Andrew Marr is paid £600k to spout his pseudo-communist nonsense on the BBC

[longfingernails]

Sorry I've been away for so long, but we had a family illness... thankfully all is OK now.

Anyway, I was outraged to learn that Andrew Marr is paid such massive sums of our money to read out Guardian editorials on the BBC - and we are not able to do anything about it. A fair salary for his job would be more like £60k.

If he wants to earn more, he could go and work for a private broadcaster.

All BBC salaries should be disclosed, in full, as soon as possible. Then, all BBC salaries should be capped at a maximum of £100k.

I do hope no-one missed me too much .

newwave, couldn't you see that all of the media were gushing with praise at every vacuous statement that Clegg made, such as "you're the bosses", "we want a fairer society" etc. His polls went through the roof in every paper, he was a phenomenon. They wanted you to be taken in by the phenomenon.

georgeorwell, I don't know the background of all of their journalists. Of course, they aren't all from Oxbridge, but a very high proportion are. I don't read the paper and don't pay too much attention to them. But I did once read their comments section, where their readers were demanding to see the "list", which apparently is a list of their journalists and their schools and universities. Some of their knowledgeable readers listed lots of their journalists and a huge proportion were Oxbridge graduates.

I've got nothing against Oxbridge graduates, they are the elite of the country. I am just pointing out that I doubt these clever people were taken in by Clegg's "you're the bosses" statements.

Claig, you make a fair point, I am a long term LD supporter although I will vote now Labour until the "Orange book entryists" are outed.

I know an LD local councillor who tells me that most LD councillors and activists are appalled at the antics of Clegg and Alexande.

newwave what's this orange book?

I agree with you newwave, lots of good LibDems have been taken for a ride, just as the public were when they did a volte-face on university tuition fees.

you want the libdems out of the coalition i suppose claig so's the radical neocon agenda can be implemented more smoothly without having to appease the pseudo wooly liberals every so often and throw them a few scraps.

but without them cameron et al would still be in opposition and rest assured if new elections were called now the tories would outright lose. the only way they could get their feet back in the door was to cut a dodgy deal with clegg's lot.

and can you tell me what this orange book's all about? was too pregnant and wrapped up in italian politics to follow elections and aftermath of it too closely.

I don't like neocons, they are all ex-Trotskyists.

I think the reason that the Guardian supported Clegg was to ensure the result of the election was a Coalition. I think the Guardian along with the Establishment wanted a Coalition, so that the public could back the neocon agenda en masse (i.e. via teh combination of 2 parties rather than one). They didn't need Clegg's lot, Cameron never even mentioned Mrs. Duffy in the debates. They wanted Clegg's lot, as did the Guardian.
There won't be an early election and the Coalition will stay in power for a long time, just as I suspect the Guardian wanted.

Orange book,

Best go to Wikipedia for a more detailed explanation but this is a short version:

Orange book Liberals believe in the free market and privatisation or part privatisation of (most) public services. The opposing LD faction is the Beveridge group (whom I support) who believe in a social market economy with the private sector kept out of the NHS and other public provision as much as possible. Public service not private profit.

i hazard a guess that charles kennedy was of the beveridge group and clegg of the orange hue? i liked kennedy and his alcohol prob was used to oust him was it not?

or was charles kennedy of the beverage group?

that was a low blow but couldn't resist.

He probably had a foot in both camps, he is a LibDem

Claig. What about Douglas Murray surely he's not an ex Trotskyist? I would be very surprised!

Do you thik Labour will see the likes of John Prescott in postion of power ever again?

No, Douglas Murray isn't. I think he went to Eton. No, I really mean the American neocons who surrounded George Bush. I don't think we really have any neocons in the UK, except possibly in the Labour party.

No the likes of John Prescott will never see power again in the Labour Party, because he is working class.

A lot of people were taken in by Clegg, but more importantly were taken in by the Lib Dems in their constituency, especially those standing in university towns who made personal pledges not to vote for an increase in student fees.

Comp, yes I do, they appeal to the "common man" just as Pickles does for the Sun reader faction of the Tories.

This is not to denigrate anybody by the way. I quite like JP cannot say the same about the Golf Club bore that is Pickles.

complimentary, this explains that the neoconservatives are really leftists who became new (neo) converts to conservativism. They are not traditional conservatives, they come from a leftist background

"New" conservatives initially approached this view from the political left. The forerunners of neoconservatism were most often socialists or sometimes liberals who strongly supported the Allied cause in World War II, and who were influenced by the Great Depression-era ideas of the New Deal, trade unionism, and Trotskyism, particularly those who followed the political ideas of Max Shachtman.[citation needed] A number of future neoconservatives, such as Jeane Kirkpatrick,[citation needed] were Shachtmanites in their youth; some were later involved with Social Democrats USA.'

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoconservatism

Complimentary, you are right, Douglas Murray has written in defence of the neoconservatives amd has been described as "Britain's only neoconservative". I don't know enough about him, but I suspect that that is because he supports what the neocons in America believe in. The neocons in America were a powerful group with a lot of influence, so it is not surprising that they will have supporters here, but the fact that he has been described as "Britain's only neoconservative", shows that they are few and far on this side of the Atlantic.

few and far between

claig, a bit of logic twisting there.

A former leftist who becomes a NeoCon is as much a NeoCon as anyone who has always been a NeoCon. The only (small) difference is that former lefties should know better.

yes you are right, they are neocons. What I think I meant is that they are not conservatives, they are this distinct set of neocons. Most of the Republican Party in America were never really fans of the neocons, because they didn't have the same values as conservatives, due to their leftist background.

Mark Mardell of the BBC even asked if the leftist Blair was a neocon. It is ex-Trotskyists like Christopher Hitchens that most often support the neocons.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2907115.stm

claig I don't think Neocon would ever translate from the US to the UK for a variety of reasons, but seem to remember Hague discussing 'compassionate conservatism' when he was opposition something or other and visiting the US to research.

you are quite fixated with hitchens aren't you? he was/is a marxist and is not in any shape or form a neocon.

you confuse his misguided support for the war in iraq (which, i believe, he has since come to regret) with a wholesale buying into the neocon schtick.

Douglas Murray is a strange guy, He was an Anglican, then became an atheist he says after 'reading the Koran!@ Hasn't he written a book Neoconservatism and why we need it?

I think it's sad that we will no see a (true) working class person like Prescott in power again. If you look at most poitical parties, the leaders are not working class.
UKIP's Nigel Farage is very much a public schoolboy. When that party had elections recently, I noted that Paul Nuttal ( I think from Liverpool) came fourth. Although he is deputy leader. I googled him and he too has a History degree. It seems anyone who gets on in politics is very educated and I suppose it's expected.
I personally have nothing against public schoolboys, I'm married to one! Must be careful of what one says!

I think you are right ilovemydogandMrObama. It is mainly a US phenomenon. Some people say that they took over the Republican Party and implemented their agenda.

comp, did you see Farage on question time?.

I know you support UKIP but Farage makes me cringe when he speaks.