IntenseDebate - TheBlueDog

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - WATCH: Burnham - 'Prot... · 0 replies · +1 points

I suggest community service emptying bed pans in a Covid hospital ward may have a more lasting, possibly permanent, effect. Give them PPE if they think they need it. Don't argue with them if they say they don't!

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Andrew Griffith: My co... · 0 replies · +1 points

A country walk is essential work for an MP during the lock-down? Is it an integral part of an MP’s job to ascertain whether blades of grass are growing through the footprints on country paths in his constituency? Nice work if you can get it!

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Our Survey. Johnson - ... · 0 replies · +1 points

My feeling is that Boris has made a better start to his premiership than Thatcher did to hers - simply because of what he has had to overcome. The EU - "we won't re-open the withdrawal agreement"; but they did. The Gaukeward squad. Baroness Hale's entry into politics. Parliament. The election - winning dozens of seats in the Labour heartlands.
Now he has the opportunity to re-shape Britain, just as Thatcher did in the eighties. Ask the same question in 13 years time.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - David Gauke: An electi... · 0 replies · +1 points

In this era of political correctness, is it true that if you self-identify as conservative then you are conservative? I have only identified Gauke as Conservative (capital C) by the benches he used to sit on. The same goes for Soubry, Wollaston, Allen and others. Hammond is in a class on his own. Polite, acceptable words to describe his behaviour over the last three years escape me.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - WATCH: Swinson - "No f... · 0 replies · +1 points

No form of anti-Brexit government will be good for our democracy.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - WATCH: “I never thou... · 1 reply · +1 points

The best Swinson can hope for is Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. She may pick up a few disgruntled Tory and SNP Remainers, but her best hope is fiercely to challenge Labour. I wish her a good campaign everywhere except the South West. In that way the Remain vote will be split and Boris will get a thumping majority.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Greg Hands: One might ... · 0 replies · +1 points

The problem lies not with the EU but here in our own Parliament. The EU will not budge while they still believe that Johnson's government could be ousted, like May's before his. Their back channels to Blair, Major and Lord knows who else will have told them what they wanted to hear.
Here in Parliament we have a majority of Remainers who pretend to have accepted the 2016 referendum result. Indeed most of them voted in favour of (a) holding the referendum, (b) submitting the Article 50 letter, and (c) the 2017 Act. Now they say they don't like this sort of Brexit or that sort of Brexit. They want a "Labour" Brexit, or they want to be members of the customs union and in the single market. What they really mean is they are in favour of the status quo, i.e. membership of the EU, but don't have the courage to say so.
The SNP acts as though the 2014 indy referendum never happened. Corbyn has done the splits trying to sit on an unstable fence. The Leader of the Lib Dems says that she wouldn't accept the result of a second referendum if it didn't go her way. No surprise there since she hasn't accepted the result of the first. Our opposition parties (including a cabal led by Hammond within the Conservative Party) are a disgrace to our nation. They are undemocratic and anti-democratic.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Can economic forecasts... · 0 replies · +1 points

Politicians are the last people who should present the results of an economic forecast. They are geared to telling half-truths, ignoring inconvenient facts, and not addressing questions put to them by political interviewers. The infamous Osborne predictions of the referendum are a prime example. Take a forecast based on an outdated model and very dubious assumptions. Look at the worst-case scenario, ignoring all others, and present the results as fact. There will have to be an emergency £30 billion budget. Every family will be more than £4000 worse off, etc. etc.
The Governor of the Bank of England, Chairman of the Monetary Policy Committee, made annual predictions on the direction of interest rates in the following six months and was proved correct only once. Geoffrey Boycott's grandmother could have done better.
Economic models won't work until they take account of likely reactions to events. Was it ever likely that we would submit an Article 50 letter on 24 June 2016? What would have happened if BoJo had been elected Leader of the Conservative Party then instead of May? Furthermore, economic forecasts won't be believed while it is a politician who presents the results.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Our final Next Tory Le... · 1 reply · +1 points

I understand the reason why the first survey on intention to vote for a particular candidate is likely to be more accurate than the second. This survey is different, however. It asks those who have actually voted how they cast their vote. In my opinion, this is likely to be more accurate than the first survey. Which would you rather believe - a poll taken on the eve of an election or an exit poll? This latest survey is the nearest we have to an exit poll.

4 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - LISTEN: ConHome’s To... · 0 replies · +1 points

In the absence of Brexit delivery, the Conservative party is toast. The fundamental question should be: who is more likely to deliver Brexit? Hunt's MP supporters are mainly Remainers (like himself). Most Leave-supporting MPs support Boris. Say no more!

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