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.

I was in Wales on Saturday.

Beautiful day and country!

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After Scotland is freed of the English yoke, will Wales be let free?

8-)

PS>

Wales unemployment falls by 12,000 to 6.7%



The unemployment rate in Wales has fallen to 6.7% compared with 7.2% for the UK over the last quarter.

Wales has seen the largest fall in unemployment in all UK nations and regions over the last year, said UK Employment Minister Esther McVey.

The Office for National Statistics figures show the jobless total in Wales fell by 12,000 over the last quarter.

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Nice quote from Cameron at PMQs today

“You know what Mr Speaker, I will take a lecture from almost anyone in the country about the sale of Royal Mail, but not from the two muppets who advised the last Chancellor on selling the gold.”

This maybe the reason for unemployment rate fall in Wales, the CMO for England wrote to his Welsh equivalent to suggest an investigation into the country's high mortality rates.
2517

2517

Relate mortality rate back to heavy industrial past and levels of previous deprivation over previous 50 years!

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Hazy one.

Poll tax. Bedroom Tax.

Flogging North Sea oil and Gas.

Flogging of RM and other parts of the silver to their mates in the city in order to get them to fill the torrid party's coffers..
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(Now wonder Cameron is depicted with a Condom over his head, perhaps to prevent him smelling his own stench.)

Beetroot Dave and Henchman Osborne's actions are stacking up against them and will be listed at the time of the GE. in 12 months time.

Fred1 not so, over 15,000 cancer patients in Wales crossed the border for treatment in England. Welsh Labour MP Ann Clwyd regards the Assembly's health record as ''calamitous''.
2517

Available facilities.

Welsh NHS budget cut by £800m, not by the Tories, but by Labour. Indeed had the cuts been effected by the Tories you would be shouting it from your soapbox.
2517

Labour blocks Ann Clwyd NHS evidence
Wednesday, 26 March, 2014

Labour Assembly Members today voted to prevent Labour MP Ann Clwyd giving evidence to the National Assembly’s Health Committee about the Welsh NHS.

A vote was taken in the Assembly’s Health and Social Care Committee on whether to invite the NHS campaigner and Labour MP to give evidence regarding her concerns about the Welsh NHS. All Labour AMs voted against and defeated the motion by one vote.

Ann Clwyd has previously backed Welsh Conservative calls for a Keogh-style inquiry into the Welsh health service.

Last week, 2013 Risk Adjusted Mortality Index (RAMI) figures show that all but three Welsh hospitals have above average death rates, with some so dangerously high, that in other parts of the UK they would demand an inquiry.

Darren Millar AM, Shadow Minister for Health, said, “This is the same old Labour Party putting its narrow party political interests before the interests of getting to the bottom of the problems in the Welsh NHS.

“Inviting Ann Clwyd to give evidence to the Assembly would provide AMs with an opportunity to hear her valuable insight into hospital death rates, along with the experiences of patients whose evidence she has received.

“The Labour Party is closing ranks and trying to shut down scrutiny of its disastrous handling of the Welsh NHS, which has seen dangerously high death rates, emergency and waiting time targets missed regularly and cancer medicines denied to patients.

“This is a cynical attempt by Labour politicians to brush evidence about underperformance and failure in the Welsh NHS under the carpet.

“The only way we can prevent a Mid-Staffs scandal in the Welsh NHS is to expose problems in our health service and take action to put them right, Ann Clwyd would have been able to assist in doing this.”

whoops-a-daisy!

Ed Milipede likens the Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones ''to a mentor''. Heaven help us if Labour get to form our government.
2517

On the flower theme

A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.

By the way post 132, nice find H.
2517

Jeremy Hunt told Parliament that there’s been a 10 per cent rise in Welsh patients using services in England since 2010.
50 %
Almost 50% of Welsh patients are forced to wait six weeks or more for vital scans and tests compared to 1% in England.
15,450
The number of Welsh cancer patients crossing the border has quadrupled from just 3,471 in 2003 ago to 15,450 last year.
0.7%
Department of Health figures revealed that only 216 Welsh cancer patients received treatments through the Cancer Drugs fund, compared to 15,456 England. That’s an equivalent of seven patients in every 100,000 people in the population in Wales, compared with 29 per 100,000 in England.

2517,

Give Wales another £800m for the NHS in Wales and I am sure they will spend it wisely, not trying to pack it with Private companies owing loyalty to their share holders but to the patients.

Anne Clwyd should be allowed to give "her" evidence if relevant to any enquiry involved in the NHS in Wales or England.

He evidence and research should be examined for validity and considered if such. A lot of it was based on personable experience of the treatment of members of her own family.

I wonder if objections were based on interference from a Westminster MP into a said "Welsh Administration's" remit.

If so probably B. Stupid.

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I think from memory some of the figures and reports relating to "Health and Welfare Care" in Wales, is questionable and open to challenge and should be based on the demography of those using it.

But do your own analysis and compare with parts of previous areas of "neglect" after industrial decline in parts of North of England.

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Haze,

You don't have to worry, if the torrid party of con men and the Beetroot get back into power at the next GE, they will flog the NHS off to their mates who will strip it down to a burial service.

Whether Ann Clwyd would have been quite so keen had her husband not died due to ''shoddy'' NHS care we'll never know, but you'r right she should be allowed to give evidence.
''I wonder if objections were based on interference from a Westminster MP into a said "Welsh Administration's" remit''. Typical Fred, always looking for excuses for Labour failure.
2517
.

How are we going to cope with a nu Manchester every four years?

Where is the money going to come from for housing, infrastructure, health care, schooling? Bear in mind, there are no jobs worth talking about, and we have millions unemployed.




European Union migrants will overtake immigrants from outside Europe for first time, says report

MigrationWatch says number of EU migrants arriving over just four years will be equal to the population of Manchester




MigrationWatch predicted overall net migration would be “in the order of 160,000 a year” - far higher than then Government’s target of “tens of thousands” - once immigration from outside the EU was taken into account. Photo: REX



By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent

12:01AM BST 02 Apr 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10736944/European-Union-migrants-will-overtake-immigrants-from-outside-Europe-for-first-time-says-report.html


Immigration from within the European Union is poised to make up the majority of new arrivals to Britain for the first time, according to a new report.


A paper published by MigrationWatch UK, which campaigns for tougher immigration rules, said the economic crisis in southern Europe would continue to drive a huge influx to this country.


It predicted net migration of EU citizens will be around 130,000 a year, and levels would be maintained for the “medium term”. It meant the total would be 520,000 over four years, or more than the population of Manchester, the study said.


The report said a key factor in the surge was a rise in migration from southern European countries which are suffering high youth unemployment including Spain, Italy and Portugal.


It also predicted that overall net migration would be “in the order of 160,000 a year” - far higher than then Government’s target of “tens of thousands” - once immigration from outside the EU was taken into account.

“If non-EU net migration does fall to about 100,000 per year and EU migration stays at around 130,000 it would become, for the first time, the main source of net migration,” said the report.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, said “The government are successfully bringing down immigration from outside the EU but we now face a situation where the numbers from inside the EU could form the majority of foreign migrants.

“This clearly poses a fundamental issue for our negotiations with the EU.

“It was crazy to have opened up our labour market and our benefit system to 100 million people from countries with a standard of living less than a quarter of our own. There must now be a determined renegotiation.”

Numbers from the EU could overtake non-EU migrants in the next set of official immigration figures, due to be published next month, MigrationWatch said.

The report added that EU migration could be reduced if ministers could persuade Brussels to allow governments to restrict access to benefits for five years.

“It would ensure that the UK remains a destination for highly qualified individuals such as French bankers and German engineers who would be entirely unaffected, yet it would prevent workers from the poorest EU countries migrating to the UK in order to substantially increase their incomes at the expense of subsidy by UK taxpayers,” it said.

Figures published in February showed the number of National Insurance numbers given to foreigners - an important indicator of immigration levels - showed a 19 per cent rise to 617,000 in 2013.

There were huge surges in the number of citizens coming to Britain to work from EU countries which have been hardest hit by the economic crisis.

Data showed the number of Italians registering rose 66 per cent to 44,000, with other countries showing other large increases including Portugal (up 47 per cent, up to 30,000 people) and Spain (up 36 per cent to just under 52,000).

The official figures also showed net migration had risen to 212,000 in the 12 months to the end of September, its highest point since 2011 and a blow to the Government’s pledge to cut levels to the tens of thousands by the next general election.

2517.

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If a member of the Welsh Assembly wished to but in at a cabinet meeting at no. 10 they would be told rightly to go away.

However, if there was an investigation or enquiry into cabinet "corruption" and they had evidence I would hope that they would be invited to give evidence to it.

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Do you ever fail at anything?

I lost a game of chess last night, one of the best games I have had for a long time.

However. next time I play the same opponent I will succeed perhaps with the same opening.

I.E. be annoyed at one's own mistakes, but not put off from trying something new.

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Governments are bound to fail sometimes and in some ways, but this B. government is a disaster and the repercussions are being paid for by the most unfortunate and less capable members of society.

You have had 4 years of tory upheaval in the NHS system and it is become less efficient and more uncaring and more importantly for patient care and the public in general more demoralised.

The present crew in control of the government are detached from normal society and fragmenting it.

The only thing holding it together is its PR machine with the gifts and favours it bestows on those who it hopes will fill the party coffers.

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I am going out, but I am COMING back!

8-)

of course, "surplus immigrants" could always be re-directed to Wales or Scotland (whether independent or not) as they then won't show on the unemployment register and those semi-autonomous regions can also foot the bill for any benefits required

What about the surplus immigrants FROM Wales?