maybe Dave isn't so useless after all

If you were a selfish leader,
how could you double-cross your coalition partners
most effectively?
Make them go back on their most important
promise to the populace.

And you can make them work for it.
They were singing one way
before the election,
and now they've got another tune.
Because you convinced them that Labour's mistake
is the reason why the economy has failed,
they'll take your medicine.

The BBC guy said, last night, 'I wonder why Cameron's
made Clegg work so hard, with no support?'
Do you, really?

-cosusbelly67

The carbon footprint of a pair of lightweights

Now that Mervin King’s Wiki-pinion is added to that of Obama, it is well-known that Cameron’s passable presentation of himself as a leader may be being aided by hired Communications types.
He and his oik henchman, Osbourne, are indeed the private-school lightweight sons of millionaires who have never worked a hard day in their lives. Therefore,

it is their £9000-tuition university policy,
and they’re clueless,
as are the ranks of their party and the Liberal Democrats,
if they can’t see what these plans are doing to UK society.
Ya, it’s that big an issue!
[I assure you that British politicians, on the whole, are
either protesting unfair policies,
or they’re stupid, lazy and corrupt.
So that means about 60 Labour, 30 Liberal members and a smattering of Tories
are on the good side, out of 700. Haircut, anyone? Financial, that is.]

This says a lot about their plans for universities. They see it only short-term-wise as a boost to private universities, and have just about said it that clearly. They want to boost fees so that 3-year degrees cost £27 000 (with interest). Cranfield U, a private shop, for example has fees of £8500. Pretty competitive, and Cranfield didn’t even have to get their marketing team’s feet wet. The dynamic dodoes did it for them. But, I think that Tweedles Dee and Dum should go back to the drawing board, because Cranfield’s degrees, all legal, approved and everyfink, are completed in two years, not three. So, the private uni is truly the better deal, and the quality is decent, I guess. But, you gotta pay up front. The ‘Good for the economy’ mantra reminds me of Gordon Brown and his take on the Iraq war; stepping over bodies to help their rich friends, as they all are.
If they wanted to make it less obvious that they were helping out their Oxbridge buddies to start up universities, they could have made the rise in fees 20%, to £3600. By raising them 200% (they’re not Business grads, I’m certain), to £9000 pounds, they’ve raised a poll-tax-size ire in the public, and split the society clearly into haves and have-nots. And that’s only one piece of legislation, and they want, or Nick Clegg wants, 5 more years of this tripe.
If Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences courses don’t cease altogether, there will be a flood of kids going into Political Sciences or Public Administration, just so that these youngsters can plan to someday stick their foot up those fluffy, lightweight arses in the government that is saddling them with debt, and then keeping them from qualifying for a home loan (which is hard enough already) unless they pay off the 27000 as soon as possible. That’s their goal, perhaps. Make ‘em scramble to pay it off.
Or perhaps the goal is to get students learning foreign languages, because the only universities they’ll be able to afford will be those on that Continent that they love and hate
so much.
-Cosusbelly67

no, no, take 10 years, Sire

The Apprentice (UK show)
Alan Sugar: "You're fired"
"You need how long to get your job done?" "5 years!"
"Nick Clegg, you're fired, and you make me sick."
"If I let these boys run my company, I'd be fl*6&ked."

The Guardian's Patrick Wintour wrote a fulsome 3-centimeter article about one of the most important aspects of our democracy in the UK:

The length of a government's reign.
Up until now, a government could call an election whenever it suited.
So, our new coalition wants to take choice out of the matter
in the interest of fairness, you see,
and set a time limit.
Of course, it used to be 4 years, maximum, and he wants to make it
5 years, over 1800 days without democracy.
Democracy is voting. One vote every 1820 days is
something less than democracy.
Is a government required to listen to anyone during this time?
Protests, letters, media, starving people in the streets?
Exactly! Therefore, that's not democracy.

In quoting Nick Clegg, VP,
he said
"a four-year parliament would not give an administration
time to govern in the national interest"

Allow me to interpret this. Clegg, VP, likely meant:
"It'll take us 3 years to pay off all the Labour bureaucrats to go away,
install our own boys and start siphoning off money, bigtime."
"We Lib Dems may never get into government again,
and we've got two parties
full of democrats to satisfy."

-Cosusbelly67

a million reasons to be afraid

apparently, according to the Daily Mail, 23 of the 29 ministers are worth more than

1 million pounds.
Maybe this is the reason why the two parties get along so well.

DAILY MAIL MONDAY 24/05/10

The coalition of millionaires: 23 of the 29 member of the new cabinet are worth more than £1m... and the Lib Dems are just as wealthy as the Tories By Glen Owen Last updated at 9:45 AM on 23rd May 2010

It is the £60million Cabinet. David Cameron’s coalition Government may have adopted ‘fairness’ as one of its defining slogans, but his team of Ministers has been drawn almost exclusively from the ranks of the financial elite – leading to accusations that politics is once again becoming the preserve of the wealthy.

Of the 29 Ministers entitled to attend Cabinet meetings, 23 have assets and investments estimated to be worth more than £1million.

-cosusbelly67

for more. frankly it makes me ill:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/election/article-1280554/The-coalition-millionaires-23-29-member-new-cabinet-worth-1m--Lib-Dems-just-wealthy-Tories.html#ixzz0osCrzjXj

a suitable epitaph for Gordo's career

soon
a taste:
no more boom and bust
the Iraq war is good for the economy
Poisoned chalice of Blair
tax the poor, they're too lazy and illiterate to apply for their state aid

swing voters are like any swingers

We're damn hot. Dead sexy, even.
we are kingmakers. Every party sucks up to us.

We're willing to listen to each and every party and then make up our minds.
Parties are sending all their stupid platitudes towards us, but we're too intelligent.

Vote for change. Try Posh Cola, now!
bullsh*t

we're the ones willing to go for a hung parliament, because we think that politics is the biggest scam since the sale of Manhattan.

Make one scratch on a paper and then shut up for exactly 5 years. bullsh*t
Now the onus is on the politicians not to screw up, or else they could land on their butts in Downing Street , like Gordo. We'll find a way to drive the gay wedding of Dave and Nick to the divorce court.
that's politics, hanging from a branch. A totally different kind of swinger.

a lord calling a democrat posh

[pic- fotosearch.com- toffee nose]
We all know that David Cameron is, like, 32nd in line to the throne.
[he should try using a pub toilet on a Friday night, he'd 56th.]

Anyway, one of Labour's last breathless tactics was not attack the fact that DC's has had every privelege in his upbringing.
Just a minute though. If Mandelson, the Prince of Darkness, was made a lord because his corrupt track record makes him unelectable, then DC has beaten Mandy in the democracy sweepstakes. David's practically a man of the people in comparison, and that's even before you consider Mandy's Machiavelli act.

As for the posh thing, I'm going to look up Mandelson on wikipedia, in two seconds, and I'm sure he'll be the alumnus of a number of educational institutions of the highest standing.
You don't get an accent like that just by being gay. I say, old boy!

Hold the presses. Oxford and grammar school. Not bad for a proletarian Labour minister.

But, he did say DC has a 'toffee nose'. That kind of an insult will get you beat up in a schoolyard, where I come from.

Call him 'boogerhead', Dave. Don't let Mandy bully you.
Take a limp swing at him.

-Cosusbelly67

[story from Metro newspaper]

I'm Liberal, I'm a democrat and I'm radical

I'm wondering about whether the Lib Dems are ever going to come out of the wilds.
Are they left?

or right?

They've got some good policies, like a tax-free first 10 000 in income.

Then, they turn around and promote a 2 million pound threshold for house tax.

This may be why many don't take the LDs seriously, and why I think they're most often

foils (see below).

I'm starting to organise a philosophy about some Lib Dem supporters.

They actually are ignorant of realpolitik. They just want to dream of Utopia.
They just want to be left in their rooms with their ideas.

But, why do that now, though? History awaits.
They have a chance to get some of their policies enacted.

Maybe a ministry for Vince.

They have a chance of mellowing the Tories' savaging of the working stiff.
So, what do some of their politicians and supporters say?

"I cannot countenance co-op with the Tories."
Oh?!
"We are a radical left party" one says.
Ya. Left of Genghis. I'll give you that.

Now, I'll tell you how to shut those people up:
This is a country of 70 million people with massive debts, and it's in limbo.
The hedge markets are waiting to savage UK, plc.
BP needs a bailout, and a mop'n'bucket.
Britain's imaginary enemies in Afghanistan are looking for signs of weakness.

One way to stop the uncertainty is to find a way to negotiate with the enemy.
No, not the Taliban; the Tories. Mullah Osbourne! xD
the Mullah of moolah.

If more than a few LDMPs jump ship, then
confidence in the government coalition will melt.
Then we'll all be grabbing our handbaskets, because hell awaits.
So, everybody has to get off their arses and co-operate like big adults.
Now, go on. Git goin'!

My opinion in the past was the LDs were there to foil the 'outgoing' government when
it was clear to the Man that the incumbents were due to leave.

I'm LD. I'm left. I'm right. I'm zig-zagging.

Why does the Man have to decide?

Well, the UK voters seem to be infinitely patient with stumble-butt governments.
You tolerated the Tories for 14 years; Labour for 13.

Now, was that intelligent? I ask you!

The comical side of this is:

You folks wait until a party has been in power for so long that they can't stop

behaving like moronic pigs at the trough,
Roman senators on the grape,
like some medieval despot,
Mandelson-type person.
Now I know where Monty Python got its humour from.
Incumbent politicians. Kick 'em out.

-Cosusbelly67

The Ghost of Inquests Past

I know this is late, but some of us have a life as well as our blog.

Anyway, in the home stretch for the election, Tony Blair, the Middle Eastern peace envoy.

piece of what, you ask?
peace is breaking out everywhere in the ME, innit?

Anyway, he shows up and says 'the Liberal Democrats are not a real party'.

I've heard it said by people that this is the opinion of large parts of the UK.

I guess the results show that this opinion holds.

Of course, TB looks a bit dorkier with grey hair and those ears.
And he would have been even more convincing if he had
been anyone but Tony Blair.

I don't understand this 'I vote Labour', 'I vote Conservative'
It's like 'I don't use my brains, ever'
No strategy, no faith, no questions, no future, no brains.
point 1 Why not kick out the incumbents?
Has it been 13 uninterrupted years of happiness in the proletarian kingdom?

jab 2 What's the difference between Labour and the Tories?
Honestly, did the Labs cancel any Thatcherite policies?
I rest my case.
I vote Coalition. D-uuuuH!
Make 'em work for their daily crust.

I'm still king of the hill

[pic invivo.blogspot.com- horse trading]

While everybody is now Nick Clegg's best friend, in the election, the Lib Dems
were kicked around like an old mule.

Of course, the regal Labour party is using this excuse:

Well, the public didn't vote decisively in favour of the Tories.
True
But they dumped Labour quite hard.
How hard?
Well, if Labour partners up with the
Lib Dems,
the Ulster Unionists,
Plaid Cymru,
the Scottish National Party,
and the Greens,
then everything will be fine.
At least until the coffee break on the first day.
That's when the daggers will be drawn.
The public will calling for the absolution of Guy Hawkes.

-Cosusbelly67

five live talks no jive

It ain't no thang! = my pleasure (jive)

If you've read my other blogs, I'm no fan of Lord (Jezuz!) Mandelson.

But, one brave fella calling in to BBC Five live said it all. He said something like:

Look at this so-called party of the people. Their most prominent politicians are all
un-elected Lords.

Lord Adonis is the Minister of Transport. There's Baroness ___(I forget)

[pic - politics.co.uk, Lord Adonis- no adonis, here]

and then Lord-about-town Mandelson, is the Joker.

How can this country ever reform itself when the elected government
chooses to rely on people who haven't stood for election?

There were always Labour lords. It's bizarre, but true.
It's only in the last 5 years that they've taken over the party.
They've gotten accustomed to things as they are.
They were convinced by Blair that, with Thatcherite
policies and money from the unions, he and the lords could
fool the British public together.
Here's the trick.
All they have to do is warn the working public about how conservative
the Conservatives are. This is true, but Labour is also
Thatcherite. Not Thatcher-lite, Thatcher-bloody-ite.
So, the people, full of fear, are supposed to vote Labour.
Every so often, like yesterday, that will cease to work.

-Cosusbelly67

pollsters should tell us the polling data before we vote

I think that we should have the polling data on how every constituency intends to vote. Several companies, and the government should be updating this regularly

If we just go and vote, that's a waste of a strategic opportunity.

You need to know which constituencies project mixed results. Then we can decide where to place our vote. The end goal is to balance things out.

Minority government.

e.g. If the results are heading for a Conservative majority, we need to vote for
Labour wherever it's close between the Conservatives and Labour,
or Lib Dem where the vote is close between the Conservatives and the Lib Dems.

It's not enough to know what the parties 'intend' to do.
We need to take charge, by voting strategically.

I've been busy, but I'll look for some stats. The BBC has the 'notional stats' from the beginning of the election period.
Have a look. Use your vote strategically.

Hi! I'm Nick Clegg and I'm surprised to be here

I'm amazed how the Lib Dems have not gone into melt-down with all the attention they've received.
Other times they used to say the dumbest things.

Point one from this year:

"I want to be Prime Minister". Well, I want to have 2 Jaguars, but it's not going to happen.
If you win the election, by not saying stupid things, then maybe he will be the PM.
It just shows how naive Clegg can be.

He should say:
"In these trying times, I feel that I am the right person to lead a consensus government, and improve the lives of the public."

-Cosusbell67

Jekyl and Posh

I'm worried about giving the rule of this country to a very rich, semi-royal in these financially-trying times. I have my radar on and I can sense when his training in Shakespearean theatre and Roman history give him this posh sheen, that makes me sick.

When the idea of a minority government started making the rounds, the first reactions were very telling. Cameron showed shock and disappointment, probably because he thought,

"hey, it's my turn. I've been a good boy, I have!"

What would you do with a photographer in your campaign bus, when you're relaxing with your spouse? Would you say "take a break, pal", or would you project an aspirational picture to a sycophantic nation? The man looks into the distance, recognising that History awaits! The woman shows how she relies on her guy. Voters are supposed to think (mostly women) that this could be me. Of course, it's an illusion.

[Times, 4 May]
Labour picked up on how Cameron was saying "I'm ready to a,b,c" as if he was already PM.

So, I don't know what he's thinking, but I'm pretty sure he needs a check on his regal-ness.
Watch that he doesn't turn into King David.
He needs a minority government.

-Cosusbelly67

Hello, Gordo, Davey, Nicko. Can you help me, please?

[pic- "I pay no tax, I told you!"]

Businesses are concerned by the prospect of a minority government.
It's my humble opinion that some of the bigger companies just want to have

a politician they can call to get stuff done for themselves.
One, single politician. One politician who can control his party
so that the businessman can get his wish.

this is from Reuters: ENJOY

Businesses concerned about inconclusive election

Nearly two-thirds of British businesses are concerned about the potential impact of no party winning an outright majority in a May 6 parliamentary election, according to a British Chambers of Commerce survey on Monday.

Opinion polls indicate Britain is heading for a hung parliament, a rare outcome in British politics in which no party has overall control, prompting concern about political deadlock hampering efforts to cut a record budget deficit.

While some market participants have become more open to the idea, the BCC's business survey showed 65 percent of the 300 companies polled were either "concerned" or "very concerned" about the impact a hung parliament would have on their business.

"Businesses are right to be wary about the prospect of a hung parliament. Instinctively, companies prefer a clear mandate to lead and govern," said BCC Director General David Frost.

"With our economy still fragile and the public finances in a dire state, the overwhelming concern is whether a hung parliament will provide decisive action around the UK's unsustainable deficit."

This was the first time the BCC had included a question on the prospects of a hung parliament in their monthly survey, which aims to canvass businesses' views on topical matters.

The economy has become a key election battle ground, with the Labour party, in power for 13 years, arguing spending cuts to trim the budget deficit must be delayed until economic recovery is assured, while the opposition Conservatives want to start cutting sooner.

Asked which form of taxation, aside from planned increases such as to the National Insurance payroll tax, were most likely to rise after the election, 54 percent said the VAT sales tax, while 12 percent predicted a hike in income tax.

Last Friday, ratings agency Moody's said a hung parliament would not necessarily hurt Britain's triple-A rating as there is a broad political consensus on the need to cut the deficit.

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan)

----

postscript:

It's nice of the media to admit that broad political consensus is a good thing. Every politican knows what's right. They just don't do it, because nobody can force them to.

Unless they're in a coalition

Only the necessary things will get done.

-Cosusbelly67

pic from fotosearch.com

democracy 24/7

This blog will help the UK voters decide whether a minority government is what's best for the country.
If you're sick of serial dictatorships, where politicians don't listen, a coalition government will be careful to act on your behalf.
There are no clear leaders in the election, according to Yougov polls.
Have you noticed how anxious the parties are now?
Talking out of both sides of their mouths.

"I'm a consensus politician, but a hung parliament will be nuts."

Do we have the politicians' attention?
I think so. It's the first time in a long while.
That's the way it should always be.

-Cosusbelly67