The Politics Thread

[Prufrock]

Good.

[Bruce Rioja]

So if he does fall on his sword then I take it that they'll call a by-election? Labour don't get to simply replace him?

[thebish]

So if he does fall on his sword then I take it that they'll call a by-election? Labour don't get to simply replace him?

it is never the case that a party replaces an MP in a constituency - whatever the circumstances of their departure - there would always be an election.

[thebish]

political and football...

david miliband is taking some new jobs... he's gonna teach for an hour a week.. and - a non-executive role at Sunderland Football Club.

this always annoys me - no MP should have a second job - isn't being an MP a full-time job?? they are always telling us how hard they work for their constituents after all....

[Worthy4England]

So if he does fall on his sword then I take it that they'll call a by-election? Labour don't get to simply replace him?

it is never the case that a party replaces an MP in a constituency - whatever the circumstances of their departure - there would always be an election.

That's because you elect a person, not a party. I'm sure most of our MP's have been elected on the strength of their personality and their close ties to the local community, rather than the party they're affiliated to. (A non-political point applying to all sides).

You could decline the whip from the party you stood for at election and take the whip from an other party if you so wished.

For an MP to be replaced, there has to be a general election, death or acceptance of the Chiltern Hundreds.

[Worthy4England]

political and football...

david miliband is taking some new jobs... he's gonna teach for an hour a week.. and - a non-executive role at Sunderland Football Club.

this always annoys me - no MP should have a second job - isn't being an MP a full-time job?? they are always telling us how hard they work for their constituents after all....

Theoretically, you are not obliged to do anything as an MP. There isn't a minimum attendance at Parliament required or owt. You could legitimately sit on your ass at home for the full term of office.

[thebish]

political and football...

david miliband is taking some new jobs... he's gonna teach for an hour a week.. and - a non-executive role at Sunderland Football Club.

this always annoys me - no MP should have a second job - isn't being an MP a full-time job?? they are always telling us how hard they work for their constituents after all....

furthermore... The Arsenal fan (Miliband) could be set to receive a £50,000 salary on top of his MP's pay for taking on the Sunderland job, according to the Daily Mail.

[superjohnmcginlay]

political and football...

david miliband is taking some new jobs... he's gonna teach for an hour a week.. and - a non-executive role at Sunderland Football Club.

this always annoys me - no MP should have a second job - isn't being an MP a full-time job?? they are always telling us how hard they work for their constituents after all....

Theoretically, you are not obliged to do anything as an MP. There isn't a minimum attendance at Parliament required or owt. You could legitimately sit on your ass at home for the full term of office.

Sounds great. Any jobs going?

[Little Green Man]

I presume the MPing and

political and football...

david miliband is taking some new jobs... he's gonna teach for an hour a week.. and - a non-executive role at Sunderland Football Club.

this always annoys me - no MP should have a second job - isn't being an MP a full-time job?? they are always telling us how hard they work for their constituents after all....

furthermore... The Arsenal fan (Miliband) could be set to receive a £50,000 salary on top of his MP's pay for taking on the Sunderland job, according to the Daily Mail.

I hope he remembers to leave enough time in the day for his burgeoning media career.

[Little Green Man]

Let me get this right then, though. If he isn't sent down for 12 months or more, despite being elected as the candidate for a party that's disowned him he can still stay in office as what? An independent?

yeah - he is now an independant MP.

the coalition told us that they would introduce a "right of recall" to constituents for gross misconduct of MPs....

They must have stolen the idea from Mr Illsley's previous backers....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009 ... orm-labour

they did. Illsley's former backers were not elected though - so it falls to those who were....

I suspect the new government is quite busy with other legislation and hand-wringing over bank bonuses. There's nothing to stop Labour from putting it forward via a private member's bill though. With the obvious cross-party support it's bound to sail through, isn't it?

Having said that I think it's a barmy idea. Mr and Mrs Outraged of Daily Mail Close don't need yet more encouragement.

[Worthy4England]

political and football...

david miliband is taking some new jobs... he's gonna teach for an hour a week.. and - a non-executive role at Sunderland Football Club.

this always annoys me - no MP should have a second job - isn't being an MP a full-time job?? they are always telling us how hard they work for their constituents after all....

Theoretically, you are not obliged to do anything as an MP. There isn't a minimum attendance at Parliament required or owt. You could legitimately sit on your ass at home for the full term of office.

Sounds great. Any jobs going?

Yessir,

I'm pleased to offer you an interview as soon as the next By-Election comes up.

I will require a £600 non-refundable deposit for the interview.

You are not eligible to apply if you are under 21 or not a British, Commonwealth or Republic of Ireland citizen. Nor can you apply if you are in one of the following groups: bankrupts; civil servants; police officers; armed forces personnel; government-nominated directors of commercial companies; judges; members of parliament in non-Commonwealth nations; those convicted of electoral malpractice; members of the House of Lords.

Should those first 2 conditions apply, you may pick your own interviewers (Not many jobs where you can do that!) from within the Constituency where the By-Election is being held. All you have to typically do, is convince 32%* of the interviewing panel (not even half of them!!!), that you're the right man for the job.

Easy. Please send money by return, so we can kick-start your new career!!!!

*Interviewing panel typically comprises of 22,000-65,000 people.

[thebish]

we're clearly all in this together...

the govt prepares to pull the rug out from under the feet of some of the most vulnerable people in the country....

trafficked women and children:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr ... 05733.html

and disabled children needing specialist care:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 05727.html

whilst quaffing champagne with their banking chums - trousering obscene amounts of money in bonuses...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin ... 05848.html

[thebish]

any local tory-boys care to defend this??

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... of-century

here's an extract...

At the moment tax law ensures that companies based here, with branches in other countries, don't get taxed twice on the same money. They have to pay only the difference between our rate and that of the other country. If, for example, Dirty Oil plc pays 10% corporation tax on its profits in Oblivia, then shifts the money over here, it should pay a further 18% in the UK, to match our rate of 28%. But under the new proposals, companies will pay nothing at all in this country on money made by their foreign branches.

Foreign means anywhere. If these proposals go ahead, the UK will be only the second country in the world to allow money that has passed through tax havens to remain untaxed when it gets here. The other is Switzerland. The exemption applies solely to "large and medium companies": it is not available for smaller firms. The government says it expects "large financial services companies to make the greatest use of the exemption regime". The main beneficiaries, in other words, will be the banks.

But that's not the end of it. While big business will be exempt from tax on its foreign branch earnings, it will, amazingly, still be able to claim the expense of funding its foreign branches against tax it pays in the UK. No other country does this. The new measures will, as we already know, accompany a rapid reduction in the official rate of corporation tax: from 28% to 24% by 2014. This, a Treasury minister has boasted, will be the lowest rate "of any major western economy". By the time this government is done, we'll be lucky if the banks and corporations pay anything at all. In the Sunday Telegraph, David Cameron said: "What I want is tax revenue from the banks into the exchequer, so we can help rebuild this economy." He's doing just the opposite.

[Lord Kangana]

I was under the impression that there were no sacred cows in this economy? If you are incapable of being profitable under our current regime, surely you just move the operation to China or India or Malaysia? Thats what everyone else does, why is the banking sector so precious?

We binned off our manafacturing base because of that, and told people they could go f*ck themselves if they had a problem with it. There'd be a queue of people on here lining up to tell us how industrial action was a bane on our society. Why the silence now? Our economy has always adapted and assimilated. We shouldn't be held to ransom by a failing industry with what amounts to a public subsidy.

[Verbal]

Here's a list of people detained at Guantanamo Bay accused of possessing Casio watches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gu ... io_watches" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[thebish]

Meanwhile - while the bankers and their Tory chums swim about like pigs in shit....

this is what local council cuts actually look like in concrete terms..

Manchester's cuts were announced this morning at 8am as follows:

Libraries: (hoboh will be pleased!)

Five libraries in Clayton, East City (Openshaw), Rackhouse (Wythenshawe), Barlow Moor (Chorlton) and Miles Platting are to be shut to make savings of almost £400,000.

Hulme library is also earmarked for closure and its services transferred to either Moss Side leisure centre or the Zion Arts Centre.

All 26 of Manchester’s libraries are to be closed completely on Fridays and Sundays.

Leisure services:

Swimming pools in Levenshulme and Miles Platting are to be closed. Both pool facilities have long been in need of urgent repairs – Levenshulme residents have been campaigning for several years to get the local baths restored, campaign work that is now in vain.

Levenshulme has been doubly hit as its leisure centre is also to be closed. Leisure centres in Ardwick and Newton Heath will also be shut, as will the Debdale Sailing Centre. The council is looking to outsource the management of the Abraham Moss leisure centre to an external provider to keep it open.

Public hygiene: Hoboh might NOT be pleased - he likes his bins emptied....

Weekly black bin collections for general household waste are to become fortnightly. Food waste (green bins) will still be picked up every week and the fortnightly recycling collections for paper, glass and plastics (blue and brown bins) remain unchanged for now.

Overnight street cleaning – between midnight and 6am – is being scrapped. Street cleaners will only operate from 6am to remove overnight rubbish.

All public toilets, with the exception of Mount Street in the city centre, are to be closed. Charges are going to be imposed at Mount Street.

Roads:

Only essential road repairs will now be carried out.

Proposed community road safety schemes, such as speed bumps and chicanes, are to be scrapped.

Lollipop crossing patrols are to be cut – the exact figure is not yet known.

Sunday parking charges are being introduced for the first time. Street parking fees generally will rise and will apply between 7am and 7pm.

The different teams that manage street management, highways and repairs are to be merged, saving a further £5 million.

Children and youth services:

Funding for new playgrounds is to be cut by 50 per cent.

Thirty-six Sure Start and 26 youth centres are to be handed over to external providers. The council will no longer provide any youth services directly. Any that cannot be outsourced will be scrapped. Tendering to run these services will be opened to schools, voluntary bodies and private companies.

Paid-for child care is to increase to £160 a week from £126.

Housing, care and legal services:

Manchester Advice is to be closed, removing free legal and welfare advice from the city’s most vulnerable 8,500 people.

Some 340 supported homes for vulnerable homeless people are being scrapped between April this year and 2014.

Eligibility criteria for adult social services for disabled and elderly people are to be tightened, mainly affecting access to home help and transport.

Personal care budgets for elderly and disabled people are to be cut. well - we are all in it together....

Other cuts:

Around 41% of higher-paid management posts at the Town Hall are being axed.

The Lord Mayor’s annual reception is to be scrapped, as are other costly civic events.

The Town Hall’s communications budget is to be cut by 40 per cent to save £1.8m. The city-wide council paper – Manchester People – and the “Life In” ward newsletters will no longer be printed but only be available online.

All grants to voluntary organisations are to be slashed. (big society???)

The council will stop hiring external legal services.

Around £2.2m is being cut from the crime and disorder budget, adding to the £7 million of cuts being imposed on Greater Manchester Police.

[thebish]

Here's a list of people detained at Guantanamo Bay accused of possessing Casio watches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gu ... io_watches" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Al Edah's Personal Representative challenged the logic behind linking ownership of a popular watch to membership in a terrorist organization.

[Lord Kangana]

Hang on though bish, I thought Manchester were required to make 15% cuts, but actually made 25%?

[thebish]

Hang on though bish, I thought Manchester were required to make 15% cuts, but actually made 25%?

I have no idea - I picked manchester cos it it is the latest to be announced and it is close to Bolton!

I listed the items merely to illustrate the kinds of services that are cut when such huge cuts are imposed on local councils. Wwhether they be labour, tory, or lib-dem councils, the lists of cuts that have emerged from councils so far have been remarkably similar - largely because these are the things that councils spend the money on.

the gov hopes that these kind of cuts are one step removed from them and so they won't get the "blame" - which is why councils in the north are being disproportionately cut in comparison to councils in the south...

meanwhile... the bankers who have the cash to bypass many council services that are a lifeline to others - fly off to barbados in the solid gold helicopters and drink the blood of sun-drenched virgins...

[Lord Kangana]

And I appreciate all of the above, but notwithstanding, why cut more than is necessary? It seems like a bit of political point scoring to me.