Government Watch

Wow, this is worth watching.

www.disabilitynewsservice.com/scottish-police-assessing-possible-investigation-into-ids-and-grayling/

Go for it Scotland, nail the doubtful parentage pair

" A Labour councillor who thought he had lost his seat has been re-elected after a bundle of votes was found under a pile for his Conservative rival.

Duncan Enright, a candidate for a Witney constituency in Oxfordshire, has described his relief following the discovery. He tweeted throughout the experience and initially announced he had lost.

He posted: “Lost by 70 votes or so. Thanks for the opportunity to serve. The fight goes on.” He soon after followed up by announcing: “Miscount in Witney East, result now in, I win by 70! Thank you! Bundle of my votes under a Tory pile! Delighted! Thanks Witney!” "

This is interesting as well. This man stood against Cameron in last year's election. Should he demand a recount for that?

Is it a fact durhamjen that you get all of your links sent on to you by someone else or by some organisation, as Ana has claimed?

Sometimes I get links sent to me from people I know and organisations I support but the vast majority I find myself. It isn't at all difficult to search a particular subject to dig out information on it. I do that quite often so that I have more background knowledge relating to issues I'm concerned about.

Many people find durhamjen's links interesting. They probably are "one-sided" in the sense that they reflect her unease about this government's policies - but there is nothing to stop someone who has found information that gives a different perspective to post a link themselves. I really don't understand why such an issue is being made of a person posting something that people need only look at if they choose to.

'flouncing' after being attacked and derided, is a bit different to t'other way round, no? My name was very deliberately changed from juragran to granjura- to make absolutely sure no-one would ever guess ... I wonder if it fooled anyone?

Same here, Eloethan. I get stuff on my Facebook which has been shared with me (some of it unwelcome) and occasional requests to sign petitions. Other than that, I read loads of sites every day and search if a topic interests me. I have various 'go to' sites, such as the ONS, if I want facts, or the IFS, if I want sound analysis. I hardly ever watch TV.

I can't see the point of typing out or copying long documents. If people want the source of anything I've written or to research for themselves, I'll link for further reading. It's up to the individual to follow up or ignore. I find it quite frustrating when somebody makes an assertion (especially if it sounds unlikely) without giving a link, because I have to look it up for myself.

Same as mine, granjura. I changed from jendurham to durhamjen, hoping to hide the fact that I'd been on in 2012.

Thanks for asking, Eloethan. I do not get all my links sent to me. Quite often I find them all by myself, like you do, too.
Obviously I do not look for them in Tory central office, although I have been trying to find out the links between their headquarters and tax havens. It's a bit like doing genealogy; one link leads to another and then you reach a dead end.
My bookmarks link is incredibly long, but only half are to do with politics.
Lots to do with education and the EU, and the NHS.
I think everyone should use www.fullfact.org to check up anything to do with the EU or PMQs or QT, or anything else that they wonder about in the political sphere.
I get sent a lot of links from voxpolitical, a very nice man who has been doing his best to get Labour elected in Wales, and it worked.
Taxresearch is one of my favourite sites. Richard Murphy seems to have the right touch as far as sorting out tax and finance. In fact if the government took notice of him rather than their rich mates, we would not be in the mess we are in. He is not a member of any political party. He is a Quaker.

Of course, those who follow my links know this already.
I actually have GN to thank for teaching me how to do it. I never used to before I came on here. All I used to do was write comments in newspapers online. I still do that.
So now I expect to be told to
a) leave GN
b) stop giving links (again) or
c) give up politics.
Sorry, not going to do any of those.

www.channel4.com/news/conservative-election-expenses-police-annouce-investigation

Seven police forces looking into it now, link courtesy of voxpolitical.
I try not to link directly to him, because he swears a bit. Not surprisingly.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/may/08/hinkley-point-united-nations-says-uk-failed-to-consult-over-risks

Another problem for the government. It really is lucky for us that we have all these external bodies looking after our interests.

And I am very thankful to you for posting them and keeping me informed, in my mountains x

Giving a great new meaning to the lovely story 'The Little Red Hen' ;)

Is there anything they get right?

They think they do because they've got lots of money to put things right for them and their friends. They cannot do that with nuclear power.
I feel like they are still playing like they did at Oxford. But it's our money they are using to pay for their mistakes, not their own or their parents'.

I'm puzzled as to why you didn't start a thread about this when you mentioned it on the Government Watch thread on May 4th durhamjen. Why do you always wait for someone else to do it?

Sorry - wrong thread!

I like sharing, Ana. I'm a socialist.

Thanks for the link been looking for a. Way to check on the facts about Europe I feel that I need to make a careful choice about Europe this time .

Thanks for the links dj. About the disability action in Scotland I take it we have no such crime as "willful neglect of duty" here in England? Otherwise the courts would be jammed solid with actions!

We know that our friend Gove has put back the final decision about the Bill of Rights until after the referendum. And we all know why he has done that. But it hasn't stopped a HoL cross party committee looking at the proposals and reporting on the matter.
The report is extremely critical and warns that it will hamper the fight against crime, undermine the UKs international moral authority and start unraveling the constitution.
It will also damage the NI peace process. The Scottish Parliament is also unlikely to consent to such a bill.

A senior Tory said that a reduced commitment to the ECHR would undermine the UKs standing within the Council of Europe and around the world.

A committee member said " the more evidence we hear on this issue, the more convinced we all became that the government should think again about its proposal for a British bill of rights"

Given the mess Gove has left behind in Education isn't it time someone sat on his coat tails and said his estimation of his own ability far exceeds his actual ability?

That would be interesting. If we got rid of everybody in this government who estimation of his ability exceeded his actual ability there would be no ministers left.
Cameron was criticised for having Grayling as minister for justice, so he put him somewhere else and put Gove in charge, who similarly has no experience of the law.
Does Cameron not have any lawyers in his party, or does he know they disagree with what he wants?

Nicky Morgan studied law! :-(

I see the head of Siemens has this morning criticised Gove for his complete lack of understanding how the EU trade area works and how if Brexit does take place there is no way the UK would get tariff free agreements with the EU as Gove says he WILL get.
Macron the French minister described the EU as a trading club and to get the benefits then you had to be a member and pay the fees. Or at least pay the fees to have limited access. 40% of trade lost because of leaving the club would be hard to replace elsewhere - to continue to trade with EU would mean raised prices due to tariffs being imposed and the same goods sold elsewhere in the world would cost more due to transport costs even if there were no tariffs imposed.
I thought the smoked salmon producer in the East of London was somewhat pathetic when he complained of the costs of needing to buy new packing as he was required to have the words 'contains fish ' on it. He will have had a lot of notice of the regulation being in the pipeline and should have changed his order much earlier.

Does Nicky Morgan take over from Gove, then, daphne, when he makes even more of a hash of his remit?
Can't imagine Nicky Morgan in a courtroom. Nobody would take her seriously.

Where did Nicky Morgan study law? Is there somwhere you can do that even if you are barely literate?