England stay in touch with South Africa after first half

Well, after the first half, we are still staying in touch with South Africa, only being down 9 points to 3. We do need to make sure we don't make silly mistakes though.

It is all still to play for in the second half. Our defence is holding out against some very real dangers. We do need to get closer to their touch in the second half though.

England play South Africa's Springboks in the Rugby world cup final!

I have to say I am quietly hopeful. England looked awful at the beginning of the tournament, but have dragged themselves up with sheer grit and determination.

As with all cup finals, either side could win it, even if South Africa are firm favourites. However if England stay in touch in terms of the score they could well snatch it in the dying minutes. I hope they do!

Is the Liberal Democrat leadership going to be the most boring ever?

Well, you do have to ask. It looks like it will be s straight fight between Nick Clegg and Chris Huhne. Or dull verses duller.

It is not that I think anyone else stands a chance, it just would be nice for a third or fourth candidate to add some interest to the competition. It would make the betting more interesting as well.

The two candidates did go "head to head" today, I would have taken some interest but alas fell asleep. The BBC has this here.

How clean is your hospital?

Well, according to this report on the BBC (and carried elsewhere) probably not very. Half of all NHS trusts (44) are not carrying out infection control measures. In this day and age that is shocking. It has nothing to do with services being contracted out and everything to do with lack of management control. The report makes it clear that the variety of targets is part of the problem.

The other thing I found interesting was looking up to see how my local hospitals were doing. They seem "fair" on treatment and weak on use of financial resources. In short they are not managing the money, and neither are the local primary care trusts. This has led to threats to services.

Is the NHS really safe in Labour's hands?

No. they can't run a drinking session in a brewery.

Going back to targets, they are not in themselves a bad idea, however when setting targets it helps to keep an eye on the possible unintended consequences of what targets are set and what happens for meeting or failing to meet these targets. This is where the problems in today's NHS come from, and why A&E departments keep to their 4 hour waits whilst people wait to get in the door in an ambulance outside, or are bumped into a ward unnecessarily.

England lose 2-1 to Russia.

Giving away a 1 nil lead thanks to a careless move from Rooney.

Right. I am going to sulk now.

We need to beat Croatia now.

Prime Ministers Questions: looked like a no score draw today

However Gordon Brown does not seem to be able to get his punchlines right which is a shame. He did have a good one about the Liberal Democrats and everyone in the parliamentary party could be in the err.... parliamentary party.

However we will have to wait and see how the main news reports it if at all.

So will Charles Kennedy stand for the Liberal Democrat leadership?

Well, the question has to be asked. Will he be back? has Chat show Charlie kicked the habit or got it under control?

There is no doubt that having Charles Kennedy back as Liberal Democrat leader would be a big risk, but perhaps the bigger one would be not having him back?

The Liberal Democrats made the wrong choice last time. That much seems clear. They can't afford to repeat the mistake.

Sir Menzies Campbell resigns as Liberal Democrat leader!

Well, you could knock me down with a feather. It looks like the Liberal Democrats have knifed another leader Ming Campbell, the second time in this parliament.

Now don't get me wrong, I like to see a bit of infighting in Labour and the Liberal Democrats, but if anyone thinks this is going to help them they are much mistaken. Unless your party is led by a psychologically flawed dithering Stalinist control freak* perhaps you should ask not what your leader can do for you, but what you can do for your leader.

Still, I'll sit back and watch the fireworks, munching popcorn.


The BBC has this.

* Come on, if you are in that party, you know who you are :)

Liberal Democrats tearing themselves apart over Ming Campbell!

Well, there have been mutterings about Sir Menzies Campbell and his leadership of the Liberal Democrats for some time. It appears the dissenters key worry is the party's slide in the polls.

The thinking seems to go that if they had a different leader he could get more media coverage and hence get them up in the polls. As an example of such speculation see this on Lib Dem Voice.

I have just listened to quite a lot of open speculation on BBC Radio 4's World at One. Interesting.

I think that what the Liberal Democrats need to do is to wake up and smell the coffee. Firstly the government (currently Labour) makes most of the political weather, followed by the Conservatives as the largest opposition party in the commons, (and largest party in the land) then the others. At a time like this the Liberal Democrats are always going to struggle to be heard.

Change your leader if you feel like it, it wont make any difference.

Besides which us Conservatives like Ming Campbell.

The BBC has this.

The BBC also has this.

Let slip the Dogs of War: Labour infighting begins!

Well, to be fair there are always disagreements in political parties, it happens. Also, yesterdays men (or women) are often more respected by journalists looking to sell a news paper than by anyone else.

However the result of Gordon Brown's attacks, disloyalty and general nastiness towards Tony Blair may be coming home to roost. I took the view before Gordon organised his Stalinist coronation that the only thing worse than Gordon Brown becoming Labour leader would be him not becoming Labour leader. My thinking was that his troops, and indeed he, would make make Ted Heath look like an ardent loyalist.If he did get in, then not only would he be a disaster, but it would not take long for him to be resented and derided by his own side.

We are not entirely there yet, but people who six months ago were not the usual suspects (because they are not Brownites) but will be soon known as the usual suspects have started piping up and briefing the media. So far three have been named in the media, Stephen Byers, Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke. Obviously the press reports indicate that they are only speaking out because of wider mutterings (my arse! we will see) and we will have to see how it progresses. What I can say is that if this takes hold, then Gordon is in for a much tough time in the future than he has had in the past.

The Times has this, the Observer this whilst the Mail on Sunday has this.

Conservatives ahead in the polls by 7%

In an ICM poll for tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph the Conservative party lead Labour by 7%. The results are as follows: Conservatives 43% (+5), Labour 36% (-2) and the Liberal Democrats on 14% (-2). Incidentally the figure for the Liberal Democrats is there lowest for some time with ICM. That won't help the jitters at Cowley Street.

So how does that play in commons seats? On Anthony Wells calculator that gives the Conservatives 320, Labour 285, the Liberal Democrats on 18 with others on 27, or a hung parliament.

England Beat France to go through to the World Cup final!

In a tough and gritty game, England beat France 14 - 9!

So lets see who we get in the Rugby World Cup final!

Labour to support Marriage in the tax system?

Andy Burnham, Labour's Chief Secretary to the Treasury is flying a kite in today's Telegraph. He has given an interview saying that marriage will be supported in the tax system. It is hard to believe that Gordon Brown was not aware of this development before it happened, though a report in the BBC adds the caveat that these are Andy's personal views. Perhaps this is just kite flying by Labour?

The funny thing is that so many Labour ministers have some out against Conservative proposals in the same area, and refused to say that marriage is a better structure for children. At the Labour party conference Gordon Brown even said:

"I say to the children of two-parent families, one-parent families, foster parent families; to the widow bringing up children: I stand for a Britain that supports as first-class citizens not just some children and some families but supports all children and all families," he said.

"We all remember that biblical saying: 'suffer the little children to come unto me'. No Bible I have ever read says: 'bring just some of the children'."

Can they really pull this off as a U turn? If they try I can imagine David Cameron quoting back the bible about heaven rejoicing when a sinner repents!

It seems that Labour are so bereft of there own ideas that they have to use ours wholesale. One panelist on last nights News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 said that Labour should be forced to give its pre budget report before the Conservative party conference whilst another suggested they should pu it in a sealed envelope instead.

The Maidstone and Tunbridge NHS trust scandal

Well, it seems the place was a dirty nasty hellhole, with not enough staff to give out bed pans to people with diarrhoea, who then had to sit in their own excrement. Conditions which could possibly shock a third world doctor.

What is strange though is the way incompetence is rewarded in our country, and not just in the public sector. Someone makes a complete horlicks of it, like the trusts former chief executive, Rose Gibb, gets to resign, with a handsome payoff. It is not just the fact that the money could be better used to either fix some of the trusts problems or compensate the victims, it is the reward for making the mess which grates.

There seems to be a problem with the way contracts for high paid staff work in this country. In short, if one of them makes a mess they get asked to resign rather than go through the pain and negative publicity of a sacking, and gay paid a severance fee as a result. So if you are a useless CEO expect to walk away with a fat pay off.

However Rose Gibb can't be the only person responsible. She had a whole board with her, including a chairman, medical director and nursing officer. What did they do to stop this mess happening?

Government can't escape all blame either. The Maidstone and Tunbridge NHS trust has been in the news before, when it asked its staff to work unpaid overtime to ease the financial burden caused by a PFI scheme. Clearly something is going very wrong in parts of the NHS.

The BBC has this.

Gordon Brown: A Calculating, Phoney, Weak, Arrogant, Indecisive Bully!

And that is from a staunch Labour supporter who says:

The events this week are I am afraid typical of what is to come with Brown. He did bottle it, he did dither, he did try and spoil the Tory conference using the troops in Iraq, he has lied, repeatedly, he is opportunistic, calculating, a phoney, weak, arrogant, indecisive, and a bully- poor Alistair Darling must have despaired when he was forced into such obvious, panic stricken, calculating, back of a fag packet, and opportunistic budget changes.

What happened this week would have happened at some point because Brown quite simply is too calculating, scheming, bullying manipulative to think straight- at least Labour now is beginning to wake up to this fact. They had been warned mind.

What to do? Well these appalling Brown character traits (or lack of character) will not go away. The Labour cabinet is now full of pygmies thanks to Blair and Brown- no succession planning. Brown of course will not walk, and Labour has no plan B. So you can forget them for now. I guess the Tories will enjoy the next 2.5 years seeing Labour scrabbling around under such ineffectual, incompetent leadership.

See here.

Gordon Brown's Own Goal!

I was interested to hear Gordon Brown highlighting the fact that there was a petition demanding an election in 2007 during prime ministers questions.

He taunted David Cameron who did not know it was there that it only had 26 signatures, and none of the shadow front bench.

Well, now it has a few more, 4,564, thanks to Gordon's publicity drive.

You can sign the petition here.

Prime Ministers Questions: Who won?

Well, judging by the sound bites on TV and the media reaction David Cameron did. He cemented the impression of Gordon Brown over the last week in the public's mind. Well, that is, if they were paying attention.

Next week, David Cameron needs to come across easier on Brown. Firstly Brown will be looking to hit back, and that will disarm him and make him look petty, secondly playing the same harsh game every week looks bad.

That said, David Cameron is going to have to mention Gordon Brown's own goal of advertising the petition for a 2007 election.

Do you want an early election?

Because if you do, you can sign a petition on Number 10's website asking for one here.

During Prime ministers questions Gordon Brown was both pleased and smug that it had only 26 signatures. Currently it has 2,309. Why not add your name?

Guido has this.

The Inheritance tax con update

Now I have had a look, here is the position:

New rules allow one half of a married couple, or civil partnership, to use any remaining nil band inheritance tax when they die.

As an example couple A and B have assets valued at £600,000. A dies and leaves their bit to B. This is not taxed at all, regardless of the value of the estate. Person B dies and then wants to leave it all to C, but the day before yesterday would have paid 40% of £300,000 or £120,000. Now if C lived with A and B this could put the family home in jeopardy.

Good?

Well, I will come to that.

What used to happen, is that a large slice of the people who would be affected by inheritance tax in this way set up what are called nil band trusts. So when A dies he leaves his half to C rather than B, but held in trust whilst B is still alive. B then dies and does the same (The wills are written to account for any order of death) so no inheritance tax is paid anyway.

So it is not the giveaway it looks.

Where it is good though is that firstly it does not rely on clever tax planning, and is also semi automatic. The long and the short of it is that people who have not done the clever tax planning don't get caught out, and to be fair why should they. However the extra allowance will still need to be claimed which will require some form of proof. there is also the question of what happens if A dies when the IHT limit is say £300,000 and B when it is £400,00? What is the combined IHT threshold? Is it £700,000 or £800,000? Also what if A used some of their allowance, say £100,000?

The other good thing is that Labour has finally had to recognise marriage in the tax system. That is a major ideological battleground surrendered without a second thought it seems.

Labour's Big Inheritance Tax Con!

It is not just me who has spotted this.

The "tax break" such as it is applies only to married couples or civil partnerships.

The situation is this, if you die without a will, the estate gets divied up, so much to the spouse, up to £125,000 if I remember correctly and then so much to children etc.

If the value of the estate is high, then there is an inheritance tax bill.

However, most people in this position take out a will, and if the intent is to pass it to the spouse that is tax free.

So there is no tax giveaway in any practical sense at all.

Fraser Nelson has this on the Spectator Coffee House Blog, linking to this more technical explanation by KPMG here.

Hat tip to ChrisD on politicalbetting.com for the link.