South Shields

[Deleted]

Telegraph piece of course was by Dan Hodges, so wrong it makes you laugh ... Tom Watson is the election co-ordinator and Luke Akehurst ripping him apart on twitter.

[Pimpernal]

Betting moves are mildly interesting - Labour out to 1/25 from 1/100 2 days ago
UKIP 2nd faves at 7/1 in from 25/1 a couple of days ago

[Deleted]

Mar 28, 2013 1:20:43 GMT johnloony said:

Mar 27, 2013 11:39:15 GMT The Bishop said:

The irony of things was that Brown was very likely saved by the arrival of the worldwide financial crisis in September of that year ... he used that moment to show that he could (after all) lead.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {gasp for breath} Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm. Well if you are saying that allowing another 1931 type slump was preferable to Gordon Brown's strategy for avoiding a banking collapse then you certainly are a loony....

And, as I recall, even the Tories were in agreement until the end of 2008 with this.

[East Anglian Lefty]

Mar 28, 2013 12:04:59 GMT @trident said:

Is there any chance that we could use this thread to discuss the forthcoming South Shields by-election, as opposed to generic ranting about the merits and demerits of preferential voting systems?

This is a rhetorical question, asked more in hope than expectation......

Probably not, at least not until there's some evidence it'll actually be anything more than a procession.

[Deleted]

Kevin Maguire has said he's flattered to be suggested as a candidate but it's not for him.....

[Deleted]

he would certainly bring some flavour into the house but outside he can earn more !

[timrollpickering]

Mar 28, 2013 12:04:59 GMT @trident said:

Is there any chance that we could use this thread to discuss the forthcoming South Shields by-election, as opposed to generic ranting about the merits and demerits of preferential voting systems?

This is a rhetorical question, asked more in hope than expectation......

We desperately another PR thread or even a whole section to divert such matters into. And a generally agreement to stop moaning about FPTP on every little thing.

[Richard Allen]

Various bits of info here

www.shieldsgazette.com/news/local-news/rivals-to-contest-david-miliband-s-south-shields-seat-1-5537274#.UVQ0IIGQgig.twitter

[Deleted]

Mar 28, 2013 15:23:03 GMT timrollpickering said:

Mar 28, 2013 12:04:59 GMT @trident said:

Is there any chance that we could use this thread to discuss the forthcoming South Shields by-election, as opposed to generic ranting about the merits and demerits of preferential voting systems?

This is a rhetorical question, asked more in hope than expectation......

We desperately another PR thread or even a whole section to divert such matters into. And a generally agreement to stop moaning about FPTP on every little thing.

They'd a Doktorb Electoral Reform thread I general discussion

[Deleted]

Mar 28, 2013 12:11:33 GMT @fionabloor said:

Mar 28, 2013 1:20:43 GMT johnloony said:

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {gasp for breath} Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm. Well if you are saying that allowing another 1931 type slump was preferable to Gordon Brown's strategy for avoiding a banking collapse then you certainly are a loony....

And, as I recall, even the Tories were in agreement until the end of 2008 with this.

Its not his actions at that point we really have a problem with.

[AdminSTB]

I would be very happy if people would start separate threads for any subjects other than the South Shields by-election. Let's not go off-track again like the Eastleigh thread...

[Andrew_S]

Mar 28, 2013 15:30:58 GMT Richard Allen said:

Various bits of info here

www.shieldsgazette.com/news/local-news/rivals-to-contest-david-miliband-s-south-shields-seat-1-5537274#.UVQ0IIGQgig.twitter

"Former scaffolding boss John Robertson, 46, from Whitburn, says he will stand as an independent.

He received a 40-week suspended prison sentence in 2011 after smashing his lorry into the headquarters of South Tyneside Homes.

Mr Robertson caused almost £160,000 damage after driving his 22ft lorry into Strathmore House, at Jarrow’s Viking Industrial Estate, demolishing much of the building entrance."

Is smashing his lorry into the headquarters of South Tyneside Homes intended to be something which will endear him to the voters of South Shields?

[Deleted]

Mar 28, 2013 20:21:47 GMT Andrew_S said:

Mar 28, 2013 15:30:58 GMT Richard Allen said:

Various bits of info here

www.shieldsgazette.com/news/local-news/rivals-to-contest-david-miliband-s-south-shields-seat-1-5537274#.UVQ0IIGQgig.twitter

"Former scaffolding boss John Robertson, 46, from Whitburn, says he will stand as an independent.

He received a 40-week suspended prison sentence in 2011 after smashing his lorry into the headquarters of South Tyneside Homes.

Mr Robertson caused almost £160,000 damage after driving his 22ft lorry into Strathmore House, at Jarrow’s Viking Industrial Estate, demolishing much of the building entrance."

Is smashing his lorry into the headquarters of South Tyneside Homes intended to be something which will endear him to the voters of South Shields?

Reminds me of Norman Scarth's candidature in the Haltemprice & Howden by-election in 2008, among other places, standing as an Anti-Crime candidate in spite of having wounded a court bailiff with a chainsaw.

[Andrew_S]

Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell believes David Miliband was Labour's most impressive MP:

"If it's true @dmiliband is resigning as an MP it's a loss for British politics & a massive blow for #Labour. He's their most impressive MP":

twitter.com/GavinBarwellMP

[Deleted]

how has he been ?

[greenchristian]

Mar 29, 2013 3:31:16 GMT Andrew_S said:

Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell believes David Miliband was Labour's most impressive MP:

"If it's true @dmiliband is resigning as an MP it's a loss for British politics & a massive blow for #Labour. He's their most impressive MP":

twitter.com/GavinBarwellMP

My gut reaction to hearing that statement is that Barwell's damning Miliband with faint praise.

[Deleted]

Mar 29, 2013 9:56:05 GMT greenchristian said:

Mar 29, 2013 3:31:16 GMT Andrew_S said:

Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell believes David Miliband was Labour's most impressive MP:

"If it's true @dmiliband is resigning as an MP it's a loss for British politics & a massive blow for #Labour. He's their most impressive MP":

twitter.com/GavinBarwellMP

My gut reaction to hearing that statement is that Barwell's damning Miliband with faint praise.

Nonetheless, it's a generous statement and I'm sure Mr Bardon knows what he's talking about.

[Deleted]

Victoria Coren in the Observer:

Will David Miliband ever be back in frontline politics? Lord Mandelson and others say he will. The rest of us should probably hope not. It strikes me that he has never demonstrated the danger of his political aspirations more clearly than in the abandoning of them.

Having been unable to overcome the resentment that followed a leadership battle with his brother, Miliband Senior is off to do charity work in America.

Our country must never be led by a man who would fail to build bridges with his own brother. (You might say the same applies to Ed Miliband, but, having won, he obviously isn't the one who remains bitter.)

The feud jars with too many principles of our national character. "Blood is thicker than water", that's what we say. Deep down, family is all we really care about. We bicker and recover, argue and forgive. When the chips are down, we know whose side we're on. We might be furious with a sibling, parent or child – but if that person is criticised or attacked by an outsider, the attacker has us to deal with.

Imagine how often those attacks and criticisms come, if your brother is leading a political party! And where is David? In the Club Class cabin to New York.

Neither does it work, if you aspire to lead the British in world affairs, to cope so badly with loss. Tut tut, that's not the idea at all. Not what Kipling said. In the poem that we always vote to be our national favourite, we are reminded to "meet with Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same"; to "watch the things you gave your life to, broken, and stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools".

There's nothing there about running off to a £300,000 job abroad.

David Miliband says the move is "right not just for me but for the Labour party as well", asking rhetorically: "Has it been hard for me to accept I can best help the Labour party by giving not just the space between the frontbench and the backbench to Ed but the space between the frontbench and 3,000 miles away? Yes, that's hard for me but I think that is right."

We are so used to the waffly constructions and double negatives of political language, it's worth re-reading those lines a few times to grasp how awful they really are.

In being unable to forgive his brother, after nearly three years, Miliband asks for both our pity and our applause. He wants us to see this exile as the hard, noble, gallant decision of a brave and selfless hero.

But we can see how easy it would be to throw his weight behind his brother and the past behind them both. All it would take is one fully supportive speech, a swallow of pride and a pat on the back, and they could be a powerful symbol of unity to inspire us all. Yet he wants not just to skip town but to be admired for doing it.

This reminds me of nothing so much as Tony Blair, who not only refuses to admit that the Iraq war was a ghastly and terrible error but still wants to be revered for the "morality" behind it. We must break free from these men who see their own failings as glories. They are the keenest to seek power over the rest of us, but that way lies the end of the world.

Go, then, David Miliband. Turn your back on the brother you can't forgive and leave him to it alone. I do believe it has been hard, and I hope the charity gig goes well. But you must not come back and try to rule over me and my family, while you don't even know that charity begins at home.

[stepney]

Mar 31, 2013 10:15:10 GMT doktorb🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ said:

Victoria Coren in the Observer:

Will David Miliband ever be back in frontline politics? Lord Mandelson and others say he will.

I understand the usual course of action in these circumstances is to return from abroad after two years to deliver a maundering lecture on the failure of the two main parties and British politics in general, followed two years after that by setting up a social democratic breakaway gang from the Labour Party. These intervals can be punctuated by repated libations of noble clawet, as well as a topical satirical sketch show including footage of D. Miliband standing behind a metallic lectern about to give a speech, overlaid with the sound of someone micturating into a bucket.

[stepney]

Mar 28, 2013 5:56:04 GMT doktorb🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ said:

From Steve Bell.

Yes, well - he would, wouldn't he? ((C) M. Rice-Davies, 1963)