tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post6271546999274343864..comments2024-03-04T17:54:32.559+00:00Comments on Iain Dale's Diary: Happy Birthday, dear MandyIain Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03270146219458384372noreply@blogger.comBlogger45125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-83580396303506716282008-10-23T16:09:00.000+01:002008-10-23T16:09:00.000+01:00Normally a most clubbable fellow, I cannot bring m...Normally a most clubbable fellow, I cannot bring myself to wish you, 'Lord' Mandelson, any happiness at all, even on your birthday.<BR/><BR/>You disgust me. <BR/><BR/>Politics on your side of the House was already at a pretty low ebb, but since your return its standards have nosedived. The cloud does contain a silver lining, though - the electorate's view of your Party is further diminished by your reintroduction, for which it will be avenged at the polls.<BR/><BR/>Roll on Glenrothes!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-79210336882792498652008-10-21T21:52:00.000+01:002008-10-21T21:52:00.000+01:00I'm stunned Dame Mandy has a birthday... thought (...I'm stunned Dame Mandy has a birthday... thought (s)he just simply morphed out of slime and sleaze...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-40714642753963268292008-10-21T20:39:00.000+01:002008-10-21T20:39:00.000+01:00Let us get some facts.Mandelson goes to Brussels a...Let us get some facts.<BR/>Mandelson goes to Brussels and has now a large house !<BR/>Windbag Kinnock went to Brussels, his wife followed on the gravy train, his son followed his parents and presented them with a Danish daughter-in law, who would some day become a PM of Denmark The Windbag leaves Brussels goes to British Council and his son becomes a British Council chief, was in Russia last time?<BR/><BR/>The Tories are not in power. Osborne would not even have the power to influece the Corfu Hotel Chef's Special! No money, no sleaze. Unlike Eccleston , Blair and Tessa.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-45635148364926989562008-10-21T18:43:00.000+01:002008-10-21T18:43:00.000+01:00Peter Mandelson wants to privatise the Post Office...Peter Mandelson wants to privatise the Post Office. Well, of course he does.<BR/><BR/>An EU directive requires full competition in postal services by 2012, so that the Royal Mail must deliver its competitors' letters as if they were its own First Class ones, yet for less than the price of First Class post. This necessitates cuts, both in postmen's pay and in Post Offices. The pay cuts have already led to strikes, of which there will be more. So, is anyone still saying that the EU is Socialist?<BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, that the "free" marketeers would seriously propose privatising something nationalised (to use the word anachronistically, I admit) by Charles II in 1660, and representing the most significant direct link between the monarchy and every household, business, organisation and institution in the land, indicates just how utterly unconservative the "free" market ideology really is.<BR/><BR/>Just as we need someone for the Commonwealth to balance the one for the EU and the US, and just as we need someone for "The Regions" (for want of a better term - and I mean "The Regions" of England, Scotland and Wales alike) to balance the ones for the Golden Triangle (London and the South East, the Central Belt of Scotland, and South Wales), so we need someone for Workers, Consumers and the Communities, to balance the one for Business.<BR/><BR/>No chance of that from any of the three New Labour parties, though.David Lindsayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06839882674758833524noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-64820521848169787682008-10-21T17:25:00.000+01:002008-10-21T17:25:00.000+01:00Happy birthday dear 2.4 million homeowner Mandy (G...Happy birthday dear 2.4 million homeowner Mandy (God knows how you wangled out that kind of dosh to buy your stately home!)!<BR/><BR/>Osborne story has all the makings of your tricks, now that you have become the buddy of Gordo. At least once in your lifetime could we expect something clean and healthy and adversarial and not whispers and innuendos. By the way, just what did you say to young Rothschild?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-65765687515266562612008-10-21T16:25:00.000+01:002008-10-21T16:25:00.000+01:00CatamiteCatamiteAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-82280527466077562272008-10-21T14:38:00.000+01:002008-10-21T14:38:00.000+01:00Happy Birthday Mandy from your partner in crimeGeo...Happy Birthday Mandy from your partner in crime<BR/><BR/>George OsbourneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-34627947988118171122008-10-21T14:24:00.000+01:002008-10-21T14:24:00.000+01:00The main mystery is why £50k was worth discussing ...The main mystery is why £50k was worth discussing in this context.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-42231124633702224022008-10-21T13:31:00.000+01:002008-10-21T13:31:00.000+01:00When the Robinson loan scandal broke, Mandy and Re...When the Robinson loan scandal broke, Mandy and Reinaldo were under siege in the Notting Hill residence purchased with it. A pizza delivery man screeched up and after being beaten near senseless by the hacks tearfully confessed that the order he was delivering to the occupants was a "Mermaid Queen".<BR/><BR/>I do not care how many times I have to repeat this anecdote. These details are important. It was a Mermaid Queen. Got it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-84921230234736873442008-10-21T12:52:00.000+01:002008-10-21T12:52:00.000+01:00Back two minutes and this vile corrupt left-wing e...Back two minutes and this vile corrupt left-wing extremist is working his magic already.<BR/><BR/>Which will be exactly why the Jock brought him back.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-30138174880997900732008-10-21T12:48:00.000+01:002008-10-21T12:48:00.000+01:00Should it be 'happy groundhog day'?Today, another ...Should it be 'happy groundhog day'?<BR/>Today, another scandal involving Lord guacamole brews. And if Osbourne really cares about his friend who gave him a job out of friendship as he's unqualified for it, he should graciously step down and let's have someone like David Davis, William Hague or Chris Grayling in that role. <BR/>Methinks guacamole's birthday is tomorrow though - ask Wikipedia and Guardian newspaper archives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-1615854202860628992008-10-21T12:40:00.000+01:002008-10-21T12:40:00.000+01:00Just to add that sources close to Deripaska have t...Just to add that sources close to Deripaska have told Nick Robinson that he didn't start the conversation about donating money. To the contrary, it seems that Osborne invited Feldman to join in a cosy meeting on the yacht. <BR/><BR/>They must have been discussing fishing or something.PoliticalHackUKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03415484385177871124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-3698673754197892382008-10-21T12:17:00.000+01:002008-10-21T12:17:00.000+01:00Isn't it strange that whilst politics is a dirty b...Isn't it strange that whilst politics is a dirty business, with the return of Mandleson, it has become filthy again.<BR/><BR/>Who will rid us of this stain on our National Morality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-91595961804594215242008-10-21T12:11:00.000+01:002008-10-21T12:11:00.000+01:00weygand 11.52The BBC is no longer a credible sourc...weygand 11.52<BR/><BR/>The BBC is no longer a credible source of information. And all the people peddling the story are notorious proven liars. <BR/><BR/>I only hope that while Gordon's been out with his begging bowl scrounging money from all and sundry using British "assets" as collateral he hasn't been fool enough to borrow from any of the crooks involved in this sorry tale. <BR/><BR/> I wonder what the Russian's offering for a British passport.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-29207588578981598342008-10-21T12:08:00.000+01:002008-10-21T12:08:00.000+01:00Well it's your blog, after all.But, as you know, t...Well it's your blog, after all.<BR/><BR/>But, as you know, there will be all sorts of cheap shots from the Mandelson fraternity, who will be less inclined than I am to accept such a reflective attitude.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-54713339208954017292008-10-21T12:07:00.001+01:002008-10-21T12:07:00.001+01:00I wonder why Mandelson didn't mention this allegat...I wonder why Mandelson didn't mention this allegation about Osborne in the Raworth interview?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-12443061439341178082008-10-21T12:04:00.000+01:002008-10-21T12:04:00.000+01:00Am I right in thinking that part of the allegation...Am I right in thinking that part of the allegation is that Mandelson stayed on the oligarch's yacht, because there was no room in any of Rothchild's 5 houses, whereas Osborne and his wife attended a party they were invited to there for a few hours?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-28236166438113350242008-10-21T12:02:00.000+01:002008-10-21T12:02:00.000+01:00Weygand, you see that's the thing about blogging. ...Weygand, you see that's the thing about blogging. I dont feel the need to give a running commentary on every news story that exists, especially if I cant think of anything I can add that would add to the sum of human knowledge. You will also note that I did not comment on Mandelson meeting this Russian man either.Iain Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03270146219458384372noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-35530918264339833532008-10-21T11:52:00.000+01:002008-10-21T11:52:00.000+01:00Come on Iain.The Times makes a splash of serious a...Come on Iain.<BR/><BR/>The Times makes a splash of serious allegations against the Shadow Chancellor and the Conservative Party.<BR/><BR/>The BBC has two of it's senior reporters cover the story on radio and in their blogs - Peston going so far as to say there is at least one witness prepared to testify that the allegations are true.<BR/><BR/>But no comment from you.<BR/><BR/>I know this is an avowedly partisan blog, but it is diminishing not to have something to say - even if this isresponding to a Mandelson/Campbell/Blair manoeuvre.<BR/><BR/>I can only hope that the delay is due to you taking care to make enquiries of your own.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-61168027842104519202008-10-21T11:40:00.000+01:002008-10-21T11:40:00.000+01:00Am I correct in my perception of a rather informal...Am I correct in my perception of a rather informal narrative style and lack of dates in <BR/>Rothchild's letter making allegations against George Osborne?<BR/><BR/>Is it not likely that a lawyer would have been asked to check and redraft such a letter? <BR/><BR/>Would a lawyer have used this informal narrative style and have failed to add verified date/s to such a letter?<BR/><BR/>The Conservative Party's response does give a date:<BR/><BR/>“The allegations made in Mr Rothschild’s letter are completely untrue. Both Andrew Feldman and George Osborne deny absolutely that they attempted to solicit a donation from Oleg Deripaska. Nor did they suggest a method by which he could conceal a donation via a British company. They spent a short period of time on Mr Deripaska’s boat at the invitation of Mr Rothschild. Donations to the Conservative Party were not discussed with Mr Deripaska. In a conversation on September 18, Mr Rothschild suggested to Andrew Feldman that Mr Deripaska wanted to make a donation to the party through one of his British companies. The offer was not taken up. For clarity - the Conservative Party has neither sought or received any donations from Mr Deripaska nor any of his companies.<BR/>The Conservative Party”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-58377686036039506652008-10-21T11:33:00.000+01:002008-10-21T11:33:00.000+01:00The EU was a fairly honourable project until Marga...The EU was a fairly honourable project until Margaret Thatcher installed Leon Brittan as Trade Minister. He proceeded to negotiate away our shipbuilding, fishing, steelmaking, coal mining, car making and all other industry. Mandy just took over where Brittan left off.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-25924014444063690602008-10-21T11:25:00.000+01:002008-10-21T11:25:00.000+01:00Which of his kind friends bought him a peerage for...Which of his kind friends bought him a peerage for his birthday?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-14899278751107040952008-10-21T11:13:00.000+01:002008-10-21T11:13:00.000+01:00Some accurate comments here about the role of the ...Some accurate comments here about the role of the EU in supporting private super-wealthy and their corporate fronts.<BR/><BR/>I wonder what the role of Murdoch was in all this, he was also there and controls the Times.<BR/><BR/>Mandlesohn, like many senior government apparatchiks these days, understands his role as being essentially to "oil the wheels" by which very rich people and their hedge fund managers can take possession of ever-larger pieces of us.<BR/><BR/>In the US, living standards in real terms are now lower than they were in 1971 for the bottom half of households. For the wealthiest 5%, they are 140 times higher.<BR/><BR/>This is the true result of the grand vision of the monetarists, and is ably supported by neocons and neoliberals like Mandlesohn, Brown, Cameron, etc, who act as the stooges and front-men for the likes of Russian oligarchs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-40412439828134535902008-10-21T11:02:00.000+01:002008-10-21T11:02:00.000+01:00on a non related topic, how are your gym visits go...on a non related topic, how are your gym visits going Iain? or have you stopped going?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6214838.post-82886046237382097452008-10-21T10:58:00.000+01:002008-10-21T10:58:00.000+01:00Have a great birthday, Osmold Smirsh!Have a great birthday, Osmold Smirsh!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com