Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

you clearly fancy yourself as brain of britain, or at least infinitely superior to us poor plebs .... so did you consider that the labour party made such a good fist of things that they should have been re-elected? ..... clearly not, or did you just feel it was really far too infra dig to go to cast your vote?

while the coalition may lack outstanding personalities, as most assuredly does the party opposite, the inheritance was always going to be a poisoned chalice .... i think the policy of austerity, nasty medicine as it might be, was absolutely the right course if disaster was to be averted ..... the labour party's idea of dribbling the medicine would never have brought the required result, and i think (can't prove) that such a course would have been truly horrible ..... both france and germany like to pretend that they are not in a terrible mess, when clearly the truth is otherwise.

with regard to the latest eu negotiations, only time will tell whether or not the perpetually increasing eu budget has at long last been halted ..... certainly the labour party never had the courage or perhaps intent even to grasp that nettle ..... of course the real sub-plot is to set the scenario for a referendum (good job says i) on whether or not uk should remain within eu .... for myself, i am currently ambivalent on the issue, but i shall listen to sides and then make up my mind and VOTE!

Cynic,

First comment,

No. I recognise how mediocre my intelligence is when compare with many, even many in, or associated with the coalition party and also recognise the difficulty in "governing".

However, I dislike their deceit and smugness.

I also recognise rubbish when I see it and your remarks often fit into that category.

Possibly, what you write is an attempt to be irritating, but even then, sometimes that which you write can be pertinent.

Unfortunately, the latter is not often enough and may be due to the effect of ageing process.

I think the economy of Europe and Britain have problems, but I think or guess that the EU will come out of "recession" quicker than the UK.

If my reading is correct so do the markets.

Also, the steps taken by Brown at the end of his period in office appeared to be correct and led to sensible dialogue of the "problems".

Isolation and withdrawal, although tolerable, is often not the best or sensible way to re-solving problems

I suggest you think of the consequence of the fixing of finances for a 5-7 year period.

(The policies you seem to be supporting, or advocating seem to be attempting to protect the finances of a small group of society. If you disagree, think about it and if you still disagree, you are entitled to your opinion, as am I.)

The rest of your comments you can go to the same pub as Tanker and discuss.

Back to my Peppered Steak, Ratatouille, and Cherry and Cherry Strudel washed down with Plonk and followed by Port and Brandy in the arms of my wife and daughters, if they can catch me,

Bugger. Something is burning,

anyne haveing probs logging into A D V F N board

i disagree with nearly all you write; but at least i go to the poll booth instead of just standing on the side-lines bitching and whining about the present crew, while being insufficiently impressed by the previous mob to support them ..... had labour come back into power, you would no doubt now be berating them for following whatever course they thought best

the enfranchised public votes gov't both in and out ..... if you can't be bothered to get off your arse to do so, then you have no right to complain about the complexion and actions of those in power ..... had you and other non-voters not been so prissy or lazy or whatever, then it is not impossible that you would now have a labour gov't - but not necessarily of course ..... in effect, you have now got what you wished for ..... as in life, deal with the hand you have been dealt and get on with it, just as i would had we now got the milliband mob

would i move abroad? ..... no, but assuredly i would manage my financial and business affairs as best as possible within the framework permitted

We are in the age of the postal vote now,you do not even have to go to a pole station.

MrT says, "so even those dirty, skiving, non-tax-paying immigrants have the vote now - absolutely disgraceful!"

.

"would i move abroad? ..... no,"

Seems a pity!

---------

"but assuredly i would manage my financial and business affairs as best as possible within the framework permitted"

Seem to recall the Mafia and Berlusconi said something like that!

haystack . cleggs wife family are behind the wind farms and build the useless wind turbines .

a few weeks back i posted that i would never eat meat from ireland well you all
know why now i could not spell out why irish meat factorys are unsafe worse than
india .
eating horse will give you the trots if a race horse then the runs

fred - i cannot believe even you are such an arsehole as to neglect look after your finances and assets .... if you do so neglect, then your children (and wife) will not have much polite to say about you.

so you think it's a pity that i would not move abroad? ..... is that so you could gripe and whinge about people who choose to do so to minimise their taxes? ..... btw, i don't recollect that either mafia or berlusconi have a reputation let alone record of working within the permitted framework, but no doubt you know differently (because you know it all)

i would not move abroad because, inter alia, (a) taxes in most other countries (e.g. france) are much nastier than in uk, and (b) those countries that do have a benevolent tax regime (e.g. switzerland, gibraltar or even channel islands) have little appeal to me - and that assumes acceptance as a resident there in the first place

back to eu budget debate and preliminary agreement to reduce same
it is now heavily flagged that eu parliament will refuse to ratify that agreement in its present form .....

assuredly there will be much behind the scenes lobbying and offers of patronage - before you get on your high horses, that has happened since time immemorial - but the end result will be interesting to see, as will the interpretation of it by those with genuine expertise (no, fred only likes to imagine he is superior to everyone else here)

of more direct interest to uk, is how that will colour the arguments for/against staying in and of course the wording of any referendum question - should the milli-band even allow such a thing to take place (very doubtful)

Once upon a time, there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon the weather turned so cold that he reluctantly started to fly south.

In a short time ice began to form on his wings and he fell to earth in a barnyard. Almost frozen, a cow passed by and crapped on the little sparrow. The sparrow thought it was the end. But, the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings. Warm and happy, able to breathe, he started to sing. Just then, a large cat came by and hearing the chirping, investigated the sounds. The cat cleared away the manure, found the chirping bird and ate him.

Morals to the Story
1.Everyone who shits on you is not necessarily your enemy.
2.Everyone who gets you out of the shit is not necessarily your friend.
3.And, if you're warm and happy in a pile of shit, keep your mouth shut!!!

Well said DC, Fred you listening? Gobshite Of The Year (recurring) :O)

perhaps DC was sending me a warning rather than our resident whinger

I'm not getting involved, its my relaxing day Sunday. :-))

Cynic.
"within the permitted framework," as defined by whom.

An action may be legal, but still corrupt and the morality of the Mafia and some corporations and individuals are morally questionable.

But morality can be common as well as personal.
---------

As far as “whinge” is concerned, I refer you back to your whining postings on many other threads. You seem to me to be a past master in that skill.
==========

I think if you re-read my posting correctly and with a little help from somebody else, you may see that I was intimating at the consequences of the Pyrrhic victory.

Also, I was be a little facetious at your expense, which you obviously you didn’t recognise.

But, even if you don’t agree with me, you may able to recognise the scepticism in the media of Cameron’s supposed success. Even from the cartoon in and earlier post.

======

And no, once again I don’t consider myself superior to others, nor do I think I belong to an elite, with the “God given right” to rule, or the only group to have the omniscience to rule. Nor do I ignore out of hand the opinion of others, even if the opinions seemed based on a sense of party allegiances rather than common sense.

I wonder whether the assertion of superiority and the manner in which you do so, is once again a projection of your own problems, which seems to me, to be demonstrate in some of your postings on others threads, and to which I haven’t contributed on.

As far as the debate in the EU is concerned I relate you back first statement of this posting and I wait and see the outcome of the vote and its consequences.

---------------

Again, it seems to me, obvious what you would consider to a democracy and you wish to how it should be applied.

You are entitled to wish, as I am to my actions.

----------

Have a peaceful night.

one thing i do wish ... that you learnt to write rather more succinctly ....
while you do indeed have a legal, though questionably not moral, entitlement not to vote, my view and that of a number of others here, is that you thereby forego your right to whinge (incessantly) about any gov't that you have (allowed to be) elected .... almost like the frogs of aesop's fable

Cynic,

Brevity is often an unreliable brief.

------------------
For your future reading.

It is quite succinct and with a little patience and help you will be able to read and understand it.

"EU Budget - when is a cut not a cut

The UK's payments to the EU may rise even if total spending by Brussels falls
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A cut in the European Union's budget.

That is what Parliament voted for last year when Tory eurosceptics united with Labour to defeat the government. That is what David Cameron's advisers believe he may soon be able to say he's achieved.

Although no deal has yet been done the numbers currently being discussed for the next seven year EU budget are more than 30 billion euros (£25.5bn) lower than the one it will replace.

It has been a long and dull night for the prime minister.

He and the 26 other EU leaders left the Brussels negotiating table at around 12.30 in the morning and were only called back about six hours later. .

Besides a brief meeting with Germany's Chancellor Merkel and France's President Hollande there was not a great deal - beyond I'm told a supply of espressos, haribos, and fruit - to fill the small hours as Brussels negotiators put pressure on other countries to accept a squeeze.

As in any negotiation nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and the signs are that there is still a way to go before Europe's leaders sign on the dotted line.

Even if a deal is done with a headline cut to the EU budget there will be much to scrutinise."

Will the cut be as big as the one Britain aimed for?

The benchmark Downing Street seem keen to use is the so-called EU payments ceiling - what David Cameron likes to call Europe's credit card. It was €942.8bn (£803.9bn) for the seven years from 2007-2013. The expectation is that the new ceiling may end up being around €908bn (£774bn).

His critics may point out that he has not achieved a freeze in line with the figure of €886 billion the Treasury has previously used.

This number was produced by taking the EU's spending in 2011 - as it happens a relatively low spending year - and multiplying it by seven to cover the period of the EU's budget. It was always an arbitrary figure but it is one that ministers used.

How much spending has Brussels managed to classify as "off budget"?

Some EU spending is and always has been classified in this way - for instance Europe's solidarity fund which gives member states help in the event of floods, forest fires and the like.

British officials insist that no existing spending will be reclassified but will the figures for this and other off budget funds grow?

How much will Britain's contributions to the EU increase?

David Cameron has always insisted that Britain's EU rebate was non negotiable. Nevertheless the value of it has been falling thanks to the last budget deal done by Tony Blair.

The result is that in the looking glass world of EU budgets the EU's total spending may fall whilst Britain's payments actually increase.

Article written by Nick Robinson
Nick Robinson
Political editor