Oxford University denies that UKIP candidate Natasha Bolter ever attended Oxford

[claig]

"Natasha Bolter: Oxford University deny sex scandal Ukip candidate ever attended"

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/11285916/Natasha-Bolter-Oxford-University-deny-sex-scandal-Ukip-candidate-ever-attended.html

Roger Bird, who is a PPE, introduced Natasha Bolter as having defected from Labour and being a PPE too.

I saw her interviewed on BBC Newsnight last night, and I did begin to wonder about Oxford and PPEs. I'm not a big fan of PPEs at the best of times, but Gordon Bennett, I thought to myself.

What's going on?

I like it if people are scared to appear racist. I also like a liberal agenda.

I'm not anything like David Cameron and I am appalled by him and what he and his party are doing to the country, but I certainly don't think UKIP are the alternative. I do not like the debate being framed in that way.

"Anything else?"

No, John Humphrys is like the Oracle at Delphi.

OK, so people aren't being silenced by political correctness. That's a relief. For a moment there I was worried that lots of people were being prevented from saying interesting, thoughtful intelligent things by the liberal agenda. But they aren't. It's just shit stirring. So that's all right then. :)

"He [John Humphrys] said the BBC was ‘frightened of appearing racist’, adding: ‘We were too institutionally nervous of saying, isn’t immigration getting a little bit out of hand? And can we be critical of multiculturalism?

Are you accusing the Oracle at Delphi of shit stirring? Are there no depths to which you are prepared to stoop?

I acknowledged JH. I was wondering whether you had anything else- but it is obviously all the usual "they want to ban Christmas/personhole covers/Windterval/nobody's allowed to eat pork sausages or drink black coffee bullshit. Meh.

Why do you think the BBC, full of the best and the brightest from our top universities, was "frightened" according to JH?

I'm sure they are not frightened to ask for coffee with milk?

"What I mean by local democracy is letting local people vote in local referenda for whether they want their streetlights turned off or not, empowering ordinary people and taking power out of the bureaucrats' hands."

So if they vote for different-sized bins, wasting money - that's OK, then? And who's going to pay for all these referenda? Won't that add extra costs to local administration?

Why not have a body that is chosen by the people to make these decisions on their behalf, saving the cost of all these referenda - and acting on the wishes of the majority? Perhaps that's the way to go...

But why would ordinary people vote for different bin sizes which would waste money?

More power should be given to the people in my opinion because they tend to make more common sense decisions

claig... I've tried to think of ways to phrase this so it doesn't sound patronising but #fail:

Are you sure you know the difference between local council and central government responsibilities? You seem to have them all jumbled up in your head.

And your local referenda:

do you really want to sit down with half a dozen different options of bin size, type, and emptying rate versus the council tax cost...
and then the size, type, and cost of your town's Xmas lights vs cost...
and then the eight different options for the run-down park across the way vs cost...
and the 27 options for building houses on the green belt opposite you, and the uses for the developers' incoming cash thereof...

I mean, I genuinely do care about local issues, and I do get involved, but at some point - life is just too short!?

'Are you sure you know the difference between local council and central government responsibilities? You seem to have them all jumbled up in your head.'

Probably not. I'm not overly interested in local council issues until they start turning mus streetlights off and messing with my bins on teh local level or messing with the price of my 2 for 1s on the national level.

'I mean, I genuinely do care about local issues, and I do get involved, but at some point - life is just too short!?'

Absolutely. I've got better things to do like reading the Daily Mail but if they start messing with my streetlights I want to have the right to say no.

Major local issues - housing developments, waste incinerators, bin collections, street lighting, windfarms, solar panel farms etc

So will every local authority make different decisions based on referenda?

"And, of course, these referenda won't cost a penny..."

They will but that is the price of democracy to prevent them turning our streetlights off without asking us

'So will every local authority make different decisions based on referenda?'

Why not? Meet the meeds of the local people

Don't forget landfill sites, claig, for some reason all the people in favour of unlimited rubbish removal are never in favour of having a landfill site (or indeed an incinerator) in their back yard. How odd.

What about council tax rates?

I am in favour of incinerators, but put it to the people

How many referendums are you imagining every year?

One a week at least

I'm also n favour of weekly national referenda so that they can't stop us buying 2 for 1s as well

I thought thats what public consultations for local issues were for...

Well they never consulted me before they turned my streetlights off, so it isn't working