Is this the best hung parliament bet?
January 12th, 2010
Should you be taking the 11/4 for 324 seat or fewer?
Thanks to our regular betting poster, URW, for spotting this one - the 11/4 (in old money) or the 2.75 in the new parlance that Bet365 have on the Tories coming out with fewer that 325 seats. This total, of course, is the minimum that is required for a majority.
Unlike the range of conventional hung parliament bets this covers you in all situations that Cameron Tories don’t make it to an overall majority including the, admittedly highly unlikely, event of a fourth term majority Labvour government being returned.
It is precisely the same price as Ladbrokes have on the hung parliament option alone. 
I’ve still not come to a firm view on the overall election outcome but this wager is good value and allows you to cover yourself against two eventualities.
Mike Smithson
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Looks like it. But there wont be a hung parliament
The Financial Times gives us what David Cameron would call a “sit up and think” moment with this story about the NHS. William Moyes, the man behind the foundation hospitals programme, has pointed out that this country does not have a single world-class hospital.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/davidhughes/100022038/this-is-why-david-cameron-must-re-think-his-plans-for-the-nhs/
Lets hope there are no hanging chads.
http://order-order.com/2010/01/12/tory-backbenchers-cut-a-deal/
I’ve still not come to a firm view on the overall election outcome
Mike, when will you come to a firm view? or will you?
2 what is a ‘world class hotel’?
NOM on betfair is 4.1s ie 3.1/1 - better than the 2.75 - although does not cover Labour majority - but you can cover that with a Labour majority at 18.5/
£300+ avail on NOM at 4s or better.
hospital even!!
Cheers Mike, 11-4 looks the right price to me though, rather than outstanding value. I don’t think the Tories will get anywhere near the majority many/most on here do, but I would expect them to get a majority, so am not going to rush out and take those odds.
FPT for Andrew Spencer
Taplow eh, have to say, despite growing up round there I wouldn’t choose to live there, but it is cheap. And you’re right about the terraces, especially so close to the city. On the estate:
1) The disrepair is pretty disgraceful, but it used to be a lot worse. I always get angry when cutting through Rodney Road and juxtaposing the brand new road humps with the state of the blocks either side.
2) It’s not the blocks per se, I think there should be more that close to london. It’s the estate layout, which means that pretty much the whole area bounded by Walworth, Old Kent and Albany roads is effectively dead land. Can you imagine people just wandering around?
The new blocks around Elephant are an improvement: discreet, with open roads and not to much dead space. There’s a reason people pay more to live in smaller places in terraces and similar.
No its not.
A better bet is split stakes on.
Tory Seats 251-300 @ 10/1 with Paddy Power
Tory Seats 300-324 @ 13/2 with William Hill or Victor Chandler
5 Scream. I’ve yet to come to an infirm view …. but then Jack W is 107 !!
2 - Oracle
Which are the worlds best hospitals?
Is there a league somewhere.
11. That covers even less ground than NOM tho tim - Cons could get less than 250
i wouldn’t say the wager is good value but merely that it is the best value if you believe in a NOM scenario
2 That’s quite a dumb article. Seem to remember of no shortage of US/Foreign medics/academics coming to the Royal Marsden when I was studying there to get the latest. The research ranking is the best in the country.
FPT. 523 Plato, agree your point re some can go wrong with too much , however if you look at things overall it is all biased towards people who have money. Given that there are exceptions at the end of each spectrum it is still a fact that you are more likely to do well if your parents have money , it does not buy you everything but it is better to have money and be unhappy than it is to be skint and unhappy.
I am speaking as someone who came from a very happy family who did not have a lot of money , and have done very well.
12 - I think Labour may end up with as many MP’s as you’ve had birthdays.
The 21st Century, the Century of the Tories and the Liberals. The new Ying and Yang of British Politics
18. A return to the 19th Century?
19 - Yes.
What does a world class hospital do that NHS ones don’t?
I’m a lone voice asking this so would really appreciate any response - has there been a VIPA/ICM comparison recently?
21 - Doesn’t kill people with MRSA would be a nice start.
Follow up to 2, here is what he actually said to the FT,
Having spent six years overseeing the creation and regulation of self-governing NHS foundation trusts – which in theory are Britain’s best hospitals – the chairman of Monitor said that, while the UK had at least four or five real world-class universities, “I do not believe we have any world-class hospitals.
They may have world experts here and there … but I just don’t believe that any of our best hospitals could genuinely demonstrate that they are world class across the whole range of what they do.”
In the US, he said, the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, the LSE and Imperial “would be recognised as on a par with anything in America..“I just don’t think you would have that kind of reaction to British hospitals.”
21 Indeed - was the Nuffield or Papworth ever in this group?
14 - OK then.
£100 on the Bet 365 11/4 gives you a profit of £275
£42.30 @ 13/2 seats 300-324 = £275.
£27.50 @ 10/1 Seats 251-300 = £275.
A total of £69.80
If you wish to cover Tory seats 201-250 at £18/1 then stake £15.2 to guarantee a £275 return.
Yoy’ve still only staked 85$ rather than the £100 you need to place with Bet 365.
22 - I think we’re all waiting for Roberts reverse VIPA article
I did put the latest ICM through VIPA, and it was landslide territory.
27 Brill - thanks Mr Eagles, I thought it would be but good to hear
Would you care to share your results?
24 - We know that, we’re asking you what constitutes a world class hospital and where is the league table.
Boo - we’re off the betting chat already
Re 26 - You’ve still only staked £85
29 You are Dick Bacon and I claim my £5.
@27:
I bet Robert’s holding out on us because it predicts a hilariously large Tory victory, or something.
re 5. “When will I come to a view”?
When I am 100% certain that Brown will be leading Labour into the election. Even though it is very late a new leader could be a game-changer and after reading the Bower biography I yet to be convinced that we’ll see Brown going into an election that he’s certain of losing. That’s totally alien to everything about him.
Just follow the history of his efforts to get a safe Scottish Labour seat. He was only prepared to stick his neck out when it had all been fixed.
Then there was him bottling out of the leadership contests to replace Kinnock and then John Smith.
This was followed by the extraordinary lengths the Brown heavies went to ensure their man got in without a challenge.
32 - OK Gabby
15.
Agree. It’s not a great bet, but the best one if you believe that Dave is not going to win as it also covers the situation that Labour somehow become popular (new leader maybe)
29 - Tim, I have made no comment if I agree or disagree with the statement, I simply saw what seemed an interesting / discussion provoking article.
I am not in a position to be able to confirm or deny his comments regards if the NHS has any truly world class hospitals or not (Universities on the other hand, I can provide far better insight, and have done on several occasions). A man in a far better position than you or I has claimed we don’t, I think that is worth linking to.
34 - Thanks for that Mike. Bower’s book leaves you the impression he’ll not fight the election.
18 Scream.
FPT to SO:
If the contention is that money is more important than love/warmth/interest, then the comparison should not be between a loving/interested/warm family on median income and a loving/interested/warm family on high income, but a non-loving/uninterested/cold family on high income and a loving/interested/warm family on median income.
That is, compare the single factors in isolation.
Which would achieve a better outcome? And what is “better”?
37 (cont) Meant to say…
worth linking to…given the government continued claims that we have a world class health service / world class hospitals.
@29:
From the context of the article, he’s suggesting that in his opinion, no British hospitable would be adjudged to be of the same quality as the best hospitals in other developed nations when judged by those that work and use them.
It’s clearly an opinion, rather than a verified NEWS-O-FACT.
11 Yep - Tim’s combination bet is far better value, producing equalised combined odds of 3.46/1 compared with 2.75/1 in the thread intro and yes I appreciate it doesn’t cover Labour winning an overall, let’s get real here!
BTW Mike, bet365’s new style decimal odds are 3.75, not 2.75 as stated.
24. I think the difference is that universities can select their intake whereas hospitals can’t.
42 - He also seems to be suggesting that this is a bad thing. Nothing to back-up either claim in the article though.
37 Oracle, tim etc - Much more interesting than the headline claim is what Moyes says about governance:
[The nub of the problem] was that even self-governing foundation trusts spent too much time worrying about what the government was doing and what the secretary of state for health wanted. Mr Moyes said that when he was on the council of Surrey University, the council “acknowledged the existence of the government” and its policies. “But we felt very much that we were in charge of the university, and as long as we didn’t do something manifestly stupid, we would be left to get on with running it. Whereas I don’t think anyone in any hospital – foundation trust or not – feels they are that distant [from ministers]. They still feel the heavy hand of the secretary of state is coming in their direction.”
David Hughes goes on to argue from this that the Tory plans for reform are too timid. Maybe so, but the separation of the NHS from direct ministerial control is intended to start to address this. It will be interesting to see how effectively it does so.
I really can’t see how we’re going to get a hung parliament no matter what Rod’s spreadsheet says.
I vividly recall the DT predicting one in 83 or bizarrely decades of one party government a la Japan. IMO, it’s media piffle trying to inject some uncertainty into the next few months.
It wasn’t like this in 97 - is this because the media wanted to hammer the Tories into the ground?
28 - I think it was a Tory Majority of a 121.
33 - Martin, if we are seeing the theory of swingforward taking place, if VIPA is accuarte, then we are back to Blair majority levels.
The great thing about VIPA is it allows you to see just how badly Labour will do. Large parts of England will become Labour (and Lib Dem free, particularly the Midlands and the South)
The other great thing is, it shows just how redundant UNS and projectors like Baxter are
Andrew Turnbull, who was permanent secretary at the Treasury from 1998 to 2002 and Cabinet Secretary from 2003 to 2005…his recent piece in the FT — ‘Six steps to salvage the Treasury’ — is one long barely coded attack on the PM.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/5700598/turnbull-savages-chancellor-brown.thtml
48 Thanks Mr Eagles - that’d be corker of a turnaround majority wise.
48 - Apologies, that should be a tory majority of 77.
34. I don’t think that he will leave before the election. The way that every possible leadership contender has refused to back any of the coupe attempts it seems that nobody else wants to leader Labour into an election that it’s certain of losing. Could it be that it will soon get to the point where he is being forced to stay by his colleagues? Also another thing we know about Brown is he has a great ability to convince himself that he is right, and a habit of waiting until the very last minute. So he probably thinks that he is making the best choices, and by the time it becomes obvious that the electorate isn’t going to change its mind it might well be too late. Unlike with going for the leadership of the Labour Party, or getting his seat there is a specific deadline on action.
50 - The majority of 121, was something I had experimented with different BNP and UKIP shares.
34. Thing is Mike he can’t be ‘certain’ he will lose the GE until the campaign is well under way..and by then it will be too late.
34. Mike Smithson January 12th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
As you know I hate Gordon Brown.
Just one thing though, Brown did contest a marginal in 1979 - It was against Michael Ancram. A three figure majority IIRC for Ancram which I think Ancram lost in 1987.
52
I think you have summed it up perfectly.
(and then Brown has a heart attack in early February)
“he probably thinks that he is making the best choices”
I don’t think there is any probably about it, I am certain he is convinced he is right and has made all the right decision. The man is utterly deluded. Anybody who wasn’t, would have such huge amount of shame and guilt weighing them down, they would never be able to undergo the rapid transformation from the darkest depths of depression to the swaggering arrogance that Gordo has shown over the past few months (the same happened when the bank were failing).
re TSE would you treat people with MRSA then? Or screen all visitors and bar them if they tested positive for MRSA, let alone the staff?
A hung parliament is not on the cards!
58 - To your first question yes. On your later questions, none of them would be necessary, if hospitals took greater care in stopping the spread of MRSA.
Labour are doomed - DOOMED to DEFEAT!
Gordon Brown = Arthur Henderson in 1931!
O/T *** Betting Post ***
It’s well worth keeping an eye on the Labour Leadership market for pricing anomalies. The latest I’ve noticed is that you can get a free bet on Harriet as next leader:
Sell Harriet at (say) £10 a point on SPIN (current spread 2.5-3.5). If she’s not next leader, you win £25. If she is, you lose £225.
Back Harriet for £25 as next leader with Stan James at 12/1. If she’s not next leader, you lose £25, if she is you win £300.
Net effect: A free bet which pays you £75 if she is next leader.
Potential downsides: Possible mismatch in settlement terms between the bookies, and you might need to tie up some money with SPIN.
34. Mike
You say you’re not convinced Brown will fight an election he knows he is going to lose. However what about the theory that he doesn’t actually think he is going to lose - he is right and the polls are wrong. The only spanner in the works I can see is if the polls start to become much worse for brown, maybe somkeone will finally put the knife in (subject to not getting a warning from the police)
[34] - ..yet to be convinced that we’ll see Brown going into an election that he’s certain of losing.
How late is too late for Brown to decide not to fight the election? I find it hard to see him deciding that he can’t win. He’s always struck me as a patient brooder, prepared to wait more than 10 years for Blair to move aside for his turn in the big chair.
Everything about him suggests inaction rather than action. Why take the action of resigning? Always easier to defer the decision, and hope for better news tomorrow. Also, there will be plenty going on to distract him from thinking about the awful truth, including the budget. Then, suddenly, it will be nearly May, and nervous aides will remind him that Parliament expires in a matter of days and he has to decide when he is going to visit the Queen…
Andrew Turnball has form - good on him
One for OGH
Doncaster Rovers manager Sean O’Driscoll is on the verge of being named Burnley’s new manager, BBC Radio Sheffield understands.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/burnley/8454402.stm
Below is a reprint from ConservativeHome:
I post it as one of Boris’s most Borisian speech, almost perfect in every detail. Enjoy!
Boris Johnson debates Alan Johnson to put the case against Proportional Representation
Last night Policy Exchange hosted a debate to discuss the merits of replacing the First Past The Post electoral system with Proportional Representation. Billed as Johnson v Johnson, the case for PR was put by Home Secretary Alan Johnson, supported by Vernon Bogdanor, with Boris Johnson and Lord Norton of Louth backing First Past The Post.
Alan Johnson admitted that he was missing Gordon Brown’s appearance before the PLP in order to keep the engagement and during his speech appeared to suggest that Labour cannot win the general election when he said that we “may well get” a coalition government at the impending general election. He went to say that he had no problem with coalition governments and lamented the fact that he had thus far failed to persuade his party to hold a referendum on electoral reform, expressing his personal preference for the AV PLus system recommended by the Jenkins Commission.
To do Boris’s reply justice, I merely offer you the full transcript of his speech…
Ladies and gents, I want to congratulate Policy Exchange and I want to begin by extending my sympathies to my cousin Alan for the heroic way in which he is enduring his ordeal.
Everybody or virtually everybody in Westminster knows that the best thing for the Labour party and the country would be the speedy removal of Gordon Brown. Everybody knows that my cousin Alan is far and away the best man to fill his shoes and across Britain there are men and women yearning for the cabinet to summon up the gumption and do their duty by party and by country to go into No 10, where Gordon waits, muttering with his head in his hands, like Marlon Brando at the end of Apocalypse Now and terminate his command.
What do we get instead? Nothing but muttering and moaning and the ludicrous rubber dagger plots of Hoon and Hewitt and a cabinet reduced to a hopeless coalition of the untrustworthy and the dithering. Not since the waters retired from the face of the earth has this country seen such a display of protoplasmic invertebracy and as the dying days of Labour drag on you may find it hard to believe that any system could produce a government more feeble, more indecisive more racked by internal feuding and division. And yet it could, my friends, if we were to follow cousin Alan and introduce PR.
The tragedy of cousin Alan is that his cabinet friends are too pathetic to remove a PM. The tragedy of PR is that we would take that power away from the electorate themselves. It is not just that the cabinet would be frustrated by their inability to get rid of Gordon, the people would be frustrated at the election itself and if there is one fact I want you to absorb tonight, it is that in the 50 years since the war there were 103 elections in Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden - all countries that favour PR and its endless stream of buggins-turn coalitions. And how often, in those 103 elections, did voters actually succeed in producing a change of government? Six times!
No matter how you try it, AV, STV, STD: PR is a fraud upon the electorate because it will always tend to erode the sovereign right of the people to kick the rascals out. And I am not tonight going to argue that First Past The Post is perfect or proportional because no system is. And I know that there are some MPs who deeply resent the constituency system and the contact that it obliges them to have with the electorate - though I myself used to love my surgery and I will always treasure the memory of the woman who had slept with two identical twins and, since the DNA test was obviously inconclusive, she wondered if I could somehow work out which was the father of her baby.
This is the stuff of politics, ladies and gents, and that is why I want to preserve our system even though as Alan continually pointed out it is currently weighted against the Conservatives. And he mocks us for sticking to these principles and for putting the public interest before party interest. Well I can tell you in 2010 I think the public would rather see us stick up for the interests of the electorate than for the interests of politicians.
Of course it is true that in the last 50 years Tory constituencies have expanded and Labour seats have shrunk - as the voters very sensibly flee seats held by Labour MPs. But the answer is to redraw the boundaries in the time-honoured way, not to impose some new system with so many perils and flaws.
What have we all been through in the expenses scandal of 2009? What was the lesson we draw from the public outrage when they discovered the kind of thing that had been secretly bought with the additional costs allowance? What did they hate above all? It was the secrecy. It was the sense that the MPs were trying to get away with it. It was the hugger-mugger closed door deals that kept the public out but benefited the MPs themselves.
And that is exactly the kind of chicanery and secrecy that we associate with PR, where it takes months to form a government on the basis of deals and understandings that are never properly explained and alienate people from politics.
PR entrenches the power of the party machines and any kind of list system not only increases the ability of the party cadres to exclude anyone with any independence of spirit; it not only breaks the link with the constituency; it also creates two classes of MP with two types of democratic mandate and what kind of Parliament would they belong to? One in which we have parties of extremists and fascists for the first time in our history. If you want to know why the BNP were invited to Buckingham Palace, you can put it down to PR - the system that elected Hitler.
It would force the major parties to spend ages trying to find out what the Lib dem policy is so that they can pander to it, when everybody knows the Lib Dem policy on cake is pro-having it and pro-eating it. And in the course of these delectable disputations, the government would be prevented from taking the radical decisions that the economy demands, the country needs and the people expect.
And above all in this by no means exhaustive list of the fatal defects of PR, it is not proportionate. Time after time it fails the test of proportionality as tiny parties are allowed to hold the balance of power: the FDP in Germany, the religious parties in Israel. European politics is littered with examples of parties that have lost votes in the election but miraculously been translated from opposition to government as they are suddenly deemed a suitably weakened and malleable coalition partner.
In fact the only question worth asking about PR is why we are having this debate now? And the answer is that Labour senses they are about to lose and as their fingers scrabble desperately on the lip of the oubliette of history, they see a way of prolonging their miserable stay of office.
I say we should reject that option tonight, ladies and gents. Hewitt blew it; Hoon’s a buffoon; they had their opportunity to instal a Johnson and they fluffed it. Let us kick out this ludicrous motion as prelude to the ecstatic release that will come when we are finally allowed to kick out this Government.
Jonathan Isaby
TSE how would you do that? Prescribe 2 rubber bungs to everyone in case they sneeze? Forbid all touching?
Absolute 110% 24 carat genius.
Boris for PM.
60 - Given that about 30% of the general population are colonised by S.aureus how do you propose to deal with that.
Iron Lungs?
68 - Make sure the place consistently clean. Simples.
TLZ of course Brown doesn’t have to go and see HM. He could just sit dithering and hoping until Parliament expires. That’s why my money’s on June.
55. Almost right martin - Ancram won by around 2500
70 - Speak to BUPA, I believe none of their patients have died from MRSA in recent years.
If they can do that, why cant the NHS?
67 You are wrong, weathercock. The speech is absolutely perfect in every detail!
Betting implications perhaps in they had their opportunity to instal a Johnson and they fluffed it?
Whilst there are many good reasons why Brown won’t stand down, I dont see Brown standing down for one simple reason. Pride.
To be seen not to go down with the ship will leave him open to a flood of justifiable further accusations of cowardice.
Given Brown’s fascination with courage the last thing I suspect he would do is step down. Even if his instincts point him towards running I don’t think he will as the opprobrium that would be poured upon him and the Labour Party if he did run away would be too great.
Nope Labour is stuck with Brown and Brown is stuck with the possibility of utter humiliation at the hands of the electorate in a few months time and there isn’t anything any of them can do about it……
71 - No link I’m afraid.
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/333/7569/622-a
Study finds no link between hospital cleanliness and MRSA
At any one time 30% of the population are carriers.
67 My favourite typical Boris anecdote:
“And I know that there are some MPs who deeply resent the constituency system and the contact that it obliges them to have with the electorate - though I myself used to love my surgery and I will always treasure the memory of the woman who had slept with two identical twins and, since the DNA test was obviously inconclusive, she wondered if I could somehow work out which was the father of her baby.”
That’s brilliant from Boris. Loved the bit about the Lib Dems:
”It would force the major parties to spend ages trying to find out what the Lib dem policy is so that they can pander to it, when everybody knows the Lib Dem policy on cake is pro-having it and pro-eating it.”
Brown might quit.
If this last coup has really curbed his authority over the running of the GE campaign.
He can tell himself “This is not my fight. I would not have campaigned on this platform. All this has been caused by Darling, Mandelson et al”.
TSE the only way then is to evacuate it (I mean of air, not people), and even then some of the buggers can live in a vacuum
If MRSA is not linked to cleaning - then what is it linked to as it’s clearly a big problem in some places.
If all this Gordo releasing power spin is really true, it is going to be extremely amusing watching Gordo try and get through a month of a GE having to talk about cuts (or spending reductions) through gritted teeth. It is bound to go wrong at some point.
The Robinsons, Peter and Iris, are already in it deep. But this snippet from Martin Fletcher’s column, highlighted by Iain Martin, raises the level of, erm, ordure:
“In 2007-08 the pair received a total of £571,939 from [their political] posts. They also use their parliamentary allowances to employ their two sons, daughter and daughter-in-law as aides.”
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/5700778/in-it-up-to-their-necks.thtml
Nothing like keeping it in the family…BTW, is Peter Hain’s pre-historic mother still officially working for him?
For anyone who hasn’t been following this - no-trial juries start for criminal offences for first time in 350yrs.
Appalling.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8453318.stm
and a rather more sweary one from the Devil’s Kitchen
http://www.devilskitchen.me.uk/2010/01/another-protection-destroyed.html
81: Chris A @ 14:49
Could you expand on taht a bit for those of who are perhaps less mentally agile?
Mr. Eagles makes the point that BUPA hospitals don’t have a record of killing patients with MRSA. I believe that the Netherlands has a pretty good record with “super-bugs” compared to the UK. I can’t see where the vacuum comes in.
85 - They aren’t a fan of David Tennant over there I see.
75. Nothing is 100% perfect Richard Nabavi, but that speech in front of that audience is near enough.
It should be reprinted as a leaflet from CGHQ, but it won’t be, alas.
Fun stuff from Boris, but absolute cock as usual.
Living in a safe Tory seat, FPTP seems pretty good already at entrenching party machines and useless MPs.
The expenses scandal came under FPTP and safe MPs were the worst offenders.
In any case, if you have to cite Hitler, you automatically lose an argument.
85 And before anyone points it out - I meant serious criminal trials rather than shoplifting etc.
82 - People mainly
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8445777.stm
MRSA is mainly spread by patients moving between hospitals, Dutch researchers have said.
The authors have called for more screening of people who are repeatedly admitted to different hospitals to try to break this transmission cycle.
They said this would eventually help to eradicate MRSA.
The conclusions were drawn from a large study of the geographical location of different strains of MRSA across 26 European countries.
MRSA is a potentially lethal bug which is difficult to combat because it has developed resistance to some antibiotics.
83.
Brown will never talk about cuts - it will be increases in investment at less than 0%
Will the Conservatives make it a manifesto commitment to end secret state child seizures, end the secrecy of the Family Courts, and bring to an end targets for the numbers of children that must be taken into care, and end the penalties to Local Authorities who don’t seize enough children. And stop the secret imprisonment of parents who try to publicise their cases.
It is worse than outrageous what is happening.
LINK
85 - It is a sad day.
One of my specialities is working on cases involving corporate fraud.
Initially when this was mentioned a few years ago, the original premise was to have jury free trials, was because jurors cant deal with complex cases such as fraud, and justice cant be served.
Now, the reason has moved that Juries might get nobbled.
Absolute fcking disgrace.
Bradshaw to try to bribe voters with “free” sports on tv.
A decision on whether Ashes cricket returns to free-to-air television as one of British sport’s ‘crown jewels’ will be taken before the general election, the Government said on Tuesday.
Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has provisionally accepted the recommendations of an inquiry into TV sport led by David Davies, the former executive director of the Football Association.
His final decision on whether to accept new events on to the list of those which must be available for free will be made shortly after the consultation ends in March, junior minister Sion Simon told MPs.
http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=cricket/10/01/12/CRICKET_Ashes.html
TSE deaths are rare, BUPA is tiny compared to NHS. just because something hasn’t happened does not mean it won’t. Drugs get licensed because they seem safe (no deaths) in the 1500 people in whom they’ve been trialled, but once you expose a million people…
It’s simple statistics
183. Oracle
If all this Gordo releasing power spin is really true
How many times has Brown relinquished power to his underlings in the last 20 years?
How many times has Brown lied on behalf of his own interests?
If it walks like a duck….
He ain’t going to relinquish power to a bunch of no-hopers who likely would achieve a worse outcome at the GE (according to the polls) than he is.
89 In any case, if you have to cite citing Hitler automatically loses you the argument, you have lost the argument.
86 - If you find a BUPA A&E or Geriatric Ward, then you’ll have your answer.
Good Luck.
98 That doesn’t follow logically. But nice try MM.
t doesn’t get much worse. I planned my day around a delivery of organic food from the charming Abel&Cole.
Timed it all to perfection, or so I thought, only to see the van speed past my window shortly after 1pm on what I was told was “an eco-friendly route”. The delivery arrived after 2pm and delivered by a novice.
Is it any wonder then that I had a major domestic accident with my fridge door open , including a very fine borscht, so now my kitchen looks like a deleted scene from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Thank the Lord that Betfair is down is all that I can say.
I will reply when compos mentis.
97 - I don’t seriously believe it either, just saying if it did. All this faux collegiate style stuff is bound to end in tearing one way or another including yet another Mandy flounce.
tearing -> tears
101. Betfair is up !
Britain near top of Europe’s MRSA league
While Holland, along with Norway, has emerged as the nation with the lowest rate of MRSA in Europe, Britain has one of the highest, together with Cyprus, Malta and Portugal.
Grundmann, a consultant microbiologist, said the differing levels of cleanliness between Britain and Holland were apparent to anyone entering the hospitals. “In Dutch hospitals, you are struck by their modernity and the design of the wards. This translates into the ability to isolate patients in single rooms and there is certainly greater availability of beds,” he said.
“Levels of cleanliness in Britain are on the low side when compared to other European standards. Cleanliness explains only a proportion of the transmission of MRSA but it is important because it is a marker for diligence and commitment and shows that staff are taking their work seriously.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1329158.ece
105 (cont)
Grundmann said overcrowded British hospitals were a big contributor to infection. British hospitals have fewer single rooms and so isolating all infected patients is impossible. As a result, patients with MRSA need to be cared for on communal wards and risk passing on the bug.
He said the proximity of beds, the high percentage of beds occupied at any given time and the rapid turnover of patients fuelled the high rates of MRSA in British hospitals.
“The drive to bring down the waiting lists by increasing the number of interventions and reducing the average length of stay is not helpful. This imposes a lot of work on an already overburdened system and staff and this always results shortcuts in hygiene,” he said.
HL washing hands will help which is why my hospital is spending a fortune installing wash hand basins on every corridor. But will people use them?
As for BUPA you wouldn’t catch me having an operation there. Limited or no back-up if things go wrong.
100 Neither does yours.
“Warfare in the twentieth century was the most violent this planet has ever seen. Activities of idealogically driven men like Hitler, in harness with industrialised delivery of death, caused losses on a scale, at a speed, at a range that Genghis Khan could never have imagined.”
Which is now untrue, apparently, because I have used Hitler to support the argument.
105,6 I wonder, if the Tories win the next general election, are you going to keep posting negative articles? You seem to have rather bleak outlook on life Oracle.
94. TSE Agreed it is a f*cking disgrace. Once again we see this Government backing the convenience of the state over the best interests of the people.
This is what this scumbag sewer-dwelling Labour Government has dragged us down to. State sponsored Kangaroo Courts.
I only hope we see this facility used to try and convict members of the Labour Government and see them sentenced to life imprisonment for something they didn’t do!
People seem to be confusing hospital cleanliness with personal hygiene.
You’re unlikely to get MRSA from having dust under the bed, but you are at risk if, for instance, the staff don’t wash their hands, don’t wear surgical gloves and face-masks when changing dressings, and don’t arrange operating theatre lists so that the ‘dirty’ cases are done last.
It’s been many years since I was involved (in the NHS) in regularly screening all staff for nasties with nasal and ear swabs. Anyone found to be positive as a carrier was suspended until treated and cleared. Does the same happen these days?
110 - No, arrest them without charge and detain them for 90days would bea good start.
Oracle you’ve hit the nail on the head: isolation is the answer. Lots on single rooms don’t come cheap and reduce the profits for the shysters running the PFI contract.
Campbell going for the no score draw - no juice so far.
Big breaths and I’m only theventy.
I posted this morning while Betfair was down and the NOM market was 3.9-4.0. Since then the differentials have changed. I did post at the time that my bet was highly ‘untopical’ but nonetheless durable.
My idea was to get all the bad Tory scenarios out of the way at a one-stop shop to clear the decks for more Tory Backing.
tim’s neat arrangement is of a different variety. He pinpoints the *sensible* options for opposing the Tories whereas I can see how my scheme showed an immediate gain with the prospect of even bigger gains.
For example, taking the 11-4 for 324 and fewer and Backing a Tory Overall at 2-5 with W.Hill only leaves you with a hole at 325 EXACTLY.
I readily concede that this is not good enough but it does/did provide a fail-safe.
Nobody ever lost money following me. The downside is that quite often you don’t make any either.
66 - The BBC story actually says that O’Driscoll has been talking to Burnley, but it also says that Brian Laws has been talking to them too.
I tipped Laws on Saturday when he was 5-1 on Betfair. He was better than evens at some points over the weekend.
89: The expenses scandal came under FPTP and safe MPs were the worst offenders.
……………………………………. Jonathan.
Yes Jonathan, and you can imagine how much worse it will be under any form of proportional representation, were wheeling and dealing will preserve an MP’s place on a party list for a generation or more.
Just one example from Israel: Before he became president Shimon Peres was an MK (member of knesset) from1959 until 2008. That’s 49 years!
101 paddy power is down as well
109 - That is quite amusing coming from the man with the biggest chip on his shoulder posting on PB.
Is 105 a negative article? I would describe it more as a relevant article, given the current talk about scale of MRSA and reasons behind it.
As for bleak outlook on life, far from it. I am in the very fortunate position to be able to live and work pretty much anyway in the world I want to as any time, no reason to down about that.
I’m sure if I am still posting on PB.com (probably doubtful as expect to be leaving the country fairly soon) I have no problems at highlighting stupid Tory policy or decisions via press articles.
115. Indeed there has been a big move away from NOM on betfair today
from 3.9 > 4.2
Rod C must be filling his boots.
119 - That is quite amusing coming from the man with the biggest chip on his shoulder posting on PB.
I never knew Jonathan was a cybernat
Brilliant - newsreader has just said that Alistair Darling has defended everything he said about the Iraq dossier
MRSA and Labour working in partnership to reduce hospital waiting lists.
108 No, your statement is more sound than Boris’ because you are not cheaply trying to use loose association with Hitler to discredit something. If you are forced resort to such rhetorical tactics to make your point, it is a sign of weakness not strength. “Hitler wore trousers, ergo trousers are evil” is about the level of Boris’ sophistication here. I thought he was cleverer than that.
That said your statement still cannot be proven either, who knows what dreams Gengis had.
weathercock you obviously don’t know how STV works. Not a party list in sight.
107 BUPA would be fine for minor surgery, ie day case stuff. If it’s a big enough operation to require you to stay in then you’re better off elsewhere as you say.
111 It occasionally happens when someone thinks it would be a good idea and is swiftly abandoned when it becomes apparent that hospitals would grind to a halt.
113 Having enough isolation rooms/bays is definitely important, although having enough spare capacity to avoid hot bunking would be better. The current obsession with single rooms (most new builds I’ve seen seem to have mostly single rooms) makes nursing care/observations rather more difficult. Single rooms are great if you’re not very ill (or ar infectious/immunosuppressed) but of less use if 4 nurses have to look after 24 patients at once
121 TSE
With all these chips, a deep fried Mars bar is clearly required as well.
I guess b that personal hygiene levels have dropped.
Is there a cultural aspect to who has got MRSA?, as some groups tend to be a bit less washed than others. Particularly Glasgow’s cre labour voters.
124. ‘So Gengis, tell me about your mother.’
109,Jonathan,I enjoy oracles informative post,so we know now oracle,you hitting the nerve of the labour lemmings,keep it son
127 - As Frankie Boyle put it, Scotland would be buggered if you could deep fry whisky
119
109 - That is quite amusing coming from the man with the biggest chip on his shoulder posting on PB.
OI
I object. My chip is bigger than anyone’s
94. But juries do get nobbled, and put in serious fear and danger for absolutely no fault of their own. And nobbled juries are less likely to reach the right verdict than an unnobbled judge. And they had Diplock courts in Northern Ireland for years, which seemed to work fine. And the reason for trial by judge alone hasn’t “moved” - there are two quite separate (and both highly persuasive) reasons not to have a jury.
I have never been a juror myself (I got out of it twice by being a solicitor) but here is an anecdote from a friend of mine who was on a jury at Southwark Crown Court. Charge possessing heroin, defence that it was planted by police. Jury took two minutes to decide evidence was indeed planted, two hours debating whether defendant deserved to be fitted up, concluded 11-1 (my friend being the 1) that he did. Conviction on majority verdict, lengthy prison sentence. Good old British justice, eh?
Campbell now taking the ball into the corner flag - running down the clock.
A masterclass in evasion and distraction.
Questions have been cr@p though.
124, 129
119 “That is quite amusing coming from the man with the biggest chip on his shoulder posting on PB.”
Wow, that is quite an honour, considering the competition. Don’t be so modest, you are quite an accomplished McCain balancer yourself. Not just a leading globetrotter.
125
AJ is proposing AV+. Team Bunker are flirting with AV. So STV has nothing to do with it. Except to say that only some LDs could be gullible enough to fall for the AV gambit when they tell us they want STV.
125.. weathercock you obviously don’t know how STV works. Not a party list in sight.
by Chris A January 12th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
STV, the only voting system where one cannot tell if your man has won on the first ballot. We don’t need it Chris, It’s a bastard system contrived by bastards.
For me, the best bet clearly is to wage only on a Con Overall Majority.
It’s written in the sky as clearly as was the Obama victory.
Those closely following the tiny details of daily political events might have their doubts. Good! It gives me better odds.
But if one looks at the big picture from a little distance, and look at the trend since the last twelve months, it’s one bet that can’t miss the mark.
I’m disappointed. All this mention of chips, and not a word about enormo-haddock
Someone was impressed because Bet365 now go 9-4 Tory Seats 324 and fewer.
Betfair is indeed back up.
Sorry if I let anyone down. I had the best of intentions.
Are some of you actually watching the Chilcott whitewash?
139. betfair still has 1.39 on Con Maj - can’t see any better odds.
133 - I think my biggest fear from it all, is that judges have their own biases, which will be reflected in their verdicts.
I know one judge, who has a tendency to be very anti any barrister, who has non white pin stripes.
138. Much, much better than AV!
142 Listening to it - Campbell has played a blinder since lunch - his latest salvo is a command performance.
142. Its fascinating viewing - Campbell is like Collingwood in the last test match - no backlift and not a sniff of a wicket.
Chilcott and co are like a Club 2nd XI tossing up what they think are deadly deliveries but are infact just medium paced dibbly dobblers.
138 “It’s a bastard system contrived by bastards.”
And yet, it is pushed by the LibDems? How can this be?
142. astateofdenmark January 12th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
No I turned it off and listened to rage against the machine: Killing in the name of!
Cannot get the picture out of my mind of Brown flipping and saying F*ck you to his cabinet!
148 - Perhaps Nick Clegg will announce shortly, that they cant afford to implement it
148. Marquee Mark January 12th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Its looking like the 3 wheeler is going to be modified and a tank turret put on top as the yellow peril go into combat!
If they aren’t even getting even any past the edge of Campbell’s defensive bat, when Blair gets a go could turn into a classic Pietersen innings complete with reverse sweep 6’s.
152. There wont be a dry eye in the house when Saint Tone defends his martyrdom - pass the kleenex.
151 It’s a “battle bus” for our (recessionary) times…
weathercock if you exceed the quota on the first count, you’re elected - end of story. As I said you’re from Barcelona!
142 Yes. I’m not sure why I’m bothering though. The Inquiry is a complete waste of time. Still, watching Campbell in action simply reinforces the less than complimentary stories that have been written about him.
133: ‘…two hours debating whether defendant deserved to be fitted up, concluded 11-1 (my friend being the 1) that he did.’
Couldn’t your friend have told the judge about that and got a retrial?
152. In cricketing terms it will be like watching Sir Beefy at Headingly in 1981.
158 - First or Second Innings?
128. No cultural aspect SFAIK. Patients contract these infections inside hospitals much more frequently than outside, no matter what social/cultural group they belong to.
It’s a matter of transfer - from infected patients and from staff who may be carriers.
Bugs don’t give a damn how much money you’ve got, all they need is an opportunity.
gasman @ 126 makes a point, clearing up the sources of infection now would be a major undertaking. Way back when, we’d only get perhaps 2 or 3 carriers every time we screened, but now I dread to think what the figures would be, probably high enough to force ward closures. An example of prevention being better than cure. But enforcing a strict hygiene regime (with consequences for those ignoring it) would help.
152. whereas Brown would have insisted that the pitch was uncovered just to be different.
then the rain arrives and as it dries slowly, he is facing Underwood.
139. Philippe Magnan,
Further to yesterday’s discussion:
Surely one massive disadvantage of living in a one-party state like China is that there is no equivalent to Political Betting.com!
Interesting new development on climategate. Some bloke called Steve Mosher received the files on CD *several days* before the public leak. So not a hack by Russian Intelligence, almost certainly an insider.
Mosher is also an IT geek, so he’ll be suspected of being part of the internet spread of the files.
But who leaked? Someone at CRU? At the Uni? At the FOI office? Can the police now be called off to get on with something more important?
http://bigjournalism.com/pcourrielche/2010/01/12/peer-to-peer-review-part-iii-how-climategate-marks-the-maturing-of-a-new-science-movement/#more-2402
156 - did they cover Kelly ? I’ve only been able to watch a few sections.
161 He’ll cry “ball tampering” and take his bat home…
158. 2nd innings.
Brown will compare his role to Michael Vaughan in the Ashes 2006/7.
Bestplaced &153;
152. Oracle there is only one way to get the truth out of such accomplished
liarspoliticians and the US have banned it and we don’t support it(well officially anyway)……164 - More like he will try and tamper with the ball, get caught by the tv cameras who relay it to the umpires, and he will do a Pakistan and go and sulk in the dressing room refusing to play (even if it means losing the match and damaging his reputation further).
133: Constan Treader at 15:06
I think the annecdote from your friend is probably the best arguemnt in favour of jury trials I have heard. The jury decided on a matter of justice as they saw it and not the facts - it works for me.
Diplock courts did work in NI (there was not a 100% conviction rate) and I see no reason why they should not work in England when they are required. Of course if ever I am charged with an offence and can elect a trial by jury I most certainly will do so as there will be a much higher chance of getting off - having convinced the jury to believe in some load of old tosh of a defence - than under an experienced judge.
164 Kristin, I don’t know. I missed an hour this afternoon; there’s only so much of Campbell that an honest and sane human being can take.
34.Mike, I agree with you about it still not being certain that Brown will lead the Labour party into the GE. And the first part of the MoS serialisation of Watt’s book, where he described the run up to the bottled 2007 Autumn GE confirms my view that he could still go before the GE.
167 Do we get a trophy?
166 - Please don’t mention the Ashes of 2006/07. I’m still trying to repress that, especially my trip to Adelaide.
174. Its up there with Brown’s term as PM in our countrys history.
175 - I still have nightmares
171 - thanks EdP - I hear what you are saying. The man’s a creep.
157. Don’t know, never done criminal law. What I do know is that it is illegal to disclose such details in the press because it would “undermine confidence in the system” or something - which is about the single most illiberal law I can think of.
Trial without jury is apparently OK for Paddies and shoplifters. It is the norm in civil proceedings - and civil courts can mess you about just as much as criminal ones by for instance bankrupting you and taking your children away. I don’t therefore see that a couple off further, well thought out exceptions should be seen as a constitutional outrage.
175 was that the 9 wickets for 50 runs collapse on the final day one ? lol.
John Rentoul not impressed by BBC coverage. Surprised Timmy Thicket isn’t telling us all about Norm Baker’s appearance.
http://indyeagleeye.livejournal.com/90810.html
166. No Brown is more like Chris Tavare.
166. I have Brown down, in cricketing terms, as more Peter Such than Michael Vaughan.
179 - Yes. First Innings we scored, 551/6, Aussies 513 all out.
Second Innings, dawdling on for a draw, we were 69/1, then 129 all out.
It was a dash for the cliff, that would have left lemmings panting for breath.
182 - didn’t Vaughan win more test matches than any other England captain?
184. Very possibly. Brown’s equivalent as a captain? Tricky one - John Emburey perhaps?
Talking of Cricket:
Government debate over free-to-air Ashes cricket to be concluded soon
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jan/12/ashes-crown-jewels-decision-after-election
184. MPV sat out injured the entire Oz Ashes series hence took none of the flak. Exactly what Broon will do re Iraq.
“I only signed the cheques - I was too busy creating a boom economy which started in No 11″
I think during the summer we established that
Tony Blair = Robin Smith (fantastic average/majority at the start of their careers, but their careers were fatally damaged by spin)
and that
Gordon Brown = Graeme Hick, a flat track bully.
Re 186 Now I doubt that the Murdochs are going to be happy with the decision…..
185.
I would say Brown as a cricketer would embody:
* The captaincy of Freddy Flintoff
* The bowling of Geraint Jones
* The fielding of Monty Panesar
* The batting of Sir Phil Tufnell
I would have Gordo down as Mark Butcher as England Captain, Test Match record, played 1 lost 1 and a lefty to boot
190 - And the umpiring ability of Daryl Harper?
Boris is spot on in criticising PR, especially the way party list systems entrench the power of parties against the people. What he misses is that FPTP already *is* a party list system: it’s just a list with 1 entry where voters only get to choose one candidate!
Personally, I’d like to see the current voting system replaced by approval voting (or something STV-a-like maybe, but I suspect that’s too complicated) within the existing constituency system. That gives us the best of the current system: local MP, plus the amplification of the outcome which FPTP gives us, combined with a vastly improved ability to ‘kick the bums out’ without voters having to hold their noses and vote for candidates they’re ideologically opposed to.
191 - But Mark Butcher played a phenomenal innings of 173 not out in the ashes of 2001.
An innings and match that ensured that I lost 6grand instead of 8 grand on the spreads.
194 - Gordo has had some good moments too, especially on flat tracks. But when asked to captain the team, it didn’t quite go to plan, and career went down hill rapidly at end.
Betting on Will Hill
I’ve only made one single chez William Hill. I had wired the money to their bank, and they wired my winnings back to my bank.
Now, I’ve tried to bet on Con Overall Majority @ 2-5.
First, I upload CAD 1000. Bet it; no problem.
One minute later, I upload CAD 10 000, try to bet it. And can not.
I log on their 24/7 on-line chat support to ask why:
Philippe Magnan: Hi, I can’t bet on *Next General Election Result – Conservative Majority @ 2/5*
Philippe Magnan: I just uploaded CAD 10000, and would like to bet it now.
Mary A: May I know what error message are you getting?
Philippe Magnan: *Your stake is greater than the maximum allowed. Please review your bet slip.*
Philippe Magnan: It makes no sense — I’ve only waged a meager CAD 1000 already…
Mary A: With regard to your concern, I checked that there is a restriction in your account set by our Traders.
Philippe Magnan: Why?
Philippe Magnan: Have I been a bad boy?
Mary A: I am sorry but we don’t have any information about it.
Philippe Magnan: oh….
Philippe Magnan: Can you uplift this restriction please?
Mary A: Do you want them to discuss it to you? We can forward your concern to them so that they can call you about it.
Mary A: You just have to give me your phone number and the convenient time.
So I’ waiting for their call.
Anybody had a similar experience. Will Hill is a huge bookie, and I’ve read in the newspapers of bets of more than 100k waged on politics with them — so how come my measly 10k was rejected on this huge market?
Campbell is shockingly spinning at the inquiry - they cannot help themselves can they?
There Campbell is trying to massage and inflate the Blairreputation at an inquiry into the validity of going to war as they did.
Really Campbell and Co. should be led away in handcoughs rather than being allowed to go home and continue their lives in luxery whilst injured troops live on limited means.
196
your definition of measley has cheered me up no end 
196. Have you been winning again ? You naughty boy.
re 196. I’m lucky if I can get £5 on now with Hills.
195. In terms of ineffectual spin you could have Brown as Pat Pocock or Eddie Hemmings as well…
151 - conventional modus operandii don’t suit, Martin. Since Paddy we’ve taken a leaf out of his namesake’s (Lt Col Mayne) book.
Idle thought and armchair psychology whilst baking cookies…. but hasn’t something changed since the Bower book? The 2007 non election.
Gordon does nobbling, hiding, running etc away behind the scenes so no-one knows he hasn’t an ounce of courage [or at least no one who will critisise him] and so his delusions about himself go on unchallenged.
There’s plenty to suggest he has an issue with courage [or losing face to be more precise] but that deep down, he knows it. He writes books on courage because its something he aspires to have. He wants to see himself as strong and capable and he wants others to see him that way to. He wants to be the subject of one of his books.
It can’t be lost on him that after 2007 the assessment of him stepping down at the last minute will not be left to his coterie.
Abandoning the 2007 election felt like the actions of a coward and he didn’t like it. He can’t face the reactions of others which might confirm to him his cowardice and so he compounded his weakness in in the method of announcement.
He reacted very badly at PMQs to the charges of cowardice. He couldn’t cope because it was true and he knew it. He chose to blame others, make excuses but no one was fooled. Least of all him and it hurt. He has been on the ropes at PMQs before and since but it was this charge and this alone that saw him shake and lose control. We have demanded Cameron repeat the prefromance many times since but hasn’t. That day he has him by his achilles heel.
He won’t realise he’s on a hiding to nothing until the campaign is well underway. At the moment he is waving his delusions in everyone’s face. ['I have always been a fighter!' Yes mate, behind the scenes with a dagger behind someone's back and in someone else's hand.] But he really wants to believe this horse poo.
When he moment comes will he think after 2007 that he can bottle another election and tell big fat porkies to Nanny Mar with more success than last time?
He must know that if he fails to convince, the critisisms will be reinterated. This time it will be the last chapter, the conclusion. And someone else will be writing the book on this infamous control freak.
The man is no economist. But he is a historian; a cowardly historian.
Of course he could be as crap a judge of history as he is of economics.
Enough of being in Gordon’s head. Shudder.
Re MRSA in NHS/Bupa, isn’t this just like the state/private school thing earlier? The patients at Bupa hospitals are more likely to be well off and hence have a healthier lifestyle. There could be just as much MRSA there but they’re less likely to be affected. So, basically, we can blame NHS MRSA on the poor
197 - Campbell this afternoon vs Cameron yesterday.
Same material.
Same arguments.
Both correct.
Campbells presentation slightly better.
Oh eck,
I’ve just received an email about ‘your new life in New Zealand’
Either my girlfriend is trying to tell me something or she’s planning something extreme!
Or I’m being spammed. But it’s only half an hour since she told me she’s signed up for RWC 2011 tickets.
From Waugh’s twitter
Campbell on why CShort was not in inner circle. Some in Cabinet were of “variable competence, variable trustworthiness”
200 — I see. I’ll send my Avatar on a mission then!
MRSA & the NHS
Gasman and Chris A, you chaps appear to be professionals but you are both asking me to believe that having a hip-replacement is safer in a NHS hospital, such as the Sussex County than in a private hospital such as the Princess Grace. Gents, that doesn’t make any sense.
The Sussex County is a sh*t pit, with some very, very poor nursing/cleanliness/care standards - I wouldn’t voluntarily go back in there unless I had no other choice.
196. Max takeout of £75 for me. They also operate a rather shadey practise of referring a bet to a trader for at times 2 or 3 minutes before coming back offering both a lower stake and lower price!!
Gordon Brown = Geoffrey Boycott - a brief and unmissed time at the helm during which he was despised by colleagues for stubbornness, arrogance, an over-inflated view of his own abilities and the tendency to perform for self-aggrandisement rather than the interests of the team.
209 - Mad people have major ops in BUPA Hospitals.
No back up.
Although not quite as mad as those who have babies in the Portland Hospital.
Thats seriously deranged.
Anecdote alert. Just had a chat with a chum at a FTSE 100 company - they are finalising their redundancies today…
203 Great post.
211: tim @16:05
So sane people have major ops in hospitals that are filthy, where the nurses ignore them when they are throwing up uncontrolably, and where they can not eat for five days without anyone noticing.
Your definition of sanity is somewhat suspect.
209, 211 - tim, perhaps you haven’t seen the NHS hospitals we have in Sussex. No sane person, given any choice, would enter the Kent & Sussex in Tunbridge Wells, for example.
There is now, at last, a shiny new hospital (all single rooms, I understand) being built in Pembury, but in the meantime falling ill here is not a good option.
OT http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jan/12/radio-1-newsbeat-bnp
“The BBC has admitted it Radio 1 was not tough enough when it interviewed two senior British National Party members who said footballer Ashley Cole was “not ethnically British”.
The BBC’s editorial complaints unit has ruled that the programme should not have allowed the pair to appear anonymously, and should have more strongly challenged their concept of British ethnicity…”
211: Wheres the backup if something goes wrong in a NHS hospital?
213 ty.
Cookies done. One lot of peanut butter and choc chip and one raisin and oat. Smell delicious. Thinking about Gordon may have it’s uses?
Bye for now.
Keeping ward clean? Modern hospitals struggle to even keep their operating theatres sterile. And as for MRSA screening - so many staff would require to be sent home that the wards would have to close down.
How about Gordo as Heath Davis.
Had a fearsome reputation as one of the fastest bowlers in the world when he came to England with New Zealand in the 90’s.
He became a laughing stock, and was always short of confidence, after bowling his first ball so wide it missed the cut strip and bowling 14 no-balls in over. He continued to struggle the rest of his career with wides and no-balls. Whenever he managed to improved his rhythm, he would strive for extra pace and completely lose control setting him back to square one.
Very unfair on Hick to be linked to Gordon, even if just in an analogy. But after his stout performance on schools this afternoon, Could Southam Observer = Mike Gatting, “One rule for one, one for another”,
211 tim, back to one of your old favourites. Don’t you have any new material?
218 Damn, they smell good.
Can I put in an order for some choc chip and raisin?
“Personally, I’d like to see the current voting system replaced by approval voting (or something STV-a-like maybe, but I suspect that’s too complicated) within the existing constituency system.”
Are you a LibDem? Approval Voting within the existing constituency system would see the LibDems win almost every seat!
212 - Oh dear. A lot?
215 And Eastbourne DGH has an infamous record too.
http://www.bexhillobserver.net/eastbourne-news/Eastbourne-DGH-described-as-pretty.5966281.jp
08 January 2010
By Sarah Marshall
EASTBOURNE District General Hospital (DGH) has been described as ‘pretty poor’ following an independent report which gives the hospital a score of three out of five for patient safety.
A recently published guide called ‘How Safe is Your Hospital?’ shows that, when compared with other hospital trusts, the East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs both the DGH and the Conquest Hospital in Hastings, has a patient safety record of just 43.15 out of 100 for the year 2008/2009.
The Dr Foster survey, which gathered the information for the guide, measured aspects that affect patient safety, clinical effectiveness and patient experience by looking at statistics including medical mistakes, hospital acquired infection rates, mortality rates and re-admissions.
Of potential concern to people in Eastbourne, the report found the number of people who die at the DGH is higher than the national average. It was also criticised for not providing round-the-clock palliative care, concentrating on reducing the severity of symptoms, rather than striving to halt or reverse the progression of a disease…”
So that’s all right then.
212. Marquee Mark January 12th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
Does not surprise me one bit!
The economy is absolutly still on its knees and likely to get worse again. I notice oil is around $80 P/B plus we have of course lower sterling to the dollar and higher tax. No feel good factor at the moment!!!!
This bad weather is going to eat into disposable income as folk heat their houses more, maybe instead of driving the car!
One for SallyC:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5thpdEEE-DE
227 I won’t name the company, but they employ a lot of people.
Naughty naughty,
http://order-order.com/2010/01/12/a-new-low-for-bad-al/
229. BT ?
Gordon Brown gambles on radical election manifesto
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23794217-gordon-brown-gambles-on-radical-election-manifesto.do
According to this the big Brown idea at the centre of Labour’s manifesto is swapping the deckchairs on the Titanic whilst it sinks (i.e. voting reform).
ROFLMAO don’t these dumb self-abusers get it. There is a f*cking recession going on and if politicians don’t fix it, it doesn’t matter what f*cking voting system they have because no f*ckers are going to vote for them!
Apologies - Rant Over………
231 What’s your game - 100 questions?!?
(But no! Although that doesn’t mean BT aren’t. Just that I have no knowledge.)
No further corresponence will be entered into on this subject.
232 - so his big plan is to re-announce stuff he already announced at conference, to which the collective response was a big ‘meh’?
229 Hmm. Comms and banking must be finding it tough.
233. It would only have to be 99 questions
Simple question, Labour. Why have you not done all this radical stuff during the past 13 years?
234 - What do you expect some sort of grand vision? Remember he just makes it up as he goes along, and then re-announces it!
ARS Polls
In an attempt to look at regional variation among a very consistent GB total, here are the regional results for the last 6 polls.
Cons/LAB/LD/ with the Nats separate.
Please excuse if the Tabs do not hold.
Region Jan10 Dec18 Dec 10 Nov 24 Nov 9 Oct 27
GB 40/24/20; 40/24/20; 40/23/19; 39/22/21; 38/24/20; 40/23/20
Londn 38/28/20; 43/27/18; 39/24/21; 41/26/24; 35/30/23; 40/25/20
RoS 50/15/21; 48/18/21; 46/17/23; 46/15/22; 46/17/22; 45/17/25
M&W 45/25/16; 47/20/17; 43/20/17; 45/28/19; 41/23/15; 46/22/17
PC: 4/3/4/3/5/3.
North 33/28/25; 33/31/23; 37/26/19; 31/28/23; 32/27/24; 37/29/20
Scot; 16/34/18; 18/37/15; 14/42/7; 18/33/16; 21/32/11; 20/29/16
SNP 21/25/33/25/27/26
237 - to busy getting on with the job and making the right decisions for the country. Duh
230. Bravo to Guido!!!!
It will be a vote on a vote on a referendum on voting reform.
200,196 Indeed, sometimes I’ve been limited to £2 or less! It’s pathetic, as the second largest bookie in the UK, it’s high time they acted as such. If one tried to bet £2 with them on a racecourse, they’d probably tell you it was below their minimum stake.
239 Those splits - better in January for Labour in London, the Midlands and Wales, worse in the south - suggest that although the headline number is the same, Labour would probably lose less seats than in December.
243 Try greyhounds in that case - bets of 10p are common
UK ban on US shock jock Mike Savage ‘to stay in place’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8454769.stm
246 WTF? The Home Office has gone mad. Serious popcorn time for the US media.
226 - Did that research take into account the towns age profile?
Over a quarter of people who die in Eastbourne are over 90
232 Gordon Brown gambles on radical election manifesto
Oh goody, let’s hope Gulags for Slags makes a reappearance (or has it already been implemented as promised?)
210 Woody - The other major beef I have with Hills are the supposed bets offered via their Press Office. These are never available online (why not?) and one sometimes has to call severaldifferent numbers to find someone who can help you and then more often than not either the particular market is no longer available or the odds have shortened.
On the issue of constitutional reform, here’s a question that has been bugging me:
When Gordon entered Downing Street, he proposed a package of constitutional reforms (called the Constitutional Renewal Bill, or something similar). IIRC, one of the proposals was that the PM’s right to seek a dissolution of Parliament would be ended, and the House of Commons would have to vote to dissolve itself (unless the Parliament expired under the Septennial Act).
Has this reform been passed? If not, why not? It would do nothing to tie Gordon’s hands at the moment (he could just whip MPs to vote for a dissolution when he decided to go to the country), but it would become very important in a hung Parliament, because it would prevent a PM from calling a snap election (a la Wilson in 1974) to win an overall majority. That would greatly strengthen Labour’s position if, as many expect, the next election results in a minority Conservative government.
Hills are notorious for limiting to peanuts. You also probably tripped an automatic warning bell by betting on a niche market - they get caned on a lot of these because their traders are lazy.
248 The Eastbourne DGH is my local hospital and treats patients way beyond their immediate postcode. I’ve lived here for more than a decade and am very familiar with their performance.
Stick to pontificating about your own patch - today, you’ve already called it wrong on potty trained kids - to save your embarrassment, I won’t mention your NewsSense track record.
Campbell on the stand: fascinating signs that the inquiry wasn’t buying it
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewgilligan/100022055/campbell-on-the-stand-fascinating-signs-that-the-inquiry-wasnt-buying-it/
232. Hasn’t voting reform and house of lords reform been in Labours last three manifesto’s? And this is supposed to be “radical?”
Do they mention the most undemocratic part, the House of Lords. If not it’s all fluff and has nothing to do with democracy.
253 - I’ll take that as a don’t know shall I?
248: What point are you making, tim? If someone is over 90, it don’t matter if they die of MRSA in a hospital or malnutrition because the nurses can’t be bothered to feed them?
I suspect that like everything else Gordon has created, this “radical” Manifesto will stand up like a souffle in a winter storm…
Japan is dooomed..
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/ambroseevans-pritchard/100002951/a-global-fiasco-is-brewing-in-japan/
@251:
The constitutional renewal bill has been stuck in draft stage since 2007. The government has given it no parliamentary time, so it will almost certainly prorogue.
Re 239.
In a similar vain to financiers post I have collated and consolidated the regional figures for the polls from December and those published so far in January and come up with some rough averages of the regional splits (17 polls).
North
Con 32
Lab 36
LD 19
Oth 13
Midlands
Con 45
Lab 27
LD 16
Oth 12
South
Con 47
Lab 21
LD 20
Oth 12
London (11 polls)
Con 40
Lab 30
LD 18
Oth 12
Scotland (13 polls)
Con 19
Lab 34
LD 14
Oth (SNP etc.) 23
It is a simplistic poll of poll approach (all caveats apply) but it does give a flavour of the sort of regional variances there are.
I see tim had to fall back on lazy inaccirate sterotypes when he has nothing else.
257 No, you are asserting crap as fact. Simples.
As a matter of interest, does anyone know when Labour’s manifesto is due to be published. If within the next 6 weeks, that’s rather early for a May GE is it not?
258 - Simply asking Plato whether the report of the report she posted took into account the age profile in its mortality stats.
In the same way that a report on a cardiac surgeon for example needs to look at the type of patient they are dealing with before the assesment of the mortality rate after their operations mean anything.
247-Welcome to Labour’s police state. Of course had he been invited by Red Ken to promote suicide bomining and death to non-Muslims then there would have been no problem whatsoever.
Did we get a plausible explanation as to the discrepancy in infection rates in the UK and Netherlands?
232.”According to this the big Brown idea at the centre of Labour’s manifesto is swapping the deckchairs on the Titanic whilst it sinks (i.e. voting reform).”
Reading that interesting Crick article someone linked to yesterday, haven’t they dithered over this for too long, and now left it to late for it to fly as a serious option at the end of this Parliament? And this after 13 years in Office, it seems clear that some of the most ardent opposition in the PLP comes from those in their safest seats, so going to be even harder for this one to fly?
And because of that, any manifesto promises will be seen as a simple cynical attempt to woo voters away from the Libdems?
Boris was on great form with that speech up thread.
Did you see the TERMINATOR? Well the world where the TERMINATOR comes from is getting nearer.
This is for all those military fans:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126325146524725387.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories
268 - Britain near top of Europe’s MRSA league
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1329158.ece
269-Wasn’t it trailed a few months ago. Then it too had the life expectancy of a housefly. Albeit one that never quite goes away. A bit like a bad smell. A bit like Labour actually.
BTW, really what is with the BBC quotation marking everything,
‘Britons kidnapped’ in Nigeria oil city
Maybe the editors should pay a visit to,
http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/
251.”Has this reform been passed? If not, why not?”
Because Brown soon got bored with it and dropped it, or so I read recently. I think it was all part of the Brownite ‘change’ theme back when he succeeded from Blair, it was never going to fly because a politician like Brown would never hand over that control. That is not to say that many others would have either mind you. I think constitutional reform became a bit like fox hunting for Downing Street.
260 On the “Japan is doomed” theme:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8453398.stm
271 Indeed - commonsense prevails.
The same is true with cat litter - busy trays spread infections, upset tummies and transmit a rare but fatal condition called FIP.
My home hygiene regime is very strict.
@273:
BBC News Online has suffered from Irritable Scare Quote Syndrome for years.
The current front page has, by my count, TWENTY TWO scare quotes.
It drives me f*cking mad.
Is it just me or does headlines like, “Government holds Salt Summit”, sound horribly like UnderPants man and his Cones Hotline?
does -> do
265.Peter, I am pretty sure that Labour are very much at the start of writing the finalised manifesto after last week’s failed coup. Reading up on some of the briefings, its clear that Straw was concerned about the state of this situation, as well as there being no nailed on date for the GE as yet.
Are we expecting Comres tonight?
262. Martin Coxall - thanks, I should have kept up to date with it, but I haven’t.
279. To be fair, I think Gordon’s joke about sending Hoon and Hewitt down the salt mines at last night’s PLP was one of his better ones…
279 - at least the Cones Hotline was said to be a partial success… albeit that its aspirations were modest.
Handbags at dawn in the Grit Wars is it?:
Lib Dems and Labour at war over grit supplies
http://www.harrowobserver.co.uk/west-london-news/local-harrow-news/2010/01/12/lib-dems-and-labour-at-war-over-grit-supplies-116451-25584583/
Will someone lose their Teather or will it Dawn on someone ‘to get a grit’ on the situation?
269 - The research posted by Oracle is three years old, some of which has been overtaken by research on cleaning as was poosted above.
Here is the latest and largest study by the Dutch Reseach Team
ScienceDaily (Jan. 12, 2010) — A new study finds that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) -responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections including blood poisoning and pneumonia and a particular problem in hospitals — occurs in distinct geographical clusters across Europe, indicating that MRSA is being diffused by patients moving between hospitals rather than spreading freely in the community.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100111211257.htm
Here is the spatial map of the clusters.
http://www.spatialepidemiology.net/SRL-Maps/maps/
279. Is the summit regarding salting the earth of the Uk economy so it is barren for 10 years ? If so - mission accomplished.
283 - If only it was a joke, they are holding a second Salt Summit, or as they call it Salt Cell, today I believe.
282. Don’t know are we?
I think Brent have done pretty well to be honest. Considering we’ve had so much snow, the roads have been kept moving.
Not surprised supplies are running low, 10 days of gritting needed is damn unusual in central(ish) London.
284 I still recall listening to Chris Tarrant calling the Cones Hotline live on air - it was one of the best bit of radio I’ve ever heard.
My bet highlighted by Mike Smithson @ 11-4 for CON Seats 324 or fewer is now 2-1 with Bet365 !
This was not one of my finer hours but the bookie thinks it was.
288. I’d treat it with a pinch of salt. It’s likely to be as flat as the last one.
292 - My bet highlighted at 11 is still available!
293 - I’m sure there will be a lot of movers and SHAKERS there, begging for supplies through GRINDED teeth.
I’ll get my coat
Completely O/T
Does anyone agree with me that Amazon has lost it’s price edge over recent months? I sensed this about 6 months ago when we had to buy a Dyson Vacuum cleaner and found the model much cheaper in Sainsburys.
At the weekend, Her Indoors succeeded in breaking her trusty 8 year old Steam Iron and selected a new Tefal jobbie online from Amazon’s large selection priced at £40. She decided however that she needed to ensure that it “felt right” so off we trouped to Comet for said “feel”, only to discover that their price for the identical iron was 37.5% cheaper, at £25.
I had previously come to expect, assume even, that Amazon could not be beaten on price, but evidently this is no longer the case.
We shall certainly do the price comparisons in future.
284. The benchmark for pointlessness and futility set by the cones hotline has been surpassed many times under the Brown regime - during some periods, on a daily basis.
290 - I saw a confused Kirstie Allsopp this morning asking why you couldn’t use Maldon Sea Salt.
Can Marquee Mark give us a bit of a clue which ’sector’ that FTSE-100 company which is planning redundancies is in ??
My guess is that it is Lloyds Banking Group, since the Santander re-brand has shown, they are swift on their feet in leveraging savings from integrating three brands into one ‘offer’.
So LloydsTSB/Halifax/BOS will be playing catch-up, and my guess is that others in the banking sector will be looking for a major shakeout to re-build their balance sheets.
Of course the recovery of their share price, on which so much of the directors’ personal wealth depends is just a side-issue…
297 - indeed.
296.Peter, I never buy electrical goods from Amazon, usually managed to get cheaper elsewhere. Tend to restrict myself to any good deals in their music/books/games departments. And sometimes even then, its the convenience of shopping online with them that I like.
294. 4.1 on NOM at betfair is avail (£619 worth - nearly into Philipes range…)
Con majority 1.4
@296:
Subscribe to Amazon Prime. It’s brilliant. Free delivery, reduced price, and Amazon’s ridiculously huge range of ALL THINGS.
What you need to watch out for is that lot of items in Amazon’s database aren’t in fact sold by Amazon, but one of its affiliates, using the unified frontend. There’s no guarantee that they’ll be any cheaper than the High Street.
263 Re regional swings.What significant actual variations were there in regional swings beteen 2001 and 2005?
282. Scrapheap
Last ComRes/Indy poll was 20th of December. The last Mori and last ICM/Guardian were both 13th December. Whether the latter are due I do not know but they would seem potentially more likely than the Comres poll for this week.
It must be also getting close to a ComRes/IOS and Yougov/Sunday Times poll as well this weekend?
For electronics: you want Ebuyer, Dabs or Overclockers.
Also, the supermarkets have some great online deals these days.
YouGov/Suday Times will be this weekend. ICM/Guardian probably on Monday. You never know about the ComRes polls….
From Muckguire,
“Alastair Campbell looks a lot older but the Iraq spin’s from earlier years. Grim reminder of the worst of the Blair era”
Good job it is all has been much better under your man Brown…
303/6 - Another PB first, my own gay personal shopper.
306 - I always find it hard to beat those 3 on price and service.
@309:
First? Yeah, right.
304.
SW -1.4
Yorks/Humber -1.1
Scotland -0.8
NE -0.7
NW -0.5
E Mids -0.1
Wales 0
W Mids 0
Eastern 1.1
London 1.8
where negative is better for Labour
312. sorry missed out
SE 0.4
286: tim at 17:12
What do you think that map you linked to shows?
bristol city council were running out of salt, http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Bristol-council-leader-praises-public-doing-bit-grit-stocks-run-low/article-1699376-detail/article.html
meanwhile stakhanovite like efforts have been made by heroic teams of highways agency gritters are shown on state tv clearing a path for determined motorists, unfortunately the musical soundtrack from the muppets was removed, pity that the link roads b roads and side streets are left to the ravages of the ice. Pravda cannot or won’t find council leaders to ask which lessos were leart from feb snow.
i wonder if the ice is going to hang around long enough to stop me reaching the fracture clinic.
thankfully there is no pain but sleeping in a sitting position is not too easy.
rant over,
304.
Regional swings are for leaky anoraks. There is far more variation between swing sizes in neighbouring constituencies within regions than there is between averages in arbritary artificial regions. It would be just as (more?) sensible to consider alphabetical swings.
Quentin Davies’ niece:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8455099.stm
I’m after an induction hob [fitted into 40mm worktop]
Any suggestions for supplier range?
306.”Also, the supermarkets have some great online deals these days.”
Martin, I agree. Went to one of those compare the price sites a while ago and got the best electrical bargain I have ever found with the Co-op, and their after care was great too.
@317:
Send her to the (bell) tower!
304. Rogerh
The information of the regional changes for 2001-2005 is here (page 13 onwards):
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2005/RP05-033.pdf
Just briefly looking at it it seems the swings were something in the order of:
Scotland, SW, NE, NW 1.5%-2.5% Lab to Con
Wales & E & W Midlands 3% Lab to Con
SE & Eastern 3.5% - 4% Lab to Con
London 5% Lab to Con
299 Eric - NOT banking….
And that really is it!
317 Many years and what a sorry tale for all involved.
Don’t be so competititive,tim. Your bet is no better than mine was, merely more *focussed*.
But as we are being picky, I can beat (take a better price) than your 13-2 every working day ! I just beat your 10-1 as well but only for pennies.
296 - admittedly I’m in the US, but amazon is always a good first stop, to get a guideline price. It may well not be whom I purchase from, but they tend (here at least) to be pretty sharp.
The best deals I find in DVDs are from Amazon.co.uk, where they are frequently cheaper than here, and my usual discount is 50-70%
Unlike Gordon Brown with his Obama gift I have solved the Region 2 / Region 1 problem.
Are they the sort that cook you finger if you are wearing rings?
318. Induction Hob.
My DeDietrich gave out one month after the 3-year warranty.
Spares were impossible. No help offered from DeDietrich. I chucked it and bought a cheapo unbranded job on eBay to replace it. If that gives out in 3 years, then replacing it will seem such a swindle.
327 “NOT such a swindle” !!!!!
326/327 Um yes. I’ve bought £300 of pans suitable for induction power and my kitties have buggered my lovely ceramic hob [they turned it on and zapped wiring before Xmas]
I want to fry an egg again
327.For spares, the wee electrical shop situated near the flat we had when we got married 20 years ago is still unbeatable, even in the internet age. Can get a part from anywhere with amazing speed.
Right, the Arctic weather is officially over in my patch for the moment. Leo my little Persian cat has finally ventured out in the garden for the first time in two weeks, the other cat is still not speaking to me after I prevented him from going out on some of the coldest nights. No way was I letting him out in -18 temperatures.
314 - What it says.
Staphylococcal Reference Laboratories Maps, which enables you to map the different MRSA strains across Europe.
Catching up on the Campbell appearance at the Chilcott inquiry today, oh to be a fly on the wall of some of our newspaper and TV newsrooms.
331 Mine are more pathetic - little ones aren’t allowed out but escape when they can [around midnight and get rescued] and the big ones know better [and use the cat flap] so poo in the house
Good to see the BBC is at least making Alistair Campbell the lead story on the Six O’Clock News.
Re 321 and 263.
Comparing the current average figures with the equivalent general election figures from 2005 it suggests the following sort of swings:
North 8% swing from Lab to Con
Midlands 13% swing from Lab to Con
South 7.5% swing from Lab to Con
London 8.5% swing from Lab to Con
Scotland 4% swing from Lab to Con (7.5% swing from Lab to SNP)
Libdem shares are down across the board as well and the general swing seems to be around 6% from Libdem to Con (7.5% in the Midlands)
ChristinaD - Reading Paul Waugh’s blog gives a bit of an insight into the ‘fly-on-the-wall’ stuff.
Good to see that for all the faults of Campbell’s appearance he was not backward about coming forward in connection to pointing the finger of involvement at Gordon Brown…
Which begs the question why GB thought getting rid of Tony Blair was the answer to their Iraq unpopularity in the opinion polls…
Oh, hang on…
334.Been having to clean a daily litter tray for the last couple of weeks, usually it can go days without use. Don’t envy you the daily job you must have.
336 jsfl, I believe that there was actually a swing to Labour in the East Midlands in 2005. If that unwinds and the rest, then we may see some spectacular Tory gains in the East Midlands (sorry Nick!)
337.”Which begs the question why GB thought getting rid of Tony Blair was the answer to their Iraq unpopularity in the opinion polls…”
Something tells me that if Blair was still PM, we would not be having this inquiry at this time while he was still serving, and certainly not right before the last moment the government can call a GE.
332: Tim @ 18:04
“… which enables you to map the different MRSA strains across Europe.”
Really? So there have been no MRSA cases in the greater London Area? Indeed, according to you, in the SE of England only Southampton, Portsmouth and Ashford have had cases of MRSA, and less than 10 in each case.
Sometimes I think you really haven’t got a clue and post random garbage for the fun of it.
339, let us hope we see an extraordinary swing in Morley & Outwood. Throwing the likes of Balls out of the Commons will draw a little poison from Parliament.
Can we now desist with the kitty litter tales? With Ali Campbell on the news…there’s only so much sh*t a man can take.
322 - Marquee Mark. Many thanks.
My point was around the fact that even after your tip-off, I think the job losses in banking and even workaday companies like Marks and Sparks are nowhere near over now that unemployment is still rising.
So your update is important news as it is quite alarming that other sectors are affected. We will watch this space with interest.
343.
U R Mark Oaten and I claim my UKP5.
343.
U R Mark 0aten and I claim my UKP5.
Dutch find war illegal
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6984753.ece
342 - Balls is not a House of Commons man. He works his black magic outside of the confines of Parliament. His poison can be spread whether he is an MP or not. I am sorry to say.
343.Sorry Simon.
340- ChristinaD - It will be interesting to see whether, after AC pushed much of the blame/responsibility onto John ‘Single Pen’ Scarlett [!] whether Tony Blair takes the view that Gordon Brown is now expendable and is going to lose the election anyway, and so there is not anything to be gained by protecting him at all, and sharing some of the, er, ‘guilt’ around…
339. MM
East Midlands figures for 2005 showed Conservative share down 0.2% from 2001 and the Labour share down was down by 6.1%. By my calculations that is a 2.95% swing from Lab to Con….
http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2005/RP05-033.pdf
(see page 22)
341 - If you’d read the first link I posted you’ll see its a research project into different strains of MRSA and how they spread.
Not a log of all cases.
349.Eric, I think that is a very good point to make. There was never going to be a good time for some to appear in front of any further inquiries, but for Brown, this could not come at a worst time just before the GE.
David Blackburn at the Coffee House Blog - Just like old times
The article also links to this blog post by James Kirkup at the Telegraph, worth a read. Iraq inquiry: Alastair Campbell sets himself up for a fall
351: tim @ 18:25
So the map doesn’t show what you said it does at 332 and you were talking nonsense. Ok, thanks for the confirmation.
351. Gosh, you’re a busy man today tim. I don’t know how you find the time. Loved your little reference to Cameron above. btw - I’d like a bit of help. OGH (upthread) continues his theme that Brown may not fight the election. However, I feel almost certain he will. He may have been a coward all his life, but even the most cowardly can become quite brave when someone is pointing a gun at their head. This after all, is it. After the election (presumed lost) Brown is finito. He has nothing left to lose. Do you agree with me? I’m hoping I might entice OGH into a small wager on this one - not something I normally do but I feel pretty confident here.
Some light relief from Capitalists@Work
“Commissioned by Hatfield Girl - & apologies to Yeats:
A Tarnished PM Foresees His Moral Death
I know that I shall lose the vote
Sometime in March, or May, or June
Those ranged against me laugh and gloat
Those on my side think me poltroon
My country is extremely cross
My countrymen despise my name
No likely end can spare me loss
Or flood of tears wash clean my shame
Nor law, nor sense of wrong and right
Nor moral compass did I heed
A sordid impulse of pure fright
Drove me to base and craven deed
I balance all, bring all to mind
I’ve dashed their hopes, betrayed their trust
‘Son of the Manse’ by all maligned
My reputation, turned to dust
ND”
Could we get the same again?
Votes summary 1992 Election
Popular vote
Conservative 42.3%
Labour 30.83%
SDP-Liberal Alliance 22.57%
Scottish National 1.28%
Ulster Unionist 0.85%
Others 2.17%
Party Standing Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
Conservative
633 376 9 30 - 21 57.8 42.2 13,760,935 - 0.2
Labour
633 229 26 6 + 20 35.2 30.8 10,029,270 + 3.2
SDP-Liberal Alliance
633 22 5 6 - 1 3.38 22.6 7,341,651 - 2.8
SNP
72 3 3 2 + 1 0.46 1.3 416,473 + 0.2
Don’t know if this has been posted yet:
“Gordon Brown urged to ditch Harman over fears of left wing lurch
Gordon Brown was last night urged to “ditch” Harriet Harman from a central role in Labour’s election planning over fears that the party would lurch to the left. ”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/gordon-brown/6969790/Gordon-Brown-Harman-economy.html