Not much discussion there then Woman from 'pregnancy advisory service' avoiding answering direct question from Nick presumably approves of gender selection.

I wonder... have LBC mentioned this at all? Or will they?

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/...working-enough

The lowest paid could lose their benefits if they are thought to not be earning enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFJr8J1qDnM


James Whale Show on ITV.

Sounds a bit barmy to me, I always thought pilots get paid quite well and wouldn't need any benefits. I think the DWP should focus its efforts in other areas

The nasty Tories are still plugging on with this and it has been in the news again recently:
http://www.todayonline.com/world/eur...working-enough

See what Boris thinks about the poor:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...medium=twitter
Do you listen to him on LBC? Did you vote for him and now regret it? What an odious bleep this man is!

Well at least he's being honest about what he really thinks for a change. The Centre For Policy Studies is of course the Church of Thatcher which she founded in the 80s. Boris probably thought he was safe speaking his mind in there amongst like-minded company.

It's amazing how this man continues to pull the wool so effortlessly over so many people's eyes. The real fools are the ones who are less well off and voted for Boris as mayor, because they think he's 'fun'. No shortage of idiots like that around...fortunately for Boris and he knows it..

You make a good point there FrankBT, he would have had a lot of propaganda funding behind him and obviously he has this fake bungling charm and that can be very persuasive. I hope he is out next time round, as long as he doesn't then win a seat as an MP.

Can't argue with a word he says there. Some people are cleverer than others and a lot of people are stupid, both rich and poor.

The real scary thing is that they'd use this very reason to vote him in as an MP or the PM if they could.

Indeed - HIGNFY has a lot to answer for!

I'll be fascinated to see whether the Press turn on him if he stands for PM, or support him. They'd certainly have plenty of material on him if they wanted to sink him. Plenty.

Compare his treatment with that of Ken, though, about whom blatant lies were told again and again.

Hooray, the Mayor will be visiting Hendon this afternoon. I will be in the area, so I will save him a seat in the local cafe (and he can listen to the noisy schoolkids!).

To me Boris is a bit like Blair, who was and still seems to be brilliant at conning the public. and just as dangerous.

Fortunately, even if he decides to stand as an MP again and succeeds, Cameron will probably keep him on the back benches out of harm's way. I get the feeling that many Tory MPs see Boris as a liability rather than an asset considering how often he puts his foot in it.

While he is an MP, he can't really do much damage, it is when he vies for the leadership, we will have to worry. But, as James O'Brien reminded us of Keith Joseph's speech, blaming poverty on the fact the poor people had children; these sorts of remarks have a terrible habit of backfiring.

I think you missed the point there. The implication was that poor people are too stupid to rise above their lot in life. he made no mention of rich people being stupid.

Just hoping that Charlie Drake will have time to elaborate on his points on the other LBC thread.

Mind you, where else but on a chat forum would I be asking for 'Charlie Drake' to elaborate on his views on the Lib Dems...!?!

Thanks for this, Makeba - I was having trouble even finding the thread!

The document I have is in pdf form, and I'm not sure of the best way to link it here.

The information here, however, might be of interest:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/105942116/...-Lib-Dems-Done

It's a lot to scroll through, so I hope you have the patience. I realise that lots of other people won't, but so be it.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I think that one justification for posting this in the LBC politics thread is that Nick Clegg is a regular presenter on the programme.

I'll be the first to admit that my last post was rather lazy - just copying and pasting a link from the Lib Dem's own website. My only excuse was that I was very short of time.

In order to do a better job, I'd need to redact a rather substantial body of information, taken from a variety of sources, which would probably take me anywhere from forty minutes to an hour to accomplish.

As there doesn't seem to be much, if any, interest in this, though, I probably won't bother.

We live in the age of Twitter, or instant gratification. One-sentence-only communication and count the syllables.

Each to their own, and far be it from me to moralise for the nation, but with a general election looming, it does seem a shame that so many voters (of the few who bother) will be basing their decisions on simple soundbites and media manipulation.

Perhaps 'twas ever thus and we do, indeed, get what we deserve.

I'm grateful, CD, and don't worry, I was asking rather a lot! Thanks for the link, which I have perused and will continue to peruse, although as you say, it is from the LibDem's own pen, so perhaps not entirely reliable.

I entirely agree with you about the soundbite generation and it's really an appalling indictment of the modern way, in my opinion. Where is the critical thinking? Where is the detail? Where is the patience? I suppose, though, it suits some parties more than others to have the 'hoi polloi' (for want of a better phrase) be ever less engaged with voting and politics.

It's becoming more and more clear to me that the 'Borisovian' style of politics is become ever more prevalent, and what a terrible thing that is. I.e. all mouth and no trousers (literally, in the case of Boris and his 'friends', no doubt! ). So many policies are about getting back into power, but are not really good for the country's long-term future.

As I said elsewhere, Osborne is pushing policies that only promote a housing bubble, knowing that the current economic improvement is temporary and based on people dipping into their savings to maintain a lifestyle. He knows, they all know, it's unsustainable, but that the crash will come after the next election, so they can blame someone else. He also knows that his Autumn statement was not budgeted for, as the OBR said itself, beyond the next election, so all those policies he put in place are just glitter. But where is the commentary on this on LBC? Where is the detail? Where is the challenge and the knowledge and more importantly the will to challenge?

Frankly, LBC is becoming a joke, with it's sub-Sun approach. ID is the best they've got, but even he isn't really doing enough detail. JOB is good, but tarred by the blinker-wearing who just call him names rather than argue his points. Sadly, so often the way these days, to block out the left-wing. IC can't even say 'left-wing' without putting an insult in front of it. Like a 7-year-old. I like JOB's passion, but he has put off politicians from appearing on his show. Personally, I see that as damning of them, not of him, but I know others will see differently, again, IMO, choosing to play the man and the not the ball. Amazing how some people value 'manners' over humanity.

At least in the old days (50s - 90s) until the curse of Blair you had 2 main political parties you could vote for who still had some fundamental or ideological differences. Lib Dems have had little impact or relevance since Paddy Ashdown, their last decent leader. Since Blair you cannot see daylight between all 3 parties politically. As few bother with politics now, apathy rules supreme which is a dream come true for the politicians since they believe they can get away with more corruption or cover-ups as the electorate don't really care.

Except for one thing - the media. Today's MPs fear them far more than the electorate with all the major exposés of the past decade or so. Even then most of the public soon get fed up with the saturation coverage of each new scandal Just look at the banking scandals. How many of the public really care one way or the other now? When the Occupy movement settled around St Pauls Cathedral 3 years ago the public seemed way more hostile towards them than they ever were towards corrupt bankers. At the time the public were saying what's the point of the Occupy sit-in? Ie they totally missed the point or had become totally complacent about the bankers' corrupt activities. In the end we get everything we deserve in this country because most of the electorate can't be bothered to vote or vote seriously. Mayor Boris is another exampleof electorate laziness and stupidity.

I think the ripple of approval Clegg received after his appearances in the televised debates is certainly the reason the LibDems did so well at the last election, but the public's predilection for a winning smile and nice hair isn't a new phenomenon. The 1960 US Presidential contest was a close run thing until the TV debates and the voters got a good look at the glamorous JFK. Just think; if he'd been balding and sweaty like his opponent, he might have lived to see his grandchildren.

Indeed not, but I think it is almost entirely linked to the changes in modern technology. As the world becomes faster, so people's patience has become much thinner and their willingness to see only the superficial much greater.

All round, it's to the detriment of the human species, IMO.

Bump. For those people who need it.

Good on yer, it was getting a bit boring over there.

Could you please keep your posts on-topic and related to politics.