"That would be an ecumenical matter"

Invoking the spirit of Father Jack, Theresa May (she probably wouldn't) has decided that every answer to questions about the student demonstration will consist of the same boring and slyly insinuating response:

May says Corbyn should condemn the violence committed by a significant number of people on the demonstration.

4.10pm: Labour's Dennis Skinner suggests that the "nasty, rightwing government" is to blame. May criticises him for not condemning the violence.

4.09pm: May says she was concerned to see one of the stewards for last week's demonstrations refusing to condemn the violence.

Clearly this is the spin-doctors' line of attack: don't deal with the issues, peddle out this tedious trope. She doesn't mean police violence, by the way. 


I don't condemn the violence. Some of it was over the top, but angry people subject to police violence respond unpredictably and sometimes irrationally. Swinging on the Cenotaph flag was a bit silly and bound to get the Daily Mail brigade whinging, but retaliating to horse charges seems perfectly acceptable to me. 


The Tories have released a 'plain English' guide to what their plans for local government finance means. Some Tories have taken this a little too seriously and are actually saying what they really think:

Labour's Michael Dugher asks Pickles to condemn David Shakespeare, the leader of the Conservative group on the Local Government Assocation, who said recently that people from the north should "replace the Romanians in the cherry orchards".  

Mr Cameron’s spokesman refused to comment on the row, saying only: “The Prime Minister believes in flexible labour markets.”