Question Time

Just a quick little gossip about being in the audience of Question Time.

Firstly, when David Dimbleby picks you out to speak, your heart, or at least mine, goes ten to the dozen! The fact that half the nation is watching, and you've got Piers Morgan, Joey Barton, and three politicians all listening intently to what you have to say is frightening.

However, I do believe that the show needs revamping. The concept is old, and we all know what to expect. Maybe give the audience a little more time to grill the panel, maybe try to get more front bench politicians on there, especially those who will provide a controversial opinion.

Joey Barton has gotten himself into hot water again, but not exactly a surprise, Piers Morgan seemed to want to please the audience rather than express his own views, and the three politicians, well we only really heard from one, and that was new UKIP MEP, Louise Bours, who held her own quite well I thought.

Do go if you ever get the chance, it was good fun, and you get to see David Dimbleby up close!!!!

Nick Clegg: Killing Of The Lib Dems

Nick Clegg had a real opportunity to shine in 2010, and make his party look more saintly than ever.

Instead, four years down the line, Nick Clegg and his party are in 'meltdown'.

Finishing 5th in the European elections, losing all MEP's bar one, and finishing behind UKIP in national polls.

Clegg had an opportunity to make sure the Tories hashtage #nastyparty really stuck to them, but people have passed that on to him and his party.

His right-hand man Vince Cable, the saint of the Liberal Democrats, has been extremely quiet, only popping his head up to damn Nick, and the Tories when public outrage at certain policies crops up.

In fact, Mr Cable has now cropped up again with a poll suggesting Clegg could lose his seat, but the backlash that has been received of this poll has lead to on Lib Dem peer, Lord Oakeshott resign, and made Cable deny any knowledge of it whatsoever.

I don't think Saint Vince was expecting this backlash, and has gone back into the depths of politics again, trying to be ignored.

They are in turmoil, and I believe they deserve to be. For at least 3 years of this term, majority of people forgot that the Lib Dems were even there, and when they did crop up, they received a tirade of abuse.

The Lib Dems have no one to blame but themselves, promising the world, and failing to act on it. This should be a good lesson to UKIP, because the Lib Dems never thought they'd be in government where they were expected to live up to their promises.

Remember those TV debates where Nick Clegg came out on top, and the whole 'CleggMania' was sticking the air?

He thought he was safe, stuck in third position, where his little party would be largely ignored and he could carry on promising the world. Now look at him!

Mr Farage, you're now treading on thin ice, if, and that's a big if, you actually beat the Lib Dems for third place, and have to form a coalition with either the Tories or Labour, people will actually want to see you act on your promises.

UKIP: A Good Kick Up the Backside for Tories, But It Seems Labour Aren't Willing to Listen.

After the UKIP onslaught on Sunday night, it seems David Cameron has listened to what the people want, one particular issue that is angering a lot of Britons.

UKIP won 24 MEP's, Labour won 20, the Tories 19, and the Liberal Democrats 1.

Firstly, if there's one lesson to be learnt, it's that people are not in favour with the Lib Dems anymore, UKIP are getting ready to take position of third party.

Secondly, the Tories didn't have as bad of an evening as first thought, and Labour didn't do as well as first thought.

In fact, for majority of parties, it was a disaster, and quite rightly so. It's about time we, the people, told our main parties that we are fed up of not being listened too.

David Cameron seems to have really taken on board just how annoyed people are, however Ed Miliband seems to have shut his ears to us, the people he claims to champion, and has apparently 'brushed off' Sunday's disappointing results.

Not the thing people want to hear Mr Miliband!

Owen Jones, in today's Guardian, is basically telling the Labour leadership to ignore why people have gone to UKIP, that we shouldn't concentrate on immigration issues.

And he wonders why UKIP has had a wonderful surge in the polls.

These are issues people want dealing with, the EU is an issue people want to get done, same with immigration, pushing aside with only fuel the anger, Owen Jones is basically telling the leadership to carry on where Tony Blair left off, ignoring the electorate.

Sadly for Labour, it seems Ed Miliband is gladly following this idea on.

So really it's only the Conservatives who can deliver any sort of discussion, and referendum on the issue playing on people's minds.

UKIP are a good way of letting David Cameron, and the Conservative Party, know what we are worried about, what we want them to do.

Why Has Being English Been Left to Just Us Whites?

Why can't you be English even if your family are originally from India, or Pakistan, or China, or Africa, or wherever?

Why can't Asian's and African's be English? Surely if they're born here, they are English?

My mum is half Irish, my dad is half Scottish and half Irish, no one ever questions whether they're English though.

My very close friend is half french, but because she's white, everyone assumes she's English.

We've got to stop letting groups like the EDL, and BNP take all the glory for being English, if you're born in England, no matter of the colour of your skin, or your religion, or where your family is originally from, you are English, and you should be proud of that.

In fact most people I meet who are of Indian, African descent are proud of being English.

England should be proud of our multicultural status, we should all sing our national anthem with pride, we should all fly the St George flag with pride.

Be English and proud, be Scottish and proud, be French and Proud, be Indian and proud. Wherever you're born, be proud!

A Raise in Minimum Wage? It Will Harm Businesses

Let's say Labour has won the 2015 general election.

Ed Miliband's first point of delivery is raising the minimum wage, you all cheer in happiness and glee, but there's something you have accounted for.

The costs of products will also rise.

Let's say a large company like Tesco's. who have 472,000 people working for them, I'd imagine quite a few of them are on the minimum wage.

I'll estimate around 45,000 are on minimum wage, which currently stands at £6.31, let's imagine Ed raises the minimum wage up to £8.50, that's £2.19 per person, doesn't sound a lot until you total it up to £98,550.

Now, Tesco's bosses aren't going to sit by, and allow a drop of nearly a £100,000 in profit, so what they will do is raise the prices of their products they are selling.

Basically, we are back to square one.


It'll be even harder for small to medium sized companies, to make ends meet.

Let's say you own a small engineering company, you're struggling to find work because people just can't afford it, especially as we are just starting to head out of a recession.

Ed Miliband's has actually acted on a promise, and raised minimum wage. You have 20 members of staff on minimum wage, who are now earning £2.19 more than what they were before.

So you raise the prices of your engineers by £4.00 per person, just so you can make enough to pay them, and your bills, and maybe have a little profit after.

You now have even less custom than what you did before, and the company has folded, putting at least 50 people out of work.

Once again, we are back to square one.

So Ed Miliband's lovely proposal of raising minimum wages isn't as lovely as it first seems, it will effect all of us, and not in a good way!

Labour's Manifesto

Let's go through Labour's current policies that they're promising:

1. Zero Hour Contracts

Ed Miliband has come out quite firmly against the zero hour contracts, despite the fact that 62 Labour mp's employ people on this, is he trying the old 'Do as I say, not as I do' approach to governing?

2. Groceries.

Recently Labour released a poster about VAT on groceries, despite the fact that majority of the items on the poster do not come under VAT. And today he reckons that he and his family spend around £70 - £80 a week on groceries (this man's meant to be the people's party leader!)

3. Energy Price Freeze

Ed Miliband has promised he will freeze energy prices if Labour win the next general election. When he decided to declare this promise, energy prices soared. So thanks Ed, we really needed that at the moment! Have to say, he never did declare what price he would freeze them at!!

4. Reckoning of the Banks.

Ed Miliband has also promised he will be 'reckoning' with the big banks. After his great speech about his reckoning, the banks lost £1billion in shares. ( Cheers Ed!)

5. Bankers Bonus Tax

The never ending bankers bonus tax. This little beauty is going to fund all his spending plans such as:

• Building new houses
• Job youth schemes
• Turn empty shops into Community Centres
• Will cut the deficit
• Funding for more regions

These are just a few of what the Bankers Bonus Tax will fund. Just a bottomless pit of money!

Ed Miliband, the man who's going to 'reckon' with the banks, the man who will build our homes, the man who's going freeze our energy bills.

Ed Miliband the man who's weird! 

Political Correctness Can F**k Off. What Happened to Being Polite?

I know, being slightly hypocritical, but that's how 'PC' makes me feel.

I hate the overly PC people. The type of people who claim to have lots of friends who are the ethnic minority and have traveled the world on a gap year, therefore they know everything about their lifestyle.

To me, someone like that just comes across as patronising, and ignorant.

I, and the majority of us, respect people's religion, and way of life, it doesn't bother me that it's different to mine, in fact I like to learn about it.

What I don't like is some middle classed white kid, who's never worked a hard days graft in their life, get's easily offended because I might not know as much as them about a certain religion, or lifestyle.

This is probably another reason why UKIP is having such a surge in the polls at the moment, they aren't as PC, they're saying the things we are too scared to say, just in case we offend the middle class, gap year kid.

So to you over-doers of 'PC', "calm down dear", we do realise that not all immigrants are bad, we do realise not everyone on benefits is committing fraud, we do know how to be polite.

Tories Lead for First Time in Two Years

For the first time in two years, the Tories have a two point lead in the polls.

According to ICM/Guardian poll:
Con: 33
Lab: 31
LD: 13
UKIP: 15

Lord Ashcroft also performed a telephone poll:
Con: 34
Lab: 32
LD: 9
UKIP: 15

To and salt to in the wound, Miliband is now rated lower than Nick Clegg in opinion polls, people just don't like him.

First he was weird, yesterday the Daily Mail had him down as sexless, thick and wet, and now his party is trailing in most polls.

Reasons why, firstly as Philip Johnson of the Telegraph points out today: "Politicians have stopped listening to us."
http://fw.to/EQLvJcP

And it's true they have, which is why parties such as UKIP, and now it's looks as though the Green Party is also picking up disillusioned voters, from both Tories and Labour.

Labour did have an initial rise in support due to Lib Dem supporters who had been let down greatly by Nick Clegg and co, in this coalition government.

However, Labour obviously aren't doing enough to keep their support and they're going elsewhere, or just no-where.

The Tories might have a lead, but it isn't substantial enough, there's a lot of work the Tories, and especially Labour, need to do to get the confidence of the voters back.

The Left are at it again!

Once again the left have ignored their worrying figures, and are concentrating on something else, completely.

The left, mainly Labour, are masters at sweeping their troubles under the carpet, whilst concentrating on others, such as Take That's Gary Barlow tax avoiding scheme, along with band mates Howard Donald, and Mark Owen.

If I were the Labour leader, I'd be more worried about the fact that, according to YouGov:

68% of people think that Ed Miliband hasn't made it clear what he stands for.

The Sunday Mail yesterday said that people think Ed Miliband is thick, wet and sexless (not sure what that's got to do with politics www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2625361/Voters-say-David-Cameron-cruel-Ed-Miliband-wet-sexless.html)

40% of voters recently said Ed Miliband was weird, I wonder why? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkFtUYfnpqs)

Labour have a lot more to worry about than tax avoiding celebrities, especially as The Guardian had it's own tax avoidance scheme (another thing the left like to brush under the carpet).

If Labour want to prove they're worthy of votes here's what they should do:

1. Yes make fun of the LibCon coalition, but also give us your plans if you were to win! Are we supposed to guess?
2. Stop trying to make Ed look cool, and give him some policies Len!(McCluskey)
3. Instead of ignoring your problems, tackle them head on, it'll make you look a lot more in control, rather than running scared

You've only got a year Ed, you need to start showing your leadership skills, otherwise your voters will go elsewhere.

The Un-credible Shrinking Man - Funny But What's the Point?

Last night we gt to view Labour's political party broadcast:

The only good thing I've heard about it was, 'It's funny, but we already know this. What are Labour going to do?'

Yes the acting was good, and the comedy timing was brilliant, but for those who already don't like the Tories or the Lib Dems, want to know what are Labour going to do!

In fact, those of us who are Tories, or Lib Dems want to know what Labour are going to do!

It seemed like Labour were gunning for Mr Clegg, and Mr Cameron rather than showing us that they're worthy of our votes!

And as Mrs Thatcher once said on personal attacks:

If they attack one personally, it means they haven't a single political argument left.

Not looking good for Labour!

That video should have been a mid term piss-take, not a serious political party broadcast, with exactly one year until the next general election.

It shows how scared they are of a Lib Dem reprisal (which is doubtful), and how they are completely unprepared for the general election, which is only 364 days away.

So Labour, Ed, and of course Len, what are your plans if you win the next general election?

How are you going to 'help' your working class voters?

We are still none the wiser and, I may be biased but, long may that last!

Sexism in Comedy

As someone who has had a good try a stand up, and still is trying every now and then, I can tell you there is a lot of sexism in comedy, and I'm one of those guilty of it myself.

When a woman appears on the stage people automatically assume she's going to be a feminist radical, thinking that talking about her menstrual cycle, and menopause is funny.

Even swearing isn't funny (unless you're Irish).

I've been up there, when the whole crowd look at you, men and women alike, disappointed, expecting the worst, and when I tell them funny tales of my family, friends and colleagues, a nice little surprise appears on their faces.

Sadly, it doesn't always win you the laughs, but it does help the audience warm up to.

Now I'm going to be a little hypocritical here, and blame Germaine Greer. The radical feminist who gets on a lot of people's nerves, including mine.

Her opinions are so strong that sometimes, she doesn't do us women any justice, only add the prejudice some people already have.

People seem to forget there are mainstream talented, successful comediennes, such as:

• Jennifer Saunders
• Dawn French
• Sarah Millican
• Catherine Tate
• And of course the one and only Victoria Wood!

None of these women go over board, they stick to life, and life's little absurdities. They let us enjoy with them their stories, and sketches, things we can also relate too.

I've noticed, a male comedian is welcome to use any language he likes, he can use the word c***, and he'll get a rapture of laughter, if a woman tries to use it, nothing.

I sort of understand why, as I'm the same when in the audience. I don't laugh when a woman overly swears, unless she's impersonating someone, and I always dread a woman coming onstage just in case she is a young Germaine Greer in the making.

I think there needs to be more support for women in comedy, we need to get more ladies out there telling their hilarious stories and jokes.

Let's throw away the prejudice, and have faith in us ladies. We aren't all wannabe radicals who want to change the world, we just want to make you laugh!

Is New Labour Dead Under Ed?

There's a firm belief that 'New' Labour is finally dead, thanks to that of 'Red' Ed Miliband.

I'm not convinced.

Firstly, Ed Miliband spent from 1994 until 2002 working under Gordon Brown. His political career has been thanks to that of Gordon Brown, a major pioneer of 'New' Labour.

How do we know that Gordon isn't whispering in the young Ed's ear? How do we know Ed isn't going to him for advice on his policies? How can we trust him?

Not only that, we now have the children of New Labour coming forward for the next general election, such as:

• Jack Straw son Will
• Lord Prescott's son David
• Tony Blair's son Euan
• And Neil Kinnock's son Stephen (who's also married to the Danish Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt)

To me it looks as though New Labour is very much alive and kicking. The nickname 'Red'Ed is as false as his promises.

Another problem facing Labour is, are these men genuinely interested in Labour's cause? Or are they hoping for a fast track ticket to the front bench?

To claim you're the party for they people, and by the people, taking on ex-ministers sons who have been brought up in absolute luxury, doesn't exactly bode well with your public image.

If Labour are who they say they are, and have turned back time on New Labour, Ed's got a lot of work on his plate!