Meenzer

http://bigbenclocketc.spreadshirt.co.uk/ Fucking hell.

Not pleasant. That's the Newham that went 100% Labour at the council elections, too - having grown up in Newcastle, I'm always amazed by authorities that elect their councillors in one go every four years, as opposed to the rotational system we have. Anyway, not relevant to the point at hand, which is glad he's OK.

They campaigned on electoral fairness though didn't they, and this could hardly be further from that. I am honestly disappointed by their 'cynicism', I had thought they might represent something better than this . Glad the truth is out in the open now though, they'll get little sympathy from me and millions of others at the next election. Oh definitely, I expect a wipeout. But that would have happened whether they'd gone blue, red or non-committal. If all else is lost, you might as well get a few years of sweet, sweet power in the process.

http://twitter.com/big_ben_CLOCK

We'll end up with Moritz Volz.

It's interesting that people are surprised to find the Lib Dems are as careerist and cynical as any other politicians. Apparently they believed the "old politics/new politics" spiel from the leader of the Whigs.

I went to school with a lass who wanted to be Donna Air. I believe she got as far as hosting a show on German MTV. She's on Facebook and is clearly a failed wannabe famous knacker complete with stupid updates that are designed to be off the wall and edgy. Daft question, but it's not Shona Fraser, is it?

Also went to school with Donna Air, which is a crime in itself.

Plus ça change...

It's all the rage these days, Tony Adams just signed up to manage a team in rural Azerbaijan.

If I was so concerned with the DOOM THAT AWAITS ALL OF US, I'd probably have topped myself by now. What's your secret?

I don't have any problem with ID cards or all-purpose payment cards or similar, really. It's more the idea that state-employed buffoons could leave my data wedged down the back of a train seat that's the issue.

No. He normally lets that go. Common practice, German parent company. Shelf toilets?

Fine, fine, I'll be the humourless fucker who points out that Nigeria are NGR. Now if Niger ever got themselves a decent football team... @self

Blairite iirc. His younger brother is more of a lefty. Ed's older. I was about to say "by -4 years", but I should have known Craig would get there first. There's pedantry, there's Rob W's half-arsed equivalent, and then there's Internerd.

This is the official position from the Lib Dem spokesperson on the Labour-Lib Dem talks, for what it's worth: "Key members of Labour's negotiating team gave every impression of wanting the process to fail and Labour made no attempt at all to agree a common approach with the Liberal Democrats on issues such as fairer schools funding for the most deprived pupils and taking those on low incomes out of tax. It became clear to the Liberal Democrats that certain key Labour cabinet ministers were determined to undermine any agreement by holding out on policy issues and suggesting that Labour would not deliver on proportional representation and might not marshal the votes to secure even the most modest form of electoral reform. It is clear that some people in the Labour Party see opposition as a more attractive alternative to the challenges of creating a progressive, reforming government, not least in the context of a Labour leadership election campaign."

For the environments sake? Fuck that shit. It would have produced jobs and income. And more excuses for BA staff to strike.

Here's the formal document, for what it's worth: http://www.libdems.org.uk/latest_news_deta...17-7778979458ff

A true pedant would have read the whole thread already.

"Gropecunt, the earliest known use of which is in about 1230, appears to have been derived as a compound of the words grope and cunt." Well thanks for that.

This is the problem - leave the Tories to govern in a minority and the Lib Dems would have been held responsible for the inevitable second election in six months' time, which could easily have had exactly the same outcome anyway. In either scenario - flight to the two "big boys" to get a majority government in a second 2010 election/"punishment" for bedding in with the Tories - there's every chance that the Lib Dems will take a huge hit at the next election, so they've obviously figured they might as well take the opportunity to benefit from some exposure and experience for their front-benchers and at least try to temper some of the Tories' more barmy policies and see where it goes. It's far from ideal, but it's probably the best they could have got out of it all as a party. Well, yes and no. There's nothing wrong with tactical voting as long as you accept that you're not voting for a Labour MP by proxy. Complaining that you voted for a Lib Dem and they went on to act like Lib Dems is an odd one, certainly. Of course, if we had electoral reform and votes that actually counted for something, etc. etc.

William Hague as Foreign Secretary isn't exactly the best of starts.

"It's not all bad news - the rest of the Premier League is improving rapidly." Cheers for that.

Two words: Smooth Operator.

Big up for the News Quiz. Toksvig has settled into the role marvellously. Plus it means they don't have to have female panelists on as often. Result!