(You're Not) Welcome to Manchester!

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1460429_conservatives-in-manchester-2011-security-at-party-conference-tighter-than-ever-before

"A 2.2km-long (1.4 miles) 'ring of steel' has already been erected around the secure zone in the city centre " - Sounds like a government afraid of it's own people to me.

"We will also have the march on Sunday, which officers are being very robust about.”

I shall march peacefully .

Jake, Lewis and Fernando

So, I was reading my Twitter feed on the way home last night and read that @jakehumphrey was going to London last night to host a dinner with Lewis and Fernando....The I just got this picture in my head so sketched this up real quickly!!

An epic F1 Autosport inspired cartoon is in the pipeline (hopefully) will be no where near as good as the Autosport ones but I can dream!!

More politics to come as well!

Funland at the Beach (Unemployment)

We were told in May/June that unemployment was falling at the fastest rate for decades however a few months later the picture has changed somewhat, however the government continues the austerity drive. The right thing to do? We shall see however it seems like it's gonna ger messy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/17/uk-unemployment-jumps-economy

Tentacles of Doom

Well - It's a form of 'electoral reform' eh?

With AV we had 'reform' dangled in front of us in the guise of a choice that was impossible that didn't show any real possibility of actually moving towards a democratic system, but it gave the Tories enough ammo to throw the whole thing out of the window and plod on with their actual reform programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14912966  - MP's unhappy at boundaries shake up

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/15/shocked-mps-electoral-register-shake-up - Shocked MPs told electoral plan could remove 10m voters

Read on the second article and discover the plans to make registering to vote 'voluntary' so unless you're really switched on when the time comes around you won't have a chance to vote at all.

Germany and the Euro Crisis (Deutschland und die Eurokrise)

More links to come tomorrow and some analysis of the German news,  but I think the idea is pretty obvious...Germany appears to be propping up the Euro. One has to ponder....where are the French?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/04/germany-euro-bailouts-angela-merkel-nicolas-sarkozy

Caption Competition

So this is pretty self explanatory, or not....

Either way, you wanna come up with a tag line, knock yerselves out ;)

Dogs at The Door

So, we're supposed to work our way out of a debt and poverty because this place is a meritocracy right?

That's why it takes 6 years for a missed payment to be removed from your credit rating.

That's why companies are allowed to destroy your credit rating without impunity or any retribution for errors they make.

That's why funding is being cut for free, impartial debt advice.

That's why companies offering 3000+% interest rates are allowed to exist.

That's why we are in a period of negative real wage growth and the standard of living is falling (http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/economics/real-wages-in-uk/)

That's why relative poverty is amonsgt the highest since records began. (2010 being the actual highest since records began.) http://www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2011/may-2011/dwp047-11.shtml