The Labour Party has tanked in the English council elections, at a stage in the electoral cycle where every experienced person knows an opposition party would be expecting to pick up a minimum of 800 English council seat net gains. On today’s figures, they are nowhere near achieving an overall majority at Westminster, even ignoring the massive negative momentum against them. Labour have a swing of -8% against them compared to the 2012 local council elections.
Labour played the game of negative expectations in a massive way, claiming a net gain of 150 seats would be a victory for them. So far they have a net gain of just 82. But the extraordinary thing is that the BBC have, throughout the Breakfast News period – the largest TV news watch of the day – been unable to add up all the council seats yet. Sky has totaled every single one of the council seats declared overnight, while the BBC has been able to total under half – and the BBC has come up with a Labour net gain of 102. This has enabled the BBC to show a three figure Labour gain on its strapline all morning, and lead every news bulletin: “Major gains for UKIP in English local elections. Labour has also made gains. A poor night for the Conservatives and Lib Dems”.
That the BBC, which has more regional reporting staff than Sky by a factor of 30, is unable to tally the seats of all the councils declared so far, while Sky had done it all night very efficiently, is remarkable. And when Labour has made net gains of only 82 overall in the overnight declarations, to get a Labour net gain of 102 out of just over a third of the declared seats is virtually impossible for the BBC to achieve except by deliberate action. The BBC have cherry picked the very few areas where Labour has moved forward and ignored areas where they suffered losses. Precisely what one would expect from the BBC.
The fact that Labour cannot form the next government shows the people of Scotland they have a very simple choice. Tory rule or Independence. What the UKIP surge shows is that nasty xenophobia is rampant in England. The Tory party will move even further to the right to capture some of this ground – and so will New Labour. We could well see a Con/UKIP Westminster coalition after 2015.
So if you are Scottish, these are your only certain choices for the future:
Independence or Tory Rule
Independence or Leave the EU
It is as simple as that. The BBC will nevertheless try to hype the remotely vanishing possibility of a New Labour government instead, to appeal to tribal loyalty. Though why anyone would want New Labour who kick-started tuition fees, NHS privatization, academy schools and are obsessed with nuclear weapons, is beyond me. There is no choice open of a social democratic UK.
“Not all Jewish people are bad and I know there is a Jewish man helping children get to school by his presence I saw on one video. Unfortunately he is in a minority.”
Yes, I explained that. This is what you people do. You try and twist things by picking an isolated statement, out of context, that was perhaps badly phrased. But this was Palestine, where very few Jewish people do help Palestinian children, and only last week there was an example of Jewish people shooting and killing Palestinian children, so in that case of the man who helped Palestinian children get to school it was true, he was and is in a minority. Read the comments below the one your brother dissidents jumped on. People who know me know I am not anti-Jewish, and as a result Jewish people get a bad press. So when I made the statement it was against the general criticism. Though I agree it was not well-phrased and did not get across my intent. As a Christian I cannot be anti-Jewish. Think about it! I often hold the late Aaron Russo up as an example for all to follow, Marx was a good economist, there are thousands and thousands of Jewish people who were and are good people, who have given over the years much benefit for mankind. In all races there are good and bad. So let me turn this on its head, as Marx did with Hegel, and ask do you not think the man who helped Palestinian children get to school was a good man? Do you think he was or is in a majority? If you do then you understand what I was trying to say. Now can you give me an example of my racism?
Brendan
23 May, 2014 – 2:20 pm
“Well, it’s looking like Millipede is in trouble. I’ve said for about 2 years now, he’ll never be PM.”
I predict that Ed will not be leader after the 2015 elections and I see the possibility of the return to New Labour around soon of his right-wing brother Dave.
John Goss: “Now can you give me an example of my racism?”
No, I shouldn’t think they could. But they’re distracting you from Farage which is, after all, the point.
The one involved with rendition?surely not.
For info,
IDF uses live-fire zones to expel Palestinians from areas of West Bank, officer admits
Officer tells Knesset committee method used to reduce illegal construction, Palestinian population in Area C; Habayit Hayehudi MK urges crack-down on international groups who assist construction.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.591881
~~~
Letter to William Hague on the killing of two Palestinian minors by the IDF on 15th May 2014.
Dated 23rd May 2014 from the Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights.
http://lphr.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/LPHR-letter-to-UK-Foreign-Secretary-killing-of-two-Palestinian-minors-23-5-2014-Final3.pdf
The LPHR website http://lphr.org.uk/
‘I live in Ramsgate, one of their strongest areas and the seat which Farage is targeting to stand. I see them very close up.’
Craig,if the Ukip supporting locals get up your nose that much, and you are as pro-immigrationist as you make out only one alternative exists south of the border- London, which is full to bursting with immigrants (or ‘vibrant diversity’ if you prefer)and where the Ukip vote is much smaller.
You may need to trade down to a two bedroom house though- but then no more expensive, time consuming train journeys to events here.
How about it ??
Interesting piece Craig.
It highlights the differences between Scotland and the rUk. The r UK don’t have an accurate view of how we Scots think , but i can assure you it’s a way off line to the rest of the UK A fact you commented on accurately , you have your finger on the pulse my friend.
Sam.
We have many poles, latvian,Asian and brits up here and the general feeling is they DO integrate into our society . I had a drink yesterday in my local with 1 Dutch , 2 lithuanians and they point out that the anti-immigration feeling down south makes it harder for them to “join in”. We have to make an effort to encourage them not scare them off. We fought a war against fascist nations only to end up following their mistakes. The world must be laughing at the state of the UK .
As for UKIP having a following up here , well we had the BNP before and they are ignored. I doubt very much they will win a seat here. Funnily they all carry the Union Flag which hardly goes down well in Scotland and they don’t see the irony . We ARE so different from the rUK and this will show when independence is settled on the 18th.
Funny thing too . how would the rUK feel if Spain or France started off victimising immigrants starting with huge Brit populations there. It’s pretty clear its a touchy subject until we want to go somewhere else to live .
And Craig did you notice the MSM saying English voters in Scotland could scupper Scotlands independence charge. many saw it an attempt to raise anti-English feelings and a wee peek at the comments on these papers and i was proud to see so many of my countrymen/women trash the articles in question. We are not anti anything other than Westminster. But we wont have long to wait till thats sorted.
Keep up the good work Craig . Getting people to debate issues means we can listen to both sides rather than the MSM’s squint view.
A Node is absolutely correct that the BBC have been promoting Farage, primarily as a means of bringing the anti-immigrant dissenters under central control.
They couldn’t do it with New Labour, Lib Dem of even New Tory. That would be too much of a wrench. They’d already done their job by creating the problem to which UKIP are the solution.
So up pops naughty Nigel saying all the things the others can’t say, and the more he says them the more he looks the dissenter from mainstream opinion, to cheers from the ill-informed mob. Naughty Nigel is our saviour.
What does it mean. It means the British establishment are moving far right in public politics.
People need to understand that fascism is a means of preserving elite wealth during periods of economic stasis. That’s what Spain was about, what Italy was about, what the juntas in South America were about.
And given that UKIP has central imprimatur writ all over, that’s where we’re headed. The other parties will now jump upon that bandwagon with varying degrees of decorum.
People are so easily manipulated, time and time again.
Enjoy.
Since the comment from Mary at 14h58 is off-topic (it is about Israel and Gaza), I am obliged to remind readers that Mary denies the right of Israel to exist and is a Jew-hater.
(As promised, I shall issue this reminder every time Mary attempts to drag Israel/Palestine into a wholly unrelated thread)
The Norwich socialist/green bastion has voted no overall change,
15 Labour, 14 green and 3 Lib Dems,
0 Tories and 0 UKIP.
don’t know how many spoiled.
Mr Scorgie
“Anon
23 May, 2014 – 11:56 am
“John,
“You’ve made a few fruity comments about the Joos…”
Anon please do not use the derogatory term Joos.
Use the correct spelling: Jews”
______________________
When commenters write “Jooos” instead of “Jews”, they are doing so to take the piss out of Jew-haters like yourself and your Mother Mary.
But you know that of course – you’re just fooling around again for want of any substance to write about.
BTW, I believe you’re another of those who deny the right of Israel to exist?
The Scots can escape rUk’s fascist future by voting YES to independence. On their own they have a potential for economic growth which rUK does not have.
The UK, even with Scottish oil, will not have the growth necessary to sustain its current population in an open economy, and that’s why they need to close down those freedoms people previously took for granted.
Without Scottish oil, the economic future for rUK is obviously even more bleak.
The only way out for Britain is that Russia, China etc fully subjugate their resources and economy to Western banking diktat. That’s of course the only way out for the US too, who are similarly preparing themselves for a fascist future, should the current global rumblings not work in their favor.
Twice I am called a ‘Jew hater’ by the chief troll who has been noticeable by his absence and who has just come on shift. He is full of malice.
I am not a Jew hater. I support the Palestinians in their quest for a homeland and relief from the atrocities that are inflicted on them by the Israelis. The word ‘Israel’ is not the same as ‘Jew’. Nota bene!
Ex Ambassador Charles Crawford is rather obsessed with this blog. His own blog has been rehashed. The other day he reprinted all the comments about him that were listed on his previous ‘blogoir’ including Craig’s, mine and two others from here.
http://charlescrawford.biz/2014/05/21/diplomacy-and-ex-diplomacy-what-the-critics-say/
Craig @ 10.38
“Typical middle class socialist who almost never actually socializes with working class people. Try talking to people in a Ramsgate pub, then come back and tell me how amazed you are by their tolerance.”
Actually, Craig, until a couple of years ago I was doing twelve-hour nights in a factory. I currently earn around £7,500 a year.
I’m a kind of socialist, I suppose, but I don’t use the word since like many these days it is mis-used. I have never voted Labour, though two grandparents were in the Communist Party between the wars. Amusingly, one of them sold tea-cosies with the hammer and sickle on in the market.
Of course there is intolerance here; who could doubt it. Racism, being a manifestation of ignorance, will not be defeated until ignorance is expunged – and ignorance is a disease we all suffer from to a greater or lesser extent, so it doesn’t behove any of us to point too many fingers.
But I stand by what I said about that section of the population for whom the good times were never that good. Some sympathy might be in order for their plight and it is difficult to understand how anyone sane could advocate mass immigration simultaneously with mass unemployment. There are also the long-term environmental consequences of pointlessly promoting the kind of population density we now must accept, but that is another story.
By the way, I don’t live anywhere near Ramsgate and I am tee-total, but there was no way you could have known that.
Craig @ 12pm
“The best news for ages was the net immigration of 250,000 odd in the last twelve months. We need a lot more workers to pay the future pensions of our ageing populations.”
That’s just a Ponzi-scheme Craig. It’s totally unsustainable for the long-term.
Mary
“Twice I am called a ‘Jew hater’ by the chief troll who has been noticeable by his absence and who has just come on shift. He is full of malice.”
____________________
I notice that you are keeping quiet about the “denying the right of Israel to exist” part of my comment.
An interesting post here from a South African on the Ode to Peres by Aaronovitch thread on Medialens. The photo is most revealing.
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1400851213.html
The whole thread http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/thread/1400768542.html
This is a very depressing headline as if it is definite that she (Hillary ‘We saw, we came, he died’ Clinton) is running for President. God help us all if she does get elected.
Obama Picks Latino Rising Star For Cabinet
Julian Castro, a 39-year-old mayor from Texas, is already being tipped as a White House running mate for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
http://news.sky.com/story/1267822/obama-picks-latino-rising-star-for-cabinet
On the same webpage was this below. The horror of the cruelty involved is beyond any word. How long has it been happening? Since January 2002 when Rumsfeld set up the hellhole.
Guantanamo Force-Feeding Of Inmate To Resume
A judge lifts a suspension on the force-feeding of a hunger-striking inmate because of the “very real probability” he will die.
http://news.sky.com/story/1267864/guantanamo-force-feeding-of-inmate-to-resume
May 21, 2014
The Guantánamo “Suicides” Revisited: Did CIA Hide Deaths of Tortured Prisoners at Secret Site?
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/5/21/the_guantanamo_suicides_revisited_did_cia
Craig @ 12.00p –
“Anon
Opposition to immigration is racist. The best news for ages was the net immigration of 250,000 odd in the last twelve months. We need a lot more workers to pay the future pensions of our ageing populations. ”
– – – – –
Craig, I have to reply to that profoundly ignorant statement of yours as bluntly as possible.
Opposition to immigration is increasingly on the basis of overpopulation which is driving the exponential consumption of finite resources and leaving people to despair at their dwindling share of a diminishing pie.
Working class people don’t need to be experts in economics to know when they are being fucked over with a con job that involves exploiting immigration as a means of creating fake economic growth. And when they complain about it with an obvious ignorance of many details but a certain knowledge that unemployed migrants do not help, they’re called – you guessed it, racists.
The shamelessly peddled claim that more workers are needed to finance the retirement of an ageing population is a stupid myth sold to a gullible public by big business who want more consumers, land holders who want increasing land values, banks that want more cream from growing mortgages and the usual gang of left-wing dickheads in the failing cult of multiculturalism.
(Reading : Ageing Australia – http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/44578.html)
Craig, kindly answer these question, if you have time.
How will you fund the retirement of migrants when their time comes? More migrants? And them? Yet more migrants? Do you imagine that the world or maybe just the UK can have an indefinitely growing population? Or that future generations can deal with the problems you leave them when the country wakes up to a massive population with insufficient resources to meet their basic needs?
Since a country must first accommodate, feed and provide new arrivals with essential services, these infrastructural assets must be available as soon as that plane, ship or truckload of migrants arrives.
Does the UK already have the 100,000s of pounds it costs to provide each and every one of these new arrivals with first world services and amenities? You can’t just put them in the gutter to sleep. You promised them a first world lifestyle and they expect you to deliver on that promise, or else. Good luck to your failing NHS with that job.
At a time when cheap energy resources are being exhausted at an exponential rate, what do you think will power the economy of the future? Coal? Nuclear energy? Solar energy? Wind? Turnips? Magic beans? Or those fantastic inventions that we see on tv but don’t yet exist?
Look at the difference between the periods of pre and post industrial revolution in the UK. Now imagine flipping those periods around. That’s what our future looks like and you want to make it worse increasing the number of mouths to feed with a diminishing capacity to produce.
(Reading : Population and infrastructure – http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/39930.html)
Craig, do you know what a Ponzi scheme is? That’s what you are advocating not just for the UK but for the world. A fraudulent pyramid scheme which requires perpetual growth in order to maintain continuity of its irrational business model. Of course, when you run out of suckers who want to invest in your scam it collapses like a house of cards and you’re out the window with the cash.
(Reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponzi_scheme)
– – – –
Some more readings
World Population Explosion
http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/time-running-out-address-world-s-population-explosion
Big Australia Illusion
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/4/22/economy/big-australia-illusion
” There is no choice open of a social democratic UK.”
It doubt it will function as you hope Craig unless you can control the corporate entity. You will not control the boardrooms and there profits unless you control the universal money supply.
If you can get that the best you can hope for is democratic principles but it is human beings we are talking and that’s never absolutist, is it?
@ Anon
“Aside from the fact that he didn’t even attend university could you not at least spell his name correctly?”
No, he’s a dick, and if I got his name wrong, fuck him.
Also, you have heard of this thing called a ‘cover story’? It is perfectly feasible for an Oxbridge spook to have a back story that doesn’t include going to university. I hate to break this to you, but the security services often tell lies. Hope you aren’t too upset.
Oh, ok, he’s probably not an Oxbridge spook. Still a fake though, of some sort.
“usual gang of left-wing dickheads in the failing cult of multiculturalism.”
@ Jemand
What matters most is the quality of people. People come together and flourish it’s about quality and aspirations . If you get a desire to improve be a better person give to society. Society will benefit.
http://touch.dailymotion.com/video/x1ri30e_entretien-avec-gilad-atzmon-sur-le-national-socialisme-de-george-orwell_webcam
So Mr Scorgie thinks the Interpreter and the Insitute of Modern Russia and the Herzen Foundation who are behind it are anti Russian rather than just against the Putin regime (although I have my doubts as to whether he can distinguish between the two concepts) – perhaps he could provide some examples. Given its support from liberal Russians I suspect he will struggle somewhat.
Yes I agree that the twitter account of Putin’s Crimean puppet may have been hacked in to – put he of course fails to address all the other racist/fascist outbursts pointed out in the article, which he bothered to look was based on reporting a Russian (self hating presumably) web site. He might also wish to address the latest little outburst from Putin’s favourite fascist puppet – he who seems to have done little to tame over the past 14 years!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2609016/Six-month-pregnant-journalist-taken-hospital-treatment-pro-Kremlin-political-leader-ordered-aides-violently-rape-press-conference-asked-sanctions-against-Ukraine.html
Jemand has left behind ‘Why won’t God heal amputees’ and then something about Islam and whitewash and now links to a Pat Condell espousing ‘Take your god and shove him’ on video. What are we to make of these links?
What “we” are to make of those links, Mary, is that I am an atheist with the right to share an opinion. What problem do you have with that? And what should we make of your obvious attempt to cause trouble on this thread with that unprovoked comment?
That’s rich coming from you.
Mary, are you a Muslim who takes offence at my criticisms of religion but in particular, Islam?
It might explain your otherwise inexplicable hatred of Jewish people.
Don’t be ridiculous. I have been looking through a few threads. You are doing a good job of disruption on most of them.