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.

FRED will have him when hes back off holiday.

set Fred set Fred, set.

gf
Unemployment WASN'T the target for a rise in interest rates and never has been. What he said was that he wouldn't consider a rise until 7% and then he would start considering it depending on other factors. In the event, it wasn't necessary. I know it suits you to distort history and reality.

LOL LOL hays just read what you have posted.

Then read my post below.

goldfinger 20 May 2014 17:21 - 40997 of 41008 edit this post

Carneys getting a reputation for missing his targets just like Osbourne as done in the past. Lets face it if he had kept to his original target of unemployment at 7% or lower we'd have already had an interest rate rise.

Hays can you really trust a bloke like this with your interest rates???.......ENDS

Please please stop playing with words. Your starting to make a fool of yourself.

And he got caught out with the speed with which unemployment fell (due in whole to IDS fiddled figures).

Their are no doubts he was caught out and then sneekily moved the goal posts. Why on earth do you think he feels so uneasy now.

He dam well knows hed have put interest rates up if Osbourne hadnt leaned on him.

And heres the evidence, it couldnt be any clearer........

BoE’s Mark Carney signals scrapping of forward guidance
By Chris Giles in Davos
©Charlie Bibby

Bank of England governor Mark Carney
Mark Carney, Bank of England governor, has signalled that his policy of linking interest rates to the unemployment rate will be buried less than six months after its birth.

Mr Carney flagged the U-turn at the World Economic Forum in Davos, letting the news emerge in a series of television interviews where he said that unemployment alone would no longer guide policy.

George Osborne, the chancellor, supported Mr Carney on Friday morning. Speaking at Davos, Mr Osborne acknowledged the fall in unemployment had changed the way the BoE would run monetary policy, but stressed the 7 per cent unemployment rate was a threshold and not a trigger.

“That we’re talking about exit is a mark of success. We’re not in the gloomy debate that we were having at Davos a year ago.”

Financial Times.

my goodness you're so dull, repetitive and predictable .... such a pleasure to be filtered

BBC last August

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23588958

Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said the Bank will not consider raising interest rates until the jobless rate has fallen to 7% or below.

Mr Carney said that the 7% unemployment figure was not a target, but a point at which the Bank of England would re-examine interest rates.

gf
Clearly, people such as you did not read what Carney said or didn't understand it,

didn't suit the plan ... but then you and everyone else tend to do the same

My last post was directed to gf. I have edited it to make it clear.

Miliband's two car crash interviews in one day: Labour leader exposed on local radio for not even knowing who he was campaigning for in Swindon
Miliband was asked who Jim Grant was - the Labour Party leader in Swindon
The stumped opposition leader said: 'You will enlighten me, I'm sure.'
He was on Swindon radio campaigning for Mr Grant
Came after he was accused of being 'out of touch with reality' on morning TV

ByTom Mctague, Mail Online Deputy Political Editor

Published: 15:49, 20 May 2014 | Updated: 18:31, 20 May 2014
Ed Miliband endured a nightmare day on the campaign trail today after following up a blundering TV interview with a car crash local radio appearance.

The Labour leader was this morning accused of being 'out of touch with reality' after appearing not to have any idea how much he spends on a weekly shop.

He was then left embarrassed on the BBC's Radio Wiltshire when forced to admit he did not know the local Labour leader - even though he was supposed to be campaigning for him.




Ed Miliband suffered a disastrous interview on 'Good Morning Britain' this morning, which he followed up with a car crash performance on local radio



Mr Miliband was speaking to Swindon's local radio ahead of the council elections on Thursday.

He was asked by radio host Ben Prater what he made of Jim Grant, the leader of Swindon's Labour party.

Mr Miliband responded: 'I beg your pardon?'

The radio presenter said: 'Grant, do you think he has done a good job?'

The Labour leader replied: 'I think that lots of Labour representatives are doing a good job right across the country.'

Mr Prater then asked whether he knew who Jim Grant was, but all Mr Miliband could say was: 'You will enlighten me I am sure.'

The radio host then said: 'Swindon Labour leader.'

A flustered Mr Miliband then claimed: 'Yeah I think he is doing a good job.'




But Mr Prater asked how the Labour chief in Swindon could possibly feel supported if his national leader did not 'even know his name'.

Mr Miliband replied: 'Well he is doing a good job as leader of the council, Jim is, and I think that is the case.'










The Labour leader appeared tired during his 7.24am appearance as the grueling campaign for this week's European elections appeared to have taken its toll



He added: 'I know that Jim is doing a good job for Swindon and I think he is doing a good job as leader of the council.'

But the presenter was forced to intervene again to point out that Mr Grant is not the leader of the council - because it is a Conservative led council.

Mr Miliband said: 'I think he is doing a good job for Labour on the council.'

Mr Miliband's radio interview got off to a bad start when Mr Prater tried to hand over to the station's weather reporter, only to be greeted by the words 'Hello, it's Ed Miliband'.

'Ed Miliband, you don't want to do the weather for us do you?' he joked, receiving the reply: 'No, I think I might get it wrong.'

The Labour leader's performance will infuriate the party's Swindon councillors who need a tiny swing to win back control from the Conservatives.

The Conservatives run the council, with a majority of just one. With 20 seats being contested this time, that is under threat.

It came after he was challenged on live national TV this morning over his claim that British families are suffering a cost of living crisis.

The Labour leader, who has attacked the government over the cost of living, claimed he spent around £70 or £80 a week on groceries.

But he appeared taken aback when told the average bill for a family of four is more than £100, as he claimed his £140,000 salary meant he was ‘relatively comfortably off’.

Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Miliband claimed the ‘cost-of-living crisis is the biggest issue that our country faces and I am determined we tackle it’.

But he was put on the spot about how much it really costs to feed a family of four. Asked about the average weekly household grocery bill, Mr Miliband responded: ‘It depends on how much you are spending.’

Pressed on his own family's bill, Mr Miliband said: ‘We probably spend £70, £80 a week on groceries at least, probably more than that.

‘The point is that different families will have different costs that they face but what I am clear about is that there is a crisis facing so many people.’






Ed Miliband doesn't seem to know how much weekly shop costs






But TV presenter Susannah Reid took him to task for appearing out of touch.

She told him: ‘The average weekly bill for a family of four is more than £100. So you are going to be spending significantly more than £70 or £80.

‘People will say one of the problems with politicians is they are actually talking about something but not in touch with reality.’

Mr Miliband was asked about his gaffe by BBC Radio Wiltshire. He claimed that he meant to say he spent £70 a week on his fruit and veg alone.

He said: 'I said what basic fruit and veg cost in my household. Our overall shopping bill would be some what higher than that.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2633986/Milibands-SECOND-car-crash-interview-Labour-leader-exposed-local-radio-not-knowing-campaigning-Swindon.html#ixzz32HhYw6T5
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

i knew exactly where it was aimed, but no prob
thanks be to God that sticky has me filtered so i can write what i feel is correct without having 16 pages of twaddle come back at me

What's happen to the Labour MP Mc Cartney, Labours answer to Eric Pickles, he is not dead is he

LoL LoL Hays yet again you are playing with words. In fact changing posts hoping I wont notice. NAUGHTY NAUGHTY Hays.

"Mr Carney said that the 7% unemployment figure was not a target, but a point at which the Bank of England would re-examine interest rates."............ENDS

Now dont tell me he wasnt influenced by Osbourne on his re-examination. He just took osbournes advice and changed policy in effect moved the goal posts.

This government have been far worse than any bubble built up under labour.

Any growth is down to the housing sector where they have introduced credit slackening(against the free market) and inflated up. Little wonder Carney cant sleep at night.

They get what they deserve when the plug is pulled.

A recovery built on QUICK SAND.

THE TORY LIES AND HOW THEY WERE CAUGHT.

Here is catalogue of officially recognised Tory lies used to justify their unjustifiable policies, which have have resulted in reprimands:

David Cameron rebuked by statistics watchdog over national debt claims - PM said the government was ‘paying down Britain’s debts’ in a political broadcast, even though debt is actually rising.

“Now that his false claims have been exposed, it’s time the prime minister stopped deliberately misleading people about his economic record.”- Rachel Reeves.

Finally Exposed! The Deficit Myth! So, David Cameron When Are You Going to Apologise? David Cameron rebuked over austerity claims - David Cameron has been corrected by the Treasury’s own forecaster over claims that cuts in public spending are not reducing economic growth. The Office for Budget Responsibility told the Prime Minister that it does believe that cutting public spending will reduce economic growth in the short term.

Robert Chote, the head of the OBR, contradicted a claim Mr Cameron made this week in a speech about the economy, in which the Prime Minister said the forecaster does not believe cuts are reducing growth.

In fact, as Mr Chote wrote, the OBR believes that cuts in spending and increases in tax will depress economic activity, meaning lower growth.

OBR head rebukes Osborne: the UK was never at risk of bankruptcy. Office for Budget Responsibility chief Robert Chote dismisses the “danger of insolvency”.

In the weeks after he took office, George Osborne justified his austerity programme by claiming that Britain was on “the brink of bankruptcy”. He told the Conservative conference in October 2010: “The good news is that we are in government after 13 years of a disastrous Labour administration that brought our country to the brink of bankruptcy.”

It was, of course, nonsense.

Information Commissioner Christopher Graham launched a scathing rebuke of the decision to exercise the Government’s veto in a report on the case to Parliament. Blocking the publication of a report into the risks of NHS reforms is a sign that ministers want to downgrade freedom of information laws, a watchdog has warned. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley deployed it to block an Information Tribunal ruling that he should meet Labour demands to disclose the document.

Duncan Smith rebuked by ONS for misuse of benefit statistics - The claim that 8,000 people moved into work as a result of the benefit cap is “unsupported by the official statistics”, says the UK Statistics Authority. In letter to Duncan Smith, Andrew Dilnot writes that “In the manner and form published, the statistics do not comply fully with the principles of the Code of Practice, particularly in respect of accessibility to the sources of data, information about the methodology and quality of the statistics, and the suggestion that the statistics were shared with the media in advance of their publication.”

Another statement by Duncan Smith later in the month also drew criticism and a reprimand . The minister said around 1 million people have been stuck on benefits for at least three of the last four years “despite being judged capable of preparing or looking for work”.

However, the figures cited also included single mothers, people who were seriously ill, and people awaiting testing.

Iain Duncan Smith Rebuked Over Immigration Statistics - Iain Duncan Smith and the Department of Work and Pensions have been accused of publishing misleading immigration figures that were “highly vulnerable to misinterpretation”.Figures showing 371,000 immigrants were on benefits were rushed out by ministers with insufficient regard for “weaknesses” in the data, according to the UK Statistics Authority on Wednesday.

In a strongly-worded rebuke to Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, the head of the UKSA, sir Michael Scholar, condemned the handling of the research, the Press Association reported.

Sir Michael said that despite being “highly vulnerable to misinterpretation”, the claims were given to the media without the safeguards demanded for official statistics and by issuing the figures as a “research paper”, the DWP had bypassed the need to meet the usual code of conduct, he noted.

Grant Shapps rebuked by UK Statistics Authority for misrepresenting benefit figures - Yet another Conservative politician is caught making it up. Grant Shapps has joined his fellow Conservatives in the data hall of shame. In March, the Tory chairman claimed that “nearly a million people” (878,300) on incapacity benefit had dropped their claims, rather than face a new medical assessment for its successor, the employment and support allowance. The figures, he said, “demonstrate how the welfare system was broken under Labour and why our reforms are so important”. The claim was faithfully reported by the Sunday Telegraph but as the UK Statistics Authority has now confirmed in its response to Labour MP Sheila Gilmore (see below), it was entirely fabricated.

In his letter to Shapps and Iain Duncan Smith, UKSA chair Andrew Dilnot writes that the figure conflated “official statistics relating to new claimants of the ESA with official statistics on recipients of the incapacity benefit (IB) who are being migrated across to the ESA”. Of the 603,600 incapacity benefit claimants referred for reassessment as part of the introduction of the ESA between March 2011 and May 2012, just 19,700 (somewhat short of Shapps’s “nearly a million) abandoned their claims prior to a work capability assessment in the period to May 2012. The figure of 878,300 refers to the total of new claims for the ESA closed before medical assessment from October 2008 to May 2012. Thus, Shapps’s suggestion that the 878,300 were pre-existing claimants, who would rather lose their benefits than be exposed as “scroungers”, was entirely wrong.

As significantly, there is no evidence that those who abandoned their claims did so for the reasons ascribed by Shapps.

The chair of the UK Statistics Authority has rebuked shadow home secretary Chris Grayling - the authority have said he “must take issue” with claims made by the conservatives and warned the way they use violent crime statistics is “likely to mislead the public” and damage public trust. Mr Grayling has used a comparison between figures to suggest that the Labour government has presided over a runaway rise in violent crime. Even colleague Iain Duncan Smith said that such comparisons were “profoundly misleading and London’s Conservative Mayor, Boris Johnson, described Grayings’ claim as “absolute nonsense”. Chris Grayling made a headline-grabbing speech in which he likened life in Britain’s inner cities to that in Baltimore, Maryland, as portrayed in the acclaimed television seriesThe Wire. Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, remarked: “The connection between The Wire and Chris Grayling’s grasp on the problems of modern Britain is that they are both fictional.”

Treasury rebuked by UK Statistics Authority for inflation leaks - Britain’s statistics watchdog, ordered the Treasury to review its processes after sensitive inflation data this month was sent to 400 unauthorised people 17 hours before its release. Sir Michael warned: “There is a risk of market manipulation if key economic data fall in to the wrong hands before publication.”

Speculation data was leaking into the market ahead of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announcement has been rife. Market rumours correctly predicted the last two Consumer Price Index inflation releases just before publication – in April and May

UK Statistics rebukes Government over NHS spending claims - David Cameron famously promised he would cut the deficit, not the NHS. We now have it in black and white: he is cutting the NHS, not the deficit. There could be no clearer evidence of the failure of this Prime Minister and his Government.

“For months, David Cameron’s Government have made misleading boasts about NHS spending, misrepresenting the true financial difficulties he has brought upon the NHS. At the same time they have recently begun to try to distance themselves from these problems which David Cameron has created, trying to shift the blame to the NHS and its staff.” – Andy Burnham

The watchdog has called on ministers to correct claims the coalition has made that they increased NHS spending in England. The UK Statistics Authority upheld a complaint by Labour about government claims the NHS budget had increased in real-terms in the past two years.

The watchdog found the best-available Treasury data suggested real-terms health spending was lower in 2011-12 than in 2009-10. The coalition said during its spending review the NHS budget had gone up.

Coalition rebuked again by UK Statistics Authority - this time on flood defence spending. Andrew Dilnot says a Treasury graph on infrastructure left readers with “a false impression of the relative size of investment between sectors”. George Osborne and the Treasury have been reprimanded for misleading people about the government’s investment in infrastructure. For example, their chart made it look like investment in flood defences was roughly the same as in other areas, when in fact it was a tiny fraction.

The UK Statistics Authority has censured the Department for Education -Sir Michael Wilshaw – appointed by Mr Gove as Ofsted chief inspector – for using uncertain, weak and “problematic” statistics to claim that England’s schools have tumbled down the global rankings - the central justification for Goves’ sweeping school reforms. But now the government’s own statistics watchdog has called into question the figures at the heart of the education secretary’s argument. His verdict will be seen by critics as a blow to Mr Gove’s claim that England has “plummeted in the world rankings” given that the education secretary has been so unequivocal about the figures, arguing that “these are facts from which we cannot hide”.

Senior Conservative ministers have been rebuked for attempting to cover up Government statistics - showing one of their key housing policies is not working. In his ruling, seen by The Independent, the Information Commissioner roundly rejected the argument put forward by DCLG officials and demanded that the information be released.

“The exemptions cited by DCLG require more than the possible inconvenience in responding to queries about disclosures,” he wrote scathingly.

“The Commissioner considers that DCLG has not provided arguments which demonstrate that disclosure would inhibit the free and frank provision of advice or the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.”

He ordered the information be released.

And what did it show? In a short table released to Labour it showed that the number of people who begin self-build homes had fallen since the depths of the recession in 2009 under Labour from 11,800 to 10,400 in 2011.

Oddly the department claimed it did not hold the statistics for 2012 – despite the fact that more than five months had elapsed since the period covered by the data.

Theresa May rebuked over illegally deported asylum seeker - Rare court order calls on home secretary to find and bring back Turkish national and investigate UK Border Agency conduct.

The home secretary has returned to the high court and asked Mr Justice Lloyd Jones to set aside the order. The request was rejected and May now has to ensure the man is brought back to the UK. It is rare for orders to be granted by the court calling for people who have been forcibly removed from the UK to be returned and even rarer for the home secretary not to comply with them.

Mr Justice Singh stated that he was “very concerned” the government had failed to comply with his order.

In the court documents a senior UK Border Agency official admitted: “It is regrettable that the claimant was removed in spite of a court order preventing removal.”

Watchdog reprimands Eric Pickles’ department for £217m overdraft - The National Audit Office finding is embarrassing for communities secretary who was praised by chancellor as ‘model of lean government’ - for his ability to impose cuts on struggling councils – he has been reprimanded by the Whitehall spending watchdog for running up an unauthorised departmental overdraft of £217m. the NAO disclosed that the Treasury had imposed a £20,000 fine on his department as a punishment for its poor financial management.

The head of the civil service officially reprimanded David Cameron over the behaviour of his special advisers - following ‘unacceptable’ briefings to journalists, PR Week has learned. Sir Gus O’Donnell was so alarmed at briefings coming out of Government that he wrote a strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister urging him to restrain his aides.

Prime Minister is rebuked over Liam Fox inquiry, for failing to call in his independent adviser to look at claims that the ministerial code had been breached. Fox resigned after being found guilty of breaching the code in his relations with lobbyist Mr Werritty.

MPs also claim the advisory role itself “lacks independence” after a new candidate was appointed behind closed doors by Mr Cameron.

Finally, Coalition is rebuked by Churches over ‘human cost’ of austerity measures - despite Camerons’ claim that his policies are because of “divine inspiration”.

“The mess we inherited” – some facts with which to fight the Tory Big Lies


Posted By Alister Campbell

​​ I am indebted to Professor Vernon Bogdanor, who among other things was David Cameron’s tutor at Oxford, for drawing my attention to a recent report by the LSE Growth Commission. Anyone who looks at the mix of academics, business leaders, economists and banking experts on the Commission will be unable to dismiss them as Labour stooges.

Professor Bogdanor had read my recent blog suggesting Labour need to do more to rebut the Tory attack on the so-called ‘mess we inherited,’ and so thought I would be interested in the Growth Commission’s overwhelmingly positive view of the economic performance of the Labour government between 1997-2010 – and, in particular, between 2007-10. Indeed I am. Among its conclusions:

- British economic performance was strong throughout the period of Labour government, and GDP per head grew faster in the UK than in France, Germany, Italy or Japan.

- Productivity growth in terms of GDP per hour was second only to the US, and improvements in employment rates were better than in the US.

- This success, they say, was NOT due to an unsustainable bubble in finance, property or public spending. From 1997-2007, finance contributed around 0.4% to a 2.8% productivity growth.

- They also dispute the view that this was all due to Thatcherite reforms which were then accepted as a norm. Instead, they point to improvements delivered by Labour changes to competition policy, a major expansion in education – remember ‘education, education, education’ and – wait for it – immigration.

- On education, they pointed out that by 2007 the UK was spending more on education as a proportion of GDP than Germany and the US, and the percentage of the relevant age group going to university was higher than in France or Germany.

- Furthermore, they believe this had a positive impact in the fight to reduce crime and illegal immigration.

- Crucially, they make clear the crash was an international phenomenon which cannot be blamed on Labour policies, and that Labour did not leave Britain more vulnerable once the crash occurred.

- They say the structural element of the deficit was 1% of GDP in 2008 – it rose to 5% by 2010 because of the crisis in consequence of the fall in tax receipts. So the increase in the deficit was a consequence not a cause.

- They praise the Labour government’s counter-cyclical policies post crash, pointing out that these went some way towards limiting the fall in output, and say Labour ministers were right to recapitalise the banks and maintain demand.

- Where they are critical of Labour is in relation to skills, especially at the bottom end of the social and economic scale, and not doing enough to cut regional inequalities.

But overall the picture is a good one, and totally at odds with the dominant ‘mess we inherited’ narrative, uttered every time coalition ministers open their mouths.

And even if they do not say so explicitly, it is pretty clear the Commission believes that on the big choice of the last election – retrenchment under Labour, or austerity under the Tories – that GB/Darling were right, and DC/Osborne wrong.

This is all relevant to the current debate.

The only way to counter the Tory Big Lies is by fighting back with the truth, even if it means doing so belatedly, and at the risk of the Tories screeching ‘mess we inherited’ ever more loudly.

We see the same in their approach to the NHS. Another ‘mess we inherited,’ they say, to justify changes for which nobody voted and for which they have no mandate. What they actually inherited was an NHS with the highest satisfaction ratings in its history, which are now sliding as waiting lists grow, health workers are deliberately demoralised, and Jeremy Hunt talks up failure wherever he can find it to open the doors to a new system geared to those who see healthcare purely as a source of profit.

The same approach in education, where Michael Gove casts around for schools doing badly amid the thousands doing well, and deliberately distorts Blairite reforms aimed at helping those at the bottom of the educational pile to justify changes aimed at ushering in private providers at the expense of standards and enough school places. And in welfare, where the truth that the big bills are going on pensions for an ageing population is twisted to feed a hate agenda against the poor, the disabled, asylum seekers, all wrapped up as the ‘scroungers’ who in reality make up a tiny fraction of Iain Duncan Smith’s budget.

The Britain the coalition inherited after a decade of Labour in power was fairer, better off, with improved and improving public services, stronger cities wand regions, a vibrant culture. It was not a mess. The mess is happening now, with living standards falling, NHS crises returning, unprecedentedly low morale among teachers and police, power shifting back to a few at the top. Britain, far from booming, as the cheerleaders would have you believe, is recovering more slowly than had they followed the Brown-Darling approach that was beginning to deliver the jobs and growth we needed.

The Tories are planning to run the line that the country should not give back the keys to the people who crashed the car. The truth is the car ran a lot better under Labour, and can do so again.

Yep, lets get broon back, he knew what he was doing!

Of course Brown was ably assisted by Ed Balls and Ed Miliband!

As was Thatcher with Nigel lawson and Geoffrey Howe.

apropos nothing exactly, find below a very small extract from this morning's FT ....

Hollande’s tax rises are playing into the hands of France’s far right,
After spending most of his first two years in office presiding over a series of big tax increases, François Hollande is now backpedalling furiously in the face of a public revolt, the latest manifestation of which is set to clobber the president in Sunday’s European elections.
His ruling Socialists took a battering in local elections in March in good part because of anger over rising taxes. They are braced for another defeat on Sunday, with polls placing them third behind the far-right National Front (FN) and the centre-right UMP party of Nicolas Sarkozy, former president.