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.

SC :~)


Haystack - 5th day tickets looking dubious!

Hays,

Some tories ministers in the past were seen as honest.

Now they are not, public opinion at the next General election may see them as dishonest and vote accordingly.

I can't say UKIP has any appeal to me except to split the tory vote.

.

Yes. My son is complaining about the 5th day. He was gong down this afternoon to get returns at 4 o'clock, but the website said there weren't any today.

I think the current set of ministers are no better/worse than normal. Certainly Blair had a pretty evil set.

I have no love for Blair.

Didn't like him before the 97 election, or after it.

Thought many of his policies were correct at his time, some weren't. (Accepting the route of PFIs was one of the latter.)

Kinnock and John Smith made the Labour party electable and Blair capitalised on the situation.


I see Cameron as artificial and egocentric as Blair.

However, he did put "cash" into the infrastructure, but should be shot for Iraq.

Kinnock was completely unelectable and John Smith was far too Scottish. Kinnock was a buffoon. He was scared to death of Maggie. Just look at their confrontations in the Commons on YouTube. He hardly ever looked at her, he was so scared.

I suggest you look back at the Kinnock period with less blinkered eyes.

Maggie left town and villages looking like graveyards and is probably responsible for the rapid decay of the UK.

Maggie left the UK a better place than she found it. She removed the iron dead grip of the unions. That alone was fantastic apart from all the other things.

Maggie 1 legal war = 1 vicTORY , = street's of London , safe from Argentine terrorist's

Blair/Brown 1 non legal war and 1 semi legal war = total defeat = Islamic terrorist's roaming the street's of London .

Hays,

I suggest you refer back to the ethos of the Thatcher period and the values she imparted on society during her period.

Also, the influence that period had on the values society and the delight that some took up the baton she left, and the interpretation she inferred of "there is no such thing as society".

Would suggest trying to do so with some detachment rather than through the tribal eye.

Many with less than jaundiced view, see as less than adorable, or presentable than many of the remnants of her party would like to think.

But as Cynic wrote for me, "each to their own taste".

You clearly misunderstand what she meant.

It is a frequently misquoted comment. It only has any meaning in context.

The country has benefitted immensely from her period of government.

My mummy told me lies.

OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH!

NO SOME DID.


Others suffered the consequences.

Less than 11% of people know who lynton Crosby is. Less than 1.5% know about the plain cigarette packet story. It is a non story.

Today

Mother of union boss love child fixes MPs for Labour: New scandal as McCluskey gives £75,000-a-year key role to ex-mistress

Married Unite union leader Len McCluskey fathered child with Jennie Formby
Ms Formby led public defence of McCluskey after he was accused of trying to rig a Labour selection contest in Falkirk, Scotland, for another union ally
She has now been given £75,000 job as Unite's political director
Move is embarrassing for Labour leader Ed Miliband who is desperate to counter Tory claims he is in the unions’ pockets

The union baron accused of Commons seat rigging is at the centre of a new scandal after a former mistress who gave birth to his child when he was married was given a top job in his union.

Unite union leader Len McCluskey’s ex-lover, Jennie Formby, was last month given the £75,000-a-year post of Unite political director, with the task of getting more union supporters picked as Labour Parliamentary candidates.

She won the job after leading the public defence of Left-winger Mr McCluskey, dubbed ‘Red Len’ by critics, who was accused of trying to rig a Labour selection contest in Falkirk, Scotland, for another union ally and friend, Karie Murphy.

The disclosure is deeply embarrassing for Labour leader Ed Miliband, who is desperate to counter Tory claims he is in the unions’ pockets. He has to face Ms Formby at meetings of Labour’s national executive council.

Ms Formby effectively acts as Mr McCluskey’s spokesman at the NEC. At a meeting, she challenged Mr Miliband, who was present, head-on over his attempt to weaken Labour’s ties with their union paymasters.

Unite helped Mr Miliband become Labour leader in 2010 and has since given Labour £7.5 million from subscriptions paid by its 1.4 million members. Last night a Unite spokesman said: ‘All appointments are authorised and ratified by the union’s executive council.’ He declined to comment further.

Official documents show that in 1991, Ms Formby gave birth to a child by Mr McCluskey, who was married at the time and living in a union-subsidised home, while his wife stayed in his native Liverpool. The Unite general secretary is named as the father.

The disclosure that Ms Formby has been given such a powerful and lucrative post in the union, follows a series of allegations against Mr McCluskey and his union and Labour Party allies, including cronyism.

Union insiders fear the disclosure of his love child with Ms Formby will lead to claims of a conflict of interest.

A senior Unite official told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The existence of McCluskey and Formby’s child is known to a handful of senior figures in the union but not to its members. Many earn a pittance compared to McCluskey and Formby and will be shocked nobody told them about the connection. It helps critics who say the union is run by a clique.’

Although Ms Formby’s appointment was the decision of Unite’s executive committee, a well-placed source said: ‘With most senior appointments like this, the general secretary makes it clear what he wants and usually gets his way.’

Union officials say that while Ms Formby is widely regarded as able, her closeness to Mr McCluskey has been an asset. ‘She has always enjoyed strong support from Len and he is so dominant in Unite you can’t get far without it,’ said one.

d Miliband was forced to sit in silence as Britain’s most senior woman union leader read the riot act to him for trying to curb the power of trade unions over the Labour party.

Former dinner lady Mary Turner, president of the GMB, told him Keir Hardie, founder of the Labour Party, would be horrified by the way Mr Miliband was treating the unions. Mrs Turner, who once had her union’s name emblazoned on her arm, rounded on Mr Miliband at the party’s ruling national executive committee last week.

‘Keir Hardie would be turning in his grave if he knew what you were doing,’ Mrs Turner told Mr Miliband, according to witnesses. ‘You should be proud of the historic link with unions and fight to defend it.’

Witnesses say Mr Miliband was visibly shocked by the onslaught from Mrs Turner, whose union pays £1.4 million a year to Labour. Her attack followed his attempt to curb union influence after claims Unite tried to rig a Labour Parliamentary selection contest in Falkirk, Scotland.

Last year, Mrs Turner also gave Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls a dressing down for refusing to reverse George Osborne’s public sector pay hiatus.

http://news.sky.com/story/1118435/economy-figures-set-to-show-positive-growth

Economists are predicting good news when the first estimate of economic growth during April, May and June is revealed next week.

Analysts expect the Office for National Statistics to say that the economy grew by around 0.5% when it reveals its preliminary estimate for Q2 GDP on Thursday.

They point to several important economic indicators which have been positive in recent months.

Consumer confidence was at a 25 months high in June. Business confidence in Q2 was at its highest since 2007.

Retail sales volumes rose by 0.9% between Q1 and Q2. New car sales were 13.4% higher in June compared with the same month last year.

Hays,

Were you born in wedlock?

Were all your family born in wedlock?

Were all your "experiences" absorbed in "wedlock"

I think for the majority of the public "marriage" and "innocence" is becoming less and less important as are homosexual unions.


Other than to a small bunch of R/tory party Neanderthals.

-----------

The difference between labour party funding from the unions is that the union payment represents a "large group of individuals" and it is open, whereas a lot of the money from "wealthy individuals" is it less open and attempting to covertly by favours and tax rewards and appears to be direct lobbying for favours.


Should the union "Party Levy" system be alter? Yes.

But simplifying it to "Do you wish to pay a political levy, to such and such a party as suggested by the union, or not to pay any political levy at all?" would probably be sufficient.

The payments by the unions should be open to public view.

I think it would be interesting to see where the profit from bar receipts from the local CON clubs goes?