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.

I see France has been down rated with all that infrastructure spend you mentioned days ago Fred. May just stay out of recession. I take it you avoided the press today with Labour having been warned they are heading to defeat with the present leader.
You make no mention of this, very odd. :-))

This was May

French economy returns to recession

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22536197

France has entered its second recession in four years after the economy shrank by 0.2% in the first quarter of the year, official figures show.

Its economy shrank by the same amount in the last quarter of 2012.

President Francois Hollande has said he expects zero growth in 2013, lower than a 0.1% growth forecast by the French government.

Separate figures showed that the recession across the 17-nation eurozone has continued into a sixth quarter.

A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

The economy of the 17-nation bloc shrank by 0.2% in the January to March period, according to the EU's statistics office Eurostat, with nine of its members now in recession.

Looks like we are doing pretty well compared to a Socialist country!

Agree Haystack. Fred is very much like the labour party always fault finding and with no real answers themselves. How can the public at the moment contemplate voting labour, when they have no answers on fixing the economy. We would of now spent a fortune on infrastructure like France, and now showing not a lot of benefit to their country.

I think I have enough time to wait and see.


"UK wages decline among worst in Europe
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Wages in the UK have seen one of the largest falls in the European Union during the economic downturn, according to official figures.

Figures from the House of Commons library show average hourly wages have fallen 5.5% since mid-2010, adjusted for inflation, which is the fourth-worst decline in the 27-nation bloc.

By contrast, German hourly wages rose by 2.7% over the same period.

Across the European Union as a whole, average wages fell 0.7%."


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

But this is what some tories reactionaries think is what the peasants need.

Perhaps now Germany needs to get real as to say. There manufacturing/ output is going to be uncompetitive with the rest of Europe. You could compare them to the US of not tightening their belts as Europe started to and now they are in big bother with many states near bust. Germany is going to hit a brick wall in my view.

BBC political correspondent Ben Wright said: "With an economy that now seems to be gathering momentum, one of the key arguments that Labour have been making for the last two years - the government got this wrong, their economic prescription failed - is no longer as powerful a message at it was six months or a year ago."

"Which is why we are hearing a lot today about living standards."



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23655605

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23654329

What I don't understand is why they stay on the site or why just use another name . If its bad can't you block them , does the site have to be public , if yes change to a friends only one

Figures from the House of Commons library show average hourly wages have fallen 5.5% since mid-2010, adjusted for inflation, which is the fourth-worst decline in the 27-nation bloc.

By contrast, German hourly wages rose by 2.7% over the same period.

Across the European Union as a whole, average wages fell 0.7%.

Inflation is a stealth tax - it's a great tool for devaluing all kinds of debt (particularly sovereign debt - of which Gordon Clown left us with shedloads).

But this is what some tories reactionaries think is what the peasants need.

No! But it's what the country needs. If Europe's inflation adjusted wages are rising faster it's because they're behind the curve.

A year old but well worth reading -

German economic strength: The secrets of success
As unlikely as it seems, perhaps one day Germany will once again look to others for inspiration.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18868704

average hourly wages are one thing, but what about income and so-called social taxes? .... for sure, those in france are astronomical, though in greece it is well know that they pay none ..... how then would these wondrous tables look?

Talk about not knowing when to stop digging - Chris Bryant on R4 now.

he was a total joke .... what a complete idiot

Disgraced former MP Chris Huhne has been hired as the manager of an energy firm just months after being released from prison.


The Government's ex-energy and climate change cabinet secretary has been working as the European manager of Zilkha Biomass Energy since July, according to the company's website.

He was jailed in March for eight months along with his ex-wife Vicki Pryce for swapping speeding penalty points so he could avoid a driving ban, but the pair were released in May.

The sustainable energy company says on its website that Mr Huhne is tasked with "the remit of growing the business in the European Union".
their should be an inquire into this job
the man is a crook he was over energy
who says crime does not pay it was a lie

I think somebody means this:-

Oink oink ....



MPs could be allowed to submit receipt-free expenses claims

MPs could be allowed to submit expenses claims which are not backed up by receipts to make the system more streamlined.


The idea - which could prompt fears that it will encourage abuses similar to those seen in the 2009 expenses scandal - has been suggested by John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, in a letter to the chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Photo: PA


Christopher Hope By Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent
4:28PM BST 11 Aug 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10236067/MPs-could-be-allowed-to-submit-receipt-free-expenses-claims.html



The idea, which could prompt fears that it would encourage abuses similar to those seen in the 2009 expenses scandal, was suggested by John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, in a letter to the chairman of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), Sir Ian Kennedy.

Mr Bercow wrote that more than eight out of 10 MPs were not submitting claims because the system was too complex and it was not clear if the claim would be successful.

He told Sir Ian that MPs would welcome “your further consideration of ways in which the [expenses] scheme might be made easier both to administer and to comply with”. “You have recently indicated your willingness to consider the case for dealing with overnight costs and subsistence through an allowances system,” he said. “The final decision is of course a matter for you, but we are encouraged that you will approach the question with open minds.”

Mr Bercow also asked whether Ipsa would allow MPs to transfer budgets from an MP’s office to staff budgets, a process called “virement”. He said he hoped “you will keep the matter under review”. “There may also be merit in reviewing Ipsa’s policy on the handling of low-value claims,” he added.

A spokesman for Ipsa said: “Over the past three years we’ve been consistent and clear, the old system of allowances failed and there’s no going back to it. Instead, we now have a clear set of rules for business costs and expenses. This approach is cheaper, fairer and transparent. Anyone can go online and see details of every claim made by every MP.”

John Bercow has played down a report that he agreed a deal with Boris Johnson, the London mayor, to quit his Buckingham seat in the middle of the next parliament to let Mr Johnson re-enter the Commons as an MP. A spokesman for Mr Bercow said he and Mr Johnson had never discussed the idea.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=it%20now%20seems%20that%20the%20next%20general%20election%20will%20be%20decided%20by%20asian%20and%20black%20voters&source=newssearch&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC4QqQIoADAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2013%2Faug%2F12%2Fminority-ethnic-voters-key-to-next-election&ei=6bEIUpraJo3TOf2tgQg&usg=AFQjCNFdr6X6T9l0LEPj0DJgBrEVnpRZKw&bvm=bv.50500085,d.ZWU

Religious people are less intelligent than atheists, study finds

Religious people are less intelligent than non-believers, according to a new review of 63 scientific studies stretching back over decades.

A team led by Miron Zuckerman of the University of Rochester found “a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity” in 53 out of 63 studies

Even in extreme old age, intelligent people are less likely to believe, the researchers found - and the reasons why people with high IQs shun religion may not be as simple as previously thought.

Previous studies have tended to assume that intelligent people simply “know better”, the researchers write - but the reasons may be more complex.

For instance, intelligent people are more likely to be married, and more likely to be successful in life - and this may mean they “need” religion less.

The studies used in Zuckerman's paper included a life-long analysis of the beliefs of a group of 1,500 gifted children - those with IQs over 135 - in a study which began in 1921 and continues today.

Even at 75 to 91 years of age, the children from Lewis Terman’s study scored lower for religiosity than the general population - contrary to the widely held belief that people turn to God as they age. The researchers noted that data was lacking about religious attitudes in old age and say, “Additional research is needed to resolve this issue.”

As early as 1958, Michael Argyle concluded, “Although intelligent children grasp religious concepts earlier, they are also the first to doubt the truth of religion, and intelligent students are much less likely to accept orthodox beliefs, and rather less likely to have pro-religious attitudes.”

what a load of crap .... next there'll be a decades-long study proving that muslims or hindus or jews or (especially) catholics are species of sub-humans

What! Do you mean that isn't true?