Ed's going to kick Dave out of #10... http://www.theguardian.com/politics...-combined-share-of-seats-projected-to-hit-326
There won't be a coalition, so it would be Labour needing to rely on support from the SNP/Lib Dems to pass legislation anyway. If the Tories are the largest party, I can see there being another election before the end of the next parliament, as they are increasingly alienated amongst parties which don't want to do any deals with them. UKIP will, and the Lib Dems may do again, but will be significantly reduced from last time, and may feel they need to move away back to the progressive policies to regain their support. It is incredibly close, but it is more likely that the Tories will remain the largest party as many people don't want to admit they vote Conservative, and history shows that the undecided electorate, usually choose to stick with the incumbent government.
Got a leaflet through from the Lib Dem candidate (Southampton North) today. He looks like he should be on a playground somewhere, getting the **** kicked out of him. I wasn't voting for him anyway, but this just reinforces it. The Guardian thinks Labour will win? Complete shocker.
Politicians are "Post Tortoises" While stitching a cut on the hand of a 75 year old farmer, whose hand was caught in the squeeze gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to politicians and their role as our leaders. The old farmer said, "Well, as I see it, most politicians are 'Post Tortoises'.' Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post tortoise' was. The old farmer said, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a tortoise balanced on top, that's a post tortoise." The old farmer saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. ?You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb arse put him up there to begin with." Best explanation of a politician I've ever heard.
It was aimed at 15 year olds for some maths olympiad apparently, but it doesn't make me feel any better knowing that, as it took me a good ten minutes to puzzle it out myself and I've been around a bit longer than 15 years. It was a good logic question though.
He's referencing a now ill-founded joke that lies somewhere in the 50s/60s where people refer to the Guardian as The Grauniad (or other similar anagrams) The name was given to it by the satirical magazine Private Eye. The Guardian newspaper earned its reputation for lots of misprints in the days of hot-metal printing when it was published in Manchester (it was originally called the Manchester Guardian), and the editions that appeared in London were very early editions brought down by train, before all the errors had been spotted. Pretty sure hot-metal printing was abandoned by 1962 and there have been arguments put forward in the past that The Guardian contains no more spelling mistakes than any other newspaper, it just happens to have readers that are more likely to spot them.
