Inclined to agree whole heartedly with Richard Littlejohn about the Labour poster girls

I think you should believe what you think is right. If that is a lot of what the Guardian says and what Labour say, then that is fine.

But I think it is always worth questioning everything and keeping an open mind. There are millions who think the Guardian is wrong on many issues, and maybe they sometimes have a point.

And the left hate Littlejohn - the best paid journalist in the entire country. The reason that Littlejohn is the best paid journalist is because he writes on political matters and is more effective than practically anybody else in the country at exposing the hypocrisy of politicians and because what he says resonates with millions of readers. That's the only reason they pay him what they pay him. And because he is in tune with millions of people on many things, he may occasionally be right about some of them.

I think you are right not to align yourself with Littlejohn's views, but equally I wouldn't dismiss them all.

I grew up in the North. I ate tinned spaghetti (yum yum spaghetti hoops!)

I went to a state comprehensive. But I also read the Guardian.

So what do you want me to believe or belong to?

Because I sure as FUCK don't want to align myself to the nasty views of Littleprick.

Are there people still defending Workfare?

It. Doesn't. Work.

In June 2012, peer-reviewed research by the DWP concluded that Mandatory Work Activity had “no impact on the likelihood of being employed compared to non-referrals.”. The trial of a scheme involving 6 month long workfare placements was found to also have no effect on helping people find work.

www.boycottworkfare.org/?page_id=663

Seriously. Some policies are just beyond stupid. Workfare doesn't help people find work. It harms their chances of finding work.

Furthermore, it almost certainly increases unemployment and depresses wages, as companies will sooner take on free labour than pay for it.

Anyone who still supports this hair-brained scheme is a complete numpty.

I don't agree with littlejohn with regards to O'Reilly. I am vehemently opposed to workfare. Having to put up with incompetent staff whilst people with experience are dropping cvs in everyday is extremely frustrating when the company you work for want staff for free regardless of whether they are capable of the job.

While I respect what Jack Monroe has achieved there has always been something about her I couldn't warm to after reading her response I know what it is she sounds like a petulant teenager

Thanks, soul2000. Amazing quote

Fucking hell, Claig, I can smell the vinegar from here!
As for Thatcher, sorry, but Elvis Costello had it spot on.

Claig. No there is not much about football the bit about music is about how punk was deemed to be a great threat "ALMOST LIKE TERRORISM" in some politicians eyes. The best chapter is about education in 1975 and the trendy methods that were destroying education.

One of the funniest things, is this quotation from the Guardian 27th October 1975..... In the book,..

The Pupils of William Tyndale Junior School are having a very hard
time trying to cope with their teachers . Some of these teachers are
polite and hard-working. Others are high spirited but bright enough
and likely to do well. A very few, however probably those from problem
homes -are very disturbed, and every pupil knows that just one such
teacher can completely disrupt a classroom...........

Molly Hattersley Progressive Headmistress of Islington Green Comprehensive....

Check out "Countesthorpe" School in Leicestershire..1976...
A Left wing teachers dream.

Yes, that was a great reply by Thatcher. If you look back, it becomes obvious how much of a giant she really was. She was unique.

soul2000, was it you who recommended the Dominic Sandbrook book on the late 70s to me? The only thing that stopped me from buying it was when I saw that it talked about pop music and footballers of the time etc. Is that a big part of the book?

Simon Hughes just becomes more naive the older he gets. I think the
answer to Dennis "BEAST OF BOLSOVER" Skinner about becoming the Governor of Europe hilarious.

I just watched on You Tube the night "Callaghan Fall" in the vote of no confidence in March 1979. That was probably the single most remarkable night in British political history and yet is hardly known.

chibi, tinned spaghetti, it's not a metaphor, it's more tasty than that.

Heinz was the best

It's what we ate when I were a kid. We had white bread and dollops of butter. We didn't live in Primrose Hill, we didn't go to St Pauls's and Westminster School and we didn't read the Guardian, we read the Daily Mail.

is eatibg as spaghetti out of a tin some kind of metaphor, or do you really mean eating spaghetti out of a tin?

At the end of that clip, someone from the Tory benches shouts out to Thatcher

"you could wipe the floor with these people"

and everyone in the House that day knew that a truer word had never been spoken.

The young progressive in that clip was immature and naive in those days, but today he has got even worse.

But unfortunately there is no one like Thatcher to show him the error of his ways.

This is one of the best (of so many great) performances by Maggie at PMQ.

A young progressive (now an old and more famous progressive) challenges her over "income inequality". She puts him right and causes him a fright. After dealing with his question, she gives a great reply about socialism.

Unfortunately, our Conservative class of 2013 need to learn from Thatcher too, because they have forgotten all she knew.

Apparently, it was Thatcher's last time at PMQ. It is great but also sad.

You're right, soul2000

Unfortunately, the Conservative class of 2013, from Eton and wherever else they come from, don't have the class of Thatcher or even of Littlejohn.

Littlejohn ate spaghetti from a tin, and so did Thatcher I bet, just like we did too. We all came up the hard way, the meritocratic way, the social mobility way, not the privileged progressive way.

It's only the Conservative class of 2013 and the Guardian class who never ate what ordinary people ate, which is why we're in the mess we're in.

Claig. I like to see some reruns of Conservative party broadcasts from 1979-. They might frighten a few people about Ed Milliband and his policies
circa 1977 Healey/ Wilson Jim "WHAT CRISIS CALLAGHAN"....

'I have not eaten spaghetti from a tin. Ever.'

You've never had spag bol out of a tin?
Where on earth have you bin?
Now Littlejohn lives in Florida and deservedly earns a million
But once he ate spaghetti from a tin like an ordinary civilian
But there is one thing he never ever did back in those days
Even in a drunken stupour, he maintained rigorous ways
He read only the Daily Mail and never read the Guardian
Which is why today he deservedly earns a million

For a start, those whom the Guardianistas disdain as ‘ordinary people’ don’t eat pasta — they eat spaghetti out of tins."
I take The Guardian. I am an ordinary person and even when on benefits, I have not eaten spaghetti from a tin. Ever.

The Tories should not hire Littlejohn. But they do need to deposh. Get more working class Tories to the very top of the Cabinet.

Less hugging of hoodies, huskies and Lib Dems.

No more wonkish pursuits like the 'happiness index'. Let's have some straightforward Thatcherite policies: tax cuts, red tape cuts, crime crackdowns, unskilled/illegal immigration crackdowns, and union busting.

If Cameron seriously wants to win the next election, he should surely appoint Theresa May to be Chancellor (despite Osborne doing a decent job, he is voter repellent).

I've not read Littlebrain's article but tbh he wouldn't recognise the truth if it introduced itself to him by biting his bollocks.

sun editor rebekah wade has other, more pressing concerns at the moment claig

lol

"Richard Littlejohn is the best-known and highest-paid newspaper columnist in the country."

...

Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre could barely disguise his glee when he poached Littlejohn last year from the Sun, where he had worked for 13 years. Littlejohn, said Dacre, was returning to his "spiritual home". Exactly how many Sun readers Littlejohn brought with him to the Mail is another matter.

There was also the suggestion that some Mail readers weren't happy with his "spivvy" style of writing, and thought his signing showed the paper was going downmarket. With a contract worth around £1m a year, Littlejohn won't be losing any sleep over it.

Sun editor Rebekah Wade certainly had her work cut out replacing him.

www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jul/17/mediaguardiantop100200630

You've got to hand it to our system. A man from an ordinary background who earns more than all the PPEs and Old Etonian journalists who write for all our other newspapers.

I read somewhere that Littlejohn earns over £1 million, I think.

I was surprised, because for what he does in making a mockery of New Labour and making Mail readers laugh, he is underpaid by a substantial amount!

"big brush strokes" = telling lies about a real, identifiable person. That's pretty bad. Especially when you are using those lies to make a political point. He lies about Jack and he lies about Cait.

He wouldn't have to interview them to write about them but he could do some research, ffs. There's only one lazy person on that page and it's the one trousering what I guess must be at least a six-figure sum ever year for writing it. (See, I managed to make it clear I don't know exactly how much he gets - it's not hard to be honest with any potential readers.)

"It wasn't a laptop, I blogged from my mobile phone."

OK, but aren't these fairly minor errors to the point Littlejohn is trying to make.

Littlejohn says

"This is a typical Guardianista’s idea of what ‘ordinary people’ should eat. Do they really think the ‘poor’ are going to sit down in front of The Great British Bake Off on their 52-inch, taxpayer-funded plasma TVs, and tuck into a plate of Kale Pesto Pasta?

For a start, those whom the Guardianistas disdain as ‘ordinary people’ don’t eat pasta — they eat spaghetti out of tins."

Jack says

"I don't have a 52-inch plasma TV."

But he didn't say she did.

Littlejohn says
"To her credit, Jack has now embarked on a media career."

Yes, Littlejohn got some things wrong, but he is trying to make a political point about Labour and so is using big brush strokes and not going into the detail.

Maybe the Mail will get the facts right as the election approaches.