Well now, Mandelson is back. Gordon Brown is relentlessly selling us the line that we need “serious people for serious times” – as the BBC obligingly parrots. But Mandelson is a man without political integrity, twice forced into resigning. I met him a few times politically and counted my fingers after shaking hands with him to ensure all were still there afterwards. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Margaret a Beckett is also called back, another serious person for serious times? Wonder how the BBC will react to Mandy in the times ahead? Personally, I am delighted, as he was here at the birth of NuLabour and he will be there when it is buried in less than two years.
OH MANDY
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We need change OK. However bringing back Mandelson, Beckett, and Draper (not to mention Campbell in the background) is a bit like saying you’ve changed your underpants by turning them inside out.
They still smell the same.
just seen Draper again on Newsfight.
Mandy is back but it seems Draper is too.
Will Bliar reappear also
What a shock. We have Polly Toynbee and some other fucking liberal. So wher is the Tory view then BBC cunts?
It really doesn’t matter.
They are all cockroaches.
Apologies to Cockroaches.
‘Peter Mandelson’
anagrams to
‘Mean old serpent.’
Martin 10:59
Please moderate your language !
And I thought you were such a nice boy.
Polly. I hate her politics, but nothing a good s**g wouldn’t sort out.
BBC balance
Invited on to Newsnight to discuss Mandelson.
Liam Byrne Labour Minister for a one to one,then,
Polly Toynbee Labour supporting journalist and Steve Richards. Labour supporting journalist, for a discussion with Gavin Esler.
Biased? Us?
That BBC bloke with the specs was on about bringing back Mandy as a sign of seriousness in dealing with the economic situation – because he had previously been at the DTI, the department for business, now known as BERR. Brrrr…
I think that is a non-point, Speccy and basically cobblers. Margaret Beckett was also there,before Mandy. However, lots of people have been there and it doesn’t really mean anything.
It is more the case of desperation, I think. I strongly suspect the hand of Alistair Campbell and Blair somewhere in this and as Gordon hasn’t a clue what to do about the parlous state of labour, he’d do anything in order to do something.
I see they are creating a new Department of Energy, though this time with a climate twist. Here we go again: there used to be a separate Dept of Energy before it was absorbed by the DTI! How we do go around and around, folks.
What is this about a national economic council? It wasn’t mentioned by Speccy. Another sign of desperation? For ten years, Brown kept all economic (and not just economic policy) in the tight vice- grip of the Treasury while he kept his stranglehold on all government departments and on Blair. So now suddenly we get a body to co ordinate policy. Isn’t that the PM’s and the Cabinet’s job? And did they not have a manifersto for joined-up government 11 years ago? So finally, they are getting around to it, eh? Weird goings-on in the Brown bunker, all of a sudden.
Dave 11:08
Liam Byrne ?
Ultimate w**** etc.
Totally mindless.
Newsnight
I wasn’t counting the number of times the BBC hack referred to “the party”/
the BBC Flag is deepest red….
No opposition views. Analysis very consisted exclusively of the internal political implications for Labour. The BBC seems to work on the principal that it is an internal news provider for “the party”.
#The bastards need to realise that there are other political parties out in the real world. The SNP for one. I want to hear what the BBC will say when Brown loses another seat.
No mention of the fact that Mandy is hated by the public and by the media in general. The Sun scalped him and won’t let him get away with this third resurrection.
I cannot recall ever seeing a news programme where the analysis was entirely given over to conservative supported talking about conservative policies.
ever
Millie Tant: The BBC seemed to fall in love with Alistair Campbell if you remember a while back.
I get the impression that Campbell (not visible) and Draper (he with the awful wife) are pulling the strings of the BBC, who of course are happy to oblige.
BBC Newsnight, absent of Tories. Even Vince Cable was missing.
I notice that Michael Dick managed to get Caroline Spelman into the conversation though.
Now perhaps that wanker Dick might like to remind us WHICH Labour Minister faked his Mortgage application and failed to declare a loan again?
Oh and whilst we’re on the subject of Labour sleaze (well OK the BBC isn’t ever) anyone for Keith Vaz?
Peter Hain anyone?
Millie Tant 11:09
Great post and so true !
Sorry for the typing. Too angry to be coherent
Final thought – how much does the Tuscan hag earn from her constant BBC appearances? I do hope that she distributes this money to the disadvantaged – who otherwise will be “at risk of crime” (Nu speak for “become violent criminals”)
Grant: Shag Toynbee? You’ve got to be kidding. She’s got a bigger Moustache than Stalin and her idea of a Brazilain is the same as Mandelson’s.
Shagging her would be worse than humping Harperson.
Martin 11:18
Keith Vaz is my hero.
Grant: Keith Vaz is my loo roll
Martin 11:21
That is totally out of order !
I protest.
Harperson has a certain cuteness, but, my God , I wouldn’t want to wake up to it in the morning.
Frankly, I prefer Stalin. At least you know what you get.
“…Frankly, I prefer Stalin. At least you know what you get…”
Yes, 20 years in a Gulag I think.
Martin 11:34
But at least Stalin didn’t shag Polly Toynbee, so far as I am aware. Credit where credit is due.
Two zeks talking in the Magdan Gulag
Zek 1473392 “I got twenty years for doing nothing”
Zek 1473104 “you lying bastard – the innocent only get 15 years in the Soviet Union”
Martin
Frankly, I doubt if she would notice anyway
I’d rather do 20 years than shag either Harperson or that old boot Toynbee.
Be like shagging your Grandmother.
It’s all too much 11:39
Please excuse me , but what is a “Zek ” ?
Martin 11:43
Calm down. No-one is suggesting that you should shag Polly or, God forbid, Harriet.
On the other hand , maybe , well, it is just a thought.
By the way, how come very few women post on this site ?
Zek was slang name name used by convicts in the Gulag
A memory of the Canal is also preserved in the Russian language, in the words “zeka”, “zek, z/k” for “inmate”. In Russian, “inmate”, “incarcerated” is “заключённый”, zakliuchyonnyi, usually abbreviated to ‘з/к’ in paperwork, pronounced as ‘зэка’ (zeh-KA), gradually transformed into ‘зэк’ and to ‘зек’ (zek). The word is still in colloquial use. Originally the abbreviation stood for “zaklyuchyonny kanaloarmeyets” (заключённый каналоармеец), literally “incarcerated canal-army-man”.
sorry – published too soon – above sourced from Wikipedia
Grant: How do you know who is a woman or not?
According to Nick Robinson “Mandy” was brought back because he is “popular with business and the public” – where has this bloke been living for the past 11 years? Only the BBC love him – because he is one of them (pun intended). The Labour left hate him, the public hate him. He has come from an unelected EU commision to an unelected House of Lords – the arrogance of labour is beyond contempt. One good thing if the (D)HYS is any judge of public opinion he will help Labour lose a great deal of seats in the next election. God I wish it was soon. The Labour dictators are really too much.
Martin: Yes, I’ve noticed Campbell around the BBC recently. Of course, he is a former journalist, as was Mandy. Probably has lunch with Speccy at the Poule au Pot.
Now to be fair, Draper’s wife has an awful husband. What on earth possessed her to hook up with him? I mean, she could have gone for the Webb monster, or Gordon. He wasn’t taken for quite a long time. Oh, dear…
Er… could it be the pervasive whiff of testosterone? Or the air of Neanderthal man, pawing the ground like an angry bull?
Not to worry Gordon.
Armeeabteilung Steiner will soon storm to your relief.
Putting this odious, discredited creep back into one of the great offices of state is an affront to any definition of decency.
The only consolation to be drawn when Blair handed Mandelson a first-class ticket on the Brussels gravy train was that at least the most malignant tumour on Britain’s body politic had been cut out.
Richard LittleJohn
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1068115/Malignant-malevolent-mendacious–creep-cancer-British-life.html
.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=43lmKU520FM
Lets hope Hague brings this up again
this is fantastic news ! 1 thing that will all end in tears is mandy having his filthy paws in anything. Wont be long before the proper press starts asking questions about the status of his ‘partner’ who has been a ‘student’ ahem for about 11 years and always seems to get a visa. Awaiting mandy asking for a bit of help with a new house also. Im sure theres’ a senior mp left from the blair era with secrets – and cash !
Does Gordon want at least one person in the cabinate who is even less popular than he is?
Hariet after two pints Polly after four
Why does the expression ‘A few Jokers short of a deck’ spring to mind in the context of the ‘shuffle’?
While, to be fair, the same holds true elsewhere: why is it that, with 30M able-bodied adults to choose from in the UK, we seem to be subjected to the same, limited selection, from the same stagnant pool time after time.
Looking at the punditry being cranked out on this (a NoW ex-editor on Breakfast News just now), especially, Oh, Lord, Mr. Mandelson, I am struck by the disconnect between ‘in-Village’ and the real world, with talk already of ‘giving chances,’ ‘has grudging respect of peers,’ etc.
No matter how you try to intellectualise it all, the possible brainpower of aspirant leaders is not much good if no one fancies following them. Tricky finding the calibre required of course, as I am minded of the notion that the right person for the job would not be in their right mind to apply, much less accept it, these days.
I have a vision of a plucky khaki crew on the Western political front. At the head our Dear Leader crying ‘Charge… I am the one to sort this out!’ as… if… when he emerges from the bunker to stick his head over the parapet, reluctantly followed by a few who really have no choice not to and are all out of options. With a few chatterati cheerleaders back in a chateau a wee bit further behind the lines, penning some more cheering them on.
Meanwhile the rest of us in the trench are just hunkering down, hoping we can hang on until there’s a vote.
I have to say I tuned into Newnight wondering what the verdict on Mandy’s return to the cabinet would be. After listening for two minutes, I realised my, and millions of other peoples’ opinions were being swept under the carpet as Toynbee and some other lefty type said it was a ‘masterstroke’. Umm, no it wasn’t. It’s another shocking decision by Brown. But, such a view was not allowed by the BBC. I turned off after two minutes of that shite.
My conclusion: Newsnight is now totally irrelevant and totally divorced from the public or reality.
Where’s von Stauffenberg when you need him?
To quote an old Private Eye funny of many years ago referring to Jeremy Thorpe……’Buggers can’t be losers’
Toynbee can’t seem to make her mind up
If she said “masterstroke” on newsnight she sems a bit more sober in her Guardian column.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/04/gordonbrown.mandelson
The thing that all have to remember about Mandy is that he is exceptionally vain. That alone will be his undoing.
Crikey, some interesting insights posted here. Martin you’ve surpassed yourself. I think merely reading all these comments would really sort Polly and her ilk out. Real men and all that.
Of course the BBC really like Alistair Campbell, a man almost single handedly responsible for their DG and chair resigning a few years ago. Clue: they loathe him. The coverage of Mandy’s return on Today this morning was excellent. Humphries gave Ed Miliband a serious grilling on the issue, and then the programme ended with an interview of John Rentoul and Matthew D’Ancona, where the latter seemed more impressed by the move. A very insightful piece about what was behind Brown’s thinking.
Proper journalism boys. Be proud you live in such a rich country, with David Attenborough as it’s greatest living citizen
Iain Martin (‘Telegraph’), and ‘Comments’ on:
” Lord Mandelson of …”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/iain_martin/blog/2008/10/03/lord_mandelson_of
My daughter, whom I love dearly, despite her working for the Beeb, said that Campbell was the most loathsome creature she’d ever met. He would insult any and everyone if he didn’t get his way. No change there then!
Speaking as is done, of a ‘Government of All the Talents’.
The Minister for Dark Arts arrives and… coincidentally, time for a GOAT sacrifice or two.
The Party must be soooo proud.
Must be fun being a headhunter for high office types these days.
‘Should be capable of swallowing pride, kissing ass(t.), principles and career goodbye… for the cause, you understand’.
That’ll get the quality guys in.
And yes, I did notice that Polly T has one version for her paper and another for our objective, publicly-funded national news broadcaster.
Oddly, from a private left-leaning independent publication that can do what it likes pretty much for all I care, which direction did she go on Aunty again?
whitewineliberal writes: “Of course the BBC really like Alistair Campbell, a man almost single handedly responsible for their DG and chair resigning a few years ago. Clue: they loathe him.”
Twaddle! Campbell has become a regular on the BBC, whether reading from his vainglorious autohagiography, or (astonishingly) on R4 a few weeks ago, presenting a ‘personal’ programe about Jacques Brel.
Some of the BBC’s news (sic) team might harbour grudges against the venomus toad – sufficient others do not – which is why they throw our money at him.
whitewineliberal: posted
Proper journalism boys. Be proud you live in such a rich country, with David Attenborough as it’s greatest living citizen
He does not do politics, does he?
Cameron 04.10.08 5:07 am
I believe Mandy is no longer with said partner. Do try to keep up!
GCooper: Spot on. I’ve pointed out many times that the BBC is loved by politicians because when they finally get kicked out of power, they move to the BBC often on even bigger salaries and expenses than before.
Even ‘some’ lefty Tories have worked for the BBC.
However, the BBC detests mainstream Conservatives and shouldn’t detract from the next Conservative Government putting the BBC down.
Let them fund corrupt ex Liebour politicians from their subscription based service and see how long that lasts.
Martin writes: “Even ‘some’ lefty Tories have worked for the BBC”
Absolutely right! Two who spring to mind are Clarke and Portillo, both of whom are hardly off the airwaves.
For some curious reason, the sainted Norman Tebbit has proved less popular…