Loz

Tsk. Polemics is, of course, an English portmanteau derived from the phrase 'Polish microphones'. It describes speeding around in a red car with a megaphone, harassing anyone you think looks like a underpaid Polish leaflet deliverer.

Not really, SimonM. I think that, had there only been one debate, then you would have seen more of an effect for the LibDems. The LibDems support had been slowly ebbing away in the weeks following their peak just after the first debate. It gave the Lab/Tory papers and the election machines time to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt. On the other hand, I think Cameron's rather solid showing in the last debate gave the Tories a late extra couple of percent. And Gordon's rather scary attempt at smiling during all three debates put the bejeesus up everyone! If they ever want to do a remake of 'Psycho', they could do worse than cast Mr Brown's smile.

Heh, heh. jenny1840 you know as much about history and philosophy as you do about politics. The word 'anarchy' is derived from a Greek word, but they didn't invent the concept. Next you'll be telling that the ancient Greeks got together with the Romans and invented the television.

Oh dear. A quick totting up looks like Southwark has indeed gone to Labour control. A bit of a disaster, really. Shows that the age-old tactic of buying votes from the middle classes still works. I had hoped it would stay roughly the same. I'm a big fan of NOC councils. Keeps some of the more loony policies and ideas out. Still, one redeeming point is it seems that James Barber has kept his seat. The thought on the Beeb is that council results will be particularly open to challenge due to the voting shambles. Anyone know if Southwark polling stations suffered?

Given the results, I hope it is Cameron. The less parties involved the better. Lab+LibDem+SDP will still fall short of a majority, so they will have to bargain with parties from Ulster and/or Wales. Tory/LibDem is the only way we'll get anything approaching a stable and effective government.

A colleague of my missus turned up early at his station on the way to work. The ballots there had not been delivered and were not expected until 10am! Shambles.

The big news is the polling debacle. Expect any city seat with a 1000 majority and maybe a 2000 majority to be challenged in court. This is going to make an uncertain situation much, much worse. Looks like the LibDem effect (lots of support failing to transfer into actual votes) has trumped the Clegg effect. The high turnout seems to be going against the LibDems and for the Tories. If Lab + Lib < majority then the Tories will hold all the cards. LibDems only have leverage if they can play both parties off against each other.

Interesting possibility... What if the Tories win exactly 325 seats today? i.e. one short of an majority. The constituency of Thirsk and Malton, up in Yorkshire, don't vote until the 27th May due to the fact that one of the candidates died a couple of weeks ago. They are, on paper, a safe Tory seat, but have been known to return LibDem candidates in by-elections. They could be the kingmakers - or breakers - yet!

Ugh. Yoof anarchists today - don't know anything. If you want your spray paint message to last, it's Plasti-Kote or nothing. Next you'll be saying that Doc Martin's aren't worth the bother (or is that bovver?) and any pair of big, heavy boots are fine. Honestly. There are rules to this anarchy thing you know.

Was that a spray can made by a worker's co-operative (i.e. one that only works occasionally), or one made by an evil (by terribly useful) capitalist corporation?

Bit of an assumption there, pk? There is no evidence to say there was any racist abuse and, after listening many times I agree - almost - with Jeremy. I think he says, "How many is there of us". Which does suggest there was an exchange before the cameras rolled, but we don't know what. But yes, to answer your question, the BNP are scum and anyone who spits on someone else is scum. You can argue as long as you like as to which is the better or worse scum, but at the end of the day they are all scum.

I don't think there much danger of the likes of him running the country. But being Barking and Daganham area there's a pretty big danger he might be running the council. They currently have 15 council seats of 51, so by tonight they may well be the largest party on the council, if not in full control. It really doesn't bear thinking about.

Local Thugs vs BNP Thugs It's kicking off in Barking. I can't make out what the BNP guy says at the start, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a friendly 'hello'. Even though it was a BNP candidate, I tend to agree that if someone spat at me like that, I'd give them a good look at a size 9 as well. The bloke in the stripy hoody wasn't exactly helping his mates out, though, dancing around the sides at a safe distance.

Nero - the lady was, by the sounds of it, drunk in charge of a keyboard...

You forgot the Greens - you can't do this you can't do that

... says the writer whose standard offering is to needlessly quote a couple of screenfuls of text just to add a humourless non sequitur at the bottom.

Cool. Nice to see the new local nutter is not going to be a one-thread wonder. Stick around Kev - you're entertaining, if nothing else. Hang on a moment - is this *really* KD? First, not slavishly haunting his own thread and then he comes on here and forms a complete sentence, properly spelt and punctuated. I smell a rat! Oh, hang on... the question mark missing. It's KD. Phew.

Yes, but there are still upwards of 50 cameras in Sainsburys, of which I am guessing exactly zero are monitored on a regular basis. Stick more cameras in Primark and you will get the same non-effect. Poor kylie6097 will still have her purse nicked. It is ineffective. Even the Met admits that the crime fighting capabilities of CCTV are non-existent. And this is solving crime, where at least CCTV recorded images can offer come help. But preventing crime? Next to useless. And it's worth remembering that Britain has over 20% of the world's total CCTV cameras. Has it worked? Do you see the crime rate plummeting? No, me meither.

I think so. There is no other logical conclusion. Mind you, logic was never a highlight of this thread, right from the off. On the other hand, KD's playground taunts are classics in their own right. Some of them I've not heard for decades!

Next time you are in Sainsburys, have a look around at the extraordinary number of CCTV cameras - there must be about 50 of them. Then wonder how it would be possible to monitor them all. Then ask them what their weekly shoplifting bill is. CCTV is practically useless for identification (as the picture quality is so low), so unless you know who did the crime and when (i.e. you are actively tracking a known shoplifter) it has little purpose. CCTV is well noted for preventing sod all crime. It's a salesman's wet dream - expensive, useless, but everybody wants it.

Here's some Germans, sounding like America in the 50's, doing their take on some modern songs. Heard them a could of weeks ago in a bar in the Netherlands. Their version of 'Umbrella' is pretty damn good, too.

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So who did *you* report it to? (Since you asked > the leaflet deliverer about his pay, and knew that > 'steps are being taken'.) I notice DavidH that you neatly sidestepped this question. Is the answer too embarrassing, perchance?

That's brilliant ruffers. I think it truly got to the very spirit of this OP with the awesome: COULD NICK CLEGG TURN COMMON SENSE AND DECENCY GAY?

Nggh. Correct, Silverfox - I should have said David Milliband. Though Ed has less of the slime factor about him.

Never underestimate the '>' - after all, it's greater than all other symbols...