Age: The Ming Thing

I have to say, I was quite proud when Ming gave that very ardent attack on those critics who take his age into account as a bad thing. However, a bit more disappointed that he then insinuated that being younger in politics was a handicap, especially when we have such notable young talent in our ranks. Yes, Cameron made a massive mistake by supporting the Iraq war; but his political failures aren’t because of his age, it’s because he’s an incompetent populist pathetic misleading lying right-wing bigoted prick.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Ming is a great leader. The Grauniad had a bit of a go for him being a bit self-deprecating in a joking fashion, but that showed how despite the fact they like to attack Cameron for being a PR man with no substance, they are more than happy to be part of the process that ensures politicians remain lying bastards that care about nothing but their own personal image. If Ming can’t joke about himself and more importantly be himself without this “respectable” rag giving him shit for doing so, is it any wonder that the successful politicians are those spin-artists which the Guardian-type media lament the most?

Isn’t it a shame that the only way to get elected into government in this country is to please a minority of journalists instead of pleasing the majority of the people?

Empty Tory promises

In addition to wasting my time over a chauvenist Tory in the last day or two, I went through a backlog search of Lib Dem Voice and found this little gem.

Whilst Mr Pack rightly points out that a spin-off ward website quite clearly attacks any idea of a transition from fortnightly to weekly collections, a bit of digging on the main Conservative website for Guildford shows a lot more. So, here we begin:

I have to say out of all of them, this is my favourite:
Nine million homes lose right to weekly rubbish collections
Did you read that correctly? Weekly rubbish collections are a “right”.
Superbug warning as binmen cut collections
PAY MORE, GET LESS TAX CON. Councils take twice as much money off us but cut our rubbish collections
And of course, the message:
Our weekly bin collections are under threat. Don’t let the bin cuts happen here.
But I think my favourite bit of the entire leaflet is this one:
Fortnightly rubbish collections a system used by 115 councils has proved deeply unpopular…
Forgetting of course to mention that the majority of the councils who use this system are Conservative-controlled.
Actually no, maybe this is my favourite bit:
A third of all councils in England have already cut their collections, but none of these councils has [sic] cut their council tax in return
Remembering of course that the majority of these councils are Tory-controlled. Oh wait! No! This has to be my favourite bit:
LibDems will make these cuts… after the elections
Speaks for itself.
Conservatives will keep weekly bin collections - Conservatives are the only party in Guildford making an unequivocal commitment to keep weekly collections.
Enough said.

Onto the next leaflet:
You Can Rely Positively on the Conservatives to: … Collect your rubbish weekly.
And on the second page:
Guildford Conservatives are committed to keeping weekly rubbish collections

And we continue:
WE WILL: Keep collecting your rubbish WEEKLY

And so on…
A WEEKLY RUBBISH COLLECTION: Unlike Lib Dem run Waverley next door, we haven’t axed your weekly rubbish collection. Conservatives keep on collecting your rubbish every week.

And so forth…
DON’T LET IT HAPPEN HERE… …Next door Liberal Democrat-run Waverley Council has AXED weekly rubbish collections.

You’d think that since they cry about it so much before an election, they’d keep their promise after the election. What a blatant exposure of Tory lies.

A massive shame

I promised myself when I started this blog up I would never name non-elected activists from other parties (or even from the same party) in a negative manner, but simply to link to articles of interest that they themselves have published with a small commentary. To do so under an anonymous guise could appear cowardly and may look like that I’m bullying the said person. However, this post is more to express my disappointment at the acidic words of a former member who has himself confided in many members of LDYS in the past only to now publish a despicable rant on his blog insinuating that a councillor in St Albans was “seducing” a young member at LDYS conference. He then proceeds to name people who the reader can “ask” if he is not to be believed.

Can I point out that this is the same former member who, in his penultimate blog post, suggests that he is no longer visiting certain Tory target seats because he needs the money he’ll otherwise spend on “courting prospects of young (19-24) blond elegant ladies” - to get them drunk perhaps? Maybe seduce them too? The same former member, who also within that post, elaborates on his reasoning for spending more time campaigning in Tooting as: “(And no its got nothing to do with the fact that [Mark Clarke] can attract elegant ladies to Tooting )”. How can he have the audacity to suggest LDYS conference is a centre of such activity when he puts himself across as not only a chauvenist who sees women as nothing more than objects to “court”, but also after the immense level of emotional blackmail he placed under members who spent a lot of their time trying to help him out and give him advice.

Paul, a proposal. I don’t believe the persona you are putting on the net is you. I have met you, and what I see in your blog is not the guy I know. If you are happy to delete such filthy and hypocritical allegations from your blog, I will be more than happy to delete this post as a compromise that direct personal attacks on the web are unacceptable and promote the type of politics that many in this country have grown to utterly despise. If you choose to continue doing what you are doing, then you’ll simply confine yourself into political oblivion as the type of angry and resentful Tory that even David Cameron is trying to pretend no longer exists.

Think about it.

Lib Dems ranked highest on green issues

But not high enough according to a report by nine leading environmental groups:
The Lib Dems were rated highest, getting three “green lights” indicating approval of their policies. Labour got one and the Tories none.

Still we clearly have a long way to go, but the report does expose the hollow green promises of the Tories. Pictorally……

H.M.O. Dear / LDYS Website

Intriguing to see senior members of the party supporting an EDM that seems to suggest that student houses must be licensed to “control saturation in defined areas”.  In essence, meaning that students will not be able to make their own choice about where to live, but must be subject to discrimination in the sense of “we have too many of you in this neighbourhood, piss off and find somewhere else”. What a terrible illiberal motion and I am utterly disgusted at Stephen Williams and Greg Mulholland for supporting it.

In other news, the new LDYS website is finally live, albeit with a large delay. Perhaps a certain young “Conservative” will be taking the credit for putting pressure on “Mark Gettleson and his cornies [sic]“. Well done to Matt and Katherine for their hard work in getting this off the ground.

And in other news

Mark Oaten decides he is perfectly happy to disregard the party in order to promote his book: a mask for his ridiculous theory that there should be a LibCon coalition after the next election should Labour have a minority government after the elections. Reminds me of the “supporting Oaten” banner I saw in the leadership elections:

The shortlist of Lib Dem potential Mayoral candidates has come to light. Although let’s be honest, if it really is all about character recognition with absolutely nothing to do with the credibility of the candidates (see the racist, homophobic, sexist Nick-Griffin-like bigot the Tories will most likely have standing), then it’s going to be Brian Paddick. Not that he isn’t a credible candidate; moreso that the others don’t have a chance in hell with name recognition.

Also, perhaps a bit of old news now, but the Tories seem to think they have made an historic discovery by placing ads on Facebook. Forgetting of course that there are more Lib Dem MPs on Facebook, and many more Lib Dem MPs seriously using it as opposed to plonking a member of their staff in front of a computer to act as a proxy. Still, never mind, it’s not as if the Tories ever claimed any credit for something they didn’t do is it?

A hat tip to Bloggerheads for this.

The origin

So, who am I? Why create a blog under an anonymous guise like so many others have done (poorly)? Well, to begin with, I’m an elected representative. I have vague memories prior to entering politics of why I did so in the first place. It was to speak out for what I believed in, speak out for others (particularly those in need), and to be a responsible figurehead within the community.

One problem.

Whereas many people believe politics provides a forum for participants to speak their mind in fact it has become the playground of spin and restriction. Far from the bleating cries of the far-right Daily-Mail-reading anti-PC-brigade bigots, this is not a commentary on how they cannot spread their vicious intolerance without receiving intolerance in return; but moreso for the moderates who find themselves analysing everything they say or do for points of misinterpretation (often deliberate) that can end up taken totally out of context in a local newspaper.

Some may say I’m a coward for hiding my identity. To an extent I agree, but humour me, as this blog is simply a tool to satisfy my journalistic side without causing trouble for my political side. Enjoy!