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.

IMF to provide 1 bn euros to Cyprus rescue
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/imf-1-bn-euros-cyprus-092956000.html

if i am manuel (no probs with that), then i guess that makes you the blithering fool basil fawlty

That's more like it.

Spanish king's daughter charged in corruption probe

MADRID | Wed Apr 3, 2013 2:01pm BST
(Reuters) - Spain's Princess Cristina, daughter of King Juan Carlos, was charged on Wednesday with involvement in a corruption case against her husband, and ordered to testify before a judge in an unprecedented court order against a member of the royal family.

Judge Jose Castro wrote in his order there was evidence the princess cooperated with her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, who has been accused of embezzling 6 million euros in public funds and tax fraud when he headed a charitable foundation.


The Royal Palace declined to comment. Urdangarin has denied any wrongdoing. Cristina was due to appear in court on April 27.

There has been a rise in public satisfaction with the NHS according to a poll published today. Fred might like to note that the biggest rise was among Labour voters. The coalition must be doing something right in the NHS.

whose poll and which newspaper? ..... confess i'm, shall we say, taking a rather cynical view of that report :-)

British Social Attitudes Survey published by the King’s Fund think-tank. Overall and despite the fall in approval in 2011, the satisfaction levels for the NHS were still the third highest since the poll began in 1983.

hmm - an unknown source with unknown affiliations

The King's fund is a charity set up IN 1897 to improve the NHS. They have no affiliations and comment on the NHS. The social attitudes survey has been reporting their results since 1983. The survey was conducted by NatCen, an independent survey organisation. They have questions about UK social attitudes sponsored by various bodies. The NHS questions are paid for by the King's Fund.

i looked it up too, but confess i find the findings a bit too convenient for comfort ..... it feels rather like a drugs company sponsoring a survey into the efficacy of one of its products ..... from where does this fund receive most of its money? ..... no answer required, but you readily see the angle from which i am coming

I can see your queries. The survey has shown major falls in satisfaction with the NHS previously during a variety of different governments. The results are available historically and have a range of charts since 1983.

Please sign the Petition.................

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/iain-duncan-smith-iain-duncan-smith-to-live-on-53-a-week

I like Ian Duncan Smith. The petition is just a ploy by left wing activists and supporters of the Very Silly Party (Labour). The Silly Party is the Liberals.

Why? It's a pathetic petition, brought about by scroungers who want something for nothing!

Kevin Maguire‏@Kevin_Maguire

Vile Product of Welfare UK: axeman IDS takes £135,000 from TAXPAYERS, gets a CHAUFFEUR and lives FREE in wife's £2m

and the guy who raised the question is on £156 pw .... and i bet HMRC and benefits office will be putting him under the microscope too

what other notional benefits, if any, would attach to this notional £56 pw?
housing? .... if so, that would include council tax

i'm 90%+ sure i could feed myself pretty well for £20 pw and that includes tea, bread, milk etc

I D Smith a drain on tax payers receipts.

Dont forget the person who set up the petition is a self employed striver, in fact a self employed trader who votes conservative but believes IDS is hitting the disabled and worthy poor and is a man who lives of his wife Betsy welfare.

IDS takes £135,000 from TAXPAYERS, gets a CHAUFFEUR and lives FREE in wife's £2m
why should he not?
please advise for what he receives his £135k .... it sounds like more than just ministerial pay.
as a minister, he'll assuredly be entitled to a chauffeur - it goes with the job
why should he not live free in his wife's house, its value being totally irrelevant


sticky - you're losing the plot

IDS gets a chauffer because he is a government minister. Where he lives is his own business.

I smell the rancid odour of the politics of envy once again.