Cameron: "Cuts will change our way of life"

[Hand Shandy]

Is that question for the cleric or for Cameron?

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Irrespective of whether you think the claims of impartiality have any merit, she has definitely been on the receiving end of a ton of sexist abuse, and that is not acceptable in any way.

I've not seen any of that - although I'm prepared to believe it probably did get ugly, because Twitter is populated by cunts -  but it certainly doesn't invalidate the legitimate criticism of her bias.

 

(See also - Criticising Zionism is not the same as anti-Semitism,)

[Rico1304]

Is that question for the cleric or for Cameron?

Christ

[Rico1304]

 

(See also - Criticising Islamism is not the same as anti-Muslim)

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Here's Jeremy Hunt telling a parliamentary Committee that the Government's proposed cap on care costs was all about kick-starting private care insurance.

 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Of course the correct question should have been 'do you endorse the application of Sharia law and all the punishments for spousal disobedience, homosexuality and apostasy '

I don't think there ever were any questions asked.  Cameron, Goldsmith, Fallon and all the other preachers-of-hate didn't ask, they just stated that Suliman Gani supported ISIS and was an ally of Sadiq Khan - both of which they knew to be untrue.

 

So, that "correct question" of yours; I've no idea whether Gani's answer would be "yes" but, for the sake of argument let's say it would.  In which case, the correct statement from Cameron, Goldsmith, Fallon et al should have been "you endorse the application of Sharia law and all the punishments for spousal disobedience, homosexuality and apostasy and you support the Tory party".

 

It's a far cry from the "if you want a nigger for a neighbour" line they did take.

[Hand Shandy]

Christ

Why that response? It's a fair question given the current government has endorsed arms deals worth around £5bn with a regime that supports those very principles.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Apparently, the anti-Kuenssberg petition was not sexist after all.

 

http://www.thecanary.co/2016/05/11/breaking-proof-that-david-cameron-and-the-media-and-political-establishment-lied-about-sexism-to-protect-laura-kuenssberg/

 

Here are all the comments on the scrapped Kuenssberg petition. You know, the petition David Cameron condemned in the House of Commons today because it was accompanied by a storm of sexist abuse? Well, here are the comments in their entirety and out of 35,000 people who signed, there is virtually nobody whose comment can be seen as remotely sexist. See for yourselves. Can you spot the one sexist comment I found?

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/e83cce2f-9558-4947-b971-3374d1dc1190/BBC-Laura-Kuenssberg-38-degrees-petition-comments.html

 

35,000 signatures.

Needless to say, I've not been through them all, but Craig Murray reckons he (and his team) could only find one sexist comment.  I've had a bit of a browse and found nowt; feel free to try it yourselves.

 

(Let's take, for example, 35,000 posts on this forum.  Do you reckon we could find more than one sexist comment?  Do you reckon the Government should condemn it and force it to close as a result?)

 

The media protects the Government and the Government protects the media.  Lovely.  We've obviously come a long way since 1989.

[Jairzinho]

Trying to remember what my comment was. It wasn't sexist, but I think it was fairly graphic.

[thegreatelephant]

Next time someone calls out anyone in the public eye all they have to do is get a few mates to send some abusive twitter messages and wait for the faux moral outrage.

 

u ok hun xxxx

also like the tory with northern accent shills used to make it sound more 'genuine' that ring up phone-in chats posing as an 'ordinary member of the public' who just happened to take an interest on the topic in question. on the list primed and ready for action to rubbish unions, workers, doctors, teachers, you name it.

[Guest Numero Veinticinco]

Irrespective of whether you think the claims of impartiality have any merit, she has definitely been on the receiving end of a ton of sexist abuse, and that is not acceptable in any way.

What's she doing out of the kitchen, anyway?

[Gnasher]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-islamophobia-inquiry-mcb-muslim-council-of-britain-zac-goldsmith-racist-islam-sadiq-khan-a7025331.html

 

Over to you Laura.

[Gnasher]

New petition to sack Kuenssberg

 

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/dismiss-laura-kuenssberg

[cloggypop]

The Electoral Commission is taking the Tories to court

 

[Anubis]

Tories withheld key documents from election fraud investigation, Electoral Commission says

 

The Conservative Party withheld key documents from an investigation into possible electoral fraud by the party, the elections watchdog has revealed.

 

The Electoral Commission on Thursday applied for a High Court order to force the Tories to hand over the missing papers – which it says would help shed light on whether the party broke spending rules in key marginal seats at the general election.

 

Police across the country have announced criminal investigations into the Conservative Party’s conduct at the general election after a Channel 4 News investigation alleged it might have broken spending rules.

 

According to the broadcaster, the party allegedly failed to locally declare the costs of bussing activists around to marginal seats – activity which could potentially have swung hotly contested marginals in their favour.

 

Between 20 and 30 marginal seats were reportedly visited by the bussed-in activists; the Tories ultimately only won a majority of 12, allowing them to form a majority government.

 

If electoral law is found to have been broken then punishments could include fines and prison sentences.

 

David Cameron was at PMQs yesterday asked to account for his party’s actions at the election. He replied: “The whole point in this country is the Electoral Commission is independent and when it comes to operational decisions by a police force, they are independent too. That’s the hallmark of an uncorrupt country."

 

The Electoral Commission said it had already issued a statutory notice demanding the Tories hand over the documents using powers granted to it under the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act (PPERA) 2000.

 

However, after the party failed to comply with part of the notice, the Commission said it had launched a court bid “for a disclosure order which if granted would be the court compelling the Respondent to release the required documents and information to the Commission”.

 

Bob Posner, director of party and election finance and legal counsel at the Electoral Commission, said the withheld documents were necessary to proceed with the investigation.

 

“If parties under investigation do not comply with our requirements for the disclosure of relevant material in reasonable time and after sufficient opportunity to do so, the Commission can seek recourse through the courts,” he said.

 

“We are today asking the court to require the party to fully disclose the documents and information we regard as necessary to effectively progress our investigation into the party’s campaign spending returns.”

 

A Conservative Party spokesperson said in a statement issued to the Independent at 2.30pm: “We advised the Electoral Commission on 29 April that we would comply with their notices by 1pm today – and we will do so. There was no need for them to make this application to the High Court.”

 

The Conservative spokesperson later said it had now complied with the Electoral Commission’s order.

 

The Electoral Commission said it had received “some additional documentation” from the party but that it was still checking whether this documentation complied with that requested in the order.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Is that story on the BBC? Election fraud from the government.

[Stu Monty]

Is that story on the BBC? Election fraud from the government.

 

Yes. 

 

Certain words are definitely avoided though. Like "prosecution" or "fraud" or "swing seats". 

 

Very much all just a bit of admin about some paperwork.

[Jairzinho]

Build a society where wages and pensions are fucking shit, and house and rent prices are unaffordable, then push out propaganda that if anyone accepts any benefits to make up for this appallingly unequal cunt society that they are a "scrounger", and hey presto -

 

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36297605

 

Pensioners: Nearly 1m over-75s living in poverty, report says

 

Nearly one million people aged over 75 live in poverty and need more help from the government, a report suggests.

 

The charity Independent Age says ministers should do more to make older pensioners aware they can top up their pensions with other benefits.

 

It also suggests the income of those aged over 75 is, on average, £3,000 a year less than younger pensioners.

 

Pensions minister Baroness Ros Altmann said the government had run campaigns to encourage pension credit claims.

 

In its report, Independent Age defines the "poverty threshold" for a single pensioner as £182 a week before housing costs. For couples, its figure is £272 per week.

 

'Silent generation'

 

Independent Age's chief executive Janet Morrison said the UK's 11.8m pensioners could not be considered as "one group".

 

She added: "It would be foolish to assume that inequality simply ceases to exist at retirement age, but that is exactly what some of the recent rhetoric around 'intergenerational unfairness' does.

 

"The 'silent generation' of older pensioners, renters and single women have missed out on many of the gains of recent years."

 

These, the charity says, include pension credit, a benefit that tops up low income.

 

An estimated 750,000 over-75s are entitled to pension credit but are failing to claim.

 

There are 11.8 million pensioners living in private households in the UK, of whom 4.8 million are aged 75 and over, it adds.

 

According to the charity's report, an estimated 950,000 pensioners in this older age bracket live in poverty.

 

The report is based on analysis of the Family Resource Survey for the financial year 2013-14, published by the government and National Statistics.

 

It includes private households, but not those living in non-residential settings such as care or nursing homes.

 

Protected income

 

Baroness Altmann said the government wanted pensioners to have the money they are entitled to.

 

"I am concerned if older people feel uncomfortable about claiming and we have tried to make the process easier. We're committed to protecting people's incomes in later life," she said.

 

She also said the government had increased the value of the state pension and pension credit "significantly in recent years" along with offering such benefits as free insulation for homes and protecting winter fuel and cold weather payments for pensioners.

 

BBC social affairs correspondent, Michael Buchanan, says welfare cuts since 2010 have targeted people of working age while protecting the income of older people.

 

For example, the state pension has been subjected to a triple lock since 2010, ensuring it rises each year by the higher of inflation, average earnings or a minimum of 2.5%.

 

Independent Age is also calling for pension credit - which unlike the state pension, increases only in line with average earnings - to be subject to its own triple lock.

[Em City]

[Bobby Hundreds]

I hate that prick. Has loads of connections to private health care, helped write literature on dismantling the NHS and putting health care more in the hands of private health insurers. He gives not one fuck about peoples wellbeing just entirely about the profit that can be made from people's misfortune. Shame on you south west surrey you greedy toff bastards.

[FieldingMellish]

How are they getting away with all this?

 

 

 

[Moctezuma]

How are they getting away with all this?

 

 

Because we have a media that doesn't report on this kind of thing, or if they do it's buried underneath a mountain of celebrity title tattle, or thorough and obscure source at an inaccessible time.

[Vincent Vega]

I hate that prick. Has loads of connections to private health care, helped write literature on dismantling the NHS and putting health care more in the hands of private health insurers. He gives not one fuck about peoples wellbeing just entirely about the profit that can be made from people's misfortune. Shame on you south west surrey you greedy toff bastards.

 

They are actively trying to run the NHS into the ground - see latest piece on the funding crisis on the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-36341235. It's my firm belief that this is a conscious decision by the Tories to prepare the ground for some kind of medical insurance. They say they are controlling costs in line with austerity and paying off the deficit, but other countries doing likewise like France and Germany are spending 11% of GDP on their health systems compared with the 8% we are spending. They are preparing the ground for the argument that the only way to fund a decent health service worthy of the name is for large chunks of it be privatised and for the public to have medical insurance. As you say Hunt is on record as being a supporter of private health care, he has no place being in charge of a service he is opposed to in its current format.

[Anubis]

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/20/privatisation-at-whitehall-offices-has-cost-4m-more-than-it-saved?CMP=twt_gu

 

Tory privatisation costing more than it was supposed to save.

[jimmycase]

Absolutely no surprise there!