This morning, the Prime Minister rolled in to Nottingham to give a speech to Labour proles that he hoped would open up some clear water between his tired Labour machine and the Conservatives. Following this, David Cameron stormed, sans notes, into Milton Keynes to whip the local Tories into an election winning mentality after the recent lull in Conservative popularity. Nick Clegg followed suit afterwards.
To be honest I welcomed this Mexican shootout, as at the moment the three parties seem to be intermingled on policy, contesting middle ground whilst heading down the same plug hole of despair. I thought it might actually provide a slither of difference between them. But boy was I disappointed.
First up was Gordon Brown. In his best attempt to be the next Tony Blair, the cycloptic Scot reeled off his latest vote-winning catchphrase;
keeping on the road to recovery, keeping on the road to recovery, keeping on the road to recovery
Just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? I doubt any politician would secure votes if they didn’t buy into that mantra, but the Labour seals jumped up and clapped their little fins together in a frenzy as if Gordon was the messiah.
Gordon forecast that he would become the puppetmaster behind a new era of high tech jobs, using the imminent 2MBit/s broadband deployment to rural areas as an example of this. I whinged about this at the time: 2MBit broadband was high tech about 15 years ago. So whilst Sweden, South Korea and Japan are setting the pace in deploying 1000MBit/s fibre networks across their urban sprawl, we’re playing catch up with a pathetic, old-tech 2MBit/s ADSL and being taxed to the tune of 50p per month (via the new phone line tax) to pay for it. No investment Gordon. No bloody investment, and it’s your party that has allowed Britain to lag behind the rest of the world.
He said he would “support” business to create a million highly skilled jobs. He didn’t say how, though.
He went on to claim protection of investment for the NHS. This isn’t really a vote winner for me either because it’s too systematic: blind faith that throwing fistfuls of dollars into the world’s third largest employer will provide improvements proportional to the money involved has been shown to be a bogus policy.
He claimed protection of police investment. Protect investment, great. But this doesn’t mean anything to me. I would prefer to see the police taken apart, constabulary by constabulary and have all the positive discrimination and political correctness flogged out of it. More police on the street is also a must, but as you may have seen in the last couple of days (and as Dave said in his response to Gordon Brown earlier), the Government have been trying to spin this. They created a £5million advert claiming that police officers spent 80% of their time on the beat, and the Advertising Standards Agency have in the last week banned it because it was complete lies. Anyroad, I haven’t seen a police officer down my street for years.
He claimed protection of investment in education. This is a core issue for me, but one that Labour’s stagnation – in conjunction with political correctness – has allowed to fail the children it is supposed to teach. The “no losers” politically correct mentality created by Labour has plagued schools like a corrupt disease, driving down standards but meeting targets that serve only to provide propaganda for the Government. Yes, pass rates are skyrocketing, but exams are becoming trivial and the passes are not worth the paper they are written on.
Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director of corporate and legal affairs at Tesco, took potshots at the Government over this only a couple of weeks ago. She said;
“There seems to be a fair amount of evidence now that [exams] are getting easier and failing to stretch people.
“The proportion of firsts and 2:1s has risen enormously so it’s much rarer to get a 2:2 than a first.
“People who are clever today are achieving the grades of the very clever a couple of decades ago.”
This follows a similar barrage from her chief executive, Sir Terry Leahy, in November last year;
“Sadly, despite all the money that has been spent, standards are still woefully low in too many schools. Employers like us… are often left to pick up the pieces. One thing that government could do is to simplify the structure of our education system. From my perspective there are too many agencies and bodies, often issuing reams of instructions to teachers, who then get distracted from the task at hand: teaching children.”
Under Labour, investment may well be protected but nothing will change. On the other hand Dave said today his party will allow new “private” schools to be formed to compete with the state system. His policy is flawed, yes, because it wont allow schools to make profits and new schools like this will only be encouraged in deprived areas. It’s better than what Labour offers, though.
Brown promised more help for first time buyers and pledged to keep mortgage rates low. At first I wondered how he was going to control mortgage rates, but then I remembered that most British banks are owned by the Government now.
Cameron came into the corral with his guns aimed at Gordon Brown’s economic policy and failings. I remember only too well hearing Brown claiming that Labour would end boom and bust, and nobody can deny he fuelled a boom with his out of control spending and paid for the bust with more out of control bailouts. Dave conjured a reminder of this.
The rest of his speech was an attempt to inject some positivity into the Tory faithful and I thought he did an okay job. He reminded them that victory was far from inevitable and that Labour would sling mud until the cows came home.
As for Nick Clegg’s contribution: I didn’t watch it.
Excellent Phil,I know a lad (Sunil) who went to uni and did a degree in accounting.He tells me that students who came out with first class honours were finding the professional qualification (CIMA,ACCA) very hard, despite having firsts!!!
Why?
Because these professional bodies (unlike the government) havent played politics with education.When I did my engineering degree 20 years ago, firsts were extremely rare and usually given with great reluctance, almost with resentment.
Education education education = (education inflation), (education inflation), (education inflation).
Under labour almost ANYONE of average ability can now get a degree now. I remember being told it was the top 15%!
They are nothing but criminals.
As for the PC culture, the only 2 parties that would rip that out are UKIP and of course the BNP.
PC is a mental ilness of western thought and its killing us off as a species.Suggested reading is “The retreat of reason” by David Green of CIVITAS.Its a work of genius.
Labour’s policies have brought out the TRUE CONSERVATIVE in me and the nationalist.
That party has to go, and for ever.They MUST be obliterated off the face of the earth before we are consumed in an Orwellian state;bereft of individuality and reason.
I look forward to the day when there is a massive fly infested turd in a glass case in the UNATURAL history museum in London, marked “LABOUR”.
The sad truth is that professional exams have also been downgraded – maybe they just not as simplified as the university courses? And they always have been hard compared to degrees if only because most of them require you to be working full-time at the same time as studying for them.
My brother-in-law used to teach optometry at a uni – and as head of department was always being pressurised by the uni to pass people who weren’t good enough. He resisted but you have to think that not all will.
“Labour’s policies have brought out the TRUE CONSERVATIVE in me and the nationalist.”
Couldn’t have put it better myself Harold.
I dont think the Conservatives – in their current guise – are the answer to this country’s many problems.
Until we take 2 steps – A) immediate withdrawal from EU and B) immediate cessation of all Foreign Aid, we’re never even going to be able to begin to undo 13 years of Labour’s mis-management.
I agree JR, the conservative party is anything but a party that conserves.
“immediate cessation of all Foreign Aid” while we have almost the largist debt in the EU i agree, but only DIRECT aid where we basicly give cash to other countries.
While i agree with eveything the acticle said, need to see the tosh davesspewed out hammerd also.
Well, he didn’t really say anything. It was more Conservative back-slapping than anything else.
The party that most interests me at the moment is Integrity now I know they are standing in Blackpool South. But as much as I am tempted I know the Labour sheep will blindly vote for Marsden and Labour will stay in if there is no tactical vote to send Marsden back (or home) to Brighton.
I would rather get ANAL shingles than vote labour.
Same here Harold, I just wish Bill would announce who this mystery candidate is, I know I keep going on about it. There was yet more free publicity for Hamish in the Gasjet yesterday, an article talking about him and that Fred Mcglade holding some kind of public meeting. In the article it claimed Hamish has campaigned for investment in South Shore and Foxhall for years, what a load of bollocks. This guy called the regeneration a ‘waste of money’ he doesn’t care about Blackpool, this is all about pushing his personal agenda. Vote UKIP at your peril in Blackpool South.
“In the article it claimed Hamish has campaigned for investment in South Shore and Foxhall for years”
lol lol lol lol lol lol.
Hamish couldnt call for regeneration in LEGOLAND,lol
Lol, here is an interesting link while I’m on the subject http://juniusonukip.blogspot.com/2010/02/ukip-paul-benito-nuttall-fred-mcglade.html
Check this out
An interesting point I notice in the link I posted is how it mentions Dr Tun. It says the Blackpool UKIP members were lining up Dr Tun as a candidate for Blackpool South as he has considerable support in Blackpool South but then the top brass forced Hamish on them. So maybe Steven Bate’s prediction is correct. Although I checked Integrity’s website last night and the candidate is still TBA.
The choice of Hamish is truly astonishing and insane for UKIP;hes a total crank.
Totally agree and his ‘selection’ was totally undemocratic. I will not vote UKIP until they ditch him and Nick Hogan. I want to support a candidate who is standing for the right reasons. If a local GP is standing for Integrity it means you get a strong candidate who will obviously be a strong voice for the local health service. Who knows maybe they could Fisher sacked as NHS Blackpool chairman. I saw that slimy little toad in the Gazette the other day and it makes me cringe seeing him in that job.
I know who the candidate is and I’ll be doing an article about it probably tomorrow.
Could you tell us Phil, I am dying to know or you could email it to me, I promise to keep it secret until you publish your article.
Phil I have sent you an article.
cheers H.
If it is Dr.Tun it will be his 3rd attempt at being a Parliamentary candidate for Blackpool South in the last 6 months.
Firstly he failed to get on the list of approved Parliamentary Candidates list for the Lib Dems, then he got the nod from UKIP, only to have the rug pulled out from under him by Fred McGlade when they appointed Hamish. It now appears he is Integritys chosen one!
I have met Dr. Tun on a number of occasions and he is a very nice chap.
However, there are a couple of things that do worry me!
1. From the Lib Dems to UKIP !!!!!!!! WTF is going on there? On a Parliamentary level they are Poles apart!
2. Dr. Tun is rumoured to have loads of support in Blackpool South! I have seen absolutely no evidence of this and have been out campaigning in his “stronghold”
3. Anyone that keen to elected that he will stand under any banner needs some serious questioning!
Fair point TrooBloo but Hamish has done exactly the same. Hamish doesn’t strike me as a right-leaning sort of guy at all, I don’t believe for a second he actually believes in UKIP’s policies and what they stand for. He has just jumped on the UKIP bandwagon because of this silly populist ‘Save the Pub’ campaign same as Nick Hogan.
Anyhow isn’t Phil supposed to be making the announcement of Integrity’s candidate today?
Told ya, I will when I get the press release, and I’ve not got it!
Ok, fair enough.
Tactical voting has got to come into play at this election and people should be prepared to vote for Parties they dont necessarily like, just to ensure Labour get kicked out.
The last thing I would say I am is a Liberal Democrat (even those words make me want to vomit). However, I’ll be voting for them in May here because they’re the only party who have a chance of beating Labour (Dunfermline West). Complete waste of time voting for anybody else.
If I can do my bit to ensure Labour get one less seat I’ll feel quite happy.
I’ll definitely be washing my hands thoroughly on my exit from the ballot box though
Good on you JR, I plan to do the same. I am very tempted by Integrity especially as Blackpool South is set to be the first seat they are contesting, but I feel I would be letting my town down if Marsden got in again because I didn’t vote tactically to get him out.
lol JR I thought you were a BNP/UKIP supporter for a minute,I apologise for my misaprehensions.
The article is spot on, Labour constantly bangs on about ‘Labour investment’. I don’t give a toss how much they are ‘investing’. It is quality not quantity that matters. They claim record NHS investment it is being squandered on managers and red tape not doctors and nurses. Record education spending; its not being spent on schools, colleges and universities it is being squandered on red tape, also Labour are the ones who ended free education, yet idiotic Liebour supporters claim ‘Labour made higher education more accessible’ did they fuck. Under the Conservatives you got a FREE education. As you rightly say Phil ‘record investment’ means nothing when the ‘investment’ is just being squandered and digging us deeper into debt. If it is Tory cuts vs Labour reckless squandering then give me sensible cuts any day of the week. Labour sheep act as though ‘cuts’ are some kingd of immorality, they are if you are mathematically challenged or economically illiterate. You can’t keep spending when the money is not there, it is insane. LABOUR OUT 2010!!!!!
When labour say they invest, read that to mean SQUANDER/WASTE.
As much as I cant stand them, I have to say that I think that Labour stand a good chance of getting elected on a national scale simply because to many people now rely on state handouts, ie: child tax credit,working tax credit, disability allowance job seekers allowance and they are worried that this would not be as generous with a Conservative Government. But what I hope we can change is Blackpool council come next year,I have spoken to quite a few people hoping to drum up some support for the new integrity party,once it gets itself established, so that we can have a change of faces at Blackpool council,lets face it, it does not matter whether they have been Conservatives or Labour they have all had a more than a chance to change Blackpool for the better and yet we still see hideous policy’s in the making. Same old faces, same old policy’s,what we need is some fresh blood,younger councillors with fresh ideas to hopefully drive the town forward. We should cull the executives who run the town,who have done nothing for the town, starting with Steve Weaver, obviously not up to the job given how much money they have had to spend on outside consultants to bring ideas to the table as he obviously has none of his own. So what is the point of paying them these huge salary’s, they have had more than enough time to turn the town around and bring private investment into the town. Unfortunately the big players don’t want to play here because the council is so greedy. I would like to see a party who would look after the likes of me and others, who has paid our way in life,but a little bit by so that I don’t have to rely on handouts,it seems like the rich are getting richer,the poor are getting richer and I’m getting poorer as many other working class person’s will agree. If it was not for my children been settled here I to would be selling up and going to live abroad as many others have done.
I agree there’s a big potential vote for Labour whilst a quarter of working age people are sat on their backsides watching Jeremy Kyle all day – but fortunately a lot of them are also too lazy to get off their backsides and vote either. Labour’s trying to make this a “fairness” campaign – but what they do isn’t fair. They reward laziness and punish endeavour. The best in the country aren’t going to stay around forever if they get in again and as these are the people that create the jobs and pay the taxes where do the lazy think their money’s going to come from? Do they really think you can just print it?
You probably right Dave,Nulabour has bought sections of the electorate, dont forget immigrants as well,and so called minority groups.
The fact that Calllow retained Weaver, shows how truly inept Callow is.
Precisely Dave Palme, these are just the sort of people I refer to as ‘Labour sheep’ people that won’t so much as think about who they vote for, they just blindly vote Labour. Also Dave spot on about the council, we need new dynamic younger councillors and certainly need to axe and replace some of the executives. There is no need for so many of them. I would certainly sack Weaver and Cavill for starters, they are a waste of space and have no belief in Blackpool yet we pay them obscene salaries to run Blackpool.
Well said TB, those 2 prannoks must go.
Cuts in public spending has to come but when is the key factor to cut to late would stall the economy to cut to early would drive it back on a downwards slope. Like most things in live it is not as simple as some would like you to feel.
True, but I am so sick of Brown saying ‘Don’t let the Tories wreck the ‘recovery’ we’re not in bloody recovery. Labour has wrecked the economy so some very tough choices will need to be made to properly recover the economy. Bt then again billions can be saved here and there where Labour just squanders money like these stupid quangos, PCSOs, MPs expenses. Doing away with these wastes of taxpayers money could save billions overnight.
So true TB.
Coming from the man who wrecked the strong economy that he inheritied from the Tories in 1997.
He’s still one of the few people remaining who could tempt me into seeing what it feels like to stick my foot through a TV.