Was it the bacon sandwich, the pledges written in stone, Russell Brand or something else?
What do you all think it was?
He tried too hard to be all things to all men - campaigning on both an anti-austerity and saying he will lower the deficit, the two things are mutually exclusive and so people really had no idea what he actually stood
Nope. Labour has plenty of media support from the Mirror, Guardian and BBC
Austerity has worked, people realise that despite Labour spin
It's not Labour spin. Plenty of economists agree. People in the UK have been brainwashed since 2010 that austerity was necessary. All parties have fallen into line, apart from the SNP.
Austerity caused us to flatline for three years. We eventually got a weak recovery but from a lower base point and with three years of growth lost.
And his spin doctors. So we went from #Miligeek to #Milifem and the attempts to sex him up. Then his crash course in presentation skills prior to the election debates that still left him looking insincere and awkward. You can't polish a t.. future PM in a couple of months. David Miliband was more charismatic and would've been better for Labour, but probably harder for the Unions to control. Then there was the Blair/Brown legacy of Balls, Harman etc etc to carry around.
So next question will be if Ed's thrown under the battle bus, who will be the next leader? Harman?
The unions weren't controlling Miliband, only in people's imaginations.
Right man wrong time. I don't think any Labour leader could have fought back the record about the economy. It was like swimming against the tide.
I still think Labour could have done well with a 'man of the people' type of character, particularly a Northerner. Ed was always the wrong choice, he is seen as awkward and odd, is inexperienced and the public didn't like the way the unions got him the top job.
It's not Labour spin. Plenty of economists agree. People in the UK have been brainwashed since 2010 that austerity was necessary. All parties have fallen into line, apart from the SNP.
Austerity caused us to flatline for three years. We eventually got a weak recovery but from a lower base point and with three years of growth lost.
We have surging growth and employment rising massively. People don't believe your spin no matter how many times you say it
The economy would be doing much better without austerity than it is with. The Coalition have tanked the economy but because it picked up slowly over the last two years they claim that's an improvement?
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That's why any decent Labour leader would have made mincemeat of the Tories.
Milliband has been an unmitigated disaster for Labour. It has been obvious from day one with the stabbing in the back of his elder brother that the GBP would never trust or take to such a man.
On top of that he comes over as weird and out of touch with normal people.
He 'forgets' to mention immigration in his party speech and has given the impression he intended to make no attempt to control this at all, contrary to the current mood of the GBP.
The bloke is an idiot and will probably resign within a week and if he doesn't he wil be kicked out before long.
The other baffling mistake of the Milliband campaign was the refusal to admit Labour overspent, I know die hard Labour voters who admit they overspent, all he had to do was say sorry and that the party had learnt from it and he'd have got much more respect, instead we got fudged half hearted answers.
We have surging growth and employment rising massively. People don't believe your spin no matter how many times you say it
Surging growth, now that's spin. 0.5% a quarter is not surging growth
How can you not see that three years of no growth (when we already had a recovery starting in 2010) and then a faltering recovery after the deepest recession since the Great Depression is actually exconomic failure?
The other baffling mistake of the Milliband campaign was the refusal to admit Labour overspent, I know die hard Labour voters who admit they overspent, all he had to do was say sorry and that the party had learnt from it and he'd have got much more respect, instead we got fudged half hearted answers.
Labour didn't overspend though. %Debt/GDP was falling until the banking crash. The problem was not defending the good economic record they had and then being tainted by the supposed failure.
That's why any decent Labour leader would have made mincemeat of the Tories.
Milliband has been an unmitigated disaster for Labour. It has been obvious from day one with the stabbing in the back of his elder brother that the GBP would never trust or take to such a man.
On top of that he comes over as weird and out of touch with normal people.
He 'forgets' to mention immigration in his party speech and has given the impression he intended to make no attempt to control this at all, contrary to the current mood of the GBP.
The bloke is an idiot and will probably resign within a week and if he doesn't he wil be kicked out before long.
Maggie
You're absolutely right about attacking the Coalition record. I think they were banking on the economy continuing to flatline until 2015. But who else could have done it from the current front bench, apart from Alastair Darling possibly and he'd had enough of that by 2010.
He only comes over as weird because that's how the media portray him. If you are in the public eye the whole time you will always be photographed or filmed in awkward moments. One thing that emerged from the election campaign was a more "normal" image because spin against him was not always present.
As for stabbing his brother in the back, is there a rule that you can't stand for election against a relative, especially if you feel your ideas are better? There was a lot of feeling that another Blairite leader was not a vote winner. A small shift to the left was a good idea to differentiate from the Tories.
I think his forgetting parts of his speech was a genuine mistake. Cameron has created this mystique about speaking from memory, as if it's somehow more meaningful. Miliband didn't have to try and outdo him like that.
Labour didn't overspend though. %Debt/GDP was falling until the banking crash. The problem was not defending the good economic record they had and then being tainted by the supposed failure.
You keep telling yourself that, years of selling off gold on the cheap and getting a generation hooked on benefits left the piggy bank empty, hence the infamous 'there's no money left' note
You keep telling yourself that, years of selling off gold on the cheap and getting a generation hooked on benefits left the piggy bank empty, hence the infamous 'there's no money left' note
Pure Tory spin.
The gold was sold at market price. It wasn't sold cheap. Other countries were selling gold at the same time for similar reasons. The IMF was encouraging it and the UK wanted to buy Euros to support the currency. Nor was it sold to make a trading profit on it so the fact the gold price went up subsequently is not relevant. To counter this we have Black Wednesday, which cost billions in total losses and the sell off of Royal Mail at half price.
If anyone got people hooked on benefits it was Margaret Thatcher.
As for "no money left" that was just politicians banter, not a serious economic statement. Do you really think it meant there was no money left? The "piggy bank" was not empty.
The Paxman interview was the moment I decided I would definitely not be voting for him. The 7-way debate was when I started to actively dislike him, and the Question Time special was when I began disliking him so passionately that I wondered how I ever even considered voting for him.
He is a sleazy, out of touch, hollow, sly joke of a politician and the public has known it from the start. The last month has made it clear beyond any doubt.
The gold was sold at market price. It wasn't sold cheap. Other countries were selling gold at the same time for similar reasons. The IMF was encouraging it and the UK wanted to buy Euros to support the currency. Nor was it sold to make a trading profit on it so the fact the gold price went up subsequently is not relevant. To counter this we have Black Wednesday, which cost billions in total losses and the sell off of Royal Mail at half price.
If anyone got people hooked on benefits it was Margaret Thatcher.
As for "no money left" that was just politicians banter, not a serious economic statement. Do you really think it meant there was no money left? The "piggy bank" was not empty.
Gold was sold at the bottom of the market. It was economic timing judgement of sheer incompetence
Gold was sold at the bottom of the market. It was economic timing judgement of sheer incompetence
As I explained it wasn't sold for the purpose of making the maximum amount of money. Just like any time the BoE sells gold to support a currency, in this case the Euro. You sell it at that time because that's when you need to liquidate the holding,
If the gold was sold because someone thought it had reached a peak and we were better off taking the profit then you would be right, but that isn't how gold reserves are managed. It's not about commodity speculation.
The other baffling mistake of the Milliband campaign was the refusal to admit Labour overspent, I know die hard Labour voters who admit they overspent, all he had to do was say sorry and that the party had learnt from it and he'd have got much more respect, instead we got fudged half hearted answers.
Comments
He tried too hard to be all things to all men - campaigning on both an anti-austerity and saying he will lower the deficit, the two things are mutually exclusive and so people really had no idea what he actually stood
Austerity caused us to flatline for three years. We eventually got a weak recovery but from a lower base point and with three years of growth lost.
I still think Labour could have done well with a 'man of the people' type of character, particularly a Northerner. Ed was always the wrong choice, he is seen as awkward and odd, is inexperienced and the public didn't like the way the unions got him the top job.
That's why any decent Labour leader would have made mincemeat of the Tories.
Milliband has been an unmitigated disaster for Labour. It has been obvious from day one with the stabbing in the back of his elder brother that the GBP would never trust or take to such a man.
On top of that he comes over as weird and out of touch with normal people.
He 'forgets' to mention immigration in his party speech and has given the impression he intended to make no attempt to control this at all, contrary to the current mood of the GBP.
The bloke is an idiot and will probably resign within a week and if he doesn't he wil be kicked out before long.
Maggie
How can you not see that three years of no growth (when we already had a recovery starting in 2010) and then a faltering recovery after the deepest recession since the Great Depression is actually exconomic failure?
He only comes over as weird because that's how the media portray him. If you are in the public eye the whole time you will always be photographed or filmed in awkward moments. One thing that emerged from the election campaign was a more "normal" image because spin against him was not always present.
As for stabbing his brother in the back, is there a rule that you can't stand for election against a relative, especially if you feel your ideas are better? There was a lot of feeling that another Blairite leader was not a vote winner. A small shift to the left was a good idea to differentiate from the Tories.
I think his forgetting parts of his speech was a genuine mistake. Cameron has created this mystique about speaking from memory, as if it's somehow more meaningful. Miliband didn't have to try and outdo him like that.
You keep telling yourself that, years of selling off gold on the cheap and getting a generation hooked on benefits left the piggy bank empty, hence the infamous 'there's no money left' note
No we don't. Growth in the last quarter of 2014 was lower than the first quarter of 2010
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/gdp-growth
(Change the Start date of the graph from 2012 to 2010)
The gold was sold at market price. It wasn't sold cheap. Other countries were selling gold at the same time for similar reasons. The IMF was encouraging it and the UK wanted to buy Euros to support the currency. Nor was it sold to make a trading profit on it so the fact the gold price went up subsequently is not relevant. To counter this we have Black Wednesday, which cost billions in total losses and the sell off of Royal Mail at half price.
If anyone got people hooked on benefits it was Margaret Thatcher.
As for "no money left" that was just politicians banter, not a serious economic statement. Do you really think it meant there was no money left? The "piggy bank" was not empty.
Agreed. A certain percentage of the people have been well and truly CONned.
He is a sleazy, out of touch, hollow, sly joke of a politician and the public has known it from the start. The last month has made it clear beyond any doubt.
Especially when the auctions had been announced in advance, hence creating the infamous 'Brown Bottom'..
If the gold was sold because someone thought it had reached a peak and we were better off taking the profit then you would be right, but that isn't how gold reserves are managed. It's not about commodity speculation.
Not just an apology. Plans not to do it again.
Funny how Brown is vilified here for this, yet other countries that were also selling gold reserves at the same time are never mentioned?