Politics
Parliamentary Sketch 10th February – Why is Everything Rosie Mrs Cameron?
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor It’s a shame Labour doesn’t back the Junior Doctors’ strike (still not quite sure why, answers on a post card, or to Cobyn’s PMQ question hotline) and that the Leader of the Opposition didn’t bother to mention Cameron’s mum is fighting her own son’s public sector cuts. Corbyn wore an “I love Unions,” badge but didn’t mention the strike action outside our beloved hospitals. It reminded me of the freshers who used to walk around...
Tory tax credit U-turn to hurt up to 800,000 families
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor A little noticed change that slipped past the Chancellor’s U-turn will clobber hundreds of thousands of workers. George Osborne stated he was ditching tax credit cuts, which would have seen over three million families lose around £1,300 per annum. However, it has been revealed that changes to the 'income rise disregard' would still go ahead from April this year. The policy, which says how much income can increase by before tax credits are recalculated, will...
Tory MP forgot declaration of £400,000…but remembered 49p claim for milk
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Geoffrey Cox, Westminster's highest-earning Tory MP was a tad careless and forgot to declare £400k worth of income from outside interests, but managed to remember to claim for a pint of milk, at a cost of 49 pence. Cox is paid £74,000 a year as an MP but works hundreds of hours as a QC. Unfortunately he broke time limits for registering five hundred hours work he did between Jan and Aug 2015. His excuse...
Cutting Running Costs and ‘Bed Blocking’ Would Save NHS £5bn a Year
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Inefficiencies in the NHS is costing five billions pounds a year. Patients staying in hospital too long, reliance on agency workers, costly supplies and inefficient use of staff is making a huge strain on the public purse. Two official reports have published these findings. 8,500 “bedblocking” patients are stuck in NHS hospitals on a daily basis – costing £900m a year and increasing the need to use the private sector to meet patients' needs. Jeremy Hunt, the...
VIDEO – Politician Has Dildo Thrown in Face by Protester
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor New Zealand politician Steven Joyce was chatting to journalists when he was he smashed in the face with a sex toy. He had been chatting to crowds in Waitangi, near Paihia, when he suffered the assault. In the clip the member of the New Zealand National Party is surprised by the pink toy which comes flying into camera shot, hitting Joyce in the mouth. A female protestor in the crowd, threw the sex toy and...
Parliamentary Sketch 3rd February – Eastenders E8 the EU
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor There wasn’t much to say about today’s PMQs the Tories were all waiting to either bash Cameron on Europe for their constituents or back him to save their own careers, in the debate afterwards. Will PM ignore his party’s core supporters, who would happily restore the monarchy into power given half a chance; some of who seem to regard the ex-Eton and Bullingdon boy as some sort of woolly liberal lefty. If David Cameron isn’t...
Google rejects claims they censored search results for Conservative Party
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Conspiracy theorists have claimed that Google has censored search results for the Conservative party, even though autocomplete results for the party are blank. Google suggests common searches for all of the other major political parties, usually not very complimentary, but nothing appears for searches for “Conservatives are” or “Tories are.” If you do the same search replacing Labour for Conservative suggested searches bring up “…finished”, “a joke” and “right wing.” For the Liberal Democrats the...
The Bernie Sanders Iowa Speech
"It is too late for establishment politics and establishment economics", Bernie Sanders told an energetic crowd following a miraculous Iowa caucuses. Last spring Sanders was down by 42 points in a national poll. On Monday evening, he came close to drawing with long-term favourite and political heavyweight Hillary Clinton. “You guys ready for a radical idea?” he asked an ecstatic audience. “Well, so is America.” Could Bernie really pull it off? Watch his speech in full here: Video: PBS NewsHour
Iain Duncan Smith Refuses End to “despicable” Bedroom Tax & Evades Rising Legal Costs
By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Today Iain Duncan Smith refused to stop his "despicable" Bedroom Tax, as he evaded questions on a landmark Court of Appeal, not for the first time. He hid behind a junior colleague, but eventually he was caught unaware by a spontaneous question, from Labour's Rupa Huq. Huq was discussing why three judges said the Bedroom Tax discriminated against domestic violence victims and carers. She said to Smith: "This despicable and discredited policy needs to go"....