ComRes Poll give Tories Lead in ALL regions.

ConHome reports new ComRes poll with Tory lead the same as last poll but both Labour and Tory down 5%. One significant point is that The Conservatives lead Labour among all regions and social groups – including Scotland.

Further to the results of tonight's BPIX poll for tomorrow's Mail on Sunday, there is also tonight a new ComRes poll, to be published in tomorrow's Independent on Sunday. The Conservative lead is constant at 19%, but both major parties are down five points in the wake of the daily revelations about MPs' expenses, meaning that Labour hits another new low in ComRes polling history. The figures are:

Con - 40% (-5%)
Lab - 21% (-5%)
LD - 18% (-)

Meanwhile, combined "Others" are at 21%, up nine points.

Comparisons are with the ComRes/Independent poll published at the end of April and these new figures compute into a Conservative Commons majority of 140, according to the UK Polling Report Swing Calculator.

Some other statistics to be pulled out from the poll:

• The Conservatives lead Labour among all regions and social groups – including Scotland;
• 88% of people who voted Conservative in 2005 will vote Conservative now; 58% of people who voted Labour in 2005 say that they will vote Labour now; 69% of people who voted Lib Dem in 2005 will now vote Lib Dem; whilst 18% of people who voted Labour in 2005 will now vote for a minor party;
• 15% of Labour voters and 11% of Lib Dem voters in 2005 are Tory voters now;
• Only 37% of Labour identifiers are absolutely certain to vote, compared with 45% of LDs and 64% of Conservative identifiers.
• 43% of people agree they are "very likely" to vote for one of the minor parties, such as the Green Party or UKIP, at the European elections;
• 46% agree that "most MPs are honest and have been let down by the greed of a minority", whilst 50% disagree with that proposition;
• 59% agree that David Cameron has dealt with the issue of MPs’ expenses better than Gordon Brown (31% disagree).

ComRes telephoned 1,010 adults between 13th and 14th May
ComRes poll has Tory lead constant at 19% but both main parties take a hit - thetorydiary

Tory lead at 22% in new BPIX poll - Labour on 20%

Remarkable figures in the new BPIX poll for tomorrow's Mail on Sunday. This is probably Labours lowest poll since proper polling began back in 1945. Gordon Brown whatever he says tomorrow in the News of the Screws has yet again been seen to be an appalling and dithering leader.

On Westminster voting intention, the figures are:

Con - 42%
Lab - 20%
LD - 15%

Labour have melted.

Other figures

On voting intention for the European Parliament election, the figures are:

Con - 30%
UKIP - 17%
Lab - 17%
LD - 15%

On other questions related to the expenses scandal:

• 17% think that Gordon Brown has handled the problem well, compared with a 53% rating for David Cameron;
• 91% per cent agree with David Cameron's ruling that Tory MPs who have abused their expenses and refuse to pay it back will be expelled from the party;
• 77% think Gordon Brown has handled the issue badly, against 39% for David Cameron;
• 38% think that Gordon Brown should dissolve Parliament immediately and call an election; 16% want him to wait until the last possible moment in June 2010.

BPIX interviewed 2,318 people between the 14th and 16th May.

Tory lead at 22% in new BPIX poll as Labour support slumps to 20% - thetorydiary

Polly no longer thinks Gordon is the savior

Polly has obviously lost all hope in Gordon Brown now

Even after that calamity, at Tuesday's political cabinet, with blood already on the highway, the prime minister's indecision was terminal and fatal. I am told a leading cabinet minister gave him a strong and detailed expenses reform plan, with a script for presenting it. But it sat on his desk for many days. He couldn't make up his mind, he was "reflecting" on it. Since nothing is proposed to cabinet without Brown's prior support, the plan was never presented, the discussion was diffuse and nothing was resolved. But when Cameron announced his press conference for a few hours later, it was plain he had a plan of his own. So Harriet Harman was sent out in a hurry to present a plan the cabinet hadn't discussed. Cameron triumphed: it hardly mattered what he said or if his plan made sense – it too may unravel – when he showed himself forcefully decisive in a crisis and his words answered the wrathful spirit of the times: "Politicians have done things that are unethical and wrong. I don't care if they were within the rules – they were wrong." Compare and contrast that with Gordon Brown days later: "Where there is irregularity it has to be dealt with." For two weeks Chief Whip Nick Brown – and therefore Gordon Brown – knew what Elliot Morley had done because he told them, but no action was taken. That's what happens in a bunker under siege where dwindling trusted advisers lose touch with the daylight world outside.

Only Alan Johnson can prevent Labour catastrophe | Polly Toynbee | Comment is free | The Guardian

Tory Party Political Broadcast on Expenses

Just try to imagine Gordon doing anything like this.
A true Statesman.


Paul Waugh | Blogs | Evening Standard

How to do an Attack Video - Nothing Britsh about the BNP

This is how to do a proper attack video compared to Labour's inept attempts.

The British National Party likes to hide its true nature behind lots of policies that many people agree with. It's true that many of the big parties are failing but there's a horrible truth at the heart of the BNP. The BNP is a racist party that wants to build an All White Britain. Here's a key quote from the BNP leader Nick Griffin:

“I want to see Britain become the 99 per cent genetically white country she was just eleven years before I was born, and I want to die knowing that I have helped to set her on a course whereby her future genetic makeup will one day not even resemble that of January 1948, but that of July 1914. Nothing will ever turn me from working towards that final vision.”

The BNP wants to deport non-whites from Britain. First voluntarily, it says, but it would soon create a climate of fear for all people of a different skin colour. There's nothing British about that.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS VIDEO TO YOUR FRIENDS + SIGN THE ANTI-BNP PETITION

This is a campaign against the politics of discrimination, segregation and racial supremacy started by Tim Montgomerie and James Bethell.

There's Nothing British About the BNP

UKIP and Expenses - True Troughing

I see the UKIP party seem to be the main beneficiaries of the expenses scandal when we look at the current polls for the coming European Elections on June 4th 2009.

Well how easily can the public can be deceived as the UKIP party has probably the worst record on expenses of all the parties involved in the European Elections, including one, Ashley Mote who was elected in 2004 for the UKIP party and then spent 6 months in prison after being found guilty of 21 charges of deception. Amazingly uder EU laws he was allowed to retain his MEP status.

They also have another MEP elected under the UKIP banner who has been charged with a number of cases of false accounting and money laundering.

Derek Frame, a reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime division, said:

“Following the publication of a news article in October 2005 relating to Mr Wise and Ms Jenkins, the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) began an investigation into Mr Wise’s use of allowances. Olaf subsequently passed the investigation to Bedfordshire Police Economic Crime Unit for investigation.

“These charges relate to alleged offences committed between October 2004 and September 2005. At the time Mr Wise was a MEP representing the United Kingdom Independence Party and Ms Jenkins was employed by him as a researcher.”

This is not a bad count for a party that only started out with 12 MEP's. Now two have had to leave because of the depth they had managed to get their snouts ito the EU trough.

MEP Tom Wise charged with fiddling accounts and money laundering - Times Online

Labour - No policies, No Apology

The Party Political Broadcast by the Labour party is a shining example of the depths the Labour Party under Gordon Brown has sunk to. No Policies, arrogant with no cause, shallow, deceitful, fearmongering, and certainly no apologies for the expenses humiliations they are undergoing.

After the fearmongering twaddle that was the Lib Dems launch of European Election campaigning you would have thought Labour would have come up with something more direct and an explanation of policies ad how they could help people, but no just an ad hominem attack on David Cameron and no explanations of how they are going to move forward in these troubled times. When your only attack left is personal you know you are going to lose.

Iain Martin writing in the Telegraph had this to say

If it had gone on any longer I suspect the following claims would have been made.

Small child, sobbing. Standing in front of rabbit's cage: "David Cameron would restrict the supply of carrots. Your pet would die." (cue creepy music and close up of petrified looking rabbit).

Tense looking mother of two. Standing in front of school gates: "David Cameron would close all schools. Apart from Eton." Cut to shot of public school boys beating up comprehensive school pupils in rags.

Elderly war veteran. Sitting on floor: "David Cameron would make chairs expensive. Under a Conservative government only he and George Osborne could afford them."

Look, negative campaigning can work if the ad is well made and the claims don't sound silly and over the top. But the oddest aspect of this is that it did not occur to anyone in Labour that it looks completely inappropriate in the current climate. The Tories have re-shot their PPB, with a straight to camera apology to voters from Cameron for the expenses scandal. Labour's machine is so broken that the idea of doing something similar appears to have passed them by.

Labour are likely to come a distant third or even fourth in these elections, one more nail in the coffin for the Tragedy that is Gordon's "leadership" of the Labour Party

Stapler-hurling Brown launches negative ad against Conservatives - thetorydiary

Aboyne Academy Rugby get just rewards

Nice to see Aboyne Academy doing well with Rugby.

RUGBY players from Aboyne Academy were given a coaching master class by Scotland throwing coach Stevie Scott and Scotland sevens and under-20 international Ashleah McCulloch of Aberdeen Grammar yesterday.

The school was paid a visit by the duo as a reward for reaching the gold level of the SRU’s Rugby Champions programme.

I'd just like to say with pride that my son Malcolm is the captain of the U15's and also playing for the U18's quite often.

All the teachers and volunteers are to be thanked for the hard work they have put in over the past year or so to bring Aboyne Rugby up so quickly to such a standard.





Aboyne Academy get just rewards - Press & Journal

Failing Our Troops - Yet Again

Yet again this government and the MOD our failing our troops. New equipment that is not fit for purpose, spares not available, fixes that make things worse and just plain incompetence seem to be the order of the day for MOD Logistics. Apparently only 57% of requests are fulfilled on time.

The Telegraph reports that Edward Leigh, the chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee which oversees the work of the NAO, said that he found it

"surprising" that the MoD still had not sorted out the problems with the supply chain.

He said that it was a "woeful state of affairs" when commanders lost confidence in a new vehicle like the Vector so quickly.

"Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are giving their all, but they don't always have what they need to get the job done," he said.

"We owe it to them to make sure they've got what they need, when they need it. The Ministry of Defence should not rely so much on the famed ability of our armed forces to make do."

Troops in Afghanistan face delays getting vital equipment, says NAO - Telegraph

Not for Self but for Country

Not for Self but for Country - Perhaps something worth remembering in these troubled times. Whilst all the hoo-haa is going on about greedy and sleazy politicians we need to remember that back in the real world people are dying in the service of our country.

The Telegraph reports on the homage paid to the dead as hundreds lined the streets of Wootton Bassett to honour the return of four soldiers killed in a single day's violence in Afghanistan.

The men's bodies flew to RAF Lyneham, in Wiltshire, where their families paid respects at a private ceremony, before the cortege drove through Wootton Bassett.

As has become tradition at each repatriation, well-wishers formed a guard of honour on the three-mile route that campaigners want to rename the Highway of Heroes.

Sergeant Ben Ross, 34, from 173 Provost Company, 3rd Regiment, Royal Military Police, and Corporal Kumar Pun, 31, from the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, were killed by a suicide bomber during a patrol in Gereshk, Helmand province on May 7.

Rifleman Adrian Sheldon, 25, from 2nd Battalion The Rifles, died in an explosion when travelling in a Jackal vehicle near Sangin in Helmand province, that evening.

Corporal Sean Binnie, 22, from the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, was killed in a fire fight with insurgents near Musa Qaleh in Helmand province, on the same day. Cpl Binnie was part of the Battle Group mentoring the Afghan National Army (ANA).

May they rest in Peace.














Hundred line streets as four dead soldiers return from Afghanistan - Telegraph

More Brownies from Gordon on Expenses

Watch this video at about 2:45 mins in when Toenails skewers Brown on when he actually dreamt up his plan.

As the BBC reports this is yet another Brownie by our dear Leader. The BBC report has this to say

Asked if he had been forced into a response by Mr Cameron, Mr Brown told the BBC: "I have been discussing this for days and we have been looking at this matter for some time. We had hoped to make some progress yesterday and now all parties are prepared to accept this."

But two senior MPs told the BBC he was "misrepresenting" what had been agreed by the committee.

They said the committee only agreed to examine the idea of an independent audit, that there was no "firm or final agreement" and would meet again on Wednesday after seeking advice on whether it was possible.

Even on an important point as MP's expenses Gordon just can't stick to the truth. Why should we trust him on anything. This whole interview is yet agian a car-crash as Gordon tries to grab all the kudos for sorting out a problem when in fact he has yet again been the problem.

BBC NEWS | Politics | All MPs' claims to be scrutinised

Total Clegg Up

Watch Clegg blame Conservative for just about anything. The man is deluded. The main interest starts about 2 minutes into the extract. It's like listening to Nick Griffin the BNP leader espousing his fear of immigrants but in reverse. Fearmongering at it's worst. Some background on the European Arrest Warrant which was also opposed by Liberty. As John Wadham, director of Liberty said of the Bill:

"Speeding up the bureaucracy of the extradition process needn't be a problem - but we need safeguards to ensure you aren't sent to a foreign prison, under foreign
laws, without good reason.

"This Bill, and the EU arrest warrant, seek to cut away those basic protections. Foreign authorities should need to show they have a
substantive case against the person to be extradited. We must have adequate protections against improper extradition".

BBC NEWS | Politics | Stand tall in Europe, Clegg urges

More funds for Combat Stress

A good news story for a charity that really deserves some highlighting. Combat Stress attempts to help veterans with Mental health issues as the BBC says

A charity that helps support war veterans with mental health problems has been given £2.8m of Scottish Government funding. Combat Stress will use the money to improve access to a treatment centre, Hollybush House in Ayr.

Combat Stress is the leading charity specialising in the care of British Veterans who have been profoundly traumatised by harrowing experiences during their Service career and who are suffering from poor mental health as a result. Many Veterans leave the Armed Forces with highly debilitating conditions such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety disorders. Their problems can remain masked for years, and they and their families may be struggling to deal with matters at home.

Combat Stress dealt with over 1200 cases last year of which 300 were from veterans of the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The question though that remains is why are they relying on charities to help them with their problems and issues. In this time when we are requiring more and more from our Service Personnel we should be ensuring they have proper access and treatment in Government funded programmes rather than relying on Charities and the general public.


BBC NEWS | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | More funds for veterans charity

Polly Toynbee - Gordon Brown must go

"He made the rich richer and the poor poorer. The Labour party can't go into the next election under Brown's leadership"

At last you've worked it out Polly. Gordon is a just not what you need for your Socialist Paradise.

As she says

It's all over for Brown and Labour. The abyss awaits. As long as he remains leader, there is nothing that wretched Labour candidates can plausibly say on the doorstep at next month's European elections. They are struck dumb. Why should people vote for them? The horse manure bought on expenses is garnish for a decomposing government. The heart of the matter is the economy, and Brown's responsibility for the bubble years. He personally is to blame for Labour's failure to ensure that ordinary people on median incomes and poor people at the bottom received a bigger share in national growth: it turns out that they fell back and only the wealthy prospered. Labour made the rich richer and the poor poorer: growth for the few, not the many.

The thing is, Polly, he hasn't managed to do much good for anybody, everybody (apart from the odd banker) is worse off, not just the poor and the rich, but especially everyone in-between. This is the problem that Gordon caused in his 10 years as Chancellor and has now exacerbated in his two, yes just two years as Prime Minister. Polly you try to excuse your old blind faith in him by saying

I was among those looking for the best in him, celebrating his undoubted concern for Africa, foreign aid and child poverty – but no one can know a leader's mettle until too late.

Unfortunately dear, you did know, you just were so up your own a***hole that you didn't bother to actually take in all the evidence. It was all there for you to see and most people could see it and had seen it for years. Gordon Brown was a car-crash waiting for the first tricky corner. Please now go and read back all your columns and see how many times you have been wrong. Then take a flight out to your Tuscan prole villa and retire and leave journalism to those who actually know what they are talking about.

Gordon Brown must go. Deadline: June 5 | Polly Toynbee | Comment is free | The Guardian:

Charlie Brooker on the car crash that is Gordon

Charlie Brooker writing in the Guardian seems to have worked out what a car-crash Gordon really is His final lines suggest a way Gordon might get out of this situation

... Failing that, simply bursting into tears on live TV might be a good move. Pay a visit to This Morning for an ostensibly upbeat chat about how this whole government thing's been working out for you, then suddenly go quiet and well up. Wait till Phillip Schofield puts a hand on your shoulder before letting rip - but when you let rip, really LET RIP. Wail. Howl. Punch the cushions. Quake with sobs. Say you're sorry for all the mistakes and beg for a chance to put it all right. Make stuff up if necessary.

Pretend you've been a heroin addict or something like that. Weep 16 litres right there on the sofa if you have to.

Or tell a joke! A bad one! Anything! Do any-thing! Please - just do something to clear the air. Because the public still has a few pity cells left. Many will forgive you. I'm not sure everyone believes the current mess is entirely your fault. It's just the tragic-comic misery and embarrassment of it all. It's too much for our embattled nation to bear. It's awful. Truly awful.

Sorry Charlie that won't work. It's past time for Gordon he is now the zombie waiting to put out of his misery.

Charlie Brooker on the car crash that is Gordon Brown's premiership Comment is free The Guardian