March 9th, 2010

Ashcroft v Whelan

Ashcroft’s commercial links to ConservativeHome, PoliticsHome and Iain Dale are getting a lot of coverage, not least in the Guardian this morning.  People should not forget that Charlie Whelan’s Unite union funds LabourList and LeftFootForward is also union funded.

For the avoidance of doubt, Guido’s blog is an editorially independent, for profit enterprise.  If James Murdoch, the Barclay Brothers, Charlie Whelan or Michael Ashcroft want to buy Guido’s blog, he is open to offers.

Until that day the editorial line of this blog is determined by Guido alone…


249 Comments

  1. 1
    Old Labour says:

    How much money does Wills Straw get from the workers?

    • 17
      tory boy says:

      Cameroons and pals loosing argument…..

      Its not about a “opposition” party Non-dom…. stop answering questions on this….

      Even Harperson showed that when on Andrew Marr she asked 4 questions about Labour nondoms – she talked about conservatives and ashcroft for 6 mins !!!!!!!

      (hate her – but well done for avoiding the real issue)

      So what an opposition party is getting funds from a non dom…

      folks we have a government getting funds from a non dom , and goverment allowing a foreign non dom “privy” access – ie private access to information even we dont get to see……..

      privy concillor – “privy” to secret info we can be trusted to see………..

      All tory spokespeople showing they not been in government for 13 years and cant turn the debate to … ok we have non dom and we in opposition – the true issue is the government wont say how many non doms fund them, and what they get for it…?

      Cameron very good on expenses turning this to a gb wont do anything but splutter, i will act and throw out corrupt tory MP…..

      now on this he is all about ashcroft, not know ing when etc etc ect

      thats not the issue – !!!!!!!!!

      torys are removing a non-doms influence, stopping them holding posts – and acting for the future – unlike the government who could have acted and DIDNT

      guido you really need to get tory head office to read this blog and learn….

      :)

      • 21
        Anonymous says:

        boring….

        • 43
          Thats News says:

          “That wasn’t just boring… that was TBNGU preternaturally boring.”

        • 76
          Anonymous says:

          I’ll put it simply for the Brothers.

          Cons – taking money from a non-dom.
          Labs – taking money from a non-dom who then gets given a position to subvert every and any law whatever, even supreme court rulings.

          Which, Brothers, is the cancer in society?

      • 24
        Four-eyed English Genius says:

        Where are they “loosing” the argument to?

      • 31
        Cuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnntt says:

        Too long didn’t read

      • 73
        Old Labour says:

        The question remains.How much does New Labour aristo Wills Straw get from union funds?

      • 151
        Frankie Goes to Heavenwood says:

        Which sovietised liar department in the Comrade Madelsonian Labyrinthine Gulag Machine does Tory Boy really operate?

        Room 101?

  2. 2

    I thought the editorial line was dictated by how much Guinness you’d absorbed during the lunchtime session or the night before.

  3. 3
    The Dirty Rat says:

    Will you accept Zimbabwe luncheon vouchers?

  4. 4
    BROWNED OFF says:

    WHELAN IS AN OAF. I CAN’T BELIEVE HE GOES DOWN VERY WELL WHEN HE IS OUT SALMON FISHING ON THOSE SCOTTISH RIVERS

  5. 5
    Bluto says:

    Come on Brown, you lily livered twat, call an election NOW!

  6. 6

    It’s a pity Labour bloggers haven’t got the ‘nads’ to apologise to Chris Grayling- He was right to question Browns deceptive violent crime stats.

    http://whogoeshome.co.uk/?p=465

    • 15
      Peter Grimes says:

      ZaNuLieBor don’t do apologies!

      That’s why Cammy needs to tell them to fuck off about Ashcroft. I see that Mandelsonbum is quieter outside of the HoL nowadays and is leaving it up to the offshore domiciled Grauniad to keep up the campaign.

      Did Ashcroft’s lawyers shut the slimy arselicker up?

      • 224
        Tennerpants says:

        He’s quieter because he’s got skeletons in his own cuboard, thats always the way with serial killers.

    • 25

      ‘ZaNuLieBor don’t do apologies!’

      But if they did the would look like this ███ █████ ███ ██

    • 37
      South of the M4 says:

      If you cannot, or do not, recognise the problem, you can never resolve it. And this is why a great many ‘ problems ‘ currently in the UK will never change. They have been driven there by a failed ideology, and the same ideology will keep them there. Utterly incompetent and utterly treasonous. Yet still we see that they have a chance to hang on to power. I think the countries gone mad.

    • 52
      The IMF is coming says:

      Can the Library check on all stats please.

      They are all bent, including the last ‘growth’ figures.

  7. 7
    Poirot says:

    How do I know wheter my cash is being used for a Labour website?

    • 11
      Mr Ned says:

      If you are in a Union, then it is!

      • 32
        Terry Trotsky says:

        Unless of course you took the step of ‘contracting out’ when you joined the union (if it affiliated to the Labour party). If it is not, then you have nothing to worry about.

        • 42
          Dick the Prick says:

          Is that true though? I would have thought that virtually everyone ‘contracted out’ but they still seem to be minted.

          • Anonymous says:

            You thought Gordon sold only half the gold? Anyone checked the vault recently?

          • Terry Trotsky says:

            Union representatives either ‘forget’ to tell new members about contracting our or don’t even know about it themselves.

      • 108

        They stand over you when you sign to be contracted out, there is evidence of victimisation of employees who opt out.

        • 113
          Terry Trotsky says:

          There is no evidence at all.

        • 123
          Conservative Ex-Factory Worker says:

          I was constructively dismissed from my job by a shop steward for opting out of Labour donations.

        • 201
          No money for Labour says:

          Nobody did that to me. Filled in the form at home. Ticked the contracting out box and posted it off. Simple.

          The Union are useless though.

          • Crackerjack's Stu Francis says:

            Yet they are still a model of openness and honesty compared to the BBC. Hard to believe, harder to deny.

    • 40
      South of the M4 says:

      You pay tax.

  8. 9

    Until that day the editorial line of this blog is determined by Guido alone…

    But the comments may well be determined by the courts..
    section 127 of the Communications Act 2003 state:
    Improper use of public electronic communications network

    (1) A person is guilty of an offence if he—

    (a) sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or

    (b) causes any such message or matter to be so sent.
    (2) A person is guilty of an offence if, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, he—
    (a) sends by means of a public electronic communications network, a message that he knows to be false,
    (b) causes such a message to be sent; or
    (c) persistently makes use of a public electronic communications network.

    (3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.

    • 15
      Mr Ned says:

      Couldn’t give a flying fuck about that lot! Comments are comments! mere words! When the use of words is illegal, you have lost your freedom and are living in a de facto totalitarian fascist police state.

      Fuck them! I would sooner not recognise and renounce my nationality and all laws, customs and protections it provides, then bend to accepting the above injustice and tyranny.

    • 18
      Mr Ned says:

      “(2) A person is guilty of an offence if, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, he—
      (a) sends by means of a public electronic communications network, a message that he knows to be false,
      (b) causes such a message to be sent; or
      (c) persistently makes use of a public electronic communications network.

      That means most of the Labour Front bench and most of the mainsream media should be locked up. These laws are blatantly broken every fucking day by the media!

      • 70
        Sir William Waad says:

        Pretty much does for the climate cultists! However, the word ‘purpose’ makes it unenforceable, since you can’t look inside somebody’s head to find what their purpose may have been.

      • 225
        Disaffected says:

        Mr Ned, when will you learn that you should do as you are told and believe everything the Labour Party (line given by Slug Mandleslime and Bad Al Press slugretary) and the BBC tell you. Your free speech will be suppressed and Labour will deny any involvement at the time of your downfall or death and at the subsequent public inquiry. Come on Robinscum, where are you? Is this a story you could on your blog until everyone is bored stupid!

    • 29
      Bill says:

      Yep – and with London the libel capital of the world, where anybody (rich jews) can sue anybody on Earth (to keep them from telling truths), and these obscene ‘super-injunctions’, it is clear Britain is firmly under the boot of the jew.

      The 2003 Communications Act was crafted so that everybody is criminal and can be arrested at any time. The jews are gradually turning Britain into Hell.

      • 50
        AC1 says:

        I think you need to get back to reading Mein Kampf.

      • 74
        Sir William Waad says:

        Yeah, like that Saudi businessman and that Kate Hudson woman.

      • 97
        Anonymous says:

        And on superinjunctions, did Shoesmith put one on Balls, or did Balls put one on Shoesmith? It’s all gone rather deathly quiet on that side of Baby P case.

      • 152

        That Max Mosely bloke’s got a hell of a conk on him, hasn’t he?

        Didn’t his father have something to do with Cable Street back in the 30s?

        Just goes to show…

    • 41
      the laughing insignia says:

      Hmmm does this “act” apply to websites hosted beyond the jurisdiction of the UK courts?

      Teehee! Fun and comments all round!

      • 186
        Thats News says:

        It CAN do. A man in the UK published material on servers in the USA which would have been illegal to publish in the UK.

        He was prosecuted (and found guilty) because the UK law allowed the courts to pretend he had published the material in the UK.

        • 236
          I love subclauses says:

          Here’s a dumb analogy: If you stand on the border of one nation and fire a bullet, so killing a person on the other side of the border, an offence takes place in both nations.

          Nobody needs to ‘pretend’ anything.

    • 49
      the laughing insignia says:

      “Improper use”

      Define “improper”. Tee hee!

      I bet my definition is different to the woeful wallies in westminster. Tee hee!

      And I care not one jot what they think! Tee hee!

    • 117
      Mrs T says:

      So McBride should have received a six month sentence and thousands of £ in fines…

      Start with the criminal smearers…

    • 141

      This act, designed to be used for stopping stalkers repeatedly leaving messages on answerphones and such, is currently being used to prosecute someone who posted a hoax bomb threat on twitter to his friends.
      The law is being bent like a fish-hook to make it fit that crime.

      http://www.thelawyer.com/the-twitter-%E2%80%9Cbomb-hoax%E2%80%9D-case-worse-than-we-thought?/1003651.article

    • 164
      Australian says:

      “(2) A person is guilty of an offence if, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another, he—
      (a) sends by means of a public electronic communications network, a message that he knows to be false”

      Bill – we must be able to get McBust banged to rights under section 127(2)(a). EVERY message he sends out over a public communications network is false (and he must know them to be so) and he certainly causes “annoyance, inconvenience AND needless anxiety”.

      I think 6 months in chokey might do McBust a power of good. It would certainly assist the rest of the country.

  9. 13
    sceptical says:

    I’ll give you a fiver for it.

  10. 14
    Sparticus says:

    Don’t look at me, it’s him over there.

  11. 20
    Steve Purcell says:

    Will Charlie pay for my drugs?

  12. 23
    Steve Purcell says:

    Charlie! Charlie! Charlie! We all want Charlie!

  13. 28
    Clarence says:

    In other words, low-paid workers are paying for navel-gazing Labour blogs that no one reads.

    It must be great to be a highly-paid Unite official: you get to own the government and you don’t even have to stand for election.

  14. 30
    Clarence says:

    Guido, be nice about Charlie Whelan or he will threaten your wife.

    That’s Charlie’s modus operandi.

  15. 33
    Martin Day says:

    Let’s cut to the chase.
    Name the asking price for your blog please

  16. 34
    Rupert Murdoch says:

    He he he hehehehe!

    Haha ha ha ha!

    Cackle cackle!

  17. 45
    The Admiral says:

    “UK trade deficit widens to worst in 17 months”

    Enough said FFS…

    • 53
      AC1 says:

      BBC says “unexpectedly” on it’s “news” article…

      • 56
        Mitch says:

        Oh, FFS!!

        Er, hello?, lads….have you been watching the economy lately?

      • 80
        mondeoman says:

        Editorial standards at the Beeb are in terminal decline. Watch news reports or listen on radio, the editing of reports is poor and as for the impartiality of content, you could write a whole Blog about it!

      • 114
        Oh, it came out of the blue says:

        What’s unexpected about it. Devalued pound pushes up import prices, QE creates artificial credit masking the deflationary pressure. Exports cannot appear magically replacing the collapse in financial services ,particularly as investment in the productive sector is down 28%, being squeezed out by the competition of the massive level of public borrowing.

        A widening trade deficit was only to be expected at this stage of Gordon’s election debt-fuelled mini boom of less than 1% growth after a 7% collapse year on year.

      • 145
        bergen says:

        I started laughing when the “unexpectedly”comment was made.You have to hand it to the BBC.As a propaganda outlet for a political party they are unbeatable.However Toenails Robinson lets the side down by being a tad too obvious in his fearless quest to bring the opposition to account.

  18. 46
    Paladin says:

    Have gun will travel.

    • 177
      Johnny Western says:

      Paladin, Paladin
      Where do you roam?
      Paladin, Paladin
      Far, far from home.

  19. 47
    MI5 says:

    Guido

    What is youre connection then to Alex Hilton please ?!

    Mentioned in Alex Hilton’s Wiki entry…

  20. 51
    OddJob says:

    the boys over at the guardian are just beginning to see the light:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/09/january-trade-deficit-widens#start-of-comments

    maybe the bbc will do the same

    if we don’t make anything we can’t export it

    • 55
      Eastenders can do it? says:

      We’ll take in each others’ washing, and sell homemade cakes?

    • 63
      Anonymous says:

      As much as most people dislike the so called “masters of the universe” in the city, I don’t see anyone else capable of getting us out of this mess. If Gorgon drives them all abroad with high taxes we have got nothing left.

      • 115
        The IMF is coming says:

        Whelan and Unite are trying their hardest to ruin what’s left of BA

      • 214
        Susie says:

        My sister’s doing up a second house near Frankfurt in the past month, for a banker and his family…

    • 64
      The IMF is coming says:

      Car scrappage scheme.

      Supported a company in Castle Bromwich that makes a needle for a speedo in a Daihatsu. Supported Banks who finance vehicles. Supported economic growth for Q4.
      Supported the international motor industry. Screwed our trade deficit

      • 138
        Real Voter says:

        85% of the cars bought under ‘scappage’ were built overseas. Nothing like supporting the Korean economy, is there ?

        • 228
          India says:

          Cheers, pals. And can we have another quarter of a billion quid towards our space program? Ah, you’ve already promised it. Thanks, you give us so much money, we forget.

          Ta.

    • 111
      .243 Win says:

      Trouble is, we don’t actually make a lot any more. Bear with me.

      Unless you mine the ore and produce the energy required to smelt it, you don’t “make” metal. If you don’t produce and process the crude oil, you don’t “make” plastics or all the other precursor chemicals that most modern manufacturing needs.

      What we do is import shed loads of pre-refined/part fabricated product (which is where the real value-add lies) and assemble it. Labour and infrastructure costs are all that’s necessary. If someone, somewhere else can do it cheaper, then it all gets outsourced/contract manufactured/whatever euphemism you want to apply.

      Net result : Jobs gone.

      All the Bliar bollocks about the “knowledge economy” just made that industrial model easier to apply to service industries. Hence call centres in Guangzhou, Krakow and Mumbai. In 13 years in the IT Outsourcing industry, I saw it rip the guts out of the UK industry in the two years before I quit the whole viper’s nest. We just rolled over in the UK and let everyone else in the “global” company protect their own corners of the empire. Most UK CEOs then went to France or the USA.

      Globalisation at its finest. Concentration of national wealth into the hands of a few.

      Politicians in the UK are running a textbook Corporatocracy – they don’t give a shit where jobs or lives go, because they’re set the moment they get into office. They don’t give two shits who gets shafted providing they’re the ones doing the shafting.

      So don’t expect any of this to get much in the way of attention; they -as always – aren’t the ones who are going to end up paying for it.

      • 125
        not amused of stevenage says:

        sounds like kids lego to me

        • 133
          .243 Win says:

          Lego.

          Danish.

          • Crackerjack's Stu Francis says:

            The fact that it is -still- Danish stands out. Were they originally British, their production would likely have been offshored. We had Meccano: they went to Calais. How is that cheaper?

      • 163
        sockpuppet #4 says:

        I do remember talking, in a union bar, to a right old (although perhaps only 19 at the time) shire tory who told me that manufacturing industry was a thing of the paaast and the country’s balance of payments was all down to the money made in the city, and he was quite proud of that.

        I won’t mention who was prime minister at the time because it’ll make me sound like a dodgy old lefty stereotype.

      • 192
        caesars wife says:

        I see youve sussed the Labour lie .243 wiin , the redistribution of wealth was mis labelled , it should have said the redistribution of the ability to create wealth (and hold onto it), via increasing demand whilst wrecking the home supply capacity.

        Balance of trade figs today show £7.99 bn gap in what we import (tangible) vs export all this despite a lower pound !!

      • 211
        Anonymous says:

        Yup – got it in one.

  21. 57
    thick as thieves says:

    And who is talking down the UK economy.
    Why non other than David Cameron’s Conservatives

    March 9 (Bloomberg) — The pound’s drop last week to a 10- month low may help the U.K. economy grow faster than the region sharing the euro, which is hobbled by budget deficits and aging populations, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

    Concerns U.K. elections this year may give the nation its first minority government since 1974 helped drive down sterling by 7 percent since Dec. 31, the worst performer this year among the 16 most-traded currencies. The euro is still trading about 10 percent above its fair value against the dollar, said Erik F. Nielsen, Goldman Sachs chief European economist.

    “People are very bearish on the U.K., probably more than they should be,” Nielsen said in an interview in Sydney yesterday. “The euro is clearly in its biggest crisis since it started, so it’s kind of strange that it’s overvalued.”

    • 147
      It's kind of strange...weird innit says:

      You should be pleased it’s overvalued, makes UK EXPORTS cheaper.

      So what’s gone wrong?

  22. 58
    Sniper says:

    I’ve got hairs in my eyes you fuckers

  23. 60
    Babushka on banana phone says:

    Oi Guido you a right winger can you sort the UUP out? Do you accept reverse charges on calls? Coz I in Lala land and it aint cheap phoning all the way from here to unite and bring peace to Ireland.

  24. 62
    The PM shouldn't be disturbed but this cunt is says:

    Larfin at the Unite minimum wages proles wot dont care Whelan is spunking cash on NaziLabour, the parteh wot as flooded the nation wiv slave labour immygrints.

    Up the workers Charlie HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

  25. 65
    Babushka on banana phone says:

    I like Charlie hehehe

  26. 66
    Bullingdon Dave and his Bullying Right Hand Man says:

    We’ll do what we like. What the fuck are you Tory tossers going to do about it? We’ll rig the election! Ha ha! You’re fucked!

    • 153
      bergen says:

      Sadly,this post could well be correct.Glenrothoes,anyone?

    • 241
      thick as thieves says:

      ++TOP BOY HAS HAD ENOUGH OF GUIDO RIMMING THE HOUSING BENEFIT CHEAT DAVID CAMERON AND THE CRACKHEAD GIDEON OSBORNE++TOP BOY DECIDES TO START HIS OWN BLOG++TAT IS NOT INTERESTED IN WHORING HIMSELF TO THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY HIS ONLY CONCERN IS ELECTING BROWN NOT MONEY GRUBBING AND ACCESS WHORING LIKE GUIDO++THICK AS THIEVES BLOG WILL BE THE ONLY LABOUR BLOG WORTH READING++GOING LIVE SOON++WATCH THIS SPACE++TOP BOY HAS HAD ENOUGH OF GUIDO AND HIS TORY MATES STEALING ALL MY IDEAS ANYWAY++WITHOUT CONTRIBUTORS LIKE TOP BOY THIS PLACE IS NO BETTER THAN CONSERVATIVEFOAM INNIT++YOU HAVE QU33RED YOUR OWN PITCH GUIDO++WHAT A MUG++

  27. 67
    Jack says:

    Somone should put an ATO

    Anti-Thug Order on Whelan…

  28. 68
    Brown: I'm still here says:

  29. 71
    charlesanthonyjamesrupertbyetheeckboyohwhelan says:

    alls fair in love and war

    http://cardiffblogger.co.uk/archives/gordon-brown-learnt-to-bully-from-charlie-whelan

  30. 75
    LABOUR ARE DEAD says:

    Wake me up on May 7 when Labour are gone. And if by some horrific chance they’re still here, wake me up anyway so I can book the next flight out of the country. I have a feeling many will want to do the same if Gorgon Brown gets back in.

  31. 78
    Rupert Murdoch says:

    I hereby make an offer to Guido to purchase his blog for $100,000.

  32. 82
    I Hate Whelan With A Passion says:

    Charlie Whelan is a repugnant and complete fucking sociopath. And if he doesn’t like me saying that, he can send his wife over to suck my balls.

    • 89
      Charlie Whelan's Wife. says:

      I’m here, it will be nice to meet a man with a real pair.

      • 95
        I Hate Whelan With A Passion says:

        Good girl. On your knees now. And don’t worry. Unlike Charlie, I won’t force you to use coathangers or methamphetamines during our session.

  33. 84
    O Yea says:

    Murkeyside police has referred itself to the indepenent police concurring commision over the Ashliegh murder so all is well

    • 135
      IPCC Spokesman says:

      The IPCC will take as long as it possibly can to deliberate on this matter. Will be a while though because the record for not telling anyone anything rests with Ian Tomlinson – anyone remember him? See, I told you so. We can get away with murder in new labour’s Britain.

  34. 87
    QWERTY says:

    Everyone who works for the Guardian and reads it is a bummer.

  35. 88
    I Hate Whelan AND Draper With A Passion says:

    Whelan and Draper are planning to make a film together:
    C/UNT AND C/UNTER

  36. 90
    The Admiral says:

    Question.
    If we are encouraged to “spend our way out of recession”, and we don’t make anything ourselves (sorry farming. you don’t count…) What precisely is going to happen to our ballenceof payments? Our only grouth industry WAS banking…
    Hmmmm….

    • 116
      .243 Win says:

      “sorry farming, you don’t count”.

      Too right. In 2007 we were only produced 58% of the food that was consumed in the country. We’re a net importer there too…..

    • 118
      Anonymous says:

      According to one of the clueless little teenagers at the Maily Telegraph, iPhone apps are our new growth industry, which will pay off the £1.5trillion debt that Gordon decided to lumber us with.

      • 132
        the laughing insignia says:

        Tee hee! Is Apple moving all of its manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, marketing and product development to UK?

        And is it bringing all of Microsoft and Google along too?

        iPhone Apps: Making Steve Jobs richer while I get poorer.

      • 139
        Charlie Whelan says:

        yes and photos of Gordon, our greatest ever leader

      • 142
        sockpuppet #4 says:

        well we have to have some industry after selling ringtones declines.

      • 148
        Sir William Waad says:

        “How fortunate for leaders that people do not think” – Adolf Hitler.

        • 156
          The Dirty Rat says:

          He also said,

          “Fu*ck ze Rooskies are at ze door. Pass me mine Luger.

    • 219
      Gooey Blob says:

      I’m not spending a penny I don’t need to until savings rates increase to a reasonable level. Until then Brown and his incompetent economy-wreckers can get stuffed.

      Q1 2010 figures will probably see a fall. The economy won’t really start to get better until the shambolic government that caused most of our financial problems is removed from power.

  37. 92
    Moley says:

    So;

    Who is Guido’s preferred bidder?

    How much would someone pay to close it down?

  38. 94
    MI5 says:

    If things go on like this

    And this is only the beginning of the election camcpaign…

    The political landscape will be strewn with Zanu and Tory bodies…

    There will be no one left to run the fooking country…

    • 136
      the laughing insignia says:

      Never fear! I am here to step once more into the breech and rid England of these dastardly cowards!

      Maybe. Tee Hee!

  39. 102

    christ this website has deteriorated into banal shit. Perhaps Guido should get some donor influence. Lets face it there are not really any articles just a sort of comment intro to throw to the pack to encourage their comments which are to say the least hardy though provoking.

    I will now accept a full refund and fuck off

    • 137
      the laughing insignia says:

      We are windowlickers of the highest order. You expected rational debate?

      You love us long time. Go on big boy, thump that tube for me one more time!

    • 160
      Brenda slag says:

      Best laugh you can have on the web,your just a miserable fucker.

    • 226
      there ye go says:

      What’s he that wishes so?
      My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin.
      If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
      To do our country loss; and if to live,
      The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
      God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
      By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
      Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
      It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
      Such outward things dwell not in my desires;
      But if it be a sin to covet honour,
      I am the most offending soul alive.
      No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
      God’s peace! I would not lose so great an honour
      As one man more, methinks, would share from me
      For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
      Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
      That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
      Let him depart. His passport shall be made,
      And crowns for convoy put into his purse.
      We would not die in that man’s company
      That fears his fellowship to die with us.
      This day is call’d the feast of Crispian.
      He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
      Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
      And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
      He that shall live this day, and see old age,
      Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
      And say, “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”
      Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
      And say, “These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.”
      Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
      But he’ll remember with advantages
      What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
      Familiar in his mouth as household words,
      Harry the King, Bedford, and Exeter,
      Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
      Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.
      This story shall the good man teach his son;
      And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
      From this day to the ending of the world,
      But we in it shall be remembered,
      We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
      For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
      Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
      This day shall gentle his condition;
      And gentlemen in England now a-bed
      Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
      And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
      That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.

  40. 103
    BBC, biased? says:

    O/T Iain Dale says the much vaunted equal intended poll figures in marginals are bollocks as they ignote the top 50 Tory/Lab marginals and ignore Tory/LimpDim marginals as well.

    Funny, the bit I heard on The World at One didn’t mention that…

  41. 104
    Mrs T says:

    Have any Tories been seen or heard of today ?

    Or have they been put to sleep ?!

    • 122
      Anonymous says:

      It’s rehearsal day. Dave promised that a Tory government would be subservient to the unelected EU dictators, so he and his chummies are practising sitting at the back of a room, being very quiet and smiling obsequiously to people.

  42. 107
    George Osborne says:

    The 2010 No Shagging Day campaign kicks off tomorrow with David Cameron’s recreation of the classic Queen video ‘I want to break free.’

  43. 120
    A Firm PAir Of Breasts says:

    Labourlist’s Alex Smith will be voting in his first general election when it comes. I suggest until he’s had a few under his belt he’ll remain detached from reality he might stop looking at the Labour Party as though it were heaven sent.

  44. 121
    Martin Day BBC political correspondent says:

    WHEN LABOUR WIN THE GENERAL ELECTION

    The most obvious loser will be the lobbying industry, which has recently been inundated with former politicians and advisers hoping to cash in on their Conservative contacts.

    “Many public affairs consultancies will be left with an enormous amount of egg on their faces when Gordon Brown pulls victory from the jaws of defeat,” says Ian Hall, editor of lobbying industry magazine Public Affairs News.

    “So many of them have been rushing to hire even the most junior of former Conservative Campaign Headquarters staff.”

    • 127
      Anonymous says:

      The most obvious losers would be the bookies, who don’t rate Labour’s chances very highly at all.

      For some strange reason.

      • 149
        mona says:

        yes, i know, don’t understand it at all. new labour have been so, erm, well good haven’t they …. except with the economy, and the police state, and wars and that. Must hurry, off to see Msr BendOver ….bye

      • 158
        sockpuppet #4 says:

        Much as i often praise bookies for their choices, and that they are bound to be pretty subjective, there’s one point to consider.

        If in reality there are two horses of 50:50 chance of winning, in theory they should both be evens to win. (ignoring the margin for now).
        BUT, one of the horses has 10x more bets on it, chances are the bookies will alter their odds accordingly.

        If labour win, the bookies might not lose out on the betting if theres been far far fewer people betting on a labour win.

        PS: In general the bookies do seem to know what they are on about.

    • 247
      Anonymous says:

      The most obvious loser will be the… entire country, don’t you think?

  45. 124
    A Firm Pair Of Breasts says:

    Labourlist’s Alex Smith will be voting in his first general election when it comes. I suggest until he’s had a few under his belt he’ll remain detached from reality and he might also stop looking at the Labour Party as though it were heaven sent.

  46. 128
  47. 131
    BillyBob - Stop immigration, reduce crime !! says:

    Sarah Brown might have voted BandP ….

  48. 144
    Moley says:

    Would Guido sell to Whelan?

    This Whelan?

    http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/2774

    • 155
      Moley says:

      The Whelan who supported Brown at every step in his efforts to undermine Blair as PM, throughout most of his Premiership and in so doing prejudiced the future of every person in the country.

      The Whelan who “unleashed the forces of hell” on the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he was engaged in managing one of the biggest financial crises this country has ever faced.

      The Whelan who puts personal feuds before the interests of his Union members and before the interests of his country.

  49. 146
    Gorgon Brown says:

    I won’t have the election until June 3. Because it’s the right thing to do.

  50. 154
    The Dirty Rat says:

    The BBC didn’t tell me this. They just said that the police will not be perusing an inquiry. I am not holding my breath.

    Lord Paul is to be investigated by the House of Lords authorities over claims that he falsely claimed thousands of pounds in expenses.

    The Labour donor announced today that he would renounce his non-dom status and pay full UK taxes from next year.

    He also said the Metropolitan Police had told him that it had wound up its investigation into his expense claims.

    But that announcement provided the trigger for the Sub-Committee on Lords’ Interests to say that it would be looking into Lord Paul’s claims. The committee had been waiting for the conclusion of the police inquiry.

    • 170
      ? says:

      Have the police really dropped their investigation into his expenses or is he telling lies?

  51. 157
    Anonymous says:

    Robinson says on his blog:
    “I find myself pondering why the Tories biggest donor is facing so much grief when Labour’s biggest donor, Lord Sainsbury, is treated completely differently.”

    How can someone have the gall to write such a thing when it’s written by the same person that’s been reporting it in that skewed way in the first place?

    fucking arsehole.

  52. 162
    Martin Day says:

    Sky News subtitles never cease to amuse me with their typos – this morning they referred to Lord Ashcroft as tory party donut

  53. 165
    Al says:

    A weak currency is supposed to help exports, but not in Britain’s case.

    Gordon Brown has managed to achieve a weak currency and falling exports at the same time.

    Are there no limits to his incompetence?

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7404682/UK-exports-plunge-threatening-hopes-of-economic-uplift.html

  54. 166
    Gorgon Brown PM says:

    I’m going to rig the election, then I’ll introduce the Alternative Vote system to guarantee that the Tories will never get into office again, and I’ll bring Blunkett and Smith back onto the frontbench just to wind you all up.

    Now who said I’m never honest and straight with the people?

  55. 168
    Jonathan Prescott Esq says:

    Feed me

  56. 171
    George Osborne says:

    If Jack Straw asks, don’t tell him I told you, but rumour has it that David Calvert is the new name Jon Venables is using, he now lives in Fleetwood and the reason he was sent back to prison was he raped a 19 year old girl in Warrington.

    David Calvert??..

    That’s not a very witty username.

  57. 173
    Piers says:

    Sarah Brown, aka Magda Goebbels, voted B, N, P, in 2005 but is considering voting Lib Dem if Gordon decides to hold an election sometime this year.

  58. 180
    Barnabas Scudamore says:

    Leftfootforward is FUNDED by union ?

    What the fuck ?

  59. 187
    Hang The Bastards says:

    TORIES KEEPING THEIR POWDER DRY!

    Apparantly they have some material to blow Labour away…… Time it right, wait until you get all the little kunts in the room at once..

    then BOOM !

    Expect Cameron to totally outdo that lying bastard Brown….. Eventually your lies and failures will catch-up with you. The debates will see to this.

    • 188
      sshhhhh says:

      He can’t reveal the big one on Brown because it’s still subject to an all-encompassing D Notice.

      • 191
        AS says:

        that d notice is up for renewal this month. will a major newspaper have the balls to challenge it? it would blow brown’s reelection chances out of the water.

        • 204
          Gordon Brown's Press Officer says:

          I have to admit that some of David Cameron’s jokes have been pretty good recently.
          The one which is the subject of a D notice is so awful and I would not put in any of my Xmas crackers.
          David Cameron will be humiliated again at tomorrows PMQ’s

          • Just asking ? says:

            Is Gordon actually going to turn up then ? I thought he’d be staging a photo-op somewhere or other as I know how much he “likes” PMQs and being made to look a complete chump most weeks !! Although after last week and “Hatties” dire performance,he perhaps thinks he can’t do much worse.

      • 208
        Tattooed_Arry says:

        Does a “D” notice include mentioning it on the floor of the House of Commons?

        • 213
          publish and be damned !!! says:

          “The D-Notice system is a voluntary arrangement between the government and the media, whereby the media agree not to publish certain information in the interests of national security. It represents voluntary censorship on the part of the media. The alternative to the D-Notice system is legal action by the government to suppress allegedly sensitive material, for example, by use of the civil action of breach of confidence, or to punish the media after publication by use of the criminal law. There is a major deficiency in both the D-Notice system and the legal alternatives to the system. It maintains that the public interest, that is the interests of the general public, is insufficiently represented in the operation of the former and is often not sufficiently recognized by the judiciary in the latter. The result is that material may be suppressed which has no connection with national security but instead exposes the government to embarrassment.”

          • Rip Van Winkle says:

            If you publish a D Notice – what then? Prison? Water Boarding? Death by misadventure? Death by hanging?

            If it’s just the first, give me the info and I’ll publish – it’ll be worth 5 years for my kids sake.

          • Mondeoman says:

            Mr Winkle, if the result went the right way there could be a royal pardon on the 7th May for services to the country.

  60. 189
    Anonymous says:

    The media has decided it wants 5 more years of Labour then………….

    • 210
      Ministry of Truth says:

      Well let’s face it the majority of them can leave or set up tax avoidance schemes or become “Non-Doms” so why should they bother ?

  61. 190
    David Cameron says:

    I’m not saying my sex life is shit but the only time I get to take down a girl’s knickers is when I bring my grannies washing in.

    • 193
      Micky McMeacher says:

      The only time Gay Gordon took down a girls knickers was when he removed Mandelson’s thong but that was before they had that huge tiff and stopped seeing each other.

  62. 194
    Babushka on banana phone says:

    So which one of you cowboys is going to free Ireland? There is an Irish $50 and some Charlie as a reward. Form an orderly queue.

  63. 197
    Osama the Nazarene says:

    Guido, I thought we’d been over this before. This blog is nothing without you so there’s nothing to sell except yourself!

    I’m sure Ashcroft wouldn’t want your server space or the archives. Maybe if you threw in Ms Nomates?

  64. 198
    sarahs ginger growler says:

    listen all you labour pricks.!!!!!!!!

    the damage has been done since 1945 when every govt. has pissed £trillions down the drain on quick fix schemes designed to win votes. manufacturing only makes up 11 % of the economy!!!!!!!! besides that all we do is push piles of bricks around-filling the country up with every tom,mustapha and dilip that wants to add to the squeeze on resources-to keep the pressure on the upside for prices……….

    the insanity of qe has been noticed by everyone-how odd-it is a joke!
    every trader in the world should have been short of sterling ‘assets’ from the day it was announced! talking down the economy? how about shouting so fucking loud that it is deafening??????????????????

    8million on the dole? qe? rising inflation? etc……..
    all really bullish reasons to crow about the ‘goldilocks’ economy…….
    (remember that kids? it was bollocks too!)

    talking down the economy started in 1997 when two pratts that knew nothing got their hands on the keys to downing strasse.

    paying interest on interest is the fast way to the poor house……..

  65. 200
    ex-Labour says:

    I see that Labour’s multi-millionaire benefactor, Lord Paul is to be investigated for expenses fiddling by the House of Lords. Not content with being super-rich he is also said to have claimed hundreds of thousands for a hotel room claimed to be his main residence.

    What a sleazy bunch of greedy, troughing bastards these Labour scum are.

  66. 203
    sarahs ginger growler says:

    i am voting tory.i am sick of being surrounded by gurning scots that cant get a hard on/……….besides my friends in islington and canterbury dont like this 50% tax rate thingy………..tweet tweet…….off for an espresso!

  67. 205
    lol says:

    Tony Benn’s (nee Anthony Wedgwood-Benn) granddaughter is standing as a prospective Labour parliamentary candidate at the ripe old age of 18.

    No nepotism here folks. Move on, nothing to see.

  68. 206
    The Dirty Rat says:

    ‘Training of troops involved in an operation which led to the death of the first female British soldier in Afghanistan was ”inadequate”, a coroner said.’

    Over to you Prime Minister.

    • 215
      Vitaï Lampada says:

      AND ……..you think he actually cares ? He has already told us ….he denied the military nothing they asked for and it was all the General’s fault anyway.

    • 220
      Mondeoman says:

      One aspect of this government is the passing of responsibilty to everyone but themselves so they can blame everyone else. Day after day theu pass the buck, not me guv. Here we have another example, last Friday our great leader sat and did the same in front of that joke of enquiry. One day, this merry-go-round will stop and judgement will come……

  69. 230
    Anonymous says:

    How would they fair in a photo finish?

  70. 231
    Number 10 says:

    We would consider paying a few million out of the public purse for the IP addresses.Call us later for sale terms.

  71. 235
    Tax advisor says:

    Eh Guido, I thought you were Irish domiciled?

    Presumably with a website offshore, £30k bunce money + tax on remittances is more tax than you actually pay on profits.

    Otherwise the reputable firm of Hamilton & Mills (Neil and David) Tax lawyers would be only too pleased to advise you. U(nu)sual payment terms.

    • 244
      Geordie Scoot says:

      Yes Guido – I thought you were a non-dom, and if you aren’t, you bloody well ought to be!

  72. 240
    Ruth Kelly's plaything says:

    Apols if this has already been mentioned (no time today to read other posts), but WE are funding the Unions via the Modernisation Fund. By that route, NuLab gives taxpayers’ cash to Unions to ‘help them to “modernise”‘.

    I pay tax, and nobody asked me if I wanted ‘modernised’ Unions, whatever they may be.

    It takes but a small, cynical (or merely worldly) step to suspect that, by this means, taxpayers are funding NuLab.

  73. 242
    thick ass thieves says:

    Vote Labour!

  74. 248
    Anonymous says:

    Ha yes Labour has a pension for other peoples money.




sunlight-button





Quentin Letts talking about Blair’s book on Sky News:

“It’s a dreadful book… don’t buy it Britain!”



Flat – No Positions +38.2%
As of 26 Mar 2010

Realtime Portfolio Record


Tip off Guido
Web Guido's Archives







RSS


AddThis Feed Button
Archive


Labels
Guido Reads