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.

LOL Fred. Tolerance yes. In fact thats an idea to put forward to Racheal R when I see her tomorrow. A Tolerance Tax.

On other issues,

Fred where does he get his thinking from?????

It maybe that Golf Club of his selling legal highs.

Poor schooling, upbringing and lack of, or too narrow an education and being led astray Hays.

Mind I suppose with the material provided I suppose his school did the best they could!

8-)

Great news for the parents of Ashya:

Finally, family of little Ashya win the fight to fly him to Prague for proton beam therapy which could save his life

Brett and Naghmeh King were granted their wish by a High Court judge
Ashya will fly by private jet to specialist hospital in Prague, Czech Republic
He is expected to receive chemotherapy before proton beam therapy
His parents believe it will give him the best chance of survival
Mr Justice Baker made decision after receiving treatment plan from Kings
It outlined the treatment and evidence that the boys' parents can pay for it
He will cease to be a ward of the court when he reaches the Prague hospital

And what a great kick up the arse for the Southampton Hospital:

Now University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust has said it would have supported the transfer of Ashya’s care to the Proton Therapy Centre in Prague, although medics did not recommend it.

Hmmm?

A spokesperson for the trust said: ‘While Ashya was under our care, we discussed the option of treatment in this centre with the family and made contact with them at that point.

‘We were willing to support the family’s transfer to Prague for proton beam radiotherapy, although we did not recommend it.

Hmmm again?

But after their advice was thwarted they did report the matter to the police and recommend to the police that the Kings were being negligent in their care to the child. This got the parents arrested and slapped in jail.

Q. One has to ask what both the the police and the CPS were told by the Southampton Hospital senior staff?
A. An exaggerated cock and bull story, apprently almost verging on malicious persecution, about the Kings being criminally negligent parents.

It took 200,000 people with a petition, actions and words from the senior members of the government and the power of a very able and sensible judge so as to make good sound decisions and bring matters back into perspective and control.

Fingers crossed, that the proton beam therapy works and saves the little chap's life.

From CNBC

Market bears now scarcer than any time since 1987
Jeff Cox | @JeffCoxCNBCcom
Wednesday, 3 Sep 2014 | 1:39 PM ET
CNBC.com

Professional investors haven't had this little fear about stocks since Ronald Reagan was president.

It was the same year Michael Jackson told us in a song he was "Bad." The New York Giants won the Super Bowl.

And oh yeah ... by the way ... the stock market crashed.

As gauged by the weekly Investors Intelligence report, bearishness among market newsletter writers has fallen to 13.3 percent, a level it has not seen since 1987 as the market continues to set new highs despite a seemingly endless call for a long-overdue correction.

Billionaire and real estate magnate Sam Zell was the latest high-profile voice to warn about valuation, telling CNBC on Wednesday that "it's very likely something has to give" at a time when many companies are suffering from lack of demand even as the market surges to record levels.

Read MoreSam Zell: Stock market correction coming

Nonsense, say the bulls, who share skepticism that the market has been inflated through aggressive Federal Reserve monetary easing, yet see no signs that stocks are ready to tank.

"A great many investors and analysts are wasting their time trying to prove that stocks have formed a new bubble—which they claim must soon pop," David C. Jennett, who writes an eponymously named newsletter, said in remarks cited by Investors Intelligence in its report. "I think they are right about the bubble, but wrong about which market is in danger of a crash. It is much easier to make the case that the bond market is the real bubble these days."

Investors were concerned about valuation back in the 1987 as well, and for a day at least they were right.

In the infamous Black Monday on Oct. 19—forecast by Elaine Garzarelli and warned about by others—the Dow industrials plunged more than 22 percent in a day.

Read MoreBest and worst predictions of the past 25 years
The good news: The market recovered, and the year in total really wasn't that bad. The S&P 500 actually gained 5.2 percent when all was said and done and had only one negative year between then and the 2000 dot-com bubble pop.

Similarly, the scarcity of pessimism may not be as contrarian a bearish sign as it appears. (Sentiment survey analysis generally equates strong feelings in one direction to indicate that the market will swing the other way.)

Though the 42.8 percent spread between bears and bulls is considered "dangerous" under the baseline Investors Intelligence uses to gauge sentiment, it's been higher—45.4 percent in June—and the market has gone its merry way up regardless.

Despite warnings that September, historically the worst month for markets, is setting up for the correction, that argument has holes as well.

Read MoreWhy the markets keep chugging inside 'Fortress USA'
Though it indeed ranks last of the 12 months, September has been negative just twice in the last 10 years, according to Dan Greenhaus, chief strategist at BTIG. Art Cashin at UBS pointed out that the September swoon largely traces back to more agrarian days in the U.S., when urban business people used their money to buy up wheat and other materials to last through the winter.

Piper Jaffray strategists have been relentlessly bullish, correctly foreseeing the S&P 500 cracking 2,000 this year, and believe 2,100 is a realistic full-year goal for the large-cap market index.

"At this juncture, both the intermediate and longer-term technical picture of the market remain bullish. Additionally, several of our short-term measures of market breadth have now 'reset' to neutral after the recent pullback," Piper's Craig W. Johnson and others said in the firm's weekly outlook. "We believe the stage is set for the broader market to make another leg higher."

—By CNBC's Jeff Cox

Taken from: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101967860

Writing is on the bedroom wall for the Tories as they lose landmark vote

05
Friday
Sep 2014
Posted by Mike Sivier in Bedroom Tax

The Conservative Party has been humiliated in the first major Parliamentary vote since the summer recess – on a Private Member’s Bill to exempt disabled people from the Bedroom Tax.

Liberal Democrat Andrew George’s Bill proposed modest reforms, laid out by Vox Political in an article yesterday evening.

The debate lasted nearly four hours – and would have continued if a Tory filibuster had been successful. The Conservatives wanted to ‘talk out’ the Bill but their proposal was defeated by 304 votes to 237 – a majority of 67 votes.

This set the scene for an even greater defeat when MPs were asked on whether to approve the second reading of the bill. This time the Conservatives lost by a greater majority of 75 votes – the ‘ayes’ had it with 306 votes to 231 against.

Desperately, Jacob Rees-Mogg tried to refer the Bill to a select committee, rather than the normal committee stage. It failed by 28 votes.

An even more desperate attempt to refer the Bill to a Committee of the Whole House was rejected out of hand by Deputy Speaker Dawn Primarolo as out of order.

The Tories had also tried to derail the Bill at the start of the day’s business by moving a motion to hold the debate in private. This was defeated out of hand – only three MPs voted in favour of it – but it wasted a good 15 minutes of debating time.

Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Rachel Reeves tweeted: “Labour will now seek to amend the bill to scrap the Bedroom Tax completely. But an important victory… for all those paying it today.”

So the writing is on the wall for the Conservative Party. Shipley MP and imbecile Philip Davies asked if this meant the Coalition had come to an end. Let us hope so.

In that case, this will be the first of many defeats, leading up to a rout at the 2015 General Election.

Populus this morning has topline figures of CON 32%, LAB 38%, LDEM 8%, UKIP 14%, GRN 4%

I read that last poll as yet more coalition government.

Because of recent defections, one can surely say, that UKIP are much more likely to align with CON:

32% + 14% = 46% (A)

So what will the LDEM do?

If they align with LAB, we have 38% + 8%. This also = 46% (B)

If they align with CON, we have 46% (A) + 8% = 54% (ie a coalition majority)

Thus everything is to play for, for some time yet.

Nigel Farage earns the Rupert Murdoch seal of approval in impromptu Manhattan meeting






Ian Burrell Author Biography


Media Editor


Friday 05 September 2014



Rupert Murdoch’s long history of calculated meddling in British politics has taken a new turn with the media baron calling a snap meeting with Nigel Farage in Manhattan.



In a gesture that will give David Cameron something extra to think about as he attended the NATO summit in Wales, the News Corp boss summoned the Ukip leader to his office for a private discussion.

The talks, which have been confirmed by Ukip, took place after Mr Farage had finished recording interviews at Mr Murdoch’s Fox News television network.

According to website Breitbart London, the Ukip leader’s invitation to meet Mr Murdoch was passed on during an advertisement break by presenter Neil Cavuto with the words: “Sir, the boss wants to see you. The big boss.”



More: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/nigel-farage-earns-the-rupert-murdoch-seal-of-approval-in-impromptu-manhattan-meeting-9715259.html

If UKIP do get 14% of the vote nationwide, it will equate to 0% or close to it as a share of MPs. That means UKIP will not be a coalition partner with any party.

The reason why the tumour boy is being allowed to go to Prague, is that Southampton permitted it provided that he has one round of chemotherapy before the proton beam treatment. This was their requirement all along. Southampton's agreement with the chemotherapy requirement is why the high court allowed the boy to go.

Well you were wrong on how many MPs they would have Hays, you said NIL, very likely they will have 2 now at least.

Anyway its going to be an overal Labour Majority unless of course the Scots cock things up and I wouldnt put it past them.

Anyway Hays have you seen the time, you should be still in bed.

Hopefully we may get shot of the Scots soon. I am fed up of their moaning. If they don't leave then we should remove the designation of 'Scotland' and rename the area Northern England.

Yes, if Wee Eck has his way, then that will change everything.

40+ tory majority

Watching F1 on BBC2. Hamilton fastest in this practice with Rosberg having gearbox trouble stuck in garage.

Her indoors just got the holiday snaps sorted. Our joint in Ibiza, looks very nice at night............

"Hamilton fastest in this practice with Rosberg having gearbox trouble stuck in garage."

Great news! Come on England! Well, albeit in a German car......

Hehehehehe

:-)

"The general principle which every member state of the European Union has subscribed to is that people fleeing persecution should apply for asylum in the first safe country they reach.

"France used to take this very seriously. When I was home secretary we had an agreement with France under which if people came to the United Kingdom from France and claimed asylum we would return them to France, and France dealt with their claim, and that's what really ought to happen."

The former Conservative Party leader said France had "lost control of its borders" because it was a member of the Schengen Agreement.

Lord Howard added: "Some French governments have recognised this. President Sarkozy, in 2012, threatened to withdraw France from the Schengen Agreement if other countries didn't take measures to control their borders.

"So the mayor of Calais ought to be directing her frustration at President Hollande, and getting him to take the kind of action that President Sarkozy was talking about.

45535 - first read this post and then consider that within the last 4/5 months the world's shipments of chemicals has almost come to a standstill .... thus storage depots in f/e and m/e are at bursting point with shipping containers, and the indian traffic has also died a death

ignore it at your peril

Can you expand on that (# 45550) c?