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.

MaxK
With ref 32917.
Lots of fudge. The Eye rotates parallel to the river'
not at rt angle and where did the two piers come from.

Bi Gods, first time Ive been into Huddersfield town centre for about 9 months.

Some poor looking people about.

Pubs all empty which used to be full of dossers. Are they working? are they heck , probably on park benches now all sharing a vodka bottle.

Just goes to show what Camorons policys have done to northern towns.

Full of charity shops Pound shops loan shark shops and cafes.

A disgrace and barely recognisable to what was a very nice town centre.

Ukip's soufflé isn't deflating. Northern Tories, beware


By Tim Wigmore Politics Last updated: November 18th, 2013

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timwigmore/100246464/ukips-souffle-isnt-deflating-northern-tories-beware/





Maybe everyone was wrong about Ukip. Everyone thought that Tories in the shires needed to watch out. But actually most shire Tories are so secure that a couple of thousand voters deserting for Ukip will barely cause a ripple. No, the real significance of Ukip is they could displace the Conservatives as the face of the Right in the North.

But it goes much deeper than that. Tories are pariahs to many Northerners: a quarter don't know anyone who votes for them. This isn't because the North is overflowing with Lefties. It's because the Conservatives have been written off: only 24 per cent of Northerners think the party understands the North. Ukip spies an opportunity here: not just to displace Tory votes in the North, but attract a whole new segment of voter. There are a lot of lifelong Labour supporters angry with New Labour's record and underwhelmed by Ed Miliband – but who would never, ever, vote for the Tories. Nigel Farage is increasingly targeting them.

And it seems to be working. A new poll of voters in Yorkshire finds 10 per cent supporting Ukip. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's almost four times the number who voted Ukip in God's own county in 2010. This is especially bad news for the Conservatives – the 1,500 who voted for Ukip in Ed Balls's seat in 2010 helped him cling on by 1,100 votes – but Labour can't afford to ignore Ukip in the North either.

The thing is that Ukip is likely to get more popular: 78 per cent of those in Yorkshire who say they will vote for Ukip said immigration would "influence a great deal" who they voted for in 2015. The figure was 44 per cent among Tories and 38 per cent among Labour supporters, and over half of both said they would be influenced "a fair deal" by immigration.

And there's a ticking time bomb to throw into the mix. On January 1, Romanian and Bulgarians will be allowed to move freely to Britain. Resentment among working-class voters already worried about their jobs and wages is only going to head one way, especially if the Government remains lax about enforcing the minimum wage (the reason why immigrants can undercut local workers). Which is emphatically good news for Ukip, the most trusted party on immigration.

Maybe, like a soufflé, Ukip will gently deflate. But, despite a disastrous party conference, there doesn't seem to be any sign of this just yet. The multi-millionaire Paul Skyes is “going to roll some guns out” for Ukip's European election campaign, and the odds on the party winning next year have been cut to evens. If this does happen then, unless Ukip's new MEPs self-destruct (which can't be ruled out), the party will get momentum for the general election. David Cameron may regret binding himself to a five-year Parliament: holding the general election under a year after Ukip win the European elections won't seem smart. If Ukip win in 2014, they will also have a powerful counter to the idea that voting Ukip is a wasted vote.

The Tories remain confident that the electorate will think of the general election as a presidential bout between Ed Miliband and Mr Cameron. What this optimism ignores is that the "Vote Ukip, Get Labour" tag, which will resonate in the South, won't cut it in many northern seats. By 2015, Ukip could already seem the most likely alternative to Labour in many of them.

Populus Opinion poll

18/11/13

Cons LAB Lib/Dem UKIP Others
32% 41% 10% 9% 8%

Ummmmmmmmm

sticky - i'ld guess the majority of town centres are suffering, and it's not far from entirely due to the recession either, but more to do with the dreaded "out of town" shopping malls which drain the life blood from the high streets .... trouble is, peeps complain about their dead high streets, but wouldn't support local traders when they were there

btw sticky, you'll be pleased to know that my son is having a suit made in yorkshire and the worsted is local too .... don't know which mill, but i'll find out

cynic

Are you in the middle east ? those reports of bad flooding out there doesn't appear to have any impact on the oil price

no - don't go there until sunday
where's the flooding?

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fpicturegalleries%2Fworldnews%2F9788747%2FTorrential-rain-snow-storms-and-flooding-hit-the-Middle-East.html&ei=f4SKUtmIDZKVhQegzIGADQ&usg=AFQjCNEk2SWHqEb0oHjv0PThEFSns3iGew&bvm=bv.56643336,d.ZG4

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/leaked-email-from-miliband-aide-describes-nightmare-of-working-with-ed-balls-on-economic-policy-8947768.html

Leaked email from Miliband aide describes 'nightmare' of working with Ed Balls on economic policy

It was an accident waiting to happen. A leaked email from one of Ed Miliband’s closest aides described as a “nightmare” the process of reaching agreement with the shadow Chancellor Ed Balls on the line to take on the economic recovery. It was mistakenly copied to a Conservative MP with the same name as Labour’s pollster, James Morris, and emerged in the Mail on Sunday.

To some Labour MPs, the only surprise was that the tensions between Mr Miliband and Mr Balls have not surfaced more often. They can be traced back to the Labour leadership election the two men contested in 2010. Mr Miliband argued that the market-based economic system put in place in the Thatcher era was broken. Mr Balls believed the answer was not to turn the system upside down, but a fiscal stimulus instead of Coalition cuts that went “too far, too fast”. Mr Miliband did not make Mr Balls his shadow Chancellor when he won the top job, only to change his mind three months later when his first choice, Alan Johnson, quit for personal reasons.

What followed was a marathon bout of arm-wrestling between the two Eds. In public, they insisted they had learned the lessons from their ringside seats at the bruising battles between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. They both worked as aides to the former Chancellor before becoming MPs and ministers.

In private, Mr Balls argued that Labour should focus on his five-point plan to kickstart the economy, including a temporary cut in VAT. Mr Miliband saw that as backward-looking to 2010, insisting that Labour needed to look forward to 2015. It was a painful process, but the Labour leader gradually weaned his shadow Chancellor off his cherished plan. Their relationship improved when they reached a new settlement this summer. With economic growth set to return, Labour would switch the spotlight from the “failure” of George Osborne’s Plan A to the “cost of living crisis”.

Mr Balls, anxious to regain Labour’s economic credibility, insisted the party stick to the Coalition’s day-to-day spending total for the first year of the next parliament if it wins power in 2015. Mr Miliband, anxious to show how Labour would be different to the other parties, kept alive his plan to borrow more to outspend the Coalition on building projects such as housing.

Cyners......suit probably John Crowthers. Top quality the very best.

Was the textile centre of the World at one time.

The next con party leader.

He'll be well bald by the time he gets to No10...if ever.

i don't know sticky .... suit is being made by a "real" tailor in h'gate .... much amused that he was thrilled not to be making something in "downton tweed" for the shooting party :-)

Hmmmmm Cyners and Hays take a look at this. Makes a myth that were not tax friendly here in the UK...........

http://www.cityam.com/article/1384848416/uk-moves-ranking-competitive-tax-regimes

i can easily imagine that the figures and statistics can be shown to show whatever result was requested ..... for sure it's a damn sight more friendly than in france where there's all sorts of nasty things lurking, especially if you happen to own property there ..... australia is no utopia either, or so i believe

however, do you - or anyone else - want to run their lives primarily according to the most benevolent tax regime?
if you do, then go and live in UAE, but it certainly wouldn't be my choice

Clearly Cameron won't be leaving on a high.

Mind, some say, "old habits die hard"!