And another thing…

Wait a minute.

You didn’t drop and break your dalek cufflink.

You EXTERMINATED it.

Does that make you feel better?

Not really, no.

Bad luck about the Dalek cufflink. I’d be really upset as well.

As for the polls

Gordon’s resignation will cut that lead to around ten.

Regardless of his replacement.

Never mind Tom, you do seem to be attracting some bad luck, what with your roof / ceiling problems and now I see that the nutty Liberal Conspiracy site is having a pop at you.

But as that Sunny boy is a bit of a “Left of Stalin Nutter” – I shouldn’t lose any sleep over it mate.

As I have said before – if you’re ever in Fintry I will gladly buy you a drink. We can drown our sorrows together and you can try to convert me back to Labour. . . that should see both of us well and truly blootered.

I wonder if the government’s new climate change ad has a little to do with this. From reading the News sites people are pretty angry. Six million quid for an ad that shows a puppy drowning?

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/climate-ad/

My vote’s for Millipede.(D)

I’m sure he’ll toughen up under fire.

(I know he suffers badly from Euro sickness. But it has now spread to all possible contenders. So there’s no choice, unfortunately.)

If New Labour supported British industry, your cufflinks might have been made here and been of far higher quality.

That said, I do feel your pain…

Sorry to hear about the cufflink.
Though it does make it easier for your wife to choose your Christmas present

Only the GE counts, shame your dear leader is averse to elections.

Hard luck on the cufflinks Tom.

As for the polls, Gordon is getting on with the job (of destroying the Labour Party).Doing pretty well I think.

Mr Darling Pre Budget Report should be fun. I’m looking forward to Labour investment – as opposed to Tory cuts – showing up as negative growth in spending.:-)

That should be worth a few percentage points in the polls – to the Tories.

Gordon will just keep on giving.

Only 17? Something wrong with those polls. Don’t worry Tom, I heard the opposition side of the commons has better seats!

There is another poll due out tonight. It has been commissioned by PoliticalBetting.com’s Mike Smithson.

Just thought you might like to know.

Er, make that three new polls, all showing a 17% lead for the Tories.

http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2009/10/20/and-now-the-first-exclusive-pb-angus-reid-strategies-poll/

Dear, oh dear, oh dear.

And another thing: another poll with a 17% lead: http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2009/10/20/and-now-the-first-exclusive-pb-angus-reid-strategies-poll/

What more is there to say apart from a hearty haha.

Oh, btw your new anti-spam protection seems to have removed my ability to post from either of my mobiles… Something about someone from Java eating all the cookies.

Electoral Calculus gives us;

CON – 390 Seats
LAB – 189 Seats
LIB – 41 Seats

Con Win GE – Majority 130(ish)

==============

Each of the polls has given a slightly different calculation with Conservative majorities ranging from 128 to 140 but the essential story is the same: Con Win by a landslide. Labour doomed to sub-200

Well that’s a pain. Sorry about that.

Cheer up Tom, could be worse.

You could be a Lib Dem

I’m sure you’ll be lost without my usual tirade of sarcastic and generally derogatory posts.

I’m still going to vote labour

Richard:

Hang on!

I thought that was MY job here? LOL

The polls are getting boring now but the cufflink, well that’s a real bummer (why not look on it as an opportunity to ring the changes by getting, say, ‘Tardis’ links?

If there’s a bright side for you (though not for me), it appears from the detail of the polls that the main focus of discontent is less on Labour in general and more on its leader. If there is any path towards an election win or a hung Parliament for Labour, it is probably something like this:

1) Ditch Mr. Brown at the first opportunity and replace him with… well… anybody. Tinky Winky the Purple Teletubby would be an improvement. Failing that, Millburn or one of the Millibands might do.

2) Reposition the party back into territory that makes it appealing to the “genuine” working class (as opposed to the benefit-dependant) and the aspirational lower middle classes. This probably involves shedding some of the special interest group fellow travellers that Labour has acquired, as well as some of your hard-line lefties. Kicking Harriet Harman and Ed Balls out of the party would probably be a good move – sure, it’d be a gesture, but it’d be an important one. Mandleson’s useful – keep him for his brain, but lock him in a back room away from the public. Get Frank Field back into a prominent role. Reconnect with those who are impoverished despite their genuine efforts, rather than those who want a free ride.

3) Develop an actual strategy for countering the Tories. Since their rather unexpected (to me, at least) performance at their conference, the lightweight/inexperienced attack isn’t going to work. Osborne now looks more credible in economic terms than Brown and Darling, which is a first (I’ve previously seen Osborne as a weak link in the Tory front-bench team). However, Cameron and Osborne took a big risk at the conference, and paid the price in a few of the immediate post-conference polls, but that seems to have passed now. Even as a died-in-the-wool Tory, I thought that Cameron’s keynote on “small Government” sounded… well… a bit US Republican. There are avenues of attack here, but Labour can’t currently exploit them due to its proliferation of wing-nuts and special interest groups.

However, do you really think your party has the willpower and clarity of judgement to take those steps?

Oh dear!

That’s four polls all saying the same thing!

Labour are (to put it in the Irish vernacular) FECKED!

David Cameron is busy snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, with his announcement of all-Dalek shortlists.

I have nothing against loo plungers (can I use that term?) but it means that Cybermen and Sontarans don’t get a fair shake, not to mention Humans.

I am not convinced that disabled aliens, however clever their mobility devices are, are what we need in Parliament.

It strikes me as tokenism, something I thought had been ELIM-IN-ATED.

@Keldorne – are you prepared to make such sensible suggestions because you’re confident that Labour’s had it (you did say that you were a Tory)?

Don’t worry, Labour hasn’t done sensible for a long time.

————————————–

BTW (and mindful of Cranmer’s most recent post) I notice that ‘Jim Baxter’ has been absent a while. Although we commenters never meet, I regard regulars on blogs as cyber friends (or, at least, acquaintances – mustn’t be over-familiar…). I do hope that he’s well.

gutting……..genuinely

The ‘glass half full’ interpretation of the polls for the benefit of Tom;

It could be worse, it could more the 17% lead.

The Lib Dems are still a long way behind
in third.

The Tories will win a landslide but it’s highly unlikely that it will be on the same scale as Labour’s in 1997; you’ll still have bragging rights (of sorts)

With fewer Labour MPs there will be less competition for the ‘top job’ when Brown goes eh Tom?

You’ll have more time to watch Dr Who whilst in opposition.

Replacement cuff links are on eBay for the bargain price of £10 http://tinyurl.com/yfrdcg4

er…that’s it, can’t think of any more.

Oh don’t worry too much Tom. I hear there’s plenty of jobs ab- oh..

Never mind

I Think it will be just English Labour MP’s that get creamed, scottish mp’s will be ok, you will have even less to do than you have now though, but at least you’ll be still on the westminster gravy train.

The Tories have a 23 point lead in England according to politicalbetting

http://tinyurl.com/yzgvjob

Jay

Cranmer is back! Jim Baxter posted on my blog on Monday and seemed on top form.

You are right. Concern is right.

The incredible response to Cranmer’s temporary meltdown is testimony to some kind of community spirit.

Tom, you might try another blogpost with the redaction of the latest poll in England 47/24/21 now up on political betting

Whilst Labour continues with such lamentable performances like Denis MacShane on Newsnight re trafficking last night l can only see even darker days ahead for Labour.

MacShane continued to spout his farcical figures despite them to have been proven as total fairytales. Shameful

Tom

I know you probably wont answer this but…and a big but…

what do you actually think of our Prime Minister?

I saw him today at PMQ’s and I have to say I think as a statesman of our country he is quite simply…awful.

He did not answer one question with any purpose, he slammed his papers down on the dispatch box like a spoilt child and then started shouting at the tories about the economy which did’nt actually have anything to do with the Royal Mail question and seemed more like a get me out of jail answer.

He also went on about how the tories should not bring the Royal Mail into the political arena!

that was quite the most silliest thing I have heard in a long time…is he saying we cant ask questions about a public service at PMQ’s?

I watched Frost/Nixon last night, great film if you have seen it, and how Nixon reminded me of Brown…it was uncanny.

As for your cufflinks that reminds me that maybe Mr. Brown is actually Davros!

oh and the biscuit joke by Cameron was dead funny I have to say!

Later Tom

Simon D

Mrs Weasel was at University with someone who was a dead ringer for Davros, and not surprisingly was called Davros from day one. He wore it well, I believe. He now works for the BBC. (They look after their own you know.)

As for the Nixon/Brown nexus, look no further than my blog, where you will find a perpetual banner. Or you can view this video of Nixon in the last days, lashing out at the press corps..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iucE78-C2Po

Nixon’s inaugural speech is sparkling and full of promise. It eclipses the first major speeches of his successors. Nixon fell from a pinnacle, having attempted to manipulate public opinion by digging up dirt on his opponents and then trying to cover it up. That is what politicians do of course, but using public employees to do so was considered an impeachable offense.

I read Chuck Colson’s book when it first came out. I read Jonathan Aitken’s book too. Neither of them displayed what you might call hand-wringing repentance. Maybe MPs just don’t do repentance.

We have an election, and I suppose it will have to do.

I posted this over at Guido, so it will get lost of course. I thought, in the interests of editorial balance, which is part of the WWW charter, I would post it here.

(In answer to Guido: “What does Conservatism mean to David Cameron?” – quotes from BBC interview with Peter Oborne)

DC “one nation tradition of wanting to bring the country together”

Any serious philosopher or anthropologist or historian or in fact, anybody with a brain, knows that there is no such thing as a society that can truly be “one nation”. It rarely coalesces, except in times of national emergency, such as war or serious social strife.

DC “I am relatively eclectic”
Meaning..I don’t actually have deep set values, and prefer not to be associated with people who did.
It’s shopping mall philosophy, whereby you pick up your views off the shelf, at random.

When Cameron digs deep, he comes up with likening Conservatism to a kind of benign change management mechanism.

(paraphrasing Disraeli)

DC: In a progressive country change is constant. The question is not whether you should resist change, but can you make sure that change is consistent with your manners, your customs, your institutions..not related to an abstract philosophy.”

So that’s it. Cameron thinks “philosophies” are abstract. That kind of thinking is existentialism lite – politics without a soul. Pragmatism with a spin.

I could go on, but frankly, I have lost the will to live.

@weasel – thnx for info and good to see Cranmer back, too.

Broken Cuff link eh. Never mind, so long as the wing collar and spats are OK.

If they weren’t so desperately worried that there will be a slip twixt cup adn li . . .

Still it has made a “Community” after the fashion found in that east african tribe which died out owing to its anti social nature.

You, Tom, have helped bring them together for a time.

Sorry to hear about the Dalek cufflink