Labour, a Letter and The Sun

It's not all gossip you know. As promised, TB has started contributing longer, more thoughtful, less gossipy pieces to his

other website

here. The first such article looks at how one letter highlighted rank hypocrisy in Labour, and brings the discussion of Brown's eyesight into the open. Here is a taster:

While The Sun has pushed this story hard and is clearly out to get Brown at all costs, the reaction from the left has been somewhat hysterical.

Firstly, when you have copies of The Sun being torn up at the podium of Labour Party Conference to the hounding cheers of a blood thirsty audience, you have to expect a little retaliation. Secondly, The Sun is a tabloid, why the shock that they are using tabloid tactics? Most of the outrage from Labour is faux and manufactured, the reasons why being examined later.

It is hard not to feel a pang of sympathy concerning legibility as it was somewhat underhand to begin by attacking Brown for his handwriting. However the fervency with which Labour supporters have sustained their attacks, even when discussion has moved on to equipment, proves that the anger that is really out there. Tribal anger that The Sun is now backing the Conservatives. Labour may have laughed it off or played it down at their conference, but there is pain below the surface. It takes real desperation to attack a grieving mother but that has happened. Everyone knows that The Sun will only go for who they think are going to win, and Labour more than anyone know how accurate the paper is at gauging these things. The zeal and persistence of The Sun bashing in the last 24 hours have exposed not only the hypocrisy of Labour, but also the salt that is being poured into their already gaping wounds.

Controversially the hypocrisy of Brown’s defence, the appropriately titled having one’s cake and eating it approach, must be analysed. Any mention of Gordon’s eyesight is met with howls of derision from his supporters. Legitimate questions of whether it is affecting his work as Prime Minster are not allowed to be asked. If this is going to be the case then fine, if they believe that there is no problems there, then fine. Eyesight cannot then be used as excuse for a spectacular media disaster, if it is not allowed to be discussed on a good day. You can’t shut down discussion with outrage only to use the same topic of conversation to quell outrage elsewhere.

Read the rest

HERE

.

The Breathtaking Arrogance of Chuka Umunna

Labour's flamboyant candidate in Streatham spent the last 18 months briefing journalists that he would be "

British Obama

" and "the next but one leader of the Labour Party." It seems someone had a gentle word to tell Chuka Umunna, a man with an incredibly high opinion of himself and for little discernible reason, to pack it in though. Hardly surprising given the chap hasn't even been elected.

His incredible arrogance didn't stop there though. Sometimes it is having a go at identikit polticos (Umunna is a lawyer and PPC. Cough.) Or how about being known to

declare

that “It would be spectacularly awful if I didn’t get elected for Streatham”. Umunna was also controversally involved in the attempts to smear Daniel Hannan as a racist in September. The abortive attack by the likes of the Mirror and New Statesman was slammed, yet it didn't stop our man Chuka wading in:

Seems he should be more careful what he says online to his disciples in the land of the tweeting.

This question

isn't the first, and TB doubts it will be the last that our esteemed saviour makes an arse out of himself:

"At Boris' QTime at Brixton Academy and wondering, again, how this man is our Mayor,though think those booing him shld stop"

Ohh stop booing! How very kind of you oh great one, but err come again? "wondering, again, how this man is our Mayor?" How about because 1,168,738 Londoners voted for him? Such off the cuff, casual disregard for the electorate gives a real glimpse into the mindset of this ruthlessly ambitious and self aggrandising individual. While many may wish to declare Umunna the saviour of the Labour Party, he is exactly the wrong sort of candidate Parliament needs. No wonder some in Streatham

are concerned

, and want a candidate who is;

"comprehensively concentrating on Streatham’s Fundamental Needs – rather than simply using Downtrodden Streathamites as a Formidable Launchpad for Higher Political Office (elsewhere)."

Fair to say Umunna is not your guy for that.

This Could Be Fun

Those naughty boys at over at

Big Brother Watch

are encouraging us all to step it up a gear in venting our concern and anger at the creeping surveillance state. These stickers are available to pop up somewhere where you see yourself being watched. The stickers are free on the condition you send back the piccies...Send some particularly good ones to the Bear too.

What are you waiting for?

Find out how to get your stickers

here

.

Scared and/or Flattered

TB just had one of those moments where he sprayed Diet Coke all over the keyboard laughing. He is not sure whether to be terrified or highly flattered at the

spoof website

some mysterious fan has decided to set up:

That will teach him for not block buying all associated domains. The funny thing also being is that it is better designed than

his own quick attempt

. Might have to poach it, though not sure about the Barack design. TB laughed very hard at the line:

Harry will get back to you with a quote the same day. Usually something along the lines of, "Sound."

Cheeky sods.

Just a Thought

Tip of the hat to TB's favourite

evil clown

for this one.

Is this the end?

TB had a lie in this morning so missed the initial flurry over the fact the Sun obtained a transcript of Gordon's phone call to Jacqui Janes. Despite the underhand tactics, finally this story has moved onto proper attacks. Mrs Janes slammed the Prime Minister for the lack of equipment provided for troops on the front, suggesting her son would still be alive if it were not for the Treasury.

The story has now dominated the news agenda for over 24 hours. Downing St will be desperate to shut this down so expect a big announcement on something or other this afternoon. If this drags on for another news cycle is could be a "complete and utter clusterfuck", to quote Tucker, for Brown. The issue is dominating Brown's press conference and there is an air about the questioning that this could be the end. Eyelids were barely batted when hacks asked why Gordon has ignored a petition calling for his resignation. Brown has been forced to do what he hates doing more than anything - talking personally about himself. You know then that he is desperate. How long can this go on?

So Mr Milband didn't go to Europe, TB thought it could have been the making of him. Let the Labour Party destroy itself for five years and then come back, a mature international statesman and give Cameron a run for his money in 2015. Can we read anything into this?

Iain Dale

says no,

Political Betting

says ummm maybe. Miliband didn't want to be the one to make the first move but the way this week is going, the straw is piling up on the donkey's back.

Could it all come tumbling down?

A Victory for Feminism

A big TB round of applause has to go to Natalie Samuel of Greater Manchester Conservative Future. Word has reached TBHQ that this true feminist showed them all how it's done. One evening at the end of last month Natalie stood for, won and abolished the role of Women's Officer in the branch.

This throw back position born out of eighties political correctness is as insulting as it is useless. May this rallying cry ring out across those leftier CF branches that still have them and across the Student Unions of the country.

Sound stuff from Miss Samuel.

TV's TB... ish

TB had the pleasure of doing another slot on

GuyNewsTV

. He was a little hungover and really really needs to get some sun, but anyway in a matter of weeks he will be lying on the beach drinking rum. Ahhh. Laugh away:



Didn't mean to seem quite so sarcastic. Had a very enjoyable day in fact!

Times Silence Clarkson

Did you read Jeremey Clarkson's column in the Sunday Times? No? Nor did the Bear until they pulled it after some lefties sniffled. Yes it's moderately insulting to a broad range of countries but what were you expecting when you read an article by Clarkson? Come on. If you don't want to be offended, don't read offensive peoples work. It's not rocket science.

Anyway to prove a point TB decided to reproduce the article in full:

Get me a rope before Mandelson wipes us all out

Jeremy Clarkson
Sunday Times

I’ve given the matter a great deal of thought all week, and I’m afraid I’ve decided that it’s no good putting Peter Mandelson in a prison. I’m afraid he will have to be tied to the front of a van and driven round the country until he isn’t alive any more.
He announced last week that middle-class children will simply not be allowed into the country’s top universities even if they have 4,000 A-levels, because all the places will be taken by Albanians and guillemots and whatever other stupid bandwagon the conniving idiot has leapt

I hate Peter Mandelson. I hate his fondness for extremely pale blue jeans and I hate that preposterous moustache he used to sport in the days when he didn’t bother trying to cover up his left-wing fanaticism. I hate the way he quite literally lords it over us even though he’s resigned in disgrace twice, and now holds an important decision-making job for which he was not elected. Mostly, though, I hate him because his one-man war on the bright and the witty and the successful means that half my friends now seem to be taking leave of their senses.

There’s talk of emigration in the air. It’s everywhere I go. Parties. Work. In the supermarket. My daughter is working herself half to death to get good grades at GSCE and can’t see the point because she won’t be going to university, because she doesn’t have a beak or flippers or a qualification in washing windscreens at the lights. She wonders, often, why we don’t live in America.

Then you have the chaps and chapesses who can’t stand the constant raids on their wallets and their privacy. They can’t understand why they are taxed at 50% on their income and then taxed again for driving into the nation’s capital. They can’t understand what happened to the hunt for the weapons of mass destruction. They can’t understand anything. They see the Highway Wombles in those brand new 4x4s that they paid for, and they see the M4 bus lane and they see the speed cameras and the community support officers and they see the Albanians stealing their wheelbarrows and nothing can be done because it’s racist.

And they see Alistair Darling handing over £4,350 of their money to not sort out the banking crisis that he doesn’t understand because he’s a small-town solicitor, and they see the stupid war on drugs and the war on drink and the war on smoking and the war on hunting and the war on fun and the war on scientists and the obsession with the climate and the price of train fares soaring past £1,000 and the Guardian power-brokers getting uppity about one shot baboon and not uppity at all about all the dead soldiers in Afghanistan, and how they got rid of Blair only to find the lying twerp is now going to come back even more powerful than ever, and they think, “I’ve had enough of this. I’m off.”

It’s a lovely idea, to get out of this stupid, Fairtrade, Brown-stained, Mandelson-skewed, equal-opportunities, multicultural, carbon-neutral, trendily left, regionally assembled, big-government, trilingual, mosque-drenched, all-the-pigs-are-equal, property-is-theft hellhole and set up shop somewhere else. But where?

You can’t go to France because you need to complete 17 forms in triplicate every time you want to build a greenhouse, and you can’t go to Switzerland because you will be reported to your neighbours by the police and subsequently shot in the head if you don’t sweep your lawn properly, and you can’t go to Italy because you’ll soon tire of waking up in the morning to find a horse’s head in your bed because you forgot to give a man called Don a bundle of used notes for “organising” a plumber.

You can’t go to Australia because it’s full of things that will eat you, you can’t go to New Zealand because they don’t accept anyone who is more than 40 and you can’t go to Monte Carlo because they don’t accept anyone who has less than 40 mill. And you can’t go to Spain because you’re not called Del and you weren’t involved in the Walthamstow blag. And you can’t go to Germany ... because you just can’t.

The Caribbean sounds tempting, but there is no work, which means that one day, whether you like it or not, you’ll end up like all the other expats, with a nose like a burst beetroot, wondering if it’s okay to have a small sharpener at 10 in the morning. And, as I keep explaining to my daughter, we can’t go to America because if you catch a cold over there, the health system is designed in such a way that you end up without a house. Or dead.

Canada’s full of people pretending to be French, South Africa’s too risky, Russia’s worse and everywhere else is too full of snow, too full of flies or too full of people who want to cut your head off on the internet. So you can dream all you like about upping sticks and moving to a country that doesn’t help itself to half of everything you earn and then spend the money it gets on bus lanes and advertisements about the dangers of salt. But wherever you go you’ll wind up an alcoholic or dead or bored or in a cellar, in an orange jumpsuit, gently wetting yourself on the web. All of these things are worse than being persecuted for eating a sandwich at the wheel.

I see no reason to be miserable. Yes, Britain now is worse than it’s been for decades, but the lunatics who’ve made it so ghastly are on their way out. Soon, they will be back in Hackney with their South African nuclear-free peace polenta. And instead the show will be run by a bloke whose dad has a wallpaper shop and possibly, terrifyingly, a twerp in Belgium whose fruitless game of hunt-the-WMD has netted him £15m on the lecture circuit.

So actually I do see a reason to be miserable. Which is why I think it’s a good idea to tie Peter Mandelson to a van. Such an act would be cruel and barbaric and inhuman. But it would at least cheer everyone up a bit. onto in the meantime.

Why draw attention to it by pulling it?

Are we going with Letter-gate?

Busy day so late to this one. TB hates Gordon as much as the rest of the country but today's attacks have gone a little far. While yes it's no secret that Gordon Brown cannot write very well, it is because he is blind. Yes this raises interesting questions and yes he should be booted out of office for his handling of the war, but this attack is a bit below the belt. Brown's eyesight is of concern to the nation but bloody hell, there are ways of addressing this issue and today's media storm is certainly not one of them.

The spelling on the other hand is totally fair game. Given that GB must be a little prone to this sort of thing, why were none of his babysitters given the letter to proof? It's just sloppy in any business, but particularly slack given the sensitivity of these letters. Downing St is in chaos but TB didn't realise it was this bad.

That is all.

Freedom

Tory Bear was three on the 9th November 1989. He is not sure whether he really remembers it, or has just stared at that poster enough times. Either way that look of jubilation on the German people's faces as they embraced their new found freedom should never be forgotten. Leftist extremists will always try tell you that the Wall went down because the Communist regime collapsed organically. This is a lie. The world changed that day as a direct result of the policies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Check out this gem from the BBC the next morning:



"You see the joy on peoples faces, and you see what freedom means to them, and it makes you realise that you can't stifle or repress peoples desire for liberty"

Kerry Digs a Hole

If you don't like stories about Twitter then look away now. You have to admit that the social network has made it when it gets dissed by Tucker in a

brilliant episode

of the Thick of It this weekend. It's also remarkable for highlighting the utter stupidity of the Labour Party and it's leaders.

Kerry McCarthy

didn't have a very good day yesterday. The self-styled Twitter Tzar of the Labour Party upgraded from desperate to delusional.

As others have reported

she firstly came out with some ridiculous ideas about how political views defined what music people can and cannot listen to. Apparently you are only allowed to like bands and artists that support your chosen political party. Apparently you cannot like Phil Collins and The Smiths at the same time. Apparently Labour Party members who like James Blunt should be expelled because he supports the Tories. It would be a joke if it wasn't funny and the almost fervent zeal in which she tweeted prolifically cannot be batted away with an "oh I was only joking" this time. Especially as she then just got plain offensive when the chat turned to Stiff Little Fingers. Ironicly she attempted to tell people who is allowed to like punk. It all backfired though.

Shane Greer

, off the telly, grew up in Northern Ireland. Listening to him speak for four seconds would tell anyone that, however far their head was buried in the sand, or the bosom of the Labour Party whips office, or anywhere else for that matter.

Kerry refused

to be lectured by anyone about music and politics, especially not Shane apparently, continuing with the rubbish music and politics line from earlier: "@wallaceme @shanegreer To use that well-worn political phrase, I'm not taking any lessons about Northern Ireland from you two. Or music."

That hit a justified nerve with young Mr Greer who replied, through

multiple tweets

:

"You have got to be joking, surely? For the record, Kerry, I was born and raised in Northern Ireland. I've had friends targeted for being in the RUC, been attacked for being in the wrong area at the wrong time, watched my mother cry as she wondered whether she'd be able to get us home safely when riots broke out, had friends beaten for being the 'wrong' religion, went to NI's first integrated school. How dare you. How absolutely dare you. Something tells me though, that an apology won't be forthcoming. What a disgrace you are."

Kerry went into auto defence mode. Refusing to see she had cause offence, refused to justify her basis of dismissal and refusing to apologise. While there is nothing binding saying someone should apologise when offence is caused, there is something out there called common decency, a willingness to accept that sometimes you get something wrong and a maturity to realise that a sorry can go a long way to resolving things. Even if she didn't know Shane was from Northern Ireland she should have accepted she was wrong with retrospect, rather than just getting aggressive. Instead she just looks like a bit of a tit. Oh well it's just another nutter online right? It's not like she has any real power or influence...

Oh wait... Bugger.

Sir Ian Kennedy Needs to Get a Grip

News is breaking

tonight that Defender of the Pigs - Sir Ian Kennedy wants to be so down and trendy wiv da kids that he putting the restoration of trust in our Parliamentarians in the hands of a Facebook consultation. FFS.

Why the constant need to waste even more taxpayers money consulting even more people. Experts from across the spectrum gave evidence to Kelly, how much did the inquiry cost? Why the need for another?

The Kelly report should be implemented in full without delay. The three party leaders have backed it, and the majority of our elected officials have too. The web of committees and boards and unelected goons such as Kennedy are part of the reason Parliament was able to get into this mess in the first place. If Kennedy cannot back the Kelly reforms then the party leaders should let it be known to the Speaker tomorrow morning that they have lost all faith in him. Then his position should be filled by someone who hasn't got their head shoved quite so far up their own arse, someone that can see that employing your wife isn't acceptable business practice and that making hundreds of thousands by swindling the taxpayer through capital gains tax loopholes doesn't exactly endear MPs to their bosses.

Here's a thought, why can't Kelly be put in charge of implementation?

The Soldier

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

- Rupert Brooke

Quote of the Day

"Labour's sin over Lisbon is far greater than the Tories', for as the party of government, they were in a position to set in motion the referendum on the EU constitution that they promised. Everyone knows that Lisbon is the constitution by another name, as Giscard D'Estaing cheerfully admitted over two years ago, and no one - not even themselves, one imagines - was convinced by Labour ministers' fibs that it is something else entirely. To his credit, Cameron made no such pretence, and it seems likely that if he had been able to have a referendum before the Czechs' ratification made Lisbon fully operative, he would have done so. Being in opposition, however, the position he has now taken – accepting that the treaty has passed, and to try to claw powers back from Brussels instead – should strike any even-handed observer (ie one whose mind is not clouded by delirium at the prospect of Tory civil war over Europe) as a sensible and pragmatic response."

-Sholto Byrnes

Know it's a long one today but it was

from The Guardian

of all places.

The whole piece about Hannan is a must read.

Caption Contest - Real Prize

TB has a busy afternoon and evening so he thought it had been a while since there had been a caption competition. There is a copy of the new

The "Yes

Minister" Miscellany

up for grabs for the best caption left below in the comments. This hilarious little guide to all things Hacker would make a rather good Christmas present for any political geek. But to the contest...

Wee Dunky has been "cleared" of being a fiddling trougher apparently...

But do your worst:

Winner announced Monday.

Closing Time...

TB was rather sad to hear the news that his favourite lefty watering-hole is calling last orders at the bar, ringing the bell, and locking up for the last time. In these tough economic times, caused by Gordon Brown's recession, pubs are closing down at record rates. There were twenty nine pubs a week shutting down at one point this year, but TB never thought

Sadie's Tavern

would go under.

Sadie's blog was good before lefties realised they needed good bloggers. Sod Draper, Labour should have looked to her to lead any online charge. A combination of serious, well constructed argument, biting sarcasm and gin always made for riotous read. The blogosphere is also at a loss with out its top totty too.

TB wishes the landlady the best of luck in the real world.

It Was All Going So Well

TB was vaguely enthused by the Kelly recommendations and would have been happy to see them installed immediately to end the troughing. However it seems Bercow has dropped an absolute clanger in his choice of Sir Ian Kennedy as head of the new implementation body the IPSA.

Well it seems he is New Labour through and through, close friend of Campell who is obviously rattled by the Telegraph given he has gone into auto-defence mode over on appalling designed and hard to read blog.This is of less concern to what

he has said

about the Kelly report:

The seven-month review resulted in a comprehensive report encompassing 60 recommendations which Sir Christopher said should be “handed over to the new regulatory body for implementation in full”.

All of the party leaders also called on IPSA to implement the Kelly report in full.
When he unveiled his report, Sir Christopher called for the rapid implementation of all his reforms, saying: “There is a risk that, as the impact of the revulsion caused by the Daily Telegraph revelation fades with time, some may be thinking of distancing themselves from their earlier expressed determination to implement our report in full. If so, that would, in my view, be an error.”

However, in a direct riposte to Sir Christopher, Sir Ian has told Westminster insiders that the Kelly report was “only one of the bases of the conversation” into the future of MPs allowances.

He added that, according to the legislation under which IPSA was founded, there was “no obligation to implement” Kelly and it was “merely his [Sir Christopher’s] assumption” that it would be.

He is said to feel that Sir Christopher’s lengthy inquiry, which included more than 1,000 witness statements and nine public hearings, was not a “proper” consultation.
In particular, he has told officials that he is unhappy with proposed reforms which would ban MPs from employing relatives, and require those who made profits from the sale of second homes to hand it over to the taxpayer.

In another direct challenge to Kelly, Sir Ian has also said that there is “no appetite” for legislation, meaning that he does not immediately plan to adopt the Committee’s call for the setting of MPs’ pay.

It's not looking good. Oh Bercow what have

you

done.

The Bear Unmasked

TB has crept up the

Wikio rankings

again this month. He is now in seventh place and hot on the tails of the legendary Tom Harris MP. Just goes to show you how far a gossip and teddy bears can get you. Thank you for the links and traffic that these rankings are based on.

So who is this bear who has been tapping at the keys for the last eighteen months? Well, while anonymity was fun for the twenty-five minutes it lasted, the Bear's identity is hardly a secret. The only reason references to it are not allowed in the comments is due to the fact it winds lefties up so much. Simple pleasures. Anyway TB has set up a website for his alter-ego and day job existence:

Check it out

. You can find out more about the bear and more importantly keep this blog going by supporting his little

freelance consultancy

earner. TB has been doing social media tutorials one on one, blogging advice, videos on demand, event PR etc unofficially for a wee while to keep him ticking over, but decided to see what happened when he advertised his services officially. His rates are surprisingly reasonable and whatever you need, however small, can probably be sorted out very quickly. Whether you're a blogger, candidate, company, pressure group, whatever,

get in touch

. Particularly good on everything you wanted to know about internet campaigning and the blogosphere but were too embarrassed to ask.

Sounds like a book title...

i⋅ron⋅ic [ahy-ron-ik]

TB and Bono have never quite seen eye to eye but

this one

really takes the biscuit:

A U2 show marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall has run into controversy - after organisers built a wall around the venue.

A two metre barrier has been erected around the Brandenburg gate to keep out people without tickets for the show.

The desire for U2 and MTV to make a quick buck out of the event shows just what a hypocritical toad Bono is. If he Bono had any respect for freedom or an iota of understanding of the significance of the wall coming down and the crushing of communism he would have publicly intervened by now, but as the

BBC reports

; "Calls to representatives of U2 and MTV seeking comment have not yet been returned."

No doubt champagne will be served backstage.