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.

No I was just pulling Hays leg alders, sorry.

Bank of England chief Mark Carney warns cost of living crisis is threatening UK economy
Aug 17, 2014 23:30 By Jack Blanchard

Mr Carney has threatened to raise interest rates despite the fact that British households are 'heavily indebted' after years of falling wages and riding prices

The Bank of England chief has warned that David Cameron’s cost of living crisis is threatening the UK economy.

Mark Carney said yesterday that millions of British households are “heavily indebted” due to years of falling wages and rising prices.

“They haven’t seen real wages increase,” warned the Governor.

And the situation could get even tougher for homeowners as Mr Carney said interest rates would go up.

He said: “We have to have confidence that prospective real wages are going to be growing sustainably.”

But he insisted that the Bank would not wait for that to happen before raising interest rates.

Mr Carney was clear that interest rates will have to rise from their current historic low of 0.5%.

“As the expansion continues , rates are going to go up,” he said. “People should plan accordingly.”

Prime Minister Cameron has repeatedly trumpeted Britain’s economic recovery over recent weeks.

But official statistics released last week showed average wages are falling while inflation has risen to 1.9%.

Mr Carney said Britain is “more than halfway” to economic recovery but that low wages remain one of the key risks to Britain.

“There are multiple headwinds for the British economy,” he said. “A very weak Europe, the persistent strength of the pound... and British households that are still heavily indebted – not least because they haven’t seen real wages increase.”

A report last month by the Resolution Foundation warned the number of households in “debt peril” could double if interest rates rise. The think tank forecast 1.2million households will be spending more than half their disposable income on debt repayments by 2017.

Senior economist Matthew Whittaker said there was a “real prospect” many families could “collapse” under the weight of their debts if mortgage payments rise significantly.

However, Mr Carney promised that interest rate increases “will be limited and gradual”.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bank-england-chief-mark-carney-4067824#ixzz3Ah43PDS5
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/david-cameron-full-public-enquiry-into-the-actions-of-south-yorkshire-police-and-bbc?share_id=DCcIDLlTPF&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

The interest rates article above is the Daily Mirror's spin on a non story.

Not everyone thinks Boris is the prodigal son...






Does this man want to be Il Duce Borisconi? You decide

Ignore what Boris Johnson says, but pay close attention to his behaviour



http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2014/08/17/the-big-boris-question-is-he-one-of-us-or-one-of-them/

On reading it again, I agree.

Yes, a real man of the people!

He just wants power and why not. I don't think he would be be a good PM but he would be popular for a while. Good PMs as often not popular.

Boris Johnson is apparently being lined up for the business portfolio and thus as Chuka Umunna’s opposite number.

Chuka Umunna is being lined up by many commentators as being a future leader of the Labour party. So is Boris for the Tories.



This stuff might happen for real in the General Election after this next one.

Who will win the really the very big battle and cross the finishing line first?

from what i have seen of him, CU would be 20x better as a leader that EM
he dresses well, is eminently presentable and comes across very well indeed ..... shame that some voters will have a problem with his name, let alone remembering it!

Mr CU Later?

I remember Chuka Khan , good singer as well

Chuka Umunna's name is a massive problem for people, in that it is not at all easy to remember.

Cynic - I could not give a stuff how he dresses - maybe some politicians need to get real, instead of formulating policies to please the masses, and make themselves popular. Maybe if he wore jeans and a tea shirt, ( Steve Jobs - Apple, did ) he may start a fashion, but good sense is what we need, not clean shirts and matching ties.
What do you vote for, a politician that will benefit you, and look smart, or a politician that will do the best for every body ? Most people seem to vote on a selfish basis.

A neighbour has been chatting to wifey, telling her she is going up to Scotland to see her sister.

Here are some of the more salient points of the conversation:

The sister's husband has severe dementia. He used to work on the oil rigs and when they used to come home on leave it was the fashion or fad to go on benders with some of his mates. The guy was quite a clever guy by all accounts and they blame this very heavy drinking as being the cause of the dementia.

What does the guy get up to? Well.....

He will do a poo absolutely anywhere in the house.
Then he smears it all over the wall.
He does sleep in the daytime but then he wanders around at night.
He eats lots of apples and bananas and will stuff his mouth so full of them, that he has to be physically helped at a wash basin or kitchen sink to empty his mouth.
He lines all the window sills with very neat rows of apple cores and apple pips.

To look at him, the guy is a picture of health and can go on walks.

His wife takes him to Tesco, where he will steal chocolate. The staff know him and will now trust the wife to pay for the chocolate or anything else he has stolen later. "Mummy will pay for it," being the general idea.

The sister gets respite breaks by him being collected for short daily periods of care but he doesn't stay overnight.

He obviously needs putting into care permanently but this would destroy the couple's wealth.

Our dog likes the neighbour very much and makes a big fuss of her. The neighbour says it is so sad about her sister's situation and she also says, "If he were your dog you'd most probably have him put to sleep."

Hmmm?

How do you know the housing market is about to go tits up?




Neil Woodford bets £7m on unlisted estate agent

Neil Woodford, one of Britain’s best-known fund managers, has made a £7m investment in online estate agent Purplebricks.com



By Kyle Caldwell

5:00AM BST 18 Aug 2014



Prominent fund manager Neil Woodford is backing online estate agent Purplebricks.com to shake up the estate agent industry, pumping £7m into the unlisted firm via his new fund Woodford Equity Income.


Mr Woodford, who has a successful record of backing unlisted businesses, said Purplebricks.com posed a “highly disruptive” model which could steal custom from traditional estate agents.


The firm, which was set-up in April, allows customers to sell their homes for a fixed fee of £599. In doing so the firm undercuts other estate agents, who charge commission averaging 1.8pc. This means sellers typically pay over £5,000.


The company also targets landlords, offering a tenant-finding service for a one-off fee of £199.


“The business has the vision, the technology and an experienced management team," Mr Woodford said. "Now with the funding at its disposal, I see a significant opportunity for the business to lead the market in changing the way we buy and sell houses."


More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/11037865/Neil-Woodford-bets-7m-on-unlisted-estate-agent.html


..........................................................................


Homeowners slash house prices in largest-ever summer sale

The UK shifts from a sellers' to a buyers' market as vendors lower expectations and greed takes a holiday




By Anna White, Property and enterprise correspondent

10:35PM BST 17 Aug 2014


Asking prices have fallen steeply this summer as sellers slash their expectations in the face of dampening demand for new homes.


The price tag on the average UK property coming to market dropped by 2.9pc in the first half of August, the biggest summer fall ever recorded by the UK's largest property website, Rightmove.





Vendors, who have been trying to cash in on record high values, are now discounting to attract buyers who have been deterred by talk of interest rate rises and the eradication of cheap mortgages.


A glut of sellers coming to the market - there has been an 8pc increase in the number of homes up for sale compared with August last year - and a drop in buyer demand has driven down asking prices and tipped the UK into a buyers' market.



More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11040337/Homeowners-slash-house-prices-in-largest-ever-summer-sale.html

you may not like it that it is a prerequisite in today's political world that a leader needs to present well - some cohorts would do well to remember that too - but prerequisite it is
thus, Sir Alec Douglas-Home managed to get away with looking like a cadaver, but today he would have been totally unelectable, good statesman as i think he almost certainly was
conversely, Ronald Reagan was the supreme communicator, so though he may have been a few cents short of a dollar, he made an excellent job of being president, even if others put the words in his mouth

Just put in a re-order for 'Compatible Ink' to www.cartridgeink.co.uk for my HP printer.

Very pleased with it previously. But....

Does anyone know anyone any better? Where do you get your online compatible printer ink supplies from?

If Gillian Duffy from Rochdale (a lifelong Labour supporter) had to think long and hard about supporting Labour at the 2010 general election, because of Gordon Clown's failure to tackle immigration, I'm sure she's gonna be well chuffed to have Chuka Umunna heading up her fave party.

:o)

Cue Tanker...

Hilary......good win for England in the Test Match. Now the one dayers.

Not sure Cooke should be captain though I still have big doubts, Id just leave him alone to get on with his batting and knock up the big scores again.