Honey Honey...

TB rarely likes to admit that he is wrong but sometimes you just have to be the bigger bear. Last night started out as a typical Friday night - but as the local kicked out TB and the crowd were wondering what to do. Having fought going to see Mamma Mia at the cinema, the DVD that

Mummy Bear hid at the bottom of his suitcase suddenly seemed like the best idea ever...

So with chocolates and a fair amount of vodka, seven of us huddled around the TV getting about two and half minutes into the film before spontaneously bursting into song for the next hour. What a great film. TB takes back anything he said and sorry

Mr Dale, TB now agrees

.

Then tragedy struck, the dodgy Russian DVD conked out half an hour before the end so TB and his equally cynical

flatmate

are still desperate to know what happens...

Fantastic film though and TB hasn't really been watching clips on YouTube today. Honest.

Commitment to the cause...

TB thought it would be an appropriate time to put this one up:

Exclusive: Andy Peterkin for Chairman

TB can reveal today that Conservative Future's Mr Marmite Andy Peterkin will be running for chairman at the next elections...

His site

letandybeandy.com

launched overnight. Trying to get in touch with Andy now and will have more on this later.

+++developing+++

A flurry of anonymous briefings and spinning...

In preparation for tomorrow's meeting of the Conservative Future executive at the Carlton Club (apparently CCHQ refused CF a room!?) there has been a flurry of speculation about bids for the Chairmanship coming together.

TB has spoken to a lot of people close to Owen Meredith this afternoon and can confirm that he has approached some big CF players in his search for a campaign manager. Rumours have circulated in the last week that Mr Meredith recently failed his Parliamentary Assessment Board test and now seems to be looking to fill some gaps in an already

loaded CV

by going for the top-job and preparing for a very different election all together, it's either that or getting some real life experience. However things haven't exactly got off to the best of starts. A source close to the budding campaign expressed his doubts tonight about the campaign's chances of success; " Owen's new photos on his website are very special, in a Velcro shoes and safety pencil kind of way."

Ouch!

One of the names thrown around tonight in relation to becoming Meredith's campaign manager is Cllr Ben Howlett who denied he had been approached and indeed confirmed speculation that he is considering running himself - "Yeah I'm thinking about running, but not yet."

Tory Bear got in touch with Owen to give him the chance to go on record to confirm the speculation but instead he chose to deny the fact he has been building a team "No I’m not actively doing anything at the moment. I've just started a new job and not sure what my work commitments are going to be like or when the election even is."

Only time will tell but the sources TB got this story from have not been wrong before and another senior member of CF was adamant that Owen "had his heart set on running."

The dates for the election remain a mystery and this time last year the campaigns were well underway. Things seem to be shifting up a gear though tonight and the flurry of anonymous briefings is well underway. This election could get pretty tense given the previous hiccups in the relationship between Meredith and Steve Ricketts, another NME member apparently planning to run. A few months back a botched attempt at an anonymous briefing by Owen against Steve caused some red faces. Tonight it seems Mr Meredith has not been too cautious in selecting who he reveals his plans to and will have to sharpen up his operation a considerable amount if this bid is going to gain any ground.


You know where you will read your election news first.

UPDATE 20:00 Seems there is no proof in the PAB rumour. He didn't fail it, this week.

Wanted:

Tory Bear is looking to set up a weekly cartoon. If you think you have the skills and humour to make thousands of readers laugh every week providing them then please email editor@torybear.com.

- Think

Matt

with a Conservative Future/Party twist...

Rudy 2012?

Thanks to a tip-off from the CF party liaison officer TB had a peak at

www.joinrudy2012.com

- it's the same as his 2008 site but clearly Giuliani is not going to stop fundraising and by the looks of things will be having another crack at the Republican nomination next time round...

Recommended reading...

TV's Shane Greer has a great post on The Telegraph's Brassneck blog today defending George Osborne:

"You can argue all you like about Osborne's suitability for the job, but consider that recent events represent the first time he has faced a significant political firestorm in his time as a politician; and in that light he has perform admirably, if not as well as a more seasoned politician might have."

Read the rest

here

.

Gordon's aliiiive

Caption contest...

We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Poor Adrian...

Rumours were flying around yesterday that Adrian McMenamin had been fired from the CBI after he was exposed for running the tory hate sites toryparty.net and hatemytory.com, both of which were removed after he was exposed by TB and Dizzy and humiliated in The Times. TB got on the phone to the CBI and although the spokesperson would only say “There is no truth in the rumour that Adrian McMenamin has been sacked. He continues to be an employee of the CBI”, TB understands he got a pretty epic bollocking from the Director General.

Poor Adrian, this story just won't go away...

Diary of a conference virgin...

With due trepidation Tory Bear printed his e-ticket, packed his pillow and boarded the NUS bus hand in hand with the Labour Student posse. Leaving at midnight and driving the length of the country through the night on a booze free bus was quite the experience. The National Union of Students "safe place" rules were read as we boarded - everyone's opinion had to be respected and no one was allowed to be mean to each other, this apparently meant that a token Tory didn't quite pick up the abuse he might have expected on such an occasion.

Apparently last year's bus ended rather messily so TB's hipflask plan went out the window and it was a very long and sober journey of broken sleep down to Wolverhampton. Arriving on the outskirts of the city as the sun was coming up the very lost bus driver decided to take us on a detour past a 24 hour McDonalds and quite possibly the biggest Dreams bed warehouse ever, neither of which we were allowed to stop at despite the whimpering.

The NUS Scotland crew were the first to arrive and TB had the pleasure of watching as an assorted range of socialists, militants and apparently "right-wing" Labour Students poured into the hall. With all the organisational skills of a party planning company in a brewery things finally got going at around 11.30. Grrrrh. There was a smattering of Tories in attendance, TB counted five, hardly a powerful voting block we could be if CF organised themselves to a greater extent. The morning was spent in a Nuremberg style round of speeches praising the glory of "our union" and poor John Howard was attacked for a good ten minutes by the visiting President of NUS Australia. The fun and games didn't kick off until after lunch...

The vicious debate that has surrounded the Governance Review of the NUS over the last eighteen months was the only item on the agenda. Labour Students and the far left have been arguing over the proposed changes to the constitution for years and literally millions of pounds have been wasted on consultancy fees and special conferences that have seen the new document hammered out. TB couldn't help but feel it was inevitable that this time it would go through as the unions across the country seemed to have done a very good job and stamping out people against the changes from attending this conference. If TB had broken mandate he would have lost his expenses, been made to pay all for all his travel - a pretty good way to make sure the delegation voted in line with union policy. An free trip to Wolverhampton is one thing, being made to pay to go there is quite another...

The usual parade of dyed hair and piercings were on display on the opposing side and the ever smooth Labour students argued this case rather well. The line that really swung it for TB was the fact that the President Wes Streeting told the conference that if the review didn't pass he would go home and shoot himself in the face. The governance review has pretty much been designed to stamp out the ridiculously left wing elements of the NUS that are apparently hampering its progress as a fighting organisation. Although in the short term it seems that power will remain in the hands of Labour, to be honest this is better than some of the nutjob, militant left-wing elements of NUS being anywhere near what could be considered a level of authority.

Though don't get the wrong end of the stick, TB hasn't been swept up in the euphoria and become a fan of the NUS. It wasn't all fun and games. Toward the end of the afternoon an amendment was put forward by UEA - the brainchild of CF member Paul Wells that called for the NUS policy of No-Platform to be removed from the new constitution. No-Platform basically stops the BNP and other extremist organisations from attending conferences or standing in elections. While TB despises extremism on the left and the right it seems ridiculous to force it underground when openly humiliating it in debate would be a far more sensible option. As a Tory TB's feelings toward the NUS and what it stands for went against 98% of the people there but looking around that room there is no point denying that TB saw people who, right or wrong, passionately cared about what they believed in and were willing to fight for those beliefs at every opportunity. Why then are they so scared of debate? They know extremism is wrong, why not defend that view? Running away from extremism and pretending it does not exist will not make it go away. The only way to stamp out the BNP and the Communists (who incidentally are allowed at NUS, funny that,) is to openly fight it and confront it. NUS No-Platform makes a mockery of the entire organisation and undermines any good work that they do.

So the Governance Review passed this time, it still has to be ratified and the organisation is in exactly the same place it was a year ago. It has to go through another one of these glorious Extraordinary Conferences or through the Annual Conference, where it fell last year. The saying goes that any organisation that spends it's time talking about reform, or navel gazing (cough,) is in serious trouble and no truer is this spoken than about NUS. TB can see the logic of Tories opposing the Governance Review as without it the NUS would continue to be the chaotic and weak organisation that it currently is, held to ransom by the far left but at the end of the day it's wasting your money as students and this new constitution will go some way to stop the organisation literally pissing millions of pounds every year up the wall. That is why TB voted for it...

And so back on the bus, 24 hours later to the minute TB arrived back up north. After McDonalds for breakfast and Burger King for supper, along with broken sleep and unhealthy blast of type 1 socialist exposure, TB felt decidedly ill. Not sure whether this will be an experience he is ready to repeat any time soon but worth it to see how the organisation works and where it's problems really lie.

Since the formation of the Student Life committee there has been an internal debate going on within CF about what it's views on NUS should be. If we wanted to, it would not be hard to get forty odd delegates elected around the country to these conferences and actually be a pretty powerful little block... Not all will agree, but for the time being, or at least until the new constitution is ratified TB reckons we should give it the benefit of the doubt and create some mischief. Not long ago a conservative candidate was just one vote off being elected as treasurer and with a little organisation a Tory in one of the top spots is not out of the question. It's a debate that CF needs to have properly, so why not start it here...

What do you all think?

Home sweet home...

After 24 hours on a coach and in lefty paradise Tory Bear has come back from NUS alive... just. Do you like the sticker he was given for his bag?

TB will tell you all about it tomorrow but for now he is going to get some much needed sleep.

The NUS governance review passed by 80%... lots of angry trots! Apologies for the lack of blogging but TB's Blackberry was playing up.

Normal service resumes tomorrow...

Off to Wolverhampton..

Blogging will be light for the next 48 hours as TB spends most of it in a minibus and the rest at NUS conference...

Will try post some updates..

If any Tories attending haven't already got in touch please email your mobile numbers to editor@torybear.com asap!

From today's Times...

Further to TB and Dizzy's digging this weekend this popped up in the

City Diary

of The Times:

"Oh dear. What with it being Monday morning, and the rain, I think that one wonk at the CBI had a rotten time yesterday. Relations between the employers' organisation and the Tories have not been brilliant - David Cameron stood them up at their conference a couple of years ago, and new Labour has been good at co-opting top executives - so I doubt that the Conservatives would be pleased to learn that Adrian McMenamin, who heads the CBI's group on public services and skills, runs the website hatemytory, on which you can express, on a range of one to ten, just how much you despise any Tory politician.

“The CBI was not aware of these website activities until today,” a spokeswoman says, somewhat purse-lipped, when I inform her. “Mr McMenamin has acted in a personal capacity, which has had no connection to his activities at the CBI. We now understand that Mr McMenamin has removed these sites from the web.” As, indeed, he has."

Poor Adrian, this story just won't go away...

Ooooh

Forward Together?

Lads on Tour...

Could any Tories going to the NUS extraordinary conference in Wolverhampton on Wednesday please email editor@torybear.com asap.

Cheers

Bye bye

It seems Adrian and his friends at the Labour blog attack unit have decided to take down the toryparty.net blog before any legal action kicked off.

toryparty.net

now just redirects you to the transpero Labour holding page. Finally the first sensible thing Tory Bear has read on the site-

"Labour's organisational crisis is deep. We have no money. We have too few experienced organisational staff. The real level of our membership is barely more than half that of the Tories.

But the crisis of the left is deeper still. The organising idea of the mainstream left - socialism defined as the abolition of, or the severe curtailment of, private ownership has proved both to be a failure and, worse still, a route to repression."

Right Wing Blogosphere 1 : Labour blog team 0

Payback.

Adrian McMenamin

is toryparty.net

From

here

.

And here's another piece about

Adrian McMenamin

.

How to piss off voters...

Donal Blaney has a

brilliant story

tonight.

Tax cuts please...

On the plane back up to Scotland Tory Bear was contemplating the horrendous prospect of the Tories being

outflanked

by Labour and the LibDems on tax cuts.

In the post-Obama world the left seemed to have clocked that people really like tax cuts.

Gordo was stupid enough to brief that he was contemplating the idea and it seems CCHQ have got into gear and

beaten him to it

.

The political climate has changed. Tax cuts back on the agenda. Weyhey.

Dizzy confirms TB's speculation...

Yesterday Tory Bear asked whether Derek Draper and the Labour party blog rebuttal unit were anything to do with the anonymous Conservative and Unionist hate blog. This morning Dizzy has done what he does best and confirmed what turned out to be a rather good hunch...

Over to

Dizzy

:
"Tory Bear has been pondering whether the so-called Derek Draper

right-wing blog rebuttal operation

is under way now that an anonymously created site called

toryparty.net

has appeared. The site initially appeared in September around the same time that Draper was being brought back.

I can reveal that this site has indeed been set-up by someone heavily linked with Derek Draper. Adrian McMenamin, a former Downing Street advisor and the man that headed up Labour's rapid rebuttal Excalibur system prior to 1997 appears to be behind the site. What's more, his attempts to hide it were not quite good enough.

You see, they've managed to use a privacy provider for the Whois record to hide the ownership of the toryparty.net domain, unlike when

hatemytory.com

was set up, but a fundamental mistake has then been made you see.

dizzy@dizzy-laptop:~$ host toryparty.net
toryparty.net has address 88.198.44.150
dizzy@dizzy-laptop:~$ host 88.198.44.150
150.44.198.88.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer transpero.net.

dizzy@dizzy-laptop:~$ host www.hatemytory.com
www.hatemytory.com has address 88.198.44.150
dizzy@dizzy-laptop:~$ host 88.198.44.150
150.44.198.88.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer transpero.net.

Yes, that's right, instead of getting it its own IP, the site has simply been pointed to the same named addressed for his other, main Labour site, "

transpero.net

". This is the same as the the set up for "hatemytory.com". Transpero.net, for those who don't know, is a site "devoted to developing internet based resources for Labour Party members and supporters."

Nice try, but they got caught out. I do wonder if those bloggers on the Left who are obsessed and outraged by fake anonymous sites will pass comment on this. Here's the bottom line though, it has been well reported that Derek Draper is heading up some kind of online rebuttal strategy for Brown.

Suddenly an attack blog appears that uses the name "toryparty" around the same time, and it's set-up, hosted, and pointed to the site of one of Draper's former rapid rebuttal colleagues from Millbank. You do the maths. If I was in CCHQ I would be starting domain dispute proceedings with Adrian McMenamin.

If Derek Draper, Adrian McMenamin, and the Labour Party really want to have a war online then they're going to have learn some better tricks about concealing their tracks. Alternatively don't bother concealing your tracks, none of the high traffic right wing blogs that you fear so much are anonymous, why not just be proud of your own arguments and go for it?"


This is hugely embarrassing for the Labour Party especially just days after Hazel Blears went on

the attack

against the right-wing blogsphere. At the same time as a minister is attacking blogging for being cynical and nasty another arm of this morally bankrupt and deceitful government is embodying the very thing being attacked. The toryparty.net site was pathetic and really represents just how low this government is stooping.

So will Hazel Blears apologise?

TB isn't holding his breath.

Dizzee Rascal for PM

If you thought the weekend was nearly over then think again - turn the volume up and get the music pumping...



Incase you missed his stunning Newsnight debute, check out Tory Bear's mash up of Dizzee Rascal explaining why Obama won because of hip-hop and why he might very well run for office..

Remember where you saw the Dizzee4PM campaign first kids!

We all know one...

TB sadly knows far too many people like this - maybe he can be the one to mobilise this army.

Now for that catchy slogan...

Hat-Tip - Three Line Whip

May the battle commence...

There are 17 people in the blogsphere who matter and

Derek Draper

isn't one of them. A while back there was talk of Mandy's former assistant and lobbying sleazebag-in-chief leading

Labour's assault

against the right-wing bloggers. Well Tory Bear can't help but think this assault might well have begun. There was talk

this week

of a meeting of Draper's attack squad that included some lefty bloggers.

Draper and an unknown female blogger.

The papers today were full of little snippets from comments left on

ConservativeHome

, especially in the Mail's piece on George Osborne (which sadly isn't available online.) TB couldn't help notice a certain Tory hater used exactly the same quote from ConHome on

his blog

yesterday-

Is there some sort of Labour press officer pushing this quote around in the last 24 hours?

Is the Draper attack team up and running?

The crap Conservative and Unionist attack blog, hosted at

toryparty.net

emerged in late September at exactly the same time it emerged that disgraced Draper was being bought back. Whoever is behind it seems to be very good at picking up irrelevant stories from minor local papers - just the sort of thing the Labour party press office would have to monitor.

Of course this is all speculation on the part of Tory Bear but he wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the toryparty.net blog was linked to this supposed fightback by Labour on the blogsphere. Have a read of it for yourself and see if you agree, it just doesn't flow like an independent and free-thinking blogger but instead reads as the work of someone having a party line whispered in their ear.

Only time will tell, but TB is confident that the first shots of the Labour blog coup may well have been fired this week.

Glenrothes hits the cyber nats hard...

Just spotted this on the

Scottish Unionist

blog. It's been lifted from a newspaper comments section and is a fair reflection of the lunacy you find in cyber-nationalist forums, which make for comical reading..

It was the last line that really tickled Tory Bear! These idiots just don't get it, this ridiculous attempt to link their half-arsed idea of separation to the American War of Independence highlights just how stupid the Nationalists are. What next - No taxation without representation!? Well last time TB checked the Scots paid less tax and got more bang for their buck, and they even have their own shiny Parliament. Hardly a battle against a cruel and repressive occupier.

This evocation of the ultimate libertarian freedom campaign is insulting and pathetic. To suggest that violent insurrection is an option to the nationalist cause proves just how desperate this small, sad bunch of nutters really are. Check out some of these forums if you fancy a laugh.

TB will see you on the barricades my crazy Caledonian chums...

...flying a very different flag.

CF blog stat porn...

TB often wondered if anyone actually reads the Conservative Future Executive

blog

...

...and now he knows.

Update: The perfect dog for Obama

Seems the perfect on message dog is out there for Barack Obama:



Brian Obama has a certain ring to it too...

DC on/in Scotland

Dave said to ITN today that this was his tenth visit since becoming leader to Scotland and that he is strong fighter for the Union wherever candidates need him etc.



He says it's always hard work for Conservatives in Scotland and he is committed, but how committed is he? While it was good news that we are moving into the third party position in Scotland there is still a hell of a lot more to be done. Scotland represents one tenth of the United Kingdom in terms of population and thus DC should spend one tenth of his time here. Or at the very least a couple of days every month. It's going to be a very sticky situation if the Tories are elected to Westminster with very little representation north of the border.

It's not too late to sort this out...

A dog is for life, not just for soundbites...

So the esteemed President Elect spent longer talking about puppies than he did about Iraq in his first

press conference

...

TB feels it's time to hold a proper competition... real prizes and actual winners this time.

If you would like to have a post-inauguration dinner with Tory Bear then you just have to tell him A) what will Barack and co name their doggy or if no-one gets it right B) what sort of dog will they get...

Answers to editor@torybear.com by the time the First Dog is unveiled to the nation...

New Glenrothes MP goes off message...

Ah to be a fly in the wall in Alex Salmond's office today...

TB wonders if the Grinner of the North had that horrible little smirk wiped off his face today. Despite the spin being put out by Downing Street and the Labour goons today, that the Glenrothes result was a vote of confidence in Gordon Brown and the economic plan etc, the victorious candidate - who is fast becoming a spin doctors nightmare told it

how it really is

:

“It’s not a referendum on Gordon Brown at all. What we’ve done is put forward key polices in this area. It’s about the policies that have been presented to the people.”

He described his campaign as a “by-election fought on local issues, but there were obviously macro issues.”

Asked whether Prime Minister had called to congratulate him he said, “He’s tried to phone me three times this morning, but I’ve been elsewhere.”

Good lad.

TB is famous... ish.

From the Evening Standard tonight:

Exeter election results in...

After another close fought campus battle TB can reveal those who emerged victorious to form the new branch committee for

Exeter University Conservative Future

:

Chairman: Ben Corbridge
Deputy Chairman: Andrew Glover
General Secretary: Tarasyn Whitehead-Patey
Treasurer: Dan Griffin
Press Officer: Timothy Jenkins
Campaigns Officer: William Ashbee
Social Secretary: Sophie Kelk
Freshers' Rep: Charlotte Markey

If you were wondering...

+++STOP PRESS+++

As the dust settles around the Glenrothes result, beyond Gordo's bounce or the SNP reality check, a far bigger story is breaking in the political world...

It seems as if

PoliticsHome

have actually predicted an election result correctly!

Stephan Shakespeare, Tim Montgomerie and staff celebrate tonight at 18 Doughty Street

Well almost.. The poll of the 100 insider British political experts said it would be a squeak of a victory for Gordon Brown but it seems Labour have sailed home with a 6000 majority.

An improvement any how... almost there guys.

Labour win something...

Labour have managed to hold a seat that used to be held by Communist Party with a 6000 majority.

Apparently this is a "stunning victory". Errrrm.

Tories beat Lib Dems into fourth with 1381 to 947. We also moved into third in tonight's Edinburgh council by-election. BBC only gave Maurice twenty seconds of airtime.. had time to thank God though and talk about getting married. He even managed to get a cheer for dissing Alex Salmond. Nice one.

TB is loving this.. the Nats look ridiculous having already declared victory here a few weeks back and Labour are ecstatic about defending a majority of 10k. Well done guys... a real "victory".

Incidentally there is a very hot blonde Labour press officer loitering behind the cameras... any one know who she is?

+++SNP defeated+++

TB's mate at the count is already on the booze - the nats have taken a kicking. Lest we forget this is a Labout seat and it seems they are about to have their majority slashed by at least half. This is neither a victory for Labour or the SNP - they both have egg on their faces.

Yes TB called this one wrong but oh well. Seems the Tories are coming in third... with the deposit fingers crossed.

Salmond is going to look like a tit tomorrow morning.. and to think he even had banners saying "yes we can" at a rally yesterday. Gordo is going to be grinning all day. Ugh.

Cringeworthy!

Just wondering...

As TB gears up for the Glenrothes result he is watching Question Time.

Already 20 minutes in someone has called Nigel Farage a racist for absolutely no reason and David Dimbleby has confused a man and a woman. DD has to go soon- after his poor performance over election night the other day he surly can't be allowed to do the British elections ever again.

TB has one question though. What is with the ridiculous idea of having a "celebrity" each week on QT? TB is fairly sure that no one in this country gives a damn about what Brian bloody Eno has to say about Obama, Bush or the Swiftboat Veterans for Justice.

Why does anyone care what this washed up ageing hipster has to say. Why should we pay tax to listen to this idiot spouting his views that have been warped by years on drugs.

It used to be fun to watch Question Time to shout at the telly...

These days it's just unwatchable...


UPDATE 23.30: David Dimbleby just asked Germaine Greer what she thought. Germaine Greer is not on the panel.

Vote McCain or the cow gets it...

Word has reached TBHQ from a reporter in the field that the

slaughtering of the victory cow

has taken place in Obama's grandmother's Kenyan village of Kogelo.

Nervous bovine throughout Kenya were worried which one of their kin would be slaughtered, but it seems "Daisy" was the unlucky McCain supporter offered as a celebration gift for "The One's" success...

TB is now turning his animal rights attention to Alaska's moose population. Sarah Palin will have a lot of spare time on her hands now and no doubt will pick up her gun...

Just as long as she leaves the bears alone...

So much for an end to partisan politics.

Confirmation of the rumours is emerging - the viciously partisan Democrat animal Rahm Emmanual has been appointed as White House Chief of Staff.

This is Obama putting a bit of stick about. TB wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of a bollocking from this man...

So this is the "change we can believe in" is it?

People 'can't wait for ID cards'

TB just choked as he read this on the

BBC website:

Jacqui Smith says public demand means people will be able to pre-register for an ID card within the next few months.

The cards will be available for all from 2012 but she said: "I regularly have people coming up to me and saying they don't want to wait that long."

TB doesn't believe her.

Freedom of Infomation letter anyone?



Noticed

Shane

has just got this story too.

Glenrothes

TB has eyes and ears everywhere... none more so than on the streets of Glenrothes tonight. Apparently the Labour camp have all but given up today, despite the fact that interest rates were slashed in another cheap by-election trick by Gordo. TB's eyes say that there is no sign of the 350 activits

Labour claimed

to have on the streets today. The SNP and Tories were out in force.

The SNP have been the dominent ones on the door steps - they've had activists all over the seat all week. The Lib Dems are making more of an effort than in Glasgow East and the Tories have thrown a fair bit of weight behind Maurice Golden. TB's mole will report directly from the count tonight.

TB's predictions: SNP victory by 1 to 2k - Tories in third. Hopefully.

Let the games begin...

Congratulations to the NO2ID sympathiser who swiped the Home Secretaries water glass and thus her fingerprints...

Guido has the full story

.

This should be amusing...

The movie script ending...

So it's finally over... for the last 18 months Tory Bear has been watching from afar the events of the most exciting presidential election in his lifetime. Election night was a depressing affair and TB refrained from commenting until the full implications of the results have sunk in, apologies to those who were asking for comment or opinion in the last 24 hours. Now after a plane ride home, a stiff drink and a very long sleep here goes...

The one thing that stopped this being a total annihilation and wipe out for the Republicans was John McCain. He stood firm and fought as hard as he damn well could. If only he had beaten Bush to the nomination in 2000 - the world would no doubt be a very different place with a McCain White House dealing with the post 9/11 climate. Palin mobilised the base which no doubt shored up a solid chunk of the McCain vote, but had it been any other Republican candidate against Obama then the TB feels the margin of victory would have been a lot greater.

McCain was gracious and humble in defeat and handled his crowd perfectly. People have made a big hoohaa out of the fact that the crowd were booing Obama but TB saw this as frustration rather than anything more malicious. These people have slaved away for months on end and given it their all. The hacks who have been flown in from around the world in business class for the champagne and glory part of the election should bear in mind what the people they are so quick to dismiss have been through in the last year. The fact the media had the audacity to attack a few McCain staffers for venting their despair and upset with a boo is sickening in light of the fact the riot police were on standby across the country in case Obama lost.

So where are we now? Despite the fact it seems the Democrats have missed out on their "super majority" in the Senate they do however control every branch of government. Things are going to be very tough for conservatives in America in the next four years and TB fully expects to see Obama's true colours very quickly revealed in a full scale aggressive leftist agenda. There is nothing the Republicans can do to stop it and the world woke up on Wednesday morning truly a different place. Yes it's fantastic that America is finally one small step toward atonement for it's years of sin but at the end of the day this is one gesture and as many poignant clips on the news channels have said today- this is just the beginning of an end to racism in America. Whether any true change will come around remains to be seen.

The world has changed for a very different reason though; America and it's standing in the world is at a crossroads. It's economy is in tatters, it's army is overstretched and losing on two fronts, and it resources are waning. The end of America as a super power is emerging and the election of a socialist leader is arguably a dying gasp of a dying superpower. With this sharp shift to the left we will see an amateur tackling the middle east, things could get very messy indeed. Obama has promised to pull the troops out of Iraq and soon, this is going to cause the entire region to descend into chaos and America's name will once again be mud. With America declining on the world stage and embracing leftist ideals of sitting down to talk with murderers and terrorist dictators, as Obama has promised to do, new countries will emerge to fill the power gap. China and Russia are in the ascendancy and soon will be truly the new superpowers as America declines back into its shell.

That is why the election of John McCain was so vital and that is why TB is so worried for the next eight years. TB has always been a defender of America and it's people but he is extremely angry at the moment. When people say to him that Americans are dumb or idiots etc etc he stands up for them but right now TB barely has the energy. Someone came along that was shiny and glossy, trendy and new and like the Pied Piper has led them up the mountain to their own destruction. People will study the campaign for years to come as a textbook way to manipulate an entire country. There is no denying his fantastic oratory and his campaign skills but to be fair 800 million dollars goes a bloody long way. Especially when your opponent is capped at $85 million.

So America has reached the end of an era. Small c conservatism has taken one hell of a hit in the last 72 hours and while it will be incredible to see a black family enter the White House on 20th January the price at which that image comes and the socialist baggage that comes with it, leaves a very bitter aftertaste in the mouth... even if there is a little cute fluffy puppy too.

I'm here from the government...

So it seems the walkers had a good day... tailed by a cctv car!

Tory Bear imagines the conversation with the community support officers and police back up went a little something like this...

Evey: Who are you?

V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.

Evey: Well I can see that.

V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.

Evey: Oh. Right.

V:

But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona. Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

Evey: Are you like a crazy person?

V: I am quite sure they will say so.

Unto the world a child is born...

Nice to see Guardian writer Jemima Kiss isn't too excited about the Obama victory on Twitter...

Nooooooooooot.

If only the issues had been the issue...

Thanks to the TB fan who emailed this one in...bit late now but cool pic.

Perks of the job...

Two days into the new job at

ConservativeHome

and it seems Mr Isaby is already enjoying the perks...

Somewhere in the projects the two campaigns met...

TB strongly recommends you watch this to the very end...who’s gonna be the baddest b-boy in Washington, who’s gonna pop to the top, who’s gonna freeze in the White House and who’s gonna do the worm all the way to Ohio?

So to settle this once and for all, the Grand Old Posse lay it down to the Democrats for a once-and-for-all dance off - winner takes all…

TB would tap that too my friend.

Hat-Tip -

Noise Porn

- if you like beats and gingers TB recommends you check it out...

What's Guido up to?

Hat-Tip Ben Brogan