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.

Labour 44 seat majority!!!!!!!!

is that even without your vote?

actually, even if the poll is accurate or even meaningful, 37% would give ZERO majority .... as old pal sticky will confirm, labour need 38%+ for a majority

A Labour 44 seat majority.


Is that something to celebrate?

David Cameron's constituency office calls police on food bank campaigners Bishop of Oxford and Reverend Keith Hebden



Door was shut in church leaders' faces as David Cameron wrote for The Church Times on his Anglican faith



Felicity Morse

Tuesday 22 April 2014



David Cameron’s constituency office has come under fire for calling the police on the Bishop of Oxford and Reverend Hebden as they attempted to present him with an open letter on food poverty.


Their letter, part of the End Hunger Fast campaign, was signed by 42 Anglican bishops and more than 600 clerics and called on the three party leaders to work with the parliamentary inquiry into food poverty to implement its recommendations.

However, despite David Cameron’s Witney office expecting their visit, they were barred from presenting the letter and instead greeted by three police officers. Around 40 people had walked to his office following a service, and while the congregation stood on the opposite side of the road, the Rt Revd John Pritchard and Rev Hebden went to deliver the letter on their own. The police “weren’t there very long” when they realised the situation, Reverend Keith Hebden told The Independent, saying that they could see Cameron’s office staff looking out the window as they were forced to abandon their visit.

He added: “It is deeply ironic, to say the least, that on the same day David Cameron was writing in the Church Times talking about what a good Anglican he is, he was wasn’t able to receive his own bishop in his constituency office. I think this speaks volumes.

“They were expecting us, we had phoned ahead. Most of my surprise was reserved for them not even opening the door. The letter was positive and addressed to all three party leaders, so it wasn’t political.”






Full story here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-camerons-constituency-office-calls-police-on-food-bank-campaigners-bishop-of-oxford-and-reverend-keith-hebden-9274303.html

MaxK
Where did you get 44 majority from?

Fred's post.


Fred1new - 23 Apr 2014 10:10 - 39842 of 39846

Labour 44 seat majority!!!!!!!!

while trussell are indeed a respected organisation and do an excellent job, the implication of the above table is that the number of people needing foodbank subsidy has risen ~2.5x between 2012 and 2013

of course that is something of a distortion, for though the number may well have grown, it does not show like/like but merely that there was a hidden need before more foodbanks were opened

I don't read Fred's posts.

There is a web site that predicts the number of seats based on averages of polls . It is currently saying 44 majority for Labour, but it hasn't been updated since 13 Apr. I find they only update it when the figure look beneficial to Labour. They could easily update it every day, but that would show very low majorities for Labour some of the time. Funny that!

cynic
I have looked at the Trussel's own figures on their web site and it is clear that the average number o people served is 2,000 per outlet and has been that way since not long after they started. Since they moved to a franchise model in 2004 the numbers have exploded. That is the number of outlets has exploded. This means more people served overall.

29850 - thanks hays though it actually quite surprises me that the number of people per outlet has not grown over say the last 3 years
nevertheless, it does not mean that there is not a problem that should be tackled, though quite how is another question, or at least how in a realistic and realisable manner

Brits who migrate to Costa del Sol more unhappy than those who stay at home






Adam Sherwin

Wednesday 23 April 2014




Quitting the daily grind for a new life on the Costa del Sol might seem a tempting option. But Britons who chase the sun and migrate to the Mediterranean are actually less happy than if they had stayed at home, an academic study has found.


Almost 3,000 Britons move abroad each week, with around five million now living outside the UK.

However our inability to adapt to the language and culture of these sunkissed new homes means the search for a better lifestyle has made British migrants unhappier.

Dr David Bartram, of the University of Leicester, said that migrants from the UK and five other northern European countries who went to Spain, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus were less happy than people who stayed behind.

In a paper to be delivered at the British Sociological Association’s annual conference in Leeds today, Dr Bartram analysed survey data on 265 migrants from Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, France, and 73 from the UK, who resettled in the Mediterranean countries.



More: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/brits-who-migrate-to-costa-del-sol-more-unhappy-than-those-who-stay-at-home-9275308.html

Amazing Greys (Saturday, 9.15pm, ITV) matched Paddy McGuinness and Angela Rippon to pit people against each other across the age divide.

And the greys won every contest

Does it say when the group interviewed moved to the Med?

Trace the dissatisfaction of "pensioner group" against devaluation of the pound and the standard of living decline for them!

Let’s say it very clearly: of the 239,000 new ‘jobs’ last quarter just 19,000 were full time employments

Posted on April 16 2014

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2014/04/16/lets-say-it-very-clearly-of-the-239000-new-jobs-last-quarter-just-19000-were-full-time-employments/


The headline employment data today looks good. 239,000 new jobs.

However, self-employment accounted for 146,000 of the increase.

But as I have shown, firstly no one really knows how many self employed people there are and secondly, they earned an average of £10,400 each in 2011-12, on a steadily falling trend.

These people will be living below the breadline. So will those in new part-time work, where the figure rose by 74,000.

There were, therefore, just 19,000 new full time jobs.

I bet most of those were minimum wage and zero hours contracts.

The exploitation of the UK goes on. This is no cause for celebration.

the writer is a political activist, though that does not exactly cast doubt on his summary
however, new jobs are new jobs whatever their category and must presumably have taken people off benefits or at least improved their position

btw, unless my calc is badly wrong, 30 hours pw at minimum wage pretty much equates to £10,400 pa which is also on the border line of zero tax

There was further good news for the economy from a survey by the CBI, which indicated strong growth in orders for UK manufacturers.

The business lobby group said orders had been growing at the fastest pace since 1995.

Good news too, at Manchester United:

Scholes back to assist Giggs

Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt and Phil Neville were today assisted by former team-mate and Reds legend Paul Scholes at the Aon Training Complex.

Giggs was placed in temporary charge of the first team on Tuesday and was joined at Wednesday morning's training session by Butt, Neville and Scholes following the departures of David Moyes, Steve Round and Jimmy Lumsden.

Fixtures:

26 April: Home game against Norwich, who are currently 4th from the bottom. Then
3rd May: Home against Sunderland, who are currently bottom. Then
6th May: Home against Hull City, who are currently 6th from bottom.

An easy 9 pts there then..... :-)

Councils sit on £67m in emergency help for poor
Created on Tuesday, 22 April 2014 08:06

Category: Latest news

A fledgling scheme to provide emergency help to the poorest in the country is in chaos, with £67m left unspent and record numbers of families being turned away.

Figures released in response to Freedom of Information Act requests indicate that by the end of January councils in England were sitting on £67m of the £136m that had been allocated to local welfare schemes.

Half of local authorities had spent less than 40% of their funds.

An analysis by the Guardian shows that under the new local welfare assistance schemes, four in 10 applications for emergency funds are turned down, despite evidence that many applicants have been made penniless by benefits sanctions and delays in processing benefit claims.

Under the previous system – the social fund – just two in 10 were. In some parts of the country, as few as one in 10 applicants obtain crisis help.

The schemes were designed to help low-income families in crisis, such as those in danger of becoming homeless or subjected to domestic violence.

Charities and MPs have warned that those denied help are turning to food banks and loan sharks.

Read the full story in the Guardian

Two million poorest families hit by welfare reforms, says Oxfam
Created on Tuesday, 22 April 2014 08:01

Category: Latest news

Nearly two million of the poorest families in Britain have been made poorer by a “perfect storm” of below-inflation benefit rises and changes to the welfare system, a new report warns.

An analysis by Oxfam and the New Policy Institute found the worst-affected 200,000 families were losing £864 a year as a result of benefit cuts.

It concluded that about 1.75 million households had been hit by one or more changes to welfare payments, including fewer council tax exemptions and the “bedroom tax”.

The charity called on the Government to introduce an “absolute minimum” level of financial support regardless of where people lived, which would be “high enough to prevent people from having to walk the breadline”.

Tom MacInnes, research director at the New Policy Institute and the report’s author, said the changes were particularly harsh because they affected costs which could not be controlled.

“There are two parts to the safety net. One is the means-tested cash benefit such as jobseeker’s allowance, which is rising by less than prices. The other is the benefits that help pay for specific unavoidable costs. This is where cuts have been targeted and where the greatest damage to the safety net is being done.”

Mark Goldring, Oxfam’s chief executive, said the report provided the “latest evidence of a perfect storm blowing massive holes in the safety net which is supposed to stop people falling further into poverty”.

“We are already seeing people turning to food banks and struggling with rent, council tax, childcare and travel costs to jobcentres,” he said. “It is unacceptable the poorest are paying such a heavy price.”

Read the full story in the Independent

Our thanks to Pre-Raphaelite Sister for spotting this article for us

Ive been pointing this out for the last 18 months BELOW........

The headline employment data today looks good. 239,000 new jobs.

However, self-employment accounted for 146,000 of the increase.

But as I have shown, firstly no one really knows how many self employed people there are and secondly, they earned an average of £10,400 each in 2011-12, on a steadily falling trend.

These people will be living below the breadline. So will those in new part-time work, where the figure rose by 74,000.

There were, therefore, just 19,000 new full time jobs.

I bet most of those were minimum wage and zero hours contracts.

The exploitation of the UK goes on. This is no cause for celebration.