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.

amazing - well not really

i think fred's view of the world is, shall we say unworldly, so in his eyes i'm an idiot
fine by me, but i really care not one iota ..... at least i live in the real world and not in some make-believe wannabe utopia

so do i think fred is an idiot?
no; merely a delusionary

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

hays - 95% of steaks here are (dull) grain fed cattle, so i opted for short ribs and a bottle of ok rioja at silly money (as always) ..... and no, my own wallet was not suffering

So am I. I rarely leave London unless it is to go abroad.

"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
— Samuel Johnson

Ah, but theres the rub... increasingly, you cant afford London.

quite so, and thus it is not impossible that London will ultimately collapse for residence and merely become a business centre, though important for all that

you only need to look at the rise and fall and sometimes rise again of various London streets and areas, st giles (just off centre point) being a classic example

I cant see where this will end.

London and the S/E in general is fast approaching lunatic levels of costs to live.

I cannot see why having so much wealth tied up outside productive use is any good in the long term.

any good to whom?

well, it's been good for me, but I suspect it has not been good for many.

ie, Germany does not have the property bug, most rent long term.

money goes into productive assets...seems to work for them.

different cultures, different tastes or even aspirations, the latter leading to a whole different can of worms

btw, so who owns the properties in Germany which are rented?
3 guesses

Companies for the most part, or so I understand. Plus some very very wealthy toffs.

if it's companies, who owns the companies?
shareholders = individuals = same as property unit trusts
so what's the difference?

personally, i prefer to own my own property or perhaps buy shares in a small hotel property-owning group

And then the clowns, or barrow boys in charge of the madhouse are suggesting regional pay rises for the public sectors.

The tories have always been a party of reactionaries with they heads stuck in the sand with more foreskin than foresight.

That should excuse Manuel, but it hasn't.

The problems for London will increase and the long term trends are not being planned for.

========

"So am I. I rarely leave London unless it is to go abroad." Oh H/S, you do surprise us... not.

"Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
— Samuel Johnson

And as for that "old" quote, again that was many years ago... please keep up.

As I said earlier it's now the year 2013 and not 1813.

Individuals, family groups, very private and tightly held, not an ordinary shareholder to be seen.


Try this outfit for example:

http://www.bbraun.com/cps/rde/xchg/bbraun-com/hs.xsl/index.html


30,000+ employees.

Not sure about 1813, but the quote was around 1790.

Don't be facetious.

Stan.

It is Hays and he is getting hazy after his diet of mantras from party HQ.

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

Tories Only Care About The Rich, Latest Poll Shows
BY STEVEN PREECE · NOVEMBER 26, 2013

A poll by ComRes for the Independent newspaper has confirmed what most of us already knew: the Tories are the Party of the Rich who couldn’t care less about poorer sections of British society.

When asked if “the Conservative Party only represents the interests of the rich”, 51% agreed. This is in stark contrast to just 24% who disagreed. The remainder being unsure.

The poll also revealed that 18% of those who voted Tory in 2010 agreed with the statement, whilst 10% of current Tory voters were honest enough to admit they believe the Tories STILL only care about the rich.

Britain’s super rich have taken the hardest hit in monetary terms as a result of George Osborne’s austerity drive, according to the government. However, it is the poorest 10% who have lost a much greater share of their overall income; and unlike those with inflating banks balances, they can least afford to take the hit, as soaring numbers of food bank users would suggest.

The results of the poll will be a boost for Ed Miliband and the Labour Party who continue to say that the Tories have failed to shake their ‘nasty party’ image. Those hit by draconian cuts to welfare benefits will need little convincing, I suspect?

However, the ComRes poll also discovered that neither Ed Miliband nor David Cameron has the faith of the British public when it comes to protecting the NHS. Only 30% of respondents thought the NHS was safe in Tory hands (higher than some would have expected perhaps?). Ed comes out only marginally on top, with 33% of those surveyed believing Labour could be trusted to safeguard our beloved public health service.

ComRes surveyed 1,002 people by telephone and the results were ‘weighted’ in order to achieve a fair result which was reflective of the total British population.

The latest YouGov/Sun poll (24th November) gives Labour a lead of seven points over the Tories, which would be enough to secure a healthy majority – if current public opinion carries into 2015:

Conservatives 33%, Labour 40%, LibDems 9%, UKIP 11%.

Update on the E petition. Getting near to the 100,000 signatures required and bags of time to get their.

HM Government AccessibilityHome
Search published e-petitions
e-petition
We call for a Cumulative Impact Assessment of Welfare Reform, and a New Deal for sick & disabled people based on their needs, abilities and ambitions

Responsible department: Department for Work and Pensions

We call for:

A Cumulative Impact Assessment of all cuts and changes affecting sick & disabled people, their families and carers, and a free vote on repeal of the Welfare Reform Act.

An immediate end to the Work Capability Assessment, as voted for by the British Medical Association.

Consultation between the Depts of Health & Education to improve support into work for sick & disabled people, and an end to forced work under threat of sanctions for people on disability benefits.

An Independent, Committee-Based Inquiry into Welfare Reform, covering but not limited to: (1) Care home admission rises, daycare centres, access to education for people with learning difficulties, universal mental health treatments, Remploy closures; (2) DWP media links, the ATOS contract, IT implementation of Universal Credit; (3) Human rights abuses against disabled people, excess claimant deaths & the disregard of medical evidence in decision making by ATOS, DWP & the Tribunal Service.

This e-petition has received the following response:
As this e-petition has received more than 10 000 signatures, the relevant Government department have provided the following response:

Cumulative impact analysis is not being withheld – it is very difficult to do accurately and external organisations have not produced this either.

The Government is limited in what cumulative analysis is possible because of the complexity of the modelling required and the amount of detailed information on individuals and families that is required to estimate the interactions of a number of different policy changes. In addition, the Government's programme of welfare reform will not be fully implemented until 2017/18 and many policy details are still to be worked through. Equality Impact Assessments are however carried out for individual policies where there is a requirement.

No other organisation produces this analysis in a robust way. The Treasury does publish some cumulative analysis with each Budget but this is a broad brush assessment of all tax, benefit and expenditure changes since 2010 across households. Because the Budget cumulative analysis is so complex, it is not robust enough to break down by family type – so impacts on disabled people cannot be shown separately.

The IFS also produces some cumulative analysis but also do not feel the results are reliable enough to disaggregate for the disabled.

This e-petition will remain open to signatures until the published closing date and will be considered for debate by the Backbench Business Committee should it pass the 100 000 signature threshold.

Number of signatures:
92,691
Created by:
Francesca Martinez
Closing:
12/12/2013 12:12

Please support the sick and disabled and sign the petition......we need your support.

https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/43154/signature/new

Please remember one day it could be you or a member of your family or a freind that as to claim benefits for a disability and would you like the present government riding rough shod over you and threatening your life with their callous cruel Disability policy?.