Plateo

@JohnRentoul You paid money to write that drivel?

It was never a good idea to try to turn the Clacton by-election into a joke, but the joke has gone dark now. The murder of Ann Widdecombe has made the quaint British tradition of novelty candidates seem rather tasteless. We do not need to speculate about the motive for the killing to know that someone who had been an MP has died, and that concern for politicians’ security is no laughing matter. Not that Nigel Farage’s justified worry about his and his family’s safety is necessarily an issue in the by-election. But his complaint that it was not being taken seriously enough by the authorities was part of his grievance against the “establishment” that prompted him to trigger the by-election. It should have been a chance for a serious debate about MPs’ security and whether Farage was right to say that “the state” had reduced his protection, forcing him to rely on the generosity of Christopher Harborne, a wealthy donor, instead. Serious candidates against Farage could have acknowledged his fears while asking whether they required him to conceal the £5m gift that he received – the gift that Farage said he intended to spend on his personal security, which he would need “for the rest of my life”. After the murders of Jo Cox and David Amess, there are reasonable questions to be asked about the level of protection offered to Farage, and why he turned down the offer as “inadequate”. He is alleged to have refused a taxpayer-funded driver, car and bodyguard – the equivalent level of protection to that provided to high-profile cabinet ministers and to Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader. Why didn’t he accept what the House of Commons authorities and the police were offering and then top it up from the money he had received, while making the case that the public purse should bear the full cost? Why hasn’t he actually spent any of the £5m he received from Harborne more than two years ago? Instead of these questions, we have had a lot of silly jokes about bins. I am all for the great British tradition of novelty candidates. They are like court jesters, reminding our leaders that our democracy is open and our expression is free. They add colour to our elections and a healthy disrespect for the powerful. But elections are a fundamentally serious business, even if they have been called for what may seem to some to be tactical or misguided reasons. One of the reasons David Davis failed to make much of a mark with his by-election in 2008, when he resigned and re-fought his seat in protest against Labour’s erosion of civil liberties, is that the government made a good case for many of its supposedly illiberal measures. If the main parties had stood candidates against Farage in Clacton, at least one of them might have asked difficult questions about why he failed to declare the £5m donation from Harborne and the unquantified donations in kind from George Cottrell. They could have sympathised with Farage’s fears for his security, but point out that they do not excuse his failure to obey the rules on the registration of benefits that may be “reasonably be thought by others” to be related to their “political activities”. Instead, Farage can say that the establishment parties have run away from the election because they know they would lose, even if they united behind a single anti-Reform candidate, which is true, while continuing to claim that they are not taking his family’s safety seriously, which is probably not. But by failing to stand candidates, the main parties have handed over moral authority to a comedian dressed as a bin. Even Andy Burnham had a line about Count Binface in one of his impromptu speeches, saying “a nation’s hopes rest on you”. In the words of one of Burnham’s favourite bands, The Smiths, that joke isn’t funny any more.

After the killing of Ann Widdecombe, Count Binface is suddenly a lot less funny independent.co.uk/voices/count-b…

@benjaminbutter There's a Government account that by law has a minimum balance of £1m at all times, even when the true balance is £0. It's used to account for invented money spent by the State. Create/(remove) Anything is affordable if the law says so.

Extraordinary fact: £1 in every £2 paid in income tax in Britain goes directly to the retired. Our current pensions set-up and Triple Lock is not only unsustainable, but crippling the economy for those building it.

@VonnSand A salt lick for alkies and junkies, who don't want to be house

This is the direct consequence of the SNP’s policies including no requirement for a local connection to present homeless in Glasgow. It is not compassionate to say, “you’re welcome here” without backing that up with resources. Look at the state of this. Homeless pod shelters.

@Euan4Falkirk 👈 Glasgow Edinburgh 👉

Thoughts?

@anon_opin You'll no know that McQuade's away wi the sparklers in the boat, to meet Maria Gambretti. Turns out it's Lucia Benedetti, fae Interpol. Polis. That's them caught, jailed, done. The end.

Don't come to book club and say "no spoilers please, I haven't finished it yet." The whole point of the evening is to discuss the book and you're only on chapter 5? Piss off!

@davieclegg @chrisdeerin Is that the same as removing capital from the country the property stands in?

@chrisdeerin There’s a big scoop for them in the SNP depute leader’s register of interests

Scottish nationalist journalism. Proper grown ups making an impressive case for a mature independent state

@WorldShutYM @IngrameThomas The guy's had a bee in his bonnet for a decade because his wife was refused compensation based on her irrational beliefs...he's deluded

@Saucertes @IngrameThomas Plateo - what planet are you on mate - obviously not this one !

I will make this short and sweet … I was never interested in politics or politicians till I witnessed what happened to my wife , the conversations she had with Sturgeon and the response from Annmarie O’Donnell from Glasgow city council .. I thought Fck me these people can’t surely be as corrupt as this .. The rest is history ..

@SuppinDiesel @bigbenn1e English people are just tiny wee replicas of the king and queen, with no rights, only obligations. Your court cases are The King v The King for a reason.... You're the cast of a soap opera: Coronation Farm

@bigbenn1e It’s really sad that you’re so, sad. You think we give a fuck? That’s funny. You can keep your shite football league and your pish piss. We continue. Despite carrying yous cunts and being fucked over by our Government. We are stronger

Well, thank goodness Spain beat France. If England somehow managed to get by Argentina, we couldn’t have supported France in the final. Simply because of the Norman invasion of 1066, thousands died ! Have England ever had a war with Spain ???

@rosscolquhoun Rockall

Here’s another fact, the most westerly point in Scotland is further west than Donegal on the west coast of Ireland.

@rosscolquhoun @sodabrunette Rockall is within the jurisdiction

@sodabrunette I’m including the islands, specifically St. Kilda. A remote archipelago that’s been inhabited for around 4,000 years.

@Jacob_Rees_Mogg BBC could put all other broadcasters out of business by selling advertising space on ordinary telly, then charging far less than Netazon et al to watch/stream the archives. You nostalgic market-cornering capitalist types should be banging that money-making drum...

The BBC telly tax is no longer justifiable.

@Colin00007 @AllisonCGardner He texted heself to ask permission

@AllisonCGardner It’s a breach of the ministerial code - he can’t accept foreign medals

Again.. the measure of the man.

@AllisonCGardner Aye, accepting a free valuable thing

@X_MrFantashtic @MatthewStadlen I tried

@MatthewStadlen I don't know, Why was there a minute’s silence for the father of the Emir of Qatar at a World Cup semifinal between France and Spain in the United States? (This joke better be good)

Why was there a minute’s silence for the father of the Emir of Qatar at a World Cup semifinal between France and Spain in the United States?

@MatthewStadlen To get to the other side.

@afneil As always with high salaries [and prices], it's a question of credibility: any less and people would think he was no good

What is the rationale for a public service broadcaster like the BBC paying a DJ (Scott Mills) £750,000 a year to present the breakfast show on Radio 2 playing soft rock music which commercial radio already provides in abundance?

@JamesMelville Do you just steal everything and pass it off as your own patter?

The type of football that many of us played with when we were kids.

@gorbalsgoebbels Falklands "belongs" to the King, not the UK, which is why his mum sent *her troops* to reclaim *her territory*, like when she didn't bother doing anything about the Yanks invading Grenada the following year.

Think John might be taking the piss here. Remember, Britain fought in the Falklands, not England. Scots, Welsh and Irish fought alongside fellow Britons to defeat the Argies and helped bring down the Junta. Please don’t sullen the memory of the fallen.

@prodnose Take more air in it

It is now England's World Cup to lose. #EverySixtyYears

@alexmassie That's utter shite...letters used to be sent offering time-limited chance to pay voluntary NI top-ups so the person would have enough qualifying years.

Reminder: you don’t pay for your state pension. Younger workers pay for your benefits.