Just go.

Bit slow on the

uptake

with this one but it seems that No10 petitions have allowed you to tell Brown to resign right from the Number 10 website:

Target one million. Do it.

Friday Fun: Tucker/McBride edition.

It's almost as if The Thick of It predicted everything:



Spin doctors should just stay away from computers.

Hat-Tip - The Silver Fox

Matt Drudge, Tory girls and errr Ed Balls.

That got your attention didn't it. Here's something to keep you amused while TB slaves away with his book learnin'. Tory Bear has been interviewed for the "5 minutes with..." section of the Conservative Future website:

What are you currently working on?

Finals! Interspersed with the occasional strategically placed Freedom of Information request.

Who is your political hero?

Derek Draper for his high moral values and the modesty he has shown in quietly working to further his cause. Nah just kidding, I have lots, Peel immediately comes to mind, for his far-sightedness and willingness to put the country before his backbenchers. I recommend you join the Peel Society; you get an excellent free pen. Matt Drudge is another; no one has done more to reinvent the wheel in terms of how political news is reported.

Read the whole thing

here

.

Totty Watch

TB is very busy today, but don't forget to vote for Researcher of the Week. 

Results later.

Puppets on a string...

Yesterday Nick Clegg said this in an email to members of the Liberal Democrats: 

"Today the Labour Party confirmed that they have run out of ideas and have condemned us to years of unemployment and a decade of debt. Their pick-and-mix budget of recycled announcements will do nothing to get us out of this recession and nothing that will help the poorest who are being hit hardest by it."

Fair enough. Not the greatest development with their argument, and not a patch on DC's response to the budget. However it seems that once the line was texted out that's what the Liberals were sticking to. For any youth movement to really appeal to young people, it cannot just be seen as a mouthpiece of  the party. If they are seen as blindly loyal they end up just looking like a bunch of jumped up hacks. New Labour tried to make their youth movements tow the line, but they got a short sharp shock on things like tuition fees. Conservative Future is far more libertarian than the Party leadership and are very vocal with their views, even if they don't completely fit the Cameron agenda.

The oh so "Liberal" Democrats have got their youth wing under the thumb though. Within moments of the line being announced, Chairman Elaine Bagshaw was out of the traps foghorning Cleggs words, almost verbatim to anyone who would listen:

The pathetic puppet couldn't even be bothered to think up her own words or arguments. Funny Sky News had no interest in anything Liberal Youth had to say.

CF on da telly...

Just spotted this clip from Sky News over at the

CF website

:

It seems the Lib Dem kids are so jealous of the attention that real political parties get that they have resorted to

name calling

. Bit rich coming from someone who looks like a Cheesy Wotsit:

Couldn't resist the inherent hypocrisy in that last sentence.

Che was a murderer and your t-shirt is not cool - Part 43

This is why Poles are awesome. Via

Old Holborn

the news out of Poland seems to be "enough is enough" when it comes to the extremist left. Though Tory Bear doesn't really agree with the principle of banning t-shirts it is fantastic to finally see the acknowledgement that Che Guevara was a

murdering terrorist,

and splashing him across your chest is ridiculous. As anyone who has ever heard to the word Katyan would be able to tell you, it is no surprise that the Poles have been the first to break cover with this, but finally the tide is turning:

"Communism was a terrible, murderous system that claimed millions of lives," said Professor Wojciech Roszkowski, a leading Polish historian and member of the European parliament.
"It was very similar to National Socialism, and there is no reason to treat those two systems, and their symbols, differently. Their glorification should be prohibited."

The only vague satisfaction TB can ever get from seeing people in Che Guvrara t-shirts is the thought that someone would have made money from flogging it to them. The epitome of anti-capitalist imagery, being sold for a profit in a free market. Only one things more ridiculous than wearing a Che t-shirt would be regularly dressing up as him in military fatigues and beret...

But we'll save that picture for another day eh Gareth?

UPDATE 19.55: Seems Christian May has been barking up the same tree in his weekly column "Come what May" over at

TYC

. Great title, who thought that one up?

Telegraph website got 27million hits in March...

This

must have something to do with

this

.

The Cincinatus caveat.

Sorry for the lack of proper blogging at the moment, finals are rather hectic and so obviously can't give the blog the levels of attention required to dig up in depth stories. So here is some more stuff stolen from elsewhere... Normal service will resume one day. To celebrate his first year in office Boris has given an in depth

interview

with the new editor of The Standard Geordie Greig. It's vintage BoJo but this section in particular stands out:

So if it is all so good he will presumably stand for a second term? "If by the end of next year I feel we are restarting greatly to make a difference on youth crime and the alienation of youth then I am going to think about it. I will think 'are we on the right track?'" So he could be a one time mayor? "Nothing is excluded," said Boris.

So is this all a dress rehearsal for his entry to No 10. Boris hesitates. "In the immortal words of Michael Heseltine I cannot foresee the circumstances in which I would be called upon to serve in that office. If like Cincinatus. I were to be called from my plough, then obviously it would be wrong of me not to help out. But the truth is I have a massive, massive job, an intellectual emotional challenge that I am hugely enjoying. I do not spend any time scribbling on the back of envelopes working out how I could be Prime Minister because it is not on my agenda, it really isn't."

Humour is the best tactic for deflecting a question like this, but this is not the first time Boris has refused to dismiss the idea of him pitching for the top job to be completely out of the question. TB has long suspected this of Boris and he would certainly have an extremely strong base from within the party if he did ever go for the top.

Give it decade and this might not be a joke...

Too far.

Regardless of your thoughts on Jade Goody or the media storm she created,

this is a step too far

:

"A musical based on Jade Goody's life is being created, a former business partner and friend of the late reality TV star has confirmed.Danny Hayward, who is in charge of the project, said he is planning to hold open auditions to fill the lead role of the 27-year-old herself.

"Jade was just an ordinary girl and the person who plays her will reflect that," he said."

Oh and guess who is still pulling the strings...

Do these people have no shame?

Happy St. George's Day..

If you haven't discovered

Tory Rascal

yet then TB recommends you get involved. He has a cracking piece today about the English:

"England has survived a long-lived cultural onslaught that has worked to convince people that Englishness is somehow less special or worthy than Scottishness, Welshness or Northern Irishness. We have no individual national song to sing as we hurl chairs at foreign football fans. Our Saint's day is not celebrated by lavishly inebriated fourth-generation Americans who lay claim to other nationalities. We have the worst national sports teams since the invention of counting. Cliff Richard.

But it's not all bad. Sure, we're led by a dour, porridge-eating God-botherer with all the leadership instincts of a tin of sweetcorn, but, countrymen, we also have some of the most magnificent housing estates, the finest supermarkets and the most impressively capable benefits claimants in these islands. We excel in rare talents, from imposing our superior language on to unwitting foreigners overseas, to convincing otherwise neutral nations that we are the foulest people in Europe."

At least we got a better Google decoration to celebrate our big day than the Welsh got:

As you may have detected from the tone of this post TB isn't too concerned about the fact that St George's day isn't as popular as Paddy's or St Andrew's, however, that says something about our standing in the world. We don't constantly have to force out national identity down peoples throats for political gain. Nationalism has always relied on over doing and romanticising national tradition. England is a great country and we rightly should be proud of that fact.

Not just once a year but every day.

The Biggest Loser

TB couldn't help but crack up when he saw an advert for

this

on ITV tonight. Apparently Kate Garraway is set to host a new show looking for "The Biggest Loser". 

Hmmm where to begin the search for contestants.

The deluded nats...

There is a must read piece from Alex Massie over at

The Spectator

:

"Scottish public spending has essentially doubled since Labour came to power. (To what end, you ask? To very little end, I reply.) Now the British government has run out of money and it is obvious that there are going to have to be spending cuts if the public finances are ever going to be restored to some semblance of stability. This is obvious, I should say, to everyone but the SNP for whom any suggestion that it might be possible to cut even a tiny sliver of cash from the Scottish Government's £34bn kitty is the vilest sort of anti-Scottish treachery.

Then again, the Nationalists aren't responsible for raising revenue, so it's no great surprise they howl whenever any budget is threatened. And therein lies the great problem with the devolution "settlement"; power absent the requirement to raise revenue is all but bound to become power that is bloated, feckless and irresponsible. That this should come to pass should surprise no-one."

A deluded little hissy fit from a deluded little pressure group.

Osborne responds...

+++Cameron rejects expenses plan+++

Sky are reporting that David Cameron and Nick Clegg have just emerged from an hour long meeting with Brown. They have both apparently rejected the plans outlined for a daily allowance based on the equally corrupt European/Lords model. Instead Cameron will apparently be tabling an amendment with the Conservatives plan for reforming expenses.

+++developing+++

CF machine in action:

These just pinged into TB's inbox:

+++More to follow+++

UPDATE: 19:32 -Newcastle:

UPDATE: 20:45 - Birmingham:

UPDATE: 21:40 - Manchester:

UPDATE: 23:00 - Leeds:

He got nothing right.

Darling is an embarrassment. Sky have been crunching the numbers. Last March he said he believed that the economy was going to grow by 2.5% in 2009, it actually shrunk by 1.5% already. He has now said he reckons the British economy will contract by 3.5% by the end of the year. The IMF have politely coughed and whispered that this will actually be a 4.1% contraction. Darling reckons that there will be 1.25% growth, the IMF says it will actually be 0.4% shrink. And all this while clocking up 740 billion in debt.

Totally and utterly incompetent and grounds for resignation.

The CF machine kicks in...

20,000 of these will be distributed  by Conservative Future activists to commuters at major stations around the country tonight: Call the election Gordon, we're ready.

The dance of the comedian.

Everybody dance now...

Hat-Tip -

The Crown Blog

Prime Ministerial Cameron

Dave was on fire today... His speech was stunning. Waiting for the youtube footage...

How long before this becomes a reality?

Caption Contest: Balls up edition.

Ed "liar, liar, pants on fire" Balls should resign over

this

, but what's he just said to Gordo?

Rage must run in the family...

The DC gossip blog

The Wonkette

has a pretty cringe story about TB's favourite lady blogger

Meghan McCain

. John McCain's daughter has been running her blog for awhile now and she has risen in fame in the last few months, now writing for

The Daily Beast

. Well to cut a long story short a colleague there appears to have questioned whether Meghan had ever had a real job...

Cue one massive Twitter based freakout - start reading from the bottom:

Funnily enough the tweets disappeared very quickly, but not before someone got a screen grab of course!

Oh dear it seems she was pretty rattled by criticism.

YouTube Fail.

A masterpiece of spin once again from Mr Brown today, but once again, within minutes, it all unravels. Two birds, one stone - firstly he killed off the dying dregs of the smeargate story. Secondly he distracted the news agenda for the day - stopping people talking about the Budget. Tomorrow is going to be a day of dreadful headlines for Labour and it is no wonder Brown didn't want to face the press pack today. The ill thought out and rushed plans were broadcast in a painful and cringe-worthy attempt to not only look down with the kids, but to also hide from scrutiny. You can see how awkward he feels with his fake smile, weird gestures, and constant lapses back into grumpiness.

Brown announced when he came to power that he was going to end the days of spin that had dominated the Blair government. He promised to stop bypassing Parliament for big announcements. Well at least Blair had the balls to leak things to the press first, at least there was some degree of accountability. Instead Brown's announcement bypassed any editorial input, questioning and scrutiny from absolutely anyone. How can he lead the country when he is too scared to even face some awkward questions from journalists?

And if you want a vision of how Brown would really like to see this country run; "Children tell me that they want to be teachers, doctors, fireman" All good public sector workers suckling on the teet of the state. Who are these strange kids Brown is meeting who want to join his Utopian super state. There is no mention of entrepreneurs, businessmen, lawyers and dare TB say it bankers? And what a blatant lie about not meeting any young people who want to be MPs. The only people Brown associates himself with are loyal apparatchiks who have one goal and one goal only.

Climbing the greasy poll.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery...

TB's alter ego has been getting a lot of attention today, though he is glad to see that Liberal Youth haven't held a grudge about the muck raking he did during their elections. Far from it, as it seems they have

taken some campaigning tips

from Tory Bear's less than successful delve into student politics...

Seems they are set on coming third too.

Steak and Dan Han...

Surrey Area Chairman and top totty Alexandra Swann has pulled off the coup of having Dan speak at the

Surrey Conservative Future Dinner

in Guildford on the 9th of May. Tickets are £30 and TB hears that steak is on the menu. This will be followed by what will no doubt be a fantastic speech and even a cheeky question and answer session with the the man himself - Daniel Hannan MEP.

By the looks of her Facebook status Miss Swann is already very excited:

Sore to miss this one.