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.

"Kids going to school not having had a breakfast" - I would take issue with the parents about that. There are far too many young parents, hardly out of nappies themselves, who don't have a clue how to bring up children and look after them properly.

Some parents even duck their responsibilities while they go skiing by sending their kids to boarding schools.

Probably the lucky ones to escape inept parenting!

Charity shops increasing is due to the general contraction of retail. Charity pay nothing for their staff and the goods they sell. They pay a special low level of rates. They are a scourge on the high street and distort the market. They take empty shops and can afford the rent as their other outgoings are almost nil. This stops landlords from lowering rents to market levels. They should either ban them or make them pay full rates.

The other items on the list are because we have been in a recession and Labour are to blame for it being so bad.

Strange that I thought their had been a world wide recession.

Not only that but the tories have increased debt in there 4 years in power far more than the 13 years labour were in power.

The recession was worse in the UK because of Labour having spent all the cash.

Dont be silly, the USA were in recession years before it hit us. Remember the sub prime disaster.

Houses up for sale all over the country.

You have a selective memory Hays and just remember the good things in your case.

It is not even worth discussing the nonsense posted above.

Iain Duncan Smith MP ‏@IDS_MP
I can confirm I have ordered an investigation into scroungers allegedly spending State benefits on gambling ............

sticky - merely an aside ..... you really cannot compare the recession and economy of USA with that of UK .... please let me know if i need to explain, but i'm sure i do not

Even Osborne has change his mind and is saying his "optimistic" forecasts are dependent on improving EU zone, USA and World Economies.

Already getting ready to say it wasn't our fault for what has happen to the UK in the the last five years.

It was the fault of those who couldn't get a job and the dependent,

Guileless political incompetence springs to mind.

Ps

Have the Royals asked for a housing benefit for this year yet.

===


Forgot, they are hazy friends.

Hazy, could rent one of the spare bedrooms for himself and family.

Maybe, he would feel at home.

Last 5 years eh. It was less than 4 years ago that Labour were messing things up.

I knew Id missed something off my list.

The transfer of shoppers going to cheap retail supermarkets Lidl and Aldi..........

UPDATED....

goldfinger - 20 Jan 2014 15:21 - 35627 of 35650

Explain the relationship between part time workers (but wish they were full full time)

AND

1.Food Banks (record levels)
2.Pay Day Loans (record levels)
3.Savings accounts at lowest level in history
4.Credit Card Debt at highest level ever
5.Charity Shops, increasing by the day
6.Red Cross having to feed poor families
7.Kids going to school not having had a breakfast
8.Tax credits and housing benefit at historic highs
9. Shopping at cheap supermarkets Lidl and Aldi.

The result of a recession.

During the period which the torrid con party being in "charge"!

Almost 4 years.

Over grown school boys poncing around on the stage planning the next U-turn.

The result of a fall in LIVING STANDARDS for middle Britain whilst at the same time Tories reducing top rate tax and discussing it again for the top 1%.

U TURN TORIES

Why Labour should be terrified of Ukip


By Tim Wigmore Politics Last updated: January 20th, 2014


The Conservatives have been afraid of Ukip for years. Now it's Labour's turn. Nigel Farage is aggressively targeting its core vote. And in the constituency of Doncaster North, Ed Miliband could get a very bloody nose from Ukip.

“Eton and Oxford – what do you expect?” Kevin from the Doncaster Trades & Labour Club is not speaking about David Cameron. A Labour voter at every general election since 1945, he’s talking about Ed Miliband. Even in his own fiefdom, they think he’s just another professional politician from a posh school.

Other Northern towns have suffered worse from the crash, but there's no escaping its legacy in Doncaster. The main shopping centre retains its vibrancy, but, a quick ride on the 405 bus later, it's a very different story. Bentley high street, the heart of Mr Miliband's constituency, is awash with rundown shops and struggling fast food joints. Two recession-proof outlets – a Betfred and a Tesco store – amount to the centre of the high street. Perhaps the desperation explains why several shoppers I talk to are new Jehovah's Witnesses converts. These are much easier to find than those voicing newfound enthusiasm for Labour's alternative to the Coalition.

“The days of people going into politics to help ordinary people are long gone,” Paul, a part-time teacher, says at the Trades & Labour Club. “There’s no one in government who understands working-class people”. The number of former manual workers in Parliament has fallen from 98 in 1979 to 25 today.

“The Labour leader” – Paul forgets Mr Miliband’s name – entered politics because, like David Cameron, he had “nothing else to do when he left school”. Another man exclaims that, “we are ignored up here from down South”. So it seems as if David Lammy was on to something when he warned that Labour "can’t just be the party of Primrose Hill and Parliament Hill".

If Doncaster North is Miliband-land, it doesn’t feel much like it. The Labour vote here collapsed from 34,000 in 1992 to 19,000 in 2010. In Doncaster's three seats, Labour has lost 40,000 votes since 1992.

Charts are broke, you'll have to look at the full article.


Full article here: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/timwigmore/100254439/why-labour-should-be-terrified-of-ukip-2/