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.

Haystack , problem is that if there is a small swing against Cons they lose a dispraportionate number of seats.

Dil - if sylvia hermon is your mp, as assuredly she must be as the only indie mp, then your comment that without her, labour would win the north down seat hands down (sorry!) every time, does look remotely correct - or is ulster unionist synonymous with labour?

As do Labour. That's why Thatcher got such a big majority. The ONLY way to get a referendum is to vote Conservative. It also has to be an actual majority for the Consetvatives as a Lib coalition would not accept it.

Ulster Unionists are the old Conservative & Unionist party, which was the official name of the Conservative party.

The Ulster Unionists indicated that the price of support after the 2010 election was substantial investment in NI. The Conservatives considered going it alone with the Unionists.

The SNP said they would consider supporting the Conservatives for a few favours. They have another 6 MPs.

The answer my friends is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.


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

Hays,

What odds do you give me a Labour controlled government in 2016?

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I hear Clarke has similar views on Europe to what will be what many of the silent majority will form in 2017.

Until then the tory looney right party and rabid frenetic euro-phobic UKIP can bark as much they wish, but remain impotent.

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

I know some are supposed to be hunting men but the they seem more like pack animals.

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

Cameron, decision to have the referendum and bow to his R/Wing is likely to provoke uncertainty and to lead to overseas investment, which would have been invested in the UK going to other European countries.

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

Daft.

Cameron, decision to have the referendum and bow to his R/Wing is likely to provoke uncertainty and to lead to overseas investment, which would have been invested in the UK going to other European countries.

Whoaaaa, Tiger.

That's the bog-standard argument presented by euro-philes since time immemorial. Switzerland are land-locked in central Europe. Has not being in the EU ever done them any harm?

Here's a pretty piccie of where UK exports go:



Do you really think that the US, Russia, Canada, India, China and Australia are gonna stop buying our bags of goodies if we're not in the EU.

And Germany, the second largest importer of our goods and to whom we export a whopping £27.5bn worth of stuff each year, actually sells us £41.1bn of their own stuff in return. It really wouldn't be in their best interests to cut both ends off the supply chain so, if we leave the EU, I suspect they'll be at the front of the queue pressing the rest of Federal Europe to open a free-trade agreement with us.

Oh, and if you listen to Barry the Kenyan advising against a UK exit on last night's news, the only reason the US want us to stay inside the EU is because nobody in the White House can speak a word of French or German. We're their passport to Europe - otherwise they wouldn't give a flying fcuk.

It is an excellent idea. The EU is heading in a direction that the people in the UK will not like. There is no wish to be part of a federal Europe. There is a lot of support for membership of a common market. Many of the EU countries would not dare to have a referendum as federalism is not popular. The same applies to the Euro. The weak countries like the Euro to some extent because they can borrow money cheaply. At least they could when things were going well. The population of richer countries don't like it because they are subsidising the rest of the EU. It is mainly the left wing that wants federalism. You mention Clarke. He certainly is pro Europe and and wants to stay in. He is not a fan of federalism though. His vision is less than federalism and more than just trade. That's a difficult balancing act.

Hilary
Don't forget the export of financial services, including insurance.

cynic - 14 May 2013 16:30 - 24981 of 24989

Dil - if sylvia hermon is your mp, as assuredly she must be as the only indie mp, then your comment that without her, labour would win the north down seat hands down (sorry!) every time, does look remotely correct - or is ulster unionist synonymous with labour?


No , it reverted to Labour at the last election you've got the wrong constituency. Read this then tell me my vote counts :-)


"Until 2005, the constituency was considered one of the safest Labour seats in the country. In the 1983 and 1992 general elections, it was Labour's safest seat. The Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats have both been very weak in the seat. Neither has won 10% of the vote since 1987 and the Conservatives have never achieved one eighth of the total votes cast. In 2005 the Liberal Democrats received their lowest share of the vote in the United Kingdom and the Conservatives their second lowest, and both lost their deposits, though this particular election saw unusual circumstances.

The seat came to prominence at the 2005 general election when the Labour Welsh Assembly Member Peter Law ran as an independent and won the seat. He had resigned from the Labour Party in protest at the imposition of an all-women candidates' shortlist following the retirement of incumbent MP Llew Smith, and overturned a 19,313 (60%) Labour majority with a significant 9,121 (25%) majority. In 2006 the Labour Party decided not to require an all-women shortlist at the next general election.

Law died of a brain tumour on 25 April 2006, prompting a by-election in the seat on 29 June. Labour failed to regain the seat as Law's former campaign manager, Dai Davies, was elected to replace him.

In the 2010 general election, Labour candidate Nick Smith gained the seat with a 29.2% swing from Independent back to Labour; it became one of only three seats Labour gained in that election. The seat was still notable as one of the few where an Independent candidate kept their deposit or pushed one of the main parties into fourth place."

Euro Area Balance of Trade

Main trading partners are the United Kingdom (12 percent of total exports and 10 percent of imports) and the United States (13 percent of exports and 6 percent of imports).

Rearrange these words - smell up and wake coffee the. Methinks Angie Baby needs us more than we need the sauerkraut.

cynic , here are the recent parliamentry election results ... hardly worth voting is it.


In 2011 Labour and the Independent (ex Labour) polled 72.3% , Libs 10.1% , Cons 7% , Plaid 4.1% , BNP 3.7%.

In the 2006 bye-election Labour and Independent 83.2% , Plaid 6.5% , Libs 5.4% , Cons 3.7%.

2005 general election , Labour and Independent 90.5% , Libs 4.3% , Plaid 2.4% , Cons 2.3%.

2001 general election , Labour 72% , Plaid 11.2% , Libs 9.3% , Cons 7.5%.

1997 general election , Labour 79.5% , Libs 8.7% , Cons 6.6% , Plaid 5.2%.

What if Scotland vote to go it alone ?

That won't do the Tories any harm , though I can't see it happening.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Hermon


She is currently MP for North Down

MP
Member of Parliament
for North Down
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 June 2001

On 23 February 2010, Lady Hermon confirmed that she would not be seeking the nomination as a Conservative and Unionist candidate. On 6 May 2010 standing as an Independent candidate she was re-elected with a majority of over 21,000 votes ahead of the UCUNF candidate.

Dil - if you don't vote at least for the least worst as you see it, then you'll keep repeating the "problem"

I always vote , think it was BNP last time cos they promised to throw all the English out of Wales :-)

Did they promise to do anything about the inbred sheepsh@ggers?

We shag them you eat them :-)

Dil,

Now don't be mean, we can always save an old ram for Hilary.

Pity the ram though.