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Post by carlton43 on Apr 24, 2024 11:03:48 GMT
In what way was Blackpool a suitable Conference venue back in the 60s/70s /80s in a way that it has ceased to be? At one time Scarborough was also regularly chosen - but appears to have been dropped even further back than Blackpool /Brighton. In the 60s/70s/80s conferences were largely platform based, with very little beyond the main hall and only one item at a time occurring and crucially with very few external attendees. In terms of the main event a quick Google says the Winter Gardens auditorium has a capacity of 7,000. Manchester Central and Liverpool ICC both have seating for 11,000 The move from coastal resorts to cities allows larger conferences in more vibrant surroundings (bars, restaurants etc as well as a wider set of accommodation options). Back to Blackpool, another major problem it has of course is it is somewhat geographically isolated. Whenever I hear that word 'vibrant' used in that context I reach for my metal baseball bat.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 24, 2024 10:58:45 GMT
This by the same nepo toff that wrote the article about the marsh farm estate in Luton. Does he get off on dramatised poverty. It’s highly unedifying shit journalism. The truth always hurts. But it is the truth.
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Stroud
Apr 23, 2024 12:06:27 GMT
Post by carlton43 on Apr 23, 2024 12:06:27 GMT
Is there a dog/s? Is it at large in the garden? Does the bell work? Is there anyone in? Are they shift workers asleep? Is it a meal time? Am I interrupting a soap or a match on TV? Did I wake the baby? Where is the letter box? Has it got a kocker hanging over it? Does it have a strong spring flap and a stiff brush behind it? Is it a toe level? Is it vertical? Are there dog's teeth close behind it? Have I just dropped al the other leaflets in a puddle? Woden, I need a toilet? Will they ever stop talking? What should I say? Well are they for or against? What about other members of the household and voting? Is it safe to enter and drink their tea? Am I wasting more time? Is she/he serious about 'going upstairs'? Will this lead to front page of the Argus next week? An offer to join them for dinner and to stop working today? Another oral lambasting! A very detailed reason why the events of 1981 caused her to hate us! Can you help me move this grand piano? Do you still offer transport? Yes. What time on Polling Day? I mean down the shops now! Can you sit in and watch the kid while I go? It is a rich and eventful life on the knocker. You forgot small child saying "My mummy only sees men by arrangement". I tended to know all those addresses and got them on someone else's list! It was the enthusiastic amateurs who always caught me out.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 23, 2024 11:54:11 GMT
Will be interested to see whether the issues around Gateshead FC being barred from the National League promotion play-offs affect the outcome in any wards. There does seem to be palpable anger around. To compile with EFL rules - and to stand a chance of getting promotion to League Two if successful in the National League playoffs starting this evening - there was a requirement of a 10 year security of tender required on EFL club's stadium. Gateshead Council which owns the stadium did not provide this - as they are in process of transferring ownership of the site to a third party (as they say the stadium runs up a deficit of over £800k) - and they did not want to make any commitments if they could not transfer the site. www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/gateshead-fc-play-hopes-rocked-29034318www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/gateshead-fc-national-league-play-29040781comply tenure
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 23, 2024 11:48:34 GMT
We're keen on canvassing too - we were the first party to adopt a proper phone app to record it - but we do major on leaflets because they substitute for the media coverage that the Big Two get. I'm surprised not to have been canvassed by Labour, as I have been in the past, but I'm in a side street and you can't cover every house. Personally I thought the Labour candidate's cv appeared more impressive than the Green and if that's borne out I would expect canvassing to be effective What’s it like door knocking and how do you deal with it. Is there a dog/s? Is it at large in the garden? Does the bell work? Is there anyone in? Are they shift workers asleep? Is it a meal time? Am I interrupting a soap or a match on TV? Did I wake the baby? Where is the letter box? Has it got a kocker hanging over it? Does it have a strong spring flap and a stiff brush behind it? Is it a toe level? Is it vertical? Are there dog's teeth close behind it? Have I just dropped al the other leaflets in a puddle? Woden, I need a toilet? Will they ever stop talking? What should I say? Well are they for or against? What about other members of the household and voting? Is it safe to enter and drink their tea? Am I wasting more time? Is she/he serious about 'going upstairs'? Will this lead to front page of the Argus next week? An offer to join them for dinner and to stop working today? Another oral lambasting! A very detailed reason why the events of 1981 caused her to hate us! Can you help me move this grand piano? Do you still offer transport? Yes. What time on Polling Day? I mean down the shops now! Can you sit in and watch the kid while I go? It is a rich and eventful life on the knocker.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 23, 2024 10:32:58 GMT
An AfD staffer in the European Parliament has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China. Quite why China needs to bother when the German economic and political establishment are happy to help, who knows. It's probably a blind to cover their backs and to damage their major opposition.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 23, 2024 10:17:43 GMT
And Leicester has popped up in Norfolk... 'Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once ... Essex to Suffolk ..... And Leicester to Norfolk go'
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 22, 2024 18:21:18 GMT
If I were a Mr or Mrs Solesbury-Timms I would definitely avoid giving my child a name beginning with an R. Why? What’s wrong with the initials RST? This is Remove Lower 5th humour for gigglers in the back rows who are 'slow' and who don't do girls. R Solesbury = R Soles = RSoles = Arseholes Geddit? They are ecstatic with mirth and glue substances now on the back row.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 22, 2024 13:05:36 GMT
Who thinks late night sittings would be a viable option in this day and age? 😳 A generation of tired tim, shallow wimps, would find it all too much. When used to "working" from home and spending more time with a screen than their partner, it would be unconscionable.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 22, 2024 11:13:17 GMT
If this is true it's a massive polling fail. If it is 'true', why is it a polling 'fail'? If it is a polling 'fail', can it still be true?
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 21, 2024 11:59:19 GMT
Tony Greaves actually rated Steel and Thorpe? Steele was Bantam-weight but I suppose Thorpe was more Cruiser-weight!
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 21, 2024 11:07:05 GMT
Well done , Zoe Garbett As for the repulsive Rowling.... Many of us Mike feel that JKR speaks for truth reality and sanity in a gormless modern world.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 20, 2024 22:51:39 GMT
If I were on Susan Hall's campaign, I'd be furious with Steve Tuckwell's pusillanimity in that communiqué. I suspect that it is targeted at voters who are unlikely to vote Tory but may be disillusioned with Sadiq Khan. It may be more effective with those voters if they don't think there is any chance of a Tory actually winning. I'm pretty sure the letter was written by Hall's campaign rather than by Tuckwell personally and I doubt if Hall was asked her opinion as campaign organisers invariably think they know much more about campaign strategy than mere candidates. And they are nearly always correct to do so.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 20, 2024 12:47:22 GMT
LOL Yes let's 'make history'! Woden wept.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 20, 2024 12:41:46 GMT
... Less ... Heads ... Toon
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 20, 2024 10:15:37 GMT
Falmouth seems to have done quite well as a result of its university. There are also Portsmouth and Plymouth. Whilst not a particularly touristy city, but is a seaside area, Bangor also has what I think is a pretty good university (three current and two former MPs (although one was Rob Flello so that’s maybe not such a plus)), three former AMs (before it became the Senedd), a President of the Welsh Liberals who went to the Lords, the first leader of Plaid Cymru, a former Police and Crime Commissioner, the inventor of the breathalyser, and Danny Boyle and Roger Whittaker). That pitch really is not selling the idea to me.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 20, 2024 8:00:26 GMT
Let’s just say they probably wouldn’t have needed recounts in 2017 if he stood there… or, parallel universe, he wouldn’t have been as much of a rabid Brexiteer, but then again it’s highly unlikely he would have caught the mood of Kensington, being a ‘safe seat’, just as Cooper as an ardent remainer almost lost her ‘safe seat’ in 2019. This is an interesting debate, do MPs within parties self sort into the appropriate constituencies that align with their factional views, or do they go for any seat and have their views shaped accordingly. This is much more chance and opportunity than determinism and careful selection. Conservative hopefuls looked for a seat that would take them, was winnable and holdable; roughly in that order of certitude. Being a character fit, a policy fit and a demographics fit were regarded as a bit of a bonus. Some candidates would indeed be moulded by demographics, constituency officers and the members into a clone of their views and aspirations. Other would plough a personal furrow and hope to gain respect and conversions to their own way of thinking.
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 20, 2024 7:52:14 GMT
The Greens are targeting Wakefield North with 6 Election leaflets already delivered. When will they deliver to the 4012 houses?
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 20, 2024 0:28:35 GMT
This is an interesting debate, do MPs within parties self sort into the appropriate constituencies that align with their factional views, or do they go for any seat and have their views shaped accordingly. Well, Lembit Opik was known for being very anti fox hunting when he was based around Newcastle-u-T, but became pro hunting when he was selected for rural Montgomeryshire. Which Newcastle? On Tyne Under Lyme Under Trent Under Thames?
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Post by carlton43 on Apr 19, 2024 15:24:58 GMT
I am truly astonished at the small-mindedness of so many of you. Localism gone mad. One could lose the whole of Britain in the state of Texas alone. Many of you show mindsets that were formed before the invention of the bicycle let alone railways. IMO the best MPs are often complete outsiders who will examine carefully and have no internal bias or givens. They will note the strengths and weaknesses much more readily and accurately. They will tend to be fairer and more universal in thinking. If we did get these independent minded paragons I'd be fine with this. There are some potential Benns, Foots, Powells and Boris's in the Commons, but they are very few. But there are also an awful lot who've done PPE at Oxford or similar, become a Spad or think tanker, fought a hopeless seat, got a job in lobbying and then a safe seat from which only an unlucky boundary review will ever dislodge them. They are on average very clever and a lot of them are actually quite nice (or good at pretending to be so) but it's actually a very narrow pool and it suppresses - although thankfully not eliminated - the warp and weave you need in Parliament. There probably will always be a place for these types, they're ambitious enough and some will get through any filter you set them. But more parochialism regarding candidates would make for a more ornery and effective Parliament. No it wouldn't. That is a starry-eyed illusion. Most of them are utter plonkers with an expertise in potholes and bus schedules. You keep to your illusions and I shall cherish mine. Ahh! All cuddly now.
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