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.

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

i've read the piece with an unjaundiced eye .... it actually doesn't say much at all, though the author's intentionally provocative stance is fairly apparent - he has a history for same, but that's not a bad thing

i've already written what i think is likely to happen, so i won't bother to repeat .... though to repeat(!!) it's the subsequent lines taken for/against staying in eu that will be of more long-term interest

For sometime many of us have wondered who is Jack Shit? We find ourselves at a loss when someone says, You dont know Jack shit! Well, thanks to my efforts you can now respond in an intellectual way. Jack Shit is the only son of Awe Shit who married O. Shit the owner of Knee Deep in Shit Inc. In turn Jack shit married Noe shit. The deeply religious couple had six children : Holy Shit, Giva Shit, Fulla Shit, Bull Shit, and the twins Deep Shit and Dip Shit. Deep Shit married Dumb Shit, a high school dropout. After 15 years , Jack and Noe Shit got divorced and She married Ted Sherlock and became Noe Shit Shirlock . Meanwhile, Dip Shit married Loda Shit and had a rather nervous deposition named Chicken Shit. Fulla Shit and Giva Shit married the Happens brothers and had a double wedding. The newspaper invited everyone to the Shit-Happens wedding. Bull Shit traveled the world and returned home with an Italian bride, Pisa Shit. So from now on, no one can tell you that you dont know Jack shit!

When the body was first made, all the parts wanted to be Boss. The brain said, "I should be Boss because I control the whole body's responses and functions." The feet said, "We should be Boss as we carry the brain about and get him to where he wants to go." The Hands said, "We should be the Boss because we do all the work and earn all the money." And so it went on and on with the heart, the lungs and the eyes until finally the asshole spoke up. All the parts laughed at the idea of the asshole being the Boss. Promptly, the asshole went on strike, blocked itself up and refused to work. Within a short time the eyes became crossed, the hands clenched, the feet twitched, the heart and lungs began to panic and the brain fevered. Eventually they all decided that the asshole should be the Boss, so the motion was passed. All the other parts did all the work while the Boss just sat and passed out the shit!

Management Lesson: You don't need brains to be a Boss - any asshole will do.

Gosh I wish I had spent my day having a laugh with you.

Have not visited for a while, but after reading dreamcatchers last 2 posts, have to say what a great laugh.
I have seen the second post before, but still worth a re read.

Re the horse meat scandal.

We keep being reassured that the horse meat is safe and yet they still do not know if all of the meat was uncontaminated by veterinary drugs.

I am also willing to bet that we will soon find out that some, if not all the horse meat involved was originally destined for pet food, after all if you are carrying out a fraud scam, then why bother with quality horse meat (still cheaper than beef) when you can get hold of even cheaper pet food.

Chum and Gravy anyone!

Good to have a laugh. There has been no quality control checks on the meat. By the looks of the papers on the weekend , the Findus playboy boss, perhaps he should be taking a lesser interest in the birds (not the ones with feathers :-))and more interest in his business.

the EU is a shit hole we want out

Don't mince your words Tanker!

Just thinking the same. lol

Polish mafia gangs are blamed for horsemeat scandal as government warns MORE British products will be contaminated

Experts say beef is substituted for horse as part of multimillion pound scams
Environment secretary raises concerns of worldwide 'criminal conspiracy'
Food officials are being intimidated by cartels to sign off products as beefs

Testing is stepped up in Britain for horse DNA and results due within days

Wild horses in Romania are being slaughtered and shipped to Britain as beef
The animals suffer appalling cruelty, including being beaten with crowbars

these polish criminals should be hanged

skin facts are facts .
only the uk carry out the rules in the EU no one in europe give toss about regulations
anything goes dirty filthy habits never die

can you amagine what is going in to curry take aways AVOID ALL TAKEAWAYS

excuse me you guys - especially MrT - but per BBC this morning, it seems that at least most of the horse meat originated from Romania, was then shipped via Cyprus to NL (i think) and thence to Luxembourg and then to France for final processing

MrT - where stands your angelic Morrison's now, along with the other supermarkets? .... At least when i go to my butcher, I can see and choose exactly what I want

I would think over the next few months there are going to be a lot of overfed dogs with smiles on their faces queuing at Findus.

I would think over the next few months there are going to be a lot of overfed dogs with smiles on their faces queuing at Findus.

Just received a reply from David Cameron re an e-mail about the Immigration threat from Romania and Bulgaria immigrants flooding into the country after end Dec 2013.

The automated reply went straight to my 'Junk Tray', no doubt an indication of what the full reply will say.

Now let me guess.

1 Unfortunately due to our membership of the EU we are bound by EU law to allow these immigrants in.

2 We feel that the numbers being mentioned in the media, are exaggerated, and that the numbes will be far less than most people think.

3 We feel the benefits of allowing these people into the UK, will far outweigh the disadvantages.

Of course the answers will be worded in government speak, but will say still say similar!

Ds.

You seemed very involved with you bowels over the weekend, have a bowl of horse brand with linseed seeds.

Supposed to work wonders and bring a shine to your coat.

vote UKIP