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.

House prices hit record high during summer

ONS index reached its highest level for several decades in August, as average price of a UK home rose to £247,000


Hilary Osborne

theguardian.com, Tuesday 15 October 2013 10.57 BST


UK house prices hit a record high in August, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.


The ONS said that its index, which measures purchases financed with mortgages over the month, had surpassed its previous peak by 0.3% to hit 186 – its highest level since 1968. It put the average price of a UK home at £247,000.


According to the ONS figures, the rate of house price inflation gathered pace through the summer, with the year-on-year increase reaching 3.8% in August, up from 3.3% in July. The year-on-year increase reflected growth of 4.1% in England, 1.1% in Northern Ireland and 1.0% in Wales, offset by a fall of 0.7% in Scotland.



More ramping here: http://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/oct/15/house-prices-hit-record-high

TNS BMRB – CON 34, LAB 36, LD 9, UKIP 13

TNS BMRB have a new poll out today. Topline figures are CON 34% (+5), LAB 36% (-3), LD 9%(nc), UKIP 13%(-1). These are particularly unusual figures, TNS normally show some of the biggest Labour leads of any company, and for the last six months or so have been pretty consistent in showing Labour leads up around ten points. Suddenly we have a big narrowing of the Labour lead, dropping right down to 2 points, the lowest I have from TNS since November 2011.

sticky - shan't watch the football as it has no real interest for me at all ... would almost rather watch you fishing!

mk - in that case, why your post 69?

fred - i continue to work primarily because i enjoy it

MK - house prices at a record high????????? ..... how can that be when the average house price has dropped (i guess) about 20% in the last 3/5 years, and indeed, the whole housing market has been like a corpse, in great part thanks to the paucity of mortgage availability

Fred - I think a lot of people carry on working because they actually enjoy it. They enjoy the stimulation, the challenge, keeping the brain cells working etc. I have several friends who could have retired years ago and have said - words to the effect - why on earth would I want to retire, I would be mostly stuck in the house just arguing with the wife.

Hays that poll its down to the sale of Royal Mail Stock. Short term opportunity for non investors/traders.

Soon will be forgotten.

Must admit Rachel Reeves pretending to be a Tory hasnt gone down well either despite her info that disabled savers/pension holders will no longer be penalised.

Think Ill have to have a word in her ear.

DB.

If you are enjoying, fine.

I enjoyed my work, but also have enjoyed my retirement and even though offered work preferred not having the responsibility which goes with it.

BUT, there are many who are not in the same fortunate position than you, carrying out boring, mundane work sometimes heavy manual work and are trapped by "economics" in those situations. Sometimes those in manual work are physically worked out.

Many would prefer to be on the river bank fishing with GF, or miss-hitting a golf ball on patchy grass with Manuel.

so you think the public is selective in its political memory?

i recollect that the idea of everyone being able to retire earlier and earlier and gadgetry taking all the drudgery and time out of housework dates back to the early 50s or perhaps even earlier ..... never works out that way for some reason, but then Utopia doesn't exist either :-)

Neither will you.

That might be a form of Utopia.


How many times have you hope that your next game of golf will be better than your last?

always always, and no matter how well you play, you KNOW you could do better .... and at other times, you just want to throw your clubs off the nearest pier or, in my case, weir

PS.

"They" said that women in the UK would never get the vote, which you venerate.

Also, stated with conviction by some :

UK, that slaves in USA would not be freed.

That it was right that children should work in coal mines.

That "some" children should not be educated.

That the NHS was wrong,

And some are still saying that the Well Fare Services should be scrapped.

But these and much similar has been the improvements forced on society by said Utopians.

========

I think Mitchell is FFFFF pain in the backsides, and should be dumped.

But it is laughable that the good and virtuous standing by him.

I would see it as thieves and beggars gathering round him. How many of his supporters were caught dipping their hands into the sty with false claims?

Mitchell abused a public servant who was doing his job, and did not accept that the officer was "just doing his job" and therefore does not deserve sympathy, but it does seem the police did falsified evidence and some should have their fingers rapped.

Cynic,

Bertrand Russell wrote in the 30s a lecture on in "Praise of Idleness". Interesting read.

Impressive foresight.

(I do mean foresight.)

9- )

Fred, no I'm not working any more, I got to the point where I was getting so stressed out that I thought enough was enough - so I retired. I would enjoy playing golf with cynic, but I can't think of anything worse than sitting on a river bank fishing with gf! Fish hooks, maggots, worms, dead eyes, squirming things that are only half-dead ------ no thank-you!

All Mitchell did was swear at someone. He said, "I thought you were here to f***ing help us". He said it under his breath as I am sure quite a few people here have done at times. That trivial event does not warrant falsifying evidence and blatant lying. With any luck there will be a few police leaving minus their pensions and brought up in court.

Mitchell abused a public servant who was doing his job, and did not accept that the officer was "just doing his job" and therefore does not deserve sympathy, but it does seem the police did falsified evidence and some should have their fingers rapped.
is that so ... so very deliberately falsifying evidence is pretty much ok, especially if it is to stitch up a minister whom you (or the police in general) don't like?

UK, that slaves in USA would not be freed.
some would say that they still haven't
a very interesting read is the The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier
i commend it both as a good book, and more deeply, it is quite thought provoking

Plebgate: officers will not face disciplinary hearing despite criticism

Theresa May joins IPCC in criticising failure to discipline officers accused of lying about meeting with Andrew Mitchell


Sandra Laville, crime correspondent

theguardian.com, Tuesday 15 October 2013 16.20 BST


Three police officers whose "honesty and integrity" have been questioned by the police watchdog will not face disciplinary action over allegations that they lied to try and discredit Andrew Mitchell at the height of the Plebgate affair.

The officers, all Police Federation representatives, have been accused of misrepresenting what was said at a meeting they held last year with the then chief whip, following his altercation with two Downing Street diplomatic protection officers in which it was alleged he called them "fucking plebs".

But it emerged on Tuesday that an investigation by their own forces into the allegations found there was no case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct, because their comments afterwards could at their strongest be seen as "ambiguous or misleading" but not deliberate lies.

The IPCC has said it disagrees with the findings, and called on Tuesday for all three officers to face misconduct panels, saying the evidence indicated "an issue of honesty and integrity".

Deborah Glass, deputy chair of the IPCC, said on Tuesday the officers should face disciplinary panels to decide whether they lied.

The home secretary, Theresa May, told the home affairs select committee it was "quite wrong" of West Mercia police not to take disciplinary proceedings against the three officers.

May said: "The IPCC statement makes troubling reading. If it is indeed the case that warranted police officers behaved in the way Deborah Glass has described, that's not acceptable at all."


http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/15/plebgate-officers-disciplinary-hearing-ipcc-andrew-mitchell

The death-defying goats that don't give a dam! Animals scale Italian lake's near-vertical barrier to lick stones for their minerals

Just hold on a second about Mitchell, he knew what the rules were going up to that gate/entrance.

Usual Tory attitude Im above the law.

They say he'd been many times before. Doesnt excuse him for being ignorant.

Agree though cops shouldnt have told porkies if thats the case.

Mitchels fault though from evidence so far.

Well you called me a "pleb" on this bulletin board gf - does that excuse you for being "ignorant"? Or is it a case of rules for some and a different set of rules for you?