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 realised that, but the names escaped me.

Around 130 people contracted a gastroenteritis-type illness on the Fred Olsen-operated Black Watch, so there are plans afoot to re-launch the boat as Black Death

.

possibly exchanged for bunches of grapes?

.

It is a ship. I was told off by the owner of the biggest ferry company in the world for calling his new ship a boat. He said that a boat might be used to get to a ship. I was invited to a ship launch abroad a few years ago by the ferry company that was a client. I asked him how long they had been in the ship building business as a family. He said it was a long time - about 400 years.

Hays,

If you are going in for Hays party abreviations, I would

suggest the the CON Party of the present stands for the Party of Confidence Tricksters


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

GF.

I think the demeanour of Farage on hearing the "slut" comment, showed that he was to say the least "shocked" and "gutted" by the apparent stupidity.

I doubt, even for the publicity Nigel would have taken the risk.

I doubt that it will effect them long term and may lead to them tightening up their act.

======

I would like to be a fly on the wall at the next conversation of Nigel, George and a few others.

I hope they haven't downed too many pints when it occurs.

All talk to win votes, Utility bills, petrol, food etc are only going one way and that is up in price. Another £10 in the average mans wage is going to do nothing. One big con artist is Ed .



Labour Pledge To Tackle 'Cost Of Living Crisis'
Sky NewsSky News – 9 minutes ago..

Labour leader Ed Miliband has declared he will fight to tackle what he described as Britain's "cost of living crisis", as he set out his party's plans to help struggling households.

Taking to the streets of Brighton on the eve of his party's conference, he said if in power Labour would strengthen the national minimum wage and provide "childcare for parents who need it".

He also confirmed his promise to abolish the "bedroom tax" cut to housing benefit, and pledged an "economy that works for working people".

Mr Miliband accused David Cameron's Government of only standing up for the "privileged few", and promised those gathered for his street rally "a government that fights for you".

Addressing the crowd from a small platform, he said it was "wrong that millions of people in our country are going out to work unable to afford to bring up their families".

He attacked the Government for failing to take steps to help people struggling to cope with rising prices.

"Right across the country, from all walks of life, people are facing this cost of living crisis," he said.

"Living standards falling month after month after month. Gas and electric bills, train fares, petrol prices, the weekly food shop and a Prime Minister who refuses to act.

"Why does he refuse to act? He refuses to act because of who he stands for, he stands for just a privileged few at the top."

He went on: "The way a country succeeds is not just with a few at the top it's with what I call the forgotten wealth creators.

"The people who put in the hours, who do the work, who do two jobs, who do the shifts.

"They are the people we should be supporting in this country.

"That's how we tackle the cost of living crisis, that's how we have an economy that works for working people again in our country."

Labour is proposing to give the parents of primary school children guaranteed access to childcare between 8am to 6pm under its plans to help working families.

The initiative, which Labour is expected to say can he be paid for through existing central government funds, is one of several cost of living issues which are to be the focus of its conference.

Other policy pledges include strengthening the minimum wage in specific sectors such as retail and catering, as well as fresh action to crack down on energy bills.

Mr Miliband has appointed Alan Buckle, deputy chairman at accountants KPMG, to investigate how the role and powers of the Low Pay Commission could be extended to strengthen the minimum wage.

Mr Buckle will consult widely with employers and employee groups on ways to restore the value of the minimum wage so that it catches up with where it was in 2010.

He will also look at which particular sectors can afford to pay more.

Earlier, Mr Miliband, took a stroll along Brighton seafront with his wife Justine and children Daniel and Samuel.

Sky's Sophy Ridge, in Brighton, said: "I think this all does feed into the image that Ed Miliband wants to project of himself - somebody who's a family man, someone who's sticking up for hard-working people and the cost of living - particularly trying to appeal to female voters, who have become really crucial in the next election."

The conference comes as Mr Miliband has been forced to deny any involvement in attempts to smear opponents amid claims that "damaging" emails could have been sent by him to one of the key figures in a plot to attack senior Tories.

The potential link between Mr Miliband and Derek Draper, who was behind a proposed Labour-supporting political gossip website, is among the latest allegations in a memoir from Gordon Brown's former spin doctor.

The drip-feed of claims from Damian McBride threatens to overshadow the Labour Party conference despite Mr Miliband's efforts to seize the initiative by announcing he would scrap the "bedroom tax" if he wins the 2015 General Election.

In the latest extracts from Mr McBride's memoir Power Trip, being serialised in the Daily Mail, the former member of the Brown inner circle suggests Mr Miliband could "have problems" if any emails to Mr Draper became public.

Labour sources denied that Mr Miliband had any involvement in the proposed Red Rag website, which ultimately brought about the downfall of Mr McBride.

Compared with Muddy entering No 10 through the back door and Rebecca chumming up with Dodgy Dave it is nothing.

Forgetting about the Fox and the Hunt having seemingly strange dealings over TV and Arms.
Of course having Ashcroft pulling the strings is also a little suspect.

Laughable.

This should be an election winner

Women who look after their grandchildren would be entitled to “granny leave” from their own jobs under a key pledge expected to be included in Labour’s 2015 election manifesto.

If I am an employer, why should I have to give 'grannie leave' because one of my employees has grand children? What about 'auntie' and 'uncle' leave. What about 'neighbour' leave for people who have neighbours with children? So as not to discriminate, we need 'stranger' leave for people who have heard of someone having a baby.

Labour are desperate, going from stupid to ridiculous. Why not give every employee
say 10 weeks off paid at double time. :-)) Sorry Ed more a ''Dick'' type, the country cannot afford it or come to think of it you either.

That would be unfair to the self employed... who is going to pay for them?

Fred's Labour party hero Gordon Brown as lost his moral compass again if he ever had one to start with . He likes to milk the fact that his father was a Presbyterian minister , that gave him his moral compass. When he is in fact just bully who would stab his own grandmother in the back to get his own way.

You know as I do,the self employed are not in the equation. They are on there own.
:-))

That's why they are called self employed , lol

Indeed, ok, what about zero hour contract workers...are they for the shitheap too?

They are on the top of it now maxK. :-))

lol

So what we have is a promise to civil servants, local gov workers etc, that if they vote for Ed, they'll get even more benefits that no one else can afford.

Sounds like a winner.

Who else can retire at 50 yrs of age. A policeman etc works a maximum of say 32yrs or shorter. Retires on a good pension. Goes out and gets another job for the next 10yrs. Then draws a pension and if he stays in good health possibly longer than he has paid in for. This has got to stop and no doubt will. The national debt is still climbing.