Lots of interesting bits and bobs this week, so trying to choose the top five wasn't going to happen. Other very good pieces didn't make the cut, but boiled eggs and soldiers with the Sundays sure makes for a welcome break from the library...

• According to the Telegraph it's only sheer incompetence that has saved us from 1984.

• Fraser Nelson uses his massive NOTW readership to give the current welfare state two barrels.

• Matthew d'Ancona wants Gordon to apologise
  ...
  But the Mail has the scoop about the his 30,000ft tantrum when confronted face to face about it.

• Barack Obama was rude to Gordon because he needs a cigarette, says the Telegraph
  .
  Funnily enough the Observer doesn't agree.

• The Sunday Times reports of a new political party that calls for the end of political parties. Alrighty then.

Arise Sir Chappaquiddick

Join the protest

here

.

Sandals at dawn.

So the slow motion car crash that is the Liberal Youth Chair elections has taken another painful and excruciatingly embarrassing twist. The toys are really being thrown out of the pram in all directions and the dreadful candidates are seemingly using every trick in the book to make themselves look like a pair of two bit, jumped up, amateurs.

This week has seen claim and counter claim at just how badly the current Chair, who is seeking re-election, mundane Elaine, has done. Her website until recently had a section that countered claims that 18 members of her team had resigned since July. She claimed it was actually only 15, so that made everything alright. The section has mysteriously disappeared in the last 24 hours. While she might be keeping up her smile, a source was less then charming about Elaine's campaign style; "She's just thrashing about in the shallows trying to hit something - anything to make her feel better. She reminds me of one of those whales in Australia."

Though it's not just bad news for Elaine, her opponent Sara Scarlett might have made a bit of a cockup at the first day of the Lib Dem Harrogate mini-conference yesterday. Things kicked off when Elaine yeah-but-no-but Bagshaw was giving a speech. TB will let some Lib Dem blogging gimp

take over

from here:

"The trouble occurred when Elaine Bagshaw, the Chair of Liberal Youth, took to the stage. She spoke well – no oratorical leaps and bounds, but well nonetheless. Unfortunately, when she reached a passage in her speech describing Liberal Youth’s achievements over the past year, a voice rang out, sharp and clear, from the crowd.

“You’ve done nothing!”

This was a major speech, during an important part of conference – which, I believe, was televised. It wasn’t as if it was a little fringe event, squirreled away in some forgotten corner of the Harrogate Holiday Inn. It was a central event for the party as a whole, and a focus of media attention during conference. And this attack wasn’t some drunken prank by footsoldiers of Elaine’s opposition.

It was Sara Scarlett. Sara, who campaigned so hard for the position, and who seemed, for a time, about to win. Now she faces only ostracism, her erstwhile loyal supporters sporting “Backing Bagshaw” badges in the hotel bar"

Oooh. The Bagshaw spin operation has gone into overdrive, ready to slam Scarlett at the drop of a hat for what she did. The grown up party are distancing themselves from the incident and the election as a whole, and all TB managed to squeeze out of the Press Office was "Liberal Youth do not wish to make a comment on this matter." It's a shame that the Liberals clearly don't have a bear of their own that they can vent spleen too. Oh well TB is glad to be of help...

They will be throwing shoes next no doubt.

TV wedding of the year...

Girls around the country are lamenting this weekend, as they woke to the news that TV's

Shane Greer

is off the market. Shane, of Total Politics and SkyNews fame, is tieing the knot with his Republican Party rising starlett Brittany Schneider.

Congratulations to them both!

And so it begins to unravel...

So this week Obama was rude to the British, or should we say, Michelle Obama was rude to the British and her

lapdog followed

. Serious questions are

being asked

about Obama's Treasury team, which is

relying

on the founder of Twitter - a great website, with a crap business model, for economic advice. The gloss and the glamour of the Obama phenomenon is wearing off, and the press that were once so bowled over by the man, are beginning to ask questions about him. There is a

must read article

from Politico about Obama's over reliance on the teleprompter. While this may not be that unusual on the stump, and out on the campaign trail, people are wondering now why he still needs it for the smallest of speeches or press conferences.

Well thanks to

Prodicus

, TB can now show you why Obama needs his teleprompter crutch-



So much for the stunning oratory, he's shocking without it!

The Vulcan's apprentice

Now TB understands that getting a job in Parliament can be tough at times, but it seems John Redwood is really upping the stakes. Think you've got what it takes to work for the Wokingham wonderboy? Then you better get drafting a letter to a constituent outlining "John’s views on EU directives about food supplements." That should set you up nicely for a job that

involves

"assisting with the organisation of projects such as John’s constituency Christmas card competition and the annual Wokingham schools’ debating competition."

A challenging post!

Hat-Tip -

Paul Waugh

Mein Kampus

So the Mundell campaign didn't go quite to plan, but it was an interesting election none the less. With 6500 students voting, a 25% turnout made it the highest student election vote ever. All the candidates slaved their guts out for the last two weeks and the turnout is testament to how well they got people fired up. Although he was involved in a rather minor way and wasn't running for any position himself, that was sadly the last of student politics for this bear.

If he was ever to write a novel though, TB reckons a biting satire of politics in this country, told through the eyes of a losing student campaign, would be pretty damn funny... Maybe one day, but for now it's back to the dissertation.

Why did young people join the Conservative Party in the 1950s eh?

Vote early, vote often...

Apologies for the lack of blogging, TB has been a busy bear and has a lot on his plate.
The dissertation is coming on nicely (big stack of papers, beginning middle and end etc etc.) Normal service will resume soon, though things will be hectic for the next couple of weeks.

If you are at Edinburgh University in the mean time though, TB has a message for you:

Vote

here

.

Alan for President

Great piss take:

"Wait isn't that Irish one? Are they even allowed to stand in elections??"

Every cloud...

Recession to end one Europe.

Shame.

Nutjob of the week.

While having a cup of coffee after handing in yet another essay, TB was having a good old perusal of Facebook. On Piers Morgan's

fan page

, of all places, he happened to stroll across what must be one of the funniest/depressing things he has ever seen:

TB took this chap's advice and did indeed head over to

his Myspace,

where upon he rapidly came to the conclusion that a) this guy looks nothing like River Phoenix, and b) he can't seriously be trying to make a living out of this can he!?

He is big on his PR but by far the funniest thing has to be a peek at who he is friends with on Myspace:

The about me section is well worth a read too:

Oh my lord.

Negative campaigning.

TB has pondered whether to even bring attention to this story, but after some reflection it seems worthwhile to note that negative campaigning in a student election seemingly doesn't work. There has been widespread condemnation of a vicious anti-Labour

attack website

and video campaign that has emerged in the final throws of the Edinburgh University student elections. Now student politics is always blighted with posters etc being torn down and destroyed plus the normal backstabbing, but this is particularly harsh. While there are those out there who have suggested, to his face, and behind his back, that TB was the dark master of this negative banter, if that were true it would be a damn sight more effective and a damn sight funnier. TB also learnt his lesson last year, negative campaigning really doesn't work in student politics and here is yet further proof.

So Thomas Graham is a member of

Labour Students

, and on their national committee. He is also a big player on the students association scene and went into this campaign as the favourite. He hasn't exactly bigged up his party affiliation or membership of Unite for obvious reasons, but he could hardly deny it either. Then these videos started appearing:

(Can't work out how to embed them from where they are hosted so click the image to see each one.)

There is a problem with this amateur stuff though, for negative campaigning to work its got to be short, sharp and most importantly believable. The videos are too long and there is no real substance to them, other than Thomas being a member of the Labour Party and the Labour Party being evil. (Why would they think that!? - Ed) The other thing to consider is who really cares? In a student election, a candidate would be lucky to get a thousand odd views by the end of a few weeks of campaigning on their own official videos. Most of those would have been their friends, flatmates, family etc and hacks. The people that actually decide these elections will rarely bother even going on candidates website and base their vote on who they have actually met, who has the best posters, who is the prettiest or equally trivial points. Even the student press have considered this stuff beneath them and TB doubts that site would have had more than a couple of hundred hits, probably mainly from the Labour camp keeping an eye on things.

Other candidates in the election have been quick to condemn the campaign yet they will all know that doorstop negative campaigning is a far more powerful and effective way to get through to your electorate, rather than a video that very few will watch. Liz Rawling's the hard left's candidate said "I don't agree with the Tom Gormless blog and video. It is clearly a biased individual who doesn't even have the guts to put his/her name to the project. Yes, I want to win this election but I don't think EUSA elections should be tarred with negative campaigning of this sort." TB's man Oliver Mundell said "Negative campaigning doesn't work and destroys the integrity of the whole election and I just hope people aren't put off and vote for the positives all the candidates are offering." The other two were unavailable for comment.

TB got in touch with Thomas last night and he was quick to dismiss the videos and claimed he hadn't seen them. "I'm not going to engage in slagging off my opponents- I simply plan to keep going with the positive campaign I'm running, putting forward my ideas for improving things for students at this university." What a difference a year makes too, to think just 12 months ago TB would admit that he agreed with anything that his former opponent President Adam Ramsay said. He was however spot on in this case: "I think students are clever enough to tell the difference between fair political criticism and personal attacks. To complain that I am a member of the Green Party, and that means I'm a terrible lefty, is fair comment. I am both of those things. More personal attacks, or school ground slagging off doesn't add anything to the democratic process, and I don't think students pay attention to them."

In this case TB thinks Adam has hit the nail on the head. Negative campaigning might work for Bush and Obama, but in this country it seems to fall flat at all levels. Think about some of the elements of the 2005 campaign against Blair, the Labour campaign in Crewe and Nantwich, and right down through internal party youth elections, and across the country in the student world. It seems to crash and burn unless done very very well.

Whatever the result in Edinburgh on Thursday, TB doubts this will have made the blindest bit of difference.

Yoof hustings

Well a mini Evita like character, attempting to rally the troops vs.

Quinten Lett's

favourite bovvered youth. If you fancy a chuckle then watch the the two contenders for the chair of Liberal Youth go

head to head

. As these hustings videos show they are a fairly uninspiring double act:

The Liberal Youth rebranding and redesigning has gone tits up and TB hears it won't be long before they are back in dire financial crisis.

TB thinks the funniest line must be Elaine Bagshaw's call for public speaking training for members.

After you love.

Was wondering when someone would use that...

It's election season across the student unions. One campaign that seems to be causing a bit of a stir is a guy called

Steve O'Reilly

who is running to be President of Southampton University Students Union. TB is amazed the Obama image took this long to be used for something like this:

If you have a spare odd minute then take a look at his campaign video which in the often dry and amateur world of vicious student politics, it is a real breath of fresh air and pretty damn funny:

Favourite line "I met Steve in a small Peruvian village. He was wearing a straw boater, where as I had opted for a bowler hat. This was of course in the seventies, we had a bit more status then."

Great slogan too.

The force is strong in this one...

Donal Blaney and friends seem to be having fun across the pond at

CPAC

. Tory Bear is incredibly jealous of this photo

just posted

of Karl Rove and his British padawan:TB cannot confirm or deny whether prawn sandwiches were consumed at the meeting...

Labour Students get some balls...

Tory Bear is hearing some interesting stirrings from the

Labour Students conference

currently going on in Manchester. Tittle tattle and gossip aside, it seems that Labour Students are finally getting some balls and standing up to Brown. While TB disagrees with their views, they have managed to get a motion through that vents their anger about the part privatisation of the Post Office.

The Unions are against you, half your MPs are against you, your members are against you, and now your normally loyal, leader loving, student apparatchiks have turned on you.

Are you listening Mr Brown?

PS. If any other red TB fans have anything to get off their chest about this weekends fun and games in Manchester, you can whisper them here - editor@torybear.com

The rulebook goes out the window...

"It might be enforceable in a court of law this contract, but it's not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that's where the Government steps in."

- Harriet Harman on the Andrew Marr show this morning.

TB can't quite believe what he is reading here. OK so Fred Goodwin is an idiot who doesn't deserve a penny, that fact aside, the government are to blame for this cockup. They have either done nothing during this recession or had knee-jerk,warped responses. This is what happens when deals are forced and facts not checked. The bonus was in Goodwin's contract and signed off by the government and nobody bothered reading the small print.

So instead of admitting a cockup here, the government has the audacity to think that it is above the law. In this very quote the true inner thinking of the  Labour government is revealed. They are obsessed with public opinion and lead on the back of that, rather than what is right. So desperate are they to stay in power, they have abandoned their values and their respect for the rule of law.

We all suspected this for many years but here is the smoking gun.

Oh the irony..

After his raging against

Messagespace

, the online advertising company, labeling it part of the big right-wing conspiracy, Derek Draper must have enjoyed the Progress Labour 2.0 conference yesterday. Tim Montgomerie has an excellent write up

here

.

Dolly pissed off a lot of people and was backed into a corner, from across the spectrum with his little war on Messagespace and clearly someone with a sense of humour made him sit in front of the huge sponsorship banner yesterday.

Classic.

Image:

CentreRight

• Tim Shipman in the Telegraph asks if this is the end of the "special relationship"?

• Gordon swore and threatened to sack Harperson according to the Mail.

• Matthew d'Ancona gets it just right in the Telegraph...

...As does India Knight in The Sunday Times.

• There are no Cabinet minutes because there was no Cabinet debate says the Mail.

• And finally TB can't wait for this glimpse into the not-so-distant future in the Times to be a reality.

A message from David Cameron

This email from David Cameron was just sent to the Conservatives' mailing list:

Sam and I have been overwhelmed by all the letters, cards, emails and flowers we have received about Ivan. Sending an e-mail this week just gives us both a chance to say a big "thank you". It means a lot to know that others are thinking of us and him.

We always knew Ivan wouldn't live forever, but we didn't expect to lose him so young and so suddenly. He leaves a hole in our life so big that words can't describe it. Bed time, bath time, meal time - nothing will feel the same again.

We console ourselves knowing that he won't suffer anymore, that his end was quick, and that he is in a better place. But we all just miss him so desperately.

When we were first told the extent of Ivan's disability I thought that we would suffer having to care for him but at least he would benefit from our care. Now as I look back I see that it was all the other way round. It was only him that ever really suffered and it was us - Sam, me, Nancy and Elwen - who gained more than I ever believed possible from having and loving such a wonderfully special and beautiful boy.