On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... 13:58 - May 9 with 105844 views | hubble | ..posted by a good friend of mine on Facebook, thought I'd share it on here. He's a former professional footballer (briefly for Birmingham City) and a former copper, working mainly out of Camden police station. He grew up in Kilburn/Queens Park. He's now a writer (among other things). Worth a read I think, hope you enjoy, whether you agree with him or not, even when he veers off-topic... "Thoughts of the Week (part 1) Let’s start with a subheading. ‘Dear, oh dear Diane Abbot!’ In the upcoming General Election campaign and apart from the ‘Leader’ (no, not Gary Glitter) no one is more important for the Labour Party campaign than the Shadow Home Secretary. Why’s this? You ask. The reason is obvious: Theresa May —the strong woman, Ms subtle, but steely - was the former Home Secretary. A position which she used to inflict near terminal ravages of the nation’s police forces. Under her auspices we saw numbers cut, benefits cut and police stations closed willy-nilly to cash in, short-term, on the booming (especially in London) property market. The short-sightedness of this policy is astounding. No matter the so-called austerity budget (which only seems to apply to the working classes, while the privileged elite continue to live the life of Riley) the question must be asked as to what will happen when there’s some serious social unrest — and you can feel it stirring. Remember 2011 when the riots broke out? We had anarchy and nihilism on the streets and the police force didn’t cope with it at all. Instead we had a grand mopping up campaign. Suddenly all those poor silly students who had been demonised as hard-core criminals after they smashed the windows of the Tory HQ — and received ridiculously harsh prison sentences for what were in the main first offences - were kicked out of the pokey and replaced by the new batch of rioters. The Criminal Justice system ground to a halt, the prison’s overflowed. The courts were as ram-jam packed as a back-in-the-day David Rodigan dance. In response what did the great Theresa May do? She further decimated the police force. She did the same to the prison service. The vaunted Border Force, our first defence, is comically short of manpower and morale as they attempt to hire staff on Mickey-Mouse contracts. Labour should be slaughtering Theresa May on what she’s done. Instead we got that car crash of an interview on LBC. To be honest I resisted calls to listen to it for a time. Some of my more right-leaning pals were raving about it, but I thought they were overreacting due to a general contempt for the Hackney MP. I was wrong. When I actually got round to listening to it I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was stunningly incompetent, mind-blowingly nonsensical, embarrassing and shocking. Is this the Shadow Home Secretary who’s going to lead the challenge to Theresa May’s record? She should have stood down immediately and if not the great leader should have forced her hand, no matter past rendezvous in the sack. Of course it didn’t happen and Labour under Jeremy Corbyn has no hope in this election. What a shame it all is because there are loads of issues that they should be taking the government to task on. Just look at that bumbling Tommy Cooper impersonator of a Foreign Secretary, a million miles removed from a serious statesman: Mr Retraction — an embarrassment to the nation. I’m voting Labour in the coming election, but not for Jeremy, more for the thought of the millions of people who are going to suffer under the coming five years of Tory rule: the working men and women who haven’t seen their wages rise, in real terms, for the last thirty years, while the fat cats, sharks and speculators are minted; the students starting out life saddled with debt; the millions who’ll never be able to afford a home; and in honour of the National Health Service, soon to be dismantled further, but remaining the brightest light in the nation’s modern history. What a rotten, unfair and unbalanced society we’ve become. | | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:25 - May 26 with 1719 views | stowmarketrange |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:13 - May 26 by BucksRanger | Re zero hours contracts, can we all stop blaming just the Tories for them. These contracts have been around for at least 20 years and Tony Blair promised to end them but did nothing about them once in power. Here's the relevant paragraph from his party conference speech in 1995. "A Labour government will be part of the European Social Chapter. Part-time employees will no longer be treated as second class citizens. There will be an end to zero-hours contracts. Young people will be properly protected against under age working and joining a trade union will be a matter of free choice, but where that choice is exercised, there will be a right to representation and, where the majority want it, a right to union recognition." And here's a link to his complete speech in case you think I'm making things up. http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=201 Apportion blame equally between both parties if you must. They are both equally culpable of doing eff all for the poor bastards who are stuck on these tawdry contracts. |
So Blair wanted to end zero hour contracts and the tories reckon they are good for workers and employers.How do you manage to spin the blame on labour for that one? | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:27 - May 26 with 1711 views | stevec | Jezza getting a grilling about terrorism from Andrew Neil. Fck me, if he gets in, we'll all be wearing the full burka and singing rebel songs in Arabic. On the plus side, my 1/2 bet on him blaming us for the Manchester atrocity has come in. | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:30 - May 26 with 1704 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:13 - May 26 by BucksRanger | Re zero hours contracts, can we all stop blaming just the Tories for them. These contracts have been around for at least 20 years and Tony Blair promised to end them but did nothing about them once in power. Here's the relevant paragraph from his party conference speech in 1995. "A Labour government will be part of the European Social Chapter. Part-time employees will no longer be treated as second class citizens. There will be an end to zero-hours contracts. Young people will be properly protected against under age working and joining a trade union will be a matter of free choice, but where that choice is exercised, there will be a right to representation and, where the majority want it, a right to union recognition." And here's a link to his complete speech in case you think I'm making things up. http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org/speech-archive.htm?speech=201 Apportion blame equally between both parties if you must. They are both equally culpable of doing eff all for the poor bastards who are stuck on these tawdry contracts. |
But Labour are the only ones saying they will do anything about them | |
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:31 - May 26 with 1697 views | easthertsr |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:27 - May 26 by stevec | Jezza getting a grilling about terrorism from Andrew Neil. Fck me, if he gets in, we'll all be wearing the full burka and singing rebel songs in Arabic. On the plus side, my 1/2 bet on him blaming us for the Manchester atrocity has come in. |
Watch Neill's interview with May and then Corbyn's. 1-0 Labour! | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:32 - May 26 with 1694 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:27 - May 26 by stevec | Jezza getting a grilling about terrorism from Andrew Neil. Fck me, if he gets in, we'll all be wearing the full burka and singing rebel songs in Arabic. On the plus side, my 1/2 bet on him blaming us for the Manchester atrocity has come in. |
Ha! nice spin and utter bollox | |
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:33 - May 26 with 1689 views | BucksRanger |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:25 - May 26 by stowmarketrange | So Blair wanted to end zero hour contracts and the tories reckon they are good for workers and employers.How do you manage to spin the blame on labour for that one? |
Well he became Prime Minister in 1997 and remained P.M. until 2007. In all that time he did nothing to ban these contracts. Either he couldn't manage to (unlikely), or forgot to (unlikely), or perhaps, just perhaps, he was telling porkies to his party and wanted the contracts to remain in place all along for all the lowly paid workers to benefit from them. Yeah, that must have been his thinking, I guess. | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:34 - May 26 with 1688 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:31 - May 26 by easthertsr | Watch Neill's interview with May and then Corbyn's. 1-0 Labour! |
Yeah no quivering lip from JC I've been watching May over in Europe, looking around like a lost lamb cacking herself [Post edited 26 May 2017 19:35]
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:34 - May 26 with 1686 views | easthertsr |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:32 - May 26 by 2Thomas2Bowles | Ha! nice spin and utter bollox |
I can see them in Tory HQ all running round like Clive Dunn in Dad's Army. Don't panic! Don't panic! | | | | Login to get fewer ads
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:36 - May 26 with 1677 views | QPR_John |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:25 - May 26 by stowmarketrange | So Blair wanted to end zero hour contracts and the tories reckon they are good for workers and employers.How do you manage to spin the blame on labour for that one? |
Blair said he wanted to end zero hour contracts but in the 10 years he was in a position to do so he did not. Spin it however you want when Labour had the opportunity to end zero hour contracts, for whatever reason, they chose not too | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:47 - May 26 with 1649 views | BucksRanger |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:36 - May 26 by QPR_John | Blair said he wanted to end zero hour contracts but in the 10 years he was in a position to do so he did not. Spin it however you want when Labour had the opportunity to end zero hour contracts, for whatever reason, they chose not too |
And Blair's mate Gordon Brown, the fence post tortoise, also had another 3 years in which to abolish them and he did eff all too. So with a total of 13 years in power the Labour Party did nothing, not a bloody thing, to get rid of zero hours contracts. It's no wonder they stopped being the party of the working man. | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:52 - May 26 with 1633 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:47 - May 26 by BucksRanger | And Blair's mate Gordon Brown, the fence post tortoise, also had another 3 years in which to abolish them and he did eff all too. So with a total of 13 years in power the Labour Party did nothing, not a bloody thing, to get rid of zero hours contracts. It's no wonder they stopped being the party of the working man. |
Yeah well no one would want Blair or Brown back and that's why Labour had to change not just keep following their Tory politics | |
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:31 - May 26 with 1572 views | Cammington |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 16:04 - May 26 by hoof_hearted | Livingstone only had the power of the mayor of London. If he'd had control over the treasury and the army and police...*shudder*. This really is beyond a joke. It isn't a funny little rebellion like voting for a bad singer on X Factor. All of us who have the intelligence to be reading this sort of thread need to convince the young and the disaffected that life really can get hugely worse for them and if McDonnell is chancellor it will. For them and their children. Take a look at Greece, Cuba and the most Corbynistic economy of Venezuela. Their rich are suffering but has life got any better for the poor? No - worse. Envy cures nothing. Meanwhile, peculiarly, Eastern Europeans aren't begging for a return to McDonnell's utopian economy model. Who cares if it was a plummy voiced bloke who explained to McDonnell that issuing "a bond" to fund over expenditure is called government borrowing. McDonnell shouts louder and says it isn't the same thing. Vote Corbyn and be let your children repay those "bonds" and be certain of a shittier life while the IMF run our country (it happened in the 70's so don't think it won't again). Hold your nose if you have to (and I do), vote Conservative and put up with it for 5 years. If Labour get themselves sorted or a new centre left party gets started they'll walk into Downing Street in 5 years time. Keep your powder dry. Dorse - knob gag, quick - I'm exhausted. However unpalatable it is, evry sane person needs to vote conservative regardless of their own leanings so that we can get back to |
Choose Conservative? Choose Austerity. Choose £435 billion pounds of quantitative easing. Choose the largest transfer of wealth from society to banks and big businesses in history. Choose the highest level of national debt in history. Choose a police state that demands the right to look at anything you've ever spouted online. Choose unaffordable housing. Choose private landlords fleecing you because they were born at the right time and control all the housing stock. Choose dementia tax and leaving nothing but crippling debt when you finally shuffle off your mortal coil. Choose £28k of student debt and then hope and pray you either make it big enough to pay it off or earn the national 'living' wage so you never have to touch the feckin thing. Choose zero hour contracts. Choose disability benefit cut and pray nothing debilitating happens to you. Choose food banks. Choose the Ivory trade. Choose Fox Hunting. Choose cutting the NHS into a not fit for purpose shell until the white knights of privatisation arrive to 'fix' it. Choose subsidising the transport infrastructure of Germany, The Netherlands and fecking France. Choose selling guns, bombs and whatever the feck else BAE have concocted to Saudi Arabia to drop on innocent people. Choose an education system that sees state school funding cuts but creates money elsewhere for grammar schools. Choose Conservative. [Post edited 26 May 2017 20:32]
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:35 - May 26 with 1567 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:31 - May 26 by Cammington | Choose Conservative? Choose Austerity. Choose £435 billion pounds of quantitative easing. Choose the largest transfer of wealth from society to banks and big businesses in history. Choose the highest level of national debt in history. Choose a police state that demands the right to look at anything you've ever spouted online. Choose unaffordable housing. Choose private landlords fleecing you because they were born at the right time and control all the housing stock. Choose dementia tax and leaving nothing but crippling debt when you finally shuffle off your mortal coil. Choose £28k of student debt and then hope and pray you either make it big enough to pay it off or earn the national 'living' wage so you never have to touch the feckin thing. Choose zero hour contracts. Choose disability benefit cut and pray nothing debilitating happens to you. Choose food banks. Choose the Ivory trade. Choose Fox Hunting. Choose cutting the NHS into a not fit for purpose shell until the white knights of privatisation arrive to 'fix' it. Choose subsidising the transport infrastructure of Germany, The Netherlands and fecking France. Choose selling guns, bombs and whatever the feck else BAE have concocted to Saudi Arabia to drop on innocent people. Choose an education system that sees state school funding cuts but creates money elsewhere for grammar schools. Choose Conservative. [Post edited 26 May 2017 20:32]
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Post of the year. | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:43 - May 26 with 1551 views | DannytheR |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 19:47 - May 26 by BucksRanger | And Blair's mate Gordon Brown, the fence post tortoise, also had another 3 years in which to abolish them and he did eff all too. So with a total of 13 years in power the Labour Party did nothing, not a bloody thing, to get rid of zero hours contracts. It's no wonder they stopped being the party of the working man. |
But back in 2017, if you feel strongly about zero hours contracts and want to vote to end them, it's now a Labour manifesto commitment. "2. Ban zero hours contracts — so that every worker gets a guaranteed number of hours each week." | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:44 - May 26 with 1547 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:31 - May 26 by Cammington | Choose Conservative? Choose Austerity. Choose £435 billion pounds of quantitative easing. Choose the largest transfer of wealth from society to banks and big businesses in history. Choose the highest level of national debt in history. Choose a police state that demands the right to look at anything you've ever spouted online. Choose unaffordable housing. Choose private landlords fleecing you because they were born at the right time and control all the housing stock. Choose dementia tax and leaving nothing but crippling debt when you finally shuffle off your mortal coil. Choose £28k of student debt and then hope and pray you either make it big enough to pay it off or earn the national 'living' wage so you never have to touch the feckin thing. Choose zero hour contracts. Choose disability benefit cut and pray nothing debilitating happens to you. Choose food banks. Choose the Ivory trade. Choose Fox Hunting. Choose cutting the NHS into a not fit for purpose shell until the white knights of privatisation arrive to 'fix' it. Choose subsidising the transport infrastructure of Germany, The Netherlands and fecking France. Choose selling guns, bombs and whatever the feck else BAE have concocted to Saudi Arabia to drop on innocent people. Choose an education system that sees state school funding cuts but creates money elsewhere for grammar schools. Choose Conservative. [Post edited 26 May 2017 20:32]
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And that just the good stuff. | |
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:54 - May 26 with 1517 views | Brightonhoop | Can't find the link but Business Insider today quoted their own research predicting May will be returned with a majority of 2. Suggesting she has lost small business on the recent NI hike and U turn, and that big business is increasingly concerned on direction, austerity and the falling value of the pound. Echoed elsewhere business wants spending on infrastructure projects and is more aligned with Corbyn policies. Interesting times we are living through, certainly. | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 21:06 - May 26 with 1494 views | BucksRanger |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:43 - May 26 by DannytheR | But back in 2017, if you feel strongly about zero hours contracts and want to vote to end them, it's now a Labour manifesto commitment. "2. Ban zero hours contracts — so that every worker gets a guaranteed number of hours each week." |
You seem to think I'm not going to. I was just pointing out that politicians of all hues are blatant liars and that you cannot blame the Tories alone for zero hours contracts. The Labour party had 13 consecutive years in power when they could have done something about them but they chose not to. I've no idea whether Jeremy Corbin will be any more honest than Blair and Brown if he gets in power and nor does anyone else. BTW - I'm an undecided at present but leaning towards voting Labour for the first time in 40+ years. Won't matter though as I'm in a very safe conservative seat. | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 21:13 - May 26 with 1462 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 21:06 - May 26 by BucksRanger | You seem to think I'm not going to. I was just pointing out that politicians of all hues are blatant liars and that you cannot blame the Tories alone for zero hours contracts. The Labour party had 13 consecutive years in power when they could have done something about them but they chose not to. I've no idea whether Jeremy Corbin will be any more honest than Blair and Brown if he gets in power and nor does anyone else. BTW - I'm an undecided at present but leaning towards voting Labour for the first time in 40+ years. Won't matter though as I'm in a very safe conservative seat. |
I've said before I'm in a safe Labour area and I hate the Blairite Kunt | |
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 22:30 - May 26 with 1370 views | essextaxiboy |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:31 - May 26 by Cammington | Choose Conservative? Choose Austerity. Choose £435 billion pounds of quantitative easing. Choose the largest transfer of wealth from society to banks and big businesses in history. Choose the highest level of national debt in history. Choose a police state that demands the right to look at anything you've ever spouted online. Choose unaffordable housing. Choose private landlords fleecing you because they were born at the right time and control all the housing stock. Choose dementia tax and leaving nothing but crippling debt when you finally shuffle off your mortal coil. Choose £28k of student debt and then hope and pray you either make it big enough to pay it off or earn the national 'living' wage so you never have to touch the feckin thing. Choose zero hour contracts. Choose disability benefit cut and pray nothing debilitating happens to you. Choose food banks. Choose the Ivory trade. Choose Fox Hunting. Choose cutting the NHS into a not fit for purpose shell until the white knights of privatisation arrive to 'fix' it. Choose subsidising the transport infrastructure of Germany, The Netherlands and fecking France. Choose selling guns, bombs and whatever the feck else BAE have concocted to Saudi Arabia to drop on innocent people. Choose an education system that sees state school funding cuts but creates money elsewhere for grammar schools. Choose Conservative. [Post edited 26 May 2017 20:32]
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I did , this afternoon , popped it in the post on my way to Gatwick . I am out ...carry on all ... | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 22:52 - May 26 with 1347 views | essextaxiboy |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:43 - May 26 by DannytheR | But back in 2017, if you feel strongly about zero hours contracts and want to vote to end them, it's now a Labour manifesto commitment. "2. Ban zero hours contracts — so that every worker gets a guaranteed number of hours each week." |
Zero hrs worked well for my son when he was doing his A Levels . He worked for Sports Direct , they offered the hrs on a rota basis and he got 20 odd per week so fine for a student . They were happy to work around revision sessions , exams and Rangers games . Despite the bad publicity they got I can only go on personal experience. I knew someone who runs a security firm , one week he needed 100 blokes for a fashion show the next a dozen for two or three birthday parties , how do you employ for that ? The bad bit is employers insisting on exclusivity ,that should be illegal, apart from that didnt it used to be called freelancing ? | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 22:54 - May 26 with 1341 views | johncharles |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 22:30 - May 26 by essextaxiboy | I did , this afternoon , popped it in the post on my way to Gatwick . I am out ...carry on all ... |
Did you have a smug grin on your face at the time ? | |
| Strong and stable my arse. |
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 22:57 - May 26 with 1335 views | essextaxiboy |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 18:56 - May 26 by 2Thomas2Bowles | Well the tories sure have fecked future generations. Debt, no homes zero hour contract , school funding cuts, want to stop school meals the list goes on only the deluded would believe the tories won't make things even worse for them. it's what they do and have been doing for the last 7 years. [Post edited 26 May 2017 18:57]
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They dont want to stop free school meals , those entitled will still get a mid day meal free . They are offering a free breakfast for every child , aguably better in so much as the child may not have eaten since the day before . Although I always thought it was a parents job to feed their own kids , even if they went without themselves ...... | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 23:15 - May 26 with 1304 views | essextaxiboy |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 22:54 - May 26 by johncharles | Did you have a smug grin on your face at the time ? |
No , before I did it I gave it some real thought this afternoon . My Tory candidate has a voting record that is too right wing for me . Labour was out , When their shadow chancellor throws the Red Book across the dispatch box , the Communist Party dont bother to field candidates and they have a record with money that they have they are following something that I just dont believe in . I read the Greens manifesto but kept thinking about the fck up in Brighton and the UKIP bloke lives in Hemel FFS . Given my Brexit views Timmy was out . So back to square one , holding my nose slightly because of the candidate . | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 23:23 - May 26 with 1290 views | essextaxiboy |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 20:54 - May 26 by Brightonhoop | Can't find the link but Business Insider today quoted their own research predicting May will be returned with a majority of 2. Suggesting she has lost small business on the recent NI hike and U turn, and that big business is increasingly concerned on direction, austerity and the falling value of the pound. Echoed elsewhere business wants spending on infrastructure projects and is more aligned with Corbyn policies. Interesting times we are living through, certainly. |
I dont think its their own research , its You Gov poll for the Times . It probably reflects the social care mess up . The next one by the same pollsters is out on Sunday I believe , If Labour are still close despite Jezza telling us that the bombings , mow downs , and shootings are our fault then lying to Andrew Neill about his gathering with the IRA to honour blokes who tried to blow up a police station then you might be in business .. | | | |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 23:23 - May 26 with 1286 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 22:30 - May 26 by essextaxiboy | I did , this afternoon , popped it in the post on my way to Gatwick . I am out ...carry on all ... |
I am out ...carry on all ... So you are a bit of a liar then.......... | |
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