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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Opinium found more CON voters than LAB ones believing that

SystemSystem Posts: 11,003
edited October 2013 in General

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Opinium found more CON voters than LAB ones believing that their party will come out on top at GE2015

As we’ve go into the last day of conference season 2013 one thing’s for sure, the political world does look different from before the Lib Dems gathered in Glasgow earlier in the month.

Read the full story here


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    JohnLoonyJohnLoony Posts: 1,790
    Eight thousand, five hundred and thirty-seventh!
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    edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,141
    What conference season 2013 has done is define strongly the battle lines for GE2015. There is clear blue, or red if you like, water between the two main
    parties.
    This is true, and the impressive thing is that the line-drawing has been done without any substantial differences between the parties at all. Miliband and Balls accepted the Tory tax and spending plans and agreed for a Tory-created organisation to police whether they're doing that, but a few incredibly minor differences have made it look like there's some huge gap between them and Osborne.
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    edmundintokyoedmundintokyo Posts: 17,141
    OT Paddy Power will give you 1/4 against a US Treasury default this year. This is either incredibly good value or absolutely terrifying. If you take it, you may want to hedge with canned food and guns.

    http://www.paddypower.com/bet/other-politics/us-politics-specials?ev_oc_grp_ids=1315341
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    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976
    ‘Campbell rages at Daily Mail over Miliband father’

    An odd choice of spokesman to come out and defend Ed, from the nasty Mail.

    Ali ‘45 minute’ Campbell, a man who lied, smeared and bullied on an industrial scale taking the moral high ground, whatever next.
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    BobajobBobajob Posts: 1,536
    Labour 10 point lead YouGov
    31/41/8/12
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Back in March, when Labour was clearly in the lead, more than twice as many people (54% to 24%) thought Labour would be the largest party in 2015 than the Conservative Party. Since then, that lead in expectation has fallen away and the figures now sit at 42% to 37% thinking Labour, instead of the Tories, will win.

    Of course, both sides are most likely to think their own party will win. But what is clear is that Labour’s lead in expectations to win was down to a high degree of pessimism amongst Tory ranks. In March, only 60% of Conservative voters thought their party would win next time round, compared to 82% of Labour supporters who thought their side would win.

    Although all voters have reacted to the polls, Labour voters are still pretty clear that they think they’re on course to win (75%). The movement appears to be down to the dissipation of defeatism from many Conservative voters. Now 79% of Tory voters think they’ll be on the winning side in 2015 – up almost 20 points since March. Conservative voters now appear more confident of victory than Labour voters do. http://news.opinium.co.uk/survey-results/tories-regain-their-confidence
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    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    I see Labour are demanding an apology from the Mail - they must be loving this - what a result, acres of comment, EdM is a Marxist has been established as a theme and they've demonstrated why political control of the Press is a Bad Thing when saying mean things about them gets such a reaction.

    The piece in the Guardian was very interesting here - http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/01/daily-mail-journalist-ralph-miliband?CMP=twt_gu

    "While we respect Mr Miliband's right to defend his father – and he has done so in the Daily Mail today – it is worth stressing that Ralph Miliband wasn't an ordinary private individual but a prominent academic and author who devoted his life to promoting a Marxist dogma which caused so much misery in the world. He hated such British institutions as the Queen, the church and the army, and wanted a workers' revolution. Our readers have a right to know that."

    Levy, a former Daily Express reporter, is a long-serving Daily Mail feature writer who specialises in long articles about characters with a colourful – and often controversial – history.

    "He is like a human literary sewing machine," said one former colleague, who described Levy's skill as stitching together facts – usually from old newspaper cuttings – into a fresh 1,000-word story. "He is his master's voice and he's good at it."
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    It's almost as if YouGov are doing it on purpose. A 10 point Labour lead during the Tory conference, parity during the Labour conference.

    The significant thing may not be the party polling, though, but what is happening to the EdM polling. If that is sustained then I imagine Labour will be sending champagne and roses to Mr Dacre and his team.

    Early days yet, but it could be that the British voting public do not buy the idea that a slight and temporary extension of price controls into energy (from, for example, transport and water) and a slight extension of the existing compulsory purchase regime is not actually the full-scale Marxism the more hysterical members of the right here and elsewhere have claimed.
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    Scott_PScott_P Posts: 51,453
    tim said:


    The only thing that could've made the day better would've been ScottP

    Seek help. This creepy stalking seems to be taking over your life.
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    The Mail is like a dog with a bone here - another very strong piece.

    About 14 million people were killed in the civil war that followed the revolution, five million of them in a famine triggered by the insane economic policies of the Bolshevik government. A deliberate famine, designed to force peasants into collective farms, resulted in a further seven million deaths between 1928 and 1932.

    Historians have compared conditions in some camps with those that Allied troops met in Hitler’s Belsen concentration camp, with starving people lying down waiting to die. Many survivors resorted to cannibalism. Such a system — whose goal was ‘social justice’ — relied on any number of Western apologists to deny what others had witnessed first-hand.

    Many of these were British academics, intellectuals and journalists. Among them were the founders of the London School of Economics, Sidney and Beatrice Webb. They merely said of Stalin’s terror famine: ‘Strong must have been the faith and resolute the will of the men who, in the interest of what seemed to them the public good, could take so momentous a decision...’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2440732/Ed-Milibands-father-Ralph-MICHAEL-BURLEIGH-Stalins-gulags-Left-wing-British-apologists.html#ixzz2gXctA1lq
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited October 2013
    I've always thought the essential difference in British society and politics is between those who admire the 'Daily mail values' and those who despise them.

    Much more coherent than all the stuff about fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

    Those who find their values abhorrent are in a majority and have been for several years now and possibly explains why the Conservatives who are closely associated with those values can never break through the glass ceiling.

    It is often described as the 'centre ground' but it's values aren't left and right. I suspect it's also why Glegg made such a mistake. He wasn't just pragmatically propping up a Tory government he was lining up behind the values of Paul Dacre and he lost half his party.
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    Plato said:

    The Mail is like a dog with a bone here - another very strong piece.

    About 14 million people were killed in the civil war that followed the revolution, five million of them in a famine triggered by the insane economic policies of the Bolshevik government. A deliberate famine, designed to force peasants into collective farms, resulted in a further seven million deaths between 1928 and 1932.

    Historians have compared conditions in some camps with those that Allied troops met in Hitler’s Belsen concentration camp, with starving people lying down waiting to die. Many survivors resorted to cannibalism. Such a system — whose goal was ‘social justice’ — relied on any number of Western apologists to deny what others had witnessed first-hand.

    Many of these were British academics, intellectuals and journalists. Among them were the founders of the London School of Economics, Sidney and Beatrice Webb. They merely said of Stalin’s terror famine: ‘Strong must have been the faith and resolute the will of the men who, in the interest of what seemed to them the public good, could take so momentous a decision...’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2440732/Ed-Milibands-father-Ralph-MICHAEL-BURLEIGH-Stalins-gulags-Left-wing-British-apologists.html#ixzz2gXctA1lq
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    A strange article to run:

    "Although it must be stressed that Ralph Miliband never agreed with Hobsbawm over the latter’s refusal to condemn Stalinism’s 30 million dead, or the Soviet invasion of Hungary".

    Well, indeed. Miliband Senior explicitly rejected Soviet communism and celebrated its downfall.


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    BobajobBobajob Posts: 1,536
    tim said:

    Bobajob said:

    Labour 10 point lead YouGov
    31/41/8/12

    @MSmithsonPB: Some significant increases for EdM in latest YouGov leader characteristics trackers
    See http://t.co/AH1V8poTd4

    Why oh why is Ed taking on the Daily Mail (said the lower league PB Tories)
    The only thing that could've made the day better would've been ScottP posting "weak weak weak" over and over again.

    @TimMontgomerie: Every half decent Briton will have seen Ed Miliband defend his father and feel warmer towards Labour's leader. What is the Mail playing at?

    Big thanks to the Daily Heil and their fellow travellers on here due I think, and Ed should keep kicking the crap out them for a while yet
    Plato yesterday: "Ed Miliband is just making it worse for himself"


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    BobajobBobajob Posts: 1,536
    Plato said:

    I see Labour are demanding an apology from the Mail - they must be loving this - what a result, acres of comment, EdM is a Marxist has been established as a theme and they've demonstrated why political control of the Press is a Bad Thing when saying mean things about them gets such a reaction.

    The piece in the Guardian was very interesting here - http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/oct/01/daily-mail-journalist-ralph-miliband?CMP=twt_gu

    "While we respect Mr Miliband's right to defend his father – and he has done so in the Daily Mail today – it is worth stressing that Ralph Miliband wasn't an ordinary private individual but a prominent academic and author who devoted his life to promoting a Marxist dogma which caused so much misery in the world. He hated such British institutions as the Queen, the church and the army, and wanted a workers' revolution. Our readers have a right to know that."

    Levy, a former Daily Express reporter, is a long-serving Daily Mail feature writer who specialises in long articles about characters with a colourful – and often controversial – history.

    "He is like a human literary sewing machine," said one former colleague, who described Levy's skill as stitching together facts – usually from old newspaper cuttings – into a fresh 1,000-word story. "He is his master's voice and he's good at it."

    You have called this entirely wrong from the start. Yet still you spin.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    The cold war ended 25 years ago, when Ed Milliband was still in his teens. It is hard to see its relevence today, with one possible exception.

    There is a parallel between the apologists for Stalins terror and the apologists for regimes in the contemporary world that systematically oppress women, homosexuals and minority groups. Often those apologists are from the left, such as Galloway and Livingstone with their support of Iran.

    The Cold war is over, but there is still a substantial body of people in Britain who share contempt for the liberal social values that protect them.
    Plato said:

    The Mail is like a dog with a bone here - another very strong piece.

    About 14 million people were killed in the civil war that followed the revolution, five million of them in a famine triggered by the insane economic policies of the Bolshevik government. A deliberate famine, designed to force peasants into collective farms, resulted in a further seven million deaths between 1928 and 1932.

    Historians have compared conditions in some camps with those that Allied troops met in Hitler’s Belsen concentration camp, with starving people lying down waiting to die. Many survivors resorted to cannibalism. Such a system — whose goal was ‘social justice’ — relied on any number of Western apologists to deny what others had witnessed first-hand.

    Many of these were British academics, intellectuals and journalists. Among them were the founders of the London School of Economics, Sidney and Beatrice Webb. They merely said of Stalin’s terror famine: ‘Strong must have been the faith and resolute the will of the men who, in the interest of what seemed to them the public good, could take so momentous a decision...’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2440732/Ed-Milibands-father-Ralph-MICHAEL-BURLEIGH-Stalins-gulags-Left-wing-British-apologists.html#ixzz2gXctA1lq
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

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    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,283
    Miliband's father had views on how 'socialism' should progress which went against the grain particularly when Labour was led by Gaitskill Wilson and Callaghan. RM taught politics, which by its very nature is contentious, and his works were studied on most politics courses in the '60s & 70s, is it hardly surprising that his views are under scrutiny. How far Ralph Miiband's ideas influenced left inclined students is open to question, but there will be some who rose to positions of power whose formative views were shaped by Ed M's dear old Dad.

    Miliband's best response to The Mail might have been publish and be damned.
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    The cold war ended 25 years ago, when Ed Milliband was still in his teens. It is hard to see its relevence today, with one possible exception.

    There is a parallel between the apologists for Stalins terror and the apologists for regimes in the contemporary world that systematically oppress women, homosexuals and minority groups. Often those apologists are from the left, such as Galloway and Livingstone with their support of Iran.

    The Cold war is over, but there is still a substantial body of people in Britain who share contempt for the liberal social values that protect them.

    Plato said:

    The Mail is like a dog with a bone here - another very strong piece.

    About 14 million people were killed in the civil war that followed the revolution, five million of them in a famine triggered by the insane economic policies of the Bolshevik government. A deliberate famine, designed to force peasants into collective farms, resulted in a further seven million deaths between 1928 and 1932.

    Historians have compared conditions in some camps with those that Allied troops met in Hitler’s Belsen concentration camp, with starving people lying down waiting to die. Many survivors resorted to cannibalism. Such a system — whose goal was ‘social justice’ — relied on any number of Western apologists to deny what others had witnessed first-hand.

    Many of these were British academics, intellectuals and journalists. Among them were the founders of the London School of Economics, Sidney and Beatrice Webb. They merely said of Stalin’s terror famine: ‘Strong must have been the faith and resolute the will of the men who, in the interest of what seemed to them the public good, could take so momentous a decision...’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2440732/Ed-Milibands-father-Ralph-MICHAEL-BURLEIGH-Stalins-gulags-Left-wing-British-apologists.html#ixzz2gXctA1lq
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    And some are in the current government:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16539424

    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/05/david-cameron-gulf-arms-trade_n_2075598.html



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    Cameron's father was a stockbroker, so it's quite blindingly obvious that his views will always march in perfect lockstep with The City.
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited October 2013

    Early days yet, but it could be that the British voting public do not buy the idea that a slight and temporary extension of price controls into energy (from, for example, transport and water) and a slight extension of the existing compulsory purchase regime is not actually the full-scale Marxism the more hysterical members of the right here and elsewhere have claimed.

    You appear to be implying that only a complete simpleton would keep banging away with laughably incompetent spin of little Ed as the rabid communist. I don't see how that could backfire when the public views the Energy companies and their prices with so much affection. That same public just loves to be portrayed as rabid ideological zealots for wanting cheaper fuel/energy prices by a tabloid press they absolutely trust and respect.

    The truth of course is that the most fruitful line of attack on little Ed's price freeze is the one that the public already leans towards. That you can't trust politicians promises and pledges on electoral bribes. Hardly a surprise Cammie doesn't want to focus on that since he is also in the business of jam tomorrow promises. As we shall see today. (assuming anyone notices)

    Nor is it any surprise that Cameron had to give Dacre a friendly slap and stick up for Ed after the idiots stuck inside Dacre's arse were in full throated shrieking support of Dacre's hilariously inept rerun of 'Clegg is a Nazi' style stupidity and smearing against little Ed's dad.

    Clegg you may remember went on from Dacre's 'devastating' attack to form the government and keep Cameron and the tories in power all this time. So that was a success at least.

    LOL
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    edited October 2013
    Ben Brogan's piece was spot on - I think its his best article in ages

    The reaction to the Daily Mail's attack on Ralph Miliband tells us how remote the Cold War has become in British politics. Nearly 25 years have passed since Mikhail Gorbachev threw in the towel and gave up on the USSR's dreams of Soviet world domination. The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of superpower confrontation and the threat of nuclear conflagration. It also marked the beginning of what has become a form of social and political amnesia. Until that point the struggle between freedom and communism defined the world my generation grew up in. Our view was shaped by a deadly struggle to see off the threat of red tyranny.

    Before 1989 the divide between the good guys and bad guys was clear, because the bad guys were out to do us in. At its most extreme, the Cold War was about fear, about nuclear brinkmanship, fallout shelters, cruise missiles, five minutes to midnight and The Day After. And the Cold War filtered through to everyday politics. Labour wanted unilateral disarmament, and some of its members were all too willing to excuse communism and play the role of useful idiot for the tyrants of Moscow.

    By the time Labour came to power in 1997, the Cold War was already fading from memory and no one was interested in whether a Cabinet minister had thought it acceptable years before to take Communist money for a jolly to Cuba, or had dabbled with political groups whose directing strands could be followed to the other side of the Iron Curtain.

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100239056/whether-he-hated-britain-or-not-ralph-miliband-was-one-of-the-cold-wars-bad-guys/

    The cold war ended 25 years ago, when Ed Milliband was still in his teens. It is hard to see its relevence today, with one possible exception.

    There is a parallel between the apologists for Stalins terror and the apologists for regimes in the contemporary world that systematically oppress women, homosexuals and minority groups. Often those apologists are from the left, such as Galloway and Livingstone with their support of Iran.

    The Cold war is over, but there is still a substantial body of people in Britain who share contempt for the liberal social values that protect them.

    Plato said:

    The Mail is like a dog with a bone here - another very strong piece.


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    dr_spyn said:

    Miliband's father had views on how 'socialism' should progress which went against the grain particularly when Labour was led by Gaitskill Wilson and Callaghan. RM taught politics, which by its very nature is contentious, and his works were studied on most politics courses in the '60s & 70s, is it hardly surprising that his views are under scrutiny. How far Ralph Miiband's ideas influenced left inclined students is open to question, but there will be some who rose to positions of power whose formative views were shaped by Ed M's dear old Dad.

    Miliband's best response to The Mail might have been publish and be damned.

    It might have been if the Mail had not claimed that Miliband's Dad "hated Britain". That gave Miliband the way in. And he has seized the opportunity with both hands.

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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753
    edited October 2013
    Roger said:

    I've always thought the essential difference in British society and politics is between those who admire the 'Daily mail values' and those who despise them.

    Much more coherent than all the stuff about fiscally conservative and socially liberal.

    Those who find their values abhorrent are in a majority and have been for several years now and possibly explains why the Conservatives who are closely associated with those values can never break through the glass ceiling.

    It is often described as the 'centre ground' but it's values aren't left and right. I suspect it's also why Glegg made such a mistake. He wasn't just pragmatically propping up a Tory government he was lining up behind the values of Paul Dacre and he lost half his party.

    Go hang your head in shame Roger.

    Fotr the last year you've been banging on about how blank canvas Miliband could be rebranded as Super Ed. And yet nobody in our world beating advertising industries could do it.

    Today looking at team Red comments he has been rebranded. And by the Daily Mail ! The Mail has done what you could not! Call yourself an ad man ?

    Pah you couldn't write copy for Gerald Ratner.
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    Mick_Pork said:

    Early days yet, but it could be that the British voting public do not buy the idea that a slight and temporary extension of price controls into energy (from, for example, transport and water) and a slight extension of the existing compulsory purchase regime is not actually the full-scale Marxism the more hysterical members of the right here and elsewhere have claimed.

    You appear to be implying that only a complete simpleton would keep banging away with laughably incompetent spin of little Ed as the rabid communist. I don't see how that could backfire when the public views the Energy companies and their prices with so much affection. That same public just loves to be portrayed as rabid ideological zealots for wanting cheaper fuel/energy prices by a tabloid press they absolutely trust and respect.

    The truth of course is that the most fruitful line of attack on little Ed's price freeze is the one that the public already leans towards. That you can't trust politicians promises and pledges on electoral bribes. Hardly a surprise Cammie doesn't want to focus on that since he is also in the business of jam tomorrow promises. As we shall see today. (assuming anyone notices)

    Nor is it any surprise that Cameron had to give Dacre a friendly slap and stick up for Ed after the idiots stuck inside Dacre's arse were in full throated shrieking support of Dacre's hilariously inept rerun of 'Clegg is a Nazi' style stupidity and smearing against little Ed's dad.

    Clegg you may remember went on from Dacre's 'devastating' attack to form the government and keep Cameron and the tories in power all this time. So that was a success at least.

    LOL

    Yes, I saw your little exchange with SeanT last night. What he forgot to mention was that the LDs won one million more votes in 2010 than they did in 2005.

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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,111
    edited October 2013
    I am so glad that the bully Alastair Campbell no longer plays much of a part in our public life. That interview, where he is allowed to completely dominate, interrupt every answer, lecture as he see's fit and no attempt whatsoever is made by the person supposedly in charge to make him STFU and let his opponent even speak brings back bad memories of how the media in this country were cowed by the original Malcolm Tucker.

    I have no sympathy for the Mail position on this but that is a disgrace.
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    Fat_SteveFat_Steve Posts: 361
    @Tim
    But Tim, you're not going to defend a position that Ralph Milliband wasn't an unmitigated shit?
    You know enough not to be caught out doing that, right?

    http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/miliband-pre-et.html
    It was wrong to overthrow Idi Amin, because ideologically it offended me.
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    tim said:

    @Southam

    How will Apartheid Dave respond to Brogans piece about people taking jollies to communist countries after taking the freebies from the Apartheid state?

    He knew how it was funded, everyone knew how those trips were funded that he took up.

    My guess is that Dave wants all this to go away very rapidly. He's already had to rewrite his speech attacks on EdM after the Mail's intervention, having applauded him for refusing to accept the attacks on his father. Ed has done exactly what he would have done, Dave told us yesterday. Is that weak, weak, weak?

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    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    Ad hom attacks on EdM are off the agenda for a bit. If I was Dave I would not mention Ed at all.
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753
    tim said:

    "Cameron's freebie to apartheid South Africa"

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/camerons-freebie-to-apartheid-south-africa-1674367.html

    " By the time Labour came to power in 1997, the Cold War was already fading from memory and no one was interested in whether a Cabinet minister had thought it acceptable years before to take Communist money for a jolly to Cuba"

    Lets hope Apartheid Dave has the grace to stay quiet when Mandela dies.

    sorry tim, the theme this week is you can't hold young men doing embarrassing things against them in later life - see Rabid Ralph. It's not fair etc.
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    Fat_SteveFat_Steve Posts: 361
    The issue is, Ralph Millband was a shit.
    Do you disagree?
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited October 2013
    Alastaire Campbell's demand of the Mail man " Did Ralph Miliband hate Britain having fought in the war against Hitler yes or no. YES or NO" Is currently being repeated ad nauseam on all the news bulletins. The poor sap from the Mail (will he keep his job?) was painfully outgunned.

    @DrSpyn. Interestingly one of Miliband's problems has been appearing insubstantial. Hailing his father as a great and influential left wing intellectual who influenced several generations of politicians is going to do him no harm at all.
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530

    Ed has done exactly what he would have done, Dave told us yesterday. Is that weak, weak, weak?

    Cammie actually knows what's going on (for once) and he's been forced to put down a marker for the next barrage coming from Dacre. Which is inevitable. Some will have noticed who's on the front page of the Mail today and it isn't Cameron but his wife. What a surprise.

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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753
    Jonathan said:

    Ad hom attacks on EdM are off the agenda for a bit. If I was Dave I would not mention Ed at all.

    No time to attack Ed what with saying his dad's an anglophobic fruitcake all the time.

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    Plato said:

    The Mail is like a dog with a bone here - another very strong piece.

    About 14 million people were killed in the civil war that followed the revolution, five million of them in a famine triggered by the insane economic policies of the Bolshevik government. A deliberate famine, designed to force peasants into collective farms, resulted in a further seven million deaths between 1928 and 1932.

    Historians have compared conditions in some camps with those that Allied troops met in Hitler’s Belsen concentration camp, with starving people lying down waiting to die. Many survivors resorted to cannibalism. Such a system — whose goal was ‘social justice’ — relied on any number of Western apologists to deny what others had witnessed first-hand.

    Many of these were British academics, intellectuals and journalists. Among them were the founders of the London School of Economics, Sidney and Beatrice Webb. They merely said of Stalin’s terror famine: ‘Strong must have been the faith and resolute the will of the men who, in the interest of what seemed to them the public good, could take so momentous a decision...’

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2440732/Ed-Milibands-father-Ralph-MICHAEL-BURLEIGH-Stalins-gulags-Left-wing-British-apologists.html#ixzz2gXctA1lq
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    A strange article to run:

    "Although it must be stressed that Ralph Miliband never agreed with Hobsbawm over the latter’s refusal to condemn Stalinism’s 30 million dead, or the Soviet invasion of Hungary".

    Well, indeed. Miliband Senior explicitly rejected Soviet communism and celebrated its downfall.


    Not sure why it should be counted as strange. Is it accurate? Sounds like it to me. Why is this not common knowledge? It should be, if the holocaust is?
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    The counter point to Milliband snr is that at times a regimes crimes and abuse of sovereignty are so flagrant that they require external intervention. I think the overthrow of Polpot and Idi Amin are good examples of this.

    Ralph Miliband seems to express the view that states should be allowed to do as they please within their own borders. This is a debate highly relevant today, and in particular to Ed Milibands position over Syria. The communists are history, but the issue is eternal.

    We should not be afraid to stand up for western secular democratic values in a world where many regimes are socially backward and oppressive. How this should be applied is the question, and I prefer soft power to.military power when possible.
    tim said:

    Fat_Steve said:

    @Tim
    But Tim, you're not going to defend a position that Ralph Milliband wasn't an unmitigated shit?
    You know enough not to be caught out doing that, right?

    http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/miliband-pre-et.html
    It was wrong to overthrow Idi Amin, because ideologically it offended me.

    I think he was wrong to oppose intervention by Vietnam to topple Pol Pot and Tanzanian intervention to topple Amin.
    Of course Thatcher went on to arm and train the Khmer Rouge for a decade.
    He opposed Soviet intervention in Afghanistan too and no doubt would have opposed US intervention in Iraq.

    You support them all?
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753
    Roger said:

    Alastaire Campbell's demand of the Mail man " Did Ralph Miliband hate Britain having fought in the war against Hitler yes or no. YES or NO" Is currently being repeated ad nauseam on all the news bulletins. The poor sap from the Mail (will he keep his job?) was painfully outgunned.

    @DrSpyn. Interestingly one of Miliband's problems has been appearing insubstantial. Hailing his father as a great and influential left wing intellectual who influenced several generations of politicians is going to do him no harm at all.

    Roger shakes head, when the sympathy bounce has died down the reality will come back that Ed is crap. First rule of marketing is advertising can't cover up for a poor product.
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,567
    tim said:

    Bobajob said:

    Labour 10 point lead YouGov
    31/41/8/12

    @MSmithsonPB: Some significant increases for EdM in latest YouGov leader characteristics trackers
    Let's keep a sense of perspective - the largest - by an order of magnitude is "none of these" 49 (-4), similar to Cameron 45 (+2) and better than Clegg 59 (+2).

    The only significant increase is "in touch with the concerns of ordinary people 25 (+6) while the other changes are within MOE.

    Is the argument that "ordinary people are worried about their fathers being monstered in the Mail"?

    Or might it be the energy price freeze?

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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    DavidL said:

    I am so glad that the bully Alastair Campbell no longer plays much of a part in our public life. That interview, where he is allowed to completely dominate, interrupt every answer, lecture as he see's fit and no attempt whatsoever is made by the person supposedly in charge to make him STFU and let his opponent even speak brings back bad memories of how the media in this country were cowed by the original Malcolm Tucker.

    I have no sympathy for the Mail position on this but that is a disgrace.

    I only saw the Twitter reaction and it was scathing. Why Newsnight allowed this is another subject. I ended up feeling sympathy for the Mail Dep Ed who seemed totally browbeaten. I'm surprised he didn't just fold his arms and go silent.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited October 2013
    @Alanbrooke

    "Pah you couldn't write copy for Gerald Ratner."

    How about

    'At 60 MPH all you can hear is the ticking of the clock'?

    (apologies to David Ogilvy)
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753
    Roger said:

    @Alanbrooke

    "Pah you couldn't write copy for Gerald Ratner."

    How about

    'At 60 MPH all you can hear is the ticking of the clock'?

    (apologies to David Ogilvy)

    Carlsberg Special Brew ?
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,567
    @Roger - it really gets my goat when politicians accuse their opponents of "selling policies like they're selling washing powder" - if only politicians were held to the standards of washing powders in their claims!

    Persil intends to wash whiter.......
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    Roger said:

    The poor sap from the Mail (will he keep his job?) was painfully outgunned.

    The laughter from Mail journos watching Steafel will be pretty hard from them to stifle after that performance. Steafel is there to take Dacre's 'vagina monologues' in the face and thence to deliver that displeasure onto the lesser Mail minions. Which is fine for Dacre's way of running things since Steafel was hired to be Dacre's yes-man after all. However, it's not guaranteed to give Rothermere a great deal of confidence going forward.

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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Piers Scholfield
    @inglesi
    Times, telegraph and guardian all run with EXACTLY the same Cameron headline. #groupthink pic.twitter.com/Y6bZaezFoY via @racheldefriez

    Profit is not a dirty word https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BVjYHdlIcAAlWA6.jpg:small
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    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,317
    edited October 2013
    Bobajob said:

    Labour 10 point lead YouGov
    31/41/8/12

    That's odd. SeanT was telling us just a few hours ago: "Prediction: the Mail-Miliband spat will affect the polls not one jot."

    I assume it's an outlier. But it's interesting that it's taken after Osborne's speech and the same sample has an improved view of the Coalition's economic performance, but the general dislike of the Conservatives recorded in previous polls is apparently trumping it. Indeed even 12% of Labour voters feel they're doing quite or very well. But vote for them? Euuu.

    The counter point to Milliband snr is that at times a regimes crimes and abuse of sovereignty are so flagrant that they require external intervention. I think the overthrow of Polpot and Idi Amin are good examples of this.

    Ralph Miliband seems to express the view that states should be allowed to do as they please within their own borders. This is a debate highly relevant today, and in particular to Ed Milibands position over Syria. The communists are history, but the issue is eternal.

    We should not be afraid to stand up for western secular democratic values in a world where many regimes are socially backward and oppressive. How this should be applied is the question, and I prefer soft power to.military power when possible.


    I try not to link to my blog too often, but you might be interested in my discussion of this:

    http://www.nickpalmer.org.uk/help-with-distribution-300-more-houses-should-we-ever-intervene-militarily/
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,567
    The Mail retreats by a millimetre:

    "Labour has demanded an apology from the Daily Mail after the newspaper said using a photo of Ed Miliband's father's grave had been an "error of judgement"."

    Mail deputy editor Jon Steafel said the picture was removed from its website after Mr Miliband complained to him.

    But he told the BBC's Newsnight programme he stood by the reporting."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24361040

    Second item on R4 Today.
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    SimonStClareSimonStClare Posts: 7,976
    “US shutdown: a guide for non-Americans” –a simple Q&A guide I found useful.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/30/us-shutdown-explainer-non-americans
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    So you remain a liberal interventionist with military force in the style of Blair, rather than like Milliband Snr or Jnr?

    Personally I am closer to both Milibands views on this than it seems you are. Either Blairite or isolationist viewpoints are respectable opinions, but Ralphs views do seem to match Eds on this point.
    tim said:

    The counter point to Milliband snr is that at times a regimes crimes and abuse of sovereignty are so flagrant that they require external intervention. I think the overthrow of Polpot and Idi Amin are good examples of this.

    Ralph Miliband seems to express the view that states should be allowed to do as they please within their own borders. This is a debate highly relevant today, and in particular to Ed Milibands position over Syria. The communists are history, but the issue is eternal.

    We should not be afraid to stand up for western secular democratic values in a world where many regimes are socially backward and oppressive. How this should be applied is the question, and I prefer soft power to.military power when possible.

    tim said:

    Fat_Steve said:

    @Tim
    But Tim, you're not going to defend a position that Ralph Milliband wasn't an unmitigated shit?
    You know enough not to be caught out doing that, right?

    http://oliverkamm.typepad.com/blog/2008/05/miliband-pre-et.html
    It was wrong to overthrow Idi Amin, because ideologically it offended me.

    I think he was wrong to oppose intervention by Vietnam to topple Pol Pot and Tanzanian intervention to topple Amin.
    Of course Thatcher went on to arm and train the Khmer Rouge for a decade.
    He opposed Soviet intervention in Afghanistan too and no doubt would have opposed US intervention in Iraq.

    You support them all?
    Similar views to Ken Clarke on Bosnia, Rwanda and Iraq?
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    CD13CD13 Posts: 6,351

    I thought the Labour party was on to a winner here; even Cameron and Clegg were supportive. But having a clearly arrogant bully come on Newsnight and accuse someone else of being an arrogant bull muddies the waters again. It was a contribution with the finesse of a Jeremy Kyle villain.



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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,567
    The Washington Post on how a similar impasse to the one the US finds itself in was resolved....but is not open to them....

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/10/01/australia-had-a-government-shutdown-once-it-ended-with-the-queen-firing-everyone-in-parliament/
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    Of course if the Soviets had won the cold war and their empire had stretched all the way to Lands End, Ralph the marxist would probably been our answer to Erich Honecker. And little Ed would have followed on in his esteemed father's footsteps.

    The kids would still have played their IHT avoidance trick of course, in true lefty fashion.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,111
    This is a good, if extremely sympathetic piece about Ralph Miliband by a long term friend: http://www.marxists.org/archive/miliband/biog/panitch.htm

    It is interesting because it contains quite a number of quotations from his own works which are not so readily available now.

    I have no sympathy with marxist ideology but I cannot deny that there are parts of their critique of society that have insight and are worth considering. What comes across from this piece is exactly what you would expect. That a distinguished intellectual who held important positions for extended periods of time is always going to be more complex and nuanced than pretty much anything the Daily Mail has ever written about.

    I am glad that David Cameron has had the essential decency to criticise this attack. It was the right thing to do.

    The piece ends with an excerpt from the eulogy given by Ed at his father's funeral:

    "There is sometimes a general presumption that intellectuals and academics, occupied with thinking, writing and teaching, do not have time for such mundane things as their children and that when they do, it is only to forcefeed them with their latest ideas. In Ralph’s case, nothing could be further from the truth ... I never heard the words ‘Not now, I’m too busy’ pass from his lips ... He might be up against a deadline, but our needs trumped all others ... When we were young children, he was an absolutely amazing storyteller. We sometimes joked that he was passing up the chance of undreamt sales – undreamt of, at least, by a socialist academic – by not going into print with the stories he used to tell us about the adventures of Boo-Boo and Hee-Hee, two sheep on the Yorkshire Moors ... Ralph relished our political views and encouraged them. Indeed, I remember on more than one occasion, him leaping to the defence of the 12-year-old in the corner, who was arguing with a rather surprised friend or academic who happened to come round to dinner ... Ralph’s respect for our point of view was unflinching."

    I pity any man who has a father that he cannot respect and love as well as disagree with. It must make the journey through life much more difficult.
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753

    The Mail retreats by a millimetre:

    "Labour has demanded an apology from the Daily Mail after the newspaper said using a photo of Ed Miliband's father's grave had been an "error of judgement"."

    Mail deputy editor Jon Steafel said the picture was removed from its website after Mr Miliband complained to him.

    But he told the BBC's Newsnight programme he stood by the reporting."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24361040

    Second item on R4 Today.

    Of course while Labour are strutting their stuff on baby Ed, they're not actually doing their job of nailing the Tories on policy. The various announcements in Manchester have simply flown past without so much as a boo hiss. I'm surprised the IDS work for benefits didn't get more stick - fairness, nasty rich boys etc..

    Ed's infatuation that it's all about Ed has given the blues a bit of an easy ride in the last couple of days.
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    Thanks for the link. I shall read and digest for later. The interventionist debate is one that crosses political boundaries, with both right and left divided on the issue, often with different reasons.

    Bobajob said:

    Labour 10 point lead YouGov
    31/41/8/12

    That's odd. SeanT was telling us just a few hours ago: "Prediction: the Mail-Miliband spat will affect the polls not one jot."

    I assume it's an outlier. But it's interesting that it's taken after Osborne's speech and the same sample has an improved view of the Coalition's economic performance, but the general dislike of the Conservatives recorded in previous polls is apparently trumping it. Indeed even 12% of Labour voters feel they're doing quite or very well. But vote for them? Euuu.

    The counter point to Milliband snr is that at times a regimes crimes and abuse of sovereignty are so flagrant that they require external intervention. I think the overthrow of Polpot and Idi Amin are good examples of this.

    Ralph Miliband seems to express the view that states should be allowed to do as they please within their own borders. This is a debate highly relevant today, and in particular to Ed Milibands position over Syria. The communists are history, but the issue is eternal.

    We should not be afraid to stand up for western secular democratic values in a world where many regimes are socially backward and oppressive. How this should be applied is the question, and I prefer soft power to.military power when possible.


    I try not to link to my blog too often, but you might be interested in my discussion of this:

    http://www.nickpalmer.org.uk/help-with-distribution-300-more-houses-should-we-ever-intervene-militarily/
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724

    The Mail retreats by a millimetre:

    "Labour has demanded an apology from the Daily Mail after the newspaper said using a photo of Ed Miliband's father's grave had been an "error of judgement"."

    Mail deputy editor Jon Steafel said the picture was removed from its website after Mr Miliband complained to him.

    But he told the BBC's Newsnight programme he stood by the reporting."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24361040

    Second item on R4 Today.

    Of course while Labour are strutting their stuff on baby Ed, they're not actually doing their job of nailing the Tories on policy. The various announcements in Manchester have simply flown past without so much as a boo hiss. I'm surprised the IDS work for benefits didn't get more stick - fairness, nasty rich boys etc..

    Ed's infatuation that it's all about Ed has given the blues a bit of an easy ride in the last couple of days.
    A very good observation. Why EdM is getting his knickers bunched 4 days after the story appeared is beyond me. It was printed on Saturday.
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    edited October 2013
    CD13 said:


    I thought the Labour party was on to a winner here; even Cameron and Clegg were supportive. But having a clearly arrogant bully come on Newsnight and accuse someone else of being an arrogant bull muddies the waters again. It was a contribution with the finesse of a Jeremy Kyle villain.

    True enough but the mood music has already been set with every news network running big on little Ed's dad regardless of the laughter accrued by having a pair as unpleasant as Campbell and Steafel in a battle of the tabloid bullyboys.
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753
    edited October 2013

    Of course if the Soviets had won the cold war and their empire had stretched all the way to Lands End, Ralph the marxist would probably been our answer to Erich Honecker. And little Ed would have followed on in his esteemed father's footsteps.

    The kids would still have played their IHT avoidance trick of course, in true lefty fashion.

    More likely he would have been rounded up and shot as happened most of the so called intellectuals. Our Honecker would have been someone pliant and unimaginative like Prescott.
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    CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 59,567

    The Mail retreats by a millimetre:

    "Labour has demanded an apology from the Daily Mail after the newspaper said using a photo of Ed Miliband's father's grave had been an "error of judgement"."

    Mail deputy editor Jon Steafel said the picture was removed from its website after Mr Miliband complained to him.

    But he told the BBC's Newsnight programme he stood by the reporting."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24361040

    Second item on R4 Today.

    Of course while Labour are strutting their stuff on baby Ed, they're not actually doing their job of nailing the Tories on policy. The various announcements in Manchester have simply flown past without so much as a boo hiss. I'm surprised the IDS work for benefits didn't get more stick - fairness, nasty rich boys etc..

    Ed's infatuation that it's all about Ed has given the blues a bit of an easy ride in the last couple of days.
    What makes you think Labour want to discuss policy?

    It'll only lead to disobliging journalists asking them "OK, so what's your policy then?"
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    R5 managed to make a large chunk of their 0810 intv with Hague about the Mail and EdM - why?
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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,872
    There's another side issue to this whole sordid debate: Miliband might just have made a big strategic mistake.

    In response to the McBride book, he has already said he would countenance no briefings against other colleagues, and anyone doing so would be sacked. (1)

    Now, it has been made clear that attacks on the families of politicians are a no-go. Presumably, the same punishment would be made for any Labour politician who attacks Cameron's family? Or Clegg's? Or is he only complaining on attacks against him?

    In that case, the media in the run-up to 2015 may be filled with stories about sacked shadow ministers, or MPs with their whips withdrawn.

    On the other hand, if he does manage to keep the party under control and stop this sort of silliness, then politics will be the better for it. But this is the party of McBride, Campbell and Falkirk. It ain't going to happen.

    (1): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24192390
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    FinancierFinancier Posts: 3,916
    So YouGov has Labour leads of 11,6,10. Is there any identifiable cause for this variation and which is/are the outlier/s?

    The only clue comes from the current VI of the 2010 Voters and specifically that of the LDs. Con and LAB 2010ers show little variation.

    In the ST Poll: 2010 LDs voted:
    Con: 8; LAB:42; LD:33; UKIP:10; Others:7. DK=18%

    In Yesterday's poll, 2010 LDs voted:
    Con:12; LAB:35; LD:39; UKIP:8; Other:6. DK=19%

    In todays Poll: 2010 LDs voted:
    Con:10; LAB:38; LD:32; UKIP:13; Other:7. DK=19%

    So what is the true LD split between LD and LAB?
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    foxinsoxukfoxinsoxuk Posts: 23,548
    Ralph Miliband was always a supporter of democracy, he just had the rather unrealistic idea of the Workers being won round to his Socialism by democratic means. This was a prospect that became increasingly delusional with time.

    Of course if the Soviets had won the cold war and their empire had stretched all the way to Lands End, Ralph the marxist would probably been our answer to Erich Honecker. And little Ed would have followed on in his esteemed father's footsteps.

    The kids would still have played their IHT avoidance trick of course, in true lefty fashion.

    More likely he would have been rounded up and shot as happened most of the so called intellectuals. Our Honecker would have been someone pliant and unimaginative like Prescott.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    What a fu*king sleazeball that man Steafel is. Even Emily Maitlis can't contain her contempt.
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530

    Now, it has been made clear that attacks on the families of politicians are a no-go.

    From tabloid journos no less. Yes it has and conspicuously by Cameron too.

    What were you saying about big strategic mistakes?

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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Even if the Mail did over-egg it - they've managed to link EdM and Marxism - when the froth has subsided, that impression will remain. Job done, it clearly touched a bigger nerve than they expected - but the Mail has a broad back when it comes to soaking up abuse.

    I think it was a major error by EdM to get all upset about this - he should have left it to others to defend his dad's reputation. And frankly I think it was largely self-inflicted since he's mentioned him in almost every leaders speech he's made.

    There's another side issue to this whole sordid debate: Miliband might just have made a big strategic mistake.

    In response to the McBride book, he has already said he would countenance no briefings against other colleagues, and anyone doing so would be sacked. (1)

    Now, it has been made clear that attacks on the families of politicians are a no-go. Presumably, the same punishment would be made for any Labour politician who attacks Cameron's family? Or Clegg's? Or is he only complaining on attacks against him?

    In that case, the media in the run-up to 2015 may be filled with stories about sacked shadow ministers, or MPs with their whips withdrawn.

    On the other hand, if he does manage to keep the party under control and stop this sort of silliness, then politics will be the better for it. But this is the party of McBride, Campbell and Falkirk. It ain't going to happen.

    (1): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24192390

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    bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,816
    Tine for a Dan Hodges prediction.

    He is a must read for anyone wanting to have a political bet.

    Whatever mystic Dan predicts,the opposite position is automatic profit.

    Speech unravelled by the weekend LOL
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    The fact is that EdM wants to be PM so the electorate is entitled to know everything about his family and background. If he doesn't like it he should retire from public life.
    The Daily Mail should keep up its good work.
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    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,961
    Catching up on Cameron Speech Bingo. The 33-1 for 'Price of Bread' looks value to me. There's definitely a chance of a self-deprecating, topical joke early on; this could be the one.
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753

    The Mail retreats by a millimetre:

    "Labour has demanded an apology from the Daily Mail after the newspaper said using a photo of Ed Miliband's father's grave had been an "error of judgement"."

    Mail deputy editor Jon Steafel said the picture was removed from its website after Mr Miliband complained to him.

    But he told the BBC's Newsnight programme he stood by the reporting."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24361040

    Second item on R4 Today.

    Of course while Labour are strutting their stuff on baby Ed, they're not actually doing their job of nailing the Tories on policy. The various announcements in Manchester have simply flown past without so much as a boo hiss. I'm surprised the IDS work for benefits didn't get more stick - fairness, nasty rich boys etc..

    Ed's infatuation that it's all about Ed has given the blues a bit of an easy ride in the last couple of days.
    What makes you think Labour want to discuss policy?

    It'll only lead to disobliging journalists asking them "OK, so what's your policy then?"
    Labour categorically don't want to discuss their own policies since they're a bit light in that department. However they've had 3 years of saying bugger all so 3 more days isn't going to make a lot of difference.

    The tory conference has now almost sailed by and from what I can see Labour haven't fired a single shot at it.
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    bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,816
    Plato said:

    R5 managed to make a large chunk of their 0810 intv with Hague about the Mail and EdM - why?

    Get Dacre to look into their dads probably Marxists!
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    And the Mail's achieved its objective re Leveson and the Privy Council vote today IIRC.

    "Ed Miliband warned yesterday that there were “boundaries” for British newspapers after becoming embroiled in a bitter row over the beliefs of his late father...

    The proposal was put forward by newspaper publishers, including News UK, parent company of The Times, as an alternative to a draft charter agreed between the three main political parties and the Hacked Off campaign in March. It will go before the Privy Council if the newspaper industry’s charter is rejected.

    Mr Miliband said: “There are boundaries, and newspapers and people across politics mustn’t overstep those.” He said he was not making a point about press controls. “It’s legitimate for the Mail to talk about my father’s politics, but when they say he hated Britain, I was not prepared to put up with that.” http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article3884456.ece
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited October 2013
    @Carlotta

    "@Roger - it really gets my goat when politicians accuse their opponents of "selling policies like they're selling washing powder" - if only politicians were held to the standards of washing powders in their claims!"

    Couldn't agree with you more! If only people knew. I once did an ad for ICI which was a can of tartan paint. The proposed headline 'When it Happens We'll be There First' became 'If it Happens We'll be There'
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    not_on_firenot_on_fire Posts: 4,341
    They haven't needed to. Thanks to the Daily Mail, no ones being paying the slightest attention to the Tory conference.
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    bigjohnowlsbigjohnowls Posts: 21,816
    Plato said:

    And the Mail's achieved its objective re Leveson and the Privy Council vote today IIRC.

    "Ed Miliband warned yesterday that there were “boundaries” for British newspapers after becoming embroiled in a bitter row over the beliefs of his late father...

    The proposal was put forward by newspaper publishers, including News UK, parent company of The Times, as an alternative to a draft charter agreed between the three main political parties and the Hacked Off campaign in March. It will go before the Privy Council if the newspaper industry’s charter is rejected.

    Mr Miliband said: “There are boundaries, and newspapers and people across politics mustn’t overstep those.” He said he was not making a point about press controls. “It’s legitimate for the Mail to talk about my father’s politics, but when they say he hated Britain, I was not prepared to put up with that.” http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article3884456.ece

    You surely are not still flogging this dead horse.

    What is wrong with you?
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530
    Roger said:

    What a fu*king sleazeball that man Steafel is. Even Emily Maitlis can't contain her contempt.

    To be fair Dacre's prodigious outpourings are so frequent and bilious it takes far more than just Steafel to act as the buffer between Dacre and the workforce. Verity and Carter will be fully occupied with Dacre's fury right now and Rothermere pays those unfortunate individuals amply for their unflinching service as Dacre's human suppositories.

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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,872
    Mick_Pork said:

    Now, it has been made clear that attacks on the families of politicians are a no-go.

    From tabloid journos no less. Yes it has and conspicuously by Cameron too.

    What were you saying about big strategic mistakes?

    Miliband's made this personal. If any Labour politician attacks (say) Cameron's dad, then Miliband will be expected to act. Even if their is a basis in truth in the attack, as there was here.

    Cameron's not in the same boat.

    BTW: Ralph Miliband was, apparently a famed political writer. Surely Ed and co can find quotes in his copious works where he expresses a love for his adopted country? Where he says how much he admires it? That would have been a much better defence than the one Ed played. Fight a quote from his father as a 17-year old with ones from an older, maturer man.
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753

    Mick_Pork said:

    Now, it has been made clear that attacks on the families of politicians are a no-go.

    From tabloid journos no less. Yes it has and conspicuously by Cameron too.

    What were you saying about big strategic mistakes?

    Miliband's made this personal. If any Labour politician attacks (say) Cameron's dad, then Miliband will be expected to act. Even if their is a basis in truth in the attack, as there was here.

    Cameron's not in the same boat.

    BTW: Ralph Miliband was, apparently a famed political writer. Surely Ed and co can find quotes in his copious works where he expresses a love for his adopted country? Where he says how much he admires it? That would have been a much better defence than the one Ed played. Fight a quote from his father as a 17-year old with ones from an older, maturer man.
    maybe no-one can stay awake long enough to read through his works, most leftist political tracts tend to make the eyes glaze over.
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724

    They haven't needed to. Thanks to the Daily Mail, no ones being paying the slightest attention to the Tory conference.

    Labour spent their conference week battling with Damian McBride and are now battling against their leader being called a Marxist - I think the Tories would be happy with that myself.

    Tory will be listening anyway to what said in the Hall.
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    RogerRoger Posts: 18,891
    edited October 2013
    @Alanbrooke

    "Carlsberg Special Brew ?" LOL! (Rolls Royce)

    "when the sympathy bounce has died down the reality will come back that Ed is crap"

    I'm not so sure. He's grown on me quite a bit these last few weeks. Still too early to tell though.

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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    edited October 2013
    Is anyone else getting weird Vanilla bugs? I keep getting told a comment is too short but its a paragraph long... Yet this one is fine?!
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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530

    Mick_Pork said:

    Now, it has been made clear that attacks on the families of politicians are a no-go.

    From tabloid journos no less. Yes it has and conspicuously by Cameron too.

    What were you saying about big strategic mistakes?

    Miliband's made this personal. If any Labour politician attacks (say) Cameron's dad, then Miliband will be expected to act. Even if their is a basis in truth in the attack, as there was here.

    Cameron's not in the same boat.
    Sauce for the goose. Same applies to tory politicians as Cameron made crystal clear by going into bat for little Ed. That he was forced to act does not alter his words or the sentiment behind them. He said he would do the same as little Ed which is a pretty damn clear signal.

    The boat Cameron is in may not be quite as seaworthy as you seem to think though we shall of course find out in the fullness of time.
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    Daniel Hannan @DanHannanMEP
    Never mind the Mail. I had no idea that the Daily Mirror had backed the Blackshirts. http://t.co/AgCdqy2jxk

    And that's what happens when you start throwing stones.
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    edited October 2013
    I'm not surprised at all - it was very unpopular when Labour abolished it back in the 90s.

    Andrew Hawkins @Andrew_ComRes
    ComRes/ITV News: 47% support tax breaks for married couples 'to encourage marriage', 28% disagree ht.ly/ppy6k
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    Back to reality. As the director of a small business I hope Cameron does talk about aspiration and profit today in more than just vanilla terms. Rather than accuse Miliband of being a Marxist, or an extremist or harking back to the 80s - all of which are demonstrably ridiculous claims - Dave is much better off being a champion of a system that delivers wealth and prosperity, albeit that it has some fundamental flaws. For me, Labour's big weakness is that it accepts capitalism, but it does not champion it or applaud it. What we have now needs to change, which is why I put myself on the centre left, but at root it is the best way to grow an economy and ensure the well-being of the highest number of people. Until EdM says that explicitly Labour is never going to convince and will instead be an anti-Tory party. It needs to be a lot more. I hope Dave's speech gets them thinking and responding. I don't like our current vested interest big finance, big business, institutional investor elites, I think they do a lot of harm, and I believe in the state as a positive force for change, but I do like entrepreneurialism, innovation and profit. Labour has to show this Labour-inclined, but sceptical, voter it does too. Paying lip service is not enough.
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753
    Roger said:

    @Alanbrooke

    "Carlsberg Special Brew ?" LOL! (Rolls Royce)

    "when the sympathy bounce has died down the reality will come back that Ed is crap"

    I'm not so sure. He's grown on me quite a bit these last few weeks. Still too early to tell though.

    Now it's me LOL !

    Roger you do realise he's been in the job for 3 years ? How much longer will it take ? :-)

    You can't polish a turd you can only roll it in glitter but you still wouldn't want to put it on your mantelpiece.
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    Plato said:

    Is anyone else getting weird Vanilla bugs? I keep getting told a comment is too short but its a paragraph long... Yet this one is fine?!

    Are you quoting someone?

    I get that message if I accidentally delete the "> at the beginning of the quote
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    ThomasNasheThomasNashe Posts: 4,961
    BTW: Ralph Miliband was, apparently a famed political writer. Surely Ed and co can find quotes in his copious works where he expresses a love for his adopted country? Where he says how much he admires it? That would have been a much better defence than the one Ed played. Fight a quote from his father as a 17-year old with ones from an older, maturer man.

    I am sure that Ralph Miliband's views on nationality and identity cannot be reduced to some tabloid splash, or soundbite. They were almost certainly more nuanced and complex than that.
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724
    RT @afneil: #r4today has now done the Mail/Miliband story 3 (or is it 4) times this morning, inc. 7.10 and 8.10 ....plus every news bulletin
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    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,317

    Ralph Miliband was, apparently a famed political writer. Surely Ed and co can find quotes in his copious works where he expresses a love for his adopted country? Where he says how much he admires it? That would have been a much better defence than the one Ed played. Fight a quote from his father as a 17-year old with ones from an older, maturer man.

    Fox's link below gives a fair summary of his views. The question raised by the Mail (insofar as we think it important what this long-dead chap thought) is not whether he loved Britain but whether he hated it. Most of us like - even love - some things and not others about every country including our own. I've always liked President Heinemann's reply when asked if he loved Germany (quoting from memory, may not be exact): "I appreciate my country. I love my wife."

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    dr_spyndr_spyn Posts: 11,283
    @SouthamObserver One of the fundamental weaknesses of Labour's front bench and cohort of MPs is the lack of people who have worked in SMEs like your good self. It does weaken their case for presenting themselves as a one nation party.
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    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,753
    tim said:

    Apparently there's a Tory Conference going on, so let's not forget the most dangerous policy of all


    By March 2012 up to 45 per cent of those borrowers who had taken out a mortgage since 2005 had become mortgage prisoners – people who have a mortgage but either are in negative equity, don’t earn enough or don’t have sufficient savings to move to a different mortgage provider. Many cannot sell their homes because they wouldn’t be able to raise the funds to buy another.

    This figure may be even higher for former first-time buyers – the FSA estimated that 55 per cent could be mortgage prisoners and that these borrowers “may not be able to remortgage for a better deal or move house.” Sadly, Osborne’s attempt at rescuing this group will merely end up fuelling even greater over-valuation in the housing market. It also delays the inevitable day of reckoning: when interest rates finally go up after the election, house prices will start to fall.

    When that happens, Osborne’s hopes of a budget surplus will, tragically, vanish in yet another black hole of his own making.

    - See more at: http://www.cityam.com/article/1380674766/us-politicians-need-grow-growth-shut-down#sthash.OKZPoH89.ELugbsEk.dpuf

    tim you pillock it's all forgotten about. You've been ranting on about the blackshirts in the Daily Mail and Ralph singlehandedly invading occupied Europe. The tories have announced loads of inititaives that any competent opposition could have torn apart. But we've had Ed and his family hang ups instead.
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    JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 38,872

    Back to reality. As the director of a small business I hope Cameron does talk about aspiration and profit today in more than just vanilla terms. Rather than accuse Miliband of being a Marxist, or an extremist or harking back to the 80s - all of which are demonstrably ridiculous claims - Dave is much better off being a champion of a system that delivers wealth and prosperity, albeit that it has some fundamental flaws. For me, Labour's big weakness is that it accepts capitalism, but it does not champion it or applaud it. ...

    (Snip)

    Well said.

    However: you cannot have capitalism in the modern world without big business or institutional investor elites. Capitalism thrives on innovation, and we're a long way away from the times when a man in his garage could develop world-changing items such as the light bulb or TV. Research and development costs money, and that means big business and big investors.

    When a new (conventional) power station costs a billion to develop, or a new drug two billion, we're far away from the small-investor ideal. Only government or big business can do it, with the problems they bring.

    I'm a fairly old-fashioned capitalist when it comes to business - if someone takes on a risk - for instance a couple mortgage their house to start a new business - then they should be rewarded if that risk pays off. One of the problems with big business is that they can sometimes organise things so they have little or no risk. As I have said passim, my concern with energy is not excess profits (as they singularly don't make them), but instead passing risk onto customers. The same with the banks, except in their case it's the customers and the taxpayers.

    On a side note: Britain has always been good at research and innovating. What we are less good at is development of the resultant ideas. And that is often down to the short-termism that infects our governments, investors and businesses.
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    MikeSmithsonMikeSmithson Posts: 7,382
    Plato said:

    RT @afneil: #r4today has now done the Mail/Miliband story 3 (or is it 4) times this morning, inc. 7.10 and 8.10 ....plus every news bulletin

    That's because it's the big news Plato

    Your hatred of British institutions is well known, particularly the BBC and NHS.

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    JonathanJonathan Posts: 20,901
    Some PB Tories are simply blindsided by their dislike of Labour and EdM. Dave and Co fortunately have better judgement.

    How anyone can defend the Mail article is quite beyond me. They used the word "evil" FFS.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,111
    Anyone who thinks this row helps the tories now, short term, medium term or long term is deluded.

    The Daily Mail has achieved what the spin doctors of Labour could not and for which previous evidence was scanty at best. They have made Ed look like a human being.
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    PlatoPlato Posts: 15,724

    Plato said:

    RT @afneil: #r4today has now done the Mail/Miliband story 3 (or is it 4) times this morning, inc. 7.10 and 8.10 ....plus every news bulletin

    That's because it's the big news Plato

    Your hatred of British institutions is well known, particularly the BBC and NHS.

    What? Hatred? What are you on?

    I have a problem with their biased political coverage and the compulsory TV Tax - and I have a problem with poor standards of care in the NHS but agree it should be free at the point of use.

    I don't think my views are *hatred* or in fact that unusual at all.

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    BobajobBobajob Posts: 1,536
    DavidL said:

    Anyone who thinks this row helps the tories now, short term, medium term or long term is deluded.

    The Daily Mail has achieved what the spin doctors of Labour could not and for which previous evidence was scanty at best. They have made Ed look like a human being.

    @DavidL now a strong candidate for Poty. He is able to see across the partisan divide and his post below about Ralph's funeral will touch any father, and any son.

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    Mick_PorkMick_Pork Posts: 6,530

    Plato said:

    RT @afneil: #r4today has now done the Mail/Miliband story 3 (or is it 4) times this morning, inc. 7.10 and 8.10 ....plus every news bulletin

    That's because it's the big news Plato

    Your hatred of British institutions is well known, particularly the BBC and NHS.

    Zing! ;^ )

    Satire no less. Wasted on here though. You need to spell it out step by step for the PB Hodges.

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    I still can't quite understand the faux outrage about an article outlining that a marxist academic was actually a marxist. It's notable how all these handwringers came out to voice they're disgust at the fact that Cameron's father had a good accountant not too long after he passed away....nowt like double standards is there?

    I'm also curious at the attempts on twitter to paint the article as being anti-semitic in tone. It's as if the left have collectively gone full retard on this.
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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,274
    edited October 2013
    I do wonder about the IQ level of journalists...

    Tasked with doing a number of Miliband, if the Mail journo had just run a piece that had said Ralph Miliband had some (especially by modern standards) extreme left wing views and [not justifying this] but made some comparisons in regards to Ed's latest ideas, surely they get the same effect on the hatchet job, and little that Ed could really complain about. There is plenty of solid evidence on Ralph Marxist views.

    However, instead they have managed to produce no real proof for the headline and allows Ed to take the moral high ground.

    It is like the Sun running with Gordo's spelling mistake...actually what they could have run with was Brown just lying through his teeth to the widow, which actually shows his truth character when presented with a mistake of his own making.

    Instead again the focus was on the ridiculous attack on somebody making a spelling mistake, not the fact that when he phoned up the woman up, rather than say sorry I made a mistake how can I make up for it [which if he had done, would have made him look just like Ed in this case], he ended up denying everything and arguing black was white for 5 minutes.
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