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.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03gm0ym/This_World_Worlds_Busiest_Maternity_Ward/

The interesting part of the film is about the Philippines being the fastest growing economy second only to China.

My pal Rachel having a go at the grusome twosome......


Universal Credit - Cameron needs to start taking responsibility for this fiasco unfolding under his watch - Rachel Reeves and Chris Bryant


Labour has today called for David Cameron to take responsibility for the developing chaos at the Department for Work and Pensions and address unanswered questions about the design and delivery of his flagship welfare reform, Universal Credit.

In a joint letter sent to the Prime Minister, Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Chris Bryant MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Welfare Reform, express serious concerns about the way the project is being implemented and set out a serious of critical questions that they say the Prime Minister needs to answer.

Rachel Reeves MP said:

“David Cameron needs to start taking responsibility for this fiasco unfolding under his watch. Despite repeated warnings that Universal Credit had not been thought through properly and that costs were getting out of control, we were promised again and again that it would be delivered on time and on budget.

“But after the NAO revealed last month that already £34 million spent on this project is effectively money down the drain, we now learn that the only options on the table involve millions more being committed with no certainty of when or whether this project will ever be properly rolled out. This is scandalous mismanagement of taxpayers’ money.

“David Cameron has serious questions to answer about how he has allowed things to get to this stage and how his complacent, incompetent and out-of-touch government has wasted scandalous amounts of money on a half-baked plan IT now can’t deliver.”

The full text of the letter is below:

Rt Hon David Cameron MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
1 November 2013


Universal Credit

Dear Prime Minister

Following reports in today’s press, we are writing to express serious concerns about the way in which Universal Credit is being implemented.

In September the National Audit Office stated that your Government has already “delayed rolling out Universal Credit nationally”. The expected roll-out to all new claimants across the country which was meant to occur last month hasn’t happened and £34 million of IT costs have already been written off. Despite this, the Secretary of State continues to claim the roll out of this important reform will be “on time and within budget”.

Today we have heard that the options the Government are now considering involve further expenditure write-offs and millions more of taxpayers’ money being spent with no certainty of when or whether this project will ever be properly rolled out.

Given the vital importance to the public of getting this welfare reform right and the vast sums of taxpayers’ money at stake there is a clear public interest in understanding exactly what is going on. Despite repeated requests in Parliament Ministers are failing to give adequate answers to basic questions about Universal Credit’s design and delivery. For this reason we would be grateful if you could address some of the major areas of concern.

Today’s reports suggest that one option being considered by your Government involves write down costs of £119 million with further running costs of £96 million, at a time when budgets are already significantly squeezed. Please could you confirm:

1. What is the total amount of IT assets the Government expects to be written off?

2. What is the total additional cost of the plans that will be outlined in the reset?

3. What other options had been considered for the reset, and how much did they cost?

The initial timetable set out by the Department for Work and Pensions said that from last month new claims for out-of-work benefits would be for Universal Credit and that no new JSA, ESA, Income Support and Housing Benefit claims would be accepted, while by April 2014 no new claims would be made for tax credits. This poses several questions:

4. When will all new claims for out-of-work benefits be for Universal Credit across the country?

5. At what date will no new claims be made for tax credits across the country?

Ministers initially said that a million people would be on Universal Credit by April 2014 but the ‘national roll out’ so far only involves 10 jobcentres:

6. When will Universal Credit be available in every jobcentre in the UK?

7. How many people will be on Universal Credit by April 2014?

8. How many working people will be claiming Universal Credit in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017?

In August the Minister for Welfare Reform wrote to Local Authority Chief Executives to confirm that the six new jobcentres involved in the rollout would only begin to accept new claims from “unemployed single claimants”:

9. When will claimants with families be able to claim Universal Credit?

Finally, those families with children face even greater uncertainty. Three and a half years after Labour first raised the issue, Ministers have confirmed that they have “not yet made final decisions on what the entitlement criteria for free school meals under Universal Credit will be.” The lack of progress on this issue is extremely alarming and must be addressed as soon as possible:

10. When will Ministers set out how Universal Credit will interact with passported benefits, including free school meals?

Labour is supportive of the principle of Universal Credit but it is imperative that its implementation is carried out carefully and effectively. However, what we have seen is an ongoing waste of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money and ongoing delays creating huge uncertainties for families. Combined with a complete lack of clarity on the timetable from your Government, this is also undermining public confidence in this project as a whole. It is essential that these vital questions are addressed as quickly as possible.

We look forward to your response.


Rachel Reeves MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Chris Bryant MP
Shadow Minister for Welfare Reform





November 1, 2013 (2:23 pm)

Cyners have you bought it yet???

Here it is cynic..........

A picture of the much trumpeted padded armchair of Alf's imagination.

love it! .... from where did you dig that up?

i think fred's armchair will have a dralon cover :-)

Just plucked out of the air -):

LOL......watch out Fred will be counter attacking.

Hide behind that armchair Sticky SNR.

fred may be a cactus or even a venus flytrap but he's no triffid, let alone a dalek!

You could be right



Fred likes the swamp and hangs out with other carnivorous friends, like the alligator-seeing who can open their mouth wider. He is too busy eating bugs to get out much but he loves to play with his fly trap friends in bogs and woods.

Manuel,

I sometimes I think you are an economic ostrich stuck with your head in the sand, but on other occasions just escaped from a padded cell.

Mind I do have very comfortable padded armchair.

Again, I am lucky, my pads are in the chair, yours are probably still in your pants.

=========

Hays.

I agree that sometimes I do wander into the your swamp and also I find some posters seem silly buggers. Again, I find fly traps plants are sometimes attractive, as long as you don't get stuck in their mucky expressions.


----------

Bye the way, is it true (from HQ) that the cons are trying to flog off more of the NHS in paper wrappers before they collapse this winter.

you're older than me i think, so the incontinence pads may well be yours :-)

btw, are you an advocate or even a supporter of 75% tax as in france?

let me try again - sticky might care to answer too .....

are you an advocate or even a supporter of 75% tax as in france?

Manuel,

If you give me a complete breakdown of the French taxation system, I will have a look and possibly give you a breakdown of what I think. (If I do it, it will be without any charge being made.)

But, I do think there should he an attempt overhaul, simplify and make more open the UK taxation system.

Also, not in favour of nationalisation, but certainly didn't believe in privatisation of railways, power or some of the other major services and industries. Especially, when they were done at knock down prices.

But, the problem is from the 50s onwards political policies were often short term policies and hang to the long term outcomes.

not very well evaded at all fred
however, i believe this 75% level is imposed on incomes in excess of € 150,000

so do you have any further comment or will you continue to evade this valid taxation question? ..... or perhaps you'll plead a version of 5th amendment

French football clubs to strike over François Hollande's 75% supertax

Clubs say Socialist government's new top-rate of income tax will lead to exodus of top players and 'the death of French football'

François Hollande's 75% supertax on the mega-rich is at the centre of another row after French football clubs said they would cancel all matches scheduled for the final weekend in November to protest at the levy.

The symbolic tax – a 75% tax on income exceeding €1m (£850,000)a year – has caused a headache for the Socialist government since it was thrown out as unconstitutional by France's top court. To avoid the embarrassment of a major policy U-turn, ministers redrafted the tax earlier this year to shift the burden from individuals to employers – a legislative shimmy that has spooked football clubs, which famously pay vast salaries even to bit-part players.

Clubs say they are already under financial pressures and that the tax would spark an exodus of top players to rival leagues abroad, killing the domestic game. In spite of a poll showing that 85% of French people are in favour of the tax being applied to football clubs, the clubs decided to step up their protests.

Jean-Pierre Louvel, president of the Union of Professional Football Clubs (UCPF), announced on Thursday that the round of matches scheduled from 29 November to 2 December would not be played. He said: "It's a historic moment for French football. We're talking about the death of French football."

Football bosses estimate the tax would cost League 1 clubs €44m in the two years it would be in place. "How can you tax businesses that have been in difficulty over the last three or four years?" Louvel asked. "And why have they been [in difficulty]? Because the taxes we've been paying are too high. And people ask why we're not competitive with other leagues."

once you get over € 1m income then a certain clobbering may not be unreasonable, but i was very much of the impression that it came in at about € 150,000 .... perhaps that was the original idea that had to be speedily binned

still, if you vote in a socialist gov't ..... !
the heron as frog-king is an inevitable parallel

=============

mind you, i'ld have thought red fred and possibly even sticky would be all in favour of this, even at the lower level, as surely that would be a wondrous way of redistributing wealth, and with no downside or backlash or other unforeseen negative result .... no doubt he/they will be puzzled why this simple and ever-so-obvious solution wasn't imposed by the previous bunch

of course, some of us will remember the era when tax was indeed confiscatory, with the result that the wealth-creators were disincentivised and there was also a huge surge in the black economy .... all a bit counter-productive one might conclude, or not, as the case may be

i suppose taxing 2nd, 3rd or 4th homes, even if abroad, would be much easier to impose and far less controversial :-)

Out of touch Manuel.

But to simplify, in some cases don't think it is unreasonable to have different tiers up to 75%, or more percent. The greed factor will drive them to work harder.
Often, it is how the raised “taxation” is utilised is the problem.
E.G.

It strikes me as suspect, having “taxation” distributed to bolster, or support (subsidise) the wages of a too lowly paid employee of a private company. The action can be seen as state intervention to subsidise the salaries of management and company owners. Often this being done at disproportionate levels to the value of the company products (goods or services) if based on market forces.

Where do you start and stop “state” interference in “business”?

Should state financial subsidy be given to any sector or business?

If so, for how long?
================


Hays,

The French can let their rugby players go.

After a year or so, nobody will remember them and other players will take the places. (Market forces.)


Besides, England may then have a small chance of winning the Four Nations.

fred - surely even you can't be so stupid, or perhaps you can
what is the incentive to work harder and longer if almost all your reward is ripped off?

if "my company" is to be taxed at that level, why on earth would i bother to come or stay in uk?

terrific idea fred!
let's tax the successful to death to ensure there's no incentive for inward investment or even home-grown
that must be a really good way forward!!