#freegrantshapps

Apparently Grant Shapps's Twitter account was suspended for "for publicising his own website so much that they thought he was spamming" according to his Chief of Staff. (Grant Shapps has a CoS!?)

Panic not sports fans, apparently he has been in touch with the twowers that be and will be back spamming within the week...

Now this should be amusing...

Mark Oaten's kiss and tell is

out in time

for conference:

Shit title.

TB in Blades of Glory?

A loyal reader

has busted TB's secret Hollywood career. The screenshots never lie - there indeed is Tory Bear with Will Ferrell and friends 43 minutes into Blades of Glory...

Anyone spotted the bear elsewhere?

John Lamont MSP MP?

Long term friend of the bear and general legend John Lamont MSP has

been selected

to fight the highly winnable Borders Westminster seat. John will be a great MP and the 6.5% swing he needs from the Lib Dems is considerably less than the 9.4% he achieved at the last Holyrood elections.

The tory benches need more people like John - best of luck to him.

Every single day...

TB is forced to add another name to the list of people that piss him off. Today it is

John Harris

who spouts shite writes for the Guardian website about music and politics, poorly. This is John Harris:

TB can't quite put his finger on quite why there is such loathing or quite how annoying this chump is, but he has yet to get to an end of one of his pieces without wanting to chew his right paw off, or throw his laptop at the wall. He is a nauseating lefty who is so overwhelmingly self-satisfied that you can actually tell he is sitting there smiling smugly at his choice of words. Take these irritating and sickening Guardian pieces for example:

Interview with George Osborne

- sarcastic and patronising.

Rant about privatisation

-

"Here, anyway, is what increasingly seems to be the future: slick corporate logos flashing from prisons, hospitals, schools, detention centres, defence facilities, police stations and more, and a cut-price society pitched somewhere between Margaret Thatcher and Philip K Dick. Real-life dystopias, let us not forget, tend to arrive by stealth; whatever the political fashion, we need to start talking about all this again – and fast."

-completely deluded and out of his depth, it's dangerous to have such naive people in positions of influence.

Oh and where John shines, and TB means really shines, is

his shite arguments

against giving people the vote and decision making abilities, well that is a little harsh, against open primaries:

"The Totnes model, we hear, is grassroots democracy in action – a cover, surely, for the fact that no national politicians have any convincing plans for the revival of local government. In Westminster, strangulated parliamentary discipline will remain, meaning that even if local mavericks do make the grade, they will still be endlessly cattle-prodded through the lobbies."

They will hardly be the odd "local maverick" if they are all eventually elected this way, and are all subject to primaries every election. My lord John, can you imagine! MPs serving the interests of their constituents, the horror, the horror.

Dear reader, be warned, don't make the mistakes that TB has made in the past. If you see the name John Harris in print, or online, just don't bother reading it, go do something else with your time. You will only end up in a fit of rage that is made even worse by just how punchable this chap looks.

Though what do you expect from someone who clearly thinks Jimmy Osmond is still a fashion icon:

Ugh.

Go Clinton.

TB never thought the day would come when he would say that. However, Mrs Clinton has got one over on the Lord of Darkness today, and that has to be commended.

Liberal Vision's Angela Harbett reports

;

Last year it was dodgy Russians on yachts. This year it has been revealed that the Lord, between sunbathing and posh dinners at chez Rothschilds, did indeed meet with the son of the Libyan leader Colnel Gaddafi, (Saif al-Islam Gaddafi). Just days later meeting, hey presto, reports appear that the Libyan bomber may be released.
A link ? Noooo! Lord Mandelson’s spokesman said that whilst a meeting did take place subsequent reports of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi’s possible release from jail were “entirely coincidental“.

Just HOW stupid do they thing we are (er well pretty stupid now you ask! he’s shown that time and again).

But wait. Lord Mandelson may have met his match. Following the announcement of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi’s possible release, I have been told, and indeed it has been reported that, Hilary Clinton waded in. I do not know what precisely was said unfortnunately, but “over” and “our dead body” was almost certainly the sentiment, if not the actual words used.

So whilst Mr Mandelson may indeed be a highly effective dick-swinger, it would appear that Mrs Clinton has an even larger and more influential one - and with considerable longer reach. Who would have thought that anyone would have ever written a post about MRS Clintons dick-swinging?

Too true, seems Mrs Clinton is far more careful where she swings. Liberal Vision fails to pick up on the other Corfu dinner partner who has got what he wanted though. As TB reported the other day, it's not what you know with Mandy, it's who you know.

The stench of corruption is never far from Foy.

#LabourNotUsingNHS

Tory Politico

got in touch with TB the other day to ask him for a quote for his new blog banner, to which he replied - "Shrewd and to the point, TB is often tempted to nick most of Politico's stories."

Here

is the perfect example:

Good find.

Tim Montgomerie

has been starting the

#LabourNotUsingNHS

hashtag today on the back of Brown's hundreds of pounds of private dental care. We can add hypocrite as well as trougher to the words to describe Ann Keen

TB can think of worse.

She's no Derek Draper...

...but this could still be amusing.

In what is looking more and more likely to be her last few months in Parliament, Kerry McCarthy the MP for Bristol East has been given the poisoned chalice of

coordinating the Labour Party's online

and new media efforts. Doesn't this all sound a little too familiar? Haven't Labour learnt that these sort of things backfire when too much central control is put on them.

The most hysterical line that McCarthy has come out with so far was her

first shot

at the right-wing blogosphere:

"I think this is a real contrast with what the Tories are doing in the area of new media – they seem to be doing everything centrally..."

Is she mental? Here we have a senior Party member - a whip FFS, appointed by the General Election coordinator, announcing her role on a website set up at the behest of Labour HQ, paid for by the Party's biggest donor Unite, and she has the blatant audacity to suggest that the Tories are doing things from the centre?

It took years for bloggers to even get a press release out of CCHQ and yet Labour bloggers are invited for breakfast at Victoria Street and McCarthy bleats on about how she is going to bring the young bloggers on board - make sure they walk the bloody line more like.

Draper was an idiot for very different reasons, but McCarthy's Conservative opponent in Bristol

Adeela Shafi

must surely be laughing at this news today.

It's not like Labour have the best track record when it comes to these things now is it.

Alex Salmond on Braveheart...

Since moving from Edinburgh TB still likes to keep an eye on the north, especially its growing blogosphere. This post from the ever wonderful

Scottish Unionist

made TB chuckle:

Guardian

: “Braveheart gave full rein to a toxic Anglophobia”

American Spectator

: “an anti-English diatribe from its opening”

Independent

: “has been linked to a rise in anti-English prejudice”

Economist

: “xenophobic and historically preposterous”

Guardian

: “seemingly intended as a piece of anti-English propaganda”

Sunday Times

: “The political effects are truly pernicious. It’s a xenophobic film.”

Alex Salmond

: “That film had a profound effect. Things politically were already on the move, but it certainly accelerated change. There aren’t many films which are truly important, but this is one.”

Come on then ye "cybernats" defend that one.

Anti-grass roots.

There are a couple of interesting polls on PoliticsHome today. Firstly it seems that the people agree with George Osborne that Labour are

not a progressive party

and it's them who are desperately clinging to a broken past, and secondly an interesting poll about

legalising drugs

:

TB is slightly disheartened to see that the old fuddy-duddy authoritarian Mail-esque tories have dragged the budding libertarian wing of the party down. TB finds it hard to believe that there are proportionally more Labour voters who want to relax Britain's extreme drug laws, but then again it shows just how out of touch the Labour leadership is with their members. Frankly TB doesn't give a flying fuck what you smoke, inject, snort or drink, it's your choice and your responsibility to pick up the pieces. He has some hope that the next generation coming up the party ranks are noticeably more libertarian - those currently in charge of Conservative Future certainly are, but then again the age old saying will probably come in to play.

A conservative is a libertarian with daughters.

Sounds like a plan...

TB woke up this morning convinced he had that swiiine... a swim and a couple of bellinis later and it turns out it was just a mild case of wine flu.

TB thinks this is how everyone should spend their Sunday afternoon.

It's not what you know...

Matthew d'Ancona has used his

Telegraph column

to nod to the PM4PM bandwagon and even damns Labour with faint praise:

"Labour doesn't want him as its leader, and it won't happen. But the party is working hard to suppress a smile after the brief reign of King Peter, for a simple reason that may serve them all well in the future if they have the wit to remember. In this dark hour, Mandy has reminded them what it feels like not to be scared."

d'Ancona also reminds us that:

"Mandelson, twice forced to resign from the Cabinet, has a record as long as your arm, and can't see a scandal passing in the street without shouting: "Hey, wait for me!" He may have a safe pair of hands when it comes to minding the shop in Gordon's absence, but he is otherwise (or at least has been) politically radioactive."

Funny he should mention that given it was the Sunday Time's

obligatory story about Mandy

that caught TB's attention next, or perhaps he should rephrase that, the distinct whiff of corruption about it perked him up:

"Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, ordered officials to draw up draconian regulations on internet piracy just days after he had a private dinner with a Hollywood mogul who is a critic of illegal file-sharing.
Mandelson is understood to have demanded that internet service providers be given new powers to cut off the accounts of British web users who persistently download music and films for nothing.
The business secretary’s intervention comes after a meeting last weekend with David Geffen, the billionaire producer who co-founded the DreamWorks studio with Steven Spielberg.
Mandelson and Geffen dined on August 7 with members of the Rothschild banking dynasty at the family’s holiday villa on the Greek island of Corfu."

Talk your way out of that one oh great master!

The Digital Britain bill due to be debated next year is becoming farcical. They want to have the power to cut off or reduce the broadband connections of people who download films and music. They will also be setting up a big list of repeat offenders. Too many problems of government and states infringing on the rights and freedoms of its people start with big lists. Just stop it. History has taught us that lists drawn up by governments never end well.

Seriously though, this is a textbook bit of cash for access, it might not be crumpled fivers in brown envelopes but... "have you seen my yacht/villa... oh you came here last year too? Of course you did." First there was Lord Taylor of Blackburn, Lord Truscott, Lord Snape and Lord Moonie, should we be adding Lord Mandleson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the County of Durham to that list?

It stinks.

Taxi for John Edwards

After lying about it for eighteen months, it seems slimeball and Kerry Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards has

finally admitted

that yes, he did indeed knock up his mistress. Like so many great sex scandals he probably could have got away with it had it if he hadn't lied and lied and lied. The fact his wife is dying of cancer didn't help either nor can the investigation to see whether he used thousands of dollars of his campaign funds to try buy his bit-of-skirt-slash-former-aide's silence. The DNA test never lies and it looks like this nauseating scumbag is finally toast.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

We Are Watching You

After Alan Duncan's ridiculous indiscretion and the work of

10,000

Labour supporters on Twitter in the last few days, the reality of quite how the internet will dominate the next election is finally dawning on the old school media. Every citizen is armed, they just don't know it. With camera phones, twitter, blogs and online video we are all the journos, the judge and the jury now.

Howard Flight

in reality was the first victim of this idea back in 2005, but given that lazy hacks are spending their August regurgitating blogs, TB thought he would do some recycling himself. Alan Duncan was rightfully caught out, but this is just the beginning. How the upcoming election will be reported will change journalism in the UK forever. Remember this one:



We are all journos now and TB has been saying it since his blog began.

TB in St. Trop...

Tory Bear is taking it rather easy in the shade today after a marathon twelve hour rosé session in St Tropez yesterday. Luckily, especially for

LabourList

editor Alex Smith, who TB understands is a particular fan of his wardrobe, someone had a camera...

Blogging will probably be light today as TB's head hurts. There is some more NHS/Twitter rage brewing, but it seems Dizzy has hit the nail on the head with

this cracking post though

. Wondered how long it would take for

this

to happen too.

Back to sun instead. Shame.

Hannan4Westminster

Blogs editor Damian Thompson has a must read piece

over at the Telegraph

:

"So Daniel Hannan attacks socialised medicine on American television, and immediately Dave slaps him down. Is it because of his criticism of the National Health Service, or because of the way he criticised it - that is, with an eloquence and forensic command of detail that makes most members of the shadow cabinet sound like jargon-spouting middle managers?

If Dan was an MP, the Conservatives would be forced to engage in the very thing that frightens them most: ideological debate."

The truth hurts.

Quote of the Day

In response to Stephen Fry's dribble that: “Even the most right wing British politician wouldn’t think of dismantling our health service.”

Liberal Conspiracy commenter

"cjcjc" said:

I wonder when Stephen Fry last saw the inside of an NHS facility?

Is it *just possible* that the rest of the world has not copied the NHS because it is not the best system in the world?

Sound.

Discuss: Blogging Vs. The Reformation

TB is working through a large collection of books he has wanted to read for months but hasn’t had the time. One he would recommend is

TownHall

contributor Hugh Hewitt’s

“Blog – What you must know how the blogosphere is smashing the old media monopoly and giving individuals power in the marketplace of ideas.”

While is a few years old, it nonetheless gives an fascinating account of the history of the American blogosphere, it’s biggest casualties such as Kerry and Dan Rather, as well as advice to anyone wanting to expand their influence. However throughout the book Hewitt continually compares the power of blogging to that of Martin Luther. On first impression this is a slightly pretentious and over ambitious analogy. Hewitt writes;

What is really going on is an information reformation similar in consequence to the Reformation that split Christianity in the sixteenth century. The key to that Reformation was the wide dissemination of Scripture among the increasingly literate laity. Today we do not have a canon, but we do have an appetite for information, the arrival of new technology of distribution, and a million willing content providers. The old guard of old media is in a situation very similar to the Roman Catholic Church’s situation when Luther arose to challenge the pope’s authority. Once Luther’s spark set the fire, the availability of editions of the Bible made the collapse of the Church’s authority inevitable, though the struggle was long and often bloody.

...

You should thus be persuaded that the last couple of years have been important for blogging. But it is much bigger than that. That’s like saying 1517 was a big year for Martin Luther. Both statements are true but do not communicate the scope of the change that was initiated in those years. To get a glimpse of what is coming, try examining what followed Luther’s challenge to the authority of Rome. As Luther was to Leo, so bloggers are to MSM, and Luther’s impact wasn’t limited to the Vatican.

While it is true that the MSM are under threat and are running scared, is it really realistic to compare this online revolution to that of the 16th century? The very suggestion brings the line of bloggers being self-obsessed, arrogant and self indulgent immediately to mind. On the one hand the significance of the Reformation came down to the printing press and the free distribution of text. Surely blogging is just the same idea via an alternative method of distribution? A mere development, but the other hand Hewitt proves the other side of the coin can just as easily be argued. Have we, or are we, witnessing the second Reformation?

Discuss.

TB makes pizza...

Should TB write a recipe book? Joking apart, it seems TB's new found (mainly female) American audience are loving the constant bear related photo updates, so they will continue...

On a completely different note. Here is some

background reading

on our Don't Panic friend.

The word swampy comes to mind.

Lee Jasper - Mixing Business with Pleasure...

Livingstone City Hall aide Lee Jasper

quit in disgrace

after his sexually charged emails were forwarded to the Standard. Surely he should be the last person to be hosting a "Business with Pleasure" event:

Some people never learn eh!