Politics

Iain Dale, yesterday at 10:54am:

If ever you wanted an example of the difference between Gordon Brown and David Cameron as Prime Minister, look at what's happening in Washington.

Brown and his Ministers cow-towed to the Americans over the one-sided extradition treaty and refused even to raise the subject of Gary McKinnon with their American counterparts.

I suspect that Iain was typing that blogpost before he had read this story:

David Cameron has been criticised after mistakenly saying the UK was the "junior partner" in the allied World War II fight against Germany in 1940.

He made the historical slip, neglecting the fact that the US had yet to enter the war, on the second day of his first trip to the US as prime minister.

We all want and expect a prime minister to have at least a reasonable understanding of modern history, but let's put to one side Cameron's historical illiteracy and ask the question 'why did Cameron feel the need to refer to the UK as the "junior partner" in World War II?'

The only answer I can come up with is that Cameron was kowtowing to the Americans.

Why Iain Dale feels that Gordon Brown and his ministers were towed by cows to talks on Gary McKinnon's extradition treaty remains unclear. Possibly an Eggcorn.

The Labour Leadership campaign has finally turned nasty.

I hardly think Diane Abbott's wideness is relevant to the debate. Shame on you Ed.

Shagger Prescott is now Lord Shagger, which is nice because he always wanted to shag a lady. I won't go into how disgusted I am by this appointment, I'll just point you in the direction of Guy Aitchison who is disgusted enough for both of us.

"I don’t want to be a member of the House of Lords. I will not accept it."

Added to the Prescottballs collection.

According to Steve Uncles, UKIP offered the English Democrats leader, Robin Tilbrook, the deputy leadership of UKIP.

At the English Democrats National Council, 2010 Elections de-brief on Saturday in Nottingham - it was revealed that desperate UKIP offerred the English Democrats National Chairman Robin Tilbrook, the "Deputy Leadership of UKIP" if Robin, stood down all the English Democrats candidates during the 2010 General Election Campaign, and closed down the English Democrats party.

With English Democrats comfortably beating UKIP in the more established English Democrats areas, like Doncaster, Dartford, and Raleigh, it is not surprising that UKIP are resorting to such desperate measures.

If you compare the TV Performances of Robin Tilbrook and "Screaming" Lord Pearson, it is not surprising that UKIP would want Robin Tilbook as part of their team.

Fortunately, Robin Tilbrook has no intention of changing from an English Nationalist to a British Nationalist.

Had Tilbrook not invested so much of his own money in the English Democrats I imagine that he would have bitten their hand off and attempted to change UKIP policy on The British Question from within.

After the utterly dreadful London Olympics logo...

...We get the far less dreadful London Olympic mascots, Wenlock & Mandeville. They say absolutely bugger all about Britain, England or London, but at least they're not Lisa Simpson giving head. I really am quite relieved that they're not as embarrassingly shite as I had expected.

The Labour Party may be out of power but, as Autonomous Mind points out, that doesn't prevent Lord Triesman from continuing Labour's long and proud tradition of undermining England.

But it's not the pathetic Lord Triesman who has got me so angry, nor is it the distinctly average looking dolly-bird who has touted her story to the gutter press. It is the gutter press itself - on this occasion the Mail, that right-wing rag notorious for supporting Hilter's Nazi Party, Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists and, more recently, Gordon Brown's Britishness campaign.

Instead of deciding that the sordid dalliances of two nobodies was not worth publishing, they took the decision to publish and in doing so have potentially ruined England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

Why, why, why?

Lord Triesman, Gordon Brown's man in the FA, who wasted much of his time trying to bring about a 'Team Britain', is gone. Good, all true football fans will join with me in wishing that a British football team never happens - but the manner of Triesman's downfall and leaving should have been avoided, and would have been avoided had the Mail but an ounce of English patriotism.

The Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail are a disgrace to England and they should be boycotted by all England fans.

There is a Facebook group set up to promote this boycott, please join and twitter and press to Facebook.

I don't expect much from the Labour Party, but given the dire straights that they've left the country in some contrition might be nice. Not a bit of it. This is the message left by Liam Byrne for his successor at the Treasury.

“Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid there is no money. Kind regards — and good luck! Liam.”

And as if that wasn't enough, Alistair Darling has the gall to criticise the new Government for laying the blame for the parlous state of the finances at Labour's door.

Mr Darling, who is stepping down from Labour’s front bench, added: "The Conservatives and Liberals are playing the oldest trick in the book. What do you do when you are a new government? You blame your predecessors. It is straight out of Yes Minister. It looks like they are going to have to put taxes up, they want to make pretty heavy cuts in public expenditure and they are naturally looking to blame someone else."

And they don't have to look very far, do they Alistair? When Labour came to power the UK was in the black. After thirteen years of your stewardship we're perilously close to bankruptcy. Spin it however you like, those are the facts.

Residents of Saltdean, lovers of architecture, heritage-protectors & lido fans must unite and have their say to save Saltdean Lido.

Saltdean Lido is owned by Brighton and Hove Council, but plans are afoot to build 100 apartments over the site of the swimming pool.

Charlie Brooker:

Every time I look at Cameron, I'm reminded of video-game characters: not the loveable, spiky ones like Sonic or Mario, but the bland, generic dead-eyed avatars you can "create" for use in a tennis game or a tedious Tolkienesque adventure. You start with a bald clone, then add features drawn from a limited palette - eye colour, one of three noses, an optional goatee beard and so on - and invariably end up with an eerily characterless zombie straight out of the boardgame Guess Who?. Simulated choice, as opposed to genuine variety. It is easy to build a Cameron lookalike. Just simulate the smuggest estate agent you can think of. Or some interchangeable braying twit in a rugby shirt, ruining a local pub just by being there. Easy.

There goes one hideous, humourless, monstrosity of a man. He can take his "Nations and Regions", Britishness, ID cards, police state, economic incompetence, mass immigration and anti-Englishness, and crawl back under whatever Scottish stone he emerged from.

But this is no time for gloating or celebration because we now have Cameron and Clegg to deal with, not to mention the appalling, nay apocalyptic, prospect of David Miliband or Ed Balls waiting in the wings should the Tories fall.

But for now it's goodbye Scottish Raj and hello to Tory England (a prospect that is already bearing fruit).