im glad he's gone-if they'd have got a couple of bouncers to throw him out live on tv, i'd of been happier

O/T   Pirate, I read the book and I enjoyed it.

i think godon played a blinder, or  more likely peter mandelson has.

all hunky dory in the  tory/lib ranks, then suddenly there  were labour/lib talks, and then  after  gordon is given a shove,we learn that the labour negotiators had no intention of entertaining any idea of a coalition with  the libs. it was just enough of a threat  to get the tories to up their offer and piss on camerons parade.

i see mandleson  at his best,lol.

great stuff!
i was..ahem..blitzed with 'blitz books for my birthday
i had birmingham in the blitz
voices from the blitz
and
murder in the blitz
the last one is loosley based on a true story
all good

That's my new reading material sorted out. I hope you had a great birthday Pirate, did you manage to read your birthday thread?

Did you watch that programme with Tony Robinson pirate? Think it was called 'Blitz Street'...I saw some of it...looked interesting.

no!

i didnt know there was one

I watched it Pirate, it was really good.
You can see the last episode on 4 On Demand.

yeah

it was scary stuff but
just watching the londoners getting up the next day and getting on with it was fascinating

I'll go hunt it down and bump it for you.

Re-reading his "favourite joke", I think it's Cameron who has shown himself up the shabbiest. No principles or morals at all - but then we knew that.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7567513.stm

the lib dems have always been a joke to the establishment. yogurt knitting hippies in sandals was an often used phrase for them .

cameron's 'joke' was  two years ago,when the perception was widely held that nick clegg was a joke.

my problem with  cameron's joke is not the content but the fact that it's lazy and trite.

and its good to see 'the joke' take cameron and his party to the cleaners in this current agreement ,although i have to add ,from my perspective, cameron/clegg and brown  have all been surprisingly  level headed  and inclusive this week.

I agree, actually.

 I'm happy though. If I have to live under Tory Rule again at least there are some LibDems there to castrate them .....SNIP....SNIP

im with you suzy, cant abide the tories as they were, im off a mind  to think there is a shift in their attitudes of late, which has t be a good thing and even better when tempered by  the lib dems.

however you still get the  treat of having  norman tebit rants shoved down the tellybox saying, in amongst all the current bonhomie and back slapping' nick clegg is swanning about,making demands, he should be told to shut up,locked in a cupboard until he grows up, just who does he think he is, young upstart!'
 

well norman, he's the new deputy pm, hahahaha.

In the long run, I think the LibDems have done themselves a lot of harm though. Most grassroots supporters could have stomached a deal with Labour - being ideologically closer - far more easily than this one.

I think it'll cost them. There are loads of LibDem-controlled councils all over the UK that were previously run by Labour, who lost them due to voter frustration during the Iraq war in the early 2000s. But I can see Labour getting them all back again at the next local elections.

My own council is one of these, and the local LibDems' mailshots have always included a little chart showing voting trends and the declaration that "The Tories can't win here". Maybe their next leaflets will have in small print: "Unless we do a deal with them".

Damn! I wrote down the book title and author on a piece of paper.... guess what? I can't find the piece of paper! Yogi, could you remind me what it was called, and the author please? Thanks

I'm keeping an open mind. I think this Pluralism lark is worth a try. Jacko....Norman Tebbit was hopping mad

i voted lib dem, and the nea constant wailing  of lib dems supporters whining about a coalition  really gets up my nose.

some lib dem policies that they hold dear will  now be implemented,lib dems now hold serious ,influential positions in govt. after 5 years they will have laid the ghost of ' i like 'em but won't vote for 'em cos they have no experience'. 

there is n way, under the current  voting rules they could have achieved any of that without the tories  reacting as they have  done to the election results.

Oh, I don't know. I'm kind of hoping that the LibDems will have enough say to staunch some of the Tories more controversial proposals. If it was just the Tories on their own... well I dread to think.

Jenny, it is called "Blitzed" by Robert Swindells. I got my copy from Play.com

Although it is a children's book, I enjoyed it - in the same way I enjoyed The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas. I suppose it's the child's take on the horrors of war - and there is a little twist in the tale.

I think Norman Tebbit and Ann Leslie being furious is a very good sign.
Makes me hopeful.

agree!

I agree. And having just listened to the first speeches... and I know it is very early days.... I can only see it as a positive, inspiring move

dunno.  I am a lib dem supporter, & I feel they've done the deal that could change the things they feel most strongly about.    Also...  labour has a place in my heart... & I hope that they can now regroup, sort themselves out, and come back with some clear, kick ass idea's....   In the meantime... the optimist in me hopes to see the coalition governing as a coalition...  *crosses fingers*

That's it! Thanks Yogi. I shall write that somewhere where it won't get thrown away this time.

 You're welcome. Jenny.

Personally, the pair of shabbiest and unelected people hovering around Parliament have to be Mandelson and Campbell...Labour would do well to be shot of the pair of them

Mandy, I agree with. He had no business being part of a Cabinet without ever being voted into Parliament.

But Campbell's good entertainment value, especially after the way he made Adam Boulton blow a gasket. I don't think any of other parties' advisers are elected either. Andy Coulson (former editor of the Sun and now Tory head of PR) certainly isn't.

Re the Tories choosing Osborne over Clarke.....I think that Clarke embodies old-style Conservatism in many minds and his links to Thatcher would have done the party no favours.

Re Tebbit.....he was always an attack dog....who became very embittered after his wife was injured by the Brighton Bomb.

Re Leslie.....Daft bint doesn't know what she's talking about most of the time


Re the pact.....I'll wait and see how it pans out with restraints on the excesses of any Parliamentary party

DEMS.....glad you agree about Mandy

I saw that interview...and I agree that Campbell is entertaining in a sort of *behind the sofa* sort of way....and no interviewer should be unprofessional enough to blow a gasket whatever his own, or his employer's beliefs.

I thought...at least I'm not watching the Beeb...which was very biased towards Labour in the last few days

We have the Scottish parliament elections next year,the Scottish Lib Dems have been very quiet up here about the coalition.I  think they will suffer next year.

How do you work that one out then?  Considering Cameron had been told by his boss to do away with them I thought auntie to be even handed.

I think you're right there Katty....I thought Salmond would have done better than he did in Scotland

Thank you for that; i so agree. he is a decent man who lacks charisma, thats all; HUGE intellect and did much to react quickly to th reccession and the banks before any other country in the world wide collapse of ecconomies. His methods werre then copies by many others. History will appreciate him, pity the UK voters did not see beyond hissome times  awkwardness. been reading about cameron just now, one quote from a top journalist said "poisness slippery individual" so ordiary working people, the poor, the sick, the elderly and those in in poorer educational area's, watch your back cos you ain't seen nothing yet. he even plagerised Kenney's inaugaral speech for God's sake, what a tosser. I am so so depressed for my country.

My personal belief Joe...being a Conservative...although you would see it differently. I thought the Beeb were actually pushing for a Lib Lab pact....and talking down the Tories, but hey! let's just agree to differ....it's all water under the bridge and we all have to make the best of the result

And although I am a Conservative....I don't care for Cameron or Clegg, but that's what we have...hopefully a coalition will curb excesses on all sides of the political divide


and that's my final political post....until the next election

Would be nice but I can't see it happening, they are already manoeuvering to have their chosen party leader elected.  Good choice for the Labour Party when electing a new leader go for the one that Mandelson and Campbell don't want

That is what politicians do best.

I was totally gobsmacked when the Lib Lab talks started.  The BBC did a news special with Campbell and Lord Adonis and some other Labour politicians and Lib Dems and there was not one Conservative in the room.  It went on for about half an hour and in my opinion the BBC was practically electrified with excitement.  Inclusive it was not.