Is Ed Miliband living on borrowed time?

Tonight’s YouGov poll for the Sun has topline figures of CON 41%, LAB 39%, LDEM 10%, Others 10%. This is the first time that YouGov have shown a Conservative lead since December 2010. It certainly looks as though the Conservatives have recieved a boost from David Cameron’s veto at the European summit. There is also a new ComRes poll out tonight for the Independent which has topline figures of CON 38%(+1), LAB 38%(-1), LDEM 12%(+2) – also showing the two main parties effectively neck-and-neck. How is it that the tories can be level or ahead in the polls when they are having to make some very difficult and painfull decisions to try and bring down the deficit, the umemployment figures are the worst for 17 years. We have had strikes, pension reforms, VAT rises and the veto in Europe etc.......

It looks like Ed Millaband is not liked or trusted by many of the elecorate. In my opinion he looks weak, sounds weak and has no policies to speak of....Everytime he tries to get the better of Cameron in PMQ'S he ends looking like a fool with Cameron destroying him. Ed Balls is no better...he comes across as an odious man with no substance, who would probably stab his own wife in the back if it meant he gained more power.

Labour missed a trick in not voting in Eds brother David into the leadership role. David would have given Cameron a better run for his money and I believe he is a better politician than Ed too. With the two Eds at the helm I believe Labour are not a viable opposition right now and one or both could be dispatched by the party sooner rather than later

Biding his time.

What do fuhrer's matter if the policy's crap?

At the last election, many people thought that New Labour, having allowed the Credit Crunch to appear on their Watch, should be given an opportunity to put things right. However the Will of the electorate was by-passed, and the Coalition have covered themselves in glory. Well, covered in something, anyway.

Should they be given extra time and injury time to try and make a go of it?

The only reason Herr Cameron is showing well in the polls, is nothing more than a bit of flag waving.

We have soundbite after soundbite telling us how Cameron dropped us in the shit, as being in our National interest, and as said many times, if you say something enought, people will begin to believe what is being said (self fullfiling prophesy).
The thing is that not all the shit has hit the fan yet, much more is to come, and when it does we will see exactly how well thought of your poxy Tory's are. People vote with their hearts in a poll, and their minds will change with the wind, and to suit the moment, whereas in an General Election, most will vote with their heads, and as the unemployement figures go up, the cost of living rockets and earnings (except for the top earners)will remain stagnant or reduced, people will see which side of the bread is buttered.
Someone once said that a week is a long time in politics, well Cameron has three and a half years to prove they are anything else other than the nasty party. That I am absolutely possitive they can not do as they are what they are nasty, disloyal, Lieing, cheating thieving Bastards.
If they are leading in any poll, they have peaked much too early.

Triumphalism is a bad idea for anyone - and especially for politicians or anyone seeking to trumpet on their behalf. At one time Margaret Thatcher appeared unassailable but ,when the political climate changed, her adoring Tory Party soon stabbed her in the back. The same will happen to Cameron, Miliband and all the rest in due course. And for those chancers like Cameron who relies upon populist gestures to gain a boost in fortunes, the fall could be very swift and very painful when it arrives...

Was last weeks EU stance by Camoron his Falkand Islands moment?

Remember Tatcher was not doing well until she managed to fool the Argies in to think britain was not interested in the Malvinas any more with the announcement that HMS Endurence was to be withdrawn........

astradt1 wrote:Was last weeks EU stance by Camoron his Falkand Islands moment?

Remember Tatcher was not doing well until she managed to fool the Argies in to think britain was not interested in the Malvinas any more with the announcement that HMS Endurence was to be withdrawn........

No - the Falklands didn't really matter to anyone - it was just a game. This ballsup will hurt people economically, and quite soon.

It's genuinely painful to see dismissive comment on the Falklands campaign, which cost the lives of brave British soldiers, sailors and airmen.

Whatever your opinion of the Politicians giving the orders, many British made the ultimate sacrifice, as they are still doing to no obvious purpose in places like Helmand.

Those who feel no compassion whatever for such sacrifice perhaps feel themselves worthless.

Quote : " Those who feel no compassion whatever for such sacrifice perhaps feel themselves worthless"

But, in case they don't - we do...

Hear hear.............

KO you sound just like Clegg?

Labour has comfortably held Feltham and Heston in the by-election with an increased majority over the Conservatives.

The Labour candidate Seema Malhotra was returned with majority of 6,203 - a net swing of 8.6% from the Conservatives.

On a night which saw a turnout of under 29% - the lowest in a by-election for 11 years - the Liberal Democrats managed to see off a challenge from the UK Independence Party to hold on to third place.

The result came as a relief to Labour leader Ed Miliband who needed a victory if he was not to face a fresh bout of questioning over his leadership.

The triumphant candidate Ms Malhotra said it was a "wake-up call" for Prime Minister David Cameron. "Even on a lower turnout we've increased substantially our majority and the Tories have got to be asking the question of why," she said. "This is a really important message that's been sent to Mr Cameron."

The Conservatives, however, said Labour should have extended their majority even further if they were looking to be on course for victory at the next general election, set for 2015.

The defeated Tory candidate Mark Bowen insisted that he was "proud" of the result, despite seeing his party's share of the vote fall. "We have done a lot better than the pollsters and bookmakers suggested we would do," he said.

For the Lib Dems there was relief that they avoided the humiliation of being beaten into fourth place, despite a sharp fall in their share of the vote. Lib Dem candidate Roger Crouch said: "We have shown that we are still resilient and still relevant."

Labour increased their share of the vote from 43% at the general election to 54% with a net swing of 8.6% from the Tories. The Conservative vote share was down from 34% to 28%, while the Lib Dems dropped from nearly 14% to under 6%. In contrast, Ukip saw its vote share more than double from 2% to over 5%.

The parliamentary by-election was sparked by the death last month of veteran Labour MP Alan Keen after he lost his battle with cancer.

Lets hope we can make more of the Tory scum as Proud if not prouder than Mark Bowen is presently feeling. What a pratt, hes proud to have been defeated, what sort of man is this

"We have done a lot better than the pollsters and bookmakers suggested we would do," he ( Mark Bowen) said.

I am sure we all hope that future Tory candidates have similar 'successes' for a long time into the future. It is always a pleasure to see them stick out their jaw defiantly after a humiliation - so that any casual passer-by can land one right on it...

Never entered any minds here that the Labour party have alienated so many of their loyal working class supporters (like me for instance) with their policy of ignoring their core voters to appease the views of middle class politically correct types ?
Gordon Brown showed that in stark clarity with his "bigot" attack on the old lady in the 2010 debacle - oh, his PC aides would have loved it, of course. But I can speak as an ex-Labour voter and my friends (who still vote Labour but who see Labour in a much darker light than they did) it went down like a lead balloon.
Ed Miliband is a nothing. Theres nobody to challenge the nosedive into politically correct domination.

If "a week is a long time in Politics", how do the Tory detractors of this Labour victory measure the time between 2011 and 2015?

Labour peer George Foulkes posted on ‘Twitter’ yesterday that the gossip around Westminster is that Cameron planned last week’s EU walkout, pre-arranged the dinner for Eurosceptic MPs at Chequers on the Friday night, and plans to ditch the Lib Dems and call a general election in March.

I wonder if the 8.6% swing to Labour in last night’s by-election (with an increased majority despite a lower turnout) will make Cameron think again? It may be that his rise in popularity this week turns out to be "dead cat bounce".

Feltham & Heston also has implications for the London mayoral election in May. The Tories need to be ahead in that constituency if Johnson is to be re-elected, so maybe a dead rat there.

ivan wrote.
"I wonder if the 8.6% swing to Labour in last night’s by-election (with an increased majority despite a lower turnout) will make Cameron think again? It may be that his rise in popularity this week turns out to be "dead cat bounce".

I question his "thinking again" as I very much doubt he gives anything much thought at all.

oftenwrong wrote:It's genuinely painful to see dismissive comment on the Falklands campaign, which cost the lives of brave British soldiers, sailors and airmen.

Whatever your opinion of the Politicians giving the orders, many British made the ultimate sacrifice, as they are still doing to no obvious purpose in places like Helmand.

Those who feel no compassion whatever for such sacrifice perhaps feel themselves worthless.

Obviously the Falklands war really mattered to the relatives of those killed. The control of the islands, though, was of no importance - and Thatcher would have sold them soon enough if the Argentine military had waited. The comment above sounds too much like the Sun for my taste. What is the point of such stuff?

bobby wrote:-
I question his "thinking again" as I very much doubt he gives anything much thought at all..

The writer Christopher Hitchens, who died this morning, said of Cameron: "He seems content-free to me. Never had a job, except in PR, and it shows. People ask me 'what do you think of him?' and my answer is 'he doesn't make me think'."

"Ivan"wrote
Never had a job, except in PR, and it shows. '

I'm sorry to say this remark applies to the vast majority of our politicians today of all parties and my personal belief is that none should be allowed to run for office until they have spent a number of years in proper paid work in the private sector not unions,civil service or local government and certainly not quangos

" none should be allowed to run for office until they have spent a number of years in proper paid work in the private sector not unions,civil service or local government and certainly not quangos "

Surely what the nation really needs to solve all its problems is an army of rabid and prejudiced stereotype-loving retired people from, say, Folkestone...?

kentdougal wrote:"Ivan"wrote
Never had a job, except in PR, and it shows. '

I'm sorry to say this remark applies to the vast majority of our politicians today of all parties and my personal belief is that none should be allowed to run for office until they have spent a number of years in proper paid work in the private sector not unions,civil service or local government and certainly not quangos

I can't see why anyone should be in even the English Parliament who is too mean or stupid to join a union. Let's start by cutting out anyone who didn't attend British state schools: that would bring the experience of the pols a bit closer to ours. There are lots of these obvious wheezes, but the best thing would be to restore party democracy - or introduce it where it has never existed - and insist that political parties are totally dependent on their actual members.

Penderyn wrote:

oftenwrong wrote:It's genuinely painful to see dismissive comment on the Falklands campaign, which cost the lives of brave British soldiers, sailors and airmen.

Whatever your opinion of the Politicians giving the orders, many British made the ultimate sacrifice, as they are still doing to no obvious purpose in places like Helmand.

Those who feel no compassion whatever for such sacrifice perhaps feel themselves worthless.

Obviously the Falklands war really mattered to the relatives of those killed. The control of the islands, though, was of no importance - and Thatcher would have sold them soon enough if the Argentine military had waited. The comment above sounds too much like the Sun for my taste. What is the point of such stuff?

What's the point of Welsh whiskey?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< argue with him M'lud!


Youll be givin' us Cornish Haggis next!!!

Phil Hornby wrote:" none should be allowed to run for office until they have spent a number of years in proper paid work in the private sector not unions,civil service or local government and certainly not quangos "

Surely what the nation really needs to solve all its problems is an army of rabid and prejudiced stereotype-loving retired people from, say, Folkestone...?

Sorry to inform you that I'm neither retired or from Folkestone I just live there nor have I ever been employed by local government civil service quangos etc

Dover for The Continent, Folkestone for the incontinent.

I wonder how many more reports, like todays on the care of Dementia patients, the government has in it's cupboard ready for release to deflect attention on bad news days for the government?

Well this is my first post for over a week as I have been laid up with flu in bed ( flu is an illness and not a person ).

How pleased I was to see the result of the by-election in London, not only did Labour win, they actualy increased their share of the vote, and yes I know that tories and the tory lap dogs ( Lib Dems ) will say "ah yes but the turn out was very low", bad weather and low turn outs almost always benefit the Conservatives, its a well known fact.

Makes me wonder if the opinion polls have got things a little bit wrong, some reputable polls put Labour and the Conservatives neck and neck, with nothing but doom and gloom and rising unemployment it seems incredible that the tories are keeping their head above water realy.

astradt1 wrote:I wonder how many more reports, like todays on the care of Dementia patients, the government has in it's cupboard ready for release to deflect attention on bad news days for the government?

My observation is that Tory propaganda against the NHS continues apace. This week's target happens to be Dementia. The headline story is that only one-third of nursing staff are trained to deal with it. The sub-text is that relatives should get into the habit of turning up at mealtimes so as to release hospital staff for medical tasks.

It's all part of the Tory plan to steadily demolish the way the NHS works, so that the Public will grow to think it's not worth trying to save. It's not a new idea, they've been floating it since the 1980s.

oftenwrong wrote:

astradt1 wrote:I wonder how many more reports, like todays on the care of Dementia patients, the government has in it's cupboard ready for release to deflect attention on bad news days for the government?

My observation is that Tory propaganda against the NHS continues apace. This week's target happens to be Dementia. The headline story is that only one-third of nursing staff are trained to deal with it. The sub-text is that relatives should get into the habit of turning up at mealtimes so as to release hospital staff for medical tasks.

It's all part of the Tory plan to steadily demolish the way the NHS works, so that the Public will grow to think it's not worth trying to save. It's not a new idea, they've been floating it since the 1980s.

I really do wonder what fairy land you people live in.Any shortcomings in the NHS must of necessity be laid at the door of the previous government, the coalition simple haven't been in power long enough to have it laid at their door.I'm afraid the lefty ideas with NHS and education is throw enough money at it and it'll all come right never mind that the resources are misdirected into creating more bureaucratic overpaid manager talking shops.I know you just love to keep banging on about the Tories getting of the health service but it ain't going to happen-sorry-but they will try to make it less wasteful and more cost effective.Whether they'll succeed or not with the unions ganged up against it is another thing.

Ah, yes. "The Previous Government".

Without a previous government we'd all have nice homes in a pleasant Climate, lacking nothing for an idyllic existence.

Does anyone know how long we might have to wait before the present self-seekers become The Previous Government?

Politics is all rather complicated at the present time, the only thing which is keeping David Cameron and the Conservatives neck and neck in the polls with Labour is Europe, putting two fingers up at Europe is always good for rousing the crowds.

As far as the NHS is concerned, the post by "kentdougal" does contain some truth, there was a squeeze on funding before the general election in 2010, but nothing on the scale of the reduction in funding implemented by this government, and which came into effect 1st April this year - 9 months ago.

The financial settlement for 2011 / 2012 for the NHS was announced in October 2010, it was the worst settlement in the history of the National Health Service.

The coalition government tell us that spending on the NHS has not been cut - they are bare faced liars, the increase in expenditure for the financial period equates to a 0.1%, but then comes the small print, the government is taking £1 billion pounds per year from the NHS budget to hand over to the Social Care fund.

"we will cut the defecit, not the NHS" [ Conservative slogan from the 2010 election ]

On top of taking away the £1 billion from NHS budgets, it is estimated that the cost of the never mentioned reorganisation will be between £2 and £3 billion, then there is the extra VAT to pay, estimated to be around £250 million per year.

When all comes to all, this government has reduced spending on the NHS, it has cut funding to health, they said that they would not do this, they are liars and they need to remember that the NHS is the Achillies Heel for the Tories.

then there is the extra VAT to pay, estimated to be around £250 million per year.

Surely the NHS is registered for VAT and will therefore reclaim it so it's not a cost.So you're telling me the NHS budget set in April just over 8 months ago has resulted in the lack of training for nursing dementia patients.Cloud cuckoo land again

No kentdougal, I am not saying that at all

Most nurses who work in District General Hospitals and in most Community Hospitals are not properly trained in dealing with dementia, they are trained to deal with general patient care, post surgery care etc etc.

In psychiatric hospitals, or in psychiatric units, the nurses ARE trained to deal with dementia.

The problem has been a creeping problem, more and more people are living longer, the average age of a hospital patient is getting older, the problems are not in proper units or hospitals that deal with dementia, the issue is when an elderly person with dementia requires general surgery or chemotherapy for example.

I feel that the points raised here in my post were not highlighted or pointed out, even in the BBC reporting of the issue.

Surely the NHS is registered for VAT and will therefore reclaim it so it's not a cost.So you're telling me the NHS budget set in April just over 8 months ago has resulted in the lack of training for nursing dementia patients.Cloud cuckoo land again

Strange then how when wards buy goods from their budgets the VAT is not add back into the budget i.e. spend on an item which cost £100+vat, £120 is deducted from the budget....

I was just wondering when Kentdougal stopped working for the NHS?

Nurses on General wards are not specially trained to look after those with Demenita but with the closure of some private nursing homes thats where the are inapropriatley placed due to a lack of beds in the Mental Health sector of the NHS........

Strange then how when wards buy goods from their budgets the VAT is not add back into the budget i.e. spend on an item which cost £100+vat, £120 is deducted from the budget....

I was just wondering when Kentdougal stopped working for the NHS?

Of course I've never worked for the NHS but if this is the system they use then it's very strange accounting (why doesn't that surprise me) all organisations and businesses account net of VAT. However the end result is the VAT will at some stage be reclaimed

If you have a gap year coming up, you could pass it by researching how the NHS is financed, and the accounting rules it follows, including procurement practices and pay structure.

Byzantine is a word that might occur in your findings.

oftenwrong wrote:

Penderyn wrote:

oftenwrong wrote:It's genuinely painful to see dismissive comment on the Falklands campaign, which cost the lives of brave British soldiers, sailors and airmen.

Whatever your opinion of the Politicians giving the orders, many British made the ultimate sacrifice, as they are still doing to no obvious purpose in places like Helmand.

Those who feel no compassion whatever for such sacrifice perhaps feel themselves worthless.

Obviously the Falklands war really mattered to the relatives of those killed. The control of the islands, though, was of no importance - and Thatcher would have sold them soon enough if the Argentine military had waited. The comment above sounds too much like the Sun for my taste. What is the point of such stuff?

What's the point of Welsh whiskey?

Dunno. What IS the point of 'Welsh' whiskey? You get this out of a cracker?

The fact that Cameron has garnered support through the use of crass, meaningless politics only proves how jingoistic, and stupidly ignorant, much of the UK public is.

It's not just the exploitation of the EU situation to rouse misplaced national pride that is sickening........it is also the manipulation of news in order to invoke people to support cuts in benefit that is galling. It just goes to show what a vicious, nasty bunch of morons much of the british middle classes are.