[stone]

What Jeremy Grantham said about the USA seems to me to apply even more here. I've pasted it below:
By 1965 – the middle of one of the best decades in U.S.
history – we had perfectly adequate fi nancial services. Of
course, adequate tools are vital. That is not the issue here.
We’re debating the razzmatazz of the last 10 to 15 years.
Finance was 3% of GDP in 1965; now it is 7.5%. This
is an extra 4.5% load that the real economy carries. The
fi nancial system is overfeeding on and slowing down the
real economy. It is like running with a large, heavy, and
growing bloodsucker on your back. It slows you down.

[Sloper]

One thing Gordon Brown does seem to know is his numbers and facts
[/quote]

Except when he confuses numerical growth for real terms growth as he did to the Chilcott enquiry or when he talks about 0% growth in Parliamentary debates.

 

[Falling Down]

He does 'seem' to know them, however he's been wrong many a time and deliberately misleading plenty of others.  It's his favourite tactic to regurgitate gobs of statistics and numbers; a very strange man.

[Jaspersharpe]

Lib Dems doing well in the polls:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/18/election-liberal-democrat-surge-nick-clegg

Never thought I'd see this:

http://today.yougov.co.uk/politics/latest-voting-intention-18-april

 

Clegg prepared for attacks:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/18/nick-clegg-tories-labour-election

And yet another reason to vote for them........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/18/clegg-media-elite-murdoch-lib-dem

[slackline]

Lib Dems doing well in the polls:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/apr/18/election-liberal-democrat-surge-nick-clegg

Never thought I'd see this:

http://today.yougov.co.uk/politics/latest-voting-intention-18-april

 

The most encouraging thing in there is that 68% of people surveyed intend to vote (even better if it extrapolates accurately to the general populace).  Its a shame that the indicated intention of voting doesn't directly translate to seats though due to the manipulation of electoral boundaries (by Labour in their favour).

[Jaspersharpe]

Yeah it's a shit system but if you can get some of the people who normally don't vote (or think that their vote is worthless) to turn out then it will make a difference. Even some supposedly safe seats could be made marginal by a higher turnout. The voting system is unfair but apathy is as big an issue when it comes to getting a fairer representation of who people actually want in power.

[Jaspersharpe]

Epic Torygraph fail.

Check out the comments, particularly Dr Evan Harris' response. Oh dear, oh dear. That's shocking journalism!

[slackline]

Yeah it's a shit system but if you can get some of the people who normally don't vote (or think that their vote is worthless) to turn out then it will make a difference. Even some supposedly safe seats could be made marginal by a higher turnout. The voting system is unfair but apathy is as big an issue when it comes to getting a fairer representation of who people actually want in power.

I agree apathy is 

My wife is for the first time considering voting in the forthcoming elections (mainly 'cause she works at Sheffield College where there have been cut-backs and it now affects her, despite me telling her for years that politics always affects her).

[Sloper]

You'll have to explain how to vote i.e. anyone but Labour.

Jasper that Torygraph article is utter shite, which is a shame because the Torygraph used to be a decent rag, but it shows that if you get rid of all your talent the product becomes one step removed from bog paper. A lesson the gruniad would do well to heed as the standards there seem to have fallen massively of late.

[Jaspersharpe]

There's a bird I work with who says she's not going to vote because "they're all the same". She's so thick that she doesn't actually try to find out if this is the case or not, it's just her completely uninformed opinion. I wouldn't mind but she survives because of tax credits!

 

Anyway, I've tried persuading her that she should vote but perhaps, if you're not going to actually look at the policies to decide who to support, then you shouldn't bother anyway. I'm a strong believer that everyone should vote but I also firmly believe that everyone should take an interest in how their country is run too. An example being people switching from Lab to Tory because of the expenses scandal.......er...... Perhaps it would be better if these halfwits didn't vote? I'm not sure.

 

Sloper - I suppose the excuse is that it is a blog and therefore only personal opinion but still, for what was, as you say once a quality (if Tory biased) paper, it's pretty low to be publishing such Daily Mailesque shite!

[Sloper]

Jasper I don't think the standards of the comment articles should decline because of the medium use to publish them.

As you say the Torygraph was biased but it used to have well informed, interesting people writing for it, now it's a parody of a pastiche.

Anyway, here's my favourite current political commentator.

http://viscount.typepad.com/

[tomtom]

A lesson the gruniad would do well to heed as the standards there seem to have fallen massively of late.

Hmm.. I think I agree with you there Sloper 
Its been going slowly but noticably downhill for the last 2-3 years..
I hope it doesnt go the way of the Observer (which may be inevitable given their sister/brother existence) which is utter dogshit nowadays..

Maybe I'm unusual, but I never read the comments section in any paper I buy. I prefer just to read the news whether or not its written in a mildly biased manner...

[Jaspersharpe]

I just read individual articles that I see on my Twitterfeed and think look interesting. Then google futher or follow linked articles / blogs / comment etc. That way you get more sides to each story.

[Jaspersharpe]

http://awurl.com/bxYyMBdf5#first_awesome_highlight

[Jaspersharpe]

Last day to register to vote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8625136.stm

If you don't vote then you can't complain when Cameron plunges us back into recession.

[slackline]

http://awurl.com/bxYyMBdf5#first_awesome_highlight

A big fat ostrich egg in her face 

Shame it will have been read in print by the luddites who will believe it as de facto.

[Jaspersharpe]

Even the Tories are trying to distance themselves from it....

http://twitter.com/ToryReformGroup/status/12505785628

 

[Duma]

http://awurl.com/bxYyMBdf5#first_awesome_highlight

A big fat ostrich egg in her face 

any chance of a summary/ non proxy link? work won't let me follow that one

[Jaspersharpe]

No problem:

http://indyeagleeye.livejournal.com/228854.html

[Jaspersharpe]

49% would vote Lib Dem if they thought they could win.........so DO IT and they can!:

http://www.today.yougov.co.uk/commentaries/peter-kellner/could-lib-dems-win-outright

[drdeath]

I literally couldn't care less if the rest of their policies supported mandatory incest and the outlawing of all climbing...

I will be voting Lib Dem because of their stance on Electoral Reform.

The very idea that, as current polls stand (and I know they have little predictive power), the Labour party could finish THIRD in the popular vote and still end up with the most seats in the Commons is a bloody outrage....

I am well aware of the arguments for the two party system but, in my opinion, they have been absolutely destroyed by the last thirty years of Labour and Conservative passing the ball to each other to the detriment of life in this country....

ahem...and congrats to Malc on his new Dumby Link-ups...

D

[Jaspersharpe]

Generals say "scrap Trident":

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7103318.ece

[john horscroft]

Generals say "scrap Trident":

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7103318.ece

There's hope yet............

[Jaspersharpe]

Indeed, there is hope......

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/anthony-barnett/uk-election-next-two-weeks-are-chance-of-lifetime

[Jaspersharpe]

http://twitpic.com/1h4nys