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 think Tom Winnifrith's use of language is disgusting. He could surely try to get his message across in the public domain without using foul-mouthed abuse.

DB4,

I think he is trying to point out that the message through impenetrable thick skulls of MPs and this government who attempt to brush their dishonesty aside.

The behaviour of many of the government is arrogant.

Very arrogant, especially IDS Camoron and Giddeon.

goldie

did you see the picture of my business in the philippines

Fred, if he's trying to get his message through to MPs then he's not going to have much success using language associated with yobs. I agree that many MPs are arrogant, but it doesn't just apply to the Tory party.

Where can I put a bet on, that before 31 December 2018, we will cease being members of the EU ?

DB4,

Wouldn't suggest that arrogance is owned by the tory party yet.

Even I, myself, have been told that I am occasionally arrogant.

Mind I don't value those, who held that that opinion!

8-)

--------
Exec.

Should be able to put your bet on in a local madhouse!


8-)

It looks like Paddypower and William Hill do bets on EU referendums and leaving. I think you can get a bet on the first country to leave as a few others are considering it.

Here's quite a bit on the detail of it: Withdrawal from the European Union - Wikipedia

For a start, it should be much easier to do because we are not in the Euro zone.

Personally speaking, I do want us to come out and I actually think it will be greatly beneficial to our trade with the rest of the world and won't harm our trade with the EU one jot.

The benefit to staying in, that I would wish to keep, is the virtual impossibility of going to war with any of the other current fellow members. As to how to nail this for sure has to be the subject of some type of membership association and we already have this - in the form of our membership of the EU. I guess we might need to either stay in then or swap it for membership of something else.

Hmmm?

Just the membership of NATO should be sufficient to stop war with our neighbours.

I'm not sure whether I would want to bet we would be the first to leave. I just want to make a bet that we leave - and not before too long either.

The first illustrative example of how I am not alone in feeling like this, will be the phenominal success that is about to be shown by UKIP when they compete with the other parties in the Elections to the European Parliament between 22 and 25 May 2014.

I will be voting for UKIP in that election just to 'make a statement'. However, I would not wish to vote for them in the General Election, where I will be voting for my current local MP, Andrea Leadsom. I do have an extremely high regard for her and feel lucky to have her. She actually got a promotion too yesterday, I see:

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/04/andrea-leadsom-joins-the-treasury/

I think leaving (them leaving) would rescue the financial state of Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal (and maybe even more countries too), and particularly so or primarily so, if they also leave the Eurozone too.

This would come about by a massive devaluation in their currencies. Their income would then rise massively and their exports would be much cheaper - not that they have much to export. I guess tons of people would want to buy properties in such countries and this might also help to rescue their ailing businesses and property markets - and indirectly, be helpful to the banks too.

I doubt that we will leave. The only way we could leave would be if the Conservatives win the election with a majority.

If that happens the Cameron will have discussions about changing the rules of the EU. I can see him getting some changes and then we will have a referendum about leaving. The government's stance will be that the new rules are good for the UK. The government will then recommend that we vote Yes to stay in. With much publicity supporting the stay in case, we will do just that. You have to remember that Cameron and other senior Can nservatives are not in favour of leaving the EU. There are no scenarios where UKIP has any influence on events.

You are probably right. But for UKIP it's 'watch this space' in the European Elections!

The Heartbleed Bug.....

This week it has emerged that a major security flaw at the heart of the internet may have been exposing users' personal information and passwords to hackers for the past two years.

It is not known how widely the bug has been exploited, if at all, but what is clear is that it is one of the biggest security issues to have faced the internet to date.

Where it says, "HTTPS" in a URL address, doesn't necessarily mean that the information the User is about to use is going to be private.

Security expert Brue Schneier described it as "catastrophic". He says, "On the scale of one to 10, this is an 11."

There are numerous comments about how everyone should 'change their passwords immediately'.

Hmmm?

None of the online financial institutions I use have said anything to me about it.

It's really down to how UKIP do in the upcoming elections.

If they do well, as expected...then the shit will hit the fan, as incumbent mp's look forward to losing their seats on the gravy train.

If ukip fizzle, then it will be business as usual, and referendums and such will be quietly forgotton.

UKIP will do well in the EU elections. The polls are showing UKIP second to Labour or third after Conservatives. The general election is another matter. They need more than double their current percentage to start getting MPs. They are a one policy party and won't get the votes at the GE.

I was thinking more along the lines of the uncertainty that mp's, especially those in marginal seats, will feel if they have ukip standing against them. Nobody knows how it will go, as they seem to be able to rob votes off all sides.

That's certainly true. Some Conservative MPs may lose their seats to Labour because of UKIP. Other combinations are possible, but very unlikely.

public apathy and disillusionment will be the winner in the general election, resulting in the activists of all colours having a disproportionate influence - and that will be woe for us all in the longer term


for sure ukip will do well in the eu elections, but again, joe public really has no interest in them, and i doubt if there'll be more than say 35% turn-out ..... anyone disagree?

and for a change, i actually agree with hays, that ukip's performance in these (non)elections has little or no bearing on what will happen in a general election