Local Elections: Labour Make Gains in England and Wales
BBC: Labour have won a string of victories in English and Welsh local elections - with shadow ministers claiming Ed Miliband is now on course for No 10.

The party is set to add more than 700 seats and has taken control of councils including Birmingham and Cardiff.

Based on results so far, Labour are projected to end up with a 39% national share of the vote, up three points, with the Tories down four on 31%.

The Lib Dems' share of the vote is estimated to be unchanged at 16%.

But the party has lost more than 125 seats - taking its total number of councillors below 3,000 for the first time since the party was formed in 1988. » | Friday, May 04, 2012

My comment:

I think one of the main causes for the Conservatives' drubbing is the fact that this government is perceived to be run for the benefit of the rich. Rich little overgrown schoolboys out to help their own kind. Added to that, Cameron's government endorses greed, and makes ordinary folk pay the high price of all the austerity cuts. Clearly, we are NOT all in this austerity thing together.

Then one has to witness all the U-turns. This, in itself, shows lack of competence. Before Cameron proposes anything, he should first check out its viability. He should ask himself if this policy plan is really do-able.

Further, he throws money around abroad like a drunken sailor, while at the same time cutting everyone else's lifeline at home. Savers, too, are being severely punished for their lifelong sensible approach to living within their means. Interest rates are appallingly low. One isn't even able to safeguard one's capital against the ravages of inflation, still less generate an income to live from. Little wonder the pensioners want Cameron and his clique punished.

For far too long in this country, politicians have been elected into office on a mandate to do one thing, but when they get into office, they do something else. They ignore the people's wishes, and end up doing things for which they have no mandate whatsoever. This government is very guilty of this. It must stop. People are fed up of being ignored.

Then there are all the restrictions we have to put up with. Conservatives are supposed to believe in less government, not more. Cameron, in this regard, is not a true Conservative, since his instincts are more left-wing. He seems to favour more control of everything, just like Labour does.

And what happened to all those useless laws he and Clegg were going to repeal after Blair's useless terms in office? Cameron and Clegg made a big thing upon taking up office of asking the people to let them know which laws they wanted scrapped. We have heard nothing about that ever since. It was all show.

I could go on. I won't. I have written enough for people to 'get my drift'. Cameron has now got a very steep hill to climb. It will be interesting to observe whether he'll be able to climb it. – © Mark

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The Council That Kept Its Prayers – by Dropping God
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A council has dropped references to God from the prayer with which it opens meetings, under pressure from secularist campaigners.

For as long as anyone can remember, councillors in Gloucestershire have stood up for a brief prayer before their meetings get under way.

But when three agnostic and atheist members staged a protest against the historic practice by remaining seated, the chairman decided something must be done to retain council unity.

So he hit upon an apparently ingenious solution: from now on, the prayer would still be said – but with all references to God removed.

So rather than asking "may He give us wisdom to carry out our duties ...", the chairman now states "may we find the wisdom ..." - and the "prayer" still ends with the chairman leading other members in saying "amen".

The authority is one of dozens across Britain which have recently scrapped or significantly altered their custom of saying prayers at the start of meetings under pressure from secular campaigners, who argue the practice breaches their human rights and excludes non-believers and people from other faiths. » | Jasper Copping | Sunday, April 29, 2012