Dis-United Kingdom General Election campaign officially kicks off

It's all very bizarre, Lily. South of the border, Cameron and co are all making promises they can't keep in the time-honoured fashion.

North of the border, Tory, LibDem and Labour policy seems to consist of shouting at Nicola Sturgeon. I couldn't accurately tell you what they've said about anything, they've just SHOUTED.

Your side of the border sound like they are terrified of a very popular figure and so have resorted to being stupid?

South of, well what can you say?

He (Ed Milliband) talks transparency and stripping the big millions from politics; however he owns a 1.6 million pound house in an exclusive London neighborhood and has used the inheritance rules of the land to his advantage. Some say his net worth might be 5 million pounds or US$ 8 million.

Ed Miliband likes to portray himself as a man of the people, emphasising his humble origins as the comprehensive-school educated son of immigrants.

But only days after dodging questions about his personal wealth and sneering at David Cameron’s fortune, it has emerged that the Labour Party leader is so rich he can afford to live in a £2.3million house – with a £400,000 mortgage.

Land Registry documents also show the Milibands have remortgaged their house in north London with Barclays, the bank he savaged for its role in the interest-rate rigging scandal.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2213675/Ed-Miliband-A-2-3m-house-400-000-mortgage--Labour-leader-Ed-Millionaire.html#ixzz3XAhL7ySw
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook  

Poor little MP, he's such a bleeding hypocrite!    LL

http://www.londonlovesbusiness.com/business-news/politics/how-rich-is-nigel-farage/9363.article

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2424719/Nick-Clegg-lives-1-5m-townhouse-access-7m-Swiss-ski-chalet.html

All I can say is NO COMMENT!!!! LL

Aren't they all, LL? Well, most of them.

They genuinely appear to believe that The Electorate are all stupid and don't understand what is going on. This might have been true once upon a time, but isn't anymore.
Sadly, there isn't anything much that anyone can do about it except put in another Hung Parliament to keep them under some sort of control

Stop that complaining, LL! Our Lords and Masters know what's best for us, and they're entitled to their little perks for grinding the faces of the poor, the strain of padding their own expense accounts, etc!

Interesting to see that even the Labour-supporting Record was horrified by that screaming match yesterday:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/general-election-2015-nicola-sturgeon-5509272

General Election 2015: Nicola Sturgeon struggles to be heard as TV debate descends into chaotic slanging match

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/record-view-politicians-rabble-far-5509870

Record View: Politicians' rabble is far from rousing

Does this mean that The SNP could choose to share with whoever they like?

Sorry, I don't know what the acceptable majority is.

Stop that complaining, LL! Our Lords and Masters know what's best for us, and they're entitled to their little perks for grinding the faces of the poor, the strain of padding their own expense accounts, etc!

I ain't complaining, why should I? I don't need state aid, perks etc or to flaunt my affluent personal state of affairs to anyone. But then for people like them money is a god. What angers me is the ones who play the 'man of the people' card while living in the lap of luxury. LL

This is Westminster, remember, Sabot, and Scotland has 59 MPs in total, so it wouldn't matter if the SNP won every single one, they are still vastly outnumbered by Unionist parties. I have given up on this 'left' and 'right' stuff, it doesn't really apply any more, not least because the Labour party of 2015 is more Right-wing than the Tories of the 60s and 70s.

This may help:

http://may2015.com/category/seat-calculator/



No-one has a majority at present, but Labour are ahead of the Tories UK-wide. Don't ask me what happens if no-one can form a stable government, Cameron messed around with the rules and changed the  UK to a five year fixed term parliament.

There are ways of dissolving it, but they are rather complicated.

But then for people like them money is a god.

It isn't even money with them, LL. They take that for granted, and can always get their paws on more.

No, it's power. They assume they're entitled to tell the plebs what's best for them.

Just look at all this 'austerity' business. Who caused the world-wide financial mess? Easy - useless politicians and bankers. Who is suffering for the financial mess? People at the very bottom, who had no hand whatsoever in any of it.

Then they wonder why the natives are revolting......

But, bonny dear, the natives, like the peasants have always been revolting!!!!   Keeping up with the Jones!!!! LL  

On the offchance that anyone's interested - Milliband's manifesto:

http://news.sky.com/story/1463897/miliband-i-am-ready-to-lead-better-britain

:: Reintroduce the 10p starting rate of income tax

:: Scrap winter fuel allowance for pensioners with an income of more than £42,000 a year

Oh, FFS! It's been demonstrated that the bureaucracy involved in means testing of that nature costs MORE than any money saved. This is a perfect example of what really, really irritates me - it's gesture politics. It sounds good, but its actually counter-productive and BAD economics.

And why is he taxing people on very low pay at all, even at 10p?

:: Scrap Married Couple’s Allowance

:: Cap child benefit at 1%

1% of what?

And no, I don't believe he will cut tuition fees, or give Scotland and Wales more powers. Murphy is stomping around Scotland denying anything like that is possible, so that's a non-starter.

Gorgeous George at it again:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/13/george-galloway-battle-for-bradford-west-respect-general-election

Quote from the end:

He is unrepentant about spending so much time around the world on his lucrative media career – parliamentary records show in 2014 he earned almost £300,000 on top of his £67,000 MP’s salary, working for Russian, Iranian and Lebanese TV. Confronted at the hustings by a man who suggested Bradford deserved better, Galloway let rip.

Ignoring the issue of his extra-curricular earnings, he said: “My speeches in parliament are watched all over the world. May I suggest you go to YouTube, you’ll see speeches by me in parliament that have been watched hundreds of thousands in some cases millions of times. Im not sure that my Labour opponent will ever be able to say that. I am one of the senior parliamentarians in this country – that’s why the media are here, that’s why all these people are here, that’s why I believe I’ll be re-elected on 7 May.”

He added: “I think people want a person with international relations. They’re watching this contest from Manhattan to Gaza, from Mirpur to Baghdad. They’re watching the result of this election all over the world … I stand before you as someone who is recognised as a parliamentarian of note, as an orator and parliamentary debater of note and I’m putting myself at your disposal.”

He's awfully fond of himself, isn't he?

I really enjoyed the moment when Patrick Harvie of the Scottish Greens proved that just because you're Green, it doesn't mean you are a wet nellie, when he told Galloway to STFU and stop being vile to women.

That idiot Bennett woman of the southern Greens, alas, would probably simper over Galloway, as she seems to think ISIS can be dealt with with a group hug and a chorus of Kumbaya.

http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2015/04/13/labour-are-saying-one-thing-about-cuts-in-scotland-and-anoth

Labour are saying one thing about cuts in Scotland and another in England

Quote:

What is Jim Murphy playing at? Asked on yesterday's Sunday Politics whether a Labour government would implement further cuts, Murphy replied that they wouldn't.

"We don't have to make further cuts" he said repeatedly.

Could this possibly be true? Asked about this on the Today programme this morning, shadow chancellor Ed Ball admitted that it wasn't.

"There will be cuts outside [protected] areas across all these budgets which will apply in England and in Scotland," he said, adding: "I can't say to Scotland that you are going to be exempt from spending cuts in the unprotected areas

Which may explain:


Paul Waugh @paulwaugh · 20 mins 20 minutes ago
Umunna slapdown for Jim Murphy: "The leader of the Scottish Labour Party will not be in charge of the UK budget"

How much longer do they have to keep this up?  

https://youtu.be/8-OUxLmxNi0

Murphy's finished, Lily. I actually don't know what to say about this, I have NEVER seen anything like it before - he's just been called a liar by the UK Labour party.

lily wrote:How much longer do they have to keep this up?  

Until May 7th, Lily.

So sorry, Bonny.  

Hope you get the most decent outcome.  

I've never seen anything like this before, Lily, it's madness.

I appreciate what you are saying, Bonny.  You are not alone.

I've never seen anything like today's carry-on before, Lily. I am wondering if UK Labour has simply written Scotland off, and thrown Murphy under the bus to concentrate on and appeal to English undecided voters?



I can't recall ever seeing a party shafting one of their own like that, in the middle of an election.

So, when I came across this story earlier, I thought it was some kind of satirical wind-up, that no-one could possibly be this stupid:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jamieross/the-man-in-the-sturgeon-mask

Michael Gove Turned Up At The Labour Manifesto Launch With A Gang Of People In Nicola Sturgeon Masks

Michael Gove gatecrashed the launch of Labour’s manifesto on Monday with a gang of Conservative activists in Nicola Sturgeon masks.
Gove, the chief whip, was attempting to disrupt the event by claiming Labour would have to rely on the SNP to form a government. However, he was repeatedly interrupted by Labour activists exiting the manifesto launch, one of whom screamed “TOSSER!” at him from a speeding car.

I was wrong. They really did do it.

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/conservative-supporters-wear-nicola-sturgeon-and-alex-news-photo/469575628



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11531506/General-Election-2015-Labour-manifesto-launch-live.html

Michael Gove, still the Government chief whip and a key ally of David Cameron and George Osborne, turned up at the Labour manifesto launch outside the old Granada studios in Manchester, together with a bunch of “members of the public” wearing Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon masks.

I don't know what to say, I really don't. Besides, Anyone that imagines a stunt like that helps their cause, isn't fit to run a whelk stall.

Here's an idea. Instead of acting like a bunch of tw@ts, why not try explaining to the people of England exactly what it is the Tories plan to do to improve their lives?

That's of considerably more importance to the average voter than half-witted stunts involving pretending to be Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond. And - GROW UP!!!!!!

Shocked and appalled.

Lily, I thought it was a wind-up when I first came across the story, it was only when I checked that I found out that they really had done it.

No wonder a good few English folk are wanting to vote SNP, they must be absolutely sick of these childish lunatics.

The LibDems have dropped themselves in it, too - though they've only managed to offend recovering alcoholics:

Emily Morgan
@emilymorganitv

Clegg: Lab's pledge not to borrow is like an alcoholic who buys a bottle of vodka a day saying he's not going to buy more vodka #GE2015

which has led to:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11531506/General-Election-2015-Labour-manifesto-launch-live.html

Nick Clegg is not having the best day. First he was targeted by protesters, now he's in hot water with some in his own party for his choice of simile to attack Labour earlier by likening the party to an alcoholic (see 1.05pm). His comments were branded "disgraceful" by one Lib Dem councillor.
Mr Clegg has now responded:
Quote I have a great deal of sympathy - and I have known alcoholics in my time - and I understand the battles individuals have to wage.
I'm not seeking to cause wilful offence, I am seeking to illustrate that the claims that someone who drinks a lot might make, that they are not going to drink any extra, are not dissimilar to a Labour Party that wants to borrow billions and billions and billions of pounds and is now trying to claim it is not going to borrow any extra.
Clearly I'm not intending to cast aspersions on people who are grappling with alcoholism.

They're not fit to be allowed out without minders.