A good old fashioned fisk...

Donal Blaney

has a must read message to all those deluded student's occupying lecture theatres around the country tonight.

Labour wounded in the Heart of Mid-Lothian...

So there we have it... Iain Macwhirter and his broad church of backing from left and right, has stormed to victory. Edinburgh University's newest Rector was returned by more than 2 to 1 votes in favour. Lord Foulkes, who was dogged throughout the campaign by various scandals gave a graceful speech praising his opponent.  Despite similar manifestos it seems the Labour brand in Edinburgh has just been too tainted. 

Such was the scale of the vote, coupled with the anti-Labour air coming from the whole election, Tory Bear must pose the question, can Labour win anywhere in Edinburgh anymore? Iain Gray the Labour leader allegedy told a campaigner that this election wasn't about the students but about Labour party and it seems the students and staff of Edinburgh have spoken in no uncertain terms. There are some highly winnable seats in the city and the potential for some serious upsets.

Foulkes was synonymous with this Labour government. 

So is Alastair Darling in Edinburgh South West...

+++Pictures to follow+++

Edinburgh University Rector Election

MacWhirter has won - more to follow soon...

UPDATE: 20:30 Foulkes 2182, MacWhirter 4822

Which Labour MP has a tattoo on their bottom?

Tonight it's Labour MP and blogger Tom Harris's Birthday. Iain Dale is

twittering

that he turned down the invitation to join him and fifteen other Labour MPs for a Chinese and karaoke. Tom might have banned cameras from the event tonight but that hasn't stopped all sorts of gossip emerging from these shindigs in the past.

Last time this crew got together, another blogging Labour MP Kerry McCarthy

noted

that one of the MPs had drunkenly admitted to having a Labour rose tattooed on their left butt cheek. Just yesterday Tom was doing the increasingly irritating 25 random things meme that has been doing the rounds, but chose to

add some more facts.

Such as the fact he got his one and only tattoo after becoming a Labour MP...

And he doesn't deny it is indeed a Labour rose tattooed on this left buttock.

Move along people, nothing to see here.

So the police

won't be investigating

the dodgy Lords for their blatent corruption. Once again Tory Bear wonders how this would have played out if the Met weren't as bent a nine bob note and under the thumb of the corrupt Home Secretary.

The whole thing stinks.

Nothing a bit of tear gas wouldn't sort out...

Thirty students have occupied a lecture theatre in Edinburgh, in yet another ridiculous sit in for Gaza. The conflict is over and it seems to TB that these unwashed barbarians are just looking to cause trouble.

Their blog

makes for hilarious reading, especially the spirit of '68 and creative space bits.

Lock them in there, cut the power, cut the food supply... They'll soon be begging to be let out.

Rector race polls open.

So polling day has arrived... Tory Bear was there to see the two candidates go head to head at the hustings last night and even asked the odd awkward question. It was clear to see that Foulkes had been answering awkward questions for 30 odd years though as he was able to bat them away with his famous folksy charm... he even gave a ringing endorsement to this blog and claims the fact he reads it proves he has plenty of spare time to be Rector.

Macwhirter, more used to asking the questions, held his own against the standard plants designed to unsettle him and gave a strong performance. Though no doubt Galloway would have livened the evening up no end, it was an interesting debate none the less.

And now it's over to the staff and students to decide. The result expected for 9pm tomorrow night.

TB is off to the bookies...

Too close for comfort?

Lots of you will have seen this clip...



but not like this.

Hat-Tip -

The Alternative Conservative

Second Wave...

Tory Bear's little friend isn't letting this one go...

Guess whose side the beeb is on...

Funny that the BBC only

picked up

the fact that the Home Secretary had been reported, after the call for an inquiry was dismissed.

Well watch this space Jacqui - the fun is only just beginning.

Slander is ok, but putting it in writing is where the real fun's at.

After the events of Friday night and Saturday morning - you know who you are, Tory Bear is going to tread carefully with this one.

TB isn't putting anything into writing but read

this article

, and this post from last week.

...and then read

this

.

Mr Mundell's mishap...

There are very few worse ways to begin an election campaign than high on morphine. Instead of handing in his nomination papers,

EUSA

Presidential candidate

Oliver Mundell

spent the morning in hospital having reconstructive surgery performed on his foot...

Having done what many a student before him had succeeded at, mainly climbing a iron fence at 4am to get to a fresh square full of snow, Mr Mundell instead pierced his foot and is now set to be campaigning for the next month from the confines of a wheelchair...

Could it make the ultimate battle bus though?

"Real people"

A comment from one of Tory Bear's lectures today really reminded him of how bad the lefty bias amongst most of those teaching at British universities really is. While discussing Proposition 0 in California - making English the only language on ballot papers - the lecturer actually said:

"...and it wasn't the right wing conservatives calling for the measure, it was the real people, the liberal people."

The real people!? WTF?

Casting some light on the matter...

Things aren't looking good for Jacqui Smith - an official complaint has been made by a little friend of Tory Bear's to the Parliamentary Standards Commission. Although you wouldn't know it from the BBC, luckily Sky have been running the story this afternoon and it looks like the papers are

getting involved

.

Almost as satisfying as sticking it to the Home Secretary is causing

Derek Draper

to have a hissy fit.

What larks.

Rules of Political Life #106 - Never ever sing.

Questions are often raised about the mental state of the Prime Minister, but now TB has to wonder about his enemy - Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond. Video footage of him singing a duet with uber-nationalist folk singer Sandi Thom has emerged and it's painful to say the least:



What on earth was going through a) his head, and b) the heads of his massive media and spin team when they allowed this to happen.

TB can't make it to the end of the song.

Exclusive: CF to lose only member of staff.

Word has reached TB that the only member of staff in CCHQ who works on Conservative Future and the party youth is set to lose their job. Michael Lunn who has been running the administrative side of CF since September 2007 is set to be one of the members of CCHQ staff let go in the recently announced wave of cut-backs. While being a marmite character in the murky world of CF politics, Lunn's position had not been helped by the reported recent fall outs with key players as well as various controversies. Regardless of people's opinion of the man himself, the fact that CF is back to square one in terms of representation in CCHQ and the ability to get things done is a blow to the organisation.

A shocking incident...

Staff and students at the University of Connecticut are this morning attempting to return to normality after a truly horrific incident shook their campus over the weekend. The University put the alert out after a man had the audacity to walk past a woman...

University Alert Status:

UCONN Police Reporting a Suspicious Occurrence and Safety Alert:

On 2/7/09 at approximately 6:35 PM a suspicious incident occurred at Hilltop Apartments, in the parking lot between the Beard and French buildings. A male approached a female from the opposite direction and came up within several feet of her personal space. The female turned around and left the area. The male walked away in the opposite direction. The male did not say anything or make physical contact with the female. The intention of the male is unknown. Description as follows: a white male 6’ 0” with shoulder length brown hair wearing a red or brown cloth jacket and jeans. Male described as older than college age. The male had a round face and large build.

If you have any information or witnessed the incident please call UConn Police at 486-4800. As always, you are encouraged to travel in groups at night and in well lit areas. Please notify police of any suspicious activity to police immediately.

How very dare he.

When two tribes go to war... ah ha!

The biggest of battles often happen in the strangest of places, but it seems that left and right will soon be pitched in an open fight on the streets of errr Norwich...

In the red corner we have Wes Streeting, the President of the National Union of Students. Wes is a man - as the photo above proves - literally propped up by

Labour

. He is gearing up to fight for another term in office but has an obstacle to overcome first. In the blue corner we have Michael Rock, a bastion of soundness and the chairman of Conservative Future. The two are due to battle it out in

a debate hosted by UEA

on the 17th. Education is on the agenda but Tory Bear is fairly sure this debate will descend into much much more...

Watch this space.

Err wrong campus?

So say you were were running in an election for an esteemed position, one awarded to someone who has shown their loyalty and commitment to an institution. An institution who in return will proclaim you their chief. In order to win this election it would be recommended that you reach out to as many students and staff as possible, rather than focusing on a tiny clique. So it comes to the weekend before the election at Edinburgh University for the new Rector...

And what does Lord George Foulkes

do

? 

He spends it at the Glasgow University Union of course, as guest of honour at... Yes, you guessed it again - the Scottish Labour Students Burn's Night Supper.

It's almost as if his entire campaign is either a pisstake, or just horrendously managed.

Wounder...

Word is reaching Tory Bear tonight from deepest darkest Hampshire. Dan Hannan MEP, recently selected for the safest seat in the country - #1 on the Euro Election South East list, was speaking to a flock of his most loyal fans at a dinner tonight. TB is surprised anyone made it though, as the flyer he received for the event when he was last in London failed to include the date or even the location.  While the more metropolitan Tories who did make the journey down weren't too impressed with what was described as "a airport travel lodge on a council estate," it was, however, Conservative Future national campaigns chief Patrick Sullivan who has been left permanently scarred by his venture from SW3. Details are sketchy, and obviously Mr Sullivan isn't answering his phone, but apparently the combination of a mad dash for a taxi and some ice has left him with a shattered shoulder and elbow and he might be staying in Hampshire for the foreseeable future. Patrick's leafleting and campaigning skills may suffer as he is apparently currently having his arm pinned back together...

Ouch.