Well, kudos to you for putting a suggestion out there. I don’t mind Farron, but then massive cunt Clegg was the bloke he replaced. I think the Lib Dems have a hell of a job to do, if I’m honest. They’ll probably do better - but only because they lost so much.
People forget that politics, at least the business of winning representation, is a zero sum game. Labour picked up a lot of councils during the last set of locals, so much so that there wasn’t actually much left to win. Farron will go onto break all sorts of percentage records in terms of performance since last leader, but I highly doubt he has the ability to forge a distinct identity with eight MPs, and no student vote ever again, I think we can consider 2010 the height of the failed Lib Dem project.
The traditional role of anti-war, anti-establishment protest party is completely gone. They were alongside Cameron as Libya was destroyed, were shown up to be liars at a key moment, and largely belonged to the Tories thereafter, whether they knew it or not. People don’t forget in a hurry. It took over a decade to detoxify the Conservatives. It’ll take even longer next time.
David Cameron cannot possibly like The Smiths, because when he listens to the lyrical complexity of songs like “Vicar In A Tutu” and “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” he won’t be able to understand, or relate to what it was like growing up as a working class lad in the north.
I am bit worry bout Tim Farron tbh. It seems that he is incapable of enjoying art unless he has personally experienced the upbringing of the artist. He looks at the Sistene Chapel and thinks, meh, I wasn’t an Italian Catholic of Rennaissance Period, that means nothing to me. He listens to the words of Shakespeare, the music of Mozart, Beethoven, Beach Boys, and it leaves him cold. It says nothing to me bout my life, he says, and I can’t even begin to empathise bc I’m a cultural retard.
If I were an artist or a musician, I’d insist that every person who wanted to enjoy my work would have to apply to me directly to be able to buy a copy. I’d then judge if I thought they would appreciate it and if they passed the test, I’d sell them the work.
He’s an evangelical Christian. They perform sneaky tricks.
You know the way that no matter what you chuck down your cakehole (within reason), your digestive system will turdify it?
This is what evangelical Christians do. They know they are not cool, and that few people really want to go to church of their own volition anymore. They don’t realise that. They treat the great unwashed can’t-be-arsed-ists as potential converts, much how I see an American that doesn’t yet support an English “soccer” team.
So they will say “hallo, Bear. Would you like to come to a cheese and wine party?” or “hallo Bear, would you like to come to exciting sports pub quiz. We need your intellect” (and you will believe it, you prideful bear).
When you arrive at said event, you finds out that, just like your digestive system, everything is turdified to one real question.
“Hallo Bear. Would you like to join our super-friendly church? (and eventually give 10% of your income, 80% of your time, and in Farron’s case, join the Liberal Democrats)”
mate at school when i was i.e. prob 12, invited me to “see a band” one time, and when we got there, it was church, and the band was doing Jesus songs with acoustic guitars.
My mate’s name was Thaddaeus tho, so I should’ve seen it coming.
Furious commuters today accused Sadiq Khan of breaking a key election pledge after it emerged hundreds of thousands of Londoners would miss out on frozen travel fares.
Angry voters hit out after the Mayor admitted the promised freeze would not cover daily or weekly travelcards or contactless caps – claiming they were not under his control.
In his manifesto, Mr Khan had said Londoners “won’t pay a penny more for their travel in 2020 than they do today”.
“Broken promises”: Sadiq Khan was accused of breaking an election pledge by commuters (Lucy Young)
The revelation sparked an angry response today from commuters.
Josette Decker, 23, an administrative assistant in the financial sector, from Mile End, told the Standard: “I feel very let down. I really rely on the contactless limit because I’m travelling around doing a lot of temp work.
Unhappy: Josette Decker said she felt “let down” the freeze would not apply to contactless caps
“From what he promised I would have expected no to pay any more, its disingenuous.”
Ed Torres, 37, a Mayfair-based trader, from Beckenham, said: “Personally I won’t be affected but I know so many people who will and it still is really disappointing because we have all basically been lied to in a broken election promise.”
“Disappointing”: Ed Torres described the admission as a “broken election promise”
Hannah Kidd, 29, a dancer, from Crystal Palace, said: “I didn’t really believe it when I heard it, you just know fares are going to go up, but we were all misled.
“And its all Londoners who will be affected – I don’t know anyone who doesn’t use a travelcard or reach the limit on Oyster. I just hope he does everything he can to keep the increase as low as possible now.”
Disbelief: Hannah Kidd said she feels she has been misled
Ian Burgess, 35, a risk manager, from Battersea added: “Politicians often go back on what they say and this is no different. It just proves again you can’t trust what they say.
“Maybe he didn’t know the problem until he got into power but he shouldn’t have said something he couldn’t deliver.”
Angry: Ian Burgess said the Mayor shouldn’t have said something he couldn’t deliver
Catriona Shannon, 38, an investment banker, from St John’s Wood, said: “It’s disappointing, but I think Londoners know by now the only thing that basically isn’t going to go up in price is a McDonalds.
“It was clearly an election pledge to attract voters so not to deliver on it is a shame.”
Shame: Catriona Shannon said the pledge was made to attract voters
While Adam Chalk, 38, an advertising sales manager, Balham said: “I voted for Sadiq but not over that policy but still it’s part of the manifesto so he should have kept his word.
“He’s played politics because anyone would have interpreted that promise as costs not going up for anyone.”
“Played politics”: Adam Chalk said the Mayor “should have kept his word”.
And Ruan Knober, 23, a financial data analyst, Bromley, added: “I think it’s a scandal.
“I was really happy when Sadiq won because I pay a lot for my zone 1 to 5 travelcard and I thought we are going to be protected from transport costs going up but no, it’s another politician bending the truth.”
“Scandal”: Ruan Knober said he thought he was being protected from transport costs
Although Mr Khan insisted travelcard and contactless cap payments were not under his control, Transport for London confirmed it was down to the Mayor to set all fares then to negotiate with the Department for Transport.
TfL confirmed on Wednesday it could now afford the Mayor’s four-year fares freeze without harming investment in the capital’s transport infrastructure.
It said the pledge would now cost £640 million - substantially lower than the £1.9 billion figure mentioned during the election campaign.
Mr Khan had promised in his election manifesto that Londoners “won’t pay a penny more for their travel in 2020 than they do today”. But he admitted yesterday that only single tickets and pay as you go would be frozen, although up to 11 million passengers would benefit
Quite. The British public’s appetite for US controlled weapons of mass destruction is unquenchable.
If we abandon Trident, then Russia wouldn’t love us as much. They’d stop targeting us with their missiles and all of that.
You may have surmised that I think Trident is a load of old pony. The deterrent argument is a piece of shit, there’s no first strike capability decent enough to win a nuclear war. All it buys us is the ability to take a few other places* out if the UK goes.
At that point, who the fuck cares?
* Assuming the antagonist is not the US and we have the US’ permission.
Especially as that’s got to be something that Labour concentrate on for the next election…Sadiq needs a good reign to prove that Labour can actually keep their promises and run something properly. It’s a good test for them, starting them on something smallish before letting them take the proper reigns.
You don’t need to keep election promises these days, that is so last century.
You just need to come up with attractive promises to tempt the majority, along with some good distractions or excuses for when you perform the inevitable U-turn.
You don’t need to keep election promises these days, that is so last century.
You just need to come up with attractive promises to tempt the majority, along with some good distractions or excuses for when you perform the inevitable U-turn.
You don’t have to hold to electoral spending limits, or campaigning rules anymore. Isn’t this age of permissiveness wonderful?
I must admit, I very much enjoyed seeing John Spellar put in his place. I think that may have been the first time I had seen such resistance to those smears. Zoe Williams really went out to bat for Momentum, again, one of the first times I’ve seen that.
On the Momentum theme, I haven’t mentioned this yet, but there was some particularly ridiculous shite going on in the past couple of weeks.
Rhea Wolfson’s appointment to the NEC was blocked by Labour in Scotland. According to reports, Jim Murphy, most famous for overseeing the collapse of the Labour vote north of the border, blocked her ascension because she was a member of Momentum, a group he considered antisemitic.
There are two major problems with that assertion with respect to this particular application.
The head of Momentum, Jon Lansman, is Jewish. So is Rhea Wolfson, the member he prevented from joining the NEC. Happily, Rhea has the choice of belonging to one of two CLPs, so he’s switched her official party address to her fella’s place and will apply again.
Mike Harding once wrote that a catastrophic failure is better than a middling success. By that definition, you can only call Jim Murphy a winner. He has two total fucking balls-ups he can call his own.
I actually think that this will be a good thing for Labour overall, even if it diverted attention in the run up to the local elections. Jackie Walker, a lifelong anti-racism campaigner suspended from the party on similar charges, has been reinstated, which is excellent news.
I’ve already mentioned the former Liberty chair conducting the investigation being a good thing. The next time Labour goes to the polls, even if we get the snap general election some have predicted, I don’t believe that similar charges will stick. Nor should they.
The PLP is nothing like united, but the screaming between the Tories has given the appearance of a less turbulent period for Labour.
I didn’t vote for Khan because I thought he would give me cheaper tube/bus fares. The fare for a single journey on a bus is already less than one in Southampton. So I am fairly happy with that.I pay for my travel card for a few zones and for how much I use it I am pretty happy.
