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.

What maybe interesting is the retail figures for January, when they come out in Feb.

May indicate the public mood.

That's the reality. I didn't say I agreed with it, but that's how you get elected. It is just a numbers game. It does have some elements of policy embedded in it to do with reducing the benefits burden, making work pay etc. People may criticise IDS but he is genuinely concerned with social welfare and trying to help people, although he may not come across that way. He is is one of the Conservatives who is closest to traditional Lib values.

Haystack,

Post 35832

"Thatcher knew the trick is to squeeze the unemployed regarding their benefits and make sure the working are happy.The workers outnumber the unemployed by a huge number."


That supposes the the majority general public have your modus operandi and raison d'être and excludes those who will see the problems of policies based on personal greed and self interest. By 2015 they will have family members who are feeling the effects of the unnecessarily harsh "austerity measures".

Many of the children of the latter are the middle class children who will have left university with debts of £50000, little expectation of long term work contracts, unable to plan their futures and living with Mummies and Daddies. They will be disgruntled and airing they grievances more forcefully than at present.
========

Your view of IDS is not held by many and see the methods and approaches he is addressing problems with the social and welfare support are reactionary and based on the primitive ideology for the introduction of the work house.

The new Mantra for the nasty party is "must keep on with the Plaaaaaaan". Which means "Digging a Bigger HOLEEEEEE!

----------


The falsification of economic data will be more apparent and distortions or lies by this "elite" be lain at the Nasty Party's door.

Haystack - 24 Jan 2014 13:22 - 35832 of 35840

Thatcher knew the trick is to squeeze the unemployed regarding their benefits and make sure the working are happy.The workers outnumber the unemployed by a huge number........ends

And what makes you think the working are happy? because bud they aint. And Il tell you this if they dont see improvements in their standard of living they will turn in big numbers on the Tories.

Your also forgetting the really disillusioned at work are those WHO ARE GETTING BENEFITS, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Hays read and weep,

just out, the electorate are rounding on osbourne and his side kick who put out that dishonest report on living standards in the past year.

Boiling point on twitter. Osbournes name is mud...........

electionista ‏@electionista 3min
UK - Populus poll: CON 32%, LAB 40%, LDEM 11%, UKIP 9%

Ed Miliband ‏@Ed_Miliband Jan 24
In Britain today there are 13m people living in poverty. For the 1st time the majority of those people are living in working families

poverty = couldn't afford some new top-of-the range trainers or the latest i-pad or an even bigger plasma tv? :-)

"Boiling point on twitter. Osbournes name is mud..........."


Nah, can't see George Osborne trending on Twitter right now, FishFinger. Has he changed his name by deed poll to Justin Bieber or summat then?

#WeWillAlwaysSupportYouJustin
#FreeBieber
DUI
#AUSvENG
#JustinBieber

3 things Cameron won't tell you about reshoring


by Guy Bentley
January 24, 2014, 2:49pm
David Cameron has declared he wants Britain to become a "reshore nation."

Speaking at the World Economics Forum in Davos, the Prime Minister said he wants international companies to resettle in the UK and has established Reshore UK to facilitate the process. David Cameron argued that reshoring would increase quality, shorten lead times and improve delivery performance.

However, here are four reasons why reshoring might not be all its cracked up to be.

Sellers closer to buyers is not necessarily a good thing

Proximity to the producer of goods is not always good news for consumers. The peasants of 14th century England were certainly closer to the producers of their products but this did not lead to greater supply, diversity and quality.

Many manufacturing companies outside the UK face substantially lower wage and regulatory costs. This allows them to sell a wider range of higher quality products at lower prices to British consumers.

If the price of production for t-shirts is higher in the UK than it is in India and shortening the supply chain has little impact on the cost - the only consumers to benefit from reshoring will be those willing to pay a premium for product they know was made in Britain.

Reshoring is not the key to future growth

The UK has a relatively high skilled workforce. Many of the jobs that have left the UK are relatively low skilled. If workers in other countries are producing manufactured goods and staffing call centres while UK workers produce financial products and high quality entertainment - both regions are specialising in what they are best at producing.

Whilst the promise of lower taxation and cutting red tape are positive steps for the economy the focus should not be to bring back the jobs of the past - but to create the conditions for the industries of the future.

Manufacturing jobs are no better than service sector jobs

The Prime Minister and a host of other politicians have emphasised the need for a rebalancing of the UK economy away from services and toward manufacturing.

What is not often mentioned is that manufacturing is now at record highs in the UK. Data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and development (OECD) shows that manufacturing in terms of output has steadily risen since 1945. In 2009 a PwC report found that manufacturing output has increased in 35 of the 50 years between 1958 and 2007. Output in 2007 was double what it was in 1958.

What has changed is the proportion of manufacturing jobs in the economy. Manufacturing accounts for just over eight per cent of the UK workforce and 12 per cent of the country's output. The UK is producing more goods of higher quality with fewer workers while the service sector has rapidly grown. Those who long for a return of manufacturing have yet to explain why the manufacturing jobs we have lost are more valuable than the service sector jobs we have created.

- See more at: http://www.cityam.com/blog/1390574945/3-things-cameron-wont-tell-you-about-reshoring#sthash.wxpEAJt6.dpuf

Hilary you silly boy I didnt say it was trending. (justin bieber)

If you have the followers who stick to economics and politics the subject is red hot at how osbourne and his side kick have TRIED to con the British Electorate.

You stick to teeny boppers but be carefull you might have a Jimmy Saville case to answer.

"People may criticise IDS but he is genuinely concerned with social welfare and trying to help people, although he may not come across that way. He is is one of the Conservatives who is closest to traditional Lib values."

H/S, You constantly post so much Political nonsense on here, with the above being one good example.

No, you didn't say it was trending. You actually suggested the topic was reaching 'boiling point' (which is tantamount to the same thing).

But, what you actually meant to say, was that you and your Labour activist mates are busy talking about George Osborne, but that you're in a very small minority and nobody else really cares less about him and would rather talk about Justin Bieber instead.

Here here.

If he was genuinely concerned he could let out some of them bedrooms at Betsys manor pad to people he as put on the street because of the bedroom tax.

Stan,

Haystack is right. You, Fred and Fishfinger are fighting a lost cause with your socialist drivel. I fully expect the Conservatives to stroll back into No 10 in 2015. It's pretty much nailed on in Westminster circles that they'll win the next election - it's just that northerners tend to be a bit thick and behind the times, so they haven't cottoned on just yet.

Hey Hils. racist. I'm a bloody northerner how dare you suggest i support those red flag left wing shitheads :O) And believe it or not tourists who go to Blackpool mainly come from the bloody south or Scotland. We in the NORTH have more sense.

There are exceptions to every rule, CC. :o)

I'm a Scot, thank God now living in England and I think Cameron is definitely preferable to either Milliband or Alex Salmond.

Sky News spends so much time reporting about Justin Babyier. What an utter waste of space he is and who cares if he's been pulled up for driving a fast car under the influence of drink or drugs. He's just like loads of our professional footballers - being paid far too much money for zilch talent and making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.