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.

There are now local environmentalists saying that dredging would make things worse due to in creasing the flow rates in the rivers causing bigger problems downstream and increasing the risk of rivers breaking their banks.

that is why they are now asking the dutch to give their unparallelled expertise

Last week it was the Police arresting men for taking scrap food from a rubbish bin , Now its another major crime , so serious that former Prime minster Gordon Brown had comfort the victim.

http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2014/01/31/english-born-schoolgirl-verbally-abused-Scottish-classmate/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cuk%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D240465#!slide=aol_1004999


Sasha's mum Teresa said: "My concern is that the situation could possibly get totally out of control if nothing is done now before the referendum vote takes place later in the year.

electionista ‏@electionista Jan 31
UK - Populus poll:

CON 32%
LAB 39%
LDEM 11%
UKIP 10%
Expand

MaxK sorry for the delay, it was a Political Monitoring survey.
2517

Latest ICM Wisdom Index in which respondees are asked to predict party shares for GE2015 has CON 31.1 LAB 33.4 LD 15.8 UKIP 11.7

Well done Wales.

Come on France.

Well Done Wales my arse, lucky bastards!

electionista ‏@electionista 2h
UK - Opinium/Observer poll:

CON 29%
LAB 36%
LDEM 8%
UKIP 17%

The polls are all over the place.

But old labour are consistently ahead (Red Ed)



Heaven help us :-(

if the best they can must is 7%, and that seems to be a fairly consistent number at the moment, then i doubt very much if that will translate into an overall majority - whatever sticky may like to scream from the rooftops

however, it is a matter of fact that when the constituences were rejigged by labour (i'm sure), it resulted in a more favourable slant fro labour - that is to say, labour did not require as large a % of the vote as the tories to get into power

It is only a 70+ seat majority for Labour.

I see the leader is calling Manuel to order.

This is more like it.

Addressing the hazy party adherents.




Kill the badgers.

Never mind the NHS is falling apart again.

Gove has the right ideas.


Call Andy to help us.

David Cameron puts human rights at centre of Euro election plan

PM to rally Conservatives for European elections with a radical plan to overhaul human rights law after backbench rebellions and the Referendum Bill defeat






By Tim Ross, Political Correspondent

7:25AM GMT 02 Feb 2014







David Cameron will seek to re-launch his European policy after a series of damaging setbacks with a radical plan to curb the influence of human rights laws, Conservative sources have said.


The Prime Minister is expected to make reforming Britain’s relations with the European Court of Human Rights the centrepiece of the Tory campaign for the European Parliament elections in May.


A committee of senior Conservatives has produced a package of measures to scale back the power of human rights judges in Strasbourg, in order to ensure that British courts always remain the final arbiter of the law.


“We want to make the Supreme Court supreme,” one source said. The proposals are expected to include a promise of a new Act of Parliament to establish the superior status in law of UK courts over the European Court.


If the new law cannot be made to work, the Conservatives are expected to threaten to withdraw the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court.



More hot air here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/10612464/David-Cameron-puts-human-rights-at-centre-of-Euro-election-plan.html

If he does he is becoming a member of the fascist right of the Conned party.

He is pushing UK further a further away from having any influence in EU.

What will he do next to hang on to personal power.

Vote for Cruellla.

No wonder the Scots want to separate from the London mob.

Update - Labour lead at 5
by YouGov in Politics
Sun February 2, 2014 6 a.m. GMT

Latest YouGov / The Sunday Times results 31st January - 2nd February - Con 34%, Lab 39%, LD 8%, UKIP 11%;

Guilty or not guilty?



'Evidence of a motive' for the crime behind Amanda Knox verdict





Interview by Italian judge in Meredith Kercher murder retrial sparks fresh controversy




Michael Day

ROME


Sunday 02 February 2014


The judge who reinstated murder convictions against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito has spoken for the first time about his anguish at coming to the controversial verdicts, and hinted at a series of "coincidences" that led to the death of the British student Meredith Kercher.


Alessandro Nencini, the president of the Florence appeals court, said yesterday a chance decision on the part of Knox to change her plans on the night of 1 November 2007 initiated a series of events that culminated in the brutal killing of Ms Kercher, an exchange student from Coulsdon, south London.

Crucially, Judge Nencini said the court had arrived at a motivation for the crime, adding that it would emerge fully when a detailed reasoning for last week's judgment is published in the coming months.

However, the interview was criticised in the Italian press, with Sollecito's lawyers, Giulia Bongiorno and Luca Maori, reportedly accusing the judge of "very serious, indeed unacceptable" behaviour by commenting on the case.
On Thursday, the Florence court sentenced Sollecito to 25 years in prison and Miss Knox to 28 years and six months in jail, handing her a heavier sentence after finding her guilty of libelling a Congolese bar owner, Patrick Lumumba, by falsely accusing him of being the killer.

The court has 90 days in which to release its reasoning for upholding the guilty convictions. Judge Nencici did, however, shed some light on the jury's deliberations.



more:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/evidence-of-a-motive-for-the-crime-behind-amanda-knox-verdict-9101707.html

NOT GUILTY!

Should council house rents be means tested?
Bob Crow, whom i'm sure we all know, earns £135,000 a year (probably extras on top) yet lives in a council house where rents, i am sure, are subsidised by the taxpayer.

given the paucity of council and similar low cost housing, is this fair and just?

is it a reasonable argument, that the rent for such places should reflect the tenant's ability to pay (considerably) more - let's say 25% of salary?

Bob Crow's counter is that he was born in a council house and has every right to live and die there
true enough under present legislation, but we hear a great hue and cry and gnashing of teeth about taxpayers who legitimately minimise their tax liability
is there really any difference?