CHARLIE CONDOU - No.956

DANCING ON BIAS

Charliecondou: Good luck to @hayleysoraya and @slongchambon tonight. I will obviously be voting for both of them because I'm completely unbiased

Charliecondou: RT @CorrieIS50years: 090 20 50 51 01 - for Hayley WHEN LINES OPEN @hayleysoraya

Charliecondou: I see @slongchambon has borrowed one of @realsamia's tops #DOI

TEAM STEVE

IncrediblyRich: In real life I want to be friends with Hayley Tamaddon but I swear to god if she steals Steve from Michelle I'll be well pissed off.

Charliecondou: @IncrediblyRich I'm friends with her. I'll punch her for you if she's tries it on with him

IncrediblyRich: @Charliecondou Ta love. #TeamSteve

DID YOU HAVE A GOOD XMAS

SP_Richardsonx: @Charliecondou Hey pal, did you have a good Xmas and New Year? x

Charliecondou: @SP_Richardsonx yes thanks x

OVER ON BBC RADIO 2

BBCRadio2: Coming up on #GMS with @misterhsk it's MOBO winner and Mercury Music Prize nominee @lauramvula talking about her year in 2013.

Charliecondou: @BBCRadio2 @misterhsk @lauramvula I'll be listening. I've heard her interviewed before, her passion for music is contagious.

misterhsk: @Charliecondou @BBCRadio2 @lauramvula she's amazing. Amazing.

CORRIE SPOILERS: 

TODD MAKES A PLAY FOR MARCUS

Do Todd's advances sound the death knell for Marcus's relationship with Maria?

David Brown 05 January 2014

Scheming Todd Grimshaw (Bruno Langley) looks set to cause more trouble in the coming weeks when he tries to break up Marcus (Charlie Condou) and Maria’s (Samia Ghadie) relationship. In scenes to be shown on Monday 13 January, Todd will strip off after receiving a birthday gift of a shirt from Sean (Antony Cotton). After winking at Marcus, Todd will later corner the object of his affection and make it clear that he fancies him. But will Marcus be able to resist his charms? It was announced back in November that actor Charlie Condou would be leaving the ITV soap in the summer of 2014 after Todd’s machinations prompt Marcus to start questioning his feelings for Maria. Speaking at the time, Condou said: “I've had a fantastic time at Corrie but feel it's time for me to move on. I was only meant to return for three months and ended up staying for three years! The producers have been really supportive and are leaving the door open for Marcus, which is great, and my exit will certainly be explosive.” Show bosses are promising that Marcus’s involvement with Todd will “divide the residents of Coronation Street”. Producer Stuart Blackburn said of Condou's exit: “I will be incredibly sad to see Charlie go and wish him well for what I know will be an exciting future.”




QUESTION: WHY DO PEOPLE TAKE AN INSTANT DISLIKE TO TONY ABBOTT?

ANSWER: IT SAVES TIME!

#FF

sallysolihull: #FF First Footer >> @Confidential_CC over in OZ but us soggy Brits will let him off just this once xsalx

Confidential_CC: @sallysolihull I am actually a descendant of 2 First FLEETERS #FF [Anthony Rope / Elizabeth Pulley]

sallysolihull: @Confidential_CC wow xsalx

THE BEE GEES
HAD A SONG FOR EVERYTHING

Tom_in_Oz_: TONY ABBOTT - LIAR!

an_tare: @Tom_in_Oz_  ~ May his crutch be infested by the fleas of a thousand camels..so itchy he will wish his pants were on fire ~

Tom_in_Oz_: @an_tare @randlight I feel sorry for the fleas!

randlight: @Tom_in_Oz_ @an_tare love it but that photo of #PMThing in his budgies will give me nightmares tonight

chookelini: @Tom_in_Oz_ a trouser conflagration no less

albsie: @Tom_in_Oz_ excellent!

Thefinnigans: @Tom_in_Oz_ @randlight

TONY AND RUPERT - OMG!!!

Tom_in_Oz_: @flabbergutsted Tony & Rupert - OMG !!!!!!!

flabbergutsted: @Tom_in_Oz_ Ugh. I'm having breakfast.

randlight: @Tom_in_Oz_ Very true makes my skin crawl looking at that photo

Tom_in_Oz_: @randlight got comment back from @flabbergutsted sadly he lost his breakfast after seeing pic x

myfibonacci: @Tom_in_Oz_ ...that'd be the most tweeted pic of the year! Gross 2c PM down on his knees 4 rule! But shouldn't he be on ...can't go there!!

PaceyShane: @Tom_in_Oz_ @3wombats weird...it's usually Rupert at back.

3wombats: @paceyshane @tom_in_oz_ Change is as good as a holiday

carla_dog: @Tom_in_Oz_ #onetermtony #dickhead #destroyeroflives

ShaughanA: @Tom_in_Oz_ Come on Rupe babes, you know you want me, I'll put those red budgie smugglers on, that you like so much! Grrrrrrr!!!!!

TONY'S BIG BRAND NEW TAX

randlight: Good to see Senator Penny Wong referring to the $6 slug on doctor’s visits as Tony Abbott’s tax on health! He's getting some of his own medicine!!

Confidential_CC: @randlight hmmm time for the rubber gloves nurse..... #bend please Mr Abbott....

randlight: @Confidential_CC With big hands?????

Confidential_CC: @randlight and absolutely no lubricant!!!!

randlight: @Confidential_CC Ahhhhh

RomanSandle: @randlight That would make it a " BIG BRAND NEW TAX " on health no?

CHOOK LOTTO - AUSTRALIA YOU LOSE!

OldMajorLives: Attention @TonyAbbottMHR < YOU ARE AN IDIOT!

*PLEASE READ*

ChasCondouFans: Tony Abbott looks for a new "foundation" to base his policies on......

May I suggest #MAYBELLINE

*PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING*

Not long after voting in Tony Abbott's team, Australians are having second thoughts...

AS POLITICAL honeymoons go Tony Abbott's has proved elusive, even invisible. Mr Abbott (pictured above) became Australia's prime minister almost four months ago, when he led the conservative Liberal-National coalition to a comfortable victory over an unpopular Labor government. By the end of the year, however, the unpopularity had shifted to the new government. No prime minister in memory has fallen so quickly from voters' grace.

Surveys conducted in November and December by Australia's two main pollsters, Nielsen and Newspoll, both showed Labor ahead of the coalition by 52 points to 48. The coalition won 53.5% of the vote at the election last September against Labor's 46.5%, after distribution of second preference votes. John Stirton, of Nielsen, says that in 40 years of polling, his firm has never seen a swing of such magnitude against a new administration. Governments have usually basked in polling honeymoons of up to two years. This time, the post-election swing is against it.

Besides bad polls, problems now loom over the government's handling of the economy. On December 17th a Treasury update on the fiscal year from July 2013 painted a chilling picture. The budget deficit had more than doubled from its original projection last May to A$47 billion ($42 billion). Growth had slowed, and unemployment was forecast to rise slightly, to 6%. Falling revenue and the legacy of stimulus spending under Labor played some part in what the Treasury called the "deterioration". The Treasury also cited the new government's promised grant of almost A$9 billion to the central bank to help it manage future crises, and some of its policies such as the projected repeal of a carbon tax. Mr Abbott has retreated from his promise a year ago of a surplus in each of his government's first three years.

Even before this sober reality, the government was looking clumsy. Mr Abbott's apparent insouciance over revelations in November that Australia had spied on Indonesia's leaders made that furore worse. The government in Jakarta then withdrew co-operation over dealing with people-smugglers who were sending asylum-seekers in boats to Australia. This imperils another of Mr Abbott's election promises, to "stop the boats".

Damage from arrogant performances by two of Mr Abbott's senior ministers has also been self-inflicted. Once, the immigration department revealed numbers and nationalities of asylum-seekers arriving by boat. Scott Morrison, the new government's immigration minister, banned such disclosures. Instead, flanked by an army commander to highlight the government's military-led operation against boat people, Mr Morrison holds weekly briefings, where he reveals only what he chooses. In a statement on December 27th to mark the "first 100 days of Operation Sovereign Borders", Mr Morrison declared: "The boats have not yet stopped, but they are stopping." The press lampooned him.

In November Christopher Pyne, the education minister, reneged on the coalition's promise to implement the former Labor government's education-finance reforms. They stemmed from a report two years ago by David Gonski, a leading business figure, who called on Canberra and the states to spend an extra A$5 billion a year, especially to raise public-school standards, where Australia has slipped lower in world league tables. The Abbott government underestimated the public backlash to its ditching of this popular measure; it was forced to reinstate it. Mr Abbott even tried to explain his original promise as one "that some people thought that we made".

Collectively, the government's performance has fed voters' long-standing doubts about Mr Abbott. The doubts have surfaced in the conservative Liberal Party, which Mr Abbott leads. John Fahey, a finance minister in the former coalition government, under John Howard, says Mr Abbott was not "known for his judgment" then, and has not taken his "best team into government" now.

As opposition leader, Mr Abbott played tough against a divided Labor government, but offered few sturdy policies. Mr Stirton reckons Australians changed government in September mainly to be rid of Labor. Mr Abbott, he says, is "the least popular opposition leader ever to be elected to the prime ministership".

Mr Abbott has plenty of time to hone his judgments; the next election is due in 2016. In a report to Australians on his government's first 100 days, he said it was "purposefully, carefully and methodically" building its "policy foundations". So far, at least, voters seem uncertain about both the policies and their foundations.