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.

can't be bothered to read the burble above, as it's 99% certainly predictable

if cameron fails to renegotiate a deal with eu that is acceptable to the general public, then a referendum will vote against staying in - or something close to that

however, to walk away from eu without even trying to renegotiate is just plain stupidity

do I think there should be a referendum on this?
yes
does the labour party?
seemingly not - i'm not sure if they even want to get their hands dirty in trying to renegotiate
does ukip?
hahaha
lib/dems?
not sure what their stance is, but i'ld guess pro-referendum

Chancellor George Osborne pledged to reduce the average energy bill by around £50 each year by passing on the cost to the government, which it plans to pay for by its war on tax avoidance......................................ends

Not tax evasion then.

As Giddeon got something planned for thursday.!!!!!!!!!1

Struggling voters sniff something iffy in Maggie Thatcher’s house
2 Dec 2013 07:01

Politics columnist Kevin Maguire says it is Labour's two Eds who are speaking to Mr and Mrs Bloggs while the Conservatives list data

The £12million London home Margaret Thatcher lived in for 20 years reinforces the Conservatives as the party of the privileged.

Either she’s dodged £5million inheritance tax, money that could’ve covered the cost of the former Tory Premier’s gun carriage funeral.

Or a footloose and largely tax-free mysterious benefactor let her live in a house in Belgravia owned through an anonymous trust in a Caribbean treasure island exploited by the super rich.

Maggie Thatcher the Milk Snatcher ending her days as Maggie Thatcher the Tax Dodger would be embarrassing for the Cons.

Embarrassing too if Thatcher lived off the immoral earnings of a tax avoider, a wealthy benefit tourist who enjoys the benefits of Britain without paying for them by hiding house deeds thousands of miles away.

Yet it is Labour’s two Eds, Miliband and Balls, rather than her political children, David Cameron and George Osborne, who’ve learned the most important non-partisan lesson of Thatcher’s reign.

That is to speak in plain language about the everyday issues confronting voters.

Miliband and Balls capture the attention of voters by focusing on the cost of living and energy bills, falling living standards high on the agenda of
every family.

Cameron and Osborne might as well be chatting between themselves when they boast of rising GDP.

Have you ever seen GDP in a shop? I haven’t. But pushing my trolley in Asda on Saturdays I’ve seen the prices of bread and eggs increase. And I’m braced to pay more this winter for my gas and electricity.

Osborne on Thursday will sound like a party propagandist in 1930s Stalinist Russia inventing booming pig iron output figures as he reels off ­structural deficits and growth percentages.

The Chancellor’s statistics and talk of an economic recovery will fly over the nation’s head because they are alien to real lives.

The Tory posh boy’s ritual ­reference to “hardworking people” will similarly fail to connect because people working hard know they’re getting poorer, not better off.

ConDem austerity is a catastrophic failure on its own terms.

Osborne’s borrowed more in three-and-a-half years than Labour did in 13 years.

Instead of balancing the books he’ll go into the election adding £100billion a year to the £1.3trillion national debt.

Balls was proved right, downgraded Osborne wrong, when austerity tax rises and spending cuts choked the life out of the recovery.

Cons who protest the double dip recession never happened – it was avoided by a whisker – miss the point.

Boy George would be obese if he’d eaten a slice of humble pie every time a ­forecast bombed.

Political fortunes swung when Labour spoke to Mr and Mrs Bloggs while the Cons listed data.

Struggling voters sniff something iffy in Maggie’s house.

And they won’t be conned by a couple of Thatcher’s children out of touch with the country.



Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kevin-maguire-margaret-thatcher-milk-2874639#ixzz2mIxiwtiP
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook

This from a real right winger, things must be getting bad for the Tories........

and its the real David Buik.

David Buik ‏@truemagic68
Is a £50 cut for a family's energy bill the real business? It strikes me as political posturing! - Not even the price of Racing Post per day...........................ends


what he doesnt mention and neither do fat Dave or Giddeon is that this years increase as already happened their policy will just take in just one winter in 2014.

Will anybody be held to account for this?



Hunger-striking asylum seeker Isa Muaza back in UK after botched removal in private jet



Cahal Milmo


Sunday 01 December 2013



Lawyers for a gravely-ill Nigerian hunger striker are to make a fresh attempt to halt his deportation after he endured a botched removal from Britain involving a 20-hour flight on a private jet hired at a cost of up to £110,000.



Isa Muaza, who has refused food for 100 days and is said to be near death, was flown out of the country on Friday morning after last-ditch legal applications failed but was returned to Britain on Saturday after the Nigerian authorities apparently refused the plane permission to land.

The extraordinary flight, which brings the cost of dealing with Mr Muaza’s case to an estimated £200,000, resulted in the private jet hired from a charter company making a two-hour stop in Malta amid reports of a dispute over landing rights before it flew back to Luton airport in Bedfordshire.



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hungerstriking-asylum-seeker-isa-muaza-back-in-uk-after-botched-removal-in-private-jet-8975983.html

Yes Mark... I blame Tanker.

John Cleese sums some things up:

"John Cleese: Alerts to threats in 2012 Europe

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent events in Syria and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France 's white flag factory, effectively paralysing the country's military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbour" and "Lose."

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be alright, Mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crikey! I think we'll need to cancel the barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is cancelled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the last final escalation level.

-- John Cleese - British writer, actor and tall person A final thought -“ Greece is collapsing, the Iranians are getting aggressive, and Rome is in disarray. Welcome back to 430 BC."

The Conservative Party is in danger of dying on its knees


By Benedict Brogan Politics Last updated: December 2nd, 2013

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/benedictbrogan/100248687/the-conservative-party-is-in-danger-of-dying-on-its-knees/



Just when the economy is picking up, strategic differences at the very top are taking their toll

From Tuesday's Daily Telegraph

Conservative MPs are troubled – and the recovery is doing nothing to lift their spirits. On Thursday, in his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor will announce that the economy is indeed going gangbusters, just as his team predicted 10 months ago. Events have vindicated the pursuit of cautious austerity. In fact, things have turned out better than he dared expect: Britain is now the poster child for European success, envied by its neighbours and top of the growth table for industrial democracies.

Yet news that should give the Tories something to cheer about is being met with nervousness. MPs worry that the good news will not translate into election victory. Ministers are becoming more pessimistic, devoting an increasing amount of time – quite naturally – to considering which way they would jump in a post-election leadership contest that grows ever more likely. Even more fearful are those in marginal seats, some of whom have already thrown in the towel and are planning for life after defeat.



George Osborne’s task this week is therefore twofold. First, he must make the economic case that, in his words, the job is not done. A deficit that remains north of £100 billion means there is no scope for new spending or tax giveaways. The Chancellor has to turn his face away from those tempting him to revive the idea of sharing the proceeds of growth: yes, there is growth, but its proceeds must be devoted in their totality to balancing the public finances. Anything else would be to go back on all the talk about sound money and this Government’s duty to the future generations who will be saddled with the debt this one has accumulated.

Balancing the books is the surest and quickest way to long-term national prosperity – especially since we do not yet know whether this recovery, although impressive, is sustainable. That is why Mr Osborne struck what must be the right note in an interview on Sunday with Andrew Marr, speaking about the need to reduce both taxes and the cost of government. He believed, he said, in “the affordable state”.

That message to the country must be coupled, however, with one to his colleagues. He has to convince his own side that he and David Cameron are worth following from now until polling day – a task that looks to be even more difficult than his first.

The gap between the leadership and the parliamentary party remains troublingly wide. The Treasury gets credit for calling the economy correctly, but the Prime Minister and Chancellor are pilloried behind the scenes for the way they are handling the politics. Even loyalists who say the Government is succeeding on policy are beside themselves with frustration at the way a good hand is being played. The burgeoning confidence that the economy might keep the Tories in power in 2015 – either outright or in a renewed Coalition – has been nipped in the bud by signs in Downing Street of panic and confusion.

Given how well things are going relative to expectations less than a year ago, the pessimism I have encountered in recent days is striking. A number of top-half Cabinet ministers tell me they now expect to lose power in 2015. Middle-rankers mutter the same. It is difficult to find Conservatives willing to say privately that they will still be in power after polling day.

You might think such institutional pessimism is merely the natural order for a party that has grown used to not winning. If the Tories could not get a majority at the height of a financial crisis against the most unpopular Labour leader in living memory, what hope is there now? But such a loss of nerve, at a time when political conditions should be encouraging the Tories to stand up and fight, is disturbing. This is a party that is in danger of dying on its knees.

Of course, we are long used to hearing his MPs complain about Mr Cameron’s high-handed manner, his exam-night complacency, the electoral liability of a Cabinet of toffs, and the damage done by the alliance with the Lib Dems. It’s a tired critique, and one that does little to address the specific problems the Tories face now.

Explore the sources of their angst in greater detail, and it becomes clear that the damage really comes from what looks to MPs like a collision between the strategy of Lynton Crosby and the tactics of George Osborne. Imagine it as the political equivalent of “One Song to the Tune of Another” from the Radio 4 comedy programme I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.

The party is pursuing an election strategy ordained by Mr Cameron’s Australian campaign chief, which holds that promoting economic growth while highlighting Ed Miliband’s inadequacies is the best way to win over voters. At the same time, at the instigation of the Chancellor, it is rushing about like a dervish in an attempt to head off every Labour stunt that comes along. On payday loans, parental leave, and – yesterday – energy, a Government whose Chancellor talked about taking “grown-up decisions for a grown-up country” has come to look like it is following the debate, not leading it.

In the eyes of its MPs, such questionable tactics are undermining a good strategy. Mr Crosby is said to have advised Downing Street months ago that the best way to stabilise the situation was to “clear the battlefield” or “scrape the barnacles off the boat”: in other words, shut down the problems, simplify the message, and deny Labour any opportunity to score points. It was sensible advice, at a time when the Tories were trying to do too many things at once. But if, as we are told, the approach now is to pinch Labour’s ideas – “let’s give them nothing to claim” is one way it is described – then the danger is that No 10 veers off in the wrong direction by adopting policies that no Tory would normally consider. What, for example, are Conservatives doing endorsing price-fixing? As one minister put it, “we end up looking like the Government that never says no”.

The sense of hyperactivity is made worse by the unpredictability. If anything does indeed go – if the Government is willing to react to anything Labour suggests – then that breeds uncertainty. Witness the warnings last week from the energy industry about prospects for future investment: plans have been put on hold because it is far from clear whose side the Government is on, or whether the declared policy will survive first contact with the focus groups.

The same applies to tax policy. More and more MPs complain that business has been left confused by too many “fiscal events”. By that they mean that the Autumn Statement, previously devoted to economic forecasting and decisions about spending, is these days treated by Mr Osborne as a second Budget – and another opportunity to tinker with tax rates. In opposition, he attacked Alistair Darling for “badly thought-through proposals, announced with no consultation, made with no reference to underlying principles and in ignorance of the economic consequences, shaped entirely by a cack-handed attempt to outfox the opposition”. His difficulty is that many of his colleagues believe he could be talking about himself.

The Chancellor’s aides insist that the dirty work of defusing the Labour threat has been done, and that Thursday will represent a clean return to the core Tory strategy. Now he just has to persuade his own side of that.

from the comment section of the above article, sums it up.


dandann
• an hour ago
−

⚑

On ECHR - Dave says he's powerless
On immigration - Dave says he's powerless
On energy prices - Dave says he's powerless
On the extradition of foreign criminals - Dave says he's powerless
On EU control over our everyday lives - Dave says he's powerless.

Is it really the case that David Cameron - our democratically elected Prime Minister - is THAT powerless to do ANYTHING?

If so - then why would anyone even bother vote into 'POWER' this POWERLESS excuse of a man - or come to think of it any LibLabCon candidate if they are so 'POWERLESS' to do anything? Why should the British people vote for any of the 'POWERLESS' LibLabCon - if they are 'POWERLESS' to address the major issues and concerns of the British people.

Vote UKIP - leave the EU and get our POWER back.

They would vote for Cameron because the comments above are untrue.

Update - Labour lead at 6
by YouGov in Politics
Tue December 3, 2013 6 a.m. GMT

Latest YouGov / The Sun results 2nd December - Con 32%, Lab 38%, LD 10%, UKIP 12%;

What comments are untrue?

Post 33580

Cameron is doing a pretty good job. Don't forget he is in a coalition. If people want a better Conservative government then give him a majority.,A vote forbUKIP is a completely wasted vote as they can't get any power to do anything.

probably any comments coming from any politicians mouth! :-)

Ohh sttop fantasising Hays.

Hes useless.

Ask John Major.

Is Boris setting out his stall prior to a takeover?



Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants should wait a year for benefits, says Boris Johnson

EU nationals will have to wait three months before claiming any benefits, then only be able to claim for six months. After that, they must prove they have a realistic chance of employment





By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent

10:56AM GMT 03 Dec 2013







Romania and Bulgarian migrants should have to wait a year before they claim benefits in the Britain Boris Johnson has said.


Last week David Cameron announced that Bulgarians and Romanians will face new rules limiting their ability to claim benefits when restrictions on their working rights end on January 1, 2014.


EU nationals will have to wait three months before claiming any benefits, then only be able to claim for six months. After that, they must prove they have a realistic chance of employment.


However Mr Johnson, the Mayor of London, said that the Government should go further by stopping migrants claiming until 12 months had passed in order to give young British workers a “fair suck of the sauce bottle.”


Speaking on LBC Radio’s Ask Boris programme Mr Johnson said: “I think you could go for six or 12 months.


More electioneering here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10490700/Romanian-and-Bulgarian-immigrants-should-wait-a-year-for-benefits-says-Boris-Johnson.html

Lee Rigby trial

Do we have to have a long costly a trail when everybody knows they killed him ? Why can't the sentenice be decided by the judge or/with a pannel of legal experts

Spot on Alders. Spot on. Makes me sick these 2 have ANY rights.

Justice must be done and be seen to be done.