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rferrett
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Ralph Ferrett, Male, 32,
Registered : March 11, 2010, 9:35 am
Tracks Played : 18287

A few reflections on the results yesterday.

Tories consulting omens about early election.

Yesterday i’ll have to admit I was utterly, utterly disconsolate. In truth I can’t remember being that down since England went out on penalties in Euro 2004. I was utterly deflated, and I just couldnt see any prospects of things ever getting better in politics. It was a difficult evening  But luckily for me I have managed to bounce back, and this morning I feel much more like more normal effervescent self! And I think what would make me feel better is a quick blog on yesterday. So here are a

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Time for Labour to wake up

I have today had a piece published on LabourList.org.

You can read it here:-

http://www.labourlist.org/time-for-labour-to-wake-up

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Unions should say YES to AV

Whatever we all think about politics I am sure one thing that we can all agree on is that things have not been all that peachy in respect of our relationship as ordinary people with our MPs in Westminster. Far too often our politicians seem distant from ordinary voters, preferring to listen bankers, and lobbyists in Westminster than the likes of us.

 

My Union is the CWU, and many CWU members who have tried to contact our MPs over the last few years about the various government wheezes to privatise

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AV Vote and destabilising the coalition.

The real winner if if No2AV wins.

I have heard a few Labour folks tell me that they are considering voting “No” principally because they hope to destabilise the coalition and hopefully bring forward a General Election. The view was espoused here on Labour List by Sonny Leong, and a colleague of mine David Chivers from the CWU also voiced this.

 

I thought it was an interesting view that was worth a full blog post riposte, I mean who wouldn’t want the Lib Dems to get a kicking and the General Election early? I know the thought of

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This silent immigration debate is awfully noisy!

No huddled masses here we are British.

Eek! Apparently we cant talk about immigration. There is apparently a plot (presumably by the PC brigade) are at fault that is causing a massive Omertà in which there CAN BE NO DISCUSSION OF IMMIGRATION.

 

Well apparently anyway. I’m guessing the Daily Express, the Daily Mail, The Times, The Telegraph didn’t get the memo. Neither did our TV networks. Or I suppose any of our political parties. Or people you meet in pubs…

 

No huddled masses here we are British.

Hang on, actually loads of people talk about

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The Judean Peoples Front

I guess having the Dark Lords of the Sith in power again (albeit in coalition with the Lib Dems) after thirteen years was always going to shock the left a little and make us have some slightly atypical behaviour. And for a little while everyone seemed to be focussed on the big job in hand, opposing the unfair, un-mandated, ideological Tory cuts that were coming.

Not that bunch of Splitters

Of course it couldn’t last and the left has now remembered who the *real* enemies are… and that of course is other

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Vince Cable, Murdoch and the Coalition

For me there are a few distinct factors in the in the whole Vince-gate debacle. Now I have slept on it and my anti Murdoch vitriol has subsided a bit I now feel in a position to make some considered comments.

Ministerial Conduct.

 

Vince the man with the Plan

Whatever you may feel about the issue at hand (Murdoch’s takeover of Sky) it is clearly entirely inappropriate for a Minister to be prejudging such an important decision. For Cable (or any minister) to talk in terms of a “war” on a particular

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Housing: Meet the new Tories, same as the Old Tories

David Cameron has clearly put his idea of “de-toxifying” the Tory brand high up in his list of priorities since being elected as the Conservative leader five years ago. Creating his “compassionate conservatism” was supposed to allay the fears the electorate had about the Tories being the “nasty party”.

Now many of us cynical lefties thought this was all a ploy, words (crucially not really backed up with actual policies) by an opportunistic opposition doing whatever it took to try and win power. That Cameron was no Macmillan/Heath style one nation

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We are not All in this together

So now the verdict is in, the speculation is over, and we now know in some detail what the ConDem plans are in respect of the financial and economic future of the Country under their stewardship.

And here is what we now know beyond all reasonable doubt, this is a regressive budget, it effects the poor more than the rich, the sick more than the able bodied, the weak more than the strong, women more than men. We are most certainly not “in this together”.

When the Financial Times and the IFS

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Letter to Ed Miliband

Dear Ed,

Firstly congratulations on your Election as the leader of the Labour party. I supported you from the start and you got my First preference vote. I even made a small donation to your campaign so I am delighted that you have won.

As a small time political blogger from the Westcountry it is hugely presumptuous of me to give you any advice. However self important presumptuousness is something of the hall mark of political blogging so here I go, a few bits of advice:-

1. Remember that you said this in

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