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Archive for Politics
The Metric Minister on Mr Blair and Mr Brown from February 2007
Just a bit of fun. This is Mr Miliband talking on Question Time in the last days of the Blair regime:
“I predict that when I come back on this programme in 6 months or a year’s time, people will be saying:
‘Oh wouldn’t it be great to have that Blair back, because we can’t stand that Gordon Brown.’ “
Hmmm.
I can’t find the source for this - but I think it was Guido
[Update: Garbo comments:
This was taken totally out of context by Guido and others. He wasn’t saying this as a prediction that Brown would be a terrible PM; rather that the electorate are fickle and always think the grass is greener. It was supposed to be a defence of Blair. A very poorly chosen way to do it though.
Hence the “Knockabout” tag and “bit of fun” comment”, and the posting on a Friday. I’m more than happy to accept that it was out of context at the time. - Matt]
Mr Galloway prepares for retirement II: Gorgeous George
The problem with being a gin-soaked popinjay , is that you only end up in one place…
…even though gutter tactics had been fruitful in the past for George.
Inspired by Friday Lolcats meme.
Noticed by sweet Emily on election night…
I didn’t spot it before I’ve had Emily Maitlis listening to my Twitter feed. Click through for the full screenshot.
And it served as a prebuttal to Ms Mortimer’s “Naughty Boris planning to stay MP for a year” story on the BBC webpage - as it is in reverse time order. Sweet.
A Bar Chart for the Crewe and Nantwich Byelection
I have a leaked By Election Bar Chart from the Crewe and Nantwich byelection. I’m assuming that they won’t be using this one.
I am delighted to say that I am on blog hiatus until after the Crewe and Nantwich byelection has finished.
The point was made that the Labour figure is understood to be at least two. The reply was “It was estimated as one”.
Tags: barchart, liberal democrat, libdem, labour party, conservative party, tory, crewe and nantwich
[tags]barchart, liberal democrat, libdem, labour party, conservative party, tory, crewe and nantwich[/tags]
Buying Welsh vs Free Trade: Exploring the tension
Prof. Dylan-Jones Evans is arguing that there should be a preferential option for local suppliers over to foreign suppliers. Examples Dylan quotes include foreign organisations from as close as Sheffield or Cornwall.
Foreign Cornish Daffodils
The presenting question Dylan uses is daffodils purchased by Gwynedd council (Plaid Cymru majority at the time):
Using the example of the national flower of Wales, he has found that welsh councils are getting supplies of daffodils from England or Holland rather than from Welsh companies.
Most surprising is the fact that Gwynedd Council, of all places, have been using suppliers outside Wales of Wales for bulbs to grow the country’s national symbol.
In the past Dylan has quoted examples in support of “localism” including business services procured from Sheffield and the development of a supermarket in Pwllheli.
I’m not getting into the pricing or horticultural aspects of Welsh vs Lincolnshire vs Cornish daffodils (although I note that “virgin Welsh ground” has a highly-emotional feel to it which makes me raise at least one quizzical eyebrow):
Richard Arnold of the Really Welsh Company said that the prices his company has recently discussed with certain authorities in Wales apparently compare very favourably with the Dutch imports or Cornish supplies.
He also believes that his welsh grown daffodils will offer superior cropping, as they are grown in virgin Welsh ground and not subject to intense rotations employed in Holland and parts of Cornwall and Lincolnshire.
But I do note that the local authorities have a procurement process that is subject - like everything else - to legal regulation. I’ve seen the Derbyshire one for a small Arts Website project (the procurement probably cost more than the project), and I applaud any small company that even takes on the army of tick-boxes and shed-loads of documentation necessary in the business of public sector procurement.
Think Local, Buy Local?
I’m with him on buying locally - we buy our veg off a tractor and trailer at the gate of a local farm, and even when they have bought in supplies it is the local farmer that is getting the profit margin.
I’m even with him on using “local” as a criteria - provided a fair market is preserved - or using whole lifecycle costs (including - for example - transport) in their prices; although this gets tricky if, for example, a supplier can reduce their transport costs by 50% by using the “empty” return run of a Welsh exporter to carry their deliveries.
However, I’m not with him if “a local preference” turns into a postcode lottery for the buying of goods and services by introducing criteria that are impossible to define - and therefore make a transparent market impossible.
Local Election 2008 Damp Squibs
The Conservatives have done well; Labour has done badly; the Lib Dems have got by and had a bit of a Curate’s Egg (national: good, London: hmmm). There were also a few outright flops. Here are those I have spotted.
UKIP in London
Who ? (PDF)
Jeremy Vine and the Beeb
and in 2007…
And some historical context…
A lot of people has said it, but how did the BBC get itself into that mess?
I have got the clip of Jeremy Vine’s “I’m a cross between Columbo and Stuart Hall” coat. Can anyone help?
Respect and its Children
The problem now is that everyone is going down with the ship. The Green vote is cut and Galloway’s vote is below that in 2004 - and too little to win him a career-saving place on the GLA. Even the Liberals have failed to take anything significant from New Labour’s decline.
The Left List has managed to do this in some local areas but it was too recent an invention to make its full mark on the electoral process. In addition, the Respect name had been established over four years and many people who voted for Respect did so in error, believing that it was the old Respect.
What can I say? Cats in a catfight never prosper.
George Galloway - hopefully
Over the next month my “Friday Gallocats” posts are about retirement. Prescient, it would seem.
Perhaps he will consider attending Parliament to represent his constitutuents, now. After all, it is what we pay hom £60k a year plus allowances for.
When will New Labour ever learn…
From a statement in a report on the BBC News about students being overcharged for student loans by Direct Debits continuing after the debt has been paid off:
“The government denies the system is flawed, but will be introducing improvements from September”.
What?
Make an argument, and then destroy it in the next 3 seconds, why don’t you?
