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.

At last, a politician talking sense.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9924577/Stop-wasting-millions-translating-leaflets-into-foreign-languages-Eric-Pickles-tells-councils.html

That must be a triumph for the Picklel.

And here is another bit of cheer:-


Pound falls on weak manufacturing data

January's drop in manufacturing output came after a rise the previous month

The pound has fallen against the dollar and the euro after official figures showed UK manufacturing output fell by 1.5% in January from the month before.

The drop came after a 0.9% rise in output in December, and has added to fears of a third recession since 2008.

The pound hit a new two-and-a-half-year low of $1.4832 against the US dollar. The euro also rose to a two week high versus the pound of 87.77 pence.

==================

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21753071


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

But if you wish to see why, have a read of :

12 March 2013 Last updated at 00:02

Budget 2013: Radical options for the UK economy
By Laurence Knight

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20617088


It is a bit long for Cynic and Hays but ask your mates to help you on the big words.

i shall just wait to see what the budget brings rather than trying to pre-guess it - always something of a fruitless occupation

for sure the budget will make almost no one happy and many the reverse, but what do you expect in tough times?

i would hope to see stimulus for infrastructure building and the like, for which i would think there is a fairly good chance.

the mooted "mansion tax" will almost certainly prove to be a damp squib, other than for those who avoided stamp duty on expensive properties - imo, they will be rightly clobbered, though the revenue generated will be more cosmetic than anything serious

some sort of company withholding tax may also be imposed (they do that sort of thing all over the world) so that revenue (not profit) created in uk incurs a fair proportion of tax and is not just (legitimately) transferred elsewhere

One of the problems (rightly) this government has that it has little credibility with the public and business community.

They have no faith, or optimism with the present "austerity" policies, which due to haste and depth add to the fear of even deeper personal in business income prospects.

Whether it is now too late to pump money into the infrastructure and capital project, bye passing the banks or not I am not sure. But that has to be tried, with the tightening up of "fleeing" taxes and probably the Mansion tax. Also, would be useful to look at the "capital" and investments" of some of the Russian, Chinese and "Arab" immigrant communities. (Sound like Tanker.)

The latter may restore for the Cons, a little bit of belief in "We are all in it together".

Still think it will be a miracle if there is any real recovery benefits the overall public, but the market should go well.

Interesting to see the banks bunkering down, must be a little like No 10 and 11.

would be useful to look at the "capital" and investments" of some of the Russian, Chinese and "Arab" immigrant communities
not understood; please clarify



i also confess to being totally bewildered by all the air time suddenly being given to apprenticeships
i have long thought that apprenticeships should be readily available, and not only just for the "less academic" ......
however, it is a matter of very harsh fact that it's all very well for some chap(ess) to take a plumbing or mechanics course or similar, and then find it totally impossible to be taken on for the necessary field experience to allow final qualification, and of course to be able to show a good class of workmanship to any prospective client
while for sure many small (builder/decorator/garage) companies will be afraid of the competition an apprentice might ultimately bring, many/most just cannot afford the additional overhead ..... where's the financial incentive to get round this?

Fred
The article is just a summary and rehash of some silly ideas already touted around. None of them are likely to happen.

Hays, didn't expect you to understand the articles.

Cynic,

R.C, A.

There appears to be a mafia of various interests drifting into this country or escaping from their own regimes.

I think some of those interests are suspected to be sourced in many ways, and this and the previous government have turn a blind eye to.

Maybe wrong. The R.C. and A. countries seem to me to be the most likely sources of problems at the moment. (Not race based, just major crime areas.)

DYOH.

certainly it would seem that certain russian oligarchs who may (or may not) own premiership football clubs have not had their finance sources questioned very hard ...... i'm not sure that the chinese and arab cliques are quite so umbrageous, shall we say :-)

this has to be totally moronic .....

1) move for minimum price of alcohol unit abandoned ..... admittedly it meant that the effect would have been much more draconian that i realised, so why was no homework done???? -DOH!

2) cameron rumoured to be going against everyone's advice by supplying arms to the syrian opposition (rebels) ..... has he learnt nothing at all from the iraq disaster????? - CLEARLY NOT!!

minimum pricing on alcohol would have no effect. Alcohol is far cheaper in several EU countries that do not have our problems. It is our booze and pub culture. Better to close pubs that serve drunk people.

Hays,

The Yes/No man.

Another U-turn.

How many now.

Cameron couldn't run a party in a brewery.

Perhaps, he needs what he used in the Bullingdon Club.

Hays,

The Yes/No man.

Another U-turn.

How many now.

Cameron couldn't run a party in a brewery.

Perhaps, he needs what he used in the Bullingdon Club.

A good U turn, just tighten up the pub trade.

Cameron at the wheel with Ozzy on the brakes are burning their rubbers.

Poll tax, sorry bed room tax U-turns, members running to the hills, but as usual blaming everybody else.

Hear EU is going to have to revise their budgets.

Ummh!

After appointing him, is Cameron going to duck the Leveson inquiry's report?


How much public money has that wasted?

Saw Teresa smiling at PM questions.

At least, I think it was a smile. (Although it looked pretty gruesome.)

But Hays, you could send your buddy some of your better jokes, I am beginning to feel sorry for him.

Leveson was a waste of time sand money. There will be no legislation nor should there be. It was all a storm in a tea cup. Who really cares if a few messages were listened to belonging to the likes of Hugh Grant.

Perhaps, the McCanns care.

Perhaps, Christopher Jeffries cared.

Perhaps, Milly Dowler's parents care.

Etc.

Perhaps, the public care.

Perhaps, you wouldn't like the press raking through your private life and publicising any of the "good" bits.

I know, you punched keys for a living, but engage a little grey matter sometimes, or perhaps, modify your values by buying a few moderate newspapers to read rather than the Murdoch, or Barclay press.

==========

Mind you, it was interesting to see Cameron cosying up with Rebecca and Murdoch to get a few votes and maybe more.

I can see why the tories don't want the Leveson's report to be implemented, I suppose representation of another morality when it suits their needs.

More and more humbug from the Humbug party.

--------

Why would Milly Dowler's parents care and the others? He was friends with Rebecca because her husband was a school chum.

I suppose it was "birds of a feather ride together", but they all seem to have left the nest.

The Milly Dowler thing was a complete nonsense. The fact that the NOW played her messages was not known until after the case. The reports that the NOW may have deleted her messages was shown to be nonsense. The police said later that the messages just automatically deleted themselves due to expiring. Playing back messages is not any more important than overhearing someone's conversation in say a restaurant.