Why's the photo named "jack_gisela.jpg", Guido? I count four people in the shot.
Very curious.
July 20, 2006 at 9:30 PM
Anonymous
said...
No one who knows anything about politics has ever taken what straw said as interesting or relevant. as they say in our parish, he's no good.
July 20, 2006 at 9:45 PM
Anonymous
said...
"He attacked websites that keep tab on politicians "
uhm, strange he didn't attack the former Labour Chief Whip when she was sending around tabs with MPs rebellions and voting records to CLPs before reselection meetings.
July 20, 2006 at 9:56 PM
Anonymous
said...
Off topic: have you seen the Beeb's latest swipe at blooger-journalists?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5197808.stm
I note no byline - perhaps it was authored by N Robinson?
July 20, 2006 at 9:57 PM
Anonymous
said...
When will these cretins understand that they are our servants, not the other way round?
July 20, 2006 at 9:58 PM
Anonymous
said...
"Guido thinks we need to play closer attention to Jack Straw and what he is trying to keep out of the picture"
His and Condi's lurve child?
July 20, 2006 at 10:10 PM
Anonymous
said...
Apparently Gisela is the "new Governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy."
I sincerely hope she doesn't share Jack's views on the subject.
Cheeky bastard. Incidentally, the Glorious Tony came and gave a "morale-boosting" speech to us plebs in the Home Office today. I couldn't hear most of it as he kept being drowned out by the air-con. It was exactly like Young Mr Grace from Are you Being Served telling us "you've all done very well".
July 20, 2006 at 10:17 PM
Anonymous
said...
What is Jack Straw for?
Discuss
July 20, 2006 at 10:18 PM
Anonymous
said...
I don't see Oona King in the shot either. Maybe she's off camera.
aka realist - or the same Jack Straw that labelled Craig Murray 'a deep embarassment to the entire Foreign Office' for exposing the Blair government's complicity in torture - and is trying to silence using Crown Copyright on documents released under the FOIA.
He's got lots to hide our Jack - so keep digging. Not that he has the gumption to be the prime mover behind anything - just a willing errand boy.
July 20, 2006 at 10:27 PM
Anonymous
said...
Don't knock him
Jack is just protecting the whole stinking cesspot of coprruption that is New Greasy Labour
They don't get it do they?
They have been rumbled
July 20, 2006 at 10:28 PM
Anonymous
said...
ghost of humphrey the cat says -
If they were serious about democracy they would introduce PR, so each persons vote matters....
as it stands 22% of the vote= landslide suits them just fine to hell with the sheeple!
http://ghostofhumphrey.blogspot.com
July 20, 2006 at 10:52 PM
Anonymous
said...
the mainstream press won't do it for fear of being branded racists but someone should really do some deep research on Shahid Malik Labour MP for Dewsbury
If he said the world was round i would immediately join the flat earth society !
How did he come to be selected ? Did he tell a pack of lies in his maiden speech ? Has he told repeated lies or just half truths on TV ?
we of course need muslim and hindu mps but preferably people with respect for the truth
July 20, 2006 at 10:52 PM
Anonymous
said...
Publicwhip has so many flaws in its methodology that it's almost worse than useless. Theyworkforyou is even worse than that. Both adopt a mathematical approach to rating politics which is entirely inappropriate.
Whenever an MP kicks off about a certain story, I can just enter their name and find out their voting record.
Interesting to see some die hard New Labour "Blair babes" who are complaining how boys of 16 can see naked women in Loaded, and yet are ever pro-war (cos Tony's worth it).
So it seems some people's priorities are for young men to be sent to die on the front line, but heavens forbid they see a topless women in a magazine ...
July 20, 2006 at 11:00 PM
Anonymous
said...
I just looked up Blair on TheyWorkForYou.com and it seems he is only "moderately for" his own policies!
Look at it from their view - they're spent years wasting public money and skyving off. They want to continue doing it, not be held *shudder* accountable!
July 20, 2006 at 11:17 PM
Anonymous
said...
Note to Jack Straw - John Wilkes was declared not guilty.
July 21, 2006 at 12:01 AM
Anonymous
said...
"Publicwhip has so many flaws in its methodology that it's almost worse than useless. Theyworkforyou is even worse than that. Both adopt a mathematical approach to rating politics which is entirely inappropriate."
I’ve added a pledge on pledgebank about this and would encourage people to sign up: http://www.en-gb.pledgebank.com/strawman
July 21, 2006 at 1:02 AM
Anonymous
said...
Mr Boothroyd, your criticism of these sites for a 'mathematical approach' is somewhat ironic, given your robotic defenses of Blair and Labour on Usenet.
Heaven forbid that people should learn about their representatives...
July 21, 2006 at 2:24 AM
Anonymous
said...
Is the lady in the picture craftily breaking wind? It may give an indication of her opinion of Jack.
July 21, 2006 at 8:48 AM
Anonymous
said...
As Guido recently pointed out (http://5thnovember.blogspot.com/2006/07/exclusive-yasmin-albhai-brown-talks-to_14.html) many people, including Yasmin Albhai Brown, believe all is not well in the state of Blackburn.
But on Straw's comments on questions, I just left this post on Recess, which I hope you wont mind my posting here:
I work for an MP and find the Table Office and this issue more generally to be an absolute pain in the proverbial. In my experience mps have no time in their day to sit around tabling questions - it is something they ask their researchers to do for them - therefore blaming researchers is a *bit* unfair.
The blind refusal of the table office to deal with anyone but members also creates problems and significant delays. IMHO if the table office and the house rules relaxed for example by discussing questions with researchers you would get fewer, better drafted questions and the system would work more smoothly.
Also, the government needs to take some of the blame - if the answers they gave to questions were not so anal and designed to give as little information as possible, one would not be forced to ask the same question many times in slightly different ways in some effort to get the piece of information you wanted.
July 21, 2006 at 8:52 AM
Anonymous
said...
has anyone got a link to Straw's comments? To save me looking it up..
July 21, 2006 at 9:09 AM
Anonymous
said...
TheyWorkForYou is a great site - and a darn sight easier than the official hansard site for searching for what you want. It's also an easy way for people to keep track of their MP.
BUT... Straw is right about the number of questions being asked - it is ridiculous now, and it is largely due to idiot MPs trying to bump themselves up the table . I know, because I worked for one - 'fifty PQs by the end of the day please'
Tories are generally complete twats, but this one got it right:
These people really do seem to need some instruction in who works for who.
July 21, 2006 at 9:56 AM
Anonymous
said...
You're getting forgetful in your dotage, Jack Straw. We pay YOU, not the other way round. So get used to this surveilance, because we're watching you and your lot like hawks these days.
I wonder if Guido has a copy of the picture of Straw looking as green as Rosie Winterton's necklace when he was snapped by the press while speeding (fine exempt) in a bus lane?
Also, what really happened with Condie in Blackpool? Straw disgraced himself and embarrassed the whole nation with his fawning public comments and the silly snickering afterwards.
July 21, 2006 at 10:07 AM
Anonymous
said...
thanks Frank
July 21, 2006 at 10:41 AM
Anonymous
said...
Sorry, I’m with the Demon Headmaster on this one I’m afraid.
I remember a Yes Minister episode where Humphrey was explaining about “MPs logic” which translates as “I should do something, this is something, therefore I’ll do it” or “my dog has four legs, so does my cat, therefore my cat’s a dog”.
Parliamentary Questions (and the signing of Early Day Motions for what it’s worth) have largely become a waste of time because researchers and MPs compete with each other to see who can sign/table the most about the most ludicrous subjects.
The other issue arising from this is that Questions for Named Day (ie genuinely urgent questions that need a swift response) have become largely obsolete because of the huge number of other PQs that the civil service have to deal with. Nowadays, the only response to NWPQs is “I will reply to the hon gentleman as soon as possible” on the day specified and you have to still wait several weeks for the reply.
The solution is more civil servants perhaps, but personally I would abolish e-tabling and make the MP walk down to the Table Office to lay questions him or herself thus negating the “fifty PQs by the end of the day please” requests detailed in one of the comments above. MPs would think far more carefully about tabling if they were forced to do it themselves and then trek over to the Palace like they did in ye olden days.
Remember, quantity is no indicator of quality. It takes mere seconds to table a PQ and just because your MP has laid down 23948723987492365239857237 in the last month and signed 2983290743 EDMs does not necessarily mean they’ve done anything for either their constituents or the legislative process.
I guess this one won’t get through your moderation though Guido? Given that I'm not flecking spittle everywhere in a rage that you have not been appointed as the official Keeper of UK Democracy?
July 21, 2006 at 10:47 AM
Anonymous
said...
I fully agree with anonymong (9.42) and onhold (10:47).
MPs asking staff for 50 questions a week is not at all uncommon, and researchers do their best to meet the targets by dreaming up all kinds of meaningless information to ask for.
I think that Written Questions should have a longer deadline, to make Named Day Questions a higher priority.
July 21, 2006 at 11:08 AM
Anonymous
said...
"When will these cretins understand that they are our servants, not the other way round?"
Under UK law they are the Queen's servants.
correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think there is anything in UK law that states that MPs are our servants.
July 21, 2006 at 11:15 AM
Anonymous
said...
OnHold said... ...Parliamentary Questions (and the signing of Early Day Motions..MPs compete with each other to see who can sign/table the most about the most ludicrous subjects.
..huge number of other PQs that the civil service have to deal with.
Rubbish. The real issue is that Civil Servants and MPs - the private sector too, indeed all of us - are PARALYSED BY THE NEVER ENDING STREAM OF RED TAPE & NEGLIGENTY DRAFTED, GARBAGE LEGISLATION CHURNED OUT BY BLAIR & CO! That's why they're so pressurised by answering questions.
When the MOD organisation, DERA, was losing £millions each year a few years back (before Rosie Winterton et al found it *US* Carlyle Group PFI funding through its offshoot, QuinetiQ)its accountants stated on DERA's accounts (briefly published on the internet) that DERA's demise was the product of complying with onerus Government regulations and that the only solution was a non MOD contract.
Shred Blair & Co's mountain of meaningless red tape and make Government as accountable as it should be and used ot be - to Parliament and all of us.
July 21, 2006 at 11:23 AM
Anonymous
said...
Excellent! I hope the bastards are severely worried by the public comment on blogs and by increased scrutiny. But realistically this is just Straw et al diverting blame for their incompetence.
'Too many questions' eh? How far is that from 'We will ask the questions'?
Still, with those steel-framed glasses at least he looks the part - he just needs the leather overcoat and the whip. Maybe Condi's got them as souvenirs of their 'brief encounter' but let's not delve too deeply into his particular predilictions......
It's just a shame that he's really so pathetic. I bet he's got a swastika armband stitched onto his pyjama sleeve.
July 21, 2006 at 11:26 AM
Anonymous
said...
Jeez, chill out.
If you're that bothered why not ask for more civil servants to answer the questions.
Obviously this may require raising taxes, but no sacrifice is too great to protect the beating heart of UK Democracy is it comrades?
July 21, 2006 at 11:29 AM
Anonymous
said...
Straw has always been an arsehole..now he's an arsehole who thinks he shouldn't have to do any work. Perhaps he should apply for the lump of lard arsehole's non-job
July 21, 2006 at 11:38 AM
Anonymous
said...
Jack Straw - living proof that the system of full time politicians living at our expense , is fundamentally flawed !
July 21, 2006 at 11:54 AM
Anonymous
said...
Does anyone else remember (of course not, he was such an irrelevant little twit) Michael Huffington, Arianna's ex-husband? He was a man after Jack Straw's wee Grinchy heart. When the Congressional Record was delivered to his offices, he directed his staff to shred it, as "It's nobody's business but my own how I vote."
I'm not implying that Jack Straw didn't say this, but when and where did Jack Straw make these comments - can we see the full text anywhere, or was it off-record?
July 21, 2006 at 12:03 PM
Anonymous
said...
@Boothroyd:
Not that I've anything to do with the theyworkforyou project, but what do you think 'beta' means?
Please highlight the methodological flaws in the Source Code and suggest some improvements.
July 21, 2006 at 12:18 PM
Anonymous
said...
surely guido your not implying that an MP who voted quite strongly for top up fees despite getting elected saying she was opposed tution fees (97) opposed top up fees (01) could be 'entertaining' Jack Straw?!? Next you'll be saying Gisela Gschaider Stuart voted more in favour of war (the Iraq war) than foundation hosipitals, gay rights, anti-terror laws and smoking bans.......oh wait she did
July 21, 2006 at 12:54 PM
Anonymous
said...
TheyWorkForYou and its associated sites make a undeniably positive contribution to democratic engagement by pushing the transparency of what MPs are doing in Westminster. They are also valuable for making information more widely available (or indeed available at all in some cases).
But where the project falls down is in creating league tables and in taking a cynical starting point. These may be 'beta' projects but that has not always been clear in their marketing.
It is good to see that recently the rankings system has been modified and that there is advice on the site clarifying that the stats are not the only way to judge an MP's performance. It's a really positive move to hold this public event in November - I hope that it will also be a critical, creative and open event.
July 21, 2006 at 1:42 PM
Anonymous
said...
Methinks the tosser doth protesteth too much. This is what happens when the political classes get too big for their boots and the money is too easy. Off with his greasy head.
July 21, 2006 at 3:07 PM
Anonymous
said...
As for who politicans work for, I have 2 (hopefully very simple) questions that should give the right answer:
1. Who pays their wages?
2. Who can hire/fire them?
If you didn't get "us" for any of those answers then you really are a bit on the thick side (or have spent a bit much time in the House of Commons recently).
July 21, 2006 at 3:19 PM
Anonymous
said...
averageguy on the street, demonstrating the truth of Churchill's words that the best argument against democracy is five minutes conversation with a member of the general public.
Yes, you pay their wages. Yes, they should listen to the general public. However, given that each constituency has between 68 and 72 thousand electors, it's not going to be all that easy to satisfy everyone. Snivelling on about how they don't "listen" (which roughly translates as "they're not doing what I want") is slightly stupid really given this truth, innit?
Obviously if you're unhappy you can vote them out. But according to theyworkforyou, Straw has a majority of 8,000. So presumably most people in his area think that he's bang on the money.
Representative democracy, eh? It can be a bitch when you don't get what you want but it also requires an understanding that you personally are not the centre of the universe.
I realise the news that you aren't the centre of the entire political system might come as a shock to your huge ego and blinkered approach. Hang on a minute though! By your own analysis you would be a PERFECT candidate for Parliament.
July 21, 2006 at 4:05 PM
Anonymous
said...
MPs vote the way the Whips tell them to. Labour have elevated this to a fine art, and there is certainly plenty of willing cannon fodder in the House keen to do as they are bid in the effort to hang on to their cushy jobs. Most of them don't care a toss what their constituents think about anything - except at Election time when they suddenly remember where their constituency actually is.
I don't imagine many of the Labour MPS voting for top-up fees and the Iraq War had received lots and lots of letters from constituents urging them to do so!
No matter how "overworked" they are, they seem to find the time to claim their massive expenses, don't they?
Has anyone else read the rather odd comment that Straw left at the end of the "when is the Prime Minister lying and not lying" exchange between Teresa May and himself on 10th July? Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look at his last statement where he says that,
We have to use the latest available data. I do not want to sound like "Eats, Shoots and Leaves", but I have not seen from the record where the Prime Minister's "breath mark", or comma, occurs, denoting what "today" qualified. He was, however, using the most up-to-date data.
Is this perhaps a reference to John 'Panda' Prescott, for his habit of visiting his secretaries' houses where he eats, shoots and leaves?
July 21, 2006 at 6:38 PM
Anonymous
said...
onhold said... the best argument against democracy is five minutes conversation with a member of the general public..represenatative democracy, it can be a bitch when you don't get what you want but requires the understanding that you are not the centre of the universe.
Nulab, eh? Demonstrating just how much you lot invariably detest the general public.
As for representative democracy, the selling points are that our civil liberties are protected, politicians are accountable via Parliament and all of us get a little bit of what we want.
Yet under nulab our civil liberties are eroded by the day in this police State, surveilance society they've fabricated, no one except nulab politicians and their corporate pals get what they want, and they get far too much of that - and none of the spinning, lying wretches are accountable. So, we no longer have representative, or any other kind of democracy, do we?
July 21, 2006 at 9:03 PM
Anonymous
said...
No, not New Lab, but I hate the Tories with a passion.
If they use maths you say they are wrong. If they use subjective analysis you'd say they were biased.
Please can you enlighten us to how you would suggest we can objectively rate the performance of those WE elect to represent US?
RM
July 22, 2006 at 11:43 PM
Anonymous
said...
Hmm well people seem to generally have missed the hint of Jake and Gisela went up a hill. So Guido you should make hay like they and inform your people of the rest of that rhyme?
55 comments:
Is this the same Jack Straw who was recently given a new job, to protect him from being reported by Condeleza Rice as a stalker.
um. er. um. (catch breath). um. er. er. um. (repeat until everyone gets bored)
Why's the photo named "jack_gisela.jpg", Guido? I count four people in the shot.
Very curious.
No one who knows anything about politics has ever taken what straw said as interesting or relevant. as they say in our parish, he's no good.
"He attacked websites that keep tab on politicians "
uhm, strange he didn't attack the former Labour Chief Whip when she was sending around tabs with MPs rebellions and voting records to CLPs before reselection meetings.
Off topic: have you seen the Beeb's latest swipe at blooger-journalists?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5197808.stm
I note no byline - perhaps it was authored by N Robinson?
When will these cretins understand that they are our servants, not the other way round?
"Guido thinks we need to play closer attention to Jack Straw and what he is trying to keep out of the picture"
His and Condi's lurve child?
Apparently Gisela is the "new Governor of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy."
I sincerely hope she doesn't share Jack's views on the subject.
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1:80869767/Jack+Straw+and+Peter+Hain+to+attend+Laeken+Europea.html?refid=ency_topnm
Cheeky bastard. Incidentally, the Glorious Tony came and gave a "morale-boosting" speech to us plebs in the Home Office today. I couldn't hear most of it as he kept being drowned out by the air-con. It was exactly like Young Mr Grace from Are you Being Served telling us "you've all done very well".
What is Jack Straw for?
Discuss
I don't see Oona King in the shot either. Maybe she's off camera.
Straw for PM!
Let Guido be the first to know. Straw to be the new PM
aka realist - or the same Jack Straw that labelled Craig Murray 'a deep embarassment to the entire Foreign Office' for exposing the Blair government's complicity in torture - and is trying to silence using Crown Copyright on documents released under the FOIA.
He's got lots to hide our Jack - so keep digging. Not that he has the gumption to be the prime mover behind anything - just a willing errand boy.
Don't knock him
Jack is just protecting the whole stinking cesspot of coprruption that is New Greasy Labour
They don't get it do they?
They have been rumbled
ghost of humphrey the cat says -
If they were serious about democracy they would introduce PR, so each persons vote matters....
as it stands 22% of the vote= landslide suits them just fine to hell with the sheeple!
http://ghostofhumphrey.blogspot.com
the mainstream press won't do it for fear of being branded racists but someone should really do some deep research on Shahid Malik Labour MP for Dewsbury
If he said the world was round i would immediately join the flat earth society !
How did he come to be selected ?
Did he tell a pack of lies in his maiden speech ?
Has he told repeated lies or just half truths on TV ?
we of course need muslim and hindu mps but preferably people with respect for the truth
Publicwhip has so many flaws in its methodology that it's almost worse than useless. Theyworkforyou is even worse than that. Both adopt a mathematical approach to rating politics which is entirely inappropriate.
These sites are invaluable.
Whenever an MP kicks off about a certain story, I can just enter their name and find out their voting record.
Interesting to see some die hard New Labour "Blair babes" who are complaining how boys of 16 can see naked women in Loaded, and yet are ever pro-war (cos Tony's worth it).
So it seems some people's priorities are for young men to be sent to die on the front line, but heavens forbid they see a topless women in a magazine ...
I just looked up Blair on TheyWorkForYou.com and it seems he is only "moderately for" his own policies!
Look at it from their view - they're spent years wasting public money and skyving off. They want to continue doing it, not be held *shudder* accountable!
Note to Jack Straw - John Wilkes was declared not guilty.
"Publicwhip has so many flaws in its methodology that it's almost worse than useless. Theyworkforyou is even worse than that. Both adopt a mathematical approach to rating politics which is entirely inappropriate."
And who are you working for?
The mouseover the picture should read:
Jack & Gisela sitting in a tree ...
I’ve added a pledge on pledgebank about this and would encourage people to sign up: http://www.en-gb.pledgebank.com/strawman
Mr Boothroyd, your criticism of these sites for a 'mathematical approach' is somewhat ironic, given your robotic defenses of Blair and Labour on Usenet.
Heaven forbid that people should learn about their representatives...
Is the lady in the picture craftily breaking wind? It may give an indication of her opinion of Jack.
As Guido recently pointed out (http://5thnovember.blogspot.com/2006/07/exclusive-yasmin-albhai-brown-talks-to_14.html) many people, including Yasmin Albhai Brown, believe all is not well in the state of Blackburn.
But on Straw's comments on questions, I just left this post on Recess, which I hope you wont mind my posting here:
I work for an MP and find the Table Office and this issue more generally to be an absolute pain in the proverbial. In my experience mps have no time in their day to sit around tabling questions - it is something they ask their researchers to do for them - therefore blaming researchers is a *bit* unfair.
The blind refusal of the table office to deal with anyone but members also creates problems and significant delays. IMHO if the table office and the house rules relaxed for example by discussing questions with researchers you would get fewer, better drafted questions and the system would work more smoothly.
Also, the government needs to take some of the blame - if the answers they gave to questions were not so anal and designed to give as little information as possible, one would not be forced to ask the same question many times in slightly different ways in some effort to get the piece of information you wanted.
has anyone got a link to Straw's comments? To save me looking it up..
TheyWorkForYou is a great site - and a darn sight easier than the official hansard site for searching for what you want. It's also an easy way for people to keep track of their MP.
BUT... Straw is right about the number of questions being asked - it is ridiculous now, and it is largely due to idiot MPs trying to bump themselves up the table . I know, because I worked for one - 'fifty PQs by the end of the day please'
Tories are generally complete twats, but this one got it right:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2006-06-28a.344.0&s=%22freedom+of+information+act%22
http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200607/d0f49cdc-3958-4033-b03e-dae559762464.htm
What an arse.
These people really do seem to need some instruction in who works for who.
You're getting forgetful in your dotage, Jack Straw. We pay YOU, not the other way round. So get used to this surveilance, because we're watching you and your lot like hawks these days.
I wonder if Guido has a copy of the picture of Straw looking as green as Rosie Winterton's necklace when he was snapped by the press while speeding (fine exempt) in a bus lane?
Also, what really happened with Condie in Blackpool? Straw disgraced himself and embarrassed the whole nation with his fawning public comments and the silly snickering afterwards.
thanks Frank
Sorry, I’m with the Demon Headmaster on this one I’m afraid.
I remember a Yes Minister episode where Humphrey was explaining about “MPs logic” which translates as “I should do something, this is something, therefore I’ll do it” or “my dog has four legs, so does my cat, therefore my cat’s a dog”.
Parliamentary Questions (and the signing of Early Day Motions for what it’s worth) have largely become a waste of time because researchers and MPs compete with each other to see who can sign/table the most about the most ludicrous subjects.
The other issue arising from this is that Questions for Named Day (ie genuinely urgent questions that need a swift response) have become largely obsolete because of the huge number of other PQs that the civil service have to deal with. Nowadays, the only response to NWPQs is “I will reply to the hon gentleman as soon as possible” on the day specified and you have to still wait several weeks for the reply.
The solution is more civil servants perhaps, but personally I would abolish e-tabling and make the MP walk down to the Table Office to lay questions him or herself thus negating the “fifty PQs by the end of the day please” requests detailed in one of the comments above. MPs would think far more carefully about tabling if they were forced to do it themselves and then trek over to the Palace like they did in ye olden days.
Remember, quantity is no indicator of quality. It takes mere seconds to table a PQ and just because your MP has laid down 23948723987492365239857237 in the last month and signed 2983290743 EDMs does not necessarily mean they’ve done anything for either their constituents or the legislative process.
I guess this one won’t get through your moderation though Guido? Given that I'm not flecking spittle everywhere in a rage that you have not been appointed as the official Keeper of UK Democracy?
I fully agree with anonymong (9.42) and onhold (10:47).
MPs asking staff for 50 questions a week is not at all uncommon, and researchers do their best to meet the targets by dreaming up all kinds of meaningless information to ask for.
I think that Written Questions should have a longer deadline, to make Named Day Questions a higher priority.
"When will these cretins understand that they are our servants, not the other way round?"
Under UK law they are the Queen's servants.
correct me if i am wrong, but i dont think there is anything in UK law that states that MPs are our servants.
OnHold said...
...Parliamentary Questions (and the signing of Early Day Motions..MPs compete with each other to see who can sign/table the most about the most ludicrous subjects.
..huge number of other PQs that the civil service have to deal with.
Rubbish. The real issue is that Civil Servants and MPs - the private sector too, indeed all of us - are PARALYSED BY THE NEVER ENDING STREAM OF RED TAPE & NEGLIGENTY DRAFTED, GARBAGE LEGISLATION CHURNED OUT BY BLAIR & CO! That's why they're so pressurised by answering questions.
When the MOD organisation, DERA, was losing £millions each year a few years back (before Rosie Winterton et al found it *US* Carlyle Group PFI funding through its offshoot, QuinetiQ)its accountants stated on DERA's accounts (briefly published on the internet) that DERA's demise was the product of complying with onerus Government regulations and that the only solution was a non MOD contract.
Shred Blair & Co's mountain of meaningless red tape and make Government as accountable as it should be and used ot be - to Parliament and all of us.
Excellent! I hope the bastards are severely worried by the public comment on blogs and by increased scrutiny. But realistically this is just Straw et al diverting blame for their incompetence.
'Too many questions' eh? How far is that from 'We will ask the questions'?
Still, with those steel-framed glasses at least he looks the part - he just needs the leather overcoat and the whip. Maybe Condi's got them as souvenirs of their 'brief encounter' but let's not delve too deeply into his particular predilictions......
It's just a shame that he's really so pathetic. I bet he's got a swastika armband stitched onto his pyjama sleeve.
Jeez, chill out.
If you're that bothered why not ask for more civil servants to answer the questions.
Obviously this may require raising taxes, but no sacrifice is too great to protect the beating heart of UK Democracy is it comrades?
Straw has always been an arsehole..now he's an arsehole who thinks he shouldn't have to do any work. Perhaps he should apply for the lump of lard arsehole's non-job
Jack Straw - living proof that the system of full time politicians living at our expense , is fundamentally flawed !
Does anyone else remember (of course not, he was such an irrelevant little twit) Michael Huffington, Arianna's ex-husband? He was a man after Jack Straw's wee Grinchy heart. When the Congressional Record was delivered to his offices, he directed his staff to shred it, as "It's nobody's business but my own how I vote."
I'm not implying that Jack Straw didn't say this, but when and where did Jack Straw make these comments - can we see the full text anywhere, or was it off-record?
@Boothroyd:
Not that I've anything to do with the theyworkforyou project, but what do you think 'beta' means?
Please highlight the methodological flaws in the Source Code and suggest some improvements.
surely guido your not implying that an MP who voted quite strongly for top up fees despite getting elected saying she was opposed tution fees (97) opposed top up fees (01) could be 'entertaining' Jack Straw?!?
Next you'll be saying Gisela Gschaider Stuart voted more in favour of war (the Iraq war) than foundation hosipitals, gay rights, anti-terror laws and smoking bans.......oh wait she did
TheyWorkForYou and its associated sites make a undeniably positive contribution to democratic engagement by pushing the transparency of what MPs are doing in Westminster. They are also valuable for making information more widely available (or indeed available at all in some cases).
But where the project falls down is in creating league tables and in taking a cynical starting point. These may be 'beta' projects but that has not always been clear in their marketing.
It is good to see that recently the rankings system has been modified and that there is advice on the site clarifying that the stats are not the only way to judge an MP's performance. It's a really positive move to hold this public event in November - I hope that it will also be a critical, creative and open event.
Methinks the tosser doth protesteth too much.
This is what happens when the political classes get too big for their boots and the money is too easy.
Off with his greasy head.
As for who politicans work for, I have 2 (hopefully very simple) questions that should give the right answer:
1. Who pays their wages?
2. Who can hire/fire them?
If you didn't get "us" for any of those answers then you really are a bit on the thick side (or have spent a bit much time in the House of Commons recently).
averageguy on the street, demonstrating the truth of Churchill's words that the best argument against democracy is five minutes conversation with a member of the general public.
Yes, you pay their wages. Yes, they should listen to the general public. However, given that each constituency has between 68 and 72 thousand electors, it's not going to be all that easy to satisfy everyone. Snivelling on about how they don't "listen" (which roughly translates as "they're not doing what I want") is slightly stupid really given this truth, innit?
Obviously if you're unhappy you can vote them out. But according to theyworkforyou, Straw has a majority of 8,000. So presumably most people in his area think that he's bang on the money.
Representative democracy, eh? It can be a bitch when you don't get what you want but it also requires an understanding that you personally are not the centre of the universe.
I realise the news that you aren't the centre of the entire political system might come as a shock to your huge ego and blinkered approach. Hang on a minute though! By your own analysis you would be a PERFECT candidate for Parliament.
MPs vote the way the Whips tell them to. Labour have elevated this to a fine art, and there is certainly plenty of willing cannon fodder in the House keen to do as they are bid in the effort to hang on to their cushy jobs. Most of them don't care a toss what their constituents think about anything - except at Election time when they suddenly remember where their constituency actually is.
I don't imagine many of the Labour MPS voting for top-up fees and the Iraq War had received lots and lots of letters from constituents urging them to do so!
No matter how "overworked" they are, they seem to find the time to claim their massive expenses, don't they?
Has anyone else read the rather odd comment that Straw left at the end of the "when is the Prime Minister lying and not lying" exchange between Teresa May and himself on 10th July? Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look at his last statement where he says that,
We have to use the latest available data. I do not want to sound like "Eats, Shoots and Leaves", but I have not seen from the record where the Prime Minister's "breath mark", or comma, occurs, denoting what "today" qualified. He was, however, using the most up-to-date data.
Is this perhaps a reference to John 'Panda' Prescott, for his habit of visiting his secretaries' houses where he eats, shoots and leaves?
onhold said...
the best argument against democracy is five minutes conversation with a member of the general public..represenatative democracy, it can be a bitch when you don't get what you want but requires the understanding that you are not the centre of the universe.
Nulab, eh? Demonstrating just how much you lot invariably detest the general public.
As for representative democracy, the selling points are that our civil liberties are protected, politicians are accountable via Parliament and all of us get a little bit of what we want.
Yet under nulab our civil liberties are eroded by the day in this police State, surveilance society they've fabricated, no one except nulab politicians and their corporate pals get what they want, and they get far too much of that - and none of the spinning, lying wretches are accountable. So, we no longer have representative, or any other kind of democracy, do we?
No, not New Lab, but I hate the Tories with a passion.
What does that make me?
Mr Boothroyd,
If they use maths you say they are wrong. If they use subjective analysis you'd say they were biased.
Please can you enlighten us to how you would suggest we can objectively rate the performance of those WE elect to represent US?
RM
Hmm well people seem to generally have missed the hint of Jake and Gisela went up a hill. So Guido you should make hay like they and inform your people of the rest of that rhyme?