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Indeed, because it is happening in various different boroughs of London, the Met Police’s resources are stretched thin.

Main problem is it seems the rioters are using Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger to coordinate their activities. Telling fellow rioters where to go next, and also using it to warn rioters in other locations if they spot the police are moving to their location.

The direct allegations against the police are that some police officers took bribes from News International (UK subsidiary of News Corporation) journalists for information about celebrities, politicians, members of the royal family etc. This could have an effect in the United States because it would appear to be in breach of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it an offense for American companies, as News Corp. is, to bribe foreign officials.

The police are also accused of incompetence by not properly investigating the allegations in 2007 and 2009, either by not taking the allegations seriously enough, which in hindsight was a big mistake, or as you say, looking the other way hoping it would drop off the radar as an issue.

I think they will, because they have no choice. If the Lib Dems decided to vote against future budget legislation, it would be treated as a vote of no confidence against the Government, which would mean the Coalition Government would collapse and a general election would have to be held. Given that the Lib Dems are currently at 9% in the national opinion polls (in the 2010 general election they were at 23%) they would be all but wiped out in terms of the number of seats they hold. The only hope the Lib Dems have is to keep the course and hope the electorate give them some of the credit should the deficit reduction plan succeed.

As the article points out, the funding of this piece of trash was handed out by what is known in the UK as a quango (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation) which the previously socialist government stuffed full of leftist appointments. The new Conservative-led coalition government has announced that this quango, the Film Council, along with hundreds of other quangos are to be abolished, and legislation to fulfil this is currently working its way through Parliament.

They are having to go ahead with building the second carrier because to cancel one or both carriers would cost more than building them, due to penalty clauses built into the contracts under the previous government.

Actually, Scotland is the most socialist part of the UK (and voting proves it, only one Conservative Member of Parliament out of 59, the other 58 all held by left-wing political parties), followed by large parts of Wales, the North East and parts of the North West of England. Northern Ireland is a socially conservative part of the UK, but economically it is heavily socialist with large numbers of public sector workers.

Nightmare result for Labour thanks to the electoral college system they use for electing their leaders. The voting is split into three groups: Members of Parliament, Party Members, and members of affiliated trade unions and socialists societies.

Ed's brother (and probably the more electable candidate) David won both the Members of Parliament and Party Members sections of the electoral college, but Ed won overall thanks to a landslide in the trade union section.

This means that Ed Miliband was rejected by both the Labour Party MP's AND party members, but was elected thanks to the trade union barons. David Cameron and Nick Clegg are probably very thankful tonight.

They mentioned stability, but am I right in thinking that for the next 10 months or so, if the Coalition and one other Senator vote together, they can block legislation. Not very stable is it?

Unfortunately, despite some opinion polls saying it is a dead heat I think Labor will manage to retain enough seats to stay in power, but Tony Abbott can be proud of the campaign he fought. He was underestimated, and brought the Liberals to the brink of regaining power, but I suspect all the demonising of him will work out just about well enough for Labor to hold on.

Looks like Labor will take a pounding in some states, but by performing well enough in others will hold on, if only by the skin of their teeth.

This came about because Labour MP's took advantage of the fact that the Finance Bill putting the budget into law is one of the handful of measure which have no automatic cut-off point, and can therefore be filibustered.

Most of the drunk MP's were newbies who have only been in office since the election two months ago, and who have no experience of the extensive late-night sittings of yesteryears.

It is coming back to the House for further stages of consideration on Monday, where the members will be a bit more careful I think.

It is illegal in the UK to broadcast any kind of exit poll or projection from real results before polls close, and since the UK is in one time zone, all polls close at the same time.

The Tories, no question. It is also thought they have the best GOTV operation. However, it is a big task to gain a majority, as they need around 116 extra seats to get a majority. It is still achievable, but it could be close.

That depends on how low Labour’s vote is, and whether there is an above average swing in the marginal seats.

Depending on the above, the Tories could get a majority on 37%, or even 36% in some circumstances.

No, 40% is a media myth. 40% would all but guarantee a Tory majority but it is not required. If Labour are low enough in the polls like they are now, the Tories may be able to get a majority on as low as 36% of the vote. Other factors such as differential turnout and GOTV will be crucial.

Indeed. This is just one poll (other show the Tory lead is 8/9 points) but the signs and trends are not good.

If Brown and Labour are re-elected (even if it is just as a minority government) then Britain deserves to slide into hell and beyond.

The Tories are far, far, far from perfect, but I would rather have them in control than that smug socialist buffoon Gordon Brown.

The consequence of unilaterally withdrawing from the Lisbon treaty would be that it would quite possibly lead to the UK either leaving the European Union, or being asked to leave by the other member states. Unfortunately, this means it will not happen because it is the policy of the Conservatives to stay in the EU, or as they sometimes put it “in Europe, but not run by Europe”.

Which means that a referendum is the only viable option for killing off Lisbon. A referendum will only happen, of course, if President Klaus of the Czech Republic has not signed the treaty if Cameron and the Tories win the general election which will probably be in around six months time. He has been sending out mixed messages in the past couple of weeks, on one hand saying that it is too late to stop it now, but on the other hand he seriously annoyed the Euro-elites by saying he will not sign the treaty unless there are guarantees regarding rights of property arising from the Second World War, which in addition to a constitutional court review, may be enough to stall the treaty long enough for a UK referendum to finally sink it.

It is unlikely the Conservatives will get 50% (not even Tony Blair in the mega Labour landslide of 1997 recieved 50%, they in fact recieved 43%). At the moment, the Conservatives are at and around 40% in national opinion polling. The maximum amount of votes the Conservatives can hope for is compareable to that of Blair, around 43-45%, which would be enough for a strong majority, despite the fact that the seat boundaries are biased in Labour's favor (this is evidenced by the fact that Labour won outright in 2005 with a 3% lead nationally, whereas most analysts believe that the Conservatives will need a 8-9% lead nationally to win outright, otherwise we will be into Hung parliament territory.

The expectation among political commentators (also backed up by leaked Labour Party election material) is that the general election will be held on May 6th, 2010, which will conincide with local elections in England. If President Klaus can hold on for seven months, then Lisbon will be as good as dead.

There is, however, a safeguard of a kind. The British system is based on parlimentary soverignty, that Parliament is the supreme authority in the land. Parliament has the power to nullify ANY court ruling through an Act of Parliament.

An example that comes to mind is that before 1997 while they were in opposition, the Labour Party introduced affirmative action for selecting Parliamentary candidates, introducing all-women shortlists for target seats, preventing men from running for the Labour Party nomination in those seats. In 1996, the courts said this was a form of sex discrimination and ruled the practice illegal. When they were elected to government, the Labour Party pushed through an Act which made an exception to sex discrimination laws for political parties selecting candidates and overriding the court decision. As parliamentary soverignty applies, the courts can do nothing.

Ah, that should read 6 May 2010 of course.