McCain's daughter...

Meghan McCain, potential first daughter,

blogger

and hotty has promised to get a tattoo should her father win...

Suggestions on a postcard...

New Site Feedback

Please send your thoughts and views on the new site layout to editor@torybear.com

YBF5

Last chance to get your tickets for YBF5 - this coming weekend you could not only get some of the most comprehensive media and campaign training going but also spend a weekend with David Davis and some of the biggest names of the conservative movement...

What are you waiting for?

New Bear

As you will see Tory Bear has undergone an overnight makeover. TB is very grateful for the services of

Mike Rouse

who has done a fantastic job.

For those of you who might be interested Mike explains some of the technical aspects to the redesign:

"One of the many freelance things I’ve been busy on recently is a new template for Tory Bear. I had the great honour of going to the Bear’s party at conference after being commissioned and it was a great insight into the potential future that lies ahead for this blog. The bear understands branding - hence the heavy use of the blue teddy bear graphic through the blog.

The colour scheme we agreed on was, naturally, blue with white, and few shades of grey. This keeps the blog looking simple and spacious, yet the blue is the dominant colour. It’s designed for resolutions 1024×768 and higher running on Firefox 3, Internet Explorer 7 and/or Google Chrome/Safari. I’ve tried to accomodate Internet Explorer 6 users as much as I can, but ultimately you guys are going to have to

upgrade your browser

sooner or later.

This job also required me to work with Google AdSense and ensure good placements for adverts. There’s a 768 Leaderboard at the top of the blog and a 300 x 250 Rectangle underneath the video player, which itself is a YouTube video embedded in a DIV that’s got a background image of an old TV-video combi with some minor modifications. The downside, however, is that the YouTube video has to be resized in the HTML, but this is made easy with Blogger.com’s “Page Elements” editor. My customer doesn’t have to touch the raw HTML at any point.

There are two sidebars underneath ToryBearTV and the advert. One is big enough to accomodate a standard Skyscraper banner and is better suited to things like archives and small videos as well as a few widgets. The other can contain some small adverts and is suited to links and buttons.

The main post area uses some bold text for headlines and is plenty big enough for images and videos to be included in posts. Comments pop up in a new window, so no real work has been needed there.

In all, I am pleased with the outcome thus far, but warn that the job is not yet 100% finished. When is a website ever finished?! I’m hoping to spend some time over coming weeks tweaking the sidebars and other elements, but need to see what feedback comes in first.

I hope you enjoy reading the blog and like the new design. Your comments are very welcome."

TB is well chuffed with the new design and hope you all like it...

Remember remember the 5th November...

TB is plotting a thing or two to celebrate the 5th November up in Scotland. Think big rally, angry students, NO2ID, details to follow...

However for those of you who will be in London that afternoon TB suggests you checkout the gloriously free spoken

Old Holborn

or the

Devil's Kitchen

for how you spend you Wednesday lunchtime...

TB will give you a clue though...

Change: You will be made to believe in.

So McCain has finally

said

what we all know and all fear - essentially that Obama is a socialist and his policy and manifesto reflect this fact. The two pronged attack of distancing himself from Bush and dogwhistling the Republican grass-roots in this way might, might start closing the gap on Obama in those key swing states. However McCain is going to have to pull something pretty special out of the bag in the next three weeks to salvage this.

Speaking today McCain said "Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it's just another government giveaway."

An Obama spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

UPDATE: 21.00 - According to Drudge Obama can't even be bothered to

sing the National Anthem

at his campaign events.

Maybe his wife isn't proud enough yet...

Nat Bashing

TB has been a busy bear over the last few days so apologies for the light-blogging. Having spent the morning canvassing a rainy, wind-driven and very nationalist estate on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Tory Bear is catching up on emails and working to get some new video content up.

A couple of things have caught TB's eye over the last few days... It seems that the strictly whipped and devout Salmond Youth, aka

Young Scots for Independence

, have finally got a grip and decided to

argue against

the SNP's ridiculous ideas to raise the drinking age. The young jihadis of the SNP youth wing are some of the scariest militants TB has ever come across.

Would you trust these people?

Just last week he was dragged into an interrogation centre for "re-education" by his nationalist peers on campus. Well that last bit didn't really happen but they are pretty damn scary. They even have

suggested music

to play to their members to really get them into that nationalist mood. Further justification that the myth of independence is a purely romantic idea rather than a practical reality. When will these people realise that just because

The Proclaimers

say something is a good idea doesn't mean it's a good idea? TB is glad to see that their weird loyalty and "the leader is good, the leader is great" mentality is beginning to fade...

All together now.. And Iiiiiiiiii would walk 5oo miiiiiles la la la la.

Woof!

Do you weep?

TB couldn't help think of the comic gold of Adrian Mole when he saw that unemployment figures were at there highest level for 17 years today.

With a mere switching of a few words Mole's tragically bad poem can last another generation:

Do you weep, Mr Brown, do you weep?
Do you wake, Mr Brown, in your sleep?
Do you weep like a sad willow?
On your Marks and Spencer's pillow?
Are your tears molten steel? Do you weep?
Do you wake with 'Two million' on your brain?
Are you sorry that they'll never work again?
When you're dressing in your blue, do you see the waiting queue?
Do you weep, Mr Brown, do you weep?

Who's bitchy now?

City of London and Westminster's CF chairman and co-editor of

The Young Conservative

blog has had quite a go at Tory Bear in his interview with the weekly

YBF activist profiling

. Ed Hallam claims that the likes of TB don't back up their stories with fact or proof and are a danger to the whole movement blah blah.

TB would like to counter this however and asks Ed exactly which story on this blog "isn’t backed up supporting evidence - it’s conjecture and, at times, verges on libel"? TB considers these things before he publishes stories, because lets face it this blog is not anonymous and can confidently say that everything published on here would stand up in court. He claims that TB etc put people off joining the party but Tory Bear knows this to be bullshit, this blog has been read by over 35,ooo people across the country and some of those people have got in touch to say tb.com has heightened the interest in the movement. CF needs a critical friend from time to time and people need to be shown that we are not just a movement of desperate, ambitious, jumped up young hacks and some of us have a sense of humour. Yes TB is sure it can be embarrassing to be caught or called out for dubious behaviour but he's glad that Ed has realised that if you can't beat them, join them...

The Young Conservative can be an interesting read and TB is sure that it will develop soon to more than regurgitation of CF press releases...

This is bullshit...

TB is hearing whispers from Westminster from very frustrated parliamentary staff who are having their evening drinkies disturbed, not by the hippy climate change bunch but by the massive and overwhelming police response.

The word about this protest was spread around the staff and media this afternoon and strange that this supposed massive potential breach of security happened at exactly the same time as the Government lost the vote about 42 days in the House of Lords.

42 days was thumped in the Lords by three to one... The police presence for less than 750 protesters is certainly clogging up the airwaves.

Golden Gordon the Global Crisis Guru wouldn't want this 42 days malarkey to come back and ruin his week walking on water so why not order the troops to create a faux siege situation and distract the news.. and more importantly tomorrows front pages....

Time to get the tear gas...

Tory Bear just spotted a sign at the protest that says "Tree's have Rights too"

Like what - Life, Liberty at the persuit of sunlight?

+++EnviroFacists storm Parliament+++

Enviromental protesters complaining about something have attempted a rush on Parliament.. The plan was for them all to descend and try enter at the same time.

The footage is pretty cool...

TB's parliamentry source says all staff were warned by the Sarjeant of Arms:

Sent: 08 October 2008 13:02
Subject: CLIMATE RUSH - 13 October 2008

CLIMATE RUSH

On Monday 13^th October a number of environmental groups are associating themselves with the 100^th anniversary of the ‘Rush on Parliament’ by the Women’s Sufferage Movement in an event entitled ‘Climate Rush’. This will involve a demonstration on Parliament Square during the afternoon and a planned ‘Rush on Parliament’ at 6.00 pm.

A number of security measures will be implemented in order to maintain access for Members of both Houses and to mitigate disruption to Parliamentary business. Some of these - such as increased police presence within and around the Parliamentary Estate, a heightened search regime and the closure of the Victoria Embankment and Derby Gate Library entrances all day on 13^th October – may inconvenience Members and staff. We would be grateful for your understanding.

Jill Pay Sir Michael Willcocks

Serjeant at Arms Black Rod

It seems the heavy police prescence seems to have held off the hippies.

They are using old school castle security by barracading the doors with planks better get a tank next time...

Introducing TBtv

TB is very excited about the launch of the new site this week and would like to introduce you to his next venture that will be on the up and up in the next few months - ToryBearTV. This video is the first in a series of conference diary type vids. This is one of the best speeches of the week and the rest of the video gives you a feel of the mood in the Hall in the run up to DC's big speech...

Come back soon for more TBtv - including some very funny vox-pops from the Conservative Future 10year Anniversary party...

TV's Shane Greer...

You can now become an

official fan

of TV's Shane Greer on Facebook... you know you want to.

TB is thinking he ought to get himself one of these fan clubs...

Whose car is TB sitting on?

Usual rules apply - first to email editor@torybear.com with the correct answer wins a TB merchendise freebie...

There will be a clue in the first TBtv video that will go live tonight...


UPDATE: 16:30 - Congratulations to

LondonSpin's

"Staff Writer" Mandy Maguire who got the correct answer first. TB goodies are in the post...

TB's laptop

TB is trying to edit some audio and video on his laptop but it's getting old and is saying it can't detect the soundcard. Any clues anyone?

The conference videos are kind of stuck until TB can get this fixed...

In the meantime keep an eye out in the next few days for the redesign of torybear.com to go live.

Mike Rouse

has done a fantastic job and TB is very excited about the new look. Mike cut his teeth at 18 Doughty Street and should be your first port of call for any online political needs.

Check out his website for more

information

.

Calling Matt Lewis

National Management Executive Elections results 2008:

Christian May - 413
Adele Douglas - 400
Owen Meredith - 380
Steve Ricketts - 378
Anastasia Beaumont-Bott - 358
Patrick Sullivan - 347
Matt Lewis - 339
Karen Allen - 323
Charlie Groome - 320
Craig Cox - 299
Anne-Marie Bray - 273

Surely as the next in line Mr Lewis should step up the mark now there is a vacancy? A Lewis/Meredith combo on NME would be quite the unit and help Owen's potential bid for the top no end.

Will ABB let Matt in the back door?

Guest Post - Matt Richardson

A year after the Forward Together slate launched the longest CF election campaign in the organisation's ten year history, torybear.com can exclusively bring you a guest post from Matt Richardson, it's founder and Chairman candidate.

This piece will no doubt spark quite some debate...

In defence of Michael Rock or The only things that change are the names.
by Matthew Richardson

Today represents 1 year since I came up with the “brilliant idea” that was Forward Together, the concept was simple make sure that a group of people who have all been involved with CF for ages, who have lived, loved, worked for and helped the organisation for years, an get them in a position to run the organisation. It sounds like a great idea on paper and maybe it was but the true test of an idea is how these things are received by the electorate. Of course it is a matter of record that Forward Together was consigned to the dustbin of history.

Lately I have started going to young conservative events again, YBF, Salisbury Club, Students for Freedom and association organised campaign days. People have started to saying to me “We wish you had been elected instead of Rock!” They go on to tell me that CF has pulled a vanishing act, a great magic trick. Apparently, there are committees, officers, working parties, sub-committees, and titles galore but nothing seems to happen. The campaign days that CF was becoming famous for (300,000 leaflets in a year) have stopped. The visiting that Mark Clarke used to do all over the country just doesn’t happen any more and the flagship new branches scheme has vaporised. The NME are all but anonymous aside from some sniping and intrigue which appears on the blogs. Area chairman are all in rebellion and the massive budget Mark’s exec battled for seems to have been revoked.

Despite all of this I say the same thing to all of them “I don’t wish I had been elected instead of Rock, not even a little.” Here’s why: Michael and I are approximately as capable as one another, in fact, if truth be told Michael has more management skill than me. It would have been just as much of a disaster if I had been elected too, the problem isn’t the chairman and it never has been. The problem is the NME, the fact is that they are useless. Patrick Sullivan, the man with my old job has done nothing. Not one thing! “Scurvy” Steve Ricketts is nowhere to be seen. Where are they? What have they done? Christian has lost interest and is working very hard on YBF very well and frankly helping the cause much more than if he was looking after CF portfolio and although she is working hard Adele is staying in the North. Rock could be the best General in the world but the problem is the troops are useless.

Michael is a dedicated, liberal tory and an excellent manager, the problem is that his exec are morons and life might just have been better if the dedicated people of Forward Together had been elected. We need people who care about the party more than their CV. Michael Rock is one, I am not sure that any of his exec are.

Fancy a pint of freedom?

The credit crunch might be hitting us all, but the good folk at YBF are helping us through it. Thanks to a recent donation, YBF are able to lower to the cost of their excellent conference - YBF5 - to a mere £50 for students. To book a ticket,

click here

.

TB will hopefully see you there for what promises to be an excellent weekend of training, banter and drinking alongside appearances from David Davis, Iain Duncan Smith, Eric Pickles, Ed Vaizey, Iain Dale, Matthew Elliott, Douglass Murray and many more leading Tories.

Sound.