conservativefuture.com

TB has been a busy bear in the last week so apologies for the lack of blogging. Just catching up on emails and it seems a shiny new Conservative Future

website

has now gone live. This has been in the pipeline for awhile now and congratulations to Richard Jackson for chasing CCHQ to give the website address back to CF and for over seeing the new site.

Another old Face(book)

They must be taking this whole let's get online thing very seriously over in the red camp. Which old face has suddenly appeared on Facebook in the last couple of days?

Well if it isn't the King of Spin himself! His wall says he is planning on attending the European elections in May.

TB wonders in what capacity!?

Tony Hart 1925 - 2009

Having been away from the computer for most of the weekend Tory Bear was saddened to hear the news that Tony Hart had died. Smart Hart is one of the iconic children's television programs of this bear's generation and Hart's career spanned more than fifty years.

Who could forget this cheeky mashup:

Image: B3ta

Reach for the Stars...

Student hack Oliver Mundell (son of the Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland,) is a big force on campus and is branching out in new ways to help students.

Here he is discussing how to cut the cost of student life with Bradley from S-Club 7 who played in the Edinburgh Union last night. Given that Bradley is still touring as S-Club 3 and even stole his glass from the bar he is clearly a man who knows how to deal with living on a tight budget.

London launches with a bang...

TB is rather annoyed he couldn't make it to last night's launch of

London Conservative Future

... By all accounts it was a wicked night with over 200 people coming along and high profile guests Eric Pickles, Mark Field, Andrew Rosindell, Liam Fox and Ed Hallam entertaining the crowds.

Take note Lib Dems

. This is how you launch a movement and throw a damn good party.

Want to ask Dave a question?

In a new inititve DC will be taking questions at the first ever online policy launch. Head over

here

at 1.30 to check it out...

Won't get that on LabourList!

Do you suffer from B.B.C?

Do not click

here

if you are of a nervous disposition, are eating or drinking, are easily offended, intellectually insecure or live in Hastings.

TB smells bacon.

It was billed as the students of Scotland rising up against the the tyranny of Israel. The socialists were there, as were the hippies, as were two very sinister looking chaps dressed up in full Hamas gear, but in the end the Edinburgh University on campus Gaza protest was a bit of a damp squid. 60-80 unwashed hippies turned out with some pretty half hearted chanting, meanwhile streams of students poured past the protest barely batting an eyelid and in doing so gave their tacit consent to Israel's quest for a sustainable peace in the middle east.

Eight police vans and a mobile CCTV unit, as well as the press, nearly out numbered the students. Instead of removing illegal masks or dealing with the menacing behaviour of said Hamas clad activists, who was it that came the closest to being collared by the law? Well the tiny minority of pro-Israeli students that were quietly watching. TB and a few friends stood quietly on the sidelines as the mentalists raged against a global Jewish conspiracy and when one person chose to display a simple but effective Palestinian flag with the words "Fuck Hamas" written on it, the police had a hissy fit. Grassed in to the law by the guy running George Galloway's rector campaign an argument about free speech soon erupted between TB and co and some very gruff coppers. Apparently it was this that was breaching the peace and not the hoard of terrorist loving scumbags that were yelling outside a library.

Lothian and Borders police should be ashamed of themselves. In response to TB's suggestion that freedom of expression was apparently still alive and well in this country, PC plod replied - "well I don't like swearing." Since when was the law in this country determined by the will of an individual copper?

Pathetic answer.

A goat amoungst wolves...

John Bercow was one of the few tories deluded enough to fall for Gordon's Government of all the Talents banter in the summer of 2007 and although it seems he was forgiven for joining Gordo's big tent, it seems he is up to his old tricks again.

According to today's

must read article

in the Mail by Quentin Letts, Bercow wants to be the next Speaker and is buttering up Labour MPs in the overture to some sort of campaign.

TB wonders what the fine people of Buckingham have to say about his siding with Labour?

Rules of Political Life #76 - Never get on a Segway

If you ever needed proof that blogging Labour MP Tom Watson was a bit of a pillock then look no further...

Well it didn't do Lembit any harm... Oh wait.

A spineless party...

As some of you may know three years ago Boris Johnson stood for Rector of Edinburgh University. All was looking good until Labour Students and the People and Planet trots who controlled the student council broke with the 200 years tradition and charity laws by using student union funds to campaign against Boris to the tune of thousands of pounds for the "Don't wake up with a dumb blonde campaign." These funds were justified apparently because of Boris's pro top up fees stance. Fast forward to this years campaign and last night's student council meeting where the idea of funding a campaign was rejected. Details can be found

here

but what really tickled TB was who was leading the charge against using union funds? Labour Students of course!

Their candidate this year is Lord George Foulkes famous for being in various parliaments for twenty five years yet seemingly unable to hold down a front bench job despite having one of the most loyal party voting records ever. Punching people didn't do John Prescott any harm but seems Foulkes was forced to fall on his sword after his little

hiccup

. He has voted in favour of top up fees on more than one occasion and yet despite their seemingly unwavering devotion to NUS and apparent anti top up fees stance Labour Students have decided to throw the full weight of their once very effective election machine behind Foulkes. They used the student council for financial gain against Boris and they used it last night to make sure the same treatment wasn't given to them. The levels of their opportunism is staggering and they have as much spine as the government they represent.

Now don't get TB wrong, he doesn't think that student unions should be spending students money on such matters but he chose to abstain last night because as much as he would have liked to see LS left with mud on their faces when the union conducted an anti-Foulkes campaign, he is not a hypocrite and has been one of the most vocal opponents to such action being taken. Labour Students are not the force they once were on campus and after 12 years of this rotten government the brand is very tainted. TB gets on personally rather well with some members, especially some of the more right-wing ones, but it's times like these where their true political colours come through and their unwavering tribal devotion that really irritates him. Even in the face of moral dilemmas and looking like hypocrites they will still always go with the option that apparently best helps their party.

They are the perfect microcosm of the higher echelons of the Labour Party and seemingly have no shame...

Make some noise...

It's rare that TB and his blogging flatmate end up sharing a story but

Noise Porn

, an underground repetative beat mongering site has an interesting call to arms today:

"It has been brought to our attention that the UK government wants to make it a legal requirement in the new tax year to introduce laws insisting anyone applying or re-applying for an entertainment license must have a noise control device fitted to their venue. This will be the final nail in the coffin for clubs (and live music venues too), as the level at which these devices cut off is pretty low, suspected to be 93dB.

If you like to hear music the way it’s meant to be heard and you believe that the government has now place to tell us otherwise, sign this petition now!"

Get involved.

Freedom isn't free...

He's a long way from the Scilly Isles now! CF deputy Chairman and YBF operator Christian May was yesterday awarded the Freedom of the City of London. Entitled now to herd his goats across London Bridge and be put in a taxi by an officer of the law if he is caught drunk in town amongst other things, Mr May looks rather pleased with himself:

Talk the talk...

Thanks to the brilliant website blogtalkradio, which enables you to basically host your own radio shows and podcasts, Donal Blaney now has a US style conservative talk radio show every night at eight. Though TB has been a busy bear these past few evenings he has managed to have catch up and have a listen this afternoon.

It's good stuff

and especially like the music!

Piss off.

Whoever it is that is signing up Tory Bear's personal email address to gay dating sites and darker subservient sex clubs pack it in.

Not very subtle to threaten someone one day and then take steps to smear them the next now is it?

Ridiculously busy day sorting out life at university and assorted hackery but back to normal tomorrow.

London ladies...

They may be the official face of the glamorous party but now Serene Richards (right) and Liza Chantelle(above) are rapidly working their way up the ladder. They have both been appointed to the new London CF committee, Serene responsible for universities and Liza as the social action officer.

London CF is launching on the 15th with some mystery big guest speakers and with chairman Clare Hilley just being selected to fight a safe council seat, it's going to be a double celebration...

Lunatic Left put up Galloway

Tory Bear got wind of the rumour this morning that George Galloway was planning on a bid for the Rector of Edinburgh University and now

HackWatch

(an Edinburgh student politics gossip blog run by a Labour PPC,) got the story first.

This could get interesting.

TB is looking forward to what will no doubt become a pitched campus battle...

Dolly and friends...

TB has been taking a look at the new

Labourlist website

that has launched in a preview mode. It's the brainchild of Derek Draper and represents Labour's top down attempt to fight the grassroots movement that ConservativeHome represents, an almost perfect analogy of the Lab/Con view on how the country should be run. It lists who it's contributors will be and he was rather surprised to see

Sarah Mulholland

included. She is the Chairman of Labour Students and generic Unite drone but doesn't exactly strike it big on the blogosphere...

Indeed she hasn't even updated her riveting

Labour Student's blog

for over six months... The CF online presence is updated multiple times a week.

Dolly is going have to try harder than this...

Seems Adrian McMenamin's bosses at the CBI have got the better of his not so secret alliances though. He is very absent from the list.

Let the games begin...

Tory Bear is about to get on a plane back up to Scotland (sorry Lily,) so will follow this up later but it according to

The Guardian

it seems Dolly Draper is about to launch his much anticipated attack on the right wing blogosphere:

"Now Labour is fighting back in the battle of the blogs, with a new website to be launched this week aimed at sparking an online debate among what it calls "Labour-minded" people over thinking inside the movement. It forms part of Labour plans to "take the fight to the web", with ministers fielding questions in online forums, such as the price comparison website moneysupermarket.com and "virals" - internet spoofs designed to be emailed between friends - increasingly sitting alongside conventional party political broadcasts.

LabourList.org was controversial even before it was born, with established Labour bloggers complaining at being left out, and Tory bloggers warning that it would be so heavily censored as to be little more than party propaganda."

Load... Aim...

Tory Bear silenced... well sort of.

Talking to a friend who is spending a year in China Tory Bear was asked about how his day had been. When he replied "busy!" and sent her the link to today's fun and games, did it load?

Hell no... seems the esteemed communist internet censors have deemed Tory Bear's musings to be too much for the Chinese audience. He is officially banned...

He would be insulted if it was any other way!