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.

Blow the whistle on Qatar’s weird World Cup

We should withdraw unless the 2020 tournament is held somewhere that doesn’t back terrorism



Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani is awarded the World Cup by FIFA President Sepp Blatter Photo: Getty Images




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/qatar/11021666/Blow-the-whistle-on-Qatars-weird-World-Cup.html

Scottish independence: Salmond refuses to consider currency Plan B

First minister says any plan other than sterling union would be second best and offers national debt-Bank of England deal



Chris Johnston and Severin Carrell


theguardian.com, Saturday 9 August 2014 12.04 BST



Alex Salmond said an independent Scotland would take on its share of national debt for a fair share of the Bank of England. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian




Alex Salmond has refused to be drawn on his back-up plan if an independent Scotland is blocked from sharing the pound and the Bank of England now the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats have all ruled out a currency union.

The first minister is facing increasing political pressure to come up with a Plan B after the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, became the latest senior Westminster politician to say he would veto a deal on sterling if Scotland voted for independence next month.

But in an open letter to voters, published in Saturday's edition of The Sun, Salmond wrote: "Plan B implies settling for what's second best. And neither myself, my colleagues in the SNP, or the wider yes campaign will ever settle for second best for Scotland."

He said an independent Scotland would be "willing and able" to take on its share of national debt, but only if it got a fair share of the Bank of England.

The Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Labour have all rejected the idea of a currency union, which would allow Scotland to use sterling and retain the Bank of England as its lender of last resort.

Miliband told Scottish business leaders in Glasgow on Friday that he would make a veto on a currency union a general election pledge if Scotland voted for independence in next month's referendum.

The Labour leader said he saw no case for recommending a euro-style currency union and accused Salmond of wrecking his own case by threatening to default on Scotland's share of the UK's debt, likely to total £1.6tn by 2016.

Asked if that sterling zone veto would be written into Labour's election manifesto if Scotland voted for independence, he said: "Yes. I'm ruling it out now, yes."




More haggis here: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/09/alex-salmond-refuses-currency-plan-b-independent-scotland

because sticky, (a) that particular question was serious and worthy of a proper reply and (b) fos-fred has never once answered a direct question put to him
pah! is all he is worth

also this extract from 44471 was interesting ......
If you don’t like the law, vote in a government who will amend the law to your satisfaction

now it's a funny old life, but when almost exactly that argument was applied about people and companies legally avoiding tax, both you (sticky) and fos-fred jumped up and down with self-righteous indignation ..... a bit strange and hypocritical don't you think, not least because fos-fred is also steadfast in his refusal to vote at all?

Manuel.

An appointment for you is in your appropriate place the kitchen.

As it obvious you may know, unless you are parroting your betters a simple question may have a complex answer and it view of that you would seem likely to be unable to understand it!

I.e to do so for you would seem a waste of time. The latter I haven't got enough of.

I don't vote because I prefer not to and consider it at present to be my right under the present democratic system.

If you wish to change it, so be it, but consider your own position in so doing so.
======

I don't consider the energy necessary to explain to you things which are probably beyond your comprehension, at any time, especially on a balmy night in the Dordogne, while explaining the differences between tactics and strategy to my grandchild, who is beating me at chess, while being amused by enquiring into the family history of his antecedents.

====


The responses are adequate to you obtuse question are satisfactory for me, if you don't like them, so be it.


Perhaps, you should concentrate on the world's public response to Israeli's Putin's responses to the Gaza problems.

Have nice dreams.

Ohhhhhhhh come off it Cyners , lets face it all this leads back to that debate....... OK TANKER and I kicked your ass, so what........ your still a great person a chap I think is worth a awfull lot as an individual. (and others nearly all the board think that)

At times we all get creamed, so what.

Lighten up im still your best pal.

Please just dont DEMAND this and that, its not the thing to do.

So come on now and stop being bloody silly.

AND, ps, if Fred did the same Id be kicking his balls.

BOTH OF YOU LETS HAVE A WEEKEND STAND OFF.

i think fos-fred is a total arsehole and i know the feeling is mutual, but hence why i almost never bother to read his posts

Labour fears brain drain with 15% of MPs ready to quit

Doubts about Ed Miliband's leadership are said to be driving an exodus in the runup to next year's general election



Daniel Boffey, Observer policy editor


The Observer, Saturday 9 August 2014 19.19 BST



Former Scotland secretary Jim Murphy is believed to be considering quitting as an MP. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA


More than 15% of Ed Miliband's MPs are set to quit parliament before the next election, raising fears among senior Labour figures of a "brain drain". Thirty Labour MPs – 15 with ministerial experience – have announced that they are leaving, despite polls suggesting that the party will form the next government.

A senior Labour party source said it expected at least 10 more of its MPs to stand down before the election, pushing the proportion of those leaving to 15.5% of the parliamentary party. Before Labour came to power in 1997 under Tony Blair, only 8% of the party's MPs quit. A source said: "There's not enough excitement about Ed. Some worry about him losing the general election, and some worry about him winning it."



More: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/09/labour-fears-brain-drain-mps-quit

Cynic is right about Fred , there are only about 2 to 3 posters on here that don't think he is a arsehole , goldfinger and Stan and one other

Manuel,

You are, as well as doddery, becoming more and more inconsistent.

Claiming you never bothering to read other peoples post, finding any other than your own opinions boring and yet quoting from post written by those who bore you.

Eg, post 44771 when you quote the last sentence verbatim.

I suppose some individuals decline fast than others.

But I think some of the decline is due to your, Hazy One's and some of your cahoots' panicking at the thought of a Labour government with a massive majority after the next election.
======================

Maxk,

Perhaps, after the lousy lying leadership of PR stuntmen Blair and Cameron we would benefit from a more mundane form of government with policies discussed and decided by cabinet decisions rather than the shooting blanks from the hips by the likes of Cameron and Boris who rely on burnt out sycophants for their support.

Charisma is one of the last things we need at the moment.
=========

Mind every theatre needs a clown and the Boris would fill that role at the Palace of Westminster perfectly, perhaps with Manuel as Widow Twankey or a butler.

Manuel,

You are, as well as doddery, becoming more and more inconsistent.

Claiming you never bothering to read other peoples post, finding any other than your own opinions boring and yet quoting from post written by those who bore you.

Eg, post 44771 when you quote the last sentence verbatim.

I suppose some individuals decline fast than others.

But I think some of the decline is due to your, Hazy One's and some of your cahoots' panicking at the thought of a Labour government with a massive majority after the next election.
======================

Maxk,

Perhaps, after the lousy lying leadership of PR stuntmen Blair and Cameron we would benefit from a more mundane form of government with policies discussed and decided by cabinet decisions rather than the shooting blanks from the hips by the likes of Cameron and Boris who rely on burnt out sycophants for their support.

Charisma is one of the last things we need at the moment.
=========

Mind every theatre needs a clown and the Boris would fill that role at the Palace of Westminster perfectly, perhaps with Manuel as Widow Twankey or a butler.

Max,

By the way, what are the names of the retiring labour MPs and how old are they?

How many of the present Con party member's of the present motley crew will stand down or not be elected?

For Exec and camarades,

True.

We do want the best players on the field.

However, there's nothing wrong with it. But there is if you have a 'lefty' point of view about things all the time, which is 'anti' any kind of competitiveness.

Boris will keep Cameron on his toes for sure. Cameron will therefore try harder to do a better job. Hopefully, we will benefit from it.

The next thing I would like to see our government do is to fight ISIS with 'as much as we can muster and a lot more besides' and try to destroy it.

Does the board think that UK (and USA) should stop all arms exports to Israel?

The knee-jerk reaction "of course we should" is, i think, far too simplistic a response, and probably the wrong one.
why?
because iran and syria and no doubt a few others would be hollering and cheering at the thought of a weakened israel, and thus encourage them and their embedded fundamentalist cliques to be even more aggressive within the region.
peace in the region is the last thing they want.

as always, it's never as simple as it looks on the surface

I think:

The Palestinians made a mistake voting in Hamas.

Hamas don't mind sacrificing women and children as they actively and recklessly persist in their war with Israel.

The Palestinians have a blood good cause because Israel isn't treating them at all fairly.

The Palestinian casualty rate is unacceptable to the rest of the world who are viewing this war.

Israel have excellent defences and thus have the least amount of casualties by far. The Palestinian defences are crap in comparison. Because of this Israel really did ought to be the most proactive in stopping the fighting, which can ultimately only be stopped by talking and negotiation.

I can see how the Palestinians feel they have such a bad position and state of affairs and are being so badly treated by Israel, that they would rather die for their cause than stop fighting.

I see we have a 'circle of events' which needs breaking to achieve a result and get both sides talking to each other. It would need breaking from outside with help from some other country..... Egypt? USA?

I think Israel is the side which needs to change its actions the most.

Yeah. Let's assist that situation by stopping selling arms to Israel. Let's further assist it by us stopping the purchase of Israeli produce. It 'makes a statement'.

And once Israel start treating the Palestinians a little better and more fairly, then we could resume our sales of arms (and purchases of produce) so as to maintain a peace keeping balance with Iran and Syria.

Islamic fundamentalists seem to be increasing in numbers and growing in power. I think we should beef up our military strength massively because it looks like we are really going to need it for defensive purposes very soon.

yes - an embargo on israeli produce certainly makes a strong point, especially if the supermarkets were brave enough to advertise that stance - fat chance

an embargo on arms exports to israel, even though it would be circumvented for sure, is probably far too dangerous due to the knock-on effects in the region in general

of course, the real problem at the heart of it is israel's appalling treatment of the palestinians and the unwillingness of israel (and indeed hamas) to even contemplate the construction of a meaningful peaceful solution
de facto, i'm sure that would mean the creation (somehow) of a separate palestinian state
however, that will be anathema to far too many israelis as it will undoubtedly mean them surrendering a chunk of the land they have expropriated over the years, even if in doing so, it does not materially affect israel's own security

Israel would far rather annihilate the Palestinians than give them land.

The Palestinians would rather be annihilated than give in to Israel because they have been so badly treated by them.

This is the circle which needs breaking.

I wonder what things will be like in this part of the world in another 40 years or so.