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.

thousands of these migrants coming have bad health and will destroy the local hospitals tb aids and all sorts of mental problems
read about the migrants coming it is their for all to read

fully concur fred - i too am glad i don't have to press the button
much easier being an armchair critic or pundit where all solutions are really rather simple!

Mass immigration is testing our tolerance

Cowardly politicians and bizarre EU rules have allowed too many immigrants to enter Britain


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10286598/Mass-immigration-is-testing-our-tolerance.html

'Being nice to Iran is not a policy': Labour heavyweights slam Ed Miliband over Syria with even Tony Blair saying he got it wrong

Ex-Prime Minister says Labour leader was wrong to oppose military action
Blair declares: I just have to disagree with the leadership of the party
Former Cabinet minister Ben Bradshaw warns Labour MPs are 'uneasy'

By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor

PUBLISHED: 11:37, 6 September 2013 | UPDATED: 11:42, 6 September 2013


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2413676/Being-nice-Iran-policy-Labour-heavyweights-slam-Ed-Miliband-Syria-Tony-Blair-saying-got-wrong.html

Terrible week for the Torys.

First fat boy Dave, then IDS, now Ozzie.

Roasted, toasted and plucked.

ps, never could spell.

An equally terrible week for the BBC, it's supposed to be an unbiased broadcasting company funded by taxpayers. What do we get for our money - re-hashed programmes that we have seen for the last 20 years, old movies, the occasional good documentary and left-wing propaganda on the news channels. If that wasn't bad enough, the inept executives/numpties who run this organisation are paid vast fortunes for languishing in their offices enjoying champagne lunches. It's about time the plug was pulled on this over-rated, expensive British institution.

A bad week for Miliband. Lost £1m in union donations and has been seen to be an idiot over Syria. Even his brother is against him.

Hays,

Miliband and the labour party appears to be to be doing the correct thing by removing himself from the control of his puppeteers, unlike Cameron and his corruptible cohorts.

Perhaps, I would be more convinced about the morality of the present tory party, if the Cayman Isle were no longer a tax haven for semi-retired tory grandees.

Seems more are making the same considerations as Ed Miliband has over Syria, rather than the Gun Ho Chimp Wavey Davey who would be hiding in the background and urging his troops on.

Get real. Cameron says "he is getting it", swallow your pride and admit.

========

Blair for many was a non paid up member of the tory party.

His grasping hands would seem as large.

GF.

Couldn't quite read what you wrote.

Was it roasted, toasted and something or other.

8-)

Actually, if he is continued to be mocked and ridiculed by the public and international political commentators, the tories won't be able to dump him, due to the old "school tie" effect, and his commercial backers wanting their money back

It would be a shame if he doesn't lead them in the next election.

Up and at em!

When I think of Hays and crew, Black Adder and Dad's army come to mind.

I am just pleased that Labour has Ed Miliband as leader. His brother would be a much bigger problem. Ed is going to be another Kinnock.

UK's lowest-paid employees to be classed as 'not working enough'

One million people could be pushed to earn more – or have their benefits cut, says Department for Work and Pensions


Shiv Malik

The Guardian, Friday 6 September 2013 20.33 BST


http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/sep/06/uk-lowest-paid-classed-not-working-enough


Liam Byrne said: 'This government fails to realise that there simply aren’t that many extra shifts to go around.'


One million of Britain's lowest paid employees will be classed as "not working enough" and could find themselves pushed with the threat of sanctions to find more income under radical changes to benefits, the Department for Work and Pensions has said.

DWP internal documents seen by the Guardian reveal that people earning between £330 to around £1,050 a month – just under the rate of the national minimum wage for a 35-hour week – could be mandated to attend job centre meetings where their working habits will be examined as part of the universal credit programme.

Some of those deemed to be "not working enough" could also be instructed to take on extra training – and if they fail to complete tasks they could be stripped of their UC benefits in a move which departmental insiders conceded is controversial.

The DWP said that their overall plans for those in low-paid work were not yet definite and recognised that supporting working families to increase their income was a complex area into which the state hadn't previously intervened. But the department estimates there are one million people in this lower-paid bracket.

Not all of those will be forced into jobcentres, with individuals with caring responsibilities or other constraints preventing them taking on full-time work highly likely to be excluded.

The DWP said: "There isn't any real clear, definite plan as to how this [part] would work."

However the department did confirm that docking social security payments for those who are categorised as "not working enough" formed part of their plans.

The shadow work and pensions minister, Liam Byrne, said that the policy was attempting to push people into work that wasn't there. "What this out-of-touch government fails to realise is that there simply aren't that many extra shifts to go around. Millions are locked out of work and millions more are desperate to increase their hours."

The senior ministers involved in heading up welfare reform have spoken about how their flagship reform would completely change the culture of benefits.

Speaking in parliament during answers to urgent questions on Thursday, Iain Duncan Smith said: "Universal credit isn't just about IT, it is massively about cultural change, to get people back to work and to ensure those who do go to work, particularly the poorest, benefit the most."

Documents seen by the Guardian show how millions of people currently in receipt of some sort of benefit will be categorised into seven classes including, "too sick to work", "too committed to work", a category including lone parents, and those deemed to be "not working enough".

UC aims to merges six different benefits with the claimant receiving a single monthly household payment, although earlier this week the National Audit Office warned that the underlying IT project had been beset by "weak management ineffective control and poor governance" and that £34m of the £303m spent on technology had already been written off.

Sources say that new JSA claims will be "shut down" by July 2015 while the tax credits system – created by Gordon Brown as Labour chancellor – will end for new claims by November that year. Meanwhile income support for lone parents will be terminated by October 2015. These benefits and others are planned to be folded into to one single universal payment.

One recent policy document sets out the rationale for placing conditions on those who are in work: "Moving to universal credit will not only remove systemic barriers to employment, it will also remove the distinction between in and out of work, meaning that even one hour of work would profit the claimant … the decision for the claimant will therefore be simplified – do they want the additional income from employment, or not?"

Reflecting the biggest change to social security since 1945, language now being employed at the DWP includes describing the "claimant journey" where getting into work "is just the first step".

The TUC's general secretary, Frances O'Grady said the DWP's policy would be forcing people from secure and into insecure work: "This unfair move could force people on low-paid jobs to trade relatively secure employment for work of a much more precarious nature, simply to justify a few weeks work on a slightly higher rate of pay.

"It shows how out of touch the government is with the problems facing low-income families – who already have more than enough on their plates struggling to make ends meet. They will be living in constant fear of being punished at a time when there are simply not enough decent jobs to go round."

The DWP said: "This is obviously a complex area where the state has not previously intervened and supported people to increase their earnings. That is why we are working on pilots to get this help right and to determine the most effective support for in-work universal credit claimants.

"Too many people in low-income work have no support to help them earn more and eventually move to independence."

merely something to ponder .....

WSC is one of this country's great heroes, yet we all forget that he was often wrong and worse, especially in his pre-1930's days ..... it is also undoubtedly true that when Chamberlain returned from Munich with his now infamous "piece of paper", he was lauded across the country as the great saviour .....

public opinion is most certainly not always "right", but it takes a brave leader to fly in the face of it, and of course, he is only deemed "brave" if that decision is proved right with hindsight

and before certain idiots here start trying to jump up and down on me, though such action would not worry me remotely, I am not saying that Cameron is right to strongly promote action against Assad, or wrong for that matter, for as I wrote yesterday, I'm glad it's not me who has to press the button

Do you seriously think Cameroon is being "brave" for wanting to press the war button?

Politically brave, yes. It is always difficult to take an independent path. In this case the prevailing opinion is to turn one's back and do nothing.

It does look increasingly look like apeasement.

appease
To yield or concede to the belligerent demands of (a nation, group, person, etc.) in a conciliatory effort, sometimes at the expense of justice or other principles.

"war button" is something of an overstatement, but as i wrote yesterday, on balance and with considerable misgivings, i am just about persuaded that strong but limited action needs to be taken, and that therefore uk should indeed support those in favour of same (aka america)

doing nothing borders on appeasement

Bob Crow Calls For 'Alternative Political Party Of Labour'
Jacqueline Head   |   07 Sep 2013
Bob Crow, the rail union leader, is to call for an alternative "party of labour" to challenge the Tories, Labour and Lib Dems.

The general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, will tell a rally of activists that political representation of workers stands at a "crossroads" in the wake of the decision of the GMB to slash its affiliation funds to Labour by more than £1 million.

He will say: "Millions of working people are sick and tired of being treated as voting fodder by Labour," and add that a party needs to rise up to challenge the most brutal austerity measures "in a generation".

Speaking ahead of the TUC event in Bournemouth, he said: "Over the past two months we have seen Ed Miliband dancing to the tune of Tony Blair and the rest of the New Labour conspirators as he seeks to hack away at the last remaining shreds of influence held by those who created the Party that he leads, the trade unions.

"RMT's message is simple. If others want to stick around and be insulted by those whose only interest is our money and not our ideas then that's a matter for them, for the rest, there is a whole world of opportunity outside the constraints of the Labour Party and RMT would urge them to embrace it and join us in this new political project."

Mr Crow said that since being expelled from Labour a decade ago, the RMT has increased its political influence by backing candidates and parties demonstrating support for its policies.

He added: "Millions of working people are sick and tired of being treated as voting fodder by Labour and the time is right to start building an alternative political party that speaks for the working people and the working class communities that find themselves under the most brutal attack from cuts and austerity in a generation.

"Clinging to the wreckage of a Labour party that didn't lift a finger to repeal the anti-union laws despite 13 years in power is a complete waste of time."

Ok, so the west goes in with cruise missiles, and achieves what?

re: #28926

I bet Cameroon cant believe his luck.

Dirty Dealing on Syria in Washington


Posted on September 6, 2013 by Martin Armstrong





The only key Arab nations supporting Obama are Saudi Arabia and Qatar and that is all about the pipeline blocked by Syria. There are even rumors that the Cyprus event was used to cripple Russians and cut-off their eventual access to a huge gas field there yet to be brought into production. If the Russians gained control of that, then they would really have a stranglehold on Europe.

Credible sources keep pointing to a massive cover-up surrounding Syria – Benghazi Connection. The United States has literally trashed the region with its crazy foreign policy run by people who are truly clueless about the region and the religious conflicts. They messed up Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan and now Libya is in chaos yet the press will not report that in the USA. The British Independent wrote:



More: http://armstrongeconomics.com/2013/09/06/dirty-dealing-on-syria-in-washington/