Sunday, May 25, 2008

Sunday Papers Open Thread

I'm out for most of the day so please use this thread to discuss what is in the Sunday papers or anything else you like. I will approve comments as quickly as I can.

61 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hells teeth, Miliband is doing a great interview with Alan Boulton. Gordon must be quaking in his boots.

Anonymous said...

Just seen David Milliband talking to Andrew Boulton. Denied he was thinking about the leadership but spent the whole interview talking about policy areas not related to his cabinet brief, so me thinks he is a liar.

Anonymous said...

Sure Boulton's not bowling him some dollys?

Paxman made him look worse than useless the other week.

Did Boulton ask him to explain away away the massive public spending deficit? The falling tax revenues the declining growth rate? Did he ask him to explain how he would resolve that? Did he ask him about the tax burden about the exodus of 'nom doms' and businesses?

'Change' was simply labour code to throw out the man who took us into Iraq -- did Boulton press Milliband or indeed any other Labour heavyweight about why they had supported the economic mismanagement which has got us into our current predicament?

Did he or has anyone asked anybody from Labour what is the sudden epiphany they have had which has changed them from anointing Brown to assassinating him?

Anonymous said...

I don't get these arguments of Gordon being the best person to steer UK plc through the credit crunch. If that were true shouldn't he be the Chancellor of the Exchequor?

He would be well advised not to do public interviews alongside Miliband in the future. Who looked fresh, capable, positive, enthusiastic, approachable, casually yet appropriately dressed, articulate, healthy ......on Sky this morning. The complete opposite of Gordon who looks fit only for the knackers yard.

Anonymous said...

I knew David Miliband at University and it was clear even then that he would one day run to be Leader of the Labour Party and PM but the only outstanding question now is when should he do it.

The problem is - if he leaves it too long he may not have a party to lead. If he goes too early he wil only lead a party to defeat and then another leadership challenge.

Anonymous said...

11:59 - A liar? A socialist?

Anonymous said...

The Jock MUST stay!.

Love it the way any other replacement will also be wiped out at the next General election - if McLabour havent banned elections by then.

Anonymous said...

Every English person with a brain cell KNOWS this is true, why does even Cameron pander to the communist Scottish EU Region????.
------------

Biting the hand that fights you
David Cameron has, yet again, told a conference in Scotland “I don’t want to be Prime Minister of England”. He also repeated the mantra “Better an imperfect Union than a broken one”.

Well David, keep telling us that you don’t want to lead our country and you might find that the English choose someone else to do it. You might want to ask your colleagues how many Scottish people voted for your party because they sure as hell won’t win you the next election chum.

And why must we tolerate “an imperfect Union” if the imperfect union means discrimination against England at the hands of British politicians elected in another country? Why must we accept the deaths of English cancer sufferers because there is no English money left for cancer treatments that are available for free in Scotland after English taxes have been sent to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to pay the union bribe? Why should our elderly sell their homes and possessions to pay for care when they can’t look after themselves because there is no English money left after paying for Scottish pensioners’ social care to pay for the same treatment for English pensioners? Why must we tolerate an “imperfect union” that means MPs elected in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can decide what happens to - amongst many, many others - English education, transport and health service when they can’t even decide it for their own constituencies?

But most of all, why should we tolerate a future prime minister that continues to insult and to sideline the English? Be careful what you wish for Dave, it might just come true.

http://www.thecep.org.uk/wordpress/blog/

Anonymous said...

Brown should go on external indebtedness alone.
The following figures for External Debt are from the CIA, linked here:

1 United States $12,877,889,ooo,000 Estimated on 31 December 2007
2 United Kingdom $ 11,502,800,ooo,ooo Estimated on Q4 2007
3 Germany $4,489,000,000,000 Estimated on 30 June 2007

No wonder then that Gordon Brown has to rob, eke out and squeeze every penny he is able from the UK citizens all living in a bankrupt country. No wonder he took a sledge hammer to both the poor and the motorists, those least able to escape from his tyranny.

Get rid of him NOW. A few more weeks and the Lisbon Treaty will be ratified without a referendum and withdrawal from the totally corrupt EU, which is bleeding Britain dry for zero returns will be impossible ever after. BECAUSE the economic terms for leaving will, post-Lisbon, be set out and imposed by the leeches that have put the country on the death bed where it today expends its dying breath!

How can anybody imagine that Britain, with a mere fifth of the USA population and an even smaller fraction of its GNP, can ever hope to regain solvency after the Brown years while paying the billions and billions extra to the EU as agreed by Tony Blair in his bid to be the first secretly appointed President of the corrupt EU which will be finally permanently established in the Lisbon Treaty.

Unsworth said...

Milliband is not a Leader - nor is Brown for that matter. Anyway, does anyone seriously believe the boy has enough support, character and charisma to get NuLab into a winning position at the next General Election?

Come to think of it which NuLab political figure has Leadership stamped all the way through? They're all weak, so weak.

Anonymous said...

Millibland is not going to risk it.

He is not a leader - he spouts bland platitudes and just drifts with the prevailing currents.

Plus no-one actually likes him.

You need a base of support - and he clearly doesn't have it.

Anonymous said...

Remember Michael Foot was English.
The PM is a man of great strength and determination. He lost his eye at 16 and despite this went on to get a double first one year before anyone else gets their degree. That shows deep intelligence, and determination never to be broken.
He lost his child but kept strong. He has faced tremendous struggle in his life but his awesome mental strength and intelligence keeps him going.
Under 10 years of Blair people said he would never get the top job but his patience won him the office.
This man's whole life has been about struggle, fihting the odds, and winning. I ask you does this man seem like quitter, no way is this man the type of guy we need running the country. Yes.
Strength, Mental strength, integrity, intelligence, honour, morality, and a kick but mentality that makes Alan Sugar look like Glen Roeder. Tories you aint fighting Michale Fopot, you figiting the scottish Winston Chuirchill.

Anonymous said...

Surely Miliband can see that a few years on the EU gravy train would be his best option now - much better than leading the Labour party to defeat or even just being around while Brown leads them to defeat.

Victor, NW Kent said...

Does anyone really think that either Miliband wants to lead the party through a disastrous General Election and then into the wilderness. He surely isn't a Moses [although 40 years there would be their just deserts for profligacy and persistent dishonesty in every action they took].

Tapestry said...

Lisbon is not yet secure. Once Lisbon is secure, the EU will enforce membership of the euro on Britain. Brown and Miliband have been instructed to cling on by Brussels until Britain is finally captured. Then it makes no difference who leads the Labour Party or is PM.

The only MPs to break ranks and criticise Gordon so far have been eurosceptics.

Milliband is saying to them that if they sink Gordon, they have to fight him next.

Anonymous said...

"That shows deep intelligence, and determination never to be broken."

Actually, it shows neither of those things. It shows we have an overly bookish Prime Minister who is clever on paper but not when it comes to dealing the real world.

"Tories you aint fighting Michale Fopot, you figiting the scottish Winston Chuirchill."

I don't remember Winston Churchill picking his nose and eating the contents on live TV, or meeting world leaders with a make-up stain the size of an orange on his forehead.

Anonymous said...

The Raven :
But Chuechill got drunk alot, and was bald, he was not some male bimbo who looked good but had no brains.
How can you produce 11 years of ecnomic growth and be told you do not understand reality.

Anonymous said...

Sure, Labour have problems. But take out Cameron and the Tories aren't up to much either.

Are you telling me Osborne looks the part - surely Rory Bremner is going to get around to that squeaky voice some time now.

Hague will always irredeemably be a prematurely bald teenager sullied by desperate attempts - pints and baseball caps - to make himself out ot be a grown.

Gove is brilliant and better still without the specs but he suffers the same problem as Milliband. No one is going over the top to support him - because he's a spotty swot who pisses everyone off by being so smart.

Cameron might be tempted to pick Willets and Redwood out of the cupboard if they don't try and get out it themselves. Either way, voters will be frigtened by the voices and haircuts.

Raedwald said...

Brown's intelligence is strictly second-rate. It's the plodding determination of a not particularly bright man rather than the lightning intellect of a real pointy-head.

The five years it took him to gain his first degree was excusable given his eye problems. The ten years it took him to gain a PhD, with a dreary encomium to the obscure Scots socialist James Maxton, is a more realistic measure of his worth.

Hardly a Scots Winston Churchill.

By the age at which Brown had gained his PhD and was still playing student politics, Churchill had fought in Cuba, served in India, fighting at Malakand, and was earning a subsidiary living as a journalist. Serving in Egypt he took part in the British army's last real cavalry charge at Omdurman, was captured and escaped during the Boer War, travelling 300 miles across hostile country, became MP for Oldham, undertook a transatlantic speaking tour that earned him the equivalent of Blair, and had became Under-secretary of State for the Colonies.

Had the 31 year old government Minister met the 31 year old dark and brooding politics lecturer from Glasgow Tech I'm quite sure he would have found the comparison invidious.

(Word verification 'gwang'. What a delicious word.)

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist.blogspot.com/ said...

"The PM is a man of great strength and determination. He lost his eye at 16 and despite this went on to get a double first one year before anyone else gets their degree. That shows deep intelligence, and determination never to be broken."


No, des, it reflects that Brown was a child of an odd and extraordinary, privileged background and is prone to neurotic mood swings and irrational decisions as a result.

We would all gain double firsts if we had the privileged childhood Brown had.

We would all be elitist boffins if raised by privileged intellectuals - at least one of whom had a private education paid for by a family trust which she inherited.

We would all be high educational flyers if we were tutored by a father who was rector (headmaster) of our top notch, 425 year old Scots school.

We would all be child progenies if we were pressured and brainwashed into believing ourselves such by our pushy, wealthy, middle class parents.

However, we might also be likely to grow up to be psychologically flawed narcissists, detached from reality, unable to relate to the real lives of the majority, prone to psychological outages and breakdowns.

We might also become aloof elitists and paternalists, looking down on the 'poor English and Africans' whom we persuade ourselves we must 'help' by controlling their lives and economies no matter how impassioned their wish to govern themselves.

Anonymous said...

Raewald: Where did you see the word 'gwang'? In what context?

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist said:

"He lost his child but kept strong."


Countless thousands of people lose children and survive, des, sad as that is. Many go on to show remarkable compassion to others in a similar situation.

Brown has not. He has become even more detached and even more aloof from the rest of us and our personl tragedies.

Look at his heartless and perverse treatment of people with disabilities and the elderly.

Anonymous said...

Raedwald Churchill did not have to cope with being blind in one eye. I am sure that Churchill would respect the PM for his intelligence and determination.
Plus how do you know the PM has pointy head. He is a married man. LOL

Anonymous said...

Raedwald The PM did not take 5 years to get a degree. scottish degrees take 4 years because it is basically a masters with a degree. Look this up. It is not the same sam as in England.
He spent much of his early years at university in hospital or recuperating form the loss of an eye and the near loss of another eye. And got a double first, despite this.
So that is a double first masters at 21. Hardly second rate. The phrase double first masters tends to put paid to that claim.

Flo' He did not have a extraordinary, privileged background. He went to state school. The tory leader went to Eton no one makes those claims about him having given a break that anyone could take.
He is not racist to the English He is married to an English woman. His best buddies are Ed Balls and Ed Milliband English men. You cannot claim that just because he is not english he must hate English people. There is no evidence for that.

Anonymous said...

RE: dirtyeuropeansocialist.blogspot.com/ said...

***He is an unelected, unnacountable to English people, lying inept treasonous anti-English communist buffoon and he and his vile Regime are going to be wiped out at the next General Election.

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist.blogspot

"Brown's...Mental strength, integrity, intelligence, honour, morality"


The Brown of your superman fantasies has repeatedly lied, des, and you've fallen for his lies hook, line and sinker. Not just in budget after budget, not just to mislead ordinary hard working people, he has repeatedly lied about his own background.

Brown misrepresents himself as the poor son of the manse who made good when the opposite is true.

Brown was a privileged rich kid, the son of privileged parents, born in a private hospital that's the Scots equivalent of London's haunt of royals, Queen Charlottes.

For generations Brown's mother's Souter family were rich capitalists. They were land owners, farmers, wholesalers, merchants, builders, mill owners, they even owned the local undertakers.

They were Tories and Free Masons too, who owned and employed much of the town of Insch. Brown's uncle, whom Brown was named after, was Mayor of Insch.

Brown's mother, the beneficiary of a family trust which paid for her private education, was a director of the above family company for which she received a nice little income for doing nothing and married her 'poor rector' in a silk dress and tiara - was that in wartime, by the way?

Brown has claimed that if the health service hadn't saved his sight his family could not have afforded private treatment for him.

It would be interesting to test this claim, since Brown's family clearly could afford to pay for him to be born in Scotland's most exclusive private hospital with fees akin to those of Queen Charlotte's.

Anonymous said...

Plus the PM has increased winter fuel allowances and public pensions. He has increased spending on the NHS so the disabled can benefit. It was the tory and their leader who voted against work life balance laws.

Anonymous said...

Gordon Brown's a nasty piece of work. But then, so was Tony Blair. Equally vicious and inadequate in their own ways. Blair's more of a chancer, though.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the Metropolitan meeja have to re-appraise themselves with events north of Watford and historic results.

Anonymous said...

If Miliband were to accept the (poisoned chalice) premiership the three parties would have the most cloned leaders I can remember. Even their ages are within a year or so.

Ought we simplify the whole selection procedure by aiming to produce bland, composite politicians and then sifting them so that the slightly centre-right join the Tories, the slightly centre-left Labour and the slightly centre-centre the Libdems?

BTW Miliband sounds to me like a radio frequency range.

DES - Do you have a first language?

Anonymous said...

The PM has been good to the diabled.
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which completed the implementation of the Disability Rights Task Force recommendations, including the extension of the DDA 1995 to cover public transport, and the introduction of a duty on public authorities to promote equality for disabled people.

Plus he has increased public pensions with above inflation payments. Thacther was the mena one on pensions.

Anonymous said...

"But Chuechill got drunk alot, and was bald, he was not some male bimbo who looked good but had no brains."

Churchill won a world war. Brown was so frightened of losing a leadership election he did everything he could to bully the party out of having one.

And if you think Cameron is a bimbo, that just shows how utterly thick you really are. The man has a first class academic mind (like Gordon), but more importantly, he has a political brain Brown could only wish for.

strapworld said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist...please, if you are going to enter into a serious political discussion, get your facts correct.

The Disability Discimination Act 2005 was two years before Brown managed to con the Labour Party into allowing him to walk into Number 10!

So, how on earth you credit this Act to Brown is beyond logic.

Brown has promised us a vision thing...where or what is it?

He promised us new idea's - He has stolen the Conservatives idea's!

He has said he is taking the big decisions...just what decisions has he taken in which he has not been forced to take.

Frankly, and I know a lttle bit about leadership and leading. Brown is most certainly NOT a leader. He most certainly does not lead. Please give me just one example- during his premiership- of his leading anything!

You would be far better considering just who can possibly save your beloved party from obliteration!

Anonymous said...

Great posts DES

They're the best spoofs I've ever seen of a typical half-witted Labour supporter. Keep 'em coming.

Sceptical Steve said...

DES said "Raedwald The PM did not take 5 years to get a degree. scottish degrees take 4 years because it is basically a masters with a degree. Look this up. It is not the same sam as in England."

Indded it's not the asame as England. Under the Bologna Accords, a Scottish masters Degree is equivalent to an English (and most other nations') First Degree.

And where, pray, do you get this idea that he received a Double First? He received a First in History which, under the local system, qualified as a Scottish MA. There was no other subject involved, so there was no Double First.

Trying to elevate him into some great intellectual genius and Churchillian hero is laughable and DES is sadly deluded.

Anonymous said...

The Common Purpose Charter

Vision
In every democracy, there is an invisible, open space. It lies between the citizen and the state. Between the immediate responsibilities facing each individual and the institutional responsibilities of the government. It is political, but not party political: a place where people come together and act for a greater good. And it is open to everyone, from every sector of society.

In an unhealthy democracy, this space is empty. People may exercise their votes but, other than that, they leave the decisions to the governments they elect. They are active in their private lives, but passive towards the society around them.

In a healthy democracy, this space is full. It teems with individuals, businesses, community organisations and political groups. It is alive with energy and entrepreneurial activity. People hold institutions and the powerful to account. They oppose and propose. And, free from the short-term pressures of the election cycle, they can think and act for the longer term and in the wider interest.

At Common Purpose, we have a passionate belief in the importance of this space. In our view, this is the true meaning of democracy. Active not passive. Every day not just every election. Involving the best leadership from all parts of the community, not just from the people we elect.

Aim
Our aim is to fill this space with as many people as possible - and to give them the knowledge, inspiration and networks they need to be effective. To encourage all kinds of people into it - and to see all kinds of initiatives come out of it. To discover new leaders in the bustling crowd - and to show the lone voices that they are not alone.

We develop leaders who can lead beyond their authority, beyond their direct circle of control. Who can lead networks as well as organisations. Who can produce change even when they can't instruct or elicit trust in familiar ways. Who can sustain broader perspectives and who are confident in making connections between quite different groups of people and reconciling different worlds.

We believe that they will then be able to counterbalance the forces of fragmentation in society, getting communities to work better together. They will be better at using and combining scarce resources. And though they may only seldom produce huge shifts, they will deliver the accumulation of many small ones from which most change emerges.

Ethos
As we create a common educational experience within and across many countries, Common Purpose remains independent and non-aligned. We are always balanced and owe no historical or other allegiance to any other group. Our independence is reflected in our governance, finances, partnerships, behaviour and curriculum.

The Chatham House Rule is respected on all programmes. Professional teams create innovative and ingenious ways of working to ensure that all Common Purpose activities are high quality, stimulating, imaginative and fun. We draw on the widest possible variety of sectors, areas, beliefs and social groups. We would only exclude organisations or individuals if they deliberately promoted the use of violence, incited race or religious hatred, or set out to undermine democracy. We aim to be self-financing but work hard so that inability (as distinct from unwillingness) to pay is not a barrier to involvement in our activities.

Common Purpose staff behave as leaders themselves, delivering quality, taking risks, building on successes, adapting and evolving as society does across time and place and context. They seldom give up.

Anonymous said...

"a double first" is surely Oxbridge jargon - what (if anything) does it mean at Edinburgh?

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist.:: said...

The PM has been good to the disabled.


des,a friend of mine, a former nurse, who can walk only small distances in great pain due to severe arthritis in her legs, shoulders and arms must use a wheelchair much of the time.

She has put been put through an inquisition by your government's greedy compulsion to force her and many others like her to work.

She, like so many others with severe disabilties, lives in fear of this government.

The Disability Act you refer to was enacted in such a negilgently flawed form tnat no one had any idea what the 'reasonable adjustments" it required were.

I rang the Disability Rights Commission to ask them asfter the Act was passed.

"We can't say what a reasonble adjustment might be", they told me, 'It will be for the courts to decide"

So, millions of disabled people and small businesses were left hanging in the air by your DRA.

And this deliberate equivocation forced millions of small businesses like mine - I'm severly deaf - to make costly modifications to premises which they could not afford and may not have needed to make.

Like so much else nulab has initiated, it is one almighty, confused mess.

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist.:: said...

The PM has been good to the disabled.


des,a friend of mine, a former nurse, who can walk only small distances in great pain due to severe arthritis in her legs, shoulders and arms must use a wheelchair much of the time.

She has put been put through an inquisition by your government's greedy compulsion to force her and many others like her to work.

She, like so many others with severe disabilties, lives in fear of this government.

The Disability Act you refer to was enacted in such a negilgently flawed form tnat no one had any idea what the 'reasonable adjustments" it required were.

I rang the Disability Rights Commission to ask them asfter the Act was passed.

"We can't say what a reasonble adjustment might be", they told me, 'It will be for the courts to decide"

So, millions of disabled people and small businesses were left hanging in the air by your DRA.

And this deliberate equivocation forced millions of small businesses like mine - I'm severly deaf - to make costly modifications to premises which they could not afford and may not have needed to make.

Like so much else nulab has initiated, it is one almighty, confused mess.

Anonymous said...

Jennifer Jane Brown was born seven weeks premature at 30 weeks gestation. Last week Gordon Brown voted to approve late abortions up to 24 weeks. So the difference of 6 short weeks is the difference for Gordon Brown between an 'unviable' life to be disposed of and his premature daughter. You'd have thought his experience might have sensitized him to the development of the child in the womb. But apparently not.

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist.: said...

He has increased spending on the NHS so the disabled can benefit.


The NHS is almost bankrupt.

A friend of mine with cancer who has worked hard all of her life has recently been denied treatment which would prolong her life significantly because.

In her 50s, she has been told that she is TOO OLD to receive cancer treatment which would have been her right had she lived in Brown's constituency, or any other other in Scotland.

I don't know ho you have the nerve to brag about the health service. Perhaps you would like to brag about it to my friend?

We had an enviable health service before nulab came to power and destroyed it.

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist, how dare you brag about Brown's pension policy. He has destroyed our pension system and the pensions of millions.

Ask pensioners how they feel about Brown. No, forget that, the pensioners etc of Crewe and Nantwich have just had their say and their answer was an unequivocal vote of no confidence in Mr millionaire Brown.

niconoclast said...

Never understood how Socialists like Brown who practice vicarious philanthropy get kudos for it.Being generous with your money is one thing - but other people's?!

Anonymous said...

Anon @ 6:16pm

Let's rehearse the arguments, shall we?

There is no clear scientific evidence that viability of the foetus to survive outside the womb has decreased from the 24 week target set in 1990 when the Act was last amended (from 28 weeks).

Babies born at 30 weeks have massively increased survival rates compared to those born below 24.

Jennife Brown died not because she was premature, which she was - but because of complications in her own health and thus viability to survive a premature birth.

To say that there is some kind of connection between the 24 week target and the Browns' loss of their daughter is absolute nonsense; on the medical viability statistics alone, 24 weeks is the right choice.

Whether there is something else to add to that debate in terms of consciousness / "becoming a human being" / objvections on religious or moral grounds is another matter - to use the example of Brown's daughter in such a way is in very poor taste, very poor taste indeed.

Anonymous said...

I sympathise with your friend Flo. But it is labour who increased NHS spending. Remember cancer surival rates were the lowest in europe, Scotland was lower than former eastern block nations, when labour came to power. We did not have an enviable health service in anyway, it was one of the worst in Europe. I sympathise with your friend. You have not insulted me you have just dissagreed with me. So I respect you.
Also it is the tories who want to force the disabled to to off the dole. Not labour. This is what tories have been upset about about labour not being ruthless enough on the disbaled. Tories are allways saying that "fake benefit" claimants should be chucked of the dole, and that too many people far doing fake claims. I agree the disbaled should get benefits. But it is the tories who tend not too.

Anonymous said...

5:00 PM He is not anti english he has an english wife and english buddies like Balls and Ed Milliband. Do not make up that all scottish people are racist toward english people. Do not justify your bogotry on fake claims.

6:03 PM I am not half witted I have an IQ over 120, and postgraduate qualifications. You are just a bully who cannot argue with people fairly. So has to resort to insults. Bore.


5:37 PM You are the thick one I never said he was a bimbo.
I said just because he picked his nose is does not disaquality for him for high office. The joke is you thoguht i was referring to the tory leader LOL.


5:03 PM That hardly compares to being lords or aristrocracy. I have lived in mall town. Being mayor of a small town it is not like beibng lord mayor of London. I know council members and local towns mayors they are not members of the establishment in any manner. He a ordinary middle class guy, he is not part of some aristocratic family in any way. He is from a small town in a small county, in small country he is not in any way part of what would be called an establishment. The tory leader has real establishment creditials.

5:29 Stop boring me.

Anonymous said...

Sceptical Steve Wrong
I looked at

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/FHEQ/SCQF/SelfCertification2007.asp

And it seems to show that scottish masters is put at cycle two. I do not see that as consitent with what wikipedia says but wikipedia might be wrong. And it is one of only two nations to have been invenstiaged by this group.

Anonymous said...

strapworld 5.52

Please give me just one example- during his premiership- of his leading anything!


The Heroic War on Plastic Bags

Anonymous said...

I have looked on this page for the actual scottish report on the Bologna accord and it seems to indicate that the ma in soctland is of the same level as and english MA. As you would expect for a 4 year course.

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/FHEQ/background/ewni/positionPaperAnnex.asp

The report you refer to is for England in the year 2000, yet mouths off about a nation it was not supposed to be investigating. Seems a bit of a vindictive report you were referring to. Your report is for a different nation and 7 years older than my report. So the report you refet to seems like a bit of unfair bitching from a body that is not supposed to report on ushc issies.

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist.: said...

Flo' He did not have a extraordinary, privileged background. He went to state school. The tory leader went to Eton no one makes those claims about him having given a break that anyone could take.


Yes Brown did have a privileged upbringing, des. See my later post about his mother's trust fund, her private education and income as a director of her family business (for nil work) and her family's wealth.

That explains why Brown was born at Scotland's most exclusive, private hospital. It explains how his family were able ot afford a very nice car too. And how they could afford to stock up a tuck shop where Brown acted as the proprietor...all for charity, or so he claimed.

Yes he was educated in a state school - the top notch 425 year old school where his father was rector (headmaster). The standard of education in top Scots state schools is substantially better than those in England.

Cameron did go to Eton, you are right. I personally don't care where a PM was educated as long as he did receive a reasonable education, I'm more interested in his capablities. However, as you're anti-elitist education, it must give you a problem that Blair was educated at the Scots Eton - Fettes.

P.S. As you believe that Brown is such a good bloke, perhaps you would explain how you explain to yourself why he fiddles his expanses.

Manfarang said...

June 18th -A Yes vote?

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist said...

5:00 PM He is not anti english he has an english wife and english buddies like Balls and Ed Milliband. Do not make up that all scottish people are racist toward english people. Do not justify your bogotry on fake claims.


des, you've rightly pointed out that Scotland was disadvantaged in health terms when nulab came to office.

However, how can it be just for seriously/teminally ill people in other parts of the UK to be denied vital life saving or pain/sympton relieving treatment - which is what is happening - in order to address that? That's effectively creating more inequality in order to resolve inequality and is neither socially just nor rational.

Also, when you adjust for Scotland's lower cost of living and house prices, higher average level of diposable income and current, improved health position, it's clear to me that the inequalities that the Barnet formula is intended to adjust have been overcome.

If the aim is purely social justice as you and the government claim, why hasn't the Barnet formula been modified to take account of Scotland's improved situation and equalise the position with England?

There must now be other factors than disadvantage conditioning England's continued subsidy to Scotland - and these can only be political ones. Isn't it clear that England is forced to continue subsidising better standards of health in Scotland than apply in England solely to buy Scots votes for nulab?

Second, it is generally accepted that Scotland's higher levels of alcohol consumption, alcoholism and alcohol related illness were a major factor explaining Scotland's former health inequalities.

Why should those sick people in England who have not caused their illness by their own lifestyle choices be denied treatment in order to treat the effects of higher levels of, self induced, alcoholism in Scotland?


In which casethe blatant inequalities between England and Scotland are still sustained by this Government via the Barnet formula?

To put it bluntly, why are cancer patients in England dying for lack of treatment that the cancer patients of Scotland routinely receive?

Anonymous said...

dirtyeuropeansocialist said...

"I have an IQ over 120"

And I have an IQ over 160, but I don't look down on you because you're an intellectual pygmy.

I look down on you because you're a foreign dirtbag who can't mind his own business.

Anonymous said...

Sad to be boasting about an IQ over 120. Most people reading and responding to this blog will be above this minimal level.

Seaxe said...

Stone the crows DES! Just because a man has a brain the size of lancashire, umpteen degrees and a real vision doesn't mean he can lead the nation. I know blokes with high IQs and PhDs who need help with their shoelaces!

Brown, and it was Brown, removed a 10p tax band from the lowest paid and replaced with a 20p tax band. No need for a Masters in Mathematics. Even low paid binmen worked out they would be worse off. Why didn't Brown think it through?

Sorry DES Socialism is like the perpetual motion machine, it looks good on paper but I don't know anywhere where it has actually worked.

Anonymous said...

10:07 AM Since when was europe foreign you ignorant ####. I look down on you because you are a bully and a thug. You look down on me because some confused warped version of racism which seems to think the UK is not part of Europe. The UK is in Europe and I am from the UK. How am I foreign you maniac. Are you that idiot who keeps claiming I am Chinese.

Anonymous said...

9:06 AM Scotland subsidies the rest of the UK thanks to 28 billion pound oil tax revenues.

Anonymous said...

"P.S. As you believe that Brown is such a good bloke, perhaps you would explain how you explain to yourself why he fiddles his expanses." Because his underpancees and are too small.

Anonymous said...

Flo' England does not subsidise scoltnad you are out of date. The oil price now means Scotland makes massive profit for the UK. How can you claim with the present oil price the Scotland is still subsidised your claim may have been true 6 years ago but the oil price has more than doubled in the last year, alone it has risen from 20$ a few years ago to $130. Some claim 28 billion a year is made from oil tax revenues (not pretrol) There is no subsidy to Scotland anymore. Please do not say this lie that you subsidise the country anymore. It is simply not true.

Anonymous said...

'Brown's towering intellect !!**@?'

Well, Mr Prudence, if you're so damn clever why's our economy in such a mess and why are you struggling to survive?

Surely, not still learning lessons!

Anonymous said...

An open letter of encouragement to Dirty European Socialist:

There are obvious reasons why you are on this blog and not one of those scurillous left-wing blogs over at the Guardian or LabourHome or whatever they're called (LabourHomeless if they ever grant us the privilege of a General Election).

Those reasons are:

a) Those lefty blogs are populated mostly by humourless, joyless, uninteresting, self-righteous, PC numpties. Where's the entertainment value? They all take themselves far too seriously.

b) You thrive on an argument - like all bolshie stirrers - but that's OK, we can handle it. Socialism has already lost most of the arguments worldwide anyway. It's an uphill struggle for you all to make your case. That's why most of you are angry and belligerent. All that stress is bad for your health. Don't worry, we can help.

c) Right-of-centre blogs (like this one) tend to attract a much more fun crowd that has a more pragmatic outlook on issues. You're beginning to appreciate a sensible viewpoint put across with a sense of humour and a degree of self-depracation. I can feel your stress levels dropping already.

d) You are secretly hoping that if you associate regularly with enough decent Conservative people that you will be cured of the crippling mental affliction that is Socialism. Stay with us DES, you're almost there.

e) You will still be a Dirty European though....but that's OK. Go on....admit it...you like us really.


Best wishes from us all, may your remedy be swift and painless.