10 pence tax fiasco – again

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor has now decided how he will ameliorate the scrapping of the 10 pence tax band.
“At a cost of £2.7bn, I will increase the individual personal tax allowances by £600 to £6,035 for this financial year, benefiting all basic rate taxpayers under the age of 65,” he said.
Of the 5.3 million households [...]

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Boris says goodbye

Boris Johnson, the new mayor of London and MP for Henley has just had this posted on the Henley Standard website here.
Dear all, — When I set out on my mission to unseat Ken Livingstone more than nine months ago, there were all kinds of risks.
There was a considerable risk that I would be thrashed [...]

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Crewe and Nantwich – labour plays class war

It’s not looking good for the labour party at the Crewe and Nantwich by election.
Firstly, Gwyneth Dunwoody, whose death caused the BE, had a fair amout of personal support.
Secondly, her replacement as labour candidate is her daughter, a failed Welsh Assembly member with no local ties to the area. Nepotism looks bad and the electorate [...]

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What is a Libertarian?

I remember many years ago at work discussing politics. I happened to mention that I was a Libertarian and this revalation was met with blank looks. If you tell people that you are a conservative/labour/lib dem they know at a rough guess what you support. The conservatives are for business and people who want to [...]

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Polly gaggs for Gordon

This is brilliant.

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Why did labour lose?

So why did labour lose? Basically because they hold the voters in contempt and treat them as cannon fodder.
This post at the Devilks Kitchen sums it up nicely.
That is, if the people don’t vote the right way, there’s something wrong with the voters, not the politicians or their loyal supporters. There’s little to no introspection. [...]

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The people have spoken

Well thats over until the next time and the people have given their verdict.
The Conservatives are well up, labour went into meltdown, the lib dems stayed broadly the same and the BNP made a few gains.
So what is Gordon Browns response to all this? He said “we are listening”. Well you may well be listening [...]

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labour gets a kicking

The BBC reported at 8.30 this morning that from the votes that have already been counted the Conservatives are in the lead with 44% of the votes cast, the lib dems are second with 25% and labour are third with 24%.
If this was repeated on a national scale at a general election the Conservatives would [...]

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New uses for pigs bladders.

Blimey, what will they think of next.
The Times is reporting that pigs bladders can help the regrowth of damaged tissue here.
A man who lost the tip of his finger in an accident claims that it has regrown after he sprinkled it with a powder created from a pig’s bladder.
Lee Spievak, from Ohio, [...]

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Authoritarian Govt gets it wrong again.

Anyone remember the smoking ban in private property that the Irish govt introduced in 2004 with the intention of reducing smoking.
The Irish Times reports here that the number of people smoking has actually gone up by 2%.
Smoking rates have increased since 2002 despite the introduction of the smoking ban in public places, according to a [...]

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London voting turnout up?

Have just spoken to a friend who tells me that their polling station was rather busy when they went to vote.
Usually the turnout for local elections is very low, sometimes under 30%. However if voting in London reaches the levels generally seen at General Elections in the 60-65% region what does this mean for the [...]

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