Brilliant post by Danny Finkelstein here highlighting all the organisations you can join which offer you a vote in the Labour leadership (including of course, the Labour Party). He's managed to count up to 34 available votes, I wonder if there are more available?
Remember Comrades. Vote once. Vote often!
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
I smell legislation
Is the Department of Work and Pension gearing up to bring in positive discrimination legislation and/or regulations for all jobs advertised at JobCentres? Call me a cynic if you must, but the recent press release by the DWP on GNN does make me wonder. Apparently,
"Having a diverse workforce could help boost sales and attract recruits according to new research conducted for Jobcentre Plus (1). According to the research one in two (56%) customers would be more likely to use a business they knew to have a diverse workforce, and the vast majority of the 2,000 respondents (79%) think it is important for businesses to have such a policy in place."How long before we hear about plans to enforce positive discrimination (or perhaps it could be called "diversity quotaing") practices on employers wishing to use the JobCentre as a recruiter with "it's good for business" as the argument?
Tescos forced to apologise for "sick" photo
Apparently a Tesco store in Bristol has had to apologise for a photo which pictured a Tesco's worker lying on the ground smiling at the site of a serious accident outside their store.In the image (right) the Tesco worker is grinning inanely whilst holding a bar code reader and in front of her is the pool of blood belonging to a customer who slipped on pebbles, fracturing her left eye socket, and suffering injuries which have effectively caused a disability on her left side.
Apparently the picture was taken (and used) as part of Tesco's failed compensation claim in court. Tesco apologised saying "the smile was inappropriate".
Giuliani's 140 page secret campaign plans leaked
It appears that Rudy Giuliani's plan for a 2008 Presidential bid may have been scuppered at the early hurdle. In an exclusive by the New York Daily News, it appears that someone has leaked Giuliani's entire 140 page campaign battle plans. According to document, Giuliani is planning to amass a $100 million campaign fund, with as much as $25 million being raised in the next three months.The NYDN has said that it obtained the plans via "a source sympathetic to one of Giuliani's rivals for the White House". Apparently the document was "was left behind in one of the cities Giuliani visited as he campaigned for dozens of Republican candidates in the weeks leading up to the November 2006 elections."
Presumably the source of the document is someone from the McCain team. After all what other serious rivals does Guiliani have? He must be spitting that someone left the document behind for others to find, or was it deliberately left behind? Either way, it may not bode well for him.
I imagine the punters over at Political Betting may start considering their stakes with this news.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Lib Dem leadership concerns continue?
After the comments by Lib Dem councillors the other week on Radio 4 saying they thought Ming should got before the next General Election, it looks like Lib Dem Voice (the party's equivalent of ConservativeHome) has also weighed in with a virtual boot at Ming Campbell.In what seems a rather rose-tinted review of 2006 here, it bemoans the recent downturn in the polls for the party and appears to blame Ming Campbell. It suggests he has failed to "seize the political agenda" and his team needs to find an "issue" in 2007 to get back on track.
I wonder if Clegg is getting his phone lines ready yet?
Jade Goody to appear on Celebrity Big Brother?
As an unashamed Big Brother fan, I have to say I tip my hat to Jade. For someone ripped apart by the tabloids whilst inside the house, then predicted to only ever be remembered as the "thick pig" who thought East Anglia was "abroad", she's done better than all the other "winners". However, with this latest news about her supposed appearance on Celebrity Big Brother it's fair to say that reality tv has truly eaten itself.
The New Constitution blog
There appears to be a new blog in town called The New Constitution. I've not added to my links page yet as I'm not quite sure where to place it on the political spectrum. Still, they appear to have gone absolutely crazy with a large number of posts from yesterday which they obviously chose as the "launch" day.
If the author is reading this perhaps they can email me and say where I should put their link?
If the author is reading this perhaps they can email me and say where I should put their link?
More proof that Gordon is only brownie green?
On page 2 of this morning's Times there appears to be a story straight from the Treasury bemoaning MPs for wasting taxpayers money on asking questions. As people will recall from this site, and a recent press release from the Conservative Party, the Government, and especially the Treasury, likes to avoid answering questions wherever possible.
Occasionally they are justified due to the granularity of detail being requested, however often they are not, as the question should be able to be answered quite quickly if they were to keep the sort of auditing that businesses are expected to maintain.
The report quotes a "Treasury source" (presumably Ed Balls) moaning about questions from MPs regarding the use of energy efficient light bulbs in the Treasury. The source asks whether MPs posing the questions are "really expecting taxpayers’ money to be spent counting all the light bulbs?” Now, standing alone one might think this is a valid point, but there is actually a much wider issue at play.
Firstly, as I posted back in November, the Government is currently lobbying the EU to regulate non-energy efficient light bulbs out of the marketplace on environmental grounds. It is therefore a valid question to ask how many light bulbs are actually energy efficient in Government offices. The phrase "do as I say, not as I do" springs to mind.
Additionally, citing this question in isolation is disingenuous. As I also posted about in the same month, questions relating to light bulbs were posed to pretty much every department, and they were done so at the time that the Government was trying to bolster its claims about being tree hugging greenies. If the Government is serious about it's environmental credentials then knowing whether it acts, as well as talks, is, frankly, quite important.
Of course the most ironic thing about this Treasury quote - which was presumably sanctioned by Brown - is that they chose their record on energy efficiency as the example. Surely Gordon - who wants us to believe that he's the real "Mr Green" - would want to boast about energy efficiency in his department, not complain about being questioned on it?
Occasionally they are justified due to the granularity of detail being requested, however often they are not, as the question should be able to be answered quite quickly if they were to keep the sort of auditing that businesses are expected to maintain.
The report quotes a "Treasury source" (presumably Ed Balls) moaning about questions from MPs regarding the use of energy efficient light bulbs in the Treasury. The source asks whether MPs posing the questions are "really expecting taxpayers’ money to be spent counting all the light bulbs?” Now, standing alone one might think this is a valid point, but there is actually a much wider issue at play.
Firstly, as I posted back in November, the Government is currently lobbying the EU to regulate non-energy efficient light bulbs out of the marketplace on environmental grounds. It is therefore a valid question to ask how many light bulbs are actually energy efficient in Government offices. The phrase "do as I say, not as I do" springs to mind.
Additionally, citing this question in isolation is disingenuous. As I also posted about in the same month, questions relating to light bulbs were posed to pretty much every department, and they were done so at the time that the Government was trying to bolster its claims about being tree hugging greenies. If the Government is serious about it's environmental credentials then knowing whether it acts, as well as talks, is, frankly, quite important.
Of course the most ironic thing about this Treasury quote - which was presumably sanctioned by Brown - is that they chose their record on energy efficiency as the example. Surely Gordon - who wants us to believe that he's the real "Mr Green" - would want to boast about energy efficiency in his department, not complain about being questioned on it?
"After Death Online Services" industry
After reading the news that funerals in Berkshire were now being made available to mourners online for £60 a pop, I couldn't help but remember something I saw years ago which suggested there a growing market for what can only be described as "after death online services".There are now a number of providers out there such as "The Last Email" and "Eternal Message" that offer users the facility to have automatic emails sent out to loved ones after you've popped your clogs. I particularly like the marketing bid on The Last Email which says "You only die once."
Death, next to sex, is probably the only recession proof industry.
Is this Arnie's GOP challenger?
Apparently, the US porn star, Mary Carey (pictured (and you don't know how hard it was to find one of her with clothes one)), is planning another gubernatorial bid in California which will pit her against the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.They do say that successful film careers help when it comes to politics in the US, especially in California.
Update: For anyone wondering, she ran for Governor in the 2003 recall as an independent, but has since declared herself as a Republican. Her platfrom was as follows:
- Legalize same-sex marriage
- Tax breast implants
- Make lap-dances tax deductible
- Wire the California Governor's Mansion with live web-cams
- Create a "Porn for Pistols" program to reduce the number of handguns
- Be a goodwill ambassador to attract business to the state
- Make those drawing unemployment insurance do jury duty for their pay
- Fight the attacks on the porn industry by John Ashcroft and the U.S. Department of Justice
- Allow bars to stay open until 4:00 A.M.
- Address the AIDS epidemic
- Help the over crowded and mis-managed prison system
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