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But not before this interesting twitter expose of Paul Smith’s view about the BiTC Business in The Community…
bristolwestpaul Paul Smith Bristol said, “early night cycling in tomorrow for Business in the Community shindig on partnership maybe @bristol_citizen will be there?”
bristol_citizen replied, “@bristolwestpaul I’ve (unfortunately) met BitC a few times. A bunch of silly old sods in suits who turn up & sound concerned & go away again”
bristolwestpaul replied “@bristol_citizen thats them”
Oi Jon! Just been hearing on the radio that the Gummint is planning to overhaul the powers that councils have to spy on us, the general public. Apparently, there is some suggestion that it should be councillors who get to decide when and how these powers are used.
My question to you is, do you think that you and Gary are the kind of people who should have the power to order that my phone be tapped and my e.mail monitered?
Only judges should ever have that power.
I wonder what the LibDems are going to do with the 5 new ‘Streetscene Enforcement Officers’ (reference 21316), who were recruited through adverts that read “We are particularly interested in applicants who can demonstrate experience in surveillance, RIP Act, covert CCTV deployment and preparation of prosecution files”?
Contracts of up to 2 years and salaries of up to £28k.
Well it seems John likes publishing other peoples twitters – glad I am of such interest to him no doubt he would like to monitor everything we say and do.
Before the torrent starts I am opposed to ID cards and giving the state the power to monitor our every move, email, phone call etc.
Paul
The whole idea of twitters is that they are public for sharing. There are mechanisms (such as direct messaging/ email/text/phone etc) which are one to one.
You may be interested in your “I am not really Labour, I am just like a Lib Dem” state that Chris Huhne, the Lib Dems’ shadow home secretary, has urged Labour to walk the walk of reform:
This consultation is a tacit admission by the Government that its surveillance society has got out of hand. For too long, powers we were told would be used to fight terrorism and organised crime have been used to spy on people’s kids, pets and bins.
“Without reform, RIPA will continue to be a snoopers’ charter. Surveillance powers should only be used to investigate serious crimes and must require a magistrate’s warrant. Ministers must ensure that this consultation results in real changes and not just warm words.”
Have a good weekend one and all
Jon
Jon
I am not lib dem, liberal yes, lib dem no. Your only policy seems to be to repeat that lib dems are always better than everyone else.
Paul
Thanks Paul
Personally, as a Lib Dem, I am a Liberal and a Democrat.
We have some clear policies, for Bristol, for UK and for Europe. What are your policies for Bristol? What are Labour’s policies for Bristol (obviously not the same thing as far as schools and incinerator goes?).
Our strap line for 2009 election is “Six to Fix” emphasising the six priority issues that a Lib Dem administration will seek to address should the electorate so decide.
Have a good weekend.
Jon
Six to fix? Give me a break…..
Come on JR, some PR meeja type at Lib-Dem HQ comes up with the pithy phrase “Six to Fix” for the Highgate by-election and because it appeared to have worked there, suddenly Lib-Dems all over the country draw up lists of six (not five, not seven, but six) items to campaign on? How did you decide on the list – and what was item number seven? I don’t think that most people in Bristol think the city has only got six problems so I am interested to see what got to the short list and was then dropped because it didn’t tie in with the PR-savvy tag line?
What’s next? Are you going to do a rap like the Lib-Dem cllr in Herts?
Coming soon in 2010? – Seven own goals from Lib Dem fools.
Dean
So, there I try to be nice to Jon. I give him a chance to come out with a clear yes or no… and what does he do? Waffle like a politician.
Our strap line for 2009 election is “Six to Fix” emphasising the six priority issues that a Lib Dem administration will seek to address should the electorate so decide.
….the strap line that lead to this toe-curlingly woeful video. Think the strap line needs a bit of work if that’s what it’s going to result in. The deafening earth loop hum in the video is clearly the least of that councillors problems.
Six to Fix was a slogan the Lib-Dems used in Highgate last year. It appeared to work there so now they’re using it everywhere. Small town, big town, home counties stockbroker belt, northern post-industrialised communities, they all have to be fitted into the six to fix marketing slogan. Last week they were reading The Mail, now they appear to be using Sun headlines as policy – presumably with Torbin Lee on board it will be recycled blog entries soon – I see Jon is already recycling twitter.
I wonder what problem number seven was in Bristol that wasn’t considered important enough to make the cut? Or do the Lib-dems think there are only six problems in Bristol?
I’ve already got next years slogan for them “Seven own goals from Lib-Dem fools” – it’s copyright free.
“Seven own goals from Lib-Dem fools”
For example – following Jon’s example of reposting Twitterings on blogs – how about this from Jon to Labour party candidate for Bristol West Paul Smith;
“CllrJonRogers@bristolwestpaul Please can you come to Ashley Ward? Residents say they are only seeing Lib Dems and Green Party. Labour got 1728 votes 2005”
Is Jon a little worried that some Labour voters having seen how the Lib-Dems have used tactical voting to their own benefit in marginal seats in the past might consider doing the same to keep out the Lib-Dems in what is now, by Jon’s own mathematics (see link attached to my name) clearly a Lib-Dem/Green marginal? Surely not……
“Seven own goals from Lib-Dem fools”
Another nice, fluffy, Green Party activist…
Jon
six to fix sounds like you are planning to arrange a lot of postal and proxy votes in six target wards
Paul
six to fix sounds like you are planning to arrange a lot of postal and proxy votes in six target wards
Funny you should say that Paul, I got a letter from Dame Janke just yesterday begging me to fill out a form for a postal vote… it’s gone in the recycling… if I want to write abusive comments on my ballot paper I do it in person on the day!
By the way Paul, that club you want to join…
Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 600 employees and has the following employee statistics:
29 have been accused of spouse abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
9 have been accused of writing bad cheques
17 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card .
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shop-lifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drink driving in the last year
Which organisation is this?
No smear too low, eh Paul Smith?
Lizard watcher
needs someone to go in and clean it up
Paul Smith clean it up?
More chance with widow twanky.
More chance with widow twanky.
Gary isnt that your Christmas job?
“publishing other peoples twitters” says paul smith.
… i’ve got news for you paul … twitters/tweets/twats are already public.
They are not private.
Just to help you here, in the case quoted you can already link in to these from the top right-hand corner of this page.
You made a public statement and someone quoted you. Can’t see any problem there myself.
Apart from anything else, putting these public statements in a comment here means that the rest of us who aren’t members of the “twitterati” could actually join in if we want.
Get with the new media maan. Don’t do a draper.
“Paul Smith clean it up?
More chance with widow twanky.”
Bloody Hell. I find myself in complete agreement with Gary Hopkins. I need a drink – and it’s only 10:00 am!
So did I. My home’s in Lawrence Hill ward and in case anyone has forgotten, this used to be the ward of LibDem councillor John Astley. He ended up in jail for electoral fraud, so why Dame Janke thinks anyone would trust her bunch of ne’er do wells with a postal vote application is a mystery to me (or are they really that thick?).
“…..this used to be the ward of LibDem councillor John Astley. He ended up in jail for electoral fraud….”
I thought he eneded up inside for possessing child pornography, while the electoral fraud only got him a suspended… or am I mixing his offences up.
He’s still the only person I’ve ever heard of claiming political aylum from the UK while in Amsterdam though… 🙂
Which organisation is this?
Sounds like parliament to me.
six to fix sounds like you are planning to arrange a lot of postal and proxy votes in six target wards
Isn’t that Labour’s speciality? Glenrothes etc
Good God this level of political bickering makes me lose the will to live!
David, only 6 more weeks of it till the elections. Just hang on in there.
“political bickering” says david shoare.
But that’s what democracy comes down to in the end david. Avoid the elephant-in-the-room real issues that voters are too scared to face up to, and won’t get your bum on that seat, and set up a smoke-screen of bickering. That usually fools the punters and gets you back on the taxpayer funded all expenses paid gravy train.
The ancient greeks figured it, the romans figured it, soon most people in broken britain will have figured it.
“six to fix sounds like you are planning to arrange a lot of postal and proxy votes in six target wards”
Spoken like a real pro Paul. You must be in the Labour Party.
I’ve had one of those letters with that scary looking Janke woman on it too. However, it asks you to send your postal vot application to the official Electoral Srvices address.
Not like the ones used by Labour in 2007 which asked you send them back to….Labour Party offcies.
Oh and remember who did the biggest postal vote in a local elction? Og yes LABOUR in Birmingham.
whats that old adage about ‘people who live in glass houses’ eh Paul?
People who live in glasses houses can grow a lot of tomatoes?
I’ve just seen a letter for Paul, coming off the Jongleurs printer. It says “Dont call us, we’ll call you”.
Humour alert, so that stand up career is over.
Just to remind people the only case of election fraud in bristol (that I am aware of) was violent peado and lib dem cllr Jon Astley with false proxy votes
Wow. The canvassing in Lawrence Hill must be pretty bad for Paul Smith to be resorting to that before the election has even started!
I cant wait for this year’s Lawrence Hill spectacular:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsOUqIRGMoY
So because the only election fraud reported in Bristol was with the Lib Dems (and note he was the only one who was actually caught!), that means the Labour Party are squeaky-clean and can be trusted, does it? Never mind the widely reported cases involving Labour councillors/MPs all over the country, documented here, here, and here, just to name a few – and they’re just the Labour ones, of course the Lib Dems and the Conservatives are at it as well. No party seems to be exempt from corruption nowadays.
That’s not to even mention the appalling mess your government has made in pretty much every area of life over the last 12 years. Rest assured you won’t be able to rely on my vote at the next election, and in fact I remain flabberghasted that people can even still consider voting Labour. Just how bad do things have to get, on both a local scale here in Bristol and on a National scale?
It shows how bad the political system is in this country – it seems most of the population would vote for a freshly-laid turd so long as it was wearing the right colour rosette – and this goes for Labour, Lib Dems, and the Tories.
Bristol dave
I wont be expecting a Christmas card either
BristolDave, you don’t get it mate. This isn’t just any Labour politician we’re talking about here… this is Paul Smith… the first Labour party knobhead to try to canvas votes with the slogan “VOTE FOR ME BECAUSE MY PARTY’S CRAP”.
On the subject of our upcoming erection (well, whatever happens we can be sure that we the public will get shafted), Labour twerp Arif, who’s standing in Easton seems to have his posters up in surrounding wards as well (not only is this terribly bad form doncha know, but it also means that I’m sick of the sight of the man already)… even though the erection hasn’t yet started. I saw him prowling back and forth on Church Road, St George the other evening wearing his Labour Party rosette. Interestingly, this was outside a pub where I have seen at least 3 Lib Dem councillors drinking recently… what could he have been up to? I must say, rarely have I seen a politician who looked quite so shifty.
Lizard watcher
I am glad you are enjoying the elections. Didnt realise I was quite so post modernist – at least you haven’t got large pictures of me in all the shops
Come on po-mo paul why don’t you just do the decent thing like alice mahon?
“What is the point in being in a party when you don’t believe in most of the policies that they are pursuing.”
“I’ve lost faith in the Government and the direction they are taking us in. I did hope, as did many party members, that we would get a change of direction if we got a new leadership. Unfortunately I could not have been more wrong.”
Paul, you’re a natural for the Greens. They need someone with your intellect and personableness. Have a quiet word with George Micklewright. Probably more chance of getting into power that way than on the back of the decaying corpse of NuLabour.
“I cant wait for this year’s Lawrence Hill spectacular”
Thanks for reminding us get out. You’ve gotta hand it to labour – their candidates do offer fantastic laugh value.
The mental picture of Busharat Ali Khan rushing around church rd tearing down libdem posters and with angry shopkeepers chasing him down the street …
The promotional video he had made of himself posing in various locations and with sleek rides was quite an eye opener too.
http://tinyurl.com/dl95e5
Description
DON DON PAKISTAN FALIM hot sexey girls want hot babas shadi.com ary geo tv MODELS INDIA UK LONDON LAHORE HENDSOM MOST WANTED BACHULORS GET MARRY LOVE LOVELY HOUSE Hot Sexey cool RANA Busharat ALI KHAN & ALI IMRAN KHAN BRISTOL KAMALIA PAKISTAN BOLLYWOOD
And this year they’ve gotten a lord or a prince in eh? It bodes well, it bodes well …
The Prince is, oddly appropriately, standing for Respect.
thanks for correction chris. i get all muddled with these fracture-brained left parties.
so don’t say they’re standing busharat again, i’m not sure my sides could stand it!
Chris
I have a lot of affection for the Greens (and the old Ecology party), there were right about the environment when lots of people were calling them nutters (Lib Dems still do but that is because they are frightened about Ashley), but I still believe that the Labour Party can be a progressive force for change and the redistribution of power and wealth.
Paul
Paul, Paul, Paul. Let’s be straight shall we… it’s got nowt to do with with post modernism has it? It’s got more to do with cynicism when a NuLabour politician stands on a platform of wanting to clean up politics!
Now, as for that Busharat Ali Khan, he was a great laugh… he certainly qualified for a spot at Jongleurs… maybe he could run a training session for you Paul? After all, your party need all the help they can get.
Chris… this Prince bloke… I take it that he’s a Prince in the same way that Houshang Jafari Najafabadi is a Lord?
really paul, or do you rather rely on the same old congenital labour voters stolidly rubber-stamping you into power?
if so, maybe even some of them are starting to look around and see more promising alternatives, given the disasters of the last twelve years.
Our council just gets madder and madder – now they want to install a Mosquito anti-teenager device on the Muller Road playing fields!
http://e2eweb.bristol.gov.uk/publicaccess/tdc/tdc_home.aspx
Is anyone interested in starting a fund for legal challenges against this thing? I’m pretty convinced that it breaks a lot of laws.
BTW, lefties, I hope you’re proud of yourselves. This is what’s going on while you’re out supporting terrorists – The powers that be are now attacking children. Shame on you too!
Oops wrong link!
This is the correct link:
http://e2eweb.bristol.gov.uk/PublicAccess/tdc/DcApplication/application_detailview.aspx?caseno=KGEBVYDN0NR00
That’s the school wanting to do that, not the Council. Schools are run by the Governing body.
It’s still an absolute disgrace, of course.
Oh yeah *blush*
Paul – you say “I still believe that the Labour Party can be a progressive force for change and the redistribution of power and wealth”, but your party’s had twelve years in which to do this and yet the only direction power and wealth is being distributed is upwards – towards the rich and powerful.
For example, Ordinary people are being wiped out by this recession – which started on your party’s watch – and yet Labour is telling us “The unemployed will not be able to use the recession as an excuse to avoid work”, all the while shovelling billions and billions of pounds at the rich, feckless sods who created this problem.
The question is, Paul: Why should we listen to a word you say?
Yes the Labour Party is so powerful it started a world recession – which may become an international slump – grow up its happening in every country and was not created here.
badnewswade sorry just to add you dont have to take any notice of me whatsoever.
Paul, it’s a shame to see your chances of making a worthwhile contribution being dragged down by the richly deserved unpopularity of Labour. You could be in the wilderness for 10 years, like the Tories were. Then how old will you be?
Wouldn’t you be more comfortable as a Green? They’re fairly left these days, aren’t they? They could benefit so much from your political experience and credibility. They might well be on the verge of a political breakthrough with the right leadership.
“Our council just gets madder and madder – now they want to install a Mosquito anti-teenager device on the Muller Road playing fields!”
You can blow that shit up easily though.
Labour didn’t do anything to stop the practices which would lead to the collapse and make Britain a big part of it. For instance, France and Germany are somewhat insulated from the depression because they didn’t turn their economy over to banking and pyramid schemes, while Britain did. Additionally Labour has made the gap between the rich and poor worse than ever, trapped thousands in poverty and grovelled before the rich. Why should anyone every vote for you again?
Our whole way of life is threatened by this slump and people are going to want payback. An election is a reasonably civilised way of accomplishing this, the sickening thing about New Labour is that now there is no major party that will fix things, everyone just wants to take more from the poor and hand it to the rich, which will only make things worse.
That’s a record Labour can be proud of. Turned a socialist party into a right wing conservative party. With any luck you’ll never be elected again, maybe the Greens or someone will step into the breach. I’m pretty sure socialism as we knew is finished, anyway- too authoritarian and too willing to sell out for a few votes, and not just in the Labour party either. The question is, how will we avoid falling down the toilet of every-decreasing capitalist circles and – gulp – BNP-type town hall fascism?
Yes the Labour Party is so powerful it started a world recession – which may become an international slump – grow up its happening in every country and was not created here.#
Yeah, yeah – world problem, started in America, blah blah blah.
We’ve heard that shit from Gordon Brown and we don’t buy it. Yes, it is a world recession, but we are in a far worse state than other countries.
This table, which your government appears to have bizzarely managed to get the IMF to remove from it’s Global Financial Stability Report (even though it’s been published), explains just how bad things are.
Whilst the table shows our debt as a % of GDP is lower than other countries France or Germany (although this is sneaky because it doesn’t include things Gordon has kept off the books like Public Sector pensions guarantees or PFI schemes) the important column is “Financial Stabalization Costs” or in other words, how much money each country has spent trying to fix things. We’re only a smidge behind Ireland, but compare it to France and Germany, for god’s sake. When they told Gordon his bank bailout scheme was a load of bollocks, they meant it.
It’s still UK banks, UK bankers and your government that are more-than-partly responsible for the mess in this country, so don’t try Gordon’s disgraceful “Blame it on America” tactics – they just don’t wash.
That’s the school wanting to do that, not the Council. Schools are run by the Governing body.
Having said that, the Council seem pretty keen to have it, as are the police.
Hmm, a thought occurs- won’t the chavs just use ipods to blot out the sound?
The same thought occured to me. Yes, they probably would.
Well Gordon’s dodgy finance deals with PFI etc. will in future have to appear on the balance sheets.
Mind you there will be such a staggering splurge of red there that there is a danger the public will not notice.
The financial smoke and mirrors that caused this collapse were led by UK and America. In fact some of the dodgiest manouvers (eg naked short selling) were banned even by the lunatic Bush but were OK as far as Gordon was concerned.
This nonsense together with the staggering “public “spending authorised by unaccountable quangos is why Britain in is one of the deepest holes.
Fortunately Gordon has dropped his shovel but unfortunately is now employing JCBs.
I must have missed some of the earlier contributions from Paul Smith where he condemned Gordon for claiming false credit for the unsustainable dodgy boom.
Yeah because only chavs use expensive MP3 players.. wot..
I fully endorse Paul Smith, he is a excellent candidate, and, I have lent him my moral compass.
Good work. Lending is reuse, right at the top of the sustainable whatsitcalled chain of green goodness.
Who would seek financial advice from Gary Hopkins. Bit like asking the Pope to recommend contraceptives.
“a Mosquito anti-teenager device on the Muller Road playing fields”
what kind of a school is it that wants to use sonic weapons against young people on school premises? this kind of lunatic situation is yet another demonstration of just how sick our society is.
i don’t understand why young people are putting up with how shit they are getting treated. stm that older generations are acting shamefully, pushing prices on housing and rent (which older people have possession of and so benefit from) up so high that yp can’t afford them, greedily consuming all the resources at a rate of knots, wrecking the environment that they should inherit in reasonable condition, but now won’t, and toxifying, sexualising and commodifying their childhoods, wrapping them in cotton wool and barely letting them out of the house except under supervision, but feeding them loads of material crap instead – to try to assuage our guilt, and now this sort of insult to injury.
how did our generations manage to kick the fight out of young people? or is it just the brainwashing from nulab schools that makes them so passive and unquestioning?
when are the young’uns going to wake up to how they’re being ripped off by the old?
and if they do, what then?
There are cheap Mp3 players. Mine only cost me about £18, well affordabable!
oh yeah, and that’s without even beginning on how the younger generations are going to end up being taxed to hell to pay the debts run up under the latest labour fantasy island trip.
and that’s when about the only jobs available in coming years will be wiping the arses of selfish ingrate baby boomers still prattling on about the “happening” sixties maaan.
Snafu, if it’s any consolation us older people are going to die well before you young people and then you get to inherit it all, good stuff and crap. Enjoy the good stuff and blame us for the crap, like we do with our ancestors who made Bristol rich on the back of the slave trade.
Dude, I can’t wait for that seriously Mad Max shit, it’s going to be awesome 8)
All that leather and the Tina Turner-type babes sure beats working for a living.
But enough about Dame Janke’s cabinet, what about our post-apocalyptic future world?
/double act
“All that leather and the Tina Turner-type babes …”
i know … i’m just worried that i’ll be too old to enjoy it ;-(
You should be proud to be one of Mike Norton’s unpaid, unacknowledged “citizen journalists”.
Haven’t you heard? It’s the future?
Cheeky feckers at the Post have been skimming the blogs (in attributed form) again… Check my comment #4 on here, then read today’s article about ‘litter police’ – taking note of the only quote from the original (now expired) job ad for StreetScene officers:
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Litter-police-clean-city-streets/article-958587-detail/article.html
Worra coincidence!
The bit I liked in the article was this:
Openess and transparency in action.
Badnewswade: “Our whole way of life is threatened …”
Wtf???
You sound like Tony Blair.
Our whole way of life needs to change, more like.
True… All hail Mong the Mirthless!
BristleKRS/BB:
Have you ever considered that the local rag may be scraping stuff off local blogs because the standard of English in the latter is higher than in the former? 😉