Randy McDonald, and probably others, seem to have found the Afzal Amin piece baffling, so I thought I’d draft a brief explainer as follows. Afzal Amin, potential Tory MP and ex-army officer, tried to incite the EDL to stage a provocative demonstration in his heavily Muslim constituency during the campaign, while also inciting a group…
Read More More questions on the Biryani Project.So the Chancellor has been dabbling in retail brokerage, with a little push-polling scattered on top. This is pretty much as shady as we’ve come to expect from him, but I was interested to see this: Those engaging in financial promotions are meant to be authorised to do so by the Financial Conduct Authority. A…
Read More “Ok so Mr Financial Regulator I really wanna pretend to be the revenue for my campaign”What is it with David Cameron and appointments? Back in March 2012 I made the point that he keeps phoning a friend, and getting back the name of a good criminal, bungler, or crank. We’ve had Steve Hilton and his brilliant ideas, before he failed-up into a better paid gig in California. He recommended Emma…
Read More Bad pickerA list of constituencies the Tories have written off as lost has been leaked. Here are the first three candidates. Ben Adams – Stoke-on-Trent North Bim Afolami – Lewisham Deptford Festus Akinbusoye – West Ham I don’t think we need look very far for an explanation?
Read More a short post about candidate selectionWe were talking about glib cliché solutions. Here, we have the prime minister. “No-one wants their child to go to a failing school and no-one wants to them to go to a coasting school either,” said Mr Cameron. “‘Just enough’ is not good enough. That means no more sink schools and no more ‘bog standard’…
Read More most cash looks pretty flat to meDid you think Boris Johnson sucked? Try Ivan Massow, doyen of hipster Toryism (he was the nice version of Michael Portillo before Michael Portillo was the nice version of Michael Portillo) and prospective candidate for mayor of London. Somehow, the mayoralty has become a strange attractor for people who combine vacuous celebrity and a particular…
Read More You thought London mayoral candidates couldn’t get worseHere’s a brutal sickburn on the journos, wanktankers, and pols who were taken in by the privatisers of Hinchingbrooke Hospital, who have now done a bunk ahead of the inspectors after the place turned out to be a sinister deathtrap run by Nurse Ratchet: We heard the staff member say to the patient ‘don’t misbehave,…
Read More #iwaswrong – public sector co-op editionWhat is it that’s changed in the paedophile inquiry? We’re now looking at a triple murder inquiry and the police seem to be taking it deadly seriously. I have a theory. North Yorkshire police just apologised for denying for years that they ever suspected Jimmy Savile or his associate, Peter Jaconelli. In fact, they investigated…
Read More a high-entropy node in the network of networksBonus extra #burybadnews at the Care Quality Commission: The impact of the economic downturn on the quality of health and social care has been cancelled. Well, there’s some good news! Wait. The CQC has cancelled its study into the impact of the economic downturn, not the impact itself. Thanks to Tony Bovaird on twitter. Just…
Read More #burybadnews extra: the impact has been cancelledHere is a horrible piece of work. Tory MP Charlotte Leslie in the Grauniad says stuff. But Norman Warner is “brave” in a good way, though I disagree with him. Lord Warner, the former Labour health minister, has suggested that if we are to preserve our NHS, we should charge a £10 “membership fee” to…
Read More making TV programmes to make policy to go on TV with