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.

Manuel,

What I post about you is praise, you wait until I getting insulting about you.

8-)

Indeed Fred... Thought he realised that -):

Those two comedians Dumb & Dumber should be on the stage , sorry i ment under it

A Labour motion, calling for a price freeze on energy bills, has been defeated by 295 votes to 237

Not a good result for Milibland as Labour has 258 MPs. So not all Of Labour were on Milibland's side and the 57 Libs didn't vote for him. That's apart from the other 28 odds and sods parties. A bit embarrassing really for Labour.

I think Call Me Dave can kiss his ass goodbye...



The Union: Better off together? Tell that to Portsmouth


By Benedict Brogan Politics Last updated: November 6th, 2013


http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100244723/the-union-better-off-together-tell-that-to-portsmouth/







"My heart goes out to the people of Portsmouth today," Nicola Sturgeon has just told the BBC. She, of course, is the deputy leader of the SNP and a leading campaigner for Scottish independence in next year's referendum. I'm not sure her sympathy will win her many friends in the south of England, which has learned today just how far David Cameron is prepared to go to keep the Scots sweet and maximise the chances of a vote in favour of the Union. The people in the northern recruiting grounds of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers will also have a view – they suspect the regiment's 2d Battalion was abolished to save cap badges in Scotland. At every turn we are discovering the price of the Union. How much is England prepared to pay?


Portsmouth will lose 940 skilled jobs with the end of shipbuilding at what is one of the world's most advanced shipyards. For the home of the Royal Navy, this is a bitter blow, in particular as it means that shipbuilding at the the yards in Scotland – Govan and Scotstoun – can survive. The clue that it was a political deal comes in the Government's point that if Scotland votes to leave the Union, shipbuilding will return to Portsmouth (interesting though that Ms Sturgeon challenged that assumption: she said an independent Scotland would want to procure its own advanced frigate, presumably for the a new Scottish navy, itself a major spending commitment), which suggests the business case takes second place to the political one. True, defence spending has been slashed and the Navy reduced: it is hardly surprising that demand for shipbuilding has fallen if fewer ships are needed. But let's not kid ourselves, this is a piece of tartan-wrapped pork, and Westminster knows it.

The challenge for ministers then is this: over the next 10 months the referendum campaign will be fought in Scotland, and the messages will be aimed at a Scots audience, the one with the votes. But the Union is a shared venture. England may not have a vote, but it will have a view. Mr Cameron and his colleagues need to think how they manage that end of the debate. Mr Cameron might also consider that, as John Major found out, there is precious little gratitude in Scotland for English charity. Bribes poisoned the Act of Union, and bribes can poison the campaign to save it. It is worth considering how the efforts to save the Union will colour the relationship, whatever the outcome.

Hays.

You are being comical again.

Should read The Comedians * GG same humour.

"Not a good result for Milibland as Labour has 258 MPs. So not all Of Labour were on Milibland's side and the 57 Libs didn't vote for him. That's apart from the other 28 odds and sods parties. A bit embarrassing really for Labour."


I would have thought that it was a good result for Ed.

If he goes into the election pointing out that caring parties "tories and Lib/Dems" voted against keeping a "check" on the energy bills and trying to reduce the "deaths" for some of the "less fortunate" from hypothermia and couple that with the warnings he has given on the A+Es I would think he is onto a winner.

Mind the reverse may appeal to the "we are all in it together party" .

We will see.

Good point made Fred.

Fred rarely makes anything other then Good points G/F as we know.

And yet more Corruption at the heart of this "Con" servative Government? http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/06/grant-shapps-software-firm-dissolved-labour

certainly fred is under the illusion that he only makes good points :-)
his arse must be smothered in your lipstick!

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

one of you red-legs commented yesterday that BAE was only shedding jobs in Portsmouth, and that that was pretty much just a political manoeuvre.

you're wrong (of course), as i recollect that sadly almost the same number of jobs are to be cut north of the border ..... fingers x'ed that just perhaps all this will not come to pass

an almost sadder sign of the times was the sight of a truly gargantuan crane being towed - it took 3 months! - from Korea (or was it China?) to Thames Gateway, the off-loading being supervised by an Ozzie

Cranes from China, trains from Germany, nuc power plants from France and China.

Is there any political will to make anything in this country anymore?

MK,

Britain is becoming a Russian, Asian, Chinese, Colony and Wavey Dave and Georgie Boy are encouraging it, while at the same time being euro-phobic.

Ludicrous when you don't want to speak with your neighbours with often similar culture who have across a brook, but willing to have others from far distance across the planet take over ones economy by less than stealth.

Mind I suppose the present crew can shift their "wealth" to the Cayman Isles and the like.

stop being a total arsehole fred .... well, i guess one can live in hope rather than expectation

uk has been in manufacturing decline since the end of WW1 ..... one could cogently argue that the death-knell was significantly hastened by the militant unions in the 50's and 60s - i can just remember a shipyard strike called because of a dispute over which union should be in charge of drawing a chalk line on steel plates! - resulting in uk becoming hopelessly uncompetitive and also unreliable on delivery

in fact, most if not all major international deals are now a delicate matter of (effectively) gov'ts negotiating a mutually beneficial trade-off as opposed to my tin of beans being cheaper than yours

HEY cyners it wasnt just Unions, management where just as Much to blame.

I remember in the car industry when we led it and we could see the likes of Germany Japan re-tooling up and bringing in prod belts. The unions could see this and were demanding british management re tool.......... but Ohhhhhhhhhhh no they knew best, we keep to what weve got (GREED) and then when it was too late what happens they demanded reduncancies.

Of course the Unions were millitant after that.

AND dont forget this it was Maggie T who pushed the service and banking sector in this country and neglected manufacturing.