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.

At least he can afford one. lol. UKIP will fizzle out nearer the election.

What a haunted looking face, I wonder what is cutting him up. Let him enjoy the money, looks like all he has.

Interesting to see Cameron, who believes in unity of the UK and is supposed to defend it is running and ducking from a debate with Alex Salmon?

What is he hiding from.

I hope Blair donates all the profits from his ill-gotten gains of the Iraq war to restoration of Law, Order and Justice in Iraq.

They are more likely in a swiss bank account. :-))

Nigel, where have all the immigrants gone?


http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/02/immigration-invasion-bulgarians-romanians-uk

The immigration invasion that never was


No extra flights, empty seats – the lack of stampeding Bulgarians and Romanians shows the rightwing hysteria for what it was/

electionista ‏@electionista
UK - @LordAshcroft poll:

CON 30%
LAB 39%
LDEM 8%
UKIP 16%

"More than a third of 2010 Conservative voters say they would not vote for the party in an election tomorrow. These Defectors tend to have a low to middling view of Cameron, and doubt the Tories stand for fairness or are on the side of ordinary people. Less than one in five have gone to Labour or the Lib Dems; about half say they support UKIP (compared to just over a quarter in my poll of specifically Tory-held marginal seats last year) and a third say they do not know how they will vote or will not vote at all."

Dave Camoron ‏@EtonOldBoys 25m
Cameron going for the Dorset Vote, will increase Pensions, average age in Dorset is 87 #votetory

it has something of a feel of desperation for the tories to start trying to buy votes already with a promise of tax cuts and similar.

if we are going to have them, then i'ld certainly like to see a bit more than the usual (lack of) imagination in dishing them out.
for example, cutting the top rate of tax from 45% to 40% on incomes over £150k will actually benefit remarkably few, and is scarcely a way to win back middle england
on the other hand, raising the various band levels, especially in the lower and middle brackets - e.g. up to say £100k - would benefit a significant swathe.

The biggest winner, though the chance of it happening is close to zero, would be to make the application of stamp duty on houses operate as it does on income tax
that would make a massive difference to many people and also stimulate the building industry

Yes I like that post.

Cant see middle England liking a cut in the top rate of tax when they have already had one.

Nigel Farage: 'the basic principle' of Enoch Powell’s River of Blood speech is right

The Ukip leader says that some passages from the 1968 River of Blood speech describing the problems of immigration are now true for much of England




By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent

5:43PM GMT 05 Jan 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10552055/Nigel-Farage-the-basic-principle-of-Enoch-Powells-River-of-Blood-speech-is-right.html



Nigel Farage has said that the “basic principle” of Enoch Powell’s River of Blood speech is “right.”


The Ukip leader said that while he agreed with parts of Mr Powell’s infamous speech on how large scale immigration can change an area “beyond recognition” the 1968 speech was based on “different reasons” than the current immigration concerns.


Appearing on Sky’s Murnaghan show the Ukip leader was read excerpts from the speech without being told the origin of the comments and nodded along.


When it was revealed the words had been from Powell Mr Farage said: “Well what he was warning about was the large influx of people into an area, that change an area beyond recognition, there is tension – the basic principle is right.”


In the speech Mr Powell said that the “indigenous” population of Britain in the 1960s had found their “homes and neighbourhoods changed beyond recognition.” A situation that Mr Farage said was now true for much of England.

Mr Farage added: “For different reasons, and on a completely different scale. When immigration was being discussed in the sixties, seventies and eighties we were talking about an annual net inflow to the country of between 30 and 50,000 people a year.

"What we have had in the last thirteen years is net 4 million extra migrants coming to Britain."

In December Vince Cable compared David Cameron’s rhetoric on immigration to Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech and said the Prime Minister had made British voters “schizophrenic” about the issue.

The Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister suggested that Conservative rhetoric over immigration was similar to anti-Semitic “panics over Jewish immigrants” in the early 20th century.

Mr Farage also claimed that there is currently “massive oversupply” of unskilled labour from across the EU in the UK which is handing big corporations “big profits” and pushing the wages of British people down.

The Ukip leader said any would-be migrant to the UK should now be forced to prove that they will earn at least £27,500 – more than the average UK salary – to make sure they will “be net contributors to the UK economy.”

Mr Farage said that his party was not “scapegoating” Romanians and Bulgarians who may want to come to the UK to work but that open borders had “transformed the labour market” in Britain.

He said: “There is no question that it’s pushed wage inflation down; it’s helped big companies and big corporations and big landowners to make bigger profits - no argument about that.”

Mr Farage, who warned last year of a “Romanian crime wave”, said the Government should ensure those coming to Britain did not have criminal records and would “bring a benefit” to the UK.

I don't think middle England will mind a top rate tax cut. The only ones who care are the left crazies. The top rate was only brought in by Brown in the final days of his demise as a desperation measure to appeal to the public. Sensible people see it for what it is. Tax cuts and being nice to pensioners usually works quite well as an election bribe.

"The robots are coming and will terminate your jobs"

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0ca021c0-680b-11e3-a905-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2pY99Isn3


----------

A bit wordy, but leaves me wondering again about the "necessity" of "driving" GDP up and what is being rich and enriching a society "means".

---------

Far to long for the sinners of this world!

Coalition imploding???

Nick Clegg is called a liar after he tells Michael Gove he is out of control

Close allies of the cabinet colleagues hit out after the deputy Prime Minister claims he had to deal with 'problems' from the Department for Education on a daily basis

By Georgia Graham, Political Correspondent5:32PM GMT 05 Jan 2014

Nick Clegg has been accused of lying by senior allies of Michael Gove as increasing tensions between the Cabinet colleagues boiled over into a public spat.
The accusation came after claims by the deputy Prime Minister at a Whitehall function that he has been forced to deal with the education secretary’s policy “problems” after they are “bumped up” to his office from the Department for Education.
According to the Mail on Sunday Mr Clegg complained he has to deal with such issues on an “almost daily basis.”
His comments prompted Mr Gove’s aides to suggest the Liberal Democrat leader is trying to sabotage current education reforms which he has criticised publicly.
One said: “We spend our time sorting out Clegg’s screw-ups, not the other way round.”
The war of words is the latest in a battle between the pair over their differing views on education policy.
In the past months Mr Clegg has been particularly critical of Mr Gove’s flagship free school policy which allows head teachers to run schools outside of local authority control.
The deputy Prime Minister, however, described the policy, which is at the centre of Conservative education reforms, as “ideological.” He has also expressed his fury that free schools are able to employ unqualified teachers and has vetoed plans to allow free schools to make a profit. He has also blocked Mr Gove’s plan to bring back O-levels in the place of GCSEs.
The education secretary meanwhile is thought to regard Mr Clegg’s high profile promise of free school meals for all five and six-year olds as an “ambush” and an unnecessary waste of money that could be better spent on other projects.
A source close to Mr Clegg told the Mail on Sunday: “This latest quarrel reflects Nick’s frustration with Gove and his feeling that he is out of control.”
A Department for Education source said: “Clegg is lying again, just as he did on tuition fees. We have been able to transform schools by keeping him out of it.
"He’s annoyed because he doesn’t like the fact we are improving kids chances in life and its got nothing to do with him and his party. Clegg’s only interest sees to be diverting money away from important areas such as creating new school places and instead lavishing tens of million on back-of-a-fag-packet.”
At the same Whitehall function it is understood Mr Clegg also criticised Theresa May claiming her Home Office department also caused difficulties for No.10.
Conservative sources dismissed Mr Clegg’s criticism and claimed that his irritation represented a “badge of honour” which proved that the government was pursuing true Tory policies.

Stuff and nonsense. The coalition has been doing pretty well. It will show signs of cracks as the election approaches. It is the same with all coalitions. The parties involved need to make efforts to distinguish themselves from the other members. It isn't too bad here compared to the coalitions in Italy, Israel etc, where the coalitions are made up of multiple parties.

Hays,

Do you mean the cabinet is full of crack pots?

(Friends of yours?)

8-)

'Prancing on ice' back on TV. There is is only one thing worse than watching people dancing on ice and that is watching people who cannot dance on ice.

Hays,

How is that you always follow the wrong stories.

Try this one on your icon Ashcroft:

Lord Ashcroft's big bucket of cold water to douse Tory optimism
The Conservative peer's latest poll illustrates the profound strategic conundrum facing the prime minister


http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/05/lord-ashcroft-poll-dowses-tories-optimism


But for Manuel there is another interesting summary of the the UK political scene.

General election: there are vital issues beyond the economy


http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/05/2015-election-issues-beyond-the-economy