Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Youth Vote
May 8th, 2010 | 
Author: The youngest voter in the general election, 14-year-old Alfie McKenzie from Preesall, Lancashire, was unremorseful yesterday, despite a warning from his local police and council that his behaviour could constitute a criminal offence. "It was just too mulch of a temptation to resist," he said. I’m a socialist. I’d been reading up on it a lot before the election, and I’d got very I interested in tactical voting. Nobody asked me for ID or anything."
After voting "dressed in a trenchhcoat, glasses and posh shoes," Alfie, went to school, where he told a teacher what he had done in confidence. But the teacher went straight to the head and Alfie was given a stern talking-to by the police. Half an hour later he was told the Sun was on the phone and wanted to speak to him.
"I’d never speak to the Sun," he said firmly, "I’m a Guardian reader."
His mother, a PA to a doctor, is a Labour supporter, and his father is a remarkable animal, a socialist estate agent. Despite Alfie’s best efforts, Ben Wallace held the seat for the Tories.
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Mandelson attacks ‘extreme rightwing figures’ for Gordon Brown pill ‘smears’
Business secretary says it is ‘absolutely ridiculous’ to suggest Brown has a problem with pill use, and criticises Andrew Marr for asking the PM about the rumours
Gordon Brown on the Andrew Marr show yesterday.
Lord Mandelson today criticised "extreme rightwing figures" for circulating rumours on the internet which led to Gordon Brown being asked on the BBC whether he had been prescribed medication to help him cope with the pressures of his job.
The question has sparked fury among delegates at Labour’s conference in Brighton, with former minister Caroline Flint this morning branding it "despicable".
Mandelson said it was "absolutely ridiculous" to suggest the PM had a problem with pill use, and blamed politically motivated bloggers for raising the possibility.
"We have seen out there on the internet, the blogosphere, all these extreme rightwing people trying to put these smears and rumours about, all completely groundless," he said in an interview on GMTV.