Dress to the left… #Lefties

Now the run-up to the 2015 general election is hotting up, I keep seeing digs on Twitter about “Lefties” so I started thinking, what exactly is a Leftie?  In the “old days” of course, a Leftie was a person who is left-handed. There is even an annual Left Handers Day on 13th August to celebrate being one of the special 10% .  On Twitter however it is used to describe/deride those who hang to the left. Politically of course.

A quick search show this particularly nasty example of how one tweeter sees “Lefties”. 

So what makes a Leftie a Leftie and why would that be a bad thing?

In my experience a Lefties are kind, generous, will fight for the vulnerable, join together to make positive changes and are an all round “good eggs”. So why are we seen by “the right” as a bad thing? Surely Lefties are exactly what David Cameron wanted for his “Big Society” push? The volunteers, selflessly giving up their spare time and very often their money to keep community organisations and charities going following government cuts to their funding? 

Why do “the right” find us so threatening and seek to undermine us at every opportunity? It seems to me that being brought up in privileged worlds where they have never had to “make-do”, scrimp, save or fight just to have an equal chance makes it simply impossible to comprehend that people really can be and are this good. 

Interesting article about the decline in Conservative party membership numbers since David Cameron came to power. Another showing that UKIP membership raised more money last year than membership of the Conservatives. 

Anyway, they are todays musings. If you would like to join us (approx) 190,000 “Lefties” and make a real difference to your community/family/the World rather than just helping yourself and your cronies – you can join the Labour Party here  🙂 

Couldn’t have put it better myself… #Dorries

So I didn’t.. I was sent this today to share with you –  an email written to the Mid Beds Conservatives in regard to our AWOL “Member”, Nadine Dorries..

“Dear Sir/Madam,

I am absolutely appalled by the news that Nadine Dorries has seen fit to abandon her constituency to further her own media profile by appearing on the current series of I’m a Celebrity. I do not think this is a fitting activity for a serving MP. Particularly in the present climate when so many of her constituents are struggling to find work and make ends meet. For her to swan off to Australia – whether or not it is Parliamentary half-term – and to claim that she can continue to represent us while doing so, is at best breathtakingly arrogant and at worst downright insulting. Is she really so naive as to think the show will be edited in any way as to be representative of her views? Does she really think this is the best way to serve the people of this constituency? This seems to me to be nothing more than another example of shameless self-promotion.

I am not a Conservative party member, I did not vote for Nadine Dorries. I am, however, one of her constituents and expected better. I hope you will recognise that this is an abject dereliction of her duty as our MP and move to deselect her.

Yours in disgust”

 

Another via “Mr @Quinsjim”

Dear Sirs,

I am neither a Conservative voter or supporter, but I am a constituent of Mrs Dorries’ 

You will understand by bewilderment, anger and dismay to discover that she has absented herself from her responsibilities here within the constituency to take part in a tacky gameshow.

There can be no excuse for our elected representative to behave this way, seemingly failing even to ensure that adequate cover for her absence was provided by the other local members of parliament.

Unfortunately, as the right to recall has not yet been taken through parliament, the ability to remove a failing MP has not yet fallen to the electors of a constituency, and the ability to effectively terminate the contract of an errant MP lies with the local associations or constituency parties.

I therefore write to ask that you consider the damage that Mrs Dorries does to Bedfordshire, Parliament and, it must be said, the Conservative Party.  I believe that no other sanction but deselection would be appropriate and I urge you to consider it, identify an honourable local Conservative to stand for election – which I feel sure they would be successful in and allow the people of Mid Bedfordshire to enjoy real representation again without the vacuous razzmatazz that has surrounded the current incumbent
.

Yours Faithfully

 

 

A Tale Of Two Tories.. #Dorries

Nadine Dorries in her usual deluded fashion has today compared her publicity-seeking, self-indulgent, highly paid trip to Australia (to appear on “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here”) to the Ministerial work of fellow Bedfordshire MP, Alistair Burt.  This is what Alistair has to say about himself and his work on his website:

Alistair Burt MP

“As MP for North East Bedfordshire my main job is to represent the constituents of the area, and I hope you will find this website helpful in seeing what I do and where I have been in the constituency in recent weeks. You can also find contact details for my team, and details of advice centre appointment booking.  I also have the honour and privilege of being the Minister for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia in the Coalition Government, which gives me responsibility for our links with 30 countries.  Travel takes me away from Westminster more than Bedfordshire, and I endeavour to be as available as ever for constituents.  In my absences, my team of  Eve, Katherine, Mandy, Tessa and Jonathan are available to assist you.”  Taken from http://www.alistair-burt.co.uk/

Let’s do a quick comparison shall we? Alistair is a MINISTER, Nadine a back bencher. Alistair has a fantastic team of assistants who cover his constituency in his absence. Nadine employs her daughter Phillippa on a generous, tax-payer funded salary to run her office, despite the fact that Phillippa actually works full-time as a trainee lawyer for Mischon De Reya.  They both claimed just over £158,000 in parliamentary expenses 2008/9 , Dorries as a back bencher, Burt as Assistant Chief Whip and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for Internal Development.

Alistair is a Burt, Nadine Dorries is a Berk.

The Hypocritical Oaf…

Today our dear leader, David Cameron has preached made a speech at a summit in Sweden about equality. Included in his utter bullshit words of wisdom he said “case is overwhelming that companies and countries run better if you have men and women working together at the top. So the real nub of the issue is how do we accelerate, how do we fast forward to having at least 30% of boards made up by women. The evidence is that there is a positive link between women in leadership and business performance, so if we fail to unlock the potential of women in the labour market, we’re not only failing those individuals, we’re failing our whole economy.”

“That’s where you get down to quotas, which I don’t think you should ever rule out. If you can’t get there in other ways, then maybe you have to have quotas.”

Time to practice what you preach Mr C? 

http://www.number10.gov.uk/the-coalition/the-cabinet/  Currently in the 29 strong Coalition Cabinet we have just 5 female’s. Now, I’m not great at maths but even I can work out that a ratio of 29/5 is a tad short of the desired 30%…

Downing Street later said the government had no plans to introduce quotas and wanted the impetus to come from business….

In other news, David Cameron has shown his full support for his latest scapegoat  Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.  Here is David showing the rest of us “his full support” ; )

David Cameron’s Cap… #wrb

Following today’s bullying over-rule of The Lords’ amendments to the much feared Welfare Reform Bill, it seems that David Cameron has indeed got his new cap…

The Strong hArm Of The Law… #Dorries

On the 12 of July 2010  Nadine Dorries wrote to Gillian Parker (then Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police), complaining about “a huge volume of internet attack” and asking for help.  The “attack” amounted to tweets & blog posts that she declared had been going on ” for a number of years by three individuals”, one of whom she stated as being me. 

I first heard of Nadine Dorries when I moved into her Mid Beds constituency during August 2009.  I opened my first twitter account in December 2009 and made my first tweet about Nadine just before the May 2010 election.  During May 2010 I wrote 9 blog posts in total,  5 of which were about  Nadine Dorries following the now infamous “Flitwick Hustings” and general election.

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/2010/05/twitterarmy-triumphs-dorries-fails-to.html    23rd May 2010

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-05-23T12%3A24%3A00%2B01%3A00&max-results=7  18th May 2010  (this is the letter Nadine sent to all  new MPs, trying to garner support for unseating John Bercow as Speaker, in which she includes her mobile phone number*)

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/2010/05/labour-of-love-nadine-bargery-dorries.html  Link to more video footage of the Flitwick Hustings. 9th May 2010

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/2010/05/its-fliiiitttick.html  6th May 2010  Fliiiitwick Hustings.

http://mshumphreycushion.blogspot.com/p/letters-to-beds-on-sunday-they-did-not.html  May 2010. Letters about Flitwick Hustings, unprinted by Beds On Sunday.  

Of my 5 posts in June, none include Dorries. Of my 8 posts in July, not one is about Nadine Dorries. I wrote 7 posts during August,  none about Dorries.  In September I wrote one in support of Tim Ireland which brought the wrath of Nadine upon my head. During the whole of September I wrote 9 blog posts, 3 (inc the T.Ireland one) were about Nadine Dorries.  Wow I was busy in October, writing 19 posts..  7 were on Dorries.  In November, out of 11 posts, one was about Nadine.  December 10 blogs, none about Nadine.  January 2011 14 posts, one in regard to Nadine  (This post is more about Mrs Butler and her treatment by the press, Mrs Butler being the woman who’s husband left her for Nadine and who has subsequently left Nadine… ) . 

11 posts in February, 0 on Dorries. 3 in March (started new job so too busy to blog!) 1 in April, 2011.  Since then I havent had the time  nor computer access to blog sadly and I miss it!

Sorry if all that was a tad dull, best to lay down the facts methinks (something Nadine Dorries could take on board tbh).  Right, so on with the story;

21st October 2010 after a *lot*of flack regarding her 70/30/100% fiction blog relevations (after John Lyon found her guilty of lying on her blog but insufficient evidence (he should read this) to find her guilty of fraud) she said on local TV that she had reported FOUR stalkers to the police… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUj9suBKYaA#t=3m22s 

That is FOUR stalkers now, not the three in her July letter to Gillian Parker. In November 2010, 3 months after declaring she had already done so, (and following many calls to provide proof of doing so) she finally officially reported her “four stalkers” to the police as Tim Ireland will reveal in full detail shortly. (Interesting to see how long it took the police to investigate, they must have taken her allegations *so* seriously)

Right, where were we?  Oh yes, Bedfordshire Police..  I have always had tremendous respect for the police and indeed wanted to join the force when I left school.  My height was a bit of an issue though and my Dad threatened to disinherit me if I did, so I entered the retail sector instead.  I lost my respect for the police on the night of my foot operation.

In bed, in tremendous pain that night, having been through what I can only describe as a horrific ordeal, two police officers stormed into my bedroom.  They had ordered my frightened children to let them in and asked where I was.  They then attempted to force me to accompany them for a recorded “voluntary interview under caution”. I refused. They threatened to arrest me if I didnt go.  Again I refused, showed them my surgeon’s letter stating that I was to remain in bed for a minimum of 3 days and they left, informing me they would be in touch.  Shaking and crying I phoned my friend David (@Gaijinsan21 – no linking to his account as he has sadly left twitter) who is a criminal lawyer. 

Over the next two days I learned from David that there was absolutely no justification for calling me for an interview under caution.  No justification for recording it and no justification for treating me in such a fashion. With David’s help I sent a series of emails to the police officer in charge, challenging him on this and eventually he admitted that I was merely a witness to an alleged offence.  He settled for a written (emailed) statement from me detailing how, when, where and why I was in contact with Tim Ireland and how it came about that Tim was in Fliiitttwick for the hustings.

He was there at my invitation.  Mine and several other constituents (whom I shall not name here) who were fed up to the back teeth of Nadine’s lies and unaccountability and had been emailing and tweeting each other with ideas of how to record her in action so to speak.  Several days before the hustings I watched a live stream of another hustings event at Goldaming, put online by Tim.  Although the quality was awful it made me think maybe we should do the same with the Flitwick event and so I put the wheels in motion, asking the Chair for her permission etc and twisted Tim’s arm into making the journey.

Tim arrived in Flitwick, not “loaded down with sophisticated camera and recording equipment”  but holding merely a briefcase, I was shocked at how small his equipment was tbh *disappointed face*  😉

To sum up:  Yes I blogged about Nadine Dorries. Yes I tweeted about Nadine Dorries. No, I didnt break the law. No, I didnt lie about her.  Can she say the same about me?

BTW, this made me laugh today.. (Nadine Dorries the Bully, on Bullying)

Where have you been all my life???

Hello lovelies 🙂   Just thought I should “explain myself”!  I haven’t been around much lately owing to the discovery of a place called “Real Life”..  It seems that there is a place where people speak “out loud” to each other #whoknew

Anyway, I’m working 24/7 in a fabulous garden nursery with a crappy internet connection and people with actual faces rather than cartoons.. which is most bizarre.  My feet are still really painful but I think the operation worked as I can weight bear again, I nearly broke into a run today!  

A year ago I hurt my neck, have waited ever since for physiotherapy on it – it’s finally been booked for mid May.. in the meantime, lugging 75litre compost bags about seems to have strengthened it a bit so all being well I can stop walking around with my hand tucked under my chin soon! 

I also seem to have lost my “mojo” for politics. It all got a bit too big for me to handle, the destruction to our services currently being made in the name of austerity has distressed me so much that I have very little fight left.  I truly hope to get back to being the kick-ass girl of last year, perhaps the AV vote will help.  I’ve decided to vote No to AV for one important reason.. Nick Clegg. The man who sold his party out for AV should never be able to justify doing so. In losing the vote, his party will finally wake up to his misguided leadership. In the news today I learnt that “lesser Universities” will not be penalised for charging £9000 for courses as there will be no regulation, despite all the Lib Dem assurances.  So I say NO to AV and NO to the continuation of the Coalition. I also seem to have recovered a little of my fighting spirit.. well I never.. ; )

So that’s me… what have you all been up to?

BBC, Box-ing not so clever… #budget2011

BBC News 23 March 2011

“For the past 150 years British chancellors have been carrying their budget papers in the briefcase first used by William Gladstone.  However, that box was retired last year and George Osborne is the first chancellor to try out a new one.  In time-honoured tradition he held it aloft outside Number 11 Downing street for the media this morning.”

But, erm..

“In 1997 Gordon Brown ordered a new briefcase.  Four trainees from the Rosyth dockyard in Scotland made the case and appeared on the steps of Number 11 on Budget day for a photo-opportunity with the new Chancellor.

Taken from    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/84715.stm

Come on BBC, we know you ‘ve had your own budget problems but get your act together!

 

The Mask Is Slipping And What Lurks Behind It is Ugly.. #Conservatives #BigSociety

Are Tory Councillors loose cannon’s? Increasingly we are hearing about Tory councillor’s putting their hand-made size 9’s in it..

A Westminster Tory Councillor has launched a legal case to have a soup kitchen for the homeless banned… his reason?  Free food encourages homelessness…  Daniel Astaire says “soup runs on the streets in Westminster actually encourage people to sleep rough in central London”  .  Quite right!  I for one am packing my handkerchief up and heading for London where the streets are paved with Campbell’s …

Also flying the bigot flag for the Tory’s is the charming John Fareham who is in deep water for stating “the usual collection of retards in the public gallery spoiling it for real people” after a public meeting in which a £65million cuts package was approved. Mr Fareham has since apologised but this is not the first time he has been reprimanded for his thoughtless comments. Last year saw the Lib Dem-run council’s standards committee ordering a written apology from him before sending him on a training course. He was accused of bullying a female aide, stating that she had “lesbian hair”. Danish-born Inga Jorgensen also claims the politician regularly referred to her as “foreigner”, “woman” and “wonk”.

Since taking power, we are seeing the true face of the Tory’s and I for one am finding it extremely ugly indeed!

Nick Clegg – Hero or Zero? #HousingBenefit #Clegg #DLA #ESA

Conservative Manifesto 2010  : We will ensure that receipt of benefits for those able to work is conditional on their willingness to work.

Which roughly translated into a 10% drop in Local Housing Allowance (Housing Benefit) after one year of unemployment..  This so designed to force encourage the lazy feckers  /  work-shy unemployed to find work in their area or move to seek employment.

Today this policy has been dropped from the proposed bill on Welfare. Nick Clegg is said to have grown a pair stepped in to demand it’s removal as it effectively discourages private landlords from renting to LHA claimants.  Too late.  Private landlord’s already discriminate against LHA claimants and increasingly so since the LHA has been paid to the claimant not directly to the Landlord or Letting Agent.  I have personal experience of this, having “lost” several houses now due to being in receipt of LHA whilst awaiting for and recuperating from my recent operation.

Before we all shout hurrah for Nick and hoist him up on our shoulders there is another angle to this story. This policy was voted for. This policy was wanted by the general public!

Has that hit home?  I remember countless “man on the street” interviews prior to, during and for a long time after the election, calling for this policy.  “Its not right we are paying their rent when they re too lazy” etc etc..  Tabloids headlines screamed about millionaire’s mansions being rented to “no-good scroungers”.  The public WANT the “work-shy” to go out and get a job. Fact.

What the public are getting is a U-Turn on a policy which could possibly work, with and ONLY with substantial investment in employment opportunities.

So what IS being introduced in this bill?  Why, set the REAL no-good, scrounging, lazy fecks to work of course.. the disabled.  Re-assessing “Incapacity Benefit” claimants WAS in the Tory 2010 manifesto sadly: We will re-assess all current claimants of Incapacity Benefit for their readiness to work … Even the way it is phrased implies that they are capable, just are they “ready” and willing?

We all know people who are or have claimed benefits they are not entitled to.  We all know we support some “lazy feckers” but in forcing all health related benefit applicants to be re-assessed and by removing DLA for residential care-home residents we are showing how badly thought out this bill really is.

But the good news is, “Euthenasia Packs” may soon be available from ATOS…