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 wonder what she would have written to bambi had she been serving in iraq

I personally would suggest to Blair that all his earnings for the last ten years should be donated to and Iraq Fund for helping the Iraqis and British service individuals killed or maimed by his decisions.

I think the mistakes being made over expenses are due to stupidity or crookedness and corrupting society.

These individuals are not fit representatives of the public to govern.

They should be expelled from parliament and have pensions removed.

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

Personally, I would be happy for Blair to be charged and prosecuted and put before a court of law.

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

But, I bet this would be part of the outcry.

help! help!! help!!!
fred and i almost agree on something :-)

Just the 'almost' spoils things. :-))

don't be greedy :-)

Do not think that day will EVER come, lol.

It is much worse than Sir John Major says. A new superclass is being created in London

By Iain Martin Politics Last updated: November 11th, 2013

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/iainmartin1/100245274/it-is-much-worse-than-sir-john-major-says-a-new-superclass-is-being-created-in-london/





What has got into Sir John Major? The former Prime Minister used to be an outrider for David Cameron. He was someone the current Tory leader turned to when he wanted discreet advice, or when he needed a reliable ally to float an idea or defend the Coalition.

Suddenly, Major has gone off message. Last month, he called for a energy windfall tax. At the time it seemed to me and others that because of his previous form this must have been arranged with Number 10, in preparation for Cameron countering Ed Miliband's popular but bonkers offer of a price freeze. Apparently not. Number 10 professed itself baffled and it seems that Sir John was simply saying what he thought.

Now he has made another interesting intervention, as revealed by The Daily Telegraph this morning. This time Major was speaking at a private dinner, but former prime ministers know that, when it comes to former prime ministers, there is no such thing as a private dinner. So what is he doing?

Major is a hard man to know; even those who like him admit that. "He is reinventing himself. It is incredible to watch," said a former Major staffer, when we were discussing him and the energy kerfuffle last week. Indeed, the prime minister who was rubbished by the press and thrashed in a general election has painstakingly rebuilt his reputation to the point where he is now seen as a respected elder statesman with valid opinions.

But today it is his assault on the dominance of public school pupils that is getting all the attention. It is "shocking", Major says, that the privately educated and ultra-affluent elements of the middle class dominate public life in this country. I am shocked that he is shocked. This has been the way of things for a very long time, and actually as Paul Goodman points out on Conservative Home, on all sorts of measures the situation has improved of late. In Margaret Thatcher's first cabinet there were six Old Etonians. In David Cameron's first cabinet there was only one Old Etonian. However, George Osborne went to St Paul's and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was educated (after a fashion) at Westminster.

But Major's remarks are already being interpreted as an attack on Cameron. They certainly aren't helpful, as the Prime Minister's enemies will point out, again, that he went to Eton. The Tories have a big class problem in parts of the UK where they struggle to connect. In Scotland, for example, perceptions of Tory toffery still dog the party.

In one respect it is also a little rich of the former Tory leader to make this attack. As Prime Minister, Major's record was very mixed when it came to social mobility. He expanded enormously the number of universities. Whether or not he improved universities or made it more likely that bright children from poor backgrounds could get to the very best institutions is another matter. He was appallingly timid when it came to extending the grant-maintained schools programme that Margaret Thatcher's government had launched in an effort to liberate schools from local authority control. "Don't tempt me," he said when people suggested to him that he needed to do more. It took Labour to launch the academy programme, when Blair had his awakening about diversity and choice, after spending much of his first term in a haze of ideological confusion.

More broadly, Major has a point, although complaining about Eton is quite quaint. I think he underplays what is happening here. The situation is much worse than he makes out.

The rise of a new superclass is best observed in London. The capital is pulling away from the rest of the UK, as it becomes a city state and a potential world capital. To match this development, the superclass I mentioned is being created in large part by the best private schools in London. Professionals – from here and abroad – who are the beneficiaries of the tidal wave of hot money flowing through the City, law, accountancy, property and so on, pay extraordinary sums for schools that are now so very far ahead of the standard state school or even excellent academy in terms of resources, facilities and influence. The families that can afford these top schools have also benefited hugely from the 20-year London property boom. Their offspring are fanning out in their thousands from great schools into the best universities. When they emerge – confident, international, multilingual, with several unpaid internships on their CV – they are particularly attractive to employers in those same industries where their parents made a pile: law, banking, accountancy. Advantage is being entrenched, which is bound to be reflected in public life and politics in the coming decades.

Meanwhile, the improvements in state schools in London in the last decade have been remarkable, and the emergence of some good new free schools may help some more. But is it enough? Against the rise of the superclass, I fear it won't be. This is one of the reasons I suggested after the riots that the Government should be extending its education reforms and dropping some well-funded grammar schools, or something similar, into the poorest neighbourhoods. Generally, such ideas produce howls of outrage (usually from middle-class people whose children go to good state schools because they can afford to buy nice houses near good state schools). More recently, the Labour MP Ian Austin also suggested switching to open access, with the state funding places at the very best private schools for the brightest children from modest backgrounds. Austin observed, correctly, that this is an emergency situation that requires emergency measures.

What a thought. Imagine giving a bright kid from Tottenham, or Dudley, or Easterhouse as good an education as he or she would get at Eton. That would be completely crazy and unfair. Wouldn't it?

Who in their right mind cares about what Major thinks or says? Isn't he the Prairie Hat who privatised the Railways... The Idiot.

Privatisation of the railways has been a good thing. The government used to provide a huge subsidy to cover the losses that BR made. Interestingly, Labour promised to renationalise the railways if they won the election. Of course they didn't, which is no surprise. Labour promised to repeal the union legislation that Thatcher passed and didn't do that either.

The reality is that the tough changes that Labour would like to make are always done by the Conservatives with Labour bleating in the background. It is the same now with the welfare and benefit changes. Labour would love to do what the Conservatives are doing but don't want to upset their union backers.

did labour even whisper they even might re-nationalise?
just asking

Don't talk wet H/S, The Railways are a public service and not a private thiefdem for the oinks who cosy up to and vote for your "Con" artists.

The railways used to cost us a fortune in subsidies as most state enterprises have. BR was appallingly run by people who treated it as their pet train set. I worked as a consultant at BR in the early 1980s doing IT and operational research to calculate the government subsidy based on costs, ticket sales and journeys taken over specific pieces of track. I often needed to have a meeting with a BR exec. When I went looking for them I was told that they were on platform 7 looking at a new locomotive. We worked at the back of Marylebone Stn. BR needed to be nationalised. I have done work for a few state institutions including the DHSS. Without a doubt BR was the worst run of them all.

Well, that's a very good insight there H/S thanks, And just goes to show what I have been banging on about on here in that British Management are generally Lazy, Useless, Incompetent and Good for very little except for filling their own boots along with their mates boots!

ahem! i think that was when the railways were state owned!!

or put another way, why do you think the railways were or would be better run if nationalised? .... there certainly doesn't seem to be much evidence that i have heard or seen to support that

British cities could be hit by rioting because of an influx of Roma migrants, David Blunkett has warned.

The former Home Secretary said ‘frictions’ with local people could lead racial tensions to ‘explode’ in a repeat of the riots that rocked Northern towns in the summer of 2001.

Mr Blunkett called on Roma migrants from Slovakia to ‘change their culture’ because their dumping of rubbish and refusal to send their children to school had caused ‘understandable tensions’ with residents in his home city of Sheffield.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2502072/Influx-Roma-migrants-spark-city-riots-warns-Blunkett.html#ixzz2kPvnyftc
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

As fears of a winter casualty crisis grow... The 12,000 patients left for 12 hours on trolleys
Figures show shocking number of patients left in casualty units

Another 250 waited for a minimum of 24 hours, statistics reveal

College of Emergency Medicine say situation in A&E units is a 'crisis'


the uk 2013 full of immigrants filling the A@E who have paid nothing in to the country coming here to get free treatment and the
local people can not see a doctor it is a disgrace
put these immigrants on a plane back home
they must be refused treatment

British cities could be hit by rioting because of an influx of Roma migrants, David Blunkett has warned.

rivers of blood etc etc - enoch powell

never did happen did it

cynic before you post I WILL SAY THIS 90% OF THE POPULATION OF THE UK
THINK THIS BUT I POST IT AND NOT TO SCARED TO SAY SO

i merely posted a factual historical report

you post what that purveyor of inalienable truths alleges what was said by DB - i'ld be surprised if that was not taken out of context at best anyway

Curry that upset the hygiene squad: Four health inspectors caught up in food poisoning outbreak at restaurant that featured on Hairy Bikers' show
The Kayal in Leicester was closed on November 6 after 19 people fell ill

The Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood visited the restaurant earlier this year to learn how to make spinach dosa
Owner Jaimon Thomas said it is the first time since opening in 2008 they have had any problems with customers falling ill
Last month inspectors rated the eaterie 'very good' awarding it five stars


if you want to be healthy keep away from these restaurants filthy places
if you do not care about your health then so be it