The 2005 general election is nearly upon us. Which way will you vote, and you reasons why. Here is a brief list of the potential contestants, please add your own.


More tax!
Less tax!
Dont know!
Death to all infidels!
Who gives a shit?

The great pretender.

Educashun is za mess stanber, but what did you expect, real progress??


LOL !

10.45pm

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MG Rover goes into administration

Mark Tran and agencies
Thursday April 7, 2005
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1454341,00.html

Workers at MG Rover leave the Longbridge plant, Birmingham Thursday April 7, 2005 after production was suspended. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA


MG Rover is going into administration after its proposed Chinese partner pulled out of a deal, the trade and industry secretary, Patricia Hewitt, announced tonight.
Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) said grant aid had not been forthcoming so "there can be no deal".

The development threatens thousands of job at the company's factory in Longbridge, Birmingham and at firms throughout the West Midlands which supply the company.

At a brief but tense press conference by Ms Hewitt and Tony Woodley, leader of the Transport and General Workers Union, the minister said the board of MG Rover had decided to call in the receivers.



"This is a devastating blow to all those involved - the workers and their families, the company's suppliers and the wider community. Tonight our thoughts are with them," she added.
The minister said a partnership with SAIC had been critical to MG Rover's future and the company, government and unions had been working "tirelessly round-the-clock" to try to secure the deal. "In the end, SAIC made it clear that they were not confident about the future solvency of MG Rover, and therefore there was no reasonable prospect of a deal.

"The government stood ready to issue bridging finance of over 100 million to help, but without a deal there was no possibility of a bridging loan. SAIC, for their part, indicated that bridging loan finance would not have solved their concerns."

She said the government and unions would work with the administrator to try to secure future car manufacturing at Longbridge. The government would be providing a support package and set up a Rover taskforce, with more details to be announced tomorrow.

SAIC stressed tonight it had always made it clear that MG Rover would have to be solvent for at least two years for the partnership deal to go ahead.

A spokesman said that the DTI had offered to provide interim grant aid but added: "Such grant aid has not been forthcoming. SAIC can do nothing. There can be no deal."

Mr Woodley revealed that Tony Blair had a 25-minute call with a senior figure in the Chinese government as recently as yesterday evening.

Mr Woodley said unions would carry on fighting for jobs at Longbridge and he pledged to work with the receivers to salvage what he could. "The last thing we want to see is another supermarket on a car manufacturing plant."

Mr Woodley and Ms Hewitt will travel to Longbridge tomorrow to meet workers.

Rover had warned earlier today that time was "clearly running out" to clinch a rescue deal with SAIC and urged the British government to make a decision on a bridging loan.

In a clear sign of its growing impatience with the government, Rover said in a statement: "Today MG Rover called on the government to make a decision on the bridging loan which will open the way to the car maker completing complex negotiations with the Chinese company SAIC (Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation)."

The statement was designed to prod the government into finalising its offer of a 100m loan for loss-making Rover to pave the way to a final agreement with SAIC. Rover said the loan was crucial if the partnership was to go ahead.

Earlier, Rover, Britain's last mass car maker, suspended production at its UK factory, blaming "isolated" component supply problems. The company said cars were not being built on the day shift at its plant in Longbridge, Birmingham.

However, Rover had insisted the suspension was temporary and said it remained optimistic that production would return to normal.

Rover said: "Given the amount of negative media coverage this week it is no surprise that we have suffered a few isolated component supply problems. For this reason we have temporarily suspended production."

Underlining the growing sense of crisis surrounding Rover, one West Midlands based firm that suspended supplies to Rover disclosed it was owed almost 1m.

Wagon, which makes door frames for the Longbridge plant, said in a statement: "The board of Wagon announces that, in view of MG Rover's current inability to meet its payment obligations, it has decided to suspend supplies to MG Rover with immediate effect. Wagon currently has approximately 0.9m of receivables outstanding with MG Rover."

Wagon, which employs 1,000 workers in the UK, said it would restructure parts of its operation if supplies to MG Rover were terminated permanently. Rover said the directors of its holding company had offered 10m of their own money to help secure the government loan. "The PVH (Phoenix Venture Holdings) directors will provide 10m of personal money to convince the government of our commitment. What we need now is the government to decide," Peter Beale, the PVH vice-chairman, said.

On the record on Newsnight a few minutes ago--the board of Rover denied emphatically that they had called in the receivers. Price Waterhouse were asked to advise them and they are outraged at Patricia Hewitts announcement-which is wrong and she had no right to make!! Another Gov. BOOB-which will definitely put paid to poor old Rover and efforts to keep her afloat. look out for red faces tomorrow.

Nothing to do with me....she says..

40m support for car firm suppliers

The Government has announced a 40 million package of support for firms which supply MG Rover following the collapse of talks aimed at securing the company's future. Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt revealed that some companies in the West Midlands which supply components for manufacturing at the huge MG Rover factory in Longbridge, Birmingham, had started to lay off workers. The collapse of the proposed partnership with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation threatens 6,000 jobs at Longbridge but an estimated 18,000 jobs in companies which supply MG Rover are now also threatened,


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1560504,00.html

MG Rover suppliers lay off hundreds - report
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - Suppliers of under-threat car maker MG Rover have begun laying off hundreds of workers despite a government aid package for them, the Press Association reported citing industry sources.

Rover's failure to reach a deal with Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp (SAIC) has not only put in jeopardy Rover's own 6,100-strong workforce but also an estimated 18,000 jobs in its component suppliers.

The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) said the news highlighted the urgency of resurrecting some kind of deal which will save Rover's Longbridge factory from complete closure.

Car components maker Wagon PLC last week warned that it would restructure its UK manufacturing operations if supplies to Rover were not restarted.

The 6,000 Longbridge workers have been told to report to work as normal Monday when they will hear from administrators whether they are to be laid off immediately.

The British government last Friday pledged a support package worth 40 mln stg to MG Rover's suppliers following the collapse of the talks with SAIC.

lc/ga/ak





COPYRIGHT



Copyright AFX News Limited 2005. All rights reserved.

Amities / With reference to an earliar post regarding the perception of the UK to us Europeons. Allow me to preface this piece by saying l am French;- both extremely nationalistic and proud : and part of the growing army of Jean-Marie Le Pen supporters following the dogma that France is for us FRENCH !! and we are not allowing our culture to be comprimised by the scourge of mass immigration ! ,,,,,AFTER all it was ONLY immigration into France in the 1980s that brought what are now permanent high levels of crime . Perhpas some would call that Fascism but that is a pure misnomer and if it avoids a future civil war it is absolutely essential. Lets not forget even Holland , a once reknowned bastion of liberalism, now has the Nationalist Party as the second biggest party in the country .ltaly is the same. Spain has never been any different. l have no problem with France allowing our fellow Europeon tribal cousins entry but draw a line at unproductive purely economic refugeees from countries where life is so very cheap and crime is thier ONLY forte and agenda. lts like a Trojan Horse scenario .We open the gates and our enemies are within . So if my sentiments are unpalateable to certain quaters like whimps who read the Guardian then so be it . l dont give a jot . =====But to the point .From my vantage point beneath the gossamer thin veneer of apparent political accountability the UK is the definition of a "police state " of the very first order hanging dearly to the shirt tails of world policemen/ terrorist -The USA . My observation is one of a vicious, hypocritical, arbitary and utterly corrupt state prepared to unleash its OWN army dressed in police attire on its OWN people as it did in its successful attempt to smash the miners union via the miners strike; and yet somewhat perversely frees murdering worthless lRA scum whose bloodlust and greed knew no bounds from life sentances imposed legitimately through the UK courts for the worst crimes in the criminal calander . all this against a background of a state which at one stage had such vast oil/ gas revenues it could have joined OPEC but more importantly have totally revolutionised its own countries antiquated industrial infrastructure -eg ,lts delapidated rail system and afforded with consumate EASE to give every city and major town a REAL facelift But they didnt . They gave it to thier cronies { ln France our channel trains travel at 200 kmh but have to slow down by 50 % when entering the UK as the rail is in need of replacement. ) More importantly they could have made for an made for a environment of decent housing,hospitals with untold fortunes at thier disposal , schools with all pre-requisite aids to learning. and SECURITY for its people. But , of course, it was all totally corruptly squandered and shared by the very select few. And to think had it not been for the persistance of Anthony Benn as Minister of Energy in the 70s North sea exploration may never have even happened . l know. l am a resource analyist specializing in energy ; and i know how juste much revenue North sea oil brought to your coffers .The few "elephant fields " came on tap on tap juste in time for Thatcher to spend on all the WRONG things like err War .The Uk had so much oil it that at one time BP were casing and cementing over 300 billion barrel fields as they knew through seismic survey bigger fields existed .But what can one expect from a state whose status qou has remained continous and uninterupted for several centuries, and subsequently, institutions and elitist organizations have evolved and developed which operate by stealth in the background and have had many centuries of perfecting the very subtle art of keeping both the prols in order, the middle classes appeased, and the aristos privaleged. And more than anything SHAPING the future . Corruption of the truth is due to that odious box people call a TV .And you have to ask yourself who controls that box as a media . The very same names who counselled Henry V11 and V111 and Elizabeth 1 counsel todays politicians .This was no better illustrated more so than in Margeret Thatchers first administration. The great aristocrats of the Plantaganet and Angevin dynasties of 700 years ago with French names are still among the political elite lurking in the background. !You need only look at the origins of the names of the Permanant Secataries of State who instruct ministers who come and go like the seasons .But the permanant secataries are exactly that . PERMANANT . !!As are your later Dutch & Hanoverian masters .Lets face it the English are ruled over by the house of Saxe -Coburg-Gotha and decadence,hedonism greed and corruption is its middle name . Little wonder countries like its ex colony Nigeria emulates its ex master -except Nigeria is a fledgeling democracy ( sic ) and lacks the sophistication and fiscal tools and instruments of keeping a secret of its absurd corruption in somewhat contrast to the UK which is an expert - eg -FTSE companies raiding their pension funds The day is arriving when pension funds will be utterly bankrupt . . Ohh the whole thing is beyond repair and not worth even going into to. . l see no future in a country where it will be a crime to be poor within a few years and i FULLY endorse the feelings of Scotinvestor as to why anyone with both money and pure common sense would even entertain the idea of being domiciled in a country - a dour sad hinterland of uppity RACIST blacks and Asians and all bizzare types gibbering all types of nonsense and all carving out gang cultures,propogating fear among citizens and targetting the youth with thier drugges, guns and causing a plethora of social problems. Africa is screaming out for literate blacks to form beaurocracies so why dont they go and do something productive like rebuilding thier own continenet ,,,, ! l note with some concern that Derby recently homed a few hundred Armenians right in the middle of a Pakistani community; and the cheeky Pakistanis complained that this was their patch and vociferously complained as to Derby city councils actions which had been ordered by Central govt anyway . ......The nerve of these bloody people. They have more front than Blair who thinks the iraqis posed such a threat we had better risk life and limb , spend billions,travel thousands of miles and give them a damned good larruping; yet he is quite content to release suspected lraqi terorists/ recidivists from Belmarsh prison to cavort around London ,,,ls that sane ? Am i on the wrong train here or something ?? Well am l ? ..... its open to debate. lm quite reasonable ....l mean am i sitting next to a maniac with a bomb inserted in his rectum on the jubilee line ? ...l mean come on now ? What with the ghettos that have become 50% of East London ..Aww the sceanario worsens ...Can you imagine breaking down in Clapton on the road to Bethnal Green in a Ferrari right outside a excusive black individuals pub ? Well actually i ran out of petrol,,lol ..became something of a sideshow actually ....As if i were Mr pimp daddy or something ...ohhh what a performance that was ,, and inbetween stopping people wishing to have a "kwik drive" while politely refusing offers of everything from ganga to crack to uranium 237n and Kalachinikov assualt weapons ,,,,, and resisting would be assailants,,, it was not my idea of what makes a good night ... ... You will not find many men who have had as privaleged background as myself but the thought of Michael Howard running the show is utter madness. the 1980s revisited ,,,Deport them anyway Michael . ,,,,,lm here purely for the money i can command in the city..l personally dont give a s$& anyway about who wins the election Does it really matter ?,,vraiment ? C'est creve ou marche oui ?,a'bientot ..@+ J

Spot on I'm afraid.

One thing that always amazes me in the UK is the number of folk you describe as 'proles' who'll vote Conservative in the next election! Bit like the Wildebeest voting for the lions - but plenty will!

As for our immigration it's even worse than that into your France, though with similar results! I feel it's terrible that our masters allowed the floodgates to open and our industrial towns and cities to be swamped with supposed cheap labour from the 3rd world. Most who neither have anything in common with our culture nor wish to embrace it. Political correctness is fine if you live on ones country estate in Gloucestershire but a totally diferent matter if you live in a city like Bradford! And, and... my local town has large numbers of rather threatening Iraqi Kurds hanging round the centre - why on earth are they not back in Iraq? Surely Saddam has very little chance of getting back into power there? Asylum seekers my ar$e! Are we really such a soft touch!

I'd say Vive La Revolution but the working class seems to have lost their balls since the miners strike collapsed.

brinboru

............so i'll put you down as 'Labour' and more immigration then?

I already said further up the thread that I won't be voting for any party.

I wouldn't vote for New 'Labour' (Bit of a misnomer there) - because of the dishonest way they went to war with Iraq and their free for all immigration policy.

I wouldn't vote Con because they are only interested in rewarding the very richest few percent of our population. Strangely enough, if they do get in, I believe we will see a run on the , a house price slump and a fall in the stock market. The first because the international markets don't believe they have the experience to run the economy and the second two because they will try to drastically reduce spending which will result in a steep an increase in unemployment and a real lack of consumer confidence.

My goodness!

Such strong feelings from our French cousin. Le Pen has no real chance of power, but might cause the French gov to think a bit harder about immigration. urope cant house the rest of the worlds excess populations, regardless of what the pols would have you think.

As for the world health service (formally the nhs) Look at the madness thats going on there.

Latest poll from the guardian, so it must be right....lol

Maxk
I'm surprised that you buy the Gullible!
Numbers alone will point up the impossibility of being able to take the worlds unwanted. Just one percent of Indias' would be 10 million.
It has nothing to do with race. I would not like 10 million Ozzies or Yanks or Canucks or Germans or French or Nips or Argies. Common sense really.

Amities/ D'accord completement ..

Morning all.


stanber, the daily worker is an excellent read, they dislike fony just as much as we do.




Fony telling people how it is, and what they can do with thier opinions!

FrenchConnection.

You still in blighty or back in la belle france?

hi kshammas I completly agree with // after all //not so long ago///people die/// to give the right for common working class to vote

Conservatives will win next election: Official

Popular newspaper's support confirms the inevitable

by Chris Miller

Political experts are predicting a huge victory for the Conservative party at the next general election after leading newspaper the Daily Express took paedophile asylum seekers off its front page for the first time in eight months last Thursday and used the space to declare its support for the Tories.

The paper, owned by talented pornographer and all-round nice guy Richard Desmond, is known to wield huge influence both in media circles and across British society as a whole. Accordingly, this editorial policy is certain to have a significant effect on the next election.

"Its inevitable that the Express readers will be drawn towards the Conservative party when voting time comes around, said Professor Anthony King of the University of Essex, the leading authority on British politics who is never off the telly. How many readers does it have? Im not sure exactly, but I know its lots and lots. Enough to cause a decisive swing, Id say. Definitely."

Media experts have also commented on the Expresss declaration.

Everyone knows that, where the Daily Express leads, all other newspapers follow, said Dan Woodall, a lecturer in media studies at the University of East London. "It cant be long before the Daily Mail and the Sun back the Tories as well. Maybe even the Telegraph. This is really going to shake things up."

Woodall pointed out that many Express readers are in the influential over-70 age bracket as well. "If the paper can convince even those readers start voting Tory who knows?" he said. "We could be looking at the biggest landslide in history."

Leader of the Conservatives Michael Howard expressed his jubilation at the news.

"This is great for us," he said, pausing momentarily from nailing a peasant's hat to his head. "It could signal a repeat of the elections under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s when, as the popular catchphrase had it, 'It was the Express wot won it'. Now if you'll excuse me, Ive got to go and make a speech complaining about levels of Romanian immigration in South Wales."

lol !

He`s tough,ruthless & hates spin.Howard is the man to lead britain,

Instead of charm he is offering ronseal politics,triumph of substance over style,,and so say the daily express!!

He does have the speech ,, but does he have the policies.

Special report: election 2005

New fears over postal vote fraud

System nears crisis point as main parties are told to stop interfering

Hugh Muir, Sandra Laville and Audrey Gillan
Wednesday April 13, 2005
The Guardian
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/election/story/0,15803,1458341,00.html

The three main political parties were yesterday urged to withdraw from active participation in the postal-voting system amid fears that public confidence in the process has reached crisis point.

Returning officers and officials from the Electoral Reform Society have called on Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to place strict curbs on their activists to ensure there is minimum party intervention in voting procedures. They have reiterated that, except in very limited circumstances, there should be "no third party intervention".


Article continues

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However, the Guardian has established that party officials and candidates are still seeking to involve themselves in the process of applying for postal votes by sending forms direct to electors and asking them to complete and return them to their offices.
The practice is not illegal but, in the light of the scandal in Birmingham - where a judge found rogue Labour activists and candidates tampered with forms - it is now heavily frowned upon.

In the wake of the Birmingham case, in which Richard Mawrey QC found the postal-voting system was "wide open to fraud", guidelines were issued to political parties by the Electoral Commission and the Association of Chief Police Officers, warning them to steer clear of involvement in postal voting.

"Because of the risks of suspicions that the application may be altered and the risk of the application form being delayed or lost in transit, the local electoral registration officer's address should be the preferred address given for the return of application forms," the guidelines said.

But some candidates are flouting this advice. In a personal letter to voters in east London this week, the Labour MP Oona King told them to fill out the enclosed application form "and return it to me at the address shown", adding: "Then you can vote from the comfort of your own home."

Challenged yesterday by her opponent, the Respect candidate George Galloway, who accused her of "corruption of the democratic process", Ms King's office said: "It has always been the case [that we ask voters to send application forms to us] and it has been for around 10 years. We have a strict code of conduct."

In Brent East, the Liberal Democrat Sarah Teather sent voters an application form and urged them to "return the form to the Liberal Democrats using the envelope enclosed".

Her election agent, Chris Leaman, said the party was acting within Electoral Commission guidelines.

But returning officers expressed frustration yesterday that parties were still getting involved in postal voting. Peter Woodward, electoral services officer at Cardiff city council, said Labour and the Conservatives were culpable. "We have had electors talking to us saying that they were not happy with the way this was being done, they felt political parties were pushing them. There is a suggestion from some residents that they have been not exactly pressurised but heavily encouraged into applying for a postal vote and sending it through the party involved. We are not happy about it."

In Newham, east London, Mary Bradley, acting returning officer, said: "I think it would be more wise for political parties to stay completely clear of the postal-voting system in view of what has happened recently."

Experts believe that up to 6 million of the 44 million votes likely to be cast on May 5 will be postal votes and, in key marginal constituencies, they could be decisive.

The warnings came as the scale of alleged electoral fraud in the UK emerged. A survey by the Crown Prosecution Service, released to the Guardian, revealed there were 39 ongoing investigations into fraud, including cases where criminal charges have been made and those where lawyers were examining police reports.

In addition, police forces in Woking, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Bradford and Burnley were investigating claims of postal-voting fraud.

Police in Birmingham were told yesterday to start a new criminal investigation into the six Labour councillors who were found guilty of "massive, widespread organised" postal-voting fraud at last June's local elections. A CPS spokesman said prosecution lawyers had asked police to investigate "with urgency".

Election officers said they were anxious to re-build confidence. One senior returning officer said voters had contacted his office seeking to relinquish their postal votes and regain their right to vote at a polling station.

Malcolm Dumper, of the Association of Electoral Administrators, said: "We have had an electoral system in place for more than a century built on trust and we now find ourselves in a position of being ridiculed in other countries because our process is flawed. Any third-party intervention should be removed."