Did Graham Jones do the right thing?

[mobertol]

I understand how disappointed you are - he could still be a good representative for Hyndburn (or Accy and district as I prefer to think of it).

Turn the other cheek -give someone another chance...

Or give 'em a kick up where it hurts most and look for a replacement... hard choice?

[Bernard Dawson]

Originally Posted by garinda

You're bad.



Really hope I'm well tomorrow.

Wendy's promised me more high drama than an Wagner opera, more laughs than a Whitehall farce, more tears and tantrums than an Elton John fly-on-the-wall documentary.

I'm hoping to be so moved, as to give a standing ovation when the curtain comes down.

I'm not sure about the Wagner opera. We certainly get the tantrums from time to time. Wendy exaggerates just a touch.

[mobertol]

Originally Posted by garinda

We hoped that attachment was stronger to the people, than the party.

We now sadly know it isn't.

Some lessons are hard to learn -we live in hope...!

[garinda]

Originally Posted by mobertol

My mis-understanding G, you did say:

"I'd hate to think just how relentlessly badgering and angry I'd be, if I no longer supported him"

I sometimes read things wrongly...mea-culpa!

Graham apparently 'appreciates my support', he said yesterday.

Perhaps by 'support' he means he's planning I end up in some concrete foundations, supporting a car park, somewhere.

[mobertol]

Perhaps he means for fund-raising events -are you good at making cakes or doing crochet mats for example?

[mobertol]

Originally Posted by garinda

Graham apparently 'appreciates my support', he said yesterday.

Perhaps by 'support' he means he's planning I end up in some concrete foundations, supporting a car park, somewhere.

Perhaps for the new bus station in Accy - the area where the benches will be put may be named after you for posterity...

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Bernard Dawson

I'm not sure about the Wagner opera. We certainly get the tantrums from time to time. Wendy exaggerates just a touch.

Yes, she probably teased me to sell it.

I'm sure it will all be very professional, and business like.

As anyone ever been ejected from the public gallery?

Just asking.

I know my protocol, and know when to open, and when to shut my gob.

I always play by the rules imposed.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by mobertol

Perhaps for the new bus station in Accy - the area where the benches will be put may be named after you for posterity...

How fitting.

I've always been a big supporter of that off the wall proposal.

[mobertol]

Give, give, give -it must be so hard to be you...

[Tealeaf]

Those of you who take more than a passing interest in the body politic will be aware of the recent death of the Labour peer, Lord Gould. You may even have read a detailed obituary in one of the more serious newspapers. Irrespective of his socialist credentials, he was widely regarded as a decent bloke by all sides and as a sharp political operator. The reason? He was the person who realised that Labour were unelectable in the format they had in the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s and as such was part of the team that relaunched ‘New Labour’ eventually leading to its electoral success in 1997.

Irrespective of that government’s subsequent record, Gould’s philosophy was quite simple – you have to listen to what the people say if you want to be elected. You have to address their fears and their concerns and seek to provide solutions to their wants and aspirations. His most notable concentrated method of addressing this issue was through the use of ‘focus groups’. By various methods, he – and Labour – chose cross-sections of people and asked the questions ‘What do you want?’ and ‘What do you think about this?’ The answers were usually simple and involved ditching the dogma and using a bit of common sense. Result? Elected into office three times on the trot.

It would now appear that Red Ed and those labour MP’s who follow his every dictum have now forgotten this message. It is pretty obvious by now that Ed – like Michael Foote, thirty years ago – is totally unelectable. He went to print this weekend with a pseudo-Marxist rant (no doubt copied up from one of his father, Ralph’s old notebooks) about the crisis of capitalism and the justification of the campsite outside St Pauls. He also told his MP acolytes to make similar statements in advance. GJ duly obliged.

Well, we’re all pretty urinated off with the antics of the bankers and their bonuses; with the exorbitant pay rises of the FTSE 100 directors and of the unjustifiable pay of premiership footballers. Ed’s message was that the government should listen to the electorate. Exactly, Mr Milliband and Mr Jones – listen to the electorate. But do not pick and choose what you care to listen to because there are other issues just as important, such as the collapse of immigration controls into this country, the terrible economic cost of EU membership (without any visible benefits) and the ongoing comedy which is now our legal system. The highest court in the land – the so-called Supreme Court – is now no more than the outside toilet for the European Courts.

So I would suggest to Mr Jones – nice man that he is – that he takes a lesson from the late Lord Gould and once again pays attention to what the voters want. This little forum may not have the numbers of a YouGov or a Mori Poll, but its members are pretty representative of his constituents. Mr Milliband will soon be out the door and it may well pay Mr Jones’s political career to be brave, follow his instincts and rebel now rather than later.

[mobertol]

Long post that Tealeaf to praise a spin-doctor...not a great fan of New Labour myself, or Labour supporters who become Peers.

Time to look back to old values and old-fashioned ideals as far as I'm concerned -but then i see life through rose-tinted specs...and admit to not seeing very well at times!

[garinda]

Well, it's rare I agree entirely with old Teabag, but would, on this occasion, have to call him the voice of reason.

Well said!

[Tealeaf]

Originally Posted by mobertol

Long post that Tealeaf to praise a spin-doctor...not a great fan of New Labour myself, or Labour supporters who become Peers.

Aye...that was after one bottle of claret. I'm one-third of the way down the second.

Anyway, I'm not really interested in spin doctors. I'm more concerned about democracy.

[mobertol]

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

Aye...that was after one bottle of claret. I'm one-third of the way down the second.

Anyway, I'm not really interested in spin doctors. I'm more concerned about democracy.

Shame you're so far away -Teabag -rather like a glass of decent stuff meself -could have put the world to rights...

[Margaret Pilkington]

Originally Posted by mobertol

Turn the other cheek -give someone another chance...

If someone kicks you in the proverbial nuts(OK...I know I don't have any, but I reckon I have more than any of the current crowd of politicians we have in power at present...or in the wings even) you do not, repeat not, give them a chance to aim a low blow in that direction again.