I should point out that I'm a Bierley lad, another all-white estate. Buttershaw was a culture shock because it didn't have herds of wild horses roaming around it.

And in 2010 Labour won it back again from Respect when they put up a former assistant to Oona King v a former assistant of Galloway (who had left the picture).

It was in fact one of only three seats in the entire 2010 general election Labour took off another party so does not being able to hold onto your seat as the incumbent party in the face of government unpopularity not represent sheer incompetence as well?

Or is the reality of the matter protest votes evaporate at general elections?

Whatever the truth in that to link 2005 and 2012 is nuts. None of the mainstream parties can look on this with any comfort. The Condems will in the sense it takes the headlines away from the last few weeks of incompetence but that is head in the sand stuff. If this result represents anything real then they are all in for a kicking whenever a protest candidate pops up. The trouble is it does not represent reality.

If Galloway stood in that idiot Francis Maude's constituency were he to resign Galloway would loose his deposit. So Galloway won't do it. He wouldn't do it on Chester either where I live which is a marginal. All he will ever do is pick constituencies where he thinks he can tap into what is a disenfranchised Labour vote because he is a political coward and opportunist.

He is a very good one when it comes to by-elections and Labour have to work out why they lost and how they can deal with his regular by-election standings but it really doesn't represent a great political shift in my opinion because the man fronting it is a discredited moron.

I love Miacca.....

This is what I like about us lefties. We can agree to disagree. Unlike the other lot, we have that ability! I wont bother with that spare room Minty. Save it for the likes of Wigan Fan after drinkypoos. You probably have a lot more in common.

Question Time Thursday 19 April from Leeds should be a don't miss.

Yvette Cooper v Sayeeda Warsi

I've also tipped Damo off about it, so he can apply for tickets

Ey up, the Baroness. She'll be making a mammary of herself again then....What really p!sses me off Dave, is the people who whinge and moan about the world being taken over by neo lib/con politics. Whilst some of us, in our teens, were flying around picket lines in Yorkshire, and at Orgreave, others were baking currant buns for their Daily Mail reading mothers.

But Coddy isn't excusing a Trot stooge who happily becomes sexist and homophobic when it suits his desire to appeal to religious fundamentalists - and who is also helped by anti-Semites, although I cannot imagine the appeal there (beyond his campaign having previously linked LGBT rights to the struggle of the Palestinian people and that the former was far less important than the latter, although nobody had even linked the two in the first place).

If support for such utterly unprincipled, bigoted schmucks is some sort of thing the left needs to aspire to, then heaven help it.

Bring back Arthur all is forgiven - and people talk Galloway's principles!!

I'm not aspiring to anything. Galloway would probably confess to being as imperfect as the rest of us. Sometimes though, you've got to get down and a little bit dirty if the means justify the end. Nobody posts their political dissatisfaction more on this board than you. You should be happy that the established order of things has been rocked a little. I am.

Bet he wouldn't.

'THE VICTORY IS THE STRUGGLE' - Just for you Sal.

You know you only gamble once a year on the Grand National. Keep that money safe it that pocket of yours.

Errrr... no. No he wouldn't.


So any tactics at all are OK if you consider the ends to be worth it?

Really?


The idea behind rocking the established order of things is to end up with something better.

I'm forgetting you have a personal relationship with Gorgeous George. Perhaps you know him better than me? And yes, maybe things will have to get better. The s running the Labour party might have to shape up a little.

You don't describe the Bradford I live in and have lived in on and off for 50 years. Bradford is city which had a thriving manufacturing base, wool, metal casting and some assembly. Wool disappeared along with the likes of Crofts, Hepworth and Grandage and Metal Box disappeared and the likes of Pat Wall drove Bairds and English Electric out. The lack of large scale manufacturing has left a huge vacuum in the city.

The lawlessness of the Pakistani/Bangladeshi communities cannot be tackled due to race card issues,the race riots of 2001 set the precedence for what the police can and cannot do. The brutality of the tribal stuff of the eastern europeans is impossible to control. If you want an example of lawlessness check which post codes have the highest instances of uninsured vehicles in Britain? Drug dealing in this city is now endemic and openly transacted - if you want to see it in action take a walk down Leeds Rd any time after 4pm.

As the Asian community continue to breed at such a rapid rate - in 2009 the Pakistani community represented 20% of the total but accounted for 50% of all new births - it is having an effect on the population balance of the city.

The city centre has one of the highest instances of empty shops including a the huge Westfield hole at the bottom of the city where a failed development left its mark. The Asians understandably shop in their own shops especially the ladies and the whites go to Leeds as variety of shops are greater. The city centre is a virtual no go area at night.

Large quantities of the white population live in ghetto like council estates like Holme Wood - where horses out number cars, Ravenscliffe, Swain House and Buttershaw where lawlessness is equal to if not greater than that experienced in the areas populated by Asian/EE. The lack of work or desire to work has driven a culture of benefit abuse, drug consumption, general apathy but an anger based on racial bias.

Galloway saw an opportunity to expose this rift - the constituency had 40% Muslim catchment excluding the Uni - he knew the Imams were the key to success and he worked on their ego - they told their flock to vote for Galloway and they delivered the Muslim vote. The community leaders told everyone to vote for the Labour candidate purely because he was a Muslim - yet another illustration of where the power in the city really lies.

Bradford is close to a tipping point and Galloway's meddling for his own ends has probably accelerated this position. The idea of a bigot white MP being carried through the city on the shoulders of a group of Imams - Iranian stylee will not help matters.

Love to see what you mean by that as all the examples you have given suggest that the only issues are political opportunism.

I have sen no evidence of Galloway using anti semitism personally when i saw him interviewed he actually attacked anti semitism., Maybe some of his more unprincipled supporters have stirred things up.

AS for attacking the muslim labour candidate and accusing him of being an uncle tom and party apparatchik that is true. Labour have used Muslim "community Leaders" in bradford for years to deliver the asian voters as cannon fodder.

His big message to younger voters in particular was that the main parties have ignored their constituents and that he is anti war ( ie IraQ).

Personally i am glad that there will be one anti war MP in parliament who is prepared to stand up for his beliefs particularly when their is olikely to be an atack on Iran soon.

I reckon your ultra leftist and trot jibes are based on the idea that no one should challenge labour from the left when actually that is exactly what should be happening.

And I do not recognise the place you are talking about at all. I've heard the words plenty of times, I just don't recognise the place they're meant to describe. I said we are segregated along lines of class, outlook and any number of other things - just like everywhere else. If you're hoping to argue me away from that position that really wasn't a good start.

If you think there are no-go areas in this city you are beyond deluded. I've lived in half of them sporting a skinhead.

You don't need a personal relationship with someone to spot an egotistical self-serving wazzock. It's not as if he's been shy of the media or anything.

Shaking up Labour's leadership might well be a good thing, but if they adopt Galloway's tactics and position they'll be unelectable for a generation.

Don't despair too much, their used to it. I blame it on all you soppy liberal democrats!

Don't know whether to laugh or cry at this whole debacle.

At least George is fully focused on his constituency:



Bradford West, what have you done?

I fully respect both yours and Sal's views on Bradford, seeing as both of you are locals, but speaking as an outsider who visits the area regularly (once a week) through work, I can honestly say that the only thing I see, is a city which is segregated almost into ghettos of white and Asian.

I have visited various schools and witnessed how multiculturism simply hasn't worked.....The idea behind it is surely that all races and creeds mix, yet from my own experience the total opposite has happened in Bradford....At Carlton Bolling, I was actually racially insulted by a group of Asians, something which isn't rare from conversations I've had with the staff there.

What's apparent is that the last thing your area needs is a troublemaker like Galloway exploiting the obvious tensions that exist, especially with the inflammatory language that the man likes to use....With somebody like him involved in the political mix in Bradford, there can only be trouble heading your way.

We must simply agree to differ - I don't recognise the Bradford you describe and you don't recognise the Bradford I describe - so let us try and agree some things

Would you agree:
1. 20% of the population currently provide 50% of the new births?
2. Bradford has one of the highest instances of unoccupied retail spaces in the UK?
3. Westfield have left a huge hole - literally right in the centre of the city?
4. Two of the five post codes with the highest instances of uninsured vehicles in the UK start with BD?

I cannot see this village thing you suggest is going on - i see two distinct segregated areas Pakistani/Bangladeshi and the rest. You will not see many white residents in Mannnigham/Frizinghall/Great Horton and you will not see many P/B in Baildon, Idle, Eccleshill any Asians you do see will be Indians from East Africa or the sub continent. This soup of multi cultural integration you elude to is simply a fantasy IMO.

How many other cities have Pakinstani only schools where whites are prohibited to attend - do you really live in Bradford?

Ah, right. You're one of those on the left who'd rather have a few token victories and spend time moaning from opposition than actually have a party in power. And I'm a soppy [iex[/i-LD if you don't mind. No idea who I'll vote for next time around.

Jesus Kosh, don't go ditching them next time round. You've done the damage and you might be the only vote Nick can rely on. Stick with it.

It's as I've been saying for ages - Labour stands for no one or nothing; and even worse is lead by a muppet.

Give people an alternative who speaks their language is Labour will get trounced anywhere.

We have three main parties who are failing:

Tory - the Nasty Party
Labour - the Weasely Party
LibDems - The Big Joke Party

If enough, credible independents stand on local issues at the next GE we may even see a return to democracy (although knowing the British people's prospensity for swallowing sh**e, I doubt it).