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.

'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

Cameron's help-to-buy poster girl bought flat through her own firm

Critics hit out at Cameron's help-to-buy publicity stunt after it emerges buyer is BMW-driving estate agent


Prime Minister David Cameron walks with Sharon Ray and her daughter Maisie, 2, during a visit to her home in Southampton



By Martin Evans

6:34PM GMT 05 Jan 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10552225/Camerons-help-to-buy-poster-girl-bought-flat-through-her-own-firm.html




As a single mother struggling to get onto the property ladder, Sharon Ray appeared to be the ideal poster girl for the Government’s new Help-to-Buy scheme.


Keen to exploit the public relations opportunity, Prime Minister David Cameron, visited Mrs Ray and her two-year-old daughter Maisie in their Southampton home last week to share a cup of tea and congratulate her on her recent purchase.


After the widely publicised meeting Mr Cameron tweeted: “Sharon & Maisie show me their lovely new home – just one of the families helped onto the housing ladder by #helptobuy”


Mrs Ray, 30, also took to Twitter to express her excitement at having welcomed the Prime Minister into her flat, writing: “@david_Cameron so lovely to meet you today!!! Maisie and I had a great time!!!!! #helptobuy”


But the Tory spin machine has been left with one or two embarrassing questions after it emerged that Mrs Ray is an award winning and well paid estate agent who purchased the flat through her own property firm.

The £145,000 two-bedroom flat was sold through the Enfields estate agency in Southampton where Mrs Ray has worked for almost eight years and is currently the director of sales.

It was not clear whether she or the company benefited from any sales commission.

Questions over her suitability for the scheme have also been raised after it emerged that the mother-of-one, who split from her estate agent husband six months ago, drives a £33,000 convertible BMW.

The Help-to-Buy scheme was set up by the Government to provide assistance to those who were struggling to get on the property ladder because they could not raise the necessary deposit.

Buyers who only have a five per cent deposit can now benefit from a Government loan for a further 20 per cent, with a mortgage making up the remaining 75 per cent.

Up to 6,000 buyers have already taken advantage of the scheme allowing them to get a foot on the housing ladder.

Trumpeting the benefits of the scheme after meeting Mrs Ray last week, Mr Cameron said: “This is about helping people to achieve the security and stability they want of owning a flat or a home of their own.

“We are not helping people to buy flats or homes they cannot afford. We are helping people who do not have wealthy parents, who cannot get a big deposit together and helping them to realise their dreams.”

There is no suggestion Mrs Ray has acted wrongly or was not eligible for the scheme.

But critics have questioned whether the system was really intended to help the likes of her, given that the value of her company car suggests she enjoys a healthy salary.

Writing anonymously on a blog, one critic wrote: “Whether on finance or outright cash it's a good indicator of a healthy income. The kind of income which doesn't seem compatible with people unable to raise a deposit and desperate to buy their first home.”

Business Secretary, Vince Cable, is among those who have attacked the scheme in general recently expressing concern that providing taxpayer backed loans, could result in another housing bubble.

The Labour Party has also accused the Coalition of failing to address the underlying problem of housing supply, with not enough new houses being built to keep up with demand.

A spokesman for Number 10 insisted that as a hard working person, who could afford mortgage repayments but not the initial deposit, Mrs Ray was exactly the sort of person the scheme was aimed at.

And Mrs Ray also took to Twitter to defend her position, insisting that the BMW car was a company vehicle and pointing out that she had split from her husband six months ago.

Mrs Ray was not at home last night and had protected her Twitter account meaning it was only accessible to those she approved.

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL.

I know, you couldn't make it up if you tried :-)


Has no one at Conservative central office any brains, surely they would check the creds of anyone they are going to use for a puff piece?

Wheres Linton Crosby when hes needed LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

Great find Max.

Less than one in five defectors have switched to Labour or the Liberal Democrats , UKIP poll 40% in lastest poll by Lord Ashcroft

LibDem's so low nearly off the chart .

i rather thought that might be the case ..... more a case of a plague on all their houses

I am sure I know somebody.

The comments are interesting:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cartoon/2014/jan/05/martin-rowson-cartoon-michael-gove

what i find interesting in syria is that, as far as i can determine, (western) support has now switched back to the assad regime, presumably on the basis that the al-qaeda-led opposition is an even worse and more dangerous prospect ..... quelle surprise!

It was said at the time that the woman was an estate agent. This is a non story. What difference does it make what job she had.

H, I think the point is that she was not your typical struggling to get on the housing ladder person, I mean a £33K car. DC should have checked or had it checked out.
2517

Syria has got a lot worse since Miliband blocked the action against chemical weapons. Had he agreed then Obama would probably not sought support in his own government. The resultant action would have crushed Assad's military infrastructure by destroying command and control systems.

The lack of that action was taken as a lack of resolve by the West. Al Qaeda rushed in to take advantage of the hesitation by the rebels. I put the present situation down to a cowardly and self serving Miliband. I can tell you that the intelligence services here and in the US are of a similar opinion.

that's nonsense hays ..... al quaeda were already well embedded on the one side (so-called rebels) with, i am pretty certain, hezbollah on the other (assad)

The all Qaeda groups had not become so organised as they are now. They operate under a group called ISIS. As ISIS gains territory they are imposing sharia law and killing the original rebels. The lack of intervention by other countries has emboldened the jihadists. There was a critical turning point when the West failed to act.

who told you that? .... sorry old bean, but you really are talking rubbish

I've just been watching news coverage of people trying to get a close look at the waves crashing off sea fronts - are they completely bonkers? Other people in cars trying to drive down flooded roads with signs saying "ROAD CLOSED". Perhaps I've just lost my sense of adventure.:-)