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.

Is the EU exporting its unemployed to Britain? And will they bankrupt us?

By David Craig, on October 10th, 2013


Politicians and journalists will play around with the statistics around immigration - usually to try to claim that immigration is “under control”, “good for Britain”, “beneficial for our economy” and “an enrichment to our cultural life”. But they won’t ever talk about the real trends and costs in immigration – shortage of housing, pressure on schools, hospitals and policing and drain on our benefits system.

So I’ve started trying to see what the immigration figures are really telling us. To measure immigration I’ve used the Government’s figures for the number of foreigners registering for National Insurance (NI) numbers each year.

My first chart shows the overall number broken down by region of origin (click to see more clearly)





The first thing you’ll notice is that the number of migrants getting NI numbers went up from about 340,000 a year in 2002/03 to about 420,000 a year in 2004/05 - a rise of over 40,000 a year. Then the number shot up from 420,000 a year in 2004/05 to almost 800,000 a year by 2007/08 – a massive rise of about 130,000 a year. This was due to people from the A8 accession countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) moving to Britain.

Then the numbers of foreigners getting NI numbers “stabilised” at a fairly shocking 600,000 to 700,000 a year – that’s an incredible 12,000 to 14,000 a week (2,400 to 2,800 every working day). However, when the 29 million people from Romania and Bulgaria get full rights to move freely to Britain for work or benefits (or both), we can expect the number of migrants getting NI numbers to shoot up again to close to 900,000 or even 1,000,000 a year.


More: http://www.snouts-in-the-trough.com/archives/7007

Help to buy - the argument in favour
the longish article in ST Biz (page 4) is worth a read, but for those who only get the Sunday Sport (for guess the bra size?) or the Socialist Worker on Sunday (for the whippet racing results?), the following little snippet will do as a taster, though the whole is well worth the read ....

"Help to Buy is artificial but no more than the myriad schemes, including ultra-low interest rates and quantitive easing, introduced to lift the economy. This one has the merit that, in the first phase at least, it is working"

Is it national bra day today. Read two comments about bras today. One from mitzy on the midas thread. :-))

i didn't want to remind the donkeys that it's actually national braying day!

The uptick in the housing market should have some nock on effects in the wider economy. Furniture, DIY, local builders for improvements, estate agents, solicitors etc will all benefit from people moving. Their incomes will trickle down. The government will get income from stamp duty and tax on the support businesses above. It would be a mistake to underestimate the net effect of increased activity in the housing sector.

Talking about the housing market. Just seen in the local that the Beckhams have off loaded there house at Sawbridgeworth for a reported £12 million along with a few sports cars and a house in France as well.


The website Homes24 estimates Rowneybury is worth £8,416,869.

Cost of sending a first class letter 'to hit £1 within a few years'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-mail/9977658/Cost-of-sending-a-first-class-letter-to-hit-1-within-a-few-years.html

Exploding Toilet Leaves Man Scared To Flush
Sky NewsSky News – Sat, Oct 12, 2013..

A man has been seriously injured after a toilet exploded in his face when he was checking the water pressure in his New York apartment.

Michel Pierre needed 30 stitches after his face, arms and legs were struck by shards of porcelain.

The 58-year-old, who was temporarily knocked unconscious by the blast, is now so scared his loo will burst again that he flushes it using a rope while hiding behind his bathroom door.

"Obviously there is a serious problem in the building," his lawyer Sanford Rubenstein said.

"Clearly toilets are supposed to flush, not explode."

Mr Pierre is seeking compensation from the management company of the 16-storey block, which was built in 1964 and contains 275 flats.

The water had been turned off on the day his toilet and three others exploded, and it is thought a build-up of air pressure that was pushed through pipes when the supply was switched back on may be to blame.

Theresa Racht, a lawyer representing the building's board, said: "This is a horrific incident. Everybody feels terrible that such a thing could have happened.

"It certainly makes me think twice about flushing the toilet when the water's been turned off."

She added: "This could very well be what we call a true accident."

And why not? Who sends letters these days. It is a trend. How many telephone boxes do you see? It is the same with the old telegram service. Almost anything can be done with email these days. How long did it take to take a film photograph and get it processed. You could always travel to India via a tea clipper. Cash is fast disappearing together with cheques.

Ive got one of the old red BT telephone kiosks.

Night club owner keeps badgering me to buy it. Reckons hes going to turn it into one of the Worlds smallest wine bars.

Havent a clue how much its worth...............any ideas anyone????.

Don't know what its worth but as you will know will need a forklift to move it. Helped a friend plant one in his garden, solid cast iron.

They Weigh 750kg

For £2,000, a red phone box you can own: BT sell-off iconic landmarks as demand slumps



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2135919/For-2-000-red-phone-box-BT-sell-iconic-landmarks-demand-slumps.html

Cheers DC, was already part of the fixtures when I bought this house about 2 years ago. Its in good nick obviously well looked after.

HAYS HAYS HAYS........... check this out.........

electionista‏@electionista7h
UK - YouGov/Sunday Times poll: CON 34% LAB 39% LDEM 9% UKIP 11% / 31% approve of Govt, 54% disapprove / 41% believe PM doing well, 52% badly

Camoron is losing support.

10 % lead for labour here..........

electionista‏@electionista8h
UK - Survation/MoS poll: CON 27%, LAB 37%, LDEM 11%, UKIP 18%

Hmmmmmmmmmm interesting..........

electionista‏@electionista8h
UK - European Parliament elections - Survation poll: LAB 35% UKIP 22% CON 21% LDEM 11% GRN 5% SNP 3% Plaid 2%

Tories in 3rd place behind UKIP.


ALARM BELLS RINGING.

Have you burnt your sunday roast? lol

Havent had any, sandwiches on canal bank fishing.

Lol. Not stopped raining here.