank or PR firm, then straight from there to some junior position in one of the main parties party political apparatus, parachuted into a safe seat, then fairly quickly working their way up to the cabinet. That career trajectory, totaly detached from the real world, is sorrily familiar throughout all 3 main parties, these political bubble drones who talk, act, think and look the same way. The real divide here is not the us and them of the class divide that so many on here are obsessed with, but the us and them of the political classes and the rest of us.

[Still Not George]

Yes, biggy. That's definitely it.

Twat.

[The Region Legion]

Yes, biggy. That's definitely it.

Twat.

Er, but it is? Or were you agreeing but also taking the time to call him a twat?

The "political class" is a obvious reality, I can't believe anyone would question it.

[Steve Thompson Dance Mix]

BBC News - Nigel Farage injured in plane crash on election day



Farage in plane crash.

The former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage has been injured in a plane crash in Northamptonshire.

The plane carrying two people crashed at Hinton in the Hedges Airfield at Steane, near Brackley, at 0759 BST.

Mr Farage was taken to hospital in Banbury with non-life threatening injuries, and the pilot was transferred to University Hospital in Coventry.

The plane came down an hour after polling stations opened for voting in the general election.

The pilot, who was trapped in the wreckage and had to be airlifted to hospital, is believed to be more seriously injured of the two.
   
Nigel Farage
We've had unconfirmed reports that either the banner got snagged up, or there were cross-winds and it was unfamiliar airfield to the pilot
UKIP spokesman

General election voting under way

Chris Adams, UKIP parliamentary candidate for Aylesbury, said: "Nigel was unconscious but he can talk.

"He's been coming in and out of consciousness and is now being X-rayed."

The aircraft was due to circle over Buckingham, where Mr Farage is standing as a candidate, trailing a banner, a UKIP spokesman said.

Mike Jose, Mr Farage's assistant, said they had previously flown the plane and banner over the constituency without any problems.

A UKIP spokesman said the aircraft had flown into the airfield from Winchester area and was taking off again when the accident happened

He added: "We've had unconfirmed reports that either the banner got snagged up, or there were cross-winds and it was unfamiliar airfield to the pilot."

But Mr Adams said he had spoken to an aviation expert who said the banner could not have got caught up in the tail fin, as some reports had suggested.

The airfield has now been closed and the crash is due to be investigated by the Air Accident Investigation Branch, Northamptonshire Police said.

East Midlands Ambulance Service and fire crews remain at the scene.

Mr Farage is a Member of the European Parliament, representing South East England.

[thepuffpastryhangman]

If Capello had to choose the squad the same way we'd be getting spanked by Andorra.

They daren't push the 'we're gentically superior, that's why an Oxbridger's offspring is 100x more likely to attend Oxbridge than any ol' pleb' coz that's too eugenic even for Osborne. Instead they suggest the fact they've had it stitched up for centuries, the Cleggs and the Camerons, is down to hard work and talent, pushing the aspiration myth.

Hey Fabio, we've assembled a starting cabinet line up, the best talent the nation has to offer, and guess what? Most of them have known each other for years. Yup, Andorra 19 England 0.

The 'political class' thing is true to a certain extent but to suggest it's equal across the three parties is silly. Examine Brown's path compared to that of the other two for a start, chalk 'n' cheese.

[Danger Man]

The real problem is slightly more insidious than that. The real problem is the political classes and their conveyor belt to power. Oxford/Cambridge educated, straight out of university to some policy review, think tank or PR firm, then straight from there to some junior position in one of the main parties party political apparatus, parachuted into a safe seat, then fairly quickly working their way up to the cabinet. That career trajectory, totaly detached from the real world, is sorrily familiar throughout all 3 main parties, these political bubble drones who talk, act, think and look the same way. The real divide here is not the us and them of the class divide that so many on here are obsessed with, but the us and them of the political classes and the rest of us.

You've forgotten the party hacks in local government and the unions who become MPs.

CUNT!!!!!

[23 Daves]

Er, but it is? Or were you agreeing but also taking the time to call him a twat?

The "political class" is a obvious reality, I can't believe anyone would question it.

I completely agree, I was stumped as to why Biggy got a mouthful for suggesting that! 

In terms of class bias, it is notable that even Parliament itself is deliberately run in an identical way to the Oxford and Cambridge debating societies - I've always liked Jeremy Paxman's quote: "When Adolf Hitler bombed Parliament, he did Britain a favour, and actually gave us a chance to reform our antiquated debating system.  We failed to take it".

I may have to check that quote when I get home tonight, but the gist of it is definitely correct.

[biggytitbo]

The 'political class' thing is true to a certain extent but to suggest it's equal across the three parties is silly. Examine Brown's path compared to that of the other two for a start, chalk 'n' cheese.

Brown's an anachronism though. The real comparison would be Blair, Cameron or Clegg, or more recently [Balls,Milliband,Milliband], Cameron and Clegg. Regardless of your political allegiances, these androids have more in common with each other than they do most of the electorate.

I'm a bell-end!

[23 Daves]

The 'political class' thing is true to a certain extent but to suggest it's equal across the three parties is silly. Examine Brown's path compared to that of the other two for a start, chalk 'n' cheese.

Yes, but things are changing.  My local hardline Old Labour pain-in-the-arse MP is being replaced this election by somebody who doesn't seem to have done much in life apart from get a PhD from the London School of Economics - and I'm sure she's not the only example.

A lot of the young politicians I meet now are basically solid upper middle class (or, in rare cases, upper class) upper tier university students who all seem strangely alike in terms of their personalities.  Anecdotal evidence, certainly, but a quick look at the new candidates across the UK doesn't reveal many hardline unionists or earthy Prescotts, or even the beardy hippies the Liberals used to attract.

[thepuffpastryhangman]

Wikipedia tells me Blair's grandparents were a shipyarder worker and a butcher. That's hardly the super super posh lineage of Clegg and Cameron. Blair's mother being "born above the family grocer's shop" nowhere near Grantham.

I don't doubt the political class thing, it's diverged. Where once there were two, or even three political classes, now there's one centrist (political) class. First went the policies, then went the players.

[Danger Man]

I bet if you asked most people the importance of Glasgow in the Houses of Parliament they'd answer 'toilet cleaners?'

But in recent years we've had John Smith, Charles Kennedy, Liam Fox, Menzies Campbell, Vince Cable and pretty much the entire SNP educated up there.

The disproportionate number of Scots at the upper end of British politics is still a problem....

[Lfbarfe]

Yep, Biggy's point about the political class is pretty much faultless, whatever anyone thinks of anything else he says. It's not down to toffs and oiks, though.

[biggytitbo]

Wikipedia tells me Blair's grandparents were a shipyarder worker and a butcher. That's hardly the super super posh lineage of Clegg and Cameron. Blair's mother being "born above the family grocer's shop" nowhere near Grantham.

But it's not a matter of the old style social class as I said (The 3 most recent Tory PMs,  Heath, Thatch and Major were all lower middle class) its a matter of the political classes and their trajectory to power and Blair most certainly is a part of that depressing modern cross party trend. I'd actually say labour are the worst for the Stepford politicians syndrome, the 3 most likely candidates for next leader are virtually indistinguishable. Clegg and Cameron may be 'posher' in that antiquated way some people still think, but they have much more in common with their fellow members of the political bubble than they do anyone else, least alone the voters.

[Danger Man]

Now...how am I going to plan my election night drinking game?

1 sip of alcohol for every Libdem gain.
1 sip for every reference to 1974 or 1983.
1 big glug for every 'Portillo moment'
1 shot of tequila when Jeremy Vine is on.
A bottle of scotch if LfBarfe wins his seat.
Down a case of 1945 Chateau Rothschild if the Libs win a majority.

[Retinend]

Maybe they prefer the "Tories" that actually opposed that disastrous invasion, are rooted in defending civil liberties and actually want electoral reform rather than just claiming they do now they're losing? All three parties have broadly similar economic policies, but economic policy isn't the only thing that matters believe it or not.

see, this is why I really don't care if the conservatives win. Economic policy is pretty much the only thing that matters now. you covertly discriminate against women or minorities, or you do something like start an illegal war, and you get a few thousand middle class people protesting; but if the economy goes tits up you have violent rioting. Conservatives get a bad rep largely because their zeal for the free market is seen as pure greed, but plenty of leftists would be lost in a world without the advances borne from the free market. The economy should always be seen as the prime responsibility of government, and really really really should be seen this way right now.

[glitch]

Amusing? story on the radio a mo ago, Nigel Farage injured when the UKIP promoting light aircraft he was in nose dived. Why? The trailing banner for UKIP got caught up in the plane, quite literally his own words were his downfall.

EDIT - Oh, it's now on the Guardian website - Ukip's Nigel Farage injured in aeroplane crashNigel Farage suffers minor injuries after two-seater aircraft towing Ukip banner crash lands in Northamptonshire

How do UKIP a plane in the air?

You don't (possibly NSFW)

Thanks, SA!

[tater pie]

My first ever vote at  a general election done and dusted!  I do feel oh so responsible.   Although had a Peter's mad thought in there that I might accidentally vote for the UKIP guy called 'Brolly' (conveniently placed at the top of the list). 

[Subtle Mocking]

My first vote too, but I keep getting the feeling that I may have accidentally put the cross in the wrong box and voted for some hopeless UKIP candidate by accident...

It might just be me, I'm the sort of person who has to go back to the front door about 3 times on the way out to make sure it's locked.

[Lee Van Cleef]

People are voting?  Wow.