Conservatives

martindtanderson · Sat 03 Apr, 2010 20.56

The Labour Party needs to spend more money on their semiotics advisers...

Nick Harvey · Sat 03 Apr, 2010 23.14

The trouble with spending lots of money on advisors is that you usually end up short of cash and having to pretend to be closing down in order to get some sympathy.

Alexia · Sun 04 Apr, 2010 21.30

Beep wrote:Nice of you to follow in the footsteps of James Martin.

As an aside, I have been told tonight that former Swish/Gravity radio presenter James Martin has left the country, and is now working for Thomas Cook in Majorca.

In other words, he's become an immigrant.

marksi · Mon 05 Apr, 2010 14.33

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 34051.html

Cameron promises free vote on legalising fox hunting. Says it's good 'cos you can see the countryside while killing stuff.

In other news, re: this story about the Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling saying "Christian" B&B owners should be allowed to turn away gayers, apparently Cameron said that a prospective candidate for the UUP/Cons in South Antrim must be deselected from being their candidate because his wife had said precisely the same thing.

GavBelfast · Mon 05 Apr, 2010 19.10

The difference here is that Watson and his wife actually own (or owned) a B&B, so it was a bit less academic.

Here's what Watson said in 2006:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6178871.stm

Watson is continually all over the place. He said last week he totally disagreed with the UUP/Tory link-up and called the selectors of candidates "idiots", yet now says he still wants to be the candidate!

Fat chance! I suspect he's on his way out - perhaps Rayling won't be too far behind him - for, if you want to discriminate, don't run a business - and a B&B is a business.

Chie · Tue 06 Apr, 2010 14.35

marksi wrote:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 34051.html

Cameron promises free vote on legalising fox hunting. Says it's good 'cos you can see the countryside while killing stuff.

I think that's unfortunate but no party is perfect, and a bit of give and take is always needed. I feel the Tories' many beneficial policies outweigh the very few that I don't personally agree with.

Gavin Scott · Tue 06 Apr, 2010 14.44

Rather than thinking of it as a policy "pick n' mix", it goes a bit deeper than that for me.

Fox hunting is reviled by the vast majority of the population. To be fair, most of the population are not country dwellers, but that shouldn't invalidate their views.

To repeal the ban on what I consider a blood thirsty and cruel jaunt for toffs is nothing more than pandering to the upper classes.

Jesus, he's not even got the keys to Downing Street and he's reverting to type.

scottishtv · Tue 06 Apr, 2010 15.04

Gavin Scott wrote:Jesus, he's not even got the keys to Downing Street and he's reverting to type.

I tend to agree. As a politics graduate, I hate myself for resorting to feelings as opposed to rational policy arguments. But watching Cameron in front of the Thames this morning - surrounded by white, City men in suits - saying that he will stand up for "the great ignored" really made me want to vomit. I just can't trust this guy.

Chie · Tue 06 Apr, 2010 16.26

scottishtv wrote:
Gavin Scott wrote:Jesus, he's not even got the keys to Downing Street and he's reverting to type.
I tend to agree. As a politics graduate, I hate myself for resorting to feelings as opposed to rational policy arguments. But watching Cameron in front of the Thames this morning - surrounded by white, City men in suits - saying that he will stand up for "the great ignored" really made me want to vomit. I just can't trust this guy.

The Conservatives can't win on that score really, because whenever they do appoint black or minority ethnic ministers or appear in the media with BME voters, people queue up to criticise them for allegedly trying to deceive the public into thinking they're a BME-friendly party when they're not.

Gavin Scott · Tue 06 Apr, 2010 16.32

Chie wrote:
scottishtv wrote:
Gavin Scott wrote:Jesus, he's not even got the keys to Downing Street and he's reverting to type.
I tend to agree. As a politics graduate, I hate myself for resorting to feelings as opposed to rational policy arguments. But watching Cameron in front of the Thames this morning - surrounded by white, City men in suits - saying that he will stand up for "the great ignored" really made me want to vomit. I just can't trust this guy.
The Conservatives can't win on that score really, because whenever they do appoint black or minority ethnic ministers or appear in the media with BME voters, people queue up to criticise them for allegedly trying to deceive the public into thinking they're a BME-friendly party when they're not.

Which is patently unfair, as they are bestest friends with people of all colour.

If they're particularly wealthy, that is.

scottishtv · Tue 06 Apr, 2010 16.42

Chie wrote:The Conservatives can't win on that score really, because whenever they do appoint black or minority ethnic ministers or appear in the media with BME voters, people queue up to criticise them for allegedly trying to deceive the public into thinking they're a BME-friendly party when they're not.

I've seen some photos of Dave's event since, and there was actually a good mix of people on side of the Thames with him today. Makes me reflect all the more on myself really that I am so quick to judge him based on the TV camera framing of one particular news conference on the first day of the campaign.

Then again, sod it, it's up to him to convince me otherwise.