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April 22, 2005
Respect
Aretha Franklin sang of this but she would never have expected to be associated with George Galloway.
He's a right one, it must be said.
Here's Galloway on Galloway: -
(On his proudest achievement in parliament since 2001) "Having been a leader of the anti-war movement which built the biggest demonstrations in British history; having been right about Iraq; having made enemies like Tony Blair, Rupert Murdoch and Conrad Black; having defeated the Daily Telegraph in court; and having helped build Respect - the Unity Coalition." (hey, we can all make enemies, the clever bit is making friends)
Hmm... A couple of questions: -
Who (or what) has most influenced your political thinking?
An anti-imperialist family, an Irish maternal grandfather who told me the reason the sun never set on the British Empire was because God would never trust the English in the dark. And Tony Benn, the best prime minister Britain never had.
What do you do to forget the stresses of Westminster?
I don't stress, in the words of Ho Chi Minh, "Calamity has hardened me and turned my mind to steel".
What were the last book and CD you bought?
Cuba - A New History by Richard Gott
Steve Earle - The Revolution Starts Now (lovely man, Steve. Got his girlfriend pregnant when he was 14. Lyrics here. Yes, he had a dream too...)
Fascinating.
Nick Cohen's view (use arrow keys to scroll, sorry, Firefox and Netscape only)
Enough already.
Crime
Same as before. Arguments over numbers and a realisation that perceptions count. How perceptive...
Stamp Duty
See Council tax. It's exactly the same. Gutter politics and a meaningless and ultimately deceptive attempt to buy votes. It will NOT make prices cheaper. Prices are set by supply and demand. If a punter can afford, and is prepared to pay, say, £150,000 for a house then he will pay £150,000. The stamp duty is NOT 'on top' of the price, it is part of the total price as paid by the punter.
The TBC's had a strategy of drip feeding good news throughout the campaign. Two parts to it; firstly a little good news every day, secondly less chance (and time) for ZNL to trump the TBC's latest ace. Sounded good on paper, but in practice it's turned into a disaster. Every announcement sounds like a desperate last throw of the dice, and makes voters despise them. Look for a landslide ZNL victory despite what the polls and political betting say.
Lies, damned lies and Charlotte Atkins (One way of getting 15 minutes of fame.)
Charlotte was one of Blair's 1997 babes. (though no spring chicken at 46 at the time). She has, according to this site, clocked up £119,702 in expenses during the last parliament. She went to LSE, and likes to keep fit. She's a big fan of car clubs. On 24th March 2005 she gave this written answer to a parliamentary question. Strange how they spend our money. Most important however is that yesterday she said that ZNL would scrap council tax if they won the election. Trouble was, no other ZNL minister knew anything about it. Well Done Charlotte! She had close to a 6,000 vote majority in Staffordshire Moorlands last time so it's unlikely she'll get kicked out. But I wouldn't put money on her being a minister in the next government somehow...
A little picture for a small player...
Political Betting's Projected Election Outcome: - LAB majority 76 seats
Posted by Flo Ting Voe Tah at April 22, 2005 11:21 AM