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- On the Wimbledon coverage, Sue Barker asked Serena Williams about Michael Jackson. Apparently she was a 'friend' of his. I doubt this is true in any recognised sense of the word 'friend' but even so, it doesn't have anything to do with tennis. If you must ask about it then do it off camera.
- On the Glastonbury coverage on 6 Music some reporter said, "terrible start to the day here at Glastonbury - it's raining, and people are waking up to the news about Michael Jackson" - as if the vast majority of people who have gone to Glastonbury really give a fuck. (This seems to be a common mistake being made across the media - that because Michael Jackson was a musician, and Glastonbury is a music festival, that his death is of particular significance to the festival. It's not.)
Then look at the comments below, where with a couple of informed exceptions, everyone honks in agreement about the 'religion of global warming' and the need to have a 'proper debate' about 'so-called climate change' etc.
These people are going to be running the country in less than a year.
- 14:51 Comment re Bercow on ConservativeHome: "I honestly have not felt this way since the Sheffield was sunk." tinyurl.com/lagagh #
- 15:17 @zagrebista because he actually takes Cameron's modernising rhetoric seriously and has taken it to its logical conclusion (unlike Cameron) #
- 23:35 Conservative Party still stupid, still extreme, still hates science: tinyurl.com/kv36gq #
- 16:07 @edjeff where are you moving to #
- 16:09 1 more hour #
- 16:32 half an hour #
- 16:32 should probably clear desk. can't be bothered #
- 16:34 @AlexJThomas Clive James's latest collection of essays isn't very good #
- 16:58 @AlexJThomas no, Cultural Amnesia is quite good. There is a new one which is basically essays which weren't good enough for Cultural Amnesia #
- 12:17 I think Brown is trying to say that Labour are for the many and the Tories are for the few #pmqs #
- 09:48 Conservative Party still hates diversity: tinyurl.com/mzc9y4 #
- 09:52 See also point 2 where Conservative advocates instructing people as to the lifestyle they should lead #
- 22:30 Remember it is only a small minority of racist old men who shoot guards in museums. #
- 22:30 We must not use this tragic incident as an excuse to condemn the racist old men community as a whole #
- 00:13 Guuuuuuhhhh, Griffin gets in in the North West #
- 00:17 Oh well, at least London doesn't have any kind of elected representative to speak for all the reactionary knuckledraggers. Oh hang on #
- 00:19 @BorisWatch BNP are increasingly competent at turning out their voters regardless of turnout, but their vote also has a lower ceiling #
- 00:25 @iainbhx and Boris #
- 00:30 @iainbhx but Romford is really in Essex #
- 00:42 Greens beat UKIP in London, woot #
- 00:44 @sfk it's a Tamil candidate #
- 00:46 BNP vote share in London lower than last year's Assembly vote - 4.9%. Cheerio Barnbrook in 2012, with any luck #
- 00:56 @BorisWatch Feltham #
- 01:05 @CllrTim RT @iainbhx West mids will probably be 2 Con, 1 UKIP, 1 Lab, 1 LDm - the sixth seat is very close between Lab and UKIP #
- 01:11 @BorisWatch I think London had the strongest anti-BNP sentiment which turned out Labour voters especially in BME areas #
- 01:13 @BorisWatch for example Labour actually won Ealing where the Tories run the council - prob high turnout in Southall #
- 01:21 BNP shut out of the Midlands, confirmed. Woot #
- 01:26 Why is the BBC broadcasting this crap from Hannan #
- 01:27 Although it's a useful reminder of how essentially odd (as well as extreme) the Tories are #
- 10:00 Congratulations to @zagrebista for winning the Lebanese elections bit.ly/2iHao
(scroll down) # - 12:24 @johnb78 there are fewer seats in those regions so you need a higher vote share to get elected #
- 23:41 BNP voting is something we need to understand a little less and condemn a little more #
- 23:48 Time to stop listening to 'very real concerns' of BNP voters and start turning out the greater number of voters who don't support them #
- 23:50 @sfk I don't think so, most of the BNP increase came in South Yorks, West Yorks was more flatlining #
- 23:52 Authentic Yorkshire accent from the BNP MEP there #
- 23:56 Well, at least Griffin might be kept out of the North West #
- 23:58 Fuck off Mark Francois. What is it with the BBC giving airtime to the hard right this evening? #
- 00:00 Let's remember that over 90% of Yorkshire and Humber didn't vote BNP, so comments along the lines of Yorkshire being racist aren't helpful #
- 00:02 @BorisWatch Jews are indeed non-indigenous and according to various BNP members on 'Stormfront' still the cause of most of the nation's ills #
- 15:06 Doncaster has elected an English Democrat as Mayor!!!! #
- 15:16 Eng Dem mayor will "stop all translation services for immigrants" and "axe all the authority's politically correct jobs" #
- 15:22 @BenRawlings it's no joke - scraped past Labour in the first round then pulled ahead of an independent candidate on second prefs #
- 15:42 Cons have overall control of Derbyshire. Truly we are in end times #
- 16:30 RT @BorisWatch 'Adonis to replace Hoon' - best news all day, Adonis may be a wanker on education but he's shit hot on transport #
- 17:13 Caroline Flint has resigned? I thought she wasn't resigning a couple of days ago. Too strange #
- 17:19 Lord Mandelson now 'First Secretary of State' - presumably similar position to General Secretary of Communist Party of Soviet Union? #
Con 26
Lab 20
LD 15
UKIP 14
Green 10
BNP 6
With the remainder Nationalists, 'others' etc. I can't be bothered to work out a seats forecast because that would involve looking at each region, some of which I know little about.
The Greens will hold their two seats and pick up perhaps one or two more, maybe one in the Eastern Region.
I don't know if the BNP will get a seat. I think it's more likely than not, but I've also heard some truly wild forecasts of 5 seats + which have no basis in fact. The reality is that the BNP vote has quite a low ceiling because too many voters will not vote for them under any circumstances. If they do relatively well, it will not be because of the expenses scandal but because their organisation and support has been incrementally increasing in 2004 (though by no means across the board - in some areas, eg Sandwell and Kirklees, it has declined)
If they win a seat or two, the location may be a surprise - I have a feeling Griffin will not get in in the North West while a colleague gets in in Yorkshire or one of the two Midlands regions.
I think Labour will hold on to Derbyshire but lose the other counties. Staffs and Notts are really only Labour because county council elections have been coinciding with the GE. Combine that with the haemorrhage of Labour votes in mining areas and you might see quite a bloodbath.
Possibly it's better that the expenses scandal blew up prior to elections which essentially aren't that important rather than the general election.
- 10:49 RT @CllrTim In the days before a watershed election Cabinet ministers who resign to make a personal point should be thrown out of the party #
- 11:14 Who will be Labour's Kim Campbell? (bit.ly/Z5DFt #
- 11:58 Bozza claimed for a wreath: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/80807
39.stm # - 12:05 Lynne Jones looks radiant in yellow #
- 12:06 Dave from PR in sober mood #pmqs #
- 12:13 Slightly better at the end by Dave from PR. Overall a fairly lacklustre performance #pmqs #
- 12:17 No Gordon, the correct name for the Tories is not the 'other party', it is 'the stupid party'. Please note for next time #
- 12:20 Brown actually looks quite happy and confident. Maybe he is just overwhelmed with joy at having got rid of Hazel Blears #pmqs #
- 12:32 Fairly good from Brown over all. #pmqs #
- 12:44 @sfk it was actually quite boring #
- 12:50 @mikejamesgreen you're OK with food but not drink IIRC. You're probably at the game now so this is a pointless reply #
- 14:24 @edjeff yes, I'll come along #
- 16:44 Missed events at Finchley Road this morning. Must have got one of the last trains before the person went under. #
- 10:47 Apparently the hotel at the bottom of the road where I work is the one where the guy from the Manic Street Preachers disappeared from #
- 10:50 Also I'm the same age he was when he went missing. I'm not going to jump off the Severn Bridge (or disappear to Goa or whatever) though #
- 16:02 @AlexJThomas have you spoken to an employment solicitor? If it's really crappy, sue them for unfair dismissal instead #
- 14:35 ConservativeHome "reactionary scum: "conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernme
nt/2009/05/gay-adoption-critics-retarded-h omophobes.html # - 14:47 @AlexJThomas according to 'Steve Foley' we need to 'look to history, especially Weimar Germany and what came afterwards' #
- 14:49 rcs said: "I find it hard to understand why a child should be adopted by a couple of homosexuals. This is still a highly abnormal "family"" #
- 14:50 "Homsexuals and Lesbians should leave being parents to proper mummies and daddies - who want to see a child on a poofs pink parade?" #
- 12:09 Secret meeting in Soho at 5.45 with wealthy Russian promising magic beans exchange. Must 'drink special tea' before completing transaction. #
- 11:10 I have a free evening tonight if anyone wants to go for a drink after work #
- 14:20 Derbyshire County Council has an electoral division called Barlborough and CLOWNE. #
- 14:23 CLOWNE. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clowne #
- 15:03 @Helzbels London is full of places with almost the same name as other places. Eg Mottingham. #
- 15:05 I feel obliged to say #theBNParetwats #
- 15:26 I can't believe more people are talking about the Australian budget than about the fact that #theBNParetwats #
- 15:31 #theBNParetwats has made it! #
- 16:21 Thanks to trending topics, lots of Americans are now also aware that #thebnparetwats. #
- 16:40 I think #thebnparetwats needs a follow up - perhaps #nickgriffinisatwat #
- 16:45 By now we all know that #thebnparetwats but did you also know that #nickgriffinisacunt #
