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I'd have bet money that your link led to a piece on Tower Hamlets! Real innovation at work there, putting "interpreters" into polling stations to show non-English speakers how to express their gratitude to the party that admitted them to the country - a master stroke worthy of Mugabe. You sort of wonder how readily contraceptive advice is available in that neck of the woods. http://www.edp24.co.uk/lifestyle/tower_hamlets_is_a_rudderless_ship_that_s_totally_dysfunctional_nothing_works_1_1422626

So what exactly did Lord Oakeshott do to bring on such condemnation from the LDs and force his resignation? Well, it seems he used his own money to discover the truth! In LD World the truth is to be avoided at all costs. Not just the truth on how the electorate perceives their leader, but on how their insane path towards a European superstate is panning out. Ask them if they were dead wrong to push for an entry into the EMU and you'll get evasion. Most will grudgingly admit that the EMU entry they pressed for in the ten years prior to 2009 would have crippled our economy, but any suggestion that they are even more mistaken in their headlong quest towards a federal Europe will be dismissed - opponents are simply Little Englanders. You could write a thick book about LD skills at burying the truth, but here's just one example I recently came across. It concerns the LD MEP for North West England, Chris Davies: So did the LDs "Publish everything, reveal all, hide nothing.." about their chummies in Euroland? I refer you to my three opening sentences.

And... you didn't get your phone out and grab us an exclusive?

Yes, off topic so deserves it's own thread moderators! No, no, wait - if we have a Miliband Gaffe thread it will likely run to the same length as the jokes thread. Could turn out just as funny though! He's my contribution anyway: I watched yesterday's press conference to the converted (aren't press conferences supposed to be for the press?). Therein he was asked by a puzzled loyalist why he didn't just offer the public a referendum on Europe to match Cameron, and so be done with it. No straight answer of course; it's all a matter of priorities, apparently. Presumably the priority of kicking an awkward tin down the road, and not exposing that you're as wedded to a European superstate as you are to keeping those labour-voting immigrants flooding in as long as possible. The real fun began when he was asked to describe his "leadership" in one word. After much head-shaking and tutting the answer came back "one nation". Then he went into a lengthy explanation as to what he meant by that err... one word! The core reason for the question - a vain attempt by a loyalist to disprove the allegation that he's unable to answer anything concisely and directly - totally escaped him!

The problem seems to be that here we aren't actually going to get a choice. I'm talking about Nige's "targeted strategy" - I'd imagine that we are pretty low on the list of winnable seats? An interesting observation: If there'd have been even the slightest truth in what Nick Clegg said about business being damaged by an EU withdrawal, and his talk of it "causing uncertainty" then just at this moment there'd have been market meltdown. Markets have been even more twitch than usual recently, and hate uncertainty. In fact after the results the markets have ticked up slightly, and are at near record highs! Something else the LDs don't want you to know is that there is actually a clause in the EU treaties we signed which provide for a withdrawal. It requires the rest of the EU to do a trade deal on favourable terms. We could build on this to involve other EU countries that see the world as we do, and so deliver the sort of free trade area we were all promised when we voted for "The Common Market". Hey, let's call it The Common Market! This isn't going to happen under a Europhile prime minister from either the Tories or Labour. They will sell us out again, when it will be politician's gravy train as usual. Nothing I've seen so far indicates that the EU will reform unless there's a popular revolution. In fact every indication is that the politicians are hell-bent on the road to federalism, and want to get as far as they can before anyone notices what we've really got ourselves into.

Interesting development: Inmarsat recently released 47 pages of raw data to a group of satellite experts. One of them, a Michael Exner, has just said that they've have asked for more background information, and indicated that on what they've seen so far there's no certainty that the original conclusion that the aircraft went South is correct!

Isn't that Watford (gateway to the North)? Cleggy under a lot of pressure to go. He's refusing, so it's now a battle of wills inside the LDs. Other parties must be praying he wins!

It's now an entirely different world inside the M25, and I'm not talking about the obvious things like the gleaming mosques. Someone mentioned the other day that over 200 more skyscrapers had received planning approval. The EU aren't funding any of those. Seems like you can't have the capital of the world, and the capital of your own country, in the same place. Birmingham is out for me, so let's turn England around and balance things up. Moving parliament to Newcastle would mean we could keep a much closer eye on the b'tards, and wouldn't half stick it to Salmond!

This will never happen. Far too many people with too much to lose. I mean Eastern European domestics are already far too expensive. Those nasty unwashed UKIPers in the provinces will put the price of "help" through the roof, they don't even have any colour sense!

...and who was the most stupidly exposed? ...and where were the first tremors felt? You don't have to flee to South America these days, you only need to repeat enough times "it is a global problem", and otherwise keep your head well down. Where are you now stupid Northern Rock lady director? How's the weather on your country estate?

That's actually disastrous for Labour, and a pretty good turn-out for the Euros. Labour are coming off an all time low after Gordo's little binge, and should have done far far better. Only in London are they holding their own, and it's not hard to see why. There's now a disconnect between their "multi-ethnic" support base in London, and traditional Labour supporters in the rest of the country. They are blaming Miliband, but that's not even half the story.

The Euros of course. The biggest mass political shift in 104 years - it has been a long time coming! Very close to a second UKIP MEP and beating Labour here. Country-wide it wasn't the close contest the polls predicted, UKIP stormed it! The party is now attracting more Labour voters than Tory ones, so Cameron's ploy that voting UKIP lets in Labour is sunk. That makes a lot of sense as Labour voters have been disproportionately disadvantaged by the influx of foreign labour from the EU. We are going to see a UKIP manifesto that's far more in tune with former Labour voters than anyone would have imagined. There are still masses of thinking Labour supporters who are yet to see things as they are in the 21st century (the real class-war against the London-liberal-elites), but not that many more Tory eurosceptic votes to pick up. Over 13,000 votes for the bogus UKIP in Sunderland though. How thick is not even reading the ballot paper properly? And those were some of the more intelligent Labour voters! Yes, a lot of work to do yet! Far closer than anyone would have predicted in Welsh Wales, and that hasn't been affected yet anything as much as Eastern England by the immigration tide. Salmond's nose put out in Scotland too. He claimed that UKIP was unelectable there. Altogether a very good day for freedom, popular democracy, and our country. The chattering classes are now really rattled! Goodness, I didn't even mention the LDs! Commiserations local LD's, but you know what you need to do. Yes, you were right to do what you did, but that is not what you are being punished for. You are being punished for playing politics in times where people are educated enough to see right through the ploys. If you'd very reluctantly supported the government ONLY for the sake of national stability you wouldn't be getting it in the neck now. But your lot chose to punch way above your weight, block essential reforms like the boundary changes, and claim "credit" for other things. Well, when you claim credit you also claim blame. The same lack of clear thinking extends into your policy on the EU. Become the party of maybe (on the right conditions for the UK), and you will become a political force again. Even UKIP is prepared to be flexible if the terms are right *and* we get what your bunch of Europhiles originally sold to us, but you're now treating the electorate with the same contempt as the other two lots!

Our little pathetic Northern Rock was the trigger. Nothing much has changed in the US. Lehman was "let go" more for political than financial reasons (other bankers hated Dick Fuld's guts). The same structural problems are there, though the private loans-crisis has abated. We're back to the massive state borrowing, which can be more easily concealed, until...

Once worthy of respect it seems the BBC has had its day! I won't catalogue recent history here, but after the anti-UKIP antics in the newsroom - and more particularly how it was (mis)handled - I'm rapidly losing all respect for the whole concept of a state-sponsored broadcaster. People from within are distancing themselves from the liberal lunacy, but no one is able to offer solutions. Jeremy Paxman hasn't chosen his exit a moment too late. The London-liberal-elites are doing for the Beeb exactly what they've done for politics; they are treating their audiences with the same disdain and contempt. For what it's worth here's today's episode of PC lunacy: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10854915/BBC-in-censorship-row-after-the-word-girl-is-cut-from-documentary.html My solution: move the whole thing lock stock and barrel organ as far away from London as possible, and simply leave a tiny news gathering crew in the capital. The North East would be the best place; here they'd have to rub shoulders with real people; see the country they were actually broadcasting to, and not a city that is no longer recognisable as part of our country. The Nation would save the huge London Premium on its TV licence, and feel a lot more comfortable about being told what to think. Salford? A cosmetic exercise that's only tinkering at the edges of the principal problem. The rise of Al Jazeera on the world stage is not a little unconnected I think. The mouthpiece of a dictator in Qatar is becoming more respected than the BBC's tainted output! So, I think the BBC needs a new motto. No longer Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation. How about the more contemporary Liberals Shall Speak PC Unto Provincial Barbarians? ------------------------------------------------------- P.S. If anyone thinks this is simply my lunatic ravings, there is a whole forum on the subject here, with more examples than any normal person could possibly wade through: http://biasedbbc.proboards.com/ I sort of suspect that many of the posters are disgusted BBC insiders.

I don't believe that "left of centre" have any ideals. Or, for that matter, do any of the LibLabCon alliance. It may have become a cliché, but that there's nothing between them has never been more evident. It's the power game, and there's the added dimension of London Power. There's a lot of crap in The Telegraph these days, but Janet Daley tells it as it is: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10853265/London-land-cant-ignore-this-Ukip-protest.html The bit about the Beeb is classic! Well of course a few banks should have folded. This in-the-public-interest thing is always taken past the bounds of reason. If the public finances were in better shape there wouldn't be the continual fear of triggering a meltdown, and market forces would take care of things. The mistake is to believe it's lack of regulation when in fact it's lack of government self-discipline at a remove. The bankers really had nothing to do with problem, they were only following herd instincts. How long would anyone's job have lasted if they'd refused to ape competitors "innovative strategies" on the grounds of traditional prudence? The whole crazy climate was fuelled by Gordo's self-delusion.

The damning thing about our former nationalised industries isn't that they were inefficient in themselves, and always had the cap out for more "investment". It was their monopoly position which put the brakes on everything else. BT poured huge amounts of money into R&D on the promise of new technology whilst keeping consumer prices way up and limiting consumer choice on the grounds of standardisation and efficiency. What did any of this produce? Oh yes, a proprietary plastic plug that you cut off and replace with an American RJ6, and Prestel (incredibly slow Internet without a keyboard at 3p for a each fiftieth of a page!). Phones were the thing that the US had the good sense to break the monopoly on very early, and their business benefited hugely. The Post office still has the monopoly mindset. They are now bleating about needing to maintain one for "the universal postal service", and once again complaining about unfair competition. Heck it's 2014 not 1954! If you trust Fred's Emporium down the street to deliver your post (and not shove it in his spare bedroom) then why shouldn't you have the choice? If letters have to be repriced to reflect the true cost then there will be gainers an losers, and people will need to think more about the true costs of dead-tree email! Can you imagine being able to send a text message for free to any part of the world if the UK government still had a monopoly on all communications? There'd be regulations about everything you could do, and we'd have hectoring adverts about the responsible use of bandwidth - a nationally important resource. But enormous amounts of effort would be poured into Prestel 2 (or incompatible Minitel Deux if you are French) - which would forever be tantalisingly only three or four years away. It's the analogue of those 1950's sunny-uplands NUM banners. Yes, the Euro will fail big time, as every LD will now be able to tell you. And, they knew this all the time, but simply wanted to be "good Europeans" by not upsetting our partners by exposing them to brutal reality! They were only showing solidarity with the European Ideal, until such time as this dawned on other nations. I was thinking principally of a credit union. Do you have a wider vision?

It's the IF! State run means state financed, and we all know what happens when the state finances anything. It's just far too tempting to print more money and/or promise jam tomorrow. Rationalise this by a "we need more investment", "the industry suffers from underinvestment". What this actually means is lets paper over the structural problems for now because it will inevitably turn out to be someone else's problem.. The left corrupts the meaning of words like investment (and indeed democracy). The simple reason we are in the current mess is that Gordo kidded himself that the he'd ended "boom and bust". He squared this by pretending that we were at the bottom of the economic cycle when economists were telling him we were at the top. But the ultimate rationalisation - which I noted only his blinkered supporters lapped up - was that he hadn't created the problem at all, it was a global problem! Self delusion is part and parcel of a left wing mindset! If state controlled industries could be subject to normal market forces then, as you say, there'd be no problem. But the very fact that no one - even in communist/ex-communist countries - still has any, clearly illustrates that they can't be. "New Labour" certainly doesn't believe in nationalisation, but here the essential duplicity and dishonesty of the left creeps in. When you spout silly ideas you have to go through amazing logical contortions to rationalise them. This is why politicians like Boris and Nigel get so much support, they tell things as they are and don't try to rationalise daft and doctrinaire ideas. The public is not as stupid as most politicians would like to believe, and is increasingly wising up! The co-op long since ceased to be a mutual in the sense that its founders would ever understand. No, I think there is a future for genuine mutuals. They can and do work, and there are many models to learn from. I fully agree - we do need manufacturing. But current employment "protection" legislation has gone far too far, and that is a big drag on what is now possible. It's a very brave politician that will touch that particular subject.

I don't understand why the BNP would be against it, but they are an irrelevance anyway. It would be interesting to ask them though. The Greens are pretty much an irrelevance too - most people can see straight through them. At the end of the day they'd do things which cause real environmental and economic damage rather than abandon their left-wing prejudices. I can also understand why the Stalinist left would be opposed - any expression of individualism is bad, and we must all be subservient to an all-powerful state. But, I can't see that there is any reason why all regular politicians can't give this their full support. That's actually the reason I'm so interested in mutualism - not to mention that my grandfather was a mover in the movement. Like Malcolm I think our community could and should do a lot more here than it has. It's an apolitical way of improving things for the entire community.

Are you talking about the left or right? If it's the right you'd be seriously wrong. People with right wing views do not have a problem with worker's cooperatives. They don't oppose nationalisation on doctrinaire grounds, it's simply that it doesn't work! One of the several reasons it doesn't work is that the bureaucrats that the state puts in charge have no direct interest. They run it as their own fiefdom for their own career advancement. That's human nature I'm afraid! A lot of people in the early cooperative movement were strongly anti Labour Party, but the coop movement was hijacked.

Well... it's not lost on the bulls! They are wising up to being taken for granted too! Normally I'd make a remark like the Spanish idiots deserve a tiny bit of their own bull treatment, but that would be entirely non-PC and possibly Spanishist - so I will desist, and hope they get well soon! Yes, I will keep my "Eu-racist" remarks on ice for the snout-in-troughists in Brussels - or is it Strasbourg this week? But you know it CAN be reformed! Do tell me more about this Nick! Yup, looks like those are people who are gagging for reform!

Brilliant subject! You know the really great people in this world are at pains to admit to copying other people's ideas - only the small-minded (and creepy) attempt to "own" them. Though Isaac Newton might have admitted that he copied his famous phrase too!

Can you expand on this Adam? I'm confused as to possible motives for not supporting them. It seems to me that this is something which no rational person could offer any arguments against.

The biggest shift in politics in living memory. It gives the lie to the rationalisation that UKIP is only a bunch of disaffected Tories. That may have started the ball rolling, but Labour voters are now joining them in droves. Labour should have been piling on votes, but in places have lost control of councils to the Tories. So, Cameron's ploy that voting for UKIP can only lead to a Labour victory is also full of holes. The telling thing is that only 24% of committed Labour voters think that Miliband is competent. They have to notice that Gordon Brown's always-wrong architect of economic failure Ed Balls is still there when he should have been long since retired. The trades unions still control Labour, and they are totally out of touch with Labour's new electorate, which is increasingly new immigrant. Labour's flood-gate immigration policy of packing out its voter base at the expense of traditional Labour supporters has been rumbled. As the black UKIP guy in Croydon says, they've use the racist name-calling card against concerned and decent folks so much that it has ceased to have any meaning. Established immigrants are rumbling Labour too; the very values they came here for are being undermined by all the parties. That significant numbers of upwardly mobile immigrants are also turning to UKIP should be no surprise. The absurdity of Labour's loony left was no more clearer illustrated than the sixty-year-old Jewish lady who'd lost most of her ancestors in the holocaust being shouted down as a "racist" for simply expressing support for her adopted country. The left-leaning liberal elites (the grown-up loony left) which still control our major media have a lot to answer for, and what we are seeing is as much a judgement on them as it is on our out-of-touch politicians. Is anyone now in doubt that we have a social revolution taking place? The wealth generators are taking back control of our country from the chattering classes who dissipate and mismanage that wealth. The LabCon divide and conquer strategy is no longer fit for purpose! This has left many people confused, but the penny will drop there too.

This is just about the first common sense I've heard from the NUM. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-27519353 Their efforts deserve every possible bit of support from all political parties. But, why oh why couldn't we have arrived at this point several decades ago, and still have some sort of mining here?! It's about putting YOUR money (and your efforts) where your mouth is, and not expecting that the World to owes you a living. This isn't something that our own Mr Lavery has ever impressed me as being any good at!